I looked around the lunch room. It was small, but then again, there were few foals in the Prison.

They sat at their tables, eating the lunches so ‘graciously’ provided by the Guards, while they waited to return to the single class, to hear more of the Guards ‘generosity’.

A small zebra filly sat alone with her tray and its contents. She looked so forlorn. I put on my best smile, and sat next to her.

“Hi there!” I said as cheerfully as I could. “My name’s Diamond! What’s yours?”

She looked at me, surprised. Looking at her dark green eyes, I realized that she’d been crying. She sniffled. “M-my name’s… Zeed… Kazdri…”

“Woah. Your name sounds cool! What are you so sad for? Did something bad happen?”

She looked at me like I was crazy. “My daddy just got exiled.”

“Ouch. I kinda know how you feel. My dad got exiled a long time ago.” I rubbed my chin in thought.

She continued to stare at me as if I’d sprouted a second horn. “But… You’re not sad at all?”

I shrugged. “Nope. Well… yes, but he always says that there’s not much point in being sad all the time. So I’m not!”

She smiled at me, and wiped her eyes.

“Say, you wanna see Lockpick get a face full of frosting?” I asked, holding up a cupcake.

Her smile changed into a grin as I chucked the cupcake at the unsuspecting filly a few tables over.

~~~~

I awoke with a loud groan. My head was throbbing like I had the mother of all hangovers, and all my muscles were sore, and I couldn’t open my right eye. There was an itch in the back of my head, one that I couldn’t seem to scratch, as if the bone itself was itching, and it was covered in bandages. I tried to throw my pillow over my head and go back to sleep, but the lack of said pillow made it difficult.

With another groan, I slowly opened my good eye to find that I was in what looked like an infirmary. Turning myself over, I saw Zeed sleeping on a chair beside me, her head resting in her forelegs on my cot. I noticed that one of her legs was splinted. Behind her was a familiar box, with a trio of blue butterflies on the front. It looked like someone had tried many times to break it open, as it was heavily dented, and the paint was scratched in many places.

I tried to remember what had happened to me. This didn’t look like the Prison’s infirmary, at least not the one in Section 3.

What was I doing… oh… right…

Clothesline shot me. She lost it and tried to kill me, I thought to myself. Obviously, she failed, but that doesn’t explain what I’m doing in here.

I tried to roll out of the cot and stand, but I only managed to flop onto the floor and puke my guts out.

After a bit more groaning and a little sobbing, I finally managed to stand on my four shaky hooves. This lasted all of fifteen seconds, as I was almost immediately hit by a black, white, and red blur that was sobbing loudly.

“Argh! Zeed! Crushing… me…” I gasped as she hugged me tightly with her uninjured foreleg.

With a sheepish grin, she let me go. I could tell that she’d been crying. “Sorry… it’s just… I thought we’d lost you.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I feel like-“ I was interrupted by another bout of nausea. A pool of bile trickled towards a drain in the center of the floor. I fell back onto my side, and groaned again. “Yup… I feel like shit.”

“Knives… Your voice…” She coughed lightly.

“What about my voi-“ I blinked a few times. “Right. ‘Course Ah fergot that.”

“I still don’t know why you do that accent at all.”

“Sign ay respect. Let’s leave it at that,” I let out a sigh. “Goddesses mah head hurts.”

“Yeah… about that… I… uh… How do you feel right now?” She was switching into her ‘doctor mode’ again.

“Mah head feels like somepony smashed a hammer intae it, mah muscles are sore as aw hell, and Ah’d like to go back tae sleep. Why?” I yawned. Then I noticed that she was shifting from side to side, which was not a good sign for me, as it meant she was nervous. “What? What’s wrong?”

“It put something in your head. We managed to get some of the imaging equipment here working, but I just can’t get a clear image of what the damn thing did,” she started pacing, her broken leg making it difficult for her. “All I get is a small, shadowy blob in your cerebellum! It’s not a tumor, I can tell that much, but it’s frustrating. I don’t know if I should try and do a biopsy or try and get that auto-doc on analysis mode. I-“

“Zeed, Ah didnae understand a word ay that. Could ye try an’ spick in Equestrian?”

She blinked at me a few times. “Right… Sorry… You have a thing in your head and I don’t know what it is.”

“How did it get there? Did Ah drink too much again?”

“Well… You were shot in the head… Lost your eye… Oh…” She paled. My surprise must have shown on my face. “I should have mentioned that first. I can’t believe I actually forgot. Oh shit… Knives I…”

I shrugged. “Just an eye. Nothin’ tae worry yourself abit.”

