Fallout: Equestria - Frosty Skies
By TornadoFIM
Chapter One: New Beginnings
“You’re just a pony; let’s just see how long it takes before you break.”

War… War never changes…

Over two centuries ago, the magical land of Equestria was consumed by war and hatred; ponies hated Zebras and Zebras hated ponies. It was an ongoing war, a war that never seemed to have an end to it. The land was consumed by balefire -- the cause? Madness. War. Hope. It was their only option; to end the war to end all wars, they dropped Megaspells onto the land of Equestria, turning the once bright and colorful landscape of a land that was filled with magic and happiness, into an apocalyptic Wasteland filled with hate and radiation; life was abolished from the surface.

Over three decades ago saw the rise of a hero; the legendary hero from Stable 2. LittlePip. She brought a new hope to the Wasteland, filled the ponies’ hearts with happiness and assurance. She opened up the skies; she opened the heavens above and revealed the sunlight from behind the thick, blackened clouds for the first time in centuries.

However, the north was left alone. The north was ignored -- instead of ponies seeing a hero in the mare known as LittlePip, they saw a traitor… A liar. Even after all of her heroic actions, the north continues to perish, still without the hope of a hero any time soon.

I was deafened with a loud banging upon a metal surface. I felt myself get dragged away from my slumber, my eyes slowly opening as the blinding light from the window beside my bed filled my vision. I lifted a hoof to cover my eyes, the white screen slowly fading away. I lowered the hoof from my vision slowly, and steadily set it down on the rough, cold bed I lay in. Staring up at a scarred, wooden ceiling made of splintered wooden planks.

The banging continued, before a voice echoed from outside of the room I was in. “Sky! Sky, wake up! Breakfast is ready!” cried a mare’s voice from outside of my room. The banging continued once more, this time growing more aggressive.

“Grr,” I groaned, yanking the tatty and stained old pillow from beneath my head and bringing it down on my head to cover my ears. “I’m up! I’m up! Goddesses, I know they say ‘knock before you enter’, but you’re overdoing it!”

“Well, get your lazy flank outta’ bed, Sky -- I’ve got to head out to work at the Clinic, so I’ll be back in a couple of hours like usual,” the voice replied. A sound of hooves was heard stomping against the wooden flooring of the house, fading slowly as they distanced themselves from me.

I propped myself up onto my flank steadily and slowly, just so I wouldn’t find myself aching and in need of a bed much later on in the day. I edged backwards, sitting against the rough wall behind me. I scanned the room, the large… and almost empty room. The floor had no carpet; in fact, the flooring was made of wooden planks, damaged ones at that. Some sections of the floor had large holes the size of a hoof inside of them. In one of the far corners of the room was a small foot locker with a black duffle-bag leaning against the wall beside it. My “bed” wasn’t really a bed… it was just a solitary mattress with a pillow and a small blanket made for a foal. A plain beige blanket.

The closest corner to me contained a large, mahogany drawer. It was losing its color, and also had large scars all over the exterior of it, and placed on top of it was a small mirror; the mirror was cracked due to it being something found in the Wastes… just like a majority of this stuff. The wallpaper was a fading teal color, the wallpaper peeling from age, and even some parts were to reveal the wood beneath the paper stuck to the walls.

“Just another day, huh Sky?” I spoke softly to myself, realizing I was alone. Standing onto my hooves slowly and steadily, I took the short walk to the drawer beside my… mattress and stared into the cracked reflection to see a cerulean unicorn mare, with a flowing dark blue mane with wide lighter blue stripes in her mane. The long mane covered one side of her face, covering one of her tired dark blue eyes. In-between her eyes were some darker blue freckles, making her look strangely adorable.

This was me… I was Sky. And a day in the life of Sky was nothing interesting. I groaned as I glided my hooves across the wooden drawer I stood in front of, feeling for something with my hooves but not looking. It didn’t take me long to find what I wanted. Upon feeling a crinkled and tatty box touch my hooves, I soon gripped onto it and lifted it from the drawer. I looked to the box in my hooves… Party Time Mint-Als… or as I liked to call them, sanity pills. They were the only things that really kept me calm, that kept me sane. I don’t know why - but what I did know was that I was addicted.

“Bottoms up,” I said, tilting my head back and throwing a couple of the Party Time Mint-Als down into my throat, before swallowing as soon as they hit the back of my throat. With my eyes coming back to meet the mirror, I rested the substance down on the drawer and then gave the mirror a false smile. “Whatever you do, Sky - don’t lose your shit.”

Upon finally leaving my room, I walked down short and claustrophobic hallway. The hallway, since it had a lack of windows, was dim. The wallpaper was the same as it was in my room, and also the rest of the house… The same blue wallpaper, torn and peeling from the age. Reaching the staircase at the end of the hallway, I slowly walked down the stairs, each step creaking and squeaking as I took slow and subtle steps down them.

Faintly in the background, a radio was playing. At the bottom of the staircase was a half open door, allowing some of the light from the outside to seep through the small gap in the doorway ahead of me. I stepped off of the last step, raising a hoof to press against the metal door fixed within the wooden doorway, slowly and steadily pushing it open. A small kitchen was beyond the doorway. There was of course the sink, the refrigerator, and a couple of cupboards, however, some of the doors on those compartments had been torn off to reveal the emptiness inside of them. In the middle was a solitary table with a metal frame, and large sheets of sheet metal nailed together to make the table top, and on the table sat the radio.

Behind the table was… a door. Made of battered and burnt wood, not of the familiar metal that most of the doors around the house were made of. The glass within the large rectangular window frame was cracked, but not shattered or overly broken. Just a few large cracks spreading the width of it.

The flooring was made of marble, but the tiles below my hooves were cracked and dirty. The white color they once carried now looked a horrible, rotten brown color. I trotted to one of the sturdy chairs that was tucked beneath the table, gripping onto the back of it and slowly pulling it out for me, before sitting down on the hard surface…

To my surprise, breakfast was ready, and on the table. Normally, my mother would just stuff it in the fridge and expect me to know that it’s there. The food sat right in front of me; cooked radroach meat and potato chips… Yay. The thought of it made me gag, but it was better than nothing, I suppose.

I let out a sigh and then grimaced, staring at the steaming food in front of me. “I need a drink…” I climbed to my hooves once more, walking to the fridge. My horn glowed as I focused my telekinetic strength on the refrigerator, opening it. However, the door ended up hitting me in the face and sending me stumbling back into the table, my horn’s glow disappearing.

