“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

The sound of something round and lopsided moving along uneven ground stirred me from my slumer.  It was a foreign sound, not something one would hear inside a stable.  Then I remembered I wasn’t in a Stable anymore.

My tired mind began recalling the events of the previous night.  Showering in the Desirables bathroom, the incident with Golden Glow, the confrontation with the Overmare, that strange crystalline glow that emanated from my body, and finally leaving the stable; had it all really happened or was it all a strange dream?

If it was a dream, then where was I now?  It was certainly not the water filtration room.  So, it all must have happened.

Wait, I fell asleep on a patch of dead grass outside the stable and now I wasn’t.  My mind slowly beginning to get clearer.  I was moving.  I felt around for my pistol, but it wasn’t within hoofs reach.

Cautiously I opened my eyes.  I was face to face with a small filly with a red coat and a curly caramel mane.

“Mornin’-sleepy-head!” squeaked the filly.

I rubbed the remaining sleep from my eyes with my hoof and looked around the moving room I was in.  On either side of me there were boxes and crates plied up to the canvas ceiling.  It looked as if the precariously stacked containers would topple over at any moment, but with each passing bump they magically stayed in place.

I turned back to the filly.  At first glance she looked like one of the Desirable fillies, albeit much dirtier than any desirable would dare to be, but after getting a second look at her I could see her vertebrae stuck out slightly from her back making it slightly bumpy instead of smooth like a desirable filly’s back would be.  I almost called her Rough Back, or Skully Osis, but stopped myself.  That would be stable 13’s brain washing; I couldn’t believe I was judging a filly I just met based on my terrible mother’s standards.

“What is your name young filly?”  I asked tiredly, shrugging off my judgmental thoughts.

“Howdy-Miss-mah-name-is-Knick-Knack-but-most-folks-call-me-Nicky-What’s-yer-name?”  She chirped in response, barely separating her words with spaces.

I was barely able to balance my own rate of speech after the filly’s bombardment, “My name is Clash,”  I said slowly, “Nicky, how did I get here?”

I braced myself for the breathless response.

“Well-we-was-scav’gin-or-by-siren-cave-earlier-dis-mornin’-an-we-came-upon-y’all-sleepin’-an-glowing.” She took a large breath before continuing, “Ma’-thought-y’all-might-be-a-ghoul-who-was-exposed-ta-too-mach-radio-tation-but-Pa’-says-yer-pippy-buck-thing-wouldda-been-clicketty-clacking-if-y’all-were-radio-tacktive.”

She took another breath.

“So-Ma’n’Pa’-decided-we-ain’t-gonna-leave-y’all-on-accountta-raders-an-slavers-so-Pa’-lited-y’all-into-are-car-EE-van-cart.”

I sat up and began to stretch my back as she went on.

“Speakin’-of-yer-glowin’-why-were-ya-glowing?-Why-aren’t-y’all-glowin’-now?-Do-y’all-glow-often?-Can-y’all-glow-again?”

Before I could tell her that I didn’t know the answers to her questions something large struck the cart with a blinding flash.  It caused it to topple onto its side.  The boxes and crates around Nicky and I begun to fall.  On instinct I grabbed Nicky and held her close and braced for impact.

Impact never came.  After a few moments I opened my eyes and looked around, everything was held motionless in the air by the silver glow of a unicorn’s magic.  The cart was placed right side up and all the assortment of supplies and junk were placed back in the boxes and crates and they were all staked back up.  Nicky and I were then gently placed back on the floor of the cart.  A soft breeze blew out some small fires the explosion had caused.

“Y’all alright in there?” asked the silhouette of a unicorn Stallion.

“Don’t-worry-Pa’-we’re-alright.” Shouted the filly wiggling from my embrace.

“Sweetie, Stranger, Stay in the cart.”  Ordered an older Mare.

The filly halted at the fear in her mother’s voice and crept quietly back to my side.  She hid her face in my mane and wimpered quietly.  She clearly knew what was going on.  I’d have asked what was happening, but I was stunned to silence by the events of the past few moments.

Outside I heard the sound of galloping hooves approaching.

“Well, lookie what we got here.  Some hic ponies and their caravan of cargo.”  Whinnied a gruff sounding stallion.

“P-please…” Stammered Nicky’s father, “We just want to get to the next town.”

“P-p-p-p-please,” Mocked the gruff stallion followed by a cackle that sent a shiver down my spine, “Why wait until the next town? You could always trade with us, but..." he paused as if to contemplate what he was going to say next, "at a 100% discount.”

About 10 others cackled wildly as if he had made a joke.

“It is our l-livelihood.” Came the voice of Nicky’s father again.

I heard the sound of his horn beginning to glow.  A loud bang sounded, followed by a flash of light and then some wet chunks splattered across the outside of the cart wall one chunk fell into the cart through a whole in the roof.  It was a white unicorn horn covered is splotches of brain matter.

It took every fiber of my being not to puke.  I had just witnessed 2 ponies blown to pieces-though it was though the thin walls of canvas-I had been there and did nothing.  Part of me wished I had never left Stable 13.

“Pa’?” came the pained squeak of Nicky.

