.:+:.

I think this world is insane.

Insane on a level so high, I had to wonder if I was dreaming- that perhaps I had never actually been in a place called ShieldTune, that I hadn’t been almost killed by giant dogs that could talk, that I hadn’t met a buck named Whiskey Shot who could take my head off my shoulders no problem…. That I wasn’t sitting in front of one of those dogs that had tried to kill me, and that it actually talked to me.

Was I asleep? Or was I the one going insane? I hoped it was the former, but I suspected that instead it was the latter. Because the pain I had felt, now that was definitely real. The ache in my wings and hooves from flying so fast and carrying Whiskey was real, and the dried scarlet stains of Whiskey’s blood on my hooves was real too. So, that could only mean that the DireWolf sitting in front of me was real. This world was real….. and perhaps it was making me start to go insane, that made some sense in my mind. You know, my possibly fucked up mind. Wait, scratch that- my seriously fucked up mind. Let’s face it, I had a pony in my head who thought organs and intestines made great party decorations.

‘Dogs can’t talk,’ the Little Me mumbled, but she smiled despite herself. I had the feeling she didn’t believe what she said, and it would seem this unexpected turn of events only amused her. ‘But perhaps mutated snake-dogs can, hmm?’ She chuckled and I shook my head mentally.

The blip on my E.F.S. remained yellow as I looked toward the huge DireWolf before me, eyes narrowed and Whiskey’s hat resting on my head. Neither of us moved, we didn’t even hardly seem to breathe as we just looked at each other, my red gaze locked with its abnormal green one. Thinking on it now, this was the first DireWolf I had gotten the chance to get a good long look at. From the small glances and looks I had managed of all the other ones, this one looked extremely odd to me. Most of the DireWolves seemed to have fur of either a gray, dusty brown, or mixed color of the two- and all of them had yellow eyes. All of them despite this one, green eyes, and dark, (very dark!) brown fur with dark brown and green scales to match.

What was so different about this one? Was the odd fur color and eyes a part in why I wasn’t getting ripped to shreds now? A reason this one had said something to me, in actual Equestrian Language? Not just throaty growls, barks and snarls? How the hell did it know Equestrian anyway?

It took me a long time to register what it had said and not just that it had talked to me, and I narrowed my eyes a little more. Did it really just ask me if I was hurt? Seriously? I mean come on, it was you and your buddies who just tried to kill me and almost killed Whiskey! You idiots collapsed an entire section of the Highway!

‘Word of advice, Flashy.’ The Little Me intoned quickly, ‘I would not go yelling that at the nice big snake-dog, ok?’ Shut up, I’m not that dumb!

“Yes…” I answered cautiously, hopping back a small step and trying to be as sneaky about it as I could manage, the flick of the DireWolve’s ear told me he had seen the subtle movement, but it didn’t look like it wanted to come after me. “I… am hurt……” I shuffled a little more in front of Whiskey, “… And we don’t want any trouble…..” AND…… now I was talking to a radioactive, giant WasteLand Monster, yeah… I’m probably going insane.

To my utter surprise, the DireWolf nodded- like actually nodded. “No trouble for ponies.” It answered in imperfect Equestrian, it’s voice a low, deep rumble that shook the cool air. “Zero wishes to help ponies.” It continued, before shuffling down on to its stomach and wrapping one tail around its body on either side of it, the action made me tense and I pressed my ears against my head. I leaned back, eyeing the long teeth and the glowing claws with cold tenseness, and quirked an eyebrow.

So….. Zero, wanted to help… us….? What…?!

“You… want to help us….?” I mumbled lowly, my fur was on end just looking at the thing, and the suggestion didn’t really help….. the fact that the blip on my E.F.S. was still yellow sort of put my nerves a little at ease… I guess.

Another nod of that great head, another reminder I was talking to a radiation snake-dog. “Yes.” I blinked, and… Zero, seemed to take that as a sign I was confused- which I surely was. “Zero is not part of Ore’s pack. Zero is a friend to ponies……” a blink of his (I’m guessing it was a male) green gaze and a deep, wispy sigh from deep in his chest. “Pony do not think Zero is a friend.” No shit? And by the way, who the hell was Ore? Another DireWolf I guessed, and from what I was hearing I guessed it was probably the pack of DireWolves we had only just escaped.

“….. I have... trust issues, with your kind.” I replied, feeling a dull ache around my shoulders and the back of my neck where I had been chewed and sliced back in Arabino. “… In light of recent, and past events.”

“Zero remembers Golden-mane from Arabino.” Zero said suddenly, did he just call me golden-mane? “Zero knows why Golden-mane does not trust us. Zero wishes to show Golden-mane that Zero can be trusted.” Zero pushed his muzzle forward toward me and I lift a hoof, quite ready to strike out at him. The DireWolves green eyes flashed with light at the small action from myself, but he didn’t stop nor did he show any sign of hostility.

