Chapter 1: That Was Then (part 1)

Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 1: That Was Then Part:1

Once upon a time in the magical land of Equest... Oh who am I kidding, this place sucks!

Hot, it’s always so damn hot in this place. I know that the caps are good and all, but why do we always have to spend five days here, every year! The small town of Silver Shoe is located 30 days trot south of New Appleloosa, ten days trot north from White Saddle Shores and about three feet from the surface of the damn sun. There’s cloud cover all over Equestria, why the hell not here!

It’s a small town, but you would never guess it by the number of ponies that live here. It’s always so strange coming to a place so small with so many ponies, all slowly melting away under the intense heat. The only time it’s not hot, it’s raining that Goddess awful yellow rain, a mixture of water, radioactive fallout and salt. They chose to live like this? Why not choose to just set yourself on fire and pee yourself out. Did I mention I don't like heat? Or nasty pee rain?

I sat down in the only available shade that I could find, just beneath the awning of a rundown wares store called 'Peach's Sundries and Ammo'. Not the town’s only store mind you, but the only one in town that sells cold drinks. I still have no idea where Ms. Peach came across a self-powered fridge in the Wasteland, but I do know that everything that comes out of it will give you your doctor’s daily recommended dosage of rads.

I rested my back against the dilapidated wood wall and looked up at the sun-bleached sign with the half faded letters that read "Some of the deals, some of the time!" I scoffed, thinking of all the times Ms. Peach had never given me a deal on anything but an emergency 'cappendectomy' every time I walked through the door, it was her daily special apparently.

You would think the sad face of a 14 year old forlorn colt with no cutie mark would grant a bit of leeway in the prices. But not with Ms. Peach, you could flop into her store missing all 4 legs and on fire (something I wouldn't be surprised if it were a common occurrence in this town) and she would still charge you for the water, before she put you out. Probably tack on a city service tax while she’s at it, then prorate your medical bills.

I said that WE come here every year and by we I mean Boss's traders. A group of shaggy, dirty ponies scavenging the wastes for anything of value, selling and trading our way into a delicate balance of not starving to death and staying drunk enough to not care. There’s Boss, the de facto leader of the crew. He wasn't the biggest pony around but he was most definitely the last one you wanted on your tail for anything. He was also the oldest of us, a fact made all the more obvious by his now graying mane and tail. Even though vanity was a emotion rarely shown by the old buck, he would occasionally make mention of his resentment towards the slow color loss of his once blond locks and sage coat. Even with Shale and I telling him that the gray better complemented the nickle and Ivory of his 44 mags.

Ah, his pistols, both things of beauty and coveted desire to me, I knew them well. As the youngest in the group it was my job to do the mule's share of the work. Setting up camp, finding food, water, cleaning and repairing our ever rotating line of artillery. Our guns would always come and go but Boss's twin 44's always stayed. They were in excellent shape, all apart from "Lefty", the gun with broken grip that kept falling off. I've tried at least fifteen different times to fix them, but over and over again, one of the grip panels would keep falling off. Boss said that the damage was caused when he had to "Thump Lue over the damn head" when he tried to "Make off with the last bottle of whiskey".

Speaking of Lue (which I’m sure is short for lunatic judging by how he acts half the time). Nice buck but when he drinks, he claims he can see the future. Too bad the future to him are things that happened two weeks ago. A short, fat unicorn with delusions of grandeur to say the least. Despite that, he’s always at the Boss's side, watching his back for Raiders, Gangers and whatever else this hell hole decides to throw at him or by extension us. He’s always looking for the next big thing to make him famous, he once came into camp with a pine cone tied to a squirrel’s ass, taped to a stick, claiming to have created the future of melee weapons. Later that night, Shale and Boss ate the squirrel and I lost the pine cone. He cried for 2 days about it... tragic to say the least.

His coat is always covered in some form of filth, most of the time food, blood, poo and mud. Truth be told however, the few times I have seen him clean, he actually had a very nice white coat complimented by a dark blue mane. He could clean up to be a good looking guy, but what they say about the pretty ones always holds true. As Shale says "They have looks, but there's always a cost, usually that of several brain cells".

Shale, now there's a mare worth your time. Beauty and brains with a lethal since of business and fearsome level of accuracy, the latter something you could only experience first hoof, if only briefly. A surprising combination given her ability to turn heads with not only her looks, but her charm. It was a act the majority of the time, usually to falsely sweeten what ever deal we were working at the time, but one that was no less effective. Her blue on blue coat and mane were only over shadowed by her amber yellow eyes that could send a buck to his knees. A tactic she had used more than once to pilfer Lue's bags for food. I get it, she's cute and all, but she's our sister! Why would he even entertain such a thing! Then again, like most families these days, who is really family anyhow.

Boss had found her on a rock farm when she was young and ended up trading for her in exchange for half of a case of Med-X. Her father, ever the junkie, took the deal. As insidious as it was to trade your own kid for a short term high, in all actuality, it was probably the best thing he had ever done for her. A few years later Boss came back by the farm to trade and was chased off by her mother. Shale wasn't with him at the time or things may have gone differently. Come to find out later, Shale's mother had killed her father after finding out he traded his only daughter to fund his habit. Now that I think of it, Boss got Lue as a young colt too, I guess that makes Boss the closest thing to a father any of us have ever had.

Shale could have gone back at anytime, but I like to think that she found a better home with Boss than she ever would have had on that farm. She was about my age now when Boss picked her up, I was just a colt at the time by comparison, barely able to fend for myself according to boss, so I don't recall her joining. As far as I’m concerned she has always been with us and to me, she has always been my big sister. She and I always played together growing up and now, we both run overwatch for Boss when he is conducting business.

Every group of traders that want to make it more than five minutes in the wastes has a crew for protection. Most of the time it’s the strongest in the group who takes the job. Boss, however, has always had other ideas on how to run security for the group. Sure we could just huddle around him and keep a constant guard, but that would be obvious to anypony above raider intelligence. Keeping a distance allows us the element of surprise and the ability to pick off any would-be bandits, not to mention a wider field of view to spot threats. Then there's the biggest guy in the herd philosophy, yeah, Boss doesn't like that either, that's why he has always picked the most average of the group to keep a look out. Everypony knows the biggest guy in the group next to the head trader is the one to watch out for, but when your comrades are picked off long before you even get close... you gain a reputation not to be messed with.

At a young age, Shale and I spent most of our time target practicing instead of playing. Her trying to see how fast she could shoot 6 Sunrise Sarsaparilla bottles with her revolver and me trying to see how far I could hit an old bottle of Buck with a rifle. Neither one of us are particularly big for our age, in fact Shale is short for a mare. No surprise there, what with living in a place that the air alone can be enough to kill or severely alter your genes to the point of being an immortal ghoul. But what she lacks in stature, she makes up for in firepower, and make up for it does she ever! She’s always had first pick of weapons out of the pool, and she is always the first to nab up anything with decent rapid fire ability, even now, she is carrying our freshly acquired full-auto 10mm pistol... the same one I remember begging for just two days ago... I hate being the runt of the litter...

I’m the most out of place pony in the group, by that I mean I actually make an attempt to bathe. Sure Shale bathes... I think... Hey! A gentlebuck never spies on a mare bathing! But apart from that, I have always tried to keep clean. Well as clean as one can stay in a world that's always trying to kill you with things comprised mostly of squishy, gooey nasty liquids and hazardous chemicals that all smell like barf. Sure having a gray coat makes it easy to hide dirt and all, but why the hell was I "blessed" with sky blue hair?! If there are Goddesses, they have a sick sense of humor. Shale says most mares love light hair on a colt, but the only things it has ever attracted me are filth and bullets. I stick out like a sore hoof at the best of times, even when I’m not being picked on for being a blank flank. Seriously universe? Have you no compassion? Not only do I look like an idiot that screams, please, place all unwanted bullets here, I have to be talent-less? Then, as if that were not enough to satisfy its humor, I have wings... Great, paint me like a target and label me as the most hated race of pony... Awesome.

As if starting out as an orphan who is used as little more than a damn lock pick, I had to be set back even further into a social deficit with feathery appendages. Irony is cruel, but at least I can fly... kinda. Ok so I hate heights. Call it being relentlessly picked on for having wings, call it a natural or acquired phobia, either way, I fell better without being a flying bull's-eye. Granted it is not all that bad, sure a lot of other ponies are quick to cast judgement, but with Boss not far behind to clean up the mess of slurs and rude comments, I have had a far easier live than the few other Pegasi I had seen, even if I was talent-less.

Well, maybe not talent-less, devoid of a mark and wearing something that forever that changes how society perceives who you are as a pony however... I can shoot very well, Boss says I took to it like a duck to water and flew with it, whatever the hell that means. At any rate, marksmanship has always been something I enjoyed and the only thing that has really ever calmed me down. There is just something about the mechanics of accuracy that has always bowled me over, the flight of the bullet, the fact that its trajectory changes based on a myriad of variables. Wind, temperature, shot angle, distance all playing a role in getting the right hold to land a bullet exactly where you want it to go. I love it! So it’s no surprise that Boss put her and me on overwatch. A short mare and a young colt would never stand out in crowd and as such, we blend right in with the background. Give those two the firepower to stave off threats and the ability to use judicious marksmanship and blinding speed and you have a recipe for the perfect security system.

I have been with the Boss's crew for as long as I can remember, even from a young age I can remember him shoving me into all the hard to get to places to retrieve some P.O.S. thing that would, hopefully, bring a few caps our way. There was even a time when he actually considered lowering me into a dragon’s nest, just to snatch a few gems to sweeten one of his convoluted deals he was working on. All that being said, he does seem to care for our well-being and has never actually put me or the others in harm’s way haphazardly. He’s always got an angle that makes things safe, some backup plan to pull something out of his flank to keep us safe. He treats us like his kids most of the time, maybe not in the best ways but we have never felt alone or abandoned either. Speaking of abandonment, a while back I asked boss about my parents and just how I became the adoptive child of a vagabond trader who has way too many kids that are not his.

"Slavers I recon, found you in a bombed out Ironshod plant, didn't want to leave you there. Thought about trading you off a few times, but it’s nice to have somepony who can fit in those damn vents to open doors."

That was as close to an epic tale of coming to be as I have ever gotten out of him, I did appreciate the humor of trading me off... At least I hoped it was humor.

Slavers were a possibility but why wouldn't they take me with them. Were kids just not worth the hassle? Maybe my parents stowed me away in hopes that somepony would find me. There’s also the very real possibility that they just said, “Fuck it, I don't want to be a parent to a feathered up walking failure." and kicked my ass in an old munitions plant hoping it would blow up. Judging how my luck usually turns out, it wouldn't be too far out of the scope of reality.

I was broken from my reverie by the sight of Shale poking her head out of the alley of the two buildings she was lurking between to talk to a young buck. No surprise, she always attracts guys everywhere she goes, it’s the orange coat, and bucks go nuts for it in this part of the world. By the looks of things, she was being complemented and most likely the buck was trying to seduce her into bed. Again, not uncommon, but she has a job to do and should be doing it. Nevermind, if she’s going to chat up boys then I’ll just pull her shift, as always.

Across the way, Boss, as always, was conducting business with a shriveled up old bit mongering unicorn named Valentine. Val, as he called him, was doing his best job of convincing Boss that the dirty water Boss was trying to sell him was slightly more dirty than usual. Boss, on the other hoof, was trying to convince Val that the water was at or less than 10% cleaner than the last time he came to town. Seeing as I was the one to retrieve the water from... I could vouch for it being just as dirty as it has always been. Well maybe a bit more dirty this week seeing as I think Lue peed in one of the bottles to spite Val, he never really liked him.

I relaxed and set myself to watching the ongoing exchange of asking entirely too much for dirty water. Then followed by the inevitable haggling process to come to the same price it always comes to. I swear sometimes I think Boss just like to get up Val's ass for the fun of it. Can’t blame him, Val is a real prick when it comes to parting with anything more than his nasty breath and used toilet paper, which might I add, the old fart sells. Calls is "Reclaimed Flank Floss". What the actual fuck!

Lue seemed to be looking over a ball bat of sorts, no doubt thinking of strapping a badger or hornet's nest to it, nothing out of the normal there. But something seems off about this picture, the normal hustle and bustle of the town is all the same but my eyes are trying to tell my brain something. A detail maybe? Something I’m overlooking? I glance across the crowd to where Boss is conducting his daily routine of bartering and begin a visual grid search, something I had read about in one of my 200 year old magazines from Wartime Technologies.

I was just visually acclimating myself when I saw it, a dirty red pony wearing a hood. Who the hell would wear a hood in this heat!? That’s what it was, an idiot wearing a brown hooded cloak in the dead heat of the day. No wonder my brain took so long to process it, that level of stupidity would require more computing power that any brain could handle. I engaged my "squintnoculars" and focused on the hooded figure, was it just me or did he have an odd gate about him. I focused harder on him and sure enough, yep, he had an injury to his right hind leg, giving him a small but noticeable hitch to his walk.

My eyes that were telling me something was off before, were telling me something yet again. Did I know him? I would like to think that I would remember a pony with a lame leg who’s also presumably a moron. Damn it! I hate coming out of a perfectly good moment of personal reflection to have to solve a riddle! This is why Boss always drills "attention to detail" into our heads until it dribbles out of our noses. He also says a lot about staying focused and keeping alert, but I forget half of that when I’m made to wait and be alone with my thoughts.

Sitting just 30 feet away, I could make out that he was eyeing Boss's bags that were sat conveniently behind him. Lue, who usually watches the Boss's saddle bags, was completely enamored with the idea of a ball bat with nails in it. I glanced back to the buck in the hood and noticed him taking a step closer, he was still outside the five foot area I allowed before things start to get decidedly "loud" but still too close for comfort. I look back over to Shale who is just to the right of the buck and do my best to get her attention without alerting the would-be, possible bandit.

I need something, anything to get her attention, I would guess yelling would be out of the question. Shit, I hate this part of the job, I mean I have done it before but I never enjoy it. I readied my rifle, at this distance the 7.62 caliber hollow point round would make one hell of a mess. Through the cross hairs I could see him inching closer, favoring his hind leg as he did so. Soon he had advanced in front of the store front wall where Boss and Val were sitting, well within the kill zone. No doubt that if somepony was on the other side of that wall they would be playing a very deadly game of catch whether or not I hit him or not. Bullets, particularly those from a high powered rifle, have a nasty habit of slicing through hide, crushing bone and continuing through whatever is in there way until all the energy is expelled. I read that too. With that in mind, I slowly lowered my rifle to my side started to get up when...

A pale blue earth pony buck flew past my left side so fast that I thought that he had been launched by a cannon, followed by a door knob hitting me right in the mussel. dazed and seeing little red colts in my vision I desperately tried to gain composure, as Ms. Peach politely walked out of the shop, screaming at yet another shop patron in her, raspy, annoying voice, for not having enough money to waste her time.

I staggered to my hooves, only to have her bearing down, screaming at me.

"Don’t you have someplace to be? As in, not HERE!" she said with her usual charm.

"Yes mam, sorry mam!" I said weakly

OK, staggering back to my hooves a 2nd time now, still woozy from my great battle with the door knob, I snapped my attention back to there the red buck once stood. And he’s gone. Shit....this isn't good. I would venture a guess that I wouldn't be so lucky that he had been startled by the commotion and made a break for it would I? Maybe? I glanced back up to my frost blue mane drooping into my now slowly un-blurring vision and reminded myself that the world hates me and pushed the "lucky" thoughts from my mind. I gathered my bags and returned my rifle to its home, slung just over my back with the sling hitched under my right foreleg.

Stepping off of the front porch of Peaches, I took stock of the buck laying face first in the dusty street with is rump in the air. Two perfect horse shoe prints, one on each butt cheek, both up turned from Ms. Peach’s hind hooves.

The buck gave an anemic little "ow" as I trotted closer to his still prone form

"Tried to haggle?" I asked in a slightly squeaky voice, fighting back laughter.

"Ugh...beat it kid, my dealings are none of your business" he said to me through his teeth, no doubt fighting through pain to do so.

"Well, at any rate, at least you got a receipt in case you have to return that ass whooping, better hurry I think it’s starting to fade" I said though a broken laughter, gesturing to his hind quarters.

"Hey there even upturned! That’s good luck right?" I managed to giggle out before almost wetting myself from shear amusement.

"If you don't scram, your ass is going to be a receipt!" the blue buck said, spitting dust out of his mouth in my direction.

"OK, I know when my comedy isn't appreciated" I said as I turned.

I started my way towards Boss who was just getting back into the "art of the deal" as he calls it, making my way through the crowd. By the time I had reached him, Val had already taken his leave, heading back to the cave he crawled out of. I took stock of the situation at hand, trying to figure out the best avenue of approaching the situation. I looked to where the red buck had been standing just before taking a door knob to the face. On the ground there were the prints of many, many ponies… but there, near the wall were a set of tracks that were out of place. The tracks were normal, except for the right side. There was a distinct pattern of one hooves track covering half of the next track with a small distortion where his lame leg had fallen faster than the others, kicking up a bit of dirty over the track.

Those same tracks lead dangerously close to the Boss's bags, then turned left into the beaten, dusty street. From that point forward, the tracks dissipated into the countless other tracks from the towns ponies. I looked back to the tracks where he had been moments before and I could also see marks on the ground where his hood had been trailing behind him. I did my best to take in every little detail I could, just in case Boss were to question me had something gone missing. The realization hit me that nopony, not in the 3 years I had been working over watch, had ever taken anything from us without a major fight, but then again, no pony had ever gotten this close before either.

"Joey" Boss said in his deep voice "something wrong? Why did you abandon your post" he said, a little too authoritatively.

I looked up from the ground to see Lue, Shale and Boss all staring at me like I had just done a backflip. I tried to gather the words, to say something but confrontation had never been my strong suit. Just as I had gathered my thoughts and began working my mussel, Lue decided it was the perfect time to take a jab at me.

"What? Did you get lonely over there? Nopony want to talk to the blank flank?" Lue said in a foalish voice

"What! No, there was... cloak, there, just a second ago, got to close" I stammered.

Now everypony was looking at me with a look of pure amusement, even a few of the town’s ponies had taken notice of the excited, confused colt, everypony except Boss.

"Calm down Joey, what did you see?" Boss said with a fatherly tone that he knew would put me at ease.

"There was a red pony, in a cloak who got too close to you but I don't know if he took anything or not" I said, completely embarrassed for my incompetence.

"Just now? And what do you mean, you’re not sure if he took anything or not" Boss said, narrowing his eyes at the thought of somepony stealing from him. There are not a lot of things that make Boss angry, but stealing from him is a great way to start a war.

"Yes, just now! I had eyes on him but just as I was lowering my rifle, the door to Peaches flew open and almost knocked me cold!" I said pointing a hoof towards the place I had been sitting.

"Ha, I told you that was a bad spot to set up post, I get the whole out in the open is the best place to hide thing but beside a door? That’s just stupid" Shale barked out at me in a laughing tone.

OK, I’ll admit, not the best place to set up, but I can’t help feeling a bit hurt by that statement, especially seeing as she was the one who taught me to hide in plain sight. Boss turn to Shale to regard her while she snorted back laughter, tensing his and gritting his teeth. It must be hard dealing with a bunch of kids when your the most serious guy in the group and the oldest.

"And you? Where were you? If he was standing right behind me, wouldn't that put him in your line of sight? What were you doing that was so important to take you away from the job at hoof?" Boss said as he slowly backed Shale to the same wall the red pony had been standing.

Shale, now on the defensive, bumped in the walk of the store front with her rump, letting out a resounding "eep" as she did so. Shale, now stammering herself, said

"I was just....I mean, somepony was talking to me and I lost focus...I d-didn't mean to let-" was as far as she got before Boss had stared the once laughing mare, into a tiny pile of fear, uncertainty and regret.

"You had a job to do, what if he took something, what if he was somepony who didn't particularly care for me too much? What then? I have enough scares in my back already without you helping somepony carve me up more!" Boss said with a graveness in his voice that spoke volumes for what would happen if Shale were say anything to push him over the edge. Honestly, I think a stiff breeze would set him off at this point.

“I, I’m sorry!” Shale said with tears beginning to bead up in the corners of her eyes. “I was distracted by a colt”

“As much as I appreciate your candor, now is not the time to be chatting up boys!” Boss said with a slightly less aggressive tone.

Boss turned back to me and took a few steps closer, lowering his head to meet my eyes as he did so. “You say you saw him right? You get a good look at him?”

I focused my gaze to his, making direct eye contact, something he had taught us all from an early age to invoke the buyers trust. It was a simple gesture, but a crucial one to give absolute certainty that I was doing my best to relay the events as best as I could remember them. If all of this seems forefront, it’s because it is, but when you are a 14 year old colt facing a 30 year old buck who could drive you into the ground for doing wrong, you make a note of going through the motions of honesty.

“Yes sir, young buck, maybe about 18, medium build, wearing a dark brown or black cloak. Red coat. I think he has a leg injury, he was favoring his right hind leg” I said with all the confidence I could muster.

“How close” Boss said, raising his head and looking around, presumably for the possible thief.

“Pretty close, too close for me to like. I saw him eyeing your bags and that's when I was readying to fire on him” I said

“And then Peach slammed a door in your face. Perfect. Why didn’t you shoot, sounds like you had a clean shot on him” Boss said

“ He was in front of the stores wall, the round could have passed through and hit somepony on the other side” I said with a small hitch in my voice. Damn it, I hate being on trial!

“I would have allowed that risk! These wares are all we have at the moment, you know that we spent our last few caps yesterday on bullets, why didn't you use them” Boss said accusingly

I pointed up to the sign above our heads that read “ Colts & Foals: baby wares and formula” looking at him with a desperate expression “ there could be a kid in there, or a mother, if it passed through and hit somepony who was pregnant, it would be three dead ponies”

Boss let out a breath that he had been holding and sighed. “...Ok, good point. I’m sorry. that’s good judgment on your part. more than I can say I would have had.” Boss said, still with a bit of agitation.

“There's more” I squeaked out as Boss began to turn away. “There’s his tracks, right over there!”
I said pointing to the fresh patch of sand near the store wall.

“What good does that do us? Look around, there's tracks everywhere!” Lue said with his usual attitude towards me. “So unless you're a dog and sniff him out, it’s useless! And the only trick I've seen you do is fetch!” Ok that pissed me off, I'm not a damn dog and I damn sure ain't a one trick pony! I was readying my comeback about his face being stupid and him being fat when Boss stopped me short. “Lue, nopony asked your opinion on this. In fact as far as I’m concerned you’re to blame! Had you not been ogling that stupid bat and been watching my back, like you are supposed to, you wouldn't have left joey to do your damn job for you. Hell, at least he tried to do something”

HMM...well I’m not pissed anymore, but I still feel like I did something wrong. I took the time to glance about the crowd that was now gathering around the latest show in town, everypony was looking at us. Faces of confusion, amusement and one shit paper selling unicorn with a look of “about time somepony took you down a notch” on his face. I looked back to Boss who was now educating Lue on the finer points of “attention to detail” and was waiting for my chance to jump in on the conversation when Shale did it for me.

“Um, Boss? Perhaps we should take this inside, take stock and see if the bandit took anything to be mad about before you start killing us all off?”

Boss, took a few seconds to take in the scene, mostly that he was now causing, and nodded , eyes still glancing around. I swear I think I saw a shade of red cross his muzzle at the sight of everypony looking at him.

“Yeah, might be a good idea. No use in getting too worked up if nothing is even missing. Either way you too are getting a crash course on paying the fuck attention tonight. So don’t think you’re off the hook if everything's still here!”

We gathered our belongings and headed towards the far side of town....it was about 100 feet away, so calling it the far side of town was a bit of a stretch to say the least. In fact this whole town only has 20 or so functioning businesses, one of them being the only hotel/liquor store/pay bathroom in town. Yep, ponies pay to poop where I sleep. Did I mention I hate this town?

Back in my room, erm, our room. An acrid stench hung in the air like a colony of tiny blood wings that ever so often would swoop down and assault our noses with the pungent aroma of stale, dry air, decaying wood, feces and whatever abomination the “chef” was cooking for dinner. I use the term chef as lightly as possible, the bucks a good guy and all but sometime I question whether or not he is using actual ingredients or just scooping out what everypony ate the night before from the outhouses out back. Heh, recycling poo into edible food, who would do such a stupid thing. By the smell of things dinner should be just this side of completely inedible, so it should be served in about an hour or two.

I trotted to the bed where I slept the night before, the sheets still neatly made from our morning routines, with what I believe was once a pillow but now was a sack of what I hoped wasn't dried semen filled cloth. Goddess only knows what happened in these rooms and honestly, I’m ok with the goddesses only knowing. I unslung my rifle and propped it against the headboard of my bed, sex mat, whatever. Dropping my saddle bags to the ground and ever so carefully, kicked the shit out of my bags under the stained mattress to free up as much room as I could. Sure the room had 4 beds but those 4 beds came at premium cost of space and when you're a trader, you need all the room you can manage.

The room, albeit small, didn’t feel that way until you looked down and saw the absurd amount of lack of walking room between the beds. Two large windows, one on each of the exterior walls, allowed for the sun to continue its assault on my coat every morning. The light that shone through, casting shadows across the room was impeded only by the dust that hung in the air. A few old paintings of times since lost, adorn the other two walls, once vibrant and full of color, now replaced with the sickly colors that come from years of mistreatment and sun bleaching. The ceiling, once I presume to have been white, was now stained from centuries of water damage and pop marked with bullet holes, some of which, coming from the outside in.

I lay back on my bed, gazing at a bullet hole directly above me and allowed the unsettling thought of dying in my sleep from a falling bullet really sink in. what a way to go, sleeping one second, shot dead the next from a stray bullet. I have often thought about the fighting in the places where we travel to, Hoofington, Fillydelphia, Manehattan. All places that have battles going on at a near constant rhythm, tens of hundreds of ponies firing wildly, wasting precious bullets, sending them into the dirt, building and possible bystanders without care. Why do I think about these things! Other colts my age are out trying to get lucky with their first mare or looting wares stores for liquor, but not me! That would be too simple, I had to be picked up by a trader with a personal security complex. Better than dead I guess.

Boss was the last to enter the room, he then turned and promptly locked the door, at least what was left of the door. He walked to his bed, dropping his saddle bags on the torn sheets, the bed let out a groan of protest under the weight of the overloaded, tan sacks.
“Ok, let’s take stock, if nothing is missing then we will move on to taking inventory and paying yalls shares,” Boss said as he began opening the tired, worn bags and began rifling through their contents. Laying out items of value in neat, organized piles across the beds. Ammo, water, medical supplies, odds and ends we had pilfered or traded for the last few weeks all laid with care across the small room.

Shale produced a clipboard and began going down the list of items, cross checking them with Boss's sales sheet, pausing only to count a few round of ammo's or to double check her work. I had made the argument to acquire a pipbuck to do the sorting for us multiple times, but Boss's still prefers to do things by hoof. Claiming “Why would I use tech from ponies who brought the world to the state that it’s in now.” to say he has trust issues is not that bold of a statement.

Shale completed her rounds and began reading back the stock of our goods.

“Ok that's 480 rounds of ammo, 7 bottles of water, 4 clean, 3 dirty, 3 knives, 2 packs of med-x, one ¾ full, 9 bottles of rad-x, 2 10mm semi-auto pistols, 3 magazines for said pistol's...” Shale droned on for the next 3 or 4 mins, listing countless medical supplies and foodstuffs. Finally when she had reached the end of her grand speech, she held the clipboard in the air and with a grand, squeaky singsong voice proclaimed “and twwwwwwwwwwwo golden horn riiiiings!”

Boss's looked up from his continued search of the now empty bags, only to raise an eyebrow. Even Lue looked up to Shale with a look of “Seriously?” plastered across his face, well that and most of the Buck Cake he was eviscerating at the time. I let out a half hearted chuckle at the grand gesture, taking in the scene before me. It’s nice to see a bit of humor, it’s so rare and fleeting on the trail. Boss, who continued his assault on the old bags was growing increasingly agitated as he turned the bags upside down to give them a firm shake. Realizing that everything was now lying before him, he sat down hard and began looking over the pile of plunder, searching desperately for....something?

The room was alight with giggles and jokes being cracked at Shales failure of an attempt at singing and Lue’s decidedly disgusting appearance when Boss, who had been quiet for the duration, finally spoke. In a low, hushed and almost bewildered tone “It’s gone...of all the things, it's gone”

the room fell silent at those very words, yet everyone still worn a small smile, thinking that whatever it was, it couldn't have been anything of value. Shale was the first to speak in her light, happy voice “What’s gone, I double checked everything on the list, it’s all here”. Boss rolled back on his haunches, looking at the ceiling. “Something, that wasn’t on the list, something I have had a long time. Something that was entrusted to me by a dying stallion a long time ago”. Shale, now at full attention, shuffled closer to the now confused looking stallion. “What’s gone? If it was so important why was it not on the list?” Shale spoke in stern yet soft tones, being careful not to anger Boss. None of us had ever seen him like this before, sure he was a powder keg at times but he was always so sure about things. So seeing him completely out of place was new for all of us and was a situation that none of us knew how to handle.

“Something that will mean a lot to somepony someday, something I didn’t put on the list to keep anypony from knowing I had it” Boss said almost cryptically, still refusing any information to any of us. What the hell could be so important that Boss, the tradiest of traders wouldn't even sell? Hell he thought about selling me once if I recall, so what could have the old stallion in such a fit to the point of looking completely disconnected with reality. Finally having enough of my own reverie for a change, I piped up.

“Boss, what is it that's so important that you've now become a damn invalid.”

Boss said nothing, just giving me a softer than usual look that said, one thing and one thing only “I promised”. Boss can be the most stubborn pony on the planet, so it goes without saying that when he's told a secret, or in this case, entrusted with something, nothing short of all the whiskey in the wasteland would get him to give so much as a hint. “Ok” I said with a sigh “How do we get it back?” There was a long pause that hung in the air like stagnant water, almost suffocating with its tension. “One of us has to go and get it, obviously,” Lue, finally breaking the silence said. “One of us? Don't you mean all of us?” Shale said feeling a might bit far flung by Lue's assertion that he would be going at this alone. “Yeah shouldn't we go as a group, safety in numbers and all that?” I said with the hopes that Boss wouldn't actually be entertaining the thought of sending at least one of us on a one pony trek to receive the mystery item solo.

“Wait, what about New Appleloosa, that's our next stop and we have that load of radaway to deliver still. To Absolutely Everything. She even paid in advance,” Shale said.

Lue, licking the last of the crumbs from his mouth, shared a look with Shale. “Yeah and I don’t think you three could carry that load on your own, it would take y'all 2 weeks to make it without me.” Lue said, closing his eyes and putting a hoof on his puffed out chest. I won’t admit to many good traits that Lue has, but being a stout buck with a strong back is one of them. We usually just pile all the crap we find on his back to sort later, making him carry 2 ponies worth of load doing so. But hey, cost of brain cells and all that. He never complained either, so it just became a habit for him to always carry the bulk of our goods on the long trips between towns.

Sad fact of the matter is that if Lue went it would take us too long to make it to New Appleloosa to make the shipment in time. We would have to wait 3 weeks for the shop keep to finish her runs and meet with her then. Shale could go, but that would leave us almost outgunned if something were to happen on the trail. She, after all, is the most versed in automatic weapons and her speed with them is, as far as I have seen, unmatched. Boss would never leave us to take to the Trail on our own, not to mention he also carries a substantial weight of the goods himself. And I highly doubt he would send a 14 year old colt to go...

“Joey could go, I mean, he is the only one of us that got a good look at him.” Shale said.
My jaw hit the floor so hard I think I lost a tooth. Me!? I can’t even...how could she throw me under the wagon like this!

“What...me?! You want me to go after him?” I said in pure shock. Boss, finally lifting his head, let out a resounding “NO”. “Boss, think about it, if any of us go, we won’t make the shipment, if I go, who's going to keep a look out for you and Lue on the way to New Appleloosa. But if Joey goes, we will make the shipment and there's a ok chance he will pull it off”. Gee thanks Shale, throw me under the wagon and give me slim odds of making it out alive. Boss, looking up to meet the hopeful face of Shale “No, he’s just a colt and he can’t go...not for this, there has to be some other way”.

“Boss...Camden... Joey saw him, not only saw him, described him, pointed out his limp and found his tracks. If anyone has a chance at finding this guy, it’s him. He wouldn’t even have to get close, he could just pick him off with his rifle and retrieve...whatever it is he took.” Shale said

I can’t believe I’m saying this but Shale actually makes a good point. With me out of the group, they wouldn't be any more hindered than if I was there. Being the smallest, I rarely carried much, my job was more to watch for threats and watch over the exchanges at a distance. Honestly they could do the work. Still doesn't change the fact that, I don’t wanna! What the hell, they are all conspiring against me! They’re going to send a colt to his death, for a stupid...whateverthefuck because he made a promise!? And did Shale just break out Boss's real name!?

“Wait wait wait, don't I get a say in this? What the hell could be so worth sending me to my doom over?” I said. At this point everyone but me and Boss had decided to send me packing after somepony who took something that we aren't even allowed to know what it is, to a place that I’m sure I don't know, to kill him for something I have no idea if he took or not. And as much as I hate to admit it, it wasn’t a horrible idea looking at it from the outside in. but on the inside it felt like I was being led to my slaughter for a middle aged buck desire to keep a secret. Infuriating to say the very least, but still something inside me still wanted to go. Some part of me that felt, wronged by making a mistake, almost like feeling...robbed... heh, kind of cathartic actually but still total shit but at least it feels good.

“I’ll go” I managed to meek out...did I just say that, did those words really just leave my mouth? Damn you mouth, I give you food, slightly rad ridden water, and I even try to brush your teeth! Thou hath betrayed me!

“Joey, I know you have to feel bad for what happened today, but that’s no reason to put yourself in harm’s way” Boss said

“It’s not that, Shale and Lue are right, you guys will have to take the delivery in yourself, I won’t be missed on the trail. I think I can pick up
his tracks by circling the town a few times. From there I can give you guys an idea of what direction he went and that I’ll be going.” I said with way more confidence than I actually had. Chances are I wouldn't even find his tracks and even if I did, at what point would they fade out and leave me alone. Hell I would be alone the whole way anyhow, so what would it matter, I could handle myself well enough.

“Even if you don’t know what it is you are looking for? How the hell are you going to find it?” Lue said, a touch cross that nopony was jumping on the “send Lue, he's our hero” band wagon.

“It’s a small black box, inside there's something I don't want anypony finding or even knowing about. If you do this, you have to swear to me, you won’t open it Joey, you have to swear” Boss said with a sense of almost pleading in his voice. I could tell he wasn't the least bit thrilled about the plan, but what other choice did we have. Hell I wasn't even thrilled with the plan but if this...box means that much to Boss, then that’s all I need to know. Call me a softy but he took me in when nopony else could, he raised me, trained me and got me to where I am today. Call it a life debt, call it being melodramatic, but this is the exact kind of thing that gets to me. So in a way I feel like I might owe him this.

“If it means that much to you to not tell us, that's all I need to know. I’ll get it back or-”

“Or we will never see you again” Lue said, clearly still unhappy about his missed chance at glory.

“I don’t want to think about that now. So none of that talk. Joey, are you sure. I mean, do you think you could track him?” Boss said with a touch of hope coated in a thin layer of doubt.

“....Yes, I think I can. I’ll need some supplies though and I’ll need to get out and search the area for tracks,” I said.

“Ok, then we will help you look” Shale said, already tugging on her bags

“No, best I go at it alone for the moment, One pony is hard enough to track let alone doing it with three others who might ruin any fresh prints” I said as I retrieved my bag from under my bed. “There’s a better than good chance that he booked it straight out of town at a run, that means I have to go back to where it happened and try and find tracks there that lead out of town” I said as I emptied my bags out across my bed, best to travel light I guess.

“And what if you don’t find them there?” Shale asked.

“If not there, then I will have to search the outskirts of the town for tracks, working my way out until I find a fresh set. Just feel lucky that there weren't any wagons in town today, if he had hopped one of those....” I said trailing off as I sorted my meager stash of books, rad-x and ammo aside.

“What all will you need? I mean, if you find a set of, fresh prints I think you said? How did you learn about all of this?” Boss said

I stopped, held up two books for him to see. One book with green binding that read “A hunter's guide to tracking game” and another with worn brown leather that read “Roamani tribal battlefield tracking and evasion”. The first book I found in a burned out library 4 years ago, the latter I traded for from a trader outside of Manehattan. The book looked to be worn but from what I could tell all the pages were in excellent shape, barely yellowed with time. The only problem was that the wording in the book was strange, I had guessed it was originally a zebra book that had been translated at one time or another. Not to mention it seemed that many lines of dialog had be omitted in the translation if that was the case.

“What the hell is “rowmany”. Lue asked with an over pronunciation of the word

“I don’t know, but I have used some of the things in this book before to track Yao Guai along the trails so we don’t run into them.” I said taking stock of all my provisions.

“Okay, I’m going to need food for the next 2 days, water, ammo, medical bandages and.....I need a tablet and pencil” I said still looking across my bed at my battered belongings.

Boss who had been quiet this whole time finally joined in on the questioning. “Why would you need a paper and pencil?”

“Oh you know, take notes, sketch out prints....leave a final will and testament, draw when I get bored” I said sardonically.

“We only have a few rounds for your 308, Seven to be exact and by my count you have 13. I don't know if 20 rounds will be enough to get you by,” Shale said with a grimace.

“I’ll stop by Peach's on my way out of town and see if I can trade for a few more rounds before I head out.” I said glancing out the dirty window. “Looks like the sun starting to go down. Might be best if I get started now before the tracks get marred by somepony else.”

Well... always good to see Peach can come through for me, and by that I mean not having a single damn thing I needed. Neither did any of the other stores in town, not one single round of 308 in this whole place! No luck on medical bandages either and I would really love to have more than half a roll seeing as I’m going off on my own. I couldn't even find clean water, instead resorting to dipping into our personal supplies to fill my needs. Did I mention I hate this town? Boss seemed ok with it at least, then again, sending a young pony on a quest to retrieve a mystery box with little to no gear will grant you leeway in bartering.

Five times, I have walked five laps in the evening heat looking for tracks for that lame bastard and nothing! I’m easily 600 yards away from town!! Hell maybe I would get lucky and not find anything, sure there would be the failure to deal with but at least I could go to bed. Stupid box, what the hell could be in it that’s so damn important for all of this, what in the hell would make Boss so twisted out of shape that he would be willing to do this? Too many questions, and oh look at that, somepony pooped here, like right here....where I’m standing. Awesome. I stepped out of the dried pony pile, fell back on my haunches, looked straight up with the meanest look I could make, proclaiming “grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”.

After my impromptu tantrum, I lowered my head and pulled out my little notebook. Sure it had cartoon rabbits on it and huge margins but hey, it’s all the town had. At least they had pencils, I couldn't imagine if I had to use crayons… that would really complete my terrifying appearance. I would be the scourge of the wasteland, an immature bounty hunter maybe, taking notes in my happy bunny time notebook. Raiders would run in fear, bucks and mares would flee at the very sight of me...and my happy bunny time note book. I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, albeit a small, quiet laugh.

Sun's setting, its light casting shadows from the mountains in the distance. Is it just me or are the shadows moving. Of course they’re moving, the sun sets, thereby it moves, there by shadows move....but not horizontally. Squinting my eyes I can just barely make out, something, a pony maybe? Are they...THEIR RUNNING!

I pulled my rifle to my shoulder, adopted a prone position and sighted down the scope. Yes, that’s a pony alright, steadying myself I grabbed the gnarls on the scopes zoom knob and rolled it up to 10x magnification. I struggled to find the running pony again, where the hell was he! THERE!

Through the scope I could just make out the cloak flapping in the wind and the faint red of his coat beneath. I took the trigger in my mouth slowly working my muzzle to a comfortable position and leaned my head into the stock feeling that familiar cheek weld I had so many times before. There he is, not a full run but defiantly moving quick, the hitch in his gate forcing him to raise rump into the air with every gallop. 450 yards, I’m sure of it, I had just trotted from there. I raised the scopes radical to his back and just on his neck to allow for the windage and drop. I began tracking with my crosshairs, slowly depressing the trigger of my rifle. That’s it, just keep doing what you're doing, just keep up that steady pace!

Slowly I let out a breath while putting more and more pressure on the trigger. “Boom”. The dust swirled around the muzzle of my rifle, blocking my vision for a brief moment. Wait, what the hell, why is he just standing there. Just off to his right side I saw that tall puff a dust in the evening light, the shot went wide? No no no, I never miss! I loaded another round into the chamber, using my fetlock to work the bolt and made ready to fire again. Through my scope I could see what I think was a smile on his face as he broke back into a gallop fading out of sight into a ravine.

What the hell just happened, I mouthed to myself as I grabbed my rifle up and took off after him. I never miss, I have shot bloodwings at that distance! Approaching where he had just been standing, in the failing light I could see the same tracks I had seen before. Following them I could clearly make out the depression in the earth where he had diverted his path to drop out of sight. DAMNIT! Where is he! I stood at the edge of the ridge looking out towards the mountains and where his tracks faded into the distance.

Behind me I could hear faint hoof falls, did he double back? I turned readying my rifle for a fight when I saw Lue and Shale running up to me with Boss in hot pursuit. They must have heard the shot and figured I had been killed, no doubt to collect my belongings and leave me near the pile of poo I had just been standing in.

“Did...did you ...” Lue said seconds before falling on his face. Lue’s strong, but endurance? Nope!

“We heard the shot, did you get him?” Shale asked, also winded.

“I missed.” I said weakly

“How did you miss? I’ve seen you shoot” Shale said with a look of bewilderment

“I think...my sight is off. Ugh… it must have been jarred loose when Peach flung the door in my face. The door might have hit the rifle, I don’t know” I said, staring at my rifle as if it had just let me down for the first time in my life...mostly because it had.

“I’ll have to re-zero it in before I head out after him” I said looking off to the distance at an old, half buried container.

“Damn, and for a moment this was going to be so easy” Lue said, slowly recovering from the ground. “You should get a move on while you still have a chance. One question, why didn’t you just, I don’t know, fucking use your wings” Lue said annoyed, gesturing to my sides.

“You know how I feel about flying, I hate heights!” I said with as much malice as I actually meant. Truth is, I love flying, just not at night, above 10 feet off the ground or with my rifle. The last thing I would want to do is drop it and oh, I don’t know, knock the sight off. Ironic now that I think about it.

“Need to fix my scope, Shale, can you give me a hoof?” I said, in a tired, slightly annoyed voice.

I propped the rifle on a rock, taking aim at a hunk of metal from a container in the distance, estimating it to be 125 yards away, aimed at a bolt and “boom”. The bullet impacted low and right of its mark. Thank Celestia, for a second there I thought I sucked, turns out I just suck slightly, I could live with that. Holding the rifle steady, I had Shale move the turrets until the cross hair just rested on the spot where the bullet impacted. I had used this trick many times in the past when I would sight in a new rifle to be traded, I even gained a small reputation among some ponies in Manehattan for being a crack gunsmith for it. That reputation was shattered when I took up reloading and over primed a charge for a bucks rifle, at his request might I add. The rifle blow up in his hooves.

“You two get back to the inn, I need to have a word with Joey” Boss said as I sat and began tracing out the hoof falls of the bastard I was about to chase after.

“Joey, I need to have a word with you” Boss said, watching the other two trot back to town. Leaning close to me and sitting beside me as I lay on my belly, working the pencil in my mouth to sketch out the prints. Boss took a few easy breaths and “I know you have never had any parents, but I would like to think of you as one of my own. I have had you for a long time Joey and I know I’m not the easiest buck to be around but I want you to know that I have always thought of you, Lue and Shale as my kids.” Boss said, again looking back to Lue and Shale.

The pencil fell from my mouth, he had never said anything like this to any of us before. Sure when he starts drinking I would get the occasional “I love ya kiddo” out of him but it was always light hearted. I looked up to the tired eyes of the buck who had not sired me, but raised me nonetheless. There was something there, something different about how he was looking out across the plains. Like he was trying to hold in a fart or something, his face was almost pained in the way he wore the expression.

“Lue’s grown and Shale's at the age where boys are her focus now, I figure it won’t be long until it’s just me again. The last few years of my life have been the best ones I have ever had and more than any buck could hope for I guess.” Boss said looking out towards where the lame buck had made off with our goods.

Ok, now why do my eyes sting. I looked away to hide a small sniff and to wipe the tear from my eye. Boss had never really shown any emotion towards any of us other than trying to keep us from getting killed or doing something stupid. In his own way he would show love for us by keeping us alive and teaching us how to survive. So for him to open up like this, to me of all ponies was way out of left field and...it felt good?

“When I was a little colt, no bigger than you are now, I lost both of my parents to raiders. I hid in the bushes that first year, kept my head down, stayed out of sight, made my way to Manehattan hoping for a safe place to start a life. Somewhere along the way I met a trader who took me in.” Boss said still fixing his eyes to the north west.

“Then one day, when I was about 17 he died. The doctors tried everything they could but it was no use, the taint got him. it was the saddest I had ever been that first year, I barely made it by. then one day you came along, so did Lue and Shale. Life has a way of throwing you curve balls like that “ Boss said. Is it just me or is this the most emotion I have seen out of him...ever. I think he might actually say it, he might for the first time say that he loves me, he has never done that to any of us! This is huge, like balefire bomb huge! I leaned in closer to him waiting for the moment to happen, tears beginning to bead in my vision.

And just as I thought I was on the verge of a serious “father son moment” Boss decided he was done sharing his life with me.

“I’m sorry Joey, I didn’t mean to get all emotional” he said as he drew in a deep breath and stood.

“No no, it’s ok, I get it and, I have always looked up to you as a father. You took me in, you raised me, trained me, taught me to always do the right thing” I said, reaching a hoof for his shoulder. Damn it you old bastard, don't you die on me now! Somewhere deep in my mind a little gray pony was pounding his head on a rock in frustration. “You finding me was the best thing that could have happened to me And for that I can’t repay you, but I will always be here, I won’t abandon you” I said as I reached for a hug.

“Uh Huh, whatever you say kid” he said with a small smile. FUCK YOU UNIVERSE! I was so close! Granted we had all wondered at one time or another if the old man would ever open up to us, tell us how much he cared. But that's just not his style. Boss always had a way with words, just like cooking steak, you had to add just the right amount of salt.

Boss reached under his chest and unbuckled the straps holding his twin holstered 44 magnums to his back. He then pulled them from his back, sat down and folded them neatly and held them to me with outstretched hooves.

“Here, my dad gave them to me, now I’m giving them to you in return. I have carried these bad boys for years, they have stopped raiders, gangers, scavengers, bears and all manner of sorts.” Boss said as he helped a very shocked and gaping me up to my hooves. I have never seen him without those guns! And now he’s just...giving them to me?!

“Camden... Boss, you can’t...these are yours!” I said in disbelief. On one hoof I couldn’t believe this was happening, almost like a dream come to life and on the other I was still pissed at the missed opportunity for him to express himself to me. It was always, “Yes Boss” or “I’m on it Boss” or “Where do you want the whiskey Boss”, the last always followed by “In mah mouth boy!” He loved that joke, told it every chance he got. I guess him emoting all over the place on a probable last goodbye was to much too ask for.

“Yes you do, I have taught you everything I know, I guess it’s all those books you read, I don’t know, but somehow you turned out ok.” Boss said as he finished adjusting the holsters to fit between my wings, pulling the buckles tighter that I might have liked. But man what a great fit! Even if the great fit was loose on the back. I couldn’t see myself, where the hell is a mirror when you need one! But I could venture that I looked badass!

I returned the stupid looking notebook back to my saddlebags and slung my rifle over my shoulder and turned back to Boss.

“I’ll get it back...whatever it is... and I’ll meet you in New Appleloosa in a few days. I'll wait fr you there.” I said with a confidence I now absolutely had, a confidence that I could feel burning in my heart.

“OK, don't die.” Boss said as he turned a walked away.

“Wow, way to kill the moment” I said under my breath.

What was with him. One minute I feel like he's about to hug me and the next he's back to being the old hard ass I have seen for years. Granted some emotion is better than non but com'on! We were so close! He almost told me he loved me it felt like and now the best goodbye I was going to get was “don't die”. Only boss could say those words to a 14 year old going out into the wastelands after something of his.

I turned to look out at the mountains where the tracks led. I hate to say this but if I flew I could make the mountains by dark, I could keep a low altitude and follow the tracks. And with that thought and a burning desire to catch my foe, I spread my wings and pushed off the ground.

In the distance behind me I could hear Boss's final parting words echoing off the canyon walls.

“DON'T FUCKING SCRATCH THOSE PISTOLS OR IT WILL BE YOUR ASS THAT GETS HUNTED DOWN” Boss bellowed.

“LOVE YOU TOO!” I squeaked back at him as I glided down the slope and headed towards the mountains.

Chapter 1: That Was Then (part 2)

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 1 part 2 That Was Then

I made it for 4 hours off the ground. A personal best! The steep valley walls of the mountains I'm trotting between are imposing to say the least. from where I stand now, I can just make out the cliffs edge. In fact just looking up gets me all woozy to the point of wanting to pass out. Flying into the valley, I made a attempt to follow the ridge line as it rose and fell with the landscape. yeah that lasted all of two minutes before I nearly fell to my death from a panic attack. From that point forward I decided to trot my way, only resorting to flying when I had to to avoid obstacles.

I have followed the lame bucks tracks for over 20 hours now, stopping only for brief naps and to find a way around the raiders that nearly spotted me. In all honesty, apart from that this trip has been pretty....nope, not going to say it. Every book I have read has dictated that moments after even thinking those words, you are flung into some absurd plot to save the world....or you turn the corner and walk head on into a slaver camp...oh look, slaver camp...called it, well screw you too, cosmos.

I crouched behind a boulder just in time to not be seen, I was right on top of them, how did I not hear them! I looked down to see the lame bucks prints that ended here, right where I stood. I could hear the slavers talking but the echo in the valley made their words blur together into a low rumble that rose and fell with their, what I presume to be laughter. I looked up to the sky, it was already starting to get dark. the walls of the valley were shading it's floor, making it seem darker than it would out on the plains. being this close to the cloud curtain that the pegasi long ago put in place was adding to the encroaching darkness.

No problem, i'll just wait a few hours, try not to get discovered and sneak past later tonight when they all pass out. Maybe I should loot their camp while I'm at it, maybe they even have a few 308 rounds lying about, that would be awesome! That breeze feel nice, kinda strange how it's blowing straight down, must be something to do with the valley walls or...how about a Pegasus slaver hovering just feet above me. Perfect. With That one mystery solved, now on to our next mystery. The mystery of how the fuck do I get out of here.

The slaver had not noticed me doing my best impersonation of a rock yet, but if I didn't do something soon, one glance down and I would be toast. I took a second to look him over, average build, dirty brown coat, black tail, looks like he is wearing barding for a battle saddle. But he's not wearing it now. In fact he's unarmed. wait, strike that, he is armed. on the slaver's right hind leg he wore a fixed blade combat knife, no doubt it was dull as a butter knife but pickers can't be choosers. Now, all I have to do is stop wetting myself and find a way to get it from him. there is no way i could just grab it from him, that would cause too much noise and attract the other slavers. I don't have the confidence to try and slip it from him either, the hilt of the blade was against his leg and he would definitely feel that. The only way I could think getting it from him would be to throw a rock and hope he would be too enamored with the sound to notice me pulling it from it's sheath.

Just as I was mustering the courage to liberate the knife from my flying enemy, he did something I never thought in a million years that he would do. He sat down on the boulder I was nestled behind, removed the blade with his fetlock and began picking at his hooves with it. Well, shit. There's less chance of him seeing me now, but how do I get the knife from him. If I use my rifle, by the time the second round's loaded, they will be on top of me in seconds. The sky's are out, he can fly and chances are he's been doing it longer than I have, so chasing down a piss covered colt should be no problem for him. Fuck! What the hell, world, why do you hate me!

I buried my face in my hooves, taking care to be quiet, and mentally screamed every cuss word I could think of. I even made up a few new ones. When I had finished my tantrum, I rested my hooves to my sides slowly and stared at the ground, only looking up to assure myself that I hadn't been noticed. Looking down I could see two things, dirt and light. where is that light coming from? Following the small trail to the corner where the boulder and the valley wall met I could see a small hole about the size of a hoof where the light from the slavers camp fire was showing through.

Three slavers, including the one on the rock above me, with a less than impressive camp apart from the large tent that they, I would guess, call home. None of them look to be armed. this is strange, I have dealt with raiders, they're easy. Throw a rock in a bush, then shoot them as they try to rape, shoot and eat said bush, but slavers? This is all new territory to me. I could just make out their conversation through the small hole in the rock, quiet and muffled but their words found my ears with ease now that I had a line of sight.

“Aww, whats a matter? You loosing your stomach for the job Ratches? Don't tell me your going native on me.” The green buck with piss yellow eyes said to the gray buck with orange mane.

“ Dammit Barbwire, you know I'm not! This whole damn job has been a clusterfuck start to finish.” Ratches said

“Oh, and how's that, things going a bit too bloody for ya? Or are you just too weak to hack it.” Said the buck whose name was Barbwire? What the hell kind of names are Ratches and Barbwire. Those have to be nicknames, there's no way in all of equestria somepony would name a kid that. Well...maybe hookers but still.

“You know what I'm talking about. First the boss sends us to Glyphmark looking for the bitch, then back to Filly and now down here to Silver Shoe and where do we find the bitch? Shacked up in a cave heading back to Zebra territory.” Ratches said, taking another pull from a bottle of whiskey.

“Yeah? What's your damn point? We came here, we got what the hell we came here for and now we're getting shit faced and all you have done is bitch the whole time. You're killing my buzz. Tomorrow we are heading back to Filly, we will pass her off to the boss and get paid.” Said Barbwire, pointing a half empty bottle of booze at the now pacing Ratches.

“My point is, why the hell is she worth it! She's just a kid or whatever zebras call it. why should the boss give two shits about a kid, a kid zebra at that! You know what a pain in the ass they are! You have to keep them fed and happy or they just roll over and die! They're a waste of time and now he has us out here, going all over fuck knows where, to bring her back for what? The whole thing's a waste of time.”
Ratches said , returning to the log he was once sitting on before.

I shuddered at the word Boss far more that I should have. Of course they had a boss, lone slavers would make too easy of a target for retribution of the families they had wronged. But something about them using the word Boss, just, it rubs me in all the wrong ways, in fact it pisses me off. What boss are they talking about anyway? The slaver boss? And how the hell did they get a zebra foal, I thought the only ones were in Glyphmark. Who would be stupid enough to go there?

“What are you driving at here? Because from where I'm sittin, it sounds like you don't have faith in the boss anymore to get the job done.” Barbwire said accusingly.

“You know that's not true, I know he will get it done, I just think that he might have let the power go to his head.” Ratches said, tapping the bottle of booze to his head. “ You know he says he hears voices right? Pushing him to make his decisions? I can believe he came from a stable and all, but having a talking goddess in your head is enough to make you wonder if he's a lunatic.” Ratches said in a sardonic tone.

OK that's fucked up in and of itself, but what's crazier is that this guy is following the freak's orders and just now starting to question it. Seems like the kinda thing that would end your job with somepony pretty quick. I know if I took a job kidnapping ponies and the boss came in on day one saying... “Hello everypony, the name's Sumbitch, I'm your slaver boss. Just one second, the Goddess in my head wants me to tell you guys something”... end of meeting! Because I have heard everything I need to hear from him at that point. I fought to push the idea of somepony in higher power giving orders through a talking figment of its imagination. At least at the rate they are drinking, they will be passed out soon. The pegasus above me was even drinking, no doubt to celebrate their victory over this zebra child.

“Look, you're getting all worked up over nothing Ratches, what do you say we go have some fun with our new toy.” Barbwire said with a evil grin.

“Actually that sounds like a good idea.” Ratches said, sharing the same grin.

Oh Celestia, they couldn't, they wouldn't! How could they do... that... to a kid! Even if it was a zebra there are lines you don't cross! Foalnapping was bad enough, but they actually have to resort to raping her to relieve their tension? That's just sick beyond words. I slowly pushed myself back to my hooves, looking up to check on my unknowing guard. I have to get that knife from him and take him out of the fight and find a way to deal with the other two....monsters. Just at the thought of what they were considering doing set my blood to boil! How dare they, HOW DARE THEY!

As luck would have it, in my absence, the pegasus had traded his knife for a bottle a whiskey, leaving the knife sitting right beside him. All I have to do is get my hooves on it and take him out, as far as I'm concerned, he's every bit as guilty as the two assholes in that tent by not doing anything to stop this. Maybe I could hover up behind him and slit his throat or maybe push the blade through his skull while holding his mouth shut. Celestia, was I actually just thinking up ways to kill somepony I didn't even know? What the hell was wrong with me, I should just back track and find a way around, leave this to the wasteland to sort out. It wasn't my problem... right?

Wrong, they made it my problem. If I walked away now, the guilt would drive me insane before I got a 100 feet away. For some reason this just pisses me off, it's like they put me in a situation where I had to kill somepony or let some...zebra...be raped or even tortured. I couldn't walk away now, could I? I closed my eyes and tried to push the thoughts out of my head but to no avail, they just kept bleeding through that mental dam I put up. Welp, I have done everything I could to stop myself, I guess I have to do something stupid. Huh, I feel... better now.

I inched closer to the blade with my right hoof, I could almost reach it if it weren't for trying to avoid his damn tail smacking me in the face. I braced my right hind hoof on the rock trying to bend and contort enough to reach the knife. closer, closer... then the buck belched loudly, scaring what little pee I had left in me out onto the ground and causing my hoof to bump the knife, sending it tumbling over the other side. Well shit...I'm dead.

Well not quite, turns out the cosmos has a very VERY twisted sense of humor. While I may not have gotten the knife, the buck was in fact dead, albeit by his own hooves. When my hoof bumped the knife, the drunk bastard tried to catch it from falling to the dirt and in doing so he managed two things. One, to fall off the rock, flailing more than a pony covered in blotsprites and two, catch the knife...too bad it was with the underside of his chin, ramming the long blade of the combat knife through his soft palate and into his brain. His last words? “Ew shit!” said softly in the tone of somepony who did something stupid they don't want nopony else to see.

Regardless, I'll count that as a win. I trotted around the rock to see the still form of the dead buck laying on the ground, still twitching slightly. Normally I would have mixed feelings about somepony dying, even if it was at the hooves of their own stupidity, but after hearing them talk about raping a foal...may Celestia burn you for eternity.

From the tent I could hear the two bucks hooping and pounding their hooves in the gravels, followed with the occasional catcall and muffled cries of a young pony. I set my gaze to the tent, feeling my soul being pulled towards the cries, two ponies, two bullets, two guns. I have never used two pistols at the same time before, but I had learned to use them with my wings by holding them in my fetlocks and pulling the triggers with my primary feather bases. It's not easy but if I get the drop on them, I could take them both out at the same time. That's saying they don't spot or hear me between here and there.

Quietly I approached the tent, using the toe heel technique I had read about in the Romani tactics book. I wasn't very good at walking like this, every step was a chore but a managed to work my way all the way to the tent flaps. being careful to circle around and avoid casting my silhouette across the canvas that could give me away. From inside I could hear the jingling of keys and rattling of metal on metal, they must have had her caged, the sick bastards. They deserve everything that's coming to them and more, I really hope there's a hell.

I pulled the pistols that Boss gave to me from their holsters, holding them both on the undersides of my cupped over wings, looking down on them. “Don't mess this up, don't mess this up,you can do this” I said under my breath to myself. I stared at the pistols with a more than clear thought of “what the hell am I doing!?” flooding my brain. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, my whole body tingled with anticipation and fear. The only way to pull this off would be to sit, ready myself at the tent door, grasp both guns in my hooves, stand on my hind legs, walk 3 steps inside, say something witty and pull the triggers at the same time...no pressure.

Now I would love to tell you that everything went just as planned and that I walked in on my hind legs and slayed both of the two bastards, becoming the legend I was in my own mind...but things didn't go quite like I would have liked...granted , both bucks are now dead but my pride also lay right beside them, slowly bleeding to death. I was able to pull off walking on hind legs for 5 steps just fine, again, a personal best! I'll have to remember to practice doing that later. But when I tried to say something witty the only thing that came out was...” uhm, hello”. This was met with shock and complete awe from both of them, but hey! It worked!

Also since when did guns kick so much! I was able to fire both 44 magnum pistols just fine using my wings to pull the triggers. But the laws of both gravity and momentum reminded me really quick that doing so while not properly braced. say, oh I don't know, standing wobbly on your hind legs? Will send you on a one way flight in the opposite direction of your target. I must have flew five feet straight back, breaking the grip panel free for the 16th time now. But I did all of those things with the biggest, stupidest grin on my face.

Returning to the tent I also found that while doing this maneuver is in fact effective, the accuracy is less than stellar, particularly on my left side. This meant that the buck to my right had a head now in the shape of a canoe and the buck to my left was missing something very special to him, oh look, there's some of it over there. The 44 caliber round did its usual job of leaving nothing but pain and suffering in it's wake, right through the...place you don't want to be shot and out the lower back, severing the spine. I couldn't help but feel my stomach lurch at the sight of what was left of 'little Barbwire'. He was still alive, but with blood flow doing what it does best and judging by the growing pool on the ground, not for much longer.

I turned my head looking for anything but what was in front of me and as luck would have it, across the tent was a small cage with padlock on it. The cage was covered with burlap, but inside I could see the eyes of somepony looking back at me. The strange light purple eyes seemed to follow my every move as I grew closer. Hooves, I could see a pair of black hooves that almost transformed into an off white coat just a few inches up, that faded into the shadows of the cage.

When I got to the cage the form had disappeared into the recesses of the makeshift cell, looking down I could see the cage was unlocked but the latch had not been thrown yet. kneeling down to get a better look at the mechanism and I could just make out the shaking form of a zebra filly that looked to be about my age. It was hard to tell with the light but I could almost make out some odd tribal markings on her flank, they looked to be in a swirly pattern with the occasional, small spike that jolted out every so often almost like a saw blade. the circle pattern came to an abrupt end with the last spike almost forming an arrow that pointed straight up.

“Ummm. I'm going to let you out, they won't hurt you anymore. Don't try to kill me. Please?” I said softly, hoping that she spoke Equine and wasn't taking my words as a threat.

She looked up at me, still shaking and nodded her head once in a rapid down and up motion.

“OK, just one second”.

I used my mouth to work the dirty, rusty latch and with a resounding click, the door swung open. She didn't move.

“It's OK, its safe now, you can come out.” I said in my softest voice I could manage. She didn't move.

I took a few steps back, and sat on my haunches. Great, just great. I go through all of this and she won't leave the cage, now what. I can't just leave her here, what if more slavers come back, she would be right back in the same situation I just saved her from. I can't stay, I still have a job to do and what would the other slavers do to me when they found their dead comrades?

We sat for what felt like an eternity, at one point I pulled the burlap off of the cage but put it right back when I saw her curl back into a ball and start shaking again. Goddesses, what did they do to this poor girl, I mean I get the whole hate thing towards zebras. They did bomb us after all, forcing generations of ponies into a meek game of survival of the fittest. But that was 200 years ago, that generation of Zebras are dead or dying off from there own wasteland hell.

OK sitting here contemplating the ways of social norms and its eccentricities is getting me nowhere fast. Pushing my head into my hooves I tried my best to focus and block out the now fading moans of the dying buck, just feet away. OK, if I was scared, alone, abused, caged and afraid of everything, What's something that somepony could do to convey trust to me. Look her in the eye? Nope, she avoids eye contact. Talking wasn't working all that well and apart from the small head gesture, I have no idea if she speaks Equine or not.

Think! She seems to respond to talking, but she doesn't reciprocate to talking...so she's listening? Makes since, if I was in her situation I would try to gather as much about any new pony that came my way before I did anything more than lower my guard in the slightest. Well if she's a good listener, I will just have to be a good talker!

“Look, I know that given everything that's gone on, and I'm sure all the things I didn't see before I happened into this camp, I would be scared too. Heck I would have drown myself by now in my own fluids had I been in your hooves.” I said with a small smile, trying not to make her situation light. I could see that she was now paying attention but she still wouldnt make eye contact with me. No matter, i'll just keep going.

“You must have some strength about you to be able to endure this kind of treatment.” I said, hoping for a change in her spirits. Nothing

I looked down with a sigh, well, this is going to be tough.

“ I didn't come into this valley to find slavers and kill them you know.” I said looking at my hooves in the dirt.

“I'm just a kid myself. I'm here hunting somepony, a bad pony who took something from my family and I aim to get it back. Happening across your situation was just a happy coincidence to be honest, well happy for you I hope. I didn't want to kill them, I wanted to run away scared. Tuck my tail and just run as fast as I could. The very thought of coming in this camp to take these guys on, scared me to no end. Until I heard what they were going to do to you. Now, I don't know you from anypony, I don't know where you're from or even if your safe to be around. But I would hope that if I was in your situation, somepony would come for me too.” I said trailing off to the thought of being helpless and caged.

Finally after 10 long minutes. “Are they dead.” she asked.

I don't know what startled me more, the fact that she spoke in a very fast form of Equine, or the fact that I was daydreaming at the time and she scared me.

“Huh? Those guys? Yeah...*sigh*...they're dead.” I said almost sorrowfully. Leave it to time for the weight and gravity of what I had just done to sink in and push the heroic thoughts from my mind. Why was I feeling regret for killing them? Was it because it was premeditated or because it was more intimate, closer than I'm used to. Usually when things like this happen and I have to go to work with my rifle, I'm never closer than 100 yards or so.

“The one outside, the winged one, he dead too?” She asked, again in that exotic accent.

“Yeah....him too, although, to be far, he kinda did it himself.” I said with a half smile, half grimace.

And were back to silence, well, progress is progress I guess.

“What's your name?” I asked

“Z-Zuri. I'm from...not here.” she said, seeming to search for the correct words to say.

“Uhuh, I gathered. Well Zuri, I'm Joey, nice to meet you.” I said, trying to be as friendly as the situation would allow.

“J-Joy, like happiness?” Zuri said, perking her ears up at the very thought of a pony named after happiness. I wasn't, but hey, whatever makes her feel more at ease. Truth be told Boss had named me, he said that when I was just a little colt I would play-box with him when we weren't trading or walking. He said I reminded him of some funny ponies that walk on two legs and talk in a “hickish” version of the ponies in Trottingham. Said they call their babies 'joeys' and that you never wanted to get in a bar fight with them. So he named me joey. Stupid story I know but, Boss never was one for bringing up the past.

“Sure I'm happy, I guess. Most of the time anyhow. Not so much at the moment but I'm sure it will get better. Life's like that after all, you got your ups and your downs but at the end of the day things always average out.” I said, probably a bit too confidently.

There was another brief moment of silence followed by Zuri, slowly inching her way out of the cage. After a little coxing and a lot of convincing she finally stepped out and stood eye to eye level with me. Now that she was in the lantern light I was greeted with with a zebra filly, about my age, with stark black stripes that ran down her body almost like dripping black paint. She was young but very athletic looking in her form with toned and slim features compared to the other females I was used to seeing. Her mane, albeit matted a bit disheveled, still shown what would be the usual style she would wear. Short and cropped in the back fading longer just beyond her ears, with a few rogue bangs that fell just across the side of her cheek, near her right eye. She also had 3 stripes that run down from each eye, it would have looked menacing had she not been so terrified.

It took me a second to gather that a long silence had grown between us. Mostly due to the shock of what a zebra looked like up close and the fact that she wasn't trying to kill me weighing on my mind. There was also the fact that she was...pretty...I mean in a zebra sort of way. I could see that she was still shaking a bit and would every so often glance at the two dead bucks, just a few feet away.

I stood, slowly, taking a few steps back to give distance, more for her comfort than my own and placed myself between her and the two bodies in the room. I found that I was actually a nose height taller than her, I guess when you're sitting everypony seems taller than you. Realizing that I had just fired off two rounds in a valley that would carry sound for miles, it would be best if we de-flanked the area as soon as possible. Knowing this I raised a hoof, pointing at the direction I was about to head now that she had decided to leave the cage and began to speak.

“We better get going before anypony else decides to come looking for their frien-”

“You are very clean for a pony.” Zuri said, as if she were commenting on the weather.

Wow! I have heard of breaking the ice but, what in the hell was that supposed to mean?

"Say what now?” I said.

“You are very clean for a pony. You don't look like the other ones either. You have purple eyes, like a gemstone.” She said, again as if it were perfectly normal to say things like this to a pony you just met, let alone one who just killed two ponies to do so.

“Uh thank you? You have...uh...very nice stripes?” I said, doing my best to not look like a fish out of water.

She giggled at the comment.

“What, did I say something stupid?” I asked. Nevermind the fact that I was wound tighter than a 2 cap watch, now I have a zebra throwing curveballs at me.

“No. You are turning red. It's a good shade. It complements your eyes.” She said as she reached for my mane.

“The blue in your mane is very...uh...nice...too." She said while patting me on the head softly. OK if this wasn't so weird, I could totally chalk this up as my first time being flirted with. Ever. Do zebras even have a thing called 'personal space'? She pulled my head down for her to closer inspect.

“I have never seen a pony with clean hair before. Or a clean coat.” She said, now pulling my mane apart to look at my scalp underneath. Awesome, now I'm her specimen. Honestly, I don't know whether to be offended or happy about that comment. Boy, zebras waste no time getting to know somepony In full detail. She then began running her hoof over the coat on my neck let the hairs fold over and spring back up. I had to admit, it felt good! Nope! Not right now, we have to go. If she wants, she can give me a damn physical later.

“OK THEN! We should get moving. You know, in case some more ponies come?” I said, easing back from her still gesturing hoof. I didn't want to offend her but we had to get a move on, its getting dark out fast and I'm exhausted to boot. Not to mention I really didn't want to be here anymore, the two dead ponies in the room with us were really starting to bum me out.

“Which way were you heading before, they...you know” I asked as I turned to the tent flaps, thinking of my next move.

“ I wasn't going anywhere. I was hiding." She said, trailing off.

I turned to see the now sitting Zuri...Dammit! Not again. We were doing so good! Why did I have to say something stupid? Now I'll have to start the whole thing over again and probably let her give me a belly rub....Actually that sounded kinda good. No left brain, not now! We have to leave, now! Thank you right brain, you're my favorite.

“So. You're not heading back to the Zebra Lands?” I said annoyed.

“No. I just thought that if I came here, they wouldn't find me.” she said, looking at me as if I should know.

“OK. So you have no place you're going, right? Want to come with me? I could use the company.” I said now starting to lean in a 45 degree angle in the direction I wanted to go.

“I can come with you? You want me to follow you?” She asked, almost shocked, I would want her to. What is wrong with zebras, Jeez!

“ Yeah, but only if you want to. I'm not going to make you stay if you decide you want to go at some point. But it would be nice to have somepony with me for a change of pace.” I said, forcing a smile. I mean, I would love for her to come along and all. But I wouldn't be heartbroken if she told me to stuff it, and ditched me in a few miles either. I did my part, I got her out of here, that's all that matters...right?

“If you so wish. I will come. But only if you would enjoy my company.” She said with another quick nod of her head.

“Awesome! Great, Wonderful. I would love your company, let's do this!” I said walking behind her and using my head to slowly, but insistently guide her to the door. Sometimes I really wish I was a unicorn. I could just magic her ass behind me and take off up the mountainside. But life sucks like that sometimes and you have to work with the tools at hoof. I guess I could have just picked her up and flew her, but that would require me being a good, strong flyer and to have the confidence that she wouldn't freak out and get us both killed.

We made our way from the camp, up the hillside and into the woods. The valley we were in just had ended a few hundred yards past the camp and opened into a forest with absolutely massive trees. There was very little ground cover to hide behind if we were to need it and chances are, at some point we would. From the depths of the forest I could hear all manner of noises echoing off the granite walls to our right. Moans, chirps and the sound of crashing limbs all setting my teeth on edge. But those are all “probable threats” and behind are very real threats. So law of percentages would dictate that forward rather than backtracking would be the safest course of action.

Zuri, or Zu as I was now calling her, had decided to take of all things, the burlap from the cage, some rusty knives, a tent pole and a few bottles of water from the camp. I spent little more than five minutes looking over the weapons and ammo and, as luck would have it, no bullets to fit any of my guns and I would be damned if I would take one of theirs with me. The guns they had were complete junk! After seeing them, I seriously second guessed my deciding not to shoot it out with them. Chances are at some point their guns would have exploded and killed them first.

I did however find a old radio and some medical bandages, bringing my med kit up to three full rolls, that at least gave me some comfort. I also swiped their lantern, seeing as they were now dead, I didn't feel as though they would be needing it. Apart from the few items I found, there really wasn't much else of value to us in the camp. Everything that was left was as close to garbage or poison as you could get.

Zu was now wearing the burlap in a makeshift hooded cloak. Granted, not the greatest in style or function, the square corner of the fabric was now draped in her vision with the corner coming to rest on the bridge of her muzzle. It looked amusing but at least it hid her well enough in contrast to her striped hide that made her stand out like the sun.

She was also picking branches every so often, affixing them to the fabric by pulling at one of the seams to make a loop that she would then insert a branch, grass or moss she had collected into it. She would then give the fabric a small tug, pulling the loop she had just made back tight and securing the random foliage. I had to admire her ingenuity, a few miles like this and she would almost disappear into the landscape. Well, that or it would look like I had a pet bush. Either way, it worked and was hilarious at the same time so I didn't say anything.

We slowly made our way to the cliff face, doing our best to be quiet in doing so. The forest floor was littered with fallen twigs, leaves and the carcasses of long since dead trees. From what I could tell, the bombs never actually made it this far, but the tops of the trees were mangled from the damage that they had caused. Twisting and contorting around the bare surfaces to repair the damages of heat and concussive force, leaving great bulging tumors in doing so. You would never notice it from ground level, at least not until you look up.

The majority of the trip went with silence hanging around us, only to be broken by the odd bump in the night. The few words that we did share consisted of “this way” and “did you hear that?” to help guide one another. Other than that we refrained any unneeded sound apart from our own hoof falls. At one point I became so lost in my own mind that I had forgotten I now had a companion. When I turned to investigate an odd sound, I came face to face with the great purple eyed bush monster that was now Zu. I'm not proud of it, I screamed like a filly. She laughed at me for doing so.

Once we had reached the summit, the trees had thinned out to a boulder laden hill, leading up to its sheer granite walls. Rocks the size of a brahmin and greater, all lined up end to end with no rhyme or rhythm to their placement. All except for a small overhang where they had piled to either side in great mounds, forming pillars that almost reached the ceiling of the outcrop. Not deep enough to be a cave but a great place to set up camp for the night nonetheless.

With the slaver camp now a few miles behind us, I could feel a tense knot in my gut begin to unwind. The pictures of the dead stallions however, still refused to leave my brain alone for the moment. For whatever reason I still carried a lot of remorse for what I had done, even with Zu now safe, I still wish there had been some other way. But hindsight will always be 20/20 when you do something stupid and, even though I knew that what I did was the right thing, my thoughts kept betraying me into guilt.

The forest was now pitch black, where we stood now was well beneath the cloud curtain that the pegasi had closed up long ago. I have to admit, Silver Shoe has its drawbacks, but one thing that I will always miss from that pressure cooker of a town, is seeing the moon. Even in complete darkness, it's light would break through like a beam of hope, guiding you where you needed to go. It felt like a blessing from Luna herself, casting its loving blue light down across the land when the darkness grew to its fullest crescendo. Even though the princesses are long gone, it always felt like they were still there in the way of spirit with the rise and fall of the moon and the sun. Apart from that, that town can slob on a big fat one.

I stepped into the shadows of the rocky outcrop and raised the lantern as high as I could, sweeping it back and forth looking for any threats. With the coast now clear, I motioned to my walking shrub to come forward to the light. At this point Zu had BECOME the forest. mostly because the majority of it had been affixed to her burlap coat. I stifled a snicker at the purple eyes pearling at me through a wagon's load of rubbish and timber that had been following me.

“What is funny?” Zu asked, her every word sounding like the leaves blowing in the wind.

“Nothing...nothing at all. I was just thinking how funny life turns out sometimes. One minute you are sitting on a porch, the next you have a pet bush.” I said clearly amused by my own poor humor.

''It is camouflage. I thought that if we were attacked I could just sit still and they would do all of the killing to you.” She said a bit too smugly. Well, if that won't kill a comedy boner I don't know what will.

“OK, OK. Just take that ridiculous thing off, we need to build a fire, unless you want to sacrifice your 'camouflage' to the cause.” I said with a bit of hope that she actually would. How useful would that be. Walk all day, the whole time her building a suit of firewood, then at night, she could just take it off and set it on fire. Mmm! Warm. It's a win win.

Zu began to twist and shake in an attempt to get out of the suit of branches but it was no use, my companion was trapped, for the second time today, in a cage. After several long minutes, I finally offered my hoof at liberating her from the suit of doom.

“Ya want help with that Zu?" I asked snickering to myself.

“No. I think I found a way...darn it...just one second...stupid...RELEASE ME!” Zu replied sounding more and more desperate.

After another long moment of pushing, pulling and tugging at the mass Zu, exhausted, lost her balance, fell to one side and was now on the ground being crushed. We shared a look together, me wanting to start crying in laughter, her not wanting to ask for help. Given lighter situations this would go down as one of the best chances I have ever had to ruin someponies day with bad jokes.

“I appear to be captured. Can you cut the straps on my legs to free me?” Zu asked, clearly not wanting to use the words like trapped, help or get this thing off me.

“Sure thing” I said, wishing we had found a camera in that camp. Nopony will ever believe me when I tell them this, I need evidence! “Now...WHERE are you hind legs?"

Finally after much sawing and hacking with poor excuses for blades I had taken from the camp, I managed to free Zu from certain death! Zu, who now looked like she had lost a war with a timber wolf, stood clearing the leaves from her mane, taking care to straighten it.

“I have changed my mind, I wish to burn the suit.” she said kicking, the pile of branches.

“As you wish, m'lady.” I said attempting to drag the great mass to the edge of the cave. Great googally boogally, did she put rocks in this thing? No wonder she was trapped. I slowly managed the pile to the spot I wanted to set it ablaze, the whole time wishing I had the strength she must possess to walk all day in that thing. Once there, I dropped my bags and began looking for a lighter...Matches? Shit... I knew I forgot something back in town.

Zu, seeing my look of “DAMMIT”, began trotting around the rock piles, digging for... something. Soon she came to my side with a black crystalline rock and another normal looking rock and began smashing them both together like they owed her bits. I stepped back and watched the crazy filly pound away at the rocks, ever so often hitting one of her hooves and letting out a small, cute little “Ouchies!”.

Finally she produced a spark and soon we had a healthy fire roaring with its warmth and illuminating the outcrop around us. Having finally won the battle with the suit of shrubs, defiling it's corpse with fire and given it one last mean look. Zu, now looking triumphant, chose a spot, curled up to the amber glow of its warmth and gave me a look that just screamed “ha! zebra for the win”. That's OK, you can have this one, even though we are both clearly winners here.

After pilfering my provisions for all they were worth, I decided to try to get to know my new striped cohort. The usual banter of, where are you from, how did you get here, why are the slavers after you filled the air for over an hour as we swapped stories. finally the topic fell on her ability to defend herself and exactly how she had managed to get captured by the bucks back in the valley. If we were going to be traveling together, I would at least like to know if she could handle herself enough for me to not have to watch over her. The last thing I wanted was somepony to protect when I was doing such an excellent job of protecting myself. Then again, it was nice knowing I wasn't alone and to be honest, I hate being alone anyhow, especially in the dark, creepy woods while looking for a guy.....

“SHIT!” I nearly screamed as I stomped my hooves in the gravels.

“What is the problem?” A now standing and shaking Zu said.

“Ugh, I forgot to even look for the asshole's tracks when we left the camp. Chances are he saw the slavers and found another way around. Without going back there, I have no clue where he headed off to.” I said looking off into the woods.

“He could have headed in any direction except the one I came from. At this point I can't even rule that out! He could have slipped past me at some point.” I said as I slouched to the ground feeling defeated.

“Who is it that you are looking for? Is he a friend of yours?” Zu asked.

“More like a thief. He took something of my...uh...dad. Something he has a personal attachment to.” I said now swirling the gravels with my hoof.

“If what you say is true. He may have taken the trail to the east. It follows the tops of the mountains to the plains of the desert.” Zu said looking up the dark mountainside.

“Yeah but I would have seen his tracks if that were the case...unless he covered them.” I said as I trailed off.

I remember passing a trail a few miles back in the valley before running head on into the slaver camp. I also remember wondering why he didn't take that route himself. If he wanted to put distance between himself and the town, that would have been the way to go. The terrain would have made for slow going for anypony outside of a pegasi and if he had known that trail, he could have made good time. So why wouldn't he have gone that way to start with, it makes the most sense for evasion, well, if he was even worried about evasion at that point. Unless he had to pass it to get somewhere he needed to go, someplace he would feel safe, someplace closer to where we were now.

If that was the case then he must be living here some place in these woods or at least have set up camp somewhere near them. If he had to double back, then there's a good chance he saw me. The valley was wide but not that wide, he could have even covered his tracks had he seen me. Even still yet, he could have passed me after I passed the trail head, leaving me to walk straight into my death with the slavers. Now I'm getting pissed, if all this is true then he has been playing cat and mouse with me this whole time.

“Zu, you said you know that trail? From where we are now, where does it come out at?” I asked standing to retrieve my notebook.

“Yes. I came that way from the west. If you were to take that it from the east. It would take you to the top of this mountain. Then it splits, one trail will take you to the plains and the other deeper into the forest.” Zu said, trotting to my side.

I now had my little notebook out and began sketching a rough idea of what I thought the mountain looked like. With some help from Zu and a few attempts, I now had a pretty decent layout of the land between us and the trail. According to Zu, it was a long, winding trail that would take a full day to maneuver through without a set of wings, so chances are that he may still be on it. If that was the case we weren't out of the fight just yet!

“How long did it take you to go that way? Do you remember?” I asked

“About a half a day. But had I needed to travel up the mountain, it would have taken longer.” Zu said.

“If he had doubled back, followed the opposite wall of the valley, I might have missed him. But that just means he knows I'm on his ass, unless he thinks the slavers would have finished me off or captured me.” I said now pacing.

“Thank you.” Zu said.

“Huh?” I said, stopping in my tracks. I had been so lost in thought of where might be, that I was caught off guard by her statement.

“Thanks for what?” I asked still trying to shake off the daydreams.

“Thank you for rescuing me. For not leaving me behind at the camp. I know you wanted to but, thank you.” Zu said wearing a half smile.

“Zu...” I said as I trotted to her side. “I didn't want to leave you behind, I wanted you to come with me but I also wanted to get out of there before any other slavers came. It's like I told you back at their camp, had it been me in your hooves, I would have wanted anypony to come and at least try to help. It was the right thing to do. And you are kinda fun to be around, you make me laugh.” I said, now returning the smile.

“Thank you. I'm sorry I was...not myself back at the camp. I was...upset” Zu said.

“I would imagine that any amount of time with ponies like that would take the best out of you. Its nothing to be sorry for really.” I said, giving her a nudge to her flank with mine. The gesture produced a small “eep” from the now startled Zu and only made my grin grow wider.

“Ok, so if it takes a pony a full day to navigate this trail to the top of the mountain and say get to a secret hideout deep in these woods. And same said pony had to pass the trail and double back to said trail due to slavers...at what point does he come out at the top of the mountain?" I asked, racking my brain for all of it's mathematical knowledge.

“Probably a day. Maybe two if he decides to sleep.” Zu said pointing to the crudely drawn map. “This would be the only place a pony could sleep. It's just big enough to lay down.” Zu said pointing her hoof at a spot near the top of the map.

“OK, lets just say he decided to bed down for the night there. In the morning he would walk out of the valley a few hours later and find another way down the mountain to where he was going. Well if nothing else he would leave a nice set of prints at some point, or at least the sign of him trying to cover them. You wouldn't by any chance know about where we are now would you?” I said, now pacing around the campfire.

“Exactly? No. But I think we might be half way. About a half day's trot as you ponies say.” Zu said edging closer to the fire.

“If that's the case then we need to make it to the trail-head before daylight. If I can get set up somewhere close by, I might get a shot on him when he comes out.” I said now sitting by the fire.

“Wait, you are going to kill him? For taking something of your's?” Zu said in alarm.

I let out a long sigh. “...not if I don't have to but I really don't want to try to fight him. He's a full grown buck and I'm just a...” I trailed off at the very real thought that I might not be able to win this fight without shooting him. In fact I had planned all along to just get within range of him, take the shot and retrieve the box of mysteries. It was all so simple in my head, but now, I don't know. Was this really worth ending his life over, was I really considering killing somepony to make things easy on me? Ugh! Things are not supposed to be this damn hard! Show up, pow pow pow, take box, come home and be showered with love and praise by my family.

“Zu...I really don't want to but I don't know how I could get it back without killing him. Even if I just maim him and take the box back, that's just as bad as killing him out here and I highly doubt he would just let me talk it out of him.” I said staring at the flames of the camp fire.

“You could threaten him.” Zu said.

The very thought of trying to threaten somepony at my age just couldn't grab any purchase in my mind. Granted, holding somepony at gunpoint would have its desired effect, but the less threatening the opponent, comes with a inherent risk of him trying something. It just wasn't a risk I was willing to take on my own, even less so now that I had Zu with me. Any mistake I made would undoubtedly have a negative effect on her own circumstances. At this point, it actually wouldn't be a bad idea if she set off for her own safety but, a selfish part of me wants her to stay for some reason. It's almost as if her being around made me feel more at ease. Less so that her being here staved off loneliness and more that I was actually enjoying her being here.

“Yeah but what's to stop him from coming back after us later. I don't know if his temperament is above that or not.” I said.

“Letting him die for your own safety seems wrong. But if it is your only way. I understand.” Zu said, clearly not okay with the plan but seeming to at least understand where I was coming from. Why is it that I don't like the way she said that? It was almost as if she was disappointed in my own judgement and for whatever reason it made me feel like I was doing wrong. Killing him wasn't the best solution but it was the only one where I saw us both getting out safe.

“What if you trapped him.” Zu said.

“What, like a rat? How the hell am I going to trap him!” I said with full blown skepticism in my voice.

“You could put a boulder in the path, cause a landslide. He would be trapped. You could fly down and threaten him with your rifle and take back the box. He wouldn't be able to follow you.” Zu said with a big smile on her face. Even after everything she had been through, she didn't want to hurt anypony, not even a two bit thief. I had to admire that, I hadn't even considered trying to go about this without somepony leaving dead until she came alone. And now I was sitting here feeling regret for even planning such a thing towards somepony who had only stolen from my family. It wasn't like he killed one of us, it was a simple crime, most likely out of his own need for survival.

“ Even if that would work, how do you expect me to cause a landslide...” I asked eyeing her quizzically.

“ Oh. Um. You could use this” Zu said producing a small box that clearly read “Stable-Tec lunchbox”.

“You want me to cause a landslide with a lunchbox?” I said unamused.

“No no silly pony. This is a cap mine.” Zu said closing her eyes and smiling.

“Zu... where the hell did you get that?” I asked, now slowly inching away from her.

“I found it at the camp. I was going to pick mushrooms and keep them for later. But when I opened it I saw it was a mine.” She said, as if that it's perfectly normal to walk around with a bomb strapped to you. Those things are unstable at the best of times, let alone with a half crazy zebra throwing it about.

“Um...okay, that could work. Could you...just put that over there...behind the rocks...Please?” I asked from behind the boulder pile I had retreated to.

“Oh, yes. Sorry” Zu said as she trotted away. Crazy zebra, but if that thing was live, her plan could work and I have to admit, not killing him was getting a lot easier to swallow. If we could get to the trail-head tonight, we could set up a camp and just wait him out. Hell we could blow the trail and just wait for him to happen along. Heavens knows that the wastelands were not short on there random explosions in the distance. It might even go unnoticed. No! Keep it simple. Wait till he's in view and blow the trail out, fly down and demand the box back, leaving him to backtrack. Granted it would leave a pony out there who would want me dead after that, but at least we have the chance to get away first.

“Zu, if we are going to do this, we have to leave tonight. That way we can beat him to the trailhead.” I said standing up to get my bags.

“Joy, it's too dark to walk these woods at night. If we get lost then I fear your mission will not be completed.” Zu said in protest.

“I know, but we have to try. I know you probably don't want any part of this but I have to go. If you would like, you can stay behind and wait for me. After its done I'll come back for you.” I said hoping that she would decide not to stay in the creepy cave alone. I really didn't want to leave her but the idea had occurred to me that I may have to at some point.

“If you wish to go tonight. I will go too.” Zu said reluctantly.

“Thank you, I know you aren't a part of this whole thing, but I would feel better with you by my side” I said with a soft smile.

“Oh? Why is that?” Zu said cocking her head to one side.

“You came up with a plan to get back what I'm after without anypony getting killed. That's impressive enough by itself but, means more to me then you will ever know. So, with you by my side, I feel like I would make the right decision if something happened or that you might have a better way if mine is too stupid.” I said.

“You want to use my idea?” Zu said with a look of bewilderment on her face.

“Yup, better than any plan I could have come up with. You're smarter than you give yourself credit for.” I said, giving her another bump of my flank.

“OK, let's go!” said Zu.

"That's the spirit Stripes! Let's get a move on!"

That thoroughly, completely and absolutely sucked! The hike from our impromptu encampment to the trail-head took longer than I had planned. The path, if you could call it that, was comprised mostly of rocks and boulders, all weathered by time to be round, slick shapes that did their best to slow us down. Daylight loomed on the horizon, casting shades of amber and red across the landscape giving life to the forest around us.

Despite our slow going, we had managed to make it to our destination before the lame buck had cleared the ridge, at least from what I could tell. I scouted the area for prints and signs of the him covering them but came up empty hoofed, so for the time being, I could guess we were ahead of him.

Zu had wasted no time exploiting the mountain passage for its weaknesses. The many fissures and breaks in the stone valley lead to the idea that if we could shear part of it away, it would leave him trapped. The rock wall to one side was near vertical for about 100 yards below the trail-head leading out of the valley and the same could be said for the opposite side, except straight down. If this plan works, he would be trapped and forced to return from where he came.

Zu had placed the cap mine in a crack, near a section that had broken clear across creating a 20 foot section that would fall away. She then ran a wire to the rocky ledge off the top of the canyon wall, about 30 feet above the trail to set off the mine. Her thought's being that it would leave nothing to chance if the trip wire were to fail.

Despite me being one of the more accepting ponies, I had to admit that even I was put off by her ability to lay a trap like this. Even more so that she would want to spare his life, seeing as zebras are often marketed as lying, betraying creatures that can't be trusted. I have known for a long time that you can't always believe what you hear but, usually there is a modicum of truth to every embellishment. But if anything holds true, zebras are not a species to be crossed based on her talents alone. I'm just glad she's on my side.

We had settled ourselves into the small nest we had created, the rocks and large boulders to our backs and the sheer cliff to our fronts. To our right, a small trail that lead back to the trail-head that we had created and to our left the was the rocky ridge-line. Zu had settled in and dozed off to sleep, snuggling with a rock as her sleeping companion. Every once in a while, she would let out little “zebra noises”, almost like she was talking with other ponies. It was cute but at times loud enough to rouse my worry that we may be spotted before I had a chance to take out the ledge.

Hours must have passed, Zu had traded her rock pillow for my right hind leg that was now completely numb from blood loss. From time to time she would attempt to crush the bones in my leg with a death grip to sooth her discomfort. I guess after being chased by slavers and finally captured, she had her demons to deal with in her sleep and my leg was the only comfort she had at the moment. It was uncomfortable, but a part of me was actually enjoying having her latched to my leg. It made me feel like I was helping her in some way, almost as if she needed me in her own way.

I had never entertained the idea of a marefriend before, mostly due to the amount of teasing I had gotten the last few years for still being a blankflank. Growing up with such treatment meant that my social life was void of almost any form of physical contact with mares and by extension, anypony else. Albeit awkward at first, I have to say, I rather liked having her this close to me. Not just for the physical touch of another pony, but for the feeling that somepony actually wanted to be near me. It was a feeling of contentment that I had never had before, stirring new emotions inside me that I had long ago repressed out of fear of rejection. As much as I still had my reservations about these feelings, as far as I was concerned, the lame buck could take his sweet time getting here if he wanted. If only that I could live in this moment a little longer.

Daylight had just broken over the ridge but, from where I sat, the cloud cover was doing a great job of turning the once clear light of the sun into a dirty opaque light. It did little to cast away the shadows of the early morning light, leaving the valley in a sort of time warp standstill. From my vantage point, I could see that, about 100 yards down the trail, it curved to the right and out of site. This would only give me a narrow window to be able to pull this plan off, if he hadn't traveled through the night that is.

I spent most of the time gathering notes on everything I had done, seen and found along the way, including the possibility of him slipping past me at one point. I had read that at times while tracking, if you lost your sign, that you could always look back to your notes for guidance and that even the smallest detail could lead you to your quarry. I don't know if any of this information I was scribbling was useful or not but I guess it passes the time. The work felt almost tedious, made worse by the fact that my mind kept drifting off to the sleeping zebra on my side. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake the thoughts of her from my mind for some reason.

Zu had spent a good portion of our hike up the mountainside telling me about her life in the Zebra Lands and why she fled the country for Equestrian. As it turns out, she had been on the run for quite sometime before her run in with the slavers and even went so far to say that she had been on her own for two years now. two long years with nopony to rely on, to talk to or to watch her back. I couldn't even begin to imagine what that would have been like. Don't get me wrong, I like being a loner when I'm working but, the crave for social stimulation will get to anypony eventually.

Of all the things that she could be running from, her tribe would have been the last thing I would have guessed. I had always thought that zebras had a strange camaraderie about them and wouldn't turn one of their own away, especially a filly. But Zu was quick to correct me in that most tribes hold themselves to several social, moral and even ancestral standards. It seemed crazy that even a zebra's bloodline would dictate where they rest in the social hierarchy. She told me that she had hoped to find a place near the ocean to hide and maybe make a life for herself there. When I asked why, she told me about a book she had read when she was just a filly.

"It was my favorite book! It had pictures of the ocean in it and came with a little music player that had songs on it! I want to go to a place like that someday."

When I asked about her mother and father, she only replied with a small shake of her head, signifying that she was an orphan. As such, the tribe that she had become part of, appointed her a surrogate to take care of her. Zu later told me that her adopted mother was abusive towards her and other children that she had taken in at the time. Things didn't improve once she got her Cutiemark, in fact it seemed to be the reason for her fleeing the tribe. It seems so trivial that a tribe would go so far as to run off one of their own members over their own special talent but, according to her, it was almost commonplace. If nothing else, it explained why zebras were in Equestria in the first place, even now almost two centuries after the war.

She stayed under her care for nearly her entire childhood until situations dictated that she run away to Equestria. She had heard tales that no zebra would go there after the great war because it was poisoned, But other members of the tribe seemed to disagree with that lore. So a young Zuri, left the tribe she had been a part of for so long, only to be captured by slavers not even one month later. They had taken her to Filly where she was forced to perform remedial jobs at their mercy until she found a way to breakout. By the time she had finished telling me about her last 2 years alone in the wastelands, she had started to cry. I felt it best not to pressure her anymore with questions and instead, offered a hug and a shoulder to cry on, albeit a brief one.

I looked up from my thoughts and drawings to do my usual, once every minute search of the area, to find a shadow moving against the rock wall. Realizing that this must be him, I slowly put down my notebook and crept to the rock ledge for a closer look. There, sure enough, was the same red buck, favoring his hind leg, no longer wearing the brown cloak. He had made slow time but I had not factored in the fact that he was lame and traversing a trail like this would have taken him more time. He was already closing in on the blast zone and soon it would be too close for me to detonate the charge. So with a still asleep Zu nearby, I detonated the charge.

BOOM!

The cap mine did it's job, better than it's job in fact. I had been told that those things packed a punch but, to take out over 25 feet of trail? Of that I had no clue. The red buck was now clinging to a small chunk of rock, having fallen after the trail where he had been standing crumbled. Zu, who had been in dreamland at the time of the explosion, was now fully on top of me, clinging to me like I was her last bastion of hope for living. She was shaking so hard that I was having a hard time narrowing my vision on the now dangling buck.

He was trying to climb back up the rock wall but, any worry I had of him getting away was quickly dismissed when he nearly fell to his death in doing so. But that didn't stop him from trying, even with his every attempt coming up shorter than the last.

“Um...Zu? Could you get off me love?” I asked while being crushed.

“Yes. Sorry. The boom. It frightened me.” She said.

Once I had freed myself of my captive, I left her to recover from the world's best alarm clock and fly down to have a little chat with my new friend. Granted being up here all morning had taken the edge off the heights problem I normally have but that all faded when I stood to take flight from the edge. With a nervous and very shaking thrust of my wings, I was airborne and now hovering down the cliff face. It wasn't the most graceful flight but I managed it well enough, all the while trying to maintain some false bravado to keep up appearances.

“ What the hell kid!” The red buck said. I said nothing as I walked closer.

“Was that you that did this? Why!” Again, I said nothing. Instead walking closer and drawing one of the pistols that had been given to me, cocking the hammer on a fresh chamber and pointing it at his head.

“Please, look I don't know what I did to piss you off... Please just help me up!”

Finally I broke my silence.

“You took something from me. Back in Silver Shoe. Remember me now?” I said with as much hate in my voice as I could manage. Granted I was shaking like a foal and had I any contents in my bladder I would have emptied them right there, but I think I got the point across.

“Wait! You're the one that shot at me! You went through all this for a stupid necklace!?”

Well, that's news to me. Guess the Boss's secret isn't so secret anymore. Just the same, this ass was the one who took it, he just confirmed that, now I had to get it from him.

“Somethings in life are worth the work.” I said.

“You're fucking crazy kid! You're going to shoot me over some scrap gold?”

“If that's what it takes.”

“Heh, I bet you'll miss. You missed back in town. What makes you think you won't miss this time too.” he said.

“At this range, I like my odds.” I said now leveling the pistol a foot from his head. He took a few seconds to assess his situation and gave a few looks down.

“Fine! Here, just take it! Just don't kill me!” He said as he pulled himself to the cliff wall and braced himself against the corner of it and the small spire of rock that he now called home. He began rummaging through his bag until finally he produced a small, hoof sized box and tossed it to me.

“I don't know why that thing is so important to you kid but, I hope it was worth it.” He said in a threatening tone.

“It was, trust me.” I said as I clicked the box open just enough to see that the contents, whatever they were, were still there. “Oh, and don't bother following me, I'm going to drop you a rope down when I get back to the top. You can use that to get back to the trail you came in on. I suggest going back that way. I'll be watching. Besides, I could have just waited a few more seconds and killed you.” I said as I pushed off the ground.

Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down.

Back at the top of the ledge I made good on my promise, I even helped by swinging him to the trail side. He could have done it on his own but, I would hope the gesture would be enough to keep him from finding another way around. But just to be sure I decided to cut the rope and throw it down, even if he had a bum leg I couldn't take the chance of him following us.

Finally, after all those painful miles I had the one thing I came for, I even knew what it was now! But why in the hell would Boss care this much about a damn necklace? It had better be a damn nice one for all the hell this just put me through! Apart from the very bottom of the pendant, I didn't see anything else inside the box. For all I know it's a necklace that says 'world's greatest lover' and honestly, I really wouldn't put it past Boss to have something like that.

Nevermind all that, I promised I wouldn't look and I'm not going to, if nothing else I would like to think I keep my word and can be trusted. Also Boss has this nasty habit of testing us on things like this, dropping little clues and hints in conversations to see if we are lying or not. He will probably be pissed by the fact that I even opened it to see if it was even still in there but, maybe that will be canceled
out by the fact that I'm not dead? Hooves crossed!

Zu had taken her time alone to gather our things, what few we had, and was just finishing up her last rounds when I made it back to the ledge. Now with everything tucked away and the box of mysteries secured in my bags, I turned my attention to Zu. She was still shaky from the blast but otherwise seemed to be focused on getting a move on. Down below I could still hear the hoof steps of the lame buck now fading away down the trail. We both shared a glace and looked to the cliff and with a turn, we ran up the trail.

It took almost 3 hours for either of us to risk breathing a word to one another. By that time we had made it to the ridge top where the trail had become more pronounced, I don't think we had said more than three words between us. The once tiny path had become one wide enough for two ponies to walk down together side by side. Not that I'm complaining about the old trail, especially with Zu leading the way. it was nice. Very... scenic! Having a good distance between us and the lame buck finally let me loosen up. Zu, on the other hoof, still had a shiver about her. She still seemed...on edge? Maybe afraid?

“Hey, are you OK? I mean, you almost crushed me back there.” I said.

“Yes, I am OK. Sorry. I wasn't expecting the explosion. I don't know how I became on top of you like that.” Zu said.

“It's OK, I guess when you are playing the part of a pony pillow, it will have its drawbacks.”

“A pony pillow?”

“Yeah, you know a pony being used as a pillow? You must have been using me as one for over 4 hours. At one point I thought you were going to crush my leg.”

“Oh. I did not know that. I'm sorry.”

“Nah, nah. It's fine. I had to be more comfortable than that rock you were snuggling with after all. You kept making zebra noises, it was cute. How could I have moved you like that, you must have been having a good dream.” I said smiling.

“It was...complicated.”

“Yeah? What was it about?”

“I was back in the cage. It was cold and I was scared. One of the guards was pushing against my chest with a hammer. It felt like he was trying to crush me.”

“That's not complicated, that's sad.”

“ I'm not finished. Then his head exploded.”

“ That's not complicated that's horrible!”

“I was rescued and I was hugging him for saving me and stuff. Then boom. I wake up on top of you.”

“Zu, that wasn't a dream, that was yesterday. Well...not the hug and boom parts, that was later.” I said with a flat face.

“Other things happened too...” She said looking away.

“What do you mean other....” I said as it dawned on me. Zu was now biting her lip and looking around.

“Oh...OOOH.” I said turning a shade of red.

“Waking up on top of you was...” Zu stopped seeming to be looking for the right words.

“Ironic?”

“Yes.”

We had stopped in the trail, both sharing very humiliated looks to one another. OK so Zu was having a scary/sexy dream about me? OK that's strange, I mean I feel honored and all but we had just met less than 24 hours ago. Granted she was very pretty and she had a way about her that made me feel both at ease and like I was in the right place with her by my side. OK so I admit I fancy her, it's hard not to grow a appreciation for somepony when you have a bird's eye view of their backside for a few hours. Was this a zebra thing or something? One of their many strange eccentricities? Maybe I'm just a sexy dude who saved her day and...yeah there's no way that's the case.

Whatever the reason was, I'm OK with it. I had never really had the chance to be around other mares my age before for more than a few hours at the most. Nevermind get to know them like I had Zu. Between meeting her and where we are now we had gone from strangers to acting almost like best friends. It was hard to explain but I could feel a connection between her and I, not as strong as say mine and Shale's relationship, but different. Almost like it was just as strong but something that could be more given time. Is this that love at first sight stuff I had read about in all those old books or is this what it feels like to have made a close friend.

I had never actually thought about this kind of thing before, I have never even had any friends outside of Shale come to think of it. This is confusing but at the same time it feels right in it's own strange way and for some reason it makes me uncomfortable and embarrassed. Nevertheless I can't help but feel for Zu, she had been on her own for so long, staying out of sight, what was she going through if she was at all? I had not even thought to ask her how she was holding up after everything that had happened to her. I know if that had been me I would have wanted somepony to cling to and tell me that I was safe now and everything was going to be OK. But I hadn't done that for her, I instead tried to force her out of the cage and make her keep moving. Even if it was the right thing to do at the time. I can't help but feel guilty for not being more caring.

But even after all she had been through, she was still standing right here with me. I thought for sure that she would have ditched the first chance that she felt safe enough to do so, but here I am relying on her to not only to help me get the job done, but to get me out of here. I'm sure I could have managed on my own but she's still here, not because she feels obligated to but because she wants to be? Maybe that's what these feelings are, maybe its admiration for her, maybe it's something else but regardless I still can't help but feel like she's holding something back from me.

“Zu, are you OK?” I asked.

“Are you mad at me?” She asked wearing look of complete shame.

“WHAT?! Why would I be mad? A cute filly was dreaming about getting all freaky with me! If anything I'm honored.”

“You think...I'm cute?” She said, looking up at me with her nose to the ground.

“I will admit to admiring you a bit. OK maybe a lot.” I said rubbing one of my forelegs.

“So you think I look cute?” Zu said frowning.

“No no, not just that. I mean you are cute but, when I'm with you it just feels...right. You're smart, fun to be around and you make me laugh.” I said.

“You're really like to be with me?” she asked.

“Yes. I really do. I guess I've been so wrapped up in the chase that I haven't had time to really think about it. But now that I have, I think I really like you Zu.”

“I really like you too, I feel safe with you. Not like with the other ponies I have met. I feel like I am where I belong when I'm near you.” She said walking closer to me.

“You do? Wow that makes me feel better, and here I was thinking you were just with me for my good looks.” I said polishing a hoof on my chest. Would you just look at that majestic hoof shining like a diamond, I thought to myself looking down on it.

Zu then leaned in and kissed me on the lips. What was happening, why is her tongue doing...things with mine? The hair on my head stood straight up on end and I could feel my legs beginning to shake. I had never been kissed before so I didn't know what to expect from it, I mean I had guessed it would feel good but, this good? Nope!

My brain went into total lockdown mode with one side screaming run and the other screaming grab her and run to a bush. Finally when our lips parted I was left with a complete sense of euphoria, nothing I had ever experienced felt that good before. I stood now shaking and rigid looking into the mare who had just kissed me, my first kiss mind you, on the lips. Hey, why were her lips moving and why can't I hear her also why is the world moving... darkness.

I came to on my back and on the ground with a view of the sky peaking through the trees. I felt...warm. That's strange, usually its really cold up in the mountains. Is that a fire I smell? That's nice. What happened to me, did I just faint? I must have because I don't remember building a fire. Oh wow, that sense of euphoria is still lingering on my lips, oh how I don't want that to go away.

With my senses slowly coming back to me, I tried to replay the events that lead to me being on my back here in the dirt. For some reason I just can't get past the part where she kissed me, even reliving the moment in my head sends my heart aflutter. Zu had in one gesture taken the box of mixed up emotions I had, thrown them in the air, performed some freaky zebra magic and put them all together. I can't say for sure but I think I know now that she is right for me, I still can't explain why but somewhere in my heart I can feel it. Like she claimed a piece for herself and would always be there.

Even the universe who took great pride in picking on the blank flank colt had gone silent and instead left me to have this moment. It's almost like this was meant to happen, I was set to double back and fly over the camp and make my way up the trail. But had it not been for 2 horny slavers I would have never met her, she would have stayed there never to be found by anypony. Maybe this was all in the cards meant to be dealt to me, maybe some divine power put us together under the most extreme circumstances. Maybe there's nothing to it but the lingering feeling in my chest is saying otherwise no matter what my brain says to counter it. Oh look there's Zu looking down at me.

“Joy! Joy! Are you OK?” She said clearly panicked.

“Huh? Yeah. Never better.” I said with a small smile.

“I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! It just happened! It was like I couldn't help myself.” Zu said as she helped me back to my hooves.

“No. no. It's fine. Really. I just had never done... that... before.” I said still shaking the lust from my brain.

“I'm so sorry, but I couldn't help myself. I don't know what came over me.” She repeated.

“Well, I uh, didn't mind it.” I said sheepishly, rubbing my left leg with my right.

“ Was it...?” She asked.

“Does the best thing I have ever felt count?” I said now regaining my composure.

“Oh. Yes I think it does. Wait that was your first time?” She asked.

“Uh yeah...I never really had the chance to spend time with girl growing up.” I said tapping my hooves together sheepishly.

“In that case, I'm honored to be your first.” Zu said proudly.

“I'm OK with that.” I said nodding my head like a idiot.

“I built a fire, it was getting cold. It looks like we are near the fork in the trail too.” She said.

“Yeah? That's good. Maybe we can make good time to New Appleloosa and get there before dark.” I said standing. This was good! If we could get back down off this mountain in time we could get through the desert in no time. This whole thing could be over in a matter of hours and I could go back to my life of guarding the caravan. And now I had Zu! I mean sure she only had kissed me once but hey! That means there a chance for something there and I don't think Boss would mind bringing her along, she could be useful to the group. Finally a chance to be happy, life wasn't all bad out here I guess!

“I can't go.” Zu said, clearing a smile right off my face.

“Say what now?” I said in disbelief.

“I can not go with you, back there. They will find me again.” She said.

“Zu you can't be serious, you will be with me and the Traders. You would be safe with us.” I said.

“I'm sorry, but if I go back, the Slavers will just find me again. And if I'm with you they might hurt you or your caravan. I can not let something like that happen, it would kill me.” She said.

“But, where will you go? You can't hide forever, at some point you have to do something to live.” I said now feeling that soft glow turn to a pain in my chest. The zebra mare I had not long ago said that I wouldn't mind if she decided to leave was now doing just that. And I minded. I really really minded now. I had gotten so used to her being there with me over the last 24 hours that it had become like a friendship I had for years. With one kiss she had pushed the thoughts of love to the front of my mind, giving me hope and with three words completely dissolved them.

“I will find my way like I always have, but if I go back I risk being captured and taken back to the slavers. I will go west to the coast and make my way north.” She said pointing a hoof.

“Zu...” I trailed off, feeling completely lost for words.

“ It's OK, I'll be fine. I hope that someday I can find you again and that things will be happier.” She said with a small smile.

And just like that, all the hopes and dreams that had flooded my mind had vanished. Cleared away to a sunny place that I had no hopes of ever reaching from my new home under the clouds. Just like the skies I never get to see above the cloud cover, that place too will remain out of reach. I should have known this would happen, things were going too good for me and I let myself get lost in the moment. Now I get to live with the pain that comes with such happiness. Why was this hitting me so hard! Was it the fact that we had been through so much in such a short time? Was it the kiss? Was it the way I was starting to feel for her? Dammit! I had never even had a marefriend let alone been broken up with and now I have to deal with all those things in less than an hour?

“Can we spend the night together and leave in the morning. I don't want to go just yet.” I ask pitifully.

Zu, trotted closer to me and wrapped me in a hug and just like that it hit me like a boulder and I, the pony who saved her, wept like a little colt. Something deep inside me broke, like it was being ripped away from me by some cruel force beyond my control. I had spent so long without friends that it had become a common daily routine and now all those years of regression were undone in a matter of hours. Then I was flung head over hooves back into the pit that I had unknowingly crawled out of not even a hour ago.

Emotions never came easy to me, I had spent most of my life blocking other ponies out. Being a trader it was normal for ponies to come and go but being security for a trader meant I rarely even had that chance. The few ponies that I could say I loved were family to me but outside of that I didn't really have anyone that I felt for. There was nopony in my life or routine that I could confide these feelings in or even express them too, let alone give them too like I had just done with Zu. I had bottled them all up over the years of my life while trying to keep composure and unknowingly suppressed them and now they had manifested into the single worst pain I had ever felt. Heartache.

After I had finally calmed the flow of liquids from my eyes and had just resorted to holding her I became far to aware how hungry I was. Leave it to complex emotions to take the energy right out of you and leave you starving to death. The feeling of shame and embarrassment had replaced the sadness that was once before ruling my world. I can't believe I just did that, I thought as I stood to take my saddlebags off and pillage what few scraps of food I had left when Zu tapped my shoulder.

“Its OK, I'm better now. Thank you for being there for me.” I said with a smile.

“No no! Look, your flank!” Zu said excitedly.

“What, did I forget to wipe?” I said turning to look at what was on my bu...what is that...

“Looks like you got your cutiemark!” Zu said as she hopped to her hooves, ran behind me and began examining my flank.

I was in shock. Not just from the pretty mare touching my butt, but I actually got my cutiemark?! I had always thought that I was broken or something, incapable of getting my mark but there it is! In all its monotone glory! The paw print of a dog or a wolf or something was etched across my flank in odd tribal lines that together made the shape of a paw print but none of the lines touched or intersected. It was absolutely badass! But what did that mean, I know someponies have vague cutiemarks but what did a paw print mean? Zu, who was now hugging my ass, seemed thrilled for me to have gotten it just in time to ease the tension in the air.

“Wow! I actually got my cutiemark! I can't believe it!” I said jumping around like a colt who...well just got his cutiemark would. “ I wonder what it means.” I said.

“It looks like a paw print or a track. The lines all seem to give that impression. Funny I have never seen a pony with a tribal cutiemark.” Zu said now looking even closer at my flank.

“A track? My special talent is tracking? My special talent is tracking!” I said in as I continued to freak out.

“Congratulations.” Zu said as she sat down near the fire.

This day has been a crazy to say the least. I have been scared, bored, terrified, validated, kissed, the happiest I have ever been and...now I'm sad again. Awesome. The very thought of Zu leaving once again cleared most of the happiness from my mind leaving me just south of neutral feeling.

“Yay....” I said sitting down next to her.

“You're still upset?” Zu asked.

“Well, I'm happy that I got my mark but you're still leaving...I guess nothing would change that.” I said.

“No, I'm sorry. I wish things were different, I wish I could come with you but it's not safe for me there.” She said now mirroring my look.

“I understand. I don't like it, I hate it in fact but if you say that its not safe for you, then I don't want you to come. I don't want anypony to hurt you.” I said offering up a small sad smile.

“Thank you Joy. I promise one day we'll meet again.” Zu said wrapping me in another embrace.

As day turned into night we said little and continued to hold one another near the fire, both thinking about what we would do next. The few chats we had were limited to plans on leaving here and watching for raiders on the trails. We both avoided talking about separating or where we would be going, doing our best to keep the mood from being any more somber than it already was. With the exception of her explaining how zebras got their cutiemarks and how she herself got her's we mostly just sat and enjoyed each other's company. I knew that she was heading west and soon after north and she knew where I would be traveling with the traders. Honestly if she ever wanted to find me, all she would have to do is go to a town and wait for me. Somehow knowing that didn't make me feel better but it did give me hope that we would meet again.

That night we continued to hold one another, despite what could have been and what was going to be, we did little more then that. We did share a small make out session but even that was cut short by thoughts of our inevitable fates. Still it was nice to hold one another and share something I had never experienced before with somepony that I had feelings for. Once she had drifted off to sleep against me, I spent what little time we had left memorizing her face so I would always remember it. Then I pulled my notebook from my bags and began to sketch her prone form. I don't know why I did it, I guess I just wanted something to remember her by, something to remind me of her. I took great care in sketching her detailed cutiemark and her face, making sure to include notes on her eye color and how her hair fell across her cheek. Once I had completed my work I closed my notebook and placed it beside me with the pencil in the bindings of the pages and finally drifted off to sleep.

The next morning neither of us really spoke much as we gathered our belongings and headed for the trail. Zu, who had before always maintained a small gap between her and myself now trotted close enough to me that her coat brushed mine. It was as if the last few hours had built a bridge between us, almost making us stronger in our own ways. Even though in less than an hour we would be parting ways, for some reason I wasn't as sad as I had been the day before. It felt like even if we were apart we would still be together and even though the thought of her alone scared me, I still had faith that she would make her own way.

Soon we came to the fork in the trail, one way heading higher into the mountains and the other lower into the plains. This was it, this was goodbye.

“So this is it? Is this where I head to New Appleloosa?” I said trying to avoid the subject of leaving.

“Yes, that trail goes to New Appleloosa.” She said.

“I guess this is...” I was cut short of saying.

“Don't say it, it's not goodbye. It's till we meet again.” She said with a smile.

“OK, I'll see you soon Zuri. Please stay safe.” I said as I leaned in to kiss her goodbye.

“I will, I hope our time apart is short.” She said as she leaned into me.

And just like that Zuri turned and trotted up the trail and away from me. Neither of us would say it but this was most likely the last we would ever see of each other again. I really hope it isn't but as life goes, chances are it was. I stayed in place almost stoic in my posture until I could no longer see her and then, once she was gone from sight I turned down the trail that would lead me home. With tears still burning in my eyes I let out one last “see you soon” as I trotted down range.

6 hours and every last drop of my water later I could see the gates of New Appleloosa just over the ridge I crossed. Behind me lay more than just memories and mountains, but the prospects of a friendship maybe even love in the future. Granted it was a very slim chance but it was a chance nonetheless, and I was going to hold onto that for as long as I could. This trip had been much more than just a search and recovery mission, it was a trip that actually forced me to deal with things I had never thought about before. Fear, adversity, survival, talent, life, death, friendship and even for but a fleeting moment, love. Bittersweet but still worth doing over had I been given the opportunity to do so a second time.

I trotted through the gates of New Appleloosa with my head held high but no smile crossed my face. Even though I was proud of a job well done, I was still mentally drained from the short goodbyes and the countless miles of being left alone with my thoughts. At the edge of town I think I could make out Boss and Shale sitting outside of Absolutely Everything, trading wares. How is that possible, it should have taken them another week to make it this far! I had only been gone for 2 days and they had covered all that distance in so little time? As I trotted closer, Shale was the first to notice me, followed by Boss.

“Joey! You made it!” Shale said, running up to me and tackling me.

“Ooof! Nice to see you too sis! How the hell did you all make it here this fast?” I asked, trying not to scream in pain.

"Ditzy found us on the way back from making her runs! She gave us a ride back to town, too bad she didn't us sooner..." Shale trailed off.

“Joey! You're not dead! Are you hurt? Do you need to see the doctor? Want some whiskey?” Boss said looking me over.

“No no, I'm good, just really sore, tired and hungry.” I said.

“Glad to have you back kiddo, was startin' to worry I lost my bartender.” Boss said wrapping me in a hug that was complimented by Shale. OK this was new, when did we get all mushy? I was expecting something along the lines of “good job boy, now get back in position” . Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled this wasn't the case but this was different than usual.

“I'm happy to see ya'll too! Wheres Lue?” I asked looking around.

And just like that the hug ended. Everyone wore a pained expression on there faces, a look I knew all too well.

“Joey, Lue didn't make it. We were attacked by raiders in the night on the way here. We did our best to fight them off but they had numbers on us.” Shale said.

“He held his ground and kept them from getting to us but he was shot. He didn't make it to town.” Boss said clearly in pain at the words.

Guilt set in at the fact that I was not there to help protect them, had I not gone then I could have been there doing my job and picking them off. But because I wasn't, now Lue was gone. He may have been an ass at times and even mean to me on a daily basis but he was the closest thing I had to a brother.

“I'm so sorry, I wish I had been there to do something.” I said weakly

“It's OK Joey, you were doing what I asked you to. We couldn't have known what would have happened without you there, Lue didn't suffer, he died the way he wanted to die.” Boss said.

“We buried him at the edge of town if you want to pay your respects.” Shale said wiping a tear away.

“I'm so happy to see you guys.” I said pulling them both into another hug.

“Now now, don't go getting all soft Joey, I'm sure you have quite the story to tell us.” Boss said.

We made our way to the inn across town where Boss and Shale both headed back to the room, after I stopped to see Ms. Ditzy for my usual soda. She even gave it to me for free when I told her I had gotten my cutiemark, followed by more hugging and a offer to resize my holster rig seeing as it was loose in the back. I took her up on that offer and even tried to pay but she wasn't having it, she kept saying that “Every colt deserves a Cutiemark present.” and shooed me out the door so she could get to work, keeping my pistols and holster.

Back at the inn, I let it all out, everything. From flying for longer than 3 seconds, to stumbling across the slaver camp to the comical death of the knife wielding pegasi to meeting Zuri, being outfoxed and then outfoxing the lame buck to saying goodbye. The last part was painful to tell but I managed it with only a few tears in my eyes. Boss wasn't happy about the lame buck getting away like he did but was so happy I was safe that he must have decided to overlook it. Once I had explained the situation with Zu and how I got it back, he seemed to fall more at ease.

“So you're telling me, that you fired both pistols, on your hind legs and didn't expect to go flying backwards?” Boss said as he laughed.

“Forget that, what about this Zu you keep talking about? And the fact that our little Joey is now a buck now that he's kissed a mare.” Shale said with a sardonic smirk.

“I'll miss her...” I said in a Somber tone.

“What did she look like?" Shale asked. And it was just then I remembered my bag and that I had a drawing of her. Slipping them off I was met wish two gasps from the ponies in the room with me.

“YOU GOT YOUR CUTIEMARK!?” They both yelled.

“Oh yeah...guess I did. Sorry I forgot to mention that” I said rubbing my neck.

“What is that, it looks like a paw print but it's all broken up in little lines.” Shale said looking closer.

“That's not just a paw print, that's a coyote print. I have seen one of those before a long time ago. I guess that makes sense seeing how you were able to track that guy down like a coyote would track it prey.” Boss said.

“Joey the tracker...no no no...Joey the hunter...nope...ah! Coyote Joey.” Shale said throwing her hooves wide.

“I think Coyote Joe sounds better.” Boss said, narrowly avoiding a hoof to the face.

“I think I just prefer Joey.” I said meekly.

“Whatever your say Coyote Joe.” Boss said giving me a leg around the neck.

“What do you say we all grab some food to celebrate eh?” Shale said.

“You guys go ahead, I think I want to go see Lue first.” I said standing for the door.

“Shale, you go grab us something good to eat, I need to go with Joey and have a talk with him.” Boss said as he stood to walk out the door with me.

The grave site for Lue was just on the outside of town, there the town had designated the site a cemetery. Lue loved coming here. He would always brag about how this town puts booze in everything, not to mention I think he had a thing for Ditzy. Leave it to Lue to fall in love with a ghoul and want to engage in acts that would more than likely rot off his favorite toy he plays with. We spend a few minutes in silence just staring at the rock with the inscription “Here Lies Lewis, he died protecting the ones he loved”.

“I'm going to miss him, he was a great pony.” I said.

“Me too, he was always by my side no matter the risk.” Boss said.

“Well, we had a great teacher after all.” I said.

This prompted a smile from the old buck, I guess me leaving and loosing Lue made him come to grips with his cold black heart. He seemed different now, a little kinder, maybe softer than he used to be. Even his words felt rounded off on the edges and not so curt to the ear.

“Joey, I have something to tell you. Something I have waited a long time and promised not to until you got older.” He said.

“Yeah? Is it that Shale and me are going to have to marry and make grand babies for you?” I said giving him a shove.

“Shut up boy, this is serious.” Boss said leveling his eyes at me.

“Sorry.” I said shrinking back.

“Joey I didn't find you. You were given to me as a foal.” He said.

“Wait... what?!” I said in complete shock.

“When I was young, after my old man died, I was on the trail trying to establish trade routes with towns further south from Silver Shoe. I had been traveling for over a week by hoof and had left Lue back in Silver Shoe with Peaches. One rainy night I heard somepony up ahead of me screaming in pain so I ran to see what was going on. When I got there, I could see a group of zebras beating on a pony, from what it looked like they aimed to kill him.” He said.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“There was nothing I could do. I was all alone and there were 5 of them, they looked like they were military if I had to guess. So I fell back and watched trying to think of something I could do to save him but, it was no use. By the time they had given up on him and walked away, I ran to him to see if there was anything left to save. But he was too far gone, they had broken all of his ribs and both of his hind legs, poor guys could barely breathe. I was kneeling near him and that's when I heard the sound of a foal crying. Then I saw her, a zebra mare with a foal in a sling around her neck.” Boss said gesturing a slinging motion under his chest.

“So you didn't find me in an abandoned munitions plant?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around what Boss was saying.

“She walked to us both, even with it raining I could tell she'd been crying. Her eyes met the buck's and she layed down next to him and nuzzled his cheek. The buck did his best to reach for the sling around her neck saying 'please, let me see him one more time'. When she opened the sash there you were, just old enough to have your eyes open. The buck reached for you but couldn't raises his legs up, so your mother took you and layed you across his chest.” Boss said.

“Me? That colt was me?” I asked.

“Yeah, that colt was you and the zebra mare was your mother, try and keep up.” Boss said.

“Wait what? My mother was a zebra?!” I said in disbelief.

“Now hush, I just said that. He was a defector of Equestria running from something and she must have fell in love with him. Before too long you came along and things got complicated. The zebras take in ponies who turn their back on Equestria but they ain't fans of letting them enter relationships with zebras. Something about pure bloodlines or some shit. The guards of their town they lived in had found out about you and they had planned to kill him, you and jail your mother for crimes against bloodlines.” Boss said.

“They were just going to kill them? For having a baby and trying to be happy?” I asked feeling sick to my stomach at the thought of killing a foal.

“Twisted, am I right? Your father and mother were trying to get away at the time and defect back to Equestria but then they caught up with them a day later. Your father told your mother to hide and took the beating for you and her both, your mother stayed hidden until they were gone. I guess since I was trying to help him rather than beat him she trusted me enough to come closer.” He said.

“But how did I end up with you? Wouldn't she want to still try and get away?” I asked.

“She wanted to, I even begged her to come with me but she told me that if she did that they would just keep looking and that they wanted him and you both dead. Something about contaminating the bloodlines. It was enough to send them after you and your mother both even if you all made it to Equestria. She and your father both begged for me to take you with me far away from that place and give you a chance at life.” he said.

“And that's what you did obviously. I'm here now, with you.” I said.

“I was scared, barely a buck myself and had just lost my father a few months back and now I was taking on another child. I didn't want to but I couldn't leave you there either so I did what I thought was right and took you with me. That's where this comes in.” Boss said producing the small black box I had worked so hard to retrieve.

“Your father asked me to give you this when you got your cutiemark, it's a gift from him and your mother. He asked that I wait until you were old enough to have it and to protect it with my life if it came to it, no idea why but it was important to them that I did.” He said opening the box. Inside was a small round pendant with zebra writing on it around the band. In the center of the pendant was a purple translucent stone encompassed by a gold ring setting. It was held by a golden chain that looked like rope until you looked closer to see the small links that held it in place.

I took the pendant from the box and turned it over and to my surprise it had equine writing on the back. The inscription read “May this guide you in times of dark, when in doubt you always follow your heart”.

“Your mother said it was an amethyst and that zebras born in that month usually have the same eye color as their birthstone.” Boss said.

“But why would they give this to me if I was a pony.” I said turning the pendant over in my hooves.

"Your father said that over the years the tribe had been trying to integrate ponies and zebras together in hopes of it's survival. But the older members appalled the idea and when they elected a new leader, they banned zebra pony relations. The problem was that it was too late for your mother and father, she was already pregnant with you and was almost full term. So when the elders found out, they decided to make an example of you and your parents.” Boss said.

“What's written on the front? Did they say?” I asked in disbelief.

“Your mother said that it's a message from her and your birth name. She said your name is Kit, I didn't like it so I just called you Joey. That's all I got out of her before I heard the patrol coming back our way, I guess they must have heard us talking. She gave you to me and told me to run as fast as I could.” He said.

“Did she...” I asked.

“I don't know, I hope she got away. I looked back and saw them leading her back towards the way they had come so maybe she is still alive. Joey, your mother and father risked and gave their lives to protect you, even going so far as to give you to a complete stranger in hopes of saving you. I promised them both I would keep you safe and raise you as one of my own the best I could manage. All they asked is that I give you this when you got your cutiemark and let you decide what you want to be in life. Outside of that, that's all I know.” Boss said.

“Is that why you let me go after it? You wanted me to have the chance to get my birthright back?” I asked.

“It seemed fitting at the time, stupid, but fitting. but after you left I have to admit that I wanted to rush after you and say to hell with the shipment, I didn't want you fucking my up pistols. In hindsight it might have been better but what are the odds of you, son of a zebra and a pony meeting a zebra and falling in love with her. I think they call that irony.” He said giving me a shove.

“Irony sucks and is stupid and....hurts.” I said still feeling the pain in my chest.

“Joey, I want you to be the best pony you can be and I would like to think I have done my best to show you how, but I think its time for you to take over the reins. You did what no other pony your age could ever do, it must be that zebra blood in your veins, maybe it was that zebra girl I don't know. But you did good kid.” He said.

“I had a great teacher.” I said.

“Yeah, you did.” Boss said patting me on the shoulder.

We sat at Lue's grave for a few more minutes before walking back to town. I was now wearing my necklace around my neck with pride and a fair amount of unfounded guilt. The emotions weighed it down to feel like an anchor even though it was only a few ounces, always reminding me the price that was paid for me to even be here today. If not for Boss being there that night I would have been killed, but because he was there, I got a second chance at life.

So many thoughts going through my head. Is my mother still alive? Why is it that even though they shame impure blood I was allowed to be born and given a birthright gift? Was it because some zebras were for the integration and others not? Why did my father have to die? All these thoughts enraged me but the one thought that was standing out in my head was what would Zu think if she knew I was part of team stripes? I wonder if that would have swayed her decision to come with me.

That night we had a small party to both commiserate my cutiemark and my faux birthday. Ditzy and Shale had planned the latter but when they both got wind that I had got my cutiemark, they insisted on two cakes. Due to my love for cakes and cake like foods, I was not complaining in the slightest.

The night drew on with Boss retelling the story of how I came to be to Shale, Ditzy and the barkeep. His tale was met with outrage, sadness and thankfulness that I was here today for their sacrifice. Lastly Ditzy gave me the best present I could have ever hoped for. She hadn't just adjusted my holster, she had engraved my pistols. She had a unicorn engrave my pistols more accurately. The once old and well worn nickel finish, now gleamed in the light, both now sporting a howling coyote on the grips. She had even fixed the broken grip on lefty in the process. I couldn't help myself, I hugged her as hard as I dared, to the point I thought she might pop.

“Do you like them?” She asked.

“No Ditzy, I freaking love them!” I screamed.

“Your welcome 'Coyote Joey.”

Great, looks like that name's going to stick. Shale had wasted no time telling the whole town I had gotten my cutiemark for tracking down a robber in the mountains. Something told me she embellished the story a bit but honestly I didn't care. I had two shiny, brand new looking cannons with coyotes on them! Not to mention a belly full of cake, some of my favorite ponies I know and a firm story about where I came from. Even though I was still pretty torn up about Zu and knowing my parents were more than likely dead, I still felt better knowing where I came from.

Later that night as the party ended, I returned to the room and decided to turn in for the night. Laying in bed felt really good! But laying there left my thoughts to wander over my parents and Zu and if she was ok, if she had made it to the coast yet. After the talk I had with Boss about finding myself and making my own way, I was starting to wonder if I should go back after her. Maybe if I left in the morning I could work my way around the mountains to the coast and find her there? But what would happen to Boss and Shale? I already left them once and look how that turned out, we lost Lue and that pain was fresh. No doubt that it would be a open wound for a long time, Boss would be reminded of his death in every town we went to.

Ugh! If I stay I can't be with Zu and that sucks because I really want to be with her! Especially after finding out my heritage, I couldn't wait to tell her. But if I go then it would leave Boss and Shale nearly defenseless and I won't do that. For the first time in my life I was faced with doing what's right by others and doing what's right by me. So it's no surprise that I chose to do the former. I would find her one day but until I knew the traders were safe I wasn't going anywhere. That just leaves me to think about her and what would one day be.

I couldn't help myself, I retrieved my notebook from my bags and searched for the picture I had drawn of her. Finally I found it buried among the notes and sketches and leaned into the lantern light to see the details of her face once more.

The drawing seemed off for some reason, almost like it was dirty. No surprise really it spend a lot of time in a nasty saddle bag after all. I tried to brush the filth away but it held tight almost like it was bleeding through the paper. I turned the page to look for the offending crud when I was greeted by note written on the back side. A note from Zu.

“Joy, I am sorry I had to leave you. But I can't take the chance to be seen. While I'm writing this you are asleep beside me and if I could, I would stay like this forever. But I can't risk your life for my happiness. I don't want to see you get hurt because of me. I know we haven't been together long but I want you to know that I have feelings for you. And I am hurting just like you. Joy, please find me one day, I want to see you again and I want to be with you in happier times. Maybe we can go to the sea together one day, I would like that. Please don't forget about me, because I will never forget you.”

-Zuri

The last few words had been muddied by tears from Zu and now, my own. I re-read her words over and over again, memorizing them like a song and played all the events back in my head from the days before. I rolled over on my bed a stared out the window at the moonlight peeking through the clouds and with solemn resignation I spoke to myself. “Zu, if you are out there, I'm going to find you again and when I do I will move heaven and earth to be with you, no matter what the cost”.

Her words echoed in my head until the light faded to darkness in my vision and I drifted off to sleep.

Joey's Cutiemark

Chapter 2: And This Is Now

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 2: And This Is Now
Written by: Rocco
Edited by: Blackjackmin (Mike)

Ten years. Ten long years now it's been since that day back in New Appleloosa when I strolled into town with my head held high and my heart broken in two. They say that time heals all wounds, well, they clearly had never heard of radiation poisoning or taint. The years have both been kind and tragic since that day, some with hopes of a better tomorrow and others with the fear of death looming ever present. Much like the music from the sprite bots, it makes its presence known only in the static of the background. Never close enough to see and sometimes even forgotten but, always there nonetheless to remind me and everypony else that each day is a gift.

Two years after that day I lost Boss one night in his sleep to radiation sickness. Despite Shale's and my own best efforts the old man was too far gone and we were too far from help to save him. It was the worst day of my life to say the least. Soon after Shale decided to part ways with me to go explore Hoofington. She said there is a place there where traders all live together and harvest goods from the ruined city. I wanted to go but that was in the wrong direction I was traveling. So instead we vowed to seek one another out over the holidays by me coming to her. In some ways we are still brother and sister but in others I can feel us growing apart.

I saw her just last week, she was going on about these 'heroines' DJ pony keeps talking about on the radio. She said she met one of them, Security I think it was, and spent the last 4 hours of our visit gushing over her. I didn't mind, but I would have liked to have talked more about how she was doing at the time. I don't think she knows how lonely this job really is and how much it can take out of a pony, no matter how long they have been doing it. Sometimes spending a little time with somepony can make all the difference in your morale for months or more but, sometime all it does is hurt.

Shale, a beacon of light in my otherwise dark world. Don't get me wrong, my life's not all bad, but there are times when I just want to crawl back to her, let her patch my wounds and tell me everything's OK. I guess growing up together builds a bond between two ponies, even going so far as to bring about romantic interest in one another. Interests that were mirrored by herself but failed to blossom due to the nature of my work and her feelings of us being related. We weren't by blood but I could share the sentiment. Shale had always been like a sister to me, sure she's beautiful, smart and always has my back. But the fact remains that we have a love of brother and sister, not the love of lovers.

Love made even stronger by the fact that we had not only been through so much together but stronger in the sense that we didn't have to be together, yet here we are. A part of each other's lives, not under circumstances of birth, but through true friendship and love for one another. I have felt for a long time that the strongest form of love a pony can have is that of which is given with nothing expected in return. Shale is not my blood, she's not even half blood to me, but to me she is a part of my heart. She staked out a claim and set up shop the day I first met her, never to be taken over by anypony else. True and unconditional, I carry it with me everywhere I go knowing that I'm not ever alone so long as she is there.

In a way I feel that's what Zu has done as well, she planted a seed that's gone into hibernation, just waiting to be cultivated into a garden. It's small, not even developed but, it's there nonetheless, waiting for the right moment to sprout. In it's own way both of those things are the cure for hopelessness but in others, it's the cause. Because of mine and Shale's relationship, I'm left confused at time's on whether or not to hug her or kiss her. It makes for awkward moments between us that she tends to make up for in general giddiness and jokes. I know that she is going through the same emotions as me just by the look in her eyes but I doubt she knows how much it hurts to be with her and not be able to be with her at the same time. Not just from the emotional disconnection, but from the physical disconnection that comes with being a tracker for hire.

Then again, I have her to thank for this job, but to be honest sometimes I wonder if that too isn't a curse in and of itself. Not long after she left for Hoofington and I had completed the last of the group's delivery obligations, I went to visit her. While I was there I was introduced to quite a few different vendors, most of which were my sister's friends, as “Coyote Joe, one of the best trackers in the wasteland”. Sis had done her usual job of talking me up to her friends, whether it be for her own need for admiration or because she has always been proud of me. regardless, the title did come with some free swag and a open tab at the area bar, neither of which I complained about.

While I was there, not only was I given free food and drink, but I was also treated to an ever changing billboard of names and missions. I started referring to it as the commission's requests, seeing as most, if not all, were posted there by somepony who was willing to pay for something that they themselves were not willing to do. It seemed like there were quite a few folks looking to collect on the commissions but few ever came off the board. But when they did, it seemed that they were almost instantly replaced with some other stupid thing to be retrieved or murdered. I was more interested in the missing ponies list myself and that's where my life started falling more into place.

At the time I had not given up hope on finding Zu, in fact I had taken 3 trips along the same path she had told me about. So far not even the faintest of signs was left other than a note scribed into a rock on the far side of the mountain. Even now I still check with the locals at every town I stop by to see if they had seen a zebra with purple eyes about. Most of the time I'm met with blank stares but sometimes I get the typical “If ah see a zebra, ah shoot a zebra” talk. This has prompted more than one fight in my lifetime. But every now and then, I would get a lead, once I even got a name out of somepony that had claimed that a zebra named Zuri had rescued her from a group of raiders. But as they always do, that trail turned cold and left me most of the way to Canterlot, a place I have been to and really would like to avoid in the future.

That was almost 3 years ago and where it did give me hope, as always the hope fades away under a river of doubt, worry and questions. Chasing her is like chasing a ghost, I get glimpses of her through the eyes of others but never a single sighting that yielded results. When I followed up on my last lead on her 3 years back I became so consumed that I left all my work behind for over 4 months. Something that has since become a tradition to get away for a little while to collect my thoughts and push forward in life. So I guess I have that to thank her for, if she's even still out there that is.

Whereas Zu's trail had went cold long ago, there are still plenty of ponies out there that need rounding up or even removed from this place. I found myself taking every missing pony case that I came across, sometimes working 3 or 4 cases at a time. I quickly made a name for myself across the wasteland finding kids that had been taken by slavers, tracking down thieves and sometimes, rarely but still sometimes, removing some of our less productive members of society. The latter I reserved for ponies that if eliminated would better the world in a substantial way or would save more than one life. I would never take revenge killings, those are just too much emotional baggage to tote around. The same can be said for high bounty cases, as good as the caps pay for something like that, it's still too risky to take those jobs one solo. chances are that the majority of the time, the bounty would have been placed on somepony who was innocent of any real crime or was just too dangerous to attempt alone.

Before long I had ponies coming to me rather than me coming to them for work and at times it became quite profitable. Lost or taken foals, missing ponies who went out and were never heard from again even a few personal ads. Those last ones never work out with me, granted the longing I have for a relationship is vast but I have a bit a problem with being nervous around the fairer sex. My “friends”, what few I have, say it's my lack of self confidence and my habit to over analyze details and not just “go with the flow”. I can't help that every mare I have met has in some way hit the “you annoy the hell out of me and here's a list of reasons why” button.

Take those endearing traits and combine them with a solemn demeanor and almost everypony mistakes me for a half heart. Where in ways they would be right, where they are wrong is that most of the time I just prefer to be left alone. I like me and I spend a hell of a lot of time with me on a daily basis, so when somepony wants to poke their head in, both me and me better like them or we will shut down on them and walk away. Sounds crazy but it's a life, a craptastic one, but a life nonetheless. It has also allowed me to focus on my work even if I have had my failures. In my time I have had a few cases went unsolved. Apart from Zu there are 4 pegasi out there that may never be caught for their crimes for obvious reasons. There is also a unicorn but that one is complicated, her case is the only one I have just dropped all together, even if I did find her.

The poor girl didn't stand a chance, her crude early warning systems she had set up was what gave her away. You can't just hang cans from trees without screaming 'here I am!' to anypony within a mile or so. I had been told that she was dangerous, crafty and had a deadly habit of setting traps along her tracks, so to say I was on edge would be correct. I walked right into her camp, guns out ready for a fight, and found...a sleeping, half dead, short little unicorn surrounded by little to no supplies and a worn out p.o.s. pipe rifle. She didn't even have clean water to drink by the looks of the drained puddles around her. That was not what I was expecting at all. I had been told to be ready for the fight of my life and to take the shot on her as soon as I saw her, but being an overachiever meant bringing her in alive. It also meant keeping blood off my hooves, I can't just kill somepony because I was paid to, not without at least making a judgment call first.

I was poised to bring her in but saw a small rolled up letter in her bag that had been stained with blood and torn around the edges. I retrieved it only to find it was an execution flier for something called The Pit where she would have to fight to her death to gain freedom. Her crime? Hitting a guard after he tried to rape her. See this was problematic for me, on one hoof I was contractually obligated to bring her in. But on the other I was told she was a prisoner and had stole caps from a local de facto sheriff. But the flier on the other hoof was clearly from Filly Fun Farm.

There are two things in the world that piss me off to the point of doing something stupid, lying to me and slavers. In this case I was lied to by slavers and was sending an innocent pony to her death by proxy. This prompted me to do some quick math in my head, after carrying the slavers and multiplying it by a factor of innocent death I came to the answer of being pissed the fuck off. The whole situation had cost me time, money, sanity and now my integrity. In my book that was as good as blood on my own hooves, something I had precious little of and wanted to keep that way. Even if the pay was good, it would never be THAT good. I decided that this is where her trail went cold.

Now I could have just left her there and let be what will be, but like I said, I do stupid things when wronged and decided to wake her up. Not the smartest move on my part, I even have the bullet wound on my right butt cheek to prove it. Not saying it wasn't deserved, but I would have liked a better welcoming than a flesh wound that would make it hard to poo for a long time. Once I had the crazy mare calmed down and she had realized her pipe rifle had taken it's last breath I was able to convince her of the situation at hoof. I tried to get her name from her but she kept insisting on using a “code name” and decided “Roxie” sounded cool. Considering what I'm working with here it's no wonder I found her so easily, so I decided it best to give her some help if she was going to make a go at getting away.

I warned her about the can chains and about walking on trails that were muddy as to avoid detection. After some much needed evasion talk I decided to give her one of my rifles I had picked up on trade with 50 rounds of 308 ammo. It had to be better than that garbage of a pipe gun she had taken from the slavers. I also gave her nearly all of my rations and 3 bottles of clean water and a stern warning to make them last as long as she could. Lastly I gave her a copy of the wasteland survival guide, something I had quite a few of being a fan of books myself.

Once I had tended to the pony who called herself “Roxie” wounds and made sure she wasn't going to out right die on me, I decided to lead her away from Filly and find a better place to set up camp. She stayed with me for 11 days, the whole time trying to pick my brain about evading capture, where to find food, tools she would need and anything else that would cross her mind at the time. By the time we reached Hoofington's outer boundaries she had actually became quite the stealthy little pony. Even her body fat had come up quite a bit in the few short days we were together. She didn't want to part ways at first and really, neither did I. but when I told her I had to pay some of her friends a visit about a bounty they owed, she decided to make her own way from there.

OK, OK, so I get attached under extreme circumstances. Zu, Shale, Roxie. All mares I had met under difficult situations, or spent time with under duress. Call me crazy but I work best under pressure and tend to come out of my shell, coating otherwise tragic circumstances with a thick layer of personality. I have been told I'm a fun guy to be around when I'm either half drunk or being shot at, making light of the situation with humor. But in actuality its a coping mechanism, something I fell like I picked up from Boss all those years back. It helps me to focus and take control of the situation, to me its easier to think when you are not pissing yourself from fear.

The guards that gave the order to hire me were none to pleased with the fact that even I couldn't find her. I was called far more things than useless when I returned to collect my fee and for a short time denied the fee. But due to the nature of my business I had taken measures for such eventualities, folk usually change their mind when I produced a list of close family that may or may not disappear overnight if they didn't pay up. It was a bluff of course but few ponies will call it given the detail I go into about names, locations, habits and ways they could just no longer exist.

Now the problem with bluffing is that every now and again you need to be holding all the cards to call. This was one of those times unfortunately and by the time the smoke had settled I was sporting 5 new bullet holes and a nasty gash below my right eye on my muzzle. Slavers, while not as dumb as raiders, make up for it with blind rage. Where that's fine in a bar room brawl, it makes for shitty fighting. They didn't even notice the grenade that I had tossed into the room they had retreated to and instead continued shouting curse words at me and firing blindly around a corner. The one that charged me soon after avoided the explosion and managed a slice to my face before losing most of his organs to two 44 caliber rounds at point blank range.

And so began my reputation with slavers as “kill that fucker”. Not the name I would have chosen but beggars can't be choosers I guess. At least that's what's always said when I'm in close contact with them. That or “it's that asshole” seems to be the most popular of choices among those who knew before or knew of me. Jeez, kill a few slavers and it's like they all know it from then on, ridiculous.

That was my last job for the year, now I was standing in the old campsite where I found Zu so many years before. There was even a few scraps of canvas lying about the place from the years of storms and scavengers. No prints anywhere to be seen, must have been years ago since somepony had come this way other than me. If I wasn't alone before this trip I damn sure was now. Just me and the woods were left to our annual meeting of minds where I would try and clear my head and they would try and clear my head clean off.

I will admit to dropping my guard when I come to this place, rather than spend my time looking for tracks in a small hope that I would find Zu like I used to years back, I now spent my time just letting the memories take hold. Sometimes I think about when I was a little colt working for Boss, crawling in and out of places not meant for anypony to go and sometimes I just think about moving on with my life and seeking out the Zebra Lands. I know that ponies can get in there but I don't think you can come back once you do. To this day the closest I have come is less than one mile from their closest village but even that far out there were near constant patrols. If they did allow ponies in, they were not making a grand show of welcoming them.

I came to the same trailhead I had stood at 10 years ago today, from where I was now I could just make out the ruined part of the trail. In hindsight I should have put up a sign that says, "danger trail is gone near the end, turn back now". But then again, I'm starting to think that I'm the only one that even comes here anymore so what good would that do. Well... maybe it would remind me about the trail being out the last 5 times I went that way, thank the cosmos for wings! I'm sure there has been at least one poor bastard go up that way only to find the trail completely fucked and say “Motherfucker! I bet some stupid young kids blew this thing to hell and back just to catch a two bit thief”.

Heh, at least I hope that's what happened and they didn't just walk off the edge and fall to their death. At any rate it was Zu's idea, not mine to blow it up and were effective, it did have its drawbacks in that now a path to the top of the mountain was completely ruined. But then again I don't think I would have convinced her otherwise, she had this cute way about her that could convince me to do things. Sometimes I wonder if I should have left that day and gone back after her, circled around and caught up with her in the plains. Maybe we would still be together, maybe she would have told me to shove off a few years later. At least then I would have closure and maybe that small fire that still burns for her deep down inside me would have died out.

Ten years ago. Seems like yesterday still. I trotted down the trail I had so long ago with Zu by my side, both heading in different directions but both unwilling to do so. But through the power of the cosmos, our fates were sealed in granite and impossible to change. Up ahead's the fork in the trail, even still now after so many years I can see her topping the ridge and disappearing out of sight and out of my life forever. From where I stand now is the end of a chapter and on the other side the blank page of another. A better chapter, one filled with hope and maybe even love, but like an unfinished book it stays empty and no matter how hard I look, I never find anything.

In the middle of the trail, right where it forks, an old dead oak tree stands in it's rooted position. Like a knife, it splits the trail into two paths. I remember standing right here, saying see you soon right here and coming back year after year, right here. Like a grave marker for somepony who had yet to pass, I had turned it into a chronological log of all the times I had come here from beginning until now. Whether it be in hopes that she see it and know I'm still out there or to remind me of all the times I had kept my promise, I was resolve in my yearly mission.

I trotted to the old tree in the fork of the trail, the same tree where we kissed goodbye and sat down. I pulled my knife from its sheath and began to carve in the trunk of the dead wood.

“Joey, ten years later. Still looking.”

Like a sad personal add in the Tenpony Tower papers I scribed my words under all the others I had carved over the years. Pathetic? Tell me about it. But what do you do when you have nothing to do but track ponies down and drink yourself silly. Everypony needs something to hold onto and I guess this is my something. I spun on my hunches and thumped the back of my head down on the tree and looked down the way I had just come. Out of the corner of my eye I could just see the carvings I made from years 5 and 6, reminding me that this, might actually be all I have outside of Shale as something to keep me going.

I must have sat there for over an hour before finally deciding I was pathetic beyond measure all the while thinking of what it would be like to just let go. But I have never been one to give up on anything in my life, no matter how stupid it was or how much time I wasted. Things from the past just have a way of taking hold of me and haunting my dreams until resolved, even now I'm thinking about the young mare I let go from the contract. Even when I finish something, if its not done right it will drive me nuts until I correct it, but I guess that's all part of that attention to detail Boss always talked about.

Having finished my personal one pony pity party, I stood and returned my knife to it's home on my right foreleg. The words from years 1-3 were beginning to weather and it wouldn't be long before they will have faded completely. Almost like the years of my life they were fading away leaving only a small impression that they were once there.

I could say that I made a promise to myself long ago to find her and make things right again but what are the chances that she had not moved on with her life. For all I know she wasn't even alive anymore, leaving me to chase ghosts and memories I would never find. Nevertheless, I have come here yet again and once more carved my name in the old oak yet again. After this it's back to tracking ponies down and trying really hard to not get shot in the ass. Yay. Fun.

Then again, I have been going at it pretty hard and those slavers were getting a bit upset at my ever growing presence. They are not big fans of ponies who try to liberate their captives for no better reason than me hating them. So they have been turning the heat up on me over the last few months in hopes of smoking me out of hiding to come out and play. As is their right, I have shot way more of them than they have of me at this point and I'm sure they would like to rid themselves of the worry of me being out there. Maybe if I took a few months off and traveled a bit they would lose the sour taste of defeat and ease up on me.

I looked up over the ridge top of the higher trail, from where I stood now, I could make the coast by tomorrow if walked and by tonight if I flew. Maybe a few days in New Pegas would clear my head, get drunk and try to forget this place once and for all. Heh, even now my heart keeps telling me to not give up hope, head that way and walk her trail to the far northwest. Well I do know ponies in NP, maybe I should pay them a visit. If nothing else maybe I can find a few jobs out this way that could hold me over for a few extra months.

I checked my Pipbuck's inventory, 48,791 caps. Not like I don't have the funds to spend a few months dicking off in the wasteland, what am I going to do with them anyhow. It's not like I'm going to move to Tenpony anytime soon, hell half of those ponies think I'm a hired mercenary. Last time I was there I was asked to leave after very politely telling a local shopkeeper to “get fucked” in the most profound of ways. I even used a fancy talking voice, but they still got bent out of shape and sent me to pound sand with the rest of the plebeians on the streets.

“What the hell... I'll give it a go. No use spending my life out here.” I said to myself. I guess I can go look one more time and see if she's still out there, if maybe I missed a clue somewhere or at the very least go get hammered with some friends in NP. Part of me wants this to all be over but another part of me really wants it to all stay a dream, I guess that's what you get when you have no faith but plenty of hope for something. Oh well, nevertheless, it sound like fun so I can't go wrong.

“OK... let's do this.” I said as I spread my wings and pushed off the ground.

The mountains were just as I remembered them, jagged with winding paths that all lead to different areas of the plains below. In no time at all I had cleared the mountains and I began my descent to the valley floor. Even though I had conquered my fear of heights for the most part, it didn't mean that I was keen on flying very high or for very long. Granted I had made the flight to Baltimare a few times but those were for jobs and if I didn't have to fly, I usually walked. Besides, walking was more advantageous to tracking and I enjoy the exercise. But in doing so I get to come face to face with Raiders, Slavers, Gangers, Zombies, assholes, Bandits, more Zombies, Hookers, Scalpers, tics, super tics, super irradiated legendary tics and oh yeah, Zombies .. did I mention I hate zombies? And ticks?

I landed near a boulder that I had stopped at years before so I could read the words Zu had wrote ten years prior. Sure enough, there they were, cut deep into the stone somehow, having endured the years of weather and abuse from the elements. I couldn't help feel a little jealous at her message leaving skills, all I had was a old shitty tree and it worked just fine. But not Zu, nooooo! She had to get all fancy with her damn rock carving skills. I swear sometimes I wonder if she hadn't been hiding a horn under that hair of hers.

“Joey, I'll come back for you one day -Zuri”

I ran my hoof over the letters she had scribed, trying to somehow feel closer to her through the years and miles between us. My hoof rested at her name, she had given the Z in Zuri a little tail with an arrow pointing down, a direct complement to her cutiemark no doubt. It was at that point I noticed something out of place, something that wasn't here before. A flash of color that was out of place in a valley of moldy rocks and dead trees. To my left, About 100 yards down the valley, another boulder leading to the plains seemed to have something on it. It appeared to be something written in the same manner as Zu's note. Wasting no time, I took flight to the large boulder near the grassy field to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me.

The large stone was capped with a layer of black mold that ran down the face of the rock to the grassy earth below. The writing was in stark contrast against the black mold enough for me to see it from over 100 yards out, that's why I saw something out of place. I pushed the tall grass out of the way and was greeted by the most beautiful sight I had seen in ten long years. A note from Zuri.

“Joey, I don't know if you're still out there but, I came back to look for myself. I saw your tree and I had to leave you a note. I can't say where I am, but I trust you will find me. I miss you Joey, I never gave up hope. -Zuri”

The markings were fresh, maybe a week, two weeks old at the most. There was fine dust the in the corners of the letters still, chances are that this couldn't have been made more than a month ago. This was recent, this was even in the same style as the first note, this was her. Somewhere deep inside of me an ember that was slowly dying out, suddenly burst to life in a raging firestorm of the only thing I had been missing all these years. Faith. Faith that she was alive, faith that I could find her and faith that she was waiting for me, wherever she was.

My thoughts came fast and muddled by the adrenaline in my veins, Zuri was out there! She was still out there and looking for me no less! I can't believe it, all these years and she still wants to see me again! I honestly thought I should have turned back, I almost didn't even stop here and, had I not, I would have missed her message. But there it is, in white and black carvings, behind a layer of grass that you would never see unless you look from the stone where she wrote the original note for me years back. It was intentional and it was hidden and that means only one thing. She's still hiding from something.

All I need is a direction and I could pick up the trail, she had to leave some clue to where she was heading, something, anything! I looked down, I'm sure by now her prints would have faded away to nothing but low and behold, there were several prints from somepony who had been doing something here. Like carving a letter or maybe, planting a bomb for the reader. Beep, beep, beep... boom!

My world filled with fire and shrapnel, the concussive force blew me off my hooves completely and the small spires of steel ripped at my barding, a few even piercing my hide. Luckily I had noticed the muffled beeping of the mine in time to jump behind a rock and avoid the majority of the damage that would have been done to me. Nevertheless, it felt like I was shot with a shotgun filled with pissed off parasprites. I was standing right on top of the damn thing, how did I not see it! I was so enamored by her note that I had completely dropped my guard, stopped looking for threats around me and it almost cost me my legs.

My hide burned and my ears rang with a high pitched buzz that clouded my thoughts and blinded me with pain. I had been shot, stabbed, and beaten but this was my first time being blown to hell and back and wow did it suck. My happiness was now replaced with dread, did the slavers find this rock and put two and two together? Did they think that maybe I would read it and fall for their trap, being blasted to hell and ridding them of their Coyote infestation for good? Did they write the damn letter themselves? Oh if that's the case then I'm going to be beyond pissed and it will be far more than just pop shots I'll be taking at them.

It's no secret that I was looking for a purple eyed zebra but I took care never to use her name or overly describe her outside of, “she a zebra, she's got like, stripes and shit”. The slavers could have found that much out easy, but looking now, how hard would it have been for them to find my tree and then find Zuri's rock. The clues all added up but something was off with all of this, if they booby trapped the rock for me, wouldn't they have given me a location just in case it didn't work? Someplace where I would be ambushed had it all gone tits up on them? Ugh! Thinking hurts right now!

From where I was resting, I could see a set of fuzzy tracks leading to the west around the boulders. Even in my blurry state, I could tell they were fresh, less than 24 hours in fact. The edges of the tracks were still sharp and the centers still showed an outline of their hooves clearly. If that's the case, they are not far off and chances are they heard this blast and would be coming to survey the damage. I glanced around, looking for some place to hide, anywhere. There! I piled myself behind some boulders just down range of the blast sight, halving the distance between the two notes. If they wrote the new message to me, I wanted to know. Because I was about to start a new war with them if they had.

Talking, I can hear talking. It took less than 5 minutes for them to respond to the blast and judging by their demeanor, they must be confident in their work. I pulled my rifle from my back, taking care to remove the scope cover and replaced it to my bags, the same time removing a fresh mag from them. I have used this rifle to solve a lot of other ponies problems and today it looks like it will be used to solve yet another, this time, one of my own.

Finally, after a few tense moments, the slavers turned the corner to inspect the damage the mine had caused. The blast blew all of the grass away from the rock and now exposed the writing to be seen from all angles. There were three of them, one unicorn, two earth ponies, all three walking side by side, bragging about a job well done.

“Yeah, I bet it blew his ass into a million pieces.” The blue buck said.

“No joke! The boss will be happy to hear his little “coyote problems” are long gone.” The yellow buck said.

“I'm going to take those damn pistols he's so proud of, make a nice memento for the occasion don't you think?” Said the other yellow buck.

“Good thinking using a mine under that bitch's note, after reading that pathetic list of years the fucker carved into that tree, I knew he would come this way sooner or later.” Said the blue buck.

“Yeah well, one less asshole to slow us down. Won't even have to watch our backs anymore.” Said one of the yellow bucks.

They were just rounding the corner when I had got my rifle into position, I had found a spot between some rocks that gave me a good view of the area and through my scope I could see all three of them approaching the crime scene.

“Yeah, I just wish I could have seen his face when he found out how fucked he wa....” The blue buck trailed off...

“WHERE THE FUCK IS HE?”

I couldn't help but grin at the dichotomy in his last statement.

“Maybe a tick tripped the mine, you know those damn things are the size of dog's around here.” The yellow buck said.

“See I told you it wouldn't work.” Said the other yellow buck.

“There ain't no tellin' how old this fucking note is, Ain't that what I said?!” Said the yellow buck.

“For all we know this isn't even for him.” The other yellow buck said.

“Both of you's shut up, plant another mine. If he's coming, we'll get him.” Said the blue buck.

Well that was enlightening, they had found the note and planted a bomb in hopes of killing me. Did I really piss them off that bad? How are they connecting me to Zuri in the first place? They can't be going off these carvings and actually figuring all this out... are they? No, they're way too stupid for that, they are just blindly thinking that it's for me and planting bombs at random. Sometimes I guess you can be so stupid you're smart, but this is on a whole new level.

I watched as the two yellow bucks, who I had gathered to be twins, planted and fresh mine and began covering their tracks. I never would have guessed if not for their tails. One of them was bald, seeming to have shaved his head and the other had a full mane. The bald one set the mine while his counterpart cleared the area. I could take them both out right here and now, but that would give me away to the 3rd buck, no if I was going to do this I had to get all three in one shot.

“What's taking you guys so long?” The blue buck yelled from the front of the valley. Oh they can't be that stupid, set your camp up just outside the trap you set? Did I really just fall for this shit? You have to go to school to be this stupid and they bested me? Oh now I'm pissed.

The two yellow bucks trotted off back to their camp that I had wagered was no more than a few hundred yards down the way from me. If they are over there, I could just fly over the valley wall and disappear but, that would take the justice out of my situation. Plus, what if Zu came back this way, they would be sitting right here waiting for her. Hmmm.... what to do... Irony... I thought to myself as a evil grin crossed my face.

They didn't even know what hit them. All three of them were sitting near a burning campfire when their own mine they had just planted dropped from the heavens and landing in the fire. Almost immediately it began to beep and by the time they looked up to see my smiling face, detonated. Had they been wearing barding of some sort, they may have stood a chance but, that wasn't the case.

I landed near the bodies of the two yellow bucks to see the blue buck trying to hold in his small intestines. The two yellow brothers had been mangled by the explosion, never stood a chance, but the blue buck was still managing to hang on to life. The blast has sent smoldering embers throughout the campsite, setting everything they touched that wasn't stone on fire. I turned my attention to the now wheezing, dying buck.

“What's your name.” I asked walking towards him.

“What?” He yelled.

“What's your fucking name.” I yelled back to him.

“Why do you care?”

“I'm tired of referring to you as 'the blue buck'.” I said with a flat face.

“S-Search. My name is Search Light.”

“The fuck kind of name is that. Sound's like something somepony who's out of ideas names their kid.”

“My mother... she's from Harbor City.” He said clutching his guts.

“Your mother must have been a hoe, I bet she slid you in and out a few times before she birthed you with a name like that.” I said.

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah, I bet you would.”

“How did you-” He stopped short.

“Your first mine was too deep, the blast was deadened by the sand, your second wasn't even armed.” I said. By the look on the buck's face, he probably wished that he could re-kill his two yellow counterparts.

“So what now, you just going to kill me?” He asked.

“Nope, already did that. I need some answers from you. If you play along, maybe I pass you that healing potion over there and you get to live.” I replied, as I pushed off the ground and began to hover closer to him. By his look, he was not pleased about his current situation. I bet if I followed through with that plan he would even kill me the second I turn my back from him.

“Who wrote that note?” I asked.

“It was already there, we figured you would come this way. Set a trap, boom!” He said. His breath was starting to get shorter, guess that sucking chest wound was doing it's magic.

“Why” I asked leveling a coyote emblazoned 44 mag to his head.

“My boss wants you dead! You killed 30 of us. You think that shit goes unnoticed? He's got everyone looking for you and when he finds out you're looking for that zebra he's going to go after her too.” He said.

“Who's going to tell him.” I asked smiling. From the expression on his face, he had not thought that far ahead.

“What? He finds out everything! And when he finds out about this, he's going to string up your ugly ass, beat you and make you watch as we all take turns with your little zebra mare-”

BANG!

The round tore it's way through his skull, sending one of his eyeballs flying into the now bombed out campfire.

"Your sticks and stones may break my bones but my hollow points expand on impact. Should have kept your muzzle shut."

Well, that was informative...and graphic. Honestly you would think stupidity was contagious by what he said. But nevertheless, now I know that the rest of the slavers are after me and that Zu was still out there. It wouldn't take long for her to make her presence know if she's game for leaving me notes now and Celestia knows that slavers love them some zebras. The last thing I want to do is deal with them if they have that amount of leverage on me from the start. So it looks like finding Zu just took the top 5 list on my “shit to do” schedule.

I took stock of the situation, OK I need a plan here. She went north before, would she do it again? Maybe. But I don't think she would have reached out to one of my friends in New Appleloosa if she had. Chances are that she's still keeping her profile low seeing as most of Equestria is not a fan of zebras. I don't think she would head east, that would only lead her to more trouble and, even if she was emboldened by the situation, she wouldn't do that. Highly doubt south, that would put her going back to the place she ran from, not to mention I would have seen signs of her had she. If Zu knows me then she would know the things I would look for, directions I would have been heading, places to hide things.

That leaves west and north, so what... a quarter of Equestria? Great...just great. I wiped off the bits of slaver that were now on my muzzle and cheek. OK, back to the rock of inspiration, there has to be some clue there for me to find. Trotting back over to the rock it dawned on me that had she made it as far as my tree, why wouldn't she had left something there for me, some sign or clue? Was she still running scared? Why go that far and then decide to leave a note on a rock on the other side of the mountain. Then again a direct message connecting her to me would have sent a pretty damn big red flag if they were in the same spot. At least this way there would be some deniability between the two messages, nevertheless it was still a big risk but one she still felt needed taking.

Reviewing the rock once more showed that she gave no direction to where she was going, just the same letters that were in my memory were still on the rock, nothing new. Not a thing. Even her name Zuri. Wait. Not her name. On the other rock the Z in Zuri had a small squiggly tail that pointed down like an arrow. But here the squiggle was at the top and pointed up and left, pointing to the word hope.

“What the hell? Hope? I got hope! What I need is a direction! What the hell is hope? hope ain't on a compass you secretive stripped butthole.” I yelled at the rock.

Maybe it was a sign, maybe it was just her getting all fancy with her skilled zebra glyphs, but it was too vague to tell. At any rate getting pissed off at a chunk of granite wasn't going to do me any good. "OK. Calm down Joey... if she's trying to tell you something with all this, what could it be." I said to myself, trying to calm my brain into rational thought. Hope. What does that mean? Part of something from the past, some detail about her, a location? I've never heard of a town called hope before. Maybe it's a place, rather than a town. Ugh! Why does this have to be so difficult! I have figured out problems before, why is it though, that every time something like this involves her, I can't even think straight! Maybe it's a place I've been before, if that were the case, maybe my pipbuck would have a marker for it.

I opened my Pipbuck's map feature and began scrolling along the terrain looking for anything with the word hope in it. Why can't these thing's just have a search feature! I have been all over the place in the last 10 years, sometimes not eating for days when I was on jobs because of the distance I had to travel. I have markers for as far as I can see and some markers on top of markers! It seems like every time I went somewhere and found something, this damn thing would drop a marker. Oh look, there's Ponyville, oh and over there is Canterlot, hey there's where I took a shit 5 years, 3 month and 48 seconds ago! What a useful little pile of shit you are!

I begin mashing buttons and turning knobs furiously in aggravation, all the while muttering obscenities under my breath at the piece of crap. At some point I hit an button in a menu and was nearly blinded by a bright flash followed by lines, dots, numbers and chevrons. For a brief moment I thought I was dying, finally giving myself a stroke and all the bright green numbers were my brain shutting down for good.

“AHH! OH GODDESSES, OH GODDESSES! NOT NOW! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!!” I screamed thrashing about the canyon floor.

“WHAT IN THE SWEET FUCK IS 'E.F.S.'!? EXTREMELY FUCKING SCARY MODE?!” I screamed again as I fought with overly advanced toaster on my leg.

OK, not dying. I'm still alive but what all is this shit in my vision. Two bars, bottom left and right, complemented by little chevrons in the center of my vision. To the bottom right I had a display with a full bar of parallel vertical lines atop a box with 0/0 in it. In the bottom left I had yet another set of lines forming a bar with a host of little letters below it, I quickly deduced that it was a compass. Oh how I wish I had that soooo many times in the past.

After several minutes of trying to get all the lights to go away with no effect, I decided to just accept the fact that I had now become a walking computer. Granted a very stupid walking computer. But hey! Now I has a compass! Moving up in the world! It occurred to me at that moment that I had forgot to replace the fired round in the chamber of Righty. I drew the pistol from its rested position and well well well. So that's what that 0/0 was for! The numbers in my bottom right of my vision changed from the depressing 0/0 to 5/98 the moment I had the pistol drawn.

“So I have a round counter now huh?” I said as I withdrew a round of P.M.C. .44 magnum from my bags and replace the spent casing with a fresh round of ammunition.

For a moment the screen flashed 0/97 and then when I closed the cylinder back, it flashed to 6/97, I even had a little icon showing me that I was holding a .44 magnum pistol. Neat! I took note that when I moved the pistol about, the little chevrons in my vision would move about with it, the two outer ones expanding while in motion and contracting back down when they stopped.

“If this is what I think it is....” I muttered, taking aim at a small rock about 30 yards away. Focusing on the chevrons and doing my best to keep them steady, I slowly depressed the trigger and sent a round directly into it. The rock exploded into tiny bits of gravel, peppering me with dusts and shards of granite.

I fell back on my hunches, cradling both the pipbuck and the pistol in one hoof and began to hear angels start to sing. Even with the clouds I could feel warm light bathing me and a cockiness I had never felt before! Raising the pistol to the air and standing on my hind legs I yelled.

“I HAVE THE POOOOOWER!!!!”

I took the next hour playing around with all the different functions of the E.F.S. Pulling out different guns, foods, shooting at the odd rock that gave me a shifty look. There was a bit of a period where I thought I broke everything and was going to be stuck in a sort of slow motion limbo when I activated a thing called S.A.T.S. But when I discovered I could use it to place rounds in multiple targets, at distance, in different locations with a percentage based hit probability, I nearly had an orgasm right then and there. I felt like my abilities to be accurate had just been quadrupled, making me one hell of a formidable pony to deal with.

Admittedly, my ability to take out targets at distance was always on par with some of the better shots I had met in my life. However my short game left a lot to be desired, I was never much of a close quarters shooter, seeing as I never saw it as necessary in my line of work. Usually I would just booby trap a location and force them to put on a pair of cuffs with the threat of death from above. Not to mention that the vast majority of jobs I had taken in my time were missing ponies and two bit thugs, not harden criminals. So the need for hoof to hoof combat or shooting anything closer than say 50 yards was not a habit for me. But with this, I feel like I could take on a herd of zombies right here in this valley with just my pistols!

