Armour... armour is an important necessity in the wasteland. It protects you from things like bullets and lasers; you know, bad stuff. The reason I'm talking about armour is because now I have it, well for my chest and forehoof anyway. I was never really a fan of the stuff. It was heavy and got in the way, but given all that happened and all that's to come, I reckon I'd better wear it. But there was something unsettling about wearing the armour of some pony I had recently killed.

I put it on and to my surprise it fit. I wasn't the biggest pony. Usually, clothes were a bit too big for me, but this armour fit me just fine. Hopefully, that didn't mean its previous owner wasn't too young. Then again, they were the reason Candy died, so screw them. Now back to the subject of my size. I'd like to play it up a bit but I was on the small side of things. Actually Sharp and I were the same height, despite her being younger than me.

I put on my jacket, trying to make sure it didn't snag on a strap or something when a letter fell out of my pocket. I looked at the yellow stained letter, seeing it had to be old, and flipped it over. There were a few stains and smudges which made most of the front writing unreadable. But from what I could tell from the writing, a young pony had written it, based on the fact that the letters were all scribbly and badly written. Like that drawing from Last Meal, but in ink.

This brought up the thought of what had happened to that family before the end of the world. Had they survived, or... I looked out at the empty snowfield, as a wind blew across it. Were they trapped under the eternal snow, like Candy? I shook the thought as my heart felt heavy. No point wondering the fate of those long dead. But like the raider attacks, they just kept coming back. Then I was hit with the worst thought so far... what about the ponies who attacked us before?

I never lived in Frost Crystal, nor did I socialize with the guards. But I knew they had families, and they were only doing their job to feed them. What of the ponies who attacked us? Did they have families? Were they only doing their job? Maybe not as slavers but as guards of Slave Town? I couldn't stop my mind from racing. Did I kill someone's husband or father? Will they starve and die because of me?!

I nearly jumped when sis put her hoof on my shoulder. "Are you ok brother?"

OK, OK? How could I be OK? After everything that's happened? I was not OK. "Yea, I'm fine," I said, putting on a fake smile.

She looked me up and down. "Then why are your legs shaking?"

I looked down to check, she was right, I hadn't even noticed. I quickly put my forehooves together to stop the shaking, before suddenly falling face first into the snow.

Sharp sighed and picked me up, brushing snow off my face before picking up the last of her stuff and putting it on our backs. "What's troubling you?"

I was going to answer with Candy's death and the blood bath I created in the post office and the fact I was wearing the armour of someone I killed. "Nothing," I finally said, my sheepish smile growing. Sharp just proceeded to stare me down until I couldn't take it, with a sigh, I asked her, "Is it OK to kill someone, even if it means hurting their family?"

She didn't even turn to look at me as she kept walking. "If you're willing to kill, then you're willing to die, simple as that."

I trotted up to her, thinking about what she said. "But what about when I killed?"

She suddenly stopped and pulled out a worn .32 revolver from her back and turned around, pointing it at my head. I gulped and looked at the fairly ok condition revolver, seeing no rounds in the revolver, but I couldn't see if there was one down the barrel. "Sharrrp… what are you doing?" I said, emphasizing her name nervously.

I felt a tug at my hoof, I looked down to see Sharp pulling out the knife from its holster in my bandages. "Say I was an attacker, if you killed me to defend yourself, or some other pony, then it would be fine." She then hovered the knife up to my face. "But if you killed me for no reason, then you would be the bad guy."

"Deep."

She chuckled a little and put her gun away and my knife back. "Dad taught me that."

I scratched my chin with a wing, thinking. "Did dad ever tell you about his past? Or why he gave you more training?"

She seemed to ponder the question for a bit. "Hmm, no."

I rolled my eyes as we kept walking before yet again we stopped. This time we were in front of the post office, I looked at the broken door, still hearing the rattling in my head, at least that brain fog cleared. "Sharp, what was that stuff you gave me before?"

"They call it Nightmare Fuel." Well, that sounds just lovely, not. I pondered what the drug actually did, it was then I noticed Sharp was poking me with a bottle of something.

"What?" I said.

"Pay attention, you remember how and what radiation is right?" She asked, looking at me as if I was an idiot. I opened my mouth and she put a hoof to it. "Of course not. Well, radiation is fallout from the balefire bombs, it's invisible and will make you sick and kill you if you have too much. It usually makes things glow green." The whole time I just stared at her with an annoyed expression on my half covered face.

I swatted away her hoof and replied to the question she had already answered for me. "I knoooow," I said, emphasizing the O for effect.

"Good." She smiled smugly. "Take this." In front of my face was a bottle with a label that read. 'RadSafe'. I took the bottle with my hooves and bit down on the lid, trying to turn it, with no luck.

"It won't open! What is that stuff anyway?" Cue the sound of Sharp facehoofing herself.

She didn't say a word as she took the bottle in her magic, showed me the top of the lid and proceeded to take it off. As it turned out, there was a child lock. You had to push down and turn at the same time... Moving on. "It's kind of like RadAway, it helps stop you from getting a lot of radiation. Before you ask! RadAway gets rid of it and it's that stuff mom gave us when we got sick from the black snow, tasted like an orange fart. Anything else?!"

