**** **** **** ****

Hexerai had made one big mistake in her plan - she pissed me off, and I was way better at it than she was. I gripped my gut as I laughed at her. “Hahaha, whoever thought this dumb thing would be useful,” I said, inflating a half-truth as I pulled the statuette from my half-pierced jacket pocket. Her talon had gotten caught in the nook under the figure’s head and hair.

Hexerai fell forward, catching herself with a claw. The sight of that figure was more infuriating to her as she wailed and howled, slamming her mutated claws into the ground until they were mangled and broken. “Your fate was severed, how can she have any influence here?!” She surged as glowing veins stretched across her body.

“I don't really understand, but I'll put it like this: you're predictable.” I whipped with my tail as I sank back onto my hind hooves. I felt light, as if I could fly. I could explain to her the psychology of spores, how I baited her attack on my heart, or how I knew she was the only one I could count on to change my fate, but it was too satisfying to destroy her confidence. “You gave me everything I needed, and it was all part of my plan. In the wasteland, your fate’s good as trash, like everything else.”

The burning of her blood shaped her limbs into a tighter, more controlled state. She grit her teeth as she turned to me. “I've been careless with you. Forget the heroes, a renegade agent is more a threat to my plans. Your feeble rebellion will end as soon as it begins. You can't kill me.”

Kingthorn's glowing brambles crawled across my body as I cracked my hoof joints. “Good. I'm gonna kick your ass ‘till the sun rises.”

And deep within the facility, a timer counted down as the tension mounted between us.

3...

2...

1...

The ground shook as the MAS facility not far in the distance shattered apart as a green tower of balefire reached up into the sky. Tephra and concrete shot up into the sky as a cloud of black dust and ash billowed out from the point of impact. Hexerai braced as the shockwave ripped planks free from the ancient roofing. I only charged through it unwavering, the ground under my hooves holding fast in the middle of the storm of debris, loyal to the hero in the face of a terror. Hexerai swiped with a glowing claw, but I jumped high above it; no longer tied down by fridge, I could soar. I arched down in my dive as I cried out, “Party Time!”

Riding the burst of arcane force, I tackled Hexerai straight through the ceiling of the house. Hitting the ground I rolled to my hooves in the tight attic space. My hooves were bloody. I saw Hexerai's coat bristle with hooks and barbs. I couldn't get close to her.

Hexerai lunged towards me. I hooked a dusty telescope with my back leg, jutting it into her neck with a kick as she charged. It offered some resistance, but I had parried away the strike with a swipe of my bracers. I even kicked off of her, only for it to send me back onto a table behind me. I danced over the table as I dodged a snapping jawlike hoof. I knocked the nearby stack of boxes over, burying Hexerai only for a moment as she pierced through them.

Left! Right! It was duck and weave. Swinging around like a hurricane, a dodge turned into a whirling roundhouse. The only thing keeping me alive was being unpredictable and the speed of my kicks hardening my hooves. I slipped to the side of one strike before pulling a large dust cloth over Hexerai, blinding her. It was the moment I needed to dive through a weak floorboard to the level below. I didn't have to keep pressure on her. She'd chase me.

The hallway was packed with antiques and tools of all sizes, but I didn't have time to appreciate it. I looked for a place to hide as the voice of Hexerai called out. “Saving your friends? Is that what this is all about?” I was hiding ducking around doorframe as she scanned the area. “You remind me so much of somepony from before the war.”

I might have taken that as an insult, but I was getting tired enough that it didn't matter to me. Hexerai slashed through the wall, nicking my face as I pulled away, but as she sauntered through the portal I slammed the door on her. Her reinforced body was able the cleave the door in half as the transmutating blood came spraying through it.

“A juvenile pink mare, blind to the realities of the world and the fate it was destined for. Always preaching about friendship and how it would save the world,” Hexerai said as rugged horns lined up on her shoulders. “You know what happened to that fool?”

Given the nature of prewar ponies, it was probably 'she died,' 'she went crazy,' or 'she blew something up and then cried about it.' My personal bet was on contender number one.

As the boney spears fired out of Hexerai's body like ballista bolts, I kicked a table onto its side, catching the projectiles’ teeth. “She watched as every one of her friends ignored her.”

I grabbed a bone javelin in my mouth and kicked the table in toward Hexerai. She climbed over it and cut it down with a sword-like limb.

I hooked a chair with my hoof and spun it around to entangle the blade in its protruding legs. My hooves skidded back along the ground as Hexerai barrelled forward. “She died still believing that her precious friendships still meant something. You're the same way. Unable to see that you are beyond redemption, infatuated with a world that tries to kill you. You'll die alone just as she did.”

“Some of my best friends have tried to kill me. Doesn't matter to me,” I smirked as the roots along my body guided my hooves. I twisted the chair, torquing Hexerai's bladed arm until I could stab it into the ground. Hexerai defended with her opposite claw, but I impaled it through the palm with the bone spear. I stabbed that into the ground as well. I had to be careful not to look her in the eyes as I smirked.

“Party Time!”

The burst was strong enough that it knocked me back into a roundoff. The arcane force nearly tore Hexerai's limbs off her body as she crashed through a workbench. I had a nasty claw scar against my face from that close encounter. It stung. “Get up,” I demanded as I walked towards the undead witch. Hexy ripped her body free of the mangled limbs as she glared at me. “Good. Grow back more limbs, so I can break those too.” I said as I kicked up to my hind legs again. Lacerations on my forehooves, the grenade I took to my hind leg, countless concussions and abrasions, all were catching up to me.

But as Hexerai charged with new forming horns and shadows dancing on her hooves, I felt a strange sensation wash over me. Today had been a hectic one. Crazy robot bartenders and zebras who act like superheroes, color-changing mares, and meeting wasteland talk show hosts... So many crazy things I can't even recount them all. Even with the pain of these wounds, I have been smiling and laughing all day long. That was something Hexerai could never understand. This was a terrifying yet wonderful world, and I'd never give it up, even for a moment.

She charged, but my roots reached out and predicted every step of her trajectory. Twisting in my leap, my whirling back hoof diverted Hexerai into the wall. I fell to the ground as I gripped my bleeding leg. Fuck. I can't keep hitting her like that. Hexerai shook herself out of the daze, checking that the shelf above wouldn't fall. I tossed a chair into a line of shelves, as they crashed down on top of Hexerai, burying her in pots and pans. I was laughing until Hexerai spewed a trail of fire from her jaws, catching me in the thick of it.

Fuck it, that's when I'm out. I fell back into a roll as I tried to put out the embers. I was lucky, the water spirit's blessing might have helped me out. My flesh wasn't melting off, that was good. I had to dodge as Hexerai didn't let up. As I was rolling, she struck me on the side with a
barbed axe hoof.

