> Fallout Equestria : Operation Aurora
>  by the13thblackcat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue : The beginning of the end
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Sgt Tassia Silver

Location: Manehattan outskirts

Time: 13:54

Time until mega spell detonation: 5minutes 59 seconds

All I can hear is a loud ringing in my ear, I open my eyes to see an earth pony soldier, his green eyes looking down at me; my ears slowly start to hear sound over the ringing.

“She’s okay” The earth pony shouts with a deep voice to a Pegasus over his shoulder, the Pegasus is wearing full battle armour with his lavender colour mane hanging out the back of his helmet, then without a moment’s notice he nods his head and takes back to the skies. I was lying down behind a blown up sky wagon, fires and explosions were littering the battlefield on the outskirts of Manehattan with the sound of bullets and magical energy weapons. I look around to see all matters of earth ponies and unicorns in their grey and black battle armour taking cover behind broken walls and crashed sky tanks.

“You okay Sgt?” The earth pony shouts to me.

“Yes sir, I think so sir” I say this as I look over my body, hooves and wings to see if it was all still attached, my armored barding however, is in ruins

“You got hit by that grenade pretty bad, you’re lucky you were far enough away for your armour to protect you from the shockwave, you were out of it for a good 5 minutes. Your Pegasus friend stuck around to make sure you were still alive.”

I look back up at the soldier still dazed by what had actually happened to me.

“Sir” I shout towards the pony

“Are you still managing to keep the zebra at bay sir?”  I ask him, slightly muttering  some of my words, but not too much to the point where he couldn’t understand me. my head is in agony and the ringing is starting to become unbearable.

“Sadly not” He replied, taking a peek over the top of the sky wagon that we were both taking cover behind.

“The zebra are managing to push us back slowly they shall be within the city in the next few…”

*BOOOM*

A rocket hit the building to our left, sending debris flying all over the place. Two earth ponies lay dead and a unicorn who is missing the top of her left ear was screaming in agony, a Pegasus flew down and swiftly took her behind an old corner shop, which was being used as a on hand medical station.

“Tass could you do me a big favour… you don’t mind if a call you that do you?” He asks this looking down at my pony tags. His voice had become soft as if all his will had been torn out of him by the explosion.

“Yes sir” I reply to the pony “And no sir” I swiftly follow suit allowing myself to slightly blush.

“Thank-you Tass” The pony slowly nods his head.

“Take this message back to the Ministry of Wartime technology in Canterlot…”

Two more explosions erupt around us sending more shrapnel and debris flying over us.

“Tell them were sending the wounded back towards the centre of Manehattan, the rest are staying here to try and slow the assault” He finishes his sentence looking back over the top of the sky wagon.

“But that’s suicide” I reply as I look back at the pony with wide eyes and a shocked expression on my face.

“It will be okay Tass, just do this for me will you?” He asks looking back towards me. I take one more look at the brave stallion and nod my head.

“Thank-you Tass” The pony said in a calm voice “oh and by the way” He says swiftly as I turned around to take one last look at him. “My names Buck”

Before I even had the chance to spread my wings and take to the sky, there was a blinding flash and a loud explosion and the world felt like it was engulfed in fire….

War…. War never changes.
> Chapter 1 : A good day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

100 years later...

Name : Tessia Starbow
Location : Stable 21

“Tess… Teeeessss… Wake-up Tess”
I open my eyes only to quickly shut them again as the lights turned on in my bedroom. I slowly open them again and see a mint green unicorn with a green and blue mane and a toffee apple cutie mark, sat down at the end of my bed looking at me… It is Sugarcube, my best friend… and… now that I think about it… my only friend within the stable.

“Give me 5 more minutes Sugarcube” I say, as I turn over and place my pillow over the back of my head.

“Suit yourself” Sugarcube starts to trot towards the door abruptly stopping before leaving my room. “But you’re going to miss the voting for the next Overmare if you stay in bed for tooooooo loonnnggg.” She states, then continues to trot out of my bedroom room.

“Oooohhhhh yeah…” I think to myself. Stable 21, which is the stable I live in, has a three year Overmare cycle and every three years the residents of stable 21 aged 19 and above get to vote for the next overmare . I turned 19 a few months ago so now I also get the opportunity to vote. Not that it really matters, every time it’s always the same pony that becomes overmare.

“SUGARCUBE WAIT” I quickly shout over to her before she closes the door to my room.

“What is it sleepy head?” She says, as she turned around to look back at me.

“How did you get into my room anyway?” I ask her with a look of confusion on my face. She puts on a smile, gives me a wink and touches the tip of her nose, then closes the door behind her.

“Just Sugarcube being Sugarcube” I think.

I… eventually find the motivation in me to get out of be, I walk over to my dresser. Pulling out a towel and levitating it over my shoulder, I start to walk to the bathroom at the other end of the room to take a quick shower. I throw the towel over the radiator and step into the shower.

“IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS CELESTIA!” I curse, jumping out of the shower. “WHY IS THE WATER LIKE IT HAD JUST COME OUT OF A FREEZER!” I scream at the top of my voice, shaking and chattering under my freezing cold mane and body. I quickly turn the shower off and walk over to the radiator and tap my hoof against it; the radiator… is also stone cold.

“How peculiar” I think, probably just doing some maintenance on the boiler. I levitate my towel back over and quickly dry myself off. I abruptly leave the bathroom and walk over to my wardrobe, opening the door with my fore hoof.

“Huuuummm… Stable 21 uniform, stable 21 uniform or stable 21 uniform…” I sigh and take another quick glance around the wardrobe.

“Same old same old” I think. However something caught the corner of my eye. Folded up in the corner of my wardrobe was another set of stable 21 uniform. I levitate it up to my chest.

“This is strange” I think to myself pulling a look of confusion. “The only ponies who have access to my room are my mom, dad, the Overmare and apparently Sugarcube” I say to myself, wondering why I had an extra set of stable 21 clothing. I slip on the new set of clothing, it felt… nice… comfortable… like it had never been worn before.

“Maybe today isn’t going to be so bad after all” I think, walking over to the door of my room. I raise my pip buck up to eye level, checking the time before I leave. The clock read 09:30.

“Right on time” I think, in a happy tone of thought. I open my bedroom door and walk into to the main corridor. Closing the door behind me, I trot down the hallway pasting all the other ponies living quarters. Before I could reach the stairwell that leads up to the canteen, I hear voices down the corridor to the right of the stairs.

“Looks like our mother is going to become overmare again for the fifth time running” The cocky voice echoes down the hallways.

“I recognise that voice and I hate it” I think, pulling a sad face "Another part of me dies inside every time I hear that voice"

“Well, well, well, look who it is” Diamond Sparkle says to her sister Silver Sparkle, as they gallop towards me, suddenly they stop about four hoofs length in front of me.

“Well if it isn’t the mutant of stable 21” Silver Sparkle says as she looks towards her twin sister. The two white unicorns with long pink manes stare at me with amused faces. I look down at the floor, not saying a word, I look back up at them and take a glance over their shoulders. I focus my magic and then with a flash of light find myself 10 hoofs length behind then.

"Minor teleportation, the one thing that makes me different from the other unicorns and their magic in the stable… even if it is limited to my line of sight…. Still isn’t enough to give me a cutie mark though…" I think as I slowly make my way to the stairwell in hope they wont spot me.

The evil sisters stood there for a second wondering what happened… then they turned around and see me sneaking my way to the stairwell.

“Hey we aren’t finished here!” Diamond sparkle shouts at me. Then grunting, she gallops towards me. My eyes widen in shock, then not a second later, I'm slammed against the wall of the stable with Diamond Sparkle’s foreleg pressing on my neck. She’s a lot stronger than me so no matter how hard I struggle to get out of her grasp, I'm not going anywhere, and I'm finding it difficult to catch my breath.

“LIKE I SAID I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET” she says to me in a calm yet angry voice, she starts to pull a smug grin. “YOU’RE GOING TO BE VOTING FOR MY MOTHER AGAIN FOR OVERMARE AREN’T YOU?” she says looking into my wide eyes with the most evil look I’ve ever seen a pony do.

I nod.

“Good” She smiles, letting her grip from my neck go, dropping me to the ground. I gasp as I try and get my breath back.

“Oh and one more thing” Silver Sparkle says, as she walks past me

*BWAK*

“That’s for trying to make us look stupid” She grunts, bucking me in the face with her fore hoof.

“Next time you’ll end up with more than a bloody nose if you try that teleportation act on us again” Diamond Sparkle swiftly follows suit. They then continue on their walk up the stairs.

I look down at the floor almost in tears, then a drip of blood falls from the tip of my nose and makes a red spot on the ground. I swiftly wipe my eyes and then rub my nose, creating a smear of blood on the tip of my fore hoof. "They have always had it out for me those two, and I’ve always hated them for it, I seem to be their only source of amusement within the stable, not even sure what it is they have against me, but then again everyone else probably thinks the same way about me, it’s just no one shows it as much as the gruesome twosome. I mean whose cutie mark is just a single diamond or just a mirror, come on seriously…"

“Well I thought today was going to be a good day” I sob, picking myself up of the ground, still in shock as I make my way up the stairs towards the canteen. When I enter everypony seems to be there, they were all eating, drinking and discussing who they thought would become the next Overmare. Everypony also seems to be wearing new stable 21 clothing.

“Well at least I wasn’t the only one who got surprise new clothing” I think, walking up to the counter to get some breakfast.

“Oh poor Tessieee, what did they do to you this time?” A familiar voice came from behind the counter… It was Mrs Sugarcube, the cook of stable 21 and the mom of my best friend, and she has always been caring towards me whenever my mom is busy with stable security.

“It’s nothing Mrs Sugarcube I’ll be okay” I reply, looking up at her, I then give her a quick smile.

“But this isn’t nothing” she says in a stern voice, as she levitates a wet towel and wipes my face with it to get the dry blood off, then immediately after chucks a packet off ice at me, it booped my nose as I catch it with my levitation field.

“You have to stop letting them push you around like this Tessie” she says, levitating a bowl of porridge in front of me. 

“I wish she wouldn’t call me Tessie, makes me sound like a filly” I think to myself. I quickly try to change the subject.

“Porridge… again?” I ask, with a slightly disgusted look on my face.

“I’m sorry Tessie” Mrs Sugarcube replies to me with a sad expression on her face “But until we get the apple trees growing again this is all we’ve got for breakfast for the next couple of weeks”.

“Okay…” I sob, levitating the bowl beside me as I walk away from the counter. Then in the corner of my eye, a raspberry muffin levitates in front of my face. I stop and look back towards Mrs Sugarcube who was smiling and waving at me, her horn glowing.

“Thank you” I squee, as I back to her. She always makes the best muffins, after all, her cutie mark is a raspberry muffin.

“Just give me a call whenever you need me… or if Diamond Sparkle ever gives you anymore trouble” she shrugs, looking over at Diamond Sparkle and her sister sat at the other end of the canteen. I quickly glance around the room to try and locate Sugarcube, I spot her sat down eating her porridge. I trot over, carrying my muffin and porridge in a levitation field, and placing then down on the table next to her before taking a seat at the table myself.

“Hey Sugarcube” I smile, sitting down at the table next to her.


“So you finally decided to join every pony” She acknowledges, with her mouth full of porridge. After finally swallowing, she continues with the conversation.

“Diamond Sparkle give you any trouble this morning?” she asks.

“More than usual today” I mutter, letting my ears flop and pulling a sigh. Sugarcube looks down at my still bloodstained hoof, then, looking back up at me, she gives me a big hug. A small sqwee came from my body when I pull a small smile. Sugarcube always finds a way to make me feel a lot better.

“Would you like a piece?” I ask, looking back at sugarcube, levitating the muffin up to her… that is once she had finally stopped hugging me. 

“No thanks” She answers quickly. “I’m stuffed after finishing this amazing porridge” She pulls a big smile, closing her eyes as she does so.

“Yeah…Amazing…” I chuckle, rolling my eyes, I levitating a spoon full of the stuff into my mouth.

“ATTENTION EVERY PONY ATTENTION EVERY PONY” The Overmare’s voice calls over the stable speakers “CAN ALL MARES AND STALLIONS WHO ARE GOING TO BE PLACING THEIR VOTES START HEADING TO THE MAIN HALL NOW”

Without a moment’s notice, everypony starts to leave the canteen in a very swift manner then, in what felt like seconds, Sugarcube and I were the only two left in the canteen. I take a quick glance around the room.

“You coming Tess?” Sugarcube asks, looking at me as she stood back up and starts to walk towards the exit.

“I’ll catch up with you” I reply, smiling and waving a hoof. Sugarcube then starts to trot down the corridor towards the main hall. I look down, back at the porridge left in the bowl, I pull yet another sigh and, levitating the bowl up to my mouth, I gulp down the rest. After levitating the bowl and spoon back to the counter, I then trot out of the canteen and back down the stairwell to my room, still levitating the muffin and bag of ice next to my face. When I open the door to my room I notice a slip of paper on my bed.

“How peculiar” I say to myself, taking a quick glance around the room. After placing the muffin on the desk next to my bed, I levitate the note up to my face to read it.

“Hope you like the new outfit… signed the Overmare”

“Well at least the mystery of the unknown extra pair of stable wear has been brought to light” I think to myself. After opening the bag of ice and slipping out an ice cube to suck on, I walk back out of my room, closing the door behind and then starting trot back towards the canteen. After taking a second ice cube I place the bag back on the counter and start to head off toward the main hall.

