When one of The Goddess's children see the future, she sees no choice but to prepare for an uncertain tomorrow.
'Prepper', is an alicorn who once saw a glimpse into the future. With a vision of disaster, her destiny changed. No longer believing that no harm could ever come to the world she knows, she began to prepare for an uncertain future. Now a wandering caravan finds themselves welcomed, invited to come join her in her shop, 'Prepper's Place', as she tells the story of how things came to be the way they are now.
This is an 'episodic' style story that follows the dream one alicorn has of bringing love to the wasteland in her own little way. Revel as she recounts her tales, and buy her bargains at brazenly discounted prices.
Cover art was done by the magnificient Grypher, who can be found on Derpibooru. (No link this time, you might see why if you check!) --- Authors note: I had planned to keep this hidden until completion (it isn't going to be a long story, I swear!) but the fact that Grypher finished the cover art and plans to release it prompted a change of pace. Current events in the world (a certain virus) have slowed down my writing efforts, but I promise, this WILL be complete before long!
Also of note: although this is set in the same canon as Broken Bonds, the two stories will never meet, so knowledge of one will not affect the other.
With the view from my guard post, I really couldn’t help but thank myself for finding a spot like this. The mountains in the distance cutting into the skyline, the trees slowly making a comeback as they spread across the land with more confidence, the whole thing adding up to the most serene view I had been able to experience since Unity itself.
Seeing a crowd of normal looking ponies in the distance, I saw my next opportunity. Climbing down from the fence and standing out front, I knew I had to get their attention. Raising my voice, I made my announcement to the travelling caravan, hoping that my judgement was correct. “Snack cakes! Sparkle cola! Toilet roll! Shampoo! Gas masks! Pistols! Rifles! Shotguns! Ammo! If you’re in search of it, we have it! Come to Prepper's Place! Just over here!”
One or two curious faces glanced over with innocent looks while others dropped to a hesitant combat stance. Their weapons pointed toward me, but not yet firing. ‘Nothing new there’ I thought to myself, rolling my eyes. It wasn’t like their weapons would be able to punch through my shield anyway.
Allowing them the time to acclimatise with the fact that yes, I was speaking to them, and no, I wasn’t trying to shoot at them, I simply smiled. Watching and waiting patiently while they spoke amongst themselves from where they stood, an argument had seemingly broke out in the group of twelve. The four ponies who seemed to be the designated guards were undoubtedly warding their group away from me, but even from here, I could see the curious looks from the younger members.
Scuffing at the dirt in front of me, I tried to make myself look as innocent and non threatening as an alicorn like myself could. I knew what these ponies thought of our kind, it never did surprise me, and I guess they couldn’t be blamed. It wouldn’t take more than a moment of effort to disable or outright kill the whole group by myself, even if I didn’t have all of the power I used to feel running through me. Still, that wasn’t my goal; I was here to make a sale, not to kill.
Realising that they might need some more encouragement, I began my advertising again. “Prepper's Place is best viewed face to face! Browse our stocks, pursue your delight, and I promise, our prices won’t cause you a fright!”
The group drew closer, slowly, almost reluctantly, at the behest of the younger members. Seeing the smiles on their trusting faces as they came closer filled my heart with joy. Potential customers! It had been too long since a group this size had wanted to come over without having far less honest intentions, but my gut told me that this group were good ponies, just scared was all.
Lowering my shield and waving to the approaching youngsters, I saw one of the guards rush up front, desperate to reach me before the foals got too close. In an attempt to further convince the guards that I held no hostile intent, I slowly sat on my rump and smiled. Every part of my soul wanted to open up my hooves and reach for a hug, to show affection to my fellow pony, but even without reaching into their minds I could feel their fear. Instead, I continued to smile as the foals stopped just short of me, the guard finally catching up.
“It’s okay, I promise.” I said in as soothing a voice as I could. “I won’t make any moves, I really don’t want to hurt you, I want to sell you things is all.”
“You… want to sell us things? An alicorn wants to be a shopkeep?” The guards voice with filled with suspicion. “I find it hard to believe. Your kind have never been interested in interacting with the likes of us.”
Slowly turning around, I pointed to the painted sign that I had made previously;
’Prepper's Place Traders welcome!’
Bowing my head, I waved a hoof to welcome them in through the gate to my shop. “Prepper at your service. All I ask is that you come with a smile on your face and don’t even think about robbing me… I’ll know.”
“Uh huh. And you expect me to believe that?” With a nod from me, the guard pony let out a long sigh. “Well, we do need supplies.” With that, the guard pony finally waved on the rest of his crew to come closer.
Two of the guards went in first, followed by the eight ponies they were escorting, then the final two guards on the rear, obviously still suspecting some kind of trick or trap.
“Wait, what are these cans of food doing on the table here? Is… is that a price?” One voice called out with a sense of disbelief. “You weren’t kidding, were you?”
With energetic joy, I let my answer be heard loud and clear. “Nope! Welcome! Again, I’m Prepper, and welcome to my store, Prepper's Place! Now we’ve got that out of the way, the rules here are simple. Number one is that this is the wasteland, I expect to see guns, I know that’s the way the world is; but do be mindful not to actively point them at me, even if you’re wearing a battle saddle.”
For a moment I let that sink in before moving onto my next point. “Two? There are prices listed below every item. Put every item back where you found it if you don’t want it. Yes, I can read, and I know what prices I’ve set, so yes I can put it all back, but I don’t want to have to do so.” Looking at the children, I raised an eyebrow to reaffirm my seriousness. They both nodded in understanding.
“Third, don’t even think of stealing. I will know if you do, or even try. Last and not least is don’t dare attack Fluffy. Fluffy will not hurt you. Fluffy is lovely. Do not hurt fluffy. Anyone who hurts fluffy will never be allowed back here.”
Letting out the last of the breath I was holding onto and taking a nice, deep new one, I beamed a smile at all of the ponies in front of me. “Now, with all of that said, welcome to Prepper’s Place! Browse to your hearts content, guns and ammo are under lock and key so you’ll need to speak to me if you want to see or buy them, but I like to show trust in my customers and their sense of decency. Just please, try not to damage anything.”
Watching as almost all of them began to wander about freely, it was a sight I could never get enough of. I’d seen it for myself that the wasteland was a vast, volatile, dangerous place – to see those faces beginning to relax and enjoy themselves in my little corner of it all brought true joy to my heart.
And just like that, I was brought back into the real world as somepony pulled on my mane. Turning down to see the little face as he shied away, I brushed my mane back into shape with a hoof as I spoke. “Yes? Can I help you? Is there something I can do for you?”
“How did you get your name, miss Prepper? And do you have any sparkle cola? I’m really thirsty.” ~I really hope she has sparkle cherry cola.~
Looking into the colt’s eyes and giving him an even bigger smile, I nodded back to him. “Yes, of course. Do you have any caps on you? I normally charge ten for a sparkle cherry cola, but for you? I’ll only charge five if you also want to hear my story.”
The yelp and squee the young colt let out told me I’d made the sale. “Y-you have sparkle cherry cola?! How did you know? That’s my favourite! I’ll go get daddy to give me the caps right now!”
Watching the young colt run to his parents, I floated two bottles of sparkle cherry cola on over and opened them up for us, taking a small sip from one myself. Trotting over to a seat, I got myself comfortable as the colt sprinted back before jumping up next to me. Wrapping a wing around him gently, I began to tell my tale.
“So, you want to know how I got my name hmm? Well that all begins with something that happened a long time ago. Probably back when you were just born, perhaps. Less than a year ago now there was a world changing explosion. Almost nopony knew anything about it when it happened, and even now, most ponies have never heard of it even still.”
Choking on my words, I was forced to pause as the horrifying memories ran through my mind. Reliving the event was something that always haunted me, something I couldn’t escape. So many of my sisters never made it out, or were slaughtered by angry hellhounds not long after their escape. Their screams of agony flashed through my mind, making me shiver. It was only when the young colt, whose name I didn’t know myself, nudged my side that I snapped back to the real world.
With wide eyes and the most innocent voice I could have possibly heard, he repeated his question. “What happened?”
Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to explain further. “Us alicorns were once all a large family. We still are, I still love all of my sisters, but things aren’t like they used to be. We were...” Once again I paused, uncertain on how to word it. I didn’t want to scare the foal, but I didn’t want to lie either. Honesty is a virtue after all, they say. Putting on a small smile, I continued. “We were closer.”
Sensing the child’s anticipation to hear the story, I closed my eyes and began to focus and tell my tale in earnest.
--- --- ---
“Be careful, sisters. This… area… I don’t know what it is, but I don’t feel right about it. For some reason, I can’t feel your presence like I normally would.”
“I agree.” One of my sisters responded, but not in her usual tone. There was a drop of worry in her voice, something I had not heard in a long, long time. “I don’t know what it is either, but I feel uneasy myself. I… I can’t hear the others.”
Stopping my forward momentum, I began to concentrate. Though I could still hear the voices of the others, my sister was right; they were becoming quieter and more muffled the closer we drew to our destination. There was a nagging feeling to look down at the ground, to notice the whispering tufts of pink as they floated around below us, but not even the Goddess could give me the understanding as to why it bothered me so.
Looking back forward to the skyline ahead of us, where we had been told to go, I began muttering to myself. “This place looks so magnificent, and yet something about it bothers me. Why? What secrets do you hold?”
“It was a place of great importance, sister.” Another of my sisters reminded us all. “Do remember that The Goddess warned us that there would likely be many mysteries hidden all around. These buildings were shrouded in secrecy even during the time of the war itself. Remain focused, our job is to locate and retrieve our means of success as a species.”
Out of habit, we all nodded in unison before steeling our gaze onto our goal. Somewhere in these ruins was said to lie our future, and it was our job to find it.
*** *** ***
Busting open another draw, I began to rifle through, searching for whatever I might find. Bottlecaps, a couple of rounds of ammunition, papers from an era long gone, but nothing of any value to me. Passing over it, I turned to the next desk to find emptiness. Looking around, I no longer saw my companions. The fear of disconnect that had once subsided with acceptance now came back with vengeance as I realised I was alone. “Sisters? Sisters? Can you hear me?”
~Hungry. Hungry. Hungry.~
"What?" I asked, to no response. The silence filled my soul with an uneasiness as the air hung thick with trepedation. This wasn't normal. My sisters would never think like this normally. Was this area reducing their mental capacity as well as our link?
