I snapped awake as the door was unlocked. My eyes were raw from crying myself to sleep, and I hurt all over. Remaining curled up in a ball, I hoped that they would think I was still asleep and just leave me alone.

The door swung open, just slightly, but it still let out a creaking groan from the rusty hinges.

“Hey…” I didn’t know the voice. It was young, and feminine. “Hey newbie.”

I peeked over the leg that had been hiding my face and saw the pair of eyes from earlier. The young mare, a unicorn, was standing in the barely open door.

“You okay?” She stepped into the room, carefully. “Hack Job didn’t do anything too bad, did he?”

That depended entirely on one’s standards for ‘too bad’, really.

“He wasn’t supposed to hurt you.” She pushed the door closed slightly, not enough for it to latch again. “Cinnamon said you were okay, but I wanted to check for myself.”

“Why?” My throat hurt from all the screaming. I hadn’t spoken in hours.

“Is it true what Hack said? That you’re Two Kick’s?” She was halfway across the room now, slowly walking forward.

“...Even here…” I whispered, dropping my head back behind my leg, the only way of speaking that didn’t make my throat burn. All I wanted was to get out from under his shadow.

“I am too!” I gasped at that, and my eyes went wide. When I looked up, it was straight into her eyes. She was in my face, smiling widely. Before I could react, she pulled me into a hug.

“Aaaugh!” I yelled as she squeezed my bruised body. She let go immediately, apologizing profusely and waving her hooves.

“Oh sorry, I’m sorry.” Quickly rummaging through a bag I hadn’t noticed, she pulled out a bottle of potion. “Here, thought you might need this, so I smuggled it out.”

Using her magic, she popped the cork and pressed the bottle to my lips. It could have been anything, but something about her face made me want to trust her. I’d never had a potion before, they were generally saved for major injuries. Until… however long before then, I’d never been hurt badly enough to need one.

I drank greedily at the potion, finding the taste indescribably purple. As the liquid sparked and danced its way down my throat, I started feeling better immediately. The bruises felt less intense, and several cuts healed up and left only bloody hints at their existence. The burning on my flank was still there, but I hadn’t expected a wound of that severity to be a quick fix.

“Thank you…” My throat was feeling a little better, but I was realizing just how thirsty I was.

“So what’s your name?” Her eyes were still wide with excitement, and the grin slathered across her face was like a filly’s on Hearthswarming Eve.

“Echo.”

“Love it. I’m Rose. Rose Laurel, but I go by Rose.” I was glad that she hadn’t tried touching me again. Touching wasn’t something I was in the mood for.

“So… you’re my sister? Do they… does Cinder know?”

“The Princess? Nah, she doesn’t know. Before mom kicked the bucket she told me; wanted to keep me safe. Princess isn’t too friendly to Two Kick’s kids.” She tapped a hoof to her chin, looking lost in thought. “It’s been a long time since I’ve met another one.”

I tilted my head to the side. “There are others?” I had more brothers and sisters? What sort of pony was Ripple before he met Shade?

“Were. Were others. The Princess killed ‘em all.” A grin slowly crept across her face, replacing the look of concentration. “Which leads me to why I’m here. I’m gonna save at least one. Get you out. That’s what sisters are for.”

My jaw dropped open in surprise, which also hurt, but I didn’t care. Salvation? Just when I had thought my luck had failed me, I got another shred of hope. It was entirely too convenient, but I had to play along.

“Really?”

Giggling a little, she sat down next to me on the cold slab. I inched away from her just a bit, the lingering thought that I was being played making me cautious. “Yeah. It sounds like it’ll be fun, but I can’t spring you until at least tonight. I mean, tomorrow night.”

“We can’t just go?” If she could at least get me out of the cell, I knew I could get back. I was still small, I could hide easily. The Ruins weren’t too far from Hoof, and I could use the mountain as a landmark.

She flopped over, her red mane brushing against my side. “Nah. It’s easier to get into Neighwhere than to get out. Guards, traps, walls, and then there’s the Princess herself. Bit unstable. We’re basically all prisoners here.”

“Have you never been outside of Neighwhere?” I moved just a little closer to her, feeling a growing connection. I had a sister, she wasn’t trying to kill or molest me, and she treating me like an equal. All three of those things were definitely playing in her favor.

“Nah, never past the walls. I’ve heard stories from outsiders, but that’s about it. The Princess isn’t one to let us leave.”

My mouth caught as I went to reply. If she came with me, it’d be as much me saving her as her saving me. I could get another pony out of this hell.

“You could always-”

She cut me off with a hoof pressed to my mouth. Her horn was blinking, a soft blue light. “Damn, someone tripped my alarm. I gotta go.” She dropped off of the slab and quickly trotted across my cell towards the ajar door.

“Wait… you’re coming back, right?” Tears sprang to my eyes. I didn’t want her to go yet. I needed more of somepony not torturing me or me running for my life.

“Yeah, I’ll be by tonight. Hang in there, sis.” She smiled widely, and then closed the door behind her.

I stared at the door until I fell asleep.

“Fish, wake yer nice little ass up!” I jerked awake as something gripped my mane painfully and dragged me off of the slab. I hit the solid ground hard, shrieking in surprise. I groaned in pain until another jerk dragged me to my hooves by my mane.

“Eat, then yer gettin’ ta work.” My eyes focused as I worked my way into consciousness to see Hack Job in my face. When I had recognized his leering face, he grabbed my mane again and threw me towards the door. I curled up in pain, until my nose detected food.

I was famished. I hadn’t eaten in days as far as I knew, and I quickly located the bowl. It was filled with a grey slop, some of which had splashed out onto the floor. He must have dropped it when he came in, before he woke me up.

