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 Next Chapter: 2. Taking Stock Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours