The feeling of the wind whipping through my mane and tail as I flew around Canterbury was glorious. With my eyes closed, I faced the sun and enjoyed the gentle warming feeling on my face and body. Opening my eyes, I looked down upon the cloud tops in and around the base with a smile.. The other soldiers moving around the base were the size of ants. I looked over and saw another pegasus stallion in their flight suit out for a spin as well. He gestured toward a large cloudbank and put a wicked grin on his face. If it was a race he wanted, it would be a race he got. I put all my effort into it and took off like a shot. He accelerated at the same time and we both hurtled towards the cloudbank.

This was nothing new in Canterbury. As an ancillary base, and with the last skirmishes with the griffons and dragons well behind us, there wasn’t much call for combat flight. We got bored. So, to keep things interesting, every now and then you’d find yourself in a dare like this one simply to spice things up.
We got closer to the fluffy, grey outer edge of the cloudbank and I noticed it wasn’t just a cloudbank, but a thunderhead. I wasn’t too concerned about lightning since our flight suits protected us from direct hits, which were rare anyway. The biggest concerns were the strong and rapidly changing winds. This was going to be interesting. We headed into the quickly darkening mist.

The first wind gust caught me by surprise and shot me severely off course. Adjusting my flight path, I had to fight against several large gusts which cost me time. As I neared the center of the thunderhead, the wind picked up even more and I had to strain just to make any leeway. Most pegasi, except for the very best, would storms if they could. Apparently my competitor was not most pegasi. He was heading directly into the center of the storm. Well, if I was going to win, I had to at least try.

I paralleled his flight path. Rain started to splash against my goggles, making it hard to see. I lost sight of the other pony, but I kept on course. A downdraft buffeted me and dropped me several feet instantly. The motion made my stomach lurch, but I kept pushing on. The wind was nearly tearing the feathers from my wings. To make matters worse, I still didn’t see the other pony. The clouds were so dark and thick it was almost as if we were flying at night. He couldn’t have gotten that much further ahead of me, could he?

Large hailstones began to pelt my body all over. The bit sized hailstones hurt each time they impacted. This race was starting to get out of hoof. I had to- OOF! Something massive hit my midsection. It was the other pony! He was playing dirty! Between the wind, rain, hail, and now the blow I just received, I was starting to lose control of my route.

I saw the pony arc away and turn back towards me. He was going to ram me again. I turned to avoid his path. He adjusted quickly, too quickly to be believed, and he hit me squarely in my right wing. I heard a sickeningly wet snap followed by a shot of blinding pain. I cried out in anguish. That bastard must have broken my wing.

I began to spiral downward having control of only one wing. Plummeting out of control, I tried to regain stable flight. Every time I tried to move my broken wing my vision flashed white with a new shot of stabbing pain. I saw my opponent enter my line of sight again and was heading right for me. As he got closer, he pulled his hood back. It was Muddy! He gave me another wicked grin and slammed into me again, speeding up my descent to the cloud cover and the ground below. His job done, he gave me a mock salute and flew away.

The top of the cloud cover was approaching at an alarming rate. The wind roaring in my ears was deafening. The death spiral I was in was making me nauseous. And the worst part was that there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.

“Dust, please…” a female voice called out. I looked around for the source of the voice but there were no other ponies in sight.

“Dust, come back, you need to come back,” the voice said. Again, no pony could be found.

“Whoever is out there, help me, please!” I screamed out in panic.

“Dust, please wake up!”

I continued falling as I looked for the source of the voice calling out to me. Eventually, my descent carried me into the cloud cover below. I kept falling and everything got darker, until things were pitch black.

“Dust, wake up!”
---OOO---

Darkness. That was all that I could see once I opened my eyes. I tried to sit up -- and then a burning spike of pain drove straight into my consciousness.

“UURG--” I started to cry out, but was quickly muffled by something firm clamping my mouth shut. As my eyes focused and adjusted to the dim light, I could make out two pink hooves that were wrapped around my mouth. I whimpered in pain through my clenched teeth.

“Shhhh!” the pink pegasus from the lab whispered urgently. “He’s still up there.”

