“When you’re right, you’re right, I’ll give you that...but when you’re wrong? Well, then you’re just dead...”

A hush had fallen over the tattered remains of our caravan, broken only by the quiet bumpity-bump of the heavy medical wagon, now laden with all of our wounded. We were all exhausted, all worried, all hoping to see the next sunrise. Little else but that mattered...

I gave my head a shake to dislodge my darkening thoughts, instead reflecting on the good. We’d won a small victory by not leaving the wounded behind, and in that I took some pride. The wasteland didn’t have to be a place of sorrow and strife, good things could still happen, I was sure of it!

“Skies, I need a headcount,” Dual Gauge spoke from my side, nearly making me jump, “Strap’s getting the numbers of those in the wagon, I need you to get the ponies still walking,” he gestured to the silhouetted equine shapes in the dark around us, “Names, numbers, and their position; defender, puller, cook, you get the picture.”

“Um, yeah, sure,” I said, thankful for a task to take my mind off things, “Anything else?”

“Not for the time being, thanks,” Gauge replied, speeding up his trot to move back towards the front of the caravan.

“Okay,” I said to myself, “Well, Dual Gauge: leader, Leather Strap: bitch slash medical lead, and Healthy Skies: medical pony makes three…”

“Marrowbone,” the first pony I ran into said, tipping his hat with a hoof, “Medic, but they got me on defender duty.” He gestured to one of the two armed ponies walking with him, “This here’s Axle Grease, she’s in the same boat I am, but she’s supposed to be a fixer.”

“Hey,” Axle Grease gave a tired nod.

“Hi,” I said, just as sleepy.

“Flower,” the third and very much familiar mare smiled, “Defender. How you holding up?”

“I’m...I’m doing fine,” I had some difficulty managing a smile before moving on, “That’s six…”

Just my luck the next two ponies I came across were also ones I knew...just not so well as Flower.

“You know our names,” Break Action muttered, though her glare lacked effort and wasn’t all there, “Defender and Fixer,” she gestured to herself and Rusty Ratchet.

“Thanks,” I moved on thankfully, “Eight…”

“Cookie,” Cookie said with a scowl, “Head cook.”

“Doughy,” Doughy echoed with a sigh, “Cook.”

That made ten...

“Restless,” the left puller on the medical wagon spoke up, “Defender...well, puller currently,” he said, gesturing to the wagon.

“Marsh Runner,” Restless’ puller counterpart added, “I’m a puller, always have been.”

“Thanks,” I said, starting to move off, For a grant total of twelve.

“Hey,” Marsh Runner stopped me, casting her eyes quickly to the south, “Hey, uh, you or Dual Gauge hear anything about Rocky?” At my inquiring look, she added, “Sorry, Rock Runner? She’s my sister and I know she was wounded and went with that other caravan and, well...” she trailed off, looking at me with a mix of worry and hope.

“I’ll look into it,” I promised, though in all reality I didn’t want to think about what had probably happened to the pony in question.

Moving around to the back of the wagon, I gave my hooves a break and poked my head in through the back tarp of the medical wagon...and immediately came face to face with a small pistol clutched in a magical grip. I froze on the spot, staring down the sights at Leather Strap’s pink eyes.

“This is why we announce ourselves when coming in,” Strap said, tucking the weapon away.

“Sorry,” I apologized, pushing in and landing. The smell inside the wagon made my nose wrinkle, the cloying scents of waste, blood, and infection creating a concoction of unsanitary horror for the senses to enjoy.

“Sorry might not always cut it, Skies. This is the wasteland,” Leather Strap said, igniting her horn and checking over another pony, “Not your happy-go-lucky world above the clouds.”

“You know it isn’t so happy-go-lucky as you seem to think!” I growled, in need of a good venting after everything that had happened today, “For one: the food sucks compared to down here—”

“Oh, so it’s even more radioactive and hard to come by?” Strap cut in, giving me a backwards glance with one eye, “Is your average pony worried about starving to death if they don’t eat from a glowing can of beans?”

“Well...but...ugh! Okay, maybe not, but you have to have a birth card to have a foal and—”

“Do you get to choose who impregnates you?” Strap snapped back at me, turning awkwardly in the cramped space, wincing as she put pressure on her wounded leg, “Or can any sick bastard with a bigger gun than you tell you to lift tail and spread cheeks?”