“Ugh… Dammit.” Once the dizziness faded, I soon crouched underneath the open door, turning my head to look at the open and surprisingly empty fridge. Once I passed underneath the door, I found myself climbing into the fridge, pushing my head as deep as I could to look for any liquid to shove down my dry and sickened throat. Alas, I did find… a drink. Not the drink I was hoping for, but a drink. My expression instantly brightened up, as I went to grab the almost hidden bottle from the very back of the fridge, before pulling it out with my horn’s telekinetic power. Finally a drin--Dirty water… Great…

I let out a sigh of frustration, before closing the fridge door and placing the irradiated beverage onto the table and then sitting back down in my place. I stared at the intimidating food that sat before me - I was hungry, but even just looking at the stuff before me, including the drink I had pulled out, made my stomach churn. Not just a little… but a lot.

The almost-silent radio continued to play - I glanced to it, raising a brow. “Maybe some radio might help calm the mood…” Twisting a knob on the rectangular radio box ever so steadily, the volume increased to a level I was happy with. I rested my head down on the uncomfortable sheet metal tabletop, looking away from the food. I found myself staring at the device that was emitting all of the sound.

“...and that was the Cutie Mark Crusaders with “Hearts As Strong As Horses”, hope you enjoyed it, children! For those that are just joining us, good mornin’ - how is it in post-apocalyptia today? You done anythin’ exciting? Maybe you’ve just killed a whole band of raiders and yelled ‘fuck yeah!’ at the top of your lungs, because who wouldn’t want to do that after killing a bunch of ‘em?

“Next on our playlist is a highly requested song - and I can most certainly see why, children. Next up just so happens to be “What Is My Cutie Mark Telling Me” by the Elements of Harmony themselves! Take it away!”

The voice of the buck soon faded away as the song began to play. The music however did not help me stomach the food any better. I glanced to the radroach meat, lifting my head off of the table and sitting back as my eyes were fixed on the food. But I had to eat it… for mom’s sake… And for mine. I was hungry, but… not that hungry; I’d eat radroach if I was hungry, hungry. Like starving… but I wasn’t.

“I think I’ll pass…” I grunted, looking to the water and slowly pushing it to the edge of the table. “Not just on the food, either…” I slumped my head back onto the rough and rusty sheet metal nailed down onto the tabletop, as I groaned and exhaled heavily. I wanted to eat… but… Not radroach; radroach tastes awful, even when cooked.

I sat at the table for hours, my head just staring at the radio as I listened to the strange male pony on the radio. I was somewhat entertained, hell, it even took my mind off of my roaring and aching belly. Unfortunately, my peace with the strangely attractive voice on the radio was soon interrupted with the sound of the front door opening from within the hallway. I lifted my head up, looking to the hallway to see… my mother. Thankfully it was her. Her sky blue coat was visible from even within the darkness of the hallway she stood in, and her greyish minty green mane was neatly combed, as well as her tail, the purple and pink highlights in her mane losing their color from age. This was Crystal… my mother.

She walked into the kitchen, her saddlebag filled to the brim with medical supplies and chems. “Mornin’, Sky,” she spoke softly. Upon reaching me, her eyes hovered to the radroach meat I had left. I didn’t even take a bite out of it. “You haven’t touched that meat, wasn’t you hungry?” she asked. I glanced back at the meat, before looking back to her and nodding.

“Y-yeah… I wasn’t hungry,” I lied, hoping not to make her feel bad. My mother wasn’t particularly the strongest pony when it came to feelings. A lot had happened to her before I was born… stuff she said she would rather not share. She turned to the kitchen counter, opening up her tatty and old saddlebags and emptying both satchels onto the counter.

“I can always reheat it - if you want it later, that is.” Upon finishing what she was doing, she turned to me once more and levitated the plate from the rusty old table, and placed it on the kitchen counter alongside the medical supplies. Upon hearing the voice of the male radio presenter, she looked to it and giggled to herself softly. “Lemme’ guess… you’re crushing for that DJ-PON3, am I right? He’s got a sexy voice, I’ll give you that -- but he doesn’t seem to care at all for anypony’s personal life. Everything has to be out there - if you ever catch his eye, when you eventually go out into the big bad world on your own, don’t expect him to turn a blind eye to you. He will mention you.”

“Mother!” I felt myself blushing, shooting a look at her. This only made her giggle even more. Shit… my own mother began teasing me about something that wasn’t true! ...Okay… Maybe I did adore his voice, maybe I did have a little crush on him, but I wasn’t planning to travel the Wasteland just to find him. I wouldn’t last if I did, anyway.

“What?” she spoke, her grin widening as she leaned closer. “I know what goes on in your head, Sky. Every single week it’s always a different buck. “I love him -- oh but now I love this guy”. You need to wait for the right one instead of crushing out on ponies you barely even know.”

“B-but…” I said, raising a hoof but then retracting it. She was… right. Dammit. “Is that what you did…?”

Crystal’s expression changed into a frown, “Sky, I’ve told you not to ask or even mention anything about your father… it brings back memories. Some good, most of them bad; my past is something you shouldn’t be concerned about.” She turned away from me, sorting her chems carefully. “There will come a day when I tell you everything… but have patience.”

“Mom…” I said, my ears flopping down. “I-I didn’t mean it like that… I-I wasn’t asking, I was just asking if you waited for him…” Ah shit. Guilt. What a wonderful feeling that was -- seeing my mother cry hurt me more than anything else. Even if somepony punched me in the gut, and shot me in the face, I would feel less pain than seeing my mother cry. I knew she was crying. I heard her sniffs, and her silent sobs.

“I-it just hurts to remember him, Sky,” she exhaled shakily, turning back to face me, her eyes now red from her crying as tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. “You didn’t know… i-it wasn’t your fault. I-I would just prefer not to have him mentioned to me.” She took a deep breath, looking down and wiping her eyes with a hoof of hers. “Sky - can I have a moment… please?”

“S-sure, mom… anything you’d like,” I whimpered, standing to my hooves and soon trudging towards the darkened hallway, my head hanging low as I dragged myself out of the room… Ah shit… Well done, Sky. You’ve just made things a lot worse. Upsetting your mother? Sky, could you stop being a bitch?

I stared up at the cracked and aged ceiling, feeling the softness of my mattress below me as I focused my mind on what I did, the darkness of the night outside of my window almost making this room pitch black. I hated making my mother cry -- I was all she had, and to make her cry, to make her of all ponies cry killed me inside. Each time I saw a tear trickle down her cheek after I had said something, whether it be about dad or from an argument, I felt part of me die inside. And it hurt. It wasn’t a painless, gut-wrenching feeling… no. I felt something stab into my heart. My mom is all I have.

