“Give those back, Sky Blossom!!!”

The young colt raced around the room, desperately trying to retrieve the stolen goods. But it was no use. His sister was simply too fast and too big. Sky Blossom huffed, lifting the supplies with her wings, holding them out of her brother’s reach.

“Not until you apologize for getting paint on my cutie mark!”

“I TOLD you, that wasn’t my fault! You’re the one who sat down on my paintbrushes!”

“You left them on a chair!!” the filly hissed. “MY chair!!”

“Give them back!!!”

Canvas leapt forwards, tackling his sister as best as he could. Sadly, the attack did little more then give the colt a headache as his head rammed into his sister’s leg. Canvas stumbled back, rubbing his muzzle to relieve some of the pain.

“Erm… is this a bad time?”

Canvas’ ears perked up, his eyes darting towards the door as a familiar face entered the household.

“Windspeed! Quick, help me get my art stuff back from Sky!”

Windspeed cocked his head to the side, glancing at the colt’s sister. Without a word, he nodded, rushing towards the enemy at full speed. As soon as he was in range, he grinned, vaulting into the air and gliding towards the target. Sky Blossom flinched, noticing the incoming colt out of the corner of her eye. She barely managed to duck in time to avoid the turquoise blur… a motion which brought the supplies just within reach of Canvas’ hooves. With a jump, Canvas snatched the supplies from his sister, signaling up to his friend.

“Got ‘em!”

Windspeed turned, the two colts rushing for the door as quick as they could. As soon as they were away, they smiled, the two friends sharing a victorious brohoof.

“That’s no fair!” the filly yelled from across the room, stamping her hoof in frustration. “You can’t get your friends to help you!”

“Yeah, well you’re a jerk, Sky!”

“Why you… Get over here, you little-”

“ENOUGH!!”

A hush fell over the room, powerful enough that even the sound of Windspeed flapping his wings seemed to die out. A large stallion entered the room, glancing between his two children, before locking eyes with Canvas.

“Canvas, you and your sister need to learn to get along better. I didn’t raise you to go about leaving your things where they don’t belong and spilling paint on her like that!”

Canvas shrunk back, jaw dropping as his sister smiled smugly in the corner.

“But I-”

“Don’t talk back to me! I’m your father, you’ll do as I say!” The stallion approached his son, grabbing him by the ear as he pulled him in closer. “Why can’t you be more like your sister?”

“Bullseye! Quit being so harsh on him!”

The stallion turned around, glaring as he watched his wife trot into the room. Canvas immediately ran over to his mother, hugging her leg in an effort to shield himself from his father. Bullseye rolled his eyes, shifting his focus to the amber-colored mare at his side.

“Oh come off it, Brushstroke. You can’t just go defending the boy whenever he does something wrong! He’s got to know what he did or he won’t learn from it!”

“Maybe so, but yelling at Canvas simply for leaving his things someplace? Honestly, you’re going to scar the poor child!” Brushstroke turned, patting her son on the head. “You didn’t mean to get paint on your sister, now did you?”

“N-no, mom.”

“Then say you’re sorry, and then I’ll let you go play with your friend.” Brushstroke looked up, calmly waving to the turquoise pony as he stood awkwardly in the corner. “Good day, Windspeed.”

“Ma’am.” Windspeed nodded in reply.

Canvas trotted to his sister, shamefully looking at the ground as he approached.

“Sorry.” He muttered once he was close enough.

“There. See? No harm done.” With a nod, Brushstroke gestured towards the two colts. “Now run along, you can go play now.”

“Oh come on, Brush! That’s no way to discipline a child!”

“Well I wouldn’t exactly say your military discipline is appropriate for a young colt, now is it?”

“Now listen here…”

Canvas didn’t wait around to hear the rest. As soon as he had been given the clear, he nudged Windspeed towards the door, slamming it shut as he ran outside to avoid hearing yet another argument between his parents.

BANG!!

“Well, if you were trying to hit anything but the fuckin’ target, then that was your best shot yet.”

I rolled my eyes, lining up the sights once again. The bottles Temper had set up were so far away, I couldn’t believe she expected me to hit them with the pistol I had. Still, this was a welcome change to the “Combat Experience” from before. Shooting at living creatures was stressful and sickening. Bottles? That was much more relaxing. It was actually kind of fun, once you got past the constant feeling of danger that came with holding a gun in your mouth. Either way, the target practice continued, without a single bottle having been felled to the Artisan.

BANG!!

“For fuck’s sake, feathers, you did a better job shooting at Radroaches! These things aren’t even fuckin’ moving!”

God, shut up. Temper had decided to sit in the back, her own pistol trained on me at all times, providing colorful commentary with every shot. As I tuned out Temper’s mocking, I looked down the barrel of the gun, lining up the sights with the center of the bottle.

Ok, that last shot was too far to the left. So all I have to do is aim a little further to the right, and…

BANG!!

Finally, downwind of my gun, I saw an explosion of glass, followed shortly by a crisp shattering sound.

“Finally! Took you fuckin’ long enough. Now try to get the other two!”

I scanned the area, searching for the next two targets. And I saw nothing. I did a double take, looking over the field once more. I KNOW she set up more than just one, so where…

A short time later, I spotted the missing bottles. They weren’t quite as far away as the first one, but Temper had set them behind a rock, leaving only the tops of the bottles exposed. How is that even fair? I heard a snicker from behind me.

“Let’s see if you can hit them without using all your ammo this time!”

You little… alright. Two can play at that game.

I aimed the pistol, carefully pointing the sights at the mid-point between the two bottles.

Then I bit down.

BOOM!!!