“Sisters?!” I called out once more, hoping to hear a response while trying to hide the fear I now began to feel. It was foalish for an alicorn to feel this way, and yet, I couldn’t muster the confidence that normally came without hesitation. There was no comfort from The Goddess, nor had I been able sense the physical presence of my sisters for quite some time now. With exception to the word 'hungry', there wasn’t even any idle thought chatter running through my mind. I was alone. Truly, wholly alone. “Sisters, please answer me!”
Once again I tried to calm myself; closing my eyes and breathing deeply, attempting to tune into my senses. Despite my best efforts, it was painfully obvious now that my connection to Unity was severed. The worry began to wash over me once more as I considered that fact, but I had to be brave. Whether I had my connection to Unity or not, there could be no doubt that this work was still of the greatest of importance to Unity and once I returned to The Goddess, that she would surely know how to restore me to my rightful place amongst the family.
Calming my mind, I opened up to my ears, trying to see if I could hear any movement that might lead me back to my sisters, to the safety of numbers. Searching each floor of the office in wings seemed wise to begin with, but feeling so alone, so isolated, so unprotected… I could hardly focus at the task at hoof.
~Hungry. Hungry. Food. Hungry. Food. Food. Food.~
There it was again, the voice, the unfamiliar voice. The voice that muttered through my soul but did not fill me with love. This was something I couldn't quite explain. A part of me screamed that I should've known what this was, that I would have normally known, and yet I couldn't remember what this reminded me of. All I could tell was that it disturbed me, sending a shock of displeasure down my spine as I shivered.
“Sisters?” I called out feebly, my voice barely trying to carry through the room. There remained no answer. No explanation. I hadn’t heard any clear signs of danger, no screams of pain, no sound of combat; not that we alicorns needed to be afraid of most threats, but still, the eeriness of the room overwhelmed me. Finally a shuffling could be heard as I made my way towards where we had first split up on the floor, but this sound still seemed unfamiliar.
“Sisters? Is that you?” The sound stopped. “Sisters?”
How wrong I was. The sound hadn’t stopped, it changed. From an idle shuffle to full blown sprint, the sound of hooves smashing into tiled floor became more and more apparent before the smashing of a nearby door alerted me to danger. Turning to face the source of the sounds, a fiercely large ghoul stood before me, his head easily reaching up to my eye level.
~FOOD!~
This was no normal pony, his muscles were beyond apparent despite the decomposition. Those very same muscles powered him forward faster than I could break through my surprise, sooner than I could overcome my shock. Failing to raise my shield in time, I was left in shock as his mass was enough that managed to knock me down! With a snarling growl and rotten teeth baring themselves at me, I realised I had no time for hesitation. Powering up my horn, I sent a bolt of magical energy thundering through the air towards my target, only to miss by the smallest margin, hitting the nearby wall worthlessly. My eyes widened as my shield raised just in time to save me from yet another attack, though his teeth broke into jagged edges as he continued his attempt to eat me.
~FOOD! HUNGRY! HUNGRY! FOOD!~
Climbing back onto my hooves and jumping backwards, I knew I had to end this quickly. My sisters were somewhere on this floor, but I had no clue as to where. Surely they would come to my aid as soon as they heard the fight; but how long would that be? Would I be able to maintain my strength against such savage attacks? Canterlot’s mysterious pink cloud had already taken its toll on my body, made me feel weakened, challenged my endurance with its attacks. This needed to end now.
Lowering my shield, I funnelled all of my magical prowess into another shot, knowing this time that the beast would go for another charge. Just as expected, he did, and my horn’s aim held true. Two bolts of beautiful green light blasted its way through, one ripping along the neck and shoulder of the monster, another slicing into its head.
The beast lie dead on the floor, a vile black ooze slowly pouring from the corpse. Picking myself from off of the floor, I brushed the dirt that had been knocked onto me off of my coat and nickered before walking off. The sound of my sisters hooves coming closer comforted me, their voices calling to me in the distance.
“Sister? Are you okay?” One called. “There is nothing less to expect from a child of The Goddess.” The other retorted before continuing. “With that said though, I do hope you are okay.”
“Of course.” I replied, though admittedly still a bit shaken. “Just a ghoul. A large ghoul, but a ghoul all the same. You need fear not, sisters.” Letting out a smile, I stretched my neck to both sides in order to crack out the tenseness.
Then I heard it. A sickening sound. A sound I had never heard before. A sound that seemed beyond unnatural; an unmistakeably unholy sound. A sound coming from behind me. Looking at my sisters, the looks on their faces told me that I was in some unknown danger. Jumping towards them out of instinct, I could feel the pressure of the air behind me before I heard the loud clanging of hooves hitting just behind me. Turning my head to see what had just happened, I then saw it. The ghoul’s face, neck, and shoulder were regenerating back into their normal forms, and none of this stopped it from normal movement.
“B-but I… I hit it directly into the brain!” Was all I could say before the monster crashing into me, my head hitting a desk, the world going dark.
~ ~ ~
Black. All around me was black. Nothing more, nothing less. My body no longer existed, my limbs completely missing, my horn refusing to shine. No noise, no feeling, no sensation of any kind. Was this death? No, surely not, I could still think! But what was this then?
My answer revealed itself as light shimmered around me, slowly lifting the blanket of complete and utter depravation away. Though I couldn’t see any of my surroundings, I could now make out something, something that called out to me. It wasn’t in any language I recognised, and yet, I somehow understood what it was saying as if the universe itself wanted me to.
The black book. There before me, there was a vision of the book we had been searching for. Floating in mid air; not held by any magical grasp, not upon a podium, nor sitting on a desk. The black book simply floated by its own power before its pages opened and everything once again disappeared. Suddenly, my vision filled with images of being back home, back in Maripony, back with The Goddess. I wanted to go and speak to her, but her eyes refused to fall upon me. As I tried to open my mouth, to call out to her, to tell her I had returned, I found that I continued to lack any of my physical form.
In that moment, I noticed a shadow of a figure sitting before The Goddess, taking up her entire attention. More figures were approaching, figures with what seemed to be wings spread wide, but no horns. I could not make out any of the details on any of the figures, nor could I even recognise any of the faces of my sisters as they lined the great halls around me. The only details I could truly understand were the eyes of The Goddess as they came to some realisation, to some understanding, as they came to know the true meaning of fear and terror. For what reason this was, I had no idea, but her reaction was unmistakable. In that moment, I felt my focus being ripped from The Goddess and forced onto the first shadow figure, a grin on their face as the whole world exploded, tearing everything apart.
In that last moment of existence, I heard the scream, and knew that The Goddess had met her end.
~ ~ ~
Groaning at the pain that filled my skull, a familiar voice filled my ears and told me that I was back to the real world. “Sister, you’re awake! We need to leave. Those monsters, they won’t die.” A panicked voice informed me.
“More that they won’t stay dead. By The Goddess, we’ve put them down so many times, but the only one that seems to stay down is the one whose head was cut off by my shield. We need to get out of here, we need to gather the others and return to the Goddess. Things were far more dangerous than the previous expedition had led us to believe, it seemed.”
Nodding my head, a bolt of pain shot down my neck, quickly reminding me of just how I was knocked out to begin with. Tenderly picking myself off from the floor, I seemed to be stable on my hooves at the very least. Stretching out my wings and giving them a pre-flight test, everything else seemed to be in working order. Everything apart from my mind, still filled with the vision I had seen, and my neck, sore from the injury.
With the sound of shattering glass, my attention was ripped to the side. There stood one of the two sisters, kicking out the remaining shards from the frame, pink fumes slowly releasing from the hole. “Through the window! Quick! More are coming from the stairs. This is our best escape!”
Without hesitation, the three of us dived through the hole, spreading out our wings and taking flight. In that moment, yet another unnatural sound grabbed my attention and forced me to turn my gaze back to the window, only to see the glass repairing itself before my very eyes. Two of the ghouls had jumped out after us, but neither were pegasai. One earth pony, one unicorn. I could only thank The Goddess that neither had wings as they fell. The earth pony landed on its hooves with a meaty thud, though that seemed to only hold it back for a mere moment before it began to move once again, trying to reach up at us in the sky. The unicorn however seemed to remain immobile, its head completely destroyed upon landing.
Looking over to the building on the opposite side of the road, where our other wing of sisters had agreed to search, my blood ran cold as I saw two of their corpses just inside of the building. There was no obvious sign as to what killed them, no ghouls seemed present, but the amount of blood that poured from their bodies left me without any doubt that there was no way they could have survived. A sickening feeling filled my entire body as I felt my soul dampen at the sight. This wasn’t the first time we had to cope with the death of our kind, but this was the first time that I had to deal with it without Unity to take comfort in.
Despite the advice of my sisters that we should just leave immediately and return to The Goddess, I flew on closer to the front of the building in which the bodies laid, my curiosity too strong. I needed to know what had managed to kill my sisters in such a mysterious way, if I could find out without getting close enough to be killed by it myself at least.
In that moment, I noticed the much smaller, but still growing pool of blood that dripped from the front of the building. Whatever was causing the blood wasn’t visible, but with the sound of coughing and sobbing becoming more apparent as I drew closer, I quickly realised it must have been the blue sister of that wing. Furthermore, I now noticed that the door to the office wasn’t even open. Had she closed it to keep the threat at bay?
Reaching out with my magic, I tenderly tugged and pulled the invisible figure away from the door, not daring to get too close lest I become a target of whatever foul attacker laid hidden from my understanding. If my blue sister was the only survivor, surely it was because of her ability to hide, and I couldn’t risk putting myself into the view of the killer if that was the case.
“Come on, come with me.” I half suggested, half commanded. “We need to leave, together, and I’m not leaving you here alone. I don’t know what attacked you, but we’ve been attacked by ghouls that seem nearly impossible to kill. We weren’t prepared for this, we need to return to The Goddess and inform her of our failure, to let her know of what dangers are here so the next expedition knows better.”
How I managed to remain so composed after my own experience with nearly dying, I didn’t know, but as my blue sister dropped her invisibility and looked at me with a face filled with distress and need for comfort, I knew I had to remain strong. Above us our two remaining sisters kept an eye out, calling on us to hurry up and return.
With the sounds of the ghoul pony rushing from the other side of the street, I quickly realised there was no more time to mourn our losses down here on the ground. Grabbing my blue sister and lifting her up, I looked into her eyes as they slowly stopped pouring with blood and barked my demand. “Time to move, go! We really don’t want to try and mess with those things. Come on.”