I could faintly make out hoofbeats echoing off the walls of the cavern we were in. The hoofbeats stopped and after several seconds of silence, I heard glass shatter against the floor of the cavern a little distance away. Somepony let out a long whistle. Avery familiar voice also drifted down to my ears. “No fucking way he survived that fall. But what the fuck am I going to do now… I killed Dust and Last Stand is going to be here to look for us sooner or later. I gotta get my story in order now. Why did he have to be such a goody-two shoes? Why couldn’t he just keep being my friend instead of siding with that dirtpony?”

Muddy. It all came rushing back to me: the pink pegasus, the fight in the lab, being pushed over the ledge. Wait a minute! That fucker pushed me over the ledge!

The pink pegasus leaned in closer to my ear. “If I let go of your mouth, you have to stay quiet. Nod if you understand.” I nodded my head as much as I could given that she was holding my muzzle. She removed her hooves from my mouth. “Good.”

I barely made out Last Stand’s voice through the lab door. “Dust! Muddy! Where the fuck are you two?”

“Shit, gotta think quick. Why would Dust have left the Stable...” His voice trailed off as I heard the lab door grind open, and then slide closed again. Finally, all I heard was my shallow breathing echoing in our chamber.

She leaned in close to whisper again. “How badly are you hurt?”

I grimaced even harder. Wrong question.. I was using all my willpower not to scream out in pain. A whimper forced its way out of my body. My companion gave me a compassionate look and held my hoof. I squeezed her hoof back.

She leaned in close and whispered into my ear again. “We’re going to wait here for a bit…”

“No!” I harshly whispered. “I’m not letting that asshole get away!” I tried to get myself up off the floor again. “Urgh!” I cried out involuntarily as several parts of my body flared up in pain.

The pegasus gently placed a hoof on my shoulder. “Listen, he already left and you are in no condition to go after him now. As I said before, we are going to wait a bit here until the coast is clear. Then we’re going to find some way to get you up to the clinic. First, though, I need to find out if you have any broken bones. This is going to hurt, like, a lot. Here, bite down on this.” She placed an old belt near my mouth, and I bit down on it. I thought inanely that the salty, gamey taste of the leather was a damn sight better than some of the canned food we scavenged from the Wasteland. Not being able to help it, I chuckled a little. This turned out to be a mistake as new bolts of pain fired through my body. The grunting quickly replaced my laughter.

She took each of my legs, and very carefully flexed them. Everything she touched hurt. When she pressed down on my abdomen, I felt a sharp, stabbing pain. I clenched my teeth on the belt and whimpered. Tears started to form in my eyes.

“OK, your legs seem none the worse for wear. You probably have a broken rib or two. Other than that, though, you seem alright, considering.”

I hesitated, weighing my next statement carefully.. Finally, I spit the belt out. “Wings. Check my wings.”

“ OK, I’ll check your… Wait, what?”

Damn it. “Wings. I need you to check my wings under my armor.”

A pause. I could easily imagine her dumbfounded look even in the shadows. “You’re a pegasus? Why are you covering your wings?”

Waves of pain wracked my body. “Long story. I’ll tell you later.” Well, I’d tell her something later. What, exactly, I’d figure out by then. “Look near the top of the barding. You should see two yellow cords. On my front right leg there should be a knife. Take it and then cut the two cords so that you can then open two flaps and get my wings out. Careful, it’s a combat knife so it’s deadly sharp.”

She did exactly as I told her. I was somewhat relieved when the slight pressure exerted by the barding was released. My right wing was under my body, so she flexed the left wing first. Fortunately, that was one part of my body that didn’t hurt.

“OK, I’m going to have to roll you over to get to your right side. Here, put this back in.” She offered me the belt once more. I bit down and braced myself. As she rolled me over, several parts of my body I didn’t even know could hurt screamed out in protest. After some struggling on her part and some biting and grunting on mine, I was now laying on my left side. She gently opened the flap and and flexed my right wing.

My vision flashed white with the intense burst of pain. I almost yelled out, but I just bit down harder on the belt instead. Cries still escaped through my clenched teeth, but I was able to keep things mostly quiet. Everything hurt a little, but my right wing hurt the most. It was severely fractured, if not outright broken.

She leaned in closer and started rifling through my saddlebags. “You keep Med-X in here, I hope?” she asked.

“Mm-hrrm,” I ground out, seething.