As I enter the hall, I can see the multiple lines of ponies all in front of the stalls which contain the voting boxes. I take a slip of paper with my magic and levitate it over to myself then grasp it in my mouth. "I knew standing in line would be the worst part, I’ve always hated waiting…it’s just so… boring" I sit down on my flank, waiting for the line to progress further before standing up again to catch up to the back of the line.
After what seemed like an eternity waiting in line, it is finally my turn to enter the booth. I drop the slip of paper onto the table and levitate the pen placing a tick in the box next to my mom’s name. "My mom is head of security here at stable 21. The three ponies that get their names on the list are the three heads of the stable. The head of imagery, the head of security and the head of technology. Diamond Sparkle’s mom was head of imagery which involves making the stable feel as much like home as possible, basically keeping everypony happy, which is why everypony continues to vote for her. The head of technology here in the stable is in charge of keeping the stable running, making sure everything works. I can’t imagine the lack of hot water going in her favour today, also why am I thinking stuff I already know". After dropping the slip of paper into the box, I pull a small smile and trot happily out of the booth. Once again I head back to my room. I felt like finishing copy 15 of the Power Ponies. Reading is the thing I do the most in the stable, it’s not like there is anything better to do, sport happens in the sports hall and weapons training happens on the range, along with ponies going about their daily lives.

When I open the door, I see Sugarcube sat down in the middle of my room.
“How did you…but I… whaaaat…” The rest of the stuff to leave my mouth is just a lot of babbling. My face is a look of shock.

“Oh you…” Sugarcube chuckles, looking at me “You left the door unlocked silly” she says with a smile on her face.

“Oh… my bad” I reply, with a look of embarrassment.

“Want to play some cards?” Sugarcube asks me whilst lifting a packet of cards from behind her with her magic.

“Sure… why not… but shouldn’t you be working with your mom today?” I ask, as I try to comprehend what had actually just happened.

“Nope” She replies, shaking her head “She said I could have the day off”

I sit down in front of Sugarcube who takes the cards out of the packet and starts to shuffle them. After placing them on the ground she deals two cards to each of us, I raise the two cards up to eye level with my magic.

“Huuummm the nine of clubs and the ace of hearts… so I either have ten or twenty in total” I think, slightly scrunching my nose.

“You got any sevens?” Sugarcube asks in a very enthusiastic voice.

“But isn’t that go fish…” I question Sugarcubes logic with a confuse look “I thought we were playing Blackjack” I say.

“Oh yeah, right” Sugarcube laughs and then looks back at her cards again. “Guess I win then” she says showing her ace of diamonds and king of diamonds.

My face turns to a look of shock as my magic implodes, dropping both my cards.

“But…what…how?” I question, I think Sugarcube has finally managed to break me.

“Well you see the king is equal to 10 and the ace is equal to 11... and that is equal to 21” she says smiling.

I face hoof, causing my nose to bleed again in the process.

“Now wasn’t that a silly thing to do” Sugarcube addresses, levitating the box of tissues next to my bed up to my face.
I took one of the tissues wiping the blood once again off my nose and face.

“Thanks Sugarcube” I smile.

“Don’t mention it” She replies, smiling back, “Again?” She asks, as she back at the pile of cards.

“Sure… why not” I reply, placing my two cards back in the pile. But before Sugarcube could shuffle the pile of cards again the room start to flash red and sirens start to go off, the Overmare’s voice starts to call over the stable speakers.

“CAN EVERYPONY MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE MAIN HALL AS SOON AS PONILY POSSIBLE… I REPEAT CAN EVERYPONY MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE MAIN HALL ASAP”

“Looks like our game of go fish was cut short” Sugarcube says, looking towards me with a worried look.
“But we weren’t playing…” I start to say to Sugarcube, still with a confused look, I shake my head. “Never mind… wonder what’s going on” I worry, looking back at Sugarcube.

“Only one way to find out… let’s go” She replies.

Together we both gallop out of my room. The hallways were full of ponies also galloping towards the stairwell that led up to the main hall. Sugarcube and I both look at each other and then followed suit. When we enter the main hall everypony is sat in rows facing toward the stage where three ponies are stood whispering to each other. Everypony seems just as confused as Sugarcube and I; we took our seats at the back of the hall and face towards the ponies on the stage.

“QUIET EVERYPONY, QUIET!!!” The Overmare screams at the top of her voice. But no pony seems to listen. The unicorn stood next to her in stable security barding shoots a bullet into the ceiling. 

*BANG*

That finally gets every ponies attention.

“That’s my mom” I think, pulling a small grin. Everypony is now looking towards the Overmare who has a very worried look on her face.

“Now that we finally have order we can get down to business” She addresses, looking around the room to check everypony was present. “We have a minor situation on our hooves” she says, squinting her eye. “The water talisman that provides the stable with purified water has broken and needs a replacement” The room erupts into mass panic as everypony seems to talk to everypony else at the same time.

“Doesn’t that mean we are running out of clean water?” One stallion shouts

“We are all gonna die” Another mare cries.

“The horror, the horror” Some other pony screams.

*BANG* 

My mom shoots another bullet into the ceiling. Once again… everypony was quiet.

“We are not all going to die” The Overmare says, trying to sound comforting. “We have tried to get into contact with Stable Tec to get them to send us a replacement, but to no success. Our sister stable, stable 12 can help to provide us with fresh water, but we have to be very conservative with the water they provide us” The Overmare says, still looking over everypony in the crowd, then turning to face the white unicorn with the mulberry coloured mane.

“Now the three of us called you all here as we need a volunteer to leave the stable and head to Stable Tec headquarters in fillydephia” My mom informs everypony with a stern voice. “Once you get there you can acquire a new water talisman and bring it back here so we can replace the old one”

Everypony begins to whisper to the pony next to them; myself and Sugarcube just sit there looking at each other.

“Maybe Teeeessss should go… I mean she could just flyyyyy there and back” Diamond Sparkle says, grinning at me.

“BY THE GODESSES NOT THIS AGAIN” I beg, whilst face hoofing.


“OH WAIT” Diamond Sparkle says, looking at her twin sister “SHE CAN’T FLY” Silver sparkle quickly follows up with.

The whole room explodes into laughter. I slightly unfold my wings, I look at then with a sad expression allowing my ears to droop and then covering my face with my forelegs, almost in tears.

"According to the doctor I was born with a minor gene defect, which has been caused by radiation passed down through generations attacking my family’s DNA. My mom has eyes which glow in the dark; it helps her to see objects clearly even in total darkness. According to my mom, my great great grandmother was a Pegasus and my grandmother was a Pegasus but the DNA change caused by radiation made my mom a unicorn. But… what Diamond Sparkle was saying is true, I have the inability, or lack of knowledge, to be able to fly, not that I’ve had the chance to practice in a stable... AGAIN WHAT IS WITH ME TODAY, POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS" I think.

“ORDER ORDER” Shouts the Overmare whilst the two ponies beside her bang their hooves on the stage floor.

“We have to be serious about this everypony” The Overmare pleads, looking back around the hall.

“it’s going to be a long trek to Fillydelphia, we shall provide you with all the supplies needed for the journey.” My mom says still looking over everypony in the hall.

“I’ll do it”… the room gasps and everypony turned to look at me, Sugarcube's face is now a look of shock. Then my mom picks me up in a levitation field floating me across the room to then drop me on my flank with a thud in front of her.

“You’re not going” My mom orders, as she looks down upon me.

“But I…” I plead. 

“NO” My mom shouts at me interrupting my sentence.

“If she wants to go just let her!” Diamond Sparkle shouts to my mom.

“Somepony needs to go” A random stallion says.

The hall then erupts once again into shouting, I think I hear someone say, let the little mutant go.

“SILENCE” The 3 mares shout once more.

The hall quickly fell once again into silence, and the Overmare walked towards me and then halted in front of me smiling as she looks down at me.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” The Overmare asks me in a calm voice.

“Yes Overmare” I reply confidently.

“Everypony return to your rooms and stay there until further notice!” The Overmare shouts, “Miss Star will you get the security mares to make sure everypony stays within their living quarters until I say they can leave.” The Overmare requests to my mom.

“Yes Overmare I’ll get right on it” My mom answers, she starts trotting out of the hall.

The Overmare and I were the only two ponies left in the room.

“You’re not letting my two daughters get to you now, are you?” The Overmare questions looking back at me after watching my mom leave the hall.

“No miss Overmare” I reply, shaking my head.

“Stable 12 can continue to provide us with fresh water for a long time; it’s just… for the betterment of both the stables that we get a new water talisman” She reasons, looking very sympathetic. “Don’t let us make you think that this is something you have to do”

“I’m not allowed to do anything within the stable until I get a cutie mark” I reply looking up at the Overmare. “So allow me to do something outside of the stable” I smile, trying to get her to see my side of the story.

“If that is your wish” She says smiling back at me “Go back to your room and I shall make sure that you get all the supplies you will need for the journey”

“Thanks Overmare” I reply, sounding more cheerful. After standing up, I trot towards the entrance to the corridors. I turn to look back at the Overmare.

“I won’t let you down, or the stable down for that matter” I say to the Overmare.

“I’m certain you won’t” the Overmare replies, once again smiling at me.

When I got back to my room, I begin to select a few items I think I would need on the trip.
“Spare clothing…check, Towel…check, toothbrush…check, portable medi kit…check” I say to myself, I also grab my copy of episode 15 of the power ponies which I was already hell bent on reading at some point in the future. I then notice the muffin that Sugarcube’s mom had given me. I rap the muffin up in some tinfoil and set it back down on the desk. Then there was a banging on the door to my room.

*Bang bang bang* “You in there Tess?” A voice comes from the other side of the door.

“Yes mom” I reply.

My mom then enters the room levitating her old saddlebag behind her.

“Here you go” My mom says placing the saddlebag on my bed. “In there is everything you will need for your travels ahead of you” She sobs her ears flop as she looks down at the floor. She then gallops at me and embraces me in a big hug. “I’m so proud of you” She cries, bursting into tears. “And if you definitely want to do this, then don’t let me hold you back… You will always be my little filly, no matter what happens” She cries, giving me multiple kisses on the forehead.

“Mom I am 19 now” I reply as she finally lets me go “I can take care of myself” I say, smiling with a tear going down my cheek.


“Yes, I’m sure you can” My mom sobs, sniffling and wiping her eyes with her forehoof. “Make sure you get back okay, and if things get to dangerous gallop back to the stable as fast as you can”

“Will do mom” I reply, smiling at her

“Remember what I always told you as a filly my little Tessia” She says to me.

“Wheeennn life gives you lemons make lemonade?” I ask with a confused look.

“No silly” She replies smiling with a tear still rolling down her cheek. “When you believe in yourself, you can achieve anything”

My mom gives me one last hug “Now get your stuff packed” She says to me as she walks towards the exit of my room “They’re ready to open the stable door” My mom leaves the room closing the door behind her.

I walk over to the saddlebag and open the two flaps to see what my mom had packed for me. I levitate a set of my mom’s spare stable security barding. I immediately slip it over my regular stable clothing and walk over to the mirror. I look exactly like my mom, with the stable barding covering my neck chest and back. I walk back over to the saddlebag. Then, I levitate two bags of coins with labels on, 500 bits for the talisman one read and 100 bits for food the other read. Also in the bag was two days’ worth of food and two water bottles. My attention then turns to the other half of the saddle bag, “Its… empty?” I think to myself. Then, I spot two pieces of paper at the bottom of the bag I levitate them up to eye level. One was a picture of my mom and the other, a picture of Sugarcube. I smile, placing them close to my heart. I place them back in the saddlebag. I fill the second half of the saddlebag with all the other necessary essentials I’d placed aside including the raspberry muffin. Finally closing the saddlebag I place it over my back and tie the straps round my waist. After taking one last look in the mirror, I open the door to my room. Closing the door for what could be the last time I start to head to the Overmare’s office on the third floor. As I walk past the rooms of the other ponies, they were looking through their windows at me.

“One last stop before I go” I say to myself. I stop outside the door to Sugarcube’s room.
“Sugarcube, Sugarcube, you in there?” I ask, knocking on the door to her room. But there was no answer. I try to peek through the gap between the curtain and the window. It doesn't seem like anyone was in there. I sigh, feeling sorry that I wouldn’t be able to say bye to Sugarcube. When I walk into the Overmare’s office, she was stood there with two security mares who were wearing gas masks

“You ready?” She asks, smiling at me.

“As ready as I’ll ever be” I shrug, nodding my head.
The Overmare walks over to the main terminal and opens up a stairwell down to the stable atrium.

“Good luck Tess!” The Overmare shouts to me as the two security mare escort me down the stairs. The fact they were wearing gas masks isn't helping my worries though. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, we were in a room full of electronic equipment and terminals, at one end, the exit to stable 21, and at the other, the entrance to the cave that connects this stable to our sister stable. One of the mares walks over to a terminal, and flips a switch. Red lights start flashing and the alarm starts to sound over the stable speakers. The gigantic arm swings into place, pulling the stable door back and rolling it to the side, revealing what looked like another dark cave. As I walk towards the exit a voice shouts behind me.

“Tess before you go, you have two more visitors” The Overmare shouts at me from the bottom of the stairs.
From behind her, Sugarcube gallops up to me then falls to my hooves in tears

“Don’t go Tess” She cries enveloped in tears “I’ll miss you sooooo muuuuuch”.

I can't stand to see Sugarcube cry.

“I’ll miss you too” I sob, giving Sugarcube a big hug, I also start to cry. “But I’ve already made my decision” I follow up, trying to hold back the waterworks.

“But what if you don’t make it back” Sugarcube sobs “Or what if you become a mutant pony, or a mindless zombie pony… or a mutant, zombie, pony!” She shouts at me tears rolling down her cheek.