Jumping into the air, I watched as my sister followed. Where we had begun as six, we now returned as only four. To fly as a quadruple and not in a wing of three felt unnatural and wrong to me, but that summed up all of the experience I had just been through with Canterlot. Keeping a careful eye on the blue sister who I had just rescued, we all made our way back home.
*** *** ***
{{WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU SAW OUR DOOM? THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE. YOU MERELY EXPERIENCED A DREAM! NO! A NIGHTMARE! THE GODDESS SHALL NEVER BE DESTROYED. UNITY IS THE FUTURE. WHY WOULD YOU HOLD ANY DOUBT? YOU ARE ONE OF MY CHILDREN! ONE OF THE CHOSEN! WE SHALL NEVER FACE DEFEAT!}}
‘I understand, My Goddess, but for some reason, I believe this to be true. I can’t explain why-’
{{BECAUSE IT IS FALSE! A FALSE VISION! A NIGHTMARE! BUT FEAR NOT. THE GODDESS SHALL NOT PUNISH YOU, EVEN THOUGH YOU FAILED ME! THAT IS BECAUSE I AM A KIND AND UNDERSTANDING DEITY. OBVIOUSLY THE ‘PROPHESY’ YOU SPEAK OF IS FALSE, BUT YOU HAVE DONE WELL TO RETURN ALIVE AFTER SUCH VILE DANGERS. WE SHALL BE BETTER PREPARED NEXT TIME.}}
For a moment I paused, unsure of how to respond. The Goddess was right. I had failed her. We had returned from our mission without completing it, and worse, having lost two of our members, after having almost lost my own life too. Then it hit me. We needed to be better prepared.
`Please, My Goddess, please allow me to prepare for the potential possibility of something bad happening. Even if my vision was false, the fact remains that all of our supplies are currently stored here and only here. What if Red Eye was to storm in while we least expect it? We already know he plans to betray us, would it not be smart to prepare for an outcome where our supplies are taken? Should you allow me to find a secondary storage facility, we can ensure that we will weather out any storm that may come our way.`
As the silence filled the room, I felt my heart begin to beat faster, harder. I meant absolutely no offence to The Goddess. I loved her, I was her child and I would do anything for her, to protect her, to carry out her will – but it was from this desire to carry out her will that I felt so compelled to make contingency plans.
And then she finally decided upon her answer.
{{FINE! WE CAN SEE THE LOGIC IN THIS! YOU, AND YOU ALONE, ARE TRUSTED IN THIS MISSION. GO, SEARCH FOR SOMEWHERE TO STORE NEW SUPPLIES. ENSURE THAT IT IS FAR FROM HIS REACH, BUT KNOW YOU MUST DO SO ALONE. IN ORDER TO KNOW WHETHER IT IS YOU I WISH TO SPEAK TO, YOU WILL NOW BE KNOWN AS ‘PREPPER’. GO FORTH AND PREPARE, BUT REMEMBER, THE SUN SHALL NEVER SET ON US AND YOUR ‘VISION’ WILL NEVER COME TRUE, FOR WE ARE THE FUTURE, AND WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE.}}
Just as I finished telling my story, I noticed the presence of a pony standing over me. Looking into their eyes, a prang of worry that they would get the wrong idea about what was going on gave me pause, though no such accusation of trying to steal foals came.
Noticing that my focus now locked onto them, the pink mare spoke. “Excuse me, Miss Prepper? I’ve found something I’d like to buy please… assuming you’re done with telling your story, that is?”
Smiling at my customer, I nodded in affirmation. “Of course, always happy to help. What is it you would like to buy?”
There was a moment of pause from the mare before her eyes darted towards the now empty bottles held in my magical grasp, a hint of worry crossing her face through the corners of her eyes. “Well, we’re low on much of anything to drink, and I’ve noticed your sign saying you sell clean drinking water.”
Hearing those words and realising how important this was to her, I did my best to calm her down by responding cheerily, pointing to the tap on a nearby wall. “Of course! We get our water straight from the buildings old source! I was lucky when I found this place that it was still connected.”
With that, one of the guards nickered and scuffed his hoof on the floor. “Some would call that more than just a little opportunistic by the sounds of thins then. Perhaps even downright unjustified.” Looking over to him, I recognised him as the one who had been the most untrusting to begin with. There was a look of disgust on his face as he stared at me, and it felt as if he was judging me based of what I was rather than what I was doing. Before I could retort, he added to his criticism. “Water is the most basic of needs, after all.”
“Yes it is, and food follows right after, but unless you’re a raider, you don’t simply expect to be given food for nothing, do you?” I took a scalding look at the guard who maintained his indignant stance. Seeing that his attitude hadn’t changed, I continued my rant. “The farmer who grows the crops you eat deserves their pay. Do you know what I had to do to get that water running clean enough for the average pony to safely drink from it? Of course you don’t.”
From the corner of my eye I saw the pink mare shooting a look of disdain at the guard, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy either of us. Drawing in a deep breath, I rose up to my hooves to become more imposing as I spoke. “It took some real effort from me too, and it still continues to be something that requires regular maintenance. It was simple enough to clean out the filters, but to fix and replace any broken or spoiled piping?”
With a truly sarcastic tone of voice, the guard pony continued his verbal assault. “Wow, fixing some pipes and cleaning them. That’s a hard j-.”
Using my magic to remove his ability to speak, I’d had enough of his backchat. Watching his mouth move but no sound coming out, I smirked as he began to panic. “Calm down, you’re losing your voice.” I said with a smug smile running across my face.
“Besides, it took more than that. The biggest problem is the ongoing one of when I have to remove the pests. I had to track down the local water treatment plant where it comes from, and let me tell you, it was far from perfect. All sorts of creatures from bloatsprites, radroaches, even a lone radigator had made it their home. It was like somepony had told all the critters that this was their sanctuary. Only once I cleared all of those out of the area did the water quality improve. The bloatsprites were easy enough to cull thanks to my magic, and all I really had to do was destroy the radroach nests, but they were everywhere. The radigator moved out once there was no more easy prey in the area to feed off of. Say what you want, but I’m absolutely certain that you wouldn’t have wanted to risk getting into a wrestling match with that beast, and their hide is so thick that it’s almost as tough as Steel Ranger armour.”
“So, not trying to be rude in the least, but what quality is the water now then?” The mare asked from behind me.
“The plant once treated the water with magic, but these days that magic seems to have run out. Regardless of magical treatment or not, I’ve tested to make sure that it is safe and my repeat purchasers have never reported any problems.”
Dropping my magical control over the guard, I figured that maybe after hearing all of that he’d change his tune. Instead of playing nice, he simply huffed and continued shooting daggers at me with his eyes. Turning around, I didn’t want to see the face of this pony any more. If he wanted to be rude, he could talk to my backside.
“Besides, I’m not heartless to the fact its a basic need. If you ask nicely, I might even let you fill a canteen each free of charge, with the exception of your guard. Anything larger than a bottle or personal canteen gets charged, but I don’t ask for much.”
“Please excuse Rusty, Miss Prepper.” The voice of the mare almost interrupted, barely waiting for my sentence to finish.
“It’s Trusty, and stop being a bitch, you know I hate you fucking with my name.” The guard spat back, his voice somehow carrying that nickname exceptionally well as it scraped through my ears.
“Yes,” The mare spat back. “And I fucking hate it when you fuck with our chance to make good deals and remain in good graces of somepony who has such a fine establishment and has shown nothing but kindness so far. So, guess what? That makes us even.”
Such a fine establishment? I blushed and looked to the side as I scanned what I had turned into my shop. It really wasn’t much, but I still felt pride knowing I had fixed this place up enough for it to be complimented so. For it to be called a fine establishment was a great honour, and even better was that rather than arguing back, the guard simply remained silent and let me bask in appreciation of the moment.
“Now, as I was about to ask; may we please take you up on your offer, Miss Prepper? It would be exceedingly gracious of you if we may refill a canteen each, and pay to have our larger supply tank refilled as well. We don’t know when we’ll next find a clean water source so I think it would be best to make the most of the opportunity.”
Looking into her pleading eyes, there was no need to use my power. The look she wore was more than enough to know that this mare was genuine. Perhaps it was the fact she was cute, perhaps she just had a charm about her that I simply couldn’t resist, perhaps it was just the thought of making her happy; it didn’t matter for what reason it was, I simply let out a small sigh of contentment as I prepared to give my answer.
Turning to the guard, I looked straight into his eyes as I spoke, digging into their soul and echoing the words into his mind. “You know, I could have quite easily asked you to leave after how you’ve acted. If you had refused, you would have been asked only once more to leave, and that would have meant everypony who you travel with too. If you had refused even still, you would have found out the worthless lesson of why it isn’t wise to upset an alicorn.”
Taking a glance at the container that they had pulled over towards my makeshift refill station, I made a mental note of the size and estimated capacity. It was large enough to keep even a group their size going for at least two weeks, if not longer when properly rationed, I guessed.
Taking a deep breath before turning back to the pretty mare, I continued with my rambling decision. “I shall overlook such a hostile attitude, for you. Normally I would have charged thirty caps to refill such a large container, or even as much as fifty after receiving such an attitude, but I feel like you should only pay ten. Fair, no?”
The gasp from the mare as her eyes shot open in surprise was something to die for. The way her bottom lip quivered in shock before slowly. “I… you… do you mean that? Do you really mean it? Only ten caps? I was...”
“Prepared to pay more?” I asked, the warm feeling in my heart spreading through the rest of my body.
“Far more.” She muttered quietly, as if not wanting to admit that truth, perhaps worried I would change my mind on the price. “Some places would try to charge ten caps for just five canteens of water.” Lowering her head and craning it to the side, she muttered something almost completely inaudible.
“Pardon? I couldn’t quite catch that.” Again, she whispered something, though now the sound of water rushing to fill up their tank completely overpowered her words.
Lowering my face next to hers, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks, though she refused to repeat her statement. Leading my eyes to gaze into hers, I could now truly appreciate just how beautiful those lavender gems were.
~Oh Princesses, please don’t make me tell you how much I could just kiss you right now.~
Stunned at such thoughts, I couldn’t help but blush; I didn’t know what to say. If it wasn’t for Opal, I might have even given this cute little mare what she wanted for daring to be so cute and beautiful. Taking a deep breath and a moment to recompose myself, I continued to grin like a little filly in a sweet shop.
Before any more thoughts could run through either of our minds, one of the stallions I hadn’t yet interacted with properly approached, the smile on his face somehow accenting his over the top eyebrows. “Darling! I can’t believe the job you’ve done with this place! It’s absolutely magnificent! How in Equestria did you do it?”
