It’s been at least three days since we saw the Angel Hunters HQ explode, and two more days since we last saw Sharpshot. To say things were boring would be an under exaggerating. Both me and my supposed sister White Light were itching for something to do, and I especially wanted to give Sharpshot another slap. We had both kept completely silent for most of the time, mostly because we agreed to not try and piss each other off. The only time I ever did talk was when things got way too quiet, as I was use to having somepony talking around me.

We were still in Las Pegasus, having gone the long way around instead of straight through like Sharpshot, Willow Wisp, and that alicorn had. According to White Light we would be at the train station in just a few minutes. That’s where we would most likely have to call the train from Ponyville (slavers used it frequently to transport and sell slaves) and wait for both it and the other group to meet us. We had a fair bit of time even when we got there, and that didn’t excite me a whole lot. This was mainly because I didn’t feel comfortable around White Light, who I saw as untrustworthy.

There was a lot of reasons I didn’t really want to be around her, and the main reason was because of her relationship with the Bloody Dread. I could take Willow Wisp being that way, as she had managed to knock some sense into me about that. However, that didn’t say anything about my trust in her. I didn’t know much about White Light as a pony, other than what she had told me about my Granny, and that’s what scared me the most. I didn’t want to believe Granny had would have killed my parents, yet there was a large part of me that believed that. That was the reason I took my anger out on White Light, because I didn’t want to believe it no matter how much I knew it was true.

Sadly, it was starting to get to that point once again where I felt like I needed to speak. I actually felt sweat starting to fall from my forehead as I thought about anything to speak on. What I’ve learned about White Light from my sparse (and rather short) conversations was that she liked Zebra’s, use to have an addiction to stamped that ended with her joining the Angel Hunters, and that Dread use to be a nice pony. That last one was definitely the weirdest one, considering that he is known as the biggest mass murderer in the wasteland. She did admit that he could be cold at some points, but the very fact that he had enslaved somepony seemed to be unthinkable to her. Apparently he had really high respect for others, which is why she found it hard to believe he would go on a murdering spree of any kind. That was her main reason of joining the Angel Hunters, so she could learn the reason why he is doing this and what these ponies did.

“If you want to speak go ahead and say something,” I looked up from the fractured road we were walking on as I heard White Light’s voice call in my direction. “If you really don’t trust me you could have gone straight back to the HQ and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”

I didn’t have an answer, and I simply ignored the question as we continued walking down the road. There was a large portion of me that believed that I was heading into a trap, yet for some reason I kept walking with her down the road. I guess it was because she promised to solve the mystery of my parents murder and show me where they died. Those were the only two reason I could think of, and I wanted to know what happened so badly that I didn’t want to turn back. As I looked down at the road I noticed that White Lights had stopped moving and that they were now standing horizontally across the ruin road.

I looked up to her and stared at into her eyes with as much intensity as I could. “Don’t think that I’m going to be nice just because you are apparently my ‘sister’,” I spoke stomping my hoof on the ground as I did. “I don’t hug and smile to the friend of a murderer, not even if it’s my own sister. If you really want to know then I’m here because you are the only pony who knows has any idea about what happened to my parents.”

“Our parents,” She said as if she was trying to correct me. “We had and lost the same mother and father. Just because I’m the friend of the Bloody Angel doesn’t make me the bad guy.”

She started walking back down the road as I talk to her. “I don’t care if we had the same mother or if the pony I grew up with killed her, that doesn’t change a thing about who you are,” I barked at her with all the hate in my heart “Dead Hooves was sent to you because somepony thought you were trustworthy and I learn that you are the friend of the most wanted criminal in the wasteland. How the fuck do you expect me to trust you?”

“I don’t expect you to trust me,” She answered as she stopped walking yet again and turned to me. “If you want to believe I’m the bad guy here then sure, go ahead and believe I’m the bad guy,” She took her pistol and tossed it to me. The gun landed in front of my hooves in a loud clink. “If you really want to go through with this then go ahead and shoot me where I stand! Shoot your own sister in what everypony in the wasteland will see as cold blood!”

I took the gun and looked to White Light, who was standing perfectly still in front of me. She wasn’t going to anything about it, and at first I didn’t care. I checked to make sure the gun was loaded before aiming it down at her neck. It felt so tempting to shoot right there, to do exactly as she said. I had no idea why I was shaking as I did this, and why it took me so long to pull the trigger. Slowly I started pulling the trigger, ready to end this all.

“Stitches!”

My eyes went wide with shock as I heard the sound of Mud Swirl around me. I dropped the gun, my body no longer able to move as my memory turned back to what happened on the Smokey Mountain’s. I looked in front of me to see not that of White Light but my dead brother Mud Swirl standing in front of me. I knew he wasn’t there, but that didn’t keep me from shedding tears. I could see him coming closer, with every step more and more tears started falling from my face. I couldn’t kill him, I couldn’t even kill White Light. That was all that was going through my head as I suddenly collapsed to the ground, crying uncontrollably.

I looked as I felt the feeling of a hoof on me, seeing White Light above me. “W-what’s going on?” I asked her. “Why did you suddenly look like Mud Swirl to me?”

“When the mind of somepony sees tragedy the event refuses the leave there mind,” White Light said, almost like she was trying to be philosophical. “Mud Swirl. From what Sharpshot told me he was your adopted brother, and that you loved him with your heart. You never saw him die in that cave, and you blame yourself for letting it happen,” I curled up as she talked, my mind going back to the moment I realized he had died. “Killing a pony is different from saving one, as there is not only more consequence for success but you have to carry the burden and sorrow of those who loved them,”

I felt myself suddenly get picked up from the ground, the feeling of White Lights back on my stomach. I felt like a mess, I was a mess. She was right, as much as I didn’t want to admit it White Light was right. I never saw Mud Swirl die, I left that cave before it happened, and I didn’t find out that dragon crushed him until after it all happened. There really was a weight to his death, one that I hadn’t fully felt until I tried to pull the trigger against my sister. I looked to White Light who had started walking, carrying me on her back.

“He’s the only pony I haven’t managed to save,” I mumbled, not expect her to hear it.

