Chapter 7 - Ramifications
“We are free to choose our paths, but we can’t choose the consequences that come with them.”

I didn’t even realize I had stopped galloping. In my shock, I hadn’t noticed that Flower and Doctor Mender had joined me. My body was numb, and I felt my stomach threatening to purge everything I had eaten recently.

Staring vacantly, Flower murmured, “Dust, do you think he…”

“Yes, Flower, yes I do.” My mind was racing with all the possibilities. “But he said no one would get hurt...” I murmured. We stood there for a while and the only sound was the light breeze blowing across the Wasteland. “I’m going to go back and see what’s left and if anyone needs help, I’ll come get you once I know it’s safe. Flower, please wait here with the Doctor.”

Separating from the group, I made my way back towards the little hideaway and got back to the two boulders that concealed the entrance. The first thing I noticed was, besides the smoke, there wasn’t any outward sign of the explosion, besides the door having been blown off its hinges and flung across the little alcove. As I got closer, I saw that some refuse from the entry room had been ejected into the little sheltered area. A stream of smoke was still slowly emanating from the empty doorway.

I walked to the doorway and peered inside. The explosives must have been just inside the door. The majority of the damage was really focused near the entry door and got more diminished as you moved away. There wasn’t a part of the room that wasn’t scarred with burn or impact marks. The smell of burnt gunpowder permeated the air. Anything that was breakable was shattered into shards of various sizes and anything flammable was still smoldering. The only good thing was that this hideout must have been a bunker of some sort since the walls showed signs of only minor damage.

I noticed that, fortunately, there was no blood or corpses in this room. None of the ponies were in here when the bombs exploded. However, it did send a chill down my spine thinking of what might have happened had we tried to escape and the clones detonated the bombs. I moved towards the room I was dreading seeing: Foggy’s room.

Being mostly undamaged except for some burn marks, the door was open at the time of the explosion. The first thing I noticed was the large puddle of blood on the floor that emanated from the green corpses. They must have been thrown by the shockwave up against the wall. Their limbs and heads were at odd angles to their torsos. Their normally green coats were pockmarked with black burn marks and red, dripping wounds. Hopefully, death was quick and painless.

I walked closer to the bed and saw what I knew I would. Foggy had been laying down just the way I remembered seeing him last. He looked oddly peaceful. Well, except for the burn marks and gunshot wounds on either side of his head. One must have done shot him, it’s the only explanation. But how could he have done this? He said he wasn’t going to hurt anypony!

A soft sobbing was coming from somewhere inside the room. I walked around the bed, and sitting on the floor, curled into a tight ball, was One. He was softly sobbing, muttering to himself, “I’m sorry Daddy. I’m sorry Two. I’m sorry Three.” I saw some singeing of the fur on his head and a few cuts, but otherwise, he was in good shape considering the size of the explosion. A combination of the door and the bed he wisely put between himself and the bombs must have saved him.

“One? Are you, um, OK?” I quietly asked. He gave no response. I spoke a little louder, “One? Hello?” Still he just quietly sobbed curled up on the floor. I reached a hoof out and rested it on his shoulder. He jumped.

“Who’s there?” A look of relief washed over his face when he saw it was me. He immediately wrapped his hooves around my neck and hugged me tightly. “Oh, Mister Dust… what have I done? Daddy is dead, my brothers are dead… what have I done….”

“Shhh… One, it’s OK… it’s OK…” I simply held onto him as long as he held on to me. It was really the only thing I could do. “One, what happened?”

“Daddy begged me to shoot him Mister Dust. That’s what Daddy and I were talking about before you came in. He said something about the, um, greater good? I didn’t want to shoot him, but he begged me Mister Dust. You have to believe me Mister Dust.” His tearful eyes were pleading.

“One, it’s OK.” I lied. It would never be OK, but I didn’t want to put that on him yet. “You did what was needed. Foggy was in a lot of pain and he realized he was causing pain to you, Doctor Mender, Flower, and me. He knew he was going to go away soon. He thought he would be helping everyone.”

Between sobs, he asked, “But how can going away help me?”

I sighed and gave him a squeeze. “Remember that greater good he mentioned?” I felt One nod. “Well, sometimes, we have to give up something so that we can help everypony else. Your father wanted to help out me and my friends by giving up what little time he had left. He never wanted to make you sad, but if it helped out more ponies, then it is hopefully worth it.”

“It still sucks.”

I couldn’t help but to laugh at that comment. “You’re right One. It does.” He let go of the embrace but sat back down on the floor. “One, what happened after we left? After Foggy was shot?”

“Oh… Well, Two and Three came in and they were mad. Daddy thought they would just give up when they saw him, but they just got mad and were yelling at me. Two even aimed his gun at me. I panicked and I used my magic to grab the detonator away from Three. Two was still yelling at me but Three was telling him not to shoot me because I had the detonator. I panicked and released the button. Then, boom.”

“Wait, you ripped the detonator out of Three’s magic?”

“Yeah Mister Dust! I’ve always been good at that kind of magic. Daddy always asked me to move around heavy things.” He didn’t realize a unicorn strong enough to rip something away from another unicorn’s magic was a rare thing. “Oh, and Mister Dust! Daddy wanted me to give this to you!” He levitated a scroll from between the mattress and the frame of the bed. “He told me not to look at it.”

I opened the scroll. In surprisingly neat handwriting, Foggy had written me a personal note.

“Ten-hut Private. If you’re reading this letter, then you took the pansy-ass way out and let somepony else do what was necessary. Soldiers need to make decisions, and decisions sometimes mean people die. The sooner you realize the that, the better off you’ll be down here. Not everyone makes it out alive.

“Most likely, One was the one who put me down. I was hoping to avoid that. He may look like a stallion, but he has the mentality of a colt. Since your weakness got him into this mess, I am telling you that it’s your responsibility now to teach him how to survive in the Wasteland. And Private, be careful. He may seem mature at times, but he is more fragile than he seems.

“Good luck.”

I put the note down and was dumbfounded. I was now One’s guardian? How the hell was I going to do that if I’m trying to track Muddy down? I couldn’t keep him safe. Hell, I’d very likely lost one pony already.

“What does it say Mister Dust?”

“It says that your dad loved you very much and wants you to be safe.”

He sniffled again and I saw his lower lip tremble a little. He was trying to be a brave little pony. “I love him too.” One slowly walked over to the bed and hugged the lifeless body of Foggy one last time.