At that point, I shrunk back, mumbling. "I liked the taste." Sharp huffed and handed me the bottle again, turning away from me.

I took it in my wings and looked into the bottle, two pills left. I placed it on my tongue. I always hated pills, I'd always gag. But at least they weren't as bad as needles. I was about to forcibly swallow when the sound of breaking glass distracted me. I looked over to what was left of the post office window. A glass shard had fallen off and there was one whole but cracked panel left, somehow.

I saw something in that panel, it was looking at me and I was looking at it. It was meant to be my reflection, but it wasn't. I knew what it was, I had seen it before. In my dreams, in my head. But it, no, he was out. It was Dark. Dark Star was my reflection. He stared at me with a grin, looking at me with those white empty eyes as I stared back with my mouth open and my tongue out.

"Hurry up!" Yelled Sharp, startling me as I looked forward, seeing her walking away. I put my tongue in my mouth and swallowed, what I expected to be a bitter load. But nothing? Had I dropped it!? I looked on the ground but was pulled away with another yell. Maybe I did swallow it. Either way, I'm sure it'll be fine. I was more worried about my reflection.

Green, glowing wetlands as far as the eye could see. There was something sickening about the green ambiance of the water puddles. Sharp had said radiation could make things glow but I never thought it would have been to this degree.

We walked for ages along a solitary raised road in the middle of this swamp land. The only sound were our hooves and the click-clicking of the Pip-buck’s Rad meter. I wanted to break the silence, but there was nothing to talk about. I didn't want to bring up my growing problems or the fact that I was angry, sad and annoyed all at the same time.

I had only been out here for a few days and I'd felt the loss, killed and nearly died repeatedly. How anyone actually managed to live out here was beyond me. After Candy, I had felt an incurable anger, the urge to unleash all my hate on this world. But there was no outlet in sight. No raider or slaver for me to fight, only my sister. I didn't want her to worry or see that.

I felt a kind of pleasure. It was a dark pleasure from deep inside, and it only came out when I fought. It felt so right at the time. But now I felt ashamed of it. Was it the pleasure of the kill? Was it making me smile at the thought of killing somepony. Was this the feeling raiders felt? Was I turning into a raider?

Even now, after I told Dark it didn't matter why I smiled, I still found myself coming back to the question. But there was something else, a feeling, a dark feeling deep down inside me. It was Dark Star. I could feel him, I could always feel him inside of me. But something felt different, he felt different. I tried focusing on it but was interrupted by the sound of the Rad meter, it’s clicking was increasing. It felt warm, an ambient warmth that felt sick and unnatural that ran through my body. I opened my eyes to see Sharp a few feet away with her gun out and charged.

"What is it Sharp?" She raised a hoof for me to stop talking, I pulled out my SMG and walked next to her. "What?" I looked to see where she was aiming and saw what looked like a pony figure in the distance.

We heard the sound of shifting dirt from behind us. "Clever girl," Sharp whispered.

I suddenly jumped forward into the air as Sharp spun around. Behind us were ponies, no, not ponies, something far uglier. They looked dead, their skin torn and their bodies shivered. I froze in horror at the sight of them. Sharp didn't hesitate to shoot the nearest one in the head before yelling. "Ghouls!"

So that's what these monstrous things were called, ghouls. They, as a group let out a blood curdling howl as they began to charge. I took aim and unleashed a barrage of bullets at the lead ghoul with my SMG. Bullets peppered his body as he kept coming, but then the bullet holes began to freeze over. In a matter of seconds the whole ghoul's body was frozen solid. It proceeded to crumble and break into pieces as it hit the ground.

I marveled at the SMG and its seemingly magical powers. I was certain I'd loaded normal bullets into it. Unfortunately being distracted in a battle isn't a good thing. That, and apparently, ghouls were quite agile. The ghoul far behind us had already closed the distance and had the athletic prowess to jump up into the air and tackle me. Before I even knew what had happened the feral creature had sunk its teeth into my wing.

I screamed as I failed to stay in flight and ended up falling to the ground with a wet splash. My head was underwater. I was in the radioactive marshland with a feral ghoul eating me. I thrashed and struggled as I tried to lift my head up, the ghoul keeping it down with a firm hoof as he tugged at my wing. I didn't know what I was scared of more, drowning or having my wing ripped off.

Then suddenly the pressure of the ghoul on me lightened and it let go of my wing. I shot up gasping for air, out of the hoof-deep puddle. The ghoul was missing its head. I looked to Sharp to see her fighting off at least eight ghouls with her laser musket, melee bashing them back before cranking it once or twice, then proceeding to take a shot.

I was almost content to just watch if it weren't for the fact I was sitting in radioactive water and bleeding profusely from my wing. But then something began to rise from the mud itself, glowing like a lantern. But it too was a sickly shade of green, only more intense.

It too was a ghoul, but this one was different than the others. I watched as it opened its mouth to release a howl that put the other ghouls to shame. Right away I could feel a spike in the magic radiant heat. Sharp’s Pip-Buck seemed to screech as it struggled to keep up with the radiation spike. Eventually, it stopped and the world seemed to go silent for a moment. Sharp and I watched in horror as some of the defeated ghouls began to get back up, seemingly revived by this 'glowing' ghoul’s howl.

