I owe so much to Dead Hooves, I really do. In many ways, I saw her as the one who saved my life back in the raider camp and not Dread. If I could’ve told her how happy I was that she had saved me I would… But you already know I can’t. I never really will be able to tell her how much she did for me, because - as you know - I can’t talk. All I can really do is go along with the wind and hope things turn out right, but they never do that way.

Dead Hooves must have known it as well, how much I care for her. I can never tell though, and she never has fully told me. She has no idea what I’ve seen, what I’ve done, and who I’ve worked for. She will though, because she is doing something I never had the guts to do, hunt them down. I wanted a simply life in Manehattan, it was one of the last things I said with my voice before that stuff took it away.

I remember it was one of the few kind things that pony was ever going to do for me. He said he would take me to Manehattan and bring me to a “friend” of his. Then I got capture, and those damn raiders brought me to the brink of death. I could stand it, but they wouldn’t stop until I told them, so I got rid of my voice my own way I could think of. I had once said that to that stupid stallion that I might listen better if I had no voice at all. Then a few days later he showed up at the raider camp, force fed me something called poison joke, and then left. Next thing I knew, I couldn’t speak, and I played dead with the raiders for who knows how long.

Then came the day when Dead Hooves showed up, a day I still think of as the greatest day of my life. He showed up again that day to, Dread, I wanted to give him a piece of my mind but my injuries kept me from doing so. Then, he unlock my chains and told me to climb on his back, afterward telling Dead Hooves to do the same thing. I fell asleep there, his back being the comfiest bed I ever knew up to that point. When I woke up I didn’t see Dread anywhere and Dead Hooves told me what happened.

“You’re friend abandoned us. He told me to take you to Manehattan, okay?”

Those word were the best thing I’ve ever heard, not just because it meant I was free, but I had someone else to look up to. Dead Hooves to me was as much a master as she was a friend, and that’s something most ponies like me don’t have. Someone to call a friend, that will be there for you in times of trouble, that treats you like a pony and not an object or stranger, a pony that cares about you tell the very end. That’s what a friend is to me, and Dead Hooves was the first pony I was ever able to call a friend.

Then she lead me into meeting Stitch and Zoey, who both seemed to care about me. I couldn’t really tell with Sharpshot if he cared or not, he probably did on the inside but was to proud or stubborn to show it. I had a lot to owe to Stitch, I honestly didn’t realize how bad those injuries were until she showed them to me. I had been hit a good number of times, so the feeling of pain wasn’t that noticeable to me anymore.

“You okay Willow,” I look to see Dead Hooves looking at me concern. I nodded to her. “If there's anything you need, please tell me, okay?”

I felt similar to Dead Hooves in a way, the fact that we both didn’t have the ability to do something so simply as talk or walk. I missed talking, I tended to make talking motions with my mouth to make me feel like I was still able to when in reality I knew I couldn’t. Never again would I be able to hear my voice, and it was something I was still getting use to. I know Dead Hooves wanted to understand me, but she had no idea what I have seen or what I have done.

I knew that there must have been a way for me to get back my voice, there must have been. How though, did that White Light pony Dread point us to know how to get it back? I was okay staying with the Angel Hunters, it would help me get my revenge on the way he treated me. Yes, I knew who the Bloody Angel was, and you can probably guess who he is, or who they are.

The fact that ponies think he was meant to deliver our deaths is in a way my fault, because I was the one who buried the bodies. I didn’t do it to cover our tracks, I did it because I felt bad about the ponies he killed. I thought of it as giving peace to those he had wrongfully ended. He never got angry at me doing it, in fact I think he rather liked it after hearing what ponies were calling us over the news. He encourage me to do it, and while I wouldn’t have done if he asked me to otherwise, I did want to put the murdered ponies to rest. So I kept doing it, he kept killing and I kept burying, it was just the way things were for us. In fact, I even got my cutie mark by doing it, something I considered a burden more than a gift at the time.

However, I dug graves for a different reason know. I didn’t feel that bad doing it anymore, mostly because it was more out of respect for the ponies and the family they had. I felt so bad not being able to bury Mud Swirl back at the smokey mountains. I could tell how sad Stitch was about that, she had lost the only family she had ever had in the span of twenty-four hours, and that’s something I can’t imagine. I didn’t to bury Mud Swirl just because I felt bad, but rather because he had ponies who cared for him and they won’t ever see him again. I could tell how much it was affecting her, even if she didn’t want to show it. I could tell when a pony felt regret, and I wanted to do something to help.

We came back to the gate to see that those Bleak and Soarin ponies from earlier were waiting for us. Along with them was two other ponies, one was Sharpshot but the other one was a pegasus with the tips of its wings and the top of it’s mane and tail yellow. I remember seeing her remove Sharpshot from the bridge after he tried to “help” them pilot the ship. Guess he wasn’t that good when it came to machinery.

