Heroes… there is no such thing.

Our story begins where a young Stable Buck wakes up outside of his home of Stable 30 where he had been abandoned just hours before waking up. With minor wounds applied to his body, the young buck powered on and entered the outside world beyond the darkness of the cave -- the Wasteland.

As soon as he inhaled that first breath of the irradiated air, his quest began. Gathering knowledge of his sister’s status, he ventures out to find her, hoping he can rebuild the family that he once had.

Along the road he meets new friends and even makes some enemies here and there. But our wanderer will not stop until he finds the sister he wants to reunite with ever so much.

The question is however… how far is he willing to go to find her? Will he allow the Wasteland to consume is mind? Or will he be destroyed by the horrors that lie deep within the Wasteland that he has faced?

His name is Tornado Dash… and this is his story.

Blood.

The taste of blood was in my mouth; the strong stings of scars on my face were felt. The smell of wet soil drifted under my nose. As my eyes flickered open, I found myself face down in a small puddle of dirty water, my head throbbed with an aching pain and blood dripped from a wound on the front of my head.

As I lifted myself onto my hooves, I saw the world around me twist and turn. What the hell happened to me? I began walking over to a gate covered in wooden panels, the cave I was in was dripping with water and spiders were seen crawling in and out of the cracks in the rocks.

“Ugh, what the fuck happened to me? Who did this?” I started limping towards the gate, stepping in some of the dirty puddles. “I need to get some air, I can barely breathe!” I started to cough; it was too confined in here. “Damn claustrophobia.”

As I opened the gate, the light blinded me. It was as if someone flashed a torch in my face. As the blinding light died down, I saw a ravaged land. Buildings were destroyed with huge piles of rubble next to them; the sky was a sickly green and dust glided in the air from the calm breeze. My blood-soaked, dirt covered and drenched Stable 30 jacket was starting to stink, it stunk of puke and blood. I began gagging and coughing at the stench.

I limped down the hill slowly, nearly falling over a couple of times. Tumbleweed slowly rolled across with the wind and my dishevelled, dirt covered mane danced in the breeze. I managed to trip myself up, landing face down on a cracked road. Some blood was seen after the fall, but not too much. I lifted myself back onto my hooves, looking around at the Wasteland before me.

From what I was told as a foal, Equestria wasn’t described to anything like this. Where the grassy plains, the butterflies, the blue sky…where was any of that? The fresh air that was said to be there was gone. The irradiated air was horrible to breathe in; it was my first time inhaling the oxygen of the outside world into my lungs. There was a foul stench in the air, obviously caused by the radiation and it wasn’t my jacket.

I slowly began trotting down the crooked road, seeing no Ponies out in the ravaged plains. No help, no weapons, no food…nothing. The only thing I had was my PipBuck, but the screen was too dirty for me to see anything. It was covered in dry, dirty stains from the puddle I was in with large splats of dry dirt that seemed to stick onto the screen. The metal on the PipBuck was rusted and brown.

As I edged down the path, I saw a sign stating a town was nearby. That put a small smile on my face, the only thing I could do was hope it was populated.

The sign said:

Everfree Shanty Village, 2 miles

“A shanty town? It’s better than nothing at all.” As I progressed, the shanty town came into sight. The steel they used looked new, as if the town was recently built. Ponies had got to be here. By the entrance to the village were a couple of few sandbags, for cover of course. Also two guards on each side, they were both a dark grey color, and they were wearing Stable Security armor. They carried Combat Shotguns with their magic, looking at me as I drew closer.

“Halt! State your business traveller!” The one of the left aimed the barrel of his Combat Shotgun at me, preparing to fire if needed.

“I’m just passing through; maybe to get some water and some food…maybe also to see a doctor.” I explained calmly.

“Hmm, you don’t look like Raider material. Hell you don’t even look combat worthy, okay you can pass through. But before you do, if you do happen to be carrying anything lethal, give them to us.” He stated, levitating his Shotgun onto the floor, showing that he won’t shoot.

“I have no weapons,” maybe he was right about me not being combat worthy.

“Hmm, I see…okay you can pass, welcome to The Everfree Shanty Village. Shitty name, but hey…the locals are nice enough to make it home.” He levitated his Combat Shotgun back to his side to prepare for guard duty.

I replied with a simple nod as if I was saying thanks and slowly entered the village. It seemed like a shithole, but he was right, the locals seem nice. The adults were seen talking to each other, while the foals played together. Games such as Hopscotch, or playing with some hula-hoops made of wire. Not razor wire or anything, just some smooth wire. As I was still new to this land, I wasn’t familiar to some of the empty bottles seen lying around. Sparkle-Cola, Sunrise Sarsaparilla. Those drinks weren’t familiar to me. The bottles looked dirty and some parts were cracked.

I saw a minty blue mare (like spearmint blue); she seemed clean while most of these other Ponies seemed dirty. Her mane was minty green and it has purple streaks in them. Her eyes were a beautiful, luminous blue color. Her tail was the same color scheme as her mane, she was also a Unicorn. She noticed me and walked up to me, showing a facial expression of pity.

“Oh heavens!” She gasped, quickly coming to my aid. “What happened to you? You look…and smell terrible.” She cringed at the disgusting stench of my coat and Stable 30 jacket.

“Yeah, I know that.” I commented, rolling my eyes.

“We have to get you patched up…and cleaned!” She levitated me with her magic and carried me over to her shanty home.

“Woah put me down!” My legs were flailing in hope of getting free, I tried to flap my wings but her magic was too strong. As we entered her shanty house, she laid me down on a bed. The frame was made of rusted steel, and the mattress was stained with what looked like…blood?

“Now just relax.” She kneeled down and started looking at my wounds. “Your wounds…how did you get them?” She asked in a beautiful, smooth tone.

“I don’t…remember, I just woke up outside my Stable.” I spoke, looking down slightly.

“A Stable huh? Aren’t those, those shelters underground?” She asked, pulling out a rusty syringe filled with some sort of glowing potion.

“Yes, that’s what they are…not exactly the best place to live, but hey I still call it home.” I sighed softly and looked at her.

She lifted the syringe up with her magic and responded in the soft tone she had before. “I’m sure it’s better than being out here, now just relax…this won’t hurt.” She stabbed the syringe into me, with that I let out a loud yelp in pain.

“Gah that did hurt!” I looked at her, shocked. I rubbed the place that she stabbed it and checked for any blood.

“Well, it’ll help you. Your bones and crippled limbs should heal soon…it works fast you know.” She spoke in a soft tone, placing all of her medical equipment into a small red box. With that, she placed it into her Saddle-Bag. “So, you’re new out here?”

“Yeah, should I be glad or afraid?” I asked raising an eyebrow, keeping my eyes fixed on her eyes.

“A bit of both really. Glad because, you’re going to meet friends…and afraid because you don’t know what to expect.” The mare said, moving her mane out of her eyes. “I’m Crystal; you should consider me as a friend.” She held her hoof out, wanting to shake mine.

“Tornado.” I shook her hoof, “Tornado Dash.” I found myself smiling slightly, wanting to know more about the Wasteland.

“Well Tornado, if you think it’s going to be easy…you’re going to have a bad time.” She commented, looking serious in the face.

“Yeah, the guards mentioned…Raiders, what are they exactly?” I asked with pure curiosity, looking at her. I lowered one ear (which I always did as a foal to show I was curious).

“Raiders are ruthless Ponies, they trot around taking what they want, killing who they want, when they want. Trust me, they never negotiate. If they want something they’ll either make you pay it them, or make you pay with blood.” She explained to me, lifting her hoof off of the ground for a second. “You’ll be able to notice a Raider from miles away, they’re easy to spot.”

“Okay, thanks for the tip.” I smiled warmly, “if it’s okay for me to ask…what do you do out here?”

“Oh me? I am pretty much a local doctor, I travel Equestria and they give me a place to stay. Someponies think they can get my help for free, but my policy is ‘you want help, pay up’. Normally I’d ask for caps off of you, but you aren’t carrying anything are you?” She giggled slightly. “It’s alright, but could you at least do something for me in return?”

“S-sure, go ahead.” I nervously said, hoping it was something easy.

“My old friend, Doctor Stoneshade hasn't given me my supplies and I need some. If you’re willing to go to Sweet Apple Acres and obtain these items, I’ll be most grateful.” She smiled at me, in hope I’d say yes. This didn’t sound so bad; I mean what’s the worst that could happen?

“Of course, I’ll help you Crystal.” I nodded in agreement.

“You will? Oh thank you so much, I’ll be awaiting your return.” She turned away and then got back to work. I got onto my hooves and walked out, back into the center of the shanty town. My wings were…still damaged, but my limbs and broken bones everywhere else seemed fine.

I left the Shanty Town, knowing Sweet Apple Acres wasn't too far from here, and I could recognize the building from here. We used to get taught about the Ministry’s back in the Stable’s school.

“At least I can gallop now.” I began to gallop quickly down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres. I then saw a stallion traveling away from Sweet Apple Acres. I assumed that was the doctor so I called for him.

“Hey!” He couldn't hear me; I galloped closer and attempted to call for him again. “Hey you, wait!”

“Yes, how may I help you?” He stopped and turned around. He was a creamy brown Earth Pony, he didn't have a mane but he had a small beard that was turning grey.

I slowed down as soon as I grew closer, eventually stopping at his hooves. “Are you Doctor Stoneshade?” I asked calmly.

“Yes, I am Doctor Stoneshade…at your service!” He bowed slightly, lowering his head. Once he stood straight again, he asked me in the low soothing voice of his. “How may I help you? I have all sorts of medical supplies, and even some weapons. Just as long as you have the caps to pay up, I’ll offer to give you anything.”

“I’m not here for that, I’m here on behalf of Crystal.” I spoke using a stern tone to my voice.
“She hasn't got her medical supplies and she needs them now.”

“Oh her? Please, she’s just a bitch who thinks she can help others when really she’s worthless. I, I am a real doctor.” A twisted grin spread on his face, “so, she’s still alive?”

“Damn right she is buddy, and if you don’t give her the supplies she needs you’ll have to answer to me!” I stomped one of my hooves on the ground, “is that understood?”

Doctor Stoneshade burst into laughter, “you think, a Stable Dweller like you…can hurt me?” He walked closer to me. “I have dealt with much more threatening things than just some Stable Dweller scum, walking on this land like he owns the place. I suggest you stay out of my way.” With that the doctor spat on me and began to walk away.

“Don’t walk away from me!” I walked up to him, grabbing one of his hindlegs and pulling him back. “I’m not finished with you; I am not leaving until I get the supplies she needs!”

The doctor sighed and then gave me a box containing her supplies. “Here, have them. I’m only doing this so you can leave me alone. After this, if you get in my way again I’ll tear you limb from fucking limb…is that understood?”

“Sure, I guess.” I responded, placing the box on my back. I slowly walked back to the shanty town, hoping that it didn't fall off my back. Luckily it didn't. When I finally arrived back, the foals and fillies were inside and the adults were out just talking with one another. I slowly went back to Crystal’s hut and entered.

“So, did you manage to get them?” She asked in that same soft tone. Her voice was like silk, so smooth.

“Yeah, I managed to get them. But that doctor isn’t exactly the nicest Pony I’ve met.” She slowly levitated the box over to her rusty desk and opened it, seeing Stimpacks, Blood Packs, Rad Away and other medical supplies in there.

“This is exactly what I needed, thank you.” She closed the box, looking at me. “And because of that, I am willing to help you for free!” She smiled and stood onto her hooves.

“So you’ll give me medical attention for free, and supplies?” I asked, sitting down. I looked up at her with innocent eyes.

“Not only that, but I shall travel with you and aid you in combat. Consider me a companion.” She stated, putting her hoof out. “So are we partners?”

I shook it with a smirk. “We’re partners.” I got onto my hooves, “I’ll need some weapons first.”

“I’ll sort you out with that, and your PipBuck needs a good clean.” She performed a spell to clean the dirt off of the screen, which really helped a lot. “Here, take this old pistol I used to use. It’s no use to me now, so it’s yours.” She also gave me a spare Saddle-Bag, placing it on me. “These are really useful out in the Wastes, they help you carry items you need.”

“Thank you Crystal, I’m really grateful.” I tested the bones in my wings and they were fine, I placed the pistol into my Saddle-Bag and gave her a nod as a thank you.

“Now, it’s time to get some target training done. This is vital in the Wasteland; if you don’t have a good aim…guns won’t help you.” She states, waving a hoof. “Come on follow me.” She slowly walked out of the hut and around to the back end of it. I followed closely, wondering what I’d be practicing on.

“Okay, first…we’re going to try shooting some empty bottles, after this we’ll see what you’re like on moving targets.” She used her magic to stand some empty Sparkle-Cola bottles up in a line on a wooden plank.

When she gave the signal, I pulled my pistol out with my wings. I managed to shoot all seven bottles off, without missing a single shot. I was amazed at how I did, I never expected myself to be this accurate (since I have never fired a gun before).

“Impressive!” Crystal commented, “Now come on, let’s go find some Radroaches for you to shoot. There are some just up this hill, come on follow me.”

I followed her again, walking up the decaying hill. Bits of rubble and dirt fell down as we walked up, also with some dust falling too. When we reached the top of the hill, Radroaches were all together in a small ditch in the ground.

“I’m familiar with Radroaches; they used to be crawling in the lower levels of the Stable.” I spoke, “this shouldn’t be so hard.” My PipBuck notified me about The S.A.T.S Targeting System.

“The S.A.T.S Targeting System makes it even easier for you to take down your enemies. Once in S.A.T.S select a body part of which you wish to shoot and then open fire to deal some severe damage. But be warned, you can only choose a body part if it’s either within range or if it deals any damage. The more percentage a body part has, the more likely you are to hit it!” The PipBuck notified.

“Let’s try this out.” I went into S.A.T.S and targeted the body of the Radroach. I fired on it, the bullet piercing its spine and making a sickly green colored blood splat onto the ground. The Radroach on the other hand was split into two halves. The other Radroaches started to run around crazy, I managed to get back into S.A.T.S and target three of ten Radroaches. I pulled the trigger, splitting one in half. I quickly shot the second, decapitating it and then the third shot impaled the third Radroach.

“Wow, you’re really good. You have a decision. You can either kill them all, or leave.” Crystal spoke to me.

“I’ll try and take them all out.” I smirked in confidence. As I entered S.A.T.S, I targeted four of them, and shot at them.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The bullet pierced, split and eviscerated them, making the sickly green, glowing blood splash out of their bodies. Another six remained.

This time I didn’t use S.A.T.S, I tried manually taking them out. I shot four shots into one’s body, killing it. The gooey blood from the Radroach splashed on me slightly.

“Here, use this!” Crystal threw me a grenade; I caught it in my wing and then pulled the pin. I knew I only had seconds before the explosion went off, I quickly went into S.A.T.S, targeting the remaining five and throwing the grenade into the center of them.

BOOM!

The explosion killed the remaining five, making the gooey blood make a mess. It painted the ground a sickly green color. Disgusting. I checked to see if there were more before turning to Crystal.

“That’s all of them.” I nodded to her, walking over. “Well, am I “Wastelander” material?”

She giggled lightly and looked at me with a smile. “Well, you do know how to kill your Radroaches. Come on, let me get you a drink back at my hut and then we’ll head off.”

“That sounds like a plan to me.” I followed Crystal slowly back down the hill, being cautious of slipping. I didn’t want to break my newly healed neck.

I really do hope that Crystal stays with me. She seems pretty serious about the Wasteland being a dangerous place and I think she’s right…I am not looking forward to actually getting out there, but it’s better than just staying in one place, waiting for death to catch up with you.

Friendship.

Something I had developed with Crystal. I had never seen a Pony so friendly before, the ones in the Stables seemed a bit crazy and…anti-social. As we entered her shack, I sat down on the bed that Crystal sat me on before and looked around at the many different pre-war posters around the hut.

“These posters, they interest you?” I asked curiously, looking around. One did catch my attention, the Pinkie Pie one, the one with the words ‘Pinkie Pie is watching you forever.’ However it did send a chill down my spine.

“They do actually; they help me imagine how happy Equestria was before all this begun. I can just hear the sound of birds chirping, the smell of fresh air. And then I come out of my imagination, and I get the foul stench of irradiated air.” She sighed, bringing over two Sparkle-Cola’s over.

“I always imagine some crazy shit whenever I look at them, for example that Pinkie Pie one.” I pointed, taking a sip of my Sparkle-Cola. “If she’s really watching us, where is she?”

“It was just her way of saying that she’s protecting you, at least that’s how I look at it.” Crystal levitates the bottle of Sparkle-Cola to her lips and sips at it. “What was the picture in your mind of the Equestria before this one?”

“Similar to yours…fresh air, birds chirping, green plains and blue skies.” I smiled slightly, letting out a soft chuckle. “I wish I was there to see it, you see…spending most of your life underground isn’t exactly the nicest thing.”

“You weren’t born in the Stable?” She asked, tilting her head in confusion. “I thought all Ponies in the Stables were born and bred there.”

“Not this Pony, I’ll tell you how…if you really must know.” I put the half empty glass bottle down and looked at Crystal.

“You don’t have to, but I am intrigued.” She sat there, looking into my eyes. “I mean, it gives us something to talk about.”

“Well, just don’t fall asleep.” I chuckled, taking a sip and then taking a deep breath. I knew I was going to regret this, but one way or another I would have to tell her. “I was living in Cloudsdayle with my mom, my dad and my sister. The Grand Pegasus Enclave offered to help us get into a Stable, the closest at the time was Stable 30. I was only five years old back then, so I can only remember little fragments. On the way there, a gang of Raiders attacked the squad taking us in, before we reached the cave the Raider’s had killed my mom and dad and taken my sister hostage. The Enclave managed to kill off some of the Raiders, but a couple of injured ones managed to escape with my sister while the fight was going on. I was the only one who managed to get inside the Stable and…ever since that day, I grew up alone. I didn’t really have any friends, only acquaintances. Then I met you, and I’ve finally met a friend.”

She looked shocked from what happened. “I’m so sorry Tornado, I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault…if anything it’s the Enclave’s fault; they should have defended my parents. Did they? Fuck no, the only thing they did was fire a bunch of shots that missed and then finally tried when my parents actually died.” I finished my drink and let out a huff. “Come on, let’s go.” I got onto my hooves and walked out. It killed me to even speak of that event again; it was one of the most horrifying moments of my life…something I didn’t ever want to speak of again.

Crystal pulled out a familiar book from my child hood. It was the ‘You’re S.P.E.C.I.A.L’ book. The feeling of nostalgia filled me as I stared at it.

“Where did you find that?” I asked, looking closer at it. “I haven’t seen one of these in a long time.” I went to grab it, but I flinched back.

“Oh, I found it in the Waste. It’s clean now; you can have it if you like.” She passed be the slightly beaten book and placed it in my hooves. “Please, take it.”

“Thank you.” I slowly opened it, revealing the first page of the book. I began to look at what was available to me, flipping through the pages. I eventually closed the book, hugging it with the nostalgia feeling growing in me.

“You’ve read it before haven’t you?” She asked curiously, leaning forward slightly.

“Of course, what Stable foal didn’t back then?” I placed it in my Saddle-Bag, “I’ll keep it by me, to remember…old memories, thank you Crystal.” I got onto my hooves and walked out of her hut.

“It’s no problem Tornado,” she got onto her hooves and followed me out. “So, it begins does it?” She questioned.

“Well, that’s for you to decide. We can either leave, or we can stay.” I spoke while playing around with my PipBuck to make sure it still worked perfectly. Success! It still worked perfectly, even though it was damaged.

“We should leave, the sooner the better right?” Crystal watched me playing with my PipBuck; she walked closer, taking a closer look at the device on my leg.

“Of course, I’m just trying to configure the map!” I started concentrating really hard until I finally managed to get the map online, “yes, success!” I said in triumph. “The map is online!”

“You managed to do that?!” She asked in excitement, “I never knew a Pegasus could be so good with technology!” She commented, looking closely at the perfectly functioning PipBuck.

“Yeah, Pegasi aren’t allowed to be good at technology are they?” I said raising an eyebrow and chuckling to myself.

“What?! No, that’s not what I meant!” She shook her head quickly and then waved a hoof. We began exiting the town, entering the deadly Wastes ahead.

“What-ever you say Crystal.” I smirk and walk ahead slightly, “where are we going?”

“Where ever the road takes us, just keep following the paths…let’s see where it takes us.” She pointed to one of the cracked roadways. The road had many potholes in it and it was decaying slowly.

I slowly made my way over to the road, placing one hoof on the ravaged asphalt. “Wouldn’t we be easier targets for Raiders?” I asked, looking over to the mare behind me. She was looking at the dead grass that danced in the breeze. “Crystal?”

“Huh, oh right…we should be fine, although it’s fifty-fifty chance of being attacked by Raiders.” She trotted over to me and stood next to me. As she walked onto the road, she looked around. “No Raiders in sight, yet.”

“Okay, sounds good.” I make my way onto the road, standing next to her. “Which way, left or right?” I asked calmly, looking left to right.

“Lucky left?” She commented, started to walk left. “My mother used to tell me about how left was lucky. Come on, I have a good feeling about going this way.” She began to gallop ahead. I quickly galloped after her, calling for her as I did.

“Hey, wait up!” I took flight, hovering after her at a smooth speed. “This’d better be the right way.” I mumbled to myself, as I glided closer and closer to the galloping mare ahead of me. We passed many desolated buildings, piles of rubble on the floor and even huge chunks of the building hanging off of ledges. Those Megaspells I was told of back in the Stable did a lot harm to Equestria.

Crystal continued to gallop at high speeds. She couldn’t hear me so I decided to call again, this time adding some emphasis on my voice.

“Crystal!?” I exclaimed, “where are we going?!” I pushed harder, managing to fly beside Crystal.

She suddenly stopped and with that, so did I. She placed a hoof in front of me, staring at a group of Ponies gathered around a bloody corpse.

“Crystal!” I looked at her, begging for an answer. She shushed me and began talking in a whispering tone.

"Keep your voice down, Raiders are ahead!” She began to shift to the right, “come on, we have to hide.”

“Why?” I asked, “why can’t we just kill them?!” I followed her closely, looking at the Raiders. The Raiders began picking at the dead body, searching for any possible loot that could be there.

“I can’t find jack shit!” One of the stallion Raiders exclaimed, “all I see is blood and some notes.”

“Shut up you blabbering idiot and keep searching!” The mare Raider hissed, “There has to be some caps on this sap!” She rotated the body onto its back. “Boys, I’ve hit the jackpot!”

“What have you found?!” A piss colored Raider asked in a deep tone, “caps, drugs, anything!?”

“Oh I’ve found caps alright, tons of them. He kept the little bastards in a small pouch!” She started taking the caps from the corpse, “come on, and grab some.”

“I’m so sorry.” Crystal whispered, looking at the corpse. The mare Raider heard Crystal and looked at where she heard the sound. She saw Crystal’s head, peeking above the rock.

“Hey, what are you doing?!” She hissed, walking over to us. Her coat was blood red, her mane was spikey and a dead green looking color. Her tail was too, her tail was short and spiky and she used her magic to raise her rifle to her side.

I gulped, oh shit. We’re going to die, we are going to die! I looked down, waiting for the mare to shoot me and Crystal.

“I will ask again!” The Raider spat, “what the FUCK are you doing?!” She stared down at us with her yellow colored eyes, showing anger and hate. She wouldn’t regret killing us; no doubt they killed that bloody corpse in the middle of the road.

“Boss, what have you found?” The piss colored Earth Pony asked, walking up to the blood colored mare. He stared down at me and Crystal once he got sight and smirked. “Ooh, look at these two Tank!”

The other stallion made his way over, he was a dark brown color and he had no mane at all and a black, short tail. He caught sight of us and let out a menacing chuckle. “Aww, what’s the matter, are you lost?” He commented, having another snicker to himself.

I glared up at them and then finally spoke. “No, we are not lost.” I spoke quietly, now looking up at them with an angry look in my eyes. “We are traveling, just like you ugly fucks!”

“What did you say little man?!” The one known as Tank grabbed me by the throat using his nearly featherless wings. “What did you say!?”

“Tank, let him go.” The mare Raider instructed. She looked over to Tank and nodded to him to let me go.

“No, I’ll snap this little shit like a toothpick!” He made his grip stronger around my neck, I found myself chocking. Crystal looked up at him in horror.

“Let him go!” Crystal shouted, “Please, let him go!” Crystal tried tugging on my hindleg, but that only made things worse. I felt my neck cracking slightly as she did and I shook my head rapidly.

“TANK!” The mare Raider boomed, “I said drop him, if you don’t I’ll put a bullet in your bite sized brain!” Tank snarled at his leader and threw me to the ground.

THUD!

I landed with a strong sounding thud, I found myself gasping for air. I held my throat, eventually getting the ability to breathe again.

“You only kill on my order, understood?!” The mare walked up to Tank. “If you kill without my order, I’ll kill you myself. Do I make myself clear?” She got no response from Tank, he just looked down. “Do I make myself clear?!”

“Yes…boss.” He looked up at her with anger, “whatever you say, boss.” He snarled at her and looked back at me.

“Now, you can kill…and make it bloody.” The mare stated, looking at us. “This is going to be too easy.”

“I doubt that!” I quickly reached into my saddle-bag, pulling out the pistol I had with my wings. I targeted Tank with S.A.T.S in the chest. I opened fire and the bullet hit him, it hardly caused any damage but he flinched and grunted in pain.

“Gah, come here you little shit!” He charged at me, grabbing me again with his wings and throwing me into a rock.

CRACK!

It left a huge crack in the rock, I fell onto my front and he charged at me again. Crystal managed to stop him by shooting him in the left foreleg. She walked up to him levitating the gun to his head.

“Any last words?!” She was pissed; she clearly wanted to keep me safe even though we just met. I haven’t been out here for one day and I’m already having my ass handed to me.

“Fuck you!” He spat at Crystal, after those words were said she pulled the trigger. It made a bloody mess, the Raider collapsed onto his side. Dead. The other two began to attack; I quickly got onto my hooves and picked up my gun, immediately targeting them with S.A.T.S. One bullet was going to hit the mare’s horn and the other was going to hit the stallion’s chest.

BANG! BANG!

The shot took the Raider’s horn clean off, making her gun just drop onto the ground. The other pierced the stallion’s leg, making him fall down in pain. Crystal went up to the mare, but before she could speak I stopped her.

“I’ll handle these two Crystal.” I walked up to the mare, pointing the gun at her forehead. The barrel made contact with her head.
“Give me one good reason to why I should not kill you now.”

The mare Raider was shaking in fear, looking up at me. “Because…I surrender!” She hugged my right foreleg. “Please, I beg you…don’t kill us.”

“Not a good enough reason.” I pulled the trigger, blasting her brains out. The blood splatted onto the ground as she died with her eyes, wide open. I made my way to the stallion that was looking at me with a brave look.

“Oh so you’re going to kill me, just like you did with her?!” He grunted, holding his wound. “Fine, go ahead; you’re no better than we were!” He grinned at me. “Death is so much better than having to live in a world like this.”

“You got that right.” I pulled the trigger, showing no mercy at all. His blood splatted onto the ground, with some parts of his brain there too. He died the same way, with his eyes wide open.

“Is that the last of them?” Crystal asked, looking around the barren Wasteland before her. She couldn’t see any more Raiders, but she didn’t have the best view either with all the different rocks and boulders out there.

“For now, we’d best get moving before more come.” I placed the gun back into my saddle-bag, checking the bodies for anything. I picked the rifle up that the mare was carrying using my wing, after inspecting it I placed it into my saddle-bag. I picked up some of the rounds lying around the mare’s corpse, before looking at Crystal. “There’s nothing else.”

“Let’s get moving, come on.” Crystal trotted back onto the path, I followed her closely. I checked for any Raiders.

“It’s all clear.” I commented as we walked down the road. “So where does this take us?” I looked at my PipBuck, but a location was not displayed. It was just a map of the Wasteland.

“Manehattan, it’s a long journey but we’ll pass some small villages on the way. So we should hopefully find a settlement by nightfall.” She said trotting ahead. I was looking at my PipBuck, standing in the middle of the road. “Come on Tornado, we need to hurry.”

“Oh, I’m coming!” I caught up with her, checking any signs for settlements.

We passed a sign that stated:

Manehattan, 70 miles.

“So, seventy miles…right?” I asked, walking with her. The sickly green sky, started to turn a darker shade of green.

“Yep, seventy miles until we reach our destination. It’s getting dark, we have to hurry!” She ran ahead. Again I found myself calling for her.

“Hey, Crystal! Wait up!” I galloped after her, passing many skeletal, dead animals and Ponies. We passed a billboard that was advertising Sparkle-Cola. The metal was rusted and the actual advertisement was decaying, with the paper cracked and ripped.

“We have to hurry. Unless you want to be mutilated and eaten up by Hellhounds, I suggest you hurry up too!” She galloped ahead, leaving me in the dust. Literally! Dust flew back into my face, causing me to cough and shake my head. I quickly galloped after her, finally catching up to her.

“Can’t you just slow down a little!?” I asked, starting to lose my breath. I couldn’t stop; maybe she was right…what happens if we did stay out here at night? Hell I don’t know, I’ve haven’t been outside the Stable in years, and back then, I was only a young foal.

“No can do, we have to keep moving.” She noticed an upcoming sign; this was made out of rusted sheet metal and had paint onto it. Presuming it was a shanty town.

This sign stated:

New Appleloosa next left

“New Appleoosa!” Crystal exclaimed, “they’ll have somewhere for us to rest!” She quickly darted left, me having to stop and gallop after her.

“Hopefully it isn’t dangerous.” I called for her, “the last thing I want is to die on the first day out of the Stable.” I managed to catch up with her again.

“You’ll be fine, trust me.” She called back to me, giggling slightly. We galloped towards the town, in hope of finding a town and not a rundown settlement.

“All I can do is hope right now.” I responded with a sigh, “It’s the only thing we can all do.”

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: In-between the Eyes, this perk makes your shots 20% more accurate and also increases damage on headshots by 10% when using pistols.

Current level: 2

As we grew closer to New Appleloosa, the darkness closed in on us. The night was drawing in, and I believed Crystal. I doubt we’d want to be out here after dark. We arrived at New Appleloosa having a warm welcome into the village, a brown Earth Pony stallion with a creamy long mane and tail came up to us with a smile. He took off his hat and kept his smile on.

“Howdy there travelers, welcome to New Appleloosa. How can I help you fine folks today?” He spoke with a jolly smile across his face.

“We just need a place to stay.” I responded. “Maybe some food as well.” I looked around at the small town and looked at the map on my PipBuck. It said ‘New Appleloosa’.

“A place to stay you say? The inn has a couple of rooms, not of the best of quality of course…but it is good enough.” He pointed to the inn. “My name’s Sheriff Dodger, but everypony calls me Dodge.”

“What things do you normally do, Dodge?” I asked curiously, walking a bit closer to him. He put the hat back on his head and tipped it slightly.

“I make sure the town stays safe, I keep Raiders, Alicorns, Ghoul Ponies, Slavers out…well pretty much anything that brings harm to our town.” He frowned slightly, “I can’t always stop them attacking, sometimes I need help…but it’s never there. Either the Deputy is drunk off of his ass, or he’s out getting food.” He looked over to the inn, “well it was nice talking to you travellers, I hope you enjoy your stay.” With that, the sheriff trotted away, back to duty.

We walked to the inn, I opened the door for her and she nodded at me as a thank you. I followed her in, we saw many Ponies drinking together and laughing. It all seemed friendly, I still had some Raider blood on my face and coat, and so some stopped and stared at me. It was either pity or disgust.

“Just ignore the stares Tornado, let’s just keep moving.” Crystal spoke under her breath, walking to the counter. I glared at the Ponies staring, as I did they looked at my PipBuck and began to chuckle to themselves.

“Howdy there!” The barpony called over to us, “welcome to Appleloosa.” Crystal and I walked over, sitting down on the decaying stools. The leather padding was torn and hard and the metal holding the stools was rusted.

“Well, everything has been great so far…apart from the staring eyes of your customers.” I wiped some blood off of my face and wiped it on my jacket.

“So, you’re one of them Stable Folk?” She asked, instantly noticing the jacket. “How’d you get out?” She leaned on the counter, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know, I just…woke up outside the Stable.” I said, hanging my head low. “I have no idea how, or why I did…I just did.”

“Never mind sugarcube, now what would you folks like?” She looked at us both with a smile, “Apple Cider? Sparkle-Cola? Sunrise Sarsaparilla?”

“I’ll have an Apple Cider, and if it’s okay…can I have something to eat?” I asked calmly. “I haven’t eaten since…I don’t know when; I just haven’t eaten all day.”

“I’ll have what he’s having.” Crystal smiled and then looked at me with a slightly concerned look on her face. “Tornado, what’s the matter?” She whispered, gently stroking my back.

“Them, they stare at me as if I’m an animal, it’s only blood.” I looked up at the balcony above us, the walls were a maroon color, the counter was a wooden brown color and so were the floor boards. There were a couple above us, kissing. It actually made me angry to see that, so I looked down.

“Tornado, please…ignore them.” She gave me a nuzzle gently, “I promise, once we’re in our room, you won’t see them.”

“Our room?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “You mean, us two…in a room, together?” I chuckled slightly, “I thought we’d be in our own rooms.”

“Too much to pay for that, I only just have enough caps for a room for both of us.” She stated, “So that’s going to have to do.” The mare came back with two Apple Ciders, her golden mane got in her eyes and she smiled at us.

“That’s two Apple Ciders, that’ll be ten caps.” I pulled out five caps and so did Crystal. The mare took them and placed them in her saddle-bag.

“Thank you very much darlin’.” She said with a smile. She trotted off down to the other end of the counter to serve another Pony. I gulped down my drink in thirst.

“And she forgot to get me something to eat, so I’ll help myself.” I looked both ways.

“Tornado…what are you doing?” Crystal looked at me confused; I reached over the counter and helped myself to some potato chips.

"You saw nothing.” I opened the bag and began to eat. Crystal looked at me, shocked. “What?”

“You’re going to have to pay for that.” She sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. “You know that right?”

“Nope, I am not paying…” Crystal gasped and looked around. I finished the bag surprisingly quick and stuffed the bag into my saddle-bag.

“So you’re a thief, am I right?” She asked in curiosity. She began grinning, “That could be useful.”

"I was the best thief in Stable 30, I stole the Overmare’s keys once and I also stole…a guard’s baton.” I chuckled slightly, “they never detect me.” I got the last drop out of the cup; Crystal only was half way down hers. I the remaining caps I had on the counter.
“I’m heading up, I need a shower…hopefully they have showers.” I talked to another mare; this one was in charge of the rooms.
“We’re looking for a room, me and my friend. What rooms are available?”

“Room 23 is available, feel free to take it. It’s only fifteen caps.” She said to me with a smile, “great deal right?”

“Yeah, I have left my caps on the counter…over there, that’s what I’m paying.” I pointed over to the caps on the counter, “thanks.” I started to walk upstairs, passing the couple who were kissing. I looked away from them, feeling rage build up. I never really had love back in the Stable; unfortunately no pony really liked me back there. I was always the ‘self-centred’ type, I couldn’t really care about any pony else but myself.

I reached room 23, opening the door and walking into it with my head hanging low. I lifted my head up to see the room’s maroon colored wallpaper had been slightly torn, the floorboards were scratched and the lamps were slightly dimmed. It wasn’t a great room, but it was better than nothing. I looked around for a shower or bath tub of some sort, I opened the door to a room, turning the light on and seeing a shower. I sighed in relief and proceeded towards it. I stank of blood, puke, shit and other disgusting stenches that roamed the Wastes.

I took off my bloody Stable 30 jacket and laid it on the rusty door knob. I turned on the shower and stepped under it, trying to wash the bloodstains from my coat. The PipBuck didn’t seem to get effected negatively under the water and the water was purified oddly enough. The sound of the door opening passed my ears and I called for who was there.

“Hello, who’s there?!” I asked cautiously. I turned off the shower, listening to the approaching hoofsteps. “Hello?!” Crystal came around the corner, seeing me dripping wet. She squealed and quickly hid behind the wall.

“Tornado! I’m sorry, I didn’t know!” She caught her breath back, slowly coming around, keeping her head down.

“It’s fine, I just needed to wash this blood out of my coat, it’s gone…but I still stink.” I sighed and came out, drying myself. “I just wish I could get rid of it.”

“It’ll go over time Tornado, now here.” She passed me my jacket, still trying to avoid looking at me. I grabbed it and put it on, zipping it up.

“Thank you, you can look now.” I chuckled slightly. I shook the remaining water in my mane out and straightened it out. “I’m going to sleep now, I don’t know about you.” I climbed into the surprisingly soft bed and pulled the stained bed covers over me, trying to get warm.

“I came up to go to bed, so of course I am.” Crystal got into the bed next to me, but didn’t get too close to me. She closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly. “Goodnight.” She spoke with a yawn.

“Night.” I responded, closing my eyes slowly. I fell asleep surprisingly quickly, let’s just hope nothing bad happens in the night.

As dawn reached the Wasteland, the sky’s vomit green glow shined into the room, I was already up. I was known for waking up early, I never really stayed in bed. A few moments after Crystal woke up; we prepared ourselves for the journey ahead of us. Seventy miles was a long journey for ponies like me who were used to traveling a mile or two just to reach another zone. We left the room, moving quickly down the stairs. It was the early hours of the morning, so not many Ponies would populate the bar and different sitting areas.

As we reached outside, Sheriff Dodge found us and trotted up to us. He had a small frown on his face, as if he didn’t want us leaving so soon.

“Hi folks, leaving already?” He asked curiously. I was right, the frown was from that. I took an inhale of irradiated oxygen and spoke.

“Look, we have a long journey ahead of us. We just have to keep moving, as much as we’d like to stay…we can’t.” I responded looking at him, “just keep this town safe.”

“I shall, it’s what I do best.” He tipped his hat and a grin appeared on his face. “Until the next time, I wish good luck on your travels.” He left us, saying no more words. His duty was to guard the town, and it’s what he had to do. No choices, no other options. He runs this town and he guards this town.

As we left the town of New Appleloosa, we began to trot in the direction of Manehattan. The sight of the morning Wasteland, the decaying land, sent memories into my mind. I suddenly remembered the day my parents died; it was a morning like this…the Wasteland looked no different than to what it is today.

The path ahead was blocked by Ponies wearing heavy steel armor. Their threatening helmets and body plating said it all, they were Steel Rangers. Something lied ahead of which they didn’t want us to find out.

“I’m sorry, but the path to Manehattan has a Hellhound infestation, no travellers are allowed to pass through this area.” A mare Steel Ranger stated, walking up to me. “If you want to gain access to Manehattan, you will have to find an alternate way around this area.”

“So nopony can pass? Not even traders?” I asked, looking up at the steel barricade they built. It was shoved between two huge rocks, and these rocks went on until Manehattan was in sight. Obviously the Hellhounds lived the caves in these rocks; I could see why they blocked it off. Steel Ranger patrol came in and out of the restricted zone continuously.

“No traders, no civilians, nopony. And if you try to fly over, we’ll gun you down before you even take off the ground.” I heard a menacing chuckle from her behind the helmet, “so back off from this gate, and find another way around traveller.” I glared at the Steel Ranger before walking onto the ashes, dust and dirt. We had to go around and see if there was any passage to Manehattan.

“Steel Rangers, unpredictable.” Crystal commented with a sigh, “Literally, I hate them. They think they fight for good, but to be honest…I think they aren’t on anyponies side. The only thing they want to do is fill Raiders with holes.”

“Is it me, or are they assholes?” I replied while we walked onto the dust, rubble and dirt surface of the Wastes. We travelled down into the wilderness, many fresh corpses were spotted. I cringed at some of the sights, disembowelled and mutilated bodies were there. Crystal seemed disturbed and kept glancing over her back.

“Something’s wrong here.” Crystal softly commented, she looks around noticing a camp of Raiders near them. “Raiders, we have to go around them, come on.” Crystal began to sneak around them, trying to stay out of vision. I cautiously followed closely.

I felt the urge to kill the Raiders. I just wanted to rush in and slaughter the fucks; I had my reasons to hate Raiders. They killed my parents and held my sister captive. I tried to fight the urge to slaughter them all; I started shaking my head trying to shake the homicidal thoughts away. Dammit, they wouldn’t go.

“Tornado, Tornado! Calm down.” Crystal groaned, “Please, you’re going to give us away!” She walked up to me. “Tornado?”

“I’m going to kill them all!!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. It caught the Raiders attention and Crystal quickly dragged me into a cave and held me against the wall.

“Who’s there?!” A Raider called over, the sound of hoofsteps getting closer was heard. Crystal held me against the wall, holding her hoof on my mouth. “I said, who’s there!?” His voice sounded like he had a sore throat. As if something was blocking his throat from getting air out.

I pressed my body weight against her, trying to push her off. Every word spat out of the Raiders mouth made me want to hurt him more. I somehow got pleasure out of killing Raiders, a lot more than I thought I would have. Unlike last time, I felt more violent. I just wanted to see the sight of a Raider begging for mercy while I held him down, bashing his skull in. Oh Celestia it felt good!

The hoofsteps were heard again; this time the sound of them fading away was heard. She released me and looked out; she looked back at me and nodded.

“Try not to be so violent. We need to go around them somehow, maybe this cave leads somewhere.” She looked into the darkness, taking a few steps towards the pitch black darkness. “Maybe this leads straight to Manehattan.”

“It won’t, it’s probably going to be filled with Hellhounds. Just like the Steel Rangers claimed with the passage back there.” I responded, walking out back onto the Wasteland. I looked at my PipBuck, checking the map.

“I’m going to take my chances! Do us a favor and turn the light on the PipBuck on.” Crystal said, walking into the darkness. I followed her and called for her.

“We can’t, we don’t know what’s down there!” I exclaimed, sighing. I slowly walked into the darkness, seeing that Crystal was completely devoured by the dark. I sighed and turned the light on, it glowed a bright healthy green, lightning up the path ahead. Crystal still wasn’t in sight, but as I walked down, her face came into vision.

“Finally, you decided to come down here. Now come on, I’m confident this leads somewhere…look, signs.” She pointed to the wooden signs on the crumbling walls of the cave.

The signs said things like:

‘No peace, no harmony.’ ‘Radigators ahead, you have been warned.’

“Radigators?” She looked up at the sign, “there’s going to be water somewhere in this cave, we just have to be careful where we go. Watch your back.” Crystal trotted into the darkness, “are you coming?”

“Yeah, of course.” I gulped, trotting up to her and then walking at the same speed as her. I looked at her, showing a small expression of fright. “S-so, these Radigators…what are they?”

“They’re mutated Alligators, they tend to live near watery surfaces on the land…but it looks like, this cave has a few living in it.” She commented, “They’re stronger in numbers, hell what isn’t?”

“Well, l don’t think we should go down here.” My voice was shaky, as if in fear. I was scared; I didn’t know what these things would do to me if they got hold of me. We delve deeper into the cave, now reaching a small water fall. The water was irradiated, obviously showing it was coming from outside. The stream fit through a small hole in the rocks walls, I moved closer, the light of my PipBuck revealing blood coming from the hole and flowing in the stream.

I tried to look into the hole, but I saw nothing. “Uh Crystal?” I dabbed my hoof in the water, looking at the blood trickle down my hoof and onto my PipBuck. She didn’t hear me, she was busy looking around. I quickly got back up and trotted over to her, trying to forget what I saw.

As we got deeper, the water got deeper. Larger puddles of dirty water were found and corpses were found by the river. Blood trailed into it and the stench of flesh was in the air.

ROAR!

We froze, looking around ourselves in full alert. We heard something getting closer to us as we stood there in fright. Multiple enemies were detected on my PipBuck, we were doomed…and really we actually were! A pair of reptile type eyes were spotted as a dark, mushy green snout poked out of the darkness, and into the light from my PipBuck.

“That doesn’t look good.” I gulped; I used my wings to grab the rifle I got from the Raider out. It felt awkward holding a rifle with my wings, but I finally got the hang of aiming. “C-come on!”

“Tornado, stand down!” She used her magic to show peace, she slowly approached it. “It’s okay; we don’t want to hurt you.” The Radigator snarled and prepared to attack Crystal directly.

“Crystal, move!” I kept my sights on the Radigator, “I’m going to shoot!” I exclaimed, placing my feather on the trigger. “It’ll kill you.”

“No, I’m trying to show that we mean peace.” She looked at it for a while. But I was right; it was going to kill her. It instantly lashed out at her, knocking her onto her back. Radigators came out of the shadows.

“Crystal, come on!” I yanked her onto her hooves and then I quickly looked for a way out. “No way out!” I targeted the Radigators with S.A.T.S and selected the head on the one that attacked Crystal.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

The bullets hit the Radigator, but a small amount of the sickly green blood came out. It barely did any harm, but it did some damage. I placed Crystal onto my back and then placed the rifle away, flying up and over them, landing on the other side of them.

“We have to run now!” I quickly ran ahead, Crystal trailing closely behind me. The Radigators chased us, licking their wide jaws, hungry for meat. I quickly dived for cover, revealing the rifle once again. I targeted it again with S.A.T.S and shot it. Once I shot the bullet, I blew the Radigators head off with a stomach churning splat.

The others ran around the corner, following the glowing light from my PipBuck like a pack of wild dogs. I targeted three more of them in S.A.T.S, a bullet going to each of them once I pulled the trigger.

BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!

I managed to kill one of them; the other two bullets missed the Radigators. Crystal was hiding behind a rock.

BLAM, BANG, BOOM!

I managed to manually take down the two I missed, blowing the first ones right front leg off and the others tail off. They collapsed. Dead. One managed to leap onto me, pinning me down. As it did that, it started to bite into my neck, but I managed to shove its jaws off before they could deal some real damage. Minor bleeding, nothing more. It bit into the arm with the PipBuck on. It dug deep into my flesh, making blood stream down my arm. I tried shaking off, yelping in pain.

Crystal came over and shot it in the head, making its gooey blood splat onto my face. She offered me a hoof and pulled me up, while having her pistol levitated to her side. “You’ll be fine Tornado.” She said, looking at the others running at us. “We have to go, come on!” She quickly ran ahead, I followed but I found myself limping.

My PipBuck notified me with a message:

You’re crippled; find a doctor, use a Healing Potion, Syringe, or sleep to heal your limbs.

Trouble was, there were no beds, no doctors or Healing potions, or any medical items whatsoever. Crystal had some, but we couldn’t stop now. All we could do right now was run. Crystal took a path into a more claustrophobic cave; this is where matters got worse. I had claustrophobia, so in spaces like that I found it hard to breathe. I’d rather have trouble breathing than have my face gnawed off by a bunch of Radigators.

“Hold on Crystal, I’m coming.” No response came from the cave, but I counted to three in my mind and slipped into the small passage. I quickly moved down there, trying to avoid any more injuries. I limped up to Crystal who was waiting for me; I began gasping for air slightly.

“Tornado?” She asked with deep concern. “Are you okay?” Her voice was soft as she took a closer look at me; I nodded and tried to control my breathing.

“Can we just get to the end of this tight…tunnel, please?” I asked, trying to catch my breath. She nodded and trotted ahead, while I followed closely. I needed to get air, I couldn’t breathe at all. I already regret coming down here, I’d rather get gnawed to death by Radigators.

“It’s not long now; I can see a light ahead.” She pushed her way through, while looking back at me. “It’s okay Tornado, you’re going to be fine.” Crystal and I reached the end of the tunnel, at least. I could feel a gentle breeze press across my face, blowing my mane slightly in the air. She pushed through, grabbing my hoof and pulling me out. We weren’t outside the cave, but we were near the surface again. I turned the light on my PipBuck off (since the ceiling of the cave had a hole in it, it allowed sunlight through) and the light lit up the whole room. It was good to breathe in fresh air, well when I say fresh…I mean irradiated.

“Now we need to find a way out of here…before more come.” I said, limping slightly. I collapsed in pain and sat against the rough, rocky wall. I groaned and looked at my wounds, seeing the wounds were deeper than I thought.

“Tornado,” She gasped, sitting down next to me. “Let me take a look.” She gently held my injured hoof, as she did I let out a painful hiss. She pulled out her medical kit and pulled out some bandages. She slowly wrapped them around the bleeding wound, “just try and keep still for me, please?”

“It hurts though.” I hissed, flinching slightly. She held my foreleg still and kept wrapping around it until finishing. She tied a knot in it and stuck duct tape down onto it.

“It should heal up over time, I promise. I’m out of Stimpacks, but bandages should do the trick.” She stood up. “You were right, we never should have gone down here…I got your hurt, and for that I’m sorry.” I placed a hoof on her shoulder as she said those words, I turned her to face me and I looked into her eyes.

“No, we chose the right way. No matter how dangerous it was, we still got through the worst part alive, if there’s any more we now know what to expect. Now come on, let’s get moving.” I slowly walked away from her, looking around the small area we were in. This was going to be a tough one.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Just a Flesh Wound, melee defences is boosted by 15% making you less vulnerable to melee attacks; also your training in unarmed combat has gone up by 10%, making you 20% more agile in combat.

Current level: 3

The cavern we were in was lit up from the sunlight, seeping through the hole in the ceiling of it. I took a step forward, examining the area around us. I managed to spot a fairly large entrance into a cavern on the top right hand side of me. The only question I asked myself was, how do we get up there?

“Look, we can try and climb our way up. The cavern is bound to lead to somewhere.” I said, walking towards the uneven rocks. I attempted to climb up, but after getting half way up I fell. I used my wings to steady my fall and looked up at it in defeat. “Dammit!”

“Maybe you could fly.” Crystal suggested, “And then, you can reach down for me and I use my magic to latch onto your hoof and pull myself up.”

I grinned at her and patted her back, “sounds like a plan to me.” I took flight, flying upwards slowly and landing onto the ledge. I reached down for Crystal, preparing for her to use her magic to latch onto my hoof. Her horn glowed and then I felt a gripping feel on my hoof, she managed to climb up and when she reached the top, her horn stopped glowing.

We trotted into the fairly large cavern. There were pools of radiation in the holes and ditches in the dirt, there were also piece of decaying rock on the floor. This indicated an exit nearby. I felt a breeze gently stroke my face; I closed my eyes to embrace it and then slowly opened them.

“I think there’s an exit nearby, where we see light…that’ll be where it is.” I activated the light on my PipBuck before proceeding into the darkness of the cavern. I started to look around at the poorly lit up area caused by my PipBuck, the green light from the PipBuck reflected of something in the darkness.

“Look!” Crystal pointed out as she stood beside me, “what’s that?!” She started to walk slowly into the darkened area to where the reflection was coming from.

“What can you see?!” I called over to her, she was consumed by the darkness and the hoofsteps echoed in the cave. I tried moving closer slightly to see if I could see it.

CLUNK!

“There’s something here!” She levitated what she found to her side and walked back into the green light, she was carrying a Steel Ranger helmet.

“Hey, it’s a helmet of one of those Steel Rangers we saw.” I said, taking a look at it. It was blood stained and scratched, with one of the lenses cracked as if a bullet went through it.

“That means they’re here too, come on we have to hurry.” She dropped it back onto the floor, “stay close.” She began walking ahead; I managed to keep up with her. I looked around for anything else and I found a Sparkle-Cola bottle. I quickly went to look for any liquid inside, but it was empty. Dammit, I’m thirsty and hungry; there’d better be food nearby.

“Seen anything?” I asked curiously, looking around. We saw a small light ahead and heard echoing talking. Crystal instantly pulled me down to the ground.

“Turn off the light.” She groaned, looking where she heard them. She saw silhouettes of Ponies in heavy armor. It looked like they were looking around for any items or bodies.

“Have you found anything yet Violet?” A stallion’s voice asked, the other Pony responded and looked at him.

“Not yet, keep searching.” A mare’s voice responded, “Maybe there are some weapons nearby, come on.” They began making their way down to us, their hooves making a clanking noise with each step. They saw the light on our bodies and walked over to us. “Hey, you there!” I looked up at the Steel Ranger.

“Y-yes?” I asked nervously, coming out. I got a good look at their threatening, cold armor as they stood in the darkness.

“Don’t you know this area is restricted, all possible routes to Manehattan are all restricted.” She responded, “I’m giving you this one chance to turn back and leave.”

“But we’re in too deep.” Crystal spoke out, “it’s too late to turn back now.” She said, looking at the mare Steel Ranger.

“And you cannot proceed, so like I said…turn back.” She walked closer to me and Crystal, being an inch away. She spun her Minigun on her battle saddle, “or we’ll kill you…your choice, what’s it going to be?”

“Violet, we can’t kill them…we protect and serve all.” Her stallion companion commented, “Let them pass.”

“We protect and serve those, who are with our ministry.” She looked towards him and I heard a low angry growl inside her Steel Ranger helmet. “Besides, I don’t trust this Pegasus. He might be with the Enclave.”

“Me? With the Enclave? Fuck no, why would I be?” I asked with a tone of rage, “Enclave troops let my parents die; I’d rather execute them, ripping each limb off one by one and piss on their graves.”

“That’s enough!” Crystal exclaimed, “Look, all we want to do is get out of this cave. If you would kindly let us past, we promise not to cause trouble.”

“Okay.” The mare Steel Ranger spoke with a slightly sinister accent, “you can pass, but don’t blame me when you get shot for being on restricted grounds.” The Ranger and her companion stood aside, letting us past. I noticed the accent she had; I knew we were heading into some deep shit.

We quickly galloped across the rocks towards the light, as we got closer the oxygen filled our lungs once again. I was the first to see the Wasteland for the first time in an hour or so, seeing just a Steel Ranger base. Metal fences were surrounding the whole base, sniper towers were in each of the four corners and many Steel Rangers and trainees roamed the base. Once they noticed us, they aimed their guns at us.

“Halt! What are you doing here?!” The Steel Ranger called, “this is a restricted premises. Leave now, while you have the chance.”

“We’re just passing through, one of your patrols said we could.” I explained, hoping not to be shot. Knowing that this would turn into a battle, I placed my wing into my saddle-bag, reaching for the rifle I obtained from the Raider.

“I don’t care what they said, this is a restricted area and you are not allowed on the premises.” He walked closer to us, his helmet looking threatening as his tilted his head down. It was as if he was glaring at us with fury. “Now, turn back and leave through the cave.”

Radio static was heard, “hold your fire soldier, they’re passing through.” The voice sounded exactly like the Steel Ranger mare we saw earlier, back in the cave. “If you fire, you will be going against all we stand for.”

“Screw the orders, the Pegasus seems suspicious.” Why me? Why always me? Just because most Pegasi follow The Grand Pegasus Enclave, doesn’t mean I do. “He may look nice, but then when we least expect it he’ll backstab us.”

“Hold your fire…that is an order.” Her voice was consumed by the static before it shut off. The Steel Ranger turned away from us.

“That was close.” Crystal spoke, walking ahead and looking around the base. “Come on; let’s go find somepony who might help us.” I followed with a nod.

“There’s got to be at least one Pony who will help us.” I added, walking with Crystal. I noticed the many initiates practicing, they were shooting targets. Some missed and some hit the targets that gave off a loud ping when hit. Some Steel Rangers were in the sniper towers, looking out for any possible threats such as Raiders or Alicorns. The long barrels on the rifles extended from the towers.

We finally reached a tent where what seemed like an elder Pony, working on a terminal built into the bases electronic system. His mane was combed and grey and his coat was a rotten green color, his tail was a long, flaky tail and his eyes were a sky blue color. He turned to us and had a look of surprise on his face.

“Oh, it’s you two. I’m sorry for the reception the Rangers gave you, we normally don’t let travellers in but now that you’re here, I guess I should introduce myself.” He nodded, lifting a hoof slightly off of the ground. “I’m Elder Lockhart; I fortified this base in hope of keeping travellers like you away from Manehattan.”

“Why don’t you want anypony going into Manehattan? If you don’t mind telling us.” Crystal asked with her soft, elegant voice. I moved slightly closer to Crystal, looking at her and then back at Elder Lockhart.

“We don’t tell Ponies for a reason, we want them to be safe from the dangers in Manehattan. If you really want to know, Alicorns roam the streets like an army, there’s so many of them. Steel Rangers are currently trying to deal with the problem; setting one hoof in that city is suicide.” He frowned slightly as he spoke those words.

“If it’s suicide, why let them enter?” I took a small step forward as I asked him my question.

“Because I had no other choice. It was either send them in, or let Manehattan become a home for Alicorns.” He sighed and turned away. “What else could I do?” He asked shrugging slightly.

“Maybe, you could send us in to aid them in battle.” I spoke softly, hoping to convince him to give us access to Manehattan. I was hoping he would, we needed to get there. Crystal even said that was where we needed to go.

“I don’t see why not. But a fair word of warning, the path ahead is highly irradiated, and because of that you may have to go into a Stable or two just to get to the city itself.” The Elder explained, “So do you think you can do it?”

“Of course, I wouldn’t have survived this long if I couldn’t.” I responded, sounding proud of myself. Was I proud of myself for my killings, or of my achievement in survival? Whichever one, I felt proud of myself for even lasting a day.

“Good, I’ll just unlock the gate for you.” He walked towards the terminal and pushed a few buttons, the sound of a gate being unlocked was heard and he turned to us. “The gate should be unlocked now, good luck my friends.” I replied with a simple nod as me and Crystal left the tent.

Once we exited through the gate, the gate closed back up and locked up. We were on a higher part of the Wasteland; I took a trot to the edge having a view of the entire Ravaged Wasteland. I could see Manehattan, or at least some of it. Tenpony Tower was the clearest part of the city; the rest of it just looked like a pile of rubble from here. We still had a long way to go, but we were closer than we was before.

It was midday and the sickly green sky gave off a glow within the thick clouds. We were back on the road again, trotting towards Manehattan. Of course we had to beware of the radiation that Elder Lockhart told us about, but my PipBuck picked up no signs of it yet.

“How far have we got now?” I asked curiously, looking at the view as we descended back to ground level slowly.

“Around forty miles if not, just less.” She responded as she began to gallop. “Come on, we need to speed up.” I soon caught up with her, but it wasn’t long before we got caught into some trouble. A larger group of Raiders found us and stopped us in our tracks. A muddy brown stallion with grey eyes and a dying blonde colored mane that was spiked like a Mohawk and the tail completely cut off walked up to me. His lifeless colored eyes glared at me, as if he knew who I was.

“Stop right there!” He exclaimed, his voice was dry and his lifeless eyes were fixed on mine. His mouth gave off a small quiver and it soon turned into a sinister grin. “Hey, these two have some loot on them…maybe we should take it off of them.”

“I don’t think so.” I instantly pulled out my rifle, aiming at his head. “If you step one step closer to me, I’ll blow out your fucking brains!” Crystal gasped in fright; she didn’t want to fight with the Raiders.

“Tornado put it away!” Crystal exclaimed and glared at me, trying to use her magic to take my gun. But she couldn’t my grip on the gun was too tight, my wings were too strong.

“Oh so you’re the Pony who killed one of our bunch, your name has been spreading around Raiders and now that I have you, I’m going to rip you limb from limb!” He gave me a solid buck around the face, knocking me backwards. After I fell, I could taste blood. My nose was bleeding and so was my mouth, I got onto my hooves and spit some blood out. I quickly grabbed the gun and targeted him with S.A.T.S. I selected his forehooves and capped them both in quick succession.

BLAM, BANG!

He collapsed, bleeding from the legs. The other Raiders shot their assault rifles from their battle saddles. I and Crystal quickly dived for cover, Crystal prepared the medical supplies but I stopped her, shaking my head.

“Come out here you little fuck!” One of the female ones spoke, her voice wasn’t so dry but it left a nasty hiss behind it. I quickly popped out of cover, targeting her with S.A.T.S. again and this time, targeted the head. I shot one shot into the head, and just to be on the safe side another two into the chest.

KABLAM, BANG!

The shots pieced her chest and then blew her head off, sending it backwards. Her decapitated body collapsed, bleeding violently. Another three of the Raiders came at us; one wielded a Minigun in their battle saddle and spun it. The bullets came at us like a snow blizzard, unfortunately I was hit in the left foreleg (which has my PipBuck on it) and I let out a loud yelp. I collapsed backwards, leaking blood. Each time I put pressure onto it, it let out a bone crunching pain.

“Tornado let me heal you!!” The bullets came over the boulder we hit behind, chipping the top of it. I could hear them getting closer as the one with the Minigun sent a blizzard of bullets over us.

“No…I can make it.” I grunted, peeking over. I could feel the wind off of the bullets, as if they just stroked my cheek. I took aim without S.A.T.S. and manage to pick off a headshot. It didn’t kill him, but it did some damage. “Crystal, grenade now.”

“I don’t have any.” She searched through her saddle bag. “I have some mines, but that’s it.” She lifted them out of her bag and nodded to her. I instantly grabbed them and threw them down just on the other side of the rock. They were hard to see, but as the Raiders got closer, a few beeps were heard and then.

BOOM, BANG, KABOOM!

Three of the mines blew four Raiders to pieces. Bits of leg and brain flew, as a bloody frenzy splashed around the explosive area. A huge chunk of the boulder came over our heads as soon as the explosion occurred. The last Raider began to run away quickly. I quickly shot him in the head without S.A.T.S. before collapsing in pain from the bullet in my hoof. I limped towards the bodies, robbing them of caps and ammo. Some carried some Stimpacks (which I gave to Crystal) and also Grenades. One carried a battle-saddle; I quickly took it off of him and latched it onto my back. I placed my rifle into it. There wasn’t much else; anything else was blown to pieces from the explosion.

“Is that everything?” Crystal asked, looking at the bodies. She came up to me, stroking her hoof along my back. “Please. Let me heal you.” This left me no choice; I didn’t want her to waste the medical supplies on me.

“Okay, just…be quick about it.” She sat me down against an exploded boulder and began to slowly remove this bullet. This only made me yelp in pain. “Please, just be quick I said.” After I spoke, she rolled her eyes and yanked it out. It made a sickening crunch and sludge noise before being released from the hole. I let out a loud cry in pain, tears even rolled down my cheeks slightly. Only one or two tears managed to escape my eyes.

“You said be quick about it.” She replied, bandaging my leg up and then giving it a small kiss on the bandage. I groaned in pain slightly but blushed; no-pony ever did that to me while they fixed up a wound. “Now here comes the needle.” She levitated a Stimpack to her side, injecting it into the wound. I already felt the Stimpack working and she then placed the empty Stimpack onto the ground. “Better?”

“Better.” I nodded slowly getting myself onto my hooves. I quickly checked to see if my PipBuck was okay, I let out a sigh of relief seeing that it was. Well, there was a bit of blood on it, but not too much. Crystal began walking off, this time trotting back onto the dirt. Black, broken and dead trees stood out of the ground, some of them completely blown to pieces and some rotting slowly from the radiation. Skeleton corpses lay next to them, as if they were gathering dust.

We couldn’t take a direct route towards Manehattan, Elder Lockhart could be right, it could be irradiated to a level where not even Rad Away would stop the radiation. Hell I don’t even think we have any Rad Away!

We soon found ourselves back on the roads and coming up to railroad tracks. These old tracks lead directly to Manehattan, unfortunately it’s no longer operating. We took this for an opportunity to eat some of the food Crystal brought along with her; it was best saving it for journeys like this. We only had some bread and a bottle of purified water. We had to share some obviously.

After eating and drinking, we began to trot off in the direction we were heading in. I was prepared for anything along the way, especially since I had a battle saddle now. I was on full alert, I wasn’t much of a fighter but when I had no choice, I guess I’d have to fight.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Trigger Happy, rate of fire has been increased by 20% but reload speed has been reduced by 20%

Current level: 4

It wasn’t long until we reached another settlement, this one wasn’t exactly one built for the living. This was a small Ghoul Pony village built around the abandoned Stable, Stable 55. This small town wasn’t on the map due to it being one of the first to be hit by a Megaspell; no Pony ever came back here. This once lovely town was known as Greenshire, now it is known as Ghoulshire. As we entered, the Ghouls shot us some looks.

One particular Ghoul Pony trotted up to us. His wings were completely blown off, the bones that would support his wings were decaying and his eyes were a pale grey. The remains of his mane were a blonde color and his now fleshy and disintegrating coat was a brown color.

“A normal Pony? A fresh, normal Pony?” His throat sounded dry, he looked slightly surprised to see us both. “And you’re not trying to kill us.” His mouth quivered into a smile. “We haven’t seen Ponies like you in many years.”

“What do you mean Ponies like us?” I asked curiously, staring at his mouldy face.

“Well, most fresh Ponies like you are Raiders and shit. They never come by, but whenever we leave this place, they all try and kill us.” He responded, the smile remaining on his face. “I haven’t seen fresh faces like yours come down to see us Ghouls in a long time.”

“Well, I don’t know why they would kill you.” Crystal spoke softly; she walked to the Ghoul smiling reassuringly. “I have known many Ghouls in my time and I think all of you are nice.”

“You really think so?” The Ghoul responded looking at her, “you really can look past how we look?” He nodded his head. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” She kept the elegant tone of her voice; she looked at me with the smile. “Am I right Tornado?”

“Of course.” I said, putting on a slightly fake smile. God, the way he looked made me want to throw up, but I’ll be honest here he sure is the first nice Ghoul I’ve seen in a while.

“I think it’s about time I told you both my name, the name’s Shade, I am nothing special really. I’m just some Ghoul trying to live out his life, and living here seems pretty nice.” He stepped aside, revealing the remains of buildings. “I’m pretty sure everypony knows about the history of this town, even when you’re a Stable-Dweller.” He pointed to the jacket I was wearing.

“Interesting, so you built a town within these ruins?” I asked, looking at the shanty houses and rubble houses and the Ghouls wandering around.

“Not me, we did. All of us, as a team built this town together.” He smiled proudly, “we had all the resources and items to build with at the time, so we thought we would claim it before anypony else did.” His smile then turned into a frown. “I’ve heard that the Resistance wants us out of here.”

“The Resistance?” I asked curiously, I looked at Crystal to see if she would know. She took a step forward and sighed.

“The Resistance is a faction who is against both the Steel Rangers and The Grand Pegasus Enclave.” Crystal spoke out. “They don’t serve under any of them; they’ll kill any Steel Ranger or Enclave unit that comes within a five mile radius.”

“Yes, that’s what they are!” Shade responded, waving a hoof. “They have been sticking posters up about eliminating the Ghoul threat, Pah! All they can do is try.” A smile came across his face again. “Follow me you two, let’s take our conversation somewhere else.”

We both nodded as he began leading the way through the destroyed town that was once Greenshire. We passed many Ghouls in poverty and some living in shanty huts, even some in the old, destroyed buildings. We came to a certain hut; this one was made of bamboo sticks, which were much like the Zebra huts from the Equestria before today. These bamboo sticks were rotten and decaying.

Shade shifted the door, walking into the dark hut. We followed him inside, once we were in, he checked left and right before shutting the wooden door.

“Now, it’s time.” He said, igniting a torch on the wall. It was dim, but it made everything within the hut visible.

“Time for what?” I was really confused at this point; I didn’t know what he meant. But I was intrigued.

“Time for you to test out my latest creation.” He looked at me and Crystal, “I call it, Visionary Water. It allows you to see the Equestria that this world once was, y’know to experience what it was like before the war.”

“Is that even possible?” I asked, looking up at him in hope.

“Of course, with the right herbs and items, you can make any type of drug.” He responded with a tone of optimism. “At least, I hope so.”

“I’m willing to try it, what about you Crystal?” I looked towards the mare and smiled softly as if I was to say everything will be fine.

“I’ll give it a try.” She responded, slowly walking closer. The Ghoul smiled with a gentle grace and nodded.

“Excellent!” He pulled out two bottles of glowing blue water labelled Visionary Water, “just take a small sip, large doses of this isn’t exactly safe.” He warned us, passing us the bottles.

“What happens if large doses are taken?” I spoke, unscrewing the Sparkle Cola bottle cap and placing it in my Saddle-Bag with my wing. I held the bottle with a tight grip.

“Well, forty-five percent of radiation. So drinking a mouthful of that stuff could give you radiation sickness.” He frowned slightly, “that’s a problem I still need to fix.”

“Well, bottoms up.” I looked at Crystal and she nodded. We both took a small sip and then swallowed, waiting for the effects to kick in. The next thing I knew, the world around me throbbed a sky blue color. I soon found myself in a world covered with green, grassy plains. The sky was a beautiful sky blue and the sun shined in the sky. So beautiful. I knew it was a dream, since the sky glowed and so did the grass.

The sight of Ponies galloping in the Wilderness and small village like towns with perfectly built cottages for homes stood. Perfectly visible. I knew I was no longer in the hellish Wasteland I was in before. Well, in my head I wasn’t, but in the real world I was just standing in the Ghoul’s hut. Crystal wasn’t in sight because she was in her own Equestria.

These were Pre-War times; posters of the ministries were seen on trees, buildings, pretty much anything that can hold a poster. I always followed the Ministry of Awesome; it made me feel proud to be a Pegasus, but the Enclave itself…not so much. Remembering from what happened in my past, I never really trusted the Enclave again after what happened.

I noticed a lemon colored Pegasus flying towards me. Her mane and tail was a minty green color and her eyes sky blue, just like the sky itself. Exactly the same shade too. She landed down in front of me and let out a jolly giggle.

“Hi there mister, what are you doing on this fine day?” Oh how I wanted days like this, where Raiders weren’t pointing guns at me, where war didn’t exist. The smell of fresh air, so beautiful. It was as if I could smell and touch everything around me.

“Oh, I’m doing great.” I spoke, still partially oblivious to her and more distracted to my surroundings.

“You look lost sir, do you want any directions?” She asked, letting one ear fall and the other stand. She looked at me confused but she walked closer slightly.

“Oh no, I’m fine.” I just smiled at the Pony, “this is Equestria…right?” I asked. But then I realized that was a stupid thing to ask, it made me look like an idiot.

“Of course it is silly, are you sure you’re not lost?” She giggled softly. It sounded like a little fillies giggle. “I can help you.”

“No I’m fine thanks.” She smiled as I said that, I blushed in embarrassment. I was so glad Crystal wasn’t here; I didn’t want to act like an idiot in front of her.

“Well, if you really are…then okay.” I could tell she felt awkward, her eyes were looking around. She tried not to gain eye contact with me. “Well, I’d better go. Have a nice day.” She quickly took off and flew into the clouds. I watched her and then looked around at the imaginary world around me.

After a bit of wandering in this world, I finally managed to reach a lake. I’d never seen water so crystal clear before, the irradiated water back in reality was so murky, so dirty that you couldn’t even see the floor of the shallow water.

I saw something in the corner of my eye, something the same shade as my coat. When I looked towards it, there I saw my sister, standing on the other side of the lake.

“C-Cyclone!?” I called over. No response from her, she just stood there in silence. “Cyclone!” I called over again, tears now growing in my eyes. I hadn’t seen her since the Raiders took her. I then flew over to her, but before I could make contact with her, I zapped out of the imaginary world.

I suddenly collapsed onto the floor in both shock and the after effect of water. Crystal awoke from hers and she saw me on the floor, tightly closing my eyes and shaking.

“Tornado!” Crystal quickly levitated me slightly, but she looked at the Ghoul for help. Shade came to help me, they both sat me up.

“He needs some purified water; it should get rid of the side effect. If we don’t hurry, he could pass out!” Shade looked at Crystal with a frantic gesture. Crystal nodded and searched her saddle-bag.

“Hold on, I think I have some. I’m not quite sure!” She spoke searching through her bag. I was shaking like a leaf in the wind, I didn’t have any control over it, and I couldn’t even move any body part. It was as if I was paralyzed.

“Hurry up, he’s about to faint!” Shade screamed at Crystal with his dry voice, “He’ll go any second now!” Crystal yanked out a bottle of purified water.

“I’ve got a bottle, Tornado open wide.” I couldn’t control my mouth actions; she managed to open my lips slightly. Then she tilted my head back, making the water rush down my throat. I suddenly opened my eyes, seeing myself back in the hut. I let out a gasp for air, before coughing violently from the water.

“Oh thank Celestia, he made it.” I heard Shade speak. “How are you my friend?” He titled my head towards him. I felt weak, just gaining control of my limbs again.

“W-what did I see?” I asked weakly, “tell me, what I saw.” I demanded, catching my breath back. He looked confused.

“What are you talking about?” He asked, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I saw, my sister. Why? She wasn’t even born in those times, how and why did I see her?” I glanced at him with a feeling of anger.

“His sister?!” Crystal looked at Shade, shocked. She stroked my cheek to make sure I remained awake.

“It must be a side effect. Hallucinations could be it.” He spoke, “I’ve never really heard of such side effects from these types of product.” The Ghoul quickly helped himself to a tatty, torn book on the shelf and began to read through it. “Give me a second.”

My vision became clear again and I felt as hot as blazes. I took a gulp, looking at him skipping through the pages. He suddenly stopped on a page, seeing the causes and outcomes on the page.

“It’s mild hallucinations, but they are bound to get worse.” Shade admitted with a regretful sigh. “If you go with withdrawal then it’ll get worse, if you have too much, it’ll get worse. So you can’t win.”

“Why didn’t you tell us this?!” Crystal exclaimed, “You nearly killed him!”

“Because I didn’t think it would happen, everypony else who tried it seemed fine.” Shade admitted, lifting a hoof. “I promise you.”

“Others have tried this?” I asked eventually getting onto my hooves, I wobbled out of control. I felt like I was going to collapse.

“Of course they have, I just had to keep my mouth shut before you started asking questions.” He grimaced, walking closer to me. “I’m sorry for all of this, and to show how sorry I am, you can stay here for the night. I promise you.”

“Where are you going to stay?” I questioned. I looked at Crystal who was close to me, surprisingly.

“Oh I don’t get much sleep anyways, I’ll be fine. You two stay here.” Shade left the hut and a small grin came across his face when he shut the door. Silence filled the air; Crystal instantly stood in front of me and looked into my eyes.

“Tornado, tell me…what was she like?” Crystal’s voice tone was soft, “and please, tell me…I want to know more.” I knew this would cause curiosity, I shouldn’t have said anything. But I couldn’t refuse to tell a mare like her.

“Okay, I’ll tell you. I can’t exactly remember everything, but I can remember her personality and looks.” I sat myself down on the rough, camping like bed. Crystal sat down next to me, shuffling a little closer. She clearly wanted to know more.

“Well, just say what you can. I know you won’t want to say too much.” Crystal admitted with a sigh.

“My sister was one of the nicest Ponies I knew, she was always there for me and she never refused to help me. She always stood up for me and she helped me survive when we were in the Wastes. Until the Raiders took her away from me.” I felt tears building up in my eyes, “I just hope she’s still alive.”

“She sounds like a great sister. I’m sure she’ll be fine Tornado, trust me on that.” Crystal hugged me and stroked my back. “We’re in this together; we’ll find her before we die…I promise.”

“I can only hope.” I hugged her back, feeling her warm, soft coat. I just held onto her tightly, embracing her and closing my eyes. I began to doze off; Crystal laid me onto my back and tucked me under the ragged covers, before she got under the covers on the other side of the bed.

Within the night, screams and gunfire was heard from outside. I woke up to see Ponies opposite me. Crystal remained asleep; I sat up in alert, noticing that they were wearing torn, padded armor. They looked down at me and levitated their guns to their sides. Some had battle-saddles because they weren’t Unicorn’s.

“So you’re that Pony everypony is talking about?” Spoke the Unicorn standing at the front, “you’re that Stable-Dweller that has been causing the buzz around towns?”

“What?” I asked, completely confused from what he just said. “What are you talking about?!”

“You, you started some buzz. You’re going to come with us right now, Saberhoof wants to see you.” He responded, coming closer to me.

“No, I’m not going anywhere. Why are you attacking these Ghouls!?” The screaming and gunfire went on for minuets on end, before coming to an abrupt halt. Crystal awoke to the sound of our voices.

“Ghoul Ponies are considered a lesser race; we believe they don’t belong in the Wasteland. What we believe is that they are mistakes of the Great War.” He explained to me, lifting a hoof. “What makes you say otherwise?”

“If you actually spoke to them, you would understand!” Crystal screamed in a burst of anger. The dishevelled Pony looked towards Crystal with a sinister glare.

“They may seem nice, but underneath their ugly outsides and behind their nice behaviour are flesh eating, radiation absorbing, monsters!” He got into Crystal’s face. “I don’t think you understand what the Ghouls are like.”

“I understand perfectly, you’re just too scared to against what you believe in.” She shot them a look. “Look at you all, you’ll judge something by how it looks…clean up your act.” He went to strike Crystal with a powerful blow as she said that, but just before he swung I grabbed his hoof and then bent it backwards.

CRACK!

They all aimed their guns at me, while I held the Pony down. “If you even touch her, I’ll break more than just your hoof. I’ll break you!” They prepared to fire their guns at me.

“Stand down!” The raggedy Pony groaned, as I held him in a tight hold. “Stand down, immediately.” Crystal stared in shock at my violent behaviour. They stood still, not wanting to move a muscle.

“Yeah, now all of you…leave. Go! And tell your leader, not to bother me again. If you do, they’ll be hell to pay!” They all started to back away, out of the door. I pulled out a pistol using my wing and aimed it at the Pony’s head.

“Wait, what are you doing?!” He yelled, “They’re gone and we promised not to bother you!”

“You have thirty seconds to tell me who sent you, if you run out of time, you die!” I cocked the gun back and poked him in the back of the head.

“I’ll never speak, and you don’t have the fucking guts to kill me!” He screamed, glancing back at me showing anger. The moonlight seeped through the gaps in the bamboo surface of the wall.

“I think I do, tell me…who sent you?!” My patience was wearing thin. I wanted to pull the trigger by each second that past. I felt no regret building in me, just aggression and violence.

“You really want to know? I am part of an army known as The Resistance. We don’t side with the Enclave or the Steel Rangers, in fact we oppose both. While they’re killing each other on the frontlines, we attack from the side-lines when they least expect it.” He explained. A look of honesty flashed in his eyes and he groaned again in pain. “Our leader, Saberhoof is the one who sent us.”

“Tell me about Saberhoof.” I spoke, finding myself pull the gun away. I gently released my grip from his fractured hoof.

“He’s a noble and loyal leader, he has lead us into battle and escaped without a single hair taken from his golden mane. He is the one who sent us; he is the one who made us attack this place. As I said earlier, he wants to see you immediately.” He injected himself with a Stimpack and hiss from the prick.

“He really is telling the truth, I can see no lies in his eyes. If Saberhoof really wanted to see me, did he really need to attack a whole town for it?” I thought to myself, looking at him.

“Where is he?” I asked, shooting him a look. “Surely he would have come with you.” Crystal was still shaking in fear, hoping that this Pony wouldn’t backstab me.

“He’s in the tunnels south of here and approximately five miles south-east of Stable 10.” He explained, lifting a hoof. “Once you reach Stable 10’s entrance, you’ll see a no entry sign, you can’t miss it.”

“I have one place I need to visit first, I’ll be sure to drop by after that.” I admitted, looking at him and nodding to him. “I promise.”

“Well, just don’t be too long, the boss hates waiting…especially when it’s somepony who catches his eye.” The Pony struggled to get onto his hooves, when he did; he started to limp towards the door of the hut. “I hope to see you soon.” He said, leaving without saying another word.

I just remembered that Shade left the hut; I quickly stormed onto my hooves and raced for the door. I threw it open and saw a corpse filled, blood-soaked town before me. Some of the Ghoul Ponies were alive, bleeding out slowly. I walked around, looking at them in horror. Some of the houses were on fire and slowly burning away, no sign of the Shade though.

“Tornado?!” Crystal called for me following me out. She stared in horror at the sight before her. “Oh my god, how could they do this to them!?”

I just remained silent, searching for the one Ghoul Pony I cared about. I still couldn’t find him. I reached the edge of the town, looking over into the night, scorched plains of the Wastes. Dust glided with the gentle breeze across the plains and I looked around, seeing no sign of a running Pony. I had feared that he had either been taken or killed.

