---

“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

Next Chapter: Chapter Twenty: Family Reunion Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 31 Minutes