S.A.T.S. did have a drawback to it. The first time around, I couldn't figure out how to exit it and the way I found out that I could engage multiple targets was when I haphazardly placed markers on letters on Zuri's note. When I engaged, I blasted the rock to hell and back with both 44 magnums and succeeded in not only destroying the rock but peppering myself with the close range blowback of lead and copper. There was also the need for it to recharge in between uses, granted I could just hop in and out and only deplete a bit at a time but that would leave little to discerning targets.

This was truly power in the hooves of an idiot to say the least. The fact that I could operate S.A.T.S. made me want to go and find some slavers to pick a fight with but that was soon diminished when I noticed the bar in my bottom right fading to one bar less than what it was before. A health bar? Now that was stupid, I can feel when I'm dying, I don't need something to tell me that I am. But that thought was short lived as well when I came close to the foodstuffs in the slaver's camp and decided to munch down on some snack cakes they had.

I was then told I was ingesting rads and the little needle that had been in the green for so long, flickered to life and returned to it's rested position, just ever so slightly moving the other bar in my vision closer to red. Ah a contamination monitor. Well that's handy, at least now I can see how bad the food really is for me at Peach's next time I stop in. This little contraption has everything a pony could need in the wasteland, with it I could see how all those stable ponies would be able to make a go at survival. Yup it's got everything....EXCEPT A DAMN SEARCH FUNCTION!

Oh well, a win's a win I always say, I guess I couldn't have thought of half the things on this contraption had I designed it myself. So putting that past some ponies 200 years ago and holding them accountable for not thinking of it was stupid. Just the same, of all the things on here, not having a search function would be like having the best rifle in all the world with no sights or scope. Apart from that I could see everypony wanting one of these, had they knew what all they were capable of.

A bit of embarrassment crept over me when I realized I had been the particular owner of this pipbuck for over 9 years and just now discovered all of it's features. For all my tinkering with it, I had found that it never really worked quite right for me, actually now that I think of it, there were times it outright would crash! Usually not a big deal for me, I grew up reading maps. But sometimes it would put me in situations where I had no clue if I had any ammo for my pistols. Those times sucked a long hard one but, what really sucked is when it went down for about a week last month while I was out salvaging Hoofington. I had found a particularly nice 10mm pistol that had been nickel plated, compensated and had 5 mags of hollow points with it. I ended up selling it for 50 caps to a pony in Megamart and later found out it was worth almost 3 times that much. I had come to rely on the onboard value of items to the point where the numbers were nonnegotiable and let my own skills slack off. Cost me 100 caps.

“OK, I have flashy, blinky lights, caps, ammo... scratch that last one. I have some ammo, no food or water and a severe headache. Better odds than I have had in the past at least.” I said scrolling through my inventory.

If I was going to go after Zu, then I was in need of supplies first, no way I was about to head out to the north without any. Particularly near Ponyville area, that place is just stupid with raiders and while not much of a match at distance, they have a way of popping up around corners. The last thing I need is to get stabbed in the ass and not have at least some med-x or bandages. Don't get me wrong, I like to think of myself as quite the tough pony, but when it comes to serious injury, I can be a bit of a wuss.

It would probably do me some good to make that run to New Appleloosa, I could crash out for the night and do some trading in the morning. I think that I know just the pony to put me up come to think of it, maybe call in a favor with him? Well that is if he's still there or not dead. Caliber has always had a way with words and by “a way” I mean a way of getting his flank over his head and pissing off whole towns of ponies. Personally I think he's a funny guy but other ponies say I have a morbid sense of humor.

OK, so it's north to New Appleloosa, then back this way to try and pick up a trail. In the time up to New Appleloosa and back I should have thought of something to find Zu. If not I'll come back here and start fresh and work my way out in a grid pattern until I find her. If I don't find her on the first go then I'll start pushing east in the northern territories and try to find sign of her there. This should do wonders for my reputation, take several years off to roam the countryside to find a long lost girlfriend. Talk about stalker dedication! Oh well, no time like the present, best get a move on.

“OK, Ms. Stripey Butt, I'm coming....eventually!!” I said as I took flight to the air and pointed myself north to New Appleloosa.

The town of New Appleloosa never looked so good to me. After hours in the air and over two days without sleep, it sure is going to feel nice to lay on something other than dirt for a change. After leaving Hoofington and my sis behind for my yearly trek, I hadn't slept or eaten much. So to say I was tired and hungry would be a understatement. Couple that with my ever growing headache and a general sense of urgency to get a move on this zebra hunt, I was in a pretty bad mood.

Leaving the canyon, I did my best to search for any signs that Zu may have left for me but came up empty hooved. Had I ventured that had the little arrow pointing to the word Hope been a actual clue, then maybe she wouldn't have left anything for quite some ways. But just to err on the side of caution, I decided to take a look for myself to verify that it had been the only clue she left. Too many times when I was younger I passed up, at times, valuable clues that would have saved me a lot of time by going off a hot lead. Not to mention it's easier to track a pony when you have no doubt that you have exhausted every resource at your disposal.

Finally I touched down just outside of the gate of New Appleloosa and began my trot into town, I would need to stop by Absolutely Everything first and see about some supplies before I could rest easy. Then I would have to track down Caliber and see about a bed to crash in for the night. Yes I could pay for a room and sleep at the Inn, but I know what goes on in those places. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind being dirty or even downright nasty, but waking up with my cheek glued to a pillow? Gross!

“Well if it isn't Joey, I don't think I've seen you in years boy!” Said Railright.

“Hey Sheriff, how's things?” I asked, trotting through the gates.

“Oh same old same old. Been dealing with all these new folks in town. It gets a might bit hard to keep order when your population doubles over night.”

“So that's where all those slaves ended up I heard about on the radio. I'd say you do got your hooves full then.”

“Son, I ain't had a drop of whiskey since, and trust me, it ain't for a lack of needing it. Speaking of needing, boy you ever gona' put some meat on them bones? Your belly's lookin' a bit concave. ”

“I heard that, I haven't eating well this last year, work's been too busy to post up anywhere longer than an day. Sis say's she likes me like this, say's it makes me look fit. Say Sheriff, is Ditzy around? I'm running low on stock and need to do some trading.”

“Yeah she's around, I think she's in the shop. Say, what brings you our way anyhow? Ditzy said she saw you up northeast ways just a week ago.”

“Yeah, I was up there. Had a bounty to collect, turned sour fast though. I ended up letting her go when I found out I got tricked into working for slavers.”

“Well then, that explains a good bit. I had heard you stirred up quite a bit of trouble with some of Red Eyes boys. Some of the folks are saying you got a bounty of your own now.”

“Really? How much? Might turn myself in if the price is right and retire rich.”

“Now, you know as well as I do there's more than one way to skin a cat. And son, your skinning it with a rock if you think you can start a war with Red Eye by your lonesome.”

“I know, I know. But you know how I feel about them and the nature of my business means I have to come face to face with them near constantly. Now I think they know about Zu, so that's complicated our relationship further.”

“Hey, speaking of zebras...” The sheriff paused tapping his muzzle. Oh great, here comes the “You still hunting down that old girlfriend of yours?” talk. Now I remember why I never come here, well that and Ditzy is almost never here these days.

“One of the new fellers was talking about seeing a Zebra out past Ponyville just the other day. Said she was working her way up north and ducked out of sight when he saw her.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let me guess, she was purple and had great big ears and was flying around farting rainbows right?” I asked jokingly. Over the years, I had gained a bit of a reputation as “The buck who's hunting a zebra ghost”. This had lead to more than one seemingly comical remark compounded by the fact that I am, in fact, a tracker.

“No, seriously Joey. The boy came back all torn up about it. Said he thought it was a ghost when he saw her.”

“Your not just messing with me are you? When was this?” I asked with a growing serious expression.

“About a week back. The feller was up there looking for scrap metal when he saw her. Came back empty hooved and crawled in the bar.”

“Where is he now? I found something back at the canyon, a note she left for me.” I said growing more and more despite.

“Oh he's dead. Poor boy went back that way with a few other bucks to bring back the load he dropped. They got ambushed by raiders on the way back. He didn't make it.”

“SHIT!! EVERY FUCKING TIME!” I screamed. Somewhere up there, there's a group of maniacal supreme beings that are just laughing their asses off at me.

“Now calm down kid, ain't no need in getting all worked up over this. If I recall that asshole Caliber took note of it and questioned him the morning before he left out.”

“Seriously? Caliber did that?” I asked arching a brow.

“Trust me, I'm just as shocked as you are. But I swear its the only time I think I have seen that boy be sincere about anything. He even had a notepad and kept sayin' 'wait till joey hears about this'.”

“If you say Caliber is dead then I swear....” I started.

“Nah, I mean well all kinda wish he was, but last I saw he was in Turnpike Tavern. Look, I need to get back to my rounds, still got a lot of folks to take note of. Best get in Ditzy's store before she shuts it up for the night. Good seein' ya Joey.” Railright said as he trotted off.

“You too Sheriff.” I said as I turned for Absolutely Everything's door.

Now that's unexpected, usually I'm met with the usual “Quick over there! Its her!” or the like when I come here. Since this was the first place I came after meeting her and getting my cutiemark, the entire town knows the story already. And over the years they have found new and inventive ways to pick on me about it. To make things worse, the near constant follow up conversations are always about Lue, Boss and Shale. The latter I don't mind talking about but the two former, I'd rather not. Its been over 8 years since I lost Boss but it's still fresh in my memory like it was yesterday. I still think about Lue from time to time but lets face it, it's hard to miss someone that spent most of their time picking on you, hence why I rarely come here.

But if Caliber actually did do the impossible and do something nice for me by interrogating the witness, then I might actually have something here. Even the thought of him doing such a thing is setting off warnings in my head that something is amiss. Sure he and I are friends, we crack jokes together and even have worked together on more than one occasion, but actually thinking of me? No way, not in a million years would he do such a thing. Come to think of it, I don't have anypony that I would trust to do something nice for me without wanting something in return. Well, Shale, but she's more family than anything. I could trust her with my life if it came down to it, but as far as Cal and I, I don't think I would take that chance. If that was the case, I couldn't really call him a friend of sorts, more of a intermittent partner if I had to pin a label to it.

I guess that's the axiom of working alone and never staying somewhere long enough to make any real friends. Sure I had acquaintances and even the odd casual friend but, a friend, like a friend friend? I never really thought about it. outside of Shale I really didn't have anypony who I could hang that title on. Now Caliber is more of a partner in crime, but I guess I never really thought of him as somepony I could count on without payment. He always has a angle that he was working, some way that would make him plenty of caps to keep him stocked on booze and broads. But to be honest, I had never looked past the thick vainer of ass that was Caliber to see if he was anything more than... well... an ass.

The old shop of Absolutely Everything was just as I remembered it, even the fetid stench had not changed. A mixture of soured milk and rotten meat hung in the air, mixing with the dust that swirled as I walked about. Rows and rows of goods sat on the shelves, waiting to be traded for other items that too would be bartered away one day. Ditzy, despite falling apart herself, did quite a nice job of keeping the place tidy, I just wish she would do something about the smell. I guess when you're a ghoul pony, the first thing to go is in fact your smell, mercifully no doubt.

Ditzy emerged from the stock room pushing a box of assorted can goods and medical bandages with her front hooves. Upon seeing me she waved at me and, at the same time, lost her balance, toppling the box of goods across the floor. I tried to help her pick them up but was met with a never the mind wave of the hoof and a motion to approach the counter.

“Hey D, how's business?” I asked politely.

With a swing of her head, she flung the chalkboard from around her neck onto the countertop and began to scribble with her mouth. I have had several conversations with Ditzy in the past but to this day I can't get past what it must be like to have to taste chalk every day. I still have no idea how she lost her tongue, I could never find the right words to ask her such a delicate question. All the same, she had managed writing very well, all things considered.

“Good! Long time no see!” She wrote.

“I know, it's been three years. Work kept me busy. You're looking well.” I said.

“Your kind, something I can get for you?” She asked.

“Yes actually, I made a list. I hope you don't mind.” I said sliding the crumpled up paper across the counter. I had learned that dealing with Ditzy can be difficult at times but if you know how to prepare for it, it's not so bad. In fact, since she lost her ability to speak, it has really cut down on the useless chatter from shop patrons.

“Thank you. Will have everything in morning.” She wrote.

“No problem. It's good to see you D.” I said, leaning over the counter for a hug. Yes it's gross but out of all the traders I have dealt with in my life, she has always been kind to me and never done me wrong.

“Heard they saw Zuri. True?” She wrote.

“Maybe, I don't know yet. But I think Caliber got a description from the buck that saw her.” I said.

Ditzy scrunched her nose in clear disdain but soon returned to the soft glare that I'm use to seeing. It's no secret that Ditzy and Caliber are not fans of each other, him a very anti ghoul kinda guy and her...a ghoul.

“Hope you find her.” She wrote.

“Thanks D, you will be the first to know if I do.” I said with a soft smile.

“Want me to adjust holster?” She asked.

“Actually, yeah if you don't mind. Its been biting into my wings.” I said shucking off the the leather barding and placing it on the counter. “Thanks again D, I'm going to go see a pony about a zebra.” I said walking out the door. Ditzy trotted off with my holster and pistols for the second time in my life, it had been so long since I had been without them that it made me feel naked. For some reason I always felt safe when I had them, almost like I had Boss standing right beside me when I had them drawn. It was a feeling of having complete control over any situation that came my way. Not to mention my coat was all fluffed up and matted where it had chafed around my wings making me look mangy and unkempt. What, a guy can't strive to look good from time to time?

Across town, the Turnpike Tavern was more full of life than I had seen it ever before. Ponies came and went freely, some on all fours and others being assisted by their friends and one particularly drunk mare in a wheelbarrow screaming that she had one more drink left in her. Well if nothing else maybe doing some "pony watching'' would do me some good if Caliber wasn't here. What am I saying, he's always at the bar.

Sure enough as soon as I trotted through the door, I saw his mop of dark blue rat nest he called a mane. Tail dangling off the side of the seat and into floor, partially obscuring his bullet cutiemark on his ashy white coat. Dirty, mangy and no doubt that he stunk to high heaven. Yup, just as I left him from our last trip together, I bet he hasn't even bathed since then either. Even his lighter features of his mane and tail were so dirty looking that they looked more black than cyan. Honestly, he's a good looking guy, if he would just bathe once in awhile he could find a mare and settl...yeah like he would do that. Boy's probably got 15 kids out there somewhere, like he would settle down.

I trotted his way and was spotted instantly by him, it's like he has a sixth sense when I'm around him, he just knows I'm there. Caliber took his gaze away from his pack of smokes and regarded me for a moment. And here it comes.

“Joey! Bout time you got here, I was starting to think you were going to stand me up for our date.” Caliber said in a slightly inebriated slur.

“Sorry, but all the salons were closed down, Honestly you would think a bomb went off or something. I just couldn't do a thing with my mane.” I replied with a over exaggerated flip of my hair.

“You always were the girly type, always primping and preening. Tell me, do you still sit down to pee?”

“Only over your pillow. Are you still trying to date that farmer's sheep?”

“Too whiny, always baaa baaa baaa. Never once did she ask me how I felt. Also he shot at me last time I was there. Rude!” he replied waving his hoof at the situation. His gesture being met by the sudden appearance of a fresh drink from a overworked Apple Whiskey.

“It's good to see you Cal!” I said

“Likewise Joey!” He said, falling out of the booth to attempt a hug. Despite his obvious flaws as a pony, Caliber can be a good guy to hang out with. If something goes wrong or if you screw up, he will usually take the blame for it, regardless if he actually did it or not. He was always looking for some interaction, some outlet to get his frustrations out, usually at the expense of somepony's ego. This had granted him the reputation of being a complete dick most of the time. So much so that he was rarely in one town for more than a year, but for some reason he had stuck around New Appleloosa for over three now.

“I figured you would be coming this way. Just can't shake the stripe fever eh?” He asked.

“I found a note from her. It was fresh and I figured, why not give it one more go. Sheriff said you talked to somepony who might have seen her?” I asked, sitting down in the worn out old booth.

“Well, you'll be happy to know that the buck that saw her gave me every juicy detail he had before I killed him.”

“Cal, he was killed by raiders... and yeah I heard you had taken down some notes. I was hoping you could help me out.”

“Is that what the paper said? Jeez, how is a pony supposed to start a career as a serial killer with them mucking things up. Damn shame. And here I thought I was doing good by not leaving any witnesses.”

“Wait, you didn't actually kill him...did you?” I asked. Sometimes with Caliber, it was hard to gauge whether or not he was joking or serious. I wouldn't put it past him to milk the poor buck for everything he knew and outright murder him. But then again Cal had never done anything like that before...had he? With the arc of a brow I got my answer.

“Funny, what did you find out...seriously... you of all ponies know how much something like this means to me.” I said

“OK, OK Jeez. I was just goofin'.” He said as he reached for a dirty old notebook with “Caliber's detective agency” on the front cover. If that wasn't enough he had even came up with a catchphrase for his faux business "You lose em' we find em'... Results may vary". Cute.

''The buck said he was out gathering scrap and saw a zebra heading north from Ponyville, She was moving between buildings and had not seen them yet but from the distance he said it looked like she had stripes.” Cal said.

“Like you do when you're a Zebra...” I said twirling a hoof in the air. The motion was met with a response in the form of a glass of apple whiskey being placed before me. I was a bit surprised, it was almost like the bartender was waiting to throw liquor at my face or something and the slight gesture was just what he was waiting for. But just the same, I now have whiskey, I shall now consume whiskey.

“Says here that he thinks he made out that she had purple eyes. And no before you ask, I didn't bait the question. I just asked what her eye color looked like.” He said looking over the booklet.

“I didn't say anything. But good boy.” I replied, patting him on the head.

“Thank you! He said once they spotted her she changed directions and headed west but they think they saw a set of prints that doubled back later down the road.”

“She's covering her tracks. Smart. OK so north, what's north of Ponyville...” I said looking at my pipbuck.

“Oh loads of awesome stuff! Raiders, Ticks, Timberwolves, super Timberwolves, Hellhounds, Hope Solar Array, old ass farm where they used to make drugs, super irradiated legendary Timberwolves...”

“Wait, Hope Solar Array? Where's that?” I asked.

“In between the Hellhounds and the old ass farm. Pay attention. There's also the Everfree Forest, but that place is a killzone these days.” he continued.

“You know what I meant.” I said through my teeth.

“Luna's sweet crotch titties, lighten the fuck up. Just north of Ponyville, between it and the Everfree Forest. Why, need to recharge your dildo?”

“No, but if I'm right then that's my next stop. She left me a note back in the canyon and if I was reading it right she left a mark leading to hope.” I said. The Hope Solar Array. I had never been there or near the Everfree Forest. That explains why I couldn't find it on my map, I didn't have a location for it because I had never been there. If what I'm thinking is true then Zu is maybe hiding nearby and I should be able to pick up sign of her there.

“Cal, I was wondering, would you mind if I crash at your place for the night?”

“Woah there little missy, what do I look like, a whore? Caliber doesn't put out on the first date.” He proclaimed, putting a hoof to his chest and then belching.

“Please, only for tonight. I'm heading out to Ponyville first thing in the morning and I'll be out of your tail.”

“You know you're always welcome at my place Joe. So long as sleeping on a pee covered pillow doesn't bother you.”

“Cal, you know I didn't pee on your pillow.” I said covering my face with a hoof.

“Who said it was your pee. Now, what do ya say, we get some more drinks and paint this town striped!” Cal said, flagging down the bartender.

“I don't know, I'm pretty beat. May be best...wait, who peed on your pillow?” I asked in shock

“Nonsense! My best friend comes in town and he want's to sleep? No way! Let's have some fun!”

“Best friend? Pillow pee? What!?” I said as I was lead away by Cal to the bar.

OK, this was a new level of pain I was in. My head feels like it's about to explode and my guts feel like someone pulled them all out and minced them in a blender. Cal had insisted that we stay and drink for another hour before we went...somewhere to do...something. Shit I can't remember, I can't think past the pounding in my head and whatever was trying to claw its way out of my stomach. Did I eat radroach last night? Jeez it feels like it's trying to make it's way from my stomach to my tail hole via machete. Why am I wearing sunglasses... where did I even get sunglasses? That better be my own urine I'm smelling or somepony's gonna die.

Cal had at some point lead me to the couch for me to sleep on, the pillow was in fact damp but I can't tell if its from sweat or my worst nightmare. I tried to move to sit up but my body insisted that I remain motionless until the world stopped trying to kill me with nausea and crushing pain. What the hell happened last night? This is even worse than the last time Cal decided to take me drinking in Flank. And he ended up fathering a child while I was there no less!

From my view off the couch, I could see his entire shack, including his bedroom door and the toilet in the middle of the room. Now why is that a thing! You don't want to be watched sleeping but don't care if the whole world sees you rocking out a deuce? Truly he's a rare breed of pony, but I would think he would at the very least put up a curtain for his guests. Who am I kidding, all of Caliber's guests are either too drunk to care or being paid to be there.

Just as I was about to make my second attempt at rejoining the world of the living, Cal's bedroom door clicked, and began to slowly creek it's way open. I decided to try my best not to move in hopes of scaring the hell out of him as payback for the night before. Maybe if I faked my own death he would think twice before trying to make me drink my weight in whiskey again. Who am I kidding, he would just try harder next time. Besides, it's my own fault for drinking with a guy who says, it's not a party until somepony dies.

Just as I was about to speak up, a tuft of white puffy hair poked it's head out of the doorway followed by a set of ears, a shaved body....it was a sheep. From somewhere deep in his room I could just make out Cal saying in hushed tones “Shoo! Go! Go!”. No sooner than the sheep cleared the doorway, a second came shortly thereafter and began chewing on the carpet. Cal had kidnapped a farmer's sheep and brought them back here to....OK not thinking about that.

Soon Cal emerged from the room wearing a mangy old bathrobe and holding a broom with his magic, using it to shoo his bedfellows out the door. I could feel tears running down my cheek from the restrained laughter and the pain from biting my lip to keep quiet. Soon he had managed to herd the poor creatures to the front door of his shack and was about to open it when one of the sheep decided now would be a great time to have a poo.

“Damn it Speckles! Not on my floor!” Cal said trying his best to keep quiet.

That did it, I could hold back him kidnapping sheep, even trying to hide the fact he did it, but he actually named them. The dam broke and I lost it, falling into the floor and crying in laughter. The pain in my head was so intense that I began to dry heave and eventually vomit on the floor, all the while laughing and trying not to wet myself.

“You...you actually named her?” I asked through laughing, gagging sobs.

“Shut up! It's not what it looks like!” Cal said trying to push “Speckles” out the door.

“Now..Cal, no need to be a bad host cuz I'm here. Aren't you going to introduce me?” I said still trying not to wet myself.

“SHUT IT! You ever tell anypony about this, I'll shave your coat off!” Cal screamed.

“Why, so I can look more like your girlfriend?” And I just wet myself. Cal took note of the other sheep making a meal of my pile of sick on the floor.

“DAMN IT RAMONE! STOP EATIN' FUCKING PUKE! WE TALKED ABOUT THIS!” Cal yelled.

“CAL! OH CELESTIA WHY! STOP! PLEASE STOP! I'M GOING TO PASS OUT! HAVE YOU NO SHAME” I screamed, now in physical pain from the amusement.

“YOU KNOW I DON'T! NOW HELP ME GET THESE FUCKERS OUT OF HERE BEFORE THE FARMER COMES BACK!” Cal yelled.

“ I can't! I can't! I think I'm dying. Cal I can't even right now!” I screamed.

“I HATE YOU! I REALLY REALLY HATE YOU!” Cal bellowed.

After I had regained my composure and Cal had ushered his ladies of the evening out the door, I took the next hour to try and overcome the complicated task of walking. Why was the world still moving, I'm just standing here and it feels like I'm floating to the ceiling. If I survive this, I'm going to never drink again and I'm going to kill Caliber until he dies from it. I stink, I feel like crap and I can't feel my left hind leg, who would want to do this to themselves. This is the worst feeling I have ever felt and I have drank plenty in my time, but I have never had a hangover this bad. Damn you apple whiskey and your seductively sweet flavor!

“Hey Joe, you OK?” Cal asked.

“I think I was over served last night. My head feels like it's in a vice."

“Well, that's what you get for wrestling Crane.''

“Wait what!? I got in a fight with Crane!? I like him, what did I do to piss him off?”

“Oh you didn't piss him off, you two were just drunk and messing around. You said you thought you could take him. You didn't.” Cal said, packing his bags for the day

“Why would you let me do that!”

“I don't know, seemed like a good idea at the time. To be fair you held your own for a while, but he sent you flying across the yard."

“Wait I what now? I don't remember any of this.” I said, trying to rub the pain from my head.

“Ah, well, he was pretty worried he killed you there for a while. You landed on top of the Inn, took you a while to come too. But when you screamed “I can smell semen from up here!” He relaxed a bit.”

“So that's why my leg is numb and why my head hurts."

“No, that probably came from where you decided to try and fly down to earth from the roof.”

“Try? So I was so drunk I couldn't fly?”

“Oh I'm sure you could, but you had your wings tied to your body. It was part of the bet in the fight.” Cal said, now putting on his saddle bags.

“Wait what! You let me jump off a building with my wings tied up!?” I screamed.

“What. You lived. Landed on your head. Nothing important broken.”

“Why do I hang out with you...” I said, burying my head in my hooves.

“Oh you know you love me, hey, don't you have a zebra to marry, virginity to loose or something? Best get a move on, sun's been up for an hour.” Cal said walking out the door.

“Yeah, I guess I need to get to Ditzy's and pick up my gear and head out.” I said following him out the door.

Cal and I parted ways as soon as his door shut, him heading off to Celestia only knows where and myself to Absolutely Everything. The town was quiet this morning, usually when I'm here and up this early, everyone is moving around and getting started for the day. But for some reason, everything is oddly quiet, it's like the whole town stayed out late and was hungover. Passing by one of the few ponies that were out and about, sealed that thought with a kiss. The poor buck was barely managing to walk straight. As soon as I passed him by, he let out a dry heave and ducked behind a barrel, followed by a choirs of bodily noises I knew all too well.

Jeez! Did Cal get the whole town drunk or something? It's like he has his own brand of radiation that he gives off, causing a critical case of alcohol poisoning. Cal has been known to throw quite a few parties in his time, many I have been a apart of, but few that I had partaken in. The last time I did was back in Flank and the aftermath resulted in a broken wing and waking up in a tree. I have been told that when I drink I get overly emotional, but I have also been told that if I keep drinking that I become somepony completely different. Add Caliber to that equation and I have been known to cause myself great bodily harm in my never ending mission to have “fun”.

Granted I always paid my price the next morning but Cal on the other hoof just prefers to skip town and leave what will be, to be just that. Luna only know's how many kids he has fathered in his short life and now, maybe even a few sheep? Can sheep and ponies even...not thinking about it! What would they even look like, would they have Cal's coat in a woolly form? What about the eyes, sheep have those creepy eyes, would those be like pony eyes or just blue like his? Would they just look like ponies but twice as dumb...no then they would just be miniature versions of Cal... hey didn't I say stop thinking about this?

Walking through the door of Absolutely Everything, I was greeted by Ditzy who rushed over to me and began looking me over. She had the oddest expression on her face, almost like a mother who had just found her lost colt and was looking them over for injuries. She looked me over fore and aft in her relentless search for broken bones and cuts finally coming to my hind leg that I pulled away at her touch. The numbness was subsiding but a new, fresh pain was starting to set in during my walk over. It felt dull and achy, almost like it had been hit by a bat the day before. Not so much that I couldn't walk but it was in fact starting to make movement more tricky.

Ditzy examined it closer and began to poke at it with her hoof, over and over again. Each time met with a “ow” or a mild squeak from me from the sharp, throbs of pain. Having sufficiently poked my leg two or three dozen times, she concluded her search for problems with a swing of her chalk board, dropping it to the floor and began to scribble.

“I think you hurt your leg.” She wrote.

“Yeah? How'd you guess?” I squeaked out. Ok the pain was really setting in now and her pokes and jabs didn't help.

“You said ow.” She wrote.

“Okay... Yeah I think I hurt it last night. Funny it just now started hurting, it's been numb all morning.”

“Candi numb it?”

“Must have, I hope its not broken. Were you able to find the things I needed?” I asked. Ditzy nodded and rushed off to the back room to retrieve the items from my list. I started to lift my hind leg off the floor and began to hop to the counter to start conducting business when Crane came walking in.

“Joey! You're alive. Oh good.” Crane said with a look of relief on his face.

“Yeah, I think so. But I'm afraid my case of chronic stupidity might be going terminal.” I said still favoring my right leg.

“Look, I saw ya come in here and just wanted to say I'm pretty sorry about kicking your flank like that. I knew you was drunk and all but I can't pass up a good scuffle.”

“Ain't no thing. I don't even remember what happened to be honest.” I said forcing a smile.

“Yeah well, seems like that leg might recall what happened. You're. lucky Candi was there to mend it when you hit the ground.”

“Wait, Candi was there and still let me jump!?” I said in surprise.

“Hell kid, she had 20 caps and a bottle of Wild Pegasus on you to win.” He said with a chuckle.

“What is wrong with you ponies!” I said with a laugh. At this point I earned any pain I had to deal with so why be mad about it.

“Hey now, I was going to try and levitate you down but I was in stitches when you screamed 'gross it smells like semen and dick friction up here'.” He said laughing.

“I'm sure it did too!” I said mirroring his laugh.

“Hey, by the way, Candi is looking for you. Says she wants to give you a once over before you head out of town. Take care of yourself out there, we want to see you again especially after last night.” Crane said walking out the door.

Smells like semen and dick friction, where in the world did I come up with that one. I swear sometimes its like I have two ponies in my head that can't play nice together. One pony calling the shots and overthinking everything and another pony who takes all the shots, makes all the bad decisions and the best jokes. If they would just work together maybe I would be the charismatic buck all the girls fall for but no, they have to sit in their corners and wait for the other to pass out before one of them takes control.

No sooner than Crane trotted out the door Ditzy had returned with an old milk crate full of my belongings and...was my holster rig black now? She had used her time wisely and generously to rework my old barding into something much better than I had ever had before. The leather was now double layered with armor plating in the center. The once brown scuffed hide was now a deep lustrous black with white stitching, even the buckles looked new!

She must have spent all night on this rig and Celestia only knows how many caps worth of Ar500 steel. She had left the pistols untouched but at the top of the holster, just below my neck now sported my cutiemark embossed into the leather. She had also taken great care to relieve the areas around my wings and rolling the leather up to expose a suede liner just underneath.

She had added straps from the front shoulders that ran across my chest, crossed in the middle and went under my front legs to attach to the underside of the shoulder guards. I couldn't help but feel a bit of pride in her work and how fast she had completed it no less. It was positively awesome looking, somehow she had taken the old worn holster and breathed new life into it, making it a work of art. Even where the old holster met the new leather was seamless, how did she pull all this off.

Ditzy took great care in helping me into my new rigging all the while making small adjustments to the quick detach straps. The holster before stopped just after my wings on either end of my back but now reached from the nape of my neck to my hind quarters. There were reliefs just above my cutiemark with buckles for my saddlebags where once again she had rolled the leather to expose the liner below. It was a bit heavy but sooo comfy! Ditzy having completed the installation, retrieved her chalkboard and wrote.

“You like? Fit OK?”

“Ditzy, I love it but I didn't ask for any of this. You didn't have to spend all night working on this for me.”

“I won 300 caps on your fight.”

“You bet against me? Well. Can't say I blame you, but still, thank you.”

“Everything is in your bags.” She said smiling proudly.

“Ok, I know I don't want to know but how much is this going to cost me.” I asked squeezing my eyes shut.

“Holster's on the house, 341 caps for the gear.”

“Ditzy no, I have to pay you for this.” I said digging for my caps. How do I even put I price on work this good.

“It's your c-day. On the house.” She wrote. By “c-day” I guessed she meant my cutiemark day. Even though I was born in February, Boss had from the day I got my mark, celebrated that day as my birthday seeing as the actual date was a mystery.

“Please, I have to give you something for this. It's beyond amazing!” I said almost pleading with her to take my money. This was a first, I mean D has always been good to me but I have never had to argue over paying somepony before.

“Bring muffins. Even?”

“OK...you win. Muffins it is. It might be awhile but when I get back I'll make a run to Tenpony and get some.” I said in defeat.

“Deal!” She wrote, then walked back behind her counter.

Great, now I have to find muffins in the wasteland. The only place I know of is in Tenpony Tower and last I checked they don't like me very much. In fact I'm pretty sure it was the baker there that I cussed out last time I was asked to leave...great, awesome. Looks like I will be paying for this holster... barding at this point, with extremely overpriced muffins nonetheless. If I can even get in.

Finally! It's time to get this wild zebra chase under way! I've got all my gear, guns, ammo and a spiffy new barding to make this trip an adventure. The only thing I was lacking was confidence in this all going smoothly and me finding anything at all. Sure finding Zuri's note and hearing about a possible sighting had my hopes up, but that had faded to cautious optimism. My heart told me this was the time I was going to find her, but my brain was telling me, don't get your hopes up. Well, only one way to find out, I guess it's time to get a move on.

Candi wanted me to stay in town for a few days to make sure my leg had been set properly and had mended well enough for walking. But when I argued that I could just fly and keep it favored she gave me the 'stupid buck' look and said “ Your leg, not mine”. Taking off and landings were problematic but I figured I could just take it easy and maximize my time in the air so it could rest. It wasn't like I was dying from it, it was just annoying me with a shot of pain whenever I stepped wrong. Also the sad crippled pony on my pipbuck was starting to piss me off. I know my legs jacked up, I don't need you reminding me and that health bar is starting to make me anxious. I liked not knowing when I was near death, this makes it feel like I have a timer on my life.

From the distance I could hear blasts from a shotgun going off and just to my right, the sound of hooves on sand running my way. Instinctively I drew one of my pistols and adopted a sitting position, readying myself for whatever came next. The sound was coming from between the buildings behind me, the galloping growing closer and louder. My E.F.S. began to show a green bar running at a fair clip between the buildings. What could it be now? Bandits? Raiders? Slavers? What!

My questions were answered when Caliber came running out from between the building and tripped, falling flat on his face. He was missing hair on his rump and... was part of his tail gone? What had happened to him? Cal, seeing me, changed course almost on a bit and ran my way.

“Joey, great to see you! Mind if I come along?” Cal said trying to act casual.

“I guess, what's going on, what happened to your tail?” I asked.

“My tail?” Cal said spinning to see the once flowing blue and cyan tail now reduced to a cropped choppy nub. “MY TAIL!” He screamed, his shocked surprise melting into a very convincing pouty face.

“Damn that looks bad-” I was cut off by the shotgun blasts growing closer followed by a red bar entering my vision. Huh, OK so hostiles are red, friendlies must be green. Maybe this thing will come in handy after all.

“No time! You can carry a pony when you fly right?”

“I mean I have done it before but those were just foal-” again cut off, this time by Caliber jumping on my back. My leg gave a protest in the form of blinding agony at the added weight. Almost instinctively I began to flap and pull my lame leg from the earth to relieve the pain. Oh that was heaven!

“Mush bird horse! Mush!” Cal screamed, smacking my flank.

“Ow, what the hell asshole!” I said looking back to him. At that moment I saw the farmer being trailed by two sheep, with a shotgun taking aim at my flank. Just as he pulled the trigger, Ramone I think, gave the farmer a bump of his head to the farmers legs. He then fell to his face and the gun went off, sending buckshot skittering across the ground were my hind legs had been. Fearing for my own tail I pushed off the ground and began to fly as fast as my wings would carry us both.

“Nice holster! Is it new?”

“We not gonna talk about your little problem with the farmer's daughter back there?”

“Oh him? Nah. He's just mad because he thinks I got Speckles pregnant.”

“What the actual fuck Cal.”

“So where are we heading?”

Chapter 3: Friends?

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 3: Friends?
Written by: Rocco
Edited by: Blackjackmin (Mike)

“Look all I'm saying is that I feel that he shouldn't have shot at us.” Cal said trotting beside me.

The town of Ponyville loomed on the horizon, casting shadows across the landscape in the afternoon setting sun. I had made it the majority of the way here with Cal on my back but, about ten miles prior to Sweet Apple Acres, my wings gave out. Cal managed to tuck and roll into a brier bush, becoming tangled in the torn covered ropes of vines. I on the other hoof, was graceful enough to land in an old apple tree, hit my hurt leg on a branch, fall 15 feet onto the same leg and roll around crying for 30 minutes. Thank Celestia for med-x, I'm pretty sure the bones held but that didn't stop it from hurting to the point of tears.

“I know right! what kind backwards hillpony shoots at his future buck-in-law. There should be a law.” I said.

“DAMMIT! FOR THE LAST TIME! I did not have sexual relations with that sheep!” Cal belted back at me.

“I know Cal.”

“Thank you! Finally.”

“You had sexual relations with both of those sheep. I know you're not a selfish lover.” I continued.

“THAT'S IT BIRD BOY, I'M KICKING YOUR ASS.” Cal said.

“You would hit me, a poor lame buck who's searching for true love in the wasteland?” I said falling back to my hunches in offense. Cal, wasting no time, had procured a week old pile of brahmin turds and threw it right in my face. Now, I know Cal and Cal knows me. He knows the fastest way to piss me off is to do something that would result in me being covered in some form of bodily waste.

“OH. It. Is. ON! Come here, you son of a whore bitch bastard!” I screamed as I took flight, grabbing Caliber and lifting him off the ground. Scanning the area around me, I spied a nasty looking quagmire, maybe if I'm lucky it will be a two century old sewage pit. Slowly I hovered over the pond of filth, doing my best to manage the kicking, flailing buck in my grasp. I think a good swim will do him some good, maybe cool him off a bit and get his brain off of sheep.

“Joey! What are you doing! Put me down!” Cal screamed. Just a little closer now.

“Damn it Joey, put me the hell down and I'll let all this go!” Cal continued. Almost there.

“Joey, so help me, if you drop me in that lake of ass water I'm going to really hurt you!” Cal said.

Close enough. I released my grip on him and grinned as he began to plummet to the earth. Goddesses only knows what's in that nasty pond, oh well, Cal could tell me all about it later. Pleased with my work almost instantly, I crossed my hooves and gave myself a firm nod of approval. It was just at that moment I noticed a heavy weight pulling down on my tail, I was also now aware of the fact that I was now failing to earth just as fast as Cal was.

Cal had latched onto my tail with his teeth and the sudden addition of his weight took me by complete surprise. Together now, we fell to the earth like two moronic stones with a date with the primordial ooze that had been cooking for 2 centuries. Through muffled noises I could make out Cal trying to say “Fwap dammit! Fwap!”. I tried my best to regain control but it was too late, the sudden jolt of weight had made my wings falter sending us into a free fall. My wings struggled to gain purchase in the air, flapping wildly and out of sync trying to recover from the momentum.

Splash

My vision filled with nasty, murky water. A bit of yellowish green algae was now lodged in my left nostril and the water began to sting at my eyes. In my vision I could see a host of warnings that all summed up to 'hey, did you know you are drowning in radioactive water?'. I couldn't help myself, still underwater I screamed.

“NO SHIT, LEG TOASTER!”

The scream was muffled down to the sound of water and air rushing past my face. Determined to not spend my life down here I decided it was time to find my way out of this pit of despair. Poking my head out of the water I saw Cal fighting with the sludge around the pond's bank. He was covered head to hoof in brown slime that clung to him like a second coat, and then the smell hit me like a rock. I could feel bile in my mouth at the stench coming from the ooze that he was slogging through, every step releasing more of the foul smell.

“Good one, Joey. Great job. I hope your balls rot off for this.” Cal said from the bank.

“You started this you know.” I said still working my way to the bank.

“Look, I didn't do anything to those sheep. I swear it. You know I can't stand being called a liar, you know me better than that. We must have stole them and they fell asleep in my room.” Cal said trying to fling the muck from his coat.

“Yeah, I know. I guess I was giving you a hard time for, oh I don't know, letting me jump off a building with my wings tied behind my back?” I said raising a eyebrow.

“Even?” Cal asked.

“Even. Now can we move past this and get back trying to find this Solar Array?” I asked.

“Hey, you're the one still in the puke pond. Com'on now little birdie, com'on. Come take a nice mud bath.” Cal said gesturing with both hooves.

“You forgetting something?” I asked

With a push I lifted myself from the water and started flapping for all I was worth, flinging green slime and brown water in every direction. Mercifully I began to rise, hover to the bank and landed next to Cal. Being a bird horse has it's benefits and if he was going to tease me about having wings, who would I be if I didn't use them to my advantage. Oh the look on Cal's face right now, it just screams 'I hate you so much'.

Despite landing in the same filth as he did, I managed to stay in the water rather than work my way through the mountain of disgust that was the ponds bank. Nevertheless, I reeked just the same as he did and by the weight, texture and body of the smell, it was going to be a long time before I could stand to smell myself again. The odor of rotten weeds, stagnate water and what I really hoped wasn't poo, covered us both. I began to crinkle my nose at the stench, felling my stomach begin to lurch at the same time as my eyes instinctively closed. The water was in my eyes, ears and nose, there was no way I was going to be able to smell this for long without losing my lunch. I felt my nose begin to itch and soon I could feel the signs of a sneeze coming on.

With one great 'ACHOO' that I tried to cover with my hoof, I sent the offending piece of algae rocketing right into Cal's face.

“That was an accident, I swe-” I was cut off by Cal wiping it from his face with never the mind wave with his other hoof.

“But I-” I was cut off again.

“No, no. I had that one coming.” Cal said.

“For what, you said we were even.”

“For this!” Cal said lunging at me and wrapping me in a bear hug. He then began to smear his nasty body all over mine covering me in the same nasty muck he was covered in. The smell, oh goddesses the smell! After he had concluded his assault he stood, wiped more of the muck from his chest and said.

“Now we're even.”

“Please... no more” I whimpered.

“Seriously Joey? You have to had smelled worse in your life. I have dated mares that smelled way worse than this.” Cal said.

“Not saying I haven't, I'm saying I didn't like it then either.” I said trying my best to scrape off as much of the crud as I could that was now drying to my coat.

“Well, no sense going on like this.” Cal said.

With a flash of his horn came an odd tingling sensation across my body followed by a warm sensation of being... washed? What the hell, a cleaning spell? I would say I'm not surprised but in all the time I knew Cal, the only tricks I had seen from him were levitation and a simple healing spell. The glow faded and I was left feeling fresh and cleaner than I had in weeks, I even smelled good. OK, if he could do that with a flash of the horn, there is no reason for him to trot around looking like trash the way he does.

“OK, what the hell. Where did you learn that?” I asked.

“Dated a spa tech in Tenpony. She showed me a few tricks in exchange for me to find some bottle of conditioner over in Fetlock.” Cal said.

“Well, thanks for that. But if you can do that, why don't you do it every day?”

“Ha... ha... ha... maybe it's because every time I do that spell I end up smelling like lavender for a week.”

“Now what's wrong with that! Better than the smell of whiskey, cigarettes and love juice.”

“I hate lavender! It gives me a headache.”

Curious if I too had taken on a notable aroma, I began to sniff my coat on my foreleg. Oranges! I like Orange! I could work with that, if nothing else at least it's not the smell of that pond. I seriously envy unicorns for their ability to do magic like this. But then again, I do love having wings, I just wish that it had not come standard with a fear of heights in my particular model. For some reason no matter how hard I tried to overcome my fear, I could only ever manage to go 300 feet off the ground before I got all woozy. At least I can make good time with them, even if the majority of my job keeps me grounded.

We started out towards the northern end of Ponyville towards the Hope Solar Array, walking side by side. I flapped my wings out and began to preen the crooked feathers back to their original resting positions. Wow, I taste like rad-away? Well if Radaway didn't taste so rank that is, and if it was a bit sour. Delicious! Heh, Joey, now available in tangy citrus flavor! If Shale ever found out about this, she would insist in doing all of my preening from here on out, hell she would probably spend most our time together licking me. Now why did that bring up a bunch of weird feelings and taboo emotions, nothing wrong with a brother and sister lic... Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Cal was watching me work the feathers back to their places with mild interest when he finally spoke.

“Why do you do that, nibbling at your wings like that?”

“Huh? Preening? Just straightening the feathers back out. They get all bunched up when I fold them up wet and it drives me nuts.” I said, continuing my work to my left wing.

“Why don't you just flap them a few times and straighten them out that way?”

“Because they would tear along the veins and get even more tangled. Mwakes fwying ah bish.” I said through a mouth full of wing.

“Huh, that's nuts, and here I though you just had a nervous tick all these years.” Cal said as I continued my work.

Truth is, it is a nervous tick to a extent, it's also a necessity from time to time. But I have been known to 'chew' on my wings when I'm nervous, a habit that has cost me more than one primary feather in my time. Where as it may not seem like that big of a deal to lose one feather to ponies without wings, you can feel it in everything you do. The spot feels naked and raw, everything that touches it feels like an annoying sensation akin to rash but without the pain. Where it's not painful, its distracting as all hell and has even caused me to fly head on into a dead tree when I was younger. As stupid as it sounds, one misplaced feather to somepony like me, will agitate me to the point of not being able to complete a simple task.

We spent the next few hours of travel in silence. Less because of lack of conversation topics and more due to the raiders that were on a knife's edge and acting weirder than normal. They would randomly poke their heads out the windows of the buildings and burned out houses looking for, best I could tell, nothing. It was making travel problematic, usually they have a rough schedule of rounds that they would make. But something had them checking the windows every 15 seconds, sticking their muzzles out just far enough to be seen.

“I don't like this, something's wrong.” Cal said.

“Me neither, what do you think's got them so spooked?”

“I don't know. But if it's badass enough to scare the shit out of a raider, do you really want to find out?”

“I do not.” I said, ducking behind a building.

“This way, we can work our way around the town from the outside.” I said looking back to Cal who had taken post under a window sill.

He had is head turned parallel to the window sill and was edging his ear closer to the window's edge. His ear twitched a few times and he raised a hoof for me to come to him, mouthing that he could hear voices. Slowly I edged my way to him along the wall, once at his side, I slid my back up against it and leaned in, standing on my hind legs. I could hear the voices of two bucks and a mare inside talking about a pony, but from the way they were talking, it sounded more like a ghost.

“It's fucking nuts! First that retard Twitch Blade and now Tram is gone! Just fucking gone!” One of the bucks said.

“Awwww, what's a matter. You scared of ghosts now too?” The other buck said.

“Dumb shit probably offed himself. Always was a pussy.” The mare rasped.

“I'm fuckin' telling you, that fuckin' thing got them! I saw that shit with my own eyes!” The buck said.

“Yeah, yeah, sure it did. I bet next you're gonna say Twitch grew wings and became one of those alicorn things.” The mare rasped.

“Fuck the both of yous, I know what I saw!” The buck yelled.

“Com'on, what are you a foal? Go find the thing and kill it!” The other buck said.

“Fuck that, I'm not going anywhere near that fuckin' place.” The buck who says fuck a lot said.

I looked down to Cal who...was no longer there. Looking around I saw that he was edging a door open with his nose with a grenade in his magic. Doing my best impersonation of his mom, I did everything in my power to stop him, but it was no use. He looked back to me and scratched the ground with a hoof 3 times, a trick he used often to relay numbers of combatants. He then, pulled the pin of the grenade, sending the stem flying and...kept holding it. Wait, did he even know how to use those things!? Come to think of it, I don't think I have ever seen him with a grenade before! I motioned for him to throw it but he just kept smiling. One second, two seconds, three seconds. I was gnawing my wings to nubs, throw the fucking thing!

Finally, after four long seconds and with a swiftness I had never seen him use before, he lobbed the metal apple into the room and ducked. One second later an explosion tore through the room with its concussive force, shaking the ground and rattling the walls. The grenade must have landed near the wall I was standing near because the boards against my back gave way. The force sending me flying against the wall of the other house, dropping me in a pile of old rope, tangling me. I landed head first on my pipbuck, sending little spots though my vision while I did my best to cover my head from the flying bits of house.

Through the window came a spray of blood that spattered across the neighboring wall and dripped down to the spot where I had taken cover. A giant blob of what was once raider, dripped down and landed right on my left flank. I could feel the warm blood running down my leg and pooling on the ground around my hoof. I didn't have the time to mourn the death of my freshly cleaned coat before Caliber jumped to his hooves and shouted.

“RUN!”

In a spray of wood, blood and bits of what was once raider, I plowed my way through the fallen debris, flailing and sending it in every direction. taking half of the pile with me as I emerged, I began to scramble to my hooves and try to run as straight as I could. Cal had just disappeared behind the wall of a house when I had managed to free myself and tear out after him, still tangled in a length of rope. Taking the corner far too fast, I slid wide and toppled over onto my back, taking out several trashcan in the process. If the loud report from the grenade had not woke this town up, the panicking buck crashing into garbage cans had to. Finally managing a sure footing I took chase after Caliber who had gained a sizable lead over me. Looking back and noticing this, Cal slowed his pace for me to catch up. Something that was taking much longer than I had wanted due to my hind leg sending spires of pain up my hip and down my back.

“What the hell was that! Are your trying to get yourself killed?” I screamed as we rounded the last house and pointed north.

“They looked hungry, I gave them a baked apple!”

“What the sweet flank is a baked apple!? You could have blown yourself to hell you maniac!”

“Pull the pin, wait three or four seconds and throw. They go off in Five, I like to let em' cook a few before throwing them.”

“Why in the hell would you do that!”

“Cuz they can't run, no chance for them to toss it back!”

“You're crazy!”

“I know, right?”

What kind of foalish thing was that! 'cooking' a grenade? I don't care how effective that is, the very thought of holding an armed grenade and throwing it at the last second is just so stupid on every level. Then again considering who I was traveling with, I shouldn't be surprised. He always had a way of ending a problem in the most bizarre of ways, I'll just have to add cooking grenades to the ever growing list of things that he did that scared the hell out of me.

“How far to the Solar Array?” I asked.

“Uh, about 9 miles.”

“Shit! I can't run that far!”

“You have wings dumbass! Use them!”

“I'm still tangled up in rope! I can't get my wings out!”

“Then you better learn to run that far! It's all open ground from here!”

“Why the fuck did you do that!”

“Those were the assholes that killed the buck that saw Zu. I couldn't just walk away from them.”

“Yeah, next time wait till I'm healed up before starting a war. This hitch is killing me!” I said looking back for all of the raiders...that weren't chasing us?

Stopping in my tracks, I spun and looked back at the town, scanning for raiders, hell anypony at this point. But there was nothing. I was sure that we would have at least 20 of them on our tail by now, but the town was almost dead in it's appearance. I stood there watching the sun sink lower in the sky trying to wrap my head around why we weren't being shot at. This was a first for me, usually when you set off a bomb in a town full of raiders, they all come out to play. But there was nopony, not even a sound came from the old town of Ponyville despite every house seeming to be full of raiders.

“What.s going on here.” Cal asked.

“I don't know, but something tells me it's more than just a zebra picking off raiders.” I said giving a nervous glance around.

“Hellhounds maybe?”

“Maybe. One thing is for sure, we don't need to go around setting off explosions if it's as bad as they are letting on.” I said trying to free myself from the tangled mess I was in.

“What is with you, I had to take them out, it was the right thing to do Joey. I know the ponies in that town hate me, could you imagine if they knew I had a chance to take out the raiders that killed that buck and did nothing? Even still, that buck had kids, would you like to the be the one to tell them you let their father's killers go?”

“Nopony would have known Cal! You could have just let it be, but no, you had to take a chance to make up for your own bad name!” I said.

“I would have known! You would have known! That's two ponies too many!” Cal said raising his voice.

“So you're protecting your virtues was worth putting us both at risk? Did you forget we are out here for a reason!?” I said mirroring his tone.

“Dammit, now I remember why I don't like traveling with you. Always bossing me around, always telling me how to do things, always second guessing me! Did you ever stop to think that maybe it's all I have left? The only thing that makes me the least bit palatable to other ponies?” Cal said, now yelling.

“Did you ever stop to think that maybe there are consequences for acting the way you do? Did you ever think that maybe if you stopped being a self-centered ass for five minutes, then maybe you wouldn't have to protect your morals? Maybe if you would listen to what other ponies say about you, you wouldn't live up to their expectations of being a loser!”

“Oh! I'm a loser? Who's clinging to the only mare that ever had anything to do with him? Who's the one that's been depressed for 10 years now over a girl that's most likely dead!? Tell me! What did she promise you that was so fucking grand to make you throw 10 fucking years of your life away waiting for her?” Cal said.

“Don't you dare bring her into your bullshit Cal! That's crossing the line! Unlike you, I don't need a stable of whores to bury my guilt under! I may be depressed, pathetic even, but I'm not like you! I don't have to spend my life drunk to try and forget killing one of my own family members over something stupid I did!”

“Fuck... you... I only came with you in the first place because I felt sorry for you.” Cal said pointing at me.

“You did this out of pity for me?” I said narrowing my eyes.

“Yeah. I did. You go on moaning about that damn zebra so much that sometimes it's all we ever talk about. I thought if I went with you, maybe I could get you to stop this shit and move on but no, here I am busting my ass and getting yelled at. I don't need this shit from you, maybe I should just go back to town and let you get killed out here.” Cal said.

“If that's what you want. Fine with me.” I said turning away from him.

“Wait, you're seriously going to go alone.” Cal said.

“Bluff's called, I don't need this from you either. I have all the pity I need, just not any friends apparently.” I said walking away.

I kept walking in the vague direction of the Solar Array, looks like I would be back to a one pony band yet again. If he meant what he said and was doing this for pity, then I didn't want him with me. I actually thought that he cared about this, cared about me and how important this was to me but I guess I was wrong. I actually let him fool me into thinking that he might actually be my friend, even the way he acted made me to feel that he cared about me. Was I just another fucked up buck that he can drink with to forget his own problems? No wonder he doesn't have any friends, hell, with judgment like mine, no wonder I don't.

Behind me I could hear Cal murmuring under his breath but the growing distance was fading his words away with the wind. I turned back to see him still sitting in the same spot, looking down at the town, seeming to have a argument with himself. Part of me wanted to go back and try to talk things out but a bigger part of me said to keep moving. So that's what I did, I turned and started to walk away, feeling a all to familiar pain in my chest that I had be let down.

I walked for what seemed like hours towards the direction we were heading, I tried flying but I was still upset from the fight I had with Cal. My rage had faded to guilt for the things I had said to him, thanks to the newly acquired loneliness I had picked up along the way. I could have said I was sorry for yelling at him, maybe meet him in the middle somehow. But that comment about throwing my life away on Zuri really bit deep, who was he to bring her into this anyway? At that point I didn't want to reason with him, I just wanted to be mad, even if it meant us going our separate ways. I made it this far in life on my own and so had he, there was no reason for us to be together for this. Hell he was running from a farmer for kidnapping his sheep for Celestia's sake!

Thinking back that was pretty funny but still, I didn't want to be a escape route for him, I wanted him to be my friend. He and I had been through alot in the past, worked jobs together, traveled together for a few months. It was always business when we were together, I always went to get him when I needed a heavy hitter. Somepony who wasn't afraid to get the job done or go someplace I would never go alone. Hell, there were times that he had charged head first into the fray with almost no gear to pull off a extraction for me for nothing more than a thanks.

He's a good fighter, creative when it comes to magic and usually has a way out, even when things get all 'explody' as he liked to say. Once he even crawled through a sewer drain for 3 hours just to get a door open for me. Even then I didn't think he would make it out of that nasty pipe, but low and behold the door clicked open with him standing there smiling, covered in filth. Maybe that's why I always went to him when things got hard, maybe he was my secret weapon when I had nothing else. I can't say we don't have fun together, but having him with me on a job would sometimes feel more like babysitting than working. But there was also times where it felt more like a practical joke on anypony that go in our way of getting things done.

It dawned on me in my lucid reverie that maybe I was the one that used him, rather than the other way around. Could it be that this whole time that I was the pony using him to do my dirty work and he thought I was his friend in return? Had I just seen him as a tool this whole time I had known him? Somepony who was a expendable yet fun and useful asset? No, that couldn't be, I wouldn't do that to somepony...would I? Everypony I met while I was with him had some bad story to tell about, something he did to turn a whole town on him. Yet, despite all the bad things I had been told, he was always eager to got on missions with me at a moment's notice. I had always just assumed that he wanted to get out of town and I was the logical best excuse for him to do so.

I expected a lot out of him when we went out together. He had to be fast enough to keep up, willing enough to fight somepony other than his owns fight and crazy enough to get the job done. I don't like to admit it but there were times where I needed him more than he needed me and he would always be there. And now I was expecting friendship from him with no reciprocation and no questions asked. Had I really just quantified him as a asset rather than a pony who was just looking for somepony to lean on? If that's the case then I can't help but feel like he and I are a lot alike despite us being polar opposites. Him needing somepony to see him as something other than the asshole he can be and myself needing somepony who actually wants to be with me?

Even now I was looking for a mare that I had only knew for a short time, all because I had a connection with her so long ago. I had even slacked off on looking for her for years because I lost hope until I saw she was still looking for me. Even the act of going to the mountains where I met her had become symbolic rather than a search to end my loneliness. Yet she had maintained hope this whole time where I had lost it all long ago. Almost like she knew deep down that we would be together again, she never gave up on me finding her.

Cal was always ready to hit the trail with me the moment I showed up, granted his last entrance was a bit more grand than usual. There were even times when he came and found me almost like clockwork when I was in Hoofington taking a risky job. I had always chalked it up to his freaky timing but, now that I'm thinking of it, he had done that several times. More times than I had ever done for him when he was in trouble. Had he had not given up on me and wanted to be there to see to my own safety, isn't that what a friend would do? Yet never once did I come to his rescue even when I knew that he needed help because of his stigma of him being a troublemaker. Had I been blind all these years that he actually wanted me to be his friend, somepony to lean on when everypony else had walked away?

I looked up from my guilty train of thought to see something looming on the horizon in the shape of a building and what looked like several half tents outside of it. That must be the Solar Array, it's oddly shaped panels now broken and thrown about the countryside with few left standing. The building to the left of them seem to be intact enough, maybe I could hold up in there for the night and get a fresh start in the daylight. It was already getting dark out and this is not the kind of place you want to be when you can't see anything.

As quickly as I dared I moved closer to the Array, using rocks and bushes for cover as I approached. I moved from cover to cover, giving a wide distance between movements to keep my signature down. There was still some light coming through the clouds but I thought it better not to take chances at whatever might be out there. To my left was the everfree forest and dead ahead was the Array that might hold the clues to putting this all behind me. Just beyond the broken panels I could make out the outline of buildings of what looked to be a small town. All I had to do was get there, hold up for the night and scope the place out in the morning. Who knows maybe I'll actually find Zu and I can bury all this guilt I'm feeling and move on as Cal had said.

Slowly I made my way to the first stand of panels in the field of broken glass and blue circuits that had been long since destroyed. As I walked down one row of panels, I could feel that finally I could rest easy and try to forget this day. I was tired, emotionally exhausted and excited to see if there was another clue here. Up ahead I could see marked 'Hope Solar Array – control room access' leading into the building. The door was surrounded on all sides by the concrete walls of the building in a horseshoe shape. Slowly I trotted to the door and under the amber light that was still glowing over head to check the door. I really don't want to have to shoot the lock off a door that I would really like to lock on the other side. Giving the knob a few pulls my worst fears were realized when it refused to grant me access.

“Well well well, what do we have here?” Came a voice from the darkness.

thump

I felt the cold steel of a blunt object impact the back of my skull and everything went black.

I woke from the darkness in shock. What happened? I remember hearing a voice and then everything gets fuzzy. I could feel that my hind legs were bound tight around the hooves, holding me suspended upside down. My front legs were lashed to my sides over my wings so tight that it made every breath a struggle. Even now after being unconscious for celestia only knows how long, I still felt short of breath. How long had I been like this? Minutes, hours, days even? I could hear the faint echo of hooves on a concrete flooring that would rise and fall almost like a gust of wind. How did I not see this coming! I mean I have this E.F...

I cracked a eye open and I noticed that the dim overlay of colors that had been assaulting my vision the last few days had gone dark. I could still feel my pipbuck on my leg so I know it's still there but the E.F.S. had stopped working at some point. Had it stopped working back in New Appleloosa? No I remember using its compass to get my heading correct. Maybe in the blast back in Ponyville? I think I hit my head on it when I fell, maybe then? I had gotten so use to only paying it any attention when I saw a red mark on the screen that I had not noticed that it had winked out completely.

I looked to check my surroundings and was greeted with a staircase that lead presumably to the same door I had been trying to open. To my right I could make out a row of terminals that had long ago died out, save for one that was still blinking. To my left I could see a few old crates labeled 'Ironshod Firearms' and 'M.W.T' holding up a filthy mattress. Empty and broken liquor bottles littered the floor around me accompanied by... oh celestia please don't let those be bones. Opening my eyes farther I could see the remnants of what use to be a pony's skeleton, still stained pink from blood. With my now widened eyes I could see several other piles of bones, blackened with age and rot.

Earth ponies, unicorns and even a few skeletons of foals lay about in heaps around me, all stained black from the decayed blood. The floor below me had been darkened with old blood that was beginning to peel up in great chunks. Through the dim light I could see smears of bloody hoof marks along the walls leading up to the stairs. This wasn't a command center, it was a butcher shop. A place where ponies are taken to be dismembered and cast to the winds of deaths mercy. The very thought that I could become one of those piles of bones sent chills down my spine and turned my stomach upside down... Well... You know what I mean.

Despite the grotesque appearance of my surroundings, the smell had been muted by a strong odor that wasn't foul, but was very pungent. I had smelled this aroma before but I couldn't place its whereabouts in my confused state. It was almost palatable with it's weight and volume that stung at my nose like pepper? Garlic maybe? It was garlic. Licking my lips and sticking a tongue to my check I felt a slimy liquid covering my coat and could taste the familiar flavor of herbs. Garlic, salt and pepper filled my mouth and burned at my taste buds in it's sheer amount that was drenching my coat. The realization hit me like a rock to the head and I looked back to the pile of bones closest to me. There were teeth marks on the bones, not blunt indentations but sharp deep marks like you would see from a hellhound. These ponies had not been butchered, they had been eaten and judging by the blood on the walls leading to the door, eaten alive.

Fear. Deep seated fear took hold of every fiber of my being and sent me to shiver almost uncontrollably. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs for help, for somepony to come and take me away from this place. Even worse, I don't think this was a hell hound that did this, I can still hear hoof steps, hell hounds don't have hooves. The very thought of being eaten alive by another pony sent sharp convulsions through my bound body causing the chains that were holding me up to rattle. no matter how I tried, I could not keep my own body from betraying me and soon I could hear the faint hoofstep's growing louder. No matter what I did I could not move, I couldn't even budge my fore hooves from their bindings. The hoof steps grew louder and louder until they sounded like they were right behind me and finally stopped.

For several long moments that felt like an eternity, there was nothing more than the hushed sound of somepony breathing behind me. Their presence almost felt like having my back to solid ice, as the time stretched on, the subconscious effects began to feel more and more real. The moment of calm was replaced by the shock of a cold hoof near the small of my back, sending a involuntary jerk through my body. The hoof worked it's way down my spine to just above my wings and stopped followed by the all too familiar feel of ice cold steel. I could feel the blade tracing its way up my back to my shoulders where I felt it pause and begin to lift from its side to its edge. So this was it, this was how I was going to die, after all this time of chasing Zuri, my luck had finally ran out.

The piercing cold touch of the sharp tip of a blade fell right between my shoulders sending a shock through my body. The tip pressing just hard enough to break the skin ever so slightly, forcing a trickle of blood that began to run down my neck and into my mane. The knife then began to slowly slide its way down my spine towards the back of my neck. Mercifully, the tip rolled over the punctured skin and scratched, rather than sliced my hide, stopping right at my mane line. The blade fell away and I could again hear hoof steps working there way around my hanging form. I was about to meet my captive who had decided to have me for dinner.

“My, my, my! A pegasus! I don't think I have had the pleasure of meeting one of your kind before.” Said the dark green buck. His voice was surprisingly smooth with just a hint of a lisp that hung on the end of his every word. It was subtle, but it made its presence known when he said the word pegasus with a almost demonic hiss. His jet black mane was all but hidden under the cloak he wore, shadowing his eyes and leaving only the faintest glow of yellow that almost glowed where the light hit.

“You all are always so hard to catch. Always flying about, this way and that. Never once have I been able to stop one of you to invite you to my humble abode for dinner! It's always raiders that come my way. Dreadful ponies really, filthy vermin that litter the land like rad-roaches.” He said leaning closer to my face, lowering his gaze to mine.

“Taste near the same I'm afraid. I can't remember the last time I had a good meal that didn't reek of rot and bile. That is, until today.” He said as now had discovered the cause of the lisp that he tried so hard to hide through over annunciation. He had sharpened his teeth to points, not just a few but all of his teeth in his grotesque mouth. Some of them so much so that I could make out dark spots where his roots were exposed. The sight forced my eyes wide, letting more of the slimy marinade creep into them and sting at my tear ducts.

“Oh come now, surely you have something to say. I would hate for our time together to be so awkward. I even brought out my best ingredients, just for you, my little bird.” He said as he ran his tongue from the bottom side of my jaw to the nape of my neck.

“Why. Why are you doing this!” I managed to squeak out.

“Why? With all that is wrong with the world, you would ask why I choose to devour our own? Why seek out a meager life searching trash can to trash can for scraps. Why spend your everyday avoiding raiders, gangers, rad scorpions and hellhounds, all just to one day die at their whim anyhow. Why try to be good in a world of anguish. A world where your very existence is a curse to the land that you were born unto! Why... even... try, when your were just bred to die!” He rasped.

“Because it's better than just giving up!” I shouted.

“Oh, stupid boy. You gave up the moment you walked into my home, you delivered yourself to me almost as if I had ordered you myself!” He said pacing away from me.

“I didn't deliver myself to you, you sick fuck. You knocked me unconscious!”

“Oh? Is that not how I should greet a guest? Where are my manners! I suspect you will start complaining about your formal attire that I provided you next. The truth of the matter is that you did deliver yourself to me whether you wanted to or not.” He said.

“I'm not a fucking pizza, stop talking to me like I'm some piece of meat!” I shouted. This guy was disturbed on a deep, spiritual level that not even a priest could understand. There has to be some way out of here, I refuse to be someponies meal.

“Is that not what your are? You are a weak, skinny pony who trotted head on into my web like so many others. So many other weak, pathetic ponies who thought that this world was theirs to roam freely. They are all so naive, not one of them could match wits with myself. Such creatures deserve nothing less than to be a feast for a predator like myself.” He said. Was that a touch of agitation I heard? This guy was a lunatic, he actually put himself on a higher level than others to justify eating them. That's not even a power play, that's a crutch.

“Weak? Please. You have to hide in the shadows and brain somepony over the head to get your 'meals'. You can't even go out to hunt for them like a REAL predator.” I yelled back at him.

“Fool! There are many ways to hunt. I chose to trap my prey rather than chase them down! Why use brawn when you have brain!” He said snarling.

“Unless you don't have brawn and you have to rely on blind luck to even survive like you are. A true predator would have stalked his prey, track them down, hunted them, not hide in the shadows waiting for something to walk by. You're not a predator, you're a sheep with teeth.” I spat back at him.

“ENOUGH! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF ME!” He shouted.

“I know that you're hiding some sort of inferiority complex behind a veil of filed teeth and persona of being a great predator. In my book that makes you a raider. I mean, after all. You are what you eat.” I said.

“Well. If that's the case...” He trailed off as the wheeled on me. “let's see if I can grow wings!” He screamed as he sank his teeth into my shoulder and began to gnaw a mouth side piece of meat. I couldn't help but scream at the searing pain that shot out like bolts of lightning through my right side. I could feel every fang working their way deeper into my hide, tearing at the muscle beneath with every manipulation of his jaw. Tears flooded my vision bringing with them more of the fluids I had been washed in. the burning that it usually carried with it had been almost completely deadened by the agony that was coming from my shoulder.

I felt his teeth start to work their way closer together, pinching the muscle between them sending new and fresh pain through my body. Once he had confidence in his purchase on the chuck of meat on my side, I felt him start to pull. With every rip and tear of the muscle I felt, I shrieked, with every pull I screamed and with every squeeze of his jaw, more tears streamed. Finally I felt the hoof sized chunk of flesh tear and pull free from my body. Nothing could have prepared me for the sensation of cool air against my exposed tissue. It was almost euphoric in its form of hurt that it was dealing to me. The corners of my vision were beginning to blur and darken from the sheer trauma of what just happened to me.

“No, no, no. This simply will not do! This flavor is all wrong for a pegasus!” He said chewing on a piece of my skin.

“Who would have thought that your kind would taste like oranges, I feel silly even having put myself through marinating you for 4 hours. I could have eaten you right on the spot!” He said spitting out the wad of half chewed meat.

“Oh well. I'll just have to wash you off and start over.” He said trotting out of my vision.

Oh...Oh Luna...I have never felt pain like this before in my life. The feeling of losing a actual piece of your body. No. Not just losing a part of yourself, but having it chewed and pulled from your body by several knives. I could feel myself shaking from the trauma that he had inflicted on me with his defiled mouth. The pain had been so intense that I had not even noticed that I had wet myself to the point that my mane was now dripping a conglomerate of fluids onto the floor below me. I was terrified, in crippling pain, covered in fluids, violated and completely humiliated. The only thing I was able to do or even control at this point was fight back the tears.

For the love of Celestia, thank you Caliber for your spell. At least now I could think clearer now that he wasn't trying to eat me, if just barely. The blood from my fresh wound was pouring down the side of my cheek and was now pooling on the floor below me. How many other ponies had been in this position with him, waiting for death while a maniac tried to get his recipe just right. I have to get out of here somehow, there was no way I could handle this pain, it was too much. Looking around I couldn't see anything that would help me get free from my bindings, he had even taken the knife with him.

Not finding anything that would help we out of this situation, I squeezed my eyes shut and started pray, scream, beg anyone that might listen. Ok cosmos, I don't like you and you clearly don't like me but for the love of everything that's good and holy, please get me out of this! I'll do anything to end this, I'll build a damn church if that's what it takes! I don't care what I have to do, just don't let this crazy fucker gnaw off my private parts before I die if I don't get out of here! Opening my eyes and trying to clear my head of the nonsense, I restarted my search for anything that would get me out of here. Still nothing. Well fuck you too universe!

A click came from the door at the top of the stairs and a clean, white muzzle poked its way through the door jam. Soon followed by the blue tips of somepony's mane and a dark blue eyes that seemed to be scanning the area before falling to my hanging form. A distinct scent of lavender filled the air as Caliber stepped through the doorway, his eyes growing wide at the sight before him. Doing my best to keep quiet I shook my head back and forth when he started to bolt my way, freezing him in his tracks. He then lifted a hoof and tapped it one time and looked to me for confirmation. Nodding my head once he then raised the same hoof and began to sweep the room wanting to know where my captive was.

I focused my hearing the best that I could manage and tried to zero in on where the predator had rushed off to. In the distance, I could still hear him clamoring to himself about what herbs would go best with orange flavored meat. The best I could manage, I placed him in the back right corner of the building and waited for Cal's hoof to land in the vague area where I thought he was. Now knowing how many ponies he had to deal with and where they were, Cal slouched his stance and worked his way down the stairs to me. Pausing at the bottom step to look to the corner where his enemy now was, waiting a brief moment and ducked around the cement wall into the shadows.

Of all the things that could have happened to help me, this was the last I was expecting, I'm grateful don't get me wrong. I'm just surprised that he came back for me, after all that we said to one another he still came back to find me. Well, if I didn't feel guilty before, I really did now. All the thoughts that I had of him not being a friend melted away the moment I saw his ugly mug poke through the door. I swear I will never boss him around again if we get out of this alive. Shit. I'll have to build a damn church now too.

From the darkness came the faint blue glow from his horn, followed by glowing orb being unsheathed from his saddle bags. When the glowing metal apple found its way to the light it slowly started to rise and follow the ceiling towards the direction of the predator. Just as the grenade left my vision Cal emerged from his hiding place and snaked his way to my side.

“What the fuck are you doing!” I whispered.

“Saving your ass!”

“Cal, that thing will kill all three of us. Those things put out shrapnel!”

“Shut up, I got a plan.” He said putting a hoof on my back and turning me to see the green buck now digging through a box labeled 'spices'.

“Just trust me for once.” Cal said now looking at the hole in my shoulder and giving me a grimace.

“Ok, I trust you. Just, please don't kill us.” I whispered.

“Trust me, I think he's going to catch all of the shrapnel.” Cal said grinning ear to ear.

Slowly as it had ascended, the grenade began to fall to eye level and hovered for a moment while cal pulled the pin but held the stem in place.

*Sniff*

“Gross, you reek Joey.”

“Now isn't the time!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Cal replied, again screwing up his face and narrowing his eyes at the bucks flank. Soon a blue light began to envelope the bucks tail near it's end.

“Oh no, your not going to do what I think you are...”

My last word hung in the air as Cal, with all of his magical prowess, raise the bucks tail and sent the grenade flying right at his tail hole. With a sharp ''eep'' the cold metal apple found its mark and firmly inserted itself deep within the bowels of the predators... rather not say.

“WHAT IN THE FUCK!” He managed to yelp out as he turned to look at me clenching my eyes shut and Cal, I'm sure giving the smuggest of grins.

“Bad psychopath! My pegasus!” Cal said shoving himself between me and the blast, wrapping me in a hug and burying my face in his stomach.

The blast tore the through the bucks lower half, sending both of his hind legs in opposite directions. Blood showered the room followed by bits of gore and finely sharpened teeth that bounced, splattered and mashed into the exposed parts of my hide. Cal, who's nose was in a place that I would hope it would never go and laughing maniacally at his own mess he had made. I looked down just in time to see a bit of hide with part of a cutiemark on it fly between Cal's hind legs and...oh that's not a pretty view I have. Finally releasing me from the awkward hug, he set himself to freeing me from my bondage.

“Heh, had these circumstances been different, one could say you are fit to be tied.” Cal said smirking.

“Pervert” I said with as much sarcasm as I could find through the pain.

“Hey, how did you end up someponies dinner in the 10 hours I left you to your own devices?”

“Please, med-x. Anything for med-x.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Cal said digging through his bags for the syringe of pain reliever.

“I was a bit emotionally inebriated at the time.” I said as he jabbed the needle into my shoulder. Oh sweet sweet relief! Where med-x really only dulled the pain, it's almost euphoric effects made me not care about what little pain was left.

“Yeah, I had my own demons to work out too. I must have sat there for 2 hours trying to go back to town but something kept telling me 'you know, I bet that dumbass is going to get eaten alive on his own'. Had no clue that was a literal thing at the time though.” Cal said as he undid an clasp and I fell to the floor, hitting my head and again seeing spots in my vision. The bindings that once held me tight, fell free with my descent, only to get tangled in my right hind leg, leaving it dangling in the straps.

“Ow...”

“Sorry...you ok?”

“I was almost somepony's dinner...”

“Yeah...sorry about that too.”

“It's OK, thanks to you, I'm not being digested right now.” I said with a small grin. This is a side of him I had never seen before. Caring? That just seemed out of place for him, it's almost like he was acting... guilty?

“Would you just look at this dis-ass-ter.” Cal said. There's the Cal I know and love.

“Heh, guess he really worked his ass off for his meal.” I smirked back, still on the ground.

“Com'on, lets de-ass the area.” Cal said.

“Hang on, check... can you check that medical cabinet for a healing potion for me... please?” I asked politely, still tangled up in the leather straps.

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, any luck finding love notes?” Cal asked, trotting his way to the corner of the building.

“By the time I got here, I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, then before I walked in, he bashed me in the head.”

“Hey now, looks like your luck might be turning around. We got three healing potions and some bandages.” Cal said, trotting back to my side.

“Hey, do you think your healing spell will work on... this?” I said pointing to my shoulder.

''Wow that's gross! He actually got a chunk out of you huh?”

“He would have had more but he said something about the orange flavor clashing with the garlic.”

We both couldn't help ourselves, with Cal riding the high of a job well done and myself riding a high of different sorts, be both fell back laughing. Even though a few moments ago I was fit to be a three course meal and my shoulder was oozing blood at a alarming rate, it felt good to laugh. There's something about dodging death that makes you feel more alive than you ever have. Mix that with copious amounts of painkiller and somepony who just shoved a grenade up somepony else's ass to save you and you have a recipe for a coping mechanism. Through the laughter Cal had managed to stop the bleeding from my side with his healing spell and was finishing it off with a vial of potion for good measure. The warm sensation from the magical liquid in the open wound felt so good after being chewed on. Cal finished me off with a layer of bandages after I insisted that he save the other 2 potions for later.

“The skin will grow back, but your gonna have a wicked bald spot for a while.” Cal said.

“Well, better than a disfiguring scar, I can live with a bald spot.” I said. Looking at all the piles of bones.

“Hey look, I'm sorry about that 'not being able to get your life together remark' and all that other things I said.”

“Yeah, that one hurt a bit but I shouldn't have said those things about Zuri either. Look I know how much this means to you, but you gotta understand I hate seeing you like this. I don't have a lot of friends, in fact you're probably the only pony that's willing to be around me, so that makes you the closest thing I have to a friend. So when something's bothering you, that means it's bothering me too. ” Cal said.

“Cal, I am your friend. I guess I just never actually realized it until today. You're a good guy Cal, I would have been dead several times if it wasn't for you. But you gotta stop putting yourself through hell over the past. I'll admit that in the past I saw us more as partners than friends but in all honesty, you're the closest thing to a friend I have. So I guess that make you my best friend.” I said tearing up.

“You're high as shit right now aren't you?”

“You have no idea...” I trailed off, my eye shifting from different piles of bones.

“Hey, you don't think she's...” I asked, the words feeling lost to me.

“Don't. Don't do that to yourself. If she made it this long without getting caught by him then I'm sure she's still out there.” Cal said.

“It doesn't make sense then. Why would she send me here if she knew this guy was chowing down on other ponies.” I said.

“Maybe she had faith in your tracking skills not to walk into a trap?” Cal said smirking.

“Too soon.” I said.

“Sorry. Hey, forget about that for now. What do you say we toss the place and find us a zebra!” Cal said helping me to now wobbly hooves.

Looking the place over didn't turn up much in the way of supplies. Only a few bottles of water, a sparkle cola, a few knives that barely could be called such and a couple of caps that were stashed in a drawer of a office table. Apart from that the Predator, as I was now calling him, had a impressive supply of spices and herbs from all over the wasteland. I decided to take as many as I was willing to carry with us for when I got to Tenpony as a peace offering to the baker there. If nothing else maybe he would go easy on me when I asked for the muffins to settle mine and Ditzy's debt. Cal had used his time wisely in the form of making several witty remarks about the now assless stallion all over the room. 'this smells like ass' and 'mind the ass on that cabinet' seemed to be his go to jokes but my personal favorite was "Booty, Booty, Booty, Explodin Errrwhere!” accompanied by a cute shake of his flank.

Apart from the odd joke and witty remark about flanks, the place seemed devoid of anything of real use to us. The last thing that we decided to look over was the still flashing terminal in the corner of the room. Less because we wanted to save the best for last and more because neither one of us had ever had much luck hacking terminals. Sure in the past I had managed to crack a few of them, but after the fifteenth terminal of somepony writing about how much he hated his boss, it lost it's charm. Very rarely did I ever uncover anything that might be useful or be granted access to the safe in the same room. Fewer times did I ever find anything that would help me with a case I had been working on at the time. Sadly this had lead to a more than lackluster skill for hacking the damn things, leaving the few times it would have been useful with a locked terminal.

“Ok, who wants to break something expensive first.” Cal said.

“You wanna take a crack at it?” I asked.

“Hmm... I think, I can hack this...” Cal said with a hoof to his muzzle.

Cal looked the terminal over from front to back several times, taking in the various wires that ran into it. Falling back to his haunches, he began to rifle through his bags looking for something that I guess would help him in the task. Finally after several long minutes, Cal produced a long chunk of metal scrap from his bag, clutched firmly in his fetlock. Slowly he began to tap at various parts of the terminal, each time checking the screen for any change.

“Cal, what are you doing.” I asked.

“I'm hacking. Shhhh! I think I found the spot.” He said placing his ear closer to the screen.

“Cal, for the love of Luna quit dicking off.” I said in frustration.

“Ah ha! Got it!” He said, giving the terminal a hard smack with the large chunk of metal. With a loud beep and a bit of smoke, the screen went from the lock code screen to the overseer's screen.

“Ha! I knew there would be a glitch somewhere.” He said sitting down.

“Bu... but... HOW!” I said sitting down hard. Cal, not looking up from the screen, tapped the side of the machine with a hoof at the company's name that read 'Neightendo'.

“All these models have a fault in them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.” He said.

“How in Luna's purple nethers did you come by this knowledge.” I asked.

“I have one of these back in New Appleloosa, I use it to play games on when I'm bored.” He said.

“Games? Like cartage games?” I asked. I had never heard of these things having games on them.

“Yeah, Pink, Pon-man, Ponio Brothers, Zebra Combat Master...I have a few others but you have to blow on them to get them to work.” Cal said.

I sat wide-eyed by the fact that my partner had just assaulted a terminal into submission with a piece of scrap iron. Of all the times I had attempted to work on these things, never had it occurred to me that you could just hit it and make it work. In my time I had locked many terminals through the use of my pipbuck, even more through some botched hackery. The amount of times I wanted to resort to violence on the damn things outweighed the caps I had seen in my life. The thought this whole time I might have been able to access a few of the ones I locked by doing that very thing, made me want to hit them even more now. Deep down a small ball of rage began to boil inside me at every piece of pre-war tech in the wasteland.

“I hate these things. All they are, are overly advanced toasters.” I said pouting.

“Oh come on, they're not that bad. It's just a computer.”

“One of them electrocuted me once....”

“Hey! Looks like old sharp tooth wrote about your girl!” Caliber said, backing away from the monitor.

“What!? Let me see!” I said running to his side. The terminal was near barren of any content, except for one entry labeled 'she's back'.

“Oh my my my, it would seem as though my stripped shadow has

returned yet again! Despite all of traps and my best efforts, she has

yet again slipped beyond my grasp. She's a cunning little zebra,

Somehow she has managed to break her way into my home and

pilfer my belongings yet again. I was so close to catching her just

the other day that I can still taste her scent on my tongue! She was

just inside the treeline of the Everfree behind this very building!

Had she not seen me, I would have had the most amazing opportunity

to finally taste zebra meat! No use crying over lost supper, I will catch

her and when I do, I plan to savor every moment of our time together.”

Even though I had just avoided the same fate that Zuri had, I still felt like the Predator's teeth were sunk deep in my flesh, just from reading this. Feelings of worry and anger flooded my mind at the thought of him hunting her down like a deer. Even though he was long dead, I felt an undeniable urge to kill him all over again for what he had done. Not just for hunting Zu, but for the small piles of bones that were presumably from young fillies and colts. It was as if he had infected me with his hate the moment he had bitten into my flesh, forever altering me to begrudge him. Even his death, albeit very gruesome, was too good for a murderer like him, he deserved so much more suffering for what he did.

“Joey, you ok there bud?”

“This was a very sick pony...” I said turning away from the monitor.

“Yeah, you're just now figuring this out? I mean, he did chew on you for a bit.”

“He talks about eating other ponies like I talk about guns. This guy is just vile, and Zuri KNEW he was here. If she actually did send us here, then it would have been a death sentence."

“What are you talking about.”

“He said he saw her multiple times. That means either she was watching him or was about to try and take him out. Now I'm pretty sure she's a pacifist so the latter is out. If she was watching him, then she knew what he was doing and if she did make it this far and get in here, she had to know what was going on. She's here, somewhere and she knew how dangerous this place is, but she still sent me here.”

“Ok, stop. You don't think she was trying to kill you...do you?”

“I don't know anymore. Ten years does a lot to anypony, but I don't know why she would want me dead.”

“What if she knew what was going on here, didn't kill him because she's a wuss and sent you here first to do her dirty work for her?”

“Not even then I don't think. It's not like her to even have somepony else do her dirty work when it comes to killing. Hell! She wouldn't even approve of me killing other ponies to protect myself.”

“Then why would she want you dead then. Its stupid. Chances are she thought you would see him long before he saw you and work your way around.”

“It feels right but I just don't know anymore” I said walking away from Cal towards the door.

“One thing is for sure though, she's nearby and I can't wait to ask her why.” I said, trotting up the stairs with Cal not far behind.

Outside the sun was just making it's way to it's midway point in the sky judging by the light, how long had I been down there. At this point my internal clock was all messed up from my previous state of unconsciousness. The landscape shown a much different view in contrast to the night before. Now in the daylight I could see the small town of Hope, just down the hill from where I was currently standing. I sat down, not out of exhaustion but more in the way of just needing a moment to process everything that had just happened.

The fight with Cal, me not paying attention and getting captured, being mutilated by a psychopath, Cal coming to my rescue, finding another clue about Zu...ugh... I have been up for no more than an hour and already this day has tried to kill me both physically and mentally. I turned my gaze to the ruined city of Hope, scanning it's broken buildings and burned homes to try and take my mind off of things. I wonder what this place would have looked like before the bombs fell. I bet a town named Hope would have been a beautiful place to live. The very fact that there is an Ironshod Firearms plant just on the outskirts of town almost defiles that daydream.

Caliber dropped my bags at my sides just as I noticed something out of place in the landscape. Something was moving down there, just off to the side of the old munitions plant. Squinting my eyes I could just make out the tale tale blue and yellow suit of a stable pony's barding, standing just in the open.

“Cal, is that, a stable pony?” I asked nudging him.

“Huh? Oh yeah...I guess she made it out of there alive.” He replied.

“Wait, what? Made it out alive?”

“Oh yeah, I was going to tell you but things got weird down there and I forgot. When I got here, I saw her go in that place for some reason. I thought for sure that the security system would have turned her in to mince meat. Guess I was wrong.”

“Hey, pass me your binoculars.”

Cal reached into his bags and fumbled for a few moments looking for the pre-war optics.

“I was going to run down there and tell her it was a suicide mission going in that place but then I heard you screaming. I just figured she was either another dumb stable pony or a lunatic.” Cal said passing me the binoculars.

Looking through the glass I could see that she seemed to be talking... no arguing with herself over something. That's when I noticed the sprite-bot, bobbing up and down just a few inches from her face. What in the fuck. This crazy mare was actually talking, no, screaming at a sprite-bot?

“What do you see? Is she cute?” Cal asked.

“She seems to be cussing a sprite-bot.”

“Ha! Called it. Lunatic! I mean, don't get me wrong, I hate those things. I would cuss them too if I had to hear that shitty music all the time. But the question still remains...” Cal trailed off looking at me. I returned the gaze and waited an uncomfortably long time for him to finish his statement. Oh for the love of Celestia!

“Ugh, yes... she's cute...”

“Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me...”

“She's leaving.” I said, halting his would-be advancement.

“What! So soon? I was just about to fire up my cleaning spell and go say hello.”

“Cal, I seriously doubt you would have any luck with that one.”

“ No confidence in my skills huh. Please, humor me. Tell me what makes her so special.”

“ Oh I have confidence, but I'm about 90% sure she...'bats for the other team'.” I said.

“How in the hell tell that from way up here” Cal asked, gesturing a hoof in her direction.

“It's her walk. It's more pronounced. She steps heavy with her hind legs when she moves. Also her mannerisms, she doesn't flourish her hooves around when she speaks aggressively. Mares that fancy boys tend to be more theatrical than those that don't, they carry more masculinity about them in how they act. It's subtle, but it's there.”

“Maybe she's just a tomboy. You ever think about that smart guy?”

“Yes, but judging by how small she is I don't think so. Also she keeps her hooves close together when talking and from what I saw I think she even leans away. That would mark her as reserved in my book, definitely not a tomboy.”

“Yeah, or she's freaked out by the talking Sprit-”

“INCOMING!” I screamed just as the sprite-bot that the mare had been screaming at, flew past our heads.

Cal looked up just in time to get knocked out by the flying orb of death, being thrown clear of the area to the solar panels. I landed flat on my face, covering my head with my hooves. No wonder she was yelling at that thing, it's gone completely nuts! I rolled to my back just in time to see the metal ball turn, rise and hover above me. I covered my face with my hooves waiting for it to fall on me, blow up, something!

“For the love of Celestia don't fucking kill me maniac flying death radio!” I screamed out of pure desperation. It had taken me by complete surprise, I didn't even have a gun anywhere near me to defend myself with. What was wrong with this thing, it wasn't even playing music anymore, the thing had gone to straight evil killer death mode.

“Who are you?” I hear ring out in a metallic voice.

“Wait, what the hell!” I said looking up at the silver orb.

“WHO ARE YOU! WHY WERE YOU WATCHING US? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” The Sprite-bot crackled from its overdriven speaker.

“I'm Joey! Some bastard tied me up and tried to eat me! My friend just saved me and I saw you two talking and I was trying to figure out what the hell was going on! DON'T KILL ME!” I said pleadingly.

“Wait...Joey...as in Coyote Joe, Joey?” The bot said, almost in disbelief.

“Yes, Coyote Joe. Wait, how did you know my name?” I said pulling hooves the rest of the way from my face.

“I have heard of you. You must be the one Zuri told me about.” He said bobbing above me.

“WAIT, YOU KNOW WHO ZURI IS!? WHERE IS SHE! TELL ME!!”

I said grabbing the orb in my hooves. It responded by levitating me a few inches of the ground where I released it and fell to all fours.

“Yes I know her. She's a sweet girl. One of the few zebras I have ever spoken to in fact. I'm sorry but I don't know where she is. Once that guy moved in and started eating ponies, she left.”

“Did she say why? Where? Anything!?” I said panicking.

“All she said was that she couldn't stay here any longer and that it wasn't safe.”

“Shit! Well I hope she left a fucking clue somewhere. I have been at this for 10 years now.”

“Calm down, I'm sure she would have if she knew you were coming. Hey, did you kill him?”

“What? Oh the creepy guy with the pointy teeth? Yeah, well no, Cal literally shoved a grenade up his ass so technically he killed him. He tried to eat me.” I said pointing to my shoulder. I have no clue if this thing can even see but it was more of a compulsory action.

“Wait, he caught you? I thought you were suppose to be some great tracker. How did he catch you?”

“It wasn't my finest hour, I was a little out of sorts... Great tracker?”

“This place will do that to you. Its a harsh, place that takes...”

“Yeah, yeah save it. I was born in the wasteland. Hey mind telling me why I'm talking to a flying radio?”

“Im Wat-”

BOOM!

“DID THAT THING HURT YOU JOEY!” Cal screamed from behind a solar panel. The once bright and shiny sprite-bot, now lay at my hooves in pieces from the round Cal has sent through it.

“Damn Cal, I was talking to that thing! I was about to figure it out!” I screamed back at him.

“What? Really? Shit! My bad.” He screamed back to me.

“Next time wait before you shoot. I mean I appreciate you protecting me and all but... nevermind.” I said rubbing my temples with my hooves.

“Hey, what did he say anyhow.” Cal said, now leaving the safety of the solar panel.

“He said she's not here anymore. She left after shark face down there moved in.”

“Bummer! ”

“Yeah, bummer...”

“Hey, she had to leave something behind right? I mean, she left you that note before, maybe she left you another one?”

“I'm sure she did...”

“Well, what are you waiting for! Track! Com'on! Find the zebra, boy.”

“I don't know where to start. I mean look at this place! Chances are that if she left anything for me, it would be in that damn forest and that will take weeks to cover on hoof.”

“Yeah... it would... but what about on wings?”

“Oh no! No, no, no! I'm not flying over that damn thing!”

“Com'on, it will be fun, I can ride on your back and use the bino's to scope one area and you can search another. TEAM WORK!”

“But I don't wanna! That place scares the shit out of me!”

“You'll be fine. Look we can stash our gear in the creepy cafeteria down there and fly light. Unless you want to take your chances with what might be in there. Com'on Joe, if anypony can find a zebra in the woods, its got to be you.”

“Ok Cal, we do this your way.”

“YAY! This is going to be so much fun!” Cal said as he gathered our belongings.

"But if we die because of this, I'm kicking your flank!"

Cal began throwing our bags over his back, stopping only when he reached my kit.

*sniff, sniff*

"Holy dumpster diver! You smell like ass Joey!"

"I know I do! I'm me! I have to live with me, so I know what I smell like!"

"Ain't no way I'm riding you smelling like that."

"OH! Just close your eyes and pretend I'm one of your marefriends."

"Did you pee on yourself at some point? Gross!"

I looked up to Cal with an ashamed look across my face, the embarrassment was almost as painful as what the Predator had done to me down in that house of horrors. The full weight of what had just happened, along with everything that had happened between us came crashing down on me. What had happened down there wasn't like anything I experienced before. The feeling of hopelessness, abandonment, violation. It all felt so much more personal to me, like he had found a part of me that no other pony could have hurt. This was much more than what he had done, it brought to the surface a feeling that I had long since suppressed. The feeling of being completely alone. Cal, seeing my look of being almost on the verge of tears, dropped my bags at my hooves and sat down next to me.

"Hey, I'm sorry."

"I'm fine. It's OK."

"No, you're not. I can see it in your eyes, talk to me."

"It's just... You came back... After everything I said, you still came back."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Cal, said giving me a small smile. And just like that, the dam I had spent so many years building, shattered and I started crying. Somewhere deep inside me, I felt a tense knot release that had been building all these years on my own and of all the ponies in the wasteland, Cal had been the one to untie that knot.

"I'm so sorry for saying those things to you, I didn't mean them!" I squeaked out through broken sobs.

"I know Joey, I know." Cal said, wrapping his hooves around me and pulling me into a hug.

"Cal, no! I Stink! I'm covered in pee!"

"Oh shut up, I don't care."

Cal, the pony who I had passed off as just another tool in my arsenal, had shed his thick layer of smug remarks and done something I never thought he would. He cared. I had been wrong all this time, I had been the one using him, he had been my friend all along.

The view of the Everfree Forest would have been absolutely stunning had I not been on edge the whole time. It's such a strange place, the tree tops nearly covered the forest floor entirely, giving only small glimpses of what was beneath us. I have been in forests all over Equestria, but none of them matched the sheer density of the Everfree. We had been airborne for over 3 hours, the sun was starting it's descent from the sky, well at least from what I could tell. Cal had adopted a scanning search method while I was picking holes in the forest canopy and searching for abnormalities. Despite searching for signs of anything out of the norm, we were keeping a distance just to be safe.

I don't know what all is down there for sure but I have heard tale that a myriad of animals lived in their depths. Beasts that once were avoided in times of the past, were now irradiated creatures that commanded fear from anypony who dared venture too close. None of which I had ever seen for myself and none of which I plan of ever meeting face to face. The few times that we had decided to venture close to the tree tops were to investigate a suspicious object. Most of the time it turned out to be nothing but there was a surprise encounter with a timberwolf that nearly ended our search early on.

With Cal perched on my now-clean and orange scented back, I would have thought that I would have tired quicker than I was, in fact, I was starting to find his weight manageable. Granted I rarely flew outside of trying to cover great distances, but carrying him was actually a lot easier than I have thought it would be. As much as I didn't like the plan, Cal was right to suggest it. With him covering one side of the forest and me the other, we were clearing ground at a substantial rate.

“THERE! SOMETHING SHINY!” Cal yelled over the wind.

“Point it out!”

“Just there! Beyond the treeline! On the hillside!” Cal yelled, pointing to our right.

“Ok, hold on!” I said, looking in the direction he pointed out. I folded my wing and fell on my right side, send both of us into a curving dive. Cal was enjoying himself immensely, leaning into the turn and letting out the occasional 'Woohoo!' and 'Onward sky horse!' as he did so. Now with the spot dead ahead of me, I could see a faint glint of light just overcoming the trees. Judging by the faintness of the reflection, I gauged it to be some type of metal. More than likely another piece of junk but still worth giving it a closer look nonetheless.

“Cal, what do you see?”

“Uh...I think it's a pot?”

“Great more junk! We have been at this for hours, is it worth setting down for a few minutes?”

“Uh, Joey...I think it's a campsite”

“Anypony there?”

“I don't think so, best give it a circle first.”

Coming closer to the camp proved it to be void of any life from what we could see. I swear if I ever get that magical E.F.S. thing to start working again, I'm never turning it off! I hate to admit it, but I really, really miss it right now! It would have came in very useful back at the Solar Array and even more so now. I had toggled around with my pipbuck before we left but I wasn't able to produce the emerald glow that once adorned my view.

The encampment was small, something only one pony would set up yet it had all the markings of one that had been well established. A well used fire pit and pile of ashes led me to believe that whoever had been here, had stayed for quite a while. Yet even with all those things, the place was completely clean of any tracks or items that would suggest somepony was coming back. I sat down on a log that had been placed near the fire pit and propped my hind hooves on the rocks surrounding it. After all of that flying, it felt so good to be back on the ground and resting for a moment, if only just.

Cal was searching the place over when I noticed that my hooves were getting warm. I had shut my eyes for only a moment and for a brief second I could have sworn that the campfire was actually burning. Opening my eyes reviled what I already knew to be true, there was no fire but my hooves wear in fact getting warmer. Leaning forward I placed my cheek to the very rock I was resting on and sure enough, it was warm. Whoever had been here before, had not been gone longer than 12 hours, 24 at the very most. If this was Zuri's campsite, then we had missed her by no less than a day.

“Cal, I think that somepony was here recently.”

“Yeah, like a last night.”

“Yeah I think...wait how do you know?”

“I found a letter addressed to you.” Cal said walking away from the lean to.

“Here, Looks like it's your girl. Damn and this whole time I had 20 caps on all this being a hoax.” Cal said sitting beside me on the log and passing me the crumpled note.

Holding the battered piece of paper felt almost surreal. An actual hoofwritten note from her! I can't even believe I'm actually holding something she had touched after all this time and it was something for me! I took care to smooth the paper out as much as I could without damaging the writing. Her writing showed the same characteristics that I had seen from the letter she wrote me so long ago. Even now I can hear those same words echoing in the back of my mind in her almost squeaky voice.

Joey, if you made it this far, I hope you won't mind going a little farther. I have to leave this place. There's a pony here who is trying to find me. One of the weird flying music thingies started to talk to me. He warned me to stay away from the place with the glass flowers. I told him about you and I think he knows who you are. I can't wait to see you again. I think I know where I'm going to go. Please Joey, remember!

Zuri.

Please Joey, Remember... What did she want me to remember? I had so few memories of her that it almost felt criminal to ask something like that of me. But then again, having so few memories of her left little to ponder on. She said she knew where she was going and that she wanted me to remember. But where? Obviously this had to be some callback from our past together, but as hard as I tried, I could not recall what she might have been alluding to.

"What's it say?" Cal asked, leaning in for a closer look.

"She wants me to remember something... but what?"

"Great... Just great. Why do zebras have to be so sneaky about things like this."

"Well, she is being chased by somepony. It stands to reason that she would only leave clues that I would know about."

"And that you can't remember either."

"OK, if I was a zebra, where would I want to go..." I said, tapping my hoof on the log.

"Filly?"

"No Cal... I doubt she went to Filly."

"Well shit. I guess that makes us just as lost as she probably is."

"Lost. Heh."

"So now what, do we head back to down and get shitfaced?" Cal asked in a almost begging tone.

"Lost... LOST! That's it!"

Frantically I tore into my saddlebags and began digging for the old notebook from my past. Of course! When you find yourself lost, you can always look back on your notes! I can't believe that I didn't think of this sooner! Sure enough, even after years of being jostled and smashed under Luna-knows how many things, I found the happy bunny time notebook that I had recorded all my notes in when her and I first met. The cover was torn, stained and bent from the years of neglect, but the pages seemed almost untouched by time. Opening it up to the first page I was greeted by the prints of the Lame Buck who I had tracked down, resulting in my cutiemark. Soon thereafter, I came across page after page of notes that I had taken, detailing the trip and me meeting Zu.

*suppressed laughing horse noises*

"What?" I asked, looking at a clearly amused Caliber.

"Nothing. I just never took you for the kind of pony who likes kids books."

"Ugh... It was all they had at the time so shut up."

"OK, Ok. What are you looking for anyhow."

"Notes I took back when I first met Zu. If I'm going to find anything out, this is my best shot."

"Wait, that notebook is the one from when you got your buttstamp, right?"

"Yeah, I used it to track down that guy who had my necklace."

"Your funky 'pony... zebra... necklace'. That's right." Cal said. looking closer at the pages.

I spent the next half hour flipping through the twenty some odd pages that I had taken down while waiting on the my target to make his presence known. Details about the path I had taken, the slavers I had killed, rescuing Zu, the map we had drawn together, but nothing about a location. Finally I came to a passage I had wrote after we had parted ways, chronicling our conversation going up the mountain to the summit. I remember now that once we parted ways and I had made it half way down the mountain to plains below, I had stopped to take a breather and decided to write down what all she had said. At the time it was because I wanted to remember every detail about her so that she would not fade away from my memory.

And now, here I am, desperately trying to remember the details from that day. Despite all of my reading through my notes, I came up with nothing. I was too tired and too emotionally drained to focus on the task at hoof, even if it meant being reunited with Zu, no amount of hope could help me focus. I sat the book down on the log, trotted to the cliff's edge on the far side of the camp and sat down hard. I just needed to clear my head, things were coming too fast for me to process them. Call it the excitement of what all had just happened in the last 24 hours, call it the lingering hangover from the Med-X, but my brain had gone into gridlock.

"Heh! Look's like me and Stripes have something in common!" Caliber said, now flipping through the book.

"Huh? What are you talking about."

"She used to read the same book I did growing up! I still remember it, 'Sapphire Shores Book of Sing Along's'." Caliber said with a wistful look.

"Wait. What!?" I said, broken from my moment of meditation.

"Yeah, Yeah! It was this book about a singer from before the war, you know, the one that sings 'The sun can't hide forever'? she's on the radio all the time. She had a kid's book that came with a little music player that would sing songs while you read the story about the Sea Ponies of Sapphire Shore."

I stood in awe, Caliber had just filled in the gaps to my puzzle I had been trying to find. Of all the ponies in the wasteland, he had been the last pony I would have thought of to have read such a book but, then again, with the lack of music these days, it was no surprise that he would have done so. I almost never even listen to the radio, It's always bad news, the same 5 songs or that slaver broadcast promoting Unity. I had completely forgotten about music even existed outside of the few bands that played at the bar in Manehattan, also playing the same 5 songs. You would think that talent died the same day everypony else had 200 years ago.

"You wrote here that she wanted to go to a place like the one she saw in the book right, if that's the case, do you think she would have gone to the ocean?"

"I don't know but at this point, it's all we have for a lead. The question now is, where at along the miles of shoreline would she be? Cal, you wouldn't happen to still have that book back in New Appleloosa, would you?" I asked, praying for a miracle.

"Nah, I lost that years ago. Besides, the music player was busted when I got it and I finished it off trying to fix it."

"Shit. That book might be the only thing that would have any answers. We got to get our hooves on a copy somewhere."

The problem with the wasteland, as if there weren't enough already, was that it was in fact in short supply of bookstores and libraries that had not become the home of raiders or been burned to the ground. Despite all that, there had been many books that I had recovered from said burned-out structures in the past, but I had never come across a children's book with a music player in that whole time. Such a thing would have at least struck a cord with me, especially if it had music on it that I had never heard before.

"You know, I think I know where we can find a book like that..." Cal said, still examining the pages of my logs.

"Yeah? Where in equestria would we find a foal's book in the wasteland..." I said with an amused expression.

"If it is the same book, and I'm ninety nine percent sure it is, then we could probably find it at Tenpony. That book had music on it, so it stands to reason that they would want to get their hooves on it."

"Cal, when did you grow a brain? I never gave you permission to be smart like this." I said, pushing him on the shoulder.

"What? I can have smart thinks too you know! There's all sorts of them rattling around up there in my brain compartments and departments."

"OK. So we head to Tenpony, find the book, get Ditzy some muffins and find Zu... Sleep at some point along the way." I said as I gathered my things to head out.

"Uh Joey? What's that?" Cal said pointing deeper into the forest. Instinctively, I spun on my hunches and drew Righty from it's holster to face down whatever it was that had Cal looking so worried. I was then met with random glints of purple flashes, coming from deeper in the forest. The light was subtle, but just strong enough to overcome the tree canopy that we were looking down on.

"What do you think it is?" Caliber asked, moving to sit by my side.

"... Alicorns. They must be coming here in mass for some reason."

"Alicorns? You mean those bitchy flying horn heads? Why the hell would they want to come here?"

"I don't know and I'm sure I don't want to find out either. I hate those things, the last time I ran into one, I almost didn't make it back out alive."

"Joey, we need to get out of here. Fast!"

"To Tenpony it is then..."

Cal hopped on my back and we took flight to the border of the Everfree Forest, keeping our altitude low as we went to avoid detection. From where we were now, it should only take half an hour to get back to the Solar Array. From there we could make our way to Fetlock to bed down for the night, then on to Tenpony in the morning, acquire muffins for Ditzy, hopefully acquire a foal's book and find Zu. No sweat!

Chapter 4: Far Fetched

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 4: Far Fetched
Written by: Rocco
Edited by: Blackjackmin (Mike)

...Back there!? Are you nuts!? The muffins are cooking and are about to hit critical mass! You can't be in the same room with them when that's happening!...

I have said many times that I had not listened to the radio in quite sometime due to the lack of content that it played. But after 4 hours of listening to Cal singing ninety nine bottles of booze on the wall, I would have gave my last round of ammunition for the radio on my pipbuck to start working again. Speaking of pipbucks, why is it that this thing never works properly? I must have gotten a Friday afternoon model because everything on it is starting to glitch out. The on-board inventory sorter was misreading their contents, the E.F.S. Still does not work and now the radio is busted!

There were times in the past where I would ponder how in the world the society of ponies from the past would have lost the war. Granted both sides were dealt a considerable blow but, after having the issues that I am with this pipbuck, an item that was built to stand the test of time, I no longer wonder why. If only I could find somepony who could repair these damn things, maybe I could get it working at least to the point where I had E.F.S. again.

The flight from Hope to Fetlock was, overall, pretty boring. Even with Cal taking the occasional shot at random raider groups, our vantage point in the sky meant that we were out of the area by the time they could make ready and fire. Once in Fetlock however, things began to go a bit sideways. We had bedded down for the night on top of an old apartment building and had just settled in when we discovered that the place had already been inhabited. The zombie ponies, one floor below us, took exception to our presence in their home and insisted that we find a new place to sleep for the night.

By insisted I mean, tried to eat Cal and almost push me off the roof with their massive numbers. Luckily, I can fly. Cal however... let just say that we will not be going back to Fetlock for quite some time, even if Cal wants that part of his ear back. We decided it would be best if we flew through the night to Tenpony Tower, rather than take our chances with another “abandoned building”. By the time we had reached the outskirts of town, my wings had decided that they no longer wanted to keep either of us aloft any longer. So despite being exhausted, we were left to finish our journey on hoof, I had taken having wings for granted, walking sucks!

“Cal, stop touching it! You're going to get it infected!”

“It feels weird, I can't help it! You try losing one of your ears and then you can tell me to stop touching it.”

“For the last time, you didn't lose your ear, you lost at most 20% of it.”

“My ears were perfect! They were the one thing that I liked about my looks and now there fucked!”

“Shut up! You look fine, you look more badass this way.”

“You think so?”

“Yes, you look like you took on a horde of zombies all by yourself and won.”

“That's because SOMEPONY decided to fly away without his tail gunner.”

“Hey, you were the one that wanted to stop there if I recall. I said we should have kept going but nooooo, you wanted to stop.”

“Did you really want me to try and 'take a dump' off your back?”

“Wait. What? You made us stop, get attacked by zombies, lose part of your ear, just to crap?”

“Well when you put it like that, no. I didn't know they were there, how could I have known?”

“True. But still the fact remains, if you don't stop fucking with your ear, you are going to lose the rest of it to infection. Then you will be as ugly as you think you are.”

We had been on the move now for over 8 hours total, including the flight over here. The morning sun had still yet to make it's way high enough in the sky to cast any useful light. Finally, after the longest night I had in a long time, the massive building of Tenpony Tower, was just within sight. The destroyed surroundings were all but forgotten from this side of the city with the almost stoic posture of the almost untouched building. Like a memory from the past that showed what once was, Tenpony always had it's own way of inspiring awe when you saw it.

Somehow it had managed to survive the blast from the balefire bombs with little to any damage and maintain an overall clean appearance all these years. Even with the mold from weathering the countless storms, it was still just as grand as the day it was build, at least, that's how I imagine it would have looked. Even the monorail station entrance, the building's one and now only entrance, was seemingly untouched from the blast.

Once through security, we would finally be able to sleep for a while before searching out the book we had come for. Actually, it probably wouldn't hurt to place the order for the muffins while we are at it. No doubt they would be worth their weight in gold after my last outburst here, I can only hope that the spices I procured from the Predator's den would grant me some leeway. But if the she doesn't finish me off, the price to stay for a night will. This place is so far up it's own ass that even sparkle cola cost 15 caps at times. And to think I wanted to retire here one day.

Approaching the guard post, I went through my mental checklist of things I knew they would confiscate before allowing entry. I had been here only a few times in my life, but each time it seemed that the rules would change and become harsher with each visit. No doubt from the tower's wealthy inhabitants wanting to maintain a certain status among the factions. Cal had already started complaining about the rules before he even knew what they were.

“I've got 20 caps that say they give us a full cavity search this time.”

“Why do you have to take things to the extremes that only your brain can produce.”

“I'm just sayin', last time I was here, I had to give up my barding before they would let me in.”

“Could that be because that last time you were here, you were wearing a battle saddle and threatened the guards?”

“Oh yeah... also I don't think that I'm in their good graces after what happened with Lavender.”

“Lavender? Who's that?”

“The spa pony tech I told you about.”

“Cal... What did you do?”

“I may have gotten a little 'freaky' with her and left before she woke up.”

“Damnit Cal you buck whore.”

“What!? She started talking about commitments and life together on our first date.”

“YOU SLEPT WITH HER ON THE FIRST DATE!”

“Dear Luna you are so sheltered.”

“Ugh... There is sheltered and there is being chivalrous and a one night stand with a random spa tech is neither of those things.”

We approached the guard shack in the train station that would lead us into Tenpony in silence thanks to Cal's promiscuous behavior. If nothing else maybe they wouldn't notice him or me and grant us access without too much hassle. Oh who am I kidding at this point, judging by everything that has happened in the last 24 hours, I wouldn't be surprised if Cal decided to shoot one of the guards, and have sex with the other one.

“Name?” The guard asked.

“Joey.”

“Nature of your visit?”

“Trade and sleep until 8 o'clock.”

“You do know that it's 8:30 in morning right?” The guard asked raising a brow.

“You do know that there are two 8 o'clocks right?”

“Touche'.”

Oh thank Goddesses, that was easy enough. I passed along my barding to the guard for him to check into storage and move through the magical scanners to wait for Cal. Even if they had forgotten who I was, or that my actions when I was here were less than anything major, I was still sweating bullets. All Cal had done was a one night stand with a spa tech, surely that wouldn't keep him from coming in.

“Name?”

“Caliber.”

“Full name.” The guard said fixing his eyes on Cal.

“Is that really necessary?”

“Full name, or you don't come in.”

“Ugh... Caliber Sparks”

Wait what? Caliber wasn't his full name? Why had he not told me that! He knew my full name, well then again, my full name was Joey. He even knew that my real name was Kit, so how in the hell did that slip his mind when we met? The guard sat down his clipboard and narrowed his eyes on Cal who was, starting to look very nervous.

“Well, if it isn't Sparky.” The guard said with a almost demonic grin.

“Don't call me that!”

“Hey Steelwater, Sparky's back!” The guard yelled to the control room behind him.

From deep in a room came a much smoother voice than I had anticipated to come from a guard named Steelwater.

“Yeah? I Have been waiting for a long time to see his ugly ass again.” Said the biggest damn buck I had ever seen! He had to be a full head taller than me and judging by his bulging form, he had to be twice my size!

“Hey look, I'm sorry about what happened between me and your sister, honest.”

Oh Caliber... You are so screwed.

“Oh you are sorry alright, you're the sorriest pile of shit in the wasteland.”

“Look, I'll just leave OK. I don't want any trouble. All you had to say was that I wasn't welcome.”

“Heh, let him in.”

“Wait, seriously? You are going to let me in? You're not going to beat me into the ground?” Cal asked, almost in disbelief.

“Now why would I do that when Lavender is just DYING to see you.” Steelwater replied, his grin reaching both of his ears.

“Uhm, thank you?” Cal said meekly.

“That doesn't mean I won't have my eye on you, I see everything that happens in Tenpony... Everything!” Steelwater said, leaning to within an inch of Cal's face.

“I'll be good, I swear!”

“Good, drop your gear here, say hi to sis for me.” Steelwater said, walking back to the control room. Cal did as requested, the whole time his eyes never leaving the control room door.

With our gear now in the safe hooves of Steelwater and Cal through security, the worst part of the trip that I had dreaded was now over.

“What the fuck Cal! You stood up a mare whose brother is the biggest son of a mule I have ever seen!?” I said, trying my best to keep my voice low.

“I didn't know! I swear it! I knew she had a brother but, DAMN! Did you see the hooves on that dude!”

“Cal, one of these days you are going to screw around and get yourself killed just by having sex!”

“Such are the ways of a buck who dares to love every mare he meets.”

"And of all the mares you could have slept with, you slept with one named Lavender? I thought you said the smell of Lavender gave you a headache. So why, in the wide land that is Equestria, would you sleep with a mare whose name literally is something that causes you pain!?"

"And now you know why that smell causes me so much pain." Cal said, again messing with his ear.

“That's it, you are having that thing looked at. I'm almost positive you infected it, not to mention, I think they need to do exploratory surgery to find what little brain you have left!”

“Fine... I'll go to the doctor. I need to go there anyhow since somepony has been into our Med-x stash.” Cal said accusingly.

“Seriously? I got chewed on by somepony with a lawnmower for a mouth and fell off a building and broke my leg. I think I earned to not be in pain.” I said, jobbing a hoof in his side.

“I'm not saying you don't, but you need to watch it Joey, you're going to wind up one of those junkies if you keep at that stuff.”

The insides of Tenpony were just as I remember them, clean, snooty and alive with ponies walking about. In the main lobby, ponies were waiting in lines for the permanent residency reviewers and others walked about freely. I remember waiting in those lines to try and gain my own residency here years ago. The steep price is what turns most ponies away but for me it was the rules. I don't trust a place that does not trust it's populace to properly defend themselves.

Cal had rushed off to take care of our lodging for the night, doing his best to keep his profile low from any would be ex-marefriends. I had decided to use my time wisely and seek out the baker first rather than go on a book hunt alone. Doing my best to get back into a trader mindset, I pointed myself to the area of the building where the small shops were conducting business. Soon I came to the baker's shop I had so long ago been kicked out of, resulting in my expulsion from the Tower. 'Cream's Confectioneries, Where bread's not the only thing in the oven!' was written on the sign in bold letters, the store's sweet smells filling the walkway I was standing in.

Walking through the door I was noticed almost immediately by Cream, still sitting behind the counter. The off white mare with the long, messy yellow mane was just as I remembered as well. Even her hateful look that she had given me 2 years back had yet to seem to fade away.

“You! Why are you here!”

“Look, I'm sorry about last time I was here. I was hoping you might be interested in trading.”

“For the first and only time! If it's more junk, then the answer's no!” Cream said with more malice in her voice then I felt was warranted.

“No, well, at least I hope it's not. I think I have something you might be interested in...” I said digging into my saddlebags.

“Oh great...” Cream said with a less than enthusiastic roll of the eyes.

“I found these in a crate labeled 'spices', I thought of all the ponies I knew of and just figured that you might could use them.” I said, placing a small plastic sack filled with the small bottles of herbs.

“Wait... you mean to tell me you found a bag of mixed herbs in the wasteland...”

“Yes.”

“Whe-” Cream started.

“Please don't ask me that.” I said, looking at my shoulder.

Cream fumbled with the knot I had used to secure the bag for a moment before digging both hooves into it, pulling out bottle after bottle of 'herbs'.

“Rosemary? Cummin? Garlic!? Thyme even? How much did you pay for these!?”

“Suffice to say, I nearly had to give a leg for them... So? Are my caps good here now?”

“Depends, how much do you want for the whole bag.” Cream said, trying her best to look disinterested. Heh, right where I want her.

“Consider them a peace offering, you know, after last time when I... Said all those things.”

“Take a hydraulic suck on my sex muscle.” Cream said calmly.

“WHAT!?”

“Your words. What you said last time...”

“Yeah, those words. I am so sorry.” Honestly, where the hell did I come up with that!? Had I been drinking again?

“Yeah, I guess I could do business with you, for the right price.”

“Ok, what would be the 'right price' for one dozen muffins.”

“Owe Ditzy muffins huh? How bad did you cuss her?” Cream said, leaning in like she was about to learn some juicy gossip.

“Not at all actually. I like her.” I whispered into her ear.

“245 caps.”

My right eye started to twitch uncontrollably. Her sign even said 10 caps per muffin, that's 120 caps! What the hell!? Is 125 caps an asshole tax?

“Wha-” I started.

“Before you start your rant, just know these are for Ditzy, she gets special muffins. Trust me, you want to buy these for her.” Cream said with a stern glare.

“Fine... But you better not poison them. I actually like her, so I'm trusting you won't mix in little bits of spit with them.”

“Like I said, she gets special muffins. I'll have to get the ingredients ready, pay somepony to go get them. I'll have them ready in the morning.”

Special ingredients? What in Equestria would be 125 caps special that Ditzy would want in a damn muffin. I have known her for as long as I can remember and as far as I have seen, she has always been very thrifty with her caps. Granted she had always been very free giving with generosity, but I have never seen her pay too much for anything, let alone muffins of all things. Those better be some damn good muffins! I forked over the 245 caps and made my way back to the lobby to find Cal to see about a room for the night.

Still feeling decidedly ill over the amount of caps that had just left my possession, I did my best to take my mind off of things via pony watching. When I was younger, Boss had taught me to watch other ponies closely to learn their mannerisms and habits. Doing so would show me the 'statues quo' of the ponies around me and how things should look at all times. It would also help to discern possible threats from the normal atmosphere of ponies. It was also good fun sometimes, kinda like eavesdropping on a lewd conversation that I wasn't meant to hear. Sometimes I would even make up funny voices in my head and place them to ponies who were taking together to amuse myself.

So many times ponies would be talking and the whole time have no idea that I was watching them from across the room. Or that the whole time they had actually been talking about covering each other in two century old jam and running from bloatsprites. It was stupid, but it passed the time easy enough. Around me now I could pick out a few conversations that were going on, a lone colt looking like he had just lost his parents and an decidedly angry looking purple mare who was standing right...

“Psssst! Joey! Down here.” Came a whisper from the bush beside me.

“Cal, is that you?” I asked, turning to the bush.

“Don't look! Is she gone?”

“Who!?” I said, averting my gaze.

“Lavender, is she gone?” The talking bush asked.

“How should I kno.... Oh. No, she's still here.” So that's who that angry mare is with the little... Oh for fuck sake.

“Damnit Cal! Please tell me that's not your foal.” I said through my teeth.

“What foal!” Cal said, poking his muzzle from the bush.

“Oh... Oops.”

“Seriously? Oops is your go to word for this situation?”

“Shut up! I have to get out of here!”

“Cal! That could be your kid! You have to go talk to her!” I said, raising my voice.

“Shhhh! Quiet, damnit! Here's the room key!” Cal said, sliding the key across the floor at me, from his original position, deep in the fake shrubbery.

“Go to the room like nothing happened, I will meet you there.” Cal said with a long pause, followed by the bush he was hiding behind slowly beginning to slide away from the walkway.

“You have got to be KID-ing me.” I said just loud enough for the purple mare to hear. Cal froze in his track, the action prompting the leaves to start shaking.

“I just can't believe I dropped my key again! How silly of me!” I said again, loud enough for her to hear. Bending down to pick up the key on the floor, I could hear Cal whisper as loud as he dared.

“Oh you are the worst kind of pony... I'm so kicking your flan-”

“Who would put a shrub here! I almost broke my neck!” I said passing the potted plant, giving it a swift kick as if I were mad at it.

“OK! OK! PLEASE! JUST GO!” Cal said, from his new hiding location, behind the pillar.

Heh, that should teach him to run from his own battles. Cal had ducked out of the way just in time not to be seen as I kicked his camouflage half way into the lobby. I gave a glance over my shoulder to see him working his way to a long-since dead air conditioning vent with the purple mare rounding the corner. Well best of luck Cal, hope she doesn't kill you, not that you don't deserve it. I made my way to the stairs leading to the fourth floor, just in time to still hear the words coming from the purple mare Cal had been hiding from.

“I know that bastard is here somewhere...”

Oh Cal, why...

When I read the name “Goldentail's Luxury Suites”, I expected a few things. Beds, place to scrub the filth out of my coat, maybe even the odd toilet if we were lucky. But never would I have thought that I would have to expect there to be carpet in the room. Of all the things to be missing, why did it have to be the carpet. I mean, sure I don't really mind, but it was very off-putting that I could see the ponies in the room below me through the small cracks in the flooring. Apart from that, the room featured all the amenities that I would have wanted in a room. Bed with little to no love juices, shower (would have preferred a bath but whatever), running water and only two radroaches that were quickly dispatched with a kick of the hoof.

Provided that Caliber would be away while, I decided it was time to address the fact that I reeked of sweat, mud and a metallic smell/taste that I could not place at the time. Moving to the bathroom I found that there were no towels to dry off with, great. Now, I know I'm bitching but, when you have wings, you really appreciate having a towel to dry your wings with. Granted other ponies had it much worse than I did at this moment in life, but still. We are paying, far too much I assume, and I would at least like a damn towel. Oh well, Caliber won't notice his sheets missing from his bed.

I turned the brass knobs of the shower and was met with the glorious feeling of warm water, oh how I had missed that! It almost takes the sting out of the price of paying for a place to sleep when you can just relax and unwind. I set myself to removing my saddlebags and almost stepped in the shower when I remembered that I had forgotten to take off the now 2 day old bandage. As I'm sure that any healing properties it may have had were long gone once we hit Fetlock, I had thought it would be better to leave it on to keep out infection. Now if I could only get Cal to listen to me about not messing with his ear, then maybe I could get him to bathe and not smell like ass.

Slipping the bandage off, I decided not to look at the bald spot on my shoulder. I'm sure the coat will grow back but I would still rather not see the damage that had been done. Call me vain but truth is, something deep inside me didn't want to be reminded of what had happened just the day before. Besides, it didn't even hurt anymore other than the random 'phantom pain' that I'm almost positive is due to the lack of Med-x in my system. Great. I'll have to add detoxing to my list of shit to do this week, despite the pain in my leg feeling worse by the hour.

Having showered and finally feeling pony again, I stepped out of the shower to hearing Caliber walk through the door. Wow was he pissed. He didn't even make it in the door before he started describing, in vivid detail no less, all the painful things he intended on doing to me for what I had done in the lobby. Thank Luna for bathroom locks, one of the few things working in this place. Seriously, did functionality come as an additional extra? I know this is the wasteland and all but... nevermind. Deciding I could no longer evade the inevitable, I opened the bathroom door to face down one very pissed off Caliber.

“Cal, before you start, just know that you legit knocked up a mare and ran from your own child to keep from facing responsibility. It was only right that you got some form of punishment for what you did. Now I know that...”

“Uh... Joey?”

“No let me finish. I know that the last thing anypony wants in the wasteland is to be weighed down but..”

“Joey!”

“What!” I said, mad that he was so wrapped up in his own ego that he wouldn't even listen to reason.

“We need to get you to a doctor. NOW!”

“Don't start with that addiction shit again, I already know that I have an issue, I'm already detoxing.”

“No not that...”

“Then what. Don't try playing this off on me missing a spot cleaning up.”

“Joey! Look at your fucking shoulder! Shit, look at your back!” Caliber said.

Now seeing his look of shock, I feared the worst. Had the wound gotten infected? Had I just gotten used to the pain and inadvertently let it spread to my back? I didn't want to look, but knowing I had to, I squeezed my eyes shut and pointed them to the offending wound. When I opened them once again, initially I didn't see anything wrong but then I noticed the faint black lines.

“What in the hell!?” I said, looking into the mirror. The wound that once reached from my shoulder to my upper leg, had in fact healed very well. My coat was even growing back nicely thanks to the magical healing potion being applied directly, rather than consumed. But ever so slightly, just beneath my coat, dark gray lines were forming, made more pronounced where my coat was growing back over the wound. Strips? Was this blood poisoning? I remember being told that when you get an infection that your veins would carry it and at times, give a striped look.

“Joey, this looks bad. We have to get to the med station. Now!”

“W... What about Lavender?”

“Forget Lavender! Your problem looks worse than any ex-mare ever had!” Cal said, now pushing me out the door.

“But, I'm still wet!” I said, now panicking.

“Stop it! You do this every time you get scared! You start your rambling shit and just make things worse.”

“B...But I'm cold!”

“They have blankets in the infirmary...” Cal said, now guiding me down the hall. What was going on, Why was everything moving in slow motion? It felt like my throat was starting close up and my chest felt so tight that if you were to poke it, that it might deflate like a balloon. I could hear my heart in my ears as if it were beating right between my eyes and my hooves started to feel like they were made of jelly. My head began to feel lighter and lighter with every step that we made. I could hear Cal, if just barely, as we passed a mare who I had presumed to be Lavender, scream out.

“Not now bitch, one crisis at a time!” Cal said, as we passed by.

As he shoved her out of the way and into the open door of a room, I felt my legs give out from under myself.

Darkness.

I felt like I was floating. I was floating! As my senses came back to me, I could feel that Cal was now carrying me, and he was running. My whole right side was now numb to the world around me, even my lips felt heavy. I worked my best to overcome the eminence tingling feeling that was now my right side, just to open my right eye. Finally, I felt it crack open and... nothing. Oh Celestia I couldn't see anything out of my right eye!

Slowly, I began to see fuzzy blobs moving through the vision on my right side that seemed to be rushing by at an alarming rate. As my vision began to clear, an overwhelming sensation of dread was left in it's place. Even though I seemed to be recovering, my head was starting to pound and no matter how hard I tried to convince myself, I couldn't overcome the feeling that I was dying. It was as if a switch had been flicked in my brain from normal to chaos and my body was doing it's best to override it. Finally I made out the fuzzy crosshatch on the door of the clinic, seeming to know I was now going to be in good hooves. My body decided enough was enough and logged off line. A black haze clouded the edges of my vision, exhaustion overwhelmed me and the blackness filled my vision.

Darkness.

Coming to on the clinic room table brought about a flood of thoughts to my brain. What happened? Why is my butt so cold? Am I dead? No, I'm not dead, I can hear Caliber talking to somepony so I guess slipping into the sweet release of death was too much to ask for. Did I pass out at some point? At any rate, at least my body is starting to feel normal again, the feeling of dread being replaced with one akin to a hangover. I can deal with that, I have been hung over loads of times but that depressing feeling of dying is for the birds.

Looking around and taking in my surroundings, I could see that I was in fact in the infirmary and that I was strapped to the table. Why had they strapped me down? If my memory serves me correctly, I had been incapable of moving when I got here. So the fact that they felt the need to tie me down like this is starting to stir up those too familiar feelings of something bad wrong being with me. Raising my head off the table a few inches, I could see caliber talking with somepony who I guessed was either a nurse or a doctor.

“Uh, guys? Why am I tied to a table? Did I miss something fun?” I asked. My response was met with a long pause, followed by the white buck with an spiky red mane coming to my side.

“Oh, you're awake. It's good to see you coming back to your faculties. My name is Life Bloom, Dr. Helpinghoof's assistant.” Life Bloom said.

“What happened to me? I feel like somepony took my brain out and messed with it. I feel confused.” I said, again trying to get up.

“Just lie back and try to relax, the doctor will be in shortly. We think that you had a severe panic attack that may have lead to a stroke, the doctor will have more answers for you once he gets here.” Life Bloom said, walking to the door.

“Joey, how you feeling bud?” A very concerned looking Cal said at my side.

“Bad, but getting better I think. Cal, what happened to me?”

“I don't know, one minute you were fine and the next you were drooling everywhere and talking gibberish.” Cal said, looking down on me.

“Yeah but what could have caused it? Everything's such a blur, did you carry me here?”

“Yeah, I kinda had to, you were completely off your rocker back at the room. One second I was about to kick your flank because how mad I was at you and the next I'm carrying you to the clinic.”

“We have a very complicated relationship, don't we?”

“Heh, yeah. It's good to see you coming back to normal. You scared the shit out of me.”

“Uhuh, you were scared that you would have to walk back to New Appleloosa.”

“Yeah... sure.”

I was just about to ask Cal why he looked so upset when the doctor walked into the room and trotted to my side.

“Hello Joey, I'm doctor Helpinghoof. How are we feeling?” Helpinghoof asked, sitting on a rolly chair.

“Bad but, I think... Better maybe? I can't really remember.” I said, thumping my head back to the table.

“Well that would be normal for a severe panic attack in your state. You are lucky you didn't have a stroke, your blood pressure was all over the place when you came in.”

“My state? What's wrong with me? Am I dying?” I asked, again feeling that panicky feeling creep back over me.

“Well, according to the tests we ran, you had a severe panic attack brought on by shock and complicated by...” the doctor trailed off as he flipped through the pages on his clipboard.

“... Sleep deprivation, dehydration, physical exhaustion, malnutrition, infection in your broken leg and trying to go cold turkey off Med-x. Now where I can appreciate you trying to get clean on your own, you should know that we have procedures to do such things.” The doctor warned.

“Yeah I had heard, I didn't think I could afford to pay for the treatment and I had just figured out that I was using a bit too much of the stuff.”

“Try 6 syringes a day Joey.” Caliber interjected.

“What! I don't remember that! I thought I was only using like, three at the most!” I said in shock.

“No, You have been blowing through Med-x faster than...” Cal stopped to think of a appropriate example.

“Like you bang through mares?” I asked with a sarcastic grin.

“Worse I'm afraid. According to your blood work, you show to have a high dependency to Med-x, your blood work also shown that you had a mild case of taint. After talking to your promiscuous friend here, I would say it was from where your were bitten.” The doctor said looking at his charts.

“... The predator. That explains him acting like a loony.” I said, looking back up to the ceiling.

“It's possible that he had been exposed to taint and that it had a significant effect to his thought processes. Taint effects everypony differently, it can kill you slowly, causing tumors throughout the lymphatic system and brain. It can also trigger minor to severe mutations ranging from completely benign to completely changing your appearance. Going off of what your partner here said, chances are slim that you were exposed more than three days ago, so that would put your exposure in the same time frame as being bitten.”

“So how bad is it? Am I...” I trailed off, feeling that sense of dread returning.

“We were able to purge your body of the taint, your case was less severe than others that I have seen in my time. But I'm afraid that there will the permanent effects that will be non-reversible.” The doctor said, motioning for his assistant to come over.

“Doc, what's non-reversible?” I said looking up to Life Bloom. My gaze was met with a soft smile and a syringe being held in his magic.

“What's that?” I asked.

“A sedative, just in case.” Life bloom said, looking down at me.

“I swear if I grew a horn and turned all purple, just kill me now...” I said, thumping my head back down to the table.

“Caliber, can you help me remove his restraints? I think it's time Joey looked in a mirror.” Helpinghoof said, unbuckling my leg restraints.

Once free, I was guided to my hoofs by both the doctor and Caliber, under the ever watchful eye of Life Bloom and his needle filled with knockout drugs. The two guided me to the mirror in the corner of the room and what I saw... was me. Just me, the same as I had always seen in fact. What did they want me to see that was so special.

“Uh doc? Help me out here, what am I looking for?” I asked.

“Turn to your side Joey.” The doctor said, giving a guiding hoof to turn me to my right and... what are those....

“Stripes!? What the hell? Is this blood poisoning?” I asked turning back and forth. Just beneath my coat were the faint impressions of dark gray stripes akin to that of a zebra except that they did not reach to my legs. Instead they reserved themselves to my back, lower neck, shoulders and top of my flank. The strongest lines coming from the area that the Predator had taken a bite out of my shoulder.

“It would appear as though the taint triggered a mutation in your genes, bringing about the stripes you are seeing. At first we initially thought that you had been in contact with killing joke after Caliber mentioned that you had been to the Everfree Forest. But once the tests came back negative, you later tested positive for taint and then we found this.” The doctor said holding up my necklace.

“My necklace did this to me?” I said, unable to pull myself from the mirror.

“No, I highly doubt it. Chances are that you may have some zebra DNA somewhere in your bloodline and the taint brought about the mutation of your stripes. Though I have never seen it myself, I have read about this sort of thing happening to the offspring of a mare and a zebra buck. But their stripes would occur naturally over time, yours would have come in by now according to what I have studied.” The doctor said, looking closer to my coat.

“My mother was a zebra, my dad was a pony.” I said, still in shock. This was going to make being accepted a lot harder in life. Ponies already avoided me because I was depressing to be around, now they had a actual, physical reason to steer clear of me.

“Hmmm. It is possible that you favored your father's genes and that suppressed the appearance of your stripes. The taint would have acted like a catalyst, bringing out any mutations that would not have appeared naturally.”

Taking in a deep, shaky breath, I braced myself for the question I didn't want to hear the answer to.

“Is it permanent? Is there anything that's going to kill me?”

“Like I said, we were able to purge your body of taint, but it's effects are non-reversible. But other than that, none of the scans we performed revealed anything that would be life altering or threatening, let alone life ending. So, other than your stripes, you are a healthy pony. Though you could use a good trip to the cafeteria, all of the extra work you have been doing flying, especially carrying a load, burns calories at a alarming rate. You need to keep yourself well fed and steer clear of the pain killers, you have already made yourself susceptible to addiction. We performed a detox on you but I would like to go over the implications of Med-x addiction.” The doctor said, nudging me back to the table.

An exhausting hour later, I now knew everything there was to know about being a junky, in fact, I feel like I had been force fed the information. After listening to him drone on about addiction and the dangers of the overuse of painkillers, I doubt I would ever touch the stuff again. Not because what all he said scared the hell out of me, but more so because I didn't want to listen to his lecture again. The whole time he was talking I found myself squirming in my seat like I had when I was a colt. For a moment I was back to being a 12 year old colt who stole a bottle of bosses booze and was being given the “this is for adults” speech.

Not saying it wasn't well deserved, but I had no clue that I was going through as much Med-x as I was. I had thought that I was using the usual amount needed to stave off pain, but Caliber was quick to inform me that once I had take one syringe, I would take another not even a hour later. It was like an involuntary action that I had become immune to noticing once it was established and I was oblivious to it. I had came dangerously too close to becoming a junky, maybe even crossed the line in fact, in less than three days. Luna only knows how many caps worth of the stuff I had consumed, caps that I desperately needed for this venture nonetheless.

Cal and I walked from the clinic, significantly broker than when we got here, into the main lobby of the hotel. If this keeps up, we would have to start looking for work just to get back home, let alone to find Zu. Even though the new stripes on my body were faint, it still felt like all eyes were on me everywhere we went. Few ponies seemed to notice, but those that did, shied away from me in the hallways. I didn't like this, I felt self conscious and embarrassed to be out in public with ponies acting this way towards me. If my E.F.S. Had been working at the time, I'm sure I would be surrounded by red ba...

“WHERE'S MY PIPBUCK!?” I screamed to Caliber, reaching to the now bare spot on my leg.

“Woh! Calm down, I mentioned to Life Bloom that it was glitching out and he took it to see if he could get it working again for you.”

“Great! That will cost me I'm sure, why did you let him do that?”

“Hey, had it been working, you never would have been caught by that weirdo and you wouldn't have those stripes. Also, I might still have the rest of my ear.” Cal said, rubbing at the now bandaged ear.

“Bu... But. Caps!?” I said weakly.

“Dude, you have got to start loosening up those purse strings. I can understand saving money but not at the cost of your own safety.”

“I will take that under advisement... did you have any luck with the book?” I asked, trotting towards the lobby once more.

“Nope! I checked all over too, there weren't many place to go. I even put in a request with Dj Pony's receptionist. Nothing!”

“Lavender...” I said, stopping in my tracks.

“Seriously? What would my ex be able to help us with at this point.”

“Uh, Cal?”

“No Joey, I'm trying to avoid that crazy mare. Why would I ask her for help.”

“Crazy mare!? I'M NOT THE ONE WHO CLAIMED TO BE A EX-STEELRANGER WHO WAS TRYING TO GET HIS LIFE BACK TOGETHER!” Said the now very angry, purple mare.

“Hehey! Lavender! Long time, no see! How's it going?” Caliber asked, inching away at Lavenders advancement.

“How's it going? HOW'S IT GOING!? I was promised commitment by a buck who just wanted to get me into bed! Then he left in the middle of the night, pregnant!”

Called it! That little buck looked way too much like Cal, no way it wasn't his kid. Across the lobby, the small colt sat reading a book, stealing glances at his two arguing parents.

“Oops?” Cal said, now cowering from Lavender.

“OOPS!? Three years and all you have to say is oops!?”

“I'm sorry?”

“You had better have a damn good reason to leave me to bring a kid into this world without a father!”

“I uh... shit.”

Cal had all day, and the whole time in the clinic, to come up with something to say to Lavender about why he stood her up like he did and the best he could manage was 'shit'? As mad as she looked to be, I could see more hurt than anything in her eyes. This was about to turn ugly fast, I think it would be best if I left Cal to sort out his own family issues. I looked to the little colt across the room and found my way out.

“What's his name?” I asked, trying to break her pace of anger towards caliber.

“What?” Lavender said as she wheeled on me.

“Your little colt. What's his name?”

“Fetch! Why!?” Lavender asked, clearly angered by my intrusion. Now would be a great time to go say hi to 'Fetch' I think.

“Sorry, I'll leave you two alone.” I said, walking to where Fetch was now watching curiously.

“Joey! Wait! Don't Leave me!” I could hear Cal say through the barrage of words coming from the mare.

Fetch, the little colt that had caused so much controversy between Lavender and Cal, sat alone reading his book near the lobby's water fountain. Curious as I was that he was reading at such a young age, what really peaked my interest was his almost shocking resemblance to Cal. Same blue and cyan mane, albeit in contrast to Cal's, light purple coat and the same eyes as his father. He even squinted like Caliber does when he's trying to read something he doesn't understand. My heart went out to the kid. No father, mother jaded by anger and guilt, and here the kid was trying to make a go at reading.

It was almost surreal thinking about it. He didn't know Cal, yet life moved on for him. The pain that his mother was displaying was no doubt lost on him, colts this young are still trying to figure life out. It's sad to think that he would have to grow up like this, but then again, isn't that how I was raised myself? School of hard knocks, Boss used to call it. Even still, something deep inside me felt for his struggling to read a simple kids book. Boss had taught me to read when I was not much older than he was, I even still have the book. 'A Swan's Song', a book he had found when he too was young in a old stable when he was still hiding out in the bushes.

It was a kids book about a young pony named Spring Melody who had been teased and tormented by bullies at his school for not having his cutiemark yet. One day, he went for a walk in the woods after the ponies from his school had teased him to the point of tears. There he found a pond with three swans that swam to the shoreline where he stood. Spring Melody sat on the shoreline and cried to the swans for what the others had said to him, telling them everything that they had said. The swans listened patiently to the young colts story, sitting by his side all the while. Once the colt had finished his story, the swans began to sing to him.

“Fear not for what others may say,

fear not for what others may do.

One day you will find your way,

one day you will see this through.

You are young still, just you wait and see,

soon this world will reveal your destiny.

So cast your fears to the winds.

You will find soon that you will make new friends.”

I can still remember the words as if I had read them just the other day, even though I had not opened that book in years. I always kept it with me, it was the first gift I had ever gotten in fact. Boss had passed it down to me in the same manner he had given me the pistols I still carried to this day. I had help growing up, I was taught by a family, even if it was a assembled one rather than one brought together. Would Fetch have anything close to that in his life? I steeled myself from the thoughts and approached Fetch who was now looking at me quizzically. He wasn't even my kid but for some unknown reason, I felt an odd connection to him.

"Hey there, little guy. whatcha reading?" I tried to say in the friendliest way I could. Fetch studied me for a moment, seeming to try and decide whether or not I was a threat. Finally after a few tense moments, Fetch decided that I wasn't trying to foalnap him and spoke.

"My book. I got it for my birthday!" Fetch said with a wide eyed grin.

"Yeah? When was your birthday?"

"Tomorrowday!"

"Wait, do you mean 'yesterday'?"

"Ya! Thats it!" Fetch said, seeming to realize he had made a mistake. Sometimes kids can be so cute, even though he knew that he had messed up, he was excited to be corrected.

"Oh! OK, well congratulations buddy! How old are you?"

"This many..." He paused and began to tap his hoof on the tile floor four times. Wow, what kind of genes does Cal have that allow him to pass on character traits like that. Nevertheless, the actions were adorable and they made the pain I was once feeling for him begin to melt away. I don't know why but, kids have always hit a soft spot with me, they have always hit that button deep inside me that would key up my instincts to protect them.

"Really? Well then, I'm very happy for you! You really seem to be loving that book, what's it about?"

"I don't know. But the pictures are really pretty!" Fetch said with a smile.

"Pictures? Wow! You are a lucky boy, when I was little, I never got a book that awesome. Your mommy must love you a whole lot." I said, trying to build on his happiness. The smile faded from his little face and he looked back to his book.

"... Mommy didn't buy it for me. Ms. Cream gave it to me." Fetch said at an almost whisper volume. Cream? Did something nice? Every time I had any interaction with her, from a young colt all the way up to present day, she had been more than her fair share of rude to me. So hearing that she had done something nice for somepony all but put me beside myself, then again if it was for this little guy, I'm happy she had done it.

"She didn't? Well I bet that whatever your mommy got you was just as cool." I said, hoping that she actually had.

"Mommy didn't get me anything... " Fetch said with a broken voice, looking away.

"What? She didn't get you anything?" I said, almost involuntarily.

"Mommy, never gives me presents. Mommy doesn't even play with me..." Fetch said, trying to cover the sound of a sniff.

Oh that cunt. His very words broke me in two like I had been made of glass. This was her colt, sure the situation wasn't ideal but still, that's no reason to not get him a simple birthday present. And not playing with him? I know kids never really give you the full story about anything, so taking into account that he was saying this, it wasn't that far of a leap to conclude that she wasn't spending very much time being a mother at all. It dawned on me that she had even named him after a mistake, the name Fetch even had a ring to it that brought to mind thoughts of being far flung. Any pity I had been harboring for her vanished, she deserved to feel pain for what she was doing to this poor foal.

Then again, another part of me held a genuine hatred for Caliber for causing all of this. Granted, what was done was done, but due to his actions, he had not only brought a colt into this world, but he had brought a colt into this world that was being neglected. Even if he did not know any of this was going on, it would be his duty to at least try and reach out to the poor colt. But instead he was running away, casting aside the young colt that bore his very own striking resemblance, all to avoid being tied down. Even if Lavender was a total bitch face, he should be trying to help the kid at least. I had only spent a few moments with him and already I wanted to hug him. Nevertheless, I had upset him by hitting a landmine in our conversation, but I think I can turn this around.

"I'm so sorry to hear that buddy, hey, you said you didn't know what the book was about?"

"I know my ABC's but I can't read yet. But the pictures are fun to look at!" Fetch said, starting to show the shadows of a smile.

"Would you like for me to read it to you? I wouldn't mind seeing the fun pictures too." I said with a genuine smile.

"You want to read to me? My book?" Fetch said, almost shocked that a stranger would offer to do such a thing.

"Sure! I would love to in fact. I mean, if you want me too."

"OK!" Fetch said, Beaming with excitement.

I trotted to his side and lay on my belly next to the young colt, Fetch, pushed the open book between us and I eagerly but gently, guided my hooves to turn to the first page. The last thing I wanted to do was tear a page in a book that might be this colt's only present, forget conversational landmines, that would be a balefire bomb. The first page was adorned with the images of ponies on a beach, playing in the sand and waters of the ocean.

"Wow, this is really pretty. I don't think I have seen a book this nice in a long time." I said, smiling to a very proud Fetch.

"Uhem, page one... The Sea Ponies of Sapphire Shore..." I stopped. There is absolutely no freaking way this just happened. All this time, all those miles, and the book I was after was in the hooves of Fetch. I can't believe this, a simple act of kindness had granted me the access I needed to the book that would help me find Zu. Obviously I couldn't take it with me, but now I could read it... scratch that.

"Fetch, what do you say instead of me reading this to you, I teach you to read it instead."

"Really!? You can teach me how!?" Fetch said, almost levitating with excitement.

"Sure, Why not. There is a whole other world in this book that you are missing out on, and I don't want you to not be able to see it for yourself." I said, patting him on the head with a wing.

"OK! Show me, show me, show me." Fetch said, trying to become one with the book with his face.

A half hour later, across the room Cal had almost melted into the tile work from the fiery words the mare had been screaming at him. In that time, we had managed to read through the short book four times, each time, the little colt would try and sound out more and more words. Fetch and I had made quite a bit of progress, granted, this form of teaching was more memorization than actual reading. but nevertheless, it was a seed that he could nurture and hopefully grow into a skill for reading books. With a life that he would undoubtedly be living, having the skill to read would help him immensely in this world. Fetch had been so eager to learn that he was hanging on my every word, doing his best to sound out the words in the book like I had taught him. I was having so much fun in fact, that I had forgotten my reason for even reading the book entirely and had instead become a teacher.

There was just something about seeing his face light up when the words that before had just been scribbles on the page, came to life and told him a story. It was refreshing to see a young pony learning rather than fighting to survive in this cruel place, and it was nice to do something good for the sake of helping, rather than being paid to do so. Fetch was very bright for a colt his age, taking to the task of reading like a duck to water as Boss used to say to me. In some way I felt that helping him was like repaying a debt that had been charged to me when I myself had been taught to read. It felt, good. After our fourth reading of the book, I decided that if I was going to play the part of a teacher, I might as well grade my student.

"Ok Fetch, I have read this to you four times now. What do you say that you try and read it to me now."

"I don't think I can."

"Nonsense, you are a quick learner and I have confidence that you can do it. I'll help you when you get stuck."

"But, I still don't know all the words yet."

"It's ok, just go slow, take your time and sound them out like I showed you."

Fetch shifted back and forth in his sitting position, crinkling his nose as he did his best to focus on the words on the page.

"It was a... su... sunny fun day on the b... beach of... " He paused.

"Sapphire" I filled in.

"Sapphire sh...shore. Everypony played in the s... soft sands of the b-beach."

Fetch struggled his way through each word in the story, but rather than becoming frustrated like I would have, he instead began to swell with confidence with every triumph over a difficult word. By the end of the book, Fetch had found a rhythm, apart from the odd word that would trip him up from time to time. I'm sure that much of what he was doing was just repetition of what I had said the word was, but he was actually reading on a fundamental level.

I had also discovered the likely whereabouts of a certain zebra that I had been pursuing all over the wastelands. According to this book, Sapphire Shore carried a striking resemblance to another place I had been to a few times myself. White Saddle Shores in fact. it was a place farther south than most ponies were willing to travel seeing as much of the trip would be in an area of Equestria that had few to no ponies to start with. Just getting there was nearly impossible unless you had a burning desire to do so. Miles of desert, radscorpions and scorching hot sand separated it from the nearest town. The only means to get there being from the Ponyville train station that had been closed for 200 years for obvious technical difficulties.

Knowing the task at hoof would be much more than a quick trip south began to weigh down on my mind. If Zu had gone there, she would have no doubt gained the isolation she was looking for and more than likely would be safe. But the journey there would be dangerous at the best of times, not to mention life there being near inhospitable due to it's lack of water and food. Sure a pony could make a life there, but it would be harder to survive than in Hoofington for completely different reasons. Nevertheless, had she gone, then I was destined to walk the same path she had in order to find her. I could only hope that I would find her alive and well and not dead on a trail somewhere along the way. The thought of her making the trip alone scared me to no end and brought an all too real dread to mind that was now plastered across my face. Fetch seeing this, took it as a sign that he had done a poor job of reading.

"I stink, don't I."

"What? No! You did awesome considering we have been at this less than an hour now. In fact, as your teacher, I think I should grade my student."

"Grade me?"

"Yup! I feel like giving you an A for how well you have done. And I feel that such a good job deserves a reward."

"A reward!?" Fetch said, jumping to his hooves.

"Yes a reward. I think you have earned it for being such a good student."

I opened my saddlebags and began to search for the book that I had learned to read for the very first time. There, buried under countless pieces of food and medical supplies, was the book that had been given to me for my birthday so long ago. It only felt right that it would be passed along to Fetch as it was given to me, even if his birthday was 'tomorrowday'.

"I think that this should do nicely, seeing as you have a newfound skill for reading and all." I said as I gave him the tattered old book with the words 'A Swan's Song' on the cover.

"This is for me!? You're giving this... To me!?" Fetch said, in shock that somepony he barely knew would give him anything.

"Yes sir, this is for you. I think now that if you try really hard, and practice every chance you get, you will be reading this book in no time flat!"

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Fetch screamed as he wrapped himself around my right leg. Even though I was doing my best to keep calm, on the inside I, was just as excited as he was. I had a feeling that I had never felt before inside me, like I had given a gift to somepony that nopony else could have given. That feeling was complicated by the others that I had towards Cal and Lavender, how could they be willing to miss out on something like this? It was simple and pure, something that I think only a parent could feel towards a child when they had done them proud. For some reason that just made me even more mad towards the both of them, speaking of those two, how long had they been standing there.

Lavender and Cal had taken notice to mine and Fetch's time together and came to see what we could be doing that seemed like so much fun. Lavender wore a face of almost agitation that I'm sure she was holding back, due to it's very display at such an activity being completely socially unacceptable. Given her status in the Tower, it would be unfitting for her to slip into such a social pitfall. Cal on the other hoof looked like he was both relieved that the heat was now off of him and confused that the young colt was so happy to be around me.

"Mommy, mommy! This buck just taught me how to read my book!" Fetch said, jumping back and forth between me and Lavender.

"Uhuh, thats nice." Lavender said, glancing down to him, The very gesture pissing me off even more.

"He even gave me this book as a reward for doing so good!" Fetch said again, trying to get his mother's attention.

"Yeah, that's nice. Go show Cream your new book. Mommy's busy." Lavender said, nudging the colt away.

"Mister? What's your name?" Fetch asked, looking more forlorn than when I originally met him.

"Coyote Joe, but you can call me Joey." I said giving him a pat on the head. Seeing his smile return once again did little to hide the anger that was now growing towards his two parents. Fetch promptly ran off to the direction of the Tower's shops, presumably to find the hateful, yet kind, confectionist. I would just have to deal with those confused feelings later, I needed to have a heart to heart with Cal.

"Wow Joey, you have a way with kids!" Cal said, being cut off by Lavender.

"You have no right to speak to my child!" Lavender belted out.

That's it, I can't take this anymore, Tower policy be damned. With all my strength, I spun and planted both off my hind hooves into Caliber's chest and lower jaw, sending him flying across the lobby's floor. The impact had the desired effect of getting him as far from me as I wanted and knocking him out cold. I then turned to Lavender, who was now backing away from me with a look of shock.

"Don't you dare hit me..." She managed to squeak out as I advanced on her.

"How dare you! How could you be such a worthless cunt towards Fetch like that! He was genuinely happy about learning to read and wanted to show you the book he earned. What did you do? You pushed him away! When I first met you, I felt sorry for you. Now? I hope you take a long walk off a short roof." I said with all the hate that had been building inside of me. I also somehow managed to keep my voice low enough not to rouse the security guards, but threatening enough to have the desired effect of scaring the purple mare.

"I DON'T DESERVE THIS SHI..." Lavender started, but was quickly cut off.

"You don't deserve HIM. Not this, HIM! FETCH! That little colt is the sweetest kid I have ever met, how he turned out so well with a bitch of a mother like you is a mystery."

"THIS IS ALL CALIBER'S FAULT!" Lavender said, hoping to push the blame on the still unconscious buck.

"You have no room to talk, it takes two ponies to make a baby. Even if you didn't mean to, Fetch is your responsibility now and as a mother, you should... oh I don't know... BE A MOTHER!" I shouted in her face, despite my best efforts to try and remain calm. Lavender no longer held a look of anger, but instead, now wore one of regret.

"I'm trying my best! It's hard to raise a kid and pay to live here!" Lavender said now cowering as if she expected anything that she said would set me off. I lowered my gaze to her's until I was inches from her face.

"TRY. HARDER." I said putting as much emphasis on the word 'harder' as I could.

"But I'm..." Lavender started.

"Not trying hard enough. I don't want your excuses for the way you treat him. Oh yeah, he told me that you won't even play with him, so don't think I have no clue what a massive pile of shit you are." I said. Lavender had figured out that nothing she could say would please me. Even though I could not see myself, I would venture a guess that my eyes had turned blood red with anger. I was shaking, gritting my teeth and doing my very best to maintain my composure. The fact that doing anything more than I already was would get me kicked out of the Tower was not lost on me. Just the same, I'm pissed. And right now, I'm forcing everything that's in my brain through my internal filter at an alarming rate. If I keep this up, I might actually snap and buck the purple bitch through a wall.

"I.. I'm sorry..." Lavender said, tears beginning to bead up in the corners of her eyes.

"You're sorry alright. I will be back here one day, and when I do, you had better be treating Fetch the way he deserves to be treated. He's too good for you." I said, walking past her and the guards that had now started moving closer to the commotion.

"What about Caliber?" I heard Lavender say as I trotted past the guards.

"Oh trust me, He's not going to get off as easy as you did."

I made my way to the edge of the lobby to where Cal was just coming back to the world of the living from his surprise nap.

"Joey? What the hell happened to me... " Cal started, but was quickly cut off when I grabbed his tail in my teeth and began dragging him behind me.

"OW OW OW OW! JOEY STOP IT! WHAT THE HELL." Caliber shouted at me.

"Shut up! I'm not done with you by a DAMN sight boy!" I roared back to him. Oh wow, where did that come from. Did I just channel my inner Boss? Wow, talk about imprinting.

I continued to drag Cal behind me, despite his continued bellowing that he was in pain and that he did in fact have four legs and could walk for himself. I paid neither him nor the shocked stares of the other ponies around us any mind, I'm still pissed off and Cal will be my punching bag for everything hateful I have left. Starting up the stairs, Cal's words became more choppy as his head bounced off each step during our accent. About halfway up our 4th flight, we passed a dark gray mare with a messy mane who, taking in the I'm sure bizarre display before her, looked to me, then to Cal, then back to me and gave me a wink.

"DJ, Ow, Pony's asis, Ow, assistant! Please, Ow. HELP ME!" Cal said between the each step's assault on his lower jaw.

"Oh my, Have fun you two." The gray mare said as we passed her by.

Now what was that all about. Cal is not going to be having any fun tonight, he's going to get a worse cussing than the baker did. That reminds me, I need to find a way to thank her for being so nice to Fetch...

"Of all the low, dirty, horrible things you could do Cal, running from your own child is at the top of the list of shitty things you have managed to do in your sad fucking life." I yelled across the room. Cal was now lying on his sheet-less bed, nursing a bruised chest and I'm sure, an extremely sore jaw.

"Joey, where the hell are my sheets? They didn't give me any?" Cal said, trying for the fifth time now to change the topic.

"Don't try to avoid this Cal, do you have any idea what this is doing to Fetch? Did you ever think about that? The poor kid has a cunt for a mother, has to grow up alone and has a father that wants nothing to do with him!"

"Joey, I grew up without a dad and I turned out just..."

"Don't you even say it! No buck that runs from responsibility, fucks anything with a pulse and could be this big of an asshole, turned out just fine! You are unbelievable sometimes, this isn't just something that will go away Cal, Fetch will always be here, you saw to that your-damn-self."

"Exactly, he will always be here, whether I'm here or not, so why does it matter?"

"It matters because this isn't just some dog you found, this is a life you created! Fetch is a pony, YOUR son and you are dismissing him like he's some stray animal that somehow has inconvenienced you."

"Look, I know how this must look to you, but you don't know what it's like in the REAL WORLD. You stay buried in your work and never even talk to other ponies, you don't know how things work around here."

"I know that everything you just said was bullshit. I know that you have no clue what your are doing. I know you are the problem here, not the solution."

"Oh, I'm the problem? What about Lavender, If I recall, she could have kicked me to the curb at anytime. But she was just as willing to bang as I was, where does the blame fall for her?" Cal, despite my best efforts, remained on the defensive.

We had been at this for hours now and my voice was beginning to fade out from all the yelling. Twice now, Tower Security had been called to our room for multiple noise complaints and had warned that the 3rd time would result in an additional charge being placed on the room. Cal had held his position that he was blame free of the situation, casting all the fault to Lavender's eagerness to get him into bed. It was a false wall that he put up between him and the rest of the world to validate his own mistakes and absolve him of his actions.

"She is irrelevant, she's a fucking cunt that doesn't deserve to have that colt and honestly, the way you are acting, neither do you."

"Oh so now I'm the bad parent? Tell me, is he being beaten everyday? Is he being forced to go out and hunt for food for his mother? Does he have to sleep outside like a dog just because his mother can't stand the thought of him being near her? Does Fetch have to deal with any of the things that I had too?" Cal said, his anger growing with every word that left his mouth.

"Cal, don't bring up your own past and try to compare it to him."

"No Joey, you want to really talk about this? You will never know the pain I had to deal with, but let me give you a little taste of what things are really like outside of that safe little caravan you came from." Cal said, jumping from his bed to the floor near me.

"When I was his age, my mother tried to sell me off to slavers just so she could make a few caps to pay for drugs. I had to run away for weeks at a time when she was using, so that she wouldnt try to beat me to death in my sleep because she thought I was a radroach. When I was 7, she broke my fucking hind legs so that I couldn't leave her when she got sick. I had to kill my own mother just to survive! So don't you dare tell me who the bad parent here is, you hopeless fuck!" Cal said turning from me.

It was no use talking to him, I already knew his past. I also know that it's the place he goes to when he wants to end a fight. He looks at arguments about his own faults like a competition of whose life is more fucked up and will try to use the heaviest of his memories to shut them down, just to win the fight. But the past is the past and regardless of what happened to him when he was like a colt himself, he was doing the very thing that caused him so much pain to somepony else now. I guess it's true what they say, hate breeds hate, pain breeds pain and self pity keeps the cycle moving.

"So your mother caused you so much pain that you have to hurt others just to hide it from yourself? You have to fuck up everypony else's life to justify your own existence? You are running from the one kid that you know for a fact you have, because you think that he deserves to feel the same pain you did?"

"Don't you put that on me! I'm nothing like my mother! I wouldn't hurt anypony who hasn't earned it!"

"Really Cal? Because that's exactly what you are doing to Fetch. It's a different form of pain that hurts just as bad. He's just a kid, he doesn't know about the fucked up way you look at the world or how you think things should be. He just wants to be loved and for somepony to care about him. He might not know you, but not knowing your own father because he's so wrapped up in his own self-pity that he had to have a fucking kid and ignore it to justify his own past is just as fucking bad."

"Fuck you! You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me saving your simple ass."

"No Caliber. Fuck you. Fuck you for being the worst of anypony I have ever met. Just because you have done some good in your life, doesn't mean you can cast your sins aside. And now, you are making brand new ones. Life isn't a scale where you can just out-weight everything you did wrong with a few good action to atone for them. No, you have to carry them with you everywhere you go, you have to try to be a better pony even after you have done something so horrible that you can't bare to live with yourself. The only way you can overcome them, is to accept them for what they are and let them make you better for it. Not pretend to throw them away and let on with a false bravado to hide your pain."

"I really am starting to regret saving you now."

"I wish you had not, I never would have seen the pony you have become. I don't want to live knowing ponies like you exist if that's the way you look at the world."

Cal said nothing, instead he trotted back to the bed, climbed in and reserved himself to staring at the ceiling. He had shut down and refused to acknowledge his own actions for what he had done. Sure he had done bad things in the past but, this was a mistake that could be fixed and he was walking away from it like it was as simple as a spilled drink. He saw Lavender and Fetch as yet another inconvenience that he had to deal with on some minimal level to move on to his next mistake. It was infuriating that it made me feel pity for him, but then again, that's exactly what he wanted. Even if all this pushed him over the edge and ended our friendship, I would be OK with carrying that with me for the rest of my days if he were to change even in the slightest for it.

Not just for the sake of Fetch, but for him too. How could a pony go on living with the way he does and not feel the weight of everything that he had done. Such a thing would weigh me down to the point of crawling through life, barely surviving anything that was thrown at me. But all Cal had to do was open another bottle of booze, find another mare, kill another raider and he would have the strength to keep moving forward. It's insanity, some deep seated parasitic pain that festers into something far worse over time, numbness to the pain you cause from your own actions just to keep it fed so that it will let you keep moving. Ignoring it would weigh you down with its eminence bulk until you either collapse under it's pressure or find a way to deal with it. I guess that's why drinking, chasing mares and killing are all called crutches, because for somepony like Cal, they are the only thing holding him up.

I turned to walk out of the room, nothing I could say would get through to him, only he could unlock the door to the room he was hiding in. A long silence fell between us as my hoof found the brass door handle, I looked back to Caliber, who was still staring into space.

"I guess that's why they call you Sparky. Everything good you are near, you set it on fire."

The comment prompted a glance in my direction as I turned to ornate handle and left the room and Cal to work through their own demons alone. Closing the door behind me felt almost like I had closed the cover of a book, the feeling was melancholy, happy that the fight was over, but still upset that nothing was gained. I wanted him to see what he was doing to the world around him, not just keep moving forward for the sake of survival. But Cal was having none of that, he was fine with perpetuating his very own hell that he had placed himself in, even if it scorched the lives of everypony that dared come near him. He had even done the same with me, burning that part of my memory that he had invaded like a wildfire would the forest. Every perception I had of him now was tainted by his actions and scared by the pony he had shown me that he could be.

I wanted the old Caliber back, the funny guy that I had come to know and love through his own reckless stupidity and bravery. Not this monster that consumed the lives of everypony around him, bring them pain and suffering. I miss the times when I could hang on his every word he would say without it having to come into question for the lives he hurt along the way. Before I could laugh when he would tell me about the fights he had gotten into or the crazy mares that he would have to hide from after a wild night of drinking. But becoming friends with him meant that now I had to see the other side of him, the real Caliber that hurts other ponies with his own selfish need to cope. Everything that he would do or say from now on would be stained with the sins that he threw on them to avoid his own guilt. I just don't know if I could be friends with somepony like that.

Then again, was I any better for casting him to the side like something foul that I had stepped in? Wouldn't a true friend try to help him get past this? Yes, they would and that's exactly what I was trying to do now. The only way for Caliber to get any better would be for me to help him through this, even if it meant me leaving him on his own for a while to think about what he had done for the last few years of his life. Part of me felt that I was right in doing what I did, saying the things that I knew would hurt him to try and shock him back into reality, for him to face these problems head on. After all, he had done the same for me when he told the doctors about my Med-x addiction. I didn't like it then, but now, I felt better than I had in weeks despite the fear of coming so close to going down a dark road. Cal had cared for me enough to keep an eye on me then and now I was doing the same for him, I just hope he can see that through all the hurtful things that I screamed at him. But for now, he just wanted to be left alone, and I just want my friend back.

Looks like we will be staying the night here, probably for the best seeing as Cal was still sulking in the room and I was still waiting for the muffins I had paid for. What could be taking her so long that I would have to wait until morning before I could pick them up, also, where the hell is Life Bloom? I have been trying since I left the room 4 hours ago to get my pipbuck back and despite my best efforts and going to the clinic three times now, I have managed to miss him all three times. I have walked all over this place now twice, I even got kicked out of the restricted section of the Tower's staff quarters when I happened along them by mistake. The level of boredom I was being subjected to was now at a monumental level, and I was starting to go stir crazy.

I sat down on a bench in the wares section of the Tower, just opposite of Cream's Confectionery and stared into the plate glass window. At this point the most exciting thing in the whole damn place was my own reflection, albeit still a bit unsettling to say the least. The stripes that had begun to appear across my body were still very faint, but visible nonetheless. Gazing into my own reflection I could see that they were much more pronounced on my right side and seemed to be getting darker. Granted much of their darkening color was in my imagination, still shocked from their appearance, but I couldn't help but notice the dark grey lines every time I saw myself. I don't look like me anymore, I feel the same but now it's like I have this dark cloud hanging over me everywhere I go.

Part of me doesn't mind in the slightest that my body is starting to look more and more like a zebra with each passing hour, but another part of me wishes it would all go away, back to the way I used to look. Sure I was boring to look at, but at least other ponies paid me no mind, now however, the few that did notice them, would curl their lips up in disgust. Had this been New Appleloosa, I would be devastated by this form of mistreatment, but here? They can all kiss my ass. Sure it was awkward, but I honestly couldn't care less what these ponies think about me, after all, it's hard to value the opinion of anypony whose biggest fear is the restaurant running out of wine. Scratch that remark about not caring what anypony here thinks of me.

I sat and watched as Fetch made his way into the baker's shop, he had not noticed me as he bounced his way down the hall past me and through the open doors. He was greeted by Cream who, walking around the counter, guided the young colt around it to a bench where he promptly sat down and began to start talking. Judging by the Cream's facial expression, Fetch was packing ten pounds of information into a one pound bag. Well I could sit here and feel sorry for myself, or I could go see how Fetch is doing, maybe even grab something to eat while I was at it. After all, the doctor did say that I needed to start eating better. I wonder If bread counts, maybe even muffins.

I trotted through the open doors of Cream's Shop and made my way to the counter where Cream was being, as best as I could tell, held hostage by her own kindness.

"Hey Cream, what do you have that's ready to eat, like now?" I asked while Fetch was taking a deep breath.

"Oh! Yes, I have some cookies left and I think that I've got half a loaf of bread back there. everything else is still baking." Cream said, kinder than I'm used to being talked to. I can't tell if she being genuinely kind or just happy to break away from the colt's verbal assault.

"Cookies and bread, eh? What the hell, I'll have a cookie sandwich!" I said jokingly.

"You got it!" Cream said, running through the doors to her back room. Ah, happy to get away it was then.

I looked over the counter to where Fetch was sitting and saw nothing but an empty bench with a few odd books lying on it. It was at that moment I became aware of a large mass attached to my hind leg, either I have grown a tumor in the last five minutes or...

"HI JOEY!" Came the squeaky voice of the young colt now squeezing my leg for attention.

"Woah, hey kid! What are you doing up this late? Don't you have a bed time?" I asked, giving my leg a shake, hoping to get it back.

"NOPE! Mommy works late a lot, so I come here and talk to Ms. Cream until she get's off." Fetch said, still refusing to release my leg.

"Well then, I bet she loves having you around to talk to! Have you been reading your book?" I asked, again shaking my leg in hopes of freedom.

"YUP! Mommy says I'm getting faster! She even read it with me at the spa!" Fetch said, refusing once more to loosen his death grip.

"She did? How do you like that, I bet that was fun for the both you two." I said, now conceding that I was not allowed to have my leg back.

"She says she's going to take tomorrow off and spend the day with me! I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun!" Fetch said, seeming to vibrate with enthusiasm. Lavender? Spending time with Fetch? Well, I guess a good cussing is all that's needed sometimes. Even if it was founded in fear, I don't see how that could be a bad thing.

"No way! I'm happy for you buddy!" No sooner than the words had left my mouth, Cream shouted from the confines of the back room.

"Joey! Would you mind giving me a hoof? Ask fetch to wait outside, It's too dangerous for him back here right now." Cream yelled. Too dangerous? It's a kitchen, what could be so dangerous back there.

"Ok Fetch, I need my leg back. You heard Ms. Cream." I said, finally feeling the blood return to my hind hoof.

"Yeah, yeah... rads are bad for little colts, I know..." Fetch said, trotting back to the bench behind the counter.

Wait, rads? Why would there be radiation in the kitchen? Walking behind the counter to the double doors that lead to the kitchen in the back room, I took notice to Fetch who was reading the book I had given him earlier. Well, trying to read anyhow. It was good to see him making such a strong effort to learn, even if he could just barely produce any real results. Approaching the doors to the kitchen, I was met with a green glow that was overcoming the ambient light around me. It was almost eerie in it's glow that bathed me once I passed through the doors.

"Put that suit on in the corner and take one of those Rad-X tablets!" Came the muffled voice of Cream who was also wearing a yellow suit.

I trotted to the corner to retrieve the similar looking suit that, once I had put it on, covered my head, front legs, chest, half of my back and wings. This thing had to be made for a mare, judging by how tight it was around my mid section and chest, a young mare at that. The Stable-Tec logo was adorned on the back of the suit, and by the looks of it, the suit would do little to protect me from anything if it were to be behind me.

