“Silver, wake up! Please?” I cried out while I shook her limp body. I spent several minutes standing over her pleading for her to recover. She wasn’t responding to any of it!.

“Silver, please…. wake up!” She saved my life once, I had to do the same for her.

I grabbed a healing potion from my bag and poured the purple liquid into her mouth. It ran out of the corners of her mouth, dripping to the ground beneath her and was absorbed by the earth below

“Shit, no.. c’mon.. think, Dust, think…” I had to do something. My training slowly started to kick in. Leaning near her snout, I placed my cheek near her nostrils. She was still alive!

“Oh Silver, what have I done?” And where the hell were Flower and Brownie?

Continuing to follow my first aid training, I checked Silver over for any injuries. The only visible injury was a small gash and large lump on the side of her head. That must have been where her head hit the rockslide. Hopefully she was just knocked unconscious.

I heard two voices in the distance. It was hard to make them out, but it was a male and a female. I sure hope that it was Flower and Brownie. If it was, say, raiders, I was probably dead, or worse. I saw the familiar brown and yellow bodies of my friends come around the ridge we had set up camp beneath.

They both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw me cradling Silver’s body on the ground. “Um, Dust, what happened here?” Brown asked.

“Where the fuck did you two go?” I spit out angrily.

“Brownie and I were checking out some lights we saw passing by a little distance away. Silver was awake and said she could watch things while we checked it out.” Flower explained.

I smacked my hoof against my head. “So you leave the camp without telling me?”

“In all fairness, Dust, we did try to wake ya. Ya sleep as if yer in a coma. Silver said she’d be OK and we weren’t gonna be gone long.” Brownie said, with a tinge of remorse in his voice.

“Well, while you two were gone, we were attacked by that.. thing,” I threw a hoof out to my side in the direction of the radhog corpse. “I had to fight that by myself. And then we collided with her! And then she got thrown to the side! Next thing I know, there she is.” I hastily point at her. “She almost died! And none of this would have happened if you guys were fucking here!” Brownie trotted over and knelt down next to Silver. I saw him begin a cursory examination of Silver. Flower put her leg around my shoulder and led me away. “Dust, come with me, NOW!” Flower basically dragged me away from Silver and Brownie.

“Get your damned hooves off of me! I need to be there with her! I need to fix this. This whole situation is fucked up and I’m sitting here doing nothing! LET GO OF ME!”

She smacked me across the face. “Dust. Calm. Down. Now. Or else I’m gonna smack ya again.” The surprise of the hit shook me out of my rant. “It’s OK Dust, I get it. But ya have ta calm down. We’re only a day outta Coltington and yer already throwin’ yer bit. I have bad news fer ya. Someone was bound ta get hurt… it’s the way it is out here.”

“But it shouldn’t have been her! It should have been me! Or, Celestia forbid, you or Brownie! But not Silver! She doesn’t deserve this!”

Flower smacked me again. “Dust, I swear. Don’t make me knock ya out.” She placed her hooves on my shoulders and looked me right in the eyes. “Calm down. People get hurt out here all the time. It...happens… All we can do is hope she gets better. Besides, if this were me or Brownie, would ya be this mad?”

“Of course I would!”

“Bullshit. And both you and I know it. And, who are ya really mad at? Me and Brownie, or yourself?”

“That’s a stupid fucking question! Why would I be mad at myself?”

“Because she got hurt under yer watch. You feel that ya failed her and couldn’t repay her fer saving you.” She punctuated that last point by touching my chest with one of her hooves. “Besides, I know what this is all really about.”

“Yeah, and what is that?” I said mockingly.

I saw a wicked grin appear on Flower’s face. Oh no. She then started singing, “Dust and Silver, sitting in a tree. K, I, S, S, I, N, G…”

I felt a dull heat in my cheeks. “Flower.. please stop…” I squeaked. But her accusation derailed my thinking. Could this really all be because I liked her? Would I have treated Flower or Brownie differently? Flower must have seen a change in my posture.

She gave me a little hug. “Alright, alright Dust. Let’s go see what Brownie has ta say.”

We made our way back to where Brownie was still laying next to Silver. He was checking her head out rather closely. I cleared my throat. “So, Brownie, um, sorry about before. Um, what do you think?”

“First of all, it’s okay Dust… ah forgive ya. And ad far as ah can tell, she is simply knocked out. She took a nasty blow ta the head. It should be just a matter a’ time. Although, ah’d really like ta get her to a doctor.”

“Brownie, you used to travel with caravans. Are there any towns near here closer than Coltington?”

“Well, there is a small village called Dirtpatch a coupla hours ta the east. The only problem is they don’t have their own doctor. They rely on the services of a traveling surgeon, so she may not even be there when we get there.”

I nodded, “I understand. I think that’s our best option. Worst case, at least we get somewhere inside for her to recuperate.”

“Alright, but we should wait here til mornin. Don’t want to run across any of the larger creepy-crawlies that are out there.”

