The Wasteland.

I never been in the wasteland before. I grew up in the raider camp, and i wasn’t allowed to go outside. When I was younger, I watched the wasteland sometimes, but this was the real thing. I was in it, one with it. Nothing held me back. I felt free as if I could fly.

Back to reality, I realized I should fucking hurry. I still had about twenty hours, but I didn’t want to waste it in the wasteland. Oh my god, Did I really just said that?

The wasteland was boring, dull and gray. On the left, I saw something that used to be a city before the megaspell. I assumed it was Manehattan. I heard from other raiders, that there is a settlement called Tenpony Tower, a gold mine if I could put my hooves on it. I knew it was west from my home, so I started walking the opposite way.

I’ve been going for about a half hour now. Nothing happened so far. There was a small tree here and there, some boatflies and radroaches in the distance.

Suddenly, I heard something crawling in the ground before me. A molerat jumped on my face.

“Fuuuck!” It fucking bit my face.

Blood started to flow out of my right eyelid disturbing my eyesight.

“Fuuuck, fuck fuck you fucking shithead,” I kept yelling, smashing that molerat from my face. I focused my magic on my pistol, and shot that motherfucker. After the fourth shot, finally it died.

“Well, atleast I have something to eat.”

I put my pistol in its holster, and the molerat in my bag. I didn’t stop bleeding, so I had to patch it with my clothes. I cut the neck of my clothes, and tied it to my head over my right eye. I could see, but at least the bleeding stopped.

“Fucking molerat, I’m going to have this cut for a while. I should watch out more.”

I went on to the (hopefully) right direction.

After twenty minutes of traveling, I finally got to my destination. It was at a railway junction. There was some tent here and there and a campfire place in the middle. I spotted five ponies, but they didn’t look like raiders. Two of them were building a wall. The other three was discussing something.

I hid behind a rock.

“Something stinks, this should’ve been a fucking raider camp,” - I said. - “Maybe Dead Shot was mistaken, doesn’t matter, I have a mission.”

There was more rocks between me and the camp, so I rolled from one to the next one, until I got close to the talking ones. I could hear their conversation.

“This is madness!” - said a green mare with yellow mane, while hitting a table. - “We can’t build a settlement with just two builder.”

“Madness?” - replied a yellow unicorn stallion with brown mane. - “Well, maybe you’re right, but don’t worry Applesauce, I hired more workers, they just haven’t arrived yet.”

“Oh, yea?” - argued Applesauce. - “And what if, mhh, I don’t know, those fucking raiders attack us?”

“Calm down everypony,” - said the third one. She had white coat and red mane. - “There were no sight of any action from the raider gang.”

“Right, and even if they attack us, we have weapons, we can protect ourselves.” explained the stallion with a smile on his face.

“Oh fuck, they are armed, I need to find another way,” I wondered still hiding behind a rock.

There went my plan of just slaughtering them.

About five meters away from the other direction, a radroach appeared.

“Fuck, it could attack me anytime, but now,” I thought.

I didn’t move in a small hope of it might go away, but it started to crawl in my direction.

I kept still, swearing internally, trying to stay quiet. The radroach got close to me, and started to climb me. I was sweating and scared. When it got really close to my head, after some seconds, the radroach spat green goo on my face.

“Fuuuuuck,” I screamed, while I stood up.

I focused my magic on my pistol and shot the radroach, until it finally died. I looked around, and saw that the three pony watched me.

“Who the fuck are you?“ - yelled Applesauce. - “And why did you spy on us.”

“Me? Uhh...” Think, think Cold Blood.

“I heard… ” Quick, what did I hear?

“I heard that… you need somepony to guard you, while you’re building,” I said.

“Really? And just why were hiding behind that rock?” said the unicorn stallion.

“I… wasn’t hiding. When I was coming here, that fucking radroach jumped on my from nothing.”

“Fair enough,” - agreed the third one. - “So, you were saying, you’re a guard.”

“What? Oh yeah, yes, yes I’m totally a guard,” I replied.

“How much do you want for a day of guarding?” said the white mare.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait. We haven’t even decided if we want one.” said Applesauce.

“Then let’s decide it now,” said the yellow one.

They made a circle, leaving me out and began to whisper. I couldn’t make out anything of what they were saying.

While they were at it, I realized that, it would be perfect to get the job. I would probably get access to their weapon storage. I could kill them easily, with their weapons. They wouldn’t even stand a chance.

When they stopped talking, they looked at me with a smile on their face.

“Alright, newbie. You can have the job. 50 caps per day. Is it okay for you?” said the yellow stallion.

50 caps. It wasn’t much, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t doing this for the money.

“Great, welcome aboard! I’m Golden Nugget by the way,” replied.

“She’s Applesauce,” - pointed Golden Nugget on the green mare. - “And the white one is Red Rose.”

“Thank you, I’m Sour Peach.”

I came up with this alias, just in case. With a name like Cold Blood, they would’ve realized that I’m a raider.

“So, do I get any weapons?” I asked.

They looked at me confused.