"Ok, give me a hoof with this Joey." Cream said, holding a long pair of forceps with a small vial of green glowing powder in it.

"What in the sweet fuck is that stuff!?" I asked, looking to Cream for guidance.

"Ground up stone from a balefire crater that I made. I call it 'Rad Powder'. I need you to stir the batter as I pour the powder in, you think you can handle that?" Cream asked in a stern parenting tone.

"Yeah, yeah. One question, why are you putting radioactive powder in this... stuff?" I asked.

"Ditzy's Muffins. Remember? Ditzy's a ghoul if that fact has managed to slip past you, Rad Muffins are her favorite." Cream said, as she let the powder begin to trickle out of the vial into the smooth contents of the bowl.

"You do know you are contaminating everything in this kitchen right?" I said, mixing the glowing green powder into the contents of the bowl.

"Radiation doesn't work like that dumbass! It's the material that causes contamination, not the radiation itself! The rads you absorb into your body come from the the decay of the radioactive material, in fact the rads that this stuff gives off will kill any germs within a ten foot distance! Now focus, this stuff is so fine that it goes everywhere when you spill it." Cream said, still dribbling the contents into the bowl.

"Uhuh, you said you made this stuff right? Here in this kitchen?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Just... just mix the fucking bowl." Cream said, clearly flustered.

Rad Muffins... I should have known. Granted I had never heard of them before but it stands to reason that Ditzy, a well loved ghoul across the wasteland, would have muffins fortified with radiation. I now understand why they had cost so much to buy, Cream would have had to pay a ghoul to go and get the stones from a balefire crater, grind them up, make them into a powder and bake them. The very thought of what she was doing back here unnerved me to no end, NO WONDER EVERYTHING I ATE FROM HERE MADE MY PIPBUCK CLICK!

"Cream, is this even safe?" I asked, holding the whisk in my fetlock.

"Oh you poor little colt, it's no more dangerous than walking near a crater. Besides, you are in a suit, you'll be fine."

"Cream these suits are for contamination, not exposure."

"All the more reason for you to shut up and stir, the sooner this stuff is in the oven, the sooner we can get out of here." Cream said, emptying the remaining contents into the bowl.

Once we had completed the dangerous task of mixing the muffin mix, Cream then set both of us to the task of pouring the contents into the muffin trays. I had asked how I was supposed to carry these things back to Ditzy without dying of radiation sickness, but was met with a hoof pointing to a box in the corner. It was a dark gray box that seemed to be made of metal with a bio hazard symbol on the front of it with a locking lid that, once closed according to Cream, would keep things within the daily allowance of radiation dosage. Still, I think Caliber will be carrying the box of doom muffins... doomuffins... dooffins? Whatever.

Walking back to the front of the shop once more, Cream threw me a small juice box of Rad-Away and told me to "start sucking" and went to sit near Fetch. I turned the box over in my hooves to read the front of it to see the foal-like writing. Huh, Rad-Away for foals, I had never seen these before, berry flavored at that. I poked the small straw through in the hole in the top and began to sip the contents out and turned to look at the window. Outside I could see Cal and Lavender talking to each other, oh hell, this can't be good. Cream had taken up teaching Fetch to read his new book, the two studying it intently as I passed them by to trot out of the store.

"Look Joey! Cream is helping me read the book you gave me, we are already on the 4th page!" Fetch said, beaming with pride.

"Awesome, little guy! Keep at it, I'll be back in just a second, I need to talk to somepony really quick. I'm sure Cream won't mind helping you out for a while. " I said, making eye contact with Cream and motioning my head towards Cal and Lavender in hopes that she would keep him distracted from the fight that was about to happen. There was no need to see his mother and father going at it, he was too young to need to deal with that level of confusion just yet.

Cream, seeing my intentions, promptly shifted in her seat to put herself in the way of his two arguing parents and began to focus on teaching the colt to read. I started making my way to the door, but froze in my tracks when I heard Caliber's almost pleading voice echoing down the hallway. He sounded almost desperate, like he was begging even, in his tone towards the mare, something I had never heard from Cal before. Lavender however, held a tone in her voice I had heard before, It was one of resolve and not backing down that she was aiming towards Cal.

"I'm sorry, but I think things might be better if you just left the Tower, me and Fetch are trying to make it by and don't need your help." Lavender said.

"But, I could help! I know this place is expensive and all, I could help pay for somethings for you guys!" Cal said, again in that pleading tone.

"No Cal, you have done enough. I can appreciate you wanting to be a part of his life and even mine but, I think it would be better if he didn't know you."

"How can you say that!? He's my son too, sure I was a bit shocked when you told me, it's not something you can start a conversation with! If you would just let me talk to him..." Cal was cut of by a wave of Lavender's hoof.

"No Cal, too little, too late. You had your chance but you ran from it, you even had a second chance when you came back but you ran again. I don't want Fetch growing up around somepony like you. You should listen to your friend rather than fight with him, in the one hour he has spent with Fetch, he has been more of a father than you will ever be. He even taught him to read! That's more than I can say even." Lavender said. I couldn't help but cringe at that statement, feeling like I had walked on hollowed ground that I was never meant to tread on.

"I know, I just needed to hear it from him. He can be a right asshole sometimes but I know he's right, it's just so hard not to argue with him when I'm on trial. Look, please, I'm begging you... Can I please just meet him?" Cal said with a hitch in his voice.

"I'm sorry, the answer's no." Lavender said as she turned and walked away.

Caliber sat down hard and watched as the purple mare trotted away from him, leaving him to sulk in the mess they both had created. Even though she was making an effort to be a part of Fetch's life, she was using him to get back at Cal the only way she knew how, by denying him to meet his only son. The thought of her using Fetch like a bargaining chip was infuriating, but watching her do it to Cal brought about a lot of conflicting thoughts to mind. Sure Cal deserved to have his flank served up on a silver platter for acting the way he did, but at least he was making an effort. Honestly that's the only thing I wanted from him from the start, to make an effort, to acknowledge that he had done wrong and face the problem head on.

Cal had taken my advice and been beaten even more for his very trying to do right. I had thought that by him trying to make amends with Lavender that he would be doing the right thing, maybe even bring about some closure to this whole ordeal. But now I feel like I was used as a bat to hurt him even more by my very actions of helping Fetch learn to read. I guess the saying 'the path to hell is paved with good intentions' is true after all. My good intentions paved a road for Caliber to try and make things right by Lavender, now he was at her mercy to see his own son and in turn, placed him in his own hell. This isn't fair! He's trying to do the right thing but everypony just sees him for the ass he once was, not the pony he is trying to be. I guess in Tenpony when your name is mud, it stays mud.

Finally walking to his side, I couldn't tell if he was crying or shaking with anger, nevertheless, I was prepared for him to hit me, or hug me.

"Caliber? What are you doing down here?" I asked, deciding to let him tell me the details for himself.

"Oh. Hey Joey. I just came down to get some cheese. Fighting always makes me hungry for cheese. "Caliber said, looking to the closed-up cheese shop. "I guess they are closed..." Cal trailed off.

"Yeah, Cream said the guy who runs this joint is out with his wife somewhere in the wasteland or something." I said, trying to fill the dead space between us.

"It's not fair... All I wanted to do was try to make things right and she pulls this shit on me? Why do I even try!?" Cal said, more angry than upset.

"Because trying is the right thing to do. You made a mistake, sure you ran from it at first, but the point is you tried to make things right. It's not that you fell down, it's how you fell down that matters."

"Then why do I feel like shit for trying? I thought I would feel better after asking to meet him but now... it just hurts."

"Let me ask you something... Why did you talk to her about this?"

"I was sitting there, thinking of ways to get back at you for cussing me, then I guess I started thinking about it and I wanted to meet him."

"So you did this because you wanted to meet your son... Why?" I asked seeing him looking off into the distance.

"I don't want him to be like me." Is all Cal said, leaving much to be desired in the way of insight. But from what I could gather, I don't think that he was doing this for him. Maybe he had thought things through and decided that he didn't want the little colt growing up not knowing who his father was. Maybe it was because he wanted to feel better about himself after everything I had put him through back in the room. But it could also be that he wanted better for Fetch, maybe for him to know that there was somepony else out there that was just like him. Either way, Cal was moving in the right direction, just at a snail's pace thanks to Lavender. If she didn't want Fetch to know who Cal was because he was an asshole, that's fair enough in it's thinking, but I feel like she might be doing this more out of malice than love for her son. Nopony turns around in one day, this holds true for both Lavender and Caliber, but I still have this feeling that she's doing this to spite him.

"Hey, Do you want to meet him?"

"She said no Joey, how could I-"

"He's in the bakery, right behind you. He's reading a book with Cream." I said, pointing to the shop behind us.

"She said no, that's her decision to make not mine." Cal said, standing.

"Screw her, you should at least get to see him before we head out, if nothing else to know he's a good kid."

"What would I even say to him? Hi, I'm Caliber, your dead beat dad that didn't know you existed and ran away from you. Sounds like a great ice breaker!" Cal said, looking at me completely lost.

"How about hello to start with, you will figure it out from there." I said guiding him into Cream's.

"I don't know about this Joey, what if I fuck it up?"

"You'll be fine, trust me, he's a sweet kid." I said, looking over to Cream.

"Hey Cream, do you think you and I could have a word in the kitchen?" I asked, trying to make it obvious that we needed to leave the room.

"Back there!? Are you nuts!? The muffins are cooking and are about to hit critical mass! You can't be in the same room with them when that's happening!" Cream said with a look of 'are you stupid' across her face.

"Outside, whatever! I need to talk to you, you mad scientist!" I said, nodding my head to Cal.

"Fine... Fetch, we will pick this back up in a moment." Cream said with a huff, standing to walk to the door.

"Ok Cal, just play it cool." I said, walking past Cal.

"Heh, no pressure, right?"

Cream and I walked to the front of the store and sat down in the hallway, just within earshot of the two's conversation. Through the window I no longer saw my reflection, but instead saw Cal shaking in his hooves, standing next to Fetch.

"Ok Joey, what's so important..." Cream said, lighting a cigarette.

"That's Caliber, Fetch's dad."

"Wait, Fetch has a father!?" Cream asked almost in shock.

"Everypony has a father, Cream..."

"And you just so happen to find him."

"It's... complicated but yes, Caliber is Fetche's father. Now shush, I'm trying to spy." I said, leaning my ear to the crack between the door and windowed store front. Inside I could hear Cal fumbling through his words. It was actually kind of cute to watch, I was used to the wild and crazy Caliber, not this quivering mass of fear all stemming from a little colt. It was as if he had regressed to a young colt who was about to talk to the first mare he had ever met.

"Hi, Fetch is it?" Caliber said in a meek voice.

"Yeah! Who are you?" Came the enthusiastic voice of Fetch.

"Oh! Yeah! My name's Caliber. I'm Joey's friend."

"I know Joey! He gave me this book and showed me how to read it!"

"Yeah, he's a good guy, stubborn, but a good guy."

"I saw him talking to mommy earlier, do you think he would be my dad if I asked him?" Fetch said hopefully. Ouch, I didn't see that coming. Granted, Cal had expressed that he wasn't father material, but still, that had to hurt just the same.

"I don't know buddy, he's a busy guy. But I'm sure that given the chance he would do it in a heartbeat." Cal said, much more nonchalant than I had expected.

"Hey, what's it like hanging out with him? I bet you guys get to go on all kinds of adventures together! DJ Pon3 is always talking about how he shoot's up the slavers on the radio."

"It's fun, painful sometimes but we have fun together." Cal said, rubbing his half bitten-off ear. What do I have to do to get him to stop messing with that damn thing! It's going to fall off!

"I knew it! Tell me a story! Um... Please?" Fetch said, bouncing from floor to bench with excitement.

"A story? Like a story about me and Joey working together?" Cal said, taking in Fetch's rambunctious addicted with wide eyed amusement.

"Yeah, yeah! Tell me a story! Please, please, please!" Fetch said, almost vibrating with excitement. Wow, he even says "yeah, yeah" in rapid succession like Cal does.

"Ok!" Cal said, sitting down on the floor. "Joey and I were working on a job, trying to find a young colt who had been taken by slavers..."
Cal started, but I wasn't able to catch the rest of his, I'm sure embellished story, due to Life Bloom scaring me half to death when he tapped my shoulder.

"Sorry Joey, I didn't mean to frighten you." Life Bloom said.

"I'm going to check on the muffins, you two have fun..." Cream said with an odd inflection in her voice.

"There you are, how did you sneak up on me like that?" I said, looking around. There was no place that he could have come from, that I would not have seen or heard him coming.

"Oh, I get around quietly. I have your pipbuck ready."

"Oh thank goddesses, tell me you go that damn thing working again."

"It was pretty beat up, but I managed to save the poor thing. You really should be nicer to your toys, they work better when you are nicer to them."

"I'll be nicer to them when they work!"

"Ugh... Ok, it seems the problem was that the video board had a hairline crack in it, that's why it went dark on you. But Caliber told me that you had been having problems more and more out of it since you two started working together."

"Yeah, it would just stop working at times for no reason. The inventory sorter would die out and the thing that tells me how messed up I am would go blank."

"Hold your hoof out for me, please." Life Bloom asked, holding the open pipbuck in his out-stretched legs. With a firm click, the small computer locked itself to my leg.

"Ah, just as I thought."

"What?" I asked, turning the pipbuck over on my leg.

"It's loose, chances are that since you have started flying more, you have lost a significant amount of weight." He said, poking at one of my exposed ribs. The gesture was met with a giggle from the odd sensation of being touched.

"Yeah, I know. I don't like things to be tight on me so I asked the mare to leave it a little loose." I said, guarding my side from his poking.

"There lies the problem. Pipbucks work off of the galvanic response from the wearer. They gather data from the sensor pad under the main screen of the unit and intemperate it into readable data for the user to address as needed. It also uses the wearer's body as a sort of an antenna to read local threats and items or locations that you have come in contact with. When it is loose, it will work intermittently, but ultimately stop working entirely from lack of inheritable data, or in your case, being hit too hard. The spell it casts gathers energy from the user to power its on-board functions, including its durability spell." Life Bloom said. Seeing my face of 'what the hay are you even talking about', he let out a grunt of frustration.

"Ugh! Too losie, no worky! No foody means no fitty..." He said, rubbing his temples.

"OH! Ok! I understand now."

It all made sense. Every time my pipbuck had stopped working had been after a long flight or weeks in the wasteland. The fact that during those times I had burned a lot of calories and lost weight, making it not work properly. Life Bloom then removed a few tools from his bags and set to tightening the elastic straps on the offending pipbuck.

"Usually, these straps are tightened to just be snug enough to keep it in place, but loose enough to allow for the wearer's comfort. I would imagine that whoever installed yours had no clue about these things. But this doesn't mean that you can slack off on keeping yourself fed. We don't see pegasi very often, but from the few I have met, your race has shown to burn calories at an alarming rate. So even with them adjusted correctly now, you may need them adjusted again once you start eating better." Life Bloom said, finishing up the final adjustments.

"So doc, are you saying the remedy is cake?" I said with a smirk.

"Ugh... Just, be more careful." Life Bloom said, gathering his tools and walking away from me.

"Wait! Don't I owe you anything for this?" I yelled after him.

"No charge... Why do the cute one's always have to be so dumb." Life Bloom muttered.

"I'm not dumb! I'm just... Wait? Cute?" I said, sitting down hard.

Life Bloom disappeared around the corner by the time I had comprehended what he had said. Cute? He thought I was cute? What was that all about. I'm not cute! I'm the baddest pegasi I know! Well... considering that I'm the only pegasi I know, doesn't exactly give me much to go on here, but still. I turned from where Life Bloom had trotted off too and seemingly disappeared to look back in on Caliber and Fetch talking only to find that very little talking was actually happening.

Fetch had resorted back to bouncing from wall to wall with excitement while Caliber, looking very overwhelmed by the young colt's enthusiasm, did his best to keep his eyes on him and tell his story at the same time. I had stood from my seated position and pointed myself towards the door when I made eye contact with Lavender and Steel Water who were making their way towards me, both of them wearing looks of anger. Doing my best not to look shocked by what I knew was about to happen, I continued my advancement towards the door as calmly as I could, as not to draw attention to myself.

No sooner than my tail had cleared the door, I bucked the wedge shaped door jam out of its place and slammed the door closed behind me. Looking up to a very confused Caliber and Fetch and a very unhappy Cream, I shouted as loud as i dared.

"IT'S FETCH'S MOM AND STEEL WATER! HIDE!"

The comment was meet with a melody of emotions. Anger from Caliber, mild annoyance from Cream, but the most shocking look came from Fetch. Fear, pure hoof-shaking, clenched jaw fear permeated from the young colt. This was surprising considering that he knew nothing about Caliber being his father or that he would be murdered to death by Steel Water if they were seen together.

"YOU HAVE TO HIDE! IF MOMMY FINDS OUT I'M TALKING TO YOU, UNCLE STEEL WILL POUND YOU INTO LITTLE PONY PIECES!" Squeaked out a very excited Fetch.

"Oh hell..." Mumbled Cream

"If you two get my store destroyed over a father-son reunion, those muffins won't be the only thing in the damn oven!"

"CREAM! WHERE'S THE NEAREST A/C VENT!?" Caliber said glancing around the store in desperation.

"In the kitchen, between the ovens. Why?"

"No time! Goodbye Fetch, be a good boy and remember what I told you, ok?"

"Yup!" Chirped Fetch.

"Wait, what?!" I asked, looking to both of them with confusion.

"Later, I'll meet you in the room, I was never here!" Caliber said as he crouched under double doors of the kitchen and faded into the green glowing room.

"Stupid colt, I hope his nuts rot off from the rads back there." Cream said under her breath.

"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT MY DAD THAT WAY!" Fetch screeched.

"What!? Never mind, both of you shush!" I said, turning to see Lavender and Steel rounding the corner to the bakery's door. Doing my best nonchalant impression, I greeted them both as they walked through the door.

"Well if it isn't Lavender and Steel Water."

"Where is he!" Bellowed Lavender.

"I saw him! He just came in here." Said Steel Water.

"Who? Fetch? He's right over there! What are you? Blind?" I said as sarcastically as I dared.

"YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I'M TALKING ABOUT! WHERE. IS. HE!" Screamed the now very, very angry purple mare.

"Seriously, I have no clue who you are talking about." I said, again putting on my best nonchalant face.

Lavender then looked to Cream who was doing her best to look busy, narrowing her eyes towards her in hopes of provoking the answer that would satiate her suspicions. A deep sinking feeling took hold of me, leading me to only hope that what little camaraderie we have would somehow be enough to allow her to lie for us. Cream, to her credit, did her best to evade the question.

"What are you talking about, I have only seen Fetch and Joey in here in the last 2 hours." Cream said while opening the register and counting down the till.

"Where is that prick Caliber hiding at Cream? I saw him come in here on the cameras." Steel Water said with a far too calm demeanor.

"What? On those two century old black and white cameras? I have seen the monitors. It's a wonder you can make out anything on those things. Are you sure you didn't just see Joey?" Cream said.

"I know what I saw. I saw him talking to sis over by the Cheese shop and then saw Joey lead him in here." Said Steel Water.

"Uhuh... Did you rewind it and look twice, or are you going off what you think you saw? Oh that's right, you can't rewind them can you? As I recall, you couldn't do that last week when somepony broke in here after hours and took all of the sweet rolls." Cream said arcing a brow. I had to admit, she made a very convincing argument, or at the very least, it sounded like she might have some dirt on Steel Water. Looking to him confirmed my suspicions. Steel Water wore a guilty look that he was trying to cover with an uneasy smile.

"No I can't sadly, the recorder has been broken for some time now."

"So you have no way of proving Caliber was even here? In my book that would be a blind accusation towards somepony whom you have a vendetta towards." I said accusingly.

"It is hardly blind! Because of him I'm a single mom!" Lavender belted back at me.

"Oh boohoo, a single mother in the safest place in the damn wasteland. Others should be so lucky! Besides, wasn't Caliber just talking to you, trying to make amends and help out in some way? If things are SO hard on you, why wouldn't you take his help?" I asked narrowing my eyes at the two of them. The constant shifting of blame was taking it's toll on Lavender's patience, the anger that she was starting to display was almost palatable. Having no dog in this fight meant that I had little to nothing to lose by arguing a lie and even less to be judged on. This also meant that while Lavender was busy getting mad, I was left calm and collected. She lost the fight before she even walked through the door.

"What do you know about me and my struggles? What business is any of this to you?" Lavender said, now being held back by Steel Water.

"You made it my business when you decided to call out one of my friends for being a bad parent when you yourself are not much better. What's that old saying? Don't throw stones in glass stables?" I said, turning my back to her.

"Com'on sis, there is no sense getting mad over this, didn't you say that Fetch had already figured out that Caliber is his father? What harm could come from it anyhow?" Steel Water said, trying to guide the irate mare out the door.

"Next time I see him anywhere near Fetch, I'm going to string him up by his hedge apples! You got that?" Lavender said, poking a hoof to my chest.

"And the next time I hear about you taking your frustrations out on Fetch, there will be little left of you to string up." I said with a deadly stillness in my voice. It was an idle threat, but it had the desired effect on Lavender to not only make her stern glare falter, but also prove to her that I wasn't Caliber and that she couldn't dissolve her own guilt with me.

Steel Water, who I had figured would have several things to say about my comment, seemed more insistent on putting as much distance between himself and Cream, whose glare had yet to leave the security buck. Once they had gone, I decided to make good on my promise to eat better by purchasing some food from Cream and took my leave shortly there after, leaving Cream to whatever mad science she was up to in her green glowing laboratory of a kitchen. On the way back up to the room, I paused only briefly to take note of my now working pipbuck. Life Bloom had worked wonders on the thing, making it not only work better than it ever had, but somehow changing the color of everything to very light blue. My only thought being that he must have had to use parts from other pipbucks that he had laying around at the time, somehow cobbling together a working unit for me to use.

A small frown crossed my muzzle when the sudden realization hit me that I had been so ignorant of what this little computer is capable of all these years. This was made worse by my own knowing of my lack of knowledge of technology, so much so that it actually had a depressive feel to it. I sat down with my back to the old walls of the hallway and stared at the cyan blue glowing screen of my pipbuck. I didn't even know how to work this thing properly! I should have asked Life Bloom for a manual or lesson's on how to work the damn thing.

"Ugh! I hate feeling inadequate!" I said aloud to myself, thumping my head against the hallway's wall.

"Lover's quarrel?" Came a voice to my right, near the elevators.

I looked to my side to see a dark grey mare with a messy blue mane trotting my way. I think she was the same mare that I had passed in the hallway before when I had been dragging Cal back to the room.

"What? No! Just having a moment of inadequacy towards technology." I said with a half-hearted grin.

"Uhuh. Well then. I don't believe I have seen you around the Tower before, are you a new resident?"

"Me? No, I'm just passing through the area. My partner and I needed a breather before we started out towards Hoofington." I said, standing back to all fours.

"Oh well, I suspect that you will be needing all the rest that you two can get before going there."

"Yeah, that was the plan, but it seems like my partner's past transgressions are coming back to haunt him."

"Who is your partner again and where are you two from?"

"Oh, sorry. Caliber, and my names Joey. We are from down south."

"You wouldn't be the same Joey that tracks down ponies would you? Coyote Joe?"

"That would be me, but friends call me Joey." I said with a bit more pride than I had expected to leave my mouth.

"Nice to meet you Joey, I'm Homage, Dj-Pon3's assistant. I believe that I met Caliber earlier. You two were looking for a book from Sapphire Shores, correct?"

"Yeah, he said he spoke with you about it but the two of you came up empty-hooved. We ended up finding a copy just the same though."

"Oh? And here I though that I had found the only copy in the Tower. I was just on my way to Caliber's room to give it to him, but I suspect that neither of you will be needing it now."

"Actually, having a copy we could take with us would be amazing, if you are still willing to part with it that is." I said, putting on my best 'please give joey the book' face.

"Of course." She said, rifling through her bags for the old, stained book and passing it over to me. My pipbuck gave off a small flash, showing it to now be in my inventory.

"Thank you for this, you have no idea what this means to me." I said, tucking the book safely into my saddle bags.

"I have to ask, why in the world would you need a foal's book?"

"It's a long story..."

"I have time."

In the room, Caliber had yet to make his reappearance after the bake shop fiasco and I had decided to use my time wisely by trying to settle in for a nap. Despite needing to learn more about my now fully functioning pipbuck, my body had betrayed me into nearly falling over on the way back to the room. I was exhausted, but thanks to Caliber taking so long to get back here, I was no longer hungry. In fact,
I was nearing the point of nausea from how much I had eaten, though I can't tell if it was from the amount of food or the amount of rads. I had taken the time to stock up on food before I left the bakery and now, I was paying the price of excess.

I have no clue how long I was out for. An hour? Two? Maybe three? When I awoke to the loud crash of a ceiling vent smashing to the ground atop the dresser drawers. Caliber had made his triumphant return, scaring me out of the bed and onto the ground. I looked up to where he laid in a pile of what was once the dresser just in time to see him start flailing in every direction, sending bits of it across the room. In one hoof he held our possessions from the guard shack and in his mouth was a burlap sack. He shook his head back and forth to try and rid himself of the daze he was in from the fall, then with his eyes growing wide, he rose from the pile and started shouting.

"PACK YOUR SHIT! PACK YOUR SHIT! WE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Cal, what the fuck, I was sleeping!"

"WAKE THE FUCK UP! WE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Caliber shouted, throwing our various items into the sack and running into the bathroom.

"CALIBER! IT'S FINE! I TOOK CARE OF IT! CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"

"Wait. What? What did you take care of?"

"I ran into Hom- Dj-Pon3's assistant in the hallway. She gave me a copy of the book and agreed to get the guards off your back."

"What!? She can do that?" Caliber said, poking his head out of the bathroom.

"She said she had dirt on the guards and that as long as we are out of here by the morning we would be fine."

"Oh! OK. Whats for dinner?" Caliber said, dropping the bag and fording his way through the rubble to his sheet-less bed. Sometimes I wish I could turn on an emotional dime like he could.

"There are some day old muffins and a few cookies on the..." I trailed off, looking to the dresser where the food had just been.

"Good! Where are they?" Caliber asked, looking around for the sweet provisions.

"They WERE on the dresser... that you landed on... you moron." I said through long pauses, rubbing my temples with my hooves.

"Oops..." Caliber said with a sheepish grin.

"I guess I should go get more then?"

"What time is it?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"It is..." Caliber trailed off and started digging through the remains of the dresser. Soon he held up a clock that had been nearly smashed in his entrance. The speaker crackled and dangled off to the side of the unit as he turned it over in his magic.

"5 A.M. The bakery should be opening up soon, I could go get more food." Caliber said, throwing the broken clock back to the bathroom.

"5 A.M.!? Celestia! I HAVE been asleep! What the hell took you so long?"

"Oh! I took a nap for a few hours. When I woke up, I forgot where I was and had to find my way back. You wouldn't believe how big this place is. I found this one room just off the library that had these dudes dressed up in cloaks, talking all cryptic and shit. It was intense!"

"Cal, what the hell are you talking about?"

"It was nuts! They kept going on about that LightBringer chick and something about "The Twilight Society". The whole thing was straight out of a kid's ghost story book." Caliber said while searching his bag for caps.

"Caliber, did you hit your head when you fell or something? Secret rooms? Creepy cult within the tower called 'The Twilight Society'?" I said, tying to keep a straight face. Obviously, he had gone loony on me.

"I don't know, maybe I dreamed it. Hey! Shouldn't we get a move on? Its going to be a long flight to Hoofington if you are wanting to see that sister of yours." Cal said, slipping on his gear.

"Cal, why do you have our things? Aren't those supposed to be in the guard shack?"

"Well... I thought that we were going to have to make a getaway after the run-in at Cream's place."

"Damn it Cal..."

"Just... get your things, lets get out of here before Steel 'Twater' goes on duty. The other guards are not all there mentally, but he will notice our things missing."

We set ourselves to gathering what little things we had both come with and bought while we were here. I had insisted that Cal try and mend the broken dresser the best he could, but he instead threw one of the sheet from my bed over it and insisted they would never notice. Soon, we departed what was left of the room and made our way to the Towers bakery to retrieve the nuclear muffins that Cream had prepared for Ditzy. As luck would have it, Cream was already in the kitchen, packaging them up for the ride back to New Appleloosa. When I asked how I was supposed to transport them without my flank rotting off, she waved her hoof and pointed to a metal box with a biohazard logo on the front of it. We were instructed not to open the box under any circumstances during the journey, less for our own safety and more to ensure freshness.

Despite Caliber's mischievous behavior, the guards were none the wiser of him taking not only our gear, but also a few weapons from their stock pile. As upset as it made me that Caliber had stolen them, I had to admit, I was curious as to what all he had taken. Maybe there was something useful that would tickle my fancy, maybe it was a load of garbage confiscated pipe rifles, at any rate, I had mixed emotions about stealing. Thankfully, the way out of the Tower had little to no security measures meaning that we didn't have to pass through any of the Tower's scanners. Had it been the way we came in... better to not think about it.

Soon we were back outside, in the dim light of morning. Without any hesitation, Cal climbed onto my back and together, we pushed off the ground. I set the pipbuck's on-board map function with a waypoint for New Appleloosa with a few pokes of a hoof. It was then that I saw the button on the side of the unit that had embossed lettering that read E.F.S. Wasting no time, I pressed the button and was greeted with a cyan blue overlay in my vision once more. If nothing else good could come from this trip, at least now I had the means to keep us from getting killed. I set myself towards the direction of New Appleloosa and began to ascend parallel to the Tower.

In one of the windows, on the third floor, I could make out a small colt waving his hooves. Hovering closer to the building confirmed my suspicions that it was Fetch, book in one hoof, waving to Caliber and I, wearing a sad expression on his face. I bucked my head back to get Cal's attention and pointed to the forlorn looking colt. Cal, taking the hint, looked to the window and gave a long pause.

"Joey, can you fly me a little closer?"

Without hesitation, I moved to the edge of the window sill and did my best to keep us both steady in the updraft of wind from the Tower's walls. Fetch, wasting no time, tried to open the window, but it was no use. The Tower's windows had long since rusted shut from the constant exposure to radioactive wind and rain. Seeing that his efforts were in vain, Fetch fell back to his haunches and instead pressed a hoof to the wavy glass of his apartment window. Caliber, who was being oddly silent, returned the favor by pressing his hoof over Fetch's. Seconds seemed to pass, all the while the young colt's expression growing more and more sad looking through the window. Finally, after nearly a minute of looking at one another, and Fetch nearing the point of crying, Caliber broke the silence.

"I WILL come back for you! I promise!" Caliber said with a hidden, broken voice.

Fetch's face grew less upset following his words, seeming to once again become the bubbly, happy colt that I had always seen in the past. I slowly began to rise in the air, waving to Fetch as I passed him by and tapping the glass with a hoof. Before long we were full airborne and in route to New Appleloosa.

"Joey, can you turn on the radio? You know... flying music?" Cal said, sounding almost lost in his own thoughts.

"Yeah, no problem Cal."

I flicked-on the radio function on my pipbuck to listen to the one and only station that it had ever been on since the day I took possession of it. Soon the crackly voice of Dj-Pon3 came through the speaker, filling the air with his dulcet tone's.

"... and that children, is the weather. The same as it was yesterday and the day before... and now a special message for two bucks who are on a mission to find a missing pony. Yesterday, my assistant came across a buck in the hallways of Tenpony. Well, turns out that buck was none other than Coyote Joe, our favorite missing pony tracker I have talked about in the past. Now, I know what you all are saying. 'Dj-Pon3, why would this make it on your show? What about the Lightbringer? What about Security?' Well Children, I'll tell you. Coyote Joe, or Joey as he likes to be called, has his own missing pony problem. In fact, he has been hunting this particular mare for over 10 years now. Who is that mare you might ask? Well children that mare would be the love of his life that went missing long, long ago. Now my assistant had a nice long chat with our tracker and she says that even though he has traveled the wasteland in search of her, yet he has still come up empty hooved. Nevertheless, he remains hopeful that he will one day find her. It just goes to show, every hero has their own struggle, even though they may seem larger than life at times, deep down, they are the same as the rest of us. This next song goes out to Joey and Caliber, I hope you both find what you are looking for..."

The radio popped and crackled, soon the air was no longer filled with the sound of Dj-Pon3's voice, but was instead replaced by the singing of Sapphire Shores.

"Wow, we made it on the radio." Caliber said flatly, still looking off to the Tower window where Fetch once was.

"Are you ok?" I asked, looking up to Cal.

"I'll be fine... Well... If these muffins don't rot my junk off that is."

"Heh, that would almost be a good thing considering everything that happened back there."

"Joey?"

"What? That was funny!" I said, feeling like I had failed at my own humor.

"Do you think I could be a dad?"

"Maybe? Why would you ask that?"

"Just thinking about the future..." Cal trailed off, finally pulling his eyes from the Tower.

Soon we had ascended to a cruising altitude, just below the cloud layer. Cal had fallen silent, no doubt lost in thought. The universe had thrown him a proverbial curve ball, forcing him to deal with the cause of his own actions and face them head on. Whether it was a good thing or bad, Cal had discovered that he was not alone in this world anymore as long as Fetch was in the Tower. In a way, Fetch also could take comfort in knowing that he had two parents out there, even if one of them was a bitch and the other a moron. Cal seemed to be entertaining the idea of being a father, and while that was a good thing, it would be complicated by the situation with Lavender to the bitter end. She was unwilling to let go of what Cal had done in the past to let him move forward with being a parent to Fetch. Parents are protective, that's what they do, but Lavender was no parent in my book. Then again, how many fillies and colts are out there that don't have parents? How many are out there that have never even met their parents? Celestia knows I never had.

We had also found the book that held the key to finding Zuri and with it, another long flight to find her. It's only been a few days into this journey but it feels like weeks now since I found the rock she had carved. Soon we would deliver the muffins to Ditzy in New Appleloosa. From there it would be two long days of flying to Hoofington, then back to Ponyville to pick up the trail to White Saddle Shores. With miles and miles of flying ahead of us, one thought rang out above all the others in my head. I wonder if my mother is still alive.

Fetch and Joey art!

Link to artist!:http://machstyle.deviantart.com/

Fun fact, the artist to this is who Caliber is based off of!

Author's Notes:

Thank you all for reading this chapter of Wildest Dreams. I know that I had originally planned on this chapter to be out January 23rd for my birthday, but sadly it had to be delayed. For the last 2.5 years now, I have been helping out with my mother (grandmother who raised me) who has had dementia. For the last few years I have watched my mother slowly degrade in health, forgetting who both me and my farther (grandfather who raised me) are to her. It has been the most horrific time in my life, facing responsibility that I have never had to deal with in the past and seeing her like this.

At 4:13 A.M. on January 21st, I lost my mother. On January 23rd, we layed her to rest next to her sister and my father (biological father who I lost when I was 15). Usually January 23rd is the day that me and my dad share both of our birthdays (we were both born on the 23rd, me in 1987 him in 1945). But from now on, the 23rd will always be marked as the day that we buried my mom.

Because of that, this chapter had to be delayed so that i could recover from the loss and spend time with my family and friends. Thank you for baring with me through these tough times. I would also like to thank Mike for all of his tireless work, helping with editing the chapters of this story. without him, this story would have burned out at chapter 2.

Chapter 5: Everything Has A Price

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 5: Everything Has A Price
Written by: Rocco
Edited by: Blackjackmin (Mike)

***WARNING***
this chapter contains the graphic depiction of the death of a young colt.
those who wish to forgo this segment may do so by locating the {GORE}
marker I have put in place showing the beginning and the end.
Proceed at your own risk.

The town of New Appleloosa was just as I had left it, well, apart from the seemingly contagious case of hangover that everypony had contracted from Caliber. Even from our view outside of the town's fence, we could see ponies running from building to building, all of which showing in stark contrast to the previous vision that I remember seeing when Cal and I had left nearly a week before. The flight back from Tenpony seemed to drag on and on despite it only taking one day, and by one day I mean, one full day. We had been in the air for nearly 19 hours before setting down outside the gates of New Appleloosa, but it was not for lack of trying to get here in a timely manner.

Soon after leaving the safe confines of the Tower, Cal had decided to take a shot at a few bandits that looked to have been shooting it out with one of the many caravans working the trade route for Tenpony. Normally I would detest his behaving like a young colt with his first rifle, but coming from a caravan myself, I let my own anger towards the small gang of robbers get the better of me. No sooner had Cal fired his second round, we were already receiving return fire from two of the four ponies that had been accosting the small caravan. Their aim may not have been the greatest, especially given the altitude we were at, but nevertheless, a few bullets somehow found their way to my right hind leg and my left side, grazing me slightly.

Becoming more angered by their retaliation, I let that part of my brain that makes all the rash decisions take control of me for far longer than I should have. In hindsight, it would have been far better to pick up our pace and leave the wasteland to sort things out. That would have been the smart thing to do, but I decided to instead drop altitude, and rush towards them at full speed, breaking wide about 200 meters above them and angling myself into a banking turn around them. Cal, taking note of what I was doing, all the while trying to maintain his grip on my back, dug deep in the sack of weapons that he had stolen, producing in his hooves an automatic rifle.

I remember at the time becoming almost entranced by it's gleaming appearance, seeming to call to me like a siren's song of dark black reflective finish and feminine-like form. I had gotten so taken in by it that I had begun to turn tighter and tighter to the point where we were right above our enemies. This fact became apparent when one of their rounds bit deep into my chest barding, right between the steel armored plates. The round landed just beneath the skin after being slowed by the thick leather armor of my chest rig, but nonetheless, it still hurt like hell. The sharp pain of being shot was just what I needed for my brain to start evaluating the reasons why I had become part of a aerial fight with 4 dumbasses on the ground! Had I just flown away, I wouldnt be twitching with pain with every step, but no! I had to indulge in a fight that Cal picked with some random ponies, who on the equinity scale, were just above rad-roaches.

Snapping back to my senses, I re-positioned us in the sky to once more be circling them, giving a wide 100 meters vertical stand off, dropping my left wing down towards them and circling. At the time I had told Cal it was to both allow for him to have a clear shot and to help us turn tighter, but truth be told, I was doing it to use Caliber as a pony meat-shield for their bullets. Getting shot sucked and I had exactly zero plans on catching anymore lead haphazardly from all of this mess. With far more precision than I had thought to be possible, Cal held the beautiful rifle in his magic and proceeded to rain down deadly accurate fire to the hiding ponies below. I almost once more lost focus on keeping us aloft when I heard the sweet, sweet sound of fully automatic fire come from the rifle-wielding pony on my back.

As quickly as it had all began, it was over. Taking a few low passes over the area revealed the caravaners to be from a group I had known in the past. Bit Scales group had been a competing group of traders that Boss had know for years prior to my coming to join him on his adventures. I knew them well from the years of traveling the trade routes. Bit Scales had to be one of the strictest traders in all of Equestria to work for in the past, often driving her team for days at a time with little to no rations to preserve her "trade stock". I had heard that at times she would even refuse sleep to her team to make an important deadline with one of the many towns along the path that we shared with her. This of course led to her earning the nickname "Bitch Tail" among trade hooves like myself. Boss would often threaten us with working for a week under her when we would get "out of line" and need an adjustment to our attitudes.

In fact, Boss would seemingly seek her out at times when work would get too overloaded for any of us to bare at one time. Personally, I think Boss had a thing for her at the time, I mean, they did disappear from time to time together, leaving us to tend to the stockpile of goods on our lonesome. Who knows what those two were up to behind our backs, but then again, the life of a caravaner is the only one where you will meet ponies everyday and still be completely alone. So to say they may have had a few flings from time to time was almost a given.

Sure as my mane is blue, looking down revealed a very shocked Bit Scales, with a fresh new crop of traders in her midst. We locked eyes only briefly before I set myself to de-flanking the area and getting us back on course. If nothing else good could come from Caliber's reckless nature, maybe helping out a familiar face from my past could help take the sting out of these fresh bullet wounds I was now sporting. Nevertheless, the flight back to New Appleloosa had taken it's toll on me and continued to do so all the way to the
gates I was now standing in front of.

Trotting into town, Caliber and I were both met with looks of "great, it's these two again..." No doubt from our previous escapades that lead to the whole town being quite hungover. Caliber was doing his best to look nonchalant, all the while looking for the farmer that had given him a surprise tail trimming with 00 buckshot. I on the other hoof, was doing my very best to not show how badly my chest was aching or that I was completely exhausted.

"Heh, look at them. They all still look sick from the other night." Cal said, poking my shoulder.

"Ouch! Watch it ass, that hurts." I said, shying away from his hoof.

"Hey, don't you think we should get these Balefire muffins to Ditzy before you become some freaky alicorn-zebra-thing?"

"I suppose that would be a good idea. You run back to your house, I'll drop them off and meet you there." I said, breaking formation with him.

"Shoot! Just one second before you go." Cal said, digging in his saddle bags for a marker. I looked on in bewilderment as he took the marker in his magic and began to scribble words across the top of the box.

"....From Caliber and Joey, with love...

"Wow, seriously? I don't even get to have my name first?" I said raising an eyebrow.

"Oh you... Just drop off the muffins of death and meet me back at the house." Cal said, trotting right past his house and into the bar.

"I guess some things never change..." I said to myself.

Despite needing to sleep, to get a move on to White Saddle Shores and being very hungry, I had to admit, It was nice to be back in this town. After leaving this area for Tenpony, something I had done many times in the past, it felt great to be back in New Appleloosa. Gone was the feeling of being a fish out of water, no more being the stranger that everypony avoided for having stripes and having an unfamiliar face. This place, despite the drawbacks, always felt like home to me, even with the occasional slavers doing business here. In fact, that just made it easier to keep tabs on them.

I had never actually stayed for more than a few days in New Appleloosa at a time, In fact I had not been here in quite sometime given the nature of my work and all. But, seeing as it was as close to any home I have ever had, It still had that feeling of comfort and safety that comes with knowing you are someplace with support. Call me crazy but, just knowing that Ditzy was in this small town was enough for me to seek it out from time to time in the past. Now with the addition of Caliber being here, It was starting to feel more and more like a place that I could set up shop one day. That is if they don't drum me out of town for being half zebra or sell me off to slavers in my sleep.

I don't think that anypony here would actually do that, but then again, it wouldn't be the first time that I had made such a grave misjudgment of character. I had told Caliber to buck-up and talk to Lavender, thinking the whole time that she would at least take him up on what little help he could offer her. Had I known that she was going to be such a colossal bitch at the time, I would have told him to seek Fetch out on his own rather than ask permission. I had forced him into a situation that he was not only ill-prepared to handle, but also unable to even have the smallest chance of making any headway at. Part of me felt guilty for doing so, but a larger part of me felt a sense of accomplishment having gotten him to actually take responsibility for something he had done. At the very least he was trying now, and after all, wasn't that what I wanted from him all the while? Nevermind, these are thoughts for a pony with far more sleep under his belt than I have had in days now.

I trotted up to the rundown shack that Ditzy conducted her business in, pressing my only good shoulder into the double doors of the old shop. The very second that I had began to enter the store, a tall, orange buck had picked that exact moment to leave, causing me to crash my full body weight into the doors. Pain poured from my injuries as I crashed to the battered wood of the stores front porch, causing me to roll onto my side, clutching my chest. Caliber had dug the bullet out from under my hide only a few hours ago, but the wound was still healing from his impromptu healing spell. He had insisted on using painkillers and a healing potion at the time, but after my last stent with narcotics and our ever dwindling supplies, I had declined both. Oh how I wish I had not done that now.

I looked up to see the offending orange buck who was hastily gathering up the pile of wares he had purchased. He was wearing a battered old hat and a well worn leather barding that was almost unmistakable, even if he wasn't wearing his battle saddle.

"What the hell Calamity." I said painfully as I rolled to my side. He paid me nearly no mind as he finished gathering his things and set off in the direction of the train yard, pausing only to tip his hat and say "Pardon" and continue his mission. Were those PTM's in his hooves? I have always known that he was nuts but a drugy? That doesn't seem like him.

Granted, I had only met him the one time years back, but seeing as pegasi are a bit of a rare thing to see, and being one myself, it's kind of hard not to remember the few you have met. Go figure that of the hoof-full of pegasi I had managed to come across were either now all dead, or too feather headed to hold a conversation with. Calamity on the other hoof, let's just say that he has always been the type to shoot first, shoot some more and forget what he is doing and fly off. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he would one day accidentally shoot somepony who didn't deserve it.

I slowly rose to my hooves and came eye to eye with Ditzy herself. Seeing as I had not slept in over 24 hours, the event of seeing a ghoul up close and personal took a few seconds to register. When it did, I'm ashamed to say that it took even longer to shake the fear from my hooves and reassure myself that I wasn't about to be eaten. Even after countless years it was seemingly impossible for me to shut off that primal part of my brain that sent me into shock when I would see Ditzy from time to time. Don't get me wrong, I love her to death, but she has this habit of sneaking up on you when you least expect it.

"Celestia! Ditzy! You scared the hell out of me!" I said, trotting out from behind the bench I had hid behind.

Ditzy held up her chalkboard for me to see.

"Joey! You're back! Muffins?" Ditzy had wrote, I'm sure praying that I had not forgotten her muffins.

"Oh yeah... I knew that I had forgotten something..." I said trailing off and tapping my muzzle with a hoof.

Even though the large metal box that was clearly labeled "DANGER Radioactive Confectioneries" was resting right between us, Ditzy took the kind hearted joke far more seriously than I thought she would. The look that she gave was one of pure disappointment, almost like a young foal that had woken up for Heart's Warming to no presents under the tree. Dropping her head, she slowly turned and raised a hoof to open the doors to her shop. Well shit, I hadn't planned on that happening.

"Whoa now! Calm down, D. I got the muffins you asked for, I was just kidding." I said, using a cautious hoof tap on the box to guide her attention to them.

"I even took Cream up on the suggestion to add the ingredients that you like, something about Balefire craters or whatever."

Ditzy froze in her tracks, spun and began to examine the box as if she was conducting a trade and wanted to be sure that the odds were in her favor. Her roaming hoof on the lid of the box froze and tapped the word "Radioactive", followed by an unsure look in my direction.

"They are... Rad-Muffins? Cream, the baker in Tenpony, said you would love them. Something about ghouls plus radiation equals a happy Ditzy." I said doing my best to keep myself clear of any guilt if Ditzy was to take offence to me bringing her what I could only presume to be a healthy snack by ghoul standards. Ditzy, who was still eyeing the latch on the box quizzically, dropped her chalk board to the decking and began to scribble away.

"How are you not dead?"

"WHAT!? Why would I be dead?" I said in shock. Ditzy paused, seeming to try to find the best way to sum everything she was wanting to say up in the small space of the chalk board.

"Balefire craters are bad for ponies. You can only get the ingredients from a crater. How not dead?"

"Oh! I didn't go to the crater, Cream said she had ponies for that. I did help make them though!" I said with a bit of pride, puffing out my chest.

Ditzy didn't look amused, in fact, she looked almost upset with me for some reason. Once again, she gave a long pause, this time eyeing me with a look that just screamed disappointment. But for what? Was she mad that I had to have spent too much on them? Maybe she hates Cream too and giving her muffins from her was an insult. Was giving a ghoul a box of muffins laced with radiation considered rude? It seemed like a great idea at the time, but could I have offended her somehow with them? My head began to swim with thoughts of what I had done wrong to earn such treatment from her, all the while my mood and I'm sure my facial expression becoming more and more nervous. I genuinely like Ditzy and the last thing I would ever want to do offend her in some way, Celestia knows that she gets her fair share of that already.

"Please! What did I do wrong!? Tell me!" I said in a near pleading voice. Ditzy regarded me for a long moment and again began to write. After nearly a minute of me squirming, Ditzy finally held her board up for my examination.

"Thank you for the muffins. Please don't play with radiation anymore. I don't want you to get sick. Not many pegasi left, don't be a fool."

I gave a swift nod and a hard swallow to acknowledge what she had wrote and watched her scoot the metal box back into the shop. What was that all about? Ditzy had always been protective of me in the past when I was young but she was acting down right like a mother scolding her foal. I'm in my twenties now, I'm an adult, I can play with Balefire eggs if I want too! Dear Luna, if she ever found out about my stripes, she would have my flank on a platter the way she is acting. Nevermind the stripes, If she knew how I came by getting them... best not to think about it. I started off the porch and set myself to Cal's home, trying to take in the town as I went. Yup same old town, same old ponies, same, same, same! No matter how I tried, I couldn't get the altercation with Ditzy out of my head as I made my way past the bar.

Was it a kinship? Maybe me being a pegasus, just like her, meant that she felt a bond between us as a dying breed. Could it be that? Outside of Calamity, I had never actually met another pegasus in over 5 years now, even then they were few and far between. Hell, what few I had met, I had killed 2 of them, was still looking for one and the other 3 were dead by raiders and slavers. To this day, I still have no clue how a healthy pegasus could get caught by raiders, I mean, it's not like they can't just fly the hell away.

The more I thought about it, the more upset it made me that there were so few of us left down here and angry that there are so many above the clouds, safe. Call me petty, but sometimes I wish that they could have just a small taste of what everypony down here is going through. Granted, the only thing I know about the ponies up there has all come from stories I have heard from the few pegasi I have met. What are the chances that their perception had been skewed by resentment and lack of actual knowledge of what goes on up there. The only pony who would know about it, never talks about it, despite my prying desperately for any information on where I might have come from. Well, at least half of me anyway. How does that work anyhow?

My hoof worked the rusty, half broken knob of the door to Caliber's shack, gritting it's way open and finally granting me access. I was exhausted, dehydrated, I needed to eat but all that I could think of was sleep. Stepping through the doorway, I was assaulted by the most vile smell that has ever been smelled by any living creature. All of the mess that we had forgotten about here had been fermenting since we had left for Tenpony. I didn't have time to clean it before I left that morning and thinking back, Caliber had not come back here either after his run in with the farmer. Oh Celestia! From the smell, I think Cal might have left a floater in the toilet before he left. This is just revolting, there is still sick on the arm of the couch for Celestia's sake!

I took a long moment to evaluate my situation and the filthy room that I was standing in. Caliber wasn't going to be coming back anytime soon judging by his previous escapades and I'm far too tired to deal with whatever pile of gross that I'm currently standing in. I could go to the town's inn and rent a room, but to be honest, It would only smell better, but be just as dirty. If I went there, I would be sleeping in somepony else's bodily fluids, at least here I know where they came from. Disgustingly enough, I'm strangely ok with sleeping in my own filth, rather than a room that might have had a light dusting done to it.

"Welp, that settles it. Watch out puke couch, Joey needs sleep!" I said as I dropped my saddlebags behind the couch and carefully positioned myself on the one clean end of what was about to be my bed.

"Sweet Celestia's sugar coated crotch! Joey, why are you in here!?" Caliber said.

Coming back to the world of the waking, brought with it two of my senses. One, the sense of sound delivered by Caliber's voice said through his own gagging words and two, smell. How is it possible that it smells worse in here now than when I first went to sleep? It's as if the aroma of grossness had taken on an almost sour, chemical-like note to it's already pungent hatred.

"Cal, what time is it? How long have I been out?"

"Oh holy, horny Goddesses! It's like a dead fish banged a toxic waste container in here!"

"Cal! Focus you halfwit!" I shouted, looking up at him with only one eye open.

"Oh Luna... about 15 hours I would guess. I passed out at the bar at about half past 12 in the morning. Then when I woke up, that bastard of a bartender made me do the dishes because I didn't have any caps to pay! Can you believe that asshole?"

"How dare he require money for goods, what kind of sick bastard..." I said, pausing. There is definitely a different smell in here now, and whatever it was keeps tricking my brain into trying to figure it out.

"I know right!? So I had to spend all frickin' morning washing up after all those filthy bastards at the bar, all because I left my caps with you. Luna's passionate, purple pussy, what in the fuck is that smell!?" Cal said looking about the small room as if the smell was actually a thing.

"Cal, why in the hell are you talking like that? Luna's passionate, purple pussy? The fuck?"

"Oh yeah, do you remember that crazy stable pony we saw outside of Hope? The one talking to that spritebot that tried to murder you?"

"Yeah? What about her?" I said, try removing my right leg that had become both asleep and welded to one of the couch cushions with sick. Ew...

"Well, looks like she found her way to this humble little town to continue her craziness. She was in the bar last night and I overheard her talking to Calamity for a good while. The mouth on that mare! I guess it's just addictive when you listen to it for a few hours." Cal said. I can't tell if he's trying to be sarcastic, or if the smell is making him make that face.

I stood up, now freed from the couch, and started towards the area of the shack that held his toilet, before I could make it more than a few steps however, I found myself standing still. I was getting light headed and I felt sick to my stomach, but for whatever reason, the foul smell had been replaced by something much more... Industrial?

"What is that? I've smelt it before..." Cal said, now standing beside me.

"Smelled." I said, correcting him.

"What? That's what I said."

"No... You said smelt. It's smelled you moron."

"Joey, I'm hungover, I might even still be drunk. Cut me some slack here, ok?"

"I'm just sayin'?" I said, wobbling a bit. What the hell is wrong with me, I can't focus on anything for more than a second before my head starts pounding.

"Joey, are you ok? Do you need to go to the clinic?" Caliber said, putting a hoof to my side to help steady me.

"I feel weird, it's like I'm getting high, but it's making me sick at the same time. I think my ears are ringing too, it's like a faint hissing noise."

"Wait, I think I hear it too." Cal said, moving closer to the back wall.

"And it gets louder back here." Cal said, walking away from me.

Cal and I made our way to the back wall of his shack, both of us stepping gingerly and listening closely as we tried to zero in on the source of the hissing sound. Soon, we came to the bedroom area where Cal, after moving all of the countless articles of barding, whiskey bottles and old wrappers from long since devoured food, uncovered his back wall.

"Joey, you hear that?" Cal said, leaning in close to the wall with his ear. With both of us silent, the noise filled the room around us. The smell of filth from the rest of the hut had been almost completely muted by the odor that I could not for the life of me place.

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know... It reminds me of something... A few years back , I smelled something like this in an old robotics factory."

"You don't perhaps remember where it was coming from, do you?"

"I never figured it out, the whole place blew up the next day when I was camped out just outside."

"What exactly do you mean by, blew up?" I said, pausing to think.

The sudden realization hit me like a brick to the head, this wasn't the usual nasty smell that Caliber's place would exude from time to time and I wasn't getting sick either. We were being poisoned.

"CAL! RUN! IT'S GAS!!" I said, springing back from the wall and running towards the nearest exit.

"Wait... What?"

By the time Cal had finished his sentence, I had already grabbed him by the straps of his barding and was making a hasty retreat. We had made it to the front door of his house when we both became trapped by the door frame.

"Cal, move your fatass out of the way!"

"I can't, your stupid fucking wings are in the way!"

"Damnit! I can't budge!"

Outside, a few of the town's inhabitants had stopped their day to day activities and began to gather to watch the spectacle unfold before them. It was at that moment, somewhere deep within the confines of the shack, we both heard the loud rigging of an alarm clock going off, followed by another loud, clicking, snapping noise. Cal and I both looked to one another, still stuck, both knowing what was about to happen.

*BOOM*

The house filled with a vivid blue fireball that culminated from his bedroom, pushing it's warm air around us, followed by the concussive blast from the fireball's shock wave. The walls of the shack gave way sending both Cal and I, bound together, flying across the town's main roadway and over the heads of the onlooking town ponies. Bits of wood and burning debris shot past us as mid flight, hitting Cal and I both in the hind quarters a we went.

"AHHHHHH!" We both screamed, hurtling through the air like yesterday's garbage in a rad-storm. The raining shrapnel, from what was once Caliber's house, cleared the streets below of any bystanders as it fell from the heavens, still burning. Up ahead of us, the inn was rapidly approaching, scratch that, we were rapidly approaching the inn's wooden walls. I could feel Caliber wiggling his way towards freedom with his every move, but it was no use. Looking to where we were about to crash, both of us shared a look together and almost in unison screamed a long, drawn out "SHIT".

*CRASH!*

We impacted the wall with so much force that it gave way, sending both Cal and I into one of the rooms of the old hotel, crushing the door-frame that had once trapped us. Freed, but now tumbling across the room, we were surrounded by broken slabs of wood and furniture, finally coming to rest in a pile of rubble in the middle of the room. Cal had landed on top of me, followed by chunks of wood, followed by most of a dresser, followed by more bits of house.

"What in the sweet fuck was that!" Cal yelled, shifting his weight to free himself from the rubble.

"GAS EXPLOSION, I THINK. ARE YOU OK?"

"Yeah, yeah. Why are you screaming?"

"WHAT?"

"I said, why are you screaming?"

"NO I'M NOT DREAMING! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT?'

"Nevermind, we better get out of here before the inn keeper comes up."

The ringing in my ears was slowly starting to fade just as Cal finished liberating me from the overburden that had me pinned. Standing to my hooves, I took stock of yet another hotel room that Cal and I had managed to destroy in the last two days. Through the large hole in the wall, I could see the brittle remains of Caliber's house. All that was left was the foundation, a few structural beams and what looked to be a few scrap appliances that had been thrown into the street. The shock wave from the blast had carried most of the house in every direction, It also managed to knock a far sized hole in the one of the walls of the building right next door. The ponies that had been watching Cal and I fighting our way out of the now completely destroyed structure, were just poking their heads out from behind the cover they had taken.

"Well, that's two hotel rooms in the last 48 hours. This has to be some sort of wasteland record or something." I said as I turned away from the hole in the wall to see not only Caliber standing quietly, but two ponies whose moment of ecstasy we had just interrupted, staring right back at us in shock from beneath the sheets of their bed. Oh Celestia, from the looks of it they were both right in the middle of something really fun too.

"Oops... C'mon Cal, lets leave these two alone." I said, locking eyes with the poor buck who had clearly not planned on this sort of a climax when he rented his room. I started for the door, passing Caliber by along the way. Caliber followed shortly after, only to pause at the doorway, turning to the two ponies who were still mid sex.

"I don't suppose that this could be taken as a sign that today is the day you try a three way is it?" Cal said, backing his flank out of the doorway.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, YOU PERVERTED WRECKING BALL!" Said the mare lying atop the awe struck stallion.

"Damnit Cal, Come the fuck on already!" I yelled from down the hallway.

"Ok,ok. I know when I'm not welcome." Cal said, Trying to catch me up.

"Well... at least I won't have to clean up that mess you made now." Caliber said, standing in remains of his old home. The blast had shaken the town from one end to the other, yet few ponies seemed to pay it any mind. It had even blown a good sized hole in the bar next door, through which I could see the bartender performing his daily routine. Luckily, my saddlebags were left almost untouched by the explosion, with the exception being that the blast might have blown some dirt off of them.

"I don't get it, natural gas lines should have lost their pressure a hundred years back." I said, kicking away a small chunk of what used to be the couch to retrieve my saddlebags.

"Then how do you explain all of this?" Cal said throwing his hooves wide.

"I have no clue other than somepony pipping it in here while I was sleeping."

"Oh c'mon with that now, this was an accident I'm sure."

"Houses don't just blow up for no reason with ponies sleeping in them, Cal."

"Maybe you were farting..."

"Cal, What the hell. Did you hit your head when we landed?" I interrupted.

"Just hear me out. Maybe you were cutting massive farts all night long and it somehow exploded the house."

"CALIBER! There is no way in all that is good and holy that could happen! Farts aren't even explosive for Celestia's sake!"

"Then this was obviously a gas leak! You always jump to conclusions when it comes to this kinda thing, why not just accept the fact that this was an freak accident and move on?"

"Ok, so a gas-line from two centuries ago suddenly decided to start leaking after already having lost pressure?" I ask rhetorically.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that being what happened here?"

"How did the house blow up then? Gas doesn't just spontaneously explode for no reason, it needs a spark."

"I don't know, maybe the alarm clock shorted out. Look, all I'm saying is that not everything bad that happens is a plot to kill you."

"I know that, but something had to have caused this to happen and I don't think it was an accident. The chances of what you said happening are astronomical at best. Don't you want to get to the bottom of this? Your house is destroyed after all."

"Meh, I should be so lucky. I mean, just look at this! Now I have a backdoor into the bar!" Cal said, looking to the hole in the bar's wall.

I made my way to what was left of the wall where Cal and I had been investigating the hissing sound just an hour earlier. Caliber begrudgingly followed and watched on as I did my best to sift through the wreckage for clues.

"Find anything good yet?"

"Broken bottles... scorched linens... Oh! Found a cap! Condom wrappers... Cal why would you even use these? There is no chance these are any good now."

"Hey! Have you seen some of the mares I date? They have to do something."

"Fetch!" I coughed out under my breath.

"Shut up!" Cal growled back at me.

I shifted a few broken boards out of the way and exposed what was left of the flooring beneath. Searching the wall I saw that one of the metal corrugated panels had been shoved loose from the wall with a small, green pipe lying just behind it.

"Well, It IS a gas line." I said in defeat.

"Told ya!" Cal said, walking away.

"This is just unbelievable."

"Funny, I don't remember seeing any piping when I built this place."

"Well, if you didn't put it here, was it already here and you built your place on top of it?"

Caliber took a moment to think.

"Hmmm... Nope!"

"Well, then who put this here then?" I asked, looking up at him

"Wait, you don't think somepony actually wanted to blow up my house, do you? I was just foolin' before." Cal said looking decidedly more concerned.

"I don't know, but one thing is for sure. Somepony did put this here and I doubt by mistake." I said standing up.

"Who in all of Equis would want you dead... Well besides raiders. And slavers. Oh, or that creepy guy with a bear trap for a mouth... no wait, he's dead." Cal said, pausing to think.

"Ok Cal, you made your point."

"Bandits, Lavender I'm sure after the way you talked to her, probably that ass of a brother of her's..."

"Ok Cal, I get the point..." I said rounding the corner of what was left of the back wall.

"Pretty much all of Filly after you killed those fuckers over tricking you, the wasteland..."

"CAL!" I shouted. Sure I had made enemies, but who hasn't out here. But hearing it all laid out like that puts things in much more perspective than I would like.

"I'm just sayin', if you are looking for a place to start, there isn't a lack of ponies to start with."

"Yeah and if you lined up all of the mares you snuck out on in the middle of the night, the last one would be standing in a crater, on the moon." I said in frustration.

"No need to throw stones here!" Cal, said with a sardonic look across his muzzle. Damnit, he's messing with me and the worst part is I know it and I'm still getting pissed off!

"Throwing stones? THROWING STONES!? YOU STARTED THIS!" I said kicking away a large chunk of roof. My hoof smacked into something solid beneath the rubble, sending a twinge of pain through my leg.

"Ow! What the hell?" I said looking down to the whatever I had just managed to hurt myself on this time. Beneath the broken bits of house lay a container with the same green looking pipe attached to it, I had seen on the other side of the wall. I shifted more of the scrap away and was greeted with a rusty cylinder with the words "methyl-acetylene/propadiene 45/55 mix" on the front of it.

"HEY! That looks like the containers I saw in the robotics place!" Cal said, leaning in close to inspect the label more thoroughly.

"Mapp gas torch fuel. Uses: welding, torching, heating and brazing. Warning: Extremely flammable. Contents under pressure."

"Well that settles that, somepony filled the house with explosive gas and must have set a timer to go off at some point." I said shifting my weight back to my haunches.

"Ok, in light of these new findings... who do you think wants you dead then?"

"How do we know they were just after me and not both of us?"

"True, but that just leaves more questions than answers."

This was a tough pill to swallow, I'm used to being the pony that hunts down ponies, not the pony that gets hunted. Who would do something like this, especially something this reckless? Whoever it was had no regard for anypony else in this whole town, everything here is made of wood and with a blast like that, it could have easily set fire to the surrounding structures. It was just dumb luck that it had not done that very thing, judging by the size of this container, it had to have been nearly empty or it had not caught fire in the explosion. No, no, no. I'm getting off track here.

This just screams personal, something that somepony who has a vendetta does when they truly dislike another pony. You don't just blow a place up over a threat that you want rid of! Had that container been full, I would have died from the fumes alone. The explosion would have done a great job of destroying any evidence and left me undoubtedly, extra dead. There is also the chance they know about Caliber's relationship with the town if they were willing to take a risk like this on an attack of this magnitude, but I can't be sure. Working things out in my head kept resulting in the same conclusion, it was at best, a wild guess, but it just felt... right.

"I know who did this."

"Ok feather head, I'll fly with you. Who then?"

"I don't know."

"But you just..." Cal paused, burying his face in his hooves.

"Whoever did this, knows me, you, us... This is way too personal for it to be a random attack from slavers. Who, I don't know. But I have this part of me that keeps pulling me towards it being somepony I, or we, have crossed paths with at some point."

"But, who!?" Caliber said, clearly not picking up on what I was trying to convey.

"I have no clue. But like I said, whoever this is, is not a fan of our work and chances are, they are somepony we have supremely fucked over at some point."

"Ok, well mister tracker... Go on! Find the ass who did this! C'mon boy! Fetch!" Cal said, shooing me away with his hooves.

"Seriously Cal? That touches on a very sore subject with me."

"Ok, ok. I know better than poke fun at your work like that. So does this mean we have to question everypony in the town, again?" Cal asked looking defeated.

True, we had already done that. But nopony gave up any information that was even slightly useful to us. This could have been planned the day we left for all we know, the only thing that they would have had to do was set the timer and turn on the gas when we came back. If that was the case, we were all hungover the day Cal and I left town, and you are not going to leave an impression on somepony who's barfing their brains out. Hell, whoever it was could have gone completely unnoticed for days afterwards.

"There's no use, a second pass almost never turns anything up of value."

"You're not just saying that so you can get to that marefriend of yours, are you?"

"I don't know anymore. I'm tired, hungry and just got blown up. This is the most action I have seen in the last 3 years, rolled into one week at this point. Yes, I'm worried about the fact that there is more than likely somepony out there that is trying to kill us, but I can't see anything here that would point me in even the vaguest direction to start in. I don't know what to do..." I said slouching to the ground.

"Ugh... all this thinking is making my head hurt... I need some meds." Cal said rubbing his temples.

"Oh, I think I have some aspirin in my...."

"HEY! APPLE WHISKEY! CAN I GET THREE WHISKIES ON THE ROCKS... Joey, you want anything?" Cal said, yelling into the hole in the wall.

"Seriously Cal?"

"THREE WHISKIES, NOTHIN' GOOD IN EM', COMIN' UP" Yelled Apple Whiskey from deep inside the bombed out bar. In less time than it took for me to stand up, three glasses of whiskey came floating out of the hole in the bar's wall that was now functioning as a trot up window.

"THAT'S 20 CAPS CALIBER."

"I'LL GET YOU BACK TOMORROW, PROMISE!" Cal said, taking all three glasses in his magic and trotting his way to my side, passing me one of amber filled cups.

"We are leaving soon, right?" Cal whispered to me.

"Yes..." I said eyeing Caliber closely

"Now what?" Cal asked, swirling the contents of his glass with his magic.

"I guess we keep moving towards Hoofington. If we are lucky, whoever did this will pop their heads out sooner or later. We just have to hope that we are quicker than they are."

"Right. Well If that's the case, I need to borrow about 400 caps from you. I need to settle up a debt before we head out of town."

"400 caps!? Geeze Caliber."

"If we are leaving, I might as well get my things out of hock, especially seeing as I'm now homeless. Never know, I might find a new place to make camp."

"Ok, but please make it quick. Chances are, whoever did this could still be watching us. I don't want to give them any more opportunities to take a shot at us" I said passing the caps over to Caliber.

"I will just be a few minutes, after that, we book it out of this place." Cal said, trotting off into town.

"AND I BETTER GET MY CAPS BACK CALIBER!" I screamed after him.

"FAT CHANCE!" Came the voice of the Apple Whiskey.

"But why!" I droned out as we trotted our way from New Appleloosa and deeper into the wasteland's terrain.

"Because Ditzy will have my flank if I let you fly another mile without eating first. You saw her face! She's already pissed that you didn't listen to her and stay a few more days to heal up." Caliber said.

"She's just being overprotective. And who gave you two the right to lord over me anyhow? I'm an adult for Celestia sake!"

"Physically maybe..."

"Hey! I AM AN ADULT!"

"That's not how Ditzy sees it. She even gave you that new scope as a present as if you were one of her foals! She even sighted it in for you! I haven't ever seen her give anypony anything before. Look, she told me to look after you, make sure you eat better and for you to stay out of the air until you gain your weight back."

"True, but this wouldn't be an issue had you not said anything to her in the first place. Also, I like sighting my rifle! That's MY job!"

"What was I gonna do? Lie to her? Hell, even I can see that you look malnourished!"

"I hate walking, flying is just so much easier! Safer! Faster!" I said pleading.

"Quit your bellyaching! Just enjoy the walk and try to eat something. "

Cal was right, I didn't want to admit it, but in the end, the pace we were setting in the air was really starting to take it's toll on me. My back hurt almost all of the time now, my wings would ache so bad at night that I had to resort to sleeping on my stomach and the physical exertion was burning off everything I ate before my body could process it. Sure there were upsides as well, I feel stronger than I ever have before and when I do eat I feel amazingly good considering the diet of two century old snacks. But being isolated to the ground was a new form of torture to me.

Before, when I would resort to flying, there was always a reason behind it, some place I had to get to or to catch somepony that was running from me. But since Caliber and I had started this journey together, I had spent more time in the air in the last few days than I had in the last five years. At first it felt uncomfortable flying as high as we were, but now however, I felt like I was being cheated out of something that was inherently mine. It was as if the sky itself has it's own special calling for me and being trapped on the ground was my punishment from the universe for getting off so easy. Sometimes I honestly feel like pegasi are born unlucky because they were blessed with the natural ability to fly away from everything the wasteland can throw at them.

Wings are a gift and that gift can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how you look at things. They are a blessing in that you may never have to fire a single shot in the wasteland if you have them, but they are cursed in the way of their value to the bearer. They are almost always taken for granted and they are often looked past on a daily basis, but the moment that you can't use them, is the very moment you become the most vulnerable. Because I was born with the gift of flight, I had used more false bravado than needed at times, knowing if the chips were down that I could just fly away.

"Oh come on now, stop pouting!" Came the voice of Caliber.

"You try going a day without your horn and see how that works for you."

"Oh I have, and it sucks, but I didn't act like I had just had to shoot my own puppy over it. Besides, look how far we have made it from town! I wager that we are at least 5 miles away by now."

"4.35 actually." I said, looking down at my pipbuck.

"Why do you have to do that? 4.35 miles is as near as 5 miles." Caliber said in frustration.

"I like aggravating you." I said with a smirk.

"That's the spirit! Now, where do you want to make camp for the night? There's the creepy looking cave over there, or we can take our chances in that old town just west of here."

"Silver Sheen? That old silver mining town? You know they say it's... haunted." I said switching on the light of my pipbuck to illuminate my face.

"I have heard that... I bet that Boogybuck is just waiting to foalnap anypony who dares go near!" Cal said meeting my sardonic look with his.

Caliber and I stood staring each other down for a long moment, freezing in our tracks as we did so.

"LAST ONE THERE CLEANS THE RAIDER SHIT OUT OF THE BEDS!" Caliber said as he broke out into a full gallop.

"NOT ON YOUR LIFE HORN HEAD!" I screamed after him.

Cal had always loved going to creepy places and doing his best to try and scare the hell out of me. Granted he rarely managed more than the odd jump-scare, but at this point if it would take my mind off of not being able to fly, the long trip to White Saddle Shores and having to go to Hoofington before hoof, then I was game to give it a try. Even if it was just a place to sleep for the night, it was in fact a place I had never been to before. I had always figured that anything of value had been well picked clean long ago and that there was no reason to even head that way.

The small town, if you could call it that, was little more than a few collapsed or falling-in houses and buildings with a large tower jutting out of the earth. The tower was just barely visible from where we were now due to the town being built in a depression in the earth, just a few miles from the nearby mountains. Now in a full gallop, Caliber was kicking up dust in his wake as he forged his path to what I'm sure he thinks is a ghost town in need of exploring. I however, was doing my best to catch him up, without my wings it was all that I could do just to close the gap between us.

"WHAT'S A MATER FEATHERS? CAN'T KEEP UP?" Cal said through labored breaths.

"YOU TELL ME I CAN'T FLY AND NOW YOU ARE RUNNING ME ACROSS THE DESERT!"

"OH COME ON, WHERE'S ALL THAT MUSCLE YOU HAD IN THE AIR?"

Overhead came the faint, but quickly growing sound of lightning cracking through the sky in the distance. Even though I couldn't see it yet, the sound meant that not only were we running, for no reason, towards a ghost town, but we were also running head on into a thunderstorm. Cal's best efforts to make our short trip into a game was quickly turning into a race to beat getting soaking wet right before going to bed. Sleeping in a bed that I'm sure raiders have done things in that I never want to imagine is one thing, but doing all that while wet... Let's just say that I am in no way excited about my wet hide soaking up raider love juices throughout the night! Yuck!

"YOU WANT MUSCLE!?" I said as I unfolded my wings and began to flap.

"THAT'S CHEATING!" Cal yelled back to me as I rose from the ground and began to fly overhead.

"EAT MY FARTS!" I screamed childishly as I started to pass him overhead.

Now airborne, the amount of work to match Cal's speed was minuscule in comparison to running. Despite Cal's continued yelling at me that Ditzy would have my head for flying, I paid none of it any mind as I soared above him. The sharp cracks of lightning were beginning to grow louder the closer we came to the outskirts of the mines outlying structures. Looking to the sky's above me gave little to no indication of flashes of light or rain beginning to fall, but with the failing light, it was hard to make out much at all of the cloud layer. The unsettling thought of being in the air during a thunderstorm began to sink in as Cal and I began the descent down the hillside towards Silver Sheen. I looked down at Cal who was now right below me, he was digging deep into his stamina to match the pace that I was now setting. If we both keep this up, neither one of us is going to make it to the town be for the skies decided to let loose with the waterworks.

Just as I was about to drop out of the sky and tell Cal to jump on my back, my world was filled with a loud popping sound, followed by a even louder crack that deafened the hearing to my right side. Pain erupted from my right ear that seemed to flow down the right side of my face, sending me clutching my head and tumbling out of the sky. What the hell just happened to me? Did I get struck by lightning? My thoughts were cut short by my sudden impact to the ground, followed by Caliber running directly into my side, sending him rolling down the hill. The pain coming from my ear forced me to bury my head into the ground and press it tighter into my clutched legs as I waited for the first wave of pain to begin to subside. Something warm and wet began to cover my right leg and right cheek as I rolled across the ground, writhing in this new world of pain that I was now in, coming to rest on my back.

Through my left ear I could hear Caliber groaning his way to his hooves and making his way to me from where he had finally stopped rolling down the hill. My right ear however, only gave me a dull ringing sound that was growing increasingly more high pitched as the pain began to subside. As it faded, Cal's words began to come more into focus, all four letters of them.

"WHAT THE FUCK JOEY! JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE WINNING DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN JUST CRASH LAND INTO ME FOR GOOD MEASURE!"

"My ear! I think I got struck by lightning!" I said, still gripping my head tightly.

"Oh sure you did. And I'm sure you landing on me was just a coincidence. I didn't see any flash of lightning." Caliber said trotting to my side.

"Ow! My ear is killing me!" I managed to meek out as I rolled onto my belly and forced myself to pull my legs away from my head.

"What did you expect! You hit the ground like it owed you caps or something! You're lucky you didn't break your damn back!" Caliber said leaning down to take a look at the damage.

"No, it happened in the air! One second I'm passing you, the next I'm getting run over by you."

"What the hell? That's a bullet hole!" Caliber said, now pulling my head closer for examination.

"What? Who the fuck shot me!?" I said tilting my head.

"I don't know but that's defiantly a bullet wou-" Caliber's words were cut short by the multiple impacts of rounds landing all around us, cracking and popping in the air as they shot past.

"RUN! TO THOSE ROCKS!" Cal screamed as he half helped, pulled me across the desert.

The faint cracks of what I though was lightning, had turned out the be rounds passing over our heads as we ran straight towards them. Of course it was gunfire, how could I not have noticed! I had gotten so wrapped up in having fun that I let a very important detail like not getting shot completely slip from my mind! My last few steps towards the small mound of rocks fell into a slide as another burst of rounds dug into the earth right behind me. Cal had taken cover just in front of me, but was quickly knocked to the ground as I slammed into him in my desperate attempt to not get shot in the ass.

"What the hell is going on!" Cal shouted at me.

"I don't know but whoever is shooting at us really sucks at it!"

Another burst landed far off near the location we had just come from in a shower, followed by another hitting to our left. Sporadic and random in where they would land, the gunfire continued to rain down intermittently as I worked my way to the edge of our cover. I pulled my rifle from my back, looked down the new scope that Ditzy had given me not even 5 hours ago and sighted in towards the town. Another spray of fire forced my head down as I was positioning my rifle between two rocks for a steady shooting platform.

"Who the hell did we piss of this time!" I shouted as I ducked out of the way.

"I don't know, but holy Luna are they pissed!" Caliber shouted as he found purchase on the far side of the boulder pile.

Slowly I rose to once more set my scope to the old town, when I did I was met with the view of my new radical and it's crisp, clear view of the world below. My old scope had been one that I had found back when I was still a young colt, and it had served me well over the years, but this new one was so much better. The radical had hash marks to denote both windage and elevation and the clarity of the glass was akin to my actual sight! If Ditzy was mad at me for whatever reasons she had, giving me such a nice toy to play with was certainly not showing it. I reached up to the gnarled ring for the zoom movement, rolled it up to as high as it would go and looked directly down the main street of the the town.

Below I could make out four young looking ponies taking cover under an overturned mining cart. Directly in front of them I could make out four raiders scattered along the roadway, each taking cover behind anything that they could hide behind. Two on the right, two on the left with one of them making their way closer to the young ponies on their right side. They had nowhere to run. With the open plains to their back, and raiders closing in to the front, there was no safe direction that they could retreat to. Without hesitation, I flipped off the safety with a wing tip and took aim at the mare closing in on their right side.

"Should I open up on them?" Cal asked, now readying his carbine.

"Hold up, I think there are kids down there. Looks like they are pinned down by raiders."

"Shit! Can you get a shot on them?"

"Yeah! Get the bino's out, take aim at the back side of the town and get ready to shoot anypony who tries to circle around."

Ok! Easy as breathing. I steadied myself and took aim on the lavender mare's head who was now working her way around the mining cart, let out a breath and squeezed the trigger. The rifle let out a loud explosion as the round left the barrel, flying head long into the raiders chest, sending her sprawled out on the ground clutching her breast. Through the scope I could see that the spray of blood hit the white filly with the blue mane that was hiding nearby. The orange colt who was wearing a crimson looking cape took aim at the convulsing mare and sent a spray of bullets into her, finishing her off.

Damn it, this is why I'm the only one that touches my rifle! I trust Ditzy with more than I do most, but when it comes to my equipment, I like to be the one who sets things up! The round hit low from where I was aiming and had the mare been any closer, I could have hit one of the kids down there. 'Thanks MOM...' I thought sarcastically as I worked the elevation torrent to adjust for the foul shot. I hate raiders as much as the next pony and they may be low on the equity scale, but they were ponies before they were raiders and making anything, or anypony for that matter, suffer is just wrong.

"Did you get them!?" Caliber shouted.

"Yes Caliber, I killed the whole town with one shot! I'm just that damn good!" I said, mocking him.

"Just... hurry up already! It's getting dark and I can't see shit!"

I shifted in my spot and aimed for the blue buck in the back of the street who was hiding behind what looked like the mine shaft, took aim for his head and fired. With another loud bang, the buck's head jerked back and his body went ridged, falling back to his side twitching. Right where I aimed, that's more like it! Two down and just a grey buck and a light green mare to go! Moving quickly, I moved the cross-hairs to a buck who was doing his best to hide behind one of the railings on a store front porch and centered them between his eyes. Right as I pulled the trigger for the third time in the fight, I saw a light green flash in the background as the round left the barrel, flying straight and true into the buck's head. Three down.

I moved once more, this time to take aim at the last remaining mare, but to my horror, she wasn't there anymore. I scanned the area, searching frantically for last raider on my mental 'to kill' list but kept coming up empty hooved. Everything had fallen silent so much so that even the kids that were hiding behind the cart were braving a look over the top of it to see if the coast was clear.

"Shit! I can't find her!"

"Wait! Joey, she's by the mine shaft! Next to the dead buck! Looks like shes going through his bags!" Caliber said, dropping the binoculars.

"No honor among thieves I guess." I said as I worked the bolt back on my rifle and sent a hot piece of spent brass flying behind me.

I looked back to the town and sure enough, just behind the shaft, I could see that she was in fact rifling through his bags for something. No matter, I hope whatever she wanted in them was worth dying for. I held the center of the cross-hairs where I though her head would pop out and waited. Come on bitch, just poke your head out, just give me the shot! I watched as her flank disappeared behind the tower and waited for my target to come back into view. Several long moments passed as I waited patiently for her to trot out from behind her cover, the whole time what little light I had left fading away.

"SHE'S MAKING A RUN FOR IT!" Caliber said and he readied his rifle once more and sent a wave of full-auto fire in the direction of the town. I raised my rifle to meet the location of where he was firing to see that one of Caliber's rounds had found it's mark, sending the mare tumbling down a far hillside and out of view.

"Nice shot!"

"Did I get her?" Caliber asked.

"Yup, that was a hit alright."

"Well, then I declare this area secure." Caliber said, holstering his rifle away with a proud look on his face.

"So, who want's to TROT down and talk to the kids who will probably shoot at us out of fear first?" I asked as I put my rifle away and switched on the light to my pipbuck.

"Ok, maybe we can bend that 'no flying' rule a bit. Just this one time." Caliber said as he climbed onto my back and we both took flight.

Even in the now almost none existent light, I could still make out the four fillies and colts working their way from cover to cover, proceeding slowly to see if the coast was clear. As we approached the town, the white filly spotted us and bolted for the door of what looked like the old town's store. Soon after, the other three followed suit, the last little bucks flank clearing the door right as we touched down behind where they had been hiding. Caliber climbed from my back and made his way to the dead mare that I had killed just moments ago and began searching her bags for loot. I decided to take my chances with the kids inside the store and began to trot my way towards the broken down porch of the "Platinum's Assay Services".

No sooner than I had touched my hoof to the worn wood decking of the stores porch, from deep inside came a high pitch, and very nervous, voice of a young colt.

"Who is it! Whose there!? We don't want any trouble! Just go away and nopony will get hurt!"

"Calm down kid, we're the ones that shot the raiders."

"Yeah? How do I know that you're not going to shoot us too then?"

"Hey, Joey..." Cal said from behind me.

"Not now Cal, I'm negotiating... Why in the hell would I shoot a kid?" I said dumbfounded."

"The raiders didn't seem to mind, why should we trust you?"

"Look, me and my partner were just looking for a place to sleep. We saw that you were in trouble and tried to help out. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Joey, I need to talk to you." Cal said, tying to butt in again.

"In a minute, Cal." I said shooing him away with an hoof.

"You sure got a funny way of showing it! That was Sashay's mom you shot!"

The calm, heroic demeanor I had been wearing across my face melted away, leaving behind it a look of complete horror. No! She was a raider! She was wearing leather armor! I swear I even saw her shooting back at them when I first looked through the scope! It couldn't be! Had I just killed the mother of one of the kids that I was trying to save? No, no, no, no! Please, for the love of everything that is good and sacred, make it go away! Please, universe. Please?

"She was... her mom?" I managed to squeak out from beneath my horrified shame.

"YES SHE WAS! AND YOU SHOT HER! THIS IS WHY I DON'T TRUST ADULTS! SHOOT FIRST, ASK NEVER! YOU ARE ALL THE SAME!"

"But, she was shooting at you! She had a gun! I didn't know!" I said, trying to ignore the pounding in my chest.

"She was a raider! But she used to be my mom!" Came the broken voice of a young filly as she poked her head out of the doorway. Sashay's purple eyes were almost as piercing as the blood stains that now covered both her brilliant white coat and sea blue mane.

"I-I..." I was lost for words. Moments ago I was doing my best to save four kids, now I'm looking into the blood stained face of a filly whose mother I just executed right in front of her. There are no words in a time like this to sooth the pain that I had to have caused for her. I wanted to crawl into the mine shaft and just disappear, die, anything but be right here, right now.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER! GET AWAY FROM THERE!" Sashay screamed beyond me. I turned to see Caliber rolling the now lifeless body of the purple mare on to her back.

"Cal! What are you doing!?" I growled under my breath.

"We need to talk Joey. Now." Cal Said as I approached him.

"What! What in the fuck is so damn important!" I said with all the ill intent from the pain I was feeling.

"I know this mare. Knew... her." Caliber said refusing to break eye contact with the lifeless mare.

"You know every mare in the wasteland! What's your point!?"

"She's Snow Dancer. We used to date."

"Oh big surprise! Let me guess, You fucked her, ran out in the middle of the night and she ha..."

Caliber looked up at me with a pitiful look that could only mean one thing. I looked back to Sashay. Purple eyes, deep blue mane, white coat. Oh for the love of Luna! This can not be happening! This is by way and afar the most unlikely set of coincidences that could have happened to me today. Then again, given Calibers past, I am not shocked in the slightest.

"Goddess. Fucking. Dammit, Caliber!" I said through my teeth.

"She left me."

"Come again?" I said, now broken from my anger. This was new.

"We dated for a few months back in Baltimare. She was a dancer, I thought she was cute. So I tired to get her into bed, but she kept insisting that we just talk. I don't know what it was, but there was something different about her, something that I actually liked about her. Maybe it was her personality, I don't know. I thought she was, you know, like the one?"

"What happened? I mean, why did she leave?" I said now curious to know more about the mare that left the buck who leaves all the mares in equestria.

"No clue. We were making our way towards flank and she disappeared. One minute, we are falling asleep together, the next I wake up and she's gone." Caliber said, now looking her over with a sad expression. I could tell that he was covering up real pain by trying to look like he was just examining her features.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I had no clue."

"It's ok. It was a long time ago."

"So... do you think she's your's?"

"Yeah, this is defiantly Snowy alright." Cal said, brushing her blood matted mane out of her eyes.

"Moron!" I said, turning his head to see Sashay who was still standing in the doorway.

Caliber stared at the white filly for several moments before slowly turning to meet my gaze once more.

"Oop-"

"Shut up! Don't You even say it! What are you trying to do? Repopulate the whole fucking wasteland single hooved?"

"What! I didn't know she was pregnant! Besides, she left me. Remember?"

"Ok... Fine. What the hell are we going to do here? I don't think this situation is salvageable. Should we just leave?" I said, still wanting to be anywhere but here at this very moment.

"Hmmm... leave. That's something Caliber WOULD do..." Caliber said tapping a hoof to his muzzle.

"Ok so.. do we just fly off?"

"Hold on. That's something Caliber would do. But Joey? No way. He would face this head on and make things right! The Joey I know wouldn't run from responsibility like that." Caliber said with a clear look of revenge written across his muzzle.

Oh. So that's what that feels like. As much as I wanted to buck Caliber in the face for using my own words against me, he was right. If I flew away now, what are the chances that I would make a habit of it later on? Oh goddesses, this is going to suck!

"Fine... But I don't think they want us here." I said trotting back to the porch.

"Sashay. Nothing I say will undo what I did and I know you wont forgive me for it. But you have to understand, I was 200 meters way, there is no way I could have known. I thought she was a raider who was attacking you all and I took the shot. Not out of hate, but because I was trying my best to save you all."

Sashay stood almost stoic while I was begging for her to understand why I had just shot her mom. A long silence grew between us, all the while with the tension growing on whether or not she was going to freak out or not. If she did, I wouldn't blame her. Finally, after what felt like a year of waiting, and me growing more and more nervous, Sashay spoke.

"I understand. I just... I need to be alone right now." She said as she turned and trotted back into the depths of the store front.

"Go away! You caused enough problems!" Came the voice of the colt once more.

"Look, we just need a place to sleep for the night and after that we will be gone. This store is the only building left in town with a roof and a door, I promise, there wont be any trouble." I said, really hopping that we wouldn't be staying in that creepy cave for the night. From inside, I could hear that they were talking among themselves.

"Who are you!"

"Jo... Coyote Joe. I'm a tracker." I said, hoping that maybe they had heard of me and that I wasn't somepony who wanted to hurt them.

"COYOTE JOE!?" Came another voice from the darkness, followed by a yellow colt with a rust colored mane running out of the store and latching himself to my front leg.

"Joe! It's me! Sunny!"

"Sunny? Do I know you?" I said taking a few steps back from the excited yellow ball of energy.

"You saved me from the slavers! Brought me home to my daddy! It was in Hoofington. Remember!?" Sunny said in a hyper, broken sentence.

"Wow! That was five years ago! You were just a foal back then, how can you remember something from that far back?" I said, now trying to place the young colt in my memory.

Sunny was the first job that I had taken to bring back a foal that had been taken by slavers in Hoofington. That was so long ago but standing here now in front of the very colt I had saved so long ago, the memories came back to me like a flash. Sunny had been taken right outside of Mega Mart while his father was trading, I found him ten days later, twenty miles north near the mountains. I was still young back then and had no idea how to care for a foal. So having to take care of one for the 3 day journey back to Hoofington was a crash coarse in parenting for me to say the least. When he would get hungry, I gave him Sparkle Cola and Buckcakes, but had I known that it would lead to him being a yellow ball of hyper, I would have tried water.

"Yeah! I know! Daddy used to talk about you all the time! The buck who brought his colt back to him he called you!" Sunny said sprinting around my hoofs.

"Wait, where is your dad now? You're pretty far from home, aren't you?"

"Oh! He's dead! But it's ok! I'm a Crusader now!" Sunny said without breaking stride or even pausing at the thought of his dead father.

"IN TRAINING!" Said the orange colt who was now standing on the porch.

"And you are?" I asked

"Ugh... I'm Wheels, that's Sunny, the filly whose mom you killed Is Sashay and this is Pop. Say hi Pop." Wheels said rather indignantly to the pink filly with light purple mane.

"Hi.." Pop said, sinking back into the shadows of the store.

"Shut up pop!" Wheels belted back to her. What was this kids deal? Fearful, resentful at our presence and rude!

"Uh hi. I'm Joey, and this is Caliber." I said, taken off guard by the colts attitude.

"If you two are going to crash here for the night, there are rules you must obey!"

"Ok... Let's hear them..." I said rolling my eyes.

"First! I'm the one in charge here! I'm the only crusader here and these ponies are my recruits in training. They only answer to me and me alone. Got that!?" Wheels said with more authority than was warranted.

"Ok, if you say so." Caliber said, now standing beside me.

"Good!" The colts said, now trotting back into the store.

"And?"

"And what!?" Wheels said freezing in his tracks.

"You said rules, that's just one rule." I said, prompting him to continue.

"Well... It's the only rule that matters! Stupid adults." Wheels said trotting back into the store front.

"Get a load of this little shit..." Caliber said starting for the store.

"Yeah, no kidding. Hey! Do you think Wheels is Sashays brother? Seem's like somepony you would father."

"Shut it!" Cal said as he walked inside.

Inside, the four ponies had made a small encampment out of stray boxes, books, old bed sheets and what looked to be what was left of some broken bar stools. Despite Wheels child like attitude towards Caliber and myself, he did seem to be doing a far job of helping the others take care of themselves. The large room that was once a store had since been cleared of anything of real value, the old shelving had even been taken long ago and deposed of, maybe even before the war. The soon to be crusaders had made quite the little campsite in the center of the shopping area, they even had set up tents with the remains of the stores wares.

Pop had hidden herself beneath the confides of her sheet and bar stool tent that she had erected, leaving only her muzzle poking out of the front and her tail out of the back. Around her tent lay a half dozen or so Ministry of Peace medical boxes that looked to have been opened and gone through. In front of her was quite the sizable stash of medical supplies, enough to get anypony from here to Baltimare safely. If nothing else, the group would be in good hoofs if anyone of them had even the slightest knowledge in dealing with wounds.

Wheels had placed himself facing the doorway, he also had claimed the best supplies for his own to make himself a large fort, guarding himself from intruders. Sunny was to his immediate right and looked had cobbled together something that resembled a tent, gotten sidetracked by something and stopped building it halfway through. One side of the structure was being supported by various bottles of Sparkle Cola and food, stacked haphazardly into a tower that was holding up half of his structure.

Looking around, My eyes landed on the yellow colt who was now doing a excellent job of annoying Wheels with tales he had undoubtedly heard about me. I wasn't famous, I wasn't even all that popular, but the majority of the vendors at Mega Mart knew me and what all I had done in the past. From what I was gathering from the conversation, Sunny was giving Wheels the same sales pitch my sister would give when she would try and sell my services to somepony. Looking around still, I found Sashay sitting by herself in a corner of the store.

I'm sure she was still trying to process everything that had just happened moments ago. My heart went out to her, your mother becoming a raider, then your raider mother trying to kill you, then somepony from far off kills her right in front of you. There wasn't anytime to process what had happened, it just... happened. I hope I never have to know what that kind of thing feels like, but if it's worse than when I lost Boss, the only pony I knew as a father, then she is in for a long night. I know better than to talk to her, but at some point i'm going to have to make an effort to do so.

"So, this is your place huh?" I asked, trying to break the ice.

"Uh... no! This is our camp! What do we look like? Stupid?" Wheels shouted to me.

"Ok, ok. Campsite then. So, do you mind telling me how you all almost ended up as raider meat?"

"Same idea as you! We were looking for a place to sleep and they started shooting at us! BANG BANG BANG! It was intense!" Sunny said, holding an imaginary gun and making shooting noises.

"We would have been fine if Pop hadn't started screaming like she did." Wheels said

"So-sorry, I didn't mean to-" Pop tried to say

"Shut up Pop! Go get the wood for the fire!"

"A real charmer, isn't he?" Caliber whispered to me.

I watched as the pink fillies nose disappeared into the tint she had made, then watched her crawl her way out of the backside and trot off to the edge of the room. She started to gather together some old bits of broken shelving and chairs and placed them on a flattened out box that she then proceeded to drag to the center of the tents.

"Is this enough?" Pop meeked out.

"Yeah, sure. Now go outside and get some rocks. Sashay! Giver her a hoof, don't just sit there. You know she hates being alone."

Sashay slowly trotted her way to Pop's side and the two passed us by as they made their way to the door.

"I don't like this place, It brings back bad memories..." Pop said at almost a whispers volume to Sashay.

"Cal, Would you mind giving them a hoof? I don't want those two out there alone this time of night."

"Why do I have to go? I hate hard labor!"

"Just do it for me, please? I need to have a word with captain dickhead over there."

"Fine..." Caliber said as he turned and trotted away.

"Be sure you keep your eyes peeled! Watch for raiders!" I yelled after him

"Yes MOOOM..." Cal shouted back to me as he walked outside.

Now alone with the little ass, I felt that it might be good if he and I had a little chat about how he treated his friends. Well almost alone, Sunny was making a game all by his self with a few caps he had found and was play fighting with the them as if they were other ponies. Given the amount of enthusiasm he was putting into the game, we might as well be alone. Wheels was working on his overly elaborate structure of a fort that he had made, making it even more massive.

"Wheels, can I talk to you for a moment."

"Make it fast..." Wheels said from behind his wall of books he had constructed.

"Look, you don't like me and I don't know you, but I have met a lot of crusaders in my time and I have never seen one treat their friends the way you do. Don't you think they would appreciate it if you were to treat them as equals rather than servants?" I said, trotting up to them.

"You adults are all the same! Don't say this, don't do that, play nice with your friends! Well nice don't cut it out here! A tracker like yourself should know that! If you were half the pony Sunny says your are then you wouldn't have started shooting first and killed Sashays mom!"

"Look, all I'm saying is that teams work better when you treat all the members with respect and dignity. They listen better, they work better and make fewer mistakes."

"Mistakes like killing someponies mother?" Wheels grinned back at me.

"Ok, let it go, you know that couldn't have been avoided. She went full raider and was about to kill all of ya'll, I did what I thought was right and now I'm paying for my mistakes."

"You wouldn't have to pay for them if you had not made them in the first place! I'm the boss of this group and nopony is going to come in here and change that! Especially half hoofed, tracker who looks like he hasn't seen a bath in 2 years! Look at you, your so dirty that you look like you have stripes or something! What are you, half zebra!?" Wheels said laughing.

I can take a lot of things being said to me, I was used to it in fact. I can take even more from a little colt, even if he thinks he is god of all the foals in equestria. I have been called dirty, useless, a bad tracker and even smelly, but him picking on me for having stripes just pisses me off! All the cool I had been keeping about myself evaporated when he said that, and that was something I wasn't going to take. I grabbed the colt by his shoulders, picking him up off the floor and pulled him within an inch of my face.

"Look here you little shit, you may think you are this untouchable god but I have news for you! I have been on my own for far longer than you ever have, and judging by the way you are acting, you wont see half the years on this earth as me if you keep it up. And if you keep busting me for having stripes those years are going to be drastically reduced to zero." I growled at him.

"Stripes!? Wait you are a zebra!? Zebras don't have wings!" Wheels said as I dropped him on the ground.

"No, I'm half zebra, half pony. Bring it up again and I will use these wings to fly you to the top of that mining tower and leave you there, sure as Luna hung the stars! Got it?" I said as I started backing him into his fort.

"Fine! J-Just stay away from me you lunatic!" Wheels said, now showing a flicker of fear.

I turned just in time to see Caliber trotting through the door. Going off of what his expression was telling me, he must have caught part of mine and Wheels little heart to heart chat we were having, and approved. They had only been gone minutes but you would have never have guessed it by the change in demeanor in Sashay's attitude. What had Cal done to them out there? Sashay, who was once in the throws of depression, now looked neutral to everything as she trotted past me and dropped a small load of rock to the floor.

"Thanks for the help girls... I... I got it! Nopony rush to help me..." Caliber said, now loaded down with rocks so much so that he was being bent in half. He managed to stagger to the center of the encampment and drop them in a pile next to Sashays before collapsing to the floor beside them. Pop was right behind him, trotting to his side and dropping the one and only rock she had retreated and began looking Caliber over for injuries.

"Oh... I told you not to carry so many rocks..." Pop said as she started looking him over.

"Pop! You only got one rock?!" Wheels started.

I shot the most treating look that I could manage his way before he could continue.

"G-good job, go ahead and make them into a circle, It's getting cold." Wheels said, trying to reel in his resentment.

"Wait, You all are going to start a fire... Inside?" I said, my ears drooping at the mere thought of something so stupid.

"Ugh... how else are we going to stay warm, idiot?" Wheels barked at me. Looks like that little talk about treating your friends with respect, didn't extend to me.

"You do know that this place is made of wood right? And that fire burns wood?"

"I know what I'm doing, I have done this loads of times!" Wheels said as he began arranging the wood into a v shape.

"I highly doubt he has." Caliber whispered to me as he took his place next to me on the floor and layed down.

"Oh shut up, you helped them get the rocks." I mumbled back at him.

"You told me too... Just saying. Besides, the rocks will keep the fire from spreading."

"Fire doesn't work like that, Cal..."

Before long, Wheels had managed to build a fire that was somehow managing to stay within the confides of the rocks the others had placed in a circle. I have no idea how in the world it had not managed to set the wooden floor on fire yet, this had to be some form of magic that I had not heard of. Caliber and I had finally managed to break our way into small talk with the group and started prying more into how they had found themselves in the midst's of becoming Crusaders. We had both figured that the best way to get them to loosen up would be to share stories around the firelight together.

Wheels had always been a Crusader as far as he was concerned. Born into a life of survival of the fittest in the outskirts of Flank to a mother who didn't want him, a father who he had never met and three brothers that used to pick on him for being the youngest. He had ran away and found a new home with the Crusaders just outside of Hoofington in a little town called Chapel. I almost felt sorry for him when he told his story, but the layer of seething hatred he had displayed earlier was making it hard to feel anything for him.

Sunny's dad had died about two years after I had rescued him from raiders, dying from an infection he had gotten while he was out salvaging In the outlying areas of Hoofington. He said that the infection kept spreading, despite there best efforts to try and contain it, it would just come back stronger and more aggressive. From what Sunny was saying, him and his father would always get sick and stay that way for weeks at a time before finally getting better. If I had to guess, the two of them may have some sort of auto immune disease that runs in their family, I had heard that ponies around Hoofington had similar problems.

Pop didn't say anything when it came her turn to share her tale, instead sinking back into her tent, leaving Wheels to explain that he had found her not far from where we were now on a small farm. According to him, Pop's parents had just disappeared one night, leaving her to fend for herself in the wasteland. More surprising was the fact that he actually knew her from long before she joined up with the group, saying that her parents were the overly protective type and wouldn't let him come near. So If I had to make my own guess it would be that they slipped off in the night for some alone time and ended up getting taken by slavers. But judging by the way she would keep to herself, it's also possible that she had seen something that forced her into silence, shutting out the world and by way, the thing that scares her.

Sashay's story lined up with what Caliber had told me earlier, It had always been her and her mother since before she could remember. She said that they had been on their way to New Appleloosa looking for somepony from her mothers passed. Her mother ordered her to stay at the campsite while she went out for water, but she never came back, leaving Sashay alone and ten miles from N.A. She somehow managed to work her way to the town where she met Wheels who took her in. When I asked who they were trying to find, she said that the only thing her mother told her was that they were looking for somepony who her mother cared for and wanted to see if he was ok. Sashay then excused herself back to the corner that she had been held up in when I first came in the store and layed down.

I looked to Caliber who had been hanging on the fillies every word, expecting him to be nonchalant about everything he had just been hit with. He had always been the cool and collected type when it came to things like this, call it being tempered to something that happens repeatedly in your life. But I wasn't ready for him to be fighting back tears with a stone cold gaze into what looked like nothing. This had hit him harder than when Lavender told him that he could not see Fetch back in Tenpony. The thought of loosing Zuri came fresh in my mind, and what it would feel like to loose somepony important to you, not once, but twice.

Snow Dancer obviously had meant a great deal to Cal at one time, and now hearing that not only had she left when she found out she was pregnant, but was then looking for him to possibly make amends, had to hurt. Add to that the fact that I had just shot her after she turned raider, right in front of his daughter, I could imagine that he would be upset with me. I couldn't help myself, I stretched out a wing and wrapped it around the poor buck to show that I was sorry for what had happened. Given the situation, I could understand if he didn't want me anywhere near him. So when he returned the kind gesture with a smile, I felt a knot untie itself deep in my gut.

The moment was short lived when a scraping sound came from outside, somewhere out in the streets. The sound seemed to echo a almost metallic, shrieking sound that machinery would make if it were suddenly come to life after years outside. It's pricing noise set my teach on edge and my coat to stand on end. I tucked my wings in tight almost reflexively and stood up on all four to turn to the door to see what had just happened.

"What was that?" Cal said, springing to his hoofs.

"I don't know, but whatever it is isn't far off."

"Oh please, I'm sure it was just the wind." Wheels said, crawling his way out of the book wall he had made.

"You know this place is haunted, right?" Cal said with a half cocky grin towards Wheels.

"That's just an old mares-tale! You two are just trying to scare us!" Wheels said, now working his way back to his cover.

"Cal, quit it." I said, covering my face with an hoof.

"No, no! It's true! I'm telling you, Ditzy even even say's it's too dangerous to stay here in her book." Cal said.

"Even if it was and I believed you too, I wouldn't be half as scared as you too are now."

"Well then mister brave, why don't we go check it out? I mean, after all, you don't want to go to sleep not knowing if someponies out there, do you?" Cal said, almost sadistically.

"He's right! Don't want to go to sleep if more raiders are out there close by! Might get munched!" Sunny said bouncing out of his tent.

"Fine, you all can go look and see, I'm not wasting my time on some ghost hunt!" Wheels said, now returning to his tent.

"Good! I don't want any scardy ponies with me anyways!" Cal said trotting out the door.

"Dammit Cal... Why do you have to do shit like this so late at night." I said as I stated after him.

"I'm coming too! Wait for me!" Sunny said as he bounced to my side.

"Well, I think that... I might... Should go with them too. I feel saver with them." Pop said as she pulled the blanket from her tent, wrapped herself up in it like a coat of armor and started outside.

"Sashay, want to come with us? It might be fun." I said in my best 'please come with us and forgive me for shooting your raider mom' voice.

"Might as well..." Sashay said and she trotted past me.

"AH! A GHOST!" Caliber screamed from outside.

"It's just Pop! She's no ghosty! Quite as one though!" I heard Sunny say followed by laughter from the group.

"Well Wheels? How about it? You coming?" I asked feeling a little cocky that his group preferred to stay with me and Caliber rather than him.

"Ugh! Adults..." Wheels said as I walked out the door, into the night air.

Clouds muted the light of the moon that was casting shadows around us, causing them to dance across the walls of the dimly lit buildings of the old town. The faint smell of sulfur hung in the air as we slowly made our way down the appropriately named 'Sheen Avenue' towards the large tower in the middle of the town. With every step, the images around us would shift and change as if they had a mind of their own, moving, ever so slightly, across the wooden walls of the buildings as we passed them by. Everything was quiet, still even, only disturbed by our presence as the five of us did our best to keep our movements silent and our eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't like this, Cal." I whispered to Caliber between the group of fillies and colts we were guarding.

"What's not to like? It's quiet, no wind, perfect weather for hunting!" Cal whispered back to me.

"We are wide out in the open, if somepony is out there, they will see us coming a mile away."

"Oh please, I can't see a hoof in front of my face. Just keep your eyes peeled."

To my left came the sound of trash cans crashing to the ground, their impact echoing off of the walls around us. Almost on reflex, my wings extended and pulled one of the pistols from my back and placed it in my mouth with a swiftness I had not drawn on in years. Slowly, I advanced on the alleyway where we had all heard the sound come from, leaving the group behind me. The closer I came, the louder the rustling of something moving just ahead of me became. There was something there, but to what it was, I had no clue.

Soon, images and silhouettes of pilled up refuse came into view just in front of me. Readying my pistol, I switched on the light of my pipbuck and... nothing. Old broken mining carts, overturned trash cans and mounds of overburden were all that cluttered the back of the alleyway. Not a sound stirred. Anything that had been here, was gone now. Shit! If only I had something that would let me see threats at a moment's notice...

Without a second thought I looked down to switch on my pipbuck's E.F.S. I had completely forgotten about it until just now! Looking back up sent me flying backwards at the sight of something inches from my face. I fell flat on my haunches, scrambling to regain my composure, pointing my gun into the darkness, ready for whatever was about to leap out at me. On my screen I could make out a red marker to my left, just in front of me, not moving, but waiting. Slowly, I rose to my hooves and proceeded forward slowly. The light of my pipbuck began to illuminate a long slender staff sticking out of the ground in front of me, right where I had been standing.

Shaking with every step I made, slowly, a long slender shaft came into view, followed by a coat, followed by a hat. It was a coat rack. Feeling stupid, I re-holstered my pistol just in time to notice the red marker that was now standing right beside me, fade away as if it were never there. I spun, looking in every direction for anypony nearby, but all I saw was the wall of a building and more trash cans. Was my pipbuck malfunctioning again? I had not tried the E.F.S. since Life Bloom had repaired it back in Tenpony. Was the weight loss messing with the calibration again? Who put this coat rack here? It had not been here moments ago when I turned on the light of my pipbuck.

Not wanting to take the chance, I slowly backed out of the alleyway, all the while my skin crawling with anticipation. I had become so nervous that I had reversed right into the middle of the group without knowing it. Something cold touched my flank, sending me two feet off the ground, screaming.

"What the hell Joey! Your ass stinks!" Caliber said.

"Fuck Caliber! Sorry, I'm just on edge."

"It's ok, but next time try not to back your ass right into my face, ok?"

"Somethin- Somepony is out there. And they are close-by." I said, turning to look behind me.

"Well, just watch your that E.F... thing and stay alert. If they are out there, we will find them."

"That's just it... I saw a red marker right next to me, but it just... disappeared! It was like-"

"A GHOST!" Caliber said, positively beaming with excitement.

"I don't know. But one thing's for sure. We are not alone out here."

"B-bad things here... Bad, bad things..." Pop mumbled between us.

"What bad things?" Caliber asked.

Pop stood still, looking off towards the tower in the distance, not saying a word, shaking in her hooves. Together, we worked our way up the old road bed, Caliber to my left with the kids between us. With every step we took, that acrid stench of sulfur grew more and more, almost as if it were permeating from the mine shaft itself. Even without any wind tonight, the broken doors of the old buildings would howl and creek as we trotted by. I guess that's why they call this place a ghost town, even without nature's help, the structures were seeming to come alive, all on their own. The sounds around us set my skin to crawl, giving me that all too familiar feeling that somepony was not only out there, but very close-by.

Looking to my E.F.S. for assurance, the screen gave no impression of any signs of life, except when I would turn my attention away from it for more than a moment. It was like whatever it was that was out there knew when I would be at my weakest and took that moment to make it's move. It made it's presence known in the form of little red flashes on my display, showing up and fading just as fast as my eyes would train themselves on it. Ghosts are not real, they can't be real. But what was so clever that it was eluding my E.F.S.?

Soon we came to a crossroad in the middle of town. The road to our right had been blocked by a fallen building, the one ahead lead to the mine shaft and the one to the left seemed to circle around the town's outskirts before leading it's way back to the tower. Off in the distance, I could make out what I thought was hoofsteps on creaking hardwood flooring of one of the buildings. Deciding that it would be too dangerous for the kids to come along, I decided to go it alone.

"Cal, you take the kids the long way around. It looks like that road circles the town and will drop you out by the mine."

"You sure you want to go alone? If there is anything out there, you don't want to be outgunned, do you?"

"They will be safer with you, if something happens, get them out of here and don't come back until you know they are safe."

"You sure are taking this serious, what's got you so spooked anyhow?"

"I don't even want to know. But if it's what I think it is, it's no place for kids."

"Ok, if you say so. Lend me one of your pistols, I'm unarmed."

"Cal..."

"I know, I know... Should have brought one of my own. But I didn't know that something was going to have you this jumpy."

"Ok, but..."

"I know, if it gets scratched, you will kill me."

I said nothing. Instead I unholstered Righty and passed it to Cal with my wing.

"Fucking pegasi and their wing tricks..." Cal said, taking the .44 pistol in his magic and starting head down the road.

"I want to go with Joey!" Sunny said, running to my side.

"Look Sunny, I don't think it's safe for you to come this way with me. Wouldn't you rather stay with Caliber and the rest of the group?"

"Nope!"

"Aww. Let the kid go, I'm sure you can manage one little colt on your own."

"Ok, look. If you come with me, it's not going to be like when I brought you home. This is different. You have to do everything I say, when I say it, deal?"

"Can do!" Sunny said, bouncing beside me as we trotted away from the group.

"First, no bouncing. Second, stay quiet. I don't want somepony getting the drop on us. Third, no wondering off. The last thing I need is to have to try and find you out here, got it?"

"Oh yeah! I'm getting tracking advice from Coyote Joe!"

"Shhh! It's not tracking advice, it's... nevermind." I said as we worked our way closer to the tower.

Our pace was broken by the sound of hoofsteps in a building to our left. I froze in my tracks, sending Sunny toppling over my hooves to the ground.

"What is it?" Sunny said, whispering.

"No clue... but we need to check it out." I said as I flipped the clasp on my holster with a wingtip to have my pistol at easy reach.

"Let's do this!" Sunny said, eager to take on whatever was out there.

"Wait, you said something about tracking lessons, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Ok, well here is your first one." I said, clicking the light of my pipbuck back on. "Crouch down, try your best to keep one eye on the dirt and the other looking around you for threats. That way you can look for tracks and not get shot in the process."

Sunny, to his credit, did his best to crouch to the ground. I had not thought about the fact that when I was slouched down that I was actually at eye level with him. Sunny tried for several moments to do as I said in a very literal sense, he even tried cocking his head to one side which resulted in him face down in the dirt.

"Ok, nevermind what I said. Watch the ground but keep alert. Look for any tracks that look like they are fresh or out of place."

"Ok!" Sunny said, snorting out a chunk of gravel from one nostril.

The two of us approached the building where I had heard the sound come from just moments earlier, scanning the ground as we went along. The closer we came, the more the building seemed to almost sway under it's own weight, creaking and moaning with each movement. Maybe the sound I had heard was just the building's way of saying "Hey! Don't come any closer, I'm about to collapse!" Sunny was trying his hardest to find anything that would resemble something that would lead us to somepony, pointing out various abnormalities in the ground that ultimately resulting in being nothing. But credit where it is due, he was at least trying and that's all I ever ask out of anypony.

"What about that?"

"Wind drift in the sand."

"Oh! This?"

"Dried up puddle."

"Shoot! Ok, I know that's a track, right?"

"Sunny?"

"Yeah!?"

"That's your track..."

"Oh... Oops!"

"Wait. What's that?" I said pointing at a black mass right in front of us. I was just about to shut the light on my pipbuck off before we started up the steps of the half collapsed building when I saw it. Off to the right of the stairs lay a pile of something, and that pile was still steaming.

"EW! It's poop!" Sunny said, covering his face with a hoof.

"Shhh! Whatever dropped this can't be far off, and judging by the size of it, I think it could be something big."

"Wait! There is actually something out here!?"

"Well why do you think we are out here in the first place?"

"Oh Luna! Oh Celestia!" Sunny said, backing away from me. "I thought this was a spooky ghost hunt! Caliber said it was just for fun! I didn't know something was actually out here."

I shined the light of my pipbuck on the ground around the 'sign' searching for tracks, fur, anything that would give me the slightest hint as to what could have done this. The only thing that stood out was the pungent smell of sulfur that seemed to be radiating off of the mound. Behind me, I could here Sunny hyperventilating at the sudden realization that this was no 'meet your hero stroll through an old town in the middle of the night' kind of trip. The dirt had been kicked up by something, but these tracks are something entirely new to me, no matter how I tried, I could not place them. The ground had been clawed up, and just shoved away around it like whatever did this was trying to bury it? Cover it up maybe? My thought was derailed by the sound of hoofsteps once more, this time, above me.

"Sunny, you hear that?" I said, turning to see where he was, but he was gone.

"Damnit kid..." I said through my teeth. Tell a colt to stay close and what's the first thing they do? Right, hope he doesn't get eaten.

Again, right above me, I could hear something moving about. Slowly, I unfolded my wings and pushed off the ground. With any luck, I would see Sunny from the air and the two of us could get out of here. After seeing the markings on the ground, I don't think it's safe for any of us to be out here, walking around in the pitch black. But before I could do that, I need to see if whatever is making all that noise is something that needs to be dealt with, sooner, rather than later. I began to hover just below the awning of the front porch, turning my head sideways to peak over the edge.

Across the corrugated roofing lay before me three windows, all but one of them closed. The one nearest to me had been broken off of it's hinges long ago by the looks of it. Deep in the dark room that lay beyond, my eyes kept telling me that something was there, some shadowy figure that would move quickly in and out of my vision. Just then, I became aware of a red marker that placed something in the room, right where I was looking. With a cold chill racking my body, I brought my hooves level with the roofing, readying myself to land and make ready to fire on whoever... whatever it was.

No sooner than my hoof had made contact with the roof, I felt it shift from beneath me. All at once, the building let out a groan of protest and began to sway towards me. The sound of boards breaking and furniture slamming into walls and breaking the two remaining windows as it began to fall over. I backflapped in the air to try and avoid the broken shards of glass that were now flying through the air towards me. Giving a large birth of the now collapsing structure, I circled around the area to try and find Sunny.

In a zigzag motion, I crossed the streets from where we had just come from in hopes that the kid had found a hiding place among the other store fronts. Looking desperately, I came up with nothing. Did something take him? Did he run back to the store? Where the hell is he!?

"JOEY!" I heard Sunny cry out from where I had just flown from. I turned to look back to the building that was slowly falling apart around him. He had hidden under the steps of the front porch and was just poking his head out of the wreckage. The building gave a great crushing sound that resembled a thousand toothpicks snapping one by one.

"RUN SUNNY! RUN!" I screamed as I took flight towards him.

Please don't fall on this kid! For once universe, in all your assholish humor, don't kill this kid! My wings beat as hard as they could to try and beat the structure's inevitable date with the ground that Sunny was standing on, frozen in fear. Nothing I managed felt like it was enough, no matter how hard I pushed, I didn't feel like I was flying fast enough to get there in time. I was still weak from the flight back from Tenpony and now, of all times, it was starting to show. My head cleared the sight-line of the falling building, Sunny was just a few meters away from me now. Desperate, I closed my eyes, opened my hooves wide to catch him and dug deep for every last bit of energy I had left in reserve, if there was any left to call on.

"Come on! COME ON!" I screamed and I gave it everything I had left. I felt the colt impact my legs as I wrapped him tight and braced myself to be crushed.

With one last push, I force us both higher into the air. I could feel chunks of wood raining across my back, each one sending a chill up my spine as I waited for the massive hit from something to finish us off for good. Mercifully, the hits thinned out and soon we had both found our way out of the wreckage. I finally opened my eyes to look back at the destruction that Sunny and I had both narrowly avoided when I felt the colt start pounding his hoof on my leg.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta-" Sunny stuttered.

"Huh?" I managed to get out as I turned my head to see what he was trying to get my attention for.

As soon as I saw what was in front of us, it was too late to pull up. Seconds before impact, I turned my body and wrapped my wings around us both, turning my back to the tower that we were now crashing into. The shock from the collision took my breath away, pain shot out from the base of both of my wings, and the two of us fell five meters to the ground below.

I landed on my already hurt back, Sunny was soon to follow, landing in the center of my chest, sending even more pain through my body. The young colt seemed to have survived the crash with little more than a bad case of the shakes, me on the other hoof... Let's just say that it is going to be a long time before I can manage getting airborne again. Any hopes of me and Cal making it to Hoofington in anything short of a month were long gone. I looked to Sunny who was now at my side looking me over.

"Oh no, no, no! Joey! You're ok? Right?"

"Never... better." I somehow managed to say through the pain.

"Oh no! Your wings!"

"I'm fine kid... Are you ok?" I said trough gasps as I tried to get my breath back.

"I-I'm fine! b-b-b-but your wings!"

"They are ok, I'm sure they can be saved."

Oh but they were not ok. Judging by the pain, I don't know if I even have wings left to save. The hit had taken it's toll on my body, leaving me broken and in immense pain. I didn't want to look, if they were broken beyond repair... No! I refuse to think about that! They have to be fixable, there has to be some potion, some spell, something! Oh Luna, what will mo... Ditzy say when she finds out that I just broke my wings, in a town that even she says is too dangerous to go to, right after lecturing me about not being stupid...

As if hitting the mining tower and breaking my wings wasn't enough payback for making a deal with the cosmos to save a kid's life, now I had to deal with the consequences of my actions with a ghoul pegasus that thinks she's my mother... I looked back to Sunny through the pain and my now darkening vision and could see that he was in fact, ok.

"Ok. Fair enough." I said as I closed my eyes and passed out.

"Will he fly again doctor!?"

Sunny's voice felt hollow, echoing off the walls of my brain as I slowly began to regain consciousness. The pain that had sent me on a one way trip to blackout paradise was all but gone, dimmed by something euphoric and numbing that was sending my world spinning. What was this stuff? Med-X? Oh Celestia, don't let it be med-x! I just got off the stuff! Great... I save a colt, crash into the tower of the scary town and now I'm going to hooked on drugs again... I take it back, Ditzy isn't going to be mad at me, she's going to kill me for this one.

"How should I know! I'm just a filly! And stop calling me doctor!" Came the voice of Pop in a far more authoritative tone than I was used to hearing come from the young filly.

"Ok, but will he fly again!?"

"For the last time! Stop asking me that! You know that pegasi are few and far between to start with, let alone medical knowledge about their wings! Just... Go over there, my anesthetic spell won't last long and when he comes too... Let's just say he is not going to be in a friendly mood!"

Goodnight! Did Pop and Wheels changes places while I was out? When did she get so bossy? Ow! What the hell is she pulling on! It feels like she is trying to amputate my wings with a damn shovel! And just like that, the spell wore off and the world of pain and suffering reared it's ugly head, sending me into convulsions. With every twitch and jerk my body did reflexively, the pain would compound and get worse. There wasn't a spot that I could lay on without the pain getting worse, nothing I did seemed to have any effect towards easing my discomfort.

"Joey! You're awake!" Sunny screamed from his spot far to my left.

"Oh calm down you big baby. It's just a broken wing... at least, I think that's all that's broken..." Pop said, shying away from me.

"Oh shit! Oh Luna! Get me on my hooves!" I screamed, hoping that standing would at least do something to ease the pain.

Pop and Sunny both picked a side to my left and right, and with their help, I was able to stand, but my head felt like it was about to explode. Pop reassured me that it would pass with time and that it was a lingering effect of her spell she had cast to help keep me out of pain, but with her being so young, the effects were... Lets just say that it equated to the worst hangover I had ever had. Well... at least it wasn't Med-X.

"Better?" Pop asked politely. I guess when she is working on somepony, she doesn't have time to be the scared, meek filly that she had been earlier.

"So much better!" I said letting out a breath I had been holding.

"Now, I'm no medical pony, but even I can see that wing needs looked at by somepony who know something about pegasi... You best head back to town to see Candy."

"No way, no how! I can't go back there."

"Why not?" Pop said, but her words might as well have hit the dirt in front of me. Not because of my stubborn pride, but because my ears were picking up the words of Caliber on the war path, and they were coming from the collapsed house.

"What did you think would happen!? Are you fucking stupid!?" Caliber screamed. The once seemingly dead town had become alive with the words of hate, anger and idle threats.

"I didn't know! I swear it!" Wheels said, now being backed towards me by Caliber. I have never seen him so mad before, and holy fuck was it scary looking.

"WELL NOW YOU FUCKING DO! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED THE TWO OF THEM!"

"Them? What about me? I was in that house too!" Wheels said, now backing away faster.

"You!? YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THAT HOUSE! BECAUSE OF YOU MY BEST FRIEND MIGHT NOT FLY AGAIN!"

"I'm telling you! I didn- OOF!" Wheels let out as his rump collided with my chest. The young colt looked up at me with fear in his eyes, shaking with anticipation.

"Ok, I give... What the hell is going on here?" I said between the two of them.

"This little smear of shit decided it would be fun to play a prank on you by bringing a building down on your head, that's what!"

"I just wanted to scare you! I swear it! I didn't know the house would fall in like that!" Wheels said, now backing away from the two of us. Caliber and I followed after him as we all approached the pit by the tower.

"If you were trying to scare me, why not just jump out in front me. Why did you feel the need to bring a house down and nearly kill both me AND Sunny? Isn't there something in the Crusader code that says you can't kill your fellow Crusaders?" I asked in a cold level tone.

"I just wanted to make the house creak! Scare you! Make you both go away and leave us alone!" Wheels said now pacing by the pit.

"But why? We didn't do anything to you. We just wanted to go to sleep for the night." I asked.

"Because he is a little, sawed off asshole who needs validation through being in control! Care to know what his next trick was? Look at his hooves! He poured out a whole container of oil out over by the pit!" Caliber said beside me.

"Caliber, let him finish. Please. Enlighten me..." I said taking a step closer to him.

"All you adults are the same! You come in and take over everything! You ruin everything you touch! You kidnap fillies and colts, sell us into slavery and take our things! If we get in your way, you just shoot us and move on! If we cause you a problem, you just cast us aside like we are trash! None of you can be trusted!" Wheels said, now skirting around the edge of the pit as Cal and I followed.

"I have never done any of those things, neither of us have! I get that your mother was a massive bitch for what she did, but that's no reason to mark all adults as bad."

"HORSE APPLES! You come here and try to undermine me and take these soon to be Crusaders away from me! And now you say you can be trusted!?" Wheels laughed as he now began to close the gap between us.

"I don't want to take anypony for fuck sake! I wanted a safe place to sleep! What do I have to do to prove this to you!?"

"Go away! I thought me scaring you away would work, but you adults never take the hint!"

"How did you get around without my E.F.S. picking you up anyhow?"

"Oh! The little fucker was using these." Caliber said as he kicked a pallet out of the way and lifted a hatch that lead straight down.

"I caught him poking his head up from here. Turns out the damn things are all over the town! They go up and down to the main part of the mine. I went down this one after him, but had to come back up because of the sulfur gas!"

"Air-shafts..." I said aloud. Of course! He could have popped up anywhere he wanted to and dropped back down before I could get a solid read on him with my E.F.S.

"Darn right! Never saw that coming did you! HA!" Wheels belted back to the two of us.

"I'll give you that one. But it was stupid for you to go down there! Who knows what's down there anyhow, the gases alone could kill a pony."

"Oh please. Spare me your lecture! I have done it hundreds of times!" Wheels said as if he knew better than me.

"Look, I can forgive you almost killing me. I can't say anything for Sunny, that's between you and him. But you acting the way you are is going to get the rest of the group killed!" I said in the same tone that Boss had used on me when I did something so stupid that it warranted it.

"Shut up!" Wheels shouted as he stomped at the ground.

The ground beneath his hind legs gave way, sending him splayed out on the ground, grasping for something to hang onto. I tried to run to catch him, but the sudden movement sent pain down my spine, sending me straight to the ground, right in front of him. Using my front legs, I scrambled to get to his hooves as they pawed at the dirt, trying to find anything that would stop his fall. The inches felt like miles as I made my way to his side. I looked back to Caliber who I expected to have passed by me to rush to the young colts aid, but he was just sitting there, looking on at the show. Even the fillies and colts seemed hesitant to rush in to help, instead pretending that nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Caliber! Get your ass over here!"

"Fine... But I'm not forgiving him for what he did." Caliber groaned out.

My hooves found Wheels, but at the slightest movement towards pulling him out of the pit was met with a sharp pain that nearly made me lose my grip on his hoof, and for Wheels to slide a few inches closer towards his death. Caliber reached in to take the young colt's hoof, but hesitated.

"Say you are sorry." Caliber let out, now standing just inches from the stricken colt.

"What!?" Wheels and I both said together.

"I said... SAY YOU ARE FUCKING SORRY YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

"Fine! I'm sorry! I'll never do it again! I'll trust adults! I'll do anything! Just don't let me fall!"

"Grab his fucking hoof Caliber! I can't hold on any longer!" I said, tears of pain now streaming down my face.

Somewhere from below us in the mine shaft came a deep guttural roar, followed by that metallic scraping sound we had all heard earlier. Right as Caliber had taken Wheels's hoof in his to pull him up, a large clawed, wooden arm extended out of the darkness and dug deep into the wall of the pit I was looking down. The roar, the sound of metal scraping, the pile of scat, all passed through my mind and came together to come up to one conclusion.

{GORE WARNING}

"TIMBERWOLF!" Caliber screamed as he rushed to grab the flailing hoof of the young colt.

"OH NO! NOT AGAIN!" Pop said behind us.

"Hold on kid!" I said, feeling my grip slip more and more through his oily hooves.

"I can't get a grip on him! He's covered in fucking oil!" Caliber said, trying to use both hooves to find purchase.

"Oh Celestia! I don't want to die!" Wheels screamed as the timberwolf took out a large rock just below the colt's hindhooves.

"It's getting closer Cal! Use your magic!" But my words hung in the air. In that moment the timberwolf's clawed paw reached up out of the pit and came down right on top of the kid. It's middle claw fell right in the center of his back, penetrating straight through him and into the dirt below him. Blood sprayed out of the giant wound that the claw had just made, spraying across my face and forcing Wheels to let out a loud, gargled scream of pain.

"Joey! We have to get out of here!"

"No Cal! Don't let go!"

"P-please! Heelp!" Wheels mumbled out.

"Oh hell!" Caliber yelled out as he wrapped his hooves around Wheels neck.

All at once the weight on my hooves began to grow with every passing second, the timberwolf was starting to pull straight down. A look of complete horror began to come across Wheels's face. The claw began to pull at the center of his body, filling the air with loud pops and cracks as his bones began to break and the sinew began to tear.

"Ah! No! No! No!" Wheels words faded into a scream that was only dampened by the blood that was now forcing its way out of his muzzle. I looked up to where the claw had stabbed him and was horrified by the sight. The skin around the wound was tearing, exposing the muscle that lay beneath. With a great pull, I felt pain shoot out from my back as the kid's weight suddenly went slack, sending the three of us flying backwards. Wheels landed right between Caliber and I.

"Wheels! Oh no..." I heard Pop scream out as she hid her face from what she was seeing.

I pushed through the pain to see how bad the damage to the poor kids back was, but when I looked between Caliber and I, I wasn't prepared to see him like this. The claw had ripped him completely in half, leaving him with only his front legs and half of his stomach. Behind us lay a long bloody trail that started at the edge of the pit and led right to where we lay now.

{GORE WARNING}

"P-please... get... Pop somewhere... safe... please?" Wheels whispered out as he lay shaking from blood loss.

"Ok kid... POP! MED-X! NOW!" I shouted over my shoulder. But Pop was frozen in shock.

"For fuck sake's! Hurry!" Caliber screamed, now running up to the shaking filly.

"I-I'm... C-c-cold... Ever... everything hurts..." Wheels said, now shivering so hard that his words came out broken.

"It's ok kid, just... look at me, soon it won't hurt anymore. I promise." I said, taking his hoof in mine.

"Just give me all of them!" Caliber shouted, running to my side with five syringes of Med-X held in his magic.

"You can't! That much will-" Pop was silenced by a stern glare from Caliber.

"Will it... hurt?" Wheels asked as Caliber levitated the needles above him.

"Only for a second..." I tried to say, but my words were being over come by the sobs that I was fighting back.

"Just lie still kid, it will all be over soon." Caliber said and he sunk all five needles in to the shoulder of the colt. Wheels let out a screech of protest that was quickly silenced by the drugs numbing effects. Pop looked on in horror as Caliber depressed the plungers, sending the cocktail of drugs into his system.

"You can't use that much Med-X! You will kill him! It's a very powerful pain reliever!" Pop screamed out to us both.

It wasn't to relieve the pain, it was mercy. Nopony, not anypony on this planet deserves to suffer through this pain, no matter what they did. Pop was too young to understand that sometimes, when a pony's injuries are too severe to save them, you can administer an overdose of Med-X. The drug's effects will numb the pain almost completely if used correctly. But when used in an overdose, it will still kill the pain but it will systematically start shutting down your organs as you slowly slip into a coma.

"It's ok kid. Just lay back and relax." Caliber said, taking his other hoof.

"I-I wa-want my momma..." Wheels said through his tears as he closed his eyes and passed away from us both. I felt his little hoof go limp and slide out of mine, falling to the ground beside me. And just like that, Wheels died. At the edge of the pit, the timber wolf was clawing at the dirt where we had just fell back from, howling.

"Fuck... this..." Caliber said, standing to his hooves. His horn glowed as a large mass of shiny apples that had been taped together appeared out of his bag.

"Caliber, what are you doing!? Get away from there!" But he said nothing, instead, he moved towards the snarling maw of the beast.

"CAL! GET AWAY FROM THERE! ARE YOU INSANE!?" I shouted.

"FUCK THIS! FUCK YOU! YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Cal shouted as he pulled every pin in the cluster of grenades and held them in his magic five meters down inside the shaft, right inline with the timberwolf's back.

"BON-APPE-FUCK YOU!" Cal shouted. Just then the world around us erupted, the explosion sending rocks flying in every direction around us. Cal stood firm against the blast, letting the debris fly past him as the concussive force worked it's magic, collapsing the walls of the pit in on itself. All the anger that Cal had towards Wheels had shifted to the timberwolf that was now being buried in the mine shaft. This was a new side of Caliber I had never see before. Pure. Fucking. Rage.

Not anger, not pain. Rage. I had heard that he had a very dangerous self-destructive attitude towards his own life, I had also heard that he had a side to him that was terrifying if you pushed him far enough. If that was a glimpse of what he was like when he was like that then... I'm just happy he is on my side.

The five of us buried Wheels in a shallow grave by the town's well. Pop worked her magic to carve a simple grave marker, ironically, out of the same wood that came from the house he tried to drop on me. The shock of what Caliber and I had just seen up close and personal was still working it's way through our systems as we all made our way out of town. Not because none of us wanted to stay in a town that had a timberwolf living under it, but because the fucking store had burned down.

Turns out that building a fire inside a house is a very bad idea, just like I had said before. No matter how this night would have ended, it would seem that somepony was predestined to suffer a horrific death, either by fire, or by timberwolf. As horrible as it is to say, Wheels's death may have been to worst I had ever seen, but the alternative would have left us all dead by morning had I trusted his logic. Caliber had calmed down from his moment of insanity and was now being his old self again, walking further ahead of the rest of the group with Sashay.

If I had to venture a guess, he was having the 'Oops' talk as I was now calling it with yet another one of his illegitimate children, my only hope being that it would go well. I have no clue what he would say in a situation like this, or anypony for that matter, especially after everything that had happened tonight. Rather than try and listen in on their conversation, we all kept silent as we made our way across the desert towards the cave.

Pop and Sunny were the only ones to break the silence throughout the whole trip, explaining that her parents had been killed while scavenging Silver Sheen, not taken by raiders. She had been with them at the time of the attack, and ever since, buried the fear under her quiet demeanor. Had she came out and said this when we were back in the store, I would have insisted to leave right then and there, but I suspect her loyalty to Wheels kept her quiet. Had she known that we would has forced them to leave, that would have pushed a boundary with Wheels that he was not willing to give up, putting her in the wrong. It was stupid, but for some beyond stupid reason, I understood it.

The cave turned out to be nothing more than a small depression in the mountain's cliff wall. My mind brought up the memory of Zuri and I sharing a cave much like this one in the past, hell, it was even the same mountain, just the other side of it. That thought was now made painful by the fact that I had hurt my wings too badly to flight for quite some time now, and by extension, delayed me making it to White Saddle Shores. No matter how I tried to be mad at the fact that I was now being set back a month or more, I couldn't hold on to the anger. I broke them saving Sunny, for the second time, and if that was the price to be paid, I would do it again.

That night, the three of us huddled by the campfire for warmth, all the while Pop lamenting the loss of all of their provisions in the fire. She had gone back to the store to gather her medical supplies when Caliber and the rest of them found Sunny standing over my unconscious body. Where she had the good sense to gather all of her belongings in fear that they may be needed, everything else the small group had worked so hard to gather had burned.

Sunny was taking everything in stride, retelling Pop the story about how I "swooped down from the sky and saved him from certain death, or worse!" It was cute, but I think what I saw and what Sunny had seen, were two completely different things. Still, I hate to admit that I did swell with pride a bit too much when he retold it. Admiration wasn't something that I was used to, neither was being praised for that matter, but all the same, it felt good for somepony to appreciate me in the way he did.

Caliber and Sashay were still outside talking when everypony else had finally been overcome by tiredness and fallen fast asleep, I on the other hoof was still trying to keep my eyes open. After everything that had happened, I didn't want to take any chances on another attack happening, leaving Caliber alone to deal with any threats that may happen their way. Then again, after what he had done back at the mine, maybe I could afford to try and get a few hours of sleep. Just close my eyes for a moment.

Daylight. The pounding in my head from the night before felt almost too real. I had to wake Pop up in the middle of the night to preform her anesthetic spell, just so I could manage more than a few moments of sleep. But even after the effects wore off and I had slept for I'm sure hours past it's numbing properties, the pounding was still there. I could almost hear it, it was so loud! I cracked my eyes open and the world around me struggled to come into focus, even with every image in my vision blurry, I could still notice that everything would shake in time with the pounding in my head.

Scratch that, I can hear the thumping in my head, I can feel it too, on the outside of my head, no the inside. I squinted hard trying to bring the rest of the world into focus around me. In front of me appeared four hooves, the hide saggy and grey with some of the flesh coming off of the one nearest to me. The smell of rotting meat hit me like a sack of manure to the face. It was Ditzy, the pounding in my head was coming from her clip board smacking into my skull, repeatedly.

"OW! D! What are you- OW!" I tried to say through the constant blows to the head. Through my one open eye I could see that she had written something on her chalkboard. I was having a hard time trying to comprehend what it said while being bludgeoned with it, but I managed to make out the words one by one.

"STOP!"...ow. "BEING!"...ow. "STUPID"...ow.

Satisfied that she had beaten the moron out of me, she dropped the chalkboard and set herself to poking at my wings. Surprisingly, she was being very gentle in contrast to her pounding me in the head. I could feel her hooves undoing the bandages on both of my wings, soon she had a pile of them around her hooves beside me. Was that... blood? Celestia! How bad did I hurt myself this time!?

"Ouch! That has to hurt like hell! I knew they were bad off but... damn!" Caliber said, leaning in for a closer look.

"How... how bad is it?"

"The one wing is broken and the bone is showing. The other might be broken but it's hard to tell?" Caliber said, trying to convey Ditzy's hoofsigns into words.

"Please, just tell me I'm not going to loose them..."

"Nope! You are not going to loose them!" Caliber said gleefully. I looked up to them both.

"Really!?" I said, a glimmer of hope coming across my face. Ditzy just held up her hooves and shrugged. Great...

Ditzy took the next few moments to flip through an old medical text book that was so worn that I could not even make out the cover. The only images that had not been ravaged by time were the ones of a set of wings with a cross in the center of them embossed into it's blue and yellow striped leather. Please be a magical book of pegasi wing repair! I would give anything for a miracle right about now. Both Ditzy and Cal poured over the book for what felt like an eternity before both of them nodding to one another. Ditzy then dropped the book and began writing on her chalkboard.

"Going to hurt. Don't move. Have to set the bones." Was written in white chalk right in front of me.

She then erased it and began writing again.

"Hold him down. This is not going to be pleasant. Give him healing potion fast once done."

I could already feel her hooves cradling my broken wing, the anticipation of what was surely to come sent a shiver through my body as I felt her position herself.

"Hey guys, maybe we should go back to town and let Can-"

With a loud snap, Ditzy twisted my wing back into position. Oh I thought breaking them hurt, this was a whole new cosmos of pain that I was in. It was all I could do to hold in crying at the sharp jolt of pain that made my legs go completely numb and my hearing go fuzzy. Before I could even process what just happened to me, I felt her hooves grasp my other wing, pull it out and shove it back into it's socket. With a loud pop, it fell into place, sending another wave of agony over my body. That did it. I howled in pain and broke in to sobbing tears as I tried my best to not blackout. My stomach lurched and my body clinched as nausea overcame me, forcing to dry heave in response to the agony.

With my eyes still clinched shut and tears streaming down my face, I felt the cool touch of a glass vial touch my lips, I began to drink reflexively doing my best to hold it down. The healing potion worked it's magic almost instantly, dulling the sharp pain to a dull ache that felt more like a bruise than two broken wings. Before I finished the first, I felt a second touch my lips, this one accompanied by the foul odor of rotting flesh. Ditzy and Caliber were both force feeding me healing potions as fast as they both could. Even though the pain had completely left me now, the phantom feeling of having my bones snapped back into place refused to loosen it's grip.

"Joey, are they working?" Cal said over my crying.

"Yes! They worked! Stop giving me potions and just... I need a moment." I said, trying to stem the tide of tears. But it was no use, the trauma of what just happened broke something deep inside of me. I had come close to losing my wings, watched a colt get ripped in half, held him while he died and now underwent something that should have been done with me unconscious, but couldn't be because of my addictive nature. I had earned the right to break down, even if it was just for the moment, I needed this, I needed to let it out. So I did, I balled like a new born foal into my hooves.

I felt the cool embrace of Ditzy around my shoulders as she wrapped her hooves around me, followed by Caliber lifting my head and resting it on his shoulders as he followed suit. If nothing else, at the very least, I know that I have two ponies out there that I can lean on in times like this. Emotions never come easy to me, so when they do, they have a tenancy to overwhelm me.

Once I had pulled myself back together, I took notice that Sashay, Pop and Sunny were gone. Caliber explained to me that they left early this morning for town to get help for me once they saw how much blood I was losing from my right wing. Sunny had been thoughtful enough to pick up my pistol that I didn't even know that I had dropped and return it with Ditzy when she headed out of town. They had decided to forgo the path of being Crusaders and instead taken to the town for a new home, all except Sashay. She had taken it upon herself to join up with some Crusaders just north of Ponyville. Caliber had set himself to gathering our things while Ditzy and I had a... mother-son talk?

"Thank you for coming to my rescue. I would hate to lose my wings... Speaking of... how long unti-" The mere mention of flying was met with a smack upside my head with her chalkboard.

"Ow! Ok, ok! I won't fly anymore." Ditzy glared at me.

"Or go back to the stupid dangerous town." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Or try and sleep in an old building with a campfire lit in it?" Again her chalkboard rose and fell into my skull repeatedly.

"OK! I WON'T FLY FOR A DAY, BE STUPID OR HURT MYSELF AGAIN! I SWEAR IT! PLEASE STOP HITTING ME MOM!" Did I just say that?

Ditzy froze in her tracks, her board of punishment hovering inches from my snout. She fell back on her haunches and regarded me for a long moment before writing on her board and holding it up for me to see.

"Do you mean it?"

"Mean what?" I asked, rubbing my cheek.

"You think of me as your mom?"

No avoiding this I guess. I mean I have always looked at her as something like a parent, but my mom?

"Yeah. You have always been so nice to me, you even flew out here to fix my wings."

"Yeah... Mothers let their babies get hurt." Ditzy hung her head and stared into the sand.

"They also fix them up when they get hurt." I said fluttering my new healed wings.

"I'm a ghoul Joey. Ghouls are not moms."

"Who was there the day Shale and I came into town after Boss died? Who let me spend the whole night in her bedroom crying while she comforted me? Who was there holding a cake every year when I came into town for my B-day? That was you wasn't it?" I said sitting down beside the tired form of the old ghoul pony who had been there for it all.

Ditzy shown a shadow of a smile and began to write again.

"Can't be my son. You're too stupid."

It took me several moments to process what she had wrote, but when it did, we both fell back laughing. Well, I laughed, she made some strange noise that resembled laughing.

"What are you two carrying on about?" Caliber said from inside the cave.

"Nothin'" I managed through my laughter.

Ditzy packed her things and started off towards New Appleloosa, pausing only briefly to hold up her board with the words "Be safe, son" on it, complemented by a smile. Caliber had finished packing our things and the two of us were making our way down the hillside towards the plains below. I was taking the time out of the air to replenish my fat stores by consuming one of the twenty some odd buck snack cakes Ditzy had given us.

"So, how far to Hoofington?" Caliber asked.

"About 3 days now that we have to walk for another 24 hours." I said through a mouth full of two century old cake.

"Do you think we can stop off in Flank? I have somepony I need to talk to there."

"I just had my wings put back in place and my leg just stopped hurting from the last time we got drunk... I don't think that's a good idea."

"No, no. Not for that. I just need to check on somepony."

"Oh Luna, don't tell me it's an ex-mare of yours..."

"Yeah well... leave it to getting to spend time with one of my kids who I'm not allowed to see and another that wants nothing to do with me to get you to start thinking if there is at least one of them I can have a life with."

"What happened with Sashay?"

"Don't get me wrong, she was thankful that I wanted to be a part of her life, but she seemed to have her heart set on being a Crusader, and Crusaders don't have parents."

"Ok... I guess a night in Flank can't be that bad... What could go wrong anyways." I said as I finished off the cake I had been eating and opened the package of another. Who knows maybe I can get some rest before we head out to Hoofington proper, Flank has always been a quiet town, well until Caliber shows up drunk. Sounds nice.

Chapter 6: Price Of Sanity

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 6: Price Of Sanity

It was late when Cal and I found our way into Flank. It had been three exhausting days of travel that did its job of wearing us both down along the way, one day of walking, two days of flying nearly nonstop. Our only moments that we had taken to rest were kept brief, sleeping little more than four hours at a time, stopping only to trade and eat. I was exhausted, hungry and weary. The last not coming from the long days and nights of flying, but rather the slow change in my companion's demeanor.

Cal and I had left on high spirits, hoping that we could make good time once I was well enough to be back in the air once more. But, as the miles drug on, I began to notice that Cal's normally chatty attitude was fading into short statements, rather than his usual long stories. At first I thought that he was just getting tired of flying, but the further we traveled it became apparent that something was weighing on his mind. By the time the small town appeared on the horizon, he had not spoken in over ten hours, instead keeping to himself and his thoughts.

My hooves had no sooner touched down atop the roof of one of the town's many brothels when Cal jumped from my back and started for the stairs.

"Hey! Where do you think you are going in such a hurry?" I said, trying to run, but failing from the lack of energy.

"I need a drink. Get a room and come find me." Cal said without turning to face me.

"With or without a hooker?" I shouted in hopes of seeing a smile.

Nothing. He didn't even break stride as he opened the rooftop door and disappeared inside. What is with him all of a sudden? It's like somepony pissed in his sugar apple bombs or something. I decided that Caliber will be Caliber no matter what the situation and resided myself to doing as I was told. Wait, when did he start calling the shots? Oh right... We are in Flank... The seediest part of Equestria that I have seen. I bet they worship him here like a god or something. Heh, god of unstoppable fertility maybe. Dammit! That was a good joke and now it has been wasted!

Screw it! I'm in a good mood and nopony can change that! So what if he is in a funk, I got to keep my wings, I'm tired but overall in good spirits and I'm finally on my way to find Zuri! I don't even care if the room I end up renting has shit on the pillow, nothing can ruin this high I'm feeling right now.

I made my way down from the roof to the main lobby of the 'hotel' to see about a germ box to sleep in for the night. Downstairs, the place had been kept far cleaner than I would have imagined it would be given its clientele. I trotted up to the counter, that was now mostly gone, and placed my forehooves on what little marble was left. Peeking over the edge, I could see a light orange mare with a redish brown short mane sitting in a chair reading something very... provocative. The receptionist didn't even bother to look up from her tattered copy of 'Wingboner For Her' at me.

"Hi!" I said in an overly peppy tone.

"...Welcome to the no tell motel... If you don't tell, we don't tell... we are a motel...." She said in a drawn out tone as she turned a page with her hoof.

"One of your finest fuck holes please." I said, again, hoping for a laugh, smile, ANYTHING!

"How many hours would you like it for... I have a special running right now... Buy two hours, get the third free... Pay for the third hour and I will erase the security footage and not tell your wife..."

"That has to be the greasiest thing I think I have ever heard in my entire life..." I said, my ears falling flat to the sides of my head.

"Take it or leave it, I don't care."

"Ok, how much for the whole night, say until nine A.M.?"

"Honey, I don't have that kind of time on my hooves and I seriously doubt you can afford me for the whole night." She said as she calmly flipped to another page.

"WHAT!?" I screamed. Oh my... Did she think... NO! I was now turning a very deep shade of red, I just wanted a room!

"You heard me..."

"I only wanted the room for the night! I don't want to... Oh goddesses..." I said burying my face into my hooves.

"Loner huh? Well, if you JUST want a room, it is going to be 250 caps. Lubricant is extra."

"No, my partner will be along shortly... I MEAN WORK PARTNER... oh hell..." I said, now turning completely red.

"I don't judge..." She said as she put down her magazine and grabbed one of the many keys that were hanging on a board behind her.

"That will be 250 caps..." She said, through a mouth full of key.

"Fine..." I said as I used one of my wings to retrieve my caps. When I turned back around, I was met with the slack jaw of the receptionist staring me right in the face.

"You are a pegasus!?" She said, now looking me over as she stepped from behind the counter.

"Yeah why... Oh no..." Why was she looking at me like that? She looks so... hungry. Did she want to eat me? Well I am sure she wanted to eat something... STOP IT LEFT BRAIN! Of course, she was just reading Wing Boner For Her... What are the odds that a pegasus would walk in while she was mid-read of something like that?

"I'm so sorry for the way I acted before, I had no clue you were a pegasus! They are just so... exotic!" Her last word fell into an almost demonic, breathy hiss.

"I, um, thank you?" I meeked out, now backing away from the lust stricken mare.

"What's with these stripes, huh?" She said, running a hoof over my flank. Oh that felt nice... STOP! NO, NO, NO! NONE OF THAT!

"I, ah... I'm part Zebra?" I said, now stepping away from her once more.

"A Zony Pegasus!? I take it back, you're not exotic, you are a tropical island!"

"Oh no..."

"Tell ya what... How about I cut that pesky little fee in half. Just for tonight." She said, now looking up at me with her nose just a few inches from mine. Her emerald green eyes were almost as piercing as her compliments, but there is no way I was about to, as Caliber says, "stick my dick in something that crazy."

"Thank you, you are very kind, but I really need to get some sleep..." I said, grabbing the key with my teeth off the counter, trying to avoid opening my wings for anything. The moment the key touched my lips, I felt my tail being raised up behind me.

"H-HEY!" I said, turning to face her once more.

"Cute butt too! I take it back, how about 75% off?" She said now blushing.

"Thank you, really, but I need to sleep. Please!" I said, backing my way back to the stairs, turned and ran up them. From the lobby I could hear the mare yelling after me.

"Ok! Free! I'll pay you even! Just put on this outfit! Deal!?" I heard her say as I looked off the railing back at her. Was that a vault suit? No, couldn't be, vault suits don't have stripes like lightning bolts. Oh for the love of everything. The first mare that has ever had anything to do with me just had to be a prostitute, a crazy one at that. So I did the only logical thing a buck like me would do in a time like this, I ran.

"Wait! Come back!" She screamed as I disappeared into the hallway, frantically searching for my room.

"213. 214. AH HA! 215!" I said to myself as my hooves fumbled with the key, opened the door and slammed it behind me.

Ok, that can go down as the first offical time that I have ever been pursued by a mare on that level. I rested my bags at the door and decided to strip off my barding for the first time since Tenpony, and... wow. Was that smell me? Yuck! Thankfully the shower in our room actually worked, so I decided now would be a great time to clean up and go find Caliber.

The warm water, if it could be called that, smelled nearly as bad as I did once I stepped into it. Finally, I can relax! Out of all the times I had been to Flank in the past, Caliber had always ended up getting the whole town drunk, throwing a massive party. With any luck, this time would be no different, I did need to unwind after all. If I was about to cross miles and miles of desert, try and rekindle an old love and meet somepony that I deeply care for, for the first time in ten years... I wanted to at least take some time to calm down.

Feeling pony once more, I dried myself off and shook the water from my mane, feeling it fall back into it's normal position again. Looking into the half broken mirror, I saw myself as I had always been, but without my barding, I looked naked. Great, the receptionist is going to try and have her way with me like it or not now. My stripes were coming in more fully now, the dark grey lines now becoming an even darker shade of grey as they fought their way to the surface of my coat.

Honestly, I am starting to grow to like them. I hate to admit it, but after a lifetime of trying to blend it with the crowd, not be seen, go unnoticed even, I kind of liked the fact that I was now doing the very thing I was trying to avoid. Call it my high spirits now changing my outlook on things, but for once, I was starting to feel like the pony I always wanted to be. It felt... good! I didn't want to put the barding back on, instead leaving it lying on the floor beside my bed.

I went back to my pile of supplies and retrieved my holstered hunting knife from my bags, something I had not worn in years. The distressed black leather had frayed with time, giving it a very lived in look and feel in my hooves. Raising my right foreleg, I slipped it over my hoof and tightened the buckles around my leg, securing it tightly. If I was going into Flank, I wasn't going unarmed, and seeing as I didn't want to put my barding back on, I wasn't going to be able to take my pistols with me. Besides, I might need it to get past the crazy mare in the lobby.

"Oh well, a knife is better than nothing I guess." I said to myself as I shut the door to the room behind me.

Outside, I was met with a few more sets of lingering eyes than I would have liked, I suspect it would be because the sight of a half zebra with wings was an uncommon sight. The experience of being gawked at was a new experience for me, but nevertheless, I kept my head level with the rest of the crowd as I made my way to the bar that Caliber liked to frequent. Although, I will say that not all of the attention I was getting seemed to be all that bad. A few mares and one very confused looking buck seemed to be looking at me with the same intent that the receptionist had back at the hotel.

The smell of stale air was only complemented more by the odor of what I would only refer to as 'very fishy' as I trotted through stable 69, the town's bar. Calm conversation was only intruded upon by the light sound of music as ponies paired up for the evening and were beginning to move towards the door, one by one. Cal was sitting at the far side of the bar in a corner booth, swirling his drink with his magic and looking decidedly nervous. Looking up to scan the bar, his eyes fell on me, followed by him motioning for me to come closer.

"I got us a room and I have showered... Yet somehow, I still smell bad." I said sniffing my coat. The two bucks at the booth to my right all but held in a snicker at my statement.

"Dammit Joey... Don't say shit like that in here..." Cal said, pushing his head into the table.

"What? I like to be clean." I said, still smelling that metallic odor permeating from my coat. "Hey, do you think you could do that spell on me later?" Laughter erupted from the table beside me as the two bucks pounded their hooves into the old wood of the floors.

"Joey... For the love of shit, stop talking." Caliber said, now turning red. Huh, what was he on about? Did I say something wrong? All I wanted was a cleaning spell, it was not like I was trying to have sex with him or anything.

"Talk to me Cal, you have been acting strange all day long. Well, technically you are always really strange, but still, what is the matter?" I said, sitting down at the booth.

"Look, I'm just going through some stuff right now. I just need sometime to work it out."

"You mean to drink it out..." I said, looking at the half empty bottle of whiskey in front of him." Look, you can talk to me. We are best friends after all."

"I don't wanna." Cal said, trying to find the glass's way to his lips.

"Oh, come on... I got all cleaned up to come talk to you. I know I had to stink after you riding my back for two days." One of the bucks that were now sitting behind me, snorted whiskey out of his nose across the floor by my side. What was their deal!?

"Kill me, please..." Caliber said, now pouring a full glass of whiskey.

"Talk. To. ME!"

"If I tell you what's wrong, will you please stop making sexual innuendos?"

"I'm not, but ok. I'll listen"

"It's just... I was going to kill that kid. I was so pissed off that he tried to take you out that I let that part of me take over that was willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of him. A kid Joey! A fucking kid..."

"So that thing that happened, by the pit, what was that all about? You knew that I couldn't hold that kid forever like that."

"I just wanted to scare him... If he fell, I could have easily caught him with my magic and flung him across town if I wanted to."

"So if you wanted to kill him, why didn't you? I mean, it's not like you had a shortage of chances after all."

"You forgave him. It changed things. I wasn't ready for you to forgive him, get mad maybe, smack him around some even! But not just forgive him like that."

"He was just a kid, a supremely fucked in the head kid, but a kid nonetheless. Had it been an adult... I would have shot them myself. But not for trying to kill me, I would have killed them for almost killing Sunny."

"SEE! That's my problem! I was about to murder that little fucker! Do something that would have pissed you off to the point of shooting me, right?"

"Cal, what's really going on here?"

"I don't know anymore... I guess, when I saw him dangling there, I was ready to pull him. But I kept thinking about how you forgave him and how I wasn't ready to yet and how you rushed in, hurt, to save him when he fell. I wanted that!"

"Wanted what? You are not making any sense!"

"I wanted to know what it was like to forgive somepony who had done wrong by me, like you do! I wanted to feel something other than blood on my hooves for once! I thought that if he said he was sorry for what he had done, then maybe, I could feel that too... Let go of it, just, move on without adding another brick of mistake to my back! What did I do? I got him killed anyway! He was just a kid!" Cal said, now fighting back a grimace of shame.

"Cal, you didn't know that Timberwolf was down there. Neither did I for that matter. You couldn't have know what was going to happen to him."

"It doesn't matter! I thought I wanted him dead, then when it happened anyways... It fucking hurts Joey! I watched him die, right beside you! I thought I would be able to move past it like all the other times shit like this happens, but I can't! Why can't I just let this go like all the other times!?"

"Fetch, Sashay. That's why."

"What do they have to do with this?"

"When you found out about Fetch, you ran at first, right?"

"Yeah, I know..."

"Why did you come back?"

"Because you told me to."

"Cal..."

"Fine, I didn't want the poor kid to grow up without knowing who his father was, ok? He deserves that much at least. I thought if maybe he met me, that he would see that even though I was a fuck up, that his father would at the very least do the right thing."

"What about Sashay?"

"I don't know, maybe I wanted to know what it would be like to be a dad? But what kind of father would I be anyhow? Besides, she wants to be a Crusader, and she wants nothing to do with me after what happened with Wheels. I understand it, I want her to be happy, but I just wish that she would give me another chance."

"What about Lavender? Could you forgive her?"

"I don't blame her... Look at me. I wouldn't trust me either."

"It sounds to me that you can forgive all those others, but you can't forgive yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Cal said, shoving his empty glass across the table.

"I'm saying that you forgave Lavender for not letting you see Fetch, even though you knew it was wrong of her to do so. You forgave Sashay for not wanting to accept you as her father because you wanted better for her, you even forgave Wheels for almost killing me."

"What!? I didn't forgive him, I never had a chance to!"

"Oh yes you did."

"Ok fine... How in the hell do you think that I forgave Wheels... I have to hear this."

"Because you are down here drinking yourself silly over his death. You demanded that he apologize, and he did, then he got killed. You gave him another chance to fix things, you were willing to let him walk away after he almost killed me."

"Only after you did..."

"You said you wanted to know what it feels like when I forgive somepony for doing something bad to me, right? Well it feels good, but if I was you right now, if the cards were in the other hoof, I would be feeling like I had failed. I would be in pain from the loss, hurting at the very thought of what I did, but I can do something you can't."

"What?"

"I can forgive myself. Doing something like that is the hardest thing you can ever do. It doesn't make it all go away, but it makes the pain easier to carry. You are always going to make mistakes, sometimes small, sometimes you knock up every mare in Equestria... My point is, if you at least try to do the right thing, then you are already doing the right thing. In my mind, you wanted to forgive Wheels for what he did, sure you went about it all wrong, but you were still trying. Even when that Timberwolf was right there, breathing down your neck, you wanted to run, but you didn't because I told you to stay. The old Caliber I knew would have ran and left me to fend for myself, but you didn't, you stayed. You were trying to do the right thing by following my example."

"I was... I wanted to do something right, but I didn't want to die in the process."

"Part of life is dealing with the mistakes you make, the other half is having the balls to stand up and do the right thing. Sometimes it is impossible to do it alone. But you are not alone."

"So, what you are saying?"

"I'm saying pain shared is pain divided, the same goes for carrying a load of bricks on your back made out of regret."

"I don't get it."

"Ugh... I'm here for you, you dumbass! I'm your best friend, I care about you! When you hurt, I hurt, when I cry, you cry! Don't bottle this shit up and try and face it alone, that's why I am here! That's what friends do! You keep trying to do the right thing, and I will help shoulder your load, even when you fuck up."

"I just worry that one day you won't be around to help me like this... One day I'm sure I will do something so stupid that you won't want to be friends anymore."

"Like I said, you keep trying, I'll keep helping. You would do the same for me, right?"

"You know I would, why would you even ask that?"

"Nopony is perfect Caliber, especially not me."

"You are a good friend, Joey."

"Shit at this point, we might as well be brothers." I said, sitting back in my seat. "Look, what happened back there was fucked up. But nothing is going to change what happened, so there is no use drowning yourself in cheap booze like this."

"Oh I'm not drinking over that. I earned that pain free and sober."

"Then why in the fuck are you trying to drain a bottle of whiskey by yourself?"

"I'm waiting on somepony who I really don't want to talk to, but I have to because it's the right thing to do."

"Who?"

Just then, almost like clockwork, a pink mare with a dirty blond mane trotted her way through to the center of the bar. She paused for only a moment to look about the bar until her eyes landed on Caliber, at his very sight, her lips curled down into an angry grimace and she started right towards us.

"Ah shit... It's Firefly... Look, you need to get out of here, this is going to get messy."

"Is she who you are waiting on?"

"Yup, and she looks pissed."

"Cal, I'm going to have your balls surgically removed if she has some kid somewhere with your fucking mane."

"I suspect she might beat you to it."

Without saying a word, I stood up from the booth and stepped away right as Firefly had walked up.

"Oh no! No need to send your friend away on the count of me being here... As I recall, you like threesomes."

"He was just leaving. I'm sorry, but I am not interested in bucks, no matter how low the price sir." Caliber said to me. What in the fuck? Oh goddesses, he's insinuating that I'm a... What a moron.

"You can sit with us, we don't mind handsome bucks crowding our table." Said one of the two bucks to my right.

Great! Now I have to sit with them or she is going to think that Caliber is lying. Wait! He is lying, what the hell? Fuck! You owe me for this one Cal. I sat down across from the two... excited bucks with my back to Firefly. If nothing else, I wanted to hear what was about to happen with the two of them. She was kind of young, maybe she was a kid of Caliber's from when he was a colt? The very thought that I had just had nearly made me throw up in my mouth. Ok, not his kid, but she's barely old enough to be considered a mare. Oh for Luna's sake, he had better not have had sex with that young filly...

"So, how is your sister anyhow?" Caliber asked. Well, solves that mystery.

"Pregnant, how do you think?" Firefly replied. Paging Dr. Joey, emergency spay and neuter needed for an overly sexually active buck.

"Oh, shit... You don't know where she is by any chance, do you?"

"Don't worry, she isn't here. But I think if she sees you, she is going to castrate you with a spork." Firefly said calmly.

"Wow that's nasty! When did you get a mouth like that?"

"I take after my big sis."

My snooping was interrupted by the unwelcome presence of a hoof that was making its way to a very restricted area between my legs. I clenched my legs together to stop its advancement towards my crotch, and shot a stern glare to the buck sitting across from me.

"Oh, hard to get! I like that!" Said the sea foam green buck with the dark blue mane.

"Mmm, would you just look at that stare he has... I would say that he is open for business!" Said the Grey buck with the rust colored mane. Between my legs, I could feel the one buck's hoof trying to push its way closer towards my waste.

My hooves fell to my sides and I leaned-in close to the two of them and did my best to keep my voice low.

"Look, I'm not a prostitute, I'm not into bucks and I'm not 'open for business' as you put it. And If you want to keep that hoof, I suggest you not move it one inch! In fact, don't move from your spots, AT ALL, or I'm going to cut it off and shove it up his ass, got it?" I said, now holding my unholstered knife at the base of the one buck's fetlock.

"H-hey now, don't do anything rash! We just thought, since you were talking to Caliber, that maybe you were in the mood for a little fun, that's all!" The green buck said. I could feel his hoof shaking through the handle of my knife as I kept it firmly planted and ready to dig it deep into his leg.

"I don't like this town, I don't even want to be here right now. The only reason that I am is because my friend back there is looking for some mare, that I'm sure he knocked up a long time ago."

"Caliber? Knock somepony up? Oh, he would never have done that!" The buck's words came out as sarcastic as the sky above the clouds was blue.

"Look, we don't want any trouble, ok? We got off on the wrong hoof I thing, I-I'm Butch and my ga- I mean grey friend here is Twinkle. There! We can all be friends now, yeah?" Butch said, slowly pulling back at his leg. Feeling bad that I had now assaulted two seemingly harmless bucks, I lowered my knife from his leg and returned it to its sheath on my own. I took note that the edge was now showing a fresh smear of red along its length.

"How's your leg? I forgot how sharp that thing is." I said, now doing my best to seem apologetic.

"Hurts, no thanks to you." Butch said, holding it out of the booth to look at. The blade had cut deeper than I had though it had. Feeling worse now that they had been on the wrong side of a misunderstanding, I decided to try and make things right. Behind me, Cal and Firefly were talking back and forth about the past, no need to worry about him for the moment.

"Put your leg on the table." I said, with one ear turned to the table behind me.

"What? No way! I just got it back, and the last time I gave it to you, you hurt it!" Butch said in a very childish tone.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was having a great day when I got here, now it's all going to shit fast. I'm just used to everypony having an axe to grind against me. Let me take a look at that leg, please?" I asked, letting my expression soften in hope that it would set his mind at ease.

"Ok, but please, just keep that knife holstered." Butch asked as he brought his leg up to the table. The knife I had kept for so long, had indeed not lost its edge in the slightest. Butch's leg was now sporting a 2 inch long gash just above his hoof, in his fetlock. Great... I left my bags in the room, with all the medical supplies.

"How bad is it?" Twinkle asked.

"It's not good. But I think you will get to keep it." I said, as I gently turned his hoof over with mine. "I'm going to need bandages and gauze or Med-X and a needle and thread."

"I have some gauze!" Twinkle said, digging in his bags.

"Bandages?" I asked hopefully.

"No... That's all I have. I carry all of our things because Butch has a bad back, too." Twinkle said as he passed me the gauze.

Looking around, the only things that came to mind that could work for gauze were a few old napkins and a gross looking bar rag. That's when I saw them, Caliber had left his bags beside the booth when he sat down. I lowered myself in the seat and unfolded my wings, stretching them out behind me to grab at his bags, I then locked down on the straps with my primaries and slid it to my side. Before I could reach for them, they were enveloped in a light blue glow as they levitated up and sat themselves on the table in front of me. Fucking unicorns and their dumb magic.

The bag then opened and out of it came bandages, gauze, Med-X and a healing potion, all glowing a faint cyan hue. That sneaky little ass, he was doing all the work from another booth behind me, all while talking to an ex-marefriend's sister. Now I really hated him. Seeing that I was no longer needed, I decided to continue to listen in on their conversation.

"Sis is over at Megamart these days. Once you knocked her up, she couldn't get work anymore here in town. She works for one of the traders there now." Firefly said.

"Great! We are heading there tomorrow. I can stop in and see her-"

"NO! You don't want to do that. Really. Why not go back to Tenpony and find that Fetch kid you were talking about. Why would you want to take your chances with her? I know she's my big sister and all but, you really need to steer clear of her, especially now."

"I already told you, Lavender hates me and won't let me see him without sneaking around. Sashay is a Crusader now, she can't be seen with her father, so Ember might be my last chance here." Caliber said insistingly.

"Look, take it from me, you don't want to go there, you don't even want to stay here! You had to have seen those bounty hunters out there looking for that Security mare on your way into town."

"Actually, I didn't. What are you talking about?"

"Everypony knows about the HUGE bounty they put on that bitch's head. Bounty hunters, gangers, slavers, hell even a few raiders are looking to cash in on her ass. They are camped out just outside the town, word is they are coming in here in the morning, why they are waiting, I have no clue. You can stay if you want, but I'm leaving." Firefly said as she stood up to leave.

"Thank you."

"What?" Firefly asked, looking almost shocked.

"Thank you for warning me, about everything. I will be careful, you do the same. Do you want me to walk you back to Megamart?"

"No, that's ok. I can manage on my own. I'm not a kid anymore. Stay safe, ok?"

"I will. Thanks again. I'll walk you out then." Caliber said as he stood up, and headed out of the stable.

I looked back to see that Butch's leg had been completely bandaged, the two bucks were also staring at me with a very pouty look across their faces.

"What!?" I asked, hoping the answer wasn't going to be another proposition.

"You two make a very cute couple, it's just so sweet!" Twinkle said.

"WHAT!?" I nearly yelled across the bar, feeling my face start to burn as my ears folded back against my mane.

"He is so lucky! I know if we had a cute Pegasus, we would never treat you like a prostitute!" Butch said back to me.

"He... We... I'M NOT GAY!" I screamed to the two of them.

"Remember when you used to act like that Butchy? So cute!"

"I'm not cute! I'm badass as hell!"

"Better get going, you don't want to lose your boy-toy to another, now do you?" Twinkle said, now looking around with his eyes. I turned my attention to the bar, all eyes were now on me. Oh those two bastards...

"This is payback, isn't it?"

"Oh sweetie... Whatever do you mean by that?" Butch said, leaning into Twinkle's hooves for an embrace, shooting me a sardonic look.

"Oh, you two are asses!" I said as I stood up and ran for the exit, throwing Caliber's bags over my haunches as I went. Along the way, I was met with catcalls and whistles as I rushed out of the old stable, vowing never to come back to this damn town. This was humiliating! I have nothing against two bucks doing.... THAT sort of thing, but it still didn't mean I liked being called it all the same. I guess all is fair when you nearly cut off someone's hoof and ask that they forgive you for it.

Outside, Caliber was watching Firefly walk out of town. Just beyond her were dozens of small campfires that were glowing on the hillside, and among them, the silhouettes of countless ponies who were huddled around them for warmth. Firefly had not been lying. We had unknowingly flown right into the middle of something big that was about to happen. All those ponies for one mare? How much was this bounty anyways? Should we try and collect on it? Should we leave?

"Room 215, get what you came for?" I asked as I passed Cal his bags, and the key to the room, as the two of us started heading back to the hotel.

"Yeah, but I guess you overheard that much. Any luck with the two-"

"Shut up!"

"Wow! Grouchy! Hey, you should take that as a complement. Butch and Twink are so wrapped up in each other that it would have to take a damn good looking guy to make them want to take you into their bed."

"First the crazy mare in the lobby, now those two. What is with this town?"