Sis tried to get a shot off at him but the horde of ghouls seemed to guard their 'Glowing one.' I was so mesmerized by the fight that I forgot to do anything. That was until Sharp yelled at me to help. I quickly leapt into action with my wings under my jacket, not wanting to give them the chance of an appetizer. Yet again I had dropped my SMG. I swear I needed to get a neck band for that thing. Luckily I still had the combat knife. I quickly drew it and galloped up the bank, all the ghouls seemingly focused on Sharp.

I felt a smile on my face as I took notice of the feeling of excitement, the drive to fight and kill. I lunged at the glowing ghoul with the intent to kill but was suddenly reminded of the post office. Blood, death, mutilation. I reveled in it, I enjoyed it, but I didn't want to. And I definitely didn’t want anyone to see, to see what a monster I was. By the time I snapped out of it I had overshot my lunge and the glowing ghoul proceeded to punch me in the stomach with a forehoof.

The force was so great that I was flung backwards, coughing up blood and spit. I dug my hooves into the ground to stop myself flying off the edge of the road as I slid across the ground. I laid there for a moment, shaking and breathing, looking at the glowing ghoul. Some of the ghouls in the back of the pack were looking at me, but a growl from the glowing one turned their attention back to Sharp. I struggled to get up as my body quivered in pain, but there was something else, something deeper. It felt… good.

I rose with a smile on my face, almost happy that I got hurt, and I didn't know why. But then again I didn't argue with it either. The glowing ghoul looked at me, then at the shrinking pack of ghouls that were attacking Sharp. Yet again he let out a sickening howl.

The disturbing feeling of radiation washing through me ruined my feeling of euphoria. The ghouls who weren't missing their heads started to move again. I saw half a ghoul twitch and move and another that had all its limbs shot off tried to wiggle towards Sharp. But I didn't pay them any attention. No, I was focused on the glowing ghoul in front of me.

We charged at each other, unarmed. I dropped down and slid beside it, spreading out my uninjured wing to trip him up. I could see my knife on the ground. I was just about to reach it when the ghoul bit into my tail and pulled me back. I kicked at him with my back legs and a direct hit to the nose made it let go and reel back. I took this window of opportunity to get up.

The ghoul started to stand back up, so I went to punch it in the face, but it blocked me with a hoof. Catching me off guard, he landed a blow to my chest. I felt the metal armour vibrate as it took most of the force, although it was enough to make me jump back.

I looked at the knife a few feet behind me, then back at the ghoul as he got to his hooves. Hehe, this was fun. With a big grin on my face, I leapt into battle with the ghoul. We traded blows. He was stronger but I was more agile so I managed to dodge most of his attacks. He tried to bite me a few times but every time he did, he failed I got a chance to ring his head like a bell.

He took what seemed to be a breath, before howling again. Fortunately, a swift uppercut interrupted him and sent him on his back. A scream from Sharp drew my focus. She had only three or four more ghouls left, but she had received some bruises and bite marks.

I had never broken a bone, so I wouldn't know whether or not the ghoul had broken one. But when a glowing ghoul kicks you with enough force to cripple one of his own rear legs, I assume the recipient of all that force would definitely have a broken bone or two. It didn't actually hurt, no, it felt like a great amount of pressure on my chest. The pain only came when I hit the ground a few feet away. I would have screamed if it didn't feel like I was choking.

I struggled to lift my head as I saw the glowing ghoul hobbling up on three hooves. It then proceeded to howl for the third time. The radiation made me feel physically sick as I could taste blood in my mouth. My body felt tired and weak and wrong, just wrong. Its crippled leg retook the correct shape and it proceeded to be perfectly fine.

I watched in horror as it walked over to me. Was this the end? I... I wasn't ready to die. It lunged atop me with jaws ready to snap down on my neck. No! I wasn't going to die here, especially after making a promise to Candy. I swung my hoof and blocked it. It didn't get a chance to bite down on my neck. Instead, it was forced to bite down on my hoof. I could see it close up as it growled and proceeded to try and bite down on my hoof armour, teeth scraping on metal.

Up close, I got a good look at it. It was missing the skin from its muzzle and nose, only bone and teeth there. Its eyes were empty green balls. I wasn't even sure how this thing saw and it was completely hairless with skin that seemed like thin leather. I could even see its skeleton, and not just because that’s how skinny it was, but by the fact its internal glow highlighted its very bones. It was drooling and leaking a fluorescent green goo that would burn a little on touch with my skin. It was then that I realized my jacket and armor was splattered in the goo, from the fight.

I started beating its head with my free hoof but it soon pinned it with its own hoof. I couldn't move, being highly irradiated by it just thanks to its close proximity. The weight was making my chest ache in pain, I had to think fast. I had to stop it biting my hoof... wait, biting. Oh Cadence orgy fucking a dragon, I had a bad idea.

I pulled the whole ghoul up over the top of me, so its throat was near my mouth, then I proceeded to bite into it. The taste, the texture, the warmth. Needless to say it was fucking bad. It tasted like tingling warm rotten meat and had the consistency of tough yet slimy meat. All that while its irradiated blood ran down my throat, I had to swallow or risk drowning.

