My companion and I were huddled behind a large rock. He was looking through my binoculars, whilst I was checking our ammunition reserves. Memento had five hollow point bullets left, as well as four armor piercing. Savage’s rounds were almost all armor piercing, with two explosive tipped bullets. There were six bullets loaded into the 10mm, which I had yet to name, but it had no bullets in reserves.

Then there was the Stranger’s gun. He called it Glimmer. According to him, Glimmer only used “special” bullets. These bullets were hard to find. However, they were strong enough to down a hellhound in one shot. If I knew what a hellhound was, I might have been impressed. Since I did not, I had to wonder why killing something in one shot was a source of pride. Generally, anything was killed if a bullet hit it in the head.

He returned my binoculars to me. As he did so, he pointed into the distance with his hoof. “Second floor.”

I peered through the binoculars. I saw a two story building quite a ways away. The letters on the side read, “Sugar Favor Fun Store.” There were balloons outside the store. No, scratch that. Instead of being rubber attached to string, pony heads were attached to pieces of string. They were tied around the letters like macabre decorations. The letters themselves had faded into a drab and unhappy brown. Funny how un-fun the place looked.

Hold on a second. Sugar Favor Fun Store? I recalled Honest Jack mentioning the name on the radio. I cast a look at my companion. By chance, was he really a she? A wandering mare hell-bent on destroying the scourge of the Wasteland? I supposed it was possible she was the Hoarder. If so, I was about to stroll headfirst into danger for no personal or familial benefit. If the Stranger was not the Hoarder, then I was about to stroll headfirst into danger for no personal or familial benefit. Great.

Second floor he…-she…-the ghoul said. I took a peek, and I saw a pony was urinating off the side of the balcony. Some ponies had no sense of decency. Though, in his defense, I doubted he knew he was being watched.

“First lesson, friend. Always find the sniper.”

Hmm. Sure enough, there was a sniper rifle resting against the railing. Seemed we had found the sniper. I gazed into Savage’s scope. I aligned my sights with the unfortunate stallion’s head. Now all that was left was to fire.

“Not at this distance. Not unless you let Celestia guide the bullet herself. We’ll get closer, and then I’ll tell you to fire. But if he sees us before I give the signal, shoot him anyways.”

I nodded without taking my eyes away from the stallion. I heard my companion start to move, and I cast occasional glances his way as I followed him. For the most part, my attention remained on the urinating stallion. Goodness, how much water did he drink?

Another pony, a mare wearing a large hat fitted with a pink feather, stepped onto the balcony. I swiveled Savage so that I was aiming at her head instead. I immediately noticed just how blue her eyes were. They contrasted well with her scarlet ponytail. Her eyes also went well with her light pink dress. The dress had a pronounced collar and frills around the mare’s flank. Her cutie mark, a whip entwined around a bejeweled crown, was fully exposed. That made for terrible armor.

I moved Savage back to the stallion. He had stopped urinating, and he seemed to be shouting at the mare. From the way he was waving his hoof around, I assumed he was trying to dismiss her. If I had to guess, I would assume she was telling him to pay more attention on guard duty. He was telling her there was nothing to be worried about. And as soon as she turned away, I would shoot him in the head. Though I supposed it was also possible she was angry at him for not doing the dishes.

Finally, the mare turned her back on the stallion. Her scarlet tail slapped him across the face when she turned around. She said something and trotted back into the store. The stallion rubbed his cheek. His lips were moving; I assumed he was muttering a profanity. My own mouth tightened around the bit. We were closer than we were before, but my companion still had not given me the command.

I did not know the pony I was about to kill. He was likely a threat given his sniper rifle, but I did not know that for sure. Rule 1 was uncertain as to his fate. But if the balloons outside were anything to go by, he and his companions fell under Rule 2. Even if they had not put them up, they had not taken them down. They sounded like monsters to me.

“Fire away, friend.”

I chomped the bit. Savage fired. Nine ponies.

