---

“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

Next Chapter: Chapter Eighteen: Doing What's Right Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 18 Minutes