As One was saying his goodbye, I walked out of the hideout and found Flower had moved just outside the rocky alcove. I quickly filled them in with what happened. I asked the Doctor to give One a once over just to make sure there wasn’t something wrong. She started to walk towards the hideout, but One came walking out.

“One, I am so sorry for your loss. Are you OK?” Flower asked.

“Thank you Miss Flower, and yes, I’m OK, I guess.” He was not a good liar.

Doctor Mender walked towards One. “One, I’m so sorry for all of this. Do I have your permission to check you out?” One nodded, and the Doctor’s horn and One were enveloped in a teal magical field. After several minutes, the Doc looked at me, “He’ll be OK… miraculously, his injuries are mostly superficial and minor. The worst of it is the serious case of tinnitus. His ears will be ringing for hours.”

“Thanks Doc. Doc, Flower, can you please head back to Dirtpatch. Can you please go help Silver?” I asked, with tears forming in my eyes.

Flower turned towards me. “Dust, what are you going to do?”

“One and I have some work to do.” Flower and the doctor nodded and turned towards Dirtpatch and started galloping away.

One turned to me. “What work do we need to do Mister Dust?”

I sighed. “Do you have any shovels and anything flammable?”

After taking a couple of hours to set up a small pyre and dig two graves, One levitated Foggy’s body on top of the pyre and his brothers’ bodies into the graves. I had attended many cremation rites in my time in the military anytime a soldier died or was presumed dead, or a veteran passed away. I knew most of the words that would need to be said. I lit the wood we had soaked in some machine oil we found and it went up quickly. As the body burned, I solemnly said, “From the clouds from which we were born, back to the clouds we return. May Celestia and Luna watch over Foggy as he takes his final flight.” I heard One begin to cry again. After a moment of silence, we turned to his brothers and just stood there. One tried to start a speech several times and faltered.

“I can’t make the words come out Mister Dust. I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s OK One. Just think of the good times you had together.”

I saw him smile a little after that. After a long moment, I took a shovel and began to fill in the graves. One helped out by levitating large piles of earth on top of the growing mounds. I had to hand it to the kid, his magic was strong.

“Alright One, go grab your stuff. We’re heading back to Dirtpatch.”

One looked at the mounds of earth and roaring fire one long, last time. He then trotted off to the bunker and collected what was left of his things. Afterwards, we began the walk back to Dirtpatch.

All in all, it had taken us the rest of the morning to bury One’s family and make it back to Dirtpatch. When I returned to town, it was more lively than the last time I was there. Ponies were out, taking care of the mundane activities of daily life. The town had a rather small population, even before the events of a few days ago. It was then that I realized my mistake.

An earth pony mare yelled out, “The raider’s back!” Within moments, I saw ponies from all over town emerge from their houses with weapons in hoof or held in magical fields.

I did my best to get between as many of the townsponies and One as I could. I reared up and shouted out, “Everyone stop! He wasn’t one of the ponies who did the shooting the other day! That was his brothers! Please, put the weapons down!”

“Mister Dust? Are these the ponies I hurt the other day?” One asked nervously.

“Yes One… let me talk with them. Don’t say anything unless I say to, OK?” I saw One nod. I heard a door slam open and Planter emerge from one house with a hunting rifle in his grasp. He trotted up to me. “What do you think you’re doing Dust! This is one of the ponies that attacked us the other day!”

“I know… I know he was one of them! But hear me out. I assume you already spoke with Flower and found out about what we went through! I know three ponies came to town a few days ago! I know they took the doc away by force!” When I said that, I looked back and saw One’s head drop down. “But one pony took the doc and the other two open fired, right?”

“Yes.. you’re right, but how do you know?” Planter kept nervously glancing between me and One.

“Listen to me. I’m not saying he didn’t do anything wrong. One was manipulated by his brothers. He only wanted to save his father. He thought the Doc wouldn’t have followed him back. He panicked and he made a mistake. But he wasn’t here when the killing started. That was his brothers.” My heart was pounding in my chest. I still saw a lot of angry faces around town.

“Mister Dust, I’m scared.” I hadn’t noticed that One had laid down on the ground and hid his head underneath his hooves.

“It’s alright One, I know. Just stay calm, please!” I turned my attention back to the town. “Who here hasn’t made a mistake? Who among you is completely blameless of anything?” I saw a few faces soften. “One here has made a mistake. I know that and he will freely admit to it. But he did not kill anyone here.”

I turned back towards One and said quietly to him, “One, I’m sorry I have to bring this up.” I faced the town again. “One helped us all escape, including the doctor. He killed his own brothers to do this. Those were the ponies you are angry at! Those are the ones you want dead! I know you don’t know me, and I know you don’t really have a reason to trust me, but look at what he has done. He, and he alone, is responsible for the doc coming back!”

I returned to my hooves. One had started crying again. He wailed out, “Daddy, Two, Three. I’m so sorry…”

The tension was so thick you could almost breathe it in. For several long seconds, no one moved an inch. The only sound was the light breeze whistling between cracks in the ramshackle homes and One’s sobbing. It was unsettling to say the least. Several seconds later, I heard the sound of a pistol being rendered safe. It was soon followed by the sound of several other weapons being disarmed.

Planter looked at me. “Dust, we are only trusting him because you are vouching for him. We will ask the doctor to confirm all you have said. However, if he steps out of line, we won’t hesitate to put him down.” I knew he was deadly serious.

“Thank you Planter, I appreciate it. Now, where’s Silver?’

I galloped to the house that Planter said I’d find Silver in. Carefully, I opened the door into one of the smaller houses in the town. It was a typical, one room Wasteland shack made of scrap wood and corrugated metal. Laying on the bed was the motionless, pink form of Silver. Brownie was sitting on the floor in one corner and Doctor Mender was standing next to Silver. Silver’s body and Doctor Mender’s horn were both enveloped in the same teal colored magical field I saw before.

“Hey Doc?” I asked.

Brownie looked up, “Shhhhhh… she’s workin. She’s using a healing spell ta help Silver as much as she can.”

“Did the Doc say anything?”

Brownie shook his head. “She wasn’t happy, that’s all I know. She cast a different spell earlier, shook her head and told me not ta let anyone interrupt her. That was two hours ago.”

“Oh…. Did Flower make it back here OK?”

“Yeah, Flower and the Doc got back a few hours ago. Flower brought the Doc here straight away and then stormed out. And ‘fore ya ask, I don’t know where she headed.”

“Brownie, I’m going to go find Flower… If Silver wakes up, find me immediately.”

“Eeyup.”