I pulled the bowl closer and practically dropped my muzzle into it. The slop tasted incredibly bland, but it was still food. I polished it off quickly, but then I felt magic grip my mane once again.

I sprang to my hooves as he yanked, which hurt but not as much as being lifted by my mane again would have.

“Ah, yer learnin’. Good on ya, fish.” He smacked the flat end of his blade against my rump, aiming me towards the door. I wanted so badly to hurt him.

He pushed me into the hall and closed the cell behind us. As he drew up close, I felt his breath on my ear. I shuddered with revulsion. “Yer a lucky fish. Princess doesn’t want ya killed, or even left alone with me an’ me friends. I’d like ta see the latter happen, yer a pretty thing, but the Princess’s word is law.”

He licked my ear, and I recoiled. I rounded on him, my teeth bared in what I so desperately hoped was an intimidating look. The look he met me with was one of amusement. He let out a short bark of a laugh. “Hah! I like ya, fish. A feisty one ya are. I do so hope you got some of that fight left when I get ta take a run at ya.”

A pair of shackles drew my attention, jingling on his withers as he laughed. He grinned a little wider when he noticed where I was looking.. “Only if yer a bad little fish, don’t ya worry. Nowhere ta run, so don’t even try.”

I went back to glaring at him, and he starting trotting away from me. “Keep up, or I’ll say ya tried runnin’.”

He headed straight back to the hole in the wall; into the crude tunnel leading back to the realm of burnt metal. We took a different route than the one than the one I’d been taken through before, this time heading down a staircase.

We went deeper underground, taking several staircases in our journey. There wasn’t much to see as we walked other than the occasional burnt pony or messy raider. My captor kicked lazily at some of the passersby, but there was no rhyme or reason to his brutality. Just Hack Job, being one of the worst ponies I’d ever encountered. With every action he took, either against other ponies or promising violations to myself, I hated him more.

When I got back to Hoof, I was going to do everything I could to get the ruins cleared out. I knew Ash would gladly lead some Whitecoats into the tunnels to kill the bad ponies and save the good ones. That is what Ash did best. If not I could try calling down some NCR. They didn’t deal with us much, but were always looking for raiders to clear out.

“Here we are, fish. Get in, do what Noisemaker tells ya. Ya fuck up… andl I already told ya what would happen.” He swung a door open and shoved me roughly through it. The door slammed shut behind me, and I was finally away from Hack Job.

The hoe smacked me in the nose as I turned to take in the room I was in.

“Stop looking around and get to work!” A runty mare with hair falling out in patches was levitating the hoe next to her as she screamed in my face. I felt blood dripping from my nose from the blow, but was figuring out how these ponies worked. If I asked questions or looked confused, I’d just get hit again.

“Strap into the pump and start walking, or we’re gonna have issue!” She gestured wildly as spittle landed on my face. The hoe indicated a big wheel where an emaciated pony was walking in a circle.

I hurried over to the wheel, where an armed unicorn lazily watched the skin and bones pony currently shackled to the wheel. At his side was a large knife, and a whip floated in the air in front of him though he didn’t look like he’d used it in a while. He glanced at me dismissively. “Revelry, your time’s up.”

The pony collapsed mid-step, but was shackled to the wheel high enough up that he just hung there, his hooves dragging as the wheel kept turning. He was unconscious as he made another circuit and I could see his worn, battered face. It took another revolution for the wheel to finally stop moving, and the guard stepped forward to unshackle Revelry. He was bleeding from long slashes put into his flanks, and remained unconscious as he dropped to the ground. The guard gave him a swift but brutal kick, and then pulled him out of the way and threw him to one side, where he lay in a pile of broken pony.

“Okay, in you go.” I stepped forward warily, keeping my eyes on the whip. As I got into position where Revelry had been, the guard put a yoke around my neck and shackles on both of my front legs. The metal stank of blood and rust, and rubbed horribly on my legs. “Simple enough. Keep moving ‘til I say stop. You trip, I whip. You stop, I whip. You talk, I whip. Simple.”

The whip moved faster than I had thought it could, and lashed a long cut across my remaining cutie mark. I cried out in pain, and started pushing forward. “Simple. Keep pushing, and I don’t whip. We understand each other. Simple.”

He took a few steps back, standing next to Revelry. I couldn’t see the gaunt pony breathing, and blood was seeping from his slack mouth. The guard must have killed him with that kick. Eventually, another beaten pony came by and dragged Revelry’s body away.

The assembly wasn’t built for a pony of my size. With the yoke and shackles on, my hooves only barely touched the ground. I could get traction with my rear hooves, but if I tried using my front too much it became hard to breathe. Holding myself up was exhausting and cut my legs on the rough metal.

I slipped in a divot in the worn floor and stumbled, gagging as the rough yoke crushed my windpipe. A yelp tore itself through my closed throat as the whip slashed across my flank, cutting through hair and hide. I scrambled forward, getting my hooves back under me. Tears were streaming down my face as I fought to catch my breath and keep moving at the same time.

To distract myself, I kept running Rose’s name over in my head. I just had to make it through one day, and then I’d be free. One day without getting killed. I could do that. I had to. Then I could go home.

To pass the time as I walked in a circle, pulling the weight of the wheel with me, I took in the room. It was bigger than any I’d seen in this place, and it was made of the same metal that everything else was. There was a mixture of old tech and cobbled together equipment all over the place, but what dominated the room was the plants.

It was an underground farm. A wide assortment of plants were being tended to by ponies in shackles, each with that beaten down look. There were a few guards scattered about with various blades, guns, and whips. Noisemaker swung her hoe about, her screech echoing around the room constantly as she set into various ponies for what seemed to be cruelty for the sake of cruelty.

