The ponies on the Outside are idiots! How can they just sleep through most of the night? In just two hours or so after I came to the bar, all the patrons besides Miss Common had left, as well as the waitress Vanire. When it became clear that me and my new “employer” weren’t done talking, Merry asked if we would need anything. Miss Common told him gently that she would look after his bar until Vanire would open it at the morning, so he could catch some sleep.

“I’ve been telling him he should hire another worker or two for months,” she said once he walked up the stairs from behind the counter. “He and Vanire have their hooves full on busier days. Well, not at this time, that is.”

As Miss Common told me, ghouls like her didn’t need to sleep at all. Almost at all, I mean. Their minds still needed to catch a break now and then, even if their bodies did not. She also had no need for food and beverages, but enjoyed a sip of wine from time to time.

The insight on a ghoul’s life wasn’t the only thing we’ve talked about. I had a lot of questions about the Wasteland, and Miss Common proved to be a generous source of information. Maybe she found the lousy compliment about her scent I made shortly after I had agreed to her request to be charming? Well, she certainly found the way I blushed in embarrassment to be “charming”, as she said so herself while giggling.

On that note, after discovering what an effect alcohol had on me, I forbade myself from drinking any while near her. The last thing that I wanted was to have my brain turn off how Miss Common looks and try to woo her due to her scent. That would either end up with me getting my flank kicked by about everyone in Desert Station, or with me and her in her bed.

I was not sure which scenario sounded less pleasant.

Getting back to the topic of her smell, she told me that she cast a spell on herself to preserve her natural musk once she started to… well, rot. Miss Common also managed to do the same for her eyes and her voice, but that was all she could. Of course, being a gentlecolt, I voiced my sympathy.

Our discussion then moved from “makeups” to the life in the Wasteland. I learned that, while the entire country was now called Equestrian Wasteland, it was divided into five parts. There’s the Capital Wasteland, which was located in the center and consisted of Canterlot, the old capital, and the land surrounding it. Palamino Wasteland, where we are in, named after San Palamino Desert, which since the Great War moved up north, consuming Las Pegasus and everything between it and Folly Mountains (at least it was a rock desert rather than sand desert, otherwise life would be even more unbearable here). Next is Hayseed Wasteland at the south-east, a giant swamp with ruins of Baltimare and Fillydelphia serving as only semblances of civilization (apparently, those that lived within the wilderness weren’t exactly “civil”). Then Neighagra Wasteland to north-east, which had the biggest settlement of ghouls in a town called Hollow Shades. And finally Tall Tale Wasteland in the north-west, home to the only group that could rival the Brotherhood in terms of technological bigotry - the Synthicate. The only difference between them was that while the Brotherhood hoarded the technology and arcane loot, the Synthicate created new ones.

Oh wait, correction, It used to be their home. Now something far worse lived there.

“Alicorns?!” I exclaimed. “Like Luna and Celestia?!”

“Oh, heavens no,” Miss Common waved off my assumption. “These things are some kind of mutants. Most of them have deformed bodies, much uglier than I am;” I opened my mouth to protest, but she didn’t pause, “they often miss a limb or two, bleed from eyes or mouth, as if they were sick. Their intelligence is on par with that of a foal, which, coupled with their magical abilities and the impulse to attack everything that isn’t an alicorn creates a dangerous mix. If you see one of them - and on that note, they usually move in small groups - run in the opposite direction. Fly away, or whatever.”

“I will keep that in mind,” I mumbled, and before I could stop myself, I blurted: “And you’re not ugly, just…”

“Dead?” the unicorn finished for me, smiling slyly. She then leaned towards me, and brushed my chin with her hoof. “You’re a sweet kid, you know that?”

To my credit, I barely trembled from the contact. Unfortunately, I also blushed, giving Miss Common more reasons for amusement.

“So,” I grunted, trying to regain some dignity, “where the heck did those alicorns come from? I mean, I know you said that their home is the Tall Tale Wasteland, but...”

“Truth to be told, no one knows. They first started to appear few decades after the Last Day, and gradually their numbers rose. If I had to make a guess, their existence might have been caused by some sort of Ministry of the Arcane Sciences project that after the bombs fell went terribly wrong,” Seeing my confused gaze, she elaborated: “MAS had a lot of secret projects and experiments going on by the end of the war. I know for a fact that several experimental sites were kept secret from everypony, including our beloved ruler,” to my surprise, she sneered, “as well as the other ministries.”

A mare that killed the Princesses keeping secrets from the Prince? Yeah, I can see that one… although why would she keep them from her friends? Weren’t they her accomplices?

I snapped my head out of brooding about the past and instead pondered why Miss Common spoke of the Prince with a clear disgust. To the extent of my knowledge, since he assumed the throne, he led Equestria well - even if he led them to the war and ultimately the end - and showed a great wisdom in creating the Ministries. However, as much as I was curious about him (Heck, I didn’t even know what his name was, for some odd reason all the textbooks in Stable Thirty-Nine referred to him as “the Prince”), I wasn’t going to risk my relationship with Miss Common by asking her about it.

Wait, did I just say “relationship”?!

“Those idiots from Synthicate tried capturing alicorns to study them,” she continued, oblivious to my inner self punching my brain to stop coming up with images that were born out of that stupid thought. “Oddly, they didn’t like it. The alicorns turned out to have enough intelligence to organize themselves and retaliate. Over the course of few decades they won, about fifteen years ago, and the Synthicate’s scientists that survived ran away to other parts of the Equestrian Wastelands. Most of them ended up as town doctors and such. Desert Station’s own Doctor Netics also used to be part of the Synthicate. As for alicorns, they’ve been slowly spreading through the Wasteland, so you might even see them in Palamino.”

I pondered her words as she took a sip of her wine. If this Doctor Netics used to be a scientist of the most technologically advanced group in the Wasteland (minus maybe the Brotherhood), then maybe…

“He left Desert Station over a month ago with an expedition to Hayseed,” Miss Common hummed, as if reading my mind. “A caravan of traveling merchants brought news that the Brotherhood of Steel chapter there has moved further south. The good doctor couldn’t pass an opportunity to check all the pre-war facilities that now lie unguarded. And besides, Netics majored in cybernetics, so I doubt he would be able to create a water talisman.”

“Which means my only hope is to serve your whim?” I asked smugly. The very next second I was being regarded by the gaze of her blue eyes and feeling as if I were getting scanned. “I-I didn’t mean as… I don’t..,” I blurted, cursing my big mouth for getting me into trouble.

To my relief - and further embarrassment - Miss Common quickly dropped her glare and giggled. “I’m beginning to like you more and more, Nightkin. I hope that once our business is concluded and you retrieve the water talisman for your stable, we will get to spend some more time in each other company.”

I smiled hearing that. I also grew to like her, as bizarre as this was. I lifted up a bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparilla to my mouth, trying to imagine what would happen after I’d deliver a water talisman to my stable. I never actually liked my job there...

“But don’t get any hopes about getting into my bed.”

I spew the contents of my mouth at the wall, much to the joy of the undead unicorn.

