There's been a lot of things that's happened to me, that I didn't particularly enjoy. Being thrown off of an angry Manticore's back into a brick wall after cutting it's tail off is certainly high on that list. I thought that being forced to leave my home and friends because some creep wanted me to be his wife or something would have always been on the top of the list. But today I experienced something far less pleasant.

I ran through a doorway in the burning building as fast as I could while trying to pat down my smoking tail. Ignoring the smell of burnt hair I ran through a door into the next room just before a wall of flame erupted where I was just standing.

"Get back here, I wanna have grilled chicken for lunch!" I heard the raider shout over the roaring flames as he cackled.

"Oh come on! All I did was ask if you had any spare food!" I yelled as I frantically searched the room for anything of use. No exits... not good. I saw a shelf full of old maps with crazy lines and numbers drawn on them, but other than a chair and desk I was out of luck.

"Don't you worry, we're fixen' to have plenty to eat!" He laughed once again before rushing into the doorway. I panicked and kicked the chair at him. It knocked him off balance as his flamer battle saddle went off, setting the ceiling ablaze. It wasn't much of an opportunity but it was all I had. I dashed at him as fast as I could and jumped over him with the help of my wings, kicking him in the back of the head as I did. I glanced back to see the burning room collapse on him as he screamed.

I almost stopped running before I remembered about the giant tanks of fuel he had on his back. The bang deafened me and leveled a good portion of the building, setting even more of the surrounding area on fire. I was lucky it didn't turn me to a black crisp, but all I could do was collapse to the floor and cover my ringing ears. A baseball bat full of nails hitting my back put a stop to that.

I cried out in pain as the second earth pony raider raised the bat for a second hit. I kicked his legs out from under him and wrestled my way onto his back. I barely managed to stay there before he threw me off with his larger size. Luckily for me he threw me into the hall away from most of the fire so I hobbled to the nearest room and sat behind a large couch.

It appeared to be some kind of large employee lounge with a kitchen, so there was probably some decent things to scavenge in here. But there was no way I was going to move and let him know where I was. I quietly slid my saddlebag off of my back and started digging through it. No time to bandage any wounds, but I could at least pull my knife out. I know what you're thinking, why didn't I do that a lot sooner? Well I tried to do that several times, but it's hard when you're being chased by a cannibalistic psychopath with a flamethrower.

I heard him walk down the hall and pass the room I was in before turning back. "I know you're in there my pretty, why don't you come on out for me? I promise I won't hurt you... much." He walked slowly into the room kicking trash and furniture around trying to find me.

I waited until he was right next to me before springing on him like a cat. I jumped and slid to a stop right in front of him as I brought my knife to his neck... and stopped just short. These ponies burned me, beat me, and were still trying to kill me, but I just couldn't bring myself to kill them back. He smirked as he brought the bat down on my leg. Hard.

I yelped and cradled the leg as he spit the bat out and began pacing in front of me. "Oh I'm gonna have fun with you. I'm gonna break every bone in your body with that bat and cut you up for some nice decorations. But first I think I'm going to have fun in a more... personal way." Wait, what?

"Oh buck that noise!" I rolled back onto my hooves away from him and held my injured fore hoof off of the floor. I waited for what seemed like an eternity before he picked up his bat and charged at me again. I waited till the last second before ducking under his swing and shoving him over my back. I picked up my knife again and turned to face the raider a second time. All I saw was a window with broken glass.

I peeked out to see him laying on the ground outside. He was shallowly breathing but was definitely blacked out. "Huh. Well that was convenient." I dropped my guard for a split second before running back to my saddlebags. There was still one more, a unicorn with a pistol. I couldn't afford to be careless again, that nearly got me killed twice already. After putting my saddlebags on (I only cried a little as they rubbed against the deep cuts from that bat I swear!) I slowly limped back into the hall.

Pretty much everything on my left was on fire and the whole building could collapse any minute, so I decided to go right and get as far away as I could from the heat. I passed several locked doors before finding a stairwell that led back to the first floor. After an awkward and painful trip down a flight of stairs only using three legs I found myself in a hallway with a decidedly tasteless color scheme.

The walls were a faded pink whereas the floor carpet was a mix of bright orange and green. Were they trying to make ponies happy or nauseous? I picked my way around the scattered trash before finding an unlocked door. I took a deep breath to calm myself before reaching to open it. I was not going to rush into something again today. Though in hindsight it was pretty easy to see that they were raiders before I walked up to them...

