I wake up in a white, fluffy room. How am I still alive? I wonder as I begin to examine my surroundings. Looks like some kind of bedroom, I deduce, but who, or what, brought me here? I wreck my brain, but I can’t remember anypony that I knew that I could call a friend. I’m thinking so hard that I almost don’t notice the large gauze covering my wound.

“Who would do this?” I wonder out loud, “I don’t have any friends or acquaintances that I can remember”. I start to remember the events immediately before I blacked out, then I recall the rainbow blur.

Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t natural. I haven’t seen a rainbow in a long time, at least three years. The only primary color in a rainbow that you’ll see in the wasteland is red. Mostly you’ll see shades of brown and grey, even the sky is brown.

I try to recall the , red, orange, green, yellow, blue, and violet. I needed to find out what it was.

Then a pony walked in through the door. I could only stare as I saw her rainbow mane. She was the first thing that I could honestly say didn’t remind me of how awful Equestria has become.

“You!” I scream as I make the connection,” You’re the rainbow blur!” My mind was exploding with questions.

“Yeah,” she answered, looking surprised at my outburst, “So what?”

“Why did you save me?” I ask her, in a more controlled voice, “Where am I?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asks, in a highly questioning tone, “What was supposed to do? Let you die?”

“What about this gauze?” I ask as I motion to the bandages covering my wound, “This shit is fucking expensive! Why would you waste that stuff on somepony you never met?”

“Um” she states, obviously confused, “Gauze is only, like, one bit for a foot, that not really expensive.”

“By the way, my name’s Rainbow Dash; fastest pony in Equestria!” She states proudly, “What’s your name?”

“Iron Storm” I answer, “and by the way, how are able to be so generous in a world that has turned into a living nightmare. I’m too busy trying to save my own ass to help anyone else.”

“Nightmare?” she asked, “Equestria is a very beautiful and peaceful land, I don’t know what you’re talking about.

“Ok” I begin in an annoyed voice, “It looks like someone needs a history lesson”

“About three years ago” I begin my story “Equestria was awoken to a dark sky. Everypony looked to the skies, only to find that a gigantic meteor was hurtling towards our world at a frenzied pace. This, predictably, set everypony into panic mode. In mere hours, everypony flooded Princess Celestia with questions. Those who didn’t boarded up their homes and tried to prepare themselves for the imminent impact. For most, it was a futile effort, as the shockwave of the impact was enough to lacerate anypony in a hundred mile radius”

The rainbow pony looked at me with a face of shock and horror, but the story of how our perfect world mutated into pony-hell had just begun.

“That alone caused the government to collapse and degraded Equestria from an organized, peaceful world into a lawless, brutal existence, but it’s not over. Then the smoke from the impact clouded the skies and the radiation from within the meteor was released into the atmosphere. That radiation caused water to become scarce and turned some ponies into mutated freaks who would love nothing more than to rip you to pieces.”

She looked at me in a horrorstruck stare, clearly struggling to absorb the fact that her world had turned into a hell. It almost hurt me to continue. Almost.

“The ponies that survived The Strike had to work hard for every breath they took. Some established colonies together so as to fend off the freaks of the wastelands. Others, like me, set off on their own into the wastes. We started calling ourselves wanderers and would rarely live in one place for more than one night. We also have to combat these freaks on a regular basis. It’s not fun, but it’s life, and that’s enough for me.”

Dash stares at me like I’m crazy.

“Hahaha” she begins in an unsure laugh, “Yeah right, Equestria will always be perfect, liar. It's just is a gloomy day”

“What!?!?!?!” I scream, enraged by her ignorance, “Are you fucking kidding me!?! You stupid fucking bitch! Where do you think I got this hole in my chest!?! I was fighting a mutant and it took me down with it, that’s how! Why would I carry a sword if I didn’t have to use it!?!

“What do you expect me to do!?!” She yells through a thin veil of tears, shocked by my sudden outburst, “Just completely accept that the world went to crap in my sleep? Just forget about my life and accept that my friends are most likely dead?”

“Well,” I begin, not wanting to hurt her anymore, “I guess that would be hard, but I wouldn’t know. I don’t remember anything before The Strike. I just woke up a sword and started walking into the horizon.”

“Oh,” She starts in an understanding voice, “So you never had a friend?”

“Nope” I answered, “Never needed one until now. Thanks, by the way”

“No problem” She responded.

“Well” I start to get out of the bed, “I’d better get going. Bye.”

I grab my rucksack and my sword and exit the room. I was almost out the door when I heard Dash yell after me.

“Wait!” she yelled as she flew to my side

“What is it?” I asked

“Um” she started nervously, “I don’t think that I can survive out there if it’s as bad as you say. I wanted to ask if I could maybe stick with you for a while. Just until I get used to this idea of a post-equestrian wasteland. Don’t say no because you think I’m not tough or brave, because I was the toughest and bravest pony in Ponyville!”

“Well” I reply, amused by her claims, “If you think that you can handle it, then I could use some company.”

“Awesome!” She exclaims, clearly happy to have me as her guide, “You won’t regret this!”

We walk, or in my case, nearly fall, out of the door. Side by side, me and Rainbow Dash walk into the horizon. While the sun sets, I can’t help but think, I’m not going to regret this.