“Why did I have to be such an idiot?” I groaned, levitating the small box of Party Time Mint-Als from my drawer in my horn’s telekinetic grip, and pulling them in front of my eyes and examining the battered and dirty box. “Maybe one of these’ll calm me down…” Opening the small box of tablets to see that very few remained. Lifting three of the Mint-Als out of the box, closing the box up and staring at the three tablets I had in my levitational grasp, I threw them into the back of my throat and soon swallowed. “I should really stop taking these things…” I said, levitating the box back onto the drawer and sighing softly.

While most ponies would lose their minds when they take some Party Time Mint-Als, I would lose my mind without it. A dose of them each day would keep my mind calm, and not send me into a nightmare of withdrawal. I sat up where I was, exhaling deeply as I leaned against the wall just behind my mattress, staring at the opposing wall on the far side of the room.

Upon hearing hoofsteps coming towards my door, I focused my eyes on the metal door to the left of me, waiting for the sound of a knock against it… or any other sound trying to get my attention. I blinked, remaining silent - it might have been somepony else. But, the thought of that worried me. This town wasn’t that friendly - it has its punks and trouble-makers, as well as its guards and peacekeepers.

A moment of silence washed over once the hoofsteps came to a halt just outside of my door, the coldness of the room nipping against my neck as I blinked and stared at the door, waiting for a knock to be slammed onto the door. The knock was applied… slowly, the sound of the hoof banging against the metal loudly ringing out.

“Who is it?” I asked cautiously, keeping my eyes fixed on the door. Silence once again. I waited for the response of the pony on the other side.

“I-it’s your mother,” a shakily voice responded. “May I come in, Sky? Please?”

“It’s open,” I responded softly, my eyes slowly drifting to the cracked floorboards beside my dirty old mattress. The door opened slowly, revealing the sky blue mare with the minty green mane as she slowly walked into the room, her eyes still red from all of the tears she had cried out earlier. “Hey…” I softly said.

“Hey, Sky…” she responded with a soft silky sound to her voice. Upon reaching the mattress, she sat down beside me, my eyes not looking at her. My eyes focused to look down at my forelegs, trying my very hardest not to throw myself on a guilt trip.

There was an awkward silence between us. A strong silence; a silence that lasted longer than I had hoped, or even imagined. But she soon broke the silence, and personally… I’m glad she was the one who decided to do it. It would have been awful if I did it -- I probably would have ended up making her cry again. That was all I was good for.

“You still beating yourself up about earlier?” she asked, caressing my mane with one of her hooves. Gently nuzzling me, she added, “You shouldn’t… Honestly, it wasn’t your fault. I… overreacted…”

“I shouldn’t have said anything, mom,” I replied with pure guilt. My head was still heavy, my eyes staring at the floor as I took a deep inhale of breath and then exhaled to prevent myself from breaking down into tears. “I shouldn’t ask about him if it really hurts you… I’m sorry.”

“Hey, hey…” she gently placed a hoof underneath my chin, and lifted it up. Looking into my eyes, she smiled softly out of forgiveness, “You have every right to ask - it’s your job to be curious about things you know very little about - it’s what makes us ponies. If you didn’t ask about him, then I’d be worried, Sky.”

I smiled at that remark, but it didn’t take any of the guilt I felt away. “At least tell me this… Was dad a good pony?” I asked, hoping for at least one answer from her regarding my father. I wanted just one answer…

My mother looked lost… Her smile changed into a frown. This worried me. Had I hurt her again? Was he not a good pony? Did he kill others for… sport? Did he make mistakes he didn’t regret? What was so bad about my father that made her so upset?

“Was he a good pony?” she repeated, reeling back. She exhaled softly, closing her eyes and smiling softly. But it wasn’t out of happiness. It was more of a grimace. “Your father made many mistakes; he came from a Stable - Stable 30… When he visited me for the first time, he was new - what surrounded him was alien. All of it. The creatures, the ponies, the surroundings… But the more he got used to the Wasteland, the more he changed. The Wasteland changes ponies, whether it is good or bad, the Wasteland changes everything about you. He was a good pony to an extent - he knew his boundaries. He had good intentions. But he made mistakes - he could fix them, but he always assumed he couldn’t repair the damage he caused…”

My smile turned into a frown and I soon looked down once again. “O-oh… Does the Wasteland change ponies like everypony says it does? Does it change ponies like you say it does?” I asked, looking back up at her, hoping for more answers.

“Yes…” she nodded slightly, looking to the door and wrapping a hoof around me. She held me close. “The Wasteland is… unforgiving. It doesn’t give you a second chance if you make a mistake. You have to live with that mistake, unless you find a way to fix that said mistake. Going back to the subject of your father, I guess he was in one of those situations… especially after what happened…”

“W-what happened?” I asked, hoping for her not to scold me. “What did he do?”

She took a deep breath, and then looked back to me. “Promise me you won’t hate your father - it was a mistake. He did it for my sake.” I nodded, waiting for her to continue. She took another deep breath, and then exhaled, “He… destroyed a city. He destroyed it to save my life - I had a gun pointed to my head, and so did he… If he didn’t do it, I wouldn’t be here and neither would you…”

My eyes widened, not speaking as I took it all in. He destroyed a city? But-- No… No, he was right to do that if it was for my mom’s life. If it was out of bad intentions and greed, then I would be pissed and glad he’s gone. He sounded like a… neutral pony - he did as he saw fit, he didn’t want to side with one side and have to fight against the other. He sounded like the type of pony who was respectable, to an extent, of course… But still nonetheless respectable.

Crystal got up from beside me, walking back toward the door and opening it entirely. Upon walking between the door frames, she glanced back at me and smiled softly. “I have something to give you, Sky… Wait here, I won’t be too long.” She walked out of my room, and as I saw her disappear into the corridor’s darkness, I sat and waited for her return.

I heard her hooves slowly fade out, and as they did, I heard another door open. I waited patiently for her, but did feel myself get somewhat impatient with how long I was waiting. When she did finally return, it seemed as if she returned with nothing, but her horn was glowing a light sky blue color as she timidly stepped back into my room. I kept my eyes fixed on her, leaning side to side occasionally to see if I could see exactly what my “gift” was.

“No peeking!” she giggled, walking closer before stopping right in front of me and looking down at me. I gave her a look that suggested I wanted the present now. I was too excited to wait any longer.

“What is it?” I asked, unable to see it… but I knew she had it as her horn continued to glow bright within the darkness of my room. “You’re killin’ me here!”