“He’s gone, I don’t know where…but he’s gone.” I glanced over my shoulder to look at Crystal, who was panting in exhaustion. I looked back out onto the Wasteland before trotting down the hill and back onto to the roads.

We were back onto the roads, and heading towards Manehattan. Signs began to show that were made of rusted metal, they were also covered in ashes. They weren’t far apart; in fact there were many signs of warning.

The signs stated: WARNING, high radiation levels ahead, proceed with caution.

We were still a long way from Manehattan, but the irradiated fumes floated into the air a sickly green color just like the sky of daylight (obviously it was night right now). Anything that went within a few miles of that gas would be killed instantly. I constantly looked at my PipBuck, checking the radiation meter. It began to click.

Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick.

“We have to be cautious now; the radiation meter is starting to go off.” I spoke, starting to look for a way around the radiation. I started to walk off of the roads, checking the sidelines. All of it was irradiated. I looked at the map on my PipBuck, noticing Stable 55 nearby.

“Is there any way around?” Crystal questioned, looking at the horrid gases that lie ahead. I kept walking around, occasionally checking the device on my leg to where it is. A green glow came from the east of us, the sun was rising.

“Stable 55 is a way, but the problem is it probably only has one way in and one way out.” I sighed contently; I began to trot around, looking for any possible routes. Nothing. Something then caught my eye, a body of some sort in the distance. I glanced to look at it, instantly recognizing what it was. The night made it hard to see and the green gases weren’t helping either. It looked like the Pony was lying in a pool of blood and was covered in bloody battle scars. I knew who this was.

“It’s that sheriff, Dodge. From Appleloosa. But why is he out here? And why isn’t he at Appleloosa. I need to help him, I can’t let him die!” I thought to myself, beginning to trot to the possibly dead sheriff.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Big Mouth, your skill in speech has been improved by 20%, making it easier to convince Ponies to let you past, give you weapons, and give you discounts on goods.

Current level: 5

Blood.

Blood was all I could see ahead of me, as I approached the body that could potentially be dead. What could have done this to him? And why was he out here? I saw many deep claw marks and bullet holes upon his acorn brown coat. The body seemed lifeless; the only thing that showed life was the few weak breaths escaping his mouth.

I began to look over his wounds and as I did, Crystal had an even closer look. She began to observe the wounds, checking how deep they were and how much blood he had lost.

“Well somepony fired at him and to top that off, I think Hellhounds tried finishing him off.” Crystal commented. “We’re going to have to go somewhere safe if we want to save him.” Crystal slowly levitated him off of the ground, with that he groaned in pain before the blood from his wounds dripped onto the ground. The radiation meter on my PipBuck was ticking faster, as the gases slowly approached us from the gentle breeze blowing towards us.

“What about Stable 55?” I found a small cave entrance and slowly trotted to it. I took a look inside, seeing a large steel door with the number fifty-five on it. I turned to Crystal and nodded to her slowly, Crystal carried the body over with her slowly.

“We can only hope that Stable got terminated.” She answered. We reached the gap and opened the steel gate to the cave entrance, before making our way into the claustrophobic cave. At that moment, I felt like all the walls were closing in on me, my claustrophobia was kicking in.

“T-terminated?” I asked, trying to calm myself down while we trotted through the tight cave. Once we reached the end, there was a small terminal by the door. It didn’t seem too hard to hack.

“Yes, it’s when either the Steel Rangers or Enclave thinks that a Stable no longer needs to be used, they kill everypony inside.” She kept the Pony levitated in her grasp. “I don’t know why they do it, they just do it.”

CLANK!!

I managed to hack the large steel door open. The door was pushed out and then rolled over to the left. The entrance was dark; the only light source came from the alerting light that spun around on an endless loop. The color of it was pale amber. Something didn’t feel right, I quickly witched the flashlight on my PipBuck on and I began to venture into the dark hallways of Stable 55.

“What do you see?” Crystal asked, carrying the Pony. Her purple, magic aura was also a small light source; she followed me, being careful not to slam Dodge into a wall.

“It seems clear, though, just silence.” An eerie atmosphere filled the air, as silence dominated the air. “Over here.” I trotted up the staircase and by the console which controlled the door. Crystal nodded and carefully placed Dodge next to me.

“Will he be okay?” Crystal asked, looking over his body with deep concern. I looked up at her sternly, thinking to why she was asking that.

“That’s your job; you’re the medic, not me.” A sudden bang echoed from down the hallway. It instantly caught my attention and I quickly looked to where the sound came from. Crystal tended to the injured sheriff using many stimpacks and other chems.

“What was that noise?!” Crystal exclaimed, while tending to Dodge’s wounds. I couldn’t respond, I was completely clueless to what it could be.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

There it went again, this time growing louder than before. I started to approach the noise, this time feeling the cold, steel walls of the Stable to sense where exactly it’s coming from. Crystal was trying to keep Dodge on the right side; we didn’t want him passing onto death.

The banging suddenly stopped as I drew closer. I looked around, completely clueless around the area where the green light from my PipBuck lit up.

“Could it just have been some scrap metal falling? Or maybe something falling over?” I was talking my thoughts, thinking what it could have been.

I began to make my way back to Dodge, who was now beginning to wake from being unconscious. He looked up at me, possibly still dazed from all the beatings he had been getting. How some of his wounds were starting to heal from the Stimpack, he was too injured to engage in combat or travel.

“Where am I?” His weak voice spoke, “what happened?” He felt his head and then looked at his wounds, before his head collapsed back down.

“It’s okay Dodge, me and Tornado saved you.” Crystal said softly, looking into his half-closed eyes with a smile. “You’re going to be alright.”

“Hey, buddy. Don’t you remember us, from New Appleloosa?” I asked, looking at him. “We stayed at one of your inns.” I waved a hoof in front of his face, but he didn’t respond. He was too weak to even speak properly. I looked around the room; again the only possible lights were from the alarm lights and my PipBuck.

“He’s too weak; we’re going to have to stay.” Crystal admitted, “We can’t move until he’s better.”

“And we can’t stay; your safety is at risk. I swear, I heard something down there. Maybe it’s nothing, but it could be trouble.” I looked at her sternly. I moved closer to her and then placed a wing around her.

“Why can’t you just fly?” Crystal asked, “It’d be easier right?” She spoke in a soft tone.

“Because, I’m not leaving you behind…and I’m not strong enough to carry Ponies.” I admitted with a chuckle, “Now come on, you can carry him a little further right?”

“I’ll try; it’s all I can do.” She got back onto her hooves, levitating Sheriff Dodge to her side. I nodded to her and began to trot down the hall way, until we reached a door. I opened it and walked through; constantly glancing back to make sure Dodge was okay.

The hallways were thin, steel corridors. The windows on the left of me contained the rooms to some of the Stable residents. As more of the path became clear, I found patches of blood on the floor and with that instantly coming to a halt.

“Blood?” I gently peeked down at it, getting some on my hoof. It was fresh blood, so somepony, or something recently found their way into here. “It’s fresh, like really fresh.” I turned to Crystal, looking at her. “We’ll be expecting trouble.”

I slowly began to move again, preparing the rifle in my battle saddle. I opened another door, which led into another tight corridor, I slowly trotted through. Although, something didn’t feel right, I felt like we were being watched by somepony…or something. I started glancing around myself, checking all the pitch black windows to where the rooms were and also in front and behind us. I peeked into one of the windows, trying to get my PipBuck to light up some of it. From the area it covered, I couldn’t see anything.

“Tornado, do you see anything?” Crystal asked, levitating Dodge into the corridor carefully before entering herself. She stood beside me, placing the Pony down for a rest.

“I see nothing; something’s watching us though…we have to get into somewhere safe.” I glanced at Crystal before trotting ahead; she levitated the Sheriff to her side, before trotting behind me closely. I started to struggle breathing again, the tight corridors were not helping my claustrophobia.

I managed to find a room, I opened the door and it was pitch black. I walked in, the light on my PipBuck lighting up the way slightly. I did a check on the room before signalling Crystal to come over.

“Lay him down on the bed.” I pointed to the bed, before closing the door. “I have to try and search for a fuse; maybe I’ll be able to get some lights on in here.” My light only lit up a small segment of the room; therefore I had to keep close to Crystal while she healed Dodge’s wounds.

“There has to be a fuse somewhere in the Stable.” I thought to myself, looking around the room. I slowly began walking around the room, before finding a fuse box for the room. I opened the rusty flap, which squeaked. I felt it grind against my ears which made me flinch slightly, before I started to flick around with the fuses. Nothing happened.

“The fuses are burnt out; I’ll see if I can find more. In the meantime, you wait here, if you hear anything, call for me.” I walked over to Crystal and looked over to Dodge who was shifting and groaning in pain.

“Of course.” Crystal replied, “What happens if he dies while you’re gone? He doesn’t look so good.” Before I left the room, the green light only was shining onto him slightly. Crystal glanced back at him.

“Well, all I can say is, at least we tried.” I left the room, going back into the darkness. I began to trot left, coming to a staircase that lead downwards. I trotted carefully down them, just in case there were any dangerous items or bent steps that could make me fall.

I reached the bottom of the stairs safely, reaching even more corridors. This place was like a labyrinth! Well what Stable’s weren’t? I was trotting down, cautious of my surroundings. Something caused the sounds from earlier, but what?

BANG, BANG, BANG!!

Again, the noises started again. But Crystal didn’t call; besides it came from this level. I began to trot towards the noise; it was coming from a pitch black room. The door to it had been blown off in the direction towards me, or more like torn off. I stepped over the scratched, bent door and went out onto a balcony. My light barely lit up the room because it was a fairly large room.

BOOM!!

A bullet just skimmed my mane, and pinged onto the metal wall behind me. I ducked down quickly, waiting for any enemies to come into view. More gunshots were fired at me, pinging off of the railing of the balcony; I readied my rifle and stood up, taking aim.

BANG!!

I shot a bullet, hoping to hit something. I heard a grunt echo in the darkness; this obviously had shown that I hit somepony. Or something. Then something caught my eye, something stepping out of the darkness. It was fairly large, and it had a dark green coat and blood red eyes. Its mane was a dark brown and it also had both wings and horn. It was an Alicorn! It wore barbaric body armor that was made of rough leather and rusted, blood covered metal.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” The Alicorn spoke to me from below me, “a wanderer coming into our Stable?” He began to walk over to me, revealing his whole body with a threatening smile. “It’s rare we get a Pony like you visiting us.”

“So you’ve been causing the noise huh?” I looked down at him, preparing to shoot.

“Oh we do like to inflict pain onto our victims.” He answered with a menacing chuckle. Then another Alicorn stepped out, this time with a midnight blue coat, his hoof bleeding. This indicated that I shot this one.

“You shot me you puny Pony.” The one across from me stated, “You shot me in my hoof, now I can barely walk!” He raised his voice, but the Alicorn I was talking to first walked over to his ally.

“Calm down, I must talk with the Pegasus before you begin to brutalize him.” He sat his fellow Alicorn down and then looked back towards me from below.

“Brutalize?” I asked, tilting my head. “You really think you need to torture your victims?” I leaned over the balcony, poking my head out towards them.

“Well, it all really depends on the victim. Depends how much they piss us off, right now your death will be quick and painless. Don’t test my patience though.” I grimaced as those words left his mouth, imagining the gory sight of what the victims have been through. And imagining the pain they felt at that moment.

“You’re a bunch of monsters, you know that? What you do to them is disgusting and they don’t deserve any of it. You’re all a bunch of FUCKING monsters!” I felt myself scream out in anger, my heart burning from all the anger and then I quickly covered my mouth, realizing that what I said could cost my life.

“We’re not monsters, we’re misunderstood.” He then walked closer, levitating a Combat Shotgun to his side. “But if you want war, you’ve got war.” His lips quivered slightly towards a smile.

“If war is all you can think of, then fine…it can be that way.” I aimed the rifle in my battle saddle at him, preparing to shoot him. But then he lowered his firearm and kept the same, smug grin.

“Y’know, your sister passed through here.” He suddenly mentioned. With that I saw another vision of my sister, this time she passed them. She ran down the corridor behind them and disappeared out of my sight. Something was not right here.

“H-How do you know she’s my sister?” I asked them, I just wanted to break their necks for what they could have possibly done to her.

“Well you both look alike. I thought you would have known that.” The Alicorn chuckled darkly.

“What have you done with her?!” I was preparing to jump down and fire up the whole place, killing not just him but all the Alicorn’s in this room.

“Oh we’ve done nothing; she just passed through and then happily fucked off. She was heading in the direction of the caves.” He stated, lifting a hoof. “If you want to find her, you’re going to have to lower them firearms of yours too!”

“The caves?” I looked at him, confused slightly. Surely this can’t be true. No Pony can simply dig holes in a Stable.

“Yes, the caves. You see when this Stable was terminated, many Ponies found that this could be used for easy access to Manehattan. With all the radiation floating upon the outskirts, Ponies blew a massive hole into one side of this Stable and used it for direct access to the city.” He grinned, “I believe your sister went that way.”

“I hope I’m not too late!” I quickly ran back into the corridor and headed back towards the stairs for Crystal; I quickly trotted up and then back into the room to where Crystal was.

“Did you get the fuses?” She asked, looking at me with hope. I had to be honest about it.

“No, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll stand by while you heal him.” I walked over to Dodge, while lifting my PipBuck up so his body was within the light’s radius.

“Dammit Tornado, it could have been easier!” She began to get her medical supplies out and she laid them upon the bedside table. The wood on it was scratched and decaying slightly, bits were flaking off that could easily give splinters.

“I have a good reason for it, I found Alicorns in the Stable.” I admitted, “And they said that my sister passed through here, that she was heading to Manehattan.”

“Alicorns?!” She looked at me, looking terrified. “We aren’t safe here, and they could be lying. For all we know your sister could have been killed by them!” I could tell she was angry at me; her tone of voice was powerful and threatening.

“I-I know…I’m sorry.” I felt tears grow in my eyes, since it could have been possible that she had been killed. My only piece of family left could have been killed.

“Here’s one thing, before you even start to believe what Ponies tell you out here, you have to learn your place in the Wasteland!” I looked down, just wanting all this to be over. “Look at me!”

I looked up at her, my tearful eyes looking into her fury filled eyes. She grabbed me and poked her nose against mine, just wanting to let out all of her rage.

“And until you learn your place here, you cannot fight on your own!” She let go of me, it was as if the word Alicorn really ticked her off. Big time.

After Crystal healed Dodge, I sat alone in a corner knowing that the sister I barely even knew could be dead. This made me dead inside; this made me want to kill every fucker that even would dare touch her. This made me feel broken. I just wanted to cry so hard until all my tears became dry. But I couldn’t, I couldn’t cry anymore. All the tears I had were spent for the time being, I couldn’t let any more of my sadness flow out of me. Even if I wanted to.

“Hey.” Crystal sat down next to me; she was really close to me. I just kept staring at the floor. Her voice was back to her soft, elegant voice.

“Hey.” I simply responded, staring at the floor still.

“Look, I’m sorry about earlier Tornado. I couldn’t possibly understand how you feel about all this; I shouldn’t have used my anger against you.” She admitted as she levitated her medical bag back over to her.

“No, no it’s alright. You’re right; I don’t know my place out here. I’m just a Stable-Dweller, maybe if they didn’t throw me out; I would never have come out here.” I felt sadness beginning to develop again, “I mean just look at me, I’m a mess, there will come a day when I get you killed and the only Pony I can blame is myself.”

“Shh, shh. Stop talking.” I felt Crystal pull me into a warm embrace. All I did was hug her back. I felt her soft coat against my face and her warm body making me feel loved. I wanted to cry even harder, I’d never seen Crystal so caring in my life.

“Why can’t I see her again?” I gripped her tighter. She gave my head a small nuzzle and just rubbed my back.

“I promise, we’ll search for her. Even if it kills us.” She admits, keeping the same calm tone to her voice.

“No, don’t put your life at risk for me. Please.” I didn’t want to lose a friend like Crystal; she was a friend that I hoped for all my life. Remembering the early days of living in the Stable, I never had any friends. I kept getting beaten and bullied.

“You’re my best friend Tornado; I’d hate to see you like this, and if I have to give my life for you, then so be it. If I did give my life for you, I’d die smiling.” Her lips quivered into a caring smile, as she then slowly rubbed my wings.

“Me too Crystal.” I just gripped tighter, telling her that I’d do the same. She was the closest Pony to me right now. Not only with the hug, but friendship wise. We just couldn’t give up.

Within the night, I started to dream about my sister. Everything was black around us and only a smoky image of her and Raiders trying to pull her away was seen. I tried reaching out to her, but she was screaming as they were attempting to pull her away. I saw my parents’ bodies, in a pool of blood. I knew exactly what was happening. I tried reaching out for her, but they started to beat her. The sight was terrifying; this only made me grow angry. I tried waking myself up, I couldn’t it kept going on and before I knew it, I was being dragged into a dark hole, where the light was fading out and then…a door covered my vision.

From that moment I woke with a gasp, seeing that I was in Crystal’s arms. We must have fallen asleep; I slowly lifted my head off of her chest and looked around the room. It was too dark to see everything. I got out of Crystal’s arms slowly and then walked over to the bed which contained Dodge, he was fast asleep, and he was breathing. This was good news. I didn’t want to wake either of them, Crystal seemed to be deep in sleep and Dodge was still getting healed.

“I have to find her, even if it kills me.” I thought deeply to myself, I looked back at Crystal. Part of me wanted to leave to find my sister; another part of me wanted me to stay. I couldn’t just leave Crystal and Dodge alone here. Crystal woke up and the light on my PipBuck.

“Tornado?” She got onto her hooves and slowly walked out of the darkness and towards me. She yawned and looked at me. “What’s the matter?”

“I can’t sleep,” I turned away, sighing to myself. “As much as I want to, I just can’t sleep.”

“Then I’ll stay up.” She commented, smiling at me. “We may as well wake Dodge up and find a way out of here.” She shook Dodge gently.

“The Alicorns told me about some cave, that is where they claim my sister went.” Dodge started to stir slightly and looked at us both, a smile came onto his face. He obviously recognized us.

“Oh hello you two, if I last recall we didn’t exactly get properly introduced. You know my name, but I don’t know yours.” He sat up, looking at us both. His scars were fading away slightly, but still visible to our eyes.

“Well, I’m Tornado.” I smiled softly, but I couldn’t help but frown slightly knowing that my sister could be in danger.

“My name’s Crystal.” Crystal also smiled at him. “We found you out in the Wastes, unconscious.” She stated, “We had to bring you to safety.”

“And you think this is the place?” Dodge asked, looking at us sternly. “Stable 55 is infamous for having Alicorns, Raiders, Scavengers and tons more. Truth is, somepony managed to lock this place down, until you two broke in.”

“Well, there’s apparently a tunnel that will take us to Manehattan, correct?” I wanted information out of him, and I glanced at him slightly.

“It’ll take you pass the radiation, but that’s it. If it took you from here, to the centre of Manehattan, The Steel Rangers would surely lose the fight.” Dodge responded, “I know exactly where the tunnel is, follow me.” He got onto his hooves and began trotting out of the room and into the corridors.

“Tell me, how do you know?” I followed him closely and Crystal was also following us closely.

“How do you not know? It’s marked on the map, I may not have a PipBuck, but I’m pretty sure those things come with maps.” He trotted into the room where the Alicorn’s were, and we followed. We stood on the balcony.

“Look who’s back and it looks like he brought some friends!” The Alicorn chuckled darkly, “so you want to get past huh? One-hundred caps will let you past.”

“No fuckin’ way!” I responded, preparing to battle, “if you want money, come and get it.” The Alicorn’s burst into laughter and then prepared for battle, levitating their weapons to their sides.

“You’re on, I’ll break you.” The Alicorn replied. I glided down, opening fire with the rifle in my battle saddle; I managed to hit the Alicorn but not a direct hit. When I had the chance, I opened S.A.T.S. and opened fire onto the Alicorn’s thick skull.

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

Four shots were placed into the Alicorn’s skull, knocking it clean off. Blood sprayed upwards and onto the cold steel walls. Crystal and Dodge jumped down as the other Alicorn’s charged at us. One who was carrying a Combat Knife charged at me and took a swipe for me. I quickly evaded and flew back up and around the room. Once again, I targeted him with S.A.T.S. and targeted his horn twice and his front left hoof once.

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

The Alicorn fell, crippled. Crystal managed to cripple the midnight blue one and Dodge finished him off with a brutal headshot. I landed by them and smirked.

“Good work, now I have one more to finish off.” I walked up to the one I crippled, his coat was a sickly yellow and the eyes were red. This one had no mane or tail, but sat there glaring at me.

“Go on, do it. Kill me.” The Alicorn spat, “I just have one more thing to say before you do.”

“And that is?” I walked closer to him, glaring back at him with a smirk.

“Look behind you!” The Alicorn whispered, as it did, another one who had been hiding in the shadows came out and swiped their club right into my ribcage.

THUMP, CRACK!!

I grunted and was sent into the wall, before hitting it with a loud bang. I fell in pain, and shaking from it. The brutish Alicorn swung at Dodge, but Dodge quickly evaded the attack and shot at the Alicorn in the leg.

BANG!!

It was just a flesh wound; Crystal went over to me, looking worried. I attempted to get up, but I couldn’t. The pain was so intense; I let out a loud yelp and fell yet again.

“You’re going to be fine Tornado, let me help you.” Crystal held onto my cheeks, before starting to wrap some bandages across my chest. After that swing a huge tear in the Stable 30 jacket I was wearing was around the chest. It also contained a bleeding wound.

Dodge managed to climb up onto the Alicorn’s back and then shoot it in the back of the head. After that, a huge gaping hole was in its skull before it fell with a loud thud and blood was leaking out of it.

“Is he okay?!” Dodge ran to us worried. He looked down at me. “We can’t go on, not yet!” Dodge was panting from the fighting. “Tornado’s too injured.”

“I’ll be fine!” I grunted, holding my ribcage as Crystal finished the bandaging. I attempted to get up yet again, the pain slightly less intense but still intense. I limped slightly. “See, no problem.” I let out a cough.

“You need to rest, Tornado.” Crystal frowned, “trust me; it’ll only get worse if you keep walking.” At that moment I collapsed slightly, but retained my balance and kept walking.

“Just let him go, Crystal. If he struggles later on, then we’ll rest.” Dodge began to follow behind me, and then so did Crystal. It hurt so much, but I couldn’t stop. I had to continue.

“See, I’m having no problem.” My tone of voice was the sound of grunts, as I slowly made my way into another corridor. I continued onwards, with them following closely. My light lit up the way, until we reached the end of the corridor and we were welcomed to a huge hole in the wall. The hole was actually lit up by many hanging lights, the lights were dim and seemed to be dying out, but it was surely better than nothing.

The sign by the entrance stated:

Shortcut to Manehattan, warning path ahead could be dangerous.

It was all written by hoof or magic, not very neat, it was actually painted on the wooden sign. I could feel a breeze brushing against my face from the hole, before I started to continue onwards.

“Well, here we are.” I trotted on into it, taking small steady steps. The path was uneven, as the rocks were sharp and harsh on my hooves. I flinched slightly as one poked me in the hoof, the hoof that was on the side of the damaged ribcage. I felt a buzz of pain which made me collapse slightly with a groan.

“Tornado!” Crystal ran to my side, avoiding the pain of falling over. She helped me up and looked at me with concern. “Careful, please?”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine.” Dodge caught up with us and looked at me with a frown.

“You should really stop running ahead Tornado, you could get yourself hurt.” He sighed. We finally reached flat ground, to where we were presented with a door. This was where the service tunnels were.

“So they blew a hole in a wall and dug through until they hit service tunnels?” I looked around, while talking in my thoughts. “Interesting.”

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Novice Hacker, your skill in hacking as gone up in 20% but as a side effect, your combat endurance has gone down by 10%.

Current level: 6

I stood at the doorway which leads to hundreds, maybe even a thousand underground tunnels. Some caved in, and some infested with all sorts of dangers. But it was the only way we could go. I walked towards the door, observing the rusted metal upon it. I tested the door, but it was locked. I looked around for a terminal, but I saw nothing. I reached into my bag and pulled out a bobby-pin and began to pick the lock on the door.

“Tornado, are you sure that will work?” Crystal observed me, looking down at me. Dodge was behind her, keeping guard just in case anymore Alicorn’s came after us.

“Positive, this isn’t too hard to crack open, I’ve just got to find the soft spot.” I responded, focusing on the lock.

Click!

The door was unlocked; I got back onto my hooves and pressed the button to open the door. It opened up with a loud screech from the rusted metal, revealing a long wide path that was poorly lit and had the odd corpse within it too.

Dodge turned to us and came back to us, looking around. He stood by the doorway.

“The coast is clear back there, come on let’s push forward.” He spoke, stepping into the tunnel.

“Of course.” I responded, looking towards Crystal and tilting my head towards the tunnel, insisting that she should go first. She nodded and walked into the tunnel, I then followed in after her. Just in case, I pressed the button to close the door and then quickly followed after them.

“You do know where you’re going, don’t you Dodge?” Crystal asked him, falling behind to trot with me. It’s as if the conversation we had last night made her move closer to me. Maybe because she wanted to make sure everything was fine, or maybe to the fact that she felt guilty for not understanding. Either way, I was grateful.

“Of course I do, I know a lot of these tunnels, before I became a sheriff I had to come down here a lot.” He responded to Crystal, glancing back at us. “Just follow my lead, and you’ll be fine.”

I was slightly worried, well by slightly I mean incredibly worried. It’s always the ones who sound like they know the way, that get Ponies lost. These tunnels could be infinite, they could go on forever. We came towards our first fork in the road within the tunnels.

“It’s straight ahead.” Dodge said confidently, “come on.” He began to trot ahead, which lead to a slope downwards. As we ventured on, many piles of rubble were seen and holes within the ceiling were seen. The tunnels could collapse onto us at any second.

“Dodge, this doesn’t look safe.” I examined the rubble we passed and the holes within the ceiling.

“It’s fine, Tornado, I assure you. We’ll be fine.” He glanced back at me with a smile and then continued onwards. We reached the end and we were presented with another doorway. This time, the door had been ripped off and casted aside.

“What’s down here exactly?” Crystal slowly stepped over the steel door. I followed her closely, but landing horribly on the hoof that was on the side of my damaged ribcage. Crystal came to help me instantly, catching me before I fell. She looked into my eyes with an encouraging smile.

“You do not want to know you two. Although, it’s unlikely we’ll run into anything big.” He chuckled to himself lightly, waiting for us to catch up. “The bigger things wander in the lower levels.”

“Well, we can’t afford to get into any combat, Tornado’s still injured.” Crystal used some of her magic on me to help me walk. How it did feel weird, it really helped me. I wasn’t stumbling as much as I was and I could safely walk without doing more damage.

Dodge nodded simply and then walked through the doorway, which brought us to a room where water was flowing down the slope. It was coming from the left of us and it was a weak current, Crystal levitated me over and sat me down before she carefully walked across. Dodge followed her afterwards to ensure that she would get across safely.

Crystal pulled out her medical bag and offered me some painkillers for the road ahead.

“Thank you.” I simply said, before taking them and eating them. “I hope it helps Crystal, thank you.”

“I’m going to scout ahead, wait here.” Dodge admitted, trotting into the next tunnel which led upwards, his trotting was echoing before going silent. Crystal sat by me, showing a smile on her face slightly. Not a smile of joy, but a smile of pity. Smiles wouldn’t come from pity, but this smile showed pity.

“Thanks for the help Crystal; it means a lot to have you with me.” I wrapped my good hoof around her and gave her a small nuzzle. “Do you trust Dodge?”

“Of course I do, at this stage anyways. Although, if he does anything suspicious, I’ll tell you.” Crystal responded, looking at the path Dodge took. “Let’s just hope he isn’t long.”

Dodge arrived sooner than I thought he would and he looked at us, passing me a Combat Shotgun, Crystal an Assault Rifle and Dodge kept a Revolver to himself.

“Where’d you find these?” I asked, placing the Combat Shotgun into my battle saddle gently. I didn’t want to hurt myself. These weapons were useful to us.

“Hey, if you look hard enough like I do, you can find a lot of useful things, now come on.” Dodge trotted back up the path, Crystal and I followed. I had some trouble getting up the slope, Crystal again placed a magic aura around me to help me travel.

“Dodge, slow down. Tornado’s injured.” Crystal instructed, I let out a few painful groans as the aura wasn’t as strong as it previously was. Dodge climbed to the top and waited. We reached the top and Crystal’s aura grew stronger. The room in front of us was an office, it was crumbling and decaying. Overhangs that contained a room above had rubble seeping through and the sound of water dripping was heard. It echoed loudly throughout the room.

“Okay, careful this room could collapse.” Dodge began taking a few careful trots towards the shattered door on the other side of the room. He avoided the edges, as they were most likely the more fragile parts. “Are you okay back there, Tornado?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I grunted, coughing slightly. Whenever I took a large inhale of breath (which I started doing more often due to the ribcage’s damage) an intense pain was felt that made me shudder, yelp and fall. Crystal again helped me back up.

Dodge stopped again, “Crystal, how’s he holding up?” He looked at me, as I got back onto my hooves and Crystal frowned.

“Not good, the pain’s getting worse. And he took painkillers!” She stroked my mane and tried to keep me stable.

“Maybe he needs a stronger dose!” Dodge suggested, looking at me in the eyes. “You’ll be fine, I promise you.” I nodded, grunting. I could barely speak now without the pain getting worse.

“I can’t do that, he could overdose and die! Maybe he’s been walking too much.” She gently laid me down on a flat area of the floor and watched over me. She had a worried expression on her face; I only used my eyes to stare at both of them, before looking straight ahead again.

“I don’t know, maybe. But just remember, we can’t stay long.” Dodge mentioned. “We’re getting close to Raiders.” Dodge looked around himself cautiously.

“How do you know?” Crystal glared at him. “How!?” She only grew angrier. He didn’t tell us, he could have told us!

“The scents of blood, rape, sweat. It’s in the air, that’s how I know.” Dodge sighed to himself. “And if they get Tornado, they’ll most likely kill him first!” The name, Raiders, made me want to do violent things to the Raiders. I just wanted to reach into ones chest and rip their heart out.

Crystal just stared at him, showing anger in her face. Her lips quivered before she looked away. “Then what are we going to do?”

“G-go ahead.” I weakly suggested with a groan. “I-I p-promise, I’ll catch up.” I held my ribcage, coughing as I did.

“No, we can’t leave you.” Crystal had the soft tone on her voice, as she stroked my head. “We’re in this together, all three of us.”

“She’s right Tornado, we can’t leave you behind.” Dodge sat down, looking at me. I cringed at the intense pain when I inhaled and let out a hiss of pain.

“But, I’ll slow you down. I’ll catch up I promise.” My lips formed into a smile, “just go.”

“You don’t know your way around these tunnels.” He frowned slightly, “without me and Crystal, you won’t last. Please let us help.” I was grateful; however I didn’t want to slow them down. I would only get them killed.

“I-I am grateful…I really am, but I’ll only slow you down.” I hugged Crystal gently and looked at Dodge with a nod.

“I am sorry, we can’t leave you. I’m going to do the smart thing.” Crystal spoke, levitating me into the air. Why didn’t I just ask for that? I don’t know, either way I didn’t have to worry about hurting myself.

“Thank you Crystal.” I groaned, “Just don’t be too rough.” I tried not to take large inhales of breath, because that was one of the main causes of pain.

Dodge began to lead on as Crystal cautiously carried me with her magic towards him. He opened the door slowly, with that, it made a loud squeaking noise before he trotted through. Crystal placed me through first, hovering me on the over side before she proceeded through. As we continued onwards, Dodge suddenly pulled us down behind some rubble. Oh this made me groan and yelp, but Crystal covered my mouth.

“What is it?” Crystal asked, holding me close to her. She kept her hoof over my mouth, Dodge took a peak. I managed to catch sight of what he saw; it stood tall like a tree. It had claws so sharp that they’d tear you into two. They looked hellish. After the way was clear, Dodge got up and trotted ahead.

“It was a Hellhound, so we have to be cautious.” Dodge trotted onwards, checking both the direction it came from and the direction it went in to see if anymore were coming.

As we proceeded into another tunnel, a group of Raiders had set up camp; they looked towards us and grinned.

“Looks like we’ve got company boys.” A mare Raider spoke, her mane had one spike at the front of her head and one at the back, and it was a sickly green color. Her coat was a jet black color. She was also a Pegasus. I looked at them and fury built up in me quickly, I tried to break out of Crystal’s aura, but she placed me behind cover. The other Raiders around the mare one, revealed their guns and other weapons.

“Get out of our way.” Dodge got in the face of the mare Raider, “before we force you out of our way.”

“We were here first, why don’t you scoot-along back to where you came from?” She held her Double Barrelled Shotgun close with a smirk. She didn’t have a battle saddle; she had to use her wings.

Dodge quickly obtained his Revolver and locked it between his jaws, aiming at the mare’s head. Crystal sat down with me, watching what could happen. She readied up, levitating her Assault Rifle to her side.

“Wait here Tornado, I promise I’ll be back.” Crystal trotted round to him, leaving me on my own. But they needed help, so I crawled, groaning slightly and lay down in a position to where it could be easy to shoot. I probably wouldn’t hit anything, but it was worth a shot.

BANG!!

Dodge blew the Raiders head clean off, blood splatted onto the floor, as her body collapsed. The others engaged in a gunfight with them, gunshots going off every second. I kept crawling as the Raiders didn’t bother to look for me, the pain was intense but I knew I could power through it!

I took aim with S.A.T.S. and targeted the body of a murky green colored stallion who was aiming at Crystal; I shot two shells into his chest which crippled him. He collapsed in pain, holding his chest. Crystal and Dodge looked at me.

“I’m willing to help.” I grunted, slowly getting onto my hooves and limping over to them. The Raiders took notice of me, one charged at me with a knife, but I quickly shot them manually in the head. They collapsed and slid into the wall face first.

BANG, BANG!!

Dodge placed two shots into a Raiders leg and then finished them off with a powerful, neck breaking buck.

CRACK!

Crystal managed to take one down; she blew off the Raiders right foreleg and then shot them three times in the chest. Crystal looked at me. Suddenly a Raider grabbed her from using their magic, levitating a knife to her throat.

“Don’t think I won’t do it!” The mare Raider hissed. This one had a dark blue coat with pale white eyes, a large bloody scar down her left eye and also no mane or tail. “I’ll kill this bitch!”

“If you even hurt her I’ll-“ I grunted but was immediately cut off by the hissing Raider.

“You’ll what!? You can’t do anything. She’s mine now.” The Raider began to back away, pulling Crystal with her. Oh this made me pissed. Period. I quickly leaped for the Raider, despite the pain, all I could feel was anger. She threw Crystal aside, before I tackled the Raider and pinned her down. I started to unmercifully beat the Raider by punching it in the skull with my most powerful blows.

“Leave her alone, YOU BITCH!” By this point, I had ended the Raiders life, gazing upon the bloody corpse below me; I stood up and looked at Crystal. The pain came back and I groaned, collapsing yet again.

Crystal gasped and came to my aid; she held me in her hooves and looked down at me with a smile. “Thanks for saving my life just then; it means a lot to me.” She giggled lightly and gently stroked my head. “He needs some water, he’s burning up. It isn’t just a broken rib or two.”

“Water?! I haven’t got any, you’re the medic, and you’re supposed to have some!” Dodge exclaimed, glancing at her.

Crystal looked in her bag and found a bit of Purified Water left. She opened my lips slightly, and I drank from it. Of course coughing and then groaning in pain, but I drank what I could before turning my head away and letting the water fall into me. She screwed the bottle cap back on and placed it into her medical bag. I was panting to get my breath back; I then turned my head to Crystal.

“Any Stimpacks?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “I think it might help with the pain.” She nodded and reached into her bag, levitating one to her side.

“Okay, ready?” She prepared to inject it into me. “Open your jacket please.” With that, I unzipped my Stable 30 jacket, as she injected it into the area of my shattered ribcage. I yelped out in pain, but the pain was nothing more than a little prick…at least that’s what it felt like. I quickly zipped it back up about half way.

I found myself able to stand up with ease; the Stimpack killed off the pain and maybe even fixed the crippled limb. I began to walk forward.

“Do you feel okay now?” Crystal looked at me, caring. “It sure seems like it.”

“Well, I feel slightly sick, but pain wise I feel good.” I walked towards the door at the end of the tunnel and opened it. This time, we got a little more than to what we were expecting. It seemed like we had entered an abandoned bunker. It was all empty of course, but it had posters, computers, and doorways. I walked out onto the balcony, staring at the room.

“Look at this place.” Dodge looked around awestruck, “it’s a bunker, an actual bunker.” Dodge looked around the room. There was one light, the centre that lit up a small desk in the middle of the room on a large circular metal platform.

“Must’ve been from Pre-War times.” I added, slowly gliding down. “Come on, jump down.” Crystal carefully levitated Dodge and herself down towards the ground level. I landed with a small stumble, but managed to retain balance. I walked towards the platform, slowly walking up the steel stairs on it; I walked around the desk and looked at the terminal on top of it.

“The terminal seems to still be active.” Crystal explained, “Maybe you could have a look at it, Tornado.” I sat down at the small chair and looked at it. Crystal and Dodge standing beside me.

As soon as I opened it, the machine seemed to be damaged in a way, if not it was encryption.

Hello, welcome back Mr.Mist.

…

=======#PR0J3CT###W4RF4C3#=======

0103030####11342####

Password: *******

…

Password Accepted.

The Grand Pegasus Enclave: Main Database.

Actions:

Send out global order>

Send message>

CLASSIFIED>

Opening folder.CLASSIFIED

Password*******

Password Accepted

…

Launch balefire attack>

Steel Ranger Database codes>

Flower Berry Gardens documentation>

Omega Mountains documentation>

Guardian’s Clocktower documentation>

Stable 30 termination plans>

The Resistance Attack strategy>

<Back

…

Opening file.SteelRangerDatabasecodes.

Mist’s Enclave CLASSIFIED documentation: Steel Ranger Database codes

We have managed to find the codes to access the Steel Ranger’s Database, with these codes we can use their own weapons against them, and win the on-going war, to finally bring Pony kind the peace they deserve.

CODES: 4173-9921

Mist.

<Back

Please wait…

Launch balefire attack>

Steel Ranger Database codes>

Flower Berry Gardens documentation>

Omega Mountains documentation>

Guardian’s Clocktower documentation>

Stable 30 termination plans>

The Resistance Attack strategy>

<Back

Opening file.FlowerBerryGardensdocumentation.

Mist’s CLASSIFIED documentation: Flower Berry Gardens Documentation

Flower Berry Gardens, the once peaceful place turned into a blood bath of slaughter, hate and guilt. I have regretted our mission there; most of my fellow soldiers were killed there. I was the only one left. And the only one who got lucky.

Mist.

<Back

Please wait…

Launch balefire attack>

Steel Ranger Database codes>

Flower Berry Gardens documentation>

Omega Mountains documentation>

Guardian’s Clocktower documentation>

Stable 30 termination plans>

The Resistance Attack strategy>

<Back

Opening file.Stable30terminationplans.

Mist’s CLASSIFIED documentation: Stable 30 termination plans

Stable 30 is due for termination in two weeks’ time, therefore we can either fill the Stable with high level toxins for a quick and painless death, and if they are not willing, we will go in there and kill them all our way. My way. Stable 30 is not much use to us now, it’s been there decaying and gathering dust. Very few residents live within the Stable. They either escape or get killed by some hooligan who found a gun.

Mist.

<Back

Please wait…

Launch balefire attack>

Steel Ranger Database codes>

Flower Berry Gardens documentation>

Omega Mountains documentation>

Guardian’s Clocktower documentation>

Stable 30 termination plans>

The Resistance Attack strategy>

<Back

Please wait…

The Grand Pegasus Enclave: Main Database.

Actions:

Send out global order>

Send message>

CLASSIFIED>

<Back

Logging off…

After reading the Stable 30 termination plans, this made me so angry, so much fury built up in me. My home was going to be destroyed! I punched the desk in rage and let out a loud yell.

“If they lay ONE HOOF on my fucking home, I’ll FUCK them up so badly that not even Celestia would be able to save them!” I looked at Crystal and Dodge, now with tears growing in my eyes. “They’re going to kill them all.”

Crystal hugged me and I hugged her back tightly. “It’s okay Tornado, we’ll help you.”

“No way, I’ve had enough crawling into Stable’s!” Dodge turned away, “you’re both on your own for this, I am not helping.”

“Dodge, please. I beg you, if it was your home, I would have done the same for you.” I cried harder, knowing that all of the Ponies within the Stable were in danger. “If I lose my home, I lose nearly everything. I have a lot of things in there that belonged to my parents, I have a few good friends in there…I can’t just leave them.” He glanced at me and sighed as I say that.

“Okay, I’ll help you. But don’t think that I enjoy going into Stable’s.” Dodge came over to me and looked at me. “We still have to get to Manehattan. Don’t worry, we still have time. My guess is that, that document is no more than a few days old.”

“Wait, if this bunker…is abandoned, why has it got recently made files?” I sniffled, now beginning to calm down. I moved back towards the monitor and then looked around. “This isn’t abandoned, just empty.”

“So they could come back at any second?” Crystal looked around worriedly, “and you’ve just hacked into their major system.”

“Ayep!” I simply replied with a nod. Clanking hoofsteps were heard coming towards us. “Quick, get down!” I ducked underneath the desk, quickly pulling them both down with me. It was crushing me, but it was better than getting caught. I looked at my PipBuck and turned off the night-time light. For some reason it didn't turn off.

A Pony sat down at the desk; he had a white coat and a blue mane. His eyes were blue and he had a fearsome expression on his face.

“Good work out there on the field today men, you did the Enclave proud!” His voice boomed, I looked up at him. He was wearing a dark brown or maroon coat.

We stayed hidden as I peeked my head out, noticing him logging onto his computer. He sat back after a while and looked at his soldiers with a smirk.

“We have one week and five days until Stable 30’s termination, I hope you’re ready, because this is not going to be any easier than any other Stable. But we still have one more task at hoof, killing off all the Steel Ranger troops in Manehattan.” I had a feeling exactly who this was, he was Mist. The Pony who owned that terminal.

“SIR YES SIR!” The Enclave troops yelled. It echoed around the room and even inside the desk which made me flinch.

“Bring me back positive results, I don’t want failure. It is not an option. Now move out!” The sound of metal boots clanking was heard, as the Enclave troops left and took flight. Mist however stayed, and it was about time I talked to him.

I quickly pulled his chair, which knocked him onto his back. I pinned him down and looked at him.

“So you want to terminate my home?!” I punch him really hard around the face. But all he did was smirk, he head-butted me and I fell back and off the circular platform.

“Oh, how lovely a visitor.” He looked over towards Crystal and Dodge. “And I see you brought friends.” He grabs me by the neck with his wings. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you now.”

I couldn’t speak; the pressure on my throat was killing me. He leaned closer. I could spell his horrible breath, as every word left his mouth.

“Tell me.” He noticed my PipBuck, “another Stable Dweller huh? I haven’t seen a Stable Dweller Wanderer in a while. I thought they were killed off from the Wasteland.” He held the leg that had the device on and I tried to move away. “Such a beautiful thing.”

“Let him go!” Crystal screamed out, coming out and walking up to him slowly. “Do it!” Crystal walked up to him. “Who do you think you are?!”

“I’m Mist, current commander of The Grand Pegasus Enclave.” He grins evilly down at Crystal, “so I’d watch your mouth.”

“Crystal.” I coughed violently, as he let go and let me fall. “S-stay away from him.”

“Ooh, what a beautiful name.” Mist moved closer to Crystal. “To fit a beautiful mare…fits just fine. And what’s your name?!” He glanced at me.

“T-Tornado…Tornado Dash.” I coughed and spat out blood. I wasn’t one-hundred percent healed and getting strangled didn’t help at all. Each time I coughed, blood was spat out along with it.

“So Tornado, you hacked into my system?” He came down to me and got in my face. He looked calm right now.

“No, of course no-“ I was interrupted by a frightening shout. It made me jump and my ears even folded back.

“DON’T LIE TO ME!!”

“I’m not lying to you!” I screamed back in his face, then spitting blood in his face. “Enclave scum!”

“I know you did,” he wiped the blood off of his face. “It even says I last logged in today when I haven’t.” Oh shit. Where did it say that? It didn’t say it to me. Fuck, oh fuck I’m dead.

“Okay, I did. But that gives you no right to attack my home. If you stop now, I will go easy on you. Don’t make me do this the hard way.” I wasn’t scared of him; I was only scared of a slow death.

“Why don’t you fight me, then we’ll see.” He glared into my eyes with a grin, and I nodded. I knew I was going to regret what I was I’m getting myself into.

Dodge and Crystal came to my sides, lifting me up.

“Tornado, you can’t do this, please…he’s stronger than you.” Crystal warned me, shaking her head. “Please, please, please, don’t.”

“Yeah, you’re way out of your head buddy, just walk away.” Dodge said to me with a frown. “You can’t take him on!”

“Okay, time’s up!” Mist shoved them two aside and cracked his hooves, preparing for battle. I looked at him, also preparing myself.

“I know I may not win, but it’s worth a try. Now come on.” I lifted one hoof, telling him to come at me. I wanted him to try and attack first, because I had a plan…that just might work. He ran at me, but he was faster than I’d hoped. He swung a blow around my face which sent me down to the ground.

“Is that it?” He lifted me up, using his wings again and threw me at the wall. With that a loud yell of pain and agony was heard from me. I landed with a loud, echoing thud. Crystal and Dodge watched as he brutally beat me. He threw me across the floor and then ran to me, picking me up again and slamming me on the desk.

“I have something planned for you.” He was chocking me, putting more pressure on by the second. He raised an eyebrow and I actually managed to get out of the pin slightly, this allowed me to use my hindlegs to kick him in the soft part. The Abdomen. He flinched back with a loud grunt and I quickly bucked him up the jaw, which a loud pop was heard at that moment. He stumbled back and I punched him around the other side which sent him down.

He cracked his jaw back into place once down and smirked. He then swiftly pulled out a knife and swung at me.

“Hey, no weapons!” I grabbed his wing and snapped it, watching the knife fall. He screamed out in agony since the wings are the most sensitive part. I picked up his knife. “Any last words!?”

“Y-yeah!” He held his wing, punching the ground. Before looking up at me. “Back up.” He quickly got up, wielding another knife and stabbing me with it. I stood there silenced, Crystal let out a loud gasp and Dodge covered her eyes. I looked at the wound and then snarled, lifting up my knife in attempt to stab his eye, he caught my wing. Put I kept on pushing, he lost his grip and I lost my balance. The knife skimmed his eye as he closed it, making it make a large cut down his left eye. I fell and landed on my back.

“Tornado!” Crystal ran out to me, tearful in the eyes. I saw everything going dark and all the sound around me was muffled. I noticed the white Pony walking away, holding his eye with his good wing and then I looked back at the knife in me. Before everything went black.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Reinforced Strength Tier 1, this perk raises your endurance in combat by 25% and adding to that, making your melee combat 20% stronger but 10% less accurate. [This perk contains three tiers]

Current level: 7

Light.

A very bright light flashed before my eyes, and the sound of my own gasp was heard. As the blinding light died down, I saw the thick clouds of the Wasteland sky and the sickly green tint of daylight. I sat up, slightly, noticing that I was on my own. I seemed to be in some ruins, where tall, ancient buildings stood and where Pre War markets stood with their windows completely shattered. How the hell did I get here?

I noticed in the distance, a large, steel wall was seen. It looked like somepony was trying to block something, out of a city. And then I noticed, it was Manehattan. I noticed Crystal in the distance, carrying many scavenged goods in her medical bag. I saw a bright smile on her face when she faced me. I smiled back, but with a weak, sickened smile.

“Finally awake Tornado?” Those were the first words she said to me? For being unconscious for hours upon hours, that was a bit crap. But without showing any-form of sarcasm I just nodded lightly.

“How long was I out?” I asked, looking around the Wasteland.

“A few hours, me and Dodge carried you here. We literally just arrived here.” She commented, passing me some food and drink. The food was irradiated, I could tell by the color, but the water was purified. I picked it up, taking off the cap and sniffing at it.

“A few hours huh? Certainly doesn’t feel like it.” I responded, taking a sip of the water. The fresh taste of water rehydrated me instantly. “It feels like days.” I then took a big chug of the water and swallowed it in one gulp. I looked at Crystal.

“Look, you feel okay now, right?” Crystal looked at me with concern coming over to me.

“Of course I do, I needed the rest.” I got back onto my hooves, “I’m not hungry.” The radiation made it harder for me to eat anything. I’ve had radiation in me before and it is not a nice feeling. Crystal followed me as I trotted towards the large wall, blocking the city off from anypony outside of it.

“Dodge has gone to scavenge items; I sure hope he’s okay.” Crystal admitted, “We can’t exactly expect to survive out here when it’s just the two of us.”

“Crystal he’ll be fine, if he can keep a town safe, he can keep himself safe.” Well, not counting the moment when we found him outside of Stable 55, unconscious and badly battle damaged. As I edged closer to the wall, I noticed many Steel Ranger guards and also a familiar face there too. Elder Lockhart. Dodge also made a return, with no items scavenged. It’s as if where he went, Ponies had already grabbed what they could get.

“I couldn’t find anything.” Dodge frowned and sat onto the hard, dusty ground, “The only thing I found was some caps, but not many.”

“It’s better than nothing right?” I spoke optimistically. “Now come on, let’s get moving.” I trotted up to Elder Lockhart and the first thing he did was smile.

“Oh Celestia, thank heavens you’re alive. And I see you’ve found a friend. But you never told me your names.” Lockhart sighed slightly.

“I’m Tornado.” I spoke out, and looked at Crystal. “And these two are Crystal, and this is my new recruited gunslinger, Dodge.” Dodge nodded as a greeting.

“Well it is surely nice to meet you all. And that reminds me; apparently you all infiltrated Stable 55 and managed to get out alive.” He glanced at me especially.

“How do you know that?” I looked at him, “you weren’t there were you?”

“No, it’s been all over the radio. Don’t those PipBucks come with radios?” Lockhart looked confused slightly.

“Yeah they do. I just don’t listen to much radio.” I admitted, looking at my PipBuck, scrolling over to the radio.

“Well you should, the guy on the station is praising you and you certainly deserve it.” As Lockhart said that, I activated the radio on my PipBuck and began to listen to the stallion’s voice.

“Good afternoon everypony, how is everypony doing. Pretty shit right? Well I have some good news for you, our hero from Stable 30 and his posse managed to get through Stable 55 alive. Possibly one of the first and only Ponies to do so. Although, they had a clash with an Enclave commander and the Pony we worship got stabbed, I hope he’s holding up okay. And now for your daily dose of music, hit it!” With that, classical sounding music began to play on the radio.

In the meantime I stood there, completely shocked. How did they know what I was doing? I was about to faint from flattery. Crystal and Dodge were staring at me also shocked. The music played onwards and I began to drool slightly, this was normal for me as when I normally stare into one place, I lose control of my saliva glands. I suddenly snapped out of the trance and wiped my lip. I kept the radio on, the music was nice and I wouldn’t mind hearing more of that broadcaster.

“Tornado?” Crystal walked up to me, “they knew about us doing all this?” Crystal looked confused. The only thing I could reply with was a nod.

“So we’re heroes now?” Dodge came into my view, peeking his head towards me.

“I’m a hero, you’re my trusty sidekicks who wear tights.” They stared at me and then I chuckled; “only kidding, yes you are. Although, I wouldn’t call myself a hero.”

“Why not?” Dodge smirked, “I mean think about it, and you’ll get all the respect you deserve.”

“But, I just don’t see this world having heroes.” I began to trot up close to the scrap metal, fortress type wall. “Heroes do not exist. I’m just a wanderer looking for his sister.” Dodge sighed.

“Well okay then, be like that.” Dodge stood next to me. Crystal joined me also, getting closer to me.

“Tornado? Do you ever get that feeling where you think you like somepony?” Crystal asked me. I banged on the door, demanding the ability to enter.

“It comes and goes to me Crystal, why do you ask?” I stood back. “Would you let us in please?!” The guards above shook their heads and pointed to Lockhart as if to say, ‘go and ask him’. Crystal came back up next to me.

“Oh, no reason.” She looked around. “Just wanting to know, that’s all.” She admitted softly. I walked to Elder Lockhart once again.

“Would you please tell me why we’re not allowed to go into Manehattan?” I looked around myself. “It would be nice for you to open the gates.”

“I’m sorry, we cannot do that. Not yet. We just want to clear all the remaining Alicorn’s from the gate before letting anypony proceed onwards.” He admitted, “so the Enclave, are they really coming back for another strike?”

“I would imagine so the-“ I caught a glimpse of heavily armoured Enclave troops landing by the gate. “The Enclave are attacking, battle stations!” Lockhart yelled and turned to me. “Aid us in battle if you must, but if not stay down and don’t come out until it’s over.”

I prepared myself for battle, as I saw the Enclave troops landing and opening fire down at the Steel Rangers below. Minigun rounds were shot by Steel Rangers towards the Enclave, which clipped one of the Enclave troop’s wing, sending it tumbling down with a crash.

KABOOM!!

A loud explosion went off as an explosive strike came down; I hid behind cover and pulled Dodge and Crystal down with me.

“Crystal, you’re the medic, don’t engage into battle, me and Dodge will handle this.” My Combat Shotgun didn’t have enough range to take down any troops; I switched to my rifle and targeted an Enclave troop with S.A.T.S. I targeted the head and the right wing, hoping to hit one of them.

BANG!

My first shot missed, I quickly aimed for the wing and took the second shot.

BANG!!

Bullseye, the Enclave troop was flying out of control and landing with a crack, as her head was ripped from her body. Dodge managed to fire two shots into a troop, but he could only cripple it. Dodge took aim and shot the head, finishing the troop off with an execution. Another explosive strike was coming down from the troops above before the missiles hit the ground, sending out a shockwave and a loud explosion.

KABLAM, BOOM, KABOOOM!!!

Many Steel Ranger corpses filled the area, as few remained. More and more Enclave troops were coming down at us, firing their Assault Rifles and Laser Rifles in their battle saddles. I peeked over, manually targeting one. I shot them; blowing the head off and watching the corpse crash into their allies, causing them to all crash and die.

The Enclave began closing in on our position, Elder Lockhart, came out of cover. He was covered in blood was carrying a Minigun in a battle saddle.

“That is enough, the Enclave have no right to be here.” He spun his Minigun, “so stand down while you can.” Another injured Steel Ranger came out; her helmet had been ripped off. Her coat was white, her eyes a violet color and her mane a violet color with white streaks. Her horn was scared slightly but not broken.

“Yeah, Elder Lockhart will kill you all!” Dodge looked at her, admiring her bravery. “I don’t think you know your place, Enclave scum!” Dodge whispered to me.

“Maybe we could recruit her.” He whispered into my ear, a smirk appeared on my face.

“Well, I’ll do what I can, we need all the gun crazed Ponies we can get.” I chuckled to myself. Looking at her. The violet eyed Unicorn looked at us and recognized me and Crystal, as if we had seen her before, she came over to us.

“Hey, you two. I know you, back from the caves. My name’s Violet Moon, but you can call me Violet. I’ll tell you more about myself once we clear these Enclave troops away!” She turned to them, spinning her Minigun. “Ready Elder?”

“Ready!” Lockhart replied, as Violet jumped by his side again and opened fire what was a blizzard of bullets, The Enclave troops had no other option but to retreat as wave after wave of bullets, eviscerated their troops one by one. The remaining Enclave troops fled, Lockhart and Violet looked at each other and nodded.

“That was amazing!” Dodge called out to Violet, “I’ve never seen a mare do such things!” He walked up to Violet and grinned. Crystal was shocked at the comment, as if she felt like he was sexist.

“Well, thank you. You must be their new recruit, am I right?” Violet giggled lightly, “hey you two, come on over.” I stood up and pulled Crystal up with me. We walked over; Crystal was keeping her head down.

“So, your name’s Violet.” I held out my hoof with a smirk. “It is a pleasure to meet you.” She shook my hoof and then shook Crystal’s.

“Pleasure’s all mine.” She returned with. “Come on, there’s a camp nearby, while we wait for the city to open up its doors we’ll go there.” She began to trot away from the wall, me Crystal and Dodge kept up with her.

“So Violet, what’s the status of the battle at Manehattan?” Crystal asked curiously. She trotted ahead, I followed Crystal closely. I took a look around the barren landscape of the Wasteland, bridges decaying and broken and billboards collapsing.

“So far, we’re losing the fight. Alicorns have a lot of firepower; right now we’re barely holding one section of the city under control.” Violet replied, “If we lose Manehattan, we lose our last hope of defeating the Enclave.”

“Your Rangers got torn up back there!” I admitted, “The Enclave made you all look like a bunch of pussies with guns, if you want to win the fight, you need to think of plans!” Though I spoke harsh words, she understood what I meant.

“Look, I know, we’re trying everything. Nothing seems to work and now they’re trying to terminate Stables.” A tear came to my eye and I stood in front of her.

“Listen to me, you have to stop them. You can’t let them do that.” Crystal came by my side and Dodge stood by Violet.

“Tornado, calm down. Please.” Crystal looked at me with deep concern, “I promise you, we’ll save Stable 30. But right now, we have a job to do.”

“Crystal is right Tornado; we have to help the Rangers win the fight in Manehattan first.” Dodge sighed to himself. “If we don’t, the Wasteland will be in even more shit than it already is.”

“Okay, here’s the deal Tornado. If you help me and the Rangers hold back the Alicorn and Enclave threat from Manehattan, I promise you I will help you stop the Enclave from attacking your home.” Violet had a saddened expression.

“You promise me?” I looked at her, shocked that she would help me. “Pinkie promise?”

“Pinkie promise.” She hugged me in a tight embrace. “I know what it’s like to have your home taken from you.” The radio was still playing on my PipBuck, so I finally shut it off. When we broke away I sighed. I finally knew a Pony who had their home taken away.

When we reached the camp, a sign stated: Camp Steel.

I knew this place would be a Steel Ranger camp. Many dirty, ragged tents were around and the Steel Ranger troops would socialize with each other while waiting for some sort of attack upon the camp. I heard many talk about the steel wall over at Manehattan, wondering why no more Rangers were allowed to be sent in. Violet entered her tent, we followed in.

“Well it isn’t massive, but it is home for now.” She nodded and sat down on her stained bed. Crystal and Dodge sat down next to each other, while I remained stood up, looking around at the different items she owned. There were Hellhound claws and different types of guns and ammo shells.

“You collect ammo shells?” I asked, observing one of the crooked bent ones.

“Be careful with that. That’s the shell from when I killed my first Hellhound.” She instructed, I placed the shell down carefully with a nod.

“Well, you said you were going to tell us about yourself.” Dodge pointed out, “so go on, and tell us.” I walked over to Crystal and sat beside her, keeping my eyes on hers with a smile before looking up at Violet.

“Well, you all know my name. So it’s about time I tell you about myself, I was born and raised in the streets of Manehattan, but up until now the Alicorns raided the place and took everything. It’s been that way for ten years now and the Steel Rangers had been developing a plan to flush them out. That’s where I come in, I joined up just to kill some Alicorns, not because I wanted to or needed to, and I joined to kill the monsters who took my home from me.” She grew angry with tears in her eyes, she looked away.

“Go on, please tell us more.” Dodge insisted, I shook my head to Dodge.

“Dodge, give her time!” I glared at him, “stop being impatient.”

“Can you both not argue?!” Crystal exclaimed and put her hooves between us, looking at both of us.

“No, no, it’s alright, I’ll continue. Back when I joined The Steel Rangers, my special pony was raped and killed by Alicorns. I wish I stopped them, but I couldn’t.” She buried her head in her hooves and wiped her own tears away. “I wasn’t there for him when he needed me!” Dodge sat next to Violet and wrapped his arms around her, she hugged him back and he just rocked her left and right gently.

How Crystal and I did feel pity, we rolled our eyes to Dodge’s affection for her. It was too soon for him to be doing stuff like that. Crystal stood up and yawned; I looked up at her.

“Where are you going?” I whispered, “It’s still the afternoon.” I added, standing up onto my hooves.

“I’m going to take a walk; do you want to join me?” Crystal returned in a whispering tone. I nodded and she smiled slightly.

“Look, we are going for a walk. Is that okay with you?” Dodge nodded and I exited the tent and Crystal followed. We began to walk out of the camp, and I sighed softly to myself.

“Tornado, have you ever dated a Pony?” She spoke in a shaky accent. Not incredibly shaky, but shaky. “Back at the Stable of course.”

“I haven’t. No, I was alone in most of my Stable life. Hardly any friends and no family.” I sighed softly and stopped, turning to face her. “What about you?”

“Well, I had one. Had though, he’s gone now.” Crystal admitted, looking away slightly. I noticed her head dipping downwards slowly. I moved closer to her slightly, my ears going down as hers did.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” I stopped, placing a hoof on her shoulder and turning her to me. I looked at her with a smile. “I’m sure you’ll find the Pony you deserve soon, and who knows, maybe he could travel with us.” I showed a grin, showing my teeth slightly. She hugged me, closing her eyes.

“Thank you Tornado, you’re the greatest friend I’ve ever known.” This made me blush…big time. Hearing those words leave a Pony's mouth flattered me; I felt the heat rushing to my cheeks so quickly before my cheeks were as hot as an oven.

“Hey, it’s no problem Crystal. You’re mine too!” I stroked her mane, before feeling a bullet just skim my mane with a loud echo from the gun, quickly breaking away from her and placing my Combat Shotgun into my battle saddle.

Crystal fell back, staring up at me before getting onto her hooves. “Where did that come from!?” Another bullet flung at us, just missing my head yet again. I ducked down quickly and looked around frantically. Another bullet swerved into the ground, as the echoing booms of gunfire was heard in the distance. I squinted my eyes, noticing a small group of Raiders in the distance. The sniper walking up to us and firing each shot. The next bullet aimed for Crystal, nearly hitting her in the hoof. She quickly rolled and stood up onto her hooves.

“Crystal, they’re Raiders. Get down!” I quickly yanked her down, getting on top of her to cover her from the gunfire. I pulled out a pistol, using my wings and aiming down the rusty site. I fired a shot carefully; they were too far for S.A.T.S. to work. The bullet missed them.

“I missed, again!” A distant voice hissed. “And so did you!” I saw the Raider placing a bullet into his barrel, at this moment I could kill him. I aimed my sights up with his head before firing a bullet at his head.

BANG!!

He fell back with blood gushing from the centre of his forehead, the Raiders acknowledged the Raider's death before looking back at us and beginning to charge. I got off of Crystal, helping her up and looking at her frantically.

“We have to go, now!” I placed my pistol in my saddle bag before taking flight and lifting Crystal off of the ground. The weight was heavier than I thought, carrying a Pony wasn’t easy. I fought through the weight and flew back; bullets came up at me like a blizzard and chipping some feathers off of my wings. Tried to dodge the bullets, evading them. Well, most of them.

Crystal glanced at them, as a bullet nearly took her horn off. She let out a shriek as the bullet barely missed her head, however it did leave a small mark of her horn, a chip if anything. She looked up at me as another blizzard of bullets came up at us. I quickly spun to evade, it worked. I quickly darted down back to the camp, what I just did wasn’t smart. I just lured a whole group of Raiders to the camp. I lifted Crystal onto my back as I prepared myself for landing; I landed onto my hooves as Crystal got off of my back.

“Are you okay?” I looked at Crystal, catching my breath back. Unfortunately she shook her head as I noticed the chip on her horn. It wasn’t big, but it was visible. “Does it hurt?” I took a closer look at it, noticing that it was deeper than I thought. It hit the core. She could still cast magic, but the core was the painful part.

“It’s fine, I’ll be alright!” Crystal held her horn before moving away and holding it. She hissed from the agony. “Really, I’ll be alright.”

“Well okay, but Crystal. Talk to me if you need anything.” I found it useless to argue with her, so I began walking back towards the tent that Violet and Dodge were in, I hope they didn’t get down to business. I doubt they would have, they barely know each other.

I entered the tent to see Dodge sitting with Violet, before their attention centred to me and Crystal. I walked in, looking at them and frowning.

“We have to go, now!” I exclaimed, lifting Dodge to his hooves. He stared at me completely clueless of what was happened at this moment in time.

“What are you talking about?! We’ve just got here!” Dodge answered with. He stared at Violet, “Violet, we surely can’t leave yet, tell them!”

“No, both of you listen to me. Crystal and I got into some trouble with Raiders and now they’re on their way here!” I looked around in panic. Any second they could be here. I quickly pulled Violet to her hooves and looked at them both.

“You brought them here?! Are you insane?!” Violet exclaimed, “we are not leaving, we need to kill them, if it’s a small group then it won’t be too hard. There are many Rangers here, we can take them.” Violet and I exited the tent, noticing a whole group of Raiders. This time the group contained a larger number than before.

“Violet, if the Rangers can fight them, then we have to get into the city. Tell Elder Lockhart to let us in, we’re going to help them clear the entrance to the city!” I began to trot back towards Manehattan, Crystal and Dodge following. Violet fell behind, unsure of what to do. She finally came to the decision to follow us.

As we ran away, gunfire was heard behind us. This made me feel nothing but guilt, leaving them on their own. But they’re Steel Rangers, they’re up against Raiders. It shouldn’t be too hard for them. I hope.

BRWRWRWRWRWRWRRW!!!

Thunder was above us, the sky was getting darker as the clouds thickened. The thunder clapped louder, I could feel the vibrations in the ground as the claps of thunder went off. I kept trotting, feeling the rain begin to come down onto us.

“We have to find shelter.” I stated. I found a cave and squeezed into the entrance, before falling onto the floor. I helped myself up. “In here, we should wait here until the storm calms down.” The thunder and gunfire in the distance continued going off as the sound of heavy rainfall was heard.

Violet entered first, looking around the cave before releasing a huff in displeasure. Crystal entered next and Dodge last. I activated the light on my PipBuck which lit up the small cave with a green light.

“We just need to wait it out, right?” Dodge sounded unsure, “If Raiders find us, then we’re dead. No escaping, instant death.” He moaned to himself. He shot me a look and walked up to me.

“Is there a problem?” I questioned, looking into his eyes. He just stared at me, the light reflecting off of his pupil.

“Yes, we’re going to die if we’re not lucky, so if we survive this, you’ll be lucky!” Dodge seemed angry. Possibly because I trapped us in a cave that doesn’t have any other way out. Yeah, that’s probably why.

“Well, it’s better than sitting out in the rain isn’t it?” I spoke calmly before sitting down, “I’m going to sleep, if you’re not then feel free to stay up. I do not recommend any of you leave during the storm, it is dangerous out there.” I laid myself down, keeping the light on just in case I wake up early. I closed my eyes slowly and fell asleep, waiting for the storm to pass.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Up Close and Personal, your skill with shotguns has gone up by 20% but your strength with melee weapons has been reduced by 5%

Current level: 8

The following day, the storm had passed. I awoke in the same place, in the same cave from the previous day. I noticed all of my companions asleep on the ground too; none of them had left the cave. It was time to move onto Manehattan and assist the Rangers at battle. I got onto my hooves, turning off the PipBuck’s light before shaking all of my companions awake one by one.

Once they were all awake, I checked the outside world noticing the storm had passed. I exited the cave and was back out onto the Wasteland.

“Come on, the coast is clear.” I commented before trotting my way back to the Manehattan wall. They all followed closely with Violet trotting ahead of all of us. She obviously wanted to get back before the Alicorn’s took over Manehattan. When we reached Manehattan, the security had doubled. This wasn’t a good sign; this showed that The Steel Rangers were losing the fight.

I trotted myself up to Elder Lockhart, with the others following as I trotted alongside Violet. The gate looked dinted slightly, as the Rangers had built some defences such as exterior walls to the wall itself.

“Lockhart!” Violet called out, Lockhart turned to face the mare before walking up to her and preventing her from walking any closer to the wall.

“I’m sorry Violet, you and your friends cannot pass this wall. It’s too dangerous!” He called back to her and looked towards me. “I’m sorry.”

“Why not?” Crystal asked, “I mean sure they might have doubled in forces, but we want to help!”

“Yeah, we want to help y’all in battle!” Dodge smiled reassuringly, “give us the chance to help your Rangers!” Dodge looked at them with a hopeful look. Lockhart shook his head in disagreement.

“No, I can’t risk the lives of travellers for my Rangers. It’s too dangerous; you’ll die as soon as you enter.” He turned away to face his Steel Rangers giving them a nod to seal the entrance as quickly as possible. Hope was running dry and I had no choice but to intervene and try and convince him myself.

“Lockhart, if you don’t let us pass, millions of Rangers will die. This Wasteland will become even more dangerous than it was. Please, you have to let us passed.” I looked at him, using the last bit of hope I had left. I saw a smile quiver onto his face, but it quickly disappeared and then he rotated himself to look at me showing pity.

“Oh alright, but if you die, do not blame me. You only have yourself to blame for your death.” He turned back to his Rangers, shaking his head at them. This sent the message to them that they shouldn’t seal the gate…yet. As the gate began to lift, my companions and I began to trot towards the lifting gate. The sound it made was screeching, I felt it scrape against the inside of my ears before crawling under the small gap, into the city. Shit was about to get real.

As my vision was filled with a city under conflict, I saw buildings enlightened by flames and many corpses filling the hell ridden streets of Manehattan. Many missiles were fired from Alicorns higher in buildings. Rangers were under heavy fire, as some sniped the Alicorns from the buildings, blowing their heads off as they did. Each Alicorn fell, but with each life taken, more joined in the fight.

A Steel Ranger shoved us all down to cover as a missile hit the very spot where we were all standing, leaving a loud bang with a fiery blaze and smoke. The Ranger looked at us with an alarming look.

“What are you all doing here!?” The Steel Ranger peeked over the large piece of metal. Bullet after bullet pinged off of the burnt metal surface, as a bullet just misses the Rangers head.

“We got sent in by Lockhart, we’re here to help!” Dodge exclaimed, as a bullet flew into the ground, sending a tiny piece of rubble upwards. The sound of gunfire grew louder as the Alicorn threat closed in onto us.

“Well just one thing. Try not to get yourself killed!” The Ranger responded to Dodge, looking at us all. “Good luck!” The Steel Ranger quickly moved out, getting shot into the head. They collapsed with a great thud before blood poured out of the gaping hole within the helmet. I stared in shock and Violet even turned away cringing.

“We have to go, now!” I shouted, before charging over to a destroyed building and taking cover by the wall. A bullet storm came down at us, the overs swiftly made it across taking cover also.

“Tornado, what do we do!?” Crystal looked at me frantically as an explosion was heard outside. I felt the floor shake from the shockwave. I collapsed and quickly stood myself up and aimed my Combat Shotgun. They were too far away; I quickly switched to my rifle and entered S.A.T.S. targeting the body and the right fore-leg of one of the Alicorns in the upper levels of the opposite building.

BLAM, BANG!!

“We fight them, stick to cover. Don’t expose yourself for too long, just a quick peek and quickly hide.” They all nodded in a reply. I checked around the cover, before a bullet swerved and missed my head.

“We can’t just charge in, I’ll think of a tactic.” Violet got down onto the ground. “And we can’t just stay here; it’ll be easier for them to pin us down.” A scream of agony was heard within the sound of gunfire from one of the Rangers.

“And your plan is?” Crystal turned to Violet, “would you mind telling us?” She shot her a look with an angry expression. “We obviously don’t have much time, do we?!” An explosion erupted just feet away from me.

KABOOM!!

I felt the wall crack, again collapsing onto my front letting out a groan. Dodge came to my aid and looked at Violet with a worried expression.

“Violet, we have to move. Otherwise this building is going to come down on top of us.” Dodge lifted me onto my hooves, looking into my eyes with a smile. A smear of ash was on his cheek. “Hey, you alright partner?” I gave him a light nod.

“You see that wreckage over there? Go there, now, other Rangers are there. They’ll be able to cover us.” Violet prepared herself for the charge, as she lifted herself onto her hooves. Her armor was now slightly cracked, but it wasn’t too damaged.

“Ready on your go.” I responded, evading a bullet that aimed straight for my head. It landed with a loud crack as it hit the rubble of the building. I felt the building above me shake yet again, as dust fell onto me. I let out a loud cough, but it was unheard over the roaring gunfire.

We all charged for the wreckage, the Alicorns sending a hellfire of bullets down onto us from rage. I dived for the wreckage, but was unlucky. A bullet caught my flank before I fell with a yelp. It was only my flank, so I could still walk though it did sting.

“Tornado?!” Crystal quickly took cover, as she sat down and she holds me and I look up at her, hissing in pain. “Your flank!” This made me blush. Only because she was looking at my flank.

“I’ll be fine; it’s just a flesh wound.” I stood up, feeling an intense burning stinging pain. I looked through a gap, watching the Alicorns rain hell upon the Steel Rangers below them. A large wave of explosive energy boomed at their place.

“Is he okay?” Dodge came to my side, looking at my wound. I quickly turned away, blushing even darker as another Pony stared at my flank. They both frowned and laughed lightly.

“Guys we have trouble! Alicorn threat, twelve o’clock!” Violet exclaimed as she spun her Minigun at the oncoming forces. Some of the Alicorns fell in a yelp of pain, some of the bigger and more heavily armored ones charged through as the bullets pinged off of their thick armor. I attended Violet’s side, taking a couple of shots with my rifle. My shots weren’t strong enough.

“Crystal, stay here!” Dodge sat Crystal down behind cover, where she couldn’t be shot or seen. He charged ahead, lifting his revolver into his jaws. He pulled out some modified rounds of his; he clearly made these during the storm while we were asleep. From the printing, they were incendiary rounds. He placed each bullet in one by one, as he took cover behind a large stone wall.

“Dodge, no!” I reached out, Violet pulled me back. I tried to break through her strong grip, but she kept pulling me back. She really tried hard to prevent me from going to him.

“No, let him handle this!” As she said that, Dodge fired a shot at one of the slightly bigger ones, which caused the Alicorns coat to enlighten. The flames danced around its coat, as it began to run around frantically before crashing into a building and collapsing. Dead.

“C’mon guys, over here!” Dodge called over as a large missile came down from above. It landed by Dodge causing him to get thrown backwards slightly.

KABLAMO!!

He landed onto his back, just by the wall. His face was covered in gunpowder and he coughed violently, before waving his hoof as a sign of saying he was okay. Violet rushed over to him, I followed out and Crystal followed behind me.

“This was a huge mistake!” Crystal pointed out, following me over to the collapsing building to where Dodge was. “We should never have come here!” I turned and stopped Crystal as gunfire came down on us. Violet reached Dodge and helped him up. I heard her echoing calls through the gunfire, only just.

“Listen to me Crystal; if you give up now, we abandon everything. Just like I said, if we give up, the Wasteland will become a hell of a lot more dangerous.” I held her close to me, looking deeper in. Violet’s call snapped me out of the daze before I nodded and quickly ran over. Crystal followed me quickly as I dived down.

“How many are we talking?” Crystal asked, taking a peek to see any Alicorns. Some more marching from the street opposite levitated some heavy weapons into the air. The road they came from had a dry fountain of the two rulers, Celestia and Luna. Obviously built in Pre-War times. The sunlight was on our side though; the sunlight blinded the vision of the Alicorns ahead of us. This gave us an advantage.

“Five or six, all blinded by sunlight. Now’s our chance!” Violet made sure that Dodge was on his hooves for the fight. She nodded to Dodge. “Fire the shot.”

KABLAM!

Dodge fired an incendiary shot at an Alicorn, setting it on fire completely. I watched the flames burn away the sickly yellow coat of the Alicorn, as entered S.A.T.S. and aimed for the head and torso of the one on the right.

BANG! BANG!

I sent two spinning shots into the Alicorn, knocking it down. Both its leg was crippled along with its head. The bullet didn’t manage to hit the brain, but it dug far enough to inflict pain upon it. I saw the Alicorns face turn from a fierce grin, so a painful cringe in a matter of seconds after firing. The Steel Rangers around us fell with a loud thud, as some of the others cowered behind the cover that was available to them. Crystal levitated her Assault Rifle and opened fire on some of the other forces that were blinded by the light. She crippled two and as usual, Dodge finished them off.

“Area clear!” A Ranger that sounded like a mare boomed, before trotting up to me and my companions. I could tell by her soft trots she was grateful in some way from how we helped. She stopped by us all. “You four, I’d like to thank you for the help in battle.”

“Hey, it’s no problem. We’re here to help.” I responded with a smile on my face, “is there anything else we can do?” I asked, looking around at the Alicorn corpses that surrounded us. Massive holes were in the ground from the explosions and blood was sprayed across the battlefield like a slaughterhouse.

“Well other than aiding us in battle, no. We just need to push the Alicorns back and if we can, kick them out of the city.” But hope was far from reach. She glanced back at her soldiers and let out a deep sigh.

“You Steel Rangers are stronger than that, no offense, but I don’t think you’re giving it your best.” Crystal suddenly joined in the conversation, walking up next to me. “Give them your best!”

“As much as we want to we can’t risk Ranger forces, if we put too many at risk, we won’t be able to win our war with the Enclave!” The Steel Ranger responded with a stern tone to her hissing accent. She turned her attention to Violet, the Steel Ranger we took with us. “So, Violet these are your friends?”

“I’d say so, I’ve made a deal with them. As long as they hold their end of the bargain, I’ll hold mine.” Violet shot a look at her ally. She walked up to the mare in heavy armor, just like hers and stared into the visor. “And I’ll make sure they keep their end of the bargain, they’re here to help, not kill us.”

“Whatever Violet, all I can say is, we’re watching you. All of you!” The mare across from Violet exclaimed at the top of her lungs before trotting back to her Steel Ranger allies. The fight was over – for now. It was only a matter of time until those Alicorn bastards would attack us again; we had time to travel further into the city before an ambush began yet again.

I began to walk down the street where the last wave of Alicorns came from; I drew my attention to the Pre-War fountain. How its elegance stood out, it didn’t fit in with the destroyed city around it. I observed it closer, looking at the amount of detail along with ashes that was on it. I found an audio tape laying within the area to where the water was meant to be, I downloaded it onto my PipBuck and began to play it. A peculiar sounding voice was heard as I began playing it, it sounded dry as if it was a ghoul.

“To anypony who discovers this message I have something important to say. The fountain before you is a relic from Pre-War times, it cannot be knocked down. It is sacred, it is old. It’s something so valuable to me. Not just to me, but many others too. It has made everypony here think that peace could one day be with us, we all know it won’t - but it lets us imagine.”

The audio file ended there, I let out a small chuckle in thinking that the fountain in front of me was sacred. I snickered slightly and suddenly felt a punch go into the back of my head. I rotated my head around, noticing Violet shaking her head at me. After this I suddenly quieted down, but seriously how could anything like this be sacred? It’s only two Alicorns which interlock in flight, one with a horn missing and the other with no head. It was already damaged enough.

“Don’t mock him for what he believes in.” Violet looked at me sternly. I looked shocked from the sudden accusation, but I took it lightly.

As we continued down the road, we were on full alert. Alicorns could attack from anywhere, but as I thought of it, the inevitable happened. Another ambush came onto us, a battle cry from one of the buildings was heard as a missile came our way at a high speed.

“Spread out!” I bellowed before quickly running away. As I said that, my companions and I spread out quickly, but as the missile hit the floor. I was sent forward, slamming into a huge pile of rubble. I picked myself up, noticing Crystal knocked out cold and Violet bleeding from her left hind leg. Dodge seemed okay, coming out to me and quickly running across as another missile was launched towards him.

KABOOM!!

The explosion echoed through the streets, Dodge came to my aid. His lips moved, but the gunfire made it impossible to hear his voice over the ruckus. I looked at him slightly confused, as my ears began to ring from all the attack outside the isolated building. When the noise finally calmed down, I could hear him - just.

“We have to go!” I heard his voice speak in a shaky tone, he pulled me by the hoof and I pulled from it. He looked at me with a shocked expression. I looked at him, feeling a stinging scar on my cheek from the rubble.