Not entirely confident that he was speaking to me, I cautiously pointed a hoof at my chest as I gave him a quizzical look. His response as flamboyant as it was instant. “Yes! Oh I love it. Absolutely fan-tastic darling! Oh, the drapes over the windows and tables, the colour scheme, the layout, and even the small details like the dried flowers on the walls. When I saw your makeshift wall outside, I was certain that there couldn’t possibly be something so fabulous inside, but you have made me eat my hat!”
Lowering my head in a gesture of thanks, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with the praise. The tug on the corners of my lips began to grow sore with just how much I was smiling. “Oh, I just found this place. My partner, Opal, is the true architect of the decorations. Really, she’s a wizard with just making these things work out somehow.” For a second I paused, just thinking about my beautiful blue partner. She really was something special, my Opal. Jolting back to reality, I nodded before continuing to speak. “I may be the one who found this place and made it a place of living, but she really made it our home and was the support I needed to open shop, believing in me and helping to organise how we’d sell things.”
“Opal you say? Well judging from her artistic vision alone she sounds divine. I simply must meet her. I love nothing more than when I find other ponies, or other creatures in general, who understand that the world needs more beauty and its our job to restore it.”
From across the room despite the distance, I heard her lovely voice practically singing to me. “Did I hear my name being called?”
“I take it you’re Opal?” To that, she nodded shyly, uncertain of how to respond. “Then why yes, you did hear your name. I was just complimenting what an absolutely magnificent job you’ve done with this place. The colours, the layout, the way the items are grouped. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I never knew that alicorns quite understood the concept of such beauty.”
‘Understood the concept of beauty?’ I couldn’t help but feel a little put out. How could we not understand the concept of beauty when we had each other to look at? How could we not understand what beauty was when we had experienced the absolute togetherness that was Unity? Scuffing her hoof on the floor, my darling Opal seemed to agree.
Catching onto the offence he’d caused, the flamboyant stallion promptly apologised. “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that at all, I really am ever so sorry. I only mean that I’ve never come across an alicorn who seemed interested in the beauty around us. The ones I’ve seen previously were always so reserved and indignant towards others. I promise, I didn’t mean to insult you.”
In her soft, sweet little voice, Opal spoke shyly. “Well I hope you can excuse me, but I really must get back to tending to the customers ready to pay.” With that, she disappeared in an instant, magic disguising her from sight. Despite that though, I knew exactly where she was thanks to her thoughts, quiet whispers announcing her presence to me.
Halfway through letting out a small sigh, I felt the press of lips on the tip of my nose and smiled. My beautiful Opal was just too precious.
“So, this might be nosy, but there’s something more than just a business partnership between you two, isn’t there?” The cute little mare next to me asked, an odd mix of a smile and the look of disappointment in a destroyed wish lingering in her eyes.
If she had asked me earlier in our relationship, or if she had asked Opal, there would have undoubtedly been a floor scuffing to the point where there would be no foundation below. Now we had been together for this long, I no longer required courage to nod my head. “You’re particularly observant, aren’t you? Yes, I love her, and she loves me too. We first met each other during our time in Canterlot, and then we ran into one another again after the world we knew ended. She was the first of my sisters to truly believe in me, and the truest of them all as well. She’s the one who decided to stick around with me and see what we could achieve together.”
“Wait, do you mean she’s one of the ones you just told me about?” Asked the little voice at my hooves, his eyes wide with joy. ~~I hope she’ll tell me more!~~
“That’s right.” I said with a smile, happy to hear he was so interested. “The blue alicorn from the other wing was Opal. While I loved all of my sisters in Unity, I didn’t see her as anything other than another member of our group at the time. It wasn’t until Unity came to it’s end that I saw her for the beautiful mare she truly is.”
Next it was the mare’s turn to ask the next question. “So, at the end of Unity, whatever that means, were you just sitting next to each other, or is there a story behind meeting back up?”
Rubbing my chin, I pondered over her question for a moment. “Honestly? The story of her joining back up with me isn’t much to tell. I had only been sitting right here at the time when she turned up. The much more interesting story is why she turned up here I suppose. Want to hear that instead?”
As everypony sat down, it was clear their answer was a resounding ‘yes’. Revelling in the chance to share more of my story, I began.
--- --- ---
With my orders from the Goddess made clear, I had to find somewhere safe to begin stockpiling. There would be no point in even beginning to search for more supplies than I could carry on me if I couldn’t even put them somewhere safe. I knew that finding a new home would be a real challenge, but for the sake of all of my sisters, I had to do my best.
Leaving the safety of Maripony, I saw the sun beginning to slowly lower, and chose that as my direction to travel in. If nothing else, I would at least maximise the amount of light I could use to further my search.
Travelling alone was something so alien to me, that feeling of being so alone, so vulnerable out in the wider world. In all of my previous experiences, any time I had to travel anywhere, it was another two of my sisters. Flying without a wing by my side was shockingly lonely, even if Unity was still by my side within my mind.
Before long, the hours shifted to days as I searched for somewhere new to begin. Nowhere close to Maripony was acceptable; hellhounds had made nests in the surrounding cave networks and would even dare to occasionally harass sisters who wondered too close, those who were outnumbered, those who were making themselves too vulnerable. No, close to home wasn’t safe, and it needed to be somewhere safe.
Flying across the wasteland, it became apparent that most buildings were completely unsuitable. Crumbling walls, broken windows, missing rooves, destroyed doors, or simply being too small were the main reasons that I couldn’t even begin to consider most. For others, they were partially flooded as swamps took over portions of land. Time and time again, I’d figured I had found somewhere potentially worth calling a home, only to then find that it was booby trapped or had already become the residence of a group that had completely tarnished the building with blood, gore, and other unfortunate dealings.
At first I thought that the best place to search for might be to find another cave system, but before long I found that they were an absolute no-go. So many times I thought I’d found a cave suitable for storage; large, sturdy beyond belief, protected from the elements – caves seemed like they would be the absolute perfect option at first. Maripony was built in the shell of a cave system after all; why not recreate home with our backup? Well, radspiders, bears, manticores, unbelievably large parasprite hives, and even one that had pre-war signage warning of Ursa Majors all made for extremely… persuasive reasons to give up on trying to find a suitable cave. Anything large enough to be usable had already been found and was in use by something that would make taking over the territory either take and keep more effort than it was worth, or impossible to take to begin with.
--- --- ---
“So that’s when you found this here?” The young colt asked, his voice breaking me out of my trance of storytelling and back to the world around us.
“Shhh!” The mare scolded, making me realise just how keenly she had been sitting and listening to every word herself. “Let her tell the story! She’ll obviously get to it when she does, otherwise we wouldn’t be here right now.”
Letting out a content sigh and a chuckle, this was an experience I had no choice but to cherish entirely. It was certainly a welcome change of pace.
Pausing my story to take a deep breath, I looked all around me, taking in the majestic sight that had become home, our shop, ‘Prepper’s place’. My place indeed. I couldn’t help but smile and feel proud at knowing I’d made a positive mark on the wasteland, no matter how small. Of course the shop was still a safe haven for all of my sisters, but now it was so much more than its original intention.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes once more with a smile and continued the story.
--- --- ---
After caves proved to be too problematic, I stopped even bothering to search around for them. The new home would have to be… new.
The next thing to cross off of my list was tower buildings. Most of the time they were simply unstable, damaged in the same ways that most other buildings are. The few that I had found which were visually intact on the exterior and presumably in good condition on the interior had been fortified by either gangs or turned into mock villages of innocent ponies.
Of course, The Goddess’ need came above all else, but another voice in my head argued that fighting through gangs by myself would not only be risky, but also have the same potential risk that their friends could retaliate – or know to sneak in and steal from me while I was gone. No matter what, I’d need somewhere relatively unknown to safely hoard any items for my sisters sake.
Giving up on these types of buildings continued to limit my choices, I had to think differently. So far I had been searching for buildings that seemed safe but also inconspicuous. My requirements weren’t necessarily to have masses of space as much as it was safety. Somewhere that wouldn’t require a lot of repairs, that could easily be passed up by wanderers, that wouldn’t draw in scavengers. I simply wanted somewhere secure from the elements, somewhere I could store enough supplies to act as a safehouse. I wasn’t trying to make a hub.
After several weeks of continuous searching, scouring every ruined township and industrial complex, I couldn’t lie, my hopes of finding somewhere suitable were beginning to be dashed. I had found plenty of loot along my travels, made plenty of mental notes with the help of Unity and drawn maps to the most resource rich finds, but nowhere had been the golden goose I was searching for. A lot of potential homes just had one or two too many flaws to forgive. Still, for The Goddess and my sisters in Unity, I had to keep at it, no matter what.
That was when I stumbled upon this beautiful place, a wonderful stone walled beacon of hope struggling to shine in the darkness. Whatever it was that pulled me in, I didn’t know at the time, but I’m glad it did because it was perfect. From a distance the building seemed too large, too inconspicuous. It was a supermarket, of course it would attract attention. My head was telling me that this would be too much to defend, there would be too many directions for intruders to come from – and yet I still found myself drawn to it. I just had to see the inside.
Stepping up to the door, I saw that it wasn’t open, but nor did it seem locked. Pulling it to one side with my magic, I heard the bell chime. What seemed like a charming little touch quickly changed for the worse; it wasn’t a welcoming bell, it was a dinner bell – but this was something I was yet to find out.
Stepping into the building was a spooky experience. The aisles were trashed, empty cans and packaging littered the floor. Shopping carts were scattered, some on their sides, others overturned entirely. Empty bags were all over the place and more than a couple of times I found bloodstains coupled with rotting corpses strewn across the floor.
Losing my balance as I tripped up on one of the plastic bags, I flapped my wings in order to avoid hitting the floor face first. While I saved myself the embarrassment of tripping up, I also managed to kick so much dust into the air that the sunlight beaming through the windows behind me was practically blinding. All I could see was a haze of grey sparkles floating in the air, consuming every inch of space that they might fill.
It was annoying, and it made breathing in a lot harder to want to do, because not even the Goddess knew exactly what had been sitting around for so long to leave so much dust, (and believe me, I asked.) Still, taking further steps into the building, it just felt like there was something calling me deeper into the belly of the beast. What I didn’t realise was it was the belly of the beast that called me in.