She giggled once more, before revealing a pistol… Her pistol. She levitated it towards me, smiling. “Hold out your hooves,” she requested and as soon as she did, I did exactly what she had instructed me to do. Holding out my hooves, she slowly and steadily lowered it down onto my hooves.

I examined the gun closely, my eyes wide and my smile even wider. The chassis of the gun was a sky blue color, and it had black swirling patterns all over it engraved into the metal that made the chassis of the gun. Why was she giving me her gun though? I remained silent, completely speechless.

“This was my gun… for a short while. Not while I knew your father, but long enough to protect you and also myself from those who intend to hurt,” she said, lifting a hoof from the ground and cracking a gentle smile at me. I looked at her and smiled widely. “If you decide to go out there, face the horrors of the Wasteland and explore, this gun will be your best friend… it’ll protect you from anything that wishes to harm you.”

I returned to examine the gun, levitating it from my hooves with my magic and slowly twisting and turning it around so I could get a proper look at it. I emptied the magazine from the stock, shaking it slightly to hear it was empty. I put it back in the stock, looking to my mother expectantly, hoping that she’d give me the ammo. I planned to leave. I wasn’t sure when, but I wasn’t wanting to spend the rest of my life… here. And she was expecting me to go soon, anyway by the sound of things.

“Ah… yes. The ammo,” she lifted herself onto her hooves, walking out of the room again with a swift trot as her hooves hit against the wood beneath them. Yet again, I kept my eyes on the door as I waited for her return. She was quick to return and in her levitational grasp were seven boxes of rounds, all of which containing two magazines each containing six bullets. At least… that is what it said on the boxes. She placed all seven boxes onto my drawer’s top, and then sat back down beside me. “I know it ain’t much… but it’ll serve you well.”

I placed the empty gun on my bed, yanking her in for a hug and squeezing tightly. She hugged me back and I nuzzled her neck. “Thanks, Mom… I love it. Really.” I held her close to me, hearing her giggle to herself before pulling away and looking at me.

“It’s what you deserve, Sky,” she said to me softly, caressing my mane. “After all, the Wasteland is there to be explored… whether I like it or not, you will leave some day. And it is of course best to be equipped with at least one gun for your first night out. What you do out there is up to you -- whether you’re a good pony who intends to change things for the better, a pony who takes no notice of others and just looks to survive or a pony who wants complete control over the Wasteland, to force those who live and thrive in the Wasteland to kneel before your hooves… it’s up to you. I can’t make your decisions… but I hope you to make the right one.”

Hope… Was that what got her this far? Hope that she would move on and start a new life without dad? Granted, I wasn’t the best pony for anything, but I certainly didn’t want her struggling when my time to leave finally arrives. She was all I had, and I was all she had. I couldn’t have said ‘thank-you’ any more than I had already, but I… I felt like I needed to. I felt like a simple thank wasn’t enough to show her how grateful I was.

“Thank you…” I said softly as I pulled her into a gentle hug. I felt her hug back once more, just nodding her head in reply as I held her close to me.

That night, I slept a rather… peaceful night. Most nights in the area weren’t particularly the most peaceful. You’d hear conversations exchanging from street to street, drunken bucks harassing innocent little mares. Mares harassing bucks. Drunken bucks having a singing contest… every so often somepony would get shot. But that was rather rare, though. While Winter wasn’t the most peaceful settlement in all of the Northern Wasteland, it was most certainly home to me. And honestly? I could never ask for anywhere better.

Mother dropped some hints that her life that she had before having me wasn’t so glamorous. She didn’t go around, picking heads off of creatures and crazy ponies wanting your head. No. She didn’t live the typical lifestyle that most colts and fillies would have you believe. The Wasteland was violent, but it most certainly didn't sound like a playground of mass destruction; a place where you could just kill anything and everything in sight. But... Colts and fillies being the ponies they are would want to imagine it to be like that.

I'll admit, even when I was a filly I wanted in on the Wasteland action. I always used to talk about how I'd one day go out there and shoot everypony and everything. Some filly I was, huh... Though, things are sorta different. I was not wanting to go out there for the soul purpose of killing things and kicking flank, but I wanted to explore... I was somewhat aware that the Wasteland was a cruel place to be. I wasn't blinded with lies like the children were.

I bet many Wastelanders got asked the same questions. How many did you kill? Who did you kill? Did they bleed? Can I see the head? And so many more to do with Wasteland violence. Children being children, you have to expect questions like those. I had been there and done that in my early years of life.

My peaceful sleep wasn't to last. Deep into the night, I awoke to what sounded like... Screaming? From outside of my window, I heard ponies running, begging for mercy... But that mercy wasn't show with each gunshot that echoed loudly outside. I sat up, my heart beginning to race as I heard raspy voices yell at civilians from outside. Soon, my mother burst through my door, my eyes quickly snapping to her in alarm… I took a breath of relief once I recognized the mare standing in my doorway.

“We have to go,” she shouted, stomping a hoof. “Grab everything you need, and meet me downstairs… don’t dawdle!” She quickly darted off to the staircase without any more words being said, her hoofsteps quickly fading out as they made distance between my room and her.

“Wait!” I called, hoping that she would have heard me.

No reply.

I stood onto my hooves, walking over to my drawer, trying to block out the dying screams and gunshots that echoed from outside… but I couldn’t. They drilled against my ears, and the more they did that, the more it hurt just to hear them. I levitated the gun that my mom gave me off of the top of the drawer, and then searched the top draw for the ammo boxes. Placing all seven of the aging boxes onto the top of the drawer, I trotted over to the far corner to my duffle-bag. I opened up the zip, pulling a leather jacket out from inside of it, and wrapping it over me before zipping it up.

I levitated the duffle-bag, and soon carried it over to the ammo boxes, placing each individual one into the bag. All but one. Emptying the stock of its empty magazine, I levitated one solitary mag out of the ammo box I had kept out, placing it into the gun and cocking it back with my horn’s magic.

Opening the second draw down, I levitated all of the caps, healing potions and bottles of Sparkle-Cola I could into my bag. Three bottles of Sparkle-Cola, three healing potions and… Twenty-five caps. And also a small box of Sugar Apple Bombs to prevent hunger. Zipping up the bag, I looked around to see if I had forgotten anything.

That was about… everything. Ammo, check. Food, check. Drinks, check. Healing potions, check! And of course caps… if I need them. Oh… There was one more thing I needed. I opened up my saddle bag, and then the third draw down, levitating a small picture within a dirty and dusty frame. A picture of… me and mom. A couple of years ago. Kissing it, I threw it into my bag and zipped it up once more.

