I sat between two shops and watched ponies' hooves as they trotted by, their pace picking up as they passed me. Tumbleweed was the only one left who even spared me a glance, but he made it clear he had no more work for me, like the rest of Dust.

My stomach rumbled, and I tried my best to ignore it.

A dark pony attached to a caravan walked past, paused, then backed up and approached me.

My heart raced at the possibility of a job but stopped when I saw the creature coming at me. Most of her mane and coat were gone, replaced with necrotic skin. One of her yellow eyes drifted off to the side. I could only stare as she closed the distance between us.

The mare smiled, reached into her bag, pulled out some sort of pastry, and offered it to me.

My brow furrowed and I leaned to look at the caravan she was attached to. It read “Absolutely Everything. Yes We Deliver.” Oh, a trader, guess monsters need jobs too.

“I don’t have any caps,” I whimpered as the sweet aroma of the treat caught my nose.

“This one's on me,” she said in a silly voice. My fears perished as I fell into a laughing fit. Nopony with a voice like that could be mean.

With a smile, the mare waited patiently until my giggles ceased. “What's your name?”

“I’m Ardent. Ardent Fable,” I said

“Well hello there Ardent. Where are your parents?”

“I don't know. But Nanny left a long time ago and hasn't come back, even though she said she would.”

“Well, who's watching you now?”

“No one…” I flinched saying it out loud. “But, some ponies let me work for them, although, not so much anymore.”

“Oh, poor thing.” She scooped me up for a hug, her skin squished under the pressure.

“I think I can help.” She placed me on her back and passed me the pastry. She watched as I simply held the treat.

“It’s a muffin,” she said, “It's good.”

“But, I haven’t earned it.” I said.

She giggled, “I doubt that.”

I shrugged, maybe she was just crazy. I devoured the muffin as the ghoul brought me into the cider house. The air in the dim bar felt stale.

“Long time no see,” A dark grey unicorn greeted as we approached the counter.

“Hi Shot Chaser, I need a favor,” the mare said.

“And that would be?”

“I have somepony here who needs a job.” She took me off her back and presented me to Shot Chaser.

He glanced up from the mug he was cleaning. “A little young to be working in a bar.”

“Oh what could go wrong?”

“A lot, if I'm being completely honest. We don't always get the kindest ponies coming through here.”

“You barely get any ponies coming through here,” the mare said as she took in the empty bar, “and I know you can keep him safe. How about a lifetime discount?”

He sighed, “All right, fine. Consider him hired.”

“Hired?” I said. “Like, working here more than once?”

“Yup, like everyday.” Shot Chaser tried to make it sound like a bad thing.

I jumped up and down and hugged the mare. “Thank you… I forgot to ask your name.”

The mare hugged back. “Some ponies call me Derpy, but my name is Ditzy Doo.”

I paced the length of the caravan while the others fell into their preparation routine. Clover checked off a list as he inspected the various crates and ammo boxes, Nibble cleaned and repaired the battle saddles, and Gale counted up the medical supplies.

I stopped in front of Clover. “Anything I can do?” This is my first adventure and it’s to save somepony I owe. There must be something I can handle.

Clover glanced up from his checklist. “You can get out of the way.” He pointed at a crate I blocked. Great, we’ve barely started and I’m already holding them up. I jumped out of the caravan.

I sat next to Mangle as she cycled through of variety of stretches

“Why are you doing that?” I asked

“Because I don't like sitting on my ass all day?” She snarked.

I thought back and didn’t remember her in the caravan. “Wait, did you run the whole way here?”

“How else would I be here you idiot.”

I backed away from the touchy mare, and bumped into somepony. I turned to see a young mare with an ivory coat and a cutie mark of a blue flower.

“Oh Celestia, I'm so sorry.” She basically bowed down. “P-Please forgive me.”

“What? No it was my fault,” I said, but the mare continued to stare at the ground and maintained her bow. Without knowing what to do I backed away.

“Wait,” she said and finally stood. “I heard you were going to go save Derpy.” Well not me personally, Elpis… but as Gale put it, I’m technically part of Elpis.

“Yeah I am,” I replied, trying to sound confident.