“Agreed.” I looked at Silver. “I’ll take watch. I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much.”

The next few hours passed slowly. I leaned up against the rock slide and rested Silver’s head on my legs. Every time I felt a twitch, I would quickly look at Silver waiting for her to say something or move, but I must have imagined it.

Daylight came not soon enough. I gently nudged Flower and Brownie awake and we broke camp. Brownie led the way east, as I eased Silver’s weight onto my back and started carrying her. Both of my friends offered to help, but it was my mistake that caused this, and I would be the one paying for it.

After about what felt like noon, I saw the outline of a small town appear. Dirtpatch was an appropriate name. It was a hoofful of shacks in the middle of a large, brown plain. There weren’t even any dead trees or dried out grass. Hell, there weren’t even any stones. Just the town in a sea of brown dirt.

As we kept walking, I noticed that we didn’t see any movement from within the town. “Uh, Brownie, you did say that this town was occupied, right?”

“Eeyup I did. Last time through here there were about two dozen ponies around.”

Well, then they left and left in a hurry. There were still clothes hanging on clotheslines and doors left wide open. But the town still looked lived in. It was a discomforting incongruity.

We decided to split up and check things out. Brownie gently removed Silver from my back and laid her down on the ground. He was going to stay with her. Flower and I would search for signs of anypony.

I carefully made my way towards one of the cookie-cutter buildings. Sporting typical Wasteland-motif (rusted corrugated metal and aged wood), I peered through the windows. The table was still set for a small meal. Foal’s toys were still laying on the ground in another room . I went back to the front door. It was ajar, so I pushed it open with my foreleg. “Hello? Anypony home?” No response.

I searched through the entire house and found nothing that would indicate the fate of these ponies. As I was walking through the living area, I stepped on a carpet and the floor sank a little. Looking down at the floor, I started hopping on my hooves and saw the floorboards warp under my weight. I leaned down close to the floor and peered through the floorboards. Instead of dirt or stone, I saw the top of a staircase.

I walked back out of the house. “Brownie? Flower? I think I found something.” I heard Flower scream from one of the other buildings in the town. I galloped to her as fast as I could. I got near to where I heard the scream but couldn’t tell which one of the houses it came from. “Flower? Where are you? You OK?”

“Yeah Dust… I’m good. I’m in the house on the left.”

I walked into the house and saw Flower was stuck in a hole in the floor. “What the hell happened?”

“Not much, just walking along and suddenly the floor beneath me gives way. Can ya help me out now?”

I giggled a little. “Sure thing.” I walked over and grabbed the back of her armor with my mouth and pulled. She pushed with her free hooves and we eventually got her out.

“Thanks, Dust… now, what the hell happened?”

I looked into the hole we just pulled her out of. I saw several steps, just like in the other house. “Looks like you fell through a hatch leading to a basement.”

“Basement? In a house in the Wasteland? Ain’t never heard of that before,” she said with a quizzical look on her face.

“Shall we?” I asked as I nodded towards the stairs.

“We shall.” I pulled the remains of the cover off and started down the stairs. At the bottom, it was starting to get dark, so I activated my Pipbuck’s light. It cast a dim green glow on the walls around me. What it revealed was a small room, big enough for several ponies. There was no furniture or anything else to speak of, just a small closet essentially.

“Weeeeeird.” Flower said under her breath. “Why would they build somethin like this?”

“I dunno, but there was another one in the house I was in, let’s go check that one out.”

We made our way back to first house I was in and back to the floorboards I had discovered before. Moving everything well away from the area, I saw the square shaped cover that was hiding the staircase. Flower helped me remove it.

I drew my shotgun and mumbled between my clenched jaw, “Cover me.” I heard her draw her pistol from its holster.

I started walking down the staircase. Again, my Pipbuck casting a gentle green glow around me. I quickly glanced at the EFS and saw a couple of green markers, but not knowing the layout of the town, they could have just as easily had been Brownie and Silver. At the bottom of the staircase I felt something cold press up against the back of my head. I froze.

“D-d-d-drop your weapons and MAYBE we won’t kill you, b-b-b-b-both of you,” a shaky male voice said.

“Fuck!” Flower mumbled under her breath. “Dust, don’t move. There was a small alcove right next to the stairs.”

A nervous-sounding female voice said, “Uh, Tiller, I don’t think these ponies are the raiders.”

I felt the pressure against the back of my head slacken a little. “I d-d-d-don’t know…

I holstered my shotgun, “Flower, you too.” I saw her hesitate, but she ultimately returned the pistol to its holster. “Listen, my name is Dust Cloud, my associate up there is Wilted Flower. We don’t mean anypony any harm.”

The male voice was still shaking. “Yeah, that’s what s-s-s-s-slavers say right before they throw them collars on you.”

“We only came into town looking for help for one of our group. She needs to see a doctor. She’s outside with the last member of our group. It’s only the four of us.”