Luckily for me, Miss Common decided to take a break from torturing me like this and brought our talk back to the important matters. She asked me what kind of weapons I had on me, and was amazed that I set out from my stable with just a knife and a 10mm pistol. She was then shocked when she heard that I didn’t know what kind of weapons exactly I looted from the raiders, and that my knowledge regarding guns was almost non-existent.

So, she spend the better part of the time when there were still other patrons in the bar teaching me about the guns. I learned that what I took from the dead raiders were .308 hunting rifles, that used (“Duh!”) .308 ammo. That there were normal round bullets, armor piercing bullets that worked great against barding but not so great against bodies, and round hollow points, that were more or less the opposite of the armor piercing. Next I learned that most non-unicorn ponies, when using a gun this big, had them mounted on battle saddles.

And then I was back in class, trying to remember all the names my teacher wrote down on the blackboard: shotguns, pistols, rifles, flamethrowers, heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, magical energy weapons… and all the different kinds and variations…

I’m pretty sure that near the end of the lecture there was a small manticore flying around my head. Thankfully by then Merry had come, so Miss Common got distracted with a change of topic.

“Why does he have to sleep until morning, anyway?” I mused. “Can’t he just take some few minute naps?”

“What do you mean?” asked my female companion, confused.

I just then had realized that, again, bat ponies were much different from the other kinds. So I explained to Miss Common our kind’s sleeping habits. While we too sleep for hours very often, we also often take a short nap, which usually last up to ten minutes, wake up (in case something suspiciously sounding happens nearby, we do it earlier), check our surrounding for a minute, and then fall asleep again. It’s a surprisingly refreshing method of sleeping, one our ancestors found very useful during war and earlier service to the Princess of the Night.

Nowadays, this habit of ours was abused to sleep on the job.

“Interesting…” Miss Common muttered, looking at me thoughtfully. “So when you said that you ‘sleep in the day’...”

“I meant ‘rest’,” I corrected myself. “The internal clock of Stable Thirty-Nine was programmed to follow the normal Equestrian time, so we had, naturally, nights shorter than day. So we couldn’t just sleep through all the hours of the day. We kinda just… dilly-dallied.”

“Hmm... And all bat ponies are like you?” she asked with increased interest. “How many are there exactly in your stable?”

I opened my mouth to reply, but the warming the Overmare gave me made me pause. Why was she suddenly so interested about Stable Thirty-Nine?

“Ugh, you stable ponies and your secrecy,” she muttered, her eyes rolling around. “How about you tell me about yourself, then, and how did your night in the Wasteland fare before you stumbled into this bar?”

I didn’t see much harm in telling her that. I told her bits about my foalhood and job. Miss Common seemed genuinely interested in tale, perhaps because I was a pony out of a stable that didn’t actually fail, and as such I was raised in environment resembling a pre-war Equestria. To an extent, of course. When mentioning the surface, I changed some facts, so that she wouldn’t be able to figure out where my stable was.

As I talked about my life before tonight, Miss Common expression was unreadable. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the whole dead thing she had going on, or because of her own nerves. But I knew for certain I wasn’t going to play cards with her anytime soon.

That changed rather quickly as I mentioned those raiders. Her face twisted with disgust, then quickly into calm rage when I mentioned that filly, Workbench.

“Fucking raiders,” Miss Common murmured, lifting her glass. “You think you’ve completely wiped them out from at least one corner of the Wasteland, and mere fifty years later their back.”

“You’ve wiped out the riders?!” I exclaimed.

I mean, looking like she did I figured it might not be the brightest idea to cross her, but… she was wearing a dress, for Goddesses sake, and was sipping a wine! How could a pony like her possibly wipe out what I assumed was a whole darn army of psychopathic ponies?! Well, not an army, but… they took over a Stable somewhere, according to the guard, so… if that Stable was as big as mine, then they would need to have about…

“Considering they quite often use barbaric weapon such as stick with nails, and they were ragged barding, it wasn’t that hard,” she replied. “Although, getting past the third hundred was a bit taxing.”

Yep, an army.... I am soooooooo not crossing Miss Common, ever. Fuck, I would probably even sleep with her to avoid fighting her!

“So how did you deal with it?” her question brought me out of my mind, I looked at her puzzled and she explained. “Killing a pony, I mean.”

“Oh, I…” I paused. How did I deal with it? Did I? Well, those two that were with Workbench didn’t even cause my eyelid to twitch, so… “I was… horrified when I had realized I killed them,” I admitted. “When they attacked me - after saving their lives, I might add - I acted in self defense, but once it was over…” I didn’t realize that I looked away from Miss Common and stared into the wall while recalling that moment, but the feeling of her hoof squeezing mine made me turn back to her. I saw her looking at me with understanding, and I smiled. “But when I saw those two raiders with that filly… it was gone. That feeling that it was wrong. What they were doing was wrong, so wrong that they didn’t deserve a second chance.”

Miss Common nodded. “Raiders don’t, but there are others that commit crimes in the Wasteland, and not all of them are lost causes. Try to remember that… of course, if you see somebody reaping a kid, then by all means-” she trailed off, as she didn’t need to explain anything further. She tapped her glass with a hoof. “I’m having second thoughts about sending you with this errand of mine.”

Okay, that came out of nowhere. “Huh?”

“Hearing how little experience you have, I don’t think it would be fair of me to send you into the largest slaver’s village. Not to mention that the Capital Wasteland, as of late, became apparently became a breeding ground for raiders. And the alicorns are much more common there than in Palamino… as well as Brotherhood of Steel, here they are way on the other end, skulking around the ruins of Las Pegasus,” Miss Common bit her lower lip. “Perhaps… it would be better if I just told you where those stables are…”

My eyes widened. That… would be perfect, wouldn’t it? I could get right away about getting that water talisman, instead of losing at least a week for getting into Ponyville. But… why didn’t I like this?

“I had already agreed to accept your request,” I mumbled the first thing that came to my mind; I would figure out why I needed an excuse to go on what could be a suicide mission later. “I might be many generations away from the last night guards, but I still value honor… milady,” I added, making the unicorn ghoul smile warmly.

“Honor… it’s such a rare value here. Even among the decent folks. Make sure you won’t lose it… sir,” Miss Common commented, and even raised her glass for me. She then returned to her musing. “If you still insist on going… hmm, first time in over a decade that I felt like going outside of Desert City and I’m stuck. That expedition I've mentioned earlier is due to be back in a few days,” she explained, seeing my gaze. “I haven’t been to Hayseed since the beginning of this century,” Okay, WHAT?! “And even DJ Pon3 doesn’t get much information from that area. I just need to hear what they’ve encountered there.”

“DJ Pon3?” I asked, wondering how to best ask Miss Common about her age. I mean, that’s borderline impolite.

“Oh, that’s the host of the radio station, and the main source of news in the Wasteland. Try tuning into his broadcast on you PipBuck, set it for 103.8 FM.”

Wait, I have a radio here?! Awesome! I quickly looked over all the buttons, switched few things, and there it was - radio. Now to just tune in…

A music, similar to the one that has been playing in the bar when I entered, began emitting from my PipBuck.