The stallion’s body fell over the edge of the balcony. I took that time to quickly eject the spent cartridge and replace it with another. I checked the entryway again. Another stallion appeared on the balcony. I fired again. Ten ponies. I replaced the cartridge again and waited.
After a few minutes, my companion tapped me twice on the shoulder. “They won’t be replacing that guard after losing two ponies. By now they’ll have fortified the entrances.” I looked away from Savage’s scope, and I watched as the ghoul removed the final grenade from my necklace. “I need to borrow this.” I said nothing, obviously, as he inspected the grenade. He and nodded to himself, and it became enveloped in a magical glow. He moved the greande to the store’s entrance. “I’d keep one of your rifles trained on the door right about now.”

I lined Savage’s up with the floating grenade. I stomped my hoof twice to signal I was ready. The ghoul’s throat rumbled, the pin was removed, and the grenade dropped. A series of simultaneous explosions followed. The explosion kicked up a large heap of dust, and it shrouded the doorframe. The last image I saw before the dust shroud was the door coming off its hinges.

“Mines. A lot of raiders will leave mines at their front doors. It seems welcome mats went out of style years ago.” Good to know.

The wind began to pick up. It carried with it a loud whistle. The smoke began to dissipate, and I was able to make out three ponies. One was a strong looking unicorn with a shotgun resting on his shoulder. On his side was an auburn earth pony mare with a dirty brown mane. The other pony was the mare in pink. The stallion trotted in a circle, and he was whistling the whole time.

The auburn pony was twitching. “I don’t see any body parts.”

Whistler nodded. “Of course you don’t. Because there’s nothing left of ‘em.”

The mare in pink took a step backwards. “Or because they set off our traps and are waiting for us.” She took a few more steps and was hidden from view.

“Pfft.” Whistler spat at the ground. “As if. Even if they didn’t get caught in our traps, they’re probably too scared to—”

Eleven ponies.

The auburn mare screamed, as chunks of her companion’s face splattered her coat. She scrambled towards the door. I fired a shot from Memento. Luckily for her, I missed. I looked back at the ghoul. Glimmer was levitating beside him. He titled his head towards the door. “Want to go first?”

I shook my head.

“Good. Means you’re learning.”

The ghoul trotted forward, and I followed behind. On the inside, the Sugar Favor Fun Store was a massive a nightmare fetishist’s playhouse. The first thing I saw was a receptionist sitting behind a desk. Only the receptionist was a mannequin with a real head and four legs. Given how the color differed between each body part, I assumed she was formed from five ponies.

I tore my eyes away from the receptionist. Unfortunately, the rest of the first floor was not much happier. I saw a few rooms around the building. Each was equipped with a viewing window along with a label. The first was “Baker’s Cove.” I could see the oven was open, and there was a dead pony inside. The heads of other ponies had been done up to look like desserts. The blood icing was an eerie touch.

The second was called “Party Room.” It was decorated with bright paint, confetti, and streamers mixed with pony entrails. I tore my eyes away from the Party Room and found something much worse: “Cupcake Room.” It was almost exactly the same as the party room, but it had one extra addition. The corpses of dead children. I hoped that seeing the corpses of children would not become the norm for me. Finally, there was “Balloon Menagerie.” Judging from the décor outside, I could only imagine what I would find in there.

I gazed at the ceiling. Two large banners hung from the rafters. On the left side was a pink mare with purple eyes and a dark purple pony-tail. On the right side was a blue stallion with a fuzzy blue mane. The mare’s banner had the word “SUGAR” printed in bright pink letters. The stallion’s said “FAVOR” in bright blue. Surprisingly, neither banner had yet to be defiled. Give it time.

I stayed close to the door, while the ghoul moved past the reception desk. Every few steps he pivoted his body, as well as Glimmer. “Keep your eyes peeled. You never know when something migh—”

A large claw sprang out of the ground. For a split second, I saw the fear in the stranger’s eyes. Then I saw his body be torn in two. His body parted vertically, and Glimmer clattered to the ground. Another claw sprang from the ground, but it clawed at nothing. It did succeed in enlarging the size of the hole. Soon after, a monster immediately burst from the base of the staircase.

It was massive; I figured it was at least double my size. The beast was covered in shadow black fur. It stood on in its hind legs, which I was actually quite thankful for. There were claws on all fours legs, but a bipedal beast meant it would use less claws to kill me. All in all, the beast resembled a large mutated dog.