“Golden-mane has tasted our Venom before, Golden-mane is resistant to it.” Ok…. I didn’t die the first time, but that didn’t mean I was resistant to it, now did it? “Zero is friend, his venom may heal Golden-mane now. Let Zero help.” I took a step back and landed on my still bleeding leg, it promptly buckled under me and I hissed.

Now what Zero said only struck me as completely insane, because from what I gathered- the DireWolf wanted to bite me, pump me full of that fatal venom that had nearly killed me about a week earlier, and he expected it to help me? What kind of fucked up logic was that? It wasn’t like I was dying here now anyway! All I had was a mild case of radiation poisoning, and I’ll admit a relatively deep, cut down my hind leg- hardly worth the risk of being killed by DireWolf poison, again. Zero must think I’m crazy!

“Golden-mane’s wound is slight.” Zero went on, seemingly able to guess what I was thinking, is telepathy a power these things have? I don’t remember that in Whiskey’s ‘Wasteland Lesson’. “But Zero offers more than healing. Zero offers strength, Zero offers benefit to pony. A pony given our Venom freely, one who survived before, gains much more.”

“And what would these… ‘gains’ be?” I asked slowly, oh goddesses why was I even asking?

“Pony would become resistant to radiation.” Zero said patiently. “Pony would heal faster. Pony would be stronger.” He crossed his front paws over the other, I heard the scrape of his claws against the road. “Pony would be a night creature. Pony would be better.” I narrowed my eyes at this,

“And how would you know, that all this would happen?” I asked.

“Zero has seen this before. Golden-mane not only pony to survive our bite.” Zero tilted his head my way, I let my rump hit the road as I simply looked to him in silence. How odd things had gotten in the last few minutes, how very odd it was that any creature- especially a DireWolf would be, to come to me and say such things. What was the point of this, what would Zero be doing this for? What was the purpose, the point? I didn’t see one, and I had to think that this was the same sort of things I asked myself when Whiskey offered to pay my debt to Vera.

Now there were two beings in the WasteLand trying to offer me help, and I had gotten the idea that not many creatures in this hell-hole had that mindset. I think most ponies and whatever would prefer to kill you, instead of help you. Helping you would be on the bottom of the list… so what force could be in place that would send both Whiskey and even Zero to me- offering reward? Offering help? And for seemingly no personal gain to themselves? I couldn’t be that lucky, and surely nothing in the WasteLand could like me so much they would do things for me for free. It didn’t make sense…. And yet it was happening. Why me?

“How would you…. Give me these benefits?” I asked cautiously. Zero opened his jaws and I got the message, bite me like I thought.

“Pony would be bitten. Pony would be put into a sleep.” Sleep?

“For how long?” I asked lowly, “Surely you don’t expect me to leave you alone with Whiskey like this?” I growled, waving a hoof at the still unconscious Mercenary behind me, I was very impartial to the idea. I didn’t know I could trust this thing, and I really didn’t want to take the chance of ‘falling asleep’ while Whiskey was out too.

“Hour. Two maybe.” Was the honest reply, “Golden-mane decides. Zero will wait, Zero will stay still.” His great head lowered on to his paws and his eyes closed, “Ponies no prey to Zero.” I sat still, faintly aware of the flashing of my PipBuck as it told me several different things- some of which I assumed were radiation poisoning, I was basking in the glow of those green claws, and I figured something else was concerning my leg too. I passed my gaze over the massive creature before me, feeling as if this position was one of… submission to myself. I don’t know why that thought occurred to me.

I thought to Whiskey, to how much blood he had lost. I wondered how long he would be out, and I guessed it was a long time before he would be up and ready to go. What would he do if he woke up and saw Zero? I guessed it would be something along the lines of dashing for a gun and opening fire. And what would Zero do if he bit me? If I let him? He could kill me in the instant I let him do so, and then Whiskey was easy food. This would be a huge risk, and I knew it so very well.

But…. Some small part of me sort of knew…. Just knew, that Zero wasn’t really here to hurt me or Whiskey. It was an instinctive feeling, and damn did my instincts get the better of me most of the time.

And shiiiiiiiiiit, I was actually considering this- this stupid, mad, insane idea. I’m more convinced of my own insanity now,

“Do it.” I said suddenly, the words nearly coming out of my lips on their own accord, and Zero looked to me, green eyes twinkling. Did I really just say that…?! His head lift from his paws, “But I want your word, that you will not harm Whiskey. And that if any of your kind show up, you’ll do whatever it takes to keep us secret, hidden, and alive.” I pushed a hoof forward toward the DireWolf so we could shake on it, but then I immediately knew how stupid of an idea that was.

Hell, this was a stupid idea- but despite myself, for whatever reason- I didn't seem to care.

I really am insane… and now I can’t seem to stop myself.. shiiiiit….