She looked at me like I’d sprouted a second horn. “That’s… Not the reaction I was expecting… You’re not upset or anything?”

“Not really. Worse things have ‘ave happened tae me, an’ Ah can still see well enough. Didn’t really care that Ah lost mah sense ay taste an’ smell when ah did either,” I snorted. “Nae much Ah can dae about it anyway. Nao, about th’ thing in mah head?”

She muttered something along the lines of ‘you can’t stand to touch a door…’ before she continued. “Well… Trowel just happened to be wandering nearby… with a portable auto-doc…” She grew paler, a remarkable feat considering that most of her face was white anyway. “He heard me… screaming… and ran to help. We put you in the box and it… Did… Things… it fixed all of your injuries… and put something in your skull…”

As she trailed off I felt that I had to ask something. “Are ye tellin’ me… that somepony just happened tae be wanderin’ by with a box that puts ponies back together?”

She nodded meekly.

“Damn. Ah knew Ah was lucky, but that’s just ridiculous.”

“One in a million I’d say,” said a voice from my right, just outside of my new field of view.

I nearly jumped right out of my skin as I screamed. “Mother of Luna! Where in the hell did you come from?”

“Knives…” Zeed coughed. “Voice…”

“Right…” I sighed. “Why th’ hell did ye sneak up on me like that?”

“Sneak up on you?” The light green buck said in an undignified manner. “Why in the hell would…”

As his words tapered away, I noticed that Zeed was pointing to her right eye, to which he responded with a knowing nod. “Ah, right. Sorry, I forgot about your… eh… injury. I assure you, it wasn’t intentional.”

“Nae… Nae. That was mah fault. Aam gonna have tae get used to this eye,” I smiled and put out a hoof. “Anyway, Aam Knives.”

“Bladed Trowel,” he responded as we shook hooves. “Welcome to the Canturbury Hellhole. I hear you come from a prison?”

“Aye. That we did,” my smile changed into a frown. “Where are we now?”

“Most of us call it ‘The Northwestern Safehouse’. It’s a day’s walk away from where I found you two. It used to be one of the minor medical bays before the war… I think. Might have been major. Hell, for all I know it might have been a storage facility. Celestia knows that nothing those scientists did ever made any sense.”

I’d stopped listening after he said ‘a day’s walk’. I turned to Zeed, with look of irritation. “’Day’s walk’?”

She paled again, laughing nervously. “Aheh… Uh…”

“How long, Zeed?”

“Three days?”

I balked. “Three days? Ah’ve been out fer three whole days? Ye couldnae mention that earlier?”

“Hey, don’t get mad at me. I didn’t think it was that important,” She growled. “You’re awake now aren’t you? What would you have done in that time anyway?”

“Ye could ‘ave just- urp… Oh Goddesses,” a wave of dizziness and nausea passed over me, and I fell to the ground, groaning, clutching my roiling stomach with one hoof and my aching head with another.

“Knives?” Zeed’s look of irritation was quickly replaced with one of deep concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Ah feel like crap, is what. Wish Ah could just go back tae sleep,” I groaned again. I tried not to vomit.

Zeed ran out of the room, calling “I’ll be right back.”

A few moments passed.

Trowel bent down and looked me in the eyes. “So… Who’d you piss of that made them want to kill you?”

“Her name is Clothesline, and apparently all Ah had tae do is exist,” I choked back more vomit, covering my mouth with a hoof again. “Can we not talk right nao? I’m not feelin’ tae well.”

He chuckled. “Fine by me.”

Zeed returned carrying a bottle with a strap attached. “Sleeping potion. Considering how you’re probably feeling, you might need it.”

Taking the bottle in my magical grip, I took a couple sips, and gave it back to the concerned-looking zebra. I didn’t even have time to thank her before I passed out.

Cold dark tunnel.

No walls. Only cold, dark blackness.

My hoofsteps echoing off the endless void.

I am carried by the sanitary white tiles.

I can see it in the distance.

An enormous gem. A gleaming spire in the emptiness.

I know that gem. I’d created it myself.

The only thing keeping HER hidden. Locked away.

I don’t want to be here. I want to turn around and walk away.

Yet, I continue on anyway. I need to go on.

I have to make sure she’s still inside.

Need to patrol the prison, do my rounds, be the guard.

I hear her laugh.

“Knives! So glad to see you.” That smile, her teeth sharp points, insincere, full of hate. “It’s been too long.”

“Ah can’t say th’ same.”

“Hah! Even in here you use that stupid accent? Trying to keep the memories of daddy alive?” That laugh. Her slitted silver eyes narrowing, burning into my soul. “You still think you can differentiate yourself? How stupid of you.”

She spits on the walls of her prison. Smoke rises from the liquid.

“Shut up. Ah don’t want tae hear yer voice.”