“As much as his death is a bad thing,” She said in reply to my mumbling “Doesn’t the weight make you feel more willing to save ponies?” She looked to me as she continued once again “I know it’s wrong of me to say something that seems so horrible, but it’s true. Whether it’s our mistakes that lead to a future accident or something we were never prepared for, weight strengthens a pony. The death of a family member, whether the relationship with the pony is through blood or not, it’s the ultimate weight. Do you think Dead Hooves would have the same spark she has if her father didn’t die?”

I was angry at hearing what she said, but that didn’t make it any less true than it really was. As much as it pains me to think about it, Dead Hooves would have been very different if her father was still alive. I saw her as somepony who didn’t let anything, not even her own paralysis, get the better of her. She didn’t want to make a difference simply because of her father or Twister, she wanted to make a difference because she doesn’t believe in limitations. Dead Hooves’ father, as little as I know about him, seemed to be a pony who stuck up for anyone. She told me he was someone who wanted to make a difference and wouldn’t abandon her daughter for her disability like other ponies in the wasteland do. His death must have given Dead Hooves a reason to live on, knowing that he wanted the best for her and wanted to make sure she was strong for when she found herself out here.

“We’re here,” White Light said getting my attention. “Las Pegasus train station.”

I looked to see a rather small building with the front of it missing not far away from where we were. As I looked to behind me I could see what Sharpshot had called No Mare’s Land only two blocks down. I lost sight of the desolate field as we entered the station which really wasn’t that interesting. There was a small counter at the side where ponies most likely ordered tickets for the trains they would head on. I was able to see the rest after White Light let me off her back, and the first thing I saw brought both relief and fear to me.

“That’s odd,” White Light said as she saw the same thing I did. “The trains already here.”

On one hoof this was a good thing, as it meant we didn’t have to wait hours for a train to arrive. This way we could leave as soon as Sharpshot and Willow got back, which meant something would find us as we waited. On the other hoof, however, the train shouldn’t even be here since the only ponies in Las Pegasus were the Angel Hunters. They had no need for a train with the Raptors able to transport them from the air and could therefore avoid boarding a train with raiders or slavers. I looked to White Light, who was looking back at me just as confused as I was.

“Maybe taking the train isn’t as safe as we thought,” I said, no longer wanting to board it.

“Once we clear it out it will be,” White Light replied as she took her pistol out again. “Follow behind me, don’t think that your brain responded to me just because I’m your sister. It might respond to other ponies as well, even if you they are raiders and slavers.”

As I nodded the I heard a strange sound coming from the train, watching as the doors seemed to open by itself. It was rather clear somepony was in there, probably expecting us to be either be unarmed or idiots. White Light motioned me behind her as she made her way up to the train door, moving slowly but alert. As we enter the train we were both confused to see not a pony around. I kept my eyes on my sister as she made her way over to the left side of the train car. I turned to following her, not getting more than step before I felt the cold barrel of a gun against my back.

“A wise pony would have checked the seats of the train before turning away,” I heard the voice of a stallion behind me, White Light’s ears perking up as she turned around at the sound of it. I knew this wasn’t Sharpshot talking, as his voice wasn’t very deep or harsh sounding. “An even wiser pony would have left the train station at the very knowledge that every citizen in Los Pegasus is either dead, a grotesque horror, ghoul, or an experiment. It’s ponies like you that make my goal so easy.”

“Do you always monologue before you meaninglessly threaten an ally of Dead Hooves,” I heard yet another voice, this one a bit more mechanical, as if it was coming from a robot. “Or is this just fun for you.”

I could feel the barrel move away from my neck and I turned around to see the sight of an Earth Pony and Sprite Bot looking at me. The earth pony had pitch black fur with an almost equally as dark grey mane and tail. He was rather bulky as well, more bulky than Sharpshot or any of the Angel Hunter stallions I had seen. The shotgun he carried was, a weird as it looked, purple with a hot pink pump on the bottom of it. He looked at me with a cruel look in his eyes, yet White Light walked up with no fear of him whatsoever.

“Of all the ponies I expected you were the last pony I thought to meet in this Celestia forsaken city,” White Light said to the pony completely calm. “Nice to see you two here, Dread, Watcher.”

I couldn’t count how many heartbeats I skipped as I looked to the pony who had stuck his gun to my neck. The look he was given, it seemed like one I always imagined a raider having before the kill someone. I was in fear at the very sight of him, if this stallion was as strong as he looked he could easily take any of us down. This was stallion that had put Willow Wisp through torture, who had forced her to kill others or be bait. His name was exactly what I felt as I stared at him, Dread.

“I hope you can explain why Willow Wisp or Dead Hooves isn’t here,” Dread sneered at White Light. “I went through hell to keep the two of those alive. They better alive, because ally or not I will-”

“Dead Hooves is safe Dread,” The Sprite Bot supposedly named Watcher told Dread with a sigh. It’s kind voice took me as off guard considering the company it was in. In fact it sounded sympathetic. “Zoey, for what reason I don’t know, saved her life. She’s not in good shape, but with proper care she should be able to walk when we see her. As for Willow Wisp…”

Sprite Bot trailed off, mumbling to itself inaudibly. I was glad Dead Hooves was safe, as White Light and Dread (surprisingly) both seem to as well, but yet again my heart skip some beats. I almost fainted from the amount of heartbeats that had been skip over the past few minutes, but I kept conscious as I my thoughts turned to worry for the mute pegasus. The way Watcher just drifted off made me think that Willow had died.

“What the fuck is wrong with Willow?” Dread shouted at the Sprite Bot in rage. “She better not be dead, I still need her!”

“She’s fine Dread,” Watcher hastily reassured the enraged stallion. “It’s just… I only saw a few seconds of the camera feed in Stable 33 before that alicorn locked me out but she seemed... taller.”

Dread face hoofed at this, shaking his head in disbelief. “Sweet fucking Celestia suck on a pole that is what your so concerned about?” He yelled at Watcher. How did White Light get along with this Stallion? “Well tell me when that ghoul motherfucker shows up with Willow. We aren’t leaving until she is on the train.”