“You can't run away.” Hexerai grinned.

“Do you even know who you're talking to?” I asked rhetorically as I made a break for the door. Hexerai was in hot pursuit. She ripped up the flooring as she charged. I jumped through weak wall to catch onto a lower building.

I nearly didn't make the jump with my injuries. Scrambled along the edges, trying to keep a grip until I hit window. I dove inside as Hexerai watched from the other building. As I scrambled through, the longer apartment hallways, I saw the words scrawled out on walls in blood: “You can't run, Tumbleweed.”

The nightmare drones came pouring out from the halls.

“You can't escape this, Tumbleweed. The White Lady is coming for you. Through our infinite warmth she sees.”

I was pushed to the roof top, limping as I gasped for breath. My body sagged closer to the ground then ever, I was really feeling the gravity. Like it was accepting me. I didn't want to give up.

“You could have been great, Tumbleweed,” another message read on the floor.

Ugh, I'm getting their opinion pieces, too. Kill me -- sure, whatever! --but don't grade me while you’re at it. I saw a knocked over ladder bridging to a torn open building. Looked like a way out of here. I scrambled for it as a horde of dorks chased after.

As I began my crossing, I felt my balance waver. The dorks were twisting the ladder. I grit my teeth as I focused hard on my feet. Even as it turned, I adapted, keeping on whatever was the topside. I was beginning to understand this strange power I had attained.

I moved into the next building, and gave some payback to the nightmares that now tried to cross the bridge. Shaking them free I pulled the ladder back to me, retracting the steps until the protruding part halved in size.

This building was spacious. Some kind of auditorium, but with stars. I think they called it a planetarium.

I stumbled my way through, easing up on my focus with the parasitic seed on my body. I was getting dizzy. I had a feeling it drank my blood. Maybe not... I might have died by now if it did. What did I know, though?

Hexerai crashed through behind me, launching me rolling against the grooved seating. “I don't dislike that rebellious spirit, you know. Back then, all I craved was freedom.”

I spat blood as I picked myself off the ground. “Bleh- ahgh... thats... the biggest sack of brahmin shit... I... I ever heard. Fuck. You hate wasteland, and everything it represents, so stop trying to win me over.”

“I don't hate your wasteland, but rather the direction of the ponies souls.” Hexerai grinned as she walked forward. “You're tired, broken. Just give up already.”

I waited until she stepped forward into the rungs of the ladder on the ground, and pulled it out from under her. “We are the future, bitch. We are nothing like the past. What worked for them won't work for us. It’s a whole new world!” I chanted as I picked myself up and braced the ladder across my back.

Hexerai spat fire as she fell to the ground in aggravation. “That's where you are wrong. Your broken violent world and the utopian dream from beyond the balefire veil are more alike than you could ever imagine.”

“What?” I wanted to shut her down. The wasteland was rough, but we had our pride.

“The wasteland is the true, disgusting nature of ponies,” she proclaimed as she lashed out with an erupting tendril.

I batted the tendril away as I spun the huge ladder on my back. She couldn't cross the distance. Yes. This was a better weapon than I could have ever hoped for. But my swings were slow and she was fast. She struck in with a lancing arm, and I had to roll the ladder over my neck to catch the attack in front of me in the rungs.

The tendril twisted around the ladder, moving to snap at me as it serrated itself, but I slid my hooves a few steps down on the ladder, pushing the attack away. Hexerai wouldn't wait for first limb to finish tangling, and a second, third, and fourth limb swung in at me. Pivoting with the ladder, I dragged Hexerai around in a circle, throwing off all her attacks.

She snuck another limb through the rungs of my impromptu weapon, trying to seize control of it. Good. I was roughed up, but still an earth pony. I pressed my front hooves tight to the ladder as I dove my body over it. Rolling in the air, the twisting ladder joints became a bone grinder as it snapped the witch’s limbs like they were twigs.

Hexerai howled at the assault. Good, I'm doing something. The infuriated ancient turned to spit fire at me, but I wrestled the ladder over her neck slamming it down on her. She pressed against it, accentuating the angle of the ladder.

“Party Time!” I shouted as I kicked the sliding extension of the ladder. The second set of steps telescoped out as far as its design allowed it, the burst of pink force transforming the simple ladder into a portable guillotine. The force decapitated Hexerai as the end of the ladder pierced the ceiling of the planetarium. Pulling back from the ceiling, the claw of the wasteland came tumbling down on Hexerai. “This is my world. You don't get to say what it 'is' and what it 'isn't”.

Gasping I dropped the ladder as I fell back. Was it over? Fuck... I didn't know if I could keep going.

“The greatest fallacy of the Equestrian age was that peace was a natural tendency.” The voice came from the caved in debris. Fuck. Why couldn't you stay dead?

I hobbled up the caved roof as I saw Hexerai putting herself back together. Frantic and panicking I lost my balance on the roof top. My wavering hooves fell out from under me and I hit the ground. I rolled down the slope of the roof onto a lower building.

By the time I stopped tumbling, I couldn't tell which way was up.

“So here is where the rebellion ends. You’ve had a good run, but this was inevitable.”

I didn't want to get up, but I didn't want to lose. Celestia knew I deserved whatever was coming to me... I just didn't like to lose. As I teetered on the edge of despair, I heard a voice call out to me.

“Get the hell up!”

It wasn't one voice. It was several.

“Come on! Kick her ass!”

“Come on, Yellow Guy!”

There were cheers from all around. I had to look around to see what the hell was going on. There were ponies on the roof tops. Lots of them. Raiders, and non-raiders alike, lined up on the sides looking with binoculars and with small TV sets. As I moved, they whooped and cheered. It was surreal.

“What in the wild wasteland is going on?” I muttered as I struggled vainly to get to my hooves.

A voice came on over an old intercom system. The gravelly voice I recognized as Audacity came on. “Seems like there’s some sort of mass broadcast going on. It’s on everything with a screen in the wasteland. Looks like you’re famous, kiddo. And don't look at me, I'm all audio. I'm awesome, but this is way above my production value.”

Pharoah... that sly bastard. Agh... “The whole wasteland is gonna watch me die. Great.”

“My professional advice, kiddo? Try not to die,” Audacity said over the intercom.

“Thanks. I'll try to keep that in mind.”