Overhead were bright lights. It felt like I was outside on those rare occasions that the sun shone through the clouds. They must have helped the plants grow underground. I could only assume that the “pump” I was shackled to was pulling water from farther down.

After what I was sure was hours of pushing, my legs were failing me. I could have easily walked for hours, but the extra weight and awkward posture was really taking its toll. Whatever healing I’d had since the sewers wasn’t enough. The day’s wear and tear was starting to weigh on me, a tight ache plastered across my body. The best I could do was space out and ignore the world; just keep pushing forward.

I yelled with pain as the whip slashed across my flank again. I glared at the unnamed pony with the whip, but found the grinning face of Hack Job standing next to him. He was grinning, and I scowled before I yiped as the wheel dragged me along. I shakily clambered to my hooves as the wheel stopped after digging grooves in the dirt with my hooves.

He approached me, to remove me from the shackles. I was raw and bleeding through my fur where the metal had bit into my flesh, and I was just happy to be free of it. I could hear Noisemaker screeching at a pony in the field to replace me, but the pony with the whip didn’t say a word.

“Come on, fish. Princess wants ta see ya again.” He grinned at me, teeth missing from his wicked smile. He nodded to the guard that had been staring at me for hours, and led me away. We passed Noisemaker who had found a pony to replace me, a scarred and burned mare missing her eyes. That helped a little. I didn’t have to see her look at me as she took my place under the whip.

“I see ya were a good fish. Not many whip marks. Ol’ Plowshare doesn’t do much but whip. He musta liked ya.” He rubbed his muzzle across my flank; across my remaining cutie mark. I cringed, but knew what he was playing at. If I moved away from him, he’d hurt me. If I yelled at him, he’d hurt me. I just had to make it until night, and I’d be free.

We left the farm, making our way back into the tunnels. As we moved up the stairs, he drifted back slowly. Eventually I was leading, and I knew he was watching my every movement. I didn’t care to know exactly where his eyes were.

“Yer no fun, fish.” He reared back and slammed a hoof into me, throwing me hard into the wall. He was on me in an instant, the blade at my throat. “Come on, fish. One word. One movement.”

I froze, not daring to move or speak. If he hurt me without reason, somehow I knew that Cinder would find out. He knew it too, from the look in his eyes. The barely constrained violence.

He stared into my eyes, and I met his gaze defiantly.

“Feh.” He pulled the blade back and lifted himself up off of me. “No fun.”

He pulled me up by my mane. I let out a grunt of pain, not letting him hear me scream. He wasn’t going to get that from me again. He threw me down the hall, but I managed to stay on my hooves. My legs were killing me from working the pump, but it was all about appearances with Hack. I had to keep up mine.

We reached Cinder’s door without further incident, and I slipped through before he threw me through it. The door slammed behind me, and I let myself sag. I was filled with pain, and fear, and hope, and it was all clashing in my head. I hurt.

“Ah, the whore’s daughter. I see that Plowshare hasn’t lost his touch with the whip.” Her eyes gleamed at me from under her burning crown. The wings weren’t on, but the relative darkness of the room gave me an uneasy vibe. She stepped down off of the stage towards me, her smile catching the flickering light. I tried standing up straighter, but my beaten body wouldn’t allow it.

“I have some exciting news for you.” Her voice was chipper and happy as she circled me, running a hoof across my shredded flank. It stung and burned, and I flinched bodily away from her. I cringed as she walked around and rested her face on the bandages covering my ruined cutie mark.

She completed her circle around me, and sat down in front of me. She smiled as she searched my face. “Ripple is still alive, did you know?”

I blurted out before I could stop myself. “He’s not! Ash would have found him!”

I felt my chest start to burn deep within. My mouth and nose dried out immediately, and I smelled burnt hair. I coughed violently, backing away from the pony as she raised the temperature around me.

“It’s not nice to interrupt!” The wings sprang into being on her back, licking the ceiling with their flames. The temperature around me dropped as I groveled on the floor before her smoking. I kept coughing, tasting blood with each breath.

Survive until night.

As I pulled myself back up, I forced myself to sit stock still before the flame wreathed unicorn. I kept my mouth shut as best I could, though the coughing was still shaking my body as I tried to keep it under control or at least silent.

“A raider up north, making waves. Two hoof shotguns, heavily scarred…” Her gaze went unfocused and she stared past me with a grin on her face. “Oh, he was beautiful…”

She looked back at me, and the grin disappeared. “...but he never saw that in me. So many other mares, but never me. Why didn’t he give me a beautiful daughter of my own? Why!? ANSWER ME!?” She jumped from muttering to screaming in seconds, and as I braced for another burn I realized she actually wanted me to speak.

“I don’t know… I thought he killed ponies like you.” It was the first thing to come to my mind, and I cringed, regretting it immediately. I didn’t know how to talk to crazy ponies.

“Not always… after Hate shot him he did, but before that he was the finest stallion I knew. He could kill an entire convoy on his own. He took any mare he wanted…” Tears sprang to her eyes. She wiped at them with one of her fetlocks as she kept rambling about Ripple’s sex life to me.

“I’ve killed all I can find, from before he changed. You, though… you’re the only one I’ve met from after. He wasn’t right after that day. He killed all of our friends, left me here, and disappeared.” She shook her head, sobbing out loud. “He left so little behind. Shattered pieces of the life we once had! Reminders like you; that he killed everyone I loved.”

She changed like a door slamming, her voice snapping to a full roar along with the flames. “I should roast you alive, right now!” Tears flew from her eyes and landed on my muzzle as she screamed at me. A figure was forming above her, a massive winged lizard made of flame and smoke. It was roaring down at me, its burning gaze promising a painful death. It belched flame and roared, filling the room with heat as it reared above her. “Burn your skin off layer by layer! Burst your eyeballs in your skull! Sear off your legs, and steam cook your fucking brain!”