She rubbed her leg. “My big brother was taken by those slavers a year back. I know he’s most likely dead… but, but if you could just take a look. He's a unicorn like me and has a cutie mark of a baseball bat.”

“I'll keep an eye out.”

“Really!” She smiled. “Thank you.”

“We're going,” Clover called out. I hopped in the caravan and waved goodbye.

I watched as Mangle ran alongside the caravan. Her endurance must be amazing if this is how she always travels, and it explains why her mane is always blown back. When she relaxed she looked like a short scruffy mare, but when she tensed you could tell she was a powerhouse.

“I see I am not the only flank that’s caught your eye,” Nibble said causing me to bolt upright.

“I-It’s not like that!” I said.

She whinnied, “It's ok to look, but that one's never going to let you touch, unlike me.”

“What do you- Wait what!” Blood rushed to my cheeks.

“Nibble,” Clover called back to interrupt, ”Why don’t you explain what Ardent’s responsibilities will be.”

“Yes sir.” She exaggerated a salute and turned back to me. “So basically we share whatever we find, but each pony has something they prefer. I pick up tech, Gale gets medical equipment, Clover finds weapons, and we use Mangle to carry heavier things that may be useful. You can feel free to help with any of those, just know who gets first pick.”

I looked at her with a blank face. “So you are asking what I want personally?”

“I guess you could say that.”

I fell to my haunches. I never wanted much in life. Enough caps to keep me alive and a few interesting stories. Although there is one thing I would excel at collecting.

“What about caps and other small items?” I offered.

“Well, normally everypony grabs caps,” Nibble said, “but we've never had anypony assigned to smaller items. Given your physique it's most likely best.”

Ouch!

Gale nickered. “What makes you think you’ll be any good at taking stuff like that?”

I smirked. “Why don’t I prove it?” This is one of the few things I’m proud of, a benefit of the magic tricks Deviation taught me.

Gale smiled wide, and showed off his sharp teeth. “Ohhh, Ardent looks confident.” He waved a hoof. “Well?”

I pulled out five caps from my bag and placed them in front of Gale.

“Watch carefully,” I said. I did one lap around Gale and took my time collecting each cap, letting him follow that hoof. While he was distracted, my other hoof shot out and collected the medical materials around him.

“What was that?” Gale said. “I saw you take them all,”

Nibble giggled. I opened my saddle bag and took out the medical equipment. Gale’s eyes widened as he spun around to see all his instruments missing.

“Well I’ll be damned.” He snatched his equipment back.

“Looks like you are in charge of small items,” Nibble said giving me a nod.

I glanced over as Gale moved up to where Clover sat, and since I had no scruples about eavesdropping my eyes glazed over as I entered my trance to amplified my hearing.

“You think he’ll survive his first mission?” Gale asked. I heard Clover grunt. Gale continued undeterred, “I mean, his combat skills are lacking but he looks better than our last recruit. Maybe you could give him a chance? He has been quite fun to mess with and-”

“We’ll see,” Clover interrupted. Gale must have been satisfied with the response because I heard him get up.

I slipped out of my trance, and stared at Gale as he found his spot and opened up a medical magazine.

Even he wanted me to stay with Elpis, but why? What role could I possible fill? Clover clearly thinks I’m unremarkable, not that he’d be wrong. Still, they're the best chance I have to explore the wasteland, I’ll have to find a way to be useful, and stay alive.

I jumped when text appeared at the top of my vision.

Featherweight's Printing Press

Night had fallen as we reached our destination.

Clover landed in front of us after flying around the compound. “Looks like there are five of them outside, four on the roof one on the ground. Not sure how many inside. I'll take the two guarding the back side. Gale rooftop right, Nibble rooftop left, Mangle the entrance. My first shot is the signal. Do not enter until we regroup. Understood?” Clover said with unquestionable authority.

“Understood,” everypony replied.

Clover made eye contact with me. “Ardent, I want you to stay close to Nibble. Take your orders from her. Do not take a shot unless you're using S.A.T.S. I would prefer none of our team ends up with a bullet in their ass. Understood?”

“Understood,” I replied. I clenched my teeth in hopes it would stop my body from shaking. Clover grunted and flew off.

“Have you ever seen what a raider's hideout looks like?” Gale asked.

