Fallout Equestria: Ties

by MrAlterad

Chapters

• Prelude
• 1. Winter Rain
• 2. Taking Stock
• 3. Stripes
• 4. The Rustic Route
• 5. Give and Take
• 6. Melting Sands
• 7. Souls and Machines
• 8. Memories of Harmony Lost
• 9. Unified at the Divide
• 10. Fate's Responsibility

Prelude

Fallout Equestria: Ties

Family, and friendship. I thought I knew the former, and knew nothing of the latter.

Time has a way of broadening our horizons, it's been almost a month, and the moon is full again. The last time it was full, I was still naive, I was still isolated. I didn't know what friendship was, and I thought I understood what family was.

Now I sit here, on the deck of my ship, my friends asleep around me. In almost a month, I've fought, I've given, and I've taken. I've loved, and been loved. I've hated, loathed, cherished, and appreciated. The wasteland changed me, but something important remained. Something that truly defines who I am, my virtue, my vice, and what drives me.

I had only one name, now I have many. Blue Stripes, Doombringer, Bounty, Stable-Dweller, Healer, Daughter, Lover, Captain, Friend.

Winter Rain.

This was the story of my friends, their families, and my family. Winter Rain is now nothing more than a ghost of who I was, but my friends, my family, and what defines me remain.

I could tell you that this story is about my journey across the eastern seas, about the the trials I underwent, and the destiny that binds me. While my story does cover those, it's not the most important part of the story.

What the story truly is about, what I hold most dear, is family, friends, and the ties that hold us all together.

It all began on a small island, off of Equestria's eastern coast.

1. Winter Rain

War, it poisoned the mind, body and soul of its heroes and victims. It scarred all it touched, and when the bombs fell, even the great land of Equestria succumbed to its poison; And even after two hundred years, the scars remained. Zebras ruined the land with balefire, while ponies used the very radiance of the sun to scorch the earth and boil the seas. They were not the sole weapons used the day the world ended, standing on the rim of the crater, I looked upon the aftermath of one such unique megaspell.

Somewhere short of four kilometers wide, the air above the ground closer to the center was littered with floating rocks and debris, as well as the prize I so desperately sought. At the center of the basin was a large pool of water, some resting on the ground, some floating in the air in large clumps, and near the center is where most of the larger rocks floated.

The megaspell, from what she had told me, was used to destroy a zebra weapons depot, sucking the base and the land it was built upon into a small ball. Just with all megaspells, magical residue remained from its awesome power, making the crater a dangerous field of gravity magic. Stay there too long or wander through the wrong patch and you can be thrown into the air, crushed, or made weightless for the rest of your life.

Needless to say, I've avoided this part of the island because of the danger. Just looking at it made my stomach squirm, it wasn't natural. Unfortunately, desperation leads to poor ideas, and desperation is certainly driving me right now.

"Alight Rain, noth-" I rasped. Okay, talking to myself with a throat dryer then my water barrel is not a good idea, and neither is going into the crater of apocalyptic origins.

You'll be fine dear. Just be careful.

Hearing those motherly words in my heart, my chest fluttered and I composed myself, that water isn't going to collect itself.

Checking my supplies, I placed the barrel I brought next to one of the sturdier trees lining the crater, its leaves dry from the drought, and checked my pipbuck.

The combined weight of the rocks I was carrying in my bags was ten, a number I would keep track of as I descended into the crater. If that number changed, I knew I'd be in terrible trouble.

Make sure to tie your mane.

Okay, I could see the point in that, my mane is a little long and would probably float about and get in the way with the craters magic. While annoying, it was something that needed to be done.

After spending a few minutes getting my light gray mane into a ponytail, I grabbed the rope and hook resting in the barrel into my mouth and put the barrel on my back, and began my decent.

The first couple minutes of the climb down was mostly safe, I was pretty sure the affects of the megaspell wouldn't start to be a problem until I was past the brush line, a little less then halfway down the craters side. So far so good, I started building up my confidence with each step.

Then the apprehension I felt back at the top redoubled when I reached the end of the foliage, I kicked some rocks past the bushes and saw them take a lot longer then I was comfortable with to hit the ground. Would it really be all that bad to die of thirst?

...

Shaking my head, I told myself that I'm no longer a filly. Whether I wanted to or not, I needed to do this if I wanted to survive. I wanted to survive, so none of that suicidal thinking!

I looked for the nearest patch of water, took a deep breath to dispel my apprehension, and started moving, kicking up rocks as I went to get an idea of how gravity worked ahead of me.  

I felt lighter, of course I felt lighter, the problem is I was already a light mare to begin with. Checking my pipbuck, I saw that the weight of the rocks had fallen to seven.

And that was a poor time to check. I felt myself get heavier as I saw the number change to eighteen, and I almost tripped from the unexpected change in weight. My legs buckled in pain, my muscles screaming at the sudden shift. Looking ahead I could actually see the ground ahead of me start to flatten and sink into a depression of weight, and I moved as fast as I could away from that depression.

The I noticed the weight on my pipbuck drop to two, and just like that I went from lumbering forward to being airborne, almost being weightless. I took a moment to enjoy the sinking feeling in my stomach that accommodates falling.

And that's when the panic settled in. Before touching back on the ground the number changed to zero, and I bounced off the gravel...and floated into the sky. My heart was racing as I saw the ground drift farther away. It wasn't any faster then a slow trot, but I was definitely ascending.

I hooked the hook end of the rope around my foreleg and started looking around frantically for something to latch onto, but all around was just small rubble on the ground, and it was the ground I wanted to aim for.

An idea struck me. I quickly looked around for another indentation in the ground and luckily saw one closer to the center about ten meters away, and with practiced skill threw the hook towards the indentation. The hook fell with a solid thud almost dead center of the depression, and saw to my horror the three-sided hook flatten under its own weight, putting that aside I started to pull myself back to the ground, the new weight of the hook itself becoming my anchor. Managing to land on my hoofs as I got closer, I almost hugged the ground out of joy as my body became a little less weightless.

Well, that was fun, in a blood rushing adrenaline filled intense moment kind of fun, but fun! Being close enough to the heavy spot to bring my rocks back to ten, I scanned around for that patch of water I was after.

And, to my annoyance, it's gone and floated further down into the crater, of course, gotta work for it and all. With some effort, I managed to get my rope with a flat-hook on the end out of the heavy spot and rolled the rope back up. With greater caution then before, I scooted deeper into the crater, keeping an eye out for the relatively safe spots before reaching my prize!

Which hovered somewhere from three to five meters above me. Great, now how was I going to get it? I stared at the water, almost imagining it mocking me. The floating patch of water that could easily fill my barrel-

I was falling, into the sky, and to my annoyance and slight confusion, I fell right through the water I was gonna collect, sending it splashing every which way, besides the inside of my barrel.

Panic returned as I continued falling into the sky.

Pretty sure I was screaming as I slammed into a floating boulder three times my size, which stopped my falling, luckily it didn't hurt as much as... falling up would warrant.

I stood up and was momentarily assaulted with a new sense of vertigo, the ground being a ceiling some fifteen to twenty meters above me, and looking down, I saw the sky on the other side of the boulder.

Before I could make any attempts at calming myself, I was falling again, in the proper direction, I hoped, the last thing I noticed before hitting the ground was a number on my pipbuck, one.

Ow. Ow. Curses! Ow, okay, that last one really hurt, fighting back tears, I appraised myself.

I had hit the ground and bounced several times, the last bounce had been particularly painful. A medical alarm was flashing on my pipbuck, not that it needed to, for I could painfully feel the fact that something was wrong with my forward left leg. Not quite broken, but certainly fractured slightly past the knee.

Well, I bemused myself, at least all I got was a fracture from falling twenty or so meters. Getting up, I took a look around, I had to reassess that number. Funny, I didn't recall the fall being that long, guess it was more rolling than falling.

To my confusion, I was clearly on the opposite side of the pool of water at the craters center. My fall had taken me somewhere over one hundred meters from where I had been! Well, I may be hobbling for a while, but at least I'm still alive, and I plunged my head greedily into the pool to quench my thirst.

Pulling back with a satisfied amount of water down my throat, I pulled the barrel off my back and understood just how well my luck fared me. A large crack lined from the top halfway down to the bottom, the lid itself was gone. I could fix the crack, but I foolishly left the supplies I'd need back home. I almost kicked myself for my negligence.

"Oh no, no no no, this can not be happening." A barrel of water would have been hard enough to get out of the crater, but with an unsealed and possibly leaking container? Oh, while with an injured leg? Looked like this it it for Winter Rain, I bemoaned, might as well go back home and dig my own grave!

You don't give up that easily.

...She's right, I can't linger here. I'll make do with what I have and hope for the best. With renewed resolve, I filled the barrel about halfway, and prayed to Celestia that the water would last till the next rainfall.

Not wanting to circle around, I set myself on the shortest route out of the crater, being the opposite end I entered from, no way was I going to suffer any longer than necessary. Even injured I'd rather move around the lip of the crater over lingering any longer from going around the pool.

I almost lost the barrel twice on my climb out, but I managed, even if its only a third full now. My trip out was easier then going in had been now that I was more aware of the hazards.

Stopping a couple steps into the bush line I took another swig of water before addressing my throbbing leg. Already a bruise was forming under my sky blue coat, I winced when I rubbed where the fracture was. I'll need to make a brace for this when I return home. Checking my pipbuck one last time before- five.

To my surprise, the weight of the rocks was five, I started to move up the crater again, seeing that I was still not safe. Why is it easier to climb then it was to descend? I mean, yea I now understood the hazards, but I also have a lame leg, and a less then empty barrel. As I reached the top I checked my pipbuck again, still five, I felt my heart skip a beat as it hit me.

Taint, radiation, corruption, poison, flux, thermal sickness, I ventured into an unearthly scar of magic and left it... different, I'm not my full weight anymore, I felt a little bit scarred. Through some design of old magic, I had half my mass stolen from me. I can only guess at what all this now entails. Well for one, it made it easier to get out of the crater, so that's nice, for a moment, I was smiling.

No, being touched by the after affects of a megaspell was not a good thing, maybe down the road my weight will suddenly changed for the worst, for all I know I'm now a walking time bomb of old forgotten magic.

Being a light pony already, I imagined a strong gust of wind blowing me into the irradiated sea, and suddenly I had a strong urge to not be standing on the edge of the crater.

Trying to distract myself from thinking about my new affliction, my gaze wandered over the the half of the island I didn't venture to too often. I looked lazily down below the trees and fauna that populated my little home, dry but alive. My gaze moved closer to the shore, where a gradual line of dead trees reached out until touching the sea.

This side of the island saw more ocean swells during storms, bringing irradiated water inland and poisoning the soil. My gaze falling further out into the sea, off in the horizon was a line of clouds, persistent, showing the promise of Equestria's eastern shores.

The sun will be low in the sky soon, it will be nightfall by the time I reach home, as I lumbered my eyes caught a shadow in the sea about a kilometer off the shore towards Equestria. Normally curiosity would beg my attention, but yea, injured leg, balancing a barrel of water on my back, homeward for me.

The island I call home is shaped sort of like a raindrop, with the point directed away from the continent on the horizon, my 'house' was near the tip. This meant that the crater was the biggest feature of the island, but the trees and coast surrounding the crater made for ample living resources.

The moon will be full tonight, I'll make sure to see mother once I get a brace together.

As usual, the sun was swallowed by the cloud layer, depriving me of a full sunset, but I could see the moon rising past the shack I live in, a smile greeting my face despite my rough, life altering day.

Driven by habit after gazing upon the moon, I turned to appreciate my cutie mark; A full moon, slightly obscured by clouds, with a golden note imposed in front. Entering my home, I started to hum a little melody.

Going through the supplies I left here, I pulled out some well used twine and old slim metal rods and worked on a brace for my left leg, setting it firm but not enough to block blood flow. To my relief, I'd managed to avoid stressing the bone on my canter here, so I guess there's that, count the good over the bad, she'd say.

I was pretty sure there was some bruising under my pipbuck on my right leg, but I had no way to address that, I never learned how to take off the darned thing. Its a memento from my father, so it's important to me, but it's really hard to clean under it and the bruise and... sigh. Sometimes it's just annoying to wear.

Hygienic problems aside, the pipbuck itself is an amazing tool, it monitors my medical status, sorts and keeps track of the items in my saddlebags, has a map, even though I've never left my island, it was still useful for exploring the cliff side near the sea. It can also hold data files such as the medical notes my mother left me, or the recording of my fathers farewell. There's the EFS, the Eyes Forward Sparkle that shows what direction I'm facing, and the SATS.

What did that stand for again? Something-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell? Right, I haven't used SATS... ever, why would I need a targeting spell? The little device is also pretty much indestructible, so yea, overall a solid memento my father left me.

That old recording of his caught my eye, and more for nostalgia then to be reminded of its content, I played it.

“Rain, my little winter. There's a responsibility our family holds, and I can't let you be dragged into it, so I'm heading out to make sure that doesn't happen. When it's no longer a concern, I'll come back for you and mother, so be a good girl, be strong and wait for me. Look after your mother for me, she won't understand. Dear, I'm sorry, I love you both, be safe.”

An audio log only twenty two seconds long. It was so long ago that I could barely remember the day he left, leaving with the only boat the island had. It was a sad day, mother cried for hours after he left. Did she somehow know she would never see him again?

I'd always wondered about this responsibility he talked about, was it worth it to leave me and mom by ourselves? Sometimes thinking about it would eat at me, just what was it! Father needs to come back, and apologize to mom! Reminding myself of mother, I put that small token of the past aside to get to work.

I moved the water in my barrel to the barrel attached to my shacks rain gutter and went to work patching up the crack in the barrel, seeming the wood together with some sap resin. I'd have to make a fresh lid, but that could wait for tomorrow.

Moving to my saddlebags and taking out the rocks, I was reminded of myself being a newer, half as heavy me. I'll never make as big a splash in the pond (When there's water in it), and I'll need to be careful on windy days, I smiled at my own attempt to cheer myself up.

She told me afflictions from megaspells lasted the rest of ones life, thinking about that, I decided to remind myself what she also told me.

"Count the good over the bad Rain," adding, "You're alive, the air smells of life, and you've got enough water to hold out another week!" I was going to be tainted like this the rest of my life, but time spent crying over it would be better spent adjusting to it.

Putting on a false smile, I walked past the picture of my parents carrying a small light blue foal with gray hair and sapphire eyes, left my saddlebags at the door, and walked into the moonlit night.

Walking past my meadow, it saddened me to hear the dry grass crack and break underhoof. Still, I climbed up to the top of the cliff that was the point of the islands raindrop shape, and greeted the little headstone sitting at the top, provided a view welcome to every moon-rise and sunrise.

"Good evening mother, today was a rough day for me, it hasn't rained since the last full moon, had to venture into the crater for water. I got some, but it cost me half my weight and a new leg brace for it," I let out a sheepish smile. "Father didn't come this month either, I'm not even sure if he's still alive, or if he even cares-" I stopped my rising frustration, count the good. "But that doesn't matter, this little drought won't stop me, so don't you worry, your little girl will manage just fine." I heard uncertainty in my voice, did my voice just quiver? Oh dear.

I looked around apprehensively, the drought was abnormal, rain typically happened every other day, a month without rain is strange, very strange, I want to think optimistically, but I felt the looming wall of depression start to overtake me, this is bad, I, I-

I felt an unseen embrace over my shoulders and I almost jumped, almost.

You'll be fine dear.

Feeling the shadow of a familiar embrace, my heart calmed down. I closed my eyes, grasped a loving memory, and started to hum. I hummed a song close to my heart, the song she sang for me, and I could almost feel her humming it too.

Nights like this are usually loud, the bugs chirping the noises that they make, the drought has really made it quiet this past week. As I hummed, the bugs, slowly, one by one, joined in. A song that even the grass blowing in the wind seemed to sing as well, and my fears settled down, the aching in my leg dimming to a light throb. The melody went on for a time, the moon moving higher into the sky, before I stopped, throat close to dry from the song.

"That right there was a fine sounding song miss, made my old aches less troublesome, so I gotta ask, what kinda spell was that?"

My heart stopped for a moment. Whipping around at the unexpected voice of another, I saw a unicorn with a large reddish hat with a white feather, he was looking down at me from not even five paces away, his cutie mark was a peg leg, which at that moment struck me as odd as all his legs were intact.

"Oh look at this, an earth pony, was that really magic then, or was your voice just that spectacular, or maybe some sorta earth pony magic," he chuckled.

"Who are you? How'd you get here? Are you with my father?" I asked in an almost inaudible rush. I took a step back in alarm. Looking at him I noticed something new from my eyes forward sparkle, the built in compass function provided by my pipbuck, red bars, one directly in front of me and others spread to the sides, I could make out movement behind the stranger that matched the movement of the red bars.

"Captain Peg Leg, I know I know I ain't got no peg leg, and I aim to keep it that way. I came on my ship, and should I know your father little miss?" This was bad, everything about this pony was bad, I could feel the hairs on my mane stand up at the way he smiled at me, the way he inched me closer to the cliff, the... saddle?

His saddle had two barrels, one on each side facing forward, the barrels had several holes in them, and there was a blade hoisted behind his saddle bags, bigger than a knife, curved.

"Now little miss, you should be careful, lest you fall into the sea, wouldn't want that now, would we?" He offered his hoof towards me. Despite my better judgment, despite my urge to run, count the good. I took his hoof and he helped me up. "That's right, it would be terrible manners to expect an injured mare to get up on her own, come lets show you my ship, ah~!" Before he could lead me anywhere he fished something out of his saddlebags, a ring of some sorts.

"Be a doll and let me put this around your neck." He leaned closer to me, making me flinch back as he prepared to put it on me. Tossing a quick glance in the direction of the pond, I saw less red bars that way, which I assumed meant less bad ponies. I needed to get away from this pony.

With a quick motion that caught Peg Leg off guard, I stole his blade from him and ran as best I could towards the pond, ignoring the pain assaulting my leg.

"Looks like she wants to play hard to get, oh how the ladies make me work~" Peg Leg...bemoaned?

Great, first time talking to another pony in eight years, and they more then likely want to make my life miserable! Annoyance and fear fueled my inner complaints, couldn't he have done so when my leg was a little less injured, or maybe yesterday when I was a little heavier?

Something hit me from the side, while I was distracted by my own appraisal on my misfortune, another pony had rammed me from seemingly out of no-where, almost knocking the wind from my lungs, and sent me flying farther then either of us were anticipating.

"Did I just crash into a foal?" my attacker asked.

I didn't get a look at the confused mare as I rolled down into the depression that once was the pond. I tried to keep myself from coughing, it's dark out and noise would give me away... then again, I dully noted, with the moon being full and my coat being a light color I suppose the dark isn't actually giving me much aid here.

"That ain't no foal, that's fine merchandise right there! Not too many mares as slim as her." A buck walked into the 'pond' right as I was getting back on my hooves, Peg Leg's blade still in my mouth. "Now stay still and and the worst you'll lose is some blood!" and the dark earth pony pulled a knife from the barding he was wearing and came at me.

The look in his eyes sold his intention better than the knife in his mouth. This pony meant to harm me, and the idea of somepony wanting to harm me made me pause in confusion, shortly followed by fear, then pain!

I felt a sliver of fire run across my side as he slipped past me, looking at my wound I saw blood start to trickle down my side, stopping to appraise myself was a dumb move, as I felt a stab of pain from my back leg and cried out in pain, dropping my weapon. Then he pulled the blade out, my cry redoubled as I wondered why it hurt more when he pulled it out.

"There, a matching limp, forward and back!" I know now is not the time to wonder how he can talk fluently with a blade in his mouth, but I couldn't help myself!

Getting up on my legs, hurt, it was easily the most painful moment I've suffered thus far, but I still managed to stand, and I was still intending to get away. I've had enough bodily harm tonight thank you very much. Since I was lighter I'd just have to put more into my uninjured legs. Once again, desperation drove my thought process. Past the pond is a path, if I can just-

"So you want some more do ya, I suppose I should go for a full set!" he declared. Oh, the blade is serrated, so easy in, hard damaging out, that makes sense. It was nice of him to tell me what he was going for next, One thing I've noticed about these ponies, they're slower then me.

Going for my other back leg, I bucked him in the face, though it didn't do much, it did make him drop his blade and disorient him. I quickly picked up Peg Leg's dropped blade and spun around, anger guiding my swing.

Can you kill him?

I hesitated before bringing the blade to bear. BANG. Thunder boomed behind me and I felt the blade in my mouth jerk harshly and spin away from me, my mouth stung from the impact. Not wanting to be unarmed,  I quickly knelt down to pick up the serrated blade my attacker dropped when it too was sent flying away from me with another crack of thunder.

"Now little miss, can't have you all bloodied up, if you keep running, who knows what'll happen." Peg Leg walked down into the pond, smoke billowing from the barrels to his side. I eyed him cautiously as his horn started to glow emerald, his blade was wrapped in an emerald glow and his blade was levitated to it's sheath.

"Now, seeing as how you panicked when I brought this little puppy out," as he was twirling the ring in the air with his magic "I think its fair to assume you don't like accessories, so you come quietly, we'll give you a potion to patch you up, and I'll forgo the ring, whacha say, little miss?"

Being this injured, and this outnumbered, there must be a dozen of them, the idea of running seemed less and less likely to work out. If I tried running, there were so few places to hide, and if they caught me after that, then they would probably cause me more harm, and deprive me of this offer. Fear led me away from wanting to piss these ponies off.

"What do you intend to do with me?" I choked out with a ragged breath. Peg Leg smiled and was about to answer-

"Cap'n, this one's mine, I want this one!" the pony that cut me up interrupted, looking at him, I noticed he had a cutie mark to match his bloody dagger.

"Knave, this ones special, I ain't givin her to ya." What kind of parent names their child Knave? "Rusty, take..." Peg Leg looked at me expectantly.

"Rain," I answered, I didn't want to give him my full name.

"Right, little miss Rain to the ship, get her fixed up while me and Knave have a little heart to heart. Throw her in the brig, for her safety." Peg leg gave me a hallow smile as he turned his eyes to Knave.

A large mare unicorn with a light coat walked up to me, looked me up and down and surprised me by lifting me with telekinesis and placing me on her back. She trotted along to... the path I was trying to escape towards, of course.

"Yer leg broke?" She looked at me from over her shoulder and she pulled a small bottle of purple liquid and brought it to my mouth. I wasn't going to argue over being given one of these. Itis been years since I last saw a healing potion. Bleh, still tastes as bad as I remember, but immediately after drinking it I felt all the wounds brought by today's affairs right themselves. The potion was even hydrating! “Can't have our prisoner die of gangrene.”

While not needing the brace anymore, I felt it a good idea to hold on to it, could make use of the materials for my daring escape plan, so I left the brace on my leg. Luckily, Rusty didn't seem to care about the brace.

The path we're heading down leads to a seaside cave that I'm now assuming the- yep, that's a ship alright, though I'm not certain if its bigger or smaller then the ship my father left in so long ago, my memory about it was muddled. Pretty sure though that this ship was rustier than fathers.

I let out a little sigh, my running away idea was doomed from the start. I gave up on the notion of escaping the pirates and let my mind distract itself with anything it could, like the ship itself.

The rust bucket was over thirty meters long and ten wide, one topside cabin that contained the steering wheel, or whatever its called, I'm not ship savvy. The front end of the ship was pointed while the back was rounded, and the entire top rim of the ship had a small chain railing up to where the boarding plank was.

Parts of the hull look like something has tried to sink its teeth into it, something with an two meter wide mouth, I shivered when I imagined the fish that accompanied those marks.

"Cold?" Rusty asked me as she carried me on deck, besides the two of us there was another on the deck, a pegasus? I was surprised and a little in awe, it was the first pegasus I've ever seen. The buck seemed to be fiddling with some small, delicate looking devices, his eyes met mine and a look of pained regret washed over his face before setting his gaze back to his contraptions, seeming to ignore us by driving his attention to them.

"Just imagining the fish that made those marks on the ship," I replied after remembering I had been asked a question. A pegasus, how about that.

"Hmph, megaladons are bad fish, Cap'ns ship is attacked often," Rusty remarked as she took me below deck, just as rusty down here too, and after a small trip down and to the back she levitated me into a barred cell and closed me in.

"Rusty,” I asked, remembering an interrupted question I had, “what does Peg Leg intend to do with me?" I asked, trying to mask the fear in my voice.

"That's Cap'n Peg Leg, and I recon he's gonna sell ya, assuming Knave doesn't talk the Cap'n into letting him have his way with ya." Rusty spat to the side at that.

"Sell me!? Who in Equestria would want to buy me?" I angrily exclaimed. There were ponies that bought ponies!? Why?

"I'd imagine anyone with a handful of caps to spare would buy you, young lady," replied an old voice near me, looking at the source I saw in the cell adjacent to my own an old buck with a short gray mane, a hit of green in it. The old unicorn with the dark green coat was looking at me, no, his sapphire eyes seemed to be starting through me. The buck with the same eye color as myself must have poor eyesight.

Rusty went to the end of the hall of cells and sat behind a nearby desk, to keep an eye on us I assumed. Well at least I won't be alone, a prospect that helped lighten my mood.

"Looks like I finally have somepony to talk to, and from the sounds of it, I'll be talking to a young lady at that." And the old buck nudged over closer to my cell, though he had the same look Peg Leg had when he was first talking to me, something about this old buck was different. The eyes, they didn't match the sly grin, they seemed more, considerate. I fell for his eyes and was curious as to what he wanted to talk about.

"Let's swap tragic stories, if you wouldn't mine, I'll go first. I was minding my own business looking around Sandstone to commission a crew to take me to a derelict island. Unfortunately, the crew I commissioned was a bunch of pirates! They took my caps, my things, and my glasses! And for good measure, threw me into a cell that's poorly accommodating for somepony my age. And you?"

I was taken aback by the how nonchalant his recounting had been. It was as if the whole affair was a minor inconvenience, mother told me ponies can get a little daff when they're older, clearly she was right.

"Oh,” I started, putting on a sarcastic tone, “I was going about trying to get water to quench my dying thirst, fractured my leg in the process and came home to find a band of dirty ruffians waiting to steal me from my home. So yea, I guess being captured is a little better then walking directly into their hands," I bemused, "Oh, and Knave apparently wants to have his way with me, which I assume to be carve me up or stab me-" I stopped, surprised by his expression. Why did the old buck stop smiling?

"Oh, there will be stabbing all right young one, and I recon you won't be for it, so let me ask you a very serious question," he whispered to me as he got closer to the bars.

"I can get us out of here, it'll just cost the lives of almost the entire crew, but you and me, we'll be free, we'll have the ship, and you won't be stabbed, follow?"

I felt a chill run up my spine, this old buck went from daff to murderous in ten seconds flat, and in a moment of clarity I understood something, something fundamental about this pony, this pony wasn't afraid to kill, no that's not quite it. He wasn't afraid to kill anypony standing in his way. I gulped, a dark curiosity fell upon me.

"No, I don't follow, I don't think you've asked me your question, do you need me to help you with your escape plan?" I asked, certain I wasn't going to enjoy the answer.

"Nope, I can escape at anytime, I've just been waiting till we were back at a port town, but now that a poor mares virtue is at stake, things have changed. I can get us out now, and leave the entire crew for dead, or I can get us out after we arrive at a port town, with your physical and mental health impaired, but the entire crew will mostly live,” he paused, and when he looked towards me I could feel his gaze looking deeper then I liked, I almost sank into the back of my cell from his gaze.

“What I'm getting at is, do you hold your health and virtue over the lives of nineteen strangers who spend their days pillaging and stealing all things wholesome and good in the seas?"

My cell mate, my very first I should add, and hopefully the last, is a terrible pony. Just like that he put me and nineteen others on a scale and asked me where I consider my weight, and I am not a heavy pony. I'm not even half the weight of a regular pony! Suffer to spare the ones that stole me from my home, or condemn them to death, the answer was easy, even if it was bitter.

"I'd let them live, honestly how could you ask some mare you just met such a question, you, you- fiend!" I angrily spat out. He looked at me, as best he could, and he smiled! An honest happy smile!

"You're a good lass, can't let you be poisoned by those pirates, this is on me. I was gonna do it regardless of your answer, but I like you, seems the wasteland still has room for kind fools such as you."

Wait, what? His eyes narrowed down the hall as his horn glowed. I heard a SNIP from down the hall, followed by two thuds. Looking down the hall I saw Rusty's head on the floor, her body slumped to the desk, floating over the desk was a large pair of scissors with blood on the blades, and shortly after catching my attention they dissipated, the magic that manifested them being abandoned.

I looked at Rusty's corpse in horror, one moment she'd been breathing, doing guard duty things, and the next she was without her head, dead as I would have been had I not ventured into the crater.

"You, you-" I stuttered.

"Yes yes, I killed her, not the first, undoubtedly the last." He levitated the keys from Rusty's corpse and unlocked his cell. "I'll let you out if you promise not to make a scene."

I looked from him to Rusty to him, not sure what to do or say. I didn't know Rusty, but still, that was a pony, a lifetime worth of pony, and now it's all gone. If this buck let me out, would I make a scene?

"On second thought, lemme find my glasses first, then we'll continue this line of conversation." He walked off, looking for his damned glasses. Giving me a moment to think alone, I weighed the options.

And when he left me alone, I felt it. For the first time since before my mother passed away, I felt alone, why? Was it because I wasn't on the island? Instead of being comforted or hearing words on the wind, there was nothing, and that scared me. If he lets me out, I wouldn't be able to stop him, he's displayed that he's capable, more then capable. But if I stayed in this cell, it would eat at me, maybe I can save one or two if I was-

"Made up your-" He returned and was about to ask me a question when his eyes, now with his glasses donned, looked at me. "I'm sorry miss, I never got your name. I'm Ruby Memento, traveling scholar, and you would be?" Ruby inquired, and he's a scholar? Could have fooled me. I just happened to catch a look at his cutie mark, a bar? No, a rod of gold held under a magnifying glass.

"Winter Rain, and I'm going with you to make sure you don't kill anypony else, for this escape plan." I declared. He seemed taken aback, but, no, it was my name he was taken aback by.

"My apologies, had I known who you were I would have been more considerate for you, I knew your mother Ms. Rain, you carry many of her features."

Okay, at this point I think its fair to say that this has been a very peculiar day. For a brief moment everything that happened today hit me at once, and it felt surreal. He knew my mother, did he know she was dead?

His eyes, they're reading me, I can see it. As if I was an open book, he was looking at me and quickly assuming things about me. That stare made me feel exposed.

"I see, your mother has passed on, I'd like to ask about it, but when there's a better time. I was her teacher, taught her everything she knew about medicine, and from the look of the brace is seems she passed some onto her daughter. Come Ms. Rain, we have a ship to commandeer." and with that Ruby opened my cell and started back down the hall towards the stairs.

"How did-" I started to ask when Ruby interrupted.

"The look in your eyes told me your mother was dead, as well as the fact that she wasn't in the cell with you, she would have allowed herself to be captured first, I am certain, and you never offered any recourse of going to the island to save anypony." He looked at me, then eyed his cutie mark, "My special talent is appraising others, over the years I've gotten very good at it."

As if that was excuse enough, he returned to a small corner behind Rusty's corpse and with his magic got the rest of his gear on him, sliding on some barding that looked part functional part cosmetic, it easily made the buck appear more like a scholar.

I noticed him bring out an old rusty chunk of metal, for some reason it caught my eye. It had a small barrel with a six sided chamber in between the barrel and a wooden grasp. It looked just as rusty as the ship, and I think I saw something written into the wooden grasp.

Seeing me eye it curiously, Ruby put it back into his barding and started to climb up to the deck. Seeing that device gave me the impression that it also fired thunder like Peg Leg's metal barrels did, a weapon of some sort, that my parents seem to have failed to educate me on.

Oh, Ruby's not waiting for me. Not wanting to leave him alone, I followed after him.

It didn't take much effort to catch up to Ruby, and we reached the top deck together. The pegasus was still looking at his equipment as Ruby walked up to him. Not liking where this was going, I moved in front of Ruby and gave him a hard glare. You're not killing this one, you murderer. He responded by smiling at me!

"Solar, a word please." Ruby addressed the pegasus. I was curious as to how he knew the pegasus's name.

The yellow coated pegasus jumped and almost took flight as he turned to us, his mouth agape, "You, you got out you old buck!?" And his gaze moved to me, he looked conflicted, as if he wanted to fly off and at the same time stay.

"Now Solar,” Ruby started, taking on an authoritative tone, “being a navigator is an important task in the Equestrian sea, even a band of pirates needs at least one educated louse to make sure their ship doesn't sail into a thunderhead or end up in a boiling straight." Was Ruby... giving a lecture? "But that doesn't mean that because the job is available means you should take it, can you honestly say that signing up with pirates was a good idea?" Solar winced, I can see it now better then before, he didn't like being a part of this pirate... band?

It looks like Ruby intends to get this pony to help us, that means he won't be killed, right? If the buck flew off, I'm certain Ruby would kill him before he got away, I needed to convince the pegasus to help us.

"Look uh, Solar right? Ruby here just killed Rusty with his unicorn magic, this old buck is a bloodthirsty bastard, and he intends to make this ship his, I don't want to see anypony else die, so please, help us?" Huh, well, that was terrible, I basically said, help us or be killed. Only I pulled it off with it sounding like a care. But I do care, and I gave Solar a pleading look with the hope that I wouldn't see his head get cut of by a pair of magical scissors.

Solar looked between the both of us.

"Oh horseapples, what's gonna happen next then old buck, where we suppose to go, and after we arrive, then what?" Solar frustratingly inquired.

"We'll see where the currents take us, be it the shores of Hoofington, Friendship City, or Sandstone, where ever we'll be heading, It will be without a gang of pirates," Ruby claimed. I looked at him skeptically, I'm sure he had a destination in mind, "or, you can deal with telling Peg Leg why you let two prisoners escape," he added. Ruby seems to love giving ponies hard choices.

To my surprise, Ruby didn't wait for his reply, he was already doing things! He was using telekinesis to pull something out of the water and onto the deck, a large piece of metal shaped a little like my hook, pre-flattening, attached to a long chain connected to the ship. Just how strong was this old bucks magic, that looked heavy!

Ruby went to the cabin with the wheel and started fiddling with the  controls, I don't think Ruby knew what he was doing. Solar flew over to the cabin, annoyance written on his face.

"Oh fine! Here I'll take care of that! You make sure to keep a lookout for things we don't want on the boat!" Solar ordered Ruby. Solar went in and ushered Ruby from the cabin, and I noticed Solar went from yellow to green on my EFS.

Suddenly, I noticed Ruby was green as well, so I guess red is bad, yellow iffy, and green friendly, how useful! So why was Ruby green instead of yellow? As I turned around looking at my EFS I noticed a yellow bar somewhere towards the back of the ship, but I didn't see anypony on the deck. The bar was moving, maybe the pony was below deck?

Not wanting to clue in Ruby, I quietly went back below deck and searched around for the source of the bar. The ship started to shake and a now whirring noise started in the direction I was heading.

In the room was an orange mare, black grease messed around her coat and long, messed up red mane. She was fiddling with some large mechanical device at the back of the room, wrench in her mouth and several tools in the pockets of her barding.

The machine seemed to have a lot of metal parts that moved up and down, and in the wall were several gems with what I assumed had arcane enchantments in them. Distracted with trying to figure out how the machine worked, I failed to notice the mare turn around.

Today must be 'Rain gets slammed around day', because now I'm on the floor, the air being forced out of me. Once again I was reminded what pain was, and wondered when this day of pain would come to an end.

"Who are you, you're not part of the crew, who said you could be in my engine room!" she bucked me out of the engine room, and her bar went from red to yellow shortly after she vacated me. She moved closer to me. Okay, somepony doesn't like strangers near her loud noisy room.

Trying to get my lungs breathing properly, I pushed my fear aside, I crawled onto my hooves and tried to cough up an answer. To her credit, she waited for me to get my breathing proper enough for me to answer.

"I'm Rain, and -" well, how was I suppose to phrase this without ending up back on the floor, I did not want to be on the floor again. Count the good. She's a yellow bar, she stopped attacking me when I left her engine room, maybe she won't attack me if I give it to her straight. "I'm Rain, and the ship's had a change of captains, just thought you should know, sorry." I'm not too sure why I apologized, but it felt like the right thing to do.

She appraised me for a tense couple of seconds, her gaze making me feel like I did some terrible deed that I was about to be punished for.

"So you're Cap'n now? What happened to Peg Leg, and the rest of the crew for that matter, doubt they'd let somepony like you suddenly be Cap'n." Her voice was laced with curiosity, not concern, definitely a good thing, for me at least.

"Ruby and I, the old buck who was prisoner, are commandeering the ship, Solar is helping, and we're leaving the rest of the crew on my island."

"Will they be fine on this island, has everything they need to not die of hunger and thirst?" There was a warning in her tone.

"My island has enough food for their number,” I sheepishly replied, “but there isn't enough water, drought and all." The mare nickered, why did she look amused?

"Well if waters the problem, then I can fix that, but first-" She gave me a hard look, "-this is my engine, and she's a fickle thing, ya three won't make it halfway to anywhere before it dies on ya, so if ya let me leave our water talisman with the Cap'n, I'll just make sure this rusty old boat gets ya where you're goin'."

Water talisman? Not too sure what that was, but it sounds like this orange mare has a method of keeping the rest of the ships original crew from dying of thirst.

"Yes, yes that would be perfect, thank you!" Nopony else had to die for my health, best news all day! I wasn't happy that the pirates chose to steal me from my home, but they didn't deserve to die for that.

The mare was confused with my sudden glee, but moved over past me to where I assumed the cargo was on the ship, and in short order she got a barrel and used some Wonder-glue to attach a sapphire gem to the inside of it.

"Leave this where the ship is docked," she ordered.

"Thank you...?" I needed to get this mares name.

"Name's Mek."

"So Mek, you're not... bothered by the fact that the ship is being stolen by a pair of prisoners?" The mare chuckled at me, why is everypony that's helping me also laughing at me?

"Now sweetie, I've been a part of this ship for seven years now, it's changed hooves more often then I care to think, Peg Leg had a good long run I suppose, but I'll take a ship run by prisoners over a ship run by pirates. At least prisoners are liable to listen to the mechanic when she says not to do this or that or we'll all be swimmin' with the fishies. As long as we ain't leaving the old crew for dead, I'm fine with it." Well, huh, I'm meeting all kinds of ponies tonight it seems. "Just, stay out of my engine room unless you're invited, okay?" I nodded my understanding and moved on to the barrel.

I took the barrel, which was magically filling with water, magic, this earth pony was jealous! I need to get myself one of those talismans! I left it back on the path connected to the ship, Ruby eyeing it with curiosity. Looking back at the boat, I grinned as I counted three green bars on my EFS.

I considered the turn of events. The pirates wished to steal me from my home, and were probably going through my shack and exploring the island for all it's worth. They came here to steal from me. I didn't want to kill them, but I found nothing wrong with stealing their ship, now that we were not leaving them for dead. Serves them right. But now I can't stay here anymore, not with the pirates here.

Turning back to the path, looking towards home, I felt a pain in my chest. I was leaving my home, and I didn't know how long I would be gone, or if those pirates will leave it the way I left... they probably wouldn't. No, this was goodbye, and when that hit me I felt tears start to well up my eyes.

It's sad to leave your home, but look forward to what lies ahead dear.

I guess she can't follow me on the boat, which made it hurt even more. Count the good. Good? I'm leaving my home, an island with green life, a rarity in the equestrian wasteland from what I understand. I was leaving on a ship run by a murderer and two backstabbers. What good was there in this?

You've got your health, and a future of promise, take what you can in stride and move towards the next full moon, count the good and you'll lose track of the bad.

Her words lulled around in my head for half a minute as I stood there. In my teary eyed state, I noticed several red bars show up on the path ahead.

Alarmed, I moved, and almost tripped back onto the boat.

"They're coming back, we've got to go, now!" Making it back onto the ship, the engine roared and it started to move, and a red bar quickly moved into my EFS and was circling around the ship. They had another pegasus with them, and this pegasus was firing thunder at us!

"Take cover!" Ruby ordered, and he got closer to the cabin, but he didn't take his own proclamation, and was trying to focus on the pegasai, his horn starting to glow.

"No wait-" I wanted to stop him, but I felt something go into my left leg, breaking the brace. I felt something lodged under my coat, it partially impacted the bone, I let out a yelp of pain. I also felt something hard hit my pipbuck with a loud ping and I fell to the deck.

SNIP. I heard a loud scream and looking towards the source and saw the pegasus, missing a wing, almost crash into the deck, but she was caught by Ruby's emerald glow, and he carried her, and her severed wing, back where the ship was originally docked. I caught the look in Ruby's eye, he did that for me, I'm certain of it. I got up on my good hooves and started to limp over to Ruby.

And then I felt a sharp burning in my chest as I was knocked to the side. A boom of thunder, shortly followed by another and I felt something whizz past where my head was a moment before falling to the deck.

It hurts to breath, no, I couldn't breath! Looking down to my side I saw an hoof sized hole lined where my lungs were. From the pain I was certain the hole had its twin on the opposite side, the side I was lying on.

Looking to the path the ship was docked to I saw Peg Leg yelling at us, I couldn't quite make out his words through the pain, but I did notice the barrels to his sides flashing bright, and I think there was more thunder as well.

My pipbuck was flashing with several health alarms. As my gaze fell to the sky, I saw the moon, almost halfway through her journey through the night sky, and gave a weak smile as darkness fell upon me.

I was in my meadow, the grass long dried and dead under my hooves. The last things to eat on my home were dwindling to nothing, a pain in my gut reminded me of my hunger.

With rocks tied to my legs to keep me on the ground, I moved to the water barrel, still enough water to last a while. The second trip into the crater had been more fruitful, but the third trip cost me dearly, now I needed to keep myself anchored to the ground lest I float away, and likely starve to death, spending the rest of time as an airborne pony corpse.

Its gotten harder and harder to count the good in the last two months, a quarter of a year without rain, and now I was certain it wouldn't be happening, I couldn't stay on my island any longer, or it would be the death of me.

Maybe if I had stowed away on the ship of ruffians two months prior, instead of running and hiding...

I wandered down the path where the ship had been docked. In the back of the seaside cave was an elevated pony made platform that I'd never been able to reach, I wondered if there was any food or means of leaving the island up on that platform, maybe an entrance to the ruins of the zebra depot that had been here before the megaspell?

Taking off my weights, I pushed off the ground and carefully floated to the door, and with rewarding ease, grabbed onto the platform and looked around.

The platform lead down a hallway of slightly aged metal, at the back end I could make out a door with the little light that trickled in from the caves entrance. Flipping on the light for my pipbuck, I got closer to the door and saw some small writing above the doors latch.

Only the golden note shall allow entrance.

The golden note? Looking back at my cutie mark, I tried the latch, but it didn't budge. I frowned, the doors latch was rusted, and with my weightless stance I doubt I'd be able to make enough leverage to force it. I'd have to go back and make something to help with this door, maybe get some oil to grease the latch.

I moved to carefully return to the entrance and started falling. And while falling, I started to hum that old comforting song. No wait, that's not me, who's humming? Mother? Not quite sure of the source, I heard the song, and the darkness of the cave faded.

I opened my eyes to see Ruby standing over me, his horn glowing. I saw something gold slip into a pouch on his barding before he helped me to my hooves. I stood up and noticed a pool of blood under me, and my coat was stained.

Oh, that's my blood.

I had been pierced through the chest, remembering the sensation, I was surprised I was still alive. The pain that assaulted me before passing out was now nothing more then a dull ache, an echo of its former magnitude. Ruby had saved me, I'm sure even a potion wouldn't have managed to bring me back from that wound.

Shock and awareness struck me at the same time as I looked around to try and spot Peg Leg, only to see that the island I'd called home for as long as I could remember being behind us, and as my eyes fell upon it, the island seemed to be out of focus. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, nope, still fuzzy. And as the boat got farther my home become more and more of a blur, until somewhere about five kilometers out, it was gone.

Goodbye

With tears in my eyes, my heart replied.

See you later.

After looking where my home had been for several minutes, I returned my presence of mind to the ship.

"My island, vanished," I almost choked out, "Why?" I asked Ruby.

"The affects of the megaspell on the island cause light to bend away from it. It also messes with navigational equipment, makes the island difficult to find at times"

"Oh, so that's why my compass was being useless," Solar exasperated.

"You're lucky you kept that brace on Ms. Rain, it kept the bullet from breaking your leg, my magic is a little too spent to mend broken bones," Ruby informed me. Wait, he can heal two pierced lungs just fine but can't manage broken bone?

"Well Ms. Rain, We're off to Sandstone, since its the closest harbor, and it's at least two days sailing till we arrive, after getting some rest how about we talk and get some answers from each other, and decide where this little encounter will lead us, hmm?" I really didn't like the implications behind Ruby's words. "You and Solar can get some rest, I'll keep an eye out in the mean time."

He need to be told-

”The ships, uh, engineer is still on board, and is okay with the change of crew, her name's Mek, please don't kill her.” I implored Ruby, though I suspected it wasn't necessary.

“I wouldn't deprive a ship of its mechanic, good job securing her,” he replied. He was about to address Solar, but something lingered on my mind, an idle curiosity. Ruby had done what he did to protect not just my health, but also my 'virtue', what did he mean by that?

“Ruby, what did you mean when you said you didn't want the pirates to ruin my virtue?” I asked, and he stopped and looked at me. It looked like he didn't want to talk about it, but turned to address me anyhow.

“The wasteland is a poisonous place, if a pony travels it, lives it, it will consume them and break them. A sprite-bot I talked to a couple times told me that a pony needs a virtue to help protect them from that poison. Honestly, I don't think that's the case. I think a pony needs something that compels them, something that drives them. A pony that is driven can endure the poison of the wasteland. A virtue is simply one means of protection. A pony that is driven holds their goal against the wasteland. A vice can protect a pony from breaking just as well, though if a vice is handled incorrectly, you'll find yourself breaking faster than you would have holding to a virtue.” His lecture was starting to make my head hurt, but he didn't give me a moment to absorb it, he kept talking.

“The wasteland, however, is still a poisonous place. A virtue, vice, or drive, alone can be warped or twisted by the wasteland. A virtue can be corrupted, a drive can be destroyed by a weak will, and a vice can grow beyond one's control. Each of these alone will eventually fall, however, when combined together, or with the aid of like-minded companions, it is enough to hold the wasteland at bay.”

“When I said that about the pirates, I was referring to the poison of the wasteland. You don't have a virtue. Or a vice, or a drive that compels you forward. You haven't had the chance or need to learn it on your isolated island. And you probably won't need to learn what will save you from the wasteland's poison with my company, but that conversation is for tomorrow. Off to bed with you, and make sure you reflect on what I just talked about.”

With that, Ruby went to Solar and had a little talk with him, probably about how to guide the ship, as I gave consent to the notion of shut-eye by going downstairs to find someplace to call it a night.

A virtue, a vice, or something else that drives me. His words swam around in my head, causing me to worry about what lay ahead of me. I was now in the wasteland, the true wasteland. I would need to find something to protect me from it, or end up breaking. Just what would a broken Rain be like? Not wanting to dwell on that question, I searched for where ever the pirates slept on this ship.

Finding the tightly backed sleeping quarters, I found a bed that was not as dirty as the rest and lay down, sleep seemed eager to find me as I realized how tired I was. The last thing I thought as I fell asleep was a sound, a distant melody that I was humming when the night was still young.

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 2.

Perk: Moonlight Song - While the moon is out, your music heals all living entities nearby. Healing value varies with cycle of the moon.

New Perk: Lunatic - You Gain a + 1 Perception at night or in low light conditions, but a -1 Perception during the day.

Quest Perk: Featherweight - You've been tainted by an implosion megaspell, you and your equipment weigh half as much, and you are treated as having +2 agility when moving, however you're more vulnerable to melee hits, taking twice as much damage.

Skill Note: Medicine (50) Repair (50)

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

Strength 4, Perception 7, Endurance 4, Charisma 5, Intelligence 9, Agility 10(+), Luck 3

2. Taking Stock

Waking up to the noise of metal groaning, waves crashing against the hull, I slumped out of bed and noticed that Ruby was asleep nearby. Leaving without disturbing him, I went to the engine room to see if Mek was awake.

I came upon the engine room to find her looking over it. The engine was a mess of moving parts humming and clanking together with enough volume to make my head hurt. I cleared my throat and she took notice of me. She put the wrench in her mouth down.

“Something I can help ya with?” She asked me.

“I was just curios, how does it run, you've said you've been with this ship for seven years, what's it like living on the same boat for that long?” I was wanted to know more about this mare, she had abandoned her old crew, but left them the gift of water. It made me curious, and my curiosity was more of a problem than not at times.

“Well, this is a propeller engine, spark generator powers the spells on the rotors, causing rotation of the propellers. Ship was made to run continuously, but considering its over two centuries old, ya gotta keep an eye on it, make sure nothing clutches up.” She explained, she had a loving eye as she was talking about the machine. “Stay out of here, and if ya have a really good reason to come in here, stay away from the rotors, you can really hurt yourself on them if ya don't pay attention.” She warned me, considering how violently they moved, I didn't doubt it.

She looked over the engine for a minute before realizing I hadn't left. She looked a little embarrassed as she notices she only answered my first question. The fact that she was embarrassed put me at ease, and I smiled in return.

“Right, sorry. Honestly, I'd say it's like being home, I've always lived on a ship, it's stranger to not be on a ship. Well, for me at least, can't say the same about everypony.” She answered, before I could follow up, one of the rotors died down, “Ahh shoot, gotta fix this, head on out, we can talk more after I've patched this up.” With that she got her wrench back in her mouth and went to work. Not wanting to be in her way, I left her to her work.

I went topside and winced at the sunlight. I let out a groan of pain as my eyes quickly narrowed, my head throbbing. I was not a fan of the sun, it always greeted me with a headache in the mornings.

After adjusting to the day, I looked myself up and down and was alarmed to see blood dried to my coat. Why didn't Mek say anything- actually, considering how dirty her coat was, it made sense that she didn't point out how messy I looked.

I went below deck and grabbed the nearest rag I was going to trust to the task, went and got it nice and wet with irradiated sea water on the deck, and proceeded to clean myself up. My pipbuck letting out little clicks to inform me about the small amount of radiation I was exposing myself to.

Sigh, radiation.

It wasn't a problem back on the island. Before the drought rain was common, and rain water was radiation free. I presume that there's some water below decks in storage, but I figured it would be wasteful to bathe with it. Feeling a little cleaner, I inspected myself.

Three pink circles, one on either side of my chest, and another on my left foreleg, were the only evidence of the wounds I had taken last night. I was surprised, Ruby's magic was incredible. Looking close I already saw some light blue fur had begun to grow in those marks. I guess I managed to avoid getting scars from all that. Guess I can add that to the good.

I considered taking down my ponytail, but decided against it, without a brush my gray mane would become unruly in quick order. So I kept the ponytail, and tried to get leaves and other debris that had settled from, well everything that happened yesterday, out of it.

With my personal concerns out of the way, I took in my surroundings. Checking my EFS I saw that we were heading south. The breeze carried the familiar fishy smell of the water past me, my eyes took in a clear, cloudless blue sky, today was a beautiful day!

To the west was a small sand dune, barely big enough for a couple of rocks and sealurks to scuttle on. With no clouds to direct me to Equestria, I followed my EFS east.

No clouds meant that the ship was far enough away from Equestria to avoid seeing the cloud blanket. When the bombs fell, the pegasai closed the off the skies over Equestria with a wall of clouds. It was something I could see at the edge of the horizon back on my island, but from here its nowhere to be seen.

I could only wonder what that must be like, living without the sun or moon. I wouldn't mind so much not having the sun burning my eyes every morning, but the idea of not having the moon greet me in the evenings was dampening.

Spotting Solar in the cabin, controlling the ship, I trotted over, hoping that this verbal encounter would be far less stressful then the ones last night. In the daylight I noticed that his mane was dark green, slicked back and kept short. Huh, last night I thought it was black, but I guess not. His cutie mark was a compass with the needle pointing between east and west.

“Morning Solar, how are things?” I forced a hearty hello, he gave me a very condescending look in reply. “I mean, uh, hi?” I weakly rephrased. This was already going swimmingly.

“How about you start with your name, you never gave it to me last night. Then we can go on to talk about how screwed we are.” he said, and then added, “Like how we pissed off Peg Leg, of all pirates, and left him with water so he could live long enough to hunt us down.”

“Uh, right, I'm Winter Rain, just call me Rain, and you shouldn't just assume that he'll hunt us down.” I needed some optimism to wash down yesterdays events, and Solar wasn't helping. “He'd first need a new navigator, and a ship, and a means to finding us, I mean, Equestria is a big place...right?” It's possible he could hunt us down, but not likely. “You should try counting the good over the bad Solar, it's better for your health.”

Solar sighed.

“So that island with the freaky magnetosphere was your home right? How long?”

Magneto-what? Did he even use that word right?

“Yea, that was my home for as long as I could remember, well, until last night anyway,” and there went what little optimism I could mustered up. Well, at least the conversation was moving, so I tossed a question to him, “How'd you find it?”

“Peg Leg wanted to go there after stiffing the old buck, wanted to see what was so important to be worth 2000 caps,” he answered. So Ruby was looking for my island, and he knew my mother. Did Ruby know something about my father? “Couldn't use the compass to guide us, had to find a marker on Equestria's shore and sail a straight line from it, when night fell the stars guided us the rest of the way.”

Almost losing myself in thought, something he said had me confused.

“Caps?” I asked quizzically, I recalled that Ruby said the pirates were going to sell me for caps. Was that a currency or some sort of goods?

“You don't know what caps are?” and coming to a realization, he turned to a pile of devices left near the wheel. “Anything from this pile you recognize?”  I shook my head and his shoulders slumped at my reply. “Right then,” he pulling things out of the pile, and some things from his saddlebags, and spread them out on the floor and taught me their names and purpose.

And little over an hour later I now had a better understanding of commodities in the wasteland.

One, I was terribly ignorant of the items needed to survive in the wasteland. Sure there were healing potions. But there was also RadAway, a syrup used to clean the body of radiation, and Rad-X, a pill that helped lower the accumulation of radiation. Also, food, the most common form of food in the wasteland was two century old leftovers or meat from the creatures of the wasteland. The idea of eating meat was not appealing to me.

Two, there are robots, mechanical weapons that can move and talk, in certain places in the wasteland. Solar seemed to like robots, a lot of what he had was old robot parts that he 'intends to get around to doing something with'.

Three, bottle caps from soda drinks were currency, and 2000 caps was a large sum. The drinks in question being sparkle cola. A soda that is usually lightly irradiated but tastes good, from what he told me. He didn't have any to offer me.

Four, weapons, guns, lasers, mines and grenades, to name a few, and that's what he had with him! The implements to kill other ponies left me staggered, he found it funny that I understood megaspells but was in the dark about the day to day methods of killing.

Solar had been very patient with me when going over everything, and seemed to enjoy educating me, on the explosives and robot parts in particular. I was eager to learn all he had to offer. I always wanted to learn more, but there's only so much a pony can learn on an isolated island.

“Where did you get all this?” I asked. I wondered why he would need to sign up with pirates if he was this well equipped.

“I got them from the cargo hold, figured since we're not giving the ship back, everything in the hold might was well be ours, waste not want not.” I saw nothing wrong with that, stolen ship, stolen cargo. He passed me a small gun, a pistol, he told me. “You should carry a weapon. I can show you how to use it.” I looked at the tool alarmed, I'd probably accidentally shoot myself with the damn thing.

“I'd rather not have anything to do with guns, so I'll pass.” I'm afraid of having it. Having the means to kill a pony with a pull of the trigger, nopony should have that power, certainly not me. Solar looked to want to push the issue, but didn't. Seeming to be done with the lesson, I asked, ”So, how did you end up joining a crew of pirates?” He looked up from his things and turned towards me, and answered after thinking about it for a moment.

“I am a navigator, navigators are an integral part of the crew. They make sure that the ship gets to where it needs to safely and all that kind of stuff. Navi's are in short supply these days, so getting a job is kind of easy.” He paused, it looked like he wanted to be upset, but he just sighed it off.

“So you couldn't because...?” I inquired. Solar flapped his wings and nodded to them. “Because you can fly, no, because you're a pegasai?” I followed up. He nodded. “Because they closed the skies over Equestria? That shouldn't matter out here right?”

“It's because I can fly,” he corrected, “If a ship gets wrecked or sails into a boiling strait, the crew will die, and it would be the navi's fault. Who'd want a navi who could fly away if that happened? No honorable captain in Sandstone wanted my skills, especially since I'm still new at this.”

Well, that was understandable, Must be hard to get experience for the job if that's how everypony sees it though.

“It had to be navigation?” I asked, he nodded.

“Sort of a family calling, my father and brothers are navigators, to some of the more renowned ships in the equestrian seas. I'm the only pegasus though, something about my great great grandfather being one making me one as well.”

“...and the pirates?” I asked, Solar sighed at my persistence.

“A means to get away from it all. Join a band of pirates, stay till I got enough caps to make it alone, and abandon the sea for Equestria. At that point my father didn't care if it was a pirate ship or a fishing boat, as long as I was navigating. I mean honestly? He didn't care if his son was with pirates as long as he was navigating? I couldn't stand to face him anymore.” After saying that, Solar started to pack his things up, I assumed the conversation was over, but he added, “I didn't intend to stay with them long, turn a blind eye to a bad deed or two until...”

“Yea, look how that turned out.” I chided, and then asked, “And what about now, will you sell that pile, get your caps and run away? I mean, I suppose I wouldn't blame you if you did, now that you also have Peg Leg as motivation to run- err, fly to Equestria.” The prospect annoyed me, I wanted to see my father, he wanted to run away from his. I know it wasn't my business, but I was still curious.

“I... I don't know, we'll see what happens with you and Ruby, he has a plan, and I'm sure you're involved.” After a couple of moments he asked, “So, you've lived on that island all by yourself right? For how long?”

“Eight years by myself... I'm not sure how long I've actually lived there.” I responded, “Why do you ask?

“Just thinking, you're pretty sociable for somepony who's been isolated for so long.” Solar pointed out. He paused and looked at the pistol he was about to put back into his bags. “You sure you don't want this?” He asked, offering it to me again.

Ruby walked into the cabin from behind Solar.

“You should take it,” Ruby said, and Solar jumped into the air, caught unaware by the old bucks presence, “it can save your life, or ours if need be.”

Solar continued packing his things, the pistol included.

“Since you're awake again you can navigate. Keep us two miles out from shore. Stick to this island, Sandstone is on the other side of it. If you see any large fins following the ship, throw the bait overboard. It's behind the cabin. I'm going back to bed,” and with that Solar, disgruntled, left us alone, to my disappointment.

Looking out the side, I failed to notice that the ship was now sailing parallel to a long island with cracked, dry dirt, with sandy hills far inland. So, Sandstone was on that island, must be big if it's still going to take a day to reach the city. The island had no visible life on it, no green, no safety. Not quite Equestria, but it certainly was a wasteland. I could only wonder in apprehension at what dangers remained unseen.

My gaze, following the island back to behind us, I saw through the back window, and noticed that the 'bait' was Rusty's corpse.

“What in the name of Celestia!” I exclaimed, taking a step back and almost falling over from shock, “What are we suppose to be using her as bait for!?”

“Megalodons, large sharks. You saw the teeth marks, the ship can handle one fine enough, but we can't risk anypony being knocked into the sea when it nudges the ship. I believe the idea is, feed it the corpse, and it'll leave us alone, probably,” he guessed.

Okay, calm down Rain, the reason is sound, if morbid, just calm down, lets move the topic to something else.

“Sooo, you knew my mother, and my father too I assume, is that why you came to my island?” it's time for some answers.

“Indeed, I came to the island to get the both of you, by request of your father.” Well, that certainly surprised me, “When your father found out about the drought he sent me to rescue you and your mother.” He paused for a moment to clean his glasses before continuing, ”Now I am to escort you to your new home in Tenpony Tower. Tenpony is a ways away and this rusty relic will not be enough to get us there, I intend to get us proper transportation as soon as we arrive at Sandstone for Friendship city, after which we'll be traveling overland to Tenpony in Manehatten.”

His words washed over me, a fountain of questions and emotions were boiling over, but I managed to deliver probably the most important question.

“Where is he?” I asked Ruby, “I want to talk to him, where is he?”

“Afraid I can't answer that, can't have you running off after him. I have to keep you alive, and as unharmed as I can, away from your fathers business, and get you to Tenpony Tower. Once you're there you need not worry about the dangers of the wasteland, you'll not have to worry about killing anypony. You can return to the cozy, safe life you had before yesterday.” That... actually sounded appealing. Getting shot was anything but fun. Just keep my head low and I'll be back on the safe and steady, still, I'd have liked more answers.

“However,” he continued, “we're not at Tenpony yet, so you'll need to be prepared to defend yourself. Go below to the cargo-hold and get yourself enough supplies to hold out for several days. Pack Rad-X, RadAway, Healing potions, food and water. Then when you're back up here I'll show you how to shoot.” With everything he told me buzzing around in my head, I absentmindedly went to the cargo-hold and did as he asked.

Having left everything behind at home, I had to get myself new saddlebags. The hold had plenty of Rad-X and RadAway, but a sparse amount of healing potions. I also packed the broken brace, with some more twine so I could make use of it again if needed.

Couple minutes later I had saddlebags full of things meant to keep me alive, and proceeded back on deck. Just for Ruby to levitate a pistol to me and have me start shooting at a target he held up with his magic.

Under the suspicion that I'd be saving myself an earful if I did as he asked, I practiced shooting the pistol... after I made sure the guns grip was clean. The pistol was a little bulkier then the one Solar had offered, with a longer barrel and rotating chamber of six bullets.