“But I won’t.” The form flickered out, and the room went dark again. I couldn’t help it, and tears were flowing down my cheeks freely. I’d faced a dweller, a gnasher, and a hydra, but the fire beast trumped them all. I was quaking all over, doing my best to keep from running to the door. I knew if I even made it, I’d die trying to break my way through, melted to the metal by the intense heat she would throw at me.

“I think we’ll keep you around. Send word back up north that Two Kick’s daughter is alive and well.” She smiled dreamily. “He’ll come galloping in to save the day, and make the mares swoon. I’ll be waiting. He will suffer like no pony before him, and then I’ll take my child from him, and kill him.”

Still smiling, the tears rapidly drying from her face, she ran a hoof down my cheek. “Then I’ll let you go. Guard!” She practically screamed in my face.

“Yes Princess?” I couldn’t take my eyes off of Cinder, who was still smiling widely at me. Normally I wouldn’t let Hack Job out of my sight, but the image of the fire beast was still burnt into my vision and memory. I saw it whenever I blinked, hovering over her back.

“Echo is done here. She needs some time in her cell to think.” She turned, in imitation of the previous day. Her wings flared back into life, and I was no longer her problem.

“Come on fish.” I was still staring at Cinder. The question was still ringing in my head. How hadn’t Ripple killed her? He killed all the other bad ponies, but why not her? If he came back, looking for me, like she was planning… would he be able to do it? Why hadn’t he killed her before?

“Fish! Now!” His hoof smacking me in the back of my head disrupted my thoughts. I went from wide eyes staring at the incendiary nightmare, the fire witch of Ash’s tales, to glaring at her heavy hoofed goon.

I followed him, gasping as I went into the hall. The drop in temperature came as a shock, and I began shivering violently as I walked behind Hack Job.

As we passed a familiar door, I saw Rose inside. She was hoof deep in a saddlebag, and didn’t notice me passing. She was packing, and the sight lifted my spirit. I could get away from this hell, and tell Ash about Cinder’s plan.

Then, something different happened. Hack stopped at the intersection of two halls, and whistled sharply. A unicorn stallion’s head popped out from an open door, looking down at us. “Yeah, boss?”

“Walk with me and da fish.” The stallion hurried down the hall towards us. He was lanky, with a dirty brown mane worked into filthy dreadlocks.

“‘Sup with her, boss?” He was eyeing me, getting entirely too close for my comfort.

“Ya know how it is with the newbies. They always try ta run after workin’ that first day.” He smirked at me. “Princess don’t want this one runnin’. Yer gonna guard her. No touching though.”

The dirty unicorn pouted. “Ah boss, not even a little? Guard duty gets so boring, and it's not even dark out yet.”

“Tell ya what. After my first run at her, I’ll throw her yer way. Fer now, no touching. Princess’s orders.”

“Thank boss!” He had a stupid grin on his face, and I wanted to cut it off with jagged metal.

I made it back to the cell safely, and pulled the door shut behind me as I went in. I was wondering what Rose would do with a guard at the door. If she would see the filthy pony standing outside the door and turn around. Go back to her room. Leave me to be tortured, broken, and wait to see if my father was still alive long enough to watch him die.

The lights clicked off, leaving me to stare at the outline of the door in the dark.

I guess I spaced out, staring at the barely-lit frame. There was a loud thump at the door, followed by a long squeaking sound and a smaller thump. The light at the bottom of the door went out, and silence followed.

“Hello?” I croaked, my throat dry and crackly.

Slowly, with jerking motions, what was blocking the light at the bottom of the door slid away.

The sound of the lock being drawn rang through the room, and the door opened. Light spilled into the room, and Rose’s head popped into view. “Hey, ready to go?”

It was really that easy?

“Shouldn’t we worry about the guard?” I trotted carefully towards her and freedom, expecting us to get caught any second. If we were caught, I knew that horrible things would happen to me. To us. She wouldn’t be safe, and then Cinder would find out who she was. Then she’d be dead, and I’d live with that.

“Nah, he was easy enough. Hay Bale never could say no to a mare.” As I followed her out into the hall, I saw the dirty pony laying on the floor in a puddle of blood. His head was flopped back, revealing the meat and bone of his neck all the way across his throat. He’d been cut from ear to ear. There was a streak running to where he was from a bright red puddle in front of the door, and I knew what had blocked the light. The door had a fan of blood dripping down it from where his blood pressure had relieved itself.

“Here. I had to improvise, and I only had yours.” The knife I’d gotten off of my friend in the sewers was floating between us, dripping with Hay Bale’s blood. I cringed away from it, and she laughed a little.

“Sorry.” She wiped the blade on his corpse, then put it in the scant sheath I’d been wearing when they’d brought me into the Ruins. When she handed me that, I took it gladly and put it on. It felt good having a knife again. Then she tossed me the bag I’d come into Neighwhere with.

“It’s okay.” I smiled at her, doing my best to ignore the bloody scene we were standing in. I knew blood was a common thing, but seeing most of a ponies blood outside of their body was really getting to me.

“Right. No time to waste, follow me.” Grinning widely, Rose practically skipped past me, splashing my legs with blood without a care in the world. With a single glance back into my cell, I closed it, then wondered why I did. The dead pony would have been a huge tip-off that something had happened.

She began leading me in a direction I hadn’t been, towards the more damaged section of the hall. The happy cadence she was trotting in wasn’t what I would have chosen for fleeing from a life of slavery and torture. I would have been running.