“Let’s see if you’re t-t-t-t-telling the truth. Slowly go back up the stairs. And you, Flower was it? G-g-g-get at the top of the stairs where I can see ya.” I could hear the terror in his voice. Once we were at the top, he called out, “P-P-P-P-Planter, cover me.” I heard more hoofsteps behind us. “N-n-n-now, slowly, bring us to the rest of your group.”

Flower gave me a worried look, but I nodded my head. We had to get them to trust us and I didn’t want to do anything stupid. Whatever happened here already had these ponies on edge. We slowly walked our way back out of the house and toward Brownie and Silver.

Brownie saw us first. “Dust, Flower… good, ah was gettin worried… what’s wrong?” He must have seen our new acquaintances since he levitated his machine pistols out of their holsters. “Let mah friends go and no one gets hurt.”

“Brownie… put your guns away… these are the townsponies. They think we’re raiders or slavers.” I nodded at Brownie.

He hesitated. “Ah sure hope ya know what yer doin.” He floated his weapons back into their holsters.

I stopped walking and turned my head towards the light green earth pony who I assumed was Tiller. “See, just the four of us. Our wounded pony is named Silver. She’s over there on the ground.”

“Y-y-y-you could all be putting on a big act…” Tiller started to say.

The other pony who was escorting us, Planter I assumed, spoke up next. “Oh for Celestia’s sake Tiller. Put the gun away. If they were raiders or slavers, and this were all an act… well, it’s obviously too good of an act to be slavers or raiders.”

“B-b-b-b-but Planter, how do you know….. OW!” Planter had smacked Tiller upside the back of the head with her hoof.

“Tiller, I love you, but you can be so stupid sometimes.” She turned and looked towards us. “Sorry ponies, we didn’t mean to scare you. We’re all just a little jumpy around here.” She turned towards the rest of the town and yelled out, “It’s OK everypony! They’re friendly.”

Slowly, I saw faces start to appear in windows. All the ponies were armed and all of them seemed uneasy. Fortunately, my EFS was filled with green markers.

“I’m so sorry about before. Let’s do this right… My name is Planter, and that blockheaded pony over there is my husband, Tiller.” She held out a dark brown hoof. “Pleased to meet ya!”

I shook her hoof. “Likewise. I would introduce ourselves, but you kinda know our names already. I hate to be so abrupt, but do you have a doctor in town? We need to get our injured pony looked at, she’s been unconscious since last night.”

She followed me over towards Brownie and Silver. I heard her steps slow as we got closer. “A pegasus? You’re traveling with a pegasus?”

“She’s mudborn… not Enclave.” I don’t know why I got so defensive. Oh yeah, that would be since I am Enclave hiding amongst groundpounders.

Planter gave a slight pause and a weird look. Then she said, “It’s not that, we just don’t see them around here that much. I wish we could help, but our doctor is, um, missing?”

I looked at Planter and rose an eyebrow. “Missing?”

“That’s the reason everyone is so jumpy. The doc was foalnapped when she got to town the other day.”

“Who foalnapped her?”

She sighed. “It was three ponies we had never seen before. They came strolling into town and insisting they needed medical attention. The doc looked them over and said they were fine, but they insisted she needed to go with them. When she refused, one of them picked her up and carried her away. When we fired on them to save her, they fired back and killed several of us. We saw the three of you coming, we assumed it was them again and hid.”

I realized that we’d be the ones to have to save the doc. I sighed, “Which direction did they take her?” Why did I get the feeling that this day was going to suck?

Planter pointed towards a mountain range to the east. “They headed that way. Only problem is that I am unaware of anything in that direction.”

“Great, so now it’s a game of hide and seek too. Ugh. Brownie… mind staying here to keep on eye on Silver?” Brownie nodded in response.

Planter spoke up. “We can give you a bed to rest her on instead of the ground. Follow me.” Brownie hefted Silver’s weight onto his back and followed Planter towards the empty house we were in before.

I turned towards Flower, “Let’s get this over with.”

After about an hour’s walk, we found ourselves at the base of the mountains Planter had pointed us towards.

“Now to find where they could be hiding in this mountain range. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?” I grunted my aggravation. I gestured in the two directions in which the mountains extended. “North or south?”

Flower nodded towards the North and so we went. I didn’t really have a plan in mind, just hoping we got lucky.

Flower nudged my shoulder. “Can I ask you a question?”

“You’ve never asked permission before. What’s up?”

“Well,” she hesitated. “Something you said back in town is bothering me. You referred to Silver as ‘mudborn’.”

“Yeah, what’s so weird about…oh.” Oh crap! Mudborn is a term usually used by Enclavers, not Wastelanders. And not in a nice way. It slipped.

“Yeah, that. I haven’t heard that term used except by Dashites. And all Dashites are former Enclave. Do I need to connect the dots here?”

I stopped in my tracks. Flower turned to face me. “Flower, c’mon, don’t be ridiculous. I must have heard the term used by Dashites also. Where else would I have gotten it from? Besides, I’m not a pegasus.”

