I walked behind Jewel as we walked towards “New Appleloosa”. Somewhere in my mind, it does ring a bell but I can’t seem to remember. Oh well, I guess I’ll just find out about that place for myself. It does sound a bit reassuring that there are still settlements around. Also, we encountered nasty-looking creatures. Jewel calls them bloatsprite. According to her, they are the product of a parasprite and radiation. They shoot out something that’s nasty at us but luckily we did not get hit. They were also easy to handle since one can kill them in one shot and be done with it. After this encounter, Jewel started teasing about my naive nature. It was really annoying but she was right. I know next to nothing about the wasteland and even pulling the trigger was hard for me to do.

“Are you sure you know the way?” I asked Jewel. Hours passed and yet I don’t see any signs of civilized life. I was really starting to doubt her sense of direction or her knowledge about the settlement.

“For the last time, pipsqueak, I know my way!” She firmly answered. She was obviously pissed at me for asking the same questions again and again. I just decided to shut up now lest she kills me. Sometimes, silence is golden if you want to live. But still, I was tired and annoyed that no settlement could be seen anywhere. Just dirt, rocks, and even more dirt. I would have strayed off path but like I know where the hell I am right now.

After a few more minutes, I decided to ask her one more question. So I quicken my pace a bit until I was walking beside her.

“Hey, do you mind if I asked one more question?” I asked her. She groaned in annoyance.

“This better be worth my time,” She said. “Go ahead.”

“Once we arrive to New Appleloosa, what next?” I asked her. She stopped walking and sighed.

“Look, don’t take this answer harshly,” She said. “Once we arrive, we go our separate ways. Sorry but…”

I sighed in disappointment and looked at her.

“I understand…,” I told her.

“Don’t take it too bad,” She told me. “Sometimes, it just have to be this way.”

I hung my head and sighed once more, kicking some dirt off the ground. Jewel gently punched me in the shoulder and patted me in the back.

“Come on Eclipse,” She said. “Let’s continue moving.”

I nodded my head and looked forward. We both walked once more towards our destination.

After some time, or days, we surprisingly made it to the outskirts of New Appleloosa. The walls of the place were made out of train cars and looked pretty strong despite all the rust. It was amazing to see how there’s still working settlements out in the wasteland. Jewel whistled in admiration and punched me again.

"See, I told ya I was right!" She said in triumph, smirking at me. I just nodded and sighed. She looked at me in confusion, not expecting my quiet reaction.

"Come on, speak or somethin. You've been very quiet." She was now knocking on my head again. "Please talk. Just one word?"

I ignored her and the pain that’s starting to form on my head. I really wanted to talk to her but there’s nothing to talk about. My time with her is little anyways, better just make the departure less personal.

"Damnit Eclipse! Don't give me the silent treatment. Look, I’m sorry that it had to be that way but come on, just say something! Even just one word, even if it's not a real one." She pleaded with, weakly punching me in the shoulder. "Come on! You're the only pony I met so far in my journey that never tried to kill me on the spot. The only pony that actually tried to accompany me in one of my trips. And the most annoying one too."

I smiled and dwelled on her words a bit. She was actually the first pony that talked to me in a friendly, if somewhat aggressively, way. Also the first that tried. Maybe I can talk to her for a few more minutes.

"So...this is goodbye?" I slowly asked, looking at her. She looked back at me, her face filled with a bit of anger and sadness.

"Really? Seriously? You have to ask that? Don't say that man, we might cross paths one day. Anything's possible in the wasteland. Is there anything else you can say?" She was obviously disappointed, punching me again. Her reaction to it also somewhat amused me so I decided to speak for the sake of it, and maybe get another reaction from her. It was what I felt like doing at the time, something like a last joke.

"I'm actually surprised that you care about what I say. Or you simply just care about me?" I mischievously grinned. This time, she punched me even harder, making me fall down to the ground. I started laughing, I was such a horrible flirt. Well, I guess this farewell might end in a more personal way.

"Eclipse, you jerk! You really are annoying!" She yelled at me, her face flushed with embarrassment. I just continued to laugh, then I got up. I was still laughing, but I managed to stop before she could hit me again. I looked at her and she looked like she was ready to kill me.

“What? You asked me to talk.” I said, trying to stifle a giggle. She fumed and she slapped me again and again and again until my face turned red.

“You think that’s what I meant?” She angrily said. “You know what? I’ll shoot you, right here, right now.”

“Woah, calm down,” I quickly told her. “I’m just joking around.”

“If you’re joking, it’s not a good one,” She said. “And your excuse makes me want to shoot your head off.”

I just shook my head and weakly punched her in the shoulder. She looked at me once more and finally she smiled. She punched me back and we both laughed for awhile. I finally got her to smile again.

“Are you sure we can’t stick together?” I asked her.

“I guess we’ll just wait and see,” She replied. “Maybe I should socialize a bit more.”

“Hmm, then what are we waiting for? Let’s get inside the place before we meet anything nasty.”