Hexerai looked down from above. “You see, Tumbleweed, two hundred years ago, I discovered a sin. A conspiracy of fate, binding Equestria into shape. Wanted free will so badly.” I rolled to look at her as I struggled to get up from the ground. “The peaceful utopia of Equestria was nothing more than an orchestrated choreography of destiny, authored by the scrutinizing gaze of the grand Princess Oracle of the Sun. The one some of you look on to as an old goddess, and how she acted, she might not have been far from one.” Hexerai laughed as she smoothed out the mutations on her skin and felt up her face, making sure everything was as it should be. “Needless to say, I was outraged. How could the Princess rob away the fate of so many?” Hexerai glided down the slope towards me. “All I wanted to do was something simple. Free Equestria to decide its own fate.” Hexerai laughed as she grit her teeth in a sour grimace.

I could barely pick myself off of the ground. My eyesight was fading.

A bolt fired out from Hexerai's body and my instincts lit up, as I flung myself barely out of the way, only letting it graze me.

“Don't run away from me!” Hexerai growled. She picked me up off the ground. “That was the day when I learned that history did not matter.”

Suddenly a streak of light tackled Hexerai as it shouted, “History! Matters!”

Scapegrace had swung in on her her grappling hook and kicked Hexerai away. With a burst of gunfire, Scapegrace's legs kicked with a bright muzzle flash. Her legs spat out spent shotgun shells. She tore into Hexerai with whirring blade that spun like a saw blade in her forehoof. She was hot fiery red. “We make mistakes, we learn, we grow stronger. That's how it is. We aren't to blame for our ancestors but we can learn from them.”

“How can you learn from those who were ignorant of their own history? For a thousand years, there had not lived a pony who knew exactly how little control they had.” Even she was being hacked and shot, Hexerai pierced Scapegrace through, lifting her up as she screamed, kicking free with her legs.

I kicked up to my hooves in anger. The earth would give me strength. I rushed in with furious forehooves and struck in at Hexerai's gut. Scapegrace grew long crystal talons and hacked herself free from Hexerai's attack. Scapegrace fell to the ground gripping her gut as she mended the wound and hobbled over to me.

“Damn it, what did I tell you?” I reprimanded her. “Get the hell out! Leave me!”

“No, we're doing this together. I'm not going to let you die,” she said as she readied herself for striking. “Besides, if that journal you found is correct, she's the one who stole the Crystal Heart.” Scapegrace swelled with a vibrant orange and red aura. “She's the one who ruined everything for the Crystal Empire.”

“Who do you think you are? The thieving crystal ponies. Angry for vengeance are you? The Crystal Empire needed to fall.”

“You bitch!” Scapegrace shouted with tears streaming down her face. I crawled over to Scapegrace to grab myself an extra pack of spark cells.

“Don't let her get to you, Gracie,” I grunted. I took a look in my fridge. Nothing there except Crystal Hearts and Hex's hammers. Nothing edible. Life is rough sometimes. “Give me my fridge. I'm done getting beat up today.”

Scapegrace handed it over, and I grit my teeth to accept the new weight. Even as empty as I felt, with Scapegrace at my side, I felt like I could push on for a little longer.

“Out of my way! This scum of a pony needs to die, for the sake of all who have suffered at his hooves, and all who will ever live,” Hexerai said as she stepped forward to swipe. Hexerai's slash was intercepted by Scapegrace who grit her teeth as the strike cleaved into her torso. Her coat began to crack as she held it up. “You are so angry, yet your fate is an empty one. You will never ever accomplish greatness. Even if you steal my magic, you can not wield it like I can.”

“Can't I?” Scapegrace grimaced as she locked eyes with Hexerai and deep holes dug in from her eyes. Glowing orange veins crawled over Hexerai's barrel before bursting open in a flood of blood. Scapegrace kicked off Hexerai.

I circled right as Scapegrace circled left. We'd flank her. We could do this. Hexerai was chasing after me, so I led her in. She struck with a whipping hoof that lapped against my shield. As Hexerai charged, she was hooked with the grappling hook as Scapegrace reeled the necrophile back in with her reengineered anatomy.

Hexerai swiveled on an unnatural spine, with several sickle-like limbs slashing in half-moon arcs. As she turned away, I rushed up. Fully locked and loaded, I kicked my leg at her hip. “Party Time!”

Hexerai rolled across the rooftop as the ground began to give way. The bloodied, misshapen white mare clawed at the edge to hold on when Scapegrace tossed a grenade towards the scrambling nightmare. Hexerai disappeared below the edge of the building only to take to the sky. She flew overhead, breathing a wave of fire.

I ran to shield Scapegrace from the attack with the fridge.

Hexerai flew up to another building where some raiders were watching the fight. We watched as Hexerai gripped one of them in her claw by the head, and in an instant, thorny tendrils ripped raider to pieces. She chanted something strange, but I couldn't hear it well enough. Something glowing jumped from the raider's body into Hexerai's talons. She flew back faster than ever. Was she some kind of soul eating vampire?

Hexerai swooped back through, this time firing a barrage of spears. The power of the Tree helped me dodge and block them all, but Scapegrace found herself pinned down by the one that pierced her through. Hexerai perched herself upon a weathervane above, with the moonlight shining hungrily down on her.

In her hooves was a rifle. What?! A simple gun.

“A disgusting tool of war, the very core of the pony's soul. A perfect tool to end you with.” Hexerai brandished the gun, the barrel resting intently on me. I moved to raise my shield only to see Hexerai shift her aim to the pinned Scapegrace.

I wasn't quick enough. She would die. I'd lose both of them. Even as Scapegrace struggled, she couldn't break free.

KRI-TANG! A bullet sounded in and my heart dropped.

… But it never reached her.

Hexerai wailed as the fragments of a shattered gun fell from her magic grip.

“What did I tell ya? Don't worry about the prophesies.” A striped ghost groaned as he holstered his shimmering revolver. Sweet Celestia, the cat in the hat came back... He was bloody and limping again, but alive, and I was never happier to see that dumb bastard.

“Calypto!” Scapegrace called out as I joined in, “Asshole!”

“Your fate was sealed! My behemoth crushed you underhoof, I felt it. I saw your corpse. That was the destiny I sowed myself. I was sure of it! How is that puppet of Celestia still alive?” Hexerai scowled as she thrashed at the rooftops.

“I remember dying. Felt as bad as I thought it would be, but I thought something like that might happen, given the prophecy...” Calypto grinned as he galloped over. “I remember Scapegrace talking about this thing, I thought it might be useful.” Calypto produced from his jacket a fragment of a broken statue. It was the statue of Discord from the facility!

I jumped to my hooves; it was like my strength had never left me. I ran to pull the spike from Scapegrace's body then turned to Calypto. “Alright, now it’s really...” I caught myself. “Err- let’s get this party started.” I looked back to Hexerai. “Look here, Hexerai! Look at your prophecy now! My friends never left, and now you’re gonna get the ass-kicking of a century, let me tell ya!”