He walked up to me, stared for a second, and then shoved me to the side without a word. I landed with an “oof” into one of the seats, which for some reason were made of wood. I held my head with my hooves at the hard contact with the wooden seat. The pain wasn’t so bad I cried, but it wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. I opened my eyes, having had them closed during the initial contact, and looked to see White Light offering me her hoof. I took it in my hoof and used her strength to help me sit up.

“Sorry about that,” White Light apologized to me as she helped me up. “Other than the morality spectrum and voice the only other thing that differentiates Sharpshot from Dread is their way of communicating. At least Sharpshot tries to hold a conversation.” She looked to the Sprite Bot, who was floating towards us. As she let go off my hoof she pointed to the Bot that had been called Watcher. “Watcher, this is my long lost sister Stitch. Stitch, this is the Watcher, the Sprite Bot is only his way of communication to the ponies of the Wasteland. Nopony I know has ever met him muzzle to muzzle.”

I heard a soft giggle coming from the Sprite Bot. I raised an eyebrow at this, confused “What’s so funny?” I asked it, or him I guess considering that the voice of the pony controlling the Sprite Bot sounded masculine.

“Sorry,” He apologized to me still slightly giggling. “It’s just when I hear the name Stitch a pony isn’t usually the first species I think of,” He stopped giggling after a few more seconds, letting out a sigh. “Also, I think this might be the first time I’m actually allowing ponies into the cave. Of course this is also the first major threat in the Equestria Wasteland we are dealing with here, so I guess two and two go together.”

“So a mass murderer on board this train,” I looked behind myself to see Dread, who was seating in a seat far from the rest of us, looking at me with subtle rage in his eyes. I look back to Watcher and White Light, a shiver going up my spine “Who I’m promising to not shoot, harm, or anger in anyway shape or form, is not considered a major threat of any kind?”

“That’s a little hard to explain,” Watcher said, “To try and make this as short as possible considering that I’m going to loose connection so- Flash! Bam! Alakazam!” I jumped a little at the sudden blast of music coming out of the the Sprite Bot. It started to float away from us, which meant that Watcher had lost connection a lot sooner than he thought.

“Close the door,” Dread told us as I looked back to see him loading his shotgun “We need the Sprite Bot to keep in contact with Watcher until we reach his little cave,” I opened my mouth, prepared to ask the same question I had to Watcher before Dread looked to me a spoke again. “And if you want to keep a bullet out of your head I suggest you don’t ask me questions.”

I closed my mouth and looked away from the Bloody Angel, looking down at my hooves for a second as his threat rang through my head. I looked in front of me as I saw White Light walking up to the door, keeping the Sprite Bot behind her at all times. I watched as her jaw suddenly dropped as she looked outside the door. I got up to see what had managed to surprise my sister and found myself staring just as dumbfounded at the sight in front of us.

“Dread?” She called out to the pony, who didn’t even look up from his gun. “I think we know why Willow Wisp looked taller to Watcher.”

This caught the Stallions attention, looking out the window like me and White Light had been doing. His expression didn’t even change at what he saw, giving a interested “hmm” to the sight before him. The first thing I noticed was Sharpshot and that alicorn name Flame Dancer running towards us. The second thing I noticed was the other alicorn riding on Sharpshot’s back, who I only managed to make out as Willow Wisp due to the part of her left ear that was missing. Dread’s reaction was very under exaggerated, as my mind was going through various whats and hows as to why Willow Wisp was an alicorn.

What came out of Sharpshot’s mouth was probably the most unexpected thing, as he was speaking at bullet time. “Start-the-train-start-the-train-START-THE-TRAIN!” He exclaimed, not taking any breaths as he spoke.

Dread was the first to react, heading off to the end of the train cart, opening the door, and walking out. I looked back as Sharpshot jumped into the train, landing on White Light and the Sprite Bot. I looked to Willow Wisp and examined her, realizing just how different she looked. She was an alicorn, so the immediate thing that came to my attention was the horn on her forehead, which was at least an inch bigger then Sharpshot (that being said his horn was actually rather small for a unicorn). Then again, she looked bigger in general. When I last saw her she seemed rather young and scared, now she looked like she was a full grown mare. The only difference from a normal mare was her height, and the span of her wings. I’d say that at full length her wings could almost touch both ends of the train car.

“For Luna's sake Sharpshot,” White Light said as she pushed the bounty hunter off her. “You couldn’t wait for me to move before you-”

“No time to explain,” Sharpshot said cutting off White Light. He helped Willow Wisp up and moved her next to White Light. “Get her up to the front of the train and get this thing started. We’re leaving station now!” He turned to me and the other alicorn with them. “Stitch, Bullet, you two are going to help me take down that little mob following us.”

“What the hell is happening?” I asked him, my brain only somewhat making sense of everything that was currently going on. I looked to Willow Wisp, how waved to me weakly “Why is Willow an alicorn?"

“To make a long and complicated story short, Zoey betrayed us,” Sharpshot replied. “She tried to sell us out to a group of alicorns that were experimenting on ponies to try and create alicorns. To summarize what happened, Silver Bullet here killed the Overstallion, they put Willow and a tank and pumped taint into her bloodstream, I saved her from absorbing to much, and we stole locations to some sort of plan involving Twister.”

White Light was the first to react to this “Why the fuck did you kill an Overstallion?!”

“Didn’t I tell you to get Willow Wisp farther up the train?” Sharpshot asked, looking at White Light with fury in his eyes. White Light nodded, helping an exhausted Willow Wisp up and helping her over to the next train car. As soon as the Sharpshot closed the door that exited the train I heard the train whistle go off. “Who the hell… is somepony else on the train?”

I was more then obliged to answer his question. “Dread, the Blood Angel who enslaved your fillyfriend before we all meet, he’s on this train as well,” Sharpshot looked at me, his already red cheeks managing to get even redder as I called Willow Wisp his fillyfriend. He didn’t even have a reply, just turning away as the train came to life.