~I know it's stupid to be mad about the colt

I'm so ashamed of it but must admit the sleepless nights~

“And she also plays the old world’s music,” Miss Common explained as I turned it off. “Usually the works of… of Sweetie Belle, or Sapphire Shores, Octavia, and few others that I can’t recall right now,” She paused to clear her throat. “Anyway, back to the subject of you going to Capital Wasteland. I think I might have a solution. A friend of mine is currently staying in the city. She’s a mercenary, and owns me a favor. She should agree to go with you, and I am certain you couldn’t be in better hooves when traveling through the Wasteland… other than maybe mine. What do you think?”

“Gee, going all by myself or with a company of somebody experienced, let me think about it…” I pretended to ponder it, making the unicorn laugh again.

“You mind want to tune it down a bit while traveling with her,” she said once she calmed down. “While I appreciate good humor - you know, since it’s so rare - my friend can be… difficult, until you know her better. And I’m afraid that, unlike with me, your charm isn’t going to work on her.”

I blushed a bit again hearing her compliment, but inwardly I winced at what she said. When Miss Common mentioned about her friend, I assumed that it would be a pony like her. One I could talk with at relative ease… although her constant teasing wasn’t actually all that comfortable. Maybe it would be actually good that her friend is a bit different?

“I’m sure we will be able to find some way to work together,” I said, trying to sound confident. I think I did, because Miss Common smiled… unless she was smirking, in which case I was in a deep shit. “So… what now? Do we talk until the morning?”

“We could, but I don’t think there could be anything beneficial for you,” the unicorn replied. “In fact, I think it would be best if you could take a nap,” I raised an eyebrow, confused. “The sun will rise in about… four hours. When it does, you will go to the marketplace, sell those two hunting rifles and buy yourself a real long-range gun, while I’ll go gather my friend. It would be best if you could conduct a business transaction and meet your soon-to-be companion while fully conscious. And you said you bat ponies can fall asleep almost at once, right?”

“Well, yeah, but…” I mumbled. I would prefer to go to sleep in a more… safe environment. “Do you think I could rent a room?”

“Considering the owner is asleep, no, I don’t think so. And I promised Merry to watch his bar until morning, so I can’t lead you to a house.”

“Oh, fine…” I guess it wasn’t too bad of a place to take a four-hour nap. That couch over there looked comfortable…

“Now if you would excuse me, I will go to the little fillies room,” Miss Common said as I rose from my chair. I guessed by the expression on her face that if it weren’t for her state, she would be blushing right about now. “Drinking wine when all your body’s systems don’t work can be embarrassingly bothersome for a lady.”

I nodded with understanding, as she walked away into one of the toilets at the corner of the parlor, while I jumped into the air and landed at the couch. I tucked it in as best I could, and curled around. Some part of me wondered if it was wise to just go to sleep like this, but if something bad would happen, I would woke up right away. And besides… call me naive, but I trusted Miss Common.

As I placed my saddle bags beside my sleeping place and took some smoked meat (hey, it was not healthy to go sleeping with an empty stomach), I pondered if it was weird that the first pony I made friends with was technically dead.

I ate my early supper and closed my eyes. With tonight’s trials having wore me down, it wasn’t a surprise when I found sweet embrace of the dreams almost at once.

“You have an impressive internal clock,” was the first thing I heard when I woke up. I glanced at Miss Common, who was sitting on an armchair next to me. A small gun was floating beside her in a blue aura with a small wiper polishing it. “Pity, I was just about to wake you up by-”

“Please do not finish that sentence, Miss,” I groaned as I stretched out.

She giggled, confirming my suspicions about how she intended to wake me up. I glanced at the counter, where Vanire already was, preparing to open the bar. The zebra’s eyes flicked between me and Miss Common, amusement mixing on her face with mild confusion.

“Very well then, let’s put jokes aside and get back to business,” the ghoul said, hiding the gun somewhere under her dress as she stood up. “While you slept, I took the liberty of erasing the location of your stable from your PipBuck.”

“What?!” I exclaimed, rising up; how the heck did she manage to do that without waking me up?! Or, for that matter, how did she manage to do that period!? “How- No wait, why!?”

“I figured that you wouldn’t want anypony to know where to look for it, so I took the necessary precautions on your behalf. And as for how, you will find out that you pick up things quickly in the Wasteland.”

That made me close my mouth, as I just had realized I had it wide open, and thought about it more calmly. What she said made sense, I wouldn’t have wanted to accidentally give away where Stable Thirty-Nine was by showing somepony what time it was.

“Aww, please don’t be mwad at me,” Miss Common whimpered in a baby voice. I shook; hearing a ghoul say something like that was just plain creepy. “Anyway, we’ve a good busy day ahead of us… speaking of, this will be the first time you will see the sunlight, right?”

“Yeah…” I muttered, a part of me concerned. I mean, I know that my eyes were supposed to adjust almost immediately to the level of brightness, but… I guess I just prefer nights rather than days. “So, are we going, or...?” I trailed off when I noticed Vanire approaching us, balancing a tray with two dishes, both with veggie salads on it. I glanced at Miss Common uncertainty.

“My treat, dear,” she replied, starting to eat herself.

I looked over my meal. I didn’t expect the Outside to have this kind of food. Back in the stable, we had a plantation going on in at the lower levels, and a small farm; as we bat ponies were part predators- in opposed to our fully vegetarian kins. In an odd way, I figured that bat ponies were more adapted to the Wasteland than them; it just seemed easier to hunt wild animals rather than trying to harvest any vegetables and stuff.

“There are few plantations here and there in the Wastelands,” Miss Common said, figuring why I was staring at the plate. “This, I believe, came from Green Tail Town, a settlement in the northern part of Palamino. It’s about the only fertile land around here. There are also few good spots in Capital Wasteland - pity that the best one is under the control of the slavers - and a lot of them near Manehattan’s ruins.”

It was an interesting note for the future, valuable if my stable would want to open and interact with the Wasteland, but my mind was momentarily occupied with slowly coming to realize how yummy this salad looked.

I dove in.

About ten minutes later we were both full - in my case until my body processed it, with Miss Common… I didn’t want to know how that worked, exactly - and ready to go. I said goodbye to Vanire, who smiled in return and invited me come again in the future. As if I needed to be told that.

“So,” Miss Common piped up when we reached the door, her hoof resting against the door-knob, “ready to see the sun?”

“Isn’t that unhealthy?” I asked, while the unicorn rolled her eyes and opened the door.

A flash of light blinded me. I didn’t even realize that all the windows at Merry’s were covered… or that they didn’t have any windows, one or the other. My eyes, of course, quickly adjusted, so as I followed Miss Common out into the street I didn’t do so blindly. But this amount of light… was it really necessary? I mean, even with my pupils shrunk (as I assumed) into the width of a paper I still found it hurtful.

I looked around the street. During the night, I didn’t even notice that everything looked so… yellowish-brownish. Makes sense now that I thought about it, as we are in the desert. The houses, of course, have different colors to them, but almost all of them looked the same, which kinda made the Desert Station look boring.

Then my gaze traveled up.

Instead of the dark sky and soothing moon, I was met with a bright blue ceiling with occasional white tuffs of cloud. It was, in a way, far scarier than what I saw at night. Sorry, but in my opinion what’s above you shouldn’t be so bright and shiny.

“With all respect for Celestia, I kinda wish Nightmare Moon had won,” I muttered as I looked someplace lower.

The light smack at the back of the head came as a surprise. I turned to Miss Common. “There are limits to where a good joke can go, Nightkin dear,” she scowled at me. She cleared her throat and pointed at the right. “This way is to the market; go and do some shopping. I will meet you by the train station at the entrance to the Tunnel in two to three hours,” the ghoul added, pointing at the direction of the mountain side.

I nodded and bowed my head. “As you wish, Miss Common.”

Parting with the first friend I made here was a bit saddening, but I my hooves were itching to carry me to another part of town, curious as to how it looked. I didn’t see anything special worth of mentioning, other than everypony was glancing at me. Well, that couldn’t be helped. I wondered how long I will have to stick around in the Wasteland to not cause any sensation.

As I kept observing my surroundings, I was also on a lookout for those three girls from 303 Company, the two pegasi and a griffon. Hedwig might have mentioned they were going to leave, but I wasn’t in a mood for a surprise jump-scare. Unfortunately, I found that I had problems recalling what they looked like, as my attention was drawn to their armor back then… and their backs as well.

Oh, well, E.F.S. wasn’t showing red anyway, so I allowed myself to relax. Glancing at my PipBuck, I recalled that I had a radio in it, and decided to turn it on. When I did that, however, I noticed that something was written on the screen:

>Eject an ear-piece? Y/N

Wait, this thing comes with an ear-pieces?! Celestia’s burning tits, of course I’m pressing Y! I grabbed a small device that slid out of the side of my PipBuck and put it on my ear. I managed to catch an ending to another pre-war song:

-I just want to start

A flame in your heart

Good morning, my little ponies!

Okay, that was new. I almost stopped when the cheerful voice erupted from my ear-piece as soon as the music trailed off. I recalled what Miss Common said about the DJ Pon3, and guessed it was her.

It’s a new day for us in post-apocalyptia. Praise Celestia, and all that. Here are some of the latest news.

Remember how I’ve been telling you all that something got all the raiders spooked out from the ruins of Canterlot? Well, get this: now all the alicorns are missing, too. Thankfully, it seem that they just got slaughtered, and not like the raiders chased off into the yard outside of the capital. Geez, what’s next? The Brotherhood of Steel getting obliterated?

I mentally checked the distance between Ponyville and Canterlot. Alright, if whatever was happening in the old capital would stay there, I should be safe…

And while we’re at it; yes, I know that many of you still despise the fact that I’m letting them use my broadcast tower as an outpost. But please, give me some break. I could deal with the raiders by myself, but when the alicorns started snooping around all those years ago, I had to find some bodyguards. Today marks the tenth year of when we made this “pact”, and I am happy to report that at least this chapter keeps their word - nothing from my tower got “reclaimed”... although I noticed one paladin glancing at my toaster in an fishy way…

A snicker escaped me, luckily unnoticed by anypony on the street. This mare was funny!

Getting back to the raiders, they continue to harass Capital Station. The 303 Company keeps the town safe… for now. I know some people out there are currently taking bets on how long it will take for those mercs to turn on them.

Don’t think I have forgotten about guys living in the provinces! I have a bit of news for you, too.

Provinces, huh? I wondered if before the war ponies from Canterlot actually thought as such about ponies living in the other parts of Equestria. I listened to DJ-pon3 as she said some things about Manehattan’s Orange’s Field having to deal with some bothersome pests.

And now for you folks on the other side of Folly Mountains!

Guess that’s about us.

Monte Bank, the chairman of the Caesar's Grave Casino and de facto buck that calls all the shots (in and out of a bar) in Applewood, has yet to return from his adventure, wherever it took him… and to be found alive. Nopony had seen him in over two weeks since he set off for a “business transaction”. My sources tell me that herds of mares in Palamino Wasteland are already mourning, so if you see this cat, tell him to go back home. Or better yet, point him to my studio here in Canterlot, I would love to have an interview with him.

What? What did you think I was gonna say?

On the darker side on news, it would seem a new stable has opened up.

Huh?

“But DJ Pon3, why is that a ‘darker side of news’” you ask? Well, because what crawled out of it is a honest to goodness Goddess damned bat pony!

What?!

Yeah, so it turns out that Princess Luna really did have guards that looked scary as shit. And that their legacy lives on, for the Dark Crusader immediately began fulfilling his duties to the crown by protecting innocent! Why, that young buck saved a small filly from a band of raiders that’s been prowling around Desert Station. Great job, kid!

What?! How?! When?! Dark what?! Kid?!!! Oatmeal, are you… wait, what?

And that is all for morning news! Thanks for listening, foals, this is DJ Pon3, bringing you truth, no matter how bad this hurts.

I sit down in the middle of the street, trying to collect my thoughts. How was it possible for DJ Pon3 to know what just happened last night? She was in Canterlot, for Luna’s sake, and…

“You know, I have more important things to do than writing you a fine for disrupting the city’s movement.”

I jumped into the air in surprise. Next to where I was sitting chief Harness stood, looking at me with an annoyed expression. There were also few angry ponies nearby that, if I guessed correctly, were slightly ticked off by having to take two steps to the side to avoid bumping into me. Geez.

“Um sorry, I…” I stuttered, embarrassed, as I landed next to him. I pulled out my ear-piece and showed it to him. “I was listening to the radio, and… I heard DJ-pon3 talking about how I saved that filly, and…”

“Ah yes, that mare has a talent for finding out about stuff quickly,” the other buck smiled, dismissing my embarrassment. “Best not to think about how she does that. So, what were you up to?”

“I wanted to sell some things and buy myself a good long range weapon,” I said as we both started trotting. “Miss Common hired me. I’m leaving for the Capital Wasteland later.”

“Huh, no kidding. Well, good for you. But you might wanna avoid the local merchants. No offense, but they will eat alive a pony-”

“-from a Stable, I get it,” Seriously, when this was going to end? “So what do you propose?”

“Oh, that’s no problem at all!” Guntrotter, the father of the filly I saved, said enthusiastically.

Battle Harness had led me to the housings that the caravanners occupied in when they stayed in the city. We found the buck easily as he was checking the brahims (two-headed cows, all four heads mooed hello to me, which scared the crap out of me. This gave everybody around a serious case of laughing their flanks off.)

Guntrotter listened attentively as I told him that I’m looking for a better weapon (once he stopped thanking me), and after thinking about it for a minute, he proposed that he could take those two hunting rifles, take a few parts, and mold it all together into a new gun, for a mere one hundred caps.

I actually had to insist on paying anything, as I didn’t feel right having him do this for free.

“I like tinkering with weapons,” he continued as he lead me into an apartment he and his family stayed in; Harness had already left, mentioning something about speaking with the train’s mechanics. “It helps with the business when what we sell is in good quality.”

“I’m glad to hear you like what you do. I hated my job back at the Stable.”

“Is that why you left?” the older back asked me with surprise.

“No, it’s more complicated,” I replied, not wanting to discuss it.

“Heh, I figure you would have to be crazy to leave a cozy Stable and come here. Anyway, you wait here, I will quickly piece this all together in the workshop,” he said, lifting the small pack with the hunting rifles and some other items.