“I...you’re not listening—” I tried to say, stomping a hoof.

“You don’t have anything of value to say, Skies, you lack the perspective!” Strap countered with a scowl, “From the perspective of the wasteland, you’ve lucked out so far. You got in with a decent group with decent food for a decent price. You’ve only been down here for a week and the worst that’s happened is a few bruises and maybe a wounded psyche,” she cast her eyes to my belly, “but, how much longer do you need before you can pop that foal out? How much longer is your luck going to last?

“Those raiders that are chasing us?” she threw a gesture to the back of the wagon, “If they catch you, regardless of whether or not they kill you first, they will without a doubt rape you,” I couldn’t help but recoil at that, wanting to spit something foul back...but words failed me in that moment and she continued, “They won’t stop if you tell them you’re pregnant, they’ll laugh and grab a rusty, old coat hanger. They won’t care if you scream, they might even enjoy it more. When they’re done, you’ll be lucky to get a bullet in the brain, but if your luck ran out? They’ll drag you back to their den for seconds, thirds, and fourths. Your only chance at salvation is if one of them knocks you up and decides he wants a foal of his own. Then maybe, just maybe, they’ll let you off the rape hook until you pop out the foal, but then it’s back into the frying pan.

Leather Strap’s voice went quiet as she looked away from me, “I wasn’t alone when I got captured by raiders, we were in a caravan...just like this one. I wasn’t the only one they decided to keep around, but I was the only one that survived. That shit?” She continued, looking up and staring straight into my eyes, “That shit changes a pony, Skies. And from what I’ve seen, you can’t handle change. You wouldn’t survive...” She turned away with a shudder, staring at the floor for a moment, “You won’t survive.”

I didn’t quite know what to say to...all that. She’d shot down my argument at every turn, and thrown in some terrifying, tail-tucking mental images to boot. Again I saw the raiders and again I tried not to think what would’ve happened if Mist had been overwhelmed...yet her final comment drove the longest nail into the coffin.

“I...you...you don’t think we’ll make it?” I said, my stomach icing over as I threw a quick glance towards the rear of the wagon.

“I don’t know,” She shook her head, pawing at her mane, “it’s too close to tell and I honestly don’t know. If those raiders find us out here…” Strap gestured to all the wounded, “pretty much everyone in this wagon is guarenteed to die. The only question is how slowly. If you use that mass of gray matter between your ears and fly away, you’re the most likely to survive. The rest? Maybe if they’ve got another good run in them then they’ll survive; but they’re all running tired, at best they’ll put up a good fight and eat their guns before they’re overrun.

“I’m only thirty-four. I’m not old for a pony, but I am for a wastelander,” Strap continued, sounding tired now more than anything else, “I’ve faced bad odds before, and I’ve beaten bad odds before...but I’ve also lost to them. This is definitely one of those bad odds times, and Dual Gauge only made it worse by keeping us wounded along with him.”

“It was the right thing to do!” I asserted. The rest she could have, but I wasn’t going to give ground on that issue.

“And sometimes doing the right thing gets you killed, Skies,” Strap sighed, “The wasteland isn’t a world of right and wrong, it’s a world of life and death.”

“Look, I just came here to get the number of wounded and their jobs. Dual Gauge wanted a head count,” I changed the subject, looking around the cramped wagon, “Is Kiddo around? I didn’t see her out there.”

Strap shrugged as she turned back to the wounded, “I dunno, haven’t seen her since yesterday. She probably went with another group. If not then hell, maybe she up and joined our raider pals and their pet ghouls!”

“How can you say that?” I took a short step back. Kiddo was her, well kid, her foal, her offspring, yet my own belly gave me a pinch and again I saw the raider’s leering eyes on me. In a moment of darkness, I asked myself the terrible question: would I ever be able to love a pony born of rape? A child forced upon me from some horrible creature I’d never love, I’d never wanted to love? I had ultimately forced Cloud Poker’s hoof (and other parts of him) in not committing to safe sex, but what if it had been the other way around? Would I have walked into that abortion clinic and...no, I didn’t want to think about that, I didn’t want to go down that trail of thought. Whatever the case might be, Leather Strap wasn’t going to be winning the mother of the year award any time soon.

“She’s my whelp, remember?” Strap sent me a quick glare, “And half raider to boot, wherever she is, she’ll live.