“No, not without them!” I quickly charged towards the two bodies in the building opposite us. As soon as I got onto the road, the gunfire was shot down towards us where one bullet slashed the back of my right hind leg. I fell over with a yelp, landing onto a torn, burnt, red carpet face first. The scar on my cheek had a severe stinging sensation. The gash on the back of my leg burned like if it has been set on fire, I looked at the wound that was gushing with blood before getting back onto my hooves.

I encountered the two bodies of the mares, both unconscious now. I wasn’t going to let them die. I looked towards Dodge, looking through the blizzard of shrapnel flying across the road that divided the two buildings, seeing him preparing to run across. I shook my head, living Crystal onto my back using my head. I felt her weight pushing down on me, before struggling to lift Violet onto my back. I was grunting from the sheer pressure that was being placed onto me.

I needed him to cover me, but I knew he wouldn’t risk his life for me. Or them. He was good in combat, yes, but selfish in some aspects. I showed him a look that represented begging, I needed him to do this for me. As I trotted towards the weak, cracked arch to peek out onto the battlefield, another storm of bullets came my way as I quickly took cover behind the wall.

“Dodge, please. Just cover me!” I looked at him, hoping he would agree to watch my back while I ran for cover. “It’s not just one life, it’s three lives!” Another missile headed down the street at a lightning fast speed, trailing a thick, black smoke behind it before colliding with a wall.

KABANG!!

Another ringing sound returned to my ears, they were taking as much of a beating as the city itself. I heard heavy hoofsteps banging on the cracked asphalt of the roads, looking towards Dodge for one final attempt to convince him to cover me. We weren’t going to survive if he didn’t. None of us. Another missile was fired our way, this time landing closer to me. This made me shake slightly and nearly fall over with a powerful thud, luckily I didn’t collapse and I managed to keep the two unconscious mares on my back.

“Okay, I’ll help. But if I die, that’s your fault!” He seemed to only care about himself and himself only at times like these, but I still believe he’s a caring stallion. He shot two shots towards some of the Alicorns marching down the street towards us.

“I’d say that’s a deal!” I agreed, preparing to leave the building of rubble. I felt the building shake around me as if it was about to collapse, time was running short at this point. I quickly charged out, quickly hid behind a chipped, stone barrier. Bullets flew down at me, Dodge followed, firing a few incendiary shots with his Revolver. He sat next to me as I heard the screams of agony from the burning Alicorns.

“I’ll tell you when you’re clear to go.” Dodge peeked over, chomping down on the Revolver in his mouth before taking aim and firing with another blazing bullet that left a trail of flame. The bullet missed the Alicorn he aimed for. He took aim yet again and took the shot.

BANG!

The bullet hit the eye of the Alicorn, making the eye explode with a frenzy of blood before setting on fire and burning the wound. The Alicorn fell to the ground and squirmed in pain while patting the flame within the eyehole. I watched it burn in a fire blaze, it spread around its body while the Alicorn squirmed on the floor before it became completely lifeless.

The other Alicorns began to send a storm of bullets our way, I quickly ducked behind cover as bits of the barrier chipped off of the top, and Dodge took a few blind shots. I placed the two mares down, having no choice but to attack them myself. I quickly peeked over, entering S.A.T.S. I targeted all four limbs of the nearest Alicorn before exiting S.A.T.S. to cause the damage.

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!!

I quickly reloaded my Combat Shotgun as I took those shots; the Alicorn was close to death. Because of this, I decided not to use S.A.T.S. I charged ahead, engaging in combat, firing my Shotgun and exploding the limbs off of the Alicorn. Blood splashed into my face and the two front limbs flung off in different directions. I quickly ducked back behind cover with the two mares and Dodge. I lifted the mares back onto my back and stood up, the numbers of Alicorns slowly decreased as Dodge burned each of them one by one with his incendiary shots. The remaining ones fled to get help, as Dodge chased them about half way.

I followed him slowly as I carried the mares on my back, groaning slightly. The weight was too much, but I couldn’t give up. He stood still, staring down the road where the Alicorns fled. I found myself out of breath already, I felt like I was going to drop dead - I sure hope I wasn’t.

As we continued through the disturbed city of Manehattan, the streets lay ruined from battle. Skeletal corpses lay wasted within some of the buildings, gathering dust and settling into the dirt. The sight was horrific; the poor tortured souls that were in direct contact with the Megaspell, ones who were born before me. I couldn’t help but feel pity for them.

We came onto a large stretch of road with multiple other roads, crossroads. The buildings around us were tall and were ready to just collapse. Was there any hope for this city? There were more Alicorns than Steel Rangers, but there was just a small amount of hope left for it - I wasn’t going to let it run dry.

I entered the tallest building here, The Steel Spire. It was one of the only standing buildings. It had a slender look to it, the stone that it was made of, cracked and broken. The top part of it, the circular dish at the top had some of the windows cracked. It was abandoned, which was unfortunate. But also fortunate for us, no Alicorns yet.

“We’ll stay here.” I spoke, walking up to the elevator at the end of the room. The doors were a dirty maroon color, with a mysterious pattern upon the door. The button glowed a tangerine color as the sound of movement was echoing through the building - and also the sound of rubble cracking.

“Sounds like a plan Tornado, but for how long?” He glanced at me, “the Alicorn’s will find us, I know it.” As the elevator doors opened, I walked in while carrying the mares on my back. I noticed the elevator’s light was flickering violently, the circular bulb seemed cracked and blood stained slightly. I also noticed blood along the walls and floor as if a Pony was dragged in here and finished off with a bullet to the head.

“It should only take a day for them to get back on their hooves, trust me on that.” I prodded the button, watching the elevator doors close. I felt the mechanism below push the elevator we were in upwards slowly; the flickering light was annoying me. I reached into my bag, revealing the pistol before shooting the bulb.

“Celestia dammit!” Dodge backed into the wall as the shot went off. I activated the light on my PipBuck which lit up the elevator. “You didn’t have to do that, Torn.” I saw the light sparkle off of his eyes as he glared at me.

“Well, would you rather have a flickering light?” Dodge remained silent as those words left my mouth. The doors opened as we reached the top floor, letting a ping noise out. I exited the elevator, instantly noticing the view of the Wasteland from the windows. We were close to the thick, dark clouds above and the sound of the gale force winds were heard outside. Also the sound of gunfire was heard from the streets below.

I walked down some uneven steps, nearly falling a couple of times before reaching a living room area. I placed Violet and Crystal down onto a rugged, red carpet with a similar pattern on it to the elevator. The carpet was slightly tainted with blood and Dodge trotted towards the window to look at the disgusting view of the Wasteland.

“It’s hard to believe that all this used to be peaceful.” I heard Dodge mumble to himself. I walked up to Dodge, looking at him with a slightly confused look. I then myself, looking out into the Wasteland, feeling what he felt.

“Yeah, all of this used to be a land full of happiness and harmony. But now, all that has gone and it’s like as if it never existed in the first place.” I simply responded, I looked at him with a slightly saddened look. “Look, I’m going to help the Rangers at battle.” I began to head towards the elevator, noticing him following me.

“I’m coming to.” I abruptly stopped hearing those words, before rotating towards him and walking up to him. “If you’re going out there, you need help.”

“No, somepony has to stay here and guard them,” I didn’t want to leave them both. “If they die, what’s the point of us living?” He walked into the elevator, just looking at him. He followed me, but I blocked the doorway.

“I’m going with you.” I saw an angered expression come onto his face; I shook my head lightly, letting out a sigh. “You need help Tornado.”

“No, I’m sorry.” At that moment, I felt him yank me out, shoving me to the wall. He made me stand on my two hind legs, holding me in a strong pin. I just stared at him expressionless, no anger, and no fear...just nothing.

“You can’t just leave, what happens if you die out there?!” His anger was enraging within him. I tried to wiggle my way out of the pin. I couldn’t, he was too strong for me.

“Look, I’ll be fine I promise you. It’s either me or you. But I know you won’t, you care about what happens to others but you’re not a risky Pony.” He released me with a sigh, I plopped back onto all four hooves. “I’m sorry Dodge, I’m so sorry.” I walked into before pressing the button.

As the doors closed with a screech, I saw him just staring at me with a frown before the gap was sealed by the doors. I felt the elevator dropping before looking at the bloodstained floor with a frown of my own. I promised the Rangers something, and it was a promise I needed to deliver. Even if it means giving my own life.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Reinforced Strength Tier 2, huzzah! Your resistance against explosive damage has been increased by 20% and this also makes your limbs stronger too! So now it takes more than just one direct explosive hit to cripple you!

Current level: 9

Risk.

I was taking a risk for my companions, I was willing to go down and fight without them. With the two mares unconscious and Dodge and I being the only ones conscious, I had no choice but to trust him with them. This also gave me no choice about going back down onto the streets of Manehattan.

As the elevator reached the bottom of the shaft, the doors opened yet again with a screech before I exited the small box like room. I saw the ravaged streets of the city as I exited out of the doors, noticing how the sun was beginning to set. Some rubble from a surrounding building fell from the top, slamming down onto to the ground and breaking apart. No Rangers were nearby either. I was alone.

As I wandered down a different street, filled with piles of rubble and collapsed, steel segments that make the buildings frame, I found two Steel Rangers. One was on the floor, with a massive open wound inside the abdomen of the armor. As I got closer, I noticed there were many bullet holes, showing me that they were shot by a shotgun spread. I noticed a sobbing noise coming from the Ranger across from the wounded soldier.

I decided to go to the Ranger, this one was a mare. She was sobbing silently. I just stared at the body, feeling nothing but pity for her.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I said in a calm tone, looking down at the dead Ranger below. “I know how it feels to lose somepony close to you.”

“He was my brother, he was the only part of family I had left and now he’s gone. If you truly know how it feels, tell me what happened to your family.” The mare Ranger spoke, her voice sounded depressive and low. I just kept staring at the bloody corpse.

“I lost my parents, and my sister was taken from me, who is now somewhere out in the Wastes, and is nowhere to be found. Yet - I just hope I find her soon, she’s the only bit of family I have left.” I turned my full attention to the Steel Ranger next to me. She did the same to me.

“I’m so sorry; I sure hope you find your sister. It’d be horrible for you to go through what I’ve been through, especially when you haven’t seen her for years.” The Steel Ranger hugged me gently, making sure the heavy plated armor didn’t crush me.

“Thank you.” I simply replied, grateful of her concern. “Again, I’m sorry for your loss.” She turned away from me to go back to mourning her brother’s body. She sounded like her emotions were breaking down.

“It’s not your fault, I am just glad somepony has a heart out here. It’s not every day that I see a Pony like you, who shows respect for those who are upset.” She responded before sobbing quietly, her helmet making it echo slightly. I shook my head feeling pity for her, before beginning to walk down the street.

As I passed through an archway, I entered a building of what appeared to be a bank. All the stalls and stairways were blocked by rubble and massive, gaping holes were in the ceilings which allowed the sunlight seep through. There were a few corpses beneath the rubble, new ones too - this meant that the ceiling had collapsed recently. Maybe from an attack?

I saw two Alicorns on the balcony opposite me; I quickly took cover behind a large piece of rubble as I heard their yells of command. Calling for forces and orders of attack. I felt a sniper bullet shoot passed me and onto the ground.

“Oh shit!!” I yelled, quickly taking a peek to see if there were anymore. “Oh this isn’t good.” There were now five Alicorns on the balcony. I quickly hid back behind cover, readying myself for combat. My Combat Shotgun couldn’t hit them from here. I quickly swapped to my rifle, and entered S.A.T.S. it was a small percentage, but I do have a chance of hitting them. I targeted the chest of the nearest one before releasing a shot.

BANG!!

At that moment, I heard the bullet hit the stone wall. This indicated that I had missed, I peeked round, seeing a small bullet hole. It was way off, nowhere near on target. I had no choice but to move closer and risk my life even more. Well it was what I was here to do, and it’s what I’m going to do. I quickly darted for a pillar, before taking cover behind it. I took aim with S.A.T.S. and had more of a chance of hitting the target. I targeted the same area and shot my Rifle.

BANG, BANG, BANG!!

All two out of three shots hit the target, making it flinch in pain. I saw the blood draw from the chest as it did and splat onto the wall slightly as well as the floor.

I aimed manually and sent another had, which ripped the Alicorn’s head off. It fell back in a spray of blood as the others rained hail upon me with their ammo. Bullets flew past my face, some just missing and some hitting the marble ground and walls. I reloaded my rifle quickly and then aimed around again, firing two more shots from my battle saddle, hoping that they would hit some of the others. I heard a few yelps as I took cover yet again; this indicated that I had hit my target.

“Come out of hiding little Pegasus, your fate is sealed!” I heard one of the Alicorns burst out with a hiss. This made me tremble - the thought of what was going through their minds was cringe worthy. I would imagine they would think of torturing me in unbearable ways, ways that I would never forget. Like if the rest of my life was one big aftermath.

I refused to show my face, before taking a few breaths and then engaging into S.A.T.S. and targeting the one closest to me twice and the one behind it once. All three selections in the head.

BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!!

Both shots from the first target hit, knocking them back with a stunning blow. The third and final shot just missed the Alicorn by a millimetre. This gave me a chance to make a move - I quickly moved ahead while shots were sprayed down at me. I quickly hid behind the counter, ducking my head low avoiding all the shots. I had a chance to fly up onto the balconies, but my wings weren’t exactly in the greatest of conditions. It was worth a try.

I quickly swapped my weapon to the Combat Shotgun, before taking off and flying towards the remaining Alicorns and spraying the shells at the. I saw the shells contact with the skin, making it ripple and burst. I knocked the two I targeted down with a blast of blood, then tackling the final two and blowing their faces off. I had no regret from what I did, in fact I felt more proud than ashamed of brutally slaying those last two Alicorns.

As I wandered down the thin corridor, I felt sick in the stomach. This might have been part of the withdrawal from the Visionary Water. I walked towards the end and collapsed into the corner, before reaching into my bag and yanking out a bottle of the liquid. Just like the Ghoul said, only take small sips per dose. I took a small sip from the water, before gulping it down and placing the cap back onto the top.

A bright flash of light came before my eyes, as it faded out, the Equestria before the Megaspells came into view. It was nice to see the beautiful sight of the Equestria before this whole war started. I found myself in a different location this time - this time I was in the exact same spot as last time; the hallways were not cracked and filled with rubble. All of the lights were bright and the sunrays from outside shined into the room ahead. I looked to my left, hearing the loud voices of Ponies in the bank.

I slowly wandered down the hallway, back onto the balcony to where the Alicorns were back in the real world. The staircases were not covered in rubble and there were no holes in the ceiling. A massive crowd of Ponies consumed the floor below, as the counters had Ponies attending to those who wanted to withdraw funds. While no-pony was paying attention I quickly hovered over the crowds before landing with a thud. Oof! That hurt. I looked incredibly odd and out of place in the crowds of Ponies.

As I exited the bank, I looked at the beautiful scenery of Pre-War Manehattan, the blue sky and golden sunlight, posters for the Ministry of Awesome and other Ministries were scattered around and stuck to lampposts. While I was too busy admiring the scenery, a Pony bumped into me violently.

“Hey watch is you ass-fucker” I heard the anonymous voice mumble. My ears went down as I heard those words.

“S-sorry.” I simply responded, trying to weave in and out of the colossal waves of Ponies. I felt them barge into me and their eyes, fixing onto me. As if they knew who I was and why I was here. As if they knew I wasn’t real in their world. I reached a small tunnel where it was surprisingly empty. No Ponies were going in and none were coming out, this gave me some space. I was not going to allow the crowds get the better of my anxiety around tight spaces.

I walked into the tunnel, already feeling alone as soon as entering. I noticed the lights were a tint of blue and the sky-blue tiled walls had graffiti on them that insulted the government. Saying how twisted they are and how corrupt and dark they really are. I then noticed my sister come into vision yet again. Like last time, she was fake. I knew it this time, but she acted like she could see me.

“Come on Torny, come on!” I heard her voice echo in the long tunnel. I slowly trotted over to the vision, but she ran. She ran down the tunnel, I noticed the lights around me going out one by one. The darkness surrounding me with a threatening feeling, I didn’t like it one bit. I just continued, following the image of my sister through the darkness.

“Wait up!!” I yelled after her, quickly trotting up to the vision. “Please!” She ignored me and continued onwards. I felt tears brew up within my eyes and continued trotting after her, until she eventually stopped in front of me.

She turned to face me, with the same jolly smile she had the last time I had seen her. This also made me smile to see her face yet again. I feel the tears fall down my cheeks. She held her hoof out to me, keeping the smile on her face.

“Come on brother, reach out for my hoof.” I heard her soft elegant voice echo through the tunnel, I reached for her slowly. I tried to make contact with her hoof, but I was defeated. It wasn’t real; my mind fooled me yet again.

“I can’t.” I admitted, looking down. “You’re not real.” I frowned sadly, only wishing she was real. But my hopes and dreams were not yet achieved. I yet again went to reach for the mare, but couldn’t feel her.

“Of course I’m real brother,” she responded, as if she heard me. “Try again.” She encouraged me, but I had no option to ignore before the vision turned into a burst of light.

I returned to reality, seeing I was back in the very corridor I was before. I noticed the cracks on the walls, and the fact it was dark like before. From this point, I knew I was back in the Wastes. I got the scent of radiation drifting by my muzzle, looking towards the bodies of the Alicorns. I knew what the withdrawal symptoms were visions. But they were not going to occur until later.

I got onto my hooves, before trotting onwards. Not the way I came, but where the corridor lead, I entered into was looked like a bank vault room. There wasn’t just the one, there were many, lined up in rows on both sides of the room. This room seemed cleaner than most, and all the lights were on, brightly too. I noticed something though, all the lock mechanism’s on the doors were cracked (unlocked in other words), some were even opened slightly. Bodies of Alicorns were in the corridor. This indicated that a Pony was here before me, but also noticing a blood trail leading into one of the vaults.

I yanked the door open, noticing the corpse of a white Pony, with a candy red and black mane. With the Pony’s eyes wide open, blood was dripping mouth and also its guts hanging out of its belly. This Pony also had a PipBuck. This Pony was a Stable Dweller...just like me.

I looked at the number on the on the Ponies jacket, noticing the number ‘10’. This Pony was from Stable 10, I checked the saddle bag of the Pony for any items, and it wasn’t like they needed them anymore. I found a pouch of caps, taking it. I also found a Zebra Rifle, also noticing a small portion of ammo for the gun. I was going to save this gun until later; I need to find more ammo for it first. I placed both the ammo and the weapon itself into my bag, before sealing it back up and getting onto my hooves.

Although, before I left, I closed the eyes of the Pony before applying a kiss on the forehead, feeling its cold forehead against my lips.

“You did well, you tried.” I sighed heavily, feeling nothing but pain and pity. “Trying is the only thing anypony can do out here.” I felt sadness overwhelm me, seeing that another Stable Pony came out here. But obviously they were not prepared for the world beyond the Stable door.

Clank!

I heard movement outside the vault. I quickly ducked down next to the Pony, acting dead. I also smeared myself in some of the blood and gore. Yuck! This made me feel sick, the feeling of the guts all over me. The blood wasn’t so bad, but the bloody guts felt sickly on me. I closed my eyes slightly, leaving a small gap for me to see anything.

“Hey, this door wasn’t open before.” I heard an Alicorn say outside the vault, her voice was powerful. She peered into the vault. “Hey, looks like somepony got another one. But they should really close the door, if it isn’t closed, it will raise suspicion.” What!? And the trail of blood wouldn’t?!

The Alicorn entered the vault, looking down at both of us. “Ooh, look - they both have those leg terminals.” The Alicorn hissed, poking her head down at me. “Strange, this one looks just like that mare.” That mare she mentioned was obviously my sister. This enraged me more than the burning sun, what did they do to her!? I quickly stood up and aimed my Combat Shotgun at the Alicorn.

“Where is she!?” I exclaimed, “Tell me, don’t think I won’t blow your brains out you bitch!” The Alicorns stared at me in shock, while the one across from me drew her weapon. She aimed her Shotgun at my head.

“And don’t think I won’t.” I saw the grin come onto her face. “You want to know where she is hmm? Was Cyclone Flash her name?” I could tell this wasn’t going to end well. I felt my emotions mix with happiness, anger and even sadness.

“Y-yes, tell me where is she?!” I prepared to take the shot, I wasn’t afraid to kill her. But all she did was grin, poking the shotgun at my head.

“Oh, Cyclone was such a good mare. She’s apparently on the run from the Grand Pegasus Enclave, I don’t know why.” The Alicorn’s expression sunk into a frown. “She passed through here, but she didn’t stay long. She said she was in some sort of rush.”

“I’m Tornado Dash her brother, I need to find her now!” I demanded, stomping on the ground slightly. The Alicorn actually felt sympathy for me, but also I could tell she was mocking me.

“Oh, she left this for you then. She left this for you and then left!” The Alicorn levitated the tape to me and then lowered her Shotgun. With that, I also stood back and sat down. I downloaded the tape to my PipBuck, with that the Alicorns left me. They didn’t attack me.

I quickly went over to the audio tape that was called Message for Tornado. I took a deep breath and pressed play on my PipBuck.

“Tornado, hey. How’s it been buddy? I heard about you breaking out of Stable 30 and now knowing that you are in the Wasteland, I need to leave you this message. Don’t follow me, whatever you do, don’t follow me. Where I am going is one of the most dangerous places in the Wasteland and I cannot bear to lose you. Tornado, you’re the greatest brother I have ever had, you made me smile and laugh. You gave me a better childhood than I hoped for. Just know this, if I die, I’ll always be in your heart. I love you brother...”

The message ended there, I felt my heart fall before tears grew in my eyes. I loved her too much to lose her; I just had to find her. But I couldn’t all I did was sob silently, knowing that this could be the last time I listen to my sister’s voice. And I didn’t even escape, I got thrown out. Seriously she thought that I guy like me escaped?! Hell no!

“I love you too, sister.” I spoke with my voice breaking down. I curled up and cried softly, hearing my cries echoing throughout the bank’s vault hallways. I couldn’t bear to lose her either, she was the only piece of family I had left and now I could lose it. “I’m going to find you, you can’t stop me.”

I got onto my hooves before trotting out of the vault and heading back the way I came, I had to help the Rangers. I trotted into the hallway and then back onto the balcony, yet again passing the bodies of the Alicorns I killed. I glided down carefully, quickly folding my wings back in and landing.

As I walked out of the bank, I continued down the road before hearing echoing gunfire in the distance. I then trotted ahead to notice a small group of Rangers, fighting against some more Alicorn troops. I quickly ran to them, taking cover behind a barrier.

“You there, help us!” One of the Rangers called to me, before getting shot in the head. The Ranger collapsed, decapitated from the weapons power. I nodded before readying my Combat Shotgun.

I aimed at one of the closest Alicorns who was charging towards me with S.A.T.S., I targeted its chest two times and then its head one more time before releasing the spreading shot.

BLAM, BLAM!!

I quickly changed the magazine, before aiming back at the Alicorn and releasing another two shots.

BLAM, BLAM!!

The Alicorn fell face first onto the floor letting out a scream of agony, bleeding from the wounds. Dead. As the sun just finished setting, darkness surrounded us. No street lights were there to aid us with our vision. I aimed yet again, this time blind firing. I couldn’t see exactly where my targets were, then opening fire and hearing a few cries of pain, followed by the sound of flesh tearing.

Then, I saw the horns of the Alicorns give off a luminous glow, as others levitated their weapons. This helped us a lot, it makes me feel lucky not being a Unicorn or Alicorn. I silently trotted around as they shot their Assault Rifles and Shotguns at the Rangers. The Rangers gave everything they could to the Alicorns, as more of the Rangers were taken down by the Alicorns.

I trotted up behind one, reaching into its bag and taking all the ammo and caps I could, before firing two spreads of shells into the back of its skull. I heard a loud thud, followed by a cry of agony and the sound of blood splattering onto the floor.

“Over there!!” One of the other Alicorns alerted, before they rotated to face me. They unleashed their lead upon me; I quickly darted to the left, heading back to the Steel Rangers. As I passed them, this gave me the opportunity to tell them to run.

“Go, I’ll take care of them!” I insisted on fighting this battle, I quickly took off before looping and flying down at the Alicorns, unleashing the Shotgun shells at the small group of Alicorns. I didn’t kill any, but I did hear the shells make contact with their skin.

I landed into one of the buildings, this looked like an office. I had a full view of the courtyard, a huge Equestria flag graving in the center (where I was fighting) and many silhouettes of tall buildings, all of them missing the roofs and also huge chunks torn from them.

I felt the bullets shoot passed me, before I took cover behind a wall. I swapped to my Zebra Rifle, I felt the need of trying this weapon out and I had enough ammo to kill them all. Or just enough ammo anyways. I used my wings for this and I shot a burst down at them, hitting one of them on target. I saw a flame ignite in the center, which lit up my vision. I heard the tortuous sounding screams of the Alicorn who was being burned alive.

I aimed around the corner and shot another burst, setting yet another one on fire. The dying screams filled the air, as I took cover. I just evaded a sniper bullet, before peeking around again. I shot the last two, making it look like a fire show. The flames danced and I sat back, watching them burn to death before the collapsed one by one, ending their agony and their lives.

Once it was all over, I flew down and landed next to the bodies of the flaming Alicorns, seeing the flame was dying out slowly. The Rangers came out of hiding and walked towards me, I placed the Zebra Rifle back into my bag. The Rangers all stood in a line, apart from one. One of them walked forward.

“You, what’s your name?” The Steel Ranger asked me, his voice boomed as I noticed the threatening Minigun by its side.

“Tornado, Tornado Dash.” I spoke with a slightly shakily voice, I didn’t do anything wrong did I? I just saved their lives; I can’t have done anything wrong. But I waited for their response, feeling myself shake slightly.

“Oh, I’ve heard of you. You’re that Stable Dweller, well I must thank you for saving the skin of most of my Rangers here. If you didn’t come along, we surely would have died.” The Steel Ranger commented on my actions - this surprised me, I was expecting something else.

“Hey it’s no problem, but I am going to say this, I thought you Rangers would have been prepared for a battle like this.” I admittedly said, before taking a step back. The Ranger sighed, not in pity but more of an agreement.

“Well, we didn’t see this coming; we’ve always expected the Enclave to prepare an attack like this, not Alicorns. But I have something for you anyways.” The Steel Ranger revealed a set of armor, giving it to me. I took it slowly, staring at it in amazement. “It’s Power Armor, use it only when you need to though, it isn’t in tip top condition. Though, when you do use it, it shall aid you in battle.”

“Thank you.” I spoke, placing the heavy chunk of armor into my saddle bag. “It means a lot.” I flashed them a smile. “Good luck in battle, are there any others I can help?”

“Thank you and no, there’s one last defense. All the Rangers are going there to push them all back, if you want you can aid us there, but we do recommend that if you have any companions you round them up first. This is going to be a tough one.” The Ranger suggested, “Trust me, you don’t want to be fighting alone out there. There are far worse things along the way than Alicorns.”

“Okay, I’ll go get them. Where exactly is this defence?” I asked curiously, I needed to know before even thinking of going into battle.

“It’s by the north-end exit tunnel, that’s where the Alicorns are coming in. We have to give them one last push and then the problem should be solved. That device, your PipBuck should tell you where it is.” The Steel Rangers departed from me, walking away. I nodded before turning away and slowly walking back the way I came.

I travelled through the collapsed buildings, before passing the large bank I was in before. I trotted down the street, noticing a rats scurrying across the floor. I coughed lightly as I came back to where the spire was, I quickly sprinted for the tower, hoping the mares were awake and also okay…I hope my companions were prepared for what we were getting into here, because it could cost us out lives.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Team Player, when you’re fighting alongside allies, the amount of damage done using guns is increased by 10% but during this you lose 5% sneaking ability.

Current level: 10

As I reached the tower, I walked back into the ruined lobby before gently pushing the small button. I saw the doors open, before walking into the claustrophobic elevator. I suddenly found it hard to breathe, the doors closed. The light flickered violently as I felt the elevator pushed me upwards through the small shaft, again hearing the rusty mechanisms screeching. As it came to a grinding halt at the top, the doors opened before I rushed out. I noticed both mares were awake, Dodge sitting with them.

“Tornado?” Dodge got up and ran to me, “is the way clear?” He asked, looking at me dead in the eyes. I replied with a simple nod before looking towards Crystal with a smile.

“There’s one last thing we need to do, then Violet helps us in her part of the deal.” I showed a soft grin, before turning to Violet. “You happy now? The Alicorns are getting blown out of Manehattan.”

“Well, of course. They don’t belong here at all, especially how they came here ambushing us all! I promise you, after this - I’ll help you.” Violet got onto her hooves, she moved next to Dodge showing a soft smile of relief.

“All we have to do is help the Steel Rangers fight the last remaining Alicorns. They’re at North-End Exit Tunnel.” I added, Crystal walked over to me. She still had a smile on her face; it was as if she was happy to see me come out alive. Well, we are friends after all - close friends.

“And if we do this, we’ll be able to leave?” Crystal softly asked, she looked tired as it was late, but as long as she didn’t have to stay in this shithole of a city, she’d do anything. I nodded and wrapped a hoof over her.

“Yes, I would imagine so.” I stroked her mane gently and placed my hoof back on the ground, “what we’re about to do is extremely dangerous, this is no easy battle.”

“Since when have we had it easy? Every single day, I’ve nearly been killed by something or somepony. I know what I’m getting myself into Tornado.” Dodge got everything he needed before nodding to me. Violet and Crystal already had their things with them.

“Come on, I’ll lead the wa-” I was abruptly cut off by Violet instantly; I shot her a look for doing so.

“I know a shortcut Tornado, a path that is shorter and safer. Trust me on this one.” Violet walked towards the elevator. I looked at the Power Armor inside my bag, before sealing it up and following Violet into the elevator. Dodge and Crystal followed closely behind us.

“Well, if you do know a shortcut. Lead the way I guess.” I activated the elevator by pushing the button. As soon as I did, the doors closed and the elevator started traveling vertically downwards to the ground floor.

When the doors opened, I walked back out into the lobby. Violet instantly took the lead as she walked out into the large open area of the city; it was dark now - really dark. The light on my PipBuck lit up the area enough to make some of the path visible to us. There were some spots of blood and also Raider bodies lying upon the floor. Something had been here recently. I almost felt pity for the Raiders even though I hated their guts.

“Since you’re the one with the light, you stay close to me. Crystal, you and Dodge follow closely.” I nodded to what she said in understanding, before looking back at my other two companions. They nodded in agreement.

A loud explosion echoed in the distance, followed by a small wave of gunfire. This was from the battle at the north-end exit. I took a deep breath, Violet began trotting ahead and with that I followed closely, I heard Dodge and Crystal following behind me. I heard their soft whispers from behind me, though I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I wasn’t going to disrupt them, besides saving lives is better than knowing a Pony’s thoughts. But I must admit, it was tempting to listen to their conversation, but I fought the temptation and carried on with what really mattered.

We took a different route, we began heading down an alleyway, and something I certainly didn’t have in mind. We reached a sewer entrance, before Violet took the grate off of it and stared down at the murky water that was reflecting off of my PipBuck. I shook my head, looking at the destroyed brick wall surroundings. I was starting to feel claustrophobic yet again, I felt as if the walls were closing in on me and were about to crush me.

“No, not down there. I stink enough!” My breathing picked up in pace. Violet showed a mocking grin.

“What’s that? You’re claustrophobic. Surely a sewer has more open areas than a backstreet alleyway.” She giggled with a mocking tone, before looking at me in the eyes. “Out here, stench doesn’t matter...bravery is what matters.” She gave me a small push; I looked at her and climbed down the small, rusty ladder leading into the diseased filled sewer pipes.

As soon as I hopped off the ladder, I landed in an eggy smelling, waste filled water. It made me shiver and gag slightly, the others followed me down before I felt Violet pat me on the back. I did not like her for that, mocking me of something I can’t control.

“Which way do we go?” Crystal spoke with a soft elegance, she looked towards me and Violet as Dodge ventured onwards.

“Straight ahead. Dodge, you might not want to go ahead alone. Radigators live down here.” She walked ahead to Dodge, and as she said before, I accompanied her. Crystal followed behind us as we made our way through the sewage, the walls were made of brick and there was a lot of space. Graffiti had be written all over the walls from some of the other Ponies who travelled down here. There were some missing bricks, and at some points I felt dust fall onto us.

We travelled through the rotten sewage, seeing no signs of danger. We reached a giant floodgate blocking our way, it was made of rusted, mossy metal. There were two platforms, one with a control panel on it and the other with a door possibly leading into water control. I walked up the platform with the panel, looking back at my companions with a nod. I flicked the switch and the sound of an alarm triggered as the mechanism slowly lifted the door upwards.

SCREEECH!!

The doors rusty sounding mechanism let out a long screech that tore through my ears, I quickly covered them as my companions began making their way through the small entrance that had opened up from the door. I jumped down from the platform, landing with a small splash before following my party through the lifting door. The door finished lifting, finishing with a loud bang as it hit the end of the metal above it.

We wandered into the seemingly endless tunnels, before hearing quick movement in the water. Violet came to a halt and with that, so did I. I placed a hoof out in front of Dodge and Crystal, listening for the movement. The sound was heard again, I readied myself for combat, placing my Combat Shotgun into my battle saddle. I then saw what appeared to be a Radigator’s snout appear out of the water.

BANG!!

I chomped down on the lever for the trigger, shooting a few shells into it, while seeing its snout blowing off completely. After I gave the shot, a family of eyes appeared in the darkness (clear reflection from my PipBuck). At this moment, Violet spun her Minigun, while Crystal levitated her Assault Rifle to her side and Dodge yanking his Revolver from his saddle bag.

One of the Radigators came out of the surrounding darkness, before the rest followed. We all engaged in combat, Crystal was at the back as combat was not her main role, Violet unleashed her heavy lead which tore some of the Radigators to pieces. Limbs of the Gators floated to the top of the murky surface. One of them leaped out of the darkness towards me, but as it did I entered S.A.T.S. and targeted all of its limbs (including the head) before unleashing hell upon it.

The thundering clap of my Combat Shotgun echoed throughout the sewer, but it didn’t cause much damage. No - it barely left a mark, it was as if these scales were even more advanced in protection standards than the ones I faced back in the cave - these scales were like armor. Violet seemed to have no trouble, as the rounds her Minigun packed were colossal and full of flesh ripping strength. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have enough room to evade an attack. The Radigator swiped for me, grabbing me in its piercing claws.

“Guys, a little help here!” I called for them, Crystal saw me under attack and began to open fire upon the Radigator that grabbed me, the bullets she used took out the eyes and the Radigator cried in pain, covering its now bleeding eyes. It dropped me and I fell into the waste filled water. I nodded to Crystal as a thank you.

Dodge got tackled by one of the mingling Gators in the darkness, he yelped out in agony as he unleashed its jaws upon his body, ready to crush him at any moment. Violet quickly rotated, spinning the Minigun’s rounds upon the Radigator. At this moment, this made me realize that the ones Crystal and I were fighting in the cave were just babies. These were the adults - the real deal.

We began to get ambushed by Gators, before Violet took out most of them with her raging Minigun. Only a two remained, I splashed a shot at one. This time the effectiveness was high, killing the Gator instantly. The others swarmed us; this gave us no other option but to charge past them.

“Follow me!” Violet exclaimed, as she barged through the water and the Gators, I tried to keep up, feeling the Gators just missing my hooves with their bone crushing jaws. Crystal and Dodge followed closely, as we sprinted away, the sound of the Gators following us was heard from behind us. They weren’t too far behind us also – this wasn’t going to end well if we stopped.

Violet rushed onto a platform, then quickly turning to face us, spinning her vicious Minigun at us. At this moment, I thought betrayal was about to occur, but then I noticed a small smirk quiver on Violet’s lips.

“Get down!” She screamed. At this moment, I grinned at her before turning to my other companions and nodding to them. I quickly ducked down and with that, so did my companions. I then heard the loud thunderous Minigun shred through the Gators, ripping and slicing their scales into pieces. I glanced back at the bodies of the Gators she just eviscerated, before looking at her with a smile.

“Well, that went well.” Dodge grunted, as he lifted himself onto his hooves. I noticed his wound around his chest – fortunately for him it wasn’t too deep, teeth marks were left but were barely bleeding (thus meaning, blood has been drawn, but there was not a lot of it).

“You alright?” I walked closer to him, placing my hooves around him and looking at the wound. He slightly moved away and I lost my grip.

“Torn, I’m fine. Honest.” Dodge showed a smile, but I could see a wince in his face. I couldn’t help but feel pity for him. He showed the smile yet again and gave me a small hug. I hugged him back, Violet wasn’t amused by this.

“Are we going to get a move on?” She broke us apart – as if she was either jealous or uncomfortable. It was just a friendly hug, Dodge was my friend and I was his. Crystal glared at Violet.

“They’re just hugging, what’s your problem?” She walked up to Violet, looking into her eyes. She really had something against her and I doubt Violet didn’t have anything against Crystal. Violet just smirked lightly.

“Well, every second we waste could determine the fate of a city. There might be one last push to end the violence in this city, well at least for now, but wasting time could completely fuck up everything.” Crystal couldn’t argue with Violet, even if she tried. She just backed away, sighing and looking down at the floor. “Now, let’s get moving.” She used her telekinesis to open the rusty door in front of her. We walked into a steel corridor, with a rusty grated flooring along the bottom and dull lights across the ceiling and underneath the grating floor. In front of us was a slope, leading up to what seemed to be another door.

“Do you think we’ll run into anymore?” I asked Violet, as we began walking up the slope slowly. She glanced back at me, chuckling a little to herself as if she thought I was stupid. I heard a slight snicker come from the mare.

“Oh, there will be more - and that is something I know.” She sounded serious, no jokes coming from her. Yet, jokes never left that mare’s lips. We moved into another room, this one fairly large. We stood upon a high rusty catwalk, above some Pre-War generators that are now inactive since they are now surrounded by water.

The room around us was old and even contained some bugs. Radroaches, we also noticed Radigators in the water below us, of course they were too far away to reach us and all the ladders that were here had fallen apart. I could tell because there are some dusty marks to where the ladders were. Violet led us into a control room which consisted of a decaying, rusty look to the walls and floor. A small terminal stood upon a desk - it appeared to be logged on and useable. But as we did encounter it, a small message was on the screen.

Be wary of where you walk. I know who you are, Pegasus. You are the very Pegasus who left Stable 30, how and why did you? You’d destroy your own safety to explore this deathly Wasteland? You’re a very daring one; my Enclave troops will annihilate both the Rangers and the Alicorns.

I am giving you a choice, to your left is an ignition switch that will overpower the generators within this room, blowing up the entire city - they may seem inactive, but trust me, electricity and water do not mix well. You will have time to escape my boy, and after you destroy the city, report back to me and I shall give you the honor of joining the Grand Pegasus Enclave. However, if you choose to disobey my commands, I shall crush you and the Steel Rangers, leaving this city and its Ponies to rot in within the very shadows it has created. -Mist

I shook my head, before glancing at the Switch. Violet glared at me with a threatening look. The switch was coated in a red that was decaying from the switch, revealing the silver beneath it.

“If you flick that switch, I shall never forgive you.” Violet hissed, “choose wisely - I hope your decision is the right one.” I looked at her, walking to her and looking into her eyes with a straight face. I shook my head.

“If they know where my sister is, I have to do it.” I look back at the switch, Violet yanked my face to face her with a glare. She spun her Minigun, as if she knew the choice I was speaking about was final - even though it wasn’t.

“He never said he knew where she was, so how do you know that!?” Violet grabbed me, shoving me to the floor, before pinning me down onto it. The control room shook slightly, as the sound of screeching metal echoed around the entire room.

“Get off him, Violet. Now!” Crystal levitated her Assault Rifle to her side, aiming at Violet’s head. This wasn’t going so well, Dodge quickly stood in front of Crystal, guarding Violet.

“Crystal, don’t do this. Lower the gun!” Dodge frantically panicked, as he tried to calm Crystal down. Crystal shook her head, the anger growing in her heart.

“No, she isn’t on our side - all she wants is the Rangers to be safe, then she’ll abandon us.” Crystal hissed violently at Dodge, “Now, get out of my way!”

“Don’t you see!? Tornado isn’t on our side, he doesn’t care about any of us. When the time comes, he’ll stab us in the back. He’ll even do it to you Crystal!” Violet held me down as I struggled to get out from under the strong mare.

“No, don’t listen to her; I wasn’t going to blow up the city!!” I arched my back, trying to get out. Violet was too strong for me, Dodge still blocking Crystal from shooting Violet.

“Don’t feed us these lies, Tornado, all you want is to find your sister and save your home. What about my home, huh!? Don’t you think of others!?” Violet screamed. I managed to throw her off, but she went to tackle me again. This time she failed and I stood above her.

“Listen to me; I would never blow up an entire city in favor of my happiness. I would never backstab anypony in favor for my happiness.” I glared at Violet, getting close to her with a fearsome look, before looking up at Crystal calmly. “Crystal, lower the gun.”

“B-bu...” Crystal stuttered, before lowering it slightly. I shook my head slowly.

“No buts, we shouldn’t be arguing. We work together, I know it’s hard to trust one another out here, but it’s all we can do. Now, I’m going to shut this entire sewer down, therefore it’ll become impossible to start to the generators.” I slowly made my way towards the terminal, and loaded up the main database.

<Back

Please wait...

Hello user! Welcome to Sewer Control

Generator status>

Floodgate control>

Filter status: Offline>

Current direction of water flow: North>

Shutdown electronic systems>

<Logout

Opening file.Shutdownelectronicsystems.

WARNING: If you choose to shut down the electronic mainframe, the sewer’s power system will become inactive forever!

Continue>

Shutting down electronic mainframe please wait...

Shutdown complete...powering down.

With that, the sewer became pitch black, as all the lights faded out. The only light aiding us was the one from my PipBuck, yet that didn’t light up enough for us to see the room. I wandered back onto the catwalk outside the control room, looking back to my companions.

“Stay close, don’t wander off.” I walked ahead, but heard some muttering from behind me. It sounded like Crystal and Dodge; yet again I didn’t want to disrupt them. Violet managed to walk next to me.

“Sorry about earlier, I thought you would have ignited the generators and blown them up. I was wrong.” She smirks and walks ahead, “follow me, all of you. I know the way to go.” Violet walked ahead, before turning right and walking to another steel door. She opened it and walked through. I quickly walked ahead, catching up with the mare as so did my companions.

We found ourselves back into the sewer tunnels, the current was dead since the power was dead and this made it easier for us to travel. I saw a small light in the distance with a ladder, showing the end of the sewer, Violet grinned and ran ahead.

“This way, we’re getting close.” I saw her get jump into the water with a splash, and darting ahead towards the beam of light. I followed her closely, before hearing my companions behind me. When we reached the ladder, Violet climbed up, I stepped aside allowing Dodge to go up. Crystal on the other hoof, stayed behind with me.

“Tornado?” She walked to me; I looked at her, waiting for her to go up. I smiled a little. “Can we speak for a moment?”

“Of course, Crystal.” I spoke softly, looking around at the surrounding darkness. She walked closer to me, smiling back at me. The light came down on us, making her majestic mane look beautiful within the horrible looking moonlight. “What’s on your mind?”

“D-do you ever feel...lonely out here? Like do you wish you had a Pony with you - to hold you, to love you?” She looked up at the moonlight, the mumbles of Dodge and Violet were heard above. I looked at her with a slight frown.

“Yeah, I do actually. You’d probably think I guy like me wouldn’t give two shits about love, when actually it means a lot to me.” I admitted with a sigh, I looked at Crystal with a slightly saddened look. “My only problem of course is, if I lose them, I wouldn’t see any reason to continue without them.”

“Yeah, I doubt I’d be able to c-” Crystal was cut off by a sudden shout from above.

“WHAT’S TAKIN’ YOU BOTH SO LONG?!”

Violet’s voice screamed at us above. I saw her looking down at us with a glare, I looked at Crystal before helping her onto the ladder and gently pushing her up, before mounting myself onto the ladder and slowly climbing up. When I reached the top, I noticed at the end of the road, the battle at the north-end exit tunnel was raging on.

When we reached the battle ground, Steel Rangers were behind cover and some were out in the battle, shooting their Miniguns at the enemy. Some of the ones behind cover were bleeding and dying from deep wounds caused by Alicorns.

KABANG!!

An explosion hit the ground from one of the Alicorns with a missile launcher. At this moment, I quickly hid down behind cover, readying myself for the battle. I quickly entered S.A.T.S. and targeted an Alicorn near the tunnel. The battleground was small, the only thing around us were a few tall buildings and some closed down stores with boarded up windows, while ahead of me was a tunnel leading downwards into the darkness, with a sign above it stating: North-End Exit Tunnel.

I unleashed my Shotgun’s rounds upon the Alicorn, as soon as the rounds made contact the bullets tore into its flesh, making it let out a blood curdling cry of agony. I quickly fired at it rapidly, before reaching the end of my clip and having to reload.

Crystal on the other hoof, stayed behind cover. She was the medic for this; she only fought if she had to. Violet walked ahead, unleashing the heavy lead inside her Minigun upon some of the Alicorns.

BRVRVRVRVVRVRVVRVRRVVRVRVVR!!

She managed to take a couple down, but reinforcements arrived soon after. A few missiles came down upon us from the Alicorns in the buildings; Dodge quickly tackled me and prevented my death.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

“Watch yourself, Tornado.” He spoke, lifting me up onto my hooves. As the Alicorns reinforcements came in, so did the Rangers. A small group marched down the street, unleashing their Miniguns upon the Alicorns above, watching them fall and land in a pool of blood and guts.

The Alicorns defence grew stronger; some of the Alicorns packed Miniguns themselves, spreading the rounds at us. A bullet full blizzard was on top of me as I took cover inside a toppled skip. I peeked out a small hole that was carved into the steel, noticing the Rangers eliminating the Alicorn troops from the scene, but more kept on coming. All of a sudden, a large wave of missiles came down on top of us, wiping over the battleground.

KABAAAANG!!

As the explosions went off, many limbs from the Rangers and even Alicorns flew off and landed beside us. The skip was dug into the ground, therefore it was unable to move, but it was slightly dented from the aftermath of the hellfire strike. Slightly larger Alicorns landed, firing their missile launches at the Rangers marching towards them, blowing them limb from limb. I quickly changed to my Zebra Rifle, also equipping the Power Armor I was given before peeking out and taking aim.

“Take cover!” I heard one of the Steel Rangers yell, I then noticed Violet running towards us and getting behind the skip. With that, Dodge and Crystal followed and we were together yet again, I aimed for the head on one of the heavy troops and unleashed an incendiary shot upon it.

BANG, WHOOOSH!!

The Alicorn began to burn slowly, as it ran around frantically trying to put the strong flames out. It did it no good, and it collapsed and turned into a burning corpse, dying with one last scream. I was running low on Zebra Rifle ammo, this wasn’t going to last me at all. I swear I had more ammo than this!

More Steel Rangers were called in, sprinting in with their heavy armor clanking and raining hell upon the Alicorns with their Miniguns. Violet joined the Rangers, and as Violet and the Rangers opened fire upon the Alicorns coming out of the dark tunnel, they started to retreat. Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t an option; the Rangers killed them before they even made it into the abyss ahead of them.

“Hit them hard!” I heard a Ranger who walked passed us yell, Violet looked at me and signaled me to come out. I looked towards Crystal and Dodge.

“Come on, let’s go!” I ordered, running out. My companions followed me into the blizzard of gunfire, before Ranger snipers above us were taking out the Alicorns with one shot. They collapsed, some losing heads and others losing limbs.

I aimed my Zebra Rifle at one, picking its head off as it began to burn in a raging blaze of fire. Dodge quickly took cover, taking aim and chomping down on the trigger, releasing a shot towards the Alicorn. The Alicorn stumbled back; this gave me the chance to finish him off. I quickly lined up my shot and shot a burst round at the Alicorn. I sent three bullets into its torso, watching it blaze violently and listening to its screams of agony and mercy. But it wasn’t over yet.

Alicorn troops quickly came through the tunnel, firing their heavy weapons upon us. I quickly ducked down behind one of the dirty sandbags, my companions joining me, before aiming back up and releasing another burst fire upon one of them. Luckily, they were too close to each other, this sent the fire blazing through not just one, but five of them. Their screams sounded brutish and tortured, as they ran around igniting others around them. I grinned at this, and sent another burst shot at one of the bigger ones, igniting it. This one did the same thing, running into other Alicorns and starting a blood red flame that lit up the night. I grinned at this, I felt pleasure watching them burn and also, I felt accomplishment.

The battle died down, Elder Lockhart walked down the street to see the battle had ended. He walked up to us all with a proud smile.

“Well I’ll be damned; you managed to push them back out of the city.” Lockhart smiled widely, “we thank you for all the help you gave - we needed it.” He turned towards Violet, frowning slightly. “Well, I guess this is where we part ways, Violet.”

“Well, I promised this blue fella that I’d help him, so it is unfortunately.” She hugged him gently, Elder Lockhart hugged back. “Thanks for giving me a place in this world, Lockhart, without you, I’d be dead.”

“Hey, it’s quite alright. As much as I’m going to miss you, you cannot break a promise. Off you go, you have a long journey ahead of you.” Lockhart turned to me, Crystal and Dodge before smiling slightly. “Again, we thank you all for the help.”

“It’s no problem.” I simply replied with a jolly smile, “we’re willing to help - always” I added, before looking at Crystal and Dodge.

“Well, you are now citizens of the Steel Rangers; you have full access to our armory. Although, it’ll cost you a few caps to buy the stuff. But I will tell you, it’s worth it.” He answered with a small chuckle. I nodded to him, and then looked at my companions.

“I guess this is goodbye, until the next time.” Dodge spoke, tipping his hat at Lockhart, before placing it back onto his head. Crystal walked ahead, levitating something onto Lockhart’s back. It was a small statue of a Pony standing upon a rock, looking up into the sky.

“Take this gift, it shows freedom...my mother used to tell me stories about it, I kept it for memories, but I think you deserve it more than me.” She smiled softly; Lockhart looked at her with a grin and nodded.

“Thanks my dear, I shall take good care of it.” He nodded to her before glancing back at the remaining troops. “Now, you should leave through the tunnel behind you - it is closest exit and it should take you to the Omega Mountains. The Enclave tend to linger up there, but it’s nothing you four can’t handle, now I really must get back to base, so until the next time.” He began to walk back the way he came from, and with that I turned myself towards the tunnel before walking to it. My companions followed closely and Violet seemed to respect me a lot more than she used to. Maybe because she got what she wanted.

As we entered the abyss, the light from my PipBuck lit up the surrounding area, showing tiled walls, some covered in blood and even some with messages written upon the wall. Some stating, Help me! Or Turn back now, if you continue it is suicide. How settling...

As we ventured onwards, I noticed a small tape dangling from the cylinder type roof. I grabbed it, before downloading it onto my PipBuck, at this moment I scrolled over to Notes and selected the tape’s recording and began to play it. What I heard was a stallion’s voice, it sounded harsh, deep and unsettling. But I just let it play onwards.

The wasteland is cruel and unforgiving, dear Pegasus.

As I stand trapped within the confines of my eternal prison surrounded by the fires of the old war, I send you a message to shine amongst the darkness around you - a beacon to light your way, a torch to carry, a Gypsy's call to head.

Know not of pain or sadness, of the grief that has taken this land by the throat and threatened to tear it to shreds. Take this message in good faith and continue on your quest of valor, even when it lies in short supply. Your road is one of danger and peril, it is a road I once walked, for every traveler walks his road... eventually, none will know of the deeds you have done - but your mark will remain.

I ask of you to remain vigilant and steeled in your darkest hours, shove aside the lust and sin of your brothers and fight with your teeth tight and your trigger taught. As you walk your road, do not forget the mare who has stood beside you, and make sure to honor her faithfulness and admiration.

But more importantly, do not make the same mistakes I made my friend. In a short time I will come and find you, but this is far off - focus on the present times and keep your head high, do not let the sirens call of the old world hold you back... I heard her call and followed foot, losing everything.

Until the day we meet make sure you prepare, the wasteland is filled with dangers far worse than greedy Rangers or powerful Alicorns. Keep your friends safe under your wing and guidance and never let them fall - I will find you one day, and when I do...

Reflect on your sins.

This is the Gypsy caller, saying farewell my friend - I will continue to watch you from my prison, awaiting your success... or failure.

Oh shit, we were heading into some deep, deep shit. So deep that, not even our screams of mercy would save us. Being alone in the dark would ensure death; we had to stick together - no matter the consequences.

“Well I’ll be a son of a gun, that Pony’s warning us.” Dodge spoke out, Crystal walked up next to me shaking lightly.

“We surely aren’t going to continue are we?” Crystal spoke in a shaky voice; I turned to her with a grimace quivering onto my face. I sighed deeply.

“It’s the only way we can go; if we die...we die trying.” I began to walk ahead, into the darkness and absorbing what the tape said into my mind, now knowing the possible dangers ahead, I could prepare myself - and so could they.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Peacekeeper, this perk allows you to use the powers of persuasion against Wasteland gangs to access all sorts of information that they don’t want you or anypony else to find out.

Current level: 11

As our wanderer ventures ever so deeper into the Wasteland, friendships turn on itself and darkness is made. As the small posse walk their way through the Manehattan exit tunnel and out into the Wasteland, things only go south for our wanderer, Tornado.

While his friendship with Crystal has been developing, darkness seeps its way into the friendship that the party shares and then slowly devours it. With Tornado being completely blind about his actions, he forgets that each of his actions is his responsibility and if he soon doesn’t control them then he will endanger both his friends and himself.

But his main aim is to find the sister that he has been ever so desperate to locate, so he can reunite with the last bit of family he has left.

But will his mistakes and actions prevent him from finding his own sister?

I began to delve into the never-ending abyss before us all. I kept glancing back at my companions, making sure they were behind me. The walls were covered in broken, grey tiles and also some had wires running along the tops. Not in a straight line, but a bendy path. Some of the wires were even torn and handing from the walls they were hung upon. The road was covered in large dusty piles of rubble, which we of course had to climb over in order to get to the other side. They weren’t so big that they were blocking the road; they were just big enough for the path. My light as usual only allowed some of the path to be seen, but the warning we were given by the mysterious buck really made not only my companions but also me more cautious.

I did have a bit of trouble breathing due to the claustrophobia, but it’s something I get used to. We ventured onwards, before reaching what seemed to be the bottom. The road went flat and now, a small amount of light was seen from the top of the tunnel. Small beams of dim lights were lined across the top, some flickering and also some not bright at all. It did give off some light, but I doubt it was to last.

“Hold up.” I placed a wing out in front of my companions, wincing slightly from the slight pinch of pain. “I’m going to check ahead.” I began to walk ahead, before entering a large room where there were now two roads. This showed that there were two tunnels, one leading to Manehattan and the other leading somewhere south. I looked at the roads, all cracked and chipped. I noticed the room’s lights were flicking violently as they lay upon the roof of the cylinder type room. I felt dust fall onto me, and a small hole was within the ceiling, allowing some light from the outside world in. But it surely wasn’t enough.

I felt a soft, chilly breeze drift against me. I shivered slightly, before looking over to Crystal and the others with a nod as a sign of it being safe. They slowly walked into the large room to where I was standing, glancing up at the tiled roof. I heard Violet chuckle.

“Like the stallion on that message said, we aren’t going to be safe down here. We’re bound to run into something dangerous, and we can only hope that it’s not Hellhounds.” Violet spoke, sounding irritated, “come on, what are you waiting for?! Let’s get a move on.” She pushed me aside, walking ahead and observing the room we were in.

As we did continue, the stench of rotten flesh soon passed my muzzle. I gagged slightly, before hearing a blood curdling roar echo in the distance. I quickly looked in the direction it was coming from, until I saw a silhouette of a Pony stand on top of a small wreckage and roar at the top of its lungs. I walked closer slowly as it stared down at us, its blood red eyes now coming into vision along with its rotten, mangled skin and oozing black blood leaking from the holes that had been torn within its skin. He then roared yet again, before jumping down and running towards me like a rabid creature. These were Ghouls, not like the ones we saw back in Ghoulshire, these were Feral. These had lost their minds to the madness that had consumed them.

I then heard a roar of gunfire, as I noticed the Ghoul get torn in mid-air. I looked back at Violet, seeing smoke drifting from the front of her Minigun. I looked back at the Ghoul seeing a chunky, bloody mess, covered in guts and the jaw torn off completely. I cringed at this, imagining the pain that it must have felt – yet with the madness corrupting the thing, I don’t think it feels anything other than rage. I heard a roaring crowd of Ghouls over the wreckage before seeing through the wreckage a large group of them coming towards us, some even glowing with a sickly green color which lit up the area around it.

I readied myself for combat, trying to line my Combat Shotgun up with one of the Ghouls. As one leaped over the wreckage, drooling the thick black bile from its crooked jaw, I managed to send shells into it, tearing it apart instantly watching its blood and black matter spray onto me and the wreckage above. I glanced away, feeling sorry for the soul that was once a Pony. I couldn’t help but develop guilt within my head, before inhaling deeply and flying up, groaning in pain from my wings and aiming at the small army charging towards us.

“Tornado, get down!” Crystal screamed, “They’re going to get you.” This made me glance back, looking at the rather…beautiful mare, carrying the medical saddle bag. I shook my head, still looking at her.

“We have to clea…“ I then felt something bite me into the neck. With that I groaned and tightly closed my eyes, before falling from the wreckage and landing onto my back. I held the wound tightly, letting the blood flow from under my hoof. I heard the raging gunfire from Violet’s Minigun, and the echoing booms of Dodge’s revolver.

“Dammit Tornado, Crystal warned you!” Dodge spoke sounding irritated, looking down at me with a glare before turning back and tightening the grip on the Revolver in his jaws. He sent rounds at the Ghouls, all I heard was flesh being ripped apart and the dying screams of the damned. I sat up, coughing slightly, before feeling Crystal lay me down.

“I-I mus…“ But Crystal stopped me from speaking anymore. I felt her hoof touch my lips, before hearing a shush come from her. I looked up into her eyes, feeling myself grow weaker and weaker by the second, but she just smiled softly as the gunfire in the background was echoing off of the walls.

“You’ll be okay.” Crystal spoke softly, before wrapping a magic bandage around my neck, not too thick. But thick enough to heal my wound, “the bile should be taken out within a few hours – though, you’ll feel weak for an hour or two.” She stroked my mane and then helped me onto my hooves. I felt dizzy, but I could stand at least.

KABOOM!!

A sudden green, glowing wave was knocked away, taking the wreckage with it. I fell over, fortunately pulling Crystal with me, Violet and Dodge already on the floor. I then noticed the body of the now slowly fading, glowing green Ghoul had been broken to pieces. It was as if it was shot and then exploded. I also noticed the Ghouls around it also dead and in pieces. I heard more of the wrenching roars in the distance of the tunnels – there were more of them, I didn’t know how far away…all I knew was they were there.

“Well that wasn’t as clean as I’d hoped it would be!” Dodge placed his Stetson back into place. He looked towards Violet, seeing all the black, sickly goo all over her. He let out a mocking chuckle, “Violet, you’ve got some...stuff on you.”

“Yeah, whatever you say, Dodge.” Violet didn’t seem to care, all she did was swipe it off of her coat before walking through the wreckage cautiously and then reaching the other side, I slowly walked my way seeing my whole world spin around me slightly. I kept going, before slowly squeezing through the wreckage before falling out onto the other side. I noticed Dodge’s hooves pass me, before seeing Crystal’s stop at me.

“Come on Tornado, get up.” She said softly, slowly lifting me up. I coughed lightly, “hopefully the bandages will do you some good.” Violet and Dodge were walking ahead, looking at the long, wide tunnel ahead. It lead into nothing but darkness, toxic irradiated clouds filled the path, therefore preventing us from even walking into there. I could tell because some fumes were coming into here, my PipBuck began to click.

Tick, tick, tick, tick!

“W-we can’t go this way.” I weakly explained, “w-w-we have to go around, the radiation ahead will kill us instantly – and no doubt it’ll be painful.” I actually found myself spitting blood out from the bite from earlier, while Violet huffed.

“He has a point, Miss Violet. I mean those fumes could kill us instantly, and if they didn’t kill us…who knows what could lurk in there.” Dodge glanced at her, “there’s got to be a maintenance tunnel of some sort we can use.” Crystal made sure that I stayed on my legs, as I felt a leg gently wrap around me. I noticed it was Crystals, before staring down at the cracked, blackened road. I did feel a small blush press onto my cheeks.

“Tornado’s in some pain - please slow down you two.” I heard her elegant, silky like voice speak. I closed my eyes, feeling the bandaging taking effect. It burnt at first, due to the wound slowly closing up, but it did feel slightly warm as the pain started to fade away.

“Okay – just keep up!” Violet exclaimed, before looking around the whole room. “Okay, I think I see a platform. Tornado, come closer.” I knew I was her personal light bulb. I inhaled a sigh, before weakly walking closer to a degrading, crumbling bridge above the two roads, just above the tunnel that lead into the toxins. I stared at the bridge, noticing deep cracks beneath it and looking around. I knew it was the only way we could go, so we had no choice.

I began to make my way up the chipped and broken staircase, trying to avoid the holes within each step. I noticed bones scattered along some stairs, before reaching the top and seeing a bloody, mutilated corpse lying at the top of the stairs. I tried to pass it, but I couldn’t help but feel pity for it. I looked over to my companions who were still on the road below.

“Come on, this is the only way we can go.” I nodded to them, before seeing them make their way to the stairs; I rotated around to stare down at them. “Just be careful, the stairs are uneven.” Crystal was the first to slowly make her way up the stairs; her horn glowed slightly so if she was to fall, she’d be able to save herself from the damage. When she arrived at the top next to me, she turned to Dodge and Violet.

“I’ll help you.” She simply said, slowly wrapping a sapphire colored aura around Dodge. It built a secure protection barrier around him; she couldn’t do it in combat. But in a calm state, she was able to prevent injury from falling. Dodge slowly walked up the stairs, trying to avoid all the holes before reaching the top and gagging at the body that was there. The aura was removed and then wrapped around Violet, but Violet used her own telekinesis to shove Crystal’s magic out of her.

“No, I can do it myself.” Violet grunted, irritated before slowly climbing the stairs. Her armor was rattling slightly, as she struggled to reach the top. She nearly did fall, as the stairs began to crumble beneath her hooves. She quickly made her way up, actually reaching the top, before continuing ahead.

I followed Violet, before taking the lead and walking ahead weakly. Crystal sighed to herself, as she wanted me to stay back. But I couldn’t, I had to check what was ahead. I began to hear mumbles behind me yet again, it did sound Crystal and Dodge again. My ear flicked in irritation, but I didn’t want to interrupt anything. I slowly made my way across the bridge, hearing the stone beneath my hooves crumble softly. I suddenly stopped, waiting for anymore noises, Violet and my companions stopped behind me.

“What’s the hold up!?” Violet grunted, I glanced back at her. I shook my head slowly in a way of saying, ‘Wait here’.

“Just wait here. I’m going to check the path ahead.” I began to slowly walk across the bridge, still hearing the mumbles of Dodge and Crystal behind me. They echoed, but I couldn’t hear anything from what they were saying. I sighed and then reached the end of the bridge not long after, seeing a terminal by a metal door. The terminal glowed an aluminous green color, the metal door rusted and slightly blackened from the fumes below. I felt the warm, toxic fumes slowly seep through the cracks. I glanced back at my companions before waving the arm with my PipBuck on. At that moment they raced towards me, they had to hurry or the fumes would kill us all.

“T-Tornado, the fumes are coming through the cracks!” Crystal panicked, glancing left right and center, “hurry up with the door.” I tried to hack the terminal, but it denied access. I cursed at the top of my lungs, and attempted again. Dodge tried bucking the door, but it was no good.

“Celestia dammit, we’re going to die!” Dodge bucked the door yet again, adding more force. I tried entering a code, yet again being denied access to the terminal. I started to cough rapidly; it was caused by the fumes irradiated gases that penetrated the throat and lungs, causing them to dry up.

“Oh fuck it!” I bucked the terminal, it sparked with a violent crackling electric current before the door opened, (surprisingly). I then sprinted through the door, feeling the weight of all of my companions pushing against me before falling with them landing on top of me. I soon felt the fumed beginning to leak into the room, with that I shoved my companions off of me, before reaching the terminal on this side of the wall. As I entered it, the only option was, close door. I selected it and with that, the door closed with a loud bang, preventing any more of the growing fumes from reaching us.

“We can’t go back now, even if we wanted to.” I spoke as I caught my breath back, looking down at them. My companions were beginning to lift themselves up. The room was a slightly wider corridor, lights running across the bottom giving us some light to light up our way. The floor was grated, rusty and black with burns. It was as if a Pony flamed their way through this room.

At this given moment, another vision of my sister triggered. I saw her running down the corridor, all the way to the end before fading. These visions were leading me, not haunting me, but leading me. If I followed, I would find her. Hopefully. I found myself staring down the corridor, thinking of what could be in the next room at the end of the corridor. I heard a voice call for me, but I didn’t pay attention to it.

“Tornado?” I heard Crystal’s voice call softly, “Tornado, we go straight ahead right?” That was a rhetorical question. The answer was obviously yes, I slowly began to walk ahead, wanting to get as close as I could. I began to pick up the pace, before trotting swiftly towards the door at the end of the corridor. I then stopped at the door, staring at the rust it had gathered over the years.

I felt something shake me, before glancing back and seeing Crystal. This made me smile, but I turned away preparing to open the door. I had to guess what could lie ahead, I hoped for Ghouls. Easy to kill, even in large numbers. I took a deep breath, before unlocking the seal on the door and watching it open with a loud screech. It revealed yet another large tunnel, a metal staircase leading downwards onto the walkway next to the road. Stone barriers scattered along the road as if there were some struggle, some skeletons and fresh corpses scattered along the floor. Some broken weapons were scattered on the floor too, pieces of guns completely wrecked. There were some dangling lights, glowing the area up. The light was dim, but it provided the light we needed.

Something didn’t feel right though. The silence, the lack of activity, the dead bodies. Something made me feel unsure about this place, something that I had no choice of going into. It was too late to turn back; we had no choice but to continue. I slowly trotted my way down the stairs, hearing them clank as each step was taken. When I reached the bottom, I glanced to my companions nodding at them.

As they made their way down, I kept my eyes on them to ensure they were okay. By the time Violet got down, she had a saddened expression on her face. She turned to me with the frown and looked me in the eyes.

“These poor souls, they tried to escape. The skeletons were not safe from the radiation that was blown through here, and the freshly killed ones looked like they struggled their way through – unfortunately not making it.” She walked ahead onto the road, at that given moment my PipBuck softly clicked. Radiation was in the air, not a lot of it, but if we stayed too long, it would kill us for sure.

“Radiation? We haven’t got too long.” Dodge spoke out, looking at the device on my leg. He followed Violet onto the road and with that so did I. I stayed with Crystal, following Violet as she cautiously trotted across the large spread of road. A sign above a tunnel to the right of us was a green color, with white text. It was rusty and was hanging off of the tunnel entrance slightly.

The sign read: THE SOUTH, Sunnyvale 60 miles, Flower Berry Gardens 63 miles.

The path inside the tunnel was filled with the same black toxic gas. Fortunately for us, it was further into the tunnel. It was the way we were planning to go, but unfortunately the path was not possible to venture down. As we did continue across the road, we found ourselves by a large, steel door. Yet again covered in rust and even blood. Even some ponies had written with their blood as if they were being tortured. One survivor warning those who may venture onwards. The blood was dried on, like paint that had just finished drying. Some spots were still wet, but most of it was dry.

The message stated: No help, no hope – The Omega Mountains are this way, but be weary of where you venture, as danger lies ahead.

I opened the door, slowly beginning to walk down the small and claustrophobic corridor. No light down this way, my PipBuck produced enough light to light up our way, as I started to have problems with my breathing. I tried to stay calm, trying to fight off the rising anxiety. I tried to think optimistically, but the anxiety was too strong, I just had to ignore it for now. But something did help me take it off my mind, something horrid. Another Ghouls wretched roar was heard from down the corridor.

“More of them?” Crystal’s elegant voice was heard behind me, as I saw her stand next to me. I heard Violet snicker as she spoke. I also noticed Violet slowly push ahead before standing in front of me.

“Didn’t you listen to the Pony’s warning from earlier? That mysterious buck warned us about what may lie ahead, so this is probably the least of our worries.” And oh boy it was. I saw a pair of glowing, irradiated green eyes in the darkness. I heard Dodge mumble something, before glancing at him. I wanted him to answer me.

“We’ve got Hellhounds.” Dodge sounded like he regretted what he said, before placing the revolver back into his jaws, “those strong bastards can pack a punch, or should I say a slash?” Violet glanced back at us all.

“What the hell are they doing back here?!” Crystal gasped; Violet snickered yet again as if it was nothing. I think I do remember seeing one of these beasts back in Stable 55’s tunnels. But now it had us in its sights, we were going to die. Or at least possibly were.

“I think it’s obvious, the Enclave drove them down here.” She slowly walked forward. I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t. I just decided to follow her slowly and so did my companions. As the large monstrous hound came into vision, its obsidian colored fur stood out, its claws as sharp as razors with stained blood on it from its last victim. It showed its teeth, some were crooked and its mouth leaking with drool and the teeth were yellowed from the lack of cleansing.

It didn’t seem hostile right now, at least for now. Violet was about to go hostile but Crystal and I slowly made our way ahead. I began staring into its sickly green eyes, as I felt it stare back into mine. My eyes slowly drifted over to Crystal, who was observing this certain Hellhound.

“Get back!” Dodge hissed, “it’ll kill you both!” Though, I ignored the comment he made and continued to observe the Hellhound as it stood taller than anypony in the entire Wasteland. I felt Violet try and pull me back using her magic; I tried to refuse the aura that was pulling me before giving in and stumbling back.

“I don’t think it wants to hurt us.” Crystal softly whispered. I noticed it raise a claw, this is when I panicked. I looked to Crystal in worry, as I was scared it would hurt her. But she continued observing it.

“What are you talking about?!” Violet sounded irritated, “it’s a fucking Hellhound, of course it wants to hurt us – now get back!” Violet wasn’t helping at all. My anxiety grew even more by the second before I stared to get angry. I wanted to try and prevent the Hellhound from making contact with her.

“Crystal, get away from it.” I looked to Crystal, trying to stay calm. “Crystal!!” I yelled. This was a terrible mistake; the Hellhound looked back at me, raising a claw to attack me with. I then saw a spray of bullets get unleashed upon the Hellhound; the Hellhound stumbled back and was trying to cover its face.

I quickly pulled Crystal back, falling onto my back and with her falling onto me. She squirmed in my grip; I stared up at the Hellhound as Dodge walked ahead unleashing his Revolver ammo upon the Hellhound.

“No, it wasn’t showing any harm!” Crystal squirmed even more; I squeezed her, before rolling and then getting up onto my hooves. I held her down on the floor to prevent her from getting close to it, before unleashing my Combat Shotgun rounds upon the Hellhound.

BANG, BANG!!

The Hellhound came back, swiping for me. I fell after feeling the very tip of the claw swipe across my chest, it tore into my Stable 30 jacket, I was trying to save the Power Armor for later but I was getting close to having no choice but to wear it. The Hellhound kept one claw across its face, as each of the bullets that were flung towards it made contact with its skin. I saw the skin ripple behind the fur, before puncturing it and entering into it. The Hellhound grew weaker as more of the shots were being pressed onto it.

“Tornado, get Crystal somewhere safe!” Dodge exclaimed as he helped Violet, I stopped firing and glanced at him confused.

“Where?!” He pointed passed the Hellhound, I sighed as he did before lifting her onto my back. I then managed to squeeze passed the Hellhound, hearing the echoing gunfire behind me. I reached the door at the end of the room, before opening it and seeing myself in a darkened control room. It was a large console room, a control panel to the right of me, sparking with electricity. Many wooden crates stacked upon each other in corners that were covered with splintered wood. Rusted chains were scattered across the floor, along with the wires that powered this room. The gunfire ended instantly, making me glance back. But I saw nothing. No Hellhound, no Dodge or Violet. Were they going another way around? Were they going to clear the rest of the path behind us before following? Whatever they were doing, the last thing I’d want is for them to abandon us. As I continued, the door closed and Crystal hopped off of my back, she kept silent and glanced away from me.

“It wasn’t going to attack us.” She spoke softly, as I walked through the control room, “how could you just attack it like that?!” She turned to me, showing anger. I am not sure how she felt sorry for it, in fact the thing stood taller than all of us and was about to attack us.

“I had no choice, Crystal. I’m sorry.” I sighed and walked closer to her. She turned away from me, before I sighed contently and stroked her mane. “I didn’t want it to hurt you.”

“But if it was going to, it would have done it once it had seen us. I know this Wasteland more than you ever could. I was born in this world, you were born in the arms of safety, and I wasn’t!” She hastily looked at me, before snarling slightly. Oh great, I pissed her off again or more like we pissed her off.

“Look, it was going to attack you either way! I saw it; it was raising its claw!” I then heard a banging from the room ahead. This made me glance towards where the sound came from; I slowly walked towards the small door, before opening it and seeing a large storage room. This room was full of different boxes, with chains lying upon the floor.

As I slowly entered the room, I saw the beginning statement from the door that we all saw. No help, no hope. It was written all over the walls in blood, the sound of growling and heavy steps were heard in the distance, before a Hellhound came into vision. This one, definitely lethal. It charged at Crystal and I, before changed to my Zebra Rifle and targeted it in S.A.T.S. I locked onto its limbs, and then onto the torso before unleashing the incendiary burst of ammunition (at this point, I found out that I still had a small portion of ammo left in the gun). The flame started and then quickly flashed across its body as it roared in agony. I watched it collapse in agony before falling dead.

I heard the ammo of Crystal’s Assault Rifle get unleashed upon one of the Hellhound, hearing it growl in agony. I looked towards it, seeing it stumble back and then charge to her. I quickly unleashed another burst shot upon the Hellhound, watching the flame start and spread across its body in a matter of seconds. I wanted to save the small amount of ammo left, so I switched to my Rifle this time. It was a slightly weaker weapon, but it did the damage needed to take something down.

As I glanced at Crystal, I noticed her quickly making her way around a huge stack of boxes. I felt myself gasp, before following her quickly and ran after her. As I did reach her, she darted herself up a staircase that lead onto a rusty balcony. As soon as I made contact with the balcony, I felt the frame of it screech as I felt the frame of it shake slightly. It made me nearly topple over, but Crystal did the smart thing and slowly made her way across. I glanced over the railing, seeing hordes of Hellhounds below in the storage room.

“Tornado, come on!” I heard her hiss softly, she tried not to make a sound as she knew these Hellhounds were vicious. I slowly followed her, hearing the metal slowly withering away. It could fall at any given moment, though I tried not to worry about it. I tried to keep close to her, but the more weight placed onto the metal, the more of a chance it could break apart.

“Easy…” I mumbled to myself, as I looked at the rusted, dusty metal below me. Again, another screech was heard from the rusty bolts that held it together. I winced, as it screeched against my ear. I quickly trotted by her, hearing a bolt shoot out, with that, it made a loud bang and unfortunately for us, it caught the attention of the Hellhounds. They glanced up at us. This wasn’t good.

Another loud bang was heard from the decaying metal below us, I quickly hurried, hearing Crystal’s soft gasp behind me. The bang was now so loud, that the balcony behind us began to crumble and fall, crushing some of the Hellhounds making their way up the stairs. I saw the bloody mess below the grating, before the balcony started to collapse.

“Run!” Crystal quickly darted across the rusted metal, as I followed her closely making sure we didn’t split up. The collapsing metal was getting closer, as I sometimes felt myself nearly drop down onto the concrete floor below. She was running faster than me, I knew I could fly, but I couldn’t abandon her at any cost.

“Oh shit!” I screamed as I nearly fell to my impending doom. But as I did fall, I felt Crystal grab me with her telekinesis. I was in mid-air, seeing the balcony had fallen and also noticing the Hellhounds who tried to reach us, dead in a pool of blood. She sighed to herself as she lifted me onto the other side.

“Try and keep up next time.” She released me; I landed on my hooves nodding to her with my thanks. All she did was continue onwards down the dark hallway, my PipBuck barely lit up the room, but I did happen to check my PipBuck for the amount of ammo in my Zebra Rifle. Thirty rounds remaining. Somehow, I swear I had less. But where were Violet and Dodge? Did they run off?!

As I did follow Crystal, we reached a locked, wooden door. Crystal used her telekinesis to pick the lock within it, before pushing it open and revealing a small communications room. Strange, a small storage facility within a transportation tunnel containing a room like this. Either way, I looked around the small concrete room; a large computer stood at the back, while a small window and a radio system with wires connected to the computer was on top of the desk it laid on.

There was a strange, glowing orb on top of the desk. Crystal instantly recognized it and levitated it in the air, observing it as if she was double checking it.

“It’s a memory orb, Tornado. You’re the one capable of seeing visions; could you maybe look into this?” Crystal questioned. Of course, I nodded with regret. I knew there was no choice, but I glanced into it before feeling myself within a new body.

I saw myself within this exact room, feeling a horn on my head. No wings. It felt odd, but it was something I had to force myself to get used to. I saw my sister, wearing Enclave armor and preparing to leave the room. I felt my host brew tears within the eyes, staring at Cyclone who was grabbing all the ammo and weaponry she could. Heavy artillery and troops were heard outside of the room as if this used to be a base.

“Cyclone, you don’t have to go do you?” My host whispered. Well I knew it was a stallion, I felt him slowly walk up to her as she glanced at him. She was brewing tears in her eyes, not tears of sadness. But tears of love. And regret. “The Enclave is using you, you know that!”

“That’s why I’m leaving. That’s why I’m refusing to go to the siege of Sunnyvale.” She turned away, grabbing Healing Potions and prototypes of the recently crafted medicine, Stimpacks. “If anypony asks, tell them I died. Tell them that I was gunned down, I don’t want anypony to follow me!”

“Where are you going?!” My host was growing worried, as he took a step closer. She turned to him with a soft, loving smile. Though tears were in her eyes.

“First stop is Manehattan, and then I’ll be heading to Sunnyvale to aid the Rangers and civilians in combat.” She explained with a morbid accent, it’s like she knew she would die if she tried to oppose the Enclave. “I’ve heard my brother somehow got out of Stable 30; if he comes this way, do not tell him where I was going. Got it?! I can’t bear to lose him!”

“R-roger, I’ll just assume he looks like you.” As he said that, Cyclone nodded. She turned away, inhaling a few saddened sniffles. “And Cyclone?” She glanced at him with a nod of understanding.

“Yes Aqua?” She turned to him with a smile; he took a step closer to her. I felt a blush spark on my host’s cheeks.

“I love you, just take care.” She giggled lightly at this. Before looking at him with a soft smile, still with tears hanging in her eyes.

“I love you too, Aqua, I will. Or I’ll try.” I then noticed Cyclone move in; I felt her lips touch my hosts. Yuck! First, I felt like I kissed my own sister and second I’d never thought she’d have a side of her like this, since she was with the Enclave and all. Something from that memory shocked me, not the kiss or the fact she was with the Enclave. But that she actually planned to help the faction she despised.

Personally I didn’t think she would. But now that I had an idea of where she was headed, the only thing that concerned me was how much time I had to reach her. Maybe if I was fast enough or took a shortcut, I’d be able to find her before she’d get herself killed. From what I had gathered, that memory was only a few days old at least. So I still had time to find her.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Nine Lives, your HP has been raised by 30% but in result of this, your Agility has been decreased by 10% making you run slower than usual.

Current level: 12

I found myself back in reality after viewing the strange orb. Crystal slowly walked to me, smiling softly and waving a hoof out in front of my face to check if I was okay. I looked to her, nodding slowly.