Nodding to the caravanner, I sit at the couch, and, since I didn’t have anything to do, I took another nap. Unlike the previous one, however, it must have lasted less than a minute, for I had woken up when I heard the creaking of the doors.

Familiar yellow eyes were looking at me, a bronze head sticking out from behind the door.

I smiled awkwardly. “Hi. You’re Workbench, right?”

The filly nodded after a second of hesitation, and came into the room. She looked much better now that she was clean, although I noticed there were shadows under her eyes that would probably never go away.

Okay, think of something to make it easier for her… um, how about…

“I don’t look that ugly, don’t I?” I asked, managing a little shake and worried expression.

Workbench blinked at my sudden display, and for the first time I heard her say something: “Um, what?”

Funny how often I say the same as of late.

“Oh, you don’t have to say it, I know I am ugly,” I exclaimed, covering my face with hooves. “You can’t even look at me straight. No mare will want me, bueeah….”

“N-no, I didn’t mean…” she said as she run up to me while I pretended to cry, her voice confused.

So far so good…

As she stood before me, I took my hooves and showed her my tongue. “Haha, made you talk!” I told her, smirking.

Workbench backed a bit, her jaw dropped, but then to my great relief she giggled. “You’re weird,” she said as she laughed.

YES! Look at that shit, Wasteland, I win this filly! Take your despair somewhere else!

“Why do you think they kicked me out of my Stable?” I joked.

“You actually lived in a Stable?” the filly asked, wonder in her eyes. “I thought pegasi hated being cooped underground.”

“Well, maybe they do, but I am a bat pony, a servant of the night that protects the meek!” I proclaimed, my wings lifting me into the air so that I could salute while in a full attention. “And… can you keep a secret?” I asked in a whispering tone. When Workbench nodded, I said: “I really hate open spaces… as in everywhere outside.”

“Really? That’s dumb.”

“It’s not.”

“It’s so.”

“It’s not.”

“It’s so.”

“It’s not.”

“It’s so.”

“It’s not.”

“It’s so!”

“It’s not!”

“It’s so!”

“It’s not!”

“It’s so!”

“It’s so!”

“It’s not!”

“It’s so!”

“It’s not!”

“It’s so and that’s that!”

“It’s not dumb at all!”

“Okay, you win, little filly,” I conceded, barely containing a laughter.

“Yeah, and you better… not… HEY!” Workbench exclaimed as she caught on.

I grinned at her while she looked at me all offended. We lasted like this for only five seconds. What came next was an explosion of laughter while we both rolled on our backs, unable to cope otherwise with this ridiculous situation.

I was a bit surprise that Guntrotter didn’t come to see what was the commotion about, but I had realized that he was putting a weapon together, so… eyap, I perked my ear and heard the sounds of constructions coming from the room at the end of the hallway.

“Thanks, mister,” Workbench muttered, making me concentrated once again on her. She still lied on her back, but the joy she was emanating a heartbeat ago had disappeared from her eyes. “For… this and… you know…”

I knew. I knew that I wanted to rip those bastards into pieces for what they did to her. Slitting their throats was too good of a death for them.

“I wish I could have come there earlier,” I confessed to the filly, also staying at my back; if she was cool talking about last night like this, then I wasn’t getting up.

“I was lucky anyway… I mean, traveling with my Mom and Dad, I hear things from towns. I could’ve ended up a lot worse, so… thank you.”

An awkward silence stayed after her words. I mean, what the hay was I supposed to say? This filly was, what, twelve at best, and already had a better idea on what awaited in the Wasteland for ponies. What could I possibly do-

Show her the foalhood from Stable Thirty-Nine.

“Wanna do something fun?”

When a couple of minutes later Guntrotter came out from his workshop, his eyes must have grown as large as the moon. How often do you see your daughter riding a bat pony while he chases his own tail apparently while flying five miles per hour in the middle of your living room?

“Wheee!!!” we both continued to exclaim, even me not noticing her father’s presence, so occupied I was with Workbench sitting on my shoulders. She was so happy, as if the previous night didn’t happen at all, as if that was just a bad dream…

A small concern rose in my mind. I hope she wasn’t going to have any nightmares. Luna, guards her dreams.

“Oh, hi Dad!” Workbench shout made my snapped out of my thoughts and look to see her father. I stopped and landed next to him, with the filly jumping onto the floor.

Well, as we stood there, we both learned that moving in circles wasn’t the best idea we could’ve come up with. Both Workbench and I failed epicly in our attempts to sit down, and we fell to down, me on the left side, she on the right.

“I see you were having fun with our guest, Workbench,” Guntrotter said happily, no doubt pleased with the happiness of his daughter, especially in light of what happened.

“Yeah, Dad, and he’s so cool! Even if he is a blank flank,” she snickered at me.

You know, if it would be anypony other than this filly, I would’ve been pissed. But, as it was her, I merely stick out my tongue. “You just wait, my cutie mark will be the most awesome thing that there ever was!”

“Yeah, right.”

“Right!”

“Right!”

“Right!”

“Okay, can you... stop?” Guntrotter asked, looking confused at both of us.

I had suddenly realized how foalish this looked. My cheeks darkened as I coughed, hoping they wouldn’t notice how awkward I felt, and looked at the buck. Or rather, at the gun he was holding for me.

“Here you go,” he said, not without a hint of pride at his hoofwork. “A modified 308. hunting rifle, with a scope and extended magazine.”

“Wow, thank you,” I said, taking it. It looked a lot better than either of the two guns I gave him; it was hard to believe he made it from parts from them. Sure, there were pieces of duct tape here and there, but honestly, I wouldn’t be able to tell if it was fresh from a fabric.

I lifted the scoped hunting rifle with my right wing and pressed it against my cheek, seeing how well I felt with it. Well, it wasn’t too bad… The rifle was well made, and was perfectly balanced an all, but I just felt awkward with it. Guess I preferred smaller guns.

“Workbench, how do you feel?” I heard Guntrotter ask his daughter when he hugged her.

Okay, family moment. My cue to get out.

“I’m fine, Dad,” the filly replied uncomfortably, trying to get away.

I coughed to gain their attention, which allowed Workbench to escape. “Thank you so much for the gun, Guntrotter.”

“Oh, think nothing of it.”

“Dad is great with fixing weapons and putting them together,” Workbench boasted. “And he’s gonna teach me everything he knows!”

“Then I guess I will start coming to you for repairs when I get back from Capital Wasteland,” I smiled. “Speaking of, I need to get going, I’m supposed to be by the station soon.”

“You’re going to the Capital Wasteland?”

“Yep, Miss Common hired me do something for her there,” I replied. Wait, what was it you were supposed to say when leaving for a while? “Want me to send you a card?” Seeing both other ponies give me a puzzled looks, I figured I must have said it wrong. “Nevermind; I’ll see myself out.”

“Wait,” Guntrotter interrupted me. “Workbench, go see if Mom is awake, I’ll walk our guest out.”

“Sure. Goodbye, mister bat pony!”

“It’s Nightkin, actually,” I called after her as I left with her father.

