“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.