I wonder how many ponies sat on the ground in the middle of the Wasteland; just staring at the big thing I knew from textbooks to be called sky, all while trembling, and did’t get shot. Because strangely, I did exactly just that right in front of the entrance to the cave that hides the hatch of Stable Thirty-Nine. Nopony shot me during the most spaced-out minutes of my life outside. At least, I hope they were just minutes.

I would have probably stayed like this for hours, shaking as my mind tried to grasp the outside, if it weren’t for one thing: the moon. Shortly after I left the stable, it emerged from behind a cloud, basking the emptiness before me in its gentle glow. My eyes, automatically adjusting to the now not-so-dark vision, gazed at the round object in the sky hungrily.

It was more beautiful that I ever imagined it to be. The way it shone on the night sky, surrounded by smaller lights that I’d just noticed… from within the big, black void… Okay, not thinking about that, eyes on the moon now.

My breath slowly steadied as I tried to search for proper words to describe the beauty of the moon. Heavenly magnificence, celestial dream, silver beacon for lost souls… The fuck? Where did that came from? I had appreciation for beauty, but to use such… non-masculine terms, even in my head, was something new to me.

I’m out of the Stable for ten minutes, and already I am going crazy.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I needed to keep it together if I was going to save my Stable. Not that I had any idea how to do that. Of course, I knew that I had to find a water talisman, but where?

That was a good question, one that required me pondering on it for a few heartbeats. The Overmare suggested finding a settlement and asking around, but - returning to the center of the problem - where?! How was I supposed to find a pony, let alone a town out here? As I opened my eyes and searched the wasteland in front of me, all I could see were rocks and sand, with occasional black… trees? Yeah, I think that’s what they were.

Oh, and I could see the big space over my head without any ceiling…

I snapped my eyes back to the ground. The sight of the moon managed to ease my feeling that I will fall up, or that something will attack me, but I was still uncomfortable. The sooner I found myself safe within something with walls and a ceiling, the better.

Which made me go back to the-

“Where the fuck should I go?” I sighed.

The sound of multiple gunshots responded.

I blinked. Clearly, the Goddesses must have heard me, although how they chose to help had left much to be desired. I was sure that those were gunshots I was hearing. I knew that sound from my short lesson on how to handle a gun just an hour back, if from nowhere else, and with a bat pony’s hearing, the chances that I was mistaken were… well, frankly, there weren’t any.

But there was more within the night than just gunshots that I heard. There were also screams of ponies: three, two bucks, one mare (superior hearing, bitches!) and… the fuck is that? It was a sound that a pony could only encounter in its worst nightmare, one that could send terrors into the hearts of bucks and mares. A sound that would make even the bravest of ponies ran in the opposite direction.

So why the fuck did I run towards it?

Because it was my first chance to make a contact with ponies from the outside. And besides that, they sounded as if they were in trouble. Unless, of course, the beast was a dog (hey, I lived in a stable, I have no idea what kind of noise those pets make) that simply got excited, and the bullets and screams were sign of… the Minotaur New Year?

The better question is: why the fuck am I running and not flying?

I facehoofed mentally and unfolded my wings, flying up. Well, not flying, as gliding was more appropriate, considering how close I kept to the ground. There was no way in Tartarus I was going higher than a feet, not on my first night at least!

It took me few minutes to reach the site. When I did, my wings stopped working. I landed on my rump, staring in shock at what was the source of noises in the night. The creature that’s attacking the three ponies was bigger than them combined. And if that wasn’t scary enough, it looked… the best explanation I could come up with was that a cat, a bat and a scorpion had a threesome. It had feline body, bat-like wings similar to mine, and a long tail that ended with a sting.

I gulped nervously. This wasn’t an animal a pony could attack and simply walk away. Luckily, it still hasn’t noticed me, so I could just fly away. That’s right; I will escape while it’s still busy with… with…

Those three ponies were going to die. I could tell, despite having no combat experience whatsoever (barring a few radroaches), as I looked at them, wearing some ragged clothes and straps, all with metal spikes here and there, that they had no chance of surviving. And yet, despite that, the buck who had a horn on his head with the gun floating near it (longer than mine, so I assumed it was a some form of rifle, but then again I wasn’t a specialist) kept shooting at it, and the two ponies without either wings or horns continued to keep the beast at bay, one with a pool cue and the other…

It’s a board with a bunch of nails in it.

Despite how pathetic their chances were, they neither run nor gave up.

I still wanted to escape. I was scared, terrified of that monster. I had a whole Stable to save, I had to think about them… but… how could I leave ponies to a certain death like this? I… I had to do something, even if it was a suicide. After all, it was in pony’s nature to help others, right?

No, that wasn’t why I stayed. Granted, I did believe that, but just wanting to help them out of pony’s nature wasn’t enough for me to overcome the voice in my head that kept going “Run the fuck away!” over and over. No, what made me do what I did next was… pride.

I was descendant of the night guards. Princess Luna’s chosen protectors, sworn defenders of the crown. As every bat pony in Stable Thirty-Nine, I took great pride in my heritage, and I dreamed to be just like them. The thought of me abandoning those three ponies was… more shameful that anything I ever did, starting with reading that juicy diary of-

No time for that!

I took the air once more and flew slowly towards the beast and the ponies fighting it. Luckily, bat ponies were naturally stealthy, and I was even among them considered to be very sneaky. Thanks to that, I managed to reach the animal without being noticed, which was good for the ponies, because I’m pretty sure I would have just bolted out of there otherwise.

I was exactly behind and slightly above the beast. When I finally drawn my knife with my mouth, I used, for the first time, one of the useless in the stable functions of the PipBuck: the S.A.T.S.

Everything around me froze. I must admit, I vaguely remembered somepony telling me about this function, but even so, I was shocked at the effect. If it weren’t for the situation at hoof, I would have pondered how such thing could be made, but I had ponies to save!

I knew I could line up multiple attacks through this function, but for what I intended, all I needed was one strike. I targeted the base of the skull, and released S.A.T.S.

Everything speeded up dramatically, but nothing mattered as I dove with the knife and plunged it into the beast’s body. It gave one pained roar - of shock, anger, pain, I didn’t know - and slumped down without a life, my sneak attack killing it quickly.

I gasped, surprised that it worked. Then I smiled. My first night outside (bah, it wasn’t even an hour since I left the Stable!) and here I was, standing victorious over the body of a monster from nightmares! I looked up at the ponies to let them know it was okay now, and I brushed of sweat from my forehead with a hoof. I wasn’t sure if that came from nerves over the last couple of seconds, or due to the exertion, as short as it were. Or because I was just about to meet ponies other than those of my stable. From the outside! A real-life unicorn and two earth ponies, just like those from the books!

Oh, how exciting! I thought happily as I took my hoof from my head and was about to bend down to take out of the dead body my knife. I bet they never saw a bat pony before, either! Hey, and maybe even they have a water talisman they don’t need!

But at that moment, utterly by accident, my gaze rested for a moment on my PipBuck. Because of that, I saw something that made me never, ever again call any function of the device “useless”.

The lights on my E.F.S. were all red.

I looked at the ponies in confusion, the question of why they would try to attack me after I saved them at the back of my throat, when a loud whack came from my side, accompanied by severe pain of my ribs. I fell on my side, clenching teeth in pain, and I could hear the pony with a pool cue jumping at me, screaming: “Somephony call a doctor!” around the weapon he held in his mouth, while laughing maniacally.

The pony was right above me the next heartbeat, the long cue was about to descend at me with a promise of more beating. I could see the madness in his eyes, the madness that I only now understood, was the reason he and his companions didn’t run away from the beast. I did not understand what was going on, but for the first time since I left the stable, things were clear: if I won’t do something, I will be severely hurt soon, and or possibly dead.

My knife was still in the body of the beast. I didn’t have the time to reach for my gun. And the earth pony just now stepped on my wing. I was out of options, and would have to resort to unarmed combat, which was deep down my list of forte… or rather I would be if I weren’t and earth pony.

I opened my mouth and screamed.

Some say that this ability of bat ponies was related to how bats navigated through echolocation. Some that it was a gift from Princess Luna, a weapon to be used on those who sought to harm her.

I was just glad that the force of my scream pushed this crazy buck off of me as it hit him and left him stunned.

Not wasting any time, I drew my 10mm pistol with my wing, and entered S.A.T.S. The mare with a nailed board was charging at me, her unicorn friend levitating a rifle at me. As much as I didn’t want to get shot, I also didn’t want to have nails in my head, so I first concentrated on the mare. I lined up several shots that should obliterate her face. Of course, as my vestigial claw pressed the trigger, all of them missed, with one hitting her in the chest instead and bouncing off her barding.

Have I mentioned how bad I was with guns?

“Can’t we talk this out?” I asked as the targeting spell wore off. I jumped to the left to avoid her attack. I could have flown, of course, but… I had a strange feeling that with my luck, I would get shot in the wing and fell down on my head.

In answer to my question, the mare grinned sadistically, and twisted her head for another strike… when a red dot appeared on her head at the same time gunshot was heard. I looked at the unicorn shocked as the mare fell. By jumping to the left, I made the earth pony with a nailed board become accidentally a living shield. Well, for one shot, at least, and the unicorn buck was aiming again, without as much as a glance at the corpse of the friend he just... killed.

Fuck talking this out!

I bend down to pick up the nailed board as I holstered my 10mm pistol, and then jumped into the air. I was too furious to remember that I didn’t want to fly out here. What kind of pony kills his own comrade!? I swooped down on him, somehow avoiding both of the shots he fired, and hit him right into face with the part of the board where nails were sticking out. He screamed as he fell to his knees, his gun dropping with a clench as he no longer using magic to hold it.

Bristling with fury, I hit him again, and again.

And when I heard the noise of the first pony rising from, I whirled around and hit him as well.

I finally calmed down once he too was... was... I let the nailed board fall from my mouth. I was panting.

As I sat there, try to catch my breath, it slowly started getting to me what I had just done.

I… killed two ponies…

I… didn’t know what… how to… I mean, murder never happened in my Stable, so I… but I just killed two ponies! Three, if you count that one who got shot because I dodged to the side. I… just took three lives…

And now I’m hyperventilating, I realized with a shock as I closed my eyes. I tried to calm myself before I would pass out, trying not to think about those ponies, ignoring the smell of blood…

I was still shaking when my breathing became more stable. When I opened my eyes and saw the bodies, I puked.

It took me ten more minutes to finally get as much as a hold of myself as I could. I tried not to think about what happened. I knew it was wrong, but… I had a Stable to save. I'd… I don’t know, cry, tramble, vomit, regret… when I’d bring back the water talisman. But out here, standing around vomiting was probably not the best way to survive, especially if there were more monsters like this one, or crazy ponies-

“Okay, not thinking about that,” I whispered. I didn’t want to attract anything else. My voice sounded… rusty. Either from vomiting, just feeling bad, or from screaming, this always left throats a bit sore. “I’m not gonna think about them. Nah-uh. I will just take my knife, and I will be on my way.”

I took the knife from the body of the beast, but then I stopped. I had some free space in my saddlebags, and I had a feeling that this strange creature, that could take on three ponies (“Again, not thinking about it, la-la-la…”) might prove… valuable. Or at least delicious.

I soon had few pieces of meat safe in my saddlebag, when I glanced at my PipBuck. As I expected, it displayed a new item, a “manticore meat”. Manticore, huh? Okay, the value… hmm, not so big when compared with the pistol, but still something.

“I wonder what you use for currency, anyway,” I said out loud as I looked at the three ponies. I found it easier to do so when I moved, because then the pain in my ribs reminded me that they were going to kill me.

I suppose I was lucky to not be hurt worse, but it still sting. I wanted to take the healing potion, but I figured it would be better to leave that for when I am actually wounded and not just bruised. Sweet mother of Celestia, if that’s how the first hour on the Outside was…

I shot a glance at the manticore. Were such creatures normal out here? Was everypony a psycho? And why I had this feeling that I was going to find out?

I sighed and began looting the bodies of ponies. I didn’t want to do that, but… if they had some sort of map or something…

“Map!” I yelled, and then I immediately covered my mouth. I couldn’t hear anything coming to kill me, so I relaxed. “I’m an idiot,” I muttered angrily as I took a good look at my PipBuck.