I trotted through town and asked everypony if they saw Flower. They all said that she was headed back towards the mountains. I cleared the outskirts of town and saw her sitting on a small rise, looking back towards the hideout. I slowly made my way up to her.

“I told ya ponies ta leave me alone.”

“Flower, it’s me,” I said softly. “Mind if I join you?”

“Knock yerself out… I’m not gonna be good company though.”

I sat down next to her, looking in the direction of the hideout.

“Flower, are you OK?”

“No, I’m not.” She paused for several seconds, then added, “Dust, how did One do it?”

“It’s complicated. First, he didn’t want to hurt anypony. He knew his brothers wouldn’t let us go as long as his father was alive. Secondly, his father asked him to do it. Foggy knew we were stuck and he knew he was out of time. He just hurried things along.”

“No, Dust… I didn’t ask why. I asked how. How could he have done that?”

I heard Flower sniffle. If sarcasm were an emotion, that would have been the only emotion I ever saw from her. Until now. The tear running down her face was shocking to me.

“I don’t know Flower… he just thought he was helping everyone.”

“Dust, what did ya say ta One when ya spoke with him?”

“Not much, I just asked him about him and his dad and he told me a story of a time they had to put down a critter that was almost dying. It was a mercy killing.”

“I wish I had his courage. He did what I wish I coulda…”

“What do you mean Flower?”

Flower sighed deeply. “My father. I wish I coulda done the same fer my father. Years ago, before ya met me, I lived with my dad. My mom had passed years earlier, fore I can remember, and it was just me and him. He was a great dad. He did everything he could ta protect me from the Wasteland and taught me how ta fend for myself. One day, our little town was attacked by raiders. It was horrible. They overran the defenders quickly and then had their way with whoever was left. I got lucky. Dad had built a safe room for me and I was able ta hide. The sounds though, still haunt me ta this day.”

I saw her involuntarily shudder. “What they did ta the ponies, I can’t even mention. After the raiders had their way and took anything of any value, I came outta hiding and found my father. He was in a bad way. He had been beaten and broken. We had no healing supplies. The only pony in our town that was medically trained had been, well, it wasn’t good.

“Dad asked me to put him out of his misery. He begged me Dust. All he wanted was an end ta the pain. And I couldn’t do it. I sat there and watched him die. He moaned fer hours Dust… and I just sat there. Watchin… and listenin…” She broke out into a full cry. I put my leg around her and just held her. She rested her head against my shoulder.

“Let it all go Flower, it’s OK.”

We sat there like that for a while.

Flower had calmed down after a while and we just sat in silence. And then I heard it. “DUST! WHERE ARE YA?” It was a deep, bellowing voice. It had to be Brownie. “THE DOC NEEDS TO TALK WITH YA!”

“Silver?” I muttered to myself. “Flower, do you mind…”

“Go ahead Dust…. I’ll be OK fer a while… go check on yer special somepony.” I let the comment go as I got up and galloped towards the house.

I made it there in record time and walked in, making sure to stay quiet. I saw Silver still lying in the bed unconscious, but the Doc was lying on the floor next to her, looking exhausted. However, she was still awake.

“Doc, what is it? What’s going on with Silver?”

“Well, I have good news and bad news,” Doctor Mender said, pausing occasionally to catch her breath. “I have never had to work so hard on a single pony in my life. You’re lucky I’m not charging you my normal rates for this, in thanks for saving my flank.”

“I appreciate it Doc… now what’s wrong with Silver?”

“I don’t know how well versed you are with medicine, but she had a hematoma. That’s bleeding on the brain. The pressure was causing problems for her. Now, the good news is that I was able to get in and fix the damage and drain the excess blood. I never had to do that level of detail work before, that’s what took so long.”

“OK, and the bad news?”

“The excess pressure was there for an extended period of time. There may be brain damage that I could not fix. The only way we’ll be able to tell is to see what happens when she wakes up. If she wakes up. “

“Oh… and, not that I don’t appreciate what you did, but is there nothing else you can do?”

“Not me, no. I am decent with medical spells, but I can’t fix everything. Bullet wounds and other fighting injuries are my specialty. Those same doctors I mentioned before in Tenpony Tower? They could probably fix her right up, but it’d be expensive and it’s a long trip.

“So we are just in a wait and see mode now then?”

“Unfortunately, that’s all I can do. And before I forget, thanks for saving me. I just hope it wasn’t in vain. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m gonna go pass out for a few days.”

The doc collected her things and made her way out of the shack. Brownie, who I didn’t even notice sitting in the corner, came over to me. “Dust, ya just gotta have faith. Ya just gotta believe she’ll be OK.”

“Thanks Brownie. And thanks for watching over her. I’ll take it from here. Why don’t you go get some real lodging and relax. You’ve earned it.”

“No problem. If ya need me, find me.”

I nodded at him. He made his way out of the house. It was now just me and Silver. I laid down on the floor next to her and simply listened to the soft sound of her shallow breathing. I just lay like that for a while and staring at her gentle face. My reverie was interrupted by a beep and a new message in my vision. “Scootaloo 1 decoded.”

I had almost forgotten about the Pipbuck on my leg. I realized I never got a chance to fully play with it and learn all that it could do. I noticed I was in something called “Stats” mode. It gave me a readout of my vitals as well as the status of the various parts of my body. I flicked a dial and now saw “Items” mode. I scrolled through, taking note of everything I had in my saddlebags. I was amazed at how much was actually able to fit in there. There was one weapon entry with which I was unfamiliar. It was simply labelled “Dash’s Lament”.

The last option was “Data”. I saw a map with some labelled locations. There was a radio option, but when I picked that, all the entries were grayed out. I assumed that meant I was out of range of any radio signals. The last option was “Notes”. I flicked over to that option. A list appeared. The first entry was the previously mentioned “Scootaloo 1”. The rest were labelled as “Encrypted”.

I flicked over to the entry. A small box and timer appeared. An audio recording? I activated the recording.

A rough, feminine voice began spilling out of the small speaker of the Pipbuck. I turned down the volume until I was sure I was the only one who could hear it.