Guntrotter looked back and then spoke quietly. “I have no fucking clue what in Celestia’s name you did, but thank you! My wife and I feared she wouldn’t want to talk for days. She kept shaking, and…” he trailed off, anger flashing through his eyes as he thought what his daughter had suffered in the hooves of her captors.

“I just made a fool out of myself, as I happen to do a lot since I came to Desert Station,” I cut in, not being comfortable with all this thanks he was giving me. “Honestly, at this point, I’m surprised I didn’t get a cutie mark for… dunno, being an idiot?”

“Well, if you are an idiot, then it would be better for the whole Wasteland to have more stupid ponies,” the earth pony chuckled. “Anyway, you have a life-long discount for my family’s caravan. We’re staying here until Doctor Netics gets back, we were hoping he could take a look at Workbench, do some psychio… logtical… thingy. What’s that fancy words for-”

“A psychiatric treatment?” I hinted.

“Yeah, that. After that, we'll hit back on the trail - it should be safer now that you took out those raiders. We travel from here to Green Tail Town, Cleansprings, Cheapside and Tawanana Camp.”

“Then I will be on a lookout for you if I ever visit those places,” I told him as we exited the building. “Take care.”

I smiled as I parted with him. It was nice to know there were some ponies you could count on, despite my initial meeting with the Outside’s residence being not so pleasant as I hoped.

“... and when we started building this city one-hundred and twenty-something years ago, fixing up Lady Fleur here was practically the first order of business,” the mechanic that I stumbled upon when he was on the break near the station had said. “I mean, before that, the only way to travel to the Capital Wasteland was to either go around the mountains, or fly over them. And you have no idea how much 303 Company charged for that. So basically, Palamino was cut off from the rest of Equestria.”

Normally, I would have doubted how accurate a tale of something that happened so long ago was, but my interlocutor happened to lived through it. Sorta. Did I mention that he was a ghoul? And yeah, apparently ghouls were more or less immortal. Damn, now I’m really curious how old Miss Common is.

“Fixing her wasn’t easy, but we had a lot of parts scavenged from trains left here on the station, and there were some deeper in the tunnels,” he continued. “And boy, don’t get me started on how long it took to clean the passage!”

You know, since I am comparing him to Miss Common already… if how much different she is from this ghoul is of any indication on how she looked in life… I mean, compared to him she’s gorgeous. She has her coat here and there, as well as much more mane. And you are able to tell what color they used to be. This mechanic… I could see his leg-bones!

And he stunk, a lot.

“What do you use for fuel?” I asked, averting my gaze from him in hoped it would somehow make it easier for my nose. “Coal?”

It didn’t, but at least looking at the train, Lady Fleur, was occupying. She was ten-cart long, with the first one filled with the black mineral. Cars from second to fourth were reserved for cargo, and the next two for the usage of both cities. The remaining four were used by passengers, after they bought the tickets of course.

“Yep! But we can turn it to be magic powered if need arises,” the ghoul replied enthusiastically; I guess doing the same work for over one hundred years requires some sort of obsession.

“Why did you named her ‘Lady”, thought? I mean, would it kinda make more sense to-”

“To give the train a buck’s name, and then the tunnel some mare’s, yeah, we get that a lot. But Miss Common was keeping an eye out for our efforts back then, and she protested against making any dirty suggestions.”

The same mare who kept teasing me throughout the night? Huh, guess time changes ponies.

“Speaking of Miss Common…” the ghoul said, whom I already told that I worked for her (apparently, it that gained a lot of respect around those parts), as he pointed with his head behind me. I looked back…

It was like meeting Miss Common the night before. I turned around not expecting what was about to happen. Only this time, I didn’t flip out. I stared in shock at the most beautiful mare I have ever seen. Her coat was the same color as the sky above us, her mane - gray with navy blue streaks. She was a unicorn, carrying herself with the grace as she strode towards me, her sapphire eyes locked with mine…

“And this strapping young buck with a wingboner is Nightkin,” I heard Miss Common introduce me… did she just say “a wingboner”?

I snapped back into reality as I glanced at my wings, both outstretched. I felt a wave of shame crash into me like a giant tsunami. Thankfully the ghoul mechanic was gone at least, now I only had two mares to try and explain myself to…

“I, um…”

Oh, for fuck sake… say something!

“... hi!”

Celestia’s solar mareheat, I despise myself.

Miss Common giggled as usual, while the unknown unicorn raised an eyebrow.

“He is kinda cute, I will give you that,” she said turning to the ghoul. Sweet Luna, her voice, while cold, was so smooth…

“Told you, dear,” Miss Common replied, and then turned to me. “Nightkin, this is Midnight Gaze, the friend that I told you about. She had agreed to travel with you through the Capital Wasteland, making sure you won’t die during your exploits.”

Sweet Luna, her name was similar to mine! This must be a sign!

“Oh… right, thank you…” I started, but soon found myself being choked by something invisible, while at the same time pulled closer to Midnight Gaze.

“Okay, listen up,” she said, and I finally noticed her horn was glowing. “Rule number one: don’t try to hit on me. Rule number two: don’t stare at my rump. Rule number three: don’t even think about fucking me. Got it?”

Apparently, the "sign" was saying to get away. As I was still being choked, I nodded. The pressure around my throat had disappeared, and I fell to the ground.

So, the pony I had crush on was probably going to kill me. That promises a good relationship.

“Was that necessary?” I heard Miss Common ask with a pretense in her voice while she helped me to get up with her magic, her touch far more gently than Midnight’s.

“I was just setting the ground rules,” the living mare retorted, brushing a lock of hair out of her face.

“Don’t let her cold welcome fool you,” Miss Common told me after rolling her eyes. “She’s a real friend once you get to know her better. I’m sure you will get to know her from her better side… eventually. Now, the train leaves soon, so you might want to get going. Hope to see you again soon,” she said as she pulled me for a hug, which I returned; because why wouldn’t I? As far as my ears and nose were concerned, she was alive… “Wear protection.”

I’m pretty sure my eyes grow wider than they should have. Miss Common, contrary to what somepony might have thought, didn’t whisper those words.

I looked apologetically at Midnight, hoping she wouldn’t hold what she said against me. The beautiful mare’s only response was her cold-as-ice stare.

The inside of the train car was spacious, and there was a few ponies traveling today, which allowed me and Midnight find free seats easily. I sat at one side of the couch, glancing at the mare in blackish armor stealthily… her sniper rifle was pointing at me. So I looked through the window, and the unicorn began checking her weapon, if my ears were correct.

“So, do you have any plan as to how to get that thing from Ponyville?” she asked me as if she hadn’t just pointed her gun at me.

“I’m working on it,” I lied. It had somehow slipped my mind that I had to break into a city full of slavers.

“Well, you do have couple of days for that. But just to be clear, I did not sign up for a suicide mission.”

“Neither did I,” I replied, perking my ear; there was a familiar voice coming from the doors to the neighboring car.

Glancing at the opening doors confirmed my suspicion; three females emerged, one being a griffin, the other two pegasi.

“Hey, it’s the Freak!” the gray-white griffin stopped whatever she was talking about and exclaimed almost happily when she saw me. Her friends were less taken by her observation… huh, now that I took a good look at them; I noticed that they were identical. And I don’t just mean that they were both red and had manes of the darker shade of red. No, they looked exactly the same. “You know, the ones that hoofed your flanks to you.”

“Um, hi, Hedwig,” I greeted her politely.

“So, you’re off to Capital Station as well, huh?” Hedwig continued. “Well, I hope you will be more careful on what you say; other 303s aren’t as forgiving as I,” One of the pegasi mumbled something incoherent even to me. “Oh, don’t mind them; the twins just have a mild hangover. I would love to stay and chat, but we have to sit tight in the fifth car; the train will stop somewhere in the middle to pick up few technicians that were supposed to fix something and our bucks that watched their backs. Gotta extract them.”

“I see. It’s nice that 303 are so helpful,” I said diplomatically, remembering all that I heard so far. “See you later,” Ugh, did I really say that? The two ponies attacked me, and the griffin held a gun to my head.

Midnight waited until the trio was out of earshot before she spoke: “They’re surprisingly friendly for 303… I wonder how long they worked for them.”

“Why?”

“I’m just curious as to how long it takes this group to corrupt its members,” she explained with a shrug. “Anyway, to the more important matters, I wonder how long this stop will last.”

“Probably a few minutes,” I guessed, yawning out of boredom. And I suppose I was a bit tired as well; it was the middle of the day, after all. “I’m going to take a nap.”

Having informed my beautiful friend, I curled up into a ball on my seat, hoping I would get to dream about her…

… I awoke with a start as the train stopped, creaking horribly. Something was wrong, beginning with sounds of shots from the cars closer to the engine, and ending with fact that I was currently in mid-air, in a course collision with the wall.

I unfolded my wings and managed to turn around, somehow managing to land vertically on my legs. Looking around, I spotted Midnight, running past the door next to me in a hurry. I followed her. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m going there!” she explained without turning around. I rolled my eyes and continued to tail her, easily keeping up with her on my wings, and not looking at her rump.

Funny, I felt… much more agile. And better overall. It took me a second to realise that we were inside the tunnel, which meant underground. Guess my body feels more comfortable within a closed space as well as my mind, huh?

I maneuver swiftly between closing doors, as Midnight didn’t bother holding them for me, and watched as the unicorn mare climbed up to the roof of the next car. Flying close behind her, I finally got a look at what was happening.

The part of the tunnel we were in was very wide, probably serving as a rail crossing for different lines before the end of the war. It would have been difficult for a non-bat pony to say for sure how spacious it was, as the lights were lit only above the track that Lady Fleur was travelling by. However, over by the edge of the tunnel’s segment, flashes of gunfire could be seen.

About five ponies, three wearing suits similar to the ghoul I spoke with back at Desert Station, and two armed with the same barding as Hedwig and the pegasi twins. The two bucks were currently firing from shotguns strapped to their battle saddles, as was the griffon, using two revolvers she held in her paws, and her companions, who hovered in the air, gunning down the ones attacking them with miniguns. There were also some ponies I recognized as the guards from Desert Station fighting.

As for who was attacking them… it was horde of what at first I took for ponies, but after a second I took out my scoped hunting rifle and took a better look. It wasn’t easy to tell with all the shooting, but I wouldn’t mistake the signs of decay on their bodies. Those were ghouls… and judging by the way they run with jaws open, eyes empty (not “empty” as in not having anything in their eye-sockets - although there were a few of those there - but as in not showing any signs of intelligence), they were feral or, as Midnight utter under her breath right now, “zombies”.

I glanced at my companion and saw her already shooting rapidly from her sniper rifle, and, to my amazement, as far as I could tell she blasted a head of a zombie every time she pulled a trigger. I glanced at my weapon, and I knew there was no way I could make shots like that. Heck, I would probably end up hitting one of the living ponies.

But I had one advantage over everybody here. We were in a closed space, “a terrain” I was the most comfortable with.

I took into the air and closed in on the zombies, taking out my knife with my mouth. I wasn’t worried about getting shot; well, maybe a little. But there was so many ghouls here, spawning out of one of the side tunnels, that I just dove into the few from the group on the other side where those twins were going bullet crazy.

Swiftly swooping down, I slashed at the throat of the ghoul, and not even stopping, did so to two more before I flew up into the air once more, escaping their range of attack. I figured that they could only strike with their hooves, so as long as I remained as fast… I cursed as a magical blast went next to my head, and my PipBuck began picking, informing me that the attack by the ghoul unicorn carried radiation.

Wait, does this mean when Miss Common used her magic to heal my alcohol level she radiated me… oh wait, I’m in a battle.

This time when I attacked, I entered S.A.T.S., managing clean kills this time; from the previous three, only one didn’t get up, the other two trotted around with gashes on their throats as if they were lovemarks.

I was surprised how confident I felt fighting underground, in contrast to how I barely managed to hold my own against the raiders. True, it wasn’t just my merit that we won, as everybody else did their part, probably killing more than me. I once or twice got saved by Midnight when a ghoul came too close for my liking. At least, I think it was her. Maybe those zombies’ heads just exploded on their own?

“Well, that was fun,” Hedwig commented after she killed the last zombie, that was crawling up to her, his hind legs blasted off, and trying to bite her. Turning to the two ponies that, I assumed, were from 303 Company like her, she asked: “Mind explaining why the fuck an army of zombies were chasing you? And where is everybody else? We were supposed to pick up twenty ponies in total.”

I flew up closer to them, curious as well. I wondered where exactly should I land; I mean, I’m pretty sure I was splashed in the liquids of the ghouls, but I didn’t need to get myself even dirtier by stepping on their corpses. Pondering that, and finally finding a good spot, I noticed Midnight approaching from the train, her sniper rifle exchanged for a magnum revolver, probably in case one of the zombies would turn out to be “alive”.

“When those technicians started repairing, they discovered that the problem with the energy leak was due to some wires further in one of the other tunnels being broken,” the buck explained, panting heavily after the near death experience. “At first we thought that it was caused by the earthquake three days ago, but once we got there, we saw that all cables were either torn off of bore bitemarks. So we thought instead it was because of rats or other critters, which probably got inside the tunnels because of that-”

“Earthquake, I know. But those weren’t rats.”

“Yeah, I noticed. We went hunting, because nopony fancied coming here again to fix those wires. After a few hours, we stumbled upon a pair of huge doors, with one of them leaning on the hinges. We went inside, and there was about thousands of those fucking zombies.”

“Probably workers that hid there during the Last Day,” Midnight spoke up. “They must have thought they would be safe there, but radiation leaked in.”

“And the tunnels safety protocols must have sealed them in,” Hedwig finished, nodding thoughtfully. “But this fucking earthquake must have damaged the doors… fuck. So where are the others?”

“I have no idea, we must have split when we run for our lives.”

“Fuck fuckity fuck,” the griffon summed up, facehoo-, um, faceclawing? Turning to the twin pegasi, she asked: “Tell me you didn’t waste your entire ammo?”

“You don’t seriously think about getting down there?” the one on the right asked.

“What the fuck else? Our job was to take them out of here. Do you want to explain to the boss why we left them?”