Taking much more caution with my steps, I continued to move forward, wings extended to the point that I could feel the old, ruined shelves on each side. The building was proving to be sufficiently large, (as you know), and had a lot of potential showing to me already. The stone walls would mean that anything short of explosives would do no harm to the structure itself, unlike a wood framed building. The roof seemed to be intact, there was no obvious signs of leakage upon first inspection. Everything was looking wonderful. I still had a lot of area to uncover, and to discover why the bodies were in the condition they were, which was unnerving but there had been no other sign of trouble yet.
Though as they say, when things look too good to be true, that’s when reality bites you in the ass. Scavenging through the shelves and cupboards, the noise of moving junk items around to find valuables must have been louder than I realised, as the only warning I had of danger was an awfully polite grunt as the sound of a heavy, meaty thud hit the floor behind me.
Instinctively I put up my shield in preparation, expecting that perhaps a ghoul had been hidden inside the building. Jumping to the side just in case, I couldn’t have timed it better as a set of unbelievably powerful jaws ripped straight through my shield and clamped down onto the nothingness of where I had been only a second before.
It was then that I screamed. Oh how I screamed. “OH GODDESS, WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS THAT!?”
Of course, instead of stopping to explain what it was, the radigator spun on the spot and once again tried to take a chunk of out me with its powerful maw. Jumping backwards and putting another shield up, it was obvious that this was a case of do or die; defeat the beast that was speedily waddling towards me or become its lunch.
Powering up my horn, I launched an attack at the monster, though my eyes widened as the beam of energy simply refracted from its scaly hide as if I’d tried to shoot at it with empty words and guilt. Spinning on the spot, I did the only thing I possibly could; I ran.
The sounds that followed told me that running was a fruitless endeavour. Making my way past countless overturned tables, shelves and carts, I hoped that some of those might slow down the beast, but the clanging sound remained behind me, barely getting any further in distance despite my best efforts. Whether it was the fact that I had to be careful in where I ran and the radigator seemed to simply barrel into everything without a care – or whether it was much faster than I had imagined it could possibly be, I didn’t know, but I didn’t have the time to find out either.
With all of the kicked up dust getting into my eyes, making my way through the store at such speeds was proving to be extremely difficult. To my benefit, the front of the store was much clearer of debris than the back, but then as I reached the very front, I found that my luck had run dry – the door that I had come through had shut behind me, and opening it took enough effort the first time. Perking my ears to estimate the distance I had made on the beast, it wasn’t going to be enough to get the door open and get out. Turning around, the clanging of metal and muscular limbs hitting the floor told me I had no choice, I had to fight for my life.
‘Why did I have to come in here without a purple in support?’ I groaned as I dropped my gaze and powered up my horn once more, ready to-
--- --- ---
In that moment, a scream filled the air and ripped me from my story, the high pitched terror unnerving me even more than I had already been while recounting the battle. Getting up with haste, I sped to the source of the sound, ready for whatever might have been wrong.
“PREPPER!” A voice called. “FLUFFY!”
My heart dropped. Had somepony hurt my beautiful Fluffy?! Galloping over to where Fluffy’s corner was as fast as I could, a thousand thoughts of what could have happened to my beloved pet ran through my mind. Before I had reached the spot, the same pony that had screamed before now told me in a horrified voice:
“Fluffy, eaten by a radroach?” The wave of relief that washed over me as I made that comment was truly blissful. Letting out a little laugh, I swooped down over to my darling Fluffy and picked him up, holding him high. “This is Fluffy! Fluffy is my pet radroach.”
Cooing in adoration of my lovely little skittery Fluffy, the slew of surprised swears I heard running through the minds of everypony in eyesight amused me. Fluffy, ignorant of what these ponies thought of him, continued to wave his cutesy little antennae all around as he tried to figure out what the fuss was about. Stroking his carapace lovingly, I made sure to keep him from becoming anxious of the situation.
Finally breaking the silence, the mare who had first alerted me to the supposed loss of my pet now began asking questions, as I had expected somepony might before long. “Why… no, better yet, how did you end up with a radroach of all things as a pet?”
“I’ll answer the why first.” I murmured before humming as I put Fluffy back in his corner. Watching him go back to gnawing on the radbit I had left as food for him, my smile grew knowing he was eating well. Turning back to face the newly formed crowd, I began explaining.
“The why is simple. Fluffy is so cute! I mean, look at him! That adorable little face, those adorable little leggies, and the antennas, and just everything! I think he’s wonderful. I don’t see any reason to feel differently about him, he’s different to what most ponies would look for in a pet, but aren’t I different to most ponies after all?”
“Well, yes.” One stallion admitted shyly, though as soon as he had said that, he began to stumble over himself to carry on. “But I really don’t mean it like that! I mean! I! I mean it’s not like you’re bad! Just different! But still a pony!”
Nodding my head, I smiled at the poor stallion in a reassuring way. “Don’t worry, really, I asked that question wanting your response. Yes, I am different, but I am still a pony. Likewise, Fluffy is different from what you might take on as a pet, but he’s still my pet. He’s never caused me, Opal, or any of our visitors harm. I adore him, he seems to feel the same way, that’s all that matters.”
“But how did you come to find a radroach so tame?”
Looking over to Opal still busy minding the other ponies who were still buying, I figured she’d let me know if she wanted any help. She did owe me a favour after all. Trotting towards and consequently sitting down next to Fluffy, his response was to jump onto my haunches and settle down. Closing my eyes, I drew another breath and melted back into my ongoing story time.
Knowing that I had left the others in suspense of how the fight ended, I figured it was only just to fill them in. “I’ll finish the story I was just telling first, but that will blend into how I met Fluffy.”
--- --- ---
Powering up my horn, I knew I had to try and take this beast down. Shooting another blast and jumping back, I hit the monster in the mouth this time. Although it wasn’t enough to kill the beast, the wretch of pain that it gave in response was enough to tell me that it was hurting, and I had found a weakness. The tough scales that covered its entire body were all too tough for even my magic, but the mouth was soft and vulnerable. Still, scrambling out of the way of yet another bite, my heart began to race even further as I noticed the burning in my lungs. I couldn’t do this forever, and I had no idea how long this creature could do it for either.
Another bolt of magic shot out of my horn, followed by another. The first missed by inches, though the second hit home, sending the reptile into a momentary retreat. Taking a deep breath, I needed to end this soon. One or two hits from my magic would have killed all but the most well armoured of ponies and other threats, but this beast was taking the hits more like a hellhound would.
With the beating of my heart becoming even more noticeable, that was when the spark of inspiration came to me from Unity. The Goddess hadn’t seemed to deem my plight serious enough to intervene, but one of my sisters spoke to me. ~~~‘Go for the heart’.~~~
Go for the heart? Of course. Everything that lived had a heart, this beast was no different. There was no way that my magic would pierce through its scaly hide, not with the bolts at least. There had to be some other way.
Jumping out of yet another bite, I threw up my shield out of instinct yet again, but this time I was too slow and the shield closed with the tip of the beasts snout poking through. The sensation of wetness hit me as blood squirted over my hooves as my shield was ripped through by the sharp teeth, and looking down, I felt disgusted that I had been bled on… only to then realise exactly what had just happened. I had just managed to cut a part of it off using my magic shield.
The beast’s hide was too strong for magical thunderbolts to pierce through, but my magical shield was strong enough to cut bits off of it! Jumping between shopping carts and other obstacles was getting less and less effective as the beast smashed them apart in its chase, I needed to end this fight now, before it ended me. I considered using the shield to try chop its head off, but then the words rang through my mind once again. ~~~Go for the heart.~~~
Of course! The heart attack method! That’s what she was trying to tell me! Jumping into the air and landing atop of one of the nearby shelves, I felt it wobble under my weight and quickly began to doubt my choice, but I needed some distance in order to prepare myself for this. After a moment of confusion, the radigator finally noticed where I stood and began its charge.
“Here goes nothing!” I cried out, closing my eyes desperately hoping it would be enough, that it would be able to form inside the beast. Wrapping my magic around where I hoped its heart was, I squeezed as hard as I could with my magic, tightening the shield as much as I could manage. Opening my eyes in the very same moment that the beast hit my shelf, knocking us both over.
In a desperate rush to get off of the floor and out of the way of the giant maw that stared right at me, I didn’t even notice at first. Galloping away to a safe distance, I was met with almost nothing in return. No stomping feet. No gigantic roar. No, the sound I could hear was… different. Carefully making my way over to the sound, I saw the monster now no longer looking like an apex predator, but rather, a pathetic mockery of what it had been only moments ago. The fire in its eyes had been put out, replaced by the dying light of its wheezing, last breath.
*** *** ***
With the end of the radigator, I had been free to finish searching the rest of the building. Breaking into the managers office by simply forcing my weight into the door had proved sufficient, and once in there I found the keys to all of the locks in the building. It had taken some time, but room by room I searched and secured the rest of what I had stumbled upon. Taking note of what stock it had left laying about, and how much room there was to keep items secure, there really was no question about it; this was to be my new base of operations, where I would be able to prepare for any unfortunate future events, be it what I had seen or even as simple as damage to our other stocks. From here, the next step was simple: Go and find more!
Before leaving the shop and locking up, I had made sure to scavenge as many saddlebags as I figured I could realistically fill without being over-encumbered and began making my way back to some of the places I had been to previously. There was a lot of potential scavenge sites where I had only scraped the outside or peeked my head into at best before deciding that they simply wouldn’t be suitable for making a new home in – but that wasn’t to say that they wouldn’t have plentiful supplies hidden away for those with a keen eye. I just needed to go and find them.
*** *** ***
’Making my way downtown, flying fast, buildings pass, and I’m lootbound’
Humming my little song to myself, I had no idea where it came from, but something about it felt familiar to me. No matter where it came from, it served its purpose, as before I had realised it I was at the first location I had earmarked for being potentially valuable – a housing district that both hadn’t been overrun by raiders or turned to rubble. The most impressive part was that somepony had even tried to erect a defensive perimeter around a few of the houses with makeshift walls. There was no sign that they had been breached by force, and that was what had caught my eye previously. Unfortunately, there simply wasn’t enough room even between the few houses to consider it large enough for a base, but I had hopes for what might have been inside.
Flying over the walls and proving how little they meant to any creature with wings, I walked up to the first of the houses, having chosen one at random. Stepping over to the window, I figured that getting an understanding of what was inside before even trying the door would be a wise idea. I really didn’t need to walk into another radigator ambush.
Trying to see through the window was nothing if not painful, as all of the dirt, dust and weathering had stained the glass over the years of not being looked after. Moss grew on the outside window frame, and it looked as if some (or perhaps mould) had grown on the inside too. Still, there was no sign of movement, and I couldn’t sense any signs of life coming from the building, so I felt pretty confident in my choice so far.