“Uh… Rose, shouldn’t we be running?”

Glancing back at me, she giggled. “That’s suspicious. Suspicious and noisy. This’ll do just fine.” We rounded a corner, and came into a half-collapsed hallway with rain pooling in deep cracks that ran along the floor. Embedded in a wall was what looked like a rocket that hadn’t exploded. It was covered with rust, but it gave me an idea of what had happened to this section of old Neighwhere.

“The fuck!?” A yell echoed down the hall to us from towards the cell, and her smile faded.

“Okay, now we run.”

She took off, and I strained to match pace. Injuries flared up across my body, and I felt blood running down my leg from my shredded flank. I let out a shriek of pain, and Rose slowed from her sprint. I could hear the pounding of hooves behind me, and it sounded like only one pony. I didn’t slow down, because I had recognized the voice. All the promises were ringing through my head from what would happen if Hack Job caught me, and now I knew that if he did there would be nothing to stop him from doing whatever he wanted.

I passed Rose, limping heavily but still moving as fast as I could. “Lead the way, I’ll keep up!” I hissed loudly and with great urgency through gritted teeth, and she took her place in the lead again.

The hall hadn’t seen traffic in some time, and debris filled it. I was worrying about having to navigate it with my injuries, but she took a quick left and disappeared through a rough hole in the wall. I went in behind her, and found her rump filling the hole as she crawled quickly up it. I crammed myself in behind her, doing my best to block out the pain that shot through me from the rough, broken stone rubbing against my cuts and tearing the bandages off of my burn. It was much worse than the hallway would have been, and I winced as something sharp caught on one of my ribs and tore a fresh wound.

Then, we were out. However long I’d been staring at the door and waiting for Rose to begin my escape had been long enough for the sun to go down. The sky was cloudy, and the rumble of thunder promised more rain.

It felt so good to be topside. I sucked hungrily at the air, even as I ran after Rose, ignoring the pain. I missed the taste of the rain on the breeze.

“Fuckin’ cunt!” Hack’s roar followed me through the tunnel, but not even that was enough to ruin the sweet feeling that was filling my body and overriding the pain.

Then, I took in what Neighwhere looked like aboveground. Shattered buildings surrounded me, blackened by fires hot enough to melt metal. Bones lay scattered around, each marking where a pony had died. There were even a few melted hulks that looked like the armored ponies from Ash’s stories about the Orchard. She led me under a four legged behemoth, half collapsed into a building which had itself collapsed under the weight.

As I ran through a field of spent casings, I had to marvel at what Ash and his friends had gone through. They’d been there when Neighwhere had fallen. Ash’s stories had made it seem romantic and daring, but the sight of a half-melted skull four feet from its body made me think that it wasn’t quite the walk in the park I’d been told.

Rose wasn’t giving me much of a chance to look around more, and I was having a hard enough time keeping up with her without my sightseeing. Ducking through demolished buildings and through remnants of the battle that had once rocked the town, I kept catching glimpses of her tail as she led the way.

Then I practically ran into her. We were up against a big wall, built from scrap and chunks of buildings. It looked a lot like sections of the wall that kept Hoof safe.

“What’s wrong?” I glanced around, worried that she’d been caught and I’d just stumbled headlong into a trap.

“I’ve never been past the wall.” She looked at me, and where I had expected a look of fear or hesitation, it was still that grin. “I’ve been waiting for a reason to do this since I was a filly.”

“Where the fuck are ya, fish? I’m gonna find ya, and we’re gonna have some fun!” Hack’s voice echoed through the Ruins, and I couldn’t tell where he was, but I knew he was above ground. I couldn’t tell if he’d brought ponies with him… but I had to to assume that he had.

“Rose, now’s the time to go.” I pressed in close to her, hoping that the sense of urgency would dawn on her. “If Hack Job finds us…”

“I know, I know. All his promises.” She rolled her eyes, letting out a sigh. “Okay.” Reaching down, she pushed on a piece of the wall. Sliding it to the side, she revealed a hole in the wall. I’d seen a dozen places where the wall had collapsed on our way here, but she must have had a reason to choose the hidden exit.

I went through first, out into Hornsmith beyond the wall. Rose followed, closing the hole behind us with little noise. I could hear Hack’s voice over the wall, but he’d never know where we’d gone.

“It’s so… boring? Yeah, boring.” Rose was looking around with a disappointed look. I guess I had to agree that the whole city was less than colorful, grey buildings that all seemed to look exactly the same. They were beautiful to me, though. They meant freedom, which I was fully looking forward to capitalizing on.

“I’ll give you a tour of Hoof, now let’s please get a move on.” I was getting antsy as we stood next to the wall, my half-sister staring at our surroundings. She wasn’t making any effort to move, so I had to start pushing.

“Okay. You know the way back?”

“Uh…” I’d never been anywhere near the Ruins. “South.”

She tilted her head at me, a look of disbelief that I didn’t know how to get home.

“Away from the mountain. We’ll find it.”

I hoped.

The city of Hornsmith was bigger than I’d ever considered. Every road led to either a dead end, a t-intersection, or stretched to the horizon. It was a maze, and I had no idea where I was going. As long as I kept the mountain and Neighwhere to our backs, we’d run into Hoof. Or we’d run into some Whitecoats…

Or we’d run south out of Hornsmith, and have to turn back around.

“So… do they talk much about dad in Hoof?” Rose was trotting along next to me, just as lost as I was. I could tell that she was limiting her speed so that I could keep up with my limp.

I shook my head. “Not really. Everyone’s got different stories, and none of them like to talk about him. Except for my uncle Ash.”

“An uncle?” Her smile hinted at her want of a family.