One of Zero’s tails rose and wrapped around my hoof, shaking it gently as he nodded to me. I blinked in shock at the action, finding it very civilized for a creature I had known to shred ponies apart. “Zero promise. Ponies will be safe.” He drew his tail away and I nodded myself, before he stretched his muzzle forward and opened his jaws, placing my outstretched leg in between his parted teeth- those seriously long and dangerous teeth, I could see glowing green and purple from somewhere deep inside his throat, just before his teeth sunk into my skin slowly and gently.

I bit my tongue to keep quiet, and was immediately hit with the fiery pain that was oh-so familiar to me, that fiery sting traveled from my arm to my core and I hit the concrete face first.

WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?!

‘This should be interesting, eh Flashy?’ The Little Me grinned as she stood before me, looking down at me on the road. ‘I got to give you credit, this is crazy. But what fun is the world without crazy people like us?’

It’s official, I am truly and utterly, insane.

.:+:.

A multitude of dark grey clouds surrounded me on all sides, my hooves tingled at the contact of the electrified mass under me. I wanted to jump back, standing on a lightning filled cloud was crazy! But like usual, I couldn’t actually move, and in fact I didn’t seem concerned with my footing in the slightest, my eyes were scanning the clouds slowly and calmly. I wondered if I was waiting for somepony.

“Where’s the rainclouds?” I felt my lips move and my voice ask of myself, I began to move forward among the electrified clouds with ease, winding through a maze of them. I couldn’t see anything but the gray of the clouds, I wondered what the sky was like outside of all this. “We aren’t scheduled for a plain lightning storm today, we need a rainstorm!” I shook my head in frustration.

“Weather Team has gone to absolute shit.” I hissed through gritted teeth. “Where’s the damn Weather Manager? And what the hell are they doing up in Freyr anyway, if not making rainclouds and shipping them out? Geez……… so much for relaxing while on leave. Fuck.”

The scene melted and I felt myself pulled away….

.:+:.

“Ms. Trake!”

My hooves stopped climbing the multitude of stone steps, all cast in the shadow of the large building I was making my way toward. I could feel some sort of durable light fabric against my coat, it covered my entire body and all four legs, I must have been wearing some sort of uniform or something, but I only saw small glimpses of dark grey and black. Like most everything in these damn things I had been seeing, everything was blurred and melted, I couldn’t make the details out, and I sure as hell couldn’t read the sign emblazoned above the entrance to the building ahead of me- but I didn’t get a chance to try, because my head snapped around in a burst of sudden anger and annoyance.

“Damn it! I don’t know who the fuck you are, but I am rather busy and not in the mood to deal with reporters!!” I snapped, “And stop calling me Ms. Trake for Celestia’s sake! I can’t handle it anymore!” My eyes landed on the form of a stout, heavily built, deep red buck with a choppy orange mane and tail- wearing a sharp uniform of brown, looking so very much like some sort of dignified soldier. I faltered slightly, seeing the small smirk playing on his lips. He alone stood out amongst the greys of the world, I felt my anger wane.

“Oh, it’s you.” I sighed, “What did you do that for? Did you want me to snap your head off like that?” The buck shrugged at me with an easy-going sort of smile and took a few steps up the stairs to stand on the step just below me.

“Nope.” He said easily, I heard a sort of country drawl that reminded me of Whiskey. “But I figured I might as well see how annoyed ya were before I told ya why I was here.” He explained and I sighed, “What’s got ya in such a foul mood?” He asked, sounding genuinely interested. Something about this buck struck me as familiar and the feel of my short-circuiting brain rose up.

“Nothing less than the usual.” I replied shortly, “What was it you wanted to tell me?” The buck gave me a disbelieving look, but opened his mouth to start talking, but no sounds escaped his lips and the sense of being pulled backward came again, until I was falling into the black…

.:+:.

Damn it!! Why did it always cut the scene of like that, when I was about to hear something good?

“Look Flash, I’m not saying this is a bad idea.” I was suddenly facing the same pink Earth Pony I had seen before, Scarlet. She looked to me with worried eyes and a very weary expression, her hair looked even messier than usual and I couldn’t help but notice the dark lines of sleeplessness under her eyes. “But I’m not saying it’s a good one either.”

“What would you have me do instead?!” I snapped, I was angry and pacing the room, heat rising off my body in feverish agitation. “I can’t leave her alone, I can’t let her go by herself! She’ll get herself killed if I’m not there! She’s not thinking straight, Scarlet!” I stomped a hoof against the wood floor underneath me. Again I felt that I was in the same sort of uniform I had been when I was talking to the red buck, only this time- one sleeve was rolled up and my leg was wrapped in white bandages.

I wondered who ‘she’ was, but of course this was the same as the rest- a scene where all the details were left out and nothing was explained, gotta love my head right?

“You’re not thinking straight either.” Scarlet replied quietly, my ear flicked in response but I didn’t reply, only continued to pace. “Flash, you only just got back. I know you care about her, I know you wanna keep her safe. I get it. But what about you? You’re aren’t in any condition to go fight again, not this soon. Not after what happened with-”

“That has nothing to do with it!!” I yelled furiously at the pony who I felt was really concerned for me. “I am FINE. I can handle this, what happened isn’t changing anything for me- but it sure as hell will change something for her!” Scarlet looked hurt, she even flinched at the loudness of my voice. The look of pain and sadness in that pink pony’s eyes made me squirm. How could I have yelled at her like that? She was worried about me, and I didn’t seem to care or notice. I wanted to snap my jaws shut, but I wasn’t in control.