I slowly pushed the door open while I held my breath. The lights slowly flickered to life, revealing the room to be an office. After checking the corners I darted in and closed the door, feeling at least a little safer with a door between me and the last raider. After I sat and rested for awhile I pulled my healing bandages out and started on my fore leg. It was bruised and cut pretty bad, but it should heal pretty fast. With that out of the way I began the tedious task of bandaging my body. Stuff like that was always harder for us Pegasi...

I finally finished and put what little medical supplies I had left back in my bags. I almost fell asleep as I sat and stared at the door. I didn't really sleep much last night, what with it being my first night away from town and all. I decided to look around the room before I dozed off, and a large bookcase in one corner immediately caught my attention.

It was completely empty except the very top shelf held a small glass ball. I had to use my wings to reach it bringing on another flare of pain from my back, but it was worth it. That glass ball was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. It was such a pure white with a polished face, without having any scratches or anything! It was clean too, so clean I could see my reflection-

"Gotcha!"

I yelped, turned, and threw the ball at the doorway as hard as I could. Now I wasn't a particularly strong pony at all, so I was a bit confused when I opened my eyes to see the unconscious unicorn raider flat on his back with bloody nose. I walked over to him and saw that I hit him straight in the face with the glass ball, and for some reason it knocked him out. "So that happened..."

I took his pistol and searched his bags for food, careful not to wake him up. No medical supplies, but two cans of something that vaguely resembled food and a resounding 'yes' later, I stepped over him and quickly left the building behind. I got lucky they didn't kill me, but I didn't want to press my luck by staying near a giant smoke signal with two unconscious raiders.

The town sign said that this was an old mining town, but it hardly looked like a town to me. There were only a few scattered houses and even fewer businesses. The biggest building in town just got halfway burnt down in that last fight, and I really didn't feel like going too far at the moment, so I slowly made my way to one of the houses furthest from town.

The walk felt like it took an eternity with each step, but I'm too young to be complaining about my back pains. I had to force the front door open, which was either a really good sign or was about to get me killed. After a quick search it seemed like no one had been here in a long time. I pushed a table in front of the door before settling down on a couch. Just a little sleep and I'd be fine. An hour, no more than two.

I awoke to the sound of ponies talking outside. Before when I heard that, all it meant was that somepony had something they wanted to say. But now it meant that there was someone near you who might try to kill,rape, or enslave you. I walked over to a small window in the front room and peeked over the bottom edge. The glass was cracked and broken in places but I could see four ponies talking as they walked towards the front door.

"I'm telling you those three are around here somewhere. We were walking through this town when they hit us, and raiders don't go far." The first pony, a spiky-haired unicorn with a double barrel shotgun was leading the group.

"Yeah but we looked all over for them and all we found was that cooked dead guy in the burning building. I'm telling you they moved on." The second one, a dirty brown earth pony had a pistol with a huge clip sticking out.

I set my saddlebags in a corner and put my wingblades on. The scales needed a little oil but they certainly got the job done. After checking to make sure my knife was loosely sitting in the sheath on my foreleg I walked to the second floor of the house. I waited until they were just reaching the front door before I jumped out of the window and landed right in front of them, softening my landing with my wings.

"Now I really don't want any trouble, so please don't attack me. I've had enough of that for one day." Now that I was right in front of them I could see their group much better. The second earth pony was holding a shovel that looked like he sharpened the edges, and the third earth pony was holding an smg with a lot of bullets. More bullets than I'd ever seen in one place before! He was wearing light armor covered in pockets for them!

I never thought I would look intimidating to four ponies so heavily armed, especially with my tail singed as it was. But when I landed in front of them they all jumped and tensed up. The pony with the smg was the first to speak up with a raspy voice. "Are you one of the raiders that attacked our last caravan through here?"

The unicorn shook his head. "No I would definitely remember a Pegasus attacking us. But now I have a better idea than chasing a couple raiders down." He adopted a sly smile that didn't like one bit.

"Okay then... well I took care of your little raider problem so don't worry about it. They attacked me this morning and set that building on fire." I was really not liking the looks they were starting to give me. But the pony with the smg stayed professional.

"So the raiders are all dead or gone?" He pushed the unicorn aside as he stepped to the front of the group.

"Yeah the one with the flamer killed himself with that collapsing building, but I scared the other two off." I really didn't like somepony with that much firepower looking at me that seriously.