Having the gun in my mouth felt awkward, pulling the trigger with my tongue even more so. The crudely drawn pony facing forward, blowing in the breeze twenty steps away, taunted my poor aim. Four cracks of thunder later my mouth and ears were aching, but to my surprise I was able to hit the target with two of the shots, only one of them actually hit the pony, but it was better than nothing!

Recalling my pipbucks features, I tried out SATS and was surprised when time seemed to stand still. I saw a percentage chance to hit the target, a disappointing number below forty percent, and toggled a shot. Noticing that I still had some magic left in the spell, I toggled three more shots, and when SATS ended I was surprised when I fired the gun in quick succession four times. Two BANGs, followed by two clicks.

Revolvers. Six shots, then reload.

Reloading with my hooves was a frustrating hassle, and Ruby insisted that I spend more time practicing reloading over shooting. Knock the used casings out of the chamber, slide in six bullets into the chamber, one at a time. I dropped bullets several times and had to do it over a bucket to keep bullets from rolling into the sea.

Over and over again, my hooves ached with the repetition. I was under the impression that revolvers were more of a unicorns gun, the pistol Solar offered me had a clip, which I'm guessing would be easier to reload over loading the bullets individually. Working with the repetition, I thought about what Ruby told me.

Father knew about the drought, but he didn't seem to know that mother had passed away. That would mean that he was aware of the weather patterns tied to my island and picked up at the lack of rain. He didn't want me dragged into whatever his responsibility was. I wanted to know why, I need to talk to him, help him if I can, and tell him about mom.

My stomach decided to voice its opinion on the matter of my father, loudly. Getting a look from Ruby, I blushed as I asked, “Mind if we take a lunch break?” He nodded and moved below deck for a couple of minutes. Fishing through my saddlebags I found a box of food I had found down below and had packed into my bags.

Called Captain Carrot Crunch, it had some regal looking pony with a large hat not too different from Peg Leg's holding a bowl filled with small, dried carrots. On the back I noticed in small print “Good for 200 years or your bits back!” Raising a speculative eye too nopony in particular, I opened it and tried the dried carrot flakes.

On my island, there was grass in the meadow, leaves if I wanted something different, and some berries that made me sick if I ate more then a couple. Not a good pallet for variety. So I can safely say that this is the most delicious meal I have ever had!

Two minutes later the box was empty, my stomach ached and I regretted nothing. I had three more boxes of that in my bags, as well as several boxes of Sugar Apple Bombs, I'd make sure to try those next time! Looks like I have something to add to the good side of having to leave my island after all.

Letting my stomach settle, Ruby returned and seemed to notice something ahead and went into the cabin. I felt the wind shift direction as the boat started to move away from the coast.

“Something the matter?” I asked, concerned.

“A zebra town was up ahead, gonna give them some distance, don't need to welcome trouble.” Ruby replied.

Looking up the coast I spotted a settlement with a stone pier and two, no, three stone structures, a little bigger than my own shack. I also saw a small hoof-ful of vessels docked on the pier, about a fifth the size of our boat.

“Are zebra's trouble?” I asked. “The war between ponies and zebras ended when the bombs fell, right? What good would come from holding a 200 year old grudge?” Ruby sighed at my question.

“It's complicated, in these parts zebras and ponies are more cooperative than on the continent, but the Remnants live on some of the islands. The Remnants are a make-shift tribe that chooses to continue the war, they'll kill anypony, or anyzebra that gets in their way. For the other tribes, it varies, out here it's either the Atori or the Eschatik, both are reasonable for the most part. There's also the chance that some of them are pirates.”

Well, if there are ponies like Peg Leg and his crew, I guess it makes sense that there are zebras of a similar persuasion. Pondering this, The boat turned back to a parallel course with the shore, now eight kilometers out instead of three.

I noticed off the left side of the ship, about ...ninety meters away, a long white figure under the water, about ten meters long. Seeing the figure made me stand up in alarm. I assumed that was a megalodon, it's size was as intimidating as I would have imagined. I pointed it out to Ruby.

“Oh, guess we should get to throwing the bait over.” Ruby said, and he was moving to levitate Rusty when he noticed the megalodon turn away from the boat, swimming away from us. “Huh, guess I'll keep an eye out to see if it returns.” Putting Rusty down, he returned to me and we were about to continue my lesson.

“Are those sharks common?” I asked, it was an impressive fish. I'd like never have to see one again.

“In the deeper waters they are, they're a big risk for smaller boats. Nothing for us to worry about though.” Ruby answered.

“Now, You're pipbuck should have a feature called SATS on it, I think you used it on the target I had earlier?” Ruby asked,  I nodded, “I want you to target me with SATS, you should see something different.” Before I could point out how bad an idea that was to him, his horn glowed and a emerald barrier formed between the two of us. He also had a pistol levitating to his side.

Are all unicorns this capable? I certainly hoped not, I'd probably never stand a chance against one in a fight! Getting on my hooves and switching to SATS, I saw what he meant. I could target separate limbs, and even the weapon he was floating. The chance to hit was also separate for each part, his body being the highest, his horn the lowest. Setting up four shots for his pistol, I left SATS and fired off, and too my surprise the last shot broke threw his shield and knocked the gun out of his telekinesis. The rapid fire made my mouth ache all over again.

“With your pipbuck and some practice you'll not have to worry about killing anypony, disable their methods of attack and you can coax your foe to surrender. What you do with them after that... varies with the situation.” I bet he wouldn't be this nice if I wasn't my fathers daughter, but I still needed to give him credit. I'd have to apologize to Solar later for declining his offer to teach me.

“Thanks for teaching me that. I still don't intend to kill anypony” I quickly added, “but this will, uh yea, so thank you for that.” Knowing what I know now, would events have played out differently last night? “So Ruby, question for you, If I'm surrounded by eight or so thugs while unarmed, what do I do, got some secret technique you can teach me that will take them all down?” He shook his head.

“Only skill and luck will save you from that situation, so I can only recommend practicing to defend yourself when you can. I'd also suggest avoiding such circumstances from happening in the first place, by planning, and not getting caught.” With his eyes glancing out to sea, he added, “We have company heading our way, one ship. Don't say anything unless you're addressed, okay?” I nodded as he slowed the ship a little, I should probably do as the scholar asks.

Looking towards the village that we had passed during the shooting lesson, I saw a small rusty vessel heading towards us at an impressive speed. From what I could make out, I saw a single zebra on it, and as the boat got closer I noticed his forward left hoof was actually a peg leg. A weapon, a harpoon I think, with a rope attached to the other end, was resting near him. The zebra had scars over his forward legs, and he was keeping an eye out on the water instead of our ship. At least he was until he got close enough to board, assuming he had some means of climbing the three meter difference in height between our boats. This being the first zebra I've encountered, I had to wonder if scars were common, they definitely made him look fierce.

“What business do you have with us? Have we strayed into your hunting ground?” Ruby asked as I watched with a curious look.

This close I saw that the zebra's boat was being moved by a jet of water flying out of a small device strapped over the side, another talisman, a water talisman from the looks of it.

“Indeed you have, fool of a pony, didn't nopony tell you to stay out of this strait? You're being hunted, by Thousand-Smiles.”

Thousand-Smiles?

“This ship can handle a megalodon, so your concern-” Ruby said before being interrupted.

“No, foolish pony, your boat is rotten wood to Thousand-Smiles. It will be sunk before sundown. I've come here to offer salvation to two of your crew, the beast is too slow to chase down my vessel.” The zebra said.

“...Right, so if this shark is too much for my ship, I assume small arms and explosives would do close to nothing to it?” The zebra nodded, Ruby let out a bothersome sigh.

“I didn't want to have to use this, but it looks like I don't have too many other options, I mean, unless you care if Mr. Zebra takes us both back with him?” I gave him a hard glare at the suggestion, we'd end up abandoning Mek! He smiled at my glare.  

After that, he pulled a small box out of his barding and opened it with his magic. Inside was a small round multicolored thing, as he pulled it out it started to give off a faint radiance. The zebra looked alarmed.

“Where did you get that?” the zebra asked.

“Not your concern,” Ruby replied. His horn glowed brighter and a light emerald shimmer wrapped itself around the small thing. “I've enchanted the egg to detonate five seconds after being submerged with sea water. I assume you have experience with this beast.” Ruby asked the zebra. The zebra nodded, and Ruby continued, “In that case I'll entrust this to you, when the opportunity arises, feed it to Thousand-Smiles, please don't waste it, or I'll be terribly cross with you.”

As Ruby levitated the small orb to the zebra, something caught my eye. Some distance behind the ship was a fin poking above the water, a large white shadow attached to it under the water. My blood ran cold as I realized it was triple the size of the one I spotted earlier, it was as big as our ship!

“It's behind us!” I shouted, I didn't want to be on the water anymore!

Ruby and the zebra glanced towards it and acted, the zebra set his engine running and moved across the front of our ship, circling around. Ruby headed to the cabin and I heard the engines roar with vigor, the ship turning quickly, aiming for the shore. Looking back to where Thousand-Smiles was, I saw nothing.

“Rain, throw the bait over!” Ruby ordered.

Driven by the power of his words, I scrambled to move the corpse. Not for lack of trying, but Rusty was heavy, and the deck was slick with water and blood, it took some time to get the body overboard.

I saw a large mouth, somewhere around nine meters wide open before me, Rusty was swallowed instantly. I stumbled back and let out a scream as the large maw bit onto the back of the ship, the part I was just standing on. The megalodon wasn't even two paces away from me. Huh, if we had kept that small colorful orb, this would have been a very opportune moment to use it.

“Shoot it!” Ruby barked, his order snapping me out of the fear of almost being eaten alive. I saw to my alarm the metal of the hull start to bend, the metal was ripping and stretching from the sharks strength! I pulled out the revolver and moved to the side of the mouth, looking for something worth shooting at, I went into SATS and toggled four shots into the monsters eye.

BLAM. BLAM. Click. Click. Damn! How frustrating! I should start using SATS in bursts of three!

From this close, I didn't miss, but I was still put off that it took two bullets to destroy the eye. The ship was suddenly dragged down a meter and I fell over, dropping my gun. As the monster let go, the ship bounced back up, sending me tumbling back. My head hit the side of the cabin, and my gun slid past me and into the sea.

The engine stuttered for a moment before continuing its roar. No, it was roaring louder now. I guess Mek figured out what was going on. Thanking Celestia that the engine still worked, I turned towards the cabin and saw the shore several kilometers ahead slowing getting closer. I was paralyzed by a thought.

We're not going to make it in time.

Now's not the time Rain, get your head in the game or we're dead. Getting up, I moved to Ruby's side.

“I lost my gun, but I took out one of its eyes.” I reported. He quickly glanced at me and locked the ships wheel. He move out of the cabin and I followed, using his magic he pulled out the rusty gun I saw him pocket last night and gave it to me.

It was a revolver, its barrel and hammer completely rusted, the chamber looked clean though. On the handle of the gun was inscribed 'Trust', I gave Ruby a concerned look.

“Its a good weapon, don't let its condition fool you.” Not arguing with him, I quickly loaded it and got ready for the next attack. I was surprised by how well it loaded despite its apparent condition.

“What is going on up here!?” Looks like Solar finally decided to check in on us, his eyes were bloodshot from being rudely awoken.

Looking around it seemed that Thousand-Smiles was thankfully distracted with chasing the zebra's boat, with any luck our zebra helper will end this shortly.

“We're being attacked by Thousand-Smiles, he almost bit off the back end of the ship!” I shouted, pointing at the megalodon. Solar responded with his mouth hanging open, eyes wide, following Thousand-Smiles.

“Solar, you can fly, stop looking stupid and get out there! Shoot that damn thing with everything you've got, help keep it distracted!” Ruby barked out.

“R-right!” and Solar fished out some grenades and flew over to the beast. A dozen explosions and two minutes later Solar returned. “I don't think the damn thing even noticed, I'd need something bigger. Give me a couple and I can whip something up!”

“Don't worry about that, the shark isn't going to give us a couple.” Ruby nodded ahead of the ship, the shore was a kilometer away. I noticed this because I had been keeping an eye out. Shortly after Solar returned the megalodon had dived.

“I think... it's going to come up from under us.” I said, dread echoing in my voice, and Ruby merely nodded. Before I could brace myself, the ship heaved up, a loud groan rumbling through the hull, the sound of the engines giving off one last sputter, then grow quiet. I was knocked off my hooves and rolled out of the cabin, into the side rail... and past the side rail right into the sea.

My pipbuck beeping about radiation being the least of my worries, looking behind me, I saw the ship was almost fully out of the water, Thousand-Smiles saw me with its good eye and the ship swelled back into the sea, foaming water sending me farther from the boat. I guess it didn't like having lost an eye to me.

Oh horseapples.

Knowing that any in moment I was fish food, I looked around for something, anything to save my hide and saw to my surprise the zebra's boat moving towards me as fast as it could. Suddenly feeling vertigo and renewed terror, I looked down into the water and saw a large white field growing beneath me. I felt myself fall deeper into the sea as two walls of teeth appeared to either side of me, at the same moment I felt pain erupt from my front leg. Before the mouth could close me off from the land of the living, I was pulled out, hard, by the harpoon that had been thrown into my leg, the rope attached to the harpoon leading back to the zebras boat as he pulled me closer.

Thousand-Smiles leaned in my direction as its head fell back into the sea, and with a large swell of water, sent me into the zebra's boat, the churning water causing the boat to shift hard, knocking the zebra out.

“Foolish pony, you'll get us both killed!” the zebra sputtered out.

“You didn't have to save me, but-” I winced at the pain in my leg, “- thanks...?”

“Zerkash,” he said.

“Winter Rain,” I replied.

With that, he pushed me, hard, sending me back far enough to avoid another swallow of teeth. Zerkash, and his small vessel, disappeared into the maw, his peg leg shattering between the teeth, the rope of the harpoon severing.

He died to save me.

From the shattered remains of the boat I saw the prismatic egg hit the water and float in my direction, the emerald sheen around it disappearing, it started to glow brighter. If I wanted to spare anypony else of being Thousand-Smiles lunch, I needed that egg, and I had five seconds before it did whatever it would do to end the shark.

I swam to it as best I could, and caught it in my mouth, it pulsated as I picked it up, and my radiation ticker started to climb as the egg's glow increased. Everything in my vision turned emerald and I was suddenly being lifted out of the water, Ruby! Thank Celestia he was saving me! Looking down I saw Thousand-Smiles rising, fast!

It breached the water. It's teeth climbing to either side. As if in SATS, everything seemed to slow down. It's maw opened, filled with countless glistening teeth. I rose in the air, at the same pace as that thousand tooth smile. A prismatic pulse of light washed my gaze, and turned my neck sharply, tossing the egg as hard as I could into the welcoming smile beneath me. The mouth closed to greet me, the mouth sealing seamlessly together. I felt the air rush past me, the jaw having shut half a meter below me.

And then everything sped back up. The megalodon fell towards the boat, I yelled a warning to Ruby, but it didn't reach him in time. Thousand-Smiles hit the side of the ship, Ruby lost his focus and I started to fall. A light, brighter than the sun, and as colorful as a rainbow, swallowed half the beast, and part of the ship, the part Ruby stood on. Blinded by the light, I closed my eyes, looking away, and I heard a roar only a monster could make.

The explosion hit me, my side washed in agony I never knew existed, coat and skin burned. I felt bones reverberate and the air was forced out of my lungs from the concussion of the blast. I was sent flying. I could count the seconds before I hit the water, the burning redoubling as saltwater washed over me, the air being forced out of my lungs a second time. With the combined blow to my nervous system and respiratory system, I passed out.

It was dark, turning on my pipbucks light, I found myself in a fleshy room. The walls were pink and wiggling, there was wooden debris on the floor, as well as some large teeth and some flakes of metal, the air smelled sickly and slightly poisonous.

Looking up, I saw a squashed point in the flesh that I assumed was the entrance. In the room was a zebra, Zerkash, scar-less and with all his legs intact, peg leg free. He was looking at a part of the fleshy wall. When my eyes followed his gaze I saw a door appear in the wall, a door made of metal, with a rusty latch, with some writing above the latch.

Only the golden note shall allow entrance.

I trotted to the door and tried to open it, to no avail. Zerkash smiled at me and moved to open it himself.  To my surprise, it did! Looking down the way, the hallway past the door was unlit, there was another door at the far end, light leaking from it's corners. I attempted to go into the hall, but he stopped me, and shook his head.

Foolish Rain, you still live, and are thus not invited.

He started to trot down the dark hall. And I felt alone again. That feeling that nopony would ever find me, that I could just disappear without a trace, started to eat at me. I didn't want to be left alone, especially while in this monsters stomach, so I called out to Zerkash.

He came back to me, a curious look on his face, and when he walked past the threshold and into the meaty room, he looked surprise. He looked from me, to the doorway, and back to me.

Well, that certainly is peculiar. Are you sure you want me with you?

I nodded. If I could keep his company, I wouldn't want to lose it to whatever lies down that hallway. I was a selfish pony, I suspected that what lie past that door was better then this chamber, but I still wanted the zebra to stay. As I nodded, the door closed by itself, and the room started to move and squirm. I was alarmed when something caustic started to seep from the walls. Feeling something drip from the ceiling to my side, I saw some of the the acidic fluid start to burn me, and I screamed in pain.

Zerkash put his hoof on my side and the pain ended. Pulling out the multicolored egg, its light burned the acid, and the fleshy walls, leaving both of us untouched. The light grew and grew until all I saw was white, and something else. In the field of white stood out a strange glyph, almost like a harpoon silhouetted by the moon. I realized that's what Zerkash had as his cutie mark. No, I could feel him correcting me. His glyph mark.

You should wake up Winter Rain, sleep to long and you'll succumb to the poison.

I coughed out and gasped in pain. Moving, I shuffled off some sand and winced as my leg was pulled against something embedded in it. The harpoon was still stuck in my leg, the handle was solid metal, it looked like I could push the harpoon through the wound without cause too much damage. Carefully getting the harpoon out of the sand, I had to dig myself out as I was half buried when I awoke.

Assessing myself in the moonlight, the left side of my body and legs were a scorched mess, I saw blood crack under the sandy scab, my face, neck and flank were not burned. My pipbuck told me I was also in the red for radiation poisoning, and decided that was the biggest problem to address, sucking down all the RadAway I has stored earlier.

After the first three, which put me in the yellow, I gave some time for the chemical to work through my body before drinking more. During this I forced the harpoon out with a small yelp and pored a little bit of a healing potion on the wound. It took me at least an hour to get myself into a stable and healthy condition.

Taking some time to heal also meant having some time to think. Ruby saved my life. He saved me last night, even though I didn't ask for it. He saved me when he taught me how to use a gun. He saved me when Thousand-Smiles almost had me. And I suspect what he taught me will save me several times in the future. And now he was dead, and to my surprise, it saddened me.

I wouldn't assume he survived that blast, the egg went off inside the monster, and the eruption still cascaded out, almost killing me. The ship and Ruby were right next to the blast. I held no doubts to his death. I could tell myself he died working to fulfill a task, that it wasn't anything personal. What I was actually telling myself was that he died because of me.

And not just Ruby. Zerkash would still be alive had I been quicker, more aware, less of a damsel who needed to be saved. Zerkash had also saved me three times, twice when I was in the water, but the first time being when he came to our ship. He had been a hero, coming to our aid, and asking nothing in return. And I had gotten him killed. Oh great, I could feel the tears making their approach.

Count the good. Okay, so a lot of ponies have been saving me, who have I saved? Oh horseapples, counting the good isn't going to help with this one. Were there other ponies who have saved me that I didn't know about? What had my father done to keep my island safe?

My life isn't worth the lives of so many others, I needed to change the scales. But to do that, I needed to be stronger. Needed to be more self reliant. Needed to take action.

On my island, when I was alone, my own actions determined my survival, and though is was mostly easy, there were rough patches. Storms risked destroying my shed. Occasionally sealurks, bipedal crustaceans as tall as a pony, would fine their way ashore that needed to be driven off. I'm capable of taking action, so I will, the scales need to change.

Coming to this conclusion, I finished downing my last RadAway, unfortunately I didn't have enough to get back to completely clean, and hoped that minor poisoning wouldn't cause any unfortunate mutations in the time it took for me to find more. I was also now out of healing potions, and I still wasn't in tip top shape. The burns were mostly healed, but it was going to leave a nasty scar if I didn't find another potion soon, I'd rather not have a nasty scar.

Being out in the wilderness by myself, I'd be lucky to survive the night. Count the good. Still alive, managed to not get eaten by a megalodon, three times, helped kill said monster, and I have enough food and water to last a few days. I need to track down Mek or Solar, or both, both would be best. They're probably in the same situation as me, if we work together, we should be able to... talk about what we should do. I doubt they'd help me get to Tenpony, but maybe they could help me reach Sandstone.

Not seeing anything from this part of the shore, I picked up the harpoon and climbed up to a higher vantage point to see if I could find any traces of the ship or its crew. Reaching the top of the tallest sand dune I spotted, I planted the harpoon into the sand and scanned the beach.

To the north, the direction we came from, I could make out something big and dark resting on the beach, a source of light resting near it, and to the south I couldn't make out anything. I was glad to have something to work towards. To the east I thought I saw something sticking out from above the sand dunes in the distance, some sort of raised elivation?

Eyeing what was probably the ship or the carcass of Thousand-Smiles, I picked up the harpoon in my mouth and trotted out into the night, moving north, the sea to my left, inland to my right. Considering it was in the same direction as the zebra town we past, I added it to the good count.

As I walked my mind replayed the moment Thousand-Smiles was killed by the blast. That beast effectively stole from me the best chance I had at returning to a safe and stable life. Destroying the ship, and getting Ruby killed, meant my odds of reaching Friendship City were low. Well, I bitterly thought, at least the beast died for what it took from me. Pulling myself from that line of thought, my eyes combed the beach ahead.

Once I have taken appraise of what I'm trotting too, I'll head to the zebra village and inform them of Zerkash's death. It was the least I could do. As I moved closer to my destination, I heard the faint echo of thunder from ahead. No, not thunder, gun fire. I galloped with concern, trying to catch sight of the source.

Galloping past a dune, I saw the wreck of our ship, lit by a campfire near a large melted hole in the side. Mek was fighting against an alarming number of sealurks! Wait, was that actually Mek? The pony had a weapon in their mouth, but was also levitating a gun to her side, shooting sealurks in between dodging the crustaceans charges. I was pretty sure Mek was an earth pony, I supposed wrong.

My EFS was filled with seven red bars, and one green. Tip the scales. Throwing the harpoon towards the sealurks, I switched to the rusty revolver and charged in there. I knew from experience how ineffective melee weapons were against a sealurks hard shell. Sealurks were predators, I aimed to kill, I lacked the resources or time to scare them off, and Mek looked injured, doubt we could run away, and beasts can't be reasoned with. I had no choice but to kill. I didn't want to lose another pony.

Despite throwing the harpoon, they hadn't noticed me yet, so I took the opportunity and got in the thick of it. Sealurks are slow, but can move with great speed when they charge, however the course of the charge cannot be changed and thus easily avoidable. Running around past one that had just finished its charge, I got within two steps of its face and went into SATS. Setting up three shots right for its mouth plate, I was surprised that two shots killed it, and SATS didn't seem to fire the third shot, I guess it considered the target, its face, no longer available.

With surprising grace, I quickly turned to the next nearest sealurk, it turned to the source of the new gunfire and got two SATS assisted bullets for its attention, taking it down as well. Adrenaline and purpose guided my actions, I wouldn't let sealurks, of all things, get the best of me.

During the bout I found myself appreciating the fact that I was half as heavy as I should be. It made my movements quicker! I never fancied myself a slow pony, but these sealurks seemed even slower than the last time I dealt with them. Being lighter meant getting hit harder, so I just needed to avoid getting hit!

I heard something collide behind me and saw that Mek had tackled a lurk that was charging my flank. She levitated her shotgun to its face plate and after two clips made the sealurks skull an accessory to the sandy beach.

The four remaining sealurks backed off for a moment, still surrounding us. Mek and I stood side to side. I took appraisal of Mek's condition, she sported several cuts on her legs and side, bleeding an alarming amount. She was breathing hard, probably exhausted from the battle. Looking around us I was surprised to count almost a dozen sealurk corpses. Mek was clearly built of tougher stuff than I.

That time looking would have been better spent reloading. The four charged at us. I jumped to the side and crouched low, causing one lurk to trip over me, the other missing me entirely. I heard a strange crunch behind me and saw that Mek had picked up the harpoon in her mouth, in favor of the wrench, and managed to get one of her attackers to impale itself on it. Well, melee weapons had always proven useless to me anyway. She fired at the other one, but the faint click told us both that we were in trouble. Well, in more trouble.

Working the revolver while watching the two sealurks that charged me, I managed to get three bullets in before the one I dodged came back for me. Two bullets later its corpse crashed into me, pinning me to the ground. I heard a snap and a small cry of pain from Mek.

Looking to her, I almost staggered when I saw that the lurk I tripped had caught her back leg in its claw and caused it to bend in an unnatural way. Mek bucked the sealurk away with her good leg as I crawled out from under the corpse. Bullets carried by her amethyst magic were loaded into her gun and she popped two shots into her other attacker. I finished off the one that broke her back leg before it could cause any more harm.

With the threat gone, Mek collapsed, and appraised me.

“Well, didn't expect a rescue from a missin crew member.” She brought out a healing potion and sighed, “Last one,” she admitted, and she hovered it over to me.

“Oh, good idea, let me take care of your wounds, I have some medical knowledge.” I said reassuringly. She looked a little confused, then skeptical, but allowed it. Poring the potion over the more threatening cuts, getting ones that had gotten through her utility barding, I saw that her cutie mark was a wrench with a red heart, same color as her mane, inscribed on the handle. Glancing at her mane, I saw that it plumed forward slightly around her forehead, I guess she had a small horn hidden under that plume. I managed to save up half of the potion before turning to her leg, I bit my lip and said, “I'm going to need to set the bone.”

She looked at her leg and winced.

“Oh dear, well, let's get it over with.” She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. I have never done this before, so I was a little worried. Taking a deep breath, with a jerk, I set the bone and winced when I heard a sickening noise. Mek let out a loud part curse, part scream, and got something out of her utility bag, a small syringe with Med-x written on the side, and injected it into her leg. I then gave her the rest of the potion.

“I thought ya wasn't suppose to use a potion to fix broken bones?” She asked, after I insisted she drink.

“Despite common belief, a potion can mend broken bone. However, if the bone isn't properly set when the potion is taken, it will mend in a broken fashion. If that happens, the bone will be stuck that way, and the patient will be crippled for life.” I informed her, good thing my mother left those medical notes. She seemed satisfied with that.

Doubting that half of a potion would be enough to fully mend the bone, I pulled out my broken brace and made due of it, patching her leg as best I could. Finished tending to Mek, I recalled my own condition.

“Have any spare RadAway?” And to my relief she levitated a couple over to me.

While stomaching two more RadAways, we moved to the campfire next to the ruined ship. The night was silent for a couple of minutes.

“So, any idea what happened to Solar?” I asked to break the silence.

“I don't know,” she replied, “One second I'm wonderin why the engines were set to full and suddenly the entire engine room shrunk by half a foot. I figured we was running from something and gave the engine everything I had. Couple minutes later the whole ship heaves, the engine dies, there's a big colorful boom and then we're taking on water!” She paused to pull out some bandages from a crate resting nearby and handed them to me. “And before I could prepare to go down with the ship, we ran aground!”

Wait, She intended to go down with the ship?

“You intended to go down with the ship?” I asked, taken aback. Clearly filling her in was going to have to wait. Wait, was that why she had given me her only potion?

She looked embarrassed at that, I don't think she intended to mention that part.

“Well... yea, this ship has been my life for seven years, I was content to sink with it.” Talk about growing attached to an object! She continued, “But now its like this,” gesturing to the ship, “it'll never sail again, the frame is bent around the middle, and the hole would be almost impossible to seal. This ship is spent, I wish it had sunk.” There was a glisten in her amethyst eyes as she said, “A ship wrecked aground is deprived of rest at sea.”

“You know there are other ships right, I mean, there are other ships right?” I quickly remanded, “Just because you've lost this ship doesn't mean you can't work on another.”

“There is no other ship that would replace this one, its where-” She caught herself, almost sobbing. “No, there is no other ship in all the seas for me.” Considering how little I knew about this mare, I found myself completely under equipped for this conversation. Still, I needed her if I'm going to survive any amount of time in the wasteland. I can't back down now, after what I've been through the last two days. No, its not just that. I want her to live,  she wanted to die. I was being selfish, but I needed to risk the present for a better future. I pressed forward, she needed to move on.

“So what then, you're gonna set yourself to live in its carcass until sealurks kill you in your sleep one night?” I harshly asked. She nodded!

I didn't like it. I didn't like that she was going to give up her life for such a silly sentiment. I didn't like that somepony I liked was going to just give up on living. I also didn't like that if she stayed like this then I saved her life for nothing. The scales needed to shift.

I surprised myself by bucking her to her side, it was almost like hitting a rock, but she did fall over.

“Get over yourself, it's just a rusty hunk of junk that you owe nothing to, I didn't save you just for you to-” She bucked me back, I was sent back a couple meters, my head spinning. Before I could collect myself she was standing over me.

“That 'rusty hunk of junk' right there was my life! And now I've lost it! Don't ya dare think that you can understand what this means to me!” she yelled as she threw me at the ship, I thudded painfully and slid down the side. Well, so far nothing broken yet, but I was easily getting some new bruises for this.

Wobbling to my hooves, I glared at her.

“Its just a ship, there are other ships out there. You say I don't understand, maybe you should tell me why. Or is it you think I don't know anything about loss?” she hesitated, I pushed on, “For such a tough mare, you sure are weak, wanting to just up and die like this. What you need to do is take a moment to count the good. But since you clearly can't do that right now, I'll do it for you! The ship is more intact than not, and even if its impossible to fix, maybe you can salvage what's important. You're still alive, which means you can work towards fixing everything or looking for some other ship to get attached to. And you have somepony who's trying to save you, even if that somepony has to get pummeled against a giant rust bucket to get some sense in you!”

She glared at me, daggers in her eyes. I glared back, concern hidden behind anger.

“Why do ya care?” she asked.

“Because you're the most likable mare I've met in the past two days, and I need you if I'm to survive out here,” I said calmly, gesturing to the wasteland, I added, “yesterday morning, I had the option to give up and die of thirst, or to risk the present for a better future. Maybe you should try the same, say goodbye to this wreck and walk towards tomorrow. If this wreck is the saddest thing to happen to your life, then once you drag yourself away from it, you need not worry about anything sadder. Yes, there's still room for the 'second saddest moment in your life', but at least then you can look back at your saddest moment and think to yourself 'I got past that, I can get past this'.” She looked from the ship to me, indecision written on her face. “Listen to me,” I pleaded, “I have lost a great deal, I have to keep counting the good, because if I don't, then I'll end up counting the bad, and there's been a lot of bad. Nothing good comes from counting the bad. Please don't make me start counting it out for you, just to get my point across.” I said, tears gathering in my eyes.

She stared at me for what felt like minutes, considering my words.

“I need some time alone.” She said, trotting into the ship, looking over her shoulder she added, “Thanks for caring, and sorry for throwin ya around.”

After she left I collapsed on the ground and took in a deep breath. That hurt, and was terribly stressful. If I wasn't mad with her I would have broke down during my rant, I almost did at the end of it. I guess, after losing what I have, I didn't want to see her break herself over this.

Sigh.

First my father, then my mother, then half my body weight, then my home, then Ruby, Zerkash, and possibly Solar. As long as I live, there will be something to lose, something to be stolen from me. After the effort I just put into talking and rescuing Mek, I would definitely be depressed if I lost her as well.

Count the good. I've met so many ponies these last two days, some good, some bad, and some somewhere in between. I smiled to myself. The moon was out, almost halfway in the sky, tonight would be a good night to sing. Even though I wasn't home, I still had the moon, and that would be enough to bring music to my voice.

I went into the ship, my steps were quiet and drowned out by the ocean waves. Wanting to take stock and be ready to leave in the morning, I looked to see if any supplies remained when I heard Mek talking. Curious, I went over to the engine room.

“-the crazy mare actually tried to beat some sense into me. I think she's right, its time I said goodbye.” I heard a sob from the room and suddenly felt like I was some sort of intruder. “I should have done this six years ago,” as she continued I quietly turned around and left her alone, hearing, ”I'm sorry sweetie, I promised I wouldn't cry, guess I'll-” and I trotted out of hearing her. I locked her words away someplace out of sight in my mind, it's personal, I shouldn't pry anymore into it.

I went back to scavenging what I could, restocking my supply of RadAway, as well as finding some named chemicals that seemed to temporarily enhance the user. Something I'd have to look into later.

Being out of healing potions, I did the next best thing and used the bandages Mek gave me to cover up the burns covering my left side. There was no doubt about it scarring now, but I couldn't help but hope that the bandages would bring about some miracle.

After wrapping myself up, I went to the top deck of the ship. A light layer of clouds were in the sky, thin enough to brighten the night sky with a light blue blanket. The clouds illuminated a ring around the moon, the edges of the ring holding the whisper of a rainbow. The sight brought a smile to my face. Sitting on the back end of the ship, looking out over the sea, the waves lightly illuminated by the moonlight, I started humming.

My song was different tonight, the sound was the same, but the feeling behind it was different. I felt a longing for the sea, the thrill of fishing the big game, and the satisfaction of returning home to the ones I loved. I found the difference odd, but not unwelcome. The song went on for a long while before dying down in my throat. My aches and bruises nothing but a bad memory.

Turning around I saw Mek sitting a couple paces behind me.

“That sounded very nice dear, but I think next time you should try it with words.” she suggested, and I blushed with embarrassment.

“I've tried that before, its not the same song when I add words, so I just hum.” I replied, then with a concern look asked, “So, are you staying?” She shook her head, to my relief.

“I'll be leaving with ya, but in the mornin, we both could use some shut-eye.” Saying that, Mek moved to get some things together. I worked to prepare for sleep.

I returned to the campfire and snuffed it out. I then went to where the the harpoon and wrench lay in the sand, forgotten when I took care of our medical needs. Reloading my pistol, I took the weapons back above deck, and seeing Mek up there with two blankets, I closed the hatch behind me. I lay the wrench next to Mek and prepared for bed.

I held out the rusty gun I'd used to kill several sealurks. Trust written on the grasp, I recalled how earlier in the day I was telling Solar I didn't want such a thing. The damn thing was useful, I begrudgingly admitted to nopony in particular. So am I suppose to call the gun Trust or something? Well, if it has a name, it would be rude not to. And as I slipped Trust into my saddlebags, I noticed it show up under my weapons tag in my pipbucks inventory. Trust: value - 2 caps. Right.

Putting rusty old guns out of my mind, I thought about the events that have happened over the last two days. Despite it all, I was still alive, I hoped that would be the case the next time the moon was full.

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 3.

New Perk: Six Shooter Focus (1) – You reload 50% faster with Revolvers and Magnums, and 25% faster with all other pistol types.

3. Stripes

A bullet hit the ground a few paces ahead of me and we stopped. Mek and I exchanged a look, mine of confusion, hers of annoyance. We both turned our gaze back to the village not a kilometer away.

“That was a warning shot, I take it we're not invited.” Mek observed.

We had spent the last two hours following the beach north to the village. Mek had been ready to go when I woke up, her coat having a new layer of oil blemished on it. Now that we were almost there it seemed that our trek would become a waste of time.

Not wanting to back down easily, I continued forward. Another shot hit the sand, this one a lot closer, knocking sand into my eyes.

“Now hold it Rain, don't want to tempt anything with an aim like that. Maybe it would be best if we just moved on?” Mek suggested.

I wanted to talk about Zerkash with his people, I wanted to return his harpoon. I also didn't want to be shot at. I was also hoping to get a potion from the zebras to get Mek out of the brace. She told me her leg wasn't bad, but I wasn't risking it, she did have a slight limp, despite her assurances. I eyed the harpoon strapped over my back. I need to do this.

“Mek, stay here, I'll be right back.” And as I continued forward I heard her start to follow me. I didn't want her to get hurt for my stubbornness, I turned to her and asked, “Stay here, I'll be right back, I promise.” She gave me a very concerned look but didn't continue following me.

As I moved to the village, another bullet hit the sand, right where my hoof was about to land, and as I stepped in the new hole I fell over, getting another face full of sand. Getting back up, I checked my EFS, still not close enough for the pipbuck to point out the shooter. I shook off my annoyance, took a deep breath and started running.

A bullet grazed my shoulder, sending a searing line of pain through my body. I didn't change my course. A yellow bar showed up on my pipbuck and I turned to it. I couldn't spot the zebra, but I still be-lined to them. Feeling another shot graze my shoulder I stopped and pleaded, hoping I wouldn't have to deal with any other streams of fiery pain.

“Please! Let me return this weapon!” I screamed at the bar, “It belonged to Zerkash, the zebra who saved my life.”

After a pause a small pile of sand moved up, pushing sand aside stood a zebra with a long rifle in its hooves. It stood on its back legs, propping the rifle between its forward hooves, his eyes lining down the sights, he could fire at me easily from that stance, but how was he keeping himself from falling?

“Zerkash saved you,” the zebra said, “and now he is dead. You are not welcome in our village. We acknowledge your desire to return his weapon. He died to save ponies, ponies can keep it.” He eyed the two wounds he had given me, and pulled out two potions of strange color from the sash on his side and tossed them in the sand in front of me. “Now, go.”

I reluctantly picked up the potions, hoping that they were the zebras equivalent of healing potions, and turned back to return to Mek. I was sad, but it was better than nothing. It was very unsatisfying to not be allowed to apologize to the village. Trying out one of the potions, it managed to taste worst then normal healing potions, but it did heal up my shoulders, letting out a sigh, I counted the good, we could fix Mek's leg.

I returned to Mek to find her with an upset expression on her face. She looked like she wanted to hit me.

“And just was that about, did ya have a death wish girl?” She asked.

“I wanted to make peace with Zerkash, getting a little was better than none. Since they gave us a warning shot I figured they wouldn't kill me unless I attacked,” I said, hoping that would be enough.

“Who's Zerkash, somepony that played a part in yesterdays events?” she asked. Oh, right.

Realizing I had forgotten to fill Mek in, I recounted everything concerning Thousand-Smiles's attack yesterday and answered her questions. Afterwards she nodded her head.

“I see what you meant about making peace.” She was eyeing the harpoon in a new light, her expression was slightly respectful. ”Still girl, you're lucky to be alive, shame about Ruby and Solar though.” I was lucky huh?

“It must be luck keeping me alive.” I said, somewhat bitterly. I gave Mek the other potion and after she drank it I checked her leg, everything seemed to be fine, so I undid the brace. “Well, we can't go to the village, but at least we won't be going into the wasteland wounded.” I pointed out, count the good, then asked, “So, where do we go from here?”

“Well, Sandstone is on the island somewhere.” Mek said, staring inland, “Since we still had a day left till the ship would arrive, I'd guess it would be quicker to cut across rather than follow the shore. Trouble is the risk of gettin lost, however once we make it to the opposite side I should be able to guide us to Sandstone, the Boiling Bay is hard to miss.”

“No chance of losing direction,” lifting up my picbuck to her, “do we have enough supplies to try and cross that mess?” Mek nodded. Not that it mattered if we didn't, where were we going to get drinkable water in the wasteland?

Giving the village one last look, we turned east and left the cool sea breeze behind us. I hadn't given up on Solar, he probably went through with his plan of fleeing to Equestria, after Thousand-Smiles's attack and the ship sinking, I wouldn't blame him for it. Would have been nice to say goodbye though. Maybe luck will shine on me and we'll run into each other in Tenpony Tower.

Before our encounter with the zebra guard, the walk had been quiet. Not wanting to talk to Mek since I woke up because it was early and hot and we fought last night and... Now that we're heading inland I became acutely aware of the lack of a breeze, it was hot out here.

“Soo, Mek, what's Sandstone like?” I asked, trying to get my mind off the sweltering heat.

“Well, its a place where decent pony and zebra folk mingle with factions like the IFA and Enclave,” wiping some sweat from her brow, she continued, “As well as pirates, traders, mercenaries, the ZC, and the Sandstone Armed Forces.”

“Okay,” I said, a little overwhelmed, “And who are the IFA, Enclave and ZC?” She looked at me in surprise.

“Girl, have you been living under a rock?” eyeing my pipbuck, she asked, “Are you fresh from a stable?” I paused for a second in confusion, a stable? What was she talking about? I took this opportunity to tell her about me living on an isolated island, as well as what Ruby had intended for me before a certain shark ruined everything.

“Well shoot, now I feel silly for throwing all that at ya. You've had some odd circumstances if you ask me,” she said and then explained, “IFA stands for the Ironclad Flotsam Alliance, its a fleet of ships that used their mobility and resources to shelter survivors when the bombs fell, it's the remnant's of the Equestrian fleet. Those ships are now mostly homes, the ponies living on 'em put in a lot of hard work to keep their homes afloat.” A grin cracked on her face, which was reflected on my own, seeing her happy again was nice. She continued, “I was born and raised in the IFA, my home ship is the Evercrest, fine ship. About as big as our old boat.” Shortly after saying that her grin died. She shook her head to keep herself on track.

“The Enclave is the pegasai who live above Equestria's cloud wall. There's a trade agreement between Sandstone and the Enclave. They get the city some rainclouds from Boiling Bay, and the Enclave...?” She paused to think for a moment, “I... don't really know what the Enclave get in return. But it must be somthin nice, them pegasai are not to friendly, well, Enclave pegasai anyways.”

As we traveled east, I saw that the terrain shifted slightly south into cracked dirt farther inland. Thinking that it would be easier to travel through dirt rather than climbing through sand dunes, I turned us towards the firmer ground.

“The ZC is the Zebra Council, pretty simple, the zebras that have a foothold in Sandstone work through the council to get things done and work around different traditions and all that other zebra stuff.” She answered, I doubted it was that simple.

“Lets see,” she continued, “Sandstone was made after the bombs fell, most of the buildings are made of stone, thus the name. You can meet all kinds of types there. Griffins, ponies, zebras, even the odd something or other every once in a while. If there's anything you want to know or buy, Sandstone is the place to find it in all the sea. However, since Sandstone is such a big deal, the land near it is home to raiders. If we spot any, we'll know we're getting close.”

“Raiders? That doesn't sound friendly.” I replied, my curiosity in full swing.

“Anope,” shaking her head, ”more often then not, they're worst than pirates. Often cannibals, one thing nopony wants is to be capture by raiders. If we see any we'd best avoid them. I don't know about you, but I'm low on ammo.” After a small pause, she turned to me, stopping me, and said, “If we get into a scuff with raiders, shoot first, shoot twice, and don't ask questions till they can't shoot back, follow?”

“We, we're suppose to kill them? Aren't they ponies?” I was caught off guard by the turn in conversation.

“No, they aren't, you'll learn that the first time ya see one.” She proclaimed, and we continued in silence for a few minutes, her words hanged foreboding in my head.

“And what's a stable dweller?”

“Ah, a stable dweller is a pony from a stable. Never met one myself, but I've heard of em. They all have that little toy on your hoof, and don't know nuthin bout the wasteland. And a stable is a shelter that was made to save ponies when the world blew up. Saved thousands of thousands of lives, some stables still have ponies in them that come up to the surface, and either get themselves killed or cause trouble.” After her explanation she thought for a moment, probably considering anything else she needed to tell ignorant me.

“Oh right, there's also the Boiling Bay,” she said a couple minutes later, “This island was hit by a megaspell when the war ended, a pony megaspell that melted half the island. That area is underwater now, the sea is constantly boiling steam into the air, you can see it for kilometers around. Sandstone is nestled in the bay, ships need to hug the shore to keep from over heating or capsizing.”

“Why would they make a city so close to a hazard?” Surprised that anypony would foolish enough to make a city so close to one.

“From what I was told, it was for protection, ships have to stay close to shore, city is easy to defend because of that,” she answered, well that sounded reasonable.

Reaching the dead plain, I saw that further southeast the ground rose, like a gradual hill sloping up over several kilometers. My eyes followed the slope to an abrupt end somewhere a couple kilometers away. Wanting a closer look, I turned us towards where the slope ended. It was still in the direction we needed to go. Mek either didn't care or didn't notice our slight alteration.

“So,” she started, seeing I had no more questions about Sandstone or Stable dwellers, “you plannin to head to Tenpony then?” I nodded, “Well, if its all the same to you, I'd think it best we split up after Sandstone. I'm grateful for you saving me, I'll stick with you till you get your transportation. But Equestria ain't no place for a sea faring pony like myself. Oh! You should try asking around about yer pops in Sandstone, somepony's bound to know something.” That was an idea I was intending to act upon.

“Are you going to return to Evercrest?” I asked her.

She thought about it then stopped. She suddenly looked reluctant.

“I'm... not sure. Well shoot now ya got me thinking. I don't know what I'm gonna do once you leave Sandstone. Guess I should work on that before it becomes a problem. Sandstones an alright place I suppose, but I have no intention of staying there any longer than necessary.”

“Why's that? Can't live on solid ground?” I asked, teasingly. She shook her head.

“There's a troublesome buck who's always around Sandstone. We go way back, and he's a real pain in the flank.”

“What's wrong with him?” I asked, and she let out a sigh. Looked like she said something she didn't want to.

“Plenty, but I'd rather not go into-” she was interrupted as we passed the break in the slope, now the broad side of a cliff towering above us. Rounding the edge we saw into a broken canyon. We being at the bottom, looking down the way it looks as if the ground had tried to swallow a metal building about twenty meters tall, thirty wide. The cliff side hung over the structure, as if asking for an excuse to tumble upon the building. The sight was definitely worthy of pause.

“Well fancy that, some old ruins hidden in a canyon, wonder if it was some pre-war research building.” Mek guessed, she would know better than I. “If it is, there may be medical supplies in there. As well as other things we could salvage and sell. If you're gonna try and get info on your pops in Sandstone, you'll need the caps.” Recalling our desperate lack of healing potions, the notion did seem promising, however the place didn't exactly scream 'its safe to go inside'.

“It doesn't look like the safest place to search for fortune.” I said, eyeing the rock face overhanging the research center. However, since my EFS was clear in all directions, we approached the building.

The building was completely coated in rusty metal, there were no windows and the front door looked as if somepony had blow it open. Being close enough to see the door, I noticed that some large rocks had indeed fallen on the structure, but it showed no damage from the supposed impacts. I decided to give the building some respect, this building looked tough enough to give Thousand-Smiles a run for its caps.

Risk the present for the future. Well, how dangerous can an old abandoned research center be? Feeling sure it was safe, I walked through the blasted doorway, and I found myself inside a hallway, it's walls burnt black from the detonation. Then I realized the front doors weren't the target of the explosion, at the end of the hall was a large sealed door that resembled a cog. It was two ponies tall and appeared to be embedded in the wall.

“Well shoot, whoever decided to blow this place up probably went and destroyed the access terminal in the process.” Mek complained.

I walked up to the large door, while the rest of the room was scorched, it looked as though the door itself was untouched. The door looked polished, no trace of rust or dust or dirt. To my surprise, when I reached to touch it, my hoof passed right through it!

“Mek, are insubstantial doors common?” I asked, my hoof still in the door.

Surprise evident on her face, she walked up to the door and also put her hoof through it. We looked to each other, sharing a moment of wonder, nodded to each other and walked through the false door.

It was dark on the other side, it was also cool, that 'door' seems to be keeping the hot dry air outside! I flipped my light on to see down the dark hallway. The air was heavy, mildew and dust assaulted my nose and I sneezed. Lights in the ceiling lit up and let out a light buzz, taking a moment to appreciate the cool air, Mek went ahead of me.

“Sure is nice of this place to light up for us. Lets see what we can find, and then leave. This place is already beyond strange for me,” she said, even though checking it out had been her idea.

Wandering through the first floor we found evidence that the facility had been abandoned before the bombs fell. Shelves and desks had been emptied, there were no corpses, and no sign of turmoil.

Mek found in the mares restroom a small metal box with an emblem of three pink butterflies. The box was locked.

“A fine piece of old equestrian engineering right here,” she pointed out, indicating the lock, “Made over 200 years ago and it still works fine.” She pulled out a screw driver with her mouth and started working the lock with it. With a hard jolt and twist, the lock was destroyed and the contents of the box were revealed, two healing potions and some Med-X.

“And that's how its done!” she said proudly. Noticing my confused look she added, “What? It's stupid to have a locked medical box, I was doing Equestria a favor by destroying that lock.” What ever you say Mek. That's when it dawned on me, she didn't use her magic to work the screwdriver.

“Mek, why do you use your mouth over magic?” I asked, she was taken aback by the question and flushed slightly in embarrassment.

“I like to get my hooves dirty, its more satisfying to work with tools with my mouth and hooves over my horn.” She replied, clearly she should have been born an earth pony.

We continued upstairs, the second floor had more of, well, everything in it. The first floor was bare walls, nothing smaller than abandoned furniture. The second floor had posters, paperwork, information. Many of the posters in question had a yellow mare with pink hair with some slogan about peace or doing better. The second floor also had a label, 2nd floor, MoP office & labs.

During the war, the equestrian war effort was led by six ministries, now my history tutelage was never completed, but anypony that knows anything about medicine knows about the Ministry of Peace, or MoP. It was the ministry that tried to end the war through peaceful means, the ponies working in it being doctors and physicians that helped pony and zebra alike. It's a little tragic that it was also the MoP that created the first megaspells.

Considering the label over the door, I went back down to the first floor to see if it had been labeled as well. 1st floor, Glyph-mark Research greeted me from above the doorway. Why were ponies researching zebra cutie-marks?

Heading back to the second floor, Mek had found more potions. It wasn't too surprising that the MoP offices would have them. Something caught my eye in one of the labs, a pink talisman. I knew what it was, though I couldn't recall from where.

“I found a healing talisman, that should catch a fair price right?” I asked Mek, and she nodded.

“Good eye Rain! That could easily be a thousand caps right there, now the trick will be finding a buyer that won't try to scam it or steal it from us.” She informed me, I guess we lucked out finding this facility.

The medical equipment made little sense to me, the floor had four labs, only one of the labs looked like something a doctor would use to heal patients, it was also where I had found the talisman. The other three labs had strange arcane devices attached to the ceiling that neither Mek or I could make heads or tails of.

Heading up to the third floor, its name caught my eye, 3rd floor, Cutie-Mark Research. Mek was eyeing a green terminal embedded into the wall next to the door. While she tried to fiddle with it, I walked to the door, trying the latch, it opened.

“How'd you do that? It was locked.” Mek asked, annoyed at me.

“Don't look at me, I tried the latch and it opened.” Honestly, I'm still a little caught up on the fake door somepony had tried to blast through on the first floor.

The atmosphere in the third floor was different. The faint smell of rot hung in the air, the walls bore scratched marks, the floor had paper spread all over it. Everything on this floor looked like somepony came through just to knock everything around. The only exception was a small room with the words 'VP Red Quill's Office' imprinted on it.

In the room was a terminal on an old metal desk.  The bones of a pony, wearing a long white coat, rested in the corner, which I tried to avoid. I didn't want to touch anyponies dried out bones. On the back wall was a bookshelf filled with decayed tomes. Next to the terminal were two small glass orbs, each giving off a very small amount of light.

“Looks like it's still logged in,” Mek said from the other side of the terminal, then eyeing the orbs, “Wanna take a look while I inspect the orbs?” she asked.

“What are they?” I asked, eyeing the orbs.

“Memory orbs,” she said, ”little balls of someponies memories, specific memories. Depending on the contents, they could be valuable to the right pony.” She then sighed, “Only a unicorn can look into them however, which means I'll have to check their worth.” It sounded like she didn't want to admit that. She went to the door, closed it and locked it.

“Keep an eye on me and don't cause any trouble while I'm out, memory orbs take time and I'll be unconscious while watching it.” she warned. Sounds like checking out memory orbs was a big risk in the wasteland, good thing I'm an earth pony. I nodded to her and she lay down, wrapping one of the orbs in her purple magic before passing out.

Eyeing over to the terminal, it seemed simple enough to use, it was kind of like a less portable pipbuck, without the bells or whistles, and a lot more buttons. The terminal was filled with reports written or recorded by the VP, all of the written ones had two time stamps. I assumed that for whatever reason, the written reports were done twice, thus two time stamps. Time had not been kind to the data on the machine, almost all the reports were either illegible or static, but there were three I was able to pick out.

The first was a written report dated about a decade after the oldest time stamp.

The CP on Break's daughter was a complete success. Saphy will be having her cute-ceañera on Thursday, I'll be bringing the carrot cake. I've never seen Break this happy before. I think reporting to the nobles can wait till after the party.

I was honestly expecting something more morbid, the report was happy, which ended up bringing a smile to my face.

The second report I found was a little more interesting, and more morbid, taking place twenty two years later.

“Break... hasn't been the same since her husband died,” A tired female voice started, ”She's been pushing our resources and is starting to alienate our zebra companions. This war has been hard on all of us, but I think Break is blaming herself for the entire thing. She's enlisted the MoP to aid in our research, I think she's trying to make a megaspell focus for CR. We all had our part to play in what happened, I can't stand seeing her take it all on herself. I intend to follow her example and I have started to seek outside aid. Today I've pulled some connections with the nobles under our favor to secure a focus for the CDM. The CDM caused all this, but I'm certain we can use it to save Equestria from annihilation.”

Well, that was certainly ominous.

I found myself thinking about the purpose of this floor, no, the facility. 3rd floor, Cutie-Mark research, I could guess what the C stood for in all those acronyms, just what did they accomplish here? My eyes fell on the skeleton in the corner, looking closer, I saw a small tag on her lab uniform, 'Vice President Red Quill of Destiny Labs'. There was no office for Break in this facility, did that mean there was another facility that she operated from?

Curious to learn more, I turned back to the terminal, and found the third working report. The third report was in fact the final report. The tag was a date I recognized, the day the megaspells went off.

“I did it, CDM worked as projected, today's the day it all ends. The princess failed to learn about the stables in time to condemn them. Thousands of ponies were involved in Stable-Tecs work, and thousands more were chosen to survive the apocalypse, and despite how many ponies were involved, the princess didn't learn of it in time to matter. CDM succeeded, we've bought our race another two centuries. However, Break has done... something. I'm not sure if she tried mixing CR and CA together, or if she made a new kind of CDM, but whatever it was, she's doomed Equestria, the CPs I took today were evidence enough. I can only hope the remnants of my CDM will be enough to deal with Breaks mess. Celestia help us all... To you listening to this recording, I implore you, If you happen upon anypony with sapphire eyes and a golden cutie-mark. Please. Kill. Them. That is the mark of Breaks final work, and they are cursed to repeat our mistakes and bring about another Equestria killing disaster. Our world cannot survive another...

The message died down to static before ending, punctuating my thoughts.

What? Beware of ponies like me? Bring about the second apocalypse? What in tartarus was this all about! Before my thoughts could do any more screaming the terminal's screen shifted back to static before showing a buck with a long curly silver mane, and a dark blue coat. The buck was both handsome and bulky, and talking.

“I didn't think you'd fall for this one, you old coot, that's why I didn't put too much effort into it, so if you escape then I guess its because I overestimated you. It's fine either way though, I'm not really out of anything besides half an hour of my time. Either way do me the favor and stay dead this time.” The buck calmly asked before the screen turned off.

My EFS came alive with red. A hole opened up in the ceiling and a metal automaton swiveled to my direction and started shooting. Letting out a short curse, I quickly ducked down. I pulled out Trust and waited for the turret to let up. To my horror it started shooting at Mek! Celestia damn this turret's target choices! I jumped out of my cover and after four hateful shots the machine became scrap.

Mek had been hit by a couple rounds, thank Celestia the junk she had in her barding protected her from lethal impacts. Seeing that she hadn't flinched when she was hit, I quickly moved to extract the bullets before poring the potion over her wounds. I doubt I could coax her to drink in this condition. Relieved that Mek was no longer in danger of bleeding out, I took in my situation.

The red on my EFS wasn't moving, so I assumed that other ceiling turrets had been activated in the rest of the lab. Horseapples, we'd have to go through most of the building to get out. At least its safe in this room for now, Mek needs to hurry up with that memory. Considering us safe for the moment, I calmed myself down and my mind wandered to the recordings.

Sapphire eyes and a golden cutie-mark, father had a golden quill, we shared the same eyes, I have a golden note. If my father saw that last record, I could understand why he left us on the island. Come to think of it, he left shortly after I got my own cutie-mark. If father knew about this, could he be-.

I don't know enough to start making wild guesses that would only fill me with doubt. That aside, somepony had set a trap for somepony else, and I was the unfortunate mare to spring it. Well, once Mek wakes up we can tackle this together...

No. I shouldn't assume the luxury of time. Mek said she was low on ammo, if it's just turrets between us and the exit, I could manage that, probably. I moved her behind the desk, just in case, and opened the door to the bullet storm that awaited. Before leaving the room I noticed a small round turret with a glass circle that was following me from the corner of the room, since it didn't show on my EFS, I ignored it and moved out.

EFS didn't differentiate between what floors the turrets were actually on, but with its aid I was able to avoid unexpected fire, and made quick work between turrets. The machines were actually too slow to be a threat to me, as long as I managed to shoot them first. Hop out from behind a corner, pop into SATS, destroy them before they start shooting, rinse repeat.

I was honestly surprised at how well I was managing the turrets. I guess no guilt was involved with 'killing' machines, which helped. It was also just how slow they seemed to me, if I had the room I suspected I could out run their rotation. I mean, the bullets, I can't dodge bullets, but I can dodge the line of fire fairly easily. The turrets also seem to be, well, stupid. They'd fire at me until I go for cover and seem to lose interest after several seconds, turning their guns away.

Taking turrets down, just don't be careless and this will be fine. Count the good.

Momentarily enjoying the fact that we didn't have to deal with the second floor, I proceeded down the stairs to the first floor. Knowing about the turret on the other side of the door, I got Trust ready and opened it. Only to be sprayed by fire, literally. I bolted past the green stream of fire and got SATS up in time to destroy the flame thrower turret before its aim could line up with me. Why was my side hot?

My bandages were on fire, and in a moment of panic I got my harpoon out of its holster and dropped it on the ground, using it to cut the bandages off me. Then I rolled around to kill any flames nipping at my mane. My pipbuck was clicking slightly, a small amount of radiation accompanied that fire.

I didn't feel any pain, but I still checked for burns-

On the left side of my body, where I had burned from yesterdays explosion, was a patch of sky blue fur, intertwined with dark blue stripes. Zebra stripes. What in the goddesses names was this? Did this happen because I asked Zerkash to stay? That wasn't just some self indulging dream, that actually happened?

Count the good. Ponies will be able to pick me out easily, its the mare with the blue stripes! And hey, the stripes actually do look nice. And I'm a big deal, because I have gem blue eyes and a gold cutie-mark. I am awesome...

Nope, not working. I started to break down. For some reason, my family was connected to this 'Destiny Labs', and whatever they did, it clearly made me something other than a normal pony. Repeat their mistakes and bring about another 'last day'? The scales need to change, but if I'm supposedly the final nail in Equestria's coffin, wouldn't the best way to tip the scale be to kill-

Foolish Rain, if you die, you'll be unable to find out why you should die. Or even if you really need too. Don't let the final words of somepony who died two centuries ago sway you to thinking that the world ends with you. No single pony is capable of that, just as nopony is capable of saving it.

The zebra who saved my life three times was lecturing me from beyond the grave. I let out a bitter chuckle. I had always thought that hearing my mothers voice was a natural thing. Now I was guessing it's something else, something to do with this building, its history, something to do with Breaks final work.

Wait, nopony can save it? That's saddening.

Of course nopony can save it. It took many ponies and many zebra to break it, it would take many of both, and many other races, to fix it.

So, why the stripes?

Would you rather have scars, I think they make you look quite attractive, for a pony.

I smiled at that. So Rain, pony marked by your family features, lay here and wait for somepony to put you down, or take action and put out some fires. I wasn't a pony that sat and waited when action could be taken.

And I wasn't a normal pony. For some reason, that really bothered me. This facility stole the blanket of blissful ignorance I was wrapped in, and now I had questions that needed answers. My father knows, this was the family responsibility he didn't want me to get involved with. Now, I'm involved. I need to find him, and get answers. But first, the turrets. One problem at a time.

I reloaded Trust and got back to work. I'd imagine that if I just up and died, the zebra, and pony, that died to save me would be pretty cross with me. And I personally wouldn't be fine with it either, if its one thing that bothered me, its an unanswered question. I paid little mind to the small round turrets staring at me that didn't show on my EFS and got back to work. The scales need to change.

Almost an hour and a half after she went in, Mek finally stirred from the memory orb. She was surprised to find that her barding had new holes and blood soaked in it. I had tried to drag her out of the room and downstairs, but I gave up before I could even get her away from the desk. Fatigued from battling the turrets, and she was freaking heavy!

“Welcome back, how was the memory?” honest curiosity in my voice.

Confused as to weather she should answer or ask questions of her own, she decided to ask first.

“Why is my barding shot up?”

“Well,” I sheepishly replied, “when I watched the last recording, the facilities weapon's activated and you got shot a little, but I took care of the turrets.” at the expense of most my ammo, I neglected to add. “So, how was the memory?” I asked as she started to appraise her barding.

“It was a party, a cute-ceañ, cute-cean... a cutie-mark party of all things. I was some unicorn buck, and that felt all kinds of weird. It all happened before the war, it was very... nice. Everypony was happy.” After she finished looking herself over, she appraised me and got a surprised look when she noticed my new stripes.