“Nah, he’s a griffin. He helped raise me. Him and my aunt Fluster.” Before she could ask, I cut in with, “...not related.”

“...What about your mom?” She was being cautious. I hadn’t mentioned Shade, and she was probably guessing I was an orphan like her. A probable orphan. I wondered if Ripple really was still alive?

“That... she doesn’t talk about him”. Touchy subject, and I’d just met my sister.

“So what have you heard?” The look on her face as she asked me wasn’t one I could easily place. That grin was still there, but there was something in her eyes. Something just a little unnerving.

“He saved ponies. Killed those that needed it. He sacrificed himself to stop a monster.” A summary, if what Ash had told me in all those stories was true. It was hard to tell when he was embellishing.

She nodded at that, staring at me for a while as we walked. I took to looking around, just so at least one of us was watching where we were going. “Those that needed it… heh. That’s a good one.” She laughed a little, but it wasn’t the assured laugh she’d used before. It sounded sad.

“Why?”

“You know how legends are. Depends on who you ask.” She spun around, and began walking backwards so that she could face me as we moved. I started scanning the ground for anything she would trip over, but her confidence in moving gave the impression that she had everything under control.

“I hear about how Neighwhere was before Ripple. Sure, it was the Rangers that leveled the city, but he was the trigger on it all. That’s what he did. He brought change. Everywhere he went, things changed.” She had a dreamy look as she spoke, disturbingly similar to the one that Cinder had while she spoke of Ripple. “He killed so many… and then he died...”

“Cinder thinks he’s still alive.”

A creepy grin spread ear to ear, and she stopped walking. “Really now?”

I slid to a halt, my wounded flank howling with pain. My whole leg chose just then to cramp up, and I yowled in pain, wiping the grin from Rose’s face. With a look of deep concern, she darted to my side.

“What? What is it?” She was looking for some way to help me,

“Nothing… leg cramp,” I spoke through grinding teeth, my eyes clenched in pain. Of all that I’d been through the last few days, for some reason the leg cramp seemed to hurt most of all. Standing there in the middle of the road, immobile, wracked with pain

Rose started rubbing my leg, and I had to admit that it helped through all the pain. As my leg began to relax, the pain in the rest of my body came back. I preferred having it spread all over than concentrated in one spot.

“Thanks…” I could speak without gritting my teeth, and I opened my eyes.

I didn’t even have time to shout a warning before Hack Job slammed the butt of his blade into my head, and everything went black.

“...Thought that ya could help tha fish escape, did ya? Traitor whore. I’ll show ya what I do to yer kind.” My eyes shot open at the voice. I was ready to defend myself against Hack, but as I looked around, trying to blink the blood out of my left eye, I couldn’t see him.

I heard sobbing, and the sound of an impact on meat. Rose’s voice yelped in pain, and I got up as fast as my leg would let me. It had cramped up again while I was out, and wasn’t working right, but I had to get to her. I couldn’t leave her alone with Hack…

I pulled the knife from its sheath, and my ribs suddenly felt like they were made of fire. The knife clattered to the ground as I gasped for breath, each one bringing new pain. Glancing back without moving my neck any farther, I saw the deep, dark bruises that were corrupting my side.

Hack must have given me a few kicks while I was down before dragging Rose to a little privacy.

“When tha fish wakes up, I’m gonna do things ta her that’d make yer stomach turn. Ya won’t be alive for that. I gotta kill ya, to make up for the escape. Ya know what Princess does ter ponies that fail her, and there can’t be witnesses ta this little fiasco.”

I picked up my friend’s knife while he was talking to her, doing my best to not pass out from the blinding pain in my side. At least it was letting me ignore my leg. Always look at the positives, as Ash had once told me.

Rounding the corner, the scene before me was both horrifying and relieving. Rose lay between his front legs, covering her head with her hooves. She was bleeding from a dozen deep cuts where he’d been slashing aimlessly at her, almost playfully opening her muscles to the air. Her face was swollen from the beating he’d given her while I was out, and he was practically laughing at the sight before him.

Quietly as I could, I moved up behind him, the blade gripped between my teeth. This would be easy. It would be just like killing that gnasher. He wasn’t a real pony, he was a monster. He deserved this. I was doing the right thing.

I was saving my sister.

“Heh?” He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, but I was already close enough to swing. I slammed the blade into his neck sideways, piercing through his windpipe.

His eyes went wide and he stumbled away from me, dropping his bloody blade next to the curled form of Rose. Blood was draining from both sides of his neck around my friend’s knife, and he was choking as the cold metal sat comfortably in his throat.

“Get off of my sister, you filthy fuck!” I yelled, tasting blood in my mouth from the damage in my chest. I didn’t care, because the bewildered look on Hack Job’s face was the best thing I’d seen in days. He tried talking, but only blood flowed from his mouth instead of his promises to rape me.

I screamed wordlessly at him, then gripped his fallen blade in my mouth. The rusty metal dripped with Rose’s blood, and it gagged me with its horrible taste, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

He was having a hard time keeping on his hooves, trying but failing to pull the blade out with his magic. His horn was glowing and sputtering weakly, getting weaker by the moment as more blood pumped out of the sides of his neck.

I slashed him across his chest, drawing a deep wound. I wanted his pain to keep going until he ran out of blood to give for the offense of hurting my sister. He was going to die looking into my eyes, with his blade in my mouth and covered with his blood. I was going to rip, and tear, and slash, and cut, until he was dead.

I chopped at him, the blade sticking into his shoulder. I yanked it out with a crunch and a spray of blood. The crimson drops splattered across my face, but I was already going back in for another hit. I started hacking at him, enacting his namesake.