“It can change something for you Flash!” Scarlet suddenly snapped and I blinked, she got to her hooves from where she had been sitting before me. “It has changed something for you! You just can’t fucking see it!” She thrust a bracelet adorned hoof at my chest hard. “Take the fucking position Flash! You deserve to be Captain just as much as she does! You’re the one Night wanted to be Captain!!” Captain? Captain of what? And who was Night?

“Take over the team, make things better! You have a chance to stop this war, all you have to do is push past that damn vendetta you have against yourself and take the lead! The rest of the team will follow you just as happily as they’ll follow RD, maybe even more so! You can stop this fucked up shit, you can-!!”

I shoved Scarlet away from me roughly and she hit the floor with her back, my body felt even hotter, my blood was boiling, I was shaking in anger and I desperately hoped I wasn’t going to do something unforgivable. Please, don’t let me hurt her!

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I spat, voice cold and cutting like a blade. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about! How could you? You’re not a soldier, you’re not a fighter, you’ve never been on the front-lines! No! You stay here, watching as the rest of us die!!” Oh shut up, please I really want you to shut up! I don’t know what we’re fighting about, but this seems uncalled for, this is cruel. I felt that I was crossing the line, I was crossing it a thousand times over and I seriously wanted to knock myself out. Why was I being forced to watch this?

I was panting, my hooves were itching to move, I wanted to hit something, but Celestia forbid I hit Scarlet! That pink Earth Pony looked up at me, and something about my face must have made something dawn on her, and tears welled up in the corners of her pale blue eyes. And I saw in her face, a look of fear, and a look of sadness unlike any I had ever seen. She saw something in me that she never thought she would, and I felt my heart drop to my stomach to think of what it was.

“……. Fine.” She whispered, looking away and rolling over on to her hooves. She stood with her back facing me, head bowed. I saw tears splash against the wood just under her, and my heart clenched at the sight. But the other me, whatever me that was…. She didn’t care when she saw the tears, all she felt was anger. “… I hope life works out for you someday… Flash…….. and I hope…. That one day, you’ll be the pony I know you are…” her voice cracked as a sob escaped her. Why was I seeing this?

“…. And maybe you won’t be…… this….”

Scarlet melted to gray, everything faded, and I was falling into darkness again- but I couldn’t get the image of Scarlet’s tears hitting the floor from my mind. Her words rung in my head, and my heart hurt like I never knew it could. What was this? Who was I? Who was Scarlet, and what had we been arguing about? I couldn’t understand all of this, it was too much, and now my head started to hurt.

And then I felt like I wanted to cry, it was absurd. I wanted to cry over the fact I had hurt somepony I didn’t know, I wanted to cry because I felt that I had done something very wrong, and I wanted to cry because……… because I felt like I might be that pony Scarlet didn’t want me to be…… But who was that pony exactly?

I don’t know.

.:+:.

I shivered involuntarily, my body was still tingling, but it wasn’t from pain. Rather, I felt really warm… I felt really good. There was some form of new-found energy coursing through my limbs, I could hear everything around me- the whisper of a slight breeze, the sound of deep breathing, paper floating somewhere above the highway. I didn’t feel the pain of my scratched leg, the fiery burning of where Zero had bit me, nor the ache of my tired wings. I pulled my legs underneath me and pushed myself to my hooves and arched my back in a long, glorious stretch. I fanned my wings out and moved each feather, extended every tendon and smiled at the strength I could feel in every bone, every movement. I breathed in deeply, it didn’t seem possible, but I felt ten-times better than when I had woken up in BaleFire the second time.

Just as the last time I saw these things in my head, the things I had seen while I was out were already fading fast, and I couldn’t call upon what I had experienced if I tried.

I opened my eyes and glanced around, immediately spotting the glossy pelt of Zero as he lay stretched out atop the one of the wagon’s keeping us from sight. The DireWolf wasn’t looking my way, so I cast a look behind me to see if Whiskey was ok- he was where I had left him, asleep. It was becoming lighter outside, which I found odd- Zero said I would only be asleep for an hour or two, it shouldn’t be close to morning yet.

“Pony would be a night creature.” I blinked upon remembering Zero speak the words in his list of ‘benefits’ I would be receiving. It dawned on me that it wasn’t getting lighter outside because it was closer to morning- it was lighter outside because I could suddenly see better in the gloom, I had already had fairly good vision in the dark, but now it was ten-times better. Cool, wonder what else is gonna pop up?