“Have those always been there, and you've been holdin out on me?” She asked.

“Completely new, weird right? Do you think they look good on me?” I asked with as much bravado as I could muster.

She got up and paced around me, eyeing me from side to side, deep in consideration.

“I think, to the best of my judgment, that they look mighty nice on ya sweetie. You're definitely gonna turn a couple a heads with them.” We both shared an awkward smile.

“Well, this was an interesting detour, how about we get on our way to Sandstone?” I suggested, trotting to the door.

“I still have the second orb,” she said, ”but I guess I can check it later, was there anything interesting in the records. I mean, there must have if somepony set up a trap for somepony else with them records.”

“Just an interesting touch of history that's somehow connected to me.” I said, “Something about how ponies with blue eyes and gold cutie-marks are gonna blow up Equestria.” Her brow furrowed at that.

“That's a mighty silly thing to say, if ya ask me.” She said, I couldn't give her a reassuring nod however, it was still eating at me.

Destiny Labs, near the end of the war they were working with megaspells, just what had they accomplished before the bombs fell?

We walked down to the first floor and back to the magical door. We crossed it side by side. On the other side was a campfire with half a dozen surprised ponies looking at us, night trickled past the blasted doorway behind them.

Several of the ponies were decorated in pony parts, they smelled of rot and putrice. I would have gagged had the campfire not dampened the smells affect. Mek was right, nopony would wear other ponies, these were raiders.

Seven of us were dumbly starring at each other, the raiders at me and Mek because we were still standing in the false door, and me at them for the simple fact that raiders are terribly disgusting! Mek was the first to act, she whipped out her shotgun and took out the closest raider, and charged the others, causing them to scramble stupidly for their weapons.

Another pony died in front of me, but this time I wasn't mollified, like I was when Ruby killed Rusty. I felt nothing, that pony probably deserved it, I couldn't feel sorry for it. It? That pony wasn't even a pony to me.

These ponies wore their scales around their necks, they killed other ponies and wore it like a trophy. Their scales were not unlike mine, my scale was being weighed against the lives that perished for me, their scales were weighed against the lives that perished for them. I came upon a cold idea. Two negatives make a positive, right?

Ruby said that the wasteland breaks ponies, that without a virtue, vice, or drive, they would be poisoned by the wasteland. I saw these ponies and wondered, is this what it looks like to be poisoned by the wasteland? I didn't understand anything about virtues or vices, but I did understand being driven. I now had questions that needed answering.  As I pulled out Trust I couldn't help but wonder, was this how I was going to do it, was this what it meant to tip the scales?

Who was Winter Rain? She was no hero. She never aspired to help the wasteland, only to help herself. Help Mek to get me to Sandstone, help another to help myself. I was no hero.

'Tip the scales', I was weighing the lives of others against my own before I even left my island. Simple cold logic dictating my choices, my health versus the lives of nineteen pirates, nineteen is greater than one. Zerkash and Ruby died for me, two were greater than one, I owed two lives. I needed to save more lives then what I owed, and I was certain, ending the lives of these raiders would tip the scale to my favor.

Is this how it happens? I kill these raiders and suddenly the scales are in my favor, does that mean I could kill whoever I wanted until the scales reached zero again? I steal their lives and gain?

Aiming Trust at the nearest raider, still fumbling for their gun, I pulled the trigger.

The hammer fell, I closed my eyes, I didn't want to see the bucks life end by my hooves. Click. My eyes opened in surprise.

The gun was loaded, it refused to fire. And with that little noise, that only I could hear in the chaos. I realized what I was.

I was a pony supposedly capable of killing Equestria. My weight was offset by a dead pony and zebra, I needed to tip the scales.

I needed to save myself. I needed to kill them, they're monsters. I would be no less of a pony for killing them. I just had to kill the raiders.

If I don't kill them, Mek will die, and the scales will tip further against me.

I could be a killer, or I could be a pony.

The scales needed to change.

So I shattered the notion of my life being weighed against the lives of others, and put my weight on a new scale.

My weight was now weighed against the entire wasteland. The wasteland would either kill me, or falter. I would never be able to bring myself to outweigh the wasteland, but I could make it shift, even the smallest amount would be worth it. I would make it shift. Either way.

Tip the scales.

Tipping the scales, I dropped Trust, I would not steal another ponies life.

“Mek, don't kill them, please! Take them down, but don't kill them!” I pleaded.

She saw the tears in my eyes, and her expression changed from battle fueled anger to concern,  she nodded. I grabbed the harpoon, hefted it between my mouth and hooves, and joined the battle.

I ran into the raider I intended to shoot right as his old weathered rifle came to bear on me. He fired, the bullet lodged into my saddlebags as I shifted to the left and went into SATS, I saw that it worked the same for melee weapons as it did for guns, and toggled three hits, one to his weapon and one to each of his front legs. I swung wide, knocking the rifle out of his grip, cracking the barrel, and sliced into his front legs, he was disabled. I kicked his gun out the door and moved to the next raider.

There were three still stnading at this point, all focused on Mek. A unicorn mare behind Mek saw me and looked past me, her horn glowed and as I moved to engage with Mek's attackers. I felt something press against the back of my head. She smiled as I heard a click from right behind my head and winced, Trust didn't fire.

The mare, alarmed, tried to fire Trust five more times, I was paralyzed by the prospect of my own gun killing me. Fortunately it didn't, and with the mare being distracted with me, Mek had taken down the other two raiders. Out of frustration she chucked Trust at Mek, The gun almost seemed to shift slightly in the air, hitting Mek on an 'armored' part of her barding. Mek was almost upon the mare when Trust hit the ground.

When the gun hit the ground, it fired, and I saw the unicorns horn explode in bone and blood, she let out a terrible scream, cradling her head. I saw Mek wince as she looked at me, but not seeing my gun looked around in confusion, finding it under her, smoke still escaping the barrel.

“Luck indeed.” She said.

I eyed Trust, this gun had a story, and only Ruby knew it. I picked up the gun and quietly thanked it for keeping me from making a terrible mistake.

The fight over, I wiped the tears from my eyes and ask Mek to go through their possessions, having her take anything that wasn't food and water, while I tended to their wounds. Mek looked like she wanted to object, but still did as I asked. Mek had broken several legs, and I made splints for the wounds with their own weapons. If they want to shoot again, they'd have to make a painful choice.

Now... what to do with them? I suspected that anywhere with rules would have raiders shot on sight. Leaving them like this would make them liable to be killed by other raiders or wildlife. Now that I had spared them, well, most of them, what was I going to do with them.

“I got nothing,” I admitted, turning to Mek, “any suggestions?”

“Why did you spare them?” she asked, rolling her eyes at me.

Because if I didn't, the scales wouldn't have changed. I had a feeling, a gut feeling, that Trust would have shot me when the unicorn used it on me had I not changed the scales.

“Because the wasteland is terrible enough as it is, I don't want to add to it.” I said, looking at the raiders, I came to a conclusion and addressed them, “Tomorrow morning my friend and I will be leaving, if we come across the five of you again and you're wearing pony parts, I'll let her take care of you, and I won't patch you up. Got that, no more killing, okay?”

They all nodded, but I think only the unicorn and the one I fought were honest about it. Leaving them alone isn't the best idea, but I honestly had no better option. I could stay with them and talk to each of them, get their story and try to talk the poison out of them, but I doubted I was capable. And I'm selfish, talking to them would take up time I could be spending unraveling what I am. I also doubted that Mek would be willing to stick around for that long either. And putting them down wasn't an option.

Leaving Mek with the raiders, certain she'd be fine on her own with five injured ponies. I went out into the night, the moon hadn't risen yet, maybe in a hour...

“Zerkash, can you teach me how to use your harpoon?” I asked the air. I needed to learn how to fight with less lethal methods. Trust was useful, but it was a little too powerful when it comes to not killing ponies.

I closed my eyes, and let my body move with the harpoon. At first my movement was awkward, my swings wide and messy. But as I got into it, I felt more guidance in my swings. More certainty in the thrusts. I went from wielding the weapon in my mouth, to using it with my hooves, not to dissimilar to the way the zebra holding the rifle at me earlier today held his gun. Soon the practice felt more like a dance. I moved with speed and grace through the canyons entrance. And after a time, it ended. I was winded, from physical exertion, that hasn't happened since before my dive for water back home. My arms and legs were tired, and I drank some water, my eye catching the first rays of moonlight.

“Ya sure worked up a sweat swinging that big stick around.” Mek said, with a teasing smile on her face.

“Well, since its mine now, I best know how to use it.” Why did her grin get wider? She shook her head, clearing whatever thoughts she had conjured up, and asked me.

“Are you going to 'sing' tonight?” She seemed eager for my reply.

I didn't see a reason not to, so I nodded. To my surprise I had an audience tonight, and felt a little nervous. Mek insisted that the raiders listen in.

So I started my song. Mek surprised me by joining in as well, at first it was awkward and a little off, but as she continued it swelled and joined in with my note. In the voice I could only hear, a zebra also joined in. And a fourth voice joined as well, but I couldn't place its origin. Tonight's song felt strong, just as strong as the nights I sang with my mother. The song, our song, swelled into my companions, one alive and one dead, and filled the night with harmony.

The halls of Destiny Labs were covered in blood, ponies lay on the ground. A light blue mare with her head perforated by a shotgun blast in front of me.

To my left was a light blue unicorn, with a gray ponytail mane, her horn blown to smithereens.

To my right was a mare with dark blue stripes, a harpoon sticking out of each leg.

Three other light blue, striped on the left side mares lay on the ground, cradling bruises, broken bones, swollen cheeks.

With Trust in my mouth, I moved to the mare with the harpooned legs - I looked up at the mare standing above me, a rusty old gun in her mouth, she put the barrel to my head.

I pulled the trigger, watching myself die - I felt myself die.

BLAM. I killed.

BLAM. I died.

BLAM. I killed.

Now it was just the earth pony and myself, blood dripped down my face from where my horn was, the other three mares sporting new holes in their heads.

She walked up to me, my head ached, I tried to defend myself, but my magic was gone. The light blue mare was now soaked in blood, and she walked up to me, placing Trust on my head - I placed Trust on the unicorns head.

“I don't want to die - I don't want to kill.”

Rolling, rolling, on the rusty sea.

There was a noise, a melody, no, a lullaby.

Let your worries shelter, in our family.

Click.

Sleeping, sleeping, on our rusty home.

Trust fell away like smoke, as I hummed the lullaby.

Let your fears falter, you are not alone.

The unicorn disappeared. The corpses vanished.

Dreaming, dreaming, on the rusty plain.

Destiny Labs faded away, the atmosphere dissipating.

Let your nightmares pass, in our ships embrace.

Darkness washed over me, and I felt at peace.

When we left in the morning the raiders had apologized to Mek and I, and even buried the one Mek killed, their wounds had been healed, besides the unicorns horn however, and I wondered if Mek had given them her potions. They went further into the canyon, but not before giving us some direction to Sandstone and a town called Rustic between here and there. We never got their names, and they never offered them.

The raiders seemed different from last night, they seemed more like ponies than savages. Did something happen that changed them? Was getting beaten up by two ponies all it took to cleanse the poison of the wastelands? Maybe it was something else, kindness?

“Did you give them your potions?” I asked Mek, thinking that might have been it. She looked at me like I as some sort of fool. And then she bopped me on the head!

“No I did not, your little song healed them, you striped fool.” she said. Wait, what?

My song healed them? Thinking about it, it seemed a little obvious now. How had I missed that? Back when Peg Leg talked to me he mentioned his aches feeling better, and my fractured leg hurt less. I recall the one time I got injured scaring sealurks from my island, I was fine the following morning after spending the prior night singing. My song healed. And others could sing with me. Was that also part of the 'Destiny Lab' mystery?

If I'm suppose to be some sort of pony doomed to kill Equestria, talking to souls and singing healing songs would seem counterproductive to that prophecy. I once again thanked Trust for preventing me from killing the raiders.

We need to reach Sandstone and find answers. If I can't find anything about my father, then I can look for information on Destiny Labs. We had a desert to cross, and according to the raiders, it would take two days from here.

Several hours after we continued, the flat terrain gave way to rocky hill, and we spotted a road made though the valleys and followed it to Sandstone. Or at least we would, but first we'd have to deal with the red bars on my EFS.

“We have trouble,” I whispered with concern, “three ahead of us, and one behind.” I had noticed the red one behind us earlier, but didn't mention it because they hadn't revealed their selves or moved towards us. Now that we were coming on the other three, I cursed my negligence.

Mek readied herself, passing the curve of the hill were three well armed unicorns. Two of them had heavy barding that looked like it could take a beating, they were carrying rifles with their magic. The last had a really large battle saddle, I wasn't sure what kind of gun that was, but I certainly didn't want to find out first hoof! Clearly outgunned, we opted to not pull our guns out, yet, not with that battlesaddle pointed at us.

Solar had told me about battlesaddles, Peg Leg almost killed me with one. Not unlike saddlebags, they are guns strapped to the side over a ponies back. A small bit is attached to a ponies muzzle that you bite down on to fire. Battlesaddles, from what Solar said, come in all kinds of varieties, almost always with the intention of being high firepower. And the battlesaddle on this buck looked heavy enough to pin me to the ground.

“Somethin the matter boys?” Mek asked, walking slightly in front of me, shielding me, to my surprise.

“Shut it bitch,” the heavy gunner said, “we aren't here for you, step aside and we won't turn you into a bloody mess in front of your mare friend.”

Mek gave me a backward glance, and after seeing me nod, reluctantly moved to the side.

“What's this about a bounty?” I asked as the buck in the middle approached me, the two others keeping an eye on Mek.

“You're our payday, now get on the ground and stay put till we have you tied up.” he ordered, and I did as he asked, we were outgunned, and pulling a stunt now would get me and Mek killed. I was their payday? Once again somepony sought to get caps from me, and I found myself more angry than afraid.

“I do say, you have quite a mouth on you, do you kiss your father with that mouth?” an unexpected voice exclaimed from the hill to our side. At the top of the hill was a unicorn wearing a soot singed cloak over his body, his head expose. The beige buck with a short orange and yellow striped mane started walking down the hill towards us. I heard Mek let out of painful groan. I was confused at this change of events, did this buck intend to help us?

The heavy gunner turned his guns on the buck before being swallowed by a ball of fire, causing me to jump several steps back. The heavy armored unicorns backed away from their leader as his munitions exploded from the heat, ending his painful screams with a reverberating blast that knocked me over.

“Anypony else feel like pointing their guns at me?” The buck asked. His horn gave off a glow that matched his topaz eyes. He glared at the two survivors and they balked. “Good, good, wouldn't want to have to ruin any other good equipment. Now, the price for harassing my friend and her lover is...” he said while staring at the two, “everything but your lives, drop your armor and guns and you can return to Rustic alive.”

One of the bucks started to run away, a topaz flare later and there was a wall of fire between the runner and his escape route.

“What's it going to be?” He asked, I could feel his smile from here.

Two minutes later a pile of possessions lay before us. The robed buck turned to Mek.

“Mek my sweet! How have you been! I got you some presents,” and he nudged the pile towards her with his muzzle. Mek threw her wrench at him, he caught it with magic and he let out a sigh, rolling his eyes, “I've missed you too Mek.”

He moved so that he was facing both of us, then to my surprise, offered me his hoof.

“Pleasure to meet you miss bounty, my name's Tabben, not my real name but it's real enough for you. I want to first thank you for being so lovely,” wait, what? “as well as keeping loving company with my mare friend here, and finally for pissing off Wildcard.”

This, Tabben, radiated a level of confidence that made me take several steps back. Mek got in between us, glowering at Tabben.

“Now whats all this about a bounty and pissing off Wildcard?” Mek asked him.

“Exactly!” he replied. He paused for several moments and seeing that Mek wasn't amused continued, “I quote '2000 caps to the mare with the light blue mane with the stripes on her left side, captured and delivered alive' was put on the bounty broadcast last night, as well as details about where said mare was, and the the lovely company she kept. I saw this group leave Rustic not too long ago and decided to follow them, and look what turned up! Now normally I wouldn't leave the comforts of my home to help some random stranger, but this random stranger was a mare, so my good nature shone through and I came to save this striped mare from any mercenaries that would try to lighten Wildcard's day.” His perpetual smile widened as he added, “And to my good fortune, her and my good friend Mek are lovers!”

“We are not!” Mek was quick to correct.

“Oh, so I still have a chance to find my way into your heart, oh praise be to Celestia the wasteland is-” she slapped him and he fell to the ground. He got up, rubbing the side of his face, and let out a sigh.

“Okay Mek, whats going on, last I saw you, you were still with Peg Leg's crew on the ship your heart was anchored to. Tell me, as a friend.” Mek glared at him, then her expression softened as she sighed as well.

“Ship finally sunk, Rain here pulled me out of my rut and I've been following her since, you're here to keep her from being assaulted by bounty hunters?” She asked, Tabben nodded.

“And to poach her virtue from-” and he was slammed into the ground again.

“Is this the buck you were talking about Mek?” I asked. Not sure if I should be alarmed or concerned, which got a cold look from Mek.

“She TALKED about me? You sure you're over your rut dear?” His voice had gone from playful to sympathizing as he continued,  “Need to return to Evercrest and bond with family you left for a seven year bout of guilt?” Mek didn't answer, her head hanging low. Tabben turned to me.

“Your name please, I'd like to know the name of the lovely damsel I'll be protecting.” He requested. I didn't like the idea of this buck protecting me. For one, he killed a pony right in front of me with little provocation, and two, he's giving me and Mek a headache!

“I'm Winter Rain, and I don't want your protection, you didn't need to kill him.” Well, it seemed there are still some fights I can't win, what just happened was evidence enough, but that didn't mean I needed this killers help.

“So I was to let him blow me up,” his brow furrowing, “his sniper take my head off, his goons buck-handle Mek, and turn you in for caps?” He shook his head, noticing my pipbuck, “This is the wasteland, have you ever been in the wasteland? Ponies kill ponies to steal from ponies or to save ponies from ponies.”

“You killed them because it was easy, and then threatened the survivors into giving up their possessions!” Not that stealing their goods had bothered me, it was just something to hold against him. And what was that about a sniper? I turned to look at where the fourth red bar had been, and saw some smoke rising from the hillside behind us. “My mistake, you killed two ponies!” He shrugged in response.

“The price of calling my friend a bitch is steep, the price of aiming at me to kill is steep,  and yes I know the two thugs didn't personally call Mek anything, but they could have at least told the smoldering corpse that that's no way to talk to a lady. Also, I had no intention of killing those two, saying I'd kill them was a bluff, and they fell for it. As for the sniper, anypony that takes upon that role must accept the likelihood of suffering a painful, hateful death.” Tabben declared.

This buck wouldn't be a protector, he'd be a liability, so why wasn't Mek standing up for me?

“Now then, Winter Rain, that's an interesting name,” his grin returned, ”there's power and meaning in names, I wonder if your mother named you, or your father. Winter Rain can stand for the coming of winter in the fall, carrying connotations of death and disappointment, as well as hardship and cold certainty. It could also stand for the coming spring, the return of life and hope for a brighter tomorrow, the shedding away of hardship.” His analysis of my name had me taken aback, he continued, “The names of ponies carries weight over their lives, almost as much as their cutie-marks. I've always wondered if parents realize what they're doing when they name their children, or if they even have control over themselves when they pick the name. Mek hasn't told you her true name, has she?” I shook my head, he nodded in return.

Who exactly is this buck?

”Who ARE you?” I asked, his name wasn't enough, how can a pony this full of himself survive in the wasteland? He cleared his throat.

“I am Tabben, colt of the Evercrest, murderer and philosopher, lover and hater, the most loyal friend you'll ever find, and most hated as well. Passion is my magic, fire is my soul, words are my weapons, and today I'm offering my hoof to you in protection, and maybe someday friendship, maybe. I'm rough around the edges and if not managed carefully, you will be burned, however I am a great asset to have when ones life is on the line. But be warned, I show no mercy to my enemies, and hold betrayal in the highest contempt. A pleasure to meet you Rain,” and he bowed before me.

Dear Celestia, he loves the sound of his own voice.

“Mek, why haven't you said anything, are we really letting him help us?” I asked.

“Wildcard has a price out for you,” she replied, “you're going to need all the help you can get, sweetie.” She gave a weak smile before turning to Tabben, “Ya so much as make a pass at her-”

“I'll be tied to a cannon and tossed into the sea, I know the drill Mek, I'll tease, but I won't touch, she's your friend after all.” Mek was taken aback.

“Whats gotten into ya Tabben? You're not always so... considerate.” Mek asked. This was Tabben being considerate? Tabben thought on that for a moment.

“I'd imagine that you're in the rough of it since your ship sunk, even I know how to act like a friend when I need to.” Tabben said, sounding hurt that Mek had to ask.

“I'd like a word with her, alone if you'd please Mek.” Tabben said as he turned to me.

Mek gave him a skeptic look but moved away so we could talk in private.

“So, I come down here, risk my head for you, and you have the audacity to insult the way I go about it?” He said, anger radiating from him.

“I have no intention of accepting a pony that thinks they're doing me a favor by killing for me,” I stalwartly replied, “even if they're Mek's friend.”

“In that case you should thank Mek, you thankless filly. I didn't come out here to save you, I came out here to screw over Wildcard. You are nothing. The fact that you've helped Mek is the only reason I'm still going to help you after saying what you've said. I don't care about your story, and I don't care about your stripes. The second Mek is done with you, you are on your own. This is the Celestia damned wasteland, get your head out of your flank and smell the ashes.” He said.

We shared a glare for a couple moments before Mek cleared her throat, breaking the spell.

“Well, lets move on to Rustic,” Tabben said while turning to Mek, “it's safer there,”  looking between the two of us, he asked, “What's the plan, were you heading to Sandstone, and where after that? Just feel like pointing out that Sandstone isn't going to be safe for you Rain.”

“They're going to be looking for stripes right? I should be fine if I cover up.” I suggested, Tabben looked skeptical, and appraised me, then Mek.

“Mek, I'd recommend putting some of that heavy armor on, you're gonna need it if you intend to keep her company,” he said, pulling out one of the sets in the pile to her. Mek begrudgingly did so.

After fitting it on, she took one of the saddlebags and switched out the items in her utility barding to the bags. She clearly didn't like removing her barding, but she took caution over comfort. She was now padded down with light gray barding that covered her sides and chest, as well as the fronts of her legs. The armor looked heavy, but she didn't seem hampered by the weight.

“We'll need to buy you something at Rustic, but as I said, it'll be safe there. I'm friends with the entire town.” Tabben said, “So, the plan?”

Mek turned to me, looks like I was steering this ship.

“We're going to Sandstone to gather information, if I can't find what I'm looking for then I'll instead be looking for a boat that'll take me to Tenpo- no, Friendship City. After that I'll be out of both of your manes.” And Tabben will be out of mine. Mek, for some reason, didn't seem too happy about that.

“Sounds like something resembling a plan,” Tabben said, “but first, Rustic. We'll be there a few hours before nightfall, but I think it best to sleep there rather then out in the wasteland. Leaving in the morning, we'll make it to Sandstone by mid afternoon if we avoid any stops.”

It sounded reasonable, and that annoyed me. I nodded and after Mek picked up the pilfered goods, we continued on our way, our obnoxious buck in tow.

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 4.

New Perk: Running Circles - You deal 20% additional damage to stationary targets.

4. The Rustic Route

I had thought I knew what a village was. Seeing the zebra town nestled against the sea yesterday, with its three small structures, gave me the impression that settlements in the wasteland were small and easily hidden.

We could see Rustic an hour before we arrived.

It was settled on top of a large flat hill, with rocky structures having shapes too defined to be natural. Compared to the zebra village, Rustic was a city! Easily having somewhere over ten structures, I started to wonder, if Rustic is just a town outside of Sandstone, how big was Sandstone?

When we got closer I saw a path that spiraled up and around the hill into Rustic. A stone wall wrapped around the towns edge with only one entrance.

Tabben had spent the hours trying to coax Mek to tell a story or two about the time she was sailing with the pirates. Instead, Mek spent most of her time messing with her armor and appreciating the terrain. I felt that it would be a good idea to follow her example, and steeled myself for when he inevitably decided to talk to me.

"So," Tabben said next to me, catching me off guard, "you're a wanted mare. Bounty hunters are after you for an easy 2000, and even after learning the name of the mare who placed the bounty, you don't feel like asking about them?"

Oh horseapples, I did want to ask, but to ask him? Mek seems to know a little, but considering Tabbens got it in for this Wildcard, he probably knows more. I guess I'll have to ask, I think I can manage a little inquiry with the buck. At least I hope I can manage.

“Yes, I'm curious, you said mare?” Guess that excludes the buck on the terminal back in Destiny Labs, “Why would she want me? And why do you want to keep her from me?” I asked.

“Well, yes, she's a mare.” he paused for a moment before taking a deep breath,  “Wildcard, the name for a pony who doesn't work for herself, despite what she thinks. She's used by others to great affect, often turning the tide on conflict in her bosses favor. She changes hooves often, and will be played till she is discarded.” He nodded to himself, his brow furrowed as he was considering something, then continued, “I don't like her for personal reasons, suffice it to say that ruining any endeavor she's involved in is worth my interest. If it'll sate your curiosity, she's the only other pony that knows my true name, and I hate my true name, that's reason enough for you to know.”

No, it isn't, but pressing this matter wasn't going to be worth the effort, so I decide to change my line of questioning.

“And what would she want with-” I asked before being interrupted.

“Don't know, ask her employer. She doesn't personally care about you. She set up the bounty for whoever is calling the shots for her. And trying to find out who's got Wildcard in play wouldn't be easy, she changes hooves so often I don't bother keeping track even if I do find something.” He explained. “Maybe you should be asking yourself, 'why would anypony want to capture me?'” he suggested.

“Maybe when you sprung that trap back at the research facility, some pony didn't like it and got Wildcard to put the bounty out.” Mek offered.

The timing did line up, he said the bounty went out the same night I sprung the trap. Maybe it was that dark blue buck with silver hair that was 'playing' Wildcard. If he set up the trap, he must have seen the records as well. Was I being hunted because of those recordings?

'If you see a pony with a gold cutie-mark and sapphire eyes, please kill them.'

I saw it now, going into Sandstone would be beyond dangerous, I'd need to cover my features, or sneak in somehow. Could I manage that with just Mek?

I haven't accepted Tabben's help. If I can manage to separate him from us, I can rid myself of this fiery killer, then I won't need to worry about him killing any more ponies for me. But for now I'll just bide my time, we can split after Rustic.

Climbing the ramp to Rustic, my mind wandered from that problem, to the prospect of seeing a town of ponies. I was honesty having a tough time trying to picture it. I certainly hoped that Tabben's assurances of the towns safety was justified. The image of twenty or more ponies jumping at me for the 2000 caps couldn't leave my head.

We reached the front gate, A large double metal door, made of scrap, denied us entry. The door was rusty of course, everything in the wasteland is rusty. To either side of the gate on the wall was a pony in heavy armor, guns trained on us. They were yellow on my EFS.

“Tabben's back, with his 'catch', open the gate,” one of the ponies said. As the doors swung open I could feel Tabben's grin as he walked in. My EFS Assured me of my safety and I cleared my head of the picture of a big pony pile falling on me. I followed Tabben and Mek inside. The gate closed behind us, becoming latched with a metal bar.

The buildings I saw from a distance, and on our climb up, had been the tall ones. The tallest buildings were three stories high. Two story buildings were the most numerous. The buildings had open windows with no apparent means to close. Windows on the first floor were small and barred, but the windows on higher floors were wide enough for a small pony to fit through.

On the street I could see a number of ponies. Some moving from building to building, others working with some two headed beast tied to a wagon. To my surprise, the beast was talking to the ponies, both heads! Since nopony was freaking out, I assumed that was the norm. The wasteland was a strange place.

I also noticed, from what I could see, that there were twice as many mares as bucks. None of the ponies gave us their attention, finding whatever task they we on being more important.

“Welcome to Rustic, Mek, Bounty.” Tabben said.

“Its Rain, don't call me bounty.” I ordered.

“Apologize and I will, till then, enjoy your new nickname!” Was he really a pony? Maybe he was an ass who simply resembled a pony. An ass with a magical horn that set ponies on fire. Curses.

We trotted on, Tabben had a destination in mind, of course he did. Following him, I heard laughter behind me and before I could check the source something bumped into me, almost knocking me over. Looking behind I saw a small unicorn with a cyan coat sitting down, rubbing her face in pain. A filly?

This was my first time seeing a filly, and I quickly learned something about myself I had never been aware of before. Children are adorable. Feeling a slight breeze past me, I got on my hooves and helped the filly back up. She must have been at least six years younger then myself, she had a cutie-mark of a bag of caps fallen over, its contents spilt.

“Sorry for running into you miss, I didn't look where I was-” she started before looking past me, her eyes wide before being downcast.

Following her gaze, I saw Tabben had a filly pegasus with a copper coat grabbed by his magic, he took a bag from her and put her on the ground, she looked at him a little embarrassed. Giving her a 'tut-tut-tut', he then levitated the bag to me. What in Luna's name, stealing from a filly, there are some ponies you don't steal from! I kept myself from pulling Trust out and rounded on Tabben.

“I don't want it you, you, bastard! Give that back to her!” I ordered him. He looked at me for a moment, his expression was neutral, as it was when he took the bag from the pegasus. He then smiled.

“As you wish miss Bounty, here you go Golden, you can keep your hard earned caps, the mare insists on it. Make sure you share it with Penny.” The pegasus looked from Tabben to me to the cyan unicorn and back to me before speaking up.

“Thanks for that miss, we appreciate it!” she enthusiastically said, and she quickly flew over to the other filly and they both left, “We'll talk later Tabby!”

“Stealing. From. A. Filly!?” I approached Tabben, each word punctuated by a stomp of my hooves.

“I'll admit, that is pretty low,” he replied, “good thing I have a smart wasteland pony like you at my side, just up and willing to part with their caps like that.” Why was he still smiling?

Wait. There was a double meaning in his words. He didn't see me as a smart wasteland pony, so just up and willing to part with their caps...

'Their' caps, my caps.

I checked my pipbuck, to see that all my caps were gone. I hadn't had much, only a small handful from the raiders, less then one hundred caps, but they were still gone. Those fillies stole from me?

“They stole from me?” I asked, not quite sure if that had actually happened or if Tabben was playing some trick on me.

“As I recall, I was about to give you your measly number of caps back from a friend of mine, when you decided to let my friend keep said caps. So no, they did not steal from you. So you don't have to fret on the idea that a pair of fillies just played you, or that yours truly just tried to help you. Because you know, they didn't steal from you.” He said, with that damn grin of his.

Oh great, Mek was grinning with him!

“Ayep, that's how it went down, saw the whole thing, was mighty nice of you Rain,” she said.

I had a choice, be mad at the fillies, or at my 'companions'. Before I could figure out some way to make their caps vanish in a puff of smoke, I noticed a pair of red bars on my EFS, changing my mood from controlled anger to quiet alarm.

“Someponies want to hurt us,” I said quietly, eyeing the pair, I continued, “those two near the three story building with the large barrels in front.”

Mek glanced over, Tabben didn't, he kept walking ahead, waving for us to follow.

A short building caught my eye, Aid Center was written on a rusty cross, in the window was a small piece of paper that said 'Don't worry, we've got the antidote!' The antidote for what? The wasteland? Wouldn't that be something. We trotted past it to a building on the other side of the road.

Tabben had led us to a loud building with three stories. This building was bigger then most of the others, and it had a makeshift sign hanging from a rail over the door, naming this place the 'Broken Chains Bar'.

Walking inside, the mare to buck ratio didn't change. Many ponies sat around tables, some playing with small pieces of paper, cards, others were eating and drinking.

Almost all of them looked up from what they were doing and caught sight of us. I noticed conflicting expressions from all the mares when they eyed Tabben. They varied from angry to happy to annoyed to longing. Several of the mares glared at me and Mek!

The ponies that could see my stripes gave me appraising looks, but besides that, nopony did anything else than look. Tabben went to the bar on the far wall, behind the bar was a brown earth mare who was looking at Tabben like a pest.

“Barkeep, I'll have a Wildfire!” he requested.

Barkeep sagged a little, Tabben went from pest to trouble with a single sentence.

“One Wildfire,” Barkeep said after clearing her throat, “coming up! And it's Vintage, not barkeep!”

The atmosphere in the room shifted slightly, I noticed several ponies pull out their guns and put them on the table, but still continued their business. I was not liking anything about this. Tabben led us here to be captured! Vintage pored Tabben a mixed drink, and before giving it over she lit the drink, it was on fire!

Tabben fiddled with the drink as the front door opened up. The two bucks I saw on my EFS had arrived, they quickly spotted me and walked over. Both of them had revolvers holstered to their shoulders, the one on the left was taller, with a black coat, while the one on the right had a dirty gray coat; both were earth ponies.

“You'll be coming with us, miss, you're wanted, and we're gonna bring you in. Keep your hooves where we can see them and nopony will get hurt.” The taller one said.

Mek got in front of me, she was taller then both, and more intimidating in her armor.

“You ain't taking nopony anywhere, ya follow?” she said, Tabben was still fiddling with his drink.

In a blink, both bucks had their guns out, aimed at Meks head, but they hesitated, and I saw why. Everypony but me, Tabben and Mek, had a gun aimed on them. Tabben turned around, levitating his drink nearby.

“Now, look here you two," he started, "this is Rustic, maybe you're new here, so let me tell you how things go down here. If you are an outsider, and you fire a gun, and that includes your guns, you will be shot, by their guns.” Tabben said, indicating everypony in the bar. “Now I know you want the bounty on her, that's fair, bounties are jobs after all. Just don't do your job on Rustic soil, it's best for your health, follow?”

After a small pause, that I think only Mek and myself felt tense over, they holstered their guns.

“Good, now that you're aware of Rustic's law, let me tell you about my law.” He walked closer, he downed the drink with practiced ease and nudged Mek to the side. He was standing in front of the bucks, they eyed him cautiously, “Pointing a gun at my friend, could get you killed, but I'm in a good mood right now, so I'll only make you run for your lives.”

His magic flared, and a wall of fire wrapped around Tabben and the bucks, severing the three from the rest of the room, besides the front door. I backed away from the wall, feeling the heat. I didn't want to be near his damned magic. The door opened, and Tabben, staring at them, fear now clear in their eyes, gave an order.

“Run.”

And they ran, leaving the bar, the door was closed behind them and the wall of fire dissipated, the floor and nearby tables looked completely fine. On the floor lay two guns, did they drop their weapons when they fled? I could have sworn they holstered them. Tabben, looking at the door, shrugged and turned back to Vintage.

“A round for everypony. Celestia blessed be for Rustic hospitality!” He exclaimed, and the rest of the bar cheered! He turned to Mek and I, “Told you it would be safe here.”

No, that wasn't safe, Mek could have lost her head right there!

“Safe? Mek could have died, and you call that safe!?” My blood was pounding, no, I could not stay with him to Sandstone, Mek and I are going to leave tonight, without him. He gave a long, drawn out sigh, and Mek turned to me.

“Rain, he knew what he was doing, I'm certain everything was managed,” She turned to him, “right?” a touch of warning in her voice.

“That's right,” he nodded, “Spitshine had her magic ready in case they fired, revolvers need the hammer to hit the bullet to fire, and she had her magic on them.” Tabben levitated the guns to a mare sitting near us, “That's her, she gets the guns for the extra security during that 'scuff'.” The mare nodded at Tabben and went back to her meal, after pocketing the guns. “Don't worry, yee of little faith, somepony like me lives as long as I have by being as capable as I am.”

A white buck with a large brown, round and flat hat had walked in, spotted Tabben and addressed him.

“Now Tabben, whats this I hear about you ordering a Wildfire?” He asked.

Tabben gave the white buck an embellished retelling of the events. I caught during the conversation that the buck was a sheriff, he seemed to be in charge of keeping the peace in Rustic. Tabben's tale included me and going to Sandstone, and the sheriff looked pleased by that.

“In that case you can take Golden Blur and Penny Shine back with you.” The sheriff said, catching Tabben off guard and interrupting his story.

“Wait, they need to go back? Now isn't the best time, that mare has bounty hunters after her, I can't take the fillies with me while I'm with her.” Tabben glanced at us and asked, “Can we continue this in private?” The sheriff nodded and Tabben turned to Mek, “You can get a room here for the night, I have responsibilities to take care of, I'll see you in the morning.”

Mek gave him a nod. Tabben and the sheriff left the bar and I turned to Mek.

“Can we talk?” I asked, and she nodded. She got us a room from Vintage and we took our conversation there.

Our room was on the first floor, a small window let the sunset's light inside. There were two cots and a small stone slab in-between to rest things on, nestled next to the wall.

“I don't want us to travel with Tabben, lets leave during the night. We can make it around sunrise and not have to worry about the bounty hunters at night.” I suggested.

“And why do you want to do that, an extra hoof would be best. Tabben's good at taking care of heavily armed ponies, and your bounty will mean dealing with heavily armed ponies. I can understand not wanting to put up with him, but there's still safety in numbers.” She replied.

“He's also a killer!” I can't seem to get that across.

“Sweetie, every pony in the bar is probably a killer, in case you forgot, I killed a pony just yesterday,” she raised an eyebrow at me, “I don't recall you hating my guts after that happened. Tabben kills, but he does have rules, that's better then most ponies.”

It was true, Mek killed yesterday, and I'm certain she's killed before we even meet. Ponies kill ponies to steal things from ponies or to save ponies from ponies. I didn't want to admit that he was right, that somepony like Tabben was the norm, that killing at the drop of a hat was how things worked in the wasteland.

Everypony in the bar had been ready to shoot the bucks that threatened me and Mek, simply because they were about to cause trouble. The wasteland is a cruel and dangerous place; the ponies here have lived it their whole lives, and I haven't.

My island was almost the wasteland, a small bit dangerous, but it didn't have raiders or radiation or monsters, besides the occasional sealurk. Compared to everpony in this town, I've lived a sheltered life.

I don't want to kill ponies, but I suppose that doesn't give me the right to hate ponies that kill to survive. I'm starting to understand now why Tabben lashed at me earlier. Tabben had been willing to return my caps, despite his dislike of me. The people of Rustic know him, and though the ponies seem to have mixed feeling about him, I did see one common thread between them, respect.

“Mek, are you two actually friends?” I asked, they were both from Evercrest, they seem to have some history together, but I want to hear her say it.

“...Yes, we're friends,” but she quickly added, “don't tell him I said that or I'll buck you to the moon. He'll kick ya when your down, and pick ya up from the dirt afterwards. He's full of himself, but he's not a bad pony. He'll deny it if ya ask, but he goes to the slave auction when he's got the caps and buys a few ponies their freedom, then brings them here.”

“Slave auction?” Something else I knew nothing about.

“Right, there are ponies called slavers that sell other ponies to ponies. Ponies sold by slavers are slaves. They have no freedom, live miserable lives, and usually die shortly after becoming slaves. There's a market in Sandstone for the slavers to sell them.” As her explanation was given to me, I felt myself getting angry again. Damn the wasteland, there were ponies that stole another ponies entire life? Their freedom, possessions, everything!? Wait, was that what Peg Leg had in store for me? Ruby had spared me from that. And Tabben as sparing other ponies of that fate?

I, honestly, did not expect that. Horsesapples. I'm going to have to apologize to the damn buck. I wondered, if things had gone differently, had Ruby not been on that ship, would I have been freed by Tabben?

“So, are we still going to run off in the night?” Mek asked.

“No, we aren't. Um, Mek,” I hesitatingly asked, “Could you ask Tabben to be, well, less murderous around me?” She shook her head.

“Tabben doesn't like ya,” she replied, “if ya want him to do that, you'll have to ask him yer-self. If you want him to play nice, you need to play nice too.”

Well, that's going to be all sorts of humble goodness. Maybe killing in the wasteland is necessary, but as long as I'm traveling with company, I'm going to insist on my companions being less bloodthirsty. I have to tip the scales after all.

“That... sounds fair. Lets sell that equipment Tabben gave you and resupply as best we can here. Oh, I'll also need to pick up something to cover my stripes.” I said. Since I have come to admire the alteration to my side, I'm a little sour that I need to cover it up.

Leaving the Broken Chains bar, its name carrying new meaning, we looked for a shop to exchange the items we've gotten since the ship ran aground. Selling ammo for guns we don't have that we got from the raiders, the extra set of heavy armor and two rifles, and scrap metal. I considered selling the drugs I got from the ship, but decided to hold on to them. I was curious about their effects, but have yet to find an appropriate moment to look into it. I didn't want to sell the healing talisman here, that could wait for Sandstone.

We got ammo for our guns, Mek replaced the gun she was using for a combat shotgun, less reloading, and in better condition, and I got myself a new length of rope. The most important purchase however, was also one of the cheaper items, a brush! My mane and that brush were going to have a terrible battle sometime in the next few hours.

I also managed to get some light barding from the exchange, it covered my vitals with some padding, and it covered my stripes, so, conventional and obscuring! It looked new, it was dark blue and it looked like some embedded letters on the side were removed. It only covered my body, my legs were still exposed, which worked for me, I didn't want to be slowed down by armor.

Leaving the shop, I almost bumped into the pegasus that I had 'given' my caps too. We looked at each other for a moment, and a grin grew on her face.

“Any chance I could get my caps back?” I asked her, my tone neither commanding or threatening. She considered it for a moment.

“You want the caps back? Okay, I'll give it back if you catch me, sound good to you?” She asked, looking to make a game out of my caps.

I looked the filly over, copper coat with a golden mane, which was braided, as well as the end of her tail, it was something I tried once, it takes time and effort to braid ones tail or mane with just hooves. She also didn't have a cutie-mark, I think I was younger than she is now when I got my own cutie-mark. Looking at me with her golden eyes, I smiled, and glanced to Mek.

Why not make a game out of it?

“On the condition that you can't fly higher then two meters.” I answered. She giggled and was off. She was fast!

So was I.

“I'll meet you back at the room!” I yelled to Mek as I bolted after the filly.

On my island, there was nopony to play with. There's only so many times you can read your mothers medical reports before it becomes beyond boring. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't alone, but a ghost makes for a poor playmate. On my island I had to make my own fun. The trees and foliage were varied and chaotic, I made it a challenge to race a whole lap around the island. I was racing against myself, my pipbuck keeping track of time; I worked to beat the clock. I guess if there's anything that would attribute to me being light on my hooves, it would be that. And also the whole half-as-heavy as a normal pony my stature because of the megaspell taint.

Chasing that filly brought that all back to me. She would fly up to the tops of the one floor buildings, and I would surprise her by jumping up onto it. She'd go through twisted corridors, using her size to her advantage, I'd work around it with a creative stunt that would prompt a 'that was awesome' from her. She was having fun, and so was I. For the first time, I was racing against another pony, the finish line being if I lost sight of her, or one of us tired out. We moved at the same speed, she was more agile, I was more enduring. We raced with everything we had, ignoring the odd looks or complaints from anypony we moved around.

Not wanting this race to end with the filly losing to fatigue, I came up with an idea. When it came to reaching things out of ones reach, pegasai would fly to it, unicorns would use magic, what did earth ponies like me have? Ingenuity, or in this case, a rope. Wanting to always beat my time, a rope always made the course more dynamic, hook a branch and swinging around it always shaved off some time. There was plenty of time to practice, making it easy to work with, I could wield it almost as an extension of myself. And for the first time since leaving my island, I had some rope to use.

Getting the rope in my mouth, I prepared a lasso and waited for a moment to let it fly. The copper and gold filly slowed around to make a sharp turn and I lunged, While in mid jump the rope went out, I saw it almost reach her, but she slipped away.

I couldn't keep up with her and re-roll the rope, so I left it behind and continued the chase-

Where did she go?

“Using a rope is cheating!” She said from behind me.

I didn't even look, I jumped back, right towards the voice. I heard a light squeak as I hit something soft behind me. I curled around as I hit the ground and jumped to the filly that fell beside me, landing over her, I tapped my hoof on her head.

“Gotcha!” I said, victorious.

“You cheated, it doesn't count.” she pouted. I nodded in agreement.

“In that case, you can keep the caps, the chase was well worth it.” I admitted. She looked at me in surprise and smiled.

“You're fast lady, I've never seen an earth pony keep up with me!” she praised, then added, “I'm Golden Blur, fastest pegasus on Sandstone island!” her chest puffed out with bravado, “But you can call me Golden. You and Tabby friends? Looked like he was teasing you when he was going to give you back your caps.”

“No, we're not friends,” I considered for a moment, “We're acquaintances that got off on the wrong start.”

“Aquainti-whats?” she replied, then asked, “Well, that's okay too, Tabby is gonna go to Sandstone tomorrow, and we're going with, you coming to?”

Wait, this filly and her unicorn friend were the ones the sheriff was talking about? If they're coming with us tomorrow, I'd be putting them at risk. I guess Tabben will manage to keep them here, he is a capable pony after all, right?

“Yea, I'll be there tomorrow, but its going to be dangerous, you should probably stay here with Penny.” I said, I do NOT want to be responsible for a fillies death, least of all this one, or her friend.

“Its always dangerous, crossing to Sandstone is never safe, but at least with Tabby and you and the big orange one in the awesome armor, it should be something close to safe, right?” Something was missing from that list.

“What about your parents?” I asked, oh, dear that was not a happy look on her face.

“Its always dangerous, crossing to Sandstone,” was all she said in regards to that. Open mouth insert hoof. I needed to bring her back to the happy cloud we were on...

“...Race you to the bar!” and I was off before she could answer.

“What, no, hey!” was all I heard in reply. The bar was several buildings away and I moved like the wind. After my mad dash I was surprised she wasn't waiting at the bar for me, I'm pretty sure she would have won if she had flown over the buildings. I heard hooves touch the ground behind me, and my competitor said “You really are fast.”

“I thought you'd fly over the buildings, guess I won this one fair and square.” I said with a small amount of pride in my voice. I continued, “You should head to bed, its getting late, I'll talk to Tabben when I next see him about our trip tomorrow.” I wasn't going to let the fillies follow us, but I felt I should see what Tabben's take on it was, there must be more involved if the sheriff asked him too do it.

“Good night miss,” and she turned to leave.

“It's Rain, call me Rain, Golden. G'night.” I said, and she smiled at me, fluttering off into the night.

I went inside, not looking forward to the pill I was about to swallow, I owed somepony an apology, and I can see him throwing it into my face.

Or at least, I would have done that, but somepony had left their only rope back in the ally. And I wasn't leaving Rustic without a good set of rope. Heading back to the ally, I heard something behind as I was gathering the rope.

I was hit, hard. I went flying right into a stone wall, my face smashing into it, and everything went dark.

I stirred from a dreamless sleep to a be woken by pain, like I had been hit hard by something solid and wall-ish.

I could feel the heat of a fire nearby to one side and the cold touch of night on my other side. Opening my eyes, I found myself outside. Of Rustic. The buck with the gray coat back at the bar was sitting opposite of the embering campfire, his back to me, keeping an eye on the wasteland.

Trying not to make a noise, I got up on my hooves- My hooves were bound. My saddlebags were on the ground near the buck, but I still had my barding on. Horseapples, how was I going get out of this. Eyeing the rope my hooves were bound in, I began to suspect this was the same rope I went to retrieve in the ally that got me in this mess.

Remembering that the gray buck had a partner, I looked around to spot him, and noticed a sleeping pony a few paces from me and assumed that was him. Since I was stuck for the moment, I appraised myself as best I could. The throbbing in my head was still present, I suspected I had a bump, or at worst, a concussion. Through my breathing I could also feel that a couple of my ribs were bruised. I winced in pain, no, one of them was definitely fractured.

As I lay there thinking, I figured something out. A pony with a bounty on their head was a pony with their freedom stripped. Putting a price on my head meant there anywhere I went, there would be somepony hunting me for the caps. Wildcard stole my freedom by placing that bounty on me, I wish I knew why. And now I was captured, my hooves bound, my freedom truly lost.

During my line of thinking, my captor noticed that I was awake.

“I'd recommend not being to loud, don't want to attract any critters, and Bash wouldn't like to be woken up,” the gray buck warned. I doubted I'd be doing myself any favors screaming, especially with injured ribs.

Well, this is great. I went and got myself caught! I should have been paying more attention, just because Tabben scared them off didn't mean they left Rustic. Curses, now how was I going to get out of this. I couldn't count on anypony saving me, I wouldn't count on it, I needed to find a way out of this.

Hooves roped together, I could probably chew through, but I doubted my guard would fail to notice. Turning my head around slowly, I worked to get a grasp of the terrain. There were a good number or dead shrubs and broken rocks around, the camp was set to the side of a large rock, hiding the campsite from that direction, which I assumed was where Rustic was, cause I couldn't spot any trace of it from the other directions. In the night, its easy to spot a light source, I'm certain there would be something to give Rustic away.

After spending an hour, maybe two trying to come up with some idea to get free, I heard a light clicking noise out in the distance. The guard noticed too, he got on his hooves and moved over to me, looking out into the night. We both stared into the night, him with a look of fear, me with curiosity. Then a new bar showed up on EFS, it was red.

“Something's coming,” I warned, then noticed several bars show up, “a number of somethings!” Now I was afraid, the clicking was getting louder, and the buck woke his companion. I could now make out several things scurrying in the dark towards us. Before I could make out any details the taller buck, now awake and aware, dragged me away from them and put my back to the rock overlooking the camp. After double checking that the rope was secure, he went to the other bucks side and got a shotgun ready.

The clicking became intense, the red mess on my EFS was almost upon us. The firing began.

There were more than six of them, half as big as a pony, they stood low to the ground on eight legs, four to each side, with a pair of large claws that were longer and sharper then the claws on sealurks. The creatures had a tail that stood raised back above their bodies, that ended in a barb.

The two bucks moved, keeping out of range of their attacks, while firing back. In my bound state I was still able to roll, awkwardly, so I took the opportunity and tried to get out of there in the least dignified manner presentable, I rolled out. Either the bucks didn't notice, or were unable to deal with me, I was however, pursued by one of the critters. It was difficult to keep away from its claws, I tried to line one of its attacks to line up with my hooves to get at the rope, but my legs got cut deeply for my effort. Thankfully the rope fared less than my legs did.

With my hooves free, I rolled and painfully got some distance from it. I was quickly becoming lightheaded from blood loss, it had really cut deep. I hobbled past the creature, I needed to reach my supplies if I was gonna get my legs in a condition that facilitated fleeing.

As it came at me, I dodged its claws, but felt its tail catch my flank. Getting some distance on it, I returned to the camp and saw that my captors had fallen to the beasts, two of them, not including the one that stung me, were feasting on their bodies. The others were mowed down by the dead bucks final battle. I was starting to feel sick as I got my to my bags. Fumbling with a potion,  I quickly and messily pored it over the cuts in my legs. Slinging my saddlebags on my back, I started to get out of there when my stomach interrupted me with a proud display of its contents on the wasteland dirt. The purge of my stomach gave the thing chasing me a chance at another pass, I rolled under its attack and moved away.

The other monsters took notice of me and started on me, but I got out of there. With my legs relatively healed, I ran. On the other side of the rock hiding the camp I did indeed see the small lights of Rustic, wanting to put as much distance between me and those things, I sprinted. As I ran I noticed that this was an odd direction to approach Rustic. The mercenaries seemed to take me in the opposite direction of Sandstone. Why was that?

I was having trouble thinking straight, the pain in my chest kept growing, reminding me of a nearby remedy, I downed two healing potions, and the pain in my chest lessened, but my head was still hazy, and my leg throbbed.

Time seemed to slip from me, my awareness falling apart. One moment I was at the bottom of the ramp and next thing I noticed was the closed gate before me. I asked the guards to let me in, they were kind enough to do so.

As the gate opened I took a few steps into Rustic before I was swallowed by fatigue and weakness.

Zerkash was sitting at a stone table, drinking some greenish liquid that smelled of grass. He was sitting with two others, a tall dark buck, and a gray buck. The bucks that captured me.

Taking in my surroundings, I found myself in the Busted Chains Bar. The exit to the bar was the familiar door with the rusty latch.

The two bucks looked at me, wanting to say something, but chose not to. They got up and went to the door, looking back at the zebra, then went through and the door closed behind them.

Wait, they were with me too?

Only for as long as it took me to convince them to move on. They are not the first I've seen here, I doubt they'd be the last.

They weren't? Did everypony that died near me come to this door? Am I some sort of lobby separating the dead from the ever after.

Heh, that probably wouldn't be to far off, Rain. The raider, the two hunters from earlier, and those two just now. At first they all wanted to stay, but I convinced them that the other side was better. The other side is not the wasteland, so it was a pretty easy thing to do.

What would happen if they had stayed?

Then you would change. They have influence over you while in this 'lobby'. It is subtle and you have managed to shrug it off, but I suspect that if it became crowded here, you would lose yourself.

Oh that was not a happy prospect. That was all kinds of terrible, the regretful dead controlling me, warping me. The idea scared me.

It would be best if I avoided any wholesale slaughters in the future.

Wait, why did Zerkash still stay with me?

Because I did not want to leave the wasteland. It is a terrible place where horrible things happen, but I know of a fool that wants to 'tip the scales'. So I stay, to help any way I can. Such as teaching how to swing a harpoon.

He smiled at me and took a sip from his drink. He chose to stay by my side over going to the ever after, why would anyzebra make that choice?

Because you're a fool that cared. No-zebra is waiting for me on the other side, so I shall stay and help the only pony that cared.

He lifted his hoof to the table and a second mug appeared, filled with the same green water.

Care to try some tea?

I sat with him and took a sip from the cup, it had a very earthly taste, and made me feel nostalgic for the grass back home. We drank in silence for a little bit. When my drink emptied Zerkash stood up.

Lets make do with the time we have right now, pick up your spear, we shall spar.

Would sparring in a dream actually make me better at fighting?

Not physically, but it will help you be mentally prepared for fighters that have more skill than to simply shoot a gun.

The tables dissipated, and a spear appeared to both our sides, and feeling neither fatigue nor short of breath, we sparred. He was better, I was defeated often, but each strike recovered immediately, and surely over the sparring I saw what he meant.

We sparred and sparred, until I caught a faint smell of a morning breeze..

Looks like time is up, move forward Rain, the day is new and has need of you.

The smell of a cool morning breeze brought me out from the lobby. Opening my eyes painfully, I found myself in a very comfy cot, there was another smell in the air that felt oddly nostalgic. It was odd cause I was certain I'd never smelled it before, and looking around I saw medical supplies in the room, my saddlebags and barding were near my cot. There were several other cots, all empty, and at the back of the room near the only door was a purple unicorn writing something with her magic.

“Where am I?” I rasped out, I could use a drink, the tea was nice, but it didn't sate my very real thirst. My voice made the mare jump and turn to me in surprise.

“Oh, you're awake.” she composed herself before continuing, “You're in Rustics aid center, you collapsed at the gate last night suffering from the late stages of rad-scorpion poisoning, one of our late guards recognized you and brought you here for treatment, congrats by the way, not too many places have rad-scorpion anti-venom on hand.” She said.

Well, I now had a name for those critters, rad-scorpions. Poison, that was in my mothers notes, anti-venom wasn't common in the wasteland and death by poison was often unavoidable.

“Why do you have it?”

“Rad-scorpions are a common threat in the quarry, stings are treated, and tails are collected to make the anti-venom.” she explained, then added, “You needn't worry about the cost of the anti-venom, the young filly covered you, her name was... Golden? Since you're awake I'll go inform the sheriff, he wanted to talk to you about a request.”

I wonder what that was going to be about.

“Where's Tabben, and Mek?” I asked.

“Tabben? I heard that Tabben came yesterday, caused a little trouble at the bar, and left a few hours later to chase after a mare, like he always does.” She said with a hint of amusement, “Afraid I don't know anypony named Mek, sorry.”

Chase after a mare, they must have left to search for me. But we didn't run into each other, did they head to Sandstone to find me? Either thinking I was caught, or I ran away, Sandstone would be the best destination to look for me. I'd have to leave soon if I were to catch up...

No, its already too late, if they traveled all night then they would have reached Sandstone by now, I don't know if they'll figure out I'm back at Rustic, and I cannot assume they will. I'll need to leave once the sheriff says what he needs to.

“You're free to move about the room, I'll be back in a couple minutes.” the unicorn said before departing.

I got out of bed and moved about, taking in, well, everything. I saw implements and tools for medicine I'd only read about, and I was taking the time to look over all of them.

Reading about them was one thing, but seeing them gave another layer of understanding to how they were to be used. There was a small box with the three pink butterflies on it attached to the wall, locked, the cabinets were locked as well, I could see why she wasn't too worried about a stranger being left alone in here.

While I was admiring a stethoscope, the mare returned with the sheriff. The white buck with the stylish hat appraised me.

“You're heading to Sandstone, right miss?”  he asked.

“As soon as possible.” I replied.

“In that case I'd like to request that you escort two fillies to Sandstone, Golden Blur and Penny Shine. I saw you and Golden running about the town last night, so with your combined speed you should make it there unharmed.” The sheriff said. I was surprised by his request, and a little upset.

“You're asking a mare who's just passing through, who never BEEN to Sandstone before, to escort two fillies across the wasteland?” I asked incredulously. He did look a little uncomfortable after hearing that.

“Well, its either that or they'll run off on their own, they're part of Orphanage, and they have an important message to deliver to the gang in Sandstone. I'm not ordering you do escort them, I'm asking. I don't want them to travel alone, and Tabben would be cross with me if I did. I don't like dealing with an angry Tabben-,” he looked at me, hope in his eyes. There was no way this was going to end well.

“Fine, I'll go with them.” and I heard a yippee from outside the window, “On the condition that she shows me how to use this.” I pulled out the healing talisman from my bags and pointed it towards the unicorn, her eyes widening in surprise.

An instructional lesson later informed me of the power of the talisman and how to use it. Healing talismans are not normally used for raw healing, and are instead used in combination of medical equipment to augment the healing process. A healing talisman has a set amount of healing in it that regenerates over time, and equipment optimize this output. A talisman can be used without equipment, but depending on the injury being addressed, there's the risk of the talisman burning out and becoming useless.

“Thanks for the information, as well as treating me.” A thought crossed my mind, “I was wondering if I could buy some medical equipment. Nothing big, just small things like a scalpel, surgical thread, tweezers and so on.” I asked the purple unicorn.

“Oh, anything to aid a fellow medic, and thank you for the opportunity to aid a zony, don't see to many around these parts, it was a real treat.” she replied.

A zony? The child of a pony and zebra, I guess with my stripes I could pass as one. Not feeling inclined to point out I wasn't born with these stripes, I purchased some medical tools and after a kind farewell left for the general store.

I needed to buy a new set of rope, as well as some alcohol from the bar, I'd need something to sterilize my new equipment.

With all that in mind, the sheriff told the fillies to meet me at the bottom of the ramp to Rustic. As I waited for them I pondered to how we were going to cross the distance with speed, I doubted Penny could move as fast as myself and Golden. Maybe if I carried her?

Penny arrived first, telling me that Golden needed to get something together and that it will take a bit of time.

“So, have any stories?” she asked me, “You know, some sort of adventure where you fought off a giant sea monster, or raided an island of hidden treasure, or maybe how you met Tabben?” she fired off. Thinking over it, I didn't see a reason not too, and I decided to tell her the story of a particular shark.

She was taken by my story, I wasn't very good at telling it, and she kept asking me for details, but I filled her in as best I could.

“And then it exploded? Did it explode twice? It would be so awesome if it did!” she proclaimed. I doubted I'd still be alive if it had indeed exploded twice.

I heard the sound of something coming down the ramp, looking up I saw something that I could only tie one word to. Awesome.

Golden was attached to a small hoof-made carriage big enough for one pony, with a large rubber wheel on each side.  As she pulled to us, Penny hopped in.

“Well, that's going to make this easier, I was starting to think I'd have to carry Penny.” I said.

“No way, this is loads more fun!” Penny replied, “Hey Golden, let me tell you an awesome story about how Rain killed a shark!” And with that, Golden bolted off ahead of me, and the trek commenced.

We went at a slower pace then the chase we had last night, Golden was moving for two after all. I was wondering if she was pacing herself and I kept an eye on her stamina as we moved across the wasteland. We'd make it to Sandstone by noon at this pace.

We had to abandon the trail twice to avoid unwanted attention. My EFS revealing threats before they discovered us.

As we moved I noticed a large cloud plume in the distance, it rose like a pillar into the sky before the unseen winds at the top took it east. The cloud was almost as wide as it was tall, it was the kind of cloud that would fill you with dread before it brought a storm down upon the sea. I could see traces of lightning in the cloud, and I understood what Mek meant.

That was the first evidence of the Boiling Bay.

“We need to head this way for a bit, there's a small hidden structure we use to store supplies and hide in when there's trouble,” Penny said, “We just need to check it out, shouldn't take long.”

Seeing no harm in it, I nodded and followed them off the path. We passed over a hill of blackened rock and was stunned by the sight. I stood at the edge of a basin, no, a large crater. My eyes panning from horizon to horizon, I figured it must have been at least fifteen kilometers in diameter.

When Mek told me that the megaspell destroyed half the island, I was a little skeptical. While it had been an exaggeration, I couldn't blame her for it as I looked upon the large basin, rounded like a crescent moon.

Charred black rock was the color of choice, but I could see the dull tan sandstone in places where the charred rock had broken or given way to erosion. The basin sloped down into the sea, I could see a large cluster of tan stone hugging the coast. Black and brown structures floated near the shore, and a short distance from the shore into the bay the water had turned from a dirty blue to foaming gray, steam rose and fed into the pillar that loomed into the sky.