"So you expect me to believe that you, a single pony without any guns, killed one raider and scared off two more?" He raised his eyebrows incredulously. After I nodded he dropped his professionalism act for just a second before tuning to the unicorn. "Well it appears my job has been done for me. I still expect my payment when you get back."

"What? No way you didn't even do anything but-" The armored pony slammed him to the ground with almost no effort.

"I'm here aren't I? Now I expect full payment when you get back. And make it quick, I don't like waiting." He walked off with all the confidence you'd expect from a pony who could probably take on three others without a sweat. I stood off to the side as the other two helped the unicorn get back to his hooves.

"How am I supposed to pay that monster off now? I was counting on the money we'd make from looting those raiders!" The unicorn seemed like the leader of the group as he paced back and forth. The pony with the pistol nodded his head at me with a sickening smile, and the unicorn's face lit up. "Oh yeah of course, I knew that." He pulled out a collar with a chain attached and some shackles as he slowly approached me. "Alright now listen because I'm only gonna tell you this once. I'm gonna chain you up to my pal Spits back there, and you're going to come with us back to Appleloosa. Then I'm gonna sell ya and get enough money to pay that bastard off and still have some leftover for a few drinks."

I changed my posture and get ready to strike if I needed to. "And what if I say no?" I pulled the knife out of it's sheath and grit my teeth around the handle as he laughed.

"Bitch you're a slave now, you don't get to say no." I rolled forward and brought my knife across his throat, cutting his windpipe and artery in one movement. Gangers always liked to cause trouble, I never did much care for them. Raiders were monsters who took whatever they wanted without remorse, but I've met a few ponies who've turned from those ways and tried to do better. But slavers? I had no respect for anypony who oppressed, hurt, and treated another pony like they were less valuable than a few caps or a bottle of booze.

Everything erupted into chaos after that, with the machine pistol pony spraying shots at me wildly as he backed up. I used the dead unicorn as a shield until he had to reload before rushing at him with a thrust of my wings. He swung at me as he tried to get away, but I ducked under the swing and almost cut his leg off with an upward thrust of my wing. I jumped over him and split his head open with a downward thrust of my other wing before turning to face the slaver with the shovel. He swung at me recklessly thinking he caught me off guard, but I blocked his shovel with a wing and brought my knife to slash at his throat. He pulled to the side and I missed, barely catching his shoulder.

"Shoot what are you waiting for?" I heard him shout around his shovel. I didn't give him time to prepare before I jumped at him with a slash from my wing. He blocked it with his shovel but it left him open for a jab from my knife. I hit him straight in the heart, and his body fell limp to the ground. I stared at his body for a second before I realized what I'd just done.

I...I killed them. these three ponies were dead, and it was entirely my fault. I mean sure they were slavers, and they deserved to die for what they did to other ponies. It wasn't my killing of them that bothered me so much, S'just that I did it so fast, without any kind of hesitation. They tried to hurt me, so I stopped them. It was like I was watching somepony else do that while I sat in the back of my mind. I really didn't like doing that and I hoped I'd never have to do it again.

A burst of pain erupted from my chest as I was pushed to the ground by something. I looked down to see a hole in my chest and a lot of blood. The unicorn approaching me had a sniper slung over his shoulder as he wore a smug smile. "Thought you could kill my coworkers and get away with it huh?" So this was how I died? Pretty lame if you asked me.

He picked up my knife and stood over me. "Don't worry it'll be quick, but probably not painless." He laughed as he lowered the knife to my throat. Next thing I know I was covered with the blood that used to be in his head as he fell on top of me. I looked over to see the two raiders from before, the unicorn carrying the unconscious earth pony on his back. He holstered the pistol again then gave me a look that said a thousand words as he walked away. I knew he didn't have anything to help me with, and he probably wouldn't if he did. I spared him, and he saved me.

I couldn't help but look at the sky as my vision slowly faded. I never did get to see the blue sky I've heard ponies talk about. Oh well, maybe somepony else will be a little safer after I killed those slavers. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the face of a cat looking down at me with concern.

Level Up: Filly's league : Years of practice with your blades has honed your skill with melee weapons. +5 to melee damage

For those of you who are curious about the design of wingblades, here's the model I use created by the brilliant mind of The 24th Pegasus

Author's Notes:

A big thank you to Kkat for being awesome and for creating such an amazing world for us to partake in. Also a big thank you to The 24th Pegasus for giving me permission to make this story what I plan to. As always feel free to leave comments, and criticize my writings however you want (And by "however you want" I mean however I see fit.) >:D