“As to this lot?” Strap continued, gesturing with a hoof to the wounded, “Ten; one cook, four defenders, three pullers, one medical pony, and one fixer. You got that?”

“One cook…” I said, reciting the numbers in my head until I had them memorized, “Got it.”

“Twenty-two…” Dual Gauge said the number to himself. His gray eyes seemed to lose their luster for a moment, his stalwart scowl cracking under pressure. A startled whinny escaped me as he stumbled and I hopped forth to help catch him.

The caravan came to a sudden halt, the quiet voices fading as all eyes fell on the old unicorn. A second flashed by and his jellied legs were stiff once more, wizened face scowling again as ever.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“It’s nothing, I’m fine,” Dual Gauge replied, throwing a look to the others that got them moving again, “Just...a loose stone…”

I kept my doubts to myself on that matter as the caravan got moving again. Hushed voices started up once more, though as I looked around I spotted a decent number of eyes washing over Dual Gauge.

“Just a little over a hundred ponies when we started out…” Dual Gauge mumbled to himself, eyes cast to the ground.

“What?” I asked.

“What? Nothing, it’s nothing.”

An uneven silence resumed in the wake of our conversation. Wagon wheels rumbled and bumped over dirt and occasional whispers were carried to my ears through the night time air. I began to wonder again on our chance of survival; it had been some time since we heard the group to the south get attacked, maybe the raiders had given up after all...

“Do you…” I began to ask Dual Gauge, finding his gray eyes locking onto my own, “Do you think we’ll make it?”

Dual Gauge held my gaze for a few short moments before casting his eyes to the darkness ahead once more. He remained grimly quiet for a few moments longer before he spoke.

“All that matters is spreading the word about these raiders,” Dual Gauge seemed to dodge the question, “The whole point of splitting up the caravan wasn’t to save everyone, it’s about something bigger than that.”

That was decidedly not what I wanted to hear right now, “But...but I...I don’t want to die!” I winced at the number of heads that turned at my outburst, mentally smacking myself for it.

“Nopony sane of mind does,” Dual Gauge spoke, eyes losing focus as a knot formed in his throat, “All the same, death takes everypony whether they like it or not...”

I felt a soft pinch in my belly, High Brass bleeding under my hooves for a moment before I forced the memory back behind the curtains.

“Whatever the case—” Dual Gauge said with a deep breath, cutting himself short as he came to a sudden halt.

“Dual Gauge?” I asked, stopping beside him.

“Shh!” he hissed, dropping his voice, “Halt! Halt!”

The others in the caravan echoed Dual Gauge’s command in hushed whispers and a tense silence fell over us. My ears strained, swivelling back and forth as my eyes fought a losing battle against the surrounding gloom.

‘What I wouldn’t give for just a little moonlight!’ I worried.

Beside me, Dual Gauge stood tense and still, sniffing at the air. Taking the hint, I took a cautious whiff as well, wincing at the sharp smell of unwashed clothes and the sickly-sweet scent of decay...wait.

No.

No! No! No! My tail tucked tight as I felt panic squeeze my heart, wings coming away from my sides. Using my inherent weathersense, I felt the soft ebb and flow of the cool nighttime air, letting the drafts flow through my feathers as I zeroed in on the direction.

That second smell, the one that made me want to run and hide, was being wafted ever so gently from directly ahead of us.

I didn’t want to say it, I didn’t want to think it, but all the same I saw Dual Gauge’s eyes find my wings. He turned his eyes to mine as I folded them back against my sides, reading my stricken look like a book.

Then the fateful word dropped from Dual Gauge’s lips: “Ghouls.”

“A-and we...we’re sure it isn’t, like, a bunch of dead bodies or...I dunno, something else!?” I whimpered, not wanting to accept the cards that fate had dealt us.

“Yeah, 'cause we’re just gonna run into a nasty batch'a dead bodies,” Cookie grumbled, giving me a withering look, “Y’know what? Why don’t ya go'n fly onwards and see fer yerself what—”

“Cookie, that’s enough!” Dual Gauge stomped a hoof, silencing the glowering cook and turning to me, “In any case, I am going to ask that you go with the scouts, Skies.”