“Sky! Hurry up!” I heard my mother call from downstairs, her voice barely audible beneath the torture, screaming, gunshots and insane laughter happening outside. I responded by trotting to my doorway, scanning my room for anything else…

No. I was ready. I trotted out, shutting the door and then rushing to the staircase before trotting down to meet my impatient mom at the bottom of the cracked and wooden staircase. The tortuous sounds that were heard outside were slightly muffled due to the walls blocking the sound out… but I could still hear them.

“W-what’s happening?” I asked--but… I knew what was happening. I shook my head, looking to replace the question I had asked. “W-why is this happening?” I asked once more, looking around the dark room. My mother turned to the door that led to the kitchen, before turning to me and putting a hoof over my lips before I could continue… But I had so many questions…

“I’m sure you have many questions, Sky…” Crystal started, glancing behind herself before looking back to me. “But I cannot answer them… even if I could, I don’t think you’d understand. If you had seen what I had seen, felt what I had felt and done what I had done, you’d understand - you wouldn’t need a second explanation.”

I fell silent, looking at my mother. “What wouldn’t I understand?” I desperately wanted to know more, even though I knew I wasn’t ever going to get the information from her. I tried to block out the ruckus from outside, the violence which occurred outside of the house.

My mother fell silent also, blinking and turning away as she opened the door to the kitchen, walking into the room. “Everything…” she muttered as I followed her in, Crystal gathering any loose bottle caps from the table, and checking to make sure everything she needed was inside of the saddle bag she carried. She turned to me, looking dismal has she walked over to me. “Just one thing: if you manage to get out there, if you manage to explore the big bad world… don’t trust anypony from the first word being spoken. Monitor them, and watch your back - whoever decides to tag along can end up ditching you or worse…”

“Worse?” I tilted my head to the side, an ear flopping down. She looked at me with a look of bemusement, the type of look that said “oh… is she really that stupid?”. The answer was yes. I didn’t want to make assumptions that maybe weren’t true - I didn’t want to offend her with those assumptions, considering she had gone out there and explored it all once before.

“Do I really need to say?” With a shake of her head, she soon turned to the battered and scarred door behind the table. “We’ll exit through the back - that way we don’t run into any unwanted company… at least for a short while.”

She walked to the door, twisting the knob on it with her hoof, before slowly pulling it open. To greet her was a snow covered patio, with blades of dead and dry grass poking up through the deep-ish snow that sat outside of the door. I trotted over to her, waiting for her to step outside. Snowflakes fell and drifted down from the night sky softly with the calm breeze

She looked left, and she looked right… Only to repeat the process two more times before stepping out in the soft and rather cold blanket of snow outside of the door. “It’s clear… We can leave,” she said, looking back to me as she waited for me to follow. Stepping out, and feeling the freezing cold snow touch my hooves, I looked to my mother, and then down the walkway that led to the gate attached to the fence, seeing the invaders slaughter… and kill innocent ponies.

I felt my heart sink, and fear take its place, quickly looking away from the ponies that shot, beat and tortured all of the civilians who were trying ever so hard to leave the town. But no matter how hard they had tried, they all got no profit. I looked to Crystal… she just watched, and kept her eyes on them. No emotion on her face whatsoever.

“W-who are--” I stopped, looking down at the white blanket of snow below my hooves, before shaking my head and looking up at my mother, tears now forming in my eyes. “No… What are they?” I asked calmly, trying to block the screams out. Trying to remove myself from the world, at least for just a second. And just as I managed to do that, just as I managed to calm myself and release the tension from my body for the moment… just as I had placed some happy thoughts into my depressed brain, something interrupted my small moment of peace.

“Over there! I see two fuckers beside that house!” I heard a raspy voice yell, my eyes shooting open as I looked back to see blood covered buck, blood that obviously wasn’t his own. He had a dark brown coat, and a mane that was spiked violently down the middle and sides to give him a more intimidating appearance. He was a Unicorn, so the shotgun he had floated beside him in an aura caused by his horn’s telekinesis. “Time to die!”

I felt the hooves of my mother shove me to the ground in a rush. I landed to the ground with a loud thump, getting a mouthful of snow as my face landed in the soft white substance beneath it. Cold… Really, really cold… And I didn’t like it… I felt myself shivering, and my teeth chattering as I soon lifted my head from the snow, looking to her. She ran towards the intruder, quickly turning around and slamming both of her hindlegs into his face, a loud pop sounding as if his neck was completely disjointed from it. As she did kick him, however, a blast from his shotgun fired up into the air, no doubt alerting the others in the area.

Climbing to my hooves, I slowly but steadily walked over to my mother, whose hooves were covered in the blood of the pony she had bucked moments before. At first I felt shocked, and then came fear and then… confusion. As shocked and as horrified I was to know that my mother killed this pony that she had never even known, as shocked and as horrified I was to see a pony get killed right before my eyes, I… couldn’t blame her. Completely. This pony was going to kill us, and no doubt his just-as-insane buddies will try to kill us next.

She levitated the shotgun he dropped, cleaning any of the blood that had splattered onto it. And then my eyes drifted to the buck himself. From the kick she delivered, his spine had torn right through his neck, the blood still leaking out onto the frost covered ground below.

“Y-you killed him…” I muttered, looking to her, hoping to forget about the sight I saw. “We could have just run.”

“They’re Raiders, Sky,” she countered, looking to me with a dismal look. “Raiders are… the worst types of ponies you’ll ever see. They show, and know no mercy - they have a lust for blood, pain and torment - I’ve met many in my time, fought with them all. I’ve never seen a Raider show true mercy and sanity.” Upon grabbing whatever ammo she could from the buck’s corpse, she placed the few remaining shells from his body into her bag, before glancing back into the backyard. “Come on, we have to hurry. The others will be here soon - put that pistol I gave you to use if you have to.”

My mother soon began to trot off into the backyard, but I remained. I opened up my duffle bag, soon levitating the custom designed pistol that she had given me, before sealing it back up again. I kept the gun in a levitational grasp, observing it for a second or two before eventually following the mare who had run off into the darkness. And as I followed, raspier and rather bitter voices called out from behind.

We had left the house -- the house I was brought up in, the house I had lived most of my life in. And I wasn’t sure if I was ready. Not yet, not now. But we were forced out, we had no choice -- it was either stay and die or leave and live. Well, live a little longer, that is. Either way, we still had a lot of ground to cover to say we couldn’t just waltz through as if it was any other day. Today was different.