Scouting around the rest of the exterior, I wanted to be sure that there wasn’t some other nasty surprise waiting for me, but found nothing out of the ordinary. The house was small and ageing for sure, but there was no signs of danger at least. Trying the back door first as it was closest to me, I had no luck as the door wouldn’t budge. Whoever has last used the building had either locked it tightly or blocked it off entirely for security. Figuring that it likely wouldn’t be worth the effort no matter which way, I moved to the front.
Trying the door handle gave no luck on the first attempt, causing me to groan. “Come on, let me in. Momma needs what you’ve got.” Trying it again, I took notice to the fact that at least this door felt a lot looser than the back had been. There wasn’t a sense of extreme security behind the door, and thus I pressed my weight against the door and prepared to try force it open. With a bash, the door flew open whilst I landed on the floor with a thud, feeling pretty embarrassed that I hadn’t caught myself on the way down.
Getting back onto my hooves, I quickly surveyed the initial room I found myself in. A small closet of sorts, old tattered husks of coats hanging up on the walls either side of me, followed by a hallway and set of stairs leading up. Choosing to scout the bottom floor first seemed wise; even though I hadn’t seen any threats, the consideration was that at least I could make sure that there was nothing below me that would cut off my best escape route by guarding the stairs if it turned out that I had been wrong. Looking to the left, I saw sofas and an old, broken TV in the living room, dust blanketing the screen so thickly that it looked as if it would refuse to even budge, and proving it hadn’t been used in well over a century. Thankfully though, the rest of the room was in something of a better state.
In what was the most puzzling moment of my life so far, I instinctively began pulling the cushions off of the sofa in a way which felt almost sacrilegious, but vague memories coming from places I didn’t quite understand had me finding bits between the cracks. Looking at them in awe, I still had no clue why I had done it, nor did I really know what I would do with these, or at least not until another vision filled my mind of pre-war machines dispensing sparkle cola.
Looking around the rest of the room, I saw nothing of value and moved on to the next; the kitchen. While I held no hopes for anything truly edible, I was quickly proven wrong when I found boxes of snack cakes hidden in the cupboards behind a false backboard. I would have felt proud of myself for finding that if it hadn’t been for the fact that the backboard was in such a poor condition that it had practically already fallen apart and revealed a glimpse of more hidden away. Quickly stocking up my bags, food was never a bad thing to stock up on, that was for sure.
Searching the rest of the kitchen, there was nothing else of any value to me. The knives were rusted and useless, other foodstuffs that laid around were more mould than what they had originally been, and pots and pans didn’t offer any value whatsoever. The one thing of value that I had come to find wasn’t physical loot, but the fact that I learned that somepony had moved the fridge to block the door from opening, and suddenly I was very glad that I didn’t try force my way through.
Moving on past the kitchen, the rest of the downstairs proved to have nothing of interest either, prompting me to begin my ascent upstairs. In the first few steps everything seemed normal, but as I got closer to the top I could’ve sworn that a faint, lingering sensation whispered to my nose, not quite enough to really recognise as anything in particular, but the air definitely reminisced about something that had happened here.
Opening up the first door I came to, I was met by black mould covering what would once have been white tiled walls, and a mirror marked with stains hanging from the wall above a sink, a toilet nearby next to the shower. Without stepping into the room, I opened the mirror cabinet with my magic but saw no valuables inside. Closing the door and moving onto the next room, I was greeted by a makeshift workshop. Pushing a desk fan and typewriter out of the way so I could inspect the cabinet, I poured the contents of a draw onto the surface to sort through it freely.
“Bingo!” I had I found the absolute mother lode supplies! Multiple rolls of duct tape, a large bottle of wood glue, about a dozen boxes of nails and several boxes of screws, along with a hammer. Taking everything but the screws, my bags quickly filled and began to weigh me down. Without a screwdriver, the screws were pointless, but everything else was perfect.
Checking the next draw I found more supplies; wrenches, a hammer, sealant, sandpaper, and plenty of nuts and bolts. Adding them to my saddlebags too, this house alone had almost filled up two thirds of my capacity, leaving me exceptionally happy with the outcome of my efforts.
Stepping back into the hallway, there was only one more room to check, and as I approached the scent that had been fading in and out of my mind grew stronger. Surmising that it must have been a bedroom, I assumed it was simply the ‘living musk’ that followed being dormant in one room so long each night for so many years. Waving the thoughts out of my mind, I pressed forward to see what could lie in wait for me to take.
Opening the door, I expected to be hit by an even stronger stench, but found that the smell was only ever so slightly stronger. With the curtains pulled shut, it was too dark to make out the true layout of the room. Stepping in and pulling the curtains open, I could finally see as the room lit up. To my my right was a dresser and wardrobes, a small desk, and a varied selection of make-up strewn across. Turning around, I finally saw the source of the smell and hesitated as I looked on. Two skeletons, a unicorn with broken ribs and an earth pony with an extra hole coming through their skull. Whatever had happened here happened a long time ago, and the stained bedsheets told me it wasn’t pretty for either of them.
Stepping out of the room, I’d seen enough. I considered taking the revolver that I now noticed on the floor, but decided against it. No matter what value it might have held, something felt dirty about its last use.
Walking down the stairs and exiting the building, I was done with that house. With only the small amount of space left, I would only have room to scavenge one of the two other buildings in front of me, assuming both had anything of value. Looking at both, they were of roughly equal size, and both had their windows boarded up, though the one to the left of me seemed to be in slightly better condition judging by the view from the front if nothing else. Neither had been showing damage, but the other benefit was that its garage door was already open, giving me an easy route in.
Crossing the road and making my way through the garage door, I noticed something lining the back wall of the room; toilet paper. Stacks and stacks of toilet paper, from floor to ceiling. An odd thing to find indeed. Creeping in further into the property, I felt my hoof stick to the floor as if there was something plastering the ground, but saw nothing. Taking a sniff of my hoof, there was no smell to it, this wasn’t blood or some other bodily fluid that I had to be worried about, but nor did it answer my curiosity.
The door into the rest of the house was already open. ‘Great’ I muttered to myself. ‘I guess the place already had somepony loot it perhaps. Though if they looted here, why wouldn’t they have also looted the last house?’
Then I remembered the two bodies. Could it have been that the pony who had their brains blown out had been in here first? No, that made no sense. They should have had a bag filled with scavenged loot if they had. Perhaps whoever left here last just did so in a rush? If that was the case, it was very possible that there would still be something to take. Perhaps some excess ammo they couldn’t carry, some food, or other small items not quite essential to survival but incredibly valuable. I could only hope.
Stepping through the door, I was greeted by a sight that none of my sisters in Unity had ever or likely would ever see again without returning here; the toilet paper… it… it went beyond simply stocking up, it was beyond hoarding it even. No, this was something far, far beyond the need of any one family of ponies even. Even for a small community, the amount of toilet roll I saw was astonishing.
Hearing a skittering noise to my side, I perked my ear in the direction and immediately spun my face, raising my shield in shock. Holding a defensive pose I hadn’t even realised I’d dropped into, I let down my shield as my eyes, ears, and telepathy found nothing. Just the wind, perhaps? Though I was sure I had heard something, somewhere.
With my attention now drawn in another direction, I saw a sight even more astonishingly outlandish than even what I had just seen; not only was there more toilet roll, not only had this whole room become nothing but toilet roll, but the last pony to be here had even made a damned fort out of toilet roll, complete with a sign hanging on next to a little viewport where a unicorns skull sat.
‘NO MARES ALLOWED’
“Well… given your skeleton is just inside the fort? Yeah, I’m fine, thanks.”
Hearing scuttling coming from inside the fort, I cautiously poked my head in out of curiosity, only to be met by a flying mess of brown. Falling back on my haunches, I noticed a small ball of fluff speed out of sight from the door I had just come through. Blinking in confusion, I didn’t know why, but something inside of me told me that I should follow whatever it was that just made a break for it. For all the Goddess knew, all I would find in this house would be more toilet paper anyway.
Stepping through the door, the ball of fluff was now stuck in the glistening mess on the floor, but looking up, there was a much more pressing matter at hand. As soon as my eyes met it, the hissing began. A titanic radspider, rearing up its front legs, fangs bared, ready to attack. Throwing my shield up around myself and the fluffy ball, the spider attempted to attack my barrier before finding its legs sliding limply to the floor, my horn already having pierced through its eyes and into the brain, killing it instantly.
Where there was one, especially one of this size, there would be more. Before stepping out of the garage, I picked up three of the packages of toilet roll with my magic and chucked them as a distraction. In the instant that they had landed on the floor, two more radspiders jumped from their ambush above the garage onto their perceived prey.
With no patience for such vile, senseless creatures, I charged out of the garage and speared the first with my horn as I had with the last. With the squealing hiss that could only come from an oversized pest, the other spider charged at me. Grabbing it with my magic to hold it in place, I powered up my horn and blasted it with a spell, frying it from the inside out. The smell of roasted radspider filling my nose, I wanted to wretch, but managed to hold back.
“Goddess, why do such vile things exist?” I knew I wouldn’t receive an answer from her, but I still found myself asking the question regardless. Turning around, I heard a high pitched squeal as another one of them, far smaller than the rest, and far too small to pose any threat to me, sped towards the garage. Remembering that the ball of fluff – whatever it was – was still trapped in there, I grabbed the last spider with my magic just in time to stop it. Dragging it over to where I stood, I crushed the arachnid below my hoof without mercy.
Trotting over to the squeaking ball, I lowered my head to see it more clearly. Looking at the tiny brown creature, I now realised what it was; it was a radroach! A radroach with a patch of fluff on its back in such a way I had never before known was possible.
Bending down to be closer to the little critter, I spoke softly. Radroaches weren’t renowned as being friendly, but this one hadn’t tried attacking me, and nor could it do any harm even if it did. Going against tradition, I decided to speak to it. “Well hello there. You’re special, aren’t you? I’ve never seen a radroach like you before.”
Just like that, the radroach stopped its wheezing and whining, and simply looked at me. Slowly its antennas unfurled as they cautiously reached out to me, booping me on the nose. Pulling back instinctively, we both seemed shocked by the action of one another, and yet, somehow, I felt drawn to this little creature. Something about the way those little eyes looked at me, the complete lack of aggression in its demeanour, and the patch of fluff on its back was incredibly cute to me.