It didn’t take her long to find one of the syringes. My ears flinched back when I heard the cover slide off the needle, and I found myself biting the leather even harder, right before a sharp sting blossomed in my right front leg. But it was well worth the discomfort. A numb sensation quickly began spreading from the site, dulling the ache in my ribs like a flood over a wildfire. Ahh, painkillers. Do. Your. Stuff. As we sat there, I felt my eyelids start to droop.

“By the way, my name is Silver Lining,” she whispered into my ear.

“Nice to meet...”

I drifted off to sleep. My last thought was which bone of Muddy’s I was going to break first when I caught up with him.
------

I opened my eyes and was surrounded by the inky darkness again. Maybe everything from before was just a nightmare. I tried to get to my feet, but was overcome with stabbing pains from several parts of my body. Falling back down to the ground I realized that, nope, this was all too real.

I glanced around the cavern and from what I could see, I was quite alone. Nearly panicked, I whispered, “Silver Lining? Are you there?”

I was greeted by silence. The only sound in the cavern now was the echoing of my own breathing. I strained to hear anything coming from the lab above. Still nothing. Where did Silver Lining go?

Left to my own thoughts, I went back to Muddy. I thought we were friends. We were, in fact, the only real friends we had down here. And he betrayed me. Why? What was worth killing me over? Or was it an accident? No. It couldn’t be. My armor releases were cut, not worn. He had to have cut them with a knife. Oooh, what I would do with a knife when I found him.

From above, I heard the lab door grind open. I glanced up at the lab and saw a silhouette against the red lighted lab. Then a blinding light filled the cavern. I watched as the source of the light slowly moved towards me. It was Silver who had turned on a flashlight.

“Dust, are you awake?” Silver asked.

“Yeah, but I wish I wasn’t. Not to whine, but everything hurts. How long have I been asleep?”

“Two hours, I’d guess. The others you came with left the stable about an hour ago. I’ve been looking for anything we can use to help you. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything.” She dropped her head a little forlornly.

“Go to the clinic. Turn on the robot, it should be able to fly down here and heal me.” In theory, anyway. That was the job of the medical model of the Mr. Handy robot.

“I tried that already. The robot is useless, it just doesn’t work.”

I swore under my breath. “OK, then we need to get me up to it. How strong a flier are you?”

“Not nearly strong enough to carry you. You’re going to have to fly on your own. I saw that you have more Med-X in your bag….” Her voice trailed off. I knew what she was getting at.

“Don’t have much choice, risking another dose of Med-X so soon or possibly dying down here. It’ll be either my injuries or the overdose that will do me in. Alright, let’s try this. Only give me like half of it now, and if we need more, we can risk it then.” She reached into my saddlebags again and pulled out another syringe. I heard her pop the cap off and felt the sting and the familiar warm heat flowed over my body. The pains I felt subsided… mostly. I tried flapping my wings. There was pain, but it was bearable. Of course, I wasn’t supporting my whole weight yet.

“Now or never, I guess.” I halfheartedly grinned at Silver and she returned the same in kind.

I began to flap and started to rise off the ground. As soon as I had my full weight on my own, the pain intensified, but still nothing I couldn’t struggle through. I grunted every time that I flapped my wings, but I couldn’t stop, not now. You really had to hand it to the pre-war ponies, they knew how to make a good pain killer.

Most of the flight went well. Near the top, though, I felt the pain intensify in my right wing. I reached out for the edge of lab floor and I heard a wet snapping sound. Pain shot through my body and my vision was flashed with bright white stars. I howled out loud enough to probably scare Cerberus.

I began to fall back towards the bottom of the cavern, but my forelegs caught the edge of the lab floor. Boy did this position feel familiar. Once again, I was holding on to the edge while my legs kicked helplessly beneath me. “Silver, help!”

She got beneath me and started pushing up on my hindquarters. She was able to help me gain some ground. I was still dealing with the overwhelming pain and couldn’t do much to help yet. I could hear her grunting under the strain. Eventually, she got me high enough that I could get my back hooves on the floor. I clambered up the rest of the way and collapsed on the floor of the lab. She flew up and collapsed right next to me. We both lay there on the floor, panting.

“Thanks for the lift,” I said between ragged breaths. “But did you have to cop a feel back there?” I chuckled.