With the screams of the dying and tortured still echoing throughout the village, I followed my mother closely as we hugged the shadows. We passed many ruined houses sitting alone in the dark, as if they were the first to be hit. Doors were broken into, and entrails and corpses of those who had struggled during the night lay there, lifeless and broken. And the Raiders didn’t think twice to search the house for anything useful… they just came and went by the looks of things.

I couldn’t help but glance over my shoulder to check that we weren’t being followed by those who had heard Crystal break the neck of that pony outside our house moments ago… luckily we weren’t. But I couldn’t help but think that they may have chosen a different route the reach us, as if they knew where we were heading.

Trudging through the snow, and following my mother closely, I wanted… or rather needed to know more about these “Raiders”. Whether or not I would get answers is a different matter completely, but I was sure she’d understand my curiosity.

“Mother…?” I said softly as I tried to pull up beside her, but found myself unable to do so because of the deep snow we were walking through. I glanced around, looking at the many emptied houses that surrounded us within the dark. “What are Raiders?”

“I’ve told you what they are, Sky,” she muttered to herself, walking at a similar pace to me. Slow… and steady. “Insane, merciless and brutal ponies. That’s all there is to them…”

“But there’s got to be more,” I countered, managing to get up alongside her, looking at her with blinking eyes. “They’re ponies, too. No matter how insane, or brutal they are - you’ve seen it all, you’ve seen what they are.”

She stopped, looking down at me and shooting me a look. “They’re NOT ponies, Sky. The dying screams - are you going to tell me that a pony with a brain would do that? I sure as hell wouldn’t call them “ponies”, let alone worthy of living!”

Oh… that was… unexpected. I reeled back, blinking and scrunching up my muzzle. “O-oh… Well in that case, nevermind…?” I said with a tone of… I don’t know, but I sure as hell felt like I ticked her off just asking about Raiders. Was it wrong that I wanted to know more?

She sighed, walking ahead and hanging her head. “Sky… I’m not saying there isn’t more to Raiders at all - a small fraction out there may have brains - however big that fraction is a different story completely, but--”

“Well, well…” some unfamiliar, raspy voices soon filled my ears, stopping us in our tracks completely. I turned my attention to the nearest house, where the wooden panels along the exterior of the house were battered in, and splintered from the damage. The front door… non-existent. And within the darkness of the entrance to the house exited a group of ponies that looked similar to the one my mother had killed earlier. “Looks like we found ourselves some lil’ mousies!” A bald black Unicorn buck, dressed in spiky leather armor with a thick but rugged scarf pulled over his muzzle stood in the doorway. In his horn’s levitational grip was a poorly assembled assault rifle that looked like it was made out of anything he could get his hooves on. He was accompanied by… what looked like two mares… All three of the ponies had the look of insanity in there eyes.

I lifted the gun in my levitational grasp up to aim at them, taking a couple of steps back in fear. “D-don’t make me shoot…” I said, trying my hardest to sound brave. Obviously, that had failed me as the dirty and wasteful ponies in front of me burst into an echoing laughter that sounded somewhat exaggerated.

“Awwh. Ain’t that cute? This lil’ mare’s tryin’ to act brave…” he said hastily, grinning at me underneath his scarf. “Well… it seems like our lucky day; two mares who look like they’re ready to die!” He then looked to my mother who stood her ground with no emotion of fear.

I sure as hell wasn’t ready to die… I didn’t want to die. Why not sleep? Why not rest? Why not live? Anything other than death would be nice. Of course, I knew we didn’t have a choice. Instead, I readied my rather shaky pistol, keeping my sights locked on them. However, my mother kept her shotgun lowered, and took a couple of steps closer to them.

“You must feel so brave,” my mother contradicted to him, stomping a hoof in the snow. “Hiding within a ruined old house, sticking to the shadows? Might I say that’s not normal for a Raider - I thought you liked killing ponies, I thought you like being in the thick of the action. I’m beginning to think my assumptions were wrong,” she said with a tone of mockery.

The buck stepped down from the porch, trudging through the snow as he approached my mother. “Bitch, what did you say?!” he spat in her face. She cringed from his presumably horrible breath, reeling back and keeping her eyes fixed on his.

“I’ll repeat that, shall I?” she groaned, gritting her teeth. “I’m beginning to think my assumptions were wrong,” she repeated, grinning. “Better?”

“You bitch!” He swung a hoof across her face, knocking her to the ground and then levitating the barrel of his assault rifle to her head, jabbing her with it with a look of pure hatred on his face. “Repeat it for me, bitch. Do it. Fuckin’ repeat it, I’ll pull this fuckin’ trigger… or so Celestia will help me.”

At this moment, I felt an alien emotion fill me. Rage… anger… hatred… whatever it was, it wasn’t positive at all. Stomping over to him, I raised my pistol and pressed it against his head as I breathed heavily, feeling myself tense up in the moment. His eyes looked at me as he kept the barrel of his gun pressed against my mother’s head, who was now on the floor bleeding from where she had been hit.

“Nopony calls my mom a bitch!” I screamed, cocking the gun back. “And nopony can EVER hit her, you piece of wasteful shit!” The moment when by like a flash… all it took was one pull of the trigger and...

BLAM!

I sent a bullet straight through his brain, a large chunk of his head breaking apart, allowing his brain (which, it’s surprising that he had one) to splat and break into small chunks, as blood and brain matter painted the snow beside him, some of the blood splattering onto my face and chest. His body fell with a crash beside my mother; his eyes still wide open in surprise as if he didn’t expect it at all.

I… I killed a pony. Upon realizing what I had done, I looked to the other Raiders with both a feeling and a look of fear. And upon them noticing, their surprisingly shocked faces turned into grins, their crooked and yellowing teeth revealed within the grins as both of the earth

pony mares reached into their leg holsters, pulling out a pistol each.

“Time to die!” one of them screamed with a dry voice. I darted to try and find whatever would be considered as cover, as shots were fired at me. I felt their bullets whiz past my ear, sometimes just skimming my flank and ear.

My mother followed, firing two blind shots of her shotgun up at the Raider mares, with no effect. I took cover behind a rusty dumpster that sat next to the house, leaning up against it… Crystal sat next to me, checking the ammo in her shotgun before looking to me.

“Are you okay?” I asked with a tone of concern, still shaking from what I had done and as I did, she wiped some of the blood from her muzzle and nodded with a soft smile.

“Y-yeah… Thanks for doing that, Sky,” she responded. She soon frowned. “Are you okay, though? Killing your first pony isn’t exactly the easiest experience to go through, but trust me, you’ll get used to it.”