I lift my front leg up to my eyes, finding the place where Zero had bit me was completely closed up without even a scar. My attention turned to my back leg next, and the scratch that had been there was gone too. Perfect. Check off ‘Pony would heal faster’ from the list. Maybe this really wasn’t such an insane idea, I mean- I was still alive, and so was Whiskey. For once nothing had gone wrong and my luck seemed to have held out.

Maybe I can be Lucky...

I paused, because I suddenly saw the very faint dark gray stripes running through my coat across my feathers. They were hardly there, and yet I saw them. They were like to the ones that ran across Zero’s tails, I figured this might be another effect of letting Zero bite me. No big deal.

My eyes landed on Whiskey’s cowpony hat, it must have fallen from my head when I hit the road face-first. I winced slightly at the thought, though I didn’t exactly remember the pain from hitting the asphalt. I picked the hat up in teeth gently and walked over to place it next to him.

“Golden-mane is awake?” I heard Zero rumble, he must have heard my hooves on the road. He was still yellow on my E.F.S., and after waking up to see that Whiskey and I were still very much alive- my inclination toward him grew a bit, so I forced myself to relax.

“Yes.” I replied softly,

“How does Golden-mane feel?”

“Great.” I replied, smiling a little though he couldn’t see it. “.. Thank you, Zero. For keeping your word… and for helping me.” I turned in his direction, he wasn’t facing me. I hadn’t bothered to ask why the creature would want to do this for me before I jumped in hooves first. “… May I ask, why you did this?” The only thing I got in return was a huff, I didn’t know what to make of it. I tilted my head, Ok……?

“…. What are you gonna do now?” I asked this question instead, I assumed he would be gone before morning- DireWolves were night creatures after all.

“Ponies go to Arabino, yes?” Was the reply and I blinked, how did he know?

“Well, yeah...”

“Zero goes toward Den. Zero will go with ponies.” Den? Oh wait… that must be Arabino…. He’ll what now?!

“But… wait, you mean you’re going to come with us?” I asked in surprise, “But, why? And we move in the day you know, last I checked DireWolves only moved at night.”

“Zero is not normal Wolf.” He replied, his tails flicking slowly as they hung over the side of the wagon’s edge. “Zero travels in Day, Zero travels in Night. Either does not matter.” Ok, but that doesn’t explain why..? “Zero goes to Den with Ponies.” Ok…… Why is it that every creature I meet, whether it’s a pony or a DireWolf, never wanted to explain why they did things for me? It was starting to get annoying.

“And what if I don’t want you coming?” I murmured lowly, “I doubt Whiskey’s going to be too pleased to see you when he wakes up. And I doubt he’ll be much happier to have you tag along with us.” This was true, I didn’t have any clue as to how Whiskey was going to react to the DireWolf when he finally woke up, and part of me was a little afraid of what it could be.

“Zero will follow.” Was the short reply. “Golden-mane and friend will not stop Zero. They cannot.” Friend? Whiskey sure as hell isn’t my friend!

“Maybe… but Whiskey can shoot you.” I replied.

“And Zero will take head off pony.” Touché… I shook my head and sighed, letting my flank hit the road as I rubbed a hoof through my mane and rubbed behind an ear, my hoof bumping against those two earrings I had in each one faintly. I was potentially caught in between a sharp-shooting buck and a deadly, razor-sharp clawed and poisonous creature going head to head. I didn’t want to be caught in this shit, maybe I should just let Whiskey have at Zero, or maybe the other way around…. But I didn’t want either of them to die, so I couldn’t let them fight.

Why I didn’t want either of them dead was a mystery even to myself- I just met the both of them, I didn’t even know them.. One of them had tried to kill me, and the other was a freaking Radiation Monster…. So why would I want them both alive? I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind.

“Ok, look- here’s the plan.” I murmured, setting my hoof back down on the road and glancing up at the cloud-curtain. “I think I’d rather avoid a fight between you and Whiskey, but I don’t know what he’ll do if he sees you. So, I’d like you to give us some space, let him wake up and give me time to explain what happened before he gets the chance to meet you. With any luck, I can sweet-talk him into believing that I’m not crazy and you’re not planning to kill us.” I paused, “You’re not planning to kill us, right?” I asked with a small glance toward the DireWolf, who still had his back facing me.

“No.” I smiled slightly, I had no idea if I could really trust that answer, but I decided to hold out for the better. If Zero did plan to turn on me and Whiskey, well I had wings, I had a gun, and Whiskey had all his toys too- we might be able to save our skins if worse came to worst.

“Good, then how does all that sound?” I asked, “Good enough plan?”

Slowly, Zero shifted and got to his paws while standing atop the wagon. His head shifted up toward the sky and I heard him let out a great, long sigh as if he was musing upon the idea. I had clearly underestimated the intelligence of DireWolves, and I had been wrong about the idea that they couldn’t possibly talk. I looked to Zero curiously, while he stood and thought about my plan with a renowned and thoughtful silence that seemed rather peculiar for such a creature.