Hexerai's horns glowed as she fired her projectile spears at Calypto. I dove in front of him with the shield. “You might need this thing more than I do.”

“Tumbleweed. This is important. Do you have any water?” Calypto said as he crouched behind me.

“Now is not the time to worry about dry throats!” I barked.

“Not that! From a spirit. Did you get water from a spirit? Like, as an offering?”

My canteen! “Yeah! I did!” I said as I pulled out the canteen. “What do you need it for?”

“I can end this whole night of mayhem early.” Calypto grinned as he stole the canteen.

Hexerai swooped in to tackle, but I partytimed into the middle of the writhing bladed limbs, interrupting her dive.

Calypto clapped his spurs together with a ring as he held up the conch shell I had received earlier from the spirit. He threw some kind of powder into the air and hummed. With the canteen in his mouth, he splashed the water around in a circle as he chanted words. “In the name of the cardinal four and the great spirits above, I call upon a child of the ocean’s love! Come hither, before the contract bells wither!”

I wrestled with Hexerai as Calypto worked. She gripped at the fridge and dug her claws into the grooves of the casing. Thrashing about, she tore the fridge away from me. Fires bellowed in her gullet as she towered over me.

Calypto flipped off his hat, splashed some water in, and taking the hat in his mouth, he spun it around his body. On the inside of the hat were the engravings of some kind of magical origin. From the center to the hat, Calypto revealed the body of the subterranean water spirit, in all its barnacle-laden glory. Calytpo shouted out the final words of the incantation rapidly as he looked back at my situation, “Terms! Til the sun returns! The offering, a favor absolving. What say you?”

The spirit nodded, and blasted Hexerai back with an intense geyser of water. Hexerai was hurled free of the rooftop. The spirit looked around at burning town and shrieked. The spirit seethed, and a thick curtain of steam rose from it. The spirit launched itself at Calypto and enveloped the zebra, setting his stripes shimmering with blue light. Calypto lifted up with the spirit’s essence. Hexerai howled as she danced back. For the first time she was on the run.

We chased her to the edge. “How's the water, bitch?” I cheered from the edge.

Pointing out his hooves the same way he does with his guns, Calypto smiled as boiling streams of water jetted forth.

Hexerai's horns flashed as she produced a black barrier that parted the water. The moment the barrier opened, the spirit began to panic, trying to wrench Calypto back.

Hexerai jettisoned a layer of boiled flesh as she took to the sky. “I could feed you to the Jormundgandr, don't trifle with me!”

I ran to retrieve my fridge. I could dodge Hexerai's attacks better without it. “You'll need this more than I will!” I shouted, and I tossed the fridge vaguely in Calypto's direction. The spirit reached out to catch it with curious confusion.

“No, not for eating! Not an offering!” Calypto started panicking.

I leaped over the edge as I chased Hexerai. It felt like earth caught my fall. As I ran, I saw a spot on the ground that lit up and with a strange message: “Twitchy tail.” I almost ignored it, but my instincts kicked in as I saw from the corner of my eye something fast flying down at me. A talisman-laden dousing spear embedded itself right on the message. I looked up to find Crossfire.

I acknowledged his entrance with a nod, not backing down despite the rifle he held pointed at me, “I don't have time to play, Crossfire.”

Crossfire lifted the aim on his rifle. “Now that’s the look of a king,” he smirked. “I'll see you in the finals,” he said as he held up a pulsing lavender gemstone in his hoof. It had azure roots growing all over his hoof. With that he stepped away from the roof and disappeared into the town.

I looked back towards Hexerai. Hopefully I didn't lose her. Scapegrace ran along a higher building top and pointed to a creature flying in the sky.

Taking the spear, I followed after the winged witch.

The morphing abominations were crawling out onto the streets. Hobbling with their puss-ridden bodies, they charged. Even as alien as they were, they felt predictable. Every movement, every step on the earth showed me a bit about their personalities, who the were before the war. I plunged my spear into the first whelp and a jet of glowing blood siphoned out from the creature. It shriveled up like a raisin in moments. With a single kick, the creature turned to dust. After three more demonstrations, their approach halted to a standstill, opening a road to Hexerai.

Calypto was taking his time, hosing down dorks and raiders alike with boiling water as he rode the flowing current of the water spirit.

“How did this fall apart? A ripple? An echo? Did I misread the signs?” Hexerai cursed as she ripped some poor pony apart on a high roof top. She glanced back and smirked at how low I was on the ground from her. She ripped the tapestry of fate out of the innards of the poor pony and began jabbering again, “A wild agent, or perhaps two. Two jokers, ruining a perfect hoof.”

“Mi Amore Cadenza... Not again!” Scapegrace called out from above; as best as could tell her coat’s color from down below, she turned pale.

The ground shook as a choir of voices called out. Raiders and wastelanders scrambled off of the rooftops and into the streets shrieking as the giant hoof of a second goliath came crashing down.

“Join our warm embrace, and be safe from the emptiness. Begin anew!” it called out as it stomped onto a nearby building.

Fuck... I needed that other balefire bomb, after all. I couldn't turn back, though... I charged forward. It would be somepony else’s problem. So long as it wasn't around by the time my boss's people showed up, I'd be looking pretty good.

“Do not resist this grand design!”

A morphing orb of scalding water soared through the air at the giant, bursting into a brief cyclone as Calypto glided down from the rooftops. The behemoth winced as its flesh was seared in the heavy steam. A claw slammed down. Calypto rode the water spirit's wave, dodging to the side as the claw split apart into a wave of tendrils and fanged jaws.

The creature dragged its massive carcass out into the street in front of me, blocking my path. It reared up and I had to be ready to make miracles.

“You think you're so tough? Guess there’s just more of you to break. Lucky for me!” an angry voice called out from above. It was a pony wearing a skull over the top of his head... or maybe it was melded with his coat, I couldn't tell. The shape looked oddly familiar, particularly the metal pole jutting out of his chest and the stone club slung over his shoulder. He frowned and suddenly I knew exactly who it was. It was Killjoy. He was mad as hell and he wasn't gonna take it anymore. He tensed up as azure veins flashed over him, only for them to be replaced with plates of spiky bones. What was more... he had six... no... eight, eight Celestia-damned hooves. I watched him rip the pole out of his chest before descending on the beast like a howling arachnoid wolverine thing. In an unrelenting volley of pistoning force, Killjoy whaled into the beast, tearing thick chunks out of it with every swing. Killjoy was already a terrifying pony, but now he was legitimately a nightmare. The creature tried to cut at him with slicing talons, but it was to no avail. Killjoy just thrashed through the creature without mercy or restraint, laughing the entire time. “I'm gonna carve my name into your bones! Hail to the new kings!” A hail of exploding bullets from Marina's minigun up above splattered away chunks of the beast’s torso.