“What?!” I kept my outburst at a whisper this time, turning to Dual Gauge with wide eyes, “B-but I...I’m just a medical pony, I—”

“You’re a medical pony, but you’re also a pegasus,” he pointed a hoof to the wings I had plastered to my trembling sides, “You have keen feel for the weather, right? Winds?”

I nodded, unable to trust my trembling voice.

“Then you’ll be able to keep the other scouts downwind, guide them in and confirm or disprove our fears,” Dual Gauge explained, “and if things go south, you can fly. It’ll be a hell of a lot harder for them to detect you if you’re airborne.”

“That’s the plan, then?” Break Action gave me a quick glare before turning her eyes to Dual Gauge, “The three of us plus her go track down these ghouls?”

Dual Gauge gave a nod, “If you can find out where they are and what they’re doing we should be able to either sneak around them or wait for them to pass by.

“And if it comes to the worst and you’re detected, you, Axle Grease, and Marrowbone are the fastest three ponies we’ve got outside of Restless and Marsh Runner. Skies,” he turned to me, “You’ve still got that flaregun, we know the ghouls will follow it. If you’re detected, use it to distract the ghouls.”

“Again, I’ll suggest unhooking the wagon and leaving the wounded behind,” Strap spoke up, “Hell, use us as a distraction and get your sorry asses a head start. I can take the flaregun and—”

“We’ve lost enough ponies, Strap!” Dual Gauge snapped back, turning to the rest of us, “Night-time’s a'wasting, get a move-on before dawn takes away our cover.”

“Will do,” Break Action replied, turning to me with a sour growl, “C’mon, buzzard, let’s put that weathersense of yours to good use!”

It was nothing short of a miracle that the sound of my hammering heart hadn’t given us away yet. It was practically I all could hear as I let the air flow through my feathers, ears erect and straining against the thundering sound.

I did my best to combat the panic rising through my body like a warm front, concentrating on my breathing. In and out and in and out...yet the more I breathed, the more I smelled the rotting decay of the ghouls. Keeping downwind of them meant that they couldn’t smell us, but we could still very much smell them.

And now we could hear them as well.

Faint animalistic growls and grumbles could be heard on the wind, followed closely by a cacophony of noises that made my face flush. Guttural moans and groans and wet, sloppy sounds of two ponies in coitus. The second set of sounds was coming from the left of the ghoul herd, the other ponies all exchanging looks in the darkness. With a gesture, Break Action signaled for us to zero in on the two fornicators.

Moving in, we were close enough now that the shifting shapes of ghouls were visible in the dark. Their snaps and snarls clearly audible and very much terrifying as their silhouettes shifted like a mass of black ooze.

We stopped atop a low hill overlooking the mass of shifting shapes, laying low in the grimy dirt. Somewhere in the back of my head I promised myself a good, deep clean the second I saw a working shower or bath.

Break Action waved to the others in the dark, grabbing a viciously large knife in her maw and pointing to it with a hoof. Marrowbone gave a nod, drawing a long, pointed bayonet of his own. The two then crept quietly off towards the sounds of two raiders, though the two were so focused on their…deed that I doubted they’d have heard them at all.

A short moment passed, then a startled whinny was cut short and silence from the two raiders followed. There was a sudden disturbance amongst the ghouls, as if they sensed something was amiss, but after another moment Break Action and Marrowbone returned unharmed.

“Just the two of them, then?” Axle Grease whispered.

Break Action gave a short nod in the darkness, “Didn’t see a third, maybe—”

“Are you two sorry fucks done fuckin’ around yet!?” a sour voice sprung up from my left, down the slope of the hill. Everypony dropped, eyes and ears scouring the darkness until we spotted another dark shape headed for where the raiders had been, “I’m filthy, stinkin’ tired of you two getting it on, and I swear if either of you tell me to go stick mine in one of them ghouls, I’ll cut yours off and feed ‘em to the rotting bastards!”

“What do we do!?” I hissed, ‘When he finds his dead friends…’

“Goddesses damnit!” Break Action snarled, drawing her knife and charged towards the voice.

“Where the hell are you two, can’t hardly see in this damn—” the raider’s voice was cut short by a violent sound of two bodies impacting and a shout, “Hey! Lemme—” the raider’s voice cut out again, followed by the sound of shuffling hooves...and snaps and snarls from the ghouls. They were starting to sense that something was amiss!