Yep, there it was: the map. A huge bird’s eye view of the landscape named ‘Palamino Wasteland’. Only… there was nothing in it I could read. Well, besides two icons: ‘Stable 39’ and ‘Abandoned Shack’.

“Just my luck-” I muttered, before my eyes widened. “Abandoned what now?!”

Since I was pretty sure my PipBuck didn’t have a function called ‘Replying to the question of the idiot on who’s leg I am’ it was resigned to just looking at it again. Yep, there it was: a mark right next to ‘Stable 39’.

“What? I didn’t see any shack…” then again, had I seen anything? I was so shocked when I came out of the stable by everything that I could have missed something. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t miss a fucking shack!”

“Oh, fuck me...” I muttered as I saw the shack.

I finished looting the corpses before I came back. All those ponies I… all that they had were their weapons, clothes and a handful of caps from bottles. I took them; more out of curiosity why the fuck would anypony carry those around. I also took the hunting rifle (as my PipBuck informed me) and the ammo to it, although the unicorn had only eight left by the time he stopped shooting at me. Oh wait, I stopped him.

Once I was done, I flew back to the entrance to the cave hiding the Stable Thirty-Nine… and noticed that above it was a steep hill, with a shack on the top.

My annoyance at myself, however, quickly evaporated when I realized that the lights were lit. That meant there were ponies in there! I began grinning… until I recalled how ponies I met so far reacted to me saving their fucking lives!

I shook my head; they were dead, end of story. No point being depressed over it or angry even. Right now I had bigger issues to deal with. I perked my years up, trying to catch a sound of fighting or gunshots, but all I could hear… were… grunts? And a strange slapping noise?

I flew up to the shack, curious as to what was happening, but I stopped mid-air (and by that I mean next to the edge of the hill, I fly higher and I wouldn’t come back down. Damn you, agoraphobia!) when I checked my E.F.S. Three bars: two red one blue.

Okay, now I am confused.

So up close, the noises became more recognisable. Two ponies (bucks by the sounds of it) were grunting and puffing, as if they were playing some sport, which could explain why I could detect a note of satisfaction. There was also some slapping noise, but I had a problem figuring out what sort of game involved repeatedly slapping something. Besides those two, there was also a barely hearable sobbing, and… a squeaking of the bed?

Flying quietly up to the window, I thought that either there were two bucks screwing each other while an homophobic pony watched (although, why would that made E.F.S show them as threats to me?), or…

I peered through the window.

Killing is never easy. At least, not the first time you do it. The act of ending the life of another could never be simple. We are naturally repulsed by it. When a pony is killed, you don’t just… end him. You also end his future; take away from him the chance to… to do better. Maybe even start a family. And if he or she has a family, you take away from them the one you killed. Mares become widows, bucks widowers, foals orphans… If you are a heartless bastard, then you are concerned that they will come after you, continuing the big circle of hatred. And if you’re not, if you still care… if you just came out of a Stable where everypony was nice to one another, you will be devastated. Only the thought that the fate of your closest ones can help pull you through it.

It might be easier when they attack first, for no apparent reason. You instinctively fight back, trying to survive, and only after they are dead will reality come down crashing on you. But even so… it’s not easy. Makes you think you are a murderer. Makes you pull out your gun slower next time somepony attacks you.

When does a pony learn to deal with it? When he finds out that some ponies just don’t deserve to live? When they somehow survived long enough to accept this cruel reality, where you need to kill? When you find somepony that you just have to protect, no matter what?

I had my whole Stable to protect, and yet still I was indecisive if I were a murderer or not. Did those ponies deserved to die or not.

It’s amazing how the sight of two bucks raping a little filly makes such things clear for you.

For one terrible split second I looked at it. Two adult bucks, both wearing almost the same barding as those three I encountered, were deep in filly’s back and front. The image of that burned into my mind, as I know, even back then, that I will always wonder if I could have saved her from this. Had I not been so overwhelmed by the Outside, the Palamino Wasteland, had I not run off like an idiot to help three psychopaths who probably were also rapists.

The next split second, the two bucks shoved even deeper into the filly, and I screamed.

I screamed, not as a method of attack, but out of simple outrage. Outrage against what I was seeing. Outrage against the reality of the Outside. Outrage against the unfairness of life.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, I jumped through the window, unsheathing my knife as I lounged at the bed. I didn’t even enter S.T.A.T. mode, I didn’t need to. The filly was so small that the bucks necks were right next to each other. One slash and both of their throats were cut open.

As they raised their hooves to their wounds, gasping for air, the fountains of blood covered all four of us. I pushed them away from the filly, although mostly because they were still in her rather than sparing her the bloody shower. I looked at them as they died on the floor, breathing air heavily through my teeth with rage, and took a quick glance at the PipBuck. Seeing that there were no more red bars, I relaxed.

The filly still lied on the bed, still shaking, as she looked at me. The small earth pony was barely older than a foal, maybe ten years old. Her coat, where it wasn’t covered in blood and... semen, was light bronze, and her mane brown. She had a cutie mark, a wrench and a needle, which was barely visible on her flank through all the filth. Normally, I would have felt a slight pang of irritation at that, if it weren’t for her eyes. Brown like a good beer after a night of hard work, they looked at me with fear.

I took a step to her, and she immediately crept away. She was still shaking.

“I’m not going to harm you,” I said as softly as I could. “Are you okay?” Of course she wasn’t, you idiot! She was just raped by two ponies twice her size!

I tried to give her an encouraging smile… and failed epicly at that. As her eyes were slowly filled with even more terror, it came to my attention that her mouth was slightly opened, and I noticed one major difference between bat ponies and the other kinds - we had fangs, they didn’t.

She slid down on the floor and tried to get under the bed, but she was too big, so instead she started backing away into the corner. I winced inside. I came to realize that I must probably look to her as if my mom had one of those manticores as a pet and liked it too much, and that after what she’s been through it was no surprise she was scared.

The filly huddled in the corner as I pondered what to do. I’m not sure what I’d do if I hadn’t noticed cuts and bruises on her here and there. I took a step towards her, doing my best to ignore the heartbreaking sight of her shaking and closing her eyes, thinking I was going to hurt her.