The recoil made me feel like I was fighting to keep my head attached to my neck, but as I brought my attention back to the makeshift shooting range, I could see that both the targets were gone, a fine mist of glassy dust left in their place. I turned to look at Temper, her eyes widened in surprise as she stared at what was left of the targets.

“Fuck, that thing has some kick to it!” Temper got up, trotting in closer, her gun still pointed at me as she moved. I shuddered, eyes locked on her barrel the whole time. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. It’s a terrifying thing, having a gun pointed at you every waking second. I had hoped it might start to lose its edge after a while.

“Hoof it over.”

I spat the gun out, obediently giving it to the purple mare. Within seconds, she had emptied the remaining ammo and tossed the Artisan back over to me, my good wing stretching out to catch it as I flinched away from the incoming object. I slotted the weapon into its holster, quickly double checking that it was firmly in place before looking back up at Temper.

“You better like walking, feathers, ‘cause you’re gonna be doing a whole fuckin’ lot of that.” Temper turned, looking out towards a seemingly random spot in the distance. “I know a spot to test you on what we’ve gone over so far, a few days’ travel from here.”

Test? What do you mean, “test”?

“Get a fuckin’ move on, feathers!”

“…I have a name, you know.”

“Don’t care. Move, before I pop a bullet in your ass.”

I groaned, trudging forwards down the path ahead.

Oh, how I wish I could have seen the sun.

As Temper forced me to walk, I had no true point of reference with which to tell how long we had traveled. I know the light dimmed and brightened several times, but beyond that? Nothing. Nothing to track the hours, the minutes… I barely even had an estimate. Temper had said the trip would be a few days, so that was something, but had it been two days or five? Or maybe even more? I didn’t have a clue.

Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we finally got to our destination.

Panting and wheezing, I collapsed in a heap once Temper said I could stop. With a great deal of effort, I lifted my head to get a better look at where we had been going to this whole time.

Whatever this place was, it was a surreal sight to behold. It almost looked like a town, except that there were only five buildings in it, and even then only one was a true building. Four of the buildings looked to be made of scraps of whatever had been around at the time, mostly comprising of long metal bars and rotting wooden planks. All around the settlement, a chain-link fence had been set, with large bundles of barbed-wire thrown together along the top, keeping most of the town separated from outside threat. The one intact building looked to serve as the gateway into town, with both ends of the fence entering the building from the sides. The one building had a long platform, the awning above it beginning to rot away, leaving only the half closest to the building itself still standing. From what little of the awning remained, a single sign hung:

“Rainston.” Temper said, very matter-of-factly.

I cocked an eyebrow at the mare. Surely she wasn’t that oblivious?

“I…” I gasped for air, still out of breath from the walk. “I’m pretty sure the sign’s just missing some letters. I think it-”

Temper punched me in the gut, knocking the little air I had gathered out of me.

“I wasn’t reading the sign, you retard! That’s the name of the fucking town!”

“Oh… really?” It seemed odd to me that they would name a town after a faded sign, but given some of the other things the wasteland had to offer, I suppose it wasn’t the strangest thing I’d seen.

…wait, hang on. They have towns here? Like, actual civilized towns?

I took another look at the so-called town. We were sitting a ways away from it, but sure enough, I could make out the forms of various ponies moving around behind the chain-link fence. It was bizarre, truth be told. The Enclave had always made the ponies down here out to be so cruel and uncultured, that seeing them in an honest to god town… it was…

Well, imagine for a moment that you found a town full of civilized, intelligent radroaches.

That’s about what it felt like.

I got up, eager to head into town and see if they had any food, but as I started to move, Temper bit my tail and yanked me back down.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?”

I turned to look at Temper, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Um… into… town?” Temper narrowed her eyes as she looked at me. “…or is that not why we’re here?”

Temper brought a hoof to her forehead, massaging her temple as she groaned.

“Oh, feathers, feathers, feathers… you need to get your fuckin’ head in the game.” Temper brought her hoof down, throwing it around my neck and pulling me in next to her. “A raider does not simply walk into town. Towns have guards. They’d shoot at us long before we made it to the gate.” Temper glanced at me, a sinister grin forming on her face. “No, if you want to get in there, you’ve gotta force your way in.”

“So…” I shifted uncomfortably under her grip. “Does that mean…”

“We’re breaking in. We’re taking everything that isn’t nailed down, burning everything that is, and killing anypony that gets in our way.”

I felt my pupils dilate. I looked at Rainston again, taking in the vague forms moving inside of the fenced-off border, ponies diligently going about their daily business. If it had been any other kind of creature in those fences, I might have let it slide. The wood-beasts, the moss-ponies, bloatsprites… Tartarus, I’d have probably been fine if it was a town of Brahmin. But these were ponies. True, they were demonic wasteland ponies, ponies who had grown up surrounded by poison and violence and misery their whole lives…

But they were still ponies.

“W-wait!” I stammered, pulling myself free of Temper’s grip. “W-we don’t need to go in guns blazing, do we? I mean… I-I don’t look like a raider…” Oh god, I REALLY hope I don’t look like a raider. “…I-I could go scout the place out, maybe… m-maybe swipe a few things without them noticing?”

“Yeah, sure you could.” Temper rolled her eyes. “Right after you warn them that some crazy raider mare has been holding you hostage and is about to rob them blind.”

Dammit. Am I that bad of a liar?

“Don’t even try pulling that bullshit on me, feathers. I told you, I know how you slaves think.” Temper cocked her gun, pointing it square between my eyes. “You’re not leaving my sight.”

“W-well then…” I sputtered, gently stepping out of the way of the gun, “What… what exactly is the plan here? Are we-”

“Plan?” Temper laughed, elbowing my in the gut as she did. “There’s no plans to this shit. You go in, you take what you want, and you shoot anypony who gets in the way. Just like any other raid.”