Sandstone was indeed, bigger then I imagined. Very similar to Rustic, however closer to the center were stone buildings well over six stories tall, and I also saw a number of metal structures that rose even taller, but I could count their number on my hooves. I was too far to see any ponies, but I could imagine it, a large number of ponies and zebra living next to the testament of Equestria's greatest weapon, going about their lives without even giving it a second thought.

Stopping to take in the sight, I had almost lost track of the fillies, and I bolted after them, working to make up the distance. Following them for a few minutes, I saw the structure they were referring too, it was a small derelict boat, it lay on its side propped in between some large slightly melted rocks, the back end of its hull melted like the rocks. I caught up to them before they made it to the ship. My EFS was all clear.

“Noponies home, so do what you needed so we can move along.” I said, I didn't like the idea of being in one place for too long with the fillies out here.

As Penny moved to an opening in the ships side, Golden was getting herself unattached from the mini wagon, and then followed Penny. Something caught my eye a few paces to the side and moved to take a closer look.

There was a small device laying on the ground, it was circular and had a small red circle in the center. I knew what this was, Solar had warned me about mines. To disarm a mine you need to press the red circle on it before it goes boom, if you get too close it'll beep twice then explode. Not wanting to risk my health testing this, I left the mine alone as a thought crossed my mind.

Did the fillies place these?

Beep.

My head turned to the source of the noise, in front of the ship Penny and Golden had stopped in unison, the noise came from a small red light laying on the ground in front of them, right in front of the ships entrance.

Penny took a step back, Golden flew forward to try and disarm it. I ran towards them, I ran with everything I had, but it wasn't fast enough.

Beep.

I saw the fillies engulfed in a ball of fire, small bits of metal being sent every which way. Golden turned as the fireball engulfed her, her small body being bathed in the orange inferno. Small bits of metal showered Penny, her coat becoming riddled by debris before she too was engulfed by the fireball.

The fire plumed up into the sky, I felt the heat rush past me, I didn't notice the metal fragments that bombarded me. I watched in horror as both fillies were sent flying back, their coats burned, they're bodies wounded, metal fragments embedded in their hide.

Penny fell back and slid across the ground, living a light trail of blood. Golden crashed past her, rolling over as she slid, I heard bones break. The smoke billowed to the sky, and both fillies lay still for a moment, as if the world had stopped moving in consideration of what happened.

Their lives were hanging on the brink, and I was the only pony around to do anything about it.

I felt a calm wash over me, a calm that came from years of working to save wounded patients, of making hard calls and choices that determined whether the wounded lived or died. Wait, where did this calm come from? I've never been in this kind of situation before.

But my mother, she must have. Putting aside the growing questions, I embraced the calm and time seemed to move forward. I went to work.

Golden was airborne when the mine blew, and had been knocked father from the blast then Penny, I reached the pegasus first. She would need my attention first.

Her hooves were a mess, the forward legs were completely broken, riddled with metal fragments, her wings had been burned almost to the bone, she must have shielded her face because it was the least damaged part of her body. I saw her take in a ragged breath, she was alive!

A pony can take quite a bit of damage before perishing, if managed and stubborn, a fatal wound can take hours to claim its victim. Golden didn't have hours, she didn't even have minutes.

Not on my watch, I wasn't going to lose any child on my watch. I wasn't going to let the wasteland steal them from me! I pulled out the healing talisman, her life would be well worth the sacrifice, there was nothing to think about, I placed the talisman on her and she was enveloped in a pink glow. As the glow grew I worked to remove the metal embedded in her, sparing the talisman the work of clearing it out itself.

Hoping that would be more then enough, I rushed to Penny's side. She wasn't as close to the mine as Golden was, which unfortunately meant that she was still conscious. Her eyes were gone, her face was burned horribly, she was cradling her head, crying from the pain. Her horn was singed, but looked intact.

I pulled out a syringe of Med-X and used it on her, it would dim the pain to something I hoped was more manageable for her. Then I started the painful process of extracting the debris lodged in her. While I worked, I tried to hum my healing song, but I couldn't seem to find the note, maybe it was the stress of the situation, but I couldn't call it up, to my damned frustration.

After pulling out everything I could find, I fed her several healing potions, and the wounds closed up, the burns being replaced with a fresh coat of cyan fur. Unfortunately, her eyes were a lost cause. The potions didn't heal what remained of the orbs, and I found myself in a terrible position. I need to clean the wound, but I didn't have anything to induce anesthesia.

Pulling out another syringe of Med-X, I gave her half the dose and watched her breathing slow.

“Penny, I need to clean your eyes, and it's going to hurt, I need you to be strong and stay still as best you can, can you do that?”

She nodded, she was crying, she wouldn't be able to see again, but she could still cry. I gave her a small bit of rope to bite down on, and held her head firm as I went to work.

She screamed into the rope, her legs wanted to flail about, she wanted to get away, but the combination of the painkiller and her own will kept her in place. It seemed to take hours, it only took a couple minutes. After I finished, she passed out, and I wrapped a bandage around her eyes.

Though I had cleaned the scalpel I used to clean her wound, I was certain she was going to have to deal with a post-op fever from the shrapnel I had to extract.

I went over to Golden to see that the talisman had worked miracles. Besides her mane no longer being braided, she looked no different from when we left this morning. I picked up the talisman, it still had a pink glow to it, so it hadn't expended itself saving the filly.

Given time, the talisman would recharge, I could get Penny her eyes back after that. I couldn't use it now, I was uncertain how much it would be able to accomplish in its current state. The idea of its magic dying before it finished replacing her eyes made me shudder. It would take a few days for it to recharge, and I worried about what could happen in the next few days.

I brought the fillies together and looked around for other mines, shooting them to clear the area, then I took a peak inside the boat. Inside lay a small body curled into a ball in the corner, it didn't show on my EFS Taking a closer look, I saw it was a blue colt, the poor thing had died of dehydration.

And like that my emotions returned, the calm ended, and I started crying like a filly.

What kind of pony traps a children's hideout. The colt died in here because it was afraid to leave! What was wrong with the wasteland!? There was no reason for this, nothing beyond the simple need for cruelty.

I don't have the time to think about this right now. Right now I need to get these fillies shelter, get them safe first, then I could do some moping.

Covering the small corpse in the corner with a dried up blanket, I carried Golden and Penny inside, I closed the door and lay next to them.

I saved them. No, there was more to it than that. I don't think it would have turned out so well if that calm hadn't washed over me. Was something of my mother's presence still with me? I played Penny screaming in pain as I held her in my head, and shuddered. I would not have been unable to manage that without the calm. I thanked whatever it was that made me like this, because I'm certain only one of these fillies would have survived otherwise.

Had they left Rustic alone, neither would have survived. I had tipped the scale, ever so slightly. So why wasn't I happy? I wanted to lay down and sleep, and never wake to the wasteland again. I wanted to feed the bastard that did this one of their own mines, see how they liked it. I needed to count the good.

We're almost at Sandstone, I saved their lives, and even though Penny lost her eyes, there's the likelihood of getting them back soon. Once they wake up, we'll be on our way, and I can say good riddance to this sandy hole of misery.

I lay next to them for half an hour, keeping them close, I hummed a lullaby I heard in a recent dream, stroking their manes as time ebbed by.

Golden was the first to wake up, she looked from me to Penny in confusion before comprehension dawned on her face. She looked herself over, spreading her wings to count the feathers, and was surprised to see herself completely free of damage.

“But... how? It blew up right in my face.” She was looking at me, “Why am I fine, and Penny isn't?”

I told her about the talisman and its limited use.

“But, you should have used it on her! I would have been fine, a few potions and I'd be Golden!” she winced shortly after hearing her pun, “Her eyes... how bad are they?” she sniffled out the question.

“They're gone, but when the talisman recharges we can get them back, I'm certain.” I offered her hope, and Golden latched onto it greedily.

“Oh, okay, that's good then. Still, you should have used it on her, at least she isn't a bird brain that's afraid of heights.” Wait, was I still talking to the fastest flier in Sandstone?

“Hey now, don't beat yourself up over it, I was the pony that made the call, if I should have used it on her, be upset with me, not yourself.” I said, she nodded, and it looked like she took my words in, because her expression lightened a little.

I then noticed a red bar slinking on my EFS.

“We have company, stay here and keep and eye on Penny, I'm going to deal with this.” I ordered.

Somepony was moving towards the door, quietly, I wouldn't had noticed had it not been for EFS. I unstrapped my harpoon, kicked open the door and caught the pony by surprise.

It was a buck earth pony with a red coat and mane, his cutie-mark looked like an exploding mine, severed hooves being blown from the blast. He looked at me in surprise, a mine in his mouth, and he started laughing. Of course it was a raider.

He tossed the mine at me, I knocked it back with the handle of my weapon, sending it sliding to him. It beeped, and he quickly disarmed it. The distraction gave me the opening I needed to close the distance. I went into SATS, two hits to the head. The first hit sent him off balance, my second hit was critical and permanently damaging, I slashed across his face, and his eyes shed crimson tears.

I bucked the side of his head, spinning him, and seeing him fumble around trying to place his attacker now that he was blinded, I coldly left him to his fate, returning to the ship. He cursed at me, making obscene promises he would be unable to keep.

As I entered I heard the sound of a mine beeping, and shortly after a terribly loud boom, and the red on my EFS faded. I guess his cutie-mark was prophetic. I wasn't going to be kind to anypony that would harm a child. Not now, not ever.

I returned to find Golden standing over the colts remains in the corner. She looked like she was going to cry, but tears never came.

I pulled her away from the body, back to Penny's side, and trotted outside. Eyeing the rocky ground, I found an indentation and started making a pile of rocks next to it. Golden eyed me with curiosity as I worked, braiding her mane and tail back up in the meantime. When the pile was big enough, I went back into the boat and got the blue colts corpse, and placed it into the intended grave.

I placed the stones on the body, and Golden helped me, it took some time, but we managed to bury the body, and even had a headstone for it.

“Was it somepony you knew?” I asked her, she shook her head.

“Golden, Rain!?” Penny was crying for us, oh horseapples, she woke up alone and blind. I quickly came to her side, assuring that we were still with her, and everypony was safe.

Being blind terrified the filly, it would terrify me. It took us some time to calm her down and assure her that it was only temporary.

The detour had been a complete disaster, the 'safe-house' had been stripped before the dead colt had arrived, we left as soon as Penny was able to collect herself. They still needed to get to Sandstone to relay a message to their friends, and I needed to find my own companions. As Golden was getting herself reattached to the wagon, Penny spoke up.

“Rain, thanks.” Penny started, “Thanks for saving us, I.” Her words got caught in her throat, “I thought we were goners that time. We thought the safe-house would be safe, that kind of thinking gets ponies killed, so thanks for saving us,” she finished.

“Think nothing of it, I did what I should have done, you don't have to thank me for doing the right thing.” I responded, and Penny shook her head

“Yes, we do.” she said, “Rain, the 'right thing' to most strangers would be to leave us to our foalish fate. You used something valuable to save Golden, nopony besides a good friend would do that. So yes, thank you Rain. We won't be forgetting it, and you shouldn't either.” Golden didn't seem to completely agree with Penny, but didn't say anything on the matter.

My act was an oddity in the wasteland, I guess I could add that to the list.

Has Zebra stripes. Can sometimes heal with a song. Is doomed to doom Equestria. And is a nice pony who will save other ponies at her own expense. Curse the wasteland.

Opting to avoid returning to the path, we headed towards the northern side of Sandstone. Getting closer, I saw that Sandstone had a large wall separating the city into two chucks, the inner area where all the taller structures were, and an out area that was more exposed to the wasteland.

Following Golden, we reached a small crevice that lead to the city, and not too long after descending into the crevice we ran into a pair of colts. The colts had guns in their mouths aimed at us, but when they saw Golden they lowered them and greeted her.

“Hey Teal, Buckster, is May around? We have news from the quarry.” Golden chimed up, and Penny took notice of the names.

“Yea, big message, we may need to relocate Orphanage.” Penny said loudly in their direction.

The two colts eyed me, and Golden, and their eyes widened when they saw Penny's head wraps, but led us on. The roof of the crevice sealed as we moved along, becoming a cave that was lit by small lanterns. One of the colts, Buckster I think, let out a low whistle and two fillies came out of a small side passage in the cave, saw us and went back the way we came, guns in their mouths.

Turning down a passageway, I was surprised to see the cavern open up to a large clearing, the sky visible above. Long metal lines crawled from the top of the walls and hung over the center of the cavern, water gutters I realized. The clearing had a pond in the middle that a pony was drinking from, the gutters leading right over the pond to dispense rainwater into it. Around the wall of the clearing were tents and ponies, mostly children, but a number of adults too, moving around working on various tasks.

One corner of the cave seemed to be focused on tending to weapons, while another had unicorns and unicorn children working with magic on some arcane devices.

Golden saw my mixed look of confusion and curiosity, she turned to me.

“Welcome to Orphanage, Rain, our home!”

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 5.

New Perk: Friends with the Doctor - Healing you provide to your teammates is increased by 30%

Skill Note: Medicine (75) Melee Weapons (50)

5. Give and Take

Orphanage was as far removed from the wasteland as I could imagine. Children were being productive, with adults supervising, and the children seemed to enjoy it. It seemed very chaotic, and yet somehow orderly. I had started to think that nopony cared to help another, that what Penny said about me saving her and Golden made me an oddity. It brought a smile to my lips, it appears that there's some good hidden in the wasteland.

Golden led us to a built in home attached to the open area with the pond, what she called the work room. The small building attached to the work room had several desks with a pony working behind each, most of the ponies here were early adult, just slightly younger then myself.

“We're at the office,” Golden whispered to Penny, who was still downcast about her condition. I felt a pain in my chest as Penny put on a strong face and addressed the room.

“We have a message from the Rustic quarry, the rad-scorpions have shifted their nest and it's believed that its moving towards Orphanage, it's projected to become a problem sometime within two weeks.”

Okay, that was definitely an important message. I could now understand why these two would have been willing to cross the wasteland on their own.

The young ponies looked from their work with concern, one of them went to a closed room to get somepony. Taking a glance at what they were working on, I saw a collection of official, tedious looking forms on the desks that each of the ponies were either filling in or organizing. After a moment an old mare with a faded pink mane and tan coat came out of the small room to us, her cutie-mark was a cut-out of a filly imposed on a piece of paper.

“Oh dear, what happened Penny?” She asked with concern. My ears fell at the question. The mare looked over the three of us, and after telling the pony that got her out to spread the word about the rad-scorpions, returned to Penny.

“Come dear, lets take you to medical, see if Band-Aid can help.” The mare said, then turned to me, “Care to explain?” her voice had an edge to it, I don't think she was accusing me, but I thought it a good idea not to hold back on the details. So I recalled the events to her while she directed us to medical.

I told her more then I really should have, but I felt I could trust this mare. I told her about the circumstances behind me intending to travel alone to Sandstone, and my reluctance of taking the girls. I told her about the bounty and how much trouble it's caused. I told her about the trapped safe house and what I did to save Golden and Penny, I even told her about burying the colt.

By the time my recounting had been finished we had arrived at Orphanage's medical room. It was smaller then the aid center in Rustic. A middle aged buck dressed in a long white coat took the girls off our hooves, and after a small check-up, he complimented my work. Not really feeling better from the compliment, I went to follow up on Penny's condition.

“Do you have any equipment that could augment a healing talisman?” I asked the buck, who I assumed was Band-Aid. He shook his head.

“Though it wouldn't be too difficult for us to get an auto-doc, healing talismans are exp-” he replied before I cut him off by bringing out my talisman. The old mare was giving me an appraising look.

“And if I gave you this?” I asked. He was taken aback.

“You'd just give it to us?” his gaze focused, “In exchange for what?”

“I want it used to give Penny back her eyes as soon as possible, and I'd also like help finding two colleagues of mine who are in Sandstone, both unicorns, Tabben and Mek.” I replied, was there something about the way I was looking at him when I said that? He took a step back.

“I think that can be arranged,” the old mare interjected, “I'm May Weather, matron of Orphanage. We'll see if we can find your companions, shouldn't take too long, and we'll put your donation to good use.” I was glad to here that. She considered me for a moment.

I considered the option of asking for a guide, but I recalled that my pipbuck had a mapping feature. I'm certain I'll be able to navigate the city with it. I could wait for May Weather to find my companions, but there's a whole city full of ponies and who knows what else above me. I wasn't a pony that stood around waiting when there was something to do. I needed to find information on Destiny Labs and my father.

“Is there a passage to the city in here, I'd like to take a look around,” I asked, politely, “And I'd like to buy something to cover my barding, if that's all right.”

“We'll set you right up, its the least we can do for what you've given us,” May said, she levitated the talisman to Band-Aid and lead me out of the aid center.

She turned to Golden and asked her to get to her runner coordinator, Golden gave me a hearty 'see you later' and bolted off. Penny stayed at the aid center and also said goodbye, and thanks. I hoped that the next time I saw her, she'd be able to see me back.

I was a little disheartened to say goodbye to the fillies, but this was their home, they were safe here. Thinking on that, I started to wonder about Orphanage itself.

“Sooo, you take in orphans and help them find families?” I asked. This place was the first sign of something good in the wasteland, I wanted to know more about it.

“No,” she said, shaking her head, “Nopony adopts, anypony that claims they are, they're likely slavers trying to steal one of our own. No, here we take in any child that's lost their guardians and give them a place to be. When they're old enough to contribute they do their part, there are a lot of mouths to feed and food costs caps.” I was sad to hear about the slavers, but happy that Orphanage provided regardless of adoption.

We walked back into the work center, she was leading me around the circle, indicating tasks the colts and fillies were doing, I didn't notice last time, but there were also zebra children helping as well.

“We have the unicorns help with making, and the earth ponies help with repairing. When a child gets their cutie-mark they're expected to play their talents to the benefit of Orphanage. When one of our own chooses to leave, we see them off. Sandstone is a city of change, and many children lose their parents and homes to that. The least I can do is offer them the chance to live long enough to choose their own paths.”

I noticed that everypony had stopped working to make things and were instead packing things away. I was led into another side cave attached to the work center, it seems that this was where everything was stored. It was guarded by several young adults.

“And now that the likelihood of a rad-scorpion infestation is certain, we need to relocate, probably to the other side of town, we'll let the Sandstone Armed Forces take care of the pest problem,” she sighed. She asked one of the ponies to get a robe for me, and we waited.

“So is the Orphanage self sufficient, or do you get aid from SAF, or one of the other factions?” I asked, she shook her head.

“We're self sufficient, although we do sometimes get aid from the IFA, lot of good ponies on those ships.” IFA, the Ironclad Flotsam Alliance, where Mek, and I assume Tabben, hail from.

There were raiders in the wasteland, and slavers, ponies that sell ponies. There were also pirates. All bad ponies, but the wasteland wasn't composed of just them. Orphanage stood as a beacon against the wasteland, I looked at May Weather in awe, she did her part to tip the scales, I could only hope to accomplish half of what she has.

Thinking on it, Tabben is, in his own way, tipping the scales. He frees slaves and brings them to Rustic, so what does he contribute to Orphanage?

“What does Tabben do with the Orphanage, Golden and Penny seem familiar with him.” Oh, looks like I asked a bothersome question. She put a hoof to her forehead and let out an old tired sigh.

“Tabben does what he wants, works with who he wants, and causes trouble for everypony involved. He's done the Orphanage a lot of good, but he's caused no end of headaches. Ask any child here who he is and most of them will say he's an honorary member. Tabben is trouble, trust him to do right, just don't trust him to do right... properly.” She answered.

Getting a brown robe that covered most of myself, May Weather led me to what I presumed was the exit to Sandstone. They're going to relocate, maybe...

“Do you need help relocating? I'd like to help any way I can.” I said, she was taken aback and appraised me again, then shook her head.

“Thanks for the offer, but I can't trust an outsider to our business, even if you did save two of our own. If you still want to help out, I can think of something, but it can wait till later. It shouldn't take to long to find Tabben, when we do we'll send one of our runners to you. Till then enjoy the sights of Sandstone, and try not to get caught by bounty hunters.” And with that warning, she opened a hidden wall which opened to an empty room.

Feeling a little dejected as I walked in, the door behind me closed. Checking my map I saw a beacon placed where I was standing, Orphanage's Hidden Entrance. Leaving the small room, I followed a hallway that lead out into a lobby similar to Rustic's bar. I passed the bar and the buck at the bar gave me a curt nod before continuing his business. The were a few fillies eating in the corner, they didn't seem to notice me.

Outside through the windows I could see a street bustling with activity. Still having a few hours till nightfall, I collected myself, walked out into the street and got swept away by the experience.

Water flows downstream, so as I moved I noticed I was getting closer and closer to the harbor. My EFS was starting to disorient me, so I stopped paying attention to it. There were bars of every color all around, it was a solid line of color in every direction, trying to fish out threats from non-threats would be impossible. Instead I focused on the city itself.

The city had smells of interesting food. The streets were alive with promise, the alleys cast shadows of dishonest trade. The air was radiant with energy. Every building I saw was used for something. There was activity everywhere! Comparing Sandstone to Rustic, I now understood the difference between an city and a town. As I moved I noted several particular things that caught my eye.

I passed by merchants more than eager to tell me how much I needed their wares. They wore fancy garments and held a wide variety of objects of interest, there was even a merchant that traded only in memory orbs. I also saw zebra vendors selling strange alchemical potions and exotic weapons. Refusing to spend any caps on frivolous things, I moved on.

I saw a group of armored griffins get in a scuff with a group of pirates who owed them money. What surprised me was how the crowd reacted to the fight. Ponies were betting caps on who would win!

The pirates were worst off for it, but nopony seemed fatally injured. It seemed the fight was intentionally non-lethal. The griffins fought with a ferocity that was beyond impressive. I was able to not lose track of their movements, but I doubted I could avoid their claws if I ended up in a bout with them.

I saw a troupe of performers taking up a section of the road. A tall bipedal figure was with them, it sported horns slanted up. He, at least I think it was a he, did incredible displays of strength, bending a metal girder as thick as my hoof!

The troupe also had an earth pony mare with its skin exposed, her coat lost to thermal sickness. I watched as she took a deep breath and saw her skin shimmer with light as she exhaled a plume of fire that spiraled up into the sky. The onlookers cheered and some of them even threw caps to the troupe.

At one point a small group of earth ponies, completely decked out in concealing metal armor, stopped me to ask about my pipbuck. They offered to buy it from me at a large sum, but I couldn't part with my fathers gift, and I told them such. There was also the fact that SATS and EFS were life savers, but I decided to value sentimentality over practicality. They wanted to press the issue but chose not too, saying that if I changed my mind I should go to the harbor and ask about the HMS Applejack.

And then I wandered into the slave market. Quicker then a griffins swipe, my mood change, I dropped the wonderment and curiosity for appalling anger. Ponies were lined up in cages on a stage, several ponies placing a price on them. There were even children!

I noticed that not many ponies came through here. Out of sight, out of mind, I bitterly thought. I didn't see Tabben, which was a terrible shame, if he had been there I would have harassed him into helping me free the slaves.

I hated this. Those ponies were being treated as things, and there was nothing I could do. No, that's not right. I could do something, I could go up there, take the keys, and free them. But I doubt I'd be able to get all the cages open, and considering how tired and weak the slaves look, I doubted they would get far. The only thing I could do was try to rescue them and end up being one of them for my trouble. I hated this.

Wait, Tabben would buy slaves and free them! Checking my pipbuck, I was dismayed to see all my caps gone! Had somepony swiped my caps when I wasn't looking? By Celestia's damned radiance this city is out to ruin me and everything I hope to accomplish! Not only could I now not buy the slaves freedom, but now I had no chance of buying info on my father or Destiny Labs.

I forced myself away from the slave market, drowning in regret and anger, whispering out a desperate apology nopony but myself could hear.

I couldn't even buy a sparkle cola if I wanted too. The offer by those armored ponies was just a little more tantalizing-

My head shot up on realization.

I could buy all those slaves for the caps my pipbuck would get me. I'd be giving up my fathers memento, among other things, but it would be well worth it! I found my way to the docks and ended up becoming a little overwhelmed.

The docks stretched in both directions, the docks being as long as the entire city, having two directions to choose from, I quickly proceeded to the south docks.

The southern side of the cities docks seemed to house the smaller vessels, most being smaller than Peg Legs ship. I also noticed that some spots in the dock had reserved places for ships. I quickly walked past little plaques that informed me of the ships information. Small boats like 'The Clementine, It Goes Places', 'The Seahorse, Do Not Touch!' and 'So-and-So's Personal Yacht, Best Navigator In The Sea!', were arranged in the docks. Wait.

I took another look at the previous plaque, 'Sunrise Flare's Personal Yacht, Best Navigator In The Sea!'. Did this yacht belong to Solar's father?

It looked like any other rusty tub bucket, it was half the size of Peg Legs ship, but was just as wide. It had a large central chamber at the front of the ship, almost making the ship closer to a two floor building than a boat. The ship was almost shaped like the end of my harpoon, sharp, to piece the water. I was under the impression that the ship was fast. Maybe I should ask about Sunrise, see if I can find out if Solar returned to Sandstone or not.

Right, not the boat I'm looking for. Shaking my head, I brought myself back on the search. Continuing south I saw rust bucket after rust bucket, but no HMS Applejack. The ship must be on the northern-eastern half of the dock. Its been three hours since I left Orphanage, by the time I found the ship, it would be sundown, my mood saddened as I realized that all the slaves may have already been sold by now.

Then again, I bitterly added, my caps would probably be stolen away by the time I made it back to the market with them anyways. This city sucks.

What was I suppose to do? I wanted to save them, but I couldn't! It's just, so frustrating! I felt tears start to well up, oh great, I'm outside where ponies I don't know can see me, and I'm starting to lose it. I ran, looking for someplace I could go to be alone.

Finding an alley, I let it wash over me.

The wasteland takes, and it takes, and it takes. It gives nothing but poison, and steals everything. What was I compared to that? May Weather fought the taking by giving to the young, she gave them shelter and purpose. If I was going to fight the wasteland, I couldn't do it with giving. I've already given the talisman, somepony already helped themselves to my wealth. Count the good.

I gave two fillies life today, and more in the future thanks to that talisman. It's a small step, but its better than nothing. But now, I have nothing left to give, nothing but myself. And if I offered myself, the wasteland would greedily take me, and leave me a broken husk of a pony before I perished.

There is something I can give, I did so earlier, a skill not many ponies have. I know how to heal ponies, I can save ponies with my medical knowledge.

That's good and all, but it won't save those slaves, dammit.

How dare they, how dare those damn slavers do this. Do they even need to sell ponies? No, of coarse they don't, the slavers take and take, but they don't give, or if they do, they give on the backs of their 'merchandise'.

If the wasteland only takes, then why hasn't it taken from the slavers?

...Because the slavers take from the wasteland! They take ponies, break them and sell them, and gain happiness for it. Slavers take, they do not give.

Maybe somepony needs to take from the slavers, needs to steal from them.

Tabben isn't going about it right, he buys the slaves and then frees them, the slavers still get their damn caps, they still gain.

As I sat there thinking about it all, my face still wet with tears, I came to an epiphany.

Take from the takers, and the wasteland loses.

There are many things a pony can lose, but as long as you have food and shelter, you can keep standing. Tabben takes lives, and I'm still against that. A life taken cannot be given back, it's a waste. A dead slaver can't learn, can't change.

But a slaver that's lost their wealth can still get it back by selling slaves. There is a chain, an order of events that leads from a pony being slaved, to being sold by a slaver. Take the slavers means, and the slaver loses their slaves.

I don't have enough information, I need to find Tabben, he could fill me in on how slavers operate, I'm certain he would know how to pull this off. In the meantime, there is something else I can do to help the slaves for now...

I returned to the market, I had shifted my robe to cover my head, and had my mane secured so as not to reveal my features. To pull this off, I needed to be fast, no, faster then I've ever been. I eyed one of the drugs I had been holding onto in my bags, Dash.

Mom's medical notes had briefly covered certain drugs, Dash being one of them. Knowing what they do isn't the same as experiencing what they do. I needed to pull this off, or else I would get caught, and Dash would increase my odds of success.

I needed to get in there, do what I needed, and get out before anypony could sound the alarm, before any guard could get in my way, before I could be caught. Dash increases the users speed. I was already a fast pony, so I wondered, just how fast was I about to be? Before taking the dash, I monetarily wondered if there were any psychological side affects to it.

I took the Dash inhaler, took a deep breath, spat it out and quickly got Trust in my mouth.

Whoa. Has everything always been this slow? Of course it has, I'm just now getting on the level, the level I've always been on, my own level. And it is incredible.

I jumped out of my cover, I went from an alley to the stage in a single bound, because, I'm on the level, my level. SATS made my level compound on itself, everything slowed to and even slower pace. Look at all these ponies, they're so slow I could run circles around them, because I'm on the level!

One shot, two shot, you're shot, I'm not!

One slaver gets two new leg accessories, bullets, my bullets, with love, from Rain.

Hop, skip, and a jump! I was behind a guard that was ever so slowly pulling his battlesaddle to where I just was, silly buck, get on my level!

Three shot, four shot, you're shot, I'm not! You want to take from others? Take these bullets, I insist!

I do hope these slavers are enjoying my bullets, it's not to often you get shot by sompony on my level.

Hum dee doo, two slavers, whats one more? My level is big enough for three!

Hop, skip, and a jump!

Five shot, six shot, you're shot, you're all shot! Hope you didn't mind me taking your composure, or your ability to stand!

Truly, being on my level, was awesome. You know what else is awesome?

Hop, skip, and a JUMP.

I took my level, and brought it out of there.

Yea, that was all of seven seconds of me, being on the level, a brown blur gave those slavers a bad night. I hopped, and hopped, and hopped until I knew that my hopping was done.

Sitting on a lower building, several blocks away, my level came crashing down.

Whoa. Dash was ridiculous. To note, it increases speed and reaction by quite a bit, it also induces extreme arrogance, I'd better use that sparingly, it may be addictive. Oh, my body is also aching and shaking a little. Actually, my body felt all kinds of terrible. I drank a potion, hoping it would dissuade the aftereffects, it did, but by only a margin.

Seriously though, on my level? That's what I thought when my arrogance was ramped up? My stomach dropped at the thought of the foolish things it might make me do.  It definitely was not something I wanted to rely on. At least I didn't actually say anything out loud while doing that. Imagining that actually happening, I blushed at nopony in particular.

After I got myself composed and my shaking stopped, I smiled to myself. I doubted any more slaves would be sold tonight, and maybe tomorrow, after that stunt I pulled.

No doubt somepony would be looking for anypony wearing brown, so I scurried to the nearest store and switched it out with a white robe, making sure nopony caught my features from the switch. Not having any caps, I offered the clerk a potion as payment, which worked well enough.

Leaving the store with my new 'disguise', I noticed that the commotion I cause could be heard from here. Many passing ponies were whispering rumors of someponies being shot at the slave market. Even though it happened five blocks away, I was surprised. Word travels fast in the city! I saw SAF guards run by, but none even gave me a second glance.

I had made a clean getaway. I wasn't sure if it was me or the aftereffects of the dash, but I felt good! I bought the slaves time, time I could use to find Tabben and Mek and get something worked out to help them.

I had helped, even in a small way, and it felt good, it felt like I had beaten my best time on my race course, I felt like I had won for once. I'm certain potions would fix those slavers right up, but would they be so willing to reopen shop after being attacked tonight?

I'm not somepony destined to kill Equestria, I'm somepony who's going to fight the wasteland. Take from the takers, I think I can manage that. Now, back to looking for my companions and answers.

Wandering back towards the taller buildings, I noticed an strange voice coming from a nearby store and wandered in. The store sold weapons and ammo, but it wasn't what drew my attention. A small box on the store clerks counter was letting out music.

Besides lullaby's and my humming, I've never heard music before. It was a song about weathering the storm, and not to let the calm that comes before fool you. I was enchanted, and found myself humming with the tune. I stood there humming for a time before the clerk addressed me.

“Uh, you are aware that your little buckpip can play this too, right?” The well rounded buck said. Wait, my pipbuck can do that?

Going through my pipbucks different tabs, I found something new under the data tab, 'Radio'. Selecting it, I found three options on it. Trt-StR-0032, which was grayed out, DL-Fr-001, which was also grayed out, and Bounty Broadcast, which I selected. When I did my pipbuck started playing the music that the small box on the counter was!

Thanking the clerk, I left him some bullets on the counter as a tip. I left the store and went back to the harbor to listen to the radio. The harbor was less noisy, and the warm ocean breeze fit well with the music I was listening to. After a hoof-ful of songs a female's voice commented about the previous song. Her voice was somewhere between regal and haughty.

“That was Crimson Rhythm's 'Nights Forbearance', and now for the part everypony has been waiting for, the bounty report! Thousand-Smiles is dead, a band of ponies slew the great beast off the Zerrist coast, at the expense of their own ship. To all the ponies that have lost somepony to the megalodon, know that his end was messy, and flashy! For our next story, IFA council member Rancid Metal is in hot water after the mess that happened at Rust-Hallow, officials say if he doesn't step down soon, ships will be sunk! And now for something a lot more local. It appears somepony has gone and stirred things up at the slave market not half an hour ago. Witness reports say a brown blur flew onto the stage, shot three of the merchants, and flew away before anypony could apprehend the gunner. There were no casualties, and the slavers are pestering the SAF for recompense, right, good luck with that fellows. Now for the bounties! Sky Blue mare with blue zebra stripes is still at large, with 2000 caps, alive. Casa-"

The rest of the bounties droned out as what I heard played through my head. Not only was the radio playing music, but also news. I had mixed feelings about the news I took part in, downcast at remembering Thousand-Smiles, and pride over the attack on the slavers. I eyed my pipbuck with a smile, it really is a fountain of information!

Shortly after the broadcast went back to playing music, and I felt content to stare out into the Boiling Bay as it played. The breeze blew from the city to the bay, making it nice and cool, but since I was on the harbor, I could feel heat radiating from the nearby water. The water here must be hot, but it isn't boiling, I wondered what it would be like to take a hot bath.

“Hey Rain!” I jumped and almost pulled my gun out when I noticed it was Golden. Letting my heart calm down, I addressed her.

“Hey Golden, did Orphanage find Mek or Tabben?” I asked, hoping for good news. She shook her head.

“Afraid not, but I'm done with my rounds, so I wanted to hang out with you. Took me a while to find you though, I thought you'd be wearing brown, not white!” She exclaimed, she then cast her gaze past me to the bay. “Any chance we can move away from here? The thermals here are pretty strong, and I don't want to be caught up by them.”

I was curious, I'm pretty sure thermals were pockets of raising warm air, I guess something like that could affect a pegasai's flying. Nodding my head in understanding, we moved away from the dock to the side of a nearby building.

“So,” I started, wanting to learn more about the filly, “You're a runner? Does that have anything to do with picking pockets?” I asked, a hint of chiding in my voice.

“Noo~, Its about moving around the city really fast to gather information from our hubs. A lot of things happen in the city and we have to keep an eye out to stay safe!” She said, I can easily see the truth in that. Since she was so fast, I assumed she was probably the best runner in Orphanage.

“Do you enjoy it? I assume you try to do it as fast as possible?” I asked to confirm the notion. She nodded, giving a proud grin.

I noticed a buck and mare wearing protective helms and matching barding walking towards us. They both had metal sticks holstered, as well as pistols. I caught 'SAF 05' on one and '25' written on the barding of the other. I didn't like the look they were giving Golden and moved in front of her, she was just now noticing the SAF ponies.

“Excuse me miss, we have business with that filly, she's suspect in a shooting that happened earlier.” I balked, they thought she shot the slavers?

“Ridiculous, she was with me all night, and I don't recall any shooting taking place while she was in my company.” I quickly lied, putting on a forced smile. The two shared a look before I added, “And besides, she's a filly with Orphanage, she wouldn't have a reason to shoot anypony.” I had almost said slavers there, and that would have been terrible.

They pulled out their sticks and I noticed that their guns were gone, that was odd, it looked as though they hadn't noticed yet. Right, they puled out their weapons, horseapples!

“You're both going to have to come with us-” he started, but looked around and couldn't spot Golden, she had gotten out of there rather fast, to my relief.

“What, where'd the filly go?” The mare asked, I could only shrug, “Well, guess we'll take this to Orphanage than, thanks for the information citizen.” They both put there sticks away.

“Where'd my gun go?” The buck asked, I slipped away during the pairs confusion, not wanting to be the target of any further questions.

A couple blocks later Golden reunited with me.

“Well, that is going to be all kinds of trouble, good thing they'll never catch me.” She said proudly, I wondered if she even knew what they wanted her for.

She pulled out two pistols from her bags and gave them to me, she was quite the thief!

“Its amazing what ponies will lose when they're distracted,” she said smiling. I was surprised she didn't have a cutie-mark yet, considering how skilled she was. Seeing that it was starting to get late, I suggested we return to Orphanage, she reluctantly agreed.

During the walk back towards the secret entrance I had used, Golden recounted all of her best swipes. She made stealing from ponies sound like an art form, and I found myself taking a liking to her stories. I saw nothing wrong with her stealing from other ponies, as long as it was from ponies that wouldn't be harmed from that theft.

“Hey Golden, I was wondering if you'd do me a favor?” I asked her with a sugary tone, she stopped and looked to me eagerly. “From now on, can you only swipe from bad ponies, or ponies that have more than they need?” She laughed at me.

“That's how I've always done it, weren't you listening to my stories?” she sounded a little hurt, but to my credit, she never indicated that she was stealing from bad ponies.

“Oh, so what about me then?” I asked, she did steal my caps the other day after all. Oh, that put her on the spot, she bashfully kicked the ground before she replied.

“I did that because you looked like an easy target, your caps were just screaming 'take me, take me'. You're still an easy target by the way.” The truth stung me.

“Well, from now on, just bad ponies, okay?” I pressed, and she nodded her head, giving me an open smile.

When we reached the building with the hidden door, the buck at the bar addressed me.

“You're Winter Rain?” I nodded in reply, “Right this way then.”

He led me back to the small room, I was ahead of him, before the wall opened I felt something small hit the side of my neck. Pulling it out, it looked a needle about seven centimeters long. Before I could comprehend how it got the ground rushed up to meet me. I couldn't move, and I slowly felt myself lose consciousness.

“May Weather apologizes for this, but Orphanage has need of you.” The buck said, his apology sounding almost genuine. I see, May Weather betrayed my trust. Darkness swallowed me before I could reply.

I woke up with a headache. I lay there for several minutes, clutching my head. It felt like sompony took my brain and threw it around for a couple hours. As time passed the headache weakened to less distracting degrees of awful.

I slowly got up and the first thing that came to my attention was that I was naked. Even though I don't normally wear cloths anyways, I still felt naked. My pipbuck was gone, along with everything else.

Shocked, I took in my surroundings. I was in a small stone cell, a tiny window letting in the glow of a sunrise, a solid metal door keeping me locked inside. Not being comfortable with being trapped, I tried to kick and take down the door. My efforts were in vain, but it did help ease the growing tension that was starting to overcome me.

Since I was alone, and had nothing to occupy myself with, my mind conjured up how I ended up in here.

Orphanage turned me in. I told them about the bounty, and they turned me in for the caps. I was hurt that they did that to me, I gave them the healing talisman and they still turned me in. I was hurt, but I wasn't mad, the caps would help children. At least, I certainly hoped so, that hope was keeping me from completely breaking down.

I gave to them, and they still felt the need to take more from me. I was a bag of caps, 2000 caps to be precise, how could anypony in the wasteland resist taking that? Well, on the good side of things, now that I've been turned in, I wouldn't have a bounty anymore.

So, was there any trust in the wasteland? Beside a rusty old gun that is. Mek seemed to trust Tabben, did she trust me? I was giving trust too readily to anypony that talked to me, and it was biting me in the flank. I wonder if Golden is okay, I doubted she had a part in this, she seemed too honest for that, and I doubted she would sell out the pony that saved her life.

Maybe it would be best if I chose to only trust a hoof-ful of ponies, like Mek or Golden. Don't trust my back to anypony but the ones that have earned it. Resigning myself to that outlook, I let the doubts and worries wash away as I looked at my right leg.

It felt strange, not having EFS, always being able to tell where I was. I rubbed my right hoof, the spot the pipbuck was on had a noticeable mark left behind. Looking closer at myself, I was surprised to see that somepony had washed me! I was clean, cleaner than I've been in weeks. I was both happy and alarmed, and I tried not too think too much about it. My mane was even brushed and was still tied into a ponytail.

Eyeing the window again, I saw that it was actually getting darker. It wasn't sunrise, it was sunset, I had been out for almost a whole day!? I missed an entire day, I found that terribly jarring.

Hearing the sound of somepony coming close, I calmed myself down and waited to see if my cell would open. I heard the lock in the door click and it opened to reveal an unarmed but armored buck starting down at me.

“Come, boss wants to talk to you.” he said and he moved aside and into the hallway.

I didn't like the situation I was in, I was tempted to attack the guard and try to flee as best I could. I also wanted answers, and if the 'boss' was the one who put the bounty on me, maybe I'd get some answers. So I came along quietly.

After being led along several winding corridors, I started to wonder why it was just one guard. There was plenty of opportunities for me to bolt, and I doubted this buck would be able to catch me. Was my curiosity getting the better of me here?

I tried to pry some questions from the buck, but all I got from him was silence.

I was led into a small room with a desk and a blue unicorn. My pipbuck was on the desk and when I entered I was commanded to hold my hoof out. I reluctantly did so, and to my surprise the buck put my pipbuck back on. It was definitely my pipbuck, it had all the old scratches that I'd grown to take note of.

Checking the features, everything still seemed to be here, although I did notice my map had more data in it than before. While I was checking my pipbuck, I failed to notice the two ponies leave. I became aware of the fact when I heard the door lock behind me.

The small room had two doors, one on opposite sides. Before I could move to the other one, it opened, and an elderly mare walked in. She had an orange mane and a beige coat, her cutie-mark was a pair of blank cards. Two guards followed her in, both unicorns that were well armed. They stayed near the door as the mare sat in front of the table.

“Hello, I'm Wildcard, and you're probably wondering why you're here.” she stated the obvious. Keeping my fear and anger out of my voice, I replied.

“Yes, I certainly am. Is it because I was at Destiny Labs, or that I have a certain color of eyes and cutie-mark?” I asked.

“Yes,” she smiled at me, her stature was... professional, she didn't seem to care to much about this conversation and was going through the motions. At least that's what it appeared to me.

“My employer wanted to know what you knew, especially in regards to Ruby, and what we found digging in your head sure made him happy.” They went digging around in my head!? I found the idea appalling and invasive, they had no right! Seeing my expression she added, “If it makes you feel any better, we're going to let you go, under our supervision of course.”

Yea, sure, supervision I was going to separate myself from as soon as I could.

“So you captured me just to let me go?” after fiddling with my head I failed to add. An annoying prospect came to mind, “Did you ever consider the idea of inviting me here, pay me in caps for information instead of sending bounty hunters on me?”

She was amused by that idea. Had she gone about it that way, I wouldn't have been separated from Mek, and we could have left for Sandstone together, and maybe Penny and Golden wouldn't have stepped on that mine. I was getting myself sidetracked, I had questions that needed answers.

“What is Destiny Labs? What did they accomplish? What am I? Who are you working for? Why are you letting me go?” They flew out as fast as I could deliver them, an answer to any would do me wonders, but the look on her face told me I wasn't going to get any.

“My employer didn't want me to give you anything more than several locations, they've been added to your pipbuck. You may find answers, or it may be a wild pony chase. Either way after you leave we'll have our operatives accompany you to wherever you go, to ensure that you don't wander to Hoofington.” Wait, Hoofington? That's a city on the east coast of Equestria, my island wasn't too far from it.

“Why Hoofington?” I asked, not quite sure if she'd answer.

“That one I am allowed to answer, sifting through your head, we found out that you've accessed what you call the 'lobby'.” Her smile was persistent, I feel like I've seen that smile before. “Well, suffice to say that we know that the lobby has no occupancy limitations, it can hold a very, very large amount of souls. Because of this, you are forbidden to go to Hoofington, if you did, that whole 'be the doom of Equestria' bit would become fact.” She said, looking at me matter of factly.

The whole 'end of the world' thing with me involved Hoofington? The lobby had no limit? What was happening in Hoofington that involved a large amount of souls? Either way, I should avoid Hoofington. Zerkash's words about the souls having influence over me were echoing in my head.

The door behind me opened, and everything came to a stand still. Tabben was in the doorway, a smoldering corpse lay on the other side.

“Tabben,” Wildcard coldly stated, a hint of surprise in her voice.

“Mother,” he replied. Wait, she was his mother? I finally noticed the resemblance. Surprise was quickly shifting to confusion, why would Tabben hate his mother?

A wall of fire engulfed the table, separating me from Wildcard and her guards. Tabben took cover around the doorway to avoid the gunfire the guards tried to catch him in. I hung low to the ground and tossed out my curiosities, I needed to act, Tabben was rescuing me, lets not get us killed by being distracted!

I rushed out into the hallway, feeling a bullet sink into my flank. I winced at the pain and almost fell over.

“Come on, this way!” He ordered as he went down the hallway. I doubted he was helping me for good intentions, as I followed him I asked.

“Where's Mek!?”

“Waiting for us, now move!”

Even with my limp, I was able to keep up with Tabben, he led us to a small room with a large open window, when I followed him he closed the door and propped a heavy shelf against it.

“Don't know what you did to get on Mek's good side, but when she heard you were captured, she wanted to spring you out.” He said as he was appraising the outside of the window. Had Golden told them about May Weather turning me in? I followed his gaze and saw that we were high up, I could barely see the street in the dark below. That's a fall we wouldn't make unscathed.

“Tell her I'll catch up soon.” He had something in mind, and it worried me. His horn flared and a small ring of fire appeared in the air a few feet below us. The ring was orange and it started to turn green, like a countdown. “And for the record, this part was my idea.” Wait, what?

He replied to my confused look by levitating me out over the ring of fire! His magic felt different from when Ruby lifted me, Tabben's magic was hot and uncomfortable. Before the ring completely turned green, he dropped me! I screamed as I fell, I went through the ring of fire right as it finished completely turning green, and I was surprised when my falling stopped, somepony had caught me and was flying us to the harbor. No, not somepony, some pegasus.

Turning my neck around, I was surprised to see a yellow buck with a dark green mane.

“Solar?”

“Glad to see your still alive”, he sheepishly replied. If he wasn't carrying me right now, I'd have given him a hug,

“But how?”

“Uh... After what happened to the ship I returned to Sandstone to look for another ship to work with. It didn't pan out, naturally. Mek found me yesterday and got me wrapped up in saving you, she can be very persuasive,” he looked a little downcast for a minute before adding, “Has anypony ever told you that you're terribly light?” I chuckled in response.

Looking back the way we came, I wondered how Tabben was going to get out of that mess. That buck, he could have just held me out with his magic and have Solar grab me in mid-air, he dropped me on purpose! I cleared my head of the thought and looked ahead. It didn't take long for Solar to carry me to a warehouse near the docks. The joy of being free of Wildcard and reuniting with Solar dying down, I asked the question he didn't want to hear.

“So, you flew off and didn't consider helping us?” he winced at my question.

“I, didn't think anypony survived the explosion. I saw that you and Ruby were caught in it, and the ship was starting to go to sink, so I abandoned ship. I suspected Mek was alive, but I wasn't going to venture into a sinking ship to find out. Um, sorry.” The shame on his face almost made me feel bad for asking.

“Look, you saved me now, and you didn't know I survived, so I won't hold it against you. I can't speak for Mek though, you should have tried something other than running away, Solar.”

He nodded in resignation, but still smiled at me. We walked into the warehouse and I was assaulted by a big orange mare with a red mane. She tackled me into a hug, I winced at the pain in my flank, there was still a bullet lodged in there.

“Oh thank Celestia you're all right! I've been worried sick since you disappeared back at Rustic!” I was surprised, I didn't know she cared that much about me.

“What, why?” I asked, I thought I had been nothing but a bother to her, pulling her away from her ship, and getting caught up in the trouble the bounty caused.

“Because you talked me out of dying, idiot. Sometimes when you save someponies life, they appreciate you for it,” She punctuated that by bopping me on the head. I winced from the pain, I still had a slight headache from Wildcard going through my memories.

Not that I wasn't grateful, but wasn't Mek a little too caring, we still knew very little about each other. Didn't she say that we would split ways after Sandstone?

I guess she knew enough of me to matter to her, and I had to admit, it felt nice when she hugged me. Thinking on it, had our positions been reversed, I would have worked to break her out of whoever took her prisoner, so I guess there was something between us.

“So what happens next?” I asked.

“We'll see what happens when Tabben returns, depending on what he says, we may have to flee Sandstone.” Mek replied, she then gave Solar a look that he squirmed away from. She hopped up to him and bopped him into the ground.

“That was for leaving Rain for dead after our ship sunk,” she proclaimed, then helped him back on his hooves, “but thanks for helping us this time around, you don't have to stay if you don't want to, we're even.”

“...I'd like to see how this plays out, so I'll wait and see what the obnoxious buck says when he returns,” Solar replied.

While we waited for Tabben, I recounted yesterdays events to Mek, she was surprised when she learned that I was the one that shot the slavers, Solar looked impressed.

“The mare who refused a gun from me four days ago is now shooting slavers in the middle of a city, I'm a little envious that you could pull that off,” he complimented me.

“I was hoping to go back and free them, with some help.” I said, hope sprinkled in my voice as I looked at Mek pleadingly. She shook her head.

“Its nice and good to free slaves, and I'm happy that you want to do something about it, but we got ourselves to worry about first sweetie,” she pointed out, crushing my hope. We didn't say anything else and some time passed before the buck we were waiting for arrived.

“No what's all this about, I come back and everyone looks like somepony rained on their carrot crunch!” Tabben boomed, making me and solar jump while Mek appraised him.

Tabben was carrying my things with him, which he levitated over to me, most everything I didn't care for, but I was glad to have Trust and Zerkash's harpoon back.

“Thanks Tabben,” I said.

“You're welcome,” he replied sarcastically.

“Oh, right, Tabben, I'm sorry,” I then surprised him with an apology. Taking a deep breath, I swallowed my pride and continued.

“You were right to be mad at me when we first met, I'm sorry that I criticized your way of life. I don't like how eager you are to kill, but I understand why you do it. For what I said, I'm sorry. If you could do me the favor and not be so quick to kill around me, I'll tolerate your ego.” It sounded like a fair trade, I could only hope he'd take my up on it.

He considered me for a moment, he looked to Mek and she nodded.

“That seems like a fair trade, You'd do well to remember that I am the best and that you'd still be locked away with Wildcard's goons, and without your toys, if it hadn't been for me.” He proudly stated, “Unfortunately, we can't stay in Sandstone anymore. Said goons are going to be looking for us soon, and she intends to put out another bounty for you and me. Also, I'm pretty sure Wildcard intends to sick the SAF on us,” well, that was troubling.

“So, where do we go then?” I asked, I wasn't fond of Sandstone, but there were some ponies here I'd miss, like Penny and Golden.

Tabben looked to Mek.

“I recon we can travel to Tide-Hop,” she started, “its a small town on the southern part of the island, from there we can secure a ferry to Broken Rocks, its far enough away to not attract bounty hunters, and we can get somepony there to get you to Friendship city, that's where ya want to go right?” She asked me, at this point I wasn't so sure.

Traveling on hoof already proved to be risky when it was just me with the bounty, I didn't want to have to deal with bounty hunters all the way to Broken Rocks. As I thought about it, a very wastelandish idea started to form in my head. Take from the Takers, and I knew somepony in this room who's life is full of hardship because of somepony who had more than they needed.

“Why not steal a ship?” I asked, everypony looked at me in surprised.

“What?” I was confused by their expressions. Tabben started laughing.

“Well, we thought that idea was off the table because you wouldn't be for it,” Mek admitted, “I guess that isn't the case. So, we pickin at random or did ya actually have somethin in mind?”

I did have something in mind, and I hoped the pony we needed would be willing to help. I turned to Solar, if he wasn't for it, then we'd have to either pick out a pirate ship, or flee on hoof.

“You father wouldn't happen to be Sunrise Flare, would he?” he nodded, not too sure about the sudden change in topic. I walked up to Solar, resolve in my eyes.

“Your father has his own personal ship, and he won't let his son, who cannot join a crew because he can fly, use it? He would rather have his son work with pirates rather than trust his own boat to him. Sound about right Solar?” I asked, and he now saw where I was going with this, and he nodded.

“Well, if he would rather you work with pirates, then I think it shouldn't come as a surprise when pirates steal his boat.” I said, giving him a sharp look. Solar thought about it for a minute, his consideration making me waver, maybe his father was a good pony who needed that yacht.

“Just thought I should point out, the SAF will be here shortly, I can see some of the officers checking out the nearby warehouses.” Tabben pointed out.

Solar and I gave Tabben an alarmed look, and Solar shook his head, coming to a decision. The look of fear he had, slipped into determination, and a hint of defiance.

“It would be a shame if his boat was stolen by pirates, I guess I need to make sure said pirates don't end up sailing it into oblivion,” he said with an awkward grin. My grin mirrored his, looks like we have an escape.

Satisfied with that reply, I turned back to the others, who were still looking at me with expressions of surprise.

“Did I rescue the right mare, she seems more like wastelander than a stable dweller,” Tabben said, “Not that I'm complaining, lets go steal ourselves a ship and get out of here before the SAF arrives!”

As Tabben walked past me, Mek walked up to me, concern on her face.

“Did something happen Rain, was it the slavers?” She asked, I nodded.

“I can see now that being nice and giving everything you have isn't going to work in the wasteland,” I had been taking from ponies since I was stolen from my island.

In a round about way, I took Peg Legs ship, Ruby wouldn't have taken it if it wasn't for me. Don't take ponies lives, just take what they don't need. I lived alone on an island with little more than a rope and my wits, the takers of the wasteland will still have more than I did when I'm done with them, and they'll make do just fine. Take from them, and give what's taken to ponies that need it. I gave to Orphanage, and I wasn't too upset that May Weather sold me out, since it would help Orphanage, but I was disappointed. I needed to tip the scales, and I think taking from the takers might work out.

“So I'm going to take from ponies that have what they don't need, and give to those that do. Solar's father doesn't need his own personal ship, he isn't even using it right now. His son needs it, as so do we.” A part of me admitted it was greed and convenience that compelled me, another part of me admitted that it was to help Solar and ourselves. I was after all, a selfish pony, I wanted answers, I wanted to tip the scales, and I wanted to be strong enough to be a pony to be relied on in the wasteland.

Mek looked me in the eyes for a moment, whatever she was looking for, she must have seen it, because she nodded her head. We moved out into the harbor to where the ship was docked. I wondered, just how easy was it to steal a ship?

We slipped past the SAF guards searching the warehouses, and went to the southern docks. When we made it to the yacht I saw that Solar was talking to two ponies that were on it. Guards from the look of it. Solar was feeding them some story of him being here at his fathers request to give the ship a spin, the guards were not falling for it.

I saw Tabben roll his eyes and gave Mek a look, she nodded and charged the guards, surprising them and bucking them into the water.

Solar apologized to the guards, and I did the same as they swam to a pier with a rope hanging down for them to get out of the sea.

When I got on the ship I saw that Mek had already gone below deck. Turning around I felt something whip past me, catching a small glimpse of brown. Looking back around I couldn't make out what it was. My EFS didn't show anything so I dropped my attention from it.

Solar was at the controls, which consisted of a bunch of levers and a small wheel, and after messing with them for a bit gave up.

“The ship isn't starting, they must have removed the spark talismans to keep it from being stolen.” Solar said, well, that could be a hitch in the plan. Before I could go down below to inform Mek, the ship came to life! Several lights came on, illuminating the whole thing, and the engine gave a hearty roar. Did Mek have spark talismans?

By this point the guards had made it back to us and started firing. Tabben and I got behind cover, Solar cursed and got the ship moving away from the harbor. I heard a sharp yelp from Solar as a bullet whizzed into the control area. In quick time were we outside the range of their guns, and the boat chugged with a fierce roar. This boat was as fast as I had presumed!

Good thing too, because there were two smaller ships ahead of us that were working to intercept us.

“We have trouble ahead!” I pointed out.

As the ships got closer, I saw Tabben's horn flare and both ships were washed in fire. Their courses halted almost immediately as the ponies on the boats worked to put out the fire.

“They'll be fine,” Tabben assured me before I could round on him, “They only think their boats are on fire.” With that we sailed past them and followed the coast around the Boiling Bay.

Seeing that Tabben and myself were fine, I went over to Solar, a bullet had cleared through his wing, but it was nothing a healing potion couldn't fix.

“Well, that was definitely something, what's our course captain?” Solar asked me. Captain?

“I'm not the captain, but for now our course is 'away'.” I replied.

I noticed blood on the deck, Solar's wound didn't account for this-

My heart stopped, and everything slowed down, as if I had hit SATS, or breathed in Dash. Golden was curled in the corner under the control table, a hole in her chest seeping blood onto the deck.

No calm came over me this time, only fear and dread. I acted. I pushed Solar to the side and carefully, but quickly, pulled Golden out from the corner. In a rush I pulled out Med-x and injected it into her flank. Her breathing stilled as my heart raced. No, please no, Hold on for a little longer!

I got my medical tweezers and extracted the bullet, her eyes were closing. I heard Solar say something in alarm, but I had drowned out all the noise, all that mattered, at this moment, was her.

The tweezers and the bullet fell to the ground, out came a potion. Her heart beat was slowing, the blood trickling out becoming weaker and weaker. I pored the potion over the wound, it was closing up! Thank Celestia it was healing!

I sat her up and opened her mouth, easing the healing fluid down her throat, I messaged her throat, and she swallowed. And when the potion ran out, I brought out another, as I fed her the second potion, my heart started to beat again, and I finally noticed that my vision was blurry.

She was unconscious, but her breathing eased, her wound closed, she was safe again, I pulled her from the brink, and tears of fear and dread were washed away with tears of happiness as I held her close.

I became aware again of what was going on around me. Solar was watching us both with relief in his eyes. He patted me on the head, and I gave him a weak smile. He didn't know this filly, but he was glad I saved her. As Tabben joined us, Golden stirred awake.

“Golden? What are you doing here!?” Tabben finally noticed the filly, having kept his attention on the boats he 'set' on fire.

I hushed him and talked to Golden.

“Sweetie, what are you doing here, you almost got yourself killed.” I said, almost sobbing. She looked at me, at first confused, but slowly she became aware, and she replied with tears in her eyes.

“I, I can't stay with Orphanage, the SAF want me, so I had to leave, I saw Tabby moving to the docks and followed him. When I saw you all stealing the boat I decided to join. Didn't think I'd be shot though.” She saw the blood on the deck, her blood, and shook a little. “Please, please let me stay, I want to stay.” She wasn't just asking me, she was also addressing Tabben.

Her words hit me hard, dispelling the lingering fear and replacing it with guilt. Oh horseapples, this was my fault. Because of my stunt yesterday the SAF assumed she was the culprit! I didn't want her to stay, she had just been shot being near us! I didn't want to abandon her either, indecision washed over me and I didn't know how to answer.

“Yes, you can stay with us, just make sure you earn your keep, and don't die,” Tabben said, his tone wasn't hurtful, but considerate. I may not have known what to say, but Tabben seemed to know. I looked at him and almost let my surprise known, he had compassion worn on his face. He knew the filly wouldn't be safe in our company, but he gave her what she wanted regardless.

“Thank's Tabby, I promise I'll do my part,” she solemnly swore.

Golden didn't let out a cheer, his answer didn't make her happy, but it did make her appear more secure. We were fleeing Sandstone, and she had joined us in that endeavor. She had almost died twice this week, no, count the good. She had been saved twice this week, maybe traveling with the pony that saved her wouldn't be such a bad idea?

Looking back at Sandstone behind us, I let out a long sigh. For the last five days I had been heading there for answers, and all I got was more questions. I went there with the hope of heading to Tenpony, but I doubted if I even wanted to go there now.

With my gaze still on the city, I made a promise to myself. The next time I was there, I would destroy the slave market. I wasn't satisfied with leaving it unfinished, sooner or later, we would return, and taking care of that was at the top of my list when we did.

Then I winced in pain, bringing me back to the here and now. There was still a bullet lodged in my flank. I swallowed the pain and extracted the bullet, and one potion later felt a lot better, my headache even eased up. With what's happened over the last couple days, I was starting to run low on potions.

Turning back to Golden, I gave her rad-away and told her to clean herself, then go below decks and find someplace to sleep. Having blood on your coat was terribly unhygienic. She absently nodded and Tabben helped her get some water from the sea with his magic. I briefly wondered what the relationship was between those two. With Tabben and Golden distracted, I let Solar's previous question of our destination roll in my head.

Eyeing my pipbucks map, I saw several points had been added because of whatever Wildcard did with it. The points were in un-mapped space, so all I really knew was the general location of said points. She wanted me to go to these locations, and once again I couldn't deny my curiosity. She had intended for me to do so supervised, but my companions fixed that.

Looking into the closest point on my map, I saw that it was actually the lab Mek and I went to, it was labeled Joint Facility 3 on my pipbuck. The next closest was called PA Lab 1. Remembering that I was in the presence of a navigator, I showed Solar my pipbuck and asked him if he could locate this lab on a map of his.

It took him several minutes to work it out, apparently it was on SaddleSands isle, an isle to the west near something he called the storm line.

It was a destination, and I asked Solar to get us there, he told me that we would be there by mid afternoon tomorrow. Were the rest of the ponies on the boat fine with this? I'd need to talk to them about it. I suspect Mek would be fine with where ever I go, and Solar, well...?

“Solar, are you okay with sailing with me, I'm chasing after answers and I doubt there will be anything safe about it.” I asked the yellow buck.

“Well, that sort of thing doesn't matter for a navigator, follow the captains orders and lead the ship safely to its destination. Long as I'm on your ship, I'm mostly fine with where you send us. Just don't go out of the way to get us killed and I'm fine with where ever. I think sailing with you will be less tasteless then sailing with Peg Leg had been,” his brow furrowed as he continued, “And I would like to make sure nothing terrible happens to this boat, if my fathers ship sunk under my watch, I'm as good as dead, or worst.” Well, I don't want that to happen to Solar, guess I should endeavor to not disappoint my navigator.

My navigator? Oh Celestia, was I already seeing myself as the captain? I needed to talk to the others. I was wondering what to expect on SaddleSand, but I wanted to clear it with the other ponies before asking Solar details about the island.

Going below deck, I found it was more cramped down here than on Peg legs ship, there were two floors, the first was floor I passed had the sleeping quarter and a small mess hall. The ship seemed to be designed to house eight ponies. The mess hall had room for food storage and water, though a quick look through showed its wares were empty, we'll need to fill it when we reach SaddleSands.

The bottom floor had the engine room and cargo hold. Mek stood before the engine, it was terribly similar to the one on Peg Legs ship, same size, different layout, a propeller engine. I now understood why the ship could go as fast as it did. I also saw the same blue talismans lined on the wall that had been on Peg Leg's ship.

Mek saw me looking at the engine and almost moved to kick me out, but she stopped herself, her hoof not to far from my face. She blushed in embarrassment.

“Sorry, old habit.” she turned back to the engine, waving a hoof at it, “This here is a beauty! Ya certainly picked the right ship to swipe dear.” I think she was happier now then when she hugged me some time ago.

“So, Mek, I'm not quite sure of my destination, do you actually want to stay-” she stopped me before I could finish.

“Sweetie, not only did ya get me out of my rut, ya also provided me with a new engine to get attached to.” she eyed the engine with... a mothers love? “It isn't the same, but it'll grow on me, I'll make sure she works in tip top shape, so don't ya worry your little head, I'll make sure it'll get us where ever you chose to go. I'll be happy here, so don't bother askin if I'm fine staying with ya.”

I guess I should have expected this from Mek, so, her and Solar would follow me as an accessory to the ship, time to move on to the real problem. It would be nice if Tabben insisted on being captain.

Arriving topside, I saw Golden still cleaning herself off at the back of the ship, I spotted Tabben sitting on the nose, and walked over to him.

“So...” I reluctantly started.

“Anything I can help you with, little miss wastelander?” Tabben snapped.

“You still don't care about my story I take it?” I asked.

“Nope, still don't. You saved Mek, and gave her happiness, that's better than what I've done, so let me ask you, where are we going?”

“We're heading to SaddleSands, there's a old world facility there I want to look into.”

“So, You're going to chase after some old world junk, why?”

“I thought you didn't care about my story?” I sarcastically replied.

“Well, you've gone and dragged Mek into your story, so, why the old world junk?” I could hear his temper rising, I should head this off before he blows up on me.

“I'm not a normal pony, I can talk to the dead and I can sing a song that heals ponies, Mek is quite fond of that song. Something made me this way, and the old world junk has answers,” I spilled out.

“And what if you end up getting us killed on your quest for answers? What if where we're going is a trap set by Wildcard to get you or somepony else caught in her net?”

“I don't know, but if it got everpony killed, I'd feel very bad about it, and probably go drown in some forgotten part of the sea,” I solemnly admitted.

Suddenly I was in the air, Tabben's hot magic was levitating me, and he held me over the water. I struggled and waved my hooves to no avail, the last time I was suspended over the water wasn't pleasant, I managed to keep myself from screaming.

“No Rain, wrong answer. You keep living to make up for the deaths you've caused, and hope that if I survived, I'll find you and put you out of your misery myself.” His words were a promise, he levitated me away from the water towards himself, looking me in the eyes. “Understand?” I nodded eagerly. My eyes screaming 'yes I understand please put me down'!

He put me down and I lay on the deck, catching my breath. After collecting myself I rounded on Tabben.

“Please, never do that again,” I demanded as my breathing finally steadied.

“I'll consider it. Don't think I'll be so lowly as to consider you our leader, our captain. You lead this boat, but that doesn't make you the boss of us. Being captain means being responsible for your crew, and you are certainly not ready for that. Can you honestly say that you'll be responsible for my actions?” I certainly couldn't, I shook my head, “Good, the only pony responsible for me, is myself, make sure you never forget that. Now, go comfort Golden, our youngest member is going to have trouble sleeping tonight if you don't see to her.”

I nodded in agreement and left Tabben alone. Wait, had he just ordered me? And I followed it without thought. That promise, and his words, I took what he said and followed. Mek and Solar followed me, but to my horror, I was following Tabben. That needed to change.

Still, he was right about Golden. I saw that she wasn't on the deck anymore and moved below, finding her in the sleeping quarters. She sat on the bed, not quite up for going to sleep. Our eyes met and she looked down in shame.

“Whats wrong?” I asked, concerned, it was clear that something was troubling her.

“It hurts, being saved all the time, you've saved me twice, and Tabben saved me from the slave market years ago. It hurts being saved and being unable to help.” She looked at me, her words echoed similar thoughts I had a few days ago. “Please, let me help. I can help you get things, I'm fast and I'm quiet, just give me a chance, okay Rain?”

I thought over it. Tabben, he would agree, I could tell he cared for her, so why would he agree?

Trust. He would agree because he trusted her to follow through. He trusted her to earn her keep. He trusted Golden, and he trusted Mek. He didn't trust me, and I doubted he'd trust Solar. Trust is one of the most important gifts a pony can give another in the wasteland, I understand that now. Mek gave me hers, I should start returning the favor.

I should trust in Golden, she is capable, I've seen that for myself, I should give her a chance. I was younger than she is now when I had to start fending for myself, with us at her side, she should be better off than I was. Of course, I won't let her help out in a fight, I've already seen how well she takes damage, but I could trust her to do what she can to earn her keep.

“Of course sweetie, just keep your head low if anything is shooting at us, and do your part to earn your keep.” She looked at me in surprise, she clearly hadn't been expecting that answer. Her smile returned, and I mirrored it.

“And you can start earning your keep by going to bed.” Ha, the look she gave me was precious, like she just ate something bitter. Not wanting to fall asleep, I told her the story about how I saved Mek from a group of sealurks, it was as awkward as when I told Penny about Thousand-Smiles, but she still enjoyed it. Before long she fell asleep and I went topside to talk to Solar.

He'd need to teach me how to drive the ship and keep it on course. I had been asleep most of the day, I think, so I figured I should be first watch.

Learning the bare minimum, he went to bed, Tabben was still at the nose of the ship, and we said nothing to each other.

I eyed Trust, it stopped me from killing that raider the other day, but it let me shoot the slavers when I was aiming to hurt, not kill. What significance had there been in the act of Ruby giving me the gun? Wildcard wanted to know more about Ruby, I should do him a favor and keep an eye out for clues concerning who he was. With any luck, I may find answers out here in the ocean.

Out here in the ocean...

We had stolen a ship, by my wishes. I thought I would feel more upset about this, but what I felt surprised me. I was happy. I had given Solar and Mek a purpose, and Golden a new home, all I had to do was steal some fortunate bucks boat to pull it off.

No wonder I felt happy. This is why takers take, I thought, putting a damper on my mood. I need to make sure to never take from the wrong ponies. And if it should ever happen, by design or accident, I should work to make up for it. I would steal from the takers, but I needed to ensure that I didn't become what I fought.

Halfway through the night, the moon rose, now half full. And after catching sight of it, I pushed aside my worries and concerns and I let my song fill the night, taking solace in its melody.

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 6.

New Perk: Captain (Apprentice) - You command a ship and crew, and have gained renown for it. New dialogue options are available for certain individuals, and you can now embark on sea quests. At apprentice rank, there is the risk of mutiny, so be careful!

6. Melting Sands

The sun burned with the agony of a thousand headaches. My eyes squinted at the sky hatefully, choosing to scorn it over the one who woke me up early.

“What's this all about, Mek?” She had dragged me out from my bed for some reason, I had only gotten four hours of sleep.

She had led me to the control desk, Solar was eyeing one of his maps on the desk. A small built in box on the desk, not to dissimilar to the radio I saw the other day, was blaring some sort of message.

“-I repeat, we've run aground on some rocks near Steamgrasp and require immediate aid. Our supplies are limited and we're under attack by sealurks. This is Captain Storm Runner, of the Trinity, I repeat,-”

The message repeated. I looked to Solar, a mix confused and alarmed.

“What is that? How can we hear that?”  I asked, was it similar to the Bounty Broadcast? “Are they nearby, can we help them?”

“We can help,” Mek answered, “I assumed you'd want to help and had Solar point us in the right direction, we'll be there in less than an hour.” I nodded, glad for her consideration, and turned to Solar for my other two questions. Taking his cue, he filled me in.

“Most ships have a short range radio, ships in the IFA and other factions keep in touch on the open water with it. The range is limited but its possible to bounce messages between ships. See how we got that SOS? We can relay it from our position and any ship near us could receive it, and if you're interested, the Bounty Broadcast reaches most of the islands in the eastern seas.” Well, that sure seemed useful. Looks like it's going to take some time to figure out everything that comes with operating a ship.

“Did Peg Leg's ship have one?” I asked, I certainly didn't recall it having one. Solar shook his head.

“It 'mysteriously' broke shortly after I joined.” He was giving a small grin, “It would have been easy to fix, had they not been so rude to me.” Yep, don't mess with the navigator. “So, since the message is on loop, it's possible that the worst has happened, so I'd recommend against getting your hopes up.” And just like that Solar managed to drown my excitement with a dash of reality. The wasteland is not kind to ponies in desperate situations.

I heard the sound of somepony cheering and looked past the control desk to the nose of the ship. Tabben was standing on the bow of the ship, his horn glowing. Out over the water I saw Golden chasing a small orb of purple fire.

I watched quietly with a smile on my face. The orb was fast, and small, about the size of a potion; Golden was faster. she caught up to it and it exploded when she flew through it. In short order another ball of fire, this time blue, appeared near her and the chase commenced again. Golden was having fun, and Tabben had an honest smile on his face. I think this is the first time I've seen him truly happy, every time before, his smile was real, but his eyes, they never smiled. On this breezy morning out in the middle of the sea, they were smiling. This went on for a few minutes before I walked up to Tabben. As I approached his eyes stopped smiling.

I saw the now yellow ball swivel towards the ship, getting bigger as it got closer. Golden still chased it, as it got bigger its size obscured her, and I stopped moving to Tabben as I noticed that I was the fireballs destination.

Alarmed at the implications, I moved for cover. The fireball was faster, before it reached me it vanished, revealing a surprised Golden as she almost flew into me. Quickly avoiding each other, we collected ourselves before we both turned to Tabben.

“You could have gotten us both hurt!”

“That was sneaky Tabby!”

We screamed at him in unison, his smile greeted us back.

“All in good fun girls,” he said, walking over to us. “Now that we're all up here, how about we go over what we're going to name the ship. It's bad luck sailing on a ship with no name,” he suggested. Mek and Solar agreed with him and we all gathered in a circle on the deck to go over it.

“Now, the name of the ship has as much power as naming a foal, we need to choose carefully. As such, I recommend 'The Tabben'!” He suggested, which got unresponsive looks from the lot of us.

“I think the 'HMS Hyperspeed would be totally awesome!” Golden pitched, “Or maybe 'The Flash', oh! I know! 'The Lightning Bolt'! They're all awesome, and our ship is awesome, so we need an awesome name for our awesome ship!”

“If you want awesome, how about 'The Firestorm'!” Tabben tossed out.

“Whacha want us to do, burn to death? The name needs to be homely, how bout 'The Hospitality' or 'The Homebringer'?” Mek suggested, I was quite partial to those options.

“If we're out sailing the sea, following Rain's questions, maybe we need something more exploration based.” Solar started, “How about 'The Enterprise' or 'The Voyager'?”

“The voyager? That's sounds made up and stupid! Oh, I got a better one, 'The Defiant',” suggested the other buck.

“If Tabby gets to pitch that then I'd like to offer 'The Rusty Blur'!”

“How bout 'The Florentine'.”

“Why not 'The Challenger'.”

“Might as well call it 'The Ash-Tray'.”

“Or 'The Bullet', that's awesome too!”

Oh Celestia, please make it stop, I need a name, something to shut everypony up! Something homely that will give us safety and shelter from the seas. Oh, that's it!

“Enough!” I screamed, “We're calling it 'Shelter', okay! Just 'Shelter', nothing else, no fire-based exploring mess of awesome, just 'Shelter'. You all fine with that?” They had better be, or Celestia help me we were going to just call it 'The Ship'.

Mek nodded in agreement, and shortly after Golden did as well, although I could tell she thought it wasn't awesome enough. Solar didn't press the name and thought it was a good choice. Tabben looked at the others and frowned.

“Well, I'm still gonna call it 'The Tabben', you all can keep your 'Shelter'” With the name settled, he quickly moved us to something else before anypony could object.

“Everypony, now that we have the ship named, how about some practice?” Tabben suggested, I was still upset with him for almost hurting me and Golden. Golden didn't look forward to whatever practice entailed.

“Can we do something fun instead?” She asked, and I found myself whispering the same question in my head. Tabben rolled his eyes and gave out a drawn out sigh.

“Fine fine we can have fun instead, you two gonna join, I've got a game in mind.” I was suspicious of this 'game' but if he was inviting Mek and Solar then maybe it wouldn't be all that bad.

Solar and Mek shared a look. Mek joined us while Solar stayed at the controls, Tabben didn't seem to care that Solar was left out.

“Hey Yellow, since you're not playing, you can keep track of the score, it's safe to assume you've got the eyes for it right?” Tabben asked Solar in a typical Tabben manner, as in an unfriendly and condescending manner. Solar frowned but nodded.

“Okay girls, the objective is to hit as many as possible, Solar will keep count to make things fair, first to ten wins!” And with that Tabben's horn lit up and several small orbs of fire appeared all over the deck, and they started moving.  Golden didn't waste a minute and had her first orb in seconds, and me and Mek worked to not get upstaged by the filly.

At first I thought this game had Mek at a disadvantage, but there were several big orbs that didn't break when Golden or myself reached them, when Mek broke them they split into smaller orbs that went every which way, but she would always get two or three before they scattered.

As the game progressed, I noticed that there never was more than six orbs at a time, I guess Tabben's concentration was capped at six. I also wondered if he was rigging the game. Golden and Mek had twice as many as I did, and then the game ended, with Mek being the winner. My eyes met Tabben's and the smirk he gave me confirmed my suspicious.

The game had taken at least seven minutes to complete, the orbs had been hard to catch, for all of us. All three of us were winded, and I noticed that Tabben had been sweating as well.

“Now, that wasn't too bad was it, practice is important to everypony, make sure you don't forget it.” He said to us, his voice taking on some sort of sophisticated tone. Golden looked at him in surprise.

“That was practice? That was a game!” She declared.

“A game is the best kind of practice, when you have fun during it then you're more driven to do it again. All of you practiced your mobility, while I practiced my magic and concentration.” He said matter of factly, “Since we still have a little more time till we reach Steamgrasp, how about a new bout of practice, for me it will be target practice,” and as he finished several orbs of fire appeared over his head, and a wicked grin crossed his face.

He lobbed the fireballs at us, and we all moved to avoid it. We didn't ask for this, and he wasn't giving us a choice. Not too long after he started I was hit, the ball of magic washed over me and made me uncomfortably hot, it was far from pleasant, but it didn't hurt.

After getting hit by two more in short order I lost my temper and charged at him. He watched me approach and before I reached him a wall of fire appeared before us. Taking a leap of faith, I jumped through it, to find that he wasn't where he was standing a moment before! Surprise turned to alarm as I slid across the bow, trying to keep myself from going overboard.

I felt a sensation like lightning shoot up my spine as somepony's magic grabbed my tail and kept me from falling overboard. He pulled me back and let me go. Indignation and anger guided my hoof to his face and he staggered back several paces, rubbing his muzzle.

“Right, shows what I get for keeping you dry.” He muttered as he abandoned his magic, the game ending. Golden was put out that the fireball shower was over, Mek walked up and appraised me.

“You okay sweetie?“ I nodded to her. I had slapped him. Why? He was only trying to help. He helped, kept me from falling over, and I slapped him. I guess I let my anger get the best of me.

As Tabben walked to the lower deck, I noticed Solar give him a dark look. Did something happen between those two?

Looking forward, I decided to keep an eye out for our destination. I saw some distance away a cloud that was hugging the sea.

“I'm going to guess that Steamgrasp is another megaspell crater?” I asked.

“Ayup, it's what we refer to as a boiling strait. Most islands that were hit by that megaspell were completely destroyed, leaving boiling ocean as it sole indicator.” Mek informed me.

As we got closer, Solar had me guide us in while he flew up to get a better look at where the ship-wreck was. This boiling strait was smaller than the boiling bay, no larger than a kilometer, the steaming cloud didn't form a giant pillar, the vapor dissipated after reaching a certain height.

As Solar flew up, I saw from the corner of my eye Golden looking up at him enviously. I recalled that she mentioned off-hoof that she was afraid of heights. That would explain why I won the second race back at Rustic, and probably why she wasn't fond of the thermals in Sandstone.

Another thing came to mind, thinking back on our practice, Tabben seemed to be trying to lead Golden up more often than down. When they were playing tag with the fireballs, he would make the fireball climb. Maybe her fear disappeared slightly when her mind was focused, she seemed to fly pretty high when she was chasing the fireball.

Solar guided Shelter around the boiling strait, staying a safe distance away from it. As we rounded the blanket of steam I could make out a ship wrecked on a small collection of rocks and sand. That must be the Trinity.

The Trinity had a cabin similar to Peg Leg's. The ship itself was twenty meters long and and seven wide, since it was wrecked out of the water I could tell that it was ten meters tall, so probably two or three lower decks.

As we got closer Solar asked us to keep an eye out for rocks under the water. I noticed several and indicated as they came into our path, Golden helped out as well, she had the advantage of flying ahead to keep an eye out. After navigating a safe means to the rocky strand, I overlooked the wreck. We were close enough for my EFS to reveal a good number of red bars, and two yellow bars. I quickly turned to my companions and informed them as such.

“There are still two alive on the ship, but there's a lot of red on my EFS.” I told the others, sealurks shouldn't be that big a problem.

“Yes, and?” Tabben asked.

“And... we're going to go in there and save them?” I was confused by the inquiry. Tabben seemed disappointment, and rolled his eyes.

“Right, Yellow, stay with the ship, but don't park, circle around, stay still too long and you may be boarded by any sealurks swimming around. Golden, stay with Solar and guide him around the rocks. Mek, you're with me, taking point. We have a sealurk infestation, get your weapons and lets disembark.” Tabben commanded, and everypony followed suit, leaving me with my mouth hung open.

“Stop standing there like an idiot and get your weapons, we have two ponies to save and since you don't know how to take charge, I'm leading us in.” He said, breaking me out of my confusion and at the same time annoying me to no end. He commanded, and I followed. I couldn't argue with the reasoning he showed in his orders.

Going below deck, I got my barding back on and gathered Trust and ammo, I left my harpoon, I doubt it was serve me well in the confines of a ship. I couldn't stab with enough power to pierce their shells, I was better at slashing with it over stabbing, and sealurks didn't take much harm from slashing.

“You'll get the hang of it sweetie, don't let him get you down.” Mek reassured me as she was loading up her combat shotgun.

There were two ponies on this boat in a position to take charge, and that was Tabben and myself, and he's already proven himself more competent. He was having us practice our mobility to increase our survival, and he knew the best use of our abilities to handle the task ahead of us.

If I wanted to take charge, I would need to be capable of the same. If not having us practice, at the very least being able to determine a strategy for tackling situations like this. I needed to take charge, if he stays in charge, sooner or later he is going to order somepony to take some other pony's life.

Pondering this, Mek and I returned topside. Tabben had no weapons with him, I guess magic was all the weaponry he'd ever need. Still, I wondered.

“Tabben, how many can you kill before your magic runs out?” I asked, he seemed to have all sorts of tricks up his sleeves. If I was going to take charge at some point down the line, I'd need to know what we're all capable of, and what our limits are. He seemed amused that I asked.

“I can do my stare and burn spell three, maybe four times before I risk burnout, in my current state that would be two or three. I can do my fire illusion a good number of times, it's my easiest spell. My fireball and flamethrower spells deal a little more collateral than I like, but right now I could do four or five of either,” he replied, then added, “Glad somepony finally asked me, honestly, you'd think my magic was limitless, what with how I just throw it around all willy-nilly.”

“Is that uh, a normal amount of spells for a unicorn? I'm an earth pony, I'm not so familiar of what limits unicorns have when it concerns magic.” I asked, feeling like I was opening a can of rad-scorpions. I suppose ponies would assume his magic was without limits if they didn't know that a lot of his fire was an illusion.

“We'll talk about that after we've cleaned out that wreck.” he said, he eyed an outcropped rock the ship was drifting near, and after getting a running start, jumped off the ship onto it. Mek followed after him. Not wanting to be left behind, I effortlessly joined them.

There were no sealurks on the exterior of the ship, climbing some rocks we made it to the deck. Seeing nothing up top, Mek moved to descend into the ship but hesitated.

“Will you be fine?” She wasn't asking me, she was asking Tabben?

“As long as we don't overstay, I'll be fine,” he replied. Was there something wrong with going in the ship? Being enough for her, she descended, and we followed behind.

Oh, oh dear.

It smelled of rot and death, and sealurks. I felt sick and started to lag behind Tabben as we moved to the first floor. Small sealurk nests had been made in the side cabins, pony bones and gore were sprinkled on the nurseries like some sort of garnish.

Oh, comparing it to food was a bad idea. As I tossed what remained of breakfast onto the rusty floor, Mek walked over and comforted me. How were those two able to just stand here and not be bothered by the smell of gore? After collecting myself, I thanked them and apologized for making us wait. Tabben didn't have anything caustic to say on the whole thing.

Going deeper, we ran into our first batch of sealurks. Because of the layout of the ship, we were confined in a tight space, shooting over each other was risky. It all came down to Mek taking them out with her shotgun as they charged her. Her new armor was working wonders against the sealurks claws.

The second floor was a cargo hold, which made it more spacious. Half a dozen pored into the hold from the commotion we made fighting the previous, and a real bout took place. I fired without any hesitation. These were pony eating monsters, I wasn't going to feel sorry for killing them, not this time, or ever again.

With the ceiling low, I was unable to jump around, but I was still able to out maneuver the critters. Tabben stood and watched, taking out the two that singled him out. Since Mek and I were more up close fighters, I figured he avoided setting our targets on fire to spare us from the flames.

Six bullets later and the room was clear, I just finished reloading as another wave of sealurks came in, this time we had to deal with ten. I noted that this was also most of what remained of the red bars. Before Mek or I could get into the fray, a stream of fire blew past us and swallowed the hallway the sealurks were coming from with fire.

Though it didn't kill all of them, it did do a number on the survivors. Mek and I cleaned them up. With those final few taken care of, I saw on my EFS two yellow bars, and two red. We continued through the second floor, Tabben telling us to worry about scavenging after we've saved the survivors. He then commented that he was pleased I knew how to fight. Thinking on it, he had never seen me defend myself, I guess from his perspective, having me accompany the two had been a risk.

Leaving the cargo hold behind, we reached the bottom floor. The bottom of the ship was warped, metal cracked and broken, this ship wouldn't sail again. Mek eyed the room that I suspected was the engine room, but stuck with us as we came to the room with the red dots.

Tabben, for whatever reason, had us stop instead of simply barging in. He took a quick peak around the corner and let out a small curse.

“Hot-lurks.” He said ominously. Seeing my look of confusion he added, “Sealurks that have thermal sickness.” Oh, horseapples. Tabben considered the situation for a moment before giving us a plan, “I'll go in there and draw their first attacks, you two come in after I scream and finish them up before they get another go at me.”

I didn't like this idea, it had stupid written all over it, unfortunately, he didn't give us a chance to object, he rushed in. Shortly after he did I heard the sound of water spraying, and Tabben letting out a rather sacrilegious curse.

Diving out of the corner, right behind Mek, I saw the hot-lurks. They looked very similar to sealurks, besides the fact that they had fire billowing from their claws, and they were literally letting off steam.

Since they were distracted, I picked one and Mek picked the other. I didn't hold back with this monster, I unloaded four shots into its face plate. When its skull exploded from the barrage, I felt a wave of heat radiate from it and backed away quickly.

Mek had less success than I did, the beast turned to her, its face partially destroyed from her shotgun blasts. It thrust its claws at her and fire spilled out. I let out a scream, as the fire started to wash over Mek, I saw Tabben hop in front of it, pushing Mek out. As I started to move to Mek's aid, Tabben's words made me stop.

“Finish it!”

I turned and hoped two bullets would be enough. It was. The hot-lurk collapsed, dead. Its blood oozed onto the rusty metal and I noticed that the metal was starting to glow red from it! I moved to Mek and tried to get her out of the room. She had put the fire out, but she had small burns all over her, and her armor needed to be removed, it was searing her coat.

Looking back at Tabben, I saw to my surprise that he was completely unharmed by the fire. Although I did notice that his eyes were giving off an ember-ish glow. He stayed in the room, watching me help Mek.

“Will she be all right?” He asked, his concern genuine.

“I'll be fine, you need to get out of here Tabben!” Mek answered before I could, she was not fine, compared to Tabben anyway. Tabben considered us for a minute. He then walked over to us, as he got closer I felt heat radiating from him. Wait a second.

“You have thermal sickness?” I asked, he nodded.

Thermal Sickness. It was the name given to victims of megaspell taint derived from the boiling straits. Tabben was tainted, just as I was. My particular taint didn't have a name, it wasn't common enough to have one, or if it did, I have yet to hear of it. Thermal Sickness is relatively common in the eastern seas.

Victims suffer from heat absorption, and heat generation. As their bodies generate heat, it's absorbed. And if their bodies absorb too much heat, they degrade into fire-ghouls. They become walking abominations of fire, they suffer eternal pain from the burning, and in their insanity, often burn and destroy everything around them. There are methods to release heat absorbed, but if too much is absorbed to quickly, then degradation is certain.

I saw now why Mek was concerned about Tabben going into the ship. Come to think of it, Tabben had slept on the deck last night. Closed in spaces are dangerous for anypony suffering from TS, heat builds up in closed spaces and increases the amount absorbed.

“Tabben, you need to get outside, before you overheat.” I ordered him. TS was common enough in the seas for my mother to have written a good deal on in her notes. If Tabben overheated, Mek and I would be caught in the inferno.

Tabben eyed the other end of the room, the two yellow bars were right behind a sealed door. He looked back at us. He levitated some water from the hall we came in from, I saw that it was steaming from his magic! He threw the water against the sealed door and we all saw it evaporate violently against it. Oh.

“I think our survivors are not in a position we can save them from.” Tabben pointed out, his voice sounded... older.

“The two of you go back up and out. Your little pipbuck radar, what color am I?” he asked me.

“Green”

“If you stop seeing green in the next two minutes, leave me for dead.”

Mek and I both denied him in unison, I did so verbally, Mek tried to hit him, but she only managed to hurt herself, before her hoof connected she pulled it away sharply, new burns appearing on it. Tabben smiled at us.

“Oh how the ladies worry about me,” his smile faded, “Get out, or you'll both die.” He commanded us. I saw in his glowing eyes the truth. We needed to get out of here. I got up, and tried to bring Mek with me, but she refused to move.

“Tabben, I don't want to lose you.” She was glaring at him, her voice steady and constrained, “Promise me you'll come out of here alive.” It was clear to me, and to him, that Mek wouldn't move without his promise. Tabben gave a bitter smile.

“Sorry, I only make promises I'm certain I can keep,” turning to me, he didn't order me, he asked of me, “Get her out of here.” With that, he proceeded to the sealed door. As he got closer the room got hotter and hotter as he released the heat his body generated, we needed to get out of here.

Mek was watching Tabben go, shock evident on her face. I grabbed her by the tail and pulled hard, bringing her back to me, she looked at me, her expression hallow, as if something important had been lost, and she absentmindedly followed me. The room was beyond hot at this point.

Prompting Mek ahead of me, I yelled over my shoulder a message to Tabben, words that I hoped reached him.

And we climbed out, going up didn't make it any cooler, the heat was radiating through the floor. Mek seemed to have gained some semblance of survival because she started running, and after chocking through the second floor we made it to the first. The cargo in the hold was on fire. The ship was no longer safe, I endeavored to get us back outside out onto the nearby rocks. I glanced to the ships bow to see that the two yellow bars were now red, the green still shined brightly in my vision. I wondered how Tabben intended to deal with those two ponies, who were undoubtedly fire-ghouls at this point. Fire-based magic doesn't harm fire-ghouls, did Tabben intend to use telekinesis?

Making it back outside, the scorching sun was a cool blessing compared to the oven we abandoned. In the safety of being outside, I whispered a prayer for the buck we had left behind.

I saw from our vantage that the entire bottom front of the ship was glowing red. The two red bars dissipated. I stared at the green bar for several tense seconds, but those few seconds felt like an eternity.

Suddenly, a section of the ship's hull started to melt, like wax, forming a pony sized hole in the bottom of the ship. Standing in the opening was Tabben, he trotted out, his eyes glowing orange, light shining through his cinder scorched robe. He looked around and saw our ship, and us. After seeing where his comrades were, he let forth what I could only call a cataclysm of heat.

A column of air, water, and rock were incinerated off in a direction away from everypony. Water in the sea instantly turned to vapor, and the rocks in the path were melted to shape the cone of intense heat he expelled. When the steam parted, Tabben lay on the ground, unconscious. I let out a big sigh of relief, he hadn't degraded on us.

“Tabben!” Mek yelled, and she ran down to his side, I followed behind. Mek stopped about ten yards away from his collapsed figure. I couldn't blame her, catching up to her, it was scorching down here. The ships hull was still glowing from the heat. To my surprise, Mek wasn't finished.

Tabben was wrapped in a purple aura of magic. I saw the glow mirrored from Mek's disheveled hair, she was trying to pull Tabben to us. Her horn glowed brighter, not use to the exertion, and slowly, he was dragged to us. As she brought him closer, she took some steps away from all the heat. When he was close enough to be safety moved, I approached, and discovered he was cool to the touch, relatively speaking. At this point Mek abandoned her magic, drained, and picked up Tabben on her back.

We made our way back to Shelter, our response to the SOS having been a disastrous waste of time. Besides being unconscious, Tabben looked completely fine.

“What happened to Tabby, and what happened to the ship, oh, are you three going to be fine?” Golden had flown over to us, Solar was guiding the ship to where we originally left from.

“I'm going to need a potion or two,” Mek started, “and my armor is gonna need some cleaning, and Tabben has some apologizing to do. Once he wakes up.”

“I, I think we're going to be fine.” I answered, “Lets get out of here and back on course.” Salvaging that wreck wasn't an option now, considering what Tabben did to the ship.

“What happened, are you okay?” Now it was Solar's turn for the questions.

“Uh, Tabben has TS, he overheated and almost got us all killed. Can we get going now?” Mek chided, her poor mood evident to all.

Solar, not wanting to rock the boat, bit his lip and got us out of there. We lay Tabben on the deck, wanting to check his wounds I made to remove his robe, but Mek stopped me.

“Keep it on, it protects him from himself.” she said, “He didn't get hit by any of the sealurks, so he should be fine when he wakes up. Besides, I doubt you could help heal him. I'll be with my engine, when he wakes up, tell him to talk to me.” I left the robe alone, but wondered how it survived when metal had melted from the heat. She doubted I could heal him? One of the possible side affects of TS was being unable to heal from potions, was that what she was referring to?

As she went below deck, Solar and Golden wished to be filled in, and I obliged. Not too long after I finished recounting events, Tabben awoke. Solar was back at piloting the ship, while Golden had gone below to prepare lunch for everypony. Our eyes met, and he smiled, his eyes smiled as well.

“'You must be terribly incompetent if you can't control your own flames?'” He quoted the last thing I said to him, “Fair enough, congratulations, you've earned one free question.”

“One free question?” I asked.

“That one doesn't count, ask me any question you'd like and I'll answer it to the best of my abilities, honestly, you've earned one.” I say what he needs to hear to save his life and I get one question out of it? This buck sure is stingy.

Well, I had a question, what did I want to know...? Oh, I knew what, but I didn't want it to count.

“This isn't my 'one question' but the two in the sealed room, were they... ghouls?” I asked, he nodded. Killing them was a mercy, even I knew that.

“This isn't it either, how did you survive that? I'm no expert on TS, but you should have fallen to a fire-ghoul from that.” He sighed, clearly bothered by all the questions that we not 'the one question'.

“Would you be surprised if I told you that was the third time I've flared? I was afflicted when I was a colt, I've lived long enough to manage it, for the most part. I didn't think I'd get out of that one, but luckily the two survivors were not as hot as they could have been.” So it was luck and experience? I hoped to never see him flare again, we could have easily burned to death from that incident. I moved on to my real question.

“Tabben, why do you hate Wildcard, she's your mother after all.” I wanted to know his reasons. I doubted they were as simple as Solar and his relationship with his father. He rolled his eyes at me!

“I've already filled you in on that one, you stupid filly. It's all in her name! She is always someponies pawn, how do you think that makes somepony like me feel? The fact that my mother is a giant tool? I guess I could mention more, such as how she left me in the care of strangers in pursuit of her talents. Or how she always tries to wrap me up in her business. But it's probably the fact that she named me, names have power, and I loathe the name she gave me. I hate it and can only hope it dies with her when she perishes.” His breathing was hard and he was radiating heat, but it looked like he was finished fuming his feelings on the matter.

“That doesn't count as your question, but I almost feel like making it count since you're such a dunderhead,” he paused for a moment, considering me, “But, you got Mek out of there, and saved her, so ask away.” Oh, I suppose I should feel flattered that he chose to not punish me for my stupidity. This damn buck.

Okay, with a list like that I can see where he's coming from. And from listening to it, it sounded more like he was disappointed, rather than loathing of her. I considered it a good idea to not point that out to him. He mentioned me getting Mek out of the mess, I did want to know what kind of history those two had.

“How did you and Mek become friends?” Friends, a word I was familiar with, but never understood. Two individuals who enjoy being around each other. Actually, I think there's more to it than that, Tabben and Mek were friends, but Mek always seemed to be upset at him, for obvious reasons. Even though they tended to be at odds, the both seemed to care for each other, each in their own way. I think, that Mek and I were friends as well...?

I'd have to ask her just to be sure.

Tabben nodded his head, as if he had been expecting me to ask that one. Wait, had he mentioned Mek earlier to goad me into asking about how they met? Oh that's several kinds of unsettling.

“Okay, I'll answer that one, but not right now. It can wait till later.” Oh come on! If that's how its gonna be, I'll see to it that he gets whats coming to him.

“Oh, by the way, Mek wanted to apologize for earlier, you should go down to the engine room and talk with her.” I lied to him, as straight as I could.

“Oh, so she realized she was being a stubborn fool for staying when I was melting down, this I have to hear,” and with that, he went below deck. As his head disappeared below, a grin grew on my face, its presence so honest and powerful that my face started to ache. I could swear I heard the 'bomp' from all the way up here.

Now that I was alone on the deck, I found myself thinking about the SOS. We went to check out something in the wasteland, and we got nothing to show for it. It seems to be a common theme in the wasteland, considering my track record. It would be nice to get a break sometime, I mean, from what I gathered from Mek and Tabben, those sorts of endeavors can be profitable. I guess I just have poor luck for running into such profits.

Joint Facility 3 at least had some potions and a healing talisman. All that we got from the facility was just used up to heal Mek's burns. I let out a long sigh.

“Something the matter?” Solar asked me, almost making me jump. Turning to him, I recomposed myself and answered.

“Just thinking that I have no luck when it comes to finding fortune in the wasteland. Go save a boat full of ponies, almost get burned to death by thermal sickness. Go to a safe house, almost lose two fillies. Check out an old world research center, get a bounty tossed on me. I've got terrible luck.”

“Well, at least you have a ship full of ponies that don't mind sailing with you.” Solar pointed out, and he was right. Wait, had he just counted the good for me? That brought a smile to my face.

“Yea, at least there's that, thanks Solar,” I replied, which seemed to make him happy.

Golden arrived with lunch, a mix of carrot crunch and some unidentified plant. It tasted surprisingly good.

“Tabby and Mek were arguing, so I thought it would be safer to stay topside. What's SaddleSands like, never been there.” She asked us, I gave Solar a look.

“Uh, its a small fishing village that attracts anypony that's willing to risk their lives for some caps. There's an old Equestrian facility on the island that hasn't been fully cleared, a lot of robots in it. I admit, I'm a little curious about it,” he said, “Anypony with a gun and the nerve goes there to collect some robot scraps. The facility always seems to replace its robots, which is why it hasn't been fully cleared out.”

“That sounds kind of cool, is that why we're going there?” Golden asked.

It was probably PA Lab 1, guess we're in for fighting robots.

“Yea, that's probably the place, we're going to have to deal with those machines, but if we make it out alright, we'll have plenty of scrap to sell.” I said with bravado. It was going to be dangerous. Tabben's magic wouldn't be as effective against machines, and I doubted they would fall for his illusions, “Solar, will you be coming with us? Somepony that knows robotics would be a big help going in.” I asked, hoping he was up for getting shot at.

“If it's robots, I don't see why not. I'll need to tinker with my grenades, convert some over to spark grenades. Mind steering the ship while I do that, we should be there in two hours.” I nodded to him and he went below deck, passing Tabben as he did, they exchanged a look of dislike before passing.

“Just so you know, my magic is burnt out.” Oh, that's not good. Burn out for unicorns happens when they overtax their magic, it takes time for their magic to return, sometimes hours, sometimes days.

“How long will it take to recover, can you use firearms?” I asked him, going into a robotics facility without him would be rough.

“A few days to be back at my peak, I can fire small guns, but my experience is limited to the times I've suffered burnout, which isn't common. If you really need me for something, we can always wait a few days.” He offered, I shook my head.

“We can assume that Wildcard is gonna send somepony after us, and she would probably check out PA Lab 1 first, since its the one we're most likely to check first. Which we are. We need to check it out and leave as quickly as we can.”

“I guess I'll just have to pick up a gun and make myself a target. I'm not staying behind, we all may as well go, the more the merrier.” Well, at the very least he could follow behind us and watch out for Golden. The idea of leaving Golden and Tabben on the ship came to mind, but I doubted he would go for it, and I didn't want to argue with him and Golden at the same time, I wouldn't win.

Golden looked happy that she was going to join us, guess I should start hoping for the best, and expecting the worst.

A fishing village huh, I guess fishing is the major source of food, considering the zebra town and SaddleSands. It's a good thing rad-away is so common, or ponies wouldn't be able to survive off of the sea, there's only so much pre-war food lying around before it runs out.

“There's a shark ahead of us.” Tabben pointed out, seeing the white shape ahead of the ship, I maneuvered around it. Our ship was fast enough to outpace the sharks, we just had to avoid running right into them.

I spotted the island an hour and a half later. It was a small island, about the same as my own island, but it rose higher out of the sea, sort of like a small mountain piercing the waves. Getting closer, I saw that the rocky island had a structure built on top of the small peak, probably PA Lab 1, nestled on the shore was a village with a small pier, but something was off. Some of the buildings were a blackened mess, and there was a large ship anchored off the shore.

“Golden, get the others up here, we have trouble,” I commanded.

“Pirates,” Tabben clairified.

The ship in question was the same make of Peg Legs, but I could tell it had two gun turrets on the deck, that ship looked capable of sinking other ships.

Golden flew below deck and returned in short order with the others. I wanted to take charge, but I wasn't ready for it, not yet, and not for this. Maybe when we landed, but in a naval battle? I lack the know how needed to command that.

“How should we go about this?” I asked my crew.

“I'd start by attacking the ship,” Tabben pitched, “most of the crew is likely to be on the island considering the ship is anchored. We take their ship, we get their haul and their means of leaving the island. From there, we back around and sneak onto the island in the dead of night, and kill every single one of them.” I liked every part of that plan besides the tail end.

“I'd say we take their ship, run it aground, anchor ours and take the fight to them, none of that waiting around till night rubbish,” was Mek's idea.

“We should bombard the enemy from a safe distance and take them out with their own weapons, that pirate ship is bound to have explosives on it,” Solar suggested.

“I think we should turn the boat around and give them a chase, because they've hauled anchor and are working to intercept us!” Golden pointed out. Wait, what!?

We all looked off the bow to see that the pirate ship was turning to us. Our time to plan has run out! Tabben didn't wait for us to wipe away our surprise, he took charge, again.

“Right, Yellow, when they get close, bombard them with grenades, aim to take out their steering, but wait till we lure them away from the island.” Tabben said, giving an order that fit the situation. The rest of us didn't have any guns fit to take down a ship, and Tabben's magic was spent. Good thing we have two fliers.

As we lured them from the island, Solar flew high into the sky until his coat blended in with the light of the sun. We avoided their fire, they were slow and big, and were easy for us to avoid. As it looked as though they were going to give up, an explosion went off at their stern, and the ship stopped turning.

Solar returned shortly after the pirate ship lost steering. We passed the ship, giving it some distance, and moved to what remained of SaddleSands. Tabben's plan got the ship stranded four kilometers from the shore, a distance we were comfortable with.

We tied up at the dock, and Mek went below to fiddle with the engine to make sure our ship couldn't be stolen. I gave Tabben one of the guns Golden had stolen from the SAF officers and told Golden to stay hidden and be careful. There were probably still pirates here.

Looking to the others, I finally took charge.

“Solar, I want you to play lookout, if we get shot at, flush out our attackers, mind for enemy fire and don't stay still. Mek, you've got point, Tabben, watch our backs. We'll move from building to building, I want pirates incapacitated, please avoid lethal shots. Our goal is to first find survivors, then remove the pirate problem. Understood?”

Mek and Solar nodded their heads, Tabben responded with a sly grin before he nodded as well. With that, we moved out.

Golden and Solar were gone in a blink, Solar wasn't as fast as golden, but as long as he didn't hover, it would be hard for any shooter to get a shot on the pegasus. Moving from the dock, the town was simple in layout, two rows of buildings down a single street, we moved to the left side and kept an eye out. My eyes focused on my EFS.

After moving two buildings into the town, red bars appeared, and we were being shot at. I heard bullets bounce off Mek's armor as we took cover. Thinking to get around, we moved to the back of the building, but enemy fire found us from there as well. After a minute of us waiting pinned, the fire stopped and we made our move.

Charging the position the pirates shot us from, I was surprised to see them do the same, I suppose they ran out of ammo. There were six ponies total, Mek crashed into the first two like a wrecking ball. Opting for my harpoon, I lined up several hits with SATS, disabling one of them with several ligament cutting slashes. Tabben fired at one with every bullet in the clip, his aim was poor. The pirate was killed by the barrage.

With four of them taken down, the two remaining saw how this battle fared them, and ran from us, but not before leaving several grenades behind!

“Grenades!” I shouted, and moved to get away from them as Mek and Tabben did the same.

The grenades went off, sending all of us flying. The three that were injured were killed in the blast. The blast also caught the two pirates that were running, but they were unarmored and fared as well as we did. As in not too well at all. I was knocked off my hooves and slammed into the side of the building. Everything felt hazy as I struggled to my feet, before I could move to check on my crew, something connected with the back of my skull, and I collapsed.

A cold sensation followed by trouble breathing woke me up from my trauma induced sleep. Sputtering the water from my face, I looked around.

I was chained over some sort of table, belly down, I saw that Mek was chained to a nearby table as well. Tabben was in a sealed cage in the far end of the clearing. We were outside, behind the town, and to my disgust the table I was chained to had blood caked on it, especially around where the chains bound my hooves.

Mek and I had our armor removed, Tabben still had his robe on, he was looking at us with a cold neutral stare, but I could tell there was a fire lit inside those eyes. What also caught my attention was the buck with the bucket that had just splashed me. Standing next to him was a mare wearing a very big hat and some sort of fancy clothing, a sword hanging from her side. She sort of reminded me of Peg Leg.

After quickly taking this in, several things occurred to me. I was scared, worried, and pissed. I had gotten caught. AGAIN. I took solace in the fact that neither Golden or Solar were to be seen, the hope for a rescue keeping me from completely losing my mind.

The buck went to Mek and splashed her good, waking her up and causing her to curse the buck. He bucked her in the face, which caused Mek to curse him again, which got him to hit her again.

“Stop, please!” I yelled, pleading, at him. That got me a face full of pain for my troubles, which caused me to pass out. It didn't last long however as he splashed me again with water to wake me. To say this was bad was an understatement.

“Speak out of turn again and I'll let him show you what happened to the rest of the mares in this village.” The captain said, I assumed she meant that she killed them, but I got the suspicion that there was something more to it. For some reason, Ruby saying I 'wouldn't be for it' echoed in my head.

“Now, which one of you is the captain of the yacht?” The pirate captain asked us, I quickly informed her it was me, I didn't want her to harm the others looking for an answer. She scoffed at me.

“You're the captain, if you're the captain than I'm the goddess Luna in the flesh!”

“Which you're not, not for a lack of trying, you're a dazzling one all right, I'm the captain.” Tabben interjected. She walked over to Tabben, appraising him. Tabben had managed to get the attention of the buck that bucked us, I took the opportunity to see if there was anything we could make use of. I doubted they were aware that Mek was a unicorn.

Looking around, I saw our things on the opposite end of the clearing from Tabben. Mek was close to that pile. Mek noticed the look I gave her, indicating the pile, and she nodded her head.

“The one and only, it was my idea to destroy your ships rudder, pretty clever no? I suppose that's why you've kept us alive? Need a new, working ship to leave this place and don't know how to get ours up and running.” Tabben divvied out, the captain was both annoyed and impressed.

As they talked, Mek got Trust from my bags and brought it over to me. Before it reached me it was shot from Mek's grasp.

“Boss, the orange one is a unicorn!” looking to the voice, I saw a pony with a rifle overlooking the clearing from one of the buildings. The captain walked over to me and picked up Trust in her mouth.

“Well well, still got some fight left in ya, still though, you were gonna try and take me down with this piece of crap? Look at this piece of shit!” She spat it out and balanced it on her hoof as she appraised it, “Can you see yourself being killed with a gun this crappy? I wouldn't even put down my favorite rad-roach with this rusty turd!” she put Trust back in her mouth and walked over to Mek, placing it against her head. “Still, guess a piece of shit like this is perfect for dealing with you.” Before she fired, Tabben stopped her.

“She's our mechanic, kill her and you won't be able to get the yacht going!” He screamed, which made her pause, she then smiled.

“She doesn't need her horn for that.” I stared transfixed, hoping that my suspicions of Trust were true and not some fantasy I conjured up. Placing the gun against Mek's horn, she pulled the trigger. There was no boom, or click. She laughed.

“The hammer didn't even fall, piece of shi-” she moved away from Mek as she said it, and when she did the gun fired, the recoil caused the gun to lodge deeper into her mouth. Surprised, she tried to spit it out, it fired again, and she started choking. The buck moved to help her, Trust fired again, catching the buck in the chest, he dropped before he realized that his heart was gone.

An explosion occurred from where the pony with the rifle was, Solar! I felt somepony moving near me and saw Golden unlocking the chains, she must have gotten the keys during the commotion. As I freed myself the pirate captain rammed into me, her face blue, her eyes bloodshot. She then rammed into the table, trying to get Trust out of her throat, and she succeeded.

As the captain wheezed in a fresh breath of air, I picked up Trust, trying my best to ignore the saliva and mucus it was slathered in. As I brought Trust to bear on her, she rolled over to where Mek was, whipping out her gun and planting in against her head. Golden winced back away from Mek, who she was trying to free.

It was the pirate, or Mek. The look of fear in her eyes matched the fear in mine, she didn't want to die, I didn't want to lose Mek. No, it wasn't just fear in her eyes, there was also hatred. The wasteland had me pinned. Kill the pirate to save my friend, or lose Mek, and have somepony else kill the pirate.

I knew she was already dead, Tabben would see to it. She knew she wasn't going to get away from us alive. She had hope, it was the only thing keeping her from killing Mek right now. I didn't have time to think about this, each second counted against me, but I couldn't act. So I had an idea. I went into SATS, and used the spells time slowing characteristics to buy me time to think.

If I kill her, she won't be the last, I'll have blood on my hooves, and it will never wash. It'll be the blood of scum, but blood all the same.

I see, I want to stay clean, I don't want to be the pony responsible for ending the life of another. If I don't kill her, then instead of scums blood, it'll be Mek's blood. I don't want to be responsible.

Wanting to remain pure in the wasteland, I guess it's too much to ask. Tipping the scales wouldn't be easy, and I'm not a big enough pony to pull it off without getting myself dirty.

May Weather betrayed me to tip the scales, she probably has blood on her hooves too. Tabben, Mek, Ruby, Solar. They killed to protect me. They see the evil in their actions, and still do it, to protect me from the monsters of the wasteland. Their hooves are dirty in blood too, its arrogant of me to want to remain pure at their expense.

I look at that purity and use it to put myself above the wasteland. It's a poison, how can I lead my crew while thinking I'm better than them? I can't, they'll either abandon me, Tabben, or die to protect my arrogant purity, Mek, Solar, Golden. Is purity worth the life of my friend, my crew?

I decided to trust my gun to the decision. If it fired, or if it didn't, I would take responsibility for the outcome. I toggled four shots, first two for her gun, last two for her skull, and ended SATS.

Trust fired three times, clicked once, right, six shots, reload. Her gun was destroyed, and with her brain perforated, the pirate captain died. I think I understood why Trust fired this time. Regret. I would regret taking this life. It saved Mek, but I would still regret it. Regret was doomed to fall upon this choice, damned if I do, damned if I didn't.

Once upon a time, that pirate had been a filly. She lived the life she had that led to this moment, where some blue pony with zebra stripes killed her. Somewhere along the line, she made the choice to kill, which led to two bullets in her head. She had lived in the wasteland, become the captain of a ship, and it all ended with two bullets. Its cruel, how resilient, and how frail we are.

Standing there, staring at her corpse, smoke billowing from Trust's barrel, I couldn't help but wonder. Was that how I was going to go out? Some pony I didn't know the name of, putting me down after threatening a friend?

Mek and Golden were looking at me, Golden with shock, Mek with concern. There was blood on my hooves, that will never wash away. Try as I might, the tears streaming down my face wouldn't wash it away. But at least Mek was safe now. Being free of the chains, she held me close and stroked my mane, my tears broke way into open sobbing, Trust fell to the dirt. Golden looked like she wanted to comfort me, but she shook her head and went over to free Tabben.

I wondered, had Mek cried after her first kill, what about Tabben, Solar? It's not right for ponies to kill ponies. Damn the wasteland.

Tabben and Solar walked near us, seeing me sob into Mek's embrace, Solar looked like he wanted to say something comforting.

“Thanks for saving our friend,” Was what Tabben had given me. Our friend, Mek was a mutual link of happiness between Tabben and myself, and I saved her. His words were kind, and I held on to them. Tabben grabbed Solar and whispered something to him, and they both left us. At Tabben's call, Golden joined them.

After some time passed I was too tired to cry. I looked at Mek, her face was a mess, and it made me laugh. Laughing hurt, my face was a mess too. She looked at me in confusion before she to started laughing as well. It hurt, but it was cathartic, we leaned into each other and laughed ourselves hoarse. After our fit of laughter died down, she appraised me.

“Now sweetie, ya gotta let me save you sometime, this is getting right embarrassing. That's twice in one day that you've saved me, ya know.”

“I think we can chop that up to Trust, I wish I knew this guns story, its almost like its alive,” I eyed the gun, just what was it? “I'm glad I didn't lose anypony today,” I added, “I just wish I didn't have to kill to do it. The wasteland makes killers of everpony.”

“There are some things that cannot be helped sweetie, just lift your head high and hope that tomorrow will be better.” There was a small pause before she continued. “Well, that's enough tears and laughs, there are things we need to do,” I nodded in agreement.

Turning to the ruins of SaddleSands, we began to look for any survivors.

Tabben insisted I look around the town with my EFS while him and Solar cleaned up the mess the pirates left behind, and I was too emotionally drained to offer an alternative. With Mek by my side, we wandered around the outskirts of the town, but the only bars on my EFS were of my crew.

“There's nopony else here.” I told her, she nodded and seeing a pillar of smoke rising from the center of town, led us to the rest of the group. Tabben and Solar had made a funeral pyre for the townsponies. The bodies of the pirates had been left to the side, to rot in the open or dumped in the sea, I wasn't certain which.

All five of use watched the pyre burn, nothing was said, nopony had any words for the dead. Sitting there in front of the fire, I felt I needed to add something. So I hummed my song. I couldn't find the note. I wanted to find the note, but it escaped me. Still, I sang regardless.

As I hummed my song I felt myself start to drift away, and before I realized it, the heat of the fire disappeared, the somber atmosphere vanished, and darkness washed over me.

I stood at the center of SaddleSands, a funeral pyre burned before me. My crew wasn't by my side. Looking around, I saw nine ponies looking at me, grinning sadistically.

The pirates approached me as I realized that I was in the lobby.

And Zerkash was nowhere to be seen.

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 7.

New Perk: S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Training(1) –  Agility +1. You're agility is beyond normal, you give fast pegasai a run for their caps!

Skill Note: Small Guns (50)

7. Souls and Machines

The nine pirates had me surrounded. I jumped, trying to get out from the middle of them. The buck I tried to jump over plowed right into my underside, sending us both crashing to the ground. The others pinned me before I could get back on my hooves.

She all ours, you wanna be first Cap'n?

No, I think I'll go topside and send the unicorn and filly down here for the rest of you, have fun~

The captain disappeared, to my horror I felt things shift, some part of my awareness told me I was no longer in control of my physical self. No, no no! I needed to get in control before she harms my crew!

Break her.

The buck that had been shot in the heart stood on his rear hooves and brought his weight down on my back legs, breaking them. I let out a cry of pain that seemed to shake SaddleSands.

He moved to do the same to my forward legs, but before he did so my back legs recovered. The pain ended instantly and it was if my legs had never been hurt in the first place. The buck at first seemed upset, but then he smiled. His smile made me shudder, I started to quiver at the idea I saw form on his face.

Spread her.

The bucks holding me down spread my back legs apart, and the buck calling the shots got behind me. I saw what he intended to do, I knew what was about to happen, and in that realization, a fear I never knew existed welled up in me, a primal fear. A sense of rejection was thrown out of my entire being.

Get away from me!

Everything was blown away from me, the pirates, the ground, the buildings, the island, the sky. All that was left was a vacuum of darkness, with me at its center. In the stillness that followed, the fear and terror that consumed me slowly ebbed away, and my quivering subsided.

For several minutes I stood in suspended darkness before everything gradually returned. I stood back in the center of SaddleSands, the pirates were getting up, they were spread all around the town with confused looks.

Looking at the pirates, and considering what just happened, I realized something. I wasn't a part of the lobby, the lobby was a part of me. I looked around for the door, and saw it attached to one of the buildings. Why does the door need to be attached to a wall?

With a thought, a door appeared right behind the nearest pirate as he got up. Feeling victorious with my alteration of the lobby, I ran to that pirate and the door opened as I bucked him through it. It slammed shut and disappeared before he could attempt to leave, and in that moment my salvation appeared.

The other pirates saw what happened, and noticed the grin on my face. I was going to vacate these Celestia-damned bastards from my lobby. With a thought, the entire town became walled in, and I started charging the pirates.

First the rifle wielder, he tried to run from me, an opened door appeared in his path and swallowed him whole.

Then the five that were killed by the grenades, one after the other I sent them through the door. Two fell for the same trick as the second. Two others were bucked through. The last one had the door appear under him as he jumped away from me, falling into the waiting doorway. I found it invigorating that my body didn't seem to be physically weak in the lobby. Were this outside, I wouldn't be able to send these pirates flying with my kicks.

Leaving me and the buck that tried to violate me. He eyed me, hatred in his eyes, my gaze matched his. I charged at him, he charged me. Before we collided, a door appeared in front of him, closed. He smashed into it with a satisfying thud.

I then picked the door up with my mouth, and bashed him with it repeatedly. After smashing him to pulp, I waited for him to heal, then slammed the door on him one last time, this time with the door being open. He disappeared inside and was closed off from the lobby.

Being alone in the lobby again, I wondered how I was going to get my body back. I was in the lobby for some time, how long I wasn't certain, time moved at an uncertain pace in here. I changed the interior of the lobby several times, trying to provoke some sort of affect that would get me back to myself.

Wait, how did the other ponies know what was going on outside? There must be some way, Zerkash always seemed to be aware of what was transpiring outside!

Thinking to see the outside, the lobby changed. I was now in SaddleSands, I was myself, but not myself. I could see what I was seeing, feel the pain in my face, smell the fire nearby, but I had no control over my movements.

I saw Tabben sifting though a pile of goods, he pulled out a potion and gave it to Mek, and she gave it to me.

Good, I can kill her first once the wounds are fixed, the bitch has some buck and dash, should be easy to kill her shitty crew with those.

What! You are not killing my crew!

Everything flinched, and I saw Mek give me a confused look.

Fuck

I saw myself pull out Trust from my saddlebags and took aim at Mek, her eyes opened wide in alarm and confusion.

Trust didn't fire.

This shitty crappy fucking gun!

I felt pain in my chest as Tabben rammed me, his horn pieced into me. I felt heat and pain wash over me as heat radiated from his horn. I separated myself from the pain. Wait, I separated myself from the pain?

The wound in my chest stopped hurting, for me at least, the pirate captain was screaming in agony, she was speaking all manner of curses with my own mouth. Everything faded to black as my body passed out. I really hoped that Tabben hadn't just killed me.

I drew myself back to the lobby, the pirate was there as well. I understood now, she fell here because she was near death, as I had come here those other times when I was near death. It would be nice if I could enter the lobby without actually being in mortal peril.

I summoned an open door above her, slammed it onto her and closed it on her.

No you don't, you damn cunt.

I was hit from behind, being knocked to the ground I saw her standing over me. She didn't get caught in the hallway!?

Like I'm gonna give up that easily. Stupid bitch, I'm not leaving until I've taken everything from you. Your virginity, your body, your life, your crew, your ship, your crappy ass gun, everything!

She was going to take everything from me?

She was going to steal from me?

No. No she wasn't!

I'm tired of things being stolen from me. Ever since pirates came to my island a week ago, I've kept having things stolen from me.

My home was stolen from me on the first night.

My chance at a safe and comfortable life was stolen from me when Ruby died on the second day.

My belief that I was a normal pony was stolen the third day.

My freedom was stolen on the forth day.

My trust in other ponies was stolen on the fifth day.

My memories were stolen on the sixth day.

And today, my body was stolen from me.

I am tired of ponies stealing from me, of the wasteland stealing from me. I wasn't going to allow it anymore, I was going to fight against it. I am going to fight for what's mine.

Get out.

Make me, damn bitch.

Very well.

Letting my anger guide my thoughts, I made to get her out.

I giant hoof descended from the sky and crushed the pirate. The lobby was mine, it answered to my will, and I wasn't going to share it with scum like her. The hoof disappeared. The pirate crawled out of the crater, her bones healing.

Get out.

Fuck you.

The ground swung out to either side of her and crushed her, sending blood and gore everywhere. The ground returned to normal, revealing a pony shaped smear that was the pirate. The blood and gore returned as the pony became whole again.

Just wait and see, one day, you'll be just like me. Damn bitch.

Get!

A door appeared behind her, it was open.

Out!

A giant hoof slammed her from the side, and pushed her through the door, the door closed and I was alone again, and for the first time, I found safety in the solitude.

Glad that the lobby was clean of the pirates, I wondered about Zerkash's fate.

Looking around, I was sad that Zerkash was gone. Had he passed on and not bothered to say goodbye?

Thinking back on it, I hadn't recalled feeling his presence since Wildcard had taken custody of me. Had she stolen Zerkash from me as well? Just what was Wildcard capable of? She knew about the lobby, maybe she had some means of manipulating it?

I need to return to Sandstone. I need to confront Wildcard. I needed to confront the slave market. Assuming Tabben hasn't actually killed me that is. Considering the notion that I may in fact be dead, I walked over to the rusty door I forced nine pirates through.

Trying the latch, I was annoyed that the door now refused to open.

Not wanting to be in the lobby anymore, I closed my eyes and let it all fall to darkness.

I was on my side as I came too. My legs were bound, and I was in one of the buildings in SaddleSand. I seem to have taken up the habit of waking up a prisoner this past week. Tabben was sitting in the room looking over his supplies. Hearing me stir against the ropes, he looked at me. His stare was threatening, he was appraising me.

“You're name?”

“Winter Rain,” I answered, he slumped with relief before moving towards me. He knew I was myself just from that?

“Wait, that's all you needed to tell I was myself?” I asked, did he actually trust me?

“I can tell when a pony is lying to me about their name, its part of my special talent.” So no, he didn't trust me, he trusted in his talent.

“And just was that about," he asked, "is it going to happen again? Let me guess, it's part of your 'story'?” I nodded.

“I got rid of the pirates, but it could happen again if we end up killing a bunch of terrible ponies. Where are the others? I want to talk about this with everypony.” He undid my ropes, getting up I saw a scar on my chest where he had stabbed me.

“They're scavenging right now, lets go out and get this over with,” he informed me. The town was dead, I wasn't going to make a big deal over scavenging their property. They couldn't take it with them into whatever lies beyond the lobby anyway.

Going outside with him, I saw that the sun was still high in the sky, I must have been out for only an hour. Solar noticed us first, and in short order my crew had gathered. After I assured them I was fine, I told them about the lobby, Zerkash, my healing song, and about destiny labs. I then filled in Tabben and Golden on the events that lead us to Rustic, starting from the night I left my island.