“Wait… what?” I think, still questioning the logic of Sugarcube. “And technically aren’t I already a mutant pony” I ponder.

“I’ll be okay” I reply sniffling and wipe my own as well as Sugarcubes tears from my face. “Plus you have my pipbuck I.D” I say to her pointing at her pipbuck. “You can keep track of me and send messages to me whenever you wish” I smile at her.
Sugarcube finally picks herself up off of the ground, wiping both her eyes.

“Promise…” she sobs, as she looks into my eyes still sniffling.

“I promise” I reply, placing my hoof on my heart. I look over her shoulder to see a light blue stallion earth pony with a red and black striped mane. It is Hotshot, "oh my celeatia, Hotshot, the best shooter in stable 21 has come to say bye to me, just keep you cool tess" I think. Sugarcube takes a few steps back and allows Hotshot to step in front of me.

“I… err?” He mutters to me, “I thought you might want this” He says unstrapping his gun holster with the pistol still attached along with a note. “I’ve kept that pistol in pristine condition, it’s one of the reasons why I’m such a good shot” He says smiling at me. “No one knows what you’ll face out there, and if the zebras have taken over then…there is even more of a reason for you to have it” he smiles, looking straight into my eyes.

“Thanks very much Hotshot, I… don’t know what to say” I thank, slightly blushing.

“Think nothing of it” He replies, booping my nose, making me blush even more. my face is probably bright red. I levitate the holster, strapping it to my left forehoof and placing the note in my saddlebag. Finally I give them both one more big hug and start walking towards the cave. When I make it to the other side of the stable door, the sirens start once again, I can't look back at Sugarcube as I knew it would just bring me to tears again. When the stable door slid back into position the cave is brought into total darkness.

“May the light of Celestia’s sun guide me on this mission” I say, placing my hoof over my heart. Turning on my pipbuck light brought the cave into a green light, I scream, as I see the skeletons of ponies who had tried to get into the stable during the war.

“It’s okay Tess keep it together” I think, as I step over the bones towards what looked like the cave entrance.
When I step out of the cave I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. From these mountains I could see practically all of Equestria or at least what was left of it. The land that was Equestria seems dead. Trees are stripped of all there leaves and the ground seems to be in ashes. There was no sun shining in the sky as it is completely overcast with dark clouds. It had lost all that so called magic that everypony talks about in the stable. Then it hits me, I think I finally understand how impossible this mission is going to be. Then my pipbuck vibrats. I lifted it up so see what it was; it was a message from Sugarcube.

“Miss you already” It read. “Once again just Sugarcube being Sugarcube” I say to myself.

My pipbuck had labelled the area as Unicorn Mountains, I try to zoom out on the pipbuck map to see what other locations it has revealed to me, but unfortunately this was the only destination it seems to know. I can make out the different major cities on the map but I have no idea which one is Fillydelphia. Taking a deep breath I calm myself; I don't want stress to take over. Looking to the east I can see what looks like Canterlot, the big castle perched on the side of the mountain makes it an easily recognisable feature in story books. "It seems to be reasonably intact from here" I think. 

“Well if I’m going to start anywhere, it’s the capital, It’s at times like this I wish I could fly” I begin to think as I kick some stones of the side of the cliff face. “I wonder what the note Hotshot gave me says” I think, levitating the note out of my saddlebag.

“It’s too dangerous to go alone, take this…”

“Oh no he didn’t” I chuckle, smiling at the pun.

The note also had a pipbuck I.D written on it.

“N035P54 Keep me posted x …”

I type the I.D into my pipbuck, after I send him a message with my pipbuck I.D. After I take one more look in the direction of Canterlot, I start the trek down the mountain.

> Chapter 2: A Wasteland Welcome
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


“Looks like I have a long road ahead of me” I think, trotting along the dusty pathway down the mountain. The air just doesn’t feel right; it just doesn’t taste as clean as the air within the stable. I look around at the barren wasteland that is now Equestria, I see what looks to be a small village just south at the bottom of the mountain that leads up to Canterlot.

“Should probably stop there for some supplies, and possibly meet a friendly pony or two”

Then suddenly the path just seems to end… “Luna damn it” I whisper, peeking over the edge. “The slope isn’t too steep, I could probably just slide down” I take off my saddlebag and levitate it down to the bottom of the slope, I can only just see the bottom in the darkness. I’m uncertain about what the ground looks like so I can’t just teleport down.

“Well here goes nothing” I say. I slip onto my side and start to slide down the slope. I dig my hooves into the dirt using them to decrease or increase my rate of descent. When I reach the bottom I pick myself up and brush all the dirt off my coat and stable barding. I feel like I have brought half the slope with me, my side is burning from the friction. I take a sip from one of my water bottles and then pour some of it onto my flank.

“Mustn’t waste too much” I consider, putting the cap back on the bottle.

I am now on the edge of a small wood; I can no longer see Canterlot. I pull up my E.F.S compass looking around until it was pointing east. Then, I can hear music getting ever closer to me. I dive into the nearest bush. A strange robot, playing what sounds like a big mish mash of instruments including what sounds like a trombone, and a harmonica. The robot stops what seems only a few metres from the bush I am hiding in. The music stops and my heart freezes, I start holding my breath, all I can hear is my own heartbeat. The strange robot starts looking around, as if it knows somepony is here. Then it starts to float off into the woods, continuing to play the strange but catchy music. My forehead is sweating bricks.

“Pheeeewww” I sigh.

I crawl out of the bush, and rub all the leaves and branches off of me. I look down at my E.F.S. I start to trot my way towards the east. The wood is dark; it feels like all the dead trees are watching my every move. Trotting through the forest, I feel like I am reliving one of my old nightmares. To my right I hear something galloping through the forest towards me, my body immediately turns my trotting into a gallop. I slide to a halt just outside the wood, I levitate the 10mm pistol in the direction I had just come from, two creatures jump out of the forest at me, claws showing.

My eyes widen, I use my magic and teleport myself about 10 metres to the right. I unload about half the rounds towards the first creature, it lets out a scream as one bullet pierces its chest and then finally stops as the last bullet penetrates its skull.

“Oh shit” I think, I barely have time to right myself before the second creature starts to charge at me. I slip into S.A.T.S “First time for everything” I say, as my perception of time almost came to a halt. “I’ve never actually used S.A.T.S before; I wasn’t the best mare in the stable when it came to using a pistol either… One again Tess your stating the obvious to yourself.” I think. I use S.A.T.S to lock onto first the head then the body and finally the back legs. Time then starts to continue as normal with S.A.T.S taking over my magic. I fire 3 bullets towards the creature. The first two miss but the third strikes home, the creature falls to the ground. It then starts running back into the woods, limping and bleeding.

“That will teach you to mess with this mare” I shout at the creature, firing off the rest of my round in the general direction of the creature as it disappears into the darkness of the woods.

Turing back around, I see the first creature, still lying dead; I walk up to it to get a better look. The smell is horrid; I think I just threw up in my mouth. The creature is about half the size of me and looks like an overgrown rat. I tap the creature with a forehoof to make sure it is dead and not going to jump at me again.

“Well you’re a retched thing aren’t you” I say to the dead animal. I swallow what was left of the flem I had almost thrown up not a second ago, and take a few steps away from the oversized rat. I take one of the spare magazines from my saddlebag and hold it up to the pistol with my magic. 

“Now how did the teachers say I reload one of these again?” I ask myself “maybe… this button here?” The mag falls from the pistol and hits the floor with a thud. “Well that’s a start” I think, as I place the spare mag in the bottom of the pistol. “Now… there was one more thing I have to do? Oh yeah” I cock the pistol finishing the loading process.  “That wasn’t so bad” I say to myself, pulling a smiling. “At least I know now for when I ever have to reload during combat.” I squee.

I scan the horizon, looking for anything that may also decide to attack me. Pulling back up my E.F.S I start to walk in the general direction of the little village hidden within the shadow of Canterlot.

After what feels like hours of walking, I finally reach the top of the hill that overlooks the village. “Looks more like a town now that I think about it, wonder if anypony is around” I think, squinting my eyes and taking a quick glance around the town. It looks pretty much abandoned; there isn’t a building around town that doesn’t have either a wall or part of the roof missing.

“Time check” I think, raising my forehoof to check the time “16:48” the pipbuck says it is.

“It will be getting dark soon” I think, as I look up to the sky “although I can hardly believe it can actually get any darker”

Down the hill just to the left of the town was a small barn surrounded by a vast amount of dead trees. Curiosity takes over my mind. I start to trot over to the old barn. I’m about 100 metres from the barn when my E.F.S flares up a sign in the left hand corner of my vision “Sweet Apple Acres” the sign says. As I walk into the barn I spot a computer terminal.

“Why would an old apple farm need a computer terminal” I think, as I walk up to the computer. “Let’s see here” I say pressing my hoof on one of the keys. The terminal has a password. I rub the top of my head with my forehoof, seeing the many different symbols and words on the screen. It is starting to make my head spin. I press one of the symbols. “} entry denied, 0 out of 9 correct” the more I look at this terminal the more confused I’m becoming.

“How does this blasted machine work” I shout, at the top of my voice. My stable brain just isn’t comprehending this, I give up. I trot up the wooden stairwell to the second floor of the barn. I look around and see old barrels and boxes along with 100 year old hay. I walk over to one of the boxes that catches my eyes. I take a deep breath and blow on the box, it send lots of dust and dirt into the air.

*cough cough cough* I splutter, as I try to breath in clean air.

“Property of Stable Tec, for all your stable needs” the box has engraved on it. Without thought I push the lid of the box. “Let’s see what we have here” I say, more dust is sent into the air. In the container is a load of old stable equipment, spare parts and scrap metal.

“Not what I was hoping for” I say, pulling a frown, not seeing a water talisman “Maybe I am being too ambitious” I think. At the bottom of the barrel there is a note, I levitate the note up to eye level and turn on my pipbuck light, as it is very difficult to see without any artificial lighting.

“My dearest friend Apple Bloom, here is the rest of the equipment you requested for the development of Stable 2; including a spare generator, spare flux vector, spare mainframe and some new drainage pipes, signed by a Ms Scootaloo.

My mind begins to process all this information, “What in the name of Celestia is a flux vector” I think, scrunching my nose a little, pulling a look of confusion. I place the note in my saddle bag. I look at the text on all the other boxes and barrels; they all read property of Stable Tec. They also all have similar notes inside, all giving ownership to this so called Apple Bloom of stable 2. Then realisation sets in. “There must be another stable nearby… but where?” I think. I spot a hole in the roof of the barn; I walk over to it and peer through the gap. I look over the nearby town, many thoughts start to run round my brain. “If I was a stable, where would I be? They are all meant to be in caves right” I say under my breath. I scan the horizon for a cave entrance that could lead to a stable, but it’s way too dark, I can’t see anything far into the distance. 

“Oh, horse apples” I say.

Hope begins to fill me when I spot three ponies walking on the edge of the town, I pull a big smile and a squee erupts from my body.

“HEY!” I shout at the top of my voice.

Climbing onto the roof I slide down, falling off the side of the barn I use my wings to glide me to the ground. I hit the ground a little harder than I expected, shaking off the dirt I continue to try and make myself heard. 

“YOU PONIES, OVER HERE!” I shout, galloping down the hill towards them. They turn toward my direction to look at me, spotting my pipbuck light. 

I gasp as the three ponies draw their weapons and start to walk towards me. I abruptly come to a halt.

“DON’T MOVE!” the deep voice of the stallion shouts at me.

Before I have the chance to even think about pulling out my pistol from its holder, my own weapon is pressing right on the side of my head; in another unicorn’s levitation field.

The two earth pony stallions and the one unicorn mare form a tight triangle around me, without warning I am thrown to the ground in a levitation field, I hit the ground with a thud. It knocks the wind out of me.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here” the red stallion say in a sinister voice. 

“You smell clean” the green one says sniffing at my mane. 

“Fresh out of the stable are we?” The purple unicorn mare says as she looks over my stable barding. She pulls a look of confusion as she notices my wings and horn. “They shall pay double for you” she grins. I try to speak, but the levitation field is preventing me from shouting all the curse words going on in my head at her. 

“What does she means pay double for me?” I think, I was in shock “Why are they doing this to me?”

“Shackles” The purple unicorn shouts over to the red earth pony.

“Yes Dixie” The earth pony, who I now assume is called Shackles, replies.

“Give her the traditional wasteland welcome” Dixie grins.

“With pleasure” Shackles replies, he starts to walk over to me, grinning.

“Enjoy it while it lasts kid” Dixie chuckles.

*CRACK*

The neck of Dixie explodes into a spray of blood, her magic implodes. A long thunderous boom follows the crack. Her body drops to the floor with a thud.

“SNIPER” Shackles shouts at the green earth pony. They both gallop in opposite directions.

I scramble to my hooves and gallop towards one of the buildings, focusing my magic I teleport just outside of the door, I gallop inside as the crack of another bullet hits the door frame, and the boom shortly follows. I close the wooden door behind me and turn of my pipbuck light, the room turns to darkness.


“Sweet Celestia’s mercy” I pant, I collapse in a heap on the floor. I spot a blob on my nose; I wipe my face with my hoof.

I scream, the blood of Dixie all over me. I levitate the towel out of my saddle bag and wipe my face with it, covering it in Dixie’s blood. The light from my magic is allowing me to see the building more clearly, it is full of old sofas.

“A… sofa shop?” I question. I decide to keep the towel levitating beside me, allowing the magical aura to light up the room enough for me to see objects in front of me.

My E.F.S compass flares up again, showing a red dot.

*BOOM*

The loud gunshot echoes throughout the building, the red dot disappears from my E.F.S.

