I was stupid for going out of the shack. I was stupid for going out during the night. I was stupid for going near the fire. In short, I was stupid. Oh, when will I learn?

“All right, I’ll be going over where you are.” The pony told me. “Try to do anything stupid and you can kiss your ass goodbye, got it?”

I did not move, still frozen with fear. I heard the pony walking closer towards me. I gulped and closed my eyes, fearing that I might end up getting shot.

“You can open your eyes now.”

I opened one eye and saw the pony in front of me, levitating a lever-action shotgun. She was a unicorn mare with white coat and blood-red mane. I also noticed her cutie mark was a green cross. She was also carrying a saddlebag which looked like it had seen better days. With the way she’s looking at me, it was obvious she was judging me for whatever reasons.

“Why don’t you just shoot me already?” I blurted out after finally finding my voice to speak. I immediately slapped my mouth close as I realized my mistake. She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Shoot you?” She scoffed. “You’re not worth shooting at, buddy. Besides, I’m not going to just shoot you on site like those dumb raiders. Unless you start shooting me first of course.”

“Seriously? You’re not going to harm me?” I asked in disbelief. Though I was relieved that I won’t have to deal with another wound problem.

“Yep, unless you want me to,” She replied, lowering her shotgun. I just shook my head and sighed, feeling a bit lucky to encounter a friendly.

“Oh thank you…” I told her. She chuckled a bit.

“There’s no use in thanking me, that’s not worth anything to me.” She said, looking at me. “Besides, I was ready to shoot you back then. I just didn’t because you looked so naive, meaning you won’t do anything against me.”

“Naive?” I was insulted. “What makes you say that?”

“For starters, you wouldn’t go near any random campfire that appears out of nowhere in the wasteland at night.” She then eyed at my revolver. “And also, your first instinct would be going for your weapon if you’re an experienced wastelander. You just froze when I spoke to you, meaning you could have been shot right then if it was another one meeting you.”

“Oh…”

Well, she did have a point. The revolver was still loaded and it was pretty accessible. And if I were a bit better with guns, I could have escaped with a chance of loot.

“What are you even doing out here during the night?” She asked me.

“Exploring?” I answered. She just shook her head.

“You really are naive.” She stated. “What, you lived in a Stable or something?”

“Stable?” I stared at her dumbly.

“Wait, you don’t know?” She then shrugged. “Hmm, I just assumed so. Seeing you with a PipBuck, or if whatever is on your leg is a PipBuck, was enough to convince me you’re a Stable dweller. I guess you can’t judge someone with just their looks.”

She proceeded to grab a canteen from her saddlebag and sat down just near enough the fire to warm up. Seeing the canteen brought back the intense thirst I was feeling which I forgot when she first met me. I ended up staring at her canteen with my tongue out, panting.

“Hmm?” She noticed me looking at her canteen though she was not aware of how thirsty I was.

“Would you mind if I can have some water?” I sheepishly asked. She blinked at me and then stared at her canteen before sighing.

“I supposed it won’t hurt…”She said, handing me the canteen. I started drinking the water greedily.

“But don’t drink all of it.” She finished. I stopped drinking and looked at what’s left of the canteen, which wasn’t very much. I awkwardly grinned as I gave her the near-empty canteen back. She looked at it and gave me a look.

“Sorry…” I quickly apologized.

“Ugh.” She sighed in annoyance before she kept the canteen. “Your lucky that I have a spare one that’s full.”

I just nodded and looked down at the ground.

“Hey, I have a question.” She told me. “Is there a reason why you’re really wandering around the wasteland?

“I don’t really know…” I answered. “I just remember waking up somewhere underground and then being suddenly thrusted to the wasteland next. I’m not sure but…”

“But?” She urged me to continue on.

“I feel like I’ve been in this place before. Because somewhere in my mind, I have a feeling this isn’t what the whole place should be looking like.”

“Well, I agree on you about the ‘land should not be like this’ thing but I don’t get what you mean on the ‘been in this place before’ part.” She said.