I could feel the train slowly but surely starting to move under my hooves. I looked in front of me as the train we were on starting leaving the station, gaining speed as we exited. After a few more seconds we left the station, and the train was up to full speed as it started down the railway. I looked to Sharpshot, who was looking out the windows as we left the desolate city of Las Pegasus behind. He held Flash Fire in magic, almost like he was waiting to fire at something.

“Silver Bullet,” Sharpshot turned his attention back to Flame Dancer, or I guess Silver Bullet at this point. “Head back with Willow, give your shotgun to Stitch!”

I looked to Silver Bullet, who through her gun at me as I did. Stumbled back and caught the thing in my mouth, it was a different shotgun then what Dread seemed to have, being the normal metallic color I usually saw from guns. I looked to the side to see the words “RM .50” on it. The only part of it that made sense was the fifty caliber, which was strange because shotguns used shells, not normal bullets. I look back up to where Silver Bullet was, about to tell her what happened with White Light earlier, but she was already gone by that time. With the shotgun strap flung around my back I walked up to Sharpshot.

“I got this side of the train,” Sharpshot said, looking at me through the corner of his eyes. “You take the other, we need to lock down both of them so Alicorns don’t barge in.”

“You're being chased by alicorns!”

“Let’s just say Silver Bullet pissed off an entire stables worth of them,” He looked back to me, his front right hoof resting on the side of the window. “Now do you want to die today or live longer.”

I wasn’t about to leave Sharpshot, considering I’ve patched him up more times then I want to count. I hopped onto a seat next to the the window across from his and looked down at the shotgun I had been handed. It wasn’t intelligible, but I could quietly hear Mud Swirls voice in my head as I stared at it. I had to forcefully look away from the gun to keep myself from tearing up. This wasn’t going to help, I had to keep my mind on what was really going on. With that in mind I looked out the window and… oh shit.

“Sharpshot?” My eyes darted to the ghoul, who didn’t turn back to address me. “Exactly how many alicorns would you consider a mob.”

“I’d say about fifteen or twenty,” He answered back, “Never counted the number because I was running for my CELESTIA DAMN LIFE!”

I had to catch myself as I took in the number he had just feeded me. At least fifteen alicorns were chasing us, and if I counted correctly then six of those were at my window. I looked back outside, and I could feel my heart racing as I saw just how fast they were flying. They were catching up to us and in mere minutes they would be at the window. I looked to the the shotgun, which I could only assume was called the RM. The instant I thought of raising it to the window my limbs collapsed, and I found myself unable to move as the gun feel out of my hooves and onto the floor in front of me. I couldn’t see him move but I could hear Sharpshot shifting his position on the train seat at the sound of the gun dropping.

“What the fuck are you do-”

He was cut off be the sound of the train ceiling exploding, something that I could see from my limp position on the left side of the train. I could feel small shards of metal scratch my skin, but the worst pain came from the a jagged piece of metal that flew into my right eye. My limpness suddenly as I felt the worst pain in my entire life, screaming at the top of my lungs at the very feel of it. I closed my eyes, only for my right eyelid to sting and open at the feeling of blood on it. Yet when I opened it I couldn’t see anything from my right eye. I saw blood slowly dripping from my face, and I didn’t need to think any more about where that shard had hit me. It hit my pupil, the very part of my eye that made it able to see had been struck, and had permanently blinded me in one eye.

My misfortune didn’t end there as I felt a sudden force against my chest, seeing a large blue hoof make contact with my stomach. I coughed up a little blood be looking up to the face of an alicorn standing over with three daggers floating in magic, all pointing at me. With the pressure applied to my body, I couldn’t help but watch as I saw an inevitable death approaching me. That was until the sound of the shot went off behind the alicorn, and I could see her eyes widen before collapsing onto me. I looked to see Sharpshot rush up to me and shove the now dead alicorn aside. He had a few scrapes on him, but nothing that could be as pain as what I was feeling. I couldn’t help but cry in front of him as I’ve never felt pain like this.

Blood was starting to flow down my face, and I watched as Sharpshot went to my right eye and pulled out the metal shard that had blinded it. I hoped that my vision would have returned once he had pulled it out but the entire right side of my vision was pitch black. I couldn’t believe what had just came to light. Almost as if hoping to prove me wrong I tried to looked down at my front right hoof, but didn’t see it. No matter how much I denied it, the truth was the exact same as it was before. My right eye had been left blind, leaving me half blind for the rest of my life. That didn’t keep me from seeing the alicorn rise back up, shocking me that it wasn’t dead.

“Sharpshot behind you!” I yelled to him as the alicorn got up as if she wasn’t even injured.

He turned around as the alicorn once again raised daggers in my direction. Another shot rang out and I watched as the alicorns next had gain a giant hole in it. Sharpshot hadn’t raised his gun, which I double check by turning so my left eye could see his full body, which meant the shot came from somewhere else. With that in mind I looked to the direction that White Light and the others had gone of to, seeing Dread holding a strange weapon. I didn’t manage to get an incredibly go look at it before he put it away. He looked specifically to me, and I could tell he wasn’t happy with having to help me.

“White Light and the others are five train cars ahead, only one car away from the head of the train,” He said, his voice specifically showing disgust. “A wimp like you has no use up here, get the fuck out.”

As if this couldn’t get any worse it actually did. Not wishing to see his reaction if I stayed around, I got up and made my way of the seat. It felt slightly unnerving to walk, not just because of the pain I was in but because half my vision has been permanently lost. I look to Sharpshot, who actually was looking at me with sympathy before motioning to the door of the train car. As I made my way to the car door I was stop by Dread, who was looking at me with a sinister look in his eyes. He moved in front of me so his shoulder bumped my the base of my neck and whispered into my ear.

“A few words of advice,” His voice sent a shiver down my spine, but I listened as he spoke. “You ever pointed a hoof at Willow Wisp and blame her for the shit I’ve done, and that other eye of yours will be gone as quickly as the first,” My body went cold at the suggestion of that, yet he wasn’t done just yet. “Secondly, you were a complete retard letting that fucking zebra travel with you all. She’s a backstabber, liar, skilled assassin, and while she doesn’t show it meant to kill your so-called-grandmother, Cotton Ball if I remember right. I knew her, she was a friend like everypony else Twister has killed. Your friend Dead Hooves is the only one still alive and if she dies this killing was all for nothing. I want you to chain her up as soon as the fucking raptor lands in Ponyville. You know what will happen if you don’t.”