“No, but aren't these slavers?” I asked in return.

“Technically yes, but only because they are willing to sell them after they used them.”

Nibble jumped into the conversation, “Don’t worry Ardent. Just stick with me and you'll be fine.” She paused. Her eyes softened. “I’m sorry for what you're about to see.”

“Get ready,” Mangle called over as she let her weapons encompass her hooves.

Gale levitated out a strange gun that seemed to use saw blades as ammo. A hardly noticeable shimmer encompassed the weapon. My jaw dropped. Gale doesn’t have a magical aura! Well, that’s not entirely true. I could see the aura around his horn and weapon, but it produced almost no light and only created a slight disturbance in the air. He caught me gawking.

“Nibble made it for me,” he said. “She calls it Hemorrhage.”

“Hemorrhage?” I echoed.

“You’ll see why.”

I followed Nibble and Mangle as they snuck up to the side of the building. Mangle wiggled into a pouncing position, and Nibble pulled a metal apple out of her saddle bag.

The sound of an energy weapon tore through the air.

Nibble pulled the stem out with her mouth and lobbed the apple up onto the roof. Gale fired his weapon, and a saw blade flew out. Blood sprayed from the side of his target’s neck as the pony dropped.

Mangle darted to the entrance, catching the side of the slaver’s head with her hoof. As if the metal weapon crushing his skull wasn’t enough to kill him she activated her weapon causing its hoof shaped metal plate to jut out. The slaver’s body didn’t move as it was relieved of its head. Mangle pivoted and bucked the body away before its blood stained the entrance.

Another shot from Clover’s battle saddle rang out right before an explosion on the roof. Within what felt like a moment all the slavers were dead, and the front entrance was secured.

Dear Luna these ponies are to be feared, and there are only four of them! A deathly moan cried out from the roof.

“Dammit,” Nibble cursed. She pulled out another metal apple, but paused before she pulled the stem. “You saw me throw the grenade right?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“Good I want you to copy me and toss this up there.”

“You want me to kill him?”

“I killed him Ardent. He is going to die soon, trust me. What you’d be doing is merciful.” She hesitated and followed up with, “That's an order.”

I stepped forward and took the metal apple from her. Playing the memory in my head, I pulled the stem, and threw the grenade. The grenade hit the side of the building and bounced back, landing close to the point it originated. I should have mentioned to Nibble; just because I can copy ponies movements perfectly does not mean I can copy the exact amount of strength they used. I sighed and glanced over at Nibble who had a hysterical look on her face.

“Worst throw ever!” Mangle yelled.

Nibble grabbed me and dove away from the metal fruit as it exploded. I shifted to put myself in between Nibble and the blast. A piece of shrapnel carved up the length of my leg. May Luna skewer me with her horn!

When we landed, Nibble pushed out from under me and hovered over my leg.

“Gale!” She called out.

“Coming,” he nearly sang. He grabbed my leg and tilted his head. “Not too deep, no arteries hit, tell me if this hurts.”

I cried out as Gale applied pressure to the wound.

Nibble smacked him over the head. “Could you not,” she growled.

“There will be other times I suppose.” Gale levitated a healing poultice in front of me. “Should fix you right up.”

I pulled out the cork and drank the red tinted liquid. It was thick and tasted weakly of alcohol with a slight tinge of cherry. The pain in my leg faded and I watched as the flesh healed at an impossible speed. The only indication of injury was the blood drying on my coat.

Nibble helped me up, dusted me off, and nitpicked over my armour until Clover landed near by. She spun around and threw on a smile.

“Entrance secured,” she said a little too fast.

Clover glared at each of us. “We're going in, Mangle.”

Mangle nodded and shoved the door open. The stench and scenery assaulted my senses.

The placed reeked of rotting flesh and waste. Decaying pony parts littered the ground. Internal organs were strung along the walls, with blood written messages of rape and death. I turned around and let out the contents of my stomach.

I had heard stories of what raiders could do, but being there, seeing it for myself... I could taste the death in the air. Nibble put a comforting hoof on my back and was about to say something, but I put my hoof up to stop her. There was a mission to do.

“Let’s go,” I said as I stepped into the nightmare.

Footnote: No level up

Author's Notes: