I held the radio in my magic, the plastic box floating about two feet in the air.

I looked at it carefully, considering the best way to do this.

I looked and looked until finally…

I shrugged, and punted it into the wall.

It smashed open on contact, exploding into a shower of metal pieces. I grinned as I collected some of them, searching through for what I would need to repair the speakers in the jukebox I’d found a few days ago, and chucking the rest into an even larger pile in the corner of my room.

I’d found the jukebox when I was exploring one of the junk smashers, despite mom always telling me not to. It was almost completely intact, though it had already been gutted for parts, almost nothing was left inside but for a few records and the changing mechanism.

I opened up the back of it, and started fiddling. Twisting wires, soldering them on, the whole thing took about an hour, but I finally finished.

Grinning with anticipation, I closed it back up, attached it to the generator which I’d given similar treatment, and hit POWER.

I held my breath as I waited for a second.

The lights came on.

The record was put onto the needle by the mechanical arm.

I heard the amazing sounds of Elvis “The Prez” Parsley.

I cheered happily, my hard work had finally paid off. I’d finally fixed it.

“It works! It works! Wahoo!”

There was a small flash of light from behind me. That could only mean one thing.

I ran over to the full-length mirror in my bedroom, also scavenged and restored by me, and took a look at my flank.

A small cloud of dust, turning into a diamond.

I frowned.

“What the hay does that mean?” I thought for a moment. “Making cool stuff outa junk?”

It took all of three seconds for me to return to giggling with joy.