“What do I do now?” I worry. I get up onto my hooves and look around the room. I walk over to a counter at the other side of the room and take a look behind it, an old business card lies on the counter.

“Quills and Sofas, for all your sofa and quill needs” I read aloud “Although I’ve not seen a single quill… must have been out of quills” I think, shrugging my shoulders. I look on the different shelves behind the counter.

“8 bottles caps, 1 shotgun shell, a piece of paper, a paper clip and a small mirror…nothing of any use whatsoever” I think “Maybe the mirror though” 

I place the mirror in my bag and walk away from the counter, towards the door to the back room. Before I open the door, I hear something smash on the other side. I use my magic to pull my gun out of its holster

“BUCK!” I think as I realise where my gun was, it was out there under the dead body of what was Dixie. I slowly push open the door; all I see is a cat in the middle of the room.

“Hey there little fella, what you doing here?” I say to the cat, it hisses at me then jumps out of a nearby window. “Not even the cats are friendly” I think.

The room looks like a kitchen, there is an old cooker and fridge along with multiple cupboards which I hope will contain something of use. I open the first cupboard to see some old cups and dishes, mostly smashed.

“Nothing of interest whatsoever” I sigh, as I move onto the next cupboard, this one has old boxes of cereals. “Cupcake Crips…so sweet and tasty” The box was unopened.

“Only 98 years out of date… how sweet and tasty can they be now?” I think. There is also a box of pinkie puffs, “Stays crispy… FOREVER” I read, the box was already open “Probably not crispy anymore” I think. I levitate one of the puffs out of the box. “Hopefully this won’t kill me” I place it in my mouth and bite on it. “Well what do you know…still crispy, also still has a slight honey taste” I say.

I vote on the Cupcake Crisps as it is the only box that isn’t open, I place the box of Cupcake Crisps in my saddle bag. I walk over to the fridge and open the door, inside is an unopened bottle of a drink called Sparkle Cola.

“Well I am kinda thirsty” I think.

I levitate the bottle out of the broken down fridge and pull the bottle cap off with my teeth, spitting it onto the floor. I gulp down the Sparkle Cola, my pipbuck starts to click.

“Must have been a small amount a radiation within the cola, nothing to major though” I guess. I place the empty bottle in the fridge. I open the final cupboard next to the fridge, inside is an old combat knife.

“Not exactly my old 10mm pistol…but it will have to do” I accept. “Not much else here” I conclude, heading back towards the front door. 

I place the towel back in my saddle bag, which brings the room back into darkness. I open the door with my forehoof and take a peek outside.

“All seems clear” I think. I can see what looks like the town hall to the east, a bell tower to the north and a huge dead tree to the west. “Where do I go from here?” I ponder. I gallop towards the huge dead tree.

*CRACK… BOOM*

The bullet flies through the hairs of my tail as I run through the door into the tree, I dive round the corner. I close my eyes and hug my tail; this sniper is determined to kill me. I open my eyes; I gasp and cry a horrible scream. Hanging from the roof were dead ponies, some with limbs missing, others had their entire head removed.

“How can ponies do this to other ponies?” I cry, tears going down my cheek. My E.F.S flares up; another notice appears “Golden Oak Library… So this tree is a library” I think, still sobbing.


I try to blank out the hanging ponies as I get back on my hooves. I walk over to the book shelf and quickly scan some of the books that were left.

“Arcane science for dummies…no, You’re SPECIAL…no, How to make apple cider… no, The Elements of Harmony? That could be interesting” I contemplate, I throw the other books over my shoulder and place the ‘The Elements of Harmony’ book in my saddle bag. I quickly look over the books on the shelves once more; nothing else seems to catch my eye. I walk away from the bookshelves and walk up a set off wooden steps. Reaching the second floor, I look around; I’m in some sort of bedroom.

“Did somepony live here?” I question. On the wall is a poster, it was slightly torn and had holes in the image. The picture depicts a lavender unicorn with a purple mane; next too what looks like Princess Luna, Luna’s face has all sorts of dirty comments written over it. I cringe and take a gander at the bold text on the poster.

“Knowledge i-… join the ministry of Arca-” the poster is missing some of the text due to the tears in the poster. 

I pull the poster off the wall, being careful not to damage it any further, then, after folding it up, I place it with the book in my saddlebag.

“Tess you haven’t been in the wasteland for one day yet and you’re already starting to hoard things; you have a serious problem… I’ve already started talking to myself this can’t be good for your *cough cough* I mean my health” I argue with myself.

I walk up to a dresser next to the old bed, Opening the draw, I see a book “Starswirl the Bearded” is the book’s title. I begin to place it in my saddle bag.

“NO! Don’t start this all over again” I shout at myself, throwing the book across the room. It hits the wall with a thud. I tap my head with my forehoof “You’ve already gotten this far don’t spoil it now” I think. “But, no harm in taking one pee- NO!” I force myself to ignore the rather… interesting looking book.

I take a deep breath and walk out of the room, still trying my best to ignore the book. I take the mirror out of my saddlebag and look at it. Blood stains cover my face and mane.

“Hopefully you will stay the same on the inside Tess” I sigh, placing the mirror back in my saddlebag.

I walk up to the front door and peek around the frame trying not to expose myself to a fate similar to that of Dixie.

“Where to go now?” I question, the bell tower is now ahead of me and the town hall to my right. “Bell tower it is” I decide.

Without hesitation, I gallop towards the bell tower. Half way down the street I see something move in the bell tower, I focus my magic and teleport behind an old apple cart.

*CRACK*

The bullet flies over the top of the apple cart and hits the path where I was just running.

*BOOM* the sound of the gunshot echoes down the street.

“pheew… that was close” I sigh, wiping the sweat of my forehead.

I levitate the mirror from my saddlebag and hold it above the cart. The sniper is in the bell tower, I can see the shadow of the pony in the reflection of the mirror. Then there was a flash.

*SMASH*

The sniper shoots the mirror and it is flung from my telekinetic energy by the speed of the bullet, my magic implodes.

“My mirror” I cry.

I look around to find the nearest building to teleport to; I spot an alley to my left. Focusing my magic I attempt to teleport into the alley, I close my eyes only to open them again, finding myself still behind the apple cart.

“Why am I not teleporting…? I should be teleporting” I question. “Looks like I won’t be teleporting anytime soon, but does the sniper know that?” I think. 

I spot a bottle not far down the street. I levitate it along the floor and up to the apple cart. I take a quick peek over the cart, making sure the sniper was still looking.

“For once Tess you actually have a plan” I smile

I turn my pipbuck light on and off in rapid succession and throw the glass bottle with my magic, hoping it would get the sniper’s attention. It smashes on the floor by a building on my right, a second later I gallop into the alley and enter one of the buildings.

I have run into an old pub, there is a bar and the room is full of tables. Above the bar was a glass cabinet, inside was an old, purple bow with silver markings, 5 black arrows with silver tips and a purple quiver. My eyes light up at the sight of the bow and arrows.

I walk over to the bar and jump onto it, I try to open the case with my magic, then with my forehooves.

“Luna damn it” I curse.

I look around the room and see a screwdriver and a bobby pin on one of the tables.

“Ah ha” I grin.

I levitate a broken plank of wood next to the table and hit it against the glass.

*SMASH* 

The glass case shatters into tiny pieces.

I levitate the strap of the quiver over my head and place 4 of the arrows inside; I levitate the bow over to get a closer look.

“It’s so… pretty” I admire, bedazzled by the bow.

I clip the fifth arrow to the draw string.

*Crack*

I spin around and draw the bow, in the doorway is a grey earth pony holding a long gun with a round barrel. He is wearing strange armour with spiked shoulder pads. We are in a standoff, staring face to face, weapons pointed at each other. We were both hesitant to fire.

I spread my wings, trying to shock the pony, his jaw drops, dropping the gun at his hooves, I let go of the draw string.

The arrow flies through the air, swiftly penetrating the pony’s neck between the gap in his helmet and armour. The stallion falls to the floor, panting and in shock, blood oozing from the wound in his neck. I walk over to the stallion and look down at him, he looks back up at me with wide eyes, the only thing keeping this stallion alive is the arrow still stuck in his neck. I close my eyes wrapping the arrow in a telekinetic field, then, without hesitation, I pull the arrow from his neck. The stallion flinches, pulls one more gasp for air, and then stops completely. I fall to the floor in tears.

“Why Tess, why, why, why did you have to do that?” I sob, tears rolling down my cheek.

A strange feeling runs down my body from my brain to my flank, I quickly look over my body. There it is, the mark of a bow and arrow surrounded by 4 stars painted there on my flank.

“MY CUTIE MARK!” I shout.

I start jumping around the room, and then I realise what I had done to achieve it.

“My own cutie mark is going to haunt me for life” I sob, about to start crying again.

“Once again Tess you screwed up big time” I sob “except this time you’re stuck with it” I complain, Anger starts to take over my body.

“STUPID WASTELAND!” I shout, bucking a table, sending a glass bottle flying and smashing at the other side of the room. “YOU’VE GONE AND DANG FUCKED ME UP FOR LIFE NOW!” I curse.

I sit down on my flank with a thud, panting for air.

“Feel better now?” My own thoughts sounding very sarcastic.

“Now now now Tess, don’t let this one event stray you away from your current objective” I think, giving myself some breathing space.

I take a deep breath, standing back up off of my now slightly bruised flank.

“But I’ve just killed somepony… what if I’m forced to do something like that again?” I worry, I slam my head on a nearby table.

“Ow” I sigh “Let’s not do that again” My now aching head is telling me.

I shake my head to get back my composure. I take a second look around the bar, placing the draw string of the bow over my head so the bow is resting on my back and placing the blood-stained arrow into the quiver

“Let’s see what else is hidden here” The bar seems to have been raided already, not a single bottle was unopened nor a single object in any of the cupboards.

I walk behind the bar to check the till; I give the machine a tug, trying to open it. I pull out the combat knife from my saddlebag and use it as a leaver to pry open the slot. The till finally gives; I’m in shock to actually find any bits left.

“Thought someone would have made off with these by now” I think. About 150 bits are still in the till.

I take the bag of bits from my saddlebag and fill it with the other 150 bits.

“Okay so now I have 250 bits for food, once I run out of my original supply of course” 

I walk over to a door at the other side of the room, which I assume leads into the kitchen. I push my hoof on the door, it doesn’t open. I push harder, but the door still doesn’t open.

“Locked?” I guess.

I look back to the table with the bobby pin and screw driver. I had heard rumours of ponies using these things in my stable to get into other ponies’ rooms.

“I guess I could give this a try” I contemplate, levitating them over to me. “I mean if those idiots could do it… how hard it can it be?”

I place the bobby pin and screw driver into the lock and start to fiddle around with it.

“Come on… almost there”

*SNAP*

The bobby pin breaks

“Look who’s the idiot now” My mind sarcastically points out. “Guess I had that one coming”

I try to not delve too deep into my stupidity as I start to walk over to the front door. I push the dead pony away from the door so it was obstructing my exit, I take a small peak round the corner into the alley no make sure no pony was lying in wait for me.

“Looks like it is all clear, for now” I guess, taking slow paces out of the bar, and into the alleyway. I hug the wall as I peak round the corner to look at the bell tower. I can’t see the sniper anymore.

“That can’t have been the sniper I killed, could it?” I question looking back down the alley. A Sense of relief rolls over me.

“You did good this time Tess” I smile, walking into the street.

I walk about 200 metres down the street when I remember Sugarcube and Hotshot. I look at the time on my pipbuck.

“7:48”

“They are probably worried sick about me” I worry. 

I lie back on a wall and raise up my pipbuck to send them an audio message.

“Hey Sugarcube, hey Hotshot, it’s me, Tess. Equestria is a horrible place now; I’ve never seen anything like it. I avoided capture, rape and even death within the space of 2 hours… how do you like them apples… anyway I’m in an old town just south of Canterlot, you know the big castle from the story books. I also got my cutie mark, don’t really want to say how I got it though, I shall explain it to you when I get back… missing you lots, message end”

I attempt to send the recording to my friend’s pipbucks, but it just shows me an error.

“What?” I question, attempting to fix the error. My pipbuck starts to flash warnings.

“Error: #459b420a
Connection to stable 21 lost attempting to reconnect 1…2…3…4…5…6…7
Error: re-connection to stable 21 mainframe failed
Rebooting in replica mode… 1…2…3…4…5
Attempting to connect to nearest stable…1…2…3…
Connection success
You are now connected to stable 2 mainframe”

“What in the name of Equestria?” I question, my face turns blank.

“I don’t want some random buck ass stable tracking my every move” I think, turning off the broadcaster in my pipbuck.

“Looks like my messages to my friends are going to have to wait” I sigh.

My pipbuck starts to pick-up static. I look down at my pipbuck and start to tune the receiver.

“GOOOOD EVENING WASETLAND!” a deep stallion’s voice bellows out of my pipbuck, I turn the volume down.

“This is DJ-Pon3 coming at you with the news, those of you who are around the area of the slave trading post near ponyville have got a little more to worry about then just slavers. Turns out there is a sniper around, wouldn’t like to get on the wrong end of his rifle, so stay away from there ponies of the wasteland. Once again this is DJ-Pon3, and now for one of Octavia’s classics, I know how much you all like this one” The broadcast ends with classical music from what sounds like a cello. 

“I’m not one for classical music myself” I think, turning the volume on my pipbuck all the way down.

Then, it hits me.

“Wait a second” I think pulling up my pipbuck map; I zoom out to then realise where I am, Ponyville.