Tenderly reaching out a hoof, the radroach initially scattered away, though only for a moment before hesitating and slowly returning. With the most gentle touch I was capable of, I stroked the tiny critter in adoration, smiling the whole time through.
Getting back up though, I knew that this moment was just a fluke. I had saved its life, sure, but it was time for me to go finish my search. Stepping back into the house, I made my way past the toilet roll that surrounded me, bypassed the fort, and went upstairs.
Checking in the upper rooms, there was nothing but more toilet roll. More, more, and more. Every single room had been repurposed purely as a place of storing toilet roll. Every cabinet, wardrobe, nook, and cranny. If there was a space, it was filled with toilet roll.
As I went to go downstairs, I saw the radroach waiting for me at the bottom, its little antennae waving as if trying to get my attention, though I guessed that it was much more likely just me ponifying it far too much. It was just a radroach after all. Being careful not to harm it as I walked past, I exited the building and moved out to the street to look at the last house. As I began making my way over, a ball of brown flew past before landing in front of me, waving its antennae yet again.
A familiar, comforting smell began to fill the air as the first drops of rain hit the ground around me, lightly moisturising my coat. Why I did what I did next I didn’t know, but I found myself laying on the floor, clearing my mind, one wing spread wide to offer protection to the critter. There was no hesitation in its decision this time – immediately it scurried over to my side, taking shelter under my wing, pressing itself against me.
“You… you really are too adorable to pass up, aren’t you?”
In that moment, I knew this was meant to be. Opening up the spare saddlebag, I gently scooped the radroach into the empty space and allowed its head to poke on out. The fact that it hadn’t tried to stop me was evidence enough by now that this little radroach seemingly felt the same.
“Well, seeing as you’ve got that unique little patch of fluff on you, I think I’ll call you Fluffy. Come on, Fluffy. Lets go home.”
With my story now finished, I pulled Fluffy over to my face and pressed my nose against his, gently rubbing with a smile. “And that’s how we saved you my precious little baby, didn’t we?”
Fluffy squeaked one of his usual little noises at me, something I had always assumed was his way of telling me he loved me too, and no matter whether that was quite the truth or not, he remained my faithful pet. He had never hurt me, never tried running away, and was always happy to be with me. I couldn’t ask any more of him. Truly the best pet ever! Placing Fluffy back on the ground, he scurried over to the bedding we had made for him before settling down for sleep.
By this time, my audience, all aside from the cute mare and the young colt, had dispersed, off to browse what other items we had for sale. Closing my eyes, I focused on the room, using my magic to hear all of the voices that would flow through my mind.
~I just can’t believe these prices. Everything is just so much cheaper than I find in other places.~ ~This one is pretty good, but… do I really need it? Hmmmm.~ ~Ooh, snack cakes! My favourite!~ ~I wonder if there’s...~
All of these thoughts, all of the compliments, the happy ponies. It brought a smile to my face. There was no dissatisfaction, just happiness.
~I could’ve sworn they went this way.~
Hearing that, I felt my face stiffen involuntarily as I tried to figure out what they meant by that. It didn’t sound like something one of our patrons would have thought to themselves, and that unsettled me. Spinning over to my partner, I used my telepathy to speak to her.
~Opal darling, I just heard something unusual. Somepony thought about ‘I could’ve sworn they went this way’. Would you mind checking outside for me? Do make sure to use your powers, of course. I don’t want to draw extra attention if my gut feeling is right.~
With a nod in response, she swiftly excused herself from her post behind the counter and trotted outside through the backdoor, making sure to cloak herself moments prior. Walking over to the customers who were waiting to pay for their items, I slipped behind the counter and greeted them again with another smile. “I’m sorry that my partner had to leave, how can I help you?”
“Well, I’d like to buy a lot of your stock of canned food, but even with as fair as your prices are, I can’t afford to only deal in caps. Are you willing to barter a mixture of goods and caps in exchange?”
Raising an eyebrow, I shot him another smile. “Depends on what you’re bargaining with. Canned food is something of a treasure, as I’m sure you’re well aware. If you’re interested in trading goods for goods, you’ll need to have something of notable value in exchange. Though, I suppose if you want a suggestion on what I’m interested in, I’m always interested in fresh blueberries, and heavy duty spark batteries. The kind used in those old wagons.”
“Blueberries huh? Haven’t seen those in a long time now. Mind if I ask why you’re interested in them specifically?”
Blushing a little, I couldn’t help but smile like a filly as I thought about the answer. “Opal, my partner. Their colour reminds me of her, and they have a couple of absolutely fantastic purposes. They make a wonderful dye, and she can cook the most wonderful pies out of them.” Just thinking about the last time she made us a blueberry pie caused me to let out a little sigh of contentment, gazing off into the distance as my mind pictured it so vividly.
Breaking me back to the real world with a cough, my eyes snapped back onto the stallion as he spoke. “Okay, so if I find any, I’ll make sure to bring them here. Might even make an effort to go find some for you, in that case.”
With glee filling my face, I spoke with excitement at the thought. “It would be very much appreciated!”
“Now, as for the heavy duty spark batteries, I actually do have one. Not only do I have one, but it was actually recharged at one of the previous settlements I was at. What do you say, would that be enough for what I’ve got here?”
Looking at the cans of food, there was a lot of it piled up, and some of it was cans of food I personally favoured too. Biting my lip, I gave consideration to how much value the spark battery would hold to me. I didn’t want to be unfair, the spark battery, if at full charge, would provide an exceptional amount of usefulness in allowing for larger scavenging runs. Still, it was a lot of food, and this merchant would undoubtedly be able to make his profit from it even with an extra charge.
Opening my eyes slowly and looking into the expression on the stallions face, I began my end of the haggle. “Okay, I’ll sell you all of this food, but the battery alone isn’t enough. How about an added seventy caps to incentivise the deal?”
~Seventy huh? Not bad. Lets see how low she’ll go.~
“Seventy?” The merchant responded. “Surely the battery alone is worth a lot more than you seem to think? These are very rarely fully charged. Most are completely unusable even.”
“I get that,” I countered firmly, without giving ground. “But the spark battery is something I’m more interested in, rather than find essential. Food is an essential. Besides, I know you’ll be selling it to other ponies, ponies in places that I can’t so freely go to in order to trade.”
~Damn. Tough haggle. Not ideal.~
Looking at the slight nod that the stallion gave, it was clear he understood my reasoning. Pushing forward, I continued my offer. “So, I have food that you want, food that you can make a profit on where I can’t, and I now know that you can recharge batteries – so how about we bargain harder. Seventy caps and your fully charged spark battery, and I’ll trade you an old, empty spark battery and the food you’re after.”
For a moment the trader pondered my offer, before making a face that could only be described as thoughtful. “How about fifty caps? A little bit of a discount can’t hurt, can it?”
“Seventy caps.” I responded firmly. “No more, no less. My prices are fair and I won’t go lower than this. However, if you get my spark battery recharged for next time you come by, I’m sure I’d have need to swap them back out. Consider that as an ongoing discount.” Putting on a sweeter voice than before, I leaned in a little closer. “I’m sure that you aren’t paying the price of a brand new spark battery to get that charged, so you’d be getting the value out of that. Surely that’s something to you?”
~Damn, this bitch has me good. Guess I’ll just accept her offer. It ain’t a loss after all.~
Stepping back, I gave my patron a very stern look. “Excuse me?”
Even from where I stood, I could almost feel his heart rate raise as high as my eyebrows had. Stepping forward again, I craned my neck forward, close enough to whisper into his ear. “What did I say about stealing earlier? That I would know if anypony even thought about it. Are you aware that us green alicorns can read minds? I try not to be invasive, but I heard that, and I don’t like being called such names. If you can say sorry, we’ll both forget about it, won’t we?”
In a hurried spluttering of words, the stallion apologised. “Y-yes. I’m sorry.”
Pulling back and smiling as if nothing had just happened, I shook his hoof. “Seventy caps and a fully charged spark battery for the food you’ve selected and my old spark battery it is. Give me just one minute to go collect the old spark battery and we’ll seal the deal.”
As if on cue, Opal returned from her scouting, shaking her head as she trotted on over to us. “I saw one lone pony, nothing to be worried about, my little paranoid Preppy.”
Pushing her away with a playful smile, I swished my tail in pretend annoyance. “Oh you’re evil, calling me names like that! Seriously though, I need to go get something. Would you mind counting seventy caps from that trader I was just talking to? Thank you!” With that, I made my way off out back, towards the old wagon. Almost forgetting, I made sure to yell back as I strode away. “Oh, and make sure to test that the spark battery he’s giving us. He promised it at full charge!”
Going past the public shop area, I made my way through our backup storage area and over to the loading bay where we kept the wagon. Using my magic, I made swift work out of disconnecting the battery and floating it over next to me as I trotted on back.
As soon as I came close to the public area of our shop, a sweet symphony filled my ears. It was the sound of my biggest pride and joy outside of Opal, Fluffy, or the shop itself; my very own vintage calliope, playing that cheerful tune.
Placing the old spark battery on the counter, I didn’t stick around to double check the deal. Opal was plenty competent enough by herself, and my heart simply couldn’t resist being wrangled by the old organ. Quickly making my way over to it, I gave in fully and burst into song and dance as I approached.
“Some stallions take a beautiful mare, and hide her away from the rest of the world. I want to be the one to walk in the sun, oh mares, they just wanna have fun – oh mares just want to have fun!”
As the music continued to play, the oldest member of the group; a stallion of considerable age, smiled at me before introducing himself. “The name’s Augustus, and before you say; I know it’s an odd name.”
“Not at all!” I blurted, quickly trying to ensure my patron’s guard felt comfortable. “You’re amongst good company here, as I’ve said to others, I don’t judge anypony for being different.” With that, I bowed my head in respect.
Augustus smiled at me with an earnest look in his eyes, the wrinkles crackling across his face. “Well, pleased to meet somepony who keeps an open mind. It’s refreshing. Well, back to what I was going to say; you’ve got quite the magnificent marvel here, don’t you? I haven’t heard a calliope since I was a little colt. I never thought I would hear the sound again, and yet here I am, absolutely amazed. Where did you get it?”
Before I could even begin to respond, I felt the gentle wrap of young hooves on my right foreleg, dragging my attention to the side. “Story! Tell us the story! Please?”
I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. “What? Another story? I swear, I’d make more caps out of selling these stories to all of you than I am out of trying to sell you goods!”