“To whoever finds this Pipbuck,” the voice started. This was followed by some light coughing. “The unicorn I paid to enchant this Pipbuck tells me it will only respond to a special pegasus. So if you’re hearing this, you are that special pegasus. Well, welcome to the Wasteland.” Some more coughing. “My name is Scootaloo, Vice President of Stable-Tec, Cutie Mark Crusader, and first Dashite.” Holy shit. This Pipbuck was actually used by Scootaloo. If she wasn’t the second most reviled pegasus in Enclave history, I’d probably be more excited. “I put this Pipbuck together to help you out on a quest only someone like you can undertake. As you prove yourself worthy of the information within, these entries will decode themselves. Scootaloo, out.” Before the recording cut out, there was some wet coughing. Scootaloo sounded really sick.
Well, at least one mystery was solved. This Pipbuck would was designed to respond to a special pegasus, not specifically me. Then again, how many pegasi were there down in the Wasteland. Not many, by all accounts. There were few dirtborn pegasi, and even if you added all the “contaminated” Enclave that were classified as MIA, the number had to be less than one hundred, right? And that’s assuming they all were still alive. So how many others could it have been?

But what quest was I now part of? Damned if I knew, and damned if I was going to actually complete it. All I knew is that I was hunting for Muddy, and then I’d be getting back to Coltington, finishing my assignment, and then returning for whatever was waiting for me in Special Operations once my time down here was done.

I flicked the Pipbuck back to the map and looked over at Silver laying in the bed. I would do better by her. There really was no choice. Muddy was going to do Celestia knows what to her and then she saved my life. I had to repay the favor. I was just glad I was able to get the doctor to her in time… at least I hope it was in time. I just hoped nothing was wrong when she awoke.

A soft beep emanated from the Pipbuck. “What the hell is it now?” Looking at the screen, the second line had changed from “Encrypted” to “Sacrifice”. I selected the entry. The screen was filled with text. It was talking about some Wonderbolt air show in Canterlot and Rainbow Dash’s part in it. What is this? Some pre-war history lesson? I didn’t have time for this garbage and the entry was definitely too long for me to waste my time on that traitor. Besides, I knew all I needed to about Rainbow Dash from my schooling. I flicked it off.

I glanced out the window and saw that it was getting dark outside. It had been a long day. And it was only the second day of my mission. I sighed. If it was already this hard, I did not relish what the balance of my journey would bring. I found a spare blanket next to the bed and, using my bedroll, made myself a bed for the night. After the rough couple of days I had, I drifted right off to sleep.
-----

I slowly began to become aware of sounds around me. No, it couldn’t be time to wake up already. I laid in my bed willing myself to fall back asleep.

“Good morning Dust,” a voice said softly.

“Flower, is that you? It’s too early.” I groaned.

“No…. it’s not Flower,” the voice replied.

“Then who….” Then it dawned on me, “Silver?” I sat up and looked at the bed. Silver was awake just looking at me. “Oh Silver!” I jumped up and ran over to the bed and gave her a hug. “Silver, I was so worried about you.”

“Ow, ow, ow. Hey now, not so rough.” I eased my embrace and she hugged me back. “Dust, what happened? Last I remember, the radhog was charging me.”

I told her everything that had transpired since the radhog incident. I apologized profusely for throwing her into the rockslide. “Don’t be silly. If you hadn’t done that, I’d probably be dead, right?” I nodded. I continued and recounted the trip to Dirtpatch, Flower and I being held at gunpoint, and the events with the clones and Foggy. All in all, she took it in quite well.

“Dust, you are one unlucky pony.” Well, that was putting it mildly. “But I appreciate you doing all of this for me.”

“Well, if I hadn’t hurt you in the first place…”

“Dust, how many times do I have to say this? if you hadn’t thrown me clear, the radhog probably would have hurt me worse. You have to stop blaming yourself for everything.” She hesitated before adding, “And are you sure you’re ok with everything that happened with One?”

“I don’t know. I feel terrible for putting him in that position, but I couldn’t kill Foggy.”

“I know what you mean, I don’t know what I would have done.”

We were interrupted by a knock on the door. “Mister Dust, it’s me, One. Are you home?”

I walked over to the door and let One in. He waved as I introduced him to Silver. “Oh hey Miss Silver. Are you Dust’s very special somepony?”

I felt myself blush. “Uh, well, she, um,” I stammered.

Silver, thankfully, took over. “No, One. We’re just friends.” My stomach turned at that statement.

“Oh, but Miss Flower said,” he started to say.

“Flower was just playing around.” Luna damn you Flower.

Silver arched an eyebrow. “Wait a minute, One, what did Flower say?”

“Oh, well Miss Flower said that Mister Dust had a huge crush on you, Miss Silver, and that he wanted to kiss you and love you and make a foal with you.” He sat there with a dumb grin on his face.

Silver snickered. “Is that so? Well, then Dust and I will have to talk about that later, won’t we Dust?”

My head started to spin. “Yeah, sure.” I cleared my throat. “So, One, what did you need me for?”

“Oh! I almost forgot! Flower said you guys are leaving town soon. I’m going with you.”

“Um, One, I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s dangerous where we’re going. I think it’ll be better if you stay here.”

“Nuh uh, Mister Dust! Daddy told me that you would try to leave me behind. He told me to tell you to, um,” his face scrunched up as he was thinking really hard, “oh, to remember that you took the easy way out.” He added, “and that, um, what did he say,” he tapped his hoof against his head, “oh, you owe it to me for doing what you should have.”

“Oh…” I was floored. Looks like Foggy was going to haunt me from the grave.

“Well, I’ll see ya later Mister Dust! I can’t wait for our adventure!” He was smiling from ear to ear and was basically prancing as he left the house.

“Umm, Dust, you can’t possibly be thinking of taking him with us?” Silver asked.

“I don’t know if I have much choice Silver. He has no family left, and the townspeople here aren’t exactly fans of his. He can’t take care of himself, and I do sort of owe him. He did what I should have.”

“As I said before, you have the worst luck.” She shook her head.

“So, I was going to ask before we got interrupted, how are you feeling?”

“Believe it or not, I’m actually feeling quite well, considering all you’ve said happened to me. The doctor did a good job.”

“Do you think you can walk? I think we should check in with the doctor before we do anything else.” She nodded her agreement.

After finding the doctor, thankfully awake, Silver got a mostly clean bill of health. The doctor said that as far as she could tell, there was no permanent damage from the head injury. She would have liked a few more days of rest, but said as long as we promised to take it easy, then there shouldn’t be any problems.

Next up, we found Flower and Brownie. They were actually still sleeping when we knocked on the door of the shack they were borrowing. Both of them were excited to see Silver up and about, and were relieved when they heard the doctor’s prognosis on Silver.

“But I have something we need to discuss,” I said to the group. “One wants to come with us. Wants is actually not the right word. He thinks he is coming one way or another. Foggy made sure to have him try to guilt trip me. Sorry to say, it actually worked a little.”