Oh, so this was a hellhound.

I expected the hellhound to charge at me. Or at the very least to roar. But it did nothing. It just sat still. Almost as if it were waiting for orders. That did not make any sense. This monster could not be a pet! Could it? It did not matter. All that mattered was taking Glimmer. I had no interest in avenging the ghoul. I had not known him long enough to call him a friend. Besides, this whole excursion had been his idea. As far as I was concerned, he had gotten himself killed. But if Glimmer was as potent as he described, I could use it to save Carbine.

The good news was I spotted Glimmer. The bad news was it was closer to the hellhound than it was to me. If I broke into a full gallop I might be able to pick it up and shoot. I immediately thought of three reasons why that was a terrible idea. One, the battle saddle. It would weigh me down too much if I kept it on. If I dropped it, the only weapon I would have would be the 10mm pistol. I doubted the pistol would even tickle the hellhound. Let alone wound it. Two, if I rushed the hellhound it would likely respond aggressively. Given those claws, I did not want that.

And three, assuming I grabbed Glimmer without being killed, I would still have to shoot it. Being able to grab and fire a weapon with my mouth was difficult enough. Doing so on the move would be almost impossible. I would also likely only be able to fire one shot before the hellhound ripped into me. No pressure.

“You there!” The mare in pink was standing at the top of the stairs. Her blue eyes bore into me like icicles. “Stand down and drop your weapons.”

The hellhound was looking at her expectantly. Ah, so she was the mare in charge. Suddenly her cutie mark made a lot of sense. All I had to do was convince this pony not to kill me. I removed the battle saddle along with my saddlebags, and I threw up my hooves in defense.

The mare in pink continued to glare at me. “Now would you mind telling me what business you have killing my ponies?”

I tilted my head towards the ghoul’s body.

The mare in pink flicked her gaze to the ghoul’s corpse, and then she looked back at me. “You were only following him?”

I nodded.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

I tilted my head back to show her the scar on my neck.

Her eyes widened, and I noticed her glare had started to subside. “A pony who can’t backtalk or share any of my secrets. Hmm.” She massaged the bottom of her chin with her scarlet tail, whilst her hooves started tapping. A sound I was all too familiar with.

My eyes began to wander while I waited for the mare in pink to move. I did not want to look into the rooms or at the hellhound, so I gazed back at the reception desk. Oh, right. I had forgotten about the mannequin. I was about to return my focus onto the mare in pink. Then, to my shock, I saw another pony.

A small, light green, mare was sitting with her back to the reception desk. The barding she wore consisted of a blue jumpsuit, but patches of it had been replaced with hide and other types of fabric. Aside from her face, only her right foreleg was not protected by barding. Instead, it was protected by some sort of device. I remembered seeing a similar device on the non-crystal ponies I had shot before entering the waystation. Come to think of it, they wore a similar style jumpsuit as well.

She turned to face me, and she used a hoof to move her dirty brown mane out of her face. There was no animosity in her large brown eyes as she looked at me. She touched a hoof to her lips and winked.

Hmm. This gave me options. I could reveal the existence of this mare to the one controlling the hellhound. It would increase my standing with the mare in pink, and I would likely get out of this situation alive. No. I was not quite that callous yet. The green mare did not seem to bear me any ill will. It would not feel right to turn on her. Especially if she could get me out of this predicament. Perhaps she could help me save Carbine. Something I doubted the mare in pink would be keen on doing.

I winked back.

“And what are you looking at?”

I turned back towards the mare in pink. I quickly rubbed my eye. Hopefully she would think I had not winked, and that I was trying to remove some dust from my eye. She narrowed her eyes. “I was considering letting you live. You could have made a decent bodyguard. But I’ll be honest. I don’t trust you. And I’d sooner die tha—”

Bang.

A bullet tore through the air and struck the mare in pink in the cheek. And then it exploded. She screamed, as a chunk of her face was torn off. She clutched her gaping wound with her front hooves and collapsed on the ground. I watched her writhe in pain, as her bloodcurdling screams continued. Not turning over the green mare seemed like a really good idea right now.

“Pony will pay.”

