.:+:.

...... For a minute at best.

The next thing I knew, the colt was standing over me while shoving various needles into my foreleg and injecting whatever they held into my bloodstream. A warmth flooded from my legs into my chest and through my entire body, my heart beat faster and faster, my blood moved more, my head grew clearer, my pain subsided. The black on the edge of my vision went away, the world slowed before me so I could see everything in terrific slow motion- a world where I moved really fast.

I felt.... I felt good.

I lift my head and glanced to the colt, who finished with the last needle and looked back to me. "What did you do?" I asked, not interested in anything other than the one question. There was the soft ticking sound of my radiation meter going off, I figured there were things in the ambulance that were radioactive all on their own. I ignored the now useless warnings the damn thing was giving me too, no point in looking at it- not now anyway.

"I gave you some Dash," he mumbled, pulling over a plastic pill bottle and shaking out four pills before me. "Take those, we need to go- fast." He said urgently, and I obediently licked up the tablets. My body was starting to tingle, and pretty soon I felt power in my limbs. (It later occurred to me, after a long time in the Wastes- that Dash didn’t come in Syringes, but Inhalers- as it turns out, this one time- my luck managed to present that colt with a rare form of that damn drug that had been condensed into a freaking liquid- and the effects were nearly tenfold than what was considered ‘normal’. Gotta love the freaky things you find when you’re dying on the roof of a two century old Ambulance, huh?) The colt threw the empty bottle away and I blinked,

"What were those?"

"Buck." He muttered,

"Flash!!!!!!?!?" Cream screamed, running toward us with the grey buck galloping behind her, hey! They were alive at least. Cream looked a little worse for wear, as did the buck behind her but there really wasn’t time to worry about anything right now. I climbed to my hooves, shaking my coat out (oblivious to the blood and bits of my own flesh that scattered in the action) and looking toward the Clinic. The side of the building was glowing red-hot, as the framework began to melt away in response to some seriously powerful Magic.

"Ok, time to go." I murmured, jumping down from the ambulance with the colt behind me, Cream slowed beside us, panting and covered in sweat. She stared at me with wide eyes and gasped,

"Oh great goddesses!" She breathed, I followed her gaze toward my flank and noticed what she was seeing, the hole shot through my body had just missed the protection of my barding, and it was oozing blood continually, and you could see the white of one of my ribs poking through around the melted flesh. I would have thrown up, if I didn't feel so good even despite the serious injury I was looking at. It wasn't good, no, but I couldn't feel it right now, and pretty soon after, I just couldn’t see the wound anymore at all.

"We have to go," I said, ignoring the horrified look she was giving me. None of them moved and sighed in exasperation, I butted Cream with my head in the direction away from the MOP Clinic and the fast incoming freakish unicorn enemies. "RUN!" I snapped, and the tone of my voice made them leap into action- that and the wall of the clinic blew apart with a resounding boom behind us, and the mass of freak unicorns stood in the hole.

The two earth ponies and the (regular!) unicorn mare started off at a gallop, I jumped into the air and felt the currents of warmth curl under my wings as I pumped them with a newfound vigor. I flipped around in air, once I had gained enough speed to glide, and turned to look back at the enemies after us, shifting my shotgun from my back and into my hooves as I took aim- everything was slowed from the Dash the colt had given me, I was aiming in a slowed state very much like S.A.T.S. I aimed for the head of the first freaky unicorn and pulled the trigger,

BAM!

The scattered propellants of my gun bounced off a glowing shield of Magic that appeared before the pony, ticking off its surface as if it was nothing. I hissed and flipped forward again,

My fur started tingling once more, and I knew there was some serious Magic being sent our way in the next few moments without having to look. The ponies below me were dodging in and out between the carriages that were littered outside the Clinic as we made our way back to Pillar- maybe those carriages would provide some cover. But then, these ponies melted walls and floors like it was nothing- I doubted a few carriages would make much a difference.

“Run faster!!!” I yelled below me, shoving my shotgun onto my back and flapping my wings harder but not hard enough that I pulled ahead of the three below me, my fur rising at the waves of heat rolling behind us. I took a glance back and felt my heart drop, as the sphere of red hot Magic grew in size in accordance to the freak unicorns pouring their magic into it. That Magic was going to carve a path straight through us, I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want to let Cream or her friends either- but what to do?

I supposed it was high time for something crazy- I mean, it didn’t seem crazy, I felt like I could do anything right now.

So, I whipped around and streaked toward the freakish unicorns, arching around the sphere of red-hot so closely I felt my fur singe a little, and I angled straight toward the head unicorn- whose orange eyes looked to me in utter calm.

WHAM!

I crashed right into it, my head bashing against the head of the unicorn- I felt a searing pain flow through me at the jolt, and the tip of its curved horn cut the side of my neck, drawing a little blood. But in the next instant, my hooves slammed down on its muzzle and I propelled myself away in that same S.A.T.S. like slowness dancing across my mind. The unicorn let out a screech of pain, and the Magic spiraling out before the mass of them suddenly erupted in a large boom- sending out a wave of force to hit us, I flipped in air and flapped wildly to keep myself up, smirking downward as I saw the freakish unicorns fall over from the explosion. Apparently, destroying the concentration of one single unicorn, disrupted the concentration of them all. Good to know.

I smirked and slammed my hooves down into the face of the next freak-unicorn then, earning an unintelligible yell of rage as the one beside it attempted to throw some Magic my way- but I was out of range in an instant, soaring high over their heads, reaching into my saddlebags as my PipBuck shuffled the contents through magical means~

BANG! BANG! BANG!

I dove down with unreal speed and pressed my Revolver in between the eyes of the nearest freak unicorn below me, one that was pale green in color with burning blue eyes. The bullets tore through the unicorn’s skull with a jerk, liquefying its brain into pudding as bits of flesh, fur and skull hit my face- I flapped back into the air the moment it crumpled to the ground in a heap. They couldn’t put up a shield to block the bullets if the gun was right in their face, now could they?

I felt the tug of something grazing the barding on my shoulder, and jerked my head sideways to avoid the Buck-and-Dash- induced, slow motion bullet shaped blast of orange that was shot at me, glaring down to meet the orange gaze of the leader (or at least, I assumed as much)- it's lips pulled into a snarl that let me know how angry it was. I huffed and started circling them again, many of the were still trying to get to their hooves after their Magic imploded on them, many of them were yelling insults- well, I supposed so, it all sounded like jumbled crap to me anyway, not really words. Did I care what they were saying? Oh not really no, I was just having fun really-

‘Fun?’ The Little Me asked suddenly, smirking a little. No, not fun! I mean, that wasn’t my real intent- I was trying to buy Cream and her friends some time to get away from here.