“Well, I do seem to recall a somewhat vague memory of how the land looks like before.” I told her. It was somewhat true. Back at Ponyville, I believed I may have had a quick flashback on how the place looked before. It was full of life and happiness compared to the glum and lifeless village that was once called “Ponyville”.

“I find that hard to believe, you know that?” She shook her head in disbelief.

“And why so?” I asked her.

“Because the whole place has been looking like this for 2 centuries now.” She answered.

Now that’s when my mind went into overdrive and broke down. 200 years? No way, that’s impossible! Unless I was more than 200 years old or I was born 200 years ago but that would just raise more questions than answers. There are a lot of reasons I could have know how the land might have looked before. It could have been just my imagination or maybe it’s just my longing to see a beautiful place (which still seems similar with the former). But that wouldn’t explain the vivid dreams I was having. They could just be random dreams, right?

“Hello? HELLO?” She started knocking on my head. I quickly went back to reality and defended my head from her surprisingly strong hooves.

“I’m back, I’m back. Sheesh.” I said in annoyance. How many times do I have to suffer from a headache?

“I have another question, where did ya get those stuff?” She asked me. “The metal parts on your back and hind legs.”

I shrugged. It was pointless to try to even answer that question.

“Since your not from a Stable, is there any chance you’re a Steel Ranger? Wait, no. You can’t be one with how you look right now...”She muttered. Right now, she was just saying random stuff that doesn’t make sense to me. Well, since we’ve talked for some time, maybe it’s time for proper introductions.

“Hey, uhm…” I tried getting her attention, which worked.

“What?” She tapped her hoof on the ground. “Is it important?”

“Well, yeah...sort of.” I answered. “What’s your name?”

“My...My name?” She thought about my question before answering. “I guess I can tell you. I’m Jewel. How about you?”

“I’m…” I did a quick scan on my memory. I just realized that I don’t even know my name.

“Eclipse. Call me Eclipse” I told her. It was the name that the computer and the mare in the recording gave me, though it’s not my official name. Jewel just stared at me in confusion.

“Eclipse? Your name is Eclipse?” She asked me, staring at me with a shocked expression.

“Uhm, yeah.” I answered her.

“No...it can’t be. Maybe it’s just a...coincidence…” She muttered to herself.

“Uhm, Jewel? Is there anything wrong about my name?” I asked her, a bit worried.

“What? Oh no, no. There’s nothing wrong, it just reminded me of something.” She answered. She then proceeded to judge me once more.

“What?” I asked her one more time, a bit weirded out.

“Can I trust you?” She asked me. “I know it’s a weird question but I need some reassurance that you aren’t going to kill or loot me when I sleep. And hell, I’m sleepy.”

“Trusted? Yeah, I’m trustworthy.” I quickly replied. “I won’t do anything bad to you when you’re asleep.”

“Promise?”

“Uhm…” I wondered if I was sure of taking this promise. And without knowing it, I blurted out, “Pinkie Promise.”

I again slapped my mouth shut. Jewel just looked at me and shrugged before setting up her bag to act like pillows. Sometimes I wonder what’s wrong with me, saying random things and keeping a promise ponies I just met.

I lay down on the ground. Sure, the ground was dirty but as long as I can sleep, I’ll sleep anywhere. And nevermind the saddlebag becoming a pillow, that bag has some hard stuff in it. And so, I sleep on the dirt, hoping the night will end soon.

“I bet your cousin is Applejack.” Twilight suggested. “After all, you are in Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Me? Uhm…” Applejack just looked at me awkwardly.

“Him being cousins with Applejack?” Rainbow Dash flew behind me and pointed at my flank-err-cutie mark. “I don’t see his cutie mark being related to apples.”

“But Rainbow Dash, some of Applejack’s cousins’ cutie marks are not exactly related to apples.” Twilight insisted. “Besides, we don’t base one’s relatives through their cutie marks. We base them on their genes, the family of their mom, the family of their dad, the-”

“I KNOW! Maybe he’s cousins with Big Mac!” Pinkie interrupted, bouncing everywhere.