“Oof…” I caught my breath, an act I was getting surprisingly good at by this point. “B-but, what if… w-what if they’ve got us out-gunned? O-or if they corner us in a building while we’re… er, while we’re robbing them? W-what if they use their crazy unicorn magic on us? There’s so many things that could happen, shouldn’t we-”

“Shut up!” Temper slapped me across the face, forcefully enough that I think some of my teeth were knocked loose. Temper let out an exasperated sigh. “You’ve always got to fuckin’ talk, don’t you? Well, go on. If you think you’ve got a better plan – and I assure you, you don’t – then let’s hear it.”

A… a better plan? That hadn’t been where I was going, but now that she mentioned it… This could be an opportunity to satisfy Temper without anypony actually getting hurt! I just had to think of something good…

“Well, go on. I’m fuckin’ listening.”

“O-ok, what if… what if we wait until night? Sneak in when nopony’s awake, that way we have less resistance? As long as we stay quiet, w-we could take what we want without anypony noticing! I-it would be much easier that way, r-right?”

Temper rolled her eyes, placing her hoof lazily on her cheek.

“Oh yeah.” She nickered sarcastically. “Sneak in. Sure. That the full extent of your plan, feathers, or do you want to maybe give some fuckin’ specifics on how that might work?”

Oh. Yeah. Specifics. I-I can do that…

“Well, uh… a-alright, well we can’t go in through the front entrance. It’s too obvious, and…” I stole a quick glance at Rainston to confirm my thoughts. “Judging from how few buildings there are, there might be ponies sleeping inside. W-well, depending on how many ponies live here.”

Temper stared at me, an eyebrow beginning to raise.

“Eheh… s-so, if we can’t go in through the door, we’ll… we’ll have to go in through the walls. I’m not sure how… maybe your knife could cut through the fence, o-or we could dig-”

“Fly.”

I paused in mid thought, looking quizzically at Temper.

“Wha?”

“You’ve got wings, if you’ve somehow managed to forget that. Just fly over the fence.”

I hesitated, looking back at my wing. My scarf was still there, holding the splint as firmly as it could. There was no way it had healed already… had it? I prodded my wing, just to be sure, my suspicions confirming as a jolt of pain shot through my side.

“I… I can’t. My wing broke when I got here, and it hasn’t healed-”

“Bullshit!” Temper interrupted, “I saw you down those potions, and that was fuckin’ days ago! If you still can’t fly, then you must be a pretty shitty Pegasus.”

…ok, wow. Even for you that was completely uncalled for.

“Of course,” Temper continued, a sinister grin forming on her face, “if you really think they’re no good, I could always… get rid of them.”

Temper slowly drew her knife from its sheath.

“NO! Nonono, I’m good! I’m good- THEY’RE, good! Heheh… y-yeah, I was just kidding about the broken wing thing, I’ll…” I gulped. “I’ll be fine…”

Temper snickered, laying back in a reclined position as she listened.

“Anyways… o-once I’m ov-”

“Once we’re over. You’re carrying me.”

I started to object, but Temper brought her hoof back to her knife, and I thought better of it.

“O-of course… so once we’re over, we’ll look around, see if they have anything worth taking, take it, and leave… n-no one will stop us, since they should all be asleep, and we’ll just go out the same way we came in. S-simple!”

For a long while, Temper said nothing, although I could tell she was mulling the idea over in her head. She shifted a few times, occasionally opening her mouth to speak, but then shutting it a moment later. Finally, I heard her mutter something under her breath.

“Fuck, that’s actually not half bad…”

Temper jumped to her hooves, and I flinched away, expecting her to lash out at me.

“Alright feathers, I’ll humor you. This is your test after all, gotta make sure we test your decision making.” Temper drew in very close, staring me straight in the eye as her tone grew deadly serious. “But if even one fuckin’ thing goes wrong, then we’re doing this my way. Got it?”

I let out a small whimper, my resolve quickly fading under the mare’s intense gaze.

“G-got it.”

There are few things in life that I consider myself an expert in.

That night, I was glad “stealth” was one of them.

As darkness descended upon the shamble of a town, Temper and I silently made our way up to the wall-like fence of the locale. Temper and I stood directly behind one of the buildings, lying low in case of any late sleepers.

“Alright feathers, you’re up.” Temper whispered. “Get me over this fuckin’ thing.”

I looked up at the fence. The thing easily reached up twice my height, even if I were standing upright on my hind legs. It almost reminded me of the cloud walls of the Everfree Outpost… except not nearly as tall. And also made of chain-link instead of clouds.

I turned my head, looking back at my wing. I fidgeted, my feathers shifting under the splint. I was hesitant to take it off, the fear of permanent damage ever present in my mind. If my wing didn’t heal, that was game over. I couldn’t afford that, but...

“What’s the fuckin’ hold up? Fly, unless you want to get shot!”

She made a compelling argument.

Carefully, I undid the knot in my scarf, watching as the wood branch dropped to the ground with a light *thunk* sound. The second the tension was gone, I could feel it. I needed to spread my wings. I knew it would hurt, but I just… I needed to do it.

Well, here goes nothing…

I stretched my wings out, gritting my teeth as a surge of pain shot through my body. I quickly stuffed my scarf into my saddlebags, before giving a few experimental flaps of my wings.

Slowly, but surely, my hooves lifted off the ground.

It hurt. It hurt like a bitch, but I was doing it. I was flying again.

In that moment, my entire worldview changed. I felt an elation and joy for flying that I hadn’t felt since I was a colt, lifting off of the clouds for the first time. I never realized just how… just how incredible it was. To be able to flap your wings and leave the ground behind.