He dropped to his knees, then fell onto his side. I was still slashing at him, even as the tip of my friend’s knife dug into the cold stone we were standing on. His eyes were losing focus, but still looking directly at me.

I slammed the blade down into his chest, aiming at where I felt his heart should be. The flow from his neck had slowed to a trickle, and I wanted to make sure he wasn’t hiding any precious blood from me. I felt the rusty metal bounce off of his ribs, then drag as it pierced through fleshy organs. When the edge of the mouthgrip was firmly pressed into his side, I finally let go.

“Filthy fucking animal…” I dropped back, sitting on the ground to rest. My whole body was screaming at me, even through the adrenaline high of handing out judgement. I could feel his blood still hot on my face and neck.

“Echo?” Her voice was weak, but just hearing it made me smile.

“It’s okay… he’s gone.”

Her eyes opened from beneath the shield of her legs, and locked onto mine. One of them was so swollen and discolored it barely opened, but as soon as she saw me the scared little filly disappeared and the grinning mare I was getting to know arrived.

She pulled me into a hug, covering both of us in the mixed blood of three ponies. I hugged her back, doing my best to ignore the pain wracking my body. I was with my sister. I was going to be fine, and so was she.

Then, the skies opened up again and the rain soaked us in seconds, washing off most of the blood and all of the tears.

After a few minutes, when we were both good and drenched, Rose suggested that we get moving again. Between the two of us, we both managed to our hooves. She was bleeding heavily from her legs, but didn’t seem too concerned.

“It’s fine… just need my bag.” Limping past Hack’s corpse, she didn’t even give him a second glance. Her bag was laying in a pile of rubble, where it must have been thrown in a struggle. It floated up to her and she opened the top flap.

“Uh oh…” Her frown as she looked down into it made me limp towards her. Before I reached her, she floated out the top of a shattered bottle. “No more potion…”

She shrugged, and then winced. “Guess we’re both doing the mummy thing.”

I tilted my head. That wasn’t a word I knew. “Huh?”

“I read it in a book.”

Luckily, she’d brought plenty of bandages for my wounds. With both of her front legs wrapped top to bottom, and her swollen eye covered from the beating rain, she could help me with my injuries.

“Yep, that’s a broken rib. Maybe two.” She poked delicately at my side, sending more pain shooting through my surrounding area. “Sorry.”

“Anything in the bag for it?” With the potions shattered, I couldn’t think of much that would be of use. I couldn’t imagine that she’d smuggled too much out for such a short trip.

“Uhhh… ah, there it is.” She held out a little plastic tube with a needle on the end. Without even asking me, she jabbed it into my front leg.

“Ow!” I was surprised, but then I felt the cooling wash of the drug as it pushed away the pain. “Oooh…”

“Yeah, I thought you’d like that.” Picking up the bag, she winced as it brushed against a bruise on her side. “You needed it more.”

I nodded, enjoying the feeling of nothing. It was so much better than crippling pain. A pony could lose themselves to the feeling easily. I let out a low, content sigh.

Then I saw Hack Job again. In the rain, his blood was washing away into the tunnels beneath my hooves. His eyes, however, were open and staring. They weren’t focused on anything, with him being dead and all. They were still staring right at me. Accusing me of killing him.

“You deserved it.” I grumbled, and walked over to his prone corpse. I kicked him hard in the head, getting his eyes off of me. Then, I bit into the handle of my friend's blade and yanked it out. It came out dripping with his blood, so I wiped it on his wet fur. I placed the weapon back in its sheath, and began turning around.

“You should take it.” Rose’s voice came from right behind me. I glanced at her, and twitched slightly as the movement cut through the numbness with a swift stab of pain.

“His blade. A trophy.” She was grinning at me, her eye twinkling in the rain. “You wouldn’t want to forget your first kill, would you?”

“A trophy? I dunno, that sounds…” Like a raider. “...really morbid.”

Then, defensively I added, “How do you know that was my first kill?”

She laughed a little, planting a hoof on Hack’s side. As she pressed down, blood oozed around the blade. “Please, it's all over your face. I could tell from how you looked at Hay Bale; you’re new to this whole killing thing.”

I frowned down at the corpse. He had deserved everything I’d given him, and more. Rose was right. I bit the mouthgrip and yanked the long, jagged blade out of his side. Bits of meat still clung to it, and it stank of blood and metal.

She was right though. I wiped the blade off on another patch of his fur, doing my best to get rid of the chunks, and then I slipped the blade into my own bag. I’d do something about a sheath later, when we got back home. When I brought Rose home.

“Come on… let’s get going.” I turned away from my first real kill, and started hobbling through the pouring rain. The splashing of hooves in a puddle of water and blood told me that Rose was following right behind me. We set out into the night, continuing our search for Hoof.

This time, I was certain we weren’t being followed. Hack had come after us alone, and even if the rest of Neighwhere knew I was missing, they’d have no idea where I was. With the rain and the pervasive darkness, I could barely see across the street.

The going was slow. We couldn’t see, we were both stumbling along through our injuries, and we were worn out. The smile had dropped from Rose’s face, and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. She had neglected to bring a light, and I couldn’t find mine in my bag of supplies, so we were left with the dim glow grudgingly provided by the occasional functioning street light.

As I watched Rose out of the corner of my eye, I saw that she was starting to stumble. Her bandages were soaked through with blood, and try as she might she couldn’t hide how much she had lost.

I really wished that I had spent more time outside of the wall. Gotten to know the area around Hoof, so that if we were close I would have been able to find my way back. I’d been far too sheltered, and the last… wow, it had been close to a week hadn’t it. I like to think that I’d toughened up since I’d walked into the sewers on my first day as a scavenger.