But yes, actually. I was having fun. I couldn’t feel most of my pain, my mind was on an all-time high right now, I felt like anything was possible! It made my heart beat faster in joy to see those furious glares of those unicorns below me, my heart was going so fast and it was all because this truly was fun! I could hear the organ pumping in my ears like thunder-

BA-BOOM! BA-BOOM! BA-BOOM! BOOM BOOM BOOM!!

You know, why haven’t I tried this before? I could probably make an entire tornado on my own right now if I wanted to!

Before long, I was laughing hysterically at the thought. A tornado out here would be awesome. Suck these bastards straight up, throw everything around- maybe get rid of a huge chunk of that Cloud Cover up there- and then we could see the sky! Oh, now wouldn’t that be wonderful, I couldn’t even imagine what the sky would look like right now- had I ever even seen anything but cloud? Hehe… I don’t know…!

Up and down, side to side, in and out- I was moving in a blur, my vision slowed my own movements down but I couldn’t have been more than a streak of silver and gold to those unicorns below me. I was pummeling my hooves into their faces, firing my Revolver incessantly, moving out of the way of Magic bullets and blasts sent my way- missing most, while some of them scratched me and burned flesh, and cut skin. They were screeching at me in utter fury, the whole lot of them- but my speed and small little attacks on them were keeping them occupied enough that the orange-eyed bastard at the head couldn’t get the rest of its group to focus and send a real attack at me. The world was moving by in slow bliss, I was very happy doing this I was having more fun than I could ever imagine myself having- and the drugs were lifting my mood to insane heights. My lips parted as I dove and flapped about the heads of those below me, as Magic was streaking by in a rainbow of color, my voice rose and I smiled like a psychotic fool.

“Oh, let me go on home! To Mountains of old- to places where others can’t find! Haha! Let me go on home, to where I belong, to where I may find my own!” I flipped in a barrel-roll, avoiding the flash of red that sped past me as I pushed off the face of another freak-unicorn, leaving bruises and a bloody lip. “Where I have what I need, to kill everything! Everything in my waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!!!!!”

“You mock us?!”

My eyes shifted sideways as my song died on my tongue for a moment, my gaze locking with the leader’s orange one. This was the first intelligible thing I had heard a single one say since their little chanting spell earlier. Mock you? Why yes! Yes I am mocking you, DUH!

“Oh yes I dooooooooooooooooo!!” I sang back, ending in a fit of laughter that earned a heated stare as the leader started barking orders to rally those around him. I pulled my revolver back out and started firing willy-nilly, but this time I didn’t get close and the freak-unicorns actually managed to place a shield up and deflect the bullets.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Click- Click-

Wha? Why is there no more bullets being fired? I cast a glance at my PipBuck so I could shuffle the bullets for the gun up to the top- only to find I didn’t have any more bullets for it at all. Well that’s no fun…

I came to a stop in my swooping and diving, blinking rapidly as my whole body began to reverberate with a tingling feeling I had been feeling every single time that… Oh shit.

Magic was spiraling around the whole of the band of freak-unicorns, and growing rapidly. The hue of green and orange tore out and shattered the ground, carved open the rocks and rubble around us and even began to slice up the carriages close by. A wave of pressure was pounding at my body so hard I was being pushed backward through the air, seeing as how everything was starting to get sliced up- it was time to go!

I whipped around and took off, my wings streamlining the moment I reached a speed too fast for the Magic to catch- or at least I thought so, but even drugged up and on high, that thing was fast and coming straight at me- I was utterly fucked.

I saw it stream out in a full-color beam, the Magic losing its spherical shape and creating a straight line. But in that next instant, there was a flash of black from the inside of the building behind the freak-unicorns. I blinked, watching in slow motion as a swift flash of green slashed out at the unicorns near the back of the group, claws that easily cut through the Magic around them, and cleanly severed six heads in a single motion- before two steel-like tails pierced the hearts of two more, and the Magic imploded with a boom- I lost sight of my DireWolf companion as the wave of force from the imploded Magic sent me crashing into the ground, my body bouncing painfully for a long ways before I slowed down.

“Ooh… ow….” I hissed, pain flooding through the numbness of the drugs a moment at the impact, pushing myself up from where I had landed on my stomach. So, Zero just saved my ass- Little Me, remind me to thank him for that later, kay?

‘Noted!’ The Little Me grinned, there being a typewriter that popped up before her, as she tucked the note into a folder, filing it away into a metal cabinet with the line of ‘REMEMBER’ stamped to it in blue ink.

I glanced backward to see nothing but a crushed carriage blocking my view, I took a breath and shook my coat out, sending bits of the blood and gore I was covered in around to splatter against the ground. There were eight less red blips on my E.F.S. and an added yellow one that represented the appearance of Zero- and then another one, yellow.

“Fer Celestia’s sake girl, stop standin’ an’-” Whiskey galloped from around the crushed carriage toward me and skidded to a stop when he spotted me. He looked a little worse for wear, his barding was scuffed and he was huffing like he had been running awhile- but he had jumped from the second story window and wasn’t lying crumpled on the ground. Maybe he worked some insane sort of Earth Pony Magic to make that happen, what do you think?

His eyes went utterly wide when he saw me, his jaw dropped before he flinched, wincing a little at what he saw. He trotted forward slowly, “Oh… oh sweet Luna…..” He muttered, “… Ya… feelin’ ok, Darlin’?” I shook my head at him, why was he even asking? I felt fine! I felt better than fine, I was good. Totally good, my mind had already gotten so hazy I couldn’t even remember if I had been hurt or not- when I looked at myself I didn’t see anything wrong with me, so why is he looking at me so weird?

“Is now the time to be asking that?” I huffed a little, setting a confused look on him. “I feel fine, I am fine. Now let’s get going, deal?” He didn’t have time to react as I jumped up in the air and took off, he started galloping below me as I stayed close to the ground so he was in my sights at all times. I wonder how he managed to survive jumping out of the window? I mean, he didn’t have wings, and Celestia knows what he landed on, on the way out- he could have been impaled, broken his neck, anything really- so how was it he was seemingly completely fine? I’d have to ask in a little, I figured getting away from the Clinic and catching up with Cream and her fiends was more important right now.

Still, had to wonder.