All of us went tense, my wing dipping into my saddlebags and finding the flaregun. A gangly mass appeared in the darkness, Axle Grease and Marrowbone raising their weapons, only to lower them as Break Action appeared. A dirty-looking earth pony was at her side, Break Action’s knife to his throat.

“Ca’ ‘fem off!” Break Action hissed through her knife’s handle, digging the blade deeper into his skin.

“Oh, they won’t attack,” the raider snarled, eyeing the rest of us with a foul look, “Not until I tell ‘em to, that is!” he let out a low chuckle, “They listen good, real good, they’ll rip you limb from limb if I choose to say so and there ain’t nothin’! Nothin’ that’ll stop them besides me tellin’ ‘em to stop gnawin’ and start, ruttin’!”

“Screw this. Skies?” Axle Grease turned to me, “Give ‘em something to chase.”

It took my fear-addled brain a moment to process what she meant, but when it clicked, I pulled my wing quickly out of my bag, procuring the flare gun.

“What the hell are you…” The raider’s glaring eyes were lit up as my flare arced up, up and away from where we were.

The effect was immediate, and altogether terrifying, as the ghouls growled and snapped their way after the flare, disappearing over a dune.

“Well shit…” the raider said. Then his eyes bulged wide and he gave a gurgled whimper as Break Action drove her blade into his throat, shoving him to the ground. He squirmed, hooves pawing at his throat as blood spilled out in the dirt around him...wait.

I was starting to be able to make out the finer details.

Soft light was beginning to spill across the wasteland.

“Okay, ponies, let’s get back to the caravan, move, move!” Break Action called, turning back towards were we’d left the caravan.

“Screw that noise, we need to get the hell out of here! Oasis Springs can’t be far,” Axle Grease countered, squinting at the brightening horizon, “They can find their own way, the path is clear.”

“Yeah, but for how long?” Break Action didn’t budge, “They’ll need all the guns they can get if shit goes sideways.”

“What the hell are three guns going to do that what they got back there can’t?” Axle Grease retorted, casting me a quick sideways glance, “No offence to Ms. Pegasus and her shotgun.”

‘Hey!’ I mentally whined, though I had to admit...

“Sorry, gals, but I’m in agreement with Axle here, we gotta get to Oasis Springs, come on!” Marrowbone seconded, turning and cantering off. Axle Grease wasn’t far behind.

“Fine, fuck the lot of you then, you included, buzzard!” Break Action snarled, turning back and hoofing it towards the caravan at full tilt.

“I didn’t even…” I started, finding myself suddenly alone in the fading darkness. It wasn’t even a second before I was flying after Break Action, ‘Stupid nag,’ I growled to myself, ‘Of all ponies, why would I ditch the others!?’

“Skies, Break Action!” Dual Gauge had his pistols out and ready as we found the caravan once more. Break Action gave me a quick, unreadable glance as we zeroed in on Dual Gauge to report in, “Where are the others, did they—”

“Fucking scumbags decided to bail,” Break Action reported before I could say anything, “We found a small horde and three raiders, cleared them out and moved them off, but Axle Grease and Marrowbone decided to fuck off to Oasis Springs on their own.”

“At least they’re safe,” Dual Gauge said, taking the information in stride.

Break Action grew tight lipped at the statement, but said nothing more as she cantered towards Rusty Ratchet.

“You did good, Skies,” Dual Gauge reassured me with a nod.

Soon enough small lines of smoke were rising towards the cloud cover ahead of us. Again the images I’d seen of Burnout fell into my mind, rising horror making me wonder if whoever had got them had found Oasis Springs, too. But Dual Gauge reassured me that it was just regular cookfires and the like.

“Oasis Springs, as the name implies, is built up around a series of hot springs; water’s too hot to bathe in directly, but it’s rad free. Place like that’s got security tighter than a filly’s flankhole...pardon the expression.

“One of the, shall we say...fancier places in the wasteland, but without all the bullshit politics of places like Tenpony Tower or the low life ‘gangsters’ of Pennyworth. Oasis Springs is all about good business through and through.”

“Not from around here…” I spoke up, still keeping my head on a swivel.

“Oh, right. Well, Tenpony Tower’s an old hotel run by a bunch of butt-sniffing snobs who’ll stab you in the back soon as sell you the knife. Pennyworth’s an old casino run by some old ghoul who’s all about squeezing her customers for caps just so they’ll come back to lose more,” Dual Gauge turned to me, “Neither place is worth a damn, far as I’m concerned.”