“Well, I haven't heard that one before.” Was Tabben's comment, he seemed surprised, and a little impressed. The surprise was shared by everypony but Mek, since she already knew about some of the details. Wait, Tabben sounded impress? Why did that fill me with pride? I must be suffering some of his crazy from when he stabbed me.

“So we're here to find some answers about who you are? It sounds like it's a little bigger than that, you think?” Solar pointed out.

“Sounds like an adventure to me, and I'm all for that!” Golden cheerfully proclaimed.

“Sounds like somepony isn't up for going to Friendship City any more.” Mek said, “Ya wanna find answers, well I'm with ya the whole way. We got a facility to dig through on this island. Shall we get to it?”

“I still have those shock grenades I prepared. If you want we can do it now.” Solar suggested. I wanted to that, but something else needed to be taken care of first.

“Before we do that, I need a favor from you three.” I said, looking to Tabben Mek and Solar, “I need you to take out the pirate ship.” They shared a look, the same look they shared last night when I suggested stealing a ship.

“Done with the 'thou shall not kill' bit?” Tabben asked, and I shook my head.

“Take any that surrender as prisoners, otherwise, do what you must. I want everything they have. They stole it from other ponies, we'll make sure other ponies get it back. I also want one of those turrets they have on their deck. Do what you need to for capturing the ship, I'm leaving how you go about it to Tabben.” Tabben nodded. Having two ponies that could take charge did have its advantages.

“I guess this means you're staying here with Golden while we do it?” Mek asked me, and I nodded in confirmation.

“Yes, I don't want to be near anymore pirates when they die, I don't want to repeat what happened earlier if I can avoid it. I trust the three of you can handle it?” They nodded to me.

“Why do I have to stay behind?” Gold asked, almost pouting.

“To keep me company while I mope around, of course.” And to keep her out of harm. I won't be foolish enough to think I can protect her all the time as a member of our crew, but I can at least do this much.

“You'll be fine right? We won't come back to find you missing a leg and speaking in zebra will we?” Solar asked, I almost laughed at the picture. He returned my chuckle with a smile of his own, he was helping me feel better, and I appreciated it.

“We cleared the village, I have EFS either way, I'll be fine, you three be careful, we'll be waiting for you. Take what you can and do so quickly. We can worry about going through what we get later. I still want to get into the lab by tonight.”

With that they went to Shelter and got it running.

Golden and I sat at the dock and watched it sail off. I rubbed the scar on my chest. They probably made me drink the potion instead of doing things my way. A little bit of potion on the wound helps the skin heal properly from burns, causing less scarring. This scar was going to keep, but I was fine with that.

I needed a reminder of what happened today, I must never forget. I hope there's some way to keep dead ponies from taking over. Thinking that, my gaze turned to the dome atop the small mountain past the village.

“I was scared, when Tabben did that to you. Mek was mad, Solar almost tackled him.” Golden informed me as she saw me rub the scar. Solar tackling Tabben, that would have been a sight to see.

“He was protecting Mek,” I said “I need to thank him for that, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if she died over something so stupid as that.” I don't want the blood of my friend literally on my hooves.

We saw explosions happen on the deck of the stranded pirate ship, it had drifted towards the island, but it was still too far to hear the explosions over the waves crashing into the dock. It didn't take long for the fireworks to end, and our ship lined up with theirs, and I assume Tabben and Mek boarded.

“Rain... if Penny or I had died, would we have ended up in the lobby?” She asked me quietly. That thought chilled me, I hoped that if that were ever the case, they would chose to move on rather than stay by my side in their death.

“Yes, you would have. But that didn't happen, I saved you both. So don't worry about that. Worry about it if it happens, and only if it happens. Okay?” I pulled her close and gave her a reassuring hug, and she nodded.

“Okay, I won't worry about it... So Rain, how'd you get rid of the pirates when you were possessed?”

I recounted the story, leaving out the part that still made me shiver thinking about. She really enjoyed it when I told her how I took the pirates out, especially the last two.

“You crushed her with a giant hoof, that's so cool!” She swung her hooves around as if punching the air. My mind had conjured up the pirate captain being sent flying over the horizon by Golden's air punches, which made me chuckle a little.

We saw Shelter returning. As it got closer I noticed a lot of stuff laying on the deck in piles. Mostly crates, and what looked like the parts of a turret. Well, looks like we'll be able to arm our ship with something to handle future sea battles.

Shelter docked to the harbor and we all reunited for a quick rundown of events. Tabben had Solar bombarded the deck to send the crew below deck, and docked when that happened. Then Mek and Tabben went into the ship and cleared it out. No pirate was welcome to the idea of surrendering when they learned their captain was dead.

The three then got all the cargo that looked worth saving and brought it over, as well as parts from the turrets. Solar and Mek would be putting it together when we had the time for it.

We had stolen goods from the pirates, and salvage from the ruined town. Pretty soon we were also going to be in a mess of robot parts from the lab. Using what we had obtained, we made sure we were well equipped to handle the lab. Looks like we would be leaving SaddleSands a lot wealthier then when we arrived.

Mek had taken a liking to a battlesaddle one of the pirates on the ship had. It had a barrel to each side that shot high powered shotgun shells. While slightly more powerful than the combat shotgun, its real power was the fact that the battlesaddle auto-reloaded and could shoot it short bursts. It was made to perforate without mercy. Had she wanted it earlier in the day, I would have denied her, now I wasn't so willing to handicap my crew against potential enemies.

I showed Golden how to use the spark grenades Solar had given us. Spark grenades let out a pulse of electricity that was harmless to ponies, but debilitating to machines. The worst that could happen to us with a spark grenade was a bad mane day. Looking over Golden, I was annoyed that she didn't have any proper protection. What I would give to find some filly sized barding to cover her up in.

As Mek was trying out the new battlesaddle, Solar returned from scouting the island for the entrance to the facility.

“The dome on top is completely sealed off. I suspect that the facility is split into two wings, the dome, and the manufacturing floor. Once we get inside we should look for a map that leads to the dome. Or if there is no map forthcoming, we just try and find any path that leads up. The entrance is past the clearing you were held in. The facility is built into the mountain.” he informed us. He looked pretty excited considering that we were about to enter a supposedly hostile environment.

I looked to my crew, this was a risk, a risk for me to find answers. I am a selfish pony, and they were choosing to accompany me.

“Let's go, and thank you,” I said to them. Before I had even realized it, I had a crew of capable ponies at my side, willing to confront danger with me. Maybe we're all just a bunch of fools, but it made me happy to not be handling this alone.

“Think nuthin of it,” Mek said, she was with me because I saved her, and she enjoyed my singing. She cared for me more than is practical, but it was precious to me.

“I'm not gonna miss out on an adventure,” Golden proclaimed, I had saved her twice. And now she was swept up in my quest, in our adventure. She was the light that reminded me that the wasteland wasn't just darkness.

“Well, think of all the salvage just waiting for us, I'll admit, I'm looking forward to what I can put together with what we gather up!” Solar proclaimed. I had given him a purpose, a ship and a crew to be a part of. Though he was scared of fighting, his knowledge and skill proved a boon to us.

“Like I'm going to be left out of a mess like this. Whatever this is, it involves a lot more than just you, and I intend to be a part of it. Stop thinking we need your gratitude and get moving, we're with you,” Tabben said, in a very Tabben fashion, as in sounding both insulting and inspiring.

He was here to look after Mek, and Golden. Somewhere over today's events I started to respect him, and his arrogance lead him to take charge when I couldn't, when I faltered, he took up the slack.

I looked at the ponies around me. They were my crew. Today I saw us work together, and we were still standing despite Tabben overheating, and the pirates capturing us. I didn't want to lose any of them. We had met at different times, under different circumstances, but they were important to me.

I did not want my crew stolen from me. I would fight for them, as they would fight for me. With a fire burning in my chest, I led us towards the facility.

“Ya look pretty happy right now, lets see if we can leave this island behind with a smile on our faces tonight.” Mek said, addressing first me, then the rest of us. We all shared a look, it was a promise of sorts, and I intended to hold us to it.

We approached the entrance to the facility. There was rubble and debris strewn about the entrance, as if a great deal of gunfire and battles had taken place here. The entrance was a tall steel doorway embedded into the rock face, its doors long removed by previous scavengers. Looking inside we could see with what internal light remained, a hallway weathered by bullets, explosions, and in some spots blood.

Walking towards the door, red bars were slowing appearing on my EFS, they were stationary. Having Mek take point, I followed behind her, the rest of the group taking up the rear. Solar flying above Tabben, Golden staying near Tabben's side.

“I'm seeing red bars, lets try and stay quiet, we should be fine if we handle the machines one at a time.”

Edging in, we found a staircase leading up before we ran into any machines. Climbing the flight of stairs, we must have ascended at least thirty meters before finding ourselves at another floor. Entering the floor, we got into our first firefight.

“Attention zebra sympathizers, you are to be shot, upon being shot we shall commence shooting you again. If you are not zebra sympathizers, we apologize for any unintended fatalities.” Came from a floating robot down the hall. It was a large metal ball that had several appendages, two of them were shooting green laser beams at us!

Mek was hit several times before she returned fire. The machine was five meters away, but I tried my luck with SATS. Between my less than accurate barrage and the flack storm Mek fed it, the bot turned to scrap.

Inching to its corpse, it looked as though it was starting to mend its broken appendages, which got an excited gasp from Solar. He quickly zipped past us and with a wrench in his mouth, ...and a screwdriver in his wings?

I didn't know pegasai could do that with their wings. Well, that aside, Solar dismantled the robot and took something out of it, causing its strange self mending to stop.

“Repair talismans, these robots have repair talismans. This place is a gold mine! With half a dozen of these we could make Shelter have limited self repair capabilities.” He excitedly told us.

That sounds like all kinds of useful, and we hoped our luck would pan out with this idea.

Going through the facility, we found that most of the rooms had been cleaned out. As advertised, this was a scavengers paradise, assuming you don't die in here. We passed several bones of ponies that failed to make it out with their prize, their own corpses having been scavenged.

Solar insisted we save the grenades for if we fight more than two at a time, so we did. We went from room to room. The facility was larger then we anticipated. Time slugged on as we took down robot after robot, looking for another way up, or a map.

Solar was in a very good mood. I've never seen him this happy before. I'm surprised his cutie-mark wasn't a gear considering how he knew how to dismantle the bots. One bot we took down was distracted by Mek and myself. Solar flew behind it while it was firing at us and dismantled it as it was distracted with us!

Being at the front of our line, Mek and I sustained several injuries. Thankfully the pirate goods we stole had potions. As we got further and further into the facility, working our way up, things got more and more dangerous.

After climbing another set of stairs, we found that the robots on this floor worked in pairs, and never wandered far from a turret that offered supporting fire. It was time for us to rely on our spark grenades. I considered it strange that the robots became more dangerous the further in we got, maybe it was to ensure the dome at the top only had the strongest machines defending it? But if that was the case, why not have the last floor have every bot in the facility in it? Realizing I was trying to understand two century old security systems, I focused more on dealing with it instead of wondering why it wasn't as dangerous as it could be.

Because of the stronger machines, this floor had less evidence of scavengers. We started to find things in the side rooms. Caps hidden in waste bins, unopened sparkle cola. We found a memory orb in a small locker room, I had to wonder why the locker room was so far into the facility. And then we found a map!

On one of the locker room walls was the map. It showed that we were on the fifth floor of 'Deterrence Facility Seven', and it looked like 'PA Lab 1' was the seventh floor of the facility. I guess this locker room was for the PA lab, it seemed that the two facilities were connected, yet served separate purposes.

I also saw that the facility had basement levels, and that the manufacturing room was at the bottom. Next to the manufacturing room was a very large storage chamber where I assumed robot parts were kept. There also seemed to be maintenance elevators that connected from the manufacturing room to every floor in the facility, one elevator per floor. I wondered why it was separate as apposed to a single elevator. Must have been some weird old world design choice.

“Solar, you said that this place replenishes its robots right?” I asked, a grim suspicion starting to form.

“That's right, it's the reason why there are still robots in here,” he pointed out.

I took an assessment of our supplies. We had enough ammo and potions to handle what was left of the facility, but we were running low on spark grenades. We should be able to reach the lab, but if the facility replenished its machines, we may have to fight our way back out.

“How long do you think we have before the facility replenishes what we've destroyed?” I asked, a little alarmed. The look on his face informed me that he was now on the same page I was.

“I wouldn't be surprised if the first and second floors were already replenished. The old world facilities like this were able to pull out a robot every couple minutes. Getting out of here could be tricky.”

“What about using these?” Mek asked, referring to the maintenance elevators, “We finish up whatever we find in the lab, take the sixth floor elevator to the manufacturing floor, then take the elevator that leads back to the first floor. We have to deal with whats in the manufacturing floor, but its bound to be less then going back through all six floors.”

Tabben walked to the map, tore it from the wall, rolled it up and gave it to Golden.

“We can worry about that after we're reached our destination,” Tabben said, taking charge. “I don't know about you, but I am not turning tail now that we're this far. Lets move, the longer we're here, the more machines that get replaced.” We all shared a look, and nodded in agreement. Tabben mumbled something about hating robots, and we pressed forward. He seemed more agitated than normal, I guess he didn't like keeping back while others did the fighting.

Halfway through the sixth floor, our spark grenades ran out. Every encounter that followed was a gunfight. The robots on this floor were different from all the others. These machines were mechanical ponies, they were heavily armed, either having powerful machine guns or grenade launchers, and they had flame throwers.

Tabben, Golden, and Solar had to fall back while Mek and I tackled the fights. Golden had nothing to offer in the fights, Solar was out of grenades, and we were unable to make the machines fall for any mine traps. Tabben stayed behind because of the flamethrowers, he needed to stay away from the heat, or we were all at risk.

Thanks to the climb, we had gained distance from the bottom floors, causing my EFS to be cleared of interference. I could guess that we either had two or four left to handle. Mek and I hit a junction between two rooms in the hall, shortly before we passed the rooms one of the mechanical ponies rounded the corner ahead of us and fired at us.

Mek and I dove into the rooms, I to the left, her on the right. A wall of fire shot down the hallway, trapping us in our rooms. I saw on my EFS that the red bar had a twin join it. The stream of fire continued as one of the machines ran towards us!

Getting Trust ready, I went into SATS as the robot came into my room, it had walked through the fire unscathed and was about to fire at me. Toggling my shots, we fired in unison.

Four bullets caused its head to explode into metal debris, twenty bullets turned me into a mess of pain and blood. I wasn't sure how many bullets I was spared by my barding, but it didn't feel like enough. My quick movement spared my head and chest, but my legs and sides were riddled. Thankfully, the bullets had passed through. Before I could get a potion down, I noticed that the other mechanical pony was standing over me.

“Die zebra scum!” It said as I watched as its machine gun started to spin up. I stared transfix, not quite registering that I was about to die. I closed my eyes out of reflex upon realizing I was about to be shot in the face.

Instead I heard a crunch and the sound of metal falling over. I opened my eyes to see that Mek had rammed the machine. It swiveled its gun to kill her, but it was cut short by a barrage of shotgun blasts at point blank range.

Mek moved over to me and helped me get a potion or three down. Machine guns didn't care too much about how agile I was. I'd have to remember that in future battles, machine guns are all it takes to take me down.

“Thanks, I thought I was a goner right there.”

“Well, I owe ya quite a bit, but I would have done it regardless. Maybe ya should try thicker armor.” I nodded in agreement and she waved the others to join us while I waited for the potions to work through my wounds.

“According to the map, we're almost there, how does your radar look?” Solar asked me, indicating the direction we were heading before we had been ambushed. My EFS was clear in that direction.

“It looks clear, lets move before that's no longer the case.”

We moved quickly, and indeed we were not harassed as we approached our destination. Reaching a turn in the hall, we found ourselves in front of a large door similar to the fake door I walked through less than a week ago. The hall looked as though nopony has been here in a long time. I placed my hoof on the door, but it didn't pass through. Well, that was a problem. Looking around the wall I saw no means of opening the door.

“This is a problem.” I admitted.

I heard a loud 'ding' from back the way we came, and saw a slew of new red bars on my EFS.

“We have company!” Golden said, moving back to me and behind me.

Looking around the corner, I saw that at least four robo-ponies were standing in the open elevator shaft, a wall of fire flew down the hall to us and we hugged the sealed door as best we could to-

As we pushed each other into the door, we all suddenly fell though it. The door was still closed, it was a false door just like the other had been, I guess it was just a little more finicky with letting us through.

Still, we were through, the fire and robo-ponies didn't join us. So we were safe for now. Looking around I saw we were in a small room, another giant cog shaped door was on the opposite side of the room. In the room was a corpse rolled in the corner, a pistol and a spent clip lay next to the earth ponies remains. The body was also wearing a pipbuck.

Above the cog on the wall were the words 'Practical Applications: Lab 1'. I eyed the pipbuck attached to the dead pony, remembering the amount of caps I had been offered for my own back in Sandstone. The pony's cloths were well preserved, I suspected that we were the first ponies to ever enter this room in two hundred years. As I bent to take the pipbuck, I noticed the name tag, 'Stable-Tec Liaison Babs'. This pony was with Stable-Tec? What were they doing here?

Carefully removing the pipbuck from her bony leg, I went through its data storage to see if any answers were forthwith. There was only one thing in the pipbuck, an audio recording. I brought the device to everyponies attention, and played the recording. A mares voice filled the air.

“If you are listening to this recording, than hello, I'm your great great-something or other grandmother. I set the bypass spell for my blood, only a pony related directly to me would be able to enter into this room. So, hello. Heh, its weird, I'm recording a message for family I'll never meet.” The recording went silent for a few moments, we were looking at each other, which one of us was she referring to?

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry that everything ended, I'm sorry that we let our stubbornness let us destroy Equestria. I'm sorry you had to fight your way to this chamber. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry we couldn't save Equestria. We tried, we tried so hard, but we failed, and I'm sorry.” There was light sobbing at the end, and for a minute I thought the recording had ended. I was starting to notice the trace of an accent, not to dissimilar to Meks. It didn't have the slurs, as if the pony speaking was talking with the tone, but in a manner of trying to not let their accent show.

“Well, guess I should tell you about myself, let you know a little of who your grandmother was. My name is Babs Seed, and I am a liaison between Destiny Labs and Stable-Tec. Destiny helped us with our stable project, we helped Destiny with our technology and building schematics. Destiny's labs are as tough as any stable, so there's no doubt that this building will last long enough for somepony to find me. Wanna know something neat? I'm a cousin to a ministry mare, as well as the president of Stable-Tec, that means you've got some family ties with them as well. Not sure what good that'll do you in your era, but its a neat fact none the less.”

There was another pause of silence, it sounded like Babs was mumbling to herself.

“You should be with some other ponies, two others who can open doors two and three. Break believes that Equestria can be saved by either of those two ponies, Saphy thinks the same. Stay with them, and make sure they live long enough to realize Saphy's trust. I'm sorry you had to find me like this, but somepony needed to make sure the Deterrence Facility was fully running. I stayed behind, the rest of the staff fled to the sea. The bombs fell yesterday, we lost contact with every facility, every city, everypony. My friends are likely dead. But since you're listening to this recording, my children survived. Welcome to PA Labs 1, the heart of Destiny Labs, I hope you find what you're looking for here." There was another pause before she continued.

"Please, take care of each other. If its one thing that I've learned from the war, the one thing I want to pass on to you, is this. Family, and friendship is the most important possession you can have. Not coal, not magic, not megaspells. Family and friendship didn't destroy Equestria, but it did bring me happiness.”

There was another long pause, before the final words played.

“I'm sorry, and thank you for listening.”

Silence fell upon us, none us spoke for several minutes, considering the words we listened too.

“I don't like this,” Tabben was the first to break the silence, “it sounds like somepony knew were we going to be here, somepony from two hundred years ago!” He went to the door we came in and put his hoof on it, it didn't pass through. He nodded to himself, confirming something. As Tabben moved to the other door, I saw Solar also try to put his hoof through the door we came though.

“I can understand where she's coming from.” Mek said, “I suppose she was hoping someponies like us would make it here. She was hoping her children would survive the end of days. We were her hope.” That surprised me, thinking on it, her children would have needed to survive for anypony to find her message. Mek was right, she found the connection before I did, why was that?

“I don't get it,” Golden admitted, “she set this place up to keep ponies out of here right? So she thanked us for getting past her robo-ponies?” Tabben put his hoof on the other door and his eyes opened in alarm when his hoof passed through.

“...Tabben?” I asked. He seemed at first surprised, but it shifted to anger in short order as he turned to us.

“I'm not a spell savant, but I can guess what a bypass spell does from what that message said. The doors will only let ponies through if somepony related to the one tied to the spell goes through. Wildcard knows about Destiny Labs, she knows about this!” He screamed as he indicated his hoof through the door. “Come on, lets see what's inside, if Babs was right, then that means noponies been in here for two centuries. Lets get some answers.” Well, I thought, he said he wanted to be a part of it, and now he's upset. I guess it's the fact that he was a part of it before any of us were aware of it that bothered him.

Someponies in the past were either conspiring to help us, or to kill us. Red Quill's final message warned ponies against my family line, while Babs thanked us for 'saving' hers. I placed her pipbuck in my saddlebags and moved through the door with Tabben, and the rest followed after.

We were in another room, just like the previous. No dead ponies in here. Having a feeling it was my turn to open the door, I trotted to the last false door keeping us from PA Labs 1 and put my hoof through it. In short order we all entered our destination.

Just like in the joint facility, it was dark, but shortly after entering the lights came on. We were in a staircase that spiraled up. After a short climb we arrived in a big chamber with large terminal screens on a third of the circular room. There was another arcane device similar to the three in the other lab we visited to one side. On the opposite side of the room was an operating table with a machine nearby equipped with several arms and medical tools. In the center of the room was a small pedestal with a metal orb smaller than a ponies head resting on it. There was a line of wires that connected the orb to the terminals in the room.

As we walked in everything turned on. A rasping, static noise assaulted all our ears for a moment before silence returned to us. The room was completely clean. No mess, no evidence that this place had been empty for two centuries. A time capsule from the past, perfectly preserved.

“Greetings President Break, Vice President Red Quill, Liaison Babs, it has been – Error, logic matrix confliction in order, one moment please.” A synthetic voice came from speakers in the wall, confusing most of us.

“A logic matrix? Was this a terminal that could think!?” Solar was terribly excited at the prospect.

“Odds of senior staff still being alive fall below 0.02422 percent. Assuming descendant protocol. Please give names for identification purposes,” the terminal asked.

“I'm Solar, this is Winter Rain, Mek, Golden Blur, and Tabben.” Solar quickly answered.

“Confirmation required, 'Winter Rain' is this information correct?”

“...Yes, its correct. May I ask what I'm talking to?”

“You are talking to CMCM, Crusader Mainframe Cutie-mark Matrix. I am a prototype of the Crusader Mainframe design. Differences between final line and prototype include the lack of a brain upload functionality, inclusion of an empathy node, and processing power. A pleasure to meet you.”

“And what's a Crusader Mainframe?” Solar asked. For several moments it didn't reply, I suspected it would only answer my questions.

“Um, could you answer any and all questions we ask?” I took a shot in the dark.

“Certainly President Winter Rain. The Crusader Mainframe was designed by Stable-Tec to facilitate complex functions outside the computing limits of a terminal. Three were created, their use is classified, but Stable-Tec assures it's for a good cause.” It looks like it considers me the boss. Its nice that something worked in our favor for once!

As the CMCM was telling us this, we started to wander around the chamber. I looked at the terminals, only two of them were showing anything. One was a birds eye view of Saddlesands, the other screen was broken into smaller pictures of the Deterrence Facility. Tabben was looking over a desk and some drawers in the side, Solar and Mek were appraising the orb in the center.

“Is this you?” Mek asked.

“That is my empathy node, it is 28% of my whole, the rest is- Error, cannot establish connection with rest of the mainframe. Damage detected in the broadcast and receive array. Apologies, not all information will be available until link is reestablished with the rest of the mainframe.”

“You're in pieces?” Solar asked, skeptical.

“Correct, to facilitate properly over our spread out facilities, President Break though it prudent to spread me between the facilities. Information was compartmentalized to optimize functionality. I must apologize, my knowledge is currently limited to PA Lab1 information and general shared information.”

“Okay then, what was done here then?” I asked, I wanted to ask 'What am I', but my curiosity kept me tied to the chain of the CMCM's answers.

“This facility was used to initiate the assignments of Destiny Labs. Assignments 7,  8, 12, and 13 were initiated here. The assignments consisted of CP, CR, CA, and CDM. Assignment 13 was the only megaspell assignment initiated in this facility. This facility was also used for case by case projections and alterations.” There were those acronyms again.

“What do those acronyms stand for?” Tabben asked, surprising me.

“CP, Cutie-mark Projection, a means of determining a ponies destiny and minor future prediction by assessing the subjects cutie-mark. CR, Cutie-mark Resonance, a means of tapping into the harmonic frequency with cutie-marks. CA, Cutie-mark Alteration, in the case of a subject wanting to change their talent or destiny, a CA procedure can offer that change. CDM, Cutie-mark Destiny Matrix- Error, cannot access, file is fragmented between nodes, please reestablish contact with rest of the mainframe to defragment.” Tabben and I shared a frown at that.

“And what am I? Red Quill said to look out for ponies with my traits, I can heal with a song and can talk to the dead, this is because of Destiny Labs right?” I asked, now concerned that the CMCM may not have the answer.

“One moment, scanning occupants.” I suddenly felt my flank tingle as the orb in the center of the room started glowing. Looking to my cutie-mark I saw that it was glowing as well. I saw the same happening for the others, Mek's and Tabben's cutie-marks were covered, but still glowing. Even Golden's blank flank glowed a little, I think I saw the silhouette of a cutie-mark!

“Projection in progress. Subject 13 found, queuing. Subject 11 found, queuing. Alert, blank flank detected, queuing.”

“Hey!” Golden embarrassingly exclaimed.

“Warning, death probability high on all accounts, queuing.” Oh, death probability high? What were the odds? I sarcastically thought as the machine paused for a second before continuing.

“Winter Rain is the current end result of Assignment 13. The president implemented a megaspell with CP and CA to birth a pony who's special talent was to sing the harmonic frequency. Results were not to take affect immediately, time was needed for the assignments secondary objective to be fulfilled. Projected for the pony to be born nearly two centuries later, the presidents bloodline leading to said birth needed to find the golden fragment. The subject and the fragment were to then unite and facilitate countermeasures against the second doomsday. Analysis shows that the Assignment has deviated from projections, assignment failure rate is 46%. If Subject 13 arrives in PA Labs1, CMCM is to give the subject the Soul Recollector. Queing”

“What's the golden fragment?” I asked. I was the end result of a ploy by Break to save Equestria. Red Quill and Wildcard stated otherwise. I was a little overwhelmed by it all. Me? Save or destroy Equestria? Wait, was that what my father left for? To find this fragment? And what was a Soul Recollector, did it augment the lobby somehow?

“Inquiry added to queue. Tabben is a part of Assignment 11- Error, cannot access assignment, please reestablish contact with rest of the mainframe.”

“Stupid machine just wants to piss me off,” Tabben hissed.

“Initiating Cutie-mark Projection on Golden Blur.” The CMCM glowed again, Golden's flank shined again as well. “Cutie-mark Projection complete. Warning, Cutie-mark Projection could not be completed. Cause for failure is death of subject before receiving her cutie-mark. Recommend Cutie-mark Alteration.”

We all shared a look of alarm.

“I'm going to die a blank flank?” She asked, fear quickly clouding her features. I walked over to Golden and hugged her while addressing CMCM.

“Would that save her?”

“Queuing. Death of su-”

“Skip the damn queue, can Golden be saved with the CA?” Tabben interrupted.

“Skipping queue. Golden Blur has no projected cutie-mark because she is destined to die before receiving it. With CA its possible to change her destiny to one where she dies after receiving her cutie-mark. CA has been done four times for this reason, each a success.”

“Wait, are you saying I can choose my cutie-mark with this CA thing?” Golden asked, her mood lifting at that prospect.

“Affirmative, projecting talents and possible destinies.” Several of the terminals on the wall came alive with information. We walked in for a closer look.

“Subjects talents lie in speed and covert operations. Now displaying possible destinies.” The screen then showed several cutie-marks along with a small description of what they entailed. There was also a number next to each cutie-mark with a positive or negative indicator next to it.

One particular mark caught our eyes. Golden saw it first and almost squealed.

“Is that a sonic rainboom!? I can have that as a cutie-mark?” She excitedly asked, the cutie-mark in question was a gold circle, with a rainbow outline, 1st was written in the circle. It had a positive number next to it, the highest of all of them.

“What does this number mean?” I asked.

“Compatibility.”

“And choosing this will save her?” Tabben asked.

“Affirmative, projects predict life expectancy increasing by a decade, with 76% accuracy.”

“I want that one, Oh this is awesome, how many fillies get to choose their own cutie-mark!” Well, there's also the fact that you'll get to live longer, but I didn't want to sour her current mood. Tabben was looking at me expectedly, and I nodded to him.

“This one, she wants this one, what do we have to do?” I asked the machine.

“Please have Golden Blur stand under the cutie-mark operation machine in the east corner of the lab.” Seeing the arcane device in the side of the room, we walked Golden over there, and she started to look nervous.

“It's not gonna hurt, is it?” She asked sheepishly.

“No anesthesia required, procedure has been known to cause a tingling sensation, but no pain.”

She stood under the device and it started to give off a magical glow. Her flank was wrapped in light and she looked at it expectingly. I felt a shiver run down my spine, like somepony had just walked on my grave. We were altering Golden's destiny. It was to save her life, but there was something wrong about the whole notion. It felt, unnatural, at least to me it did, Tabben looked pretty pleased with this outcome.

The light faded and we all saw that Golden was still a blank flank. She looked at herself, shocked.

“Procedure completed, Cutie-mark Alteration successful.”

“No it isn't, I'm still a blank flank!”

“Procedure successful, your destiny has been changed. You still need to earn your cutie-mark, but you can be certain of what it is now. Subject's life extended. My apologies, my ability to elaborate on projected destinies was removed by Presedent Break, reasons stating:” The CMCM's voice changed to that of a mare.

'Knowing our destinies caused Equestria to fall to war, I don't want anypony to ever repeat that mistake, as such I'm having CMCM incapable of delivering particulars on CPs, in addition, once Equestria's future is secured, Destiny Labs will destroy all traces of our research to protect the future from this forbidden science'.

So, Break didn't want us to know our own destinies, no, she was giving us vague hints, it was the particulars she didn't want us to have. If knowing their destiny caused Equestria to fall to war and eventually get blown up, why was she informing us of what was intended for me? Red Quill was worried about using their methods to fix everything they had broken, was Break doomed to repeat that mistake through me? I certainly hoped that wasn't going to be the case.

“Proceeding back to queue. Subjects likelihood of death high, no recourse available, my apologies.”

“Thanks for nuthin, in that regards,” Mek bitterly said.

“President Winter Rain, to your earlier inquiry, the Golden Fragment is a piece of star metal that fluctuates on the harmonic frequency. It is believed that a piece of it exists somewhere in Equestria. It was the task of President Break's descendants to find it for subject 13. When used in tandem with subject 13's harmonic frequency, the effects are amplified.”

Star metal? As in metal from the stars themselves? And the fragment would empower my healing song? I think I can see how that would help Equestria, but just how powerful would that make my song? The machine continued.

“President Winter Rain, as part of Assignment 13, I'm to give you the Soul Recollector, please proceed to the operation station so you're pipbuck can be replaced.”

“Wait, you're replacing my pipbuck!? Why, what is it? What does a Soul Recollector do?” I wasn't keen on the idea of giving up my fathers gift, not without knowing why.

“A Soul Recollector is a device made in joint work with Stable-Tec, The OIA, and Destiny Labs. A Memory Recollector and a Pipbuck were designed together by the OIA and Stable-Tec, and Destiny Labs infused its spell matrix to be able to work in tandem with the functions of subject 13. Retaining all functions of the other devices, you will have all programs and spells granted by a pipbuck. In addition you will be able to record and see memory orbs with the recollector functionality. Finally, you'll be able to access soul orbs, communicate with soul jars, and have limited soul interaction in memory orbs.” Once again I was overwhelmed with information. I had no idea what soul jars or gems were, but at the very least I got that with the device I'd be able to watch memory orbs, in addition to all my pipbuck functions.

“And what about my current pipbuck?”

“It would be removed. You will still have it, but will be unable to wear it while wearing the SR, wearing two pipbucks at a time causes spell interference.” I'd still keep it, just couldn't use it. I didn't like the idea of swapping out the old for the new, but I had a feeling I'd need the SR for this endeavor. If I am destined to either save or doom Equestria, I need to set myself on the better path of the two. To do that, I'd need to find the Golden Fragment, I need to find my father.

I walked to the operating room, hoping that it would just remove my pipbuck the same way Wildcard had, hoping it didn't take my hoof off instead. The machine told me to hold out my hoof and stay still, I did just that.

In quick order the robotic limbs went to work removing my pipbuck. A panel opened from the machine revealing a pipbuck that looked surprisingly similar to my current one, besides a small circular indentation next to the screen. My pipbuck was removed and the new pipbuck was placed.

If this machine could put on pipbucks, I wondered if any of my crew wanted my old one, or the one we got from Babs. It was my fathers gift, but it would be doing nopony any good if I just carried it around in my saddlebags. I spent the entire day scavenging from the dead, it would be rude of me not to put my pipbuck to use over keeping it for sentimentality.

Taking less than a minute, my old pipbuck was given to me by the machine as I appraised the new one. It was the same make and size, same colors. Next to the screen was a small circle that could fit a memory orb into. Going through the data tags, I found that the map had was completely filled in with terrain, but locations and points were cleaned out. If I wanted to find the other labs, I'd need to hold onto my old pipbuck.

“Uh, anypony interested in pipbuck? We have two and a machine that can attach them.”

“Oh oh I want one!” Golden exclaimed.

“I'd be interested!” Solar eagerly said.

Looking to Tabben and Mek, I saw that they were not interested.

“I don't want one of those things on me, I've done just fine without one, they can have it,” Mek said.

“I'm likely to melt mine, so I'll pass,” Tabben pointed out.

I pulled out Babs pipbuck and gave both of the pipbucks to the machine.

“Can you put these on my friends?” Indicating the pegasai.

“Right away President Winter Rain.”

“Just call me Rain.”

“Affirmative.” And two minutes later my friends had new devices on their legs. Solar got mine, it would be easier for us if the navigator had my pipbuck.

So, I could now see memory orbs. I wanted to try it out right now, but I should wait till we're back at Shelter, we still had a facility to fight our way out of. I then lamented the fact that my pegasia friends now had SATS, but no weapons to use it with.

“Neato! So these bars are that radar you and Tabby keep referring too, so cool.” Golden said as she was looking around the room, checking out the pipbuck's functions.

“We have any more questions? Oh, I know. CMCM, is there a way to shut down or get past the machines in the Deterrence Facility?” Tabben asked.

“Affirmative, once you leave the machines will shutdown for half an hour before powering back up. That is sufficient time to reach the front gates.” That got a huge sigh of relief from everypony.

“Do you have a name besides CMCM? Are you portable?” Solar asked.

“I have no other designation. I can be removed from this facility, but the facility will lose all its functionality if I'm removed. If you wish to transport me, simply remove my node from the lab interface. I will be offline until I'm supplied power.” Solar seemed happy to hear that, he wanted to bring the crusader mainframe with us.

Thinking on it, we would need to take it with us. I had no idea how to fix the broadcasting array, and it sounded like I would need the rest of the mainframe to get all our answers. Solar was giving me an eager look.

“Lets get out of here, we're bringing Crusader with us. That's your name now.” I ordered. I wanted us off the island before anypony else made it here. I doubted any pony would believe us if we told them pirates destroyed the town and then we came in and cleaned up. There was also the likelihood of Wildcards pursuers finding us.

“Setting up shutdown protocol. Deterrence Facility machines will be powered down for thirty minutes, starting in two minutes. Activating Whitewash protocol. Two minutes till power down.”

And with that the machines and monitors started to sizzle and break. To our alarm, The terminals shattered one by one, the wires seemed to overheat, the surgical bot and arcane device in the room exploded as we backed away from the devices. Solar quickly detached the metal orb from the pedestal, balancing the orb between his wings as we moved to the door. Crusader was too big to fit in his bags.

I got us through the first door, Tabben through the second. We waited for the red bars to disappear before going through the last door.

“It took us two hours to get here, we should make it back to the entrance in half an hour as long as we don't linger, okay?” I checked with my crew, I was tired of being shot at today. I wanted to get on Shelter and go to bed.

After they nodded to me, we waited for the bars to disappear. When they did, Mek and Golden went through the door and we followed, before going through, I whispered a goodbye to Babs, and we left her to her solitude. Solar winced as we passed the deactivated robo-ponies, he clearly wanted to take them apart.

Moving on down through the facility, we were surprised to notice red bars when we reached the third floor, we still had twelve minutes left.

“Something is ahead of us, and its moving.” I informed the others, Solar and Golden had already noticed. Should we proceed with caution, or set a trap?

“Lets move forward, slowly.” I said, Tabben looked like he wanted to say something, his eyes on the maintenance elevator, but he kept quiet.

Moving forward, we quickly learned that what was ahead wasn't machine, cause it was talking. Since the bars are red, they were no friend of ours. Taking cover, I had us prepare an ambush.

Half a minute later A large bipedal figure with horns on their head rounded the corner. The unexpected sight made me forget we were going to ambush him. He spotted us.

“Now, we don't want no trouble, just come back with us Ms. Rain and nopony gets-” he started to say before Tabben started shooting at him.

“Fall back, fall back!” He ordered. We had the advantage and he wanted us to flee? Something hit me and Mek, knocking us into the hallway. I staggered up and looked around, but there was nothing there. Then I saw Mek get impaled in her back leg by something invisible. Tabben frantically shot at the invisible thing attacking Mek, I helped as best I could, firing at an invisible target was more difficult that I liked for this situation.

“FALL BACK!” He ordered again. Mek managed to free herself, and hoof in hoof, we ran. Every couple of steps Mek would turn around and fire a flack of shots back the way we came to slow down our pursuers. Solar tossed mines past us to impede our pursuers.

I gave Mek our last potion, she downed it as Tabben led us back to the maintenance elevator. Golden had started the lift before we arrived, but it was still climbing up. We fired a consistence stream of fire down the hall while we waited for it. When the elevator arrived, we all pored into it and started our trip down.

“Solar, I want you to leave every mine you've got in here when we get off. They don't have a map of this place, so I doubt they'll try one of the elevators on the other floors to get down here. We need to move and get out before they decide to block the front door.”

“Tabben, who are they?” He looked at me like I had to ask.

“Wildcard's goons of course. We'll be dead before we can deal with them, well, all but you will be dead. If I wasn't burnt out they wouldn't be a problem,” he grumbled, “But they are a problem. Lets hope they didn't rob our ship while we were in here.”

We appraised the map and determined a route through the manufacturing floor. Hopefully we'd make it out before our time was up. When the doors opened, we bolted, Solar staying behind to leave his trap.

The manufacturing floor was big. It was a tall chamber, on the far walls were lines indicating different floors of the facility, floors b6-b1 were visible from the manufacturing floor. It was a mess of conveyor belts and machine parts. Mechanical arms were frozen in the middle of assembly, we had to move around them at some parts. In other places Mek just outright shot through the obstructions.

“Those goons were not what I pictured when you mentioned them last night!” I shouted as we ran. There had been three, no, four. The invisible one didn't show on EFS.

“Well, Wildcard's goons are a real piece of work. They're pros at what they do, the sooner we get out of here the better. If we don't have them on our tail when we get out, we can deal with their mode of transport.” We were running for our lives, and Tabben was already thinking of how to screw over our pursuers. His spiteful thinking was a boon right now.

The floor had stairs leading up to b1 of the facility, they were built into the far wall that also connected to b6-b2, the facility itself having a high ceiling. Solar was waiting for us at the top of the stairs, having flown up, his saddlebags almost overflowing with parts. The buck looked far happier then anypony born in the wasteland had any right to.

Moving through b1, Something caught my eye, I urged the others ahead, I could catch up to them quick enough as I went into a room labeled 'Babs Office'. Taking a quick look around I found a locked terminal, a broken safe, and nothing else. As I made to leave something else caught my eye. Nestled between the wall and the shelf was a memory orb, missed by the scavengers that came before. Claiming my prize, I bolted after my crew, running as fast as I could.

As I made it to the first floor, red bars filled my EFS. Time had run out. Thankfully, the robots on the first floor were the least dangerous! Shame I was out of potions and spark grenades. After taking down three machines and sporting new burns in my flesh, I caught up to the carnage that Mek's guns had brought upon the robots.

Not seeing any sign of our pursuers, I caught up to my crew. Mek and Tabben chided me for my curiosity, and we got out of there. Not sure how far behind Wildcard's goons were, we moved ahead to the ship. Golden, Solar and I went ahead to clear it if needed, and get it started otherwise.

Running past the town, we failed to notice the craft the goons arrived in. We saw no other ship tied to the dock. I felt a bullet hit the ground near me and I whipped around. The gunner wasn't in range of my EFS, but I did get a look at a new addition to the town.

In the center of the town was a metal wagon. It was black and it looked like several of the windows had guns mounted to it. Jumping to the side, I strafed to Shelter to avoid getting shot. I heard other gunfire commence and looking behind me I saw Mek and Tabben charging the wagon.

I left Shelter in the hooves of our pegasai and ran too the wagon. It looked like Mek had pinned the gunner down, as he was unable to return fire. Getting closer, I saw his bar show on my EFS, and with him distracted with Mek, I got in there and assaulted the gunner.

It was a pegasus. What kind of pegasus gets themselves trapped inside of a metal box? Four hoofs to the head incapacitated him. I pushed him out of the wagon and appraised it.

“Let's take anything that resembles a potion and destroy the rest.” I eyed the weapons, wondering if we could cause some sort of explosion to destroy the thing. To my surprise, Mek went under the wagon, shot a part that looked important, and the entire wagon sagged a little.

“That'll keep it grounded,” she said.

Considering that to be good enough, we made it back to Shelter, untied ourselves from the dock and left SaddleSands behind us.

“So that was...?” I asked, not sure what we had just broken.

“A sky wagon, pegasai use them to transport things, I repaired one once a couple years back.” Mek informed me. Sounded useful, but we already had Shelter, what would we need a sky wagon for? I guess we could have sold it, but we were too caught up in fleeing to take the opportunity of stealing it.

Damn.

Sailing out, I asked our crew about where we should go from here.

“I want to find out what Assignment 11 is. It's in one of those Labs, so we should go to the one next in line.” Tabben said, I doubted he was giving me room to argue.

“We need time to get ourselves together, we have a lot of stuff to put to use,” Mek said, eyeing me, “one way or the other.”

“We're out of grenades and potions, we should resupply first before going to the ne-” Solar started, then frowned, “Actually, I think we can do both.” Well, if that will spare me an argument with Tabben, I'm all ears for it.

“The next closest facility is Joint Facility 1 to the north, Rust-Hallow isn't that far out of the way from there. We can resupply there and then move on to the next lab, sound good?”

I liked the idea, but Tabben and Mek shared a look, they both seemed uncomfortable with the idea, but didn't object.

“Sounds good, set a course.” I looked between my companions before asking, “So, what's at Rust-Hallow?”

“The majority of the IFA, along with the Evercrest,” Tabben admitted.

Looks like some of my crew was going to be visiting home shortly, I was a little jealous.

“Now stop it with those looks you two.” I started, “This is an opportune moment to count the good. We made it out of the facility with answers. We got a ton of things to spread to the needy ponies of the sea. We got ourselves a bunch of new toys. We set back Wildcards goons for at least a few days. And we're all still alive. We should celebrate!”

They both looked at each other, then at me. Their expressions changed from solemn brooding to sly grins.

“I can't say no to a good party, so lets get things set up. I think we can let Golden stay up late for this.” Tabben said, and Golden let out a hearty cheer.

We got things together, parked Shelter near the closest sand island north of SaddleSands, and had our party in the mess hall. That night on the sea, five ponies celebrated their first real victory as a crew, and they had left the island behind them, smiling.

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 8.

New Perk: Bring Me My Red Shirt – You crew deals 15% more damage while fighting by your side.

Quest Perk: Soul Recollector – You can now view memory orbs, soul orbs, converse with soul jars, and soul-read memory orbs. Be wary, chance of destroying memory orbs when attempting soul-reading.

8. Memories of Harmony Lost

The moon was setting as I finished singing. At first I tried singing the note with a song played on Bounty Broadcast. The note never came out when trying to sing words, so I simply settled for humming.

When I had woken up, the moon was still in the sky, not setting till noon as a half new moon. Wanting to part with the morning headache and the stings from yesterdays burns, I had sung. My crew joined me on the deck one by one as they had awoken. Tabben had been watching our course through the night and was sleeping near the bow. I could never see myself doing that, sleeping on the deck of the ship.

When I was finished, my wounds were gone, and everypony looked rejuvenated. It seems my song only works when the moon is out. Had it originally been intended for me to sing the harmonic note at will, instead of just under moonlight? Until Solar could figure out a way to power Crusader, I'd be unable to ask the machine.

The party last night was just what everypony needed. Golden had worked out some creative snacks with our abundant supplies. Mek had found a deck of cards from our pilfered goods, and we spent the night betting a small amount of caps against each other in different card games. Tabben always seemed to work specifically against me in every game. I didn't win a single one.

Solar was showing Golden how to navigate the ship while Mek was getting parts for the turret topside. Golden was having difficulty absorbing the lesson, but she still tried to understand the basics. After finishing the lesson, Solar went to help Mek mount the turret near the bow. From the looks of it, I suspected Golden had asked for the lesson.

I was eyeing the small indentation in my new pipbuck, I wanted to try it out, watching a memory orb was something limited to unicorns, but now with the Soul Recollector I would be able to as well. I asked Mek for the two memory orbs we got from the joint facility and went to the mess hall to see what I was in store for.

Putting an orb in the indentation, I saw a new tab show up under data, Memory Orbs. Looking into the tab, there was a number given to the orb in the slot, as well as other information.

72 minutes. Unicorn. Male. Soul-reading enable yes/no? First person/Third person?

I set soul-reading to 'no', I didn't want to try that just yet. First person/Third person? Guess I'll see what first person is about. I then selected the activate tab. The memory orb glowed brightly as magic from my pipbuck fed into it, and as I stared into it I felt myself being pulled in, and the room fell away from me.

Oh wow, this is all sorts of strange. I was in the body of a buck, I could feel things I didn't originally have. The horn for one, and... yea. And I'm using magic to levitate something to me! That's what unicorn magic feels like? It's so weird! It's like I'm not even lifting it with my hoof, but some unseen hoof! And I couldn't move! The buck was moving, and I was along for the ride-

He brought a cup to his lips and I tasted something I've never tasted before. And it was good! Carrot Crunch was tree leaves compared to whatever it was I was drinking right now And the colors! Everything was vivid and full of life! There was no rust, the air smelled sweet instead of fishy. We were in a small home, the walls were unmarred and had colorful wallpaper on it. I saw that outside the window were tall metal structures, buildings, that reached to the sky, they put Sandstone to shame!

It was a party, a cute-ceañera. Fillies and colts were playing all sorts of games and congratulating a unicorn filly named Saphy. She had a coat the same color as my own, dark blue mane, and sapphire eyes. Her cutie-mark was some sort of silver log of wood. I also learned that the buck was her father. I could feel his smile, he was radiating pride.

This was not the wasteland. This was something alien to me. Equestria had once been this? Full of lovely colors and smells and tastes and warmth? We destroyed all this? Why? What had gone wrong? How did all of this lead to the wasteland!?

I wanted this. This was pure, clean, happy.

'It took many ponies and many zebra to break it, it would take many of both, and many other races, to fix it.'

Zerkash's message played in my head. Was it even possible to return to this Equestria? Not just live it in memory orbs, but actually live it? Smile with your friends and family without worrying about pirates or raiders slaughtering everypony?

“Mommy look!” Saphy ran to the door, showing her cutie-mark.

An earth pony mare had just arrived, and seeing her was a little unnerving, the mare matched my features. Our faces were different, our mane's were different too, but our colors matched perfectly. She had a cutie-mark of scissors cutting a golden thread, and I realized that this pony was Break.

She smiled at her daughter and rubbed her head, messing up her mane. Seeing that made me feel a longing for my own mother. Family and friendship, this party was a honest embodiment of those connections.

A couple minutes after her parents arrived, a red unicorn mare and pegasus arrived with carrot cake. 'I'll be bringing the carrot cake', the words I read a week ago had come to life before me. Was that Red Quill? A beige pegasus colt with a tan scruffy mane arrived with them, a blank flank, and as soon as he entered he playfully tackled Saphy.

“Saphy! You beat us to it! Congratulations! You're still a crusader after this right? Gonna help me and Babs, right?”

Saphy giggled as she tried to free herself from the pegasus. As she nodded at the excited colt, an earth pony filly with a light copper coat and short red mane, bangs almost covering her eyes, also a blank flank, joined them in the tackle pile.

“Well duh, Sunny,” Babs confirmed, “of course she's still a crusader! Can't have ya run off and leave us behind.”

Crusader? Crusader of what? Babs? Was that a filly Babs I was looking at?

“I know, I know,” Saphy said, “Cutie-Mark Crusaders forever, right?” She rolled her eyes and teased her friends with her sarcastic tone. “Now can you two get off me? Looks like your mom brought cake!”

The buck I was in stopped paying attention to the children and mingled with Break, Red Quill, and I assumed her husband. They proceeded to talk about magic techno-bable that went over my head. They were talking about how they'd be getting more funding from the nobility, and they were considering using that money to start a company to forward their research. I guess this was the seeding of Destiny Labs.

A couple minutes later, the children dragged their parents from their little discussion to partake in the party. Everypony spent the rest of the party playing games, and being happy.

As I left the memory orb, I found myself back in the wasteland, and my eyes started to water up. The lingering longing for an Equestria that doesn't exist anymore slowly faded as I noticed that it seemed darker in the mess hall than normal. Looking out the porthole, I saw dark ominous clouds in the sky. Worried about an oncoming storm, I tucked the orb away and went topside. Equestria could be that again, I hoped that whatever I was intended to do by Break would make that true.

As I went topside I also noticed that Shelter wasn't moving. Reaching the deck, I saw the large storm ahead of us, blocking out the sun.

“Welcome back,” Solar greeted me and nodded to the storm, “we're gonna wait for it to pass before continuing.” The storm didn't seem to be coming closer to us, I could feel the breeze from it, the waves shifting in the distance to the fierce gale. There was lightning in the distance, and the dull rumbles of thunder accompanied it.

Tabben was near the bow, a fully constructed turret lay on its side near him. Tabben was glaring at a small spot on the deck, his horn sputtered and glowed slightly before the magic died. His glare looked like it could melt a hole through the ship. I recalled his annoyance at his inability to contribute at the factory yesterday as I watched.

His gaze intensified as his horn started to glow again. A small fire appeared where he was starring before it sputtered out, along with his horn. He hit the spot the fire had been on the deck repeatedly, rage and frustration evident through his actions. He looked over his shoulder and saw me watching.

“Got something you'd like to say to me?” He asked, he was strangely composed considering what I just saw.

“Well, you're a lot more like a normal pony than a fire-ghoul right now, I found it interesting,” and that was the wrong thing to say. His brow furrowed as his glare threatened to light me one fire on the spot.

“What I meant to say was that just because you couldn't help during our raid of the factory yesterday didn't mean we didn't need you.” I quickly stated, oh goddesses. Open mouth insert hoof.

“You probably think it's funny,” he started, “anypony would. Look at Tabben, bastard can't use his magic, can't even help meld a turret to the deck, what good is he, right!?” He started to trot towards me as he was talking.

“I didn't say it was funny, and I didn't think that!” I quickly replied, I didn't know if he was going to do something to me, but I was definitely uneasy with his approach. To my surprise he actually stopped, “Tabben, I was relying on you yesterday, I didn't once think you were useless.”

“Really? You didn't think 'Sure would be nice if he had burned those pirates', or 'Wildcard's goons sure are a pain, shame he can't do anything about them'. Or maybe you were thinking 'cant let him near those robots, he might melt the whole mountain down on us'!” Mek had just made it topside and noticed Tabben yelling at me.

“Tabben, calm down!” Mek said, and quickly got between me and Tabben. Tabben blinked, he stared at Mek for a few moments, almost confused, before backing up.

“I'm sorry,” his ears slumped down, that was a first! “I don't like being unable to do my spells. You are at no fault for any of this Rain, so I apologize for yelling at you.” He's apologizing to me, maybe all the radiation in Equestria disappearing will be the next miracle to grace us! Mek tried to comfort him back but backed away shortly after laying her hoof on him.

“Yer a, runnin' a little hot,” she pointed out. He let out a long sigh before talking to Solar.

“Hey Yellow, could you park the ship a little closer to the storm, close enough to get rained on?” Tabben causally asked Solar.

“Call me by my name and I will,” he bitterly replied.

“Tell me your full name and I'll consider it.” Wait, it wasn't just Solar, his name was longer than that? Solar let out a sigh.

“It's Solar North, okay?” Tabben blinked at him, it looked as if he was digesting the name.

“Solar North, a direction that guides towards the sun, a bright light to follow through one's life, but is easily lost if seeking anything else. Pursue any path besides the one that shines brightest in your life and you lose your way. I see, as usual, the name fits the pony.” Solar and I gave Tabben a surprised look, I had forgotten of his penchant for deciphering names.

“Wait, so you're saying that I'd lose my way if I don't pursue navigation?” Solar asked, but even I saw that was wrong. I also found the notion slightly amusing, getting lost for knowing the way.

“It means you'll lose your way if you don't pursue what you enjoy,” I said, “Solar, you're our navi, but you're also a robot expert, and between the two, I can easily say you enjoy robots more.”

He considered this a moment, and realizing Tabben was staring at him, he moved the ship closer to the storm. When the it started to rain, he turned the boat away from the storm and stopped Shelter. Tabben looked up at the clouds, the rain sizzled as it fell on him.

He took off his robe, and for the first time I saw what was hidden underneath. Under the robes was cracked skin, his fur ended at the base of his neck, the rest of his hide was slightly burned skin. Having taken off the robe, the heat he was radiating became more apparent to us, and as the rain fell on him a bit of steam formed around him, occasionally blown away by the breeze.

His burns, my song hadn't heal them. He was close enough to have heard my song twice, even if he was asleep the second time; I'm sure it should have healed him. I'm still half my normal weight. His burns were caused by thermal sickness, I suppose my song can't heal through the ravages of magical taint. Mek and the others had taken a liking to my song, but not Tabben. I wondered if there was more to it. His robe seemed to be made of something more than just cloth. When I can, I should try singing when he isn't wearing it, and see if it helps or not.

Another thought came to mind, what if my song had healed him, and this was the end result? Looking over his burns, I saw that his cutie-mark was actually imposed over them, changing patches of blackened flesh to the color of his mark. I speculated that he got his cutie-mark after he was afflicted with thermal sickness. His cutie-mark was a name-tag, the end of the tag was burnt and on fire.

We watched in silence as the rain fell on us, and after a few minutes the rain stopped sizzling when it landed on him, and he slowly became drenched. He let out a blissful sigh of relief as the water showered over his burns.

“It's gotten worst since the last time,” Mek admitted.

“Well, it's not really suppose to get better,” he bitterly replied.

“Tabby?” Golden joined us, and she faltered when she saw Tabben's burned husk.

“Does that hurt? Are you going to get better?” She asked with concern.

“It does hurt, and there is no getting better from this. Don't worry about it, I'm more than capable of handling it, okay?” He softly replied. She didn't like his answer, but he continued before she could push on. “I think now's a good a time as any to tell you how Mek and I became friends.” He waved us closer, I eagerly approached, my question from yesterday finally being answered. “You can listen too if you want navi, just don't interrupt.” Solar nodded, but didn't move. He could probably hear Tabben from the control desk anyway.

Mek looked like she wanted to leave, as if even though a part of it, didn't want to have anything to do with the story. But she decided to stay.

“Now, this story begins with a colt, the greatest colt to ever be graced upon the seas of Equestria. This colt took pride in anything he accomplished, and would always go out of the way to impress anypony that would take notice! This colt loved attention. He also loved names. To the colt, names were a sign of trust, a story tied to everypony, a love letter between two parents and their child. So he worked to learn the name of everypony on his ship.”

“Then he came across a mare who would never give her name. She had a name, everyony called her by that name. It was a lie, it wasn't her true name, the colt wanted to know her true name, and worked to find it out. The mare didn't like her name, she hid it well, and she was terribly stubborn. It was gradual, but the colt ended up getting a crush on the mare. Unfortunately for the colt, she was seven years his senior, he stood no chance at winning her heart. But it wasn't her heart he was after.”

“On a stormy day, the ship had been driven into a boiling strait. Fate gave the colt an opportunity, a moment where the mare was about the fall overboard, and the colt could save her. He took it without hesitation, he endeavored to protect her. Unfortunately, he fell overboard instead.” Golden gasped at the turn in the story, seeing its results sitting in the rain before her.

“The colt wasn't in the water for long, but it was long enough for his coat and skin to be burned by the boiling hot water. Long enough for the magic in the water to rub off on him. He passed out from the pain, it was up in the air if the colt would survive or not, he lay near death for days. When the colt woke up, he asked for the mare. He had saved her, and he intended to take advantage of it.” Mek had a little smile on her face, nostalgia evidently written on it.

“When the mare came to him, he was unable to leave the room, his body was bound in bandages, healing magic and potions had little affect on his wounds. Only his head had avoided the boiling sea. He asked her for her name. She started crying, it was the damnedest thing, he didn't expect her to cry for him. She had slapped him, she hated him, saw him as a nuisance, and she cried for him. She gave the colt her name. It really was a terrible name, and the colt understood the mare better then he ever could have. Eventually the colt became a buck, somepony she could look at as an equal, and not as a child. But sadly, by then the mare had found another.” He let out a long sigh, looking to Mek.

“And now the buck and mare are friends, as close as friends could be without being lovers, much to the bucks disappointment, and he suspects, to the mares disappointment as well.”

“Speak for yourself Tabben,” Mek said quickly, “he was a good buck and I don't regret holding out for him.” Oh dear, Mek went and let something slip again, looking as though she hadn't meant to say that. Tabben's mood changed quickly from fond remembrance to heated rage.

“He, was not a good buck. He left you the second he found out you were with child. He. Left. You!” Golden and I were staring at him in shock, both at what he revealed, and how he revealed it. Tabben winced after realizing what he said, Mek looked hurt.

“That's not true Ta-” she started before Tabben interrupted her.

“Is that what you believe!? Is that what you've been hoping for these last seven years? He left you at the most important moment of a bucks life! He betrayed your love, betrayed his unborn foal, and betrayed Evercrest.” Tabben looked like he wanted to hit somepony, but he only screamed at the sky in frustration. Mek appraised him patiently.

“You done Tabben?” She quietly asked, “He will come back, I have faith in him.” Tabben shook his head.

“You truly are a pawn to your name, you know that? Fine, I guess I need to free you from the lie you've wrapped yourself in.” He said as he walked towards Mek, a mixed look in his eyes. Rage, sorrow, jealousy, regret, they were all present in his look, mixing into a dangerous mess. Mek took a step back, suddenly unsure about what he had to say.

“Tabben? What are you going to do?” I asked, terribly concerned, he was about to tell her something harmful, something that would probably spawn a great deal of regret.

“Give my friend the truth she deserves, even if she doesn't want to hear it,” the burned buck walked up to Mek till she stopped, he looked up at her, he then rubbed his muzzle against her and surprised all of us, “I'm sorry that I have to do this.” He then backed away from her and gave her his damning words.

“I tracked down the buck that left the love of my life alone with his child. I followed him and followed him and followed him. When I found him, he was fooling around with another mare. I. Killed. Him.” His words made Mek reel back, as if being physically hit.  Words he said to me shortly after we first met rang in my head, he held betrayal in the highest contempt. Mek composed herself before lashing back.

“You're lying, you jealous possessive bastard, you're just saying that so you can-”

“Her name was Swirly Water.” He interrupted, causing her accusation to die on her lips, “He was the third pony I killed out of hate. He had betrayed you, thoroughly,” his brow furrowed, “I killed him slowly, you've seen me do it before, you know the method. I started with his legs, I heated his limbs slowly, causing the skin, muscles, bones to burn from the ends to the body, his screams-” She bucked him, this was no Tabben slap, she put everything she had in her hit, he was sent sprawling past us and crashed into the turret with a painful thud.

“-made me hap- cough -happy. Quite the fool I was, thinking I'd set you free by killing him. When I returned home, you had left.” Mek was walking up to Tabben, her expression unreadable. Tabben had killed the buck she loved, her child's father. Even though the buck ran from her, and messed around with another mare, she still loved him. And Tabben had killed him, it was slow and painful. I suddenly feared that Mek would kill him in return. Tabben was a bastard, but I saw why he did what he did. The buck he killed wasn't worth her devotion.

Devotion, her heart had been anchored to Peg Legs ship. She would take a beating for me, stand in front of enemies to protect me, and would charge down a robo-pony about to kill me. Ponies in the wasteland needed something to protect themselves from the poison. A virtue, a vice, or a drive. I saw now, Mek protected herself with a virtue called devotion.