“I.. what? No… I didn’t... “ she stammered between breaths. Her pink face grew a bright red, even in the emergency lighting.

“I’m just kidding around with you, calm down.” Growing pain from my right wing reminded me why the flight became such a problem, so I turned to look. It definitely wasn’t supposed to hang that way. “Oooh, that can’t be good.”

Silver looked at my wing and gasped. “Oh no, it must have broken completely. The pain must be horrible right now.”

“Oddly enough, not so bad.” But it was worse than it was a few moments ago and it was slowly building. “Maybe adrenaline? And it’s starting to wear off. And I don’t want to risk any more Med-X. We should probably bind it to my body so it doesn’t flap in the breeze.”

“But there is no breeze in here?” She seemed confused.

“It was a joke, albeit a bad one.” I smacked my own hoof against my forehead.

We both stood up, although I was a little slower than she was. She got a roll of bandages out of my saddlebags and wound it around my wing and torso. It still hurt, but at least it wouldn’t move freely as we navigated the stable.

We stood up, which took far more effort than I would have liked, and walked and limped out of the lab. Every shot of pain caused me to draw a sharp breath. Silver must have heard me, since she got under my left wing and took as much of my weight as she could. At least my wing was immobilized and didn’t hurt. Much.

Fortunately, the only sounds we heard as we made our way through the stable was our own hoofsteps and breathing. We made it to the clinic without any incident. I threw myself down on the metal examination table with a loud clang.

“I hope you’re good at following directions, because I need you to get the robot up and running.” I glanced over at Silver, and was not comforted by her reaction.

She kinda smirked at me and then said, “Um, well, don’t have much choice, do I? I should be OK, just be patient, please.”

I walked her through the manual override procedure and the robot whirred to life. The jet on the old Mr. Handy unit sparked to life. “GOOD EVENING SIR AND MADAM! WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY IT IS! HOW CAN I BE OF SERVICE?” Geez, I always forgot how loud and obnoxious the Mr. Handy model could be.

“First of all, can you lower your volume a little? Secondly, are you programmed for medical procedures?” I asked the floating robot.

“NO SIR AND YES SIR,” the unit boomed back, sounding oddly pleased with itself. I might go deaf, but at least I might survive.

“Well, I am in need of medical attention,” I barked.

The robot floated over to me. The arms rotated around the central orb of the unit and a scanner hovered over me. The robot moved the boxy device along the length of my body, paying particular attention to my wings. The flashing lights were blinding in the dim lighting of the Stable. “LET’S SEE WHAT WE HAVE HERE. OH MY, IT SEEMS YOU HAVE MULTIPLE FRACTURES OF YOUR LEGS, MULTIPLE BROKEN RIBS, AND A COMPOUND FRACTURE OF YOUR RIGHT WING. IMMEDIATE SURGERY IS REQUIRED. OH DEAR: NO BLOOD PACKS IN INVENTORY AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES LIMITED TO THOSE STORED ON THIS UNIT. SHALL I CONTINUE WITH EMERGENCY MEDICAL PROCEDURES?”

“Can you fix what’s wrong with what you have?”

“YES SIR. PERMISSION TO ADMINISTER ANESTHESIA AND PROCEED?”

“Yes.” The arms rotated around again and a long needle made its way toward my leg. I felt the sharp pinch and some slight pressure.

“START COUNTING DOWN FROM 100, SIR.”

“100… 99… 98,” and then everything went black.
-----

When I reopened my eyes, I saw the red lighted interior of the stable. The air smelled of copper. If I never saw the inside of another stable again, I would be perfectly happy. I looked around the clinic and saw the Mr. Handy had returned to its maintenance pod and was inactive once again. A pile of bloodied bandages and several opened healing potions were strewn across the floor. I must have been more injured than I thought. And on one of the work tables lay my barding. It had been cut open, I guess so that the Mr. Handy could heal some of my internal injuries.

As for my injuries, I was sore everywhere, but nothing outright hurt anymore. I glanced at my right wing and saw that is was bound against my body, but at least it was arranged the way it was supposed to be. A stiff rod of some sort bound my broken wing to the area where the break happened. I had to hand it to the Mr. Handy, it did it’s job admirably.

“Hello? Silver?”