Of course that wasn’t true, but the looks on their faces was priceless. Augustus let out a smirk while the young colt looked astonished, right on cue for the music to stop. “Where did the music go?”
“It needs old world bits to make music. Have you got two caps? I’ll give you an old world bit to put in the machine if you do.”
“Here ya go, for the young’un.” Augustus muttered as he floated two caps to me. With every passing second and the way he interacted with the others, I begun to wonder if perhaps he was the grandfather of the young colt. He definitely showed a kind, compassionate manner towards him.
Passing an old world bit to the young colt I had stowed away on a nearby shelf, he swiftly ran to the machine and placed it into the slot, letting it fall into the mechanism. Within seconds, the tune began again, blasting out its wonderfully sweet sound.
As had become customary for me, I sat down and began to recall the story of how the prized possession had become mine.
--- --- ---
Flying through the sky with the newly repaired skywagon in tow was an… interesting experience, to say the least. Carrying a full load of saddlebags had been awkward in some ways but certainly feasible. While I couldn’t climb at the same rate, I also didn’t have to worry about my centre of gravity. This however? This was so very different. It didn’t matter how much weight was being carried by the wagon, but the fact that I had to wear a harness and account for the wagon was… surreal.
“Come on, stop groaning about it. It was your choice to bring it after all, Prepper!” Opal reminded me, flying just ahead.
“Yeah, but you’ve never had to fly one of these things!” I rebuked, only feeling slightly annoyed at her for teasing me. “It isn’t easy!”
With a smirk across her face, Opal ran her hoof up my neck and off from my chin as she flew next to me. “And there I thought you were plenty accustomed to handling such wide loads!”
Stopping in my tracks was my first instinct, quickly followed by panicking as the wagon began to slip from under me. It was now obvious that either by design or by degradation over time, this particular wagon needed to be moving at all times. Flapping my wings as hard as I could, I tried to avoid facing the fact she had me flustered.
We would have words, her and I… as soon as we were somewhere more suitable.
*** *** ***
Looking up at the sign that hung over the entrance, the words were far too faded to actually read. The remnants of letters spelt out ‘Pin P s ave ng Ca ni l’, though whatever that could’ve been was beyond a mystery to us both. Surprisingly however, the bright pink paint looked almost as fresh as if it had only been applied yesterday, despite the years causing everything else to decay.
All around us were faces of happy ponies, some painted onto the walls and banners, others sewn into flags, and many more included on statues and statuettes; even little plush toy ponies beamed with smiles that felt like they could stretch for a mile.
The atmosphere here was… odd. I couldn’t help but feel that there was something watching us, but each time I used my power to check, I found nothing. There was no thoughts other than Opal’s and my own. There was none of the typical gargling and hissing that a feral ghoul would ‘think’ in, nor any smell in the air that suggested some creature that would have made this area its hunting grounds – and yet, with every corner we rounded, I couldn’t shake that something, or someone, was watching me. With no warning, a single word rang quietly; forever.
Spinning around, I tried to find where the voice had come from, but still found nothing. In that moment I felt my whole body shiver as if a bolt of lightning had just hit me, though there was no pain. Opal turned to look at me, a worried look in her eye as she assessed me. “Are you okay?”
“I...” I mumbled. Then something happened. I didn’t know what happened, but something happened, and the world felt different. The fear that something was watching us no longer felt heavy and overbearing. Instead, as I looked around, it was almost as if I could hear the giggling of happy little colts and fillies, all around me. The rational part of my mind reasoned I should be scared, that this wasn’t normal and that I should be alert, but in my heart, I felt a sense of satisfaction and jubilation that had never been matched before in my life.
“Preppy… Prepper, please, are you okay?” Opal solemnly asked, her worry being completely out of place for our surroundings.
A smile slowly grew across my face as my eyes closed. “I understand now. This is Pinkie Pie’s Travelling Carnival! A place of true joy and bliss! One of the happiest places in ALL of Equestria!” My eyes shot wide open with that, I had no idea what had caused me to say those words, but as quickly as the surprise had taken me, it washed away with even more joy filling my heart. I felt like a little filly, care free and starry eyed as I looked all around. My mind projected images of children of all ages (including the adults who were children at heart) having the time of their lives all around me.
Wrapping her forehooves across my face, Opal looked at me with a sense of fear in her eyes, her voice almost trembling. “Uh… Prepper? W-what do you mean? What’s a Pinkie Pie’s Travelling Carnival? Why are you so happy all of a sudden?”
“Can’t you see them?” I asked, completely confused with her lack of reaction.
“See… who? Or what? Prepper, what do you see?”
Breaking away from her grasp, I spun around on the spot, hooves spread out to all of the happy ponies who laughed and smiled, who ate their candy, and danced as they moved. The cheer was clear for anypony to see, leaving me confused as to why she was behaving the way she was. “Don’t you see them?” I asked. “The happy ponies! They’re all so full of joy! This truly is the happiest place in all of Equestria!”
‘The happy...’ Opal mouthed, her eyes now beginning to become wet from the tears. “Prepper… there are no ponies. I mean… there’s a couple of skeletons here and there, but that’s all. There’s no ponies here, Prepper.”
No ponies? I gazed into her eyes for a moment, focusing into them, only on them, and dove deep into the abyss of her pupils. Closing my eyes and pulling my horn to hers, I could feel her breath faintly blowing into mine. Trying to focus on what was real and what wasn’t, I felt my heart drop as I no longer saw the happy ponies.
“I… but… they…” I muttered, completely lost with the situation. “But… I saw them!”
“Please tell me you’re not going mad, Prepper. Please. I don’t want to lose you. We’ve already lost too much. I can’t lose you too. Please.”
How was I meant to respond to something like that? But as I tried to figure out what to say, my ears perked to a sound in the distance. Twisting my head in the direction of the noise, I knew I had to find it.
“Come with me.” I instructed, uncertain of why.
“What? Prepper! I think we should leave, this is scaring me.” Opal protested, though even with the levels of determination in her voice, my will was stronger.
“No. I must find this.” I didn’t know what it was, but something was pulling me off further into the carnival. As I approached the sound of the indistinguishable noise, the sense of comfort in my heart grew stronger with every step closer. I had no choice, I had to find it. I simply had to.
Going through the alleyways made of tents and wagons, the noise was getting more intense, and yet no louder. Opal only seemed to be confused, though her muttering was drowned out by my concentration. Though I couldn’t see them any more, I could still sense the smiling, joyful ponies. As I rounded yet another corner, I finally saw it; the object that drew me closer.
“There it is!” I exclaimed.
Opal’s voice fell flat, unimpressed with my find, though at least now her worry and fear turned to confusion. “It’s… a wagon.”
“Nop’.” I responded, yet again feeling like the words that left my mouth weren’t even mine. “It’s muh pride an’ joy, the sweetest thing I ever did ‘ear.”
As soon as I said that, even I paused. That… that wasn’t me who said that, and yet, it was my mouth, my tongue, my voice… no mimicry, no tricks, the words came from my body, and yet they weren’t mine.
Before I could question anything more, a new vision appeared in front of the wagon. An old, proud looking pony, though this vision was clearly something unreal; for even I could tell that it was only there faintly. The ethereal vision gestured for me to come closer, and looking over to Opal for approval, it was clear that she couldn’t see the figure at all. Putting on a smile, I figured the best outcome would be to trust my gut, and my gut said to have faith.
Approaching the figure as it instructed, it then pulled a curtain from the wagon, revealing its prize. A… mechanism of sorts. Tubes with holes in them, and there was a sheet of paper with holes as well. Whatever this was, I had never seen one before, and yet I knew this was the source of true joy.
“Pr-” Opal began, but my ears cut her voice out of my mind.
The ghostly figure pointed to a nearby cabin, and upon its wordless command, I walked on over and opened the door. In front of me sat a skeleton upon a comfortable chair. Something about the skeleton looked at peace, and I didn’t want to disturb it – but as I continued to gaze, I noticed the key hanging from a chain around its neck. Looking back to the ghost for guidance, it gave me a simple nod. Was this… was this meant to be a sign to take the key?
The wrinkles around the ghosts eyes and the crease on the edge of its lips spoke wordlessly as it nodded to me, and with the most humble care, I gently lifted the key and its chain from the skeleton. At that point, my eye was drawn to the spark battery sitting on the desk he sat at, and took that too, somehow understanding that it was necessary.
Closing the door and trotting back to the machine, I could see Opal’s mouth moving, but her words simply couldn’t reach me. It didn’t matter though, my body knew what I had to do. Moving to the rear of the wagon, where the side of the machine sat, I placed the key into a poorly concealed slot and gave it a twist, opening a compartment. Three old world bits sat in a pile that had been collected on the door, while a symbol of a spark battery stared at me directly. Placing the battery into the slot and collecting the coins, I closed the door, locked it back up and returned to Opal’s side.
Opal, having given up trying to talk to me while in my daze, now looked at me in defeat. Leaning closer to her, I placed one hoof under her chin and looked her in the eyes before floating a pre-war bit in front of us.
“Place it in the machine.” I whispered, still not certain as to what would happen, I simply knew it had to be done. How, I couldn’t say, it just was. She was reluctant at first, but upon my insistence, she soon accepted my request. As we both watched as the inner mechanisms begun to spring back to life after two centuries of disuse, I felt a growing sense of anticipation fill my soul. The first two seconds were quiet, and then the music played.
Hearing the organ’s notes, the smile on my face grew wider than it had been even after my recent tryst with Opal. The sensation that the world had just changed for the better was overwhelming as the tears filled my eyes. Everything was lighter, happier, and the feeling that something in me was simply… complete, was undeniable.
Clapping my hooves together, I couldn’t hold back my joy. Even looking over to Opal, her face was filled with as much joy as I felt… until I saw her jaw drop and eyes widen. Looking back to the machine, the vision of the earth pony who had guided me before was standing next to it, beaming with pride as he wiped away an invisible tear. As quickly as he’d come, he waved to us both, disappearing as he did.
“W-where… where did he come from? Where did he go?” Opal asked, afraid.
“He’s found peace.” I murmured, still not having a clue how I knew these things I was saying, and yet being entirely confident in what I knew. “And now its our duty to continue bringing joy with this. To cherish it, to take care of it, to share it.”
For a moment we both sat there, listening to the music in awe before it finished, the machine powering down with grace and beauty. Just as I turned to face Opal, she pushed her wing into my face, causing me to hit the floor out of surprise. Standing over me, she raised an eyebrow as she looked down.
“You’re the one carrying it back to the wagon, and pulling the wagon back.”