“Oh, who cares! Mom! Mom! I got my cutie mark!” I ran off to my mother’s room.

~~~~~~

“It’s a lot smaller than Ah imagined.” I remarked. “The ones in th’ Prison were bigger.”

“You would know. I never saw any,” Zeed observed

Raid was trying hard to keep himself from laughing. “I’ll bet you didn’t.”

I facehooved while Zeed chuckled and tossed her cigarette away.

The sewer entrance was little more than a small hole in the street covered in a heavy metal slab.

“Aren’t there supposed to be more of these around the city?” Zeed swept her hoof around to indicate the area in question.

“Should be, but leave it to Canterbury to not follow general construction guidelines.” He shrugged. “Or legal ones.”

After a few seconds passed, he frowned and added, “Or ethical ones.”

“Sounds like ye know from personal experience.” I muttered.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Ye don’t sound tae happy. Somethin’ happen tae ye?”

He sighed. “Either a very large number of somethings, or just one giant something. Your choice. Anyway, let’s see if we can get this hole open.”

“Maybe we can find another entrance?” Zeed ventured. “I mean, it’s not like this is the only path through, right?”

Raid stopped what he was doing. “Eh… Not really. This is the path I took last time. Actually, I think I might have put this here. Shame I forgot my crowbar at home.”

“How did you get through last time?” Zeed asked.

He grinned widely. “A friend of mine described it decently for me once. Avec ma bite et mon couteau. It means-”

Zeed laughed, then slapped her hooves over her mouth as her eyes widened. Both Raid and I gave her an odd look.

“What?” She squeaked.

“Vous savez Francheval?”

“Non! Non je n’ai jamais- I-I-I mean, no I don’t! Wait… No, I mean,” She clapped a hoof over her mouth again, laughing nervously. “I don’t speak Prench. I’ve never spoken Prench before in my life. I’ve never even heard of it. What’s Prench, some kind of toothpaste? Aheh…”

As I looked at her in confusion, Raid quirked an eyebrow. “Qu’est-ce qui ne va pas à parler Francheval?”

“Je ne parle pas Francheval!” She shouted. A second passed, and she blinked, making Raid chuckle and smirk. “Damnit, stop it! I hate that! Why the hell do you speak that goddess-awful tongue?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say awful. I mean sure, some of the Prench ponies I’ve met are incredibly rude, but that’s why they’ve-“ He stopped when he noticed her death glare of doom pointed right at him. “Eh… I travel a lot, I kinda have to. Why do you apparently hate it so much?”

She looked away in irritation. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Zeed, is this somethin’ tae dae with yer mother?” I ventured, a few memories of similar situations coming to mind.

She grumbled. “Of course it involves my mother. It always involves my mother.”

“I’m curious,” Raid pressed. “Why don’t you like speaking Prench?”

“The only reason I know it at all is because my mother fucking drilled it into my head on a daily basis, and she forced me to speak in Prench whenever we were alone,” she growled. “Most of those memories are not pleasant. Now, let’s pretend that this never happened, and move on with our miserable lives.”

When I saw Raid grin, I knew instantly where this was going to go. “Raid, don’t push it. Leave it be.”

“Oh, elle n’est pas sortir cette facilité.”

Zeed’s fur bristled, and her eye started twitching.

“Don’t mess wi’ her Raid. She will beat the living crap out ay ye.” I glanced at the infuriated zebra. Actually, infuriated was an understatement. Let’s go with enraged.

“Pfft, qui Zeed? Elle ne pouvait pas mal à une mouche.”

Zeed’s left hoof shot out and slammed into Raid’s eye, and he stumbled back several feet with a look of surprise. “Prenez un œil au beurre noir, connard! You wanna speak Prench? Fine! But don’t do it with me! Next time, lasers will be involved.”

With that and a triumphant nod, she trotted off and sat down on a ruined street corner. Raid was still staring at her in shock. His eye was already swelling.

“Ah told ye not tae mess wi’ her,” I said. “You got off lucky. Last time somepony tried that, they ended up with broken ribs.”

He suddered. “Good to know.”

“Also, just as a warnin’, she can hold a grudge. Ye might hear about this later. In extreme detail.”

He shuddered again. “So… Don’t piss off the zebra?”

I nodded. “Don’t piss off th’ zebra. And if you hear anything about her name? Don’t. Ever. Mention. It.”

“Her name?” He saw my serious expression. “Right. So… uh… Ponyhole cover… Let’s remove that. Can you magic it off?”

“Nae. Too heavy. If Ah can wedge somethin’ in there, Ah can probably get it out.”

“Well, like I said, I don’t have a crowbar or anything.”

There was a loud, echoing crash.

“I got it!” Zeed shouted cheerily from behind us. “Took a whole gem pack, though.”

I turned to see that she had managed to melt through the metal cover with her laser. She was grinning widely as she held the weapon in her mouth, the heated metal of the ponyhole cover already cooling off. Raid shivered.

“Okay, her mood swings are starting to creep me out,” He looked to me. “How the hell does she do that?”

“Ye get used tae them. Let’s go.”

“Yeah, I’ll check it out.” With that, he hopped through the hole and climbed down the ladder. Zeed and I stood a small distance away, waiting for him to call back up. It took several minutes, with much clanging of metal and the sounds of cursing as Raid apparently stumbled around in the dark. Eventually, a bright light burst forth from the sewer, accompanied by Raid calling out, “It’s clear! Mind the smell, though. It even drives me nuts, and I’m used to it.”

I jumped through as well, followed shortly by Zeed. We were in a fairly large tunnel, illuminated by large spotlights on poles, with a chugging generator in the corner. While one end of the tunnel was blocked by a large amount of rubble, one of the concrete walls were painted with the words:

Raid was sitting in a small shack that had been constructed from corrugated metal inside the room, his pipbuck was making a rapid clocking sound. “We’re gonna need some Rad-Away when we get out of here.”