“Great work Tess the one location you pick is the one everypony is told to stay away from”

I stand back on my hooves and trot down the street; I pass what looks like an old gingerbread house. I stop and look at it.

“No harm in taking one look inside” I guess, rolling my eyes.

I walk up to the door and push it open, it creeks on its hinges. The building was in ruins, tables overturned, old banners hung from the ceiling and…. “Streamer’s?” I question, looking at what had been the scene of a party. My E.F.S pops up another sign.

“Sugarcube Corner”

The sight of the name makes my heart break, the thought of Sugarcube when they tell her my pipbuck tag has disappeared from their mainframe runs through my mind.

I walk around the room looking at old bottles and plates some with 100 year old cupcakes still on them. On one of the walls is a picture depicting a pink earth pony with long pink hair. This picture is in better condition than the other one I picked up. The text on the image reads.

“Pinkie is watching… FOREVER, join the ministry of moral”

I try and resist the urge to take the interesting poster, but I cave in and levitate the poster into my saddlebag.

“Damn it Tess and your love for all things interesting” I complain. “You will fill up your saddlebag eventually, and then where will you put your stuff?” I ask myself.

I look towards the stairs; they are broken about halfway up. I look around for an alternate way to the upper floor; I then spot a hole in the ceiling above the counter.

I take a deep breath and jump onto the counter. The hole looks only just big enough for me to fit through. I crouch down and jump as high as I can, wrapping my hooves onto the ledge, I attempt to pull myself up.

“Damn it… This isn’t the first time you have screwed up my life” I mutter, my wings were stopping me from climbing through the hole

I can see into the upper floor, it was also full of streamers. On the desk next to the bed was a rolled up piece of paper, I levitate it over to me and place it on the counter below me. Taking one more look around the room my hooves could hold me no longer, I drop from the ledge and fall onto the counter.

“Shit” I mutter as a loose nail in the counter grazes my left hind leg; it draws a small amount of blood.

“Best idea ever” I mutter sarcastically. 

I pull the still blood-stained towel back out of my saddlebag. I pour a small amount of water over an area of the towel that doesn’t have blood on it and press it against my wound. 

I look around for the piece of paper I placed on the counter.

“Damn it, where is it… it has to be here somewhere” I worry.

I limp behind the counter and find it on the floor.

“Phew” I sigh.

I grasp the note on my telekinesis and levitate it up to eye level, it was a letter. I unroll the envelope and tear it open.

The envelope burst out streamers and confetti at me. I jump away from the envelope spreading my wings in shock.

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF-” I pause,

“Who in all of Equestria would do that to a pony, that scared the living Celestia out of me” I scream.

I take a close look at the envelope, inside was a party invitation.

“To my dearest pet Gummy, I know I’m not around too often anymore, so I set up this party just for you. Isn’t it fun? You’re the best alligator ever; also I’m having a Pinkie’s last party party next week. Hope to see you there Gummy. Love Pinkie Pie.”

“At least that explains the pa- wait a minute, ALLIGATOR!” I scream.

“What type of pony keeps an alligator as a pet?” I think. “Guess that explains the uneaten cakes”

I take one more quick look around the building, nothing else of any use.

“Just more bottle caps” I sigh, throwing then to the side as I walk towards the door.

My leg is feeling less sore now, so I unwrap the towel and place it back in my saddlebag. I walk out the door and continue on the trip down the road. 

“I’m quite close to the town hall maybe I should stop th-”

*BOOM*

I scream in agony as pain flows up my left flank, I collapse to the floor. I look at my flank to see blood flowing out of a hole just above my cutie mark. I attempt to get back up only to fall back down in a pool of my own blood.

“You have me where you want me… just get it over with… arrh” I cry out. The thought of failure fills my brain, I said I wouldn’t let them down and now I’m going to die with that on my mind “Why don’t you just kill me” My vision is starting to blur.

Something then wraps me in a telekinetic field, I find myself being dragged along the floor and into a nearby building.

I look up at what looks like a unicorn mare, she drops me at her hooves with a thud.

My vision goes black, and I lose all feeling in my right flank.

> Chapter 3: Magic and Static
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My world slowly starts to come back to me, I open my eyes to find myself back in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. I attempt to stand back on my hooves but a tight pain goes up the left flank forcing me back down again.

“So, finally awake are we?” A mare’s voice echoes around the stable.

“Who are you… where are you?” I ask the mysterious voice.

“Now now now” the voice echoes “I’m the one who brought you, here so I’m the one who will ask all the questions”

The voice of the mare sounds in a little distress, but still sounds intimidating.

“Errm… okay then… what would you like to know?”

“I like to know more about where all these Alicorns are coming from” The voice questions me.

“The… what now?” I question, pulling a look of confusion. “…What in Equestria is an ali-”

Before I even have a chance to finish my own thoughts, I’m being lifted up into the air in a levitation field.

“PUT ME DOWN PUT ME DOWN PUT ME DOWN!” I say screaming, I hate being picked up off the ground. At least my mom understands this and drags me along the floor.

“Now now now don’t be playing games with me, I’m the wrong mare to buck with” The voice now starts to sound angry.

“But I have no idea what you are talking abo-”

*THUD*

The unicorn drops me to the floor, causing a small amount of pain in my back.

“Ow” I mutter.

The telekinetic energy envelopes my wings and extends them.

“So how do you explain these?” The unicorn questions.

I explain to the mare where I was from and how I got my wings, the barn falls silent for a minute.

“How interesting” the unicorn seems a little confused by the matter.

The voice now sounds like it was just in front of me, then the unicorn appears right in front of my nose.

Standing there is a light blue unicorn, the lower half of her face covered by a scarf and she has some strange pistol in a holster attached to her forehoof along with two sets of knives holstered in straps attached to her side. Her mane was cover by a hood


“Now that we get to see each other face to face” The mare says “I’m Kinetra, wasteland survivor and my special talent is telekinesis”

The mare pulls back her hood to reveal her black mane with a red highlight. Her cutie mark depicted two knives in a cross shape surrounded by a telekinetic field much like the one on my cutie mark.

“I’m Tessia Starbow, but you may call me Tess, resident of stable 21 and my special talent…” I pause to look back at my cutie mark; my flank is wrapped in bandages. “I… I don’t know something to do with a bow I think” I sigh.

“You don’t know?” Kinetra asks, pulling a look of confusion “But you have a cutie mark? So surely you know what your special talent is” She says, pointing at my flank

I explain the whole predicament I was in; I tell Kinetra where I was from, why I was put here and how I got my cutie mark. Kinetra genuinely seems interested about my story.

“Tell me… what was it like to live in a stable?”

“Life was great, we live in luxury and our stable had everything from a sports hall to a shooting range” I say enthusiastically, however I did just kind of lie about the life being great and all.

“So erm…now that you have heard about my life…may I ask about your story” I ask looking up at Kinetra.

Kinetra smiles then looks at the ground, she starts to tell me her story.



***

12 hours earlier...

I gaze out across the Barren wasteland, spotting the ruins of Ponyville in the distance. My scarf covers my mouth and nose as dust and sand whips up into my face.

“It's more windy than usual” I mutter to myself “And that's making it hard to see”.

Suddenly I spot it through the dust, a small glimmer. Trotting over to the glimmer I see my dagger in full detail. The blade shines a silvery hue and the handle is made of a dark wood wrapped in black leather. The tarnished steel pommel of the dagger is set with an emerald which I scavenged from an old abandoned gem mine.

Lifting it with my telekinesis, I place it with the two other daggers in their sheaths on my left flank. I glance over my right flank to make sure that my other three daggers are also still in place and my pistol in its holster. All 6 of my daggers have different scavenged gemstones in their steel pommels. There is the emerald as well as a topaz, a sapphire, an amethyst, a piece of jet and the hardest to find gem of my collection, an Opal.

Seeing that everything is in place, I continue onwards, towards the city of Ponyville where I am to search for supplies. Mostly, I'm after medical supplies because I only have a few left, however I will take food and drink, new clothing and tailoring supplies and of course, any gemstones that I can find. It's good being alone because you only have yourself to fend for, no one else to feed or clothe and no responsibilities. I don't know where my parents are, they just sort of vanished one day, by now they could be ghouls or even dead. But that's in the past now and I have to fend for myself.

I approach the city from the west side, knowing from experience that the north side is dangerous, and the south side is a long walk. However, despite my caution, I still find myself confronted with two angry looking fire ants. I open my mouth to speak, and then close it again because there really isn't much point in talking to something that doesn't understand me. 

The fire ants begin to scuttle rapidly forward now, charging me. It takes barely any effort to grab my first dagger with telekinesis and send it spinning through the air, to land square between the closer fire ant's eyes, killing it instantly. The other fire ant is close now. Thinking quickly, I use some telekinesis to whip some sand into the fire ant's eyes, causing it to recoil hissing. With the few seconds I had gained, I lift up a large boulder nearby and drop it suddenly on the fire ant, which perishes under the weight. Striding forwards I draw my dagger out of the first fire ant's skull using telekinesis, cleaning it of the blood before returning it to its sheath.

“Those vermin won't be bothering anyone anymore”

I continue into Ponyville, where I proceed with caution, keeping to the shadows of the buildings around me whilst looking for somewhere I might be able to find supplies. At one point another unicorn sprints gracefully across the street before vanishing between the gap of two building's. I continue forward with my wits around me, moving ever deeper into the maze that is Ponyville.

I glance around as I come across a crossroads. Moving swiftly, I enter the building on my left, but immediately regret it as I’m confronted with a gruesome sight.

“Eeewwww” I moan in disgust, taking a step back and pulling a wiry face at the scene before me.

The festering corpses of two ponies lay on the ground before me, being slowly nibbled away at by the multitudes of insects crawling over them. I’m about to back out of the building back into the street, but my thoughts stop me.

“If every pony that has come in here has been confronted with this and they have left again, then there might still be things here to be found”

I slowly step forward, trying to give the corpses of the two ponies a wide berth as I head for the doorway on the other side of the room. Some of the flies seem to take an interest in me and start buzzing around me, but I quickly swat them off.

“Damned flies” I mutter, glaring at them as if that would make them feel fear.

I pass through the doorway into what looks like a dimly lit kitchen and immediately smack my head on a low hanging frying pan, causing stars to flicker in my vision which can’t be right during the day. With a loud hollow thump I sit down, stunned.

“LUNA DAMMIT” I yell, and then realising my stupidity, I lower my voice “What idiot of a pony leaves a pan there, they were either a dwarf or had a very thick skull”

As my vision clears up I look around. There are actually a multitude of pots and pans hanging precariously from the ceiling, as well as cupboards and worktops around the edge of the room. The room itself seems pretty small, with plain stone bricked walls and a straw covered floor.

“Well here is a good a place as any to start my search”

Standing back up I begin to look through the various cupboards around the room, putting anything I find on one of the worktops. The search takes a while and not much is found anywhere. Looking over the pile of items on the worktop, I begin to sift through them, throwing away the rubbish.

“No, no, no, no hmmmm” I speculate whilst throwing several rotting vegetables aside with telekinesis to reveal a tin of beans. “This will be something for me to eat later” I say as I move the beans into the small saddlebag I’m carrying, slung across my back.

I continue to sift through the pile with limited success, eventually only coming out with a jar of pickled carrots and a spool of thread. I wrinkle my nose in disappointment. “This could have been better”.

I turn towards the door and step back out into the first room. I glance back at the other two dead ponies before heading to the half destroyed staircase on my left. Cautiously, I began to climb the stairs, ascending into the darkness above. Upon reaching the top of the stairs, I stand still for a minute, letting my eyes adjust to the gloom. Looking down the corridor to my right I see a slightly ajar door. I push the door open cautiously with telekinesis before making my way down the corridor.

Stepping into the room using telekinesis, I move the rubble from the centre of the room across to an empty corner. Against one wall is a bed, covered in tattered blankets. Against another wall is a large dressing table, with a mirror perched on it. The wall at the far end of the room looks like it has been blown out, with the rubble from it scattered on the street below.

“What did that?” I muse as I cross the room to the dresser, looking more closely at it. I blow on it and a thick blanket of dust whips up into the air, swirling in lazy circles. The dresser itself is well made, perhaps of mahogany with an even varnish.

I quickly sift through the draws, only finding bits of costume jewellery and scraps of cloth which could be used to repair clothes and perhaps that blanket on the bed. In frustration, I slam the last draw shut, but hear a strange rattling from within the draw. Opening it again, I see that there are only bits of cloth visible.

“Hmm that’s strange.” I use my telekinesis to lift out all of the cloth and then look into the draw. Along each of the edges seems to be a weird button. I try pulling on the one at the back, and then pushing on it, but nothing happens. 

“I wonder…..”. Concentrating, I push in all of the buttons at once, grinning when I hear a satisfying click. I look into the draw to see that the bottom panel had clicked out.

Lifting the panel slowly I look into the small hidden space, a musty old smell wafting out. My
eyebrows raise as I see the contents of the hidden space. There is a mixture of bits and bottle caps,
about 50 bits and 100 bottle caps but my attention is on the object in the centre of the draw. It looks
like a silver disk, with about the same diameter as an orange with what looks like many swirling
black lines. Set in the center of the object is a sphere of quartz which changes colour depending on
what angle you are looking at it.

“It’s beautiful” I murmur to myself subconsciously. The object seemed to be projecting some sort of
magical aura. I levitate all of the money into one of the pockets on my bag, before carefully
levitating the odd object up to my eye level.

“I don’t know what it does and I should keep it safe until I do”

I wrap the object in a piece of spare cloth before gently placing it in my bag next to my little gemstone collection. I turn to gaze on the rest of the almost empty room before leaving and striding towards the stairs. Still preoccupied I start walking down the stairs, however one of the stairs crumbles beneath my hoof, and I’m left sprawled on the stone floor at the bottom of the stairs.