“Pinkie promise.”

“What?”

She had a all-business look on her face. “Pinkie promise that you are not Enclave, former or current.”

“Seriously? What are we, foals?” I heard my voice cracking I was so incredulous.

“Seriously. No one can break a Pinkie promise.”

Stupid superstitious nonsense. “Cross my heart…” I was snapped out of my “solemn” oath when I saw a puff of dirt jump up at my hooves. It was followed shortly afterwards by the loud crack of a rifle. “Sniper!”

There was little cover where we were. It was wide open space which butted right against the sheer face of the base of the mountain we were near. “Flower, there’s no cover! Keep moving!”

I started zig-zagging towards the source of the rifle fire. I was banking on the fact that since the sniper missed on a stationary target, that a moving target would prove to be impossible for him or her to hit. I heard three more cracks of the rifle, but did not feel any impacts or see any evidence of the bullets hitting anywhere nearby. I did hear Flowers hooves thundering along the ground behind me, so I assumed she was unharmed as well.

After a little running, I finally saw a red marker appear in my EFS. “Flower, hostile to our 11 o’clock.” I glanced in that direction and saw only more sheer rock face. Where the fuck was he hiding?

I kept running, our saving grace being that the sniper was obviously not a markspony. Not only did it take a while for them to reload, but they couldn’t hit a moving target. The reports of the rifle became louder as time went on. Pretty soon we’d be right on top of them and they probably wouldn’t miss at that range.

I glanced towards what we believed was the source again, according to EFS, and I saw the muzzle flash. They were tucked in behind a small rock pile that had formed at the base of the mountain.

I said, nearly out of breath, “Think you can keep firing at him and keep him under cover? I am going to try to get there before he gets brave enough to pick his head up.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard. But why not kill him?”

“We may need him to tell us where the Doc was taken!”

“Alright. One more question. Why do you assume it’s a stallion and not a mare?” she snickered.

“Flower, really? Busting chops now?”

“A mare’s gotta do what a mare’s gotta do,” she grinned.

She stopped running and drew her sniper rifle all in one swift move. She dropped to the ground and took up a firing position. I heard the first report from her rifle like a cannon shot. I saw it impact the rock pile I had designated.

I maneuvered so that I was never in her line of fire. She fired off a new shot every few seconds. I could only guess she was waiting to see a head start to appear and then she’d fire to persuade the pony back into hiding. As I got closer to the rock pile, I drew my shotgun. I rounded the corner around the rock pile. Through my clenched teeth I mumbled , “Drop the fucking weapon!”

The small, green unicorn with the sniper rifle immediately appeared surprised and terrified at the same time. “Please don’t kill me! Please!” The sniper rifle clattered to the ground as his magical field collapsed and I saw the ground underneath the pony turn dark with moisture. I smelled the unmistakable odor of urine. The marker on my EFS also shifted from red to green.

“Who are you? And what are you doing here?” I demanded.

“Please don’t kill me. I’m sorry I shot at you. I was protecting my family. Daddy said outsiders are dangerous” He had hidden his face under his hooves.

This was going to take some tact. “Shhhh… it’s OK. No one is going to get hurt.” I glanced over my shoulder and saw Flower closing in, scanning the mountainside with the scope on her rifle. “My name is Dust Cloud. Who are you?” I extended a hoof.

He backed away from me as fast and as far as he could. “No… please don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt daddy.”

“Can I talk to dad?”

“No… I shouldn’t even be talking to you. I was told not to talk to strangers.” He started sobbing.

“What the hell is his story?” Flower mumbled as she sidled up next to me, with her rifle still drawn.

“I don’t know… but something definitely isn’t right here.” I turned back towards the crying stallion and got closer to his level. “Everything will be OK. We aren’t going to hurt you. We are here to help.”

“You’re here to help?” he said, sniffling between words, and he sniffled one more time at the end for good measure.

“Yeah, my name is Dust and hers is Flower. Who are you?”

He calmed down a little. He sniffled, and then said, My name is One.”

“Nice to meet you Juan.” What kind of name is that for a pony?

“No… not Juan.. One. O… N… E… One” He smiled, seemingly proud of himself.

“Like the number?” My head was cocked to the side in confusion.

“Yeah, my brothers are Two and Three. And then there’s dad.”

Flower giggled. “So let me get this straight, you and your brothers are named One, Two and Three?”

He seemed nonplussed by all this. “Yeah, what’s so hard to understand about that?”

Flower started to answer, but I cut her off. “Nothing, nothing at all. Can you bring us to your father? We need to see him.” I asked.

His face lit up. “Sure thing! You said you’re here to help Dad!”

Flower leaned in close to me and whispered. “You sure this is a good idea? This kid seems loco in the coco.”

I glanced back at One as he skipped away from us. “Good idea? No. Bad idea? I don’t think so. I don’t think he fully realizes what’s going on. He acts like a colt. Let’s see where he brings us and let’s talk to his father.”