“How… how long do you think til’ we find it?” Her voice was hollow, barely making it over the noise of the rain.

“Soon.” I could only hope. As I looked down the road we were walking, I saw nothing that even resembled the walls of Hoof. I had no idea where I was, and I doubted that I’d have any better luck in the daylight.

At another intersection we stopped to catch our breath. It hurt to breathe… unfortunately the Med-X had worn off. I was feeling my ribs rub together where they’d broken, pinching and tearing the muscle around them. It was all I could do to not cry out and collapse, but I was putting up a strong front for Rose. She was weak and beaten, and I was the one leading her around town. If I fell, we’d be even more screwed.

A splash from my side caught me by surprise. Rose had collapsed, and her eyes were closed. She was barely breathing.

“No!” I screamed, ignoring how it made me feel like I’d been stabbed. I scrambled to her side, sliding in the puddle she was laying in.

“Come on, wake up! Wake up! We can rest, we just gotta get out of the rain!” She wasn’t responding. She was still breathing, I just had to wake her up. That’s all I had to do, and we’d be fine.

“Come on…” I whispered at her, getting no reaction. Her breathing was getting shallower by the second, as she bled out through her legs.

A blinding white light lit us up there in the intersection. I turned to it, squinting my eyes as it bore down on us. The light at the end of the tunnel was only for dying ponies… I wasn’t dying, was I?

“Hey out there! State your intentions!”

And now the afterlife was asking what I wanted.

“Stay there, we’ll come to you!”

The light stayed on, but I heard a door open and close somewhere past the blinding intensity. I was starting to suspect that I wasn’t dealing with the supernatural.

A figure came through the light, approaching carefully. I could see the pony’s head looking to either side of us, and then focusing.

“If you’re looking for shelter, you’ve come to the right… oh shit. Get Ash! It’s Echo!”

Wow. I’d found Hoof. I grinned at the Whitecoat as he came into focus. As I clung to Rose’s shivering body, I whispered up at him. I’d lost my voice, and I felt my exhaustion finally taking over. “Her first. I can wait.”

Then the light snapped off.

I awoke with a start as a loud snapping sound went off next to my head. Looking over, I saw the red unicorn from Underhoof whose name I couldn’t recall.

“Patient remains unconscious… wait, scratch that, patient has regained consciousness.” She hovered over me, talking to someone in the room. I didn’t see anyone else though… was she talking to me?

“Huh?”

“Patient is responsive.” She pulled the thin sheet off of me, checking my bandage covered body. “Lacerations are healing nicely. Scars on flank… negative response to healing potions. Ribs have responded to potion treatment, still some bruising from extensive muscle damage.” She pressed a hoof gently on my side, and it only hurt a little. I looked down to see what she had been talking about with the scars, and found the patch where my cutie mark had been was still a mass of burnt flesh. That struck a nerve, and tears sprang to my eyes again.

Eyes.

“Rose…” I spoke, but I felt like I hadn’t talked in days.

Her hoof pressed gently against my lips, hushing me. “Diagnosis: Patient will be fine given rest and nourishment.”

She smiled down at me. She was whispering now, instead of the commanding voice she’d been listing my injuries in. “You know where you are?”

I nodded.

“Tell me.”

I cleared my throat, trying to get my voice back. “I’m… I’m in Underhoof. You’re the doctor… uh...”

“We’ve never been introduced. I’m Crimson Knife. I’m your attending physician.”

“Why are we whispering?” I was curious, especially with how hushed she was speaking.

“I don’t want to wake your guest.” She indicated down towards the end of my bed, and then turned to leave me be. I was expecting to see Ash, or Ziel, or Fluster…

It was Shade.

She was asleep, her head resting on my bed next to my rear hooves. I could tell she’d been crying. I’d seen it before, her falling asleep with tears on her face, but for some reason this was different. Even with the wet streaks of tears, she wore a small smile. It had been years since I’d seen her smile. The sight hurt. It cut through all the defenses I’d put up around her, and I was suddenly the little filly she used to hug and play with.

“Mom?”

She twitched where she lay, and then her eyes slowly opened. Her eyes met mine, and then they started watering. Mine did too.

She rushed forward onto the table, pulling me into a tight hug. It hurt, but I didn’t care. I was being held by my mom, and that meant I was finally safe. “My Echo… I thought I’d lost you…”

“I’m sorry... mom.” The word was strange on my tongue, but it felt right.

“No… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” She pulled herself fully onto the bed and was cradling me, her tears falling on my neck. Her sobbing was shaking me, and I could do little else but cry myself.

After a few minutes, when we’d both calmed down, she spoke to me. We’d barely spoken since I was much younger, and her tone was full of warmth. “Did… did I ever tell you how your father and I met?”

That one I hadn’t heard. Ash hadn’t told me, but Shade had met Ripple before Ash had. I shook my head, mouthing “No”.

“I shot at him. I tried killing him, and he saved me. He cared for me… he almost died for me. He was asleep for days… and I didn’t know if he’d ever wake up.” She sniffled, fresh tears appearing. “When he did… I knew. I knew then and there, he was the one.”

“When… when they found you outside the wall, you were just like him. Barely alive, asking help for another pony.” She hugged me a little tighter, if it was possible. “I’m sorry… you’re his daughter. You look like him, you act like him… but you’re not him. You’re my baby… and I’m sorry.”

I closed my eyes. I didn’t know how long I’d been out, but I didn’t care about anything in the world except for right then. Right there.

Author's Notes:

And there's chapter 3.

Fallout Equestria belongs to Kkat, who still inspires so many.

Rate and comment, if you'd be so kind.

Also Retl drew a picture of Echo. She's a bit younger in it than she is in the story, but it's great stuff.