Oh, right. There was still the hellhound. I tensed my leg muscles and prepared to spring, but the hellhound did not run towards me. Instead, it barreled towards the Balloon Menagerie. I could see the green mare through the window. How had she gotten in there so quickly? There was a small hole in the window, I assumed that was where the bullet had sailed through, and the hellhound swiped one of its claws there. The glass shattered. I did not hear the sound of flesh being torn, so I assumed the green mare was still alive.

Since the hellhound was occupied, this was my chance. I galloped towards Glimmer. I reached it just as the hellhound had jumped through the hole in the glass. It swiped with its claws. I grabbed Glimmer with my mouth. It leapt forward with another swipe. I took aim and pulled back the hammer. The hellhound turned back to look at me. I fired.

A bullet as silver as the light of the moon sailed through the air. I had been aiming for the monster’s head. Instead, I hit it in the shoulder. Great, I missed. Fortunately for me, that did not seem to matter. The hellhound’s body began to convulse. Its blood began to pool within its body, and its body began to concave. Good Goddess not above. It was like looking at a larger version of Doctor Zimri.

The hellhound collapsed onto its knees; it opened its mouth and vomited blood. The hellhound made its way towards me on its knees. However, I felt no fear of it. It was moving so slowly, and it continued to retch blood. The beast would die before it got anywhere close to me. And so it did. The hellhound eventually collapsed in a pool of blood. Now I could add a hellhound to my body count.

I spat Glimmer on the ground and stared at it. One bullet had thoroughly destroyed a monster that strong. What was it that made Glimmer’s bullets so special? And why could it only fire those? And, more importantly, how many more special bullets could I find?

“You killed them.” I turned around to find the auburn mare standing behind me. She was shaking in place, and I could see the poor thing had wet herself. “You killed them all. Why? We didn’t do anything to anypony. We only just got here two days ago. We found this place like this. We wanted to turn it into an actual store again.”

I was not an avid user of profanity, but I found only one phrase coming into my mind. Fuck. I had justified killing these ponies based off their ghastly choice of décor. I thought they were monsters. I had been too quick to judge. These poor ponies had paid for my mistake. I took a step towards her.

Then her head exploded. Chunks of her face splattered on the ground. Her right eye landed on my nose. Hmm. I wondered if that counted as a body fluid.

“She was lying.”

I turned around. The green mare was standing behind me. Actually, the term mare was a bit of a stretch. This mare was very small. She was not a filly, but I did not think she was quite a mare yet. A revolver levitated next to her head. Was gun levitation the only thing unicorns in the Wasteland used their magic for? It was ridiculous.

She lifted the device on her foreleg. I saw a diagram that vaguely resembled a map. I saw two dots on the diagram. One of the dots was small and red. The dot was moving, and it gradually grew smaller. I cast my eyes towards the staircase. Sure enough, the mare in pink had disappeared. I doubted she would last long with part of her face missing. I looked back at the green mare’s hoof-device. The second dot was large, blue, and stationary. “Red dot is a bad pony, a blue dot is a good pony, and a yellow dot is unknown. They were red, so I knew to take them out. You weren’t, so I didn’t want to shoot you. Really glad I didn’t.”

For a second I thought that was a sweet comment. Then I noticed something peculiar. Her eyes continued to dart around. It would have made sense if she were worried about something, but nothing else about her seemed frantic. Her cheeks were beginning to turn red an—she was checking me out. She was looking me up and down the way I looked at Lyra. The way I had ogled countless other mares. I had considered lustful leers to be a sinful practice, and I had tried to avoid doing it. Now that I was on the receiving end of such a look, I regretted it even more. I felt like—she was drooling now. Okay, time to stop this.

I cleared my throat. The mare flinched at the disgusting wet sound, and her eyes immediately returned to meet mine. Much better. She chuckled, as she rubbed a hoof through her short brown mane “Sorry about that. I just got, um…-distracted.” She started staring at my flank again. I swatted her cheek with my tail. “Ow!” She rubbed her cheek and muttered something.

I trotted away from her and gathered my effects. I slipped on my battle saddle and saddlebags. I also stowed Glimmer away. It was a terrifying weapon to be sure. That being said, I would rather have it in my hooves than another’s.