The jet on the Mr. Handy flared to life. As the robot moved towards me, it cheerfully called out, “GOOD MORNING SIR! WHAT A FABULOUS DAY IT IS!”

“How long was I out?”

“SIR WAS KEPT UNCONSCIOUS FOR APPROXIMATELY THIRTY-SIX HOURS.”

“And how is ‘sir’ doing?” I always got aggravated working with these robots.

“ACCESSING CLINIC DATA. PATIENT S.V.I.P #002. ORIGINAL DIAGNOSIS: MULTIPLE FRACTURES OF LEGS, RIBS, AND RIGHT WING. MINOR FRACTURES TREATED WITH ADMINISTRATION OF HEALING POTIONS. RIBS SET AND HEALED WITH ADMINISTRATION OF HEALING POTIONS. RIGHT WING RESET, SPLINTED, AND HEALING POTIONS ADMINISTERED TO ACCELERATE HEALING. RECOMMENDED RECUPERATION TIME: 6 DAYS,” the robot rattled off.

“Why are you calling me an ‘esvip’?” I asked.

“I AM NOT CALLING YOU AN ESVIP, SIR. S.V.I.P. IS SHORT FOR STABLE-TEC VERY IMPORTANT PONY. IDENTITY RECORDS NOT FOUND IN STABLE-TEC RECORDS. 99.1 PERCENT MATCH TO… OH DEAR: NAME REDACTED.”

“First of all, my name is Dust Cloud. Secondly, why is the name being redacted?” My curiosity was piqued.

“ERROR. DATA IS UNAVAILABLE TO RESPOND TO REQUEST.”

“Oooookay. Do you know where Silver Lining is?”

“So, you’re awake?” Silver Lining asked as she stood in the doorway. I hadn’t heard her steps in the stable as she approached.

“How did you do that? I didn’t hear a thing!” I blurted out in amazement.

“Practice, I guess… when you do it enough, you learn to be very quiet. It helps out when I’m trying to hide when people come in here. I’ve avoided almost four groups that way, including yours.”

“You may have to teach me that one day.” I saw a bandage around her leg. “What happened to you?”

“Well, when the robot was working, it needed blood to heal you. I was a matching blood type, so I donated some.”

“Wow, thanks. You didn’t have to do that. I mean, you barely know me.”

“It’s OK. I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. You did save me from that other pony, and if it weren't for you, who knows what could have happened to me.”

“Muddy, yeah, sorry about that. I don’t know what got into him. I’ve never seen him do anything like that before. By the way, what happened before? After you tackled him and he shoved me off the ledge?”

“Well, I flew down into the cavern and hid. I figured he’d come looking for me since I hit him. While I was waiting, I saw you crash down to the bottom of the cavern. I pulled you as far into the cavern as I could so that he couldn’t see you. I guess he assumed you were dead.”

“Wow. Thanks. You barely know me, why did you help?” I asked.

“Well, you did try to help me, even though it didn’t quite work out for the best.” She walked over to my barding, tapped it and look at me. “So, you ready to tell me about this now?”

I took a deep breath and slowly released it. What was I going to tell her that was believable but didn’t give away too much? “I came from above the clouds. I accidentally flew below the cloud cover one day and I knew they wouldn’t let me back. I also knew that Wasteland ponies don’t take too kindly to pegasi so I modified some armor I found so it would conceal my wings.” Let’s hope she believed it.

Her face tightened into a frown. “Stupid Enclave rules. Pegasi are pegasi. What does it matter where they are from or where they’ve been?” I bristled at her denigrating the Enclave but I didn’t outwardly react. “You’re either gonna have to fix it or leave it behind. The robot had to cut it off to help you. Do you know how to repair it?”

“Let me take a look.” I slid off the table, and unceremoniously fell to the ground with a thump. I guess I wasn’t fully back from the anesthesia yet. “Help me up, please.”

Silver walked over to me and supported me over to my barding. In the red lighting of the lab it was hard to see details. I was able to see that the robot basically cut through a seam, so this would be easy to fix. “Yeah, there’s a repair kit in the saddlebags that I can use to make repairs. We’ll take care of it before we leave and head back to Coltington.”

“L… leave the stable?” she asked staring blankly at me.