The beast cried out as it was reduced into a puddle. Midnyte uncloaked herself next to me. “Don't worry, we've got it covered here!” she said.

Even as she said that, the monster turned towards us. Two snake-like limbs spurted from the creature’s shoulders, the ends unraveling into a number of smaller tendrils, each ending in a toothy maw, like a pit of hydras.

The heads speared through the ground, digging furrows in the dirt as they eagerly sought us out. I meagerly dodged and wove between the tendrils, saving my strength as I predicted the first few strikes. Suddenly a crashing wave of water interrupted the trajectory of the tunneling serpents. Calypto grabbed hold of Midnyte as he sent a cutting jet of water, slicing through the muscle and bones of the hydra.

“Calypto...” Midnyte blushed.

“Shut up,” Calypto muttered as the spirit spiraled around to face the beast.

“Hey, hate to break up a touching moment,” I said as I braced my body on the spear, “but could you draw me a chain up to that building?” I pointed up to Hexerai's perch.

“It's too far to for a whole bridge. I'm spent.”

“Did I ask for a bridge?”

“Just one chain?”

“Uhhh... yeah?”

Midnyte shook her head in disbelief, but sure enough, in the light of her horn, she fastened a long chain up to the rooftops.

I focused. On the world, the wasteland, what I've been and who I'd become. Kingthorn's roots crawled over me, I put one hoof in front of the other. This was personal. Nopony could mess with the wasteland’s fate. Even beyond my own belief, I scaled a single chain all the way to the top. I've never had this level of balance or focus in my life.

As I reached the rooftop, I found Scapegrace wrestling against the witch. She was losing ground as she mutated again and again, trying to rip chunks of flesh and blood from Hexerai. She had a spring in her step now that her legs had grown tight jaws of interlocking crystal teeth.

The teeth only managed to put dents into Hexerai's outstretched hoof as the witch's body hardened into a thicker armored carapace. Scapegrace struck in with a buzzsaw-like blade on her hoof, only stripping its teeth in sparks when it met with Hexerai's neck. Long, segmented tails that curled over Hexerai's back lashed out against Scapegrace, piercing her through the side as cracks formed over the left side of her torso.

“I broke this world... saw it for the monster it was,” Hexerai said as Scapegrace scrambled away. “I set out to kill it, but I didn't do a good enough job, it seems.”

I called out from behind her, “No, you didn't! You never will, either. You can't stop life.”

“And I don't intend to stop life itself. What kind of fool do you take me for?” she said as she turned to me, her new armored carapace reflecting the light from the moon, as if a Steel Ranger’s armor.

I smiled. Scapegrace lept from the ground, and latched onto Hexerai's back. With a vice-like grip, her morphing hooves formed heavy bladed shears to sever off three of Hexerai's five tails.

“Insignificant whelp!” Hexerai stumbled back as she swiped at Scapegrace, but I came tackling into her from the front. It gave Scapegrace time enough to back away.

“We are in this together. When you picked this fight, you didn't just start a fight with me, you picked a fight with the whole damn wasteland!” I cheered as I dodged away from the Hexerai's boney claws.

“Fools who are married to a broken world. Open your eyes.”

“I don't like it, but it’s the only world I have. And as scary as it is, it is fascinating,” Scapegrace added. “We can learn from their mistakes and grow. I really believe that.”

“Who the hell do you think you are, trying to choose the fate of the entire world? You piss me off!” I said as I braced back onto my hind hooves, taunting with the spear stretched across my back.

“I thought the same once, too. I gave the world back the control of its destiny, and saw my gift getting utterly wasted!!” Hexerai stormed forward in a ridiculous burst of speed. I only barely managed to roll to the side. I angled the spear as I rolled to slash across Hexerai's side, but it only managed to produce sparks. I could feel how tough her exterior was through the blade. “Pitiful. You won't pierce my shell/armor/skin, and I will end you.”

“Peacetime had made Equestria naive. Intoxicated by an island oasis in a dream, they thought they were above war.” Hexerai twisted her taloned arms around her body and lunged forward, swinging diagonally downward, then horizontally, as she unravelled the wound up arms. “Ignorant of the past and estranged from destiny, they became a plague.”

“Partytime!” I shouted, leaning forward. The angle generated a fierce torque, sending me spinning viciously over Hexerai's head. The spearhead whipped against Hexerai's body in a tornado of strikes, sparking against her body. My legs buckled as I landed on the ground.

Scapegrace rushed in to bat away Hexerai's serrated arm. “Equestria was naive, but we aren't them! We've learned, and we're better for it.”

“Are you better? The living are incapable of learning from the dead. The first wastelanders weren't the fools that climbed out of the Stables, but the first fools that began the pointless war that would destroy the world.” Hexerai's claws began to glow with a shimmering light. “Equestria and all in this world lost its right to live the moment it showed its true face. They are evil. Selfish and insincere. I am here to clean up the problem that I started.”

“Stop talking about this world like it needs saving!” I shouted as I picked myself up. Power surged through me, in a way I hadn't really felt before. “Good? Evil? I don't give a damn. This is my wasteland, my home. And you're sure as hell not taking it away from me!”

As I charged in towards Hexerai, the foundations of the building shook as the gargantuan necromass was knocked back on the building. Hexerai balked, her strikes swung through empty air as I dodged between, riding the impact of the crash. Sliding underneath of her, I shouted “Party Time!”

Hexerai fell down an alleyway, two stories down. She growled as she picked her body up from ground, only for her to fall back to her hind legs as she looked around. “No... h-h-how can this... this isn't possible! She can't! I know she can't?!”

The walls of the street were lined with posters from top to bottom. They were layered on top of one another, without a single uncovered inch of wall showing. In what must have been over a thousand posters, there was only one design. The poster had a pink mare with a gray mane and a red candy cane stripe running through it. The wall of eyes seemed to stare back into Hexerai's soul as the posters read the words:

Pinkie Pie is Watching You Forever

“HEXERAI!!!!!” I shouted with the moon at my back, catching her in my shadow as I glared down at her. The three buildings on each side ached and howled as they swayed precariously above.

“What the hell are you?!” Hexerai trembled.

I smirked. “I've had a lot of names.” I stomped my hoof as I brandished my spear. It was as if I was reaching through the structure of the building, the wasteland answering to my command. The buildings shifted, arching like the crest of a tidal wave with me riding on top of it. The three buildings crashed down on top of Hexerai with the gravity of the wasteland, as an ocean of debris and wreckage flooded the avenue.