I had a feeling of pity not only for the ponies who lived their entire lives on the ground, but also the pegasai who had lived their entire lives being able to fly. I had never really appreciated what it was like to be able to fly before – it’s something every Pegasus takes for granted, because it’s such a common part of life. We’ve never known ponies who can’t fly. It’s just the way things worked. But in that moment, after I had been forced to live without flight for so long… I can’t describe how amazing it felt.

You know, aside from the agonizing pain.

I looked down at Temper, her eyes locking with mine as I hovered a short distance off the ground. With a flick of her head, she motioned for me to pick her up. I wanted to fly away, right then and there. I wanted to just push through the pain, yell a big “screw you!” to Temper, and fly home. I was finally flying again, I was so close…

But I couldn’t. Even if I had managed to get in the air, it was only a matter of time before my wing gave out on me. What if it acted up while I was miles off the ground? There are only so many trees in the wasteland, and dirt doesn’t break your fall very well. And even then, that was assuming Temper didn’t shoot me out of the sky before I got to the cloud cover.

God, I hate my life right now…

I positioned myself over Temper, throwing my forelegs around her waist. A few more painful flaps of my wings, and-

“Oof!”

Even ignoring the pain, I had a hard time getting Temper off the ground with me. I wasn’t used to lifting anything heavier than an easel, let alone a fully-grown pony. I opened my mouth-

“Make one comment about my weight.” Temper spat. “I fuckin’ dare you.”

And promptly shut my mouth.

It was a struggle, but eventually, the purple mare began to lift off with me. As we started to move higher and higher into the air, I tightened my grip on Temper. I didn’t want to drop her – who knows how many times she’d shoot me if I did?

After a few moments, the two of us were level with the top of the fence. With a painful lunge, I pushed over the wall, Temper lifting her legs as she barely cleared the barbed wire.

We were in.

With the grace and beauty of a dying vulture, I brought the two of us down to the ground, my hooves once again meeting with the soft earth. I grabbed at my wing, cradling it as best as I could in an effort to relieve some of the pain. Unfortunately, just as it was starting to feel better, Temper gripped the back of my neck, pulling me onto my hooves.

“Get up, feathers!” Temper whispered forcefully. “And get your gun out. You’ll want it at the ready in case things go to shit.”

I nodded, slowly pulling the Artisan from its holster, placing the handle in my mouth. Temper did the same with her gun, pointing it at me almost automatically. Once she had her gun aimed, she reached into her pockets, hoofing me some ammo. As soon as I had loaded my weapon, she quickly jabbed her hoof forwards, pointing me towards the front of the building. With a nod, the two of us crept into the town, keeping an eye out for anypony who might still be awake. I checked and re-checked every spot in sight, determined to make sure the coast was clear before I did anything stupid. Fortunately, it seemed as though the town was fully asleep. No matter where I looked, I didn’t see a soul. I let out a quiet sigh. Maybe there’s nopony here. God, that would make all this so much easier.

As I rounded the corner, I finally got a better view of the town we were invading. As I had thought, there were only five buildings in town, the front gate included. Of those, three of the buildings stood with their backs against the chain-link fences – simple houses, from the looks of it. The last building stood in the center of town, a few crates and barrels stacked around the outsides of it. A sign hung from the roof, labeling the building as a store of some kind. Temper must have noticed that too, because she quickly started edging towards the store. As quietly as I could, I held Temper back, eliciting a look of heavy suspicion and skepticism from the mare.

“Ffave itf forr lafft.”

Temper rolled her eyes, begrudgingly leaving the store to be ransacked at a later point. I sighed in relief, returning to the task at hoof. Soon, the front door of the house we were next to came into view. I slowly approached it, reaching out with a hoof to open-

*Thunk*

Dammit.

“Itff…” I paused, pulling the Artisan from my mouth. “It’s locked, Temper. What do we do now?”

Temper rolled her eyes, reaching into her pockets and pulling out a screwdriver and… a bobby pin?

“We pick the lock, you fuckin’ retard.” Temper shoved me to the side, sticking the pin and screwdriver into the door’s lock. Within a few seconds, I heard a small *click*, and the door popped open.

“There.” Temper stepped to the side, gesturing into the building. “After you!”

With a twinge of guilt, I slipped into the building, followed swiftly by Temper. The inside was about as sparse as the outside. The only furniture in the room was a bed, a table, and a refrigerator (which, to my surprise, actually had power). All of a sudden, my body tensed up. As I was gazing around the room, I spotted the bed – a single pony sleeping atop it. I didn’t move for a couple seconds – even though the pony was deep in sleep, I was worried that somehow she’d hear my presence.

Temper groaned, sliding past me to start stuffing her pockets with the objects on the table.

As my heart rate began to normalize, I snuck over to the fridge, quietly opening it to look inside. I flinched as the door creaked open, the sound seeming like it was amplified in the quiet space. Once I could reach inside, I took a look to see what the fridge was holding. There wasn’t much – just a can of something I didn’t recognize and a few bottles of…

Sparkle Cola? Damn, they’ve got that down here too? I turned back to look at the bed, the pony upon it still blissfully unaware of our presence. I turned back to the fridge, biting my lip as I looked at the Cola… Oh, that sweet, sweet Cola…

They probably won’t miss just a few bottles…

I quickly grabbed the Sparkle Colas, stuffing them into my saddlebags as silently as I could. Without even thinking, I slipped one of them out, popping off the cap and sucking down the sweet, carroty goodness.

It was nice. A brief, fleeting reminder of home.

Even in the wasteland, I guess there’s no escaping the overwhelming presence of Sparkle Cola.