“Wow,” Zeed marveled. “This place is… Oh sweet Luna, I think I’m gonna puke.”

She did. Several times.

“Goddesses, is it really that bad?” I asked.

She nodded, then threw up again.

Walking out of the shack, Raid gave me a confused look. I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“She’s here puking her guts out and you’re just fine. Why?”

“No sense ay smell.” I shrugged. “Good fer me Ah guess. Ye goin’ tae be alright, Zeed?”

She groaned. “Uh-huh. Just… Just give me a minute.”

“How’d you end up with no sense of smell?” Raid asked.

“Head injury as a filly. Can’t even remember it.” I said simply as I helped Zeed stand back up, though she still looked a bit green. “Shall we away?”

As we traveled down through the sewer, our hoofsteps echoed eerily off the walls, and the sound of dripping water was everywhere, the sewer’s fluids coming up to our knees. The light had vanished not soon after we left the entry area. Within minutes, the only light around us was from Raid’s pipbuck, and we travelled for three hours. He was in front, while Zeed trudged on between us, the air in the sewer still making her feel ill, as she let out a tired groan every so often.

“It’s too damn quiet down here.” Raid muttered.

“What, the lack ay action getting’ tae ye?” I snarked.

“Yes and no. Usually these places are filled with some sort of creature. Ghouls, mostly, but there are occasionally swarms of radroaches. I even found an ironwolf once. This is too clean,” he hrrmed. “There’s nothing in here. Granted, this isn’t the worst sewer there is. New Tartarus’ sewer is full of corpses, and it’s still being used as a sewer.”

Under his breath he muttered, “Figures one of the few places with working plumbing would be a slaver base.”

“New Tartarus? Slavers?”

“I’ll explain later, when we get the hell out of here. Just, trust me on this. Anyway, we should probably-“

He was interrupted by a loud, inequine, but vaguely familiar screech from the far end of the tunnel.

Raid sighed audibly. “Of course. Why would I expect anything different? Okay, we need to get back out.”

There was another screech, making him wince. “Preferably now.”

“What is it?” I asked. “Those ghoul things ye were talking about?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, I wish it was ghouls. Nope. That’s not enough for the wasteland. No, not at all.”

That screeching noise was closer this time.

He moaned unhappily, the sound turning into a sob near the end. “Oh dear Celestia, please let me be wrong, please let me be wrong.”

I heard the splashing of… something in the sewer water. I could now hear heavy breathing between those occasional screeches. I could also hear Raid gulp loudly. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. I think it knows we’re here.”

The splashing and breathing came closer.

“Raid, what is it?” I asked in a whisper.

“Just move very slowly to the wall, and stay still. Don’t move a muscle, and no matter what you see, don’t make a sound.” He hissed back, clearly terrified. “It might go past us.”

The three of us clung together against the wall for what felt like hours as the noises ever so slowly approached. All the while the water continued to drip in the background.

The splashing almost sounded like hoofsteps, though staggered and uneven. I could almost hear words in that heavy breathing.

But those screeches started to bring chills to my bones.

The splashing came closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Then it stopped.

The three of us held our collective breath.

I could hear the thing breathing near the opposite wall, the water gently sloshing around it’s… Hooves? Body? I wasn’t sure, being unable to see it in the darkness. All I could make out was a vaguely ponyish blob.

I heard a strange, wet, slithering sound, and say the blob-thing shift.

Suddenly, the area was bathed in a sickly green light.

I very nearly screamed right there.

It had a body that almost looked like a ponies’, but with the legs in the wrong places, sticking outwards instead of downwards, with an extra leg out near the front. Its body was covered in massive pustules and growths, its puke green coat had massive patches of darkly colored, pulsating flesh exposed. The tail was a long, tentacle-like thing of dark red flesh that split off numerous times.

Its head almost looked like that of a pony too, but for the thin tendrils that seemed to sprout from the back of its head… and its ears… and its mouth... and its eyes… several of the ones attached to the head were emitting the light, and were held up in the air by this thing, while the rest of the tendrils lashed around swiftly, as if trying to grasp onto anything near it, but only managing to flail endlessly. Two more tentacles from its eye sockets swiveled around, as if it was looking at something, but they seemed to have been damaged, as they were flayed at the ends.

Raid relaxed visibly. While I was too scared to move, I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He shifted slightly, reaching for something in his pockets, making as little noise as he could.

He touched my shoulder to get my attention.

I tore my eyes from the monstrosity to find that Zeed was holding her hooves tightly over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror and streaming with tears. I wondered if that was how I looked. Raid was holding something in his mouth, motioning for me to take it in my magic.

It was a bottlecap. He motioned for me to throw it. I did.

It plinked off a wall somewhere in the direction we came from.

The pony-thing responded immediately.

All of its tendrils pointed straight towards the sound as it emitted another screech, and seemed to suddenly sprout needles on the ends. It retracted its green glowing tentacles.

It galloped towards the sound, screeching all the while.

Raid started pulling us, hissing, “Move, damnit, move!”

I pushed Zeed forward, her still being in shock. Our splashing was covered by whatever the pony-thing was doing. We ran as quickly as we could through the darkness, until we saw a bright white light on one side of the tunnel.

It was small room, a closet off to the side of the sewers. It had probably been used for maintenance or something.