We trotted after One as he skipped along and hummed a tune to himself. Wherever he was leading us, he was sure about it as he never veered from his path. He led us into a very well hidden crevice between two large boulders and we were at a metal door. He picked up a hoof and then quickly put it down and looked at us.

“You have to cover your eyes. I’m not s’posed to show this secret knock to anyone.” Flower and I looked at each other, stifling laughter. “I mean it guys. You hafta cover your eyes!”

Flower and I looked at each other again and then shrugged. I took my right leg and lifted it up and placed it over my eyes. I can only imagine that Flower had done the same since I heard a rhythmic series of knocks on the door. After a short delay, I heard a deadbolt being opened on the other side of the door, followed by a slight creaking as the hinges resisted the force being applied to them.

“OK! You can look now!” I took my leg off my face and saw that One was absolutely beaming.

“One, you shouldn’t be back… wait a minute, who are they?” Another green unicorn was standing on the other side of the door. He looked exactly like One.

“Two, don’t worry. They’re good ponies! I shot at them and they forgave me and didn’t try to hurt me! They even say they’re here to help Dad!”

“But One, you know Dad said not to trust strangers… and these are strangers. ‘Sides, we already brought that other pony back to help Dad.”

“Yeah, but you can never have too much help, right?”

“But Dad said not to trust strangers! Remember what happened when that other bad pony tried to give us something?”

“I know, but these seem like better ponies.”

“You don’t know anything, One.”

“I do too! I know lots.”

“Nuh-uh. You’re a dummy!”

“No, you’re a dummy!”

“No you are!”

I was about to start screaming at them when I heard a third voice. “Stop it you two! Dad’s asleep!” The new pony was another green unicorn, again looking exactly like One and Two. He turned towards us. His eyes opened wide and his mouth dropped open. He started screaming, “Stranger Danger! Stranger Danger!”

One’s and Two’s heads snapped right towards the new addition. “Three! Shhhhhhhh! Dad’s sleeping!” they said together.

I was starting to get a headache. I clamped my hooves against the sides of my head.

One looked at me. “What’s wrong Dust? Trying to crush your own head? Wouldn’t that hurt?” I heard Flower snicker behind me. I groaned. He continued, “Arn’t you gonna come in Mr. Dust? You said you needed to talk to Dad.”

We slowly made our way inside the room. Once we were fully inside, Two slammed the door behind us with a deafening “clang”!

Two and Three started dancing in place and chanting, “We got Daddy more help! We got Daddy more help!”

A new voice joined the cacophony. This time, it was a female voice. Walking into the room behind the door was a older, female unicorn. She wore a white shirt, which was covered with bloodstains, both old and new. Her cream colored coat and golden mane were nearly impeccably cared for.

She glared at the three stallions and scolded them, “If you three can’t keep quiet, you’re going to wake your dad up. And he needs his rest!”

The three stallions said in unison, “Sorry, Doctor Mender.”

Finally noticing our presence, she sighed and asked, “And who do we have here?”

“My name is Dust Cloud, Doc.” With a nod towards Flower, I added, “And this is my friend Wilted Flower. We’ve been looking for you. We have a friend back in Dirtpatch who needs help.”

“Pleasure to meet ya Dust. I’d be more than glad to help you, but my services are, um, required here.” The emphasis she put on the word “required” was odd. “I’m afraid I can’t leave.”

“Doc, one of my friends…”

Flower interrupted, “Very special somepony.”

I cleared my throat and resumed, “My friend is seriously hurt. We need you to look at her.”

She sighed again, “I don’t think you understand. I can not leave. The boys won’t let me.”

I heard the telltale sound of a shotgun being racked behind me. Two had levitated one out from somewhere and had it trained on me. “No one leaves until Daddy is better!”

I facehoofed myself. “I am not a smart pony.”

Three had levitated a dead pony’s switch. “And if anyone tries to hurt us… BOOM!”

Doctor Mender sighed, “Sorry, Dust. Looks like you’re stuck here just like I am.”

I heard a wet, wracking cough coming from another room adjoining this one. A faint voice called out, “Doc! I need your help.”

The doctor excused herself and I followed. Two and Three kept a watchful eye on me. One had sat down in one corner of the room, sulking.

I followed the Doc into a small adjoining room. In it, there was a bed with a pony laying in it under some sheets. I smelled antiseptic. The doc must have been working a lot in here. The pony was an elderly pony with a wrinkled dark blue coat and light blue mane. I noticed that the sheets right near his head were blood spattered.

“Foggy, what’s wrong?” the doc asked.

“Not much, I’m just fucking dying.” He broke out into a coughing fit again. “And who the hell are you?” He eyed me up and down and raised one eyebrow at me.

“My names Dust Cloud. Your boys out there seem to have foalnapped me.”

“Ugh, those fucking dumbasses… they don’t share a brain between them.” He rolled his eyes. “I have to apologize to you. They aren’t too bright, but I assume you already learned this. They think they’re helping me to live. What they don’t know is I’m already dead.”