"Eh, It's probably the chem's. Wait... What crazy mare in the lobby? Val? Was it her?"

"How should I know! I ran out of there before she could dressed me up in that stupid suit of hers and make me strip for her."

Caliber let out a laugh that stopped him in his tracks.

"You have got to be kidding me! You, a Pegasus, ran into Valkyrie and you shot her down? Oh that's rich!"

"What!? She was nuts! And what kind of name is Valkyrie for a earth pony?"

"Joey, she is in love with anything with wings! Ever since she slept with that Griffon, she has been buying every copy of Wingboner she could get her dirty little hooves on and she changed her name from Sunrise to Valkyrie. She said it sounded more... exotic! She's got the feather fever, BAD! And you just waltz in there and shoot her down like it's nothing at all! Damn Joey, you probably just showed her the equivalent to the cure for blindness and snatched it away!" Cal said laughing.

"Oh no! Don't you try and make me feel bad about not sleeping with her!"

"I'm not, but you might not have a choice in the matter, I'm just saying. Val can be very... persuasive."

"She's a short earth pony with an overactive sex drive. She can't be that persuasive."

"Oh you would be surprised..." Cal said as he opened the door for the lobby and the two of us trotted in.

"She... Oh shit..." Cal's words fell flat as we came face to face with a large, older mare who did not look happy to see Caliber.

"Cal, You didn't..."

"Joey, maybe you should just meet me in the room... Me and... Ember's mother need to have a talk."

"I have a name!"

"Right! Sorry Ms. Furnace!" Cal said, swallowing hard.

"Cal are you going to be ok?"

"Move it you little bag of bones! I need to have a little chat with my soon-to-be son-in-law."

"Yes ma'am!" I said as I trotted briskly away from the huge mare. Great, now Cal is going to be murdered and he has the damn room key. That means I am going to have to have that crazy mare give me another, if there even is a spare to be had. I looked back to the counter where she had been no more than an hour ago, but was relieved to see that she had gone off duty for the night. I trotted back up to the desk to the young looking buck who was now eyeing me. It was like I was Looking into a mirror. Gray coat, blue mane and tail, apart from his blue eyes and lack of wings, he could pass as a copy for me if he so desired.

" Hello, I'm Rocco. Welcome to the no tell-"

"Yeah save it, I'm already staying here, I need another key for room 215. Dumbass over there has the only copy and he is going to be a while." I said. The buck looked over my shoulder to the commotion that was now playing out in the corner of the room. Furnace now had Cal held up by his shoulders and was trying her best to shake whatever point she was trying to make into him. Even from here, I could see him cringing away from her spit laced words. The buck behind the counter fell back into his seat and looked back to me.

"Great! First, second shift has to leave early over "emotional distress", now I get to deal with a two ton bitch who wants to eat a damn unicorn in my lobby. Awesome. Look, I only had one key for the room, you are just going to have to wait for her to pass it in the morning and go digging for it."

"Shit, isn't there anything that you can do?"

"Look, it's bad enough that I have to manage this place on my own, covering half her shift and my own without having to break into a room. I'm sorry, but with that going on over there, I can't leave the desk." The buck said, pointing one hoof at the giant mare and the other to a smaller mare, with a mop of rust colored mane sitting on an old couch with her back to us, across the lobby. Great. This whole time I have been avoiding her, she has been sitting down here sulking.

A wave of guilt washed over me when what Caliber had said earlier, finally sank in. Pegasi are uncommonly rare in the wasteland, those that are not ghouls are usually Dashites, dead or above the clouds. I know what it's like to want something so bad that you can't have, wishing for that day to come, but it never does. Even though I was on my way to see Zuri for the first time in ten years and my wait was almost over, I couldn't help but wonder how long her wait would have to be before her dreams were fulfilled. I can't believe I'm about to do this. I walked up to the somber looking mare and sat down beside her, if nothing else, I felt like I owed her a reason why I was not interested. The last thing I wanted on my conscience was somepony thinking that they were not good enough for the thing they wanted most, especially if it was me that was causing it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked. Almost immediately she looked up to me at the sound of my voice.

"Oh! You came back!" Valkyrie said, now fixing her mane with both hooves.

"Yeah well, I'm a sucker for a lady in distress. What can I say?"

"So, do you want to go have a drink? Back at my room?" Valkyrie said, wanting to waste no time.

"Sorry, but I can't. Look the reason why isn't because you are not pretty, or that I am only attracted to other Pegasi. It's because I'm waiting for somepony and she is waiting for me."

"So, you are taken... You know, if you don't like me, you can just say so. You don't have to lie to me." She said, falling back to the couch.

"No, I'm not lying. It's a very... complicated situation."

"Feel free to explain it then, I got time."

"Yeah, I guess I do too..." I said, looking back to Caliber who was now in a headlock.

So I spilled my guts to her. I told her everything from when I was just a little colt trying to get back the necklace that was stolen, to finding Zuri, to losing her, to waiting all this time, to everything that happened up until now. She sat there, patiently listening to my every word, only interrupting to ask "then what happened" a few times. When I had finished my tale that had led Caliber and I to Hoofington, she finally broke her silence.

"You mean to tell me that you have been waiting all this time, for her?"

"Well when you say it like that, it makes me sound desperate." I said with a laugh.

"No, that's not desperate, that's sweet. I had a buck like that once, but I'm afraid it was more one sided in my case."

"Yeah? Who was he?"

She looked across the room to where Caliber and Furnace were now sitting calmly across from one another, hooves crossed, having a polite looking conversation.

"You have got to be kidding me..." I said in shocked disbelief.

"Yeah, he would come in here drunk off his flank, begging for sex all the time. I used to pretend like I was going to sleep with him and lead him back to my room where I would tape him to the toilet after he would pass out. It all started as a fun joke, but the more I hung around him, the more I liked the pony he would be when he wasn't drinking. It was strange but, I felt something for him, something I haven't felt since."

"Then why didn't you tell him then? Maybe you two could have made things work out."

"I tried to, but every time I would get the chance, I would find him passed out or hammered. What was the point of chasing after him if he was going to be like that. I hate this town, I hate what I have to do to pay rent, I can't stand the bucks that come here knowing they can just pay me to have sex with them. Caliber feeds right into the very thing that I can't stand, so, I gave up trying."

"You know, he's changed a lot over the past few weeks."

"I can see that." Val said sarcastically, looking behind me. Furnace was now sitting on top of Cal, and by the looks of it, trying to pull one of his legs out of socket.

"Well... He is trying at least. But the big idiot has a lot to answer for." I said yawning.

"You should get some rest, you have a big day tomorrow if you are going to Hoofington and then to..."

"White Saddle Shores. I would but 'Sparky' over there has the damn key and it is the last one."

"You know... I could get you into your room..."

"Really? That would me awesome!"

"For a price..."

"I figured as much, how much do you want." I asked as I dug for my caps. I was met with a very telling look that said my caps were not good with her. "Oh no...."

"I look ridiculous!" I said from Valkyrie's bathroom.

Turns out that no favor, no matter how small, is free in Hoofington. A lesson I learned a long time ago when the group and I came here when I was just a little colt, and one I was learning all over again, right now. But had I known that I would have to model in this insane outfit for a mare, just to get the door to my room unlocked, I would have just waited for Furnace to finish killing Cal and sifted through the remains for the key.

"Nonsense! I bet you look great!" Val said sitting on her bed.

"Where did you even find this thing! It's so... tight!" I said, trying desperately to make the suit fit in place right. How small was this Fleetfoot anyway? If I could barely fit in it, they had to be bursting it at the seams!

"Nevermind that! Just come out here! I want to see!"

"If you laugh, I swear I will burn this thing as soon as I can get it off of me!"

"I won't laugh, I promise!" Val said, clearly trying to hold in what was clearly laughter.

"Ok, but I can't stay in this thing long, it's freaking snug!" I said trotting out of the bathroom. Despite all of my complaining, Valkyrie slid back on her bed, jaw nearly on the floor.

"I look stupid, don't I?" I said, leaning on the door frame.

"N-no! Not at all..."

"Then what's with the face, huh?"

"It's just... How much?"

"How much for what?"

"Name the price! I'm serious!"

"That's it, I'm burning it."

"NO! Just, go over there, in the corner." Val said and she instructed me to sit in the corner of the room.

"Now what?"

"Ok, good. Now, fluff out those wings and puff up your chest."

"Like this?" I said as I opened my wings out and curled them around myself.

"YES! Just like that!" Valkyrie said as she pulled out an old camera and started taking pictures.

"Wait! You never said anything about pictures!"

"I whispered it, but you still said yes, so spread those legs and slowly start unzipping the suit..."

The things I end up doing when I come to Flank, I swear. The "session" lasted a little more than an hour, in that time, I ended up having to pose for her all over the small hotel room. I thought what happened at the bar was embarrassing, but this... this was a whole new level of shame. At one point I asked her to stop because I knew that my face had to be glowing bright red, but Valkyrie insisted that it made me look ''Adorkable'' and continued shooting shot after shot.

Once we had finished, Val tried one last time to get me into the bed with her. Despite my feelings for Zuri, I had to admit, it was hard to turn her down when she was crawling across the bed on her back like that. This was yet another emotion that I was unfamiliar with, not feeling it, but seeing it. Lust towards me. Somehow I managed to talk her mind back out of the gutter and she resided herself to sorting through the photos she had taken, placing all of the duplicates into a small pile and passing them to me.

"For her. If she is half in love with you as you are of her, she will love these." Val said, passing me the small stack of pictures.

"Thank you... I hope that you will not be sharing those around, will you?" I asked, secretly wanting to burn them all.

"No, these are for my eyes only. I wouldn't share these with anypony else." Val said as she opened the drawer to the nightstand and pulled out a small picture frame. She then slid in a picture of me sitting in the corner with my legs splayed and placed it on her table.

"So, now you are going to stare at that all the time?"

"Maybe... They say the one you always remember, is the one that got away." Valkyrie said, staring at the blue and yellow outfit with a far off look in her eyes.

"Hey, don't talk like that. A pretty mare like you could have any buck in all of Equestria if she wanted them." I said, sitting beside her.

"You are sweet. Here, I want you to have this. From me to you." Valkyrie said as she passed me the Wonderbolts uniform that I had been modeling for her.

"I can't keep this, it has got to be valuable to you." I said, picking up the uniform.

"Think of it as a gift for making a dream come true for me. I have had this suit for a long time now, nopony has ever even put it on outside of me, and even then it doesn't fit. I have always wanted to see a Pegasus wear it, now that I have, and now that I have pictures that I took myself, I feel like I have completed something that I have been working on for years. Not to mention, you look great in it." Val said, looking back to the picture of me on the nightstand.

"If it means that much to you for me to have it, then thank you." I said, sending her a smile. It was met with a kiss on my check that sent chills down my spine at her very touch. Wow, when was the last time something like that felt this good? Before things started to get too awkward between us, I decided that it would be best, for the both of us, for me to leave.

"So... About my room." I said, trying not to be rude.

"Yeah, how about that room." She said as she passed me by and walked out the door.

Together we walked down the hallway to room 215, but to my surprise, Cal was already there, inside. Valkyrie took her leave and trotted back down the hall and around the corner as I walked into my room and fell back on my bed. I dropped the uniform into my bags beside my bed and took note that Cal was now fast asleep on the bed beside me. Try as I might, and as tired as I was, I couldn't seem to let go of the feeling of Valkyrie kissing me on the cheek. It was simple I know, but I had not felt something like that since I was a young colt.

It was a good feeling that was only being dragged down by the feeling of betrayal that was dancing through my mind the more I thought about Valkyrie. I loved Zuri, didn't I? I have waited ten years for something that was just around the corner, but for some reason, I wasn't as excited as I had been in the past. I felt like I was cheating on her by even thinking of another mare like I was now, but despite all of that, I was laying in a bed with a smile across my face that I had not displayed in years. Flank, who knew I would feel this good here, in Flank of all places.

I closed my eyes and did my best to try and fall asleep, the sun will be coming up soon, and if I want to get a move on, I need to get out of here by noon. I rolled over and looked down at the blue and yellow suit in my bags. Well... maybe I should take another shower... just to help myself relax. Then sleep.

I awoke to the sound of rain dancing on the window sill, letting out the small ticking sounds as the storm outside droned on. I rolled onto my side, then into the floor, hitting my head on the nightstand and sending stars into my vision. "Why!" I groaned, thinking to myself that this had to be the worst way to wake up, suddenly missing all those long nights afield. I laid on my back for several moments before finally rising to my hooves and looking out the window to check on the storm. Outside, ponies seemed to pay no mind to the rain as it beat down, trotting to and from buildings as they were going about their daily activities.

"Great, looks like we are in for a long, wet and cold flight." I said to myself as I turned from the window.

I trotted around the bed towards the bathroom, but was halted in my tracks at the sound of hoofsteps seeming to be running across the floor above me.

"Who cares... It's not like we will be flying through a desert later or anything..." Caliber said sarcastically in a very sleepy tone.

It must be midday judging by the amount of commotion I was both seeing and hearing. If that were the case, then it would be best if we started getting ready for the flight to Megamart.

"Cal, get up, we need to get a move on. I'm going to take a shower and try to wake up. I suggest that you do the same." I said, trotting to the door.

"Joey... Stop trying to get me into the shower with you. I know you just want to get pregnant..." Caliber said as he rolled over to face the window.

"I'm not trying... Oh, you are being an ass... What a change of pace."

Caliber pulled his hoof from under the sheets, scratched at his ass for a moment and let out a very sleepy laugh. "Ha... ha... ha... You are too easy sometimes."

I trotted into the bathroom and tried to close the door behind me, but the moment my hoof touched it, the hinges gave way and sent it falling into the other room.

"Joey... Fuck off with the noise, will you? I'm trying to ignore you over here." Caliber said from under his sheets.

"Would you please get the hell up, we have to fly to Megamart and deal with that mare you wanted to see." I said, poking my head out of the bathroom.

"Why? She will still be just as pregnant when we get there. Why the rush?" Caliber said, now wrapping himself up in the sheets like a cocoon.

Just at that moment, I heard a loud thud, followed by an even louder bang come from just above us. Through the mass of sheets, I could see Caliber open one eye and stare at the ceiling above him as the commotion grew. A long silence fell as we both stood there looking at the floor above us, waiting to see if the racket was going to continue.

"I bet they are bucking their brains out up-"

Caliber's words were cut short as the blast shook the room that we were in, collapsing the ceiling in on-top of him, and sending me diving for cover from the debris as it rained down. Most of the room above us was now in the room that we were now occupying, the vast majority of which landing near the windows and on the bed where I had been sleeping. Caliber had been covered by ceiling tiles, broken wood and what was left of an old toilet in the preceding blast, I on the other hoof was left untouched.

"What in the fuck was that!" Caliber yelled as he scrambled out from under the rubble with the roof still coming down atop him.

As I ran to his side, I saw that much of our wall and the window that I had been looking out of was now gone. No sooner than I had taken my first step, I took note of the bathtub that was flying past our now enlarged window. There were two ponies inside of it, one white with a black and red mane, the other resembling a blue blur as it shot past and out into the street below. Caliber had wormed his way out from under the wreckage and was now hopping towards me in my shocked state from what I had just seen.

"We got to get out of here!" He yelled, still wrapped up tight in the linens.

"Come on then!" I said, pulling the knife from its sheath and trying to cut him free.

Once I had hastily removed the majority of the sheets, we both grabbed our things, ran out of the door and down into the lobby of the small motel. Ponies were no longer sitting idly by, but instead were running for their lives. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Valkyrie doing her best to guide everypony outside through the front door. Wasting no time, Caliber and I bolted for the same door, and fought our way into the streets.

"What's going on!" Caliber said, looking at the hole in the side of the building where we had just ran from.

"Gas explosion maybe?" I said, now looking at the bathtub in the middle of the street.

From somewhere far off, I could hear the sound of dozens of hooves pounding into the ground, echoed by the sound of ponies yelling and screaming. Somewhere among the shouting, Caliber and I both made out the word "Cunt" being screamed in a metallic, tinny sounding voice. Both of our heads turned in unison to see where it had come from, only to be met by a large horde of ponies rushing into the town.

"Holy shit! There must be thirty of them!" Caliber shouted to me.

"What is that? A fucking robot?" I asked pointing at the large, black mass in the middle of the crowd.

"I have no clue but we need to get the fuck out of here!" Caliber said, now trying to climb on my back.

"I have to get Valkyrie out of here first! Go to Megamart, don't stop for anything, we will meet you there!" I shouted as I ran back to the motel's doors.

Along the way, I passed the gray front desk clerk from the night before. As he passed me by I could hear him shouting repeatedly "Oh this is such horse shit", fading away as he ran towards the stable turned bar behind Caliber. I fought my way through the crowd into the lobby and started searching frantically for Valkyrie along the way. I turned back to see that she was still at the door, guiding the rest of the crowd out of the motel and ran to her.

"What are you doing!? You have to get out of here!" I shouted over the crowd.

"I can't! I have to help everypony get out first!"

"Valkyrie, I can appreciate your dedication to your job, but it's a fucking door and there is a small horde of raiders coming with a fucking robot screaming CUNT at the top of its lungs!" I said, pulling her away from the doors and pointing her head towards the army that was now descending on us. "I think everypony can get out on their own."

"Where can I go!? This is my home!"

"Right now? Anywhere but here would be preferable." I said, dragging her outside into the street.

Behind us I could hear the sound of gunfire growing louder, rounds landing into the concrete buildings in front of us, blasting large chunks off as they hit. We were just clearing the end of town when a bullet hit a steel plate in my barding, splashing off as the round deformed, sending shrapnel into my neck and into Valkyrie's side. I ducked between two building in hopes that it would be a fast way out of town, pulling her behind me.

"Shit! Dead-end! Are you ok?" I said, looking at her side.

"I think so, but what are we going to do now!"

Up the street I could her the raiders doing their usual assault of mayhem on the town, screaming and hollering as they fired rounds in every direction. It wouldn't be long until they found us hiding back here, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel and I have no plans on seeing what other vile things they would do to the either of us.

"Ok, I know we just met and given the conversations we have had already, please don't read too much into this... Climb on my back." I said as I slouched down.

"What!? I don't think now is the time for-"

"Just, get on my back and hold on!" I said, now hearing the raiders rounding the corner of the buildings behind us. Valkyrie timidly crawled her way onto my back and did her best to balance her weight on my spine. No time for pre-flight checks, I will just have to hope that she is a fast learner.

"Ok, now what? Do you want me to shoot at them?"

"Put your hooves around my neck and hold on!"

"Like this-" Valkyrie managed to get out before I lifted off the ground and pushed towards the skies.

"Hang on! This is going to get crazy!" I said as the bullets started whizzing past us in the air.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Valkyrie screamed in my ear as I banked to the right and dropped altitude to just below the rooftops.

"Flying!" I said as I aimed the two of us down the steep hill that led out of town. I let gravity do the work as it pulled us both down, descending the terrain and gathering speed as we approached the end of the town's limits. This was the first time that I had flown with somepony other than Caliber on my back, and given Valkyrie not weighing near as much, I was flying faster than I ever had. As I passed between buildings, the Raiders would use the small gaps to fire wildly towards us, their rounds seeming to hit everything other than their target.

Even though their aim was marginal at best, it would only take one hit to sent us both crashing to the ground. Why were they even shooting at us!? I thought they were after that Security mare. Oh... That's right... They are raiders, they shoot at everything that moves and some things that don't. Valkyrie was clinging to my back, her muzzle resting right below my left ear, doing her best to try and speak to me.

"Slow down! You are going to get us killed!" Valkyrie said, clenching as a round grazed her mane.

"We have to get out of here! If one of them gets lucky and scores a hit, then we might as well die in the crash!"

"What are we going to do then!?" She asked, trying to bury her head behind mine to protect it. If we stay down here, no matter how fast I fly, chances were good that we would either crash or get shot. That left only one option, up!

"We are going to get out of here!" I shouted, knowing it was a gamble, but also knowing it was our only option. With everything I had, I pulled up, pointing us both to the sky and did my best to bear the weight of the two of us. The force on my wings strained at their joints as our path went vertical, shooting us straight up like a rocket. I knew that doing this would be quick, but not this quick! How fast had we been going? Before long, we had flown well beyond the scattered bullets of the Raiders and were fast approaching the cloud curtain. I banked left, trying to slow our ascent, turning us both sideways in the air and pointed myself towards Megamart.

Valkyrie screamed at the sight of the earth far below us as we fell into a long, sweeping turn to right myself in the air, now feeling confident that we were out of danger. If she still had a thing for Pegasi after this, then she deserved a set of wings of her own. I have no clue if she has ever flown before, but I could imagine that the feeling would be surreal to say the least. Even after flying hundreds of miles, higher than I ever thought I ever would and faster than I thought I ever could, I was still blown away by the views. Fact is, even though I hate hights, its hard to compare fear to enjoyment at the same time.

"O-ok Joey, this is fine! You can stop going higher now!" She said as we approached the cloud layer.

"You don't get want shot, do you?" I said, leveling off in the air.

"N-no! It's just, I have never been this high up before, that's all."

"Just hold on and try and enjoy it. I mean, you like Pegasi and all, why not flying too?"

"It's not the flying... Just... Can we not be up so... high?"

I looked back to see that she had her eyes firmly closed, scrunching her face tight to avoid seeing the ground. The wind was whipping her mane back and forth as we glided our way towards the old trader town. All things considered, this had to be a better way to end the day compared to what was going on behind us. Had I just left her there, Celestia only knows what would have happened to her, then again, what was going to happen to the whole town of Flank?

"If it bothers you that much, just do what I do. Look straight ahead and focus on the horizon. I will try and fly a little lower." I said as I slowly dropped altitude towards the treetops.

"Joey, is it?"

"Yeah, that would be my name."

"I think I am going to..."

"What? I missed that last part." I said, but was soon informed that my flying companion was getting sick. Not by her telling me, but by the sound of her retching right next to my ear. Soon Valkyrie was gripping my neck with enough force to choke me as she let fly with what she had for breakfast. The onslaught of vile noises continued for several moments as we approached Megamart, with Valkyrie slowly coming to terms with her new vantage point in the sky.

"I-I am so sorry..." She said, as she shifted around on my back, trying to clean herself.

"It's ok, Caliber once tried to pull off a number two mid flight, that ended with zombies and him losing half an ear. I would say this was a best case scenario."

"Are we getting close? To Megamart, I mean."

"We have been here for a few minutes now."

"Then why are we still flying?"

"Valkyrie... We have been on the ground for over five minutes... You still have your eyes closed." I said, standing at the entrance to Megamart. I looked back to her in time to see the red glow of embarrassment flood her cheeks as she realized that we were on the ground and had been for quite some time. She no sooner placed one wobbly leg to the ground when she fell off my back and laid flat on the hard cement flooring.

"You ok?" I asked.

"I'm great... I need a moment."

"Take your time, if anypony knows what you are going through right now, it's most certainly me."

"Oh, like a Pegasus would ever be afraid of heights..." She said with a 'go to hell' look, that soon faded when she saw my own face now turning red.

"But you just... How!?"

"Over time I have gotten used to it. But that doesn't mean I love it or anything. It is just the fastest way for me to get around. Trust me, I prefer to be on the ground just as much as you do."

"A Pegasus that is afraid of heights... That has to be the single worst joke ever played on a pony." She said, now coming back up to her hooves.

"Could be worse... I could have a bunch of illegitimate children scattered across the wasteland."

"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!" Caliber screamed from behind me. I turned to see Caliber trotting up the stairs to Megamart, covered in something vile and looking very upset.

"Caliber! What in the hell happened to you!?" I asked.

"I was just minding my own business, running for my life, and out of nowhere this nasty cloud of whateverthefuck splashes down on me." He said, coming to a stop far away enough for us not to smell him. I looked back to Valkyrie who was doing her best to look like she had not just thrown up and cringed.

"That's horrible! But I have to know, why didn't you clean it off?"

"What?"

"You have that cleaning spell, I know you passed by some water at some point... yet here you are, still smelling like puke."

"You told me not to stop..." Caliber said, pawing at the ground with a hoof. Clearly the thought had not dawned on him until just now.

"Well... Go on then, you are not going to break the ice with your new wife smelling like that are you?" I said, shooting him a look. With a flash of the horn, Caliber's cleaning spell both enveloped me and removed every trace of vomit from his coat, all the while never breaking eye contact with me. Soon though, the contact was broken and I watched as his 'I really hate you sometimes' look faltered into that of one that was smitten.

"She is not like... your marefriend or anything... is she?" Valkyrie asked from behind me.

"Caliber is a buck..." I said turning around, coming nose to orange nose with my sister.

"SHALE!" I screamed as I threw my hooves around her.

"Whoa! That's not the Joey I know!" She stepped back and looked me over, regarding me for a moment. "What happened to you... One day you fly out of here, your usual mopey self, the next you come in looking like hell, smelling like Rad-away, with a smile from ear to ear, with... are those stripes?"

"It's a long story..."

"He tastes like oranges too..." Caliber said as he trotted past me and into the shops.

"And who is this?" Shale asked with a very sly look.

"Oh! This is Valkyrie. She works at the motel over in Flank. I had to get her out of that place before the raiders burned it down."

"I see... Well I guess you all are hungry, I just went off of my shift, if you all would like something to eat." Shale said, walking away with a disappointed look. Great, now my sister thinks I'm dating a prostitute, what else could go wrong today.

I followed Shale's lead as we worked our way from stall to stall, greeting ponies who I had not seen in months, some even in years. Caliber was looking around the shopping center as if he were a mother who had just lost her colt, jerking his head left to right as we trotted along. Shale was acting stranger than normal, usually when I come in town, she makes it a point to introduce me to her new friends, work partners and acquaintances. This time however, she was keeping to herself and barely saying a word to anypony we passed by. She soon lead us to the epicenter of trade for Megamart, the main hub of large scale trade for the small, yet thriving community, in the back of the shops where the living quarters were located.

I looked up to where the large over-head turret was, it had been damaged by what looked to be some sort of a blast at some point. Come to think of it, looking around, the whole place seemed to be in disrepair oppose to its normal dilapidated state. What had happened here? It was like a damn bomb went off or something. One thing was for sure, whatever had taken out the area defensive system here, was not something that I was planning on ever dealing with in my lifetime.

"Shale... Are you ok?" I asked, trotting ahead of the group to her side.

"Yes, I'm fine. It is just... When did you take to dating... THAT kind of mare?"

"I'm not dating her, I mean I think she has a thing for me and all, but I found another clue. This time I'm pretty sure it is going to lead me to Zuri."

"Sure, whatever you say Joey. I see the way you look at her, I know that look."

"Shale, what are you talking about? What look? I don't feel anything for her. I already told you, I'm going to find Zuri, I think she is in White Saddle Shores hiding out."

We stopped at the doorway to the trading center as Shale opened the door and allowed the others inside but halted me before I could go in. She closed the door and ushered me to one side.

"Joey, when are you going to give this up?"

"Give what up?"

"This whole, "wild Zebra fever-dream" of yours. You know she can't still be out there and even if she is, what are the chances that she is waiting for you after all these years?"

"I have to try, don't you understand? She left a note for me, I know it had to be her, so why wouldn't I at least give it a shot?"

"Dammit! You are chasing memories Joey! I have sat by and watched you run yourself ragged over her for ten years now. You need to let it go, start a life for yourself, find somepony else to be with and stop hoping for something to happen that won't."

"Find somepony else... Like who? That prostitute in there? In case you have not noticed, mares don't go for bucks who are gone all the time."

"No, we don't go for bucks who act like they just had to shoot their best friend all the time! Don't you get it? The reason why mares don't want anything to do with you is because you act like a mopey little ass when you are around them."

"Shale, what's wrong with you? You have never acted like this before."

"Look, I'm just stressed, that's all. For what is worth, I like you better like this. It's nice to see the happy side of you come out, I haven't seen it since we were all together."

"Well, leave it to me having to babysit Caliber for a few weeks, he tends to rub off on you after a while."

"It's a good look for you. You should wear it more often." Shale said as she opened the door and stepped inside.

Once we had made our way her small home in the back of the shopping center, we all sat down to a nice, rewarmed, three day old meal of brahmin stew. I was never one for eating meat, but Shale's cooking has always been second to none. Not to mention that when you are out of rations while you are out trading, sometimes anything that has been cooked sounds great, no mater if it had been breathing or not. I sat down in my usual spot on the couch and was soon joined by Shale, then Valkyrie, the two of them sandwiching me. Caliber had chosen a nice, comfy spot on the dirt floor, and proceeded to bury his muzzle in his bowl, only coming up for short breaths of air between bites.

"So... I noticed that you got some new furniture, Shale." I said, feeling awkward.

"Yup, I got them in trade from a buck out of Manehatten, poor guy needed a rifle." Shale said, taking a bite of her lunch.

"One, two... three chairs and two couches... Plenty of seating room in here now!" I said, still holding my bowl of stew.

"Yeah, they are all really comfortable... but this one is my favorite. Perfect for two ponies to sit and enjoy a meal together on." Shale said, shooting a look at Valkyrie.

"You know, I have two beds back at the motel." Valkyrie said.

"Yeah? How many hours did it take to get them? They must have cost you a fortune." Shale asked. Valkyrie narrowed her eyes and shot my sister a look.

"Nothing. You would be surprised how... persuasive I can be when I see something I want." She said, placing a hoof on my left leg.

"Really? Well I guess when you are holding all the cards, it must make it EASY to deal the hoof you want." Shale said, now claiming my other leg for her own. I swallowed hard, I wasn't used to being touched and even though my body didn't seem to mind the unwelcome intrusion, my brain was short-circuiting.

"H-how about this stew, Caliber? Isn't it just amazing?" I said, now trying to talk about anything other than whatever coded conversation the two mares were having.

"Mhm gwood..." Caliber said, not pulling his face out of the bowl while doing so.

"I have to wonder, what is it that you do again at the motel, you know, the one that is in Flank?" Shale asked.

"I work as a desk clerk there."

"Uhuh. And what all does that entail?"

"Oh you know, take ponies money, pass out the room keys..." Valkyrie said trailing off.

"Help other pony's with their 'sleeping arrangements' I take it?" Shale cut in.

"...I have before. Although, I think I am due a career change. In light of recent events of course." Valkyrie said, patting my leg and leaning in close.

"Oh? Well with your line of work, I'm sure there is plenty of room for... advancement."

Both my sister and Valkyrie were now staring at one another less than a few inches away. I sat nervously, afraid that any move that I made would result in some sort of passive aggressive slap fight breaking out, not something I wanted to happen that close to my... Why is it that mares are so damn crazy?

"I was thinking of something more along the lines of traveling, maybe becoming a trader." Valkyrie said.

"Well, Celestia knows that you have the skill set for 'trading'. I'm sure before long you will be a regular Caprice!" Shale said, her voice now edging on screaming, in a tone as sweet as mustard.

"What is that supposed to mean exactly!?"

"Exactly speaking? I mean, it wouldn't be long before you ascended to the level of slapping bitches and cutting ponies for money!" Shale screamed, thumping her hoof into my leg. The sudden shock made me spill some of my piping hot stew into my crotch. Afraid to move, I did my best to ignore the searing pain that was now inflicting my genitals.

"You cun-"

"Is anypony going for seconds?" Caliber asked from across the room. All eyes turned to him as he stood holding the pot of reheated stew, nopony saying a word. Thank you Caliber... Goddesses I love that buck sometimes.

"No? Ok! More for me!" Caliber said as he sat the pot down, and attempted to climb inside of it to get to the last of the tasty morsels of brahmin meat.

"OK! I think it would be best if we spread out a bit. I wouldn't want to break down this couch with all of us sitting on it. I'll just move over-" I tried to say, but was pushed back into my seat by both Shale and Valkyrie as they locked eyes once more.

"Ok, both of you. STOP IT! I'm trying to eat." I shouted, breaking them from the trance they were in. Several moments went by in silence as I finally began eating my meal. The two of them fell back into their spots on the couch, both trying to pretend to eat.

"I bet she could break this couch in. I bet she could do it in ten seconds flat!" Shale said through a mouth full of vegetables.

"Oh please, I would need somepony with wings to do that, I'm not that fast!" Valkyrie said, raising an eyebrow.

I spit my stew out across the room, hitting Caliber in the flank with a shower of meat and broth as he continued his assault on the now empty pot. He didn't even flinch.

"Ok, look. I have no clue what you two have against one another, but it needs to stop. Valkyrie, you are cute and I like you, but for the love of Luna be the bigger mare here and let it go. Shale, you are my sister and I love you, but I swear to Celestia if you call her a prostitute one more time, I am going to put you both in that damn pot and turn you all into stew!"

"You are right, I'm sorry Joey." Valkyrie said.

"Me too. I guess I got carried away, I just worry about you." Shale said.

"I can appreciate that. But I'm not a kid anymore, I can make my own decisions, I would like to think I have a very good judgement of character towards the ponies I choose to be around." I said, now looking at Caliber who was pushing the pot that was still on his head across the floor. Ok maybe not the best judge of character, but he had his redeeming qualities.

The rest of the meal went on in silence, although, I did catch the two upset mares shooting dirty looks to one another more than I would have liked. What had gotten into Shale!? She never acts like this! It was almost as if she was jealous of Valkyrie or something. But that makes no sense at all, I'm not interested in her and it's not like Shale and I can just erase all those years of being brother and sister. Why does everything around me have to be so damn complicated! All I want is to find Zuri, have some kids, and die happy somewhere and try not to get shot anymore. Is that too much to ask for?

Once Caliber had licked a hole in the pot of stew, and the three of us had finally finished our meal, I decided it would be best if Caliber and I finished the job we came here for and left. We left Shale and Valkyrie to have a talk together, insisting that they both try and set aside, whatever it was that they both had against each other. Outside the shack, Shale had fallen back into her usual routine of "buy/sell/trade", employing Valkyrie to help her with the day to day activities. It was an old trick that Boss used to use when we all would start bickering back and forth. He would make us work together until we were either too tired to fight or forgot why we were mad. She sent Cal and I away as she did what she could to fill our supplies order. He and I both made a few passes around the Mart before I was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Well, well, well... If it isn't the 'mythical Pegasus tracker' himself..."

I turned to see Bit Scales sitting at a table beside an old wares store with a mountain of caps sitting on the table before her. I turned to tell Caliber to go on without me, but as luck would have it, he was now talking to a mare with a stark red mane and ashy grey coat. Ah... Ember... I could have guessed that from a mile off. I sat down across the table from Bit Scales and decided that Caliber's 'Oops' talk was best left to the two of them.

"So it WAS you back at Tenpony..."

"Yeah, I saw that you might need some help and figured, what the hell. Hey! How did you get here so fast? It's nearly a week's trot from there."

"Ditzy gave me a lift. Had to get this order of healing potions dropped off before it went bad. Damn inner-whatcha-ma-call-it is getting worse according to the other traders. Stuff is going for a mint!" She said running a hoof through her stack of caps.

"What about your team? Where did you send them off too?"

"Ahhh... They are probably rounding New Appleloosa by now. Damn bunch of lamers, they couldn't pull their weight if it was made of air, I tell ya."

"Heh, Boss always said you knew how to pick team members."

"Yeah, like farming mud in a desert. Speaking of, I see you and Caliber finally met."

"What are you talking about, I have known him for like... six or seven years now." I said, looking back to the now forlorn looking buck.

"Oh, so I suspect that you already know then." Bit Scales said, leaning back in her seat.

"What, that he is a ball of sexually charged fury that turns whole towns against him for fun? I had no clue."

"No, that he is Camden's son."

I felt my body go numb. Caliber? Boss's kid? No way! She had to be pulling my wing.

"Sure, next you will say he is an Alicorn in disguise... Funny."

"Ol' Camden used to go visit this mare up by Stable 103-1, down near the mountains in the south-lands. Someplace called Pony Forge."

"You mean to tell me that Caliber, of all the ponies in the wasteland, is Boss's kid?"

"Yeah, shocked him too. I still remember the look on his face when he came back into Silver Shoe the next day. Said he found out he had a kid and trotted into the bar and drank himself silly."

"Ok, hold on." I said, rubbing my temples. "Why wouldn't he have said anything to us about it? Hell, why didn't he bring them along with us? Something like that would have meant a lot to him, wouldn't it?"

"Oh believe me, he tried. But the damn bitch packed up and ran off somewhere, took the kid too. You were pretty young back then if I recall. That's when Camden started hitting the bottle. She left him with a note saying she had a kid and that it was his and split town. He had you kids to think about and all, my guess would be that he cut his losses and focused on his job. That's what any good trader would do."

"How do you know all this and me and Shale don't?"

"The old man was full of secrets. You could trust him with damn near anything. Hell, why do you think I liked him so much. He never would team up, I recon that mare ruined him."

"All this time... Caliber has been... my brother?"

"Well, strictly speaking... nah. But Camden loved all of you kids like his own, took you in, raised you. In my book that makes you his kid, so I would look at it that way. Shame though, I'm sure he would get a kick out of ya'll now."

"You said something about a stable... 103 was it? You don't think Caliber's mother would go back there do you?"

"103-1, and no, I recon she's dead if I heard right. Picked off by raiders is what Camden said."

"103-1? Since when did stables start having dash numbers?"

"I recon that they were speculation stables. Test builds I think they called them. Damn things are death traps. Sometimes you find good stuff in'em, most of the time they are hollowed out. Makes sense seeing as they wouldn't want to waste all that good iron. The one down in PF was left open for some damn reason. It's one big dirty bastard of a stable at that. Makes for a good place to set up shop if you are ever down that way."

"Where exactly is this 'Pony Forge'? I haven't heard of it before." I said, opening my pipbuck's mapping feature.

"Oh hell kid, you don't want to go there. Damn place is full of hicks these days. Backwoods ponies who done got themselves eaten up with taint. Some of them hoof-lickers haven't seen a pony outside their own families in years. Trust me, stay the hell away from there."

Before she could finish, my Pipbuck flashed with a marker far to the south, and from the looks of it, it was about a day away from Silver Shoe. All these years of us going there for weeks at a time suddenly made sense. Even if she had left the confines of the old stable, he would have gone back there whenever he got the chance to see if she had come back. I felt a strange connection to what Bit Scales had just told me. All this time of me trying to find Zuri after being raised by a buck who was trying to find a mare he too had lost.

"I don't have any plans to go there anytime soon. I'm heading out to White Saddle Shores today."

"Still after that Zebra, are you? Like father like son I guess. Well, if you do find her, ask her why the hell she took so damn long to poke her head up, for me. Look kid, I got to get a move on. I don't like this place and I don't like staying here for more than a day at a time. You take care of yourself out there." Bit Scales said as she raked her caps into her bags and sorted them with a hoof. Before I could get up from my seat, she held out a tattered old leather bound notebook.

"Oh yeah, I recon this is yours now." She said dropping it to the table.

"What is it?" I said sliding it closer to me.

"The old man left it in my wagon the last time I saw him. I guess he dropped it. I flipped through the pages, looks like some kind of journal or ledger or something. If you ever wanted to know more about Camden, this is probably the best place to start. I added a few things in there myself, personal experiences mostly, things he and I talked about and what not."

"Wait... Why would he have dropped this in your wagon?"

"Now Joey, do you really want the answer to that?" Bit Scales said as she gathered her things, and trotted away. No... I did not.

Boss had a journal? Boss had a kid!? THAT KID IS CALIBER!? My brain began to ache at the information it was now being forced to process. All this time, Caliber had not been just a friend, but he was as close to being my brother as I was ever going to get. Even though the pain of guilt I had been feeling for everything that I had put him through was faded, for some reason it was flaring back up again. I had not only used a friend all this time, but I might have as well used somepony who was family to me.

My brain started to run wild with the thoughts of how I would feel if Shale had done me the same way and what it would have done to our relationship. I had spent my life in isolation, safe from dealing with the consequences of my actions towards others. Even when I was working, I was always safe behind the scope of my rifle and if that failed, I could fly away. All because I was too afraid to open up to anypony after what had happened with Zuri. I didn't want to feel that pain again, I didn't want to carry that weight, I didn't want to take the chance of losing somepony close to me.

I looked over to Caliber, but this time with new eyes. But my thoughts were shattered by the sight of him sitting on the floor, staring off into space. Looks like the Oops talk went exactly as I thought it would. Well then, time to be a good friend and help scoop up the pieces. I trotted to Caliber's side, sat beside him and also stared at the wall that he seemed to be looking into.

"I never liked the color of these walls. It clashes with my coat." I said, trying to break the ice.

"It's... gone..." Caliber said just above a whisper.

"Caliber, the wall is right there..."

"The baby... It's just... gone..."

"Caliber, babies don't just disappear..."

"She... took it away."

"That bitch. So she wants to pull a Lavender? Well, I think we need to have a talk with this Amber about paternal rights!" I said, trying to stand.

"She got rid of it... Him. She said she couldn't stand the thought of raising a child that was mine. Said she didn't want him to have the chance to turn out like me."

"What do you mean by 'got rid of him' exactly?"

"She... she... just killed it." Caliber's voice started to break as his words fell flat into a squeak.

I sat down, hard. That cunt... That vile bitch! How could she! That was his child and he didn't even get a chance... Deep inside me, I could feel a pain growing that was now slowly turning into something else, not pain, but anger. It was her choice to take her child the way she did, but not because it was Caliber's. She had wanted to hurt him so bad that she was willing to end a life long before it even began, just to get back at him. Nopony, I don't care what they have done, deserves to have that kind of torture.

I looked down the hall and almost instantly my eyes fell on Ember. She was talking with one of the traders at a booth near the end of the long corridor I was now sitting in. She was laughing, she was actually laughing with somepony else after what she had just done. How can somepony be so cold, how could they be so heartless towards... life! She looked up in time to catch me looking back at her, the two of us made eye contact, slowly her face went into a cock smirk as she turned back to the trader she was talking to.

"Caliber... You called me your best friend a while back, right?" Caliber said nothing, but instead nodded his head while looking at the wall.

"Best friends don't lie to each other... for any reason... even if it is for their own good, right?" Again, he nodded.

"I have to know, is everything you are telling me the truth. Did she really say, DO, that to you?" He turned and looked me in the eyes, tears gathering in the corners of them.

They say you can sometimes tell exactly what a pony is thinking when you look them in the eyes if the connection is strong enough, if they are hurting or if they are in love even. When I looked into Caliber's, I saw pain. Actual pain. I had done my best to guide him down the path that I thought would be right, I had hoped facing his demons would make him stronger, a better pony. But how can you be better if the world keeps pushing you down into sorrow like this? Not this time, the universe doesn't get to have this moment, not this heartache, not with him.

I rose to my hooves, took off my saddle bags and dropped them to my side and slid off my barding. For the first time in my life, I made amends with all the emotions I had bottled up over the years and let them take hold for a change. Pain, suffering, sadness, fear and anger all fell into a dark pit inside my chest that I had left open for far too long. The emotions swirled together, fighting for control of which would come to the surface, but soon it was all too clear which would rear it's ugly head. Fetch, Lavender, Sashay, Wheels and now Ember, all mistakes made by Caliber, all of the sins he would have to atone for... but not this one. I refuse to let him take this hit on his own.

I felt my body tingle when my wings unfolded and lifted me off the ground. My muscles twitched as my entire frame clinched, flexing every muscle tight. My eyes narrowed as my mind went into a primal state that I had never allowed to take control before. With every beat of my wings, I dug deeper and deeper for more speed. I wanted this to hurt. I wanted her to hurt, to feel the pain I knew he was feeling. Any hesitation I had was pushed away the moment I chose to do this, and if it was worth doing, it was worth doing right.

At the last moment, I tucked my wings in and pushed my hind legs out in front of me, aiming for her chest. I gritted my teeth and let what could only be described as absolute rage take hold of every fiber of my being as my hind hoof connected with her sternum. The impact filled the air with a sickening crack as hoof broke bone and lifted her from the ground. The two of us slid across the floor and into the back wall of the hallway, sending her sprawled out against the brick wall.

I stood up to my hooves and looked down at the mare who I had just assaulted, she was still breathing. Even though the impact had forced blood from her muzzle, something inside of me pushed for me to continue. Before I could make my next move, I felt a massive weight hit me from the side, pushing me off balance and sending my hooves wide on the floor. A guard had tried to tackle me, but almost on reflex from his weight, I rolled to my side and used his momentum to send him flying towards the wall.

No sooner than I had shaken the first guard, a second and then a third landed on top of me. I tried my best to push free of the two, but I could feel shackles being placed on my hooves that were now fighting for freedom. Just one more hit, just one more. With one last desperate struggle to break free, I tried to roll into a ball and force them off of me by throwing my weight into them. Just as I was about to enact my plan, I felt the sharp stab of a needle into my flank, followed by my muscles relaxing and my vision fading to black. Try as I might, I couldn't push through the cloud of narcotics that were now taking over my brain. I felt my eyelids grow heavy and close.

"Just... one..mor... "

My head. What the hell happened to my head! I remember getting really really... Ow. Oh goddesses... I think I might have... Oh no. where am I? I craned my head about the table that I was now tightly secured to in an attempt to figure out my surroundings. I was in the medical stall and around me I was surrounded by fuzzy looking ponies. I squinted to try and bring my world back into focus. Caliber, Shale, Valkyrie, Bottlecap and a very upset looking mare wearing a doctor's coat were standing around me.

"What happened?" I said, trying to clear my head of all the thoughts.

"You tell me. One second you are asking me questions, the next you went crazy and tried to murder Ember." Caliber said, looking like he could honestly care less.

"I... Is she ok?"

"Huph. Like you would care..." Said the... I know her from somewhere... Blond... doctor lady?

"Oh Celestia... Please tell me I didn't kill her..."

"She will live. No thanks to you." Doctor lady said.

"Joey... Are you ok?" Shale asked with a worried look.

"I just tried to kill somepony... I can't remember most of what happened and all I know is that my head is killing me. I'm just dandy!" I said sarcastically.

"You had a stress induced nervous breakdown. After talking with your sister here, I would label you as a textbook example of a PTSD. But this being Hoofington, I would say it is par for the course for somepony of your nature." Said the Doctor Lady... Triage! That's her name! What was she doing up here at Megamart?

"Is he going to be ok?" Shale asked.

"Forget about me! What about Ember? I know I had to have... How bad?"

"She suffered multiple compound fractures to her sternum. Broken bone punctured her esophagus and she has a concussion. You on the other hoof might want to consider the consequences of your actions before you do something this stupid in the future."

"Joey, this isn't like you at all. What's going on?" Shale asked.

"I don't know! One second I'm doing my best to comfort Caliber of the whole abortion thing, the next I was doing everything I could to kill her. I just don't know..." I said as I bounced my head off the metal table I was strapped to.

"Honestly, what is wrong with you all? I just told you. He had a nervous breakdown, probably brought on by a stimulus that his brain could not process, sending him into a rage fit. He needs to be on medication." Triage said.

"Will she make it?" I asked, looking to the ceiling.

"She is in bad shape. But I think she will make a recovery from this. Ironically, you are both the same blood type, so after sucking out two pints from you, she has a better chance now. And don't even try to complain about it, you are in no position to do so!"

"So, what happens now? I suspect that I'm going to be strung up for this."

"Your actions, regardless of the reason or condition, can not be overlooked. You will be charged for Ember's medical costs, the damage to Megamart and all of the losses suffered from the stall you wrecked. So far that total is nearing the 15,000 cap marker, but given your standing with us, and your sister's offer to help work off part of your debt, I would be willing to settle for 10,000 caps."

"That's it? A fine?"

"And you will be banned from Megamart for one week, but I will lift the ban for an additional 3000 caps. It is bad enough that we just had to deal with a near full scale war just the other day without you all making an even bigger mess of things!"

"Ok, what's going on here... I know ponies who have done way less than what I did and they got way tougher punishments..." I said, almost shocked that nearly killing another mare only garnered a seemingly small fine. Bottlecap stepped away and trotted out of the door, leaving me with more questions than answers. Shale trotted to the side of the table and put her hoof on my chest.

"Joey, Bottlecap has agreed to let you off so easy because she overheard what happened between Caliber and Ember. When she gets well enough to move, she is going to kick her out of here." Shale said, looking away.

"And...?"

"And what?"

"Why do you still look like you have something more to say?"

"Joey... You need to get out of here."

"What? Why?"

"Can you let him up now? I think he needs to see this for himself."

"Oh sure, let's set the crazy buck free to roam the countryside! What do I know, I'm just a doctor..." Triage said as her and Shale both worked to undo the straps on my hooves. Once freed, Caliber, Shale and Valkyrie escorted me out into the main hall of Megamart. Caliber to my rear, Shale to my right and Valkyrie to my left. The moment I set hoof into the large room filled with traders, it fell silent. I guess when you nearly murder somepony in front of a few dozen ponies, this is the treatment that is warranted. We trotted in front of Shale's stall, where she raised a hoof and point to the large billboard in the middle of the store.

There, right at the top, holding a 10,000 cap bounty, was my name. The bounty had been posted by Ms. Furnace not even an hour after learning about her daughter's beating that she took. This is not good. Oh Celestia, what have I done.

"You have to get out of here, like yesterday fast!" Valkyrie said, passing me my now stocked saddlebags and barding.

"Ok, I will head back up towards the motel, I wi-"

"No, out of Hoofington." Shale interrupted.

"Out of all of Hoofington?"

"You can't stay here after what just happened. With a bounty like that, somepony is going to try and collect sooner than later. The only reason why they haven't made a move on you yet is because Bottlecap threatened expulsion to anypony who tries if they work here." Caliber said.

"Ok, well let's go then." I said, motioning for him to come along.

"Joey, I.. can't. I need to be alone for a while. Figure some stuff out for myself."

"Cal? I'm sorry for what happened with Amber, I didn't mean to fly off the handle like I did."

"It's not that. I just don't know if I can go on like this anymore. Every time I try and do something the right way, it blows up in my face. I can't take the pain anymore, I just need some time to work through this." He said as he trotted to the edge of the sidewalk and sat down.

"But... I can't go alone... I can't leave you here like this, Cal."

"Joey, it would be best if you did. It's not safe for any of us to be with you right now." Valkyrie said.

"Great! I'll just fly off through Hoofington with a huge bounty on my head... Alone. No pressure..." I said, letting out a sigh.

"We will do what we can from here to get your name off the board, but you need to leave." Shale said, nudging me out the door.

"You will take care of him, won't you? He needs more looking after than he thinks he does, and Celestia knows that I have been doing a bad job of it."

"Of course I will. I will make sure he gets through this ok."

"Are you sure you are up to the task? He can be a hoof-full at times."

"Who raised you when Boss was away?" Shale said, giving me a hug.

"Besides, Valkyrie has offered to stay behind and help work the debt off with me." Shale said, turning to the orange coated mare.

"You would do that? For me? But you barely know me." I said.

"I know what it's like to want something you can't have. I know you want to find her and if anypony knows what that would mean to you, it's me. Be careful." She said as she kissed me on the cheek and trotted back inside Megamart. Before I took off, she looked back to me and smiled. "If you don't find what you are looking for out there, just know that you have ponies back here who really care for you."

Despite my pleading to stay, the decision for me to leave had already been made for me long before I had woken up. Before I set off for the south, I passed off all of my caps, all 28000 I had left from my savings to Shale in hopes that she could use them to somehow get the bounty lifted. Fact is, as long as my name was carrying a price tag, none of them were actually safe, and with me being forced to leave, that left them without me looking out for them. I wanted to stay, to protect them, but if I did, they would try and protect me when somepony came to call on my bounty. I wonder if this is what that Security mare feels like all the time.

We said our goodbyes, and I, by myself, set out towards White Saddle Shores. How fitting that this trip away from Hoofington to find Zuri, be one that I have to do alone, just as I always have. I had single hooved put my friends and family in danger with one indulgence of rage, nearly killing a pony who I had never even spoke to before. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if I got all the way down the White Saddle Shores and found Zuri with another buck and she just wanted to play a joke on me. To be honest, I feel like I deserve for something like that to happen.

My whole life I have been chasing the very dream that I am now trying to make come true, and I'm so close to making it reality. Yet, even though I am flying in that direction, I was flying away from the very thing I never knew I wanted. Looking back, I could still see them standing on the sidewalk of Megamart, both of them. A good friend who is willing to stand beside me, even when I do something stupid and a sister who loves me and is willing to work off my debt. I didn't deserve them, but there they were, still worrying about me, all the while I was worrying about them. Maybe that is what family is, maybe it's not, all I know is that it hurts to leave them behind.

"Lets get this over with..."

I said to myself as I glided towards the southwest out of Hoofington and down the loneliest road that have ever flown. Below me I could see ponies fighting in the streets, their bullets, beams and flame shooing out wildly in small conflicts all throughout Hoofington. Soon I came to the town's limits, flying over the small town that I was told was called Chapel. Ahead of me lay the mountains, after that it would be miles and miles of endless Wasteland, leading me to Silver Shoe and then to White Saddle Shores.

I wanted to hope that Zuri would be there, waiting for me to collapse into her hooves, to hold me and tell me that it would all be ok. But no mater how I tried, all I could think about was going back to Megamart and try to make things right. I just want to be with Shale and Caliber! I want them close to me rather than leaving them in my wake of destruction. Valkyrie, a mare I had only known a short while, seemed to be weighing heavily on my mind. She barely knew me, yet she was willing to stay behind and help deal with one of my disasters just so I could stay safe and find an old marefriend. But I can't go back, I have to see this through and trust that they will find a way out of this, for all of us.

I can only hope that they all know how much they truly mean to me. Caliber, Shale, even Valkyrie clouded my thoughts much like the clouds above my head blocked the sun, but I didn't mind. They were always with me, no matter where I flew, I could always say that I had ponies who I could rely on, even when everything came crashing down. With the wind to my back and the rain beating down, I steadied myself for the long flight and tried to set my mind at ease.

"I love you all, I just hope you know that." I said as I started up the mountains and out of Hoofington.

Valkyrie

Author's Notes:

I know I said I wanted to take a break and what not... But what can I say... I am a victim of my own desires. I made it to Babscon, all the way from my little town that is nestled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, here in Tennessee. It was my first time flying, it was also on United Airlines... Yeah... that was a thing that happened.

But I wasn't alone! In fact, I was joined by my good friends during the trip, Andy, Ryn and Jon. Andy, for those of you that do not know, is the inspiration for Caliber. How fitting it was that my first time flying would be with Caliber. In fact the inspiration for the air sickness scene came from Andy getting sick on our way to our connecting flight in Denver.

For those of you who are wondering, I have commissioned a few pieces of art work and character reference sheets for this story. When I started this grand adventure, I had a lot to learn about grammar, punctuation and formatting. Now however... I still have a lot to learn but I have been working to make bigger and bigger strides towards becoming an actual author.

I love this fandom, I love the FoE fandom even more. It has a special place in my heart and always will. I would like to think that even twenty years from now that I will be able to look back on these moments with a melancholy happiness. I love writing this story, and so long as I can type, I plan to see it through!

Thank you all for reading, I hope that you have enjoyed it!
Please feel free to leave a comment below! Don't be shy, even if you didn't like it, I would love to hear from you!

Chapter 7: Stable Relationship

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 7: Stable Relationship

Hot... Why is this place always so damn hot!? The noon's daily sun scorched at my back, making my already dehydrated coat feel dry and sore to the touch. I had been on the move for four days now, flying countless miles with only the sound of the wind and the thoughts of the rest of my team back in Hoofington to keep me company. Time, had taken its toll on me, I was weary, tired and broken down. Even though I had plenty of rations to aid in my travels, they had been left untouched. I had not eaten in days and used very little of my four gallons of water that I had brought with me. I just wanted to sleep, preferably somewhere safe for a change. Anywhere would be better than the last couple of nights of rest that I have had. Sleeping in trees is for the birds! I could only manage a few hours at best before I would roll off of the old, decrepit tree limbs and fall to the ground. Not the best way to wake up, especially when that ground was inhabited by zombies.

Trotting in the sun for the first time in what seemed like years, I made my way through the old town of Silver Shoe towards Peach's Sundries and Ammo. There are so many memories in this old town, haunting it like the ghosts of the past, reminding me of the times when the group and I would spend weeks here at a time. But now, I was seeing them all for the first time once more. The shadows came alive with the renewed knowledge I had found, Boss and his love affair that resulted in Caliber's existence. Secrets, the old man had plenty of them, and I had been standing right in the middle of them all unknowingly. Now however, I was walking the same road he had so long ago, I was even heading in roughly the same area that he would seek out. I guess it is true what they say, you will never truly understand somepony until you trot a mile in their hoofsteps.

I trotted up to the old wares store, inside I could make out the haggard voice of Ms. Peach, informing a customer that he was 'Too poor to afford the dust on the counter' and was insisting that he would leave at once. Exhausted, I leaned my shoulder into the double doors and let myself in.

"I don't care how much money you have 'back in your room', I don't give free rides to strangers!" Peach said to the young, brown unicorn buck.

"As I recall, you don't give free rides... AT ALL." I said as I trotted to the old refrigerator.

"Oh. It's you. I see you're not dead. Where's that miserable old man of yours?" Peach asked.

"I see you're also still alive. What are you now? A hundred and sixty? Seventy maybe? Oh, And he is dead... Like you would care." I said as I slid the door open to the cooler. Warm... Great. Nothing like an old, hot and flat, Sparkle Cola. I now officially have no reason to come here anymore.

"Oh. Sorry to hear that. I was wondering why he skipped out on my order. I always figured that he took my caps and ran." Peach said, leaning into the counter top. Truth is, he didn't skip out on her order, I just didn't want to make the delivery to her.

"Nope. Rad-sickness. Died on the way to Baltimare." I said, too tired to put forth any emotion.

"Well. I suspect you want something."

"HEY! I'm not done talking to you!" The buck said as he slammed a hoof into the counter.

"Oh yes you are! If you don't get the fuck out of my store, I'm going to tell that bounty hunter over there just how many caps I'm willing to pay to have you wake up dead!" Peach said, looking in my direction. Whatever, I don't even care what is going on. At this point, playing along seems like the easiest thing to do.

"Him? He's half my size! I like my chances." The buck said as he turned towards me and squared his stance.

"I'm also twice as armed, can fly and too tired and grumpy to go hoof to hoof with you. I like my odds better than yours." I said as I popped the top off of my lukewarm beverage.

"You wouldn't..."

"Wanna bet?" I said, unclasping the holster on one of my pistols.

"Oh! Fuck you both!" He said as he scooped up his small pile of caps and ran out of the door. Peach whiped her hooves across the old wood counter, seeming to be subconsciously trying to rid it of the buck's presence.

"I appreciate that... Now. What do YOU want?" She said, shooting me a look.

"Just how did you know that I was a 'bounty hunter' and not about Boss's death?" I asked, just a touch offended by the sentiment.

"Word gets around, just not enough of it. I had heard that he went off the map, not that he had died. And I would think you would see it as a badge of honor considering your upbringing. Little Joey, all grown up into a bounty hunter, coming from humble beginnings as a mere trader. Sounds like something you would read from a foal's story."

"I see you haven't lost a single ounce of your charm... And it's TRACKER, not bounty hunter!"

"Tracker... Bounty hunter... Prostitute... They all take money for services rendered." She said leaning back in her seat.

"Bitch..."

"Asshole..."

We both sat there, eyes locked, both wanting to say more, but neither breathing a word. This was the inevitable stare down that Boss would get into when he would have to deal with Ms. Peach when they would trade. Finally, I broke the silence.

"I need five gallons of water, food for a week and all the medical bandages you have."

"And I need 500 caps."

"WHAT!?"

"Oh sorry, I forgot who I was talking to." She said, followed by clearing her throat. "I... Need... Five... Hundred... Caps..." She said drawing out the words like a length of rope.

"Oh, I heard you... I just can't believe you."

"Take it or leave it. But judging by the looks of you, I'd take it."

"Look, I have to fly through the Badlands tomorrow... tonight... whatever. Just as soon as I get some sleep. I'm broke, I'm tired and I just did you a favor by running that customer off. Surely there is something we can work out here."

Peach regarded me in the same manner she would if she was looking at a piece of scrap, trying to assess its value.

"Oh I'm sure we can work something out... What would you take for that piece on your back?" She said, now eyeing my rifle.

"Oh no! Not my rifle! I have had this gun since I was just a little colt. Boss gave it to me for my birthday!"

"Save me the sentiment, it has no value in trade! I only want the damn thing for the scope, looks like a Ironshod Mark Four, I have only seen those in old pre-war magazines."

"It is... It too was a gift, from Ditzy, and all the more reason why I am not giving you this rifle!"

"Oh for Luna's sake kid! Next you will tell me that the bullets were family heirlooms from your mother or something! Look, if you don't want to sell it or trade it, just pawn the damn thing to me and you can pay me when you get back."

"Wait. You would do that? For me?" I asked, positively floored by the concept of her offering to do such a thing. I had heard of her doing something of the like in the past, but never for me. Hell not even Boss!

"Why not. If you make it back, I get my caps, and I really like my caps. If you don't, then I get this rifle, and I really, really like this rifle. Since you are heading towards White Saddle Shores, through the desert... How did you put it? Oh! I like my odds better than yours."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"Look, in case you haven't noticed, Pegasi are not exactly known for their fan following. Sure, you have it comfy back where you come from, but out there? Let's just say that they are not high on anyponies 'Do not kill list'. Mix that with those stripes of yours... Either way, I see myself keeping this rifle." She said as she layed out all of the goods to be traded between us.

"Stripes?"

"Don't act like you think that I didn't notice. That barding doesn't cover everything up on you. I don't know how you came by getting them, but I wager them to be your undoing before too long." She said, pointing to my sides. I looked down, and to my horror the stripes that had resided themselves to my back for so long, were starting to peak below my barding. Great! I can't even hide them now! What next? My butt? My face!? Universe! Have you no mercy!?

"It's complicated. Stripes or not, I haven't had any issue since I got them, why would that start now?"

"Oh please, you're Boss's kid! Everypony knows who you are around these parts. Out there however... you're just some striped Pegasus, the combination of everything that ponies hate, a proverbial flying target. You have had it easy most of your life, ponies respected Boss for his resolve to get a job done. So when he took you in as a colt, everypony not only saw you grow up, but saw you being raised by somepony they admired. Face it kid, you got dealt a lucky hoof in life, most Pegasi I have known died knowing how much they were hated."

What was she getting on about with this 'everypony hates Pegasi' talk? In all my time on this planet, I have had at best a hoof-full of times where racism towards those with wings could be denoted. Everywhere I went... were all the same places I had gone with Boss. Wait, that can't be right. I have flown all over Equestria and... I sat down hard. Everywhere I had been for a long enough time to talk to other ponies, were places where the group and I had been to trade throughout the years. Was the friendly attitudes everypony had towards me just a learned habit from exposure? That can't be right, but then again, Boss got me when I was young, that would at the very least show others that I was raised in the same world as them.

Everywhere else that I had gone, I had always kept a low profile, stuck to the skies or been in areas that were void of otherwise intelligent life. I know that racism towards Pegasi is very much so alive and well, I had seen it every time I had gone to Tenpony. Even Boss's charm couldn't win those snooty ponies over. Not to mention, I could imagine that a well armed pony with a set of wings could be an intimidating thing to go up against. Had they just kept their mouths shut and instead spoke about me behind their backs? Of all the times to contemplate whether or not I was secretly being hated, a few hours before I had to fly a few hundred miles across a desert, was not it. I pushed it aside in my head for later pondering when I was more rested and decided to not give Peach the satisfaction.

"I don't plan on dying if that's what you are hoping for. Besides, I have wings. What's to stop me from just flying away?"

"All the more reason to pawn me that rifle and be on your way kid. Unless that is, you are getting all nervous about your safe flight south."

"Damn it... Fine. I had better get it back in the same shape it is now! No fucking with the scope, no shooting it and don't you dare sell it!"

"Sure, sure..." Peach said as I passed off my rifle for her 'safe keeping'. "Now what is it that you will be needing?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, still feeling the lack of weight over my shoulder. "I need water and food for four days and nights, any .44 cal ammo that you have, and whatever medical supplies you can spare... Oh and a room for a few hours."

"I'm starting to regret this trade already..." Peach said as she began filling my bags with everything I had asked for. "There goes any profit margin I had in the damn thing, you had better make it back and have caps with you when you do! You owe me at least 600 caps for all of this!"

"600 caps!? What happened to 500?" I asked nearly slack jawed.

"That was before you raided my medical stocks! I only had three healing potions, one medical bandage, half a bottle of Buck and one syringe of Med-X."

My nose crinkled at the thought of even having Med-X in my bag again. I wanted to tell her to keep it and knock the price down further, but at this point if I kept the price high enough, maybe it would ensure that she wouldn't sell my rifle. Much to my distaste, she dropped the syringe into my bags, followed by all of the supplies that I had bargained for and a small, rolled up piece of paper that had everything I had traded for written on it. It wasn't bad enough that I had traded one of my dearest possessions off to her, she just had to give me a receipt to remind me of my own stupidity.

The exchange went without conversation, leaving me to take my things and leave the store feeling considerably lighter than I had gone in. I trotted across the town to the inn, all the while mentally preparing myself for the long road that layed before me. Only a short time had passed by, but as I recounted the events, I felt like I had crammed several lifetimes into the span of only a few days. My thoughts were being cut off by others as my brain scrambled to process everything that had happened and everything that had gone wrong.

In the span of only a few weeks, I had found a new lead that for once was paying off. I had made a best friend out of a buck who until recently I had thought to be nothing more than a bullet magnet for me. I had also been the happiest I had ever been, the most afraid that I had ever been and now, the loneliest I had ever been. All I wanted was to be happy, to find Zuri and put this whole thing behind me. Was it too much to ask for a small break? Before I had always gone with the flow, never stepped in to help without payment and just done what came natural to me.

I kept a griffons loyalty to the caps, held up my end of the deal more often than not and did my best not to die as I carved out a small life for myself. But now that I was chasing something bigger, something grander in design, it felt like the whole world was doing its best to stand in my way. It was as if I had broken some code of the Wasteland, going against everything that it stood for by trying to find something great in a world so horrible. It was a sin, one that would need to be atoned for at my every turn, for as long as I dared to push back against its merciless force of tragedy and disparity.

My head swam with thought as it landed in the middle of the filthy pillow on my rented bed. Try as I might, sleep was not coming easy to me for some reason. Even though my body was exhausted, my emotions taxed to the limit and my will withered away to nothing, my brain refused to turn off. My thoughts went to Shale, then to Valkyrie and finally Caliber. The Buck who had been there for me, even when I had not, seeking out friendship that wasn't there at the time in his attempt to no longer be lonely.

What was he going through? I had seen him weather far worse storms in the past, but now... it was like he had fallen into a pit. Images of him sitting there alone on the steps of Megamart filled my head, even in his posture I could see that he wanted to come with me, but his shattered will forced him to stay. Shale had promised to keep a watchful eye on him in my absence, telling me that she would help him through this whole ordeal.

I don't want to know the feeling he had to be holding onto after hearing the news that a child of his had been aborted out of malice towards him. Something like that would break me to my core, ripping at my every fiber of sanity. It was Ember's way of passing off blame for what she had done and simultaneously hurting Caliber in the process. What she hadn't counted on was his taking it the way he had. It was as if he from then on had to hold himself accountable for her actions, resting the unborn child's death, squarely in his hooves. In a lot of ways it was worse than outright killing him.

He had fought so hard to make amends for all the wicked that he had done, he even tried to seek this child out before finding out about its grizzly fate. All that must have made him hurt all the more. I felt a wave of guilt rush over me with the thought of leaving him once more to deal with his own troubles while I fled to seek out my own happiness. I should be there right now! Bounty be dammed! Yet here I was, trying to sleep, to get enough rest to fly off and find my old marefriend.

I have to see this through! If nothing else, to pay a penance to my own ego so that it might let me go from this stupid mental bond I have with Zuri. Truth is, as the week's events unfolded, I had felt myself growing resentment towards her for even trying to contact me. Had she just left well enough alone, where would I be now? Would I not be happy given enough time? I would like to think I would be, but that is not how I was raised to go about things. At the very least, I have to try, as to why I have no clue, but if nothing else, I will try. Maybe then, I can put all of this behind me and move on with my life. With or without her.

I forced myself to clear my head and slowly, pushing aside the weary thoughts, and with the sun burning through the windows around me, finally fell asleep.

No matter how many times I wake up when it is still dark outside, I will never get past that initial four or five seconds of thinking that I have gone blind in my sleep. Considering the living conditions I have had the pleasure of dealing with the majority of my life, such a fear would not be too far out of the scope of reality. All the same, even with the sudden rush of fear when I woke up, I still had a strong urge to go back to sleep. My body felt old and decrepit even though I was in my late twenties and been 'working out' by carrying a mildly deranged unicorn on my back for most of my trips across the Wastes. I was still tired even though my Pipbuck said I had been out for over eight hours now, my body felt like it was filled with sludge or something and my abdomen felt tight as though it was bloated.

I worked my covers off of me and slowly guided my hooves to the floor, all the while my joints groaning in protest at the very movements I was subjecting them to. What was wrong with me? It's not like I haven't pushed my body pass the limit before. I have gone days without eating, flown for hundreds of miles and stayed up for a full week in the past, yet a few days of emotional taxing and lack of a decent diet must have taken their toll. Sure the bad habits have their detrimental effects over time, but the night and day difference of when I fell asleep and when I woke are much more worrying than they had been in the past.

I have never felt this bad before, It was like my body was at odds with itself and my wanting to push forward and was doing everything in its power to stop me even trying to stand. Deciding that my physical condition was good enough to keep moving, I set myself to my morning ritual of 'stretch, pee, find food' and go about my day, night, whatever. Throwing my hooves forward on the floor, my ears were met with multiple pops and cracks that, normally would feel great, but this time, sent sharp jolts of pain throughout my back. The sudden stabs of pain sent me sprawled out onto the floor, making my hooves go numb and my leg muscles too weak to support me.

"OW!" I shouted from my new home on the floorboards. "Ok, not going to do that again for a long time..." After several long minutes, I finally found the strength to move forward to phase two of my evil plan to pursue happiness, bathroom time! Thankfully, this place does in fact have a functioning toilet, a gross looking one, but a working one nonetheless. Sure the wastewater and solids were being collected by a ghoul pony who would clean it, and the toilet paper, and resell it as 'Reclaimed Water' and 'Flank Floss', and I'm pretty sure that the cook downstairs was taking the leftovers and making them into a meal, but who cares!? I can do my business in the comfort of my own room without anypony looking at me funny. What? I like privacy! Even if it is a contrived reasoning in a world where everypony goes where they damn well ple... Why is my pee dark brown? Even in the dark lit room, I could see the water had been clear before I started, but unlike in the past when I had finished my business, this time the water had not turned yellow, but instead a sickly looking brown color. This was new... also probably very bad! No matter, nothing a healing potion won't fix! It will also fulfill step three in my morning routine.

Reaching for one of the glowing vials in my bag, I became all too aware of the burning in my upper stomach when I twisted backwards for the dirty old saddlebags. I pulled the cork plug from the top of the vial and turned the bottle up, letting its contents flow down my throat and almost instantly set fire to my stomach. I doubled over in pain, clutching my chest to try and alleviate the horror that was now happening to my insides. This has never happened before. I was so used to healing potions taking pain away from me, not making it worse! What the hell was going on!?

The pain sent me retching, coughing and finally, vomiting up what little of the magical fluid my body had not absorbed, onto the floor. To my absolute terror, I saw blood mixed in with the contents of what I had drank from the vial, creating a rainbow pattern on the floor before me. I felt bad when I arrived in town yesterday, but it feels like my night's rest had made everything worse. Digging again into my bag, I pulled out one of the gallons of water for the trip and drank from it fiercely. Thankfully, water didn't seem to have the same tragic effects, in fact, it seemed to help ease my unsettled stomach.

I spent the next thirty minutes trying to compose myself as I finished off the last of one of my gallon of water, the more I consumed, the better I was starting to feel. To be fair, I wasn't sure if what I was feeling was lack of hunger now that my belly was starting to fill up with anything other than air, but at this point, anything is better than what I just went through. I gathered my things and started for the door, leaving behind me a mess on the floor and some very unsure thoughts of my own health. Once this was all over, I have to find my way back to Tenpony to get checked out. The last thing I wanted right now is to die from some stupid illness, especially if I do end up finding Zuri, it would have all been for nothing if I were to fall over dead the moment I saw her.

I staggered my way down the hall towards the lobby, my body still fighting back dry heaving with my every step. Despite the water's bettering effects, it was starting to feel short lived in its healing ability. Whatever screwed up illness I had picked up, it had to be water dependent for it to reject a healing potion the way it did. Great! I'm sick with something that needs water to cure it, and I'm about to fly through a desert, oh the life I live. Then again, I only possessed a small amount of medical knowledge, only knowing how to treat small wounds and sprained hooves when needed. I hadn't even had the time to hoof my way through the Wonderbolts medical book Ditzy had slipped into my bag before we had set off. What was so bad that it would force me to reject a healing potion? Nevermind that, what was so bad that I could barely think straight and make my world feel more like I was swimming than trotting?

I was stopped in my wobbly tracks by a familiar looking face, that of the unicorn buck I had frightened off back at Peach's earlier today.

"You know, you cost me a lot of caps by butting in where your nose doesn't belong!" He said, leaning into my face close enough for his yellow mane to brush my forehead. Geez! Personal space much!?

"Look, I'm in no mood to deal with this now, hell, I wasn't then either. I'm sick, I have to fly for Goddesses knows how far here soon and you should have known better than to haggle with her. She can be a right bitch when she wants to be."

"All the same, YOU didn't have to make things worse by shoving YOUR muzzle into things! I needed those healing potions for my supplies, do you have any idea how hard it is to work without them!?" Oh how he had no idea how much I knew.

"Healing potions? You need healing potions..." I asked dryly.

"Yeah! And the fact that a buck such as yourself would be willing to kill me over them, while not uncommon, is still fitting the manner of a damned raider." He said, poking a hoof to my already sore chest.

"Look, if you need healing potions, you can have them." I said, opening a wing to retrieve them from my bag. "Just... back up, would you?" Wow his breath was rank! No wait... That was MY breath that was so rank! What did I eat last night? A flipping rad roach turd!?

"Wait! How much do you want for them?" He said, backing away and eyeing me quizzically.

"You can have them... Damn things are setting my guts on fire. I only managed to get half of one of them down before it came right back up again."

He took the half full vial and turned it over in his magic, inspecting it closely before removing the plug and sniffing it. Ew. Gross. My mouth was just on that before I puked.

"Magical properties are intact... Still has a faint glow about it... You said it made you sick?"

"Yeah... Well not exactly. I woke up feeling like hell and tried to take one but as soon as it hit my throat, it felt like I was about melt from the inside out."

"Self medication not paying off... SHOCKING" He said sarcastically, tossing the magical liquid back and forth in his... well... magic.

"Look, do you want them or not? I have one more than I brought with me for the trip. I suspect since it is not doing me any good that you would want it too."

"Why are you just giving me these? I can sense that they are still fresh, something like this would be a great value to somepony about to take off into the wilderness."

"Like I said, I was in a bad mood before. I'm not usually like that. I'm sick, I have a long way to go and they are not helping whatever I have so they are of no use to me, also I know what it is like to deal with Peach when she gets like that. Don't read into it that much, I just..." I tried to say before being overcome by a dizzy spell. The buck reached out to steady my wobbling frame before guiding me to a wall to lean on.

"Sit! Please. You are burning up." He said as he guided me to the floor.

"Wha... I have to go. Times..."

"Of no importance to you right now." He said, cutting me off. I felt his hooves lift my already heavy eyelids.

"Great Goddesses... You have gone jaundice!"

"Jaun... what now?"

"Jaundice, hold still, I'm still new at this exam spell stuff."

"You're a doctor?"

"In training, please remain quiet."

"Why are you helping m... OW!" One of the vials bounced off of my forehead as it fell to the floor. Why is it that ponies have to resort to hitting me in the head instead of just asking me things?

"Recent wing injuries, don't get to say that too often, recent taint contamination, looks to have been purged though.... How many of these healing potions did you say you have had?"

"Only the half vial, why?"

"Because from what I'm seeing, you had to have been slogging the stuff for it to do this level of damage to your renal system."

Seeing my blank stare, he quickly dumbed things down.

"Your liver is infected and swollen and your kidneys are bleeding out from the excess magical fluid in your system. Under normal circumstances, your body would either pass the excess materials out through your normal bodily functions, or it would be expelled while healing any injuries you might have at the time.

"I have been under a lot of stress lately... I may have missed a few meals."

"To do this much damage, you would have had to go days without food or water and worked around the clock and actually tried to stay dehydrated."

"Great..."

"You are sure you haven't taken more than just this half vial? What about in the last week?" My brain went back to that moment in the cave when Ditzy and Caliber were force feeding me potions as if my life depended on it.

"Well, there was this one time back about four days ago I think? I had broken my wings and had to have them reset by a ghoul and a half drunk unicorn. They kind force fed them to me because they thought I was still in pain but... Point is, I may have had a few too many then."

"A few as in... Three or four?" He asked.

"A few as in seven or eight..."

"Luna's giant full moon ass..." He said, rubbing his temples.

"What!? I have had that many in a day before!"

"Yes but I would think it would have been due to a great number of injuries over x amount of time... Not to heal a simple pair of broken wings." He said with a 'you dumb bastard' look across his face.

"It wasn't like I had a choice in the matter! I was crying from emotional trauma and they kept pouring them down my throat!"

"Taking that amount of healing potions in such a short time could have, and should have, killed you. Without any injury for it to treat, it simply built up into your renal system and started to wreak havoc on your internal organs. The liver will heal but I suspect that you will have done long term damage to your kidneys in the form of scarring. You need a lot of water and plenty of rest to move this out of your system before the symptoms get worse. I have eight bottles of water back in my room, that should get your started but you are going to need an IV drip of a mixture of Addictol and Rad-away."

"Wait... Isn't that stuff for curing addiction!?"

"Yes, it is a field drug for purging addiction. But in your case it can be helpful with purging the magical fluids from your system when mixed into the correct proportions with Rad-away. You will also need a steady supply of antibiotics to help fight your infected liver. Honestly, how a buck could find a way to kill himself with damn healing potion is beyond me! Lucky for you, I have the stuff to create such a drip, I would see it as a fair trade considering you making things right about my fraught transaction with..."

"Ms. Peach... I'm Joey by the way."

"Ah yes, Peach, isn't she just that... My name is Blue Vein. Please, Follow me... You need to start the treatment at once if you are wanting to leave soon."

Doing as I was told, I half walked, half staggered my way down the hall behind him. Why was it that every single time I try to seek out Zuri, it had to be like wadding through quicksand? Just once in my life I would like to be given a task to find somepony, turn around and be looking them in the eye. I guess such things would make for a poor show for whatever cosmic being would be looking down on me. Well, if nothing else, at least they have seen fit to let me cross paths with an aspiring doctor, just in the nick of time too! Isn't it funny how those kinds of things happen? One second you are fighting for your life and the next you are standing in a room filled with healing po...

"Joey! What are you doing! You trotted right past the damn door!" I looked up to see that I had trotted a good ways down the hall from Blue Vein.

"Right! Sorry." I said rather sheepishly as I tried to shake off the remainders of my inner-monologue and trotted back to his room.

I have been told my whole life, despite what Peach had said earlier today, that I had a knack for getting ponies to open up to me when I wanted them to. Call it part of my special talent, having to deal with ponies who had lost a loved one or been through some tragic event in their lives that would somehow garner my assistance in setting it back right. Either way, I have never been short on stories to listen to from ponies who had one to tell in my travels around Equestria performing the odd jobs I took. I could probably fill a book with them, both of sorrow and mystery alike.

During my time hooked up to the hosepipe of chemicals, I learned quite a bit about Blue Vein and his story of how he came to be in this far-flung shit hole that is Silver Shoe. I also had to take five bathroom breaks to relieve myself of the fluids that were cleansing my system. I was thankful to see that my urine was becoming less brown and more clear, but I was shocked to see it was also becoming more of a shade of pink as the medicine did its work. I was told that it would take some time for the bleeding in my kidneys to stop, but at the most, no more than two or three days.

Blue Vein had traveled to Silver Shoe in hopes of finding fresh medical supplies for his trip that he was also taking towards the southern lands. In a rather tragic case, he had come from a stable that had been raided by the Steel Rangers near the foothills of the mountains southwest of Silver Shoe. At the time, he had been studying to become the stable's doctor, apprenticing under its only current one at the time. When the Steel Rangers broke the door open for the first time in two centuries, they had put an end to his medical teachings and would-be career. In a few moments, he had gone from trying to save patients lives alongside his mentor, to running for his own as he watched his fellow stable dwellers being shot, kicked and hauled away.

"Some of them fought, others ran, a few even tried to hide, but it was no use. They were there to lay claim to anything valuable we had on hoof and were willing to shoot anypony who got in their way. I didn't know what to do. If I tried to escape, they would have shot me, so I instead ran to the closest wounded and did what I could to help them. There were so many that were too far gone or well beyond my help to save. Mothers, fathers, children... It didn't matter to them. They just... Took. Scrap, electronics and if they felt like it, lives."

He spoke with such a broken hearted resentment that it made it hard to tell if he was angry at the Steel Rangers, or if he was still trying to process everything that had happened. I had asked how he managed to get passed them and was quickly told that he did not, but instead played dead until they had ended their assault on the stable.

"I waited until they had finished killing off the last of us, I hid inside one of the freezers in the mortuary for what seemed like an eternity for them to leave. When I came back out, once they had gone, they had stripped everything out that was of any real value and resealed the stable for what I could only assume to be for 'further processing'. I had to fumble my way through a dimly lit stable, functioning on only the backup power supply, all the while tripping over ponies I had known my whole life, who were now lying dead at my hooves."

I said before that I had heard enough stories to fill a book, but sitting here now, listening to his, it felt more like it could be a story all on his own. From his stable being raided, to his escape, finding a home in the Pony Forge valley and finally, trying to barter for medical supplies to help a small settlement that had been ravaged by the effects of inbreeding for over two centuries. It was an overwhelming tale that I could see was taking its toll on him to even bare the mention of. He soon excused himself to the restroom and left me to finish chugging away at what remained of the water he had given me.

"Feeling better?" I asked, seeing his head pop out of the small room.

"That's my line." He said, still a little shaken, but otherwise looking no worse for wear.

"In that case." I said climbing down off the bed. "Much better, thanks to you."

"Well, I suspect that you will be going then."

"Wait... Didn't you say that I should be getting some rest, take things easy? You are just going to let me fly out of here without a lecture."

"Oh please, like you would even listen. I know your type. Pig headed and fearless. Even if I told you that you would die within a few moments of being outside, you would still take your chances."

"Hey! I'm afraid of stuff!"

"Not even going to refute that remark about being pig headed?" He asked sardonically. "I knew a buck like you back in my stable, you couldn't tell him anything either. I once told him to stay off of his wings for a full day and he still flew out of the office. He also flew into a wall in doing so."

"Wait! FLEW!? WINGS!? YOU KNEW ANOTHER PEGASUS!?" I sat stunned halfway to his door. This buck knew of another Pegasus, and he was in a stable?

"Yeah, there were a few of them down there over the years according to the medical logs, all of them coming from the same bloodline from what I could tell. But such as a small stable's population will, over the years the genetic code began to mutate from inbreeding and it began to die out. Hell, I was one of only seventy unicorns of our 250 pony population, leaving 178 earthponies and two Pegasi"

"You knew TWO Pegasi..."

"Yes, and lets just glaze over everything else I said because you also have a set of wings! He was a damn idiot, maybe that is why you remind me of him so much!" He said with more malice than I thought necessary.

"I'm sorry, it's not something that I am used to hearing. How would a Pegasus even end up in a stable at ground level?"

"If I had to take an educated guess, I would say that they had been paired up with somepony who was an earth pony or they had bought their way in. All the same, whatever genetic code that blood line had to possess, it had to be a damn strong one for it to keep popping up over the years the way it did. From what I have read, ponies before the war tended to, generally speaking, be attracted to those of the same race as themselves due to various reasons. As such it would create a very strong bloodline that would keep the genetic code from deteriorating over time, resulting in random blips throughout the generations. Pegasi seem to fall prey to pairing up in like partnerships the most, but then again, I had very limited resources to base my hypothesis on, so consider it a scientific wild ass guess, at best. Honestly, one would think a pony such as yourself would be privy to this information, coming from a stable yourself." Blue Vein said flatly as he packed away the last of his medical equipment, slammed the case closed and slid it under his bed.

"What? No! I didn't come from a stable."

"You have a Pipbuck. If you didn't come from a stable, how did you come by such a thing then?"

"I got this one on trade a long time ago to help with sorting my inventory and to help me get around."

"Curious... A pony with a Pipbuck who is not from a stable."

"Why don't you have a Pipbuck? I thought all stable dwellers had Pipbucks." I said, throwing his flat tone back into his face.

"They do. According to my grandmother who had been overmare before she passed, the only way into a stable was to have a Pipbuck that had been issued to you. It was like your key to the door that would save your flank if the bombs fell and your multi-tool once you were inside. All residence have them, passed down from generation to generation. Mine was being repaired at the time of the assault, so it stands to reason that I never got it back." He said turning back to his case under the bed.

"Look, I'm sorry for asking. Hey, you said you were heading in my direction, if you like, I could give you a lift back there."

"Thank you, but if it is all the same to you, I need to rest before I head back out of town in the morning."

"Ok, I understand." I said as I turned for the door.

"Goddesses!" He said with a grunt. "Look, I'm sorry for the idiot comment. I have just been going through a lot as of late, some of which you were a part of." He said as he reached into his bag and produced a recorder and passed it to me. "Here, I don't suppose it will do me any good without a Pipbuck now. Before I left the stable, I went back to my room for my things, luckily they had not touched my grandmother's personal belongings she had left me. This was in there with it. I tried opening it up but all it did was copy a bunch of files on to the drive and crash my Pipbuck. Turns out when you try to load it on one with nearly an entire collection of medical journals on it, it crashes everything. If you are ever in the Pony Forge area, you can find me there. Just ask for Blue Vein, if they don't try to eat you first, they will point you to my hut." He said, lying down on his bed and using his magic to cover himself with the old blankets. With one pull, the blankets ripped at his hindhooves, leaving him with a small strip of sheets that fluttered down, only covering his shoulders.

"OH, DAMN AND BLAST!" He screamed, throwing the tattered remains across the room in a full on temper tantrum. I had to hold in a snicker at his flailing hooves as he worked out his frustrations on what was left of the bed linens.

"You know..." I said, still holding in my laughter. "I have a room for the rest of the night down the hall, you are more than welcome to it if you want."

"NO! I have all of my things set up just the way I like them here. I will, however, be borrowing your bed sheets from the room seeing as you offered it to me."

"Six feathers of one, a half wing of the other. Makes no difference to me. Thanks again Doc." I said as I closed the door behind me and set out of the hotel. Behind me, I could hear Blue Vein talking to himself in his room, saying something to the tune of 'Fucking Pegasi-isms!'. For such a nice guy when he was working, he could really be temperamental when he wasn't. Maybe it was just his way of letting things out, de-stressing to keep himself sane, kind of how Cal liked to get ripped and knock up mares in his spare time.

Huh... Cal... Zu... Val... Had I always given ponies I knew shortened nicknames like that? I guess I never really noticed before. What would I call Blue Vein if that was the case? Blue? Too generic. Bluey? No, too stupid. Veiny? EW! Just... Ew... I know! BeeVee! Yes! Still got it! I laughed to myself as I trotted out of the door into the stifling night air, why is it always so freaking hot out here! Oh... right... It's a desert.

Cursing the dry heat, I stretched my wings out, and with a cloud of dust, pushed off the ground towards the moonlit skies above me. I oriented myself south and began the long flight to the ocean for the first time in my life. I was still upset at everything that had happened back in Hoofington and I hated the idea of doing this alone, but overall, I was in higher spirits than when I got here. Maybe I had been getting sick this whole time and it was effecting my mood, maybe it was time doing its usual job of eroding away any and all emotions. But for the most part, I could tell a noticeable change in my attitude as I found myself flying higher in the air. Either way, desert, here I come!

Daylight broke over the horizon, with it came the casting of crimson, gold and purple colors as the morning sun began to rise higher into the sky. I was now heading south-southeast according to my Pipbuck, drifting my way towards my final destination on the shores of the far south Equestrian coastline. Despite the pain in my sides and my ever dwindling water supply, the gentle gusts of wind rocking my mane back and forth were a calming reminder of life's simple pleasures. Just yesterday I had been in a critical state of health and now here I am, gliding above the sandy dunes of what I would presume to be the badlands of both new and old Equestria. Even with my fear of heights keeping my altitude rather low in comparison to what I would imagine other Pegasi would want to fly at, one thought gripped my mind as I watched this picture book Celestia sunrise. What a day to be flying!

Even though I had never really enjoyed it in the past, as time has worn on my fears of falling from the skies have been slowly evaporating away the more time I spend aloft. My whole life, I had never seen the appeal of soaring through the clouds, I had always seen it as more of a way to get from place to place in short time frames. Maybe it was a life being tied to the ground, being told not to fly in towns or in areas where it could be dangerous or even just a natural fear of heights. There was a time when I wanted to be an unicorn just so that I could cast magic and make my more trivial tasks from my day to day activities easier. But here, in this moment, I want nothing more than to be flying.

I let my mind wander as the gentle currents of heat began to rise from the ground, nudging me higher and higher as they pushed their way to the heavens. This is what is was to be a Pegasus. Freedom, raw and unbridled freedom to explore and finesse the air around me. Unicorns had their magic and earth ponies could summon a bond to the ground that made them almost as strong as stone, but Pegasi had freedom. Up here nothing could touch my thoughts, my worries could melt away and leave me to take in what little beauty this land had left to offer. Even here in this desolate place with its scorching heat and near barren landscape, it too had its own beauty to behold. Golden sands that seemed to stretch on forever, only impeded by the blue skies that were now being filled with amber light and the hazy cyan glow on the horizon.

I can't imagine that the ponies of the past would have ever placed anything more than a weary thought to this place given its harsh climate and remote location. Even the ones who had made this place their home probably did not see the grandeur of their accomplishments and toiled away in the heat unknowing of the beauty around them. But here in this morning light, I could not picture a more fitting landscape to be flying to The Sunrise with The Sun Can't Hide Forever crackling its way through my Pipbuck to my ears. Well, that is, what little of it I can actually make out. I was now so far south that even Dj Pon3 was having a hard time sending his signals through the airwaves. Despite my high spirits, my Pipbuck's radio fading in and out was all but the last reminder I had of how far I truly was from anypony's help if something were to go wrong. I even tried loading the recorder Blue Vein had gave me in hopes it would have music on it, but it did the same to me as it did with him. It just started copying files and froze half of my Pipbuck's functions at random, leaving me with the radio, the mapping function and glitchy E.F.S. that would flicker in and out at random.

Soon the morning light had faded away into the hazy orange landscape that was the desert's noon day sun. Stifling heat was beating down on my back, drying my sweat before it could even have a chance to bead on my coat. Even the wind that had once cooled my cheeks had taken on something more akin to that of a blowtorch that was now blasting my body with wave after wave of unyielding fire. It was like its own form of radiation that permeated from the sky and from the ground below me. I knew that coming here would mean mild nights and hot days, but this is just too intense! My mouth was dry and the hide on my face was starting to feel as dry as the weathered stones that pop-marked the desert floor.

I reached back to my saddlebag to retrieve what was left of my second to last remaining bottle of water and held it to my face. One quarter full. Damn. I had not planed on this trip taking this much water to complete. Then again, I had not planed on throwing my liver into shut down inadvertently with enough healing potions to save a small army of ponies fighting off Timberwolves. I looked at the pitiful amount of water I had left and downed the bottle's contents in a single gulp.

"Well, that's the last of that... I have to be getting close by now! I have been flying for Goddesses knows how long?"

I said to myself as I looked around. Sand, sand, pile of stupid rocks and sand... No ocean in sight. Great! I wanted to throw my water bottle in frustration, but in the highly unlikely event I was to find some more water in this pressure cooker of a place, I might need all of them. I was getting agitated by the insane amount of effort it was taking to just stay aloft at this point with the once gentle updrafts becoming more like a hurricane force, and now I had to start rationing out my last bottle of water. I reached back to replace the bottle to my bags and retrieve the last of my surplus water, but before I could get a good grip on it with my hoof, a sudden updraft rocked my body sideways, causing me to drop the last full bottle to the ground below. After flying all night and the majority of the day, and being slowly cooked like a chicken for the last four or five hours, I would like to think I handled the matter with nothing short of Celestia's grace!

"SHIT! NO! WATER BOTTLE! WHY!"

I shouted as I dropped into a dive after the life giving elixir. Shit, it's heading for the rocks! You would think that flying straight down would be easy compared to trying to keep a level altitude and make good time, but after hours of doing just that, it was like swimming in syrup. I reached my hooves out towards the bottle as the ground began approaching faster and faster, but it was no use. At the last second I pulled up just enough not to break all four of my legs on the rock the bottle had just hit, breaking open and spilling its contents.

I collapsed to my belly and put my nose to the wet stone, just a few inches from the remains of the bottle and let out a groan of disappointment. Before I could even soak in any of the enjoyment that the damp surface of the rock could provide, I watched the wet spots fade to light grey as the water evaporated. I timidly poked the now exploded bottle with a hoof as I started to try and plan my next move. Losing any water in a desert was bad, given my current health state, it was probably a death sentence. So, now without any water at all and desert for as far as my eye could see, I was what many ponies would refer to as "screwed, up, down, left, right and center".

I looked to my Pipbuck to switch on my E.F.S. and checked the map, but I couldn't make out the screen in the direct sunlight, oh what I wouldn't give for a pair of sunglasses right now. I looked around the boulder pile I was now standing on, huh, it looked so much smaller from the air. Now that I'm standing right on top of it, it was more like a small mountain. I must have been flying a lot higher than I thought I was to pass something this big off for a small rock. Hopping from rock to rock, I made my way down the smooth worn rocks to the desert floor, maybe if I can find a shaded area, I can look at my map and see if there is a coastline nearby, or even a settlement. Don't ask me who would be living this far out in the desert in this day and age, but if there is one, it would be my last shot at refueling.

As soon as my hooves touched sand, two things became apparent. One, I was standing at the mouth of a small cave and two, there was enough background radiation clicking away on my Pipbuck to kill me in a few weeks. Why was there radiation here? I hadn't seen any indication of it when I was flying, or when I was on top of the mound of rocks. Sure there had been ruins scattered along the way I had flown, but from what I had seen, nothing that would have justified this place getting nuked. I raised my Pipbuck up to eye level and listened to the clicking go from a steady click to nothing at all. Ok, so the ground is contaminated, nothing out of the ordinary, I then held it closer to the rock inside the cave. Nothing.

Well, if the cave was safe then maybe I could hide out here for the day and take off in the night time. Flying at night meant not having to deal with heat, the sun or dehydrating as fast, and at this point, rest was starting to sound pretty good. But going into the cave meant taking the chance on radiation and whatever else was down there seeking salvation from the scorching sun. Sleep for a few hours or take my chances and hope that White Saddle Shores was just over the horizon, how far away was I anyhow? Sure the mapping feature wouldn't show my destination until I actually got there, thank you for that Stable-Tec, but maybe I could make out the coast line. Before I could zoom out on the map, I noticed that according to it, I was standing on a roadway.

"Seriously!? There is no road here! And I'm trusting my life to you of all things!?" I said, waving the Pipbuck around for it to see around. Sure it was stupid to do so, but it made me feel better.

I looked back to the clearly faulty leg apparatus and took notice to the fact that the road seemed to start where I was standing and winded its way in the same direction of the cave. Oh. So that was what that meant. I peered my head into the cave, leaning an ear into the darkness to listen for threats, but all that I could make out was a faint hum that I could not differentiate from the static ringing in my ears. It seemed safe enough to venture into, so I clicked the light on the clearly not broken leg apparatus and made my way into the darkness.

The 'road' was only as wide as I was long and fell away from the terrain behind me, steadily descending into the earth. Thankfully, it was getting cooler as I went down compared to the temperature outside. I slowly worked my way down the cave system, pausing at turns and watching my E.F.S. for possible threats, but I saw nothing, just the odd echo that would set my teeth on edge and the steady growing hum. In certain areas my Pipbuck would start to click rapidly at the presence of radiation near the cave's walls, forcing me to either run or hover above them. I passed by a weathered blue box that had been half buried by sand that produced a considerable amount of clicking and I had no choice but to jump over it and into a dark void ahead of me.

I rounded the corner in mid air and spotted something out of the corner of my vision, eyes. Quickly, I ducked back the way I had came. What was that!? It was yellow and right next to me! I reached to my back to pull one of my pistols and took a defensive stance in the direction of whatever the hell was down here with me. Waiting for it to round the corner, all the while my leg screeching at me and telling me that I was absorbing radiation at an alarming rate, trying to decided if I should take my chances on the thing around the corner, or sit on this little blue radiation factory.

Deciding that it was going to have to be me that made the first move, I took the pistol in my mouth and began side stepping wide around the corner, waiting for something to loom out of the darkness. Something blue and yellow soon came into view, the light of my Pipbuck was just barely illuminating whatever it was. Stepping closer, the words 'Stable-Tec' and the little smiling pony came into view, it was a sign, a Stable-Tec sign. Oh how Caliber would love this! Me standing here, nearly pissing myself over a damn sign... in a cave? Why was this down here?

"Ok, I'm in a cave, in the middle of nowhere, and there is a Stable-Tec sign..." I said in near disbelief.

How is it that they could spend that much time and money on advertising, yet make such amazingly shit products? Pipbucks that work intermittently, Stables that killed its inhabitants, yet their lunch boxed and signage was second to none in terms of reliability! I looked down to my own piece of Stable Tec technology to contemplate further on its flaws, but something on my maps had changed. There was a large gear shape that layed just in front of me on the path I had been walking, and above it, the words 'Stable 103' could be read clearly. Wait, wasn't this the stable that was a death trap or something? My brain fought to sift through the conversation that I had with Bit Scales back at Megamart. If I recall it was a dash something stable, but this one was clearly labeled 103, not 103 dash whatever.

I moved closer to see the large gear shaped door come into view. A corrugated metal walkway opened into something resembling a porch with a still blinking terminal beside the door. I placed a hoof to the walkway, but soon shrieked back when the lights flickered on, illuminating the cave I was standing in. I looked around and felt my heart sink at the sight that layed before me. Ponies, long since decomposed ponies all around me in heaps against the cave walls. They were nothing more than bones now, but I couldn't help but feel as though I was disrupting their resting place by just being here. But taking note of where I was, and what I was standing in front of, it was all too clear why they were here, and it was not for a final resting place.

Two hundred years later and the scratched hoof marks still painted the stone around me and the yellow coating on the large cog that was embossed into the stone. They had been trying to get in when the bomb sirens went off. They had beaten their hooves to near nubs, clawed at the walls and trampled those who were too weak to fight through the crowd. In a desperate attempt to get in, some daft fool had even smashed the keyboard to the terminal and tried to hot-wire the door open. Bucks, mares and even a few small foals littered the room that I was in, untouched for centuries, until I had come here.

I wanted to leave, give the dead the peace that they deserved, but the cave was my only hope for making it to night fall. Down here it was much cooler than it was outside, feeling more like the weather I had left back in Hoofington as apposed to the heat of the desert. Up there, on the surface, I was going to die or be too weak to save myself in a matter of hours, down here though, it felt like I was already dead. My only other option would be to try and get the stable door open and see if it had any source of clean water that I could gather from. If nothing else, it would be worth a shot to try that before attempting sleep in such a creepy place.

Opening stables up after centuries is always, at best, dicey and deadly at the worst. Some of them had perimeter defenses, others were just down right booby traps and some even had functioning populations in them, well, those that had not been raided by Steel Rangers. In my time I had been in a few stables, I had also spoke with a few that had been in stables that had been opened up, I also held to the belief that it was not my place to open them. Boss used to refer to it as the 'open door policy'. If the stable was open, you went in to have a look around, if the door was closed, then it probably had ponies in it and we left it be. Many other traders held that same belief, but the few that I had known who would open them were either dead now or I had lost touch with them.

Even without the foggiest idea of what I was doing, I cautiously stepped closer to the terminal, doing my best to avoid the piles of bones that lay at my hooves. The buck that had been trying to hot-wire the door open was laying prone next to a... Oh Celestia... Had that mare been pregnant? Where her abdomen had been lay a small skeleton on the metal grate, held into the fetal position, too young to be born but old enough to be fully formed into a soon to be baby. By my guess she couldn't have been more than a few weeks away from being a mother, but here she was now, just a shadow of the past of what could have been.

I looked back to the buck whose muzzle was resting on the front hooves of the pregnant mare and it all became crystal clear. That buck who I had called a daft fool, had been trying to save his partner and their unborn child from death, and failed. What had their final moments been, here, huddled together to try and comfort one another from impending devastation? Had they wept for their losses? Made peace with death? Had they even had the time to think of a name for their child? I looked back to the buck and noticed that his hoof under his skull had a dust covered object on it. Taking care not to disturb their slumber, I knelt down and flapped my right wing, blowing the dust away to reveal a pipbuck that he was wearing on his right leg.

"The only way into a stable was to have a Pipbuck that had been issued to you..."

My words felt like they hung in the air around me as I took in the scene before me. The clasp had been clawed at and had bite marks on the edges, he must have been trying to take it off. He not only tried to get the door open, he had been trying to give his Pipbuck to his partner so that she could have had access to shelter. Yet, here he was, laying dead at my hooves next to his mare and unborn child. He had access to survival but he gave it all away so that he could spend his last moments with her. What kind of love was it that could make a pony do such a thing? He stayed full well knowing he would be killed, all so his partner would not have to suffer alone in the darkness.

My heart went out to them both. Even 200 years later, their skeletons had not moved in the slightest from their poses, standing for all time as a testament to their love they once had. The gravity of what I too was doing for the stupid four letter word was not lost on me, but I couldn't help but wonder if my places were switched with his, would I be capable of that? Would I be ready to give my life for somepony, even for such a simple act as to keep them company in their last moments? The very thought sent a chill through my body at the notion of being placed into such insurmountable odds of being completely hopeless and my only last action to be for somepony else.

I shook my head to clear the thoughts from my mind and carefully stepped past them to the far side of the catwalk, taking care not to disturb their final resting place as best I could. The buck had done a real number on the terminal. Wires were hanging out of the side of the monitor, most of the keys were missing and the whole unit was emitting a far amount of heat, probably due to the cooling fans being disconnected. Well... If a pony who was desperate to save not only himself, but his pregnant wife also couldn't make this thing work, what were my chances?

I looked the terminal over, tapped its side a few times and took note of the screen's flickering display. Only about half of the green text was being displayed while the other half had run off of the edge of the monitor's screen. It took me several long minutes to see that this terminal was different from the ones I had seen all over Equestria. To the side of the monitor was a yellow panel with a circular port that had four smaller circular holes in the middle, arranged into a box shape. I had heard that stable monitors were different than others, but I had never paid them any attention in the past due to my lack of being able to work the damn things.

I looked down to my Pipbuck and saw the same yellow looking connector on it as the one on the side of the terminal. Curiously, I gave it a poke with a hoof and the wired connector fell out of its housing, dangling from my hoof a few inches below my leg. I turned it over to see the same style connector as the one on the wall, same circular plug, but with four copper prongs that were in the same configuration as the port. "What do I have to lose." I said to myself as I plugged the jack into the terminal.

I don't know what I was hopping for, but nothing happened on the screen in front of me. The only thing that changed was that my Pipbuck started to glitch out even more that it had earlier today. I tried to scroll through the lines of code on my screen but was met with a frozen screen and a repeating message.

error...system offline...command not sent...access denied

Damnit! I needed Caliber here to deal with this! I hate technology and it hates me back! Ok, calm down... What would Caliber do to make this thing work? Hump it? No, thump it! I raised a hoof up and as hard as I dared, smacked the terminal on the side of the case. Sparks shot out of the hole in the side that the buck had made years ago and the smell of ozone filled the air along with the error code being repeated aloud over the P.A. speaker above me.

"Error...system offline...command not sent...access denied"

It was so loud that most of the words came to me in a static haze, forcing me to grab my ears in protest. The message kept repeating over and over again and something had locked the connector of my Pipbuck to the socket, not letting me run away from the sound. Great! What a way to die this will be, slowly killed by a stupid computer while it screams to me about my own stupidity!

In a fit of rage of which no computer had ever had the ability to conceive of, I began cussing and smashing the side of my Pipbuck into the the side of the monitor.

"SHUT!" BAM!

"Error...system offline...command not sent...access denied"

"THE FUCK!" BAM!

"Error...system offline...command not sent...access denied"

"UP!" BAM!

"Message received. Access Granted."

I stood slack jawed, my hoof still firmly against the terminal as the cacophony computer screaming halted and I was greeted by the sound of hydraulic pistons coming to life in the walls around me.

"You damn right message received and access granted! That's right, you will do as I say technology, I'm Coyote Jo... AHHHHHH!"

My body went rigid as current began to flow through me and into the metal grate I was standing on. Every muscle tensed at the voltage that was passing through my leg, causing me to lock up on the spot. Even though my brain was telling the rest of my body to get the hell out of there, my body had been transformed into rock, refusing to budge an inch. I couldn't even scream, all I could do was stand here and take whatever punishment this terminal felt was fair for me hitting it.

Out of the corner of my vision I watched as the large metal cog lifted, rotated out of the way and ground its way to a halt on the far side of the room away from me.

"Stable door 103 now open. Please watch your step, and have a nice day."

Oh you sarcastic bitch! I thought as twenty thousand volts coursed through my body. With a final great pop, all the mechanical noises I had been hearing stopped and the terminal shot one last jolt of electricity through my body that stood my mane on end and sent me flying into the air. I landed in a heap next to the bones of the buck that I had been looking at earlier, my vision fuzzy and my head pounding from the abuse I had just received. I tried to let out a whimper as I looked back up to the monitor, but the only sound that came out was more of a series of 'O's' that varied in tone and volume. The socket still had my Pipbuck's connector lodged into it. It must have been torn from my Pipbuck when it sent me airborne.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling with only one eye open as I waited for my body to stop feeling so numb to everything. But the longer I laid there, the more my vision began to grow dark. I was too tired to fight it, I needed a nap after what just happened to me. Nevermind a nap, I needed a vacation, booze and a warm bed to hide in for about a month.

Through my fragile state, I could make out echoed voices that were coming closer to me. Soon I could make out hoofsteps and shadowy figures as the residence began to poke their heads out of the stable door for the first time, probably ever. Sounds of shock and horror filled the room I was in as ponies who had never seen anything but the stable walls were greeted with their first real glimpse of the outside world. The fact that there were 30 some odd skeletons in the room with them probably didn't help either.

I tried to roll to my side but my still smoking body was doing everything it could to keep me pinned firmly to the ground. Finally after much grunting and pushing, I managed to get to my wobbly hooves to greet the ponies who I had just freed into a nightmarish hell of the Wasteland. My vision was swimming but I could just make out two or three white looking ponies (huh, a stable full of white and grey fuzzy ponies...) cautiously approaching me. They were talking to me but the words were as fuzzy sounding as they looked in my impaired visual state. I made out one of them asking me if I was ok and tried my best to respond but my brain was still in full on reboot.

"Oh Celestia! Are you ok!?" A mare's voice came through my clouded mind.

"YEAH! I'M PANCAKE!" I managed to spit out before attempting a step only for my hoof to slip from under me, sending me into a twirl and falling into the railing of the catwalk. It gave way, sending me tumbling down to the ground ten meters below. I landed in another heap on the ground, for the second time in less than an hour, and decided that this was an awesome place to take a nap. As I began to close my eyes, I saw the ponies of Stable 103 rushing down the stairs to my aid. Well, this is as good of a time as any to test the kindness of strangers. This has to give all new meaning to the term 'trust fall'. I thought as I finally closed my eyes and passed out from exhaustion.

I woke up to the sounds of ponies talking in the background, their voices coming to my ears muddied and hollow from the hallways outside of the clinic's door. Above me, lights hummed away as they did their best to light the large room that I was in. Around me lay tables covered with various medical and surgical tools, all neatly arranged atop their tables on blue cloth. I was not alone in here, to my right I could hear the labored breathing of a pony who sounded very ill. She, and she was definitely a she, would let out occasional moans of discomfort as she tossed and turned beneath the sheets of her bed.

I have got to stop passing out like this. Coming to in strange places was really starting to get old. At least this time I remember how I got here, well maybe not to this exact spot, but I remember being electrocuted by that stupid computer and falling off the catwalk. Strangely though, I felt much better than I had before I came in here. I didn't even feel tired anymore, in fact, I feel great in comparison to the last three days. I must have been unconscious for days to feel this good, maybe I got a recharge from that shock that I got back in the cave.

I looked up to see a bag filled with water and... leaves? Were those sticks too? Why was I hooked up to a bag of shrubbery juice? A long tube lead from it to my right leg where the strange looking purple-ish green liquid was flowing into my body. If it was the reason I was feeling better then sign me up for as many bags as I can carry!

"Oh good, you are awake."

Oh how that is getting so old to hear. I looked up to my left to see... a ZEBRA!? No! He had stripes but... he was yellow with a wild looking black mane that flowed down the back of his neck. He leaned over me to help me up, looking me dead in the eyes with a soft, but very nervous look that lead me to believe that he was still unsure if I was rabid or not. I blinked but I could not shake the look of his dark, and I mean DARK blue eyes. Gently, he guided me to sit up on the edge of the bed where he removed the IV of garbage juice and proceeded to place a band-aid over the hole.

"That's better. Now, how are we feeling?" Why do doctors always do that? Why do they feel the need to refer to me as more than one pony?

"Good... I think..." I said leaning back. What was that stuff he gave me!? I have been high before but... never yellow zebra high!

"I suspect that you are aware that after your rather shocking entrance, we have questions for you?" Ha,ha,ha... Oh good, he's a comedian too. I nodded my head once. It was at that point I noticed the two other ponies standing in the room with us. One black and... Ok, not high... That's a zebra, an actual Zebra! She was also very short in comparison to her counterpart who was in fact a pony. Granted he was young, but his orange frame in comparison to the Zebra mare must have been at least a full head higher than hers. Celestia, she looked like a foal in comparison to him.

"Excellent. My name is Xymol, I am the doctor for this level of the stable. My two companions here are Shoari, she is our resident records keeper, and this is Twisty Witt, he is our stable broadcast personality." I looked over Xymol's shoulder and gave a nervous, half hearted wave to the two of them. "Please, forgive my unbecoming formalities, but I am not used to pleasantries with strangers. As you can imagine, new faces are not something we are accustomed to. Please, what is your name?"

"Joey..." I said, still trying to process what I was looking at. Zebras? Zebra hybrids that are short? What kind of stable was this!?

"Joey. What a interesting name for a Zony." Crap. That's right, I have stripes too. But if they can see them, then that must mean...

"HEY! Where is my stuff at!? My barding!? My Pipbuck!?"

"Oh, yes, of course. They are right over there on that table. Your Pipbuck has been sent to the repair technicians on level C. When I tried to access your on-board files to see how banged up you were, I noticed it had stopped working. So I sent to have it repaired. " Xymol said while pointing a hoof to the far corner of the room. I don't like this, I'm unarmed and in a room with stable dwellers and Zebras. I'm not a prejudiced pony or anything, but I have heard the stories enough to keep my guard up around stable dwellers. Seeing my uneasy state, Shoari was the first to try and ease my mind.

"There is no need for fear. I know that in the past, during the war, our kinds were at odds with one another, but please know, that was in the past. Please do not let our appearance be the foundation of your preemptive judgment." She said while stepping closer and propping herself up on the bed with her forehooves. She then reached a hoof to my back and ran it along my stripes that were intruding on my upper flank. Yup, that settles a ten year old burning question I had... Zebras know nothing of personal space.

"But judging by these stripes... I feel as though that will not be an issue? Forgive my curiosity, but... Romani? No wait, don't tell me... Achu?" She asked, now trotting around the table to take in the full breath of my odd markings.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I said, still trying to wake up. This was too much, too fast and too confusing.

"Your stripes, they tell your story. Although, yours are... inconclusive? NO. Mixed?" She said, now pulling herself onto the bed with me for further inspection.

"I'm not sure what they are. I only recently got them."

"Interesting! You must be in your mid twenties! I have never seen a Zony come into their stripes so late in life. Well, better a late bloomer than not one at all!" She said hopping from the table.

"I'm sorry..." I said shaking my head. "This is just a bit... sudden. I wasn't expecting to be treated like this when I opened the door to this place. I figured I would have been shot at or something, but not taken care of like this."

"Why would we see you as a threat?" Twisty asked.

"Well you see..." I paused and thought about the consequences of what would happen if I were to tell them of all the stables that get raided from time to time in the Wasteland and bit my tongue. "I kinda just barged in here unannounced, I thought you all would be upset about that, I guess."

"Joey, you were not unannounced. We saw you on the monitors when you walked up to the terminal. If we had perceived you as a threat, I can assure you that you would not have be here right now." Xymol said.

"So wait. You're not upset?"

"We have been trying to open the stable door for over fifty years now, but we have been locked out of the terminal that runs the door's mechanics since day one. I suspect that somepony damaged the terminal long ago during the war when the door closed, but I am sure you already knew that." Twisty said.

I was a bit shocked, not just from the terminal shocking me, but from the fact that they actually wanted to open the door. Every stable dweller I had met up until now never wanted to leave the stable, they had always been ok with the fact that they were locked away for all eternity.

"Why did you want the door open? There is nothing left out there but a Wasteland!"

"Why was it that you wanted in? What was it that drove you to attempt to open our door? Was it not curiosity?" Twisty asked.

"No, I needed water and I was hoping that this Stable had a functioning water talisman in it and maybe a safe place to sleep."

"Ah yes. Judging by the state that we found you in, I suspect that you would have not lasted very long without sustenance. When you came in, you were suffering from an acute liver infection and were in the first stages of dehydration. I was able to heal you from the infection and connect you to a intravenous drip of herbal medicines to stave off your dehydration." Xymol said.

"You are very lucky that you found your way to us when you did. Please, If I may, I have a few questions for you about the outside world, if that is, you feel up to entertaining them at this time." Shoari said with a soft smile that was only mirrored in cuteness to her near childlike short form. I thought Zuri had been cute when I was young, but this Zebra mare was the definition of it with her squeaky voice and short stature.

"I don't mind, If anypony knows something about the Wasteland, it would be me I guess. Celestia knows that I have flown all over the damn place."

"How interesting. You call on Celestia's name, yet she is no longer of this world. Why would you do such a thing?" Shoari asked quizzically.

"Oh that's just old pony talk. No need to concern yourself with it 'Shoey'." Twisty said.

"Hold on, I thought your name was Shoari? Why did he call you Shoey?"

"That is my... What do you ponies call it? Oh, yes! Pet-name!" She asked looking to Twisty.

"Nickname. The word you are looking for is Nickname. Pet-name would imply that you and I..." Twisty's words froze in their tracks before they could step on the social land mine. "Sorry, she is still learning pony mannerisms in her advanced classes." He said with a near exhausted look.

"Oh, well alrighty then..." I said, recounting all of the ponies that I subconsciously nicknamed in my life. How many were there? Tens? Hundreds even? My silence must have set Xymol's mind to think that I was contemplating whether or not to answer their questions after the show of accidental comedy because he was now standing at my side.

"Of course if you wish to leave, we completely understand. You are welcome to rest here and refill your provisions before you depart, we will see to it that you are not impeded in any way from the fellow residence."

"No, no. It's ok, I just woke up and I'm not known for my morning charm, or so I have been told. I don't mind to help out. It would only be fair trade for you patching me up and all."

"Interesting, you speak of fair trade..." Shoari started.

"Shush! We can ask that later. Lets just let him wake up first, shall we?" Twist said. The three of them sat and stared at me without saying a word. Oh come on! They are just going to stand here!? Geez.

"I guess I'm ready now." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"Excellent. Would you mind in accompanying us to Twisty's office? We would like to record the meeting to later document and broadcast. My assistant will bring your things along for you. You need to take it easy while you are here as not to provoke a relapse infection." Xymol said as he helped me from the bed.

"Are you sure you want to do that? The Wasteland is a very unforgiving place, wouldn't you want to take sometime to edit things down, maybe get a plan together in order to train them for what they might see out there?" I asked.

"We believe in letting ponies think for themselves, make their own decisions based on what little knowledge we can provide. Who are we to say who can stay or go if the option is open for them to do so." Xymol replied as we made our way down the so named 'Mane Corridor', passing by the security station.

"You speak as though you are in some level of authority, am I right?" I asked.

"Perceptive, a trait that I fear is very rare these days. Where as we are the leaders at this current time, we do our best to not allow for our leadership to influence rule over others. Since the beginning, this stable's purpose has been to strengthen Pony and Zebra relations and encourage cohabitation between both races. It is our belief that the creators of our stable wished for us to overcome the racism that had led to the events preceding the war." Shoari said.

"Has it worked? I mean the steaming out of racism?"

"I can not give an exact answer I am afraid, I do not know to what level of resentment Equines of the past harbored, therefore I have nothing to compare our current state to. But I do have records showing the stable's population from day one, until now. Up until 151 years ago, the stable race population stayed the steady 50/50 ratio that it had been when the door first closed with only minor fluctuations." She said.

"What changed things? If it had stayed so steady for that amount of time, what happened?"

"The first Zony was born." Xymol said rather proudly, looking back to me for affirmation. Ok, just because I have had stripes for a few weeks now, automatically I'm a Zony now? I had been a pony my entire life until I had gotten that taint infection, how could I just erase all that time and start being a Zony?

"Yes, around that time the population ratio changed rather dramatically. Before long, we reached a near perfect 1/3rd population of all three races. Unfortunately, for obvious reasons, it has been falling more and more back to the way the numbers had shown back before the birth of Zawashi. But regardless of the inevitable outcome, we still encourage those of different coats to enjoy the love that they see fit. Some prefer love of the same coats as they have, others allow their heart to roam freely to love who it so chooses. But nevertheless, we make it a point to not interfere with matters of the heart. All are to love who they see fit without fear of ridicule." Shoari said proudly.

"There are a few exceptions. Some still feel that it would be best for things to go back the way that they were. Stripes with stripes, ponies with ponies and allow for nature to take its course. They do not seem to have anything against mixed race relationships, but they will make their opinions known if you ask."

"Wow, this place sounds great. Why would you want to leave? You have clean water, medical facilities, air conditioning and warm beds. Call me feather brained, but why would you want to take your chances with the radiated hell outside?" I asked as we rounded a corner into the to the 'Workers of level 1' sleeping quarters. Before I turned with the rest of the group, I took note of a large set of doors at the end of the Mane Corridor with a sign above it that read "Science and Research Wing. Authorized Equines Only!"

I had been standing still in my tracks but was quickly knocked off my hooves by somepony. I fell flat on my face. I looked up in a panic, still on high alert from trying to learn if I was truly safe here or not, to see the questioning looking face of a Zebra buck looking down at me. He wore a blank, yet strangely happy expression across his face. Big blue eyes with a black ring around his right eye, left ear drooping out to the side and a mess striped mane looked back at me. He didn't say anything, but the look on his face looked to be say 'Why did you fall down silly pony?'

"Spot! How many times have I told you to watch where you are going? You are going to hurt somepony one of these days if you are not more careful." Xymol said, while gently guiding him into the hallway that lead to the level one residences. Even though he was clearly scolding him, Xymol's voice held a very parenting tone about it while doing so. Much the same a parent would tell their foal not to climb trees or drink expired pond water.

"I am so sorry. Spot is... Special. He has trouble paying attention sometimes. Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. Wait... His name is Spot?" I asked, getting back to my hooves.

"Well, no. His name is..." He stopped to think for a moment. "Honestly, I have only known him as Spot for as long as I can remember. His mother died early on in his life and for as long as I can remember, we have always called him Spot."

As much as I wanted to know how it was that the Zony population was dying off, or what these 'consequences' are of Zebras and Ponies entering relationships together, I had to find a way to ask it in a way that would not offend them. They had been very forthcoming with any and all information so far, but that didn't mean that there were not answers that I was not allowed to know, or questions that I could not ask. The last thing that I wanted to do was offend them when I was about to barter for resources and maybe a bed for the night.

We took the second of the two alleyways in the large room that was the stable dweller's living quarters and trotted to the back of the hallway, stopping in front of a door labeled "Overmare Suite". The words had looked to of been scratched at and had a sign taped to the door that read "Twisty Witt's Broadcasting". Twisty, making good on his ownership of the room, opened the door and guided us into his rather large living quarters for the interview.

As much as everything in here looked to be in their natural places, the unmistakable feel of retrofitting did take a considerable over note to the overall appearance. Everything was an open floor plan with beds, showering facilities, a small kitchen and his work station that had been placed where I would think the sitting area had been. Boxes of old mementos lay about the floor in front of the work table that had been nearly covered with audio equipment. Stacks of recorders sat haphazardly in small towers on his desk forming little towers in seemingly random locations across its wooden surface.

Spot had taken his place in the corner of the room and taken to occupying his time with some foal's blocks and a few toy cars. He had already started arranging the blocks into small buildings and was pretending to race the small toy car throughout his imaginary city when we sat down in front of the control panel. Twisty retrieved one of the recorders from one of the various piles and inserted it into one of his blinking control panels. With a loud 'hiss' and a 'click', he tapped his microphone and began to recite his now almost robotic voice into it.

"Twisty Witt. Audio log number 1. Outsider interview. Take 1." He then clicked another button and addressed us directly.

"Ok, we are good to go. Why don't we start with some simple questions first." He said, motioning for Shoari to speak freely. I sat in place between Shoari and Xymol on the floor, shifting in my spot. Of all of the things that I expected when the door to this Stable opened, them taking me in as one of their own was not even on the list of probable events. I had never been interviewed before, I had never even done anything more than give some light survival advice in the past. So to say that this all was a bit new to me, would be an understatement.

"Ok, Joey. What is it like on the outside. More specifically, could you give us an example of an average day for you." Shoari asked.

"An average day in my life. Well, that would be complicated, up until a few weeks ago, everyday was mostly the same for me. I would wake up, make my way into whatever town I was camping nearby and see if there were any jobs to be done. Outside of that, really it was finding food, clean water and anything of value to sell."

"Interesting. You said you would go looking for jobs? Did you not have steady work?" Twisty asked.

"Yes and no. In my line of work, the job itself is comprised of a lot of other jobs. So my work flow is dependent on anypony's need for me to do it at any given time. Sure I can make something like five hundred caps in a day, but that might be the only day that I get to work for over a month! It can be tiring."

"Oh. This may take longer than we had planned." Twisty said, now looking for more recorders.

"You said your job is many jobs, how best would you explain that to somepony who has no idea what you are talking about?" Xymol asked.

"Well, I am a Tracker. I get paid to hunt down ponies that have gone missing, have bounties on their heads and sometimes find an odd item that is wanted. It involves a lot of travel, living in the wilderness and sometimes some shooting if needed to get the job done. Being as the nature of the business is largely commission driven, no one job is ever the same. At the end of the day, I am my own boss and set my own pace, therefore, lots of different jobs over a lot of time."

"Oh I see. Are you sure that you are not from the Romani tribe?" Shoari asked.

"Please, one question per Equine." Twisty said, clearly playing the part of moderator.

"How is the Zony population on the outside? Is it thriving, starving or non-existent?" Xymol asked. Figures he would ask such a question.

"Non-existent. As far as I have seen, I am the only one."

"Interesting..." he said while scribbling in a notebook.

"Joey. Please, if you don't mind telling us. Can you recount the events that lead you to our stable. We have maps that show us that we are in the far reaches of the Equestrian south, nearly in the center of the Lunaterrabiphian Desert. How does a pony find themselves is such a remote location?" Twisty asked in a way that I had only heard Dj Pon3 use on his broadcast.

"It's... complicated..." I said dropping my head low.

And just like that, I spilled the caps. I told them everything, starting from when I was just a colt who found a young zebra in the hooves of slavers that would lead to me getting my cutiemark. I went through event after event, even resorting to using my notes from the past as reference to be sure to get everything right, all the way up until a few weeks ago when I found Zuri's note. Shoari was positively encapsulated by my story, finding it very fascinating that Zebras had managed to find their way in this bleak world. I managed to interlace as much as I could about life in the Wasteland using certain events in my life as examples for them. Finally, I got to the part about me going solo from the group to find Zuri in White Saddle Shores and my subsequent finding of their home. I must have gone on for quite some time as I was stopped by Twisty for him to load a new recorder into his small base station he called a broadcasting center.

"So all of this time, you have been holding onto the hope that you two would be reunited?" Twisty asked after inserting a new recorder.

"It's... what has kept me going all these years. I guess when you have something to look forward to, tomorrow never looks as dark as today. But if I am honest, I really just want to see her again."

"True love is often hard to find. I can only imagine it being fleeting in a place such as you described. Do you think that she will be there?" Xymol asked.

"I honestly don't know. But I know if she were me and felt the way that I do, she would move the stars to see me again."

"You say that she would move the Stars. How fitting an expression for a Zebra's love. Are you sure you do not know of your tribe heritage?" Shoari asked.

"I'm sorry." Celestia... I'm starting sentences with 'I'm sorry' now? Wow is that a heck of a addictive pitfall or what. "Shoari, I have not even the faintest clue as to where I came from apart from what I was told as a colt." I said.

"It is ok, Joey." Xymol said.

"You say that all you know of your past is a story? Would you mind sharing it with us?" Shoari asked.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying my best to recall what Boss had said to me at Lue's grave so long ago. Even though the conversation felt like it had been a lifetime ago, I managed to pull it from the back of my mind. I had gone so long without thinking about it that even I had to be ashamed of forgetting such an important talk between the two of us. Even though it was a short story to tell, I could see that I had at least two of the... Equines in the room very interested in what I have to say.

"... and after that, Boss took me under his hoof and ran. He said he could hear screaming behind him, but he never looked back. That's all he ever told me." I said ending my origin story.

"A Zony born into the wild, yet cast out from a tribe that had been experimenting with pony and Zebra interbreeding. Fascinating." Xymol said in an astonished tone as he returned to his notebook to write more notes.

"You say that you were given a gift for your efforts? Would you mind allowing me the pleasure of seeing it please?" Shoari asked rather accusingly. Throughout the five and some odd minutes I had been talking, she had kept to herself more than usual. I had gotten so used to her placing a hoof on my foreleg when she would ask me a question that I was almost shocked by the lack of contact when she spoke. I opened my saddlebags and retrieved the necklace that had been taken off me when I arrived in the clinic.

"Here, I don't know what it says on the back, it's from my mother and father." I said, passing it off to her for her inspection. She gently took it into her black hooves and held it close as though she were holding something valuable.

"May this guide you in times of dark, when in doubt you follow your heart." She then rotated the pendant to the other side and I watched as an enormous grin covered her face. "Roughly translated to pony... it says 'Blessed be the love of your heart, may its strength bring others from apart'." She said, never once breaking her smile.

"All these years, I have never known what was written on the back of this pendant. Thank you, you will never know how much that meant to me to know." I said, casting her a soft smile. She didn't say anything, but instead sat there nodding her head up and down feverishly, nearly vibrating with enthusiasm.

"Shoari? Are you ok?" Twisty asked. She replied with that same wide grinned expression and more ridiculous head shaking.

"Ok, you can not be this excited over just some artifact from the Wasteland that just so happens to be Zebra related. What is it?" Xymol asked. Shoari's expression broke, she calmly stood and placed the necklace around my neck and closed her eyes to clear her throat. With a deep breath she let it all out.

"I WAS RIGHT! JOEY IS ROMANI, JOEY IS ROMANI, JOEY IS ROMANI!" She screamed while bouncing all four hooves around me, crashing into the small city Spot had built.

"HEY! Why Shoari bweak city!? Dis is wace twuck city! Not munsta Zebwa city!" He said in a foal's tone.

"I am sorry. But I have never been wrong about stripes! I was unsure about yours because of the broken lines, but, here it is! Written in the same manner as all of my Romani textbooks show!" She said, wrapping her small frame around my back. "I knew you were Romani..." She said letting out an exhausted breath and burying her head into my right wing. No... Personal... Space... AT ALL!

"Please forgive Shoari's outburst. But I believe that the last of the Romani Zebras in our stable died out over 150 years ago. I would think her getting to see Romani stripes for the first time would be something akin to you finding your long lost love. Excuse the gross comparison." Xymol said.

"Why do you do that?" I asked, still being clutched by the pint sized Zebra.

"Why do I do what, exactly?"

"Why do you start a question by apologizing? And why does Shoari start her's with repeating what I already said?"

"I'm sorry, it is just the prerequisite of my nature. I would not want to offend somepony with my question or statement if it were to sound curt. Shoari on the other hoof... I feel as though it may be part of her culture to ensure that the question be answered directly towards what it is that she may want more information on." Xymol said, falling into the very thing I was asking him about. Shoari's only acknowledgment was a small nod and something that sounded like 'mmhmm' from her face full of feathers.

"Well, that was a lot more direct of an answer than I was expecting. I'm so used to other ponies replying with 'it's just the way I am' or 'it's an Equstriaism, get over it', I guess I never thought of it that way." I said, trying to gently, yet firmly, urge Shoari to let me have my body back by opening my wings to stretch.

"Wow, we have been at this for hours now. Perhaps this would be a good place to end things for today." Twisty said.

"It may take more time to grasp the full breath of what you feel would be acquitted knowledge for us to safely leave this Stable. If only there was some sort of manual for operating outside of our natural environment, I feel it would make things much easier." Xymol said, but before he could finish, I was already digging into my saddlebags.

"You mean something like this?" I asked, holding out nine tattered copies of 'The Wasteland Survival Guide'.

"Is this..."

"A complete guide to the Equestrian Wasteland and how to survive within it? Yes." I said.

"Next time lead off with that. We could have talked more about you if we had known about this guide. That heartwarming stuff really helps the listeners out when they get depressed." Twisty said, taking one of the books.

"With this, we can teach classes on how to survive out there and even test those who want to take the chance! This is perfect! Though, I feel that after hearing your tale, you may wish to make a list of places to avoid, yes?" Xymol asked.

"Absolutely. Never go to a place called 'Hoofington' or 'Silver Sheen' or anywhere near Filly, although, I think the book says that about the last one. That place is just hell on Equis... They hate Zebras from what I have been told and from what little I have seen... Well, truth be told, Slavers hate just about everypony, especially me for some reason." I said, passing the books around to all of them.

"You say that they hate Zebras and that they especially hate you. Could it be because you have stripes too?" Shoari asked from the safety of my back.

"Oh I'm sure they would love to get a hoof on me now that I'm a Zony, I bet they would have a field day with me after all the trouble I have caused them. Not to mention, thanks to that insane leader of theirs, they have a chip on their shoulders for anypony with wings now." I said.

"How could anypony hate another Equine for having wings!?" Shoari said, now nuzzling my right wing. "They are so soft and pretty!"

"That's a long and very complicated story that needs time to be told the right way. It's hard to explain it and not seem biased, me being a Pegasi and all." I said, once more stretching out my wings in hopes Shoari would TAKE THE HINT!

"Perhaps that story would be best told after a night's rest to gather your thoughts. Twisty and I need to confer over these field guides about what would be the best course of action from this point forward. I feel as though I am speaking for the group when I say that you have been a great help to us and I feel that we must compensate your for your efforts." Xymol said.

"No, no. It's ok, there is no need to pay me. I just need a place to sleep and some water for my trip to the coastline." I said. She is going to make me tell her to get off my back isn't she?

"Please, we insist! The Stable is under populous at the moment. I know that we have free living quarters that can accommodate you, just for tonight, or permanently even, if you so wish." Twisty said.

"I would have to think on something like that. I appreciate the offer, really I do, but I rarely find myself this far south. But, then again, you can never have too many places to crash at for the night..." I said.

"Take the night and think it over. There is no pressure to stay if you wish not to. Though it would be nice having an experienced Tracker in our midst if something were to happen." Xymol said, guiding me out of the door, Shoari still attached.

"Is she...?" I said motioning to my back. He leaned in and whispered to me as for her not to hear.

"She gets like this sometimes, you just will have to let it run its course for now." He leaned back from me and opened the door, raising his voice. "I'm sure that Shoari can show you to your room?"

"I can and I will!" She said from my back as I trotted through the door.

"To your right, Joey from the Romani tribe." She said in a giddy tone. Oh please don't let that be one of those 'prerequisite' thingies she is going to do from now on when I'm around her...

Shoari lead me more on a tour of the Stable than directly to my room as I had requested she had. Even though I was ready for sleep after the crash course in Wasteland survival I had just given, I couldn't help but be interested in this place and everything she had to say. Giving me the lay of the land from the comfort of my back, she steered me all over the Stable, showing me various facilities and places that she had known her entire life.

This place was amazing, a true testament of what could be when Zebras and ponies worked together in harmony for the sake of survival and a peaceful life. I had been in a few Stables in the past, never one that had been operational, let alone one that still had a functioning population, nor one with facilities like this one. They did not only have clean water, food and beds, they also had functioning gardens filled with exotic plants I had never even seen! Half the trees in their orchard room were of various types and sizes, each more different than the last, bearing colorful and sometimes even delicious smelling fruits. Every floor seemed to have its own gardens and smaller orchards like the one on Level A as well as separated water supplies to keep them well nourished, green and lush.

The living quarters however were much the same as ones I had found in the past, all apart from the exception of the 'family' rooms being separated from the joint or single living rooms. Shoari was quick to inform me that family was very important to them and that the single rooms were left to those who were either on their own or bunking with a partner. But the family rooms were reserved for bucks and mares who were either expecting or already with foal, allowing them more space to raise their foals in peace and comfort. They had gone so far as to alot special areas that were just for colts and fillies to play in, having sand floors and equipment to play on, all under the watchful eyes of designated foal sitters.

They even had their own schools, daycares and libraries to facilitate growth and understanding of their fellow Equines whom they shared the Stable with. Nothing here was done segregated, ponies worked, studied, lived and died alongside Zebras their entire lives without a care in the world apart from who was to do what on a given day. I had expected a begrudged relationship between Zebras and ponies when I found out that the entire Stable was, as they referred to it, 'co-ed', but I had been wrong. Everypony treated everypony and Zebra with respect, some even passing off as friends as we trotted past.

The only thing in this entire Stable that seemed out of place, was me. Everywhere Shoari and I went, I felt out of place, put off even, by the smiling faces around me and her. I was not used to such a place where everypony was just... happy. Even though this was a Stable, and I knew that its residence had a tendency to be much different from other places in the Wasteland, I couldn't help but wonder if this place was what old Equestria was like. If that were the case, why did the war even happen?

Was it that they had become satiated in their lifestyle and allowed the little things to get to them? Had they been much different than this place with its smiling faces and helpful community that was willing to take in anypony regardless of preference? Everything I had read had told of a place much like this one as far as attitude and personality. In fact, all you would have to do is remove the setting of gray walls and low ceilings and you could have what I had always pictured to be Ponyville from my books. My brain kept trying to find the flaws with this place, but try as it might, nothing it could produce would hold even a modicum of factuality to it.

Soon, Shoari and I came to room 7 in the 'Family and Foals' wing of Level C where she FINALLY climbed down from my back and opened the door with a key. She then dropped the key into my saddlebags and pushed the door open.

"Here you are, room 7. This room is all yours for the night or if you decide to stay with us here for longer term."

"Thank you, but like I said before, something like that will take me sometime to think about. I have a lot of ponies out there that are counting on me to come back... Well, ok, maybe just one drunk Unicorn, but still, the goofball means a lot to me and I'm worried he might be upset."

"You said that you have a lot of ponies counting on you. But I did not hear mention of this Zebra mare you are seeking."

"Trust me, she is at the top of my list. I just hope she is there, I have flown all over Equestria to find her."

"Forgive me, but where was it you said you had come from? I remember you saying something about a place that... how do ponies say... rings bells?"

"Well, I flew here from Hoofington."

"AH! Yes, Hoofington. I have seen such a place on the maps I have. But, I can not recall what it was that I wanted to say."

"You have maps? You wouldn't happen to know how far we are from the coastline, would you?"

"Yes, if the map that I have is accurate, we are 19 miles west from the ocean. I'm sorry to say that I do not know of this place called 'White Saddle Shores' however."

"Maybe that was it, what you meant to tell me, I mean."

"Perhaps, but I am still unsure. Please, If you do not mind me asking. What is your lover's name again?"

"Well I wouldn't call us lovers... We were just kids at the time, but to answer your question, her name is Zuri."

"Beautiful." She said with a smile.

"Yeah she is. Why would you ask?"

"No. Her name, it means 'Beautiful' in my tribe's native tongue. But I believe it holds the same meaning across all tribes. Fitting that her name mean that considering the meaning of yours."

"I meant to ask you that, what does my name mean?"

"The name Kit can mean many different things depending on the circumstance it was given. To many Kit can mean 'Bearer of on high' if it is shortened from Kito, once again, fitting that you have wings. But to some it can mean gem, also fitting given your necklace that your name is glyphed into."

"So what's the symbolism?"

"If your name is to mean gem, that would make you two 'Beautiful Gem'." She said as she trotted off behind me for the exit.

"Thank you Shoari."

"Thank you, Joey. If you find your love, please come see me again. I would love to ask her of the Zebras of the Wasteland." She said as she turned and trotted out of sight.

I fell back into the bed, feeling for the first time in my entire life something I had never felt in my entire life. Never had I have had a moment like this in all the years I had traveled nor a feeling like the one I was holding on to dear life to. Even with everything that had just happened today, all the information I had obtained, not only about myself, the area I was in, the fact that I was only 19 miles from the coast of Equestria or the fact that I had possibly found the proverbial unspoiled acre of ponies in Equestria. No, none of those things even came close to the elation that I was feeling at this very moment for what was grasping every fiber of my being. I could not contain myself, I stood up and threw myself back at the bed and screamed.

"CLEAN SHEETS! OH CELESTIA! A CLEAN BED!!!"

I can not even begin to describe the feeling of waking up in a clean bed and being greeted at the door with a fresh and hot breakfast first thing in the morning. I woke up to the sound of hooves pounding at the door to the rather large room that they had given me for the night, they had not been lying about the family units being quite a bit larger than the average resident's room. This room was nearly as big as Twisty's place, all with the exception of the sitting area and kitchen that both seemed to be missing from the place. If I were to guess, it would be due to the fact that his room is the old Overmare's room and such a place would require better facilities compared to the rest of the stable.

Shoari had brought me pancakes, a food I had only read about in books of the past, but according to her, when I had passed out from electroshock, I had screamed "I'm Pancake!". She was one of the few that had originally found me when the door first opened, coming to my aid far faster than the others. She recounted me of my very much so awake period of unconsciousness, I had thought I merely passed out but according to her, I had been awake for over an hour after blacking out. The whole time I had apparently been talking about how, had I been a stable dweller, everyday would be pancake day!

Given the circumstances, she had taken it upon herself to not only stay up all night researching what pancakes were, but also woken up early to perfect the recipe. I had to admit, even though I had no clue what they were suppose to taste like, these little flat sugar disks of pure heaven were the most delicious thing I had even placed in my mouth! How could old equestria have descended into war if these things existed!? They were so tasty that if a fight ever broke out, you could just make a few of them and it would end instantly! Why didn't we just send pancakes to the zebras? Nopony could fight over pancakes!

"Joey, I know that you will be leaving soon. I was interested if you had considered our offer to make our home perhaps your own?" She asked.

"MMHMM!" I said through a full mouth of sugar. "I thought it over and I just can't settle down here right this moment." I said through my syrup covered muzzle. how were you supposed to eat these things!? I had resorted to rolling them into little tubes and dipping them into the sweet brown liquid syrup, the process was making a huge mess.

"Oh, I see. I understand." She said, hanging her head.

"But I was wondering if It would be ok for me to keep this room? I would like to come back here from time to time, just to say hi and all that."

"Really!? That's great! But, I thought you said that you are not ready to settle down just yet?" She asked quizzically.

"Really I'm not, but like I said the day before, you can never have to many places to sleep. Especially one in a place this remote." I said, trying to cram my face with three of the cakes at once.

"Oh, I must have misunderstood. I am used to direct answers with either yes or no's, I think this is what you ponies call, an alternative?"

"I guess." I said, finishing off the last of my breakfast. Wow was I sticky! I had syrup on my muzzle, hooves and even some in my mane. They had been so good that I had not even stopped to think, let alone plan out how to eat them.

"I am happy that you will be returning to us once more. I will see to it that your room be left off of the availability list to ensure your ownership." Shoari said, stifling a giggle as I took in my sticky hooves and mane. I was such a mess that I couldn't even figure out how to walk without making things worse, the last thing I wanted to do was dirty up my new home away from home with her sitting right here.

"If you don't mind me saying, you could use a shower. I know that you are eager to meet this Zu that you keep speaking off, but there is no need to make yourself sticky so that she can not escape your grasp." She said, clearly amused by her own joke.

"For the love of everything, how do I even get to the shower!? Where is it?" I said, trying not to touch anything.

"It is right behind you. Do you require my assistance?"

"NO! I mean, no thank you. You have been such a great host, I wouldn't want to put you out. I just have too..." I trailed off, tying to figure out how in the hell I was going to make it the ten or twelve steps to the shower behind me without being able to stand or walk. The ceilings are so low in here that, if I were to try and hover, they would just smack into the concrete roof above me.

Finally, I gave up and pushed myself up to my hind hooves and with a wobbly motion, I began to try and balance myself without using my forehooves. Despite the clumsy nature of what I was doing, it was coming to me much easier than I had expected it to. With one shaky hoof in front of the other, I slowly managed to work my way to the showers glass door. On my last step, I lunged for the door when I felt my hind legs giving out from under me.

"Are you hurt!?" Shoari asked, seeing me panting.

"No, I'm fine. Walking on my hindhooves is harder than I thought!"

"Interesting. Have you never done so before?"

"No... Well, a few times in the past, but never for more than a few steps. Why?" Without saying a word, Shoari stood up on her hindhooves and began to trot towards me. The jealousy I had towards her sure and confident steps as she rounded the table, grabbed a clean towel from the rack behind me and sat it on the small table to my right, with almost effortless grace, was eminence!

"How..."

"It comes natural to Zebras. Zonies can also walk as us, but with practice." She said, dropping back to all fours.

"So, Zebras can trot upright and so can Zonies?"

"Yes. That is why I was so surprised that you were unable to do so."

"Well, I guess I just need to add that to my list of things to work on bettering about myself." I said, waiting for her to leave so that I could shower.

"So! I bet that you have a busy day ahead of you! Lots of stuff to do, I take it?"

"No. Today is my free day." She said, sitting on the floor.

"Wouldn't you feel better if you had some breakfast too? Those pancakes sure were great!"

"I have already eaten. The pancakes are far to sweet for my taste."

Oh for the love of Luna! She is going to watch me shower now!? The only pony I feel comfortable with watching me shower would be Cal, mostly due to the fact that we have had to in the past when we had no choice... Well, come to think of it, I wouldn't mind Zuri watching I think. Then again, I would hope that she would be in the shower with me... Stop it! None of that now left brain! The last thing I would want is for Shoari to see me getting all worked up and excited over the thought of Zuri covered in soap suds and... FUCKING STOP IT!

I turned to hide my growing shame from Shoari and scrambled into the shower, falling face first into the wall and sliding down the frosted glass in front of her. I could just make out her still sitting there, was she laughing at me!? I can't make out much through the almost white looking glass, but I could swear that she was actually laughing at me!

"Jo... Joey. Would you like some help in bathing?" She said, clearly trying not to humiliate me, but failing miserably.

"NO! For the LOVE of ALL that is Equestria. DO NOT, come in here right now." I said, trying to stand once more, but certain thing were making my life rather difficult at the moment.

"Ok. We have taken the liberty of supplying the room with some of our more exotic treatments. I hope that you will find them enjoyable, they are made from the herbs that are grown on level B and make your mane and tail as soft as a feather. Something I feel as thought you would know much about." She said, tapping the glass. This is beyond awkward, I am used to privacy when I do my morning routine.

To her credit, Shoari had undersold the shampoo and this thing that they called 'Mane and Tail Rebirth'. The scent reminded me of flowers I had smelled back in Hoofington at a hydroponics lab I had stumbled across when I was younger. I remember bartering for a small hoof full of them to take to my sister as a birthday gift, as luck would have it however, it turned out that she was allergic to them. She was grateful all the same, but she did break out into hives and spend the next two days sniffling her brains out and sneezing all night.

Once I had finally finished, I gave myself a brisk shake and made my way out of the shower to see that Shoari had not moved an inch. I ran a hoof through my now very soft mane and let the once messy stands fall back into their usually place. This is the best I have ever felt, it is offical. Well rested, full belly and now, CLEAN! I had even used the MTR on my feathers, and much to my surprise, they actually seemed to glisten in the flourescent lighting of my small room.

I looked around the room to take everything in one last time, I wanted to remember this place in case I were to never make it back here. This had to be the last of what old Equestria once was and somehow, against all odds, it was still thriving well. Even if this was an old stable with its strange sounds, smells, devoid of sunlight and weather, they had made the place a home worth being proud of. Finally my eyes landed on Shoari who was watching me intently as I put on my now clean (had they even cleaned my barding!?) armor and saddle bags. I had never noticed the three small, now heavily distressed looking, blue gems on the side of them before, but now the cyan colored gems shown vividly without the layer of grim on them.

Shoari, who had been uncommonly silent, stood and trotted for the door, pausing only briefly to turn back to me wearing a smile across her muzzle.

"What?" I said, checking my face for any syrup that I might have missed.

"She waited." Was all she said as she turned and trotted down the hall. What was that all about!? I shook my head, feeling my soft mane brush my ears, trying to rid my head the weird mannerisms of Zebras. Once I had gathered my things, I made one last stop to say goodbye to everypony before I made my way to the Pipbuck repair stall. Out of all the ponies that I thought Would have been sad to see me go, Spot was not very high on the list. But with nothing more than a glace, he made his reasoning why very clear to me.

"Awww... I wanted him to take me fo ah wide!"

Even I had to admit that it was cute, even if he was almost my age. I made a mental note that if I were to ever return here that I would in fact make good by his wishes and possibly fly him to the coastline so that he could see the ocean. After I had gotten my Pipbuck returned to its rightful place on my foreleg, I trotted to the guards on level Zero. The two Zebra bucks had stood watch all night to keep anypony from wondering into the cave or anywhere near the blue box of radioactive death.

Outside, I was surprised to see that all of the skeletons had been removed from the caves large expanse, leaving behind only dark patches of ground behind them. As I made my way out of the cave, I saw that somepony hand covered the blue box that had once sent my Pipbuck to clicking with another dull metal box. I guess they had taken the time to try and contain the threat of background radiation before they had removed the remains of the long since dead ponies that once had been here.

Trotting out into the dark morning air, I took notice that they had even gone so far as to start digging holes to bury the remains in. A small grave was being constructed not far from the mouth of the cave to my right, fit with wooden head stones made from the trees in the orchard. They had taken great care in respecting the dead, going so far as to even keep the buck and his mare, with their foal, together to be buried as a family. I felt myself fill with pride at the thought of my simple action of opening the door, may have afforded them a proper burial after all of these years.

With one last look back, and a small promise to return soon to myself, I took to the skies once more into the calm morning winds. I oriented myself due west towards the coastline, full well knowing that it may take weeks of searching before I would find White Saddle Shores. As I rose higher into the skies, I let my mind wander free, filling my heart with assurance that I would find Zuri. Maybe not today, but what Shoari said back in the room felt almost finite to me. 'She waited.' I had no clue what deeper meaning she had behind that statement, but it felt as sure as stone in the way she had said it. If she waited, then I was going to make her wait worth every moment of loneliness she had felt for the last ten years.

Camden's Journal.

Entry Number 53.

...What is it that drives us to seek out the light in the dark? Is it fear? Loneliness? The thought of being happy on the other side of the fence? We all have something that we are chasing after, something that we once had that we are trying desperately to get back. We try and dull the pain with whiskey, forget it with chems and ignore it with the company of others. But deep down, the darkness burns everything it touches, driving us to get back to that place, that one moment of true happiness. It is impossible to shiver in the dark when you have felt the warmth of the sun...

~Camden

Boss had said those very words to me when he was fading out from this world in the back of our trading cart. I never truly knew what he had meant for me to take from that conversation we had all those years ago. He had said it with such conviction that it had lead me to believe that he had a true understanding of what he was saying to me and Shale, just moments before we both lost him.

I had always thought that the darkness he spoke of was loneliness, that all encompassing pain and worry that we would be alone for the rest of our lives. Where that may have been true, it was only partly so. It wasn't until many years later that I truly knew what he had meant by it. The darkness is not loneliness, it's heartache. Loneliness, pain, suffering and misery all have the same effect, heartache. It's the basis, conclusion and effect from everything that pains us in the roads we trot in life.

It wasn't until somepony stepped into my dark world and lit it vividly with the light or her heart that I could truly see the colors that were around me. Feeling the warmth of love's brightness is akin to standing in the sun for the first time. It is a drug that you can't quit, it will push you to the ends of the world to seek it. If you ever lose it, there is nothing that you won't do to get it back. You will have faith in the faithless, hope when you are hopeless and drive yourself to reckless abandon, just to feel it one more time.

Even though I had been seeking out a fever dream, never did I truly imagine that it would become reality, yet I pushed forward. The darkness in my life was love once lost, and the light, was love itself.

~Joey

Daylight was breaking over the waves that gently lapped at my hooves. The sand beneath them feeling firm, only giving under the weight of my stride as I trotted in the amber glow of the sunrise. The ocean's melody caressed my ears as I made my way down the shoreline following the smooth path that the water had carved out for me. Broken umbrellas stood strong against the wind, long since rendered useless with nopony around to cast their shade upon. Old stands that once sold frozen treats to foals, still held on to the last remaining shades of bright paint that they had been decorated with, only being dulled by my shadow as I trotted past.

I cast my gaze down the shoreline at the old town of White Saddle as I felt my heart pound in my chest when I saw what laid before me. A single hoof-track was all that it took for me to feel that all too familiar feeling of hope once more as I nervously shook in my path. Placing my own hoof over it, I felt as though I could feel her all around me. Even the wind seemed to guide me further forward as though to show me the way to where I needed to go to be with her once more. Each gust rocking my mane back and forth as though to calm my fractured nerves, trying to tell me softly that the long wait was over.

I looked up from the wave washed tracks that I had been following to see something glint on ahead of me, shining ever so slightly in the morning sun. Her silhouette casting a shadow across the sands around her as she sat quietly at the ocean's edge. Eyes closed and her nose to the same wind that had guided me to her, she wore a smile across her face, as though she knew that I was near. Tenderly, I trotted closer to her, my heart feeling like it was going to leap from my chest with excitement. Could it be? Was it really her? Was the wait really over?

Coming closer, we locked eyes. A moment of fear, followed by another of disbelief fell between us as we both stood still, merely a few paces between us. She was the first to step forward, then I, both meeting each other halfway in the sands between us. With nothing more than a breath's width between us, we simply gazed into each other's eyes, for the first time in forever. With a shaky hoof, I took her's into mine, feeling her soft coat on mine.

"Is... Is it really you?" She asked, in a broken voice.

"Soon... wasn't soon enough..." I said trembling.

She moved closer to me, brushing her muzzle against mine, testing my presence as though to see if I were real. The feeling of her soft nose on my cheek, gently brushing away all the years of heartache, simply melting it away in her presence, placed just as much distance between me and it as I had spent from her. Even in the most beautiful place I had ever seen, her words cut through the crashing waves around us to find me entranced by her eyes.

"I've missed you so much." She said as our lips met and we both fell back into the soft white sands around us. With the ocean's waves soaking us both in its cool waters, we both paid it no mind as we share this moment together. The two of us, together, rolling in the sand, together, we were finally... together. In her embrace I felt all the pain in my world fade, my sorrow burn away and my hope soar. My dark world being lit brightly by the light of her heart once more, I lost all sense of time when I was holding her.

When we allowed ourselves the moment to speak, no words came to either of us. We simple held each other and wept for this moment that we had both been waiting for and all of the lost years between us. All the time that we had lost of each other's embrace hurt, but soon meant nothing as we held one another close, squeezing tighter as though if we didn't, we would be lost once more. Here in the waves of the far south of Equestria, one Pegasus and one Zebra had found what they had been searching out for so long. The universe seemed to stand still and allow us this reunion, looking down on us with a smile as we shared something that was once thought to be impossible. Happiness.

I looked into her deep purple eyes, only mirrored in beauty by the world around us and felt the last ten years of my life finally find purpose. She gave me something I had missed for so long, something that I could not ever hope to have without her. She gave me the love I could never have with anypony else, filling a hole that had long since been empty without her near me. Here, in this sapphire and cyan backdrop, we dared to open our hearts to one another, each holding the other's key.

Looking down to her, lying in the the white foam of the sea, I saw my entire world unfold before me. It wasn't one of traveling alone, it was with her. I can not describe what it is to fall in love at first sight, the words simply do not exist. I can only imagine that this feeling that I was immersed into was enough to push me to walk through fire. Knowing this feeling, I felt that I could do anything, face any adversity or fly any distance, just so long as she was there on the other side, waiting with open hooves.

Suddenly, I knew what had drove me forward all of this time. It was her love.

Link to artist!: https://www.deviantart.com/pridark/art/Comm-Reunion-819474100?ga_submit_new=10%3A1573106653

Chapter 8: The Fire Below

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 8: The Fire Below

This chapter is dedicated to the light of my world. My wife and the mother of my son, Brittany.

''...Not all scars can be worn on the outside. Sometimes the worse pain, is one that you can not see..."

The moon shown through the broken slats of the small one room shack's window as I laid in the bed, enjoying the comfort of having somepony close to me for a change. The day had been filled with tears, laughing and many firm embraces that only two ponies could enjoy after such a long life's journey to find one another. Never once did we have a moment without contact today. Even now as we both snuggled together under the old sheets in Zuri's hammock, I held her close as she slept.

We had spent most of the night doing all of the bad things I'm sure we had both been dreaming of for many years, pausing only to rest for brief moments between acts. I had never even dreamed of the sort of things that she was able to do to me. She was my first, but I couldn't help but wonder if I had been her seventh or even eighth judging by her skill in the bedroom. Even
if it was, who would I be to get angry at that fact, ten years is a long time to wait for somepony who is at best, a maybe. It was a bit off putting to be in a situation where I was clearly not in my element. All the same, Zu was a great teacher and I, a very eager student.

So that was what drove Caliber to go out and make babies, with his addictive personality, it is a small wonder that he had not repopulated every planet in the known galaxy! Even though I had never been with a mar... well, anypony really, I had to admit that this was the single most incredible moment in my life. Even if my back hurt and certain other parts of my body felt raw and ready to fall off, I was ready for round nine! If Zu didn't look so cute lying here on my chest, I would wake her up in a heartbeat.

It was hours before the sun finally came up. I had been too excited by the night's events to sleep a wink, also she had my leg pinned underneath her and it had gone completely numb. Seriously, I would give anything for half the blood that had been in my crotch earlier to my in my right hoof right now. Finally, I felt Zu start to stir as she began to wake up for the day.

"Zu? You awake?"

"Hm?" She nearly grunted back to me.

"Can I have my leg back?"

"NO! Mine!" She said, now squeezing the numb limb. Gee, where did this feel familiar.

"Please? I really need to pee."

"You can hold it a little longer..."

"But my barding is starting to cut into me."

"Oh... Boo!" She said, rolling off of my side. Oh sweet relief!

I edged my way out of the hammock, feeling it slide out from under me and made my way outside. This place truly was a paradise, it is a wonder that it had stayed so untouched for so long or that Zuri even managed to make it here. I had nearly died just flying through the desert to get to this place. I found myself a place behind one of the changing rooms that littered the beach that we were on and proceeded to take care of my swollen bladder. Zebras, as I have found out, are very dominate in the bedroom. I had been holding my pee for over something like five hours because she wouldn't let me leave.

Ah, sweet, sweet release... I admired her enthusiasm, but I can only imagine that holding back nearly a gallon of pee in my current health state, could not be good. My right ear twitched, picking up a faint static that was humming ever so gently nearby. I froze, halting my much needed restroom break and slowly canted my head to the right.

"Hello Joey." Rang a metallic voice. I fell backwards from the Spritebot that had been floating near silently next to me the whole time, and now it was wanting to have a conversation with me!? I knew it! I am dreaming, last night was just a vivid hallucination! Wait! I remember something like this happening just outside of Hope! Fuck, how do I say hello to this thing?

"Hi uh... Greetings... flying toaster thing... Please don't kill me."

"You don't remember me, do you?"

"Oh I remember... You tried to kill me right before Caliber shot you."

"So that's who that unpleasant buck is... I will have to remember that. What are you doing this far south?"

"Joy? Who are you talking to out there?" Zuri shouted from the safety of her bed.

"Nopony! Just talking to myself!" I shouted back. I looked back to the Spritebot and gave it a nervous smile and shrugged.

"I see. I take it you found the Zebra?"

"Yeah... Who knew she would be here."

"I am happy for you."

"Well, thank you, but why do I get the feeling that you are not here by happenstance?"

"Oh no, I'm everywhere. I just control these things because I never leave my home."

"Oh! So you are not a figment of my imagination, you're actually a pony... somewhere."

"It's complicated..."

"First off, that is my line. Second why were you watching me pee, pervert?"

"Hey, it's not my fault that you just so happen to trot up beside me and proceed to water the flowers. I'm the victim here!"

"Ok, ok... Well, it has been nice talking to you, but as you probably heard, I have a impatient Zebra to spent time with." I said, trying to trot off.

"Take care... WAIT!" It shouted, freezing me in my tracks and prompting me to raise a hoof to my muzzle in silence.

"What!?"

"I think there is something that you should know."

"Ok, what!? But make it quick!"

"You're a Tracker right?"

"YES! I mean, yes..." I said, stifling a shout.

"I take it, you will be heading back north soon, correct?"

"Land already! What is it!?"

"Can you be on the lookout for a little colt?"

"You are going to have to be more specific than that! Unless you just want me to bring you some random colt... In that case, you really are a pervert!"

"I was getting there! Look... Light purple coat, blue mane, book cutiemark. He is probably about five or six years old. If you find him, just take him back to the coordinates I'm sending to your Pipbuck."

"Joy... I'm waiting..." Came the all too smooth voice of Zuri.

"Fine! Whatever, I'll keep an eye out." I said as I turned the corner. From the other side of the wall I could hear... whoever he was saying something to the tune of 'what an asshole' and fly away. Well screw you too, you flying toaster. Back to the pressing issue at hoof... Shit! I probably should have asked him his name so I could properly curse him back.

Finally, once I had finished, I made my way back through the sheet that she had been using for a door to her home and proceeded to strip off my barding. The metal clasps had proven too difficult to deal with in the heat of the moment last night and Zu had not given me anytime to deal with them. The buckles were digging into my hide so bad that the coat under them had been dented and the underlying skin felt bruised from the stress. Oh how good the feeling of having that sweaty, sex stained leather off of me felt!

I turned back to the hammock thinking that a few more hours of rest sounded pretty good right about now, well If Zuri was going to allow for it. But I was frozen in my tracks at the sight of Zuri staring at me. She wore an expression of quite disbelief as she sat covered in her sheet in the middle of the hanging bed.

"What?" I asked, thinking something was wro... Crap.

"You have stripes!?" Oh no... I had completely forgotten. I meant to tell her when we first met, but things got so heated so fast that it all kind of fell to the wayside.

"...Yeah..." I said exhaustively.

"How..."

"It's a long story. In short, it turns out I'm a Zony. But I didn't know until a few weeks ago, I swear! Oh Goddesses, I'm so sorry I didn't tell you right off but, everything happened so fast! And you wouldn't let me go pee last night, so we are even."

"A Zony? What is a Zony?" She asked in a flat and steady tone.

"It's a cross between a Zebra and a Pony. My mother was a Zebra and my dad... well you get the idea." I said, feeling defeated. She wasn't showing any sign of emotion whatsoever! This was maddening, I can't deal with flat, I never know where I stand when ponies do this to me.

"So your mom was a Zebra? How is it that you know?" She asked as she stepped from the bed to my side. With a look of 'Seriously?' plastered across my face, I tapped my shoulder with a hoof to the mess of stripes that were making their way across my body.

"Oh! Right..."

"Yeah, what can I say? I'm full of surprises." I said, still not sure how to approach this situation. "I wear my barding to hide them, but they just keep growing further out! At this rate, I will need a full body suit to hide them."

"But, why would you want to hide them?" She said, running a hoof over the lines on my shoulder.

"In case you haven't noticed, neither Pegasi nor Zebras are anypony's favorite pony, so a pony with wings and stripes is kind of a bad thing."

"Why would they not like you for your stripes and wings? I think they are pretty."

"That's sweet of you to say, but Pegasi left the Wasteland to rot and hide behind the clouds and we fought a war against the Zebras... A lot of that hate is still alive and well today according to many ponies. It sucks but I can't do anything about it more than just try and hide them." I said, dropping my head down.

"Hey, don't be sad. Those ponies are just being mean because you are different."

"Has anypony ever told you that you are too kind for this world?" I said with a smile. Zuri threw her hooves around me and pushed me to the floor.

"I like you too. Now, let me take your mind off of those mean ponies that pick on you for your stripes." She said, clearly not knowing what I was talking about. Where had she been all this time that she didn't understand what hate was. I mean, the mere idea that other ponies would only pick on me for being a Zony, and kill me, really speaks for how little she must have endur... Her cold muzzle landed squarely between my legs, sending one of hind legs flying skyward and forcing a yelp out of me.

"AYE! Warn a buck, would you!?" I managed to squeak out before she started doing all of the bad things that only she knew how to do. Oh well, I guess it's time for round nine!"

"You mean to say that this 'Caliber' has babies all over the Wasteland?" Zuri asked, still laughing at the idea of a buck whose sole purpose in this world was to have sex. Where around the clock sex does have its strong points, there is much to be said about being a comparable pair in the form of conversation. We had finished our morning fun with a quick swim in the ocean and I had resorted to telling Zu of all of my travels in the time we had been apart. This had been the single best day of my life, and where I didn't want it to end, my body was feeling weak and I was sore in places that I had never been before. I needed a break!

"Three by my count, but Luna only knows how many are really out there! We have been playing this fun game. You see, every town that we come to, I count how long it takes for a foal to ask 'Are you my daddy'. If it is less than an hour, he pays for the drinks." I said amidst our laughter. I had never thought that I would actually look back on everything that had happened and be laughing, but when it was all put into perspective, it was rather funny.

"I must ask. When you were telling me of where you came from, the talk with Boss? What was it he had given you?" She asked. I had completely forgotten about my necklace! Of course she would want to see that, it was the whole reason we met, where I came from and the one thing I had never been without all these years. I grabbed my saddlebags and began searching for the small golden pendant, throwing most of its contents across the floor in front of us.

"It has to be in here somewhere... There it is! Right at the bottom!" I shouted, now seeing everything that had been in the bags mounted up into a huge pile.

"Oh! I have seen these before. Some tribes will give these to newborns to warn away bad things!" She said, taking it into her hooves.

"Really? I had no clue. I honestly thought it was just some gold scrap they had left me."

"Really! These are very rare to find. The gem in the center tells when you were born. Purple means late winter, you were a snow baby. I remember seeing these when I was still with my tribe."

"Yeah, I had been told that. I know that the inscriptions are guidance poems too."

"Do you know what they say?" She asked with a smile. I thought long about blurting out about how I found a Stable full of Zebras and Zonies and how they had told me, but decided to allow her this moment of grandeur.

"Please, tell me."

"May this guide you in times of dark, when in doubt you follow your heart. Blessed be the love of your heart, may its strength bring others from apart. Oh, this side must be from your mommy." She said now placing it around my neck.

"Wait, how can you tell that just by what it says?"

"Because. It is the most sappy. Mommies always write sappy things for their foals."

"Oh..." I said now trying to gather the great mass of things I had acquired over the years back into the small bags. How did it all fit in there anyway? I had shit I had not even seen in years sitting everywhere! Ammo for guns I had when I was a colt, maps of the north west, books, books, more books, that stupid wonderbolts suit Valkyrie had given me...

"Joy... What are these?" Zu asked. Oh no. I turned to see her looking over a stack of photos of a shy looking buck in a blue and yellow... OH NO!

"Wha... Thos... I..." I stammered trying to find the words to say that I had, basically, modeled for another mare in exchange for opening the door to my room. "Those... A gift for you?" I said, shying away and falling into a nervous smile.

"Oh! I like this one!" She said, holding up a picture with me sitting spread eagle on the floor with the suit unzipped, showing... OH NO,OH NO,OH NO! I collapsed to the floor in shame and covered my head with my hooves.

"Oh Celestia... Kill me now!" I managed to say in my shocked state.

"But why? I like these pictures! They are cute. If I ever lose you, I have something to show others what you look like." She said, now stuffing the pictures into her own bags.

"NO! Please! I'm begging you... Let me burn them, I forgot I even had them!" I said, reaching for her from my hiding spot in the middle of the room.

"Oh you silly... There is nothing to be ashamed of! They make you look... Cute!"

"YOU ARE MAKING IT WORSE!"

Zuri only giggled as she secured the last of the pictures with twine and stowed them away for her later use for when she presumably lost me again. Part of me was thankful that she would always have something to remind her of me if such a thing were to happen. But a much larger part of me was terrified that if I was to become lost that all of what was left of Equestria would see me in the not so flattering positions I had posed in. What if she showed Shale!? WHAT IF SHE SHOWED CALIBER!? The mere thought of the things they would say made me start to curl up into a ball in the middle of the floor.

"Oh! This must be the suit you worn in the pictures!"

"ZURI!" I shouted, now seeing her going through all of my things. "Those things are private!"

"Oh please... You act as though you have never been around a mare who you have mated with before..." She said. What was this, more creepy Zebra mating stuff!? I had never been with anypony before her, but now I was getting the crash course on partnership. I looked up to her with a blank, 'I have no idea what you are talking about look'.

"Well... I... Uh..."

"You have never been with a mare before!?" She said, dropping the suit to the floor. I could only manage the same dumb look I had given earlier, turning a deep shade of red in the process.

"I am... NOT ANYMORE... a... you were..." I said nearly incoherently through my shaking. WHY!

"You mean to say..." She started as she sat beside me. "I was your first?" She asked. I could only reply with a hidden face and a small nod. I was frozen in shame. Me, a buck of 25 years old, had never been with anypony in such a way.

"Oh! This explains many things." She said, stroking my mane.

"Like what?" I asked through a face full of flooring.

"Your manner in bed. It is... not what I am used to seeing from other bucks." Oh, well that answers that question I had earlier. Jealousy flooded my thoughts of all the bucks she had been with in the past, even if I did understand, it still hurt.

"Other bucks?" I asked, because apparently my brain hates me.

"Oh yes. I had my first time, long before you and I had met. I was very young. I have been with four bucks and one mare." She said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to say.

"WHAT!? MARES TOO!?" Did her sexual prowess know no end!?

"Yes. She was a very pretty mare..."

"Please stop!" I said, shaking my head to the jealous and somehow very exciting thought of her with another mare. This was just too much, too fast.

"Oh. Have I upset you?" She asked, pulling her hoof away.

"No. It's just... Complicated..." I said, closing my eyes.

"OH! I see. The thought of me with another buck is making you feel sad?" She said hugging me.

"Please! Stop talking." I begged.

"Oh Joy... It is ok, I did not care for them the way I do for you. And you make cute noises and it does not hurt when we..." She started, trying to calm my nerves.

"Oh Goddesses..." I whispered, now trying to physically push my head through the flooring. Maybe if I try really hard, I can crush my skull and this embarrassing moment will just end. "How many?" I asked.

"Four bucks. But I have already told you that." She said while trying to comfort me. This had to be the single most awkward moment of my life.

"No... I mean while you and I were apart." I said, looking back up to her. I was doing my best to hide the pain I was feeling, but something in my expression must have gave me away. Zuri's calm and mothering demeanor faltered.

"Oh... Just one time. I was lonely. I had been on my own for three years after we had parted ways. I tried to go back to my homeland, but I was unwelcome there after running away. I decided to go back to the place we first met, but along the way I got lost over by a place called Ponyville. One of the Raiders forced himself on to me. Before he could finish, I ran to the woods. I believe that his name was 'Twitch', I heard the others calling after him as he chased me." She said in an all too calm manner.

"Wait... You were raped?" I asked in astonishment.

"Is that what you call it? When a pony forces you to mate with them?"

"Uh... Yeah? What else would it be?"

"I did not know that is what it was called." She said, sitting back to think.