With that he moved out of my way, and I quickly sprinted to the door and made my way into the next train car. He was right about one thing, we shouldn’t have let Zoey come with us. I tried my best not to show it, as I knew it was best not to argue with Sharpshot, but I could feel like that zebra couldn’t be trusted. I don’t know how much I trust Dread’s words, but considering what Zoey supposedly set Willow and Sharpshot on up for it was clear. She was not on our side, and we’ve paid the ultimate price letting her come with us. My brother died for her, and she repays us with a supposed trap.

I slowly made my way down the train car, only stopping as I heard the sound of magic out an open window. Looking outside, I saw an alicorn coming down the train with a magic laser, cutting the train from the windows up. I had to angle my head weird to see that she was only three cars away, and realizing this I quickly stammered back and run to the next train door. I opened it up, only to come face to face with another alicorn with a green coat and yellow hair. His gaze fixed on me as I slowly backed up, looking to my left to see that the end of the magic laser was getting closer to me. I watched as the alicorn pulled out a strange rifle, and by strange I mean the gun literally looked like a box.

I could hear the gun start up, and looking to my right I jumped into the train seat as the laser shaved the tip of my ears. The gun only fired for a second before I heard the collapse of the gun and something else. The laser hadn’t actually cut the iron as I realized, but I soon realized what it could when I saw the alicorns head cut clean off. I could actually see his spine, muscles, veins, and everything else in his neck. It was almost like the laser chopped him like a sharp knife chops an onion, clean and almost completely messless. Blood poured through both his head and neck, creating a puddle of blood in the train isle.

I looked at the gun he was firing, which was attached to a battle saddle. It had multiple holes on the end of its box shaped muzzle which looked exactly like the rest of the gun. It looked like a minigun, but the difference was that it fired shotgun shells instead of powerful bullets. As much as I didn’t want to, I rolled the alicorns body over and detached the battle saddle from him. I forcefully put on the battle saddle to my body, only to realize I couldn’t see the strange gun due to it being on my blind side. Turning my head left, I looked to it and fit an unintelligent scream in my head. It felt hard calling it that, but I needed to remember my life was on the line and that this thing would protect me. I read the print on the side to myself in curiousity.

So the Ministry of Awesome designed this weapon, Project Gatling as it was called. Well, considering how I’ve never heard of this weapon it must have been a top secret project. Heck, the gun didn’t even have an official name, as far as I can guess this thing isn’t even fully finished. It would make sense, considering that the gun didn’t even have a handle, sights, fully muzzle, or a reload chamber as far as I could see. The name made sense considering how the base of it looked, which I assumed was all that was really there. It was completely function though, as there was a trigger and I did hear a few shots go off before the alicorn carrying it died.

I could hear gun fire in the train car, and decided it was best to move away. That is what Dread wanted after all and I wasn’t about to complain. I moved as fast as I could back to the train car’s door and reached for the handle on the door. As I reached where I thought the handle was, I was met with air. I stupidly pawed the air outside of my vision with my right hoof, searching for the to the door. After multiple failed attempts I finally gave up and turned my head so I could see the entire door with my working eye. I was at least an inch off from where the handle actually was on the door, and I felt even more stupid at my sad attempt to open a freaking door.

I finally opened the door and made my way to the next train car, having to turn diagonally to compensate for the gigantic gun strapped to me. As I made my way in, I heard the sounds of metal clink, and looked to see that three train cars down someone had detached the cars behind us. I honestly worry more about Sharpshot then I really should, but leaving him with the Bloody Angel seemed like a death sentence. I couldn’t help but pray for his safety before moving on up the train car, stopping as I heard the sound of cracking glass behind me.

I turned to my left, not seeing anything that could have possibly broken glass. Then I heard something shatter behind me, and a force kicked my back. I feel to the floor as I made out the shape of a hoof standing above me, and heard the sound of a gun go off. I felt a spray of bullets dart my right shoulder, and I winced in pain as I looked desperately for the hoof I had seen just a moment ago. It was then my flank came in contact with the back of one of the train seats, and I felt a small piece of metal push back against my right hoof. The sound of multiple shots could be heard in the train car as I Looked down at the ground. The sound of a body came not long after the shots faded, and I searched the train car for what it was. Then I felt something under my hoof, and I turned my vision to see I had stepped on an empty shotgun shell.

“Oh no,” I winced in pain as I looked for the body of the alicorn that must have broken the window. “No no no no. Please don’t tell me I did what I-”

I don’t think I need to tell you what I saw in front of me, but let me tell you a little about bullets. I’ve had a lot of ponies come to me over the years, and I can tell you that from a doctor’s perspective it’s more easy to tell what injuries came from what. When it came to things such as shotgun shells, the visible damage done to a pony tends to be much visible, and the survival chance is much lower considering they tend to leave a gigantic hole in a pony. Bullets such as .308, .45, 10 mm, and even 50 mm tend to have a better chance of injection due to them getting lodged inside a pony's body and show much less visible impact. Considering that my right shoulder wasn’t currently half on the floor, and the size of the injuries I had obtained from the bullets, this alicorn was using .308 bullets. Less damage overall, but more plentiful; More plentiful meant more infections seen from that type of bullet in my lifetime. A shotgun shell could not have done this, and that was clear considering that this so-called Project Gatling had left at least seven large holes in the pony. One in each hoof, two to the stomach, and one to the chest.

I felt the sudden rush off puke come to my mouth, and turned away from the aile. Killer guilt, a false guilt if you ask me; The feeling somepony gets when they first killed something, typically resulting in vomiting. That’s exactly what I had happened to me, but this was no false guilt as I didn’t even realize I had fired off Project Gatling. I felt like I was going to throw up my organs I was there for so long. Even when I was done I didn’t move for several minutes, the sounds of gunshots ringing out still a few train cars down. I simply stared down at the puddle of vomit in front of me. I had done the unthinkable, something no doctor should ever do. I killed a pony, it was by accident but I killed a pony. Even if they were going to kill me, I couldn’t help but think about what I had done.