I turned to Temper, who had already cleared table and was searching through a box in the corner that I hadn’t noticed at first. She looked over her shoulder, motioning with her hoof for me to come closer. I silently made my way over, at which point Temper dumped the contents of the box into my saddlebags, much to my dismay. Once she was done, I turned to leave, only for Temper to start sneaking towards the bed. As I stood in stunned silence, Temper carefully picked over the sleeping pony, looking through the townspony’s pockets as she lay there, motionless.

I felt my heart rate begin to pick up again. Temper!!! What in Tartarus are you doing?!? Get back here!!!

A few tense moments later, Temper returned, a gun, several bullets, and some caps stuffed into her pockets. She motioned for the door, and in no more than a few seconds, we were out of the building. We didn’t quite have the carrying capacity to hold much more, so we snuck back around the building and, after a few more strained moments of flying, we were once again on the other side of the fence, ready to drop off our ill-gotten goods.

Alright, that… that wasn’t so bad. I mean, sure I just committed a federal crime, but… well, at least it’s a crime ABOVE the clouds. Maybe they’re ok with it down here… yeah, I’m sure no one minds if you just walk into their house and take their things. It’s not like THEY needed it to survive, right? Ha ha, yeah, not like… not like I feel BAD or anything… why would I feel bad? I’m just helping a psychopath rob innocent ponies blind. Nothing morally wrong about that… nope.

“I suppose that wasn’t a terrible haul for just one fuckin’ house.” Temper whinnied, although she struggled to keep a wide grin off her face as we dropped off our goods. “Ready for round two?”

I looked up at Temper, begrudgingly nodding my head before moving back towards the town.

God, Temper, why are you so heavy?

With another house ransacked, I started to lift my captor off the ground once more. I cringed as we slowly gained altitude – I had hoped that I would get used to the pain as I kept flying, but it felt like the it was only getting worse the more I flew. Once we got close to the top of the fence, I started to-

“Augh!”

A sudden spike of pain shot through my wing, causing it to lock up. I struggled, attempting to keep in the air, but it was no use. As soon as the pain hit, I fell back to the ground, dropping Temper, our loot, and myself with a heavy *THUD* on the ground inside the fence. I got up, looking back at my wing, the pain still burning through. Dammit! I knew I shouldn’t have tried to fly yet, I knew it! Fuck, now I’ll have to wait even longer for it to heal, if it even WILL still heal… oh God, I hope it’ll still heal…

“What was that?”

I stopped. That wasn’t me. It wasn’t Temper either. That was very distinctly a stallion’s voice. I glanced over at Temper, the mare still picking herself up from the sudden fall. She turned, anger apparent in her eyes as she glared at me.

“Good fuckin’ job, feathers.” Temper sneered as she rose to her hooves, turning to face the sides of the building. “Now it’s my turn.”

A few seconds later, a pony appeared from around the corner. He took one look at us, his eyes widening in horror as he opened his mouth to speak.

Temper didn’t give him the chance.

BANG!!

With an ear-piercing sound, the pony’s mouth erupted in blood, his body collapsing to the ground as I watched, grimacing all the while. Slowly, I heard other ponies begin to yell in alarm, the sounds of panic and vengeance filling the once-silent town.

“Go loot the store, feathers!” Temper shouted, all pretense of sneaking thrown out the window. “I’ll get the other houses!”

I turned to Temper, alarms going off in my head with every word of what she said, but before I could say anything in reply, she had already disappeared around the corner. I stood there a moment, shuffling in place as I frantically tried to decide what to do. As gunshots began to sound off all around me, I let out a frustrated grunt, running to the corner of the building to scope out a safe path to the store.

It had only taken seconds for the tranquil town to become an all-out warzone. From where I was standing, I could see three ponies running around, and I could hear even more shouting things at us. One earth pony, eyes filled with terror as he watched the scene unfold, ran to hide behind one of the houses, while a second took cover behind some crates, firing wildly at the purple raider. The third pony, a Unicorn mare, didn’t even bother looking for cover. She casually strolled into the center of town, a determined look in her eyes, lifting a long shotgun of some kind with her terrible magic.

BOOM!!! BOOM!!!

The gun roared to life as the Unicorn fired it, sending a spray of iron down the path. I couldn’t see whether it hit Temper or not, but I didn’t really care. At that moment, I was more concerned with finding a safe and clear path to the store, since the townsponies were blocking the only way I could see.

BANG!!

The unicorn suddenly dropped her shotgun, a bloody mist spraying from the back of her head. Oh God… I averted my gaze, trying my best not to throw up. Alright, alright, that’s… that’s one less danger. I glanced around, finally seeing a few barrels next to one of the houses. It’s closer to the store than I am…

I took one more look at the battlefield before sprinting towards the barrels. Once I get there, I’ll sneak around back, and then I can rush to the store-

BANG!!

“Augh!!”

I fell to the ground, tumbling head over hooves as my front left leg started to burn. I glanced down at my limb, blood slowly starting to pool, before I heard a small *fwish* sound beside me, the dirt flinging itself up as a bullet embedded itself in the ground. I turned to see one of the earth ponies reloading her gun, eyes locked on me, a fiery rage burning within them.

In that moment, my world slowed to a grinding halt. The few seconds it took her to reload seemed to last for minutes, giving me all the time I needed for a thousand thoughts to swim through my head. But somewhere between the thoughts of confusion and the thoughts of pain, one thought screamed louder than all the others:

She’s trying to kill me.

I tried to pull myself to my hooves, tried to get behind the barrels, but I knew it was futile. They were too far away, by the time I had gotten up, I’d be dead. I started to grit my teeth, but felt the Artisan’s shotgun trigger and stopped myself.

“Rule number one!”

I looked to the mare, her gun starting to rise. She was done reloading, my time was running out. I tried to find another way, tried to see some way to survive without having to do something so terrible, something I knew I’d regret.