“Well this is surely a surprise,” Soarin said excited. “I send in three ponies and they bring back a fully functioning robot. There surely are a lot of surprises today,”

“That’s also the second fastest I’ve ever seen someone clear it,” Bleak said, less surprised. “Feather here is the fastest pony to have ever cleared it. Maybe we should consider hiring more ponies from the wasteland considering how efficient you have been. Congratulations,”

I saw Dead Hooves walking proud as exited the ruins of the city, and I was happy for her. I mean, we had already gotten entrance to the group before doing this but as far as it goes, she did a good bulk of the work I think. I don’t think I would have been able to take that Living Fossil on, especially considering how shaky my hooves are with a gun. I’ll be honest, I had a bit of a better time ripping the Hellhound apart then shooting the ghoul before that. My hooves were so shaky back then I was worried I might accidentally shoot Dead Hooves or Zoey.

“You can rest for the day, I’m going to look over the footage you gave me and decide what you section of the group you will be part of,” I nodded, but I could tell that the other two were confused.

“Captain Bleak hides cameras in every corner of the city,” Feather explains. “It’s how we keep an eye on everything in here and decide where you will go. I think you can tell what section Sharpshot didn’t end up in,”

She cast a grin at Sharpshot standing next to her, who simply rolled his eyes at the pegasus. “Anyway, I have to say I’m pretty impressed at how well you did. Just one thing,” He looked at Dead Hooves as he said that. “I can hear what you're saying through the camera’s and am I really that much of an insufferable bitch to you?”

“Think back to when we first met,” Dead Hooves told him. “Think back to then and what you said about my father, then think about how little you seem to take apologies, I think I know an insufferable bitch when I see one, and that is you,”

I heard Feather muffle a laughter as she heard how. Dead Hooves respond. I had to agree though with Dead Hooves, Sharpshot so far had a lot to prove in terms of being reliable. He may have saved her during that entire dragon incident yesterday, but I still didn’t feel like I could trust him all that much. Like Dead Hooves had said, he kinda insulted her family when they first met and I had awoken only a few seconds before hearing it started.

“Anyways,” Feather said. “I want to talk to you about you power armor and that stuff,”

Dead Hooves nodded and looked to me. “Guessing you want to come as well,” I nodded in response, not wanting to go too far from her. “Alright then. Lead the way Feather,”

“Shall I accompany you three?” I look back to see Silver Gunner still standing there. He has been… Uncomfortably quiet since we had first seen him.

“Stay with Sharpshot,” Dead Hooves said, “I’m sure he will have something for you to do,”

Silver Gunner nodded with his metallic head as Dead Hooves and I followed Feather into around the building and to a door. “So first thing first your PipBuck,” She start, as she opened the door to the inside of the facility. “We can fix most of the primary components such as the item storage, map, and that stuff but we can’t fix the more… Magical parts of it. We also decided to add a vehicle damage display, in case anything useful is out there in the wasteland for you to use. I’ll explain how it works once you get it back. We’re still working out a few bugs though,”

“Okay,” Dead Hooves nodded her head understandingly. “But how about the device you were going to make for my legs,”

I saw Feather hesitate at the question. “Well, that’s a more complicated manner,” She said as we made a turn down the first hallway we saw on the left. “Your father may have been able to use the power armor to help you walk but it’s hard to make anything like that without it being that flexible. In the end the best thing to do…” She trailed off, I could once again see her body twitch unsure. “Is to replace your legs with mechanical ones. Sorry, but as it goes we don’t have as good of technology as the normal Enclave, mainly because they’re all too scared to come to the ground down here. We can help you move by yourself, but you would have to give up your normal legs to do it,”

Dead Hooves didn’t seem that sure, and I honestly wasn’t either. “And you have the technology for that?” Dead Hooves said.

“We keep some extra in case of bad injury. In most cases soldiers would be sent home if they lost a leg, but we try our best to allow them to keep walking as well. Most medics and technicians have to know how to make them if they are to work as part of the army. It was an absolute necessity during the war, and we still hold in very high regard today,”

So Dead Hooves chances were keep her current legs and not be able to walk, but also not have to deal with the excruciating pain that it would cause her, or basiclay doing everything vise versa. I knew how much Dead Hooves wanted to walk, but was this really worth doing it for. Feather obviously wasn’t so sure about it either, all I can hope is that she didn’t promise Dead Hooves that she would do anything she would have said.

“That’s the only way I will be able to walk?” Dead Hooves asked.