The clicking of her hooves on the gemstone’s inner wall. Her tail twitching back and forth, writhing, the blade sparking off the gem’s surface with every strike. The clearish grey flash as she tries to force her way out by magic.

She growls.

“You can’t keep me in here forever, Knives. You’ll crack soon.” The last word echoes of the infinite void. She bares her inequine teeth, they mesh together perfectly. “I. Will. Be. Free.”

I stare into those eyes. Empty. Heartless. Monstrous.

“I’m never letting you out! You’ll stay here ‘till we’re both dead, you hear me?” I scream.

Another smile.

“Knives, You forgot your voice again,” She chuckles. “You’re slipping.”

Glaring, I turn away from HER.

Her laughter echoes in my ears again.

I can hear the hatred in her voice.

“See you soon… Knives.”

My head still hurt when I awoke, but at the very least I was no longer nauseous. I rolled off of the cot again, successfully landing on my hooves this time, and yawned.

I began my usual morning ritual.

First, my shoulders.

CRACK

Second, my back.

SNAP. POP. CRACK.

Finally, my neck.

POP.

I continued by rolling the rest of my joints around in their sockets and stretching my legs out. For some reason that I’d never quite understood, my body had a tendency to stiffen up whenever I slept. Doing this also helped me to relax and forget dreams like the one I’d just had. I could already feel my fear passing, becoming little more than an afterthought. I yawned again, this time so hard that my entire body shuddered.

My head clear, I looked around at my surroundings. The box was still there, but Zeed and Trowel were nowhere to be seen.

I was about to call out to them when I heard a loud bang.

I zipped through the corridors. Junk was everywhere, most of it used to be equipment of medical nature. A few skeletons were lying in the middle of the walkways here and there. I vaulted over these, the muted sound of my unshod hooves echoing through the halls with each landing.

Finally, I heard the two of them in a heated debate. The words were unclear, drowned out by a loud screeching noise. Rounding a corner, I found the two of them trying to force a door shut, past a mass of wailing ponies. They both wore gas masks, giving a somewhat eerie look. The screeching sound was the wind wailing throughout the entrance.

Trowel was the first to notice me. Holding the door with his hooves, he pulled a third mask out of his saddlebags and threw it at me, screaming something as he did, and motioned for me to help with the door. Slipping the mask over my muzzle, I grabbed the closest thing that I could hit with, a discarded IV rack, and ran to the entryway.

I started whacking away at the many hooves and legs that were trying to force their way through the door. A wall of unintelligible screams was rolling over my ears. I could make out a few words, but not enough to make any sense.

I looked at their eyes, every single one the same shade of red.

No iris.

No whites.

Just a blood red orb with a black dot.

The screaming winds continued, the sound making a strange harmony with the screaming, all the sounds rising and falling in time with one another.

I thought I might be dreaming again.

Until one of them got a hold of my leg, that is.

With more than a hint of panic, I flailed the IV rack at the offending forelimb wrapped around my own. The magically held rack began to bend and warp with the fury of my blows. I decided to just snap it in half, and jabbed one jagged end into the pony behind the limb. He shrieked and fell off of me, back into the mass of ponies.

I got back on my hooves and used my body to push the door as hard as I could. For the first time in my life, I wished that I wore shoes. My hooves slipping on the metal ramp, I scrambled to keep on the pressure as the ponies retracted their arms from the aperture.

We finally managed to shut the door, and it emitted a faint click as Trowel engaged the electronic lock. I could still hear the crazies moaning. Their cries carried meaning in them, something along the lines of “Come with us! We only want to be your friends! Come look at this thing we found and be just like us!” (read: let us eat your souls!)

The three of us stood there, panting in our gas masks.

Zeed tore hers from her face and screamed. “Luna fuck me with the stars, the moon, and whatever the fuck else she feels like! Who in the fuck were they? Friends of yours?”

“Them? In The Mall we call ‘em ‘paths’. I warned you about this. I told you they would come sooner or later,” he said, voice muffled by the gas mask. “They’re a pretty good reason to stay out of the Mists.”

“The what now? Could you maybe… I dunno… EXPLAIN THIS TO ME?” I actually backed away a bit in slight fear, afraid that she might snap at any moment. I hadn’t seen her this pissed since she came out to her mother. “We almost got killed by those Luna-damned freaks!”

“You know, for a zebra, you seem to have an odd obsession with Luna…”