“What did you see?” She asked softly, as she placed the orb back on the desk where she found it, before walking back up to me showing deep concern. I tried to focus on my mind, trying to regain the memory, wanting to remember what I saw. And then, I did.

“My sister. She said – she said she was going to Sunnyvale, to prevent the Enclave’s attack or at least help those in war.” I was panting lightly, and also attempting to moisten my mouth. It was dry, as if my brain had switched off for a second. “And my host, she said his name was Aqua…I think they were together at the time, maybe still are.”

At that moment, I heard a faint, dry coughing behind me. I turned around quickly; Crystal quickly looked in the direction to where it came from. I saw there, a blue Unicorn with sapphire eyes, an ocean blue and sparkling white mane with a lab coat on. He was covered in blood, as if somepony or something charged in here and gunned him down.

“T-that’d…be me.” He weakly admitted, coughing and looking up at us. I slowly made my way down to him; Crystal on the other hoof sat by him and held his hoof. He glanced at us both before coughing again. “I-I assume you’re the infamous brother she’d been talkin’ about.” He coughed again and this time, blood was launched from his mouth.

“I am.” I simply replied with, “Tell me. What happened to you and when did she leave here?” I noticed him turning pale slowly, we couldn’t save him. No matter if we used a prototype Stimpack or a Healing Potion.

“T-they overran us. T-those Hellhounds, those things!” He coughed weakly, “I barely had enough time to escape, t-the Enclave then filled the tunnels with the black toxic gas so that no-pony could escape.” He looked down and spat blood out, before looking up at me in the eyes. “That was a stupid decision.”

Crystal started to tend to his wounds using the Stimpacks. I heard him snicker as he saw her use the rusty syringe filled with Healing Potion ingredients.

“Those Stimpacks barely work; they heal slowly and barely heal. If you want good medicines, take my medical bag under the desk. It contains Healing Potions, Magical Bandages and everything else you need. You need it more than I do; it’s too late for me.” His eyes began to drift slightly, he was nearing the end. But I needed to know one last thing.

“Aqua, tell me. When did Cyclone leave?!” I raised my voice so he could hear. But he slowly drifted his head towards me with a weak smile, his cheeks now losing the color they once contained and time running out for the poor buck.

“S-she left a couple days ago. I-if you hurry, you can catch her before she gets herself killed.” As he neared death, he was preparing to say one last thing. Tears brewed up in his eyes as he coughed weakly, “I-if you do happen to find Cyclone, t-tell her that…I love her. P-please.” His eyes rolled upwards as he let out his last breath, I turned away now brewing with tears of my own. I felt Crystal’s warm body touch mine, as I looked at her and noticed her hugging me. I hugged back, hoping Cyclone was still alive.

I held the mare close, seeing the small bag under the desk get surrounded by a sky blue aura, as Crystal levitated the small bag of medical supplies our way. As she released it, allowing it to drop next to us, she began to search through it. She was amazed by how much this buck had, it is a shame how he didn’t save himself for Cyclone’s happiness. If Cyclone does find out about his death, it’d break her heart.

“Healing Potions, Magical Bandages…” Crystal spoke, before going on and mumbling. “I’ve needed Healing Potions, since those prototype Stimpacks were the only things I could use.” She levitated everything from the bag into her saddle bag, before looking at me with a nod. However, I noticed Dodge come into the room, not even noticing the bloody corpse that we were sat around.

“About time I found you two!” He walked in looking at the corpse. I saw him cringe, but he focused his attention on us. “Violet and I found a small passage leading into the mountains. It should take us to Sunnyvale which is south of here!” Sunnyvale made my ears perk up, I glanced at him.

“Did you say Sunnyvale?” I asked, standing onto my hooves and walking up to him. He nodded and I nodded slowly, “we need to go there now.”

“What’s the occasion?” Dodge snickered. Though, I didn’t laugh. I was thinking of more serious matters at hoof. I sighed to myself – not in disgust, but more of how much pity I felt for him and his sense of humor. I just rolled my eyes before walking past him.

“Never mind.” I grunted, I was irritated but I wasn’t going to stop, “where’s Violet?” As I did ask it, I noticed her glancing over the balcony wreckage just down the hallway, before turning back around and walking back to me.

“If you’re the one who brought that catwalk down, crushing those Hellhounds, congratulations.” She spoke sarcastically, “but we don’t have much time, the Enclave is on the move to the mountains. Those mountains are one of the last surviving Ranger bases in the Wasteland.” She turned to me and walked to me, “it’s the only way we can go too.”

“I’m ready when you are.” I said, looking to Crystal with a nod. She responded with a similar nod, before I looked back at Violet and nodded.

“Come on, it’s this way.” Dodge began to walk down the hallway to our right, Crystal, Violet and I began to follow him as he slowly made his way down the dark corridor that surrounded us. With my claustrophobia kicking in, I tried to prevent my anxiety from getting the better of me. I had gained some control over it, for now anyway.

It felt like it had been hours in these dark, claustrophobic corridors. But we did manage to find an exit. A large steel door, lights were traced along the edges lighted up the surface of it. The rusted steel before us was a dark, dim grey. A glowing sapphire sign, with burnt marks all over it and black bold text was attached above it.

The text on the door read: Omega Mountain Passage. WARNING: HIGH WIND SPEEDS!

Violet slowly turned the small wheel on the door, a screeching noise suddenly echoed off of the concrete walls. I covered my ears with a wince, Crystal and Dodge doing the same. However, Violet only seemed irritated, she wasn’t wincing. She just had a look of irritation upon her face, before the door slowly revealed the rocky passage of the mountains. The blinding sunlight flashed in our faces, I quickly went to cover my eyes as the sickly green blinding light filled the room. The outside world let in a strong breeze, as I slowly began to make my way out onto the rocky path. The first thing I noticed was the view of the entire view of the Ravaged Wasteland.

I glanced back to my companions who slowly made their way out of the darkness, Crystal making her way to my side. I had never seen a view like this before in my life. Looking back at the view, the sights of many different grey plains of endless chaos was in view, mountains that stood taller than the thick clouds that shrouded the entire Wasteland and a large Clocktower by a small Town just to the south east of the mountain range.

“Enough sightseeing, we have to go.” Violet grunted, “Let’s go.” I slowly turned to Violet, who was now walking away down the path that led into a small valley. Dodge held his hat on, before he sighed and began to follow her. I trotted to them quickly, Crystal following me closely the entire way. The spiked mountains that surrounded both sides were daunting down on us, some small fragments of rocks falling from the tips and onto the dim soil below our hooves.

But I knew this was no simple morning stroll. The winds were prevented from passing the tall rocks, making the wind whistle loudly as it skimmed the tip of the spire-like rocks. The sight of a small steel base hung at the bottom of the path, as I tilted myself to the side to see what it was, I noticed Enclave troops wandering around. It was an Enclave base. Or a camp perhaps, either way, The Grand Pegasus Enclave had gained control of this part of the mountain. Bodies of Rangers were found lying in pools of blood, their helmets either smashed or torn off revealing their brutalized faces. Violet gaged at the horrific sight.

“Those bastards…” I heard her cough shortly afterwards, she spun her Minigun preparing for battle. I placed a hoof in front of the mare, before glancing at her and snarling.

“No. Let them pass. Violence isn’t always the answer, Violet.” I stared at the troops who gently poked the corpses of the Rangers before nodding back to their fellow comrades and traveling down a different path and going out of sight. Violet’s anger was building up, as I felt her press against my hoof gently. Her Power Armor feeling hard and cold against me. I looked at my PipBuck, seeing the red blips slowly fading away before deciding the continue down the path, towards the corpses.

I managed to get a better view of it all. The Armor they wore covered in their own blood, and also had massive gaping holes where their gut wrenched bodies lying there. The ones who had no helmets were killed with their eyes open, their eyes rolled back into their skull. Their mouth opened as if they let out one last breath before falling into death’s grip. How I did feel pity for Violet, I just wish she understood that their death was a noble one. No pony dies for the wrong reason, even Raider’s die for a purpose. Their purpose, survival. The purpose of these Rangers was for the greater good, but unfortunately, they didn’t manage to survive the attack that they Enclave did.

“Oh Celestia…how could they have done this?” Crystal whined softly, before walking closer to them to examine the wounds. With their bodies’ torn open, the guts hanging out and completely lifeless, it didn’t take too long for Crystal to work out what kind of weapon did the damage given. “It was a Spark-Hook.”

“A Spark-Hook?” Still new to the Wasteland weaponry, I asked, lifting a hoof off of the ground. Crystal nodded simply, before turning around to face me.

“Originally designed to get Ponies across the Wasteland easier, it is now used as a weapon. It sends a hook that is shrouded in a burning metal before grabbing the victim and ripping their body apart as the hook returns to the user.” Crystal moved back to me and stood beside me, “they thought the flame on the hook would help momentum. Unfortunately it wasn’t the case.”

“They used it a lot back home,” Dodge added, “but somepony stupid thought it was a great idea to attack somepony with it. Horrific sight I must say.” He overlooked the body before him with a sigh, “that is not the worst it can do.”

“Oh?” I tilted my head slightly as I glanced at Dodge. He nodded to me and frowned slightly. Violet was looking around for any remaining bodies of her comrades.

“The Spark-Hook can rip its victims in two, breaking their spine, shattering their ribcage and any other bones near that area. No matter the armor, the Spark-Hook can do some nasty damage.” Dodge slowly turned his head to Violet, who was examining others in the area.

I noticed a small smile appear on Dodge’s face. I was wondering what made him smile, was it the weapon or of what it could do if we had it?

“She surely is beautiful, isn’t she?” Dodge softly said, as if he didn’t know he said it. With the random comment, I tilted my head. I wondered what this had to do with anything, but Violet was no mare of beauty to me.

“Uh. Yeah sure.” I said awkwardly. He blushes softly and realized what he said, I still stared at the buck, confused of why he said it.

“Uh, never mind!” He then quickly trotted towards Violet. I looked at Crystal with a small smirk, trying to prevent myself from laughing. Which it did work, I then followed them with Crystal by my side. Violet then examined one last body, before turning back. One of the large hooks stuck inside the body. As if the Pony struggled and managed to prevent from being ripped apart. Though, they probably died from blood loss.

“That’s the last body.” Violet simply said, closing the eyes of the dead Steel Ranger, before adding a respected kiss to the cold surface of their face. “This one had strength, but they went the slow way out. Personally, I’d imagine a death from a Spark-Hook is a lot better than bleeding out.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, Violet.” Crystal softly spoke, as she glanced down at the tortured bodies below. Violet sighed slightly and looked to Crystal with a frown.

“It’s okay. They’re in a better place now.” Violet seemed friendly towards Crystal for one of the first times, “let’s just go now. We shouldn’t stay.” Violet began to trot into another open area, the wind pushing at her strongly. I followed her closely, with Dodge and Crystal behind.

The view of the Wasteland was horrid, not exactly the sight that had been advertised on the Pre-War posters. But the toxic, irradiated air wasn’t as bad up here at least. I could actually breathe without feeling sick in my stomach after a while. Though, I found another glowing orb buried beneath the dirt. It was another memory orb. I fell behind; Dodge and Crystal too busy talking to know I did. When the others weren’t looking; I quickly went back and took it out of the dirt, cleaning the grainy soil from it.

Staring at it, I quickly placed it inside my bag. But unfortunately, my withdrawal from Visionary Water was occurring. Though, I had noticed I could go longer without it. Trying to fight off the urge from drinking, I continued onwards and catching up with them. A large rundown base was on the edge of a cliff on the other side of the mountain, a red beeping light slowly fading in and out. A large Steel Ranger faction logo was imprinted on the front of it, as if the Rangers recently took it over. Originally, from what I read back in Stable 30, this used to be an old communications tower (I truly was an egghead, especially when it came to Equestrian History) and it was abandoned due to the Megaspell that had been detonated ten miles from here. The intoxicating fumes forcing the few surviving Ponies to evacuate from the building. The journey there wasn’t going to be easy.

As we began to take a small wooden bridge to the other side, the wind made it sway slightly and the ropes along it were beginning to split. We had to be cautious. Missing planks of wood were underneath us. It barely could hold all four of us. But knowing this bridge, it’s probably been here for many years and meaning its condition was just because of its age.

I peered over to see the long fall below us; a small wreckage was at the bottom. I slowly pulled my head back in, seeing my companions already on the other side of the bridge, quickly following them and being careful of where I stood, I reached the other side and was back onto solid ground. There, the base stood tall in front of us. Steel Ranger guards stood at the entrance, their helmets covering their faces and the jet black visors preventing their eyes from being shown. The heavy Miniguns that were latched onto their armor were pointed at us, as if they were ready to shoot.

“Halt, only Steel Rangers can access this point!” One of them shouted in a deep, echoing tone, “turn back now, or we will shoot!” Violet rolled her eyes and then giggled mockingly.

“You really do not know who I am? And you don’t know who these are?” She shot them looks that they turned away from, “pathetic. Just let us past.” The Rangers then looked back to her, before walking to her and looking at her straight into the eyes.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, all that matters is that you’re not getting access!” The Steel Ranger grunted, “Now turn back!” Violet refused and facehoofed as the Steel Rangers blocked the small wooden door upon the tall, steel building.

“I’m Knight Violet. Stand down!” Violet hissed at them with a vicious tone. The Steel Rangers stood aside, letting all of us passed and into the communications tower. As I walked past the Rangers, I noticed their heads following my every move. It was as if I did something wrong. Upon entering, the room we were in was a large, dark base with computers all around us. With technology surrounding us all, Rangers were seen trotting around with their guns latched onto their armor.

The Rangers however stared at us, as if we were unwanted company. I could tell they didn’t want any outsiders within the tower that is now their base. I began to wander around the large base like room, staring at all the large screens and computers. Violet and my other companions followed closely, but my eagerness to look into the orb I collected was getting the better of me.

“Hold on, wait here. I’m going to look around.” I spoke, looking to them. Violet rolled her eyes and Dodge and Crystal nodded. As they did, slowly began to walk down a small corridor before making myself into the fuse room. When I entered, large mainframe computers were surrounding me; the noise of it all was loud. The quiet beeping of all the electronics echoed around the room. I shut the door and sat down in a nearby corner, removing the orb from my bag and looking at its glowing blue color.

It lit up a small portion of the room, before I began to observe it. With my curiosity rising, I began to focus on it preparing to leave the body I was in temporarily. It didn’t take long for me to find myself inside a new body.

My host took me to a small hill, where I saw the lines of Enclave soldiers dressed in their obsidian, heavy armor. The white stallion in his coat and with his blue mane. Mist. It was him again, the scar I had left on his eye was visible but now it was just a mere scab. As the troops prepared for war, my host turned their head and nodding to its Steel Ranger allies. The one I was in was a mare, an Earth Pony too. The allies with her preparing the attack.

The troops of the Grand Pegasus Enclave were heavily armed with their different types of weaponry. The general, Mist bit down on his cigar before blowing a cloud of smoke out with a small smirk. He snickered lightly, as he stared off the edge of the cliff. My host however, stood onto her hooves preparing to begin the attack. This wasn’t going to end well.

“Imagine a future like the very past of this nation. Where a Wasteland like this was nothing but an old foals tale.” Mist glanced back to his troops, “imagine if the air was fresh, imagine if the water was clean – imagine a world of hope and happiness. It’ll come my fellow soldiers, all in good time.”

My host quickly ran out of the cover she was behind, before unleashing the Minigun’s hellish ammo upon the Enclave soldiers who were lined up. She managed to take down a few with ease, watching the ammo shred through the armor that was worn by them.

“Clover!” A stallion called behind my host, she then quickly spun around before seeing her fellow Ranger’s head get blown clean off. The blood spurting from the hole that was left there.

When the Ranger collapsed, my host quickly glanced up at a sniper, before shredding them to pieces with her Minigun. The sniper’s limbs breaking apart from their body before their wings became no longer functional. My host watched the Enclave soldier fall down the mountain, before glancing to Mist. But unfortunately for my host, Mist was twice the size of her. His strong, muscular body had a threatening tone towards whoever faced the infamous buck.

I felt my host glare at Mist, before he charged to her and swiping for her. She jumped out the way, spinning her Minigun and preparing to take a shot. Unfortunately for her, a call from one of the Rangers distracted her. I then saw the Ranger who called for her get knocked down and then blasted in the head with a Laser weapon.

THUMP!

I felt my host get clocked in the jaw and was sent upwards in a spiral before landing and groaning in pain. I saw Mist’s hooves slowly make their way towards my host, before feeling him lift her up with his wings and snarling at her. With most of the Rangers completely wasted, I then noticed a Ranger get killed with the Spark-Hook. Its guts being ripped from its chest, before collapsing in a world of pain.

With the screams of agony slowly fading out, all the Rangers now extinguished by the Enclave troops. Many of the remaining ones were lying in pools of blood, screaming for mercy before the Enclave ended their lives completely with a shot to the head.

“You do not know who you are messing with – we are the Grand Pegasus Enclave, and this Wasteland is ours!” I then saw Mist throw my host down the ground. The dirt covering my vision. Unfortunately, I could only listen to what was happening.

A loud shot was heard, before a groan of pain filled my ears. I felt blood drain from my host, before hearing a few heavy steps approach the host.

“What shall we do with her, sir?” One of the Enclave troops groaned, “Do we execute her?” One last stomp was felt on my host’s hoof, a loud crunch was heard. It sounded like bones breaking apart. Judging by the strength given, it was most likely Mist.

“Leave her here to rot in the dirt. But now, we go to the south-east. We must fight.” Mist groaned irritated, “but, check the area for any surviving Rangers or any hiders – if you find any, you know what to do.”

The memory ended there, I found myself back in the network room I was in previously. I glanced around the room. I was still alone, fortunately for me, no pony had seen me with this orb. Since it was a Steel Ranger orb, it would raise suspicions within the Rangers including Violet.

I hid the orb inside of my saddle bag, hoping to never reveal it in front of Violet and her fellow Rangers. I got onto my hooves before leaving the small room, and seeing my companions still all huddled up within the center. Violet approached me with a bemused look, before letting out an exclaimed question.

“And you were where exactly!?” I froze, thinking of what to say. Unfortunately it didn’t come quickly, this made Violet look at me with an accusing look, “I will ask again. Where were you?!”

I sighed to myself, before looking at her, “just looking around, Violet. I find it odd how you can barely trust anypony.” Violet snarled at this and walked up to me.

“I find it odd how you just wander off, going places where you’re probably not welcome!” She kept her eyes on mine, “if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be in here right now. You wouldn’t be in the arms of safety.”

I really couldn’t argue with her. I just sighed and looked down before noticing the white mare slowly walk towards an older Unicorn. This one was jet black, with a grey, middle spiked mane. With a small, and snubbed tail. He was wearing a maroon overcoat that covered his body, as he stared at the computers; he heard the trotting of Violet before turning around to face her.

“Come on, let’s stick together.” Dodge slowly began to follow Violet towards the elder pony, as Crystal and I did the same. Crystal looked to me with an irritated face and then snarled slightly, I raised an eyebrow.

“Is something bothering you, Crystal?” I asked, tilting my head. She stopped and slowly nodded at me.

“Yes, Violet is really pissing me off now. Why did we ever bring her along?!” Crystal’s elegant voice, soon turned into a harsh, hiss of anger.

“She’s only tagging along with us because she has her part of the bargain to carry out. Trust me, once this is all over, she’ll be gone.” I explained with a sigh, “I promise you, Crystal.” Crystal sighed to herself softly, before walking ahead. I followed her before we stopped by the slightly older Pony that Violet had travelled to.

“Ah, you must be the outsiders.” The Pony rotated around to face us, “I’m sorry about the reception my Rangers gave you, but we can never be too careful. Attacks are frequent from the Enclave in the mountains, for them to win the fight at Sunnyvale, they must weaken our defences.” He grinned with amusement, “being the age I am, I know how tactics work. My name is Elder Dusk.”

“I’m Violet. These are my travellers, Tornado, Crystal and Dodge. We have come to seek supplies; we’re not stopping for long.” Violet explained, “Do you happen to have any spare ammo or medical supplies?”

“I already have some Healing Potions, we don’t need anymore.” Crystal softly called out, Violet glanced back with a small smirk and a nod.

“Thank you, Crystal. Looks like we’ll only need ammo.” She turned back to Elder Dusk with a nod. Elder Dusk nodded and then walked back to levitate a small box of ammo upwards, before placing it in front of Violet.

“Will this be enough, Miss Violet?” Dusk asked, tilting his head, “we don’t have a great deal of ammo, but we have enough to get us through the harsh days.” Dodge took a step forward, raising an eyebrow.

“You don’t have to give us ammo, you know. I’m sure you need it more than us.” Violet shot him a look after he spoke. He took a step back, wishing he hadn’t said it. But Dusk gave it to us anyway, Crystal this time taking the ammo and placing it into her saddle bag.

“It will be enough, am I right?” Crystal asked softly, “we don’t want to run low on ammo in the middle of a battle.” Dusk nodded towards Crystal with a humorous chuckle. But then his face returned to a straight, serious look of focus.

“We need to get back to work. I hope to see you all in the future, and hopefully you’ll survive out there. I was glad to be of service.” Elder Dusk turned away to get back to work with his Rangers, before we turned to exit the communications tower we were in.

Once we were outside again, we began to take a small and steep path that led downwards towards the ground. With the strong winds blowing against us, the clouds began to thicken above us as if they were brewing up for a storm. I felt small drops of rain leak from above us, before a loud clap of thunder was heard. Darkness shrouded us all, as the clouds prevented any more of the sun rays to seep through. There were no cracks in the clouds above; everything was covered by the smoky black clouds above us.

The rain pressed down on us rapidly, with the wind blowing the rain towards us uncontrollably. I groaned in irritation, feeling the dirt below me become sloppier. I almost fell, but I felt Crystal’s telekinesis grab me.

“Thanks.” I simply said, gaining my balance before continuing downwards. A crashed Sprite Bot was seen within the dirt, the Parasite like wings torn upon impact and bent in horrific ways.

However, as we slowly got closer to the bottom of the path, we reached a flat bit of surface which prevented us from tumbling down. We couldn’t continue down this way, the mud was too slippery; therefore we had to travel down an alternate route which hopefully would take us directly to the destination we had planned to go to. The rain slammed against the rocks surrounding us; there were rocks at the right of us, preventing the rain from smacking into us anymore.

I looked into my PipBuck, seeing the screen slowly dripping with water. I checked my PipBuck’s built in map, seeing that the village of Sunnyvale was an estimated twenty-five miles away. The claps of thunder then rang again, making he glance around myself.

“This storm isn’t going to help us at all, Tornado. We have to stop and rest somewhere.” Dodge tried to speak through the storms powerful winds, with the sound of the rain hitting the large boulders.

“No we can’t! We must push on!” I exclaimed, slowly taking cautious steps across the small ledge before me. Though, thinking we were going to be safe, I noticed a small band of Raiders looting a couple of corpses. From what I noticed, they were scavengers. I knew this because the amount of Raiders around the body was a little too much for a regular traveller.

I ducked down behind one part of a close boulder, glancing to my companions and tilting my head for them to take cover behind me. They slowly lined up behind me, as I slowly peeked my head out to check. I heard a few faint, dry, vicious voices within the storm.

“Ooh, I found a lot of caps on this one, dirty little thief!”

“Look what I found, boys! A picture of this poor fellow’s mommy and daddy, what a pussy!”

“That isn’t important; we need to find leads to Cyclone Flash. The Enclave says if we find her, there’s a big reward in it for us. And an even bigger reward if we bring them her head!”

The Enclave would really do that? Would they really pay scum like them caps and give them weaponry? I doubt it. Either way, this angered me. It was like she was public enemy number one around here for abandoning the Enclave. I swapped my Combat Shotgun for my rifle, before aiming down the sight and preparing myself to yank on the lever from the battle-saddle. I lined one of their heads up, preparing to take the shot.

BANG!

The Raider collapsed, as its head was completely blown off from its body. By this moment, they went of full alert. The storm grew stronger, and claps of thunder were more frequent. I knew I could use the sound to cover the shots, so I prepared myself for another shot. I lined the iron sight up with the head of a Raider, looking up at the thick clouds that were unleashing the heavy rain onto the Wasteland, before seeing the lightning and then the loud clap of thunder. I fired a shot, again taking the head off of a Raider, but the sound of my rifle was covered up by the thunder.

Violet being impatient charged out spinning her Minigun and killing one of the other ones. The rain made her muzzle flash glow in the darkness, revealing our position completely. The small band of Raiders soon became a larger group of them. Shots were flung towards us, as Violet continued to spin her Minigun. Unfortunately, weapons of its type were not designed for long distance battles. Her rounds being flung in all different directions, completely missing them.

I decided to use the slippery soil beneath us to an advantage, I was preparing to fly over and try something new. I opened my wings, before launching myself upwards and towards the Raiders, the bullets being sent towards me. I felt a bullet scar my cheek, before I winced and flew back up. I circled around them, before hanging my two forehooves out and slamming them into their faces. I only managed to knock one off, but that one fell into a rock which caused the soil beneath it to slowly rot away and decay. With the ground now giving way, the Raiders (who were Earth Ponies) began to fall down, trying to grip onto anything to prevent their imminent demise. But it did them no good – they fell, their screams echoing through the air, before one last clap of thunder covered the sound of the impact.

Dodge charged ahead firing his revolver at the remaining Raiders using his jaws to pull the trigger. Crystal was taking a few burst shots from behind cover with her Assault Rifle, but fighting wasn’t her main purpose. I then saw a hook just shoot past my face, making me loop and look around, before spotting a Raider with a Spark-Hook.

I quickly charged to the Pony, managing to tackle the Raider before rapidly punching and beating them. His face began to bleed vigorously, as drove my hooves into his muzzle and face. The Raider’s eyes began to fill with blood, as scars and bruises began to carve his way into his skin before landing one last punch onto him. I watched the Raider choke on his own blood before becoming lifeless; blood was soaked into my hooves, and my Stable 30 jacket. Most of it was not my own blood.

I flew back down to my companions, spitting out some of the Raider blood that got inside my mouth. I looked at them with a worried look after leaving them.

“Is everypony alright?” I asked, walking up to them cautiously. The rain got into its harshest stage, I felt the rain bounce off of the rocks and hit me softly as I used my wings to cover myself.

“I’m good.” Dodge lifted himself onto his hooves after looting one of the Raiders for anything, “by the way, these Raiders don’t carry any useful things.” He took one last kick of the Raider’s body, before chuckling.

BANG!!

A loud, echoing shot was heard from behind me. I quickly turned around to see a Raider slowly collapse, decapitated from some sort of shot. I then glanced upwards at the cliffs, trying to see if there was anypony there. There was. Two Pegasus, stallions, both armed with high calibre Sniper Rifles.

The one on the right had a similar mane style to mine, just with black and red instead of white and blue. His coat was a blood red color, with his eyes a sinister, navy blue color. He grinned and placed a new mag into his Sniper Rifle which was hooked onto his battle saddle.

The one on the left was a dull electric blue color, his mane black and navy color. His eyes a bright red that sparkled within the flashes of lightning ahead. His wings however, were made of metal. I could see small holes to where his old wings were, where his new ones fit now. I could also see those holes stained with blood. It was as if they were torn out, not only shot off, but torn out by something.

“Friend or foe!?” I exclaimed, taking a step back. I made sure I had my aim on them at all times; I didn’t want them killing me right after they killed the Raider. The blood red buck snickered to himself.

“Allow me to introduce us both,” he began with a dull, mocking accent, “I am Swift, and this is my brother Cyber. I believe we are friends, because we just saved your arses!”

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Insomniac. Sleep is for the weak! You can now deal 5% more damage to all enemies during combat at night; you are also 20% more agile at night. Huzzah!

Current level: 13

Friends.

We all had some right? Friends couldn’t be there without enemies, am I right? The two new snipers called Swift and Cyber seemed awfully proud of killing one Raider out of a whole group. Still, at least they didn’t try and kill us at all. Crystal seemed curious about why they were out here in the first place.

“You do know you could have just flown away and left us to die!” Crystal irritably said, “You didn’t exactly save us, since you only killed one Raider out of around ten!” Thank you Crystal for telling them. I really wanted to hug her for that.

“We could have, but did we? No, we didn’t – however that Raider was going to kill one of you at least,” the bucks eyes slowly centered on me. I looked to the side a bit before letting out a sigh. Okay, maybe Crystal wasn’t right after all.

I turned to Crystal before frowning slightly, seeing the anger filled expression on her face slowly turn to me, “he’s right you know. If he didn’t kill the Raider, I would be dead.”

“See! At least he has some common sense!” Swift blurted out, scratching his ear with his hoof, “now, where are you folks heading?” The red buck’s Sniper Rifle slowly rocked around as he landed onto the ground with a smirk.

“Sunnyvale,” I simply responded, “why’d you ask?” At that moment Cyber and Swift looked to each other with a couple of snickers before looking back at me with a grin.

“And your reason is? Surely you wouldn’t kill yourself because your own curiosity drove you towards the battlefield,” Cyber then began to speak, taking a step forward and raising a brow as he did, “you’ll need a bigger army than that and I bet none of you can use Sniper Rifle quite like us.”

“Are you requesting to join us?” I asked, also raising a brow of my own. I began to walk to them, examining their weapons upon their saddles. The unique design of the Sniper Rifles consisted of a mechanical look. The scope upon the rail at the top covered in the same material, while containing a murky green scope.

Swift walked to me with a small smirk, “maybe we are, yes. Cyber does have a point; you surely cannot enter Sunnyvale with a party like that!” He exclaimed, placing a hoof to his face, “it is suicide. Have you been living under a rock or something?”

Wasn’t it obvious? I had been living in a Stable. Especially since my now completely wet and dirty jumpsuit even said I was a resident. But all they did was chuckle; Violet took a step forward, examining their guns also before looking up at them with a glare.

“Just one rule. I think we can all agree on this, no backstabbing – or I’ll kill you both myself,” Violet obviously wanted to inflict fear into the hearts of the brothers, but all they did was chuckle lightly and roll their eyes.

“So where are we heading now?” Dodge spoke out, looking out into the Wasteland which was now being bombarded by the violent storm, “surely we’re not continuing in this weather!”

“You’re right…but if we want to get there sooner rather than later, we’re going to have to face the storm, mate,” Swift flew to his side, before landing, “by the way, what are your names? If we’re going to travel, we have to know names.”

I then introduced myself with a raised eyebrow, once saying my name; I pointed and spoke the names of my fellow companions out.

Beginning to slowly trot back down the cliff, we ensured that we stuck close to each other; the two Snipers remained in front to scout ahead. With the storm calming down slightly, Cyber and Swift flew up, before looking down the scopes of their rifles and then giving us all the heads up of what’s ahead. They glanced down to us and nodded slowly, but remained above us so they could scout more.

Once we reached the bottom, we were back on the ground again. The sludgy, soggy soil getting all over my PipBuck as the rain slammed into my face. Crystal was trotting beside me as Dodge and Violet were slightly behind me.

“You’ll know when we reach Sunnyvale, a large Clocktower is just outside of the town – I’m sure you all saw it at the top of the mountains,” Swift shouted over the storm, I looked up at him as he slowly flew ahead to take a look of what could be ahead.

All I did was nod, yet picking up the pace, the storm started to soften as the scenic view of the Wasteland around us was in sight. The clouds now opening up to allow the sickly green sunlight to seep through and the darkness and rain vanishing. The grey, dead plains that carried on for miles and miles made me imagine the day of when the bombs fell. When one day it’s all sunny and beautiful - the next it turned into this wretched land where ponies had no choice but to fight to survive.

Reaching the side of a hill, a large hole in a hillside was seen. Swift and Cyber closed up their wings before slowly making their way down the hill. I followed them, hearing my companions slowly follow behind me. As Cyber slowly took a peek down the small darkened hole, he glanced back at us.

“It’s a Stable,” Cyber began, “an older one by the looks of it, we’ll go through here. Many Stables are said to have had escape tunnels built into the back of them.”

Cyber squeezed himself through the hole, as so did Swift. I peeked into the hole, before pushing myself through the gap. Another cave, woo-hoo? No, I fucking hated these caves – each time went into one, I could have sworn they’d gotten smaller in size than the previous one.

As we approached the large, rounded steel door, the metal upon the door was rusted, a small orange light that dangle above showed the small scratch marks and damaged bolts within the door. The number on the door however was partially missing, it had one part of the number but the other part was gone completely. It was as if it had been ripped off. Though there was some graffiti on the door, I leaned in closely to get a better look.

Griffin territory now! Turn back while you can!

“Griffin’s?” Crystal softly spoke, leaning in to get a better look, “Why would they want to come here?” She glanced to me, as she was right next to me. I looked at her in the eyes for a few seconds, completely emotionless, before turning back to the door and stepping back.

“Let’s get this door open!” I looked up at it, before glancing to the small console by the door. Unfortunately it was broken, electric sparks shot from the now destroyed console. No lights were on it whatsoever.

I looked to my PipBuck to see which Stable it was; unfortunately the map wouldn’t identify it. The only thing it notified me of was an unknown name. It wasn’t a name stating it was unknown; it was just a jumble of letters. Cyber and Swift were trying to slowly unhook the bolts upon the thick, steel door. Violet walked up to me, watching them unscrew each and every bolt holding it in place slowly.

“So, you’re going to trust them just like that?” Violet softly groaned, looking to me, “you have to learn that it isn’t that easy gaining the trust of strangers.”

I glared at the mare slightly, but all she did was roll her eyes and walk away. On the other-hoof, Dodge and Crystal were talking to past the time as the two bucks at the door slowly made their way around the door. I tuned into the radio on my PipBuck and began to listen.

“G’afternoon, Wastelanders. I bet your day is as shit as mine, but do you know what makes it all better for me? Speaking to each and every one of you tuning it. And now I have some news for all of you,” The buck on the other side spoke with a slightly jolly tone to his voice, “the battle for Sunnyvale continues, The Steel Rangers and Enclave are wasting each other like no tomorrow. I have seen that violence myself and it is some pretty hectic shit, the Rangers are getting bombarded by Enclave units!” He then sighed on the other side before continuing, “I wish you Rangers good luck in battle.”

Before he was going to continue onwards, Violet was sat with Crystal, Dodge and Violet. I sighed to myself before preparing myself for more; a silent cough was heard on the radio before he continued.

“The buck from Stable 30 however is doing fine; he’s also met a few friends along the way. Kid, if you’re listening, you’re doing the Wasteland a favour, you’re wanting to change this hellish land back to the world it was before…a land of peace. But unfortunately, while you’re saving the world, lazy bastards like me are sitting here just waiting to see what happens…good luck kid, you’re going to need it. Now for some music.”

The radio began to play some Equestrian classics. I turned the volume down slightly, so it wouldn’t distract to the two bucks at the door. Unfortunately, it took about an hour or two just to get the door’s screws from the edges.

“That should do it…” Cyber groaned as he began to catch his breath back. I slowly made my way down to Swift and Cyber, as so did my companions, “let’s open this thing.”

I pushed against it, seeing Swift, Cyber, Dodge, Crystal and Violet all pushing the door backwards slowly. The sound of the screeching mechanism was heard from inside, as the door slowly moved backwards. Gaps appeared in the sides, before I grabbed one of the ends and Crystal aiding me with it. Dodge and Violet also did, before we slowly pushed the door along, revealing a large, dark Stable entrance with its alarm lights rapidly twisting.

Bodies of the residents were lying in pools of blood with their insides completely ruptured by the sheer brutality of a Griffin’s claw. I tried to shake it off of my mind; the numbers that were marked on the jacket of the bodies was the number ten.

The grated steel staircase that led us into a small poorly lit up hallway, with blood written on the walls and corpses of more residents that had filled the Stable’s corridors. Some of them were young foals and fillies. I looked to Crystal, seeing tears brew inside of her eyes; I went to hug her closely to me while rubbing her back. Violet on the other hoof rolled her eyes and pressed onwards. I shot Violet a look as Dodge continued on behind her, Cyber and Swift however stayed behind as I held Crystal in a light embrace.

“Will she be okay?” Swift asked with deep concern, “we don’t have to go through here – but it’s much safer through here,” he looked with deep concern, before looking over to the mare in my arms. I nodded slowly.

“She’ll be okay, Swift. Just don’t wander too far okay?” He nodded in a reply; I saw him and Cyber leave down the hallway. I still held Crystal in the gentle embrace; I didn’t want to let her go. I knew how she was hurt by this, I know why she was hurt. Though, I didn’t want to say anything to hurt her nor did I want to speak, I just wanted to hold her.

Crystal and I shared a friendship so powerful. I was always there for her and she was there for me – ever since we met, I had always respected her for getting my life on track out here in this urban Wasteland. I was truly grateful for her actions. Hearing her muffled sobs, I gently stroked her mane. The sight of dead foals and fillies haunted her mind like a plague, at least that’s what I thought.

When she had calmed down, I ventured onwards down the claustrophobic corridors of the Stable. Crystal followed me closely, though my companions were not within sight. I kept glancing back at the mare behind me to ensure she was okay; she looked away from the corpses of foals and fillies, and tried to focus on what could lie ahead.

I opened a door that led into a large room. The Atrium. It was a large complex built inside the Stables where balconies would hang above the steel faced ground. Though the windows outside of the other rooms were misted up, the lights now a solar orange color. The metal felt rusted below my hooves, and a stench of blood was in the air. Dust floated around the room; it was visible within the light’s orange rays.

I then noticed Cyber, Swift, Dodge and Violet walk through a door opposite us. Cyber shrugged before leaning over the balcony’s rails and staring down at the rusted metal floor that didn’t leave any reflection from the light.

“We couldn’t find anything…maybe all the Griffin’s left?” Violet commented with a deep sigh, “I wouldn’t wonder why, this place is a shithole. I actually feel sorry for you, living in one of these so called Bomb Shelters,” she sarcastically spoke; she then frowned and looked away from me before turning to walk to Dodge. I blinked, before joining them. I saw Cyber and Swift peek through the small misted windows that were beside them.

I slowly looked around the atrium’s hall, seeing the rusted, peeling metal on the walls covered in blood and also graffiti. A large poster that tried to picture the Stable as a happy environment was imprinted upon a large, glowing billboard across from me. The dry blood upon the billboard made it hard for me to work out what it said, but I did manage to read it out.

“The Stable.

A happy environment for all residents. There’s no place like home, like a Stable!”

Bullshit. It was a fucking hellhole from what I could remember. I think they tried a little too hard to make it like the world above; the so called friendly environment really didn’t help anypony in situations they couldn’t handle. It actually made them worse. Though with my curiosity trying to dominate me, I began to explore around the balcony area, before walking through a doorway (the same doorway my companions came from) before continuing down the hallway, seeing all the blood that had been sprayed across the walls. The bodies of residents filled the hallways, eyes gouged out, chests ripped open and guts torn out. It was sickening, but I had to put up with it. I heard flies buzzing around the corpses that filled the darkened hallways of the Stable.

I heard nothing behind me, meaning no-pony followed. I ventured on through the twisting corridors, feeling an eerie presence. I stopped, glancing around myself. The hallway ahead was black from the darkness, as the lights were knocked out. Pieces of broken glass from the lights. I heard movement behind me, seeing my companions slowly make their way round, but before they could even walk ahead, I placed a hoof in front of them.

Violet being the unwise mare she was, she rolled her eyes before walking ahead into the darkness.

“It’s only the dark – buck up!” She called to us all. Cyber and Swift slowly began to walk ahead, but stopped at the very edge of the light. The light behind us that lit up area we were at began to flicker slowly. But something didn’t feel right, it wasn’t the darkness preventing me or my companions travel further, it was something in the darkness.

I slowly took one hoof step ahead, gently pushing my way passed the brothers. Crystal followed me closely, hanging her head low. The only light helping us now was the green light from the device on my foreleg. I glanced back at the ones in the light and frowned.

“Come on…it seems safe, at least for now,” I slowly made my way around the winding corridors of the abandoned Stable, feeling the temperature drop in some places. The stench of rotten corpses, the sound of flies was only heard within the everlasting darkness.

I kept glancing back to see if my companions were there. Luckily all Dodge, Cyber, Swift and Crystal were behind me. Violet however wandered off. I began to worry for her; I dipped my head down slightly, before slowly trotting up a staircase, hearing the metal clamp against my hooves. When we reached the top, it was still darkness. Violet was still nowhere to be heard or seen, was she really that fast? Either way, the sudden silence began to worry me.

“Violet?!” I called out, only hearing an echo from my voice. I began to walk ahead, looking around the section that was lit up by my PipBuck. Nothing, no response or anything.

“She’ll be fine, Torn. I know what Steel Rangers like her are like, tough as nails!” Dodge reassuringly said, I looked back to him with a frown. No matter how much of a bitch she was, I still considered her my friend.

I looked to Crystal, her actually being worried for her. I knew Crystal hated Violet, or at least disliked her in some way, but she was worried sick for the mare.

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look for her, Dodge!” Crystal’s shaky voice showed she was worried, “maybe the Griffin’s got her?” Her ears flop down, before she began to trot into the darkness, searching for Violet. I quickly walked after her, trying to keep up.

A slight breeze was felt against my coat, before a dull, grey light was seen ahead. Walls had been completely torn apart, before I slowly made my way into a room with a large hole inside of it. And it was as we predicted, Griffins. I heard my companions follow me behind, before instantly stopping. There were too many of them, small lamps lit up small rounded tables around the room as they played poker and other gambling games. They were armed with heavy weaponry, even some with Spark-Hook’s. The light armor that they wore obviously made it easier for them to fly, and the war paint that had been streaked on their thick, grey feathers (some with golden feathers) was easily visible.

A few Griffins made their way in from the large crater within the walls; they landed with a thud, dropping off a mangled corpse. Some began to admire it, luckily I was hidden behind a small steel barricade, and my companions were hidden behind it too. I glanced around the room for any signs of Violet; I couldn’t see her at all. But something did give me some leads to her. I overheard a conversation about a treasure in armor.

“We found Pony wandering in our territory. Alone in the dark.”

“Are we going to sell her to Slavers or what? I don’t think it’s a good idea keeping prisoners like this, there’s a difference between collecting trophies and holding prisoners captive!”

“No. This one’s a beauty. I’m keeping her for myself; a treasure in armor is what she is!”

“Well what the hell are you going to do with her?!”

“She’s going to be mine and mine only – she’ll do what I want!”

Dodge growled slightly at this, I looked to him and shook my head. We had to find a way around them, it was the only thing we could do. Both killing them and waiting wasn’t going to help any of us.

“Might I suggest us sniping them individually?” Swift suggested, glancing down at me. I couldn’t risk getting us killed; besides, they’d get Violet out of there as quickly as possible.

The cold breeze from the large hole in the wall made me shiver lightly, but I then looked to Swift with a raised eyebrow. How I didn’t think sniping was needed, I don’t see how it couldn’t work – however, there were still too many for us all to take, we had to go in there quietly so we wouldn’t get ourselves killed! I then noticed in a small pile of corpses, the mare we came looking for. Violet. She was covered in all sorts of brutish wounds, deep and bloody. Her eyes closed and bruised from all of the pain she had endured and her mouth dripped with blood as if she tried to scream, but was instantly silenced. Her weaponry however now in the talons of the Griffins. Her armor was broken, parts of it removed and showing her white coat underneath covered in large scars. Especially across her chest and belly. But she wasn’t dead, I noticed her breathing.

Luckily enough, I found a Stealth Buck in a small pile of dirt and dust by my side. How convenient. Either way, I took it into my hooves and equipped it. Disappearing, I turned to my companions as they stared down at my nearly invisible body. I sighed to myself.

“I’ll go and get her, I promise. Then we’ll leave,” I stated. Cyber however chuckled to himself as if I was stupid, maybe I was. I shot him a look.

“That is the only way out – if you want to get to Sunnyvale, we have to go that way!” He hissed with a smirk. I rolled my eyes before glancing over the cover, seeing the Griffin’s laughing and drinking together, some even cleaning her weapons and then trying them on. It was worth the risk, even if I was killed in the process.

I slowly took each step carefully, as I slowly made my way passed the Griffins. Their large, muscular bodies daunting over me as their large packs of weaponry hung from their backs. I shivered as I slowly walked under them, keeping down and quiet. The lights that hung from the ceiling blinded me slightly as I glanced upwards, I winced slightly from the sudden flash in my eyes but then try to get my focus back.

As I made it to the young Steel Ranger’s body, I slowly pulled her from the pile and placed her on my back, feeling the weight of her force down on me. Her soft fur was felt against me, along with her blood slowly making its way down onto my Stable 30 jacket and then soaking it.

“You’ll be fine, Violet,” I whispered to myself, before I slowly began to make my way back, checking to see if any Griffins might see me. Fortunately, none of them were looking towards me. My hoofs slightly clanged on the steel floor, as I made my way back to my companions who were hiding in the shadows.

I nearly made it, thinking I was out of sight. In fact, hoping I was out of sight. Mainly because I couldn’t afford to fail here, if I did, we’d surely all die, no matter how powerful our weaponry was. They had the bigger guns; therefore they would win the fight. I thought I did make it, until I heard a vicious voice boom from behind me, making me freeze and shake in fright.

“HEY! Something’s carrying our prize away!” The dry Griffin voice was heard from behind, I slowly rotated to see a grey feathered Griffin with blood red eyes and a scar down her eye, she growled as she attempted to grab my hoof, eventually doing so and ripping off the Stealth Buck. I knew it was all over, her golden talons preparing to strike me as she looked at me with a horrid look, “I suggest you drop the body and walk away!”

How afraid I was, I refused to let her go. I looked at them with a glare, keeping the mare on my back. I used my aching wings to cover the pony on my back, wincing slightly, but still holding her onto my back. The Griffin smirked at me, it was either from mockery or that she was about to rip me apart, either way I knew I wasn’t going to like it.

“You really don’t want to test my patience, blue boy,” she spoke, sounding irritated. I glanced back to see Crystal looking frightened from all of this. She shook her head and signalled me to come back. Like Cyber said, this was the only way to go. I had no choice but to stay.

“She doesn’t belong to you,” I growled under my breath, “if she did, then why did you hurt her?!” I accused them due to her deep psychical scars. The Griffin looked puzzled of what to say, as if what I said had caught her out. I then heard a loud echoing bang, followed by a bullet puncturing a hole inside the Griffin’s talon. She let out a blood curdling scream as another shot was released, hitting yet another Griffin.

Dodge walked out of the darkness, firing the Revolver he had in his jaws, managing to hit a few of the Griffins. But as the battle started, they all grabbed all the weapons they could and began to fly around before firing down at us. Crystal came to Violet’s aid, grabbing her and latching her onto her back.

“Will you be able to heal her?!” I called over the roaring gunfire. She glanced at her wounds with a slightly worrying look, but she nodded to me.

“I’ll see what I can do, give me some covering fire while I do so, it might take a while!” She took her behind cover to begin the process, I nodded to her.

Running into the light with Dodge, I pulled the bolt back on my rifle before shooting it from my battle-saddle from the Griffins flying high. Hitting one in the wing, I watched it fall and scream, before it slammed into a large wall, leaving blood to where it hit, before falling unconscious. Cyber and Swift were helping from behind; the loud bangs from their rifles were heard echoing throughout the Stable. My ears began to ring, but I concentrated, shooting one of the Griffins in the head, watching it fall dead. From the hole next to us, a few more reinforcements swooped down, firing their heavy machine guns at Dodge and me.

I shoved Dodge down onto the ground, lying on top of him and shooting at the Griffins. Unfortunately missing all the shots, I had to reload, Dodge climbed out from under me, grabbing his revolver into his jaws again and firing at the opposition. He managed to clip a wing of one of the incoming ones, sending the Griffin down, watching it die on impact. The Griffin I had faced from earlier looked at me now with blood on her face and began to fly run after me. I instantly look off; trying to get away, but I felt her pull on my leg.

Feeling her talons tare through my leg, I yelped out in pain as I felt her claws dig in before she yanked me down. Another sniper shot was fired to the female Griffin making her screech out in pain as she fell down holding the recently given wound. I found this as an opportunity to execute her; unfortunately…I didn’t have enough time.

Feeling another Griffin yank onto me, I felt one of my wings break as I yelped and winced in pain. I hung lightly as they lifted me off of the ground. I was brought to the face of one, staring at them in deep pain and also anger.

“This ends now!” The golden Griffin screeched, he readied his claw to strike me, as I caught vision of Swift and Cyber upon one of the upper balconies in the area. They were trying to get a clear shot, as I was in line of sight. I nodded to them, signalling that they could shoot.

“L-look out,” I winced in pain from my shattered wing, as I closed my eyes preparing for the shot to be taken. After hearing a loud shot, I heard blood spill and also felt blood splash onto me. Opening my eyes, I saw the Griffin, his eyes wide open and a hole through his skull as blood leaked out. Bits of brain matter and blood fell onto me and dripped from me. Yuck!

I fell from the talon’s grip, before landing on my wing with a yelp. I held it, seeing Crystal come out with a worried look upon her face. I winced and held my wing in a strong pain, coughing bitterly before falling back and holding it. I saw Crystal come to my aid, trying to topple me onto my front, though I didn’t want her touching it…I didn’t want it hurting anymore.

With all of the Griffins dead…or at least most, silence dominated as Cyber and Swift came rushing out to see if I was okay. Dodge walked over to me, peering over me with frown and a roll of his eyes. I winced yet again in pain as Crystal attempted to shift me.

“Tornado…let me have a look at this wing!” She groaned, obviously irritated. I refused to move, not allowing her to even get close to my wing. It wasn’t that I couldn’t trust her, it’s because I didn’t want even more pain being dealt upon it. With a sigh, she turned away and then walked away, “fine. If you don’t want me to fix it, that’s fine by me!”

“Are you okay, Tornado?” Dodge looked concerned. I sat myself up with a wince and held my wing ever so gently, feeling the shooting pain go directly to the base of my wing before hissing in pain, “I’ll take that as a no.”

“We have to continue – we can’t stop now, even if it is to heal my wing!” I groaned, holding it gently. But as I did, Dodge walked over to where Crystal was to ensure Violet was okay. But with Cyber and Swift staring at me with a couple of smirks.

“Okay, whatever you say, mate. Don’t go crying to Crystal when you get fed up with it!” Swift turned away as he spoke, Cyber following him. As I lifted myself onto my hooves, I dragged myself over towards the large passage way and staring up at it.

Unfortunately, the thought of successfully taking down all the Griffins got me distracted as I looked to my PipBuck and began to look for any information on this unknown Stable. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything. Anything related to this Stable in fact was non-existent. It was as if it never existed.

Hearing groans behind me, I slowly rotated myself to see the grey feathered Griffin limping towards me with a hateful growl. I stared up at her, keeping silent, but Cyber and Swift took notice of the Griffin who was limping towards me. She lifted her talon, ready to swipe me up and as she did, I felt my broken wing crunch. GAH! It fucking hurt!

“Dodge, Crystal!” Cyber called out for them, as the clopping hooves of both were heard along with their frantic yelling. I struggled to get out as I became face to face with the Griffin, she snarled at me before raising the other talon, preparing to strike me.

“Y-you think you’re smart, being the hero and bringing this Wasteland to order?” She hesitantly coughed, “I will not allow you to cause any more damage than you’ve already done!” I just stared at her, trying to fight off the fear. I heard the screams of Crystal, begging for me to be release, the Griffin ignored her.

She then used her talon to grab my right eye, before tearing it from its socket. I screamed out in agony, as half of my vision went black. Feeling the blood flow down my face, I tried to hold the place from where it was. I felt myself get thrown to the ground, landing on the bad wing and yelping. I began to feel dizzy, the feeling of falling unconscious at any second…and within a few seconds, I did. The last thing I saw was Crystal racing to me, as Cyber, Swift and Dodge were trying to kill the Griffin. All I can say, she was one tough son of a bitch to take down, she never gave up. But was I going to die? Only time would tell…

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Reinforced Strength Tier 3, your overall bodily strength has increased, making it harder for you to go down in battle. Much like a brick wall, it’ll go down eventually, just not in one go!

Current level: 14

Pain.

I felt so much of it and never like before. The pain felt amplified by so much, and I wasn’t even awake yet. But I heard myself screaming inside of my thoughts, and picturing myself. Just squirming and holding the wounds that were squirting blood. I could barely remember what happened -- the only think I could remember at this moment in time was fighting a gang of Griffins before everything suddenly went black.

As soon as I awoke from what seemed to be only seconds of sleep, a bright light flashed in my face, stealing my vision for a few seconds. My vision soon unblurred a large room that was not like the one I was in before. The grey, steel ceiling was coated in all sorts of scratches caused by what seemed to be bullets and other projectiles that had collided with it. The scratches revealed the metal beneath the mundane paint that coated it. Large and wide light bulbs were attached to the ceiling, and there was about six of them inside the room in total.

My battle saddle was now gone, and along with it, my weapons and everything else I had. Even the caps were gone… all I had now was my PipBuck, my Stable clothing and of course myself in this room now. But to be honest, the items were the last thing I was worried about.

I looked around the room, finding myself on a rusty and degrading hospital bed. The bed’s frame was practically falling apart, and the mattress that was below me was punctured with holes where the fluff within it was flaky and dry. There was no pillow unfortunately, so I was rather uncomfortable. There were five other beds in the room, two on the right side of me while on the other side were three and the gap between the two rows of beds was just wide enough to allow one pony to pass through.

And at that moment, it all came back to me. A sharp, stabbing pain in my left eye was suddenly felt. Not as bad as it was before, but it did hurt. I groaned out in pain, before going to rub the eye that I thought was nothing more than just a socket, before feeling a glass like object in its place with a cold, steel rim in the shape of the eye socket.

What the hell was it?!

I kept feeling at it, before hearing a door open at the left end of the room. I quickly turned my attention to the chipped, wooden door that slid open before seeing a mare walk her way through the door. She had an ocean blue coat, her eyes a darker tone of blue and the wings she had were a silverish color underneath, while the top part was the same ocean blue color. Her tale was jet black, while mane was spiked backwards. She turned to me with a small smile.

“Ah, you’re awake,” she said with a tone of delight. She walked over to the side of my bed, keeping the delightful smile on her face. “Glad to see you’re okay!”

She sounded young. Not quite as old as she looked, but it didn’t seem to change anything. I know I needed answers now…

“What happened to me?” I grunted, looking to her with anger. However, she kept the same smile on her face yet again, before responding.

“Oh… your friends brought you here. You were damaged and you lost a lot of blood, not to mention an eye,” she stated as her smile soon turned into a frown. “Since you had no right eye, I inserted a mechanical eye. The reticle of the eye is red and made of glass, while the rim is made of steel!” She seemed to be proud, “I am quite proud of what I have made!”

I was rather silent for the first few seconds after she had told me. I was… confused. I remembered the event, but I didn’t think she would do this for me. But where were Dodge, Crystal, Violet, Swift and Cyber? I worried about them… but I somehow knew they were okay.

“What about my friends?” I mumbled with a depressed tone, dipping my head down slightly. “Are they alright?”

Her expression soon brightened up, before she nodded in a fast motion. “Yes. Though, the sky blue mare that was traveling with you was also pretty beat up. But she’s in safe hooves, mister, I promise!”

“Okay…” I nodded, blinking. My artificial eye’s eyelids were made of a thin bit of steel that acted like real eyelids. Looking at the PipBuck on my leg, I saw that the location I was at was not on the map at all. And when I went onto the smaller map which should show the surrounding area, there was nothing.

“What is this place?” I asked, looking to the young mare that stood by my bed. She was looking away at the moment of asking, but soon turned her attention towards me. She placed the small clipboard and paper onto the bedside table by her.

“This place is the Old Vermillion Community Base,” she yet again grinned widely, before proceeding. “It was on the map -- but it has been taken off due to the ponies that make the map for the Wasteland assuming that this place no longer exists much like the city on the ground level.”

I nodded to show I was listening to her. She walked to the front end of my bed, and as she did, I kept my eyes on her. A small, pale white basket hung from the end of the bed, and she began to search through it before taking out a Healing Potion.

She soon walked back over, with a smile on her face before placing the healing potion on bed so I could reach it from where I was. “Drink up -- it should heal some wounds I couldn’t treat...”

“Okay…” I simply replied, before consuming the potion by shoving it down my throat. It didn’t take long at all -- I soon felt a lot better and most of the strength I had soon returned. I was still sore in some places however, but it was nothing too major. It was nothing to prevent me carrying on.

“So what is your name, mister?” She spoke lightly and softly towards me.

I raised an eyebrow why the sudden question left her lips. She awaited my answer, but I soon decided to answer, just as long as she would tell me how bad Crystal’s condition was.

“I’m Tornado…” I mumbled bitterly, looking at her with a false smile, “what’s your name, miss?”

“My name is Ocean Wing!” Ocean happily responded, placing a hoof to her own chest. “It is a pleasure to have your acquaintance!”

“Yours too,” I felt myself smile. Not falsely or forcefully, but more naturally. Maybe because I was thankful of actually finding a stranger who isn’t trying to kill us all and maybe because she did save my life. “So how bad is my friend’s condition…? Crystal?”

She looked slightly confused when I asked her and then she began to ponder. It didn’t take long for her to remember who I was talking about and then she nodded like it all came to her. She looked to me with a soft frown and dipped her head.

“Well… she seemed to have a lot of different deep cuts all over her body. She was carried in by the other mare in your party. Currently: she’s in a coma.” Ocean wing regretted to say. “But believe me when I say this, we are doing everything we can at this moment in time.”

I was speechless… Crystal, the mare who had stuck by me longer than anypony else in my party was in a coma. I really didn’t know what to say, and a bunch of different mixed emotions collided inside of me. Hate, anger, fear, worry… I tried to hold back the sadness building up in me by looking down at the dirty, tiled floor.

“Hey, it’ll be okay, mister!

“You just need to remember, she’s in safe hooves!”

Ocean seemed to be smiling. Not in happiness though. She was smiling reassuringly; she was trying to make me less worried. For the most part, it did work, but I couldn’t help to worry. She was probably the closest friend I have out of everypony (of course not saying that I hate the others).

“I sure hope so…” I mumbled to myself, keeping my head down.

It felt like hours since I had woken up, the dead silence that had been dominating for the most part really made things travel even slower. I couldn’t rest at all; in fact the beds given to any patient of this facility were practically falling apart. I was thankful for Ocean to patch me up and give me a new eye, but I was slightly… uncomfortable knowing one of my closest friends was injured badly. And I felt at fault of it.

If I hadn’t attempted to take on all those Griffins after being spotted, then I would never have gotten both Crystal and I injured. At least the others were okay, but for Crystal’s injuries, I had only myself to blame and nopony else.

And to think I was trying to protect my companions, I only got them all in danger to a point where they were all nearly killed. Of course, the self blaming didn’t really help, but at that moment in time it was all I could do after all. I think I should be rather thankful that the others aren’t with me, as I am sure they would blame me anyway.

I should have never come out here, but it was now too late to turn back. I was no doubt days away from Stable 30 and even if I did try to get back inside, they wouldn’t do it anyway. I wouldn’t give up, no matter how guilt ridden and depressed I was. I wasn’t going to let it tear me down.

I was curled up on the hard bed that I was given when brought here, trying to get sleep. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a wink of it. The room I was in was now as black as night itself due to it being after dark outside in the Wasteland. However, within the time I had here, Ocean and the other doctors that were with her did take good care of me… but with each hour that passed, I grew more worried for Crystal and the more worried I got, the more guilty I felt.

Starring up at the darkened ceiling, I began to remember what exactly happened. How we were all inside of the Stable we were in. Griffins were inside of it. It started coming back to me bit by bit, until I could remember all the major events that had happened before I was here. Yes. My silly mistakes caused both Crystal and I to wind up in a place like this, inside of a facility with only a few ponies to help. The others still did not show their faces, and I was still waiting for them to storm in and tell me how all of this was my fault.

Creeeek!

I noticed in the corner of my eye, a bright amber light soon crawling its way into the room. Looking towards the light with my eyes, I saw a group of ponies carrying a seemingly unconscious pony on a stretcher into the room. I got into a sleeping position, acting like I was asleep to see who it was.

“Place her on the bed next to him.”

One of the stallion’s voices called as I heard a body gently land its way onto the bed next to me. As I adjusted slightly, I managed to turn myself to face the pony on the bed lying next to me, only to see who I had feared for. Crystal was lying there on her side, facing me, completely still and covered in all different sorts of bloodstained stitches around her body. And then at the moment of seeing her, guilt began to flood its way back in.

“We can only hope that she’ll make it…”

What happened to her? Those wounds were too deep for it to be normal bullets that had struck her. I wanted to ask about what had happened, but before I could, the doctors soon left, shutting the door behind them and leaving us both in the darkness. My eyes yet again adjusted back to the darkness, allowing me to see the body of the injured Crystal. She was letting out soft breaths that were just audible, but if there was no silence, you really couldn’t tell if she was alive or not.

Feeling the guilt creep its way back in, I hung my head low and reached out for her nearest hoof and held it in mine gently, feeling only but a bit of warmth. Not as warm as she used to be at all. Her lifeless body seemed only just alive, as if they only just managed to save her. And seeing the bloodstained fur around the sealed wounds made me frown.

“I’m so sorry…” I mumbled to myself, holding her hoof close by. I buried my hoof beneath hers, placing her her on my mane and then placing my muzzle down onto the cold and hard mattress. I closed my eyes feeling nothing but guilt and I remained silent.

It’s not like she could hear me. She was unconscious and with that being said, her hearing at the moment was disabled. But if she was awake, I would truly show how sorry I was for getting her into a situation where she was this badly injured.

Each of her soft and warm breaths gently stroked my face, but they didn’t come out frequently. In-between each breath was a maximum of five seconds without inhaling or exhaling and then she would do it again. Just seeing the scars all over her made me feel slightly lucky to have only one major injury -- her body looked like it had been dragged on the back of a carriage that a trader was carrying. Not inside the car, but being dragged behind with nothing but a rope holding her.

The saddle bag she used to wear was now gone, and all of her supplies gone with it. I kept saying I was sorry in my thoughts, but not out loud. And indeed, I was sorry for what I assumed I did…

In an attempt to actually sleep, I kept her hoof close by for reassurance to at least for the moment in time, know that she was okay. I actually began to feel tired, despite the fact of feeling uncomfortable and distressed; I began to actually doze off. My eyes soon shut closed, before I fell asleep and hugged the mare’s arm close to me.

I had a decent enough sleep for me. Usually, I would suffer from night terrors or some kind of bad dream that would wake me up in the night. Tonight was different. Knowing Crystal was okay gave me some sort of happiness inside my head aside from feeling guilty. I mean she survived, and that’s all I needed to know… but knowing she could die at any moment currently worried me.

But the sleep itself was rather peaceful. Other than sleeping on what was possibly the most uncomfortable bed in the history of everything that ever existed before and even after the Megaspells bombed Equestria of course. Another worry of mine however was losing the sister who by each passing minute or even hour was possibly traveling even farther into the Wasteland. But remembering back to the memory orb that I picked up within the Service Tunnels, she did mention something about helping civilians at Sunnyvale and she also mentioned something about a siege happening there.

I wasn’t one hundred percent ready to hurl myself in front of what could be millions of bullets, but it was worth checking out in order to find her. It’s the only lead I have currently to where she might be, and of course, resting hours had to be short if we were to reach her in time.

Hearing the door open, my eyes soon opened to see Ocean back in the room, and then walking down the small walkway in-between both rows of beds. The bright, amber light from the doorway again brightly shined into the room, lighting up most of it. She slotted her way down the side of Crystal’s bed on the side furthest away from me, before looking at her with deep worry. I looked towards Ocean, to see what she was doing and then she noticed I was awake. My guess was that my glowing, synthetic eye gave it away.

“Oh… mister Tornado, it’s a bit early to be up,” Ocean stated with a shaky voice. “And before you ask, Crystal is fine… so there is no need to ask.”

Ocean smiled reassuringly, but I just nodded slowly, looking once again to Crystal’s wounds. They looked slightly better, but only slightly. There really was no big improvement, and Crystal was still in the same position as before. Facing me and on her side. I didn’t really… believe she was fine. At least not for now, I think Ocean was just saying it to stop making me worry and unfortunately, that wasn’t working. I was worrying.

“So did any of the ponies who brought her in say what happened to her?” I asked, staring at Crystal’s lifeless body, before focusing my attention back onto Ocean who was examining her body to see if the wounds were ceiling.

“No,” she responded, keeping her eyes on the body in front of her. “They didn’t actually, they just begged for us to help her and we did just that -- and the doctors have done a great job at patching her up!”

“I see…”

I didn’t know whether to agree or not. The wounds still looked pretty bad, but at the same time, they didn’t seem all that bad anymore. She groaned in her sleep as Ocean attempted to turn her onto her side, but all Ocean did was softly shush her and told her everything was going to be alright.

“How did you get here then?” I asked Ocean. At this moment, she stopped what she was doing and soon looked at me, raising an eyebrow and looking awfully confused.

“What do you mean, mister?” Ocean tilted her head slightly.

“What is your story?” I asked, as Ocean soon went back to look at Crystal’s bodily wounds.

It took a while for the young Pegasus nurse to answer, but before she did, she stopped examining Crystal for the meantime. “Well you know my name… I’m fourteen years of age, and before I was here, I lived with my parents in the settlement of Sunnyvale -- but they were unfortunately killed within the battle when the guards were trying to evacuate as many ponies as they could…”

She was fourteen? She was pretty big and rather talented for her age. Nonetheless, I know how she must have felt. Not exactly, but I had a gist of what she was feeling at the moment. But the whole thing floating around Sunnyside poked my curiosity in a way where I had to know more. Mostly on why it was happening and how long it has been going on for.

“I’m sorry about your parents,” I said with a pitiful tone to my voice. “And the battle at Sunnyside, why did it start and how long has it been going on for?”

“Oh the battle has been going on for about two years now. It mainly involves the Enclave and Steel Rangers who are fighting for control over the small rundown settlement and it is vital that one of them controls it,” she stated, lifting a hoof slightly. “Some of the remaining civilians happen to get involved if they have to and only if they have to.”

“I see…” I answered with a small frown.

“Is there any reason to why you asked such a thing?” Ocean blinked in a soft but quick motion. I looked to her and sighed deeply.

“Not really… just curious,” I lied, but kept the frown on my face to make it more believable. “Did a pony called ‘Cyclone Flash’ walk her way through here at all?”

Ocean began to ponder. It took a while for her to actually come up with an answer, but eventually the teenage Pegasus eventually managed to come up with an answer. “Now that you mention it… yes.”

I felt my expression brighten up, knowing that she had seen her. “How long ago?” I asked, feeling slightly happier than before.

“About, three days ago, mister,” she nodded quickly. “I’m guessing you know her?”

Of course I knew her. She was my sister, though, I wasn’t sure if I told this young mare that. Anyhow, I’m glad that she had noticed her.

“I do know her, yes. And if I don’t find her, she could be in some serious danger!” I called out. Ocean looked at me oddly before pondering once again.

“Alright...” Ocean bitterly replied, before smiling once again. “The ponies who brought you here said they were setting up camp in a nearby cave, they should be back tomorrow morning and I guess that’s when you’ll be heading off.”

I nodded in response to that. “Well, as long as Crystal can carry herself for the rest of the journey, then yes.”

“Okie dokie.” She turned to leave, and as she reached the doorway, I soon called out to her to tell her my thanks.

“And Ocean… thank you for doing this for us,” I whispered softly just loud enough for her to hear me. I heard a soft, amused giggle come from the pony standing at the door, who then smiled yet again.

“It’s no problem, really. We just try to help anypony who needs help.” With that being said, she soon left, closing the door behind her slowly so it wouldn’t bang against the wooden frame that the door was on.

With an unknown amount of hours remaining until the morning, I attempted one last time to finally get to sleep. Luckily, knowing Crystal was next to me, it was slightly easier to get to sleep and knowing that Crystal was okay at the same time, helped me worry less. However, I didn’t want to stay here as long as we did… the more time I spent in here, the further away my sister got no doubt. And even if she stayed put, the more likely she’d be dead.

But I didn’t stop believing in myself… at least not yet.

My own personal hell.

I was on a guilt trip and I was hoping for Crystal’s survival. Overhearing the doctor’s who had brought her in really made me feel slightly more worried about the current situation. While the doctors seemed more honest, Ocean seemed more reassuring about a situation. But either way didn’t really help at all. And to top it all off, my search for Cyclone… but each hour we spent here, no doubt she was getting further away and if she was stationary, no doubt she would be in some trouble.

I began to ponder… was I saving too many ponies? All I was doing was keeping them from their destiny, just to let them live a little while longer. Crystal was my friend, and I wouldn’t let anything happen to her like that. But the ponies who I barely knew. Of course, death comes to us all on a certain day and time, but I felt like I was getting too much attention from doing something that ponies are able to do each and every day.

I didn’t want ponies to get hurt, but I always ponder if saving them is really was worth it. They never thanked me or anything, but I am glad the radio buck notices me at least and actually thinks I do well. The only ponies, who would even get close to thanking me, are the ones who want to kill me or enslave me. But instead they want to harm me of course.

I had made many enemies out here, and even friends which I was lucky to have. But ever since I came out here, I just felt like turning back and going home, despite it being too late to even get back inside Stable 30. The enemies I did make tended to be those who had power in their hooves -- those who could run entire colonies and destroy anypony who opposed them. They weren’t the best type of ponies to mess with, but I had more than enough reasons to hate their guts and they had enough reasons to hate mine.

Waking up the middle of the night, the room was yet again pitch black. However, it only took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust properly and when they did, I could see in the dark slightly. Climbing out of the bed, and feeling my body detach from the hard surface of the old mattress, I groaned slightly from the amount of relief I felt.

Crystal was looking slightly better. Her wounds were healing quickly and she sounded more alive than she did the day before. Now I could hear her breaths properly and she seemed to be moving around a lot more in her sleep than she did before. The mare hugged the pillow she was resting her head on, trying to make herself comfy in the stained and torn mattress below her.

I smiled, knowing she was going to be okay.

Something did catch my eye in the far corner of the room. Behind the other row of beds on the other side of the room was a bright glow beneath one of the beds and as soon as I did catch sight of it, I began to walk over to it, trying to make as little noise as possible. My hoofsteps did echo, but only faintly, it wasn’t loud enough to wake Crystal or to alert Ocean.

I took each step slowly, hoof after hoof, I made sure that I wouldn’t move too fast. Walking down one of the gaps between the beds, I noticed the glow now brightly shining onto the hoof that my PipBuck was on, showing the scratched metal that made the actual device and brightly reflecting off of the green screen on the face of it.

I went down onto my stomach, gently rolling out what seemed to be a memory orb. It was covered in dust and seemed a lot older than most. I blew the dust from it and began to wipe any remainders of large dust balls, or fragments that were left upon the small glass ball within my hooves.

There was no label on it, and the surface of the orb was slightly scarred as if the pony who did it was in a hurry or if they through it to the ground to try and hide it somehow. I glanced around the room to make sure no pony was coming, before lying back down onto my stomach and then accessing the memory.

I felt myself in an entirely new body, but in the same location. The room looked a lot more polished and newer than it did back in the present day. The walls were made of a slick, shining silver color, while the beds were not rusting or aged. They were clean and the mattresses looked fluffy and new.

My host wasn’t exactly happy. In fact, my host was depressed. My host was stood by the door, looking down both rows of the beds. Only one patient was inside of the room, and the patient was a pale aquamarine colored Unicorn. Her mane was a very light cyan color along with a small white part showing at both the front and back of her mane. It was the same with her tale.

The mare in the far bed on the left side of the room wore heavy spiked, plated armor on her, but most of the actual armor was broken and revealing some deep wounds around her belly and chest. She was attached a heart monitor which was constantly beeping and her weak eyes stared right into my host’s eyes.

I felt my host’s happiness suddenly drop.

What happened to her? It reminded me constantly of Crystal’s condition, nevertheless my host stood by the bed on the side that was closest to the wall. The injured and bloody mare looked up to my host, keeping her eyes on her while she smiled weakly. Her lips were scarred and covered in what seemed to be small particles of ashes. In some of her wounds were fragments of stone and dust, where each and every second, she looked slightly weaker.

“You… came. Bon Bon, you actually came…”

The mare in the bed coughed after she spoke. I felt my host smile falsely, but nonetheless it was a smile. Inside, my host felt saddened and completely shattered from within. Like she had seen her get into this mess and now that she was staring at her bloody body which lay on the bed, my host tried to bite back the tears.

“O-of course I came, Lyra,” my host’s voice was shaky as sadness drowned out her voice. “I would never ignore you, especially when you’re as hurt as you are…”

Lyra smiled weakly, as she held her stomach wound. And I had felt my host cry inside. Like somepony had taken her heart and ripped it out violently to a point where she was lost for words. She sat down on the floor and held Lyra’s hoof before giving it a soft nuzzle. I felt the soft hoof touch my host’s muzzle, before she looked to Lyra again.

"T-this place isn’t helping me, Bon Bon,” Lyra coughed. “It never has helped me… they’re just dumping me in this room to die…”

My host bit down on her lip, trying to bite back the tears that she felt building up. Nonetheless it had worked, but my host’s sadness was building up inside her. The sight of her friend in bed, all bloodied up and seemingly on death’s doorstep really tormented my host’s emotions and many different thoughts popped into her head. Many relating to loneliness, despair, suicide, killing and revenge. I had never had these things come into my mind, but knowing that my host had been thinking these things… made me feel slightly different in myself.

“D-don’t say that, Lyra… the doctors are doing whatever they can,” my host choked out of herself. “I promise you… you’ll get better…”

“B-but they’ve left me alone in this room…” The mare in the bed groaned in agony. “W-war has gotten to their heads, Bon Bon. T-they think they help, but they don’t… they aren’t helping!”

I felt my host’s eyes fill up with tears, before feeling each tear released trickle down her soft cheeks. My host looked down at the floor; unable to speak anymore… it was like she was scared to say anything, as if she knew that Lyra would just say how bad the doctors were. It made my host begin to lose hope… I could feel it. And I knew exactly how my host felt.

My host was still trying to bite back tears, despite the tears were trickling down her cheeks. She shook her head slowly and wiped her hoof across her face to wipe away the tears. She looked back up to Lyra who was frowning at the sight of her friend crying to herself… and my host continued weeping.

“T-try and trust them, Lyra,” my host whimpered as each of the words left her mouth. “I’m beginning to lose hope -- and losing hope is the worst thing that could happen to me. If I lose hope, I lose you… I don’t want to carry that burden…”

Lyra lay back onto her bed and groaned as blood leaked from her wounds and onto the bed sheets. She winced in agony and looked towards my host with a painful expression. She grabbed the hoof of my host, before caressing it.

“I-it was never your fault, Bon Bon. I-if it’s not your fault, it’s not your burden,” Lyra choked from herself, before lying back in the bed and looking up at the ceiling.

The door at the end of the rooms swung open and a group of doctors walked in. All of them were wearing clean, white coats on them and all of them had caramel colored coats but differently styled manes and different colors in their manes and eyes. All four of them were stallions and they walked over to Lyra’s bed, looking sternly towards my host.

All of the doctors looked at my host dauntingly, and the front one moved closer to her slightly, lifting a hoof and pointing it towards my host before speaking with a strong, deep voice.

“Miss Bon Bon, you have been here far too long… we must ask for you to leave!” The doctor insisted, as he lifted his hoof and pointed to the door.

I felt my host’s eyes tear up again and this time, more water was in her eyes. More than one tear trickled down her cheeks and the sadness ever growing. She wanted to scream out, she didn’t want to leave Lyra, especially when Lyra was in this much pain. The doctors walked up to my host, but my host simply hugged the injured mare in the bed.

“N-no, I can’t leave her. Not yet!” I felt my host scream. “I want to stay with her!!”

I felt the doctors grab my host in an attempt to drag her away from the bloody mare that was lying in the bed. My host refused to let go and the doctors were somehow struggling to pull her away and the harder they tried to take her away from Lyra, the more damaged my host felt inside. My host kept struggling and made her grip to her friend stronger.

“L-let me go!” My host begged. “I-I want to stay with her… I need her!!”

My host lost her grip on Lyra’s hoof and then soon found herself being dragged away. She was kicking at the doctors and screaming, begging to be released as she was dragged along the tiles that were on the floor, trying to grab each one in resistance to being dragged away. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the group of doctors to take her away.

“G-goodbye, Bon Bon… I love you…”

My host was thrown out of the room and into the wall opposite the door. The door to Lyra’s room was slammed shut and locked, but my host got back onto her hooves and began to slam on the door with pure fury and sadness, knowing Lyra would not make it.

My host was bawling tears and rapidly slammed each of her two forelegs against the wooden surface that now began to splinter her hoof. My host didn’t care for the sharp pain that was growing in the wounds that were being inflicted on her flesh, she just wanted to see Lyra again and unfortunately, she couldn’t.

“Open this damn door, I can’t leave her!!” Sadness, fury, confusion. Different emotions within my host’s mind collided as she banged against the door in hope that the doctors will let her back in. But they did not come back.

The begging continued onwards, until my host grew tired and when she did, she collapsed to the floor, where her hooves had so many splinters, her hooves were now leaking blood from them and the sharp pain in the hooves was starting to numb.

The memory soon ended there and I found myself back in the dark room I was in originally. Abruptly finished like she wanted no pony to see it. However, I could feel Bon Bon’s pain. She was my host and the pain she was going through was both physically and emotionally. The worst kind of hell somepony can ever go through.

And Lyra -- her friend. Suffering from wounds somepony cannot simply heal… and Bon Bon could only watch her friend suffer. She wanted to help, but she couldn’t… no matter how hard she tried. The memory itself was many years before now of course, many years before my ascendance from Stable 30.

I got back onto my hooves, and then heard the door open behind me. I glanced back to see Dodge standing at the door with a grin. The amber light from the corridors flooded in, blinding me slightly but Dodge proceeded onwards. He was wearing a battle saddle and the battle saddle contained two heavy loaded combat shotguns.

“Are we about ready to go, Torn?” Dodge’s voice echoed in the room softly as he dropped the question. “If you want to find your sister, I suggest you get all your belongings and we head out.”

I kept quiet and nodded softly, throwing the memory orb out of sight and back underneath the bed. Dodge turned to leave, but before he did, he stopped at the doorway and then put a Stetson on his head.

“I’d wake Crystal if I was you… remember what we’re out here for, Torn. When we find your sister, we’ll stop the Enclave from attacking Stable 30 and then after that, we’ll find someplace and settle down,” Dodge stated with a soft tone to his voice. “Sound like a plan?”

Dodge soon left on that note, and with that, his hooves echoed throughout the facility as he left, soon fading out before silence once again dominated. Looking down at the mare that was asleep, I soon shook her gently to wake her up. She didn’t wake up after the first few shakes, but when she did eventually wake up, she began to stir before awakening properly. She looked up at me with a tired look in her eyes.

“Come on, Crystal…” I whispered softly, showing a reassuring smile into her eyes. “It’s time for us to leave…”

Once we had collected our items from the facility’s storage room, we soon headed out of the facility. Crystal and I were grateful, but didn’t give our thanks nor say our goodbyes. We didn’t have enough time. If we were to get to my sister, then we’d have to head off as soon as possible…

The memory orb I had viewed earlier however gave me a little background on what this place used to be like. The doctors were strict and the treatments were even worse no doubt. I still felt the pain that my host felt inside of me, and I understood how they felt. Crystal was my friend… one of my closest in fact and I was worried she wouldn’t make it. Luckily, she lived through it and if she hadn’t it would have crushed my heart no doubt.

We left with no word nor even a whisper. We just left the large underground compound, finding ourselves inside of a dark but seemingly open cave. The huge door that had closed behind us was now locked after a loud thud was heard within the circular, rusted and battered door’s mechanism. Above the door was a glowing green sign which stated the name of the facility itself.

Old Vermillion Community Base.

Dodge walked from the darkness with his grin, and the party behind him followed him. Every single one of them were in one piece luckily enough and to be honest, if any of them died, it wouldn’t make things any better for any of us. Violet, Cyber, Swift and Dodge. All of them standing in front of Crystal and I.