“So,” Hissed the Stallion outside, “There are other ponies to mutilate today.”

I was no longer frozen with fear.  I glanced over at the red filly silently sobbing while clutching her father’s severed horn.  I had done nothing while her parents were killed in cold blood; I wasn’t about to let her get killed too.  Not without a fight.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Echoed a chorus of haunting voices as the ponies outside begun circling the cart.

I darted over to one of the crates and begun frantically looking for anything weapon like.  Finally, my hooves came upon a weapon.  It wasn’t like the pistol I had left Stable 13 with.  It was an odd metal box, but it had a mouth grip and trigger so I was sure it was some sort of firearm.  I put the mouth grip in my mouth and turned my head to the end of the cart.

Just then an emaciated, earth pony buck with no mane hobbled though the door holding a pistol in his mouth.  His grotesque cutie mark was that of a pony with his intestines hanging out.  Clearly he was one of the bad ponies, and an undesirable one at that.

BIZZT!  The pony disintegrated into a pile of glowing dust when the red beam of my gun hit him.

I burst out of the cart, laser in mouth.  As I did I told Nicky to stay in the Cart.  Though with the gun in my mouth is sound more like, “Bwaaay nn ga crerp!”

Outside the greyness surprised me.  I had read of the sun, back in Stable 13, in a book I had stolen.  It told how Celestia raised and lowered it for thousands of years before the war, but all that lay above me was an ocean of grey.

Focusing back on the murderers outside, I slipped into SATS and time slowed to a halt.  I had never really had a need for it before, but it was supposed to be a targeting spell, so it was worth a try.

I locked in 4 shots in the direction of the nearest pony.  Time begun to move again.  BIZZT BIZZT BIZZT BIZZT! Sang the laser as if fired its shots into a red unicorn.  The unicorn dropped to the ground dead.

I tired to slip back into SATS, but my pipbuck told me it needed to recharge.  Luna’s explosive asshole, I’m boned.

BLAM!  2 ponies melted into a green sludge, and a third is blown apart in the blast of green energy.

An apple shaped object with a green band on it wizzes by my head.  BLAM!  The hind leg of a maroon colt was blown off in another explosion of green, his large saddle mounted gun clanging loudly on the ground.

The remaining 4 ponies turn tail and ran off.

“Ya bettah run ya big dumb meanies!” Nicky chirped slower than usual, her voice horse from crying.

***  ***  ***

I watched Nicky go from dead pony to dead pony collecting any valuables they might have been carrying.  She was more accustomed to scavenging from the dead than I was and had offered to loot the bodies while I looked for essential supplies in the cart.  I figured it must have been because of her parent’s guts still splattered on the side of the cart; baking in odd heat of the stale grayness of the wasteland.

As I watched her I couldn’t help notice that her curly mane appeared more deflated than it was when I woke up.  I figured I was seeing things and went back to scavenging the cart.

Most of the boxes were filled with scrap metal, though Nicky had explained that scrap metal was worth a lot to ponies who run prewar tech and they will pay a lot for some, I believed it would just weigh us down.

I found a few boxes with food, chems and amo and put it into a saddlebag taken from one of the dead ponies.  I was surprised when the items appeared on my pipbuck with a listed price next to it.  I figured I’d ask Nicky if she knew how it did that later.

I was about to leave when something caught my eye.  It was a small tan figurine tossed in among some scrap metal.  It didn’t look like any creature I’d seen or read about.  It had the head of a pony and the body of an assortment of other creatures including an eagle claw, a lion paw, and a bat wing.  On the figures base there was the inscription “Sense, what fun is there in making sense?”  As I read it I felt sick to my stomach, but couldn’t bring myself to leave it so I put it in my bag.

I hopped down from the cart and looked at my pipbuck to see what I had just found.  It was listed it as “Draconequus Statue” and no price.  What was a Draconequus? I thought.  I guess it was just another question to add to my ever-growing list.

***  ***  ***

Footnotes:

Clash Coat: Level up

New Perk: Bug Zapper- +20% to accuracy when using magic energy weapons.  Using magic energy weapons is now 20% cooler.  +5% to overall accuracy.

New Companion: Knick-Knack aka Nicky - Level 3

Strength - 5

Perception - 6

Endurance - 7

Charisma - 5

Intelligence - 7

Agility - 6

Luck - 4

Tagged Skills:

Explosives

Sneak

Barter

Traits:

Filly - due to your age you are much smaller than the average pony.  You are able to keep quiet and move swiftly.  +2 to sneak and agility.  Enemies are also 10% less likely to hit you during combat, though you have 20 less DR than a full grown pony.

Pinkamena Complex - You have a unique disposition shared by very few ponies.  When terribly upset your appearance changes.  Your color dim, your mane deflates.  Not much else really happens, though you are a bit more volatile emotionally.

Quest Perk added: Orphaned - The wasteland is a cruel place to live and now you no longer have your parents to look after you.  +3 to speech, barter, and medicine.  Permanent -2 to endurance.

New Quest Added:

The Orphan Filly – Accompany Nicky to the Chariot Hotel

Faction Status:

Stable 13 – Vilified

Marker’s Gang – Disliked