But this time, there was nothing. No plans, no smooth talking, no bribery. No way out.

I locked eyes with the mare for a brief moment, before pointing the sights of the Artisan at her head. As my vision blurred, tears beginning to pool in my eyes, I squeezed them shut, pulling my tongue back against the trigger.

BANG!!

I froze, tensing up as I waited for the excruciating pain of a gunshot. But it didn’t come. The mare hadn’t shot me. Did… d-did I… Hesitantly, I began to open my eyes.

There, lying on the ground, was the mare, a single bullet hole placed right between her eyes.

I didn’t move. Even as the battle raged on in the background, I felt like I was frozen in place. I killed her. I killed that mare. And this time… this time was different. It wasn’t just a radroach, or a mindless brahmin. It was a pony. She was a pony, just like me. And… and I…

I felt sick.

I vomited on the ground, the bile mixing with blood as it flowed from my leg. I started to curl up, my body rolling in the disgusting brown and red mixture. But I didn’t care. I fixated on the mare, watching as the blood continued to rush from the hole I had pierced through her head. I watched as her coat, at one point a soothing shade of blue, became ugly and mottled with oozing splotches of red. I started to hyperventilate. God, her eyes… even her eyes were turning red…

“Feathers!!”

I barely even heard the cry, but my head still snapped to attention with a mind of its own. I saw Temper running towards me, her makeshift armor riddled with bullet holes. She continued to shout, her voice an unsettling mixture of rage and pain.

“You sleeping on the fuckin’ job?!? Get to the store, now!!”

BANG BANG BANG!!

“OH WILL YOU CUT THAT THE FUCK OUT ALREADY?!?”

Temper jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the barrage of bullets flying towards her. My mind seemed to jolt itself to life, because before I knew it I was suddenly on my hooves and making a beeline for the store. As bullets started whizzing past me, I heard a shuffling from off to the side, quickly jerking my head to look at-

BANG!!

I jumped from the sound, quickly pulling my tongue off the trigger of the Artisan as I moved. I don’t know if the shot was an accident or a purposeful attempt to kill again, but it didn’t matter to me. One dead pony was enough.

Before I even realized it, I was at the store’s entrance. I didn’t want to go in. I didn’t want to be here in this town anymore. But I didn’t have a choice. Temper wanted whatever was in this store, and more than likely wouldn’t leave until the place was empty. I hated it. I hated every stupid fucking thing about this catastrophe. But if robbing the place meant I could leave this living Tartarus behind me, then so be it. I charged forwards, bursting into the store with all the energy I could muster.

I was immediately met with a rifle held to my face.

“You’ve messed with the wrong town, you filthy raider scum.”

I looked at the stallion standing across from me. He had situated himself behind what I assumed was the store’s counter, if it could afford the luxury of being called a counter. My eyes began focusing in on the rifle, mounted to his sides with a strangely primitive-looking battle saddle. The stallion looked me over, eyes pausing as he glanced at my sides.

“I see they’ve started recruiting fliers now too. That’s a shame – it doesn’t feel right killin’ an endangered species.”

Without even thinking, I trained my gun on the stallion. I didn’t intend to hurt him… it was more for intimidation than anything. I hoped he would lower his rifle and let me go.

His eyes narrowed as he looked down the barrel or the Artisan.

“Now son,” the stallion spoke slowly, his voice an eerie calm considering the scene just outside. “This can go one of two ways. Either you stop pointing that damn pistol at me and I give you a quick, painless death, or you try to fight back and I shoot you in the gut, and you bleed out all slow-like.”

I took a small step back.

“Isf… isf vere nof an opfshun where I… y-y’no, don’f die?”

“Not for you, there isn’t.” The stallion glared at me, his expression hardening as he spoke. “You and your little buddy out there-”

“Sheefs nof ma-”

“You’ve slaughtered these ponies. Ponies I’ve known for a long while now. Some of ‘em were pretty close friends, you heartless bastards.”

“I…” the dead mare’s body flashed into my mind, blood oozing from the wound. “I-I didn…”

“You Raider scum, you’re all the same. Always murdering, always raping, always pillaging, just to take everything you can from us honest workin’ ponies. You think I’m gonna let you just walk out of here, so you can keep plaguing the wasteland with your filth?”

“I’m…” I felt tears beginning to form in my eyes. “I’m not-”

“No. I’m stopping you monsters right now.” The stallion paused, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side. “So, I’ll ask again. You wanna put that gun down, or are we gonna do this the hard way?”

I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. If I turned and fled, he’d shoot me. If he somehow DIDN’T shoot me, Temper would. If I stayed there, he’d shoot me. There was no option that didn’t end with me being shot. All I could do was stand my ground, praying that the situation would resolve itself.

After a few tense moments, the stallion sighed, cocking his rifle.

“The hard way then.”

The stallion brought the mouthpiece of the saddle to his mouth, took aim, and-

“Feathers!”

BOOM!!!

Without warning, the stallion’s head exploded, his face becoming nothing more than a fine red mist. I stood, mortified as blood began spurting out of the spot where his neck had once been, watching as the stallion toppled over onto the counter. I backpedaled, the Artisan dropping from my mouth as I failed to keep it shut. I looked down at myself, the stallion’s blood already clinging to my fur.

“What the fuck’s taking you so long, feathers? I’ve already…” Temper’s voice trailed off as she rounded the corner, looking into the store. I looked up at her, her eyes widened in mild surprise. Slowly, a grin spread to her face as she trotted up, elbowing me as I stood, still frozen to the spot.

“Alright, feathers! I didn’t think you had it in you!” Temper trotted to the stallion, retching slightly as she grew closer. “Did you really have to use the shotgun, though? I mean, fuck, we’re not savages here.”

The mare’s words barely registered in my mind. I was too focused on the stallion, watching as the blood poured out, coating the counter in red…

Red… so much red… shouldn’t… shouldn’t it have stopped by now? Why… oh god, it’s still coming… why is there so much blood?!? Why is there so much RED?!?

“…Feathers? The fuck’s eatin’ you?”

That’s the last thing I remember hearing before I passed out.

Emptiness.

When I finally came to, that was all that I could see, for miles around. Just the emptiness of the wasteland. No town, no ponies… Tartarus, I couldn’t even see any rocks. All I could see was dirt. Endless, rolling hills of dirt.

“Hello?”

I called out as loud as I could, but nopony responded. I began to trot forwards, hoping to find something, some sign as to where I was.

“Hellooo? Is there anypony here?”

It didn’t make sense. Where was I? Where was Rainston? For fucks sake, where was Temper? I thought she said she wasn’t going to let me out of her sight, so how did I end up here? I continued to trot, the emptiness all around seeming to press in on me.

As I moved, a smoky fog began to descend on me from above. Fog? Oh thank god, maybe I can make a cloud from this, bring myself back home! I reached for the fog, but as my hoof drew close, the fog seemed to push away. I furrowed my brow, reaching for it a second time, but again the fog jumped away, as though there was an invisible force-field around my hoof. After a few more attempts, I gave up, continuing down the path.

As I trotted along, the fog grew thicker, limiting my view. I began to grow nervous, picking up the pace as I moved.

“Hello? Please, is there anypony here?”

Just as I started to lose hope, I spotted something in the distance. A vague form in the fog. I breathed a sigh of relief as I came closer. It was a pony. A mare, from the shape of her body.

“Temper? Is that you? Thank god, I was starting to think…”

My voice trailed off as I came closer. It wasn’t Temper. This pony's coat was a soothing shade of blue, unlike Temper’s vivid purple coat. Honestly, I don’t know how I mistook this mare for that psychopath.

But something was off. She wasn’t moving. At all. Most ponies move at least a little bit, even when they stand still – a twitch of the ear, some rustling in their mane, a flick of the tail, something. But this mare… she wasn’t moving an inch. It unsettled me more the closer I grew. I kept expecting some kind of motion, but there was nothing. It was almost like…

...wait. I recognize her.

All of a sudden, I stopped. The mare started to turn her head, slowly revealing her face to me. And as I saw it, I started to backpedal in horror. I knew who this was. This was the mare from town.

This was the mare I had killed.

The mare stared at me, her eyes greyed out and soulless. She opened her mouth to speak, blood dripping from it as she spoke.

“You… you did this.”

BANG!!

A hole appeared in the mare’s head, blood pouring out and flowing down her face, the red tint seeming to stain her grey eyes. I felt something in my mouth, and I spat it out. I stared, mortified as I saw what the object was: a pistol.

I turned tail and ran, only to bump into another pony – the stallion from the shop, his head a grotesque mutilation of what it had once looked like. The stallion’s lower jaw hung there, loosely attached to his neck by a few limp tendons.

“You Raider scum. Always murdering…”

“No!” I backed away, “No, I’m… I’m not a Raider! I didn’t… I-I didn’t mean to…”

“Raider scum… Raider scum…” The stallion began chanting, blood pouring from every open spot on his head.

“No! Stop! Get away!!” I screamed out at the monstrosities, running for my life. The fog around me had changed, tinting a sickening shade of red as I ran further and further. I tried to jump into the air and fly away, but I immediately fell to the ground, my whole body seeming to burn as I landed. I looked back at my wings, and I nearly stopped breathing. My wings were sitting limply at my sides, mangled and destroyed beyond all hope of repair. They didn’t even look like wings anymore. More like fleshy mutations, utterly useless and destroyed.

As I stood staring, the ground around me began to shift, strange undead appendages slowly rising up from the dirt. They latched on to the things that had once been my wings, ripping and pulling at them as I screamed in pain.

“STOP!!” I cried out, tears streaming from my eyes. “I NEED THOSE!!! I NEED THEM TO GET HOME!!!”

“Home?” A voice came to me from above. I looked up into the air.

“Windspeed! Oh thank god! Please, help me! Save me!”

Windspeed didn’t move, hovering in the air as the creatures ripped at my wings.

“You’re not coming home, Canvas.” Windspeed spoke, his voice an uncharacteristic calm. “We don’t allow murderers above the clouds.”

I looked at Windspeed, struggling to understand what he was saying. All of a sudden, I felt a surge of pain at my sides, as the ground things finally pulled my wings free of my body, blood gushing from the spot where they were once attached.

“Goodbye, Canvas.” Windspeed turned and flew away.

“No!” I reached a hoof up, desperately trying to grab hold of my friend. “NO, WINDSPEED!! COME BACK, PLEASE!!!”

“Raider scum…”

“Murderer…”

“You did this…”

I screamed in agony, watching my only friend in the world abandon me as the monsters grabbed my legs, pulling me into the ground.

“NO!!”

I awoke with a start, sweat dripping down my face. I glanced around, taking in my surroundings. I was still inside the store, although the place looked considerably emptier than it had before. In a sudden burst of panic, I looked down at my sides.

To my relief, my wings were still there, just like they had always been.

It’s… it’s alright. It was just a nightmare…

I shivered, recalling the vivid dream. I’d had nightmares before, when I was much younger, but never anything to that extreme. Why was that one…

My thoughts trailed off as my vision came to rest on the counter, the storekeeper’s corpse still laying atop it.

Oh.