I looked at the doc and she nodded. “It’s a combination of old age and balefire radiation poisoning.”

“Don’t you have any Radaway?” I asked.

Foggy simply shook his head. “That isn’t the problem. It was a long term injury from exposure when I was younger. It wasn’t treated back then and it’s too late to do anything about it now.”

The doctor simply nodded. “The best I can do for him is make him comfortable. It’s simply a matter of time.”

Foggy coughed up some more blood. “Doc, can I have some time alone with Dust here?”

“Sure thing Foggy.” The doc looked defeated. It had to suck to be a doctor knowing there was nothing you could do for a patient. She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

“So, what’s your rank, soldier?” Foggy asked with a knowing look on his face.

“What? Rank?” I did my best to feign ignorance.

“Please… don’t fuck around with a dying pony. I don’t have the time.” He lowered the sheet he had on exposing a pair of wings. “I know an Enclave soldier when I see one. I used to be Enclave. Besides, who do you think designed that armor you’re wearing right now.”

“I, uh, um…” I was trying to think of a lie I could tell. I couldn’t think of one. “Private. Well, formerly Private. Special Operations.”

Foggy sighed. “When I was in the Enclave many years ago, I was in R&D. We designed that armor you’re wearing for recon teams scouting out griffon operations during the war.”

“So, what’s an R&D egghead doing down here in the Wasteland?”

“I decided to follow Dr. Sunlight to do some experiments. He was looking into ways of reclaiming the irradiated soil in order to grow crops down here again. We were hoping to augment the cloud crops. We needed more food… our population was stagnating. I thought we had the blessing of the Council to come down. We didn’t; Sunlight lied to me. He was rogue. We were marked as contaminated and expelled.” More coughing, more blood.

“I’m sorry… that sucks.” I lowered my head in a gesture of empathy.

“Heh, at least they didn’t clip our wings off.. that would have really sucked.’ Foggy coughed up even more bloody phlegm.

“What’s your research specialty?” I inquired.

“Cloning and genetic manipulation. I was supposed to create hardy strains of seeds that would thrive in the harsh conditions down here, even after cleaning the soil and water.”

“Cloning? Wait a minute… does this explain why One, Two and Three…”

He interrupted me, “Yes, they are clones. Dr. Sunlight and I got into a huge argument after the Enclave booted us. He wanted to try to access the SPP towers. He took off and left me here to fend for myself. I continued my research and even found a unicorn that was interested in my work. His name was Sprout. We had made a lot of progress, gifted was that one… until the raiders came.” I knew that any story involving raiders was not going to end well. “We managed to fend them off, but not before they severely injured Sprout. I used some of his genetic material to make clones. One, Two, and Three are the result.” He doubled over in a hacking cough. I thought he was going to cough up a lung.

“Umm, Doc, not to be insensitive, but is the cloning process not perfect? I mean, does that explain their, um, odd behavior?”

“You can come right out and say it, son. They’re not right in the head. And yes, the process was still a work in progress, but I felt guilty for not being able to save Sprout. And now we’re all prisoners here. Me, by my ailing body, and you all by my failed work.” He sounded defeated in that last statement.

“Can’t you tell them what to do? Won’t they listen?”

“They used to… but now, they see me dyin’ and they are doing all they can to save me. Poetic, that. I couldn’t save Sprout and now his progeny are trying to save me. One has the most sense of any of them, but even he is singularly focused on saving me.” He hesitated and took a deep breath. “Dust, if you want to get anyone out of here soon, you’re going to have to make a choice. You’re either going to have to kill me, or kill One, Two and Three.”

It felt like I got punched in the stomach. “N..no… I’m not a murderer. I can’t kill a pony in cold blood.”

“Listen up soldier.” More coughing and blood. “Sometimes you have to do something for the greater good. None of you are making it out as long as either I or the three clones are alive. My time is almost up, but the doc says it could be days or even weeks…”

“NO!” I shouted. I didn’t even realize I was basically growling through clenched teeth.

“Listen Private! What branch were you in before?”

My mind was numb. “Transport.”

“I figured… it seemed as if you never saw any combat. Son, casualties are unavoidable. Sometimes, you have to do stuff you’re not happy about. Sometimes, it’s necessary.”

Doc Mender opened the door. “I heard yelling, is everything OK?”

Foggy nodded. “Yeah, Dust and I are just having a debate about Wasteland ethics. It got a little heated, we’re OK.”

Doc looked at me and seemed unsure. “OK.. but try to take it easy… last thing you need is stress.” She backed out of the room, giving me one last, long glance before closing the door.

“Foggy, no.. I will not kill you. And I can’t kill the clones. There has to be another way.” I walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind me.

Before it closed fully, Foggy called out, “You’ll see I’m right.”

Back out in the entry room, Two was still guarding the door and Three still had the detonator in his magical grip. One was still in the corner. Doctor Mender was sitting next to Flower, cautiously eying the clones.