I thrashed my head, trying to put all that out of my mind, trying to rip its fucked head off. It let go of my hoof and I wrapped it around its neck as I bit down deeper and harder, green blood spraying over me. Eventually, I got to it, the spine. I shook my head violently as it thrashed wildly.

It, it was dead. I had snapped its neck. I quickly took my mouth off it and tilted my head to the side and proceeded to puke up ghoul bits, green blood, and my own red blood. I just laid there for a moment with a dead glowing ghoul atop me and my vomit beside me. I felt a little smile on my face. I won.

But the moment of victory was short lived as the ghoul's body began to glow brighter and hotter. Whatever it was, it was releasing a lot of radiation and I was under it. Fuck it was going to explode or cook me, something to spite me and my win. I tried to move but my body was too sore and tired to bother. I shut my eyes, fuck!

Was I dead? Was it instantaneous evaporation? I felt lighter, also I felt a warm dust cover my body. I tried to open my eyes but the dust made it hard, so I shook my head, with much effort. A smoking powder pile covered me, with a reddish glow to it. I looked up to see Sharp, a few bruises and bite marks, but much better than me, with her magic musket rifle barrel smoking.

"Good job, Star."

Oh, this is the point I wish I could faint on command, but no such luck. Sharp bit into the hood of my jacket and proceeded to pull me out of the ash pile. Oh the pain, the aching of my chest hurt so badly. Yet if I had to be honest, deep down, something felt good about it. At least it let me know I was still alive.

"Ghouls are ponies who got balefire bomb levels of radiation and bonded with it, their bodies changed and they then became dependent on radiation. They lost their minds ages ago, so they’re feral and attack any pony who isn't one of them." Sharp proceeded to educate me as she brushed the powder off me. I didn't bother to talk as even taking shallow breaths hurt. I did wince when she started brushing it off my chest and stomach.

"Glowing ghouls explode shortly after death unless you decapitate it or disintegrate it. Glowing ones’ howls also heal ghouls. It can't fix a destroyed limb, but it can heal a crippled one. So go for the legs to slow them down then finish them off by destroying the head, even if they’re dead. That goes for normal ghouls as well." Sharp was now looking to my injuries, removing my chest armour before softly pressing on my ribs with her magic.

I could see the chest plate had a dent in it, probably stopped the ghoul from trying to kick a hole in my chest. Part of our basic first aid training was to check for broken bones. I tried to stay still and not whine, although it was very hard. Mainly I just paid attention to what she was telling me.

"Nothing broken, probably a major fracture. Let’s say two healing potions and a RadSafe. A RadAway when we get out of here. Your wing will be fine, but no flying for a while." Luckily I drank a lot of milk, so my bones must have been strong. Wait, I never took my RadSafe, I wonder what my radiation level was at? Probably not good. Sharp was exposed to less radiation but she seemed fine, more or less. As for me, I couldn't really tell because of the fight.

Sharp lifted my head and popped a RadSafe pill in my mouth and helped me down it with a healing potion, followed by another one. I laid there as it slowly took effect, my chest stopped aching and my bruises and bite marks began to fade. Then she rolled me slowly onto my side and bandaged my hurt wing. I still felt worse than when I was running a fever. My body felt weak and I felt extremely sick.

Sharp then collected my weapons and helped me to my hooves. But even then I could barely stand. My legs were shaking and I was visibly weak. Sharp tried to offer me RadAway but I declined her offer. I knew RadAway was expensive, so the less I took now, the better later on.

"Dad taught me a lot about the dangers of the outside world. Ghouls, raiders, animals. He didn't think you'd be able to handle it out here on your own, so he wanted me to be able to take care of you." Sharp kept talking, as we walked. I was behind her, trying to keep up and not throw up at the same time. I stopped listening to what she said as I focused on staying awake, but I felt so damn tired.

Sharp yelled something out and I could see it, the end of the swamp, and in the distance was a town. She turned around to look at me. I smiled but I couldn't do it anymore. My legs gave out and I fell over onto my hurt wing. I was so tired, I needed to take a nap. Yes, only five minutes.

The last thing I saw was Sharp running over to me, panic on her face.

I was half expecting to be in my mental dark limbo, talking to Dark Star and the fact I was turning into a monster or the interrupted flashback to the post office. But no, I found myself waking up what felt like seconds after I had dozed off. The only problem was it was not a peaceful sleep.

My body writhed in agony as it felt like I had a flaming hedgehog breakdancing in my body. The sensation was disturbingly close to that of Nightmare Fuel. My eyes shot open as my body thrashed around. I tasted blood as I coughed violently, barely able to breathe, let alone speak. I could see Sharp trying to restrain me as a series of red rash marks were all over my body. Sharp was screaming but I didn't take notice. Oh goddesses make the pain stop!

I felt the familiar effect of Sharp’s numbing magic spell hit my body. It eased the pain but the internal pain was still quite raging. I began to choke on blood, unable to cough after being numbed. So Sharp, in a panic, tilted me to the side to keep my airways drained. She also had to help me breathe with CPR. I didn't know what this was or why it was happening but I wanted it to end.

I saw Sharp inject me with two needles of Med-X, which helped douse the pain. I felt Sharp push a hose pipe down my throat, as I was unable to cough up the fluid on my own.. This helped me breathe as the blood flowing out of the hose slowed down, but did not subside. I watched with tears, blood and drool running down my face as Sharp dragged me in the sleeping bag, towards the town.