“Hey, wait!” The green mare ran towards me. “Where are you headed?”

That was a very good question. I had to save Carbine, but that was a “what” rather than a “where.” I had no clue where those ponies had taken him. Assuming they had not just killed him. I turned back towards the mare and shrugged.

Her already large eyes practically doubled in size. “Great. Um, so, I’ve got some stuff to do here. But, I’m tried. You wanna tag team for the night? I mean, since you don’t have4 anywhere else to go you’re not in a hurry, right?”

I considered her offer. I was in a hurry to save Carbine, but I had no idea where I was going. Even with Glimmer, I would be outnumbered five to one. That was operating under the favorable assumptions those ponies had no backup. I would get myself killed. Carbine would not want that. Neither would Lyra.

I nodded to the mare.

“Great!” She immediately plopped onto the ground. “I can get to work in the morning.”

I removed my bags, as well as the battle saddle. I sat down on the hardwood floor. It was far from comfortable. It was also extremely dusty. I sneezed.

“Bless you.”

I turned towards her to nod my thanks. As I did so, I caught her staring at my flank again. This was going to be annoying. She seemed to catch on. She turned away and started whistling. Her embarrassment lasted roughly four seconds. She gasped, before raising her head and gazing at me with half open eyes. “Hey. You wanna fuck?”

What. Did she really just ask me that? We had only just met. Not to mention that I was not interested in having relations with a mare not named Lyra. Even if I was interested, I was unsure of how old she was. I knew she was no longer a filly, but I would have felt uncomfortable the entire time. Though I was starting to get curious: just how old was this mare?

I pointed my hoof towards the window and the moon. It was shining brightly behind the cloud cover. I could not see the moon itself, but I could tell where it was. I traced a circle with my hoof to reflect the setting and rising of the moon. It was crude, but I could not think of another way to ask her age.

She bounced up and down, and she clicked her hooves together. “Yeah, I can go all night if you want.”

I blinked at her. It was the only response I could muster. Even if I could speak, I was unsure of what I would say.

“Oh.” The heavy disappointment in her voice made me almost regret rejecting her. “Is it because you don’t think I’m pretty.”

Ugh. This was going to be a long night. I closed my eyes and attempted to get some sleep.

“Hey. Um, sorry to disturb you one last time. But, I figure I should introduce myself. I’m Packrat.”

I hesitated a while before answering. Partly because I was tired and did not want to move. However, my hesitation mostly stemmed from a thought I had some time ago. I pressed my hoof to the dusty floor and wrote out my name.

“Well, then. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Savage.”

I awoke to something nibbling on my ear. I roughly moved away. The good news was my ear was liberated from being nibbled. The bad news was the coat of saliva around my ear. Why was I not surprised? I roughly shook my head and rubbed my ear with my hooves. I had finally decreased the saliva to a tolerable level. That I had a tolerable level at all was a testament to how much I had changed since Orchestra had slashed my throat.

Orchestra. Against my better judgment I pray—hoped for her safety for her happiness. While also wishing that someone or something would be able to avenge Lyra. Rest in peace, my love.

I was distracted from my thoughts by a sharp sucking noise. I turned towards the sound to find Packrat sleep-sucking on her front hoof. It seemed I had found the nibbler. I gently kicked her to wake her up. Packrat was on all four hooves with her gun aimed at my head faster than I could think “Oops.”

“Oh, hey, Savage.” Packrat holstered her gargantuan revolver. She lifted one of her hooves in a greeting. Her expression became one of shock when she was the dribble dripping down it. “Ah!” She shook her hoof, and hit it behind her back. “Ah, ha ha. Ha, ha. Ha.” Her expression grew gradually more weary with each laugh. Finally, she stopped laughing and sighed. “You totally saw that didn’t you?”

I nodded.

Her expression soured immensely. “Great job there, Packrat. You really fucked up dum-dum.” She continued muttered to herself until she slapped herself in the face. With the wet hoof. “Ew.” She groaned, and she looked at me with a shrug and half smile. “Be honest. On a scae of one to ten, how much of a spaz do you think I am?”