I trotted over to them and sat down near them. “Doc, is there anything that can be done for Foggy?”

“No, unfortunately. The only thing that could possibly help is getting him to Tenpony Tower. Rumor has it that there are unicorns there that are highly skilled in healing magic, but he’d never survive the trip.”

“Shit.”

Doctor Mender gave me a stern look. “Dust, what did you two really fight about in there?”

“Foggy basically gave me an ultimatum. He said we’d either have to kill him, or the clones, or wait for him to die.”

The doctor gasped. Flower simply looked at me. “Dust, ya told him ya couldn’t kill him, right?”

I nodded, “That’s what I was yelling about. I told him I couldn’t do it. But that means we’re stuck here until Foggy passes on his own and who knows how long it will be? And does Silver even have that much time?”

Doctor Mender looked at me. “What is the problem with your friend?”

“She took a blow to the head. She’s been unconscious since late last night.”

Doctor Mender frowned. “Head trauma… could be nothing, could be something serious. I’d need to see her before I know for sure.”

“I know… thanks, Doc.” I got up and walked over to One, who was still sitting in the corner. I sat down next to him and waited for him to acknowledge me.

“Mister Dust, I’m sorry I got you into this mess.” I noticed tears were working their way down his face. He must have been crying a while.

“One, it’s OK… I know you were just trying to help Dad.” I sighed. “You know he’s very sick, don’t you?”

“Uh huh… Doctor Mender told us. Two and Three don’t believe her. But I see it, Mister Dust. Daddy is coughing up blood.” He sobbed softly.

I put a leg around his shoulder. “I know One… I know. I saw it too… he isn’t good.”

“Mister Dust, what will we do without him? What happens when he goes away?”

“I don’t know for sure. You can stay here if you want. You guys have done well so far.”

“Yeah, but Daddy always told us what to do. With him gone, we won’t know how to do anything.” He started crying louder.

“Shhhh… One… shhhh….it’ll be OK. Remember the town you guys met the Doctor in? Dirtpatch?”

His face lit up a little. “Yeah! That’s where we met all those nice ponies, until they started yelling at us. I don’t know why they did that though….”

“You guys scared them is all. They thought you were hurting the Doctor.”

“Oh no! I hafta tell them I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone! I just wanted to ask the doctor what we could do. Two and Three were the ones who wanted to bring her back. They told me to show her the way. Then, later, I saw you and thought you could convince them to let her go, but now they have you too.” He looked towards the door, still sobbing. “Oh, Two and Three won’t let me go, either. They say that we need to hold everyone here until the Doctor heals daddy.”

“One… I have a really good friend back in that town. She got really badly hurt last night and needs to see a doctor. I’m afraid that if she doesn’t get help, she may die. Is there anything we can do to convince your brother to let us all go?

“Mister Dust, I’ve been trying to talk em into letting the Doctor go home ever since she said Daddy was really sick. But they think she is hiding something. I know she needs to help the other ponies out there, but Two and Three won’t listen.” He put his head back down on his legs and sobbed more.

I sighed. How was I going to broach this topic with him without freaking him out. “One, what kind of chores does Daddy have you do?”

“Oh, nothing fun! I hafta clean the house and I cook. Oh! I used to help Daddy clean up around outside too, when he was feeling better.”

“What kind of stuff did you have to clean up?”

“Lotsa stuff! Mostly it was garbage, sometimes it was dead animals.”

“Dead animals?”

“Yeah, Daddy would have to shoot them sometimes. Sometimes they would attack us and he’d shoot them, and one time, there was one that must have lost a fight and was making weird sounds laying on the ground. Daddy had to shoot that one too. He said it was in a lot of pain and we would be doing it a favor. That made me sad.” He frowned when he said that.

“One, do you think you could ever do something like that?”

“No.. never Mister Dust! I don’t want to hurt anything!”

“What if the animal asked you to do it?”

“Mister Dust… don’t be silly… animals can’t talk.” He giggled a little.

“I know One, I know. But what if it could, what if it asked you to end the pain and to kill it?”

“I don’t know Mister Dust. I guess so. I’d want to anyway. I don’t know if I could actually do it though.”

“Thanks One… I appreciated our little talk here.”

For what it was worth, the clones made sure we had something to eat. Checking my Pip-Buck, I saw that it was nighttime and we wouldn’t be leaving here tonight at any rate. The Wasteland was simply too dangerous to travel in the dark.

I overheard Two and Three talk about their plans for keeping an eye on us overnight. They had finally taken our weapons and supplies as a precaution since at least one of the brothers would have to sleep and they couldn’t take us all on individually. Then again, the only two combat capable ponies would have been myself and Flower. Doc Mender probably would have called up that Hippocratic oath nonsense and then not do anything until somepony got hurt, and that would probably be one of us.