“Wait, how can a place be run by a ghoul? Or was that not meant to be literal?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Not all ghouls are feral,” Dual Gauge put it simply, “Some of them still have every ounce of wit and humor they had back before they up and became amortal.”

Soon enough the tops of watch towers and walls appeared ahead of us, and our steps became faster as salvation finally came into sight.

‘We’re going to make it!’ I thought, almost cheering as I began to make out ponies atop the towers, ‘We survived!’

And for once fate decided to throw us a bone.

"I can see it!" Doughy shouted excitedly.

The light of the sun (even hidden by the clouds) all but gleamed over the horizon, and for the first time since landing in this wind-blasted wasteland I felt a true kindle of hope. White wisps I had previously mistaken for clouds I now saw as rising pockets of steam and mist above the town that would be our salvation. These were joined in part by darker trickles of smoke, probably campfires and the like.

As we approached closer, I made out a squat, flat mesa of reddish dirt, layered like a massive cake before us. Just off center were the tall, steep walls that enclosed the town, made of sheet metal and hardened clay. Here and there a watchtower poked up over the wall, small moving shapes likely guards within.

Dead center stood a set of tall metal gates, powerful and imposing. Daring all who saw them to test their strength with any number of war machines. While before I had harbored fears of seeing Burnout again, now I saw that those fears were unwarranted. If anything, the place looked imposing, and I couldn't help but nudge Dual Gauge.

"Um, this is suppose to be a town and not some, I don't know, evil lair of a dragon or something?"

The old pony let out a chuckle as some life seemed to return to him, “That’s the look they’re going for. Make it look mean and imposing to keep the riff raff well away. Town’s been around for...oh, I dunno, years now. Built well before I was ever born. It’ll be standing when my bones are nothing but dust, for sure,” he said, speeding up ahead of the caravan and stopping before the gates.

“Dual Gauge!” Dual Gauge called up to a pair of heads poked over the side, all of us anxious to get inside, “We have urgent news about a band of raiders! I need to speak with Wrangler immediately.”

The two ponies atop the gate exchanged glances, “You’re not due for another week or so,” one of them spoke up, looking over our group, “And you’re a good number of wagons short.”

“Like I said,” Dual Gauge said, staring up at the two with his stiff, gray eyes, “We have urgent news about a band of raiders.”

This time it was nervous glances exchanged between the two ponies.

“Open the gates!” the one that had spoken called down, “I’ll have someone get you to Wrangler.”

“And do me a favor...” Dual Gauge continued as the gates swing outwards, “Keep an eye on the horizon.”

Time seemed to speed up once the gates to oasis Springs closed behind us. Dual Gauge disappeared and Leather Strap took command, barking orders for the wagon to be taken to the medical center. Break Action glared around, probably trying to spot Axle Grease and Marrowbone, but everypony else followed with a renewed vigor in their step. We were safe at long last! We’d made it to Oasis Springs, to safety!

And speaking of, this place was stunning!

My only taste of the wasteland had been an old abandoned church, a dead town, and a bunch of smelly caravaners. This was something utterly new!

It was nowhere near as large as even the smallest city above the clouds, but Oasis Springs was bustling with activity. The buildings, while basic, were upright and stiff standing, not the rotting, sagging buildings of Burnout. The ponies here, while often sporting nasty looks at the sight of a pegasus, seemed decently groomed for the most part. The dirt streets were clear of debris and well traveled with wagons kept to the center and equestrians to the sides.

Soon enough we came across a large, white tent with a trio of pink butterflies on every side. Everypony still walking helped get the wounded out of the wagon and into the tent. Then everypony still walking got a quick exam before we were released.

It was only once I stepped out of the tent that I felt the gravity of my situation fall square on my back…

“We made it!” I called out, hopping joyously into the air. Everything we’d done, all the sacrifices we’d made, all the blood and the death was finally at an end! Leather Strap was the last out of the tent, jerking her head for me to follow.

“Come on,” Leather Strap said with a sudden, small smile, “I think you’ll like this.”

Curious, but also very confused at the positivity from the downtrodden mare, I followed her around the tent, noticing that most of the others were heading this way as well. As we all got behind the white, tarp walls my eyes lit up.

“Are those…” I was almost too afraid to ask and jinx myself.