"Zuri... How many of those times had you actually been wanting to have sex?" I asked, now curious if she had any clue to what the difference between having sex and getting raped was. She seemed to think for far longer than I would have expected.

"Three times. The mare was a close friend and my first was what you ponies call a 'coltfriend'. Oh! There was you, of course." She said, still not showing any emotion. Well, I wasn't jealous anymore, but now I wanted a list of names to track down. The idea of somepony doing something like that to Zuri... I need my rifle back.

"Zu... Earlier, when we were... you know. When you were being so dominant, is that what you know sex as? How do you even get off on that!?" I asked now sitting up.

"Is that not how you do such things? What is this 'get off' you speak of?" Oh you can not be serious... How do you even explain what that is!? Sure with me it was pretty clear when... THAT... happened. But how do you tell a mare...

"No Zu... That is not how that is supposed to be... And by get off I mean..." I said, feeling completely lost for words. Damn it! How do I even...

"Yes?" She asked, now curious whether or not she had been missing out on something fun.

"You know like... All the good feelings build and and... Boom!" I said. Awesome Joey... Great example...

"Oh... I do not know... It has only felt nice with you and one other. But I do not know of this 'Boom'."

"It is... what happens to me when..." Oh for the love of everything! "It's when the stuff comes out! It feels really, really good! OK!?" I screamed, now trying to hide behind my saddlebags in shame.

"OH! You mean what they call cu..."

"ZURI!" I shouted, cutting her off.

"Sorry... I do not think that I have ever had such a feeling. That is a good thing, yes?" Oh if only she knew how humiliating that was for me to hear. It is one thing to go for 25 years and never have sex, but finding out that you were also bad at it... How many shades of red are there anyhow?

"I'm sorry that I'm bad at..." I managed to meek out from my safe hiding place.

"There is no need to be sorry. If what you say is true, then perhaps we are both bad at it." She said, stroking my mane once more.

"No, you are really, and I mean REALLY good at... it"

"Why are you so shy? It is ok to talk to me about this."

"Stuff like this is just not in my nature to talk about. It makes me uncomfortable."

"Maybe it is that I am the one to lead. Perhaps if you were to show me how it is to be done, then maybe we can get better together?" She asked, clearly missing the point of me not knowing what I was doing. The only things I knew about having sex came from second hoof information from Caliber, not a good reference, and a book I had read in desperation when I was bored. Hell, I think I still have the book somewhere in my bags. I think it was called ''Flowers and Daisy" and was about a buck who chased his marefriend through a field of flowers. It was poorly written, well, except the sex scene. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure the author had spent the 100,000 some odd words just to lead up to the two of them having sex.

It wasn't my taste, in fact, it was one of Shale's books that I had borrowed after I had read the same magazine for the 20th time in two days. She seemed insistent that it would be 'good for me to learn about', all the while laughing at me turning red... Oh, I'm so going to kill her when I get back to Hoofington...

"Joy... Are you ok? You are doing that thing again where you stare at the wall and start drooling." Zu asked.

"Yeah... You say you want me to lead?"

"Yes, I would like to see what you think sex is." She said, acting far too coy for my liking. Was she baiting me by acting innocent?

WARNING, THE FOLLOWING CONTENT CONTAINS LEWD SITUATIONS BETWEEN A ZEBRA AND A ZONY!!!
THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING TO SKIM TO THE PICTURE OF FLUTTERSHY IN ORDER TO SKIP IT IF YOU STILL REMEMBER WATCHING CARTOONS AS A CHILD!!

As if any of you actually would... perverts...

Calling on all of my Bit Story Novel advice from over twelve years ago, I took a deep breath and stood. Zuri sat waiting, studying my every move as I made my way to her side and gently began caressing her mane. The action was met with her closing her eyes and pushing her head into my hoof. With my other hoof, I brought her mouth to mine and pressed into her with a deep and passionate kiss. I don't know what shocked me more, that I was actually going through with this, or that she was seeming to really be enjoying this.

I slowly pushed her to her back on the floor and began kissing my way down her chest, the small trail that I was making caused her to arch her back towards me. My hooves slid along her sides, bringing her body close to mine as I worked my way lower down her belly, squeezing her slender, tight frame as I did so. My heart was pounding in my chest, my hooves were shaking and I could feel the sweat on my forehead start to bead up as I started becoming just as excited as she was.

Nervously, my lips found themselves well below her belly button, just inches away from between her legs. I could feel her shudder in my hooves as they grasped her flanks and my mouth moved to the one place that I knew she wanted it to go. With a deep breath, and praying to whatever Goddess was out there for this sort of thing, I pressed my muzzle into her. Trying to remember the moves that my tongue was supposed to make, I began rolling it around, searching for that one spot the mare in my book had said sent her hooves straight to heaven.

Before long, I knew I had found the spot. Not because she told me. No that, would be too normal for her. It was because she started screaming in Zebra and nearly broke my neck with her legs. Zuri moaned loud as I continued my work, trying to imagine how nice it would be if I could do this and be able to breathe at the same time. With every caress of my tongue came more exotic moaning and squeezing from her legs. Her body began to writhe and push into my mouth with shaky, almost rhythmic thrusts as I felt her getting more and more wet. I felt her hooves on the back of my head grasp my mane and pull me up from between her legs. Oh sweet, sweet air!

"Good?" I asked, rather full of myself from making her make all those new Zebra noises that I had never heard from her before.

"UhHu!" She said nodding feverishly.

"Why did you stop me then?" I asked laughing. She pulled my face into her's and smashed our lips together, when we parted, she spoke.

"More. I NEED, More!" She said as I felt her lining herself up with me and pressing hard against her own marehood.

That was all the motivation I needed! With one thrust, I did the one thing that I knew how to do, the one thing that came natural to us both. Her body tensed at the sudden penetration, sending her shivering in my sweat-covered hooves. This wasn't like all the times before, this was much different. The two of us were not out to just achieve the simple task of an orgasm, this was wild and unbridled and felt amazing. With every thrust, I could feel her embrace me harder, with every nibble of the ear, she would moan louder and with every squeeze of her legs around my waist, so would I.

The two of us rolled across the floor, slamming our bodies into the walls and counters of the old ice cream shop that she called home. She matched my every movement with her own, all the while begging for me not to stop if I slowed even in the slightest. I don't know what it was that drove me to do it, but the more that she would scream in ecstasy the harder I would bite and thrust. Somewhere in the depths of my primal brain, this just felt right, natural even as I picked her up and pushed her into a wall, knocking over the crate that she was using as a nightstand in the process.

I could feel her grasping me tighter and tighter as the two of us came closer to the peak of our moment together. It felt as though the two of us were actually creating our own heat as I felt my whole body start getting warmer the closer I got. With one final push, I felt her body go rigid and her teeth dig into my shoulder as the two of us came together. I could feel her clenching and contracting as the waves washed over us both together at once. Even the pain that she was causing to my shoulder was numbed by the pure and simple pleasure that was racking my body as I let out an exhausted moan and fell to my knees, still inside of her.

So THAT'S what that mare in the book had been on about... No wonder Shale loved it so... Gross Joey... That's your sister. I looked into Zuri's eyes, she was still panting in exhaustion, but I couldn't help but take pride in her glowing face of approval. We were covered in sweat, breathing heavily and still coupled together in the hot mess of what was left of her small home. Even the smell of what we had just done covered us both, a mixture of love juices, sweat and burning wood... wait...

END OF LEWD, FLUTTERSHY FOR THE FEW OF YOU WHO STILL HAVE YOUR INNOCENCE.

I looked up from Zuri's soft, euphoric smile and took note of all the smoke that was in the room with us. I turned to look behind me and to also see that her bed, the floor below it and the crate that the lantern had been on was now all on fire. I jerked my head back to Zuri who had not a care in the world, even with her full view of the destruction that was happening behind me, the whole time.

"Zu! The house is on fire!" I screamed trying to wiggle from her grasp.

"Yeah..." She said, still trying to overcome the moment of bliss that she was clearly still in.

"WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Ok..." She said, finally letting go of me.

I ran to our saddle bags and barding. With a swift kick, I sent her's and my own flying out the door, followed by me carrying Zuri out on my back, the whole time with her mumbling some shit in Zebra. We nearly didn't make it out alive, she had seen the fire start from her vantage point over my shoulder and never once did anything to stop me. On the sands of the beach the two of us stood watching her home burn to the ground, me slack jawed at what happened and her lying on her belly, nuzzling my leg.

"Zu, you saw this happening! Why didn't you say anything!?"

"...Because it felt sooo good." she said, hugging my front leg from her spot on the ground.

"Bu... But... HOUSE!? BURNING NOW!" I said in astonishment towards her lack of care of the burning structure. She stood, pressed her nose to mine and whispered.

"It is just a house..." She said, as she kissed me. "If that is what you know as sex, then I wish to know more."

"What... Zu! Your house just burned down!" I said, still in shock from nearly burning to death while having sex. In retrospect, probably not that bad of a way to go. Caliber would be proud of me. Knowing him, he would even have a custom-made headstone made for me when he found out. 'Here lies Joey... He lost his virginity in a blaze of glory'. I stood there, watching the ice cream shack burn to the ground, my brain trying its best to figure out how to feel about what it was seeing.

"I love you, you know that?" She said, wrapping her hooves around me. She loved me? The statement caught me off guard, sending my brain into deep thought of whether I loved her or not. What was love anyway? Was it caring about another pony? Was it sex? Was it the cute way they would brush off burning down a house for the sake of a good orgasm? Maybe it was the way...

"Joy, you are doing it again..." She said, as she landed another kiss on my forehead. "You are cute when you are confused."

Oh who am I kidding... I don't care what love is, I just want to be with her. The two of us fell back into the sand laughing at what had just happened.

"I guess you could say, we really brought the house down!" I said, laughing at my own bad jokes.

"That's the Joy I remember!" She said, rolling on top of me.

"Well damn. Should we just sleep on the beach? I think I have a blanket in my bags..." I said, digging for the old fleece rag I called my blanket.

"Oh no. It was on the bed." Zu said, trying to seem sympathetic to my loss.

"Dang... I really liked that blanket too. That was the one that I covered you up with when we first met..." I said, saddened by the loss of yet another memento.

"It is ok, we will get a new blanket." She said patting me on the back and then, surprisingly, nibbling my ear? "I can help you break it in." Oh! Well that sounds fun.

"That's great and all. But we should probably find another place to sleep for the night, this sand is going to chafe my butt." I said while playfully tossing some on her hooves.

"There is a place one day down the beach. But it is too dangerous to trot there at night." She said, motioning to the sky and its changing colors.

"Two things... One, we don't have to trot anywhere. And two, I think I know a place and I'm pretty sure they would love to meet you." I said.

"You do? That is great! But how far away is it? The desert is not a place to be outside at night." She said as I stood.

"Oh Zu, haven't you learned anything?" I said as I pushed my head between her hind-legs and forced her onto my back.

"Wait! What are you doing? What did you mean by that!?"

"Seriously? After the last two days together you still don't know?" I said as I opened my wings and pushed off the ground.

"What!?"

"I'm full of surprises!" I shouted as I started for the skies. Zuri wrapped all four hooves around me, nearly cutting off my blood flow to my hind legs as we rose higher and higher into the cool night air.

"I don't want to die! I just had my first orgasm! I want to have more!" She shouted back to me.

"Oh relax! It's as easy as breathing, just hold on and don't let go... Wait. So that was your first?" I screamed back as we turned past the burning shack and headed west to Stable 103.

"Right now is a bad time to ask me that!"

"What's wrong? Nervous?" I asked with an evil grin. Finally, now we are in my element!

"I HATE HEIGHTS!"

"YEAH? ME TOO!"

"Joey! You are back!" Shoari shouted amidst the screaming sounds of machinery as she launched herself in my direction, crashing into my side like a striped ball of concussive force. "We missed you!"

"OOF! Yeah... I gathered as much. Hey! What's going on here? What's with all the construction?" I asked, taking in all the ponies and Zebras that were now cutting away at the large gear shaped door.

"Oh, yeah, that... We decided to try and cut through the door. HEY! Did you find her!?" She asked, dismissing the fact that they were destroying their one line of security against... Was there even anything out here to hide from?

"I did... Why are you cutting the door off the hinges?"

"Well... WHERE is she!? I want to meet her!" She said, jumping back on my back.

"She's outside, turns out that it was her first time flying and she got a little sick on the flight over. You still didn't answer me."

"Oh! Yeah, we wanted to see if it was possible to cut through the door now that it was open. Before when we tried, it filled the Stable with this nasty black smoke that killed half of the crops. But now, we can vent the gasses outside!"

"Shoari... The door is open... WHY are you destroying it now?"

"Well... To get through the other door... duh!" She said almost as a matter of fact.

"WHAT OTHER DOOR!?" I asked in anger, but was knocked from my hooves by a much larger striped ball of fury before I could get my answer. Shoari hovered in place for a moment while I tumbled down the slope towards the entrance, the whole time paddling her legs in panic.

"YOU! YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM! HE IS MINE!" Zuri said through gritted teeth.

"Wha..." Shoari started but was bucked back against the cave's wall.

"Joy is mine, you find your own buck!" Zu said as she advanced on the stricken zebra mare.

"WHO IS JOY!? I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! WHY DID YOU HI... OOF!" Before Shoari could finish, Zuri was on top of her and had her hooves wrapped around her neck.

"ZURI! STOP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" I shouted as I galloped to the two insane Zebras.

"She is a malaya! How dare you try and take what is mine!"

"YOURS!?" Shoari and I both shouted in unison. Well, I shouted, Shoari made what amounted to a gargled choking noise that one could only make while being... choked.

"Zuri! Shoari is just a friend of mine. She is one of the Zebras that run this Stable, she was just being friendly."

"IT'S TRUE! PLEASE, HEDU KWENDA!" Shoari said in gibberish. Wow, Zuri must have really caught her off guard to make her go full stupid like that. Was she broken? Where do you even take a broken Zebra to be repaired?

"Hukuwa kujaribu tarehe yeye? Wewe si kahaba?" Great... Now MY Zebra is speaking gibberish too... Fuck! This Stable had better have a Zebra repair facility. I mean they can fix Pipbucks, why not mentally deranged Zebras. Celestia knows they have plenty of them here.

"Hapana! Hapana! Samahani! Sikuwa na maana ya kumkosea!" Shoari said, nodding her head. Zuri kept her gaze narrowed but did at least back away from the now shaking Shoari.

"What was that!? You two started talking funny and now everything is cool?" I asked, completely lost for words.

"It is native tongue." Zuri said, trotting past me and looking very validated in her attack.

"Those gibbers were words!? What did you say!?

"It is not important." Shoari said, now trotting closer to the two of us. "You must be tired after your journey. Do you wish to sleep?" Zuri began to advance once more, but was quickly put back into submission with a hoof to her chest as I slid her back behind me.

"Yes, but for right now, food sounds better. That AND why are you cutting the damn door down!?" I asked, gesturing a hoof to what little was left of it.

"Follow me, I shall explain." Shoari said curtly as she headed for the entrance. I followed with a very pissed looking Zebra following beside me.

"I do not trust her." Zuri whispered to me.

"What!? Why would you say that!?"

"She is ilipingwa! I know her type!" She said, dropping her head as if she were hunting her prey.

"The fuck is eeleepigwa? Would you stop!? What am I going to have to do with you? Put you on a leash!?" I whispered back, giving her a nudge with my flanks.

"She is the type that takes what she wants. I do not like the way she was riding you!" Zu said, narrowing her eyes.

"She was hugging me! That is what friends do!"

"She wants more than hugs from you."

"Wouldyoushutup!" I said, seeing Shoari turn to the two of us.

"Please, observe how thick the main door to the Stable is. It will be of critical information later." Shoari said, pointing to the over two meter thick steel. "Over two hundred years ago, the door to the Stable closed, and with it, our any hope of seeing the outside world again. As I had stated before, when we would have and did attempt to cut through the door on our side, the Stable would fill with industrial smoke that would ravage our crops and cause respiratory illness. Now however, we have the ability to cut and vent the acrid smoke out of the Stable at the same time." She said as we made our way to the center of Level A, only to turn down 'Orchard Access Way'.

"...Ok. But WHY now. The door is open and without it, you will be vulnerable to threats." I said, trailing behind the short Zebra.

"I'm glad you asked that!" Shoari said, smiling over her shoulder and giving her tail a flick.

"I have been asking that for 15 minutes now!" I shouted in frustration.

"You are looking at her butt!" Zuri whispered/hissed in my ear.

"I was not!" I whispered back.

"Yes you were!"

"For the love of... It is right in front of me! The fact that her ass is so big that I can't see anything else is negligible!" I growled back to Zu.

"You admit that you were then!" Said giving me a shove.

"My ass is not big!" Shoari shouted at the two of us.

"It is too!" Zuri and I shouted back together, still wrapped up in the heat of our stupid argument.

"Sorry, I got carried away." I said sheepishly.

"Very well... As I was saying before my posterior's perfectly normal size was called into question... We are performing test cuts on the door in order to determine the best and fastest way to remove it. You see, Stable 103 actually has 2 entrances, a fact that we have known for quite some time now. When 103 was built during the war, it had an upper entrance and a ground level entrance." Shoari said as we entered the orchard and made for the double doors on the left side's wall labeled 'maintenance level access'. Once inside the rather large stairwell, Shoari motioned for us to follow her down into the dark, barely lit flights of stairs.

"Wait, if there are two entrances and one is ground level and the other top side, why are we going down?"

"That is because you entered through the top side entrance."

"Ok, hold up. This is getting confusing. The ground is right outside of the cave. You are even burying the remains in it, you have to see where this is not making any sense to me." I said as we descended the levels of the stable. Level B, Level C and finally, the doorway labeled 'Stable maintenance level' that had long since been chained shut was right in front of us. Shoari worked the key with her hooves and explained.

"That is because the ground level access Stable door is in maintenance. You see, Stable 103 was built inside of a mountain to protect its residence from attack during the war. It was meant to be a safeguard, like so many other Stables, for the workers and families of Site 103. Unfortunately, Site 103 was targeted for attack and as such, buried beneath the sands of the desert floor."

"Wait... What is 'Site 103'?" I asked, looking down to her.

"Site 103 was a research, development and production facility for the war effort. It was a protected site put in place long ago to ensure a safe and less bloody means to end the war on both sides. Outside of that, I am afraid that our records do not show anything else. The Equines of the past seemed to hold secrets as dear to them as their loved ones I'm afraid. What we do know is that the facilities below the Stable are still intact and maybe even operational."

"Ok... How in the hell do you know that!? If there really is a city down here, how in the FUCK would it not be buried in sand." This was just ridiculous! I could buy that there may have been a secret facility here at one time, but one that is buried under a mountain's worth of sand and that is still in working order? No way, no how. Shoari removed the chains from the door and paused to pull a bottle of Rad-Safe from her bags, passing out the orange colored medicine to us both. Well, she seemingly 'accidentally' dropped Zu's on the floor in front of her.

"Oops! Clumsy me!" Shoari said while pushing the doors open to the sub-level access. Why do the mares in my life have to act like this!? Can't they just enjoy one another's company? I looked to Zu who was now licking the pill from the floor with a 'I am going to eat your soul' look on her face and sighed.

"As I was saying... We have first hoof accounts that state that the Site's shield talismans were functioning at the time of the attack. From what little we have to gather, the attackers must have used a high yield, high temperature explosive device that was capable of melting sand and stone alike. It is just a theory, but we believe that the molten slag will have come to rest atop the shield itself, creating a sort of dome. Again, this is of course our eye witness accounts that are 200 years old are accurate."

"So you are basing this on dead ponies..." I said flatly.

"AND ZEBRAS! Isn't it just fascinating!" Shoari said, slipping out of her angered state just long enough to show enthusiasm towards finding what I could only guess equated to buried treasure for her.

"Explosive..." I replied sarcastically.

"This is the Sub-level Access of the maintenance floor. Down here is where the Stable's recycling, disposal and generation fixtures are housed and maintained. Unfortunately, during the blast, much of the subsequent fallout managed to blow in from the resulting winds and shock wave that it produced. You will notice a steady 1 rad per second ambient radiation as we proceed, intensifying the closer we come to the Stable's ground floor access."

"If the radiation is present down here, even this far away from the door, why would you risk trying to open it. Wouldn't that just make things worse? Call me feather brained, but more rads are not supposed to be a good thing, right?"

"Where that is true, we have speculated that the radiation within the site itself will be fairly low. Surely it will be higher near the walls of the dome, but once within the actual superstructure, it should be within the ambient levels you are feeling now." Shoari said as we worked our way past the boilers and down the large corridor towards the large gear-shaped door. All around us came the hum and hissing of generators as they processed waste and heated water for the countless stable dwellers. To our left we passed by four large, cylindrical burners that were stationed on the back wall of the dimly lit Stable. Three of them had been decorated with flowers, fruit and drawings that more resembled scribbles than actual artwork.

"Shoari, what's that over there? Why did you decorate the burners? Is it their birthday?" I said sarcastically. Despite the nature of why we were down here, the total gravity of such a display was doing its job of making me lose faith in what they were setting out to accomplish. I had thought that they merely wanted outside of the Stable to satiate their curiosity, but now they are trying to gain access to a city that most likely is no longer even there!? Shoari paused briefly and bowed her head towards the burners, kneeling down to a knee as she did so. Great... They worship them... Even better.

"Those are where we dispose of our departed. They are decorated in celebration of our loved one's lives as they pass on to the Everafter." Shoari said just above a whisper. Oh... Shit. I felt a hoof firmly plant itself to the back of my head and push me to the ground. Zuri had even been paying her respects when my untimely comment was muttered, setting aside her petty grievances to honor the dead. Great job, Joey. Just piss all over the memories of the dead with your sarcastic humor!

"Sorry. I didn't know."

"Once an Equine is lost to us, we bring them here to be cremated so that their soul may be free from their bodies to pass on. The remains are distributed in accordance with their final wishes. Some asked to be give to the families, others asked to be placed in the soil of the gardens and orchards throughout the Stable so that they may nourish the plants to give life where theirs was lost. These are the remains of the funeral from two days ago. They are scheduled to be burned with their loved ones later today." Shoari said. Excellent, making me feel worse. Not that I probably don't deserve it. We soon continued down the corridor and finally came to the massive steel door. Two centuries of attempting to cut the door open showed in the form of deep gouges and scrapes along the edges and center of the gear, looking more like battle scars than actual cuts. Up high I could even make out that somepony, or some Zebra, had even tried to shoot the door open in desperation, marked by the twenty some odd bullet holes that pop marked its surface.

The control panel was still intact, though, it showed the signs of some... Equine attempting to hotwire it in the same manner of the buck in the cave on the top side entrance. Curious as it seemed at the time, I passed it off as yet another attempt of them trying to escape the Stable's grip on their lives. Shoari paused at the door and pointed a hoof upwards at two large air vents that lead to the Stable's ventilation system just above us.

"You see, any attempt to cut through the doors sends the smoke and abrasive dust directly into the air vents. Before, it would travel throughout the Stable and into the common areas, orchards, gardens and even the resident's quarters due to the fact that it could not be shut off for any amount of time. Doing so would result in carbon monoxide building up in dangerous levels for newborns, foals and the elderly. But now that the front entrance has been opened, we can reverse one of the systems and allow for it to blow fresh air in and close off the vents to the other, allowing it to blow the contaminated air out!" Shoari said, now ending her guided tour of just how insane they really were. I knew it! Nothing in the Wasteland is perfect, not even this place.

"Just what are you hoping to find on the other side of this door? What could possibly be out there, if there even is an out there, that is worth all of this effort!?" I asked, my voice edging on anger.

"If the facilities are still intact, then we would have a means to help the Wasteland. Site 103 houses vast production factories, labs and data that has been lost to the world for far too long. Medical, magical and even mechanical knowledge that could expatiate the recovery of the land that we once called home. After reading the books that you were so thoughtful to give us, we have decided that the world is unfit as we see it now and rather than attempt at forcing it into rebirth, we wish to help in anyway that we can." Shoari said.

I wonder if she had known just how close she came to sounding like another pony who likes to scream across the radio waves in Filly, if she would have altered her statement. Sure Red Eye 'thought' he was doing a public service, but it was going to be at the cost of other ponies in doing so. No matter how good the intention, or how well the ends would justify the means, nothing good can come from opening another irradiated hell that used to make the very things that ended the world.

"Shoari... Why are you showing and telling me all this?" I asked skeptically. She paused for far longer than I would have liked and fell back into a nervous smile.

"We were hoping that once the door was open... that maybe you would be willing to lead the first excursion mission?" She said shakily.

"NO! ARE YOU INSANE!? You want me to just trot into a place that you yourself said is irradiated, 200 years old, probably filled with magical waste, just wander aimlessly!?" I shouted.

"I believe you ponies refer to it as 'taint', and you would be well compensated for your efforts, I assure you!" She said, trying to match my volume but failing to match the emotion.

"HELL NO!" I shouted.

"Please! It is important to us! It is even important to you! We only know how to help, we can not fight or even survive without the tools of our predecessors!"

"Look, it's not that I don't like where your heart is at in all of this. But you have to understand, even if what you find is helpful to all of Equinity, you will still just be left with nothing more than a radiation city that is too dangerous to work in for more than one day a year."

"We will not know until we see what is inside. We must, at the very least, try."

"Trying is good, but not at the risk of dying! I was raised to know radiation as a very bad thing to be best friends with and here you are trying to marry it!"

"I was raised to only know how to help others, to use my talents to help improve the lives of the Equines around me. I would gladly go with you, if you so desired, I would even take your dose of radiation if it meant for us to have the access to the laboratories once more." She said in a sad tone as if she had lost a dear friend behind that door.

"No. If Joy goes, I will go with him. You will stay behind!" Zuri barked back to Shoari.

"COOL IT! Nopony is going anywhere, Zuri." I shouted between them.

"Why is it that you are so protective of him. I know that he is special, but you must see that this would mean a great deal to all of Equinity." Shoari said trying to appeal to Zuri.

"He is special TO ME. I owe my life to Joy, he is the reason I am still here." Zuri said.

"You say his name in an interesting way. Why is it that you refer to him as J-O-Y instead of J-O-E-Y. You do know that is not his name, no?"

"Yes. I know this. But to me he is and always has been Joy. It is, what I feel when I am around him."

"Ah, I seen now. I wonder, what is it that you would call me?" Shoari said, halving the distance between them, leaving me in the center of the them both.

"I would call you..." She started, tapping a hoof to her muzzle in thought. "...Midget." She said, falling into a evil grin as she lowered her head to meet Shoari's now shaking form.

"My height is due to a birth defect. Thankfully my brain was able to grow to its full size, unlike your own." Shoari said through gritted teeth.

"And I would call you both mentally deranged, self centered, egotistical, bitches that are letting a petty squabble escalate into an all-out fight." I shouted to the two of them. They neither paid me attention or mind as they continued to lock eyes and try to kill one another with their thoughts.

"Kuma!" Shoari barked.

"Mbwajike!" Zuri shouted, now pressing her nose to Shoari's.

"Kinuka uchi!" Shoari retorted. Wow, how nice it must be to speak more than one language... I pushed the two apart and trotted past them both back the way we had came.

"Where are you going!?" The two of them shouted back to me.

"Somewhere..." I shouted over my shoulder.

"Somewhere... where?" Zuri replied.

"Somewhere without the two of you." Is all that I said as I started back up the stairs. Behind me I could hear the more Zebra gibberish as their argument began to reach its full height. I listened as the near constant barrage from the two of them began to fade as I placed a hoof on the door to Level B. I stepped into the Family and Foals wing of Level B and decided that this was as good of a time as any to be alone as I trotted right and past the rows of rooms. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be alone, the silence, the peace and quiet, no Zebras calling each other something or other. Just me and my brain and a huge Stable to trot through.

Soon I found myself nearing a room designated as a playground. The sounds of young fillies and colts playing helped set my mind to ease from the cacophony that was going on downstairs. I leaned into the door and let myself into the large expanse of a play area, feeling too weak to put forth any real effort at opening the door properly.

Inside, young fillies and colts played on swings and slides, running too and through from one set of playground equipment to another. Some were even kicking a ball back and forth in small groups, kicking up small puffs of sand as they made a game of keep away out of the two teams. Off in the far corner, five young ponies were playing on top of a box, the largest of the group was holding a Frisbee in his hooves like steering wheel... It was Spot. The older buck who had been playing with blocks in Twisty's room the days before was now piloting the box around the play yard with the other foals atop it.

He came to a stop at one of the club houses at the edge of the room, offloaded two of the ponies and picked up two Zebras before once again, climbing into his make-believe truck and hauling them to the next club house. He only paused once in his mission to give everypony a ride around the yard to retrieve a young filly that was about to fall from one of the windows in the smaller of the two club houses. I had to admire him. No crazy mares shouting with words he did not understand, no worries, no cares, just playing with the other foals and doing his best to make them smile. Maybe that is what Shoari was on about when she said that she had been raised to help others. Everypony and Zebra in the Stable was doing something to help somepony else out of the goodness of their heart.

Even Spot, though he was clearly not capable of more tasking skills, was doing his part by playing with the fillies and colts and keeping them safe from hurting each other. He was even wearing one of the blue and yellow vests that the other supervisors were wearing, all be it stained, crooked and covered in stitch marks from being sewn back together a few times. I found a soft spot in the sand near the other supervisors and sat down to watch the endless flow of small ponies and zebras playing together.

This is what I had missed out on as a colt. Growing up, I never had other ponies to play with outside of Shale and Lue. Even then, our play times rarely amounted to more than glorified training sessions and shooting practice. Fun all the same, but still lacking that element of care-free wonderment that young ponies get to have growing up. Part of me was thankful that Boss had spent so much time preparing us for the world we were destined to live in, but another part of me felt cheated. It felt as though I had been denied a simple milestone in life that all ponies are supposed to be allowed to have. Still, if I were to get to be a father one day, would I not do the same thing? Celestia knows that I wouldn't want them to grow up not knowing how to survive out there, but I wouldn't want them to have to sacrifice the very things that I am watching right now either.

"Charming, aren't they?" The pink mare to my right said.

"I was thinking more... Calming." I said, turning to her.

"In all of the years that I have worked this job, you are the first to say that. What is it that you find calming?"

"They are just so care-free. I guess when the whole world around you is falling down, seeing them play and have fun is a welcome change of pace."

"You must be the Tracker that I heard about on the radio the other day. Joey, is it?"

"Yeah..." I said, still watching Spot shuffle his way around the sand.

"Forgive me... But you are not what I had expected. I'm Cherry, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Cherry. What is it that you were expecting?"

"I had always thought that somepony from outside the walls would be more..." She paused to think.

"Scarred up?" I said, finishing her question for her. "Trust me, there are plenty of scarred up ponies to go around out there. Lucky for me, I get to deal more with emotional trauma than actual wounds."

"Not all scars can be worn on the outside. Sometimes the worse pain, is one that you can not see." She said.

"Just having a very interesting day. That's all."

"Don't we all from time to time. Perhaps it is something that you wish to talk about. You know, speaking with somepony you do not know can be therapeutic."

"Have you ever wanted something so badly that you would do anything to have it, only to one day get it and have the sudden realization that now you have to protect it?"

"I believe that I can identify with that, at least partly so."

"I finally find happiness, but the universe still wants to throw me curve balls and put me in situations where I could lose it all. I did my time, ten years of waiting and living in hell, but I just don't think it will ever end."

"You should consider yourself lucky." She said, placing a hoof on my back.

"How is that lucky!?"

"You are lucky because you no longer have to go through it alone. Life is a long and winding road. It will test you at its every turn, making it feel far longer than it actually is. But with the company of others, the journey is always much more forgiving. They shoulder the load that you can not possibly carry on your own."

"That is way more wise of an answer than I was expecting." I said in near shock at a pony who had spent her whole life in a Stable some how knew more about life than me.

"When you are forced to live alone, you have plenty of time to think." She said, standing to all fours.

"You are alone? But you live in a Stable, there are ponies everywhere in here! So what is a pretty mare like you doing still single." I said, throwing my hooves wide.

"Yes, this is true, but few wish to spend their lives with a mare who can not conceive."

"Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't know." I said, standing to my hooves.

"It's fine. Like I said, not all scars can be worn on the outside. You could not have known. But it is why I requested to be moved to this job. I have always wanted a foal of my own, but since I can not have one, this is the next best thing for me." She said with a smile.

"I'm sure that they know just how lucky they are to have somepony like you caring for them." The words felt nearly hollow when they left my lips. But what could you possibly say to something like that!? I felt for her, but there was nothing that I could do about it other than say 'I'm sorry' and move on.

"You are as kind as Xymol has lead me to believe." She said as she turned to stop a filly from trying to escape out of an air vent behind us. "Forgive me, but I have to get back to work and this little filly is quite the flight risk, as you can probably see. Oh! It looks like you are no longer alone." She said looking beyond me while simultaneously levitating the escape artist filly in her magic.

I turned to see Zuri sitting right beside me, her silent appearance and close proximity invoking the only response that it could from me. Yeah, I screamed like one of the foals on the playground. I'm not proud of it.

"Celestia! How did you do that!?"

"You were busy talking. The floor is made of sand." She said, kicking some of it on my hooves.

"How long have you been here, exactly?"

"I believe scarred up was the first thing that I heard."

"Sneaky Zebras..."

"Are you afraid of me?" Zuri asked as the two of us watch the foals play on the swings.

"Why would I be afraid of you? We have had sex, and where in those moments you can be rather scary, I think that qualifies you as not a threat."

"No, are you afraid of me leaving?"

"Less leaving, more losing. I have never had somepony who I wanted to actually protect before."

"Is that why you refused the midget's offer?"

"For the last time, she wasn't trying to bang me! And her name is Shoari, not midget." I said in exhaustion.

"No, no. I mean about the Site that she spoke of?"

"Oh... Partly, I guess... Ok yes, that is why."

"You do not need to be afraid for me. I can handle myself, if I could not, do you think that I would have not made it this far in life?"

"Yeah, I guess that much is true." I said, sitting back down beside her. I didn't say it, whether it be from not wanting to argue or not wanting to offend her, but the truth of the matter was that I was terrified of the thought of something happening to her. Actually, come to think of it, I was terrified of anything happening to any of the ponies that I had come to care for over my lifetime. Shale, Caliber, Zuri... All of them had come to mean the world to me, and the thought of anything bad happening to them sent my guts into knots. I had always thought that one day I would find what it was that I was looking for and finally get to be happy, but what good is it all going to be if we all can't be safe in doing so?

"Joey?" Zuri spoke, breaking my train of thought.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm drooling, aren't I? Wait, you said my name right!"

"Do you love me?"

"What!? What kind of question is that?"

"Yes or no. Do you love me?"

"I crossed a desert with a failing liver and nearly no water, I went back to the spot that we first met at, once a year, for ten years, we burned your house down while having sex... Yes, I think that I love you." I said.

"I am being serious. I am afraid too. I do not want to lose you again."

"Zu, is that why you nearly killed Shoari? Are you worried that some other mare is going to come in and try and take me away?"

"I don't want to be alone again." She said, hanging her head.

"Zu... I don't want anypony, or Zebra for that matter, else. I waited long enough, I'm not leaving you ever again." I said, wrapping my hooves around her.

"That is good, yes?"

"Yes Zuri, that is good. Although, you do know that I have a sister, right? I'm not going to have to worry about you two nearly killing one another, am I?"

"You will have to point her out to me." She said. Well, I guess a short talk on a playground about how her abandonment issues were really putting a strain on my friendship was just not going to cut it.

"You said that you have a room here, yes?" She said, looking off into the playground.

"I do. Why? Getting tired?" I asked. She turned to me with that all too familiar look that I had come to know, and very much so love, over the last few days.

"No." She said with a smile.

"Well, that WAS a nice bed." I said in my sleepy state. We had been up for all of an hour after falling asleep the night before, after the consummation of the talk we had earlier that day. Zu had spent the majority of the evening trying to convince me that bucks could in fact achieve more than one orgasm in a row, it was the single most painful and pleasurable moment of my life that I hope to never have to do again. We woke to the sounds of construction coming from deep below us in the maintenance level, prompting us to shower and get ready for the day.

Unfortunately, the showering led to kissing, followed by a failed attempt at love making in the shower, followed by the total collapse of my bed from the wall. The ponies in the room next to us were none too happy that we had made as much noise as we had at this hour in the morning. I suspect that being woken up at six am to the majestic sounds of screaming and the destruction of furniture during the act of mating was not high on the list of things that they wished to be subjected to. It is not my fault that the ponies who designed this Stable used concrete, it is a perfect sound conductor.

Zu had settled herself into combing her mane while I, on the other hoof, was plotting our course back to Hoofington. Despite her want to stay far away from Equestria proper, I had convinced her that with Shale, Caliber, me and Valkyrie watching out for one another, she would be safe. No matter how many times I ask her, she still refused to tell me what it is that she is running from. Infuriating as it might be, I had to at the very least try not to pry too far into her prior life. Every time I did, she would start trying to change the subject to anything but what I wanted answers on. If I pushed harder, she would start getting agitated and shut down on me. It was maddening to say the least, but I did my best to not let it show so that she would see it more as a misunderstanding, rather than me wanting to just do away with the threat.

I guess it was her way of trying to protect me from whatever it was that she was running from. For that, I can’t be too mad at her, but the fact that she was keeping secrets from me, no matter how well founded the reason, was really starting to get to me. We had only been reunited a few days and already we had done things that couples wait months to do, yet she was still holding onto her privacy, ironically. To be fair, if it was somepony she was running from, I WOULD want to take matters into my own hooves, and if that somepony was anywhere near her homelands, then she must know that I would push to go there.

“Joey! Open up! It’s Shoari! It’s important!”

Shoari’s muffled voice found its way through the door in a urgent tone, only broken up by the sound of her hooves pounding on the wall.

“The harlot is back...” Zuri said from her perch atop the remains of the bed.

“Look... She is a friend, I have zero plans on having sex with, dating or even doing anything more than the occasional hug. Cool it. Now I expect you two to play nice when I open the door.” I said in the most fatherly tone I could manage. Zuri snorted, turned her head and returned to combing her mane in silence. I mashed the green button next to the door and watched as it slid open, followed by Shoari flying through the doorway and in me. Zuri gave a hateful glance in our direction as I found my way back to my hooves and did my best to calm the now very ecstatic acting half sized Zebra.

“Joey! You have to come quick! It’s an emergency!” She said in a tone that made the words almost come out all as one.

“Ok, just...” I started

“Oh no. NO, no, no, no! This is all my fault! I never should have opened that damn door!” She said pacing the room on her hoof tips.

“Shoari, just try and...”

“I can’t believe this would happen! How did she even get out of the playroom!?” She continued in a state of panic.

“Shoari!”

“Oh apple slices! Oh poop! Oh horse’s pus...”

“SHOARI!” Zuri and I shouted.

“Please, calm the fuck down and tell me what happened.”

“Ok... Oh!” She said, now suddenly noticing that she had paced herself right into the shower.

“The ground floor Stable door is open. We were conducting tests to see how bad the contamination was, the door is open!”

“I gathered... What is it!? Ghouls? Zombies? Some other contrivance that seeks to kill us all?” I said in the flat tone that could only show just how much shock I had towards her problem after telling her not to do it.

“She went in there after her! Joey! You have to find them!”

“WHO!?” I shouted.

“My little sister, Maji! I was sitting with her while I was overseeing the core sample extraction! Oh kinyesi!”

“Look at me.” I shouted at her, pulling her face close to mine to try and calm her down.

“Are you sure she went in there?”

“I thought she had gone back to the play area, but the cameras show her walking through the door! I wanted to be sure that she went where she was told!” Shoari said, now welling up with tears.

“You said they... Who else went in there?”

“Cherry! Her sitter! When Maji did not show up when she was supposed to, she came looking for her! That is when we found out she had gone into the Site! Please! You have to help me!” She pleaded. I let go of her face and gave Zuri, who was now standing by my side, a long, hard, look and closed my eyes.

“FUCK YOU UNIVERSE! YOU JUST CAN’T LET ME BE HAPPY, CAN YOU!?”

To my surprise, the two of them backed away from me in slack jawed horror.

“What!?” I shouted to the two of them. Zuri, who had been silent throughout all of this, finally spoke.

“You should never curse towards the Stars. You will call down their wrath in doing so.”

“What is this... more Zebra shit!? Look, there is a kid lost in a irradiated city, UNDERGROUND! I think we have more TANGIBLE problems.”

“It is true what she says.” Shoari said, still wiping her muzzle.

“Later, ok? Just... take me to the damn Site.” I said, trotting out the door. “I swear... A kid goes missing and all they can think of are stars...”

I ran to the maintenance access corridor with Zuri and Shoari in tail, all the while trying to pry for as much information as I could get about what had happened. I had told them that nothing good could come from opening the Stable door, but of course they did not listen to me, that would actually make sense! Now there is a filly lost in a two hundred year old city filled with Celestia-only-knows-what-all living in it and I was the logical choice to go find her. Not even an hour ago I was having the time of my life and hyping myself up to fly home to see Caliber and Shale, maybe even to start my new life now that I had found Zuri. Now however, I am about to trot off into oblivion over the act of sheer stupidity!

"What does she look like?" I shouted behind me.

"Like the only filly in the city! Why would that be important now?" Shoari said as we entered the maintenance floor.

"Because I need to know what colors to be looking for while I'm down there."

"Also there are probably ghouls." Zuri said.

"WHAT!? GHOULS!?" Shoari shouted as we came to a stop at the now-open Stable door.

The large gear had been cut away in their haste to open the gateway to what they perceived to be a paradise beyond measure. Large heaps of steel debris were piled up to either side of the gateway to the old city. Their best guesses had been right. In the large expanse of darkness I could make out rivers of molten slag that had fallen down the mountainsides like great rivers of solidified lava. The exit of the cave had been draped with the stuff, burning everything that it had touched, even the ponies that were now encased in the smokey black quartz. Their hollow remains were all that was left to show what had happened here, standing like glass sculptures in the darkness.

"Celestia..." I mouthed.

"Please tell me you can find her!" Shoari said, now watching me step closer to the entrance.

"How long ago was it that she went in there?" I asked, now watching the Rad meter begin to click and rise the closer I stepped.

"About 45 minutes ago." She said, pacing on the tips of her hooves.

"How many of you morons have been in there?"

"Why would that be..."

"Everything! Every single detail is important in times like this! If you want me to go in there, then you need to answer me directly and fluently, understand?" I shouted back to her. Standing just behind Shoari, I saw a smirk begin to grow across Zuri's face, as if she was approving my authoritative manner towards the short Zebra.

"We have all been in and out regularly taking samples. The radiation is just as we had predicted, it is intense near the entrance but fades the farther in you travel. Please, there is no need for yelling." Came the calm voice of Xymol.

"Great, you're here too. How far in have you made it?"

"No further than the outer rim of the city proper. I would guess that to be no more than 300 meters."

"Great, so there are varying levels of radiation, hoof tracks everywhere and I'm guessing it is going to be dark the whole way. So basically searching for a needle in a haystack." I said flatly.

"Yes, but if you can make it near the reactor..."

"Here we go..."

"You may be able to restart its substations. We believe that they may have been shorted out during the blast, if you could turn the power back on to the city, then the street light would be powered back on."

"Why is it that when I hear you say 'If you can', I get the feeling you have already tried?"

"That is because we have. The closer we came to the structure, the more intense the radiation became. We were in the middle of suiting up to go back in when the alarm sounded."

"And I suppose that you are fresh out of suits as well..."

"Oh no, we have plenty! They are... Clean? Also lead-lined to protect from radiation." Shoari said, holding one of them up for me to see in her mouth.

"But we had guessed that you would wish to fly, rather than trot. The suits do not fit Pegasi who wish to be airborne, but as such, if you can fly, you could come in from above to flip the breaker, rather than have to make your way through the disposal yard." Xymol said, pointing a hoof to the map on the floor.

"Forgive me..." I started as I trotted up to the two of them. "Why is it... that all of this just reeks of a set up?" I said, narrowing my eyes towards Shoari.

"What!?" She said, falling back from my advancement.

"You were begging me to go in there just yesterday, and now, today, your little sister just so happens to get lost in the very place you wanted me to go."

"We... Do not follow." Xymol said.

"Oh com'on! This whole thing just stinks to high heaven of betrayal! You mean to tell me that you just so happen to have maps and plans to turn the power back on to the city, know where to go to do it and you just so happen to need a Pegasus to do it!?"

"Please, I can assure you that this is not a clever ruse to benefit our own means. If you so wish, I invite you to see the security footage of Maji entering the Site, if it would satiate your worries." Xymol said almost questioningly. This stable has been hard to put into perspective since I had found it nearly a week ago. From their overly excited attitude towards things that would upset other ponies, to their precocious nature of their doings. Outside looking in, all of this felt like the planning of a foal to trick his friends into doing something they wanted them to, but the emotions that they were displaying were far too real seeming for my own liking.

Even if they did show me the footage, it wouldn't matter. They could have put this poor filly up to this and used her caretaker as a cover. For all I know they could have killed her and sent the filly on a suicide mission based on their screwed up beliefs. Then again, there was the very real possibility that they were telling the truth, even if it did feel suspicious, there was just as much evidence to the contrary. Why do decisions like this follow me around!? Half in, half out. 50/50 choices. Flip a bit and take a guess. Just once it would be nice to be able to see through the veil of life and know which way to run, instead of 'S.W.A.G'ING' it all the damn time.

"I thought that you were a tracker..." Shoari said trying to hide a snotty sniff.

"I am, it's just... Look, if I get in there and find out that you all set this up, just so I can do you dirty work, I'm leaving. Understand? No flipping breakers, no excursions, no nothing!"

"I DON'T CARE! PLEASE, JUST FIND HER!" Shoari screamed at me. Her fear and excitement had faded to anger the longer I had stalled the mission's advancement. Looking into her eyes I could see a fury of emotions that were fighting their way to the surface. Fear, anger, confusion, all of them melding together, giving her nervous demeanor meaning. Maybe she was telling the truth, maybe this was all just a misunderstanding. These ponies don't even know what sarcasm is from what I have gathered, they just know the raw emotions and express them at their core fundamentals.

Maybe it was the years of Wasteland knowledge clashing with the ways of the past that had been preserved for so long. I had come to know ponies as, at best, unreliable. When I did have to rely on the loyalty of strangers, I had come to see it as a last resort when i had no other option. Ponies outside... They were not known for looking out for, or even helping one another. It took years of being together and a common goal just to get most of them off of their flanks to do anything that did not benefit them in the end. So to see them expect help to be given freely and without question, was clashing with any and all logic that I had come to know.

Had I become jaded or just tempered to the ways of life. Was it me that was wrong, or was it them? Clearly their emotions were not betraying them, but even if they were, I had already made up my mind on going in. Even if this was some scheme to get me to help them, there was still a filly and the mare I had spoke with just yesterday lost in there. That alone was enough to make the decision for me. Now what would come after the fact if I were to find out they were lying to me the whole time... Well, I'll get to that later.

"Ok, I'll go." I said as I shucked off my saddle bags to rifle through their contents. "I'm going to need one of those suites, cut holes in the sides of it for my wings." I said, tossing my knife across the floor.

"If you cut the suit, it will to aid in protecting you from contamination." Xymol said worryingly.

"Yeah, but the fabric is lead-lined, right? If nothing else, it will keep the rads out. I'm also going to need that map and any Radaway you might have on hoof."

"I will need a suit too." Zu said, trying to fit her way into a... Was that a foal's sized clean suit?

"Zu, I don't think that that is a good idea..." I said, trying to pull the now stuck suit from her head.

"No! I will go too. Somepony needs to watch your flank in there." Zu said, trying to pull the suit from me.

"Zu, If you come with me, there is the very real possibility that we would need to split up at some point. I'm not letting you go trotting around down here without me." I said pulling her away from the rest of the group. "Just... Look. If something happens, if they say something that would make you think that they are doing this out of malice or if they in someway try and lock me in down here... I need you do go to Hoofington and find Caliber. He will know what to do, ok?"

"I do not like this! The midget looks untrustworthy."

"Zu please, I need you to be my ears on the ground. Stay here and find out what you can. If this place is as corrupt as I think it might be, then I need to know everything. This is a small city of ponies and Zebras that, from what they have just told us, found a munitions plant for world ending weapons and tech. Not to mention that they have a very lax attitude towards working with the stuff and 'helping' other ponies with their problems. The last thing I am going to do is leave them to their own devices to blow up all of equestria all over again." I said.

"Fine, I will watch the midget."

"Forget Shoari. I want you to stick near Xymol. Use those creepy Zebra stealth things you do all the time and don't let him hear you. Try and see if you can gather any and all intel on what they are planning to do with this place." I said, digging in my bags. I found my necklace and gave it to her. "Take this with you if this all goes to hell, Caliber will know it's mine."

"Please be careful." She said, giving me a hug.

"I will."

I trotted back to Xymol to retrieve the things that I had asked for, allowing him to drop them into my bags and latch them shut. Without a word to the others, I placed one shaky hoof in front of the other and slowly made my way across the Stable door's catwalk into the darkness. The closer I came to the other side of the threshold, the more I began to notice dim lights piercing through the hazy air in the subterranean city. The cave that the door had been built into was littered with skeletons of long since dead ponies, some mere bones, others encased in that smoky quartz that draped the caves entrance.

"Here goes everything..."

There was no sound other than the faint wisps of my wings as I hovered just a few meters off the ground. The eerie silence was so overwhelming that it dulled my senses for several long moments when I entered the domed room that was not unlike a tomb in terms of feel and look. Only the distant hum of the the reactor plant that was just ahead of me was giving me solace that I was not going deaf, but rather disoriented. The air was thick and acrid, almost musty in smell, if not for the stinging that it was causing to my nose as I breathed. In the light of my Pipbuck I could see trails of hanging dust swirling in the wake of my wings as they kept me aloft.

Xymol had been telling the truth when he had said that the background radiation faded the further you went from the glass walls of this place. The clicking on my foreleg was not the only reminder that this place was irradiated however. Above me, running like long cracks in stone were vivid blue rivers of radioactive fallout, forever trapped in the superstructure of the city's shell. Even without the light of my Pipbuck, its ambient glow was just enough to make out close objects and full hoof tracks. Despite their stoic appearance, my mane tingled at the thought of one of them breaking free and raining it's hell down upon me.

I had been searching for a little over an hour now, doing my best to skirt the edges of all the tracks from the Stable dweller's traffic patterns in search of a set of that lead deeper into the city. I was able to clear the vast majority of the area of the ironically named 'Courtyard of Life' but was unable to near the walls of the mountain side due to intense radiation. I had resided myself to checking the more dangerous areas lastly, and began moving closer to Reactor 103 when I spotted a fresh set of tracks in the sand near a street sign that read, "Convergent Way".

"Finally!" I nearly shouted. My words echoed off the walls and reverberated through the city around me. This whole place was one giant echo chamber! The fact that I had not yet heard one of the two missing ponies I was after, was mind boggling. Apart from the steadily growing hum of the Reactor the closer I came, the entire room would from time to time let out faint groans and pops that sounded like glass being broken. The telltale sound of fracturing glass and random falling objects was setting my teeth on edge with their sudden reappearances.

I approached the Reactor facility and began to circle the grounds, looking for the containment yard that Xymol had mentioned earlier. Maybe if I can get the lights to come on in here, it wouldn't be so damn creepy feeling. I have been in some hairy places in my time, but this hell hole takes the cake! I looked down to the north side yard of the facility to see a thick concrete wall that had been constructed to shield against radiation for the used chemicals and magical byproducts. I know that because Xymol had written me notes on my map. Gee, it must be nice to be smart. I would have just trotted right up and taken a nap on one of the various skull and crossbones labeled containers!

I landed atop the containment wall, looking down into the yard at the various containers that presumably still held contaminates or even live fuel cells that are ready to be used. Even from up here, the radiation was enough to kill a pony in a few hours without protective gear or a health supply of Rad-away. Below me laid rows upon rows of barrels and containers, separated by color and what looked to be varying designation signs. Only to tops were visible in the waning light of the overhead radiation, leaving the sides and the bottoms of them completely shrouded in darkness. On the far end of the grounds, there looked to be some type of substation surrounded by giant looking towers with wires coming out of the tops of them. They seemed to spiderweb out from the facility from that one location. If that is where the power was going out, I wonder what the chances of the breaker being over there is...

"Ok! Just have to get through the yard of radiation, find the breaker, throw it, hope the reactor doesn't explode in my face and find two morons... Easy stuff. Now where, oh where, is that breaker at?"

I looked all across the compound, but nothing direct stood out that would lead me to believe it to be a control panel or even a switch. The darkness of the area was so overwhelming that it was making seeing anything within the place nearly impossible, cloaking everything in something akin to a black fog. All apart from the far of corner where I could see a green glow permeating from between the barrels, some byproduct of leaking magical waste I'm sure. The smell in the air attacked my senses with a pungent, vile odor of rotten flesh and acidic chemicals that seemed to be permeating from the yard itself. Even in the clean suit, I could nearly taste the thick aroma through the respirator. These things were meant to filter out particulate, not toxic gases. Thinking quickly, I set myself to work trying to find the master control room, but the smell of the place was beginning to give me a headache and making it difficult to focus.

"So... If I was giant industrial switch to turn on the power to a creepy smelly forgotten city, where would I be."

I said to myself as I trotted across the top of the wall and around the field of barrels towards the mass of cables ahead of me. A sound came from right below me, causing me to freeze in my tracks and nearly topple over the side of the narrow walk way I had been trotting on. It was a low, gurgling sound mixed in amidst the shuffling of hooves and nudging of barrels as whatever it was moved just underneath me. Cautiously, I cast a weary glance towards the ground and into the darkness. No sooner than my head had cleared the brick wall, the sound stopped.

"Easy, Joey. It is probably just everything settling." I said to myself as I slowly made my way further down the precarious path I had chosen. With another step came more rustling and guttural groaning. The closer I came to the bridge way over the entrance to the facility the louder the sounds became. Despite my high vantage point, I couldn't shake the undeniable feeling that somepony, or something was watching me. Its eyes burning into my side almost feeling tangible in its action.

I ventured another glance down, only to pull back from the ledge, nearly falling off its side to the ground below. Something was moving down there, but it wasn't anything I had ever seen before. The darkness, it was actually moving, it swirled and billowed in great black waves that pulled at the sides of the wall and washed over my hooves and side as it washed over me. What I had taken as mere shadows was something far more sinister in nature. Whatever it was that was down there, it was not just the absence of light, but a cloud. The nearer the gas came to me, the more my headache would intensify and the further I trotted, the louder the sounds became.

Curious of its depth, I looked to the other side of the walkway and could just make out that the sandy ground was something closer to four ponies lengths straight down. If that were the case then the cloud of black whateverthefuck must be far deeper than I had expected it to be. From behind me came the sounds of scratching, and clawing at stone, followed by a cold breath on my hind leg. I froze in panic, not wanting to look back, I wanted to run, fly even, but I feared any motion I made would send me tumbling into the black fog. Slowly, I chanted my head behind me, not daring to make any sudden movements.

Blue glowing eyes were looking back at me. Right next to my leg was the decomposing head of a pony, ravaged by time and radiation, its jaw dislocated and left to hang from its mouth. Its hooves were just nubs, the leg bones protruding through their cracked and worn through shoes, stained black with magical byproducts. It was actually climbing the wall! Using its leg bones as crude spires to puncture the cracks in the stone wall, it had completely gotten the drop on me. its face seemed to swirl within the black mist around it as it sat motionless beside me.

In shocked horror, I bucked back towards it with all of my might, sending it flying into the black fog and far away from me in doing so. I watched as the fog rose and fell as it consumed it. Groans began to rise from the abyss, echoing off everything around me and clouding my thoughts with sheiks and horror. I looked down once, only to confirm my greatest fears. Eyes, dozens of glowing eyes were looking up at me through the darkness with hunger and intent. Blue, green, red and even yellow glares broke through the cloud and followed my every move as I re-positioned myself to take off. With the very opening of my wings, I felt the wall I was standing on began to shake as they lunged for the edge of the wall, their sheer numbers and impact sending me skittering on my hooves forward.

What were these things!? These were not the ghouls I was used to seeing throughout the Wasteland, these were something much different. Their eyes were glowing with pain and hunger like a wild animal and even their motions seemed to be more violent in nature than anything I had ever seen before! I tried to regain purchase with my hooves amidst their constant barrage of impacts below me, but every time I managed more than a few steps forward, I would be knocked back down again. I had to get some momentum to take off, but my movements felt almost sluggish in this suit, weighing me down and making it hard to move with its tight features. Just up ahead of me I could make out the ruined metal soffit of the gateway's overhead challis work, its once decorative spires now warped and protruding out of the stone wall like great spears.

I lurched forward, doing my best to keep my hooves under me under the constant barrage that was happening all around me. Groans, screams and shrieks filled the air as I half-ran, half skipped as far as I could manage from the horde that was now seeking a tasty pony dinner. I looked back, but what I saw only confirmed my deepest worries. One of the ghouls had somehow found its way atop the same walk way as me and was hobbling far quicker than I had thought it could my way. I lowered my head and broke into a full gallop to close the small gap between me and the archway. If I could get inside the mess of bent steel, maybe I could by myself some time to get a clear run for take off on the other side.

"Why did I agree to this! Oh I am SO FUCKED!" I shouted. I didn't even have a gun to defend myself with! I had gotten so wrapped up in my quest to end the all the stupidity that I had for got the first rule of the Wasteland. Never leave home without a gun! If I make it out of here, I'm going to kill Shoari for not watching her sister closer, wait, SHIT!

"YEEP!"

I felt something latch onto my tail just as I entered the jungle of warped iron, ripping me to a complete halt and sending my chin bouncing off the concrete. I kicked and flailed my way to my back to see that one of the ghouls had grabbed my tail mid-run. It was hanging off the edge of the walkway, it's grotesque legs were grinding their way to the edge of the concrete as I reached for the other ledge to keep from being dragged down into that darkness from whence it came. With a grinding snap, I felt the weight grow as the ghoul pony fell from the edge and began shaking and writhing to try and free its prize. In sudden horrific realization, I knew all too well what Wheels must have been feeling in his last moments. Fear, no, terror at the idea of a grizzly death that would hurt the entire time you were dying.

I shook, kicked and rolled, but nothing I was doing would shake the half dead pony from my tail. The suit was holding but I found myself wishing I could somehow shake loose of it, I'll take rads over this any day. Its gruesome snarling through a mouthful of my tail sent my mane standing on end and with every wiggle and tug, I could feel my grip on the ledge faltering. There was no avoiding what I had to do If I wanted to get out of this alive.

With all of my strength, I reached my wing forward to retrieve my knife from my foreleg, and with one motion, I sent the glimmering blade flying behind me. I winced at the feeling of the blade cutting through the fabric of the suit, but I clinched my eyes shut when it started to slice through my tail. The sharpened steel did its dirty job of severing my tail half way between me and the chomping maw of the ghoul, sending it flailing to the ground with a loud thud. I scampered back to my hooves and tried my best not to mourn the loss the best I could, while I ran for the skies.

As my wings spread and I felt the sudden weightlessness of flight, I could hear a deep howl coming from far behind me. I circled the Reactor, looking down to see just how big this horde really was, but everything was still coated in the deep black fog that I had seen from the catwalk. Even from up here, I could see it moving, pulsing and every-so-often, the glimpse of a ghoul's head as it jumped in vain towards me in the air. It was like a night's sky, filled with zombies desperately trying to escape the bonds of space to get to their meal. The excursion of what had just happened sent my headache into overdrive, filling my vision with sparks of light and dulling the edges of everything in the world around me.

I flew to the junction house on the far side of the yard and perched myself on the roof. Below me in the distance, the horde had found themselves occupied with what little of me they actually managed to take as a play toy. I looked back to the remains of my tail, I was now left with a very short and jagged looking stub of what was once a hind-fetlock-long tail. Even though I knew it would grow back eventually, the thought of having to sever part of my own body just to survive the attack left me shaken. I felt cheated and defiled, yet I had done the work myself, it was even my choice to be in here. I pushed everything to the back of my head to worry about later, and pulled my head away from the stump of hair that remained.

Deciding that with a huge gaping hole in the suit, all it was going to be from this point on was a hindrance, so I shucked it off my shoulders and tossed it in a heap near the door to the roof level access door as I trotted inside. I rather die of exposure than have to deal with the thoughts of my butt being blasted with radiation for the rest of this trip. I looked to my Pipbuck, but in my debilitated state, the bright green screen forced my eyes shut in pain. Wincing, I cracked them open to see that the little health pony seemed to be sticking its tongue out at me with its eyes pointing east and west. I screwed up my face and stuck my tongue back out at it and blew it a raspberry. "Why do I even have this damn thing, it doesn't even work right half the time!" I mumbled in anger towards the door in front of me. I leaned into it, kicking the ruined suit to the side in doing so, and let myself in.

With any luck, the zombies from the containment yard will would not have managed to find their way inside of this place too... Oh who am I kidding... This is probably where they live! I bet they throw huge parties here and lick all the windows...

As I trotted down the narrow stairwell and into the top floor of the Reactor's main distribution hub, I took note of the facts that not only was the fog in this room as well, but seemed to get thicker the lower in the structure I went. I quickly set myself to try and find the room labeled "Big flippy switchy thing that turns on all the power and makes the bad ponies go away". What were those things anyhow!? I have SEEN zombie ponies before, these were not the same. The ones from my past were dumb and for the most part mindless, but these... these were something else entirely. I had never seen them with glowing eyes before, or with such an insatiable prey drive like they had. They moved with purpose, intent even, they even worked in unison like an actual horde.

And what the hell is this black fog!? It just made everything worse! It is bad enough to be dealing with a slightly more intelligent form of zombie, but one that you can't even see!? What had they opened a door to? This place was a kill-zone, worthy of nothing more than darkness and to be sealed off for all eternity and forgotten.

It was at that moment it dawned on me that the ground floor entrance to Stable 103 was now forever open to this world and all its 'treasures', and that Zu was standing right at the gate. I had to move fast and get out of here, I had to somehow find a way to block this place off and keep her from these... these things... Without me there to protect her... Easy, Joey. She can handle herself just fine, she would get out ok if these things managed to escape into the Stable. But what about the other residence of the Stable, there are kids in there, mothers and fathers even. Hell, as much as I resented Shoari and Xymol for putting me in this position, they didn't deserve to die over all of this.

I came to the end of red lit hallway to a door with the words "Breaker Junction" embossed above it, with a swift kick, the door flew open. I kept my knife held in my right wing, even if I had not heard a sound since I came in the windowless building, having it close to my side somehow comforted me. Inside I was greeted with rows upon rows of terminals, most of which were long since dead, all apart from one that was still blinking its cursor in that vivid green color. Why was it that every time I had been in a room FILLED with monitors, the one that I needed was always on while the others were completely destroyed? What magical power from on-high was responsible for such irony!?

I parked my butt in front of it and began pounding away at the keys to try and force it into revealing to me the secrets of the past. The bright display was dizzying to look at, the words almost seemed to pop off of the screen and blur together the harder I tried to focus on them. Finally, after a lot of trial and error, I managed to get to the same screen that I watch Caliber find when he would 'hack' into these damn things. Sifting through the lines of code, I tried to imagine what a smart little pony from the past would set the password as if I were them and I worked in a place like this. No doubt it would be big a scary word that I had never heard of before, nor knew the meaning to.

"Dimethylethyl? No... Cesium? No... Autoradiograph? No..." I continued through the lines of code, backing out of the terminal before it could lock me out, just as Caliber had done. Finally, after what felt like an hour I came to the last word in the list to try. I had saved it for last out of its sheer stupidity for even being listed. My hooves found the keys B-U-T-T-S and hit the enter key. The screen flashed a bright green blur of numbers, symbols and letters, forcing me to clench my eyes shut in pain at the sudden brightness. Once my brain had quit throbbing, I cracked my eyes open to see that I had in fact defeated the terminal and was met with a host of options.

...Access granted...

> Audio log 073

> Data entry 47

> Data entry 91

> Amethyst diary entry 1

> Security protocol update

> Site 103 security camera viewing

> Main power control

> Main containment gate access

"Heh... Butts. Who would set such a strange password in a place like this..." I said to myself in elation towards my victory over technology. Sure it was just a simple terminal, but given my history with these things, this was a far greater accomplishment than my first time flying. I skipped past the audio, data and diary logs and navigated to Main power control, selected it and confirmed my selection.

... Do you wish to restore power to Site 103? Y/N

I selected Y and watched as the screen went black, flickered a few times, followed by the room going completely dark. My heart sank during the momentary absence of light, save for the green glow of the terminal in front of me. After what felt like years of waiting, the lights flickered back to life in the room, this time in a warm yellow instead of the red when I had first come in here. I covered my eyes with my hooves to block out the bright lights that were about to assault my senses, but for some reason, the pain never came. I slowly cracked my eyes open, waiting for my head to throb, but nothing came from the amber glow around me. What had happened to me? Was it just sensory deprivation playing hell on my mind and giving me a headache?

I looked around the room, the black fog I had once seen now took on a dark purple hue in the glow of the overhead lighting. The white and gray walls around me had been stained with whatever this stuff was, taking on a light lavender shade about halfway up the walls. I looked down to my coat and saw that it had even managed to darken my already ashy coat with its pungency, changing it several shades darker than when I came in here, but still radiating with the faint purple glow. I looked back to the terminal and the screen in front of me had been replaced with a loading bar atop an ever changing list of processes and procedures as Site 103 slowly came back to life.

Off in the distance I could hear short whorls of industrial devices powering on, creaking and grinding their way back into operation as power flooded the circuits. The building around me began to hum with life as recirculatory fans squealed into action, moving the air around me and setting the purple cloud to dance in waves as it did so. An overhead speaker popped and crackled back to life as a mare's voice filled the room in a soft, southern tone.

...Site 103 startup protocol enacted... Four minutes and thirty-nine seconds before main reactor core starting procedure is initiated...

...Airborne pathogen detected in sector Alpha... Sector Echo... Sector Sierra...

...Unknown liquid and aerosolized contamination in Sector Zulu...

...Beginning automated air filtration of contaminated structures in priority ordered protocol... Estimated start time... Two minutes and twenty-seven seconds...

...Warning... Abnormal levels of ambient radiation detected... Please follow all safety procedures for radioactive event protocol...

...Site 103 security monitoring now online... Hostility sweep in progress... Please remain indoors until all clear is sounded...

...Time to completion... thirty-nine seconds... Some features of S.T.A.R will be offline during startup...

"Star? What the hell is Star?" I said aloud as I watch the loading bar fill at the bottom of the screen slowly. It had returned to the main screen with the audio logs and terminal functions and I selected 'Site 103 security camera viewing' in hopes that maybe I could use it to find Cherry and Maji. If this thing had access to cameras, maybe it could find them and keep me from trotting all over this place in search of the two morons. But as soon as I selected it, the speaker above me came back to life.

...Please wait for all security sweep to finalize prior to enacting surveillance systems...

"Stupid machine!" I shouted in frustration as I pounded my hooves into the table. The lights in the room went off and a deep whirring sound began to fill the room. In the glow of the terminal, I saw something move out of the corner of my vision. Slowly, I craned my head towards the corner of the room and fell back in horror. A giant black mass had began to grow, rising from the floor like a black wave. Two blue eyes gazed back at me as I shuffled my way backwards to the far wall on my haunches. The fog around me began to swirl and climb the walls towards the dark presence in the room with me as if it were attracted to it.

I watched as it grew taller and neared the ceiling, all the while its eyes glowing brighter and more vivid in color. I felt my head begin to pound with pressure as the mass began to creep along the ceiling tiles above my head, the closer it came, the more the pain grew. Frozen in fear, I coward to the ground as best I could to avoid it, but it was no use. It began to descend around me, its very presence filling the room with a cold, damp chill that nipped at my hide and stung with pain. Every part of my body it touched burned in searing agony as if it were being frozen. I forced my eyes shut and waited for it to consume me whole, but... nothing was happening. Was it waiting? Did it want me to watch as it slowly killed me?

Through my hooves I could make out the flash of light of the lights turning back on. I cautiously opened them to see that there was... nothing there. What I expected to be a huge mass of hate and destruction that sought to end my life... was an air conditioning vent? Where had it gone!? Not even a few seconds ago I was ready to be very much so dead but now... everything is fine? What in Celestia's name is going on here?

I slowly worked my way back to the terminal to see that the progress bar was nearing the halfway mark. My head ached but the dull thudding was soon reduced to a faint reminder of what had happened as time edged forward. "New priority... Just get the power back on and get out of here..." I said to myself in reassurance. I looked back to the monitor and selected the first audio file and let it play. Maybe if I heard some other pony's voice right now, it would calm what few nerves I have left. The terminal popped and hissed to life and soon the room was filled with the haggard voice of an older buck.

"...This is just beyond belief! First the higher ups take away my second lunch break, and now they want me to stop smoking? Who do they think they are anyhow!? I have to manage 5.7 kilowatts of power to this damn site, do they even have a clue how stressful working near this thing is!? I need my smokes! I swear, one of these days I'm going to lose it and have a nervous breakdown on the job and blow this place... nevermind. I forgot these things are reviewed... Hello upper management! This is Voltz here, telling you all to suck my ass!... Maybe from now on it would be best if I typed these things out, I feel stupid talking to a damn computer all day..."

The audio cut off and left me with a very distinct feeling that this 'Voltz' guy was having a very rough shift. Not just from the one audio log, but from the other two data entries he had left comprised mostly of swear words and talk of 'burning this whole damn place to the ground!'. His words, not mine. Looking back to the screen, the progress bar had yet again inched its way forward to 64% complete. "Oh com'on! Load already!" I shouted at the screen. Seeing it move forward 1%, I flattened my gaze and selected the last audio file on the list. Once more the terminal crackled to life, but this time the voice had been replaced with that of a urgent sounding mare.

"...This... this is it, isn't it? I was working in Star-Lab when... Oh Luna... The explosion took out the barracks where... Oh no. No,no,no! Shasheen! She was in there!" The mare sounded completely out of breath, but her panting stopped at the very mention of the name, Shasheen. Finally, with a much more somber tone, she spoke again. "I can't believe it! The shield held everywhere... everywhere but there!" There was another long pause followed by soft, muffled sobbing. "She was my best friend... We tried so hard to end this war! We stayed impartial to both sides! Why did they bomb us!? We just wanted peace and this is what we get!? This isn't a war, this is hell on Equis! Everything outside of the Guardian field is just... gone! The warning sounded just in time for the evacuation to begin for the town but... Goddesses... All those ponies they..." Her voice broke and she began to cry inconsolably. Several moments passed before the sound of the door opening sent me spinning in place to see what creature was trying to sneak up on me this time. The door was closed behind me, before I could even mouth the words 'What the fuck' the sound of a buck came from the terminal.

"Amethyst! We have to get out of here! Why are you even in here, the Stable door is going to close soon!" The buck said so rushed that his words nearly blurred together.

"I had to leave a message for her! Shasheen is still out there!"

"I'm sure she made it out of ok, you know how quick she is on her hooves! Com'on!"

"We have to find her!"

"There is no time! We have to go, NOW!"

"Glassglo, PLEASE!" She said in desperation.

"WE HAVE TO GO! Please... We can't stay here in your condition." He said in broken words.

"Bu...But..."

"I know... It will be ok. I promise." Even two hundred years later, his words still felt like they carried their full weight, even today.

"What if they don't let me in? I'm not on the list. I... I."

"I will get you in. I swear I will. Both of you. I don't care what I have to do, but we have to go."

"Please... Let me finish my message to Shasheen first?"

"You can record it on the way and upload it to S.T.A.R when we get there." He said, followed by the telltale sound of a Pipbuck being switched through its programs. Their voices began to fade as the sound of hoof tracks denoted them trotting away from the terminal, followed by the terminal popping once more and leaving the room silent. I sat there, staring at the screen and the slow moving progress bar, lost in thought at the sounds of two ponies who were long since gone from this world.

What kind of fear must they had felt in those moments during the attack, both trying to save somepony they cared deeply about, both trying to save themselves. I tried my best to put myself in their hooves, but every time I did, I was reminded of Zu and what it would be like to be in Glassglo's position. Could I actually protect that wild mare if the bits were down? Would she do something foolish that might get herself killed if it mattered enough to her? All questions that could never be answered without trial by fire or coming with great offense to her by me even asking. If I was going to be her buck, then that meant living with the consequences of OUR actions, and not just mine anymore.

Would I be willing to risk my life for her? Yeah, I think I would. Thinking back to that buck in the cave with the chewed up Pipbuck, I felt as though some greater power was trying to tell me something. First him, now Glassglo. Both bucks with a goal to save the mare they loved, one of them that for sure gave the ultimate sacrifice in doing so. If history is truly doomed to repeat itself, then what are the chances of me and Zu finding ourselves in such a way?

"...S.T.A.R systems are now online and ninety-three percent functional...

...Please stand by for completion of hostility scan...

The sudden announcement shook me from my reverie and I drew my attention back to the screen. A new icon had appeared in the form of the letters S.T.A.R Extranet at the bottom of the screen. With its appearance, I also noticed that the tab for 'Site 103 security camera viewing' had began blinking at a steady rate. Curiously, I selected the blinking node and accessed the cameras. To my right, a row of monitors sparked their way to life in a brilliant show of flickering images and static laden screen. The few that did seem to work showed four separate images of what looked to be different areas of the Site itself.

Only five of the twelve monitors were working with the remaining few either damaged beyond repair or soon to be judging by the levels of smoke that was pouring out of them. Below each of the screens on the monitors were little sticky notes that had somehow managed to remain in place after all these years, despite being ravaged by the purple mist in the room.

"Reactor sub-level... Outer yard... Break and rest area... Receiving... Neuro-Titan..." I mumbled to myself as I read through the list of view-able cameras, all the while cussing to myself about the fact that the one labeled 'Containment yard' was smashed to bits. Of all the monitors, the one I needed the most was completely destroyed. With a short consideration of trying to rewire one of the working monitors to that feed, I passed the idea off when I saw that they had been mounted within the wall.

...Security and hostility scans complete... Hostile threats detected in sector Tango... sector Whiskey... and sector Zulu...

...Automated security protocol has been prioritized in conjunction with threat level...

...Do you wish to authorize automated defenses?

Like music to my ears... You mean to tell me that I can just sit back and let technology do all the dirty work? Without so much as a forethought, I selected 'Y' and fell back proudly on my haunches to the fact that I had just single-hoofed enacted revenge on the dirty bastards that nipped my tail. I looked back to the monitors and waited patiently with a smile on my face for the fireworks to begin. The overhead speaker began reading out the motions of the automated defenses as I waited in glee for something to happen.

"...Sector Zulu scanning... Three threats detected... Beginning neutralization..."

My eyes darted from screen to screen, but even with the sounds of automatic fire coming from right outside the walls near me, I saw nothing. It was then that I noticed that the sticky notes on the monitors had words like 'S-A, S-B, S-C' on them.

"Oh! I get it! S-A! Sector Alpha!" I shouted to myself. Looking back to the broken containment yard monitor, I confirmed my best guess when I saw the letters 'S-Z' scribbled on the note. But my elation fell flat when I remembered that it had said that it only detected three threats in that area. I sat back down and turned my eyes to the remaining operational screens, searching them for any of the sectors that had been called out for 'neutralization'. Finally, my eyes landed on the letters S-W written just below the word 'Neuro-Titan'. I sat patiently with my eyes fixated on the screen, awaiting for any sign of movement to lock onto, but I could not see anything worthy of anything more than a hoof-stomp. Just a few rats and...

"...Sector Zulu secure... Beginning sweep of sector Tango..."

The voice from overhead faded in the distance as I galloped down the hallway for the rooftop access at full speed. No sooner than I bucked the door open, I pulled the map from my side and began frantically scanning for the Neuro-Titan Server Room. Seeing that it was on the other side of the reactor, I dropped the map and sent it swirling away in my wake of take off. I banked hard, spun to face the reactor and began to climb to clear the massive structure. I paid it, nor my now returning headache any mind as I passed over the top of the cooling towers and right through a cloud of purple haze that was billowing out atop them.

My Pipbuck began to click wildly as I neared the roof of the underground city's tomb at the sudden increase in radiation. The higher I climbed, the worse the pain in my head became. Whatever was wrong with me, had to be coming from the radiation I was exposing myself to, but again, I paid it no mind as I fell into a dive towards sector Whiskey. The loudspeaker in the room with me must have been isolated to just that one room. But when I had activated the automated security measures to try and make my life a little easier for a change, they must have gone Site-wide with its announcement.

The sudden appearance of a little Zebra and a much taller motherly-looking figure had told me that when I saw them both trot out of hiding on the Neuro-Titan Server Room's security footage. Wasting no time, I bolted for the entrance of the structure, turning my hind hooves in front of me to kick the doors open. They connected with a near bone shattering impact that sent me bouncing off the door and back into the sand. Pain erupted from my right hind leg and hip from the sudden stop the door had dealt to me. I looked up to see that the door handles had be bent in from my impact, but despite the damage, they held strong.

Limping as fast as I could, I hobbled my way to the door in the throes of a full-on migraine and a now very badly hurting right butt cheek. I hadn't even cracked the glass! In anger I pounded my hooves on the clear barrier as hard as I could, but as soon as I reared up to slam into it, I was hauled by my hind legs giving out. That and the sign that clearly read 'Pull to Open'. Now in more mental pain than anything, I flung the door open and rushed inside the dimly lit room of blinking lights and black towers. Skittering on my hooves to try and keep my balance, I did my best to regain enough composure to shout.

"MAJI! CHERRY! WHERE ARE YOU TWO!?"

...Security scan of sector Whiskey complete... High priority storage containment detected... initiating neutralization by way of Halon fire containment system gas in fifteen seconds...

From my right came the shrieking voice of a mare and the labored breath of a filly. I turned to see them both on the floor, Maji gasping for air and a very exhausted looking Cherry doing her best to pull her along the slick tile flooring. I rushed, slid and stumbled my way to them both as I did my best to shout while out of breath.

"What's wrong with Maji!?"

"She... She can't breathe! There is some... some sort of gas... leak, in here!"

I fell to my chest and slid the remaining few meters to them both, landing in a heap between the two of them. Maji's wheezing breaths came to her in short gasps as she struggled to talk. Her blue lips quivered but no words came out, instead her head fell back to the floor as she passed out from asphyxiation. With my head low to her, my nose filled with a burning sensation that bit at my throat as I breathed in the noxious chemically filled air near her. Whatever this stuff was, it had to be some form of heavy gas that crept along the floor.

"You have to... get her... out of here!" Cherry said, trying to load the stricken filly on my back.

"Com'on! Help me pull her!" I shouted as we both bit into her stable barding and began to pull.

The flooring was slick to everything but the Stable barding it seemed as we stumbled our way to the door. Seconds felt like minutes the further along we pulled Maji's limp body, any moment now the automated security system would start its 'neutralization' process, with us in the room. I have no clue what Halon is, but if it is anything like what I just breathed in on the floor... it wouldn't take long before any of us wouldn't be able to get out of here. Even now with the short amount of time I had been in here, I was already getting light headed and dizzy.

Just a few meters from the door, I felt Maji's weight grow exponentially, pulling me from my hooves and onto my belly. I looked over to Cherry who...

"Cherry! Get up! We have to get out of here before that stupid security thing starts up!"

"I... can't... Go!" She said through broken breaths from the ground.

"FUCK!" I shouted as I strained to pull the filly along the tile floor. In desperation I began to flap my wings and pull with all my strength. Surprisingly, with me airborne and the floor as slick as it was, I made short work of the remaining distance and flung Maji out the front door and into the street. Mentally apologizing to her, I turned back to the double doors for Cherry. She was pawing at the floor, trying to close the distance the best she could in her weakened state.

...Initiating containment protocol for neutralization...

"NO!" I shouted as I hurled myself at the doorway, falling just close enough to block the slowly closing door with my foreleg and elbow long ways. Cherry was just a few inches from my leg, her trembling movements slowing her progression to an absolute crawl. I brace myself with my free hoof to try and push it open, but the security system must have had some sort of ratcheting mechanism because no amount of force I used would budge it an inch.

"COM'ON! Cherry! Take my hoof!" I screamed as I reached for her.

Her grasp was as weak as a newborn foal's, but she managed to lock fetlocks with me and I began to pull. No sooner than her muzzle cleared the doorway, she began taking huge breaths, sucking in air as fast as she could as she crawled over my Pipbuck to freedom.

...Obstruction detected at main entrance... Initiating emergency lock down sequence...

The weight on my leg began to grow, compressing it slowly and so much so that I could feel the bones beginning to bend. My fetlock locked into place and began to start bending backwards at the joint as the sound of gears grinding overhead filled my ears. Cherry was little more than halfway out of the door when the alarm sounded for the emergency lockdown, still trying to regain her breath as she crawled over me. The pain started to grow more and more as the door began to close despite my leg blocking it.

"Cherry! Hurry! The door is closing on my leg!"

"I'm... Trying..." She wheezed back to me.

My fetlock let out a pop as it fell out of place under the eminence weight, sending pain up my leg and into my side. The sharp edge of the other door began to press its way through my elbow, breaking the skin and forcing me to scream in agony at the top of my lungs. This door was going to tear my leg off and cut her in half if she took any longer to get out of this place, I had to do something.

Through the pain, I reached over the top of her, and with a hoof-full of her saddlebags, pulled with all my strength, sliding her out of the doorway. Cherry rolled off of me and down the stairs to a motionless Maji as I began trying to free my le... Was that even my leg!?

The door had started to bend the bones and had forced my hoof upwards at a painful looking (and very painful feeling) angle. I wrenched and pulled but the gateway had my leg pinned to the bone. I pulled as hard as I could, but the door continued to close a little at a time. I felt hooves around my back leg and a light tugging on my hind hoof as Cherry pulled with what little energy she had left to try and help.

The pressure grew more and I was no longer bracing myself, I was pounding on the door frame with my one free leg. With is sickening crunch, my trapped leg broke right at my Pipbuck, letting the door slam hard down on the edge of it and my hoof. The impact tore something in the joint of my hoof and pushed it to the side as it clamped down on my Pipbuck's outer shell.

Tears flooded my vision as I watched on as the door slowly crushed the arcane device like a soda can. With a loud slam, the metal frame of the door tore through the casing of my Pipbuck and I fell back onto the stairs. My vision was growing dark from the pain, but I had to risk a look at my leg. I gasped at the horror the building had dealt to it and bolted upright, cradling its remains in my other leg.

The bones were protruding out of the hide with bits of sinew and muscle still attached. My hoof dangled at the fetlock, the skin torn around the joint from hyperextension. Blood was pouring from the wound, pooling on the ground around my crotch. Pain was replaced with adrenalin and fear at the sight before me, was this even saveable? Would they have to... Have to...

I broke down into tears, the trauma of everything weighing me down like a lead blanket as the very real thought of losing a leg washed over me. I didn't even have time to feel the prick of the needle in my shoulder as Cherry stabbed me with a syringe. Everything around me started to go blurry as she dropped the needle of Med-X to the ground and began trying to bandage up what was left of my leg.

I fell back on my wings, covering my face with my feathers to hide the emotions I was feeling. Even with a full syringe of Med-X pumping through my veins, the pain came flooding back as she started to work. Through it all I could swear I could hear Zuri, over and over again saying my name. I pulled my wings from my eyes, only to see nothing more that the bright blue cracks in the ceiling above me. Was I dying? What was happening to me?

I started to close my eyes again, this time with them feeling like they were made of stone. As I felt the pain beginning to dull again, I could swear I was actually vibrating with shock. My mind began to play tricks on me, my ears filling with blurry sounding words, but one kept coming to the surface. It was Zury saying my name.

"Joey... Joey..."

Over and over it repeated as I slowly slipped into darkness.

"Joey!"

...GOOOOOOD EVENING PONIES! That's right! It is I, none other than your faithful, if not slightly inebriated servant of the airwaves, Twisty! Normally I would explain my precarious behavior, but seeing as just about everypony in the Stable knows why I am celebrating, I feel that I can speak for us all when I say that we are ALL a little tipsy tonight! Not just because the entrance to Site 103 is open, oh no, not just that. But because the Site has survived! If you need proof of that fact, look no further than Essence and Ether's Bar on Level C! That's right, we have the keys to the past that we have all spoke of for years AND high quality, laboratory grade alcohol! Premium aged for 200 years in a radioactive fog too!

As if that were not enough reason to celebrate, it turns out that we have a honest to goodness hero in our midst! Ya'll remember that Trackerpony for far north? 'Shut up Twist' anypony who knows anypony knows about that crazy cat!'. Yeah, yeah. I know, ya'll. We have all been singing his praises for the last two days now ever since he managed to pull Cherry and Maji out of the clutches of that gas chamber. If it were not for him, we would have lost two very special ponies to us all, and I'm not just sayin' that because I think Cherry has a nice...

Whoa there! Almost spilt' the beans! Anyway, if it is all the same to you lot, I think it is high time this little DJ put his controls on auto pilot and played some more music from the past! Oh, almost forgot! I want to send a heartfelt thank you to that crazy Pegasus who we all have to thank for this amazing night! Not only do I have this well cultured buzz, but now I also have access to Site 103's audio files totaling over 2000 new songs! Far be it from me to wonder why our ancestors chose to save maps, documents, equipment and the sort when the door opened to this place and not any form of decent music! Shame on them I say! How dare they forget the fine arts!

There I go again... Rambling as always! This next one goes out to you, Joey! I think I speak for all of us when I say, thank you! This next one goes out to you, you insane flying stripped bastard! We all hope you wake up soon so you can join the party! Now... Here's one of the fine classics that we have liberated from the clutches of time, one of the true examples of what defines art in sound! Everypony give it up for "The Ponutholes!" singing "Mare Better Have My Bits!"...

Twisty's words came from overhead like the voice of an angel to my fractured nerves as I regained consciousness. This was followed shortly thereafter by the sounds that I can only describe as pure chaos coming from the speaker. All be them the words of a drunken, raving lunatic angel who had a seriously skewed idea of what defines classical music, but an angel nonetheless. I had thought that I had been hearing the words of Djpon3 in my delirious state, but when he screamed through the loudspeaker "I'm so drunk I could marry a toilet", I had gathered that I was listening to somepony with serious drinking problem. Not to mention the fact that the music... if you could even call this music... sounded like somepony trying to skin a cat that was being sodomized by ballbat all while being thrown at a stack of trash cans.

Oh! Ow... That sucks! I tried to crack my eyes open but no sooner than I had let even a shred of light into my world of darkness, I clenched them back shut. My head throbbed with pain at even the thought of attempting to open my eyes. Now fully awake, but unable to see, I could tell wherever I was, it had to be near the damn sun... Wait, am I back in Silver Shoe? No, can't be there, this place doesn't reek of urine, feces and failure... Oh shit... Bright room, bright light... Celestia! I'm dead! Oh FU... poop.

The sterile smell of alcohol flooded my senses along with the pungent aroma of ozone the more my olfactory senses returned. What is this place? This isn't the Everafter, at least it better not be, I could live with the music but I better not have died and still have to deal with this headache. It smells like a... Right... A building tried to eat my left leg and according to the radio, I have been out of it for two days now. I'm in another hospital. Well, at least this time I won't have to ask twenty question to figure out where I am. Wait... How the fuck did I get here!?

Cherry was barely able to move and Maji was completely knocked out cold when I passed out. They must have come in to find us when the alarm sounded for the security system. Either that or Cherry somehow found the will and strength to pull me out of that hellhole. Either way, thank you to whoever got me out of there and into this world of blinding light that is so bright that it is piercing my eyelids with its full volume.

"He's waking up. Quick get the goggles on him." Somepony said... from somewhere...

The sound of a door opening was accompanied by hoofsteps on a hard flooring... Tile maybe? It was hard to tell really, what with the blinding pain in my head keeping me company for the time being. I felt my head being gently raised from the pillow I was resting on and something being placed over my head and affixed to my eyes. The hoof that had been gently holding my head then rested it back on the pillow, followed by them quickly leaving the room again.

"Joey, can you hear me?" A mare's voice said over the speaker in the room. I tried to speak, but no words came out, instead what did was a rasping, muffled sound that could only come from a throat as dry as the desert I was in.

"Slowly now... Your throat is dry from the lack of moisture in the room. Try your best to open your eyes, you are wearing welder's goggles now so it should be considerably less painful. Nod when you can see." She said. I timidly cracked an eye open and was greeted with a dark green hue of a glowing orb above my head... scratch that... ORBS... Plural... I craned my head about, trying to gather my surroundings as best I could. I was in a... well... colorless room filled with light, laying on a bed. Apart from the one large black window to my right, the room was void of detail or items.

"Good! Do you see that tube above your head? That is a water line, when you are ready, try and drink from it the best that you can."

Oh... So I'm a hamster now... I looked up and saw the thin tube to my right. Without wasting time, I reached for it with my hoof and brought the life giving waterline to my mouth. The first swallow was the hardest, it feeling more like acid than actual water. But soon my sore throat was soothed and I drank greedily from the line.

"Easy, Joey. You don't want to fill up on water this early on. You still need to eat some actual food." Xymol's voice rang out overhead. Figures he would be here...

"Where... am." I tried to speak, but my dried and decrepit voice was still faltering.

"You are in Star-Lab's infirmary. More specifically, you are in a pressurized photonic absorption chamber that we have managed to construct." Xymol said.

"Why am I in here?" I squeaked out, finding it slightly easier to talk.

"You were exposed to... as best we can guess... A mixture of aerosolized magical byproducts that had become homogenized with radioactive off gassing and hydrogen gas. The resulting isotropic fog was able to enter your skin and began wreaking havoc with your central nervous system and cognitive abilities. Thankfully for you, the resulting toxin can be broken down by means of Photodissociation over time." Xymol said in a very proud tone. Now... If only he would speak in stupid, I would know what he said. No doubt that he came up with the idea to cram me in a room with twenty some odd small suns.

"How... How long will I have to be in here?" I asked.

"We are awaiting the blood work to come back at any moment. You have been showing signs of recovery over the last thirty hours, with the largest changes being in the last ten or so. We expect you to make a full recovery from this..." The mare said in a more somber tone, once again returning from wherever she went off to.

"Why do I get the feeling that there is more to this than you are telling me? Is Zuri ok? Where is she?" I said, mentally punishing myself for that not being the first words out of my mouth.

"The bitc... Zuri is fine. She is more than likely sleeping in your quarters." Ah... So that mare was Shoari...

"Then what is the problem?"

"Joey... Your leg was... Let us just say, very bad." Xymol's words froze me in my place. I felt my heart sink as my body began nervously checking itself for all of its limbs to be intact.

"Just tell me..." I squeaked fearing the worst.

"We were able to save the leg, but we fear that it will be of a hindrance to you for quite some time. The magical waste was able to seep into the bone structure, making it very difficult to heal back normally. We have secured the bones with titanium rods and screws but the recovery will need several surgeries to correct. Fortunately, we now have access to the facilities to perform such work, maybe even reverse the damage completely if we can find the supplies we need to fix the Alpha level healing talisman. " Shoari said in an almost apologetic tone. Even though I knew I should be ok with the fact that they had done the best that they could, I had this niggling feeling that I should still be upset with her over... something.

"Well, if I get to keep my leg, I will count that as a win. When I get out of here, I will see what I can do to get you the supplies you need to fix it. After all, I guess I have a vested interest in getting that thing working again." I said, trying to laugh, but feeling fake in doing so.

"That is the spirit! I know you can do it Joey!" Came the young voice of a filly.

"Maji! What have I told you about wondering out of your room!" Shoari shouted.

"But sissy!? I wanted to thank him!" Maji begged.

"Maji? You're alive?"

"Yup! Strong as an Ox! Cuter than one too!" The little filly said in elation.

"Joey, the blood work came back with scant traces of the toxin. We feel as though you should be able to leave the chamber soon. We will need to run a proper blood panel and physical once you are out, but after that you should be free to go. Just try and relax and drink some water, I will see about having Zuri here when you are able to visit with her and some food prepared for the two of you." Xymol said.

"Maji! Put that down! That is a very delicate..." Shoari shouted.

*Crash*

"I'M GOING TO BAKE YOU INTO STEW!"

"AH!" Maji's screams faded as she ran from the room, presumably being chased by Shoari.

"YOU CAN'T BAKE A STEW! JUST SAYING!" I shouted after them, actually feeling a bit of enjoyment from the spectacle I was hearing.

I spent the next few hours drinking water, peeing... though I have no clue where it was going... and trying not to look at my leg. The one time that I did manage to risk a glance at it, all I saw was a swollen bandage mound, accompanied with a host of tubes flowing various liquids in and out of my leg. Despite the gruesome appearance, I wasn't in any pain apart from my pounding head, but even that seemed to fade with the more water I took in.

Finally, the lights began to dim in my room, followed shortly thereafter by the door on the far side opening. In trotted a very tired looking Xymol followed in by a nurse who I had never seen before. Xymol trotted to my bedside while the nurse began unhooking the host of lines that were running to my leg and began un-bandaging it.

"Joey, how are we feeling?" Oh, that same old saying must be the first thing all doctors learn...

"Better. I don't feel any pain."

"How is your vision doing?"

"It is hard to tell... everything is black in these goggles..." I said flatly as I hooved them out of the way of my vision.

"Good, humor is a good sign of lack of mental degradation! This is my nurse in training, Heartbeat."

"Yeah, it feels normal to me."

"No." Xymol said laughing. "Joey that is her name, Heartbeat."

"Oh... Sorry." I said, giving the crimson mare a soft smile. She paid me no mind as she studiously focused on the job Xymol had given her.

"All of your blood work came back good. We will need to run another round of screenings just to ensure that you are as healthy as I believe you to be. You will be happy to know that your liver infection had cleared up nicely and that we were able to purge your system of the toxins. I just wish there was something more I could do for your legs."

"Wait... LEGS!?"

"Oh, yes. You already know that your left front leg has been badly damaged, but you also managed to tear a ligament in your right hind haunch as well. It will heal on its own, albeit slowly. Forgive me, but we only had time to save your right leg before we had to place you in isolation, had we squandered time fixing something that would heal naturally, you would have lost the other."

"Thanks... I guess?"

"You are welcome. As I was saying, due to the nature of the toxin, we had to prioritize it over your front leg. If we had been able to purge your system before-hoof, then I suspect it would have healed normally. But due to the fact that we had to do so after the operation, the recovery time will be much longer than normal."

"How much longer... Exactly?"

"I would venture a guess on it taking four weeks. During that time, you will be able to use your leg as you always have been, but you will need to take great care in not re-injuring it. The toxin will take time to be metabolized out of your bones, once it has, we will need to open your leg back up and cut away the dead tissue and re-set the bones in place. Then we will be able to mend them properly." Xymol said, with a grimace.

"Better than I expected, I guess."

"Doctor, I have finished the procedure. Should I go ahead with the physical?"

"You seem healthy enough to me. I am going to leave you in Heartbeat's hooves for now, I will see you again soon." Xymol said, trotting to the door.

"Now, please. Lean forward and we will begin. I have a list of things that the doctor wishes for me to perform and collect. I will do my best to be gentle." Heartbeat said, helping me to sit upright. I timidly placed my left leg to the bed and began bearing weight on it. Surprisingly, all I felt was an odd pressure radiating out from the mended appendage, not the earth shattering pain I had been expecting. My butt however... Sharp and burning pain was running down my hind leg with every slight movement.

"Good! Now just try and relax. Some of these procedures are... involved." She said, eyeing the chart.

"Yeah? How so?"

Her eyes grew wide and she fell slack jawed.

"VERY... Involved..."

I swallowed hard.

The exam was... well, many things really. Exhausting, humiliating, terrifying... Violating for sure, but above all, it was beyond awkward. The young nurse was trying to get a grasp (in more ways than one) on how to handle all of the things that Xymol had set out for her to do. But finally, after much time of me turning red and her running off to ask questions, we were nearing the finale of my check up, the hernia testing. This procedure too, was humiliating and involved hooves in places that I rather her not have them, but according to her, it was a crucial step in the procedures.

"Ok, just hold still and cough for me..." She said, her cold hooves... yeah... I coughed obediently as she did... things... that both were freezing cold and actually quite nice feeling to my... Stallion-hood.

"Ok, everything checks out ok... from the looks of things, you are a healthy little pony." She said, as she continued her assault on my privates.

"Could you... not say words like 'little' when doing things like that?" I asked, shaking with utter embarrassment.

"Oh? Why not." She asked very matter of factually. Just as she ended her sentence, the automatic door slid open and in trotted Zuri and Xymol trotted into the room. Xymol paid us no mind as he trotted up to the young nurse and began looking over her notes. Zu on the other hoof... If looks could kill, her's would be a whatever took out Site 103. I sat in awkward silence, eyes locked with Zuri as both the nurse and Xymol stepped to the side to discuss her findings. As they moved over, Zuri's eyes followed the mare with reckless intent and a baleful gaze.

I motioned my hooves to her, shaking my head in insistence that she not attack the poor mare for just doing her job. Even though the previous events had been degrading, it was clear to see that she took no pleasure in what had to be done. But as far as Zu was concerned, this mare was stepping on her property, an act that could not go without retribution of some form. Before I could clamber down off the hospital bed to try and calm the psychotic striped ball of fury down, Shoari took that exact moment to also enter the room. What was this? A damn party!?

Zu's murderous thoughts must have become sidetracked by the appearance of yet another opposing mare, well, at least in her eyes anyhow. Her eyes darted between the nurse and Shoari as she seemed to be trying to figure out who to attack first, all the while shaking with nervous anger. I decided that this had gone on long enough! So I proceeded to climb down off the bed, slip half way and land in a heap in the floor between them. Pain shot out of my hind leg from the impact to my haunch, causing me to carry it off the ground when I finally managed to stand. Trotting in short hops with my hind leg in the air, I tapped Zymol on the back and motioned my head to the very pissed off Zebra in the room behind me.

"Yes, Joey? Is there something that you require?" He said, looking at me over the top of his glasses.

"Yeah, hey, am I good to go here? I think I would like to spend some time with Zu before I have to fly out. I can fly, right?"

"Yes, yes. Of course you can fly, in fact, I would encourage you to stay aloft as much as you can for the next few days. Without the added weight on your leg, it will promote healing the infection much faster that way. Why is it that you wish to leave so soon? You could stay and rest here, you know?"

"Yeah... I think it would be much better if I were to, maybe get Zu out of here for some fresh air?"

"I'm sorry, I don't follow what you are trying to say." He said, adjusting his glasses.

I leaned in close, and lowered my voice. "I think it would be best for your nurse and Shoari if I were to change Zuri's scenery a bit, you know, maybe one without the two of them in it? I think she wants to kill both of them." I said quietly.

"I'm sorry. But from what I am seeing, I think she likes the current view just fine." He said with a evil grin. I turned my head back to see a very wide eyed Zuri and Shoari with her head cocked to one side, both of them with their eyes locked on to my flank...

I spun in place, facing the two of them. "H-Hey!?"

"Short tails are... they are just the best, aren't they?" Shoari asked, her blushful gaze never faltering in the slightest. Oh Goddesses... NOW Zuri is going to murder her.

"I agree. I quite like the shortened tails..." Zuri replied to Shoari with a small nod. OH COME ON!

"I... You... But you hate...UGH!" I shouted through my near constant stammering, trot... hopped out the door.

"Aw, look how cute... He is like a little hurt bunny from my books." Shoari said.

"Yes, a cute sexy bunny." Zuri replied.

You have got to be kidding me!

"I HATE YOU ALL!" I shouted into the room as I turned and trotted down the hallway. Zuri was soon to follow me as I trotted towards the exit.

"So... What did the little hussy do to you?" Zu asked as we made our way to the Pipbuck Technician's Stall. The exam was... involved... So much so that I had to conceal some of the more embarrassing details of what happened from Zu in order to keep her from getting upset all over again. I had been lucky that a chance encounter with that zombie, ghoul, pony thing had afforded me the ability to break her concentration enough to make her not only forget about it, but also play nice with Shoari, however embarrassing it was. Ok... So I held back some of them because they were downright humiliating as well, but seriously though. Why did they need THAT sample from me!? I can understand being thorough but, COM'ON! I rarely even do that sort of thing let alone IN FRONT of somepony... who I have never met.

"Oh, now you care about that... It was just the typical poking and prodding to make sure that I was still me. It is nothing to get worked up over, she is a doctor."

"IN TRAINING!" Zu barked back at me. Ever since I had come out of that miniature desert that call a Photo... Photodiv... Crap. Tiny room of damaging eyesight. She has been glued to my side and questioning everypony around me. Granted, I had my suspicions too, but I was at least keeping my cool about things. Had Shoari actually orchestrated the events that landed me in the state that I was in, there would be Hell to pay. But going off of what Zuri was displaying, Hell itself would tremble in fear of what she would do.

"Same thing. And keep your voice down, I still haven't figured this place out yet and I don't want them to think we are suspicious of them. Wait, didn't they do that to you?"

"Yes. But it is different."

"Zuri, how in Celestia's ridiculous name is that different?"

"I am a mare."

"WHA..." I started but was quickly silenced by a hoof to the mouth.

"Shh... Keep your voice down." Zu said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. How did she manage to, in one motion, not only flip my own words on me insultingly, but also manage to turn my face so red? Sneaky little Zebra.

We rounded the corner to Stable 103's Pipbuck stall and... Sweet Celestia that's the biggest buck I have ever seen! He was at least twice my size! The oversized buck was stuffed into his stable barding so tight that it looked ready to burst at the seams. His massive muscles were bulging from the leg holes, that I guess were not regulation Stable atria, but mandatory for him to even be able to wear it. Thick veins lined his brown legs, chest and forehooves like giant tunnels all over his body. The fact that such a huge buck was not only wearing a tiny Stable-tec hat that looked about twenty sizes too small and barely covered his ash colored mane, but was also crammed behind the counter of the miniature in comparison stall, was both hilarious and terrifying.

"H-hello?" I said shaking, both trying not to run and trying really, REALLY hard not to laugh.

"CAN I HELP YOU!?" He shouted at an incredible volume, but oddly, in a very polite manner.

"YE-yeah... I broke my Pipbuck, I think I need a new one."

"IMPOSSIBLE. YOU CAN NOT BREAK A PIPBUCK. WHAT IS YOUR NAME, I WILL GET A WORK ORDER STARTED." Spit and breath reeking of rotten apples washed over Zu and I both as we both stood there in shock.

"Joey, sir. I'm the one that found Maji and Cherry in the Site. I don't think I am on any of your lists, if that is why you are asking." I replied in the softest, friendliest voice I have ever used in my entire life. The buck said nothing, but instead, hardened his gaze. He... Oh great rad gophers! He had been SITTING DOWN THIS WHOLE TIME!? He stood, lowered his head out of the stall to avoid smacking it on the doorway and stepped out into the hall in front of me and Zu. I turned an eye to Zuri whose ears were folded flat back on her head and her eyes were shrunken to pin pricks... I mirrored pretty much the same expression.

"YOOOOU... YOU WERE THE ONE THAT FOUND CHERRY?" He said, in as low of a tone as he could manage.

I swallowed hard. "Ye-yes?" I squeaked out meekly. I looked back to Zu... WHERE THE FUCK DID SHE GO!? I spun in place, looking for the Zebra that had just been beside me only for my eyes to land on a suspiciously shaking trash can with two eyes peering out from under the lid.

"YOU WERE THE ONE THAT GOT YOUR LEG BROKEN BY THAT DOOR?" He said with his nose pressed to mine with a deadly serious tone. Oh Goddesses... I survived being eaten by a door and now I am going to be killed by a giant, ridiculously dressed pony. Trembling in my hooves, my body clenched up like spun steel when he reached forward and picked me up off my hooves and began squeezing me. He reared up in his embrace, lifting me high into the air with him in doing so, and began to... to-

"THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING MY SISTER, LITTLE TRACKER PONY." He said, nuzzling my chest with his head and his grip tightened. He was, thanking me? If this was his way of showing gratitude, he had a funny way of showing it! "IF IT WERE NOT FOR YOU, I WOULD BE ALL ALONE. BUT YOU SAVED HER, AND THAT LITTLE ZEBRA TOO! YOU SACRIFICED YOUR LEG TO SAVE HER!" He shouted into my chest, his voice carrying so much bass with it that its very volume shook my lungs.

"You are... too kind!" I wheezed out as he continued to squeeze the life out of me.

"PLEASE, I MUST REPAY YOU FOR YOUR BRAVE FEAT! WHAT IS IT THAT YOUR REQUIRE?" I felt my back pop (actually that felt kinda good) and I let out a thin breath of air.

"AIR! STILL INJURED! GROUND!" I said through strangled words.

"YES, SORRY." He said, placing me back down to the ground. I gasped for oxygen, doing my best to refill my utterly deflated lungs with the life giving gas. Zuri, seeing that the buck was less dangerous than previously, had removed her trash can armor and once more returned to my side and began tentatively checking my leg for injury.

"Cherry... She is your sister?" I said in breathless disbelief.

"YES!" He shouted, but soon lowered his voice as best he could when he saw me and Zuri cover our ears in pain. "I mean, yes. Cherry is my sister. My name is Big Buck, friends call me Bucky. Pleasure to meet you."

"Wow..." Zuri mouthed.

"Well, I'm happy to have been of service? Is there any chance you could... fix my Pipbuck, seeing as you said these things are indestructible." I said, full well knowing that it was well beyond repair.

"I CAN...I mean, I can do that, no problem! Free of charge! It is the least that I can do for the buck that saved my sister." He said once again squeezing himself behind the cramped stall.

"If you say so..." I mumbled as I fished in around my saddlebags for the crushed Pipbuck. Finding It, I gently placed it before him. "Here is half of it... and here is the other half."

'Bucky' shifted his eye to the remnants of my Pipbuck and let his jaw hang freely. I watched one of his massive eyes begin to twitch uncontrollably followed by a squeaking sound coming from his throat. "I-I...Ho..."

"Soooo... Can it be fixed?" More eye twitching and half words came from Bucky as he began to sweat. "Maybe I could get a new one?" Still no reply, but instead he reached behind him and hooved over a brand new (new to me anyways) Pipbuck, all the while his eye never leaving the heap of parts I had placed before him.

"Thank you?" I said, backing out of the stall. Bucky just shifted his eyes from the Pipbuck to me and back again.

"We will just be leaving then. Really nice to meet you and all..." I said, my flank reversing around the corner behind me. Bucky just nodded his head and began shaking. Zuri and I ran. In the distance behind us, I could clearly make out the word "HOW!?" being shouted from the massive buck as it shook the walls of the Stable.

Soon we found ourselves at the topside entrance of the Stable's cave, our gear sorted and thanks to Xymol's scant knowledge of Pipbucks, I was now wearing my new, clean arcane device proudly on my right leg. It was taking some getting used to, I was still raising my left leg in front of me every time I wanted to access anything on it, but I was managing well enough. It took me some time to notice, but this model was quite a bit different than the old one I had been using. The outer shell was largely the same, but on this one the buttons were in different locations and it seemed to actually function without near as much lag. Zuri had set herself preparing our things for the long flight, placing the various items in her saddlebags that she had acquired. I have no clue what she had bartered for in the time that I was out of it, but by the looks of it, I was going to be totting around a little more than just water and food.

"OH!OHOHOHOH!" Shoari shouted from deep in the cave as she ran out to see us off. "JOEY! ZURI! WAIT!" Did she just shout for Zuri too? What all happened when I was getting a suntan!?

"Joey! I'm so glad I caught you!" She said, completely out of breath.

"What is it? Am I dying or something." I said, taking a few steps back from her.

"No, not that. Remember when I said I had something important to tell you but I could not remember what it was?"

"Yeah..." I said, waving a hoof in the air for her to continue. She said nothing, but instead placed a rolled out map on the sand and pointed at it.

"You have a map... Good for you." I said, going back to my conversation with Xymol.

"NONO! Look!" She said as she began tracing a hoof from Hoofington to where Site 103 was on a map. "You came here from Silver Shoe, yeah? According to this, you flew two hundred miles out of your way! You can fly due north and be in Hoofington in a day and a half!" She said smiling ear to ear. I looked at the map and where she had drawn a sad pony face next to a blue line that seemed to wander all over Equestria and finally to where I was now standing. I looked to a very happy looking pony face she had drawn with a new red line that lead straight to Hoofington. I had never even stopped to consider the fact that I had been flying by way of landmarks, going from town to town that I had known from my past in order to get anywhere. How much time had I wasted in my past doing that very thing, I have no clue, but seeing it all on a map, was doing little to stem the tide of aggravation towards the short Zebra mare. All thoughts for another time, pushing them to the side, I did my best to seem happy that she had shortened our trip.

"Thank you for this... slightly infuriating, but extremely useful gift." I said, with a forced smile.

"It is my pleasure!" She said, closing her eyes in elation.

"Will you be coming back to us again, Joey?" Xymol asked from behind me.

"I'm... not sure. I can accept the fact that I'm hurt, I made that choice on my own. But I'm still unclear as to whether or not this was all staged just so you lot could get to your precious city." I said, my words dripping with malice.

"You still do not believe us. I can not say that I blame you. I would however say that you may wish to speak with Zuri before you are to cast blame, I feel that she may have more insight than you know." Shoari said, covering her mouth with a hoof. "Thank you, if it were not for you, I would be an only child and I would have lost one that I care for deeply. I hope that in time you will see that I was honest with you." She said with a snotty sniff.

"Shoari and I had nothing to do with the ill timed disappearance of Maji and Cherry into Site 103, I can assure you. I wish that you would find reason on your trip back north to Hoofington. Please, ask Zuri, I feel as though she will calm your fears of what happened. After all, she is the one that found you after you passed out from shock. All the same, I am deeply sorry for what happened to you down there, I want to see you back here in three weeks so that I can test the progression of your healing. I intend on seeing your treatment through as thanks for finding Maji and Cherry."

"What about giving you access to Site 103?" I said accusingly.

"Some things in this world come with benefits to the means that are justified. Others come at great cost to ponies who wish to seek them out. But in your case, you stood to gain nothing more than to reunite Shoari with her little sister, and all of us with Cherry. This feat came at a great cost to you, this is a fact that is not lost on us, but rather a heavy burden that we must carry from now on. This also leaves us in a state of trepidation for what all has happened to you and what is to come from our access to the site."

"I don't follow." I said, scratching my head at all the words he just flung at my face.

"It means that we feel as though we have gotten something for free from you that ended up costing you greatly in sacrifice against your will. We help one another freely here, but if a situation arises where some Equine is going to be forced into great cost against their wishes, we see this as a sin against Equinity. Ponies of the past spoke of Friendship and Harmony according to our texts, something I am sorry to say that we have never experienced first hoof. But we all believe that they were not made to sacrifice unwillingly. You seem to have been placed into that sort of situation of unwilling sacrifice, yet you still did it without question... for the most part."

"I am only going to ask this one time, so make your answer the correct one." I said, lowering my head to the two of them. Shoari seemed to perk up at the thought of a chance to sway my opinion, but still held onto that hurt look she had been showing. Xymol however, stood stoically before me, as though to show that he was sure of himself and confident in swaying my opinion. "Was this a setup? I won't be mad, I will just leave if it was. But know this, If you lie to me, and I will find out if you are, I will burn this place to the ground with you in it. You put everypony in this Stable at risk, that's whatever to me, it is none of my business. But you also put Zuri in danger, that is something that I will not stand for." I said, my voice edging on a growl. Shoari and Xymol both looked to one another for who should speak first before finally, Shoari stepped forward.

"It was not a setup. I swear it! I will donate you my leg to prove it! I wish I could take your pain away, I wish that I could have been the one who suffered, not you, I wish I had never opened that damned door! Please! You have to believe me, I will do anything to show you reason!" She said near begging at my hooves.

"Anything?" I asked, narrowing my eyes towards her.

"Anything! Really! Just tell me, I swear to you that we did not plan this! Bad things happen to good ponies sometimes and I HATE IT! Please! Give me the chance to make this better and I swear I will." Shoari had tears streaming down her face, her expression was quivering and her words felt as though they had actual remorse in them.

"Ok, I believe you. But that does not change the fact that you just put everypony, Zebra and Zony for that matter, at risk. For that, I think the least you could do is reassemble the door." I said, pacing between them.

"But..." The two of them started.

"No buts!" I shouted, also subconsciously covering my butt with my tail. "I don't care if you make the damn thing functional or permanent, I want it back up and in place and a security protocol put in place to keep 'wandering Zebra fillies' out of there."

"So we just have to put the door back up, make it functional if we want to, and you will be ok with that?" Xymol said.

"Yes, though if you have any sense, you would close that damn place off for good. But I understand also what value it is to you, so if you at least fix it to where nopony gets in or out without authorization, we will call it all even for now."

"For now?" Shoari said.

"Take it or leave it."

"Done. We will start construction at once."

"And I will be back in three weeks to see that you are holding true to your word." I said, trotting back to Zuri who was... Of for Luna's sake! "Stop staring and fix our gear!"

"I am sorry, but it looks so cute!" She said, smiling at my glowing red cheeks. I so can not wait for my tail to grow back. I hopped to her side and began sifting through the luggage for water. Behind me, Xymol and Shoari were already talking about scheduling conflicts with the new task I had given them and the 'Excursions' they had planned as they trotted back down the cave towards the Stable. I took note of the fact that Zuri had packed my saddlebags to the fullest they had been in years, both of them overflowing with supplies. Most of it seemed innocuous, all apart from a large package she had set aside from the rest of the crap she was trying to shoehorn into my bags.

"Zuri, What's that?" I asked, pointing a hoof.

"What is what?" She said, quickly scooting in front of the large box. I flattened my gaze towards her.

"Zu... You aren't hiding anything with that scrawny butt of yours. I told you to only pack the necessities, I can only carry so much." Zuri shifted out of place for a moment before finally sliding to one side and revealing a long box labeled 'Project Peregrine"

"It is... A gift..." She said sheepishly.

"Oh? Who gave it to you?" I asked, curious to see if her and Shoari had jumped past the begrudged friend stage and straight into full blown 'Chumy'.

"No... It is, a gift, for you." She said blushing.

"For me? Why would you get me a gift? It isn't my birthday or anything I said, hopping to her side.

"I wanted to do something special for you. That is what mares do for their bucks, no?"

"Zu, I appreciate you doing this, really I do. But you really didn't have to go through the trouble." I said, with a soft smile.

"You don't like it, do you." She said, looking away.

"Zu... How can I know if I like it or not? It's still in the box, that is unless you got me a box. In which case, you and I need to have a conversation about what constitutes a gift." I said laughing.

"Oh silly!" She shouted as she reached behind us and brought the box forward. "It is much more than just a box. I know that you had to part with your rifle to find me, I wanted to gift you something better, I think." She said, sliding the box in front of me.

"You want me to open it, now?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! Please! I want to know if you like it or not!" She said, bobbing her head nervously. I ran a hoof over the rather sturdy feeling cardboard box, lifting the edges of it to wiggle the lid free. Despite being made of nothing more than some thick paper, the lid felt as heavy as steel! I raised the lid away and... and...

"Do you like it?" Zuri asked, but her words came to me in muffled blobs as I gazed into the box in pure wonderment! Gleaming gray and black glistened in the sunlight back to me, casting reflections across my face. Meticulous Earth pony machine work melded itself with sharp right angles that fell into purposeful curves to fit its ergonomics perfectly to the user, all the while coinciding with arcane technology that had been blended into the every accesory. Perfection was not the word, there were no words that could describe something that had been build so perfectly, so beautifully, yet so baleful in intent.

I reached out a hoof and ran it along the words that had been milled into the receiver that clearly read out as "Peregrine Semi-auto .338 Lapua", all the while taking in the clear boxes of glimmering brass and copper. I placed my hooves around it and slowly lifted it from its cradle inside of the box and found it to be surprisingly lightweight in comparison to its size. I stared into my own reflection of the machine work, albeit blurry, I could clearly see a huge smile across my face, complemented by a single tear rolling down my cheek.

"You hate it..." Zu said, breaking me from my mind-gasm I was in the middle of.

"N-NO! Zu! Where did you find this!?" I said, begging her for answers. Maybe there were more of these, I must possess them all!

"I found it in the Star-Lab. It was on a workbench, so I took it. I thought that you would enjoy this rifle much more than your old one." She said, still trying to feel me out on whether or not I like her gift. I gently sat the rifle back into the box, giving it one last pat on the scope, just to reassure it that I was coming right back to it... (Her, I feel this rifle is a her) in a moment and grabbed Zuri up into the tightest hug I could manage.

"THANK YOU!" I shouted. I honestly did not have any real words apart from those that came out clearly.

"You are welcome." She said, as I let her go from the surprise hug.

"Wait... Shit! I didn't get you anything!" I said, just noticing that such a grand gesture of love needed to be reciprocated.

"You already did. You got me, you." She said with a smile.

I didn't say a word, instead I just hugged her harder. It was moments like this that made that long wait all the more worth it. Without so much as a word between us, we both loaded our things and started off for Hoofington, this time the short way... Why does that still piss me off to think about!? Once we reached a safe cruising altitude, and we both felt secure enough to relax a bit (The nice gift Zu had given me seemed to help out with that more than the height) as Zu and I settled in for the long flight.

I decided that I would use the majority of the time trying to figure out my new Pipbuck buy goofing around with the settings, exploring the files and what not. I started to access some of the more obscure audio logs to try and entertain myself, but unfortunately they were all dust old files about stuff I knew nothing about. The buck in the dairies spoke with words I could only dream to know the meaning of, so I was only half heartedly listening to them. That is, until I got to the last file. I nearly sent us crashing to the ground when I heard her voice break through the static, finding my ears in a state of shock and disbelief that I had not put two and two together sooner.

"Glassglo! What are you doing!?" Amethyst said though the sounds of scratching and clawing.

"I can't get it off! I CAN'T GET IT OFF!" He shouted through a full mouth.

"Sir! Please vacate the area if you do not wish to enter the Stable." Another buck said from far away. Judging by the authority in the stallion's voice, they must have been a guard.

"Why are you doing this!?" Glassglo shouted.

"New orders, no interracial couples will be allowed entry due to the nature of the attack. Either you or her may enter, but not both."

"NO! YOU WILL LET HER IN TOO! IF SHE CAN'T GO, I WON'T GO EITHER!" Glassglo said in nearly a growl.

"Glassglo, Please! Go in!" Amethyst begged.

"Fine by me. Sir, please stand clear! We are closing the Stable-door!" The guard said through the sound of grinding gears. Soon after followed the cacophony of cursing and metallic mechanisms moving about as Glassglo did his best to fight for entry. But before long, the audio file fell silent as the Stable door slammed shut, leaving behind nothing more than the sound of screaming ponies and pounding hooves. Some laughed in madness, others screamed obscenities until their lungs gave out. Amidst the thunderous sound of hooves on steel, I was able to just make out what Glassglo and Amethyst were saying to one another.

"Why... Why would they do this Glass?" She said with a shaky voice.

"I don't know, I just don't know!" He cried.

"You should have went in! You are going to die out here with me, one of us should have at least..."

"No! I can't leave you like that! Better it be the two of us that die than you not get access to the Stable."

"Why would you do such a stupid thing!" She said in anger.

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! THAT'S WHY! Why can't you just get it through your head that I can't live without you!? I would mourn myself to death in there knowing I left you behind."

"We are going to die..." Amethyst said, again breaking into tears and now, hacking coughs as the air began to fill with fallout.

"Together... We will die, together... As a family Amy, just as we should." He said, mirroring Amethyst's tears.

"I just wanted us to be happy together! Why can't we just have one fucking moment of happiness!?" She screamed. The two of them seemed to fall silent for several long moments, all the while crying into each other.

"Promise me something, Glass?" She said through the tears and her now wheezing words.

"Anything, Amy."

"Please don't be the first one of us to die? I... I couldn't..." She tried to say, but was cut short by her failing lungs.

"I promise. I won't leave you alone. I'll be right here, right to the end. I won't let go of you." He said, but yet again, his words were interrupted by Amethyst's coughing.

"Glass? Wha... What name did you..." She started.

"I... I like... Amberglo." He wheezed. Several moments passed before either of them spoke.

"Gla... Glass?" She whispered.

"Ye... yes... my love."

"I... Love..." She started, but never finished. A long pause held in the air as I waited for either of them to speak, but she had fallen silent.

"I'll see... you... both soon..." He whispered back. The audio file ended, leaving me in a state of complete shock. Of all the Pipbucks... They had to give me the one from Glassglo. I had not put two and two together until the very end of what was to be their love story told through a arcane device. Glassglo had been that buck in the cave, and Amethyst, the mare. They even managed to think of a name for their unborn foal in their last moments, just as I had thought.

Without a word, I turned in the air and pointed us back to Stable 103.

"What are you doing Joey. Hoofington is that way." Zuri said, pointing a hoof behind her.

"I just need to fix something... It will only take a moment."

Chapter 9: Far From Home

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 9: Far From Home
Written by: Rocco
Edited by: Blackjackmin (mike)

...Where do you go when you have nothing left to find, when your heart is weary, when you have nopony to lean on. For somepony like me, such a place has never existed. I travel between places like it, sure, but to actually have a place that I call home? Well, the life of a trader has never been one for somepony who is bound to one place. No, for me home is not someplace you make it, it is who you make it with. We might not have much, but at least we have each other...

Camden.

The long flight home had been nearly halved in time and distance with the newfound route that Shoari had passed along to us. Where I still harbored a tangible amount of resentment, I had to admit that the map came in very useful to me. I had been flying the long way around the vast majority of my life, flying from town, to town, to another town, until I found my way back to where I wanted to go. Sometimes this would send me, needlessly, weeks out of the way just to get someplace to have a day or two to myself before heading back out to work.

But with Zuri on my back, half gagging, half reading me directions, we steamed back to Hoofington in record time like some kind of Zebra guided Pegasus missile, hell-bent to start a new life. With the glow of the Core lighting much of the night's sky around us, we made our circling approach into Megamart, all the while taking in the various fights that had broken out throughout the town and its outlying areas. Every so often, a wild bullet would whiz overhead, sending us dive-bombing towards the ground for cover. Ah Hoofington... Such a charming city!

"You have brought me to a war zone! You said this place would be safe!" Zuri shouted at me.

"It is safe! Nopony in their right mind would come here looking for anypony, ever! It's too dangerous!"

"What you are saying makes no sense!"

"Welcome to the Hoof, where the bullets are complementary, but dying and clear answers will cost you extra!" I said, while gliding above the rooftop of Megamart before setting down on the front steps of the small trader encampment. Apart from a few new bullet holes, some sizable new windows that had been made by something explosive and the odd bloodstain, the place looked to be just as I had left it. Zuri crawled, then fell off my back and began testing her legs out for the first time in nearly twelve hours.

Where the flight was shorter than the first time, I have to say that is was considerably more unforgiving in terms of comfort. The sheer cliffs and tall mountains meant flying higher than normal, nearly into the cloud layer in fact. It also meant that the wind and updrafts were much more violent that the gentle gusts I had felt back in the desert. Zuri has spent the entire time in a death grip on my back, squeezing so hard at times that I felt like I was going to break a rib. If anything, her wobble legs were less from the ride, and more from being too weak to stand.

I gave myself a shake, clearing the dead bugs from my mane and gave a long stretch to pop my back. Zu on the other hoof was staring at the ground as if she had never seen it before. As I tried to relieve the tightness in my back, I was reminded very quickly that I still had a torn liga... liga-ma-thingy... in my butt. The abrupt pain sent a high pitched yelp from my lips and caused my hooves to give out.

"Joy! Are you ok?"

"Yeah... Just... That torn thing in my ass is killing me." I said, clenching in a futile effort to dull the pain.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Xymol gave me medicines to help you!" She said with almost effortless glee at the prospect of helping me.

"No, no. That's ok, I'm sure I will be right as rain in a moment or...YIKE!" Before I could even get the words out, Zuri drove a full syringe of Med-X into my right butt cheek.

"No! Xymol said... 'In the event that Joey becomes in pain, you must administer this at once!'. I have to listen to him, he is a doctor." She said, doing her best to effect Xymol's dolcet tones.

"ZURI! I can't... I..." I started, but I was already feeling numb.

"Can't what?"

"I..." I started, but quickly was reduced to a drooling heep on the ground with a needle sticking out of his ass.

"Shhh, now. It is ok. Just let me handle things from here." She said, looking around in a near panic.

"Joey!" Came a voice at the doorway. Zuri's head snatched to the sound of Shale's voice and I witnessed that all-too-familiar stance befall my beloved Zebra.

"Oh Celestia! Is he ok!?" She shouted as she ran towards us both.

"Joey!? Shale, is Joey back?" Ah, I know that voice. Soon behind Shale, Caliber ran out of the door, tripped, slid halfway to us both and skittered his way to his hooves. Zuri was already twitching at the charging mare, her every muscle tensing with readiness to fight. Thinking slowly, I reached out and grabbed her hind leg... Oh, what a pretty view I have from down here... No! My mare is about to kill my sister! I have to get it together.

"Zu...Zuizu... Am Joey's sisssstor. Please no kill." I begged. Shale was already at my side, looking me over for injuries, Caliber on the other hoof... Caliber stood dumbstruck at the sight of me on the ground, my eyes both pointing east and west, right next to a Zebra mare.

"This mare... She is your sister?" Zu asked, looking her over.

"Yee... Sheel. She is mah sister..." Oh wow... Med-X has never hit me this hard before! What magical things were they doing to their drugs down there in that Site?

"Yes, Joey is my younger brother... Who are you, exactly? And what did you do to Joey?" Shale said, narrowing her eyes.

"I am Zuri. Your brother, he is injured. The doctors told me to give him medicine when he experiences pain." Zuri said proudly.

"What... Medicine...?" Caliber asked, completely out of breath after his furious battle between him, and his own hooves.

"Oh! You must be the fertile one, no? Joey has told me all about you!" Smooth Zuri... Couldn't have said it better myself.

"I... What?" Caliber said, looking for once, at a loss for words.

"Oh yes, he has told me all about his best friend Caliber and all of the crazy things that you two have done over the years."

"Best friends?" Caliber looked like a little lost colt who had just found his first toy in years at her words. Oh! He just looks so adorkable right now... I should hug him. Trying, but failing, I reached my hooves towards the forlorn buck and motioned my hooves for him to come closer.

"What is it, Joey? Are you ok? Is this Zebra safe to be around?" Caliber said, leaning in close. I reached up and pulled him into a hug, wrenching him off his hooves and atop of me.

"I missed you!" I slurred in my drunken state.

"I missed you too... Hey, what is that!?" He near shouted as he pulled away from me.

"Oh, it is what the doctors gave me to help him with the pain." Zuri said.

"JOEY! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS!" Caliber shouted, pulling the needle from my rump and holding in front of me. The blurry looking syringe was...

"Med... Med-Sex?" I gibbered, giving a drool covered smile to all of them.

"Oh Celestia... Not again..." Shale said, putting a hoof to her face.

"What. The doctors..." Zu started.

"THE DOCTORS DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS ADDICTED TO MED-X! Joey is highly susceptible to a relapse addiction! Not only that, but once you have been hooked on the stuff, the next time you use it it is five times as strong!" Caliber shouted.

"I didn't..." Zu started.

"Well now you do. Did you not speak with him about this first? Ask him if he wanted the painkillers? We have a clinic right through those doors, I could have taken him there to get fixed up." Shale said, her words sounding as sweet as vinegar.

"Shale... Cal... She... She didn't know. Go easy on her." I said, feeling most of the initial rush starting to wear off.

"Joey, what happened to you?" Cal said, now laying by my mangled heap of a body.

"It's a long story..." I think I said.

"Well, better told inside... preferably when the narcotics wear off." Shale said, trotting back to the door.

"Where are you going? He will need help getting inside." Zu said.

"It's ok guys! I got this!" I said, rising to my hooves. I tried for a step forward and succeeded! The next step landed me flat on my face, my rump flew forwards and I landed on my back.

"Your mess. You clean it." Shale said as she trotted inside. Zuri tried to nose her way under me to help me back to my hooves, but it was no use. The second wave of happiness was starting to take hold of all my senses, rendering me a big pile of pony mush. Failing in her efforts, she looked to Caliber who was biting his lip to keep from laughing. No doubt the single most awkward first meeting of Zuri's life, he seemed to be relishing in the moment.

"Fine... I'll get him..." He finally said, moving to my tail. He latched onto it with his magic and began dragging me behind him as he and Zuri worked their way into the large expanse of Megamart.

"So, you really do exist. Joey wasn't crazy after all." Caliber said.

"Yes. I just wish that he had found me sooner. It has been... lonely." She replied.

"GUYS! I can see... CLOUDS! Something is wrong... Why are the clouds down here on the ground!?" I said, my hooves working furiously in the air in over-exaggerated motions. Neither of them paid me a cap's worth of attention as they made their small talk, all while dragging me over the threshold of the building.

"There they go! Bye-bye clouds!" I shouted, waving to them in the air with both hooves.

"And then there were like... FIFTY of these ghoul things that were trying to eat my butt! It was intense." I said, rocking back and forth on the dilapidated couch. They had spent the last few hours sitting and questioning Zuri and I about the last few days worth of events. I on the other hoof spent a large amount of the time drooling on the sofa's leg rest and making pop sounds with my lips. A trick, might I add, that Caliber had taught me. The few times I did manage to pipe up and speak, I would fall into these long ramblings about ghouls and an underground city.

Had it not been for Zu explaining my every detail more... coherently, then I'm sure that they would all think that I was a complete lunatic. Every time that I would get on a roll of insanity, Zu would interject with sweet sweet logic. Granted it was somewhat askew from how I remembered things to be, but the others seemed to be buying her versions of things more than mine. It was a bit irritating, but all the same I saw it as a chance for her to regain some credit after stabbing me in the ass with a tube of narcotics.

"You mean to tell me that a door ate your leg? Wow, Ditzy is gonna love this!" Caliber said, wearing his usual smirk.

"Celestia! What did they do to save the poor thing!?" Valkyrie said from across the room. She had found a safe hiding place after her near brush with death by Zebra. I vaguely remember tripping over my own hooves when I tried once more to enter the small apartment of Shale's on my own. Val tried to catch me by wrapping her hooves around me, the response was a fury of stripped hooves like I had never seen before in my life. Since that moment, she had spent the entire time behind the stove, granted she was still engaging in the conversation where she felt she could. Even now, I still had to put a hoof on Zu's back to keep her calm when she did manage to speak.

"Oh! They took me to the doctor." I said proudly. Everypony in the room sat staring at me.

"Soooo, what happened to you at the doctor?" Shale asked, rolling her hoof in the air for me to continue.

"Oh! I got my leg microwaved!"

"X-rayed." Zuri corrected me.

"They used my blood for science!" I said, making a very spooky face and waving my hooves.

"Toxicity test." Zu corrected again.

"Zu had her... Vagina... Removed?" I said, looking to her questioningly.

"Cervical biopsy." She corrected once more.

"Some mare looked at my weiner... Touched it... That was weird!" I said in a voice of deep concern that Zu would be mad. It was like I had no control over the words that were coming out of my mouth anymore. I hate Med-X!

"And that mare wasn't even a doctor." Zuri said in the flattest tone of anger I had ever heard.

"Tha... What?" Wait... WHAT!? Some mare touched my privates and she is still alive!?

"Joy, we have talked about this..."

"For the last time, she is a nurse!" I shouted.

"IN TRAINING!" Zu shouted back.

"I don't see what the big deal is. It sounds like he was just getting a physical to me." Valkyrie said, finally creeping her head out from behind the stove. "I mean, physicals are normal procedure for anypony who ha... AH!" Her words were cut short by the sudden appearance of a half full waste bin being hurled at her head with surprising force and accuracy.

"ZU! Play nice." I said, trying my best not to laugh.

"I am not a foal. She is a harlot! I do not trust her." Zu said, crossing her hooves and falling back to the couch with her lips pouting.

"Aw... Is Zuzu needing a snuggle?" I asked, batting my lashes at her.

"NO! I'm mad. I do not wish for snuggles." She said, turning away.

"Well... Then maybe you want a..." I started as I lined up my target. "STEAMROLLER!" I shouted as I launched my attack! I rolled over my striped partner with a mighty force and buried her face in my chest. Her muffled cries fell on my deafened ears as I began rolling back and forth atop her. Through a mouth full of fur, Zu did her best to not laugh.

"I WILL NEVER GIVE YOU MED-X AGAIN!"

"I disagree. I like this Joey much better." Caliber said, snotting, he was laughing so hard.

"Are you kidding me, look at him! He is a moron on the stuff!" Shale shouted back to him.

"You are just mad that nopony is 'steam rollering' you right now." Cal said as he fell into a sly grin and began to approach towards my sister.

"Oh no! I know that look!" Shale shouted as she began to back away, only to have her rump stopped by the same stove Val was hiding behind.

"What look? Oh, do you mean THIS ONE!?" He shouted as he lept to the air, coming down right on top of Shale, only to have his groin impaled on her hind hoof. Cal rolled across the floor, gasping for air in pain.

"I told you. I don't like it rough!" Shale said, her words bringing the cacophony of the room to a very abrupt halt. Cal lay on the ground, wide-eyed and shocked, I was glaring in their direction with murderous intent with a now captive Zu under me. Shale just stood there with a look on her face that said she really wished she could go back in time to unsay what I had just heard.

"Joey... It's not..." Shale started.

"Who's hungry!? I know I sure am!" Cal said, now looking as nervous as a colt who just got caught stealing.

"Cal..." I growed.

"Now Joey... I am an adult. I can make my own decisions." Shale said, taking a firm stance. The room fell silent as we all stood, layed and were pinned in a deadlock staredown with each other. It felt like we spent minutes trying to find the words to move on from this awkward moment, but none of us wanting to speak.

"I could eat..." The stove meekly said. That did it. The room erupted in laughter. Somehow, Valkyrie's terrified voice was timed perfectly enough to break the tension and send even Zuri rolling on the floor. Granted it was more rolling for escape, but I managed to pin her in place before she could seek the safety of the couch once more (the sneaky little stripe butt). Everypony in the room was near wetting themselves, all that is, except Shale who was still eyeing the lot of us quizzically.

"Well you all are quite done messing about, I think I will start dinner..." Shale said while stepping over the nearly catatonic body of Caliber. "And I suggest you get some rest, Joey. You are wacked out on pain meds and I'm sure you have been flying for far too long for your own good."

"Awww... But mom..." I said with my most convincing pouty face.

"No excuses!" Shale barked back to me.

"Fine..."

"You damn right fine... Zuri, help him to bed, it's the least that you can do after drugging him up."

"How dare..." Zuri started but was quickly backed down by my sister's death glare. "Yes, I help! I help! Come, Joy."

Zuri guided me to my still shaky hooves and proceeded to march me to the shack's small bedroom. Only managing to bump my head into the doorway three times, I would say that I handled the task rather well all things considered. Not far behind us, I could just make out Shale's words cutting through the room's euforic tension. As she always did, Shale had assumed the role of den-mother before things could get too out of hoof.

"Here, lay here, Joy." Zuri said to me, motioning to the bed.

"Ok..." I whimpered out, followed by a very confident step and then falling face first into the bedding. The smell of stale air with just a hint of vanilla filled my nostrils as I sluggishly pulled the rest of my body (who had decided to not make the journey to the bed with me) into the bed. Mmmm... vanilla! My sister was always covered with the stuff. She called it her "Buck attractant"... EW! And I said I liked it! Wow, this Med-x is strong!

"Joy, are you ok?" Zu asked, crawling into bed by my side.

"I am... yes." I said through the sounds of my newly learned skill of making fish noises with my lips.

"No, you are Joy. And is Joy ok?"

"Never butter..."

"You are a very light drunk. Cute, but very light. Sleep, I will make sure that you do not fall out of bed." Zu said, touching her hoof to my nose.

"Hey! Who are you calling cute, blurple Zebra?"

"Shhh... Rest." Zu said, wrapping her hooves around me and laying her head to my chest.

"Ok... But I'm not cute... I'm badass as hell..." I said through fading yawns. I slowly closed my eyes to the thought of so many things. I was back in Hoofington, I was back with Caliber and my sister AND I was with Zuri. I honestly have never felt more secure or more at ease than I do at this very moment. I guess this is what happiness feels like? Maybe happiness is that oh-so-secure feeling you get when you are with the ones you care about. That or it is that fact that I am higher than the clouds right now. Either way, despite my comfort both physically and emotionally, one question was burning a hole in my mind...

"VALKYRIE! GET OUT OF THE OVEN YOU STUPID, LAME EXCUSE FOR A MARE!"

"But, it was starting to get warm in there."

Ah, question answered, the cute ones ARE stupid... Wait...

I awoke to the sounds of talking in the next room. Despite the shack's appearance and disrepair, it has surprising acoustic dampening. Zu had kept to her word, never leaving my side throughout the night as I slept off the effects of the strongest Med-X dosage I had ever had. Even now after Goddesses only knows how much sleep I had, I was still feeling groggy and sluggish. It was like the high of Med-x but without the fun goofy stuff and the not caring about anything.

In my hungover state, I eased my body from the straw-pack-matris and slowly worked my way to the door's opening. I could just make out Cal's voice, talking to my sister no doubt, about how they should proceed with explaining to me about their... Oh, right, that's a thing now.

Anger filled me at the thought of Caliber and Shale being together. Did she even know that she was in close contact with the world's most fertile stallion and how dangerous that was!? You could use the same bar of soap as him and get pregnant! Goddesses! What if they had already done it!? She could have a baby at any moment! Calm down, Joey. I'm sure there is a logical explanation for all this...

"I don't know why you think we should hide it from him. He is my brother, not my colt-friend." Shale said.

"Look, you know the old Joey, the one from your past. Joey has... Changed. A lot." Cal replied.

"Changed how? From what I just saw, he is the same old Joey."

"Joey isn't... How can I even say this. Joey isn't the same stuck up know it all that he used to be. He doesn't push you away when you open up to him like he used to, I mean."

"Really... Because I have yet to see this. The only pony he has ever gave a damn about, isn't even a pony!"

"You don't mean that, you're his sister, he cares about you. I have heard the way he talks about you to other ponies. Honestly, you would think he has a crush on you or something."

"Pff. Sure. Look, that's all besides the point, how has he changed?"

"Look... Obviously you know he has stripes and that those stripes came from being bitten by a taint riddled pony with a set of hedge clippers for a mouth. I have told you that, he has told you that. What you don't know is the fact that he also had a near nervous breakdown over it. In fact, he actually kind did have one once we got to Tenpony."

"So? He has been doing that since he was a colt. Once he spilled an open bottle of Wild Pegasus and thought that Camden was going to murder him over it. He hid under the wagon for nearly 2 days." Shale said with a unsurprising flair towards my predictable nature.

"No, you do not understand. He completely broke down into TEARS after I got him out of that fucked up place back in Hope. I have never seen him do that before. I think something changed in him down there. I don't know if it was a close brush with death or if it was a sudden realization, but I don't think he is the same Joey you used to know." Cal said.

I'm not the same!? I'm me! I know me and me would have told me if me changed! Sure, I entertained thoughts of love and friendships now... Also cared more about my friends... and family... What kind of cruel bastard was I before and exactly how much had I changed for them to be talking like this now?

"Really? Joey, cried..."

"Yes. Like a foal. He also called me his best friend and not his 'running partner' that he so fondly used to refer to me as. Joey gives a damn about you, about me and we both know he loves that stripped mare friend of his. The point is, give him some credit, he has been through a lot and is just now having to deal with all of this. I mean, finding Zuri after all this time? Dealing with me and all my problems? Worrying about you? Hell, he technically still has a bounty on his head. Joey has never had to deal with actual rejection and now he is going to have everypony in the Hoof after him. Hell, even you had to see that something is different about him after that whole thing with Ember."

"That is if anypony actually cares about that now. That Blackjack has done a great job of pissing off nearly the entire town that she gets into a fight wherever she goes."

"Yeah but don't forget that not everypony here cares about her, there are plenty of ponies looking to collect what they think will be an easy grab of caps. We are just lucky I have already set the wheels in motion to get his flank out of trouble." Caliber said proudly.

Where did he get all of this responsibility all of a sudden? This isn't the Cal I know, I'm used to him rushing it, shooting everything and trotting off like nothing happened. Setting the wheels in motion? Enough with this, I need answers.

"And just what wheels are we talking about here?" I said, nosing my way out of the door.

"Oh, you are awake I see. How much did you hear?" Cal said rather sheepishly.

"I would wager that he came in around the time that you were talking about him changing." Shale said.

"How do you know..." I started.

"Joey, you snore. Nopony wants to tell you because of how self conscious you are." Shale said.

"Whatever. What were you talking about, Cal."

"Oh, as I was saying before you trotted in, I have a plan. A plan that I have already enacted!"

"Cal... What did you do? Tell me!"

"I can't tell you... I have to show you..." He said, hopping from the couch to the floor, motioning for me to follow.

Outside painted a different view from when I had left. Guards had been posted much closer together, merchants were now armed to the teeth and everypony seemed to pay it no mind as they went about their daily activities. Before when I was here, everypony seemed to be giving me the death glare, but now, nopony seemed to care at all.

Cal trotted us to the center of the stores and pointed to the board where my name had failed to come off the list of highest bounties.

"Please, look, if you will, at my genius!" He said, taking a bow.

"Cal, my name is still up there..." I said, failing to notice what he had done.

"AH, yes, you see your name. But I wonder if you can see... perhaps another name on the board."

I squinted my eyes towards the board and...

"Oh for fuck sa... That's just... CAL! Why!?" I shouted, bringing the daily activities to a halt.

"It will work." Cal said with confidence.

"No it won't... It so won't..." Shale said by his side.

"Cal, why did you post a 10,000 cap bounty on Ms. Furnace!?" I shouted.

"Ah, you see... I didn't."

"Ok..." I said, falling to my haunches and squeezing my head between my hooves. "Then what did you do..."

"The bounty is not just for her... It's also for anypony that takes her bounty." He said in his familiar insane tone he gets when he does something this stupid.

"Cal, all you have done is waste 10,000 caps." I said in near pain.

"Oh? Then why do I have a meeting with Ms. Furnace in an hour. She wanted to wait for you to come back to negotiate."

"Cal, of all the stupid, idiotic things you could have done..." I started.

"Actually, this could work." Shale said.

"WHAT!" I shouted, feeling a moment of deja vu and betrayal.

"With Furnace having a bounty on you and Cal having a bounty on her or her collectors, it cancels. It would be mutually assured destruction if either of you tried anything." Shale said.

"Shale, you can't be going along with this..."

"Just hear me out. You could negotiate a truce if you wanted to. Really with that much weight on her head, you could damn near just wait for someone to collect." Shale said.

"Joey, all you have to do is meet with her and all this will be over. What was all that talk back in Tenpony if you are not willing to at least live the words you said. 'Face your problems' I believe you said."

"Oh no! I am not meeting with that crazy hoe-bag! What if she just shoots me out right? What then?"

"Oh I doubt that she would be that stupid." A voice said behind me. I turned to see the face of Bottlecap staring me down. "I mean, without our famed tracker, who will she hire, or should I say barter with to track down Firefly?"

"Who's... Oh, right. Why is Firefly missing?" I asked.

"After everything went down between you and Ember, she went out to try and find you and not in a fun way."

"Great, now she wants me dead too." I said rolling my eyes.

"Joey, If you go to Furnace and offer to track her down, free of charge, she might let you off the hook if you find her." Shale said.

"Oh he will find her, I know right where she is at. I sent her towards Filly, I'd say she is nearly there by now." Bottlecap said.

"WHAT!?"

"Oh yeah, she is dead set on killing you alright. She even bought a new rifle just for the occasion."

"Great... So I have to barter with somepony who wants me dead and my only bargaining chip I have is that I can find their kid, who ALSO wants to kill me... You see the irony in this, right?" I said pleading.

"Joey, It will work. I'm telling you!" Cal said.

"Fine! What the hell! Let's jump down this rabbit hole!"

"Wait... Seriously!?"

"Yeah, I have to fucking go to Filly anyway for some damn reason, might as well well fucking try I guess!" I said throwing my hooves up in defeat.

"Great! We can head over to meet with Ms. Furnace now..." Cal started.

"No! Your baby, you feed it! I'm going back to bed and try and think of how in the hell we are going to pull of talking down not one, but two pissed off mares from killing me!" I said as I stomped back to Shale's shack. " And pull the bounty if she says yes... hell, even if she say no... we will need the money to run with. FUCK! I have become Caliber!" I shouted as I trotted away in anger.

Back at the shack, Valkyrie had taken it upon herself to start cooking breakfast. Zuri had woke up as well and was... helping her? I crepted to the edge of the couch as not to be seen and tried to gauge whether or not Val was in any danger but... were they laughing?

"So you were the one to take the pictures, no?" Zuri asked, sounding positively giddy.

"Yup! You should have seen him too. The black and white pictures don't do him any justice. He was blushing like a little colt the whole time. I swear he even started shaking when I asked him to 'unzip the suit further'."

The two of them were snickering to themselves!? What wild ass thing happened when I left for a few moments for them to be sharing a conversation like this? Wait...

"I was not blushing!" Valkyrie nearly flung the pan to the ceiling when I yelled, causing whatever abomination she had been 'cooking' to splatter all over the floor.

"Ah, there you are. I was worried you had become lost once more." Zu said.

"J-Joey... Good to see you!" Valkyrie said.

"Ok, what gives? First you try to kill her, now you two are cooking together? Is this some strange Zebra thing?" I asked.

"Oh, it is not a custom. I was unaware that this mare was taken."

"So... Mares with colt friends, family and strangers are safe, but Doctors and random mares are not?"

"Yes." Zu said alongside a nodding Valkyrie.

"It makes perfect sense, Joey. What do you not understand." Val said.

"Forget it!" I shouted as I trotted back into the bedroom.

"Geeze, grouchy! Somepony needs to be cuddled with." Val said.

"Perhaps. Would you wish to help me in doing so?" Zu asked.

"What!?" I shouted from the bedroom.

"Uh... Better not... Thank you though." Val replied.

Soon after Zu's failed attempt at whatever lewd thing she was trying to concoct, she found her way to the bed that I had curled up on. I had been awake for less than 15 minutes and already I had both seen and heard both the stupidest thing and the most confusing thing I ever had in my life. It is official, mares, ALL mares are insane.

Bottlecap sent Firefly on a suicide mission to protect me, Ms. Furnace has a bounty on my head but at the same time wants me to work for her, Shale is agreeing with Caliber... That alone says that she is nuts and now Zu is making friends with a pony who she marked as a harlot... Honestly... If it were not for the fact that I don't find bucks attractive and the fact that they smell bad most the time... I could be gay.

Sure, I'm sure it would hurt and I would have to do thing that are repulsive to me, but at least they are easy to understand in their methodology. Wake up, poop, find food to make into future poop, possibly find a mare, drink heavily, sleep, repeat. Replace mare with buck and there you go... Easy stuff!

"Joy? Are you ok?" Zu asked, crawling into the bed next to me.

"Yeah..."

"Ok, good. But are you ok, ok?" Great, another mareism...

"Yeah, I'm just thinking of how much easier my life could be if I was attracted to the same sex as my own..."

"Oh? Are you thinking of bedding with Caliber? You two would make cute couple-"

"Stop...Talking."

Zu had acquired a sense of humor... She even knew how to pick up on sarcasm now. Awesome... And here I was hoping for her to be blissfully unaware of what I was saying and think I was turning gay. She is just so damn cute when she is confused.

"What is wrong? Is it the Med-X?"

"No, it's just... Complicated. Every time I get someplace and start to feel at ease, the whole world has to fall down around me. It's like a knot that I spend all day untying only to wake up to a tangled mess all over again. We leave Stable 103 and all of its issues and now I have to track down a pony who wants to kill me all because another pony wants me dead what's that pony to come back home... It's the very convoluted and never ending story of my life." I said to her as I rolled to her side.

"Ah, it is like a story that I remember from long ago. Would you like to hear it?"

"At this point, why not. I'm in bed, I'm exhausted already and I have only been up for less than half an hour."

"Ok. There once was a very special buck who had eyes for only one mare. He pursued her relentlessly, helped her with her chores and even stood up to some bullies for her. Finally, she fell to his charm and allowed herself to open up to him for the first time in her life. It was then that he confessed his love to her and promised his life to only her. Shocked by the will of his heart, the young mare became fearful that she would not be able to live up to his wanting. So late that night, she ran from him, leaving him to be alone for all of his life. She did not know that it would hurt him so badly.

The special buck spent his life longing for the mare who he had given his heart to. His eyes never saw the sun and his ears never heard the songs that played around him. He became bitter and resentful of others for their happiness, all the while secretly longing for what they had and that he could not. Even when other mares would come to call, he would not pay them heed because he had given his heart to another. Even though he knew he was doomed a life of pain and loneliness, he remained hopeful that she would return to him. He searched for his love knowing he may never find her, but he knew that he could not go on living without her.

He searched far and wide for his love but she was nowhere to be found. Other Zebras called him foolish for doing so, but he knew that one day he would be reunited with the one he was meant to be with. Miles he trotted, wearing his hooves to nubs in search of her until one day, long in the future, he found her.

She was still scared and ran from him, but he followed. She pushed him away, but he waited. She was afraid of his love for her because she did not want to feel hurt. It was then that he told her that life is not worth living in fear or alone and that life without love is no life at all. Finally, she fell to his charm once more and gave him her heart. It was then that the two of them could live happily ever after."

"Zu... That's not a story, that's what happened to us..." I said. Despite feeling that she probably made it all up on the spot, her story did in fact make me feel better. Not great, but, recharged? I felt like I could face what was coming to me but I still had that overwhelming sense of dread that always followed something bad happening.

"No. I did not run from you when you found me. We had the sex."

"Cute... It's a beautiful story, one that shares many similarities to our own lives, but why did you tell me this?"

"It is a story of perseverance. You are very much like the buck in the story. When you want something, you will stop at nothing to get it if it means enough to you. You wanted me, you searched for years and found me. What you want is happiness, no? Then you will have it and I will help you."

"Did I ever tell you that I love you?"

"Yes, many times. And I, you."

"Wait... That story is a little... TOO close to what happened to us. Well, except the ending."

"Maybe it is that when I saw you, I already knew how the story would end and I did not want to lose anymore time with you."

"Well, I guess I need to figure out what to do next then if we are going to be happy."

"What is it that would make you happy?"

"I guess... I really don't know. Maybe, be some place safe? Start a family? Maybe just move you, Shale and Cal somewhere and be happy together? It all feels right but it also feels like a pipe dream."

"This world is cruel. It is a sad place, but it is not so sad if you are not alone."

"Yeah... Hey... You said you did not want to lose anymore time with me than you had to. If that were the case, then why did you leave in the first place, back when we were younger?"

"I do not wish to speak about it. It hurts."

"Com'on now. You told me that whole story about perseverance. I chased you for 10 years, crossed deserts, fought raiders, lost part of my tail, broke my wings several times and devoted my life to finding you once I saw you were still out there. I think I have earned my answer." I tried to keep my voice more towards pleading, rather than aggravation but I'm sure that my annoyance was showing.

"Joy, it is complicated and you would not like what I have to say."

"What, did I smell? Was I ugly when I was younger? C'mon tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell me!" I begged.

"Fine. But you have to promise not to get mad."

"Zu, when ponies say that it usually means they are going to make the other pony really mad. On a scale from one to I'm going to set the world on fire, how mad is this going to make me?" I asked childishly. Zu's only response was a nervous bite of her lip and her eyes darting about the room as if she was looking for an exit.

"Joy, it is not something that you really want to know. It is something that is very personal, not to just me, but also you. You have to promise that this will not make you run from me."

"Oh now I have to know. Spill it."

"Do you remember, when we first met, I told you why I left my tribe?"

"Yeah, something about an evil stepmom or something?"

"No, she was a caretaker. But yes, I remember very few things from back then. But something that I always remembered was that she had a sister." Zuri said but pause to think.

"Go on..."

"She was a sweet mare. I used to dream of living with her rather than the caretaker I was with. When she would come over, she would teach me to read and play with me. Once she even brought me a present, it was a book, the same one I told you about."

"Sea Ponies of Sapphire Shore?"

"Yes! That's the one!" Zu halted her enthusiasm just long enough to gather her thoughts. "One day my caretaker allowed me to do some chores for her as payment for her generosity. She used to say that no good deed should go unrewarded. While I was over at her home, I noticed that she had many pictures of her family. She would laugh and tell me stories of them, she loved them all very much."

"Sounds like a stand up gal to me? Why would this make me mad, also, why is this relevant?"

"While I was helping her clean, I found a picture in a drawer. It was of a her and a pony buck, it had been taken in a hospital not long after she had given birth to a foal. When I asked about it, she did not wish to speak about it at first. Later she told me that the little foal was her son and the buck was her life partner. When I asked where they were then and why they were not there with her, she said that they had been taken from her."

"Ok, that kinda sucks..." I said, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"She said the only thing she had to remember them by was that one picture. It had been taken long ago around the time that I was born so she guessed that the little colt was about my age." Zuri said, but paused again.

"Soo...? What? Somepony just took them from her and left her without a child or a husband? Yeah, that pisses me off."

"No. It is... More complicated as you say."

"Ok, how so."

"Joy, I ran from you because I recognized the little colt's eyes. They were deep purple, just like yours. His coat was the same ashy grey and his mane the same shade of blue. I did not recognize it at first, but you looked the same as the colt in the picture."

Her words felt muffled towards the end of what she said, only finding my ears through a swarm of thoughts and emotions. Zu, Zuri might have known my mother and was friends with her no less!? In the wide world that is Equis, there is no way that could be true. Even if it was, and there WAS evidence that supported what she said, why would that make me upset? If anything I would want to go find my mother and...

"Zu... What happened to them? Her husband and the colt?"

"Joy, I can't tell you. I know that you are going to have to leave soon and I don't want to lose you again."

"Zuri, I have to know, it is important to me. Please!" I begged. This was as close to opening up to me as she had gotten. This was as close to me as she had ever been in fact. Not just because she was confiding in me, but because if what she was saying was true then her and I had an actual connection. Zu rolled her lip in her teeth, a habit that I rarely got to see when we were together, it was nervous habit.

"Long ago, before we were born, a tribe whose numbers were wilting began allowing ponies to mate with them. It is a common practice and one that continued even after the war. One day, when the tribe had grown once more, the elders elected a new leader who did not share the same values. He cast out the ponies who were without partners and banned pony-Zebra bonding.

He was a cruel, mean Zebra who only wanted pure bloodlines to reproduce. It began with ponies at first, then Zonies later and then whole families that did not agree with him. He even had mothers and fathers killed for failing to meet his demands that they cast out their Zony foals. The only ponies that were allowed to stay were those that served his leadership and those that were close to him.

She, my caretaker's sister, told me that. Her colt was born after the banishment. This infuriated him and he refused to cast them out, but instead have her husband and foal executed to show others that his rule was absolute and not be ignored." Zu fell silent, leaving me to think of all that she said.

I don't know whether I was more dumbstruck or if I was still just moving slow from the post high of Med-x, but the thought of somepon- some Zebra doing such a thing bit me to my core. How could an Equine be so... so heartless to leave foals on their own in the Wasteland out of malice? And all because he did not agree with their partner's choices in spouse? The idea of such a thing should have angered me, and where it did, it was far outshadowed by the thought of defenseless fillies and colts left at the mercy of fate.

Was that what my destiny was meant to have been before boss stumbled across my parents? Was I even from that same tribe? What would my life had been if things had been different and I were to have been allowed to stay with my parents? Would they have loved me the way ponies do? As my life often does, I was being left with more questions with every answer that came to me.

"Zu..." I started.

"Joy, please. I do not wish to talk about this." Zu interrupted. Clearly this conversation had taken a much darker turn than she had intended.

"Zu, please. I just have one question. Please." I said, trying my best not to show the nervous tension I too was trying to hide. Zuri nodded her head for me to continue, I took a deep breath and...

"What was her name?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your caretaker's sister. What was her name?" I asked again, this time involuntarily curling up into more of a ball than I was already in.

"Malaika..."

I didn't say anything, I just... laid there. I could have a mother out there. Somewhere... suddenly I began to see a larger picture of what the young fillies and colts must have been thinking when they were pulled from their parents... I WAS one of those colts. I had gotten lucky that Boss had been there when he was, otherwise I might not be here today. What a cruel twist of fate that I became a tracker for hire that regularly found fillies and colts that had been lost or taken, but was born too late.

As much as it gave me hope that I might get to meet my mother one day, it pained me to think of what it would have been like to go through such a horrid thing as losing a foal. The closest thing that my life time would allow me to relate to that was when Wheels had died just a few days ago. Had it really only been a week now? And I had already forgotten him as if he were nopony at all.

Hours passed while I waited for Caliber's return from his meeting with Ms. Furnace, for all I know she sat on him and killed him. Zu had found her way back to the kitchen to work with Valkyrie, yet another puzzling thing that I would have to work out later, to make lunch. I had resided myself to the bed, spending the passing moments reading a book I had found about Northern Equestrian animals.

It was always fascinating to look at the picture of what animals used to look like before they had become either very much so dead or very much so... well... monsters. Just about the only animals that seemed unaffected by mutation were some dogs and birds, for the most part anyways. Those green glowing phoenix things looked normal enough even with their green glow of radiation, but you could plug a wire up their butt and power a whole city with the amount of radiation they gave off. I remember suggesting to Ditzy once that she should get one as a pet, a form of both companionship and healing on the go. She was quick to remind me that the majority of her customers would rather not melt while doing business with her. Ditzy... Always worried about the details.

I had read the book cover-to-cover, taking only a break to reread a chapter on both wolves and coyotes. Call me vain, but when you have Coyote as a name, you tend to become interested in them regardless of want or desire. Granted what I found out about them was less than stellar and mostly common knowledge found out by life in the Wasteland. They hunt alone for the most part, rarely socialize outside of their pack apart from fighting and are largely monogamous in nature. They also tend to be loners until they have paired up with a mate... Suddenly that whole living up to your name saying was hitting a lot closer to home than I would like.

Even more hours passed with me learning more and more about various species that were surely doomed to be dead in the next couple of years until Caliber finally returned. Judging by the appearance of a few new bruises, it must have gone great, considering he is not dead. I decided that I would rather he come to me to tell me the news on what crazy thing he had concocted rather than the other way around. I was still feeling off from mine and Zuri's little chat and had done my best to suppress the vast majority of my emotions over the allotted time I had, but I was still dealing with the overall dread of working for Ms. Furnace. The longer I prolonged this, the less I would have to deal with it, right?

"Joey, what are you doing!? We have to get a move on!" Cal shouted from the doorway.

"Just doing my best to not think about anything." I replied rolling to face him.

"Well, Furnace says if we bring back Firefly then she will drop the bounty."

"And what's stopping her from just following us to her and killing us once she has what she wants?"

"Ah, y'see... This is where my genius plan comes into effect."

"You mean your plan of mutually assured destruction... How did she take it?" I said as I rolled off the bed. Caliber took a moment to look himself over, taking in all the new scrapes and bruises that he had earned for his efforts.

"I would say that the mood was a little on the tense side... But there is no chance of her following, catching or tracking us... if we fly!" Caliber said throwing his hooves wide.

"She beat you up, didn't she?"

"No,no,no... Oh ok, maybe a little. But that's besides the point. Either way, we get Firefly, you get your name off the list."

"A little? How could she have just beat you up 'a little'?" I said as we trotted out of the room.

"Oh trust me, you would be surprised. Hey, what were you reading anyhow? Anything good?"

"Just a book about animals. Shale really needs to find some new books, I remember reading this damn thing when I was just a colt."

"Oh! Let me see!"

"No Cal, it's not a book of them mating..."

"I know that, but I will need something to read on the flight."

"Fine, but don't splooge on the pages, Shale will probably want this back at some point." I said, passing the book off to Cal as he gathered his things.

"So you are leaving?" Zu asked, trotting to my side.

"Yeah, but I should be back soon. I just have to fly to Filly to bring back a mare who wants me dead. No pressure."

"Then I shall come too."

"Zu, I would love for you to come, but I can't carry more than one pony on my back and I need Cal for this trip."

"Oh... I see." Zuri looked hurt by my decision, but what was I supposed to do? I needed Cal for this trip, without him, I would basically be fresh meat for Ms. Furnace if she decided to come after me. Granted... Zu is pretty good at handling herself on her own and she is fun to be with... No... Not now. Caliber is coming with me and that's final. "I... I do not wish to be alone here." She said, looking nervous to the idea of spending a few days with it being just her, Valkyrie and my sister.

"Zu... I really want you to come, but it is just not possible. I need Cal to keep a look out for me while I move in for the capture, he has always done that. I haven't had time to teach you what you need to know yet."

"I wish there was a way that I could come too. I feel safer knowing that I am near you to protect you."

"Awww... I feel that way too, Zuri." Caliber said with his head buried in his saddlebags.

"Shut up, Cal."

"Hey, I'm just saying that you sometime need to be looked after, that's all."

"I do not! I worked alone for years without help!" I shouted back to him.

"Oh? Is that why you have stripes now? I forgot that you never got bitten by a radioactive pony with a combine harvester for a mouth."

"Caliber is right, Joey. You do have a tendency to get yourself into messes that you either have to run or fly away from. One of these days you are not going to have that opportunity." Shale said from the couch.

"That was a one time thing! Besides, when have any of you known me to need to be looked after?" Around me, hooves reached for the ceiling as it seemed everyone had a story to tell about how I had screwed up in some way. Even Zuri had her hoof raised. Ok, so maybe I did have a small issue with getting into bad situations when I was flying solo, but come on! Zuri too? All we ever did was have sex and... Oh yeah, there was that whole 'you stay here and let me go into the creepy tunnel alone' thing.

"Ok, fine... Point taken. But if everypony just randomly decides to go, that will mean going on hoof. That also means leaving a trail, more things to deal with on the ground, longer travel times, higher chances of getting shot by Furnace. Do you all really want to risk that?"

"Joey, we all have talked about this. We don't want you going that close to Filly alone. Since you've been gone, things over there have been heating up a lot. There was an escape the other day and Red Eye has everypony out in force searching the area for some slaves that ran off." Caliber said.

"Good for them. I hope they make it." I said, more sincerely that I thought I would. What... I have a soft spot for slaves that want to be free...

"Yes... But bad for you. Or did you forget your little run in with them... over the course of your ENTIRE LIFE." Shale said.

"Ok... That could be an issue... But I can fly, remember?"

"They have Griffons Joey..." Caliber said, placing a hoof to his face.

"What is a Griffon?" Zu asked, now pressing against me as if she were trying to create a Zebra shield to protect me.

"Flying assholes with paws." Caliber replied.

"They are half bird, half giant cat... thing." I said, trying to correct Caliber.

"Oh! Like you! You are half pony and half bird." Zuri exclaimed in excitement about the new knowledge that she had accrued.

"WRONG! They are both of lion and bird of prey descent. They share similarities to both but are of their own species." Valkyrie chimed in.

"And just how do you know this?" Caliber asked. Val only raised an eyebrow in response.

"Stop it, it is just too dangerous not to fly. So unless you all can grow some wings in the next five or so minutes, it is just going to be me and Caliber going." I shouted to the lot of them. The room fell silent once more as I finally started to gather my things for the long trip ahead.

"Actually... I think I might have a solution to all of this..." Shale said climbing off the couch. "Meet me out front in twenty minutes."

"Great! Awesome! Perfect! Goodbye now."

"All of you meet me outside. Bring your gear." Shale said as she trotted out the door.

"Does anypony have anymore crackers? I am out of crackers." Zuri shouted.

"I think Caliber has some left." Val shouted back.

"Fuck off! These are my crackers, get your own!" Caliber shouted.

"But I have eaten all of mine and I want more." Zuri shouted back.

"Shale! She's trying to take my crackers! Do something!"

"If you all don't shut up I swear to Celestia that I will crash this thing!" I shouted back to them all.

"Awww. Is our pilot getting cranky?" Shale shouted to me over the wind.

"Hey! This was your hair-brained scheme! Keep them quiet or I will pull over and beat your ass!"

"What did he say?" Valkyrie shouted.

"I think he said something about pulling over and eating your ass if you don't keep quiet." Caliber screamed.

"He will do no such thing! I am the only one that gets to receive that from him!" Zu shouted back.

Collectively, the entire group fell silent for a brief moment followed by a long collective "EWWWWW".

"Sick! Gross Joey!" Caliber said, poking his head out of the wagon.

"I hate you all!" I yelled into the wind.

Shale had, somehow, came into possession of a old delivery wagon that was built for hauling lumber at one time. It was in great shape, all things considered, but it was still a lumber wagon meant to be flown by a Pegasus... Oh, I wonder who that was going to be. Where I was grateful that everypony was so worried about me and wanted to come along, the first four hours in the sky had proven to be more than I was wanting to put up with. I had long ago switched on my Pipbuck's radio function and was trying to listen to Dj-Pon3 for any updates on the slaves from Filly but the rest of my group were more concerned about who was going to get to eat the last cracker than my sanity. She even had a new song playing that I nearly completely missed out on because of them... I really miss working alone.

"...That was Velvet Remedy singing Fly Like You. I don't know about you children, but hearing that beautiful mare's voice really gets my spirits up. After all of the good news I have had today, I would say that song is just the icing on the cake, wouldn't you agree? Well children, the hits, they just keep on coming and thankfully it is still good news! Now, being Equestria's best and only real dj means that I get to hear about and tell about almost everything that is happening out there. I know that a lot of what I have to say is bad news, but sometimes I get to talk about the good things that are happening out there, like slaves giving old Red Eye a black eye!

But rarely do I get to talk about a little thing called LOVE."

"Change it! He's gonna talk about his assistant banging that maintenance worker again..." Caliber shouted with a mouth full of cracker.

"Shut up! I'm trying to listen!"

"I'm just saying, he really needs to get a life outside of creeping on those two." Caliber said, falling back into the wagon.

...That's right y'all. Not only do I have some good news, but this time it comes two fold! Now, Y'all remember me telling you a story about that great tracker named Coyote Joe? Well, it would seem that after a long hunt, our hunter has found his prey. Early reports from Hoofington are that the lost pony tracker arrived back in town with a dang Zebra on his back, drunk out of his mind! Good on you Joe, I know I would celebrate too If I just found the love of my life.

Uncontrollable laughter erupted from behind me as I felt my cheeks start glowing bright red.

"Shut up!" I screamed as I brought the Pipbuck closer to my ears.

...That's right everypony, it looks like our resident tracker finally earned his stripes, in more ways than one. And don't you think for one second that Ol'Coyote is taken it easy, no sir. No sooner than he found his way back to Hoofington, he loaded up and was off again, this time pulling a wagon full of ponies. Now, I have no clue what he is up to out there, but I can assure you that he is on the hunt for somepony. Before I go, I have a little message for you, Joe. If you are hearing this, don't forget we still have got a little colt out there that needs your help, I'm sure somepony has told you already, but just in case... Be on the lookout for a light purple colt that goes by the name of Fetch, I believe Y'all know one another.

I nearly crashed us into the building I was trying to land on after the next song began to play. My hooves skittered across the broken shingles and years of debris as the cart behind me slammed into and crumbled its chimney, spilling its contents across it. I fell free from my rigging and stood in disbelief at what a monumental idiot I had been.

That watcher thing had gave me the perfect description of Fetch and I just... shoved it aside as if it were nothing at all. I had been so blinded by finding Zu and the prospects of finally having a happy life that I completely ignored something that never gets past me. For Celestia's sake! My job, no, my life revolves around details and I just...

"Joey, what did that thing just say!?" Caliber said, trotting to my side.

"It-it's Fetch. He's in Filly..." I mouthed out.

"WHAT!? How in the hell do you know that from what DJ said?"

"Watcher told me... He said there was a colt that went missing from Tenpony... I just... I had no clue it was him."

"Who the fuck is Watcher? How does he know about Fetch!?" Caliber roared at me.

"Cal, calm down, yelling isn't going to solve anything." Shale said but was quickly pushed away with a hoof.

"THAT'S MY KID OUT THERE! I NEED ANSWERS, NOW!" Cal Shouted at me. I did my best to gather my thoughts and spilled everything I could recall. All told, it took maybe five minutes to tell, but it might as well have been an eternity due to the shame I was dealing with.

"Ok, slow down... Watcher is a sprite bot?" Cal asked, now in a calmer tone. Even though I still could not tell whether or not he wanted to kill me, he was at the least coming back down from his high of anger.

"Cal, that flying sprite bot thing is actually somepony controlling them. I think he uses them to spy on the whole damn Wasteland. One of those things found me in White Saddle and gave me a description of a little colt that ran off from Tenpony, but I was so tied up with everything that was going on that I completely forgot. Call it being freaked out by the damn thing, call it finding Zu, either way, I fucked up, BAD." I said pleading with him.