“Yes,” Feather said. “At least the only way from us. There might be others to do it that other ponies know of out in the wasteland. This is the only method we really have that can help so-”

“I’ll do it,” I looked at Dead Hooves surprised, and somewhat scared as well. “I do have to admit that it isn’t that easy moving around in this piece of armor. It’s not the most comfortable thing as well, so I don’t mind taking the choice you have given me. It probably will hurt a bit, but that’s to be expected right?”

I couldn’t do anything about this, even if I did have my voice. This was Dead Hooves choice, if she wanted to take this chance I wasn’t going to stop her. Besides, it’s not like anything bad will happen out of it… Except maybe a week's worth of pain. Still, I wasn’t going to do anything about it if it was what she wanted. This was her decision after all.

“I think a bit is an understatement,” Feather states. “You ask me it's probably going to hurt like a cactus had just thrown ten thousand needles into your skin. Strange metaphor, I know, but the point is that I’m saying it's going to hurt a lot,”

“You think that’s any pain to deal with,” Dead Hooves said kinda braggingly. “Willow Wisp here managed to survive for who knows how long starving in a raider camp with some of the worse injuries I have ever seen. If she can handle that then I think I can handle this,”

I could hardly agree with that, and she has no idea how much pain I was really in. It felt more like I was being teared apart in a black hole, which is honestly worse than ten thousand needles. That being said, I couldn’t help but think Dead Hooves was thinking about this a little too happily. Her back legs might not work, but they could sure as hell feel pain, and the pain she was going to feel was going to be even worse then I think even Feather wants to say. Please Celestia, please say they have some sort of pain medication.

Feather opened a door, and so far I wasn’t getting an answer back from Celestia. Not that I really expected to, I just mean that my prayers weren’t answered. I looked to see Stitch and one other pony I haven't seen before in the room. Like almost everyone else she was a Pegasus wearing the same uniform as all the other soldiers here. His mane was hiding under his uniform and his tail was so short I couldn’t see it. He didn’t look like he had a single strand of hair on his… Oh, wait a second.

“Cross Eye,” Feather says gaining the ghouls attention. “These are Dead Hooves and Willow Wisp, two of the new recruits. Dead Hooves and Willow Wisp, this here is Cross eye, our doctor. Just because he’s a ghoul doesn’t mean you should treat him any worse than you do the rest of the soldiers here. We owe him a lot,”

“Feather, stop bragging about me,” Cross eye said stepping away from a small table. “Not everypony needs to hear your constant bickering about how good I am. Still, as Feather mentioned my name is Cross Eye, one of very few pegasi ghouls who actually have manage to land a spot in the Enclave. I’m not the first, but definitely the longest one to have survived in it,”

He held out his hoof to Dead Hooves for greeting, but she didn’t take it. She turned her head away, occasionally looking back at Cross Eye before looking back down at the ground. She pawed the floor with her hoof and I could see the increasing discomfort in her face, biting her lip for some odd reason. Stitch looked to see this and didn’t know what exactly to think

“You okay,” Cross eye asked, seeming worried.

“Sorry about this,” Dead Hooves said. “It’s just… My father… He was, well, killed by ghouls… Sorry,”

“Oh,” Cross eye put his hoof back on the ground. “My apologies, I guess I must be making you feel very uncomfortable. Those were feral ghouls, but it is sometimes hard to tell the difference between the feral and tame. I can understand, how bout we skip introductions then a get straight to business,” Dead Hooves nodded “Now I know why you're here but I don’t think it would be a good idea for Willow Wisp or Stitch to be in here. Stitch you would mind waiting outside would you, you can take the files,”

Stitch put the files Cross eye was talking about in a box and balanced them on her back. “Thank you, and good luck Dead Hooves,” She said before slowly making her way over to the door. I held the door open for her as she made her way out, following her as she did.

We exited the room and watched as Stitch slowly lowered the box full of files off of her back and onto the floor. She slides down the wall as she takes one of the files in her hooves and starts looking through them. I was getting a bit curious at what she was looking at, and decided to peek over her shoulder to see what was on it. I saw a list of names as well as things I didn’t understand, most likely medical terms or whatever.

“I’m looking for anything that could be connected to my mom and dad,” Stitch said to me. “They were part of the Enclave, so I was hoping the ponies here might know something about them,” She dropped the file in her hooves and curled up on the ground holding back tears. “But I don’t even know there names, how do I know I can find them when I ever don’t know basic things like that,”

I sit down next to her and give her a hug in comfort. I knew what it was like not having parents, but most ponies who had been in my position would know that. He killed my parents when I was only a few years old, I don’t even remember them at all. Stitch must have been feeling the awful not being able to know them. I gave up a long time ago trying to learn who they are, the wasteland is too vast for something like this, and no pony would care about what a slave had to say.