“Technically, that would still make him cousins with Applejack.” Twilight explained.

“Then...are they really cousins?” Fluttershy asked Twi.

“I’m not real sure. We might have to conduct a lot of tests to see if they really are cousins.” Twilight answered.

As the 6 mares continue to talk about how I might be related to Applejack, I thought of getting out. It was my chance since they were distracted. I was about to until I heard the door open. All of us turned to face the door to see my dad.

“Ah, hey there son. Have you met your cousin already?” My dad asked me. I looked at the 6 mares and back at him before shaking my head.

“And why is that?” He asked one more time while he looked at the 6 mares behind me. “In fact, I can see her right now.”

I turned around to face the mares and looked at them. They were just silently staring at my dad, no doubt that they feel awkward.

“You with the cowboy hat, come here.” My dad told to Applejack, pointing at her.

“M-Me, sir?” Applejack asked him. He just nodded. Slowly, Applejack made her way towards us and stopped just a few steps away from Dad. He looked at me and pointed at her before looking back at her.

“Applejack, do you recognize me?” He asked her.

“Uhh...I’m sorry sir but no.” She hesitantly answered.

“Really now? Surely I’m in some of your family photos.” Dad told her. Applejack looked doubtful at first until she looked at Dad once more and her jaw dropped.

“Uncle...Gray Steel?”

Dad just laughed while shaking his head.

“Close enough. I can’t blame you if you don’t really know my name but that was close.” He said. “But actually, it’s Silver Chalice. Gray Steel just happened to be another name of mine.”

Applejack slowly nodded before asking another question.

“Where’s Aunt Dahlia? She’s here, right?”

“Yes, she is here. She’s just talking to your grandma Smith.” My dad answered her. He then looked at the other mares. “Applejack, would you mind if your friends would introduce themselves?”

“Uh, no! Not at all.” She quickly answered before turning to her friends. “C’mon girls, introduce yourselves.”

“Finally!” Rainbow dash said as she swooped down towards the ground until she is at the eye level of Dad. “I’m Rainbow Dash, one of the coolest pegasus from Cloudsdale!”

“And I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie introduced herself as she suddenly appeared between Dad and Rainbow. On the corner of my eye, I noticed Applejack do a facehoof and she shook her head.

“And this Twilight, Fluttershy, and finally, Rarity!” Pinkie said as she pointed at each pony respectively.

“Oh dear…”Applejack muttered as she covered her face with her hat. Dad noticed this and chuckled.

“No need to feel embarrassed Applejack.” He told her.

“But this is the first time we met as older ponies .” Applejack tried to reason. “And I-”

“You want to make a first good impression?” Dad shook his head. “Applejack, calm down will ya? We already met before, even if you were just a foal, and you were a pleasant pony to be around.”

He leaned a bit closer to Applejack and whispered to her ear, “And no need to suppress that accent. Don’t think that because I never met you for a long time doesn’t mean I don’t know you have an accent. It doesn’t suit you and we don’t have to speak to each other like I’m some city folk. So lets talk like we’re friends, ok? I mean...we are family friends.” Applejack nodded and sighed.

Dad turned to the other mares and smiled.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you. I can see that 6 of you shared a lot of pleasant memories together. Am I right?”

“Yeah!” Rainbow replied enthusiastically. “We did a lot of awesome stuff together!”

“Now maybe you can tell me about it.” Dad said. He then looked at Twilight who stepped forward.

“Uhm, can I ask you a question?” She asked.

“Ah, Twilight.” Dad nodded his head. “Yes you may.”

“I don’t want to be rude but…”Twilight paused for a moment before continuing, “Why are you here. There’s a reason why you’re here, right?”

“Other than visiting my 2 nieces and nephew?” He chuckled a bit. “Then yes, there is another reason why I’m here.”