A virtue by itself will be corrupted by the wasteland, its poison is insidious. I saw that now, Mek had held onto her devotion, she held it for a pony that didn't deserve it, and because of that, her devotion has become corrupted. Was she going to kill Tabben out of devotion for the buck that betrayed her? I wouldn't allow it. She was standing over Tabben, her expression still unreadable.

“So Mek, are you going to put me down? They say the colt should have died from those wounds, are you going to see it through?” Why in Celestia's name was he antagonizing her? I saw her get on her back hooves, preparing to bring her forward hooves down on Tabben, she intended to kill him. I wouldn't allow it. I charged into her, and to my surprise, and relief, Golden charged her as well.

“Mek!”

“Don't hurt Tabby!”

We both plowed into Mek, knocking her off her hooves. Solar was hovering nearby, not sure what he was suppose to do. Mek got back on her hooves, easily knocking us off. She proceeded back to Tabben, who was getting back on his hooves. His face looked defiant, but his eyes didn't match, they looked old and tired. I didn't want to try pushing her again, I ran around her and got between Tabben and her. Mek stopped and looked at me, confused.

“He killed a good pony, slowly and painfully, that pony was a father. Don't stop me Rain,” she said, almost pleadingly.

“No, he killed a bad pony, slowly and painfully, that pony was a bastard. Mek, you need to stop, you're being too much like Tabben right now, and it scares me.” I admitted, Golden joined by my side.

“Tabby is a mean pony that can be a jerk to someponies, but he is a jerk to ponies that deserve it. You and Tabby are friends right? You should know that better that me!” She shouted at the large mare, bold anger on her face. Mek looked between the two of us, then Tabben. She let out a small sigh, and left. She went below deck, to the engine I assumed.

“Well, there went my oldest friendship.” The buck bitterly chuckled, I turned to glare at him, but we both were surprised when Golden smacked him.

“Stupid Tabben, why didn't you defend yourself! Didn't you think that somepony else would be sad to see you die! You. Big. Dummy!” She punctuated each word with another smack, tears in her eyes. Oh great, those two had a story as well. Tabben saved her from slavers, and now I was certain there was more to it than that. She had stopped hitting him, she was trying not to sob. Tabben's magic sputtered and glowed as he pulled his robe back on himself.

Before I could comfort Golden, Tabben did. He didn't hug her like I had intended, he simply put a hoof on her shoulder. She curled into his robe and openly sobbed into it. A question hung over my head, a terrible question that I would be surprised at if it had a happy answer.

“What happened to her child?” I dared to ask, Tabben looked at me from Golden, like I was some sort of idiot.

“She died, an engine room is no place for a foal,” his words hit me hard, and it clicked. She left Evercrest while pregnant, she joined Peg Legs ship, under whoever had it seven years ago. And from a cruel twist of fate, her foal died in that engine room. The ship her heart was anchored too. The ship she wanted to go down with. This is not where I need to be right now. Tabben and Golden would be fine, I needed to comfort Mek, and hopefully not lose her friendship in the process. I had barely gotten it, and now I was going to risk it to help her. Risk the present for a better tomorrow. I went to the engine room.

When I arrived, she was just sitting there, her back to me. She was staring at the engine, she knew I was behind her, but she didn't move or speak. What was she thinking? That Tabben was a monster, or that the buck that abandoned her was a monster? I stood there for some time, not sure how to start, not knowing what to say. Not knowing what she was thinking, I found the only words I could offer, a question.

“Mek, what are you thinking right now? Please tell me, I want to help.” She looked over her shoulder, giving me a sad look, and a bitter smile.

“Just thinkin' of how foalish I am. I loved him, I still do. But he left, he screwed around with another. Tabben wanted to free me, and I tried to kill him for it,” She turned around to face me, “I'm a big fool. I left home with my foal out of shame. I got her killed out of negligence. I chose to die with the ship she died on rather than live. I chose to harm Tabben over an a buck I was still holding a long dead torch for. And despite all that, I still love the bastard that left me. He made me feel needed, he made me feel wanted. I was happy with him. He left, and I believed he would return. I had it in my head that we would be a family, that he'd come back after Gear was old enough to know him. Now it's all dead. We should have been a family, and they're both dead.” She was shacking, he eyes were moist, but she fought back the tears. I sat there and listened with my entire being. She needed to let this out, and I would take it all in.

“And after losing them, with my own hooves, I almost ended the life of the one pony who's cared the most. He stood back and let me have my happiness with the dead bastard. Why? Why can't I love Tabben like I loved that bastard? It's not fair, Tabben is right, I am a pawn to my name.” She still didn't cry, she wanted to so much that it made my eyes wet.

“Mek, what is your name? If you're a pawn to it, why not defy it?” I asked. There is power in names, that's what Tabben believes. There's also power in defiance, if her name has so much power over her, she needs to defy it. Not hide from it. She took on the name 'Mek' to separate herself from her true name. Our eyes met. It was easy enough for me to say, but how does one go about defying their own name?

“You should ask Tabben for my name,” She said, wiping her eyes dry before looking to the stairs, “he's better at talkin' bout names then me. Lets go back up, I need to talk to him.”

Returning to the deck, Solar had his nose on the controls desk, keeping himself un-involved in what's transpiring with the crew. I saw Tabben and Golden at the bow, they were apart, neither saying anything to the other. Tabben noticed us coming first, and shortly after so did Golden, she got between us and Tabben. Tabben put a hoof on her shoulder and urged her to the side.

“Anything I can help you ladies with?” He said, putting on a smile and sounding like he did when we first met. I wasn't sure if he already recovered from what happened or if he was putting on a good mask. Either way, it annoyed me, and Mek seemed sad for it.

“Could ya tell Rain my true name?” She asked, and Tabben's brow furrowed.

“Oh, I nearly die to hear it and now that I nearly died again she gets to learn it? You're a funny pony Mek, really funny.” He rolled his eyes, was he hurt by that outcome? “Scrap Heart, a pony who grows attached to useless junk, she holds on to it, hoping that one day she'll be able to accomplish something with it.” He stated, pausing in consideration for a moment before continuing, “However, useless junk, with a little love and care, can become something more that just scrap.” Mek let out a low sigh.

“So what you're saying, it that I got attached to the wrong junk. You were here the whole time, and I was too busy with the other buck to notice?” She asked, Tabben shook his head.

“I am not scrap, you silly mare,” he said bitterly, his voice taking on his token arrogant tone. “And if I was, you would still be better off with another. You can trust me on that one. Your name has room for good. Mine doesn't. You know I'm not a pony worth your love, it's why you were willing to kill me. I am not a buck that should be loved, I'm at my best when others are at hoofs length, and don't any of you forget that.”

This buck. She came here to apologize, and he seeks to antagonize us. Why is he pushing us away? Why now, after what we've been through?  Thinking on it, I still didn't know this buck that well. We have only known each other for four days. No, that's not quite it.

I knew enough about this pony. He seems to enjoy pushing others away while presenting himself as somepony everypony should know. He hates being useless and holds himself to a high standard. He cares] about Mek and Golden, when they needed a push, he pushed, and when they needed a pull, he'd pull. He held their happiness above his own, and hid it under a mask of arrogance. What I didn't know, was why. Was his true name so damning that he held it above his happiness?

Mek walked up to Tabben, and lightly bopped him on the head. To our surprise.

“Stupid buck, You're right, I don't think I'll ever be able to love a fool like you, but you're still my friend, the most important friend I have,” before Tabben could give his snarky reply, she hugged him. The surprise on his face was almost funny to look at. When he saw me grinning he wanted to scowl, but instead closed his eyes, and returned the hug in kind.

“And that's all we'll ever be, and I'm fine with that, I have been for a long time. I don't want you to forgive me, I wouldn't accept it even if you wanted to. But I didn't want to lose my friend.” Their moment together lasted a little longer, Tabben noticed Golden trotting closer and quickly ended the embrace, just in time to avoid Golden joining in.

“And that's enough of sappy hour,” the buck declared, causing Golden to pout, and Mek gave a small smile that I mirrored. “Navi, get us away from the storm. Any idea how long it will last?”

As Tabben took charge of the ship, my mind wandered. I hadn't played that big a part in rescuing Tabben and Mek from destroying their friendship. All I had done was stop Mek from killing him, a task Golden could have pulled off on her own. A brief moment to make Mek pause and think, was all she needed to save their friendship. Despite the time they spent apart, and the animosity they had, they were true friends. They had already bounced back from this crisis, and it made me envious. They were never going to be anything more than friends, but Tabben took a risk and freed Mek from the chains of her past.

Tabben was a dangerous pony. His spite was terrifying, he had killed Mek's lover slowly, with fire. An asset that if not handled carefully, you'll get burned. I wondered, when he first introduced himself to me, had he given me the characteristics tied to his true name? No, that wasn't it. It was the characteristics of Tabben. Tabben was a name he made for himself, it had no real meaning in the pony tongue. Which meant it was the perfect name for him. He owned it by being himself.

Wait, why am I thinking so much about this? Shaking my head clear of the subject of a troublesome buck, I brought myself back to the here and now, and saw what I could do with the time we had till we reached Rust-Hallow.

Considering the other memory orbs I had, I informed Solar I'd be checking out another in the mess hall, and returned to where I was before Tabben went and rocked the boat. As I sat down, something occurred to me. Rolling my eyes at my own negligence, I got back up and I gathered my crew on the deck.

“We just went to do our own things and you go and drag our sorry flanks back together, what is it?” Tabben asked, clearly annoyed.

“I wanted to talk to everypony about what happened at the lab yesterday,” I had questions that needed answers, I'm certain they had some to address as well. Getting confirmation from the others, I began my line of questions, “Solar, can we get Crusader up and running again?”

“We have spare spark talismans from the pirate ship we cleaned out yesterday, and I have the wiring to give it power, but I need a terminal for Crusader to interface with, or we won't be able to communicate. I was hoping to find one at Rust-Hallow.” I nodded, glad he had something in mind for the machine. Solar's face started to flush as he asked something, “So Rain, would it be alright if I integrated Crusader into the ship?” He can do that?

“Ya want to what?” Mek asked, beating me to the punch.

“I have enough parts to integrate the CMCM into our ship, I can have it control steering and navigation, as well as operate the turret. I figured if we were going to collect all of the CMCM, might was well build it into our mode of transport.” He quickly said, he was looking forward to the idea, and I saw nothing against the idea. However, we should take care of this one step at a time.

“I'm fine for it, but lets wait till we get the terminal, I want to ask Crusader some questions before we do anything that could damage it.” Solar nodded in agreement, I guess he wasn't completely confident in his abilities. Mek seemed fine with the idea as well.

“That's good, if we get it working we can have Crusader provide the logistics for integrating the repair talismans we got from the factory,” he pointed out. We've only had Shelter for two days, and pretty soon the ships value would be increasing dramatically. I guess all my bad luck finally bounced back and nabbed us some good luck with yesterdays venture into the robot factory.

“Oh, oh, I would like a turn!” Golden exclaimed, “Rain, can you show me what all this does?” Indicating her pipbuck. Seeing how I was the pipbuck expert on this ship, I showed her and Solar all its features.

“Thanks Rain, but where's the storytelling feature?” Storytelling feature?

“What do you mean?”

“Last night before I went to bed, my pipbuck told me an old story about the mare in the moon. It helped me fall asleep. Which tab was that?” I had no idea what she was talking about. Going over her pipbuck, I saw her data was clear besides Babs final message. Did her pipbuck have some odd quirk?

“I, don't know, it shouldn't do that. At least, mine doesn't do that. Err, my old one, this new one hasn't done anything like that either.” Maybe being unused for two centuries caused her pipbuck to malfunction in odd ways. Focusing on pipbucks, I asked my crew a question.

“Would any of you know what a soul jar or soul gem would be?” None of them had an answer for me. Guess I wasn't learning that one till Crusader was up and running again. “In that case, Tabben, could you fill us in on Wildcard's 'goons'?”

“Right, I've dealt with them a few times before, it's always been a group of four to five. The minotaur is Rock-Horn,” so the bipedal with the horns was called a minotaur, good to know, “he's the leader of the gang, and is physically dangerous. Stay of his reach. The invisible one is an earth pony referred to as Wind-Whisp, not their true name. Uses a blade of some sort and is good at getting the jump on others, considering their invisibility. A unicorn supports them, usually with healing spells and defensive spells, she's referred to as Water-Barrier, I killed their fire-themed buck the last time I tangled with them,” Tabben rolled his eyes at the notion that the group had an elemental motif, “So I have no idea who they replaced him with. The pegasus you knocked out was either their transport or scout. The whole group is terribly dangerous, it would be best if we avoided them, but odds are we'll end up having to tangle with them sooner or later.” Tabben's information was a boon, we know knew what we were dealing with the next time we ran into them, which hopefully wasn't anytime soon.

“When we next run into them, leave Water to me,” he said, “don't harm her, I can handle her. And before you ask,” He said, glaring at me, “its personal, so don't ask.” It's personal? That sounded familiar, he didn't like Wildcard for personal reasons. Heh, what if Water-Barrier was his sister?

“Certainly, don't want us taking out your own sister right?” I sarcastically quipped, and he flinched. Wait, he flinched? It wasn't just me that saw it, everypony noticed it.

“I didn't know ya had a sister Tabben,” Mek said, his lack or correcting her confirming the truth.

“Tabby has a sister? Does that make her my adopted aunt?” Golden asked. I knew Tabben freed her, but did he also adopt her, or was that just wishful thinking on Golden's part? Tabben placed his hoof over his face and let out a long sigh. When he removed his hoof, he was glaring at me, and I was afraid I would combust on the spot.

“I was only teasing, I didn't know, honestly!” I said defensively. Goodness, is everypony he has a personal problem with a part of his family?

“Right, we'll just leave it at that, okay?” He said threateningly.

We all quickly dropped the subject on Tabben and killed any questions related to his family matters. Golden had a look on her face, she was going to pester Tabben about this, I was certain. Just not right now. I moved us back towards the questions I had, the last being about our destination.

“Are you two going to be fine, going to Rust-Hallow?” I asked, they seemed reluctant last night, and I suspected why. Tabben for simply being Tabben, and Mek had left out of shame. Tabben said the buck she loved betrayed Evercrest, did that have something to do with it?

“I'll be fine,” Tabben said, “it's just that ponies with my condition are frowned upon in Rust-Hallow. I'm well known there, but it's best for everypony involved if we don't overstay our welcome.” He then looked to Mek, a hint of concern in his expression.

“I, I need to apologize to Captain Aft-Sail, and my parents. I'll be fine, just not lookin' forward to it. While I'm doing that, Tabben can show you around and let you know who would needs what, assumin' you still intend to give away what we've stolen?” I nodded to her question.

“We need to separate our wares into what stays and what goes. Excess food, ammo and weapons we don't need, needless medical supplies, and generic salvage will be donated to anypony in Rust-Hallow that needs it. Tabben, I'm counting on you to make sure I don't give it away to somepony who's trying to fool me.” Tabben agreed, mumbling something about how inept I am and handling other ponies.

Well, I did spend most of my life on an isolated island, can you blame me for not being good at handling ponies I've never met before? Remembering what happened to me at Sandstone, I wanted to make sure somepony else was dealing with our goods and caps, and Tabben definitely seemed like the right pony for the task.

Looking to the north, it seemed the storm would be passing soon, I could see the tail end of it drifting south east. Solar informed me that we would be at Rust-Hallow in about three hours. Mek insisted on moving the cargo around, and I didn't argue, I wasn't a strong pony. Finished touching base with everypony, I went back down to the mess hall at the prospect of looking into another memory orb.

My curiosity was insidious. Now that I've gotten a taste of what the past, what Equestria was like before the war. I wanted another helping. I didn't even care if the memories had any pertinent information, just experiencing that was worth the time.

Loading up the next memory orb I had, I chose one of the ones we got from the factory. My pipbuck told me that the memory took place from a female unicorns perspective, at about half an hour long. Deciding I wasn't too fond of first person, I selected third person, and activated the orb.

I found myself in the lobby, to my complete surprise. Looking around, the lobby was the deck of Shelter, the door was floating over the ocean. Before I could get a grasp on why I was in the lobby, everything fell away.

Everything but myself and the door were still here, the door became opaque and the environment began to fill in with a location I had never been before. A cone of the lobby was filled in. At the base of that cone were two ponies walking down the side of a dark cliff, stairs built into the side leading down to the bottom of a ravine.

These two ponies looked familiar, they were older renditions of the ponies I saw in the other memory orb. Babs and Saphy. As Saphy's gaze shifted into the ravine, more features of the environment became more defined as I started understanding what was happening.

The memory orb was recreating the memory in the lobby. I willed myself to the stairs and started following the two mares as they climbed further down. Halfway down Saphy looked back the way we came, looking through me. Having looked behind, the rest of the lobby was filled with the missing pieces of this location. At the top of the cliff was a sky carriage, several armored pegasai were around it, keeping an eye out on the surrounding forest that lined the ridge.

Oh yes, third person was better. I didn't feel body parts I didn't have, and I could move. Being able to have the freedom to see and smell what I wanted made this memory orb more liberating. What Saphy's eyes took in were etched into the Lobby, letting me get a better look at things she simply skimmed over.

I wondered, was this the orb from Babs office? Compared to the first orb I watched, this memory must take place at least ten years later, maybe even twenty, the air felt less alive in this memory, and the forest lining the ridge gave me a sense I could only draw a parallel to with the wasteland.

“It should be at the back of the cave.” Babs started, “We'll see if it was worth the trip, Apple Bloom didn't want to touch it without knowing what it was. Said it felt wrong to consider removing it.”

“Could you thank her for me,” Saphy replied, “it's the first time I've seen anything that matched my cutie-mark, I'm curious to see just what kind of tree this is. Why was your cousin down here, the Everfree is far from safe, especially these days.”

“She was considering building Stable 101 under the castle, but found the tree while surveying the area.” As they reached the bottom of the stairs, one of the armored pegasus landed near them.

“We don't need an escort past the stairs,” Babs said as she blew her bangs out of her eyes, “please protect the carriage.”

“Ahh come on, not even if a friend wants to escort you?” The buck said as he lifted his armored visor, revealing a beige buck underneath.

“Sunny?” Saphy said, “You're part of our escort? Was that your fathers doing?” She asked, and he nodded, “Then by all means, escort us. Its been so long since the three of us were last together.” All three of them were smiling as they continued their march into a large cave tied to the ravine.

“So, Sunny, I heard your parents were trying to set you up with Tar Dea from the joint branch.” Babs teased, causing Sunny to roll his eyes.

“I don't like it, but considering I refused to follow them in their research, I'm finding it hard to keep saying no to them.”

“Dea is a good mare, you should try talking to her, you may be surprised.” Saphy said, I noticed her share a quick, mischievous glance with Babs.

“Oh? Well if Sap Fire is recommending-” He started until the group of friends rounded a turn, revealing the end of the cave. The memory seemed to freeze as my eyes fell upon what I could only refer to as some sort of calamity. It didn't look like a calamity, it simply felt like a calamity.

In the back of the cave, was a large crystalline tree, fallen on its side, its limbs broken from the fall. The center of the tree had a large six pointed star, and in the trunk was a mark of the sun, beneath it, broken to pieces was part of a mark of the moon. The trunk of the tree had several thorny vines clutched around, petrified as stone. It looked as if the tree had been squeezed at its base till the entire thing broke and fell over.

As I took it in, my eyes started to water, and I noticed that the memory was moving again. The three ponies had stopped in their tracks, Saphy was in a similar state as I was, on the border of tears. Whatever this tree was, it was precocious, it was important, and it was dead. Looking at it, I saw that the wood of this tree perfectly matched the log of wood that was Saphy's- no, Sap Fire's cutie-mark.

“What caused this?” She asked, walking over to the thorny vines, she kicked them, and they shattered to dust, to everyponies surprise. Babs and Sunny had nothing to say, they simply gawked at the fallen tree. Though their reaction wasn't as strong as mine or Saphy's they were still affected by the sight of it.

Saphy went to one of the smaller broken branches and appraised it before lifting it with her magic. As she did her horn glowed violently, casting blue light over the entire chamber. She quickly dropped the small piece of crystalline wood and her glow ebbed away. She stood there for several minutes, considering the tree before she came to a decision.

“Okay, whatever this tree is comprised of, it amplifies magic. This tree needs to be removed, carefully, without magic. And it needs to be kept a secret. This war already has enough terrible weapons, I don't want this to be used for the same thing.”

“Leave it to Stable-Tec,” Babs said, understanding the importance of the task, “doing things secret like is one thing we're good at. I'll have my cousin tell the workers that this is a Everfree hazard that needs to be removed carefully. Where do you want it sent?” Saphy thought on that for a minute before answering.

“We're still working on PA Labs 3, have it smuggled into the building materials, and hide it in the facility, I don't want any of the higher ups working with this tree. They'll think it'll help them end the war, and the idea of them using it sickens me.” Babs and Sunny shared a look.

“So you want this to be a secret from our parents? What about us?” Sunny asked.

“I trust you both, this,” she indicated the tree, “is something bigger then us, then Destiny Labs, than the war. We need to make sure nopony gets their hooves on it, or-” She was interrupted as her eyes noticed something. Walking over to the tree, she bent down and inspected three small pebbles near the star at the tree's center. Before her friends could see what caught her attention, she had scooped them up and placed them in her bag. She then looked at the tree, her eyes watering again as she placed a hoof on it.

“We killed it, it's dead because of us. Because of this war. The least we can do is treat its remains with respect.” She quietly said. Babs nodded her head in agreement, while Sunny simply looked on. As they stood there, around the tree, they each began to fade away. I guessed the memory was over, but its image was still imposed on the lobby.

Standing next to the tree, I wondered how this tree tied into the war. No, that wasn't right. I wondered how this tree tied into Equestria. What would Equestria be like if the tree was still alive? Surely, it would be a better place. Did Saphy keep the tree from being used as a weapon? What was this tree's purpose? Had it been the war that killed it?

Wait, if this was suppose to be a secret, then why make a memory orb for it? I'm certain Saphy wanted that memory to be remembered, but making a memory orb for it increased the risk of somepony else finding out about it. That orb must have been the one in Babs office, or at the very least, that was what I was hoping. Babs was an earth pony, why would she keep the orb around? Safe keeping? If that were the case she should have had it on her when she sealed herself in that room. Curses! Too many questions!

This memory had so many questions, but I could guess where the answers were. PA Labs 3. Looks like I'm going to be sailing all across the sea for these answers. Break had her secrets, and so did her daughter. Was Saphy working towards her mothers goals, or against them? No, Babs said Saphy had trust in her mothers beliefs, so they must have worked towards the same goal.

I gave the tree one last look. It was painful to look at, and on some deeper level, I understood that this was a tragedy greater than the war itself. Not wanting to be in the depressing cave anymore, I left the lobby.

After looking around to see if anything needed my attention, I went to Solar, there was one thing I could do with that memory, find out where PA Labs 3 was. I asked him to map it out so we'd have a destination after we were finished with the 1st Joint Facility. After a few minutes, he found its location and pointed it out on the map, and then apologized.

It was on an island north, higher north than my own island. The island was called Balefire Cove. That did not sound promising, and I now understood why he apologized. I asked Solar what was at Balefire Cove.

“Nothing but a irradiated crater and some unexplored ruins,” he said, deflating my hopes about finding answers, “The radiation there is too dangerous for anypony to linger in. The ruins are right in the center of the crater, from what I've heard.” I'm not foalish enough to ask my crew to crawl into a balefire crater. Guess I'll just to hope the other facilities have answers.

“You want to go there,” Solar said, “it's written on your face,” I blushed that it was that obvious. “Well, if we're going there, we'll need to be properly equipped, we should hold on to our extra rad-away and rad-x,” he pointed out, and I nodded in agreement.

Moving to do that, I went below deck and moved our segregated cargo around to secure more radiation cleansing supplies. After finishing that, I went back to the mess hall. Though the second memory orb was depressing, it was still important. I looked at the last two, wondering which would be best to check out. Before I could choose, Solar found me in the room and took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

“Rain, what do you intend to gain from this quest?” He asked, “It's clear Wildcard wants you to go through these facilities. What if it's all a trap that ends with us dead and Equestria worst off?” His questions surprised me. I didn't expect him to be forward about this, nor did I realize how easy it was to instill doubt in my intentions. Composing myself, I gave him my reply.

“I want answers, and I want to find my father. This is my best lead, and I feel obligated to follow it. Ruby died trying to protect me from this, I can see why. Its big, I'd even say its over my head. But I need to move forward, I need the answers. Two hundred years ago, Destiny Labs set into motion events that are still transpiring right now. Staying still will make me a target, I need to keep moving. And I need to find the answers. I guess I'm just greedy, but I need them.” My curiosity was going to be the death of me. Solar took my words in, considering them carefully.

“Okay, and why are you going to give a good deal of our supplies away?”

“Because this is the wasteland,” I began, my answer swift and filled with certainty, “I'm certain there are plenty of ponies who need it more than we do. We keep what we need to keep us going, and give the rest to those who need it. That's why.” He stared at me, amazed, then his cheeks burned red as he stared at me, was he embarrassed?

“Oh, well if that's the case, I'll try my best to help you in anyway I can. I want to put Crusader together, but it's not the main reason I want to help. I want to help you Rain. I know I'm a coward, the way Tabben talks to me isn't undeserved. But I want to try harder, so if you give me the chance, I'll try my best not to disappoint you. I'll make sure to never abandon ship again, not while my crew is still on it. As Cap'n, I expect you to hold me to that, okay?” Seeing Solar being this approachable was nice, I gave him a nod, hoping to see the buck become a bigger part of the crew.

Out of the five of us, Solar was still disconnected. He was distant and everypony gave him space. He was our navi, but I guess we all just saw him as an accessory to the ship. His skill was exceptional, he was part of the crew on a professional level, but not on a personal level. I hoped his determination would hold through. If we're a fully unified crew, I feel we could take on any challenge. Such as an island that's nothing more than an irradiated crater.

“I'd like that Solar, please do your best.” I said, giving him the words he wanted to hear. He looked pretty happy from that, and he was blushing again.

“Hey, Hey everypony! Come here quick, Rain's on the radio!” Golden called out through the ship. In short order we all had gathered at the control desk, Golden fiddling with her pipbuck, “I wonder if it can repeat what the broadcast just said-” Her pipbuck started playing the radio, repeating said broadcast to my surprise, I didn't know the pipbuck could do that. The announcers haughty voice drawing silence from us.

“For the Bounty report today, lets talk about a mare that's been making waves around the eastern seas. Last night we dubbed the earth pony with the blue zebra stripes on her left side as Blue-Stripes, well, it seems this pony is more than your average bounty. Remember Thousand-Smiles being taken out last week? That was her doing, she fed the beast something it couldn't digest when it tried to eat her, killing the sea monster. After stealing a ship from Sunrise Flare two days ago, she sailed to SaddleSands to bring some wasteland justice upon some of the wastelands cruelty. A band of pirates attacked SaddleSands, killing everypony there. We still have no word as to what happened to the IFA ship that was defending the town. This band of pirates was wiped out, by Blue-Stripes herself! She left their damned corpses to rot in the sun, and gave the ponies of SaddleSands a proper send off. Looks like somepony is looking out for Blue-Stripes, as the bounty for her capture has been called off. You've heard it here folks, the bounty on Blue-Stripes is now longer being offered, I'd recommend going for smaller fish anyways. If you happen to see Blue-Stripes, make sure not to cross her, who knows what she'll do next. And now for a touch of news that's more on the strange side of things, reports of some sort of flying craft traversing the northern seas are coming in. Our enclave representatives have assured us that it isn't their doing, and that they're looking into the matter. With that out of the way, now for today's bounties. Ruby Memento is back in the region, spotted at Tide-Hop yesterday.” What, Ruby's still alive? How!? “For any bounty hunters still wet behind the ears, I'll give you this warning; do not hunt this buck. With a bounty of ten thousand caps, you can be sure he's earned that price, many ponies have died trying to get his head, don't be one of those fools. Casa Nova is still at large...”

Solar, Mek, and I had looks of confused surprise, the buck that was caught in the explosion was still alive? And he was at Tide-Hop? Had we not stolen Shelter, we would have run into him!

Golden and Tabben wore amused looks, they missed out on Ruby's survival, and were probably thinking our shock was because of the other news the radio had played. To be honest, I wasn't glad we no longer had a bounty on us. The only ponies that knew of our involvement at SaddleSands were Wildcard's goons. She was up to something.

The fact that I had been given a nickname didn't bother me in the least. Blue-Stripes, sounded like a pretty nice 'captains' name. It was a handle I could use in the future when working with other ponies, and I was getting distracted.

“How in the wasteland was Ruby alive? If he survived that blast, how come we didn't run into each other?” I asked, the notion of changing course was coming to mind. He had answers, he was still alive, and he was last seen at Tide-Hop.

“Yer guess is as good as mine sweetie. Whacha thinkin', we should go look for him?” She offered, and Tabben seemed to be in agreement. They saw an opportunity to avoid going to Rust-Hallow, and latched onto it.

“Ah, Ruby was the buck that freed you from the pirates.” Tabben said, finally clicking, “I wouldn't mind talking to a unicorn who's as talented at magic as he seems, from your description of him.” That excuse sounded half baked, even to me. Golden didn't add anything to our decision, she was for either, as they both had adventure written all over it.

We decided to go to Tide-Hop, I had Solar set our course, and we would arrive by nightfall. I was still looking for answers, but our odds of getting shot were lower in pursuit of Ruby. As we changed our course, the question kept repeating in my head. How had he survived?

I recalled something I heard from the facility where I discovered my stripes, 'do me the favor and stay dead this time'. Wildcard commented that they were digging up what I knew about Ruby. Has Ruby died before? Is he some sort of invincible pony?

You know, my life was a lot simpler back on my island, the only questions I had to worry about were 'will I make it to the next full moon' and 'what's my father working on'. Casting my gaze to the horizon, I wondered if I'd ever see those days again.

Footnote: Lvl. 8

Renown Gained: The factions of the eastern seas have recognized you as a force to be associated with. Renown from your actions since leaving your home are now in full affect.

Pirates -2, Slavers -1, SAF -1, Raiders 0, IFA +1, DL +1, ZC +1, Enclave +2

9. Unified at the Divide

The sound of gunfire woke me from my sleep. I shifted uncomfortably, my bed seemed to be made of broken sticks and metal. Wait, that isn't right, right? Opening my eyes, I became acutely aware of an overwhelming throbbing in my head. Rubbing my skull made me gasp in pain, bringing my hoof back I saw blood gleaming in the moonlight. Moonlight?

Through the haze of the headache, my blurry vision slowly took in my surroundings. I was laying on a pile of rubble, there was a small hole in a wooden wall I was resting in. It seemed I was in a small town, two of the structures ahead of me, on the opposite side of the road were on fire. The crescent half-moon was low in the sky, meaning it was a few hours before dawn.

My haze cleared to alarm, my back and sides were on fire with pain, there were welts and bruises forming under my coat, everywhere. I didn't know how I got here, or what's going on, but it was clear I was in big trouble.

I rubbed my head again, the last thing I remembered was looking out over the sea, regretting leaving my island. I seem to be suffering temporary memory loss that accompanies a hard blow to ones head. I found the experience educational, and fear inducing, what had I missed that led to this moment?

Hearing gunfire again, I tried to find its source, my EFS telling me that a red and green bar were close together past the buildings in front of me. If I was in trouble, my friends must be too! I was in no condition to help, but the moon was out, so I started humming to heal my wounds and tried to separate myself from the pile of rubble. Without any potions, I had to rely on the power Destiny Labs had born into me.

I pulled Trust out from my bags and slowly got on my hooves, as my note played out, I heard another join in my chorus, a silent voice that nopony else could hear. I felt the bruises melt away, the headache lessening with each passing moment. Looking to my EFS, I went to where I heard the gunfire, passing one of the burning buildings. Had that been Tabben's doing? Panning around, I saw one red bar next to a green far to the right, the red and green I was heading towards, and two green moving rapidly against a single red.

Reaching the other side of the wall of buildings, I saw Mek, she was fighting a minotaur, no, Rock-Horns. He was sporting heavy looking armor that didn't seem to impede him at all. It became clear to me now, we made it to Tide-Hop, and were ambushed in the night. It looked as though Mek was out of ammo for her battlesaddle her armor sported a lot of new dents, and her opponent looked to be in the same condition. As I moved to help her, something hit me, causing my song to falter.

Looking around, I saw nothing. I was hit again, being knocked on my side, forcing the wind from me. Wind-Whisp was attacking me! I needed to find a way around that invisibility. However, till then, I could use my one advantage against my invisible foe. Continuing my song, I ran, I zipped away from where I just was and then arced around to Mek. Even though Whisp was invisible, it didn't mean anything if they couldn't catch me.

As I got close to Rock, I saw an empty dash inhaler appear in the air a few feet ahead of me. By the light of Celestia, this was going to hurt. I went into SATS, I didn't aim at anything in particular, I was literally shooting in the dark, I lined up four shots in spots I suspected the pony would attack me from. Leaving SATS, I got off two shots before I was bucked in the side of my head, making my headache redouble. As Trust hit the ground, a third shot fired from it, I saw blood spray the ground nearby. I was glad that my gun was looking out for me, but it caused my attacker to redouble their efforts on me.

The barrage of attacks was brutal, I wasn't allowed back on my hooves, it was all I could do to protect myself as Whisp hit and jabbed me with their hooves. As I felt myself start to slip away, a blue pulse of light showered itself over the battle, a tingle crawling up my mane. A spark grenade? The attacks stopped, I saw my attacker standing over me, confused that her invisibility came to an end. She was a lime green mare covered in a concealing cloak, and turned around to see where the grenade came from. Seeing the green bar on my EFS, I saw Golden hovering a few feet behind Whisp, a grenade pin in her mouth. When did we replenish our spark grenades?

“Found you~ Now you have to count to one hundred before you can go find-” She said, before being interrupted by something orange and gray being thrown into her! Golden managed to get out from under Mek before they both hit the ground, she groaned in pain as Golden looked back in alarm. In her moment of distraction, Whisp moved to attack her. Mek coughed out an alarm to Golden.

I started singing again, I needed to save my friends, we needed to get through this. Wildcard wanted me, but she would kill them, I needed to save my crew! I crawled to Trust as fast as I could, popping it open, I hastily shoved three bullets in as Golden flew away from Whisp, just dodging the ponies jabs. I saw that Whisp had been hit in the knee of her left forward leg, it had slowed her down enough to spare Golden. Rock was running towards me, seeing me get Trust. I saw my target, and waited at the last moment to go into SATS.

SATS ended, and four shots filled the night air. I watched as each bullet found its mark, one, two, three, four. Each shot worked at destroying Rocks right hoof, the first two destroyed the armor, the last two destroyed the limb, causing him to tumble from his charge. I rolled to the side as he crashed past me. As I turned to reload in preparation for Whisp, I heard Mek join my note. The song became stronger, and the fresh beating Whisp had dealt me was fading fast.

I saw Rock moving towards me, and I hopped on my hooves, adrenaline helping me ignore the pain. Whisp turned to me and was approaching me as I went into SATS- I felt Trust being forced from my mouth before I completely entered SATS. Leaving SATS I saw that somepony had grabbed it with blue magic and tossed it away from me! I brought out my harpoon as I quickly glanced around. There was a unicorn with a dark blue coat and matching hair staring at us, her horn glowed and I saw Whisp's wound recover before my eyes! She was healing as fast as I had been from my song, but the unicorns magic compounded the process!

She caught up to me and we exchanged blows. Her blows were fast, keeping me on the defense. I'd deter her attacks by lining my harpoon to cut her hooves if she pressed her luck. I needed distance, the harpoon was too long, her jabs and kicks were well inside my weapons reach. I couldn't jab her, and my swings would be too wide and leave me open to counter attack. I needed a distraction. Our wounds were recovering faster then we were being wounded, it would take an outside force to break our stalemate. I hoped my friends could manage with the time I was buying them, my note still singing through the bout.

Whisp jumped back, and I saw her reach into her bags to get something. I used the opening and lunged forward with my harpoon. She was surprised to not find what she was looking for as I ran through her front leg. Having her leg pierced, I abandoned the fight with her and quickly appraised the area.

Golden was behind the blue unicorn, who was too distracted to notice the filly going through her saddlebags! I probably wouldn't have noticed either if EFS didn't show me where Golden's green bar was. Mek was keeping Rock at bay, since the beast was missing a leg, it evened the field between the two. I assumed Solar or Tabben was the one tackling the other red bar that was nearby, it looked like those bars were getting closer.

I eyed the unicorn, she saw the look I was giving her. She was Tabben's sister, the colors didn't match, but the way her mane was striped did, and she used healing magic like Tabben said. Her horn glowed, then her eyes widened as she realized somepony had taken all her weapons. A moment later, from the corner of my eye I saw Trust rise from her magic. Oh goddesses, please don't try to shoot me with Trust, Trust has not been nice to ponies that try to shoot me with it!

Deciding to deprive her the chance, I turned to my gun, now aimed at me, and pounced at it, to her surprise. She fired Trust unexpectedly, being caught off guard by my change in tact, she missed. Trust's shot went past me, towards her. Before I could look to see the results of the shot, the magic holding Trust died. I dived to the gun, but I wouldn't reach it before hitting the ground.

“Please, stop!” I yelled at the gun, fearing it would go off when it hit the dirt. To my relief, it didn't fire. I swiped it up, saw that Whisp was on her side, unconscious. I guess Mek took a swing at her when I wasn't-

Not important! I turned back to the blue unicorn and rushed to her side. There was a hole in her throat, she was bleeding out and would be dead quickly from blood lose. She was chocking on her own blood. Another pony I didn't want to die was near death, and I wasn't going to let her die. I did not let my healing song falter. She looked at me, fear written in her eyes. I had no potions, but I did have bandages. I expertly extracted the bullet before she could so much as flinch, I then wrapped the wound, putting a hoof below the vein to lower blood loss. I could see her wound healing from my song. I was certain she would make it. She looked at me, confusion on her face as she passed out. After sealing the wound, I cleared her throat by pressing her lungs, forcing her to cough.

I heard an explosion occur nearby, my eyes drawn to see that Solar was running from a wall of flames. He had a singed wing, clearly, he was grounded at the moment. Tabben came out from behind a nearby building close to Solar, noticed Water laying on the ground next to me, saw the look I gave him, and he ran towards me.

Something hit me in the side, my song died in my throat as I was knocked to the ground. My right side was fletched by shotgun pellets, my barding had kept most of them from penetrating, but it didn't change the fact that I was shot in the side by a shotgun. Looking towards the source, I saw Rock had a new gun, a red bar on my EFS quickly fleeing from him. He turned it towards Mek and feinted shooting her as she charged him. He grabbed her by the throat and swung around, smashing Golden, who was trying to steal his ammo. They both slumped into the ground, neither moved as I stared in horror. This bull was a beast, throwing around Mek like she was a toy!

Looking back to Tabben and Solar, I saw behind them an armored pony with large weapons strapped to either side of his back. One of them let out a slow traveling projectile that hit the ground behind Solar, sending him flying and crumpling into the ground with a sick thud. Oh, so that's what a missile looks like. Solar was out of commission, my crew was dwindling fast, and we still had two opponents left to handle! Tabben looked behind him as the armored pony threw a grenade at him.

“No Fire-Bomb! You idiot don't use that shit on Tabben-” Rock said as Tabben was enveloped in a fiery explosion. Tabben stood in the fire, unharmed, he looked at Fire-Bomb, and all the fire was sucked into my companion. Heat absorption, killing anypony suffering thermal sickness is a easy affair, they die to bullets just easily as a normal pony. Trying to kill one with fire however, is folly. Tabben charged the armored pony, the pony took a step back, not sure what to do. Fire-Bomb fired a missile at him, it blew up immediately after leaving his weapon as Tabben's magic flared briefly. Tabben ran through the fire the missile spawned, absorbing it as he went. Bomb decided now was a good time to run. Tabben stopped, casting a cone of fire towards the fleeing pony. He was washed in fire, and Fire-Bomb burned to death, her screams making me wince in apology. Mek had told me Tabben was good at handling heavily armed ponies, I suspect Fire-Bomb never had a chance.

“Dammit, why do I have to keep replacing our fire-pony,” the minotaur said, standing over me, surprising me. I was so distracted with Tabben's chase I had failed to notice the leader of Wildcard's goons limp to me. Before I could get away, he grabbed me with his powerful arms and had me locked in his grip. “Cause me any more trouble and I'll start breaking your bones, got it?” He warned me.

We saw Tabben heading back our way, he noticed me caught in Rock's grasp, but continued forward. Rock took his shot-gun and lay the barrel on Water's head, making Tabben pause. As best I could, I looked to my crew, Tabben looked fine, everypony else however, did not. Mek and Solar aren't in imminent danger, but they still needed medical attention, I couldn't make out what condition Golden was in, I couldn't see her with Mek crumpled on her. They needed my help, so I started singing again-

Rock squeezed me against my side, I cried out in pain as I felt several of my ribs break. My vision went white from the pain as I momentarily lost track of what was going on.  As my senses returned to taking in my surroundings, I saw that Rock's eyes were still on Tabben, his gun never moved. I was out of commission, it hurt to breath, I doubted I could sing the note even if I wanted to now.

“Now Tabben, this is how it's going to go down. I take her with me, and you get to keep the rest. Otherwise,” he said, pushing his gun into Water's neck as she started to stir, “Ponies start dying, and it's on your hooves.” Tabben was looking between me and his sister. I wouldn't blame him for choosing kin over me, and he could save the others once Rock took me away. But there was a fire in his eyes. He was about to put us at risk, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

“You point a gun at my sister, threaten to kill the pony who's been healing your sorry ass for the last four years, and expect me to just roll over? You expect me to just let you go after this?” Tabben said calmly, just as calmly as when I accidentally set him off earlier. Water was looking at Tabben, and at Rock, she was definitely confused by these events. “Or do you honestly think that Wildcard will let you do anything with her after putting down her favorite child? Such as living?”

“Cht- I don't work for her and you know it, my employer only needs one of her children alive, your sister is just a better pawn than you are. Be that as-” Tabben's horn flared and sputtered briefly, and Rock let out a scream of pain. He dropped me as he clutched his eyes, they were on fire. I heard the shotgun he still held against Water's head click, it didn't fire. Golden was standing over me, I saw several shotgun clips in her mouth. This filly certainly knew how to earn her keep! Thank the goddesses she was alright! She pulled me away from the minotaur, and after I managed to get some distance from him, she went back for Water at my request. She helped the unicorn, still confused, on her hooves and over to me as Rock rolled on the ground, clutching his face. Tabben was walking up to Rock, the look in his eyes sent a child down my mane.

“Tabben, don't.” I said weakly, limping around Rock to get between the two. Tabben regarded me coldly. Rock had betrayed his sister, threatened to kill her, and harmed Mek.

“You are a selfish pony Rain, so am I, and you can't have everything. I'll spare the next one.” He said to me, I tried to stop him, I jumped at him, knocking him over, his eyes never left me as his horn flared. Momentarily stunned by the pain slamming him brought on, I managed to look behind me and saw Rock's head become swallowed by fire, before his screams could redouble, he disappeared in a flash of white light.

Everypony looked at where Rock was a moment before, stunned. He was gone. Some form of magic saved him from Tabben's wrath. Tabben stared with his mouth hung open, not quite sure how to react to that. Despite the strange circumstances, I knew what needed to happen. I told Water to look at Solar's wounds while I checked out Mek. She looked like she was about to object, I cut her off and told her to help the ponies that saved her, and she begrudgingly did so.

I was upset, and I was in a great deal of pain. Solar and Mek needed help, we had almost bought it there, and Tabben still tried to kill Rock despite my wishes. Wait, where's Whisp? I saw my harpoon laying on the ground, a pull of blood under it, but the mare was nowhere to be seen. Great, another problem to add to the list. Count the good. We're all alive, and this is bound to be a big setback for Wildcard, it might even brew some animosity with her employer once she finds out Rock intended to kill her daughter.

Reaching Mek, I found she looked worse that she actually was. None of her bones were broken, so my song should be enough to heal her up. I started singing again. Tabben was still staring at the spot Rock had been, now with a considering look on his face. He then walked over to Mek, his gaze met mine, we glared at each other. He smiled at me!

“You know, I can't take your glare seriously while you're humming like that. I assume she's going to be fine, since you seem to have the room to be angry with me?” He asked, popping my angry balloon. Tabben is a spiteful pony who shows no mercy to those who harms the ones he cares for. I guess it means something that he apologized to me before trying to kill Rock. At least I think that was his form of an apology. I stopped my humming, wondering if my healing worked like a potion, I needed to check my crew for any broken bones before I continue mending them. My own ribs needed to be reset before I could get us healed anyway, and resetting ribs was not going to be a fun, or easy task.

“She'll be fine,” I painfully replied, I looked over at Solar, Water was wrapping his wings in bandages, I guess he was going to be grounded for a bit. “Lets get back to Shelter and leave as soon as possible. This is Tide-Hop right?” I asked, he nodded, confused that I asked. “Where are the townsponies?”

“They left shortly before the attack began, they'll return soon enough I suppose.” He replied. Two of their buildings were rubble now, and I'm sure that was Fire-Bomb's doing.

“Lets leave our extra supplies here as an apology then.” I said, “I don't want to stay on this island any longer than we need to, It's clear now that Ruby was nothing more than a trap for us to fall into.” I was missing about half a days worth of memory, but I think I got the most important details down. When we are safely on our ship I can get a better recount of events. “Do you want us to bring her?” I asked, nodding to his sister. Before he could answer, I noticed a pair of red bars slipping past on my EFS, looking around I heard something whoosh above us. Eyes to the sky, I saw the sky carriage we had supposedly disabled the other day. I briefly wondered if the pegasus flying that had been the pony that gave Rock-Horns the shotgun.

“Looks like the rest of them have fled, are you going after them Water-Barrier?” I asked the dark blue unicorn as she was helping Solar to his hooves. She gave me a hard look, I could tell she was about to refuse. She rubbed her bandaged neck and her look softened. She looked at me, then at Tabben.

“Don't look at me, you're old enough to make your own decisions,” Tabben scoffed. She frowned at him, looking like she wanted to take him down a peg. She started yelling at-

Her lips were moving, her expression matched yelling, but her voice didn't come out. She looked shocked as she felt her throat again, fear etched her features as she tried to say something, anything. All she could get out was depressing exhaling noises. There's only so much healing potions, and now I assume, my song are capable of. They can only heal wounds that anypony could recover from over time. Losing your eyes, like Penny, losing your leg, like Rock-Horn, or your voice, would require something as powerful as a healing talisman to recover from.

Water-Barrier stood there, dumbfounded. I thought she was going to cry, instead, she got angry. She yelled soundlessly at everything and everypony, tears of rage in her eyes. I saw to my alarm the bandage around her neck started to stain with blood, she was opening her wound up.

I went over to stop her, Tabben put his hoof on me, making me wait for Water's rage to end. Solar surprised both of us by tackling the mare!

“Calm down!” He yelled at her confused expression, “You're making yourself worse, you think that's going to help anypony here? Those two saved you, so stop, and calm down.” Okay, had something happened earlier that made Solar more assertive? He quickly moved away from the mare, Solar's words calming her into a less 'shouting' state. Solar was blushing, he clearly hadn't intended to do that.

Mek stirred as Water got on her hooves. I told my crew to return to Shelter, and, following Mek and Golden, we all returned to the ship. I looked to Water, her wounded neck pinning my attention. Trust seemed to attract situations where somepony other than myself fired it. Was it coincidence, or was the gun actually begging to be fired by others? I wasn't sure if the gun was working to protect me, or simply being vengeful. For the first time, I was afraid of Trust, it had almost killed somepony I didn't want to kill, I didn't want to repeat that risk in the future. Now I was torn, the gun saved me twice on its own accord, it was beyond valuable to me. I wish I knew its story. Ruby was dead, Wildcard used his name to lure me here, and I fell for it. Looking back to Water, I felt I owed her an apology. It was easy to blame her wound on my gun, but I was the guns owner, I was responsible for her now being mute.

“Tabben, is Water-Barrier her real name?” I asked, she was following us, and I guessed our ship was going to have an additional pony shortly. I wanted to be sure I was referring to her by her actual name, and not some name given to her by Rock to fit some sort of elemental motif. Tabben looked back at his sister, and seeing her nod, he informed us of her name.

“Steam, a pony with a short temper who blows a lot of hot air. She won't burn you, but knows how to make you feel uncomfortable. However, she's good to have around when the cold realities of the wasteland come crashing down around you.” He explained, Steam didn't seem bothered in the least by his description, I guess she saw the truth in it, or has heard this from Tabben before. He turned to her.

“Steam, if you intend to join my merry band of ponies, you should know that Wildcard has us wrapped up in some stupid old world conspiracy. I know you're no stranger to danger, so this is my only warning. You cannot complain about what happens if you join us.” He then gave her a sour smirk, “Not like you could if you wanted to.”

She glared at him, then charged him. Nopony got in her way as she tackled Tabben. They both ended up exchanging blows, Steam out of bitter frustration and anger, Tabben out of pride and annoyance. I felt as though the fight was missing some sort of verbal component, considering Steam couldn't talk, and Tabben was keeping silent through the bout. I was in no condition to break them apart, and everypony else seemed content to let them fight.

“We're just gonna let them fight?” I asked, getting a look from the other three.

“I ain't gonna break up a family squabble,” Mek informed me, “I reckon Solar understands as well as I do that it's something best left to themselves.” Solar nodded in agreement, I wasn't aware if Mek had siblings, but I knew Solar did. I suddenly felt like I didn't belong, I was an only child who only had her mother most of her life. I didn't understand what it meant to have a sister or brother. If the two in front of me was suppose to be an example, I guessed that siblings fighting was a common occurrence.

The two unicorns were panting at each other, neither suited for physical combat. Their manes were a mess, their coats ruffled. As they stared at each other, I got the feeling that some old pent up animosity had been vented.

“Guess that means your joining,” Tabben panted out, “Let's get on the ship, and set sail. After leaving our 'apology' to Tide-Hop.” Tabben proceeded back to the ship. Steam watched him trot off, she wanted to say something, but couldn't. Feeling something slump next to me, I saw Golden leaning on me, she looked ready to pass out. Despite being slammed by Mek twice, she looked the least injured out of all of us. But she was also the most tired, the sun would rise in a few hours, it was late, or I guess at this point, early. I wanted to carry her to Shelter, but my broken ribs would probably make me pass out from the effort. I had Mek carry our youngest member to the ship, and after reaching the dock, we boarded.

Somehow, we ended up with another pony on our ship. Steam had been betrayed by the leader of her group, and abandoned by the rest when they fled. It would be nice if I could converse with her, but we had no tools on the ship to facilitate the desire. Until we could find a healing talisman or somepony with one, she was mute, which means communicating with her would be complicated. Maybe we had some usable paper mixed in our cargo, I know Solar has some writing equipment, as he's constantly adding to his map. Though she couldn't talk, somepony else I knew could. Catching up to Tabben in the ships cargo hold, I asked him about his sister.

“Can we trust her on our ship? What if she sells us out to Wildcard?”

“She won't, she knows what she's doing by joining us, she's well aware of my stance on betrayal. She probably will only stay for as long as it's convenient for her, but she won't sell us out. Unless Wildcard visits us in person anyways, but that isn't likely to happen. You sure you want to leave so soon, we didn't have a chance to look for Ruby.” I looked at him confused.

“Ruby is dead, this was a trap set by Wildcard.” Now he was looking at me confused. Mek had joined us in the cargo hold and was getting things together as Tabben clarified for me.

“No, it wasn't, Wildcard's goons were surprised to find us here, they were looking for Ruby. Did you forget that before Rock threw you into the building?” he asked, okay, I think that concussion is now in need of some filling in.

“Um, I can't remember anything before waking up in the side of that building, the last thing I remembered before that was us changing course for Tide-Hop.” I admitted, getting a look of concern from Mek and Tabben. Tabben look shifted from concern, to a mischievous smile.

“Oh, so you don't remember us talking about sex yesterday?” As his words registered to me, I felt my face flush. As Mek walked over to Tabben, his words had triggered a storm of memories to surfaced up as I found myself caught in a flashback of recent events.

As we got closer to Tide-Hop, I started to second guess myself. The extra cargo I intended to give to the needy was burning a hole in the bottom of the ship. At least, that's how I saw it. I imagined something happening should we run into Ruby that makes all that cargo burst on fire, or get lost in some sort of manner.

Deciding I needed a distraction from my own doubts, I went back to the mess hall. Those last two memory orbs weren't going to watch themselves. Selecting the one I assumed was from the locker room of the robot factory, I noticed it was a buck's memory about twenty minutes long and dived into the lobby.

As the lobby filled in, I found myself in a small room with a low amount of light in it. There were two ponies on a large bed in the corner of the room. They seemed to be doing something that immediately drew my attention, my stomach fluttered a little as I took in what they were doing.

Oh.

By the Goddesses!

Are those two copulating?!

The location no longer mattered, the smells were distracting, and the noises they were making! I did not want to see, smell, or hear this memory, and I tried to leave.

Okay, the location does matter, I'm closed inside the small room, the door won't open. My face was flushed, they were going at it like I wasn't there. Oh right, memory orb. I felt my chest ache from embarrassment of being so close to the act. These damn orbs need some sort of content warning!

And this was going to be twenty minutes long!? I tried to distract myself from what was going on a couple paces away. Who would make a memory orb for this? And leave it in a robot factory!?

Curse my curiosity, before long I found myself staring like a shameless spectator. The mare sounded like she was enjoying it, and the buck seemed to give her everything he had. Oh dear, if I had been in first person mode...

I wanted to shake the thought from my head, but with the buck right there near me it was very hard to. I was no stranger to sex.

Scratch that.

I was no stranger to copulating, my mothers notes had very detailed information on ponies mating and the birthing process. Reading notes was nothing compared to this. I now saw several incidents that have occurred over the last week with new clarity.

Why those pirates wanted to violate me, what Knave had intended to do with me, and why Tabben had kept me from seeing the townsponies before lighting the funeral pyre. It was all in reference to sex. The pirates wanted to dominate me, and Tabben wanted to spare me from seeing what the pirates had done to the mares of SaddleSands.

And despite that realization, despite my desire to not be here, I wanted to know what it felt like. Curse my Celestia damned cursable curiosity.

Coming out of the memory orb, I was surprised to find myself in the engine room. I didn't feel clean, there was a sweet smell in the air that made me blush, and I desperately wanted to dive into the ocean. Mek was nearby and she noticed me stirring.

“So, find a less then decent memory orb? Were you the mare, or the buck?” She asked, smiling at me knowingly, causing me to blush harder.

“The buck” I said in a small, shameful voice. She almost wanted to laugh, I could see it on her face. Shaking her head, she tried to help me out.

“Ya might want to clean up sweetie, mind leaving that with me while you do so?” She asked, I didn't even give her an answer, I left the orb in the room and quickly went top side. I wanted to separate myself from that conversation with as much distance as I could on this small ship.

Grabbing a bucket on my way up, I passed Golden in the mess hall fiddling with her pipbuck, slipped past Solar, filled the bucket and dowsed myself in irradiated sea water. Thankfully, it was cold, just what I needed! Not satisfied with that, I repeated the salty shower until I was completely rid of the mood my body had been in after finishing that orb.

“So,” Tabben started, making me jump in surprise, “you and Mek lock yourselves in the engine room for fifteen minutes, and the first thing you do when you get out is clean up?” Turning to him, I felt my blush returning as his sly grin bore into me. “Did somepony finally become a mare today?” I tried to tell him off, But looking at Tabben brought up the buck in the memory orb, causing me to stutter out gibberish. I looked away from him, he walked closer to me!

“I didn't think her barn door swung both ways, that Mek sure is an amazing mare, but I'm sure you know that now-” He said, causing me to trip words out of my throat.

“It wasa memoryorb, Mek had no partinit!” I spat out, he blinked, and his smile grew. How was that even possible!?

“I have to say, you're being pretty approachable right now. You're not brooding or thinking or staring off in the distance or giving me a headache or asking for foolish things. Maybe what you've really needed this whole time was a good-” Tabben was interrupted by a memory orb hitting him the face. He picked it up with his hoof and rested it on his robe before appraising Mek. “And just the mare you need to give you a good time!” Tabben shouted as he started running, Mek chasing after him furiously. Had he just complimented me? Why did that make me blush harder!? Oh goddesses, I could feel a headache coming on from all the blood occupying my head. Mek chased Tabben for a minute before giving up. She returned to my side, and Tabben cautiously approached us. Tabben was the first to speak.

“Honestly though, it's great at relieving stress-” Tabben started, ensuring my blush didn't weaken as Mek interrupted him.

“Oh like you would know Tabben, I know a lot of mares fancy ya, but I also know you can't put out!” Tabben winced at Mek's retort. She winced in return, letting something slip she hadn't meant to.

“Just because I don't 'put out' doesn't mean I don't know how to please a mare, thank you very much!” He responded, almost indignantly. I wasn't quite following what he meant by that, but I could guess why he didn't put out. I suspected ponies suffering from thermal sickness did not make the best sexual partners. Mek looked skeptical at his claim. “I wouldn't mind giving you a demonstration-” And she bopped him into the deck. “Offer is open to either of you.” he slipped out as he got back on his hooves, “Yes that includes you Rain,” he said, making me take a few steps back. Once again those two ponies going at it in the memory orb played in my head, then my brain imposed me and Tabben as the two ponies!

I went to the side of the control desk and bashed my head into it repeatedly. Surprising Solar, who was blushing with his nose in his maps, clearly overhearing everything. After my head was clear of crude thoughts, I looked back at the two unicorns, Mek was looking at Tabben with a sad look on her face as Tabben was watching me, pure amusement carried in his expression.

“You know Tabben, she said it was a bucks memory, maybe you should look into it, get to know what it's actually like?” She suggested, there was pity in her eyes, Tabben stared at her, contemplating how to respond to that. He took the memory orb out of his robe, eyed it momentarily, and tossed it towards me! I caught it, but I didn't want to keep it.

“I'll pass, it's a buck that isn't me, with a mare I don't know. Both died a long time, I have no need for their happiness. Besides, I'll probably just think about how the buck is doing everything wrong, and the fact that the buck is inferior to me for not being me.” Mek looked sad at his reply, but his words had power over me. He didn't want to indulge in the memory because it wasn't his, he didn't own it, so he had no interest in it. Mek stood there thinking for a bit before she started to blush.

“So, you said you know how to please mares, you wouldn't happen to use your horn to do that, would you?” She asked, then I immediately saw regret grow on her face as her coat started to match her mane. Tabben looked at her in surprise.

“You mean you've never used your magic during-” and before he could finish, she bopped him into the deck.

I reeled back, the pain in my chest coming to my attention first, then my face being flushed with blood, and finally Mek standing over Tabben, who was just knocked into the floor of the cargo hold. I staggered, almost falling over. The emotions from the returned memories washed over into me, and after muttering a small apology, I left the cargo hold. I went top side to find Steam, and hoped she could help me get my ribs back in order. I silently thanked Rock for the injury, it was perfect for sparing myself from a repeat of the conversation I had with those two yesterday.

Climbing to the second floor, I heard the engine come alive, walking pass the mess hall I saw Golden and Steam. Steam was looking over the filly, healing her bruises before she took notice of me. Golden was torn between nodding off and approaching me. She chose to approach me, my hoof stopped her, I thanked her, but she needed rest. I asked her to get some sleep, and I approached Steam.

“I've got four broken ribs, can you help me set them?” I asked, she didn't hesitate, she went to work. He horn glowed and I felt the pain disappear, I hadn't been healed, but the pain had been cut off, to my relief. Then I felt my ribs shift under my skin. It didn't hurt, but is felt weird, I had to resist the nauseating sensation building in my gut. After she finished, I felt the pain return, it wasn't as bad as earlier, feeling closer to falling on my side rather than having my side smashed to pieces. I thanked her and asked if she was okay with sailing with us. She tried to answer verbally, frowned, shook her head then let out a sigh, giving me an indifferent shrug.

“Well Steam, you don't need to stay if you don't want to. You're here because you've chosen to, and we'll look after you as long as you look after us, sound fair?” I asked, I was the captain, if she was joining us, she needed to know the score. We look after each other, even Solar had helped during the ambush, as long as she was on our ship, she would contribute, she would earn her keep. She stared at me, the look wasn't hard, but thoughtful. She nodded to me, and let out a small smile.

I didn't want to lose any of my crew, having another pony on board that could take care of our wounds would be a big step towards that. I don't know how long Steam will stay with us, but I'll make sure everypony is better off with her, and maybe she'll find us worth her company.

“How long till Solar will be able to fly again?” I asked, since she was the one that treated him. He had crashed into the ground when the missile hit near him, breaking his left wing. She thought for a moment before tapping the table twice. “Two days?” She shook her head, “Weeks?” she shook her head again, “Months?” she nodded. How would it take two- “His wings are broken, and you don't know how to set them?” She confirmed my suspicions. My medical notes didn't have details on a pegasai's bone structure, with a broken wing, I'd be unable to set the bones, at least not without knowing-

“I think we can work something out,” I said with an idea forming. “Meet me on the deck with Solar, have his bandages removed.” I ordered as I went below deck to get Golden before she passed out. After rounding the four of us on the deck, I asked Steam to use her painkiller spell while I had Golden spread her wings out for me.

Though she was younger, the bone structures should be identical, using Golden's wings as a blueprint, I would set Solar's broken wing. Using my medical knowledge and with creative use of several splints, I was able to work his broken wing into a thick cast. With his bones held in place, I let my song do the mending. Steam was surprised at the song I was letting out. Solar thanked us as Steam ended her spell. I didn't know how long it would take for my song to heal his wing, so I continued while the others sat and listened.