I tuned out the females arguing, and trotted closer to the tunnels entrance. There were ponies trapped inside… with an army of flesh eating zombies.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I heard Midnight say next to me, and causing me to jump in surprise. How the fuck did she sneak up on me?

I looked at her puzzled, as she pointed her hoof at me.

“I know this fucking look. You’re thinking about going there, because your soft life in the stable made you think living is all about helping others. Guess what, it isn’t.”

I noticed that our exchange gained attention from the others. It made me a bit self-conscious, but I didn’t care that much. And it actually helped me to decide. I was scared of going in there, but… now I didn’t want to look like a chicken.

“And that is what is wrong with your Wasteland,” I replied to Midnight, and then turned to the tunnel. I had an idea I wanted to try out.

I did mention that bat ponies could use echolocation, right? Wait, I didn’t? I’m… sure I mentioned at least about emitting sound at different frequencies at least… So anyway, we can use it as sonar of sorts, by listening to how the sound-wave bounces off from things. It didn’t just come back to me after reflecting from objects, but… circled around, hitting everything, and then bringing back all the information to me. I don’t know how that exactly worked, but I kinda just simplified it with "that’s bat ponies’ magic" to myself.

So anyway I… kinda shouted, in a very high voice, so high that it was unheard for a pony’s (or a griffon’s) ear, except for a bat pony.

“Damn, that’s a lot…” I murmured when an echo returned to me, creating a map in my brain of the tunnels in front of me, as well as detecting all the objects, highlighting for me which were alive and moving.

Of course, due to the nature of zombies, not everything that moved was alive.

“Okay, I got their locations. There are eight ponies left alive,” I said out loud, my voice a bit sore after modulating my throat, as I glanced curiously at my PipBuck.

Whoever designed the spell matrix of those things was either a genius, or an over perfectionist. Either way, the “map” I had created in my head for a few seconds was somehow copied into the device, and highlighted the ponies with small triangles.

“How in Luna’s moaning moonheat do you know that?” one of the twins asked me, everybody looking at me with surprise.

“Echolocation,” I replied with a shrug, ignoring how my neck bristled for hearing her speak of the Princess of the Night in that way. “So, you wanna go or what?”

“Told you he was half bloodwing,” the other twin said after a second, while Hedwig shook her head, deciding to deal with this later.

“Okay, since you’re offering to help… fair warning though, our boss won’t pay you.”

“Didn’t ask for a pay,” I replied and flew slowly forward, letting them to catch up quickly.

I was surprised when Midnight joined in on this adventure. I lowered myself to be next to her, ignoring the griffon and the pegasi twins. Everybody else returned to the train, the two 303 bucks too exhausted to be of help, and the guards weren’t under contract to save them.

“I didn’t think you would come after what you said,” I said quietly.

She shot me a glare. “I told Common I will look after you, because she took such liking into you for some reason. So I am stuck.”

“Um… sorry?” I offered, not sure what to say. And there was this fact that she was hot as the sun also crippling my speech capabilities.

“Sure you are,” she scoffed. “Going into dark tunnels full of zombies… that’s about the stupidest thing I heard off. Why stable ponies get themselves killed for others is beyond me. Luckily, their morals last about a month, so shortly you will stop acting as if this was still Equestria. This is the Wasteland, and if you want to survive out here, you’ll learn it quickly.”

I didn’t have an answer to that. Or rather, I had one, but not one I would dare to say to a pony that can blow a head of a zombie from a hundred yards.

If surviving meant stopping caring about others, then I don’t want to live here.

In contrast to what we all thought, things were going smoothly for us until we’ve reached the second to last survivor. There were pockets of those zombies here and there between our targets, but the bigger ones counted only twenty-thirty, which in comparison to the wave we’ve tackled first were easily dealt with. Especially since the twins (who, as I learned, were named Hawk Wing and Kestrel Wing, but even Hedwig, who has been assigned as the “squad’s leader” had no idea how to tell them apart) both still had plenty of ammo and all but mowed down everything that jumped at us. The rest of us practically had to fight only when the missing ponies were nearby, so that they wouldn’t get in a crossfire.

Wait; is this still a crossfire when only one side shoots?

We didn’t chat too much, other than saying our names. Oddly, being in a dark tunnel deep within mountains while being surrounded by an army of dead ponies wasn’t exactly a good spot to start socializing.

Anyway, as I was saying, things were going well for us, until we found a Capital Station technician in one of the side tunnels on the eastern part of this section. When he saw us, he began screaming and trying to run away, most likely thinking we were another zombies and ignoring our shouts for him to stop.

“What a fucking idiot…” Kira murmured as she flew after him.

I did so as well, as it was more likely I would find him in the darkness. The 303s had flashlights with them, and Midnight could illuminate the area with her magic. I had a flashlight as well, on my PipBuck, which I turned on for the benefit of my companions. But despite all this, if the buck would take a turn somewhere, only my better senses would pick him up.

I caught up easily with the griffin, and got a bit ahead of her. I nodded for her to follow me and took the tunnel on the left… and both of us froze. Throughout the entire chase the technician didn’t stop screaming, so we had no warning that the chase was over.

When he passed the corridor, we saw a giant herd of zombies gathered around something (which I assumed a few seconds ago was somepony), and the ones on the center were making munching noises. My jaw parted seeing this horrific sight, and when I took a look at Hedwig I saw her expression mirroring mine.

Our shock lasted only about five seconds, but it was enough for the zombies to notice us. They turned their heads slowly, attracted by the lights of our flashlights (why, why the fuck didn’t we turn them off?!) and growled quietly.

We didn’t need to say anything. We just decided to get the fuck out of there at the same time. While we were scared shitless (the group was bigger than the first one) as we had an advantage over them; we had wings. We could easily outrun them, screw the last buck, get back to Lady Fleur…

My eyes widened when I remembered that one of us didn’t have wings.

Cursing at myself and the Wasteland, I did the only sensible thing that I could… okay, not sensible, but…

I stopped and fell on the ground, turning to the approaching horde. I waited for them to get closer…. and shouted with all the strength I had in me.

The power of my sonic scream made them all stumbled back. It didn’t stun them, as they were dead, but I could at least bye Midnight a few more seconds to get away. It should be enough… maybe I could even last a minute?

Wait, why is everything shaking?

My eyes darted around to see that the tunnel was falling apart. My ears perked up as strange sound, like the rumbling of boiling water. My sonic scream must have damaged the structure of the tunnel, already breached by this earthquake.

I ceased the sonic scream, but it was already too late. The tunnel was collapsing. Pieces of metal began to fall as I once again darted into the air, hoping to get away before it was too late. A bigger chunk of the tunnels walls nearly made a pancake out of me, another hit me in the side. I bit back the cry of pain as I struggled on…

Rock and boulders started crashing down.

I gasped, terrified at the thought of being buried alive, but before I could even finish being scared, something heavy hit me in the back of my head. I fell down on the floor, lifeless.

Footnote: Level Up!

Skill note: Melee Weapons: 50/100

New perk added: Foal at Heart - you might look like a grumpy grown up, but you have the soul of a foal. You gain +10 to Speech and Barter when dealing with a child.

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to Sinrar for the awesome art!