I reached out with my hoof and patted her mane delicately. “I’m not going to hurt you, or let anypony else do that,” I whispered, going through my saddlebags. I took out one healing potion and put beside her. “Drink this; you will feel a lot better. I will be back in a moment.”

I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay with her, hug her, and tell her everything would be okay… but that would do more damage. So instead I picked up the bodies of her rapists and threw them out the door. While doing so, I noticed that their cutie marks weren’t much different from the three I became acquainted earlier. One had a teddy bear, which was being ripped apart by chains cuffed to his arms, and the other a baseball bat with blood on its end. Coupled with a skull, broken bones and bullet shaped like nail of the other three, this group was disgustingly well matched.

My heart lifted when I heard a sound of a bottle being raised from the floor, which was followed by the filly drinking the potion. I decided to give her some more time as I looked around the shack. The walls were covered in sickly green graffiti, with the symbols besides skull losing meaning on me. Occasionally there was the word ‘FUCK’. There were also stains of blood, just like on the floor. Other than the bed there were a few ruined drawers. Other than the main room, there was a kitchen and a bathroom, both totally wrecked. I pondered taking some food, but decided against it, not wanting to eat what those psychos were eating. Also, I had more than plenty of food. The ammo, though, I took, as well as the second rifle. According to my PipBuck, both weapons were in bad condition, but I had no idea how to repair them, so I would just sell them when I finally reached some civilization. There were more bottle caps on them. Okay, what was those rapists deal with them?

There was also a terminal, and a safe. A very big safe.

Before I attempted to do anything with either, I looked at the filly. She was… sleeping. She drunk the potion and was fast asleep, right there in the corner, curled up. I smiled briefly, but then reality came back when I started worrying what in Tartarus was I supposed to do with her. Did those… ugh, I couldn’t even call them ponies in my head… kidnapped her from some town? And what about her parents? Had they killed them?

Should I take her back to Stable Thirty-Nine?

The moment I thought of that, I immediately imagined coming across more raped orphans and bringing them to the Stable that was running out of water. Yeah, I needed to think of something else.

I figured I would try talking with her again once she woke up, and for now concentrated on the terminal. I wasn’t as skillful in hacking into computers as lockpicking, but I wasn’t going to back down from a chance to gain some information about the Outside.

When I turned the terminal on, I was pleasantly surprised. The ones back in stable were either accessible to all, or required password. This terminal, however, while also protected, had one accessible file called: ‘goodbye’. Intrigued, I opened.

I’m leaving.

I’m sorry. I really am. I promised her that I would look after you if something happened; all of us did, but… I just can’t wait anymore. I can’t do anything anymore. I am so tired… so lonely. I miss everypony every day, every hour, every minute, every second of my… this is unfair. I want to wake up.

If you finally come… I’m going to Desert Station. It’s the city north-west of here, right at the base of the mountain chain. You should have no problem finding it. If I hadn’t crack by then and killed myself, then find me… Do you remember me, though?

I’m probably wasting my time writing this. Wasting time, failing friends… those should be my special talents.

PS: If you are a raider, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!

Okay, I didn’t expect something like that. Then again, pessimistic messages went well with this shack… and the Outside altogether, based on what I saw so far. Still, two things came from reading this: one, I found a name by which I could call those rapists; and two… my PipBuck clicked.

I glanced at it confusingly, and read in my night planner: Objectives: Reach Desert Station. How the fuck did my PipBuck did that, I have no idea. I changed it to the map function and saw a new mark on it named ‘Desert Station’, with a line pointing at it from Abandoned Shack.

This is getting creepy.

I pushed the PipBuck out of my head as I tried to hack the terminal to gain access to the other files. After ten minutes of guessing, logging off to not lock up the computer and trying again, I gave up. I was clearly out of my liege. The safe, however…

It cost me three bobby pins before I managed to open it. The Outside hates me.

Once I took the fourth bobby pin and my right claw from the lock, I opened it. Inside was one thing. Are you fucking kidding me?! Whoever lived here before the raiders should have his skin peeled off!! Wait… That thing inside of the safe was a figurine. I figurine of a pony I knew well from history books.

It was a figurine of Twilight Sparkle, the former student of Princess Celestia, mare that through war rose to be in charge of Ministry of Arcane Sciences, one of most important figures in Equestria. The pony that murdered Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in cold blood that started the very war that then destroyed our own world.

Nopony in my stable knew why she did that. In his short announcement two hundred years ago, the Prince speculated that she was lustful for power, or that she got into a fight with the two princesses. In the last hours of the Last Day, Twilight and all her friends were branded traitors, and were held responsible for everything.

The war, the destruction of the world, this… Wasteland.

Even fillies getting raped.

I knew all that, so why… why didn’t I feel enraged as I had a few moments ago? Why wasn’t I pissed at this small figurine? Why… I felt… sorry for her?

I reached out to the little Twilight and took her out of the safe. I felt… strange, to be holding a likeness of the mare that destroyed Equestria in my hooves as if she was a small foal.

Speaking off…

I turned to the filly while placing Twilight into my saddlebags. She was still asleep, and despite all the filth on her she looked… cute. I didn’t have a heart to wake her up. Heck, if I had brought my plushie with me, I would have given it to her, she would look so cute with her. Yeah, I have a plushie, got a problem?

I delicately picked her up and placed her on my back. Since I wasn’t going to fly too high up, I figured it was safe to travel with her like that. According to my PipBuck, the Desert Station wasn’t too far, about half an hour long flight. There was a good chance, given that it was probably the closest settlement that the filly might have come from that town. If not, then, well, I would take her someplace else. Anyhow, sitting and waiting for her to wake up was pointless.

But as I stood there with her, ready to leave, my nose wrinkled from the scent she was covered in. Okay, bath first… wait, the water will be radiated, fuck. Err… Is there a clean towel or something?

It turned out that in the end I had to wash her in the bathtub. It did it as quickly as possible, hoping that she got about as little radiation as I. Luckily, however, when I entered the bathroom I found a medicine kit that I somehow missed earlier, and within it was a healing potion and two Rad-Aways. Talk about a good luck.

The filly remained asleep, as I did my best to gently remove the stains of blood and… ugh, other fluids from her coat. The poor thing must have been exhausted. When I tried to picture for how long did the raiders… did that to her, I had a sudden urge to go and mutilate their corpses.