I slumped against the wall, suddenly feeling very tired. Zeed stood in the middle of the room, still with that look of horror on her face, her breathing ragged, her eyes shut tight. I think she was trying to calm herself down, or keep herself from screaming. Maybe it was both.

Raid began to search the small shack. It was a single room, with multiple shelves piled with all kinds of junk. The floor was littered with empty packages and tin cans, as well as old syringes and bottles of rad-away. “Damnit! No ammo, no food, no goddess-damned potions, nothing! “

“What was that thing, Raid,” I asked, my voice shaking.

He didn’t hear me, continuing his rant about the lack of supplies.

“RAID!” He jumped at the sound of my shout. “What was that thing?”

He turned to look at me. He was covered in dried sweat, his back was covered in small peach-colored splotches. He had adjusted his fedora so that his entire mane was held under it. “It’s… They’re called…”

He dropped to his haunches, sighing. “Nopony knows. We have very little information about them. Rangers, Enclave,” he growled and glared at nothing in particular. “Spectrum, what have you, nopony knows what those damn things are. Most of us just call them ‘gorgons’. There’s rumors that they’re a mutated species of pony, but I’m not too sure about that. We got lucky. That one was blind.”

We sat in silence for a while. Zeed was still standing there, but her breathing had returned to normal. I hoped deeply that she would be alright. I don’t think I could stand to lose my closest friend.

“Where are we?”

“About a quarter of the way in,” he said as he consulted the pipbuck. “There should only be one of those things. They’re territorial. Kill any other gorgons who try and invade.”

“Ah thought ye said ye didn’t know anything about-“

“I said we know very little about them. And even then, this is really the only thing that helps. ‘If there’s one, then there’s only one.’” He snapped back before I could finish my sentence. “That, and the fact that they will eat any living thing they can get their tentacles on.”

We fell into silence again.

“I’m sorry.” He said eventually.

“Fer what?”

“For getting mad. I’ve had some bad experiences with them. I almost got killed by one as a colt,” He sighed and held his head in a hoof. “I hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with them again.”

“You’re scared of them, then?” I asked, trying not to be mean about it.

“I’m not scared, just… just… ah who am I kidding. I’m fucking terrified of them. I almost lost a wing to one, after all.”

“Lost a what?”

“Leg. I almost lost a leg,” he replied a bit too quickly as he adjusted his jacket.

I jumped when Zeed spoke. “Can it hear us from where it is?”

“Doesn’t matter, it’s most likely too stupid to come back this way. I’ve seen them ‘patrolling’ on occasion.”

I looked at her, her eyes were open now, and she was staring at nothing in particular. She usually only did this when she was in very deep thought. “Zeed, what are ye thinkin’?”

She didn’t answer. I poked her in the side, apparently distracting her, as she blinked a few times and said, “Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just… interesting.” She shrugged.

“That’s not th’ word Ah would use fer it.”

“That’s ‘cuz you’re not a sci-fi nerd.” She grinned widely. “I kinda want to capture one.”

Both Raid and I gaped at her.

“What? C’mon, it’s bio-freaking-luminescent! That’s awesome! How the fuck does a pony, even a mutant, get that?” then she started babbling. “How did it get those tentacles? Is it really just a mutant? Was it the radiation that triggered it? Can they think? Talk? Read? Write? Can they do magic, do they have unicorns, can-“

“Okay, stop right there. Just regular gorgons are bad enough,” Raid interrupted. “I really don’t want to imagine those things having magic.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Well, how did it end up with a fifth leg? Do they all have that?”

“Only if they’re male!” I fell over laughing at my comment, though it wasn’t that funny. I was joined by Raid, and not soon after, Zeed.

Then there was another screech, and our laughter immediately stopped.

Raid shuddered. “Maybe we should get going?”

“Aye. Ah think that might be th’ best idea.”

We waded carefully and as silently as we could through the sewers water once again, Raid shining his pipbuck light in front of us, though it did little good, considering the widening tunnel. He kept looking behind us, as if he expected the gorgon to attack at any time.

Wherever it was, it shrieked several more times, making Raid jump at every noise.

“I wish it would at least shut the fuck up! It’s annoying,” he hissed after the umpteenth time.

“Why dae they make ye so nervous?” I had to ask.

“I already told you, I almost lost a w-limb to them. And even if I didn’t, they’re fucking creepy. I find it hard to maintain my sarcastic demeanor when they’re around.” He swept the light over a shadow that seemed to move in front of us.

I snickered. The gorgon shrieked again.

Wait…

Was it getting closer?

“Raid, did ye-“

“Yeah. We need to move.”

I heard splashing. Turning back, the gorgon had its glowing tendrils out again, odd considering that it was blind.

“Are there any other closets around here?” Zeed asked.

“I don’t know, just run!” he started pushing both of us down the tunnel. “Go, go go!”

He swore as the gorgon slammed into his back, knocking him into the sludge. He bellowed in pain. They wrestled, the gorgon writhing in the water as it tried to either pierce flesh with its needle-tendrils or wrap them around limbs, and Raid simply trying to get the thing into position where he could shoot it.

I pulled out my baton as Zeed let loose a barrage of magical lasers. The thing screeched as the bolts burned into its skin, leaving several burn marks.

When my baton contacted its fifth leg, the gorgon shrieked and sent its tendrils flailing wildly. Its tail thrashed violently in the water as it tried to recover from the electric shock.

Raid stood up and shouted. ”Run! Just fucking run! We can’t kill it with this crap!”

So we turned and ran, splashing once again through the pitch black sewer, no light other than Raid’s light and the gorgon’s glow.