“Oh sweet moons,” I heard the sound of an unfamiliar voice behind me, sounding sweet yet innocent. “Stitches, are you all-”

I turned around at the sound of the voice, and a gasp came from the pony standing in front of me. I would have been more shocked about the pony speaking to me if what I had just done didn’t outrule any shock I had ever felt. Said pony was a white alicorn, with blood stained skin. She was shorter than the other alicorns that were attacking us. It was then I noticed the wings, and if there was one thing I remember it was that Willow Wisp had half of the feathers on her wings burnt. Such a thing would have never allowed her to fly, and looking at the alicorn in front of me she had the exact same wings. They were bigger, but that didn’t help me realize exactly who it was the was speaking. Of course, considering everything I knew it couldn’t be Willow Wisp talking.

“Stitches,” Yet it somehow was. “Your eye… it’s-”

She didn’t finish before I heard the sound of the door opening in the direction I had been heading. White Light and the alicorn Sharpshot had called Silver Bullet stepped through, and ran to my side. Even with Willows earlier reaction, nothing showed the how bad my right eye must have looked compared to my own sister. White Light gave me a hug, and I could hear her crying behind my back. I returned the hug, any doubt in my mind that she was lying about being my sister was washed away as I did. The tears alone proved that, as I couldn’t think who she could have faked them.

“I’m sorry,” White Light apologized. “I should have told Sharpshot about earlier.”

“I killed a pony,” Was the only thing that came out of my mouth. I couldn’t pull my eyes, or rather eye, off of the alicorn that laid dead in front of me. Willow and Silver Bullet turned around and gasped as they realized what I had done. “I killed a pony, and I didn’t even mean to. It was an accident!”

I felt the weight of the battle saddle come off of me, and looked to see White Light had thrown it around her head, resting it on her back. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll take it.” I nodded my head, smiling the best I could.

I turned to Willow Wisp, who seemed to predict what I was going to say to her. “Killing joke,” She told me. “Dread made me eat some not long before I broke out of the raider camp, and promised a remedy. Honestly I don’t know why he actually followed up on his promise, but I’m not going to complain about talking,” She smiled at me as she continued. “You want to know how painful it was for me to not be able to talk for so long? It sucked, well not as much as getting beaten to near death. Thanks for helping back when we first met by the way, I wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for you. Well, you and Dead Hooves since-”

“Duck!” Silver Bullet pushed us to the ground as another light green laser seem to teleport to through the walls of the train. As we lost vision of the magic laser, Silver Bullet looked to the once mute pony with surprised “For goddess sakes Willow can’t you wait till we're out of danger to talk? For a pony who was completely silent on the way here your lips move faster than a minigun spitting out bullets.”

Willow simply shrugged in response, almost completely unaware of the danger that we had just been in “What can I say,” She responded. “I like to talk. Being mute was absolute torture, not as bad as those raiders again but still rather bad. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made Dread wish he was deaf, or how many times I was slapped for doing it. Not fun but-” She caught a glimpse of the look Silver Bullet was giving her, and immediately motioned with her hoof that her lips were sealed.

“Why are you all not at the front of the train?” I asked them, remembering that Sharpshot had told them to stay back. “Did something happen?”

“Let’s just say we aren’t going to let Dread and Sharpshot have all the fun.” White Light responded. “We are just as capable at fighting as they are. Besides, we will need you to ‘stitch’ us up if you get what I mean.”

She nudged my shoulder as I heard a groan Willow Wisp. She’s been saving that one, hasn’t she? Well, considering our current situation I thought that the best response was to look at her with a blank expression on my face and in the most monotone voice say “No. Just… no.”

“Before we continue moving Miss Stitch,” I almost didn’t recognize Silver Bullets voice. A moment ago it was low and gruff, or at least for a mare. Now it was higher pitch and she was talking quieter. “I... uh… saw your eye and… well after thinking about it I thought… uh,” She didn’t finish her sentence at all, holding out an eyepatch. “It’s… to cover up your eye.”

I simply stared at the alicorn, completely confused at what had just happened. After a few more seconds I finally picked up the eye patch, which I didn’t even care to ask about where it came from, and looked at it. I couldn’t see it, but considering the reactions I have gotten no doubt my eye looked rather bad. It wasn’t anything I wanted to ponies to see, but when you put on an eye patch it’s almost like wearing shades. Ponies think your suppose to be tough and strong, and considering I just hurled from killing a pony that didn’t feel right. Still, I guess it would help me look like a badass doctor, even though doctors usually don’t get there right eye stabbed by a train car. I put it on slowly, only realizing that my mane was getting in the way. After a minute I managed to get the eyepatch through my mane, and looked to my sister for approval on the look.

“Well talk about looks once this is over okay,” She told me. “Now do you still have that old-fashion rifle in your saddlebags, the one that you took from the Armory?”

The rifle! I had completely forgotten about the fact I had taken it. I nodded my head at White Light and handed her the saddlebags I had been carrying. After several minutes digging she finally found what she was looking for. Honestly, it was hard for me to see this thing actually being able to work. The thing seemed more like a toy pop-gun, like the one I remember Mud Swirl had owned. Despite that, White Light took it with a large grin on her face, and stared out the window. She used the butt of it to break the jagged glass that was still on the broken window.

“Silver Bullet. Willow Wisp. Head on ahead,” The two alicorns both nodded in response to White Lights command, Willow a little more hesitant than Silver Bullet seemed to be. After they left my sister turned back to me. “Stitches, as much as I know it’s hard for you to take I need your help. It doesn’t matter if we kill the other alicorns if that thing takes our fucking heads off,” She loaded a round into the underside of the, which I made out as a .30 bullet. “I got one shot and I can’t aim the gun due to the size of the window. I need you to go to the window behind me and help me aim the rifle.”

“So you need me to sight for you?” She nodded in responce to my question. She was right about one thing, that alicorn had nearly taken my head off twice, as well as one of it’s own. “Alright, but I’m not the one pulling the trigger.”