“I don’t know Dust. It’s dangerous out there and can ya really take care of him? What if we get inta a firefight?” Brownie asked.

“I know Brownie… I asked myself the same thing. But we can’t leave him here. You saw how the town reacted towards him yesterday. They’re not exactly going to give him a fair shake once we leave.”

Flower spoke up next. “I don’t know Dust. I agree with Brownie. We can’t play babysitter with him.”

“I know, I know. Brownie, after we get to Midnight’s shack, what’s the next closest, friendly settlement?”

“Let me think on that… that would prolly be Murky Springs, bout a half day away from Midnight.”

“Alright, we’ll drop him off there. At least there he’ll have a fighting chance to become part of the community.”

Everyone murmured in acceptance if not outright agreement. It was a difficult position we were in, especially considering it was all because of my actions. Or more accurately, inaction.

We quickly gathered our things and grabbed One. He was waiting for us in a shack he was loaned. He had already packed his saddlebags and was simply sitting in the middle of the floor.

“Hi Mister Dust! Are we leaving on our adventure now?” The smile on his face couldn’t get any bigger.

“Yeah One, we’re leaving.”

“Yippee! We’re going on an adventure! We’re going on an adventure!”

We all couldn’t help but to giggle a little at his exuberance. Especially when he started dancing around the shack.

After calming One down, we found Planter and Tiller and thanked them for them for their hospitality. We traded for some food and made our way out of town.

The morning passed uneventfully. One had calmed down and was mostly keeping to himself. I could only imagine yesterday’s events were still weighing heavily on him. Hell, they were weighing heavily on me.

Around midday, Midnight’s shack appeared on the horizon. I had seen it a couple of times before during routine visits to make situation reports. It was a small, two-room shack in the middle of nowhere. He had built it out of a cargo container and some scrap.

“There it is. Geez, I always forget how far out in the boonies he lives.” It was a necessary part of Midnight’s job. Besides being the contact point for several teams in the area, he would also receive flyers from the Enclave for mission updates and to report back to the General. He needed to make sure that he wasn’t seen as an Enclave collaborator with all the visits he received.

“Alright guys…. Midnight can be, um, a little eccentric. Wait here and let me go talk to him first. He doesn’t really like strangers.” This was only partially true; he didn’t like Wasteland strangers.

After trotting up to his door, I knocked. The sound of tins cans clanging together in makeshift wind chimes on the porch mixed in with the sound of the ever present light breeze in the Wasteland. I heard hoofsteps inside the house.
Suddenly, a whiny, nasal voice from the other side of the door barked, “I’m not interested! Now just leave me alone!”

“Midnight, it’s me, Dust Cloud.”

“I don’t know no Dust Cloud,” he muttered back.

Ugh…. even though we weren’t supposed to use our real names, he insisted as the only way to make sure I wasn’t there under duress. “Of course you know me… you know, Updraft? Now open up!”

“Now why didn’t you say so, that’s a horse of a different color!” He opened the door and clapped a hoof on my shoulder. Midnight was true to his code name. His coat and mane were as dark as the sky at night. His eyes were a dazzling silver color which made them stand out starkly against his face. His cutie mark was a scroll and quill. Unlike other field operatives, he did not need to disguise his wings. He rarely interacted with the locals beyond bartering. “Dust, great to see ya! Come on in, come on…” I saw his gaze shift to over my shoulder. “Who the hell is all that?” He pointed towards them with his hoof.

“Midnight, those are my friends. We need to talk to you, about Clear Skies.” After using Muddy’s real name, I saw Midnight’s facial expressions tighten. “My friends and I are looking for him and I thought you could help.”

“Dust, now you know how I feel about dirtponies. And that pegasus with you, she ain’t Enclave, so is she dirtborn, or a Dashite?” His eyes narrowed as he gazed at her.

“I’m not sure Midnight… I just don’t know if she was born down here or if she was kicked out of the Enclave.”

Midnight grumbled a little under his breath. “Alright Dust, bring em in. But I am not happy about this.”

I motioned to my friends to come over to the house. After a couple minutes we were all settled inside Midnight’s shack. There was a faint smell of roasted vegetables. Midnight hadn’t really become accustomed to the whole meat-eating thing most Wasteland ponies did. He seemed uncomfortable with the new arrivals, but he wasn’t being outright rude to his guests. He did keep eying Silver any chance he got. Any time she saw him looking at her, he would turn away and act as if he had been looking at something else. It wasn’t working since there really wasn’t anything to look at. Midnight kept no personal items lying around.

“Well, Dust, I should have known something was up. I rarely see you and I saw Muddy a couple days ago.”

I perked up. “A couple days ago!”

“Yep. Didn’t he tell you he was coming?”

I sighed deeply. Starting with events at the stable, I told Midnight everything pertinent about Muddy: his two attempts at killing me and his subsequent disappearance.

Midnight’s face contorted with concern. “I knew something was up. He seemed a little fidgety when he was here. Said he was taking a little bit of a trip.”

“Did he say where he was headed?”

“Not really, all he mentioned was heading North. Said something about looking for a stable.”

“You wouldn’t happen ta know where the stable is, would ya?” Flower asked.

Midnight shook his head. “Unfortunately no. He didn’t mention anything else. You may want to head over to the Stable-Tec Field Office over in New Flankfort. The computers there, assuming they are still running, should have information about all the stables in the area.”

“Did you tell Muddy any of this?” I asked.

“Yeah, he asked if I knew where any stables were and I told him I didn’t. I did mention the Stable-Tec office as a possible lead.”

“Brownie, how far from here is New Flankfort?”

“The ruins of New Flankfort are a little less than two days from here to the northeast. Nothin’ between here and there, though.”

“Alright… looks like we’re headed to New Flankfort then.” I’m coming for you Muddy.

Midnight offered lunch for us before we headed out. It was a simple collection of vegetables from his stockpile of canned goods, which were delivered by Enclave soldiers when they delivered news. We all ate our meals quickly and gratefully. Who knew how long it would be before we ate good food again. As everyone was packing up their things, I saw Midnight leave the shack and head back to the garden. I quietly slipped my way outside as well. Once I was sure nopony had followed me, I walked up to Midnight.

“Midnight, there’s more to the story than I could tell you inside,” I whispered.

“I kinda expected that. So they don’t know that you’re Enclave yet, huh?”