Several times Zeed fired another barrage at it, making it screech again with each hit, slowing it down ever so slightly, yet it continued after us.

We could only run, and run, and run.

We ran into a door, a large metal one, closed and locked.

“Shit! Why? Why now?” Raid whinnied in panic.

“Didn’t ye say that ye came through here last time?”

“Yes! I didn’t know it would close automatically!”

“Zeed, can ye get it open?” She was fiddling with the lockcontrols, a terminal on the side of the door.

“Cant… get… it… Gaaagh! Luna rape me ‘till oblivion! Who the fuck locks a sewer!”

Something grabbed my leg.

“KNIVES!” Raid screamed as I was dragged into the darkness.

I flailed the baton around wildly, wishing that my horn would actually glow for once, just so I could see.

As I was pulled… wherever, my head became submerged several times due to my struggling.

Then I was slammed into a wall, dropping my weapon in the water.

I was met once again with the gorgon’s glowing tentacles as it held me against the wall, several of its tendrils wrapping themselves around my throat, several more around my limbs.

I struggled to get free, the tendrils tightening around me with every move.

I was starting to get dizzy.

Slowly, ever so slowly, it brought its face up to mine, some of the tendrils on its head extending the needles within, the larger tentacle from its eye sockets twitching in tandem, as if it was trying to look at me.

I felt pain in my left foreleg and hind leg, though whether they were broken or not, I couldn’t tell. I tried to scream past the tendrils around my throat, but I made no sound, and was quickly running out of breath.

Then it grinned at me, the few teeth it had coming together as its lips lulled back around the things sticking out.

Terrified, I stopped my struggling as I gaped at it.

Then half of its face exploded in a shower of reddish goo as multiple gunshots echoed through the tunnel.

Its response was to dislocate my right foreleg, and slam me into the wall again, where I slumped into the water, in too much pain to even move.

In the gorgon’s light, I saw Raid tackle it, his face filled with rage as he rolled away and fired several more shells into the creature’s body.

I struggled to get up, screaming with the pain of putting pressure on my limbs as I desperately began to search for the baton.

Zeed’s fire bathed the tunnel in a flickering red glow, while Raid essentially poured lead into it.

My leg started twitching as I stepped on the baton, but I found it. I levitated it out of the water, to find that it was surprisingly still functioning, despite the water.

The gorgon slammed into me again, lashing out at me with its needles, puncturing my flesh several times. I returned the favor by shoving the baton down its throat, causing it to twitch violently.

As it writhed in the water, shrieking in pain, the three of us continued our assault on it, Raid and Zeed each only stopping their barrage of gun and laser fire to reload, while I just continuously smashed away at it.

After several more seconds of brutal punishment, the gorgon’s twitching finally stopped, as did our attacks, and we were left standing in the dirty water, panting and tired.

I whimpered as I limped back over to the wall, and just lay against it, only putting enough weight on my limbs to make sure my head stayed above the water.

“Kn… Knives… are… guh… are you… haah… okay?” Zeed managed to get out between panicked breaths.

“Legs hurt. I think they’re broken.” I said through painful tears. “Still alive, though.”

Raid swept the light around, searching for something. “There’s a dry patch over here. Can you walk?”

I forced myself to my hooves, and slowly made my way over to the area, Zeed helping me to stay up.

I collapsed back to the ground, falling on a pile of garbage that had piled up over nearly two centuries.

Raid began searching through his bags as Zeed checked my legs.

“Sweet Luna, this’ll take months to heal…” She said, her voice choked with tears.

“No it won’t, hold this.”

I screamed as something was jammed into my side. Suddenly, it felt like my body was on fire, and I ended up screaming even more. It felt like my flesh was being torn apart, and my bones were being sown back together with a chainsaw and a steel cable. My dislocated shoulder popped back into place with a loud snap. My empty right eye socket started itching like crazy, and the back of my head hurt.

It felt like hours by the time it finished, but when it did, I became aware of Zeed and Raid shouting at each other.

“How the fuck do you know she doesn’t have allergies?” Zeed yelled.

“Does she have any?”

“That’s not the point! You don’t know what kind of reaction she would have had.” She stomped her hoof. “What if it killed her?”

“It’s magical! It’s no more dangerous than a healing potion, it just hurts like hell!”

I realized that the back of my head was now sore, as were my limbs. Experimentally, I tried to stand, and was delighted to find that there was no pain. “Zeed…”

“Some ponies can’t take potions, you know! That’s why we still need regular medical procedures, because sometimes, it’s all we can do!”

“Look, she’s fine! She’s standing up right now!”

“That’s not my fucking point, you Luna-damned halfwit! You-“

With a forehoof, I splashed some sewer water into her face. “Zeed, calm down, Aam fine. Just a little sore, is all.”

Apparently, she got some in her mouth, as she was acting as though trying to spit something out, taking a bottle of good water and spitting it out.

“Sorry… wasn’t aimin’ at yer- OW, OW, OW, OW!” I was interrupted by a sharp pain in my head. “Fuck, that hurts!”

Zeed quickly shifted back into her ‘doctor mode’. “What’s wrong? Is it your eye?”

“Grn… My… head… can’t… I can’t…” I stumbled, suddenly losing my balance. “I think…”

I threw up, what little food I’d had now on the ground.

Raid was trying to help me stay up, while Zeed was trying to say something to me, but I couldn’t make out the words. I puked again and collapsed to the ground.

A thought entered my head. Why is the wasteland so intent of making me lose my lunch?

That’s when I passed out.