“Ooh…. Zero…” I murmured, the thought occurring to me I couldn’t see the DireWolf behind us- I took a glance back to try and spot him above the things blocking the way- there were flashes of Magic and the sound of yelling, but I couldn’t see anything other than that- at least the yellow blip indicating the creature was still there, I doubted even Zero would have a hard time with those unicorns- I mean, how hard was it really to kill a DireWolf? I hadn’t killed a single one yet- well, not myself anyway. I figured the armed guns in Arabino didn’t count for killing the things myself.

“.. Ain’t no freaky unicorns… gonna take doooooooowwwwwnn Zerooo….” I chuckled slightly, feeling the need to burst into song take over me again, I started weaving about in air as we continued on at the same pace, a grin spreading across my face as everything began to blur and my body started tingling all over with the most intense feeling, I could hear my heart in my head again and it sounded awesome.

“He’s got the claws, and the tails, and the teeth... to rip apart those freaky unicorn ponieeeeeeesssssssssss….” BA BOOM BA BOOM BA BOOM. “Oh no freaky unicorns gonna take down Zeroooooo….. Oh no no no….. He’s one bad-ass Snakey-Dog with awesome venom….” BOOM BOOM BA BOOM BOOM BOOM. “Ain’t no freaky unicorns gonna take down Zerooooooooooooo!!!” Everything suddenly erupted in blurry color, everything was weird, the air was dancing with blue currents of light, Whiskey glowed like an orange lamp, I felt reverberations of sound hit my body, though every little noise was lost to the booming in my chest. My grin grew even more, my mind giving way to the high I was on oh so willingly, I continued to lose myself in the oncoming world permitted to me by the combination of Buck and Dash. “We’re gonna take ‘um out, we’re gonna beat ‘um all now! Zero’s gonna cut ya to pieces, Whiskey’s gonna shoot ya in the head, and me? Oh don’t ask about me, I’ll be flyin’ and kickin’ and singin’ away…!” BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.

‘Pillar’ flashed before my eyes in an array of golden light after we had been fleeing for awhile, it was continuously followed by more gold as things like ‘Torso Crippled’ and ‘Massive Internal Bleeding’ appeared in front of me, I glanced down at the glowing orange beacon of Whiskey among a blue sea of color, his lips were moving as he yelled something at me- I couldn’t hear him over the booming of my heart, and I just smiled and nodded slowly, still weaving about in air.
And then peach, gray and silver flashed in front of me as I followed Whiskey deftly around a corner he took, just around the off-ramp of the highway, smiling all the while as Cream Soda and her friends came into our sights. Whiskey came to a halt, I hovered over him, bobbing up and down as I continued to hum my little song- waving a hoof at the colt and smiling like a fool, he looked back up at me in nervous terror. Why did he seem so scared?

Whiskey was yelling at Cream, I murmured a few words at him- “Stop yelling at her dumb-ass, you don’t have to be so mean..” He didn’t seem to hear me, and Cream was nodding frantically, her pink gaze switching to me as she bit her lip,

I felt myself get yanked downward against my will, and glanced slowly to my wings to see if they were even still working, my body was numb now completely. I was glowing pink, pink! I glanced to Cream as my vision swam, apart from her glowing soft orange- the top of her head was glowing pink like me! Haha!

I was squirming, my hooves waving around wildly as I tried to get out of the grasp of pink that was slowly pulling me down, I didn’t want to land, flying was so much fun! I gave one last tug to try and get away, but then my wings gave out and I hit the concrete with a SMACK!

Cream’s eyes went wide and Whiskey snapped something at her, I peeled my face off the ground to see their mouth’s moving. And then Whiskey’s face snapped around toward the colt, yelling again as the little foal looked to him with a nervous expression, saying something in return that made his father face-hoof so hard I thought he’d break his nose. What a funny buck…

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BA BOOM BA BOOM!!!

I felt my body convulse, even beside the numbness. My mouth was foaming now, the foam was bloody- my eyes were falling closed as my vision slowly faded from rainbow-colored bliss to black, utter black…… My head moved back and forth as someone started shaking me frantically, their hot breath next to my ear as they yelled and yelled, but didn’t they realize I couldn’t hear them?

‘Ooh-ho not good….. not good… F… Flashy….? Flashy…? Hey, can you hear me…?’ Little Me? ‘..Flashy... Flashy… Flashy….. what a mess this is now, hm…?’ Mess? What mess? I feel great!

The Little Me appeared before my gaze, surrounded by all the growing shadows. For the first time, she was actually in front of me- not just in my head, she was right there, her hooves next to my muzzle as she stood just between Cream and Whiskey as they crouched on either side of me. I lift my chin from the concrete slowly, she looked to me with her red eyes, the same ones I had, and she shook her head slowly, tapping a hoof to her chin. ‘Mmm… I do think that’s the Drugs talking there, Flashy. It seems you don’t quite realize your... ah, condition.’ Her eyes closed as she rubbed a hoof through her choppy golden mane, leaving it to stand up a bit as if some sort of gel had been rubbed through. ‘But listen, you can’t die. It just wouldn’t be any fun if you did, cause then we both disappear- and really, who wants that?’ Whiskey and Cream fell out of my sight, the Little Me leaned down and lay her chin on the ground right in front of my nose, our eyes meeting. ‘You can’t die. So don’t, and we can have some lovely little Tea-Sandwiches later when you wake up, that sound good?’

.:+:.

Music filtered in around me from somewhere close to my ear, it was slow, smooth… with the lovely tones of bass and a trumpet, Old Blues….. yeah, and I really like it too. My lips pulled into a soft smile, I couldn’t remember the last time I had heard the Blues, I wondered where the melody was being played from.

My eyes opened slowly as I dragged my hooves under the soft pillow cradling my head, my body covered halfway by the comforter over top of me, and I saw a radio sitting on the nightstand to my right, light filtering in through window just next to it, fighting past the curtains trying to block it out. The clock on the radio read 9:09.

“It’s already nine..?” I murmured, against my own will as I realized I was the other me again, the one I couldn’t remember being. I started to push myself up in the bed, my mane ruffled from sleep as I felt myself panicking slightly. “Why didn’t anypony wake me up?!” I hopped off the bed and jumped toward a dresser nearby, throwing it open in search of- what was clearly not there, because I had halted and I was staring at the emptiness of it.