For the purpose of my analysis, I was going to assume “spaz” was a synonym for idiot. My initial reaction was to rate her quite high. However, I remembered what I had seen from her last night. She had been able to enter the building with nopony noticing. Not even the hellhound was aware of Packrat until she fired her gun. Speaking of which, she also seemed to have good aim. She may not have been altogether, she was still muttering to herself right now, but I had to respect her.

I tapped my hoof four times.

“Only four?” she jumped into the air, and she punched the air with her slimy hoof. “Wahoo! I’ll take it. Yes! Yes! Yes!” She had stopped jumping, but she was standing on her back legs, while her front hooves continued punching the air.

I could tell she was not going to stop unless I intervened. I found a pebble by my hooves. I aimed for her head and kicked it. The pebble hit her head, and she stopped.

“Ow.” She rubbed her head with her non-slimy hoof. God, she was learning. “I think something bit me. Oh!” She smacked herself in the face again. “I totally forgot to ask. What were you doing here, Savage?”

I pointed to the remains of the ghoul.

“Okay, so you followed him. Do you know why he was here?”

I ran a hoof across my throat before pointing to the raider Packrat killed.

“Killing raiders. Got it.” Wow. She was understanding me quite well. Aside from her “go all night” interpretation, she had a perfect record. She turned away and started muttering again. “Okay. He’s cute and a bit of a badass. Maybe I can get him to come back to Boulder Springs with me after we’re done here.” She gasped, and she clopped her hooves together. “That’s exactly what I’ll do. No way he can resist my femininityness for that long. Packrat, you’re a genius. I know, right?! Fuck, I’m awesome!”

She jumped onto her back legs. “Oh, boy, Savage. Have I got a proposition fo—” She spun around with a strangely shaped grin on her face. That was gone the second she saw my stone face. “You heard me, didn’t you?”

I did two things. First, I nodded. Second, I tapped the ground thrice.

Packrat chuckled awkwardly. She fell onto all fours and started making circles with her hoof. “He he. So, guess my spaz level’s down to three?” After I nodded, she sank onto her rump. Sorry for making such a bad impression. I just…-can I vent for a minute? I mean, we’re friends, right? We saved each other. So, venting’s cool right?”

I sat across from Packrat. I would not quite call us friends yet. But, she did help me out. The least I could do was let her vent.

“Okay.” She threw up her front hooves with a loud groan. Then they flopped to her sides. There was a pause. A very long pause. I gestured to her with my hoof. She blinked back. “Um, that was it. I’m done.”

What.

Packrat got to her hooves with a smile. “Thanks, Savage. I really appreciate you listening.”

You know what, Packrat? You are very welcome. I did not bother being confused. I had learned to deal with Carbine; I could learn to deal with Packrat. Carbine….

“How many?” Packrat’s question prevented me from wallowing in my problems. I would have thanked her for that, but she was not making eye contact. She was staring at the ground. I could still see the expression in her brown eyes. She was not avoiding eye contract due to embarrassment; she was doing it out of shame. “There were nine of us from 76. My friend, Toothpick, called us Digital Root. Know what that means?”

I shook my head.

She was still avoiding my gaze, but she must have noticed my nod. She started drawing math equations in the ground. 10 + 1 = 11. 1 + 1 = 2. 10 + 10 = 20. 2 + 0 = 2. “It’s what you get when you add up all the numbers in a number until there’s one number left. Get it?”

Yes. Although her explanation would have been clearer if she had incorporated the word “digit.” The sum of the digits in a number compressed in a single digit.

“Um, the weird thing is, adding a nine never affects the digital root. It doesn’t change. Toothpick also told us the digital root of 24 + 7 + 365 is nine. So, um, nine is sort of like the center of the universe. So, us being nine ponies being Digital Root made us the most important ponies in 76. And nothing would ever change us.”

She sighed deeply. She raised her head, but her eyes were closed. “I got kicked out of 76. As you can see from my cutie mark, I’m a thief. The Overmare wasn’t too fond of that or me in general. When I left, the rest of Digital Root came with me. We were going to take on the Wasteland together.”