“Oh, ok.” Twilight said. “Would you mind if you tell us?”

“No, not all.” Dad replied. “I came here to, let’s see, look for a place for my family to settle down. The city is nice and all but the pace there is too fast...and I can’t catch up. You know, since I’m growing old, heh”

“OOH! I know a lot of places where you and your family can settle down!” Pinkie interrupted.

“Interesting.” He mused. “Maybe you can show me where.”

“Abso-duper-lutely!” Pinkie said.

“ Hey, uhm.” Applejack cleared her throat. “Mah cousin ain’t tellin us his name yet. Would ya mind if it were you to speak?”

Dad smiled at her and shook his head.

“I’m afraid I can’t. My memory is a bit foggy and his name…”He scratched his head.”What is his name?”

“What?!” Rainbow Dash gasped in disbelief. “You don’t even look that old and you’re already forgetting?”

Twilight nudged Rainbow Dash and whispered to her.

“Please keep your tone down, Rainbow, and your attitude in check.”

Rainbow Dash groaned a bit and nodded. Then she looked at Dad.

“Err, I’m sorry mister, for my attitude,” She apologized. “But can you please tell your son to tell his name?”

Dad smiled and looked at me, along with everypony else. I gulped and nervously looked back at them. Then Dad opened his mouth to speak.

“Come on son, tell them your name.”

A loud sound disturbed my sleep. I was about to doze off again until I heard the same sound. It was a gunshot. Instinctively, I quickly got up and grabbed my revolver. I looked at my side and saw Jewel shooting at someone nearby.

"Mornin sleepy head, seems we got ourselves in a dangerous situation." Jewel greeted as she fired another bullet before using a nearby rock as cover to reload. "Hey, if you know how to shoot, then help me here!"

“Wait, who’s attacking us?” I quickly asked.

“Raiders.” She quickly answered. “Now shut up and shoot!”

Another bullet fired and it nearly hit me, missing by just mere inches. I quickly crawled to another large rock and took a peek. There were 3 ponies and 2 were armed with ranged weapons. I took aim and fired, hitting one of them in the leg.

"Wow, not a bad shot for a revolver. Keep up the good work!" She said as she finally reloaded and took aim once more. We continued shooting, though it was more of her doing the shooting and me trying to understand my gun. In the end, all of them were dead, killed by a shotgun weirdly enough.

"What the hell just happened?" I nervously asked.

"Same as always in this wastelands. Some raiders try to attack other ponies just to get stuff." Jewel said as she looted one of the bodies. I just stood there, watching her collect some gear. She gave me one of the armor of the raiders.

"I-I’ll loot from dead bodies o-or scavenge from dirty trash. But I won’t wear that junk!" I objected, seeing that it was soaked in blood and raider insides (and also very damaged).

"Hey, you either wear this if you want protection or don't if you want to die quicker. Your pick." She removed another armored barding and and put it on.

Reluctantly, I decided that I would probably want something to at least stop bullets from hitting me in some parts and wore the one she gave me.

“This must be the worst armor ever…” I stated, looking at all the free spaces the armor has.

"Yeah, but at least you have armor.” Jewel said, examining some of the weapons dropped by the raiders. “If you want, you can tag along with me. I could really use some help on my way to a settlement, like defend it from more raiders.”

“I guess…” I had no choice. She had a better gun and a better aim. I’ll be dead without her.

“Oh, and be careful. Remember we’re wearing raider armor so that means we could be mistaken for raiders.” Jewel warned me. “Don’t worry, you have me to explain everything when we get there.”

I groaned in annoyance. First, I have to wear this cruddy looking armor and now I might get shoot for looking like one? I wonder if the first option is still available.

“Good, we’re done here. I guess the next thing to do is head to the settlement.” Jewel said.

“And where is this settlement?” I asked her. She grinned at me and pointed at somewhere.

“Just follow me and you’ll be fine. Next stop: New Appleloosa!”