“Don’t worry,” She replied as she raised the old rifle into the air. “Just leave that to me.”

With that decided she turned back to the window she was looking out of before, and I hopped into the one next to her. She carefully brought her hooves and the gun out the window, and just like she said the window was nowhere near wide or tall enough for her to aim it. I did as she said and leaned outside the window. Not as many alicorns were surrounding the train anymore, but from the gunfire I could only assume most of them were either dead or inside the train. Of course, that wasn’t my job at the moment. I could see the alicorn who was firing the green laser in the distance. As she reached the end of the train she did an aerial roll and changed directions. I could feel the beating of my heart in my neck, and with my left eye I looked down the near invisible iron sights of the gun.

“Don’t aim for the head,” White Light explained to me. “Aim for the neck, or even better the spine. We hit her there we either paralyze her or she drops dead due to the veins running down her neck from her brain to the heart.”

Obviously I was the only one here who knew that disabling the brain with a shot not very likely. She was right about the spine, however. If I shot that the chance of survival was slim, and by slim I mean no one has ever come to me and survive such a shot. By that time they were already dead, and by that I mean I never saw someone with a broken spine around the neck come to me before. I kept that in mind as the alicorn made her way towards us.

My target was her neck “Up a little bit,” Which meant that I had to account for everything such as wind… “To the right about a centimeter,” and of course gravity, as bullets followed the same rules of physics as most ponies do. “Up a little higher,” Of course, the distance was a major factor as well, “Wait for it,” I was counting on what Sharpshot had told me to get out of this mess. “Wait for it,” Everyone's life was on the line…

And I wasn’t about to let another pony die from my mistakes. “NOW!”

The sound the old rifle made was more like metal clinking, but the recoil was as clear as light. I couldn't see where the shot went, but I could see the alicorn that had almost killed me twice suddenly fell to the ground. I saw a ray of magic shoot out of the alicorn's horn as the impact came, and watched as it gruesomely cut one of the alicorns behind it straight in half. Their inside literally start falling out, and I teared my eyes away, only to catch a glimpse back at the alicorn I had killed earlier. I felt ready to hurl again, and leaned out the window so that I didn’t puke on another seat. It didn’t come, and the only thing I felt was the comforting hug that White Light was currently giving me.

“It’s going to be okay,” She tried to assure me. “We’re trying to make the wasteland better, and as sad as it is that means some ponies are going to die.”

I looked at her, I didn’t know whether to believe my sister at the moment or not. “How can you be so sure?” I asked her. “Ponies haven’t learned anything from the war. Who would be willing to help us save the wasteland, if that’s even what we are doing?”

“The Enclave have always promised Equestria that they will bring back the world we love.” She said, reminding me of the goals that the Enclave have constantly reported on the radio. “Even the Steel Rangers, despite becoming rather brutal in the past few years, I believe that they might still be able to save Equestria.”

I was about to ask White Light what she meant by the Steel Rangers being brutal only for the train car door to fly open. Silver Bullet flew backwards, and slowly stood back up as she fired a few shots into the car she had just been in. Following her was Willow, who ducked to the side of the car. After that I saw Dread and Sharpshot step through as well, the former kneeling down and unlatching the previous car door. I could see hooves grab the bottom of our train cars door, only for them to fall back as Dread delivered a shot out the door.

“Guess my orders about staying at the front of the train wasn’t so clear was it?” Sharpshot asked White Light in rage.

“Doesn’t exactly matter since you're already back here with us,” White Light pointed out, “I’m going to take a guess and say there are too many alicorns to deal with.”

“We’ve been unlatching train cars to try and gain more speed, as well as give us time to prepare,” Dread explained. “Fucking alicorns don’t take no for an answer, and we only have so much train left. I one of you got some sort of plan.”

“Not really,” White Light replied, shrugging as she stood up and took her pistol out. “I think that ‘kill every alicorn before they kill us’ is as good of a plan as any at the moment,” She looked back to me, knowing that was the last thing I wanted to here. “Or I guess we could always try blinding them in some way.”

“If you think you can do that then go ahead,” Sharpshot said as another alicorn tried to fly in. Sharpshot simply shot the alicorn and she fell out of the train. “The only other option is to ‘kill or be killed’ so I’m willing to take any plans ponies have, no matter how stupid it might be.”

White Light nodded and helped me up from my seat. “We’re going to do this together. I’m not going to kill another pony if you truly don’t want me to. I’ll do it only if there is no other option,” She put a hoof on my shoulder. “And if your life is in jeopardy.”

“Can you to save the emotional drama for later and do whatever the fuck you plan to?”

White Light rolled her eyes at Sharpshot’s impatience, but he was right. She handed project Gatling to Willow Wisp and told her to put it somewhere safe, which the alicorn did by hiding it under a chair. With that, we left the others to to take down the alicorns incase this plan went south (which I really hoped it wouldn’t), and I followed my sister as she opened the train door. We went from car to car, thankful that no more alicorns had decided to come after us, until we reached the front of the stream. It was definitely one of the older trains in Equestria, as it still had an engine powered by timber and charcoal instead of whatever newer train were powered by. Seeing this made me realize exactly what White Light’s plan was, and flame of hope ignited. This might just work

“We’re going to overload charcoal into furnace and try to create a cloud of smoke around the tra-” The sprite bot that Watcher had controlled bumped into her, and she pushed it into the nearest train car and closed the door before resuming “-around the train. Hope you don’t mind getting a little dirty Stitches.”

“I’m a doctor what do you think I do? Overload drugs into ponies like other stupid wasteland doctors,” I reminded her. “I might not metaphorically having blood on my hands but physically it’s nothing new. Hand me the shovel.”

Admittedly this wasn’t the blood of an injured pony I was about to get on my body, it was the dust sute of the charcoal on the train. Looking back I can’t think of how stupid it was we didn’t bring Willow Wisp along. She was quite literally our ‘professional digger’ and considering the movement of the train it was rather hard to keep any charcoal we had in our shovels. Nonetheless it was rather easy work, even with only a box full of charcoal, to get a large cloud of smoke going. We had to make sure we still had enough for the long ride to ponyville, and the smoke wouldn’t go far enough to reach the others. Thankfully, my sister knew a few things about pegasi that I had never bothered to try, all of which was surrounding weather management.