She nodded and we walked towards the town. At some point, I swore that I saw some ponies on top of the train cars but there was still a bit of a distance between us and the town so I dismissed it. We were near the gate when suddenly, Jewel gasped as she looked at the gate. There were two stallions with weapons aimed at us. One of them suddenly fired and I felt an intense pain course through my body. I looked at where the bullet hit me and saw blood leak out from the wound on my shoulder.

“Stop! Don’t shoot!” Jewel yelled at them. “Friendly ponies damnit!”

Again, they did not respond verbally and instead fired again. This time, it struck me near the chest and I collapsed to the ground. I started coughing and I tasted some blood in my mouth. I started feeling cold and my vision blurred and darkened. I could hear Jewel yell something at them but her words were gurgled. The last thing I remembered before blacking out was another gunfire and a muffled yell.

I was back at Ponyville, walking through the streets. I noticed that the sky was filled with dark clouds, filling me with dread. I heard what happened at Littlehorn. It started as a misunderstanding between the zebras and ponies. I thought it would have been solved peacefully but I was wrong. A trained zebra commando infiltrated the school and killed everybody in it. I also heard what happened to Big Mac. His death is what finally shattered my hope for peace. The same could be said to the rest of the Apple family and my family. He was a great stallion.

I finally stopped at the center of town, which was deserted, and stared at the gloomy sky. I let a tear fall down from my face, then another and another until I was crying. I was mad at the zebras. I was mad at my fellow ponies. I was mad at Celestia. I was mad at everything.

“WHY?!” I screamed at the sky. “Why is this all happening?!”

I stomped my hoof in anger and shouted and cursed.

“Everything that happened...it could have been prevented!” I continue to yell. “WHY DID YOU ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN?!”

It began to rain and I was drenched. I continued to stare at the sky, finally letting out all the anger but the sadness still stayed within me. I feel like the lives of many were ruined because of what happened, and not just the ponies. I felt sorry for the innocent zebras who were now being treated as an enemy by everypony. I felt sorry for the relatives and friends of those who were killed at Littlehorn. Everything that happened, everything that was lost, I realized that it affected at least one living being.

“Celestia...why?”

When I regained my consciousness, though I kept my eyes close since I was still pretty tired, I heard voices. They seem to be discussing about me. I immediately recognized one of the voices to be Jewel.

"Is he going to be fine?" Jewel worriedly asked.

"Relax, he'll be alright. Though he was shot 3 times and one of the bullets nearly pierced his lungs, I think me and my team did a good job on taking care of him. The surgery went fine and we managed to replace his lost blood," The doctor(I presumed) reassured her. “Also, it seems something, I think it’s the technology attached to him, managed to partially heal him. That made our jobs even easier. Though I’ve never seen such kind of tech before.”

“But he’s fine, right?” Jewel asked again. “That’s the important part,him being alive and all?”

“Yes, as I said, he’s fine. We value life itself in this clinic and we will try to help anyone when needed,” The doctor replied.

I decided to open my eyes, just to see where I am. The room was white, no decoration, just plain white. Beside me, I saw Jewel and the doctor still talking until they noticed me.

"Mornin Sleepyhead! How’s your sleep?" Jewel asked me as she knocked my head again. "Whoo, taking a bullet for me. How does it feel like?"

The doctor looked at her and shook his head.

"Ugh, can you just stop hitting my head? The bullet hurts and you're not helping." I groaned, pusher her hoof away from my head.

"Aww, don't be such a sourpuss," She said. I just ignored her and instead, I tried to stand up.

“Easy now, don’t put too much pressure on yourself,” The doctor warned me as he and Jewel helped me up. “You’re body is still recovering from the wounds you obtained.

Finally, I was standing on my own legs. The doctor looked at me in surprise and wiped his glasses before letting out a whistle.

"I'm surprised you could stand up that easily. Usually, my patients who got shot takes a few tries before they could do it." The doc remarked, patting my back. "Tip of the day. Next time, don't ever try wearing a raider's barding. It just makes you look like one."

"I'll remember that," I looked at Jewel, shaking my head. She just laughed while the doctor nodded. After a few more check-ups to make sure that I’m really okay, me and Jewel walked out of the clinic. Jewel started talking about something as we walked around the town.

“Did you know?” She started. “It seems you’re not the only one that got mistaken as a raider.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her, a bit intrigued on the topic.

“It seems on the same day you got shot, another pony wearing raider armor was accidentally shot by Calamity, one of the caravan guards I think. What a strange coincidence, huh? Though I’m not sure if they’re telling the truth or not,” She continued.

“Then what happened?” I was really interested now. I wonder who the unlucky pony is.

“Luckily for her, some of the folks she rescued back at Ponyville stopped the pegasus before he could finish her off. I think she’s still recovering as we speak,” She finished. “Again, I’m not sure if the story is true or not. Ya never know. Anyways, I guess you can learn a thing or two from the story, never wear raider bardings.”