"Hang on brother, we’re almost to Rad-hoof, almost there…" those were the last words I heard before I mercifully fainted at last. My last thought being of Candy and the ghouls. It struck me as odd that while Candy was so young and was already gone, but ghouls were much older and could seemingly last forever..

I slipped in and out of consciousness. Sometimes I only saw images, like Sharp dragging me through the town with the town's folks. I remember we passed a butchery packed with different meats on display, with a mare in a green dress selling them. Then there were times I could only hear voices. "Just help him doctor, I don't care what it takes, I'll pay for it." Sharp, that was Sharp’s voice.

"I can't help him if you don't tell me what he took, that and you won't even let me take off his jacket!?" I didn't know who this was, but if I had to guess I would have to say it might have been the town doctor.

My condition was getting better, the pain had gone down, but I still felt extremely tired. I opened my eyes to see Sharp and the doctor, a two toned brown unicorn stallion arguing with Sharp. I couldn't hear them properly, everything sounded muffled and I was still so tired. I closed my eyes and fell asleep again.

I was in the dark limbo, but this time what appeared to be a storm of red and gray was moving away from me. "That sucked." Dark. I spun around to look for him. "Up here." He was above me, upside-down, or was I upside down? This stupid limbo was disorientating.

"What happened? Where were you?" I asked him, the thought of him appearing in the window fresh in my mind.

He was in a reclining pose, his hooves under his head like a pillow and his legs crossed. "You nearly died and I was trying to take a nap."

"Wait what? What made me so sick? And why didn't you help me? That is what you do right? Help me with my problems. Like Candy's death or the fact that I might be a raider at heart?" I blubbered on, my voice growing ever more worried.

He chuckled a little and pushed his wing onto my mouth to shut me up. "Shhh, I don't know and I don’t care. I'm not the other guy, now leave me alone." Suddenly I began to fall up, or was it down? So hard to tell without references. "Oh, wake me up if you want to have some fun, you know where to find me."

I opened my eyes, seeing the nighttime clouds. I slowly sat up, my body stiff and tired, like I had just taken a long nap. I stretched and yawned before smacking my lips. I was thirsty. I got up and dug around my bag for a drink, and out came a bottle of Crystal Pop, the Crystal Empire’s answer to Sparkle Cola.

It was a glass soda bottle with a weird shape in the neck of the bottle. The caps had a small hollow tube on them. This was to break the seal and release the carbonated glowing bead into the neck of the bottle. You hold it for a few seconds as it carbonates the drink.

This one was the original flavor of blueberries. But I had known they had other flavors: cherry, grape, orange, carrot, sparkle, and gem, according to the label which advertised them. Although Crystal Pop was the empire’s drink of choice, Sparkle Cola was sold in the Crystal Empire as well.

But the Crystal Empire’s main soda drink was still Crystal Pop. Which according to the label on the bottle, which had a cartoony shiny crystal pony who was named, yet again to the informational soda bottle wrapper, was Soda Pop. This was The Crystal Empire’s exclusive drink.

I opened the drink and popped the seal, holding the cap down as it fizzed up. I then removed the cap and saw the number on the underside of the cap was a nine. Legend had it if you collected numbers one to ten then you could win a prize. Well, that’s what it said on the bottle label anyway. I finished the fizzy blue drink, which tasted like blueberries with bubbles. I looked around to see Sharp asleep. We were on the outskirts of the town on a hill.

I didn't want to wake her so I decided to head down there myself, my jacket on and wings hidden. I had tried to move my wing but it hurt a little, although the bandages were gone and there was only a faint mark left on them. I trotted into town with no particular goal in mind, but finding caps to repay Sharp would be good. Maybe use them to buy some more RadAway, now that I knew how crap it was to have what I assumed was probably lethal levels of radiation.

It was then that I had found a board in the middle of town, just like at Slave Town, a job board. I looked at the jobs on the board but one stuck out like a sore hoof.

I couldn’t possibly turn down the opportunity to help this town and save those children, especially after what happened with me almost dying and losing Candy. It was then that I noticed no one was outside. I knew it was night but it didn't seem that late. Maybe they were scared of the child snatching music.

I contemplated waking up Sharp, but I decided not to since she had a long day. I began to wander around town, looking for clues, but there wasn't anything. It was getting late and I was contemplating heading back when I heard it. An alluring tone, different than Candy's music box. But still nice and I was drawn to it.

I followed the tone all the way out of town to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. There was a strange box playing the music. It was old and rusted but I could make out the words 'Ice cream cart music box’.

I was about to pick it up when a white cloth covered my face. I tried to struggle and breath but the rag seemed to be held there by magic. I quickly felt faint as I could taste and smell alcohol on the rag. As I collapsed I heard somepony say. "Night, night."

It's only when you could use something that you remember you forgot it, like armour or even a weapon.

Agh, I am so sick of fainting. I groaned as I woke up slowly. I could feel chains around my hooves as I was hanging upright. My wings were bound and I was missing my jacket. Apart from that, it was very cold, colder than normal. I opened my eyes but couldn't see. I was blindfolded but I could still hear…static.