“It’s good to see you both made it out!” Swift exclaimed, doing a small loop in the small open space he had. “We were beginning to worry, especially when the small mare who had been treating you both said we couldn’t visit!”

Did he mean Ocean? If he did, I’m sure she was saying it for our own good… she wanted us to recover. And if I’m completely honest, having all of them visit while I was recovering wouldn’t have helped. They did notice my eye, but made nothing of it. They didn’t laugh, but they did gaze at it for a short while as if they felt sorry for me or were going to burst out laughing.

“How’s the new eye?” Violet asked, stepping into clear view. Her armor was now stained with the blood of those she had possibly killed while Crystal and I were being taken here. It would be no surprise either if that was what it was.

“It’s fine,” I bitterly responded with a nod. “Nothing’s broken it yet but I’m pretty sure something will soon.” I chuckled after saying that.

Violet chuckled also before responding in a dull tone of voice. “If you say so.”

The surroundings consisted of many different rocks within the wall and ceiling and they were unevenly placed. Some of the larger rocks in the darkness were coated in a light coating of moss, while some of the smaller rocks were coated in some of the dust that came from the base we had just left.

“Where we of to next?” Cyber called out, “I’m guessing it’s straight to Sunnyvale from here… right?”

“Indeed it is and we are not resting now until we get there,” I walked passed Dodge, into the darkness of the large cave we were in.

I began to walk ahead into the cave, hearing each of my hoofsteps echoing softly as they made contact with the rock below my hooves. It wasn’t too dark; there were some cracks in the ceiling of the cave allowing some of the sickly green sunlight to shine its way into the cavern. The large cavern was wide and open, and the ceiling was rough like any other cave. Large spikes from some of the rocks hung from the ceiling, sharp and cracked.

There were small patches of grass on the ground where dirt was. The dirt mainly sat in some of the small, thin cracks that ran along the ground and all the way along each passageway in the cave. Mushrooms were tucked away in corners where they glowed a bright, radioactive green color from some of the radiation that had leaked its way down here.

As I dug deeper into the darkness, I heard my companions follow me closely. I heard a large crack of a bone below my hoof, and as I heard it, I felt bone smash below my hooves. I knew it wasn’t mine. The bright green light from my PipBuck lit up a small portion of the ground, and the sight of skulls and other bits of skeleton ponies came into view. Bones from the legs and spines were seen sprawled onto the floor, covered in dust and splintered as the bone was decaying.

There was stained blood on the floor, where ponies had been killed by something. Teeth were found on the floor, some were shattered while some were still intact but slightly cracked.

Continuing onwards, a dim light was soon seen at the end of what seemed to be a long tunnel. I began to pick up the pace as I saw the light, and soon began to trot quickly. My hoofsteps were now echoing loudly, and the sound of my companions hurrying to keep up with me was also heard from behind me.

“Look, I see light!” Dodge’s voice called from behind me. “Hopefully this will take us closer to Sunnyvale!”

I wasn’t building my hopes up for that. We grew closer by each step we took towards the light, and I was running my fastest and the closer we got to the light, the brighter it got. The light itself was a dull grey color, not quite the same color as the sunlight, but it was light nonetheless.

“Hold on, stop!”

I heard a voice call from behind me. I stopped suddenly in my tracks, just as we were coming to the end of long tunnel. The young, oak colored buck trotted ahead, and my companions came to a halt behind me.

Crystal walked to my side, before stopping by it and I noticed her stare at him as if she was thinking he was stupid for going out into the open. The buck however continued onward until he met the light and was out in the open.

“What is he doing?” Crystal whispered to me. “Is he an idiot going out into the open like that? He could get himself killed!”

“Don’t worry; if there’s any trouble, we’ll be sure to handle it!” Violet called from behind. I glanced back at the mare that spun her Minigun which sat on her own battle saddle which was attached to her armor.

“But if there is trouble, we won’t know exactly how many of the buggers there are!” Cyber called out, standing beside Violet and looking at her sternly. “Swift and I can only handle two at a time when we’re on our own, and I’m sure all of you cannot handle more even when we’re all together!”

Silence yet again dominated, and I glanced back to the young buck standing in the open. He was pacing left to right as if he was checking for anypony or even any sign of our destination. He ventured even further out, and it seemed like there was small hill on the other side and it didn’t take long for him to get out of view. And then silence was once again on us as his hoofsteps left the cobble and touched down on soil.

The sound of the wind from outside was the only thing that was audible other than my own breaths. And the wait for Dodge seemed to take sometime, and the longer it took the tenser for us all it was waiting. I felt the urge to go up and check on where he was, but he told us and specifically me to wait down here.

“One of us needs to go check on where he is…” Crystal softly stated, lifting a hoof slightly. “I mean, what happens if he is in danger?”

“I agree with Crystal,” Violet added with a stern tone. “And I personally think Tornado should be the one to do it!”

“Yeah!” Swift called from behind, before flying over and landing in front of me, looking at me in the eyes. “You of all ponies should go check since you’re the leader of this small posse you put together!”

Me? Seriously? Just because I was the leader, I was meant to go? I wanted to object, but I knew if I did, I would cause some major problems that may just cost the life of Dodge if he happened to be in danger.

“And you have a PipBuck!” Swift soon added, with a grin as his eyes focused on the device fixed to my leg.

Oh come on now! A PipBuck makes no difference! Sure, it’s quirky and has some nice features, but it makes zero difference.

I inhaled a sigh and then rolled my eyes. “Fine, I’ll go check. But you all stay here, got it?”

I took a deep breath and soon began to drag myself towards the light slowly, with each of my hoofsteps echoing in the cave as I took each step. Something told me Dodge was okay, and I was pretty sure that he was anyway. But it didn’t really hurt to check at all.

Getting closer towards the end of the tunnel, Dodge ran his way back up the hill and stood at the entrance with a grin. I stopped in my tracks and stared up at the buck, seeing him looking down at us with a grin before raising a hoof. Well? What had he found? Was there a way to Sunnyvale or was there nopony trying to kill us?

“It’s all clear, and Sunnyvale is within sight and it isn’t that far away!” Dodge said optimistically. “It’s quite the distance away, but it is the only possible direct route we can take!”

“And what exactly do we have to go through?” I questioned, raising a hoof and a brow.

Dodge was quick to answer me and keeping his optimistic tone to his voice. “Flower Berry Gardens… it’s a dangerous place, but once we’re through, it should be a smooth run to Sunnyvale!”

I glanced back down to the others who were waiting in the darkness with a nod to signal for them to come up, before continuing up to Dodge slowly. The clouds outside were pale white as now the sunlight was covered up by the thick clouds. They were thick, but not too polluted. Not as polluted as before and the dust that gently glided through the air danced in the soft breeze I felt blow its way into the tunnel.

I soon reached Dodge and stood by his side, and he looked to me with a grin before placing a hood onto my shoulders. “We’ll be there soon and if your sister is there, you can reunite with your family once again!”

I smiled at this.

BANG!!!

A loud gunshot was heard within the distance, and as it went off, a hole was punctured into Dodge’s neck. The large hole that was created was by the crevice around the shoulder blade and the bullet itself created an exit wound on the other side. He began to cough up blood through his mouth as it spurted out of the hole created in his throat. As he choked on blood, he stumbled around, nearly collapsing down the hill and as he swayed from side to side, he soon collapsed back into the tunnel.

Dodge was on his side, choking and spitting blood. I quickly went down to him and held him in my arms, trying to cover up the wounds to stop the blood from coming out. But blood kept rushing its way out onto my hooves as he struggled and wiggled around, gasping for air and as he gasped, the sound of blood getting caught up and bubbling was heard.

I felt nothing but shock, and as he began to go into a sort of pain seizure, another shot went off, only just missing me. I dragged him back into the tunnel and as I did, the party rushed their way up the tunnel and stood by him. I attempted to keep him still, looking towards Crystal with my eyes full of tears.

“Crystal, pass me some bandages!!” I called to her, trying to hold Dodge down who was now suffering. “Please!!”

Crystal searched her bag in a panicking motion, while Swift, Cyber and Violet stood there, just staring at his flailing body as the blood leaked from the large puncture in his skin. It was as if Swift, Cyber and Violet knew there was no way on saving him but just remained silent about it.

I felt more tears build up in my eyes as I watched the young buck begin to lose his life slowly. He gripped me by the collar of my Stable jacket which was now getting covered in blood from the wound in his body. His mouth began to quiver and move violently as if he was trying to speak.

“H-here!” Crystal’s shaky voice stated as she threw magical bandages down by me. I quickly grabbed them in my bloody hooves. My hooves were shaking violently, as I attempted to keep a firm grip on the on the bandages, but they kept slipping from all the blood that my hooves was coated in.

Each second I wasted trying to keep hold of the bandages, the closer Dodge got to death. I held him yet again, in an attempt to wrap the bandages around Dodge and as I wrapped it around the first time, he grabbed me yet again by the collar, now leaving a smear of blood on my neck and then looking into my eyes with a stare.

I stopped bandaging him up and I stared into his eyes with nothing but tears, before his eyes rolled back after one last breath left his mouth. Dodge was now dead. And now his body which was coated in blood was now as dead still… literally. The large wound that started from his neck and led down onto his chest let out a few last squirts of blood. I stared down at his wounds in horror, completely silenced.

N-no! Dodge was dead… and now there was no way to save him. If I had just acted faster, if I had just maybe prepared myself for this, then none of this would have ever happened. None of it would have and if I saw this coming, I would have prevented it from happening.

Crystal sat beside me and soon pulled me into a gentle embrace as she rubbed my back. All I did was let my tears flow into her coat as my eyes were fixed onto his corpse. I soon tightly closed my eyes and silently sobbed into Crystal’s fur and then I wrapped my hooves around her, pulling her in even closer.

“I’m so sorry…” Violet spoke, yet again keeping a stern accent. “Dodge was a brave soul and unfortunately, his soul taken… I’m sure he’s at peace now…”

Cyber and Swift sat down close to his body, before searching his bag. I noticed them as I opened my eyes. What were they doing? Were they just going to rob him? The tears that flowed from my eyes seemed endless, but nonetheless I cried softly, and I was completely unable to speak.

I felt like it was my fault that my friend died… my fault. I let him go out there alone, and I didn’t help him at all until it was too late. Why him? Why not me?! Why couldn’t I die instead?! Why couldn’t I give my life for him?! I-I want to die because of what I have caused!

I closed my eyes, before hearing something roll to me. Opening my eyes again, I saw a memory orb with the name ‘Dodge’ labeled onto it. I blinked, sniffling slightly, before taking it and looking at it.

“I found it in his saddlebag,” Swift stated and then looked down at his corpse. “When you have time, I advise you look at it, Torn.”

I gave Crystal the orb and then she grabbed it, before placing it into her saddlebag before wrapping her hoof around me once again to keep me in the soft embrace that she held me in. And I yet again wrapped my hooves around her. Violet walked up towards the light, and all I did was watch. I kept silent once again… I felt too broken and too guilty to even speak a word.

Violet stared out into the wilderness and soon Swift slowly walked his way up to Violet, before taking his place by her side. I looked at them, my tears of pain filling my vision, making it slightly harder to see what was ahead. But my vision soon did clear as they trickled down my face.

“I suggest we get moving now… it’d be for the best for us and I’m sure Dodge wouldn’t want us to sit here mourning his death,” Violet groaned before glancing back at me. “Are you both coming or not?”

Releasing myself from Crystal’s grasp, she let me go willingly and I stood back onto my hooves, staring down at the corpse of Dodge. His eyes were still open, but the eyes were rolled back into the skull. But before I left, I reached down and closed his eyelids and then looked up at the mare that was standing at the entrance, staring out in the Wasteland.

I soon walked back up, now the blood that stained the Stable Jacket drying into the blue and yellow material, soon making it change into a red tinted blue and yellow. It was slightly damp, but it was beginning to dry. I wiped the glass base of my eye to wipe any blood that was on it off of it.

Walking up to the exit of the cave, I looked out into the long stretching plains of the Wasteland; large open areas with broken, dead trees were seen. Frames of destroyed houses and crumbling roads were in the distance, and the large clock tower by a small, ruined town with a fairly large fence built around it. The soft mist lingered throughout the entire Wasteland was tinted a faint white color.

It was just Crystal, Swift, Violet, Cyber and I. And now I didn’t want to lose anypony else, and I was planning not to… and if I did, I knew I would not last out here with my weak emotions…

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Strong at Heart -- your speech has been improved by 20% making you access special dialogue options which allow you to know more about a certain pony.

New perk: Quest perk! -- Together Until The End -- you and your companions can now bond together to make an unstoppable force of death, therefore your speciality with weapons in all areas has improved by 30% for the next quest.

Current level: 15

“Good evening, my listeners! How are all of you doing on this fine evening? I’m feeling great just in case you were wondering.

“It is that time of day again, listeners. That’s right. It’s just struck the nineteenth hour of the day -- it’s news time, listeners.

“I have just received news on our little hero, Tornado. The Stable Wanderer. And it ain’t good news, listeners. Not only did he have his eye torn out of its socket, and lost his good ol’ buddy named Dodge, but rumor has it, he has been captured by a Slave Trader while they were all sleeping in the cave that they decided to set up camp in for the night...

“If these rumors are true, this Wasteland is doomed I tell ya’. Look. Tornado, if you’re listening to this on your little PipBuck device, we’ve got your back and believe me on this one, you can fight your way through it. We know you’ve been through a lot of tough shit and I know through personal experience, it ain’t nice. Just remember, Tornado… we love you. We love you a ton -- without you, my radio would be the most boring thing in the Wasteland and nopony would ever want to listen. Not only that, but you’ve done the world a good and we appreciate it.

“We wish you the best of luck, buddy…”

Unknown.

I woke up, feeling my head throb violently and I could barely remember anything before now. As my vision focus and my eyes adjusted to the dark, I found myself inside what seemed to be a large carriage. It was pure black and the surface below my hooves was wooden. The wood was not smooth, it was chipped, and also stabbed gently into my skin. The only light in the cart was from my PipBuck and the green light only revealed so little of what was around me. The brown wood that was visible in the glow looked old and flakey in some parts, and there were small cracks in the structure, allowing moonlight to seep through.

The items I used to be carrying were taken from me. The only thing I still was wearing was my Stable Jacket, that of which coated in blood that was not my own. Large rips were around the chest area and on the leg which had my PipBuck on, revealing my scruffy, blue fur underneath.

And my limbs. I couldn’t move them. All of my hooves were tied up, and the same for my wings. The funny thing was, I couldn’t really remember how I got like this. One minute, I was mourning the death of my friend and the next, I’m here. I felt alone and indeed I was alone. I was separated from my friends and I really had no idea how.

The sound of hooves clopping against the crooked roads and the sound of the wheels screeching as the metal axles that held them was all I could hear aside my own breathing and the gentle breeze of the Wasteland’s atmosphere only just made its way through the cracks. The sound of other carts gathering by the one I was in was heard from just outside and the rough road below it began to take a toll. The car was swaying, turning me into a ragdoll as I began to bump against the sides.

I groaned softly.

Wherever my friends were, I was not. And that scared me the most. Not only had I watched a pony die before hours before all of this, but I had now lost contact with my friends and that made matters worse from this point. The same solitary feeling that I felt on day one came flooding back in, only this time, it felt painful inside my heart. I had friends and now I was potentially separated from all of them… maybe forever.

The car began to tilt and bump in the potholes in the road below the carriage, now launching me into the air slightly and making me hit the splintered, wooden ceiling. With a yelp, I felt the sharp wooden flakes jab into my back and I fell back onto my stomach. I felt a small portion of my blood drip from the wounds created in both my wings and my spine. It hurt. Not like a bruised feeling, but more of the feeling of having your spine torn from your body.

In an attempt to lift myself onto my hooves, I wiggled around on the rough surface below me as I used some of the remaining strength I had to lift myself up. But the strength didn’t last long. In fact, I onto my muzzle, feeling something sharp pierce it. I yelped, and as I did, the cart came to a sudden halt, as the sound of the other carts that were potentially beside the cart I was in soon passed aside. The sound of what seemed to be a thousand ponies walking at once soon faded as the others passed me.

Hearing a few silent voices from just outside of the small portable prison I was stored in, movement was heard making its way over to the back of the carriage, around where I was.And as the sound of movement suddenly stopped, the double doors at the end of car soon swung open, revealing a bald headed Earth Pony mare with eyes as black as night and a dusty grey coat. She wore a jacket which wasn’t fastened up properly, and the buttons which were meant to fasten it up were cracked and chipped along the edges. Some of the sewing in the buttons was torn and messed up as it had been dragged on the floor, and the brown leather material she wore was coated in dry blood from what seemed to be her victims.

“Quiet down back here!” She screamed at me. I cowered away, knowing that I was useless at this moment in time. “Or else, you’ll regret it!” Her voice had a strong hiss to it, as if her throat was clogged up with some sort of sickness. Like if she had a sore throat or maybe inflammation inside of her throat.

I wasn’t scared. Her threats were not even effecting me one little bit, especially after all I had been through, her so called ‘threats’ were just words floating passed my ears. I did not respond, nor did I look at her. I glanced away as if I didn’t even care what the messed up mare had to say, and then began looking at my PipBuck’s screen.

She slammed on the cart with great anger. “Hey, I’m talking to you, boy!” The cart swayed from her rage and I looked back at her, only seeing her stare at me with a vicious glare.

“Why, what will you do?” I questioned with a careless tone and as I did, I attempted to try and free myself.

She watched me struggle in amusement and soon giggled twistedly and then she vaulted herself into the cart. “You’ll just have to wait until we get there, and then you’ll see what will happen to you. Either way, it’s going to be hell for a helpless pony like yourself -- once you’re there, there is no way out!”

“Where?” I asked, looking to her and then soon stopping my struggle. “Where are we going?”

“The moral of the story is not where we are going, but it is indeed what will happen to you once we arrive,” the mare coughed as she spoke her words bitterly. “However… if I was you, I’d stay quiet, it just might let you live a little while longer.”

Jumping from the cart, she slammed the doors shut before I heard the gross and vile mare return to the front of the carriage and as she did, I felt the cart regain motion and move forward.

I felt alone. I didn’t feel scared, but knowing that my companions were no longer with me, I felt rather alone. And not in the good way either. Peace and quiet is something we all wish for, but personally, I prefer the company. Companionship and friendship made me stronger out in the Wasteland and without my friends, I was weak and useless.

The cart carried on for what felt like more than an hour. I didn’t even manage to get an ounce of sleep within that time. The cold floorboards that built the whole box I was inside of played a part in the lack of sleep and not to mention the fact that the cart itself was bumping and leaping from the ground whenever it hit a sharp or rough bit of ground. And as the journey continued, the sound of the cart’s axles grinding was heard, before I felt it come to a complete halt.

I felt myself get launched forward and as my body was thrown across the cart and into the rear wall of it, I felt the wall crack and blister before hearing hooves moving around from outside. The low murmurs of voices softly glided its way passed my ears, and I crawled towards the doors on the other side of the cart slowly. Of course, trying my best to ignore the pain that had been inflicted on me in my entire time inside of this cart.

The sudden wash of silence made me ponder about where my friends were. That’s if they were still alive. But I could do nothing but struggle in my bondings at this moment in time and as I sat in the far corner up against the back end of the wooden cage, I heard hoofsteps make their way towards passed me and towards the doors at the other end, just outside of the car. A conversation started, but it was barely audible. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I tried.

A few hoofsteps came my way, before I saw the doors swing open and then a group of armed ponies stood. The clothing they wore were nothing but rags and hand-me-down shirts and overcoats. They all wore battle saddles, despite two of the six ponies who stood at the end of the cart being Unicorns. And their battle saddles contained assault rifles. The other four ponies were earth ponies, and one of the larger Unicorn bucks vaulted himself into the car.

“Wow… look who it is,” the buck chuckled and grimaced. “It’s that little bastard they keep mentioning on the radio… we finally have you. And look at his eye!”

He laughed mockingly once noticing my artificial eye. I scowled in pure anger.

Walking over to me, he glared down at me with an angered expression and soon levitated me onto his back before walking to the end of the car and jumping out of it. And as I was lying helplessly on his back inside of some sort of magical field keeping me down on his back, I looked up at the place we stopped at and saw a huge wall that was practically crumbling and falling apart. The large doors at the front of it were made of splintered old wood and were scarred from different sorts of physical damage. A sign was hanging from above the set of double doors, but the sign itself was unreadable due to the large amounts of rust that had been coating it.

“Now… the caps.” The mare who brought me here groaned as she walked up to the group of ponies who were about to take me beyond the door. She stood there with an impatient look on her face, as she slowly grinded her teeth together. “Surely you have something to pay me after all my hard work of finding this kid.”

“What do you mean, caps?” The question was asked by the pony who had me on his back, “we didn’t promise any caps!”

She grew angry. “Hey. I worked my flank off to find this chump, not to mention the journey here was long enough, you owe me,” she shot them all looks. “All of you!”

“Look, we are sorry, but we don’t have to caps to pay some stranger,” one of the others responded. His mane was spiked in a mohawk-like fashion and was a degrading brown color, while his coat was black and his eyes were black too, making it look like you was staring into the abyss. “However, if you need the money, I suggest you find some Bounty Hunters -- they’ll give you the caps you need no doubt as they pay for somepony to be captured or killed. We however, do not.”

“I ain’t trusting no bounty hunter,” she growled. “They’ll backstab you, no doubt about it… nopony can be trusted out here.”

“Suit yourself.” He turned to the gate and then inhaled a sigh, “but if you want caps, you do not ask Slavers unless you actually have business with us. If you don’t, and you’re just bringing ponies to us, then we cannot help you.”

The mare responded with nothing but a scowl, before turning to leave and attaching herself back to the cart she carried me here in. As she began to walk off with it, the ponies who she had given me to soon turned to the door and then walked back towards the guards and then stopping by them.

The large door soon began to open slowly, letting nothing but a screech out from the gears which were operating it. The door opened slowly, and the wood on the door that touched the ground grinding its way through the dirt, causing the dry soil to spray across the ground. When the gap was wide enough, the party of Slavers proceeded onwards through the door, one by one. The Slaver who carried me was the last one to walk through the door, and as we entered, I soon found myself in nothing but darkness.

The door then soon closed at the same pace, and making the same sound as before, the only bit of light that came in from outside soon began to disappear as the two large planks soon connected once again and as they did, darkness engulfed me completely. I couldn’t see anything. The only light source being the bright magical aura that surrounded me.

Thump!

I got nudged off of the back of the stallion once the aura left my body and then soon hit the ground. I felt a quick punch hit my ribs and my right hindleg and foreleg. I yelped out in agony, as I looked around frantically and my eye creating a bright red glow on the muddy surface of the floor.

A cold breeze swept over me, making me shiver as the breeze nipped at my neck, it felt like I was outside. However, the sound of dripping water in the near distance echoed as if we were inside of a room which had slick, steel walls. The sound of an air-duct hummed softly and the sound of the clear air echoed softly much like the water which was dripping from the ceiling.

I didn’t know where I was and most importantly, I had no idea on what was going to happen to me. I was scared, and even lost… not only scared of what would happen to me, but I was scared about my friends on what happened to them. I was hoping that they were okay… as long as they got somewhere safe or were left alone, I’d be happy. But what scared me was if they had executed them right on the spot.

A small light bulb which hung from the ceiling soon turned on, lighting up only a very small portion of the large room I was in. The walls which almost sat in complete darkness was made of smooth, metal, but it was encrusted in rust and was covered in all sorts of propaganda from the Pre-War days. The aging posters contained the Ministry, the Ministry of Awesome and Arcane Sciences were the most popular ones, displaying illustrations of each of their leaders.

The Ministry of Arcane Sciences posters contained a lavender Unicorn smiling down at whoever viewed it, and behind her, a colorful land with clear skies and rainbows and along with it, a peaceful village with no war and no death anywhere. The edges of it was a darker shade of lavender, and cracked along the edges and even yellowing in the corners of it due to the age of the poster.

Knowledge is Magic; the Ministry of Arcane Sciences.

Looking for a few bright minds. TOGETHER, we will save Equestria!

On the walls in the far corners were air shafts of which the cold air was coming out of, and surprisingly with that, the clean air. It was much like the air back in Stable 30 and it was refreshing to inhale. But despite that, I knew I was into some deep shit and there was no way for me to get out of it… no way at all.

I soon felt my bondage become undone, and I could move my hooves once again. I wanted to escape, but my mind told me different. At least this time, my mind was right about something. Usually, the first thing that would come to mind would be: ‘it’s time to blow shit up, Tornado. Kill ‘em all’. However, not this time. Mainly because all of my belongings were stolen from me and possibly kept somewhere far away from here.

“Strip him down…” I heard a lone voice behind me cough and my eyes widened as soon as I heard those words.

I felt myself get grabbed by the hindlegs before feeling myself get dragged away, and then held down as the ponies began to dig at my Stable jacket. In my attempt to resist, I violently kicked up at the ponies who were trying to take my jacket off, but I was failing. The strength of them all soon began to overpower me, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.

Ziiip!

I felt the cold, and dirty jacket soon remove itself from my body before, laying back onto the ground, feeling the cold breeze even colder along my chest. I shivered and curled up, rolling around slightly and looking around as I desperately looked out for something warm to hold close to me. There was nothing and if I am quite honest, it came to no surprise. The humming from the air duct continued as the freezing breeze made its way along my now naked body.

“See… that wasn’t so hard now was it?” One of the Slavers hissed and looked down at me with a large grin.

I didn’t respond. But all I saw was the grin on his face as he stared down at me, looking at the scars left along my body. I had a couple of light scars that ran their way across my chest and shoulders, and some even working their way down my legs. I looked away, keeping silent and then quickly looking around the room for a way out. In fact, my head motion was so fast, I was like an animal looking for treats.

“W-where am I?” I asked, looking at the ground. “And where are my friends?”

“That mare didn’t bring any friends of yours, pal. You’re alone here.” I felt his breath along my neck. “I think you’ll like it here, instead of wandering the Wastes aimlessly, you now have a place to live…”

Yeah… a complete and utter shithole. If this is it, I would rather die of radiation poisoning and from what I have heard, that isn’t pretty. There was no way I was going to like it here and to think I’ll go by their word after they stripped me down and held me in here like I was some prisoner, they could forget it. I didn’t want to spend any longer here than I had already.

The sound of something bonded together with nothing but chains was soon heard from behind me, and as that noise rang out throughout the room and echoed, I glanced back to see a leathery outfit that was made of nothing but straps and chains, and as I saw it, my eyes widened. They dragged it over to me and as I saw it, I got onto my hooves, but as I did, I felt myself get brought down again.

Gah! Fucker!

In an attempt to get back onto my hooves, I kept feeling pressure push its way down onto me and as it did, I kept collapsing down onto the dirt, feeling the dust work its way into my my mouth before I coughed violently. Feeling myself grow weaker, I still kept struggling, trying to fight back the ponies in hope of preventing them from taking me. And I was losing the fight.

Gah! Nooo… get away from me!

I tried to call out for help, but I couldn’t. My lungs had so much dust inside them, I couldn’t even inhale any clean air anymore. I felt myself push through their grips, only for a short while though. I soon found myself get pinned to the floor and I was still trying to fight back, squirming and crying out for help as I did. And the longer I went on, the harder it became and the longer I went on, the more enraged they got.

“Stay still!” I heard a groan as I struggled more vigorously. “It’ll only make it harder for us both!”

I heard myself scream inside of my own mind. Not out loud though, but the feeling of wanting to be set free, the feeling of wanting to be left alone and the feeling of wanting to see my friends again made me struggle even more. But it soon got to a point where I was silenced completely… a hoof swung its way to me, and before I knew it… everything went black, as all my emotions and worries soon left my system.

I had been knocked out cold.

I was scared… internally of course. My emotions were bashed away for the time being, but inside of my mind, I couldn’t help but worry. Not only about myself, but also about my companions who potentially could also be dead. And that’s what scared me… I wouldn’t call myself the bravest soul in the world, nor a hero, but I did what I could to ensure those I care about are in safe hooves. But this time -- I had failed them all.

Dodge dying was already a big enough burden for me to carry, not to mention how badly Crystal got injured. All of which I was responsible for as my companions are my responsibility. And even if that meant jumping in front of a blizzard of bullets hurled towards them, just to let them live a little longer then I would do that for them. After all -- it’s my own virtue… I’ve never been a coward when it comes to sacrifice and I wasn’t going to start being one.

As light slowly faded its way back into vision, my blurred vision made it almost impossible to know what my surroundings were. The only thing I could make out was amber and darkness. However, my unfocused vision could not reveal the rest. Muffled cries of what sounded like agony and torture echoed their way throughout my surroundings and as my vision regained its focus, my hearing cleared.

I found myself inside of a cage, and the rusting bars on the cage were beginning to crumble into dust, while the padlock that held the door to the bars was brand new. I was no longer wearing my Stable jacket, but now I was wearing a slave outfit. The outfit consisted of many different leather straps that covered my entire body, but it did not shield any parts of my body properly. The thin straps were full of chains to ensure that anypony who wore it didn’t try to take it off, and there was a small padlock dangling from my chest, but this one didn’t require a key like the one on the cage’s door, this one required a code.

My PipBuck remained where it was, and the green screen on it glowed brightly. The small cell I was contained within was placed in an underground foundry with no clean air to inhale at all.The floor consisted of large, obsidian bricks that were chipped along the edges. Some parts of the floor (especially working spaces) had grates which contained flames within the large hole beneath them generating both the heat, and the amber light.

Large parts of machinery was stored within the large foundry, most of it was practically falling apart as the machinery was old. Most of the robotic machines were things like cranes which allowed their hooks to hang low, nearly unnoticeable. The cage I was stored in was hidden in a small, dark alleyway that was picking up dust from all the hours or even days of neglect, but at the light end of the hallway were large furnaces and at the furnaces were ponies working as fast as they could.

Heavily armed and brutish guards stood by, watching them struggle as they stored coal into the furnace to make sure it kept burning unwanted materials. Painful sounds like whipping and bucks to the face echoed before the guard who assaulted the worker told them to get back to work and then warned them about possible consequences.

The large wall that created the darkness was too big for me to see it all, but I saw half of a furnace which was on the right-side of the room and on the furnace a group of ponies of mixed ages, genders and races working as quick as they could, seeming to be scared of the guards who had been assaulting those who had slacked for even just a second.

The sound of hoofsteps began to echo as I peeked my head out of the cage and saw two heavily armed guards trotting over to me, both of which having rifles hanging from their necks loosely. One was a mare and the other a stallion, while both of them were Earth Ponies. They noticed me and walked over to my cage with wide grins on their faces, before coming to a halt by my cage and glancing down at me with the same, maniacal grins.

“Look who finally decided to wake up,” the stallion hissed, glaring down at me. “Break time’s over, time to get to work, cyclops!”

He obviously was mocking my fake eye. I scowled, before he unlocked the padlock on the cage’s door, and then soon opening it for me to get out. I soon crawled my way out of the small exit of the cage door. I was taking it slow, I wasn’t making any fast movements, but due to the lack of speed, I felt myself get dragged my the mane with a tough grip and as I felt the hairs upon my head get yanked with pure strength, I let out a cry of pain and fell on my front.

“Quiet!” I heard the bark of the mare echo above me as I was lying face down on the brick-like surface in a world of pain. “No pain, no gain, Tornado.”

“H-how do you know my name?” I groaned, lifting my head off of the ground, seeing that the glass surface of my synthetic eye was slightly cracked.

She laughed. “Everypony just about knows about you. How you single hoof-idly tried to kill Mist, how much of an idiot are you?”

I’ll give her that one. I was such an idiot… taking on a pony like him, I was only thinking of the safety of my own companions. I never thought of myself though, and that did cost me dearly. But it still wasn’t the most stupid thing I had done, but I didn’t respond as I knew these weren’t the kind of ponies to backchat to. At least that’s what my conscience told me.

“You’re going to be here for a while, so you’d may as well get to work!” The mare scowled, before throwing a metal coal shovel down before me, the metal on the base of it echoing from the walls. “You need to feed the furnace the coal it needs to keep the flames going, no slacking or there will be some serious consequences!”

She pointed to the furnace I had spotted from earlier from within my miniature prison, some of the ponies around it flinching back, covering their faces as soon as they stabled themselves with their hooves as the flames violently bursted from the grating that covered the front after too much coal had been shoved down the pipe.

“Get to work!”

Lifting myself onto my hooves and as I did, I chomped down on the wooden handle of the Coal Shovel before walking towards the large, steel furnace that sat to the north-west of me, not too far away. I dragged the shovel along the floor, the metal on the actual shovel scraping its way along the floor as the grinding echoed. Walking into the light, I got a good view of the foundry. The large, industrial and dark foundry I was in was wide open, and the windows on the walls in the far distance had an orange tint as they were covered up by a thick coating of dry mud. Various chains hung low from the ceiling, and there was no fresh air or breeze.

In the area I was in, there were two furnaces. The one I was sent to work at, and one that was on the opposite side on the other side of the wall that was obscuring my view not too far away. The guards followed me out of the darkness, and I felt their icy stares staring into the back of me as I dragged the shovel along the floor, before making it to the furnace and then looking towards a large sack full of the sandy, black substance.

I dug into it, and then attempted to keep as much of the coal on the shovel as possible, before lifting the load that I had stored on it upwards and then rotating slowly towards the shaft and then tipping it down. As the coal tumbled its way down the shaft, it didn’t take long for it to reach the flames and when it did, the flames burst from within the small, grated hole at the bottom of the furnace. And then I repeated the cycle.

And I kept repeating this cycle another five times, and after just the second delivery, I began to feel tired from the humid conditions and lack of clean oxygen. I lifted a hoof and wiped some sweat from my forehead and then dug into the coal, and then lifted the shovel out yet again.

I felt like I was melting -- it was too warm for me -- I couldn’t go on, but I knew if I stopped, I’d be punished. And not in the ‘arousing’ way either. More of the horribly, agonisingly, painful way. Especially from what I had heard when I first opened my eyes in this shithole… and I had barely been here for an hour.

“Hey…” I heard a soft whisper chime beside me, only see a cream colored stallion with a long and elegant brown mane and sky blue eyes. He was a Unicorn, which this of course gave him an advantage. He also had a PipBuck, a lot like myself. “I’d suggest you get back to work…”

While digging into the coal for another shovel full of the substance, I stopped for a few seconds after each time I shoved coal down the shaft. “Oh… right.”

“So why exactly are you here?” He kept the whispering tone on his voice the same, “what was your excuse?”

Excuse? I didn’t choose to come here. “I didn’t choose to come here… one moment I was mourning my friend, and then the next I woke up inside some stranger’s cart all tied up…”

“They normally give you a choice -- I came here because I was told there was opportunity, and now I’ve been here for six months.” The buck dumped another load into the shaft, before turning towards me and after him, I did the same. “The name’s Handsome Charmer!”

“I’m Tornado Dash, but I’d prefer to go by Tornado.” Lifting another scoop of the dirty, and powder coal, I soon shoved it down into the furnace before the flames burst out of the grating, enraged. I quickly stepped back and Charmer did the same.

“I’ve heard quite a lot about you,” Charmer coughed as some of the ashes went down his throat. “I must say, you’re one brave soul doing what you do -- I wouldn’t do anything like that.”

I looked to him, raising an eyebrow. “Anything like what?” I soon scooped up another bit of coal, before throwing it down into the shaft yet again and then stopping for a short while.

“Y’know… risking my life for the sake of others and fighting for my own life. It’s not what I do.” Charmer was handling his job with ease, “much like this. I don’t normally do this!”

“Then what did you do before you came down here?” I asked, leaning the shovel up against the large, rusting furnace in front of us both. “Did you have any hobbies?”

He shoved one last load into the shaft and then turned his attention to me. “No, not really. I was just a traveling trader, and I had a couple of heavily armed guards escort me throughout the Wasteland to ensure there was no trouble.”

“Oh yeah, and how did that go?” I asked, wiping another bit of sweat from my forehead, completely ignoring the fact that guards were watching us work and also ignoring the consequences of slacking.

“Not grea-.”

Something quick and leathery like a snake soon struck my flank and as soon as it did, a violent stinging pain soon flooded into my flank and it actually felt like I was bleeding. I fell with a yelp, holding the scar which was now created, and wincing as my hoof gently sat on the graze that was left there. I tried to bite back the tears and as I was cowering, I heard another whip strike Charmer and I heard his muffled groan of pain, before he collapsed next to me.

I tightly shut my eyes, feeling a few tears trickle their way down my face as I was laying face down on the floor with my flank up in the air, in an attempt to try and get some fresh air on the wound. Not that there was any healthy air at all, nor was there any cold breeze. It was like hell. The humid conditions plus the harsh treatment made it feel like hell and I didn’t like it one bit. I wanted out, but I knew it wasn’t that easy. It never was easy.

“No slacking!”

“S-son of a bitch...” I choked out with a squeak in my voice, trying to keep the tears of pain from falling. I felt like I was bleeding and I soon removed my hoof from the wound that was created to see nothing. It was just a graze and that was all.

But it hurt like a bitch! It was possibly the most painful thing I had ever experienced, of course excluding the time when my eye got ripped from my face, but that was rather quick and I passed out from that. The mark left upon my flank was stinging violently as if it was a burn. It was as if somepony had thrown me into the furnace and then pulled me out and then threw a bag of salt onto me, only leaving me to roll around in agony as I attempted to fight the pain. It was that painful.

In an attempt to lift myself onto my hooves, I felt my new friend help me onto my hooves while looking into my eyes with a painful stare. I stared back into his eyes, still trying to bite back the tears of pain which wanted to flood out and not to mention, trying to prevent the screams and groans of agony to escape my lips.

“HEY! You, the blue one, quit cryin’ and get back to work!!”

I managed to regain balance, before taking the shovel into my jaw and then continued working, trying to shake both the pain and the awfully humid and harsh conditions of this foundry I was stuck in, hoping to be released for all my hard efforts when my working days are over.

“Alright, everypony. The working day’s over, go to your rooms and get some sleep, it’s going to be long day for all of you tomorrow!”

A loud bell chimed from within the distance signalling the end of the work day, and as that bell rang, I dropped the shovel and attempted to regain my breath from all the exhaustion. I felt my own sweat trickle down my forehead, and I also felt incredibly warm as if the heating inside of this place was increased. The scar upon my flank wasn’t as painful, nor as bad as it was, at least the pain on it had died down slightly.

The other ponies who had been working for hours on end around the furnaces, soon threw their shovels down onto the brick like surface of the ground and began to head to the living quarters in small groups as they began to make their way back to their own rooms that were possibly on the other side of the factory.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Tornado… and one word of warning,” Charmer said to me, coming in close. “Once you get indoors, you stay there. They’ve placed a curfew on this place -- anypony see outside of their rooms after being told to go to their living quarters gets ten lashes. Trust me, it ain’t pretty.”

“Come on, come on, get moving!” The mare’s voice echoed throughout the factory yet again.

It didn’t take long for silence to dominate over the entire foundry, and now I was the only one remaining in the furnace workspace. It was intimidating, but since I didn’t have my own living quarters, I couldn’t return to mine. I paced around the small workspace slowly, hearing my hoofsteps echo in the foundry, but then I began to hear hoofsteps of which were not my own, before coming to a halt and then glancing around the room rapidly to see who it was.

Nopony was there. At least not yet.

The silence lasted for another few minutes and the pony who I thought had heard was not there, and I was still alone. There were guards staring at me from the balconies fixed to any nearby walls and the balconies themselves were made of rusting steel frames with grating and sheet metal lying on top of the grated metal. The guards on the balcony did not say a word, but only stared down at me as their Sniper Rifles hung low from the strap that they were attached on and the strap wrapped around their necks.

But coming out of the alley I emerged from was one, lone guard. He had a blood red coat, and dark blue eyes, while his mane was spiked violently in all different directions and his teeth as sharp as razors. He walked forward, allowing his Rifle to dangle low from his neck, before coming to a halt only inches away from me. His intimidating stare looked straight into my eyes, as the grin he had on his face revealed his in-pony like teeth. His teeth: stained in what seemed to be the blood of workers and other pony like creatures made me cringe slightly.

He wasn’t huge in muscle size nor height wise, but he looked older than most as his face was covered in various wrinkles from the age of the pony. The wrinkles in the curves of his face made him look middle-aged if not, slightly older. But he stared at me with a glare, but also a grin as his eyes were fixed on me and his stained teeth showing.

“What are you doing out here?” He asked, lifting a hoof and choking on his own words slightly. “Don’t you realize there’s a curfew?”

“S-sorry, I don’t have a living quarters, sir!” I nervously said, feeling myself break down inside as I knew whatever I would say now, would mean nothing to them… and that scared me.

It took a while for the guard to respond however, but when he did, he nodded with understanding. “You’re the new guy, right?”

I nodded.

“Yes. Okay, come this way and stay close if you want to keep your head.”

As the pony turned away and began to walk towards the alleyway of which I had emerged from, I soon followed him closely and as I followed the rather small and skinny stallion, I glanced upwards and began to look around. There were various balconies attached to the thick, brick walls of which had heavily armed guards patrolling the area. They were armed with Sniper Rifles, but I couldn’t tell which kind. But nonetheless, they were armed and also some of them kept their eyes fixed on me at all times.

“It’s just down here!”

The alley became claustrophobic really quickly as now the walls on both sides of the corridor were closer than before, and the warm, filthy oxygen of which I had been inhaling all my time inside of this foundry was now thin and lacking. I tried my hardest not to gasp for air and not to panic, trying to keep calm was possibly the hardest thing to do. Luckily however, a small, blinking light at the end of the tunnel was seen. My sight was too obstructed to see what exactly was ahead, but all I knew was that there was light ahead.

And as we reached the end of the alley, the Slaver squeezed his way out of the alleyway and then stood waiting for me. Pushing myself through the gap, I saw myself outside of a small hut where a light bulb hung from a dish that was attached to the roof of the actual hut and the light itself flickering every few seconds. The outside of the small house I was standing by was made of stone and the stone surface upon the walls was cracked and filled with a few bullet holes. There were no windows, but the door was a thin metal door also filled with a few bullet holes and the small window at the top of the door was blackened out. And at the bottom of the door was a doorstep.

“Well… this is it.” He commented, lifting a hoof. “I’d suggest you get some sleep, as you’ll be up early tomorrow morning!”

With no response, I walked to the door, pushing it open to see a darkened room with no lighting whatsoever, the only light source that found its way into the room was the light from the blinking bulb. I glanced back to the Slaver to see he had gone, and now I was on my own yet again. I proceeded on through the door, before taking my first hoofsteps in and my hoofsteps echoed from the walls. Once I shut the door, darkness engulfed me yet again and then once finding a lightswitch, I flicked it only to see the light bulb which dangled from the ceiling in the center of the room flicker on, before revealing all of the small room in a dim light.

The flooring of the room was made of many different dusty and cracked floor tiles and aged stains of blood and beverages was within the center also. A bed sat in the far corner ahead of me to the right side of the room, and the bed’s frame was rusting and falling apart. There was only a mattress, dirty bed sheets and one torn pillow to keep the resident comfortable. And at the end of the bed, there was a small bowl for anypony to use for urinating into. To the right of me, by the door, was a large wooden counter that stretched down the length of the wall and below the desk were wooden cupboards. The cupboard doors were scratched and some of the external damage were able to give splinters.

The bedside table which of course sat by the bed had a lamp resting on it, and along with it, a couple of mouldy old comic books and a few bent and rusting caps. The lampshade on the lamp was slanted slightly. The walls of this small, but barely claustrophobic house were covered with filth and different sorts of cracks caused by age.

I walked over to the bed, glancing around myself as my hoofsteps echoed in the room, before sitting on the bed and staring at the floor. The mattress was incredibly uncomfortable to say the least, and not to mention the scent of it stung the nostrils due to state of it and the stench of it from all the other ponies who had been here before me.

My main concern however was if my companions were okay… without them, I don’t think I would be able to continue…

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Putting Your Hoof Down -- be assertive, don’t be afraid! Your speech has reached a level where you can access new dialog options with your companions to assign them certain roles in your party!

New perk: Quest perk! -- Together Until The End -- this perk was unused for this quest due to your companions being unavailable for this quest, so this perk carries out for the next quest!

Current level: 16

Days.

I had been here for a few days and my hope was draining away, the longer I spent here, the more my hope continued to drain. I had gotten here because of my mistakes, not anypony elses and even if it was my companion’s fault, I couldn’t blame them. And each passing day made me worry more about the companions I may never see again, but I would at least try not to give up on hope of seeing them again. Handsome Charmer was all I had, and if I was to lose him while being here, I’d be nothing more than a weak shell of nothingness. I felt lost just thinking about it and it shot me in the heart to even think about it.

I was the one to blame for most of the incidents that had happened in recent days and weeks. I killed ponies. I wasn’t innocent, but I tried my hardest to make up for the mistakes I had made and now that I was here, there was no doing that. Handsome Charmer and I had our fair share of punishments and I believe I deserved every single punishment. Every. Single. One. And I wouldn’t ever want them to stop, no matter how much they hurt. I wanted to be cleansed of the sins I had committed out in the Wasteland… even if I had killed ponies who deserved it, I still killed ponies. I was still taking lives.

At night, I couldn’t stop thinking of Dodge dying in my arms. His bloody carcass lying in my hooves as he let out his last breath, the bloody wound all over his neck and shoulder area, deep and bloody. The severed hole inside of his neck leaking with the thick red liquid. And because of these memories, I always woke up, crying to myself and cradling myself every night, in an attempt to make myself feel comfortable. It hurt… but it helped me wash the guilt away.

“Good evenin’ my listeners! How are you on this fine evening? I myself feel great as usual…

“You know what time it is, listeners, story tiiiimmmmme! Tonight’s story is a true story. It’s a story that is based on what is happening right now, today, in real life. It’s about where heroes fight for the good of the Wasteland, and villains fight for the good of themselves. It’s a story about war and how it won’t ever change, how we will be stuck in this cycle of having to start pointless wars, time after time!

“This story my listeners keeps writing itself and it has been for the past two-hundred years. The first sentence of this story was written on the day when the bombs fell, on the day when all of Ponykind was said to be extinct if not, maybe even during Pre-War times. And for generations, this story has carried itself out, as it keeps writing itself, giving us what I like to call ‘A Neverending Story’.

“Now, listeners. If this story bores the living crap outta you, then it’s not meant to be super duper epic or anything. This story is what it is, and I cannot tell it any other way without sounding like a grade A liar.

“Don’t worry, I won’t start from the beginning. Well, I will, but I’ll start at the more recent chapters as I’ve not been around for over two-hundred years, haha!

“Let’s begin, shall we?

“The Wasteland. A place where the word ‘hope’ echoes in our minds, despite hope being so far away. The Wasteland: ravaged by war and tainted with the blood of the fallen. The ponies of the Wasteland soon became selfish and began to stop helping others and instead, they began to kill other ponies for the sake of themselves -- their twisted minds, neverending.

“Littlepip: she did so much for us, despite having attacked Arbu and blowing up Maripony, she was our Wasteland hero. But those days soon decayed, and now with the Wasteland without their needed hero, all hope began to drain once again. The word ‘hope’ because nothing but a word now, a phrase we use to comfort those who we cannot save. Hope is not real.

“Or at least, things seemed that way. Four weeks ago, our Little Blue Buddy rose from the ashes of Stable 30 and guided himself towards the light. Instead of whining and bitching about the Wastes being deadly, he pushed on. He may have one goal, and he may only one intention and when he reaches his goal, he may stop saving us all together. But I trust in this buck, I believe he will do the right thing… even if he makes the wrong decision. The Enclave are said to be looking at taking him in and signing him up, but I know this buck will do the right thing and refuse.

“This guy is who we need. Despite the Wasteland being beyond repair and the amount slaughtered every day, we need him. He’s our french lover, that guy who’s perfect in our eyes no matter what he does. But right now, he needs us more than ever. He’s been taken in by Slavers to work at Flower Berry Gardens, and I… I’m distraught and if I had the power and weapons to march in there guns blazing, I would. Just to save him from captivity.

“Crystal, Violet, Swift and Cyber. If you’re listening right now, he needs you more than anypony else. And he needs you now. I know you all have intentions to help Sunnyvale, I know all of you mean to do good, but you need to let that wait a little bit. You need to go back for him, I really do hate to say these things, but you need him. He is the sun and the moon in your lives. He is what guides you through the Wasteland, and despite some of his stupid decisions, you have to admit, he helped you in times when you needed it. Why not return the favor?

“Tornado is needing you all more than ever, and if you just leave him there, he may never be able to get out of that hellhole. No offense there, Blue Buddy. I believe he is capable of getting out himself, but if he even tries that, it may kill him. It’d be easier if all of you invaded, as you all have the firepower and the brains to do so.

“As our young Wasteland heroine once said ‘I would fight to make that bright and innocent past our future once again. Even if it means dashing myself against the evil and cruelty of this wasteland until there is nothing left of me. And then, when I am too broken to go on, I will float my dying body right down the throat of the darkness and make it choke on me.’ She forced herself through the harsh times she had been through. Tornado is that kind of pony, you need to go back and save his ass before it is too late.

“Please. For the sake of his life and the sake of his sister, save him. Besides, I wouldn’t want to know that I’d never meet him…

“What you do in your current situation is your decision, but I think I speak for us all here in the Wasteland, that you need to get him out.

“And that, friends, was my last broadcast of the night. Tune in tomorrow where I’ll be giving updates and heads up on what the situation is here in Sunnyvale.”

Little Blue Buddy.

Those three words echoed inside of my head for a little while, constantly reminding me of my new nickname. Little. Blue. Buddy. I smiled, as I enjoyed the small nickname I was given. And I really had not been given a nickname before, other than a shortened version of my own name, but I didn’t count that as a nickname.

It was late. Not too late, but it was late nonetheless. The only light that was on inside of this small and almost claustrophobic room was from the lamp. The lamp let off a dim, amber light, as the lamp shade that hung from the bulb, lopsided, allowing the amber light from the bulb underneath it shed some light into the room. The scarred and broken walls that made the living quarters were visible and so was the decaying bed I was sitting on. The counter in the far corner by the door was almost consumed by darkness however, but it was still visible. And the door itself was only just visible too.

Hearing the small radio broadcast from my PipBuck gave me some hope that I would be rescued, though I didn’t count on it. In fact, I know Violet would rather help her Steel Ranger teammates instead of help a small, poor, defenseless buck like myself and no doubt, without me there, she was the new party leader. And whatever she says no doubt, will go. Even if it is: leave the blue fucker behind, to Sunnyvale we travel!

Handsome Charmer was all I had as a friend in here. And no doubt, I was his only one and even if I wasn’t, I’m sure he didn’t like this place either. Even if it was his choice to why he ended up here, I’m sure he regrets that choice now… I however had no choice. I was dragged here and separated from my friends, and that moment is when my whole world began to crumble even more. As if the world around me wasn’t crumbling enough.

I held onto hope the best I could though. I was hoping at least one pony from outside would come to my rescue, and maybe the rescue of Handsome Charmer. He deserved freedom as much as I did, and I had promised him the previous day that I would help get him out of this place, even if it kills me. Which it probably will. My original plan would anyway, which of course my original plan was kill all the guards despite not having the firepower to be able to do such a thing.

If my job was to protect others out there, then right now, I wasn’t doing a good job. As much as I wanted to die from all the pain and guilt I had experienced, I wanted out to help those who were in the middle of a warzone. I wanted to help those who were struggling to survive, I wanted to help them survive a little longer… but right now, ponies were dying because I wasn’t there to help them.

Hours of my sleepless night passed, and they passed a lot quicker than I had thought. It had been this way for a few nights now, mainly due to how uncomfortable the beds they supplied us with were. And also the fact that I couldn’t stop having visions of ‘the bad’. My friends dying without me out there, Dodge’s death… Crystal’s cause of injury. I didn’t see it, but I could picture it. And I heard her screaming my name, as if she was blaming me for what had happened to her and personally, I couldn’t blame her for doing so. My stupid decisions forced them all to carry me to a hospital facility, which of course got Crystal injured in the process.

We can only hope that she’ll make it, the voices of the doctors echoed in my mind and each time they did, I felt a throb of pain in my skull, as if even my conscience was blaming me.

I didn’t like it at all, no matter how much I deserved it. No matter how much I deserved this.

Bangbangbang!!

I heard my door get punched violently, the metal door letting the sound echo from the walls as they bangs emitted. With no response from me, the banging started again, only this time seeming louder than before.

BANGBANGBANG!!

“Hey worker, you’ve had enough time sleeping, it’s time to get to work!!”

“And the boss wants to see you!”

The sound of two stallions beyond the door pierced their way through the door’s thin metal surface, and as I heard the second one speak, my eyes widened and my heart sank. Fear began to develop on my heavy heart, and has another three slams of the same volume were applied to the door, I lifted myself from the bed and soon dragged myself towards the door. As I trudged along, my hoofsteps echoed softly off of the broken and torn apart stone walls.

I reached the door, soon opening it slowly and at my door stood two Slaver Guards, heavily armed with a Spark-Hook dangling from their neck. They were both Unicorns and wore nothing but armor made of torn leather and bent steel which was applied to all four of their legs. And the leather straps hugged them around the chest and back.

They were both covered in dry blood and their coats a degrading brown color. Their manes were spiked up in violent ways, the one of the left having a mohawk of which had slightly blunt spikes. The other buck had it spiked in many sorts of shapes and forms, some of the spikes curling over while some still sharp and upright. They both had glares of what looked like anger and impatience, and I did not even show any anger back at them.

I felt them drag me by the mane, before throwing me down the small set of steps and onto the brick floor outside of my house. I groaned as I hit the cold and hard surface, before groaning and wincing at the sudden frenzy of pain that flooded into my face. I felt blood trickle from a small cut created on my right cheek, and as I rubbed it with my hoof, I noticed blood was there indeed.

“The boss doesn’t like it when she is kept waiting!”

I scowled as I looked back at the abusive guards who had thrown me onto the floor. And as I was now outside, the active sounds of the workplaces in the foundry echoed loudly throughout. The sound of furnaces and cranes being used, as ponies cried out in agony whenever they were punished for not doing their work. The humid conditions were already making me sweat… the only cool thing there was out here was the floor, and that happened to be extremely uncomfortable…

The floor was nice. At least for the most part.

“Get up!”

I lifted myself onto my hooves, before glancing back at the two ponies who soon trotted their way down the two steps by the door. The Spark-Hooks they were carrying were armed and were even stained in blood slightly from anypony else who had felt their wrath. I looked away from them, hoping not to get shot at. Dying here was the last thing I wanted.

“Alright. Stay close, we’re going to take you directly to her!” I heard one of the voices call from beside me. I looked at him. “She’s been wanting to talk to you for some time, worker. I suggest you give her your full, undivided attention, making the wrong move just might get you killed!”

It didn’t take long for us to arrive at where she was. We took a completely different route than the alleyway, a much quicker route if anything. The large doorway I was greeted with was made with all sorts of leftover parts. The arching doorway was made of different parts of scrap metal, such as rusting pipes and bits of sheet metal all crammed into a bit of fencing that had been curled up to make the arch. Inside of the arch where the sheet metal sat, also sat bits of rock and stone jammed in-between the metal to ensure it held a firm shape. The large, daunting double doors were made of broken wood, with large cracks inside of them which revealed part of of the room beyond it. On the doors were two, rusty and golden door handles which had no locks on them whatsoever. And above the door was a pony’s skull… stained in fresh blood and above that was a sign. The sign was rusty and aged and it was to a point where the rust covered some of the writing, though I could make out what it was.

Warchief’s Throne Room.
“Work hard, and live free!”

Seriously? That was the quote? I doubt living free is what they do here. In fact, they live without liberty.

I felt a nudge against my flank, and I looked back seeing the two guards who brought me here. They had encouraging looks on their faces, showing their crooked and bent teeth inside of their insane filled smiles. I cringed at the sight of it, but then turned away, before proceeding towards the doors. The doors was fairly easy to open, with just one push, the doors swung open slowly and as they opened, a loud creaking sound which echoed throughout the surprisingly big hall of the room beyond them.

I was greeted with a torn and dirty red carpet which ran along the floor and up the large staircase at the end of the hall. The room itself was mainly made out of stone, most of it chipped and cracked with age. Tall, arching columns stood tall at both ends, meeting at the top of the room once they curved over. There were about four on either side, before they ended at the staircase. The stairs contained about seven steps, and the center of it was draped with the red carpet which had golden edges. The large chair at the end of the hall was made of all sorts of unusable weapons, all of which were attached together with Magical Bandages that were damp and blood covered. Two guards wearing Power Armor with the Steel Ranger helmets were heavily armed with Miniguns on their armor, both of the large cannon like weapons were loaded with the ammo they needed.

Sat in the chair made of different guns and weapons was a female Pegasus, her coat a dark brown color, while her mane long and elegant. Her mane was a bright beige color like Dodge’s mane, and her eyes had the most beautiful shade of blue in them. She was wearing her own custom made Power Armor, where the aging and scratched armor she wore had a tint of light brown in the obsidian colored armor and upon the chest area was war paint of a pony’s eyeless skull, leaking blood from the mouth.

She looked down at me with a glare, and as I trudged along the red carpet, hearing my hooves echo in the room, the door soon shut behind me with a loud slam and now the cold and surprisingly fresh air of this open room flooded in my way. It sent a chill down my spine, but I only shivered slightly before continuing on. I soon reached the bottom of the steps and as I did, the guards spun their Miniguns. My eyes widened.

They began to approach me, and then kept their eyes (or their visors) on me at all times, as their metal hooves slammed and echoed violently in the stone crafted room. The mare soon raised her hoof to cease the ponies, but since they couldn’t see her, she had to call out.

“Hold it!” She called, her voice smooth and young. “I believe this is… him.”

They stopped spinning their guns and looked back to her. She stared deeply into their eyes with a stern look on her face, before the guards slowly backed to where they were stood previously. They turned their attention to me again and I slowly walked up the stairs, but as I got about half way, her voice boomed at me like a command.

“That’s close enough, worker,” she lifted a hoof from one of the steel arms on the chair. “I don’t want you coming here, and then attempting to kill me. Then again, even if you did lay a hoof on me, I’m sure my guards would have you torn to pieces.”

I scowled and she grinned. “Okay, whatever. Why did you summon me here? Of all ponies, why me?”

“Why you?” She echoed, but in a slightly confused tone to her elegant voice. “Have you forgotten the things you have done for the ponies beyond the walls of this foundry? You were a hero to them, an icon… and all I want to do is talk.”

That’s it? That’s all she wanted? That lifted some of the tension, some of it of course. I still had the two guards aiming their Miniguns down at me as if they were ready to rain hell on me. And I tried not to feel intimidated by the bulk they wore.

“My name is Midnight Shadow and I am the Warchief of this foundry we call Flower Berry Gardens,” she grinned as she spoke them words. “I already know who you are, but you are my worker, therefore you live under my rules and not your own.”

I blinked.

“And you said you wanted to talk, so I suggest you don’t waste my time!” I scowled, before realizing what I said and then covered my mouth. But I was too late to stop the words from leaving.

She grinned. “Ooh, feisty. I like feisty.” She slipped out a sly wink as she spoke, before leaning back in her chair. “However, being feisty will get you nowhere, especially when you’re in the presence of Midnight Shadow!”

I blinked and sniggered lightly in my thoughts, but I tried to prevent even a quiver of a smirk to work its way onto my face. She sat forward yet again, and then glared down at me with pure anger and impatience. I gulped and then soon cowered away, as if she was going to command her guards to kill me. As if she was going to command them to tear me to shreds until I was nothing left. As if it amused her to see ponies get shot down and torn apart in a matter of seconds.

I didn’t speak, nor whimper. I just remained silent, but then the silence was soon broken by her voice again, and she sounded stern.

“What I am offering is a chance at freedom, but you have to be willing to work for it,” she said to me, lifting a hoof.

“Why?” I groaned, looking to her yet again and then raising a brow. She stared down at me, and then she looked away. Her head soon went down and as she stared at the floor, she looked like she was having trouble finding the words she needed to say.

Eventually, the young Pegasus managed to squeeze it out. “I heard the radio broadcast. Your friends could be on their way as we speak, and when they get here, no doubt they’ll blast their way in. It’s not about numbers, to say six ponies traveled the Wastes and still remained in one piece is remarkable. I cannot afford to lose all of what I… what we have achieved!”

Five actually, though I didn’t want to call her out. Again, she’d no doubt have me killed for that. However, she was right, we had all been through a lot and all of us (or rather most of us) remained intact the whole way. And I wanted to keep it that way. At least for now.

“And what about Handsome Charmer? If I go, can he go too?” I asked with hope. Hope that he’ll get released when I do.

She inhaled a deep sigh, though the sigh was of no negative emotion. “I don’t know… Handsome Charmer is not as important as you, nor does he work as hard. He doesn’t act like he wants freedom, and personally, if a pony doesn’t want freedom, they won’t get it.”

I didn’t say a word. But I knew he wanted freedom, he just found it nearly impossible to work in the conditions we were in. And I knew how that felt, but I tried to push my way through it because I was desperate to get out there. She looked towards her guards and then back towards me.

“However, if any of your companions are seen near Flower Berry Gardens, I cannot and will not stop my guards from stripping them down and bringing them in. The more workers I have, the better and the more I live up to the promise of rewarding good workers with freedom, the better!” She let out a frown that soon turned into a grin, “but, if I happen to capture your companions, you have to promise not to come here again. Never. Again.”

As she mumbled the words never again, she pointed her hoof at me, putting emphasis on both words. I stood there in silence, before looking down. I understand that she was doing her job, but I didn’t want her to hurt them… if I saw my friends injured to a point where it was nearly impossible to save, then I wouldn’t want to live the life I had been given. I had seen too much, too many ponies who I considered friends getting hurt. And one of which getting killed. And I still felt like it was my fault, which of course my friends tried to make me feel less guilty. It didn’t work though.

“I’m offering you a chance at grabbing your freedom, my little blue friend,” she said to me, lifting a hoof from the throne made of different sorts of weapons. “But if you truly want it, then I can give it you!”

My excitement was beginning to build up and I could soon no longer contain it. I tried to not act like a little foal in front of the Warchief, because if I did, no doubt she would think I’m… a child. And to say I’m well know to be a brave buck who throws himself into blizzards of shrapnel, then I had to remain mature. At least for now, but the little pony inside of my head was screaming at me, telling me to celebrate and hug her with all the strength I had. Luckily, I chose to ignore that and just popped out a small smile.

“But… you have to do something for me first,” she called out, looking down at me. And then my excitement died. “And if you successfully perform and survive throughout the job I’m giving you, then we’ll talk about your freedom with a little more… depth.”

I grimaced, not liking what she said. “A-alright…” I simply responded, looking back to her. My nerves were hanging by a thread, and I had nothing to protect me at all if it was going to be dangerous.

“I need you to gain control of the Enclave’s mainframe, so I can use their own weapons against them,” she grinned in delight. “It might take a few days for you to complete said task, but nonetheless there is a reward for you. Oh and by the way, if you even think about trying to escape through any air-ducts or windows then you can think again. The last pony who attempted that got torn to shreds, I almost feel sorry for the poor mare. You have a few days and that’s it.”

“W-where might I find this… mainframe?” I raised the question and the mare’s eyes widened as if she had forgotten completely.

“R-right. It’s in the lower levels of the foundry, this used to be one of the Enclave’s strongholds,” she giggled with a sinister tone to her voice. “And if there happens to be any of the Enclave bastards waiting for you, I’d suggest you take this for the sake of your life!”

A large energy rifle was soon thrown down in front of me. The wooden stock at the back was chipped, but also smooth, while the wood on it was made of surprisingly fresh mahogany. The long steel barrel was a dark obsidian color, while some of the nearly black paint applied to it was scarred, revealing the bright sliver coating of the gun’s original design. Towards the end of the thin, cube-like barrell were holes as if it was an exhaust pipe. On top of it was a short scope, the same color as the barrel, and the lense was a bright green color. And a large circular magazine sat close to the stock. The weapon had a neck strap on it so anypony who used it could let it hang from their neck.

Crystalline Pulse Rifle: this weapon is powered entirely by Crystal Energy and the crystal within the drum mag can usually use eighteen shots before having to reload. The actual shots themselves are powerful discharges that can normally reach up to about ten feet. Be sure to use it wisely, as Crystal Energy is a rare ammo source to find. My PipBuck informed me as I collected the weapon, before placing it over my head and around my neck.

I was wandering around the foundry, searching for the entrance to the lower levels of the foundry and unfortunately, it wasn’t easy. Not that I ever expected it to be. I was rather worried about the task ahead, but if it meant freedom and a chance to see my friends again, I was willing to do it. But there was one thing I needed to do before I even considered going into the lower levels and getting my flank kicked, I had a promise close to my heart and I wanted to let that promise go to the stallion who had kept me alive here. He deserved it after all and he even stopped this place from being as bad as it sounded.

Handsome Charmer. He deserved freedom more than I did. He was a good, and strong hearted pony… but that’s if I made it back alive. If I didn’t, he stays here and if I made it back alive, he’s free. Or at least that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to free him of his shackles, I wanted to give him back the dignity he once had. I wanted to be a good pony…

My intentions were not to cause bad, even if my choices endangered the lives of those I love and care about. My intentions were to do good and maybe become a pony who would see beyond another pony’s mistakes and forgive them. I was holding onto that though. Violet was a complete and utter bitch, but nonetheless I forgave her for being one. She was too lost inside of her Steel Ranger history to realize how harsh she was being on all of us… but I looked passed it. And I intended to do the same. Other than the Enclave, Raiders and these Slavers, I’d probably forgive anypony for their own mistakes.

I was back where I started, or somewhere near to there. The large furnace I was working at from day one was back into view, and the many dull and multicolored ponies working around the large fireplace were working to the best of their ability while heavily armed guards watched over them with glaring eyes. The bricks along the walls and floor were large and black and some were even covered in the ashes from the burning coal. I stood down a lone alleyway, opposite the one I started in and I stared at the buck who I considered a friend, waiting for him to take notice.

“Tornado!”

I heard Handsome Charmer’s voice ring out from in front of me. I glanced to him as I was just standing there, seeing the filthy buck who was covered in ashes from the smoke of the flames that had come out of the furnace. He wiped his face and then dusted himself down before eying me up and down, looking slightly confused.

“Nice gun?” He stammered as he looked at the large rifle hanging from my neck. “J-just don’t shoot me with it, alright?”

“W-what?!” I gasped and raised a brow. “Why would I shoot you with it? I’d never do that…”

He chuckled nervously and then hung his head low. “You’re moving stations… right? Something to do with killing things?”

It took me a while to respond and I avoided eye contact with the stallion, looking to the dusty brick floor that I was standing on. The humid conditions were not making it any easier for me to speak at all, in fact, they were making me more tired than anything. I looked to the stallion, making sure that the gun wasn’t pointing towards him before finally managing to squeeze words from my dry lips.

“Y-yeah. Something like that,” I wheezed. “Look, if I get released through this, I’ll try and free you too.”

His expression brightened up with a wide smile on his imperfect and dirt covered face. I smiled back and soon nudged him slightly. He looked down at his leg and chuckled weakly as if he was about to collapse, however from the soft impact, the buck did sway slightly and nearly fell back into a group of ponies who were working by the large furnace he had been stationed at for what seemed to be weeks on end. At least that was my guess.

“Do you think we’ll be getting out any time soon…?” The buck asked, sounding desperate to get back out into the Wasteland. “I would prefer to be hunted down by Raiders than work in this place. I should never have chosen to come here…”

“Look,” I began. “The Warchief has offered me a job to get me out of here, of course that is if I survive it. I promise you, I’ll try and talk to her about it… and if she says yes, I’ll give you a few caps if I manage to retrieve my belongings and then you can start a new life…”

“Can’t I travel with you?” He asked, looking to me. His ears went down as he asked the question and this only made me feel more guilty.

“It’s too dangerous for you…” I mumbled, turning away and then shaking my head. And as I did, I heard another whimper of Charmer begging for something.

“Well, can’t I at least join you to wherever you’re going?” He moaned, and then soon took a couple of steps closer. “You’ve been by my side in times when I needed it, as I have for you. We’re partners down here and you know that!”

I remained silent, not reply and feeling my guilt soon come flooding back in. I didn’t want to be responsible for his death, not like I was with Dodge. I had already lost one good friend, I couldn’t afford to lose another and it’s always the most loyal ponies like himself who get themselves killed in situations like this. I couldn’t bare to carry that burden again, I haven’t had enough time to recover from the last one. And I knew I was far from recovering.

“You and I are a team. If you’re thinking about going down there alone, you’re fucking insane. The Enclave still have troops down there capable of tearing every single guard inside of this foundry apart, why do you think she’s sending you down there in the first place?”

How did he know about that?

“How did you know what I was doing?” I asked, glancing to him and he inhaled a sigh, before turning away.

“I listened in, alright? I’m a sneaky pony. I don’t receive items for trading, I steal them and sell them as my own.” Handsome turned back to me and pouted slightly. Only slightly. “You need somepony like me by your side down there, and I know a pony who has traveled the Wasteland like you have, alone or not, is capable of doing what you have been told to do!”

I couldn’t say no. As much as I wanted to protect him, I just couldn’t say no. He was right. I needed a pony like him with me, somepony I could trust and have help from. I was completely useless on my own, both emotionally and physically. Without friends, I was nothing but an empty shell of a strong pony who had been there before his friends were ripped away from him. Friendship was magic in my life. It meant everything to me. I wanted to keep him safe, but I knew I needed somepony by my side.

“Alright… I’ll let you come,” I said, finally giving in. “Just stay close to me alright? I’ve lost enough friends as it is…”

“I give you my word.”

We reached a small, steel gate that was completely unguarded in the far shadows of the foundry, where nopony could see us at all. The fencing around the small tunnel entrance was rusting and aged and to a point, some of the wires which made the fencing on both the gate and the actual fences themselves was bent and broken. The padlock on the gate wasn’t pickable and even if it was, I didn’t have any lock picks on me at all. However, some of the rusted and bent bits of wiring along the fence was bent enough to be pulled back to create a large enough hole for an averaged sized pony to enter through. Beyond the gate was a short and wide hallway, engulfed in darkness and at the end, I could see what looked like an elevator platform.

I grabbed one of the blunt corners, just to make sure that I didn’t cut my hoof in the process, and then slowly tugged on it. As I tugged with a small amount of strength, I soon made a small opening, just big enough for us to squeeze through. The tearing metal made a soft echoing noise, but it wasn’t loud enough for any of the distant guards to pick up the noise. I climbed through, hoping to not make too much noise as if they caught Handsome Charmer, he’d be punished for going into an area he was not stationed at.

The gun hung from my neck and danced around as I began to squeeze myself through the pony sized hole and as soon as I reached the other side, Handsome Charmer soon followed, and as he made his way through, he caught his leg slightly which emitted a loud echoing noise. My blood froze and my heart skipped a beat, and I waited for any calls from guards or even any hoofsteps coming to get us. Nothing. We were still alone luckily and as long as we made no noise coming out once we were finished.

With no hesitation, I walked my way down into the tunnel, and the surrounding darkness already beginning to swallow me. The green light of my PipBuck brightly illuminated the walls, revealing scratches and scars on the metal surface. The room was wide enough for two ponies to be side by side in, and the flooring was made of the same brick material as it was outside. The walls were similar to Stable walls, and blackened light boxes that looked cracked and some even smashed slightly were fixed to the ceiling. Dust floated around the room as each hoofstep was taken, showing that this area hadn’t been used in what was possibly weeks.

The elevator platform at the end was simple and black. The cogs and gears that helped it move up and down were fixed into each of the four corners, but there were no large columns by it whatsoever. There was a computer console fixed to the wall, with its bright green screen being visible in what seemed to be the darkest area of the room.

I took a few, careful steps on the old looking platform, the rust consuming the cogs and gears at both corners and even the surprisingly thin elevator platform that we were faced with. I was the first one to climb on the platform, before turning and nodding to the buck who was with me to join me on it. As the cream colored stallion laid his first hoof on the rusting platform, a loud screech from some of the grinding gears was heard and he stopped. My heart stopped, and I looked down to the platform, feeling it beginning to give way.

He slowly eased his way onto it, taking each hoofstep as slowly and gently as possible to prevent anything from breaking within the gears. I helped him, or at least I tried to, but at the same time, my heart was pounding as if our lives were hanging by a thread. Which in this case, they were. Once his entire body was on, the elevator platform soon evened out and the anxiety that was developing inside of me soon died down. There was silence. And as I just began to use the console, something loud and echoing was heard from below the platform.

Clunk!

I stopped. Glancing around and then feeling the anxiety rush back into my body, I began to feel the elevator give away again, before hearing more loud tears, bangs and clunks in the metal that was supporting the elevator. And then, the elevator soon broke off from the cogs, before the platform began to plummet down to the bottom of the small shaft with us on it. I couldn’t even scream out, and nor did Handsome Charmer. It all happened so fast, and when we hit the bottom, my vision flooded with black and my hearing was soon taken from me with one loud echoing bang upon impact.

I wasn’t exactly knocked out cold, I felt more disorientated. I still felt a sharp pain in my body, and it felt like my body had been broken in more than at least six places. But I couldn’t move. I didn’t have the strength to even groan or cry out for help, in fact, I couldn’t see anything at all. The only thing I felt was pain… and as predicted, it hurt. A lot.

What seemed to be hours later, my vision returned and my vision soon unblurred. I felt the pain flood back in again, as my gun was lying on its side, with its strap still attached to my neck. The elevator was tilted and damaged and sparks shot out from the burned and broken cogs that sat at the sides of the platform.

I tried to get onto my hooves, but as I moved, I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach before I fell back down. I groaned, and looked to my stomach to see a deep, bloody cut that had tore its way into me, and Handsome Charmer was only just regaining consciousness, and as he did, he let out a few pain filled groans like I did. The stinging pain in my abdomen, and as I kept checking my wound, I noticed blood all over my hooves and as I kept holding my stomach, I felt more blood trickling down onto my hooves. I hadn’t even moved from my last position, and I was already torn apart physically.

Handsome Charmer, (who was surprisingly in a better condition I was) managed to climb onto his hooves, covered in light cuts and a few grazes on his hooves. He looked back to me and then soon walked over to me, his horn glowing a light blue color. The glow lit up a small portion of the shaft we were in, and I looked up to him, puzzled of what he was going to do. I hissed in pain as I attempted to get on my hooves again, but I soon found myself falling back onto my front. I was unable to move.

Charmer looked down at me sternly. “Turn over,” he groaned as he stared down at me.

“W-wha-?”

“Turn over!” He demanded with a stern tone behind his voice, “we cannot continue when you’re in a condition like this. Turn. Over!”

I groaned, holding my stomach now with both hooves, before rocking myself slowly towards the right and then feeling myself tip and then roll until I was on my back. The sudden roll stabbed me in the stomach, or it at least felt like it and as I laid there, I kept hold of my stomach, now seeing the silver surface of the PipBuck covered in blood. He did nothing, and just stared down at me with his horn glowing.

“I can’t perform this spell when your hooves are covering the wound,” he said, sounding puzzled.

I blinked.

I slowly removed the hooves from the wound, feeling some of the blood on the hooves dripping onto my chest, and the PipBuck which used to be a steel grey was now partially coated in a metallic blood red. As I relieved the pressure on the wound, the pain amplified and I let out a hiss of pain while I looked at the wound. My skin was completely severed over, and the blood on the leather straps of the Slave outfit were now covered in the thick blood from the wound, some of the straps close to the wound were slightly cut too.

Handsome Charmer’s horn began to glow yet again, and now an aura surrounded me. The magic began to work its way into the wound, and as it did, the wound began to slowly close up and the pain was seduced. The large, gaping wound began to reduce in size, and same with the pain. Charmer however stopped his healing process midway through, leaving a small cut along my belly and he seemed out of breath.

The pain was gone, however the wound wasn’t completely healed. It was healed enough for me to stand onto my hooves and move around, but it wasn’t gone. I climbed onto my hooves, feeling no pain whatsoever. The rifle hung loosely from my neck and as the tired young stallion caught his breath, he cautiously stepped off of the pad and out into the large, wide open corridor of the lower levels.

It replicated the look of a Stable, just with slightly wider corridors. The walls were the distinctive steel grey color and the lights being small, bright boxes that were fixed to the ceiling. The floor, ceiling and walls were all made of metal, and the corridors themselves being brightly lit up like a Stable. The soft humming sound of a ventilation system was heard in the distance, and coming from the ventilation system was refreshing, cold and clean air. The corridor stretched on for a while, with doors at either side leading into different rooms. And by the doors were crystal clear, rectangular windows.

I followed Handsome Charmer out of the shaft, and we slowly walked down the long, stretching corridor. Our hoofsteps echoed off of the walls, and we were the only two ponies inside of the empty Stable-like corridors. I didn’t like that feeling. Either there were no Enclave officers, or they were waiting to jump us when we were least expecting it. I wasn’t looking forward to that, but nonetheless I was prepared for it. My task wasn’t easy and as Charmer said earlier, maybe she did send me down here on a suicide mission. She didn’t want me to have my freedom -- she wanted me to die in this shithole, at least that is what I thought she wanted now.

There was just silence. The only audible sound was our hooves and the humming of the vents, but other than that, there was nothing. I felt alone… I felt like we were the only two ponies inside of this place and personally, that wasn’t a good thing either. In fact, it made things worse, it made me feel unprepared for any possible ambush that we could face.

We reached the end of the hallway to find a rusted, and battered steel door. Much like the doors from the Stable, but in a lot worse of a condition. Upon the rusting face of it was some almost unreadable graffiti that had been painted on using a metallic red color. The writing upon it wasn’t barely readable. Most of which was caused by the rust which began to make the old paint to peel over and cover it, but I could read most of it.

For the--

Above the door was a green glowing sign that read the word: Atrium on it. The bulb inside of the radioactive green casing flickered slightly, and upon the glass surface were a few scratches and bulletholes as if there was a gunfight not too long ago. I was about to open the door, but Handsome Charmer soon prevented my hoof from pushing the button by the door. I looked to him, but didn’t say anything.

And he was silent for a short while. In fact, he opened the door and then soon took one, slow step into the room, glancing around for anything. It was as if he was searching for traps or something that could be ready to kill us. There was nothing but silence for about a minute, and I just sat there, staring at the cream buck as he searched in and out of the room. He pulled himself back into the corridor and nodded to me.

“It’s all clear,” he simply said, trotting into the room. I followed, looking slightly confused and as I took my first few steps into the room.

The room beyond the door was large an open, and the walls were painted a bright, steel grey. The surface of the paint upon the walls was reflected from the bright, white lights that were fixed to the ceiling. The charcoal black flooring was flat and cold, I felt the coldness against my hooves. The humming from the vents carried on and like before, that was the only sound audible. The wide balconies that sat above us were wide and contained a grated floor along the edges. A large poster-box on the left side of the room sat in the middle, and it contained no poster. It was just white. I glanced around the room, feeling the rifle bouncing off of my chest after I took each step.

Clunk… clunk, clunk.

I saw something fall in front of me onto the ground, and as I saw it, I looked down at it to find an empty bottle of Sparkle Cola with no bottle cap on top. The bottle was clean as if it had just been drunk by somepony, and even the inside of the bottle still had some of the cola stuck upon the walls of the bottle. The sticker that was on the front of the bottle was brand new too.

ZAP!

I soon felt a large ball of energy just miss me, and as I saw the huge, sky blue plasma ball smack into the ground, I quickly glanced back to see Enclave troops flooding onto the balconies in a hurry, all of which were unleashing their shots down at us both with pure aggression. I quickly fled for the shadows which were underneath the balconies.

ZAP, ZAP, ZAP!!