“Yeah, we can’t stay here forever. First of all, we’re gonna run out of supplies. Second, the computer could go crazy at any second and shut down or reactivate various systems and I don’t want to be here when the security system arms itself. Finally, I need to find Muddy and find out what’s wrong with him. I don't know why he would flip the way he did."

“Dust, I haven’t left this stable in over a few months.” Her eyes were wide with fear. “Everything out there is dangerous and I’m safer in here. I can’t go, I just can’t.”

I felt that she was hiding something, but I wasn’t about to press things. Especially since I was also hiding facts of my own. “Silver, I can’t stay here. Once I fix my armor, I am heading out of the stable. Whether you come with me or not, that is your choice.”

“O...O… OK.” she uttered between short, rapid breaths. She slumped down in a corner and was fidgeting with her hooves.
Turning my attention to my gear, I pulled out the repair kit and began to fix the armor. Gear maintenance was one of my strong suits, except when it came to weapons cleaning. Muddy and I had made a deal: I would fix everything else we needed fixed and he would take care of our weapons. It worked out well so far, until now.

Once I finished repairing my armor, I slid it back on and felt the familiar pressure around my body. Odd how that feeling became comfortable. It was almost more natural to me than flying had been. In another stroke of luck, my armor accommodated my splinted wing perfectly and would ensure I didn’t try to use it too early.

“Well, it’s time. Have you made a decision?” I asked Silver.

She bolted upright. “Y...Y...yes. I think I’m going to go with you.”

“Good… grab whatever stuff is yours and meet me in the atrium.”

The jets on the medical robot flared to life. “PATIENT DUST CLOUD, SIR. IT IS RECOMMENDED YOU DO NOT LEAVE THE CLINIC FOR AT LEAST SIX MORE DAYS,” the robot boomed.

“Thanks for your concern, but I need to go. Are you saying I can’t leave or shouldn’t?” I asked.

“PATIENT DUST CLOUD IS HEALED ENOUGH TO WALK. RECOMMENDATION IN LIEU OF STAYING IN THE CLINIC IS TO AVOID STRENUOUS ACTIVITY FOR AT LEAST ONE WEEK. FLYING SHOULD BE AVOIDED FOR 6 WEEKS AND ONLY RESUME LIGHT FLIGHT THEREAFTER. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE RECOMMENDATIONS MAY LEAD TO AGGRAVATED INJURIES.”

“Thank you for all your help. I think I will be leaving after all.”

“VERY GOOD SIR. HAVE A FABULOUS DAY! IT’S BEEN AN HONOR TO SERVE YOU!” The robot glided back over to the maintenance bay and docked. The jet extinguished and we were left in silence again.

We walked out into the atrium and she headed back into the lab section. A few minutes later, she came back with saddlebags on. They weren’t very full. Seeing the confused look on my face, she said “I usually travel light. I only have a few personal belongings. I did grab my supply caches on the way back.”

“OK, let’s go.” I led the way up the stairs that led to the entry room. When we got there, it appeared that the scavenging team had sealed the door behind them. What I didn’t expect to see were several trails of blood that led towards the utility section. I felt bad for Prickly Pear. Something obviously bad went down in the utility section.

I went to the main door control panel and keyed in the sequence that would open the door. The buzzing of the warning system and the yellow strobe light activated. With loud grinding and squealing, the large gear door moved inward and then rolled to the side. I started walking out of the stable.

“W..w...wait. I can’t do this. I can’t leave.” Silver cried out nearly in tears.

“Silver, I can’t stay. There is too much I have to do and we’ve already been down here long enough.” I took several steps into the cavern beyond the door. “Are you coming with me or not?”

She took several steps towards the door and froze at the threshold. She raised and lowered one of her hooves several times. She blurted out, “Sorry, I just can’t!” and she jumped over to the control panel. The klaxons and strobe reactivated as the door began the close itself.

“Thanks for your help in there and if you change your mind, find me in Coltington!” I yelled out as the door squealed shut.

I sighed, feeling bad for her. I can only imagine what she went through and what she thought was waiting for her out here. Then again, I guess I was in the same boat. Who knew what was wrong with Muddy or if he had flipped again while I had been stuck in the stable.