“Only the pegasus, Silver, knows I am a pegasus, but she doesn’t know I’m Enclave. The others still think I’m an earth pony. Anyway, let me fill you in on the rest.” I told him all about the journal I found and the angry writings inside. I also filled him in on the unusual behavior I had noticed before that day in the stable.

Midnight smirked. “I thought this might happen. When I first met you two, I felt off about Muddy. I couldn’t quite put a hoof on it, but it was there. He seemed eager to be down here, too eager.”

“Yeah, well, I think we all see how that worked out now.”

“Dust, be careful. When he was here, I was actually nervous just being around him. He seemed full of rage and he was barely controlling it. And with what you told me, it seems like any pegasus that gets in the way will pay the price.”

“I know, I know.” After taking a deep breath, I continued, “Midnight, I might have to take him down. You do realize that?”

“Yeah, Dust. I know. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Me too, Midnight. Me too. As much as I hate him for trying to kill me, he is still one of us.”

“And Dust, remember, the locals cannot find out about us…. No matter what.”

After everyone finished up, we gathered our things and set out towards New Flankfort. Brownie said that it if we didn’t have any problems, we could probably get there by tomorrow night.

After about an hour of walking, I regretted my decision to head to New Flankfort first.

“So Mister Dust, where are we headed?” One asked while sidling up to me.

“We’re headed to New Flankfort to visit a Stable-Tec Regional Headquarters,” I droned.

“And what’s that?” he asked with his head cocked to the side.

“Ever hear of a stable?” I flatly responded.

“Nope.” There was that goofy grin again.

I grumbled. “OK… well, imagine an entire city buried underground. Houses, an orchard, recreation facilities, everything buried underground. Stable-Tec built these cities.”

“Uh huh.” He paused. “Why would they make these stables?”

“A long time ago, there was a big fight. The bad guys were going to use big magical weapons. Ponies got scared and wanted to be safe, so they built these cities to protect themselves.”

“Ooooh. Um, OK.” He became oddly silent. “I don’t get it.”

“One, think about your old home. Why did you live there?” I asked.

“Daddy said to keep us safe from the bad ponies,” he said.

“Right, but could your house protect you from everything?” I continued.

“I don’t know. No one ever really found us.” He was still sounding confused.

“Remember when the bombs went off. Remember how broken things were?” My aggravation was starting to bleed into my questions.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod.

“Well, imagine a bomb about, oh, one thousand times more powerful. Your house couldn’t protect you from that. Also imagine that unless your house was built in a special way, the bomb could still hurt you even if it didn’t break through the walls. The stables were built specially in order to protect ponies inside.” I hoped this drove the point home.

“Ooooh…” he said while nodding again.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” I sighed.

“Nope!” His smile went from ear to ear.

I stopped walking and facehoofed myself.

“What’s a matter Mister Dust?” he asked.

“Nothing, One, nothing. Let’s just keep walking,” I grumbled while shaking my head.

The light started getting dim and my skin started to prickle in the evening chill. Brownie recommended that we set up camp for the night. We were in the middle of a large plain with no real features to speak of except for the occasional withered tree. One and I collected as much firewood as we could find while Brownie set up camp. Flower was off scavenging for dinner, but we had enough supplies to make due if necessary.

It was amusing and somewhat uplifting to watch One work. He either forgot about the previous day’s events, was dealing with it very well, or was blocking it all out. He was busy trotting from tree to tree looking for loose wood, even bucking a few to see if he could knock anything loose. Every so often, he would call out for me to catch up with him. It was endearing in a way.

After collecting as much wood as we could carry, we made our way back to camp. Brownie already had a fire pit ready to go and we dumped all our wood nearby. He got to work on starting the actual fire.

Flower trotted back into camp. She hadn’t managed to find any game, so we broke out the dried goods we had with us. It wasn’t as good as fresh food, but it was still better than some of the alternatives.

“So Dust, what’s yer plan fer if we find Muddy?” Brownie asked.

“Umm, I was kinda hoping we wouldn’t need a plan per se. I was hoping I could talk sense into him and get him to come back to Coltington peacefully.”

An odd silence fell over the camp. Everyone, except One, had stopped eating and was staring at me with wide eyes.

Flower was the one to break the silence. “Umm, Dust? Are ya an idjit? Muddy has tried to kill ya twice. What’s to make ya think he won’t try again?”

“Um, I don’t know… I’m hoping we don’t have to do anything. I don’t want to have to hurt Muddy. Yeah, I know he hurt me badly twice, but I think deep down he really is a good pony. He was just put into a bad spot, I’m sure. If we need to though, we’ll take him down. I’ll take him down. I just need you guys to have my back.”

“If ya say so Dust. Far be it from me to question anyone, but I’ve seen ya fight. Ya really arn’t a fighter,” Brownie added.

“Not this again, please. I can do it, I know I can,” I pleaded.

“We’ll see,” is all he said.

The rest of dinner was spent making small talk. One had a ton of questions for everyone, which was slowly becoming the norm. He was just so fascinated with finding out about everyone. It might have been due to the fact that the only people he knew before a few days ago were his father and his brothers.

Brownie and Flower volunteered to split the watch overnight, which was fine by me. “As long as you two don’t disappear again.” I added sarcastically.

“Seriously Dust? Yer gonna hold that over us now?” Flower spat out.

“Maybe for a little while,” I responded with a little smirk.

“Umm,” it was One, again, “where am I going to sleep?”

“What do you mean, One? Don’t you have a bedroll?” I asked.

“A bedwhat?” he looked at me quizzically.

“Ugh…. alright… here, take mine,” I unpacked my bedroll and gave it to One.

Silver spoke up next. “Um, Dust, I don’t have one either. We haven’t had a chance to get one yet, remember?”

“Right… haven’t really been at a town with a shop yet. Umm, Brownie, Flower, can you two share a bedroll tonight while you guys are on watch? And I guess Silver and I can share the other one?”

I regretted saying it as soon as the words left my mouth. Flower’s ears perked up. “Ooooh... Dust… whatcha…”

I interrupted her as my cheeks flushed again, “Flower, not now.” Silver blushed nearly as bad as I was.

Flower simply snickered. One looked up, “I don’t get it, what’s so funny?”

She beat me to it. “Well, One, remember when I told you about Dust and his special somepony?”

I grumbled through clenched teeth. “Flower… stop please.”

Flower simply fell over laughing. One still looked confused. I muttered, “I’ll tell you someday One.” Hopefully not.

Flower and Brownie were setting up their part of the camp while I showed One how to set up a bedroll. Silver was taking care of our area.