“DON’T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!” She pointed at the door, standing on her hind legs. She was panting heavily, fury in her eyes. I could see where this was going. I began to search for a decent amount of water. “Explain. Now.”

To his credit, Trowel didn’t even flinch, or at least I think he didn’t, I couldn’t quite tell due to the mask that he seemed to have forgotten he was wearing.

Oh! Even better than water, I found a partially functional icebox! I magically grabbed a bucket and scooped up some of the freezing water.

“I assume you’ve seen that orange haze on the ground? Yeah. Try and stay away from it. Nopony has any fucking clue what it is, but the ‘paths tend to hang around in it. Sometimes you get clouds of it floating around, and that’s when you get situations like this, where the path’s follow it around.”

When he was silent for a few moments, Zeed growled and put a hoof to her forehead. “And what exactly do these ‘’paths’ try and do to you?”

He shrugged. “Like I said. I have no fucking idea. All I know is that if you get caught by the ‘paths, you’re never seen again. Oooooh, scary!”

Her eye was twitching violently, she was shaking. She was definitely losing it. “HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM ABOUT THIS? WE ALMOST DIED!”

“Zeed, ye really need tae relax. You’re panicking.”

Trowel turned his head in my direction. I think that was a look of surprise behind his mask. “That’s panic?”

“PANICKING? I’M FINE!” She was clenching her teeth so hard I thought they might crack. “DON’T PATRONI-“

I dropped the water on her. She squeaked as her body shuddered violently, and her face turned slightly red.

Trowel removed his mask and rubbed his eyes in confusion. “What the fuck did you do to her?”

“She really weird about cold water,” I trotted over to Zeed. “Feelin’ better?”

She gave me a goofy grin and nodded. Her normally spiky red mane was plastered to her face. She stood up, giggling a bit. Her face was still red. “Aheh… Sorry… I think I got a bit carried away…”

“Nae kiddin’. Aam supposed tae be th’ one with rage issues,” I sighed. “When was th’ last time ye slept right?”

Her eyes widened as she put a hoof to her mouth in thought. “I have no idea. I think it was in the Prison? I’m not sure. Fuck…”

“And ye though Ah needed the potion…” I scoffed, and she whined. “Och, come on Zeed. Don’t ye got enough mental problems as it is? Dae ye really need more sleep deprivation oan th’ list?”

She grumbled something about mothers as she trotted into a corner and got comfortable. Within seconds of sipping on the potion she was out like a broken light.

Trowel stared at the sleeping zebra with a look of irritation, having removed his mask moments before. “Okay. What in the fucking hell is wrong with her? She went from fear to rage to calm in ten seconds flat!”

“Zeed suffers from chronic insomnia. Oan top ay that she’s already prone tae mood swings,” I shook my head and sighed again. “Been like this fer as long as Ah've known her.”

I turned to Trowel, scowling, as I loudly put my forehooves together, sitting on my hind legs. “Nao… Ah never got a clear answer. What in th’ buck did that thing do tae mah head?”

“Why the fuck are you asking me? I don’t know shit about auto-docs.” Seeing my glare he groaned and returned the look. “Look… I don’t know, alright? I got it from a medical bay a few miles north of here. The only real reason I took it is because it’s portable. That’s worth a lot of caps.”

“A lot of what?”

He blinked at me a few times before he facehooved. “Right. You might as well be canned goods. We use bottle caps as currency. Don’t ask why.”

“Did ye just call me ‘canned goods’?” He rolled his eyes at me.

“You’ve lived in a sealed facility your whole life, right? Little or no contact with the outside world?” I nodded. “Well… Be you from a stable or whatever the hell your ‘Prison’ is you’re all canned goods. Make sense? Good. Now then, class is dismissed. Professor Trowel is done for the day, as I have dismembered limbs to clean up!”

I looked at the door and nearly retched. In the chaos of the fight I hadn’t noticed, but several pony forelegs were sitting just in front of the large metal exit, pools of coagulating blood around them. I was glad that Zeed hadn’t noticed, I don’t want to know what she’d have done if she’d seen that. I briefly wondered if I’d been the one to sever any of those appendages.

“And you know you’d have wanted to, don’t you Knives.”

I spun around to see where the voice had come from, only to find that nopony was there. I looked around. Nopony but Trowel and the sleeping Zeed. I shook my head.

“Hmm… It must have been th’ wind…” I thought aloud, then snorted. “Or one ay those crazies. Heh.”

As if to punctuate my statement, there was a loud thud from the door, making the two of us jump. Zeed just rolled over in her sleep, muttering something about ‘nice flanks’.

I began to wander through the Northwestern Safehouse.