He turned his neck slightly to look down at me, his green eyes glinting in the darkness and muzzle pulled into a tight line, an expression that was so unreadable I was reminded of Whiskey’s own attitude toward me most of the time.

“Agreed.”

.:+:.

I took to looking through my PipBuck once Zero made his way down the highway silently, his large form passing in and out between the overturned and crashed wagons, carriages and whatnot. I sat atop the very wagon he had previously occupied, and watched as he melted away, my eyes following him through the dim he almost blended right into without losing sight of him for a very long time. When he was finally out of vision from my newly acquired night-sight, I looked away and down at my PipBuck, flipping through the multitude of Audio Files I still hadn’t looked through. I didn’t really feel like listening to them, and yet I had to wait awhile until Whiskey was up- and then the explaining would ensue. With a sigh I settled down onto my stomach and tuned into whatever radio signal would pop up, scrolling through the ones beside good old DJPON3- I doubted he would be up and talking right now anyhoo.

I flipped to the map, and began to roam over the very few markers that were there. A few had popped up beside the six that indicated the ShieldTune Zones, the highway and BaleFire- but I wasn’t really concerned with those. I wanted to see what was along this highway, if there was anything anyway.

“Pillar?” I murmured, catching note of the single marker close to the highway on our way toward Arabino, the only thing my PipBuck caught on to that looked like it was inhabited by ponies, I had to wonder if these ponies were the sane-type, or the shoot-you-and-rape-you-type. And what the hell kind of name was ‘Pillar’ for a town of any sort? Odd… just odd.

With a click of static and the beep of an emergency broadcast, My PipBuck locked on to the relatively weak signal of a broadcast I figured was far off, it being identified as ‘Emergency Beacon: LAR’.

“…. H….He….Hello…? Anypony out there? Well…. Anypony that ain’t a Raider?” I bobbed my head a little, good thing whoever this was clarified- out here it was needed. “…. Well, I’m callin’ fer help…. Any help…. We jus’ got attacked by a band full of… uh… I don’t even know! It all happened so fast, I didn’t get a good look but…. But, so many of us are dead……. I’m hurt a bit, but I’m more worried abou’ another attack… we won’t survive it this time ‘round… so please….. anypony out there who gives a rat’s ass about any old pony out here in this shit-hole… help us…. Please…? We’re hold up in the MOP Clinic just outside of Pillar…… VVGGGT…. VVVGGGT….. Message Repeat-” I turned the broadcast off, ear flicking at the familiar ding…. Of my PipBuck’s Map updated itself, in reaction to the new information.

“Ministry of Peace Roadside Clinic.” I murmured, shaking my mane a little and ruffling my feathers. “Looks like I found our next stop…”

.:+:.

I tilted my head back at the low, drowsy moan that stirred the air after a few hours of simply sitting on top of the carriage and thinking. I knew it was Whiskey waking up, and slowly got to my hooves, stretching out each limb and shaking my wings too. I turned to see him sitting up, holding a hoof to his head and letting slip a small wince, eyes closed and still a moment.

“Welcome back.” I called down with a small smile, his head snapped up and his eyes looked to me in shock. He blinked a few times at me, looking quite dumbfounded. I smiled a little more, “How are you feeling?”

Whiskey picked his hat up from the road and carefully placed it on his head, having paused a few moments as if he was confused it was still in his possession, looking at me for a moment, before turning to inspect his side and where his wounds had been. They weren’t really there anymore, nothing more than a patches of raw and slightly swollen skin, I could tell it was mostly just a bunch of dried blood at this point.

“Fine……… Wha’ in the hell happened?” He muttered, gracing me with another stare, before glancing around in the strengthening light of the new day. “An’ where in the hell are we? This ain’t the Manehatten Highway er the Split…..” His eyes closed and he placed a hoof to the side of his head, “Don’ tell me….. did ya fly us all the way out here? Wherever the hell ‘here’ is?” He muttered and I blinked at the exasperated tone.

“This is the FillyDelphia Highway East.” I said and tapped a hoof slightly, “… about, nearly halfway down it as best I can tell, pretty close to Pillar if that means anything.”

His jaw dropped, literally dropped and I couldn’t help but smile at the sight. You know, I kinda liked shocking him- it made my day every time because I felt like I was getting something over on him.

“Carryin’ me?” He asked, I nodded. “How lon’ since I passed out? What damn day is it?”

“Only six hours or so.” I said, “It’s the morning of the next day.” I murmured and he just stared. I waved a hoof at him in an attempt to bring him back, “Look, Whiskey... There’s a few things I gotta tell you…. Things that happened while you were out.” He lift a hoof and silenced me, he was looking at me with the most skeptical look, eyes narrowed and ears sideways.

“What is goin’ on with yer wings?” He asked suddenly, pointing toward them.

“Hmm?” I hummed, not sure what he meant, blinking a little at how forward the question was.

“Those stripes,” He told me, “there’s stripes in ‘um that weren’t there before.”