She drew a tally mark in the dust. “Dartboard was stabbed to death by a raider. That psycho chewed on his knife before killing my friend with it.” She drew a second line. “Heartthrob was killed by Honeypot when Honeypot was hallucinating on dash.” Another line. “And I had to kill Honeypot to safe Toothpick.” Two more tally marks followed. “Sunshine and Moonscape got captured by raiders.”

She drew two final tally marks. “And Duststorm and Spyglass just left one night. Duststorm and I got into a pretty bad fight. She said some things, I said some things. We fought each other for a while. And after that we fucked to work out the rest of our aggression. But it wasn’t enough. I woke up the next day, and she was gone.

She opened her eyes after saying all that. To my surprise, she did not cry. Her eyes told me she wanted to. “I lost seven, Savage. Seven of my closest friends. I can see the same sadness in your eyes, Savage. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I’m just curious. How many have you lost?”

I answered by drawing my first tally mark: Sombra. I did not want to draw the mark. I would rather not dwell on my losses if I could avoid it. Primarily because I knew there would be moments when I would not be able to avoid it. After Packrat had shared her story, it seemed I felt the need to reciprocate her honesty.

My second mark was for Missile. The third was for Joab, and the loss of our friendship. The fourth mark was for me. I was not the same pony I was before I killed Joab. Not exactly. The fifth tally was for my faith in Cadence. Fitting her mark slashed through the others since their deaths were caused by her.

No. that was unfair to her. They died because of Shining Armor. Or should I have called him Reverend Bones? Either way, he was mark number six. Number seven went to my parents. Since I never knew them it seemed fair to give them half a tally each. Doctor Zimri was the eighty mark. Nine was ‘Chestra.

Tally number ten was…-ten was…-the tears burned as I made the mark. I acknowledged her death. How could I not? She was gone. I would never see her again. I did not know how I could ever move past that. I doubted I ever truly would. But, for now, I would have to. There were more important things than my feelings.

Said important thing was represented by the eleventh tally: Carbine. I marked his tally away from the others. He was gone, yes, but not dead. Not as far as I knew. I had a duty to save my “Bro.” I drew a circle around Carbine’s tally and stomped on it.

“You have to find your friend?”

Precisely. I nodded to her.

“Well, um, hmm. Okay. Plan. I’ve made a new home in Boulder Springs. Ever heard of it?” After I shook my head, she shrugged. “Eh, didn’t think so. Most ponies don’t. But the ones who do ask us to do jobs for them. And it was my job to clear this place of raiders and bring back some proof. So, um, I figure I can just bring back part of the hellhound, but I want to do some looting first before I go back. I—he he—I have a thing about collecting stuff.

“Anyways. Point. If you want, I can take you back to Boulder Springs. Mom’s willing to take in anypony that’s willing to help the community. If you earned your place in the group, I’m sure she’d give you some ponies to save your friend.”

Her words triggered a slew of questions. Who was Mom, and why had Packrat neglected to mention her earlier? What would I have to do to earn my place in Boulder Springs? Why was Packrat so willing to help me? Could I even trust her? I found my answer to her final two questions in her eyes. Namely, the fact that they were staring at my flank. She bore me no ill will. The only ulterior motive Packrat seemed to possess was lust. It would be annoying to deal with, but I could deal with it to save Carbine.

I touched my hoof to her chin and lifted her head. Eyes up here, Packrat.

Her cheeks flushed, and she started sucking on her bottom lip. For about three seconds. There was a spark in her eyes. She gasped, which caused her to stop sucking on her lip. “You didn’t swat me with your tail that time. That means tha—” I interrupted her by swatting her with my tail. Thank you for reminding me, Packrat. She rubbed her puffy cheek. “Um, never mind then. So, um, do you not want to come with me?”

I responded by outstretching my hoof. This was not a bro-hoof; I supposed it was more of a unisex hoof. Regardless of what it was called, it carried universal messages of friendship and acceptance. Packrat glanced down at my hoof. She looked up at me, and I smiled. She grinned in return and hit her hoof against mine.

“Savage, I think this is the beginning of a sexy-ass friendship.”

Footnote: Level Up! Dog Days Are Over. You can't each an old dog new tricks, but all dogs know how to play dead. 5% more damage on canine enemies.