“Maybe if I found the power armor they left I could learn something,” Stitch said through her tears. “Maybe you and me could put them to rest together, even if they are just a pile of bones that would mean so much to me,” She got up from off the floor and looked at me. “Would you be willing to come with me? I mean, I know that Sharpshot and Zoey are currently free but it just doesn’t feel right asking them. I think I remember Granny saying it was here in Las Pegasus, it wouldn’t be that far of journey. So, will you please come with me?”

She was disparate to learn what happened to her parents, was this because of what happened to Mud Swirl and Granny? I couldn’t tell, but the fact that she was asking for my help was a brand new thing to me. I always felt like I was the one being told what to do, how to do it, and why I was doing it, but now somepony was turning to me. I looked back at the room Dead Hooves was currently in, I didn’t want to leave the door but it would probably be a long time before she came out. I looked to Stitch and gave a confident nod to her, and I watched as a smile slowly grew across her face as tears continued to fall down.

She gave me a hug as she started crying. “Thank you,” She said as she hugged me. “Thank you so so much for this,” I simply smiled back, even though she couldn’t see it from where her head was on my shoulder. After a small bit she let go and wiped the tears from her face. “Guess we should probably grab some stuff before we go. I know where they keep the weapons. Cross eye showed me,”

She started walking off and I followed her as she did. I wasn’t that interested in getting a weapon, but if she wanted me to have one I wouldn’t complain about it, mainly because I couldn’t. We came to a door after going down a few hallways and she opened it to see what must have been the armory. There was a lot of normal weapons here, considering that I heard that the Novasurge was the main weapon of the Enclave I was surprised to not see many of them here. Most of the weapons were rifles, with a few smaller ones such as pistols.

“She wanted me to take the revolver with her even though it’s broken,” I heard Stitch whisper. “If I could find something like it I would be happy. We should also maybe bring one of the Novasurges,”

“I would agree with you there,” We turn around to see Feather close the door behind us. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anypony about this. I knew as soon as I saw you walk out with those files that something else was happening. Oh, and the location you're talking about, it's in Ponyville not Las Pegasus,”

I was a little suspicious of this. “Why are you telling me this?” Stitch asked, voicing my concern. “How do you even know where it is I’m talking about?”

“You know about the population cap that the Enclave have right?” We both nod our heads. I was never part of the Enclave but I knew about from my travels with the Bloody Angel around the wasteland. Not hard to tell when you’ve killed a few of their soldiers that they have one. “Well believe it or not, you and me are actually sisters. Before you go saying anything like “your talking bullshit” how about I prove it to you. The three of us leave for Ponyville and I show you where they died. The entire reason our parents even came down here was because they didn’t want to be punished by the population cap. Our mom was pregnant at the time and they knew we were about to exceed the limit, so we left. Of course, then they got killed,”

I still wasn’t all that sure about what Feather was saying. How did she even know she and Stitch were sisters? Something about it all just didn’t fit. Of course, she was willing to try and prove it to us and if she tried I guess it was worth following her. Besides the way it is Stitch’s was at this point a Dashite herself considering her parents and that she was already born before they died.

“Won’t Bleak wonder where you are?” Stitch asked.

“He won’t mind,” Feather replied. “I do stuff like this all the time and he’s okay with it. Breaker has been trying to tell him how disloyal it is and that I shouldn’t even be here but he never listens to him. Honestly Breaker can go fuck a Hellhound for all I care,”

Stitch looks at me for my thought and I gave a nod. Neither me or Stitch really knew how to use guns, or at least liked using them. We would need someone to help us there, and Feather probably had more experience than we did in terms of fighting. The only thing I was really worried about was going to Ponyville and seeing him again. I knew he would be there waiting for me, and I knew that would definitely be a bit of a problem.

“Welcome aboard,” Stitch said, allowing Feather to come with us.

“Thank you,” Feather said nodding her head at us. “We head to the edge of the city and take the train to Ponyville. We had reset the entire railway system so that the only ones who can you us are us of the Angle Hunters, meaning that like everything else only pegasi can access it. Oh take this as well,” She throws a PipBuck to me and Stitch. “Standard issue material for us here, just be glad I got you one before they handed them out, it seems like everything is just one short these days,”

“Thanks,” Stitch said. “In that case, let us just grab some weapons and will be out of here. You better hope you aren’t lying about us being sisters Feather, or else you are in for one hell of a surprise,”

“I understand,” Feather said. “Oh and don’t bother calling me Feather sense this isn’t exactly a formal mission. You want to call me something then call me by my real name: White Light,”

Author's Notes:

In case you guys couldn't guess, this chapter was actually for Willow Wisp perspective. The next few chapters will be following her, mainly because most of the things happen around her at this point. I wanted to bring a little bit of attention to her since I feel she tends to fall into the background during a lot of chapters.

Like, Comment, and follow to show your love for this story and check out my others if you haven't already. With that I will see you all in the next chapter.