~~~~~~~

The pink mare’s eyes fluttered open.

She was sitting in a room, empty but for the orange mists swirling within, and an open door leading to a hallway.

She smiled.

What was her name?

She stood, and took a step forward. The sound of her hooves striking the metal floor echoed.

Straining her ears, she heard the screaming and crying of thousands of…

Were they her kin?

Of course they were.

She smiled, knowing the meaning behind the sounds, if not the meaning of the individual cries.

What worth did the words have, anyway?

“My name is… is…” She frowned.

Her name was Clothesline, wasn’t it? Yes, yes it was. Why didn’t it feel like her name, though?

It used to be, but now it doesn’t fit.

She said her thoughts aloud as she moved through the halls.

“How can that not be my name?” She looked at her flank. Three shotgun shells. Her favorite weapon, even now the thought of the kick in her magical grip brought a smile to her face. “No, that’s right. I’m not me anymore. I have a task to perform.”

She sighed. She would miss her old self, despite the many flaws she could now see within herself.

But they weren’t truly hers.

All her memories were there, but they weren’t hers. She just… had them.

“I’m changed so much. I need something just as different.” Strangely, her mind felt clear. The other’s had their minds muddled, warped, confused. Perhaps hers was too, but if it was she felt no indication of such. “What should I call myself?”

She cheerily went through the possibilities.

“Scatter? No, that’s just silly. Punch? Why would I call myself that? It’s probably taken anyway. Blitz? No, I’m not sure I like that.”

A thought struck her.

“Could that work?” she stopped to put a hoof to her chin in thought. “It’s so simple, and that’s nice, but it isn’t really a very nice thing. Am I really that bad?…”

Her voice trailed off as she stared into the mist-filled corridors.

“I did kill Knives. I guess it’s only fair that I use it. It’s what I am after all.”

She smiled.

“Wretch. My name is Wretch.”

-------

Footnote 1: Diamond Knives
Level up! (6)
Repair: 63

Perks:
Quick Recovery: Wow, you can get back up from anything! Literally! Any time you are knocked down, it only takes 1 action point to stand back up.

~~~~~

Footnote 2: Zeed Kazdri
Level up! (5)
Energy Weapons: 57
Medicine: 70

Perks:
Healer: Any time you make use of the medicine skill, the effect of the drug or potion is increased by 10%.

~~~~~

Footnote 3: Raid (???)
Level up! (6)
Guns: 60

Perks:
Shotgun surgeon: I need a 12 gauge shell in his gut, stat! When using any shotgun or shotgun-like weapon, you ignore and additional 10 points of armor threshold.

---------
(Author’s note)

Scary chapter is scary.

Like a bowl of pudding, jiggling by itself in a dark room.

when no-one is around... Ooooooooh. Spooky.

I will now invoke Godwin’s Law.

Good day.

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