“You came here to be a guard, and you don’t have a weapon?” asked Golden Nugget.

“I did have,” - I replied. - “But one night, I’ve got robbed, from then on, I kept looking for jobs.”

“And what about that pistol on your side?” questioned Rose.

“Oh, that. That’s all I could afford since then, but it can’t do much against an attack,” I explained.

“Alright, I guess I have no other choice,” - said Golden Nugget. - “The weapons are in that tent,” - he pointed on one of the tent. - “Get something, and get to work!”

“Yes, Sir!”

I walked to the tent and went inside. The tent wasn’t that big. About 15 feet long and 5 feet wide. When I looked around, I saw some ammo crates. On the crates were weapons. I counted 4 shotguns, 6 revolver, a sniper rifle, 3 assault rifle some grenades and 2 healing potions.

“Jackpot,” I smirked with an evil grin.

I put the healing potions, 2 grenade and one revolver in my backpack. When I was going out of the tent, I grabbed a shotgun with my magic, and trotted out. There stood Golden Nugget.

“I see you’re ready,” - he said. - “Let me show you your patrol line.”

I followed him to the table where they were discussing. There was a map.

“You see, we’re here,” - explained Golden Nugget. - “From our north along the railway is New Appleloosa, to our west is Manehattan and to our south is Fillydelphia. We believe these settlements will rise soon, and that’s why we decided to build one here, at their junction point. Little we knew, we began to build it, but recently we’ve discovered a raider gang to our south-west. That’s your most important direction to watch. We don’t know if there is any threat from the other directions, so you should watch those as well, but remember. South West has priority.”

“South West, but watch the other sides, gotcha,” I replied with a smile.

The job was boring. Nothing happened all along, but I decided to wait until the night, so I can kill them in their sleep. Here and there, I saw some radroaches, molerats, but nothing interesting.

The sun was setting (finally) when Red Rose came.

“Hey, thanks for the help, here, you deserve this,” she said giving me a small bag of caps.

“You know, we’ve been thinking, “ - continued Red Rose. ”And maybe you could be our permanent guard. After all, we surely need some after you surprised us. Lucky for us you weren’t anypony who would’ve attacked us.”

“Yeah, what a luck,” I laughed.

“So, will you join us?” she asked.

“Sure...” I replied.

“Great, thanks a lot,” - smiled Rose. - “Oh, wanna join dinner? It’s not much, but sitting at the campfire, eating, telling stories is quite cozy”

“Okay, give me a sec,” I replied.

This went way better than I expected. They already trust me, hah. What a naive group. And they want to be a leader of a settlement? Even I could be a much better one. Hah, me as a gang leader, interesting idea.

I got to the campfire, where everypony was sitting. It was already dark and cold, but the fire gave me warmth. I greeted the others, then sat down.

I put the molerat I’ve got earlier on the fire to cook it.

“Oh, you have food too,” noticed Golden Nugget.

“Yes, this fucker attacked me earlier this day. That’s why I wear this eyepatch,” I replied.

“Oh dear,” - said Rose holding a healing potion before me. - “Here, drink this, it will help.”

It tasted weird. I didn’t even know how does it tasted, I didn’t eat anything in the raider camp, except for meat.

Suddenly, I felt my eyes regenerate with a ticklish after feeling. I grabbed my eyepatch, and realized that, my right eye was healed.

“That scar will stay there sadly, but at least it’s healed,” - said Rose. - “Oh, and I was thinking on where will you sleep. Applesauce and Golden Nugget sleeps together in one tent, but you could sleep in mine.”

As she said that she blushed.

“Uhm, alriiight,” I replied.

“Oh no, no, no don’t think any bad. I’m sure you have your special somepony,” said Rose.

“Actually, I don’t,”

“You don’t? Oh thank goodness… I… I mean, poor you, everypony should have one, right Applesauce?”, said Rose.

She seemed really nervous. Her face slowly became red.

“I guess…” answered Applesauce.

Rose seemed weird and embarrassed.

“Alright everypony -” Rose chuckled still with red face. “ - Let’s call it a night.”

“Aren’t we gonna eat?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m starving,” agreed Golden Nugget.

“You’ll eat tomorrow,” said Rose, pouring water on the fire.

“Alright, I guess we sleep then,” said Applesauce.

She and Golden Nugget went to their tent. I asked Rose where was ours and if she comes too.

She pointed on one of the tent, but didn’t look at me.

I went there and laid on the ground, pretending to sleep. After about five minutes, Rose came in.

“Peach, are you sleeping?” she asked.

I didn’t respond, just kept my eyes closed, not moving at all.

“I don’t even understand my feelings right now, you know. Before you arrived, I was really lonely. Sure Nugget and Applesauce were here all along, but I didn’t have anypony I could love. Then you appeared from nowhere, and I guess… -” She waited a tiny bit. “- I fell in love with you.”

WHAT? I moved a tiny bit in shock, but I kept my sleeping cover.