My heart began to race as I thrashed, but soon I calmed down. It was just a radio song. But where was it coming from and who turned it on? Meat, I could smell the scent of meat and salt.

I screamed for help but heard only the sound of my rattling chains. Something spoke, in a mare's voice. "I should hate pegasi. Up above the clouds, leaving the rest of us down here to rot. But I don't. In fact, the fact that you’re a pegasus is quite thrilling. I wonder what your wings taste like?"

My heart raced as my mind began to panic. Where the hell was I? Who the fuck was this talking to me? I then felt the blindfold slide off my face. I quickly opened my eyes to see. I was in a butchery cold storage locker, there were hanging Brahmin carcasses all around me, slowly turning. I looked around for the source of the voice but found nothing.

Then I saw it, the carcass of a pony, a little pony. It was prepared just like all the other carcasses, ready to be eaten. I fought back every urge to vomit as the realization that I might suffer the same fate kicked in.

"I've worked with meat for a long time. Even though ponies don't have to eat meat, there's still a market for it." The voice was out of sight but the sound of something being grinded was clearly coming from behind a row of carcasses. "The younger the meat the softer and juicier it is, except for newborns. They taste more like fish, have you ever had fish?"

It was a few moments before I worked up the mental courage to answer. "N...no."

A small chuckle crept across the room. "Of course not, you're from the sky. It is a type of meat that falls apart fairly easily and has a distinct taste and smell, although it is riddled with small bones."

The thought of fish and comparison to newborns made me gag, but I eventually calmed down a bit. "I, I'm not from the sky, I was born on the ground."

Yet again another chuckle crept across the room. "Oh, well whatever, it doesn't really matter, now does it?"

I was getting sick of this damn freak’s games. "Who the fuck are you?!"

Laughter. She was laughing at me. A row of hanging meat moved to the side to reveal a mare in a green dress with an apron. She was sharpening a butcher knife on a grinding wheel. She had a light green lime coat and a light brown mane and tail. "Language. Now please let me introduce myself, my name is Berry Butcher and this is my butcher shop." She pulled off what turned out to be a wig, revealing a set of short yellow spiky hair and a horn. It was glowing yellow before stopping. Her, I mean his, coat then changed to a more yellow lime, compared to its previous green lime.

"You’re a stallion?!" I ended up shouting out.

He stuck out his tongue in a smile and twinkled at me, his voice now sounding more like a male’s. "Guilty as charged, and to reward you for making it this far we have a special guest."

His magic pulled some chains and the cadavers on the hooks began to shift and move. One of the missing fillies, maybe a year younger than Candy, was pulled forward from the shadows to his side.

"Let her go!" I demanded suddenly, the filly was crying and gagged, I could tell she was begging me for help.

He proceeded to pick up his recently sharpened knife and brought it close to her face. She squirmed in terror as she saw the knife coming closer. "She's the town mechanic’s daughter. Since she enjoys taking things apart I thought I'd do the same to her.”

I thrashed against my chain. "You're sick! Why are you doing this?!"

He seemed to freeze at the question, pondering it. "Why? Ah, what a strange little question that is, I suppose it's because I enjoy it. The first person I killed was my wife. She was nagging me about something and then without thinking about it, I sliced her to pieces. But then when I saw how finely I sliced her, I wanted more, more ponies to cut up, to reduce them to their most basic building blocks, and I wanted everyone to see. So I put her on special, I think you passed her thighs this afternoon." I remember, seeing the meat shop when Sharp dragged me through town, seeing the meat for sale.

"How can a person murder somepony for such a ridiculous reason?! There's more than enough food for your town!" I shouted, grinding my teeth in anger as I struggled, trying to flex my wings.

"Food? I didn't do it because of food, I did it because I could." He proceeded to slowly trot closer to me, knife in tow. "Given the slightest provocations, anyone can do it."

"Stay back!" I yelled as we were almost face to face.

He proceeded to talk and wave the knife around in an exuberant fashion. "Ponies have morals, but send them to war and they have no problem slaying each other in the most brutal fashion. Why do you think that is?"

I looked to the side, away from him, not wanting to answer. "I have no idea."

Suddenly I found myself staring at my own reflection in his knife. It dug deep into my shoulder, blood soon obscuring my reflection. I whipped my head away and wailed in pain.

He proceeded to pull the knife out of me and kept talking. "Because deep down inside we all want to kill. Most just need an excuse to distance themselves from the idea of being a monster. Even you."

I breathed heavily as the wound bled badly, my body twitching from the experience. I began to open my muzzle to reply when Berry carved a piece of my cheek off. My one eye began to cry as the pain froze me in place. My tongue couldn't help but explore the now open hole in the side of my face. My eye drew to the missing piece of my cheek laying on the cold tile floor.

"The cheeks are usually the sweetest part of the body, that and I hate it when you wannabe hero types try to justify your actions. he matter of the fact is, you’re just as fucked up as the rest of us."

My eyes focused onto Berry with intent to kill, my hooves and wings pushed hard at the chains. The pain from my face and shoulder began to become pleasurable. I could feel that dark sensation deep within me. 'Dark Star.' I embraced it and it felt good.