One was still in the corner, but now he was mumbling to himself between periods of crying. One was not part of their security plans. It seemed as if they didn’t really trust him. I just hoped that our little talk earlier didn’t make his situation worse than it had been before. I felt bad for the stallion. To have a colt-like mind was one thing, but then to also be held hostage by your brothers while your father lay dying in another room. That had to be horrible.

Our little talk also had me thinking about the situation. Could I kill somepony if I really needed to? Even knowing they would die of natural causes anyway? He was in pain, that much was obvious. Talking with the doctor, I found it took every dose of Med-X she had just to keep him comfortable. But, I was no murderer. I couldn’t convince myself that killing Foggy was a moral thing to do, even in the pain he was in. After a while, my head hurt.

Not seeing any way around the situation, I decided to take advantage of the rest I could get overnight. We were, by all accounts, in a secure location, safe from the elements, with warmth and food. Except for the whole hostage thing, it was pretty nice. I drifted off to sleep, somewhat glad for the rest I was about to get.

Throughout the night, my sleep was repeatedly interrupted by three recurring nightmares. The first nightmare had me standing, bloodsoaked, over the bodies of three unicorn foals. The gun in my mouth was smoking. Flower and Doc Mender were screaming, wordlessly, at me. The second was a very similar situation, but this time I was standing over the lifeless body of an old stallion, with three colts crying in the background.

The worst was the nightmare I had of Silver. She was laid out on a slab with a shaft of light shining down on her. The grim reaper would appear next to me, point at Silver, and then start to drift towards her. I would try to run after him, try to pass him, but no matter how hard I tried or fast I ran, I never got closer. The black-robed pony would pick Silver up off the slab and slowly glide away from me.

After the sixth or seventh time being startled awake, I decided to stay awake. Glancing at my Pip-Buck, I saw it was early morning. It had now been a full day of Silver being injured. We needed to get back today and there was no way around it. Somepony was going to have to die. I quietly rose and made my way to Foggy’s room. Two or Three (I couldn’t tell them apart) was still guarding the door with the dead man’s switch. One was not in the room.

I knocked on the door, and Foggy beckoned me in with a rasping cough.

“So, you here to kill me?”

“Yes…. yes I am.” My words were heavy with regret. “I don’t want to Foggy, but I need to. And if the only choices given to me are you or the three clones, at least with you, it’s mercy. Silver needs help, the doctor is the only one who can help, and we need to get out of here.” I drew my pistol.

“No Mister Dust.” It was One. I could tell by the tear-stained face. I hadn’t seen him sitting in the corner of Foggy’s room. “You won’t be killing my daddy.”

I stammered, “O-o-one, I think you misunderstand…”

“NO! DON’T SAY IT!” he cried out. “I know what you were thinking about, and I can’t let you do it. But I know how I can get you out of here, and no one has to get hurt.”

“Wait, how? Your brothers are being very careful. And the dead-pony’s switch?”

“I have a plan, but you need to trust me. Get your group ready to go, and when I distract my brothers, go, and get as far as you can before they realize what’s going on.”

“But what makes you think they’ll leave the door unguarded?”

“Mister Dust. Please. Trust me.” His eyes were full of purpose.

“OK…. thanks One.” I placed a hoof on his shoulder. “You’re a good pony.” I turned to Foggy, “It was a pleasure meeting you, sir.”

“You lucked out today Dust. One day, you’ll have to make the hard decision. And there won’t be anypony around to bail you out.” He looked oddly upset with me.

I nodded silently and made my way out of the room. I saw One get closer to his dad. I made my way back over to Flower and Mender. I leaned in close and whispered, “Alright ponies, One will give us a distraction soon. When he does, we need to get through that door and get as far as we can.”

The two ponies nodded, but then Mender asked, “But how?”

“I don’t really know for sure. He asked me to trust him, and I am.”

I heard screaming coming from Foggy’s room. It was One. “Dad, please don’t say that! You don’t mean that!”

Foggy yelled back, “Yes I do! You are worthless! I never meant to make you!” I saw Two and Three snap their heads towards Foggy’s room. “Wait, One, put that down!” Two and Three looked at each other and trotted into Foggy’s room.

I looked at Flower and Mender. “Now! Let’s go!”

We got up, grabbed our gear the clones left near the door and trotted through the door. We got a few feet away and then I heard it. A sharp report of a pistol. It was shortly followed by the twin wailing of two voices, “Daddy! NOOO!! One, what did you do? Why?” We all looked at each other with horrified looks on our faces. What had One just done?

The voices trailed off after that as we got further away from the hideout. I screamed out to Flower and Mender, “You two keep going! Get back to Dirtpatch! Help Silver. I need to go back and see what happened!”

I turned around and started to gallop back towards the hideout. I saw a bright flash followed quickly by a loud booming sound. Then an eerie silence as a plume of smoke rose from the former location of the hideout and became a steady stream of black.

Level Up!

Stat:
Speech +10

Perk Obtained: Babysitter: You now have additional conversation options when dealing with foals (or those with a mental age of a foal)