“It’s weird right?” - continued Rose. - “Loving the first stranger you meet. But I feel like, you stand out from the others, like… like… you’re better than anypony, ready to sacrifice yourself for anyone.”

That’s it, I couldn’t hold it anymore. I opened my eyes and started to laugh. Rose got scared from me.

“You fucking don’t know me at all,” I smirked.

“My name is not Sour Peach, I have no idea who the fuck could be called like that,” I said.

“But… But… Then who are you?” looked Rose at me surprised and scared.

“You know that Raider Camp at south-west?” I asked with a wide smile on my face.

“Oh, no. You can’t be, can you,” said Rose.

“Yes I can. I’m a raider from there. The real questions is, who the fuck are you?” I asked.

“I’m… Rose, I… I already told you that!” she replied.

“No, you’re fucking dead!” I yelled at her.

I got my pistol out of its holster, took aim and shot before she could done anything.

Rose took the shot between her eyes and died before me.

“That speech, you said was cute,” I said to her dead body, then went out of the camp.

Applesauce was there.

“What the fuck happened in there, where’s Rose?” she asked in an angry voice.

“She’s dead, you motherfucker, now you follow her!” I yelled back.

When I was about to shoot her, she knocked out my pistol from my focus and jumped on me. She managed to hold me to the ground, and started to punch me.

“You son of a bitch, she was my best friend,” she said in anger.

I tried to defend her punches, but I took some hit anyways. It really hurted, but I didn’t show any pain on my face.

I heard someone was coming out of the tent.

“Fuck, Nugget is coming out,” I thought.

I got all my strength and rolled her, so I was on top. I ran behind the same rock they’ve found me, focused my magic on my shotgun and started shooting at their direction putting the fight in a stalemate.

“You motherfucker, get out and fight like a real pony,” said Golden Nugget.

Oh fuck. It’s one against two now. Sure I had my shotgun, but if they jump on me at the same time, I have no chance.

Think brain. Think, think, think.

An idea went through my mind.

“Of course, I still have these grenades,” I thought.

I got them out from my saddlebag, pulled the ring out, and waited a tiny bit then threw it at them.

BOOM

“Fuuuck, my legs,” screamed Golden Nugget.

I looked out. I saw him lying on the ground without his left leg. Applesauce was looking at him with anger and sadness. Tears dropped down her cheek. Suddenly she looked at me.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” screamed Applesauce, grabbing a knife and rushing towards me.

When she was about to reach me, I pulled the trigger of my shotgun.

BAM!

Her face exploded, and blood splashed everywhere.

I walked to Golden Nugget. He was still lying there.

“You motherfucking bitch, burn in hell!” he yelled at me.

I smirked and focused my magic on his throat squeezing it until he stopped breathing.

I got all I could hold from the tents, then started to walk back to the raider camp. I had about seven hours to get there.

The way back was quiet. I was ready to take on any surprise attack, but nothing happened. I heard from others, that the wasteland night was dangerous, because anything can attack you when you least expect it.

Finally I got to the gate of the Raider Camp. It was still dark, but fortunately the guard recognised me and let me in.

I trotted to the tower, where the leader lived, but at the door a guard stopped me. It was his duty to not let anyone in in the night, while Dead Shot is sleeping. I had to wait until dawn, so I went to sleep. Just then I realized how tired I was.

I slept for about 5 hours. When I woke up, I realized that I didn’t have much will time. Quickly got clothes on, and went back to the tower. The ponyguard was already gone. Probably because Dead Shot was up already.

I trotted upstairs, where I found him.

“Cold Blood, you really returned,” he said.

“The settlement, where you sent me, wasn’t a raider camp, it was just an ordinary camp. I killed those bitches, no problem,” I said.

“I see, and you’ve got some gear too,” noticed Dead Shot. He had a cold tone in his voice.

“They had a small weaponry. I got what I could bring, and came back. There are still more loot though,” - I replied. - “Now, remember our deal? I take care of them, and you make me a raider, cutie mark or not.”

“I suppose I have no other choice, Cold Blood, you’re a raider from now on until the end of your life ” he said.

Phew. I was scared a bit there. There always was the chance of him just executing me for whatever reason.

He turned away to his microphone.

“Attention you fuckers, you all know Cold Blood. From now on she’s a raider. Treat her that way!” said Dead Shot in the microphone.

“There,” he said.

“Uhm, so what now?” I asked.

“What do you mean? You’re a raider, you’ll get assignments, you can participate in the arena, you’ll get to have your own weapons, armors and other things, but only if you scavenged them! And you’re not a slave,” he said.

“Alright, I’ll get going then,” I said.

I walked out and went to the sleeping shack. Everyone looked at me, but I didn’t care. I got to my ‘bed’ and laid down.

I was a raider, not a slave anymore. My life just got way better. No more stupid jobs, no more raping. Sure I need to do scavenging and raiding, but that’s way better than my fucking life before.

Footnote: Faction perk unlocked: Raider.
You’re not a filly anymore. The raiders let you in the gang. From time to time you’ll get missions from the gang leader, but you’re more free to do anything than before.