I also tried to clean my barding a bit, and when we were both ready, I finally set off. Unfortunately, I left through the door, which resulted in seeing… ponies heads on spikes, a mutilated corpse chained to the wall…

I kicked the dead raider in the head and flew in the direction my PipBuck was pointing.

The flight was boring, even to a pony with agoraphobia that just left a place with four walls was a bit uncomfortable. Also, considering that I had a filly on my back, I needed to be careful. But at least boring meant I wasn’t getting attacked by anything, which I thought was a plus.

The filly still hadn’t woken up, but she was breathing steadily, and didn’t have a fever or anything, so I allowed myself to relax, a bit. I still had no idea what to do with her. I hoped, nay, prayed to the Goddesses that the mutilated corpses outside of the shack weren’t her parents and that they were alive somewhere, even if not in the Desert Station. I still remembered the pain I felt the day my mother died. I didn’t want this filly to go through that on top of everything.

It didn’t took me long to be close enough to spot the lights. The town was built around the old railroad that went through the Folly Mountains. There weren’t always there. I knew from the war records back in the stable that they were raised by the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony when the zebra’s army annexed Las Pegasus and all surrounding areas at the beginning of the war. Originally, the plan was for them to use the power of the Elements upon the army, but something went wrong. The crystals couldn’t be used as weapons, or so Twilight Sparkle said, and instead their power lifted the rock and ground from the earth, creating those mountains as the means of defense. According to what I read, it was then that the six friends decided to join the ministries and the army, when it turned out that magical artifacts couldn’t be trusted. On the plust side, though, the mountains were rich in coal, a resource the Equestria lacked so much and had to trade with the zebras previously to get.

The city itself was protected by walls made out of various pieces of metal. I think I managed to distinguish few parts of a train, but I couldn’t be sure. I had to circle around the city limits to find a gate as, my unwillingness to get to far up from the ground aside, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be… polite to just fly into the city.

Also, I thought I would get shot by doing so.

I landed quietly outside of the two ponies guarding the gate vision and trotted towards them slowly. They wore armored clothing, similar to the ones that security ponies had back in the stable. I relaxed a bit at the color of the bars representing them on my E.F.S. - they were blue, so unless I would give them a reason, everything should go…

“Halt!”

… smoothly...

The unicorn on the left lifted in a blue aura… err, an assault rifle, as I approached? Couldn’t a white-painted stake be drawn by a pony that knows about weapons and shit?! “Who goes there?!”

Okay, so here were my options: a) I act like a complete wuss and tell them my name, explain what kind of pony I am so that they won’t think I’m some sort of a baby manticore, and admit I have no idea what in Tartarus is going on here on the Outside with the killing and raping… or b) I could pretend to be a badass, and tell them to fuck off because I had a filly on my back that needs help.

“I don’t have time for this,” I snapped as I trotted closer to them. “This filly need help, and-”

“The fuck you are?!” the other buck, an earth pony, shouted as he pointed two guns that were attached to the saddle he wore at me.

Should’ve gone with with a).

“I’m a bat pony.” I replied, trying to sound as if it was obvious. Well, it kinda was, to me at least. But from the way they were gazing at me I realised that I had to elaborate. “I came from Stable Thirty-Nine, were at theLast Day families of Princess Luna’s night guards were placed.”

I saw the two bucks exchange confused looks. At least they weren’t shooting at me, which was good. “Damn, I do recall hearing something about Princess Luna guards…” one murmured, “but I had no idea that there is really such a thing as ‘bat ponies’. Are you sure you aren’t a manticore?”

“You do realize that if I hadn’t come upon one on my way here I would have no idea what a manticore is, right?” I replied with a question, smirking. Which, judging by them raising their guns a bit higher was a mistake. “Look, you can shot me later, but this filly-”

“What happened to her?” one of them interrupted me, coming closer.

“She was…” I trailed off for a second, feeling the familiar surge of hate. I needed a moment to collect myself. “I found her getting… raped, by two sadistic bucks.”

That got a reaction from them that put me somewhat at ease. Their mortified and angry faces gave me hope that not entire Outside was fucked up. “Fucking raiders,” the earth pony murmured, spitting to the side.

“Oi, hadn’t that caravan that came today been attacked by raiders?” the unicorn guard asked his companion.

My ears perked up. Maybe this story would have a happy ending for the filly after all!

“Go get the chief,” the earth pony said. He lowered his weapon as his friend took off and came closer to take a good look at the filly and myself. “Yeah, she kinda looks like that mare, must be her daughter. Guess it’s a good thing you crawled up from your Stable when you did, son.”

Oh, so I was his son now, huh? A minute ago he wanted to shoot me.

Luckily, he didn’t give me a chance to start develop warmer feelings for him, for as was looking me all over (and I hope it was only because he never seen a bat pony), he stopped at my flank… Wait, wh- “Bat ponies don’t have cutie marks?” he asked.

Ah, and there it was, the wound to my pride. “You know, those raiders had enough decency to not point out that I’m a blank flank while trying to kill me.” I replied, feeling heat of shame arising in my cheeks.

“Seriously? A pony you age without a cutie mark?” he asked surprised. I would have taken a look at his, but it was covered by the armored barding he wore. “Sorry, but that just seems so…”

“Yeah, I know, trust me,” I replied, rolling my eyes.

“So, everypony in your stable dead or something?” he asked after a moment of awkward silence. I looked at him in shock. What the hell he meant by that?

“No, why would you ask something like that?” Did he know that our water talisman was failing? But how?

“Those stables fail all the time,” he replied, shrugging. Okay, seriously, what?! “That’s when folks usually leave them; otherwise they stay safe and comfy. Oh, unless they die, that usually happens way more often.”

You… you’re kidding,” I managed to stammer. “Stable Thirty-Nine hadn’t got any problem…" Except for our water talisman failing.

“All true. Here in Palamino Wasteland I’ve heard of Stable Forty-Two, radiation leak and everypony turned into ghouls, most of them feral.” turned into what now? “The Brotherhood swept it clean from anything useful before I was even born. Thirty-Six or Seven, don’t remember, apparently had blown up and nopony knows what happened. And then there is Stable Forty-Five, which currently serves as the biggest base of raiders, wherever it is.”