“I-I’m fine,” I lied with a smile. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get used to it - killing just felt so wrong. But… from what I heard from my mother, and what I saw within the last hour or two, ponies had to kill to survive. It was… in their nature.

I peeked over the dumpster, seeing the Raider ponies just making their way around, and upon catching sight of me, I fired two shots that, unsurprisingly, missed them completely. And as I ducked down, a spree of bullets smashed into the dumpster, pinging into it loudly. I flinched, checking the magazine I had in the gun, before shoving the magazine back in and preparing to go again.

“Come out of hiding and face us. Show us how brave you really are!” a raspy voice heard within the approaching hoofsteps spoke. “I’m not going to hurt you… much. I’ll only rip your head from your shoulders - that’s lenient compared to what the others do.”

I gulped, slowly crawling around the closest corner of the house, Crystal following me closely as we shifted to the back end of the house. I felt my heart begin to race as I heard the insane ponies slowly making their way around the dumpster. Upon reaching the back door of the house, I leaned against the cracked and crumbling wall, taking a few deep breaths. My mother took her place beside me, looking at me and gently holding my hoof. She knew I was afraid.

BANG!

I heard the sound of the dumpster being kicked, before hearing a cry of anger. I felt my heart stop as the sound of the metal being bashed echoed loudly, my eyes shutting tightly in fear. I felt my mother hold my hoof tighter, my eyes opening as she did. I looked to her, taking deep breaths - she cast me a smile of reassurance, another spree of kicks on the dumpster.

“Oh, are we playing a game of Cat and Mouse, eh?!” I heard one of the female intruders yell from the other side of the house. “So if you’re not in the dumpster, are you behind the house? Or have you made a runner? Hah! Pussies!”

“Be quiet!” I heard the other one reply hastily, the sound of a hoof hitting their companion. “If we want to take them by surprise, we split up, circle around the house - and when we find them, we blow their fucking brains out!” the other mare hissed through her whispers. Silence followed for a few seconds, before I heard movement… and that’s when my heart stopped again. “And this time, don’t fuck it up - last time I didn’t manage to get a shot on the fucker because you were being too loud!”

“Yeah… whatever,” a final groan was heard before movement became audible once again. I looked to my mother, hoping that she would have a plan. Surely she would know what to do, she had been in similar situations… or I had assumed that before noticing the clueless look in her eyes.

Great… Fucking great. I was having to kill more ponies. Not that I enjoyed it the first time, no, I found it absolutely horrible. Ending one’s life just because they have a gun isn’t a real reason to why you have to do it. But that… thing, that thing I wouldn’t dare call a pony, attacked my mother, what else was I meant to do? It was either him or her in that situation.

“Sky… I know you must be feeling scared right now,” she said, cracking a smile at me. Too fucking right I was, I honestly didn’t know what to do. “But you have to stay strong… I want you to run. Run away from this place, and never come back.”

“W-what?!” I exclaimed while keeping a low voice, my eyes widening at her words. “I’m not leaving you here… I can’t leave you here, and I won’t!” My heart would only sink further than it had before, knowing that she wanted to stay here and not come with me.

“Sky, I’m too old for this, for everything like that. I can’t join you out there… even if I wanted to,” she responded, my head slowly looking down as I felt something weigh it down. My heavy emotions…

“I heard somethin’!” one of the deep female voices yelled on the other side of the house, the voice sounding much closer than before. “Keep low, keep quiet, and don’t fuck this up!”

“I-I’ll miss you, mom.” I tried to bite back the tears, biting my lip harshly. But I couldn’t… my vision was replaced with a blurry fog as the warm tears soon trickled down my cheeks. I couldn’t stop them. Next was trying not to cry so loud.

I felt myself get pulled into a warm hug, soon hugging the mare back and softly crying on her shoulder. And she couldn’t hold back the tears, either… I felt her warm tears roll down my forelegs, neck and back, holding her as close to me as I could - and even though I knew we didn’t have time for this, I didn’t want to let go… I loved her too much to just let her go. I felt her trying to push me away, but I refused to let go of her.

“S-Sky…” she groaned, sniffling and trying to push me off. Not. Letting. Go. Not ever. No. “S-Sky, you have to go… n-now!” She managed to release me from the hug, and as I felt myself break apart from her, I tried to pull her back in… but she didn’t let me, of course. With tears streaming down her face, she put on a smile that told me “everything was going to be okay.”. As if that was true. “Everything will be okay. I promise. Just… watch your back out there -- and even if I don’t make it out of here alive, just remember… I-I’ll be watching from the stars.”

She leaned forward, applying one last kiss on the cheek, before letting go of me completely. I was still struggling to fight back the tears, hearing the movement that was now inside of the house.

“I think they’re in the back!” I heard a voice roar from inside of the house, before hearing a hoof slam into the one that had just spoken once more, before her hasty companion responded to her.

“Yeah, and now they might have run off! Keep your fucking voice down!” I heard her dry voice speak, my mind unsure of what to do. I had to run. Obviously. But, I didn’t want to leave my mother… she was all I had - not only that, but I didn’t know what to expect at all out there. That was the scariest part.

I had no choice, did I? The answer was no. Climbing to my hooves, I looked towards the endless Wasteland that was on the other side of the crooked fence that barely stood at the end of the backyard. And as I took a deep breath, I felt a hoof nudge me… I wanted to go, but at the same time I didn’t. It’s… just what may or may not be out there that terrified me the most. The stories I had heard about the Northern Wasteland or even the Wasteland in general were pretty terrifying in themselves.

I gulped, closing my eyes and bracing for my first ever step outside of my hometown. “Well… here goes everything.” I darted off, galloping as fast as I could away from the village, feeling the falling snow hit my face as I ran forwards. Upon leaping the fence, I had realized that I had traveled the furthest away from this place in my lifetime, and no doubt, that distance would increase. Overtime.

Galloping through the seemingly like blanket of snow that coated the hardened and dry soil beneath my hooves, the darkness had restricted my vision for the most part. The only thing that I could see clearly was the snowflakes that came down at a rapid pace, hitting me in the face. Despite them feeling so cold, I was more worried about what I might bump into after my leave.

I soon heard… the most worrying sound I could ever hear… A gunshot. Muffled, and crackling through the sky like distant thunder clouds. I stopped in my tracks almost instantly, glancing back to the faded light in the distance. Home. My heart sank even further, this time almost dragging me down with it. I worryingly looked down at the snow and the grey and dusty soil at my hooves, shaking with fear and heartbreak. I was hoping, wishing - that they hadn’t killed my mother. Right there, and then… the emotionless look of her face staring into the barrel of demise, before taking the shot - right between the eyes, and ending it for her completely.