I spoke as best as I could while missing a cheek. "You’re right. I am fucked up, I am a monster, but I don't enjoy killing...no... I hate it... but for you... I'll make an exception."

He raised the knife for what I assumed was the final blow. "I'd like to see you try."

I screamed and pushed my wings out as hard as I could, with a clang and a thud. My wings broke the chains that bound them and opened wide, startling Berry. I used that window of opportunity to fly up and off the hook. Berry swung at me with his knife, but only grazed my stomach, leaving a small cut. Unfortunately, there wasn't much room in here, so I ended up having to fly forward, knocking Berry over as I tumbled into his table, breaking it as I crashed into it.

I quickly shook off the rough landing and hobbled to my bound hooves, looking around the broken wooden table for a knife. I looked back to see Berry getting up, so I decided to grab a big splinter of wood and run into the meat maze. I could see the filly looking on in surprise as I left her there. I kept repeating in my head, I'll save her.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are little birdy." Berry's voice chilled me more than this damn freezer.

I ended up leaning onto a Brahmin carcass, with the wooden shard in my mouth as I thought of a plan. My heart was racing, my wounds encouraging me. I resisted the urge to smile, mainly out of fear that my lip would split. But my thought was interrupted, a knife cut the Brahmin body almost in half, stopping shy of my neck.

Before he could pull it out I dropped down below the semi-cleaved carcass and went for his hoof. He screamed in pain as the shard plunged deep into his leg. I quickly rolled to the side as he ripped the knife out of the carcass and tried to cleave my head, breaking the knife and the tile. I wiggled away under more hanging bodies.

Frantically I looked for the keys and my jacket. I couldn't do anything with my hooves bound and there was no room to fly. I saw them, hanging on a hook on the wall. I laughed in joy as I began to squirm towards them. But that joy was short lived as I felt something grab my rear leg chains. I looked back to see Berry on the other side of the room, with a normal looking knife floating beside him, his horn aglow as it had a firm grip on my chains.

I thrashed and struggled, trying to desperately move forward. But the floor was too smooth, too wet from blood. I saw something behind me to my side and squirmed towards it, knocking it over to my mouth so I could grab it. It was a rib bone. I held it firmly in my mouth as I was pulled back to Berry.

"You can't escape this cage you stubborn chicken!" Berry quipped angrily, before pulling me all the way to him and flipping me over.

When he did I pushed my top half up with my wings and swiftly stabbed him in the neck, blocking his knife attack with my hoof. We looked at each other for a moment as I watched him die, the rib tip sticking out the other side of his neck. He tried to speak but only ended up coughing blood over me. He fell to the side, limp, dead. I turned my head to see the knife lodged deep into my hoof and probably bone as well.

Pain came flooding in as I just dry cried on the floor next to Berry's corpse. The pleasure of the fight had worn off and the dark feeling subsided, and I could feel my heart start to calm down. Eventually, I worked up the nerve to bite down on the knife handle and rip it out. I threw the knife to the side and writhed in agony, bleeding badly and probably having carve marks on my bones. Plus I was still missing a piece of my cheek.

I knew I had to find a few healing potions or something stronger, fast. After making my way to the key and getting those stupid chains off, I quickly looked around. Luckily I found a box and inside was a drug called Hydra. I didn't hesitate to inject it, rejoicing at the feeling of my wounds closing. Even my missing cheek began to close up back to normal.

Dad told me about the drug Hydra, said it was like a healing potion on steroids. But he also said it could cause mutations because of how strong it was. Apparently, it came from a multi-headed monster, if you could extract it without being killed.

After that, I made my way to the hanging filly and let her down and took off her chains. I asked her if she knew where the others were and she pointed to a door. She just sat there crying. I took off my jacket and placed it around her. She looked up at me in confusion.

"It's over now, I'm taking you home," I said, trying to comfort her as I went to find the others. Four, that’s how many there were in the room the filly pointed out. With her, that makes five, five out of the eight. I tried not to think about what happened to the missing three but I know they were probably hanging from the ceiling like the one I saw before or on a stand in town.

The children looked up at me and I could see in their faces that they were scared, cold and hungry. Some of them were still crying. I thought I saw Candy in the bunch but it was just my imagination. I was speechless before them, I didn't know what to say.

"Please let us go." one of the kids whimpered.

"I..."

A kid cut me off. "Please, Mr. Pegasus."

I almost started crying. "I... I'm going to take you home." I blurted out. We took things slow. I led the kids to what I assumed was the exit. A filly rode on my back, too traumatized to talk.

Eventually, we found the exit with a terminal beside it and a Ministry of Fun poster beside that. Not wanting to explore this place, we didn’t bother checking the other rooms. As it turns out, we were in the same field I was captured in. I decided to go back in to check the terminal as the kids were still busy going top side. The terminal wasn't locked so I decided to access it.

There were options for the siren controls and five entries on here. Four were dated for this month and the first seemed to be pre-war. I decided to click on the oldest new one first.

I smashed the terminal, startling the filly on my back. "Sorry," I said as I gave her a sheepish smile. It was just, I really didn't want to think about Berry and his victims. I checked to make sure that all the kids were top side, which they were, then I proceeded to follow them. I squinted as it was quite bright outside, probably day time. I saw most of the kids smiling, and some were crying tears of joy.