Puzzling over what could be so scary to her, I worked my way out of the cavern and through the makeshift door at the entrance. When I swung the door open, daylight, as it was, flooded the cavern and overloaded my eyesight. My first few breaths of "fresh air" were a small comfort after being cooped up in the derelict stable. Based on the light, it must have been close to noon. Things were always a little brighter at midday.

As I walked back to Coltington, I couldn’t help but to think of Silver. I was worried about her surviving in the stable and its malfunctioning systems, sure, but she had lasted so far, and she would again. I was more concerned with what made it seem like a good idea to stay in the stable instead of the Wasteland. The Wasteland was no walk in the park, but it had to be better than a dark, stuffy stable. Or was that just the pegasus in me talking.

The outline of Coltington slowly grew on the horizon and washed me with a sense of relief wash over me. I never thought I’d think of this place as home, but I was comforted just by the sight of it. Picking up my pace a little, I felt some pains, and the robots advice came back to me. Take it easy, Dust. I slowed back down to a slow walk. All I wanted was to sleep tonight in my own bed.

I got to the outskirts of town and looked for the security patrol. At first, the lack of a security patrol was a little discomforting, but maybe Muddy ran off and they were down a pony. I didn’t dwell on it long. Home was just too much of a draw. I rounded one of the first corners in town and saw Brown Root.

“Hey Brownie! Brownie! Over here, it’s me, Dust!” I yelled out. Brown looked over his shoulder and his eyes opened wide. He then took off at a gallop across town. Something else that seemed weird. Maybe he was just running off the get the rest of my friends. But then why not talk to me first? Again, I shrugged it off.

I rounded the last corner near my house and saw the little shack I have called home for the last year. A odd mixture of rage andcalm fell over me. “Alright asshole, now it’s time to get yours,” I thought to myself as I drew my knife. I’m coming, Muddy. Remembering to be careful, because who knew what Muddy was up to, I slowed my gait and quietlymade my way to the shack. We had covered the windows over, so I knew looking in wouldn’t do me any good, but I could listen. I stopped at each window and strained to listen for any noise within. When I was convinced, and disappointed, that Muddy was not waiting inside for me, I made my way to the front door.

I twisted the handle and pushed the door inward. There was a little resistance and then a tiny “ping”. The sound was oddly like the one the spoon of a grenade made when it detached from the grenade itself. Wait, did I say grenade? It was then I saw it at the base of the door and it was indeed armed. I turned as fast as I could and galloped as fast as I could.

Unfortunately, my delayed reaction caught up with me. I felt the shockwave from the grenade lift me off my feet and propel me through the air. Small impacts peppered my barding and elicited several sharp stinging pains from my hindquarters. The air around me heated up as the explosion from the grenade threw off its heat.

Now, normally, I would begin to fly to control my descent, but my wings were still injured and contained within the armor. Who in their right mind in Enclave R&D came up with the idea of binding our wings again? I wanted to walk up to that egghead and buck him, hard. In this situation, the only thing to do would be to tuck and roll.

I fell back to the ground, making sure to twist and land on my left side. The force made me slide several feet on the dirt until I came to a sudden stop. I kicked up a dust cloud (I know, right?) and began to cough as my lungs were assaulted with dirt and then smoke. I began to cough and spit out whatever dirt I could. Smoking pieces of debris fell down to the Earth like small comets. I was pelted by a few pieces and knew I was getting burned by some of the pieces that hit my bare skin.

After my coughing subsided, I closed my eyes and just breathed to get everything back under control. I muttered, “Fuck you Muddy, you got me again. Fuck you very much.” After several breaths, I heard the distinctive “clack-clack” of a shotgun being cocked. I opened my eyes and saw the ends of the barrels of a double barrel shotgun spinning with the world around it. At the other end of the shotgun I could barely make out Last Stand. He had murder in his eyes.

“Hello Dust Cloud. Or should I just call you Thief?” he growled.

Well, shit. It was then that I passed out, yet again.

Level Up!
Stats: Medicine 35
Perk Obtained: Painkiller: You have an increased resistance to Med-X addiction. You can now take twice as many Med-X doses in a 24-hour period without feeling any effects of addiction. However, any addiction as a result of Med-X overdose will last twice as long.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to those of you who gave me some constructive criticism. Hopefully, I've address a lot of the concerns that were raised.