“I….. am on Leave.” I murmured, sighing as I began rubbing a hoof through my mane, “… Damn, I was so tired after clearing all the clouds in the town, I crashed and completely blanked on the fact…….” I smiled a little ruefully, “Seems like I won’t be getting out of my habits any faster than I thought, I probably won’t ever get rid of them, if I’m being honest….” I hung my head a little and slowly closed the empty dresser, walking back toward the bed and plopping down on it, earning a hiss as I hit my side- looking down to see white bandages wrapped about my torso, noticing also the ones wrapped about my foreleg as well.

My chin rest on my pillow as I lay on my stomach, glancing back to the radio as I tried to allow myself to fall away into the music. It was pleasant, relaxing… I could feel myself falling down into a doze as it continued on, I was exhausted, mentally more than physically. I could hear the soft murmur of ponies outside my window, as the music fell away slowly- before I reached a wing over and pressed the off button on the clock with my top-most feather.

“I wonder…. If Misty Fly is looking for me….” I murmured lowly, rolling over onto my back to face the ceiling. “… I don’t know if I want to talk to her at all, really…..” I closed my eyes and pressed my hooves over them. “…. I…. don’t even know if….. I want to go back……. To…. The… team….”

Team? Could this be the same team that Scarlet had mentioned? The one she had tried to urge me to take over and become Captain of? But what team? What was it, who was on it…?

RD………….?

.:+:.

“She….. still……… crashing….”

Wha..? What is that…? Who is that….?

I moaned, my body was in utter pain, my heart was beating irregularly, I was shaking, I could taste blood in my throat. My eyes fluttered incessantly as I fought to keep them open, trying to come to terms with what was going on, where I was, and who was talking. I knew I was fidgeting, I felt my body twitching against my better judgment as I writhed around at the pain in every part of me- most certainly in my torso and my chest.

Something was being poured down my throat, something warm and sweet that only worked to dull the pain slightly. Hooves pressed down on my body to try and keep me still in my wriggling, and then my fore-hoof stung as somepony stuck a needle in me and the pain dulled to nothing as some sort of liquid was injected into my veins, I stopped moving and went still, my heart still beating funny, still breathing in strained breaths.

“She ain’t……….. ya know it……” A voice murmured shakily, my ears straining to hear the entire sentence through the haze dancing over my mind.

“She has ta!” I flinched at the voice, it came through clearly and loudly. I knew immediately who it belonged to, even in the confusion. “She ain’t dyin’!” Even with how harsh his tone was, I could hear the doubt in his voice. He didn’t fully believe himself, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself he did. I didn’t know if I believed I wasn’t dying already.

Then something started to lift me off the floor, the fuzzy shape of something massive made its way past my blurry vision. The movement made me hiss though the pain was non-existent since somepony shot me up with what I would suppose was a painkiller. But what the hell is picking me up…? It….. it's so….. soft…..
I felt myself relax into the hold, the feel of fur brushing against me in my numbness, a warmth emanating from the mass as I was lifted slowly and gently, it felt so comfy……

“Wha’ in…. hell…….. doin’?!” Whiskey’s voice faded from its earlier clarity to being far off as I began to fade into the comfort of whatever had lift me up, could this be me dying…?

“… Green Fire..”

.:+:.

“Oh girl, don’t you let no war bring you down.
Oh friend, don’t let no madness make you frown!
Although the world seems bare,
And life may seem to mean no anythin’ anymore.
You still have life to live,
All you gotta do is soar!!”

My ears twitched at the sound of the soft and smooth melody playing all around, and flooding my senses- bringing me back from a deep, dark place I couldn’t remember falling into. I felt I should remember the lyrics to the song, as it fell away into a lovely bit of orchestra of some smooth guitar and soft bass……. But the words didn’t come, and I listened intently for a moment.

“Let your wings take air,
Let yourself be more.
Don’t dwell on what you see,
Not the death, sadness, no not the war!
You still have life to live,
All you gotta do is sooooooaarr!”

“Lovely song, isn’t it? Flashy?”

In a flash of light, I found myself sitting at a table in the vast white emptiness of my mind- where across from me, sat the Little Me, smiling softly as she pushed a wineglass of the same light brown liquid she always had toward me. In front of her, she had her own glass, as she crossed her hooves in front of it and simply looked to me- the music fading as the orchestra took up again. I could do nothing but stare back, usually I wasn’t the one sitting in here with her- all I ever saw was her, as if I was looking through a window apart from her.

“I always thought so, the music is just fantastic!” She grinned, brushing her mane back again- where it stood up as if it was windswept, “It’s a great thing to wake up to… but perhaps not as good as Blues or Jazz.” She paused and smiled a bit more, “You do like the Blues and Jazz, don’t you?” I faltered slightly, blinking a few times before slowly nodding.

“Uh… yes? I think?” By now any memory of what I had seen of the Old Me had faded away to nothing. The Little Me smiled sympathetically and slowly took a sip of her drink, leaning back in her chair with a thoughtful expression toward me.

“Memory loss is a bit of a pain, hmm?” She said after her drink, earning a blink from me.

“But… don’t you have the same memory loss like me?” I asked, “Cause, you know… you are me? Sort of?” I rubbed my hooves together uncomfortably, “I mean, you really are just a figment of my super screwed up mind after all.” The Little Me smiled a little with a small nod,

“Yeah…. I am….. but you know- Does it really matter?” She chuckled, “Apparently, all I’m good for is stupid comments and little pep talks- just to keep you company.” I blinked, frowning a little when I detected the rather put-down tone that crept into her voice, like somehow I had offended her….. But how can I offend a figment of my imagination? “Anyhoo, I promised you some Tea-sandwiches when you woke up- so here.” With a soft pop, a plate full of neatly prepared sandwiches appeared on the table before us, and then the wine glasses disappeared to give way to little tea-cups. “Eat up!” She grinned, chomping down on one hungrily.

“…. But I’m not awake…..?” I murmured slowly, quite confused now. The Little Me looked up with a smile, crumbs over her muzzle and looking quite amused.

“Says who?” She mumbled, I just blinked and she nodded a little. “Alright, you aren’t technically awake no, but you did manage not to die, so I figured let’s celebrate anyway! Stop being so literal about everything!” She nudged the plate toward me a bit more, I glanced between her and the food and then slowly bit down into one.

It was simple, bread with some lettuce, tomatoes…… It was good! I can’t remember the last time I had proper food, I munched down the first and started the second. The Little Me smiled at the reaction and sat back, letting us fall into silence. At some point I found myself wondering what was going through her head, I mean- could anything really go through her head at all? I mean… she was in my head, she was my imagination…… The Little Me was weird, which meant my head was weird……. Ugh…. Oh well, stop thinking about it.