"Mr. Pegasus, thank you," said one of the colts. I just gave him a smile as we started walking back to town, thinking it was kind of cute.

"Mr. Pegasus, why are you down here? I thought you lived in the sky?" To pass the time, some of the kids started asking me questions.

"I was born on the ground and so the wasteland is my home. I've never even seen what's above the clouds." The children were at awe, being able to talk to a Pegasus.

'Mr. Pegasus, why do my parents hate pegasuses?"

"Pegasi." Another corrected.

I just awkwardly chuckled. I had known about hate towards pegasi. I had understood it myself. They kept the sky and clouds all to themselves. They never bothered to help anyone but themselves, even now. But it was something I wasn't really comfortable explaining to a kid. Luckily fate intervened and an angry beast interrupted our conversation.

"Brother!!!" Sharp, it was Sharp, and she was mad. "You almost die repeatedly and I spend my time and caps trying to keep you alive and you repay me by sneaking off at night to do something dangerous?!"

I just awkwardly chuckled, really not wanting to answer. She eventually sighed and dropped it. "So you tried to do some quest to save these kids and succeeded. Tell me what happened?" I and some of the kids shivered at the thought of what happened back there, some even started crying again. Yet again Sharp sighed. “It’s ok, everything is alright. You take that one back, I'll lead the rest back to town.”

All the kids looked at me for verification. "Ok, kids, you can trust her. She may be cranky at times but she's my sister." I started to fly upward a bit, the filly holding onto me tight. I looked at Sharp, who was still mad, and the kids who were in awe with my ability to fly.

I chuckled. "Hold on." The filly did and we began to fly off. In the corner of my eye, I could see the filly with her head raised up, I swear I even heard her giggle a little. So I decided to take the scenic route. We both giggled as we flew around, we could even see the glowing swamp from up here. I felt something wet hit my coat and looked up but didn't see any rain. It was the filly, she was crying. "What's wrong?"

Suddenly she hugged me, I struggled to regain balance and she whispered. "Thank you, Mr. Pegasus."

"Hehe, my name is Star, Star Shot. Radio calls me Blue Bird." She smiled and looked at my jacket with the bluebird patch.

"Soothing Sound." She mumbled, I almost missed it, but I assumed that was her name.

I looked around when I thought I saw something, a pegasus. Candy. I fell a little as I stared at her, flying in the distance. Before Soothing Sound’s scream snapped me out of it. I chuckled, a little embarrassed. Luckily we were at our destination, Rad-hoof. I landed and all the townsfolk looked on at me and Soothing Sound in surprise. She climbed off and looked at a crowd gathering around us, shrinking back into my jacket. Until a mare's voice sent her off like a rocket.

"Mama!" She rushed into and through the crowd, off to the sound of her mother's voice. The crowd was starting to mumble and murmur, but I still heard the sound of Soothing Sound reuniting with her mother.

I smiled happily, that was until somepony shouted. "Give me back my daughter!"

"They'll be back soon, just wait." The crowd didn't seem happy with my reply, they were mumbling louder, eyes fixed on my wings. I could feel the situation turning bad.

"You took them, didn't you, you pegasus scum?” “Enclave!" They began to shout and yell at me, so I grabbed my jacket and was about to take off when a rock flew out of nowhere and hit me on my head. Within seconds I was mobbed. They pinned me down and kicked me, yelling about how I was some pegasus who should have stayed in the sky. I tried to tell them how I wasn't Enclave, how I was one of them, but they wouldn't listen.

So this is what it felt like to be hated, for being a pegasus. This is what over a century of hate will do. I had promised to be remembered for centuries, but I did not want to be remembered for something I wasn't a part of. I didn't want this hate.

Did I even have a place in this world? The wasteland doesn't want me and neither does the sky? The image of Sharp and Candy appeared in my mind. Home, they were my home. Sharp was my home. Candy knew about this, about what it was like to be hated for something out of your control. She must have experienced it as a slave.

It all made sense. Why dad was training Sharp about the outside. He put me in a cage where the guards of Frost Crystal would protect me from this hate, thanks to dad. If I were to one day leave Frost Crystal then he would have had Sharp protect me. Sharp, I need you.

Through all the hooves I saw Soothing Sound being escorted away by her mother. She was trying to talk but her mother wouldn't listen. I curled up in a ball as I feared that they'd kill me. But then somepony’s suggestion broke through the crowd's fury. "I'll buy that pegasus, five thousand caps!" The mob seemed to freeze and consider the stranger before I felt them begin to tie me up.

My body was bruised and I had a bad black eye that was closed shut. But I could see the pony who suggested putting me into slavery and bought me at the same time. It was a ghoul. I'd thought ghouls were monsters. But this one was wearing clothes and spoke, although he was definitely a ghoul.

He walked up to me and pulled out a club. "Nighty night."

Great, now I'm a slave to a Ghoul slaver.

Author's Notes:

Last update: 13/05/2018

Achievement unlocked: Child-Friendly

(For seeking out and saving children from a horrible fate.)

http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Noble+Balance https://www.fimfiction.net/user/275628/EverfreePony
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/230688/Fair+Play
Thank you sooo much for making this 1000 times better and 20% cooler.