Before long, Tabben and Mek came topside carrying some of the cargo. When Mek heard my song, she put down her load and stood next to me, and she joined in as well. As she did, I heard another voice, unheard by the others, join in. Then two others joined as well, I had no idea where these three unseen singers came from, but I welcomed them all the same.

Golden and Solar tried to match the note, it took a little bit of offer for them but they managed to harmonize with the rest of us. Steam was content with simply hearing, her face filled with peace. The only pony that didn't seem to care for it was Tabben. He looked at the lot of us, as if separated by some unseen wall, and it made my heart ache. Why couldn't he be touched by the sound? I wanted him to join us, So I got up, and offered my hoof to him. He looked at me, as if he was going to strike me down. Instead, he simply put my hoof down. He then gave me a weak smile, as if apologizing, and went to the bow of the ship, his back to us. My song couldn't reach him. Was it because of Assignment 11? It had to be, I have yet to meet a pony that wasn't affected by the golden note.

I sang until the sun rose, I was the last to stop. Half my crew was asleep around me, looking at them, it almost made me cry out of joy. Mek, Golden, and Solar were curled around me, a small smile on each of them. They were my crew, and I healed them, and made them happy. It made my chest hurt, these ponies were important to me, and now I knew, I was important to them. They trusted me enough to sleep on the deck of the ship, with me as their guardian. I swore to myself, at that moment, to never betray that trust. They gave me their trust, and now I knew, I would sooner die than betray it.

Steam had gone below deck, to sleep in the quarters. Only Tabben was still awake, his gaze east to the soon rising sun. Taking the few steps there were between me and him, I sat next to him. I was never fond of the sun, but I admit that sunrises were an exception to my dislike. The buck said nothing, and I returned his silence in kind. We watched the sky be bathed in all shades of purple, red and orange as the sun blossomed out from the horizon, making me squint at its brilliance as the sky turned from dark blue to a shade closer to my coat. Staring at the sky that shared our colors, Tabben broke the silence.

“I wish I could hear it,” the buck said, “It's so obvious that the others can, but all I hear is noise, I bet Destiny Labs has something to do with that.” He finished bitterly. He looked down at the ocean before casting his gaze at the sun, glaring defiantly at it.

“I'd like it if you could hear it as well.” I whispered, he looked at me and I felt myself blush. Why did I blush?

“Tsk, Silly mare, it's not about what you want, it's-” He started to say.

“Tabben, just stop, I'm not going to fall for it, so please, let's just watch the sun rise in silence, okay?” I asked. He was about to push me away, so I pushed back. He pushed away anypony that got too close, and he was trying to do the same to me. Did he care about me? Or was I simply being a delusional fool? He didn't reply to my outburst, he simply stared at me, considering me.

“Rain, if you pursue the sun, you'll get burned.” He started, looking me in the eyes, locking his words into my memory. “When the sun sees your burnt husk, it will cry, and it will turn to ash. If you can tell me straight, that you're fine with that, then I won't stop you from chasing the sun.” It wasn't a warning, it wasn't a promise. It was an agreement, he was offering me a simple fact of what would likely happen if I pursued the sun. I see, the sun was Tabben, and I wanted to pursue him.

I wanted to pursue him? I haven't even known the buck for a whole week, but I couldn't deny that I was drawn to him. He was an infuriating, antagonizing, murdering, narcissistic bastard. He was also a considerate, sacrificial, loyal, enduring friend. He brought trouble, and wasn't afraid to put himself and others at risk, but he was capable, saving others from such trouble. He commanded, taught, trained, and facilitated. He cares, but he pushes. Right now, he's pushing me away. I am a selfish pony, but am I willing to be burned for my greed?

'When the sun sees your burnt husk, it will cry, and it will turn to ash.'

The second half of his agreement ran through my head as its meaning hit me. He did care. He's afraid of causing my death. Not because he considered himself weak, and not because of his enemies. I suspected the fear came from his true name. Had Wildcard given him a cruel name like 'Friend Killer'? I honestly couldn't see it, but I wanted to know. I wanted to know more about this buck, and it was clear by now that this journey heavily involved the two of us. We would get answers together, this was our endeavor.

He saw my thoughts racing behind my eyes, he was waiting for an answer. He wanted an answer. Risk the present for a better future. I may get burned, I may die, but how would that be any different if I refused? It would be less tragic if we stayed at hooves length? He was afraid of his name, whatever it was, but I would defy it! There is power in defiance, if he won't take that first step, I will.

“I'd rather the sun not cry and turn to ash, but if that's what's going to happen, then it cannot be helped. I'm fine with that, I'm Winter Rain, if anypony is going to chase the sun and get burned, it may as well be me.” He looked surprise, but he let me finish what I had to say, “Tabben, you make me mad, you frustrate me, but you have also helped me. You've helped me so many times over these last few days, all the while keeping me at hooves length. I want to help you in return, but to do that, I may need to get burned. I trust you, so please, trust me.” I finished, our eyes never separating.

“Well then Rain, I'll trust you, but don't think I'll make it easy. I'm not some sort of pony that changes after being fed compelling words like your own. You have yet to show me if your Rain heralds winter or spring, and that will easily be the deciding factor in our future. Though I'm pretty sure that if you did catch the sun you-” The rest of his words faded from my ears as I was washed by a strong sense of fatigue. I caught the glimmer of something emerald as I started to pass out, falling into Tabben's side. The last thing I thought as sleep overcame me was how warm he felt.

I was in the lobby, Shelter sailed on the sea, a cool breeze blowing through my mane. Had what transpired from the ambush really drained me so? I had passed out next to Tabben, and now I was here.

Oh, hello, didn't think you could visit me.

I looked around and saw a brown mare looking at me sheepishly, who was she?

Name's Spark-In, you would probably know me better as Fire-Bomb. Nice place you got here, I hadn't planned on staying, but the song you sang last night. It was beautiful. It made me think a lot about my life, wish I had heard it while I was still alive.

Considering the mare, I looked for the door, and was surprised to see more than one. The rusty door with the writing on it separated the deck from the lower floors. A door stood next to it, made of gold. Inspecting the new door, I saw it also had writing on it.

Only the golden note shall awaken harmony.

I'm glad that Spark-In enjoyed my song, but she doesn't belong here, she should move on. Its not the wasteland on the other side of the door, I'm sure she would be a peace there.

Well, if that's how you feel, guess I should move on, sorry for attacking you and your friends, just doing what I was told to.

She gave me a weak smile and moved to the golden door. It opened for her, and I didn't see the dark hallway beyond, there was something else past the door. Wanting to see what lay within this new door, I was surprised as the door seemed to expand and swallow the entire lobby. Everything turned to gold. The ship, the sea, the sky, the clouds. The only thing that had kept its color was me, Spark-In had taken on a golden glow as she let out a smile. I could hear the note playing through the lobby.

Slowly, the lobby was filled by more ponies. Countless ponies I did not recognize, but there were two that I caught my eye, confusion was born from seeing the first. It was Rusty, the pirate Ruby had killed. She trotted past me, giving me a short nod, but not saying anything.

Was this the ever after? Had I died in my sleep? Wait, if I've been born with the lobby, how come this is my first time seeing Rusty here? For that matter, why couldn't my mother leave the island with me if she had been with me through the lobby? Almost as if summoned by my thoughts, she appeared before me, and my heart stopped.

Mother? Oh, I have died. My story was over, but I was with her again. I felt regret for never being able to find the answered I looked for, and wondered how-

She placed her hoof on me, shaking her head.

I wasn't dead? Then this golden room, was it an extension of the lobby? She grabbed my hoof, and led to the only door in the lobby. As it opened, I saw color on the other side, and as we passed through, all the colors returned to normal. The rusty door and the golden door were still there. I was in my lobby again, but I didn't return alone.

Here, we can talk now. Its noisy in the fragment, it's hard to communicate in there.

She gave me a hug, and I returned it. In here, we could share a hug, and I cherished it. Slowly, the events that happened to me since leaving my island played out, and she comforted me through it. I had killed, been beaten and battered, been hunted, and sought answers. I found answers, well, a few anyway. I had a crew and friends now. Counting the good, she had been right. Despite what I've gone through, I was better off than were I started. And once again, it was time for answers. How was she here, where did that golden lobby come from?

It was being carried by Ruby, when he left the island, he brought me into it. We talked about you a quite bit. He hasn't changed since he taught me how to heal others. He's entrusting it to you, and hopes you'll forgive him.

Forgive him? Was here outside right now! I need to talk to him!

I'm sorry dear, he's already left. He said that if you intend to chase the sun, you'll need all the help you can get. I'm here for you, so wake up, I won't be far. Just call and I'll pull you here.

Our embrace already conveying my love and gratitude, I kissed her and let go, letting the lobby slip away. She was with me again, there would be a time to for catching up, right now, I needed to talk to Ruby.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up, was that I was covered in a blanket. No, this wasn't a blanket. It was covered in soot and felt cool to the touch, this was Tabben's robe. The second thing I noticed was a small golden rod wrapped inside it. I feel like I've seen this before. Remembering the last thing to happen while I was in the lobby, I got on my hooves and looked around.

Golden and Mek were still asleep on the deck. Tabben was nowhere to be seen, the sun was halfway in the sky. As I moved to stir my crew, a note tucked in the robe rolled out and landed in front of me. Oh I was already not liking this prospect. Picking up the letter, I found its content aggravating.

'Just thought I should point out, you've only known me for less than a week. Cool off for a couple days and let me know if you still feel like chasing the sun. Ruby was in fact alive, and offered me answers. Not just for me, but for Steam as well, so we're heading off to Joint Facility 1. We can handle it, don't follow us. We'll be waiting for you at PA Lab 3 in three days.' -Tabben

That. Damn. Buck! Ruby was alive, and he and Tabben went to go raid the facility without us, why!? I had wanted us to find the answers together, and he goes and runs off instead of working together! I stirred Mek and Golden, telling them to get us ready to sail. I looked around for Solar and noticed his map laid out on the control desk, it had writing on it.

'Going with Tabben, going to make sure he returns to us. I've plotted out the course you'll need to take. Sorry, stay safe, we'll all be together again soon.' -Solar

Seeing the note from Tabben made me angry, seeing Solar's surprised me. I told myself that I would trust these ponies, so I took a deep breath, and did just that. I calmed myself down, Ruby must have a faster mode of transport than us, it would take roughly two days to reach the lab from here with Shelter, baring any interruptions. Not seeing the cargo I intended to give to the town, I assumed Tabben or Solar had taken care of it while the rest of us were asleep.

I looked at the robe Tabben left behind, it made me secure in my belief that we would meet up at Balefire Cove. Eyeing the golden rod Ruby left behind, I wondered if this was the golden fragment. It had to be, it was a lobby in of itself, there were the souls of many ponies in this small rod. Had they chosen to be in the rod? My mother had been in it, and now she was back with me. I was suppose to use this to save Equestria, but I had no idea how. Ruby had this? Did he have it when we first met? Considering he ran off with half my crew, I decided to act. Not wanting to stand still, I told Mek to cast off-

I saw the cargo we were going to donate to Tide-Hop laying on the dock. I couldn't leave it there without ensuring it made it to the proper ponies.

“Mek, get ready to cast off, I've going to find a pony in charge and make sure the town gets our apology.” She nodded and worked to get Shelter ready, I disembarked before she could ask me where the rest of the crew was.

Wandering through the town, I now thought it was strange. A good number of the buildings were made of wood. Did Broken Rocks have trees to trade to this town? Wandering to the end I saw on the outskirts a congregation of ponies who were returning to the town. I was a little apprehensive till I noticed mostly green and yellow bars from them on my EFS.

Considering I was just one unarmed pony, nopony else shot at me. I asked them for the pony in charge so I could inform them about what happened. In short order they led me to an old brown earth pony buck named Cider Wax. He had two guards that kept a close eye on me. Thinking to use my adopted title, I addressed the buck.

“Hello Cider, I'm Blue-Stripes, and I'm sorry for the mess Wildcard's goons cause to your town. I wanted to donate some of our goods to help set back the damages.” The old buck appraised me with a surprised look, he clearly hadn't been expecting that. I wondered if he had heard about me from the bounty broadcast?

Following the group back to town, I led him and a small group of ponies to the wares we left at the dock. Not trusting these ponies, and recalling what happened the last time I gave to a group of ponies, I slipped away as they rummaged through the donation. Getting back on Shelter in short order, I yelled a farewell as I got the ship moving.

“Hope you don't mind me leaving so soon, got places to be, sorry again!” We had left enough food to feed their number for a few weeks, and enough miscellaneous items to help fund the damages. Tide-Hop was getting the lions share of what had remained of SaddleSands supplies. Cider Wax looked confused that I was leaving so soon, but he smiled at me anyway. It wasn't a sly smile, but a thankful one. There were ponies without a home now in Tide-Hop, but I offered some aid, which was better than none. His smile was all I needed, I was certain what I left behind would be put to good use. My apprehension and frustration from what happened earlier dissipated. I looked out towards the horizon, energized, eager to take on the next challenge.

“Uh, aren't we missin' like, half the crew?” Mek asked me, seeing how we left with a half empty boat.

“It's just us three for now Mek, the rest will meet us and PA Labs 3 in three days. We need to get moving if we're gonna reach that deadline.” I said with a smile. I wanted to arrive early and see what we were in for at Balefire Cove.

“Tabby and Solar left us?” Golden started, “Those jerks! Let's get moving, we gotta be the first ones to get there, gonna show those bucks a thing or two about leaving us in the dust!”

“Sounds good to me, I've been wantin' to make this engine scream for a few days now.” Mek added, masking a tone of annoyance under her bravado.

My eyes were drawn back to the golden rod. It was what my ancestors had been looking for, for me to use. Ruby had it, had he gotten it from father? It's clear Ruby isn't of the mind to take me to Tenpony anymore. Still, would it not have been safer if we all had stayed together? Those four better be safe and sound when we reunite, I was looking forward to hearing an apology from each and every one of them.

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 9.

New Perk: Battle Hymn – You can now sing your song while in the midst of battle, just keep in mind that it heals your foes as well!

Quest Perk: Golden Fragment – You've gotten the golden fragment, a piece of star metal that sings the harmonic note. Who knows what it's capable of in your hooves.

Skill Note: Melee Weapons (75) Speech (25)

10. Fate's Responsibility

We had been sailing north north west for the entire day. With it being the three of us, I didn't want to risk something occurring while checking out the last memory orb. My skill as a navigator was basic compared to Solar, but unfortunately I was the most adept at it with our shrunken crew roster.

Mek had spent the time dismantling the turret and putting it in the cargo hold. Without Tabben or Solar, we hadn't the means to weld it to the deck, or get it operating if we could. Since we were without their aid for a few days, I saw it safer to keep the thing below deck.

Golden was keeping me company at the control desk, wanting to learn what Solar had tried to teach her the other day. I did my best to get her familiar with the controls of Shelter, as well as how to navigate. The sea was a big expanse of water with islands scattered about it almost randomly. Simply picking a direction and sailing that way wasn't going to get you to your destination, a lot of it involved staying on course, avoiding currents that could throw off your course, keeping an eye out for landmarks, and more often than not, guessing.

If you're sailing north and sail through a current drifting west, you'll end up traveling northwest, however its the water that's moving you west, not the ship. In the blue expanse, its hard to notice unless your looking for it. Staying in the current and not adjusting course means missing your destination. You don't arrive when you intended to, and start to wonder which direction you need to go to find it. Thankfully, my pipbuck acted as its own landmark, I could use the places I've mapped on it as a reference against Solar's map. If I had my original pipbuck, sailing to Balefire Cove would have been a lot easier, just sail to the dot. With my new one, it wasn't perfect, but it certainly helped more than sailing blind. Since Golden had one as well, I showed her how to make of use of it. Certainly, it was easier to sail to locations I've been to before with the pipbuck, be we haven't been to Balefire Cove before.

By this point we were roughly in the same area as where we changed course yesterday. Rust-Hallow should be a few hours north west of here. I had talked to Mek about stopping there so she could apologize to her parents and the Evercrest's captain, she had refused. She wanted to wait until we were all together again, I guess she was more upset then I was that half our crew went off without us.

Tabben, Solar, Ruby, and even Steam. They had gone off without us. Tabben, Solar and Ruby left me their artifacts. I asked Golden to clean Tabben's robe, he could suffer learning what its original color was. We all had been surprised when Golden was finished. The article of clothing looked as if it had been made recently, it was pure white. The fabric was beyond strong, I dare say indestructible. And wearing it made everything seem cooler, as apposed to hotter.

The golden rod had my interest, but I haven't tried singing with it yet, as the moon had set by the time I had woken up. It was incredibly light considering it was metal, and there wasn't any scratches or sign of blemishing on it. Star metal, something from the night sky itself, I stared at it in wonder, imagining what my song would be capable of with this amplifying it.

What Solar had left behind was significantly less mysterious, but all the more precious, he left us his map. Though he had only been sailing since he joined Peg Leg's crew, his map had a great deal of small notes written on it. Even though he wasn't here, his notes were a boon to us. It showed several of the currents he had sailed through and had added on himself. He may prefer robots, but he was still a great navigator. I guess a matter of precision was required for both interests.

Looking over their possessions, I saw them as a promise. We would no doubt reunite at Balefire Cove, they were entrusting these to me while we were apart, and I would see to it that their trust wasn't poorly placed. Looking up from the artifacts belonging to my missing crew members, I appraised my current company.

While I was occupied with controlling Shelter, I noticed that Mek and Golden were doing their own things. Mek seemed to be trying to make rivets in the bow for the turret, while Golden seemed content to fly laps around the ship as fast as she could. Thinking on it, I never saw the two interact with each other. I guess the two didn't have much of anything in common besides Tabben.

“Mek, do you know any good stories? I'm sure Golden would appreciate hearing some from you.” I pitched to the unicorn, we were in for a boring voyage if those two intended to  keep each other at hooves length. Golden looked at me, then to Mek, with a hopeful smile. Mek looked uncomfortable with the idea, but when she saw my pleading look, she nodded her head.

“Well, alright, let me think of a good story for ya.” And Mek thought for a minute before starting off with a tale concerning how she fixed the engine during a nasty squall. As she went into detail, even I was losing interest, she went into far too much detail as to what was wrong with the engine and what she had to do to fix it. Golden's attention was even less focused than my own, but she politely listened.

When Mek noticed that Golden was nodding off, she tried to tell a different story, this one with pirates and adventure. However, while this one had both as promised, she had to keep backtracking as she had to keep answering Golden's questions about the pirates. After all was said and done, we all agreed that Mek wasn't a good storyteller. Not one to give up easily, I thought about turning it around.

“Well Golden, how about you tell us a story? I'm sure you have plenty to tell, some awesome stories that put our little adventure to shame?” I offered. Golden looked at me, she clearly never considered that. She loved to listen, but I guess she's never tried telling one. She nodded and after considering for a second started telling her tale.

“This is the story of the best pegasus to ever fly the skies. Her name is Rainbow Dash, she was so awesome, she invented the Sonic Rainboom when she was younger then me!” Well, that definitely caught my interest, I didn't know what a Sonic Rainboom was, but Golden sure had a fancy for it, and something told me I'd be learning about it from her story.

“And whatsa Sonic Rainboom?” Or Mek could interrupt the story with a question.

“Only the true mark of a fast pony, duh! Let me tell you girls all about it. You go really really fast, so fast that you cause an explosion that clears the sky of clouds and fills it with an explosive rainbow! Rainbow Dash was performing a race when she did it. But it was no normal race! It happened during the old war, there were zebras and griffins and dragons! All of them were chasing filly Rainbow Dash, trying to catch her because she was a pony and they weren't. She flew circles around them and showed them just how super slow they were, and for good measure, when the griffins thought they had finally caught up to her, she went faster! Her burst of speed caused a Sonic Rainboom that knocked all the enemies of Equestria out of the sky! It, was AWESOME.” The stories believability was in question, but the energy she pored into it was infectious, she had our full attention. “And she was able to do that, as a filly! Needless to say, she was Equestria's number one weapon when she was old enough to fight the zebras. The ponies of Equestria envied her awesome power and made the megaspells in an attempt to flatter her, but they did it all wrong and everything blew up. But Rainbow Dash didn't get blown up, she survived the war, because she's awesome. They say you can still find her wandering the clouds of Equestria, looking for bad zebra and ponies to crush under her awesome wings!” Well, somepony clearly had a idol. I had to wonder where she got that story from, I'm pretty sure that wasn't how the war ended.

“That's what ya want to do right? A Sonic Rainboom?” Mek asked, and Golden eagerly nodded her head. Then something off the side of the ship caught her attention.

“Rain, is that going to hit us?” She asked, as I followed her gaze I saw a storm covering the eastern skies, “It looks like it's going to hit us.” she proclaimed with a note of worry. Eyeing the storm, it looked like it was getting closer, it was too big for us to get around, and turning back wouldn't spare us from it. It was going to hit us, I felt my heartbeat hasten as I realized we were in big trouble.

“Mek, Watch the wheel a moment!” I ordered, trying not to completely panic. I then quickly went below deck to get some rope. That storm would be on us in ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Mek had no experience navigating a ship, which meant I would have to stay above and navigate the storm. I am not a heavy pony, I'll need to tie myself to the control desk. I prayed to Celestia that Shelter would be able to stand a storm. It was still sailing after two centuries, so hopefully it will manage. I also secured the less secure navigating tools below deck, including the map. The compass was built into the desk, which was good as I would need it to make sure we didn't get trapped sailing in circles in the storm.

Returning topside, the storm was closing the distance faster than I hoped. As I prepared to get the rope around the wheel, a squall traveling ahead of the storm hit us, almost knocking me to my hooves, and catching Golden, scooping her up into the sky. She managed to stay with the ship, but she was very high by the time the gust subsided.

She looked down, her eyes widened at the height, and I saw her wings lock up. She started falling like a rock, she was going to land into the ship! Yelling an alarm, I bolted to catch her. Not sure I would make it in time, I jumped, catching her in midair. Her weight drove us down, my momentum carried us forward, over Shelters side. As we splashed into the sea, I brought us above the water and saw that she was unconscious. I knew she was afraid of heights, but nopony told me her phobia was this bad! Mek was looking over the side, and she tossed the end of the rope I left at the wheel to us. Not strong enough to carry both myself and her unconscious form out of the sea, I wrapped the rope around us and had Mek pulled us out.

We needed to move, fast! The sun was swallowed by the clouds, the storm was almost upon us. Mek and Golden needed to be below deck, and I needed to be secured to the wheel. It was starting to rain as Mek pulled us out, the waves were starting to rock the boat.

“Mek, keep her with you, make sure our engine doesn't die on us, and seal the deck. I'll steer the ship. And don't argue, you can't drive this, and we're certainly not letting Golden do it. Now move!” I ordered, nipping any disagreement in the bud. She grimly nodded and took Golden with her.

“Don't get yerself killed Rain, I'll be right cross with ya if you do.” Mek said as she closed the door to the lower decks, the door was sealed from her side. Hoping there was no other means of water getting inside, I moved to the control desk. Tabben's robe was sitting on it, as if waiting for me.

Storms brought on hard winds that could cause a soaked pony to freeze, my barding wouldn't keep me dry, and I didn't know if the robe would help any, but it was better than nothing. It would also help mitigate rope burns that will occur from the rocking Shelter was about to go through. Putting on his robes, I tied myself firmly to the wheel, wrapping the rope around my left leg, making sure I always had a hoof on the wheel, and let out a small prayer to any goddess listening.

Despite that first gust that blew Golden up, the storm came gradually. It slowly, and steadily, got worst. It wasn't long before I was soaked to the bone. The gales tried to separate me from my anchor, and the noise was beyond compare. A tempest of heavy rain slamming the hull, the waves crashing in our path, the howling winds, the booming thunder. Truly, I had never known a storm before. Having shelter and solid ground beneath your hooves made any storm a nerve wracking affair, but this was beyond compare.

This was a storm. I couldn't even hear myself think over the noise. The heaving of Shelter sailing up and down hills of rolling water caused my stomach to lurch several times. I could only imagine how things were inside Shelter. The rain felt like I was being peppered constantly by small rocks, Shelter lisped to either side several times. Often when climbing a wave, the nose of the ship would disappear into the water. My nerves were overwhelmed with information, and as the storm went on, I felt a numbness wash over my body.

Breathing had become a chore, with all the rain and waves washing over me, I was constantly battling for fresh air. I hadn't time to panic, there was no where to flee. All I could do, was do everything I could to stay conscious, and make sure Shelter moved north. The pull of the wind and the crashing of the waves made me aware of the pain born where the rope bound me. My foreleg was looking in poor shape. I saw refuge in that pain, and grasped it eagerly, using it to keep me awake. Sooner or later, I hoped, we would escape the storm. The one solace I had through the entire torrent, was the warmth of the robe. Despite the cold waves, pelting rain, and howling winds, I never once felt the chill I feared would take me.

Time was lost to me during the storm. As we sailed, hours turned to minutes, every moment was the same as the last. And before I knew it, the storm slowly died down, as the ship pushed north, the winds grew weaker. The hills of water became simply rough waves. The darkness of the sky grew lighter, and the thunder fell behind us. I saw in the distance blue skies, and we edged to them as fast as Shelter would take us. I had been made numb from the entire affair, I couldn't feel much of anything but overwhelming fatigue. As the waves died down, and our cresting became more steady, the ponies that found safety from the storm in Shelter came up to see if I was still alive. Their concern touched my heart, and I let them take care of me as I passed out.

I was in the lobby, funny, I didn't think I was that close to death. I was on my island, the grass was green, the meadow was alive, and pond was full, and my mother was looking over the sea at the edge of the cliff.

Hey dear, I'm glad you have some friends to look after you now.

I had left the storm behind me, an passed out from the battle with the sea. Now I was here with mother, I guess now was as good a time as any to ask about our family.

I wondered if she had known about Destiny labs, about fathers family responsibility. She shook her head at me. She didn't know much about that, but she did know Ruby, who was he?

Ruby was my teacher, he introduced me to your father. It seemed so innocent back then, I wish he had been more honest about it. Ruby is something like a grandfather to you and my husband. You saw his features right? The eyes and cutie-mark?

I had forgotten! His magic was green, it must have been why I forgot his eye color, I was taught that unicorns magic matched their eyes. And his cutie-mark, it was the golden fragment! More precisely, it was a magnifying glass looking over the golden rod. He did have answers, his flank bore proof of that! Wait, something like my grandfather?

He's a lot older than he looks, which is no surprise. He filled me with a few details while I was under his care in the fragment. When the bombs fell, Equestria was for the most part, lost. The seas were not. Everypony that survived out here was spared the fallout, starvation was the biggest cause of death in the eastern seas. The megaspells fired by Equestria didn't cause fallout, but the scar on the ocean was more persistent. Since the seas were spared most of the fallout, Destiny Labs survived. Most of their facilities were in the eastern seas. There are still ponies running a few of them. One of them being the one Ruby is heading to right now.

Destiny Labs is still in operation? If they were, what new tricks have they unearthed in the last two centuries? Was that how Ruby was still alive? Could that explain what happened to Rock-Horns? What was the connection there with Wildcard?

I started to worry about Tabben and the others concerning their trip to Joint Facility 1. Thinking on it, if mother knew it was being run, then Ruby knew as well, he must have a plan to get them inside without issue. I'll need to get a solid debriefing when we reunite. We'll do that before going into Balefire Cove, their information may be course altering.

I noticed mother was looking at me with a pained expression.

Dear, your leg...

Looking at my legs, I saw that my forward left leg was battered and broken in several places. I recalled it looking bad when I passed out, but with no robe obstructing it, I saw how bad it actually was. Luckily in the lobby, it caused no pain, I was separated from what my body felt here, so there was no physical pain.

This was beyond potions and my song, there was no way I could set this. At least, I could mend the radius bone above the joint, but everything beneath was a lost cause. When I woke up, I'd have to take it off. It was either amputate, or let it heal as a solid mass that would cause constant pain and have irregular blood flow. Considering what my journey entails, I would be better off with a stump than a misshapen husk of a leg. I stared at my leg for several minutes, the thought of cutting it off or keeping it repeating in my head before my emotions caught up to me. I was going to have to lose a good portion of my leg. A sense of loss washed over me as tears ran down my face. I had gotten us through the storm, we all had our lives. But still, I saw now that I was going to be a three legged pony for the rest of my life. No, that isn't completely true, I could fashion a peg for it, but I wouldn't be able to work with it like a proper pony ever again.

Sorrow was slowly replaced with horror. I had no means of anesthesia on the ship. No, we had med-x and alcohol, but using those would impair my ability to cut the leg. Everything from the cannon bone and below was a lost cause, I'd have to cut below the joint, where it meets the cannon. No, I wasn't capable of that, I couldn't foresee myself being steady while doing it. Mek would have to do it. Oh goddesses, I doubt Mek knows anything about treating an amputated stump!

Then you'll have to explain it to her first dear. Trust your friend and hope for the best. You can see memory orbs, right? Separate yourself from the pain by looking into one.

Oh, those were good ideas, though I didn't really have a choice in the matter for the first one. Mek works with machines, maybe she can manage taking care of severing a limb? Okay, depression sinking in. Oh, what were the others going to think when they see me. I'll need to make a makeshift limb, I can't get by with walking on just three limbs.

Dammit, once again the wasteland was taking from me.

No, I corrected myself, that's not true. This happened because of my negligence, I shouldn't have worked the rope just around one leg, I should have split the stress evenly between my limbs. This was my own damn fault, the storm would have been there regardless of whether it was caused by the wasteland or not. I messed up, and this is the price I must pay for it. Don't blame the environment Rain, take responsibility for your own actions.

Mother walked up and hugged me, and I returned it. My sorrow had turned to anger, the tears I cried into her embrace were warm with disappointment and frustration. I was the captain of Shelter, I was responsible for it and its crew. I spared it from the storm, but failed to spare myself.

I messed up, but I was still alive for it. I need to keep moving forward. Now with one less limb, it would be harder, but I wasn't going to let myself fall to this. There were questions that still needed answering, and there were friends to reunite with. Leaving my mother's embrace, she gave me a loving look as I left the lobby, pride alight in her eyes.

It was hot, I was hot. I came too feeling feverish, I was in the sleeping quarters, Golden was by my side and looked over me as I stirred. I looked to my damaged leg. It really was a mess, the pain was a dull ache, and I vaguely realized that my body's natural responses had dimmed the pain. I knew it wouldn't last though, this needed to be taken care of, I needed to tell Mek how to do this before I passed out again.

“Golden, send Mek in here, I want you to guide the ship in the mean time, please, don't leave your post. Okay?” I asked the filly, she saw my leg, she could guess what was going to happen, but she nodded. I had given her a task, and she was going to make sure she didn't disappoint me. She gave me a light hug before leaving me alone. As I waited for Mek, I counted the things she'd need and the steps she had to take. A troubling idea was bubbling in my stomach. I could spare myself the pain with a memory orb, but that would leave me completely at Mek's 'expertise'.

No, I needed to be awake for this. We had no more potions, the moon was gone, and wouldn't return till early next morning. This needed to be done right, and in order for that to happen, I would have to endure. I had med-x, it would help, but I doubted it would be enough to spare me the pain. Just as Penny had to endure, just as Golden had to endure, I would have to endure. But by the goddesses, was I scared.

How many ponies get to enjoy having their limbs sawed off without anesthesia? Oh, probably a depressing amount, considering the wasteland. Before I could further dig my own mental grave, Mek arrived to distract me!

“Hey Mek, I need a favor, and you're going to hate it.” I started with a weak smile. She saw the look I gave her, and she shook her head.

“No sweetie, you can fix this, I know ya can. Just sing your song and everythin' will be all right.” She started, but I stopped her before she could make me feel worst about this.

“Mek, I'm the medical pony here, I say its got to go, so its got to go. But I can't do it, I need you to do it.” I said, oh horseapples, tears were forming in her eyes. If she started, I wouldn't be far behind. “Right now, I need a strong pony to help me through this, so please, help me.” I pleaded, my words shook her, but they also gave her resolve. She wiped her eyes, and gave me a determined look.

“Whacha need me to do?” She asked, I was relying on her strength, I knew she wasn't going to let me down. I gave her a list of what she needed. After she gathered the items, I told her what followed.

Dear, I can spare you the pain.

No, I knew what she was thinking, she had it in her mind to take over me while I took shelter in the lobby, she would take the pain for me. This was my fault, it was my pain to take, I wouldn't let her take it for me. But I was still thankful all the same.

First, I had her make a brace for the broken radius bone. She in fact used the same brace I had used on her leg, and on my own leg, over a week ago. Part of it was still broken but still worked as a brace. I then explained to her carefully how to set the bone before wrapping the brace. She injected me with med-x, dimming my nerves. I then grit my teeth as I gave her a nod. With a strong shift, I felt the bone set, and lightning hot agony washed my vision as I let out a loud scream. And that was with the med-x! Oh goddesses, please, help me through this. Please, make what comes next bearable.

Using the rope, the very same that spared me from drowning, and broke my leg, we made a tourniquet. After ensuring I wouldn't bleed out, Mek got the medical saw in her mouth. She preferred it over he magic, but she was going to get my blood on her. Unfortunately, I was starting to suffer from delirium, my suggestion to use her magic falling into gibbered nonsense as Mek steeled herself for the next task.

All I remembered of what followed of the procedure was my muttered apologies to my friend. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I had you do this, please, make it stop. I'm sorry. My nerves were raw, my throat sore, my bed soaked in sweat and blood. Mek looked just as ragged as me when it was finally over, but I couldn't pass out yet. She needed to sterilize the wound, and seal it. Compared to what came prior, the burning of the alcohol wasn't even enough to cause me to squirm. As I saw her, with great care, sew it shut as best she could, I felt the darkness overtake me, and hoped I would awaken from the sleep overcoming me.

I had no dream, I wasn't drawn into the lobby. It was a dark, dreamless, hot and uncomfortable slumber. I woke up a couple times for several moments, feeling assured at the presence of my friend next to the bed. At some point Golden came in and was talking to Mek about something. What was it about, an SOS? Somepony was needs help? Sounds good, let go save them. I thought quietly. Mek and Golden seemed to be having an argument, and it stirred me into being more awake then asleep.

“She would do it, in a heartbeat,” Golden said, “You know she would, so we should help them.”

“Nu uh, she's outa commission, it's just the two of us, we can't be savin' some strangers right now, what if their raiders in disguise? Ya expect me to handle that all by myself?”

“Mek, she'll be mad at us if we pass them by!”

“Then I guess she'll be mad at us, we ain't riskin' our lives for it!” They were arguing over saving someponies, I wanted to tell them what we had to do, what we needed to do, but I was barely keeping myself awake, my eyes felt as heavy as iron, I could barely move my head. I calmed down, and gave myself a moment to build up strength to intrude on their argument.

“I can go check it out, fly over, take a look, fly back. I'm not going to be a filly forever, I can be a big girl, so let me check it out.” Golden suggested.

“Last time you flew, you almost crashed into the deck with Rain!” Oh Mek, why do you have a penchant for letting out things best left unsaid?

“I can't help that, okay, and that's not fair!” Golden replied, sad frustration lacing her words, “At least I didn't go about trying to kill my best friend!” I couldn't blame Golden for that retort, Mek had set herself up for it.

“I, I'm sorry,” Mek said solemnly, “It's been a rough couple days for me, so I'm sorry. You're right, she would want us to help, but we're gonna go about it all cautious like, follow me?” I didn't hear Golden's reply, she must have nodded. It was quiet for several moments, had Golden left?

“Dammit, yellin' at a filly, what's come over me?” She asked as she let out a long sigh. Deciding to give talking another try, I responded to her question.

“It's kind of embarrassing, losing an argument with a filly.” Mek jumped a little, surprised I was awake, “I'm glad she won, you silly mare.” I weakly finished. What I would give for a potion, or a warm drink. “Thirsty,” I informed her, she nodded and left me alone for several minutes as she got me some warm water.

“How ya holdin' out?” She asked as she propped me up, helping me drink. I eyed my leg. It was wrapped in a lot of bandages, as well as the brace, how silly. I saw the stump, and I felt hollow. I suppose I was too weak to actually feel a physical response to the loss.

“Good I suppose, I'm awake, and I'm not getting weaker, so we should be in the clear. Once the moon rises I can get myself back into working order.” I paused to drink more of the water before thanking her, “Thanks Mek, I know it wasn't easy, but it needed to be done, I'm glad I could rely on you. And I'll keep relying on you, you're my friend, I'll help you when your down, just as you've helped me.” She nodded.

“That's what friends do, although I don't think it's common for a friend to ask to amputate. Lets try and avoid any more of that, kay?” She said, giving my a kind smile, and I nodded. I don't think I'd be able to survive another.

“Rain, you're okay?” Golden returned, seeing us talking she felt like joining in.

“No, but I will be, since you're both here with me.” I said, I suddenly had the impression of Tabben rolling his eyes, I wouldn't have minded that if the buck was actually here. Golden looked at my stump, and she started to cry.

“Now we wont be able to race again. I wanted to race again. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pass out, I can't help it-” A crying Golden wouldn't do, I reached over with my good hoof, Mek supporting me, and I hugged Golden close to me.

“There there, it's not your fault, I'm not blaming you. We can race again, once I get a peg on this leg. Don't you worry, I won't let this slow me down, I'll be as fast as I've always been, I promise. So none of that silly self depreciating nonsense. Now, buck up, you're a big girl now, right?” She nodded at my prompting, swallowing her tears and clearing her eyes. “Then give me your mission report.”

“Okay,” she paused to compose herself before giving me the report, “There's a family of zebras on a small drift island a short distance from the ship, I stopped Shelter to check them out. Their water talisman thing is broke and their ship can't move. They're hungry, two adults and a child. They need help Rain.”

“In that case, let's give it to them. Mek, let them on board, offer our food to them, and tie their boat to ours, we'll drag it along. If their hungry, then they're also weak, so you can appraise them in person.”

“Rain, I'd rather we not take em, you can't trust zebras.” She said, and I frowned at my friend.

“It was a zebra that saved me from Thousand-Smiles, thank you very much. He helped me without asking for it, I want us to help that family. I'm surprised Mek, I didn't know you thought of zebras that way.” Oh, she looked ashamed now, did I over do it? “I'm sorry, but we're helping them. If we're lucky, they might have a potion they've saved up. Or they might even know where in the eastern sea we are. Now the both of you, get to helping them. I am, starting, to feel a little...”

My strength failed me as my eyes sagged. Mek gently lay me back in the bed, I gave her a little smile and rested while they went to work. Time slipped away from me as I fell in and out of sleep. I was still a feverish mess, but I felt a little better this time around. A zebra family, fancy that. I could almost see them looking over me. No, wait, was that a zebra looking over me. Stirring into being awake, I looked at the mare. Female zebras are called mares right?

“You have got to be the sorriest looking captain I have ever laid eyes upon.” She said, giving me a weak smile, her features were gaunt with hunger, but she looked like she had been given a new start at life. “I thank you for saving me family. You are Blue-Stripes if I am not mistaken?” She asked me, I gave a weak nod and a smile. “Then fate is a funny thing, you never know when you'll run into ponies and zebras that are tied to you. I am glad I know our connection.” She said as she offered me a small cup with a slightly familiar smell to it. I guess I would be a fool for taking a drink from somepony I just meet, almost literally on my death bed, but her expressions garnered my trust.

She was tall, as tall as Mek, but was slender like me, well, naturally slender, not just being gaunt from hunger. Her mane was long and kept to the side, white and gray stripes ran through her features. Her glyph mark resembled an upside down potion washed in zig-zagged lines.

Taking a sip, my suspicions about its contents were confirmed, it was a zebra healing brew, and from the taste of it, it was either heated up, or freshly made. I felt the aches die down immediately, and the braced bone mend. After finishing the concoction, I was still weak and feverish, but I was well awake now, and my stump was feeling a lot better.

“So what would that be? Are you from Zerrist? Did you know Zerkash?” I asked, wondering if that was the connection she was referring to, as I haven't really had any other dealings with zebras beside what happened near Zerrist.

“It be more than that Blue-Stripes, I was his sister. I am glad Thousand-Smiles died soon after Zerkash did, his spirit got to see the beast off before joining our ancestors.” Yea... I think it would be a good idea not to inform her about Zerkash's fate. Partially because I wasn't sure if he had passed on, and I don't want to ruffle any zebra's beliefs of the ever after by telling them about the lobby.

“He saved my life, I'm glad I was able to save his kin, even if it wasn't intended.” I admitted, I hadn't know that, honestly if would have rescued them regardless of their race. Unless they were starving dragons, that would be iffy. She looked at me, surprised by my answer, then smiled warmly.

“So you've been wanting to settle the responsibility of a dead zebra, and fate brought you to us to save me family. What a silly world we live in. Still, his life is not equal to our three. You saved us, so you are responsible for us.” I was? What exactly did that mean?

“How do you mean, in what way am I responsible for you?” Was I suppose to add them to my crew? There's only so many that we can fit on Shelter!

“In the way you choose. Maybe you simply want us to get off the first island you pass. Or you would wish us be sold into slavery. Or-”

“No, I wouldn't, and don't you dare suggest that again!” I said angrily, surprising myself with my outburst. There were plenty of things I would take, but I wouldn't take being called a slaver. She looked surprised, then smiled.

“My mistake, I'm sorry to offend. You seem to be uncomfortable with the notion of owning another's life, my apologies, this is probably not the best way to even our debt. Maybe I can make this suggestion, our home, food, land, ship is yours as you need it. We take care of it as our own, and allow you it should you ask for it. Ponies and Zebra's don't see debt the same way, I wasn't sure if you'd see it the zebra way or the pony way, concerning you have the blood of both in you.” Right, confused as a zony because of my stripes, another thing that doesn't need elaborating on right now. So zebra's see at is being responsible for the lives of those they save? I certainly didn't understand what she meant about that. Treating it as a debt was a lot simpler, and I guess more pony-like.

“Can I get your name?” I asked, she knew my name, sorta, but I didn't know hers.

“I am Merdana, my husband is Trantao, my daughter is Versa. We are in your debt for saving us, and for towing our boat as well.” She said as she bowed respectfully to me, making me blush. For some reason, I thought I would be belittling her offer if I said 'it was nothing'. Saving ponies in the wasteland was an oddity, they were lucky it wasn't pirates. Curse the wasteland.

“You live in Zerrist? It's a little out of our way if that's the case.” Thinking over it, if we turned back to Sandstone Island, we could still make it to Balefire Cove, we may just be a little late. Merdana shook her head.

“We were heading to Tyrna in the north. It's northeast of Rust-Hallow. Is that out of your way?” I shook my head, it's less out of the way then turning back the way we came at least, “Our home's there, my brother and I never talked much because of the distance. I can get you a new leg when you drop us off, it's a small step to paying you back.” New leg? Zerkash had a peg leg, I wondered if that was what she had in mind. That would certainly be more than reason enough to go to Tyrna, I'm sure Mek and Golden would agree.

“That would be wonderful, to be honest, I've wanted to see a zebra community, I'm looking forward to it.” She nodded, then approached me with a word of warning.

“Curiosity is a good thing, but in the wasteland it can lead to an early death. But its just a general warning, I assure you Tyrna is quite kind to zonies.” Well, there's that too I guess. This detour should be nice for once!

“Noted, could you guide us to Tyrna? We sailed through a storm and are a little lost.” I said, sheepishly waving my stump at her. She regarded it with concern.

“Ah yes, we saw the storm and worried it would end us, but we were spared it. My husband can get us to Tyrna through the night. He'll have to follow the stars to do it, but we should be fine as long as the stars don't seek our folly.” Huh?

“I think you'll need to explain that to me.” Were zebras superstitious of the stars?

“Ah, of course. I'm not much of a story teller, I'm more of a healer, but I can try to explain it to you. We see the stars as an outside power beyond our grasp. They watch our world and care little for our affairs. Every once in a while, some pony, or some zebra will call upon the stars for aid, or power, or simply attention. Sometimes the stars are benevolent, it is when they are malevolent that we have come to fear them. A long time ago, many zebra, in the greatest 'city' of our kind in their time, tried to summon a star to the ground using abandoned magic. They got their wish, and brought a star from the night sky, destroying their selves, their city, and many more lives. We have good reason to hold the stars with fear. Even recently, they brought their malevolence upon us in the shape of Nightmare Moon. Many zebra partook in the old war simply because Nightmare Moon had taken the throne over the Sun Goddess.”

Nightmare Moon? Was she referring to Luna from the story of the mare in the moon? That was simply an old legend. When the war ended, Celestia and Luna lost their physical forms, but still look after Equestria from the heavens. It's what I believed, but it didn't mean I counted on them, after all, there were plenty of ponies in the wasteland that needed their aid. I could manage without them, leave their aid to the ponies that need it most. Although, that didn't stop me from asking sometimes, I am a selfish pony after all. Were zebras wary of the moon? Since that's where Nightmare Moon hails from.

“I certainly hope you don't come to dislike me for my cutie-mark.” I said as I shifted the blanket to reveal the moon on my flank. There was plenty I could hide from her, but I would be hard pressed to hide that. Merdana looked surprise, but recomposed her self and reassured me.

“Zerkash had a moon on his flank as well. We do not fear the moon, it is close to the stars, but so is the sun. At least, that's what I tell any silly zebra who thinks to fear the moon. As his sister, I had to dissuade many who thought he called upon the stars when he was younger. Tis silly, Zerkash would never ask for help from anything.” She looked at my mark, no superstition in her eyes, only a small amount of respect. “It will not be a problem, as I have said, zonies are treated kindly, I can simply say the pony blood in you won over the zebra when it concerns your mark, that'll be more than enough to dissuade silly zebras that think the markings on your flank are reason enough to hate you.” Well, that'll have to do I guess.

“So how is it, living in the sea side-by-side with ponies?” I was curious to know how much animosity stood between our races. It was clear to me that Mek held some, but whether it's from personal experience or simply how she was brought up was beyond me. That war had been terrible, two hundred years later, and we were still paying the price for it. It would be nice if ponies and zebras learned that it wasn't worth it. She let out a tired sigh, already dissuading my naive hopes.

“You are not from this part of the world, I think I can see that. You must come from the west, or Equestria. Most everypony and zebra get along out here, besides the Remnants and the IFA. The Ironclad Flotsam Alliance was made of the survivors of the war, they passed their animosity down through their children, just as the Remnants do for us zebras. If one group isn't causing trouble for one race, it's the other. My husband was worried when we ran aground so close to the IFA.” So there are ponies in the IFA that are holding a two hundred year old grudge. Mek's distrust now makes more sense to me, I'm just a little disappointed that she wasn't above it.

“I will admit to some fear as well,” she continued, “I am glad fate thought to bring you to us.” She smiled at my confused look, “It's no coincidence that the pony that avenged my brother was the one that saved my family. Fate ties us together, you were in the area and those ties pulled us towards each other.”

“Is fate the same as destiny?” I asked, Destiny Labs was manipulating destiny, I was curious how this all worked together. Merdana shook her head and enlightened me.

“Fate is to destiny as the stars are to the sun. The touches of fate are constant and riddled through ones life, while destiny is the shiny beacon that outshines all others. Fate is the day to day coincidences that make life an adventure, while destiny is the defining mark of your life. Whether it's your destiny to kill a particularly large shark, or save a family of zebras remains to be seen. Fate is constant and a present event, destiny can only be seen after your story comes to an end. However, it's not uncommon for fate to lead to ones destiny, and destiny has a way of stringing the fate of many together. It is fate when you end another's life, for the chance of ones death being their destiny is very rare, and very tragic.”

Destiny Labs worked to manipulate destiny, and through it, fate. If we're tied together by fate, then wouldn't that mean changing the destiny of one pony would ripple out through the threads of fate? They had used their arcane science to protect Stable-Tec near the end of the war, what kind of fate was spawned from that? I was a result of those ponies playing with destiny, and it seems my fate is born from it.

We run aground on Sandstone island and just happen to wander upon Joint Facility 3? I get discovered by Wildcard and end up eventually getting my hooves on the soul recollector? I happened to reach PA Labs 1 with the one pony that could let us through the front door? As Merdana said, there were no coincidences, I was being strung along by fate. Did I actually choose to wander towards the canyon that hid the facility? Did I have a choice when we stormed the robot factory? Was I being strung along by my curiosity, or fate?

“You look like you're thinking too much about this,” she pointed out, was my thinking expression that obvious? “Don't think that fate and destiny bind your actions. You chose to save my family. We can choose. At least, that's what you should tell yourself, what you should believe. If you start thinking you have no control over your life, then you start to lose control over it. Fate is not some unseen force that we have no say in the matter in, the same goes for destiny. Our actions determine our fate, don't think its the other way around. Whether its true or not, you're happier for it thinking we have a say in the matter.”

I wanted to argue with her, after all, we all were born in a desolated world where death is common and horrible, it would be easy to blame all that on fate. But someponies in the past didn't want to take her outlook. They played with destiny, and I wonder, if they hadn't, what would Equestria be like today? Oh, I probably wouldn't be alive for one thing. No, I shouldn't waste time with what-ifs.

Are we the ones that choose our fate, our destinies? Or is it all set in stone like a story, unchangeable, the ending certain? She was right, there was no way of knowing, and there was a good chance knowing the answer would drive a pony mad. I shouldn't dwell on it, I chose to be here right now, I chose to steal Shelter, I chose to have part of my leg removed. I need to take pride in my choices, they were mine, not some unseen force called fate or destiny.

My actions were my own, I was responsible for them, to blame them on something as intangible as fate was an insult to everything I've done, and who I am. Tabben owned his actions, he took pride in what he did, he held himself to his responsibilities. I want to follow his example, so I'll try to own up to my responsibilities.

Responsibility. A pony carries many responsibilities in their lives. Their own life, the life of those they hold dear, the lives they bring into the world. Their actions, their creations, their emotions, their identity. A pony that blames others for their own actions wasn't being responsible. Blaming the wasteland for the evil of slavers and raiders and pirates was irresponsible. Those ponies were answerable for their own actions, and everypony else was responsible for defending themselves from them. When Merdana was referring to me being responsible for the lives of her family, had she meant me giving them purpose? I think I follow, by becoming responsible for their lives, it also made me responsible for their deaths. I would be the chooser of their fate. I definitely preferred the pony way, settling it as a debt was less morbid.

I am the captain of Shelter, I was responsible for my crew. Their actions, their lives, their happiness. Can I really manage being responsible for them? I am an apprentice captain, but I suppose every captain starts somewhere. I'll simply have to learn more and become somepony worthy of that responsibility. But wait, was I responsible for my own destiny?

Wildcard and Break say my destiny is to save or destroy Equestria. I could barely get a grasp on being responsible for my crew, how was I suppose to be responsible for all of Equestria? Can't I just have a destiny where I find some reasonable buck that can make me happy and give my mother some grandfoals?

I certainly wouldn't mind that.

That made me smile. I was glad she was with me again. The idea that she can see everything I see and hear my thoughts came to mind, and just as swiftly yesterdays memory orb came to mind-

Nope, not thinking about that, pay it no mind, just laying here missing a leg talking to a zebra, nothing provocative about this at all, carry on!

“You're right, there's no point dwelling on it. So Merdana, that potion I drank, did you brew it up? If so, I'd like to learn the recipe. Since you happen to know a couple of things considering medicine, could you help me look over my stump? Mek is an engineer, I'm the medical pony on this boat. Having her take it off has made me a little nervous to see the results.” I said, mustering some bravado as I smiled at her. If she was in fact a healer, I had to wonder at my odd fortune. I was a pony that healed, and in the last twenty four hours I've run into two others that heal in different ways from myself. Was that fate at work as well? Looking out the port hole, I saw that night had fallen at some point in my sleep. I was still tired, but I needed to check Mek's work before passing out again. Merdana looked at me, amused.

“You go and think for a couple minutes and it leads to you asking me for medical aid. You're certainly a peculiar one, Blue-Stripes. Here, let me see your leg.” Leaning towards her, I finally took a proper appraisal on Mek's work. The way she wrapped the bandages made me wanna wrap Mek in bandages. She used way more than necessary, my stump was practically a bulb of cloth! After spending a couple minutes freeing ourselves from the mess, the wound was exposed.

The stump was a mess. Easily the work of an amateur, heh, if I had held out for a few hours, I could have had Merdana do the amputating instead and not have had my friend go through that. And I could have enjoyed not being awake through the ordeal. Merdana helped clean the wound and after leaving me alone for a couple minutes came back with another cup of healing brew. When she was done, the flesh still felt raw and ached, but was still better for her treatment. Once the moon rose the rest could be taken care of. We removed the broken brace since the bone was now mended. I had the brace put away in my medical bag, I was growing attached to the busted up pieces of metal.

Out of curiosity, Merdana wanted to take a look at my hoof, the severed off part. Her curiosity washed over me, and I wanted to do the same. We fished it out of a small pile of blood stained sheets and bandages near my cot. It was strange, looking at my limb, no longer attached to me. Rigor had set in the few muscles in it, it really was as bad as I thought it was. Many of the smaller bones between the hoof and cannon were shattered, the cannon itself was in five pieces. It was just so strange, feeling the broken bones with my good hoof, and not feeling anything. No, that wasn't quite true, my stump ached as I rubbed the severed leg, just phantom pains. Merdana nodded, she agreed with my assessment of severing it, only a healing talisman could have spared me this fate, which I had donated to children who needed it more than I. I briefly wondered if Penny had her eyes back by now. Seeing my severed hoof made me realize what it smelled like in the quarters.

I had Merdana help me up, I wanted some fresh air, the quarters smelled of blood and slight decay, fresh air would be good for me. Walking without my front leg was a real chore, it's not like my back legs could keep me standing when I moved my only working front leg. Good thing I was a light pony, or this would probably be even harder.

I'll have a peg leg soon to help me walk, guess I'll certainly look the part of the captain. All I would need is a big hat and an eye patch! I wanted to feel bitter about it, instead I felt proud. Yes it was negligence that cost me my leg, but I still managed to get my friends and our ship 'safely' through a storm. How many ponies can say that? And I bore the proof on my left leg. I had stripes on my left side, where I was seared by the explosion that killed Thousand-Smiles. I bore the scar in the center of my chest where Tabben stabbed me with his horn to keep my possessed self from killing Mek. And now I was short a leg. They were marks of what I've been through, and I found myself taking pride in them.

Reaching topside, it seemed Mek and Trantao were arguing about the finer things in life, like how neither of them trusted each other. Golden and Versa were sitting next to each other, watching quietly. Trantao didn't seem to take to the idea of sailing with an IFA pony, and Mek didn't like the treatment she was being given, citing it as evidence for her claims that zebras couldn't be trusted.

“We cannot be trusted? It was your fleet of rust that fired upon Ranta! You fired first and broke our old treaty!” Mek was taken aback by this, I was out of the loop, and found a good opportunity to interject.

“Where's Ranta? Tell me what happened, I'm not with the IFA, and I'm the captain here.” He glared at me for a moment before seeing the look his wife was giving him. His expression softened as he addressed me.

“Eight days ago several ships from the IFA attacked Ranta, it was our third largest settlement, and now its gone. The IFA refuses to admit responsibility, Admiral Rancid Metal claims it was a rogue group bearing the IFA banners. He is a liar, and once we find the evidence that damns him, there will be war against the IFA.”

War, its already caused a great calamity, why must it happen again? Some one takes from someone else, and that someone else tries to take back out of vengeance. It couldn't have always been like this. The Equestria I saw in my very first memory orb wasn't a place that could host a war. That tree, when did it die? Was war spawned from the ripples it's destruction caused? Once again I'm reminded of my need to find answers. War was going to be born again out in the eastern seas, assuming Rancid Metal did in fact send a part of his fleet against the zebras.

“Mek, would this Rancid fellow do such a thing?” I asked, and her sheepish look was all the answer I needed.

“I uh, wouldn't put it against him. He's kind of an avid hater of zebras.”

“She admits it!”

“I didn't say that, I said I wouldn't put it against him. Don't see truth were there isn't any, or I'll throw ya back into the sea!” Mek threatened.

“No, you won't, both of you stop yelling at each other,” I calmly asked, “the children are being better behaved that the two of you.” Golden looked annoyed to be referred to as a child, but smiled all the same.

“I have to agree with Blue-Stripe's, you're being quite silly right now husband, yelling at the ponies that saved us.” Merdana added.

Both of them looked dejected, and stopped their feud.

“Trantao, I need you to guide us to Tyrna, Merdana's offered me a new leg to help offset the debt you three owe me.” I said that to get his mind off of the IFA, I had no intention of milking their debt, I already considered us even, as helping them wasn't really a bother. But if I'm going to get a peg for my leg out of it, I certainly wasn't going to argue.

Fate, I found a family of zebras that knew Zerkash, and could help me with my leg. Was fate working to aid me? Fate fabricated by Break, by Destiny Labs. I was worried, sooner or later this was all going to crash down on me, wasn't it? Would there be anything left of me when that happened? I never considered myself a lucky pony, too much good luck is bound to be offset by bad luck.

Don't worry dear, it's bound to turn out fine in the end.

I shook my head, lost in thought I had missed Trantao's confirmation, but I saw him looking over the ships control desk. I asked Mek to clean out the quarters of my blood so that we could get the kids to bed, Merdana offered to help and I agreed before Mek could object. Golden seemed content to talk to Versa about our adventures while they waited. I got Solar's map and other instruments and showed Trantao how to work the controls, he was surprised by my trust, and was quite happy with it. He told me we would likely reach Tyrna sometime in the morning.

With everyone occupied, my mind wandered back to my mothers words. It'll turn out fine in the end? If that's the case, just how far was the end? Each answer led to a new question, I knew more about myself and Destiny Labs, but there was still so much more remaining. The last memory orb I had, it was a itch that needed scratching.

Now that I was in a position to not fear for the ship or its passengers safety, I retreated to the mess hall, tripping twice, this was going to take some getting use to. The last memory orb was the second one from Joint Facility 3, from Red Quills office, I doubted this would be another venture into perversion. I hoped.

As the lobby filled in, I could already feel that something was different about this memory. There was a familiar sound in the air, it permeated everything. The note that I sung. It wasn't quite audible, but I could feel it reverberating in the air. Where was it coming from? It seemed to be coming from everywhere.

I was in a small home, no wait, I've been here before. This was Breaks home, where the cute-ceañera had taken place. Break was in the living room, looking over a number of pieces of paper, her horn glowing like she was practicing some sort of spell. After looking over her notes concerning the spell she was working on, she called for Sap Fire.

The filly that came into the room was different from the one I saw at the cute-ceañera, she lacked her cutie-mark, was smaller, and her entire expression and body language lead me to believe she lived a miserable life. This memory must have taken place a couple years before the party. Break looked pained when she saw her daughter.

“Sweetie, come here, I think I've finished my spell, so lets see what your cutie-mark is going to look like. If we know what it looks like, you can get it sooner.” She said, trying to sound excited to cheer her daughter up. Saphy did look happy at the prospect, was being a blank flank that miserable for her?

Break placed her horn on her daughters flank and started her spell. As she did, Saphy's flank started to glow as I realized what was happening. This was the very first cutie-mark projection, foreseeing what a child's cutie-mark will be.

At first it didn't seem to do anything but cause both ponies to glow, and Break had a frustrated look on her face. A layer of overglow wrapped her horn as she put more effort into the spell, and as she did the harmonic note in the air seemed to weaken. Break, not wanting to let her daughter down, put her entire being into the spell, another layer of overglow wrapped her horn.

In the distance, I heard a sound that couldn't reach our ears. A sound that reverberated in our souls. The sound of a tree snapping, a booming crash as crystalline timber fell over somewhere in a isolated cave, unheard by no one, but by myself, and Break.

Her eyes widened as her spell was cast. A piece of paper nearby was wrapped in magic, and a picture of what would one day be Saphy's cutie-mark appeared on it. Break slumped down. To my horror, I realized the note had stopped playing.

There was no mistaking it. Breaks spell had somehow caused that tree to perish. That tree was singing the golden note, and now it was gone. This was the moment, when it all fell apart. My chest hurt, my heart crying out in pain from it all. A mother was trying to make her daughter happy, and it led to destruction of Equestria. There was no such thing as coincidence, Equestria enjoy a millennium of peace. Then the tree that sung the healing note all over Equestria, died. War soon followed, and then the megaspells killed Equestria.

I lost focus of the memory, Saphy's cries of joy, Breaks look of dread, they washed past me as I silently cried in the memory. As the memory came to an end, my mother was with me, and she held me as I wept for that tree, as I wept for Equestria.

Why did this happen?

Not all questions have an answer dear. Sometimes, life is simply cruel for cruelties sake.

This needed an answer, I refused to believe it didn't have an answer. There was a feature of the Soul Recollector I haven't tried yet. I was going to get my answer.

I played the memory again, but this time, I enabled Soul-Reading. Crusader said it would allow me limited soul interaction with memory orbs. I hoped that meant I could ask Break some questions. As I activated the Soul Recollector, the memory orb gave off a violent light that illuminated the mess hall as I fell into the lobby.

I was in the lobby, shaped as Shelter's mess hall. The environment didn't change, but everything seemed off. Like everything was stilted slightly.

Sitting across the table from me was Break, she was appraising me with a weak grin, she looked old and apologetic.

Sorry, I'm not certain of your name, but greetings, Assignment 13. I suspect you have some questions for me?

This wasn't a memory, this was Break, or at least, her soul. I was going to get my answers.

Footnote: Level up. Lvl 10.

New Perk: S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Training(2) –  Endurance +1. You weathered the storm and got your leg sawed off, you deserve this!

Quest 'Perk': Crippled – You've lost a leg because of your own carelessness! You lose the following perks:

-Six Shooter Focus(1)

-Running Circles

In addition, until you get a make-shift replacement limb, your Agility and Strength fall by two points.

Skill Note: Seafaring (50)