“So… you said I didn’t die?” I mumbled after my sixth sandwich. I glanced up to her and she nodded at me, “Now how is that possible?”

“Why not find out?” She replied, tapping a hoof to the table once, “We’ve had a nice little chat, but I think you’re friends want to see you now.” She tapped the table again, I paused. Friends?

“My…. Friends…?” I murmured, eyes narrowing. I didn’t have any friends, I hadn’t made any…. Wait. “You can’t mean Whiskey? And Zero?!” The Little Me’s lips pulled into a crooked smirk as she nodded in confirmation. I slammed my hooves onto the table and my wings puffed up, “They are not my friends! Especially not that bastard Whiskey! He SHOT me!! He tried to kill me!” The Little Me lift a hoof and smiled,

“Oh yes, I know. And yet, you did save him from becoming Wolf-chow. And you agreed to travel with him.” She replied evenly, if not a little amused at my sudden surge in temper. “You may not like him, but you do like him.” I glared and she smiled just a little more,

“I do not!”

“Go on telling yourself that Flashy,” The Little Me murmured, “You’ll get it eventually.” Her hoof tapped down on the table for the third time, and I was sucked back into dark, into gray, into a world where everything was silent, beside the soft melody of the song playing before, and the constant tick of my PipBuck.

.:+:.

My eyelids fluttered open to the sight of old, ratty, half burned sheets in front of my nose. I blinked slowly, my ears swiveling round as I tried to hear anything, anything other than music and the incessant tick of my PipBuck. The air was tinged with the scent of ash and smoke, I sneezed as some of that ash hit my nose and cringed a little at the ache over my body that flared up in response. I was surrounded by rotting crates filled with indistinguishable filth and the like, all glowing a sickly green in the half-light of the night that had fallen around me- where the shadow of a halfway standing building cast out before me, the faded words of the name ‘Welmare’ was painted upon the cracked and crumbled wall. There were shelves that had been burned badly, where all product set upon them had melted and turned to ash.

TICK TICK TICK TICK!

I glanced down to my PipBuck to see the Radiation Meter ticking in the red zone.

I pulled up my Map to see where I was, and to my surprise I wasn’t so far away from the Ministry of Peace Clinic. I glanced sideways to see a worn and torn up road passing by the ruin of the building, with a few more ruins surrounding on either side. This must have been down the road from the Clinic as a sort of rest-stop, if the numerous destroyed and overturned carriages had anything to say- as well as the view of a ‘Haystop’ just to my left, and the sanitation facilities.

I flipped to the Stats section of my PipBuck, taking into account that the music was filtering from my PipBuck- it having somehow tuned into DJPON3 Radio on its own accord. A look over of my own Status found that many of the health concerns that had been plaguing me were less severe, or gone entirely. No more massive internal bleeding (Though it did inform me of some minor internal bleeding still, I shouldn’t really be surprised), my torso was only minorly damaged (There were some traces of that Foreign Corrosive Magic Matter still around, I could feel it, an itch inside me), my heart was beating kinda fine… no more drugs. The gaping hole in my side was pink, dug out some, and a little inflamed but nothing more, I could see the faint scarring of hastily placed stitches pulling at the skin. There was a faint line where the freak-unicorn’s horn had cut my neck, and my body was still aching from slamming into the top of the ambulance, and there were still patches of fur gone to show pink skin where I had been burned numerous times.

I blinked, nodding slightly at the report and glancing back around me. The radiation around me wasn’t good, but I wasn’t getting a Medical warning about it just now, in fact it didn’t seem to bother me at all. On a different note, how did I get here? I certainly hadn’t walked nor flown here, with the way I was in, it wouldn’t have allowed that. I faintly remembered waking up somewhere in between, slipping from consciousness the first time to now, the feel of that super soft thing lifting me up….. and ‘Green Fire’. So… Yeah, no clue what that was.

My ears swiveled back when the sound of heavy footfalls reached me, they were nearly deafened as if the figure was stepping through the soft ash, but I heard them none the less and turned slightly, eyes narrowing as I let them try to adjust to the surrounding dim even more. The flash of yellow on my E.F.S. told me it wasn’t an enemy, and considering how massive in size the figure would need to be to make the sound of these steps I was hearing, I had a good guess to who it was.

The Radiation everywhere wasn’t a bad clue either.

“Zero?” I murmured, my voice cracked a little from lack of use, and I swallowed hard- tasting bile and blood a moment before it faded. The massive, looming figure of the DireWolf slipped from behind a shelf and came to a slow stop before me, green eyes glinting in the half-light and utterly silent. We stared at each other, I was eerily reminded of the several stare-down’s that the DireWolf and Whiskey found themselves in. I could see patches of fur were thin and there was a particularly long scar running over his shoulder that hadn’t been there before among the several that were faded and dull- I figured it was as souvenir from him taking on those Freaky Unicorns.

“Golden-mane……” He rumbled lowly, one of his tails flicking behind him while the other was completely still. I blinked, because for a long while he trailed off and we were left in silence again. “Golden-mane….” Again he trailed off and his head bowed, his gaze leaving my own as his eyes closed, and I blinked in utter shock when I saw the massive form of him start shaking. Yeah! Shaking!! My jaw dropped slightly, suddenly a little nervous because I was having a hard time getting a grip on what was happening. What on earth could this huge, strong, scary freaking monster be shaking about?! I had seen him charge up behind a group full of seriously strong and dangerous freak-unicorns and start cutting off heads like it was nothing!

It happened in a split second, one moment Zero was standing there and the next he was on top of me. I had seen the fast movement and flinched, but my mind hadn’t time to react and then it was too late. I saw his freakishly long canines craning toward my neck, I smelled his hot breath (It was something between disgusting meat, and something worse), drops of saliva hit my muzzle, I could see green bubbling up from the pits of his stomach, he had knocked me over on to my back and was straddling me, his massive body over my own and claws piercing the rags around me. I shut my eyes tight, yelping in utter shock and feeling my heart drop at the terror that hit me. The sudden movement had sent the ash around us up into a cloud, making my throat burn and eyes water at the sting. This was it, I knew I was crazy, to trust a big, dangerous, pony-eating creature at all was stupid, and now I was going to be eaten.