As the dust filled the air, Hexerai's crushed and mangled body clawed itself to surface. She found herself with a hoof stomping on her face.

“I'm a humble Trailblazer of the Glory Road Caravan Company.” After a whole day of having my head stepped on, it felt good to turn the tables. “We do deliveries,” I said, smirking as I stabbed the spear into Hexerai's rent open carapace.

As the spear siphoned away blood, Hexerai stabbed a glowing claw into my torso. I didn't bleed, but I felt stretched out. In a moment, a sea of stars gathered into me, and I felt as if I had been shackled in some way. “I underestimated you. Your fate is bound again.”

“Lots of folks underestimate me. I'm an earth pony!” I spat back as beat the witch's claw out of my body.

As Hexerai dried up into a dry husk she grinned. In her last words, she choked. “The long night isn't over. You've stopped nothing.”

The long night isn't over? I didn't like these games that she played with me, but I was falling apart. I felt like I would die. Was it worth it? Did I win?

My train of thought was derailed when I felt a drop of rain coming down from above. It was warm. I looked up to see that there was no sight of the moon. Was it over?

I fell to my back. I could feel the adrenaline fading. The stampede had really worked its way out of my system, and I was suddenly heavy.

“Calypto did it! We did it! Looks like blowing all that hot steam really worked out!” Scapegrace said as she had tears flowing down her cheeks. She hobbled over my body, looking down on me. “Calypto patched the tear in the sky. Those necro... zombie--”

“The dorks,” I corrected.

“Whatever you want to call them, they stopped moving.” Scapegrace smiled as she wiped away her tears. “We did it. I feel so insane, like my brain stopped working hours ago.”

My body wasn't really cooperating with me. I sighed. “Help me up, would ya.”

“Yeah. It started raining, so I was worried you'd hold your mouth open and drown like that if I left you on your own.”

“What am I, a turkey?”

Scapegrace smiled and shrugged, making me painfully aware that she didn't say I wasn't.

I looked out to the horizon. The curtain of darkness was fading away. “Still up for watching the sunrise? We'll need to get moving if we want to catch it.”

Scapegrace blushed with a pink lining as she smiled. She hoisted me up onto her shoulder and together we stumbled out from the wreckage.

“Thank you, Tumbleweed.”

“Huh?”

“I needed this.” The mare looked around with soft, tired eyes. “I've never been so scared in my entire life, I thought I might die...” Scapegrace's face turned red. “I thought... you would die.”

I caught myself smiling a little, even though I shouldn't have. I looked to Scapegrace. Her lips. No! Stop it! There was a gravity, and I couldn't ignore it. “You really shouldn't be thanking me for anything...”

Scapegrace stopped in place. “You're crazy. Insane, really... so yeah, you're right, but I... I don't care.” Scapegrace leaned into me. Her tongue licked her lips a bit. I could feel her trembling as she spoke, the nervousness in her eyes, the way she locked her hoof around me rigidly.

“HOT DAYUM! LOOK AT YOU TWO!” The ghoulish voice of Audacity broke the tension between us as we fell away from each other. Scapegrace sighed and rolled her eyes, and I wiped the sweat away from my forehead. “You really did it! I watched the whole thing. You were like 'swoosh!' and 'wham-bam-shazam!' Undeniably certifiably amazing is what that was!” the ghoul said as he climbed out from an open window. “You and everypony else involved in this whole shindig deserves a cookie, y'hear me?”

“A cookie?” Scapegrace asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“It’s what she would have wanted,” Audacity said. He put his hooves in the air. “Hey, I don't make the rules.”

“What kind of rules are those?” I queried.

“Look, don't worry about!” Audacity said as he uncorked a flask and took a swig. “You guys kept it really chill, even when Doom-and-Gloom over here was trying to destroy everything. There were two of those nasty sons of bitches, and you guys thwomped them too! You guys really were awesome out there. Heroes even!” the ghoul cheered. “You got that tiger’s blood running through ya, I can feel it. So, I'm gonna ask you a question: how do you feel about having the wasteland hear more about this story?”

A story? Yikes, I didn't want any of that. I already had too many folks who wanted my head. I waved my hooves and shook my head, “NO! Nononononono....”

“Rhetorical question, bucko! I dig the hell out of this stuff. Couldn't keep a lid on it if I tried.” Pulling up part of his tropical shirt, the ghoul revealed a bullet hole. “I tried to talk to Calypto about doing another segment with him, and he was less than enthusiastic. So pressures on you, kid.”

Scapegrace and I both widened our eyes at the wound. “Audacity, you're gonna die.”

Audacity scoffed. “Please. I'll be fine. Look at yourselves. This is like... lukewarm to me. Take this.” Audacity flipped his shirt back down and floated over two cans of what looked like soda, but they had butterflies with lightning bolts on them. It was hard to imagine that they were anything but energy drinks. It had the words 'AwesomeSauce' on the side. “Anyway, like I was saying, pressure's on you, kid. You get to be the hero. I'll keep it anonymous... well, sorta, but you need like a codename. A pseudonym. You feel me? What do you got for me?”

I fiddled with the tab of the can for a little bit, eventually cracking it open. “In my tribe they sometimes called me 'The Chosen One’.”

Audacity's face swelled up until he burst into laughter. “Hahaha, really? Really? They drop you on your head, too? Kek!” the ghoul said as he fell to the ground.

“It was a name they called me... you asked for a nickname, I gave you one,” I groaned as I took a sip of the drink. It was a mix of strange and spicy flavors, but I could detect the aftertaste of xander root. It was a healing drink. Go figure.

“You could call him ‘The Idiot’!” Scapegrace chimed in with a smile.

“Don't help him!” I groaned.

Audacity shook his head. “Nah, it’s gotta be cool.”

“But Tumbleweed isn't cool at all!” Scapegrace said with a smile.

I squinted at the mare as I sipped my drink. She snickered as she turned her nose up at me.

Audacity picked himself off the ground and dusted himself off. “Anyway, dumb name, kid. You're funny. Think I'll call you 'Wasteland Joker'. Yeah, I like that.”

I sighed. “We should go find Calypto. I think I need to tell him to work on his aim,” I said as I glanced to the bullet wound on Audacity's torso.

“Cheer up, Joker!” Audacity said as he put a hoof around my neck. “Anyway, my boss was really impressed with your work, so we got a special gift for you,” the ghoul said as his horn floated a stack of tickets and put them in my hooves.

It read: ADMIT ONE: POSEIDON'S GROTTO DELUXE WATER PARK

I shook my head at the weird stack of tickets. “Who the hell is your boss?”

“You'll meet them if you go. Check us out if you’re in the area. It will be awesome, promise.”