"Yes, you did." Cal said, trotting back to the cart.

"Cal, please..."

"Not now Joey... Just... Not now." He said as he climbed back into the old lumber rack.

"FUCK!" I shouted as I bucked what little was left of the chimney.

"He will calm down, he is just... dealing with a lot." Valkyrie said.

"Yeah, a lot of it is me, too."

"Look, I know him. I have seen him like this before. Believe me, it is always you." Val said, putting a hoof to my shoulder. It was quickly withdrawn when my knee-jerk reaction nearly sent me flying from the rooftop.

"Joe. Caliber is like a firecracker. Bright at first but he always burns out. The amount of times he came slouching into Stable 69 after a trip with you are uncountable."

"Gee... Thanks."

"No, you are missing the point. He always comes around, he's here now, isn't he?" I looked back to the cart and sure enough there he was, talking to himself as he often did, no doubt about me.

"Val, thank you, but this is a bit worse then me just sending him back home after using him. This is his kid, I don't think he will forgive me for this."

"He WILL because you are not just going to sit here and do nothing, are you?"

"You know I'm not."

"Then what are your going to do next?"

"Well... Obviously we are going to Filly... Tonight."

"Now. We are going now, aren't we?" Val said, giving me a soft smile. Oh, that sneaky little mare... I already knew what I had to do to make this right, but I couldn't see through my own cloud of self angst, yet she also knew and she knew just how to push me in that direction... Now where did she learn that from I wonder... "Might want to tell the others, I know I would." She said as she trotted back to a very approving looking Zuri. Great... Now there are TWO mares in my life that know how to manipulate me, be it bad or good.

"Ok, listen up. I... I fucked up and now we don't have much time. Caliber's kid is lost in Filly and has been for a few days now. I know that this is not the best situation to be in, but we have to try and go and get him." I said in my most authoritative voice.

"What about Firefly?" Shale asked.

"What about her? As far as I am concerned she can rot while she waits. This is more important."

"Joey, without Firefly, you know you can't go back to Hoofington." She retorted in that motherly tone I knew all too well.

"Oh no. We can never go back to Hoofington? Say that is not so!" Zuri said sarcastically.

"Yeah, oh how I will miss the Johns and bullets! How will we survive!" Val added on.

"Quiet you two! We are going to Filly and that's final. If there is any time left when we are done, we will deal with Furnace."

"And if there is not any left?" Caliber said, poking his head out of the cart.

"Then... I don't know, we will kill her or something. Maybe we run away. It doesn't matter." I said, hitching myself back to the cart. "Get in or get left up here." I said as I started lining myself up for take off.

We had been flying for nearly a full day by the time I got back to a safe altitude. Caliber, true to Val's word, was even coming around ever so slightly. Due to the generally unsafe nature of Filly and the increase in patrols by Griffons meant that we had to fly the long way around and find a safe place to perch up for the night.

Nearing the boarders of the Goddess forsaken place, night had fallen and despite the rushing sounds of wind, the rest to of my... What do I even call them? Family? Friends? Team? Whatever... They had all fallen asleep judging by the snoring that both Zu and Caliber was doing. In the darkness I did my best to keep my mind off the searing agony that was wings and my hind leg that I had once again pissed off with my little out burst on the roof. I was tired but I had great motivation to push through the pain now that I was no longer having to meet with Firefly. Truth be told, I much rather be heading to save a kid I know rather than a crazed pubescent mare who wanted to kill me.

I did my best to occupy my time by flipping through my Pipbuck, but apart from a few songs that I'm sure Twisty had loaded up on it, there was nothing new to be seen. Call me a sucker for the classics, but I'll take that Velvet Remedy any day over a band named 'The Bleeding Eyes'. Despite the acrid stench of industry that was beginning to outweigh the normal ozone of the Wasteland, I kept getting hints of a smell I knew too well.

I began looking all around me but I couldn't see anything through the patch work of clouds I was flying in. Flying this close to the cloud layer was dangerous, but I had to do it thanks to Red Eye and his stupid ego complex about never losing slaves. Slowly I crept down from the superficial cloud layer and into the murky air below. Ok, It stinks WAY worse down here. I canted my head down and finally IT came into view. Deciding it would be better to not be shot by surprising him, I instead tossed a round of spent ammunition at his back to let him know I was nearby and slowly advance towards... OH! Ok, them.

"Calamity, hows it hanging?" I said from his left side.

"Why don't ya fly down and have a peak for yourself?"

"Gross... I see you have taken to your new job well, how's the fast paced world of Pegasi taxi service treating you, Mitty?"

"It's been bett... HEY! I'll have you know that I am on a mission!" He stammered.

"Yeah, about the same here. Rough times being a beast of burden, eh? So what are you lot up to this time?"

"If you must know, we are heading to Tenpony... Again..."

"Oh snap... I have a similar place that I keep ending up at, Hoofington. It's all good though, after today I won't be allowed back there ever again."

"Well ain't that just a damn shame." He said, the winds failing to sweep away his sarcasm.

"Been crying for miles now..."

"Say... What's with the cart? Don't tell me... Oh yeah, Hom... Dj-Pon3 said something about you possibly finding that Zebra of yours. She back there?"

"Yeah, one second... Hey! Z..." But my lips fell flat when I saw Zuri staring right into the eyes of... Another Zebra!?

"HEY! When..." I started but was silenced by a hoof to the mouth. "When did you guys find a Zebra?" I said, trying to keep my voice down.

"You'll have to talk to Littlepip about that. She gives me the creeps sometimes, but overall she seems safe enough. Xenith's her name."

"Don't let them fool you, one second you are talking all nice with them, then the next you spend ten years of your life trying to track them down."

"Brother... that's all mares..."

The two of us shared a very immature hoof-bump and I began to pull away, but as I did, I fell back from Calamity to see this Xenith. Upon coming to her window, the battle-worn face and bright green eyes of a Zebra mare came into view. She had scars upon scars across her muzzle complemented only by her exotic patterned stripes. Briefly, I found myself jealous of her patterning and wished my own were more interesting like her's. Celestia, was that a thing with me now? Was I really going to have to deal with something called 'stripe envy'?

We didn't say a word, but instead I raised a hoof to her direction. The gesture was met with something akin to repulsion at first but soon a striped leg found its way to mine in probably the worlds most bizarre hello that she had ever had.

"I'm Joey, nice to meet you." I said sheepishly.

"Protect her." She said back to me with possible the deadliest glare I had ever seen.

"I'm, sorry?"

"Protect her, she is valuable." Again, never breaking her lock on my eyes.

"I-I will..." I said, rather confused by her cryptic speaking.

"Hang on, we are going in to land." Calamity said as they pulled away from us and shot towards the ground.

What the hell? Protect her? I was already doing that! Why would she need protecting? If her combat skills were anything like her bedroom skills, then she could take over the entire damn Wasteland with a bendy straw! Then again, the only thing I had seen of her combat skills were aggression, and where that counts for a lot, it counts for nothing if you don't even know how to throw a punch. For all I know she could be some secret Zebra agent that was sent here to take my necklace in some convoluted plot to blow up the world. Oh who am I kidding, like something like that would ever happen to anypony ever...

We circled Filly for what felt like hours... Actually, it probably was hours now that I think of it. Between the Griffon patrols and the Steel Rangers making their rounds about the area, they were making it hard to find a safe place to land and set up shop all the while being in a tactically advantageous area to sneak into the fucked up place that is known as Filly. Finally, after searching out nearly the entirety of the province, I spotted a old barn that looked to be just right for the picking.

I bucked the cart behind me to wake the rest of the group to warn them that we were coming in for a landing. Unfortunately, the sharp sound of hooves on wood behind me came to me accompanied by Valkyrie screaming "Ow!", Zu laughing maniacally at her, Caliber screaming in fear and nearly falling out of the wagon and Shale groaning. Ah family... Such a beautiful thing.

"Hold onto something, I'm going to land this thing!" I shouted over the gusts of wind.

"Try not to hit a house this time!" Caliber screamed to me as I dipped out of the sky.

"Yeah!" Val added.

"Fine! How about a barn instead?" I yelled back to all of them.

"Ha, ha. Very funny, Joey." Caliber shouted.

I raced for the ground with the cart in tow behind me, all the while keeping an eye open for patrolling Griffons. I lined up my target that was the old barn and began to arc out in my final approach. Just as I was about to start back flapping to slow us down, I noticed something among the shadows just inside the barn. A tall broad figure was standing well within the door frame of the dilapidated tobacco shack. I narrowed my eyes until the figure came into view, soon I saw the long barrel of an anti-machine rifle strung across a pair of wings gilded with metal.

"Hang on!" I shouted back to the group.

"What is it this time!?" Cal asked.

"Griffon!" I replied as I poured on the speed and aimed right for him.

"Oh shit, he wasn't kidding, he is going to hit the barn! Everypony hang on!" Cal shouted to the others.

Now, I have no clue what this Griffon was thinking in terms of how his night would turn out, but I'm sure that when he snuck off with a copy of Wingboner to this barn to have a little 'personal time', he had not planned on being ran over by a 200 year old lumber wagon. The landing was... bumpy, but otherwise smooth, all apart from me trying to catch his rifle in mid flight only to have it clatter off of my skull and knock a few feathers out of my right wing. He never saw it coming, he had been so wrapped up in his porno that by the time he saw us, he was already being crushed by the wagons underside. With a sickening few pops, snaps and a rather disgusting splat sound, we had killed the poor guy long before he could even get his rocks off.

"Go out with a bang... That's what I always say." Caliber said, eyeing the Griffon's mangled body.

"Cal... Dear Luna..." I replied, putting a hoof to my face.

"Hey, at least he died doing what he loved..."

"Cal, stop. Please."

"Playing with his massive..."

"CAL!" We all shouted as we stood about the poor fellow's body.

"Ok Cal, since you love making jokes at his expense so much, take him around back and get him out of here." I said with a smirk.

"AH...ahhhh... Shit."

"Zu, do you think you could get a fire going?"

"Yes, I believe that I can." She replied, dragging her saddlebags out of the cart.

"Joey, you better let me look at your forehead, it is starting to bleed." Shale said, pulling my head down for closer inspection.

"Hey, what do I get to do? Set up a perimeter? Stand guard? Maybe do a little recon?" Valkyrie said, giving us all a starry glare that reeked of excitement.

"I'm kinda hungry actually." I started.

"Me too! Can you cook Griffon?" Zu said, now well into her job of setting the barn on fire.

"WHAT!? You all drag me all the way out here on a mission with you, and you want me to make you dinner!?" Val said in anger.

"I mean... Yeah?" I meeked out.

"No way! I want to do something useful for a change! I didn't leave Flank just to be graduated to a chef!"

"Fine... Scout the area and see if there are any guards around. Do not be seen! Got it?" I said full well knowing that she would not find anything. I had already scouted the place long before we were coming into land and picked this spot because it was devoid of any life... ok, most life, but now it was completely life free. Shale did her best to doctor my nicked forehead while Valkyrie took off on her wild goose chase. Nothing like a solo mission to clear your mind. I envied her.

"Ok, I put Mr. One Bump Chump out back... What's Val cooking for dinner?" Cal asked, trying to brush the feathers from his coat.

"I sent her to scout the place out, she'll be gone for a while." I replied.

"WHAT!? She has the rest of the crackers and that goopy stuff!"

"No pony has answered me. Can you eat Griffon?" Zu shouted, now sitting proudly by her new roaring fire.

"Gross..." Shale and I proclaimed, but we were quickly silenced by Caliber.

"Well... I mean... Yeah. They are made of meat, you can eat meat. Stands to reason we could cook him and eat him."

"For fuck sake's no, Caliber. We already ran him over, we are not eating him. Just... Go into the cart and see if Val left her bags with any food in them..." I said pointing a hoof to the cart.

"So, when are you going to tell us how we are going to get in there anyhow?" Shale asked as she tightened the bandage over my right eye.

"Whoa now, WE?"

"Yes, WE. We did not come all this way to just sit on the sidelines and watch you get hurt or captured or something... Look, you know that you can't go in alone, they will sniff you out in two seconds. We need to have a plan."

"I know... It's just... This whole time I have been trying to think of a way in there, but every time I come up with something it always involves flying in and I know that THAT can't be done. Not to mention every plan I have had has only involved me and Caliber, not... ALL of us."

"What about the tunnels under the town? Could we get in that way?"

"No way, no how! You have read Ditzy's book, you know better than that. Flying is out, shooting our way in is suicide and sneaking in is out of the question. All I know is that we have to get in there as soon as possible. Slavers are not known for their kindness nor their patients with kids. It's just a matter of time before something happens to him... If it already hasn't." I said, pulling away from Shale.

"Look, I know you want to rush in there, I do too, but maybe it would be best if we all took some time to rest and think on this."

"You? You want to rush into Filly?"

"Well, yeah. Fetch is in there and Fetch is..." Shale started.

"Caliber's kid... Speaking of, what the fuck are you doing bedding down with Caliber!? You know his track record with foal production is nearing 100% right?" With everything that had been going on with the day, I had somehow successfully allowed the thought of those two slip from my mind on the flight over. If Shale only knew how dangerous it was to have sex with him... If only she knew that he was Boss's son of all things!

"Whoa! Slow your roll. Who said anything about me 'bedding' with Caliber?"

"Oh please, I know that look you gave him! Are you telling me that you two never once humped while I was gone?"

"NO! I mean, I like the guy and Celestia know's that he tried. But no."

"Shale, don't lie to me..." I said, narrowing my eyes towards her.

"I'm not lying, Joey. Even if I was, it is none of your business." She said to me, running her nose into mine to stare me down. As much as I felt she wasn't being totally honest with me, I had to admit, if she was lying she was really selling it.

"Ok... I'm sorry, I'm just... stressed. And here I thought you and Cal were lip locking and feeling each other up." I said, feeling that cool feeling of blissful acceptance of a situation that was beyond my control.

"Oh we did that. I mean, he's cute, he's funny and he is actually really sweet when he wants to be..." Shale started again. My face fell from its composure and left me feeling that her and my definition of bedding together were severally different. Great... Looks like we get to have THAT talk now.

"Shale..."

"He's helpful around the mart too! Not to mention that I have always had a thing for unicorns..."

"SHALE!"

"You know he can actually be really smart too and he is a good kisser!"

"He's our brother..."

"Oh and he... WHAT!?"

"Shale, Boss wasn't going off drinking or trading when he would leave us with Peach. He was looking for a mare. A mare that he had sex with and gave birth to Caliber. Caliber is Boss's son." I said as I dug in my saddlebags for his journal. Shale paused for a moment before jobbing a hoof sharply to my chest.

"Really mature, Joey. Just because you don't approve of me dating him, you have to make up this whole story about him being my brother."

"See for yourself..." I said as I dropped his journal between us. "Bit Scales told me herself..." Shale began flipping through the pages to the one I had long ago marked, pulling it closer to see the scribbles I had made drawing the connection together. I watched as my sister's face went from the 'I'm about to prove you wrong smirk' to a very... 'Holy shit, I almost slept with my brother'... Look.

"Told you." I said, swiping the book from her.

"I... I..." Shale stammered. You know, there are many times in my life where I have been on the low end of the pole when it came to family. I was the smallest, so I got the shit jobs around camp. I never got the best choices when it came to guns. Shale would embarrass me in front of mares whenever she could by calling me her 'cute widdle bwuder'. There were also times where she was really sweet to me and patched me up and took my side when the others were against me. I always did my best to repay the favor when I could by being just as sweet and kind to her in return... This was not one of those times.

"Say it."

"I..."

"Say it Shale..."

"I..." She started again.

"Say it. I... Kissed... My... Brother... With-tongue."

"I.. He's my... Oh Celestia..."

"GROSS! Joey, don't tell me you have been macking on your own sister! That's just gross!" Caliber said as he trotted out of the cart.

"Didn't you bang a sheep once?" I said with a smirk. That's right Joey, just cover that ball of pain up with a layer of jokes.

"Allegedly. Why?" Crap... I forgot that you can't ashame somepony when they have no shame. Caliber trotted past us, looking very confident in his remark as he headed for the campfire.

"Have you told him yet?" Shale whispered to me.

"No, not yet. I just found out before I left for White Saddle."

"You NEED to tell him! This is important, and, I think he needs this right now."

"Yeah, he needs to find out that the buck who forgot about his kid is really his brother..."

"You don't understand... Look, Cal has been going through a lot since you have been gone. When this is all over, you and I need to have a talk about him, but in the meantime, you need to find a way and a time to explain this to him. I mean, the fact that you haven't already is just beyond me."

"I know, I know... It's just... I have been waiting for the right time to tell him. Every time that an opportunity comes up, somepony puts a bounty on my head... Or we are having to find away into a damn prison to extract a kid of ours..."

"Just promise me that you will talk with him about this... He NEEDS to know this. Until then, maybe it would be best if you had a rest. Maybe Valkyrie will find something out there that will help you get in there."

"Oh, so NOW it's me and not WE..."

"Oh get over yourself. You know damn good and well that I will be watching over you from a safe distance... Maybe with that shiny new rifle of yours..."

"Oh no... Not my..." I started.

"Oh like you can even take it in there. Without me out here as a lookout, who will squeeze a round off if it is needed?"

"Ok... But only because you are my sister and I trust you..." I started

"Thank you."

"But so help me Luna if you scratch this gun, I will find a way to make you not my sister anymore. Got it?" I said as I passed the rifle off to her. I had not even got to fire the thing and she was going to get the first shot off! "It was a gift... From Zu..."

"I'm sure she will be here with me to watch over it. Somepony will need to watch my flank, Celestia knows that she can't go in there with you."

"That's true. Just... keep her safe..."

"I'm sure she can watch out for herself."

"I meant the rifle." I said, wobbling on my hooves. Like it or not, exhaustion was setting in and setting in, HARD.

"Joey, you need to go and lie down. You have been flying for nearly a full day. Let us do the hard work for once, ok?"

"Maybe you are right. But you know that Red Eye has patrols all over the place and if those slaves are still out there, we are as good as sitting ducks." I said as I trotted towards the fire.

"Celestia, is you life always this down to the wire?" Shale shouted after me.

"Welcome to Joey town, where everything was due yesterday and none of it makes any sense..." I said as I planted my head on the ground next to Zuri.

Filly is a prison, both inside and out. The place is nearly impenetrable without being seen and once you are in, there is little to no chance of getting out with anything short of a wing and prayer. What has the universe gotten me into this time!? All I wanted was some piece and quiet before dealing with the bounty on my head and now I am hoof deep in Fillydelphia.

I gave a snort to the ground, blowing the old stale tobacco chips into the fire with my nostrils as I let everything finally sink in. I was about to go into the one place in the whole Wasteland that I said that I would never go in. Even when I would find out that a kid I was looking for ended up in there, I wouldn't go after them. Yet, here I was, about to do that very thing for my own motivations. What made this so different from all the cases I had passed on in the past?

As I was slowly falling into a very calm panic attack, I felt it all melt away when I felt Zuri's hoof fall across my neck, followed by her warm muzzle pressing against my ear. Zuri, a mare who I had only known for a short time, whose very touch had its own effect on me that made even Med-X pale in comparison, somehow could wash away fear with a simple touch. I still don't know what we have together, but when I am with her I just feel... whole. There was something about having somepony near me who not only could tell that I was troubled but wanted to just... make it go away. Is that what love is? Or is it just a fix for a selfish need for affection that I had been denied my whole life?

I sat waiting as the others motored about the barn, all the while trying to keep my mind off of all the thoughts of this not playing out how I hoped and instead trying to enjoy Zu's hoof stroking my mane. If nothing else, if this was the last time I would feel it, I wanted to enjoy it. Celestia, what If I didn't make it back out of there! What would happen to Zu, Shale and... Well, I'm sure Caliber with probably be with me, but still. The thought of leaving Zu all alone out here after finally finding one another was finally sinking in about the time Val came sneaking back into the barn.

"Maybe we could... No... That would just get us killed." Caliber mumbled to himself. The others had been spending the time talking strategy while I was trying not to listen.

"Joy, are you ok?"

"No..." I mumbled through the dirt.

"It will be ok. I promise."

"Thanks. But I don't think that we are...."

"I GOT IT!" Cal screamed, scaring the ever-loving-shit out of me.

"WHAT!?" I replied from behind Zu.

"Joey... Seriously?"

"What? I... I burned my hoof..."

"Whatever... Ok, I got this." Caliber said, clearing his throat.

"Great..." Shale said sarcastically.

"Shhh! Ok, what if... we just fly in!"

"Cal... The Griffons will be..."

"Yes, they will see us... But what if we don't go in as ponies."

"Cal, what the hell are you talking about?" I asked, pretending to nurse a burned hoof.

"Ok, hear me out. We ran that pervert over right? What if we use his barding and feathers and just make a suit we can both fit in! It will work! He is big enough for us to both fit into together!"

"You want to dress up as Griffons...?" I said, my face falling flat.

"YEAH! But we will have to cover you with his feathers too, really sell it to them."

"Cal... What the actual..."

"SHHHH! Don't talk, just... let it sink in for a moment. Griffons have great eyesight... IN THE DAY. But at night, most of them are just useless winged house cats. If we go as Griffons AND act completely natural, it may give us a window inside. From there we can just dress as slaves. Think about it, they will never see it coming." Cal said, sitting down to bask in his own stupidity.

"NO! Are you trying to get us killed!? Besides, even if it did work, how are we going to get back out of there? We can't just dress back up as a Griffon and steal a little colt. Speaking of... WE DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE HE IS!" I said.

"I know where he is..." Valkyrie said, sitting down beside us.

"Wait, wha..."

"You told me to do recon, I did recon." She said proudly.

"Spill it." I said, narrowing my eyes towards her.

"First of all, did you mean to set up camp this close to the wall, or was that an accident?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I said, trotting to the door. " We are miles from the walls of..." I stood slack jawed at the sight of... well.. the wall to Filly just down the hill from us. "How..."

"You must have been exhausted. It is an easy mistake to make." Zu said, trotting to my side. If my panicked nerves were not already frayed to shreds, they were now. Not only had I completely missed our landing spot, I had flown us straight into the heart of Filly itself! It was a small wonder that nothing heard us when we plowed head on into that Griffon earlier.

"Down there, just beyond the corner, there is a guard entrance. It looked to be some sort of emergency staging area. I got close enough to hear them talking about the 'New hours' since that Red Eye guy was sending out more patrols. They are already in for a long shift and it is just the two of them."

I followed Val's hoof to the far corner of the wall where there seemed to be the corner of a guard shack peeking out around a mass of buildings that lay just inside the wall. If what she said was true, that could be our way in and maybe even out if we could take out the guards and get inside. As much as I hated Caliber's plan, posing as slaves might not be that bad of an idea if we could get some intel on the other guards. Actually, posing as guards might not be that bad of an idea either.

"See, Joey? There are doors everywhere, you just have to wait and find the right one to open." She said, giving me a very confident look.

"What about Fetch? How do you know where he is?" I asked.

"The guards mentioned something about the new kids in the holding area by the factory district. I also overheard them talking about how they should 'take five' the next chance they got, seeing as the next shift change wasn't for the next five hours. If you ever wanted a window to get in there, this one is as good as any." She said, looking back to the far wall.

"So we have two guards posted up outside, Celestia only knows how many inside and we have to move around undetected..." I said as I tried to put all of the pieces together in my head. Everything was there, even our timing was close enough to the dew point that we might even get some fog as cover if we were lucky.

"See, this is what I am talking about. Once we get inside, we can use the barding and what not for the other two Slavers to get around. I'm sure I can play the part well enough, you on the other hoof..." Caliber said, pausing to think for a moment. "We are really going to have to dress you down so they can't tell who you are." Shit... he was right. The chances of me running into somepony who had seen me, heard of me or knew me were actually rather low, but the chances were still there.

"Ok... If we do this, we need to do this MY way. Got it?" I said, looking to everypony. "We have to be fast and on point for this to work. If what Valkyrie said is true then we might have a window of opportunity. Val, do you think you could distract the guards long enough for me and Cal to get in?"

"I think so... Do we have any whiskey?" She responded, looking about the group.

"I think I have nearly a full bottle of Wild Pegasus." Cal affirmed.

"Then I think I have a plan for that."

"Shale, you will have to provide overwatch. Use my rifle to pick off anypony who you can see as a threat to either Cal and I or Fetch."

"Joey, I can watch the majority of this place easy enough, but once you get into the manufacturing district, you are going to be on your own."

"We will just have to make do once we are there. If we pull this off, hopefully there won't be a shot fired at all. Do you remember how to signal that light of yours?"

"Do you remember our code?"

"Two is one, one is many." I sounded off

"Three is run, don't forget." Shale reminded me as she fell back into the barn to start gathering supplies.

"Zu, I need you to watch over her. Keep an eye on the skies for Griffons and balloons. The damn things creep around like ghosts. If you guys get spotted... just get the hell out of here as fast as you can. Shale will fire off three shots in the air if that happens and we will abort. As much as nopony here likes to hear it, it will be everypony for themselves if things go south."

"And what do we do if things go south?" Valkyrie asked.

"We run, we hide and we regroup. If you hear three shots in rapid succession, head for the west. Zu, you and Shale run north. Don't stop until you find shelter. Shale already knows how to flag me down, but Val, you will need length of red cloth from her. Go see if she has any left and give her a hoof with anything else."

"On it!" The little orange mare barked out as she ran after Shale.

"Cal, do you still have that notebook you had back in New Appleloosa?"

"Yeah, why?"

"See if you can get high enough up on the barn to see into the factories and try your best to sketch out what you can see. We will need a map. Here..." I said passing him the binoculars. "See what all you can find out from up there. Maybe we will get lucky." Caliber snatched the optics from me and headed for the hayloft.

"We only have a few hours before we get this show on the road! We are waiting for the night air to hit the dew point. Once it does, we will have the fog to help us out with getting around. If we get split up, remember to wait until you hear the call sign 'Whispy'. When you hear it, don't poke your head out, just say Clouds. Everypony got it?" I said as I trotted to the edge of the hillside to rest. If nothing else, maybe it would afford me a little time to think to myself.

This was going to end badly. No doubt that we had put more faith in our exit plan than our actual plan, but the chances of this all working out just fine were less than zero. I did my best to not let the nearly nonexistent odds weigh on my mind, but the more that I tried to focus, the less I actually focused. I kept thinking about what would happen if Fetch was... UGH! How did he even get all the way up here!? I really hope that he is ok, because that little colt is going to get the flank-chewing of a lifetime for this!

My thoughts soon turned to that of the rest of the group, thinking about how Caliber would react if the worst came to light and if any harm had come to the poor colt. At the very best, we would get away clean, but at the worst we would end up dead. Oddly enough, neither of those two neither gave me hope or as much fear as if we were to get there and find out that we were too late. Caliber would never forgive me for this, I would never forgive me for this.

I must have sat there for nearly an hour being tortured by my own thoughts of the worst possible thing that could happen before Zu found her way back to me outside.

"You are nervous, I can tell." She said as she sat down beside me.

"Yeah... these ponies are not my biggest fans. I'm sure they will be happy to see me."

"Will you have to hide your wings?" She said giving them a light brush with her hoof. The touch was met with the bristly feeling of my neck hair standing on end in delight. Even now, with everything that was going on, it was surprising to see the effect of a simple touch from her could have.

"Yeah, them and my stripes." I said giving a shiver.

"What about your nose? It is starting to turn darker too. It will not be long before they come in fully, you know?"

"I'll... cover them with mud... or something."

"I am sorry. You should not have to hide them."

"Thanks, but why would you say that? Slavers hate Pegasi and have for as far back as I can remember. Honestly, the last Pegasus slaver I ever saw was back when we first met and he's..." I paused to think for a moment. All this time, I had lamented the fact that I was one of the few Pegasi in the Wasteland, never mind the fact that I was the only one that I knew of that was actually born here and a not cast out or a runaway. It had been so long ago since that day back in the valley, he had been the only slaver with wings that I had ever seen and he was now dead... Because of me.

Even though I did what needed to be done back then, I still could not help but wonder if it was me that had started all of this hate between slavers and Pegasi. Sure, they seem to hate just about everypony, even themselves at times, but I had systematically taken nearly a hundred or more of them out of the fight for good. What were the chances that I had been the cause of my own problems with them from the start? I basically stole from Red Eye when I was just a colt and spent a lifetime trying to murder my way out of it.

But was that really what I was trying to do? Simply undo or eliminate the problem I had made for myself all those years ago back in Silver Shoe? Slavers are the worst of us. They take ponies, they take fillies and colts from their parents, and even though the latter was a more recent happening, it was still happening nonetheless. Was I nothing more than a do-gooder trying to rid a house of rats? Or was I a mercenary to my own faults at this point? Neither of those seemed to be something that would appeal to me on any level. The Wasteland had enough hero's to go around with out some random Pegasus trying to make a name for himself.

All I wanted was to be happy, with Zuri. Now that I have her, all I seem to do is get deeper into the hole I started digging or create all new holes to fall into. Why can't things just be simple for me? Why not just... be happy for a change? I was a lost cause and the slavers were both the reason and the effect. If not for them, I wouldn't have met Zu, if not for them, I wouldn't be here. They also took so many from loved ones, killed at will and ruined lives for the sake of a fever dream. Maybe it was their actions that lead me to this place in my life, maybe it was me, but regardless, I'm here now. If the universe has a sense of humor, it has to be a very paradoxical and convoluted one.

"Joy, what is wrong. You look like you have a lot that you are thinking about." She asked as the two of us looked out across the dilapidated landscape of the old city.

"More than you could ever know." I said, giving my head a light shake to try and uncross my eyes. That had better not be a new and ever randomized symptom of being a Zony!

"Are you frightened?" She asked, leaning into me.

"I have never actually gone in there before. They have tried to throw me in more than once, but I always just flew away. Who would have thought that I would actually end up going in because I had to. "

"You are dodging the question." Zu said, giving me a light nudge with her nose.

"I'm... I'm terrified. I'm afraid for Fetch, I'm scared that I might not make it back out, I'm afraid that I will not see you again if this goes bad. Filly is a dark place filled with dark ponies who want nothing more than to take lives for nothing more than a few hours of labor, and here i am about to fly right in there and say hello." I said in shame.

"There is no need to worry, I have faith in you to make it back to me. You are going into the dark city, but you will make it back out." She said with confidence.

"Pff... More like the valley of death."

"AH! Then this is even better!" She said with a smile.

"Zu, I love you, but what the hell are you on about?"

"The valley of death is a cruel place. Few Zebras have come back from there."

"Still not feeling very inspired here..."

"Shush you. Don't talk. Listen. The valley of death is very deadly because of what lies there. It is hot, it is cold and it is merciless, but that is not what will kill you. It is the shadows that deal the final blow. Just before we die, we go to a place were both darkness and light rule. One takes what it wishes and the other protects those who run to it. That place is what we call the valley of death. The only Zebra to come back from there told tales of how the darkness would follow him and how his only hope was to run to the light for safety. But every day, he would venture further to find his way back home to his loved ones that waited on the other side.

When he would leave the safety of the light, the darkness would find him even in the sun, if he built a fire, it would black out the flames and when he tried to sleep, it would try to smother him. His only hope for life was to run for the light on the horizon faster than the darkness could follow. He said that it was never seen, until it was too late. He watched as many Zebras feel before it, but he would not yield, he would run to the light for safety instead. But his want to got home forced him to continue to search and he knew that he would have to face the dark if he ever wanted to go back home again.

Soon, the darkness even took the light that guarded him, leaving him in a world of loneliness and sorrow. It took from him hope, love and happiness, leaving him to wither away. It was not until he sought out the darkness with vengeance that he truly understood what it was to want to live. He fought its will, pushing it from his mind with thoughts of going home and seeing his family once more. His determination was what sent the darkness fleeing in fear of him, but it was his will to live and be free that kept it away long enough for him to find his way back home. He had become what the darkness feared most, he had become the light in the dark.

So you should fear not to trot through the valley of death, for you are the light that they so fear."

"Zu... That's very... creepy." Zuri only smiled and laughed.

"Yes, it is a very creepy story! You should tell me yours, when you come back." She said, laying her head across my back.

The light in the darkness. Wasn't that what that 'Light Bringer' was doing already? Had Zu been listen to that old radio of her's again? Still my thoughts set themselves to wonder. If the Light Bringer was so called for bringing the light into the darkness, what would that light be? Was it the will for good ponies to stand up and fight for something more or was it just more ramblings from Dj-Pon3? Maybe it was the virtue of a hero, something we all share but never act on out of fear or selfish want to not come into harm's way.

I guess you never know how much you can withstand until you are pushed beyond your breaking point and fight through the pain to rise up. Maybe, just maybe the light in the dark is the good inside all of us and the darkness the corruption of this world that plagues us all. We stand resolute even though the bombs fell, we see horror everyday, but we push forward with our lives. If that is what ponies do when they are standing idly-by, what could they do when they actually tried? I know now that the Slaver's crimes against other ponies is what drove me to shoot them in the first place and my reward was that of a striped life partner. If she truly was a gift to me for doing the right thing all those years ago, then it would be a gift I could never match in blood or tears.

"I know, I know... But this is shit! We have been on watch for over 10 hours now and not a damn thing has happened. I hate this job. I hate standing here. I hate this stupid vest I have to wear and I hate..."

"Would you quit your bitching! It's not like this is hard work. Just stand here and guard the door so no slaves get out. This isn't rocket surgery, Padlock."

"Oh fuck off with that! I'm just sayin' that a little break never hurt anypony. Come on, me and you, Just Padlock and Ol'Key Switch. Nopony has to know that we ditched to have a little drink."

"I'm telling you, if we get busted, then it's our ass! You know how Master Red Eye feels about laziness. He will have us strung up for it!"

"Awww... What's a matter? You afraid that something bad will happen? Tell me, in all the time we have been stationed here, what has happened at OUR post... ever? Besides the time you got your hoof stuck in the fence?"

"Look, I'm all for drinking on the job, but nothing short of a sign from those old fucked up Goddesses will get me to leave this post."

"Exschooosmeh! *hic* Can you fellas h-help me out here?" Valkyrie said as she half stumbled, half fell out of the bushes.

"HALT! WHO'S THERE!" Key Switch said, raising his rifle.

"WHOA! Calm down there Switchy, looks like we have us a damsel in distress here." Padlock said, placing a hoof to his rifle and lowering it.

"I was with some Griffon guy and he gave me this bo-bottle of whiskey! We were gonna have some fun but then he fell asleep and I had to pee and now I'm lost... Can you nice bucks help me find my way back?" Val said as she stumbled, dropped the bottle of booze and spun away from them to pick it up. "Woopsies! Dropped my bottle!"

Padlock's jaw hit the ground so hard that I thought I saw a stray tooth fly past me and Caliber as we lay waiting in the bushes. Val's plan was actually working out, I couldn't believe it! When she said that she thought she could just seduce them into leaving their post, I thought for sure that she was just taking on Caliber's usual not so charming charm. But, there she is, she wasn't shot full of holes yet like I said she would be on the way over here.

"I-I-I-I *hic* I swear that I can't hold on to anything when I drink this much!" She said as she spun back around and very convincingly fell over.

"Just what do you think you are doing!? This sector is off limits!"

"Switchy, that's no way to treat a lady!" Padlock said as he pulled him in close. Even from here, their voices were clearly heard as Padlock began the bartering process to get his friend to leave post. "Look, You're worn out, I'm worn out, we might as well be worn out together, sexually satisfied and have a drink in us! I think we have earned that much." He said, pointing a hoof to Val who was now very convincingly trying to fake taking a drink. "That Light Bringer bitch must be miles from here and apart from the occasional uprising, that might I add you and I never get to be a part of, we never see any action out here. So com'on... what do you say?" He said, ending his comment with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Soooo... Do you think he swing both ways with that look he gave him or..." Cal started.

"Shut up! You are going to get us caught!" I said, pushing his head down into be bushes.

"Well... She is cute and all..." Switchy started. "Well ok, but we have to make it quick! If anything happens while we are out, it is on your ass! When they debrief us, I'm telling them that I was taking a shit and you wondered off to beat your meat, got it!?"

"Gotcha!" Padlock replied, nearly levitating with excitement. Wow slavers are dense!

"Miss, I don't know where that Griffon is, but I think me and my partner here could help you with your loneliness issues." He said, trotting up to her.

"Oh goody! I was worried that I was gonna have to spend the night alone out here in the cold..." Val said as Padlock and Key Switch slowly guided her into the bushes, right between Caliber and I.

No sooner than the first buck had cleared the bushes, Caliber and I bucked them both in the side of the jaws. The two would-be suitors fell atop Val who was doing her best to fake a wobbly trot as she lead them to slaughter.

"Get them off me, get them off. Oh Celestia they stink, get them off of me now!" Val cried out but it fell on deaf ears among our hushed laughter.

"C...Cal! Grab the fat one off her, I don't think she had a three way planned!" I said as I hiccuped back my laughter.

"Yeah-yeah! I was thinking she was going to get spit-roasted!" He said, biting his tongue.

"Ok, here they are, now what." Val said as she spun the lid off of the bottle of whiskey and took a big gulp.

"Oh that's the easy part." Cal said as he withdrew his knife.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? You can't just kill them!" Val nearly shouted.

"Why not? They are slavers..." I said as I drew my knife out as well.

"Look... I know these two are slavers, but you can't just kill them to make your lives easier... Especially after what they thought they were going to get out of me for free!"

"Look Val, this is the job. It sucks sometimes but these are bad ponies, bad ponies who have my son nonetheless. We can't just leave them here to wake up and sound the alarm, what else could we do?"

"Anything else! Tie them up, gag them or... or something! But don't just kill them! It would be my fault and I don't want that on my conscience!" Val pleaded.

"Ugh... Fine! Cal, grab the rope out of my bags, we'll tie them to that tree there. I don't think they will be seen there. Val, you gag them, since this is your plan and all, I'm sure you won't mind standing guard." I said as I began to drag Key Switch to the tree.

In short order, Cal and I had undressed the Slavers and helped tie them to the tree. We left Val to take care of the two unconscious bucks and made for the door. The entrance had been fitted with large metal doors, luckily for us, one of them had been left unlocked. After one glance at them, I then knew all too well why one of the bucks was named Key Switch. The locks could only be opened by unicorn magic, there wasn't even a key slot to try and pick, that's just not fair.

The doorway opened up to a large office area... well, what used to be a large office, now it looked more like a place where ponies got their heads bashed in while they were awaiting transport to various places in Filly. The old walls had multiple bullet-holes, punched in spots and blood smears about the place. It felt more like a raider's den than a place where you would find Slavers being held up.

"Cal, toss the place! I have to find something to cover up with. One look at my wings or my stripes and I'm fucked."

"Way ahead of you Joe. Look what I found!" He said proudly as he pointed a hoof to a room labeled "Contraband".

"Now what do you suppose is in here I wonder?" He said as he hoofed the door open and jumped in head first. With a loud crash and a spray of well used artifacts, Cal began to dig for anything to help me with my very worrying feathered problem. Inside there were boxes upon boxes of just... things. Things that had once been owned by the now-residents of Filly, no doubt, but mostly just useless things.

"Ok, look for something, anything I can wear."

"How about this?" Cal said holding up what was left of a pre-war dress. "It's got sequins!" He said giving the ruffles of the bell-end a wave. No sooner than he had touched it, it fell apart.

"Stop fucking around! These are other ponies memories!"

"Fine fine... What about this?" He said, throwing me an old towel.

"Cal! I'm serious! What the fuck am I supposed to do with a fucking bath towel!"

"No dumbass, It's a hooded-jacket-thingy." He said as he took it into his magic and slipped it over my head and forehooves. "I had one of these once, they are super warm and you can cover your head with the hood! It's perfect!" As much as I wanted to argue with him, it was in fact covering everything incriminating on my body. "See, it even has the Hoofington Reaper's Logo on it! Badass, eh?"

"Ok fine, this will work. What about you?"

"I'm going to use the shit we pulled off the Slavers, I think if I mix the two outfits together, I can make something they haven't seen before." He said and he started trying on the various items. I set myself to moving my knife from my hind leg to my left front leg as he did whatever magic he needed to make his outfit match up to his insane standards.

"Step one done, but what about getting around?' I said as I tried to roll the sleeve of my jacket over my Pipbuck.

"Now..." Caliber started as he made his adjustments to his ensemble. "We pretend to be Slavers." He said as he started for the doorway to the interior of Filly. "Just follow my lead."

Outside, the fog had began to roll in and with it a very hazy view of a bombed out old city. The smell of sulfur, waste and noxious chemicals filled my nostrils along with a wet, musty smell that I could only describe as that of a swamp. In the distance, large buildings pumped out huge billowing clouds of smoke that polluted the air around us like a cloud of silent death. I narrowed my vision and tried to focus it on where we needed to go. From the map that Cal had drawn earlier, we looked to be in some sort of pre-staging area for... something... Slaver parties, maybe?

"Wow... Talk about your murky weather, this place feels like a swamp!" Caliber said as we both began to head south-east towards the buildings.

"Keep your voice down." I said trying to hush him to a dull roar. "Do you want to get caught?"

"Joey, the first rule about sneaking around like this is to blend in. This isn't one of your snatch and run jobs where your creep around for hours on end before you finally get your cover blown and have to resort to bullets. It's all in how you look and sound, the rest is just being quick on your hooves." He said giving me a shove.

"Ok, I'll try- Ow! Why!?" I shouted as I fell into a ditch.

"That's for forgetting about Fetch... Try HARDER."He said as he extended a hoof towards me.

"There is poo in here!"

"Harder!" He shouted as he pushed me back into the pit of filth.

"Ugh... Fuck! What the fuck asshole!"

"Better... But work on it." He said as he finally helped me out of the ditch... That he threw me in... What an ass.

"Celes-"

"Stop. Don't talk about Celestia, Luna, fuckin' any of those winged bitches. Slavers are notorious for hating them. They all believe the word of Red Eye or that crazy 'Goddess' thing..." he said as we trotted towards a guard post in the center of the road.

"That's going to be a hard habit to break..."

"It's easy, just replace their names with shit and fuck and you are golden." He said as he fired a cleaning spell towards me.

"Ok... Fuck damnit... Dear shit... Mother of fuck..." I said aloud. Caliber fell to his side and began laughing hysterically.

"Oh fuck! Stop! Please! It's like a colt trying to learn his first cuss words!" I couldn't be sure, but I think he was actually wetting himself.

"FUCK YOU! I have had years of cussing a certain way and now it's all fucked! Why don't you take a hydraulic suck on my shit pipe you wet stain on a fucking mattress!" My words were met with him nearly blacking out from lack of oxygen. Honestly, what was the big deal about this, why was this so funny to him?

"Perfect... Joey... Fucking perfect!" He said as he stood to wipe a tear from his eye.

"I really hate you sometimes..." I said as I trotted off.

"Hey, don't think for a second that I have forgotten why we are here or that it took you too damn long to remember. My kindness towards you is not a show of forgiveness. I'm thankful that you put Firefly on hold to find him, but none of that will change anything if we don't find him."

"Firefly? I could honestly care... give a fuck about that or the caps. I fucked up, I'm going to fix this and I'm doing this for Fetch, not you. Yes, I want your forgiveness, but maybe you should make this less about you and me and more about your SON." I said jabbing him with a hoof.

"Ok... Look. Sometimes you are hard to read, I never know what is going on with you because you never talk about this kind of shit."

"Ask next time. The last thing we need is to be at each other's throats in here."

"Good point." He said trotting ahead of me. See, why can't mares work like this. They say a thing, I say a thing, we resolve and move forward...

We came to the guard shack for the factory district of Filly no worse for wear than when we had came in. Despite all of my thought of this place being teaming with Slavers and their subordinates, we had yet to actually see anypony since we had arrived. The area beyond the gate had been largely barricaded around the various buildings and structures. A large chain link gate separated most of Filly from this area from what I could tell and us from where we needed to go.

"Halt! Who's there!? Show yourselves!" A guard shouted at us. I froze in place, I looked around me for someplace to run but we were in the wide open. My natural reflexes to fly nearly kicked in before Caliber sounded off.

"I'm fuckin' trying to! It's fogy as shit if you haven't noticed, dumbass!" Great, now we are going to die.

"Whatever..." The guard muttered. "What are you doing here after hours?" He asked as we approached.

"Seriously? With all the new shift changes, with all the new Slavers here, with everything that has been going on, you have to ask why we are here?" Cal said trotting closer to him.

"Cut the attitude, you know the rules, nopony in or out after midnight without orders."

"We have orders! We were sent here to guard those little fuckers by the factory." Caliber said, matching the guard's tone.

"You mean the order of kids sent to the yards by the chemical plant..."

"Yeah, cut me some slack! I'm fuckin' tired, overworked and sick of this shit! I just want to finish this last shift and GO. THE FUCK. TO SLEEP! And I don't need a guard fucking with my orders." Cal said, taking a step closer.

"Fine! Get your asses inside! And tell Wicked Slit that she needs to tighten up on her fucking messages because I'm not in the mood for dealing with this shit anymore!" The guard shouted to us both before locking eyes with me. "Hang on a second, who is that?" Before I could mouth the words, Caliber had already taken care of the talking for me.

"How can you not know who the fuck this is!? Your a fuckin' guard!" Caliber pointed towards me. Oh shit! Oh fuck! Caliber is going to turn me in for forgetting about Fetch! Fuck! That low down dirty little shit! I'll kill him! My face narrowed on both the guard and Caliber as I started to shift my weight to the left to better ready my knife. If I was going to go down, Cal and this guard were coming with me!

"This is Jackel!" My body was overcome with both numbness and pure confusion, but my glare never faltered. "You know... The guy hunting down that fuckhead 'Coyote Joe'?" Caliber said as if the guard should know.

"Wait... I thought Lazarus and Peeko were hunting him down? This is the first I'm hearing of this!" The guard said in confusion. Lazarus and Peeko? What the fuck!? Ponies are hunting me!? Well, I shouldn't be surprised... But still! I would have loved to have know this as soon as that order was given! Either they are very sneaky or they are very stupid because I don't recall seeing any signs of anypony tailing us. And I would know, I check often.

"You narrowed eye'd moron... Do you really think those two fuck ups are the only two after him? Master Red Eye would never be so stupid as put all his bits in one basket! What kind of guard are you!?" I shouted, finally breaking my silence.

"HEY! How was I supposed to know!? I thought two Griffons were more than enough to bring in that half assed tracker!" Griffons? Ok, that changes things. Sure I could keep an eye on ponies on the ground, it's what I do. But Griffons!? Fuck me, we have to get out of here and fast! If they were after us then there is no telling how long they had been trailing me. But even with all that weighing on my mind, one thought lingered in my brain. Did he just call me half assed!?

"Well, you listen to me you fucked faced, puke maned, nutsack chin... If you think two Griffons can bring down a pony that can fly, who's special fucking talent is tracking down other ponies and killing Slavers as sport, then you are no better off being here than being one of the fucking SLAVES!" I shouted in his face.

"...Puke mane?" The guard said, pulling his mane into his own vision.

"This buck has killed hundreds of us, how do you know those two Griffons are not lying dead somewhere?"

"I... I don't" He said, falling back into his shack.

"The very fact that I am here and not trying to find that asshole already has me in a bad mood, the fact that you are in my way is pissing me off and if you don't remove your hideous, testicular ball bag of a chin from my presence, I'm going to cut. it. off." I said narrowing my eyes to him.

"Fuck me, alright..." He said as he worked the switches to open the gate.

Caliber and I trotted through the threshold as if we had something important to do, all the while with the buck behind us talking to himself about his mane and face. "I don't have a puke mane... Do I?" I had to stammer a laugh at his new beauty complex as we ventured further into the belly of the beast. I could get used to this! Saying what was really on my mind and how I thought about them was liberating! SOOO therapeutic.

"Nutsack chin?" Caliber asked.

"Well he has got one." I said as I tried to keep my laughter down.

"He's gonna need a lot of therapy after that... I think you gave him an inferiority complex or something." Cal said as we shared a look together followed by us both laughing and saying "Fuck him..."

This wasn't a factory district... This was hell on Equuis. The closer we came to the buildings of the outlying areas, the more the heat grew. It was like its own brand of radiation that cut through the cool night air and burned away the fog around us. The smell was so acidic that I had to force myself not to cough with every breath I took. I had been in some real nasty places in my life, but this place felt like it was trying to kill me from the inside out. Caliber was taking it all in stride, partly because he was more in his element than I had ever seen and partly because he was an unicorn.

Pegasi are naturally more susceptible to airborne pathogens due to their increased lung capacity for long flights and shear amount of effort that it took to fly. I know this thanks to the book Ditzy slipped into my bags. The very same book she and Caliber used to break my wings back into position when I had broken them back in Silver Sheen... Oh what a wealth of good things that book has been. I should burn it.

I had been so lost in my thoughts that I nearly didn't notice the fact that we had trotted right past a group of slaves being lead by a Slaver out of a factory. I looked up just in time to see the face of a mare right as I collided nose to nose with her. The poor slave never saw me coming with her muzzle to the ground until she saw my hooves and looked up. The impact sent both of us falling to the ground seeing stars. My natural reaction to help her to her hooves or ask if she was ok was mercifully cut off by her presumed slave master.

"Roxie! Watch where you are going!" The guard sounded off. I was nearly caught off guard by her whip as it cracked over me and fell across her side. Roxie... I know that name... I think...

"S-Sorry! Please forgive OW!" She screamed as the whip once again found exposed flesh. I stood up before she could raise the whip again and cut a glance in her direction. Even from under my hood, I'm sure the glare I was giving bled through.

"What are you looking at!?" She shouted at me.

"A dead mare if she doesn't get her shit together." I growled as I advanced. Caliber put a hoof to my side but it was no use, I was already thinking of ways to end this mare's life.

"Why, you little stinking shi-" She started.

"If you don't get your slaves in line, I will see to it that this is the last fucking day you bump into me, got it?" I said pushing her head away from me.

"Fuck! I thought you were a slave! What are you doing wearing that stupid thing!?" She said, backing away.

"I have a... ACHOO! A cold." I said, sneezing right in her face. "Not that it is a half-assed Slaver like yourself's concern!"

"Holy shit! GROSS! What the hell!" She shouted as she stumbled back. "Take it out on her you gross bastard! She bumped into you, not me!"

"And these are your slaves, you are guiding them." I said raising an eyebrow.

"Whatever! Germ infested ass..." She mumbled as she continued to lead them out of the factory. As I passed the mare who had bumped into me I tried not show remorse but it was hard considering what happened. I had not been paying attention and she paid the price for it, a fact that was clearly visible on her light green coat in the form of blood. I swear I had seen her before... Somewhere. But I pushed it to the back of my brain as I set myself towards finding the stable of fillies and colts where we thought Fetch was being held.

"Did you really have to sneeze on her?" Caliber asked as he looked to see if the cost was clear in order to check the map.

"Yeah... Why?"

"Joey, her mouth was open."

"So?"

"That's just..." Cal started.

"Hey! What are you-" A Slaver began but was quickly cut off by my reflex reaction of both being scared shitless and me drawing my knife against his throat.

"Who... the fuck are you?" he managed to cough out.

"Who the fuck are you?" I asked as he pawed at my hood. I had seen him before too. I think he was... Just then, he managed to push my head down and I saw his eyes grow wide.

"You! It's you! You are that fucking tracker! If you kill me, they will know..."

"Know what? That you are dead?" The buck seem to take stock of his situation before falling into a nervous grin.

"H-Hey... There is no need for all of that now... Is there?" I pulled the knife from his throat but kept my hoof firmly planted on the side of his skull.

"I don't know, is there? Where are the fillies and colts being held?" I asked him quietly.

"Why should I tell you OW!" His loud squeak was muffled by my hoof as I slipped the blade between his legs.

"Oh fuck! Ow! They are two buildings down, cage is in the back, combination to the lock is 4483... Please! I'm a virgin!" He stammered as I press the blade hard against his groin.

"You wouldn't lie to me... Would you?" I said, grinning an inch from his face.

"OK! OK! The combination is 0101! For fuck sakes! What else would it be!?" I withdrew the knife from his privates and took note of the large amount of blood that had covered it... I really need to dull this thing or something. I stepped back from the buck who was now clutching his privates and allowed Caliber to deal the blow that would take him out of his misery.

"I... I think you cut the shaft! Oh shit! Oh-" The sharp crack of hooves on skull rang out through the small alleyway that we were in as Caliber knocked him completely cold in one swift kick. Thankfully, no pony heard it among the roar of machinery.

Checking to see if the coast was clear, we slowly emerged from the shadows and started in the direction that the buck had told us. All along the way we passed groups of slaves that were being lead to and from various places around us. Some of them looked like they were nearing death as they did their best to keep up with the group. Those who fell behind were either beaten or whipped by their masters in an effort for them to work harder. If Red Eye was trying to forge a city from nothing, he was in fact doing it. The problem was that he wasn't doing it from nothing, he was doing it on the backs of ponies who were unwilling.

Up ahead, a guard stood before a locked cage near a building that looked and sounded to be the only building that was not only out of operation but devoid of power. The blacked out windows and gaping hole in the building's upper levels shown that it had been subjected to a blast of some sort recently and as such had been closed down. The guard out front eyed us quizzically as we approached him before finally turning to face us both.

"...Yes?" He said indignantly.

"Shift change. You're out, we're in. Get lost." Caliber said and I took position beside him.

"What? I've only been here an hour? What gives?" He asked, looking around.

"Beats the shit out of me. We got sent here under orders to watch some kids." I said, looking beyond him to the old brass padlock on the gate.

"Fuck me... They really need to get their shit together. This is the second time today they have fucked up my schedule. First the foundry, now here. I could be sleeping right now!"

"Yeah, instead you are sitting here bitching..." Caliber said with a flat glare.

"Damn it... Fuck this..." He said as he stomped off in anger all the while complaining about everything wrong in his world at that moment.

"Cal... How in the fuck has this worked?" I asked as I felt myself falling back down from the high of the last hour's events.

"I told you... it's all in how you sound and what you know. Slavers are fairly stupid, so long as you keep it vague and remind them of how stupid they really are, they will go with the flow. You just have to make the flow work in your favor." He said as he nudged me out of the way so he could stand guard as I worked the lock with my hooves.

"Yeah... but still. I feel like this is all going too-"

"Shut your whore mouth. Don't you dare say something that will ensure that this all goes to shit."

"...Well." I muttered as I felt the lock click open. "Ok, put the lock back on after I go in, DO NOT LOCK IT. Just hang it on the latch."

"Joey... I can remember 0101..."

"Still..." I said as I slipped inside the crude holding pen.

All around me were small alcoves that had been crudely fashioned and looked to had been done so in haste. My guess was that something had happened here to force them to have to move them all here rather than a proper holding area. In the darkness I could make out the silhouettes of little ponies moving about as I made my way further into the prison cell. Just then, my hoof landed on something soft and squishy, followed by a sharp "Eep!"

"So sorry! Are you ok?" I whispered as I reached down to the filly I had just stepped on. She recoiled from me, instead curling into a ball and began shaking. Her hide had the tell-tale signs of whip marks that had been freshly healed atop older scars that were further along. These sick fucks were actually beating them, healing them back up, only to beat them again?

"What did they do to these kids..." I mumbled as I stepped over her and proceeded further. Slowly, my eyesight began to alquimate
to the darkness and the shapes began to take on colors. I scanned the area but my worst fears were realized when I came up empty hooved. After several long moments, and right about the time I was about to give up, my ears picked up on the same tones as Fetch's coming from the far corner of the room.

The area was littered with waste, food scraps that had been picked nearly clean and smelled to have been used as a bathroom by the whole group of them. His muffled cries were only covered by the sounds of rustling covers and whimpers in the darkness. I slowly made my way closer to what looked to be a small mound of old newspapers and trash what was quivering.

"Fetch?" I grunted as I tried my best not to gag from the smell. Two eyes looked up at me followed by a look of horror and fear.

"P-Please! Don't hurt me anymore!" He cried out as I watched his small form shrink even further into a ball. "I won't help any more! I swear!"

"Fetch! It's me! Joey!" I said as I trotted closer.

"Jo-Joey?" He stammered as he peered out from beneath his mountain of waste he was using as a blanket.

"Yes, it's me! Com'on. We are going to here you out of here buddy!" I said, reaching for him.

"Don't hurt me! It's a trick!" He shouted as I pulled him from the rummage.

"Fetch, it's me. I swear! I taught you to read, Caliber is outside, we have to go!" I tried to say to him, but he wasn't listening. "What did they do-" My words fell flat as I brought him into the light of one of the cracks in the wall. In the amber glow that shone down on him, I watched as his cringing face slowly turned towards me and his watery eyes began to open. Fresh scars littered his muzzle from being whipped repeatedly with one that had fallen right across his left eye. Thankfully for him it looked to be superficial, but I welled up with tears when I saw his horn.

They... they broke it. They just, broke it off. The jagged edges of his once small spire atop his forehead had been severed just an inch before his scalp. Fresh blood had matted with his mane turning it from the blue and cyan that I saw back in Tenpony, to a sickly brown.

"F-F-Fetchy?" I managed to get out as I took my hood off and looked down on him. His eyes locked on mine and I watched as horror melted away and relief began to set in.

"Joey! It's really you!" He near shouted as he wrapped his hooves around me. His little legs locked down with a surprising amount of force, making me gag as his broken horn stabbed me in the throat.

"Yeah, it's me, buddy... I'm here."

"Is Caliber with you?"

"He's outside. We-"

"Actually, Joey. I'm not." I turned to see Caliber working his way backwards towards us as his eyes were locked on the door. I stood up with Fetch in one leg and trotted to his side.

"How many?" I asked as I tried to focus my attention towards the door.

"Two..." Cal said quietly.

"Ok, we got this. You-" I started but was cut off by the sound of anti-machine rifles as they roared and punched massive holes in the walls around us.

"Griffons! Two Griffons!" Caliber shouted as we fled to the back wall.

"Holy shit! Are they in power armor!?" I screamed as I gave Cal a boost to the small vent window of the factory beside us.

"YUP! It was a setup Joey! They must have found Fetch and knew that we would come for him! Those two Griffons the guard mentioned, It has to be them!" Caliber said as I passed Fetch up to him and took flight towards the window. Just as I did, the wall behind us fell in as Lazarus and Peeko thundered their way in behind us.

"Where the fuck is he!?" One of them shouted as we started up the catwalk towards the hole in the ceiling.

"Cal, hop on!" I shouted as we made for the skies.

"Can you out fly them!?" Caliber shouted as we shot through the hole in the building and banked for the guard post at the entrance for the factory district.

"YES!" I shouted back.

"Are you sure?" Cal said, his voice edging on worry. I looked back to see the two griffons now rounding the building and taking flight.

"NO!" I screamed as I dipped out of the air just in time to dodge a round from one of our pursuers.

I had hoped that by flying from building to building that I could give them the slip, but I had not counted on them being such good fliers. I ducked and dodged as I did my best to lose the two catbirds. I rounded a corner of what I thought was the refinery and shot upwards over the roof. With any luck we would be near the factory limits and we could lose them in the fog. I skirted the rooftop and as luck would have it, just on the other side lay the fog curtain. I aimed us all at it and pushed for anything I had left for more speed. Right as we entered, I felt Caliber tense up on my back, followed by a loud explosion behind us.

"Fuck! My hoof!"

"Is Fetch ok!?" I shouted back to them.

"I'mokay!" Fetch responded.

"Yeah but the round grazed my hoof!" Caliber said in pain. I looked back hoping to see a minor injury but what I saw was the entirity of the top of his hoof missing. I had forgotten just how devastating one of those rounds were, if one of those finds their mark...

"JOEY! LOOK OUT!" Caliber shouted. I turned my head just in time to see the guard shack's window a few feet away. Thinking quickly, I backflapped as hard as I could and aimed my hind hooves at the plate glass window. Just before I hit, I clearly made out the guard who I had called 'puke mane' staring right at us from the other side. Sorry...

With a loud crash, my hind hoof impacted his muzzle, sending him back flipping in the air and landing in a heap across the room. If he was worried that he might been ugly before, now he was going to be mortified when he came too. I watched as Fetch flew after him and land atop the now unconscious buck before bouncing and landing on all four hooves. Cal and I on the other hoof tumbled and rolled into the middle of the floor before scrambling to our hooves once more.

Behind us the sound of anti-machine rifles rang out in the distance and the sounds of their rounds impacting the ground and roof of the old shack were undeniable. Huge gaping holes were being torn in the roof as we bolted for the door and once more took flight. The fog had become so thick that I couldn't see my own hoof in front of my face, making flying all the more dangerous this low. Busting through the fog layer would spell certain death if those two were above it too, it would also make us sitting ducks for any of the patrol balloons. I pulled up just in time to avoid hitting a half broken light pole that I nearly didn't even see right in front of me.

"Shit! This is what they want!" I shouted.

"Joey, you have to get out of this! We are going to crash!"

"If I go up there we are going to get shot!"

"We are just going to have to hedge our bets on them sucking more than us! LOOK OUT!" He shouted as I dodged a low lying power cable. As much as I hated it, he was right. I couldn't see anything down here and if we got lucky enough, we would make for the barn and pick up Valkyrie later. I pushed up and began arcing us towards what I thought was the right direction... It wasn't. No sooner than my head came above the fog I was looking right at one of the Griffons that had been chasing me. He had not noticed me yet but it wouldn't be long before he did.

Sure enough, as I bolted, I watched as his massive rifle swung into our direction and let out a thunderous explosion. The round ripped right through my tail hair, ripping out a large strand that made my body go tense from the pain. If I had not been motivated to fly faster before, now I was! I looked back as I started to gain altitude and saw him fall in pursuit. Not long after, from nearly the same place as we had emerged, the second Griffon flew out of the fog and gave chase.

"Shit! They have us covered!" Cal said, looking back at them.

"Fuck! I need a gun!" I shouted in frustration.

"I have a gun!" Fetch shouted as he held up an old pipe pistol he...

"Where did you get that!?" Cal and I both shouted at him.

"I took it from the guard you kicked... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to steal it..." Fetch said solemnly but was quickly reaffirmed in his thievery when Cal gave him a smile and patted his head in a show of job well done.

"Cal! Take the gun you moron!"

"I can't! My hoof is all fucked up!" He shouted as he fumbled with the pistol.

"I can't shoot, I have to get us out of here!"

"I can shoot! My hoof isn't fucked up!" Fetch said.

"Fetch!" Caliber and I shouted. "Watch your mouth!" Caliber said, looking back to the Griffons that were now closing the gap. It wouldn't be long before they caught up to us judging by their speed.

"Fetch, aim for their visors! Oh Luna, I'm putting my faith in a cussing, stealing colt!" I shouted in vain. Fetch took the pistol into his mouth and began to wobble about as he aimed.

"That's it! Now, slowly squeeze the trigger-" I started.

"BALLOON!" Cal shouted at me as I turned to see the muzzle of yet another anti-machine rifle pointed right at us. We were right on top of the damn thing! I back flipped in the air just as Fetch fired off a round towards the first Griffon. I watched from our upside down position as the round glanced off the first Griffon's mask and struck the gas tank on the balloon we nearly hit.

A massive fireball erupted from the giant pink head as it began to spread out around us, scorching even more of my tail and lapping at my hind hooves as I dove back towards the ground. Behind us the roar of fire and screams of Griffons cut through the air like a knife, the heat from the blast washed over us as I once more flew into the fog below. I looked back and saw the glow from the sky behind us and paused for a moment, the amber colors being all but muted by the dense fog around us.

"I think we lost them..." Caliber said, breathing a sigh of relief. I stood hovering in the air, watching the massive fireball grow, and grow, and... A huge flaming pink face started to come into view just as I noticed that it was not growing anymore...

"Shit! Fly! Fly, damnit! Fly!" Cal shouted as I lurched forward towards the wall. The giant stupid face on the balloon was now not only on fire, but falling right on top of us. Bits of burning plastic began raining down from the sky like molten metal, whizzing as they fell past us. Just as we reached the wall, I felt a searing pain radiate up my side, followed by my right buttcheek being hit with hooves.

"Joey! You're on fire!" Fetch shouted as he and Caliber pounded at the flames with their hooves. "I know! It's my ass!" I shouted, fighting through the pain as I flew over the wall and down to where Valkyrie stood slack jawed and the two very much so now awake guards we had knocked out earlier. Behind me, part of the balloon fell across the wall and began to melt as it burned away into the night sky. I rushed to her side, nearly throwing Caliber and Fetch in my haste to make a quick getaway.

"What the fuck did you do?" Val asked as I started rolling on the ground and rub my haunch in pain.

"No time! Place is on fire now! Fetch did it! Not our problem!" Caliber shouted as he threw Fetch on his back.

"What!?" Val shouted as she and Cal started back up the hillside towards the barn.

I rolled back to my hooves and tried to push through the pain as I tried to re-orient myself enough to fly after them. The burning was so intense in my hindquarters that I could barely move my hind hoof without cringing in agony. I was about to take off when I looked at both the guards who were both still tied to the tree with shocked looks of horror across their faces. I tried to wave to them, but their eyes remained locked on the fireball that we had just created. Padlock's eyes finally darted to me for a brief second and then back to the now growing inferno behind us.

"Sorry..." I said, smiling to them as I took flight. Behind me, amidst the crackle of flames I could just make out Padlock talking.

"So, this is what happened..." His words were cut off by both the wind in my ears and one of the most infuriated screams from Key Switch I had ever heard.

I raced towards the barn, flying right past Caliber, Val and Fetch to get to the cart. We had to get out of here, if those Griffons knew we were coming (and the small detail of us setting a large area of no pony's land on fire) what were the chances that they would not be looking for us now? Hell, what were the chances that they made it out of that explosion? They were wearing power armor after all and I have seen those suits take a lot more damage than that!

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Get in the cart! Get into the fucking cart, I think we pissed them off!" Cal shouted as he and Fetch stumbled in the cart and crashed against the back wall. Val was close to follow, completely out of breath and her every movement looking more forced by the second.

"WAIT... FOR... ME!" She shouted as she blew right passed Zu and Shale who were still packing my rifle into its case and rushed to the cart. It wasn't until Shale had nearly cleared the rear gate when the two Griffons once more gave chase and zeroed in on our location.

"Do you think they see us?" Valkyrie asked as I lined up for take off away from them. Just then the two murderous metal bastards locked on to us and began sending bursts of fire in our direction. Rounds bit deep into the barn's large oak supports, blasting massive gouges into them as they expanded on impact. Shrieks and cries filled the air around me as round after round flew over head and directly at the rear loading gate of our lumber wagon.

"JOEY! You better have a good fucking plan to get us out of this!" Shale shouted at me from the front window of the cart. I searched in a panic for anything to help us, but outside of them returning fire with my rifle, nothing came to the forefront of my mind. There was no way I could out fly them attached to this thing! I couldn't lead them away either, that would just leave the rest of the group sitting ducks for the rest of the slavers. I had to do something! Anything.

"They are getting closer! We have to get out of here!" Zu screamed to me over the sound of bullets impacting wood. At this rate it wouldn't be long before they brought the whole damn barn down on us or blew us sky high. Wait! That's it! I turned the cart away from the gunfire and started backing myself further into the barn's interior. I was going to need one hell of a run up for this, especially with this much weight on my back.

"Joey! What the hell are you doing!?" Cal said as the rear of the cart slammed in to the barn's back wall.

"Something! hold on to something, TIGHT!" I said as I pawed the ground for better grip and tensed my back. My wings stretched out and I began to flap to try and negate the weight as I readied myself for what was about to come next.

"Joey! Wrong way! Birds with guns that way, safety that way!" Zu shouted as I lurched forward. My hoofsteps echoed off the walls of the now collapsing tobacco shack as I charged through the gunfire. All around me bullets smacked into wood and dirt, showering me with debris and splinters as I shot out of the barn door and down the hillside. The Griffons began to give chase, falling from the sky like stones after us as I flapped for all I was worth for more speed. It didn't take long for gunshots to start ringing back out as I dashed for the wall and the fog.

"Their right on top of us!" Shale screamed as she started unpacking my rifle once more.

"HANG ON! JUST A LITTLE FURTHER!" I screamed as I gave it my all for one last push as we pierced the fog once more. Behind me I could hear the screams and war cries of our pursuers as they closed the gap. Ahead of me, the glow of the wall began to permiate the thick veil around me, at this speed it wouldn't be long before it was going to be too late. Perfect! I guess now is as good of a time as any.

With what felt like the weight of a hundred ponies on my back, I pulled up and flapped as hard as I could and shot straight up. Just as the cart began to arc out and trail in behind me, it slammed into the wall and tore away a large chunk of the still burning balloon. I looked back to check on everypony on-board only to see the flaming flag of pink latched onto the tailgate, leaving a black vapor trial in our wake. Two loud thuds rang out in the night air as we blew through the fog layer and started to ascend towards the clouds.

"YOU GOT THEM!" A squeaky voice said as I neither bothered to slow or level out in my trajectory. I didn't get them, it wouldn't belong before they were back in the air and chasing after us. They had to be the ones the guard had talked about, and if that were the case...

"There they are!" Valkyrie yelled out. Yup... Called it. Red Eye doesn't just send lackies to do his dirty work. He always bets on a sure thing, he sent two of his best to find me and the chances of them just giving up after a short dog-fight in the air was less than zero. I looked back to see them already searching out the grey haze in a grid for signs of us. Too bad for them we were nearly 3000 meters above them, and climbing.

"What are we going to do! We are sitting ducks!" Shale called out to me, but I didn't let up. I just kept flying higher.

"Joey! Slow down, you won't stop in time!" Cal shouted as my wings kept beating. Every muscle in my body ached, no doubt that if those two assholes on the ground spotted us now, I would have no chance at losing them again. All I could do was grit my teeth as rain began to fall in my eyes the closer the clouds came.

"JOEY! SLOW DOWN!" Nearly the entire group shouted, but it was too late. We slammed into the cloud layer far faster than I thought we would as the grey mist consumed the cart and I. It felt like an eternity until we broke through the other side, truth be told it probably only took a few seconds, but when you are wondering what evils waited for you on the other side of the mystery clouds... Secretly I was just hoping that we wouldn't be blown up by those cannon things, but when all I saw was the vast nothingness of sky and moonlight, I finally began to slow.

I eased off of my near vertical aim and began to fall back the now cloud floor. I had seen the moon before, I had seen the stars but... The stars had never looked so... Clear! Everything around us was bathed in a blue light, the clouds painted the color all around us in shades of black, purple and deep blue on the spires and mountains of clouds. Even if we ended up dying up here as Ditzy said I would if I ever crossed the cloud layer, at the very least it would have been worth the view.

I don't know what I expected. Buildings? Houses made of clouds? Rainbow waterfalls? But even in the nothingness that surrounded us, I had not expected it to be nearly as beautiful as this!

"Joy... It is..." Zu started.

"Beautiful?" I ask, my voice faltering under the grandeur. Behind me came the sounds of aw and wonder at the new world we had just crossed into. Fetch was even trying to climb out of the cart to touch the clouds around us. His father wasn't far behind him, though he wasn't trying too hard to stop him either.

"LOOK! FLUFFY CWOUDS!" He shouted as he tried to reach for a small puff ball that had found its way into the cart.

"It is... your home." Zu said as I began to circle one of the mountains of fluffy white air for our final heading. Just as I rounded the far side of the curtain of mist, my jaw hung open. The moon came fully into view and bathed us all in its majestic light. It was half peaking from the valley that the winds had swept the clouds into, showing like a beacon, giving this extraordinary world light. I dipped down into the chasm and began gliding my way along the pillow-like walls, letting my wingtips slice through them as we pulled away from Filly and into the night.

"This is... I don't have any words... I had always heard stories but... I never believed them." Valkyrie said... Great, if she didn't have wing fever before, she damn sure would now.

This is what I had been missing all those years. I had feared nearly nothing at all as I skirted my way across the Wasteland just a few meters away from a place I could only describe as heaven. For something like this to be lying just above Filly, a place that I often thought of the embodiment of hell on Equuis, really gave gravity to that thought. Even though I was smiling for the moment, my heart was breaking to the tune that this place was not mine. Zuri has said this was my home... But was it really?

I was born in the Wasteland. A cast-out-reject from a tribe of Zebras. I spent my life seeing some of the most horrible things that this world had to offer me, done things that nopony should ever have to do, see things nopony should have to see. This wasn't a place for a pony like me, I didn't even feel like I deserve to be here, let alone enjoying this so much.

Finally, after what felt like a safe amount of time, I allowed us to dip back below the cloud layer and into the world we all knew, but most definitely would never miss. We had put so much distance between us and the dank sucking hole what was Filly that I was shocked to see us nearing the border to Fetlock. At this rate, we would make Tenpony by lunch and be heading back to... damn it... I did still have to do that thing with Firefly and Furnace...

Honestly, did I really have to go back there? Was it even worth the trouble? Sure it is Shale's home and all but, she could totally make a new home with us. Who am I kidding. She would never go for that, even if she did have the hots for Caliber. No, we need to get Fetch back to Tenpony and then we can deal with our problems like mature adults. I mean, we did just take on Filly and survived fairly unharmed, I'm sure we could deal with a angst riddled teenager with a gun and her fat mother.

"Ya'know Joe. If we are going to be smashing up Slavers together, we should think of name for us." Shale said as the others continued their talk of the mysterious fluffy place beyond our reach.

"What? That's stupid. What's wrong with..." Caliber started but failed as no words came to mind.

"SEE! That is what I am talking about! Without a name, what do you call... US?" Shale snapped.

"How about The Lightning Bolts!" Fetch said, bouncing from one side of the cart to the other.

"Nice try, but no." Caliber said as he snatched him out of the air before he could jump out a window.

"What about Joey's crew?" Val asked.

"No way, that's just stupid." Caliber barked.

The debate raged on behind me from the rest of my... Still! What do you call ponies who are more than friends but less than family! Sure we work well as a team, the day's events proved that much by us not dying. Granted, we behaved like a group of wild animals most of the time, we even fought over food. But none of us were blood related, so calling us family was out of the question of actuality, though, it did feel right... I paused for thought, lamenting the fact that I could nickname ponies without a thought yet couldn't think of what to call US.

"Fine, if we have to have a name, we at least have to all agree on it."

"What about the Coyote Pack?" Zu asked, breaking the conversation.

"Why?" Shale finally asked, breaking the silence.

"Joy is the leader, we follow him. We do as he asks and are loyal to his word, no? That is not unlike the coyote or the wolf." Zu said.

"Just how did you find this all out, exactly?" Cal asked accusingly.

"I read it in your book."

"You went through my things!?" Caliber shouted, sounding more hurt than mad.

"I was bored." Zu replied flatly.

"YOU ATE MY CRACKERS TOO!?' Cal whaled as I heard the sound of him emptying his bags across the floor.

"You snooze, you lose!" Zu said in a childish mocking tone.

"Would you grow up already!?" Shale shouted. Ah, there's mom... "Zuri. What makes us like coyotes?" She asked.

"The coyote is a pack hunter. There is a leader and there are those that follow him. He protects the pack and he sees to it that they are well fed and safe. Coyote packs work together to bring down their dinner, each has their own job, their mission to help the pack. Joy's name is Coyote, no? Then we should be called The Coyote Pack." Zu said proudly. A long silence followed as everypony tried to come up with a logical reason why we should be called something else. Even I was drawing a blank on this one. As much as I didn't like having my name tied to a group like this, it sounded right. Less than family, more than friends.

"Do coyotes have to poop outside?" Fetch asked seriously, effectively breaking the silence. Celestia, I had to grab my crotch to keep from peeing on the now laughing group of ponies behind me.

"They are coyotes, they can poo anywhere." Zu said seriously.

"What? I don't want to poop outside!" Fetch said in confusion as we started our way into Fetlock and back to life as we knew it.

Author's Notes:

Welp, that only took forever! But still, I had a lot of fun with this chapter. It felt so good to be back in the saddle and writing again that I almost completely forgot what it was like to do this! I had to take time off to deal with my local group and our trip to B-con and all, but now that it is over and my work schedule is finally normalizing some, I have finally found the time to write again!

I truly missed writing about this group and now that I have had plenty of time to think it over, I know where this story is heading. I look for it to hit the 800k marker (maybe more if things get complicated) and for it to go all over Equestria at some point.

At any rate, I hope you are enjoying the show so far! Sorry for the long chapters, but I have far too many fart and poop jokes in my head and I have to get them all out or I will go insane. Feel free to leave a comment below! I love talking to anyone who reads this and hearing what you all have to say about all the craziness going on here!

Much love, Rocco!

Chapter 10: A Life Not Worth Living

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 10: A Life Not Worth Living

"...Just keep reading Stitches, you are doing great."

Rain... The cold droplets fell across my face as we glided towards Tenpony Tower and by extension, back to Fetch's life among the surviving elite. During our short flight the little colt had entertained us with tales of what happened to him behind the gates of Filly. Despite our asking, the only real thing that he could recall about how he had gotten there was a brief story about how he had fallen asleep and awoke in a slave wagon. He had said that he was not feeling very well one morning in Tenpony and that his mother had taken him to the clinic to be looked over. Once there the doctors gave him some medicine to help with his upset stomach and sent him away with his mother to find 'something' according to him.

The last thing he could remember was falling asleep on his mother's back, before he awoke to his new life in the stockyards of Filly. Even though things like this and stories like his were ones that I had spent my life listening to, I couldn't help but ask questions about the events that transpired. Trying to avoid coming off as rude was proving to be more of a challenge than I had originally thought now that Caliber was comfortably falling into the role of parental figure. Who would have thought that he would work so well with kids! I was used to him being the first pony to pull out the explosives, not the pony who would sit and play for hours on end with a colt.

"Little one, how did you get these markings?" Zu asked.

"They... got mad at me for helping the other fillies and colts." He meeked out.

"You helped them? How did you help them in a way that made them angry?"

"When they came to move us, everypony was so scared... We tried to hide from the bad ponies, but when we did they would hit us with ropes."

"They whipped you!?" Caliber shouted in anger.

"That's it!" Fetch started."When they put us in the dark place, I tried to help. I just wanted to make everypony not be sad anymore. Life Bloom taught me how to use magic to fix cuts and bruises so I tried to help the other kids not hurt anymore."

"Wait, you can heal? With magic!?" Shale asked, her tone falling on disbelief that a pony so young could perform something so difficult as a healing spell.

"Mmhmm. He showed me how! I used magic to help them. But when the bad ponies found out they..." Fetch froze in his verbal tracks when he seemed to just now remember that he had lost his magical helping tool. "...Will it grow back?" He asked.

"Not without magic... But I'm sure Dr. Helpinghoof will know what to do. We will get you fixed up, buddy." Cal said, trying to stem the whimpers.

"Hard to believe such a smart little colt could be so brave with a father like Caliber." Shale said, clearly trying to poke fun at Cal for whatever reason... Geez... Talk about your bully petting, this had better not become a thing between those two.

"So you used your magic to help other ponies, huh?" I asked from my very wet and cold stirrups.

"Uhhu! The other ponies were hurting, so I helped!" Fetch shouted from the cart's front window.

"You know, your dad did something like that for me once. He saved my life in fact."

"REALLY!?"

"Yup. If not for him, you might not have had anypony to come after you. He used his magic to do something or other to stop my shoulder from bleeding out after I was attacked by a pony with a chainsaw for teeth. It was intense!"

"OH! OH! OH!" Fetch shouted, bouncing from one side of the cart to the other. "Did you use a dragon's breath cauterize or a verti-stitch!?" Fetch asked. Almost unison, the whole group responded with "What?".

"You know, to stop the bleeding!? I like using the verti-stitch. Less painful but not easy to do."

"I guess I used the stitch?" Cal said sheepishly. Great... My partner didn't even know what he was doing when he was healing me... Not that I'm shocked, but still.

"Cal? Don't tell me you just shot some random magic at me and hoped for the best back there..."

"NO! I know what I'm doing! I just didn't know the spells had names is all..."

"YEAH-YEAH! They have names! I can teach you... If you want me too." Fetch offered.

"That sounds good, but lets get back on the ground first." Cal said as we prepared to come in for a landing. Thanks to a heavy presence of Slavers on the ground, Shale suggested that it would be better to land on the rooftop insisting "I know a pony" and that by bringing Fetch back we would be granted some leeway. Why were the Slavers even here!? I had heard on the radio that they had massed outside of the place, but what was so important here in Tenpony that they felt the need to surround it?

It sure was not the cooking, even Cream's food had a very... been in the fridge too long taste about it. Maybe they finally had enough of the stuff Dj-Pon3 was shouting over the radio and decided to come pay him a visit. At any rate, them being on the ground was doing nothing to calm my already sleep deprived and frayed nerves as we slowly began to hover down from the cloud layer to the rooftop. If any of them spotted us now, it would no doubt lead to a fight of some kind breaking out, followed by another insane escape plan, and I just don't have the energy or patience for that right now.

Slowly, we fell from the sky and touched down on the old roof, bouncing several times as I did my best to manage the cart onto all four of its skids. Contradictory to what many would think, parking one of these things is a pain in the ass! Anything I would do in the form of movement would lead to major corrections being needed to slow the cart's rocking back and forth on landing. Finally, I somehow managed to get the thing still enough to put my hooves back to the ground and shrug off the rigging. The others stumbled out of the cart, still trying to shake off the last of the turbulence.

"We really need to work on your landings... I almost yarfed up my lunch." Valkyrie said as she helped Fetch from the cart.

"That was awesome!" Fetch shouted as he ran to my side. Before the colt could get to me, I gave myself a brisk shake to rid my mane, tail and coat of the 20 some odd gallons of rain that had saturated me to the core. With a hard shake, I sent it all flying in every direction as I rolled and tossed.

"Charming..." A voice said as I turned to face it. Before me lay a now very soaked dark grey and blue mare who was none-too-pleased for the impromptu shower I had just gave her.

"Uh... Oops?" I said, smiling and falling back to the group.

"It's ok... I suppose I needed a cold shower anyhow." The grey... Wait... Homage! I know her!

"Oh! You're Dj-Pon3's assistant! I remember you!" I shouted, trying to change the topic.

"Yes, yes... Mind telling me why you are landing on my roof like this with the Zebra, 3 ponies and..." She froze when she locked eyes with Fetch. "Is that the little colt that ran away?"

"Fetch? Yup, in the flesh!" I said as the little clot climbed onto my back.

"Oh, Coyote Joe! Now I remember. Sorry, it was hard to tell who your were in that ridiculous outfit. So that would make this Caliber, Zuri and..." She paused as she got the Shale and seemed to be placing her in her mind. "AH! Shale. It has been a long time. Good to see you."

"Likewise. I don't suppose that offer for a room still stands? Our trade?" Shale asked.

"Right to business, as always. Sure. But you will need to wait upstairs while I make the arrangements. Given the nature of this, I will need to... prepare things before hoof." She said as she trotted for the door. I did my best to try and slip out of the wet Reapers hoodie and fall in behind with the rest of the group.

"Exactly how do you know Homage?" I asked Shale as we started down the corridor.

"Oh, like anypony else in the Wasteland knows where to get instant muffin mix that is still good... a few years ago I had to come here nearly 3 times to deliver it to Cream and her both. Honestly, you would think they were having to bribe Ditzy with the amount they were making." Shale said as a matter of fact.

"So she just so happens to owe you a room then? What, did she not have enough caps or something?"

"More like, or something. Look, its complicated, just let it go and enjoy the fact that Tenpony security did not come busting onto the roof, ok?"

"Geez, fine! I was just asking." I said as she trotted past me. The moment she did I was overcome with a massive impact to my upper back as Fetch decided to take that moment for a great time to have a pony ride. "Oof!"

"Hi Joey!"

"Hi... Fetch... You think you could warn a buck next time you do that?"

"Nnnnope!"

"Ok, glad we are on the same page." I said as we entered the large room that was... What was this place? Huge marble fountain, marble floors and cathedral type ceiling made up much of the large expanse that was the world that we had just trotted into. Of all of Tenpony I had seen, none of it was nearly as ornate as this one room was. The whole place gave off a vibe of regal ownership, something befitting that of a princess rather than a lowly Dj.

"Woah..." Fetch let out as he leaned back to try and see all of the pictures that had been painstakingly painted to the room's ceiling, followed by him falling backwards and rolling onto the floor.

"Right, you lot wait here and I will see about..." Homage started but faltered as she locked eyes on me and trotted closer. I started to look around me, trying to figure out what it was that she was looking at so intently but nothing came into view as she closed the distance. Finally, with a timid hoof, she began to... poke me?

"HEY! What gives!?" I shouted as I jumped back from the sudden action.

"My, you Pegasi sure are fluffy." She said as she turned and trotted away. Fluffy? Did she just call me fat!? I looked down at my chest and saw the normal amount of fur sticking out as there always had been. Ok, so it was a little matted and messy from being in that hoodie the whole time, but still! I was no fuzzier than Calamity... Then again, I don't know if he kept up with staying as clean I as I do, or that he has a unicorn that can cast cleaning spells with a side of conditioner.

"I am not!" I shouted after her. The remark was met with looks of disagreement.

"Joy, you are... how do you say... very fluffy."

"What?" I said as I spun in place, looking myself over.

"It's true, why do you think I used you as a pillow when we were growing up?"

"Shale!" I shouted. That was private and I didn't want anypony to know about how I used to get tricked into being a damn pillow for my sister, and here she was just throwing it out there.

"I. Am. Not. Fuzzy!" I growled.

"Calm down, fuzz-nut. There is no need in getting your feathers ruffled." Caliber roared in laughter.

"Better feathers than a damn pecker hanging off my forehead." I shouted back.

"Don't be upset by it, just be happy that it is a redeeming quality of being a Pegasus." Homage said as she entered the elevator. "Wait here, make yourselves at home. I'll be back shortly." She said as the doors closed and she disappeared.

"You know... Your name is Coyote, you are also a Pegasus with an abnormal amount of fluffy fur..." Caliber started.

"So help me, Cal... If you call me 'Fluffy Coyote', I'm going to shove that statue up your ass..." I snarled.

"No, no... I would never do that..." He said as he backed away and started behind the water spewing statue. "...Fuzzy Puppy."

"THAT'S IT!" I shouted as I took chase after him but was quickly halted by something grabbing my tail. I looked back to see a cyan glow around what was left of it and looked back to Cal who was now trotting on the rim of the fountain just a few inches away. My hooves worked furiously at the ground as he mocked me just out of my reach.

"You see, being fluffy is just another detraction of not being a Unicorn. We are just so much better in every way, we can do magic, we can do anything!" He said striking a stupid pose. "In fact, you wouldn't be soaked if you were a Unicorn, you would be nice and dry with a single thought. Face it, we are just better." He said as he reared up on his hind legs.

"Yeah? Aren't you forgetting something?" I asked as I stretched a wing out.

"Not now, fluffy pony, I am basking in my greatness." He said as I extended a wing tip and proceeded to tickle his belly with the end of a feather. Ok, maybe I should have thought that through before I did it. Sure the second I brushed him with my primary feather, he did fall backwards into the fountain. The ice cold fountain. A fact that I became well aware of when the resulting wave washed over me and nearly froze me to my core and set my hooves to shivering. It also had the effect of breaking his concentration long enough that he released my tail, sending my straining body lurching forward and right into the fountain's concrete walls. That was just stupid.

"Are you sure you want to be with him? I mean, my brother is cute and all, but he is an idiot." Shale said as I watched my vision blur, unblur and blur again.

"Hey! He resembles that remark!" Cal shouted after he spat a long, cold stream of water at my face.

"Yes. He is even cuter when he is stupid." Zu said.

"ZU! What the hell?" I tried to say but all the stars in my vision were making it a real pain to focus on anything.

"It is true, Joy. You have always been very... cute." Zu said with a snicker.

I did my best to dry off with my wet hoodie as the rest of the group sat and talked. Zu and Caliber were talking about my younger years and sharing tales of when I was still an aspiring tracker for hire. Zu seemed to love hearing all about how I would rush into danger at a moments notice, only to find out that it was nothing more than a colt hiding in a broom closet. Caliber on the other hoof, was doing his best to try and embarrass me. Too bad for him that his sarcasm was not translating in the same way he had hoped it would to a Zebra who had little to no outside contact with anypony for the last ten some odd years.

Shale, Val and Fetch were sitting and chatting about... mare stuff... or as best as I could describe it. Well, all except Fetch who had tried several times to break into the conversation. Sadly, the poor little colt was lost in the ways of social conversation and would only recite what books he had read and some of the Fillies and Colts he had helped back in Filly. Neither the former or the latter garnered him more than a "That's great!" from either of the two mares, but it did catch my attention.

"Fetch, what do you say that you and I take a trot around and check this place out?" I said, kneeling down and motioning for him to come over.

"Heck yeah! Like an adventure!? Can I play boat captain?" He shouted as he bounced his way to my back.

"Why not, I'm sure there is something we can get into around here someplace. I'll be the boat and you can be the captain and steer." I said looking around. Fetch climbed his way to my back and proceeded to start trotting back and forth. Apart from the occasional hoof to a sore nerve, it actually felt kinda nice to be stepped on.

"Oh! Oh-oh-oh-oh! What about there!" Fetch said pointing to a red glowing sign that said 'M.A.S.E.B.S.'.

"Fetch, I don't think we should go in there, buddy. Usually places with red glowing signs mean for you to stay out." I said looking back to him with a frown.

"Oh! So you just use old news papers for that? I have been using these things I found in an old supermarket called 'tampons'." Shale said as her and Val did their best to keep quiet... Not quiet enough!

"Never mind lad! To the freaking glowing sign we head! These seas be turning red and are unsafe fur' sailin'." I shouted as we headed up the stairs.

"Woohoo! Onwards!" Fetch shouted as the rest of the group continued their conversations behind us as we made for the door. I'm sure that even though Fetch was born in Tenpony, he still knew more than the average colt. But that conversation definitely took an adult turn for the worse and he had no place near it.

At the top of the stairs, I looked back to make sure that everypony was plenty preoccupied as I nudged a hoof at the door. With any luck it would be locked and we could take our 'sailing' someplace else that wouldn't get us in trouble. Sadly, the door cracked open and with it, a burst of warm air that reeked of ozone and static. I nosed at the door and the two of us slipped inside to a world of blinking lights and monitors showing parts of Equestria I knew, but never from this angle.

No wonder Dj-Pon3 was able to see and know everything that was going on! The old pervert had eyes on the vast majority of the Wasteland! Speaking of, where was that old gravel voiced buck at anyhow? Other than the room's various blinking doodads and random beeps, the place was devoid of life... Well, other than us that was.

"Whoa..." Fetch said with his jaw hanging open.

"Don't. Touch. Anything... Got it?" I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"But..."

"ANYTHING!" I affirmed.

"Ugh, fine." He said, falling back into a pouty face.

"Look, this place looks important. Maybe not to you and me, but to somepony for sure. It is important that we don't mess anything up or leave any sign of us being here, ok?"

"Oh! Like tracking?" He asked as he slid off my back and trotted in a circle.

"Yes like... What do you know about tracking?" I asked as I placed my hoof on a office chair to test if it was safe to sit on or not.

"Just what I heard from you and Cal... I mean, dad. I read a book too! But it was for foals, not much good in there. Do you think dad will let me have a gun?" Fetch said as he climbed into the chair next to me.

"That's good that you are read... What!?"

"Yeah-yeah! So I can shoot up bad guys!" He said as he held one of his hooves like a rifle and pretended to shoot at a monitor next to us.

"I think you should wait until you are older... I mean, you already took out a patrol balloon the last time you had one." I said, putting my hind hooves up on the desk and leaning us back.

"But..."

"Ask your dad, I so am not making that call." I said and I stretched to get comfy.

"Awwwww..." He said slouching to my side. "Can you at least tell me about tracking? Or am I too young for that too?" He asked pitifully. Great, now kids knew how to get to me. Call me a sucker but, I can be a bit of an enabler when it comes to anypony showing an interest in my line of work. Maybe it is pride, maybe it is vanity, either way I could not help myself from teaching a willing student.

"Ok, the first rule to tracking is don't be seen, don't be heard. If your cover is blown, that's it. Game over. Two, always be the one in the back. If you are in front of who you are hunting, then you are being hunted. Three, never leave anything for them to follow you with. This means ANYTHING! Hoof-tracks, old food, bent and broken branches. All of those things can lead a pony right to you if you don't know what you are doing. And finally, four. Always have a way out. If you get cornered, that's it, game over again."

"What about if you are trapped? What do you do if you can't get away?" Fetch asked, his voice falling more on the serious side than I would have liked.

"Then you fight. You fight like your life depends on it because it probably does at that point. You give it your everything and you go down swinging. You take your last breath with your hooves around their throat because you have nothing left to lose at that point." I said in a somber tone as I thought back to all of the times I had been in a hopeless situation and somehow managed to find my way out.

"What if a dragon eats you? Then what?"

"Firstly, there are no dragons. But if there were, and you got eaten, make your last moments count and give him the worst indigestion he has ever had!" I said laughing. The two of us shared a moment of silence as I looked around the room and took in all the various glowing screens.

"Joey?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think they will be ok?" Fetch asked as he lay his head against my side and stared towards a monitor in the corner of the room. My eyes followed his gaze and soon found the glowing screen with a fuzzy picture of Filly on it.

"I don't know. I hope they will be."

"Do you think you could go back for them? The other fillies and colts?"

"I want to... I just don't know how we could. That place is the most dangerous place to go to, the fact that we got out of there with a few scrapes and bruises is beyond me. But going back now would be suicide, hell, it was suicide just going in after you." I said, giving him a squeeze with my wing.

"If it was dangerous to come get me, why did you?" He asked, looking up to me.

"Because I like you. Hey, how did you get into trouble with them. You said they got mad because you helped. What did you do that pissed them off so much." I said, trying to end his train of thought before it lead me right back to Filly.

"Oh! I used my magic! Just like Life Bloom showed me! The mean ponies would hurt us if we did not listen to them. Sometimes they would hit some of us with ropes and it would cut the other fillies and colts. I tried to help them all but my magic stopped working and brain hurt too much."

"So you used your magic to heal them back up? Well than answers one question at least. That was a very brave thing you did."

"I just did what dad told me to do. If you can, you help. He said it was a mistake that he made all the time by not helping."

"Are you sure Cal is your dad? You are a lot smarter than he is." I said laughing.

"Why do you call him that?"

"What? Cal? That's his nickname. Sometimes he calls me Joe, I call Zuri Zu sometimes and I even call Valkyrie Val. I give nicknames to anypony I like, it's kind of a thing I do."

"What about Shale?"

"She's Siss because she is my sister. Sometimes I call her Rox, but only when we are working."

"OH! Do I have a nickname!?" Fetch said, beaming with excitement.

"Do you want one?" I asked, looking down on him.

"Yeah-yeah!"

"How about..." I said, pausing for thought. "Stitches." I said.

"Why that?"

"Well... You said that you healed those other kids with some whatchmacallit spell that had the word stitches in it, seems like it would be a fitting name seeing the circumstances."

"Stitches... I like it!"

"Stitches it is then. So, Stitch... What are we going to do about dealing with your mom? I don't think she is going to be happy that you ran off like that." I said, raising an eyebrow and sliding my hooves off the table.

"I didn't run off! I was taken by Slavers! One second I'm asleep on my mom's back the next I wake up in a Slave wagon."

"Ok... hold up a second here. You mean to tell me that you didn't run away from your mom and into the Wasteland?"

"No way! She was taking me to see a doctor about my sickness and I got sleepy along the way."

"Really..." I said as my brain started working overtime. From what I had heard over the radio, I had just assumed he had ran of, didn't I? No, no way. I remember hearing something about him running off, not this 'I fell asleep' story he was giving me. Could it have been that I had just put the pieces together in my subconscious? Maybe this was just another case of misinformation, Celestia knows that I have gone on more than my fair share of wild goose chases over something I had heard second, third or even fourth hoof. "So why is it that everypony is telling me that you ran off?"

"I-dont-know. Maybe they are lying?" Fetch said, holding his hooves up in the air. One thing I have learned in my time in this life is that children, all children are prone to lying when it comes to saving their own hide. I have also learned that they are exploited for that fact, often being labeled as the ones at fault when needed. Surely I would think that he would not lie to me, even if he was in trouble. The worst he could expect from me is a stern talking to, then again, he did just spend a few days in Filly, Luna only knows what happened to him in there outside of what was already obvious.

"Fetch, you said that you were sick? What was so bad that your mother had to leave Tenpony?" I asked as I hopped out of the chair and started to have a look around. Might as well satiate my curiosity while I questioned him, this place was rather intriguing.

"Mmhmm. Mommy said that we had to find a doctor in someplace called Fwetwock." Fetch said as he trotted closer to one of the monitors.

"You mean Fetlock. What was so special about it? Tenpony has some of the most advanced medical tech in the Wasteland."

"I-dont-know. Mommy just said that he would know what to do and that I should get some sleep. Next thing I know I am in Filly." Fetch said as he nearly pressed his face against a screen to better see the ponies moving around. "Hey! Who is that!" Fetch said pointing to one of the ponies. I trotted to his side and slowly pulled him back from the monitor.

"You know, if you get too close you will mess up your eyes." I said as I studied the picture closely. Honestly, kids are their own worst enemies sometimes.

"That looks like the Lightbringer! I have seen her before, she came here once." Fetch said in excitement.

"Hey, Cal and I saw that same mare screaming her lungs out at a sprite bot back in Hope." I said putting a hoof to the screen. "So you got to meet her, huh? How was she? Was she just as loony as I imagined?"

"Not exactly... She was... kind of busy. But she did smile at me!" He near shouted as he started pacing about the small room.

"Really, doing what?"

"Well... My mommy said it was not nice to talk about other ponies like that." He said tapping his hooves together.

"Oh, now you have to tell me!" I said with a sly grin.

"Oh... Ok. I saw her kissing Dj-Pon3's helper pony."

"What's so bad about that. It sound like the two of them like each other. Perfectly normal." I said as I slid open a drawer. "WHOA! Jackpot!" I shouted as I pulled out an old leather bound journal.

"Oh-oh-oh-oh! Is it a gun!? A lockbox? Maybe a grenade!?" Fetch said bouncing with excitement.

"Even better. Dj-Pon3's journal!" I said beaming with delight. Who am I to pass up snooping through a diary of one the most well known djs in all of the Wasteland. Yes it was probably really private and personal stuff, but curiosity was winning out over my logic that was screaming for me to put it back.

"Oh..." Fetch said unenthusiastically as he closed the drawer and trotted off. I flipped the journal open and went to the most recent entry entitled 'marefriend'. Before me lay only a short story about how Dj-pon3 had become smitten by the likes of a young stable mare named 'Littlepip' and how the two of them were becoming quite close. Granted most of the things he had wrote were sappy at best, but one thing still stood out as being very off.

"Hey, Stitches... Have you even met Dj-Pon3?"

"Nope! But look what I found!" The little colt said proudly as he held up a...

"Fetch! Put that back this instant!"

"Why! It's the perfect size for me! I could be just like you with a holster like this one!" He said as he tried to put the gross thing on over his forelegs. "Stupid... thing! Why did they put these handles on it like this!"

"Fetch... Those are not handles... For the love of Luna, put that back right now!" I said as I did my best to be a parent while not laughing. Honestly, how do you tell a kid, while you are on a sneaky adventure, that he was not playing with a 'holster', but something made for two ponies... two MARE ponies at that.

"No way! It's perfect for me! The leg holes are even in the right spots!" He said as he began to shift back and forth to better accommodate the two phallic objects under his forelegs. I buried my face into my hooves to try and come up with some way not to tell him what he was messing about with, but at the same time get him to put it down. "AHHA! I had it on inside out!" He shouted as I looked up. The black leather underwear was now turned inside out and both of the... handles... were pointing straight out from either of his sides. I was now tasting blood in my mouth from my tongue biting, restrained laughter. "Pretty snazzy huh?" *sniff, sniff* "EW! It stinks! I'll have to wash it before I get it fitted for a new gun!"

"I... I take it all back... you ARE your father's son!" I said as I nearly fell over in physical pain. "And you are NOT getting a damn gun!"

"What? You are just... just... JEALOUS! My holster has these things to keep ponies off of me!"

"More like keep bucks off of you! Mares... Not so much!" I said as I was now trying really hard not to pee myself.

"What!? What are you talking about!" Fetch said in anger.

"Fetch, do you know what that is? Do you even have a single clue as to what you are wearing?" I said as I stood and whipped the tears away.

"I told you it's a..." He started but my muzzle was already to his ear.

"Buddy, that's a MARE's toy." I whispered to him.

"A mare's..." He started again, but was stopped by his little brain working feverishly to put things together. "Mare's toy! Like my mom ha..." He started again but this time was frozen in fear as everything hit home all at once. "...eeeeeeeEEEEEEWWWWWW! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF!" He shouted as he started to run in circles.

"Sorry, but I don't go in for that sort of thing!" I snickered as I once more was overcome with laughter.

"Gross! Somepony's butt was in this!"

"No, I think that thing was IN somepony's butt at some point." I said as I rolled to my side. Fetch froze once more.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!" He shouted as he took off running for the door, only to be halted by the two massive members (why did they have to be so big? Were normal stallions not enough for some mares?) smashed against the table's legs and sent him flying backwards with surprising speed. Wow those things are springy! Fetch landed in a heap in the corner, half hanging out of the undergarment, half frozen by the sight of one of black rubber rods hovering just inches from his face.

"Let that be a lesson to you in snooping around." I said as I used a wing to flip aside the vile looking panties and help him to his hooves. "Just because you find it, does not mean you should play with it." Fetch said nothing but instead locked up like a statue with a glassed over expression on his face. If having Cal for a father and Lavender for a mom was not already dealing a blow to this kid's psyche, then this probably would need years of therapy to correct. Either way, lesson learned... The HARD way.

I slid Fetch into the center of the room as I did my best to put things back the way we found them. Granted the last few moments worth of events had nearly completely erased my memory of how thing were in here, but I was still managing it well enough. I had just slid the journal back into the drawer when the office door flew open, breaking Fetch from his trance and me from my focus.

"What are you doing in here!?" Homage asked, clearly out of breath.

"Crap..." I mumbled.

"RULES ONE AND TWO HAVE BEEN BROKEN! RULE FOUR! RULE FOUR!" Fetch shouted as he darted out from under the work table and right between the grey mare's legs. I got to give it to him, he's a quick learner... and a fast little shit at that.

"Crap is right! This is a private studio and nopony is allowed in here without Dj-Pon3's consent! Do you know your little chat went live all over Tenpony and probably the whole damn Wasteland?"

"Double crap..." I said as I backed away from the advancing mare.

"Double crap indeed! If you were hoping for a quiet stay, I can assure you that you won't have one now!" She said as she pushed me aside and started looking over her equipment. I had not even noticed the big red button labeled "press for mic" that I had laid my leg across.

"I'm sorry. Fetch wanted to play together and I kinda let him talk me into coming in here. Had I known we would have caused this much trouble I wouldn't have came in, but to be fair... the door was unlocked." I said, trying to shift the blame.

"The door was unlocked because I ran outside after I thought I heard the sound of... Nevermind. Look, this is very sensitive equipment in here. Most of it is on its last legs as it is." She said as she lowered her voice.

"I didn't get you in trouble, did I?"

"Me? No. I'm sure it will be fine. But you are in trouble and you are not fine!' She said, turning and pointing a hoof at me. "I don't like ponies messing about with my stuff, and even though everything looks fine, that does not excuse you coming in here."

"You're right. I'm sorry. What do I have to do?" I said, lowering my head.

"What?" She asked. The question caught me off guard so much that I was dumbstruck.

"I screwed up, yeah? What is it that I have to do to make things right? Breach of social contract and all that." I said, pawing at the ground.

"Ugh, sorry. I'm not used to ponies actually being honest. Look, I have something I need done. You do it, and we will call this whole 'you messing with my equipment' thing even. I think you will know what to do when you read this." She said as she pulled out an envelope and passed it off to me. Thinking it better to just accept whatever stupid job I had to do and move on with my life, I slid it into my bags and gave a nod.

"Consider it done." I said as I started out the door.

"Just like that, huh? Do you even know what is in that envelop?"

"I... Don't? But at this point I don't think it will matter much anyways. Do the job, try not to get caught, yada-yada-yada..."

"Oh you stupid buck... I suspect you will change your tune once you open it... Let me just say that it will hit close to home for you."

"Oh yeah, sure. Foreshadowing and plot progression... Look, at this point, it can't be that bad. I just finished sneaking into Filly, rescued a colt, and got out of there relatively unscathed. I highly doubt anything in here short of megaspells and walking through balefire will phase me."

"Well... We will see about that."

"Great! Wonderfull! See you later."

"Not so fast..." Great... there is always a catch, isn't there?

"What else...?"

"I want an interview. Two hours of your's and Zuri's time. The news has been rather drab lately and I need a good puff piece to stir things up around here. These ponies thrive on drama and without it, they will just turn the radio off. NOT a good thing to have happen with the place surrounded by slavers."

"Why not just make something up? Say that Cream is actually spitting in their food and let them have at it... Actually, she probably really is spitting in their food come to think of it. Yeah! So run that." I said throwing a hoof out.

"No, your mess, you have to clean it up. This isn't the Wasteland where you can do whatever you want. I want to know the details about you two, what it is like to be together again and what you two have been up to and I want to know more about you. I don't need you to be on air, Celestia knows that you have been on there enough for one day. I just need the story."

"I really don't like talking about my personal life. I have a few too many ponies and now Griffons that want my head on a stake, the last thing I want to do is give them more fuel to find us." I said in a last ditch effort to play on her kindness for her to let me off the hook.

"No dice. You are going to spill it all. Now, Shale will take you all to your room, you shouldn't be seen if you STICK TO THE PATH I GAVE HER! I'll be down later to talk to you both." She said as she ushered me out the door and promptly locked it.

"WAIT! What were you waiting on that had you running up here in the first place?"

"If you MUST know, I was waiting for a friend... A close friend at that. I'm alerted anytime the rooftop sensors are activated and I was HOPPING..."

"AHHHH... THAT special friend."

"What!? No... I mean, well..."

"What's a matter? Having a hard time divulging personal secrets that you rather not be put on the spot and asked about?"

"SHUT! UP! Just because I run stories about you doing good things in the wasteland doesn't mean I have to tell you everything about my sex life!"

"So you ARE banging that toast mare!"

"I never said... Listen. Stop picking me apart or so help me, I will have you running me favors till that sky blue mane of your's falls out!"

"Yeah-yeah-yeah... I'm sure Toasty does enough of that for you..." I said as I started out the door.

"Come see me when you are done... I think I will have something else for your soggy behind..."

"Easy... I know nothing of toasters... also I'm a buck. My rear can't get soggy." I said as I ran for my life. In the room that was now far behind me I could hear teeth grinding and the throatiest 'fuck' of all time being shouted through closed teeth I had ever heard.

Great! Fuck you galaxy! All I wanted was some peace and quiet! I saved Fetch, was that not enough? Now I have to air my dirty laundry to a production assistant because the same kid got me in trouble! Great! Just fucking great! Then again, this was kinda my fault, I was the one that suggested that we go snooping around after all. Also seeing Fetch freak out over that sex toy thing was more than hilarious... Meh, worth it.

I awoke to the sound of running water and the smell of freshly baked confectioneries while nestled under the sheets of my warm bed. Shale had done as she was told, leading us all in the most convoluted route to our room to avoid detection. Nopony said anything on the near twenty minute trot but I'm sure the fact that my striped counterpart was with us was largely to blame for the inconvenience. I respected the discretion but at the same time lamented the harsh reality that stripes of any kind were not looked upon here as a good thing.

Ponies here place so much weight on appearances and social standings that they sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture of equinity. This place was, is and always will be a bubble to me. Scarred of change, harsh towards differences and staunch in their rules and beliefs network. Sure I had my own moral values that I upheld, but these ponies were on a whole other level of snoot compared to other safe places I have been in the Wastes.

I rolled to my side to see that I was now alone in bed. Zu must has woken up early and found her way to the living room at some point before me. The realization less gathered from observation of her absences and more from the sound of her laughing in the other room. The two of us had nearly passed out once we hit the bed, we didn't even have time to cuddle as she so liked to often do as we fell asleep. No, this time it was more a case of being lucky enough to actually make it to the bed before falling asleep. Though the tail-tale signs of her habit of 'sleep nibbling' my ear were ever present from the dull ache I was feeling on the right side of my head. Why does she have to do that? I get that she had along time along out there... but if this keeps up, I will start to look more like Caliber!

I rolled out of bed, my every joint creaking and popping as I forced what was left of my body to the doorway and closer to whatever amazing smell was coming from the other room. I had nearly poked my head through the doorway when I saw the dark purple coat of the she-beast herself. Lavender, had found our room and was sitting decidedly tense across from Caliber who looked to be rather proud of himself for 'single hoovedly' bringing Fetch home. As much as i wanted to correct his words, I thought it better to let it go and give him this one to regain some respect as a buck. Just as I was about to make my grand and very crunchy sounding entrance, Zuri spoke up in a manner more befitting a grown mare, rather then the more childish filly I was accustom to hearing.

"Oh yes, I spent a long time by myself... out there." She said through a mouth of muffin. Good to see somethings never change.

"I see. Can you tell me more about when you two were younger? I believe that the more resent events have been covered, but I wouldn't mind knowing more about how you two came to be." Homage asked. Oh shit. It was THAT time of the morning. I let my head slowly sink back into the bedroom, but kept my ear near to the door.

"We were just kids when we met. I was captured by Salvers and he was on the hunt for something that had been stolen from him. If he had not found me when he did..." Zu paused as she did her best to wade through the harder moments of out first meeting. "I am just happy that he found me."

"So he saved you from Slavers? He must have been very brave for a colt to do such a thing for you." Ok, so I'm blushing now. I never was one for admiration but it was nice to hear from time to time.

"No." Zu replied. And just like that my ego ship sank. "He was foolish. He never should have come for me in their. It was dangerous, he could have been killed. I am grateful that he did, but I wish that he had not put himself in harms way." Zu said defiantly.

"That is a much more different take on that than I would have guessed. Would you not have done the same for him?" Homage asked. A long silence hung in the room as Zu thought about what to say next.

"I would not have. I do not think that I could have been that brave." Zu said in near shame.

"Given what you are saying, why is it that you two have worked out so well? Why is it that you two are still together if you feel this way about your first meeting?" She asked. Yeah Zu, why the hell are you with me if you think it was foolish for me to rush in there? I nosed my way closer to the crack in the door.

"It is because I care for him." She finally replied.

"Right... Care to elaborate?" Homage asked.

"It was foolish for him to save me. He had nothing to gain from it, but he did it anyway. I wanted to run when I first saw him. I thought that a pony so reckless would do... something bad. But he did none of those things. He just, wanted to help. I was not used to such things. The more time I spent with him, the more I began to like him. He was honest and had a charm about him." Zu said. Good girl, Zu. Ego restored.

"Yeah, Joey has a way of growing on you like that. I remember when I was just a colt he swept me off my hooves with those sparkly purple eyes of his." Caliber said.

"Shut up. It's not like you could have done that without drugs or alcohol." Lavender replied. I sat waiting for him to destroy her with his usual 'charm'... but nothing? What the hell?

"Yes well..." Homage started. "Last question. Tell me. If this foolish, charming buck grew on you so much... why did you leave and have him spend all those years looking for you?" Oh this should be good. An unbiased, unsolicited answer to a question I have had for a long time.

"There are many reasons why. But... I... I did not want to be hurt by him." Zu meeked out.

"Please. Could you explain as to why?"

"We were so young, and I was on my own back then. We fell for each other so fast, I was just scared that he would leave and..." Zu started.

"...Leave you to be on your own again?" Homage finished for her.

"Yes. I could tell that there was something between us that I was not used to feeling. It was new to me. It was as if he could speak to the part of me nopony else could. If he could do that, I knew that losing him would hurt."

"It sounds like to me that your all's puppy love was more than just a fling. Does he know about this? Why you left?" Homage asked.

"No... I do not wish for him to know that. I am... ashamed of why I left. If he knew, he would be furious with me for it. I... I could never tell him myself." Zu said in more of a begging tone. Why would I be mad about that? We were kids! Stupid, heart-struck and dumb in love kids. Does she know that Dj-Pon3 will probably be reading this on the radio? I would find out sooner or later, so did she want me to know but couldn't tell me herself?

"Ok, I think that this has been enlightening." Shale said as the sound of her hooves started across the floor. "Zuri, honey. Why don't you have something to eat, that could not have been easy for you." Her hoofsteps grew closer to the door as she trotted about the room

"I think it's time you all knew who Joey really is. Obviously everypony here has had something to say about him over the last hour, but why don't I fill you in on the finer details of my dear brother." Shit... Now I'm screwed for sure! "Yes, Zuri, Joey would be upset with you, but not for you leaving. He would be upset that you left him with unanswered questions. If there is one thing in the world he hates, it's not knowing. Joey is a VERY perceptive buck... when he wants to be. But I feel like you have an... effect on him that lets him drop his guard. He's smart, clever even... He is quick witted and at times the luckiest buck I have met. But one thing he is not, is fool heart'd." Shale said as she rounded the room.

"No! I do not mean for you to think this of me! I think all of these things about Joy. He is, everything to me!" Zu shouted back in protest. And here I thought that I was perceptive...

"No dear, you missed the point. I was trying to tell you, well, you all that HE would want to know these things. If not because he can't stand not knowing every damn thing about everything, then because... he needs to know them. All my life I have watched him grow up and in all that time, even with all his positive traits, he still thinks other ponies are better than he is. He puts other ponies first and himself dead last. Honestly... You all can not say you don't know this about him." She said as her hooves stopped just on the other side of the doorway. "I also know one very important detail about my dear brother that nopony other than myself seems to notice..."

A loud crack followed by a sickening crunch filled my head as she bucked the door with full force and sent it flying right into my nose. The impact sent me sliding across the floor, now holding my bloody nose in my hooves.

"HE SNORES LIKE A DAMN BRAHMIN!" Shale bellowed into the room at me. "He is also a sneaky little shit that likes to eavesdrop. So don't worry, he heard everything anyway, Zu." Shale said as she trotted passed me and into the bathroom. I staggered to my hooves, holding my broken nose with a hoof and trotted into the room. Lavender had not changed position or smirk by the looks of things while Zu on the other hoof... The word terrified was not enough to describe what she was going through.

"Is there any food left? Maybe a bandage?" I asked as I hobbled to the small kitchen area.

"Oh good! You're awake, Joey. Are you ready?" Homage said with glee. I must have pinned her all wrong, here I thought she thrived on action and excitement of the heros of the wastes. But no, shes a mare, I should have know snooping into my personal life would bring her enjoyment, especially after yesterday.

"I fucking guess!" I shouted, throwing dirty rags in every direction. "Let me stem the tide first!"

"Ok... I was just talking to Zu about..."

"About how we met, how we broke up and how I was left with a million unanswered question about why she left me?"

Shale, never to miss a chance to prove herself right, threw in her two bits. "Told you... Sneaky and hates being left on hold."

"Well, I think it best we start from the beginning. Seeing as I have the finer details, I will take mercy on you and just get your reactions to a few things."

"Great..." I said as I took my place next to Zu.

"Tell me, in your own words... What was it that you were feeling when Zuri and yourself parted ways."

"Now hold up. That's not the beginning..."

"Yes, well... I have that part already thanks to Zuri."

"If I'm going to spill my guts, at least let me do it myself. I don't even want this stuff going on the radio, but it would piss me off if it wasn't done right."

"Fine... hang yourself with your own words then. Honestly, try to be nice to him and he just makes it worse..."

"No kidding..." Shale interjected.

"Shush you! Now. I will spare you my own stupidity as I am sure you have a good idea of how I rescued Zu. You have blasted that over the air long enough and everypony who knows me loves to talk to me about it. But what you don't know and what I have never told anypony, is just how I ended up falling... *cough* in love with her." I said as I felt every word weigh me down under a thick blanket of humiliation.

"Well... Go on then..."

"I would say it was... probably from the moment she got trapped in her 'camouflage' that we later ended up using as a campfire."

"This is not funny!" Zu said as she gave me a shove.

"No, you don't get it. it was hilarious. The first time I have honestly laughed at something that was so innocent in a long time. I didn't know it then, but I know now that was when I started growing close to you. Not in the tent, not on the hike. No, it was when you made me laugh. Nopony had done that to me before and, I liked it."

"So after she made you laugh, then what? Surely it wasn't pure romance after the fact." Homage point out.

"Oh no way! It was more survival and completing a job after that. You have to understand, this job... tracking... is a very solitary thing. Even when the caravan was still together and I would run a sweep of an area, I was alone when I did. It was normal for me to be on my own. Now I know that I was left to be alone in life, but someone found me and took me in. Honestly, the tracking stuff is easy, the jobs not so much, but what really sucks is... Being alone."

"Do you think that her being there helped you in some way?"

"Yes. I do. Not because I was scared of what I was doing. If I had been I never would have gone into that camp. No. It was... something else. It was like I had lost something I never knew I had. Like something I was denied from the start. I guess never knowing my parents left its mark on me and left me with more questions than answers. When I was with the group things were fine, but when I was alone it felt like there was always something eating away at me. Something that chems, booze or caps could never touch. A deep pain. Something you can't get rid of no matter how hard you try. The kind that even if you felt like ending it all you just knew it would be the last thing you would feel before it all went black."

"Celestia... And Zuri's part in all this."

"She... made it go away. The pain, the loneliness... I felt it fade that night at the cave. It was the first time I had ever felt it dim in the slightest. The group was more of a bandage that got ripped away anytime I had to stray away from them. But when I was with her, it felt solid. Sure even. Like she had found that spot that nopony else could and just... made it go away. I guess it was just natural to feel attracted to her."

"For a buck who hates talking about his feelings, you are not too bad at it. So, when did you first feel like you were falling in love with this lovely mare?" Homage said with a smile, aiming her words at a decidedly nervous Zuri.

"I would say... at the out crop. When she fell asleep on my side. It made me feel... needed. Like all the good things I was feeling being around her meant something and that I had to reciprocate in some way. For some reason it made me want to be near her even more. Like, I could do something in return for her helping me with my own pain, even if she never knew it. It was... nice. Nice to be needed by somepony."

"Aw... You two do make the cute couple... Now... take me to the moment..."

"What moment?"

"THE moment. The moment it finally hit you that you were in love."

"OH! That's easy. When she was trying to tell me about the dream she had." With those words, Zuri went bright red and began nudging me, really really hard. "Ok, ok... Maybe It was a feeling that I had growing deep inside of me that was being reciprocated when I heard about her dream about us that felt validating... But the exact moment? Our first kiss. We were young, stuff like that leaves a mark on you when you have never felt it before. Then... when I can back from my blackout, She was just so... caring. And I still maintain, best feeling I have ever felt."

"That's so sickeningly sweet... Then what happened?"

"Then my heart ran away with my feelings and told my brain to eat it. I let my emotions take over and start dreaming of a life where I wouldn't be alone anymore, where I would have somepony who could love me and care about me in a way nopony else could. it was honestly the happiest moment of my life at that point." I said with a smile.

"It's nice to actually hear a story like this... Last question... I think you know already what it is..." Homage tried to say as professionally as she could.

"The moment I found out she was going to leave..." I said with a sigh. The whole room fell quiet. Even Cal had stopped his rhythmic tapping of his hoof that had nearly driven me insane as I tried to not let it bother me. I never looked, but I could feel Zuri's eyes melting into me, as if she never wanted to hear me say the things that were surely to come.

"Please... continue."

"Heart breaking. It was like I was given the most special gift in the world, then it was ripped away from me. It was like the world wanted to give me a taste of what could be and then remind me what would never be. Even now, I can see her striped mane fade over that ridge, I can still feel the searing pain in my chest. Even all the times I went back and carved my name into that Goddess forsaken tree, I saw her standing there. Purple eyes shining with the same tears I was pouring, wind whipping her mane back and forth as the word divided us. It had never felt such a thing in my life at that time. It was a thousand times worse than being alone. That's when I learned a fact about life. Love, is not temporary, it stays with you forever. It can be the best thing that has ever happened to you. But when it's ripped from you, it aches and never goes away. That's true hell. True pain."

"Well... I think we have all we need here. Zuri gave us the story of how you found her and Shale your journey to find her. Thank you for sharing this with me." Homage said as she very nervously took her leave out of the room.

"Yeah... Your welcome..." I said as I got up and left the room. I had played those events over and over again in my mind, but never had they felt as real as they did just now. I had all but held back the tears buy the time I got to the end. Celestia... does she really effect me that bad? Sure we had our private moments together, but, THIS bad? I barely know her outside of a relationship or sex. I guess this is what happens when you never get over your first love and so many ponies say.

Shortly after my exit, Shale trotted to my side as I was trying (very unsuccessfully might I add) to eat a muffin without getting any blood on it from my now weeping nose.

"Here..." She said as she threw a towel at me. "Clean yourself up, it is going to be a long day."

"Long how? It's already been a long day! Can we just go back to bed!?" I asked as I held the damp towel to my sore muzzle.

"Oh don't act like you didn't hear any of what she said..." Shale barked as she stormed out of the room.

"Wow... Talk about grouchy. I know that eavesdropping is bad, but was what she did really necessary?" Valkyrie asked from the table.

"It's... complicated." I mumbled as I nursed what was left of my nose.

"No... Complicated is a term better used for socially awkward... That bitch is crazy."

"Look, when we were kids, I might have... by complete accident... spied on her doing... THINGS." I said under my breath.

"Ewwww... Gross, Joey!" Cal shouted. "So what happened next."

"Nothing! I was just a colt, I got curious. I also couldn't sit right for a week after she caught me!" I shouted. The room stood silent as everypony was now looking at me with both confusion, sympathy and disgust. From the door way to the living room I could see Zuri's head lean into view with a 'you pervert' look across her face. "Wait... that came out wrong."

"Don't you mean, went in wrong?" Cal said, quick to never miss a joke at my expense.

"You would know, you are the one dating her." I said over my shoulder as I left the room.

I sat on the couch opposite Zu who was making good on her request to consume nearly any and all food that remained. I'm sure left unattended she would being gnawing on the table as well, I thought it better not to attempt reaching
for the last muffin when she gave me a look that just screamed 'Do it and you will pull back a nub!'. Despite her and I spending far more time together than I thought we ever would, given the circumstances, she was still a confusingly familiar mystery to me. Sometimes I could not keep her off of me, others she seemed distant and even cold, especially when anything deeper than sex was on the table to be talked about. Then there are times like this, her acting like a rabid dog and tearing into a muffin with nearly evil intent. Still, even now, she is just so damn cute.

Lavender had yet to break eye contact with me, seeming to attempt to drill holes in my head with just her gaze alone from her safe spot in the corner of the room. Even fetch was acting strange. The once bubbly colt had been reduced to a melted pile of pony that lay at his mother's hooves, seeming to be trying to do little if anything to aggravate her already aggressive demeanor further. What the hell happened while I was asleep!? Did I somehow piss everypony off by sleep-trotting or something? Not like this was the first time I had woken up to a group of weird ponies, but even still, you would think being reunited with your kid would afford you some level of humility.

"So... Lavender. Lavender, Lavender, Lavender...?" How do you talk to a pony who hates you? I stalled on her name long enough to try to find a way to break the ice, but failed and fell in. "How are you?"

"Fine." She replied coldly.

"Fetch? How are you doing?" Fetch neither replied or acknowledged the question but instead rolled to his side and curled into a ball.

"He is sick, not that it is any of your business." Lavender barked.

"Whoa, ok. Calm down. I just woke up and I didn't expect..." I started.

"What!? Didn't expect that I would have forgotten the last time you were here? What did you want? A damn party!? You and that fuck-head in the other room are better off far away from here. You already got my brother fired from his job in security for that little stunt you two pulled. I suppose you will be after my job next!" Lavender said through gritted teeth.

"Seriously? We bring fetch back and all you have to worry about is your damn job!?"

"It's hard to raise said kid without said job!"

"Well if said mother would get off her said ass and put forth a said effort, it would not be so hard to raise said kid!"

"Oh this is ridiculous! We are leaving. Come along, Fetch. It is time for your medicine..." Lavender said as she nudged fetch from his fetal position.

"My tummy hurts..." He whimpered as he raised himself to his hooves.

"Well, if you had your medicine by now, it would not be a hurting, would it?" She said in malice.

"What is your problem!? Can't you see he is sick? He needs to go to the doctor, like now."

"He has already been earlier today!" Lavender said as she slammed the door, nearly catching Fetch's tail in the gap.

I stood in shock to what I had just seen. Lavender had never seemed like the mothering type, but this was just... nonpony! I don't think Raiders would even been so cold to their child... if they even have them... (Would they eat their children if they had them?). I was getting that all too familiar feeling that there was more to this than meets the eye. Was she just repulsed by our presence? Was it Caliber? Did something happen before I woke up? Surely she wasn't upset by us bringing Fetch back to her, so what was it?

"I do not trust her..." Zu said, as she pulled her eyes from the door. "She is evil."

"Evil? You had the words bitch, cunt and whore to work with and you chose evil?"

"I do not like how she treats the little one. It is though she does not wish for him to be near her."

"I was getting a vibe like that myself. What do you think is going on?"

"You are asking... me?" Zu said in near bewilderment as she took a moment to collect herself.

"Well, yeah? Why wouldn't I?"

"I think she is evil."

"Well established, but why?"

"I think that she is mean to Fetch because she does not wish for him to be with her."

"Oh com'on, Fetch is her kid, why would she want rid of him?"

"I do not know. But I think that Fetch is in danger."

"Zu, we are in Tenpony, the safest place I know of, if he were in danger, I would know."

"Is Tenpony safe for me? I am a Zebra, no?"

"True, but what does that have to do with Fetch? He is a young colt who was born here. Seems like to me that he would be reasonably safe."

"Yes. but only if that place has ponies who are safe too."

"Ok..." I said as I stretched out across the couch and rested my head on her side. "Tell me a story mommy..."

"If you are in the safest place, it is only as safe as the ponies you are near. Would it not still have the most dangerous things in that safest place? Would you not still be in danger, if those ponies did not like you? Just because the place is safe, it does not mean that the ponies are, no?"

"But if Lavender wanted Fetch gone, then wouldn't she have done it by now?"

"Not if she did not want to become... captured? This is, as you say, the safest place."

"This isn't adding up... It would be crazy for her to even try to do something like that."

"Joy... The little one was sick now. He was not sick in the cart."

"Are you saying us bringing him back made him sick?

"No. But I think the evil on is hurting him."

"I hope for his sake your wrong. But you are making a hell of a lot of sense."

"I hope so too... " Her words were cut short by a explosive sound coming from the kitchen.

"You are having that looked at this instant!" Shale screamed.

"NO! I am not going back to that starry eyed doctor again!" Caliber shouted back. Zu and I fell out of our seats and began to creep to the corner of the threshold to see what was going on THIS time. With Zu on my back, the two of us peeked around the corner, only to duck back again to avoid a flying rusty pot. Caliber was latched onto the long since dead stove with both hooves as my sister did her best to drag him away from it with her teeth around his tail.

"I asked you if you were hurt, I asked you if you needed to go to the doctor and you lied to me!" Shale mumbled out through Calibers tail.

"I'm fine! Stop ripping my tail out!"

"You are not 'fine', your damn hoof is going to rot off!"

"Is not! See! I'm using it right now! It's strong enough to keep you from taking me back there!" He shouted in glee. Shale rolled her eyes and gave one hard pull with her neck, sending both Caliber and the stove flying into the center of the kitchen.

"Your sister is scary." Zu said from behind me.

"You are going, and that is final!" She said as she once more latched onto his tail and began dragging him towards the door.

"BUT! MY SUGAR APPLE BOMBS WILL GET SOGGY IF WE GO!" He said as he reached out with his magic and began attempting to eat them while being dragged.

"You have got to get your priorities in line. AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE MILK IN THEM!" She said as the two of them cleared the doorway we... I looked back to see a pair of eyes staring back at me from under the couch followed by a sharp pain in my nose that send stars through my vision.

"And you need to learn a lesson the first time!" She said she pulled her hind-hoof away from my nose and the two of them trotted for the door. I rolled across the floor and came muzzle to muzzle with Zu.

"What the hell! You just... Abandoned me back there!" I said, holding my now very sore nose.

"I like my nose..." She said as she pulled herself from her impossibly confined hiding place.

"Those two really love each other..." Valkyrie said as she trotted into the room.

"Match made in Flank..." I replied, trying to shake the blurriness from my vision.

"You know, you should probably have that looked at." Val said, taking my head in her hooves. She rotated my head back and forth, eyeing my nose thoughtfully before helping me up. I took notice that even though the two of us were not being attacked by a rabid ball of stripes at that moment, the hair on my neck was still standing on end with delight at her sudden touch. Great, so that feeling is not just for the mare I care about... I looked over my shoulder to see Zu nursing what was left of her muffin before pulling away.

"I should go after them. Maybe get my nose looked at too." I said, backing my way to the door. "Can you stay here with Zuri, you know, keep her company?"

"Sure..." She said enthusiastically.

"Look, not that I don't want you both to come with, but this place and Zebra's don't mix well, and I don't want her to stay by herself. It wouldn't be fair."

"I'm sure her and I can clean up the mess those two made..." Valkyrie said as she slumped back off to the kitchen.

"She likes you!" Zu said just above a whisper.

"WHAT!?" I shouted. Ok, I can handle the weird nibbling on my ear in her sleep, eating like a rad roach and even her odd temper, but this on again off again attitude with mares and them being near me is getting weird way too fast!

"You can see it in her, she thinks you are cute." Zu said in an almost teasing tone.

"What gives, one second, you want to kill her, the next, you are ok with her making moon eyes at me? WHY!?" I said in my most parenting tone.

"It is because I know that you are safe." Zu said without care. "And she knows that I would end her."

"Safe? Safe how?"

"I know that you would not allow another mare between us. I see the way she looks at you, but I also see the way you pull away. I know that you are safe, or how do you ponies put it... Loyal.

"So unsafe would be... what?"

"That would be if you fell for her." She said as she raked the rest of the crumbs from the table to her mouth.

"You are a very strange mare... you know that right?"

"Ah, yes. And you a very sweet buck! We go well together, no?"

"Whatever you say, Zu." I said as I trotted out the door and as far away from that complicated conversation as my hooves would allow me to.

The lobby of Tenpony was just as I had remembered it, bustling with life (albeit snooty and uptight), filled with ponies talking about the slavers who had massed around the tower. Even though they had a clear show of force, you would never be able to measure it off of the demeanor's of the overly confident tower residents. Sure some seemed nervous but overall most of them seemed, at the most, inconvenienced by their presents, rather than intimidated by them. I sat looking for Caliber and Shale taking in all the various happenings around me.

It wasn't that long ago that I was here in nearly this exact spot that I met fetch for the first time, I also met Lavender as well, but I still had yet to figure out if that was a good thing or not. What was her deal? We bring her kid back and all we get is a stern glare as if we had found something she had been looking for and some how offended her. I know mares are complicated and crazy at the best of times, but this was just stupid! We risked our lives to pull him out of that hell-hole! Just what the poor kid had gone through should have been enough to cut through her hardened facade, but even that seemed to piss her off. I bet that If I were to pass her off a solid gold bar, the gift of ever lasting life and bag full of promises, she would just bitch about the weight and tell me how unlucky she was to live forever in the Wasteland.

Even with plenty to take in around me, I couldn't shake the thought of what little I had seen in the room. I was actually making myself angry just at the very thought of it in fact. So much so that I thought it better of me to set myself to just finding my sister and brother before I had some sort of outburst and got kicked out. I pushed the thoughts of Lavender and Fetch to the back of my head and headed back on the trail that Caliber had left for me.

The buck might be many things, but stealthy, he is not. He had not gave up his bowl of cereal and left me a nice trail of spilled water and Sugar Apple Bombs to follow all over the damn tower. Seriously, who eats cereal with water! That's just... GROSS! Wouldn't they get all soggy and nasty tasting? I followed the puddles all the way to Cream's Confectioneries, dodging the ponies that were bumping into me seemingly on purpose. When had this place gotten so crowed, and rude! Well they had always bee rude, but seriously, I think that buck just tried to trip me.

A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed what I had already figured out on my own. The buck returned to curious glance with a snarl and spit on the ground in my direction. I turned and flexed my frame forward, readying myself for what I was sure was to come next.

"WHAT!?" I shouted as I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Don't you what me! Tattooing yourself up like a damn Zebra! What did you expect, for me to hug you? If it were up to me, you would be hung by the balls for doing that!" He snapped back to me.

"Tattooed!? What is your malfunction, fuckhead?" I asked as I started to close the gap.

"Yeah! If you want to be one of those damn things so bad, why don't you do us all a favor and shoot yourself and save us the trouble." A mare said to my right.

"Hey! Why don't you-" I started but it was no use, I had gotten the attention of nearly everypony within earshot, and everypony seemed to have their own opinion of the stripped up pony in their midst's.

"Go back to Wastland!" and "I bet he is here as a spy for the Slavers!" rang out across the crowd of ponies that were now backing me into the small bakery. Just as my haunches cleared the doorway, I felt hooves press hard on my haunches and pull me deeper into the sweet smelling shop. In a white and blond flash, Cream had leaped in front of me and began waving a broom at the aggressors.

"Shop's closed everypony, time to get the hell out!" She shouted as she hit one mare in the face with her staff of cleansing."Get out of here you time wasting bastards!"

"I have never!" One back said as I picked myself up off my hooves and stood in aw at the power of a mare holding a broom.

"Well now you have!" She shouted, followed by her smashing the bristly end of the broom into another bucks ass with full force. Once she had completed her tirade, she backed herself back into the shop and locked the door behind her. "Joey, always a pleasure. Nice stripes." She said as she rounded on me.

"Thanks for that. I guess I really poked the hornet's nest coming here." I said hopping for a smile.

"No!" She said as pointed her filthy broom at my nose. "Poking a hornet's nest would have been showing up, what you did was more like trying to steal it and mate with it! Showing up here looking the way you do, what did you think they would do if you pushed back on them!?"

"True. Not my finer moment. But even still, some of those ponies out there know me and what I do! Why would they act like that?"

"Joey... You really are stupid." She said as she put a hoof to her temple. "You have got to be kidding me... Tenpony ponies only care about being safe and looking good. They thrive on a balance of attractive appearance and social up standing. YOU look like a raccoon that was eaten by a trashcan and barfed out into a puddle of awkward... How did you think it would go?"

"Good point..." I said looking down at the floor. So this was what that felt like, being denied a simple pony right to be over looked. Now I was being singled out for the way that I look and there was nothing that I could do about it. Even if I went to every pony here and explained why I had stripes, I bet my last cap that at least half of them would still try and kill me.

"What, now you are going to be sad over it?" Cream said rather curtly.

"Gee, thanks bitch." I said from my pit of self wallow.

"You are seriously getting upset over what all those snooty ponies think of you? They live here because they could never survive out there, and here you are, worried about what they think?" She said as she tapped me on the nose with her broom. The resulting screaming and cussing took far longer to explain to her than it did for me to forget all about the ponies outside of the store. What was this, hurt Joey day!? After what felt like an hour, our conversation turned to Lavender and her strange, but not unusual, ways of acting like a complete cunt.

"So she just, kicked him to the door?" Cream asked as she went about her daily routine of making bread.

"Well, not so much kicked as nudged, still though, it was an unkind gesture. I think if we had not been there, she would have pretty much thrown him out of the door." I said leaning on the counter.

"Yeah, Lavender has always been a strange mare. She comes in here and always expects me to give Fetch his food for free because I like the kid. I mean I do, but it would be nice to do it because I want to, not because I have to."

"So she shops here for her food? No offense, but you are the most over priced place in this whole tower. If she was so concerned with money, why would she shop here?"

"It's not over priced! It's priced very appropriately for my demographic, thank you. But yes, she comes in here every other day and orders the same thing. Two dozen muffins, a loaf of bread and some Cadmilk."

"What the hell is 'Cadmilk'?" I asked in bewilderment. Of all the strange things that I had heard of, Cadmilk was far from anything that I knew of.

"It's powdered milk. You add water to it and you have milk." She said in a tone that suggested that I was an idiot.

"I was just asking... Geez."

"She claims it is the only thing Fetch will drink, but honestly I'm pretty sure the kid hates it. If you ask me, it's because it is cheap and she gets to feel like a mother by buying him something other than water to drink. Racid stuff, can't stand it myself."

"If it is so bad, why does she buy it for him. It can't be because she wants to feel like a good mother, she's a damn bitch towards the kid."

"How the hell should I know!? I make bread and shit, I'm not a brain doctor!"

"Oh that's for damn sure..."

"Well, either way, she is the only one that buys the stuff. Ponies tend to think it tastes like licking a battery after you drink it. I have been using it to clean the pots with, works great as a soap." She said as she retreated to the bowels of her shop. More strange behavior from the purple mare that had peaked Zuri's interest back in the room. I really want to believe what I believe when it comes to Lavender. That she is a horrible pony and a bad mother, but not an abusive one. Sure what she did back in the room was abusive, but was this a near constant thing? But then you get things like this where she was buying milk for her kid so he would not have to drink water alone.

Nothing was adding up. One second bad mother, the next, kind of ok mother. Even if she wasn't showing it, how could a mother decide to turn against her only kid without any malice in return? But then there is the very real fact that Fetch was fine when we landed o the roof, but a few hours later he was nearly comatose. My train of thought was derailed by Cream throwing a box that clearly read 'Cad-Milk, a tasty alternative for milk!', at my hooves.

"This is the stuff. Go on, take her a box... Maybe it will calm her the hell down to get something for free."

"Thanks. But I doubt anything short of a bullet would do that for her. Are you sure you don't want me to pay for this?" I asked as I turned the box over in my hooves to read the ingredients. 'Soy protein, rich whole wheat reduction and powdered ...' the last word had been nearly completely worn away by time but it didn't stop me from trying to guess what it was. Caster oil, maybe? One thing was for sure, it was gross.

"No need, I have 400 boxes of it. Some buck came in here with a huge load of junk a few years ago wanting to buy some muffins... Maybe you have heard of him..."

"Ok, I get-"

"Grey, messy blue mane-"

"Cream."

"Oh, he had wings too! Two big stupid looking wings-"

"Cream!"

"And he's a real ass-"

"CREAM! I get it. Thanks again..." I said as I trotted back out of the store. Cream, never a pony to let anypony get the last word in on her, shouted after me as the door slowly closed.

"He has a cute butt too!"

I gave a nervous shudder at the thought of a pony like her eyeing my backside and did my best to hide what I could of it with what was left of my tail. Thankfully, the crowd had all but ran off during the time Cream and I had our little talk together. Though, it did not seem to do anything for the crooked-eyed-glances I was getting from pretty much everypony around me. Rather than take a chance at starting another fight, or more likely a riot with a side of hanging, I kept my head low and and focused on finding the clinic.

Despite being here multiple times in my life, the place was always hard to find for me. Maybe it was my fear of doctors and waiting to the last minute before seeking one out, but I hated going there. Also, I think the nurse has a crush on me, but that was beside the point. They stick you with needles, drain your blood to do Goddesses only knows what with and take all your caps. But nevertheless, they did at least smile while doing it. I guess I would smile too if I had ponies willingly bringing me caps and wanting me to stab them.

Trying to get my barrings, I glanced around the lobby once more to see if there were any signs of Caliber about the place. But all I could see was the angry eyes of ponies who were none-too-pleased by me being near them. It was as if I had now seen a monster that, once you looked at it, it would always follow you from then on. I couldn't help but look at them with a bit of resentment now that I knew how everypony truly felt about me. It was almost addicting in its own way to look to them just to check and see if I was still being hated or not. The longer I looked the faster my heart would start to race as if I were about to be attacked at any second.

I forced myself to look back to the ground before I gave myself a panic attack, and just in time too. Right next to my hoof was a still drying piece of cereal on the ground. I followed it with my eyes to another, then another, then several more all making up a trail around the corner and presumably, to the clinic.

"Thank you, Caliber, you great big stupid slob, you!" I mumbled to myself as I put my nose to the ground and began follow the edible trail out of the lobby. All around me I could hear ponies remarking at that stripped pony with his bloody nose to the ground. Stuff like " Look at him! He's savage!" And "What, first he thinks he's a Zebra, now he think's he some kind of dog!?" found its way to my ears as I tracked my friends breakfast trail through the lobby. That's me, just a savage, bloody and beaten coyote, trying to sniff out his friend. Go ahead Tenpony, laugh... See if I help any of you in the future.

I must have followed that damn trail all over the Tower before I was halted abruptly by the pony I slammed my head into. Seriously, I had not wanted to look up so badly that I actually bumped into somepony, bumped my nose on the ground and proceeded to start whaling like a foal on the ground again. I covered my nose and shouted every obscenity that I knew in a desperate attempt to stave off the pain and the stars that were now flooding my vision. Through their darkened state, the silhouette of a buck loomed over me and was saying something, but through my own angry words, I couldn't hear anything.

I felt a hoof grab my foreleg and wrench it away from my face with a surprising amount of force. The action was met with nothing short of panic from me, I must have hit a Tower resident! Great, I'm on the ground, already injured and now I'm going to be stomped to death on my way to the clinic... Talk about ironic.

"Calm down already, you damn fool." The soft voice of a stallion said to me. Wait a minute... I know that voice. Cautiously, I cracked my eyes back open to see a bright red mane come into view. "Honestly, I know your name is Coyote, but do you have to act like one?" Life Bloom said as he eyed my injured muzzle closely.

I froze. I'm on my back, his nose is just a few inches from mine and he has his hooves on both of my cheeks. My eyes grew wide as my brain shifted from simple panic to historical paranoia and sexual confusion. I still had not forgotten that comment he had made the last time I was here and if his intentions were anything short of professional, I was screwed.

"What in the name of all that is good did you do to your nose?" He said almost sarcastically as he turned my head side to side in an effort to look all the way to the back of my head through my nostrils.

"Shale. She-"

"It's broken." He said, cutting me off. The curt tone in his voice was now telling me that this was not a social conversation.

"B-broken?" I stuttered as my heart sank. Oh no... If it's broken that means...

"Don't act like you are upset about it, I know you have been shot before. A simple broken nose is easy enough to fix. " He said helping me to my hooves and guiding me inside the clinic before following in behind me.

"Fix?" I whimpered out.

"Oh, cut it out. Don't be such a foal." He said as he nudged my rump with his horn.

"Hey! Watch were you poke that thing!" Do unicorns just forget they have a phallic object on their heads? Had he missed his mark... Not thinking about it, not even going to think about that with him right behind me...

Inside, I saw Shale had already found a cozy spot in the waiting room and had curled up on an old couch with what was left of a magazine to read. She raised an eyebrow towards me for only moment before turning a page and looking back to it once more.

"Ah, I see moron the sequel has arrived..." She said in a tone only I could appreciate. It was the same one she would use anytime she knew she had won an argument, or caught me doing something stupid.

"Sh-shut up! OW! Watch the horn! SHALE! Help me!" I shouted as I felt another sharp jab in my other butt cheek.

"Ignore him. He's a baby when it comes to doctors. Don't let him be a problem." Shale said without so much as casting the faintest glance in our direction.

"It wouldn't be a problem, if he would move his flank!" Life bloom said as he threatened me into one of the several examining rooms.

Once inside, I was ushered to one of the gurneys and threatened by point of horn to sit on it, quietly. Looking around, I was revealed that I was not the only pony to be lead to this room of blood and broken bones. The soft ruffling of the sheets beside me on the bed and the large mound of blankets covering whoever was under there was evidence enough for me to gather. I was lost deep in thought when the cold touch of hooves found my neck and cheek, causing me to pull away in shock from the two piles of snow that just touched me.

"Hold still, damn it! You don't want to move like that while I'm holding a scalpel." I froze again and slowly let my eyes move to his now hovering blade that was now just inches away from my right nostril.

"W-why do you need that!?" I said through my teeth, afraid to move my jaw.

"You have a hematoma. I have to drain it before I reset your broken nose." He said as he slowly pressed the shiny blade against the inside of my nose. Short to follow came a pin prick of a needle on the outside of my muzzle. No doubt a numbing agent, I felt my body relax, now knowing that he wasn't going to go about this 'procedure' without at least numbing me up first. "Now... Stay perfectly still..."

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one with a knife in his face..."

"Quit your whining." He said as he lanced the mass and I shuddered at the feeling of warm blood flowing down my chest. "And it's a surgical scalpel, for the last time."

I tried to speak my witty retort but no sooner than I opened my mouth, it was filled with nasty nose blood. Luckily, Life Bloom had pulled the scalpel away from my nose when I choked and spat the blood all over him. Though from the look he was giving me, I was sure that he was having thoughts of going in for round two on my uninjured nostril after that.

"Lovely..." He said as he reached out, took my muzzle in both hooves and pulled my face close to his. Shit! I should have known! He's a male nurse! The sight of blood must be a turn on for him! Crap!

"OWWWWWWW!" I screamed as I felt an extreme amount of pressure being applied to the right side of my face, followed by a sickening crunch of the bone being shoved back into place. I was seeing stars by the time he stuck me with another round of numbing liquid. "What in the fu-"

"Seriously? You are here with a broken nose, what did you think I was going to do? Kiss you?" He said a matter-of-factly as he turned to look for a needle and thread. I gave my nose a small wiggle in a circle as if I were trying to itch it without my hoof, oh how I wished I had not done than. The pain... OH the pain. I was now sitting cross-eyed as I tried my best to not make a sound. It was bad enough I was in here, had not listen to anything that he had said not to do, spat blood all over him and acted like a foal, but now I was hurting myself for absolutely no reason other than my own curiosity. "Now... All you are going to need is a few stitches and a healing potion. Honestly, why is it that you always find a way to get hurt that requires the most amount of pain prior to healing?" He said as he returned from his tool rack with a needle and thread.

"Heh... Did he tell you about the time he almost killed himself with healing potions?" The pile of sheets beside me said.

"Cal-OW-iber?" I tried to say as Life Bloom began stitching me up.

"Oh yeah... It's me." A drunken muffled voice replied.

"You... Almost DIED... from healing potions?" Life Bloom asked in shock.

"Heh... Shut his liver down and everything." Cal said, poking his muzzle out from under the sheets.

"You are one to talk, didn't you almost die from dating that ghoul? What was the name you gave her? Nightlite was it?" I said as best I could while somepony was inside my nose.

"Hey! She was the best! You could cook eggs on her flank!" Cal said in rebuttal.

"You were sick for over a month with rad-sickness." I retorted.

"Yeah, well I didn't lose a fight with a door, did I?"

"Wait... You almost died from too many healing postions, and you almost died because you dated a glowing ghoul?" Life Bloom said as he pulled away from us both. Cal and I could only stare back at him, the two of us waiting for him to continue his question.

"What?" Caliber said finally, breaking the silence.

"You two have to be the dumbest ponies I have ever met! I have treated raiders that had more sense than the both of you combined! It's no wonder you are in here all the time." He said as he trotted to a medical supply cabinet.

"Ok... We are not in here ALL the time." I said as I climbed down from the bed.

"REALLY!?" He shouted as he turned and held a clip board with my medical bills on it.

"See, that's not that bad... There are at most... ten or eleven things on there..." I said squinting.

"This was today..." He said as he undid the clip on the clipboard and allowed page after page to scatter across the floor.

"Whoa... Damn, Joey. Maybe you are Ditzy's kid after all..." Cal said as he kicked a few stray paged off of his hoof. Life Bloom was now clutching his blood spattered temples in what looked like physical pain as he started groaning.

"Ghouls... Can't... Have... FOALS! Morons..."

Cal and I stood perfectly still as we waited for the now very angry unicorn to calm himself enough to set us up for discharge. I had thought it better not to say anything, but we really had to get a move on. I had not even had time to think about what we were going to do about Firefly yet, nor had I even given any thought about talking to Doctor Helping Hoof about Fetch's condition. If there was something out there that could help the little colt, I know that it would make its way to the top of my priorities list. Before I could think of a good way into that conversation, Life bloom had one more trick up his sleeve.

"Do you think you could just... just stand there and manage to not get hurt long enough for me to look you over for ANYTHING else that is more than likely wrong with you? I thought I heard something about loosing a fight with a door." He said as he stepped closer to the two of use as if we were a glowing lump of radioactive stupidity.

"Heh... Lose a fight with a door? He nearly lost his leg! Damn thing chopped his Pip-buck clean off!"

Life Bloom froze and I watched as his now crimson eyelid began to twitch uncontrollably.

"Ok... to be fair-" I started.

"Just shut up." He said as his eye squinted and his horn began to glow. I waited as the tingly sensation washed over me little by little before settling on my injured leg. Before long a strange new problem began to manifest in the form of not only burning, but searing agony that bit deep into my bones with every passing second. My face twisted and contorted in pain, but by the looks of it, I was not the only one being effected by it. Life Bloom's body was nearly pulsating with pain. His horn began to glow brighter and brighter the longer the spell went on, its light giving of wave after wave of heat. Before I had time to register what was going on, a white and blue flash pushed Life Bloom from his hooves.

The two of us collapsed to the floor. Me clutching my still burning hoof, him curled into a ball and squeezing his head for dear life. What had just happened!? What did they put inside of me back in that hell-hole!? This had to be some sort of thing you should tell your doctor about before they do a spell like that. Celestia only knows what material they used to piece me back together down there, for all I know they used left over batteries!

"What... what the hell!" Life Bloom said as he brought him self back to his now shaky hooves.

"I-I don't know! It just... hurt!" I said still trying to rid myself of the pain that was just now beginning to fade.

"All I could see was a slight taint contamination and some metal rods and everything went white."

"One thing is for sure, whatever they crammed in that leg of yours probably should not be inside of a pony." Cal said.

"I have never seen anything like this before. I would say that we should get to purging your taint contamination, but if your leg did that to me..."

"Great! So now I really AM anti-technology. Awesome..." I said as I timidly began to bare weight on my hoof again.

"Hey... don't feel too bad about it! Look at it this way. Next time we need a hot meal, between the two of us, we make a pretty good microwave oven!" Cal said with a stupid grin.

"You two... You both are the stupidest ponies in the world. You have no idea how painful that was! You would probably both die or his leg would explode." Life Bloom shouted.

"I knew that!" Cal said with a snort. "So do we..." He started but was cut off.

"Just... Just get out. There is only so much of you two I can handle for one day... month... EVER. Take the potions and leave." He said as he levitated two purple vials to us both.

"But don't we owe you some-" I started.

"I said get OUT!" He shouted as he pointed towards the door. Cal nearly ran me over as the two of us scrambled for the door.

"Wait... I had a question. An actual question." I said as I started backing out the door.

"If you don't leave this exam room in the next few seconds..."

"It's about Fetch! Please!" I said hiding behind the door. He let out a loud sigh before cocking an eyebrow at me.

"What's wrong with him? More specifically, Is there anything we can do to help him?" I said quietly.

"Fetch has a condition that is beyond our expertise here, I'm afraid." With every word that he said, the bucks face softened and my heart sank. "It would seem that whatever it is that is effecting him is causing his body to retain elemental forms of low-grade heavy metal Isotopes. Radium, strontium, cadmium and cesium to name them. Combine that with his congenital heart defect and you have a recipe for disaster. We can purge the heavy elements from time to time, but it always returns due to the cadmium, it's like a sponge to his tissue."

"So just keep purging it! Look if it is money you want-" I started.

"IT'S NOT THE MONEY!" He shouted in disdain. "Colts get treatment like that for free here, we are not monsters."

"Well then?" I said giving him my best look of 'what the hell is the problem then'. Life Bloom paused and rolled his eyes at me.

"That's right... You're stupid." He said as he started cleaning up the room that we had trashed. "If we keep running him though the machine to cleanse him, he will die. Think of it as what happened to you and the healing potions. Given enough time where his body is not exposed to the heavy metals, he could possibly heal, but it is far beyond our capabilities here."

"There has to be something that can be done, I mean, he is only five or six years old. That's too young to die." I said as I felt any and all hope that I could do anything to help him slip away.

"Eleven." Life Bloom said correcting me.

"Whatev... What?"

"He is eleven years old." He said again.

"There is no way! He's too small to be eleven years old!" I said in astonishment.

"His condition has taken its toll on him over the years. Stunted growth is only one of the issues he has. Temporary memory loss, lack of developmental improvement, difficulty with retention with numbers, weakened bone structure, general lack of attention... Even organ scaring, mostly dealing with his circulatory system." He said, his words failing to find that all too doctor like tone I was used to.

"So the little colt, the one that I had thought was just a kid, is actually a young buck?" I asked trying to not talk about the details of what was... Not going to think about that.

"Don't feel too bad about the mistaken identity, you are not the first and probably will not be the last either. At this rate however, you maybe one of the last few." He said as he sat the papers he had been collecting down on the table and began staring at them. I was ruined. This little colt was older than he seemed, very sick and... dying. I had grown fond of the kid in the last few days, going so far as to wish for a little colt of my own one day, but now I was getting the ultimate dose of parental depression, and he wasn't even mine. But no matter the pain I felt, it would be far worse for Caliber in the end. No matter what I did though, I still had this nagging feeling that something was amiss with all of this.

"Life Bloom?"

"Yes, Joey?"

"Can I ask you about something else?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"What do you know about lavender? I mean I know she is a bitch and can be cruel... but you don't think..."

"What? That she is mistreating Fetch?"

"Yeah... That."

"I doubt it. Not because she is her mother, no, she is defiantly crazy. No, I don't think she has the time or the energy."

"How do you mean?"

"She is working two jobs right now, but before that she was working nearly eighty hours a week to support them both. That kind of thing takes a toll on a mare."

"So you are saying she acts the ways she does because she's tired?"

"Yeah, I would lean on that opinion. I know she suffers from insomnia now that she has to work late shift. Just last week I had to give her sleeping pills to knock her out. She said she had been up for nearly four days and three nights. I can't help but wonder if Fetch wandered off because she had taken a few too many and passed out."

"Even still... She seems hard on the kid. Even you have to see that, right?"

"Well, now that you mention it... Over the last few years she has seemed distant from Fetch, most notably since his sickness began to worsen."

"One more thing, about fetch. A few of us noticed that before we arrived here that he was actually looking pretty healthy. but today he looked dead on his hooves."

"Every time we purge his system, the onset effects of his condition arrive much sooner then previously. It's one of the effects of having cadmium building up in your system, the more that is there, the faster it effects you with acute radiation poisoning. He would go months without issue as a foal... But months became a month, that became weeks... before long, it could be days. I suspect that is why Lavender left Tenpony to find help for him."

"When she came back... how did she act?"

"What are you driving at? Do you know something about Fetch going missing that I don't know?"

"Just curiosity... and a hunch."

"That 'hunch' of your's could get you into a far bit of trouble making insinuations like that. But now that you mention it, she didn't seem totally genuine about being up set. She kept wanting to lay down and sleep and just let the patrols figure it out. If my kid went missing, I would like to think that I would miss nap time to find them."

"Thank you. If you figure out anything that will help him..."

"You will be the first to know." He said with a small smile.

I trotted into the waiting room to see my sister was still waiting in the same spot I had left her in. Caliber was no where to be found however.

"Where's?" I started.

"Stupid the prequel?" She finished for me.

"Cute. Yes, him."

"Oh he is off doing his best to become a victim of a crime of passion. I would say he is probably in her room now."

"So he went to see Lavender. Great. And you did what to stop him?" I asked.

"Oh you know... 'Stop, no, please, you will surely die!'." She said looking back to her magazine.

"Always reassuring to know I have your full support. But if I may ask, why are you being such a colossal bitch today?" I asked as flatly as I could manage.

"Oh I don't know, Joey... Maybe it's the fact that my new colt friend is up there right now with his ex-mare and his child. Call me petty, but this sort of thing is not something I am a fan of."

"Whatever... Pay the mare." I said as I trotted out the door of the clinic and started for the main lobby.

Right, back into the hell-scape that was personally tailored for me by fate itself. I didn't even make it out of the lobby and up the stairs to the apartments before somepony actually tried to trip me! I looked back to shoot an angry glance at the would-be ass that tried to send me tumbling down the stairs but was halted by the face of a little filly blowing me a raspberry. The little shit... With everything that was going on in my life right now, I was now being made to deal with the disobedience of children. And I can't even spake them! What kind of world is this...

I brushed off the encounter and quickly found myself on the correct floor. I know this not from memory, but from the sweet sounds of a screaming mare and the sounds of things being thrown. I should have guessed that the moment that the two of them were alone that they would resort to fighting again. Lavender had barely kept her rage in check the last time we seen her, holding back her emotions like a dam that was fit to burst at any moment. My guess would be from the sound that I was hearing now, she was currently flooding Cal with everything that she had held back over the last day or so.

I kept close to the wall as I approached so that I didn't send one of the loose floorboards to squeaking. The last thing that I wanted was to be in the middle of whatever in the hell was going on in there, but I did want to have a listen. Slowly I made my way closer to the cracked-open-door, trotting on the tips of my hooves the whole way. With every step I could make out more of their shadows being cast on the door, their flailing hooves and screeching words coming more into focus. I was so entranced by what I was doing that I didn't even notice the small tail sticking out of an alcove of the hallway and nearly tripped over it. I caught my stumble just in time as Lavender threw what used to be a potted plant into the hallway, sending it against the door across the way.

I looked down to see that I had tripped over none other than Fetch who had found his book and retreated to a safe distance to read it.

"Hey!" I whispered to him. He looked up to me with his green eyes like he always had, but this time I noticed something different. Before I had always thought that he was simply trying to slow his thoughts down enough to process that a pony was standing in front of him, like all kids do. But now, those same eyes painted a much darker picture, one that I could not be sure if he had even seen for himself yet. He was trying to remember who I was. Back in Filly, I had calked it up to trauma, here though, I was shown the very thing that Life Bloom had told me about.

Fetch narrowed his eyes and his smile grew wide as he opened his mouth to shout as he often did. Before he could even get his breath to do so, I planed a hoof to his muzzle and did what any sneaky pony would do to a child.

"Shhh! Don't blow my cover!" I whispered to him.

"Oh! Right! Are you spying on mommy and Caliber, uncle Joey?" He said back to me, his hooves vibrating with excitement. Uncle Joey... I felt a little flutter in my chest towards his simple statement of kinship towards me that almost cleared my darker thoughts of how bad things were going for him. But, in a way, it only made the pain worse.

"Yeah. What are they fighting about this time?"

"I-don't-know. But mommy is really mad!"

"Shocker..." I said as I sat down next to him.

"Yeah. Mom has been mad since I came home. She made me go to bed without dinner last night because I took to long to get down the hallway." He said looking back to his book as he played with the edge of one of the torn pages.

"Bitch..." I mumbled under my breath.

"Huh?"

"I said I have an itch." I said quickly as I started scratching my side. "Watcha' readin'?"

"It's a book Cream gave me on how to bake cupcakes... But I have read it a lot already and it is getting old." I looked down and saw nothing but gibberish about cooking, if only I had something that he could read that was better than old cook book I could give him. Thinking quickly, I dug deep in my saddle bags. After pushing aside the half a pound of dust and grit I found both Camden's journal and the envelope Homage had given me.

"Cupcakes are fun and all... But look what I got!" I said as I brought out the envelope Homage had passed off to me.

"But... there are no words... You can't read that... Can you?"

"Stitches... it's an envelope. Homage gave it to me and said that there was something inside that we should see."

"OH! Like snooping!?"

"Snooping on the highest levels of snoop! This is something she wants me to do. The SNOOPIEST! Wanna read it?" I said with a sly grin.

"Yeah-Yeah!" He said as he tried to use his magic to pull it from my hooves. Together we opened it and unfolded the pages in front of us. On them were dates, locations and what looked like an image that could have been drawn better by Fetch, but had the hallmarks of something that was machine made.

"What is this?" Fetch asked as he poured over the documents. I didn't answer, there was no need to. Everything was right there in black and white, or in my case, purple and blue. The colors didn't show it on the poorly reproduced black and white paper, I doubt anypony but me would know what it was, but there it was. Clear as the sky above the clouds. Thinking quickly, I swept the pages back into my bag and stowed them away from prying eyes. I had to grit my teeth to keep from showing the emotions that I was trying so intently now to hide. Easy Joey, all in good time.

"Hey! I was going to read that!"

"Let's not read THAT one buddy." I said as I messed up his mane with a wing. "How about this?" I said as I slid the journal between us.

"What is it?" Fetch asked as I undid the clasp and opened it to the first page.

"It's a journal, my da... the buck who raised me wrote this."

"Your dad?"

"Kind of. He raised me, taught me nearly everything I know about trading, took me all over Equestria. He wrote everything that was important down." I said as I flipped through the pages. "Here is where he got Shale, my big sister. This one is about the time Lue got stuck in an air vent..." Fetch giggled at the thought, all the while with me flipping the pages of Boss's journal. Before long, we had read through nearly half of it with the only breaks being when I would stop to tell him more details of what happened back then. Much of what we were reading was material I had not even seen myself, thankfully I was able to skim the pages about Bit Scales before Fetch could lose what was left of his innocence. If his run in with the underwear apparatus had not done it, that damn sure would.

"Hey! What's that?" He said pointing to a rounded grey edge that was just poking out of a page near the back of the tome. With a wing tip I flipped the page open to find... a wing tip? It was one of my feathers, a primary if i was right, but it was way too small to be one of mine.

"OOOOOH... It's a feather!" Fetch said as he turned it over in his magic. The tip of the base had been stained with black ink and the vein showed the signs of nibbling or improper preening at the very least. "Look! It is the same color as yours!" He said as he held it to my wing. Sure enough, it was the same color, albeit a bit faded in color. I looked back down to the journal to see that something had been written on the same page.

"Dear Joey, I read the journal, and for some reason Boss never included the story of how he found you. I hope you don't mind, but I wrote it down for you as best as I can remember him telling it. I think this is one of your foal feathers that he used to write with, I hope you don't mind me using it. Love, Shale." I read the words aloud in stark confirmation that the small grey feather had been one of mine, one of my first to shed at that. Boss had thought enough of it to keep it all those years. That or he needed something to write with and ripped one out. I choose to believe the former.

"So this is a baby Pegasus feather?"

"My feather at that."

"COOL!" Fetch said as he continued playing with it. Beside us, the battle was really starting to heat up, shouting had turned to screaming, giving little to the imagination of what they were saying. Even Fetch was having a hard time blocking out the obscenities that were now flowing from the door way like water down a stream. "PIECE. OF. BRAHMIN. SHIT!" being screamed in full anger gives a very different effect when it's not aimed at yourself. Doing my best, I tried to ignore them and began reading aloud the story of how I came to be in this world, to the colt that was quickly finding himself in the same place.

I read the words just as Shale had wrote them for me, line by line, word by word. Doing anything I could to keep the documents I had seen out of my mind as focused on the job at hoof. Before long, the the shout and screams could no longer be ignored by either of us. I found myself pausing to try and listen into bits and pieces of the 'conversation' they were having. Fetch had to keep reminding me to read and not listen in. His pleas felt more out of necessity than actual curiosity. But with his own mother screaming works like 'little runt' and 'the sick kid', I couldn't say that I blamed him.

"Uncle Joey? What happened next?" Fetch asked as he tapped the journal between us.

"Then..." I started, doing my best to keep my composure, I pushed the rage to the back of my mind and began to read again. "Boss took the little colt from his father and stowed him away safely, just has the colt's father had begged. His mother wept for their loss but knew that it was the only thing that she could do to keep him safe." With every word I read I was feeling a all too strong connection to Fetch in doing so. We had both been cast out, we both had been found, but he was the one that needed somepony to save him now. Wasn't that exactly what Caliber was trying to do? Wasn't it what we were trying to do?

"What happened to the little colt in the story?" Fetch asked. I had once again let my attention drift to the room beside me where his screaming mother and now pleading father were.

"Fetch, why don't you try and read this aloud. You are quite the reader yourself now after all. I think I should go and check on your parents." I said as I stood from beside him and began to trot away.

"J-Joey?"

"Yeah?" I responded, freezing in my tracks.

"I... I don't want to go... back to my mom..." Fetch said, looking up to me with wide eyes.

"Fetch..."

"She... She doesn't want me, does she?"

His words resonated in my mind, cutting through that mental wall I had built up to protect myself from all of the anger I was dealing with. I didn't respond, I couldn't! How do you tell such a heinous thing to a child, how could you be so cold, so cruel to make a colt feel like he was unwanted, even if it was the truth. You don't, simple as that. You buck up or you get out of the way and let somepony else do it.

"Just keep reading Stitches, you are doing great." I said as I rounded the corner into the room. From behind me, through muffled sniffs I could hear him reading quietly to himself has he tried to learn more about the little Pegasus that had been given back to the Wasteland.

"Fine! I sold him! How does that make you FEEL, Caliber! You wanted the truth? I couldn't stand the thought of raising a child by a father as worthless as you! He's a sick kid! YOU cursed me with a SICK kid!" Lavender barked back to Cal. Even from my spot just outside the doorway, her words bled through the walls like Ice cold water.

"He... he didn't runaway? He wasn't taken by slavers from you? You just..." I could hear stammering at the blow that Lavender had just dealt to him. My rage had only began to boil when I saw the documents, but now it was ablaze. I should feel sorry for this, at the very least I should be showing how angry I was, but I was past that point. Nothing I could conger as an expression could show what I was feeling in this moment. I felt nothing. Some how this mare had found a way to break every moral I had, every emotion I felt and every action I wanted to do on reflex, and she wasn't even aiming it at me.

"-you are absolutely worthless! Why would I want to raise a carbon copy of him for myself!?" Lavender bellowed in Calibers face. The once proud buck had been reduced to a cowering mass that had been backed into a corner. "And you! You are nothing more than some do-good fuck up that just HAS to meddle where he does not belong! Everything was fine before either of you came along! I was actually happy for once!" She screamed at me, but I didn't react. Instead I put a hoof on Cal's shoulder and started to guide him back to the door.

"Com'on Cal, time to go."

"We... We can't leave him here. Not like this..." Cal mumbled as I helped him out the door. He had been broken, mentally and physically. Lavender had found a way to hurt the buck who had always had something clever to say back and left him destroyed. She had hurt Fetch and in doing so found his chink in his armor.

"Go help Fetch, he's in the hall reading." I said as I stopped walking, closed the door behind him and rolled the tumblers on the lock.

"Well!? What are you waiting for!? Are you not going to follow your two little pieces of shit?" She said as I slowly turned to face her.

There are times in everypony's life where they make choices. Boss chose to help when nopony else could, Shale chose to stay when she could have gone home at anytime and Caliber chose to be a parent when nopony else wanted to. Choices... some of them will haunt us for a lifetime, some will give us fond memories, but they are almost always for our own gain. I had forgotten about Fetch when he needed me most because of my own want for love and even Zuri had ran out of fear of being hurt. That's the problem with ponies, when the caps are down, they will look out for number one and forget about the poor colt in the hallway who desperately needs somepony to love and care for them.

Lavender had unknowingly been poisoning Fetch for years with the very same powered milk Cream had gave me. Cadmilk. Cadmium. The very thing linking the radioactive poisons to Fetch's condition, was the one 'good' thing she had been doing for her kid. The stuff was fortified with it. Whether she knew it or not, made no difference at all now having heard her say it aloud. CadMilk, with the active ingredient Cadmium is fine in small doses, but over a lifetime can have devastating effects and in large quantities it can be fatal . When she saw that his medical bills would probably mean her expulsion from the Tower, she decided to sell fetch to Slavers and pass it off as him being taken.

But she had not counted on somepony watching her every move as she did so. Somepony that despite the odds managed to look at a monitor just in time to see Lavender pass off a sleeping Fetch to Slavers. Sleeping pills were given to her just the day before Fetch went missing, Life Blooms guilt had he known they had been used on the poor kid would be more than enough for her to stand trial. Homage had known to send me to Filly, she knew right where I could find him, because she knew he didn't run away. She had shown me that with the images... Lavender slipping pills into a bottle of water and giving it to fetch. Lavender picking him up and carrying him on her back. Lavender... Exchanging caps for a sleeping colt...

Somewhere, in some other cosmic body I would hope, there would be another timeline where Fetch had two loving parents who would stop at nothing to protect him, do anything to heal him and keep him safe. But the universe doesn't work like that. This was here, this was now. I could only pray that neither of them could hear the muffled screams from Lavender as she slowly choked to death at the hooves of a buck who could only hope he was doing the right thing. Even if the right thing to him, was murder. Caliber didn't have the strength, he would never be able to look Fetch in the face again if he had to do this himself. I didn't have that problem. I needed this. With every bit more pressure I applied, I felt a weight being lifted off my back. With every crack of bone, I felt my heart ache a little less for the poor colt in the hallway.