Zero’s thick, slimy, hot tongue drew itself up my neck and over my face, leaving a trail of wet behind it and making me stink like his last meal, as the incessant click of my Radiation Meter spiked again and again. I cringed at the icky feeling, as his tongue did it again, five or six more times! What, was he tasting me before sinking his teeth in?!

I peeked an eye open and saw he was still shaking, but only because his two tails were moving back and forth non-stop in a wagging motion, and his head moved up and down as he continued to draw his tongue over my face, my neck, my chest, my hooves. I took notice, and being quite shocked, I saw that the blip of Zero on my E.F.S. was still very much yellow. What the hell is going on?! Is he… is he licking me, for fun?!

I pushed my hooves against his muzzle and squirmed, trying to stop the incessant licking because my stomach was starting to turn at the smell of meat-laced dog breath. Zero was much stronger than me though, he probably didn’t even feel my hooves pushing against him, and he just kept licking me, his tails wagging back and forth, his freakishly large teeth still inches from my body.

He was acting like… like a freaking puppy for Celestia’s sake!

“Z-Zero..!” I sputtered around gross saliva sticking to my face and coat, still squirming and twisting as I tried to push his face away, and trying my best to avoid those insane teeth in my face. “Zero!” I mean, why the hell was he even licking me? And why would he want too?! I was covered in blood, gore, bits of flesh and bone, in what I was sure was vomit and other things as well- now DireWolf slobber too. “GET OFF!!” I slammed my hooves against his nose as hard as I could manage and finally the licking ceased, our eyes met and we looked at one another. Zero’s eyes were glinting, and the closer I looked, I swore he was smiling- in his own way anyway. “What the hell?!” I snapped, hitting my hooves against the top of his head in frustration, I was so very confused and not at all happy. “Why would you do that!? I thought you were going to eat me, you gave me a heart-attack you stupid, freaking, puppy!!” I threw my hooves up and let them fall out around me in the ash,
Zero’s head jerked up a little and his eyes went wide, ears falling back and staring. “That is seriously messed up! And I thought I said get off!?!” More staring and I sighed in an exaggerated manner. “Now!”

Zero slowly stepped away from being over me and I rolled over onto my stomach, just as Zero settled down onto his haunches, shuffling his paws and glancing from me to the side. I huffed and frantically rubbed my face into the dirty rags under me, which were mostly shredded by Zero’s claws at this point. I rubbed my face until I had gotten some of Zero’s saliva off of me, though I still felt gross- I need a bath, anything to get some of this disgusting gore and spit off of me.

“… Zero…. Not… a puppy…” I glanced up immediately at the low rumble and looked toward Zero slowly, eyes narrowed and still miffed. He looked back at me and lowered his head slightly, he looked a little put-down, what? Was calling him a puppy some sort of insult?!

“You are sure as hell acting like one.” I muttered lowly, Zero let out a low breath and nodded, only once.

“Zero sorry…. Zero just happy to see Golden-mane is alive.” His lips twitched again and I swear he was smiling a little, weird. I blinked, not sure how to react. Now, I was new to this WasteLand thing, and very new to all its weird and seriously fucked up creatures- but I was very sure this puppy-like behavior was not normal on any standard. I mean, it was clear that Zero wasn’t normal as far as DireWolves went, so far he had been the only one willing to talk to me, the only who hadn’t tried to kill me, and the only one who had saved me….

Why was he so weird, as compared to all the others? Was he some sort of an outcast among the rest of the DireWolves? Did he lack the blood-thirsty disposition that all other DireWolves seemed to have? Maybe he was interested in ponies, because he didn’t have anypony… eh Anywolf (?) else?

Maybe I should ask, maybe I should try to get to know him a little more… but a part of my figured answers of a personal nature were going to be hard to come by.

Kinda like Whiskey huh…? Geez… they’re nearly the same...

“…. Ok.” I murmured, “Thanks… I guess….. but uh, how am I alive, exactly?” I mean really, hadn’t I been pretty fucked up? I remembered it all when I thought to it, it made my head ache a little to do so, and most of the memory was covered in a haze but the details were more or less there. I knew full well I should be a dead pony, and frankly- the amount of Radiation around here should be making me even more of a dead pony, supposing resistance to it that Zero had said biting me would actually entail. “… And, perhaps we should move to a maybe, not so irradiated part of the WasteLand?” I asked and Zero nodded slightly,

“Golden-mane is right. Too much time spent here, time to go.” He got to his paws and I began to push myself to my hooves. My body groaned at the movement, still sore and really stiff, but I needed to get up, and seeing as how my PipBuck wasn’t flashing any serious signs at me, I figured walking wasn’t going to hurt me any more than I had already been.

It was before I managed to take a single step, that the same warm and soft fluff I had felt before blacking out brushed against me, and I stared in awe as the scales and fur of one of Zero’s tails (the left one more specifically) brushed against my bare coat- seeing as how I had had my barding taken from me- and wrapped around my torso so gently, and then lift me up as if I was nothing.

“What… are you doing?” I asked slowly, just as he began to walk off with me behind him, watching the ashes fall as they were stirred, the building being left behind in accordance with Zero’s long gait. It wasn’t uncomfortable per se….

“Going back.” Zero murmured, not quite understanding why I asked the question. I wanted to know what he was doing with his tail and picking me up, that was just weird…. but after a moment I just let it go- piecing together that it really was Zero who had picked me up and brought me away. But why? (I ask a lot of ‘whys’, don’t I? Guess it just goes to show how freaking confusing my life is.)

“I can walk, you know.” I murmured, not being able to see his face and feeling a little weird I was being carried backward.

“Zero knows.” Was the short reply. “Golden-mane must rest some more.” Even if being carried like this is rather awkward?

“Ok… but only for a little, alright?” I asked, craning my neck to try and see him and failing to do so,

“…Agreed.” I nodded with a small smile and allowed myself to relax into his hold a little,

“Picking me up with your tail, that’s really weird.” I murmured,

“This is how We carry young.” Was the soft reply, I blinked.

“Giant teeth get in the way?” I asked, I swear I heard a low, grumbly, little throaty chuckle come from Zero.

“Perhaps.”

“Why can’t I just ride on your back then?” I asked, “I mean, that’s a better view….” I heard Zero let out a low breath, before I was slowly lifted up and placed on his shoulders. I smirked a little and settled down, keeping aware of staying balanced. I figured carrying me with his tail while I was unconscious had been the best plan, I might have rolled off his back while I was out, and he wouldn’t have wanted to risk that. His back was mostly covered in scales, with sparse fur here and there- but I was surprised at how broad his back really was, and I settled down lightly, hoping not to poke him in the wrong place. “Thank you, much better.” Zero’s ears twitched in response, “So, what happened? How did we get here, and why even?”