After setting One up, he turned over to face me. “Mister Dust? Can you tell me a bedtime story?”

“What? You want me to tell you a story?”

“Well, yeah, Daddy would tell us stories when it was bedtime before he got sick. When he couldn’t do it anymore, we took turns telling stories to each other. It’s the only way we were able to fall asleep sometimes.” The look in his eyes pleaded with me even more so than the tone of his voice.

“One, I don’t really know any bedtime stories.”

“C’mon Mister Dust… pleeeeeeeeeease?” He looked almost ready to cry.

It didn’t take long for Flower to butt in. “Yeah Mistuh Dust, pweeeeeeease tell us a bedtime stowie.”

“Flower, shut up.” I grunted, exasperated.

“Alright One… let me think here.” While not strictly a traditional bedtime story, I told him about the time Twilight Sparkle and her newly found friends had found the Elements of Harmony and defeated Nightmare Moon. It seemed to do the trick, as he quickly fell into a quiet slumber. Once all I could see was the gently rising and falling of his sides, I quietly made my way over to Silver. She had been laying down on the bedroll with her head propped up in her hooves.

“That was a sweet thing you just did there,” she whispered.

“Um, thanks, I guess. I never thought I’d have to tell a bedtime story to a fully-grown stallion before.

“Regardless, you didn’t have to do it.” She had a cute grin on her face. It made me feel a little warm inside.

“Well, I guess to make this work, we should sleep back to back? This way it will be a little less awkward?”

“Oh, OK Dust, if you think that is best.” The grin disappeared from her face. Why did I suddenly feel terrible?

I laid down next to her and pulled the blanket up over the two of us. I could feel her body rise and fall slightly with each breath. “Good night Silver.”

“Good night Dust.”

Thankfully, sleep came quickly.

The gentle brightening of the skies in the morning roused me from my slumber. While yawning, I was greeted by a mouthful of something. Spitting out whatever it was in my mouth, I opened my eyes, temporarily blinded by the relative brightness of the morning light. Once the glare cleared, I look down and saw that my mouth had been full of green… hair? Once my eyesight focused further, I saw that it was Silver’s mane.

I tried to move to get a better view of things, until I noticed my leg was stuck under something. The fog of sleep on my mind was finally starting to clear and I saw that, at some point during the night, I had rolled over in my sleep and wrapped my forelegs around Silver. Her forelegs were, in turn, wrapped around one of mine. She was slumbering quietly and had a small smile on her face.

“Oh hell,” I thought to myself, “what did I do last night?”

Silver started to stir. “Good morning Dust,” she muttered.

“G...good morning Silver. Um, did you sleep well?”

“Yes, I did, thank you. How about you?”

“Ummm…” my mind was racing a million miles a second. And then, I just blurted out, “Silver, we didn’t, you know, um.”

“What? Oh Dust,” she started giggling a little. “No, we didn’t do that. You just turned over in the night and wrapped your legs around me. You silly stallion you.”

And of course, almost as if Discord himself had planned this whole thing, I heard a catcall whistle. And of course, it had to be Flower. But she wasn’t alone. Brownie and One were there too.

“So, Dust. Wanna yell at me ‘bout that special somepony stuff again?” She was barely restraining her laughter, and she wasn’t alone. It was going to be a long day.

After eating and packing up camp, we resumed our journey towards New Flankfort. Fortunately, breakfast had passed without many comments about the sleeping arrangements, and Silver had been nudged up against me the whole time. Flower was still giving sly looks accompanied by a wicked grin, but she wasn’t saying anything. We packed camp and resumed our trip.

Unfortunately, Flower couldn’t keep quiet much longer. She sidled up next to me and whispered to me, “So, Dust, when are you two gonna go on a date?”

“Flower, please, don’t,” I hissed back.

“Dust, I don’t get it. Why is this botherin’ you so much? It’s sweet, really.” She nudged me in the shoulder.

“Flower, it’s just that it’s not what you think. I didn’t mean to hold her during the night. I don’t even remember doing it.”

“That doesn’t matter Dust, some part of ya wanted to do it. And what is so wrong with having a crush on another pony?”

“Flower, what makes you think I have a crush?”

“Dust, please. We all can see it, even One does. It’s the way you look at her; the way you listen when she speaks.” My stomach was tying itself into knots. My mind was starting to race and I felt my whole body start to tense. “It’s even so cute the way you turn away quickly when she looks at you. It’s adowable. I just don’t see why you can’t just pony up and admit that you are falling…”

I couldn’t hold back any more. I blurted out, nearly yelling, “Flower! I… DO... NOT... LIKE HER LIKE THAT” The only sound was my hard breathing and the echo of my last statement. My vision started to fill with pinpoints of light. Everyone had stopped dead in their tracks and was staring right at me.

Ah, shit. What did I just do? I looked at Silver. She simply turned away and tried to put as much distance between us as she could while still being part of the group.

Flower smacked me, hard. “Yer an ass Dust, you know that?”

The shock of what I had just done froze me in my tracks. I don’t know why I had gotten so angry with Flower. It’s not as if her behavior was anything different than I had known. She was always a smartass and her words did seem genuine. But if that was the case, then why did I fly off the handle?

A pit had formed in my stomach. It only got worse when I saw Silver, who had now placed both Brownie and One between her and myself.

I took a deep breath and released it. “Flower, I’m sorry. I really am…”

“It’s not me ya have ta apologize to, you ass.” She nodded in Silver’s direction.

I began to walk towards Silver, but she moved in tighter with Brownie and One. Brownie simply shook his head at me.

“Ummm, alright… I guess we should get moving again?” I said sheepishly to the group.

No one said anything, and we resumed our walk.

The next leg of our trip was awkward, for me at least. I was an outcast in our little group. Flower, Brownie, and One had spent a good portion of time talking quietly with Silver. After a while, Flower and Silver broke away to talk privately. Brownie sidled up next to me.

“You done messed up big time Dust.”

“I know, I know….”

“I don’t know what’s goin’ on in that head o’ yers, but ya better get it under control. You did a number on that poor mare over thar.”

“I know Brownie… I know. I don’t even know why I freaked out like I did. It’s not like Flower did anything wrong.”

“Dust, look, ah’m no expert in matters of emotions. But, what ah do know is that mare is fallin fer ya. And what ya did there hurt her bad. Whether or not you feel the same fer her, you need ta fix things.”

“I know Brownie, I know. I will. I just want to do it privately.”

“I don’t know if that’ll be possible Dust. But if ya want, I’ll try ta distract Flower and One fer ya.”