I let her lifeless body fall beside me on the floor. Even though I had expected to feel some semblance of remorse, I didn't. It could have been the fact that she tried to hurt my brother by selling his child into slavery, it could have been that when I looked at Fetch maybe I saw myself in him. Alone, wanting desperately for somepony to love me, hoping that somepony would save me from the hell I was doomed to live as a child. If Somepony had paid that price for me, and spared me the heartache, who would I be to not do the same.

I shook the old pillow from its case on Lavenders bed and made my way to Fetch's room. When I opened the door, I had hoped to have the sight of a child's room filled with toys and messy from playing. But just a few scant toys and books littered an otherwise empty floor next to a few blankets in the corner. If I did had any remorse, I left it in that room. I stepped over the body of the lifeless monster who had once called herself a mother and dropped the documents on the ground beside her. If anypony found her, they would know why she was dead.

I opened the door to the apartment, locked the door and slowly closed it behind me. Fetch and Cal were still curled up on the floor, but the book was closed. Instead he had resorted to talking to him about spending more time together. It was not until I tapped him on his haunch that either of the two paid me any attention.

"Yeah?" Caliber respond, still visibly shaken from his ordeal with Lavender.

"Let's go." I said and I scooped up my journal and placed it in my bags and started down the hallway.

"Wait!" Fetch shouted after us. "Can... Can I come?" He asked, tapping his hoof to the floor impatiently.

"Seriously, Fetch. You have got to stop falling behind. We almost forgot about you." I said as I cracked a smile. Caliber and I watched as his grin grew from ear to ear and he began to near levitate his way towards us. I lifted him with a wing and dropped him on my back as we three trotted down the hallway towards the elevator.

"Does this mean I can be a member of the Coyote Pack!? Do I get to stay with you guys!? With my dad!? With you!? Oh! Do I get a gun!?" Fetch yammered on.

"Slow down, but... Let's see... Yes, yes, yes, duh and ask your dad, I'm not going to tell you again." I said as we boarded the elevator. Fetch looked to Cal with stars in his eyes and his hooves to his mouth.

"No! You are too young for a gun!" Cal said in his best parenting voice.

"Awwww...." Fetch slouched on my back, his four hooves dangling like limp noodles at my sides.

Caliber looked at me, but didn't say a word. He didn't have to, his tear filled eyes said it all. Happiness, freedom for Fetch, a kid of his own that wanted nothing more from him than his time together and love. Fetch's happiness had made its mark on the both of us, more than either of us could have ever imagined. For me it was the knowing that he would soon get better and have a chance at life, for Caliber it was just having him in his life. But for Fetch, the little colt that nopony cared to love, he was just happy to have a family.

I reached a wing out and pulled Caliber close to the two of us. "Brothers" I said with a near cracking voice.

"Yeah well... I still don't get a gun..." Fetch said as if he would never be happy again.

"Maybe for your birthday... if you are good and don't set me on fire again." I said as the door closed and we left behind a life not worth living.

Author's Notes:

Holy moly! I'm not dead, you are still here and this is a new chapter. Full disclosure. This chapter took too long to write. WAY too long. But here is why.

I lost interest.
Not because I got bored of the story, no way! But for a few reasons...

1. I'm a dad... again. I now have two perfect little boys in my house, Hunter Willis and Joey Kade... YEAH I DID IT! You ain't a true brony until you have a kid and name him after two of your lead characters in your stories lol.

2. Work and stuff... Also going back to school so there is that.

Also I'm sleepy and this chapter needs to be put out. Yes, the show will go on now that I am past the hardest part of this damn thing... Oh yeah, I wrote another entire completed story in the time I was away.
Feel free to check it out in my profile, I'm actually very proud of it! It's a bit more fast paced than this fic, but still a healthy 70k+ read. It's call 'Letting Go', a story that was inspired by my mother (grandmother, but you get the idea).

Thanks for sticking with me!

Part 2 Epilogue: The Pack That Preys Together

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Part 2 Epilogue: The Pack That Prey's Together

What makes a family? I once would wonder on the notion that family was nothing more than a collection of ponies who, through random chance, had been born into a cohesive group. Held together with nothing more than mystical blood ties and forcible relationships fostered by time and proximity. As time worn on my mind, I found that there was much more to it than just happenstance. No, it was that feeling you had when you had known somepony for a long time, that rare, fleeting feeling of safely in a unsafe world. I've come so far since those innocent days where everything was just so mathematical in how I understood them.

But even now I can not help but wonder if my perception has further changed. What is family? It's not anything I thought I would be. Even when I think back to something a simple as blood relation, even that too falls short of my expectations. I have seen with my own eyes that blood, though it may be strong, means nothing. No, it's something more. Just that... Something more. Family, to me, are ponies who I would die for, kill for even. Corny though it may be, the feeling is all the same.

When you look at them, you just know. You hurt when they hurt, you smile when they smile and you love them for everything they are. Somepony said to me once, we are attracted to ponies for their attributes, but love them for their defects. It's their quirky habits, their short comings and their lack of something else that makes me love the ponies I have come to know over the course of my life. Things that would otherwise drive me crazy, drive me even more to be near them now. Oddly enough, it actually drives me to be as close to them as possible. Sure it can get annoying, but when the night is cold and you're all alone, you pine to hear them grit their teeth in their sleep or take too long to answer a question they know nothing about.

So what is family? Well that's easy. Family are the ponies you love unconditionally. The ones that you would lay your life down for without a blink of the eye or a single care to do so. They are the ones that you can look at and know, even when the times are dire, you know without doubt that they would do the same thing for you without question. Those ponies, those are your family. We may have a blood connection to some, but our hearts are only joined through a strange bond of trust, love, admiration and a genuine want for them to have been better off by being a part of our lives.

Family to me is the small group of ponies who trot with me through this wreck that I call life and never question it. They are the ones who pick me up when I fall, carry me when I can't trot or fly and push me forward when I feel like I have lost all drive, for no other reason then to see me happy. That's why I call them family, that's why I am willing to die for them. They give me the strength I need to push forward. For so long as I can, I will do the same for them.

Unwavering, we will face the storm together, hoof in hoof, heart in heart with nothing more than a sly grin and shear determination. Even in the darkest of nights, or the hottest of days, we will stay together and move forward. We are not just a family though, we are a pack. Try and hurt one of us, then you will see what it's truly like to be cornered by a pack of wild coyotes. We will come for you with reckless abandoned and mercy forgotten, and nothing will stop us. This much I feel I have proven to myself.

You don't mess family less you be torn apart by wild dogs.

Chapter 11: Near Fatal Attraction

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 11: Near Fatal Attraction
Rocco Roccs

Call me crazy but, I love this part of equestria. Sure it's hot, it's humid and from time to time you wake up in the middle of a down pour, but for the most part, I love it. I was born in this part of the country and raised all over it as we traveled from town to town selling wares. Granted I spent most of that time complaining about the heat, but even still this place held a special place in my heart for far longer than anywhere else could.

Not long after leaving Ten Pony we were flagged down by an informant from the Half Hearts. I had been loosely tied to them for a short while not long after becoming estranged from my family through the various tragedies that had complicated my life. So when the word finally broke out that my head was not only on a poster in Megamart, but also over much of Equestria... They thought it best to pass the word along. Even though they all for the most part seemed to glorify death in one aspect or another, they all had a common animosity for loosing some pony.

As it turns out mine and Calibers antics had not gone unnoticed by Red Eye as told by the 'considerably damage' notation on the wanted poster. I had to give it to him, he captured my likeness to a proverbial 'T', except for the new bullet hole in my ear... my stripes... my new vest... AND my new had that Zuri had 'procured' for me in Ten Pony. How on earth she managed to get me a hat there as a Zebra, I will never know. For the moment I have just chalked it up as 'Creepy Zeeb Magic' as she affectionately calls it. Caliber on the other hoof was spot on in his description, but was rather upset at his by comparison low bounty of 5,000 caps.

But even with my new look, there are not many ponies out there with sky blue mane and tail who are grey as a depressed mood. The 20,000 caps wouldn't hurt either, if nothing else it would make other ponies take a closer look at just about every grey pony out there. I honestly can not thank the Half Hearts enough for telling me before we went after Firefly, chances are that she would be posted up and waiting for me. With that much on the line for a Pegasus, I doubt I would have gotten to say a single word to her before she started shooting.

With nowhere else to turn, we turned to nowhere. I flew nearly nonstop for nearly 40 hours at cloud level to get us out of Equestria as fast as I could. If they knew about Caliber and I, what were the chances that they knew about Zuri, Shale, Fetch and Valkyrie too? If it were just me and Cal, we would just lay low and work on a plan to get our names off of every hit wall in site. But with everypony with us, we had to make tracks and fast!

Back in Equestria proper there are ruins, buildings and thick forests with access to encampments of Slavers and Raiders to worry about. But here... Here I can see them coming for miles away. It's hard to hide in an endless stretch of desert on all sides being beaten down by insurmountable heat. If they wanted to find us here, then they deserved to find us. But with one last stop before we pointed to Site 103, the chances of us being snuffed out were growing thinner by the second. It was something I needed right now, my nerves were destroyed in every aspect of the word with worry over the rest of the pack.

We glided from under the cloud cover and into the noon day sun as I steered us towards the tiny one shot town of Silver Shoe. I could nearly smell the nasty dirt below me when flood of 'ohs and ahs' erupted from the cart behind me as many of the cart's occupants gawked at the open sky for the first time. Well... During the day anyway.

"Whoa! It's like... forever!" Fetch shouted as he poked his head out of the cart. the others were soon to follow.

"It's heavenly! Look how blue it is! It's the same color as Joey's mane!" Val exclaimed as she nearly fell out of the cart.

"Damn, Joey... Why haven't you ever talked about this place!? This is where you were raised!?" Caliber said, giving the cables of my harness a tug.

"Why would I? This place is hot, smells bad and the ponies are assholes... Sky's nice though."

"Yeah-yeah! Really blue... So, if you hate it so much, why was this your go-to when we needed to lay low?"

"Well, it's wide open. I like my chances better when I can see them coming... if they come that is. Also, I know a place that I doubt they would check if they did come knocking."

"Yeah? Where's that? Got an old mare friend who can... Hide us all?"

"Do you have to be gross all the time?"

"Hey, you knew the risks when you said I was your friend." Caliber said, slapping me on the flank. "Now, land us so we can pee, trusty stead!"

"CAL! For the last time, I'm a Pegasus! Not a Earth pony!"

"Silence, flappy horse! Your friend needs to take a wiz!"

"That's another thing... You an I need to have a talk when we get somewhere safe."

"Yeah? About what?"

"It's... Complicated." My words were met with a collective sigh from the rest of the group.

"Joy... Just tell him. It is not nice to keep secrets." Zu said from deep within the cart.

"Now? Here!?"

"Yes. You have kept it from him long enough." Shale said, backing her up.

"Fine. Caliber? You and I shared a nut sack at one point. There! happy?" Shouted as I brought us in for a landing.

"Funny, but I don't do threesomes. I have never been that drunk in my life."

"No, dumbass. WE SHARED. Not we touched."

"What are you driving at here, I'm confused."

"Damn it, Cal. Your dad is my dad."

"Joey, your dad died... also Zebras. You suck at jokes." He said, further infuriating me as I landed the cart and undid my straps. I trotted up to him at the back of the cart and grabbed him by the face firmly and spoke slowly.

"Caliber. Boss took me in around the same time he was seeing a mare. That mare was your mother. Boss is your father and my adopted father." I said as i waited for it to sink in.

"My dad was a buck named Camden. Not 'Boss'." He said narrowing his eyes.

"For Celestia's sakes... Shale?" I said as I trotted off in physical pain.

"Caliber... Sweety? Boss's name WAS Camden. Not long after Camden found Joey, he broke things off with your mother because she was not ready to take care of a foal... I guess it was ironic that their last visit together made you. You and Joey are brothers... Well, adopted but, Camden was the only father Joey ever knew. To him that was as good as blood relation."

There was a long pause while Caliber processed the information he was given. We all stared in aw as parts of his brain began to work for the first time in years as he tried to work things out. In a way, it was actually kind of cute to see him confused on such a personal level. It was a side of him I had never seen before, much like when Lavender mind fucked him or when that bar tended back in New Appleloosa showed him how to make beer bottles stick to walls.

"Wait... You are serious... All this time..." Caliber started.

"Yes. Well, I have only known for a few weeks." I said, trotting up to him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He said, looking more hurt than confused.

"Cal... I didn't know how you would take it. You talk about the buck who knocked your mother up like he was Red Eye himself. I guess I just figured that if you found out, you wouldn't want anything to do with me... given the circumstances."

"Why would you think that!? Why would you think I would not want to know!? I know I said I hated the guy, but that was because I had no clue who he was! Do you honestly think I would get all pissy and run off if I found out you and I were brothers!?" He shouted at me.

"Yeah?" I said, shying away.

"JOEY!" He screamed as he ran me down and tackled me. "I have so much bullying to catch up on! So much... 'Brotherly love' to share!" He screamed as he proceeded to destroy my mane.

"Cal! Caliber! Knock it off you loonie! For the love of everything! STOP!" I screamed, but my screams were ignored as everypony sat and laughed at the display of 'love' coming from the two crazed bucks.

"You know what this means, right?" Cal said as he helped me to my hooves.

"No, what?"

"You're stuck with me. No more running off and hiding. If you do, I'll guilt you like a..." Caliber froze and began to back away from me slowly.

"Like a what? Com'on. You can do it little buddy... just spit those words out." I said, teasing him.

"Like... a Mother..." He said as he backed behind the cart. Do you know that feeling you get when somepony is behind you and everypony in front of you see's them... but you don't? No... it couldn't be.

I turned to see a the haggard form of a ghoul blacking out the sun behind me. Her form was narrow but at that moment it might as well have been as wide as a building. Even with nearly no lips left from years of decay and damage, I could clearly see her stern growl coming from either side of her clip board. I narrowed my eyes to look at the piece of paper that was covering her usual chalk board, it was a bounty picture of me... I was busted.

The combination calk and clip board fell across my face with tremendous force over and over again as she lashed at my face with surprising force. I watched as the bounty flier flew off to revel words that she written in anger, by the looks of them, she had used more than one piece of chalk in doing so. I was having a hard time reading them while they were beating me half to death, but one thing was for sure. Ditzy was PISSED.

"Stop...OW! Being...OW! Stupid...OWWW!"

She ended her assault, cleaned the board and began to write again. Soon after, she started hitting me all over again.

"Seriously!? OUCH!" She stopped, pointed at the board and started hitting me again. "Slaver...OW! Bounty!? OW! I had no choice! They were going to kill Fetch! I had to get into Filly!"

She stopped and looked on in horror and scribbled the words 'You went where!?' on her board.

"Please! Just stop hitting me! Caliber and I snuck into Filly and got fetch out, after that we flew here. The Half Hearts told us about the bounty. So we booked it." I said, scooting my butt backwards towards the cart.

Ditzy looked on in disappointment as she scribbled on her calk board and gave 'sniff' if that is what you could call that noise she just made. She then held it up in front of me and sat down in a heap of sadness. 'You didn't say goodbye.' If I was ever heart broken before, it could never match the look on her face. Even as a ghoul, she still had that same old power that all mares had. That damn face.

"D, we flew over New Apple and your cart wasn't there. I swear I would have stopped if I saw it, but the place is crawling with slavers and you were gone!" I said, hugging the old ghoul. Wow, I thought she smelled bad in the cloud cover... out here she was putrid! But smell be damned, I have no idea why she has such a close relationship with me in her head, but outside of nopony else she was the only pony who cared for me like a parent. After we parted, the two of us exchanged words in the sand together for a moment.

'Going back to the place?' She wrote.

"Yeah. I think it could be our only chance to keep safe a lay low out there."

'I'm not happy with you.'

"I know... But just trust me when I say I had to do it. I couldn't let them take him like that. I like the kid."

'Is that her? The Zebra?'

"Oh yeah! Zuri! Come here for a second." I said as I called for her to come from her hiding place. Zu timidly crept up beside me doing her best to hide from Ditzy as best she could. "Zu, This is D... I mean Ditzy Doo. She's Equestria's official mail mare! Without her ponies like me would never have the supplies we need to make it out here. Also she kind of takes care of me... sometimes a little too enthusiastically."

Ditzy offered as much of a grin as she could manage with what was left of her face and a friendly hoof to the shaking Zebra.

"She is safe?" Zuri said in horror.

"Zuri!" I shouted as I shoved her forward.

"Pleasure to meet you." Ditzy barely contained her excitement at the chance to meet the very mare I had spoke so fondly of over the last few years. I guess with her feelings for me being akin to a mother, she took it as meeting her colt's first ever marefriend. Kind of cute, but still awkward as hell.

'Happy to meet you.' She scribbled in the dirt.

"Ahha, yeah." Zu said as she crept back behind me.

"She's a little shy. Look, I promise this is not forever. I'll come back as soon as I can figure out how to calm all this down."

'I can help?'

"No, no. You have enough on your plate with that Light Bringer thing. If anything it seems to be moving in the same direction we need right now. That's more important."

'She is cute. Be careful. Make lots of babies!' She scribbled and with that, she hitched herself up to her wagon and took flight.

"Make lots of babies... That sounds fun, no?" Zu said as she studied the ground.

"Zuri, i'm surprised you are not already pregnant as much as you jump me. Just count your lucky stars that you aren't right now, things would get crazy fast!"

"NO! I do not count stars!"

"Yeah, yeah... Stars, evil freaking stars..." I said as I trotted into town to barter for supplies.

What was with Zebras and the damn stars. I mean I know that stars are symbols for them of pure evil and what not, but what did mentioning them have to do with anything. It was a simple turn of phrase like 'For Luna's Sake' or the like, why did they put so much emphasis on them. It was not like any of it held water, it was just superstition like fairy tales.

The group of us trotted into the small town and divided up the chore list equally for the things we would need. thankfully our stop at Ten Pony had not burned through much of our savings so we did have some caps to work with as far as buying anything. But as far as wears went, just about everything we had already was marked as needed.

"Ok. Caliber, Shale... You two go find us some water. Val, Stitches... Your on food duty. Zu and I will go and track down some Chems for our first aid kit. This place is dirty, nasty and mean. trust nopony and do not be afraid to be an ass to get a good deal. These ponies actually kind of respect that kind of treatment."

"Question..." Caliber started.

"No, no booze."

"Damn it..." He mumbled to himself as everypony broke of into separate groups and began tracking down the various items we needed. Zu and I pointed our noses towards Peach's and trotted out into the town center. I pulled her in close to me as we trotted through the dusty streets. My stripes were coming in to full color in the bright sun, even my snout was starting to darken as the days wore on. It was terrifying, the darker they go the more ponies would stare at them. They were feeling less and less like a heritage and more like targets.

Every trip outside at this point was beginning to feel like a brush with near death, patiently waiting for the bullet impact that would end things for good. Even with armor on, I felt like I was staring down the barrel of a flame thrower all the time. I could only imagine what Zuri was going through, I'm sure in her mind she at least had me to lean on. But if she could only see inside my head at the torment that was going on, she would feel less than comfortable around me.

The two of us stepped onto the porch of the small sundries shack and started for the door. We were both froze by the screaming that was coming from the inside and bleeding into the streets. The two of us peeked through a dusty window to see what was going on. It was normal to hear screaming from ponies at the price gouging that was going on in there, but this screaming was more visceral and it was coming from Peach's herself.

"I don't know where he is! Why won't you listen to me." Peach's screamed as the two slavers held her down atop the counter.

"Yeah... Sure you don't... That's why you have his rifle propped up in that corner over there. Did you think we wouldn't notice?" The slaver said with a perfect edge to his voice. It was cool and calm like a knife that was ready for surgery.

"Look bitch, that little fucker has a huge bounty and we aim to collect it. We know he's here, just tell us where he is and maybe we let you live!" The other slaver cackled in delight.

"I HAVEN'T SEEN HIM IN MONTHS! LET ME GO!" She cried out as one of them began to drag a knife along her face. The resulting trail of blood left behind began to flow down her cheek and onto the counter top. I had to admit, It was pretty hard to conger up remorse for her in this state. I had often thought of doing the very same thing to her, but she doesn't deserve to actually have it happen.

"We have to do something!" Zu whispered to me.

"How did they find us already!? Did they just throw slavers everywhere!?"

"Joy! They are going to kill her!"

"Ok, ok... Do you think you can sneak in there and cause a distraction for me? Maybe knock over some cans in the back or something?"

"Yes." Zu said without a flinch as she waited for her moment and darted inside without making a sound. Now wait juat one damn minute... Terrified of ghouls, perfectly fine with slavers... Luna she is weird.

I watched through the edge of the double doors as Zuri crept towards the back corner of the store and waited for her move. I guess there was no getting out of this fight, Peach's was the only pony in town with a fresh supply of Med-x and as much as seeing her get her's, I rather not steal from the dead. Zu fallowed through with the impromptu plan knocked over a centuries old display of cans in the back corner before darting into a trash can without a sound. Sneaky ass Zebra. I took the moment while their heads were turned to creep under the double doors, found an apple on a shelf and began eating it as I waited for them to notice me.

"You know, there are easier ways of getting information out of her..." I said with a mouthful.

"What the fuck!?"

"You torturing her mentally will give you nothing but suspect information. I would have set a trap myself." I said as I let one of my wings unsnap one of my pistols.

"You think you are really slick, don't ya?" One of the slavers said as he let go of Peaches and trained his knife towards me.

"Now, now... A knife is slow... Don't you bucks have anything faster than that? I would hate to die slowly. Might have time to say my prayers or come up with a plan to get out of it... maybe even take you with me."

"Dead is dead! Caps are caps! How you die doesn't matter!"

"Well then, I guess you can't teach dogs new tricks. So, you gonna talk or are you gonna close that distance. Careful, you better be fast about it." I said as My right wing wrapped around the grip of my pistol and cocked the hammer back.

"I'm about to make that smartass mouth of your's a bit wider." He growled as he stomped forward.

"Not fast enough." I said as I drew my revolver and sent three rounds into his chest. They hit as aimed, just above the sternum, removing his head from his torso. I moved my sites to the other buck in the room who darted behind a display. I could just barely see his ear as he shouted at me from behind a stack of creamed corn.

"Give it up! I'm going to murder your ass!"

"Do you morons come pre-loaded with stupid catch phrases or do you have to come up with those corny lines." I said as I fumbled around with my Pipbuck in search of that S.A.T.S. thing. The world became a hazy slow blur as it targeted the edge of his cranium with a 91% hit accuracy. I selected it and added a few extra shots for good measure.

As soon as I fell out of the spell, I watches as the three bullets I had sent his way tore through cans of corn and the shelf and right into his head, sending bits of brain and skull over the wall behind him. It was such a good spell, but it did take the fun out of shooting slavers, it was almost like cheating. I'll stick to sites and save this magical targeting stuff for things I had no chance of pulling off on my own.

"Well that was a waste of time. Hi, Peaches." I said as I trotted to the counter. "I need... six rolls of bandages, four healing potions and do you have any aspirin? I have a splitting headache."

"Wha... Where did you? Why were they-" She started.

"Oh them? They want me dead or something, don't mind them."

"How the hell did I get dragged into this!? Joey I just sell thing, I don't harbor fugitives from slavers! Why would they even bother talking me about you." She said angeredly, but still very shaken from her brush with Red Eye's finest morons.

"Honestly, I have no clue why they are here, what would give them the idea to come here or even why they questioned you. Chances are they saw my rifle and thought I was hiding near by."

"You WERE! You were here!"

"Ah, yes! But I wasn't hiding, was I? No, I just stopped off for supplies before I head deeper into the... Guess I shouldn't say actually."

"Holy shit! A Zebra!?"

"Oh her? Nah, don't mind her, she's my marefriend. Don't worry, she don't bite." I said as I started petting her mane like a dog. Zuri stared blankly at Peaches as if she were looking at a fresh picked apple. "So, about that stuff? The things I asked for?"

"Just... Take it! Just get that thing out of here!"

"Now, now... No need to be rude. I did just save your life after all. How would I feel if my marefriend were to be insulted like that to my face?"

Peaches said nothing as we ransacked her store of the things we needed. I had no intention on not paying mind you, I was to proud to just 'take' things from somepony unless I didn't like them. But getting a free pass at Peaches store was unheard of, let alone rare. I couldn't help but help myself to my old rifle and a box of ammo while I was behind the counter as repayment for all the times she had taken her sweet time adding zeros to my total. With a toss of a small bag of caps on the counter, Zuri and I left Peaches to clean up the mess we had made and set off to find the others.

Outside, a small collection of ponies had gathered to see what or who had caused the gunshots inside the small store. It wasn't uncommon to hear gunshots here, but it was uncommon to see a Zoney and a Zebra trotting around in the daylight as if it were normal. I would guess they had put two and two together and came to the logical answer of five, marking us as murderous robbers who came to the town to take what we wanted.

"YOU TWO! WHERE'S PEACH!?" An old buck shouted from the front of the pack.

"Inside, she's fine. Mind the two dead slavers." I said as I trotted off the porch and into the street.

"Slavers? Their dead?" One pony asked.

"They came for me, they found me."

I had guessed that those two bucks had caused quite the stir in the town when they got here because nopony seemed to care about us anymore having said that. As they rushed inside the store, Zu and I took that moment to run back to the cart and get myself hitched back up to leave. No sooner than I was lashed in place, the rest of the group found their way back to the cart and we made ready to fly.

"Did you hear those gunshots?" Stitches shouted from inside the cart.

"What gunshots?" I said, thinking it better to not tell the kid I had just-

"Oh, yes. It was us." Zu blurted out.

"Damn it, Zu." I shouted as I lifted us off the ground.

"They were... how you say... torturing the unpleasant mare at the store. Joy and I shoot them."

"Uh... You mean 'shot' them... Ya'll shot them, right?" Caliber corrected.

"Yes! We Shooted them... yes?" Zu said looking to me. I gave a hoof swing to show her 'no sweat'.

"COOL!" Stitches screamed in his squeaky voice.

"Yes! Cool!" Zuri said in glee.

There are few things in this world as sweet and sleeping in an actual bed. The flight had been long and apart for that one moment in Silver Shoe, uneventful. Even still, I was exhausted when we finally found Site 103's secluded entrance among the rocks and sand. As I had instructed them to do, the restricted entrance to the Stable was less than desired with what little sleep I had had. Thankfully Shoari recognized my voice about twenty or so minutes into the 'screening'. Anything was better than them haphazardly opening the door for anypony or Zebra that came knocking.

As per the usual protocol, I was detained and debriefed about my travels throughout the Wasteland proper. Where I had been, what I had been in contact with and what all I had done since I had departed the Stable all came into question. Shoari said it was for their own safety, but given the fact that most Stables wouldn't so much as speak to you over the intercom system, I would say they had plenty of other problems. I guess they banked on their superior knowledge of medicine and science to protect them from just about anything that came their way.

Even still. I was ordered politely to get plenty of rest for my medical exam in the morning. I had not told the others, hell, I had tried not to acknowledge it myself, but ever since we had left Ten Pony my leg had been killing me. It was a deep burning pain that never seemed to wain until I slept for several hours or took some Med-x. I had been very careful about not taking too much pain killer, limiting myself to just one syringe a day and spacing it out as much as I could, but it barely took the sting out of the pain. I was starting to get a taste for the stuff again after nearly two months clean, I could barely stand until I shot myself up will a little as I could handle every morning.

I couldn't help but think that whatever they had placed in my leg and whatever Life Bloom had done to it was to blame. More so their choice of whatever they put in me. I had hoped when I trotted out of here I had felt the last of the pain from my broken leg, but here I was trotting back in here in nearly as much pain and with a growing drug addiction. I just wanted to be normal again. I would never tell Zu, but I was growing to hate having stripes, I hurt all the time now and thing were just moving too fast. One day we are in Ten Pony, the next we are just a few miles north of Zebrica proper.

The whole point of me even finding Zuri was so that I could settle down, take a few odd jobs and start a family of my own. I just wanted to come home at night and see them waiting for me, I just didn't want to be alone anymore. Now I was flying all over equestria for nothing more than to get my life together and to stop hurting. Top that off with being placed on Red Eye's hit list, hearing my name on the radio every few days if I did anything at all and having to hide from everypony I had never seen before... I was getting too old for this. Honestly, I had no clue how the Light Bringer did it. She must be powered by a damn nuclear reactor or something.

Lying here under the sheet was just about the safest I had felt in weeks. No slavers coming for us, no mutants, no wildlife and no rain! It's sad I had to fly hundreds of miles just to take a damn nap and here I was, spending my first waking hour working myself up into a cold sweat over all the responsibilities I had to fulfill. I clicked on the radio to my pipbuck to catch the tail end of a song that had been playing, a new song at that! Damn it! I would have loved to have heard it, but no! I had to be sitting here in my self pity. It wasn't long after the song ended, the heavy static gave way to Dj Pon3 coming across the airwaves with the news. Oh good!

Did ya'll Like that one? I sure did, can't get enough of it in fact! It's no secret that Ol'Dj don't come across a new tune every day, but when I do, I play the wheels off it! But enough of that, let's take a look at the Wasteland and see what's going on out there everypony!

Finally, after long last, we have an eyewitness account for the events in Filly everypony. Now, the validity of this is a bit suspect, but I happen to have some supporting evidence to back it up. After speaking to the two defected Slavers, and yes, you heard me right, defected slavers... we finally have some light in the darkness of what cause that huge fire. The two former Slavers that go by Key Switch and Padlock had quite the tail to give me, but if their words are correct... They claim that Red Eye himself said it looked like a pack of rabid dogs tore through the place, leaving nothing but fire and reformed slavers in their wake.

Key Switch and Padlock wish to remain nameless informants, so everypony listening, be sure to forget their names as soon as you can. But If I know ponies like my assistant does, then I would say that those dogs were less rabid and bit more wild... Like a pack of coyotes, if the wanted posters are to be believed anyway.

Yes children, it would seem that our old friend Coyote Joe has been a very busy pony lately. His whereabouts are unknown to most but suffice to say that he knows about his new price tag. I wouldn't worry too much about it children, those posters look nothing like him anyhow. That reminds me, with all the happenings in the Hoof and beyond, please don't go taking popshots at everypony or Zebra ya see. It's not polite, some of them are good folk who are just trying to make good in the world like the rest of us. You can't judge a pony by their coat no more than you can a Zebra by their stripes, children.

Stay safe out their everypony and everyzebra, drink plenty of water and if you see a grey buck with some patchy stripes like a zebra... Try not to shoot him and be sure to tell him that the hotel staff was able to get the fire in his room under control before it burnt the place down.

"CALIBER!" I shouted.

"What!?"

"You didn't..."

"I mean, maybe? What are you talking about?"

"The radio! Did you set our room on fire?"

"Why is it that anytime something like this happens you blame me?" He said matter of factly.

"It-was-me!" Fetch shouted from under the bed.

A collective gasp filled the room. Fetch, the sweet little colt had set fire to our room in Ten Pony and did not seem the least bit remorseful about the matter. What was wrong with foals these days, he was just so damn innocent yet he was capable of arson!? If nothing else it just meant that he was that much more of Calibers child than the rest.

"FETCH! BAD PONY!" Shale shouted.

"Wha...? I was just covering our tracks aunt Shale." Fetch said with his sad puppy frown.

"Fetch, I know you want to help us, but setting fire to one of the last bastions of hope in the Wasteland, that ain't it buddy." I said, giving him a gentle yet firm nudge.

"Sorry uncle Joey..." He said retreating to his place under the bed.

"We are batting a thousand, Joey. At this rate there won't be a safe bed in all of Equestria!" Cal said from his bed.

"I'm not sure if that is something we should brag about..."

A loud knock finished my sentence for me. Ah, it was that time already? I was sure that the doctors wouldn't come for me for another hour or two, but this place was on the ball! Despite the comfort of being able to just wait in my room for the doctors to see me, it had done little for my anxiety for what they might find wrong with me. With a whoosh and clang, the door flung itself open and Shoari trotted through the door.

"Joey? We are ready for you."

"You lot try and not burn the place down, ok?" Shoari gave a snicker at the comment. "I'm serious, nothing like Ten Pony... I want to come back here one day." Shoari's face melted into deep concern as I trotted past her into the hallway. As soon as the door close, I collapsed on the floor in pain. I had held it together just long enough for the trot to the door, but that was all I had left in me. I had not had Med-X Since Silver Shoe and the pain was back in full force.

"Joey!? Are you ok?"

"Sh! Keep it down, I don't want the others to know."

"Are you in pain!?"

"No, I'm having an orgasm. Yes I'm in pain! I can't even stand!"

"Oh! I'll call for a stretcher!" She said with glee. "Xymol, send a stretcher to my location please. Joey can't walk." She said in her bubbly tone.

"He can't walk? Or he can't trot?"

"Trot."

"Don't he have wings?"

"Yeah but... We never get to use the stretcher team! I have always wanted to use them."

"Fine. I'll dispatch them to you now. You just don't want to trot through the dark part of the site alone with a wounded pony, do you."

"That has nothing to do with it! Just send the damn team!"

"Dark part of the site? You all went back there!?"

"Yeah, Xymol found an excellent hospital from before the war down there. It turned out to be a M.A.S/M.O.P co-op hospital for magical research. Lots of high level tech! So to say he has basically lived there is a gross understatement." She said as she pulled a syringe from her bag.

"Wait, what's that?"

"Just a little something to keep you calm on the way down. Nothing to worry about, it will be like you never closed your eyes." She said as the needle stung my side and she injected the syrupy looking goo into me. "There! If the new solution we have been working on over the past few days has worked, you should be feeling no pain at all!" She said has she hovered over me with that creepy smile of her's.

"Joey? Can you hear me? Nod if you can here me. Joey? Wow, this stuff is potent! OH! Over here! He's ready to move!"

I... I couldn't move! My body lay limp and motionless on the cold floor as though I had been given the most powerful dose of narcotics possible yet, felt completely sober. Even though I had been told this would relax me, even though I could not move a single muscle outside of breathing, even with my body completely still, my mind was racing. I was terrified. It was as though I was a prisoner in my own mind being unable to control my own body. The effects were instant, nearly severing my contact with my physical form... all apart from the pain I was still feeling in my leg.

I watched helplessly as I was loaded onto the stretcher, I panic'd the entire time I was carried through the entire stable towards the Site Access Level and I did everything I could to scream out that what was happening to me was not normal. I wanted nothing more than to feel the sensation of a limb moving or even for my eyes to blink, but it was all in vain. Whatever they had shot me full of had had a very profound effect on me, I was at their mercy now. I did all that I could to slow my heart rate as they layed me out on the hospital bedding and adjusted my body for whatever procedure they had planned next.

I must have layed there for an hour before somepony came into the room with me. I had been left to my own devices once placed here, having little more to do than mentally track my slobber draining from my mouth and down my neck. It was cold. Xymol trotted into the room and took his time looking me over. I was beginning to lose my concept of time and my surroundings. Apart from the soft beeps coming from my heart monitor and the soft handling of my throbbing leg, I had nearly zero awareness of where I was or what was going on. After what felt like an eternity, somepony was finally talking to me.

"Well, Mr. Coyote... I suspect you have been in a great deal of pain. Please. No need to try and speak. If we have done our jobs correctly, you should not be able to respond. We are experimenting with a new drug that can sever the connection of the brain to the central nervous system temporarily while undergoing advanced procedures. You will be totally awake yet fell nothing at all. Given your history of drug abuse and your willingness to avoid them, we thought that you would appreciate this far more than any narcotic." He said with pride.

But I was feeling pain. I was feeling exactly as much pain as I had before I was shot up with this damn drug! I fought with everything I had to speak, blink anything!

"Now... I have given you a good once over and I have to say, I think you have been ignoring our advice to take it easy. It appears you have come into contact with some very powerful magical energy and melted the brace we implanted to help your bones back together. The type of alloy we used is... advanced and without the proper spell binding can send a unicorn to the moon with how well it can amplify spell energy. That being said I would say you had a medical exam at some point."

I winced when I called back to the exam room in Ten Pony when Life Bloom tried to look at my leg. I remember the blinding light and the searing pain. I was as if my bones were melting from the outside in!

"Well, where I would normally promote such things and even applaud your efforts, there was a reason why we wanted you to come back to us for your follow up visit. After the implant melted, your bones continued to regrow, all the while running out of space and creating the pressure you are feeling. I'm afraid what I saw was none to pleasing to the minds eye. I fear that the bone has become not only infected but deformed. I will not know for sure until I get in there and have a look for myself."

This explained so much but instilled even more fear. What did this all mean? Was I going to loose my leg? What was going on!

"Don't worry, had this been a few months ago you would have had few options. but with the wealth of tech we have found here, I can assure you that you will be in good hooves. That being said, I believe that your OR has been prepped and is ready for it's new guest." He said as he got up to begin wheeling me from the room.

I can not even begin to explain the frustration of having so many answers and not being able to come close to voicing them. Where speaking with him had helped with my anxiety, I was still worried about being able to feel when I was told I would not be able to. Maybe they would put me under once I got there. Maybe they would apply a local anesthetic. I had no clue what I was in for or how long it would last.

I was deposited in a bright room filled with ponies, some I knew, other not so much. Ponies and Zonies were running from machine to machine all the while stopping for moments to place sensors all over my body. One Zony mare took great care in placing my leg in a restraint atop a cradle while another mare shaved all the hair from the area they intended to operate on. Forget the pain, being tickled and not being able to move was WAY worse. I watched as they applied various creams and solutions to the skin in preparation for the operation.

I had to say, even through the fear, I was impressed with just how fast this was all happening. They were like a well oiled machine in the way they moved and preformed tasks. Slowly, each pony and Zony found a place among the beeping devices and began calling out their orders.

"Alright Mr.Coyote... This should not take long at all! Baring any surprises, I do not expect this to take more than an hour at most. Alright, lets begin. Nurse, Scalpel." He said as he took a fresh blade from the tray to his right and began to line it up over my leg. It was at they moment I realized that through all their well rehearsed activities, they had done nothing to numb the pain.

Before my heart could begin to race, I felt the cold blade pierce my skin and begin to split it open. It was ghost like in that it just kept going, searing with agony all the while. Just a quickly as it had the first time, the blade returned and dug deeper into the muscle, that pain was anything but ghostly. It was pure and unadulterated. I was screaming in my mind, praying to whoever was listening and going insane. Through the severed muscle I could feel the blade hitting something hard as it bumped along my bone. I wanted to close my eyes, I wanted to run like hell! I wished I had just waited out the pain and had my leg removed, anything but this. I could feel the texture of the blade as it cut! With my every ability to flee gone I was left with nothing more than the pure focus of what was happening.

I watched as he reached for another tool with his magic and brought it into my view. It was a giant looking square with bolts and hooks on it. I was given the grand view and the gut wrenching agony of watch him place it in the open wound and draw the hooks apart with the screws. With every turn of the bolts I felt the muscles being torn from the bone as he spread the wound open for easy access to my bones. I should not be seeing this, no pony should ever have to see their own bones like this. Nopony should ever feel something like this! I was so transfixed on the glittering black metal object in my leg that I had not noticed the tear rolling down my cheek.

Just as he began grinding the metal away from my bones, I started to see the colors of the room begin to first blur then become jagged and vibrating. I was feeling the pain fade away and my vision was becoming brighter by the second. The faint beeping in the background began to grow louder and faster as the symptoms progressed. I was in a horrific state, if I could scream, I would be sobbing and be completely out of control as if I were burning alive.

"DOCTOR! HE'S HAVING A SEIZURE!"

Beyond my control, I felt my body begin to twitch, then flail, then rock uncontrollably. Xymol rush to hold my head as the others found a limb and pressed down. I heard so many thing being shouted back and forth, nothing I could understand beyond the loud ringing in my head. My mind had had enough and was in full panic. I watched helplessly as my body betrayed what I was feeling within. As the vibrations began to slow, Xymol looked into my eyes. I was screaming at him to stop this, to just let me die, but nothing I did would let me speak.

"Nurse..." He said, taking note of the tears that had been pooling on the pillow beside me. "Did you administer an aesthetic?"

"No, Doctor. It was given to him on the way down here."

"YOU DIDN'T CHECK!?" He screamed in her face. "He was given Passfal!"

"Doctor, I don't understand...

"HE'S BEEN AWAKE THIS WHOLE TIME! HE HAS BEEN FEELING EVERYTHING!" He screamed as he slapped the nurse across the face.

"I...I..." She stammered.

"GET OUT! GET OUT OF THE OR, GET OUT OF THE HOSPITAL, GET OUT OF THE SITE!"

I watched as a fight broke out between the nurse and Xymol all while I was listening to the beeps on the machines grow slower and slower. The pain I was in took more than most of my concentration from me, but even as much as I was in even I knew he was being too harsh. But even still I could feel everything growing numb. My heart was doing this weird thing were it would seem to leap over and over again. The thuds I had come to ignore were beginning to feel as though they were slamming into my chest wall. As as quickly as I had noticed it... they were gone. Just a long drawn out beep was replaced from the screaming.

"I'll deal with you later!" He shouted at her as he ran to my side.

"Doctor! Narcotics?"

"YES!"

"Which one's?" A nurse screamed back to him.

"All of them! Give me 2.5 Milliliters of Epinephrine! Clear the paddles! And somepony get him knocked the fuck out!"

I felt at least 10 needles being stabbed into me at the same time, each having it's own effect. One made me feel fuzzy and took the pain away, another made me just not care at all that I was probably dying and one of them brought my heart right back up to a full roar and sent blood flying through my veins. I let out a huge gasp as I sucked in air for the first real time in hours! I bolted up right in the bed and puked over the side.

"WOW! HOLY! GOOD GOD-! WOOOOOOO! HOLY SHIT!" I shouted. I couldn't feel anything, I didn't care that couldn't feel anything and I actually felt kinda good. I look over at the shocked team of nurses and Xymol who were in dis belief. "Sup doc!"

"Ahem... Joey."

"That... totally sucked." I said, lost for words.

"I imagine so."

"I seem to have an erection."

"Yes. It's a side effect of Epinephrine."

"Everypony ok?" I said as I looked down at my arm. I felt the sharp prick of a needle in my neck and began feeling heavy. "We on break? Smoke em' if you got 'em..."

I felt myself fall backwards into the bed but it was like I just kept going. Everything went black and I felt nothing... sweet sweet nothing. If I was dying, I didn't care. I was feeling no pain.

I felt my eyes open to a warm lit world. Everything around me was green and lush, something like I have never seen before. I had come so accustom to my grey and brown world that the very sight of green grass and blue bird skies nearly took my breath away. Was I dreaming? Did... did I die? Is this heaven? I had so many question that my mind pushed them all away and forced me to look around. I wasn't hurting, not a single ache plagued me, how could it in a world this pure?

I looked to the top of the hill I was standing on and saw a familiar coat of a large buck sitting atop it. His sage coat looked more sea foam than green in this sun light that we both seemed to be enjoying. Could it be? I must be dead because there is no way that's-

"Joey... Come sit with me." Camden said as though it were normal for the dead to address the living. I paused, my heart was leaping from my chest with excitement and fear. I stood trembling in the sweet smelling grass at the realization that I was probably actually dead. "Joey? Are you going to stand there looking like a lost puppy all day?"

I bolted. I would love to have just trotted up to him nonchalant, but this as BOSS! My dad! To hell with being smooth, I wanted to see my dad. I ran to his side and began babbling like a complete moron at everything I had seen. I wanted to tell him everything! He was the only one I could truly talk to about that kind of stuff. I wanted him to know about Zuri and how I found her, I wanted to have that father son moment I had been denied all those years ago at the grave. I just wanted to be with him again.

"Whoa now... calm down. I know they call you Coyote, but do you have to yap like one too?" He said, placing a hoof on my shoulder and guiding me to the ground beside him.

"I'm sorry! But how often do you get to talk to your dead father?"

"Lucid as always. Just like your father. I would say that was what saved your skinny hide when you were just a joey yourself."

"I have been meaning to ask you... Why the hell did you name me Joey? It's such a weird name!"

"Joey! You know, like a baby kangaroo. You were all over the place as a colt and you used to try and fight anypony who sad anything about your older sister. Made since at the time, but I guess it is a stupid name."

"HEY!"

"Oh com'on... Your name is Kit, you know that. Everypony just knows you by Joey. Besides... Kit Coyote sounds weird."

"Wait... how do you know what my father is like? You couldn't have known him for more than a few minutes at most."

"He's right over there. Sitting next to your mother." He said pointing down near the pond at the foot of the hill we sat on.

"That's my father?" I said in astonishment. The Pegasus buck stood tall, almost stoic near a crisp white and black Zebra mare at the water's edge. Nearly jet black coat with a white mane, he stood out as menacing if it were not for the smile on his face. I watched him as he looked down to my mother with a gaze I had only seen lovers share, something I had only ever seen from Zuri in all my life.

An instant rush of adrenaline flooded my veins, sending my mane to stand on end and my heart to race. After all these years, after a lifetime of wonder and sadness at the loss of my parents, they were just down the hill from me. I was overcome with emotion near instantly, I wanted to cry, I wanted to run as fast as I could to meet them, but something in me knew that it would only bring more heart ache. I didn't want to miss my chance, not now, not ever again! This was my one chance to feed that longing urge to know what having family was like.

"That's him. And that's you! Right there hiding behind your mother." He said, pointing to the little pegasus who was cowering behind his mothers flank.

"Wait... If I'm here, and I'm there... what the hell?"

"Heh... That's your father's heaven. That is what he wanted more than anything else in this great expance. He wanted his family to share for all eternity. Hard to believe they got the best of him the way they did... I always wondered were you got it from."

"What do you mean?"

"Your father. He's from the Enclave, defected. He was the pony they sent out to hunt down other ponies who went astray. I guess he found your mother and that was that."

"How do you know all this? Are you and him friends here?"

"Us? Nah. I just know. I knew when you got here. I know everything you wanted to tell me when you ran up here. This place... This world that I'm in is very tuned to the pony who is in it. For me, this is the world I always wanted to see. For him it's with you and your mother. But we are all connected, we all share the same knowledge."

"Oh... So you know about Zuri?"

"Yeah... I also know that you need to watch over her."

"But this place... I... I don't want to leave." Just the mention of the world I left behind nearly brought me to tears. How could anypony want to leave this place for anything.

"Joey... let me tell you a story. When I took you and your sister in, I was just a young buck. I wanted nothing more than to run like hell and just go get drunk as a fish. I was scared, I was not sure I could provide for you all. I even cried myself to sleep some nights worrying about you all. I didn't want the resposiblity because I knew it would mean facing death to protect you all. But I stuck it out. Not because it is what any good buck should do, not because I wasn't scared anymore... I stuck it out because what truly scared me was that nopony else would do it.

It was my responsibility to protect you. I made a promise and I never go back on a promise. Every time I looked into your eyes as a colt I saw you Joey. I saw a scared, lost little colt with no family and damn it... I loved you like a son. I knew that I could never leave you all behind, it would kill me to do it. I would worry myself to death. Everypony has a destiny, mine was to protect you all and in most ways I think I did ok."

"You did great." I said, trying to hold my composure. "We never had much, but we had each other. We were a family!"

"Exactly! Joey, I know you want to stay... But ask yourself, what scares you more. Going back there? Or leaving them there alone? You are the glue that is holding your little family together."

"We are not a family though?"

"Joey, damn it! Family is not blood! Family are ponies you would lay your own life down to see happy for it! They are ponies that would never hurt you and love you for you, not what you can do for them! Family is what you fight for everyday, down to the last pound of flesh and the last breath. So ask yourself... What's worse? Going back to that hell? Or leaving them there without you?"

I sat there in a literal heaven on Eqquis and just stared off into the blue water. What would my father have done? He wanted his eternity to be with me and my mother. What kind of love was it that made him ask for such a thing? I could only hope to know it, but in a way, if felt like I already did. The very thought of loosing anypony from the little pack we had created tore at my guts in protest. My body was broken, in constant pain from aches and injuries, but even here if I heard anyone of them scream from me, I would come running.

"They need me."

"That's my crazy joey. Always ready for a fight, even when you can't bare to stand."

"How do I get back? I don't know who I even got here."

"It's all planned, Joey... Just go ask your father. He wont say much, but I think he knows what you should do."

"Just... ask him?" I said, but when I looked back to where Camden had been sitting, he was gone. I guess that was all the time I got with him before he went back to whatever his heaven was. With a nervous sigh, I began the short trot to the water's edge to just say hi to my father who I had never met. Every trot was agony, the closer I got the more the pain was returning. My back, my ribs and my leg all hurt just as much as they always had. But the feeling of being ripped away was lost on me as I stood before the massive buck, I wanted to cower but his soft smile all but kept me at bay.

"Uh... hi."

"Hi yourself."

"I'm..."

"Kit."

"I have so much to say... To both of you!" I stammered.

"We know, son. Please, there is no need to tell the tale. We already know it." My mother said in a beautiful harmony of words. I had never heard anypony speak so beautifully, no wonder my father went for her! I guess suckers run in the family.

"Son... I know you are broken. I know you are barely breathing. But don't give up on the ponies you love. You will never know when the clock will strike noon and your time comes, but if you put your trust in them, you will never be alone." My father said with his every emotion in his eyes. "We have always loved you and we always will. We are so proud of the buck you have become!"

"Mom? Dad?" I said with a shaky voice.

"We will be here waiting son... But you need to know that your mother is still out there. She's alive Joey. What you are seeing is her sometime from now, when she comes home. Please... find her. She never got to see you grow up. It would mean the world to me to see her happy one more time."

"Zuri needs you, Joey. Just like I needed your father. She's lost without you." She said in a loving voice.

"I'll find you mom. I promise."

"I know you will sweetie. Now... go. Go to her."

"You are so close, son. Don't give up now. She's not too much further."

I had hung on as long as I could, with my last bit of strength, I lunged forwards and pulled them in close. I didn't want to let go, but I was being pulled away.

"It hurts... so bad!" I cried.

"I know baby... but it will be ok. Be strong! Be the Zebra I know you can be!" My mother whispered sweetly in my ear.

"Pain is temporary, but regret... regret is forever. Be brave! Be the Pegasi I know you are!" My dad said as I let go and fell into the black world that I had come from. I felt their touch right to the end of my journey, all the way back to my body where I finally felt them fade away from me. The pain resided but my heart was broken. No amount of medicine could ever hope to cure it.

A metallic taste filled my mouth as the dim haze of the narcotics began to retreat from my system leaving me in a world a pure migraine fueled confusion. My head was pounding, my eyes and nose were dry and my head... my fucking head! I couldn't think past the constant pounding! This was worse than the time Cal tried to 'drink me well' when I had the flu. At least then If I didn't move I didn't hurt, but this was... visceral. Like... Brain damage kind of pain.

Fear came to the fore front of my mind that maybe when I opened my eyes I wouldn't be able to move again or that the surgery was still going on. But all the fear washed away when I clumsily smacked my nose with my hoof to catch a stray itch. Right, I'm not dead, I just feel that way and I can for sure move. Time to rejoin the world of the living once more. I opened my eyes to see Xymol sitting by my bedside working his way through my medical file. Soft beeps came from the machines all around me in the white lit room I was placed in.

"Ah, you are awake, Joey. How are we feeling?"

"Well... I suspect one of us is great and the other has a hang over." I grumbled.

"Yes, I would expect as much after your ordeal."

"What happened to me?"

"I think you should rest up before we get into all of that."

"I was paralyzed, forced to watch you operate on my leg with no pain killers and puked every where... Yeah, I remember all of that. What happened after that... You owe me as much."

"Very well. You died."

"Ha! OW! Knew it."

"But only briefly. We were able to restart your heart but I'm afraid that the damage to your leg was extensive. Don't worry, we saved it, but I'm afraid the implant is... permanent."

"Do what now?"

"The implant had fused with your bone rather well... Better than we had expected in fact. It has carved out veins and even began restructuring the bone around it. That little shock Caliber told me about was the cause of it's... clamping issue." He jabbered on as I gave a yawn and stretched, my now healed leg smacked into something hard and metallic, but I didn't remember anything being beside my bed.

"Yeah... there is that issue as well."

I looked over and saw that a surgical tray had become firmly affixed to my leg. I tired to swat it away, but my lack of strength and the force required to do the job just made me look ridiculous.

"We had to preform a series of non-unicorn test to ensure that the bone was not going to go back to the way it was and it appears to have had an effect. The device used for imaging uses powerful magnets to excite a solution we put into your blood stream to show pathways of blood vessels and bone. Unfortunately it has seemed to have magnetized the implant."

I looked at my leg and tried to fling the tray away with more force and succeed. I sent it right into a mirror, shattering it into pieces.

"Seriously!? My leg is a magnet now. You have to reverse this!"

"Believe me we have tried. But nothing we have at the moment can rectify the leg. I have a team working on it now, but you had more pressing issues we needed to fix first."

"Pressing issues? What's more pressing than my damn leg being a fridge magnet!?"

"Well for starters, you had 3 tumors growing on your liver from your little stunt with the healing potions... One of your ribs had been healed incorrectly and was causing the formation of a pulmonary edema on your right lung... L5 disk had slipped and was calcified... OH and your heart was severely damaged from the heart attack you had on the OR table. So forgive me if I was less than worried about your leg's new properties..."

"Sorry... How-"

"Bad. But most of it we could correct. The heart and liver issues were reversible with surgery and the addition of a partial heart implantation of a mechanical valve and atrium. But the lung issue will need time to heal."

"You could fix all that... and my lung was the biggest issue?"

"The tissue of the lungs are very fragile. Apart from taking half of your lung out, there was not much that could be done. With a steady dose of the proper meds, you will be as right as rain in a week or two. As for you leg, you will just need to stay away from heavy metal objects until we can find a solution."

"Great... Thanks for everything doc." I said in my lack luster tone.

"I'm sorry you had to endure that agony. Believe me when I say that it was the mother of all screw ups on all our parts. No one creature is to blame for the accident. We all feel terrible for what you went through, but if you wish to level your blame to any of us, please... aim it at me. I was... eager to get to your operation, your's was the first I have preformed in the new OR. I will admit to the oversight on my part. I can only hope that your blame me rather than the others for this." Xymol said as he trotted to my side.

"Hey listen... I'm not dead. Yes, it was unspeakable, the pain I went through. And yes, I am angry about it. But have you seen the ponies I run with? If I got mad at every screw up , I would be alone. Thank you... for everything."

"You are, very welcome... Joey." He said, placing a hoof on my shoulder. "Now, I believe I have told you just about everything... you have some... Zebra here to see you."

"Just about?" I asked as he trotted to the door.

"We are waiting for a finally lab result to come back. Nothing to worry about, nothing to do with your health. Just a little curious mystery I wanted to look into about your genetics. After all, you are the first Zony Pegasi we had ever heard of, let alone encountered."

"Ah... You want to know how much Zeeb is up my rear. Gotcha."

Xymol stopped at the door, removed his glasses and began to rub his forehead. Why do all the doctors around me always do that! It feels insulting.

"No." He said as he trotted out the door. Beyond it I could hear soft mumbling of two ponies talking for a while. But it was not long before the door swung open and I was attacked by a terrifyingly vicious, over sexed Zebra. Zuri did all but try and mate with me in her rush to see me. If had ever had doubts about her ever loving me, they were long gone. I had been out for days! Weeks even! But for me it felt like at best a few hours, for her it must have been agony. I was already feeling guilty for my wanting to stay in heaven a little longer to ask my parents all the questions I had thought up over the years. But now, with her trying to down me in affection and a river of tears of joy, I couldn't imagine going back without her.

It's greatly inevitable that eventually, all good things will come to an end. My time with both of my parents was tragically short by all accounts both in life and death. It felt criminal that you could give somepony a feeling so strong and so pure and then allow it to fade away like smoke rings in the dark. The feeling was melancholic in that on one hoof I got to see them and feel just... one hug from them, but heart breaking in that it may be the only one I will afford to remember. The universe being the cruel place that it can be was quick to establish this for me. I was happy that it happened at all, but inside I was weeping like a foal to the loss I could never recover.

I felt cheated, but in a good way. Even now, lying here with my long lost love I could feel them near me. It was faint, nearly undetectable, but it was a clear as the sky above the clouds. Had they always been there? Watching over me like some divine audience for my life? If so, what had I shown them with the way I had lived the last 10 years of my life? Were they really proud of me? Did they watch over me that night I was pinned down by Slavers and protect me? I had so many questions that would go unanswered, but just the thought that they were out there somewhere gave me some hope for my future.

"ZU! Oh goddesses! I thought I would never see you again!" I screamed in a squeak. My voice was weak but growing ever stronger as the hours slipped by. My hooves wrapped around her and held on for life itself and I felt the tears begin to flow. I had see death and I was mortified to report back that it was preferable to the world I was in. But that word, though having Boss, my mom and dad and near constant sunshine was lacking one thing that it could never hope to have for me... at least not anytime soon. "I missed you!".

"Joy! My Joy! Zuri never let go again!" She squeaked. Her voice had always betrayed her emotions, falling back to her native acts when overcome with them. "I love you! No leave again!" She said softly sobbing into my chest.

"I'm not going anywhere." I said, holding her even tighter.

"Doctor Xymol said you died! I... I no know what Zuri... I mean I would do... without you! I have not slept! I have been waiting for 3 days outside the door! I just wanted to see you!"

"I did die! But it will take a lot more than that to kill me."

"This does not make since! You died, but here you are!"

"Zu. I saw a world, something I don't think I can explain. Camden was there, I saw my father and my mother! I got to hug them and here them say they loved me! Then my father told me my mother wasn't actually there, but she was still somewhere out there! He said I was close and I should keep looking... That WE should keep looking and that she needed us!"

"Joy... I need to talk to you." Zuri said, sitting upright in the bed. I watched as her entire body began to shake and twitch softly. I had seen this before, not in her, but in ponies who were bout to cry or let something out that they had been holding in for too long. "Joy... I- I know where your mother is." Shock does not even begin to describe the feeling I had within me. My eyes widened at the prospect of seeing her one more time, my hear was racing and my head pounding from the sudden increased blood flow.

"What!? Why didn't you-" I began but I was cut off.

"Please! Do not be angry with me! I couldn't tell you!"

"Why the hell not!? If you knew she was out there, I knew you would want to run to her. I couldn't tell you because..." Her voice broke from the tears and she looked down.

"Why!? How could you not tell me!?"

"BECAUSE I CAN'T GO THERE WITH YOU! I knew when you found out that you would leave me, but I wanted to be with you for a little longer! I wanted to feel this... a little longer!"

"Ok... This is not making any sense... Why can't you come with me?" I said in exasperation. Why was it everything in this damn world had to have catches to it!

"Because... The reason I left there in the first place is because they want to kill me. Because I have been hiding from them ever since. I know if I go back there they will take me away from you! I don't want to be without you!"

"Zuri... You are the only one I know that could possibly help me with this. There is nopony else that could take me there, help me speak to them or even survive out there! Why in the world do they want you dead?"

"Because you and I share something in common! Joy, please! Don't go there! If they find out that you are the same as me, then they will want you dead too!"

"DAMN IT! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! Why do they want you dead? Why would they want me dead? Why would they want anypony, or any Zebra dead!?" I shouted in anger. I loved her, but I was at my wits end with this vague speaking routine.

"Many years ago... Back when you were still a foal, our tribe opened up to the idea of allowing ponies to be with Zebras. We were dying out from lack of population and needed new bloodlines to help repopulate. Your mother took to a pony... my grandmother took to a pony. Many others too. Then one day, a new leader was elected. He was a cruel and vile Zebra who preached only pure bloodlines could hold positions of power and that impure blood would have to toil as severance to the throne. Many hated this, but went along with it out of fear. Many more rebelled. They were..." Her voice broke again. Though she was speaking clearly and directly for the first time I had ever heard her, I could tell this was not easy for her.

"It's ok, just keep talking." I said, putting a hoof on her side.

"They were executed. From that point on any Zebra that had impure blood was seen as threat to the tribe. Your mother was a Zebra no? And father a pony? They will want you dead when they find out. My mother and father were... taken from me. They wanted me too, but my mother forced me to run. They will hunt me."

"If you ask me, you did a good job of running. You made it this far." I said trying to console her as best I could.

"No. They know slavers. They know the Red Eye. They know ponies. It has been... Difficult for me. I came back to the ocean because I wanted to seem my mother and father one more time. I wanted to go back but then..."

"I showed up?"

"Yes! You showed up! I was so happy! We were so happy! I don't want to be not happy again!"

"Zuri, you know that place better than everyone else! There is no way that I could ever hop to go there and make it back out again." I said pleading.

"NO! I will not go back there! I don't want you to go either!"

"Zu... I know it's scary. Hell, my whole life has been scary! But it sound like things are all wrong with your tribe. What if we could help them. What if-"

"NO! NO NO NO! They have an army! They are the best fighters! We will be killed!"

"Yeah, well... What if they didn't know who we were? You have been gone for years! They have never seen me, as far as they know I'm just some weird Zony with wings! We just have to assume identities!"

"Maybe, but what if they find out? Then what?" She said with a glimmer of hope in her tear soaked eyes. "Joy, I want to see them again, but I'm just too scared! What if they kill me, or worse, kill you?"

"Zuzu... You dying would be far worse hun. I don't know what I would do without you. But if you are really worried about it, you are forgetting our secret weapon..." Zuri looked up to me with wonder and fear that I was about to say something that would inevitably lead to me taking her right to her worst nightmare. "I know how to fly!"

Days had passed. literal days! I had spent my time resting and going for short trots around the stable in order to recover. It was later revealed to me that drinking nearly ten healing potions back to back so quickly had had far greater effects on me than before imagined. I had grown an allergy to them. Not the kind that makes you all itchy, but the kind that causes bloating and lessen effects than previous potions had had. It was just another blow that I had to absorb if I wanted to push forward with my recovery. The up shot to this rather debilitating allergy was that my system had absorbed so much of the stuff that it would actually heal small cuts and bruises within a days time.

I lamented the idea of not having a saving grace nearby at any given time, but remarked greatly to Xymol that I basically had a super power. He was less than enthusiastic about the matter. Given his proficient knowledge of medical treatments, I gathered that this too was a bad thing, but that did not stop me from telling Fetch that I was basically immortal and could heal over night! He on the other hoof, thought it was amazing and started calling me Super Coyote. Everypony else just thought I was crazy, par for the course I would suppose.

My little plan to invade my mother's and Zuri's tribe had not go over quite as well as I had hoped with the rest of the group. Caliber, though willing to go with us needed surgery on his hoof before he could go anywhere. Tenpony medicine is great! In fact it's the best in the desert, but without some kind of purpose or loads of bits you were getting the patch and pray method of repair. After all, my name isn't the Light Bringer or that security mare... Who was she again? Backfat? Blacktac? BLACKJACK! Yeah, my name isn't Blackjack. Also I'm cheap, wanting to resort to time heals all wounds rather than be broke. Heh, I guess you can't get the trader out of me, no matter how much Zebra you try and squeeze in!

Speaking of Zebras... I was now in full zeeb mod with my stripes. It seemed like they grew darker by the day, covering patches of hide in there bars and black splotches the more time march on. My muzzle was now black as if I had been rooting around in a pile of coal, my right shoulder was striped in a manner more fitting scars with their jagged pattern they shown, my back was turning black in the center fading out to stripes that seemed to stop at my rib cage mid way and grow shorter the further back they went. My right front leg was fully striped like Zuri's, but that was were our similarities ended, hers ran horizontally across her neck, my vertical and just on the side. Even where the stripes met my mane's line they had turned it black, giving me just a small flick of jet black hair at the nape of my neck.

I found it worrying, as though I had a target on my back, but she... Oh she just freaking loved them! She said I looked cute. I'm not cute! I'm not cute at all! Oh yeah, look at Joey with his weird hodge-podged stripes and puckered scars from a lifetime of fighting slavers and his ripped up tail! He's just a damn dream boat! Next she will say she loves my bullet holed up ear too! Though I will say it came in useful for holding the odd pencil when it needed to. But besides that, I looked like a tatted up raider who had been malnourished.

"Joy, you are starring again. Are you ok, love?"

"Huh! Nah, I'm fine." I said as I resumed my trot. I did it again, I got lost looking in a mirror trying to make since of everything that had happened to me. I was doing that more and more often it seemed. I didn't know if it was just me coming to grips with my appearance or if it was something else... Something more, deep within me that was showing distaste for my new look. It seemed like every mirror I passed drew my attention, I was looking to other ponies and Zebras trying to read their faces and gauge their reactions as they saw me. What was wrong with the old Joey? Why did this have to be me. "I just look so... different." I said hanging my head.

"Ah! To you, you are different, but to me, you are Joy. And I think you look cute!" Zuri said, giving me a nuzzle to my nose. She was that one force in my life that could make it all go away, albeit temporarily, but even still. Post surgery had taken it's toll on me leaving me nothing more than a sack of worry and emotions. Near death can do that to a pony I'm told. But I was also nervous about our next mission. My looks gave me a 50/50 shot at success at getting into the tribe, our plan was solid enough, but Zuri had expressed just how judgmental they were toward ponies. But that wasn't what was worrying me at all.

"Zu... Do you think she'll... Remember me?" I asked, my every word drenched in worry and fear. I was a far cry from that little grey colt with the sky blue mane after all. What were the chances she would even remember me at all? What if I got there and she cast me out, telling me I was nothing to her now that I was grown? Storms of questions flooded my brain like that. Would she be as sweet as she was in my NDE, or would she be completely different? "I'm scared... she won't want me."

"Joy... A mother's love... is a mother's love. There is nothing stronger in this world."

"You are being rather accepting of all this... What changed?"

"Hmm? Oh! Silly! I'm terrified!" She said in a bubbly voice. "But them I remember our tradition!"

"Wait..." I said stopping her outside of Shoari's office. "What tradition?"

"Oh yes! Executions of dirty blood are done in mass! We will die together!" She said as if she had not even mentioned the fact that she was perfectly fine if we both died at the same time. "Zebra's die with their mate, no? Then we die together!" She said as she pushed the meta door open.

"AH! So good to see you again Joey!" Shoari said in excitement. I had to cover Zuri's mouth with a hoof to hide her growl when she came in for a hug, but otherwise things were going well enough. "I have the information you had requested! This is everything you need to know about the Romani Tribe, the Carnilian Tribe and a book on tribal genetics! Hold still, I will upload them to your Pipbuck!" She said with glee. Her enthusiasm was not lost on me one bit at the prospect of potential new and exciting data about tribes that had formed based off of need for survival of genetics. "There! All set! When are you leaving out?"

"In about twenty minutes. We still have to say goodbye to everypony back in the dorm." I said, hoofing through the files she had loaded. She was kind enough to provide the audio version for me as I was not the most astute reader and lack simple comprehension. Having to read the same sentence multiple times because you were bored was one thing, but having to do it because you honestly forgot what you were doing was murder! I'm a very... hooves on kind of buck. I like things I can see and touch rather than things I have to speculate or imagine.

"Oh? They are not joining you?" She asked as she escorted us out.

"No, Caliber needs hoof surgery, Shale wants to make sure he actually goes through with it, Valkyrie want's to not die and I don't want Fetch to die... So that just leaves us." I said with a smile.

"Oh! Well, better off then. If I know tribes the way Zuri here described, then I would venture a guess they would not last long. The Romani have a complex history of 'kill on site' of anypony they see, even before the war. This whole location sought to put an end to that but I'm afraid that has since gone up in smoke. You two take care!" She said as she locked her door and trotted off down one of the corridors.

"I still do not like the short fat one..." Zuri growled.

"Zu, for the last time... Stop calling her 'the short fat one'! You are going to keep this up and start some shit that I can't shovel you out of! There is nothing between us at all!"

"I am... not sorry. I do not like her!"

"Whatever... We best get a move on if we want to make the tribe before night time." I said as I trotted off. Geeze, and I thought I had a complex...

The trot was rather short back to the dorm room. The Stable was very efficiently layed out like that in a since that you could get anywhere you wanted from the center in a matter of minutes yet was expansive enough to house nearly 500 equine at a time. I was still blown away at just how well equipped most of the rooms were as well. It was truly was one of the nicest stable I had ever been to.

The group had all lined up for our departure, each having their own words of wisdom for our trip. Shale was scared for us while Caliber gave me the usual 'Don't die, or i'll take all your stuff and sell it' remark. Out of everypony, the only one that was truly upset about my leaving was Fetch who had begged to go but was denied near instantly. Apart from the usual weapons and gear, the only thing we were not taking was my rifle. I wanted to, I really did, but Zu insisted that it stay behind if I truly loved it as it would be confiscated at the gate for being 'an excessive show of force'.

"Stay frosty, little brother!" Shale said, giving me a peck on the cheek.

"Bring me something cool back!" Val shouted from the toilet.

"Don't die, or I will hock all your stuff and replace you with a hot mare!" Caliber said and was promptly thumped in the head by shale.

"I WANA GO TOO!!!" Fetch begged.

"I already told you! You are too small, they will eat you. Do you want to be eaten by Zebras?" I asked sweetly. Fetch, reluctantly released my leg back into my possession and melted into a sadness pile at my hooves.

"Do Zebwas wiwwy eat colts awive?" He asked looking at his hooves.

"No, no..." Zuri started as she put a hoof to his chin and raised it. I watched as a glimmer of hope flooded the colts face before being completely obliterated. "We cook them first."

With Fetch now hiding under the bed in fear of becoming Fetch Stew and the rest of the group milling about the place, Zuri and I loaded our gear and said our final goodbyes. It felt so wrong leaving them behind, but I had no other choice in the matter. Every moment I spent here was one more I had to spend away from my mother. I felt naked without my rifle and I felt worse without Caliber at hoof to watch my back, but a herd of ponies showing up unannounced was a terrible idea. The last thing I wanted to to was put them all in danger when I was working so hard to keep them out of it.

We trotted to the entrance of the Stable where we requested our right of passage back to the bombed out world above. The sun outside was just peaking over the horizon as we stepped out into the sand at the cave entrance. It's warm glow foreshadowing the intense heat that was to come the further it rose in the sky. Zuri climbed on my back and harnessed herself in for the long flight to find the Damu tribe south of us. This was uncharted land according to my Pipbuck and my memory. Chances were that this would have been where I came from so long ago as a foal.

With a push from my wings, we were airborne with my nose aimed towards the closest cloud I could still see. With a glance at my Pipbuck, I flipped on the first of many audio files to listen to as I leaned myself into the steady updrafts to orient myself south, south-west as I had been told to fly. I was to find an old road bed and follow it until I saw a tree line, from there we would be proceeding on hoof for another half an hour to the tribal borders.

Despite the protest from my mate on my back, I refused to change the station on the radio as she had asked. Even if she hated Shoari's voice, this was valuable information that I needed to hear about where we were going. I hoofed through the files and was shocked to find that she had even included a condensed version of all the information she had given me. She really did think of everything and left nothing to chance! I guess it was just her wanting me to come back safe with stories for her to analyse and pick apart.

This is the abridged version of the total contents of the audio files given. I have provided the details as needed in the listed files, but this is the 'to long, will not listen' version of them. The tribe you are going to is a new tribe, one that has not been documented by any of our outlines so much of this will be speculation...

Her voice sounded tired and weak from sleep deprivation, no doubt from being up all night translating scripts for me. Even if Zuri hated her, there was no denying her sweetness and willingness to go above and beyond the call to see a project through. Even if it meant missing sleep.

The tribe name, Damu, translates directly to Blood. No doubt for their intense desire and worship for pure blood lines. They are a mix of Romani, a warring tribe of some of the best fighters and Carnilian, largely farmers by trait, but more well known for their... ahem... Sexual practices... I would wager your concubine would fall into that category.

"HOW DARE..." Zuri growled.

"Seriously? You wouldn't let me stop when the shack was on fire. The whole place burned down."

"Yes... This happened." She said easing back down my my back.

They will be very tight on security, so it would be best to be forthcoming with any questions you have rehearsed the answers to already. It is especially important that you do not offend them in any manner. Any transgression you find yourself in will inevitably be held against you. You may be asked to preform a right of passage if you wear out your welcome. Your status as a Zony will gather questions from many of them. Stick to your script because the Romani are notorious for trying to find holes in your story. Your only saving grace will be the fact that your mother will be considered elderly by Carnilian standards by now. They see caring for them or helping them as a great sacrifice and it will earn you praise as you hunt for her. Good luck you two... Transmission ended.

Lots of information, all of it good stuff. Zuri was more accustom to the ins and outs of the tribe, but I was green as fresh grass! Our plan had been to show up looking for work, something in the fields perhaps, but now I am thinking that work as caregivers would be more fitting. Zuri had come up with the rather clever idea to be travelers trying to find their roots from Southern Equestria, offering our services in trade for time in the village. She would be something of a gatherer and my job would be to document the tribe to model our own tribe back home that we had formed.

All of this was under the guise of infiltrating Equestria with a Zebra presence and eventually taking the place over with re-population. I had been told in the audio files that some Zebras have blotched stripes and that I might be able to pass myself off as a 'Dappled Zebra' but that was the riskiest plan we had. As for the moment, I was to own being a Zony and be forthcoming with that information as to not piss them off. My only real hope was that one of our plans worked long enough to get in and get back out with my mother. But I was secretly praying for another angle to play.

"This is... how do you say? A bore..." Zuri said giving a long stretch. "Does the radio work?"

"Maybe, they set up the repeater tower as I asked back at the site. Maybe we can get DJ-Pon3 on here." I said as I hoofed around at the switch. With a pop and crackle, the hazy sounds of Sapphire Shores came to life just in time for us to catch the tail end of the song.

Never gets old! Nope, never! How can it when I only have a few songs to play up here. But enough of that children, time for the news or what little I have today! Things have been kicking off pretty hard in Filly this week, It would seem that ol' Red Eye might not have quite the hoof he thought he was dealt after all. Suck on that you egotistical maniac!

News from the hoof claims that several Raiders and Gangers have turned over a new leaf in regard to their wicked ways after running into our resident part time physiologist, The Security Mare. It's said that she has a way of forcing a pony to relive their most traumatic life events and turn over that new leaf. If you don't she's pretty skilled with a sword I hear too. Best not cross paths with her, Raiders, you will either leave mentally scared or completely dead.

The five pony band that set fire to a room in Tenpony have yet to be heard from in weeks. But just today I got a letter delivered from that most loved of delivery ponies, Ditzy Doo herself! So for those of you wondering about the Coyote Pack, buckle up, I have an update!

"Wait! What!?" I shouted as I turned up the volume. How the hell did we get a letter out to the DJ!?

"Oh yes! Caliber sent an 'I'm sorry I burned the room down' letter. We all signed it." Zuri said, beaming with enthusiasm.

The letter reads as follows... Dear Dj-Pon3 and the staff at the Tenpony Tower. I'm sorry for the mess we caused. It was never our intention to burn down the hotel room, but we had muffins in the oven and forgot about them when we left... Well, who hasn't done that before, am I right children? You should know that we have since left Equestria and are in an undisclosed location. Joey has been injured and requires surgery, the rest of us are fine. Safe as houses. Well that's not good children, it sounds like we have a sick pup on our hooves... Know that we are sorry about the fire, drinking everything in the mini bar and forgetting to leave a tip. Oh, and forgetting to checkout on time. Please find in closed an IOU for the damages. Love, The Coyote Pack... I won't read their names on the air as to not further the ease of finding them, but everypony knows Coyote Joe already... P.S. Can we please come back sometime?

Well now, that's a tall order! You make good on the IOU and we will talk... I'm starting to think you all are cursed or something. After talking with you and your pack, have you ever slept somewhere that hasn't been destroyed? Better yet, maybe you could bring Ol' Dj something new and exciting to listen to. That could be well enough. And Joey, if you are out there, we all wish you a speedy recovery! Don't spend too long down in that base of your's, the Wasteland needs all the help it can get, even if you do destroy rooms. Bringing you the news, no matter how bad it hurts, I'm Dj-Pon3.

"You gave them an IOU..."

"Yes, Caliber said it was as good as money! I never new it was that easy to get something..."

"Zu, that's not how money works..." I said, but froze when I saw a treeline poking out of the horizon. This must have been it! The road was right beneath me and it lead right to the tree line. We had been flying for so long I had gone on autopilot and forgot what I was doing. I dove for the ground, coming in nice and soft among the bright green trees and beaten down gravels of the road way. This was it, no turning back now!

I took a moment to look around and listen for any signs of life at all, but there was nothing. The two of us didn't say a word as we cautiously trotted down the narrow road way. Every passing moment lead to further my anticipation as we trotted down the narrower growing road. Zuri was glued to my side and though the steps I could tell her fear had returned once more as show by her shaking hide. It wasn't long before we came to a bend in the road that began to lead down hill into a valley. I froze. My hooves stopped as I looked around.

"Joy! Is everything ok? Are we in danger?" Zuri asked, pulling herself close to me.

"This was it. I can feel it." I looked up into the sky and tried to imagine it a dark and rainy one. I had no memories of what happened, but something deep inside me just... knew. "This is where my father died. This is where Camden found me." I said, pawing at the dirt.

"Joy, you couldn't know that. It was long ago!" She said, begging me to move.

"Over there." I pointed without looking. "A row of bushes, right?"

"Yes."

"That's where my mother watched it all happen. They killed him right here, Zuri. They took my family from me." I didn't know for sure, there was no way I could. But I could feel that ghostly chill come over me the moment I set hoof in that spot. I could just... feel it. It was like somepony from beyond putting a hoof on my shoulder and reminding me what happened, why I was even here in the first place. But the meaning for, that I could not find anywhere in my mind. There was only heartache.

"Joy... I know it hurts. But we must pull it together to do this! I don't want to die too!" Zuri said, trembling in fear.

"Ok... Lets do this..." I said with a sigh as we trotted froward.

It wasn't much further that we had to go before the cobbled together wooden fence came into view. Comprised of long thing shoots of trees they had been woven together artfully into a massive wall that encompassed the tribal boundary. Before us stood a massive gate way into the Zebra lands and everything beyond. Two guards stood watch, but did not move as we approached them, instead tracking us with their eyes. They were massive! Big by pony standards but huge by mine! They were easily a head taller than Zuri and I.

"Acha! Wewe ni nani?" One guard shouted to us as he stepped forward.

"Wasafiri. Kutafuta kazi" Zuri barked back with an equal tone.

"What did you say?" I whispered to her.

"He wants to know who we are. I told them we are travelers looking for work."

"You... What are you doing here?" The other guard asked me point blank. Oh thank Luna, he speaks pony.

"I'm just a traveler, sir. I'm looking for work and to study tribes to model our own after back home." I barked out with as much authority as I could muster.

"There is no work here." The one guard who had been speaking Zeeb shouted back.

"Then how about trade? We are low on supplies an-"

"There is nothing for your kind here, filth!" One of them shouted.

"Filth!?" I retorted.

"Joey, lets leave! I don't like this." But it was too late. I had already locked eyes with the guard and was pissed. The two of us grew increasingly tense before a softer, kinder voice from over the fence rang out.

"Open the gates." It was a mare. Her voice strict but smooth as a sheet of glass. I watched as the guard I had been trying to stare down reluctantly opened the gate just far enough to allow us in. I took the first step with Zuri close by. This reeked of a trap, but what choice did we have at this point. We were in.

"Terribly sorry, those two can be a real pain in the ass. Admittance is strict here." She was... in a word, hot! Short mane and tail, thin athletic body and near glowing green eyes. I was... about to be killed by a angry, growling Zebra to my right side. "My name is Barika. What is your business here?"

"Oh! Right. We are looking for a place to stay for a few days. Perhaps do some trading? Perhaps work, if you have any?" I squeaked out, never taking my eyes off Zuri.

"I see. Sifa?" She asked.

"Huh?" I stammered. The fuck was 'SEEFA?"

"She means Attributes. I am a skilled farmer. He does well with taking notes on the tribe and mlezi."

"Very well. Know that your presence here is temporary until further notice." She said, giving a motion for us to follow her. "We are currently in dire need of supplies. Medical to be exact, both chemical and physical expertise to help care for some of our wazee."

"She means elders..." Zuri corrected quietly as we were lead to the makeshift hut beside the entrance. This was going far easier than I was accustom to, if they were in need after everything Zu had told me about them, then they had to be near collapse to just let us in like that. Gauging the guard's attitude at the door, it was not without reluctance either.

"Names?" She asked, picking up a quill with her teeth.

"Shoari! Carnilian." Zuri blurted out. Oh she was going with the fake names, odd for her to use that one.

"Coyote." I replied.

"Typical Zony name..." She remarked, spinning in her chair.

"What is that supposed-" I started.

"Here are your rights of passage. They are good for seven moons, after that you will need to resubmit for approval of temporary residence. The market is at the end of the camp and you will find work near there. As for a place to sleep, see Usiku in the market. Questions?"

"Yeah... What the hell?" I said, screwing up my face. I looked to Zuri who was regarding her with a similar look of complete confusion. We were told this would be nearly impossible. I was told we would be killed! But this was like a trip to the admittance office at Tenpony, but way more snotty.

"Excuse me?"

"I thought the Damu tribe was a strict bunch of warriors, this is just needless bureaucracy! And what gives with your accent? It sounds like Hoofington!"

"Times are tough, Mr. Coyote. The leaders are getting desperate. We are open to the idea of visitors and traders, but your coat makes things complicated for you. Therefore precautions must be taken. As for myself, I studied abroad in Equestria during my time as a fadhila. Make no mistake, cross this tribe and you will get all the Zebra heritage your little butt can handle! But we are not completely native that we can not speak several tongues and conduct ourselves befitting civilized society. Now... Any real questions?"

The two of us shook our heads no and proceeded into town. What the fuck was that!? This is all wrong! Did we circle the globe and find ourselves in a weird bizarre Zebrica? I was expecting at the very least, a fight or having to sneak in. My heart actually sank a little at the idea that perhaps this was going to go far easier than expected. I was ready for... for... something! Adventure maybe! But not this...

We trotted in silence towards the far end of the town they had put in place. Both wooden huts and stone buildings lined the pathways with nearly no rhyme or reason to their placement. Ironically, the older buildings seemed to be the nicest throughout, having been made of large stone carved by hoof no doubt. The smaller stick huts seemed to be fairly new but wore the signs of poverty and ruin from neglect. Even still, they were all empty. Were they working or had they left all together?

The Zebras that traveled to a from the stone buildings seemed to be wearing some forms of ceremonial vestments of some type. Long thick robes of red with golden gilded edges draped at their sides all being held together with golden clasps around the neck. They were beautiful if not for the faces they all wore. Stern, directed glaces were all they afforded us as we trotted by as if to all say the same thing... Unclean. Mercifully we seemed to be entering the older part of town where the Zebras all looked far too tired to even bother second chancing us as we trotted along in the heat.

On mare nearly collided with my chest as she trotted along staring at the ground. Skinny, her ribs showing and boring the signs of over work and neglect, she was nearly as ruined as her surroundings. If not for my sudden squeak, she would have hit me head on in her trudge. She looked up at me with wide eyes as if she had seen a ghost, though I suspect I was as near to one as she had ever seen. She was older, mid forties maybe? But I never got a chance to speak a word or ask a question, because she ran.

I noticed that Zuri who had been shaking this entire time and fallen oddly still and quiet. Her usually mumbling to herself had stopped and so had she. I looked back to her and saw her biting the corner of her lip with massive eyes beginning to water. This had to be hard for her, seeing all of this, what it had become, how her tribe... our tribe had been reduced to nothing more than slaves in an insane hierarchy of some sort. I would cry too if I had seen this place in it's heyday.

"Zu... What's wrong?" I whispered to her. She said nothing, but began pulling herself together to keep trotting. I put a hoof up to stop her. Given the circumstances, I felt they we could relax a little, but her crying about something would for sure bring up questions.

"It... It was her?"

"Her, who?" I asked confused.

"That was my mother..." She said with a squeak. I watch her heart break right before my eyes and silent tears began running down her face. I moved in closer for her to fall into me, but she stood tall before me, seemingly trying to will herself back to natural. But her eyes told the entire story. She had seen what her mother had been reduced to and it was not a pretty sight. I could only imagine just how bad what she had seen had hurt her. I wanted nothing more than to hold her close and tell her that there was room in the stable for her too, but not here. We had to push forward for now. We could deal with the emotion later.

The two of us began to trot once more. Muffled sobs at my side were the only inclination I had that she was even there with me. What she had seen leveled her to the core, I had never seen her like this and I can't do a damn thing about it! Thinking quickly, I tucked my wing under me and leaned into her. I wanted her to feel something, anything, just so long as it was from me. I whipped what little tail I had left over to hers and did my best to curl it around hers behind us. It was as close as I was going to get to holding her right now and it... worked? I felt her lean back into me as though she was about to fall over if I were not there.

I felt her wet muzzle slide under my chin and nuzzle me softly to dry her eyes. There she is, there's my strong mare I know so well. Her face lingered near my cheek for just a little longer than it normally would as if to say 'thank you' before the two of us continued onward into the market, tail in tail. It wasn't long before we found Usiku leaning on an old stand he had erected out of scrap among the other vendors. I used my nose to help Zuri meet his gaze, she was getting better but I doubted she would be anywhere near ok without seeing her mother first hoof.

"Chumba kimoja tafadhali." Gibbered in a flat tone.

"Biashara au raha?" He replied.

"Biashara, wilaya ya zamani." She said.

The haggard old buck hoofed over a key and pointed us to a shabby looking part of town behind us where her mother had trotted off towards. He jabbered something in Zeeber and ushered us along. Zuri lead the way, but I was doing all of the trotting. It was like she was growing weaker by the second the closer we got. It felt like we trotted for hours through a maze of what I could only describe as low income housing for Zebras before we came to a row of huts that look more like houses made out of trees than anything. Even without the context I could tell by the population near us that we were on the edge of a residential district.

The key opened the lock to our door and the two of us trotted inside the small, but actually quite nice little hut. I could live in something like this, it was quaint! Everything you need and nothing extra at all! It even appeared to have running water! I was broken from my surroundings by the ever growing vibration that was my mare counterpart. Right! Later, Joey... You have a mare to console and you're the only buck that can do it !

I released our tails and guided her to the bed and laid her down gently atop the sheets. Quickly, I curled up behind her and wrapped my hooves around her and pulled her in close. That was all the signal she needed. Zuri rolled over, buried her head in my chest and screamed. Her cries were muffled, but they were there all the same. I felt her screams of sorrow rock through me like a tidal wave, shaking my very core and making me hold on even tighter. I had never heard a pony cry like that, I had never seen anypony that sad before and I had seen a lot of mothers with lost foals in my life.

It was visceral as though somepony was trying to preform surgery on her with no anesthetic. She pawed at my coat in search of anything to hold onto to brace herself. If she had been holding this in back in town, how strong was she that when she finally did break, this was what she was feeling? I felt her curl into a ball in my hooves, making herself as small as she could before finally falling into a deep crying spell. I had few weaknesses in life. Fire, drowning, radiation... Healing potions... But one that I was helpless against was a mare crying. Her being one I love made it all the worse.

My heart was breaking for her, I was feeling her pain and I just wanted it to end. If she asked me to pull the moon from the sky right now, I would give it to her. If she asked me to leave and never come back here, I would. I would give up that one thing I had wanted this whole time forever just to see her not hurt anymore. But I wasn't ready for what she was going to ask me next.

"I-I... I want to die..."

"WHAT!?" I shouted.

"It's my fault! It's all my fault!"

"Zuri no! It's not hunny."

"They had a choice, Joey... They could have kill me and they would be... given anything they want! They could be happy! But they chose to abandon me and suffer the punishment! If they had just killed me... They would have proved their allegiance! She wouldn't be broken! She wouldn't be broken Joey!" She wailed into my chest. I held on ever tighter than I ever had.

She wasn't just sad about seeing her mother like that... She thought she was the cause. I couldn't even begin to imagine what she was putting herself through. To think that way was unimaginable to me, but she was doing it right in front of me. I swear to Celestia, I will lay waste to anypony or Zebra that is responsible for this, if it's the last thing I do, I will see this place burn like the house of cards I'm sure it is. I will do that for her.

"It's not your fault." I cried back to her.

"How!? I'm the reason they have to live like this!"

"BECAUSE... Because... A mother's love, is a mother's love... If you asked her she would do it again and never give you the chance to stop her. She loves you. That's why." I whisper in her ear. I felt her frame relax into a mass of half hitched breaths and wet sobs.

My mother gave me up to protect me. Her's had resorted to a lifetime of labor and poverty to save her. We were both orphans in this world, but we were loved so deeply that other had gave their lives to protect us. That was our binding spell that brought us together. I now know exactly what my mother had meant when she said 'She needs you, just like I needed your father'. Zuri needed me to be strong for her, she needed me to love her through it. She needed me to be that shoulder to cry on and the one to carry her when she had nothing left.

She was my soul mate and right now, she needed me and I wasn't going anywhere. We lay there holding one another all night, sharing moments of sleep and intimacy that only we could have together as we both worked our way through the pain. There was nothing more we could do for the night, we just needed to recover, for however long it takes.

We woke to the stiffing heat of a new morning. We had given up on sleeping beneath the sheets and resorted to draping the bug netting over us to protect our skin from the countless biting flys and blood suckers. We had hardly slept at all, instead resting in fitful bouts of slumber befitting a slave in the worst parts of Filly. Zuri took far longer to console that I had imagined, the once strong and powerful Zebra who was ready to fight at the drop of a hoof have been reduced to foal in the wake of seeing her mother in such a poor state.

Suffice it to say she had been traumatized by the events. Even still she insisted we stay and see this through. I wondered if part of her secretly held on to the notion that possibly we could get both of her parents out of here along with my mother as well. All things considered, I had actually been planning that very thing since the moment I watched her break. Where this place was a far cry from anything I had been told it was, It was still overly authoritarian. They made no effort to conceal the harsh realities of what was going on or how they viewed the outside world.

If anything, this made things far worse than I had previously imagined. With things being the way I had conceived them, It was no small feat to just fly everypony over the fence and make a break for it. But now... that was beginning to look neigh impossible . They had round the clock guards patrolling the wall, and hoof guards who wandered the area at night looking for subservience wondering the grounds. I know this because I could hear them all night long.

One particular encounter happened just outside of our window. The harsh screams of the mare bellow being repeated caned over and over for not being in her place when she was supposed to be was a faithful reminder that this place was not as it seemed. The hierarchy dictated slavery, but they seemed to have no set schedule. Every Zebra here had one job... Work the fields for as long as deemed needed or until they dropped from heat exhaustion. Zuri had filled me in on the finer details between naps last night, proving to be far more fruitful than Shoari had been in her audio books.

The morning was bittersweet, one with shared looks of sorrow and uncertainty as we waited for the other one to get out of bed first. It was looking more and more like I was going to be the one leading the way today. Not because I was already getting over last night's cry fest. No, It was because despite the heat and the constant sweating, I really had to pee! For the life of me I could not understand the fact that they had running water in these huts but no were to take a dump. This was by far the worlds biggest inconvenience, I had to go, but had no clue where it was socially acceptable.

"Zu... Zuzu... Babe!" I whispered.

"Huh... wha?" She chirped out, her voice horse from the screaming.

"Babe! I gotta pee!"

"Well... go pee then." She said, rolling over and pressing her rump into my crotch. Oh good! Rebound sex, with a full bladder! Fuck me with a cactus that sounds like a blast!

"Zu! I don't know where to go and I'm scared!" Quiet snickering faded into full blown laughter as she rolled herself out of the bed in her own hilarity. Great, I'm about to wet myself AND she is not going to be any help at all. "Zuri! This is not funny! I gotta GO!" I exclaimed.

"Just... Pee... Outside like a normal Zebra!" She shouted through the laughter.

"UGH!" I sighed as I rolled out of bed and trotted to the doorway. "You are a rotten little stripped up turd! You know that right!?" I said, clearly upset with her. She just laughed even harder and started pounding the floor.

"Poor baby! Doesn't know how to pee in Zebrica!" That's it! The next time she want's touchy touchy time, I'm going to hilariously slip in the wrong hole and pretend to be death... Oh who was I kidding, she would probably love it. I trotted outside, all the while listening to the manic laughter the whole way. I trotted around the shack and found a bush... THE BUSH... To be exact. I could tell this is where I needed to do the deed just from the smell alone.

It was repugnant, stinging my eyes and nostrils from the ammonia that was off gassing from the ground. I trotted behind the bush and proceeded to pop a squat and ease the pain in my very full bladder. I looked to my right and saw a Zebra behind a similar bush, doing the same thing. We locked eyes for a moment. Well, this was awkward... What was the proper edict in Zebra bathrooms? I raised a hoof and waved gently while mouthing 'hi' to him as friendly as I could muster. It was not met with approval at all. Instead I was rewarded with a huff and him trotting off. Weirdo...

Oh Celestia... How were we going to find them in this place? Even back in our secluded hut I could hear the roar from the market place some 10 minutes trot away from here. There was easily thousands of Zebras in this place and as proactive of a pony I was, I couldn't tell the subtle differences between them all. Short mane, long mane, cropped tail, long tail... Apart from eye color and male from female... I was lost. Couple that to a dialect I could neither understand or comprehend, I was the mother of all lost puppies, I just had find a way to find my mother.

Having finished my business with the foul foliage, I trotted to the front of our hut where I was surprised to see the door standing wide open. I thought I had closed that damn thing... I cautiously approached, listening for anything out of the ordinary. I slowly approached the opening and leaned my ear into the frame being careful to not be seen or heard in my investigation. I didn't want to leave anything to chance if we had been found out, I would have to have the element of surprise if I had to kill somepony.

I could defiantly hear something going on inside, but it was far from something I would presume to be bad. If anything, I swore I could hear giggling. I chanced a glance round the door frame and saw Zuri talking to another Zebra mare who was setting on the edge of the bed. They were smiling and carrying on as if they had known each other their whole lives, was this another freaky Zebra thing? Did they all just know each other or something?

"It is good to see you!" The mare said, leaning in to hug Zuri.

"Ahem... Zuri?" I said, finally trotting through the door.

"OH! Joy! I want you to meet my old friend!" Zuri said bolting from the bed. An old friend? Was this mare somepony she knew from when they were just fillies? Once I recovered from my shock of seeing Zuri as so calm around another mare in my presence, I thought it better to not act like a total creep and introduce myself.

"Hi, I'm-"

"Joy? No? Zuri has told me a great deal about you!"

"Y-yeah... That's me." I said blushing. I was never used to being bragged on, but it coming from Zuri for some reason made it all the more meaningful, sending my ashy cheeks to blush bright red.

"Oh! He is cute when he blushes! Zuri, you were right!" She said giving her a gentle nudge."I am, Kichanga... Oh! I believe it means... How do you say.. Sunny! Like the sun, no?" She said as she rose from the bed and gave me a hug. She then began fiddling with my wings.

"Heh... Yeah that would be like the sun." I replied nervously as an ages old question was finally answered after ten years of wondering... Yup, they have no sense of personal space at all. "Pleased to meet... GAH! Easy those are very sensitive!" I half squeak, half moaned out. Everything in my brain screamed danger, but my heart nearly leaped when she ran her hoof over my primaries. I wanted nothing more than for her to not stop, but even with the erotic feeling of my wings being stroked, I was a one mare buck.

"Oh! I am so sorry! Am I hurting you?" She said as her hoof recoiled in fear.

"NO! Ahem... No. They are just... SENSITIVE... That's all." I said, looking to Zuri for affirmation that I was not in trouble or about to cause a social scene. I was being quietly and manically laughed at. After several moments of hushed snickering, a light flickered to life in Sunny's eyes and she grew bright red.

"OH! Oh no! I did not mean to... I am so sorry! I did not mean to make the sexy feelings with you!" She stammered nervously. Ok that was adorable. She was so well spoken before, but after an accidental wing job she was all flustered. Zuri erupted in laughter much the same as she had she was trying to give me 'the sexy feelings' when I had to pee.

"It's ok. I would guess that I am the only Pegasi you have met before, no?" I said, pressing my nose to her's. Oh two can play at this game. The laughter stopped instantly as I gave her a soft smile and a small nuzzle. Oh wow, I had no clue a Zebra could get that red. Zuri was fuming but didn't move an inch. "Careful, we have little control over our... emotions when you do that to us." I said as I passed her by and allowed a wing to drape under her chin and trace a line back to her shoulder as I trotted off to the sink to wash my hooves.

I paid Zuri a 'Oh you think your funny' glance and was rewarded with the saddest 'com'on!' look I had ever gotten. Part of me felt bad... A very small part that was completely over shadowed by revenge, sexual frustration and complete validation that even with stripes... I still had 'it'.

"N-n-no... I not have... I MEAN! No, I have not." Sunny said as I tried to make since of the wash basin. "Oh! Yes! I mean, I remember seeing one! Long ago!" She correcting in excitement.

"Let me guess... Tall. Black Coat. White feathers..." I said almost sarcastically.

"YES! You know this buck too?" I nearly ripped the lever right off the faucet. There is no way, no how, that I just decribed my father to this random Zebra and they remember him... "Oh... It was so so long ago. I was just a filly."

"You're serious... You have seen this buck before? Do you know if he had a mare too?" I said hoping for the best possible out come. There was no way this was going to happen. There was no way it was going to be this easy!

"YES! She was... oh! Kimandizi..." She mumbled as she seemed to be trying to find the words to express what she wanted to say. "OH! Filly... Sitter. Yes, that is it." She said feeling rather proud of her mastery of the pony language.

"You know this mare... Do you know where I could perhaps find her?" I said closing the distance between us. "It's kind of important..."

"Important? I she in the trouble?" Sunny said, Trotting away from my advancement. I had not even noticed that I had backed the poor mare into a wall. "Is she in danger?" I watched as her ears folded to the side and her eye brows furrowed up in worry. Her blue eyes were massive in fear as her pupils shrank to pin pricks... She didn't just know her... she was close to her! No pony or Zebra would act this way if they were not close to them. She wasn't lying.

"Sunny... She's my mother." I said pleading. I watch fear over come the poor mare at the sudden realization that the mare in question may in deed be in, not just trouble, but grave danger that I was even here.

"She is... Is...U-U-Uch-"

"Don't you dare say that word... Don't even think of it! If you think we are passionate when we are horny... Piss me off." I dared with a razor's edge of a tone in my voice. I might not have the relationship with her the same as most colts do with their mothers, but I would be damned if anypony was going to say that about her. Not after what she had gone through.

"N-NO! I would never! I did not know! She is in terrible danger! You need to leave at once!" She said trying to push me out of the door. "She is special to me! I will not see her hurt!"

"Stop! Just stop... We need to clear some thing up here... I don't want to hurt her... I want to meet her. At least just once in my miserable life. I don't want her to get hurt because of it, but I'm not going to back down. I don't get it, this place seems so controlled, so... Machine like! I keep getting told that this place is impossible to get into, they kill mixed blood on site and they genocide newborns. I have yet to see any of this!" I shouted in frustration. Enough with the damn mind games, some Zebra was going to give me a straight answer or I was going to scare what I wanted out of her.

Sunny stood frightened for a moment, closed the door and motioned for us to go deeper inside the hut. We all took a seat in the center of the room, sitting in a circle on the floor and lowered our heads as she motioned for us too. She held her hoof up in a call for silence as we listened to a guard to trot past on the wall behind us. Finally, she spoke, slowly, quietly and directly.

"It is that bad here. What you are seeing is not real at all. It's all a show!"

"A show!? What do you mean a show?"

"A show! They are putting on an act! The only thing that can not hide is the slavery! This place is hell. Hell for Zebras! The only reason you were allowed in was because the Tribal leaders are here visiting for the next five days! They have to show they are open to the idea of trade for the outside or they will not get the option to vote in the elections. No voting, no support from the other tribes! No support and... we all fall down." Sunny said tapping her hoof to the floor. "I do not clean rooms... I work in the kuchimba mawe field . The only reason I'm here is put on a show that we entertain tourist. No pony or Zebra comes here! Why do you thing you were let in so easily! That is why it is not safe here for you!" She said beckoning for us to see reason.

"You mean to tell us that the whole reason things have been going so well is because they have to? Because they have no choice at all?" I asked quietly.

"YES! I mean... yes... But the clock is ticking! Once the elders are gone, they will come for you both!"

"Stop me here, but why not just tell the elders what's really going on here? Wouldn't they step in?"

"No! It is forbidden for a servant to speak to an elder! I would be take to the Mashamba Ya Mauaji! I would be killed! Such an act is seen as self serving!"

"So what, you just slave your life away then? That's horrible! For what? Somepony else's gain?"

"We are forced to farm for food for other Tribes. They make us dig for gems with no tools. There is even a place to trade off Zebras as personal slaves! Such a life is the best that we can hope for! Disobey them, we are killed. If we have babies, they are killed in front of us and we are worked to death! If they find out that you have pony blood, you are seen as cursed! They force you to submit to them and then you are killed!"

"Dear Luna..." I mumbled. Sunny pressed her hooves to her head in protest. "What?"

"You must not say that name here! It is forbidden!"

"He says this name... the bad one, often." Zuri said, trying to help Sunny to understand that I had no idea what I was doing.

"Sorry, Sunny. I'm from a different place." I said, lifting her chin with a hoof. Hey, charm worked the first time, why not now? "Sunny, can you tell me about what happened? About twenty three years ago to be precise? What happened to force mixed blood foals to be killed or cast out?" I asked gently. I didn't want to risk bringing up bad memories, but what choice did I have? I wanted to know what happened, I wanted to know how this all started and if maybe... just maybe I could figure out a way to help these poor Zebras. What was happening was just wrong, so much so I doubt any pony could help. But what about a Well connected Zony? Maybe one with friends who have a pre-war site filled with next level tech?

"Yes... I will tell." Sunny steadied herself while Zuri and I scooted closer to one another and braced for the story I had been waiting to here. "Long ago, our tribe was on the verge of collapse. Many Zebras were leaving for other tribes to save themselves and their families. Many left, even our Leader. We had to fix this quickly and elected in a young, sweet buck. One who understood how the times had changed and what needed to happen to make things right. The elders were furious, but they had no choice but to let him preside over the throne. They wanted one of their politicians to preside over the role of Chief. But we... We wanted things to change.

Zuberi was his name. He ruled with a strong hoof for the population! He fought for change that could save us all! One day he opened our gates and allowed for trade with ponies. It was... a hard beginning, but soon we came around to the ponies. It was not long before even ponies with wings began coming to our tribe. But the population was still getting smaller. It was then that our Chief, Zuberi asked us to open our hearts to the ponies. He wanted us to know them, to love them as though they were our own family. This also took time for us to accept. But eventually, a Zebra mare fell in love with a pony with wings. They grew together and even had a baby! Soon others were doing the same, it was crucial for our survival to change!

The elders were furious about this! They preached that only pure blood may hold positions of power and that if we continued down our path, it would lead to our destruction! Soon Zebras began to turn back to their old ways and began shunning those who layed with ponies. It was not long until the elder had the support they needed to cast out Zuberi and set things back the way they were. It was a dark time.

They killed Zuberi in front of us all to set an example to every Zebra in the land that their word was law. But what they did next... What they did next was horror! Mixed couples were forced apart, their babies taken from them if they did not agree to kill them as a sacrifice for their sins! Those who killed their babies were allowed to live as a normal Zebra. Those who refused were forced to cast their babies out into the Wastes, they were forced to abandon them for fate to decide theirs. They would then have to work the fields until they died as punishment for their sins. It was atonement. Many fought, but none were allowed to leave once the rule was set.

The buck who first took heart with a Zebra mare, he was the first to be set to death. He was seen as a demon, sent to change our ways and lead us away from salvation. He was called Malaika Mweusi. The Dark Angel."

I sat there... not looking at anything. Just beside myself in horror and discuss over what I had heard. If I had not wanted to set fire to this place before over what it made Zuri's mother into, I was going to nuke it now. I didn't care about names, I did't care about reasoning, I wanted whoever was responsible to die. I now truly knew what Zuri had meant when she said she wanted to die, she wanted to take her mother's place... In a lot of ways, so did I.

"Thank you, Sunny. I know that must have been hard for you." I said, offering a hoof to her's for comfort.

"No... It is hard for you. I am sorry. You are one of the kutelekezwa. The abandoned."

"Yeah but I have had a life no where near as hard as your's. How can you say that you are sorry for me?"

"Because... Your father... He was Malaika Mweusi. The Dark Angel." She said tearfully.

"Joy... I am sorry I did not tell you. I did not know how." Zuri said, wrapping her hooves around me.

"He was a brave buck. Strong, loving. That is how we remember him." Sunny said softly... but I wasn't listening.

All this time... My father was the one who was trying to save this place by taking the first step. Some fucking Zebra wanted to stick to the old ways and hundreds died for it in return and for what!? Some pure blood line bullshit? What was this place! How could any... THING be so cruel! How can you be so swallowed whole in your belief that you let it lead you to abandoning foals to the wilderness!? What good would it all do if they all died out because of it in a few years anyway? It was needless, careless murder, MASS MURDER!

This place... I though I had been lied to, when in reality this place was lying to me. I had not even been here a full day and I have already seen the true colors of their stripes. They weren't black, they were red, stained with the blood of the innocent for an unjust cause. My family bloodline was at the root of it all. The catalyst that was meant for nothing but good and later turned into bloodshed.

"He was... my father? He was the first to die?" I meeked out somehow through the various emotions.

"He was. He was the first to take lead in the revolt against the law. He was willing to fight along side pony or Zebra to protect those who were of mix blood. He was the example that the new Chief made that set things into motion for what happened next." She said with a cool tone.

We sat silent for several moments while I processed the information in my head. But no matter what I tried to figure out, one thing was on my mind and one thing only.

"I want to see my mother." I said with all the intent I could muster after the blow I was dealt.

"No. You can not. If you are seen with her, she will be killed." Sunny said insistently.

"There has to be a way. Someway I can see her. I will do anything to make it happen. Please! I'm begging you!" I said, tear welling up in my eyes. I would have done anything in that moment to make what I wanted to happen, happen. I would have killed any Zebra in front of me, I would have set fire to the land and salt the earth. I would have done anything. It was like a higher calling that I had to answer, as if I was fated to see her.

"There might be one way..."

"Name it, your price or what I have to do... Anything." I begged.

"When you leave this place... I wish to go too." Sunny said, lunging forwards. "I hate my life here! I wish every night for death but it never comes! I have been beaten and forced to work until I could not any longer! I am... forced to... Lay with..." I put a hoof to her muzzle. There was no need to say it, I already knew what she was going to say. But for some reason, just the thought of such a sweet mare having to tell me she was raped at will felt like a 'burn it all down' kind of moment.

"I don't know how we are going to do it. But if that is what the price is, consider it paid." I said with a smile.

"Oh! Thank you! Thank you Joy!" She screeched as she lunged forward and wrapped her hooves around me.

"Easy now... I would have done that anyway. All you had to do was ask." I whispered to her. I looked to Zuri who was decidedly proud looking in this moment we were sharing. Almost as to say 'that's the buck I fell in love with' or 'I would expect you to do nothing less'.

"I will be here tonight. Be ready. I will take you to Kamaria." She said as she stood and trotted for the door.

"Wait! I have just... two more questions. They will be quick." I said, following her to the door. "My name... my mothers name... What do they mean?" I just had to know. How often do I get this chance to verify something as important as my own name. "My name... My real name is Kit."

"Ah... yes. Your name means Gem. You mother... her name mean Bright... Like the moon. It is, not the best name."

"It is to me..." I said feeling a little let down that this mare I barely knew, new more about me and my family than I did. Her not liking my mother's name... well that just stung all the more. Sunny departed for her faux day job and left Zuri and I to wait for night fall. Oh whatever were we to do with the time.

"Bright like the moon... Huh, doesn't sound bad to me. Oh well, at least I got a Gem of a name." I said trying to crack a joke.

"Joy... I have told you this... I told you this many times. Why did you ask her that?" Zuri asked sound just a touch hurt that I wouldn't take her word for it.

"Well... I had to verify with a Zebra who lives her. You never know, maybe they changed the meaning to something terrible later on like Turd Bush or something. Besides... I like hearing her talk. She has a soothing voice." I said as I threw myself at the bed.

"I have a soothing voice too! I can be soothing!" Zuri said as though I was about to abandon her.

"Oh really? Last I saw you liked to laugh at bucks who needed to pee and set your friends up to play with their feathers..." I said giving her a cheeky grin.

"So the flirting... You did not mean it? The feather thing? It was all just to?"

"Make you jealous?" I said with a grin.

"You are a rotten pony!" She shouted, beating me with my own pillow. I waited for an opening in the blows and reached for her and pulled her on top of me as quickly as I could.

"Now... about that comment about you being soothing..."

"This is never going to work..." I said beneath the thick canvas sheeting. Sunny can come through just as promised, showing up not long after Zuri and I were finishing up with round five between the sheets. I loved her, I really did... but she was going to have to learn that though I love making love, I don't love making love for that long! There was also the problem with just how adventurous she was beginning to get in the bed room. I know ponies have nerves back there and it feels great to be licked there, but the last thing I want after that is a big sloppy kiss on the lips. That being said, I was almost embarrassed by just how much I had enjoyed it.

Poor Sunny never say it coming when she opened the door either. We were right at the moment too! This lead to another more awkward moment that was going to lead to an even more awkward conversation later with Zuri. She has to understand that just because we are having sex and somepony walks in on us, that does not mean that they too want to join. The scary reality of it all was that Sunny, though rather shy and timid, really looked like she wanted to. As fun as it sounded, I don't think I'm quite ready for that level of creativity in the bed room just yet.

"Sush! We are nearing the guards. They both said as they pulled the cart from the residential district across the street to the slave quarters. It was pure luck that the river where the laundry was done was located right behind them. I had been told on the ride over that I would be on my own getting back and that I would have to wait for a break in the guards to make a dash for it. With every Zebra asleep, there would be no stopping them from trying to kill me if they decided to. Even still, it would be the early morning hours before the slaves got up for the morning before I could make a dash for our hut.

There was no chance of just hanging out either and playing the dumb tourist routine. If I was found there, far from the city center just milling about, I was as good as dead. I wasn't just taking my own life into my hooves by doing this, I was taking every... sigh... Zebra's life in them too. I had to be quick, quiet and not seen. Just the kind of thing a Pegasi is good for.
After all, when nopony you know flies, you rarely look up.

We came to a stop just as I felt the road begin to fall off to the other side. I heard the voices of the guards ahead, saying something in stripy talk to Zuri and Sunny in a curt, coarse tone. I had preciousness few weapons with me, but one I rarely left home without, was strapped to my foreleg and ready to draw blood if needed. I slowly worked my hoof into position and undid the clasp on the long hunting knife and... Aww... When did it rust? I had always taken such good care of it over the years! The once gleaming blade had since turned orange with corrosion and oxidation. I felt my heart sink as I tried to place the last time I had cleaned it and... I hadn't. It still wore the blood of a buck who tried to touch my wang with his hoof.

Oh well, hope their vaccinated, if not well... they would die anyways so who cares. The cart lurched forward once more and I took a deep breath. In retrospect this was a terrible idea because the cart was filled with sweat solid sheets and Celestia knows what else... Some of them were from our own hut and wore the musty aroma of sex, tears and musk... at least I hoped that was coming from our sheets. If not I was going to need to be vaccinated.

I felt the cart turn, Then turn again, and again, and again... How far off was this place, we had been traveling for nearly twenty minutes now. Turn after turn I became more and more disoriented as I waited for the warning that we were outside her door. I had been told that when I heard three taps on the cart to prepare myself and be ready for my signal. Sunny was designated some of the slave huts to change the sheets out in and had worked out a trade to get the route my mother was on. This was something I felt was common place between the slaves who had a reason to go to another hut.

Finally, after my entire life being left to wonder, after ten years of curious questions and risking everypony's lives around me... I was outside her door. I heard the three taps, I heard the knock at her door and the soft, angelic reply from with in. Just the sound of her voice resonated with me, it was the same as I had heard in my dream like state. Same tone, albeit tired and weary, all the same there was no mistaking it. I heard the door open and the cart being pulled into the hut, moonlight faded to candle light and the smell of lavender filled my nostrils. All that was left to do, was wait.

"Kamaria? I'm here to deliver something for you." Sunny said sweetly. Bless her, she was trying so hard not to cry. She really was a sweet mare.

"Kichanga. Why are you speaking in pony? Are you brushing up?" I heard my mother say sweetly.

"It is... a request..."

"A request? From who?" Her voice filled with wonder and confusion... Oh Luna, please don't let me give her a heart attack! Please let her like me! I hope she doesn't hate me or is mad that I came.

"A request from a visitor." Zuri said as she tapped the cart again. This is it. No turning back now! I wanted nothing more than to run like hell and get out of here. I was terrified she wouldn't want me at all after what all she had been through... But I had to know, I had to see her. Just once. with a shaky hoof, I climbed out of the old cart and dusted myself off. I was looking at the ground, the room was dead silent, I was too afraid to make eye contact until...

"K-kit?" I heard her voice break and that was all it took.

"Mom?" I pushed out through the ever growing tears in my eyes. I looked up to see the mare I had seen in my dream, same mane, same tail and the same loving eyes I remember. Even though this was the first time I could remember seeing them, they looked so familiar to me, so inviting and filled with care and love!

"Is it really you?" She said taking a shaky step forward. Thinking quickly, I reached a wing into my saddle bags and retrieved my necklace, the same one I had carried all these years and that I had to fight to earn by from a thief. It was proof that I, was me. I held it up for her to see and watched her fall to the ground in tears. I ran to her and put my hooves around her and held on for dear life. This wasn't a dream, this was real. It was really real! I could feel her in my hooves sobbing, I could feel... her!

"I made it, mom. I made it!" I cried. I felt her hooves over come mine and hold me close. It was a feeling I could never begin to describe, something I could faintly remember feeling long ago but was all too new and real to me now. She held me close to her, close enough that I could hear her heart beating. The soft thumps growing faster with each passing second, each beat stronger than the next. She pulled my face close to her's so she could see me better.

"I had a dream about you! About what had become of my colt!" She said, trying to dry the tears fro her tired eyes.

"I had one about you too!" I said giving a sniff.

"You... You have stripes! You have stripes like me! You have your father's wings and... and..." I gave a smile. I couldn't help it, I had never heard anypony talk about me the way she was in this moment. It was sweetness that Zuri herself could never hope to match. I had never heard a voice more beautiful that hearing her's for the first time. "And... it's really you! After all these years! I never wanted to-"

"I know... I know everything. I know what happened, it's not your fault."

More tears from the mare who had ushered me into this world as she pulled me in close to her and refused to let go. I didn't mind it at all, this was something I had been denied my whole life. To know who my parents are, to feel a hug from them and to know what it was like to be loved so deeply that you would work you life away just to see them live a happy life... even if it meant giving your's up in return. After all these years I could tell, she never gave up hope, not for one day that I had somehow made it and found a life for myself. I would bet that never in her wildest dreams did she imagine that I would show up here at her door... The again, love will make you do some crazy things and after all, a mother's love, is a mother's love. It can't be matched.

Chapter 12: Behind Stripes And Under The Radar

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 1: That Was Then Part:1

"I can't believe it is really you!" My mother said as she trotted around me looking me over. "Such stripes! They are not like any I have seen!" She said, running her hoof over my side. I had to admit, it felt great but it wasn't like anything anypony had done to me before. It was different, caring even in her touch and how she went about it. Normally I would get upset about such a thing, but for some reason with her, it felt completely normal. "Such a strong buck you have become over the years! I see you have a tribal Cutiemark as well!"

"Yeah! I got it for... well, finding my necklace... Or for finding Zuri, the lines are kind of hazy at this point. It's been a while." I said rubbing my neck.

"What does it mean?" She asked giving it a tap.

"It's a coyote print. I'm a tracker."

"A Coyote. Clever, quick on the hooves, a hunter!" She said with pride in her tone. I could tell that she was not just taking in my presence, she was taking pride in her creation. "We always knew that you would grow to do great things my little colt. Bearing the mark of the coyote is a great honor!"

"Mom... jeez!" I said blushing.

Zuri had found herself a place and made herself comfortable and had resided to watching the show. All the while she wore a smile, I couldn't help but wonder if she was thinking about her mother too. Perhaps if she would be as loving and caring as mine was being in this moment. I wanted her to have her moment like this, I wanted to be in her hooves and be watching this happen to her. I wanted it for her.

"Kit. Please... have a seat over here. I wish to speak with you." She said looking to Zuri as if she were an intruder. It was at that moment I realized that I had forgot to introduce the two of them! I felt terrible but I was so lost in our moment that I hadn't even noticed that Sunny had left to do her chores!

"OH! Mom! This is Zuri, she's my Special Somepony." I said running over to her. "Sorry, I kinda got sidetracked talking to you... First time meetings and all!"

"Ah... This is your lover! She is very pretty! How fitting a couple you make." She said while she trotted to us and lay on the ground. "Zuri... This means Beautiful. Kit, this means Gem. How very well, you two make a beautiful gem together!"

Well if that isn't parental approval I have no clue what is. We sat talking for easily a few hours, far in to the early morning hours. We talked about everything that had happened over the last years of my life, leaving not shortages of topics. From working for Camden and the traders to me meeting Zuri and our tearful goodbye, to being bitten by a taint mutated pony and bringing on my stripes to the horrors of Filly. I left no stone un-turned in my quest to help her better understand who I had become as a pony. I didn't want her deprived for another second of what all had happened in my life. Finally, I came to my favorite story, how Zuri and I meet on a secluded beach not too far from here.

"So the shack, it burned down?" She asked trying to hide her laughter.

"YEAH! She wouldn't let go of me so I could put it out! We lost ALL our food. If not for that Stable we would have been in a bad way!"

"Oh... It is just so good to hear how well you have done! I think back to that night... When we gave you away all the time. It is, the only dream that I have. But now, I can dream more about you! About how happy you are!" She said with knowing, tearful eyes. Damn it, reality hit home harder than it ever had before. No amount of sweet and kind stories would save this moment forever. In the end, there was still the job of breaking her and Zuri's mother out of here. There was also the matter of Sunny to deal with. But I still had a question that was eating away at my mind. Something that had not left me since the day I said goodbye.

"Zuri... I have to ask you something..." I said putting a hoof on her's. "I promise not to get mad, I wont leave you and I want hold it against you... I have to know, why did you leave me when we were young?" It was a sledgehammer of a blow. She recoiled in shock that I would ask something like that at a time like this, but it was the only thing that was holding my heart back from truly loving her to no end. I already knew that no matter the answer, I was going to be with her for the rest of my life, but I had to tie up just one last loose end.

"Joey! Here!? Now!?" She said panicking.

"Yeah, Zu... here... now. I made my promise to you, make just one to me. Be honest." I said as I wrapped a wing around her and pulled her closer to me. "It's ok... You can tell me." With a deep sigh I watched her gather her thoughts and let out a shaky breath. With her eyes closed, we both watched as she finally began to speak.

"It was long ago... I was very young, it was after The Abandonment happened. They began checking the bloodlines of families and eventually found mine. My grandmare had taken to a earth pony long before she had met my grandbuck according to their records. They stormed our home, they destroyed everything we had. They tried to force my grandmare to kill my mother, she refused and instead turned the blade on herself. I watched her die.

They then told my mother and father that they had to make a choice. Kill me and be given the life fitting Zebras who trotted in the light... Or abandon me and work the fields. They were given the night to consider. I never gave them the chance. I ran away. I was so scared, I didn't want to die, I didn't want them to have to choose! I wanted to help them some way, some how!

They came looking for me. They sent the Slavers after me. I was a sin that had not been atoned for. I was scared so I hid in the valley for so long... That is where they caught me. The night you found me... The buck you shot to save me. He was to return me to the elders. I was to be killed. He told me this. I was told if I escaped that I would be taken to a horrid place. A place where I would be worked to death, where fillies are killed for no reason! I now know this place as Filly, but back then I did not know. They said they would find me no matter what and not to look for help! They would kill them too!

That is when you saved me and we ran away. Joey, I wanted to stay! But I was just so scared! I knew the moment we met that I loved you and I didn't want you to get hurt too! I had to leave to... to protect you from me. I went back looking for you when I was older. You were the only pony to ever be so kind to me! You were so sweet and you worried for me, no pony or Zebra had done that for me! I wish to take it all back! I want the time back! I want to be with you more! I wished for you every night!" She said, hear voice shaking from the tears.

All this time... I had thought she was running from slavers, but she had been running from Zebras. She ran from this town to save her parents the pain, she ran for her life to save hers and she ran from me, to save mine. Why had she been so worried about this? She knows that I can weather just about any storm that comes our way and that I would never leave her. Call it the pain of being left like that, but I would not wish that pain on anypony, Zebra, Griffin or... anything! It just hurt too much to bear alone.

"Thank you..." I whispered as I leaned in close to give her a small peck on the cheek. I rested my forehead against her's and closed my eyes. "I'm here now. I'm not leaving."

"You are not angry?" She asked in a trembling voice.

"No Zu, I'm not. Please, just promise me you won't leave me again. That's all I ever wanted."

"I will not leave you. I want to be with you forever and ever!"

My mother looked on at the two star crossed lovers with knowing eyes. Had she not been in the same situation at one point? The things that happened back then were atrocities to say the very least. From every Zebra that spoke on it it sound more like a war story than a tale of sorrow. It was heavy, brooding tones that pulled at your heart and forced you to listen to them fully as though not doing so would be unspeakable rude. Part of me thought that she saw herself in me and that Zuri was my cursed love that I had found and made right again. But a bigger part of me knew that truly, deep down, she wanted this for herself. No amount of first meetings of your lost colt will equal to a lifetime of loneliness of a lost Special Somepony.

"Are you going to kiss her, or will she need to kiss you?" My mother said sweetly. I did as I was told and sealed our promise to one another with a kiss. I guess it was as close to a wedding as we were going to get here. Truthfully, I had felt the connection between Zuri and I since I first met her, it was like the further we were apart, the more it hurt, right up until the day we were back together.

"Oh how I miss moments like those... You father was sweet like you, so kind and gentle..." I looked back to my mother and saw a lifetime of pain in her eyes. "Zuri... Why is it that you call him 'Joey'?"

"Oh! It is his name! Joey Coyote! Or... Coyote Joe! Nopony knows his real name, Kit."

"Is that the name that was given to you by the Trader? Camden?" She asked.

"It is. He said it was because I was all over the place and ready to fight all the time... you know, like a baby kangaroo."

"Yes. This name is fitting for you, son!" She laughed. "But you will always be my Kity!" She said with a smile.

"MOM! I'm not a cat!" I shouted in protest but it was too late. Zuri was already working up pet names.

"Kity, kit! I like this name very much!" Zuri said, petting my mane like a house cat. I looked on blankly as the two of them then proceeded to tear into me with reckless abandon over the crude similarity. One thing was in the fore front of my mind, for the love of everything, Caliber must never know this pet name or I would be short a brother. We talked for what felt like hours, me asking questions about my heritage and family traditions that I was to hold on to, her asking about my little pack of tamed coyotes I had crewed over the years. It was all so nice to catch up but the longing I had for this to never end was all to palatable.

I wanted to have these moments, I wanted to com visit my mother and talk to her about the weather, to drop by unexpectedly to surprise her with good news or to just say hi. I wanted a family. I wanted that safety to be able to let my guard down for just a moment and just relax in the air, if only for a moment. It was a simple wish by pony standards, but it was such a tall order in the world we lived in. Why was it that a world like that used to exist, but now everything had to stay corrupted and foul? Why could it not just be normal again?

"Mom... Zuri still needs to have her moment in the sun with her mom... But we have been talking and... We want to get you all out of here. This is just not right! We know that things are not what they seem, but how is it that every Zebra here is staying so calm when they have the chance to run or speak out to the other elders? It seems like they would step in and intervene." I said frustrated. She looked around the hut and stepped down from her chair and began to dig through an old wooden crate beside her table. It was not long before she finally just lifted the box atop the table and began to go through the contents.

"Kit... I have something for you. You will need it if I am to show you why we do not run. Why we do not speak." She said as she pulled a black cloaked hood from the box that had been rolled up into a long cylinder. She then proceed to unroll it before us and inside displayed various items that had the clear hallmarks of keepsakes. Before me lay a large black cloak, two knives that held the resemblance of military issue but had been clearly produced resonantly and two leather leg bands that looked to have been crafted by hoof. She looked them over tearfully and pushed them across the table to me before setting back in her seat. "These were your fathers... Left overs from when he was in the Enclave. They were his father's as well. I made the leg braces myself for them. The cloak was a wedding gift from me. It seems only right that you have them now."

I was beside myself with joy and emotion. These were dad's!? I had guessed he was ex-Enclave but I never knew for sure until now. The leg braces were made of tough hide that had been beaten into shape painstakingly to fit the forelegs of a buck. Reinforced with a dark grey metal on the backsides, no doubt to black against attacks and latched in place with buckles. They were... beautiful! I reached for one of them and slid my hoof into place and felt them fall into the bends near perfectly. They were comfortable and so cool looking. Zuri helped me latch the buckles in place before I slid one of the blackened steel blades in place and did up the clasp. I took notice that the buckles had once been done in place two notices wider then they were now to fit my legs.

It was as close to my father as I had ever felt. They even had a relief for my Pipbuck's screen! Never had I felt more close to my father than in this moment right now. "Try it on, dear." My mother said, trotting to my side with the black cloak. Her and Zuri helped me into the thing that to me resembled a dress, but to them was something more of a traditional garment. The cloak nearly touched the floor from the weight that it carried. I had first thought it was just some kind of ceremonial vestment, but I could feel the tale-tale coldness of steel on my back and sides. This wasn't just some wedding gift, it was armor. Light and contoured, it felt more like sparing armor than anything and made my old vest look like raider gear.

"Ah... you look so much like your father. If not for the grey coat!" She said proudly. "It fits you nicely, no?" I could tell by the amount of pride she was taking in this that she had not only commissioned this work of art, but possible made it herself. I felt totally protected yet completely free to move and look around. It was nothing like my old vest, but it did lack holsters. I'm sure that is something Ditzy could manage... Hell, if she made this, maybe my mother could manage it. "Zuri, here... put this on dear." She said, passing her another black cloak. "If we are to go to this place, you will need to be hidden as well." She said, putting on her own black cloak that had been worn by time and dirt. "This was meant to be Kit's, wear it well."

"What do you want me to do if we are spotted?" I asked, looking myself over.

"Hide. They will come to me. I will tell them I am going to fetch water. When they leave, then you can follow." She said as she blew out the candles one by one. "We must stay hidden."

"Right. Zuri, you follow my mother. You could pass yourself off as a local. I will hang back and keep an eye out for trouble." I said trotting for the door.

"Yes! Do this. If you see something, try to get our attention. We will let you know when it is clear. We do not need to go fair."

The three of us stepped out into the cool night air. In the short time I had been there the temperature had falling so much that I was beginning to thank the heavens for the cloak I was given. I could nearly see my breath as I watched the two of them hold a casual conversation and trotted down the streets. I waited for them to get just far enough that they would not know I was behind them and gave chase. I darted quickly behind the row of huts and began jumping from shadow to shadow in pursuit. I would never admit it to either of them, not even if they asked... But I was actually having fun.

I had waited for something like this for quite sometime now. A lifetime of tracking and stalking had left my newly sedative state to feel like a prison than a vacation. I missed the chase, the bullets and the hunt. I guess there were just some things you could never take out of me, no matter how much zeeb you tried to cram in. We came to the end of the long row of house and I could clearly see the path ahead of them. In my haste I had over taken them both and found myself near the edge of a pathway that proceeded down hill.

I chanced a peak to see where they would be coming from and saw that the pathway was closed off by two lone guards. If they were doing anything, they were limiting access to this place. I hovered in place and began to backtrack to the first house with a gap between it to warn them. I had just made it in time to kick two pebbles in their path as they entered the road way. My mother looked back to me and gave a subtle wink and proceeded. Now I had to double back to the opening. For all she had said, she had not told me what to do if things went wrong.

What if they did not let them pass? Do we just go back home? What if they decide to take them into custody for being out of their shack after hours? What, do I just... kill them? What would I do with the bodies? I couldn't just hide them here, some Zebra somewhere would know they were missing. Then there was the second worry of if they got through, how the hell was I going to get out of this spot I was in? The road ahead was lit with torches, they would see me the moment I stepped out of my cover. I could always fly, but how long before I was seen flying? It was a full moon night, there was no chance I wouldn't be seen.

Zuri and my mom came to the guards and were stopped abruptly. Part of me was secretly hopping they would be sent back home and I could just go to this place myself. I hated seeing them in harms way like this, the whole point of Zuri being with me was so that I could protect her in the first place! But here I was putting her in front of two guards in the middle of the night in a place she was not welcome in if they found her out.

"Tuko hapa kwa maji." My mother said sternly. The guard did not seem amused by the act. She took a step forward but was met with a spear pointed at her. She recoiled back on her hind legs and took a step back. "Nini maana ya hii?" Oh what I wouldn't give to know Zebra speak... The one guard advanced towards her while the second began to approach Zuri. Every muscle in my body was screaming that this was going poorly and fast.

''Unataka maji? Tunakutaka!'' On of the guards said sternly. Zuri all but shrank into my mother as the two of them wore faces of horror. Ok, this is too much. I know that look, I know their look and I will be damned if I stand here and watch this happen. I took off for the sky above, looking for any guards that might spot me and hovered over to the gate way over their heads. I pulled out a knife and began sawing at the thick vines that held the old log in place. Not all the way through, just enough to weaken them. "Wasilisha!" They both shouted. Just a few more steps...

"Hapana!" They both shouted back.

I rose up in the air and waited for just the right moment. As soon as I saw a hoof cross in front of the log, I dropped like a stone, severing the vines and dropping the log atop the two would be perverts. I fell down with the log, pushing down as hard as I could to maximize the hit. It was... effective. The log hit one of them in the head enough to deal a fatal blow and the other hard enough in their back to make a sickening wet crunch under it's weight. I stepped down off the log in front of Zu and my mom, turned to look at the guards and the damage I caused before making eye contact with the now paralyzed buck.

"Wakasema hapana... Asshole." I said as I gave his neck a stiff but very directed buck to break it. I didn't know much Zebra, but I knew that sentence well. I had learned it from listening to my nurses trying to speak something other than pony around me. I knew that Hapana mean no, but out side of that I knew very little. Zuri was beaming with joy and ran up to hug me.

"Oh! You have learned the Romani! That is great!" She said hugging me. Behind her, my mother was mortified. I nearly had to remind her that we were on a mission and not here to just kill two Zebras. I motioned for us to continue on our quest and darted for the shadows. The two of them trotted along in the light, but I thought it better to keep myself hidden. I really hope I made it look like an accident, I mean this place was old and worn down, surely a falling beam was not out of the ordinary.

"Do you think they will buy it?" I said in a hushed tone from my place in the darkness.

"Kit! You killed them!" My mother said sounding just a little too offended by my actions.

"They were going to do something bad to you, weren't they?"

"...Yes, but it happens! You don't kill them for it!" She scream whispered.

"Uh... yeah you do. I don't know about this place, but we have all as a race deemed rape an offence punishable by death." I said confident in my choice.

"Ugh... Is he always like this?" My mother said in frustration.

"Yes... Jo... I mean Kit does not like the rape. It makes him angry." Zuri said as we trotted to a large bush in the bend of the trail.

"We will need a new way back home. We can not be seen near there again!" My mother said as she pushed the bush aside and letting Zuri pass through, but she put a hoof up for me to wait. "Kit, please do not kill the guards. I know that you wish to protect us, but killing them? This is too much!" She said with a soft hoof to my face.

"Yes mom..." I said far too un-enthusiastically.

"No! No tone!" She said sternly as she bit my ear and pulled me along.

"ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!" I protested but honestly... I saw her point. We might not have known one another long, but I was being lippy. What was wrong with killing rapist? They are vile, evil, scum of the earth ponies that have it coming to them! I was just paying that debt so no pony else had to.

I was... punished the entire was down the trail to the small opening of a cave. Having your ear chewed on by an angry full grown adult mare was bad enough, but over rocky, hilly terrain? That was just brutal! I was surprised when she finally let it go that I had any left at all. She then set to work with two stones and a torch that was hidden away in a bush. Before long she had a spark that ignited the char cloth on the end flooding the cave with light.

"This way. Kit, you first." She motioned, trying to pass me the torch. I hoofed through my Pipbuck and turned on the light function, bathing everything before me in a emerald green haze.

"It's ok, you keep it. I have a light." I said as I started the slow decent into the cave. This was defiantly not made by hoof in any way. The stones that blocked much of the pathway were massive and seemed to be from cave ins over time. The walls were jagged and asymmetrical like... well, a cave. I was trying to track where we were in conjunction to the place we had come from, but it was impossible. There were just too many twists and turns. That was when I remembered that my Pipbuck worked underground and I felt completely stupid for not looking at the mapping feature.

"There..." My mom said as she passed me and held the torch into what looked like a large room in the cavern. What I had considered to be nothing more than a large hollowed out area of the cave was something much bigger. It was something that somepony... or Zebra had build deep in the limestone below the town. I glanced at my pipbuck and saw that it was indeed just below the town square but how deep, I had no clue. "This is what keeps the tribe silent!" She said, pointing toward the center of the room.

I stepped closer to see what she was talking about, but I was stopped by the growing clicking sound coming form my leg. The closer I got, the louder it became. It wasn't until the light of my Pipbuck found what looked like a massive metal tube that had rusted into a giant red pillar that I knew what I was looking at.

"Is that... What I think it is?" I said stepping closer.

"Yes. What is that sound I am hearing?"

"That's my Pipbuck, it makes that noise when there is a LOT of radiation present... Maybe we should take a step back." I said, putting a hoof to her chest and guiding her away from the cancer tube.

"So you mean to tell me, that the reason everypony is being so quiet is because there is a mega spell launcher under their town!?" I had never actually seen one up close before, only told the stories of what they looked like and how powerful they were. But nothing compared to seeing one first hoof! It was massive! The size of a small building and nearly as round as one to boot! Judging by the resent looking repairs in contrast to the rusted, moldy surface, this thing was being made active once more. But more worrying wasn't that fact, it was the fact that despite retreating to the opening of the room, my Pipbuck was still clicking. It wasn't just operational, it was loaded and pointed right at the ceiling.

Regret for not just simply knocking those two bucks out was beginning to sink in now. I was becoming all too familiar with the term Irony as well. This was a weapon of mass destruction designed to kill ponies but was now being used to submit their own kind into slavery. At least after the bombs fell we had the chance to be free ponies, to carve out our own lives in the fallout. Here, they had no choice at all! No wonder all the Zebras were so submitting, it was because they were under the rule of a lunatic that rather see it all burn than to let it go.

"So this thing... it's aimed just bellow the whole tribe?" I said in disbelief.

"Yes. It is... how you say... a deterrent." My mother said, taking a set against the cave wall.

"Call me crazy, but this is just all the more reason to leave! How can you sleep knowing that there is a mega-spell aimed right at you!?"

"Kity... This is our home! We belong to this land, not the other way around. Some make seek out tribes to take home with, but we have been here for as long as any of us can remember. Our hearts are tied to this place." She said, drawing a little heart on the wall beside her with a hoof.

"Joey... The Damu are very... traditional. They believe that they were given to the land and they the land owns their soul. Without it, they are lost Zebras." Zuri said, taking a seat near my mother.

"So we are screwed then... that's what you mean?" I said, falling myself beside them.

"Kity, I want to be free. But I do not want to give up this place. It is my home... it is, your home now too!" She said leaning into me. I was surrounded by crazy mares... literally. Crazy, headstrong... loving mares who just wanted their home back. But how could something like that even happen? This place was crawling with guards that seemed to be on the side of the elders. We out numbered them sure, but how can you expect a bunch of tired, emaciated farmers to have the energy to fight? They had been so beaten down that no Zebra was even willing to stand up to run. Well, all apart from Sunny, she wanted the hell out of here, land or not!

"Mom... What if it was not permanent. What if they all left for just a little while?" I asked as they both leaned against me.

"That would be hard. But if they came back home and the land was theirs, they would be happy again."

"What if I told you... I might have an idea."

"Oh? You have a plan?" Zuri said, reaching over to me.

"Yeah... something... stupid."

Author's Warning:
For those of you that do not wish to read about freaky Zebra sex and the like, I have placed a spoiler warning between these page breaks. I understand that a few of my readers do not wish to read about such things as they can be detailed and over engaging. I respect this but it is also important for character growth of both Zuri and Joey that this scene happens in my minds eye. That being said, I have left out any major plot details or development within the Spoiler Waring's blacked out text. The first few paragraphs before it do further the plot a bit, but nothing that you could not surmise yourself for not having read it. If you wish to see the TL;DR version of this page, it will be at the bottom of the page.Please enjoy the rest of the show!

We awoke to the sound of the trampling of guard's hoofsteps shaking the ground. Zuri and I had crept our way back to our hut undetected when Sunny failed to appear. I was just by luck's grace that we were not seen, at least I don't think we were. Panic began to set in as last night's events had still not left my mind. It was reckless for us to even try to go there, let alone leave two dead guards in our wake. I had found myself secretly wishing we had never gone, I wanted to run from here as fast as I could, but if they pinned my mother for the crime in anyway, I would never forgive myself. Besides the fact of wanting to liberated my own family, we still had Zuri's mother to track down. An act I was told that would be far easier than hat we had just endured.

Shouting and chanting in a language that I would not begin to understand began to replace the stomps as the shouting began to overwhelm my hearing. This was very not good... There was a good chance that the shouting and the protest I was hearing was for us! Even with the distance, it was as if they were right outside my door.

"Zu! Wake up!"

"Huh..." She grumbled as I shook her."What is it?"

"Do you hear that? What are they chanting? What are they doing?" I said panic'd.

"Huh? Oh, That's just the weekly changing of the guards. They do that everything." She said, giving a sleepy yawn.

Changing of the guards? So that sounds were a good thing? It sounded more like they were about to go on a witch hunt than to change guards. I breathed an easy sigh as I fell back into the bed and tried to relax myself back to sleep. We had been up nearly all night, running and sneaking around. Conservatively speaking we had slept for little more than three hours if that. Today was going to be rough for sure... We had a list of things that we needed to get accomplished and it looked like I was going to have the pleasure of doing so with a migraine.

"Babe... We have to get up..." I said rolling over behind her. "We have a lot to do today." Zuri grumbled and began snuggling up to her pillow. I could already see that the biggest fight of the day was not going to be the questioning of officials, mapping out the fence or even the possible finding of a meeting place for the Slaves... No... It was going to be getting this little magical ball of stripes to wake up and smell the dead roses. "Zuzu... ZUZU... It's Joey talking... Do you read me?" More protest from my favorite Zebra prompted me for more... intense measures.

I began by running a hoof down her side to her flank and started massaging gently, followed my a little soft nuzzling of her neck. I then traced a line to her belly and started tickling her her soft undercoat as I traced small circles down between her legs. A soft 'mmm' was my reward the further down I went. I then teased her by touching everything down there except the one spot I knew she wanted, working her into a full blown disaster as she tried to adjust herself so that I could reach her pleasure spot. Then, without warning, I dove in hoof first and began rubbing and messaging just slow enough to drive her mad.

She began thrusting herself into me over and over, that's the spot, no mistaking it. I held on to her as her back arched and her whole body began to rive in pleasure from my hoof. I loved watching her like this, it was a real turn on for me, something about how she would moan and over exaggerate what she was feeling made me feel... worth wild. Not to mention she was impossibly cute when she was getting close to the moment of truth. I had made a game of seeing how long I could keep her right on the verge of complete collapse when I myself began feeling the urge to... go a little further.

She was already dripping with sweat and grinding herself both into me and my hoof by the time my small problem was becoming a very pressing issue. I just couldn't help myself, now I was turned on and I was going to have to do something about it. I had originally just wanted to get her close and say 'Oh good! Your up too!' but now... I had shot myself in the crotch.

I began kissing the back of her neck while my hoof guided her back closer to me. I could feel her heat, I could feel how slippery everything had gotten in the short time I had been hard at work and I could feel her trembling in my hooves. I got into position and slid deep inside her, slowly to take in every moment of pleasure from that first thrust of many. Zuri let out a yelp of approval, I had never seen her like this before. Was it the lack of sleep? Maybe nearly getting caught last night had set the stage for world class sex, either way, I was loving it!

Usually she was the one to make the first move, but this time, I was in charge. I pulled her under me, I wanted to see her, to take in her whole beautiful exotic body as I braced my self on her flank from behind. I was loosing it, I felt wave after wave of her first orgasm wash over me, then a second, then a third! After all we had done together, it was taking me longer and longer to reach my own point of no return, but that just meant more time together, something I would never complain about. I leaned in and bit down on her ear, pulling her head back as I really began to bare down on her. Thrust after thrust, I bit harder.

This was wild, unadulterated sex. The kind you have when you can't take it anymore and you just need to get off. When you love the pony you are with and want them to feel just how much you are enjoying it. It felt like we were shaking the entire hut! The bed frame broke and we fell to the floor but we never stopped, not for a moment! With each orgasm she grew more and more violent... As did I the closer I got. This was one of the few times I was matching her ferocity and tenacity the longer we were at it.

Zuri had had enough, she rolled from under me and pushed me to the ground like a wild animal with a kill. I thought maybe I had hurt her, maybe I had gone on for too long. But the hunger in her eyes told a different story all together. Slightly frighting like being shot at, but exciting and adrenaline fueled... Like being shot at. She straddled over me and lined herself up with a look of the most evil intent I had ever seen a mare give. I watch in amazement that she had no plans of traveling down the same road we always had. No, she was going to take the new and interesting route.

I felt myself being pressed in just below her tail. It was a whole new world, tight and hot with new magical sensations that I had never felt before. I was amazed that she not only seemed to like it, but was actually drooling with greed as I felt her slide all the way down to the hilt in pleasure! I had joked about doing this to her, but wow would that have been a shock for both of us! For me both in how good it felt and how much she liked it and for her as I was beginning to see more and more that she wanted me to take the lead more often.

I couldn't help but moan out myself at just how awesome it felt to be somewhere new and pleasurable. This was amazing! I want to do this more often! Then I remembered, I was in charge here, not her! I rolled forward, threw her back to the floor and pushed her hind hooves up on my shoulders. You want that kind of sex? I'll give it to you. I watched as she pawed at my chest, trying to pull me in close, all the while listening to her pleads for me to go fast or harder... it was honestly hard to tell because she had gone full tribal and was speaking Zebra.

I felt myself getting close, the new experience and the sear tightness all worked together to push me near the edge quickly. I put both of my hooves on her's and pinned them to the floor and began thrusting harder and harder, each one hitting harder than the last. I could feel her getting close, I just had to last a little longer. I bit my lip, cheek, tongue... whatever my teeth could find to by myself time until finally, she was cumming. I fell forward and bit down on her neck as I met her halfway in our pursuit to kill one another through sex.

We were both shaking, trembling in the afterglow. Nose to nose, smiling and near laughter while I was still inside her. That was crazy, intense and beyond measure the best sex I had ever had! Even with my relatively small sample size, it was mind blowing. Judging by the look I was getting in return, I had done the same for her. No doubt about it, we were wide awake now. I felt myself fall out of her with a wet and very overly sensitive 'slick' sound and looked back to what was left of the bed. Yup, I'm cursed... Crazy good sex cursed!

"There is the buck I dreamed about!" Zuri said, still trying to shake off the heavy tribal inflection she had adopted.

"Oh? Is that what you have been wanting? A wild pegasus?"

"YES! I have dreamed of doing that with you! So good." She said, not even bothering to wipe the drool from her cheek.

"I want that..." A voice said from the door way. My bodies first reaction to run was stifled thank the goddesses, instead I flopped my head to the other side on Zuri's chest and saw Sunny standing in the door way.

Luna's tight ass I could smell her from here! How long had she been there just... chewing on her lip and making a mess on the ground underneath her? I was still ridding too much of a high and feeling very proud of myself to do more than give her a wink and nearly black out in exhaustion. I was in heaven... I didn't even want to try to free the Zebras anymore... I wanted to free the bed sheets and take a nap.

"Oh! Sunny! You should have come sooner! You could have joined us!" Zuri said sweetly. Yeah... She should have come sooner and she could have came too-.

"WHAT!?" I shrieked. Oh no! None of that! One Zebra was hard enough to contain without leveling a house! Never mind two of the that know one another and probably wouldn't let me stop after I came! "Zuri! No! Bad Zebra!" I shouted.

"What!? I know her. She would be fun to play with too, no?" She said confused as to why I would want to turn down a perfectly good threesome that would probably kill me in the end. "She could do that thing you like while I do the other thing you like... No?" Zuri said, biting her lip evilly.

"Zu... I love having... sex... with you! I don't need anypony or Zebra else." I said, dodging that landmine before it was to be layed.

"Yes! Me too! I do not wish to be with any pony or Zebra buck either! But we could both be together with a friend! I don't mind another mare. I just mind another buck!" She said sweetly. Ok, she makes a great argument... I never wanted to see her with another buck, nor did she by the sounds of it... but another mare? I think I would get into that... But I still wasn't comfortable being with a strange mare like that.

"Zu... I don't know..." I started.

"Kity... Do it for me?" She said, her eyes growing wide as saucers. Damn it... This is not fair! I'm tired, my weenier hurts and I'm being emotionally blackmailed. I took a deep breath and gave in. If I was with Zuri and loved her, that meant that I loved everything about her... even her kinks.

"Ok... For you. But not right now, I friggin' beat!" I said hoping for mercy.

"No. Not now. We can do this again later... But Sunny smells like she could use some help."

"I told you, I'm spent. I'm too tired to hump." I said meekly.

"No. I do not mean that. Show her what your feathers can do. I wish to watch!" She said with those hungry eyes... Did she have a limit!? Like... AT ALL!? Dear Luna how sex hungry were Zebra!? I sighed and gave a head motion for Sunny to come inside as I rolled onto the floor and tried to catch my breath. By all accounts this was a dream come true for many bucks, but those bucks didn't ever have the chance to have sex with a Zebra and nearly be hospitalized from exhaustion.

Sunny left nothing to waste as she began to levitate with glee and excitement. She slammed the door, pushed a wooden box in front of it and ran to the both of us. She stood there, prancing in place, her hooves trying to beat four little holes into the floorboards as she waited for her turn.

"Damn... that bad?" I asked looking her up and down. She was smaller than Zuri, looking me nearly dead in the nostrils in terms of height but with a thinner, more athletic build, but still... She was so small compared to Zuri's muscular frame and poise. She began nodding furiously in excitement. Even standing below my line of site I could tell she was trembling in anticipation. How did this go from me being in charge to me being a sex toy?

"Y-yes! It has been... a very long time! Willfully." She said closing the gap. Damn it, don't bring that up now!? The last thing I want is to be doing this and thinking about THAT... "I believe Zuri said something about feathers?"

"Yeah... I might know something about feathers..." I said as I trotted around her. I wasted no time in dragging a wing tip right between her legs. She wasn't Zuri, she didn't get the teasing and the whole... I'm going to drive you insane... act. No, that was just for her. Sunny's hind legs nearly buckled from the very feeling of feathers on her sensitive tissue. I had to admit, it was quite the ego boost to know that my wings had that effect on a mare... Not to mention I was one of only a hoof full of pegasi in the Wasteland.

"Now... Show her the wings..."Zuri said as she stood, trotted up to Sunny and proceeded to kiss her on the lips. Oh! OH! It was going to be that kind of threesome... This was going to be interesting indeed!

TL;DR:

Zuri and Joey have sex, destroy their bed, try new sexual acts and end up inviting Sunny to join them against Joey's will.

The three of us Trotted into the town's square... Tribe's square... Whatever Zebra's called it. Zuri and I had been here for two days now and already this place was beginning to stink to high heaven. Knowing that there was a Megas Spell effectively aimed right at my hooves would make for quite the terrible night's sleep. It was just one more clock that was ticking along with so many others in my life. Between it, the time frame we were facing with the elders being there and the fact that at some point before I died I wanted to just wake up once and do nothing... it was doing nothing good for the new and exciting heart condition I had.

I didn't say it, I never would, but sex was actually getting to be labor intensive, at least with Zuri. Sunny on the other hoof, we she was as sensitive as a defective landmine! We never actually had sex, but the very touch of feathers on her were more than enough to send her straight to the moon. I had briefly entertained the idea that if her and Valkyrie were to ever meet, they would both have a very common interest that was rare in the Wasteland. Hell, knowing my luck, they would even end up a couple and Zuri would have to find somepony else to rope into threesomes.

Despite the mornings crazy amount of noise and commotion, things had calmed down quite a bit. There was not sign of tighten security, no signs of patrols... nothing. I breathed a easy breath that it was completely possible that we had gotten away with the crime of murder. Maybe it was even possible they had considered it to be an accident, I was pretty lucky like that after all. Maybe... Just maybe we could get out of here unscathed.

We trotted to the end of town near the entrance in search of the Zebra that had been so forthcoming with information earlier on. As luck would have it, she was still on duty at her little shack and was even talking to a couple of ponies who were... being asked to leave? That does not make any sense at all. How had we been allowed in but not them? I was the symbol of evil as far as I could tell, why had they turned them away? I was really looking forward to talking to them and asking them why they had come here in the middle of nowhere.

"Barika, yes?" I asked as we approached. "I was wondering if I could trouble you for a moment of your time."

"Yes? What is it then?" She said rather curtly. Wow, did she have other speeds, or was she forever stuck in bitch gear?

"We were wondering if we could meet some of the elders. We have several questions about how the tribe operates as a whole. It looks like you have quite the interesting dynamic here and we would like to model our own tribe very much so in the same manner." I said flatly, trying to put on my snottiest of tones to impress her.

"Your own tribe... You have a tribe?" She asked skeptically.

"Yes. We have found many Zebras and Zonies that wished to commune together. As such they have appointed me the one in charge of heritage and guidelines for tribe conduct. I believe that a moment of time with one of the elders would solidify my report back to the board of tribal affairs." Well, for on the spot that wasn't too bad. I tried to just regurgitate information I had retained from Shoari's report as best as I could remember.

"Yes, that would indeed give for a solid example of excellent tribal workings. I am sorry to say that the elders are otherwise engaged for the duration of their visit." That did it, now she was playing ball with me. He cool and cold demeanor had broken and gave way to sympathy. Now, how could I exploit this.

"That is... regrettable to hear..." I said putting on my most convincing crushed face.

"Well... Be that as it may. You are welcome to tour the grounds as you wish." She said, sliding over two golden parchments with best as I could describe hieroglyphics on them." These are right of access passes. They will allow you to pass through the halls and courts but the access is still limited. If you were to run into an elder who would hear your story, I would think that they would be forthcoming with information."

"Thank you... but is there anyway I could get three of those from you?" This was all going so well, but after our little morning in the shack, I really didn't want to let Sunny out of our sight. I was worried that I was growing feeling for her by sexual proxy, but I was still working that out in the back of my mind.

"Three? You mean one for the commoner?" She asked in repulsion. Ok, those feeling are real after all. It was taking all I had to hold back a stack of cuss words and snarls at the mere mention of Sunny being a commoner. She had more right to this land than any Zebra standing in the group right now.

"Yes well... Shoari here only speaks the dialect of Carnilian and neither of us can full grasp Romani. For my research to matter in the slightest it must hing on the accuracy of the testimony given. Sunny here speaks Roman very well so we have... procured her for the time being." I said with as much confidence as I could will fighting urges to buck a mare in the face.

"Very well. I too know the pains of trying to get credible information from the Romani tribe. I, being from the Tribe of Logos applaud accuracy above all else when dictation my notes." She said as she passed over two forms of identification to Sunny. "Here are your rights of passage and your duty leave papers. Keep them with you at all times and present them when asked for them. You all will also be required to wear these." She said as she dug around in her hut before passing over three necklaces with stones on them... Well, gems, but they were... raw looking? No where near as gleaming as mine. "These will allow you access to the privileged areas of the village. Without them, you might be killed on sight, but I suspect 'Sunny' will tell you this before entering."

"Thank you for your candor." I said flatly as I turned.

"Oh, Mr.Coyote... If you wish to purchase Sunny, you will need to file for her papers today if you wish to take her with you by the end of your stay." Wait... What the fuck did she... Did she just try to sell me a over sexed Zebra!?

"I be your pardon!? You mean I can just... Buy this mare?" I asked in shock. Well, this changed things a lot...

"Yes... As I suspect you will be wanting to bring active members back to your tribe to help with dialect. You did say you didn't speak the native tongue, correct?" She asked but I was still miles away... I can BUY Zebra's! I'll take 20! No... 30! I'll take em' all, just you wait and see!

"Yes, that is correct."

"Oh, were you not taught by your parents?" She asked me point blank. Well, that takes the shine right the hell off that buying Zebras thing.

"They didn't have the time..." I growled.

"Very well, if you would like to purchase Sunny, you may do so for her or any of the other commoners in the office of tribal affairs, level 2, room 19." Ok, now I was getting pissed and having a very hard time containing my anger.

"What makes you think I would buy her, specifically?" I asked as I turned.

"Just a hunch." She said as we began to trot away. "Oh... Ms. Sunny... You have something in your tail."

Sunny froze and began to tremble. Years of abuse from this place had taken it's toll the likes of which I had only seen in Filly. At the very mention of her name she locked up and lowered her head. She was completely indoctrinated with years of beatings and subservience to do such a thing on near demand like that. Well, I guess I will be purchasing at least two Zebras before I leave... as horrible as it sounded. I looked back to her tail and there in the black and white hairs were one of my feathers sticking out as plain as day. Thinking quickly, I brushed it out with a wingtip and gave my best go to hell look to Barika.

"Damn things get everywhere." I said as I picked it up and trotted off. Who the hell does she think she is!? I came into that conversation and began things so well! I played on her level and she was still being a massive cunt! At the very least we were given what we needed to pursue out plan further. As soon as we were out of sight of the guard shack, I took the feather I had pulled from her tail and slid it behind her ear and whispered in her ear. "Don't listen to them, you are far from being a 'commoner' in my book."

Sunny gave a small smile as a reward for the kind gesture. Zuri gave me a nuzzle in return, my guessing for being kind to her friend like that or for trying to be kind in general. I hated the thought of anypony I liked being below me or being told they were what amounts to property. Maybe that is why I hated Slavers so much and why, when I should be feeling some remorse for what happened to the guards, I felt nothing at all. My mother was quick to point out that I had done wrong, but even she was more worried with us getting caught than the fact that I had killed two Zebras.

"Thank you, Joey. You are too kind." Sunny said as we approached the steps to what I could only describe as a monument to stupidity and ignorance. The massive stone building was clearly set in place long before I had even been born with it's worn and eroded exterior. It had largely been since covered with large red banners on either side, no doubt something promoting pure blood lines or some nonsense. Sunny, put a hoof up to stop us in our tracks. At the very motion, I watched as two guards tensed up and began staring us down. No doubt because a 'commoner' just touched a visitor... This place was really starting to fester a grudge with me. "I will talk with the guards for you. They are Carnilian." She said as she trotted up to present our paper work.

Zuri and I put on our best faces as the guards looked past Sunny and began harshly judging us with accusing glances. Oh hell... I can't kill them here, there are Zebras everywhere! If I caused a scene here there would be zero chance of actually getting to a Tribal Affairs office and buying Sunny's and my mother's freedom. The two guards seemed to look us over for quite sometime before parting ways and allowing for a sizable gap between them for us to pass. As enjoyable as pulling teeth, I was feeling more judged here that I had at Tenpony. Thankfully I was too embarrassed to show my face there, but I was just going to have to try and ignore their glances here.

That's right you stupid guards, make way for the filth train, population two Zebras and a Zony. As we trotted passed them, I would hear them mumbling to one another just as they came into earshot. I just make out 'mwana wa giza' as one of them looked me dead in the eyes. What the hell does that mean!? Did he just call me a son of a bitch? I shot him a stern glance but I was not met with the reaction I had planned on. Rather than staring me down he was actually falling back from me. It's official, Zebras are weird! I hated this, I hated not being about to read anypony or be able to judge intent from their body language like I could others. So few of them wore their emotions on their coats and it was driving me crazy!

Zuri pulled herself in close to me as we ascended the stone steps and found our way to the door. Sunny lead the way through the great halls, all things considered this was a beautiful place on the inside. The walls were gleaming white and looked more like pearl than any ornate marble that I had ever seen. The vaulted ceilings seemed to stretch on and on to a dull golden painted ceiling with glass plates that let the sun rain in like a yellow waterfall of colors as it hit the blackened floor. This wasn't a tribal office, it was a damn temple. As much as I wanted to find flaw with their design or glamour in building such a place, I could only think of how this once beautiful place had stood for so much more than it did now.

"Breath taking, no?" Sunny said, clearly taking in my aw struck demeanor.

"It is..." I said as I trotted forward. Easy, Joey, do not get distracted now.

The plan, if you could call it that was an ever changing one due to the uncertain nature of this place. I wanted to know as much about them as possible, but I was particularly interested in their actions towards visitors. I wanted to know why we had been allowed to come forward when others were not. I wanted to know their version of the history of the place. The latter being the more probable for them to lie to me, I had instead decided to probe their security for any weaknesses I could find. Seeing as I knew little if anything about their new customs, I needed to find out as much possible before coming up with a more solid plan.

The whole, buy Sunny and my mother plan had been a resent development, but the burn it all down and let them rebuild thing was still my go to plan. Reckless, wild and unexpected for sure, but honestly I was put in this position, I was left with little option beyond it. But what I could not figure out was how on earth I was going to get all the slaves free. A full on charge for escape was nearly out of the question, they would be cut down as fast as they ran out without any opposition. I would need an army to slow the guards down just to give them a short window of escape.

Then there was the matter of Zuri's mother as well. I had already decided that she was going to have to come with us if this were to work at all. I could not even begin to enact a thing without her somewhere safe, Zuri would be too distracted otherwise. Then finally, there was the reformation of the slaves to my side of the argument. I know that the very mention of freedom to some seems like a no brainer, but these were hardcore indoctrinated slaves... You can't just talk that out of any creature in the Wasteland. My experience with intercepting escaped slaves was more then enough testament to that alone without speculation.

They often would be scared, running aloof through the wilds of blasted out Equestria with little if any supplies and no plan as to what to do. More than once when I have found them, they would hide or curl into a ball and just... cry. The knew that slaves that had escaped faced a harsh punishment that some would equate to worse than death. So the moment they saw me coming they would just... shut down. It was both heart breaking and infuriating at the same time. I wanted to help them, but they were so far gone that they could not even help themselves anymore, even with another pony doing all the work. Those were the ones that could remember what it was like to be free, the ones born slaves rarely sought freedom at all.

So talking these Zebras into following orders outside of their masters was going to be beyond a challenge. Just getting them all in one place at one time to talk to them into my ridiculous plan was near impossible. Just speaking to them in general was going to be complicated without what I was sure was going to be yet another license! I really, REALLY hated bureaucracy almost as much as I hated slavery. But this was just above and beyond.

We trotted the hallways through out the building, taking note of all the guards and the various rooms and corridors. It was reasonably laid out, but the sear amount of rooms meant that we would need to check all of them to find where one if any of the elders were hiding out. Great... I love a scavenger hunt. At least the wing we were currently in was fairly un-populated giving us the chance to speak somewhat freely.

"Sunny, any idea of how I could talk to some of the worker Zebras? Like, do they have a place where they all got together at one point or another?" I asked hoping for a clear solution.

"No... They are forbidden from amassing. We are each directed to work alone, sleep along and eat alone." She said sorrowfully.

"Interesting. The maintain obedience by separation..." I said trying to find any angle at all to work.

"Joey... Can I ask you something?" Sunny said between Zuri and I.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Would you... purchase me? I mean, if you did not know me? I would just like to know is all." She asked in a low voice. This prompted looks from both myself and Zuri of sadness. She really was this beat down that she was curious of her own monetary value to have just one thing she could call her's? After much visual assurance that I would not be killed for saying it or even just touching her outside of a bedroom setting, I took the chance and answered her.

"Yeah... I think I would. You are cute and I like your personality... But I have Zuri already, so you will just have to settle as a friend i'm afraid. But I would totally buy you." I said, wrapping a wing around her. It was as close to a hug as I could get... Was she drooling? What the hell, oh! Right... Feathers... I gotta be more careful about that. Sunny looked up at me apologetically in her shy little smile.

"Sorry... I am not used to a... gentle touch." She said falling back from us just a little... Oh for the love of Luna... nopony is that damn sensitive! That had to be an act, but even if it were, she was selling the hell out of it. Curiosity got the better of me, I reached a wing over to Zuri and gave her flank a stroke. Yelp was not even close to the noise she made the moment my feathers touched her. She nearly cleared Sunny with how high she jumped!

"Joy! No! Not here!" She said snickering. I could already smell the both of them. Ah... That's not just a Sunny thing, that's a Zebra thing. I guess having wings here was an asset rather than a determent, now if only the rest of the Wasteland would learn that... I greedily began to think that my father had possible had this power as well and that was the true reason they outlaw pony/Zebra couples. Maybe we were just better at it.

We came to the end of the long hallway and found ourselves at a large door way. Just beyond the beaten and warn wooden doors, I could hear the commotion of several voices laughing and carrying on in a dignified manner. I took a moment to look ourselves over for any stray feathers and smudges. Sunny was as clean as fresh laundry if not for her... aroma she was still exuding. Zuri on the other hoof still had crumbs on her lip from the untimely demise of her breakfast. I brushed them off with a hoof and took a deep breath.

"Ok... This is it. Remember, stay calm and follow my lead. I want to press a few button and see if anything lights up."

"Joey, are you sure this is the best way?" Sunny said as she shy'd away.

"Yes... If I can piss somepony... Zebra off just right, maybe I can get them to drop something important. Remember, we are traders looking for diplomatic advice for our own tribe. Maybe they will talk about slaves, maybe not. Either way, keep your head down and mouth shut if you get pissy." I said as I pushed the door open. The room was lit from above from glass ceilings much the same way the rest of the building was. We were standing in a ball room filled with Zebras, but it felt more like a hornet's net. Much of the echoing talk faded out as we trotted in, falling to dull murmurings. Even with the hussed tone I was picking up a few of them saying the word Zony back and forth. Well, at least some of them speak pony...

"Hello. How may I assist you?" A buck asked in a very proper tone. I was taken aback, not by the fact that he was speaking so properly, no... I was shocked by his total absence of stripes! What was a pony doing here!? This place just keeps getting weirder!

"Uh... Yeah... Sorry it's just-"

"I can understand the shock. Many are not used to seeing ponies here, it takes... some getting used to. I thought that you being half pony yourself, you would see this." He said as he shuffled through some parchment. "Welcome to the Mgahawa... Table for three?"

"Sure... But, I have to ask... Why are you here? I mean, how does a pony end up in Zebraca?"

"I imagine the same way anypony does... Curiosity and a drive to find a land that is not irradiated. All of my travels landed me here. Now, is there anything else." He said curtly.

"Yeah actually... I'm trying to find a Zebra to speak with about Tribal affairs... maybe ones involving workers?" I asked skeptically. His demeanor hardened the moment I said the word workers. There it is! Everypony has a tell.

"Workers?" He scoffed. "I think you mean slaves." He said near spitting the last word out.

"You mean they are not considered workers here?"

"Please... As if any of them get paid. Surely even you can see that nopony wants to be here. You would have to be blind to think otherwise! But I can see that you are here under the absence of master Red Eye... I believe you will want to sit Withwalezi Wa Imani." He said as he ripped a few pieces of parchment from his little table and began trotting towards the back right corner of the room. By far and a large margin he was possible the rudest pony I had spoke with... possible ever.

On a normal day this would have resulted in me pissing him off as much as possible to make him lose his mind. But this was actually great news. His animosity betrayed his anger towards the situation and the current rulings of this place. Ponies have that never say die spirit to them like that. Even the slaves in Filly would speak out against their masters of left alone long enough. But some of these Zebras here were just... broken. If just one of them held on to that flicker of anger for what happened, then maybe, just maybe I could convince some of them to help with the plan.

He lead us throughout the entirety of the crowded restaurant before finally slowing us our seats. He displayed the menus across the tables and pulled the seats out with his magic for us. I had to admit, he had a lovely way of keeping cool under pressure. He had gone from unruly to subservient in just a few meters. The Zebras setting across from us wore a host of emotions. Some seemed to not notice us at all, a few were eager to speak and were showing enthusiasm... But one of them... One of them looked like he was ready to murder me if I starred for too long.

I leaned over to Zuri and pulled her ear down close to me and whispered in her ear. "Excuse yourself to the bathroom. Take the buck with you. Tell him what's going on and see what you can get out of him. See if the slaves have a place they meet up at." I said as quietly as I could. Zuri gave me a frightened glance but nodded in approval. "Excuse me... waiter. Please escort my college to the washroom and ensure that she is returned safely. If she isn't... Well, I will leave it to your imagination." I said sternly While rotating my wrist to show a dagger I had concealed in the band of my Pipbuck.

Though, honestly... I doubt the Pipbuck was needed. As soon as the knife got close to my leg, it stuck to it nearly like glue. This magnetic leg thing was really starting to piss me off. I looked back to the rest of the table, same looks, but Mr. Grumpy was looking a little less 'ima kill you'. Possibly because I was being rude to the waiter or that I was treating my Zebras poorly as they had.

"My my... A Zony in our little tribe." He said, looking me over. I gave him a accusing glare in return to show I was not about to be intimidated. "And a pegasi too. My, you must be quite the catch for Red Eye. How is it that you found yourself on Zebra duty?" His tone was cold, cool and very collected. All my suspicions came crashing home that this buck, he was an original Tribal Elder for Damu. The rest must be the visiting elders.

"Quite... Though I would imagine that I would be serving a false profit under him. Sure he has salves, but nothing like this place! Such obedience! I must say that I am very impressed. This must have taken several generations to breed into your stock." I said, hoping I was going to find some common ground on a bed of lies.

"Slaves? These are not slaves at all. They are our workers." He pulled back in repulsion that I would say such a thing. I looked around the table at all the Zebras that were now staring at me quizzically over my outburst. There we go, just stare at the Zony.

"Well, tomato, tamoto. But I could never serve him. He has drive and ambition, but it is a dead end road that whole... Slaver business. Ponies have a spark about them, something you just can't kill off no matter how hard you try. Eventually it leads to an inevitable end." I said, using my mag-leg to move the utensils on the table slightly to line them up.

"An end... What end would that be?" He said, leaning in across the table.

"Honestly? Revolution. You can only push Equines so far before then begin to push back. No, to keep that beat down you have to really break them... Take something from them that they could never get back. You have to take their hope and destroy it, leave a mark far deeper than any whip could. You have to control their lives." I said as I sat back in my chair and began playing with a fork. "But that is Red Eye's problem. I have a Tribe to build of my own."

"My... Are we not versed in the manners of the pony and as it would seem... the Zebra condition." He said, following my action to a T.

"It helps in my previous line of work." I said, noticing that I now had every Zebras attention.

"And that would be what exactly?"

"Oh, I was a therapist. I helped ponies and Zebras get over tragic events like being held captive or being forced to work for the likes of Red Eye. It is important that they learn to rotate back to the world they came from if they wish to survive. Many would just ball up and cry themselves to death given the chance. I was the one that... Free'd them from those mental bonds." I said greedily.

Every Zebra at the table now had their eyes trained squarely on me. If I had wanted to push some buttons before, I was now pulling levers and pissing on the control board. At least for one of them. I take it back, Zebras had loads of tells, you just had to get them chatting first.

"Well now, is that why you have found yourself here in our little tribe? Are you looking for lost little Zebras that need a ear to bend?" He said as he began to drink from his cup. Oh he was good... REALLY good.

"No, I find myself in this scorching land for something other then simple work. I'm looking to develop my own tribe back north. I have found several Zebras and Zonies in this land and I fancy the idea of encroaching on Equestria proper. There is no reason that given enough time that Zebras and Zonies could form tribes strong enough to take what is left of the land and make fair use of it. After all, we did win, didn't we?" I was putting on my best show as Zuri returned with a very shaken looking waiter. What had she done to him back there? He looked like she tried to flush him down the toilet or something. His amusing state was exactly what I was looking for to break the tension.

"Please... Mr?" A Zebra spoke.

"Coyote. Mr. Coyote." I replied politely.

"Mr.Coyote... You say that you are interested in propagating Equestria?" He said skeptically. The other Zebras at the table seemed to lean in closer at the very mention of long since forgotten resources that were seeming free for the taking.

"Well, yes actually. The land is barren, but still rich with resources. After all, we fought a war over it. So why is it that we have not claimed our spoils?"

"Please, forgive Fisi for his outburst. He is very passionate about his tribes core values, but I can see that you are rather open minded. After all, you are here. Could you tell me, what is it exactly you wish from us?"

"Sorry, but I didn't catch your name." I said, taking a sip of water.

"Mhasibu."