The thought of those rapist and murderers inside a stable made my blood boiled. Now I had some inkling as to how the previous owner of the ‘Abandoned shack’ had felt at the thought of raiders reading his file.

“Workbench!” somepony shouted in the night as my ears detected sound of a few ponies approaching… loudly.

As I looked, before I had a chance to wonder why somebody would need a workbench so badly, I saw few more security ponies coming our way. Oh, joy, now all we need is Celestia with a strap-on to completely screw me over. There were a few ponies dressed in ragged, half-armored barding. The mare that shouted and was running in front looked almost like an older version of the filly on my back.

“Workbench!” she gasped as she stopped by me, taking the filly of my back. She had tears in her eyes as she cradled her. “Oh, my poor baby. You’re safe, you’re safe…”

“M-mommy?” as soft, weak voice replied from the mare’s forelegs.

Ahh, a beautiful, happy ending. For a second I felt like a hero to make this happen, as I watched mother hug her daughter even tighter as the father joined in… but then I noticed that most of the security was keeping their guns pointed not directly at me but generally in the direction.

“You’re coming with me.” One of them told me, a scarred earth pony buck with gray mane and white coat.

Some hero’s welcome.

Outside is crazy. One minute you think that you are in trouble, in the next it turns out that all the buck wanted was to congratulate me. And pay me.

“You spared me the trouble of chasing after that band,” the security chief Battle Harness told me, giving me… two hundred fifty bottle caps, fifty for each raider. “They’ve been harassing all the traders and their caravans that come here for weeks now. And with those mercs on the other side of the mountain, I didn’t have ponies to spare.”

“I… take you use them for money around here.” I guessed, not really paying attention to what he said. Damn, was I glad I took those caps I found on the raiders! Now I had… around three hundred in total, I think.

“You really are from a Stable.” Harness said, leaning back in his chair. We were in his office. The security station was placed in the renovated ruins of the ticket window for the train. “Only stable folk don’t know jackshit about living in a Wasteland.”

Odd... His heartbeat rate stayed the same throughout the last ten minutes. Shouldn’t it became a bit more frequent when he laughe- wait, what was it that he said?!

“And yet I was able to solve your raider problem.” I pointed out, slightly offended. “After I killed a manticore at that.”

That had made him stop laughing and then look at me in shock.

“Wait, you killed that rogue manticore? There’s a bounty for it, too, but I would need some proof.” I shrugged and asked him if the fresh meat of a manticore was enough of a proof. “Yep, that will do. Most manticores avoid bigger settlements such as ours. Only loners not belonging to a pride come so close. How did you kill it?”

“It was focused on the raiders.” Okay, this was getting weird. Did everypony coming out of the stable immediately started doing favors at the closest town? Oh, this reminds me: “Hey, do you know where I could find a water talisman by any chance?”

Yeah, I’m the smoothest pony ever.

“Well, there is the one here in the Desert City, but I hope you aren’t thinking about taking it.” Harness added, patting the thing he told me was a battle saddle that laid next to him.

“No, of course not. Remember, I’m descendant of the night guard. I was raised to follow a code of honor…” I trailed off, seeing him sight. Some ponies had not appreciation for dramatics. “So, back to the water talisman?”

“What you need one for, anyway?”

“They one in my Stable is failing, so-”

“Ah, right, forgot those things keep failing one way or another.” he said, and ignoring the glare I gave him he continued: “Unless you plan to ask our local chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel for one - which, by the way, would be a terrible idea - I have no clue where you could get one, pal. But…” he paused, brushing his beard. Damn he needed to shave. “You might try asking around Merry’s, the bar in Desert Station; it’s down the road we came on the left. The owner might have heard about a water talisman from some trader.”

Armed with the information, I was almost ready to leave, almost. “Wait, what is this Brotherhood?” I asked, remembering the guard at the city gate mentioning them.

“A bunch of technology loving jerks.” Harness replied with a sneer. “Supposedly, they descend from some part of Pre-war Equestria’s military or something. The point is, thought, that if they saw you getting ass raped by a bunch of raiders, they would charge at them, kill them, and then proceed to cut off that PipBuck from your foreleg, probably along with some part of your limb.”

Okay, that was a gruesome scenario. I growled and rubbed my temples. “Outside is crazy.”

“Welcome to the Palamino Wasteland, pal,” he chuckled, and then his mouth gave way for a big yawn. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I still need to check some reports, and unlike some ponies, I like to sleep at night.”

“Sure, Chief Harness,” I replied politely and made my way out.

Ugh, I hate being outside… everything bad happens here. Okay, granted, those two raiders were in the shack…

Desert Station was impressive, to say the least. Heck, this was the first town that I had seen. I knew of course of how the cities before the End Day were, and this didn’t even come close, but considering that back in Stable Thirty-Nine everypony believed everything was gone, the ponies here weren’t doing so bad. Or rather people when you consider other races.

I looked surprised and a bit alarmed as a group of two… were those pegasi? How can they stand all those feathers... and a griffin, all females and wearing black armor with white number ‘303’ on it, trotted past me. They also regarded me with similar reaction. Before I managed to start a conversation, though, they started laughing. What was with the people of the Outside laughing their flanks off at me?

“Damn, what was your Stable about, breeding with bloodwings?” the pegasus asked, pointing at my wings.

“Well they were better lays that pegasi,” I replied, having enough of getting laughed at. I wasn’t even curious as to what the heck was a bloodwing. I turned my back on them, heading towards the bar that they came out of… only to immediately jump to the right as my ears warned me one of the mares attacked me.

I cursed and took a glance at my PipBuck before I responded. Two red bars, huh? Guess the griffin was sitting this one out… but the second pegasus was right above me.

The smell of booze came to my nostrils as I again dodged an attack. Now both of the pissed off mares were in front of me. Perfect. I opened my mouth and unleashed my sonic scream on them, knocking them back and stunning. Hey, I was getting quite good at the whole fighting-

There was a gun pressed to my head.

“You know, making enemies of the 303 Company is probably the stupidest thing you could do,” the griffin female told me, moving a bit to the left. Wasn’t she marked as ‘friendly’ a second ago? Stupid PipBuck… “Luckily for you, freak, I had a good time today, so I won’t spray your brain over Merry’s doorstep.”