I look over myself wincing. There doesn’t seem to be any major damage, however my front left leg hurts a bit. Standing, I dust myself off and stumble towards the doorway with the intention of leaving.

The streets of Ponyville are quiet as ever, probably a good thing since usually there would be raiders or something trying to kill or enslave me. I remember that there is a small trading depot on the edge of Ponyville and I’m getting peckish. Not being in the mood for pickled carrots, I make my way back to the edge of ponyville, keeping to the shadows.

As I enter the trading depot, the first thing that hits me is how quiet it is. Half the shops seem to be open still, with the rest closed or abandoned. I look through one murky window into one of the abandoned shops, seeing only darkness inside. A faint odour drifts towards me on the slight breeze so I turn to find the source. At first I can’t work out where it is coming from, before I notice an average plain shop on the opposite side of the road with a rather worn out sign above it with “Mama Mane’s Wheaty Wonders” scrawled almost illegibly over it.

“Well it smells and looks like food, might as well try there first”

I enter the cozy shop to see an ancient pony behind a counter pulling a batch of bread and wheat biscuits out of an oven, which looks about as old as her. The smell hits me again, stronger now. Freshly baked bread is a rare thing in the wasteland, and it’s not very often that I even see the stuff, let alone get to taste it.

The old pony now turns to me and places the bread and biscuits on the counter.

“Well hello there dearie, you look peckish. I sell the best wheat goods in this here area, so I do. Does anything catch your eye…”

I look at the freshly baked bread and biscuits, now drooling.

“How much for a loaf of bread and 3 biscuits?” I ask, already pulling out my bottle caps.

“90 caps for you dearie” She says cheerily.

Her use of the words “for you” makes me wonder if it would be different for some pony else, but I don’t really care enough to linger on the thought. I count out 90 bottle caps and push them towards her. The old pony smiles as she sweeps the bottle caps off the counter into a box beneath the counter.

“Before you go, would you like to join us for lunch dearie? We don’t get many visitors and it gets quite lonely round these here parts sometimes”

I give it some consideration before nodding. This is a good opportunity to eat some of my bread whilst it is still warm and also I will be eating inside rather than out on the street like some uncivilised peasant.

The old pony wobbles towards the door, which she locks and puts a “Closed” sign on. She then turns and makes her way towards a doorway on the left. At the doorway she turns and looks me up and down.

“You look like a strong unicorn, bring the tray of fresh bakes please dearie”

Without looking, I wrap the tray of bread and biscuits in a field of telekinesis and lift it behind me as I walk through the doorway. For somepony who is making their way in the wasteland, she seems strangely friendly; however I do wish she would stop calling me dearie.

I follow her down a dingy corridor before we enter into a little room with a table and 4 chairs in the centre. As I place the tray down on the table another little unicorn, no older than 12, gallops into the room.

“Whoa slow down there Static, we have a guest”

Static stops and looks up at me, with a bright twinkle in her eye. She is a white unicorn with an orange and yellow mane which drops down behind her like lava off the top of a volcano.

“She is adopted” The old pony says to me as she takes a seat. “A group of travelling traders found her in the wasteland, still cuddled up to the corpse of her mother. I was one of the few sympathetic to her plight in this here depot, so I took her in.”

“So was there any evidence on how her mother died?” I asked, looking at Static with sympathy.

“No” the old pony replied “All we found on her mother’s body was some food and a diary she had been keeping, but enough of this morbid talk, you must be hungry dearie”

“Yes I am” I reply, just about ready to eat everything on the tray “Also you don’t need to keep calling me dearie, my name is Kinetra”

The old pony pauses suddenly, half between hoofing Static some of the bread. She seems to have a perplexed expression on her face, as if she was contemplating my name. 

“Well it’s nice to meet you Kinetra, dearie. My name is Mama Mane” She continues to hoof out the food to Static and then pushes my loaf of bread and three biscuits towards me.

I pick up my bread and nibble on it whilst I wonder what her odd behaviour at hearing my name could mean. My mind is quickly taken off the thought as I nibble into the soft part of the bread, which is still warm and light and tastes delicious.

“Wow you do know how to cook a good loaf of bread” I speculate

Mama Mane just looks at me and smiles a sweet smile but doesn't say anything.

“If I may ask, where is everypony? This trading depot seems unusually quiet”

“I don't know” Mama Mane says “It seems that everypony has just up and left all of a sudden, maybe they are leaving because of the rumour of raiders in the area recently”

“Raiders?” I ask “I've not seen any raiders in at least 5 months now”

“Well we have chosen not to leave because they are only rumours, and I'm too old to travel and little Static here is too young to go by herself and I doubt that any of the others that left would have taken care of her.”

I muse a bit longer in silence. To be hearing about raiders again is weird after such a long time, I thought that most of them had gone to the city of Manehattan, or at least that's what the rumours had been telling me...

We continue talking and nibbling for a while longer, which was enjoyable for me. Soon however we are interrupted by some shouting that seemed to be coming from somewhere in the depot not far away.

“What was that?” I worriedly ask Mama Mane

“Probably just nothing” she replies, brushing it off without another thought.

We continue eating and talking for another couple of minutes before we are interrupted again by another shout, closer now, and the sound of hooves running past just outside the front door to the shop.

“Are you sure it's nothing?” I ask glancing at the door and then back at Mama Mane

“It should be nothing dearie, probably just an argument between a couple of the ponies in this here depot”

Just as Mama Mane finishes speaking a loud explosion goes off very close to the house, making us all wince at the volume of the noise. I jump up and gallop at the door, Static close behind. I stop in the doorway and turn to Static.

“Stay here whilst I find out what's going on Static, I don't want you to get hurt.”

I look up at Mama Mane who is now on her hooves and making her way away from the table. I get only a second to think before another explosion blasts the wall inwards behind Mama Mane, throwing her across the room to hit the wall. I manage to catch the large plank hurtling towards me and Static in a telekinetic field which I then lower to the floor. I glance at Static, who seems to be confused and in a daze.

I look back at the blown in wall as a stallion raider flanked by two other mare raiders come striding into the room, taking in the scene with malice in his eyes. His gaze lands on me and Static at which point he begins to speak.

“Well well well, if it isn't the infamous mare Kinetra”

“Infamous? And what did I do to earn such a lofty title?” I retort sarcastically.

The stallion laughs for a second before replying “You must remember 3 months ago, you had an... encounter with our leader that didn't really end well for him.”

“Ha I could hardly forget that arrogant idiot, acting all high and mighty as if he was untouchable, I taught him a lesson or two. I've been meaning to ask after him, he wasn't in too good a state when I last saw him.”

“Sarcasm will not get you anywhere now Kinetra” The stallion replied with an evil smirk “Our leader was blinded in his left eye, and to this day he still longs for your death. I will take great pleasure in being the one who brings you to your knees and taking the bounty on your head.”

“Oh I'm flattered” I reply, staying sarcastic “However you will not be the one claiming the bounty on my head.”

The stallion only has a few seconds to consider my statement before a large splintered plank hits him square between the eyes. I grin as I pick up one of the mares with my telekinesis and send her flying backwards 10 meters before landing sprawling on the ground. The other mare turns and runs, seeing that staying would not be a good idea. Seeing that no one was around anymore, I rush to Mama Mane’s side. Both of her left legs were broken, twisted at weird angles and she had a short plank of wood sticking out of her side.

Mama Mane looks up at me in pain. “It seems I was wrong about them here raiders” She utters.

Static trots over with a horrified expression on her face at seeing Mama Mane’s bleeding body on the floor. Mama Mane gestures to Static to come closer. She whispers something in Static's ear and Static's expression changes to that of shock. Mama Mane smiles once and nods at Static who gallops off into the house, tears falling from her eyes.

Mama Mane now turns to me; “Now dearie, I'm not going to live long so listen closely. I want you to take Static here with you somewhere safe. Please don't fail me, she means a lot to me.” Mama Mane pauses for a second. “Also there is something else you need to know”

I hurriedly ask what and Mama Mane opens her mouth to speak, but suddenly her eyes cloud over and her head falls limp. My eyes tear up slightly, Mama Mane had been an innocent and gentle pony, and now she has been killed by the cruel and heartless raiders.

At that moment Static come charging back into the room, a small saddlebag slung over her flank. I turn to Static, knowing that we had only moments to spare. 

“Static we must leave now if we are to survive this.”

Static looks back at me, crying slightly as she nods her head. “Yes we must go”. I look at the table, which oddly enough is still standing and levitate the pieces of food that are still mostly intact into my saddlebag. “This is going to have to do for now”.

Static and I charge through the house as fast as we can. Upon reaching the still locked front door, I do not slow down but speed up, bursting through the door like some demon possessed, knocking the whole door off its hinges. I look around. There are two raiders down the road which I came up when I first entered the depot and there are a score of raiders striding down the road from the opposite direction. Throwing caution to the wind, or more accurately, the door to the wind, I hurl the now useless door at the two raiders blocking our path back to Ponyville.

Both the raiders see the door coming and dive out of the way, sprawling upon the ground. This however does not save them from the knives which neatly skewer each of them in the neck. As we charge past the two now deceased raiders, I wrap each knife in a telekinetic field and yank them out, sending little streams of blood into the air, just to then fall back to the ground and splash in the dirt.

“Faster” I yell to Static as I see the raiders further up the road taking aim at us. Several bullets whiz past us before we take a sharp turn out of the trading depot. I hear Static’s voice asking rather breathlessly if we can stop now. “No” I yell back “We're not in the clear yet, those raiders will probably try to follow us at some point. We need to get as close to Ponyville as possible.”

I look up for a second seeing hills in the background, and just above them, 3 specks. I blink rapidly several times, but the specks did not disappear. I wonder for a second what those three specks could be, before I notice that they seem to be flying in formation and getting closer. There is only one thing around here that could be doing that- Alicorns! 

With haste, I throw myself behind a nearby boulder and envelop Static in a telekinetic field, dragging her behind the boulder with me. “Shhhhhh” I whisper to Static, who then sits there in silence, a worried expression on her face.

A minute later, the 3 Alicorn's fly almost directly over us. They don't seem to have noticed us but are speedily making their way to the trader depot. I wait a minute for them to move away a bit more, before throwing myself and Static into a gallop towards Ponyville once again. It's not long before Ponyville moves into view in front of us.

I look back towards Static, who seems to be almost on the brink of collapsing. I slow down and then lead Static into a rocky outcrop, where she promptly collapses. I also sit down, the almost continuous gallop from the trading depot back here had left me tired too. I pull out some of the food in my saddlebag and a flask of water. I'm about to offer some to Static when she pulls her own out of her saddlebag and starts hoofing it down.

I sit back taking a minute to relax a little whilst I sip on my water and slowly eat my food whilst I wonder why I saw those Alicorns flying over. There never used to be some many of them, but now I feel like I'm running into a group nearly everyday. I stop thinking for a second to look back at Static, who is staring at me, mouth half full, with a blank expression. “You do a lot of thinking don't yer” She says, mouth still half full.

“Yes” I reply “I have a lot to think about and a lot to worry about”. Static continues to stare at me, quite unnervingly. She swallows and takes another bit of bread before speaking again. “Why do you think that the raider's attacked my home?”  I sit pondering the question for a minute, before answering with one word; “Greed”. Static's expression changes to that of confusion and then thought as she wonders what I could mean whilst still chewing on the bread.

I cut across Static's train of thought.

“All raiders crave money and supplies and quite often the thrill of being able to hurt or kill someone else. Since they're incapable of acquiring money through honest methods, they choose to kill others and steal from their corpses and homes.”

Static thinks for a little bit longer before taking another bite of bread. “So how come those raiders knew you then?” she asks. I wonder if this child ever speaks with an empty mouth before replying 

“I ran into their group several months ago a bit further north. They probably would have gotten off more lightly if they hadn't of chosen to ambush me, which left about 5 of them dead and their leader with a rather nasty looking rock in place of his eye. It worries me that their group has grown significantly since I last saw them. The Stallion which we ran into was one of the raiders which managed to retreat after attacking me.”

Static looks at the ground, now deeply in thought again. I take a few more sips of water and then turn to Static. “Right Static, time to go now”. She looks up at me and nods before putting her food and drink back into her saddlebag. I turn and stride back out of the rocky outcrop with Static tailing behind me as we make our way back towards Ponyville.

Before entering back into Ponyville I give Static a few instructions. “Ok Static, when we go in there, we are going to have to be stealthy because there are usually some other ponies in Ponyville somewhere. Stay close to me and keep in the shadows. If we get separated I want you to come back here and wait for me to come back to get you. If you can't find your way back here then I want you to hide somewhere close to where we split up. Don't let any other pony see you, ok”. Static looks at me nodding. “Ok Kinetra, let’s go”.

I gallop softly back into Ponyville, Static close on my tail and immediately go into the shadow of a nearby building. We move deeper into the heart of Ponyville getting closer and closer to the center by the minute. Soon we reach the building that I searched earlier and we duck inside. As Static moves through the door, she sees the two dead ponies on the floor and opens her mouth to scream. 

“No Static” I say, trying to keep my voice low as I promptly put my hoof in Static's mouth. However this does not stop Static and a muffled yell escapes instead. I look around the walls of the room as the sound bounces around the room and seems to echo into the street outside. Seeing that Static had stopped making copious amounts of noise, I took my hoof out of her mouth. 

“Please don't do that again” I urge. “We don't want any encounters with some other pony”.