"Mhasibu... I only require some time to observe and document the processes of the tribe. Many of the Zebras that I have found and nearly all of the Zonies are completely out of touch with their heritage. Many do not, or do not wish to speak of the tribes that have come from out of fear or rejection. I feel that with core values, and a sense of who they are, they can become stronger than ever before. After all, shunning their ways would be the quickest step to recovery." I was swimming! I gave my every ounce of charisma I had as I did my best to fabricate a story on the fly and hope for them best.

"Well, I see no issue with this at all. Having a forward operating location would afford us a safe location for trade." Mhasibu said looking around. The crowd was mostly in favor of the idea, all save for one very pouty looking Zebra who moments ago looked to have been planning my own demise. "Please, you will inform us if you need anything at all. We can make such arrangements... Pending a meeting for you to fully explain your plan of course."

"Actually, there is one thing that I will be needing... I'm short supplied on help and teachers. I have access to medical and food, but I will need diligent teachers to follow out my orders precisely."

"We can arrange this." Another buck said speaking up. "We have well trained teachers right here, I am sure that appointing a few to your ranks will be easily done." He spoke in a deep tone befitting an actually elder.

"Oh, that will not be needed. I believe I have found two already. I am still looking for a third at them moment, but have a few 'workers' to check with later today." I said a matter of factly.

"Workers? You plan to use workers?"

"Yes. If they are taught by anyzebra that seems to be in a position of dominance, it well undermine the very thing I am trying to accomplish. They need to be strong willed. The teachers must be of equal status as the students for them to learn in a manner fitting a Zebra. I want them to be a true tribe, not a horde of mindless drones." Thank you shale for your book collection and that book on pack mentality!

"Very well. I will speak to tribal affairs myself and give you the free pass to procure three workers for your project. I will be honest Mr.Coyote... When you sat at this table, I thought that you were lost in your place, perhaps even coming to beg for money to fund a cause. It is rare that we hear from anyone that their motives are actually of progressive intent, let alone a Zony."

"I prefer to do things myself. If I am the only one that needs worrying, then I need not and worry. Also, I do not suppose there is a book detailing the history of the Damu tribe's government, is there? For all of my knowledge, I'm afraid I find myself lacking in literature befitting my goals."

"Yes, I believe the repository would have such a book." One of them said. Even with all the friendly and not so friendly banter, I had not learned any of their names. It was not for lack of trying, but rather lack of caring. I wanted to probe them as little as possible in order avoid the very same for myself. I had gotten in, got what I needed and gotten right back out again. Save for one Zebra, everything was going perfectly.

"Very well. I will be stopping by there a little later this afternoon before I head out." I said as I stood and motioned for the girls to do the same. "Thank you for your time and your assistance."

I could feel eyes staring a little softer having spoken with what I was hoping to be a few tribal officials in public. If anything it would have given us a green light around the town as we search for Zuri's mother. Things could have not gone better, if anything they had done perfectly! I had to give it to caliber, when I had pitched my idea of coming here to him, he was the one that told me to 'fake it until you make it'. I was just lucky that I was able to talk my way out of it this time. Had that one buck kept on, I was dangerously close to loosing my cool. He knew something, something he wanted me to know but refused to say it in front of the others.

If Fisi was one of the consuls, then he would have access to the history of this place first hoof. As much as part of me wanted to probe him further, I knew that the clock was ticking if we wanted to liberate the mares and get out of here. We were going to need all the head start we could get once the curtain dropped and the other tribe elders left. And I wanted to be as far from here as possible when it did. This was going to leave us precious little time to find her and leave.

We left the banquet hall behind us and made for the exit. There was only one thing left to do before we could move forward and it was something Zuri had been putting off. We rounded the corner and exited the building, trotted between the guards and found ourselves in the open street. It must be a shift change as we were smack dab in the middle of several tired and skinny Zebras.

"Joy, this went well?" Zuri asked.

"Better than expected. But we have to move fast." I said as I trotted behind a shack and was promptly attacked by a small mare from behind.

"You remembered. Thank you!" Sunny said from atop my back.

"Sunny... GAH! Sunny, you can't ride on my back here! We have to keep a low profile."

"Sorry. I am happy!" She said beaming.

"I know... Sunny, Do you have any idea where we could find Zuri's mother? We have to get to her. That buck was far too interested in me and I don't want to give him the chance to make good on any unfinished business."

"I am sorry. But I do not." Sunny said, giving Zuri a hug. "I am not near here were I live. I know that she lives on the same side of town as your hut. But that is all."

"That's more than enough." I said as I began to trot in that direction. "I mean... I found one run away Zebra, I could find another. It is my special talent after all." I said giving a wink. I was still riding a high from the impromptu meeting and my confidence, though shaky, was riding high with me. "What can you tell me about her?"

"She is older. OH! She had green eyes and a short mane and tale. She was injured long ago and trots with a limp." Sunny said.

"Well now... I guess we have a hunt on our hooves." I said as I started for our side of town.

"Are you sure... I mean we came all this way." I asked as we trotted through the maze of homes. Zuri's mother, Adia, had proven harder to locate than my enthusiasm had lead me to believe. Even with a limp, she was still hard to track down. Literally! They ALL had a limp! Had it not been for the chance encounter with a mare who knew her... well, we would still be going door to door! Even still, Zuri was acting uncommonly shy in comparison to her usual shyness. She was staying further back from us, letting us approach the doors first before looking for herself. She even insisted that I speak with her first, claiming it to be a Zebra tradition that the suitor speak to the mare's mother first...

Sunny was all too eager to point out that not only was this a complete lie, but it was actually tradition that she introduce me first. This earned her a swift swipe to the legs and sent her into a pile of refuse behind one of the huts. Sunny was sweet and very endearing in her qualities, but she really needed to learn to keep her mouth shut around Zuri. I had never met a mare who could swing a mood with such ease as her.

"Yes... I am sure. Please, I will not ask anything else of you again. Please speak to her first so that she knows I am safe." Zuri said as we came to the edge of her mother's hut... I hoped.

"Ok, but I'm only doing this to break the ice. I know you had a hard time with this back at the market, but you are giving her good news... not bad." I said as I motioned for her and Sunny to stand in the small alley way behind the shack. "Three taps... remember?" I asked. They both nodded and made good with hiding in a bush. Oh how I hope that is not the same bush she uses every morning... first meetings were awkward enough without your estranged daughter smelling of piss.

I trotted to the door and took a deep breath. I was nervous. Very nervous! I mean, what was I going to say anyways? "Hi! You don't know me, but I know you and I know your daughter! Every inch of her to be specific! Can we talk?" Yeah, I could see it now... I would be hung for killing a mare with words and profanity. Well, no going back now, time to make a complete ass of myself! I knocked on the door and was greeted with a week and fractured voice of a mare speaking Carnilian. I was impressed with myself that I was beginning to pick up on the subtle dialects between them so quickly... To bad I have no idea what she said.

"Halo, naweza kusema nawe?" I some how remembered what Zuri had told me say. Oh dear Luna... What if she set me up and I just said 'Hi, I fucked your daughter!'. A long pause accompanied by light steps followed the gibberish i'm sure I butchered. Great... no response and she is coming to kill me. I knew this was a damn trap! Zuri's social skills suck! The door opened and... my heart sank. I had not gotten a good look at her in the market, but Zuri must have. She was so thin I could count her ribs! Her hind leg wore week old bandages still stained with blood turned dark from lack of proper care. Her eyes were barely open, I couldn't tell it was from lack of sleep or if I had just woken her up. She was... pitiful.

"Ndio?" She started but froze mid sentence as she began to look me over quizzically. It was as if she were trying to place me somewhere in her memory but just could not put a hoof on it.

"Please tell me you know how to speak pony?" I asked with a sheepish smile.

"Y-yes. I know how to speak pony." She said with a weary voice.

"Hi, you don't know me... but I think I saw you at the market the other day? We nearly ran into one another?"

"Oh! Yes... I am sorry. I was not paying... attention." Ok... she was a little rusty with ponish, but hey! This is a good start!

"Listen... May I come in, I need to speak with you. It won't take long, I promise." I said with a soft smile. I was pulling out all the charisma stops this week, I was doing everything but using flirty eyes with her to put her at ease.

"I am... very tired."

"I know... Hunny I know. But this is important... I know you don't know me... but trust me, you want to." I near pleaded with her. After several tense moments, she reluctantly allowed me in. If my mother's home was sparse, her's was barren. If it were not for the box in the corner and what looked like a mattress on the floor, she did not seem to have any worldly possessions at all. I was getting a small taste of what Zuri saw in the market the other day, I was no longer questioning her screaming into my chest. She sat on the floor and looked at me with that same quizzical look she had at the door way and offered me a seat in front of her.

"You know me from somewhere... don't you? Somewhere other than the market." I asked.

"Yes... but I can not remember. It was long ago. You will have changed much. I know I sound crazy." Her words were wild and exotic. Nothing like my mothers or Zuri's. I had always used Zu's accent as a gauge on Zebra dialect, but her's... Her's was more... Tribal.

"I'm going to be completely honest with you... But you have to be completely honest with me and promise not to cause a fuss. Promise?" I said offering a hoof to her. She looked at it as if she had no idea what to do. " Shake hooves on it?" She raised her hoof and began shaking it... Whatever... close enough, I shook mine as well so I would not make her feel uncomfortable. I took a deep breath and sent a prayer to the universe that they would for once not be cruel and let my luck continue a little longer.

"My name is Coyote Joe... But you might know the name Kit." Her eyes grew wide as she began looking me over more thoroughly. "Now... stay calm... I was one of the Kutelekezwa, The Abandoned. My mother is Kamaria and I have come to speak to you about your daughter." For a brief moment I saw the most magical thing happen. The once nearly dead looking Zebra lit up like a new monitor and gave just the smallest sign of hope. I knew it, I new they had not abandon all hope, there was still something there.

"Z... Zuri? You know Zuri!?" She started in excitement.

"Yeah... you could say that. I have known her for a long time actually." I said rubbing my neck. Ok, there's that awkward feeling I was waiting for.

"You know my Zuri! My Zuzu!?" She said as she lunged forward and grabbed me.

"Whoa! You call her that too? I thought I was the only one. It's funny, because she call's me Joy for some reason." I said blushing.

"Is she well!? Is she safe?" She was rambling. Had she not seen her when we were in the market at all?

"Wait... you didn't notice her? She was..." Nevermind, now was as good as ever. I can't sit here and watch her tear herself apart with worry any longer. "Well... She is very well. As far as safe..." I stomped my hoof three times and listened to the bushes outside scrape the side of the hut. "Well, safe is relative."

The door cracked open and Adia froze in shock. We both seemed to hold our breath when the rump of a mare came into view. Ok, not the best way to meet your mother for the first time in years... But it was a start I guess. Sunny then came into full view with a mouth full of tail as she drug in a shaking and eyes covered Zuri through the door.

"Zuri... please help!" Sunny stammered. I got up from the floor and hovered over top of Zuri. With all four of my hooves I picked her up and brought her to face her mother on the floor. Her eyes were still covered, but Adia was putting on quite the show of her own. Beside herself, in total awe of what was happening right before her eyes, she was trying her best to hold in her own tears. I had seen that look, it was the same one Zuri had in the market. I motioned for Sunny to close the door and stand watch.

"Zuri... she is waiting..." I whispered to her as I let a wing drape over her. Slowly, the shaking and terrified Zebra opened her eyes and saw her mother nearly nose to nose with her. The two stood in silence for a moment before raising a hoof to one another.

"Is it you?" Adia asked placing her hoof on Zuri's cheek.

"Yes. It is." Zuri said as I watched on in pure happiness. So that is what that looks like. Cute.

"I have dreamed of you. What you looked like now! You are so... grown!" Adia said as she reached for her.

"Mama!" She squeaked as she lunged forward and wrapped her in a hug. The two began to cry and Sunny and I watched on with our own tears of joy beginning to bead. I had returned so many lost foals in my life, but none had ever been this heart felt for me.

Something never get old. I know I complain about my job in life, but who doesn't. It's little moments like this that many take for granted. Seeing a mother reunited with a foal or a long lost friend being brought back from the hell that is filly... it's just unmatched. Through all of my complaining about lost ponies in the Waste, I never got tired of seeing a happy mother hug her foal, no matter the age like it were the first time they had ever met. It was pure, nearly heartbreaking to see with my own eyes, but it never got old.

Ten years ago I found Zuri and I got my Cutiemark, now here I sit having delivered yet other foal from the clutches of the Wasteland, just as my mark had told me to do all those years ago. Sure it took me a while, sure I wish I had not let her leave... but would have things gone this way had I not done that? Would we be sitting here? The universe unfolds as it should and even though I want every one of those years back, I would not trade it for this moment right here. She gave me a chance, I gave her love. She gave me hope and I gave her my life to find her. She gave me her trust and now I was giving her a family.

We watched on as the two of them got reacquainted for sometime. I could tell by the sun that it was approaching noon by the time the two began to calm down and remember that there were other ponies in the room with them as well. Elation gave way to pink cheeks of embarrassment as they saw us looking on with smiles at their outward display of emotion.

"Oh... Joey... is it? Please, you and your mare, please, join us! We have much to talk about." Adia said motioning us over. Awkward!

"Eh... Sunny here is not my mare... She's sweet, lovely actually. But my heart belongs to another." I said as I trotted over and gave Zuri a nuzzle.

"She is not... OH! You and-and you?" She asked in shock. It wasn't a bad kind of shock, but she was very surprised.

"Yes. He is my Buck." Zuri said with glee.

"We met not long after... well, we met. it was completely by chance and kind of a long story." I said with a laugh.

"Please! I want to know! I have many questions!"

"Well, we don't have long... we are leaving soon." I said as I watched her heart break right before my eyes. I nearly blurted it out before Zuri corrected me.

"He mean all of we. You too. You, me, him, her and Joy's mama too." Zuri said excitedly.

"But... how?" Adia said with worry.

"Oh, that part was easy... do you know that you can buy Zebras? There is more to it that that... but suffice to say we want to make sure that you and my mother... and Sunny are safe before we go into get the rest of the Zebras out of here."

"Wait... All of the tribe? But how-" She started.

"That is something we will talk about later. For now, we only have a little time before we have to go to Tribal Affairs to get your papers and leave."

"Yes. I will listen." She said as she lay down on the floor.

So, we had our moment. I told her about how I found Zuri and Zuri told her about how I had saved her. It was a bit over embellished but I didn't stop her. Adia was less than thrilled about Zuri leaving me ontop of a mountain, but she did seem to understand why she had done it at least. From there we swapped stories about what had happened in the last ten years of our lives. My stories were funny, telling all about mine and Caliber's antics in the Wasteland, even where I was bitten by a shark pony and got stripes. Adia said I was something of an oddity having my stripes come in so late, but admitted to not understanding it. Zuri's stories... well they hurt. They were all sad and lonely stories of her just barely getting by. I felt guilty every time I tried to lighten the mood. She ended with us meeting on the beach as if it were right out of a book.

"We have been together ever since. I just won't let her out of my sight." I said with a chuckle.

"It would seem that you have found your soul mate." Adia said as she stood and trotted over to the box in the corner. She soon returned with a small bundle of cloth and placed it before us. The cloth had seen some hard times with its ragged edges and small holes through out. But through them I could just make out the glint of gold that was shinning brightly through the cracks.

"Zuzu... This is yours now. I have carried it for so long now, it is time for you to take it from me." She said as she undid the cloth and relieved a necklace very much so similar to mine with a purple stone in the middle. "This belongs to you. I am sorry that you never got a chance to be given it until now."

Zuri looked on in awe as she gently picked it up and turned the pendant over in her hooves. I have one of those, it was given to me when I first got my Cutiemark and made it back to town. It was my birthright, my one connection to my parents and the one thing I had protected all of these years. Zuri's eyes began to water as her mother helped her do the clasp around her neck and adjust the pendant to sit perfectly on her chest. She had been denied this moment for so long and it was something I had taken for granted.

I guess I was more worried about getting a Cutiemark than a necklace because I had not value for it. I had not history behind it nor did I even knew what it had said at the time other than my name. Guilt was one of the emotions I was dealing with more than anything in this moment, I was happy for her, but I was feeling guilt for not making this a priority for her. Even though I tried to tell myself that I had no emotional significant towards such a simple act due to my upbringing, I still felt... Guilty.

"Oh how I wish I could have the years back!" Adia said mournfully.

"Hey... don't do that. You are hear now... you both are. You both did what you had to do but soon it will be over." I said, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"You are very much like your father, you know." She said as she leaned into my leg.

"You knew him?"

"Yes. He was a very loving buck. Very intimidating, but I had never known any to care as he." She said giving me a knowing smile.

"So it's true... He fought for your freedom?"

"Yes... It was a hopeless cause. But he wanted to try, he wanted us all to try. He would say 'We deserve better.' and 'I will fight until I am the last one standing.'. Your mother loved him dearly, we all did." She said giving my bag a nudge. "Do you have a necklace too?"

"Yeah... I do." I said as I dug through my bag before pulling it from the dusty refuse. In my haste I pulled my journal out into the floor with it in all it's foalish glory. Why did I keep that damn thing, I was a buck now, it was very unprofessional.

"OH, what is this?" Adia said with a cheeky grin.

"This is his journal. I remember this!" Zuri said as she greedily scooped it up and began hoofing through the pages. "Oh! This must be where I feel asleep! And here is a picture he drew of me... I was again, asleep!" Zuri giggled as she showed her mother all my prepubescent scribbling. Before I could snatch it away, she found my note I had written late on night on the trail above Silver Shoe with all my dates scribbled in it. I had never shown anypony that page and I never wanted to, it was despite, hopeless romanticism... Then again, here I am now.

"Joy... You never showed me this..." Zu said as she kept flipping the pages.

"Because it's embarrassing." I said as I tried my best to hide my face in my hooves.

"Do you mean these things... Do you truly mean these things?" Adia asked, giving me a nudge.

"Yes... All of them..." I was mortified. My marefriend's mother was reading all my deep thoughts about her daughter. Just kill me now. Quick or slow, I really don't care.

Adia guided me back up to my hooves and offered to help me put my necklace on. Fare be it from me to ask how Zebras could manipulate such small parts with their hooves the way they did, I had always just put my head through the giant hole the chain made. But nevertheless, she was quick about it and stepped back to admire her work with a smile. Did all mother's posses that power? Or was it just a Zebra mother thing? It was just such an approving smile.

"Well... Zuri? How do you feel about Joy?" She asked. Ok, that's shocking... I was about to get the truth for sure now. I looked to her with a 'gotcha now' smile and tried to hold in my enthusiasm.

"I... love him. He is the one that makes me not scared anymore. Without him, I would be lost. I know that I am happy when he is near but sad when he is gone. I want to be with him forever. I trust him with my heart." She said with a smile. Ouch, right to the ego. Oh! Hello guilt! I had no clue you would be back so soo-

"Joey? How do you feel about Zuri?" She asked, holding a knife. Ok... things are getting scary in little Zeeberville. Why did she have a knife? Was she smiling because she was happy or because she was about to kill me?

"I-I... Why do you have a knife?" Shit... Didn't mean to say that... did not mean to say that at all!

"Oh! Do not worry. It is tradition! I am not going to harm you." She said lovingly... or quite possible psychotically... The lines were really starting to blur.

"Well... I waited ten years to be with you. I tracked you all over the Wasteland and I dreamed about you almost every night. I was heart broken when you left, but from the moment I saw you on the beach, it was like you never left at all. I guess you were always with me... in here." I said point at my heart. "Now that I'm with you, I never want to be apart from you again. I can't stand the thought of something happening to you and I know I would do anything to be with you. I love you. You are my special some Zebra." Well that went corny fast. I was great with words... just not expressing my feelings.

"Then it is done. Two lovers, bonded at the heart strings forever more." She said as she used the tip of the knife to pluck the stone from my necklace and then Zuri's. I was about to loose my mind until I watched her place Zuri's stone in my necklace and mine in her's. Oh... ok, now the knife made since! "Please, your hooves." She said as she invited us to hold our hooves out in front of her. With a quick slice of the blade, she cut lightly into our skins in one swift blow. Before I could recoil in horror, she then placed our legs together at the fetlock, scar on top of scar. "Allow the blood to flow into you both so that you may be one forever. When one feels pain, the other will bare it too. When one is sad, you both will cry and when one is lost, no other love shall replace it."

I was confused, shocked and above all, moved. Was this a Zebra marriage? Had Zuri and I just gotten married? I felt a warm sensation like no other flowing through my arm and into my chest. It was as if I was being filled with light, touching every part of me that hurt and washing it away under a soothing glow. I was left to wonder if all the things she had said were just for the moment, or if she was being serious, because I had never felt like this before.

"What is this..." I said slack jawed.

"It is the bonding. You two shall live on within one another. It is what the ponies call, marriage. But to us... it is much more. The Damu mate for life." She said as she replaced her knife in the box from where it came and closed it up tight. "It is the same blade that bonded me to my mate and your father to your mother."

I wasn't feeling the sting of the cut anymore. I was feeling the sting of heartache and longing. The knife that had just severed my fetlock and bonded me to my mate for life had been the same one that had bonded the couple that ushered me into this world. It was as close as I was going to get to my parents... It was as close to my family I had ever been. I looked to Zuri who was feeling the same thing I was, I could tell just by looking at her.

I was feeling such a great resposiblity on my shoulders. I had no family, but now, I had the chance to make one. I had to be the leader and pull us all forward through this together, safe and unharmed. As much as this land meant nothing to me before, now it was beginning to hold value. If not though me, then through every Zebra here that wanted more than just to slave their lives away. But one thing still remained, I had to get them out of here first. I had to get them back to Site 103 where they would be safe behind the walls in the stable before I could do any of that.

"Are you going to kiss her?" Sunny asked from about four inches away. Wow, I though Zuri was sneaky, Sunny was the definition of it! The two of us kissed and our wrist parted. To my amazement, there was no blood, just a scar beneath my coat that was jet black with fur and raised from the healing. At first I thought it was my healing powers, but then I saw that Zuri had one too, just like mine. We were marked as each others, for life.

When I came here I had expected adventure, fighting and maybe even the odd sneaky mission. But there had been far too little sneaking and far more two faced conversation for my liking. I was... confused. On one hoof there was a massive nuke pointed at every Zebra's hooves at this very moment, but on the other there was nearly any sign of opposition whatsoever! The whole place was just one big suck hole of sad and boredom. Even with our trip to the cave, I had thought more than two lives would have been lost that night. This whole place was throwing me so far off my game! What angle were they playing, just... enslave the masses, kill their kids and act natural? If that were the case, Caliber would have a strong argument for his signature move from here on out.

This was all besides the fact that I was growing more and more uncomfortable in my own skin. Granted, being here felt... right? Like I was grounded and had a firm footing for one of the first times in my life, but at the same time I was dealing greatly with the slow dying of my own hatred for my stripes. I still wanted to just be me, plain old boring Joey. The lonely coyote that hunted slavers and found kids when they went missing. If my name meant anything to me, then the book I read would lead me to believe that I had something called a 'prey drive' and was starting to feel hungry again.

I hadn't fired a shot in anger or grievance in nearly a month and it was really starting to show. Was I really that pony? The one that hunted down slavers and never even spoke to them before giving them a dirt nap? Had I really been that corrupted my entire life as to never give anypony with a bounty or a time card from Filly a chance at redemption? Everypony that Dj-Pon3 would talk about so highly of on the air seemed to be that way, they would at least give them the chance to explain themselves if they were not being shot at.

Was that really who I was? Yes... YES it is and damn it, I need something to hunt! Don't get me wrong the sex and family reunions were soul candy for sure, but this whole bedded down life was beginning to really wear on me and it had only been two days. Here I thought I was the cool, calm and collected type, but I was actually starting to miss my rifle. As much as I was telling myself that there was nothing here but a fucked up society of Zebras that call slaves workers, I had been told more than once that they were not what they seemed. I had to find out for myself, I had to find the chink in their armor if I were to free the land back to all the slaves eventually.

I wanted answers to the questions that were nagging at me. What state was their government in? Who exactly was this tribal leader they had told me about? Why do the slaves not run when they can, I mean, you can't keep track of that many slaves with out Filly levels of fencing. I wanted to know more about this place, I wanted to know why I should hate it without being told to. But every time I came around them with the girls with me, they would stiffen up, some would even start trotting the other way entirely! It was subtle, enough so that I wouldn't think about it until later, but it was there.

Were they trying to avoid me because they could not hold their tongue and suppress their anger for 'filth' being near them? Did they do it to avoid questioning? But somewhere deep down I wondered if it was because I was never alone. If I were not flanked by a local Zebra, perhaps they would come out to play, maybe talk a little or slip up in front of the other elders. Nothing like pissing off somepony to find out exactly how they felt about you. I needed to know, even worse, I WANTED to know, but beyond it all, I wanted to hunt.

So I hugged Zuri, sunny and my newly acquired mare-in-law and started for the door.

"Where are you going?" Zuri asked.

"To do something stupid. Something fool hearty."

"Joey, no!" Oh, she was breaking out my real name. She didn't like that at all.

"Look, I have to go pay... something... for your mother's, Sunny's and my mother's freedom, right? I don't even know what that something is. Could be bottle caps, could be beaver pelts... At this point I have no clue. But what I do know is that anytime I am in the streets with Zebras near me, they all act different. I want to know why." I said as I gathered my things.

"He is a curious one, no? He seeks out the answers he does not know the questions to!" Adia said with a giggle.

"What now?" I grumbled in my frustration.

"Slaves are traded for services. Three slaves, three favors to the tribe. You will not need to pay right away, but you will one day pay."

"That sounds like a terrible way of doing business... What's to stop me running off and not paying?"

"Oh silly. They will hunt you. You are not the only tracker to come from this land or from beyond." She said matter of factly.

"Great... hunted by Zebras... I hope they like the cold because that is where we are heading."

"Oh no, not just the Zebra... The Red Eye as well!"

Zuri scoffed, as did I. He had been hunting me for years now with no luck. His lackies were as good as being hunted by blind turtles as good as they were. Even Zuri didn't seem to pay them much of a worry, I guess when you have beaten them at their own game long enough, you stop paying attention to them.

"Red Eye? He's been hunting me for as long as I can remember... All the way back when Zu and I had first met. They are not as big of a deal as someponies make them out to be."

"No, not the Red Eye pony..." I froze in my tracks. There are TWO Red Eyes!? What the hell?

"Beg your pardon?"

"No, the Red Eye you know is a pony. The Red Eye I speak of is a... How do you say... Wolf. Yes, a big wolf."

"So this tribe has a megaspell, well behaved slaves and a damn trained tracking wolf. Awesome."

"No, I do not believe that the wolf is damned. I believe they captured it."

"Whatever. Tell me about the big bad wolf I should be scared of." I said, leaning against the door.

"The Red Eye is a vile beast. Trained to hunt down its prey with out mercy. The slaves, they try to run, but the wolf brings them back. I try to run once. It carried me back. Told me that I would be killed the next time. Its bite never heals, it reminds you to follow orders." She said politely. She was every bit as weird as her daughter in how she spoke and the tones she chose.

"Ok... I'm a Coyote, I'll bite. How did they get a freaking wolf, train it to hunt slaves and keep it bedded down in this damn heat?"

"Oh, he has always been here. He is a pet of the Tribe's Leader. Kijivu is what he call's it. It obeys his every command because he speaks the same words as his master."

"So it speaks too... This is really starting to sound like those dogs from Hoofington. Wait, let me guess... it live underground and tunnels everywhere it goes?" I said sarcastically.

"YES! You have heard the stories, no?" She said in excitement.

"No... just a very, very, VERY unlucky guess. Sand Dogs..."

Great... Just great... Normally I wouldn't be worried about Sand Dogs, but I had never got along with the Diamond Dogs of Hoofington very well. Call it me being what equates to a feral to them, a mutt as they call it. They could always smell it on me I guess, but that being said, I had always just thought they were assholes. Turns out they are just incredibly perceptive with a great sense of smell... and they are assholes. But having three Zebras in tow with me meant a very long walk back to the Site, something I was already dreading without some tunneling pain in the ass wolf thing coming after us along the way.

"You will want to chose your tasks for the tribe wisely. Perhaps help some of the slaves some how or even offer to stand watch at the gate."

"So let me get this straight... I can just do some small tasks and... poof... I get three Zebras."

"A task is only as small as the meaning behind it. What may be small to you, may be life changing to others."

"Alright I guess... I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll try to be kind about it." I said as I nosed the door open.

"Do not create debts that you can not pay, Joy." Adia said rather sweetly considering the darker meaning. "They tend to follow you to the grave."

"Yeah-yeah... I can do that too... Never play cards with a pony named Doc. Never eat a place called Arbu and never sleep with a mare whose more mentally disturbed that you are." I said half joking and half worried that I was in fact guilty of the last two. Say what you will, but their stew is not half bad if you try not to think about it. "Is it safe enough for you three to go to my mother's house? I like the idea of you all being near by and her place is nearest to the tribal office."

"Yes, it will be safe there." Adia said as she gathered her things.

Red eye'd wolves, bombs... weird Zebra magic... This was all just beginning to get weird if it were not for the fresh hoof tracks I was staring at. I had paid close attention for any... one that might be near by while we were having our little moment in the shack and I had heard nothing. But the tracks in the sand were telling a different story. Some Zebra had crept up to the door and had been listening in to everything. They started at the back alley way, paused and shifted around and lead back into town.

"Now who do you belong to..." I mumbled to myself. After hearing Adia's story, they could belong to anyone of the slaves that had tried to escape at some point. The more I thought about it, there were more than a few that had the same bandages on their hind legs as she wore. As everything in my life, one track leads to another, one more question with even less answers. Just once I want to just... turn around and boom! There's the buck I'm hunting. No games, not tracking... just bam! Gotcha!

I followed the tracks and took note that this particular set seemed to have a hitched gate to them. Something indicative of a hind leg injury, or even hobbling of some sort. I had seen tracks like these with Adia and way back when I was younger and tracking that red buck into a canyon. The further I followed them, the more that something began eating at the back of my mind. I was nearing town and I began taking in all the other Zebras that had the same strange gate as the tracks I was following. One Zebra who had just trotted to a stool and sat down seemed to be nursing his hind leg greatly.

Trotting carefully, I decided to break what I was sure to be a rule of some sort and have a chat with him. He was very tired looking, I suspect from working the fields with a leg injury of some sort, but never the less, he looked exhausted. What were the chances that he might speak ponish at all? I was banking on his age that he might have some remnants of it kicking around in his head from back when they all knew ponies as friends. I pulled up a stool next to him at the little hut he was sitting at and took in his accusing glare.

"Let me guess... you have no idea what I'm saying, do you?" I said in exasperation.

"I know little." He said sternly.

"What's wrong with your leg?" I asked, point blank. I was already feeling the pain of being shot down when he answered.

"My leg is hurt." Blank stares work on ponies, but I figured I would need to actually say 'no shit...' for him to understand mine.

"I gathered... How did it get hurt?"

"Why do you want to know, filth." Oh that's rich, he smells like something dead and I'M the filth.

"Because I might have something in this bag that could help it. You never know! Us Zonies are a CREEPY bunch!" I said as sarcastically as I dared. He regarded me for a moment before narrowing his eyes and speaking softly.

"I was bitten by the Red Eye. Like many others. I tried to escape, but I was found and dragged back." He spat the last word as though it were my fault.

"Ok, no need to spray it. May I see." I asked, offering a hoof to his leg. He reluctantly raised it and I rested it in my lap. The blood soaked bandages had began to turn black with old clotted blood and neglect. Carefully, I undid the bandages to better see his wound and... Oh my Luna... I could actually see bone exposed. My shocked terror at the very sight was more than enough to put me right back in that operating room in the Site.

"It is the mark the beast leaves. It will never heal, no matter the brew." He said, trying to pull it away but I insisted to take a closer look. I held my breath at began giving it my best field medicine once over. Torn flesh, still bleeding lightly. The hide around the wound had lost it's hair due to prolonged swelling as well. The bone was still yellowish colored, but there was no sign of infection. Nope, this was a cause of missing flesh syndrome, something that would never heal without a healing potion or some Zebra Equivalent.

"Do you not have a healing... Brew? Spell? Maybe a potion?" I asked as I kept looking it over.

"No! They are forbidden! We are not allowed to make brews!" He said matter of factly.

"Ok, that leaves me no choice..." I said digging in my bag for a healing potion. One I had found one, I was quickly reminded of the fact that my leg was still a fridge magnet by the needle of a used med-x first jabbing into my leg from the attraction. Well, at this point it was becoming more annoying than anything. I popped the cork on the vial and began pouring it directly into his wound, as if it were magic the hide began to grow back together and the bone was being covered with muscle. I gave him the other half and coached him to drink it, I wasn't going to be needing it anytime soon, might as well go to some Zebra to make his life a little more bearable.

"Do many of you run?" I asked quietly.

I finished up with a roll of medicated bandages and tied a piece of string around it to keep it in place. The injury he had would not keep him from working if he were a slave, but it would be excruciating nonetheless. A painful reminder of how you do not disobey direct orders not to run and try to escape. Just another thing to add to the 'this place is going to burn' file in my head. But at least his wound would heal, I couldn't say as much for the others.

"Yes. Many try. Many are brought back. Some try again. They don't come back." He said, trying to mimic my hushed tone, but failing. "Will it heal?" He asked with just a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Ok, change the bandage tomorrow morning and try to favor your leg for the next day if you can. Should be fine in that amount of time." I said as I hopped down off the stool. The older buck wore a pained expression as if he were dealing with some complex emotions but had no clue how to express them. I watched as he carefully reached his leg down to the ground and winced, but suddenly realized that he was not nearly in as much pain as he was before we met. "Ok, have a good one!" I said as I turned and trotted off.

"Thank you..." He spat out, half remorseful and half over joyed.

"Don't mention it. Just remember, not all Zonies are bad. Some are just like you." I said as I trotted off.

What an odd buck. I could only imagine that what I had just done was save his life by a few more days, but at the same time, it felt kinda good to help some Zebra out like that. Odder still, his hooves were the same size and shape as the ones I had been following. That being said, I would admit that the size and shape were rather... normal, so there was no telling if it was him that had stopped by the shack or not. Either way, one good deed... maybe.

I pointed myself towards the largest building in town, hoping that I could get in in time to see the tribal affairs officer and get this debt thing settled out. I was doing my best to take in the glaces I was getting around me. Everywhere I looked slaves shuffled from one place to another. Before they would just glance at me, but now, now they were straight up staring. They weren't as accusing as the but at the hut, but they were defiantly whispering something to one another.

Part of me rejoiced that I had been right in that the girls being near had altered their perception of me. But a larger part was worried about what they were saying. They had the best poker faces I had ever seen for what it was worth. Their eyes seemed... softer. Something akin to happiness but not so much so that they would express it. But Deception being the hardest thing on this world to detect accurately, it was all suspect speculation at best. I did however notice that they were trotting oddly closer to me the further I went.

I like having a small bubble around me, a little spear of safety they I could feel confident in. But they were beginning to crowd me out the further I went. I didn't like it, I was waiting to feel something sharp dig into my skin at every moment. I know all too well about mob murdering, I had seen it first hoof more than once. Everypony surrounds the pony they hate, they crowd them out and boom... Knife to the throat and its all over. I was on edge, waiting to sprint towards the sky and make a break for it when some Zebra leaned into me and guided me off the main street and into an alleyway.

As bad as I wanted to fly off and give this place the hoof, I was too curious as to why I had not been killed yet. We trotted behind the tribal office into a dead end alley littered with refuse and vile smelling matter that I really didn't want to think about. The two Zebras who had lead me here wore their cloaks low and near their noses to conceal themselves better. They trotted in front of me and turned to face me, I on the other hoof tensed up and readied myself for a quick grab at one of my knifes. I was scared... but I had been waiting for a moment like this and I would be lying if I said I wasn't just a little excited.

"You two know I can't fly right? If you plan to attacking, you had better be quick about it." I said as I trotted side to side, eyeing them up and down. Mares, half a head shorter than me. Both sporting injuries on their hind legs as well. They didn't look like fighters, they were too... thin? Weak looking? But I had been deceived more than once by an opponent.

"We are not going to attack you. Please... Remove your bags." One of them said in an older voice.

"Oh, so a robbery then. Well, you can have these bags as soon as you can get to me." I said, sprawling my wings out.

"We are not going to rob you." The other said softly. Ok... not the voice I expected from under that cloak. It was firm but light like a teenage mare.

"Well you two are no fun at all... I'm leaving." I said as I turned to... well... leave.

"No! Please... My we see?" The same voice said again.

"See what?" I said stomping a hoof. "What is wrong with being direct and clear in a request, eh? Can't Zebras just come out with it and ask something clearly!?"

"We wish to see your flank."

"YOU DON'T BEAT AROUND THE BUSH, NOW DO YOU!?" I shouted.

"Please! Remain calm! You do not want them to hear us. We wish to see your mark." The older voice said.

"You two random mares, want to see my Cutiemark..." Well, I had been asked stranger things in my life, but this was a little more on the creepy side of things.

"Yes." They both said. Oh hell, what could it hurt. They didn't look like a threat, they were slaves for sure... might as well see where this dark road goes. I removed my bags and stepped forward towards them.

"It is true. Kamaria was telling the truth." The younger mare said.

"Yes. See, I told you she was speaking of the one. He is here!" The older mare said.

"Ok, lots of questions. How do you know my mother, why is my butt so interesting, why would she be lying and why am I being called 'the one'?"

"It is you that she had for seen. It was in her dreams. She spoke of a stallion that would one day come for her and take her away. She said that she saw our land returned to us one day by the hoof of a strong buck! You are the son of Malaika Mweusi, The"

"Dark Angel, I heard the story. What is this to you?" I asked, closing the distance.

"You are not alone. There are more of us, more of us that will fight with you!" The young mare said, letting her cloak fall back. Her one eye that was facing me was yellowed but still wore the color of baby blue, her other was missing entirely. I was heart broken to hear a voice so sweet and see that somepony had attacked it like that at one point. "We wish to be free!" She pleaded.

"Look. What you are talking about, the things you are say can get you killed. Even if I were planning such a thing, what makes you think I would want anyone's help?"

"We can help you, Coyote. We can talk to the others for you. There are many others that need the chance to fight." The older mare said, removing her hood as well. Her eyes were both there, same shade of baby blue but so tired looking I could hardly believe she was awake and talking to me.

"I understand what it is like to want to win something back. Really, I do. It lead me here, nearly killed me more than once doing too. But this is not a time or place for Zebra's that are on their last legs. I promise you that what you are talking about is not just as easy as a quick fight. This is a war, not everyone will make it back out of it." I said, trying by best to dissuade them.

"PLEASE... Please... We beg you to listen." The young one pleaded.

"Listen to what? Pleads of a lamb willingly leading themselves to slaughter?"

"No... Please... just listen. That is all we ask. If there is to be a war, we wish to have the chance to fight."

Against my better judgement, I was open to the idea of any and all help, but not this. They were barely standing, barely breathing in fact! Just by hearing them out I was in a way giving them hope for something I wasn't even sure was obtainable. Hope can be both the best and worst things to many, but to them I would wager it being the latter. But even still, I was lost in Zebrica with little if any plan to help them, I had bounced around and gotten my overall objectives met, I was by all accounts ready to head home! But I couldn't shake that feeling like there was still unfinished business here, something left untied that needed to be set right. What choice did I have but to listen to them?

"Ok... Fine. You have five minutes to tell me why I should let you be part of this slaughter." I said sitting beside a wall near the corner.

"We were not always like this. We were once a proud and strong tribe! Fierce fighters, strong leaders and an unshakable will! My family hails from a long line of warriors, as do many! No warring tribe dared to cross spears with the Damu for fear of oblivion. We were strong once. We wish to be strong again. Strong within one another. Strong with ponies." The older mare said with conviction.

"Yeah well, ya'll don't look too strong these days." I said unconvinced.

"Sometimes things we believe to be unshakable, are more fragile than we would like to believe, Coyote." The young mare began by pulling out a few trinkets from her cloak. She lay before me a shabby looking doll fashioned from straw and twine and a little hoof carved wooden boat. "Sometimes to destroy something unshakable, you must kill it entirely. For us it was our hope, our future. Our little ones. When you take something so precious away from a Zebra... There is no getting it back. We were devastated, broken beyond all measure, inflicted with a cut so deep that it would not heal. We lost the lights in our lives."

"Forgive me, but... If you are so broken, why are you here? Why are you in the alleyway right now risking it all just to talk to me?" I asked. There words were carrying more weight than I had imagined they could given my renewed vigor to get out of here.

"We want it back, we want hope! We know that nothing we do will bring back our little ones, but we need to be free again! We have suffered our great loss, but we have no where left to go! We wish to die, but not in the fields, not like this. We were once a proud tribe, we will never be this again, we lost that the day we lost our babies. It took something from us that made us weak! We want it back!" She said, drawing a circle around the little toys in the sand.

All this time I thought they were being forced into slavery because they were afraid to die, but here they were telling me that they actually wanted to die! No wonder they were so subservient and so tame. They weren't scared, they were completely and utterly broken on the inside! When the new leader came to power, he didn't just enslave the tribe, he broke their backs and stripped away the one thing that would ever cause them to rise up in opposition. He took away their rage. He took away the very thing they fought so hard for.

Shoari's audio guides had said that the Damu tribe were very proud of their pure blood line. But what if that didn't mean their pedigree, their actual blood line, but their heritage. What if the Damu were proud of who they were, how strong they were and how hard they fought? Clean bloodlines from an origin were what I had thought were valued and in ways, they were... by their new leader... But they were speaking more like it was the actual spirit of the Damu that mattered to them.

"I have to ask you something... It is very important that you answer me very clearly and directly." I said leaning in close. "To the Damu, what is more important... Blood or Family? Lineage or heritage?"

"To us, family is the most important thing above all. It matters not of where your are from, who you are or what you are... Your spirit is the measure of who your are." The older mare said.

"So ponies and Zebras... There is no bad blood there?"

"No. We wish not to fight with ponies. We have done this before, it is not the way to peace." The younger mare said.

"Then I have my answer. If you want peace, then you should best prepare for war. If you want to help, I will only ask that you do so quietly. Many lives are counting on you keeping this quiet. Even more that we pull this off." I said as I stood to gather my bags.

"Our suffering in silence is at an end. We will find our courage on the tips of our spears." They both said together.

"You said that the leader taking your little ones from you is what broke the tribe, right?" I asked as I did up my clasps.

"Yes. It will be hard for us to should the burden of sorrow in battle, but will will find a way. We will cast it away." The older mare said.

"No, don't. Fight for them. Use that pain and aim it at his head. Take all your pain and use it to fuel you. Let it fill you up and push you passed the breaking point of anger."

"What are you saying?" The younger mare asked.

"Seek revenge."

"Then we shall. We must leave, we have much to do." The older mare said as the two of them seem to fade into the shadows around me. Oh what I wouldn't give to have that mystical power, why couldn't I get the cool sneaky Zebra genes?

I trotted back to the front of the building where the guards were standing by the large door way. Now came the part I was dreading, I had to spend the next hour looking over my shoulder for any Zebras that might of overheard our little conversation about rebellion in the back alley way. That was going to be hard considering just how much they had given me to think about. Not so much to answer all my questions, but more than enough to help me understand this place. I was already seeing that I was going to be coming back here very soon, something I was not too fond of at all. But it was going to have to happen if I wanted to make this work out.

The two guards paid me little attention as I trotted through the doors of the Tribal Hall, only taking in my leg braces wearing empty holsters as per their rules. They didn't need to know I had stowed them away, as far as they were concerned I was just here on business. I would never get over the grandeur of the inside of this place, polished floors and walls, glass ceiling tiles that were just beyond the draped silk that flowed like a red river to either wall. Regal was the word that came to mind as I trotted through the halls, regal and foreboding as though to denote another force they were oppressing over the others beyond these walls.

Every Zebra I came within sight of had their own emotion to exude towards me. Some cared very little, paying me less than a glance to accept my presence, others would nod their heads and more than a few narrowed their eyes in discuss. Even here, in the land of stripes and funny talk I was being shunned by many. One curious buck who looked like he had no clue as to how to even begin to say hello looked up and down the hall before bowing his head and mumbling something in Zebra. I think I even caught him giving a slight knell to the gesture. Very odd considering the last five Zebras I passed looked like they wanted to fornicate with my very soul. He then ran off.

I would like to think of myself as rather sharp, quick to read body language and fairly perceptive under pressure... But this place had my brain short circuiting as I tried to get beyond skin deep without saying a word. I could just barely perceive threats and greetings, let alone harsh judgement from wonder. I was gathering that there was an underlying force that ran everything here, but that force was rather loose or even fractured. I didn't have much to go on, just a few chance encounters, but I had seen more than a few looks similar to the ones I saw in that alley when they found out who I was.

To think that a few, if not more, were holding onto the idea that possibly things could go back to the way they were, even here in the upper reaches of their own government lead to wishful thinking. Maybe I could just kill the leader, take the head off the snake, claim the thrown and set things right. Could it be that easy? Everything else here had been already. After all, isn't that how the current leader came to power? Small army, rash ideas and cruel treatment? There was a war that had been fought sure, but what if the head of the snake were to be lopped off over night?

It was hopeless hope to say the least. There would no doubt be more than a few that would be ready to step forward, groomed, indoctrinated future leaders of Damu. I knew there was no way out of this without the leader dying, but how many more would have to take a dirt nap to make their freedom more than just a whisper in the wind? I was going from a desire to seek revenge to mass genocide of a like minded group of Zebras. This was beginning to smell less like revolution an more like... NO. This was a cancer and it had to go! Every Zebra involved in any way was a threat to their future. I might go out of this a villain, but if that was what it took to give their lives back then that was fine with me.

After wondering the halls for far too long, I found my way to the tribal office and let myself in. I had been expecting a waiting room, perhaps even a lobby. I had not expected to open the door on two Zebra's going full rut on top of a desk. They didn't even notice me! They were so involved in one another that even when I tried to clear my throat they just kept slapping away! Was this what it was like when Zuri and I got together? Did we block the world out like this too? Oh Luna the sounds, it was like hooves being stomped into soft mud over and over again.

After far longer than I though to be polite, I spoke up.

"AHEM!" I said as loud as I could. The two scrambled for the floor as though the roof were fire. "Don't bother now, not like I haven't been standing here for nearly five minutes now.

"You! What do you want!?" The one Zebra shouted as he hurried his mare out the door.

"I was sent here by the elders to file the necessary paperwork for worker procurement. But your story sound WAY more interesting!" I said as I leaned into his desk.

"That is none of your business!" He shouted back.

"Oh, I think it might be. Are you allowed to bang on company time? Now what would your superiors say?" Gotcha! This is too perfect. Here I was worried about all these favors and what not and would you just look at this opportunity that just popped up!?

"Do not speak of this! It will end me!" He pleaded.

"Oh, you want me to keep quiet? I don't know... I had such a good talk with them earlier... They even allowed me rights to three workers. I would hate to ruin that deal with them by keeping secrets." I said as I sat down across from him.

"What is it that you want?" He spat as he narrowed his eyes.

"Three slaves, no favors. No payment. Free and clear."

"They are not slaves! They are-"

"Yeah-yeah, workers... Cut the shit. Deal, or do I have a talk with the elders. I'm here on a mission to study tribal affairs to model my own tribe after. It would be a shame that your name be the one to ruin it." He starred daggers into for far longer than I though was fair considering how fair I was being.

"One worker."

"Three."

"One and I give you this blade. I have seen you eyeing it. You like?" He said, pushing a dagger resting on a stand across to me. Truthfully, I had not even noticed it. It was rather pretty, but no dice...

"Three, and I don't use it to see to it that you never get caught bucking on the job again." I said as I reach my leg under the table.

"Is this a threat? You will hang!" He near shouted.

"Oh no, it's a money back guarantee!" I said as I used my magnet leg to throw the knife from the stand from under the table and began spinning it. "Around and around it goes, where it stops? How about this Zebra's no-nos!?" Oh this magnet thing is way too cool! I might have to keep it! With a flick of the heel, I sent it flying towards the wall beside him, had he not dodged, it would have found purchase.

"OK! OK! Two! I can't do three! They will ask questions! Two is pushing it!" Oh wow, he can speak pony pretty good for a Zebra that's shitting himself. Maybe that's the trick. Just freak them out and they all speak pony.

"Fine. Two it is. But this favor shit better not be something stupid that will get me killed or I will come back here." I said as I passed him the papers he needed from me.

"Are you sure these are the mares you wish to take? Two of them are old and the other is a maid." He said, looking the papers over.

"Just file the papers, stripes. They are going to be teachers, not day laborers."

"Teachers... They are going to teach?"

"Yeah... That's what teachers do, stripes."

"Very well." He said stamping the pages and placing them in a folder before hoofing it back at me. "Your favor is in the paper work. You have 3 full moons to complete the task, less we send the dogs."

"Ah... here I was thinking it was this 'Red Eye' Thing." I said looking them over to ensure I was not being screwed.

"Yes. The dog has red eyes."

"Oh, well, nothing like continuity. Is this all I need? Are we good to go now?" I said as I flipped to the last page, the favor. Retrieve one hundred and fifty healing potion... WHAT!? "What the hell do you need with that many healing potions!?" I near shouted.

"Now that IS none of your business! Bring them to me directly and I will see to it that you are compensated fairly." He said as he pushed me out of his office, closed the door and locked it. Well, I guess that was all I was allowed to know. Oh I was going to bring them back, but he was never going to get the chance to get near them!

I will admit that even with the mumbo-jumbo talk of this Red Eye dog thing, I was a little nervous about it. 150 healing potions was a massive order to say the least, never mind the fact that i don't think I had ever seen that many in my life. Even still, I think I know somepony that could make that many happen in the little time I had to pull it off. But that was for future Joey to worry about, chances were that I would never even have to make good on that order before this place crumbled like the house of cards it was.

I now had a list of threats that needed eliminated, the papers needed for the freedom of my family and friends and a few insiders. I had made great progress, all things considered. This had been more like a vacation business trip than an actual adventure, but I'm sure that was quickly approaching by the looks of things. I needed to back to the site. I was going to need to take stock of all my resources and see what I had at hoof... Granted than meant I was going to have to clear the rest of that Goddess awful cavern before I could, and who knows what all was down there! They had only scratched the surface of the complex, there could be horrors far worse further in.

I trotted through the front doors of the halls and out into the waiting hooves of my mother, my mother in law, Zu and Sunny. I was over joyed as always to see them, but them being here could not have been a good sign.

"What are you all doing here? I told you to wait." I whispered.

"We just couldn't wait to get going! Very excited to see the outside world and all!" Sunny said in the worst display of lying any Zebra had ever shown me.

"Y-Yes... It is best that we leave as soon as we can! Very long trot! VERY LONG!" Adia stumbled around her words while I watched beads of sweat begin to form. I looked to my mother who was very calm, but decidedly worried.

"Joey, we must go. It is not safe here for us any longer." She whispered. I did my best to hold my composure as I took lead of the group. Crap... Our cover was blown, wasn't it?

"Very well. Lets blow this joint." I said as I trailed in behind them and steered them towards the gate. I wanted them all in my line of sight just in case things were to kick off before we cleared the gates. Brarika stood at her post, seeming ready to stamp papers with all the force needed to get her rocks off, filing papers in her one mare shack like a true bureaucrat that she was.

"Ah, Coyote. Enjoy your stay?" She asked rather pleasantly.

"You are in a good mood today, you get to murder somepony for not filling out a form properly?" I said as I placed the papers on her desk.

"Cute... I see we have made a few acquisitions of our own." She said taking in my little group of mares. "My, you are going to be very busy..." Oh that is just sick...

"Just stamp the papers, we have a long journey ahead of us."

"Very well, everything seems to be in order here... Please... hold out your hoof."

"I don't see why that is needed- OW!" I felt warm steal meet hoof as she nicked my hide and dripped a drop of blood into a vile. "HEY! What the hell?" I said as I pulled it back.

"Blood is needed to bind the contractual favor Mr. Coyote. Without it, the favor can not be completed or even filed at the end of the week." Oh what I wouldn't give to have Caliber's sneaky ass here right now... He could easily swipe the paper and vile, probably give this mare a solid dicking and get me out of this contract stuff. "Here are your release papers, you will need these if you are questioned by any of the trackers. They are your rights to ownership. Now, is there anything else?"

I turned and trotted out of the office. Why say goodbye, I was going to have to come back here after all. Outside, things were becoming louder back in town. My best guess was that it was shift change and they were over joyed to be getting a moment to relax between sleep and being worked to death. I watched as Zebras trotted around in a mass, talking loudly. That was new. Just as I was about to turn from this place and make tracks, I watched two cloaked mares run from behind the post where Barika was holding up. Now what were they up to...

Hot... I hate heat. But this was a small price to pay for the freedom of my family, both new and old. No sooner than we had cleared the hear shot of the guards, my mother filled me in on the details. Fisi, the buck that had more than his fair share of stern glares and knife-edged comments, had tried to sneak into the hut with all of them in it. My hopes were than he was just eves dropping in to see what we were up to, but I knew that was not the case. No sooner than he showed himself and made his intentions clear, my mother had killed him.

Weak as she appeared, Zuri said that she was very swift on her hooves and he had not seen my old knife come flying in from a swift hoof kick. She had landed the blade right between his eyes, dropping him on the spot. The four of them then stashed his body under the hut and made tracks for the halls. I wanted to say it was a brash and terrible decision, but if he had been the one listening, then he already knew too much. He could have blown the whole deal for us.

Even still, it was more than enough to make my pull my cards in close to my chest and take a new route through the woods. Rather than just take a direct route straight to the desert, I flew each of them about 400 meters into the brush where we would find a new path. If they had trackers, it would buy us some time while they tried to figure out just where our tracks stopped and started back up again. Zuri, my mom and Sunny all seemed to enjoy the short flight, my mother in law was a completely different story. She HATED hights! Maybe more that I had as a colt even, residing herself to cling to my underbelly for dear life.

It was a tense few hours as we carefully worked our way through the brush, being careful to not disturb the under brush or make any noise. We took a long winding route that lead us diagonally away from the entrance to the humid forest where the pathway spilled out into the endless sands beyond. It was exactly the opposite of what I thought to be logical, any sane pony would have ran parallel or even angled into the entrance. But this route would make them believe that we were heading another direction to the mountains in the west. If they bought it, they would have all the time in the would trying to find our tracks in the rocks up there.

Once we reached the desert I deployed my trick once more, leaving them to be hidden under a fallen log as I carried them one by one into the desert. This time I flew them further, about a mile by my guess. If my mother in law hated hights, then she despised high velocity flying even more! She pretty mush screamed into my chest for the entire flight and then buried herself in the sand when we landed. If felt like everything was taking ages to get done and I was nearly exhausted from the massive amount of work it was requiring. By the time we were all together once more, it was nearing dusk.

While the heat finally fading was a gift, the cold that was going to follow was going to be even more dangerous. I pointed my nose towards the beacon on my Pip-Buck and began the long trot back, trying to take the valleys in the sands whenever I could. By the time the sun rises tomorrow, our tracks will be gone with the winds of morning and any hope they have of tracking us with them. But for now, tired as we were, we had to keep moving.

"Joey... How far did you say it was to this place?" Adia asked.

"At this rate... Two days." I said as I was still struggling to cope with not being able to fly us all there in a few hours.

"Son, we may not have enough water." My mother said as she searched her bags. "I fear we may have made a mistake."

"Don't talk like that. We will make it, I have faith. If it comes to it, you all can have my ration of water. I can manage without more than most."

"No. I will not allow this." My mom said in a... was that a motherly tone? I had never heard one before.

"Mom... I'm in my twenties, not my seventies. I'll be fine." I said as I lead us up another dune.

"Are you calling me old?" She growled.

"N-No... I'm just saying it can handle it. That all. I promise!" Wow, mom was kind of scary. I crested the dune and... Was that a campfire I smelled? I looked off in the distance and sure enough, there was a glowing fire about a mile away. I looked behind us for a few moments and scanned for movement, nothing. We were not being followed and whoever this was did not care to be seen at all. What were the chances they had some water to spare? By my best guess they would be Slavers and here I was fresh out of firearms. Great.

"I will have you know I had you when I was only 16!" She hissed under her breath.

"I told you, I'm not... Wait, WHAT? You were a teenager!?" I shouted.

"Yes! Your father and I were both very young! I am only 40!"

"Mom, for the last time, I didn't-"

"What is that?" Sunny said as she squinted.

"Campfire. Somepony is out there." I said, relieved to have something else to talk about.

"Slavers?" Zu asked.

"I don't know... But I plan to find out."

"Joey, no. YOU are not going over there alone!" My mother said, putting a hoof on my back. "You keep insisting on doing these things alone, Zuri told me. If you are going over there, we are going too."

Great, just great. This could have all been so simple, fly in, kill them, snatch their supplies and leave... but NOOOOO, we had to do things like a family... Less than 8 hours out of the killing fields and they wanted to do Wastlander stuff. How could this possibly go wrong.

"No. No-no-no-no! We just got you out of there and here you are wanting to find a new hell to trot into! Absolutely not."

"I know you find this hard to believe, but your mother in law and I know a thing or two about fighting too. We were not always as old and broke down as you make us out to be." She said, messing up my mane.

"Joy, maybe you should let us come. Five is more than one." Zu said, taking a stand with the rest of the mares.

"Fine, lets go get shot. TOGETHER! As a family..." I grumbled as I trotted forward and down the dunes.

Honestly, I gave them an easy out and they dove head first into the fire like a couple of rabid dogs... Just like the rest of the ponies I love. Sure part of me was happy to see them so eager to fight, it was reassuring to know they could handle themselves, but this was way to early to be taking on Slavers or whatever was out there. I would have loved the luxury to of fielded them a little first, feel them out and see what their strengths were first.

It's just how I did things, play my cards close to my chest and rely more on avoidance than head on attacks. They always see the pony approaching from the front, but rarely do they see the one right over head. Surprise attacks, shooting them from a great distance, laying traps... It was my bread and butter. But this ambushing ponies in the night crap was for the birds! Despite the obvious joke there, I hated it. You can see anything, traps are always out there and chances are there is one pony off in the distance watching you sneak up on them. I would know, I was always the pony watching.

After what felt like an hour, we found ourselves a few dunes away from the fire. I could only make out one figure in the dim fire light near a cart that was just out of sight of the fire's light. A trader maybe? If it was a trader, where was his support? His sentries? I had been scanning the dunes this whole time and seen no pony what-so-ever in the outlying areas, then again, it was dark as hell and I was using the moon light. This was bad. The only option I had was to just trot us all up to his camp and say high. If it was a trap, we were screwed. If it really was a trader, then if they had look outs, then would could already be screwed. Chances were than if we had already been made then we would have been shot already.

We crept closer over the dunes, each one giving more detail than the last. I could already tell it was a buck, he was pretty dirty but appeared to be grey or white colored and he was for sure drunk. I take it back, my previous thoughts of just flying over and killing him was starting to make me feel bad. We started down the last dune before we fell into the small depression he was sitting in.

"Ok, listen. We might only have one shot at this, but I think he is drunk. Chances are he is just a trader and we can just barter for some supplies, but if it's a trap we are going to be sitting ducks! So just hang back and be ready for anything. Sunny, you watch behind us. Zu, you and your mom take the side of the camp and wait. Me and my mom will go up to him first."

"Uh, Joey?" Sunny started.

"Hold on, now is everypony... Zebra clear on what needs to happen?"

"Joey..."Zu started.

"Just a yes or no."

"Joey! Something is behind you!" Adia whispered.

A cold chill fell over me. I knew it, it's a trap! Thinking quickly, I unsnapped my knives and spun, ready for anything.

"I wouldn't do that... What would Dj-Pon3 say if you killed your own sister?" Shale said from the darkness.

My heart sank, I was ready to throw some cold steel into the dark void that was my sister! Damn... Once again, got excited for nothing!

"Shale? Quick, what's my favorite-"

"308..." She said, cutting me off in her lack luster tone as she approached me. "Ah, I see you found... your... moms?"

"Yes... And a few extras! Who is over there? By the fire?"

"Oh, that would be your 'older brother'."

"Older? How would he know that? He doesn't even know his birthday!"

"Don't ask me, he says he just 'knows'... He pulled the cart this far, got tired and started drinking. He's been talking to himself for the last hour. So I came here to get some sleep." She said, trying to take in the Zebras I was sitting in the middle of.

"Hey, I will introduce you all in a few... wanna have some fun with him?"

"Yes. Anything to shut him up." Shale said coming in close to us.

"Shale, this is Sunny, she's a friend. Adia My mother in law. And Kamaria... My mother."

"Pleased to meet you all. I can't wait to see what you all look like."

"Oh, we are Zebras." Adia said happily.

"So... what's the plan?" Shale asked.

"Happy you asked. Sunny, you and shale..."

With our terrible idea in place. I took my place right behind Caliber with Zuri, Adia and Kamaria stood off by the wagon and were waiting for their que to enter and Shale and Sunny trotted down the bank. This was never going to work, but if it did I would never let him live it down. Surprisingly enough, the hardest part of all of this was keeping Zu quiet. She wouldn't stop snickering, partly because we were playing a joke and mostly because Caliber was rambling into a empty whiskey bottle like it was a radio.

"Hello! This is lonely soldier! My location is... hoty, sandy, itch place! Do you read me? I'm real goo soldier! Best ever!" He rambled. What was he on? Wild Pegasus AND Med-x?

"Cal! Cal! Look who I found!" Shale shouted as her and Sunny entered the campsite. "Ok... I know this is going to be hard to believe but-"

"I know what that is! That is a *hick* ZEBRA! A stripy mc.stripy butt!" He said happy with himself.

"Cal... This is Joey. They did something to him! Turned him into a mare!" Shale said, selling it like day old fish to the drunk.

"*Gasp* No! Joey! Brother! What have they done to you!?" He said as he rose to run to them, but fell face first into the sand.

"Hi..." Sunny squeaked in her cutest voice.

"Comear! Comear! Show me, what have they done to you!" He cried through the dirt. Sunny and Shale trotted closed and helped him to his hooves. "Brother... My baby brother! They made you so small! Look at your little belly! Look at your cute little nose! They even changed your pretty purple eyes to green! Those monsters!" He slurred.

"Cal... It was horrible! They used their freaky Zebra magic on me! They took my pretty wings! They made me a mare!"

Caliber took a long, loud breath. "They took your ding dong! NOOOOOO! How will you sexuality your Zuzu!? Wait! did they give her a ding dong?" He screamed as he wrapped his hooves around who he thought was me. Zuri was now holding my mouth closed because I was crying and I was having to hold her's too. This was going too well. "Joey! I'm so sorry! Joey... wow, you smell great! You are soft too, perfect hugging size." He said as he snuggled up closer to Sunny.

"O-Ok Cal... Joey has had a long day." Shale said, trying to pull them apart.

"YOUR COAT! It's so soft now. Shale! Can Jojo sleep in the bed with us? We can snuggle him now!" Cal begged.

"No! Absolutely not!" Ok, that was their que. Adia and Kamaria stepped out of the shadows and approached menacingly.

"There you are! We will teach you to run from us! We will teach your friends too! Prepare to loose your stallion hood!" Kamaria yelled.

"Shale! Zeebers! Do something! I don't wanna loose my weenie!" Caliber screamed. Oh this was too good, this had to be his worst fear given his track record.

"It's ok, Cal. You will like being a mare." Sunny said, giving him a gentle rub on his backside.

"WAIT!" He shouted as he spun on Shale and Sunny. "If I'm a mare, can we still do things? Like together?" Ok, that's enough. This went from funny to creepy too fast! I crept up behind Caliber and in my deepest voice, yelled in his ear.

"You want to bang your brother, don't you Caliber?"

I couldn't see it, but I knew his face turned white the moment he heard me. Shale and Sunny were fighting back tears from trying to hold in their laughter. I had my hoof on his back rubbing it gently as I blew in his ear to let him know I had heard everything. Aida and Kamaria both snickered to themselves as Caliber turned slowly to face me.

"J-Joey? Two Joeys?" He asked.

"No, Cal... Just one Joey."

"But... Zebras?"

"Yeah, Cal... Zebras..."

He stood there for a moment while his rusty and crusty gears started turning in his head. Soon there was a revelation, but not the one I had expected. I felt warm, wet splatters hit my hooves accompanied by the sound of falling water on sand.

"I pee'd." He said sadly.

"I can see that! Come here you big moron!" I shouted as I wrapped him in a hug and began pointing out them impostors. "Cal, meet Adia, Sunny and my mother... Kamaria! We got them all out!" They all gave a light hearted wave and sweet words of welcome to the still urinating buck.

"Hello. Joey, does this mean we can't have sex now?" Caliber stammered.

"No Cal... Just... Please never say that again."

"I wouldn't mind." Sunny said from behind us. "He smells like oranges!"

"Huh, never thought of having a threesome before." Shale said a little too quizzically.

"Oh! It is great fun! I can teach you." Kamaria shouted in excitement.

"Ok! Every pony, Zebra and alcoholic on the cart, this just got too weird for me."

No! Hell no! Hell to the fucking no! Every creature on the nope express, one way ticket to never going to fucking happen, flight time of never! I pushed them all onto the cart and began to shut the door but had a thought that I felt I needed to act on before I shut the back gate.

"Zu! You are riding with me." I shouted.

"But I want to watch! I enjoy this!" She pleaded.

"No! There will be nothing to watch, because if I hear any thing sexy happening, so help me I will crash us all into the damn ocean!" I said as I pulled her from the flying fuck box and nudged her towards the front of the cart. She helped me, reluctantly, into my straps and climbed on my back. I gave the cart a swift kick to get all of their attention and gave my pre flight announcement.

"Listen up. Thank you for flying Coyote airlines. I would like to remind you that there is absolutely no sex allowed in the cart. If you feel the urge to have sex during the flight, feel free to throw yourself out the back door. Those caught attempting to get pregnant will be forced to walk the rest of the journey to where we are going! Am I understood?" The entire cart gave a lack lust 'yes' as I began to hover. Adia, having no clue as to what was about to happen, predictably freaked out and began screaming at me.

"Joey! Are we going to be flying!?"

"Yes."

"I don't like this!"

"Do you want to die in the desert?"

"No."

"Then we have to fly." I said as I shot towards the sky and pointed my nose towards the beacon my my map.

"I HATE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS!" She screamed.

Well, there wasn't going to be any sex happening now, unless one of them was into fear fucking. All things considered, that went better than I had expected. Cal and Shale bringing the cart half way seemingly knowing that I was going to spot them was pure brilliance! Even with all the joy in the world and jokes played, I still had a lot to worry about. I still had to get the rest of them, but for now, I had my family. Something I never thought I would have! It was a gift, but a hollow one knowing there were so many others out there missing theirs.

Chapter 13: Monsters In The Dark

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Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams
Chapter 1: That Was Then Part:1

Rocco Rocks

"Coyotes gotta hunt!"

I awoke in the early hours of the morning... what was it? 3 A.M? 3:30? Judging by the snoring, it was far from the breakfast muster at the Stable. Despite the think walls and steel construction, I could still make out the faint roar of my Zony neighbor sawing logs in his sleep.

I tossed and turned to find a comfortable position, but Zuri's butt was firmly planted in the center of the bed. Honestly, how could such a small Zebra take up so much room!? Defeated, I rolled to the floor and began crawling under the bunk. I was burning up, she was like a space heater, it was like trying to sleep next to campfire in the middle of the summer. I fumbled around for my pillow and began slowly dragging it to me when it was stopped by an unknown force. Ah shit... I've been made.

"Honestly little one..." A soft voice whispered through the dark. "I would think you would be beyond hiding under beds." Well, maybe not made... busted would be a better word. Here I was, a full on adult trying to hide under my bed, and I just got caught by my mother... Well, this is embarrassing.

"I'm not hiding." I whispered back. "I'm burning up and the floor is cold. Simple math."

"I would think it's science. But perhaps it is something more. Do you have trouble sleeping often?" She asked as she held out her hoof for me to take.

"Not usually... But here lately, it's been tough. She keeps the bed a toasty 'temperature of the sun'. I'm not used to it is all." I whispered back, following her gesture away from the bed.

"Ah, so it is something more. I am not surprised given what you have told me... Come... We will take a walk." She said as she pressed the button for the door and stepped outside. The rush of cold air sent me hurtling for the hallway. She was even heating up the room! How was that even possible!? "Come, I feel that you have a heavy heart, perhaps I can lessen the weight." She said sweetly.

Well, I wasn't going back to sleep. Also this was a chance to actually talk to her and not have a room filled with ponies listening in. As much as I desperately wanted to dig into things, it was hard to not blush in front of everypony. It was just so... undashing. Also the stable was under its night lighting, dim and quiet like a full moon night, something I found very calming.

"I was watching you. You mumble in your sleep, you know?" She said as we trotted towards the atrium. "Your father used to do the same."

"Dad did that? I though he was some kind of super solider or something."

"Oh... he was a fighter yes. But he was also very kind and gentle and prone to sleep talking. I would wake up to him talking about politics, fighting off raiders and sometimes, If I was lucky, I could catch him talking about how he was being chased by birds." She let out a soft giggle. "Those were my favorite dreams!"

"Birds... He was scared of birds..."

"Oh my yes. it was one of his more hilarious qualities. He once got into a fight with a parrot that made a home of our window." She laughed, but it quickly turned into a sigh. "Oh how I wish I could hear his voice again. All the nights I would sit beside our bed awake, angry because he was sleep talking feel so painful now. Had I known our time would be short, I would have enjoyed it more."

"I'm so sorry..."

"It is not your fault little one... It was written in the stars that it be this way." She said sweetly with just a touch of pain for what she could not change.

"Why do you call me that? I'm like... a buck. I'm even taller than you." I said proudly, hopping for a laugh, but getting a nuzzle instead.

"Because... Not matter how big you get, no matter how far away you are, you will always be my little one." She said, giving me a bump. "One day you will know how that feels. I may have lost much time with you, but I am grateful to know you now."

"I wish... I wish things were different. If it helps, I feel cheated every day that I didn't know who he was or who you were. I know there was nothing you could have done, I know it wasn't meant to be... but I just feel so angry all the time! I'm in my twenties and I feel like I just now started to live. Before I found that letter from her, it was getting harder and harder to live everyday. Before Caliber and I finally realized we were friends, the loneliness was starting to wear me away. I was just so damn alone for so long that I forgot to live at all, it feels like. But now..."

"But now your old life is starting to call your name?" She asked

"Yeah... Things were just so much simpler back then. I slept outside, under the stars! I wondered about so many things that I have answers to now. I worried about waking up to raiders or slavers. I worried that the filly or colt I was tracking down would just turn out to be a dead body. But never once did I worry about losing somepony close to me. Shell was locked up in Mega Mart and all the others had died. It was just normal, part of the wasteland." I said, thinking back to all those nights alone. Filly, New Apploosa, Highlands, Los Pegasus, The Desert, even Hoofington. All places I had been and nearly died, but I had paid it no mind because I had always been alone. She seemed to be thinking long and hard about what I was saying before she broke the silence.

"It is a hard life, filled with danger and wonder. But it is a carefree life. You have never had somepony to worry about getting hurt before. Somepony who is near to you, dear to you. Things are easy when there are not others to worry over. No sleepless nights or days empty of happiness. No moments of fear or regret. Those days were the hardest for me, wondering if you were still out there. Deep down I knew you were, but I was enslaved and forced to stay away. I waited for so long that soon... I lost hope in ever seeing you again. Sometimes, the hardest thing we can do is live with what we can not change." She said as she took a seat near the railing. The atrium was lit with a dim amber glow that bathed the tops of the apple trees like a yellow paint. "Sometimes we want to cry over the time we lost because it hurts so bad. But we have to remember that the moment we are in, is the moment we were meant to live. If you live in regret, you forget live at all."

"Wow, I never really thought of it that way." I said as I took a place next to her at the railing. So many thoughts were swimming through my mind. My own regrets and worries were clouding my thoughts like a dense fog, making it hard to think strait. I wanted her to know how much I wanted that time back between us, but that was exactly what she was trying to tell me to let go. My mother, my real mom was sitting right in front of me and she was telling me that I needed to just... let it all go and enjoy what I have. Somepony I had always wanted in my life, somepony who had been forced away from me wanted me to what? Just move on?

"I used to dream about you." I said meekly.

"And I you, little one." There was a softness in her voice that I could never hope to match. It was a tone that only a mother could manage out of love, pain or sorrow. Something only she could do that would send me into a sniveling pile of child like crying. She leaned into me and pulled me close. It just hurt so fucking much. Those thoughts and memories were painful, but they had been the only thing keeping me going all those years. It was my one shining light that I would wake up and walk towards every day. Like a familiar pillow or blanket, it was my safety.

We had both hurt for so long and held onto something that we both should have abandoned long ago. It was something that we lived for everyday whether we knew it at the time or not. All those late nights when we were alone, staring at the same moon, miles away while a whole world passed by. With every wayward thought to the other, with every moment of levity or pain she and I had held onto that little something that nopony could ever take from us. We both had hope.

"I missed you... so-so much. I wanted so badly to know the pony you would become. I wanted to see your face, I wanted to watch you grow and become who you are today. There was never a day I did not think of you, I night I did not dream of you or and plea I did not beg for you to come back to me safe." She whimpered. Even now her voice had a strong tone that said she was here for me. That she was never going to leave and that if anypony tried to come between us that there would be hell to pay.

"I miss you too! I wish I could take the pain away, but I can't! But I can be here... I can be here with you. I can carry that same pain with you. I promise, I'm not going anywhere." I said as I mirrored her embrace. The two of us sat there, crying into each other's shoulders for all the good that it would do. Every tear, a little more pain washed away, every sob a story of longing and loss. Together we both let go of the worry that had buried our heart for so long. For the first time in my life I was left feeling complete, whole again. It was like the last fracture in my heart was slowly mending in the only way it knew how. A mother's love.

Our cries soon alerted a passing security patrol. Much to my shock Shoari was part of the security task force on the third shift patrols. Did she even sleep? Even more shocking was her reaction to the two of us having a good ol'fationed cry off. She threw her short little legs around us and started crying with us as if she had been there the whole time. It wasn't until she asked "What are we crying about" through broken sobs that mom and I started laughing historically.

"Nothing Shoari, I had a bad dream." I said through wet eyes and broken laughs.

"My son and I were just catching up."

Promising to keep quiet, and to call her the next time we have an emotional talk, mom and I sat over looking the atrium and just... talked. I told her all about my life growing up, not sparing any details so she could somehow live a little of my life she had missed out on. I even pulled out a few of my old things I had kept over the years. Junk mostly. My old drawing book, my first shell casing from the time I shot the ghouls that were trying to eat us. Even my old pair of binoculars Boss had given me when I was just a colt. Each one painted a little more of a picture she had always wanted to see.

Then it was her turn. She told me about how she had slaved every day under the control of a tyrannical dictator. Being forced to do labor that was beyond the work of two bucks, let alone a zebra mare, in her words, that was past her prime. I was shocked to find out that she had been older than I am when she had me, just turning 30 the day I was born. My dad had been just a few years older than me but still deep into his twenties. The mood turned brighter as she spoke about how things used to be, before their lives were upended by idealology.

Ponies and Zebras would comingle more often than the same species groups would. They would live side by side, work together and even fight together. They even had holidays that were meant to signify their friendship that date back before the war. It was astonishing to think about, mind boggling even to consider that Zebras were not shoot on sight back then like they are now. I know I had taken my fair share of wayward rounds out of mistaken identity. But to think of a world where being a Zony was not just a visual attribute but a mark of pride was... It was just lost on me.

We swapped stories for what felt like hours, I even told her about the time Caliber and I got completely soaked and ruined a small town outside of Flank for my birthday. She didn't find it nearly as humorous as I did, but I did get a chuckle out of her from the now infamous ''sheep incident" Caliber had pulled before we set out for Zuri. Though, I had to make her promise not to tell fetch about it. The last thing I needed was to have to explain that to a colt. I had told her everything I could think of, but somehow there was still so much more to tell it felt. There was still more to uncover from her as well, but there was something I had to ask. Something I really didn't want to rip the bandage off of, but I was banking on me being here, safe and alive in front of her would see through.

"Mom? What happened... 'that' night? The night you had to give me away?" I winced as the words left my mouth and rightfully so. She sat shocked, partly that I would ask such a thing and partly that I would ask after we had been talking so well for so long. "Sorry... but I feel like... I mean I really need to... Oh hell. I'm sorry, forget it." I said in frustration. I wanted to know, I mean I really, REALLY wanted to know, but not if she was going to look at me like... that!

"No... it is ok. It is only natural that one day I would have to tell the tale." She said solemnly. I instantly regretted asking. I could see the pain radiating off her.

"No, please, it's ok. you don't have to tell me right now. things were going so well, I don't want to kill this moment."

"Little one... it is ok. It hurts, yes. But It is a tale I feel you of all ponies should know. It is after all, your song."

"My song? What does that mean?" I asked, confused... I was also trying to redirect the conversation a bit to hopefully make it a little easier to talk about, but eh... Old persuasive habits and all that.

"Child... We all have a song. It is what makes us who we are. What the world hears when they see us. I'm just sorry to say yours is more somber than most."

Oh... Could have guessed that I guess. But somehow it felt more important coming from her. Like it was written in stone rather than some abstract concept. I watched as she gathered her strength and closed her eyes as though she was about to tell the biggest secret she had been guarding. The pause felt like an eternity as I sat waiting patiently.

"Before you were born, not long after your father and I found out we were with foal, things were already beginning to unravel. Tribal leaders were starting to talk about the greater diversity of our tribe and the shrinking numbers of true blood Zebras. It started as a murmur, a whisper with a smile behind it as though it was nothing new. But slowly that smile became a frown and then a scowl. Older leaders and a few of the tribe's older members began to talk about extinction, the loss of our true bloodline. It was something of a mark of pride that we had held for so long.

It was a fragile one, one that had weathered a war, famine and even shunning of other tribes. We wanted to continue our way of life, but so many were beginning to worry and fear the loss of something that nopony or Zebra could even touch. There were talks at first. Then debate... before long our tribe was beginning to stay with those who agreed with them. 'Like, likes, like' was a saying that way used the days leading up to the tipping point. I remember hating that idea."

"So everypon... Everyone started fighting loving who they wanted to love... to save a bloodline? That sound stupid." I said, trying to absorb all the information she was laying at my hooves.

"Yes... I know it is silly to think but Zebras, especially Romani, hold great value in their bloodline. It was a Romani that started to preach the ideas of segregation, he was the one that first said the words 'Blood with Blood'. I was soon to give birth when he was elected our tribal leader. I remember being so scared of the world I was bringing you into that your father and I even considered running. But he was steadfast that we could weather the storm. He was so sure that we could live together in harmony again. Then the night came, the night that you were born. We had picked out your stone from the hillside, your destiny written in gold, just for you. Outside a storm was raging, threatening to flood the whole town. That night everything changed and not just for me, but the whole tribe.

I remember your father coming in to see you for the first time. He was so tired, soaking wet and looked as though he had seen a ghost. But when I pulled the cloth from your face the first time, he melted. 'A pegasus' He shouted. He was so proud of you. He ran through the halls telling any ear that would listen about you. The reactions were mixed. At the time there was talk of casting the ponies out, but your father was well liked among the tribe. It wasn't long after that the alarms began to sound. There had been another attack, another member of the council was found dead in his sleep. Talks of a cloaked figure began to circulate among the tribe, a vengeful spirit sent from the heavens to seek wrath and destruction on the council for their actions."

"It was him... dad did it, didn't he? Kill the council members, I mean." I asked, noticing I had been leaning in closer this whole time.

"Your father was a sweet and kind buck, not like the others from above the clouds. He would talk about Thunderheads, Neighvarros and the Enclave as though they were all different groups, but he floated between them all. But as sweet as a buck as he was, he was a fighter. He knew war, he was no stranger to it, but it was a side of him that he had hoped to leave behind when he... Defected, I believe, is the word he used."

"So he saw what was going on and didn't want another incident like what happened with Thunderhead and Neighvarro." I said, trying to remember what I had been told.

"Ah, so you know the tale of two wings." She asked in a tone of near pride.

"Some... I think. I never heard it called that, I always heard it called 'those assholes wanted a fight and they screwed us' by any pegasus I ever came across."

"That is a story for another time. But yes, I believe that is what he feared. That is why he started to... eliminate the council. I was angry when I found out, I begged him to stop. Now... I wish I had not." She paused for a moment and took a shaky breath. "It was only a few nights later that the order was given. The killings stopped, but the bell could not be un-rang. The leaders began turning the narrative , claiming that those who died were "nonbelievers, traitors with dirty blood." She winced and I watched as a tear rolled down her cheek. I reached out with a wing and watched as the feather soaked it up slowly. Her hoof reached up and began to stroke along the feathers slowly as though she was playing a harp. " We were asleep, many of us were. It was the screams that woke me. Mothers wailing, fathers screaming as they went home to home and pull sleeping foals from their beds.

Fillies and colts were thrown to the streets while parents fought to keep them from harm. Teams of Zebras and a few Zonies went home to home in groups. Everywhere they went, screaming followed. Those that fought back were executed for their efforts. So many died, so many more were murdered later. You father was at the window when the shot rang out, missing him by nearly a hoof. 'They know!' I remember him shouting. They were not coming for you, they were coming to kill us all. Someone had told them that your father was the one who was killing them."

"That fucker... How could they!?" I shouted in anger, but was silenced by a hoof to my lips.

"I put you in a sling, your father grabbed your necklace and we ran out the back door. I was in so much pain, I was not supposed to be running. It wasn't long before we ran into others, mixed families and scared foals, fillies and colts. They all looked to him for guidance. They were the ones who had listened to us when we said that it was foolish to fight love with blood. We were all so scared. But your father began leading them out the gates, one by one, trying to get as many to safety as he could. We trotted on hoof for miles before they caught up to us. Another shot filled the air and he fell in front of us all. The bullet had hit his back right at his wings, he couldn't move.

He started shouting for the mares to take the children and run and for the bucks to fight. Many did as he said, but few bucks stayed. I stayed beside him. I could not leave him, I wouldn't let them have him." She whimpered out. "Soon the bucks who stayed were slain for the few moments it could buy for the mares to get away. They were coming for us next. I wanted to stay and fight. I wanted to kill them for what they had done. But your father would not allow it with you around my neck. He told me to hide in the woods and that he would find a way to come for me. But we both knew what he was doing... I knew he was trying to buy me time.

When they got to him... I had to bite my leg to keep from screaming. I knew that he wanted to keep you safe, I wanted to keep you safe from them. My punishment was to watch him... to watch him..."

"Hey... you don't have to-" I started, but was cut off.

"No... It is important, you know. It is the ending of his song, his love for you and I that you know. He was killed trying to save you... They were about to deal the final blow when an elder from our own, an old mare began firing at them. She was a friend, I later found out, of our family. She gave me the few moments to crawl close enough to try and save him. I was coming out of the bushes when I saw the trader coming around the corner. He looked so scared but he tried to pour something in your fathers mouth. I saw them talking. He was still alive, I thought. I had to go to him."

"That's when you had to give me away. That's when Camden found me." I said, feeling an old familiar pain that I had only felt one other time. It was the same as when I was a colt, being told the much shorter and blunt ending of this story.

"Yes... That was when he came to us. We begged him to take you somewhere, far away, someplace safe. We promised to come for you one day, but he knew there was not chance of that happening. I could see it in his eyes, they were fearful, scared. He looked like he wanted to run but... he didn't. It wasn't until your father took his last breath that he agreed. I do not blame him, he was not much older than you are now. It was so much to ask of a stranger, but he did it anyway."

She finished with her eyes firmly planted on her hooves. I could see her body wilted in the amber glow of the night lights above. Nothing more than a broken mare that the world kept around to keep breaking over and over again. I was seeing what she wanted me to see, the true her after all these years. What was left. To the rest of the world, it was just another wasteland tale, I had heard many in my life and work. But this one was different. It hurt more. This one was mine.

"W-what happened next?" I said carefully, not wanting to be too abrupt or crass.

"After that, they came and took me. I was waiting for them to shoot me too, I think I even remember begging them to. But they had something worse in mind. They wanted to set an example out of me. Show the others what happens to those who run. I don't remember much after he took you, after he stopped breathing. It was just... pain. I woke up in pain, I worked in pain and I slept in pain. But those first few weeks... Nothing could take the pain away." She sniffed and wiped her eyes with a hoof. "Even now it is the least it has ever been, but when I close my eyes, I still see him. I still hear the rain. I still hear his voice. That is something I fear I will never forget, because I don't want to.

This is why we call it a song. Most songs you hear will pass through your mind. But some stick around. But some, a rare few are meant for you, a song that never leaves and plays over and over again. Sometimes you do not wish to hear it, other times you cannot hear it enough. Those are the moments in your life that you never forget."

I stood silent. Just... taking it all in. I wanted to scream, cry and needed a good hug after all that. I had heard the story before, but never anything more than her giving me up. Hearing the backstory behind the nightmare was... painful. It was like dread but deeper than worry. That all too familiar feeling of being cheated without a second thought by somepony who didn't even know me, let alone care that he had done it. It made me feel worthless in the eyes of someone I wanted to fear me. It wasn't fair! It was bullshit even. I missed out on a loving family, a mother and a father and for what? Some abstract construct as simple as 'bloodlines are importaint'.

Were they!? Were they more important than all the lives they ruined? All the tears the young ones cried after they lost their mom or dad... or both!? It didn't take long before pain bled away to anger and soon... just pure unadulterated hatred. The kind of feeling that would make somepony salt the earth behind him and never think twice.

"Joey... no. I know what you are thinking and no. Do not dwell on the pain." She said as she lunged for me and wrapped me in a hug. "We are here, safe! We have each other now. The stars heard my plea and you have come back to me! Please, let us just enjoy this a little longer. It is all he ever wanted for me is to be happy and this... this is what I want, this right here." She said as she squeezed me harder. She was so weak, but I could feel her shaking with strain as she pulled as hard as she could. I felt that inferno burn down to an ember in my soul. It was always going to be there, something I would have to live with until it either burned out, killed me with worry or started back up again.

That's what a mother's love could do. I had never experienced that before, I had never wanted to end a world and in a heartbeat I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry it out. It was something I don't think I could ever live without again. Mothers must have some magical power about them, some magic that even unicorns can't conjure. If I had to put a hoof on it, they had to be the elements of closure or something.

I gave in and threw my head back.

"Shoari!!!! GET IN HERE!"

In less time than it took me to get the words out, her small frame came skittering around the corner. What the hell, had she been waiting!?

"Oh no! What are we crying about?!" Without even missing a beat. Impressive.

Ugg... It was still early. Mom and I had ended our walk sooner than I had thought. If you had asked me at the time, I felt like we had been there for hours. But a quick glance at the clock proved me very wrong. At best we had been gone no longer than an hour, and it was still several more before morning muster. I had not said much, not that I didn't have a thousand questions and stories of my own. But there was a weight to her story that I felt I needed to carry for a while. I wanted it to sink in, savor it as bitter the taste was. I need to take it all in and let it fill all those little voids in my past, give them purpose, maybe it would make it easier to feel... complete.

I felt cold. Broken even. But knowing what happened, better still, why it went down that way left my heart feeling a little lighter, sad, but lighter even still. I had always had my doubts that I was just sold off, given away or that my parents died and that the story I had been told was just to ease the pain a little. But knowing, actually knowing that they were true felt like the first sip of clean water after days in the desert. I was still dying of thirst, but now I could trot a little further, maybe I could fly a little longer.

I wanted to tell her so much more! I wanted to tell her about all the ponies I had helped, all the nights I laid awake wondering about her and my dad. I wanted to tell her about everything that had happened over the years, to spill my guts to her. I didn't want her to miss a single beat. I could never get back the live I was meant to have, nor could she, but maybe we could write our own song, something we could both find Contemptment in. It would be as close as we can get. Oh well... all in good time. For now I just wanted to sleep. Yes, sleep here on this cold floor. The nice cold floor.

The alarm sounding off nearly made me give myself a concussion on the bottom of the bunk. I heard a squeak as I watched Zuri fall to the floor next to me. Amber and red flashing lights filled the room, making it impossible to hide from the full assault on the senses that was happening all around.

"What in the absolute fuck is that!" Caliber shouted above the echoing alarm. "Are the Jehovah witness coming!?"

"I don't know!" I shouted back, trying to gather my thoughts. Damn it, I was almost asleep. "Get the guns! Zuri, where did you stash my barding?"

"It is on the top bunk!" She shouted back. She then pulled the wool blanket down atop her and slid behind me under the bunk.

Right... not sleeping through this. Might as well go have a look around and see what trouble Caliber and I can get into. "Stable 103 is in the middle of fucking nowhere, what the hell could it possibly be? Rad roach lost its way and needed to find the trash cans?" I yelled in anger.

Outside came the thunder of dozens of hooves running past our dorm. Judging by the direction of the sound, they were heading for the west stairwell. That's odd, shouldn't they be heading to the entrance? The west stairwell just leads to the lower...

"Caliber! Grab the guns! Grab the grenades! Grab everything! Get some armor on."

Judging by the worried looks in the room, my sudden shift in demeanor had had a profound effect on the others. I rushed to my hooves and hovered to the top bunk, shucked on my armor and grabbed my pistols. Sliding them into their holsters and a resounding click, I reached for my rifle.

"Joey. what's going on!?" Shale shouted from the door but was nearly trampled by another wave of security ponies zonies and zebras. "What the HELL IS GOING ON!?"

"I don't know!" I shouted and I popped the locks on the rifle's case and dumped the loaded mags into my barding. "But get away from that door!" I slammed a mag in and slung the rifle over my shoulders. It seemed fitting that the first rounds out of it from me were going to be at hostiles. It seemed accurate enough back in Filly, here's hoping it holds a zero.

"I got guns, ammo and bombs. Where we heading?" Caliber shouted from the door.

"Down. All the way! You all stay put, don't open the door for anything! I don't know what's going on, but these ponies are twigged at the very least, if they are in a fit, it can't be good."

Caliber pushed the door button and he and I stepped out into a amber glowing hell that was the hallway. The alarms were so loud that they were causing my ears to peak and sound like static. The two of us bolted for the west stairwell access, all but tearing the doors off the hinges as we went through side by side. With each level we went down, gun fire became more and more echoing amidst the shouts and sounds of hooves on steel. I glanced over to Cal, was he smiling?

"Dude!? Don't look too- upset.."

"Com'on, you've got to admit... You missed this too." He smiled back.

Ok... Maybe a little, but I rather be sleeping right now, I know that much. I could be under my bed, on the cold floor, just snoozing. But NO, here I was in the wee hours of the morning doing surprise cardio.

We pushed through the doors to the boiler room and the smiles left our faces. Bloody drag marks traced the ground like a foals paper with a red marker. Gunfire erupted from around the corner of the massive reactors, casting shadows on the walls around us. Screams, roars and growls filled the air as we bolted for the action. I wasn't worried about what was making those sounds. What bothered me was where the sound was coming from, the entrance to Site 103. No sooner than we had cleared the corner all the answers were clear.

A small line of ponies, zebras and zonies stood blocking the entrance, firing into the darkness beyond. Save for a single street lamp about 200 meters inside, the site had gone completely black once again. I could catch glances as the shapes within, moving like a mass of snarls and green glowing mouths.

"Ghouls!" Caliber shouted as a horde charged forward but was barely repealed by the gun fire. There had to be dozens in that wave and judging by the mass growls, maybe 40, 50 more behind them? "Joey, how do you want to play this out?" H asked, stepping in front of me. I tried to shake off the feeling of being dragged to my death and clear my head.

"Oh... Ok. you push into the lines. Use the bombs to see if you can by them enough time to get the door closed. I'll see if I can get a high enough spot to start picking them off." I shouted as another volley of gun fire all but made us both mute. I had to give it to them, what they lacked in accuracy they were making up for it with volume.

Caliber shoulder tapped his way to the front of the line and began lobbing grenades into the dark with his magic while I flew up to the service catwalk. I watched as he hovered a cluster of 5 metal apples in a large spread into the darkness, using the magic from them to light the way. Soon they all disappeared, but I watched as his horn kept glowing. All at once he was pulled forward towards the darkness. he hadn't dropped the apples yet, something had grabbed them and started pulling.

"Cal! Dropp'em!" I shouted.

"I can't! I haven't pulled all the pins!" He yelled back as his hooves inched closer to the doorway.

"Fuck the pins!" I shouted as I took aim at the last spot I had seen them. Sure enough, through the glow of the scope, I could see little glints of magic that looked more like electrical sparks than magic. "Cal! Drop them! I got it!" I shouted again. He looked up at me on the railing, my rifle propped up on the metal guard and his magic popped. No sooner than his horn had stopped glowing, he fell backwards into the line of ponies. I pressed the trigger.

The peregrine rifle let out a un holy roar, the muzzle flash bright enough to illuminate the large room I was in. Recoil rocked through my body, bending my frame with a sense of uncontrollability power. For the first time in my life I was both shocked and fearful of a weapon in my own hooves. I pulled away in aww as the grenades exploded one by one, sending a black spray of icker into the room with us. Once the shock wore off I went back to the scope, looking for something else to destroy with this thing.

With an evil grin, I took aim at a moving shadow on the edge of the street lamp's glow and let fly another round. The sound, as deafening as it was made my mane stand on end from the over pressure. I watched as whatever I had hit crashed into the light in several pieces. What was that thing? It was jet black, leathery looking and... was that black blood too? What the fuck was that!? I zoomed the scope in on it's head, it took some doing to find it, but when I did... Dear Luna's wrath... The teeth on that thing!

"Caliber! You good?"

"What!?" He shouted back with a smirk. "Can't talk right now, I got a terrible idea!" He said as he levitated up a red drum with grenades glued to it. A smile crept over my face. "Remember that time in Flank when the power went out?" He shouted back. I nodded eagerly. That night had been a blast, literally. The power had gone out on my birthday and he and I had gotten trashed on whiskey and played 'shoot the barrel, hide from the security'. I shouldered my rifle once more and dialed the scope out as far as it would go. Caliber hurled the mass into the darkness and I dropped into S.A.T.S by accident.

"Fuck! Oh... OH SHIT! How the fuck do you get out of this again!?" I scrambled to find away to kill the spell matrix. Shit! Everything was slowed down. It was just then that it targeted the barrel with a 99% chance of success. I looked at the glowing image for a moment and scoffed. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the fact that I had not eaten a real meal in days... but I think I could do better than 99%...

Giving up, I executed the spell and watched the round strike with near surgical precision on one of the apples near the barrels. Fire exploded in every direction, lighting up the darkness and all within. The flaming liquid rained down atop the sands in a long line into the black, casting yellow and red glows on the... oh shit. that's not 40 or 50... that's at least a hundred. I only brought like 40 rounds at best! I looked back down to Caliber, expecting a mirror of worry. Why was he smiling??

"Cal... NO! Bad Caliber!"

"CHARGE!" He shouted as he took off through the door, wad of grenades to his left, a machine gun to his right.

"DAMN IT, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" I shouted as I got back behind the scope again and started picking out faint glows of green. It has to be exhausting being that stupid all the time, I swear. My rifle roared, round after round of hot copper found their mark and the little dim green glows would fade out or fall to the ground. Every few shots I had to reposition because of the recoil pushing me backwards. I chanced a glance way from the now advancing horde to check on my friend.

One by one he would levitate out an apple and send it flying into the mass, killing several of the beasts. It wasn't long before they had formed a line of equinity at the edge of the fire and began firing in every direction. What the hell, did they just have limitless ammo or something? Must be nice to not have to worry about running dry mid battle. Another explosion rang out and I looked back to Caliber who was now talking to a unicorn zony as if they were discussing the weather. He then plucked a metal apple from the tree of magic above him and slowly floated it to the edge of the light. He looked to be explaining something when a dark figure lurched out towards it. Caliber jerked it out of the creatures' reach, dropped it behind the poor beast and...

Black liquid splashed both he and the Zony as Cal began laughing hysterically. Ah... that's what he was up to... dicking off. As effective as it was, I was beginning to worry about him with his new 'signature move'. He had told nearly everypony who would hear it about how he saved me by using his favorite move, the 'Anal Sneeky Surprise'. The Zony slowly trotted away, fell into a ball and began rocking back and forth. Well, I guess it was an acquired humor. I had to stifle a laugh myself from his reaction, but soon the creatures found away to shut me up.

Another wave charged out of the darkness. Mashing teeth and snapping jaws melded into a wall of death that was bearing down on the frontline. I watched as they gave ground and began firing, from my angle I couldn't get a shot without risking hitting a stable pony. I took flight and kept my eyes on Caliber as he began hurling grenades as fast as his magic would toss them. I sailed through the open doors and took note of the still sparking computer. Somepony must have tried to break in to do a little looting.

Caliber threw his last bomb wide, landing in the mass of popping teeth, buying the guards a few seconds. I landed just behind them and shouldered my rifle. I dropped out the FMJ rounds and loaded the 20 round mag of explosive bullets, chambered a round and sat it beside me.

"What the fuck are you doing!? Shoot them!" Caliber shouted.

"I got like, a really bad idea!"

I dug into my saddle bags and retrieved a smg from a slaver outside of Flank. It was in ok shape enough, if I lost it I could care less. I gave it a toss to Cal and grabbed my rifle.

"Be ready."

"Oh shit! Are we going to do the thing!?"

"Yeah! just be ready, I only got three-" My words hung in the air as I took in Calibers huge grin and blue glow on his horn. Beside him hovered a massive chain gun, purring away. I would like to think I'm a good judge of character, I would like to think I can read ponies well enough... But what I was seeing here was the happiest buck on earth who was about to play with his new toy. "Oh... Ok then. Just be ready." Caliber gave a stiff nod and watched me closely.

I stood on two legs, damn this thing is unwieldy when I'm on the ground, I was having a hard time balancing to walk just a few feet to the right of the formation. I checked the chamber, flipped off the safety and began scanning the darkness. any moment now... There! Another horde ran towards the light, lucky for me, they seemed more interested in the center of the firing line than trying to work their way around. I brought the rifle to bare, not even bothering to aim but rather just pointing in their general direction. The zebra next to me gave me a worried look, I gave him a motion that said 'cover your ears and get down' as I started pouring the pressure on the trigger. Just a little closer.

The rifle gave a thunderous boom as I started cranking off rounds as fast as I could. These rounds had some serious recoil, I had to time my steps between rounds as I advanced on the mass. Explosions began tearing through the flesh of... whatever these things were, sending body parts flying over my head. With my last round I closed in on the center of the firing line and handed the rifle to the closest buck I saw.

"It's out! Keep it safe!" I shouted as I took off running, then flying towards an eagerly waiting caliber. I never even slowed down as he hopped atop my back. The familiar sound of a minigun purring in my ear sent shivers down my spine as I gained altitude. Ok, maybe this was a little more fun than I would like to admit. Soon my wing tips were grazing the edges of the dome as I banked and turned back towards the group. We have only ever talked about this, I have no idea if this will work or not, but we had little option. They just kept coming! We needed to thin them out so we could get the door shut.

I began diving towards the light just as another mob reveled itself. Caliber dug his fetlocks into my side and I watched the minigun swing into view. Silence. There were just a few moments of silence before all hell broke loose. I could hear my breath, feel my heart pounding, feel caliber holding on tight around my neck. We were a two pony missiles, armed to the teeth, about to ruin something's day. Then the minigun came to life. With a loud whirl and a constant wave over pressure, caliber rained hundreds of rounds of hot copper and lead down from above. I watched as spent shell casings bounced off my chest and took in the bloody swaff we had just made in the horde.

Caliber cackled with glee as I pulled up out of out dive and began to turn. He reached in his bag and retrieved another drum of ammo and slammed it home.

"Oh hell yes! This is just as cool as I thought it would be!" He laughed.

"Dude! Did you see that!? They just... liquified! That was awesome!"

I turned sharp and dove in again. This time coming in at an angle to give him more trigger time. Before we just cut right through, but this time we were going to swoop in behind our own lines in a long arc to kill as many as possible. I steadied myself and mentally marked a land mark at about the halfway point. As soon as we were within range our enemy was emerging, but not in a horde like before. They were more broken up and charging one by one.

"Oh hell! They are on to us!" I shouted.

"Come, come, dear boy! That's no way to act on a battle field!" He said with possibly the most ridiculous accent I had ever heard. "Just come in a little lower and I'll show you what I can do!"

Nodding once I dropped in altitude and began the long banking curve. Once again the minigun came to life as he poured on the hate, turning anything that wasn't wearing blue and yellow into a fine paste. The glow of the barrels began to light up my face with its amber hue as I became painfully aware of how hot the muzzle blast was becoming. Then I started smelling burning hair!

"AH! MY MANE!" I shouted as I reached for the hotspot that was inflicting the pain.

"Oh shit! My bad!" Caliber shouted but it was cut short by a hard yank on both the gun and my head. I smelled something burning, I felt a hot searing pain and heavy weight on my head. The minigun barrels were tangled in my mane.

"Get it out, GET IT OUT!" I shouted as we started to flail. We were losing altitude but I couldn't think from the sharp pain that had become my entire head. I reached up and started yanking and pulling at the barrels but pulled back it suddenly came free. I looked up and saw a small patch of mane smoldering in the nest of glowing metal. With a hoof I reached back and felt my neck... nothing...

"Caliber you asshole!"

"Oh it'll grow back... If you ask me you look better this way... You needed trim anyhow... Zuri will-"

"SHUT UP! Just... Keep shooting and try not to scalp me again."

For a moment it was like the room was silently laughing at the two of us. Then I felt a huge weight being pulled off my back. I looked down and saw one of the... things latched on to Cal's saddlebags. I felt his hooves dig into my side hard as he fought to hang on. His magic popped and we both watched the mini gun fall to the ground, bouncing off the backs of the monsters and landing near the front line.

"CAL!" I shouted but before I could even get his name out he was in free fall to the ground. I watched as my friend fell into a mass of snapping jaws and teeth. My heart sank and I felt my blood run cold as a spurt of red blood shot up like a jet.

"CAL!!!" I shouted over and over, knowing it was pointless but... NO! He can't be dead, there is no way!

I dove for the minigun, nearly crashing into the firing line in the process. I had never handled one of these before, I was going to have to do this on my hind legs. I scanned the mass for anything, any sign of life and pressed the trigger to the first notch. The little electric motor began to whirl and I started trotting forward, upright, towards the mass. Just as I was about to click over to the second notch for fire, I saw a little blue glow. It was faint and bout 30 yards away, but it was there.

Without hesitation. I pressed the trigger fully and felt a wave of heat from the muzzle blast. I began sweeping the barrels left to right like a line of murder as I advanced. I was terrified, there was no way either of us were going to make it out of this alive, but I wasn't about to let my friend become breakfast. He had done as much for me after all.

Head popped, limbs fell off and bodies separated with every pass. I watched as monsters, one after the other, fell as I slowly trotted deeper into the fray. That little blue glow became brighter and brighter the closer I got. I looked around me as saw that I was slowly pushing them back with my every step. A bullet wizzed past my ear, then another... and another. Soon I could feel muzzle blasts at my back and then... heat. I turned my head and saw the stable ponies at my back, just a few steps behind, giving them hell.

I turned back and saw a crumpled Caliber covered in a ether like bubble. That little shit... He has a shield spell!? Where was that the last every time we needed it!? Oh we are going to have words. I turned my attention back to the horde and began emptying what was left of the minigun's drum.

"Caliber! What are you waiting for!? Get out of there!" I shouted between bursts.

"Just a second. I got like the worst idea!" He shouted back.

"Ok but... WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING! GET OUT OF THERE-"

Then I saw what he was doing, took a few steps back and seriously thought about leaving him there to be eaten. He, and only he could be this lucky/unlucky, had landed on a case of land mines. He must had cast his little bubble thing and had started wiring them all together. There must have been 50 mines there, that many would damn near level the site if he got it to go off. He was also pouring blood from his back. One of those things must have tagged him on the way down.

The moments ticked by as my rounds quickly ran out and the monsters started pushing forward again. There were few of them, but the situation was still far from manageable. Even with half the numbers they were slowly gaining back every inch I had taken from them.

"CAL! NOW OR NEVER!" I shouted as I let go of the last 60 rounds I had in covering fire. Caliber looked down, bucked one of the mines and sprinted towards me. The minigun ran dry, and with a spin I sent it flying towards the wad of mines he had built for good measure. Caliber caught up to me and hopped on my back just as the beeping started. I pumped hard for elevation and aimed for the stable door. It felt like miles away and I was exhausted, I could barely gain any altitude. The beeping got faster and the sound of snapping teeth sounded closer than ever. I gave up on altitude and pointed my nose down the street towards the door. It was so close!

*Beep*

*Beep, beep*

*Beep-beep-beep-beep*

The world lit up as a wave of fire grew behind us, body parts soared through the air as the fire rushed to catch up to us. Then the blast wave hit and sent both he and I tumbling across the ground at Celestia only knows what speed. Every impact felt like being hit with a dozen ball bats and there was a lot of impact to be had. In my spinning vision I saw brief glimpses of Caliber flying through the air and into a mass of scrap. I threw my hooves wide to try and stop the tumbling, and began sliding across the asphalt slowly coming to a rest at the old firing line.

Everything hurt, everything was hot and shit was still falling out of the air when I slowly rose back to my hooves. I felt something pop and erupt with pain in my hindquarters. It was like my hip had just gave up on my left leg being useful anymore. My wing, while not feeling broken, definitely felt like they were not far from falling off after rolling on them for a hundred yards. Holding up my leg I began hopping towards the huge pile of scrap where Cal had landed. I chanced a glace to where the explosion had happened. Well... the horde was gone, um, well not gone, they were every where but they were at least dead now.

"Joy!" I voice shouted above the roar of fire. I looked over just in time to see Zuri sprinting up to me. "You are hurt!" She screaked. "Your leg..." She said as she gave me a good once over.

"I'm... fine... Nothing a trip to the clinic wont fix... Where's Cal-"

"The next time we do that... you are wearing a hat." He said as he emerged from the scrap pile. "Your leg ok?" He said gesturing to my butt.

We all stood silent and in shock.

"Seriously, we need to get that looked at bud. Welp, they are all dead... How about a breakfast drink to celebrate?"

Shale ran up with Fetch not far behind. Then they saw what Zuri and I were looking at and joined our shocked and worried state.

"What? Do I have something on my face?" He said as he started rubbing his face.

"Does... Does that hurt?" Zuri asked as she pointed a timid hoof.

"What? My face? NAH!" He gave a dismissive wave. "Being this cute is a crime, not painful."

"No, dumbass... that thing in your side!" I shouted as I pointed to the long piece of metal that was shoved completely though his side and out the other.

"Huh?" He turned and looked. When he did we saw that the spire of metal had an octagon attached to it. The letters 'S.T.O.P.' were written in white on a red background. "Oh! That! Yeah... I should get that looked at."

"Are... You in any pain?" Shale asked as she slowly trotted closer to him.

"I mean, it sucks, but I don't think I'm dying." He said giving it a little poke. "Soo... About that drink-"

"CLINIC!" We all shouted as Shale started packing the wound around the metal rod with gauze.

"Geeze! Alright... Honestly, like this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me..."

Despite the wound, he seemed to be in high spirits and not in shock. But still, something had been bothering me since the alarms went off. Something that I could not for the life of me make since of.

"Caliber..." I said in exhaustion "What the fuck is a Jehovah Witness"

"I have no idea... Something from a dream I was having. We were different... no ponies, but these weird looking creatures. We were roommates... I think and every time this bell would ring we would panic, turn off all the lights and hide from these other weird creatures. You called them Jehovah witnesses In the dream I mean."

"What the hell does that even mean!?" I shouted, flabbergasted by what he had just said.

"Hey don't look at me! I have had years of drugs and alcohol to blame for my problems." He said as Shale started quickly ushering him towards the door. "If you want an explanation, take it up with Wild Pegasus."

"I NEED 2 UNITS OF TYPE AB OVER HERE!" A nurse shouted amidst the wails and cries of pain in the jam-packed clinic. Which was impressive given the size of this place. I have been in a lot of stables, some functional even that had clinics that were barely an 8th the size of this one. Even still, it was a far cry from the hospital just outside the stable door. Had it not been for Caliber's mine bomb that hospital would have been lost for good to the darkness. Had it not been from the resulting explosion from said mine bomb, we would be sitting in it right now... But the lobby was on fire and half the windows were blown in from debris and over pressure.

Instead Caliber, Shale, Zuri, Fetch, myself and the stop sign were all sitting in the corner waiting for our turn in the backrooms. Ponies, Zebras and Zonies shuffled bloody bodies back and forth from room to room. When those filled up, the dorms across the common room were used to move the stable patients to. Despite the dire situation's look, it had seemed that not many had died from the attack. Though some of the monsters had gotten through to the maintenance level judging by the hoof full of greasy jump suits with bite marks I was seeming.

Outside of the clinic I watched as the overmare was arguing with what I presumed was the head of maintenance, Twisty and Shoari. No doubt this all was somepony's fault and if they found out who, heads were going to roll.

"PUSH 5 MILLIGRAMS EPINEPHRINE, CLEAR THE PADDLES!" A nurse shouted.

"Shale... maybe you should take Fetch and Zuri back to the room. I think its going to be a while."

"But... I'm watching!" Fetch complained.

"Fetch, this is no place for a young buck like you." Caliber said with a light smile.

"But... Daddy... That buck over there has lost a lot of blood. He's going to have a seizure any second! I just know it!" He said with the creepiest amount of glee I had ever heard.

"FETCH!" We all shouted.

"I think it's time for somepony to get some rest, don't you?" Shale cooed sweetly.

"NOOOOOO!" Fetch shouted as he ran from the clinic, tripped over his own hooves and fell into a potted plant.

"Well... I guess I'll go collect him then. Zuri, want to give me some help?" Shale asked as she rose for the door.

Outside, Fetch had already grown wize to their plan... or this was a reoccurring thing. From where I was sitting on one butt cheek it was hard to tell. He had taken a chapter from Zuri's book and covered himself in mud and leaves and began sneaking away.

"YOU DO REALIZE WE'RE INSIDE, RIGHT!" Shale shouted after him. "Zuri! fetch, Fetch!"

"Oh! Yes. With glee!" The striped mare hissed as the two gave chase and ran down a hallway.

I turned back to see Caliber speaking to a terrified looking filly. The little filly only seemed to have a scrap on her hoof of all things, but judging by the sleeply looks on her moms face they must have been here for quite some time prior to our party of 50 showing up. It was a boo-boo at best but Caliber was doing his best to console her... With a stop sign lodged in his spleen.

"Hey... Now-now. There is no need for those tears. The docs here will patch that up in no time flat! I bet they give you a lollypop!" Caliber said softly. I had to give it to him, he was pulling this dad thing off pretty good for only a few weeks of practice. But, she was shrinking away from him.

"Cal... Leave the kid alone. She's had a rough night, don't you think?"

"I'm trying to console her..." He said with a hiss. "Now... I know it hurts but it will go away. What's your name sweetie?"

"Y-Yes..." The young filly stammered.

"Yes what?"

"S-Sweetie is my n-name." The poor girl looked like she was weighing the odds on either staying here or risking infection and running away. If nothing else, it was putting her 'injury' into perspective.

"Oh! Well, Sweetie. You look like a tough girl! You got this!" He said very confidently.

"Does... That hurt?" She said, pointing to the little piece of metal poking out of his side. That's when I did the math. From where she was sitting she could only see the small part of Caliber's injury. Oh... Oh shit...

"Oh! If you think that's bad... get a load of this!" Caliber said rather boastingly as he turned and showed off the other 2 meters of jagged steel and aluminum.

Terror is best used to describe seeing something so profoundly scary that you are left in shock. Whatever the filly was going through at this moment was well beyond that. In fact I think I could see the mental trauma happening right before my eyes. And just like that it was like her hoof didn't ever hurt to start with. In fact, I think she set some sort of speed record leaving the joint.

"Great job... Moron." I said with my chin on my hoof. Seriously, how much longer was this going to take?

"Heh... Oops." Caliber said with a shrug.

"Oops? Caliber this is a stable... Not the wasteland. That poor girl hasn't seen anything worse than a paper cut! In fact I doubt she will end the night with less than a few neuroses thanks to you."

"I said Oops... Damn" Caliber said as he tried to lean back. The sign hit the wall and he promptly slid towards me. I felt something cold hit my arm followed by a loud clang. I looked up and, was that my leg? Oh son of a bitch...

"Oh fuck me... Caliber you ass!" My leg was now stuck to his sign. "Great! How the hell are we going to walk like this!?"

"Well... I'm taller than you so..." He said as he stood up, wrenching me out of my seat in the process. With a powerful swing he sent me dangling in the air from the rod sticking out of his back. My hooves dangled below me, useless and a few inches off the floor.

"CALIBER! JOEY!" The nurse shouted. Her eyes soon landed on the 2 bit comic panel that was going on in the corner of her office, and she let out a chuckle. "The doc- AHEM- The doctor will see you both now." She said as she trotted away to wet herself.

"I hate you."

"Oh! You love me and you know it. Now come along little colt, let's get that boo boo looked at.

I flailed, swinging my hooves wide to hit him, but all I managed was to slide a little further down the pole. The tips of my hind hooves clicked across every little crack in the floor as he trotted us back to the clinic room. Caliber's eyes met that of the nurse who had moments before called us back.

"Ma'am." He said politely.

"You to have fun I guess." She said barely keeping it together.

"THIS IS BULLSHIT!" I shouted as I continued to flail pointlessly.

Well, that broke the tension. The nurse gave out a roar of laughter and fell back on her haunches. Any old port in a storm I guess, if I had to look at sick ponies all day I too would try and find levity in the situation. Except I was the levity, literally in this case. Caliber hoofed the door open to exam room 3A, successfully smashing my side into the wall, then the door frame and swinging me into a medical card for good measure. At this rate I was going to be more injured from the journey here than the actual battle we had just fought.

"For fuck's sake, Cal!" I shouted as he sat me down in the sink next to the gurney, the faucet now digging into my hip. "That bed is big enough for the both of us!"

"You know I like to stretch out, hush." He replied coolly as he began to lean back.

"Cal, no! Don't lean back!" I shouted but it was too late. I felt the tap begin to move and soon cold water was rushing down my backside. The shock sent me scrambling for anything to get away from the icy cold liquid that had just flooded my most sensitive parts. I flailed once more, knocking medical supplies to the floor. Caliber just laughed and looked on as I tried to play 'The Water is Lava, Adult Edition'. Having free'd myself from the slippery sink, I lunged at Cal, aiming for his back. I then put my very wet ass on his lower back and held on.

"THATS SO FUCKING COLD!" He shouted as he rived.

"How do you like it, fuck-wit!?"

Just then the door opened and Dr. Xymol trotted in, in all his yellow and black glory. It was soon made painfully clear that Caliber and Xymol had never been properly introduced.

"Ah! Dr. Bumble Bee... So nice to see you!" Caliber said, leaning to one side and allowing me to slide off his back into a pile on the bed beside him.

"Dr. Xymol..." The yellow buck corrected. "You know, trotting down here I had a moment to go over your medical files that Shale was so nice enough to provide and I have to say I didn't believe what I was reading." He said as he took in the state of the room we were in. "But Know I believe it! So, what brings you in to my little clinic today?" He said sarcastically.

"This thing in my side wont stop hurting and acting like a foal." Caliber said flatly.

"I see... It does look annoying." Xymol said as he trotted to a rolly chair and slide closer.

"Oh what have I ever done to you?" I asked sardonically.

"Well... Prior to my reading of this file I figured you were just another case of bad luck. But according to it, you two are what we doctors refer to as 'morons'.

"Little on the nose there doc." Caliber scoffed.

"Oh? You don't believe me?" He said, opening the file. "It's easy not noticing your own track record when you are living it out."

"Look, we've had some bumps and bruises, but its not like we are accident prone." Cal said politely.

"Yeah-yeah, we are totally not morons..."

The doctor took a moment to gather my appearance while hanging from a stop sign that was lodged into my half brother. "Clearly..." He said with an incredulous tone.

"Broken, arm... from the stable door. Broken wings, quite the feat if I say so myself having read about it in a flyers medical journal. poisoning from healing potions, that's a new one, I've got to admit. Bullet wound, bullet wound bullet wound. Taint exposure, still learning about that one. Detached retina, multiple burns and lacerations and to top it off, a mildly magnetic leg now... but I'll take credit for that."

"Damn Joey, you lived a life of five." Caliber chuckled.

"Cailber... Partial deafness in left ear due to an infection he, and I'm quoting here, just couldn't stop picking at. Multiple addictol treaments, sever alcoholism, drug addiction. Ah, now we get to the real injuries! Broken leg. Broken horn, Broke lower jaw. Broken eye socket, broke ribs x five, broken tail bone. Surgical removal of a fork you had swallowed. Surgical correction of a twisted bowl. Treatment of gonorrhea... fourteen times!?"

"He-he... good old Five Cap Condi..." We both sighed.

"Oh, and my personal favorite, a sprained testical. How the hell does that even happen." Xymol asked in disbelief

"Well... It requires a sheep and-" I started but was quickly cut off.

"Look, if I read everything aloud we would be here until next week. I'm not even going to get into the leg thing that sends unicorns into another state of pain when they look at it. My point is, you two are medical moronic anomalies that if you don't start taking it easy are going to die by thirty.

"Technically, the writer who is making all of this up is in his mid thirties at this point because he keeps coming back to the story over and over again between bouts of depression and work." I said, looking into the abyss overhead. "Can you fix us up?"

"Yes... But I'm having a look at that leg of yours once we are done here. The metal we use is not supposed to hold a magnetic charge like that and I'm pretty sure I can't de-gauss it."

Just then Shoari trotted in with two large syringes, one of which looked horrifically familiar. "Two grade a numbing agents! This one is new and improved and ready for some Zonies flank!!" She sing-songed.

"You are not coming anywhere near my flank with that!" I shouted, remembering the terrifying experience of having my leg cut open and having no power to stop it.

"Oh, its not for you silly!" She said, her eyes landing on Caliber.

"What, wait, what is that stuff!?" Caliber said, now trying to hide behind me.

"Oh you'll love it. Go ahead, Shori! Squirt that in his butthole!". I said, sadistically, wanting somepony else to have to go through what I did.

"Don't you worry one little bit! I fixed it after last time!"

Less than a few days back underground and things were already getting back to normal for my little group. Well... save for the battle in the site area, Caliber's new and very interesting looking scar that he wouldn't stop picking at and the seemingly disturbing information about my leg. Not long after Caliber was put in a zombified state and had his stop side removed from his spleen, I was rushed back to the site, to the little teaching hospital that was now chard ghoul free to have my leg microwaved, irradiated and poked in every conceivable way. During those four hours we all learned 3 things. One. It can't be demagnetized because it's not magnetic at all. The junk they patched me up with turned out to be some proprietary metal that the O.I.A had procured at some point and was experimenting on pony implants with. It was a non-ferris material, despite having very similar properties to steel. Because of this it could not become magnetized but was rather interacting with other metal objects in a magical manner. As to how or why it picked steel. So that's something I'm stuck with.

That brings us to discovery number two... It's bonded to my bones. Not just my leg bone, but it was spreading up my leg, far past my joint and heading for my shoulder. It hadn't affected my walking and the pain was migrating and slowly fading away, but still it was cause for worry. When Xymol told me this I considered having my leg removed because... you know... fuck that, that's creepy. If anything according to them, it didn't seem to be causing me any issues. There was even bone under the metal that still had marrow in it. I don't know what marrow does but I was told to consider it important if I wanted to live. So yeah, I'm stuck with that until death or dismemberment.

And lastly point three, possibly the most worrying prospect of all. The metal was not just bonding with my bones, it was interacting with my D.N.A. According to Xymol and Shorai, it was causing me to become allergic to several anesthetics, including those of the spell variety. Especially those of the spell variety in fact. The metal would latch on to anything magical and pull on it as though it was feeding off the very thing that was trying to make me better or examine me. That sobering fact explained the Ten Pony Incident. It was getting worse the more it spread too. Granted, this was slowly making me unicorn proof, but it was a double edged sword. It also meant no exam spells, medical potions and soon probably healing spells... at least without any undo paint to the poor unicorn administering it.

They even had to resort to using prewar tech to get the X-Ray of my leg and leave the rest to guess work as to my injuries. No superpower without a weakness I suppose. That said, this was starting to look like one hell of a weakness. One that I might be better off with the nickname tri-pod if it does get worse. Being afield with a unicorn that could do healing magic was a gift from Celestia herself. Being out there with one who can't even touch you is torture from the stars themselves. But despite all that I had learned, and all we had endured getting to this point, it had all been worth it. We were even starting to settle in as if this were going to be a home for a time rather than a pitstop.

Shale had been taking a liking to subterranean life, Caliber on the other hoof was less than enthusiastic about the smell. Fetch rather enjoyed all the little hiding spots he had discovered in our absence. He had already gotten in trouble for sneaking into the Overmare's office through a ventilation shaft. That being said, he had been making friends with the local zebra fillies and colts. He was sure to tell Cal and I all about their little adventures the four of them had had together and the subsequent trouble they had caused. Caliber thought it was funny, Shale, not so much. Caliber was quick to provide some valuable hindsight so the next time he would not get caught.

Fetch had even given his little group a name. Hidden Hitchhikers. You had Mjanja, a clever little burnt orange Zony just a year older than Fetch. Apart from his quiet attitude, the kid could get into trouble doing anything according to Fetch, He was one of only 3 Zonies under the age of 30, not counting myself. Then there was Kufuli who had a pension for getting into places that got her in trouble. One of only 2 fillies in the whole stable and the only unicorn to boot. According to Fetch she could pick nearly any lock you gave her if she had enough time. Finally, you had Wafanyakazi who the others mercifully called Kazi, I'm assuming because his name was nearly impossible to pronounce for Fetch. Even Zuri snored when she heard Fetch try his best to repeat it. But there was no mistaking what his special talent was. He was the oldest and easily the biggest of the group. A full blooded descendant of Roamani Zebras as pointed out by my own mother the moment she saw him. She was even quick to point out the similarities between he and I. The little group had been making a point to seeing every part of the stable together in my absence.

"Fetch... What have I said about running around with those 'friends' of yours? You are going to get us kicked out!" Shale neatly barked.

"But Kazi says that only bad ponies get kicked out. We are just getting into mis... mischef..." Fetch stumbled.

"Mischief, Fetch. The word you are looking for is mischief. Then again, I like to call it fun reconnaissance." I said from the corner of the room.

"You are not helping!" Shale barked back to me.

"What's the harm in them having fun and exploring a Stable. This isn't Equestria proper, this Stable was built by the Ponies and Zebras who planned to live in it. They don't even have one of those stupid AI's that all those horror holes have back home. It's all done manually. Cal and I even de-ghoul'd it properly."

"I mean, they will get us kicked out!" Shale retorted. I stepped in a little closer to her and whispered in her ear.

"Look, something tells me that Fetch and his little group could be... beneficial to us. I know this stable wont try to kill us, but I'm not so sure about its occupants. Fetch is the perfect pony for the job and honestly, I like seeing him feel useful. Let the kid have fun, who knows, he might come across something worth wild."

"What do you mean by the occupants? They are sweet as honey to us, why would they want to kill us?" She asked, her mane now beginning to stand on end.

"Look, I've had my look around the place, in some cases more than most. Something isn't adding up here. There are old bullet holes in the lower levels and what looks like some that might have been patched over in the common areas. Their security is armed better than a gang of Reapers from the hoof but they can't fight for shit. To top it off, when was the last time you heard of a Stables population collapsing? They are stacked from the git-go to prevent that. Let the kid snoop, it could turn something up." I said, stepping toward the center of the room.

"Yeah well, if I have to trot out of this desert or spend one more night in the puke buss it aiming for you backside." Shale said as she stormed off.

"As if you could teleport us all back... Fetch! Front and center." I shouted as I stowed my rifle and shucked off my barding. I then winced at the idea of what teleportation would to to her with my magic creepy leg. "Ok. I in no way condone you sneaking around and getting into trouble." I adopted my strongest voice and deepened my tone as if I were a buck right out of drill sergeant school.

"Sorry. Joey."

"Getting in trouble means you got caught and I won't have that! So if you and this little group of yours is planning to gather intel on this place and its inhabitants, then I suggest you all don't get caught." I said as I pulled him closer to our lockers. I opened my old saddle bags and fumbled around for something I had not touched in years.

"Wait! You are ok with it?" Fetch said as I dug through the mountains of memorabilia I had collected over the years.

"Ok is such a firm word... I prefer what I don't know you do, will not upset me. Understood?" I said, giving him a firming look.

"Know about what?" The little buck said, his eye going east and west as he tried to figure out not only what I said, but what it meant.

"Exactly. Here. Take this. Think of it as a perk of me never throwing things out. It's my old stalking vest from when I was a colt." I passed off the tattered fabric vest I had fashioned from an old flyers vest I found when I was like... 12? Wow, am I really that old?

"COOL! It's got lots of pockets! Wait, what's this?" Fetch asked as he fumbled through the pockets, producing a little wooden box. The edges were worn smooth from years of being carried around in a sandy pocket.

"Oh wow... Ma! Come look at this!" I said, holding it up and flipping it open. "It's my necklace box! Run along, Fetch. Remember what I taught you?"

Fetch started for the door but paused for a moment before turning back to me.

"Uncle Joey? I was wondering... Do you think you could maybe... I don't really know how to ask it really."

"Spit it out boy. What is it?"

"Well, me and the others were thinking, I mean if you can... Teach us? You know, like back in Ten Pony?"

"Fetch... I don't know if that's such a good idea. What would their parents think? I would need their permission to do that."

"OH! I can get that! They won't mind! Honest!"

"Tell you what. You get them to write me a letter that says it's ok with them, I'll teach you all how to be sneaky. But otherwise no way."

"Ok!" He shouted as he ran out the door all the while trying to climb into a vest that was two sizes too large.

"It's fine with me too, you little shit! Be back for supper!" Caliber shouted after him. "Honestly, I think he sees you more as a dad than me sometimes." Caliber said as he slinked off to keep an eye on his kid.

"He's just a happy kid. Let him be happy."

I turned back to the group and was amazed to see that most of them had snuck out the door while Fetch and I were talking. Only Zuri, Shale and my mother remained behind, seemingly forgotten by the rest of the group to go off and do Goddess knows what.

"Hey, where did they all go?" I asked as I carried the small box back over to my bunk.

"To mingle. I believe this is the word that I heard used." Zuri said as she came to sit beside me. "Ah it is the same box we retrieved when we were young, no?"

"On in the same. Bit more worn over the years, but overall in good shape." I said as I passed it off to her.

"Did you find the letter?" My mom asked as she trotted over.

"Letter? What letter? There was no letter." I said as I feverishly looked the box over for something I missed.

"The letter from your father. It is a tradition that the boy's father writes him a letter and a mother her daughter. It is meant to be read at the coming of age." She said as she reached for the little wood box. She took it in her hooves and turned it over, what was she looking for? "Your father was so proud of you. Every Zebra he talked to he would steer the conversation to you somehow. I had never seen a buck more ready to be a father." She stared at the box quizzically before having a moment of inspiration. She raised the box up high and smashed it on the ground in front of me.

"HEY!!!" Zuri and I both shouted.

"He was also very clever." She began to pry at the now cracked box and tore it apart. In the wreckage was a little folded up piece of paper that she dusted off and passed back off to me. "I remember him saying something... 'I bet he has a devil of a time getting into this.'"

"What does it say?" Zuri asked as I unfolded the paper. "I still have mine."

I unfolded the yellowed paper and took in the very clean and seemingly dry writings. The letters were bold, firm even, trademark of the Equestrian Military. All except for the signature. It was lighter, more elegant, toned with filigree and a skill I could never hope to master.

"Kit. I trust that your reading this means this world did not tear you apart. I'm told that this is tradition for the first born son or daughter of the family. Seems odd to me, maybe it will seem odd to you too, but these Zebras... They are not like the others, they are kind, they have shown me kindness I have never seen before. I would like to think that by now in your life you will have found whatever it is that has you vexed, that you know what it is that makes you happy and that you found somepony that makes you smile like your mother has me. This world is broken, burning and blistered but I can only hope that one day you find a way to make it your own. I'm sorry for bringing you into this world, you deserve much better than this.

I don't even know if I'll be the one to raise you at the rate things are going. At the time of writing this, there is a movement to push ponies out of this land. I might not even get to see you grow, maybe not even your first steps. But know that I will always love you and I will never stop trying to find my way back to you if they succeed. It used to be that all I ever wanted was to become a general in the Enclave, now the only thing I want is yours and your mother's safety. It's funny how things turn out. One moment you know exactly what you want, the next you are on a different path tracking down a new life you never knew you wanted.

My hope is that this letter is something we can one day laugh over. Something we can look back on with fond memories and I can tell you stories about. But if for some reason it doesn't find you in my company, know that I'll always be close by and that I'm so proud of you. As surely as the blood that was given to make this stone, my blood beats in your heart and your mother's courage pushes you through your darkest nights.

Always Watching,

Major Jet Shadow

My father's words found that part of my brain that had been covered in cobwebs for so long that no pony would dare open the door to it. I felt... cheated. Knowing that he really did exist and I didn't just have to rely on stories about him brought back all those lonely feelings I had suppressed for so long that I forgot I even had them. He was real. He had a life and it was all in the past. All I could do was sit and look through the window of my imagination and vaguely picture his life, it was all I could ever do. The thin veil had been lifted, but rather than seeing things in color, it was like they were in black and white. The only knowledge of what he even looked like I had was from that fucked up dream when they killed me on the O.R. table.

But something else was biting for my attention. Why did they kill him? Why did they want me so badly? What was so important about me? I don't buy for a second that it was just over some bloody feud, or that dusty old rhetoric. What was really going on in that village that sent them off killing Zonies and foals?

I folded up the note and placed it in my bags, taking care to tuck it into a little pocket sown on the flap covering the hole. I wanted to keep this, even if all it gave me was heartache and questions. It was the only thing I had of my father's that felt... real. The only thing that in my mind proved he ever existed at all.

"His name was Jet Shadow... He was Enclave..." I said, my voice tailing off into a whisper.

"Kit... I know that it is... hard when a foal must read the letter of a fallen parent. But you have to understand that what happened was not his fault, it was nopony's fault. You mustn't let the feelings of melancholia cloud the love he had for you. Do not let that be the only the thing you can take from his words.".

"No... I took a lot more than that from it. But you have to understand, I have gone nearly two decades not knowing his name. I guess I'm still... processing it. It's a lot to take in. He seems genuine. Very sure of what he says. That and kinda sappy. Which is great! I know where I got it from, but... how did he know it was all going to come down like that?"

"Your father was a... how do you say... in Reconnaissance? His job was to gather information. He might not have been allowed on base, but he still had friends there. Friends that might even still be there. They would pass him information and in return he would pass on secrets to them. Things he had learned working under leadership. Towards the end he wanted to run off to Equestria, I had never seen him so afraid... I had never even seen him scared. He was always so sure of himself. But something in the last meeting with them changed him. Something that day scared him.

He wanted us to leave but... I begged him to stay. That is my curse in this life. I must carry it in hopes that when my time comes, he will forgive me for wanting to stay. I just hope that he knows me in paradise. I hope that he can see you now, the buck you have become. But those thoughts are as much straw in the wind." She said, trotting closer to me.

"This stone... on my necklace. He said something about blood being in it or something... What's so important about it?" I asked as I turned the jewel over in my hooves, taking in how it would scatter with every move.

"AH, yes. It is your birthstone. When a mother and a father strive to have a child in our tribe, it is tradition for the parents to make a blood sacrifice ensuring the safety of the child. Blood is formed into the core of a special rock and bonded with magic to form a stone. The color of the stone will tell you the month the foal is born, but the real secret is in the making." She said as she took it from my hoof, turned it over and began pointing at the various glyphs on the back side.

What I had always taken and ornate markings turned out to be something more by the look in my mother's eyes.

"They are what you would call blessings. Requests from the gods for protection, intelligence, virtue and cleverness. Once forged and bonded, nothing can take it away, nothing can damage it outside of powerful alchemy. I will admit that it is a relatively new tradition, though a popular one."

"New tradition? Like my generation new or a few hundred years new?" I asked as I took a seat in place.

"As long as I have been around. It was my generation that sought to forge these talismans in hopes of protecting our young ones from the horrors of the world." Her lips curled into a loving smile as she giggled softly. "Your father used to say 'Spooky zeeber magic' about them, but I think even he had hope that they would work."

"Did... Do they? Keep you safe? All that stuff?" I asked suddenly taking in a new appreciation for this little hunk of metal.

"Well... you are here no? Can you think of a time when you probably should have died? A time when you were far more clever than you felt you should have been? Something of that nature?"

I paused and thought for a moment... Had there been times like that? If this thing really worked then I doubt I would even have a baseline to go off of, never have I not had it near me at one time. I looked up at her and shook my head.

"No? Never?" She asked with a cock of the head frown.

"Oh for the love of Luna, Joey!" Shale shouted from across the room. Seeing as she was only a few feet away, I felt it was unwarranted.

"You have been the most stubborn buck I have ever met. You spent our entire childhood learning everything you could about tracking and guns. You have spent most of your teenage years in and out of the hoof, something most ponies could never dream of pulling off. You have saved... I can't even count how many foals from Slavers and raiders. You and Caliber snuck into Fillydelphia... INTO FILLY! and saved Fetch and got out with a slightly shot hoof. Every time I think you know, I bet that little brother of mine is dead... Your ass shows up to Mega Mart with a foal, a sack of slaver guns and barding and a stack of caps." She said closing the distance on the two of us.

"Shale, chill. Most of the time I got out by the skin of my teeth. I should have-"

"What? You should have what!? Died? Anypony else would have. But here you are."

"What do you want me to say here!?" I said taken aback by the sudden outburst.

"I don't want you to say anything. I want you to acknowledge the gravity of this. The implications, no less. It explains so much about your past and present. All those questions you had, all those thoughts you used to say kept you up at night. This could be the answer to them."

I looked back to mom who was holding a cool, knowing smile. A smile that said she had just won a 25 year long argument with my deceased father.

"Ok, say that all this is true. This blood sacrifice stone thingy is to blame for my bad case of mortality. Name one time where I should have bit the dust and took a dirt nap for it."

Hooves shot to the ceiling as it seemed everypony had a comment.

"There is the time you rescued me. In the tent. Their guns jammed and you shot them both. They knew you were outside. But luck had other plans for them" Zu said.

"How about that time we nearly burned down flank for your birthday? You jumped off the No Tell Mo-tail with your wings tied to your back. Sixty feet if I recall. Trotted away with a sprained fetlock." Cal said.

"Filly." Valkyrie stated, seeming to want a piece of the action.

"How about all the rooms you sleep in burning down while you are away and not while you are asleep? How about that time you tried to out drink Caliber? How about the time you trotted right through a mine field and all the one's you stepped on turned out to be live, but didn't go off? How about the time you found a mare who you had not seen in 10 years who was decidedly hiding from you in a part of Equestria you have never been to? If that's not plot armor, I don't know what is. I'm sorry, but I can all ready see the wheels turning in your head... Maybe you should consider this." Shale said, returning to her bunk.

"Ok, ok... Maybe there is something to this... Mom? How many of these are there out there? I can't have the only one, right?" I asked, hoping that in some way I was special.

"Your year was the tenth generation of Birthstones. I do not know the true number, but I know that many of them were collected during the first round of exile. There were a few still out there, but they were presumed missing or lost."

"The Zebras you mean?"

"Yes. But if what your friends are saying is true, then perhaps they are not lost, but hiding."

"Ok, but why did they exile the Zonies in the first place? Did it have something to do with the birthstones?"

She took a long breath and stared to the floor as she seemed to be thinking of something before looking back to me.

"No one truly knows. They were of great importance to those who exiled the ones who stood against them. When hunting parties would go out, they rarely came back with bodies, but rather the stones were seen as more important. Not long after I lost you and your father, we were forced into slavery, digging for gems in the fields. The information was cut off from us. We were left not knowing."

"But there had to be some information. Some clue as to why they only looked for the necklaces." I said, my brain already coming alight with new ideas as to why.

"There were rumors... Some said that they wanted the gems because they were of great value for trade. Other said that the gems held a power that was akin to the stars, but that of the side of light rather than dark."

"And you? What do you think?" I asked, taking in her tired expression. It had clearly brought up bad memories for her to place herself back there, but I was starting to get the feeling that there was more to this shiny rock than luck and magic.

"Our bloodline is a long one. I have heard stories of these stones being something that can only be forged through love and devotion. The old tales say that any Zebra can trap blood in a stone for good luck, but for anything further or stronger, you have to forge the stone in the hooves of lovers who share an unbreakable bond. It is said that what is put into the gem, comes from the lovers. It would explain my poor luck."

"And my father's untimely death."

Had I really just said that out loud? Good going Joey, just kick the mare while she's down.

"SORRY! I didn't mean to-"

My apologetic move was met with a hoof wave.

"No, it is ok. I know that if he truly had given some of his protection to you, then he would happily do it over again... I'm sorry, I'm very tired. Would you mind if I were to lay down for a bit?" She asked.

"Sure! Take my bunk. Cal and I have to go out and check in with Shoari anyhow. She says she needs an problem solved and Cal and I are just dumb enough to offer to help. You get some rest." I said as I gestured to my bunk and help her up to it. I had clearly taken a lot out of her to tell me all that. Or I was stupid and brushed off my dad's death as nothing more than my fault. Either way, it was the least I could do.

"Kit? Hold on a moment." She said as she reached into her sack of belongings and pulled out a little framed picture and passed it off to me. "I have kept this safe for years in hopes that I could give it to you one day." She said as she passed me the dusty framed picture and snuggled up to my pillow.

In the picture, the buck stood tall and proud in his black trimmed uniform and gleaming insignias. His mane was short and cut back into a mohawk, tapering into an arrow in the back by the looks of it. Over the right breast bore the name Shadow. My mouth hung open. This was the same buck I had seen in that near death dream. Right down to his towering frame and chiseled jawline.

"Dad?" I asked, already feeling the tears beginning to build.

"Yes, this is he. He was in his twenties when this was taken. Not much older than you." She said as she pulled the blanket over her.

"But, don't you want to keep it? I barely knew him. I don't even have memories of him!" I offered it back to her but she just pushed it back to me.

"No. He is here." She said tapping a hoof to her chest. "He will always be here. Once we were bonded I knew a piece of him would always stay with me. A partner always keeps their loved ones in their heart. But a colt... A colt needs his father."

I watched as she rolled over, saying something so powerful in such a matter of fact tone was sobering. But I stowed the picture next to my note from him in my bags and motioned for Caliber to follow me to the hallway. She had given me so much to think about, but so few answers go go off of at the same time. But the one thing that was right at the front of the line was screaming at me. There had to be others out there. Other ponies, Zebras, Zonies even that could have escaped. They could be held up somewhere and if they were, it could be the very thing that gave the Zebras that were still in the tribe something to fight for. I didn't like the idea of finding anypony to use as a bargaining chip, but at the same time what choice was there.

My mother wanted to know, wouldn't others as well? That encampment seemed... off. Nopony, Zebra or creature for that mater can act that civilized and keep slaves the way they do. I don't know if it's indoctrination, the threat of a megaspell or something else. But finding out your kid is out there somewhere, missing you, wanting to know where they came from has to hurt on a level that... well... I'm all to familiar with. If anyone of them felt half the way I did for all those year then it was worth a try.

My mind was already doing its best to remember the flight there, the lay of the land and anywhere I might have seen that could possibly hold up a small group of Zebras. But there was always the chance they had all died, or dispersed at some point. I'm sure the tribe would have kept records of who stayed, who was kicked out and who was summarily executed. So that was one option and frankly, a good one. It would leave me with a list of names, a known number of equines to hunt down even. But that meant breaking back into the camp and taking a risk of lighting a powder keg with no leverage.

The other option was to talk to Shoari and see if she could provide any incite to my thoughts. I could then, if nothing else, have a place to start looking. I think she said something about having maps of the old area I could pilfer. But this would be time consuming and I would need help from the others. I felt bad enough bringing them this far out of their element without making them trudge through the desert for who knows how long looking for lost kids.

Damn it... Why does this have to be this hard! I do this shit for a living and have for years. I need to think, I need a drink and I need to talk to the others. But ne thing I did know for sure, however, was that I still had business with a tribe of zebras... and I was planning on getting those answers by any means necessary.

The stable was less how I remembered it and more... Festive? Decorated? It was hard to imagine that ponies and zebras alike would have much in the way of party decorations given the circumstances of their being here. But never the less they had made an effort to adorn their walls and doors with little trinkets and colorful pieces of paper. I don't remember hearing about any party before we left.

Cal and I trotted down the narrow stable dorm's hallways towards the common area. All around us, open doors to rooms filled with zebras with smiling faces greeted us as we trotted by. Each room had its own flavor for crazy, I mean that in the nicest way possible. Each more different than the next, their rooms were as decorated as their personalities, the walls covered with tribal artifacts, paintings and carvings. Some were dark in nature, but others were bright and felt uplifting. I had been in my fair share of stables, but this one takes the cake.

Usually, I would be surrounded by drab walls, near empty rooms and cold concrete all around, but here... Everywhere I turned I was met with another surprise. Even the Pipbuck Repair Station was brightly decorated. It hadn't been like this a few days ago. Sure there had been some décor, but nothing like this.

"Cal, does this place seem... different? You were here while I was away, what gives?" I asked as we found our way to the common area. Cal seemed to have been in deep thought when I broke him from his reverie.

"My side hurts, thanks for asking." He replied dryly.

"Oh for fuck's sake... How's your side Cal?" I asked equally as dryly.

"It still hurts, but it's getting better. Thanks for asking."

"Cal?" I asked, gesturing to everything around us that wasn't grey.

"Huh? Oh yeah. There's some party going on because a foal was born."

"All this for the birth of a foal?" I asked as I watched two Zonies hang streamers from the rafters with their magic. "Seems a bit much, doesn't it?"

"I said the same thing, but apparently its not as common as you would think. Shoari told me that over the last few generations a lot of the bucks are shooting blanks. So when a mare turns up late, they all lose their shit and throw a party. If the baby lasts full term, they throw another, bigger party." Cal said as he nosed the door open to the admin level stairwell.

"Yeah, but a party? I mean I guess I get it but seems like a waste of resources for a stable to do that."

"Well, I thought about that too. According to them, they actually have a surplus of supplies due to their low reproductive rate. Top that with the fact that they are all eggheads and can grow a dandelion in concrete if they get bored, they have more than enough. They also make some damn good booze if you ask me. Shoari gave me a shot of something clear the other night and I swore I could fight timberwolf with one hit."

"Damn. Well don't go to heavy on that stuff, you remember that little town we went drinking in a few years back..." I said as I tapped a hoof to Shoari's door. Caliber lowered his head and spoke in a low tone.

"Those poor ponies never knew what hit them..."

"You blew up their septic system and started launching turtles out of something you build out of old plumbing parts and hair spray..." I remarked back quietly.

"I still have it!" He said as he pulled the long white pipe mass from his bags. The words 'HFS turt launcher 9000' had been carved into the barrel. I remember being the one who carved it there.

"Those poor turtles..." I said as the door cracked open and the two of us looked down to see a over worked and utterly exhausted Shoari. Well, one of us looked down, Caliber squatted down and pressed his nose to hers and began speaking slowly.

"HOW. ARE. YOU. TODAY?"

The mare sighed and stared back flatly.

"Your friend... Is he retarted?" She asked in a tone only a doctor could muster. I had seen it before, in Ten Pony... Lots of times. "I'm Short, not Deaf you moron!"

"Probably. Self inflicted I think. Do you need to speak to us?" I said as I trotted into the little room. Well, I'm sure it was bigger than what I was seeing. But every inch of every wall was floor to ceiling with books making for a cramped space for one pony, let alone 3.

"Right... yes. There have been some developments with Site 103." She relaxed a bit after taking in my uneasy expression. "Excuse my directness, but I haven't slept in days. Since you were able to turn on some of the lights and clear the way to the hospital wing, things have been getting understandably strange down there."

"Your telling me, I've never seen things like that and Caliber here got a stop sign to the spleen." I said as watched Caliber try to cram the Turtle Launcher back into his bags.

"Shame its wasn't his head..." I heard her mumble under her breath.

"What could be going on that's more strange than that?" I ask as I took a seat on the ground.

"Well for starters there have been reports of lights turning on and off towards the R&D, a bit creepy. Then there is the hissing noises coming from Reactor 5... More concerning than scary. But the biggest problem by a mile is the darkness. It seems like those creatures like to keep to the shadows and attack anypony that comes near the dark areas of the site." She paused to retrieve something from her desk drawer before dropping a stack of picture in front of me.

"We sent in two teams to investigate, the first one was unarmed. Nopony came back. The second we sent with beam pistols and shotguns. Lots of shots were fired, but they couldn't seem to hit anything. The only pony to make it back said that whatever it was it felt like it was feeding off their fear, growing more aggressive the more dire the circumstances got. He reported seeing something around 6-10 feet tall, either that or it can jump really high, glowing green eyes and strength enough to suck all the energy from a pony within seconds. I trust you understand that was the source of the attack that a few nights back." She said in an exhausted tone as she slid a small folder across to me.

"WHOA!" I shouted as I looked over the pictures. The ponies in them looked... drained! It was like they had been hooked up to a vacuum and sucked dry of any fluids. The 3 mummified corpses wore shocked, terrified expressions showing their last moments being filled with fear and terror. "Caliber, get a load of these." I said as I passed them over to him. "Any Idea what could have done this?" I asked, feeling all too uneasy about this conversation.

Shoari simply shook her head. "Joey, we don't know what's down there, even after the other night we... I feel there is more to it than a few ghouls. Something else is lurking down there and its keeping us from medical supplies we desperately need access to. We tried to press further on with our research, we were even able to stave off the stillbirth of a foal with one of the serums we found on the 3rd floor nursery. There is tech down there beyond our capabilities here. Compounds, state of the art equipment and-"

"Alright, alright... I'll go." I said, cutting her off before it could be laid on any thicker. "You had me at Stillbirth and Foals.

"Yeah-yeah! Me too. I wouldn't mind trying this baby out on a real opponent!" Caliber said, stroking the barrel of the HFS that was sticking out of his bags. How did he even get that thing in there in the first place?

"Joey..." She started with a relieved smile. "I can't tell you how much this means to us."

"I'll fix your monster problem, but there is a problem I need some help with." I said, tapping my hoofs together.

"Name your price. We are desperate." She said, a worried look crossing her face.

See, this is why Shale does all the haggling on stuff like this. I'm stern as I can be trading for guns, bullets and rations... but that whole... I don't have a lot if anything I can pay you with, I just want to hurt to go away and my baby back... I'm the biggest sucker there is for that. Call it my own pain from life, but if I can spare somepony from it I will and gladly pay for the chance to do so. Hell, most of my payments were donations or oven forced on me... there was the odd third party payment, but how often does that happen in the wasteland?

"No money, supplies or anything. I need information and may be a map. I have this problem, the same one that brought me here except... now its different. I need to find some Equines that were displaced." I said trying to keep my cool. I was still battling with some serious anger over the whole thing and I didn't want that slipping out here in a stable.

"I think I could help with that. What's the story?" She asked, leaning back on a stack of medical textbooks.

"Its a long one..." So I spilled it. Everything. From me meeting Zuri, to losing here and finding her 10 years later. I then told her about finding my mom and the tribe of blood lusting Zebras south of our location. Then... I fought my way through telling here about the atrocities they had committed before finally landing on my theory and a abbreviated plan I had to help them. "So that's it. I want to reunite some families and hopefully end this horror they got going on down south. Do you think you can help?"

Shoari was many things. Short, smart, kind and very perceptive... but Emotion had to be whatever her true special talent was. She had cried through a lot of my recruitment and seemed to feel real pain for the Zebra families that had been ripped apart by the tribe. Even Caliber seemed put off by it and nothing gets to him. He had moments before heard about a monster that sucks your soul out and he was ready to go after it with a improvised weapon that shoots turtles. But seeing this get to him ignited something in me.

"Yes, I think I can. I have a few Ideas of my own. But for now I think I'll check our stores for maps and records of the area. Before the bombs fell this place, the site, kept detailed records of the tribes and their members. No data point left unaccounted for. If you do this for me, I think I can do a little more than give you an idea of where to start." She said sweetly.

"Well, Caliber and I will get cracking on the lights then. With any luck we should have them all on in a day or so. Also, if what you said is true, and you really did stop a mother from losing a foal, then I'm sure my mother would ring my neck if I didn't go."

"Yes, I have been meaning to see her, I just don't have the time with everything going on. Joey, there is one more thing... If you can get rid of this... thing that is down there... you should consider turning on all the lights you can. I read about an interesting project that was just finishing up trials around the time of the bombs falling. They were just cleared for pony testing that same day, but never got the chance to take off."

"Take off? What project is this?" I asked, now feeling that part of me itch that only curiosity could create.

"Project Falcon. It was meant to be a high speed flight suit that resembles something like oversized power armor with wings. The M.O.A had poured quite a bit of funding into it before the bombs fell."

"Wait, you mean those big heavy suits of armor? They made one that could fly? We're not talking about Enclave armor,right?" I said in shocked astonishment. The damn thing had to weigh half a ton! That was like trying to get a can of soup to deflect armor piercing rounds. Sure you can do it, but why?

"No, we have a set of Enclave armor, this is nothing like it. It's light armor by the looks of it, but I don't think its goal was combat. I think it was meant to get from one point in equestria to another in as little time as possible. Some of the notes are... colorful in their descriptions. Our best guess is that it was meant to be a midrange bomber suit meant for Pegasi to get in and out of an area without being detected... that or this Ministry Mare Dash just wanted to see how fast a pony could fly and flesh stay on the bone... Either way, if what I read was true, The suit runs on a fuel made here at the site and can achieve speeds nearing to or exceeding a Sonic Rainboom."

My eyes widened. I hated flying for the most part. Sure, it was meant to be convenient, a quick way to get around and made hiding that much easier. There was a list of reasons a pony wanted to fly... But I had one very big reason why I hated it... Heights. Even still, there was something deep down inside me that was compelled to know more, to maybe even try it out. It was a strange feeling to hate the idea of doing something and wanting so very badly to give it a try anyways. Must be a Pegasus thing.

"So kill a monster, turn on the lights and look into a flight suit thing that might kill anypony who tries to use it through sheer force of will. Anything else? Would you like fries with that?" Caliber remarked coolie.

"Well, to put it ever so bluntly, no. That will be all. Joey, I'll tell you that I plan to help you regardless of your success at the site. But if for some reason you need the help of others here at the stable, your success I fear will determine their willingness to be thrown to the fray. They are good dwellers as you would call them, but many here are not keen on venturing past the stable doors." Shoari said as she neatly packed her saddle bags.

"I understand. We will do our best." Always a catch. Then again I didn't expect them to just drop everything and go Zebra hunting, especially when even I know it was a shot in the dark. "I can't even being to tell you how much this will help us. It might even help the stable out in the end if you are looking for new residents."

Caliber and I took our leave and left Shoari to wander off to do Luna knows what to help us. The meeting went better than I had planned, I had not expected any helping going into it, so to be given so much for so little was a blessing. Still getting the help of others could mean the difference between failure and success in my case. There had to be thousands of miles out there where anyone of them could be hiding. There was even a huge chance that they had split off or died. But even if that were true, I still felt a need to give some closure to the families. I hated delivering news of a dead pony. I had to do it in the past a few times and it was the worst part of the job. But it was always better than a lost and never found mission. Those left parents and loved ones with no answers. Having no answers just leaves you in a state of never moving on, spending everyday wondering and worrying.

I only had one client that I reported to where there was no trace of what happened and it was one that still haunted me. It was the case of a eleven year old filly that had gone missing outside of the hoof. Her parents had woken up to an empty bed with blood stain sheets. There were tracks to follow and some sign the first night, I followed it to a valley not far from the river in Hoofington. From there the trail went cold and I started circling the area for anything, any sign but was coming up empty. I flew the river for miles even though there were no signs of them boarding a boat. I scoured the woods, shores and opposing shoreline and came up dry. About three weeks in I go the only solid bit of intel I had from a river boat captain that took port under the Celestia way from time to time outside of Chapel.

"We were dropping off some supplies and doin' a fair bit of trading. That night was foggy but my first mate could hear screaming. Nothing new to the Hoof, but it sounded like a filly. That sorta thing doesn't leave you, ya'know? There was screaming for sure, we all heard it in the end. Then silence that was somehow louder. One of my crew wanted to go check it out, but when things go quiet is when you want to sail the other way. We went about our business and sailed out the next morning. I remember seeing a camp fire a few miles south of port, near the river bank, but past that is anypony's guess. Its all wastes and no ponies."

I had found the camp fire and a few tracks, but that trail too went cold. It was for sure who I was after, anypony else wouldn't have gone as far to hide their tracks. I had to abandon the search after a month of looking, I had given it my best effort and turned up nothing. One of the few times I had be skunked on a hunt, but the only time I had nothing to give for answers. I still remember their faces when I gave them the news, I still remember turning down the caps, I still remember seeing what it had done to them. Months later I ran into the girls father, he was alone. I asked about his wife and all he did was just lower his head and kept trotting. A few months later I got word through Shale that he had too taken his own life. They had worked at happiness for so long that when tragedy caught them, there was nothing left but pain. The fillies name was Dandelion, you don't forget something like that.

Sure you hear all the good on the radio, all the stories about the light bringer, Security and that little crazy filly they call Ghost. Sure you heard about the bad too, but that always seem to work out in the end. What you don't here is about the pain others are suffering, about how a mother and father lost their only foal without a trace or chance for closure. I hear those stories a lot. I think it was what drove me all those years, maybe even still now. Ponies love to measure one another on their success, but never want to be weighed by their failures. Successes are great, something to be proud of. But I think our failures are what make us who we are.

This whole ordeal I was self inflicting was going to be either my greatest success or my greatest mistake. I was either going to find a bunch of kids, now adults, or a bunch of bones. I just know I don't want to see Dandelions parents in mass, working themselves to death because they too are lost. They deserve to know what happened or to see them again. That tribal council deserves the reckoning that will come from it and I want to be the one that delivers the blow. For my father, for all those foals and for Dandelion.

"Joey, you are doing that thing again." Caliber whispered in my ear.

"Huh? What thing?" I said, shaking the thing off with a shake of the head.

"That thing you do when you are blaming yourself for something in the past and are about to let it effect your present and cause a whole bunch of work for the rest of us." Caliber said as we trotted back to our own stable dorm.

"That maybe... I'm not overly fond of some of the memories I have and maybe doing something about it now could save me the grief in the future. I don't want another Dandelion on my head."

"This again!? How many times do I have to tell you that wasn't your fault! It was a bad job from the git! You have got to let that go and move on with your life or you are going to be dead inside." He said was he turned down our hallway. Something in what he was saying was all too true, but that something hit a nerve in me.

"Maybe things like that motivate me to never see it happen again. Maybe sometimes I need a reminder of what its all for, why I do what I do and why I go were I go. I don't let things go for a reason. Its a reminder of what not to do again and how I need to change. All I know is it's not fair for them to have lost the one thing we were put on the world to do. Have kids and be happy. That's it! They took that from them, that took that from me! I can't let that go and I wouldn't even if I had the chance. I got my happiness back. For the first time in... ever, I feel like I belong, like I'm grounded for once... and I never expected it to feel like this. It's one thing to want to be happy... But it's a whole of there feeling to actually be happy! I want that for them and I hate the leaders for tampering with it!" I was nearing screaming by the end of my rant.

"Ok! I get it! I know what your talking about but I want you to understand that if you go through with this, if you try to find them and it ends bad, you could throw all that happiness away in the blink of an eye. I guess what I'm saying is... be carful. I'll be there no matter what, but I don't want to see my bestfriend end up like that." Caliber said, giving me a playful shove. I returned the gesture. Then he did, then I did... Then we were playfighting... Then he threw a garbage can at me that I moved to dodge. Then the guards showed up and we had to hide in somepony elses room for them to pass.

"We get into trouble way too much, ya'know?" I said from under someponies bed.

"What's life without trouble?" he giggled.

Well, phase one of my operation was complete, Shoari indeed had intel that she could provide... I think. Well, she seemed to think she could help me anyway. Here was hoping she came up with something, some intel or what I was praying for a topographical map of the area. My pipbuck's mapping feature was awesome, always there in the background helping me even though it was technology and I hated tech. But it was lacking in the terrain aspect of a a topo map. I know this because I broke my nose when I was flying in some fog and hit a mountain.

If she can pull that much off I can take a better guess as to where they might be. Now all I had to do was get the other on board with the plan and take care of this matter of lights in the Site. Boom, off we go! But that meant getting everypony on myside for another adventure and possible kicking the biggest hornets nest I ever have. The tribe, as calm as it was there, had to be well armed an worse, ruthless. There were signs when I was there, not just the living conditions and what I could see. Bullet holes, track marks and I think they were hiding something behind the council building.

We waited until the evening. We had not told anypony but Caliber and I had already made plans to head to the site shortly after the group conversation. A conversation I was really hoping wouldn't end to me being tapped to a bed. Our plan was simple. We were going to fly in, hide somewhere high and trap the entrances with mines. With any luck we could get some sleep at some point and maybe even an idea of what we were dealing with.

It didn't take long for Everypony to either stop by the room so we could ask them to wait or just show up because word travels fast in this place. Well, all apart from sunny's mom, she had found her true calling in the nursery and was spending every moment she could there. Good for her. Also, note to self, never tell Shoari any secrets. Once they had all arrived I took my time asking how every pony was doing. Never hurts to bring up bad news by serving some friendly house keeping first.

"Joey, as sweet as it is that you are considering us and worried if we are all ok, you and Caliber both are the only ones getting injured." Valkyrie said from the corner. She had taken to the roll of our cook/minor medical pony so well I barely even knew she was there half the time. I felt some guilt for it, but it was the price to be paid for not dying in flank.

"Yeah, what gives. You guys never worry about us, they want to shoot at you after all." Shale said from her bunk.

"Ok, listen. I really am worried about you all. I might not show it, but remember, I did this alone for YEARS. I'm not used to having a party around, much less one I care so much about. And as sappy as it sounds, ya'll are my only family and its a great deal more than others out there have. Forgive me for being worried." I said embarrassingly.

"Sorry, I guess this is all new to me too." Shale said back, her tone a bit more softened by the blow.

"Ok look everypony, that's a great place for me to bring this up. One of the reasons I was asking how you all were doing is because I have something that has been eating at me. Something I want everypony's opinion on. I don't think its right of me to just make plans and expect you to follow me." I said, taking a deep breath. "The thing is, I'm... wanting to do something stupid, kind, but stupid."

"Nothing new there..." Fetch said from under his fort under the bed.

"Fetch! Those friends of yours are starting to become a bad influence." Shale barked.

"Haha. Very funny... But I'm serious."

"Child, please. Just tell us." My mother said, trotting up to me.

"I want to go find the lost tribe members. The ones that were cast out... if they are still alive."

A collective pause filled the room as if they knew this was coming, but were surprised that I would actually go through with it.

"Son... This is very dangerous. If the tribe finds out, they will stop at nothing to claim you." My mom said, a now very worried look crossing her muzzle.

"I know... but you have to understand where I'm coming from. You got your son back, would you not want somepony else to do the same for you if this were not the case? There are families out there somewhere who need this. Plus, I think it could be the very thing they need right now."

"Wait, wouldn't the tribe just... kill them?" Sunny asked.

"Yes but that's not the point. We don't want them to get hurt. We want to find them and extract them from where ever they are and bring them here. If nothing else it will give them a safe place to live for a while, while we do the stupid thing." I said, pawing at the ground with a hoof. I HATE this sort of thing... I feel like I'm being judged.

"I was gonna say, that doesn't sound stupid... Go ahead, put the cherry on it." Shale said, rolling to her tummy and resting her chin on her hooves.

"If the other tribe members know their kids are safe and not too far away, I'm hoping it might win them onside to possible rise up against the counsel and fight back, with our help. If we can get enough of them doing the jobs they need to do to help us, we can fly in and take out the heads of the group. Then we can bring them all back here if it comes to it."

"There's the stupid... MMMM, So stupid." Shale said, licking her lips and closing her eyes.

"Son, this is a very dangerous idea you have. Even if you found the lost tribe, there is no guarantee the others will fight. Many may just feel comfort their young ones are alive and safe. They may just give in and die. I know many like this, I was like this." My mom said.

"But you didn't. You are here, now, with me. Are you saying if you found out I was alive and well, you would have just... gave up?" I asked, taken aback by her words.

"No... I do not think I would have. But others may not be so receptive. Others are tired, near death as it is." She replied.

"We have to try. I want others to have... this." I said gesturing to the room filled with family around me. "I want them to have their lives back, I want them to feel joy for the first time in a long time." I said in frustration. "Look, this just feels... right. I know that place is a little shop of horrors when they are not expecting clients, there is no way it's not. No one deserves that life."

"Joey, you were there for at most 24 hours on your little vacation. If there was something there, you would have seen it. I know you." Shale said from her bed. I didn't know what else to say, I asked for help and they had all taken it like a sandpaper dick. Rightfully so, but then Sunny spoke up.

"Yes. It's bad, almost too bad for words." She said quietly from her corner.

"Well help me out here, do your best." Shale said.

"Back home... They... how do you say... have a hierarchy. But it is not what you might think. There is no Over mare like there is here. There are only those with power and those without. Those with live in the consolette in apartments. Those without live in the ramshacks outside of town. Those with power can at anytime ask anything of anyone below them. If you deny their offer, you are worked in the fields until death. We were seen as dirty, told that our insubordination was because of our dirty blood. The reasons could be as simple as not cleaning the floors in the consolette well enough and as much as putting up a fight when they tried to..." Sunny stammered.

"Celestia..." Shale gasped. "They actually..." Shale started but soon lost her own words.

"It was expected of us at any time. We were told we were good for little else but to relieve the hard working council and to say no was a horrid disgrace." I looked over to my mother who was now hiding her own shame.

"What happened when you... said no?" Shale asked.

"Beatings. If we were lucky. Sometimes they would shoot you on the spot. But sometimes the guards will make sport of us. Tell us run! Run as fast as you can! If you get away, you can stay away! They would let us get as far as the end of the field and start shooting. Those that made it beyond their bullets would find themselves in a mine field. No one ever escaped. They just wanted to laugh at us dying. We have a saying , shamba linatuua sote, you would say, the field kills all."

The room went quiet as everypony, myself included did our best process what we had just been told. Sunny wasn't a field worker, she lived a pretty comfortable live in comparison to those in the fields. Had she been passed around just to avoid pain? Had she had to sell her own body just to survive without fear of randomly being murdered? What kind of sick fuckers... Oh... no fucking way.

"Sunny, mom... The council... the zebras in charge... Did they ever sell off workers, maybe to ponies?" I asked, already guessing the answer.

"Yes." My mom replied. "In the last few years, 10 or so."

"Sometimes when... you know... a mare would become pregnant. When the foal had their 3rd birth day they would come and claim them for the tribe. But no one ever saw them again." Sunny said.

"There are rumors that they council rapes the servants for slaves for other tribes. I have seen them sell them to ponies before. I was beaten for seeing it." My mom said sorrowfully.

"Slavers... They are doing business with slavers..." I said quietly. My mind shot back to the buck who was matching wits with me across the table. Had I known I was dealing with slavers, it would have ended differently.

"Look, I've heard all I need to and want to about this situation. I want to do this, you all know that. But I can't do it without your help. Everypony is going to have a job to do. I would lie and say, piece of cake! But that's not the case here. This is going to be a dangerous job if we take it. One that will take quite some time to complete and could end up costing lives. I understand if you don't want to do it. I don't blame you for being scared even, but just know this is something I have to do, I can't even say for sure or not that it's what brought me here. So, what's the verdict?" I ask as I chanced a glance at the room.

"I'm in." Caliber said resolutely by my side. "I had my reservations, but knowing what they are doing to those poor Zebras is enough to make my blood boil. Plus you'll need somepony by your side with a gun incase those bastards sniff out what you are up to."

"I will come too. If you find the lost tribe, you will need a translator." Sunny replied.

"I too want to come and help. I can help with keeping them calm and showing them life outside of Zebrica is not so bad." Zuri said, stepping up next to me.

"I as well. I fear if we find them, they will need someone from their world to help them understand what happened. I can fill in the gaps." My mom said. "I do worry that they will harm you, kit. If I am near by, I will feel more at ease."

"I'm sure they will need medical attention, maybe a good meal?" Valkyrie said from the stove.

"I'm in too! I want to shoot them in thier stupid faces!" Fetch said using a pillow as a rifle.

"No, your going to stay here." I said firmly.

Fetch fell into a pout but perked up when I told him I had a special mission for him that I promised was dangerous and fraught with peril. "You can count on me!"

"Shale? Thoughts? Opinions? Grievances?" I said half heartedly as Iook her way. She as staring at the far wall. Tear streaks marked her blue coat, running to her clinched jaw. "Shale? Are you ok?" I asked carefully.

"Is it true? Every word of it... Is it true." She asked. A question that I felt carried much more than a green light on it.

"Yes... Every word and more." My mother said, pulling me in for a hug. I could feel her trembling. The talk had once again taken its toll on her. "I promise." She said, firming up her statement. There was a long pause in the room, a silence that I could feel growing heavier as the moments passed. Why was she taking this so hard compared to everypony else? I was hurting too, but what Sunny had said seem to resonate with Shale to a point of literal pain.

"Then..." She started as she sniffed and wiped her tears away. "You'll need some pony to help pour the gas and light the match." The silence before was heavy, but now it was crushing. We all looked to one another as a sobering revelation hit home. "All. Rapists. Should. Burn." Shale had been raped.

Once the tears were gone and I had made a mental note to have a heart to heart with Shale so I could add a name to my seemingly ever growing kill list, we started making plans. Well, they did, Caliber and I had a job to do. This plan was going to take days to formulate anyhow, I might as well take care of step one through five while everypony else brushed up on the native tounge.

"And just where are you two going?" Valkyrie asked as my hoof touched my saddle bag.

"Oh yeah! See Shoari has a lead on some maps that might help with all this mess and she asked us for a favor in return." I said as Caliber and I geared up.

" Oh? And what's this favor? Something I could help with." She said as she leaned in batting her lashes.

"Yeah, what's she got you doing now?" Shale asked.

"They are having more problems down in the Site and want Cal and I to sort it out."

"Yeah-Yeah! We're gonna turtle 'em!" Cal said, polishing the barrel of the Turtle launcher. He can not be serious.

"Well... Then I want to come!" Val said firmly.

"Oh no... you don't want this fight. Creepy shit hiding in shadows, leaking reactor everything is pitch black. It's gonna be a horror show." Cal replied.

"Sound like any other night in flank to me."

"No way." I said, backing Cal up.

"Oh com'on! I can shoot and fight as good as any pony! I'm from the Hoof!"

"Joey... You need to let her go. You can use healing potions and Caliber can't patch you up without his horn exploding." Shale said as she started digging out her gear. Fuck... that's right. I could heal on my own given enough time, but what were the chance of that down there? I didn't want to say it, but I actually needed Valkyrie to come with us.

"Look, if you come with us there is no going back. It's going to be dark and you could die an unspeakable death. This isn't a field trip." I said with a hard edge to my voice.

"I know. But I want to help. I've been side lined for too long." She said as Shale helped her into some gear we had pilfered. "Don't worry... I'm more than capable with a gun."

"Yeah? I haven't seen you with one." I said but my words fell silent as I watched her pull the cleanest looking combat shotgun out of her bags and began loading it.

Caliber let out a long whistle. I just drooled.

"I'll be fine. What is with these boys?" She asked Shale. Shale just shook her head and kept buttoning up her fest.

"Well then... Lets go monster hunting!" I said as loaded a round into my rifle.

"Coyotes gotta hunt! Lets do this!" Caliber said with enthusiasm.

Once more into the Fray we traveled.

Fallout Equestria: The Wildest Dreams

by RoccoRoccs

Prologue

Chapter 1: That Was Then (part 1)

Chapter 1: That Was Then (part 2)

Chapter 2: And This Is Now

Chapter 3: Friends?

Chapter 4: Far Fetched

Chapter 5: Everything Has A Price

Chapter 6: Price Of Sanity

Chapter 7: Stable Relationship

Chapter 8: The Fire Below

Chapter 9: Far From Home

Chapter 10: A Life Not Worth Living

Part 2 Epilogue: The Pack That Preys Together

Chapter 11: Near Fatal Attraction

Chapter 12: Behind Stripes And Under The Radar

Chapter 13: Monsters In The Dark