“What does Golden-mane remember?”

“Not a lot. I remember… Cream pulling me down from flying, everypony freaking out, and then… nothing.” I sighed, “At least, I do sort of remember being a dead-pony, with those wounds I had. So that’s why I’m confused, how can I possibly be alive after all that- with all the drugs that kid shot me up with?”

“Other Ponies tried to heal Golden-mane with… Magic Drinks….. Zero brought Golden-mane here, Golden-mane was dying.” Zero murmured. “Zero knew that Golden-mane would not last, so Zero brought Golden-mane to Green Fire, to heal- let radiation seep into bones, accelerate Venom inside Golden-mane and heal you. Keep alive.”

“And radiation does that?” I mumbled, “With your venom in me now? Does it work that way for you too?”

“Green Fire is life-force of all WasteLand creatures, all but ponies.” Was Zero’s reply, “With Zero’s Venom inside Golden-mane, Golden-mane’s body will react to Radiation different in some ways, healing is one.”

“How much do you know about the effects DireWolf Venom has on ponies who survive being injected with it?” I asked, suddenly curious- I hadn’t heard any mention of such a thing in other ponies, which I assumed was mostly due to the fact that if somepony got bit by one of them, they died. So how much would Zero know about it? He had mentioned the first time that he had seen this in other instances- ponies who survived DireWolf venom, but he’d never gotten into it.

“Not much.” I blinked in surprise,

“Why not? How many have you seen?” I asked, earning a few twitches from Zero’s ears. “Like, can any pony who survives poisoning the first time, be bitten and end up… enhanced? Can any DireWolf do it? Or will they even?” I couldn’t see very many DireWolves being as seemingly friendly as Zero.

“Golden-mane has many questions.” Zero murmured. “Golden-mane must be feeling better.” I smiled faintly. “Answers… not any pony can survive second time bitten, only some do, very very few….. Only five ever before.”

“Woah, wait- five?” I said suddenly, “Only five? That’s… that’s not nearly anything.” I don’t know why I was so surprised, logically speaking it wouldn’t have been possible that very many ponies ever survived or ever even had the chance to be bitten twice, and then start becoming a percent DireWolf-Pony freaky-hybrid like I was at the moment. “So I’m the sixth pony you’ve ever known to survive the second bite?”

“Yes….. Pony cannot be bitten by any regular DireWolf, has to be special kind. There few like that, Zero only one willing to try and help make ponies like Us… to make ponies Wolflings.” Wolflings? So there’s a name for that? Good to know.

“Special kind?” That part intrigued me, because there was something about Zero that struck me as odd despite his friendly manner. When I had been in Arabino I had seen and faced many DireWolves, they were all very alike, mostly the same fur colors, the same patterns on their pelts- but all of them had black-yellow eyes. But Zero didn’t, his eyes were green, and his green eyes were the only ones I’d seen on any DireWolf I had come across.

“Yes. There three of Us.” Zero replied evenly, I shifted slightly.

“And what makes you special..?” I pressed slowly, suddenly getting the feeling that he didn’t really want to talk about it. And I was right, because he didn’t say anything after that and I fidgeted at the silence between us. “…ok, then… uh… oh, where are Cream and everypony? Are they alright?”

“Ponies fine. They took refuge in old…. town, for ponies.” Zero murmured, breaking off a little as he tried to come up with the word. “Not far from Highway city overtaken by Fruniic.”

“Fruniic? Is that what you call those Unicorn things that came after us?”

“What We DireWolves call them… Ponies call them different.” Zero answered, “Earth Pony friend will explain, will be there soon.” Earth Pony Friend? I assumed he was talking about Whiskey, though I still couldn’t think of him as being a friend, at least not in the full sense.

But then I wondered why Zero never actually called anypony by their name? I hadn’t heard him call me Flash once, nor had he called Whiskey by his name either. Why such an aversion to it? Was it hard for him to say our names in that imperfect Equestrian he was using? Or was it something else?

‘Maybe he doesn’t like your name, Flashy.’ The Little Me said suddenly and I rolled my eyes a little, quite sure that wasn’t the case. I did notice that the Little Me was holding a folder with ‘REMEMBER’ stamped across it, as she waved it at my casually. ‘Remember? You said to thank Zero for saving you back at the Clinic?’ She said in an amused tone, ‘Better say thank you for bringing you to be healed, even if it is by something like Radiation, too.’

“Thanks… for the saves, Zero.” I murmured, mentally nodding at the Little Me in approval for actually reminding me at all. “I appreciate it, really. I’d be dead if it weren’t for you.”

“Golden-mane is welcome. Zero promised to help, and help Zero will do. No matter what.” I smiled at the answer, hearing the honesty in his low grumble of a voice. He may not realize it, and I hadn’t until just now… but I appreciated having Zero around, as odd as that seemed. It was crazy for me to even talk let alone trust a DireWolf like I had been doing. Zero had been trustworthy thus far, even more so- he’d saved my life twice now, and that meant everything…. Though I wasn’t so good with expressing such a thing in words, I hoped he just knew.

But then there was that little inkling of a thought, the one I’d been mulling over from the minute I met the big mass of fur, teeth, claws and tails… why? Why was Zero even helping us? Saving us? Me? I couldn’t imagine there wasn’t some sort of ulterior motive.. Maybe if I didn’t think too much into it, everything would be fine. I had known from the beginning that trusting Zero was a crazy idea, letting him bite me had been insane- and yet despite my own warnings against myself, I did all of that anyway. And for now at least, my luck was holding out- more than holding out, Zero was very very helpful, even I couldn’t deny that.

… hmmph…. Am I really starting to truly like this huge, radioactive, death-machine..?

“So, any chance we’ll pass some place with non-irradiated water so I can wash all this blood and… gross stuff off of me?” I asked, smiling slightly. I pushed the thoughts away for now- I really did think that thinking into it too much was too much trouble for me. And away from that- I was filthy, and Zero going puppy and licking me hadn’t helped any. I of course, doubted that there was any water out here in this rather arid and dry WasteLand, and if there was it was sure to be irradiated… though, I suppose radiation wasn’t very much of a problem anymore, still- I didn’t want to push it, I had been basking in high levels of it when I was recovering at the Welmare rest station.

“Zero find something.”

.:+:.