Now, being a pegasus on the ground with little to no sun shining, weather management wasn’t that big of a deal. To the Enclave, however, weather was probably a much more important part of life because it seemed like second nature to White Light. She seemed to shape the smoke like a cloud, rolling it into fluffy looking balls and completely destroying my sense of logic. After she had at least four smoke clouds my logic was further broken as she slung the clouds with her tail at the alicorns. I looked back to see the clouds nail the alicorns, who seemed to run away from them after the initial four. Sadly, while it did work in some terms, about four alicorns still stayed and easily dodged the clouds.

Knowing that we had done all we could, we reported back to the others. During that time they easily managed to take care of the last few alicorns remaining, and I watched as Willow fill down exhausted. The only one that wasn’t tired seemed to be Dread, who simply put his gun away and looked at me. I could tell he wasn’t overly happy about having to pull my butt out of the fire earlier, but looked away not much later. I let out a sigh as he took a seat, acting almost as if the fight hadn’t happened.

“We… did it,” Willow Wisp said between breaths. “We... actually won against… an alicorn force.”

“Don’t take it like a victory,” Dread responded. “You know just as much as I Willow that those alicorns were turned, not created. They don’t have the same amount of power as others have, but if it had-” He didn’t finish and turned to Sharpshot, which pretty much spelled it out.

“Okay, I fucked up!” Sharpshot said throwing his hooves into the air. “You can’t deny the thrill of the battle, and White Light’s idea actually worked. You can say all you want Dread but great heroes aren’t always fucking masterminds.”

“Oh yeah sure,” Dread responded in a sarcastic manner. “Going into an alicorn filled stable because a zebra you barely knew told you to. Real fucking great idea isn’t it? You should get a reward, one that says ‘congrats! You fucked up and almost got us killed’. Of course, I don’t expect much different from your rotting brain.”

Sharpshots usual sarcastic and ignorant manner seemed to fall away at this insult. “The fuck you just called me?”

“Sorry ghoul, did I hit a nerve?” I could tell Dread was trying to get on Sharpshots nerve, as he kept on taunting. “Or do you even have those anymore? As far as I can tell you are nothing but dead skin with red fur glued to your body.”

I didn’t turn my eye back to Sharpshot, but I could hear what he was saying. “If you really want to know this is my actual fur jackass.”

“Oh isn’t that cute, you’re still somewhat alive,” At this point even I knew Dread had gone to far. Sure, maybe Sharpshot deserved some of his own jerkish attitude, but this was starting to go too far. “The same still stands however. No pony loves you ghouls, you will only get worse over time, and no pony will ever love you. To bad considering that you will be living for much longer than most ponies here.”

I didn’t need to see anymore for both me and White Light to take action as Sharpshot jumped at Dread. I went to Sharpshot as White Light went to keep Dread from shooting anyone. All Sharpshot was able to do before I pulled him back was slap Dread on the face. Turning back, I was actually surprised to see Dread was actually not pulling his weapon out at all, leaving even White Light confused. As Sharpshot looked in there direction, his entire body stopped moving and he fell limp but alive. I looked back to White Light, who was give a peculiar glare to the ghoul, one that I remember she had use on me a few days before. Something about that stare, it was almost soul piercing.

“Been a long time since I’ve ever seen a pony use the stare,” Our gaze turned to the sprite bot, who had stopped playing music and carried the voice of Watcher like it had earlier. “It’s even stranger seeing somepony other then Fluttershy use it, and in such an interesting way. I remember Fluttershy telling me that it could do things even she could never replicate.”

“Wait. You knew Fluttershy?!” I couldn’t help but ask. If there was a minister how I loved that wasn’t Rarity, it would very obviously Fluttershy. My mind seemed to click as I remember what granny had taught me about pre-war Equestria “Wait, if you knew what it was that most likely means you know her from a personal perspective. Not many employees in the ministry of peace had contact with Fluttershy due to her timid nature, if I remember correctly. If that’s the case, and since every minister is most likely dead now-”

“His real name is Spike if that’s what you trying to figure out,” Sharpshot finished for me. “Personal assistant of Minister Twilight Sparkle of the Ministry of Arcane Science. You're not the only one who had a mother for a teacher, or a granny for you.” Sharpshot got up, seeming to have recovered from this so called ‘stare’ “The same Twilight Sparkle who straight up abandon Equestria and disappeared without a trace.”

“I’ve told you Sharpshot that if I knew where she had gone I would have told you,” Spike said. “But that’s not why I’m here. Before this thing loses control again I need to explain somethings to you all. Things I haven’t even told Dread.”

“Let me guess, something about the fate of Equestria being in the balance or some bullshit like that?” Dread asked, even though it seemed he already knew what Spike was saying.

“As much as I would love to say that isn’t true, it is,” Spike admitted. “Equestria, the Enclave, and every pony on the surface is in danger whether you want to admit it or not, and Dead Hooves and Dread are the only two ponies who know anything about it.”

Silver Bullet was the first one to ask the question we were all think “What do you mean Dread knows what’s going on?”

Spike turned to the mass murderer as he responded. “Cider Hooves, member of the Steel Ranger, Paladin. If he was still alive he would be sixty-five year old,” I let out a gasp. That description sounded so similar. “Dread, also a former member of the Steel Ranger, and a sentinel. Your forty-nine.” I looked back to Dread to see him nodding. Where was Spike going with this? “Cider Hooves was Dread’s mentor, and the father of your good friend Dead Hooves. She is the last surviving offspring of an agent of the Ministry of Arcane Science.”

Author's Notes:

This chapter took me about THREE WEEKS to finish, but it was very much worth it. It's finally revealed why Dead Hooves was spared by Dread, and it will go more in depth in the following chapter. Not only that, but we are closing in on over 100,000 words. When I said that the story was going to pick up speed after chapter 14 I wasn't kidding.

So please like, comment, and follow to show your love for this story and I will see you all in the next chapter.