~~~~~

“Celestia chuck me tae th’ sun,” I screamed. “Again? The same damn one again?”

I’d been wandering around for Celestia knows how long trying to find my way back to the entryway. Or the infirmary. Or anywhere I could backtrack from. I’d ended up in the same hallway about fourteen times now, and I was about ready to start smashing the walls down.

In three words or less: I was lost.

Grumbling, I sat in the middle of the hallway, trying for the umpteenth time to remember how I’d gotten here. I wished that I had a map. Maybe an electronic one. In the form of a large watch. With a radio. But that would be convenient, now wouldn’t it? So instead I just continued to wander through the hallways, calling out to Trowel and Zeed and hoping that one of them could hear me. I mostly did this by loudly cussing myself out for being an idiot.

As far as I could tell, this section of the facility had once served as the office complex, as the corridors were lined with rooms filled with file cabinets and desks with a very large number of clipboards. I ignored most of these, instead just stomping through the hallways in my irritation. There was so much dust around that just touching pretty much anything created huge clouds. The only sounds were those of my hooves on the tiles and my own breathing through my mask.

“Ah need a trail or something,” I mused. Taking a look into the closest room, I grimaced as I looked at the skeleton sitting in front of a terminal, its hooves still on the keyboard. I’d really wanted to avoid rummaging through the belongings of dead ponies. I absent-mindedly scratched at my eye socket; it had started itching as soon as I entered the complex.

I trotted over to the skeleton and, apologizing repeatedly to the dead pony, pushed it out of the seat. The first thing that I noticed was that the terminal was still on. There was a massive jumble of scientific crap that I had no hopes of understanding, but I did find a single message from some other pony.

Subject: Need help testing

Hey Reed, I think I finally got what I need to finish the armor. I’ve built it from that new memory compound the biotech folks came up with. Thing is, I need to find out what it takes to break it. Since I can’t exactly bring a hoofwitzer in here, I was hoping you could bring some of the guns in your collection? What I really need is a high caliber rifle. The plating has managed to resist everything else we’ve thrown at it so far. If you could help me with this that would be greatly appreciated.

-Storm

Well. That was a waste of time. I searched through the desk to find something I could track my progress with. I sighed in relief as I retrieved a large black marker.