“Ya should probably stop pacing.” I heard Cream’s voice long before we reached the entrance of the rundown, halfway collapsed building that looked as if it had once been a farmer’s stand just off the road, the overhang had collapsed on one side, and the small one room building was crumbling away slowly, the door that had rest on the hinges was on the ground, and only a dirty towel hung in the doorway. There was a small window next to the doorway, the glass had remained mostly intact and was caked with dirt so much you couldn’t possibly see in or out of it.

Zero had lead us up away from Welmare and all things surrounding, past the dead and silent form of Pillar, and the highway back west toward the Split. I was a little surprised at the amount of backtracking they’d done, I figured Whiskey wouldn’t want to pull away from Arabino if he could help it, but then I supposed that the needs of Cream and her friends had outweighed his own interest. Even moving a little ways out of the center of DireWolf territory was better than moving more into it I guess……

My ears perked when I heard Cream’s voice say the words, I could hear hooves clopping on the ground inside the house continually, back and forth, back and forth. There were four yellow blips in the direction of the small stand, I supposed that those belonged to Cream, Whiskey and the two others… what were their names? F…Fritz, and R…Rocky? I think?

“You’ve been pacing fer five days.” Cream went on, sounding slightly exasperated. Who was pacing exactly? “You know… since everythin’ happened… with Flash an’ them Freaks…..” Her voice lowered when she said my name, as if it was suddenly taboo or something.

“Damn righ’ Ah’ve been pacin’!” I immediately recognized the country drawl of Whiskey Shot, who sounded somewhere between infuriated and strained, I faintly wondered if he was feeling ok… if they were all ok, had they gotten hurt like I did? Even just a little? “Do ya even realize wha’ any of tha’ means?!”

“We got attacked by some crazy freakin’ WasteLand people? The normal?” That was a voice I didn’t recognize, so I supposed it was probably the older buck we had found at the clinic.

“Don’t know if ya noticed, Whiskey, but getting slaughtered is sort of expected in these parts. Whether it's DireWolves er Radiers, er… freak unicorns.” Cream agreed with her friend, not quite perturbed in the way Whiskey seemed to be. I easily heard the subtle distress and shock in his voice, and that made me wary- I had never heard such a tone in him, and what would have to be wrong to make him even a little distressed?

Probably something huge, I’ll tell you what.

“Sweet Goddesses…… A course ya don’ know, ya’ll live out here, ya only ever get DireWolves and Raiders, maybe the occasional molerat, radroach….. Ya got no clue what them thangs were…… they shouldn’ ever be far up this way… ever….” Whiskey started mumbling to himself as Zero stopped outside, settling onto his haunches and then on his stomach. I shifted, about ready to slide off but Zero wrapped one of his tails about my torso and set me down gently beside him, I shot him a glance that he simply blinked at.

“Well? What are they?” Cream pressed, sounding a bit irritated that he was beating around the bush.

“They ain’t jus’ freak unicorns.” Whiskey muttered, his pacing ceased a moment. “They’re the Freak Unicorns. The ancient race o’ purebred unicorns, their kingdom caugh’ in a MegaSpell that didn’ destroy the city, bu’ mutated every single Unicorn there inta somethin’ dark an’ evil- their minds turned rotted an’ twisted, that purebred, supremacy notion they had has made ‘um want nothin’ more then ta isolate themselves an’ kill anybody or thang that comes on their turf. To destroy anythin’ not ‘purebred’.”

I had started walking toward the towel that hung over the doorway, ears perked as I continued to listen to Whiskey, his tone becoming more and more tense the more he kept talking, how serious he was. I paused just before the doorway, feeling the tension rise to a climax in the slight pause that Whiskey gave.

“They were the Pures. From Solitian Mountain,” he said, earning a shocked silence from everypony inside. “They hardly ever come down from their territory, an’ certainly no’ this far east.”

The Pures? Whiskey hadn’t mentioned much of them in our little history lesson, and I’d only ever heard a few things myself, mostly from tuning into DJPON3 on occasion. But, the idea that they were here, that they were moving and slaughtering ponies- that’s not what struck me the hardest.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTT……….

That cattle prod lodged into the base of my brain suddenly flared to life, my head began to pound and I was forced to shut my eyes at the sudden pain. This hadn’t happened the first time Solitian Mountain or the Pures were brought up, but now it was full blown short-circuit time with my insanely messed up head. It wasn’t near painful enough to cause another black out, but suddenly there was an image lingering at the corner of my mind, of… of somepony I think, whose coat was a pink hue…. I shook my head a little to clear it of the sudden haze, and ignored the last bits of pain coursing through my head as best I could.

Alright, I could tell the atmosphere in the room was very tense and serious, that was very clear… but that put a downer on everything, and who liked to be in a room full of ponies who were being so sad and dramatic? I didn’t, so- I figured it was time for a break from that.

A small faint smile pulled at my lips as I rubbed a hoof through my mane, it was still slightly damp- Zero had brought me to Pillar and dropped me off in the small water reservoir they had there, just under the highway and at the edge of town. It was small, and my PipBuck clicked a bit when I got in but nothing serious, surprisingly enough. I had managed to rub the dirt and blood, the sweat and the vomit and the slobber and everything else off, leaving my coat much closer to its silver hue than it was, though it was still closer to grey- only a good wash with soap and the like would give it back its silver color I thought. My mane wasn’t greasy anymore, and it was curling at the ends on its own as it dried, I had even washed the stains and whatnot off of my leather barding (which, by the way, along with my saddle-bags and shotgun had been given back to me as we entered Pillar, Zero had stashed it when he took me, that super smart head of his was just a marvel!). I was relatively clean, and damn it felt good! I didn’t look like a walking zombie anymore. (To be fair though, I felt I could trust Zero and his Radiation-healing Wolfling thing… but I downed a Radaway for good measure on the way here. Just to be safe and ease the itch of uncertainty- that hadn’t gone away in all reality. I ignored it for now.)

“Helloooo Everypony!” I called as I trotted through the overhang in the doorway and into the dim little room on the other side, smirking slightly, my muscles and joints popping a little as the stiffness all over me began to fade, still sore though.

“Who missed me?”

.:+:.

Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Last One Standing- You gain a surprising bit of strength, and fighting ability when you suffer heavy damage. As a last bit of a push, whenever your health drops below 25% in the middle of conflict, your Unarmed, Melee, and Guns Skills temporarily increase by 10 points, while your Strength and Endurance temporarily increase +1, for a short time during conflict.