Many of the plasma weapons went off at once, all of the sounds echoing from the walls. Charmer followed me into the shadows and soon leaned up against a wall, I tried to sit up right, but whenever I tried to stay still another thousand shots were unleashed down onto me. I climbed onto my hooves and ran into the nearest corner, which of course was on the right. I prompt myself up against the wall, standing on my two hindlegs before aiming down the scope of the large rifle I was holding in my hooves and unleashing a power shot which beamed its way over to an Enclave soldier who had me in their sights.

PEW!

A large, crystal blue beam shot its way over to the soldier, giving him barely enough time to avoid the blistering shot and as it hit him, all of his limbs were blown off in a bloody red mist, leaving nothing but the body itself. Heads, legs and wings were all gone and the armor was completely torn apart in the process. I fell onto my front, and as I did, the rifle slammed onto the ground.

Charmer made his way over to me, attempting to dodge any of the plasma shots being thrown at him. He was successful in doing so, but he soon leaned up against me and tried to remain unnoticed. I grabbed the rifle in my hooves, before I dragged myself along the floor on my belly.

“Kill as many as you can, I’ll heal you if necessary!” Charmer called over to me, his horn glowing bright as if he was preparing to heal me already.

Grabbing the rifle with my wings, I climbed onto my hooves and ran out, analyzing the targets one by one, before ducking down in the shadows again on the other side of the room, making the Enclave soldiers on the other side of the room visible targets. There were a small group of four all huddled together on the side I was facing, and they had just spotted me in the far corner. The blasters fixed to their armor’s battle saddles began to charge up to unleash a powerful ‘one shot, one kill’ shot.

I flipped into S.A.T.S. and targeted the middle two of the four, planting a shot each on their heads before exiting and unleashing two, bone smashing Crystalline shots into the Enclave soldiers. The beams I had shot towards the Enclave soldiers shattered their skulls, making their headless bodies spurt blood from the crater created in their bodies before they fell over the balcony and into the middle of the room. The two other soldiers were stunned by the sudden shock wave that had been thrown their way, and they were thrown to the ground in the process.

I heard the muffled groans of the Enclave troops who were scrambling to get on their hooves, but before they could both regain their balance, I shot another blistering shot towards them both, this time dismembering and killing both in the process with sheer brutality. As the beam made contact with both of them, their limbs were severed off of their bodies, spraying a red mist behind them. Their bodies were now just lifeless, with nothing but a head.

Handsome Charmer was under attack from some of the Enclave troops on the balcony above me, who were all firing heavy and rapid rounds down onto him. Luckily, the shots veered off next to him, but the young buck was curling up, cowering away from the shots being thrown at him. I took a few steps towards the middle of the room, preparing to charge out and strike those who were firing towards him. The plasma balls were being fired at a constant rate, I’d be lucky if I didn’t get shot in the process.

Pain… didn’t scare me. At least not this time.

I charged out with the rifle in my wings, and then I unleashed two blind shots from the heavy, crystalline rifle. Unfortunately, both shots didn’t hit anything and a few seconds after shooting, I noticed one of the lightboxes on the ceiling suddenly go out and the sound of glass shattering against the steel surface of the floor echoed throughout the large atrium. I got onto my belly again, taking my place beside the cowering buck and as I did, many of the plasma shots from the troops I had missed completely were beginning to be thrown towards me too.

“I can put a protective barrier around you, but only for a short amount of time,” Charmer’s horn began to glow brighter. “I’d suggest you make it count!”

As the spell began to kick in, a felt something hit my flank and as the plasma ball slammed ripped into my skin, the shield spell was interrupted. I yelped out and flinched away as I felt it, glancing back and seeing a large burn mark on my flank, seeing thousands of the shots being propelled passed me. Charmer quickly covered himself, or at least tried to with his hooves and I soon flipped back into S.A.T.S. to target any of the ones who were firing at us.

There were another group of four leaning over the balcony, with their Plasma Weapons aiming down at us and using whatever they had in their arsenal to strike us down. I targeted the front Pegasus, hoping that it will stun the other three Pegasi to give us enough time to at least proceed onwards. Targeting the head and chest area, I unleashed two devastating shots from the rifle.

PZEW, PZEW!!

The two beams carved their way through the heavy armor and through the skin, creating a wound that cut straight through the soldier. The second the shot blew the head off, leaving nothing but small slices of brain and small pieces of bone. The shockwave from the shot yet again stunned the other three Pegasi, all of which unleashing pain filled grunts from the shock that had punched them into the face and forehooves. They collapsed onto the ground, grunting in pain.

Two other Enclave ponies flew down from the balcony to join us on the ground floor, but before they made contact with the ground, I fired another two blasts from the energy rifle, dismembering them both in a brutal fashion, their screams of agony filled the room as they fell to the ground, wingless and hoofless, before dying from the severe external damage that they had endured from a single blast of the rifle.

My PipBuck began to pick up a radio transmission once the battle had calmed down, and the voice of a male Enclave officer soon blasted its way through the small device on my leg and also throughout the speakers that were attached to the walls on the upper levels of the atrium.

“Attention all Enclave units inside of Stable 77, there are two trespassers inside of the atrium, we’re pinned down and require immediate assistance pronto!!”

The booming message on the speakers and my PipBuck came from one of the Enclave ponies who I had spared on the balcony. The message began repeating over and over again, alerting any nearby officers who could get the message. I quickly used some of the remaining strength I had to glide my way up to the top of the balcony, before firing another shot at the two Enclave soldiers who were lying on their backs, supposedly waiting for the oncoming ambush they alerted.

ZAP, ZAP!

I shot two quick shots at the ponies, and in the process, their limbs were blown off from the sudden force of energy impacting onto their bodies. The sound of an echoing alarm played throughout along with the message as soon as the other Enclave troops inside of the Stable were alerted. The alarm was an electronic alarm, not the alarms that used the bell and the sound of it felt like it was stabbing into my ears as it reverbed off of the clean and steel walls of that surrounded us. I felt a small prick hit my neck, and grunted in irritation of the small needle that penetrated my skin. I soon lost control of my flying, feeling the strength drain from my body, before falling down onto the ground with a loud thump.

The room was filled with many dismembered and severed corpses, coated in their blood and lying in what were pools of blood. Many different bits of guts and bone were spread out along the slick, metal floor the the clean surface was now coated in the red liquid the ponies leaked once they had been killed. Hearing hoofsteps coming to my side, I looking around, seeing Handsome Charmer glancing around quickly as he stood by my weak body.

“C-come on, they’ll find us if we don’t hurry!” Charmer groaned. He shook me, glancing around nervously as if they were going to find us. “P-please, get up!!”

I couldn’t move. My strength was suddenly taken away from me, as if I had used any bit of remaining strength on the gunfight I had endured. And the wound on the flank began to burn, as if it had just been applied even though it had been there for a majority of the gunfight. I wanted to get up… no I needed to get up. I had to continue, I wasn’t a quitter and I wasn’t planning on becoming one either. I was lying on my back, staring up to one of the lights fixed on the ceiling and in the corner of my eye, I noticed one of the lights flickering and each time it flickered, it let out a burst of sparks.

The sound of voices barking from a nearby hallway was heard, I felt my heart skip a beat and my blood freeze… but I couldn’t run, nor could I look around. And I felt like I was getting weaker. Charmer was shaking me constantly, shaking in fear as he did and then as the sounds of movement and calls from what might have been The Grand Pegasus Enclave, Handsome Charmer soon glanced down at me as if he was about to leave.

He soon began to walk away, seeming in a hurry and as he reached the corridor where we came in, two brutal shots impaled him in the spine.

BANG, BANG!

They were not plasma rounds. They were the bullets of a Revolver, and as he collapsed, I felt my tears fill my eyes. My vision soon went blurry due to the amount of water in front of my vision, and as I began to try and lift myself with the small amount of strength I had left, I felt myself get pulled back and shoved to the ground with brute force, before feeling a hoof swipe me around the face with the same amount of force. I groaned and winced heavily as soon as the pony swept his hoof along my face with sheer brutality. My vision slowly began to clear as I stared up at the light, and I saw a white stallion with a bright blue mane, with slightly darker blue strips in his mane. He wore a low hanging, army green jacket and the buck soon glanced down at me. He had a permanent scar down his left eye. And seeing that made me remember who he was.

Mist.

Seconds after his arrival, Enclave troops soon pressed their way into the room, glancing around the room constantly and as they began to wander around the room, my weak body began to feel light and I soon began doze off, feeling nauseous.

“Area is clear, all trespassers dealt with!”

“All but one…” Mist glanced to the Enclave troops who had moved their way into the room and placed a cigar in his mouth, and grabbed a lighter with his wing, before lighting the large cigar inside of his mouth. He chomped down on it, and glanced back down at me. “Remember me, buddy?”

I wanted to strangle him. I had the biggest urge to hurt him. But I didn’t have the strength to even lift a pistol using my jaws. I was weak and useless now, and now that I had seen Handsome Charmer die, the pony who I promised freedom… I couldn’t live up to that promise anymore, the promise was broken but not paid. And he shall watch me burn in this world with a grin no doubt…

“What shall we do with him, sir?”

Mist breathed in as much of the tobacco as he could, before breathing it out into my face. “Tie him up, I have an offer he simply cannot refuse…”

I choked on the sudden wave of smoke that traveled down my throat and as I let out my last few breaths at being conscious, I soon closed my eyes, seeing my whole word go black as the pain in my flank seduced slowly and the sound of voices began to grow quieter by the second, before everything was silent…

And now, my last hope of getting out of slavery was long gone. Not only that, but now I was under captivity of the Enclave. I was further away from my companions and this made things worse for me. It made me nothing but a shell, a weakling inside of a stallion’s body. A body of which I didn’t deserve due to my strength lacking. I think baby dragon would suit me more -- the guy who’s always second best -- the guy who is always the weakest out of the group. The last choice. My hope had ran out, and now I had nothing left.

Crystal and the party would no doubt carry on without me, there was no way of rescuing me from fate. The Enclave either wanted to kill me, or they wanted to torture me and now they finally have the the strength to do that to a worthless pony like me. I can’t do anything right, especially not now since I was under the captivity of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. And that just fucking sucked.

I couldn’t save the ponies who needed saving, I couldn’t find my sister. I couldn’t achieve what I wanted to achieve. And I most certainly cannot stop Stable 30 from being invaded… not now. I was useless…

Feeling a sharp pain in my flank, right where I had taken the plasma blast, I began to awake from what felt like an hour of emotional sleep. And I felt no better. As I began to stir, I noticed my vision began to unblur and the darkness was soon becoming light. I heard soft whispers echoing in my mind as I began to return to reality, and when my vision repaired, I looked around the room in alarm. I was inside a small office, where the windows were blacked out and where the large, steel walls of the room were indented. The small, square room I was in was brightly lit up by the box lights that were fixed to the obsidian black ceiling, and the floor was of the same color tone. I was sat by a desk, and on the other side of it was the scarred buck I had seen from earlier. The desk was scarred and chipped along the edges, and the black surface was scratched, revealing the silver surface underneath it.

In front of me was a computer console, and the green screen was almost hugging my face. Two Enclave troops were stood behind him, and on a double bed which sat in a far corner was a sky blue mare, with a dark minty green mare and purple streaks inside of her mane. Her eyes were crystal blue and she was a Unicorn. Crystal was really here. With me. I turned my attention to her, but a few seconds after doing so, I heard the tapping of hooves on the steel desk in front of me.

“Now, Mister Tornado, eyes looking at me please!” He demanded, sitting back in his chair.

I scowled.

“Oh come on now, I could have killed you… all I want you to do is make a little deal with me, and it’s two way. You help me, I help you.” He spoke calmly, placing another cigar into his mouth and lighting it up.

“You do realize those things can kill you right?” I commented, raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t try and change the subject, I want to get through this as quick as possible and I know you do too!” He glanced back to Crystal and pointed to her. “You remember her, right?”

I nodded, not responding. I kept my eyes on Crystal feeling nothing but pain inside of my heart as I kept my eyes fixed on the surprisingly unscaved mare. Mist turned back to face be with a soft, twisted chuckle. He chomped down on his cigar and huffed out smoke through his nostrils.

“Well… if you really want to be with her again, I suggest you cooperate as what I am about to offer you might just help you find your sister.” He noted. “And I know you cannot reach her without her.”

I raised my eyebrow, feeling hope creep its way back in. “I’m listening.” However, deep in my heart, I was dreading what I was about to hear… I know exactly how these ponies work.

Mist inhaled another load of tobacco into his system, before puffing it out through his nose and then soon chomping down to speak. “What I am about to offer you may sound hard, but it’s actually quite simple,” the buck began as he spoke through his teeth. “If you are willing to aid the Enclave in battle at Sunnyvale, I’ll tell you where your sister is and… I’ll let Crystal live. You don’t have to go into the fight, nor do you have to gear up, all I want you to do is activate the Rainbow Oracle. What the weapon does is classified, but it sure as hell will bring a better tomorrow once the Steel Rangers are out of the picture.”

“No.” I instantly responded, knowing that this was wrong. I didn’t want anything to do with it.

“You slaughtered half of my squad back there, and I am offering you my allegiance -- do you know how that feels?!” He barked, slamming down onto the desk with anger. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Do you even know what that means?!”

I didn’t respond. I just glanced away, now rethinking what I should do. He was right… he was still wanting my trust, despite me starting off a gunfight back there and now he wanted me to be his ally. My first option was to refuse and let Crystal die, or I could join him with a risk of getting backstabbed, but it ensured our safety… at least for now.

“I need your help, Tornado. You’re possibly the best hope this Wasteland has, and the Enclave wants to change Equestria into a better place. The Steel Rangers are our enemy!” Mist’s voice tone had a tone of persuasion… and I felt like it was working.

“If you do this for us, for the might of the Enclave. Then I promise you, I will tell you where your sister is…” Mist exhaled the smoke yet again, and soon stubbed the cigar in the mahogany colored ashtray by him. “I know where she is… all you have to do is activate the weapon, and I will give you her location, hell, I’ll even let you stay here to rest.”

I could end it all, by one push of the button. And then I’d be able to find my sister? My conscience was begging me to do it, it was begging me to activate the Rainbow Oracle, to punish and end the Steel Rangers in Sunnyvale so I could find her again. And this time, I’d know where she is and most importantly, I wouldn’t wandering aimlessly, not knowing where she is.

I know where she is… all you have to do is activate the weapon. Those words stuck in my mind like a plague. They were echoing in my mind at a constant rate, as if they were begging me to do what Mist wanted me to do. It was as if I had no choice. I inhaled a deep breath, before logging onto the console and starting it up.

Rainbow Oracle -- Enclave Database.
------------------------------------------------
Hello, Mist. Welcome back!

Loading…

…

>Rainbow Oracle Documentation (READ BEFORE ACTIVATION)

>Activate Oracle

>Back

…

Opening: rainboworacledocumentation.txt.

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…

Rainbow Oracle Documentation -- Last Edited By: Xion -- 2 weeks ago.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WARNING: Do not activate the Oracle unless it is an emergency -- activation without authorised access will be dealt with brutal force.
****
The Rainbow Oracle is a form of Megaspell which covers a small radius, but causes extreme havoc and makes any area nearby it extremely irradiated. Inhaling one breath of the toxic air is instant death, and there is no cure for the poisoning if you happen to survive.

Be sure to make sure (if you do happen to get Rainbow Radiation Poisoning) to consume Rad-Away at a constant rate and make sure that you remain within a certain location until the sickness has been cured.

Symptoms may consist of:

-Seeing bright colors and flying Ponies (yes the ones without wings too).

-Hearing voices.

-Nausea.

-Dizziness.

-Internal bleeding.

-Stiff body parts.

-Seizures.

WARNING: Only activate the Rainbow Oracle Megaspell if:

-The Grand Pegasus Enclave are losing the fight.

-If authorised by the citizens of Sunnyvale.

-If authorised by a member of the Enclave to do so.

Engaging an attack with the Oracle without authorisation to do so will result in execution and no ifs or buts can say otherwise.

If you have any other questions about the Oracle, talk to an Enclave officer and they will be sure to answer them.

>Back

Loading…

Rainbow Oracle -- Enclave Database.
------------------------------------------------
Hello, Mist. Welcome back!

Loading…

…

>Rainbow Oracle Documentation (READ BEFORE ACTIVATION)

>Activate Oracle

>Back

Are you sure you want to activate the Oracle?
>Yes.

>No.

Activating Oracle…

Detonation time: 4 hrs 30 mins and 23 secs.

“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Mist grinned and soon lifted himself out of his chair, glancing down at me. I looked up at him, already feeling the regret flooding in as if the floodgates in a sewer had been opened. “Trust me, you’ll feel better about it once you get some rest…”

“Where is she?” I asked. “You promised…” I felt my heart sink, and the guilt and regret kept flooding back in, taking me lower and lower…

“She’s in a place called Destiny… it’s not too far off of Sunnyvale. She’s been resting there for some time now, she never went to Sunnyvale,” Mist walked passed me, his Enclave guards following him and making sure he remained in one piece. “Now get some rest, it might help you focus for tomorrow…”

I just remained silent, watching the Enclave commander and troops soon leave, closing the door behind them. The mechanical door soon slammed shut, leaving nothing but an echo inside of the room and when that echo faded, it was just dead silence.

I looked towards Crystal. Her expression was shocked… she was upset, tears were trickling down her cheeks and she began to sob to herself quietly, knowing I had done wrong. And which I knew I had done wrong. I was already regretting it, and now I couldn’t stop it… all of this started because of me, and because of me, I have now activated a Megaspell which is ready to unleash its fury in four hours time. They’ll remember the day when Tornado Dash destroyed Sunnyvale.

I fell out of the chair and onto the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Guilt was pounding in my skull, and regret was tearing my heart apart. I was going to be responsible for the deaths of the Steel Rangers, I knew that Mist wouldn’t give his Enclave troops no notice of this. And now I was scared. I’d no longer be the pony others looked up to, nor would I be the pony ponies want to kill for a high bounty. I was no longer the “hero” I once was… I was now the villain, and the Enclave were my masters. I was Mist’s puppet…

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: They Call it Madness -- ‘I ain’t mad, I’m just loopy!’ With this perk, you can scare off Raiders and Thieves when they try rob you of your goods. This is effective for long distance travel.

Reputation: The Steel Rangers -- Hated. The Steel Rangers find you to be vile and disgusting, they don’t want you aiding them in battle no more.(This affects your relationship with Violet)

Reputation: The Grand Pegasus Enclave -- Liked. The Mighty Enclave respect you for your good deeds towards them, you can now access a small portion their armory.

Faction: The Grand Pegasus Enclave. “Welcome Aboard!”

Current level: 17

What had I done?!

I had ended the war at Sunnyvale, but for all the wrong reasons. My selfishness and greediness drove me to push that button, my urge to find my sister and reunite with her as a family got in the way of what was right and wrong. I had chosen the wrong option… I should have just killed Mist right there on the spot, so then the battle would end fairly. Not by killing all the Steel Rangers with a Bale Fire Bomb that was possibly there waiting to be detonated for centuries. I had not slept that night, and within that time, I heard the muffled and echoing bang of the Megaspell being detonated. I had not moved, I just held myself in a small ball on the ground, crying to myself softly.

I was a monster. And if all of the Wasteland wanted to find me and kill me, I would let them have it all. Their revenge, their freedom given to them with one shot. And if they wanted to torture my body, if they wanted me to feel their wrath, I would let them do it for the sake of my own punishment. If only I had known better… and now it is too late to turn back the clocks, to prevent any of this from happening.

I was on the floor, cuddling myself and stroking my tail, as the slave outfit I wore reminded me of why I was there. To be punished for not doing right. I was beginning to regret leaving there in the first place, but seeing Crystal again, knowing that she was okay made things slightly less depressing. I had cried enough, and I couldn’t squeeze out anymore tears from my eyes no matter how much I wanted to. My cheeks still felt wet from all the tears that had fallen not too long ago.

Crystal was sleeping in the bed, sound asleep. I however couldn’t get an ounce of sleep, I was cradling myself while suffering inside of my own sadness. I just wanted it to all end right now. I wanted it all to end, everything. My journey, my search, my life out in the Wasteland. I was not ready for any of us, despite my time out there. I lifted myself from the cold, metal floor before slamming my head on the desk I had fallen under.

I yelped as a loud bang was heard from the metal of the desk rattling together. I cringed and held my head tightly, curling back down onto the floor as I let out a few groans of pain. Fuck that hurt. The pain throbbed softly within my skull as I put an immense amount of pressure on the area that I had hit the table with. Unfortunately, in the process, I woke Crystal up. Hearing a few groans that signalled her stirring from her sleep, my eyes glanced up to the plain bedsheets which were moving before I saw the sky blue Unicorn mare, who had a dark minty green mane sit up and rub her eyes as they soon floated to look towards me.

“S-sorry, did I wake you?” I grunted, holding the aching lump which was now developing on my head.

The mare yawned and climbed out of bed, before hurrying over to me in deep concern. “Tornado, are you alright?!”

She stopped by my side, wrapping both her hooves around me as she examined my battered body from the battle before-hoof. I nodded solemnly, keeping my hooves on my head as the cringing upon my face intensified along with the pain on my possibly cracked skull.

“Did you bang your head?” She whispered softly, her horn glowing faintly beneath the table. “Let me look…”

“N-no, it’s fine… no need to worry, I just thumped my head is all!” I countered, and then glanced away. “Get back to sleep, Crystal. Come tomorrow, we’re going to be traveling again…”

“Well, I’m awake now,” Crystal sighed as she spoke. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Silence dominated for a few seconds as I began to glance to her, keeping my eyes fixed on the mare by my side. It didn’t take long, but I soon pulled her in for a tight hug, burying my face into the soft fur upon her chest and then nuzzling her neck in the process. I wanted to cry. I tried to cry. But I couldn’t. I felt Crystal move away slightly, as if she wanted out of the hug or if she had no idea why I was doing it.

“W-why always me?!” I cried out, tightening my grasp. “I… I killed ponies. For the sake of the Enclave… and for the sake of my own greed!”

“W-well…”

“Just kill me!” I interrupted the mare. “End my life, commit the deed, you’ll be the hero not me!”

I felt tears brewing up in my eyes, as I looked up at her with a begging expression, needing her to end my life for the good of others. I couldn’t bear the burdens I was carrying. Handsome Charmer was killed because of me, not because somepony shot him. I should have just refused the help, then he would have never gotten into the trouble he had gotten into in the first place. Why couldn’t she just get a weapon and end it all?

“W-what… no, I ca-”

“DO IT!!”

I found myself begging her to kill me… but that’s what I wanted. These recent few weeks have been hell to say the least. I’ve done bad things, even if I wasn’t the main cause. Dodge died because I didn’t protect him, Crystal got injured because I rushed into a battle thinking I was something I’m not. All of this was my fault, and I thought of it as no other way. Crystal sighed and looked down at me, pulling herself out of the hug and leaving me helpless on the cold, metal ground.

“L-look,” she began, looking away. “I’m going to take a shower, within that time, I think you should think about what you’ve been asking me to do. Just because you’ve done wrong doesn’t mean you can’t correct those wrongs, Tornado.”

“B-but…” I felt Crystal slam her hoof into my mouth, keeping me quiet as she began to speak again.

“But nothing. Your life has a lot of value, and you need to realize that. You’re my best friend, I can’t just kill you off like that!” She exclaimed, as she soon crawled out from underneath the desk I was curled up in.

The mare soon began to trot away, her hooves tapping the steel surface she was trotting along, and the sound of it echoing loudly throughout the brightly lit up room. She turned a corner, before her body was no longer in the line of sight and as she did, the sound of the door’s mechanism echoed as a door was heard opening. As the door closed, the sound of a shower turning on at full blast began to ring out from behind the door she had entered.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I did need think about what I requesting… I wanted her to kill me. Her of all ponies to take my life. I knew she didn’t have it in her, but I wanted her to do it nonetheless and if she had done it, I probably would have suffered in purgatory anyway. I could always end it myself, but I didn’t want to commit suicide. I wanted to die the way everypony else died out in the Wasteland, in the hooves of another pony. No matter if it was torture, being gunned down or brutally beaten up. And the way I wanted it to end is from the wrath of all the ponies who I had enraged after I detonated the Megaspell.

I soon began to drag myself along the surface of the floor, before managing to climb onto all four of my hooves yet again and then glancing around the room as I waited for her to finish in the shower. Looking down to the bed, I noticed the bed sheets that were on the bed were now thrown to one side, and on the mattress beneath it sat her saddlebag. Beside it was a bottle of mane shampoo and body wash which glowed a navy blue color from the tiny amount of radiation added to it.

I blinked, trotting over to it silently, hoping not to make a noise before turning her saddlebag towards me and then slowly opening it to see what was inside. All the medical supplies from before were now gone, as if all the time she had spent searching for me, she used up all the magical bandages and healing potions in the process. Inside, a glowing blue ball… I had a feeling it was Dodge’s memory orb.

I glanced around the room as the soft sound of the shower continued, before reaching into the saddlebag and grabbing the memory orb, and pulling it out slowly. I gazed at it as it sat in my hooves comfortably, and as I was about to engage into another memory sequence, Crystal called from the shower.

“Tornado!?”

My heart stopped, and I quickly shoved the orb back into the bag and then quickly sealing the bag up nice and tight. I was reluctant to call back, but nonetheless I did with a simple: “yeah?”. It took a while for the mare to respond, but she finally did.

“I think I left my body wash on the bed… would you mind bringing it?”

I felt myself blush after the sudden request. I was going to see her soaked, beneath the shower head. I soon pushed the bag to one side, trying to make it look like nopony had tampered with it in the first place, and as I finished placing the bag back to the way it was (it wasn’t great, but it was similar to how it was before), I soon grabbed the bottle of the jelly like liquid in my jaws, and began to trot towards the shower. Wherever it was. Following the sound of the shower’s water rushing and slamming against the steel surface, I turned the same corner Crystal did before I found myself meet a slick, metal door that was rectangular with rounded corners at the top. The slightly rusting steel surface of the door made the light make it look silver with a tint of orange, the yellow streak down the middle of it (which was iconic like the ones back in Stable 30) was brightly illuminated from the bright lights fixed to the ceiling.

I looked at the bottle I had in my mouth, and the name and description of it was written in big letters and stuck on with some sort of brown, aged paper.

Radi-Sparkle Shampoo and Body Wash
2 in 1!
Be extra clean for those extra special days
(Make sure to use small doses as the gel contains a small amount of radiation.)

There was some slightly scratched text upon the metal face of the door, and the text simply read: ‘Shower’.

Who’d have thunk it?

I kept the bottle of the jelly like liquid with my jaw’s grasp, before punching the big red button on the wall to open the door and as the door opened, it revealed a soaking, wet mare, embracing herself as she ran her hooves through her mane, despite her not having any shampoo in it yet. The room beyond the door was large, and had rusted walls on all sides that were a very dark brown due to the amount of rust covering the walls. The once silver color was no longer there, and the light above the shower head created a soft rusted tint within the room’s atmosphere. A soft mist from all the warmth of the shower glided along the floor, brushing against my hooves. And at the end of the surprisingly large shower room stood the hot mare. My jaw dropped and due to my jaw opening so wide, I dropped the bottle of the washing liquid and a loud thud was heard, Crystal glanced back with a small grin.

She. Was. Sexy… oh Goddess please have mercy on my soul…

She had a natural beauty to her, both inside and out… but oh Goddess. This was a whole new level of beauty. She was hot! She stared at me with a raised brow and then soon levitated the bottle of the body wash and shampoo towards her and then let out a sly giggle, before turning away and then opening it, before pouring a small portion of it onto her mane and allowed it to slide down her body.

I still stood there, jaw dropped.

“Uhm… thanks?” She spoke, knowing I hadn’t left. She ran her hooves through her mane and then began to hum a soft tune to herself. “Well. Are you gonna leave me to wash?”

“Y-you look beautiful…” I said, complete unaware of her need for privacy. “V-very… beautiful.”

“Is that a request to join me, Mr.Dash?”

“W-what!?” I felt my cheeks set on fire as she asked me that question, the blush in them glowing from my cheeks as if they were irradiated heavily. I tried to hide my blush, but my mane was no where near long enough for me to do such thing. “N-no, I…”

“You can if you want,” Crystal spoke with a slightly seductive tone. “We may as well since it’s just the two of us…”

I found the blush intensify on my cheeks and I soon began to cower, looking to the rusting walls of the large shower we were both stood inside. She was doing this to torture me mentally, and seeing her this way made me understand that all the warm feelings I felt towards Crystal was… love. If it was any other pony I had met, I would have quickly charged out of the room, wanting to unsee what I had seen. But not this time. No. And this probably explains why I was so calm when she walked in on me having a shower weeks ago.

“Come on. We’ll share…” Her melody like voice chimed, as I looked to her to see her smiling at me with a blush of her own. I felt myself tremble slightly, and she noticed. She let out a cute giggle. It only made me blush more!

“W-what?” I asked again, this time with less emphasis. “You’re a mare, I thought you’d like privacy…”

“W-well… not this time,” she replied solemnly. Wrapping me in a soft magical aura, she soon levitated me off of the ground with ease and soon towards her, and there was no stopping her in doing so. Once she placed me in front of her, she looked into my eyes, and I felt my wings literally punch their way out with a loud ‘pomf’.

She giggled seductively and then added, “It’ll be alright, Tornado. I promise you…” With the aura soon collapsing from me, the water soon drenched me and at this point, my cheeks were a bright rosy red and did I mention they were on fire? Not literally of course.

I was lost for words, and then I felt a cold, gel like substance soon drop onto my mane and then Crystal began to rub her hooves into my mane, while looking into my eyes. She blushed harder as did I, and as her hooves worked her way down my neck, I felt both of her soft and warm hooves cross paths before pulling me into a soft embrace. Her horn glowed a soft sky blue color, as I felt the harness I wore soon fall apart and fall off as the chains inside of the leather bindings were now rusted and crumbling

Oh… this had to be a dream. I wasn’t really this close to her was I? Come on, wake up before I jizz the bed!!

I felt myself slap myself in my conscience as if I was pleading to be woken up from reality just in case it was just a dream. And then I realized it was all real. I was here, with the mare who I secretly loved without even knowing it. I had always been confused of why I felt so warm with her, why I felt closer to her than anypony else… and I had now found the answer…

I wrapped my hooves around her neck softly, staring into her beautiful eyes as the warm and relaxing water came down on us, drooling its way down our bodies with pure softness. I tried to look back into her eyes without glancing away, but then I felt my head begin to turn away as the raging blush building on my cheeks grew even bigger.

I used my eyes to look at her, before feeling a hoof make contact with my left cheek and then soon pulling my head gently to the right, making me look at the mare in the eyes. I felt lust build up in me, before the mare beat me to what I was going to do. She pulled me in for a soft, and deep kiss on the lips and as our lips connected, my eyes widened and her’s closed. I felt my cheeks fill with so much blood, that they were now burning… literally. It only took a short while for my eyes to soon flutter closed, and as the kiss began to take me in, I began to drown in ecstasy and love.

I held her close, rubbing one of my hooves down her mane as I embraced the warm touch of her lips against mine. I began to push deeper, slowly and carefully, hoping not to take the breath from her. At least not yet. I teased her mouth using my tongue, swirling it around the lip area before she allowed my tongue to enter, and as she did, I slid my silky tongue against her’s. I began to use my tongue to grind against her silky, warm and (enjoyably) slimy tongue.

I kept embracing her warmth, pulling her into a tight hug and tightening my tongue’s grip around her silky smooth tongue before propping her up onto her hindlegs, and the pinning her up against the rusted wall at the back end of the shower room. I used my tongue to fluently glide its way across her mouth and tongue, and in the process, I heard her moans of what sounded like pleasure and warmth. I pushed myself deeper, feeling the lust inside of my body begin to take over and as it did, I soon used my forelegs to lift the mare’s hindlegs from the ground, before lining her marehood up with my penis and then soon shoving the now hard stallionhood into her pussy. She pulled away from the kiss, and let out a long moan, before a sudden spree of pants came from her mouth. I began to thrust into her, applying soft kisses along her body and up her belly, holding my lips on her soft and silky fur before working my way up her body. I thrusted my hips in a quick motion, feeling the warm and juicy walls of her marehood tightly grasping my penis tightly as I attempted to push deeper of which I was successful.

Pushing deeper, I held her against the wall, using my tongue to wash her slowly with my saliva up and around her body, before licking up the length of the neck and then meeting back with her lips and gazing into her eyes as I swayed my hips in and out of her marehood. She attempted to look back into mine, but after each deep thrust, she squeaked out and tilted her head up, sometimes even gritting her teeth. The bright, pink blush on her cheeks glowing softly. I felt my cock throb, and a shiver of pleasure soon slithered down it and I quickly jolted my head back, allowing water to soak my artificial eye while I closed my other eye.

Gah… fuck, this felt good!

I began to pick up in pace, and as I stared up at the ceiling, looking directly into the light above the shower head. Crystal began to slip from the wall despite my hooves holding her against the rusted wall. I held back any moan of pleasure, biting my lip vicariously as the juicy marehood I had penetrated got wetter by each thrust, before I felt Crystal fall onto the floor and as she did, I fell on top of her. She gazed up at me, her eyes half open and her tongue hanging out slightly as her warm breaths stroked my face. I kept moving my hips, going faster and more violent with my thrusts, keeping the mare held down on the ground as I began to peck along her neck. The steam clouds coming from her was from the warmth inside of her now salivated mouth.

“F-f-faster… hnng!”

Crystal begged as I allowed my tongue to hang out loosely, and she began to make cute sounding noises as each of the thrusts reached as far as they could. I slowed down slightly to gain my breath, as I felt myself begin to sweat despite the water that was coming down onto us washing it off. I did pack a jolt in each of them though, despite me going slightly slowly. I felt my load begin to build up, and I didn’t want to stop. I kept going, trying to use any remaining strength I had to fill her up.

She let out rapid moans of pleasure, and what sounded like she was begging for more. I soon removed my cock, before bringing the hard and now completely gooey and soaked penis out and laying it upon her soft and silky body. She panted her warm breaths onto the tip, and stared up at me in confusing, but all I showed was a tempting grin, wanting her to suck it… I wanted her to drink from it. She lifted her hooves up and pulled it into her mouth with a fair amount of speed, before sucking on it with the gloopy saliva inside of her mouth and running her hooves up and down the base of the member.

“Hng!”

I let out a quick groan as I felt a large amount of force on her sucking. She began to swirl her tongue around the base of it and even the small hole at the front, licking all of the pre-cum that had made its way out from the front of it before continuing down the length of it with both her mouth and hooves. I glanced away, keeping my eyes fixed on her as I sat comfortably up on my flank, and looking down at her with a pleasurable grin. She moved her hooves to my balls as she slowly shoved the cock down her mouth, deeper and deeper and as she did, I felt the tightness of her throat grasp it as if she was gagging. Her hoof soon began to rub my balls and as she did, I began to get close to releasing my load.

I tried to beg for more, but I couldn’t. I was letting out soft whimpers of pleasure and need, as she began force it down her throat deeper until she couldn’t anymore, and then closing her eyes, swirling her tongue around it all and allowing the saliva to soak it even more, before I felt a tickling sensation wash over, before I released the sticky and warm liquid down her throat. She began to choke slightly, but nonetheless continued drinking it. I let out a long, and fairly loud moan of pleasure, hearing my own voice echoing off of the walls. I arched my back and even head, panting and begging for more as each second passed.

I felt my cock throb again as she playfully chewed down on it to squeeze more out of it, and more did indeed go out. I inhaled a deep breath and then soon winced back forward, looking down at her as she kept sucking on it with pure strength. I couldn’t help but moan, and I soon tried to withdraw it… she eventually let me, and the cum was still leaking out of it and onto her chest and belly. I slid the throbbing and now leaking penis back into her marehood, before thrusting to squirt out the remains inside of her womb. I began to pick up the pace as I got closer to my climax and after each thrust, I let out a yelp of pleasure, and the white and gooey slime leaked from her slit as I pushed in and out, splashing all over the place.

Crystal arched her back, and her horn soon began to glow brightly, before some sort of spark began to ignite from the tip. I picked up the pace to the same pace as I began, moaning and crying out as I was thrusting, before I hit my climax and a wave of ejaculation soon carried itself through her marehood and soon into her womb as I let out a long, echoing cry of pleasure and as I did, she did.

“G-gah… I… I…” I found it hard to speak. “Gaah, I love… you. So… much!!”

Crystal couldn’t talk, no matter how hard she tried to. I pushed as deep as I could, feeling all of the warm and sticky liquid soon gush into her before one last squirt finished it all off and as it did, a bright, glowing heart fired from her horn and into the air. It was two toned, one half her coat color and the other mine. It floated upwards, before hitting the ceiling and poofing away. I sat there, panting, before removing it and then collapsing onto my side. I was out of breath and rather weak… but my eyes was fixed onto the leaking and tired mare in the middle of the room, the water from the shower leaking onto her.

“I… t-that…” Crystal spoke out with two pants, but she couldn’t seem to finish it.

I crawled my way over, dragging my way across the surprisingly smooth surface of the floor, keeping my eyes on her at all times. I kept crawling, panting from all the sudden ‘fun’ we had. My urges had been tackled, but I felt feelings towards this mare… I just knew it. She was my Crystal. She was why I was still here and without her, I probably wouldn’t be alive anymore. No in fact, I wouldn’t be. She was the reason why I never gave up.

Cuddling up to her, I looked into her tired eyes, resting my head on her chest and then planting a kiss on her cheek. She turned her head towards me, blinking,and upon her cheeks she had a small tint of pink from the kiss I had added. She was blushing, and damn did she look cute. She returned it and wrapped her hooves around me to pull me into a gentle embrace. That. Was Tiring. I knew exactly how she felt, and I’m glad we both felt the same way about each other.

I yawned, “Crystal?” I tiredly asked, looking up at the mare who was beginning to doze off from the lack of energy she had, her horn’s glow beginning to die down.

“Y-yeah?” She responded, sounding like she was about to fall asleep. I added one more kiss to her cheek and then held her in a similar embrace yet again.

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Torny…” Crystal’s eyes soon shut after she spoke those words. And I squeed inside, now knowing that this wasn’t a dream. This was real… and I was happy it was. For once within recent days, guilt had not been inside me nor had sadness. Happiness had crawled its way back in.

And happiness felt good. Nearly as good as the sex…

Oh Goddess. Don’t smite me for sounding like a pervert…

Footnote:

Relationship: Crystal - Lovers - You are now in a relationship with Crystal. Your love is twice as strong as your friendship, this boosts your Endurance by 15% whenever Crystal is with you.

“Gooooood evenin’, my little listeners, ain’t it that time of day again? Of course it is, it’s time for the news and it’s comin’ to you live from my station!

“Well, everypony, I have some pretty big news. Possibly the biggest news I have ever had in years, and many of y’all know what happened last time I had big news. Right? If not, then you’ll probably not want to know. This is bigger, but not as controversial, so there’s no need to bust each other’s balls or faces now.

“Sunnyvale has been destroyed, completely wiped off the map, listeners! It was wiped by a fucking Megaspell. Y’know that bright, multicolored explosion that happened a while back? Yeah, that was a fucking Megaspell, and believe me on this, it wasn’t pretty. According to a few Ghouls that happened to pass by after the explosion, (no not the rabid Ghouls) all the Steel Rangers who were stationed there had been wiped out along with the city. And there were no Enclave bodies.

“This is already dropping huge hints that the Enclave did this… and indeed they did. Y’see, listeners, the Enclave have gotten their hooves onto something called ‘the Rainbow Oracle’. The Rainbow Oracle happens to be some sort of Megaspell built decades before the war by an anonymous group of Zebras who aren’t in any of the Pre-War books, so don’t go bother researching them…

“I only know that much.

“Anyway, enough history bullshit, I don’t wanna bore you. Rumor has it that our Little Blue Buddy happened to be the one who detonated it. Before you ask, I don’t know how true this is… I mean, I find it highly unbelieveable. I’m sure he knows better, and he does. He hasn’t shown harm to anyone who hasn’t attacked him, and that’s a good thing. The only types of ponies who would do such a thing are: The Enclave themselves, or a group of Raiders who managed to stumble across a big red button that says “Push Me”.

“Though… if it really was him, I’m sure he wouldn’t mean any harm. I mean, the guy’s got a lot on his plate, like finding his sister and keeping friends alive. No, I’m not trying to defend him, but I know what it is like. When you too many goals of your own, you just can’t help other ponies in their time of need.

“If it was him, I believe he never meant bad.

“And that’s the last you’ll hear of me for a while, I’m going to traveling up north to see my brother for the first time in years, I’m sure my assistant, Autumn Breeze will keep you posted while I’m away. Don’t worry guys, you’ll love her as much as I do, just as long as you’re her listeners while I’m gone.

“What’s that? Oh I love you too, Autumn. I’ll be back next week, I promise…

“Oh don’t get jealous, listeners. I love you too…”

Emotions.

The emotions inside of my tiny, little head were crossing paths and working away inside of my mind. I felt guilt, pleasure, love and happiness and even sadness had crossed my mind at times. Mainly because of what I had done over these recent weeks. How Dodge had died, how Crystal and I revealed our feelings towards each other, and how I blew up a fucking city with a Megaspell. Life was tough. Especially since the radio pony just gave away what had happened, and exactly who had done it. Me. And I most certainly wasn’t proud of it.

Ponies could love me or hate me, I could really care less when I had goals of my own. All I wanted to do now was reach my sister, and once I reach her, all this fighting stops. Every last bit. My “job” to purge the Enclave, my fight for survival. All of it. Stable 30 could burn if it wanted to, I had nothing left back there and if I was to aid the Enclave destroy it, then maybe that would be my final action in the Wasteland before my violent lifestyle ended completely. I didn’t want to destroy Stable 30, but my mind told me otherwise.

I wanted to save the ponies inside the Stable, and maybe I could if I really thought about it. The Enclave might let them all live, they might take everypony out of it and place them in a village somewhere. They might give them all the protection they need. At least, that’s what I hoped for. I wasn’t counting on it, and since I was now considered part of the Enclave, they’d probably expect me to do most of the job due to me being one of their own.

I had more friendships out here than I did back in the Stable, but it made no difference. No. I wouldn’t want to slaughter the ponies of the Stable, even if I hated their guts. I hated the ponies who wanted to kill me out here even more. Luna dammit, why am I always faced with these dilemmas?

Upon feeling a soft kick into my side, I felt myself groan before beginning to open my eyes with a soft flutter. My vision was blurry and rather dark, but the room beyond the blur looked very similar to the one I had fallen asleep in just hours before. The soaking wet, rusted walls of the shower were beside me, as the warmth I felt from when fell asleep was still there, only a bit closer than before. My vision soon unblurred as my eyes opened up wide. I felt… relaxed.

I turned my head to look at Crystal to see she was still asleep, so it wasn’t her who was doing the kicking. I felt another light kick added into my side. Ow!

I turned my attention to where the kicking was coming from, only to see a heavily armored Unicorn, who was pale white. Her mane was white with violet streaks in the mane, and her eyes were the same violet color. The heavy, Steel Ranger Power Armor that she wore was dripping wet from the shower head above which leaked softly as if it had run out of water, the water from the shower head sprinkled down onto my naked body lightly. Her expression was sour, and she was staring down at me with pure anger.

It was Violet. Oh shit. Violet had heard the radio broadcast and what timing too. My companions arrive as it’s broadcasted… unless she came alone of course. Her Minigun wasn’t spinning, but the circular barrel was pointed down at me, and at the end of the long cylinder were lots of small holes where the bullets are unleashed from when she attacks her enemies. Was I an enemy at this point? I was hoping I wasn’t.

“O-oh… hey, Violet.” I stuttered, looking up at her, before climbing onto my hooves, keeping my eyes fixed on her at all times. “You found us.”

“Indeed I did,” Violet responded, sounding dull. “It’s been a while hasn’t it, ‘Little Blue Buddy’?”

I blinked, noticing the mocking tone in her voice, before glancing around the room as the water from the shower sprinkled down on me. I remained silent, soon staring at her and then examining her armor. Her armor was battered, and covered in all sorts of battle scars. Bullet holes and other physical wounds were applied to the armor. She had fought to get here, as if the Enclave had tried to stop her. But where were the others? Why was she on her own?

“Where are the others?” I asked, raising a brow, before looking up to her face to see her sour expression had not changed.

“Oh they’re coming,” Violet’s dry tone of voice chimed. “It gives us enough time to… ‘talk’ doesn’t it, Torny?”

I gulped, looking around the room and then back to Crystal, before feeling a magical aura pull me by the hoof which had my PipBuck on it. I felt myself fall forward, before hearing the same, dry and distinctive voice speak again.

“Come on, I’d like to talk to you…”

Wha-? AH!

I felt myself get forcefully dragged along the floor as her spell tightened around my foreleg, and as she dragged me along the rusted, metal surface of the shower floor, I tried to free myself from the spell’s grip. I didn’t make a noise luckily enough, but even if I wanted to, no doubt Violet would blow my guts out if I did. She was that type of pony. I collapsed onto my face, feeling myself get dragged helplessly by the Steel Ranger mare who tightened her magical grip around my foreleg, before applying another magical grip around the other one with the same glowing, purple aura.

I was soon thrown back into the Stable-like room where Mist had stationed me, and as I was, I was flung face first into the metal wall at a high speed before the magical grip released itself from my forelegs. I groaned seconds after impact, feeling dust from one of the shelves above fall onto my head. The magical aura soon grabbed hold of my hindlegs, before propelling me towards the bed at a similar speed, luckily the landing was more cushioned than before. As I landed on the bed, I landed onto my back with my head staring up at the ceiling, where a bright, gleaming light box glowed brightly down onto me.

I was quick to examine my surroundings, and as I glanced my head around the room quickly, the desk I had sat at still had the console on it. Which was surprising as Violet is the type of mare who doesn’t contain her rage. As I looked towards Violet, I felt all my hooves get held down by a magical aura before Violet proceeded towards me with pure rage upon her face. No matter how pointless it was, I tried to free myself, but I couldn’t… no matter how hard I tried to get myself free, I couldn’t…

I soon felt a metal hoof swipe across my face which followed by a loud ‘clunk’. I groaned, before another metal hoof swung across my left cheek. The impact felt even more brutal than the last one, and it was. Upon the cheek which had just been struck my Violet’s armor, was a small cut. Only a small one, but it stung like a bitch. Blood trickled down from it, and I attempted to wipe it off with my hoo-... Oh yeah, Violet had me held down with her magic…

“I know you did it, and don’t bother denying it!” Violet’s once dry voice turned into a scream, and I stared up at her with wide eyes. “Don’t do the cute method, I don’t like ‘cute’.”

Cute? Seriously?

“What are you talking about?!” I exclaimed, looking to my hooves which were surrounded in the magical aura that held them against the bed.

Violet swiped another hoof across my face, and this time, it had a lot more force, making the cut upon my left cheek even bigger. Blood painted her hoof which was covered by the heavy metal plating of her armor, and I let out a yelp as the hoof grazed my cheek. I soon turned my attention back to her, feeling the aura soon released from my hooves, before she then threw me across the room again and this time, she threw me towards the door and I landed with a loud thud as I slammed into the metal floor.

“You know what I am talking about!!” Violet’s metal hoofsteps echoed around the office room loudly, as her voice and her movement was all I could hear. I turned my head to her to feel the magical grip soon grabbed onto my throat tighter than expected, before being lifted up and slammed against the metal surface of the wall, denting it slightly.

I felt myself choke. I wheezed, trying to speak as all the air I was breathing before was taken from be, and Violet held me against the wall, applying force on the choke spell. She was going to kill me and I knew she wanted to. She didn’t care about answers, she wanted to kill me because she knew I was responsible. Oh great… Goddess please punish me in the afterlife. She slammed me against the wall using her magical grip which had tightened on my throat, choking me by each passing second.

I felt myself beginning to die. And I didn’t like the idea of that, dying by the hooves of one of my companions… it’s not the way I wanted it to end. I wanted to die with dignity, not by the hooves or magic in this case, of one of my friends. She hated me, but I still had respect for her and that only things more painful, both emotionally and physically. I trusted this mare to aid me in the quest to find my sister, but I had betrayed her for the sake of finding the mare I was trying to find since day one. And because of that, I had destroyed our friendship completely. Was I really that bad? Was my heart really that sour?

The sound of hoofsteps echoed softly from outside of the door to the left of me, and Violet’s magical grip soon released from my throat. As I fell back to the ground, I felt the air return to my lungs and as it did, I let out a gasp of air and landing with a thud, I looked up to her, before she levitated something from Crystal’s saddlebag and threw it back to me. The ragged, dirty jacket Violet had thrown towards me was my Stable jacket… Crystal managed to retrieve it.

The door opened to reveal Swift and Cyber who had their Sniper Rifles dangling from their necks, the rifles had leather straps attached to them now. The two brother walked into the room, completely unaware of all the brutality which had just occurred, but I decided to keep my mouth shut about that. Not for the sake of my own life, but for the sake of my friends’ lives. I grabbed the Stable jacket, before putting my hooves through the sleeves and putting over my back before zipping it up.

“We finally found you!” Cyber called out with a tone of relief. The blue buck wandered around the large office. “It took some time, but we finally did.”

Violet walked away, acting like she hadn’t even touched me. She did though. I barely had the strength to fight back, and I was still trying to get the air I had taken away from me back into my lungs. One breath at a time, it slowly returned and I was breathing normally again. Swift began to inspect the room, looking at all of the books and different disorganized items on the shelves fixed to the plain steel wall.

Swift and Cyber inspected the room, somehow amazed at how clean it was despite the shelves which contained different books and items being dusty as hell. Shelves normally are though. The pale white mare with a violet and white streaked mane looked to me with a small grin, before walking over to me. I began to curl slightly, cringing at what other violent actions she would commit against me. Maybe she would stab me with her horn? or fuck me with it-- oh Goddess, right now, I was really messed up wasn’t I? I didn’t like to be either, Violet was always that type of mare who’d enjoy watching her enemies bleed as much as possible before she even bothered to stop attacking them.

I never did like that.

“I’d suggest you go and fetch Crystal, Tornado… since we’ll be on our way out,” Violet’s innocent and soft tone of voice was false judging by the grin upon her face when she looked at me. Leaning in closer, she whispered into my ear with an icy tone. “If it wasn’t for them - you’d be dead by now, so consider yourself lucky…”

My heart stopped. She really did want to kill me after all… Sweet Goddesses, please make her stop! The white Unicorn mare soon moved away, and then walked towards the two brotherly bucks who were looking around the room. Not really in amazement, which of course came to no surprise. I’m sure they’ve seen rooms like this, especially since we’ve all been inside of a Stable together. I climbed to my hooves, feeling warmer than I was before due to the Stable jacket returning to my body.

I slowly trotted up to Cyber and Swift who stood nearby Crystal’s saddlebag, both of which were looking down at it. I quickly shoved it away. I’m sure Crystal wouldn’t want unwanted hooves exploring the depths of her saddlebag. Of course, I also meant myself… Note to self: never rummage through a mare’s saddlebag without permission, if I do, I’m a massive hypocrite when I tell other ponies not to do so.

“We weren’t going to steal anything, Tornado, I assure you,” Swift said, sounding innocent. “Speaking of which, where is the young mare?”

I fell silent, thinking of something more appropriate to say. I couldn’t just come out with ‘we had sex in the shower, and now she’s asleep’. To say I’ve never really had a proper relationship, that would be awkward to say the least.

“She’s…” I struggled with my own words at first, but soon managed to build on them. “Having a wash, she’ll be out soon,” I said, a hopeful grin spread across my face when I spoke. I hoped they’d at least buy that.

Cyber pulled away, as did Swift. “Alright, well… tell her not to be long, we’re heading out soon!” Swift added, turning away and facing the way they had entered. “We’ll be waiting outside for you two.”

Relief soon washed over me as I heard those words leave the red buck’s lips, and I set out a soft sigh under my breath that only I of all ponies inside of the office could hear. Violet stayed behind, and soon walked up to me, and as she did, my heart stopped and I tried to back away against the wall, knowing she’d use this as her opportunity to kill me for detonating the Megaspell onto Sunnyvale and killing all the Steel Rangers stationed there. I couldn’t blame her for it at all, I had gone against what I said and in the wrong way too… I should have at least been a bit less brutal about it.

Her violet eyes gazed at me in disgust, before she held me in another magical grip. The violet aura surrounded my entire body, making it impossible for me to move any of my limbs inside of the small bubble that was created around me.

“I’m exiled because of you…” Violet hissed under her breath, walking closer to me. I didn’t say anything back. “I was exiled for helping a traitor… I’m no longer part of the Steel Rangers!”

And then guilt flooded its way back inside me, just like before. My heart sank lower than before, realizing I had killed all those who I had promised to spare. I vowed I’d help her, and I only made things worse for her, exiling her in the process. Was I much of a friend? Perhaps not… but I was so close to getting to Cyclone, and really, that was all that mattered. Not that Violet and I ever got along.

She left the room with her metal hooves slamming against the metal surface of the floor, before the door sealed behind her. I walked back to the bed, but before I managed to reach it, I noticed Crystal had finally woken up. My rather mundane face instantly brightened up when Crystal walked into my view. She was coated in a dripping towel, and as she searched through her saddlebag, she soon resealed it up. Before she could turn her head, I ran my muzzle along her flank and up her back in a playful motion, hearing the cute and soaked mare squeak as soon as my muzzle made contact with her delicate body.

She looked to me, and as our eyes met, I kissed her softly on the lips. She kissed back, and once we pulled away, I looked into her eyes with a warm smile and she did the same. I rested one of my hooves on the bed, and looked at her, keeping my eyes fixed on ehrs and keeping the warm smile on my face.

“Oh Tornado, you startled me,” she spoke with a tone of surprise. “I nearly bucked you in the face.” I felt myself chuckle at this, before looking to her saddlebag and then proceeding to speak again.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you did,” I spoke with a humourous tone. It was the first time I had felt pure happiness for a while, and it felt good to smile with that happiness again. “As long as it was in surprise… If not, then I’d worry.”

I kept my eyes on her saddlebag, before pulling the soft, and rather full bag closer to her. I glanced back to Crystal, the sky blue mare levitating the bag up into the air and then with her magic, she removed the towels from her body, before placing the saddlebag carefully onto her back and sealing up the strap which wrapped around her waist nice and tightly to ensure it doesn’t fall off.

“They’re waiting for us outside,” I spoke solemnly, before turning away and then trotting towards the exit. “We know where my sister is now, the search is finally going to end soon… all this.” Or at least I hoped. I didn’t want to carry on fighting after I found my sister, I just wanted to find her and then rest… no more pain, no more killing. I wanted it to finish. But it wasn’t going to finish.

I still needed to go back to Stable 30, not because I wanted to, or that I was desperate to find a real shelter, but because I had to. I wanted to save the ponies back there, but my mind kept wanting me to do what the Enclave wanted to do. I had already killed off many ponies without warning by dropping a Megaspell onto Sunnyvale and I had felt enough guilt after doing that. But I had to think about the ponies who I was siding with now, no matter how evil that may have been in the eyes of others.

Upon leaving the room, Swift, Cyber and Violet were waiting in the large, open room which was outside of the office we had been inside of. The large facility we were all standing inside of was very much like a stable atrium, but a lot bigger than the one I had gunfight in from earlier. The balconies above us were very limited in mass, the metal platforms above us were thin and grated as the steel that they were made of were beginning to rust. The ceiling which was around ten feet away from us had small lights fixed to it and the small lights surprisingly illuminated the room up with a fresh white color, which had a soft tint of blue within it. The lights made the surprisingly clean, black steel of the floor below our hooves bloom from the light which was heavily shining down on it, and the silver steel walls had the same effect.

On both ends of the room were long, claustrophobic corridors which seemed to stretch on for miles. Swift and Cyber were standing in the middle of the room, and Violet was with them. As we exited the room, the young, white Unicorn mare shot me a dirty look as soon as we exited. I glanced away, walking towards Swift and Cyber who were talking among themselves while waiting.

“So, blue boy, where are we heading now?” Swift said solemnly, the red buck raising a brow as the words left his lips. “I presume we still have no idea where your sister is…”

I shook my head. “No. We do,” I corrected with a soft smile, his eyes widening in shock. “She’s in the small settlement of Destiny.”

“C-can you run that by me again?” Swift sounded surprised, and not the good kind either. “Did you just say ‘Destiny’?”

“Yes… I did,” I responded with a gentle nod. “It isn’t too far, is it?”

Swift turned away, seeming pitiful before taking a deep breath and glancing back to me, an expression of sorrow in his blue eyes as he stared into mine. “Destiny… isn’t safe, in fact, it’ll be suicide trying to enter that place - Raiders have control of that place, and if your sister really is there, she’s either dead, defending herself or good at Raider impersonations.”

I felt my heart sink. And just when I thought things were getting better, they only got worse. Much worse. Swift seemed to have a regretful look in his eyes, as if he knew what he said had hurt me despite my intentions being not to show it. And I didn’t show it for the most part. I felt tears building up behind my eyes, but I tried to bite them back and as soon as I glanced away, I looked down at the floor and let out a snotty sniff.

“T-Tornado, I’m sorry but…” Swift said shakily, but went silent. “Y’know what, I don’t care what danger we’re going to face, but if they’re going to kill us upon arrival, we could at least try to get to her right?”

It didn’t change my mood and a sigh came from the red buck, before his soft voice proceeded.

“Ah, bloody hell, Tornado.”

I looked up at Swift, before giving him a hug. He didn’t hug back, but I just felt grateful that he was going to stick by my side. I had lost a lot out here, a friend, my reason of living, some my courage… Some of that and possibly even more was torn away from me, and I was never going to get it back. The Wasteland is harsh, and it can change the very pony you are inside. It can change the sweetest of ponies into a monster, and it can mutate both your outside and inside just by living out there. And if I had not ended up outside of my home, then I wouldn’t be here today. I’d be doing some boring job inside of Stable 30, that’s if they could find me one, and I’d be doing that for the rest of my life.

“W-what?” Swift said in shock as I embraced him. “What’s this for?”

“For staying by my side…” I spoke with a tone of relief, my embrace only soft so it didn’t strangle him.

Swift let out a soft chuckle. “Honestly - it’s what friends do, and if that means I have to push myself through the bowels of hell for a guy like you, then so be it. I’m just happy you survived all this.”

I pulled away and just smiled at him, Cyber chuckling to himself and trotting over. Violet looked down the corridor which was on the left of the room, glancing down at with a stare and as she did, Crystal took her place by my side again before the white Unicorn, exiled Steel Ranger mare glanced at all of us.

“There should be an exit this way - I imagine it’ll take us out towards Destiny,” Violet said, her voice echoing from the walls. “Last time I recall, Raiders took over that place by slaughtering the villagers inside. No mercy.”

“We have to go there anyway,” I spoke, trotting up to Violet as she stood by the corridor. Her eyes were fixed on me. “A few Raiders shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

Violet scoffed, before looking at me as if I was an idiot. “A few Raiders? There’s a bit more than a few, Tornado, and I’m positive that one pony on his own won’t be able to survive a Raider ambush…”

I wasn’t going to be on my own, was I? If she was going to abandon me during the fight, then… I don’t know. I wouldn’t kill her unless she was going to kill me or my friends… or even Crystal. But I was positive we were going to make it.

“Besides, why there?” Violet added, lifting a hoof from the metal plating on the ground, the armor on her hoof cluttering slightly.

“Trust me, once we go there it’ll all be over and you won’t have to stay with us…” I spoke solemnly, feeling my heart sink. “Somepony… important might be there…”

Violet just remained silent as if she knew who I meant, and as the awkward silence filled the entire foundry, the only thing audible was the ventilation system, humming softly in the atmosphere as it pumped pure and clean air throughout the place. I trotted into the corridor, hearing my companions begin to follow me as I did. The tight corridors made it hard for me to breathe, but it wasn’t as bad as I assumed it was going to be.

We were inside of a Stable, and my PipBuck knew that. It marked this place as a Stable but with no number, just ‘Stable--’ as if it had never existed or been used. And it was built beneath Flower Berry Gardens, the foundry I had been kept as a slave inside of. I was glad I was out of that hell, but I had no weapons. The rifle I had been given must have been taken away by the Enclave or Mist in fact, and due to me being useless in battle, I had to find something that I could use for fighting purposes. At least, until we arrived Destiny…

The tight corridors looked identical to the ones back in Stable 30. The steel grey walls glowed from my green PipBuck light and also from the pure white light boxes which were attached to the ceiling, brightly shining down to provide the claustrophobic corridors with light. Our hoofsteps echoed, making us feel even more alone than we were… all the Enclave troops had left, or at least that is what it seemed like. The soft humming was barely audible and the sound of patriotic Stable music blasted its way out of some of the speakers fixed to the walls inside some of the larger rooms, which made the music echo throughout the Stable.

Upon reaching the end of the corridor, I opened the door at the far end, finding the room on the other side had a large, metal staircase which was battered, bruised and rusted in all areas, making it seem unsafe for use. Walking back into the open of the Stable, my companions followed and I glanced back to ensure they were all there. Cyber, Swift, Crystal and of course the bitch of the day: Violet.

A soft breeze of what felt like the toxic air from outside hit my face from upstairs, and this part of the Stable seemed damaged. All the lights that were fixed to the steel ceiling were flickering at a constant rate, offering poor lighting to say the least. The walls were crumbling apart, as bits of the metal fixed to them were scarred and punctured with bullet wounds and blood. Pieces of Enclave armor were lying at the bottom of the stairs, all of which had bloody, and torn apart bodies inside of them and the armor itself seeming to have large craters inside of them as if something strong had hit them with pure force.

A couple of half-emptied ammo boxes sat beside them as if they were struggling for weapons and ammo, which forced them to resource to weapons that weren’t even their own. Assault Rifles and other different types of customized rifles sat beside the corpses of the Enclave soldiers. All the rifles seemed to be jammed or disassembled, making them practically unusable. One of the only guns that seemed to be in a decent enough condition was a small box pistol with custom designed iron sights and a mouth grip.

I picked up the gun using my jaws, before checking the ammo boxes for any ammo I could use. Bandoliers of pistol rounds were wrapped up and shoved into one of the rusting, metal ammo boxes. There were two bandoliers and both of them in a decent condition. I lifted both of them out of the box, before wrapping them both around my neck and over my body, where they sat comfortably on top of my dirty and torn Stable Jacket. My PipBuck twitched on my leg, and the screen blinked as I brought it up to my face.

Bandoliers - Bandoliers allow larger magazines of ammo on any gun that uses regular ammo, reloading speed has been increased by 20% because of this. However, any guns that use energy and magical rounds will be excluded and will not feature any of the bandolier’s perks.

I placed a hoof on the staircase, hearing the metal grinding against the other bits of shrapnel fixed to the staircase, before slowly walking up the collapsing staircase towards the unclean air of the Wasteland which was being blown into the Stable at a rapid pace. The staircase was rather small, and as I climbed higher, the sickly green sunlight of the world outside became visible, and as soon as I reached the top, I noticed an open Stable door without a number on it whatsoever. It was as if this was a test Stable, a Stable that was uninhabited. The door was scarred and stained in blood like the walls back down the steps, and as I walked towards the open entrance, on the other side was a cave, but with a wide open entrance revealing the Wasteland beyond the darkness.

My companions soon followed, Swift and Cyber helping Crystal and Violet took the easier way up. Flying them up. Why I didn’t do that, I’ll never know, but… I’m just stupid like that sometimes. We all stood at the exit of the Stable, and I had no regrets of wanting to get out. I walked towards the large, door, slowly proceeding through the large circular doorway, and as we exited, my PipBuck’s radio signal with the outside world returned once again, and within the static was a soft mare’s voice as if she was testing if it’d work or not. Soon the static cleared up to reveal a soft speaking mare on the other side of the broadcast.

“Greetings, everypony… My name is Autumn Breeze and I’ll be giving you the news about what’s happening out there in the Wasteland. As you know, I’m Elec- uh… I mean, I’m his replacement, he told me not to try and say his real name off-air… he’d prefer to remain anonymous.

“In the news: Sunnyvale as you all know has been destroyed by somepony. Somepony had access to the Rainbow Oracle and completely wiped out Sunnyvale… and I was one of the ponies who was evacuated from that town, so I’ve lost my home… Before it was shaken by war, it was a much nicer place, in fact possibly one of the most peaceful places in Equestria and before it was destroyed, it was taken by war and nopony tried to stop it mercifully.

“Many ponies had died because of this war, many good ponies. Many people. Zebras, Griffons, anyone who decided to get involved was shot on sight either by the Steel Rangers or the Enclave. On rare occasions, both would work together in trying to find the intruders… it was a warzone and anypony seen within those areas were classed as a criminal on their blacklists.

“I have lost a lot - family, friends… friends who had gone into Sunnyvale and ended up getting themselves killed. But… my brother: Dodger. Was… was taken away from me, and I’ve been mourning his death. I hadn’t seen him, or even spoke to him in years, but hearing about the broadcast from my lover about Dodge’s death broke my heart. And my heart is yet to repair.

“Enough about me - you probably don’t want to hear about this stupid mare’s life anyway…”

Was I to blame for that? Dodge dying the way he did? I felt it, and I always blamed myself even if it at times it wasn’t my fault. I wanted to save others the pain of carrying such a burden, but after all this time, it had been my fault… no pony elses. Dodge died because I didn’t look out for him, and even if I did, I’d still probably be too late due to how good I was at protecting. And I’m not good at protecting others, never was, never will be. All the good stuff said about me on the radio just wasn’t worth it, I didn’t deserve it, and yes… I blew up Sunnyvale, I feel guilty and hurt that I did that. I wish I could take it back, but at the same time, I’m unashamed to say I had done it, mainly because I couldn’t lie about not doing it.

Leaving the Stable behind, we had returned to the Wasteland. The Stable entrance was exited to a cliffside which gave a full view of what’s ahead. The empty and desolated plains stretched on, where the sickly green sunlight from behind the thick, blackened clouds purged the darkness which was within the Wasteland. The sandy and grey plains of the Wastes were filled with dead trees, winding roads and houses which had been left to ruin after the Megaspell blast from centuries ago. The houses were nothing but their frames now, where the rubble had collapsed down onto it.

Swift and Cyber weren’t on the ground, in fact, they were hovering where they were. They carried their rifles in their hooves, and Cyber’s metal wings kept him suspended in the air despite the warm breeze passing over us. There was a long, winding road leading from the top of this cliff and down into the Wasteland, and in the distance, we saw a small town in a similar condition to Sunnyvale. Sitting in ruin, and black fumes of smoke leaking from the center. However, it wasn’t irradiated and nor was there any recent damage to the houses which circled the source of the smoke and the flames creating the fumes.

We began trotting down the hillside, both Cyber and Swift flying closely behind Crystal, Violet and I. Day had just broken out, the position of the sun even showed it as it glared its way through any gaps in the clouds that lingered above. Crystal walked beside me, keeping close to me while Violet stayed behind us both. The cliffeside was rather large, so it took some time for us to reach the bottom and the cracked and broken road beneath us was consumed by some of the sandy dirt that sat beside it.

“Destiny isn’t too far, Tornado… I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into,” Crystal softly spoke as she walked beside me. “It’s full of Raiders… and not the kind you and I are familiar with.”

“She’s right,” Cyber’s voice chimed in as I slowly walked down the cliffside with Crystal beside me. Cyber flew beside me, his sniper rifle hanging low in his hooves. “The Raiders there are much more ruthless and - dare I say: brutal. Anypony who isn’t seen as a friend in their eyes is killed, no ifs or buts.”

My heart sank even lower than it already had done. “Oh…” I simply moaned as I heard Cyber say, feeling like I was already too late to find my sister.

“Swift told me you assume your sister is at Destiny. If you follow your heart, you’ll find her,” Cyber responded, trying to make me more hopeful. It didn’t work. “Following your heart will always guide you to your loves ones, and if you truly want to find her, you will find her and when you find her, make sure you never lose her again. If she’s really this important to you, you’ll ensure nothing takes her away from you again.”

I took in what he said. I felt slightly more hopeful, but the apparent danger which was ahead of us was daunting on me and it made me lose that hope at a rather rapid pace. And I wasn’t sure on how long it would take before I fell apart inside, but I needed to push on. Come on, Tornado, don’t break down, don’t give up. I couldn’t give up… If I did, everything I did out here, and everything I went through would have been for nothing. My journey, all the places I’ve seen would have been for no reason. Or maybe I liked being shot at. No, that was silly…

Even if that was the reason, did I really come out here to become someone’s bullet sponge? If I got a thrill off of bullets slamming into me, then something was seriously wrong with me. But no, that wasn’t the reason why I was out here, I just needed to hold on a little longer… at least until we got to Destiny, then my emotions could be free as I’d no longer have to bottle them up like I had done all my time out here. I didn’t want to let my emotions get in the way of my task.

Reaching the bottom of the winding road, we were back onto the ground, and as we reached the bottom, the Wasteland became even more daunting than before. The seemingly empty Wasteland made it feel like we were being followed, and the warm breeze carried the tumble weeds along the cracked and dusty roads. As we wandered down the road, we met up with a metal sign that was rusting from age, and the girders which held it up were bending backwards and crumbling apart.

Destiny.
5km

Not far now. We’d soon be there, and I’d be reunited with my sister for the first time in so many years. And that’s all I ever wanted right now… It’s all I ever needed. My only shred of family left, I couldn’t lose her now and if I did, if I gave up, I would had given up on family all together. And if mom and dad were here to see this, they wouldn’t want me to give up. They’d hate me for sure for giving up on finding my sister.

“Stop!”

Violet’s voice called from behind me. I stopped in my tracks, glancing back to the pale white mare who was heavily armored. The green sunlight was right above us now, and as it pushed its way through the clouds, it gave a glowing effect on her naturally dull armor. Swift and Cyber, and also Crystal stopped, all of our eyes staring at her. Her Minigun began to spin as it was aimed at me, and nothing but anger was on her face.

“W-what are you doing?!” Crystal exclaimed, her expression looking shocked as she stared at Violet. “Stop what you are doing, miss Violet, right now!”

“No… don’t you understand?! He’s the enemy, he destroyed Sunnyvale!” Violet screamed, taking a step closer to me, Crystal trying to stop her. She knew I did - she was there when I did it.

I couldn’t deny it either. I got a few shocked expressions from Swift and Cyber who kept in the air with their wings flapping in the warm air which nipped along my neck. Violet couldn’t deem to control herself, I could see it in her eyes. She was hurt, angry, shocked, depressed, confused… so many emotions floating around in one mare’s eyes and she kept her Minigun spinning, and her facial expression suggested that she wanted to stop. But her mind made her do what she was doing.

“You took everything from me - my life - my passion. You promised that you’d help me, and now that you went against your vow, I shouldn’t help you!” Violet protested, the barrel on her gun spinning faster.

“Then walk away…” I suggested, knowing that I’d die if I didn’t shoot her now. “Don’t make me shoot you, please…”

I noticed a tear roll down Violet’s cheek, as she tried to bite back her tears desperately. “N-not if I shoot you first,” Violet blubbered as the tears began to stream down her perfectly white coat. She took another hoofstep forward, the Minigun now aiming towards my head.

I searched through my Stable Jacket’s pocket, pulling out the pistol I had picked up from earlier into my jaws before aiming it at her. I didn’t want to shoot her, but it was a kill or be killed situation. My companions tried to talk Violet out of it, but were not succeeding due to her madness already swallowing her mind. The Violet I traveled with knew right from wrong, this Violet… no longer knows that, and it hurt. The Violet I used to know knew when she did wrong, she knew how to listen and now that Violet was gone. The Wasteland had gotten to her.

“Bloody hell, Violet, look at who you’re threatening here!” Swift’s voice boomed over us as he hovered in the sky. “Tornado didn’t mean to hurt anypony, I’m sure he meant to do right… He has goals of his own, he can’t help everypony!”

“I-I don’t care!” Violet inhaled, the sound of a snotty sniff behind her breath. “H-he took away what mattered to me, made me an Exile… Kill me now, and you’ll die on your own. Keep me alive, and your whore of a sister gets shot by me, her blood on my hooves!”

Oh this did it… I couldn’t win could I? I didn’t want to murder friends, but I didn’t want to watch my family die… not ever. I didn’t want to watch anypony who I held close die, it hurt me so much seeing Dodge die slowly in my arms. She could hate me, she could hurt me, she could use me as her doormatt, the thing she steps on whenever she needs to do so. But I wouldn’t let her hurt my family… and if she did, she’d feel my wrath.

I wanted to scream, but the mouth-grip on the box pistol made it hard for me to speak. I muttered the words “I’m sorry”, as I felt tears of my own trickle down my face at a rapid pace. Violet stood her ground with an expression of disgust and protest, as the Minigun attached to her armor spun at full speed. I took a few breaths, waiting for the right moment to take the shot.

“D-don’t you dare!” Violet roared, stomping her hoof on the asphalt below us. “I-I will end you, you blue bastard!”

I entered S.A.T.S., quickly targeting Violet’s head four… five times. Her name was in red, she was now my enemy as her Minigun was just about to unleash hell on me, a hell I would rather not face, no matter how quick and painless it was. I had no other option, and the little pony inside of my head tried to persuade me to stop, and allow fate to come towards me before it went towards her. My heart told me I was the one doing the deceiving. Maybe we both were. I had broke a promise, and she had turned her back on me after all this time, after all this time we had spent together out here, wandering the Wastes.

Unleashing the five devastating shots from the pistol, the four rounds from the Pistol soon penetrated the skin within her face before drilling into the skull beneath it and making a red mist splash out into the air as each of the five shots were unleashed and the fifth shot delivered the killing blow. Her head exploded, decapitating her completely, leaving nothing but chunks of brain, brain matter and her eye balls on the ground, before the armored mare collapsed with a loud thump which echoed throughout the Wasteland.

I collapsed onto my flank, dropping my Pistol onto the ground as soon as my mouth lost the strength to carry it. I felt a lot of emotions. Relief, sadness, anger, hate, insanity… all of them were racing away in my mind, clashing into each other as the memories of my first meeting with Violet echoed throughout my mind, how Crystal, Dodge and I had met with Violet outside of Manehattan. And now, my history with her was crushed with five bullets.

“W-why did you kill her?!” Crystal exclaimed, walking over to me. “We could have spoken to her…”

I pulled Crystal down into an embrace, and cried onto her shoulder. I felt her hug back, the warmth of the mare I loved making me break down even more. I was losing my shit… I had now killed two ponies, I didn’t manage to save Dodge, and I single-hoodidly killed Violet intentionally. Goddess… forgive me, please.

“I… I don’t know,” I groaned, holding the sky blue mare close as the warm breeze washed over us. “I-it was either me or her… there was no way on stopping it, the madness had already taken over her.”

Swift and Cyber landed beside Crystal and I, both of them looking down at us. I felt their sympathetic eyes looking down at us both, and as I lifted my head from Crystal’s shoulder, I noticed the looks on their faces showed… sorrow and pity. Not for Violet either, but for me. It was as if they felt sorry for me, sorry that I had been through so much shit and I had. I’d been through so much shit ever since leaving the cave where I woke up in. And ever since the first major mistake I had ever committed, I had wished I had never left out here into the Wasteland.

“I can’t blame him,” Swift said in a reassuring tone, Crystal and I looking to Swift. “I… We’ve been in situations like that before, both of us, and trust me, Crystal, if you need to kill somepony you don’t want to kill for the sake of your life and the lives of the ponies around you, then you have to make that sacrifice.”

I felt destroyed inside. That I had just killed a friend - and this time it was my fault. I had blown her head off, but what choice did I have? It was either me or her… and I couldn’t let this happen again. No. I won’t let this happen again, I’ve seen two of my companions die right before my eyes and I was now scared it was going to happen at a constant rate. And if it was, was I really the pony I used to be or was I just some fool who wanted to kill and get bullets shot at him? I really didn’t know who I was anymore…

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Deceiver - “don’t worry, it’s not your fault… entirely.” With this perk, your speech has been boosted by 40% making your Perception boost up by two skill points, making you a good liar to get yourself out of trouble with ease. However, with this perk, your Charisma drops by two skill points because you’re willing to make others pay for your mistakes

Current level: 18

“Good morning, everypony, Autumn Breeze here bringing you a live radio broadcast. For those who don’t know who I am and why I’m here, I’m filling in for your original host for until he gets back from his travels.

“On today’s show, we have a very special guest inside of the studio today and he has an important message to deliver to all you ponies out there who are fighting the good fight. Be sure to lend him your ears, he says it is very important and if you don’t listen, he says you won’t be in for the reward.

“Elder Lockhart, if you would.”

“Thanks, Autumn.

“Citizens of the Wasteland, this is Elder Lockhart of the Steel Rangers speaking to you loud and clear through the power of radio. I hope y’all are listening, because I am not going to repeat myself with this message of mine. You know that blue guy that your old host kept mentioning for every little thing he did out there? Well I’ll tell you this right now. That blue guy is not the pony he pretends to be. He is nothing but a cold-hearted, savage little bastard who thinks he can trot around, doing whatever the fuck he wants.

“He dropped the Megaspell on Sunnyvale, with no intention of wanting to help us at battle. Because of that one event, because of the damage he had caused, the Steel Rangers have less than one hundred soldiers on the front lines as of now. I know it sounds like a lot, but compared to the Enclave’s thousands, it is not much at all. What I ask of you might be a little extreme, but if you want to stop the Enclave from poisoning the Wasteland’s wounds with their lies, then you do as I say. Kill the blue bastard, kill him on sight and bring me his head. You’ll earn a large sum of caps. We also need more troops, if you’re feeling brave, come to Stable 55 - we have driven all the Alicorns out of the place, it’s our new stronghold… at least until we find another place.

“And that was Elder Lockhart with his ‘message’. You heard him you silly ponies, get out there and find that blue bastard. Take him down!”

Change.

This Wasteland had the capability to change ponies into monsters. Whether they were good ponies, or bad ponies to begin with, the Wasteland would always find a way to make them worse. They would push so far to achieve one thing, only to soon find themselves meeting their own choices which they had sworn never to meet. The demise of their loved ones, sacrifices of friendship. The Wasteland taught ponies lessons as well as pressuring them with guilt with every choice made.

Suffering and pain. The ponies would suffer because of their own doing, the last memories of their actions before either ending their own life or wandering out into the Wasteland to die and never come back if they lived. And I was one of those ponies. I was suffering under my own shadow, the deeds I had committed and the lives I had taken away within my time out here. Guilt was crawling its way back in. But some of those ponies deserved it, begged for it… Their own reason of living taken away by one shot.

I was close to finding what I had ventured this far for. And this time, I wasn’t going to let go - I was going to ensure that our bond would never break apart again. All that stood in my way now, was myself and I wouldn’t let my own guilt, my own pain stand in the way of something so close. I hadn’t come out here to bottle it up and throw it away, I came out here to achieve what I intended to achieve. Not to help ponies who I didn’t know, but to help my friends and myself and to find my sister.

I killed her. Violet, one of my first companions. She had been with me longer than most, and she was loyal. But she was bitter, and bitterness got her nowhere. Her and I never did get along, and if I had spared her life, if I had spoken some sense into her mind, she would have still done something to fuck that all up. I knew her a lot better than some did. She was a patriot among the Steel Rangers, it ran in her blood to be one. And she wouldn’t change it. The moment I destroyed Sunnyvale, I destroyed her heart, the small grain of kindness which sat at the bottom of her seemingly black heart. She hated me.

And… In some cases, I hated her. But she was still my companion, and I didn’t want to let her go.

“That should do it,” Swift spoke, upon filling a large ditch in the soil just by the road we were on. The warm and gentle breeze carried some of the dirt which was on the surface of the almost solid ground. “She may have been a bitch, but a burial was needed at least.”

We had buried Violet six feet under. Her loyalty to the Steel Rangers earned her that more than the other things she did. A heart of gold, but pure black on the inside. And I did agree with Swift, Violet was a cold hearted bitch at times, but we couldn’t do anything to stop her from being like that. The trail of blood leading from the road of which we had dragged her decapitated corpse from led towards the filled hole of which we had thrown her corpse into. Swift and Cyber stood by the small grave built into the soil as they began to pat the grey and hard dirt to help it set on top of her body. Crystal levitated a bottle of Sparkle-Cola from her saddlebag, before removing the rusty bottle cap from the tip and placing it inside of her saddlebag before chugging a mouthful of the radioactive beverage.