I brought a wing up and looked it over again, I had done it a few times over the last few hours, each time looking at these stripes Whiskey spoke of, and each time becoming more convinced I was imagining them. I mean, they were so faint- they were very hard to see and I had honestly thought they weren’t there, and that if they were, that I was going to be the only one able to see and notice them.

“So you can see them too?” I asked, answering his question with a question. I shrugged, smiling slightly. “I thought I was gonna be the only one to notice.” I paused and turned a look on him, eyes narrowed. “Wait… why are you looking at my wings?” I waved my hooves before my muzzle, “My face is up here ya know.”

Whiskey sighed and rubbed a hoof to his temple, “No… no Ah know, I wasn’t lookin’ at yer wings on purpose, Ah just… Ah was.. oh, ferget it!” He snapped suddenly in between phrases, slamming his hoof down on the road in irritation. “WHY? Are ya wings all striped now? Get ta the damn point girl!”

I shook my head at him, “Fine… fine, geez….. But you’re not gonna like it.” I mumbled, letting out another sigh, a long sigh and tilting my head up. “So… uh….. after you passed out, I made a new friend, sort of… I think..” Could I consider Zero a friend? I had only known him for a few hours and it probably wasn’t the best idea to trust anything in the Wasteland so quickly, especially something that could tear me in two. But then again, I had let Zero bite me and potentially almost kill me. He could have been lying about everything he said, he could have been after my life and Whiskey’s too. I blindly trusted that damn dog….. and my luck held out, we were still breathing, I felt awesome and even though Whiskey was banged up a bit, but that wasn’t so bad was it?

I blinked, my eyes drifting toward the ground a moment as a thought occurred to me- I could be getting tricked. Zero had gone off, he could be gathering his kind, we could be sitting ducks…..

AND……. I’m probably the dumbest pony alive. Hmm… no markers on my E.F.S so I’m gonna say we’re not surrounded right now, for now… DireWolves didn’t come out during the day though right? …. We’ll be fine, maybe.

“Flash!” Whiskey snapped, his patience was clearly running short. My eyes snapped up toward him and I smiled apologetically, Maybe I’d not tell him the part where we might get killed by a DireWolf ambush… he might guess it himself though. “Who in the hell is this ‘new friend’ o’ yers?”

“Well, he’s…. I think ‘he’ anyway… is about this tall,” I flapped my wings and lifted up to the approximant height of Zero, pointing to the imaginary line with a hoof, “Dark brown, green eyes, big teeth.” I placed my hooves on either side of my muzzle to signify those really long canines, and Whiskey narrowed his eyes at me. “Funny voice…. Uh….. two tails, some scales, big… big claws….” Whiskey’s face grew very dark. “Kinda deadly and radioactive too.. hehe..” I ended with a nervous laugh, I wanted to laugh some more, I wanted to laugh my ass off- because the more I said it, the crazier I felt.

‘Flashy, you are crazy.’ The Little Me smiled, ‘But that’s ok! Crazy ponies are the fun-est kind! Look at it this way, you put your life in the paws of a deadly snake-dog and you lived for who the hell knows what reason. But I bet you this; that deadly snake-dog may just turn out to be a pretty fun companion for ya!’ Oh shut up, please? I really don’t need you right now…

Whiskey ran a hoof through his mane and down the side of his face, rubbing his eyes a few times as he let out a very long sigh. I floated back down so I was on top of the wagon, waiting ever so patiently. I didn’t really know Whiskey enough to guess what his reaction to this was gonna be, and a part of me was sort of scared.

“Yer tellin’ me…” Whiskey started slowly, calmly- though I swear he was ready to blow. “… tha’ ya made ‘friends’ with a DireWolf?” His hoof fell away from his face, his eyes closed and head bowed. “A blood-thirsty, pony killin’, radioactive an’ poisonous DIREWOLF?!?!?!?!?” His voice had been getting louder by the second and now I was met by the fiery teal stare of an angry Whiskey. I blinked in shock, not because he was yelling but because his anger… it was so normal.

I don’t know, Whiskey didn’t come across as a normal pony to me- I mean what sort of pony could be so neutral all the time? What pony could live with themselves if they were willing to kill ponies for money? (hypocrite, again…) Whiskey was a Mercenary- it was his job, his livelihood. Everypony needed to live, and he had chosen how he was going to do that… even if I didn’t agree with it. But this anger, it was anger that anypony would feel, and he was expressing it so naturally it was just so foreign coming from him. He was just usual so stoic.

“Uh… yeah.” I murmured. Whiskey had gotten to his hooves now, and started to pace back and forth, tossing his head and shaking it, muttering under his breath some rather harsh things.

“Yer crazy… yer fucking crazy….. of all the crazy ponies in this place…. Ya gotta be the worst…. Ya made a friend with a DireWolf……. Jus’… insane….” He came to a slow halt and let his head hang a moment, thinking on the level of insanity he must think I have and probably whether or not it was safe to travel with a crazy pony…… “Where the hell is this ‘friend’ ‘o yers?” He asked lowly, sparing a glance at me and I blinked.