“Actually, wearing one was your idea,” I told her. “So I’m blaming you for what happened to me.”

“Hey, I gave you the option not to,” She defended herself. “And it looks like I’m not the only one who thought of that, heh.”

I just rolled my eyes as we continued walking.

"Hey, I thought we were going to split up once we get here,” I reminded her. “What’s keeping you from going away?”

"I dunno, since you look so pathetic without me, I might as well teach and help you about everything you need to know about the wasteland," She answered. "After all, I am kind and generous, heh. And I did feel a bit sorry for getting you shot yesterday."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. So how long will you... Uhm, help me?" I asked. “This partnership won’t last forever, right?”

"Ah, don't worry bout that! We'll get to it once...how does it go again? Once we cross the bridge." She replied.

So I asked her a few questions about the wasteland, about what happened, and maybe some survival tips. She answered them the best she could, which really wasn't that much of a help. I mean, what’s so useful about drinking irradiated water? Before I knew it, we slowly started our trip to becoming friends.

"Hey, once were done in this place, I wanna go explore the remains of Manehattan. So let's go buy some supplies!" Jewel said. We walked to some shops here and there, checking out what they were selling. We also looked for a place where we can buy better equipment( or armor for that fact).

Jewel then turned to me and asked a weird question.

"Hey, do you maybe have some caps on you?"

Ok, I think I got it. Caps equals money, and bits are called pre-war money(Seems legit). The pre-war coins can still be used, but unfortunately, they have lower values than those bottle caps. Luckily, they were everywhere, so we could pretty much grab a whole lot of pre-war money and get 10 caps in return at best.

So, we bartered our way to get as much equipments as possible without spending too much, which did not really worked as plan. We ended up using most of the caps(and coins)we have just for some...food and water. Jewel is not exactly the best pony to depend on buying stuff and she was also pretty stubborn, insisting on buying this or that.

“You had to waste most of our money huh?” I asked her. We were now heading towards the exit of the city.

“Aww, shut up already. At least we have something,” She said. I just rolled my eyes. As I said, earlier, she was stubborn, no use with arguing. We continued walking, staying silent until we were finally out of the place.

“Let’s hope your sense of direction will lead us to the right place.” I said sarcastically.

“You know what? Why don’t you lead the way, Mr. Pony-that-seems-smart?” She talked back, looking at me. I just stayed quiet and gestured her to move on.

“What exactly are we going to do there?” I asked her.

“Treasure hunting, sightseeing, exploring. Anything really, as long it’s worth the risk!” She eagerly said. “Manehattan, here we come!”

Again, we walked for a long time. It was a boring trip if you ask me.

“Are we th-”

“DON’T you ever ask that again,” Jewel angrily cut me off. “Just, just keep quiet or talk about something else.”

“Ok then...why continue staying with me?” I asked her with a smirk.

“First of all, it’s you that’s staying with me, not the other way around. Second, don’t rub it in my face, it just happened that I felt that you need serious teaching mister.” She said sticking out her tongue at me. There was so much maturity I can see there. Since I was bored, I decided to annoy her a bit(or maybe toy with her) for some entertainment.

“Just admit it, you just happen to like me.” I said, making sure to take note of her reaction. She looked at me suddenly in surprise.

“WHOA! Mr. Loverboy, just...no. You did not just say that. Don’t even think about it,” She said as she punched me, hard. “I can kill you in a heartbeat, so don’t test your luck.”

I just laughed, amused by her reaction. I could go on, teasing the hell out of her, and so I did.

“Right, just admit it. Your face says everything.” I looked at her, as if trying to closely study her face. I know I was treading on thin ice, which makes things even more interesting. Before anyone can say I’m a perv or something like that, I was just really bored and annoyed at her “gut” feelings. I know I can do something else but that’s all I can think of right now. In response, she stopped and brought out her shotgun and aimed at me.

“I said, don’t push your luck. Continue and I swear I’ll kill you.”She warned, getting ready to shoot. I was a bit frightened but decided to push on..

“You wouldn’t dare pull the trigger.” I remarked. She blinked and shook her head before lowering her gun. She was surprised at what I said and so was I. That was a bold move and I don’t think I could have pulled it off if I wasn’t so damn bored. The next thing I know, she slapped me with her gun.

“Hell yeah I would. You’re just lucky that I’m forgiving,” She said as she kept her gun. “And I’m surprised that you have the guts to say that in my face and you haven’t fallen or fainted from that hit. For a newcomer, you have the guts of a psycho raider but the mind of filly.”

“Ow…”I groaned, moving my jaw to see if it was still working.

I was dizzy from the hit, but she was right. The blow was extremely hard and from what I think, my lower jaw should be at least dislocated right now.

“That’s what you get, you little jerk.”She said, smirking.”Now come along, little bro, if you still want company.”

She started walking again and I immediately followed her. That’s enough laughs for one day, I thought. Though I began thinking about that what she called me. I wasn’t called that before and I was somewhat new to it.

“Hey, did you just call me ‘Little Bro’?”