“Is everypo- I mean, everyone Outside so pleasant?” I asked with a sigh when she removed her gun. Damn, those paw things seem useful. The two pegasi growled as they picked themselves up from the ground, shaking. “I mean, they started it.”

“Welcome to the Wasteland, it sucks for everybody,” the griffon told me, grinning. Huh, I didn’t even know you could grin with a beak. “Oh, and don’t worry about them trying to get you, we will be leaving Palamino Wasteland tomorrow.”

“I wasn’t worried,” I replied, somewhat cockily. “But thanks you for your concern, miss…?”

“Hedwig.”

“Nightkin, a bat pony,” I introduced myself.

“Eh, Freak suits you better.” she chuckled and turned away, gathering her two friends with her. “See ya.”

I looked at them as they walked away, making sure that they wouldn’t return, as well as admiring their flanks. That Hedwig looked really… exotic, with her long tail and… Why are there so many ponies suddenly on the street? They were empty a second ago, before… I shouted. Opps...

“Sorry about screaming everypony,” I said with an awkward grin. I could see Chief Harness glaring at me from behind a corner. I sighed and went into the bar before somepony could accost me.

A strange, calming tune was played over the radio as I entered. The inside was almost empty, which reminded me that other kinds of ponies slept during night. Geez, no wonder Princess Luna had once felt lonely. Beside the big buck by the counter who was cleaning a glass, the only ponies present were some three to four bucks and mares hiding in the corners, and a waitress that for some reason painted herself in black and white stripes…

I blinked as I stopped right beside the counter. Yep, the zebra was still there. So, apparently nopony was blaming anyone for the Great War. Besides Twilight Sparkle and her friends, of course… and yet still I had a small statue of her in my saddlebags.

“Ya know, looking like a lovechild of a pony and a dragon ya can hardly glare at Vanire ‘ere,” the tan bartender told me, making me finally snap out of my musing.

“I wasn’t glaring, I was thinking how everything out here is different than I expected,” I told him, sitting on one of the chairs. “And I’m a Goddess damn bat pony!”

“Sure, whatever.” he replied, not caring. The earth pony put down the glass. “Ah’m Merry Drink.”

“Nightkin.”

“So, what’s your poison?”

“The entire Wasteland,” I replied, rubbing my temples. “I would like just something to drink and some information.”

“Information?” Merry asked, as he grabbed and opening a bottle of something called Sunrise Sarsaparilla. I looked amused at his choice of the drink.

I took the bottle and took a sip out of it. Immediately, my mouth was attacked by a delicious flavor, doing wonders on my sore after using scream throat. I licked my lips. Maybe not everything about this Wasteland was bad? “Yes, information. Did you hear anypony… or anybody for that matter, mention anything about a water talisman?”

“Can’t say Ah did, other than bitchin’ about ours,” he replied with a shrug. “Folks think that just because the water price got a bit higher it means it begins malfunctionin’.”

I groaned as I took another sip. Great. Not only the one water talisman everypony seemed to know about was a property of this city, but also seemed to begin malfunctioning as well. Ugh, at this rate, I will end up searching for two…

“Excuse me,” asked a very soft female voice behind me.

That voice… it was softer than a silk, more beautiful that the sound of a violin in the hooves of a master musician. And the smell… it was as if the mare behind me could sweat perfumes, for I knew that this was her natural smell. But it was so captivating, like a flower is to a bee… I turned around, expecting to see a beauty beyond the wildest dreams.

What greeted me was a rotten, depraved of a skin unicorn.

I yelped and tried to jump away, but my hoof clipped over my sit and made me fall on the floor. I quickly pulled my 10mm pistol with my wing and pointed at her… only to find that Merry was pointing a… shotgun at me.

And the pony that should be dead merely giggled.

“Take your gun away and offer the young buck something tougher, Mister Drink, I think he’s in shock.” the dead pony told him, wearing a half-formal gown that probably hid most of the parts of her whitish coat that had rotted off, batting her eyelashes and completely ignoring me and the gun I was still pointing at her. When she turned to me, I noticed that her eyes were about the only thing on her body that seemed to be alive. They were sparkling blue under what was left of her purple mane. “As for you, if you’re still interested in finding a water talisman, join me by that table in the quiet part of the bar… once you get a hold of yourself.”

And she then just turned away and went back to where she must have been sitting earlier. I rose and absentmindedly holstered my weapon. “What… what just happened?” I asked, wondering if I were going crazy.

“Well, aside that ya pointed a gun at the mare that founded this city?” Merry told me as he poured me a drink into a very small glass. “‘Ere, it’s Apple Whiskey.”

“But… what is she?” I asked quietly, then gulped what he gave me in one go. My throat objected. Damn, that was some hard shit!

“Oh, right, ya must be a stable folk.” he said, looking over my blue barding with the number 39 on it. “Well, Miss Common is a ghoul. Ghoul is… a pony that got too much balefire radiation, and ended up lookin’ like that.”

My eyes widened as they raced between him and the dead-looking unicorn. Wasn’t radiation supposed to kill?! Then I recalled what the guard told me, about one Stable where everypony got turned into ghouls. Except… “And what’s a ‘feral’?”

He raised a brow, probably surprised that I knew that term. “That would be a ghoul who got the radiation ate his brain out. Makes ‘im attack everythin’ and usually eats folks.” Gee, make it easier for me to go over my near heart attack.

“Why did you pull your gun at me?”

“Miss Common founded this city a long time ago. A lot of folks around ‘ere still respect ‘er for that. So ya better get over how she looks.”

Well, that won’t be easy… unless I would concentrate on how she smelled and sounded. Seriously, what the fuck was up with that? And why is the bar spinning?

I shook my head as I slowly crept towards her. She mentioned water talisman, so, like it or not, I was going to talk with her. And besides, hey, this night I killed a monster and a bunch of rapist and murderers, got into a fight with the Three Hundred and Three Company… wait, that ain’t right… Why do I feel so happy?

“I told Mister Drink to give you something to calm you, not to get you drunk,” Miss Common frowned when I approached her, feeling a bit wobbly.

“I’m not drunk…” I protested, lifting my hoof to… oh look, a marshmallow!