Static nods once before dropping to the floor. Clearly she wasn't ready for a sight such as this one so I probably shouldn't have brought her here as a checkpoint however, it is one of the few building's in Ponyville that I know my way around, so I don't know where else I would go.

My ears pick up the sound of approaching hoofsteps outside and immediately I know that someone nearby must have heard Static’s yell. 

“Damn” I exclaim to myself causing Static to look up at me. 

“What is it Kinetra?” she asks in a whisper. 

“There's someone coming” I reply “Quick, hide! “ We desperately look around the room, however, due to the lack of intact furniture, the room was bare of all hiding spaces. At that moment an earth pony entered the room, rifle raised. I galloped across the room, drawing attention away from Static so that she wouldn't be shot at. The earth pony raises her rifle to take aim at me but neither of us were expecting what happened next.

At that moment, Static jumped up and sprinted across the room, head lowered in a charge at the earth pony. I thought Static was planning on using her horn to impale the other pony, which had only just noticed Static charging. However, I was proven wrong when the earth pony hit the wall and fell to the floor, little zaps of electricity buzzing off her partially charred body. I look at Static in amazement, seeing her horn glowing a yellowish light that was fading again. 

“Now I understand why you are called Static” I say ”How did you do that?”

Static turns to face me, recollecting herself. “I can zap thing with electricity by touching them with my horn. 

In all honesty, I didn't know if that would work because I have never done it before”. I look back at the still slightly smoking pony's corpse. “Well I'm glad it did work or else I would have been done for” I say, looking back at Static. “We should leave now, just in case anyone else heard”.

We leave the building again, anywhere would be better than here now. Also it seems that Static seems to be taking the killing of that other pony quite lightly, I envy her on her strength at being able to do that and not have a breakdown of sorts afterwards. My thoughts are interrupted by a loud -BANG- causing me and Static to jump, almost giving both of us whiplash. There is a faint yell in the distance, followed closely by another loud -BANG-.

“Well that's worrying” I say to Static, “Should we go and look?” Static looks at me, thinking a minute before saying “Yes”. With no other words I start to make my way towards where the yell had come from. Stealthily we move through the streets, using the buildings shadows and the rubble to our advantage to stay mostly hidden.

I halt suddenly as we come to another crossroad, Static almost colliding with me. This crossroad is wide, but if we want to get to the source of the yelling sound then we are going to have to cross it and be out in the open for a few seconds. “Ok Static, you know the drill, stay right behind me and don't get distracted, we're going to quickly enter that building on the opposite side of the road” I say, gesturing at the open doorway of a building. Static nods and smiles slightly. “Ok” I say “3, 2, 1 go!”.

We begin to dash across the road, moving as quickly as our legs can carry us, I’m through the doorway within seconds and turn to see where Static is. She is about 3 meters from the doorway galloping forward, still smiling slightly. At that moment, time seems to slow down, my vision goes sharp and focused and suddenly a bullet rips into Static's side.

Her momentum carries her tumbling through the doorway to land on the ground at my hooves, a horrified expression crossing my face. 

“Static?” I whisper as I crouch down, tears streaming from my eyes. Static's eyes flutter open as I look at the wound in her side. 

“Kinetra?” she asks. 

“Yes, Static” I reply “I'm right here with you”. I look at the wound again, she doesn't have long to live. Static smiles at me 

“Don't cry Kinetra, that will make me sad” I pull a puzzled expression, which then just twists back into an expression of sadness. 

“Kinetra, will you take my mother’s diary and look after it for me, perhaps you can read it, there will be things in it which you should learn”. 

I nod, still crying at Static. Static's smile widens slightly “I'm glad we got to spend this time together,...”. It seems as if Static is going to say more, but at that moment, she exhales her final breath and dies in my hooves.

This is not a good place for me to be mourning her death, so I continue, carrying Static with me in a levitation field. I hear another -BANG- from outside and guess that the sniper has found some other pony to shoot at. It's not long before I find out who.

I stop in one of the houses on the edge of the street just off to the side of the road near where I thought I heard the yell come from. I slowly lower Static’s body to the floor and look back out into the road. I am surprised when an Alicorn comes running out into the road, seeming to be trying to avoid the sniper. I am even more surprised when the Alicorn gets hit by a bullet. There are so many Alicorns around here now, where did they come from? And why is this one by itself? There's only one way I can get my answers. Wrapping the Alicorn in a Levitation field, I quickly throw her through the doorway, and she lands with a thud at my hooves.

I can't stay here or I'll be killed. Wrapping both the Alicorn and Static in a levitation field, I head off through the buildings. I need to make my way back to the barn on the outskirts of the village where I suppose it will be safe.

Fortunately the sniper doesn't notice my hasty retreat and I manage to make it back to the barn without any incidents. I forcibly throw the Alicorn through the door, not really caring where she lands. I then turn and start digging Statics grave...

> Chapter 4: Cards, Caps and Contracts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Thank you for saving my life” I smile thanking the unicorn for her random act of kindness but my smile goes blank when I remember the loss of her filly friend. “…And I’m sorry about your loss”

“To be honest, it was an opportunity for me to interrogate an alicorn, so I jumped at the opportunity that was bestowed upon me” Kinertra replies, wiping  a tear from her eye.

“So what if I wasn’t an… alicorn… would you still have saved me?” My heart sinks and my ears flop. 

“That’s not what I meant at all” Kinetra swiftly replies as she notices my face droop “Now… let’s try and get that bullet out of your flank”

“Wait…what?” I question, as I look at my bandage covered flank.
Kinetra unravels the bandages, my flank had a big black and red mark above my blood stained cutie mark.

“Now I’m not going to soften this up for you… this is going to hurt… A LOT” She seriously points out. “On the count of 3” She says, her horn was glowing, a strange feeling occurred in my flank.

“Wait a minute, she isn’t going to…” I think.

“One…Two…”

“WHOA, WHOA, WHOA WAIT!” I shout. Kinetra doesn’t listen, I scream as the bullet is pulled from my flank by the magic of Kinetra, causing blood to pour from my flank once again. I’ve never felt so much pain in my life. When the bullet is finally removed Kinetra wraps my flank back up in new bandages.

“I told you it was going to hurt…here drink this” She says, levitating a bottle of red liquid over to me. She snaps the top off.

“What is th-?” Before I can even finish, she forces the drink down my throat.

*Cough Cough* I choke, gasping for air.

“Health potion” she smiles “You should feel much better in a couple of minutes.

“Thanks” I say, rolling my eyes. “Do you have my stuff?” I kindly ask Kinetra.

“Sure do” she replies, levitating my gear down from the second floor of the barn. “That…Bow you have, rather strange looking isn’t it.” She says looking at my bow “The arrows seem to be made out of the same material”

I pause looking down at the bow and arrows which Kinetra places at my forehooves.

“I…never really noticed”

“Throughout my entirety of wandering the wasteland I’ve never seen any material like it” Kinetra states, levitating one of the arrows up to eye level.

“I also took a look through your stuff, you look exactly like your mother” She complements, pulling a smile.

“Thanks” I reply, rolling my eyes once more.

Suddenly we hear the door to the barn open slightly; I turn to look towards the door.

“Hello?” I say hoping to get a reply from a friendly pony and not another raider of slaver. “Is anyone there?”

Suddenly the head of a light grey, almost silver, unicorn mare appears from around the corner; she looks very young, younger than me in fact.

“Hey there” I smile and wave at the mare. She smiles and waves back.
I hear whispering round the corner of the barn, the grey mare turns her head to the right. She disappears round the corner of the barn door for a second, only to return dragging another grey mare by her tail into the barn, this one is an earth pony, a darker colour grey, wearing a black leather jacket and a golden locket around her neck. The dark grey coated mare doesn’t seem amused by the situation.
I walk up to both the mares “Allow me to introduce myself *cough cough* my name is Tessia Sta-“

*PUNCH.*

I swiftly get a buck to the face by the dark grey mare sending me onto my back; my face becomes a look of horror. The buck causes me to bite my lower lip drawing a small amount of blood

“Yeah, no” The dark grey mare blankly states “We’re not doing this”

“Great you haven’t even met before and she already judges you” I think. I wipe my bottom lip as the dark grey earth pony gets levitated up to Kinetra.

“WHAT IN THE WASTELAND DID YOU DO THAT FOR?” Kinetra ask, trying to keep her cool, as she stares into the eyes of the mare.
She shrugs her shoulders, still with the same blank expression

“I don’t really play well with others”

The light grey unicorn walks up to me, hoofing me a wet tissue.

“Erm… thanks” I sigh, wiping my bottom lip.

I open my saddlebag to get one of my bottles of water, but it is levitated out my bag before I even know where it is. It is placed in front of me by said unicorn.

“…” My mind is lost for words. I take a sip from my bottle and look at the unicorn, she smiles at me.

“How did you kn-” Before I can even finish my sentence she points a hoof at the earth pony still in the levitation field of Kinetra, they are having some form of argument.

“So…what’s your name?” I ask. I don’t get the reply I was hoping for, instead she levitates a book from her saddlebag and places it at my hooves. I open the book, it was mostly empty except for the back page. There were multiple names crossed out except for one at the bottom of the page.

“Silent Silver?” I question, the grey mare smiles and clops her forehooves together.

“And your friend’s name…what is she called?”
Again I don’t get the direct answer I was hoping for. The mare scrunches her nose as if she was thinking, then, tapping her hooves three times on the floor, she looks back up at me and smiles. Silent Silver levitates a piece of paper from her saddlebag with a pencil, she points to a name at the bottom.

“Stealth Strike?” Once again Silent Silver clops her hooves together. I’m stunned by the intelligence of this one unicorn “For one who doesn’t seem to know how to communicate with other ponies she sure has her way around it” I think.

“…Not much of a talker are you”

*Shoulder shrug.*

“Do you know how to speak?”

Silent Silver slowly nods her head.

“Then why don’t you?” I think I caught her slightly off guard, she starts to make lines in the floor with her forehoof, then after a good 15 seconds of line drawing she shakes her head and levitates a flower from her saddlebag up to me.

“…” Once again I’m stunned by this one light grey mare. Kinetra and Stealth Strike walk up to the both of us.

“Not much of a talker is she?” Stealth Strike says “As you have probably already discovered”
“I explained your alicorness to Stealth Strike. Oh Stealth Strike, this is Miss Starbow…she is a stable dweller, isn’t that exciting?” Kinetra smiles.
Stealth strike walks up to me one more time.

*PUSH*

“That’s for being a stable dweller”

I gather my thoughts and face back towards Stealth Strike.

“So…what’s your story then?” I ask the arrogant mare.

“No” Stealth Strike replies, walking up to Silent Silver, taking her by the foreleg, and dragging her toward the barn exit.

“Wait…what?” I question. I’ve not really known a mare this eager not to say anything about themself, me and Sugarcube always told each other about our daily lives.

“Like I said earlier, we’re not doing this” Stealth Strike replies, struggling to get a resisting Silent Silver to leave “I have better things to do then sit around the campfire and trade stories with ponies who’ll be dead in a week, if they’re lucky”

“Silent Silver seems pretty eager to sh-”

“Would you move already?” Stealth Strike interrupts, trying to push Silent Silver through the barn doorway.

“For a mare who doesn’t get on with others you sure seem to be forcing yourself upon her” Kinetra snickers, pointing at Silent Silver.

“Forcing myself upon her?” Stealth Strike repeats, a hint of anger and embarrassment in her voice, as she stops pushing Silent Silver “No, just no. You’ve clearly misunderstood the… relationship this mute mare and I share…You know what? Fine” Stealth Strike sits down on the barn floor, an action Silent Silver copies “I’ll tell you how Silent Silver and I met and how we ended up here, nothing more than that. Then you’ll see who is ‘forcing’ them self on who”

Silent Silver seems pleased by this turn of events, and shuffles closer to Stealth Strike. In response, Stealth Strike shuffles further away from Silent Silver.

“See what I mean?” Stealth Strike sighs, turning her head toward Silent Silver, only to see that she had once again shuffled closer “… Whatever” Sighing again and putting a hoof to her face, Stealth Strike begins to tell use the story of how she met Silent Silver.

***
Sometime earlier

“I don’t want to set the world on fire… I just want to start, a flame in your heart… In my heart I have but one desire… and that one is you… no other will do”

The static-ridden song plays quietly in the background from the radio behind the counter. Apart from that all is quiet. Makes sense, with at least 4000 caps to be won on the next hoof, a fascinated crowd is naturally drawn. I look at the face of the only other player left in the game, an elderly stallion, at least in his fifties, reddish fur, brown mane, a unicorn. His face is completely expressionless.

“Nice poker face” I think “Not going to help you though”

I myself am currently sporting a smug grin, the kind I’ve been holding for the entire game, and why shouldn’t I? Ace of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Clubs and a Joker, the Wild Card, I’m not losing anytime soon, in fact I’m about to make a healthy profit. Speaking of which…

“All in” I say, pushing my caps into the centre of the table, putting the pot at 5000 caps

The stallion’s right eye twitches slightly, only enough for a veteran player, like myself, to catch it, but it tells me exactly how the game is going to end. Fortunately for me, the liquor he’s been heartily drinking convinces him to call, putting the pot at 6000 caps.

“Well little lady, you’ve played a good game, particularly for a mare, but only one of us is walking away with those caps” He laughs, revealing his hoof, 9 of Diamonds, 10 of Diamonds, Jack of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds, King of Diamonds, a Straight Flush “And I’m thinkin’ it’s gonna be me”

“Oh how I love this part” I think to myself, forcing my smug grin to change to a look of disappointment “I can see what you mean, a Straight Flush is pretty tough to beat, particularly since you almost have a perfect one, shame you couldn’t get the Ace though, huh?”