Slowly, I brought myself to my hooves, carefully approaching the stallion’s body. A very, VERY small part of me hoped he wasn’t dead… it was a terribly misguided thought, seeing as the stallion was missing his god-damned head, but I didn’t… I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t face the thought that I had…

No. This… th-this wasn’t my fault. It… it was Temper! She called out for me, she startled me! It… it was an accident… I-I didn’t want to kill him!

An image jumped to the forefront of my mind. The mare, falling to the ground as a bullet… MY bullet pierced her skull...

N-no, no! She… she was gonna kill me! I… I-I-I had to-

“Ah, I see you’re finally awake, feathers.”

I turned my head, my thoughts interrupted by Temper’s voice. The mare was standing in the entrance to the store, her body so covered in blood that anypony who didn’t know otherwise might have thought her coat was red.

“You like the dye job?” Temper grinned, twirling uncharacteristically, like some kind of ballerina from Tartarus. “I’m thinking of keeping it.”

“Wha…” the sight of Temper put me at a loss for words. “What-”

“Town guard, real big guy. I don’t know how, but he fuckin’ snuck up on me. Had to stab him a couple times, but he got the message. By which I mean he died. Oh, and while I’m thinking about it:”

WHAM!

I practically spun from the impact of Temper’s hoof, my face hitting the counter inches from the corpse of the shopkeeper. I struggled to stand up, the impact site burning from the pain.

“That’s for fuckin’ dropping me. Now come on, help me load up your saddlebags.”

I stumbled towards the door, my brain desperately trying to function while I recovered from the blow. As I emerged from the store, light shined down into the town, presenting me with the aftermath of the previous night’s battle. Just from where I was standing, I could see four ponies that Temper had gunned down, as well as the one that I… The one Temper didn’t kill. I could see bullet holes in every surface, various objects left in splinters from the combat. Everywhere I looked, I saw nothing but death, decay, and misery.

I turned to face Temper, my body filling with a strange mixture of sadness and rage as she carefully picked through the items from the store. Slowly, I approached her.

“This… this is what you do?”

Temper turned, looking at me as though I had asked if there were clouds in the sky.

“It’s too late for you to back out if that’s what you mean. Like I told you, you’re MY slave now. You’ll do whatever I tell you to do, even if you don’t like it.” Temper turned back to her goods, stuffing as much ammo as she could into her pockets.

“How… they were…” I grit my teeth, tears beginning to pool in my eyes as I tried to make sense of everything. “They were just trying to live their lives, weren’t they? How can you just… just kill them like that?”

“Eh.” Temper shrugged. “It’s just part of wasteland life.”

I stared at Temper, mouth hanging agape. She sickened me more and more with every day I spent with her.

“That stallion in the store called us monsters.”

“I’ve heard worse.”

“He said Raider scum are all-”

“Who the fuck cares what he said? He’s dead now, not like it matters what he thinks.” Temper stopped filling up on ammo, turning to face me. “And don’t compare me to those other raiders. They’re so much fuckin’ worse than I am. Believe me, if you saw half the shit they do, you’d be begging to be my slave.”

I turned away, unwilling to look at Temper. Worse than you? I’m quickly finding that harder and harder to believe.

“Hey, you gonna help me out, or am I gonna have to stab you too?”

I shuddered, quickly turning to fill my saddlebags with whatever my psychopathic captor wanted to keep.

“Alright then, that’s all of it! Let’s get out of here before anypony shows up. And we’re using the fuckin’ entrance this time.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I started trotting towards the front building of Rainston, whatever it was. Maybe a public transport building? There was a stand that reminded me of the map-stands up in the clouds, so it must have been somewhere ponies went to find their way around. Either way, it was clearly the only building to have been here before the war, judging from the state it was in.

As I entered the building, I noticed some pre-war bits out of the corner of my eye. An image popped into my mind: it was me, sitting at home, a rare coin collector showering me in bits as he payed me for some rare coins from before the war.

Oh sure, brain. Why the fuck not? We’ve already stolen everything there is in this town, not to mention MURDERED everypony in it, so what more have I got to lose? Let’s just steal even MORE stuff, solely in the name of greed! I’m sure that will make EVERYTHING better.

In a fit of self-contained rage, I quickly took a detour over to the table, throwing the bits into my bag.

There, I did it. I took the fucking bits. You happy, brain? Now let’s just… hmm?

Now that the bits were gone, I noticed there was something beneath them. An advertisement of some kind, from the looks of it. I don’t know what it was, but something about the ad caught my eye. Curious, I took a look.

Stables? I’d heard about those. Massive tunnels dug into the mountainsides, where pegasai from before the war had gone to save themselves from the megaspells. Above the clouds they were few and far between, but there were enough survivors from the vaults that pretty much everypony knew about them. It hadn’t even occurred to me that there would be other Stables below the clouds… although in hindsight, it seems silly to think that they wouldn’t have them. As I took another look at the ad, I noticed something attached to the bottom of it.

Below the words, a small map was laid out, showcasing all the Stables in the area. I picked up the ad, taking a closer look at the map. It was ancient, so the town and city names I knew couldn’t have been accurate, but fortunately somepony from before the war had circled my current location on the map.

A location which, coincidentally, happened to be within a few miles of Stable 6.

A sudden thought entered my head. State-of-the-art… could… could they have Terminals in there? Working Terminals! If they do, then… I could look at the holodisc! I could go home! I felt a smile gracing my lips. Maybe taking those bits would make everything better after all.

All I have to do is get there, but how…

The metaphorical light bulb lit up in my head.

“H-Hey, Temper! What do you know about Stables?”

Author's Notes:

Level Up

New Perk: Shotgun Surgeon - Your precision with a scattergun is something to behold. When using shotguns, regardless of ammunition used, you ignore an additional 10 points of a target's Damage Threshold.