The first thing I did was to write ‘START’ on the floor, followed by an arrow. I trotted down the hallways, feeling much better about myself as I drew more large arrows on the floor. Then the lights began to flicker. I swore loudly and started moving faster.

I managed to go several more hallways before the lights gave out completely.

“GODDESSES DAMN IT TAE HELL!” Then I rounded a corner to find a massive hulk of a robot. The four wheeled legs that had kept it standing had gone limp due to the lack of power, but the rocket launchers that it sported on its shoulders were fully loaded and very intimidating, despite the fact that the machine was in a bad state of disrepair, various plates falling off of its chassis. “Uh… Never mind… Ah take that back…”

I looked past the gigantic thing to find… another robot, identical to the other. And another one. And another. There were at least five of them, all inactive. Leaving a large line on the wall I darted past them, hoping to make it through before the power came back on.

I fell down the stairs at the end of the hall.

There was a sickening crunch and pain blossomed in my chest as I screamed.

I sat there a few moments to catch my breath. I gave my ribs an experimental poke and fought back tears as more pain coursed through my body. Probably broken. My eye socket was itching again.

Groaning in pain, I forced myself to my hooves. I found myself in a large circular room, with banks of computers lining the walls. A cylindrical glass case stood in the middle of the room, a small piece of paper magically suspended within. Curiously, I walked up to the case, and read the note.

Took suit to armor labs. Will return when testing is done.

-Storm

Well… That was a complete waste of time. The lights began to flicker again. I trotted over to the nearest terminal, and had just booted it up when my ears were filled with a loud, screeching siren.

I immediately jumped out of the seat and dashed towards the exit, only to find my way blocked.

“INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!”

A large box was hovering before me.

“STAND DOWN OR BE DESTROYED.”

I tried to push past it. As if anticipating my attempt, an arm-like appendage sprang from the bottom of the box, and slashed at me with an odd-looking stick.

I tried to dodge, only to get hit in my right flank. Spikes of pain shot through my body as I started twitching violently, screaming in agony.

I grabbed the floating box in my magic and threw it against the wall, where it exploded in a shower of sparks. I ripped the arm off of the robot. Small sparks of electricity seemed to float around the stick.

I limped my way back towards where I’d begun, only to find the five giant metal monstrosities active and in my way. I barely managed to duck to the side as the rockets flew past me into the back wall, the blast forcing me to my knees, shrapnel stabbing me across my body. I was bleeding a lot. I felt weak.

Five robotic voices shouted at me. “STAND DOWN OR BE DESTROYED.”

I stood shakily, and felt my good eye twitching. These things were pissing me off. I held to stick at the ready.

Then I charged.

“BUCK OFF YE WORTHLESS PILES AY JUNK!” I screamed as I repeatedly smashed the stick into one of the robot’s legs, which became covered in dancing sparks as the robots speakers started to fizzle. After several strikes, the limb gave way with a loud snap, and the machine toppled to the ground, still threatening me in its staticky voice. I charged again, this time past the forward robot, and into the one behind it. My vision was consumed by a haze of red rage as I swung away with my electrified weapon. “AAM HAVIN’ A REALLY BAD DAY!”

I saw the flare of red as one of the robots on the far end of the hall fired at me, only to hit the one I was currently fighting, turning it into so much scrap metal.

Charging the one behind me, I made several swipes at its photoreceptors, each one sparked as they were destroyed, and the robot began to fire wildly down the hall, several of the rockets striking its companion. I then began to smash away at the robot’s chassis, working my way towards its core, eventually breaking open one of its main oil tubes. I found myself covered in a wash of black liquid.

I let out a roar of rage as I charged my final mechanical opponent. Grabbing a nearby metal shard in my magic, I chucked it at the robot, right into the path of an incoming rocket. The explosion was close enough that the shrapnel tore into the robot, destroying a few vital components, and the machine slumped to the ground.

I took a few more moments to completely annihilate the robot with the damaged leg. My rage eventually subsided, and I took a look at my handiwork.

I was somewhat surprised to find that while the robots were completely destroyed, I had only taken a few small injuries which, while inconsequential on their own, added up to a lot of pain for me.