“Well the Ace certainly would have pushed it up, but I think I have a good enough ho….” The stallion stops, realisation sets in.
“Ya know, I could always lend you one” I smile as I reveal my cards “I have plenty”


I leave the bar with my caps packed away just as the obnoxious jeering begins. 

“It’ll be awhile before the stallion lives that loss down” I think to myself as I make my way towards the city limits, eager to get out of town.
Just as I’m about to leave however, a small, rundown store catches my eye.

“Hmm… I should still have about five minutes before they start a mob” I think as I enter the store.

The inside of the store was nothing remarkable, the majority of shelves were lined with various pieces of junk, one shelf on the right was filled with food, one on the left was covered in scrap metal and technological components, to the back was a small shelf lined with books, this is what catches my attention. I quickly scan the titles of the books, as time is most certainly not on my side, finding only one that had a vague chance of being interesting. I pick it up using my mouth and drop it on the counter. Almost immediately a young earth pony filly, no older than 10, emerges from a door.

“That’ll be ten caps please, Miss” The filly says, smiling happily.

“Using kids to sell your goods? Pulling at the ol’ heart strings? I like it” I think to myself “Here you go” I say as I hoof over the ten caps, then, in action fueled partly by the euphoria of winning 6000 caps and partly from slight drunkenness, I hoof over an extra twenty caps “Buy yourself something nice, kid”

“Thanks Miss” The filly thanks as I take my leave.

Not wasting any time, I run towards the city limits of Dodge Junction. Ten minutes later I’m there, and heavily tired.

“Tiring work, but worth it” I think to myself “Better find a cave, I need to get some sleep”

Another ten minutes later and I’ve found a rather nice cave, vaguely warm, not damp, and low enough to avoid some of the harsher wasteland winds. I pull my blanket out of one of my saddlebags and lay it on the cave floor, I lay my saddlebags and self upon it and then begin to look through the bags’ contents.

“Time to take stock” I think.

“6000 caps won from the Poker game, plus 400 caps worth of goods stolen from bar patrons… minus the 1000 caps I put into the pot, minus 138 caps spent on food and drink, minus 300 caps getting my pistol repaired, minus 100 caps for ammo, minus 10 caps for that book and lastly minus 20 caps for that now regrettable act of charity leaves me with a profit of… 4832 caps, not a bad day’s work… scratch that, forgot one cost… minus 2 caps for one copy of the Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Spades and the Joker”

A small laugh escapes from my mouth as I look at the multiple copies of Aces and Jokers contained within my bag.

“They’re probably only now realising that they got played, I wish I could see that stallion’s reaction” I laugh to myself, picturing the upturned Poker table and broken glasses that usually follow my games of Poker “Serves him right for looking down on me. He’ll probably tear Dodge Junction apart looking for me, he won’t find me though, they never do”

Satisfied with the material and immaterial results of my felony, I close my saddle bags, pull the blanket over myself and begin to fall asleep.

“Sometimes I just can’t decide what I love most about my career” I yawn, the stress of cheating at Poker and avoiding inevitable mobs having taken its toll “The caps, the Poker, or that warm fuzzy feeling I get from making fools out others… who am I kidding? Caps are nice, but scamming a chauvinist unicorn out of his rightful winnings, and no doubt knocking him down a peg in the process? That’s priceless”


The light of day just manages to reach the entrance of my cave, alerting me to the start of a new day. I yawn, wanting another hour or two of sleep… so, ignoring all the amazing possibilities a desolate wasteland offers, I go back to sleep.
After what I assume to be an hour I am once again awoken, though this time it is by hunger. I search through my saddlebags and pull out a daffodil sandwich.

“Not much, but it’s probably better than most ponies will have today” I think as I begin to eat the sandwich “I really need to find a higher quality of store to buy my food from, after all, thanks to a no doubt outraged stallion, I can afford it”
After finishing the sandwich I reach back into my saddlebags looking for a bottle of water, I don’t find one.

“Buck you Past Drunk Stealth Strike” I mentally curse myself, banging my head on the cave floor “You had ONE job, get water, that’s the only reason you went there, but NOOOO, you had to play Poker… admittedly that turned out well… but still, because of you I now have no water”

Angry at myself, I quickly throw my blanket into my saddlebags and put them on.

“You actually went into a store as well, and what do you buy? A book. Great, I’m sure I can drink that” I shout, kicking an innocent nearby rock “And it’s not even like I can go back to Dodge Junction, they’re probably already putting up my wanted poster. You know, sometimes I think you do this on purpose, take me out and then you’ll have all the caps for yourself, well it’s not going to work Drunk Past Stealth Strike, I’m…. I’m talking to myself…. And not in the sane way…. I really need some company…. No, that wouldn’t work, I hate other ponies, they only get in the way”

I fall onto my back, causing a slight amount of pain, and try to plan out my next course of action.

“I guess I’ll make my way to Ponyville. Hopefully I’ll come across a settlement or pool of stagnated water before I die of dehydration” I sigh, getting back on my hooves and exiting the cave.


My wasteland wandering is fairly uneventful for the first hour, no sign of raiders, slavers or radroaches, unfortunately there is also no sign of water.

“Over 10,000 caps and nothing to buy” I sigh, dropping down onto my flank “I guess dehydration isn’t the worst way to die, though I’d always hoped I’d die taking o-“

My death fantasies are interrupted by the sounds of a distant struggle, barely audible, but my hearing’s always been good. Curiosity taking over, I follow the sounds. The noise eventually takes me to the edge of a nearby ravine, that’s where I see a rather amusing sight. A female unicorn, no larger than myself, is dodging the various attacks of a radscorpion, significantly larger than myself, terrifyingly so in fact.

“Ah the wonders of radiation” I think, observing the struggle “I doubt she can keep that dodging up forever, probably won’t be long before that radscorpion gets a meal… good for him”

I begin to walk away, deciding anything of value the unicorn may have isn’t worth fighting the radscorpion for, when something highly detestable stops me, my conscience.

“No, no, no. Rule one of Stealth Strike’s book of wasteland survival; don’t be a hero” I argue “Besides, she’s a unicorn, I hate those things”
Convinced by my own arguments, I continue on my way… only to be stopped once again.

“But… Mom always said ‘something something do the right thing something karma something oatmeal’… I really should have listened to her more” I think “She’s not even here anymore, yet she’s still making me do things I don’t want to” I sigh, turning back towards the unicorn and the radscorpion.

The unicorn swiftly dodges the radscorpion’s stinger, only to be knocked down by one of its claws. She winces and grits her teeth as she tries to get up, only to fall back down. The radscorpion prepares to deal what would be the final blow, were it not for my timely intervention.  Acting on impulse, I ram into the monstrosity, knocking it into the ravine. Unfortunately for me, my momentum begins to take me into the ravine as well… but… something stops me. I soon realize I’m covered in a magical aura, one that’s stopping my imminent death and bringing me back over solid, and close, land. Before I can react, I’m dropped, surprisingly gently, in front of the unicorn I had just saved.

“I guess that makes us even” I sigh, annoyed that gravity had robbed me of the fun of bragging about saving this unicorn’s life to said unicorn “Well, see y-“

My disinterested farewell is interrupted by the unicorn dragging me into a rather tight hug. I quickly push her off me, and push her over.

“Yeah, no” I say “I don’t do hugs”

The unicorn picks herself up and, rather than being angry at the slight physical abuse, smiles at me, producing a strange squee noise.

“Dear Luna that’s creepy” I think to myself “I should just get out of he-“

I’m interrupted by the unicorn hoofing me over a piece of paper. Confused, I take it from her and read it aloud.

“Dear valued customer, this contract certifies your ownership of this slave and serves to represent your deal with Southern Servant Services Inc. We hope you are, and remain, satisfied with your purchase and look forward to dealing with you in the future. Yours sincerely, Free Range” I mutter, taking in the details of the note. At the bottom of the contract is the signature of Free Range, and what I assume to be the buyer of the apparent slave, a Mr Grey Outlook. I quickly fold the contract up and hoof it back to the unicorn 

“While that was a fun read, is there any particular reason you wanted me to read that?” I ask, my less than impressive patience quickly running out.

The Unicorn offers no verbal response, but instead unfolds the contract, produces a pencil (From where I’m not sure), scribbles something on to it and then hoofs over both the pencil and contract to me. I look again and see she had crossed out Grey Outlook’s name.

“You want me to sign this?” I ask

The unicorn smiles happily, stomps her hooves lightly, and nods.

“No thanks” I say, turning around and tossing both contract and pencil over my shoulder “Like I told Free Range last time we met, I’m not one for slaves, I don’t enjoy spending time with other ponies as it is, I’m not going to pay for the experience”
I take about two steps, only to feel a tugging at my tail. I turn around and find the culprit of the tail tugging to be the unicorn, who quickly forces the contract and pencil back into my hooves.

“A bit slow on the up take aren’t ya?” I ask, frustration slipping into my voice “I don’t want a slave, all I want is to be left alone… and a bottle of wa-“

Before I can finish my rant, a bottle of water, pure water upon closer inspection, is put into my hooves by the unicorn’s magic.

“… Thank you…” I eventually say, basically stuck for words. 

My thirst outweighing my confusion, I quickly drink the contents of the bottle. The moment I finish, the bottle is levitated out of my hooves and into the unicorn’s saddle bags, a second later both contract and pencil are back in my hooves. 

“Look” I sigh, closing my eyes and putting a hoof to my nose “I appreciate the water, but I’m not looking for a slave”

The unicorn tilts her head slightly at this.

“So… um… bye” I say, hoofing her back the contract and pencil and turning away. Much to my pleasant surprise, I’m not dragged back.

Rehydrated, my journey to Ponyville goes much more smoothly. By nightfall I’ve made at least a third of the journey, and, while I still lack water, I have enough food to suffice for the rest of the trip there. Deciding to rest for the night, I look around for a place to sleep. I eventually find a fortunately abandoned house.

The exterior of the house, like the exterior, is rundown, as to be expected, what’s unexpected is the lack of stairs to the upper floor.

“If I had just been born a pegasus” I sigh, deciding to settle with sleeping on the bottom floor.

I eventually settle on sleeping in the kitchen, as it is the least exposed of the rooms on the bottom floor, and looks to have the comfiest floor.

“Well it beats a cave, but what I wouldn’t give for a bed to sleep in”

Suddenly, I hear a faint humming, the kind produced by unicorn magic. I turn around and find a lightly damaged, king-sized mattress being levitated in front of me. As it is lowered to the floor, I can see the one levitating it, that unicorn from earlier today. She smiles at me and points to the mattress, nodding as she does so.

“You… you followed me?” I ask, the shock I’m feeling clear in my voice.

The unicorn simply nods.

“Why?”

From her saddlebag the unicorn produces an all too familiar pair of items, a pencil and a contract.

“… You’re not going to give up until I sign that, are you?” I ask, impressed by her persistence, but confused as to why exactly she seemingly wants to be my slave.

The unicorn nods again.

“Fine” I sigh, far too tired to argue with my silent stalker. Taking the pencil and contract in hoof, I sign my name next to the crossed out name of Grey Outlook “There, happy?”

Her response comes in the form of a very tight hug. I push her over.

“NO HUGS” I shout.

The unicorn picks herself up, seemingly processes my complaint, then smiles and nods.

“Good” I say as the contract and pencil are taken from me and put back into the unicorn’s saddle bag “So… Um… I’m going to go to sleep now… You can take a break… Goodnight” I slowly say, not really sure what to say to a slave.

The unicorn nods and makes her way toward one of the corners of the kitchen.

“Aren’t you going to sleep on the mattress?” I ask.

The unicorn shakes her head in response, then points at the mattress, at me and then back at the mattress.

“She got it for me?” I think to myself “Just what’s with this mare?”

I look at the bed and then back to the unicorn and, for the second time that day, a personal record, my conscience takes over.

“We can… share the bed… if you want” I say, blushing slightly.

The unicorn shrugs her shoulders, smiles, and makes her way over to the mattress, taking the right side of it.

“Dear Luna, what am I doing? I say no hugging, but sharing a bed? Yeah, that’s perfectly normal” I think to myself as I pull my blanket out of my saddlebag, which I then lay in one of the kitchen’s corners, lie on the left side of the mattress and place the blanket over the two of us “You know what, I’m sorry Past Drunk Stealth Strike, I was too harsh on you, the dehydration you caused is much more preferable to the awkwardness caused by Present Moral Stealth Strike”

I sigh and make myself comfy on the mattress, or at least as comfy as I can get with another mare sharing it. Said mare seems to have made herself quite comfy and is staring at me intently, unnerving me quickly.

“Not much of a talker are you?” I say, trying to take my mind off the current situation.

The unicorn shakes her head in response.

“Got a name?”

A simple shoulder shrug and head shake is her only response.

“Well, if you’re going to be my slave, gotta have something to call you” I sigh, not quite believing the words coming out of my mouth “…Silent Silver, that name okay with you?”

The unicorn smiles, producing another squee, and nods her head quickly, she also reaches over to hug me, but quickly corrects herself.

“Well at least she’s learning” I think to myself, appreciating the lack of hugs “Silent Silver it is then… I… um… look forward to working with you… I guess… goodnight”

Silent Silver smiles and nods in agreement, then turns around, presumably to go to sleep. Tired, and wanting to be put an end to this situation as soon as possible, I begin to fall asleep, making sure to stay on my side of the mattress.

“The things I get myself into” I think “I think I actually miss that stallion… although…” I pause, looking at the sleeping form of Silent Silver “I guess having a slave won’t be the worst thing in the world… though this sleeping arrangement is definitely going to be changed”