No. Stop thinking thoughts like that, Sky… they’re damaging. Stop it!

BANG! WHIZZ!

Feeling one of their bullets only just miss my flank, I quickly threw myself down to the ground, landing on the hardness of the ground beneath the thin sheet of snow. I groaned upon landing, but still attempted to remain still and silent. They had seen me run; they had heard me… worst thing being that they knew where I was.

A few more shots flew over me, some of which missing me by a safe distance, while some almost blowing my head clean off. Some almost making an entrance into my flank. That thought made me cringe more than any other - the unimaginable pain…

I lifted my head from the ground, looking into the distance to see the flashes from the guns that were shooting at me in the distance. Shot after shot was added, bullets missing me by a single hair, or missing me by a large distance. Either way, I decided to keep my head down and remain silent, hoping for the best. The best being not to go and get shot. I kept my gun close by in my levitational grasp, waiting for them to get close enough.

“Come on, you fuckers,” I hissed, keeping my eyes on the seemingly never ending wave of bullets. The rage was returning - just like before, I had the urge to kill. I didn’t understand why, but honestly, I could care less - I just wanted to kill them from this point. They did the unthinkable. They killed innocent ponies for sport, they killed those ponies for their own entertainment… and quite frankly, I had no time for ponies like that.

I had killed before - just moments before I ran out of town. It was shocking to see the corpse in front of you; it was shocking to know that you were the killer - that you had taken a pony’s life, in exchange for your survival. But… As much as I didn’t want to get used to it, I knew that I would have to start doing it soon, or this Wasteland would be all over me like a rash.

I checked the amount of rounds in my gun as they grew closer… Three bullets. Even though I had more ammo in my bag, I didn’t want to go reloading half-way through the fight, finding myself pinned to the ground with a barrel pointing against my head. Shoving the magazine back in, I noticed they had grown closer. I hid the gun, levitating an old, ruined newspaper that had drifted its over to me over it. And their shots had stopped.

With the two insane ponies approaching me, they looked at me with savage grins. I looked straight back up at them, showing no emotion, nor expressing any. They both levitated their guns high into the air, aiming them down at me, one of them approaching me as the other remained where she stood.

“Game over, little pony,” she hissed, poking the barrel of her rifle up against my head. My horn gave away a soft glow as I attempted to grab my pistol with my telekinesis. Upon grabbing it, I showed a grin at her, yanking the pistol from underneath the newspaper and aiming it at her quicker than she could blink. Her eyes widened as she found herself staring down the barrel of my pistol.

I held my breath, trying to keep control of my emotions. “No… No, I don’t think so,” I said hastily, cocking the gun back. “Au Revoir.” I fired one of the three remaining bullets into the eye of the Raider pony stood in front of me. It went through her eye, and out of the other end of her skull, forcing her to fall with such great force. She landed with a powerful thud, blood squirting from her eye as it leaked from the back of her skull.

And breathe…

I quickly climbed onto my hooves, aiming the gun at the other Raider. She almost dropped her gun out of her levitational grasp, but managed to recover, aiming it right back at me. And I knew she wasn’t going to be merciful, right after that, anyway. I quickly darted out of her line of sight, hearing the gun she fired boom loudly in the silent Wasteland air.

Feeling a few of her shots just miss me by a hair, I looked around frantically for cover. Upon finding a broken, dead looking and leafless tree, I vaulted myself around it and sat against it as I waited for my target to draw herself closer. I listened out carefully for her hoofsteps, giving the odd glance at her, before feeling a bullet shoot past my ear, forcing myself to take cover once more.

I took a deep breath, holding the breath within my lungs, before peeking around and firing the two remaining shots I had in the current magazine. Miss and… miss. I slammed myself against the dry bark of the tree, emptying the magazine out of the weapon and reaching for another magazine in my duffle bag. It was quite hard for me to find any source of ammo, but luckily I had found one, shoving it into my gun and cocking it back.

I leaned around the corner once more, firing two more shots at the Raider pony who had decided to play the waiting game. HIT and… miss. The shot that had hit her pierced its way into her left foreleg, forcing her to fall with a loud cry of anguish, blood trickling down her leg as she applied force to it with her other hoof.

I climbed to my hooves, walking out of cover and up to the Raider mare with my gun’s barrel staring her right in the face at all times. Stopping right in front of her, I pressed the gun right up against her head, a look of fear in her eyes as she found herself staring death right in the face. Not that her begging would ever save her from her demise. She deserved it; all ponies like her deserved it.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you now?” I snarled at her, breathing heavily as I attempted to control my anger. “Spit it out!” She flinched back as I allowed my anger to be heard, gritting my teeth.

“Y-you think I’m scared of you?!” she barked, her eyes telling me that she was scared of me. And I… found that amusing. A pony that was meant to be the meaning of insanity scared of a pony that had never killed a pony before this night. “Get fucked.”

“Yes… You are scared,” I spoke with an amused giggle, poking the barrel in-between her eyes. “I’m still waiting for the reason for why I shouldn’t kill you.”

“B-because we can be best friends!” she spoke with a begging tone, smiling innocently. Ew… that failed her deeply - not only were her teeth crooked, dirty and yellowing, but the look in her eyes didn’t match, either. She carried the burden of insanity; it never would work, no matter how hard she tried.

“Best friends? With you?!” I’ll admit, that made me laugh. “That’d be the day. You killed ponies for your own amusement, why should I be friends with you?”

“I-I’m sorry! Just please let me live!” I noticed in the corner of my eye, her gun coming back up slowly as if she was just using these words to buy herself some time, to distract me so that she could kill me. I soon slammed a hoof into her wound, making her scream out in agony and dropping the gun from her levitational grip.

I grinned. “You don’t mean any of this - you just wanted to buy yourself so time so that you could kill me yourself, but guess what, that won’t happen!” I said matter-of-factly, cocking my gun back. “And now, you just got rid of your last hope of survival… goodnight.” I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds, before I fired a shot right in-between her eyes, the bullet traveling straight through and hitting the ground. She fell back, blood squirting out of both ends as she fell back. Dead. Eyes wide open.

And breathe…

I put the gun back in my duffle bag, turning away from the Raider’s corpse and staring out into the seemingly endless Wasteland that was there to greet me. I began to make the slow walk into the emptiness beyond me.

And I had slim hopes that I would make it…