I stood close by the mare, the scent of sweet cola working its way up my nose as I stared down at the now settling dirt. The two brothers stopped, before slowly making their way back over to us, their large sniper rifles tapping against their forelegs with each bit of movement. I felt rather guilty just looking at the grave before my hooves, knowing I was her murderer. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t - I had wasted all the tears before-hoof when I ended her life. And this time, I knew it was me and I had complete control over my actions. I had intended to blow her head off.

Crystal gave me a soft nuzzle on the cheek, and I looked to her with a faint smile. The two stallions looked to us, before the red buck spoke with a surprisingly mundane tone to his voice as if he actually felt depressed at this moment in time. And those two never really did seem to get upset. The expression upon his face matched his voice tone.

“Are you two alright?” Swift asked with a tone of care. “We’ve been through a lot, all of us,” he sighed, lifting a hoof and then walking over. “But we do what friends do, we stick by each other… From this point on, nopony else dies. I vow myself to look after you Tornado, and you too Crystal. We’re like family, the lot of us.”

My smile didn’t improve, but I was happy to hear some optimism among them. “Let’s just hope we can keep it that way - I can’t afford to lose another close friend,” I nodded, feeling my head get weighted down. “We’ve lost a lot out here…”

“From here… It’s just one more thing, right?” Cyber queried, the blue buck with cyber wings drawing in the dirt as he stared down at the ground. “We get your sister, and all this violence ends…?”

I shook my head reluctantly, and as Cyber’s red eyes looked at me, a look of worry shot onto his face. “Stable 30 - the ponies inside there are all going to die if we don’t help them. I’m sure if my sister has been fighting all her time out here, she’ll aid us in battle. And once we achieve that, once all those ponies are saved, then it is all over.”

Swift and Cyber exchanged looks, as if they were not sure on how to feel about the journey ahead of Destiny. The sickly green sunlight beaming down onto the wretched world below the lingering, black clouds which drifted in the sky. The toxic air was warm on my tongue, and even made my mouth go dry.

“Then we are fucked…” Cyber added. “Enclave right? They’re far more superior than we are… Going against even a small group of them is dangerous, a whole army is suicide. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I nodded, my loving mare tilting the bottle of Sparkle-Cola my way with her sky blue magical grip after taking another swig of it. I wrapped my lips around the circular tip of the glass bottle, before tilting my head back and as I did, Crystal tilted the bottle backgrounds to allow the liquid pour into my mouth. She released the the bottle from my mouth and then held it within her bright, magical grip. Crystal offered the two bucks a sip, but they both shook their heads solemnly.

“Trust me, we’ll be fine…” I corrected, feeling confident about the road ahead. “I’ve coped… we have coped. Crystal, Dodge and I and even Violet - we all fought against large numbers of the Enclave, and we’re still here.”

Cyber and Swift look unsure, but nonetheless soon nodded before glancing into the distance. Their eyes focused behind us, and I soon glanced back to see the distant town sitting in fumes coming from within the small walls of Destiny. Along the flat, and desolate plains of the Wastes were skeletons and skulls buried beneath the dusty grey dirt. There it was, only a few kilometers away, and I still felt a little bit of hope left.

“But… What happens if there are more of them?” Swift countered, leaning in slightly. “What happens if there are more of them going to Stable 30?”

Oh. Right. I remembered. I was the one who killed a large army of Steel Rangers, not Enclave. And of course, at that point, I began to feel guilt yet again. It wasn’t as bad this time, it didn’t wretch at my heart nor did it try and cleave its way through my emotions. It was just that feeling as if something bad would happen, which was highly possible due to this being a Wasteland full of all sorts of things and not a nice, warm and safe Stable.

“We still… go on,” I stuttered slightly, feeling my own worry begin to build. “We might not be able to save all of them, but we can try at least…”

We returned back to the road, slowly making our way down the long stretch of cracked and broken tarmac below our hooves as I and whatever remained of my companions trudged along. I tried to drown out the thoughts of Violet right before she died, but I couldn’t seem to do so. In fact, it was almost impossible to do that due to me being her killer and whenever you commit something like that, it is impossible to forget.

The gentle breeze began to turn into a strong, poisoned wind as the clouds darkened and the sunlight vanished. Drops of rain, soft and slow drops began to leak from the blackened, thick clouds which sat in the sky. Drop after drop, the rain began to pick up its pace, before the whole Wasteland turned from a warm and desolate desert, to a stormy Wasteland of coldness. The once warm feeling of the wind blowing against me was now replaced with a freezing wave of water being thrown at me at a rapid pace.

As the rain fell, Destiny was only a few minutes away and the base of the town seemed a lot larger than it did from the distance. And this wasn’t a good thing either. The sound of different yells erupted from our destination, as muffled gunshots clapped only a few seconds after the burst of thunder in the sky.

Upon getting closer to the town, more of its seemingly abandoned form soon began to become viewable. Large stone and cracked walls surrounded wooden shacks which were practically falling apart. The cream colored walling of the circular wall which surrounded the small and compact Raider town was damaged from all the shrapnel and bombs which had hit it many years before. Dried blood and large chunks of gore had been splattered onto the walls, some of gore sitting within tiny cracks and large bullet wounds which had been inflicted onto the town.

The large, wooden and splintered drawbridge like door which had been suspended backwards by decaying rope swayed slightly in the strong wind washing over the Wasteland. Upon the stone walls was red paint, displaying a message which was incredibly difficult to decipher. I glanced to the small message tained upon the walls, staring at the dried paint.

Demise. Hatred… Sacrifice.

And those words repeated, getting smaller and smaller in size from top to bottom of the wrecked and damaged wall. We were drenched in the rain which was being thrown down onto us at a rapid pace, my now soaking wet Stable jacket sticking to me like a rubber glove and making my body feel as cold as ice. I stopped at the large barricade, staring up at the door, Crystal stood by my side while Swift and Cyber were suspended in the air with their sniper rifles hanging from their forelegs.

I proceeded to knock on the door, hoping to instantly start an attacking once they opened it up. I had one intention, and that was to kill everyone inside that place until I found my sister, even if one of those ponies happened to be one of the prisoners. I only saved those now that deserved it, not ones who happen to beg for it. Before my hoof could softly make contact with the damaged, winchester brown and decaying wooden door, a large, sphere shaped metal container with wings like a Parasprite fixed onto the back of it. The rusting metal container that was hovering through the stormy Wasteland soon stopped nearby, and the grated visor fixed onto the front stared at me as if it was looking at me.

“I wouldn’t if I was you,” called a croaky voice from it. The voice was from a vaguely familiar sounding old buck and within the floating container was the sound of static softly crackling in-between each word. “Any outsider who has tried to pass the gate of Destiny has either been captured by the Raiders and tortured, or killed within a few seconds. If you want your journey to end with dignity, you do not want to enter.”

Glancing to the bot which hovered in the air with its mechanical wings flapping, keeping it in the air as the Sprite-Bot hovered unevenly in the air, almost falling from the position it was in currently. I raised a brow, keeping my eyes on it as it spoke, and my companions stood behind me, as I felt the water from Cyber’s and Swift’s wings splashing onto me from all the heavy rain pouring down on us.

“Excuse me?” I shot a look at the Sprite-Bot despite the fact that it could not show any expression towards me. “What are you trying to say? Who are you?”

I heard a snigger within the voice behind the Sprite-Bot’s mask. “What I am saying is: You’re not invincible, and just stepping one hoof in there could end you with one crushing blow!” The voice exclaimed, as the Sprite-Bot stayed within flight. “And once you go down, you won’t get back up. No matter how far you have fallen before.”

“Who are you?!” I echoed as I took a hoofstep closer to the hovering metal sphere. “How did you find us?!”

“Me? My identity is of no-importance, and how I found you was simple - these Sprite-Bots are so easy to hack into,” the voice responded hastily in a boasting fashion. “I’m not insulting you, I’m warning you about your fate if you just charge in there, guns blazin’.”

“And how do you know our outcome if we try?” I heard Cyber’s voice call from behind. “How the fuck does a stupid bot know what will happen if we go in?”

Another humorous snicker was audible from the groaning Sprite-Bot.”Because I’ve seen ponies. None of them ever listen, none of them ever think about their own weaknesses. None of them survive, nor do they even know how many there are. You can’t count behind a wall, and even if you tried to fly above the place, they’d shoot you down before you could even count to one.”

He-- it had a point. Whoever this thing was - wherever this pony was, I’d silence him if I could. But he was right. If there really were as many Raiders as predicted, then we shouldn’t risk rushing in only to fail in what we came to achieve. And that would affect me the most, even after death. A burst of static erupted from the Sprite-Bot as if the rain was effecting the communication coming from the floating robot within the air.

“Maybe you ponies should use a Stealth Buck, I’m sure you are… familiar with them,” the voice suggested as it floated in the air, the tone of voice dry. “Only one of you can go. Try to forget about your friendship for this one task, whatever you’re going in there for, this will help you find it.”

I blinked, knowing I’d have to do it. But where was the Stealth Buck? Oh wait. There it was. I noticed the Stealth Buck strapped down to the top of the Sprite-Bot as it hovered in mid air, the tape holding it down beginning to peak from all the water gushing down on it. Another explosion of static left the bot, as it began to malfunction slightly. Sparks burst from the wings.

I proceeded towards the bot, knocking the Stealth Buck from the top of it. The tape was easy to tear, and when it finally came off, I felt it in one hoof as I stared at the drenched Stealth Buck sitting in my hooves, before looking back to the Sprite-Bot. It had to be me. Of course it did, I was the reason why we were here and now I had to take the responsibility of risking my life to find the sister I sworn myself to reunite with. I wouldn’t dare risk the lives of my companions for the sake of what I came here for.

The Sprite-Bot began to malfunction in violent sparks, struggling to make even syllables clear through the fit of static coming through the bot’s speaker. The static did clear up in some parts, where the sound of the buck returned and this time, the voice sounded damp as if the microphone his voice was drowning in water.

“T-there’s a secret entrance… beside the door…*pzzt!* there’s a small hatch, below the graffiti… *pzzt* use that, and you should find yourself inside of Destiny, *pzzt!* ...Once you’re inside, you find what you came for and then you go. *Pzzt!* Don’t hang around, the Stealth Buck doesn’t last as long as it seems.”

Before I could ask who he was, the Sprite-Bot malfunctioned, before imploding with a loud bang and then falling to the damp ground, with the entire metal container which the bot was made out of cracked and broken, with sparks spitting from the cavity created inside of the armor. I felt myself get blown back as the implosion went off, feeling a wave of light force push me to the ground. I fell to the wet soil as the rain poured down onto us all heavily, Crystal catching me within her forelegs as I fell back.

Swift and Cyber looked down at me with concern, as I felt the soft embrace of the now soggy Crystal holding me close as I slumped into the wet filth below me. A clap of thunder echoed in the distance, as I glanced around and noticed the two snipers hover over me, the look of deep concern in their expression remaining on their faces.

“You shouldn’t do this alone, Tornado…” Swift warned, lifting a hoof as his damp wings kept him in the air, the sound of thunder softly echoing in the distance as the rain poured down on us all at a rapid pace. “You have to let us all come with you…”

“You heard him,” Crystal’s soft, elegant voice softly said from behind. “He has to do this alone, if we follow, we could endanger him more than he will be endangering himself.” I blinked, looking up to Crystal to see her with a frown. A frown of regret, as if what she said hurt her. She wanted to come with me, but she knew she couldn’t.

She turned to me, levitating the Stealth Buck and attaching it to me firmly before my body was coated in some sort of cloaking shield. I looked at my hoof to see nothing but a clear ripple. Crystal pulled my head up gently with her hoof, obviously able to see my body despite it being cloaked and as she did, she soon pulled me into a warm kiss. I felt my cheeks heat up, my blush burning brightly as she held the kiss. I kissed back.

I walked over to the small hatch behind me, the wooden seal covering a darkened hole placed on top of it in an unorderly fashion, with the planks which sat on top of the metal framing of the hatch all chipped, scarred and broken. Some of the edges were covered in blood. The hatch sat by the wall, a little too close to the large door we all were standing by and just beneath the painted message that I had seen from earlier. The entrance was low down, so you’d only see it unless you’re looking at it up close. Lifting the hatch, I felt some of the wood stab into my cloaked skin, and I winched as it did, but luckily, some of the sharper parts stabbed into my PipBuck, the metal terminal on my leg protecting the skin beneath it.

I dropped into the hole, before attempting to cover the entrance up with the board. Not that it worked. I switched my PipBucks light on, and as I did, it lit up the rather claustrophobic passage. Only a small portion of it. The dirty, and dusty walls around me were within touching distance, and the rather long looking tunnel. The rest of the way however was drowned in darkness. I tried to take my mind off of the sudden lack of space, and I moved as quickly as my anxiety filled body into the darkness. I didn’t have time to dawdle around, struggling for air. Granted, I was struggling for air, but I was trying not to think about it.

For the most part, not thinking about it worked.

I kept the pace up, as the sound of the heavy rain slamming against the dirty surface of the world above was clearly audible. The sound of thunder boomed in the sky yet again beyond the dirt I was beneath, and because I was underground, the sound was muffled, but I could still hear it due to it being so loud. I managed to reach the end of the tunnel quicker than I had expected to. Glancing up, I noticed a trapdoor in a similar condition to the last one. Parts of wood were missing, rain was pouring through the large gaps and onto my face and the metal framing this time was rusting and even some of it was bent and broken as if it was all falling apart. I turned off my PipBuck’s flashlight.

I knew I didn’t have as long as it sounded with a Stealth Buck, so I slowly moved the hatch into the sludge, the thunder and the rain covering up the noise it was making. I lifted my head out of the hole to take a look at what I was heading into, and what I saw… didn’t help me at all. I found myself in a rather small village that was filled with desolated and abandoned houses, most of which had the top portion of them blown off by some chaotic blast. Large chunks of rubble sat in the sludge-like dirt and large shards of glass were almost buried beneath the dirt. Within a large, open area which sat in the middle of the village, where all the houses circled around a large fire created by different bits of trash and scrap that had been ignited, and the large, glowing flame from within the middle helped light up the darkened mood caused by the rain clouds.

Raiders. Hundreds of them. All of which were walking around, and joking about murder, rape, and other dark tones that normally fits their insane habits. Bloodied, and fresh pony limbs hung from chains which were fixed to the houses’ beams which stuck out just above the doorway at the front end of the house. Some of the impaled limbs were heads without the eyes, and some were even wings and horns. I gagged, feeling myself feel lightheaded.

Oh shit. This wasn’t going to be easy.

Lifting myself out of the hole, I soon scurried off behind a house, hearing the many cackles and laughs of the Raiders who were joking about what they had possibly done to many ponies who were just passing through. My PipBuck twitched on my leg as if it was trying to tell me something. Glancing to the screen, I noticed the PipBuck screen was warning me about the time I had left with the Stealth Buck. The text read: ‘Your Stealth Buck is beginning to wear off.’

Seeing the warning implemented on my screen, I quickly scurried along the surface of the slippery and sludge covered dirt beneath my hooves, feeling myself slip in some of the more exposed parts as the rain hammered its way down harshly onto the surface of the Wasteland. Some Raiders were looking at me as if they had seen me, only to shortly look back to their companions and as they did, the murmurs of brutality continued. And even though they were quiet, I could still hear them. As the cloak was beginning to wear off, I soon fell over, face first into a muddy puddle, feeling all the dirt and irradiated rain water splash up into my face, before finding myself at a back door which was unlocked.

The house in front of me was intact, and rather silent. All the windows had been boarded up, and there was nothing but silence. Lifting myself onto my hooves, I proceeded to the door, before twisting the small doorknob on the splintered, and battered wooden door which had been impaled by different ammo types with shrapnel sitting in some of the door’s wounds, before opening it. A loud, echoing creek was heard, and all I saw beyond the door was darkness. I took a deep breath, walking in as I revealed my pistol and placed it into my mouth, preparing for any possible Raider that was waiting to jump me.

Upon walking in, my cloak soon disappeared, and I soon shut the door behind me, feeling the rain pound into the house before the door met with the doorway. Upon closing, I flicked my PipBuck’s light on again, the radioactive green glow filling the seemingly dark room. Within the house I was in now, all that was here was a few tables hugging the dusty and scarred stone walls, and bent and rusted caps along with ammo shells and frames of guns. Some tables were flipped and pinned to the wall, and to the left of the room, on the far corner of it was a staircase which twisted upwards. A red carpet coated the staircase, some of the edges were torn and some of the actual carpet was loose.

Upon noticing the staircase, I soon trotted to it, hearing my echoing hoofsteps tap against the stone tile flooring of the desolate house. I heard nothing, at least for the most part. Reaching the staircase, I soon began to walk up the stairs one by one, feeling the dry and flakey carpet rub against my hooves as each of the hoofsteps were placed on them. I kept the pistol in my mouth, using my eyes to observe the seemingly empty house with no head movement. The stairs began to twist to the left, making it more difficult for me to remain on my hooves with the lack of light I had, but I still managed to climb the staircase.

Reaching the top, I noticed a closed door right at the top of the staircase. The door was wooden, with a large and murky window which was impossible to see through and the glass was cracked from corner to corner, making the age of it stand out. The door itself was covered in all sorts of scars, and the paint that used to coat it was peeling with age and the golden doorknob was coated in a thick layer of rust. I placed my hoof on the rusted doorknob, before twisting it and pulling the door open to reveal a long, stretching hallway.

I was in no hurry to proceed, but I soon stepped a hoof into the hallway, feeling a wire press against my hoof before a ‘click’ sound was heard, and as I heard, the wire fell to the ground and then only seconds later, shotgun shells impaled the side of my body as a loud bang echoed off of the walls. Gah! I collapsed in pain, dropping the gun from my mouth and wincing as I held my now bloody sides which had been ravaged by shotgun shells. My insides felt like an inferno, my wound was sizzling as the broken and now bent shrapnel pierced its way into my ribcage, severing the skin completely.

I groaned in pain, hearing hoofsteps echoing as if someone was running in the halls. Everytime I let out a breath, or a huff or even a groan, I would feel a sharp pain stab into where the wound was created. I had to try and shake the pain off of my mind, and son of a bitch, that was going to be hard.

I struggled to place the gun into my mouth again, as each time I moved, I felt the pain grow even more intense. The hoofsteps kept echoing all around me, as my now blood covered PipBuck screen made the bright green light turn dark, and glow was now a dark green color with a blood red tint to it. I placed the gun into my mouth, and soon I began to limp down the corridor, feeling the shrapnel scraping against my skin tissue and my bones. That hurt… a lot.

When I ventured in deeper, I noticed many different doors on each side of the hallway. All of the doors were battered by bullets and scarred with scratch marks and no doubt on the other side of each door was a trap waiting to blow my head off, or blow my guts out or maybe even trap my hoof with some violent bear trap or pincer. I felt that I needed to be extra cautious, and the bullet wounds in the side of my body did not make anything easy for me. I felt myself stumble all over the place, and the with each movement I made, the pain intensified. I let out a cough, dropping the gun in my jaws before hearing the metal surface of it slam against the stone slabs.

Fuck. I couldn’t continue. I felt myself collapse, as I wrapped a hoof over my wound, hissing and wheezing as each breath left my body. The blood from the crater in my side was trickling down my hoof as I put pressure on it to try and help the bleeding calm down. I was having no luck with that, and I was no medical pony either. I heard the hoofsteps echoing again, and this time, they were much louder.

As I glanced to the direction of where the hoofsteps were coming from (to the right) I then noticed the door to the right of me swing open. A Pegasus pony quickly charged out, tackling me and bursting through the door opposite it at an intense speed, before I felt my destroyed body get thrown onto the rough floor and with that I let out a loud yelp of pain which filled the entire house. I winced, not being able to see the pony on top of me before the pain died down slightly, and I opened my eyes to see the face of a young mare.

Her coat was the same color as mine, a royal blue color and her mane was blue with white stripes and her tail was similar to her mane. On her face, in-between her eyes were freckles and her eyes were a rosy red color. She wore heavy (and rather battered) Enclave armor, where the scorpion tail her armor was supposed to have was gone and instead, her tail stuck out freely through the battle armor. Her facial expression showed nothing but anger, as the Novasurge Rifle attached to the Battle Saddle on her armor was aiming at me as if she was preparing to shoot me.

The room was rather empty, but not pitch black. The room consisted of old Pre-War posters, cracked with age, stuck onto the walls. Many of them were M.O.A posters, showcasing Rainbow Dash and a pair of Shadowbolts by her side with the quote; ‘Victory is just a wing’s beat away!’

It was a small room, but at the back end of the room was an empty desk with a toppled over office chair and behind that were three boarded up window panels with the glass from the windows scattered all over the floor. The shattered pieces of glass were not sharp, but they were small, crushed granules lying all over the floor. An empty bookshelf stood against the cracked and aged wall on the right side of the room (my left as of now) where the dull, grey light from the Wasteland outside revealed its aged and cracked surface on the seemingly perfect mahogany base. Torn pages covered in blood and dust sat on some of the lower shelves.

I looked up into the eyes of the pony who had me pinned down, knowing who it was. It was her, and she was still alive… She was still in one piece. My sister. I finally found her, after all this time.

“State your name, stranger!!” The mare on top of me screamed as she pointed her rifle at my face, “don’t even think that I’ll hesitate on killing you. Did the Enclave send you?!”

I shook my head, lost for words. “N-no… I… I no, they didn’t. I… I’m…” I found myself stammering. I didn’t think this was how we was going to meet once again, I never thought it’d be like this.

“Then who sent you?!” She barked in my face, pressing her snout to mine with fury. “If you don’t spit out the answers, I’ll blow your fucking head off and feed your testicals to the Raiders!”

I gulped. Why was she doing this? Didn’t she recognize me at all? After all, she was the older one, she has to remember me. No? Oh great… time for a fucking memory refresh. That is if she’ll let me mention anything unrelated to what she’s asking. I tried to free my hooves, feeling the pain in my side begin to throb again as I began to struggle, and her expression turned sour.

“Last chance,” she groaned through her teeth as she prepared to shoot me. “Name. Who sent you? What side are you are? Are you a Raider?!”

“N-no… I’m not a Raider, no pony sent me. Cyclone… it’s me. Tornado, the brother who you loved from childhood, the brother who has been trying to find you.” I admitted, failing to sound honest. I knew she didn’t believe me as soon as her expression began to turn evil looking, as if she was the Raider, not me. And that broke my heart. I felt tears building up in my eyes, as I closed them, waiting for the shot to be taken.

Nothing.

Nothing happened. I opened my eyes to find her expression had calmed, tears trickling down my cheeks as I stared up at her. She remembered. She remembered me, and as I recognized that, relief washed over me.

She climbed off of me, and soon walked towards the desk, her hoofsteps echoing as she did. I weakly climbed to my hooves, feeling the pain beginning to violently punch me again, and as it did, I hissed out in pain and almost collapsed again. Cyclone didn’t speak for a moment, in fact, she was dead silent. I looked to her, seeing her with her face hanging over the desk in silence.

“H-hey, what’s the matter?” I hissed, walking over to her with a caring smile. “I-I finally found you…”

“And you shouldn’t have,” Cyclone responded hastily, turning to me. “Don’t you understand? You should have just stayed home - it would have saved you from the horrors of the Wasteland.”

I blinked, wondering what she was talking about. I had witnessed things I wish I hadn’t, I had done things I regret. But I found her, and because I did, that was enough to wash all the guilt, and the anger, and the sadness away from me. At least for a short while. Cyclone looked to my wound, her eyes widening in horror and as she noticed it, I felt myself drop yet again onto the floor. I was feeling weaker, the wound was hurting more than ever. Cyclone sat by my side, unzipping my Stable outfit and yanking it open to look at the wound. And at that moment, Cyclone went pale. She knew her trap did this.

She darted up, glancing around the room quickly in search of medical supplies before rushing behind the desk and searching through the possibly empty and dust filled draws. I felt myself getting weaker, I felt like I was dying. I placed a hoof on my now exposed wound, and groaned as soon as my foreleg made contact with the bloody hole in my body. I heard the sound of draws being swung open, followed by the sound of hooves rummaging through the filled up draws, and the sound of metal and glass object smashing into each other. This lasted a while, before Cyclone returned with Magical Bandages and a Healing Potion in her mouth, with a look of relief on her face. I looked to her, my vision beginning to blur as she sat down next to me.

“L-let me look at that,” she said with a caring tone. I moved my hoof away, and she soon began to wrap bandages around my body slowly, layer after layer until the blood was no longer visible. She grabbed the healing potion, and literally forced it down my throat to ensure that I did drink it. I coughed, feeling my breath get taken away, but fortunately, I had drank it all before I passed out.

I looked to her, regaining my breath and she soon pulled me into a hug. Falling into the embrace, I felt her tears run down my back. Her warm, and trickling tears. I hugged her back, feeling tears of my own beginning to build again. This time, the tears were of happiness more than they were of heartbreak, and I held my sister close in a tight embrace. I didn’t want to let her go. I just wanted to hold her for as long as I needed to, I wanted to hug her and keep her by my side forever. Losing her again would kill me.

“I-I’m so… sorry,” Cyclone whimpered, holding onto me. “T-those traps… I should have taken them down… I-I was waiting for Mist…”

All I could do was forgive. “D-don’t beat yourself up, I...I’m here aren’t I?” I tried to laugh, but the tears didn’t stop and I couldn’t laugh. All I could do was cry, and to know that as soon as I walk out there, we’d have to face Raiders - I had to ensure I didn’t lose her again. “B-besides… e-even if you did kill me, it’d probably be for the better…”

I felt a hoof get forced into my back, and I grunted. I pulled back and Cyclone shook her head with an anger filled expression, her eyes read from all the tears that had been leaking from them. She tried to speak, but her lips kept twitching and quivering, making it harder for her to do so.

“D-don’t… don’t you dare!” Cyclone warned, as she shook her head slowly. “D-don’t ever say that… y-you may not know it, but you’re more important than you think you are. You know it wasn’t my fault… I had no control over our separation.” She was blubbering, and she fell into me again, crying softly into my fur from guilt and happiness. I didn’t blame her, nor did I blame her for the traps she set up. She did it for her own protection, I just happened to be the wrong pony who came.

I just held her close, letting her cry into me and trying to bite back the flooding tears of my own. I rubbed her back with my hoof, holding her close to me. My robotic eye was artificial, but the tear glands still worked. I really didn’t know how that was possible, Cyclone didn’t worry about the eye either. I supposed she was glad to see me, and probably upset about it being me who had stumbled upon the trap. But that was my fault…

“I-I’ll never leave your side,” Cyclone moaned, the sound of a snotty sniff following what she said. “You’re my little brother… and I promise to keep you safe.”

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Treasure Hunter - Your sneak has improved by 20% when using a Stealth Buck, making your hoofsteps impossible to hear, however, when using this perk, you can no longer attack while a Stealth Buck is equipped.

Current level: 19

After finding his sister, our Little Blue Buddy had felt some relief... But it was not enough to numb the emotional pain he had experienced in his time out in the vile Wastes. However, now that he had found her, he had one last thing to do: stop the termination of Stable 30... His own home.

Despite building a reputation with the Enclave after unleashing the fury of the Rainbow Oracle down onto Sunnyvale, he was determined to change the error of his ways and sticking to his vow of stopping Mist and his dreaded Enclave...

Truth.

No matter how much ponies had lied to get themselves out of trouble, the truth would always be found at some point in their lives, one way or another. Trouble is inevitable, even when you think you have gotten away from it for good, after you had lied your way out by showing innocent smiles to the judge and the jury, trouble would always catch up… And the trouble would be followed with punishment. No matter how much the truth hurts, you always have to come out with it…

If you had done what I did, if you had broken so many rules, killed so many ponies and destroyed so many families and broken the trust of so many ponies - if you had killed your friend because she had tried to kill you - if you did what I did, it would be hard… But remember, the truth is always set free even if it is the closest pony to you who finds out. I had broken the hope for the Wasteland; I had weakened the friends and strengthened the enemy. And that is the worst of all deeds to commit when a nation’s life is at stake.

But I was not alone -- history had thousands of ponies like me. And I was far from the worst.

"Good afternoon, everypony, Autumn Breeze here bringing you another update of what's happening in the Wasteland... Yay? I hate the Wasteland as much as you do, believe me...

"For those traveling up from the south to Manehattan, be sure to stop by Stable 55 and give the Steel Rangers a visit. If you're looking to handle heavy weaponry, grab some heavy armor and get your own slice of action be sure to head to Stable 55. All newbies to the Steel Rangers are guaranteed a warm bed and free food upon signing up! Believe me, listeners, I ain't lying, these Rangers are doing their best to make sure the Equestria we live in has a better tomorrow.

"In other news, the search for our infamous Little Blue Buddy continues. Reports have come in suggesting that he has been sighted within the Destiny area - if this is true, grab all the guns and weapons you can find, and find him. If you kill him, bring his head to Mist and you will be rewarded. Bring him back alive, and your reward will be even greater.

“I know it’s a bit silly chasing after one pony, but the Steel Rangers know what they’re doing. This pony they’re asking you to chase after used a Bale Fire Bomb on Sunnyvale, killing all of the Steel Rangers inside of it -- taking the homes of what could have been thousands of ponies away from them with one big multicolored blast of death. Imagine if you were those ponies… If somepony turns a blind eye to it, no doubt it will happen again…

“He is a dangerous threat… Believe me…”

They knew… They knew what I had done. They knew the truth, and there was no point in hiding from it. All of the ponies who were against me, all of the ponies who I had met on my travels in the areas I had visited were no doubt going to become my enemies. And not only that, but no doubt the Alicorns, Hellhounds, Slavers… Raiders… Everypony who I have encountered, every faction I have fought against, all of them after me, hunting me as if I was some wild animal.

Maybe I was. I had just been let out of the cage, I had just strayed too far away from it and now it was impossible for me to be locked away inside of it yet again. I was a dog, a rabid creature, watching and waiting for my predator… Eyes always open. And they were my predators… All of them hunting me down, waiting for me to make one small mistake which could jeopardize the life of both my companions, and me.

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks… I could only do so much. I wasn’t perfect.

As I peeked through the small gaps in the boards which covered the shattered window at the backend of the office, I began to count the Raiders who sat out in the cold and heavy rain which threw itself down onto them like a blizzard of bullets would, the sound of the rain slamming against the building and the dirt outside one of the only things audible. One... Two... Three... Three soon turned to ten, and ten turned to fifteen. We were surrounded.

Fifteen... Sixteen... Seventeen... Twenty, twenty-one.

The count kept rising, too many Raiders for us to handle. Cyclone looked ready, yes, but something told me that she wouldn't last either. I was just a young wanted buck with a pistol... Nothing special. Nothing at all. And she still needed to know - about what I had done, my crime. But now wasn't the time for that. But when would the right time be, when this is all over? No. It wouldn't be worth saying then...

"We have to go," I said, glancing back to the heavily armored mare in the far corner by the door as she took a swig of Sparkle-Cola. I stepped away from the window and began walking towards the open door way at the end of the room...

"Like now?" my sister queried. "How many Raiders are out there? How many as of now?"

I gulped upon hearing her ask that... Twenty-one. "Uhm... I'm not sure..." I lied, looking to her with a shy stare. "A few..."

"Come on, Tornado... How many?" Cyclone stared back into mine as there was quite a distance between her and me.

Twenty-one... Or more... Say it! "Just a few... I'm not sure, I lost count..." I spoke shyly, looking away slightly, back towards the darkened doorway.

Cyclone gave a gesture of disbelief, and looked away. "How did you get in alive anyway?" Cyclone asked with a lift of her hoof as she looked back at me. "I assume you came alone..."

"Stealth Buck..." I simply responded, looking back at her with no expression. "And no... I didn't come here alone..."

Cyclone soon stood onto her hooves slowly, walking to me with a dismal look. The sound of her hoofsteps echoed around the room loudly, as each of the armored hooves slammed against the concrete tiling below us, some of the Pre-War posters falling from the cracked and battered walls. She soon blocked my path.

"Where are they then?" Cyclone grunted, "I am not leaving until they arrive."

But before I could speak, the Raider shouts which were once audible fell silent... The only sounds I could hear were my own breathing and the rain which slammed against the building and also the sound of the strong winds whistling and weaving its way through the Wasteland. There were no voices, none at all... Just the sound of the rain, and the wind. But that was it. I had a gut feeling the Raiders knew that I was here - that we were here. All of them, every single one of them.

The silence was almost deafening… But it made me feel somewhat safe… Yes. Safe. I slowly began to take small and slow steps towards the doorway, my hoofsteps creating little noise but still managing to echo off of the cracked and damaged walls which surrounded us. My sister didn’t move, in fact she stayed there, her eyes the only movement she was making as they followed me.

As I reached the doorway, my ears were suddenly pierced with a loud bang which surged its way through the empty building, and I soon found myself cringing back as more and more of the loud punches to the doors and boarded up windows. They knew we were here… They had heard us. My heart began pounding as the sound of what sounded like thousands of hooves knocking at the doors and windows with power got louder, and louder, before I felt myself collapse from all the noise.

“T-they’ve found us!” I regrettedly said with a clear tone of fear to my voice. Cyclone stood on her hooves, walking to the doorway, the metal clanking of her armor drowned out by the rapid banging which washed over the sound of anything else. I felt myself begin to curl up in a ball of cowardness…

“We know you’re in there, ponies, open up!!” a Raider’s voice screamed from outside as the pounding continued. “We ain’t gonna hurt ya’... Much!!”

Cyclone stopped at the doorway, before glancing back to me. “Stop being such a baby, and listen…” Cyclone leaned down and moved closer to me, whispering and holding me close. “You came here to find me and take me with you, right?”

I nodded the loud ruckus below seemingly getting higher and higher in volume as the cries of Raiders echoed loudly throughout. The sound of wood shattering, the sound of locks breaking… The sound of hoofsteps rushing into the building stopped my heart yet again, but I couldn’t stay here, waiting for them to kill me… I shouldn’t…

“Then get off your silly flank, and help me fight our way out of here!” Cyclone showed a sly smile, before playfully swinging a hoof into the back of my head. I smiled back. She soon grabbed her rifle, before slotting it into the battle saddle attached to her Enclave armor. She soon wrapped her mouth around the lever in front of her, as she soon walked out into the corridor.

Lifting myself, I noticed that the healing bandages which had been applied to my wound had more or less healed the damaged caused by the shotgun trap I ran into earlier. I reached for my pistol with my jaw, before yanking it out and having a firm grip on the mouth piece. Cyclone stood there, waiting for me, before I followed her out into the darkened hallway, hearing the Raiders search the place, begging for us to show our faces.

My PipBuck’s flashlight lit up a small portion of the claustrophobic hallway, the cracked and broken walls and ceiling looking like they would crumble at any minute as dust slowly poured its way out from the cracks above. Pre-War posters were attached to the back wall of the staircase, and as I proceeded to take a hoofstep down them, a dirty and blood covered Raider came into sight, his combat shotgun loosely in his mouth. As my eyes met with his, his eyes widened and he was about to call out, but before he could, I entered S.A.T.S. and targeted his head. Once… Twice… Three times!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The first shot pierced his skull. The second fractured it… The third delivered the killing blow which sent the Raider backwards as his head removed itself from his body. Thick, gooey blood splattered all over the wall behind him, and as his body was sent tumbling back, as I exited S.A.T.S., the cries of what sounded like thousands of Raiders rung out throughout the building.

“They’re upstairs!!” I heard one of the voices call, as the sound of hooves scrambling were heard coming towards the staircase. I began to trot down the staircase, but before I could reach the bottom of the first series of steps, a Raider darted around the corner, almost dropping the rifle which was within his jaw's grasp.

I fired two quick shots without S.A.T.S. at him, only managing to cripple him. The shots I had fired had both been directed at his forelegs, and he fell as soon as the blood came gushing out of the wounds which had been placed there, slamming into the nearest wall with a thud. Trotting up to him, the gun still in my mouth, I fired one more shot at his head, blood and brain matter splattering all over the wall he leaned against and soon trickling down it.

I leaned down beside his body to loot the rifle from the dead Raider. As I did however, the sound of what sounded like a Raider screaming at the top of his dry lungs was soon interrupted by a loud, echoing gunshot from beside me, before I heard what sounded like somepony drowning in their own blood. I glanced back to see a Raider holding their throat, choking and coughing up blood violently, before tumbling down the stairs behind them.

"Sorry about that," Cyclone giggled to herself, trotting down the small series of stairs stairs, standing beside me. "You were too busy stealing from a dead guy."

I chuckled at her remark, taking the rifle. I noticed that it has a leather strap, as if it was meant to go other somepony's neck. I lifted it, comfortably placing it over my head and onto the back of my neck so it could dangle from it, so it could be there whenever I needed it the most.

I quickly walked to the top of the second series of stairs, seeing another brutally damaged Raider who carried a large rifle in his jaws which had two barrell mags at either side. I was about to flip into S.A.T.S. but I wasn’t fast enough. Before I could do so, I felt a spree of Shotgun shells just skim my Stable jacket, barely missing me by an inch. I quickly ducked down and dived out the way as I heard the Raider’s hooves slamming against the stone slab staircase. I waited on the ground, and as his face turned around the corner, another gunshot from my sister echoed loudly, blowing the Raider’s head off of the shoulders of its body.

I lifted myself onto my hooves, glancing back to my sister who soon trotted passed me and down the staircase, the armor which covered her hooves clanking against the stone on the staircase. Another few loud bangs heard, but within the gunfire were conflicting gunshots. Machine guns and rifles being fired at her. I quickly rushed down the stairs, the pistol firmly in my mouth and as I reached the bottom of the staircase, I saw Cyclone ducking behind an overturned metal table.

“Ooh look, it’s the blue bastard that mare on the radio talks about, grab him!!” I heard a Raider’s voice within the obscuring darkness call out, obviously noticing me in the PipBuck light which shined up into my face.

I quickly scurried for some cover, a little too fast. I ended up knocking the table Cyclone was hidden behind almost back onto the crooked metal legs which kept it standing. Luckily it fell back onto its side and supplied me with the cover I needed. As I made contact with the table, a sound of echoing gunfire was heard being unleashed at the table, shots ricocheting and hitting the wall as the sound of crumbling stone was heard right after the ‘ping’ which was given off from the table.

“Radio!? What are they talking about!?” Cyclone asked, peeking over, a shot just missing her head before she returned to cover. I was afraid she was going to ask that at somepoint… But now wasn’t the right time to tell her, especially since we were deeply under fire.

I didn’t answer the question. Instead, I popped into S.A.T.S. and targeted the closest Raider who was a Unicorn. She had an SMG surrounded dark, blood red aura which her horn gave off and it was pointing directly at me, the bullets which had been unleashed scattering all over the place, none of them managing to hit me… yet.

I selected the torso twice and the horn once. If I could take out the horn, then she’d be useless with firearms.

BLAM! BLAM!

Two shots were sent at the Raider’s torso, the first missing and hitting the wall behind her and the second shot piercing the spiky Raider armor and then puncturing the skin, the sound of her yelp ringing out in the room. I aimed towards her horn to take out the horn to deliver the third shot targeted with S.A.T.S., hoping that I wouldn’t miss.

BLAM!

I sent a bullet towards her horn, and luckily it hit it dead on. The bullet carved its way through the bone, and then cutting horn clean off to deliver an unbearable pain that would make her useless for long ranged combat. The Raider soon collapsed in a world of pain, the gun’s aura soon disappearing and dropping to the ground as she did. She held what was left of her horn in pain, ignoring the wound which had been created in her chest as it leaked blood.

Gotcha! I grinned in accomplishment, before vaulting over the table and slowly walking towards the helpless Raider mare with the gun still in my jaw’s grip. I walked over to the helpless mare who was screaming in pain from the horn she had lost, and as I stood in front of her, I prepared to shoot her in the head as her eyes which begged for mercy stared up at me, tearful with a facial expression that pleaded mercy.

“P-please… D-don’t kill me…” she begged surprisingly, closing her eyes and hiding in her own ball of cowardness. “I-I promise you, I… I won’t turn you in to the Steel Rangers, honest!”

I didn’t want to take that chance… But… She was begging for her life, begging for me to spare her pathetic life. I wanted to pull the trigger; I wanted to see her brains splattered on the floor. Usually, I would have no regrets… Usually, I would pull the trigger and it’d be over. But… I had never seen a Raider beg - this Raider had a heart, maybe she was doing what she did for the sake of her family. If she had one.

I couldn't think… Part of me needed her dead, the other alive. I was stuck. For the first time in my life, I was deciding if I should spare or kill the Raider right before my eyes. Why? Why did it have to come to this? I wanted to decide quickly… No doubt there were other Ra-.

“I see him, he’s over here!” I heard the sound of what sounded like a Minigun spinning, unleashing its fury on me… And me only. I felt what felt like a thousand rounds puncture my bandaged wound, feeling many ribs and other bones break as the bullets pierced everything inside of me. Everything went silent… I collapsed with a loud grunt as I gritted my teeth, feeling tears develop in my eyes.

The female Raider looked down at me worryingly, barely scraped by the Minigun as if the enemy wasn’t after her. I looked towards the direction of gunfire to see a squad of Steel Rangers, and leading them… Elder Lockhart. In the corner of my eye, I noticed my sister struggling helplessly as a couple of heavily armored Rangers attempted to seduce her with some sort of drug which would weaken her. Elder Lockhart’s twisted gaze looked towards me as he slowly walked towards me.

As he grew closer, I noticed a small group of Rangers head their way out of the room as two guards accompanied Lockhart as he walked over to me. As the sound returned to my ears, he leaned down in front of me, his wrinkled face bearing down on me as his two fully armored Steel Rangers glared down at me. I saw my own reflection in their visors…

“Hello, Tornado,” Lockhart began. “Long time, no see. I had figured you were here…”

“H-how did you know?” I asked weakly, coughing violently and holding my wound, applying as much pressure as my weak little hooves could. “W-what are you doing with my sister?”

“We found you mainly through your friends, the rest of it was instinct. But… Wherever you go, they follow. They were all stood outside in the rain alone, as if they were waiting for somepony to come out from inside the gates,” Lockhart stated, lifting a hoof. “Your sister will be in good hooves, as will you… And as will your friends.”

As they dragged my sister out of the building, the Rangers who had left dragged my friends in, all of them contained in a rusty metal cages, their hooves bound together. Swift, Cyber… Crystal… Their mouths were taped over as the Rangers stood by them, Miniguns spinning. Oh… I hated them even more now… Seeing my friends locked up because of me made me feel rage and guilt. A rage which had to be dealt with on him…

“Where’s Violet? Did she do the smart thing in abandoning you?” Lockhart reached into his saddlebag for something, taking his time in finding it.

“I killed her…” I said with no shame. I had no choice; I couldn’t be shamed in something I had to do. “She’s in a better place now…”

“Yeah, I thought you might say that,” Lockhart responded glumly, before pulling out a pistol from his saddlebag. “Y’know, Tornado… It is a shame that it has come to this, but you’ve left me no choice especially since you destroyed our last beacon of hope.”

I closed my eyes, waiting for him to take the shot. And he did. I heard a gunshot, a loud one, again restricting me of my hearing for a few seconds… But I felt no impact. I was breathing, I was living… Had I died and instantly come back in some sort of afterlife? Did I wake up? Was this all a dream? The obvious answer was no. I opened my eyes to see the Raider who I had shot the horn off of with a large portion of her head missing, and blood and brain matter splattered all over the cracked cobble wall behind her. My hearing returned, and Lockhart put the gun back in his saddle bag.

“You just can’t keep out of trouble, can you?” Lockhart sighed. “Just a typical Stable Dweller who has no idea what it is like to be out here, a typical Stable Dweller who doesn’t know right from wrong… Rangers! Take them all away - forgive me for this… But it has to be done.”

I felt my hooves suddenly become bound to each other by some sort of spell, before Lockhart taped my mouth to silence me. His bodyguards soon left the building, only to soon return with a cage which was identical to the ones my friends were held captive in. Lockhart nodded to his two Steel Ranger bodyguards, before stepping back into the shadows and out of my PipBuck’s light as the two bodyguards lifted the cage I was contained inside of onto their backs…

“Return to Stable 55 and put them in their cells,” Lockhart commanded as the two Rangers who held me on their backs nodded to him before beginning to take their leave, following the Rangers who carried my friends.

I looked at all of my friends. All of them covered in scars, and deep wounds… It broke my heart to see them like this. I didn’t want to see them like this, and it hurt me internally to see them in this much pain. I had endangered them again… Guilt just flooding back into my body like a plague, making me feel like the villain as if my friends were the victims. And in this case they were. I had led the Steel Rangers to them by letting them stay outside, it was my fault this had happened and if they were going to say otherwise, they had no right to.

I always found my ways in endangering my friends… Always. One way or another I’d make a mistake which would send us back to square one… Only this time, we might not get out. Returning to Stable 55 which of course was now a Ranger base was probably one of the last places we would want to end up. But it was nothing short of what I deserved. I just wanted them to be free - if they would have to be set free, and I stay then so be it. I’d have it that way, but not any other way.

Autumn Breeze knew the truth, and she was just guessing. I could tell. But she knew it better than anypony else -- the previous host didn’t watch closely enough, but Autumn knew exactly what went on without even witnessing it. I was pissed off, I wanted her dead and I wanted to stomp her head in so much that it’d be nothing but a red mush… But she was right in doing this, it was what I deserved, not my friends.

Footnote: Level up!

New perk: Bullet Sponge - Your resistance against guns has improved by 10% when not wearing armor, however, when you do where armor your agility falls by 10%.

Current level: 20 - Maximum level!

Sorry if this chapter isn't good, believe me... it's been a while. I need to get back into the swing of things. Also apologies about the short length too, considering this is my first serious FOE chapter in a while I didn't want to make it too long by overworking myself.

Well, we draw ever closer to the end. I'm getting near my aim of how many chapters I want, and things are working out nicely in my eyes. However, I will have to go back and improve one or two things when I do eventually complete it. Just think, I would have been writing this for a year come June. It doesn't feel like that at all. I aim to get this finished by Summer at the very least!

Thanks for reading!

“Good afternoon, everypony. Autumn Breeze here bringing you another update on what’s happening out there in the Wasteland!

“I have some good news, some very good news indeed. I’m sure you’ll all be as excited I am when you hear it. Our Little Blue Buddy has finally been captured by the Steel Rangers - he has been taken to Stable 55, and deservedly so. He belongs there. Locked in a cage, no where to go, helpless… He got what he had coming to him.

“I know I may seem like some sort of ‘anti-Tornado-gal’ right now, but let me tell you this - would I really be here now if I was telling lies? There is no way in hell Ele-... I mean, your host… would ever allow that. I know the truth, and it’s out there - you can choose whether or not you want to believe it, but he cannot add to the damage he had caused, and that my friends is progress.

“More news will be broadcasted shortly, listeners.”

Caged.

I felt like some sort of wild animal that had been captured and locked away. I felt hurt inside seeing my friends like this, I felt like a failure knowing it had to end like this. All of what I had done, all I had tried to do… Did all of that mean nothing? I was the most hated, most wanted pony in the Wasteland as of now. I was an enemy; I was the bait, the bounty, the prize for those who deserved me. But for what? Sex? Slave? Bodyguard? I questioned my own value. I wasn’t worth it.

I deserved to be here, and there was no questioning that. I had returned to Stable 55 with reason, and not because I chose to - but because I had to. I had to accept that. I deserved to be locked up and walked on; I deserved the ultimate punishment… I deserved to be broken. And why wasn’t I right there and then? Why didn’t he just crush me? Why didn’t he throw me around like some ragdoll?

I deserved it… All of it.

Crystal; the pony I loved… in danger because of me. Because of me. I had promised myself to keep her of all ponies safe, as well as my friends… But I failed. I kept throwing myself into danger, making them either follow or wait to the point where they had to fight themselves. This one pony, the pony who I met on my first day out in the Wasteland, the first of all ponies who I had met on my long journey had her life hanging by a thread. For what? Why was she going through this?

Dodge; my closest friend… dead. I had gotten him killed because of my stupid actions on letting him investigate on his own, and look what happened. He died. In my arms, bleeding out, choking and gasp for air as his life drained away, and as he drained away in my hooves. His blood was on my hooves, and nopony elses. It was my fault he was dead… And I’ll let nopony say otherwise…

Violet; my frienemy… dead. I had shot her to defend myself. It was either going to be me or her, and I had to think selfishly. I didn’t want to… I had to. If I died, what would use of all this be? Why did I do what I did just to get myself killed? She was the one acting like a foal; she was the one who turned their back on me. I didn’t do that, and I would never do that unless I had to.

Swift… Cyber; I hadn’t known them long. And now they were both in danger - because of me. I had a reason to blame myself. These two ponies didn’t deserve to even be shot. From the time I had spent with them, from the time I had travelled with them, they were never a burden. They were a couple of ponies who were good friends and good with guns too. Despite their sarcastic humor at times, they still knew what was right and what was wrong. And they still stood by me, even after I had activated the Oracle.

Why can’t they let them go…? They wanted me, and now they had me. I deserved this… But they did not.

Cold.

Returning to Stable 55 or any Stable for that matter felt… cold. The familiar humming from the ventilation system was audible again, and the coldness of the fresh air was nipping the back of my neck. I sat in a solitary room which only had a chair and a rusting desk in the center of the room, my hooves still bound so I couldn’t do anything. The walls were scarred and chipped with age, some of the exterior of the vents stained with filth. I sat there in the room patiently; the humming of the generator the only sound in the room.The room had no windows either. Just a door, a table, a chair and the grey mundane walls including the fluorescent tubes attached to the ceiling which lit up the room brightly.

Two Steel Ranger guards stood by the door, the intimidating armor they wore looking surprisingly clean. They had their miniguns pointed at me however, and each time they looked at me, I felt their eyes staring at me coldly through the tinted screen fixed upon the helmets they wore. The sound of hoofsteps soon became audible from outside of the door, before the door opened to reveal Elder Lockhart who was accompanied by two other Steel Rangers. I kept my eyes on him, but didn’t try looking at him…

Upon reaching the table, he walked around to the other side of it and stared at me with a piercing glare. I hesitantly looked up at the rotting, elder buck whose wrinkles were visible within the fluorescent completely. No detail left in the dark. He just stood there, before his attention went to the Steel Rangers and he nodded at them.

“Thank you for being here, Rangers. Now… I would like you all to leave.” Upon saying that, the sound of clanking and shuffling metal was heard echoing from the mundane steel grey walls as all the Rangers slowly made their way out of the tight doorway before the door closed behind them.

Once his attention came back to me, all that was seen was a small grin of accomplishment. He rested his forelegs on the table, and exhaled a breath which stunk of alcohol. Whiskey… Probably washed down with Sunrise Sarsaparilla. Not the fresh kind either… The kind which probably had been sitting in a radioactive puddle for weeks on end. I almost gagged.

“I’m sure you know why you’re here, right?” Lockhart stated, lifting a hoof as he spoke. “You know what you did… You know you just crushed all of Equestria’s hopes of ever recovering, and I want to ask you - is your sister’s life really worth the fate of an entire nation?”

I remained silent. Of course it was… But at the same time, maybe not. I was forced into that decision by greed, I did wrong and I knew I did. I was just too blind at the time to even notice how blind I truly was. I didn’t speak though… No. I didn’t want to, not because I couldn’t. I chose not to because I knew he would turn whatever I would say against me to use it as his weapon.

“The silent treatment?” he queried, sighing and pulling away from the table before slowly and steadily trudging around the room. “The longer you sit here, the more your friends have to go through… Especially Crystal. I’m sure there’s a lovely stallion preparing to rape her at any moment.”

“N-no!” I said, looking at him with glaring eyes. “No. You leave her alone… You leave them all alone. They shouldn’t be here!” I screamed at him, or tried to, but my throat was too dry. I ended up coughing after shouting at him.

“They’re just as guilty as you are,” Lockhart said in a persuading tone of voice. “You can’t just expect them to get away scot free like all the times you had - you’ve done more damage than this, but you and your ‘friends’ have backstabbed us and left us to rot in the dirt!”

“But they didn’t do it, they weren’t there!” I shouted, coughing yet again before toning down my voice so I could speak. “They weren’t the ones in control of it - I was. I assure you they’re innocent.”

Walking back to the table, he grinned as if he was amused with the guilt. As if he wanted to hear more… And more was what he was going to get. My brain couldn’t stop; it wouldn’t stop thinking these thoughts even though I wanted it to. But no… No, I was in guilt mode and once I was in guilt mode, there was absolutely no way of me getting out of it. I wish I had my gun… I needed to kill him.

“Friends are always guilty,” Lockhart noted. “You can’t expect to be wandering in the Wasteland without making a few enemies - you are guilty, and you know it… You just let greed and love blind you. It was either Equestria’s hope, or your sister and you chose your sister. Your… Whore-ish sister.”

“T-take that back!” I choked, snarling in anger as I said it. My hooves were still bound, and I was wanting them free so I could hurt him. “You know nothing!”

“Oh your sister, yes. She was a whore, alright!” Lockhart insulted, slamming onto the table. “She was the biggest one I had seen in the city - giving sex to those who supplied the caps, sucking cocks for the sake of a few rusty old caps!”

“Shut up!” I spat at him, before he stumbled back and wiped the spit which had splashed onto his face just below his eye. “You. Know. Nothing.”

The old buck remained silent for a few minutes, staring at his spit covered hoof. His expression turned sour as his attention looked back to me. He walked up to me angrily, my eyes looking right at him as each of his anger filled hoofsteps echoed from the surface of the flat and steel walls, before I felt his hoof swipe across my face powerfully. I yelped out as his hoof made contact with my muzzle, before I felt another hoof grab me from behind the head before he slammed my face down onto the metal desk. The surface of my robotic eye cracked as I made contact with it, some of the blood from my nose splattering onto the table as I coughed violently.

He moved in close and whispered right into my ear. “Listen here, boy. The damage you caused, all of it, all of the Steel Rangers in Sunnyvale, all of the hope Equestria had, all of the trust ponies had in you has all gone because of you.” I felt his teeth dig into my ear, and I soon yelped, before he pulled away and slammed my head onto the desk again.

“T-they are all innocent… It’s me you want. Not them,” I weakly stated, coughing up blood onto the mundane grey table. “I-if you let them go… You can do what you want to me. Just don’t hurt them…”

Elder Lockhart looked at me in silence, before turning away and walking to the door. Upon opening it, a pair of heavily armed Steel Rangers trotted in as Elder Lockhart left the room.

“You know where to put him…” Lockhart stated as he left my view.

“Yes sir.”

They had carried me to a room not far from the one I had left, only this time, the new door I was faced with had painted letters which stated: ‘Cell room 4B’, and the usual room name which usually was fixed above the door scratched out and painted over with black ink. The Steel Ranger who carried me on his back waited for his companion to open the door. When the door lifted open, I soon felt myself get thrown into the room, my hooves still bound together as I hit the ground with a loud thud, feeling the wound created in my side from the minigun shoot out a surge of pain as I landed on that side.

The door shut closed, and as I opened my eyes again, I saw all of my friends… My companions including my sister who had been brutally beaten. Facial scars and bodily scars all over her now naked body. She was curled up, crying to herself as her scars bled, large bruises and scabs all over body as she sobbed to herself. She had been raped… I knew she had… Upon realizing this, I felt my heart sink; I felt a new anger rise. He said that they’d rape her because they had while I was talking to him. The Steel Rangers proving to Equestria that they were the heroes… But they weren’t.

Crystal was beside me, her hooves bound and covered in a few facial wounds but nothing too serious. Considering the room was small and empty, Swift and Cyber had their own corners while Cyclone hugged the wall and Crystal was nearest to the door. Crystal looked like she was pained by it, as if she had seen it… Maybe she had. Maybe she couldn’t anything about it.

“T-they raped her, Tornado,” Crystal whimpered. “I tried to stop them… No… We tried. But we couldn’t. I couldn’t even use my magic - I tried…” Crystal’s eyes grew tearful as she looked away. She felt like it was her fault. I knew guilt when I saw it.

“No… Look at me,” I whispered softly, running my muzzle across the side of her face. She soon looked back at me, her eyes tearful as she looked into mine before I kissed the mare softly on the lips for a short while before retracting. “Don’t blame yourself. They’re the monsters, not you. You couldn’t stop it… I know how that feels - you want to stop something but you simply can’t. I know exactly how that feels.”

“Hah, gay!” I heard Swift’s voice call. I shot him a look and he soon looked away with a cowering glance. “S-sorry…”

Looking back to Crystal, I nuzzled her hoof in a caring motion, before looking back into her eyes. She smiled softly, but still had a guilty look in her eyes. I frowned, pushing my bound forelegs towards her and gently holding hers as she attempted to make her horn glow, but instead of glowing, it spat sparks as if it didn’t work. And it didn’t.

She turned away, before reaching for something behind her and then carrying it with her teeth back to me. A memory orb. Dodge’s memory orb. But how didn’t they find it? How did she manage to keep hold of it? My questions had to wait considering I was yet to look at it, and I knew that this was probably the only chance I would have in doing so considering we weren’t under fire by Raiders or Steel Rangers.

“They didn’t find it… Luckily,” Crystal softly whispered. “I know you have been wanting to look at it… Hence why you tried your hardest to make it look like you didn’t go through my saddle bag. I know you did, so there’s no point in hiding it.”

I felt myself blush. “W-well… You know me - heh…” I shyly admitted, reeling my head back as she placed the orb in front of me, the orb glowing brightly between us. I looked down on it unsure if I should or not…

“It’s okay to,” Crystal said with a tone of reassurance with a smile to match the tone of voice. “He had it for a reason. Besides, I’m sure it’d better if we did view it.”

She was right. We couldn’t just waste it; we couldn’t just let it gather dust. I took a deep breath, and prepared myself to look into the small glowing object. I moved my head closer, and upon looking into the small object, I soon felt myself leave my body like the times all the times before, and then soon finding myself somewhere different. Somewhere new. Not my own body, but a new one.

Upon finding myself in a new body, I instantly noticed I didn’t have any wings. The area around me wasn’t like the one I had just left, but outside in the Wasteland. My host was wandering the deserts of the Wasteland in what seemed to be the middle of the day. The skies were filled with the thick grey clouds, sun rays seeping through any of the small gaps which were there. Beside my host was a Steel Ranger, a heavily armed one at that with custom decorated Power Armor. His armor had a large print of the Steel Ranger faction logo all over it and custom designed minigun fixed to the armor.

Beside them both was a Sprite-Bot playing some of the music on the radio. Most of the songs played lacked lyrics, and instead played instrumental music. Nothing that was worth dancing to or anything, but more like travel music. It hovered closely beside them both as my host and the Steel Ranger spoke about… me...

“So… Do you think that new Stable Dweller who broke out of Stable 30 will last?” the Steel Ranger let out a spiteful comment, chuckling to himself. “Stable Dwellers - such fools. One way or another they always get themselves killed… They should stay where they belong in the world of the unknown, back where they were born in. Whatever happened to living and dying in them?”

My host chuckled along with him, a familiar voice heard from it. “I doubt it. Littlepip was the only successful ones in my books -- everypony else who happens to get out of their Stables somehow always end up getting themselves killed as if they came outside to be shot.”

“Littlepip had a goal, and she accomplished it,” the Ranger responded. “These new kids though don’t quite cut it -- they’re not cunning or smart, just stupid.”

“I know…” my host responded back to him after he finished. “Trust me, these kids have a death wish, I’d be surprised if this new-boy lasts a day to be perfectly honest with you.”

The Ranger chuckled. And so did my host.

My host soon came to a halt, as did the Steel Ranger beside him. The Sprite-Bot hovered in front of them now, the small mechanical wings on the back of the sphere shaped metal base keeping it afloat in the air. Along the road were sickly green fumes going up into the thick blackened clouds, the fumes nearly impossible to see through.

“Is something the matter?” the Ranger asked, lifting a hoof before bringing it back down with a soft metallic thud against the pavement.

“I just need to check for radiation,” my host answered as he looked to the Sprite-Bot and lifted a hoof pointing to the fumes. “CMC-003 check for radiation.”

The Sprite-Bot gingerly hovered down to the fumes slowly and steadily as my host watched it. The heavily armored pony beside him took a couple of steps forward, his armor plated hooves slamming against the road with a clunk as he took the steps forward to glance at the Sprite-Bot. It didn’t take long for the small cylinder bot to return. The Sprite-Bot soon returned, happily bleeping at my host as it hovered in front of my view.

“No radiation detected; fumes are from flames from a nearby wreckage,” the Sprite-Bot’s recorder from behind the grated panel on the front of the case that it was secluded inside of. “Wreckage has been diagnosed as an Enclave warship. Zero radiation detected, temperature levels reaching up to one-hundred and twenty-eight degrees Celsius.”

My host blinked, looking to his Steel Ranger comrade. He looked back into my host’s eyes. Despite the helmet covering the Steel Ranger’s face, his cold expression was still present. My host and I felt it crawl down my spine -- my host was about to say something, but before he could speak, his companion instantly cut him off.

“No,” his companion simply spoke, his voice muffled by his Power Armor helmet. “Going into temperatures like that is suicide, Dodge… Don’t do what I think you’re doing.”

“I...I wasn’t…”

“Oh, I know when you’ll do crazy shit,” his companion said with disgust, lifting a hoof and peering over him. “Just remember: the contract says that I have to protect you when you truly need it… Not in circumstances like these where you’re putting your own life at risk.”

“I know that,” my host bitterly replied with pure haste, as his eyes gazed up into the black visor which shielded the Ranger’s eyes. “Don’t get in my way, Thunder. I promise you that if you do, all I have to do is lift a hoof and you won’t wake up tomorrow morning. Now, are you coming or what?”

My host’s companion remained silent for a few minutes as if he was conflicted by everything he had heard, which didn’t seem normal considering he was a Steel Ranger. He just stared back into the host’s eyes, the reflection of Dodge’s emerald green eyes visible in the pitch black visor.

“Of course… Dodge,” he finally said lowly. I felt my host grin as they soon proceeded towards the wreckage slowly with the Sprite-Bot accompanying them both, and as they grew closer, the memory sequenced faded out…

A new scene soon faded in, the location much different than before. It was a claustrophobic cave which looked bitter and solitary from the darkness which engulfed it. My host was once again with the Steel Ranger as both my host and the Ranger stood inside of the dark, narrow cave, a bright irradiated green light coming into the cave slightly from behind them. Within the near distance of the cave, the narrow tunnel which descended slowly, deeper and deeper was a large circular door. There was a number on the face of it, but it was nearly impossible to see from the surrounding darkness.

The Sprite-Bot hovered beside the heavily armored buck, a flashlight fixed to the base of the exterior turning on and lighting up the way to reveal the remains of ponies buried partially within the dirt. My host took a couple of steps forward, the heavily clanking of the pony who was now behind him echoing from the rigid stone walls.

“Why are we here?” I heard a muffled voice groan from behind my host. “From what I see, it’s just another Stable left to rot.”

My host stopped with a chuckle as he reached the door, looking up at the daunting door metal door before him… A large sixty-seven plastered to the surface of the door. My host looked to the Sprite-Bot, the Steel Ranger standing closely to my host, observing the door. My host didn’t respond however, the Sprite-Bot just hovered to the broken and battered console beside the door and began to hack into it to open the door.

“Why are we here?!” a voice of pure impatience said solemnly. “Answer me, Dodge. Now.”

My host still didn’t respond as the door began to rear its way into the Stable, a loud ear-piercing screech rung out throughout the cave as the door was pulled backwards before the large mechanical arm which had removed it from its position rolled it to the side to reveal an empty, and abandoned Stable inside. It was darkened, almost blackened out… Inside were several skeletons and other remains. As the flashlight on the Sprite-Bot’s helmet examined the entrance from just outside of the door, dry blood splats and chunks of gore were seen all over the dusty and scarred mundane grey walls. Fresh corpses soon came into view as the flashlight scanned over them.

My host took one hoofstep at a time… Small, timid hoofsteps into the abandoned Stable, the usual clean air that came from the generators in Stables no longer there. The air was now replaced with a foul rotting corpse stench. And the usual humming of the Stable ventilation system was replaced with the distant buzzing of flies that lingered the nearby corpses. His Ranger companion was reluctant to follow, but he soon found himself following Dodge into the abandoned Stable.

“Looks like the Enclave got to this one…” my host spoke glumly, looking at the many rotting corpses beside him as he stood just inside of the Stable, staring at the small steel staircase just opposite him. “I know it’s here though…”

“Know what’s here?” I heard the armored pony’s low voice comment. “What are we looking for?”

“The Rainbow Oracle…” my host glanced back to his companion with a pained expression, knowing that what he said could have damaged his friendship with him. “I know you don’t like hearing that name. I know you would do anything in your power to stop anypony from using such a devi-.”

“No.” The Ranger walked forwards towards the staircase, his hooves clunking loudly against the metal below his hooves. “I refuse to help you find it… You must not detonate it.”

“Who said I was going to detonate it?” my host snapped back at him, stomping a hoof. “I never mentioned anything to do with detonating that thing… I just want to find it, and maybe shut the whole thing down before it’s too late. And since the Enclave has been here, it might be here.”

“I’m not going to let you do this,” the low voice which was now in front of him stated, my host staring at him in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” my host questioned, taking a few cautious steps towards him.

“I will not let you do this,” the armored pony who stood in almost-complete silence spoke. “If you take one step further, I will kill you… Turn back now…”

I felt my host’s eyes widen, and his heart sink deep into his body. “Excuse me?” my host said in alarm. “A-are you threatening me?”

“It’s more than a threat, Dodge.” The Steel Ranger pony soon turned back around to looking at my host, spinning the Minigun fixed to his heavy metal armor, my host perplexed and taking a couple of steps backwards, the Ranger remaining in his position. “I will… kill you… Not I might, I will. Turn back now, and I’ll spare your life.”

“I thought you were on my side…” my host said in a saddened tone of voice, his mouth quivering from the shock. “I thought you were out to protect me.”

“I am…” the Ranger bitterly responded, the motion of the Minigun stopping before the heavy pony walked down the metal staircase with thumping metallic hoofsteps, before walking up to my host with a humourous chuckle. “But I follow my own rules. Not yours…”

The memory sequence faded out at that point. I was conflicted with many different emotions… I was shocked by the fact that the guard who had promised to protect him. A pony Dodge trusted, much like myself. He trusted me. I put his life at risk by letting him check for any threats, only to get shot a few seconds later. It hurt knowing that I was like the Ranger… It hurt knowing that what I had done wasn’t enough to protect him.

The next memory sequence faded in revealing… Appleloosa. Midday. My host was dry in the mouth, unable to speak, unable to walk without stumbling. His companion was no longer there. The Steel Ranger had abandoned him, or it seemed like that had been the case. Upon reaching the center of the large ruined town, he collapsed onto his front, panting and gasping for air in hope that ponies would help. But they all watched, and they all waited. Ghoul ponies, Pegasi… Even the odd Alicorn or two gathered around to glance down at their sheriff who was dying on the ground.

“Out of my way, coming through!” a voice rang out from behind the crowd, heavy hoofsteps audible. “Excuse me, excuse me.” The ponies only moved to the side ever so slightly, nothing really changing between them. A Ghoul pony soon came into view… His flesh all mangled and burned, especially around his jaw and the forehead. The horn which was bestowed upon his head had been broken, a fraction of it remaining. The tatty and old leather coat that the pony wore was literally falling to pieces, before the Ghoul lifted my host onto his back and walked into the saloon.

“W-what’s happening?” my weak host murmured, unable to muster any strength into anything.

“Dodge, what happened to you?” Upon climbing the small wooden steps, he pushed himself through the double doors to reveal a familiar sight. The place I had stayed on my first night out. All of the round, circular tables were exactly how they were. Ponies laughing, joking, threatening sometimes… And the familiar barpony behind the counter. This was only a couple of hours before my arrival. And all I had seen in this memory orb had been so close together…

The Ghoul that carried my host soon rested him down in one of the empty chairs which were parked beneath one of the empty tables. My host’s face slammed onto the desk out of tiredness, and weakness, his eyes following the mangled old Ghoul who took the small walk to the counter to supply my host with the drink of which he needed desperately.

“W-why did you bring me back?” my host moaned, trying to lift himself from the table, but his weak and seemingly butchered body wouldn’t allow him. He didn’t have enough strength in order to do so. “W-why this shithole?”

The Ghoul glanced back, shooting him a look. “Keep your voice down! You’re meant to be the sheriff; you shouldn’t talk shit about this place. You signed a contract!”

“T-to hell with the contract!” my host spat. At this point I felt rather… perplexed at the fact Dodge’s attitude was so vile. I hadn’t seen him like this. He used to seem so proud of everything he did, and now it seemed like he wanted out.

Slamming a bottle of Sparkle-Cola onto the table, the Ghoul inhaled a deep sigh and rolled his eyes. “Just act like this town means a lot to you, because it means a lot to the ponies within it and without their sheriff this town is better off dead…”

The short memory sequence ended abruptly, although, it didn’t take long for the next one to appear. In fact, it appeared within a few seconds of the other one fading out. A very similar scene was built as if it was just an hour or two after the previous one, my host now standing in the doorway of the saloon beside the Ghoul who remained out of sight. Dodge peered around the doorway to see a pair of ponies running towards Appleloosa in the early hours of the evening. And then it all came back to me. Those two ponies were Crystal and I… This was our first meeting with Dodge.

“All you have to do is greet them, and then be on your way,” the Ghoul coughed, leaning in close to Dodge. “I know you hate this job, but we have to make this town look somewhat presentable.”

I felt the Ghoul’s nasty, and mangled hoof pat my host on his back to encourage him. My host took a deep breath, before slowly walking out into the open to await mine and Crystal’s arrival into New Appleloosa. As the two ponies grew closer, my host slowly walked up to them as their faces came into view… The face of a once-innocent and completely unaware blue stallion Pegasus dressed in a Stable outfit, with a device on his leg and a calm look on his face. His mane white, with blue tips which swept across his forehead, his eyes red. And seeing him without the robotic eye was… Different. Seeing ME without the robotic eye… Different. Beside him, the most beautiful and kind-hearted mare I had ever met. Crystal.

My host inhaled a deep breath before meeting up with them, trying to remain optimistic.

“Howdy there travelers, welcome to New Appleloosa. How can I help you fine folks today?” my host cheered with happiness, trying to contain it inside of him so that the depression could not return.

“We just need a place to stay,” the blue stal-... I responded. All that time ago. “Maybe some food as well.” The buck’s head glanced around New Appleloosa before looking to his PipBuck. My PipBuck.

“A place to stay you say? The inn has a couple of rooms, not of the best of quality of course…but it is good enough,” my host said, pointing to the place of which he had just left moments ago, the Ghoul no longer in the doorway. “My name’s Sheriff Dodger, but everypony calls me Dodge.”

That brought a tear to my eye. And so did the happy, and warm expression my face had all those weeks ago. “What things do you normally do, Dodge?”

“I make sure the town stays safe, I keep Raiders, Alicorns, Ghoul Ponies, Slavers out…well pretty much anything that brings harm to our town,” my host responded, tipping the stetson on his head backwards ever so slightly. “I can’t always stop them attacking, sometimes I need help…but it’s never there. Either the Deputy is drunk off of his ass, or he’s out getting food,” he paused for a moment. “Well it was nice talking to you travellers, I hope you enjoy your stay.”

The memory sequence ended there… The very last moment of it was Crystal and I trotting towards the saloon for our first night in the Wasteland. The emotion burned deep inside of me to relive this moment. Seeing myself talk to Dodge, seeing and knowing he was alive. He was a friend I valued so much, a friend I loved… And it just hurt to know I would never see him again.

The next memory faded in slowly, this time I wasn’t in Dodge’s body. I was in somepony elses. Which was strange considering I was inside of Dodge’s body the previous times. My body felt heavy, as if it was contained in some sort of powerful armor, as if it wore Steel Ranger armor. My host wasn’t breathing in Wasteland air… And my host’s vision was murky and dull; I could barely see anything as if I wore a helmet.

In the distance was a pony wandering alone. His mane long and elegant and a light cream color. His coat a dark oak brown, while his eyes a bright emerald green. He wore a stetson which sat comfortably on top of his soft mane, and as he slowly walked around carefully, my host seemed to slowly stalk him. This… looked all too familiar. Everything here… It all looked way too familiar. And the pony in the distance represented Dodge. It was Dodge.

My host took heavy hoofsteps, the feeling of the Wasteland soil beneath his hooves obscured because of the heavy armor my host wore. He kept taking the large strides, but keeping his pace steadied as he closed in on the alone buck who had not noticed him yet.

It didn’t take long for Dodge to notice my host, before rushing over to him in a hurry. My host stopped, staring and watching him dart over, my host’s body locking up as if his intention wasn’t to be spotted. When Dodge reached my host, he stopped in front of my host, looking at him blankly.

“Is there a problem?” my host asked, lifting a hoof. My host’s voice was exactly the same to the voice that his companion had.

“Stable 55…” Dodge responded in a dull tone of voice. He glanced back, standing there before rotating his whole body around to face the direction his head was looking in. “We have to go there. I’ve heard it’ll take us straight to Manehattan.”

“We are not going to Manehattan…” my host countered, lifting a hoof from the ground before taking a step closer to the buck in front of him.

“Why not?” Dodge cocked his head back, shooting a look at my host. Straight into my eyes… “I thought you wanted to help your Ranger friends, not let them be slaughtered by the Enclave.”

“They can handle themselves,” my host answered with a deep sigh. “I’m looking out for you. Heading to Manehattan is suicide for us… Not to mention, you have a town to defend.”

“Screw that place,” Dodge spat, drinking from a canteen which suspended from a small bit of rope from his neck, before screwing the cap back on and letting it hang. “I’m sick of playing the hero all the time, why can’t somepony else take my place?”

“How loyal,” my host bitterly said sarcastically, taking to his side and looking at him. “I thought loyalty ran through you. You seem disloyal to me, Dodge.”

“Maybe because that town don’t deserve loyalty,” Dodge said just as bitterly, glaring into my host’s eyes once more. “That town is nothin’ but a heap of junk -- I ask the pony who built it why they built it… It’s nothing but a recreation of its predecessor.”

“Maybe so, but you need to learn right from wrong,” my host said, shooting a look at him, but his eyes invisible to Dodge considering the dark black screen in front of them. “Leaving a town to rot isn’t the way to do whatever you’re doing…”

“Well… If you don’t want to be by my side, then be my guest… Go!” Dodge said, beginning to walk off into the distance slowly as he spat at his companion. Me. I was completely dumbfounded seeing this new Dodge… Old Dodge. How back then he was so bitter, and how today, or as of recent before his death. The Wasteland had no doubt changed him. It changed everypony eventually.

My host just watched him, inhaling a deep sigh as he made distance between him and my host. “I’m sorry, Dodge… But I have to do this… It’s the only way to stop you, to punish you,” my host muttered, slowly beginning to follow Dodge, but picking up the pace with heavy sounding hoofsteps that slammed against the dirt below them. He grew closer to the buck, before the stallion in front of him stopped in his tracks.

“I knew you wouldn’t just leave me like that,” Dodge spoke with a dull voice, glancing back to my host. But my host was just staring right back at him, his Minigun slowly beginning to spin as he aimed it towards Dodge, Dodge’s eyes widening in terror and shock as he noticed the Minigun fixed to my host’s armor spin. “W-what are you doing?!”

“I’m sorry, Dodge…” my host spoke in an apologetic voice tone. “But this is the only way I can stop you. You should have listened to me, you should have just gone home to aid the ponies of that town, not throw yourself into a bullet-storm to become somepony’s bullet sponge.”

“You’re wrong,” Dodge spoke, wanting to correct my host’s words. “I want to help ponies. Ponies with importance, not just some measly little beggars who take everything they get for granted…”

“Manehattan is no different,” my host spoke with defense, his Minigun still spinning away, aiming directly at the buck. “Manehattan is worse off; ponies die everyday behind those walls, nopony can help them. Not until the fighting is done, and even after all of that, the ponies who once lived there would not be able to rebuild.”

Dodge remained silent, hanging his head down and letting out a deep sigh. He soon glanced back at my host; glaring at him with hatred… the hatred didn’t affect my host. But it surely affected me. I felt like I was the one who he hated… And that hurt a lot, especially since I had dedicated a lot to him. I dedicated my friendship most of all, I valued him as a friend. And this was the first time he looked into my eyes this way. Even if it wasn’t my body, I still felt the emotion, and my host did not.

Dodge soon began to slowly trudge away, my host’s eyes following Dodge as he walked away. The silence which washed over them both was distancing them further and further apart. And as Dodge got further and further away, my host’s mindset focused solely on killing Dodge… And as his mindset changed to that, his Minigun spun once more before unleashing a series of devastating bullets towards the pony in the distance. As the bullets hit Dodge, deep and bloody wounds were created in his body, some of the bullets skimming him and creating scars, before he fell to the ground, heavy and bleeding.

My host stood there for a moment as he silenced his Minigun, walking over to Dodge slowly who had now collapsed onto the floor. Dodge’s heavy breathing was the only thing beside the heavy armored hoofsteps audible in the deafening silence which washed over them both. As my host reached Dodge, he stopped over his body, glancing down at the almost-dead pony that was covered in many deep bullet wounds and different scars along his back.

Dodge turned onto his back, one eye open and panting heavily as he looked up at my host. My host felt no remorse, nor did he ever plan to.

“Y-you…” Dodge choked out of himself, panting heavily while cradling himself in his own hooves. “Y-you signed a contract…”

“I had to stop you,” my host placed a hoof on him and applied pressure, Dodge screaming out and gritting his teeth as he winced and struggled underneath his armor plated hoof. “I may be out of a contract and a job… But I never liked you anyway. And now that I am gone, nopony will help you.”

Applying pressure once more, he vaulted over the injured pony and walked off into the distance, Dodge trying to scream words at my host, but my host blocked him out of his head by ignoring him. I wanted to help Dodge, I wanted to. But I knew I couldn’t… Dodge was blurting out things like ‘traitor’ and ‘monster’ at my host, but he chose to ignore him, leaving him to die in the Wasteland.

The memory sequence ended there, and as it did, flashes of other past memories were shown. No full sequences… Just flashes of memories, ones that involved me, Crystal, Swift and Cyber and even Violet. Showing everything right before his death… Every single thing. Even his own death. The way I held him in my arms, my teary face, the tears streaming down my face and the grunts of pain he choked out as he bled out from the large wound in his neck.

And then the final memory sequence kicked in…

The scene faded in to show an almost empty claustrophobic toilet. The only things inside being the toilet, and the sink and the cracked mirror which accompanied the sink lit up by one flickering bulb hanging down from above it. My host slammed the door shut, twisting the lock, their emotions falling apart as they tried to contain themselves. Walking up to the mirror, my host glanced into the shattered glass to stare into his own reflection. The graffiti all over the cracked and broken stone walls read words such as ‘fuck’ and ‘kill’. In the broken reflection stood a brown buck, with a long cream mane, and a pair of sore emerald green eyes.

It was Dodge… And he had been crying.

“This is one memory that I intend to keep, one that I want you to see, buddy,” Dodge began as he looked at himself in the mirror, trying to contain himself as he leant against the decaying sink. “It’s strange… Just look at me, you haven’t seen me like this before. And it hurts y’know? It hurts when you get hurt; it hurts to see my friends in danger… And now you’re in a coma, letting some that nurse ‘Ocean Wing’ look after you.

“I personally don’t trust her. But y’know? I know things will be okay… I-I just have to tell myself that they will be, and then I won’t worry as much. But the thoughts of losing you and Crystal would just return, wanting to drag me down into the deep and dark abyss, locking me away forever.

“In a few hours time, an old friend of mine is going to finish me off. ‘Cut the rope’. He’s going to kill me, and I know because… b-because…” Dodge closed his eyes, biting his lip to bite the tears away, looking to the side allowing the emotion to leak out of his eyes slowly before continuing.