“Thanks Brownie… I’d appreciate that.” After a short pause, I added, “Brownie, how do you know if you like somepony, or like like somepony?”

“That’s a hard question ta answer Dust. I think everypony has a different way of seein’ that. All ah know is how ah felt the first time I had a crush on somepony. And what it boils down ta is ta think ‘bout how ya feel if you imagined that pony was gone. Ah’ve found that ta be the best way to tell.”

“Well, right now, I feel like crap thinking that she won’t even let me near her. And I feel, I guess hollow is the best way to put it. It feels like a part of me has been ripped out and I know it’s missing but I can’t do anything about it.”

“Well, if ah can put in mah two bits, ah think ya’ve got yer answer right there, Dust.” He paused. “Look, I’ll do my best to get Flower and One away from her.”

“Thanks Brownie… you’re a true, true friend.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You’ve a lot of work ta do.”
I nodded. Brownie went back over to the rest of the group.

A few hours of more awkward silence later, we finally came across something break up the monotony of the plain we had been travelling. A small settlement, made up of mostly one and two room shacks, lay ahead of us. It was obvious that nopony had lived here in a long time. Windows were broken and missing and doors were banging against their frames in the light breeze. No sign of any life was here, which was confirmed by a quick look at my EFS, which I was slowly getting accustomed to.

Brownie broke the silence. “Alright everypony, let’s see what we can find here. Prolly has already been picked clean, but ya never know.” He motioned each of us towards a different shack. Slyly, he had put me and Silver in shacks right next to each other. “Everypony ‘specially be on the lookout fer bedding materials so we can make makeshift bedrolls fer Silver and One.”

We each made our way to our assigned shacks. I walked into mine and was mildly surprised by what I found. Or more accurately, what I didn’t find. The house was picked clean. My search being complete, I quietly made my way over to where Silver was. I heard her rummaging inside a cabinet. Quietly, I opened the door.

I cleared my throat. Silver jumped a little and looked at me.

“What do you want?” she said dejectedly.

“Can we talk for a little?”

“Fine.”

“Silver, first, let me apologize. I’m sorry that I acted the way I did back there on the road. I never should have said what I did, and I never should have said it the way I said it.”

“Uh-huh.” She turned back to her cabinets and resumed her search.

“What I’m trying to say Silver is that I don’t really know how I feel about all of this. Flower made me uncomfortable and I lashed out. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I don’t even know if what I said was true…”

“Then why did you say it?” She stopped her search and looked me right in the eyes. “If you don’t know how you feel, then why did you say that?”

“I don’t know Silver. Look, I never had a special somepony before. Never really had the time and I never really found somepony who liked me as much as I liked them. Not to mention the fact of the big secret I’m hiding. I never wanted to risk opening up to somepony. All I know for sure is that there is something different in the way I feel about you. Ever since I said it, I’ve been feeling sick to my stomach and every time I thought about what I did, I felt worse.”

She sighed deeply and tears started to form in the corner of her eyes. “Dust, I won’t lie to you. I think I am falling for you. Last night was the first night in a long time I felt content. When you put your hooves around me, I had this feeling of calm that I had not felt since my family was still around. I also know that I didn’t want it to end this morning. I was happy… and then you threw that against the floor.”

My eyes started to water. “Silver, I’m sorry. I never intended to do that to you. Flower got under my skin and I just wanted the conversation to end. I just wanted her to drop it. All I can say is sorry.”

We sat there in silence just looking at each other. Tears were streaming from our eyes, leaving trails of clean fur amongst the dust that had collected on our faces during our walk. She walked over to me and placed her hooves around my neck and held on tight. I slowly returned the gesture. We simply stood like that for a few minutes.

She sniffled. “Dust, I’m still hurt by what happened. But I will do my best to put it past me, OK?”

“That’s all I can ask.”

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway. It was Brownie. “Sorry to interrupt, but the rest of us are done. You guys ready to move out?”

We both silently nodded. I gestured to let Silver leave the shack first. After she squeezed her way past Brownie, he looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. I simply nodded back and he gave me a fleeting, quick grin.

We hadn’t found much in the town, but at least we did find some makeshift bedding materials for Silver and One. After squaring them away, we resumed our journey.

After a few more hours, Brownie let us know we were getting close. We came upon a small rise and walked our way to the top of it. One we crested the hill, the former town of New Flankfort lay before us.

It was the second largest town I had ever personally seen in the Wasteland besides Horseton. The city was a couple dozen blocks wide and long, and was generally laid out in a grid pattern. It was an odd mix of multi-story commercial buildings in the center, surrounded by smaller single family homes and row houses on the outskirts of town. Nopony had been here in a long time. The buildings were in various stages of disrepair. Most had holes bored into their sides. Some of it looked natural, other visible scars were obviously the work of explosives. The larger commercial buildings in the center were more structurally complete, but most had broken window panes and partially collapsed floors.

“Welcome ta New Flankfort!” Brownie declared. “Somewhere in there is the Regional Headquarters fer Stable-Tec. Let’s see what we can find”

At the bottom of the hill we were climbing we reached the outer edge of the city. The section we were at consisted of cookie cutter single family houses. It was almost as if someone had made a whole bunch of the same model and simply placed them right next to each other. The damage notwithstanding, the houses were identical, right down to the color. We began to walk down the street when One yelled out, ”Hello! Is anypony home?”

His voice echoed down the street while the rest of us froze in shock. I clamped my hooves around his snout and quietly shushed him. I released his snout and he looked at me, confused.

“Mister Dust, why would you do something like that?” He asked, clearly hurt.

“Because One, whenever you enter somewhere new you stay quiet, until…”

Everypony heard it at the same time and froze. The faint raspy growl travelled on the wind from further down the street. When we heard it, everypony except One turned a shade lighter. Then, the first growl was joined by another, and another, and another… We all looked at each other. Someone gulped, hard. It might have been me and I never would have known.

One whispered, “What’s everyone so afraid of?”

I whispered back, “Ghouls. And by the sounds of it, a lot of ghouls.”

Then, we heard the faint hoofsteps start.

Level up!

Stat
Speech -5

Perk(?) Obtained
Hoof in Mouth - Sometimes, you make bad dialogue decisions when under pressure. In those situations, -1 CHR.

Author's Notes:

It feels good to be back in the swing of things!

Hopefully the chapters will release a little more frequently instead of every 3 months or so....

Big thanks to Gamma Deekay on helping me review this before publishing. Visit his page and read some of his stuff!

Hope you like it!