“Not much privacy, but yes,” Strap said, limping along, “those are showers. Draw directly from the springs so the water’s actually hot.”

“Hey, Leather Strap!” a darkly colored earth pony sitting off to one side of the shower area called out, hopping off a barrel and approaching. “What happened to your leg?”

“It’ll heal, Deep Drink. You still in charge of the showers?” Strap replied, her unsour tone almost making her a new mare.

“Yeah,” the earth pony nodded, eyes finding my wings and a scowl crossing his features, “Who—”

“She’s with the caravan,” Strap answered his unspoken question.

“Officially?”

“Officially,” Strap nodded as I gave Drink an uncomfortable smile.

“If you say so,” Drink jerked his head towards the showers, “Anyway, Dual Gauge said to put you guys on his water tab.”

“Really!?” Restless perked up from in front of us, “Sweet!”

“Hey, don’t you go wasting water, asshat,” Drink grumbled, “Water’s still water, so don’t go letting it go to waste!” He turned to Strap, throwing me another quick glance, “Well, you look like shit, Strap, no offense, so go treat yourself.”

“Sure thing, Drink,” Strap smiled.

Water!

Warm, fresh, glorious water was running down my sides, through my mane, across my wings. I gave a shudder of delight, giggling like a madmare at the blissful sensation, not a care in the world. All my troubles felt like they were being washed away with the grit and grime and blood…

High Brass choked on his own blood, his throat a gaping, red maw.

“No, no, no!” I muttered, squeezing my eyes shut and pressing a hoof to my temple. I didn’t want to think about that, I couldn’t! I worked to shove that into the darkest recess of my memory. I needed this! I had to allow myself a moment of bliss, or I was going to go crazy.

“Hey,” Strap drew me away from my inner demons, my eyes finding her own pink pair, as she showered across from me, separated by a chest-high divider, “We’re not there anymore, we’re here, we’re alive, we made it. We’ve still got luck to spare.”

“Not everyone made it,” I mumbled. There was still no sign of either of the other groups.

“Not everyone who woke up today will wake up tomorrow,” Strap said, taking a moment to scrub at her mane, “That’s life, ponies live, ponies die, nothing you can do about it.”

“You’re a doctor...we’re doctors, of course there’s something we can do about it!” I countered, “We...we save ponies, stitch up their wounds, set their bones, save their lives!”

Leather Strap was silent for a moment, “Maybe,” she finally answered, “You can’t save everyone, but take solace in saving the ones that you can save. Learn from those that you can’t; whether that be coming to terms with the fact that you never could save them, or that maybe you could have if things had gone differently.”

She had started to make me feel better, which I never thought I’d be thinking about somepony like Leather Strap, but the end of her statement only started my mind down its dark path again. There were so many ways it could’ve gone differently, if I’d only...

Seeking a distraction, I poked one wing out towards my saddlebags, digging out a pair of bottles: liquid soap and shampoo.

“Really?” I heard Leather Strap chuckle as I started to lather up, “When you packed to face the apocalypse, you brought soap and shampoo?”

“Yeah, so?” I grumbled, scrubbing mane and opening one eye as the bubbles ran down my face. I noted the simple bar she was currently using. It looked and smelled like it was made from rendered fat, “You...you want to use some?”

That gave the mare pause, halting her scrubbing for a moment before stopping, “Sure, why not give the fancy pegasus shampoo a try?” she relented, taking the offered bottle in her magic and squeezing some into her mane, “Smells nice,” she admitted, suddenly speaking up as she lifted the bottle, “Hey, anybody wanna try some of this fancy pegasus stuff?”

“What!?” I startled, as ears perked up and heads turned, “Hey, don’t…” I trailed off as all eyes turned to me, sighing with a smile, “Just don’t use it all up, okay!” I called out.

Footnote: Level Up!

Skills increased:

+Sneak

+Small guns

Perk attained: Intense Training – It almost seems like fate has taken a liking to you, sure seems to feel that way! You gain a +1 to your Luck attribute (7)

Pegasus perk: Weathersense I – You’ve always had an innate feeling for the weather, you just never knew there were other applications for it! You are now harder to detect so long as you remain downwind of your enemies.

Author's Notes:

It's finally here, fellow survivors!

EDIT: Some scenes were edited on 12/08/18 and 01/24/19.