“...B-because I-I want to die. Not because I want to leave you, not because I can’t cope on my own… but because I’ve lost so much. So much out here in this damned Wasteland, and I just can’t cope with… with the pain anymore. I was going to ask you to do it, but since you’re my closest friend, I know what the answer would be: no.

“Y’see… A few years before I met you, I had a family… H-had… They were unfortunately taken away from me. Before the Enclave attacked the small village we lived in, it was just me and my wife and our lovely baby filly. I was hoping she’d be the next Littlepip one day, running around and saving the day. But… She died too young. Imagine that, watching your own filly get slaughtered… for what!? ‘Just following orders’ my flank. They got a thrill out of killing her…

“My wife… S-she… She was raped by Mist. And then they took her away, locked her away like some animal… Ever since that day, I had hated him so much. Do you know how many years of hurt he caused me? He may want to destroy your home, Tornado, but he destroyed my heart, he tore my family apart!” Dodge roared out at the mirror, before breaking down into quiet sobs, and soon curling over the sink, staring down into the dirty and vomit-stained sink below his eyes.

My host, Dodge sobbed uncontrollably for a couple of minutes, before managing control his emotions and slowly quieting down before lifting his head back up to stare in the mirror. Dodge was emotionally tortured… All this time, his mind had been like mine in its current state. Nothing but misery, pain, suffering running through his head. Regret… love.

“W-what did I do with my life? I tried to help ponies. I tried, but I failed. I abandoned New Appleloosa… I couldn’t stand the ponies there; I didn’t want to just remain static all my life. I wanted to do what Littlepip did. I wanted to go out there and do the Wasteland something good, instead of helping one small town for the rest of my days…

“I’ll admit… I underestimated you, Blue Boy. I thought you were gonna’ end up like some of the others. I thought you were going to get shot in the groin, and call for your mommy… But no. You’ve lasted long enough to go all the way, to find what you came out here looking for. And meeting you was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I mean it when I say this, Tornado… I love you. I love you a lot… You’re a great guy, with a strong heart and a goal to achieve. You know what’s right, and you know what’s wrong… You recover from the past, you recover from mistakes… I wish I could have stayed with you longer, but my fate is decided…

“By the time you’re looking at this, I’ll be long gone, as you know. You’ve seen enough to make your judgement on me, whether I’m a good pony or bad. Either way, it won’t matter anymore considering that I’m dead…

“Goodbye, Torny. I-I love you…”

Dodge leaned forward and kissed the mirror to give the impression of giving me a goodbye kiss… And at that moment, the memory orb closed down. I found myself back in reality, back in the room I was in before, Crystal sitting in front of me. Her eyes looked at me with a saddened look. Swift and Cyber were silent… And surprisingly, so was my sister.

I felt myself shaking from all of what I had seen, from all of what I had heard. I collapsed into Crystal, pulling her into a soft embrace. I felt her hug me back, rubbing my back as I began to sob into her ever so softly. My muffled cries were not loud, but I wanted to scream… I didn’t have the strength to. I felt weakened by Dodge’s story, I felt like I had endured so much… I felt like he had hated me, I felt like I had shot him, that I had driven him to making the choice of euthanasia. Did me risking my life for other ponies drive him to assisted suicide?

Did… Did I really cause him to do that?

Footnote: Maximum Level! - Level 20.

**WARNING! THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER IS A MEMORY ORB ONLY CHAPTER. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT CHAPTER IN TERMS OF TORNADO'S RELATIONSHIP WITH DODGE, AND WHY SO MANY THINGS MAY HAVE HAPPENED. IF YOU ARE CONFUSED ABOUT ANYTHING AT ALL, JUST ASK AND I WILL EXPLAIN THE BEST I CAN!**

^^Yes. Very important.

War.

War never changes. As a wanderer of the Wasteland, I had experienced and seen war at point blank range. I had been involved; I had taken arms with both sides of the war. Dishonor. But what is war? Just ponies killing each other over control, or over a small disagreement, maybe a misunderstanding. Ponies killed other ponies for the thrill of using the weapons that they had -- knowing that they’ll never get another chance to do so considering war used to be so rare.

But war is part of history. War is what makes this world whole; it’s what makes the Wasteland as brutal as it is. They may not know it, but Raiders, Ghouls, Alicorns, Hellhounds… Every single pony and living creature in the Wasteland is fighting a war, even me and my companions. A war that cannot be won. A war which will carry out for decades, maybe even centuries. Maybe until the end of Ponykind. Whether the end means the rebirth of Equestria, or the very end of civilization, war will no doubt be the cause.

And what was I? A broken and completely torn apart pony. Mentally. Physically I was somewhat still in one piece other than the eye, but something told me I was getting closer and closer to the end; the end of my journey. Stable 30 was where I was hoping to return… to stop the Enclave from killing all of the innocent ponies inside of the Stable, to prove I have a chance at redemption.

War changes ponies. War can bring monsters out of their cages, and make enemies. Friends become enemies, and enemies can become friends. Mist saw me as his friend even though I hated him. Lockhart hated my guts, and I was starting to hate him. All of the ponies I killed, all of the ponies I had murdered just to get where I was now were all fighting their own wars. Whether it was for their own survival, or for the sake of a better tomorrow, I had killed them. No mercy. And now thinking back on what they were doing to get by, what they were doing to try and change this hellish Wasteland into a place worth living in… to end the violence. I had regretted every choice.

And I still have a chance at redemption, even if ponies believe I do not.

I was crying.

Crying from the visions that I had seen. How mentally broken Dodge was, how he pleaded for his life to end. And he was right. I wouldn’t kill him, I wouldn’t even think of it even if I wanted to. He was a friend… my friend. My closest friend. Crystal held me in a soft grip, allowing me to cry into her. She held me close, kissing my head and holding me there until it was all over.

“Whatever you saw wasn’t your fault,” Crystal said with a reassuring tone to her voice. “I know it wasn’t. You’re a good pony. You’re a pony who is capable of doing right, and you have done right. You’ve done what you thought was right, you chose your path, the path you wanted to take. You’re a strong pony, I know it, you just have to see it.”

“I’m not a good pony…” I moaned, nuzzling her chest and silently sobbing to myself. “I-I’ve killed ponies who didn’t deserve it…why did you stick by me? Ever since day one, you had stuck by me. And you had told me I was wrong all those weeks ago, you had yelled at me and told me I was wrong to do what I did.”

“I stuck by you because I saw a pony with potential,” Crystal gently pushed my head away from her to look into my eyes with a gentle smile. “We all make mistakes… You recovered well, Tornado. You’re the buck I fell in love with -- the buck who I promised my aid. And I am not looking to break that promise.”

She kissed me gently on the lips, and I kissed back, wrapping my hooves around her before breaking off from her and pressing my muzzle against hers gently, closing my eyes. I embraced her warmth, her softness, kissing her nose with a soft peck before reeling away. Crystal looked into my eyes with a loving smile, and I looked back into hers, holding her close to me.

The sound of the door opening was heard from behind me, and my attention quickly turned towards the open door. Two Steel Rangers stood in the doorway, their armor illuminated by the fluorescent lights fixed to the ceiling. The two Rangers stepped in one-after-another, and as they walked in, Elder Lockhart followed them inside. He shot looks at all of us, the mentally and physically damaged Cyclone Flash curling into a ball. My attention was focused on my sister.

His cold expression looked back to me, and I glanced away, trying not to make direct eye contact with Lockhart. I heard him move closer to me, his hoofsteps echoing as they tapped against the cold, metal floor.

“Get up…” I heard his cold, dry voice whisper lowly, as I soon looked back up to him. His eyes moved to my bound hooves, and he smirked, letting out a little snicker of a laugh and sighing to himself. “That’s right… You can’t. Oh well…” I soon felt his teeth latch onto my mane, as he lifted me from the ground slowly. I let out a yelp, and a few jolts of resistance, but nothing came of it.

“What do you want?” I asked with an equally cold expression on my face, looking at him straight in the eyes. “Why can’t you let them go? Just keep me -- I’m the pony you want.”

“Maybe you are… But they’re your companions,” Lockhart said as he lifted me onto his back, chuckling as he watched me struggle helplessly. “They’re meant to stick by you, right? No matter what…”

“Let him go…” I heard Crystal growl beside me, my eyes looking to her as she shot Lockhart a look that froze him in place as they made direct eye contact. “Now. Or I’ll make you suffer…”

“Your magic is useless here, you bitch,” Lockhart spat at Crystal, stomping a hoof and keeping his eyes fixed on hers as he gritted his teeth. “There is an anti-magic chemical being pumped through the air-ducts, so no matter how hard you try, you can’t free him even if you wanted to… I’m sorry, but you’re going now-”

Before Lockhart could finish his sentence, a loud and echoing alarm was emitted throughout Stable 55, the loud cries of the alarm coming from each and every speaker stabbing deeply into my ear. I cringed, and squirmed as I attempted to cover my ears with my bound hooves, before falling off of Lockhart’s back and slamming onto the ground with a loud yelp of pain. The alarm continued to emit loudly. Elder Lockhart looked to his Steel Rangers in anger and glared at them.

“Turn off the alarm!” he roared out at them, both of the Steel Rangers looking at him in silence, before nodding and rushing out of the room, the door remaining wide open as the metal clanking of their hoofsteps drowned out by the loud alarm booming from each and every speaker.

Crystal’s horn began to spark, and spit magic, Lockhart looking at her with wide eyes as her horn grew brighter and brighter by each passing second. As he was about to swipe at her with his wrinkled and ancient hoof, Crystal’s horn regained the strength to cast magic and as he was about to hit her around the face, Crystal looked to a metal box that sat in a far corner outside of the room, before yanking it over to her and slamming it across the face of Lockhart. Blood splattered onto the wall next to me as he fell with a loud thump, unconscious… but breathing. His face was swollen, and blood leaked from his mouth.

“Nopony calls me a bitch!” Crystal roared out, staring down at Lockhart’s unconscious body as she released the magical grip she had on the small metal box that she had used to knock him out. She unlocked her bindings with her magic and then soon unlocking mine, Swift, Cyber’s and of course, my sister’s.

My eyes widened at her sudden action of violence. The two brothers lifted themselves onto their hooves, Cyclone the first of all ponies to leave the room. Swift and Cyber slowly stepped over Lockhart’s unconscious body, chuckling to themselves and staring at the buck that bled from his mouth, with a swelling lump consuming his face. Swift left the room, but Cyber stopped in his tracks as his eyes met with Crystal’s, the rage undoubtedly still there inside of her.

“Remind me never to call you… the ‘B’ word, alright?” Cyber chuckled, walking out of the room slowly to join my sister, and his brother. I blinked, looking at Crystal as the mare stared down at the bloody and seemingly lifeless body of Lockhart.

I walked passed her, my eyes tracing the static mare as she let out a few heavy breaths. Her eyes soon met with mine, and I quickly looked away as the lingering look of fury remained in her eyes. That was the first time I had seen her like that. It was different. Frightening, awesome, shocking? Yeah… it was like that.

We left the small prison-like room we were all contained inside of, the blaring alarm system that continued to ring out loudly echoing loudly throughout the almost empty halls of the Stable. The surrounding area was filled with different ‘Cell-Blocks’ and square pillars which held the low metal roof up, preventing it from collapsing if it ever grew weak. At either side of us all were two hallways, both hallways stretching for what looked like forever. Both hallways were filled with a very mundane blue light that illuminated the corridors to their entirety.

I took a couple of trots both ways, glancing down both hallways to see if there were any ponies coming down both sides. I repeated this process more times than I had hoped, but I had to make sure that we left… somewhat in one piece. I kept pacing back and forth, the sound of my clattering hoofsteps drowned out by the ear-piercing alarm that boomed out of the large, circular speakers fixed to the corners of the walls.

“What are you doing?” I heard Cyclone ask as she stepped in front of me as I came back to the right-hoof side. I halted in my tracks, staring into my sister’s eyes. “Either way, we’re going to fight. It doesn’t matter which direction we go, as long as we’re together…”

I blinked, looking to my other companions, all of them without any weapons or armor. I looked to the ground, the blackened floor below my hooves reflecting from the fluorescent lights fixed to the ceiling. I felt a hoof touch my shoulder, and as it did, I looked up to see my sister smiling into my eyes despite the torture she had been through. I smiled back… weakly.

“You shouldn’t worry, Tornado,” Cyclone softly spoke, the alarm almost blocking out her voice. “You’ve come so far… So why not just go all in?”

She was right. I had--we had come so far. I pulled Cyclone into a hug. She hugged me back.
Upon pulling away, I smiled at her, before glancing to my other companions who waited patiently for some input on what was going to happen from this point on. Risky right, lucky left? I looked to Crystal, taking a couple of steps closer to her.

“Right…” I said, lifting a hoof from the ground, Cyber, Swift and Crystal and even Cyclone looking at me. I looked at them all, smiling softly. “Lucky left, risky right… What fun is there without taking risks? We’ll go right, and see where it takes us.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Swift said glumly, walking up to me and looking at me with an unsure look of worry. “I don’t want to be responsible for your death, Tornado. I don’t want to be holding you in my arms while you die… Not like he did…”

My smile was wiped from my face as I remembered. I knew who he was talking about. Dodge. It still hurt to remember that. I didn’t want to remember it. I shook my head to try and ignore the depressing thoughts that returned to my memory-banks, looking to all of my companions with determination as I tried to speak over the alarms that rang out loudly.

“Whatever happens now happens…” I spoke loudly, pacing around to look at them all as I did. “Whatever happens from this point on is in our control. Whether that is us meeting our fate, or achieving our goals, whatever happens today is in our control and only we can determine how our journey ends…” I said, taking a couple of trots towards the corridor I had chosen us to go down, glancing back to my companions as they gathered behind me. “I just want you all to realize that no matter what happens today, I will always value our friendship. We’ve been through the good times, the rough times… the unbearable times together. But we’ve all stuck by each other. We have all stayed put, even when things are a little too hard to stomach… And from this point, I’ll stick by you all to show you how much you all mean to me… Together. Until the end...”

With no weapons, and no armor, I feared this was where we would all be buried. But I had faith; I was determined to reach Stable 30. From this point on, it was all about getting there and how we would get there without losing a pony or two. I had made many enemies in my time in the Wasteland, and I feared that I was about to make more…

Trotting down the long corridor, I didn’t think to race ahead without them. The alarms kept ringing out, grinding against the inside of my ear as I continued down the claustrophobic corridor. As we continued down the long hallway which seemed as if it was endless, the sound of gunfire punctured through the sound of the alarms, and so did the sound of agony and slaughter. I stopped in my tracks, my companions halting behind me as I listened in closely…

The sound of ricocheting bullets, and laser weapons echoed loudly, and after the gunshots, screams of pain were heard before the sound of something heavy collapsing followed. I began to move once again, my companions keeping the same slow and steady pace as I did. I noticed the end of the hallway, the metal door ripped from where it used to be and thrown out into the large room at the end of the hallway, some of the lights fixed to the hallway’s ceiling flickering.

I noticed passed the small doorway bullets flying, blood splattering onto walls as heavily armored Steel Rangers collapsed with a thud, plasma beams flying and slamming into the ground once missing their target, or killing their targets. I took silent hoofsteps, hoofsteps that were not audible over the sound of the alarm and the gunfire that rang out loudly throughout the Stable, keeping my head down.

I waited for the battle to die down, knowing that we wouldn’t stand a chance without any weapons or armor. It didn’t take long for it to die down, either. The gunfire stopped, and the only sound audible at this point was the blaring alarm blasting from the speakers. Taking a couple of steps closer to the doorway, I kept my eyes fixed on the blood on the walls, and the many different guns and weapons lying around on the floor.

I walked out into the room, glancing in all directions to check if everything was clear. It was the Atrium, and the brutal battle that had happened moments ago had just ended. And nopony lingered to check for more. We were all surrounded by corpses of the Steel Rangers. Armor punctured with ease, bloody wounds beneath the metal plating of their Power Armor exposed, and blood pouring from any craters created in their armor.

“The Enclave did this…” Cyclone’s voice spoke with a grunt, as she walked up to one of the silent corpses lying on the charcoal black flooring in the Atrium. She removed the helmet from one of the dead soldiers, looking into the shattered visor and sighing. “There is no doubt.” Cyclone looked up at the balconies as did I, nopony whatsoever glancing down at us.

“How do you know?” I looked to my sister, raising a brow and sighing. I walked up to her and looked down slightly. “It could have been anypony.”

“Who hates the Steel Rangers more than they do, huh?” Cyclone countered, lifting a hoof and tossing the helmet to the floor. “Nopony. They’re sworn enemies. Whenever they catch sight of each other, no matter if it’s a family member or even a friend… they’ll strike each other down.”

I blinked, looking to Cyber and Swift who had already dug into the weapons they had found. Both of them took a large rifle each. Two black rifles… no attachments or anything. Just plain rifles. They both scavenged for ammo, and as I looked back to Cyclone, she tossed me a battle-saddle and two heavy rifles to fit into the slots, all of the items she threw to me landing on the floor with a loud thud.

“You’d better gear up,” Cyclone said, turning back and searching some of the corpses for ammo and weapons as she spoke to me. “If it is the Enclave, then you’d need the best weapons and armor you can get. The Power Armor would be useless in its current state, so I wouldn’t use it if I was you.”

Crystal levitated a magnum to her side, emptying the chamber and then placing a new round of bullets into the circular container, before closing it once more. Levitating a small and battered saddlebag to her side, she fixed it to her, and placed the small gun she found into one of the satchels on her saddlebag.

“Let’s hope we make it,” Cyber said from behind. I glanced back, looking to the blue buck that floated in midair, his mechanical wings keeping him afloat. “It’d be a shame to see us get this far, only to fall even further.”

We could only hope. Hope was what kept me going; hope was what prevented me from just dropping dead. Ever since I took my first steps out into the Wasteland, I had always looked at myself being the whipping buck of the Wasteland. For the most part, that was true… But hope kept me going until the end, and I had no intentions to just give up on what I wanted to achieve.

“And we will make it…” I said, lifting a hoof while looking at him. “Believe me. If we’ve gotten this far, we can go much further.” I hopped off of the ground, hovering up to the upper levels as my wings aided me to do so midflight. Landing on the balcony, I took a couple of steps forward, before glancing down to my companions.

“Come on!” I said, lifting a hoof. “This should lead us to the Overmare’s office… There might be a secret tunnel leading to the exit. There was in Stable 30… at least from what I remember.”

I looked forward once more, seeing the steel grey walls coated in blood and chunks of gore. Armored corpses of Steel Rangers leaned against the walls, and some were on their backs, their armor like before broken and shattered. I took a couple of steps forward yet again, glancing at the bodies as I heard Swift and Cyber land behind me and finally my sister who was carrying Crystal. One of the windows on the left side of the hallway was painted over with black paint to make it impossible to see through. The hallway was wide, and had many doors leading to different rooms.

I looked up at a sign that read: Overmare’s office - an arrow pointing upwards besides the thick black lettering on the glowing green sign that flickered violently.

I continued further blindly, looking left and right to check if there were any Enclave troops waiting to ambush. Even if it was me, even if they knew it was me, no doubt they’d still try and kill me considering I would be standing in their way. I felt something brush my hoof, before a silent ‘click’ rang out. I looked down, my heart sinking once I saw a trip wire… a wire I had triggered…

Soon, I felt a spray of bullets hit me in the side of my body, before stumbling into the opposing wall. I yelped out, bleeding from the several wounds created in my body before falling down onto my front and holding my bloody wounds with my hoof. And as I fell to the ground, Enclave troops soon swarmed out of the many doors and began to engage on my companions. I tried to lift myself up, coughing and wheezing as I did.

“Dammit, Tornado, again?!” I heard Cyclone yell, hearing her hoofsteps run to me. She stood over me, firing a couple of shots from the magnum fixed to her armor. She kept shooting, before grabbing a tight hold of me, and flying back to the edge of the balcony as fast as she could. A couple of shots grazed her wings, causing her to stumble mid-flight slightly. She settled me down behind a wall, looking into my eyes and pressing a hoof onto my wound. I groaned out, hissing loudly.” Keep pressure on your wound, alright? Don’t hesitate to do so!”

Cyclone soon placed one of my hooves on the wound as she removed her now-bloodsoaked-hoof from my wound, looking into my eyes and pressing my hoof down onto my wound. Like before, I let out a loud hiss and twitched in pain. I looked into her eyes, my vision going misty from all of the pain I was enduring. A blast of energy just missed the head of my sister, before she ducked her head down and glanced passed the wall, keeping her hoof on mine.

“Look… Just keep yourself out of sight, alright?” Cyclone said, kissing my forehead and pulling away. She leaped onto her hooves, rushing passed the wall, her gunshots which blended with the other gunshots loudly echoing. I coughed violently, trying to press my hoof onto my wound with as much pressure as I could… but I would only release that pressure moments later.

It hurt so much… fuck… it hurt more than the shotgun blast itself. Wherever that came from. I peeked around the corner, seeing Crystal ducking behind a large box that hugged a wall, peeking up and firing a couple of shots from her magnum, before ducking down again. Swift and Cyber were flying around in the limited space they had, firing down on the Enclave troops. Some of their shots that did hit the Enclave resulted in injury but not death. One of the Enclave troops fell in a bloody mess after his left foreleg was shot, shattering all of the bone inside of it completely.

Swift was the one who added the killing blow… Some of them shot up at them, but could not hit considering the speed they were going. I needed to get involved. Cyclone was standing in the open, walking towards them slowly, firing two shots before reloading each time. She killed a couple, only for more to burst they way in from down the corridor, the alarms no longer covering their shots.

I entered S.A.T.S. and targeted the nearest Enclave soldier. I didn’t care about hiding away, I wanted to help. I couldn’t just leave them to fight on their own. I targeted the torso of the nearest troop twice, before firing the two heavy rifles in my battle saddle to deliver devastating blows.

BANG! BANG!

Once the bullets made an impact, the soldier stumbled, two craters being created in his armor as he bled out from them both. He looked towards me, holding one of his wounds as he began to bleed out, and pointing at me with the other. I gritted my teeth, trying to endure the pain as I started to climb onto my hooves, hissing out as the blood from my shotgun wound leaked onto the floor.

I trotted over, hissing and gritting my teeth to bite back the pain and for the most part, it actually worked. I felt my legs giving way, but I tried to keep my balance. I joined Crystal behind the box she was ducking behind, looking to her as I panted heavily.

“I-I can fight…” I said weakly, leaning up, and entering S.A.T.S. once more, targeting another Enclave troop who aimed directly at me after catching sight of me. I targeted the head once, and then his right foreleg just in case I missed.

I fired the two shots, the first shot traveling straight through his head; blood and brain matter splattering onto the wall behind him before I shot his foreleg to blow it clean off. He fell in a red mist, dead and not-moving. I ducked down once more, Cyber and Swift flying over as more of the Enclave troops shot at them. They landed beside me, Cyber still shooting his rifle at the enemies, while Swift looked down at me.

“You can’t…” Swift said with a tone of concern. “You’re injured, Tornado, let us handle this.”

“N-no… I said we’d do this together, and together we will,” I coughed in pain, lifting myself up once more and firing two shots without S.A.T.S. at the closest Enclave soldier I could, crippling their ability to walk. The soldier crashed to the ground in a world of pain, before I peeked over, and fired a killing blow to the face of them, blowing their brains out across the floor.

Swift pushed me to the ground, holding me down with a hoof and glaring at me. “Tornado… rest… you don’t want to make your injury worse, do you? You’re hurt pretty bad, if it gets worse, we might not be able to treat it.”

“Brother, I need help!” Cyber called, ducking down and pulling on the trigger with his wing, only wounding a soldier. The Enclave’s laser shots were being thrown at us all non-stop, Cyber ducked down, but he wasn’t quick enough… Cyber took a shot to one of his wings, the metal fingers of the wings bending and some of them were even blown off completely. “GAH! Son of a bitch!”

Swift caught his brother as he fell to the ground, Cyber holding his injured wing and wincing from the burning sensation in his body. I looked at Cyber, feeling like this was partially my fault… he tried to sit up against Swift, but couldn’t. Every time he moved, he let out a cry of pain as if he himself was burning. The wing that had been shot was now completely blackened from the shot he took to his wing; the fingers on the wing that remained were all crooked and bent.

Cyclone rushed over, firing two blind shots at the enemy, before ducking down and sitting near Cyber. She examined his wing, moving it slightly with her hooves, only to have Cyber slap her hooves and push her away, looking at her with anger.

“D-don’t touch them!” Cyber growled, tears filling his eyes. “It hurts… oh Goddess it hurts.” He cringed in pain, arching his back a bit. Cyclone scowled, shaking her head as Swift tried to hold him still.

The blazing rounds from the Enclave were still coming over us, grazing the top of my head as I tried my hardest to stay low. The wound still hurt… I placed a hoof on it, and applied pressure, wheezing and groaning out in pain, Cyclone looking to Cyber and shaking her head slowly. She soon looked to me, and crawled over to me, looking at the wound.

“Crystal, can you heal this?” Cyclone asked, slowly and gently removing my hoof from the wound that continued to bleed, the sound of gunfire echoing loudly as it impacted against the box and traveled straight through. The shot just skimmed my ear, and I yelped loudly.

“I don’t have my supplies, I’m afraid I can’t!” Crystal said with worry, peeking over and firing her magnum twice at a nearby Enclave soldier. “He’s going to bleed out if we keep going…”

“Then we have to hurry, we can’t stay here!” Cyclone exclaimed, looking to Crystal with worry. “My brother is not going to die.”

“And he won’t!” a voice from within the gunfire yelled out. A familiar voice… I used the remaining strength I had to peek over to see the source of the voice. And there he stood, slowly walking down the corridor as the gunfire stopped, the Enclave glancing to their leader and saluting him. Mist. “Well… he won’t if you come with me…”

“M-Mist…” I glanced over to him weakly, coughing and holding the shrapnel filled crater in the side of my body, the blood soaking my hoof entirely. “W-why should I come with you? W-why now?”

“You want to return to your home, don’t you?” Mist said, walking closer with his eyes fixed on me. He soon stopped again, showing a sinister grin at me. “Well, we’re about to leave for Stable 30… I will take you there, but I must call upon you for another favor.”

“Another favor?” Cyclone asked, looking at me. “Don’t tell me you were responsible for the Rainbow Oracle’s detonation.” Cyclone soon looked back at Mist, glaring at him in the eyes.

“Oh he was… It was all his fault,” Mist spoke with a grin, looking at my sister and letting out a dark snigger. “Don’t you listen to the radio at all, Cyclone? As I recall, you’re not so innocent yourself either.”

“What are you talking about?” Cyclone scowled, holding me close to her. I winced as she pulled me close to her, my wound oozing some more.

“You turned your back on us!” Mist hissed at her, stomping his hoof on the ground and giving her an enraged look. “You betrayed us all; you walked out like the coward you are… All because you didn’t have the guts to fight by my side - to kill off the Steel Ranger threat for good!” Mist’s expression soon calmed as he remembered my deed… the favor I did for him. “Although, it doesn’t matter… this war is over… The Steel Rangers are dead and all because one blue pony helped us accomplish our goal.”

Cyclone remained silent, looking down at me. I felt a few tears fall onto me, and she shook her head in what looked like disappointment, disgust. Now that she knew what I did, I felt… disheartened. I was crushed inside; Mist had told her something I never wanted her to know. He looked to Cyber, sarcastically pouting upon seeing his wing.

“Oh… you poor thing, did my troops play rough?” he said, walking over to him and glancing down at him. Cyber’s expression quickly turned sour.

“Go to hell…” Cyber soon spat into the face of Mist, Mist wiping the saliva from his face and letting out a huff to contain his anger for the disrespect he had endured.

“Oh well -- it surely is a shame that it’s had to come down to this, but you’ve left me no choice,” Mist took a custom designed Magnum from his saddlebag, and soon aimed it at Cyber, his eyes going wide. “I’m so sorry.” Mist fired the shot in-between Cyber’s eyes, his blood and brain goo splattering onto Swift as he held his now-dead brother.

“N-no!” Swift cried out, his eyes watering up with tears that streamed down his face as he held his brother in his forelegs. He looked into his lifeless eyes, pulling Cyber close to him and soon burying his face in Cyber’s chest, crying ever so softly into his brother’s corpse.

Mist looked to me, and shot a look at me as pointed the gun at me with his wing and scowled. “Now - if you want your friends to live, you come with me this instant!!” Mist shouted at me, the sound of Swift’s crying

“O-okay… We’ll follow… Just don’t kill anymore ponies…” I gulped, struggling to lift myself onto my hooves, groaning and hissing from the shrapnel in my body. I felt Cyclone tug on me to try and stop me, but I refused to stop. “Please… don’t kill anymore than you have.”

I limped over to Mist to join him, his gun pointing to Crystal, Cyclone and Swift. “Get up… now!” Mist demanded, his wing steadying as if he was preparing to kill another pony. My heart sank as his gun fixed onto Crystal and my sister. They steadily climbed onto their hooves, all three of them, Swift leaving his brother’s body behind as the blood-soaked stallion trudged behind Cyclone and Crystal.

“I-I’ll end you for this…” Swift muttered under his breath to Mist. “Y-you won’t get away with killing my brother, you Enclave bastard.”

“I’d love to see you try,” Mist grinned, turning around and slowly walking back the way he came from, the Enclave troops keeping their eyes on us. “Follow - and if you think you can aim your weapons at me, or carry them openly at all, think again. Any sign of threat against me results in death.”

I gulped, following him down the hallway, my companions following me closely. As we all followed him, so did the Enclave soldiers. The sound of heavy metal hooves that dauntingly followed us made me more cautious about my actions from here on out. I wasn’t concerned about my own safety; I was concerned about my companions’ safety more than my own. Cyber was dead… He was actually dead, and I couldn’t believe it. Was it my fault?

All the deaths of my companions had happened because I didn’t throw myself into the fire. And I really should have done…

Upon reaching the Overmare’s office, my companions and I waited as Mist walked to the console and inserted a code into the terminal, the Enclave troops standing behind us all dauntingly with heavy weaponry and armor as they watched over us. The large office was filled with different mainframe computers, and generators, and in the middle of the mundane grey office was an oval desk with a solitary terminal on it.

Once Mist had finished inserting the code, loud machinery from below the metal floor rung out loudly as the desk soon began to rise, and a small hatch beneath the desk opened up to reveal a stone staircase. Mist got his gun out again, aiming at me with the gun in his wing, cocking his head to signal me over.

“Come on, blue boy, you first!” Mist ordered. I gulped, limping over and still hissing out from the pain that surged its way through my body. “Hurry up, I haven’t got all day! I’ve got a Stable to raid!”

Upon reaching the staircase, I limped slowly down each step, only to feel Mist shove me down the stone set of stairs, sending me tumbling down them all and landing with a thud and then a crack. I yelped out, landing on the side that was filled with shrapnel, and staining the stone floor with a blood red color. I glared up at him, as he looked down at me and aimed his gun back to my companions.

“You next, Unicorn!” I heard Mist roar at my companions. I lifted myself onto my hooves slowly, trying to fight through the pain, and as I managed to balance myself on all four of my hooves, I looked up at the staircase to see Crystal trotting down them slowly, and hanging her head low. She took her place beside me, and I pulled her close to me, nuzzling her gently.

“Everything will be alright,” I whispered softly, kissing her gently on the lips. She kissed back and I continued to nuzzle her along the cheek. “I’ll find a way to stop him before he does any real damage.”

“I hope so, Tornado,” she whispered back to me. “If anypony can do it out of all of us, it’s you. Stable 30 was where you came from after all, it is your home.”

“You next, Pegasus!” Mist’s voice echoed loudly from above, my attention turning to that. I felt my heart sink, still seeing Mist aiming the gun at my sister and Swift. I heard Swift’s slow, and heavy trotting echo from above, before seeing the red Pegasus who hung his head low slowly make his way down the stone staircase.

Upon reaching the bottom, he stood by me, and glanced up at Mist. “I’ll end that bastard… I swear, he won’t get away with any of this. Once we get to Stable 30, I’m ending that arsehole… One way or another he will suffer for what he did.”

I looked at Swift. “Don’t worry, Swift. I promise you he’ll regret ever killing your brother, but you have to wait until the time is right. Don’t do anything stupid, if you do, you’ll not only get yourself killed, but you’ll get all of us killed.”

“Right… It’ll still be worth it though,” Swift answered darkly, looking to me hastily. “My brother died today, I had no control over it either. It kills me!”

“And finally, you… The traitor, the whore!” I heard Mist’s voice boom at my sister, my attention going back to Mist.

“Whatever floats your boat,” Cyclone responded as her armored hoofsteps echoed the room above, Mist keeping his bemused look on Cyclone.

“Hurry up!” Mist boomed, Cyclone slowly walking down the stairs, with Mist keeping his aim on her at all times as she slowly trudged down them. He looked back up, and lowered the gun in his wing. “Make sure you close the hatch behind you, if any of the Rangers survived, we don’t want them following us.”

Mist walked down the stairs, aiming his gun at all of us once again, his Enclave soldiers following him down the stairs as he cocked the wing his gun was in to urge us to keep moving. Shooting him a look, I soon began to trot down the long hallway, as the hatch behind us soon closed and the Enclave ponies followed Mist slowly. My companions and Mist followed me closely as I limped towards the metal door at the end of the short stone hallway.

I coughed, stopping suddenly as I felt the pain increase in my wound, feeling my body growing weaker. I heard a gunshot, and a loud ping on the metal door in front of me echo inside of the darkened hallway. Mist fired a warning shot, and as he did, I glanced back at him and scowled.

“Open the door,” Mist instructed, aiming the gun at me and huffing. “Don’t think I won’t hesitate to kill you… or them…” he soon aimed at my companions, and grinned as if he was getting a kick out of torturing me emotionally. “Open it…”

I looked back at the door, and yanked down on the long and black metal handle, pushing the door open to reveal a long metal corridor which led to another door. The only light inside of the corridor ahead of us was a bright red light in the center of it, revealing the many different boxes tucked away against the walls, and the grated metal flooring. I limped through the doorway as fast as I could, hearing the others follow me closely.

I coughed, limping quickly as my wound continued to bleed through my Stable jumpsuit. I was growing weaker with each sudden jerk of my body, but I pushed on, knowing that if I stopped, my companions would be killed off just like Cyber was. I let out heavy huffs, dragging myself and forcing myself to reach the door at the end of the darkened room. However, I soon collapsed onto my front from the lack of strength I had, groaning and spitting out blood onto the cold metal surface below me.

“Get up!” Mist roared from behind me. I heard him getting closer, his hoofsteps slamming against the metal. He stood beside me, and leaned down biting my mane and yanking me up onto my hooves once again, the wound letting out a surge of pain across my body. “Now go!” Mist instructed once again.

I let out a huff, limping to the metal door and yanking down on it weakly to open it. Mist walked back beside me, and pushed it open to reveal a brightly lit up control room with no door in the doorway. On the other side was the exit to Stable 55. I felt a push in the back of my head, a push that shoved me through the doorway into the control room.

“Hurry up!” Mist ordered after pushing me in. I yet again looked back at him with a scowl, and proceeded to the exit.

I guided myself through the doorway that led out of the control room, and as I did, the large circular door on the left side of the room came into view. A small metal staircase led down to the large door, and the grey mundane walls of the Stable were reflecting the lights that were fixed to the floor. A large mechanical arm was suspended in front of the exit’s door, and a control panel that activated the mechanism was beside the staircase.

I limped over to the control panel slowly, hearing the other ponies following me slowly. I gripped onto the rusty railing beside the staircase, taking a few breaths as I stared down at the console in front of me, coughing up blood and spitting onto the ground below me. I coughed violently, slumping onto the ground and taking a few deep breaths as I did, Crystal rushing to my side in a hurry.

“Get back here, I didn’t tell you to rush on ahead!” Mist spat, my eyes looking towards him to see the gun in his wing aiming at Crystal, Cyclone stood beside him with a saddened look in her eyes and her ears flopping down. Swift stood beside Cyclone, glaring at Mist as he looked at her. “Get back here, I say!”

“He’s hurt!” Crystal contradicted, looking at him with anger as she screamed at him. “He’ll die if he doesn’t get medical attention now!” Crystal looked back at me, holding me in her forelegs as I began to bleed out. I held her close, panting and huffing as the pain began to increase and my body strength faded ever so slowly.

“Well, you’d better make sure he doesn’t die, got it?!” Mist shouted back at her, walking over, keeping his pistol aimed at her as he made his way to the console. “Keep him alive, and you’ll stay alive - the lot of you.” He pressed a few buttons on the control panel, the alarm ringing out to signal the mechanical arm going into motion.

The arm pressed itself against the door, and once it got a firm grip, it slowly pulled the large circular door back with a loud, ear piercing screech before rolling it off to one side to reveal the pitch black cave beyond the Stable 55 door. He walked to the top of the staircase, looking to me and reaching into his saddlebag. Throwing a Healing Potion and Magical Bandages to me, he grinned and looked back to my companions before looking back to me.

“It’s time to suit up,” Mist said before proceeding down the staircase, and then towards the exit of Stable 55.

Footnote: Maximum Level! - Level 20.

This is the penultimate of the fanfic! Well... other than the epilogue. I just wanted to say my thanks to all of you for the support, and I want to thank you all for being patient and reading on. You are all awesome!

Loyalty.

The Wasteland would always have its ways of screwing you over, and giving you the big ‘fuck you’ right when you think you had done something right. The Wasteland denies heroes, it doesn’t want heroes. But the Wasteland needs them, and I certainly was not the right pony to be that hero. It needed another Littlepip, somepony who could put things right regardless of the outcome. Even if it killed them in the process, the Wasteland would be a little better from it -- ponies would ask what kept them going, and the companions of the hero would reply “friendship, of course.”

I was not the pony to fill in those shoes. No… I wasn’t ready. I had made many wrong decisions for the sake of my friends’ lives, for the sake of my lover’s life. Crystal. On the night I had destroyed Sunnyvale, she was on the verge of having her life taken away from her. I chose to destroy Sunnyvale to ensure that she made it out, and she did. But the outcome of that decision was regret, and guilt was my weakness. Guilt was the only thing that made it hard for me to progress. I was no Littlepip.

This Wasteland cries and begs for heroes -- ponies who know how to do right -- ponies who know what is the difference between right and wrong -- ponies that can pick themselves up after their many mistakes and errors. I however could not. The Wasteland taught me that the tiniest mistake could have thousands calling for your head. And it was right to do that. No matter what choices a pony makes out in the wild and woolly Wasteland, no matter how many ponies you save, the Wasteland would always find its ways to toss you back into the abyss of guilt and despair.

I was not one of those ponies…

The Wasteland taught ponies to fight to survive -- the Wasteland forced the violent lifestyle on ponies so that Ponykind could survive. Little did they all know, little did I know, that no matter how hard you fight for your own life, you’re only taking away another pony’s life -- slowly killing off Ponykind one by one. I was no better than they were, I was the same as everypony else. Fighting for survival, trying to add one more day to my life… One pony at a time. I was no different, no better. I was just as bitter and as sick as they were. I killed with almost no remorse.

The Wasteland changes ponies. The Wasteland changed me. My first night out in the Wasteland was a whole new experience. I had killed my first pony, I had met a new friend… ventured beyond the sealed door of Stable 30. Even though it wasn’t my choice. I may not have noticed it, but ever since I found myself outside of Stable 30, ever since I took my first steps out into the open Wasteland… the Wasteland was changing me. Compared to what I was all those months ago, I was a monster. A bitter, evil, sadistic monster!

The Wasteland corrupted Ponkykind. Power and control. The Steel Rangers and the Enclave battling each other for control over the Wasteland, and trying to grab as many civilians and other ponies that were useless with weaponry. The promise of easy money dragging them in, and holding them in the fray. After all, money talks. The civilians didn’t want to fight, they didn’t want to be involved in the violence -- but the safety, and caps they were all promised pulled them in, hypnotized them. And forced them to fight until they saw red.

The Wasteland is a cruel and bitter place. A place where not even the toughest of the tough, the brainiest of the brains or the most brutal of the brutes could survive alone. Friendship guides ponies, friendship protects ponies… Friendship is what makes ponies. Without it, we’re all powerless, useless, and alone. Friendship is what helped me get this far, and I was not going to give up.

I came home…

Upon arriving at the familiar cave that contained the door to Stable 30, I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me as the dirty cave air rushed down my throat and hurried into my lungs. The scent of the degrading metal coming from the door at the end of the cave filled the air, and the surrounding darkness almost restricted our vision completely. I could just see the number thirty plastered to the mundane grey door at the end of the cave.

Home…

I felt a hoof shove me in the back of the head, grunting as I felt the hoof make contact. “Move!” Mist demanded, still holding the gun to me in his wing as he waited for me to proceed. I glanced at him, snarling and glaring at him before turning back and slowly walking back down the dirt covered path I had walked months ago.

I walked closer and closer to the large circular door at the end of the cave, taking deep breaths as I examined the cave around me. A small smile came onto my face as I felt myself on familiar soil, before stopping at the door and looking up at it. I smiled at the door as I felt somewhat welcome, even before we entered. I took a deep inhale of breath knowing that this was going to be the last I’d see of Stable 30, this was going to be my last time coming here ever.

My eyes grew misty as a couple of loose tears trickled down my cheeks. I was quick to wipe my tears away with my hoof, looking down to the ground and sniffing up quietly as I wiped the leaking emotion from my face.

Hearing walking hooves echo from behind me as they scraped the dirt, I soon noticed Mist walk passed me to the door’s console. He lowered his gun, but kept it in his wing’s grip as he began pushing a few buttons to activate the door’s mechanism. At first, seeing him do this with ease shocked me. How did he know the passcode to get inside? But then again… If he kept documentations on Stables, then I’m sure he’d have the code for each of them somewhere.

Upon hearing the sound of the alarm blaring out of the speakers just above the door, Mist took a couple of steps back and looked at the door as he waited for it to open up for him. Cyclone, Swift, Crystal and I all stood there in silence, waiting for the next move. I didn’t want to kill the ponies inside… I didn’t want to, and I shouldn’t have to. No. I had killed enough already.

A loud screeching sound was soon heard from the door, as it began to be reeled backwards by the large mechanical arm on the other side, before being rolled to the side to reveal the brightly lit up entrance to Stable 30. Bright fluorescent lights were fixed to the polished grey ceilings, and the walls beyond the door were just as polished, carrying a dull and mundane grey color.

“Come on,” Mist said, walking into the Stable with his gun by his side. We all felt a little push from the Enclave soldiers, before walking slowly towards the wide open entrance of the Stable. My home.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly proceeded to walk into the Stable, my companions following me as trudged my way back into my home for the first time in months. Upon feeling the unfamiliar cold metal that built the doorway against my hooves, I soon walked into the Stable to feel the incredibly familiar Stable floor beneath my hooves, and after a few seconds upon entering, the scent of the air was distinctively different. The once rotten Wasteland air that I was used to was now replaced with filtered oxygen… it was so fresh, and the familiar humming of the generator for the vents was also heard.

Home.

Mist stopped by the small staircase leading up to a small metal door, looking towards me as he waited for me to join him. “You’re with me from this point on, Tornado. Your friends can wait here until the job is done, and then we get out of here.”

Without saying another word, I slowly trudged my way towards him, glancing back to my friends. Their eyes looked saddened as if they themselves had lost hope. As if we had reached the end of the line… maybe we had. Maybe I had. If I didn’t stop him from hurting anypony, this place would be my funeral.

“And if they decide to try and follow us, or attack you, kill them. All of them. If one of you steps out of line, you all die…” Mist said, lifting a hoof as I stood by him. He looked to me with a grin. “Try to not let that sink into your mind -- it could ruin things, and it’d be a shame for me to have to kill you if that happens.”

“Kill me?” I asked, raising a brow. “What exactly are your plans and why do I have to be involved?”

Mist climbed the staircase in silence, and I followed, waiting for his response. I got none. Not yet, anyway. We reached the door which sat just in front of the metal staircase, Mist instantly grabbing the lever which controlled the mechanism and pulling it to open the door. Pulling the door open, a small and darkened room with a large generator in the center of it was beyond it. To the left side of the small room was a brightly lit up staircase.

He looked to me and walked through the doorway. I followed, closing the door behind me and taking a deep breath. Something told me I wouldn’t see them again… but I tried to ignore that feeling… just like he said. And I had to try and ignore that thought until we were done here.

“There’s a console in a certain section of the Stable… it manages to pump clean air inside of here instead of the irradiated shit clogged up in the air vents. Without the filter online, the irradiated air would get pumped into the Stable…” Mist began, lifting a hoof and looking at me in the eyes. “Truth be told, the “irradiated” chunks that are inside of the air ducts, just behind the filtering system is a lot more deadly that the air outside of the Stable. I plan to fill the Stable with radiation… They’ll die overtime, but it’s a much cleaner job than say “shooting up the place”,” Mist walked towards the staircase, expecting me to follow… and I did. “But you, Tornado, are the icing on the cake… you can’t have cake without icing, just like I can’t do this without you.”

“Why am I so important?” I asked, tilting my head as I followed him up the staircase. “Why me?”

“Because they know you… upon seeing me alone, they’d shoot on sight. It’d be too messy for my liking. You can somewhat grant me access, right? Even if they hate your guts for abandoning them,” Mist chuckled darkly under his breath.

“Stop right there!” a loud voice echoed from the top of the stairs. Looking up, I saw a pony wearing padded Stable 30 security armor. The pony was a mare, a unicorn… In her levitational grip were two weapons, one being a gun and the other being a baton. She wore a protective helmet with a strong plastic visor stained with blood. Fresh blood. As were her padded hooves. Her blue eyes just focused on Mist and Mist alone.

“Oh. I’m ever so sorry; do I seem to be intruding?” Mist tilted his head, looking to me, obviously expectant of me to ask her to move out of the way.

I took a couple of steps up the staircase, trying to get her attention. Which I was successful, but she didn’t lower her gun and recognize me at all, nor did she care who I was. No, she aimed her gun at me, my eyes looking directly down the dark barrel of the pistol she wielded. She raised her baton as if she was preparing to strike me down.

“Stop!” she screamed. “You’re both trespassing, how the hell did you get inside of the Stable?!”

“I-I’ve come back!” I said with a tone of shock, trying not to move just in case she fire shots at me for moving. And it was likely that she would. “D-don’t you remember me at all?”

“We didn’t ask for you to come back, Tornado!” she barked, gritting her teeth as her weapon pushed against my head, in-between the eyes. “We threw you out for a reason. You tried ever so hard to help the ponies believe there was hope beyond that door. You tried to tell them that there was a land of opportunity -- that the Stable was nothing compared to life outside. Tell me, did you find hope?”

In truth, I hadn’t. I hated almost every minute. But I was certainly given more freedom.

I gulped, looking at her. “Please… let us pass. We won’t cause no harm, I promise you… Please!”

“Yeah, that’s what you said last time,” she let out a bemused chuckle, prodding the gun barrel against my forehead. “Now fuck off, blue boy! We don’t want you around here anymore. I’ll give you ten seconds to head back the way you came… If not, then I’ll blow your fuckin’ brains and feed the chunks to the residents.”

“Oh please, do I have to do this?” I heard Mist’s voice speak from behind, before a loud BANG from his gun echoed and ricocheted off of the walls. I closed my eyes upon hearing it, before opening my eyes and seeing the security mare standing there, almost lifeless. Her jaw was blown clean off; blood spurting and leaking from the wounds and her eyes wide open as noises of what sounded like a backed-up sewage pipe came from her throat. He fired another shot, the bullet pushing straight through her visor and into her eye, knocking her onto the ground.

My eyes widened my heart sinking as I stared down at her bloody corpse. I shook my head, looking down at him with a glare. “You didn’t have to do that! She didn’t deserve to die!!”

“You think you’re any better?!” Mist bit back, climbing the stairs and stepping over her corpse. He took a couple of steps closer to the door at the end of the bright hallway, lighted with fluorescent lights fixed to the ceiling. The door had a sign that read Atrium above it, the sign glowing a bright green color. “Think about all those ponies you killed, the ponies you barely knew. Tell me, did they deserve it? I defended you… we weren’t going to turn back, I wouldn’t allow that! The least you could be is grateful that I saved your skin!”

The sound of the alarm soon blared out of the speakers fixed to the scratched steel walls. I flinched, hearing the ear-piercing alarm bounce off of the walls and shoot directly back into my ears. It didn’t take long for me to recover from the sudden burst of pain that I felt just then, and without saying anything else, Mist continued to the door, keeping his pistol in his wing’s grip. He looked to me, shooting me a look.

[[“FIND THE INTRUDERS AND STOP THEM; ALL STABLE RESIDENTS MUST REMAIN WITHIN THEIR QUARTERS!!]]

The Overmare’s loud voice boomed on the speakers as the alarm rang out. Mist trotted towards the door before opening it to reveal a large open area with balconies at either side. Bridges connected both sides together, and the floor was a shining obsidian black. Various metal boxes were scattered on the ground and the pillars which held the metal balconies in place were thick and made of metal. Mist trotted through the doorway, keeping his gun nearby him at all times and scanning the area for any guards.

“I didn’t want to have to fight my way there, but if we have to.” One of the doors at the opposite ends of the room opened to reveal a small party of armed guards with guns and batons in their levitation grips. Mist quickly ran towards one of the nearby boxes hugging one of the support beams, and ducking behind it.

“Over there!” one of the guards’ voices sounded, before I ran for cover and slid down on my belly, before slamming against a box. I yelped, holding the wound in my side as I felt it slam against the box.

[[“FIND THE INTRUDERS AND STOP THEM; ALL STABLE RESIDENTS MUST REMAIN WITHIN THEIR QUARTERS!!”]]

The Overmare’s voice repeated as the sound of the raining gunfire from the guards was drowned out by the alarm. I shuffled around a bit behind the box as Mist shot some blind shots towards the guards. Reaching into my Stable Jacket’s pocket, I pulled out my gun, holding it in my jaws and then soon peering over to see how many there were.

One… two… three… seven. And the numbers were rising upon me catching sight of more padded guards marching through the open hallway. Peeking over to see which pony would be the easier target, I opened up S.A.T.S. to select the closest one to me. Luckily, the pony I had selected was out in the open. Selecting the torso and one of their forelegs, I fired two loud shots to the Stable guard, both of the shots piercing through the armor they wore and damaging them.

The shots luckily didn’t kill him… I wasn’t really wanting to kill ponies who I could have possibly known before I was thrown out of the Stable. Leaning over again, I popped into S.A.T.S. yet again and targeted one of the guards who had just arrived, targeting both of his forelegs and firing the shots in rapid succession, wounding and crippling the guard. Like the guard before, he fell with a cry of agony before falling onto his front.

“Shoot the fuckers, we cannot disappoint the Overmare!” I heard one of the voices from the guards call.

Mist soon crawled his way over to me, sitting by me and looking at me as he attempted to keep his head down from all the spraying bullets that were flying above us and hitting the wall. I looked at him, my gun in my jaws still as the rounds from the security guards continued blazing over us. The sound of rushing hoofsteps began to be heard above us. I peeked around the box, looking up at the bridges to see security ponies running across to the opposing side so they could see us.

“I’m not fighting all of these, Tornado!” Mist called out, peeking around the corner to check if the hallway was clear. “I know where we have to go… but I must keep you alive. Are there any shortcuts?”

“Shortcuts to where?!” I cried out, feeling a bullet barely miss me. I flinched, curling up and looking to the balcony at the three security ponies who had taken position on the balcony. I shot two shots without S.A.T.S., one of the bullets killing one of the three ponies on the balcony with a headshot, his blood splattering onto the grey wall behind him and the other crippling the pony directly next to him.

“To the generator room?!” Mist barked back, looking for an opportunity to dart for the corridor. “You help me now, and then we go our separate ways. All I ask of you is to guide me.”

I looked to the hallway that the guards came from, before looking back to Mist and opening up my hooves as if I wanted to hug him. He looked at me with a confused look before shaking his head and facehoofing, the bullets still flying over the box we hid behind at a rapid pace.

“I don’t think a hug from you will help us in this situation, ‘Nado!” he criticised, climbing to his hooves, but trying to keep low.

“No… I can fly you to the hallway. From then on, we run… don’t fight. Nopony has to die.” I lifted myself onto his back, wrapping my forelegs around him tightly so I wouldn’t drop him mid-flight. I prepared to try and carry him to the doorway, of course, with him being a full-sized pony; I most likely wouldn’t be able to fly for more than a few seconds.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Mist gritted his teeth, glancing up at me as I pressed against his back. “If you drop me, I’ll make sure that you don’t leave this Stable alive!”

“I can’t promise anything, but we can try!” I said, taking a deep breath as I counted to three under my breath, staring at the doorway. Another bullet just avoided my flank from the final pony on the balcony opposite us, making me flinch once more. “Three… two… GO!” I soon lifted Mist off of the ground, flying out of cover and towards the opened doorway at max speed, the security guards shooting at us and only just missing us my a few millimeters.

Upon reaching the doorway, I felt my strength fail as I soon fell to the ground, landing on top of the stallion I carried. Sliding along the floor ever so slightly, I quickly launched up as the guards shot at us and charged towards the doorway. With one simple buck to the button that operated the door, the door slammed shut and it also locked in the process, the sign above it changing from green to red almost instantly after the door closed.

I stumbled forward, panting heavily as I glanced back at the door, hearing hooves slamming against it and the yells of the security ponies, all of them cursing and screaming at their failed attempts on stopping us. I grinned, looking back to Mist. He grinned back and let out a snicker within his heavy breaths.

“Not bad… This doesn’t mean with friends, though,” Mist admitted, shooting me a dismal look.

“I wouldn’t bet on it,” I responded instantly, walking up beside him. Standing in the lengthy and claustrophobic corridor that was lit up with a reddish glow from the light boxes fixed to the ceiling, at the end of the long corridor was a door to the upper section of the Atrium.

[[“YOU FOOLS! THERE ARE TEN OF YOU, AND ONLY TWO OF THEM, ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU CAN’T STOP TWO PONIES WITH LESS FIREPOWER THAN YOU?! THAT’S UNACCEPTABLE. I EXPECT BETTER FROM YOU ALL!!

“AS FOR YOU AND YOUR FRIEND, TORNADO, YOU’RE BOTH NOT WELCOME HERE. I’M GIVING YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO TURN BACK AND LEAVE WITHOUT CAUSING ANYMORE VIOLENCE. TAKE YOUR CHANCE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!”]]

There was no turning back. I didn’t come this far for nothing. And Mist wasn’t going to get what he wanted… I had to try and stop him. Of course, when the time was right. Right now we needed each other. We needed each other to push through this, to get there alive… If he died, I wouldn’t make it out alive. Not that I ever respected him.

“We’re almost there… I think…” I said, lifting a hoof before proceeding to the door at the end of the corridor. Mist followed me closely, staying by my side as we walked down the long and empty hallway. “Yes… we’re close.”

Trotting up the stairwell at the end of the corridor, we still kept our weapons out in the open just in case. I held a strong grip on my Pistol’s mouth-grip, while Mist walked ahead with the gun in his hand. Opening the door at the top of the stairs, it revealed the balcony we had been underneath moments ago. Mist took one step, peeking around the doorway in both directions. Standing behind him, I noticed in the circular window of the Overmare’s office (the one that gave her a full view of the Atrium) that she wasn’t standing there, looking for us.

I removed the gun from my mouth, and held it in my wing. “Come on… let’s hurry. It’s on this level…” I said, lifting a hoof. I felt my heart sink, thinking about what would happen if I failed to stop Mist.

Mist trotted out, walking to the right and down the large open hallway. The hallway was filled with red, as one small bright bulb that was fixed to the ceiling supplied all of the light for the area. I followed him with a regretful and worrying sigh, the grey steel walls coated in dry blood as if they had beaten ponies against the walls. Which was believable…

Upon passing the door to the Overmare’s office, I glanced a look to the scratched and battered door, and then to the flickering sign above her door. I let out a sigh, before looking back to Mist and following him slowly as I held my gun in my wing, following the buck closely as he wandered forward. The voices of the security guards that we had fought earlier were loudly echoing from the walls as they continued the search, but failed to find a way beyond the door that I had locked.

We soon reached a door… A scratched and damaged door. A door filled with various bullet holes, and tainted with dry blood. We stood by the door, staring at it, before I looked up at the sign above it. Generator room. The sign was bright green, and the big and black text on the sign seemed to be welcoming. I looked back to the door, Mist walking over and pushing his hoof against the button on the wall beside the door.

“Here we are…” Mist spoke, walking through the doorway. I soon followed him, looking around the room as I did. “Let’s get this done and get out of here… We’ve wasted enough time as it is.”

The room that we had both stepped into had the same red glow like the hallway just outside of the room. There were large mainframe computers, exactly four different computers all around the same size, beeping and working as they made sure that clean air was being pumped through the air ducts. By one of the dark colorless walls sat a small desk with a terminal sitting on top of it. In each individual corner of the room were terminals and other large computers… but of course for other uses.

Walking over to the terminal on the desk right beside the large mainframe computers, Mist placed his gun onto the desk gently beside the terminal, and began to hack into the computer’s system. I glanced at him, watching him staring at the screen of the computer as he attempted to hack into the Stable’s system. My heart sunk further, knowing that I had to act now or it would be too late.

But… I couldn’t. My mind was telling me that I shouldn’t. But I had to. I couldn’t just let him do this… Killing the lives of many innocent ponies inside of a Stable and for what? The betterment of the Wasteland? No… Stables don’t harm the Wasteland, ponies harm the Wasteland. Ponies like him. But if I just showed him the barrel of my gun, he could potentially tell the Enclave guards to kill my companions. He has the power to do that, and I’m sure he would take that opportunity.

I looked down at the ground, thinking as I heard him type away on the computer, before hearing a couple of hoofsteps coming from the doorway. My attention quickly turned towards the doorway. I saw my sister wearing Enclave Power Armor, and the weapon she held within her wing’s grip was a pistol. An Enclave pistol…

Mist turned to look upon hearing the sound, before sighing and chuckling to himself with a shake of his head. “Oh… You trust Enclave soldiers with something, they never do it right. I should have brought more.”

“You need to stop what you’re doing,” Cyclone said, gritting her teeth. “Mist… this is wrong. You shouldn’t have to kill these ponies.”

“Are you suggesting that I just let them all go?” Mist glared at her, raising a brow and taking a step closer to her. “If they get out, we’ll have more ponies who want to “help.” I can’t deal with ponies like that -- we don’t need more LittlePips… And certainly not more Tornados! Wanderers like LittlePip… Like Tornado… Like all the others before him are a thing of the past. Nopony wants them anymore.”

I looked at Mist, not saying a word. Ouch? So I was unwanted? Great.

“That’s not true!” Cyclone shot a look straight back at him, aiming her gun right at him as she took a step closer herself. “Tornado isn’t perfect, far from it. But what he’s done is shown that he can make his own decisions, that he doesn’t have to get into somepony’s good books. He doesn’t care being liked by ponies who he doesn’t even know. He has his friends, he has us -- that’s all he needs.”

I stood there, baffled by all of the things I just heard. I never rated myself as ‘perfect’, but I couldn’t make my own decisions without getting ponies to hate my guts. But I certainly didn’t care if they did if I didn’t know them… as long as they weren’t trying to hunt me down and kill me, of course. I still kept my eyes on them both, Mist taking a couple of steps closer while shaking his head.

“Wanderers, like Tornado, haven’t been seen in a long time. In fact, it’s been many years since we’ve had somepony like him…” Mist bitterly said, glancing back to me and grinning, before looking back to my sister. “But they’re not needed -- the Wasteland could do without them. And the Wasteland most certainly could do without you.” Cyclone’s facial expression changed to a confused one as Mist raised his gun. “Goodnight, Cyclone,” he said, before firing a single shot at my sister. The bullet hit her right between the eyes, blood spraying out from the exit wound behind her, before the mare collapsed with a loud thud.

I stared at her body as she collapsed, her eyes wide open, tears filling my vision and making my sight blurry. I gritted my teeth, dropping the gun in my wing onto the floor and biting my lip from all of the sadness and emotion I felt from that single event. I had lost her… And this time, I wouldn’t get her back.

“N-no,” I mumbled under my breath, darting over to her as Mist returned back to the console. I stopped at her body, the blood leaking from her wound and onto the floor, some chunks of brain and lumps of brain matter on the ground. Her eyes were wide open, and I just stared at her, baffled and speechless. She was dead… And there was no way on getting her back…

“I’ve almost finished,” Mist commented, his hooves hitting against the keys. “Once we finish up, we can leave.”

I didn’t respond. Anger, hatred… so many emotions built up inside of me slowly. I glanced back to Mist, tears trickling down my face as I shot him a look, breathing heavily and trying so hard to just bite back the tears. But they weren’t going. Nothing could stop them.

“W-why did you kill her?” I asked, breathing heavily as the tear trickled down my cheeks and onto the floor. “She didn’t deserve it… and neither do the ponies inside of this Stable.”

“Don’t you understand what she did? She walked out on the Enclave -- she walked out when we needed her the most,” Mist turned to me and shot a look right back at me. “The only reason I kept her alive this long was to get you to come this far with me.”

I held the lifeless body in my hooves, looking back down at her body in my hooves, the blood leaking onto me as I held her gently. Kissing her head and then pulling away, my tears falling onto her body and drying into her fur. I soon closed her eyes slowly, and then settled her back down onto the cold, hard ground, before wiping my eyes and sobbing softly.

“Done. The filter’s offline,” Mist said, leaning away from the computer. I looked to him, gritting my teeth and climbing to my hooves, shooting him a look. “This Stable is going to fill up with radiation any moment now -- we have to leave and fast.”

“You bastard…” I mumbled under my breath, standing by my sister’s body. “You… complete… utter… BASTARD. Why did I even trust you?! You gave me no choice whatsoever, you forced me to help you -- you put my companions’ lives on the line just so I could help you kill off a Stable?! You killed my sister, Dodge, Cyber and for what?! What did they do to you that deserved what they got?!”

He glanced at me with a grin, turning his body towards me as he stared into my hate filled eyes. “Because it was fun toying with you, Tornado. Besides, you’re no better -- you killed Violet, not me. Wanderers, like you, don’t exist anymore. But when you came along, I feared that you’d try to become the new LittlePip. Luckily for me, you didn’t. But either way, it was fun toying with you… and now that you’ve helped me come this far, I have no use for you now…” he threw his gun aside with his wing, before fixing his eyes back onto me. “It’s the end of the line for you… though, it has been fun. I’m so sorry that it has to end like this, but one way or another, I was going to kill you anyway.”

Mist soon threw himself at me, the white stallion tackling me onto the ground. I landed on my back, the buck standing over me and swiping a hoof across my face strongly. I let out a yelp, trying to throw him off as he soon swung his other hoof around my face with the same amount of force. I shoved my hooves into his face, slamming a punch into his face to try and throw him off, but my strength was no match for his at this point.

I shoved my hooves into his face, Mist struggling to hit me as I began to push him off of me. He grabbed my hooves, trying ever so hard to throw them away from his face. I soon slammed my right foreleg into the side of his face, Mist screaming out in pain before I rolled on top of him. I swung my hoof around his face as I held him down with the other hoof, rapidly punching him around the face. Blood started to come out with each punch I landed on his face, the blood splattering onto the ground in small bursts.

“Y-you’re making a grave mistake!” Mist roared at me as I attempted to contain him beneath me. He raised his hoof to block mine, my hoof colliding with his as I went to swing another blow around his face. He gritted his teeth, his muzzle bleeding from both his nose and mouth. Throw me off of him, he was quick to try and pin me down, shoving both of his hooves down onto my shoulders and holding me down on my back.

I struggled, trying to raise my hooves to throw him off. He reached into his own jacket, searching for something. He was quick to reveal something in his jaws… A knife. My eyes widened as he applied more pressure to my shoulders to keep me pinned underneath him, cocking his head back and then soon slamming his head down, the blade’s tip pointing towards me.

I quickly jerked away from the descending knife, the metal knife slamming against the metal flooring below me. He quickly pulled his head back; the knife slightly dented but still sharp enough to cause some real damage. He swung down at the other side. I quickly dodged, this time the knife getting jammed into the ground from the amount of power he applied. I felt the buck lie down on top of me as he tried to yank the knife back out of the ground, his hooves applying less pressure. I used this opportunity roll on top of him, before sitting on top of him and slamming my hooves down onto his neck. Choking him, I stared down at him with a glare, applied more and more pressure as I brought my hooves closer together while I held his neck.

“Y-you’re going to die… for everything you did. Every single mistake you made,” I groaned, breathing heavily as I stole the air from his lungs.

“L-like hell I am!!” Mist spat out, coughing before throwing me off with ease and pinning me back down once more. He swung both of his hooves around my face at a high velocity, mashing my face with both of his forehooves. Upon feeling his heavy hooves hit my face; I felt blood burst out from my nostrils and mouth as he swung both of his hooves my way.

Holding my face down with one hoof, he began to use his other hoof to brutally beat my face to a bloody-pulp. Or tried to. Each hoof that landed on my face felt painful, and stung with each and every contact he made. I didn’t make any whimpers, seeing the blood from my nose splatter onto the floor with each punch he landed.

I tried to shove him off of me, wrapping my own foreleg around the one he used to punch me to weaken him. He breathed heavily from all of the energy he used, and as soon as his eyes widened, I twisted his foreleg to induce pain. And pain was what I did induce. He soon cringed and arched his back in pain, his foreleg making a few silent pops as I began to twist it, slowly sitting up and then headbutting him in the muzzle. Releasing his foreleg from my grip, he screamed in agony as he fell onto his back and rolled on the floor.

I quickly darted up, limping back towards the desk where his gun was, but before I could reach it, I felt something slam against my right hindleg. I screamed, almost falling face first onto the ground. I looked back to see the blunt knife on the ground, stained with a bit of my blood on a sharp side of the blade. Then followed the feeling of blood trickling down my leg.

“Gah, mother fucker!” I yelled, hissing in pain. Mist soon ran to the desk, picking up the gun in his jaws and then swung the barrel of the gun around my face. I felt the hard metal base of the gun slam into my face, before feeling myself get throw onto my back and landing with a loud thud.

Looking up, I saw him aiming his gun at me. He grabbed the gun from his mouth with a wing, and held it in a firm grip. My eyes widened, and my heart sunk, knowing that this was the end of the line for me. He walked closer to me, and upon reaching me, he stood over me. He pointed the gun down at me, and pressed it against my head. I found myself looking down the barrel of his gun… His gun was going to end my life.

“It’s the end of the line, Torna--”

BANG!!

Mist soon flung to the side, landing onto his side and dropping the gun, his side filled with bullet holes as blood began to leak out of the many wounds created in his side. I looked in the direction of the sound to see Crystal with a shotgun in her levitational grasp and snarling at the buck on the ground. She was covered in blood as if she had battled her way through just to get here. But there was no sign of Swift… I feared for the worst at that point upon coming to realization. She stomped over to him with a great fury that not even I could match.

“Not my fiancé, you Enclave-lovin’ bastard!” Crystal roared out, pointing the shotgun to his head. The once brave look of Mist was soon taken away almost instantly, as a mixture of pain and fear was shown on his face. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you now…”

Mist didn’t respond. Crystal pumped it, and as she did a loud ‘cha-chink!’ as she placed it back between the eyes of Mist. I coughed loudly, trying to fight against the pain to lift myself up once more.

“It’s about time somepony put you down!” Crystal exclaimed, pressing it against his head as she grinned down at him, breathing heavily. “We had to fight our way up here, and now that I have you, I’m going to end you.”

“Do it,” he simply said, leaning forward against the barrel. “It makes you no better than me, or him, or anypony in the Wasteland, for that matter!”

“Very well…” Crystal fired the shot, his head splitting open as large chunks of blood and brain matter splattered onto the ground behind him. The top portion of his head was now non-existent, and the brain that filled his skull was now blown into pieces. The buck slammed onto his back with the shot, blood leaking from his shattered head. She panted heavily, her eyes widening as she dropped the gun.

I lifted myself onto my hooves, walking to her steadily but surely and then sitting beside her, wrapping my hoof around her as I looked at his corpse. I pulled her in close, hugging her and caressing her mane as I held her close. She hugged back, kissing my neck gently. I reeled back, kissing her on the lips with a great passion, and holding her close to me as I felt her warm and soft lips kissing mine. I pulled away, smiling softly, but that soon faded.

[[“WARNING: RADIATION LEVELS INCREASING, ALL STABLE RESIDENTS MUST NOT PANIC, WE ARE TRYING TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE; REMAIN IN YOUR QUARTERS!!”]]

Hearing the sound of hooves coming towards the room, I looked to the doorway to see a blood-soaked Swift, panting and looking towards us both as I held her close to me. Swift walked into the room.

“We have to go, the Stable’s going to flood with radiation at any given moment,” Swift stated, lifting a hoof. I stood onto my hooves, limping towards the terminal and gritting my teeth as I felt a shooting pain fill my body.

“W-which is why you two need to go immediately,” I hissed, leaning against the desk and biting my lip. I looked to them, smiling. “You know where the exit is… head for it and don’t look back.”

“What about you?” Swift said, walking closer to me with a puzzled look on his face. “You’re coming with us.”

“Somepony has to ensure everyone gets out alive,” I coughed, spitting blood out onto the ground as I leaned against the desk. “I didn’t come all this way just to watch all the ponies of my home die.”

“But they’ll die in the Wastes without the proper equipment!” Swift exclaimed, glaring at me. “You’re coming with us, Tornado!”

“I can’t… even if I wanted to,” I said glumly, looking down. “There are some old friends in this Stable, friends of whom I know deserve the lives they have…”

“Listen to yourself!” Swift cried, stomping forward and leaning in close to me. “Crystal is pregnant with YOUR child, she will give birth to YOUR child, do you expect that child to survive without a father?!”

I went silent, taking it all in and looking down at the ground. She was pregnant with my child… And I had no idea that she was. But I didn’t come all this way to just let all of these ponies die, they had to survive, they all deserved their lives. All but the guards, of course… but I knew ponies down here. Ponies that I had known longer than the ones I had met outside of the Stable lived down here, even after I was thrown out. And they deserved their lives more than I deserved mine.

Walking up to Crystal, I put a hoof on her cheek and pressed my forehead against hers. “Swift… Can you give us a moment, please?” I requested, speaking in a soft tone of voice as I closed my eyes, holding her close to me. Swift left with no more words, walking out of the room slowly…

“P-please don’t stay behind…” Crystal whimpered softly, gently pushing her muzzle against mine and sniffing. “We need you. Both of us.”

“If I had a choice, I would come with you,” I responded, wrapping my hoof around her and pulling her close. I felt the tears build up once more, allowing them to slowly trickle down my cheeks. “But these ponies need a future -- they need to believe. Without the opportunity to start a new life, these ponies will die… And nopony deserves to die a death that is undeserved.”

“Y-you do have a choice, Tornado,” she softly spoke, licking the tears that trickled down my cheeks while hers ran down her cheeks. “P-please come with me. With us… I love you…”

“I-I love you, too…” I said, taking a deep breath and nuzzling her gently. “B-but these ponies need a future… Once I open the secret passage in the Overmare’s office, it’ll be too late for me as soon as they all leave…They go… I stay…”

“It doesn’t have to be like that…” Crystal bemoaned, reeling away. I opened my eyes to see her staring into mine with tears in her eyes, whimpering softly. “You can exit first, and they follow.”

“I can’t do that… I’d slow them down…” I said with a sigh, looking down. “An injured buck isn’t exactly the most ideal thing to be stuck behind in a time like this. They go, and I remain. It’s the only way, I’m afraid…”

Crystal bit her lip, looking down as her tears fell. It hurt me to see her like this, but I had no choice. I could barely walk fast enough. Once I open the hatch and let all of the ponies out of the Stable, I wouldn’t have enough time to reach the exit. I was too crippled, but I wasn’t going to let these ponies die without a chance at life outside…

I put my hoof underneath her chin, and lifted her head up to make her eyes meet mine. I gave her one last warm and passionate kiss on the lips, tears falling down at both sides of my face. I closed my eyes, pulling her close to me as I kissed her softly on the lips and she kissed back, sobbing softly as she did. I reeled away, and then cocked my head to the door.

“Now go!” I ordered, turning to the desk once again and sniffing. “I’ll always be in your heart, Crystal… I love you…”

“I-I love you, too…” I heard her soft voice say, before the sound of her running hooves were heard echoing loudly against the walls. I turned around to see I was alone again, before beginning to limp back towards the doorway of which I had come in before Crystal had killed Mist.

Upon passing my sister’s body, I kneeled down, kissing the forehead of it with tears in my eyes. I smiled softly at her body, but not out of happiness, but out of pain… She was in a better place… but I didn’t want it to end for her the way it did. I didn’t want her to die while I was still alive, but… it was the way it ended for her. Wiping my tears away, I got back onto my hooves and slowly limped out of the room and towards the Overmare’s office that was just across from where I was.

I groaned out in pain, closing my eyes and wincing as I dragged myself to the door of the office, before slamming a few knocks on it with my bloody hoof. I slammed harder, trying to get the attention of the Overmare immediately so I could do what needed to do. The door opened up, revealing a dull grey mare, with bright yellow eyes and a dark grey and white striped mane. Almost collapsing into her quarters, she glared at me as I stumbled into her office. Her office was brightly lit up with large light boxes fixed to the ceiling, the blue-ish grey flooring reflected nicely from the light, and the mahogany brown wallpaper that she had gave it a nice homey feel.

Like all offices that belonged to the Overmare, there was a large circular desk in the center, with a chair behind it and a solitary terminal sat on top of the desk and beside it was a microphone. Her bed was tucked away in the corner, while the lockers that contained ammo and medical supplies hugged the walls. Large computers sat behind her desk, computers that monitored the air within the Stable. Right now, it was code yellow… dangerous.

“What are you doing here?! You’re the reason we’re all going to die!” the Overmare accused, pushing me so that I fell onto my front. I landed with a thud, and a moan of pain. “And now, you and your friends are going to DIE with all of us!”

I glared up at her and coughed. “My friends have left… You must open your escape hatch, and let all of the ponies inside of this Stable out into the open. The Wasteland is full of opportunity, you can start a new life beyond that door, I promise you… j-just don’t let all of these ponies die for nothing.”

“And what makes you say that?!” She stomped a hoof down, walking closer to me and glaring down at me. “The world beyond that door is full of war and danger -- ponies want to hurt one-another out there -- how do I know this? Just looking at you, violence is the only way you know how to live.”

“B-but they’ll die in here if you don’t,” I said, climbing to my hooves and letting out a bitter cough. “Listen to me… if I managed to survive after being left for dead, then surely you can last if you leave willingly.”

“These ponies are going nowhere, you hear me?!” the Overmare said with fury. “What do they say about the Stables, again? “You’re born in the Stable; you die in the Stable.” These ponies are going to die, and you cannot make me change my mind otherwise.” She stood her ground, and I sighed, looking down at the ground.

“Very well…” I quickly turned around, and bucked her in the face with my hindlegs, groaning and crying out in pain as I did. Almost falling over, I winced, before climbing to my hooves and limping over to her desk.

Working my way around it, I soon grabbed the microphone in my hoof, and then slammed down on the ‘transmit button’. I took a deep breath, coughing to the side so I didn’t blow up the speakers with a sudden blast of sound. Moving my lips back to the microphone, I took another deep breath, preparing myself to deliver the message.

“Residents of Stable 30, this is Tornado Dash speaking… I need you all to listen to me very carefully, as what I am going to say will save your lives. In the Overmare’s office, there is a secret passage that will lead you directly to the Stable 30 entrance -- the door to the Stable should already be open, if not, then all you have to do is type in the passcode for the door.” I logged onto the Overmare’s console, surprisingly, she didn’t have a password set on her terminal. Opening the file “>Stable door passcode”, I was greeted with a single line of text stating the passcode; “WORK.”

“The passcode for the entrance door is “WORK”, all capitals. Once you put that in, all of you must leave the Stable and venture out into the world beyond the door. The radiation levels are dangerously high, so I must ask you all to hurry to the office immediately… the hatch will open upon your arrival…” Upon finishing my sentence, I ended the transmission and placed the microphone down on the desk. I soon went back to the terminal, leaning against the desk as I did.

>Back.

…

…

Hello, Overmare!

>Open secret passage.

>Stable door passcode.

>Stable documentation.

>Back.

Opening “opensecretpassage.doc.”

…

...

Do you want to open the secret passage?

>Yes.

>No.

>>Yes

Are you sure you want to open the secret hatch?

>Yes.

>Go back.

>Opening secret hatch…

>Back.

…

…

>Log off.

Logging off.

Upon backing away from the terminal, the desk soon began to raise off of the ground, and a small hatch beneath the desk opened up to reveal a stone stairway below it. I groaned, falling down onto my flank and leaning up against one of the computers behind the Overmare’s desk, coughing and wheezing as I looked around. I felt myself growing weak… not from the radiation either… but from the fight with Mist…

I snickered, coughing and wheezing once more. “‘You’re born in the Stable; you die in the Stable’…” Closing my eyes, I remained against the computer, resting my hoof on my stomach as I grinned. Movement was soon heard as the Stable had responded to my message. “...Here they come…”

Once the ponies had left the Stable, the only one left was me. I sat against the computers, the silence of the empty Stable almost deafening as I breathed heavily. I felt my body weaken more and more, and this time it was the radiation making me weaker. I opened my eyes once more, seeing the empty office around me. No sound… nothing at all. Everypony had left, and I was all that was left…

I grinned as my body began to shut down, and my vision slowly fading into white as I inhaled and exhaled my last breaths of the irradiated air… I was born in the Stable… and I can’t say that I was particularly happy here. The Wasteland gave me new opportunities; I met new ponies, and experienced things that I never thought I would have ever experienced. It was -- hell -- but at the same time, I… can’t say I didn’t like it. And as my time came, my vision was consumed with a screen of white as the radiation finished me off…

Footnote: Maximum Level! - Level 20

Epilogue

The ponies of Stable 30 ascended onto the surface of the Wasteland, leaving their irradiated home behind, in hope of starting a new life in the Equestrian Wasteland. However, our Little Blue Buddy, Tornado Dash ended his journey where he began it; Stable 30. Sacrificing himself for the sake of his beloved companions, and the many lives of Stable 30, he remained in the Stable, while everypony else had left.

Ever since Mist’s fall as Enclave commander, the Grand Pegasus Enclave had disbanded and become outcasts. Those who still believed in making a better tomorrow made small clans in the far reaches of the Wasteland, excluding everything Enclave within them. However, the Enclave Outcasts continued to rain hell and destruction upon those who were against their beliefs, showing neither mercy nor order.

The Steel Rangers almost took the same route as the Enclave did, but luckily, a rich business-pony managed to buy them out of trouble equipping them with all the finest armor and weaponry and also signing an allegiance with the clans formed by Ex-Enclave soldiers who had fought against them just months prior.

The city of Manehattan managed to rebuild successfully after the war that had raged there just months ago, and now it has re-opened its gates to the public once more, offering new hospitality and services for even the poorest of citizens.

As for the remaining ponies of Tornado’s party, Crystal and Swift traveled north in hope of moving on from their loss. Crystal gave birth to a sweet young Unicorn mare named Sky, and catered to her every whim. However, Swift could not move on… Two months after the birth of her child, Swift ended his own life due to a depression of which he lost the battle to, leaving Crystal on her own to raise her daughter.

Thus ending another bloody chapter in Equestrian history… But Ponykind will never learn from its mistakes, as the war across the Wasteland continues ever-so-violently -- because -- war. War never changes…

And that is the end of Fallout Equestria: The Last Wanderer!!

I know this fic wasn't all that great, I know. But I'm honestly proud of it. Mainly because (yeah, I may have deleted and restored once or twice), but this is my first fic that I have planned to be THIS long, and I have completed it with just over a year gone since it was first published. I am so glad those who stuck around did stick around!

Thank you all so much!