I was about to start chewing on my own hoof, when a blue light emitted from the ghoul’s horn and enveloped my head, making everything all cleared. I put the hoof back down on the floor, shook my head, and sat at the other side of the table, opposite to her, trying not to think about how embarrassed I should be.

“Why do you need a water talisman, mister…” she began. Goddess, why did her voice sound so beautiful?!

“Nightkin, Miss Common. I’m a bat pony,” I hastily replied. Something about the mare made me feel respect for her, but… “I need it for my Stable, ours is malfunctioning. Do you know where I can find one?”

Her eyes flashed for a moment when I mentioned my Stable. “Perhaps,” she said, lifting my hopes. “But most of those I know about are either necessary to keep towns alive, or in possession of the Brotherhood.”

Again those guys have been mentioned to me. “What is their deal? Chief Harness told me that they love technology-”

“They think it’s their mission to gather every bit of pre-war technology, to guard it from ponies and others who would misuse it again,” Miss Common told me, taking a small sip from the glass of wine she held. Wait... was it there when I came? “Another example of noble intentions going awry if you ask me.”

I nodded, still finding this whole idea of me conversing with a pony like her a bit uncomfortable. I could agree that balefire bombs and such should be guarded, but water talismans? Unless a buck planned to flood the world, maybe then…

“You said ‘most’,” I noted.

“I am not sure…” she began, narrowing her eyes, “but, I happen to know locations of two unexplored by anypony Stables. Given how often those things fail, I wouldn’t be surprised if everypony inside had died, so they won’t need their talismans.”

I decided to not make a comment about what I thought about this whole ‘stables always fail’ thing. “Why haven’t you explored them?”

“Those days: too tired, earlier: I was always busy with something else,” Miss Common replied and sighed. “Ah, the days when I roamed all the Wastelands in Equestria, helping ponies… Unfortunately for you, I gave away my last water talisman forty-something years ago.”

She’s well over forty? That’s… wait, how old does she look? Can you even tell an age of a ghoul pony? Besides the stage of decay…

“I can give you the locations of those stables…” the white unicorn said after a moment. “But here in the Wasteland, everything has a price.”

Oh great, I should had expected that.

“What is it you would want from me, Miss Common?” I asked, trying my best to remember how night guards should act before the Princess. Maybe it would soften her up?

“I need you to recover something for me,” she replied with her horn flashing. Between me and her, a map of Equestria appeared. “What I want is here, in Ponyville.” a dot appeared somewhere between Folly Mountains and ruins of Canterlot. “This entire area is known as the Capital Wasteland. We are here, in Desert Station, Palamino Wasteland.” So I have to cross the mountain chain, awesome.

“Anything I should know?” I asked, wondering how long would it take to make it all the way to Ponyville and back.

“Oh yes, quite a number of things in fact. Number one, the town is currently the headquarters of Slavers.”

“Slavers?” I asked, first with confusion, and then with rage. “Slavers as in those that have slaves?!”

“More or less,” Miss Common admitted. “They capture people that can’t defend themselves and sell to the highest bidder.”

I grinded my teeth. A bat pony was bound only by his duty and honor; to think that they were people out there who were bound by ropes and whatever the fuck those Slavers use was infuriating.

“Guessing from your expression, you don’t like their line of work, which is commendable,” Miss Common noticed, and gave a gentle smile that was an odd sight on such a face. “If you would find some way to deal with them, you would make this old lady happy. Moving on, though; number two, the thing that I want is inside of the safe within a building called ‘Carousel Boutique’. Here’s the key.” she said, levitating a key which I assumed was hidden in her dress, and not in some rotted out part of her. She sent it into my saddlebag. “Don’t lose it. Number three: the best way to cross the mountain is to use the train that goes between here and Capital Station on the other side. The next train leaves by noon tomorrow, so you can get some shuteye.”

“But… I sleep during the day.” I protested.

“Then sleep on the train tomorrow, and now work out or something.” Miss Common told me, rolling her eyes. “Number four: you should be at your best behaviour while in Capital Station; for a few months now, there’s been a huge increase in numbers of raiders around it, so the city hired a mercenary group called 303 Company. They will stay loyal to the contract, but they’re bad news. They would have gladly destroyed the town if somepony had paid them.”

Didn’t I provoke a fight with some of them tonight? Shit...

“And number five: Wasteland is a dangerous place.” she said, and to my mild surprise I saw her looking at me kindly. “So if you are going to do it you better watch out.”

Right, because I wouldn’t figure that one by myself. But, should I do it? This Ponyville seemed to be quite a distance away… wouldn’t it be easier to continue asking blindly everybody I meet?

“For the record,” Miss Common interrupted me, looking amused as she took another sip of the wine, “if I still had my skin, this would be the moment when I start convincing you.”

“Convincing me?”

“Oh, you know, batting eyelashes, leaning a bit closer to you with ‘bedroom eyes’, moving up my leg up the inner side of your hind legs…” she trailed off, and to much terror I felt something touched my leg. I yelped and shook, making Miss Common giggle. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Scaring ponies like that from time to time is one of the few benefits of my look.”

She said it without a flinch, without any hesitation or pause in her voice, eyes or muzzle. But I was a bat pony, and I felt ashamed when I heard sadness at the edge of her sentence.

“I didn’t flip out because of how you… look, miss.” I said, and then, wanting to be honest, I added: “Well, now, at least, but then I was shocked. Now, it’s just… I’m not used to such… attention.” Oh great, now my face was growing red.

“You don’t say…” she mused, returning to her amused self almost at once. “What a poor thing you are... and without a cutie mark to boot...”

You know, you really aren’t making me accepting your quest easy, lady.

“Before I say something that makes this even more embarrassing,” I managed to say, wondering if maybe I should go take a nap… everything felt so dizzy after tonight’s events. But where would I sleep? “I accept your deal.”

“Splendid,” the unicorn said, then, to my shock, spit on her hoof and extended it towards me. “Let's shake on it.”

“I’m not touching that hoof. That’s too messy.” I stated flatly. There were some things I wouldn’t do no matter what, and…

Why is she laughing so loudly...?

Footnote: Level up!
New Perk Added: Little Leaguer (Rank 1) - +5 [Melee Weapons, Explosives]. Mastery: 5 extra points in each of these skills.