Grumbling and sore all over, I continued back the way I’d come.

~

I stumbled through the hallways until I heard somepony calling my name. Following the voice, I eventually found Zeed, who had apparently woken up about an hour ago. She took one look at me and shrieked. I was quickly forced to down three or four healing potions before she calmed down. I explained what had happened in the offices and with the suit. This just made Zeed panic again.

“You got electrocuted? Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“Ah said it felt like electrocution. Ah doubt there was anythin’ ye could have done anyway. It’s not like ye have any decent equipment here, and Ah’d rather not use the auto-doc after it screwed with my head.” She started to speak, but I cut her off. “And Mah head is fine, thanks. Where’s Trowel?”

“Outside, messing about with his cart. We’ll hopefully be going soon. I just really wish you’d let me fix your ribs.”

“Ah wish ye could fix mah ribs too, but Ah just don’t trust that damn thing.”

“Well… At least let me check your…. Uh… Eye…”

I rolled my one good eye and held still while she examined the other, shining a mouth-held light into the socket while I held the lid open with magic. “It’s been itchin’ fer a while. Anythin’ in there?”

“Nope. It looks clean. We should probably get you a patch or something though. Might have to bandage your head to keep you from scratching it.” She rummaged through the medical supplies, retrieving a large roll of gauze, which she swiftly wrapped around my head. A makeshift patch to cover the eye.

“That’ll do for now. Hopefully we can find someone who can treat it better than me. Hell, we might even find some working cybernetics!” She grinned widely, in a slightly creepy manner.

“Ah’d rather not get have… cyber… whatsits. Ah’d much rather just get a glass eye or somethin’”

Trowel called from his cart, “Hurry up you morons! I wanna get the hell out of here!”

The both of us rolled our eyes in his general direction as we trotted out of the Northwestern Safehouse, and into the Canturbury wastes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The black orb continued on its trek, its mists swirling constantly within its glass form. It followed the tacks that its target had left in the sand. It was close. The shape of a pony with a horn loomed in the distance, image made unclear by the orange mists. The orb’s motions became more urgent as it approached.

It reached the pony, only to stop, as its black mists began roiling. This pony was not its target. The pink mare with the black mane was the wrong one.

She sobbed uncontrollably, her tears stained orange by the mists. Her mutterings were barely coherent apologies.

“3ye’m S0rry… EY3’m $0 s0rry… 1 n3ve2 wan7ed 2 kill h3r… i nev3r w4nted 7#at… 3y3’m sor2y… 3y3’m s0 s0r2y…”

Her sobs were interrupted by giggling fits.

“F0llow… Follow… 4lL 3y3 need 2 do… All 1 eve2 n3Ed 70 do…”

The black mists of the orb ceased their roiling. The orb was still for a moment as the mare passed.

Its mists shifted once more, and the orb began to follow the pink one. She would bring the orb to her destination, from where it would retrieve what it needed to find its target.

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Footnote 1: Diamond Knives
Level up!

Melee: 43
Repair: 35

New perk!
Little leaguer: It’s not so much that you hit hard, more than you know where to hit! You gain +5 to both Melee Weapons and Explosives.

Quest perk:
One-eyed: You are missing an eye. This gives you a -1 penalty to perception, but you get unique speech options with certain characters.

New item:
Electric baton: -4(hp/s) KO damage on hit. Extra damage to machines and power armor.

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Footnote 2: Zeed Kazdri

50% xp

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Current quest: Find a quest.
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(Author’s note) Quality drop: 50%

Meh, whatever. Long as I can get this idea out of my head.

“Sigh, that was just plain crap! What the hell is wrong with you?”

I’m a nub is what. Bugger off.

Like I said before: Critiques are appreciated.

Trolling is also appreciated.

Okay not really.

Please don’t troll me, I don’t think my fragile psyche can take it.

Next chapter will come… Eventually… Maybe… Toodles!

Thanks to Kkat for Fallout Equestria, and Somber for Project Horizon. Thanks to whoever reads this, and again, critiques are very much welcome.

P.s. If there’s any seemingly random symbols like * or ^, that’s a leftover due to my formatting practices. Please tell me if you find any.