Scapegrace walked over to pick me up after I stared at her long enough, motioning with my head. “Let's go find Calypto. I have to strangle that zebra. I can't believe he's still alive.” In a burst of emotion, I hugged Scapegrace. “You're alive. Everybody's alive.”

Scapegrace stuck her tongue out at me bashfully.

“Hell yeah, fuck those destinies! Wasteland prevails.”

I leaned a little too hard, and sent Scapegrace and myself stumbling to the side.

We caught ourselves and laughed at each other. We climbed up the steps and looked around the rooftops. It was a matter of following landmarks. Putrid boiled monster flesh, giant puddles everywhere, that sort of thing.

“If I remember correctly, I saw Calypto around this are--” As I spoke, Scapegrace put a hoof over my mouth as she pushed me against a wall.

She put a hoof to her mouth to shush me before she pointed around the corner.

Calypto had his hooves wrapped around the three-legged Midnyte. Rain was soaking through their manes as they kissed.

Scapegrace looked to me with a really giddy enthusiasm. She didn’t have words, only highpitched marish noises squealing out of her as she fidgeted about in the flood of emotions.

“Wait, what?!” I said as one eyebrow exalted itself upward in gross confusion. “Isn't she like a raider or something? Should we stop them?”

Scapegrace dug a hoof into my gut to communicate a point. “It's fine, just let it play out. It will stop on its own.”

The mare tossed her hair from side to side as she bobbed her head playfully with the kiss. She fiddled with the nicknacks on the inside of his sarape as she pressed deeper into the kiss. Her tail was fluffing back and forth as she wiggled her rump. It was downright passionate, and I felt dirty for watching it. More than that... It kept going.

“...I think it will stop on its own...” Scapegrace said as her colors matted ever so slightly. The kiss kept going. There were tongues! Wandering hooves abound! “They are going to stop, right?”

I just watched the bizarre phenomenon unfold. “I think he's trying to strangle her.”

“This is really intense,” Scapegrace said as her breathing deepened.

We watched as Calypto's hooves traced down Midnyte’s back, carefully keeping his spurs from driving into her. “He's stealing second base. Should we go?”

Scapegrace put a hoof over my mouth and pressed me up against a wall. She was warm. I was gonna lose my mind. “Quiet!” she said.

Yes, mam.

Midnyte smiled as she nuzzled into Calypto. “I knew you'd save me.”

“No, you didn't.” Calypto turned away.

“You came back.”

“I should have just shot you,” Calypto said with a furrowed brow.

Midnyte smiled, as if she was impervious to the threat. “You don't remember, do you?”

“Remember what?” Calypto said, taking advantage of his height to tower over her.

“Maybe it’s better that way.” Midnyte put her head against his chest.

“I'm done with this,” Calypto said pushing her away as he saw Killjoy rounding the corner. “You and I can't mix.” He looked at her with conflicted eyes. “Don't look at me like that!” he said as he walked away. Holy Celestia, he was halfway to paradise and he just left! Left her high and dry, as well...Well, as dry as you could be in the rain... “This didn't happen.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

“Pray that you don't,” Calypto growled.

I poked my head out to wave to Calypto. “What was all that about, stud?”

“I don't want to talk about it,” he said with antipathy.

“You seemed like you were having a good time,” Scapegrace said.

“I wasn't.” He glared. “I was fulfilling a request from the water spirit. My hooves were tied,” he said as he hid his face with the brim of his hat.

“Well, enough about that, how’s that victory! You're alive! We won! We rule, Hexy drools!” I said as I punched Calypto in the arm.

Calypto's mood picked up as he laughed. “Hehehe, Shoo bee doo.”

“Alright, loser. Where's my fridge?”

*** *** ***

Sitting on the rooftops, we could see everything in the twilight of the dawn. From the far mountains, even far enough to see the ocean way off. The sun had still yet to break the horizon. I walked over with a tray of drinks for my two companions. I sat myself between Calypto and Scapegrace as we hung our legs off the edge. We were watching the strange cloud structures up above as little winged horses flew around trying to assess what exactly happened.

“There's a word for them... but I can't remember what it is...” I muttered.

“Wingerponies,” Calypto suggested.

“Nah, it was more magical than that,” I said.

“Cloudsnugglers?” Calypto added.

“How about sky fuckers?” I bantered.

“Wait... I remembered what they're called!” Calypto said with a grin. “Feather dusters!”

Scapegrace looked at the two of us like we were the idiots we actually were.

“Well, brainiac, do you have any better names?” I asked cocking my head to the side.

“Come on, guys! It’s really not that hard,” Scapegrace said as we rolled our eyes. “They're horseflies!”

Calypto and I cheered as Scapegrace invited herself to the wasteland banter party.

“How the hell did we miss horseflies? That's like the best one.”

“You two must be slacking.”

“Alright guys, Holy Toledos, and without much time to spare!” I said as I offered the mugs. The two took their drinks and smiled.

“So, Tumbleweed, how's it feel to be a hero?” Calypto said with a satisfied grin.

I grimaced. “Itchy. Being a hero makes me chaff.”

“You get used to that.”

“Let's never do this ever again!” I laughed.

Calypto shot me a squinty-eyed look like I said something impossible.

“You seem pretty happy with yourself.”

“We saved a town. We tangled with fate, and came out on top.” Calypto grinned. “This is adventure and heroics.”

“Yeah, and I'll have to go to a doctor to get all the heroics out of me, I'm thinking,” Scapegrace snuck in.

Calypto laughed. “Let’s have a toast!” He held up his mug, “To justice!”

Scapegrace and I looked at each other. “How about ‘to crazy friends’... and possibly ‘breathing’?” I suggested.

“To breathing!” Calypto cheered.

“To breathing!” It was unanimous. We clinked our mugs together.

Calypto chugged as I nursed my own mug. Scapegrace winced as she regretted taking her first sip.

“I think something's wrong with mine.”

I leaned over to sip some of it while she was still holding it, causing her to blush.

“Tastes fine to me.”

“It's gotta really weird aftertaste, then...”

I shrugged. “You're probably tasting the kerosene.”

“AHH!” Scapegrace cried out as she daintily tossed the mug off the rooftop, drink splashing everywhere below.

Calypto's eyes followed the mug all the way down as a frown stretched across his face.

I took a swig of my drink as I held it close. “It is an acquired taste.”

Scapegrace was about to complain to me when the sun broke over the horizon. Even in the rain, golden light shimmered across the landscape. The sunshine illuminated all the cracks and shapes in the cloud cover above in a stunning display. The rain divided the light into scattered rainbows, washing the sky in a wave of colors. It took my breath away just looking at it. Not just the sun, but the way it reflected off the world.