“Soooooomewhere..” I drawled the word a little and he frowned at me. Honestly, I didn’t know where Zero was, did it really matter though?

“Fucking crazy……” He sighed again and began to pull on his coat and battle-saddle, checking to make sure his gun was loaded, and pulling his bandana up over his muzzle. “……. Ferget it. Jus’… ferget it. Lets jus’ get movin’ an’ maybe we can leave yer new ‘friend’ behind, seein’ as how it's daytime an’ all.” I jumped lightly from the top of the wagon and landed on the highway firmly, he was trying to ignore what I just told him- probably because he didn’t know how to deal with it, and he didn’t want to deal with it either. But I couldn’t help but smile, and in that instant a yellow light popped up on my E.F.S. just beside the one that registered Whiskey.

“You know, the other thing about this friend of mine.” I said suddenly and Whiskey turned toward me. “He’s not so much of a regular DireWolf…” I ended while chuckling a little, because even in the dim created by the Cloud Curtain, a massive shadow fell over Whiskey and the copper buck froze. “Zero doesn’t stick to the night-time routine like the rest of them…” I smiled and he glared before whipping around- I swear he was gonna start shooting but he kept his cool,

Whiskey backed up a few paces and craned his neck to see the face of the massive creature which had somehow managed to sneak up behind him without so much of a sound- well, I heard the faint noise of paws hitting the asphalt just shortly before but I’m gonna guess that Whiskey hadn’t. Zero lowered his head to our level, nearly two inches away from Whiskey’s snout, I stood by in patience- I felt like if I moved I was gonna set some explosion off.

“Pony is well?” Zero rumbled in what sounded to me like the most casual tone he could manage. Whiskey’s ears swiveled back and his eyes narrowed to slits, I wondered if Whiskey knew that DireWolves could talk to ponies- I didn’t and it hadn’t been mentioned before… however, I suppose most ponies don’t get the chance to find out if DireWolves were literate in Equestrian when they were getting shredded to pieces.

“…..Yep.” Whiskey muttered lowly,

“Good.” Zero rumbled and lift his head back up. “Ponies travel to Den, Zero travels with ponies.” He repeated the same thing he had told me and Whiskey didn’t budge. Yes, and if Whiskey didn’t want to travel with Zero, the DireWolf had already made it clear that he was going to follow anyway.

For a long while, the two of them did nothing but stare at each other. I took to sitting down once ten or so minutes had passed without a word exchange, without a muscle moved, just….. nothing. A fancy notion, I felt like they could talk to each other just by staring, as if their words were running through each other’s heads. Like they saw something in each other that I couldn’t see of either- they were both getting assumptions, they were trying to know each other…

Next thing I know, I must have missed something. A light that flashed in their eyes, maybe even a twitch of an ear…… Whiskey nodded once and turned away, walking right past me down the highway.

“Ah don’ trust ya.” He called back flatly, “An’ Ah sure as hell don’ plan ta. But we got ta get movin’.” He cast a look over his shoulder at Zero. “But Ah swear, if ya try anythin’ yer as good as dead.” He growled, his eyes flinty. I glanced to Zero, who hadn’t moved as Whiskey started walking away. There was a single nod from the DireWolf and Whiskey turned that flinty gaze on me. “There’s somethin’ else ya haven’t told me.” He muttered and I smiled nervously. “Better get walkin’ and then start talkin’.” He looked away and I nodded though he didn’t see it.

“Uh... right.” I called, trotting after him while stooping to pick up my saddle-bags from where I had dropped them sometime earlier. I heard the drop of Zero’s heavy paws behind us as he moved to follow. I was surprised at how well he was taking all of this now- but I still felt like I had missed something important. “Before we get into all of that, there was something else…”

“What. Now.” Whiskey sighed and I winced at the tone, he was warning me not to step over the line he had drawn, well- redrawn when I sprung the whole Zero thing on him. But, I had to cross the line again and he had better like it!

“We’ll be making a short stop before getting to Arabino.” I told him, catching up to his shoulder and sparing a small glance over mine to see Zero just behind his, walking along in a lazy, loping state. Whiskey looked to me sideways with a flat stare.

“An’ what woul’ this stop be?” He asked lowly, I looked away.

“Don’t give me that look.” I murmured. “I realize trusting a DireWolf seems sort of crazy..”

“It is crazy.” He cut in and I huffed at the interruption.

“…… but, this next part has reason to it.” I went on, deciding to ignore the interruption for now because I knew he was right. “Trust me, all we’re going to be doing is lending a helping hoof…”

.:+:.

Footnote: Level Up
New perk: DireWolf Magnet (Antivenom Blood 2)-
You’ve been bitten by a DireWolf again! Only this time you let it bite you? Either way, you’re feeling absolutely AWESOME because of it! +2 to your Strength, Endurance and Agility Stats, you are 20% more resistant to radiation and 50% more resistant to poison- as well heightened hearing and eyesight added to the list!