“Beautiful...”

Across the town, we saw the stalks of several plants climb and reach up above the buildings. The plants turns towards the sun, soaking up all the energy it had to give them. They looked happy in the rain, too. They blossomed into vibrant flowers in the sun’s glow.

“This is what the wasteland is like for me,” I said as I was so captivated by the sights. “It’s tough and bleak, but there are moments more amazing than you could imagine without it. I live for these moments.”

“It’s gorgeous.” Scapegrace smiled as she leaned onto me. She was fighting just to stay awake. We all were. If she wanted to sleep on my shoulder, I couldn't really stop her.

“Hey, partner.” Calypto looked over at me.

“Yeah?”

“We should be dead.”

“Yup.”

“So, I heard that there is a Stable in this region. Stable 2. Nopony's come out of it they say. Want to check it out?” Calypto said as he sipped the dregs of his drink.

I looked out on the glittering horizon and furrowed my brow. “Calypto...” I said putting a hoof around Calypto's neck as I pointed to a Stable-Tec billboard. “Look at the Stable-Tec logo for me. You got good eyes, what do you see?” I asked in a patronizing voice.

Calypto raised an eyebrow. “...It’s a cogwheel.,” he said, unimpressed.

I clicked my tongue and shook my head. I looked him in the eyes with a serious squint, then motioned off to the billboard again. “No, look deeper.”

Calypto looked for a moment then tilted his head to the side as he sighed. He gave a strained grin as he shrugged. “I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at.”

I stretched my hoof off towards the logo as I furiously looked at Calypto. “It's an anus! A genuine asshole.”

Calypto snickered. “What are you on about?”

“They are the butts of the wasteland. Nothing but the hundred and fifty years old technological assholes of the old world, ready to shit all over everything,” I heckled. I took another swig of my Toledo.

“Now that you mention it... it kinda is shaped like a butthole.” Calypto laughed. “I take it you don't like Stables then....”

“Nothing good ever comes from Stables. Mark my words.”

Scapegrace fidgeted as she leaned into me. “Statistically speaking... I'm willing to bet....awwww that your ancestors probably came from a... Stable,” she mumbled sleepily.

“Like my dad, ugh!” I groaned. “All the more reason why Stables are awful.”

Calypto looked over at Scapegrace and myself and smiled. “Well, I think I'm going to go on a walk.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, not even thinking too hard about it. I waved a hoof at him. “Try not to die.”

I heard Calypto's spurs jingle as he went to the door to the roof. I heard the door shut behind him with a click. That click made me realize exactly what had just happened.

I raced to the door and jostled at the locked doorknob. “Calypto!” I shouted as laughter came from behind the door. I rattled the door even more vigorously. “CALYPTO!”

“This is for your own good, Tumbleweed. You'll thank me later.”

“Open this door, damn it!”

“Besides, this is payback. I'll let you know, you're not very good at hiding. Try to be more like the missy at that.”

“I'm sorry I caught you snogging the raider chick. It was cute. Please open the door now,” I begged Calypto.

“Just get in there. Act natural. She'll be all over you.”

I sighed; that was what I was afraid of. I was locked on the roof with a stunning mare I wouldn't be able to keep my hooves off of.

While I was fretting I felt Scapegrace glomp onto me. I was flushed red as I tried to assess what was going on.

Scapegrace looked at me with half-opened eyes. She frowned. “You moved.”

I was a pillow. I laughed as I brushed a hoof through her mane. She really was defenseless. In this little cove, we had cover from the rain, so that was alright. She crawled up on me and cuddled against me.

I didn't have any willpower left to resist it.

“Hey, sleepyhead.”

“mhmmm, yeah?”

I trembled as I was about to ask. “Calypto and I are going to venture off to do work on the I-95 for the Glory Road company.” I swallowed. “If you wanted to tag along, you'd be welcome to join us,” I said as I turned away for a moment and scratched at my ear. “I could get you a job, and payment and all that. It would be a nice gig.”

When I looked back, she was blushing hot red. It was only for a moment - she faded back to her normal colors, and then into a soft blue tint. “I'd love to really. It’s sweet, but this is the start of my biggest struggle, and I really can't spare time. I have things I need to do.”

“What exactly do you have to do?”

Scapegrace rolled over with a frown. “It's really complicated, and I really don't want to talk about it,” she said sheepishly.

I scratched behind her ear and grinned. That was fine. She was allowed her secrets.

“I'll be in the area though, so maybe we'll cross paths,” Scapegrace said with closed eyes as she smiled. She snuggled closer to me. “Hey, Tumbleweed? Can I make a weird request?”

I ruffled her mane a little bit. “Yeah, what do you want?”

“Sing me a song.”

“A song?You want me to do what?” I blinked at the curled up mare at my side.

“Y'know, the things with tunes and sounds--”

“I was afraid that was the kind you meant...”

Scapegrace hugged me tighter. “Come on. I don't care if you sing badly.”

I sat there looking over the town and the sunrise, and I think I realized that I was really happy. I laid my head down on top of Scapegrace as she snoozed. I didn't know where the words came from, but I just started to sing. After everything we had been through today, it felt appropriate.

“Morning in Ponyville shimmer~ Morning in ponyville Shine~, and I know for absolute certain~ that everything is certainly fine~”

Level up //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Author's Notes:

This marks the last submission I had planned on making for Joker's Wild. I've had this sitting on Google docs for about a year, and I've felt really bad not posting it. It's Thanksgiving, and I'd really like to say a little thanks to anybody who has stuck with this story and everybody who has offered me encouragement. I couldn't have done this without great editors like Nastyhooves or High Spirits. It hasn't been a very Fallout Equestria run, but that's precisely why I'm moving on from this. I am adapting this story to its own setting and letting it run free. I encourage everybody to ask questions about what was going to happen. There was a lot we didn't get to see. Ghouls that were selected by Celestia and Pinkie and were members of the MAW at an irradiated water park, a intricate network of stories talking about Celestia and Pinkie trying to stop a war that played on satire of capitalism, driving tension between PInkie and the main six, evil pinkie clones, Luna refusing to yield to Celestia, and more. There were evils vaults, gangsters peddling immortality, enclave experiments with IMP making weather powered psykers, and so much more fun stuff. We didn't get into any of scapegrace's struggle with her people slowly turning into ghouls and their society being reduced to younger and younger groups, or anything to do with a very different Unity that was headed by Twilights persona that would ultimately be crippled by a large psychic attack that would set the groundwork for trixie's unity. There was so much, but I am moving it to its own story. I thank you all so much for reading this far, and while I know I didn't get to the end, I hope you had fun with it.