"Just give me that!" called an unfamiliar voice.

It was the voice of a mare, who sounded stressed, filled with urgency, and not a small bit impatient. My ears twitched, yet my vision had not returned and my sense of hearing felt like it was underwater. My whole body felt limp, not only that, but the sensation of a warmness hung over me as if the dull air were actually a lucid soup. I could just make out blurred shapes in the black haze that was my vision as a small scuffle took place.

"By Celestia, kid, of all the places you go and hit, you chose right in her subclavian artery!" Came that disgruntled voice as I felt a strange sensation digging into what I assumed was my left forehoof.

The same dread which I had felt in the morgue under Overseer's laboratory came to my mind as I struggled to move. I had no idea where I was or who these ponies were, worse still, I had no idea about what might have happened to Cherry and given the last bloody image of her I still had in my mind, I wanted to see her now more than ever.

"What do you mean, will she be alright?" Came the muffled voice of the pony I longed for more than ever, and at that, I was caught between a desire to lay still with relief or buck anypony aside to get to her.

As I squirmed, the latter instinct seemed to be winning.

"Shit, she's waking up, get some more sedatives!" Declared that mysterious mare as the blurred bulb of her head bobbed to the right and her forehooves fought to restrain mine.

One of my limbs, in particular, hurt more than the others, and even while in the dream-like haze it felt as if the leg was on fire. Then there was the sound of shuffling metal and glass before a quiet, little voice, barely audible to my weak senses called back.

"There's none left!" The mare battling my hooves gave a loud growl, then her head seemed to rise as she shook hard.

"I'll just have to stick her under with an anesthetic spell then... By Celestia, I'm going to have no magic left in me at all at this rate!" she declared and moments later the shape of her head appeared in my vision once again as she leaned her horn down toward me.

I stiffened as she pressed her horn to my forehead, pain eating away at me.

"Just go to sleep, go to sleep," the mare growled, and only after a few moments, my own exhaustion was pressing me to do just as she was asking.

Yet as my body surrendered to her numbing spell, my mind stayed stoic. Then I felt a hoof press against my shoulder and my thoughts of defense fell away.

"Dragonfire, it's going to be alright, just go to sleep for a little longer," Cherry's soft voice, even if it sounded far dryer and weaker than I last remembered, was like a soothing breeze through the dreamy air.

I didn't know if I was dreaming or just crazy, but as I felt her hoof trembling against my side I knew the mild tone in her weary voice betrayed the fact she was terrified. Even so, I knew she was just trying to do the right thing, just like she always did. Trust was a two-way deal. As much as my mind was telling me to fight the magic trying to slither into my brain and plunge me back into sleep, I let go. Trusting in my companion as the world around me faded and my vision became shrouded in darkness, casting me back into the blackness of sleep.

The darkness upon my eyes felt heavier than slabs of stone, the aching throughout my tired body pulsed with each beat of my cold heart. I was cold. Frozen to the bone and so alone that it felt like the vastness of space was the only thing around me. A sharp sniff of breath through my runny nose told me I was still alive. A dull ringing in my twitching ears supported the idea too, as did the tangible feeling of something soft beneath my tender form. There was a nagging tickle in my throat, a twitch in my eyes, and a sour trickle of water covering my face.

It was all like that, so empty and devoid of everything I'd ever held dear, all gone, all but a warmness pressed against my midsection. I shuddered, the covers of the bed in which I found myself shifting as I looked around. I was in a small shack, a line of several medical boxes boasted the standard string of pink butterflies as they were stacked up against one wall opposite me.

'You don’t need to be a Steel Ranger to be a Hero! Join the Ministry of Peace today!' A nurse filly told me from a poster sitting above the row of medical boxes.

This is a clinic, right? The lack of chains, ropes, and death as a whole told me that it was a good place at least.

I sniffed again, my nose feeling as if it were stuffed with soggy cotton, then I felt the warm mass beside me shift and I froze. For a long moment, the only sound in the room was my shallow breaths and the buzzing of a small light above, coupled with something that sounded like light rainfall on the corrugated metal roof. Then I stretched out a hoof. No blood. No, nothing. The protruding white limb stiffened as memories rushed back to me, then my eyes fell to where the warmness pressed against my stomach.

The ragged covers hit it from view, yet I knew it was there. Another hoof slowly traced across the rough surface of the quilt, then halted. A sudden sound ceased the action altogether. Seconds later, however, I tensed once again as a door beyond my bed swung open.

"Oh, you're awake, good. I was hoping I could meet you soon," a lime green, earth pony mare with a darker maroon mane stated kindly as she trotted in.

She wore a pair of black glasses and a yellow nurse's uniform which covered her flank and cutie mark. She smiled, and I just looked at her like she was nothing more than an illusion. That seemed to dismay her slightly, her smile faltering.

"Now, I'm no great expert on foaling but I'd say a filly like you is lucky to be alive, especially after the way we found you," she stated matter-of-factly, her smile replaced by a sensible look.

Still, I sensed a hint of sympathy in her voice and a touch of disapproving admiration. I swallowed, feeling that warmness beside me move again. I felt my neck stiffen as I wondered if I should nod, the muscles' reaction a clear indicator I should not. Instead, I just sniffed again.

"Well, sweetie, ah looked you over an' you seem mostly fine, exhaustion’s natural, especially after what you've been through, you've been out of it for three days," she added, opening one of the medical boxes with a forehoof.

Finally, I managed a weak nod.

"As for the foal, well he's a fine, healthy colt. You should give yourself a pat on the back for that given your age. Must have been a hoof-full having such a big one kicking around," she stated casually, retrieving something from the medical box as she looked back at me.

The foal, a colt? I had a brother! That realization set my mind aflame, yet my face showed none of it. Meanwhile, the mare before me sighed.

"You're in no state to nurse him though, and well ..." She paused, then shook her head. "No, ah'll be fine with two more," she added firmly.

I swallowed again, now it was my throat's turn to clench as I struggled to speak.

What was going on here? Where was here? Where was mom? My brother... The mare’s words raced through my head before my mind finally clicked and gears began to turn. She thinks I'm his…

"Mom?" A timid voice asked from the open doorway.

My eyes flinched, redirecting my gaze towards a small white-coated filly with a candy-colored mane as she peered around the door frame. She looked just a little younger than me, she didn't even have her cutie mark yet. Then again, I'd only gotten mine, what, three days ago?

"Who are you, where am I?" I asked bluntly, my dry voice quivering as my whole body trembled.

The green-coated mare turned to me and smiled.

"Oh, so you do have a tongue?" she joked in a friendly tone. Neither I nor the filly in the doorway seemed to find it amusing.

"You're in New Appaloosa, sweetie. I'm Apple Schnapps and this is my daughter Candi," she went on, pointing a forehoof to her chest, then to the filly at the door who waved back shyly.

I swallowed again, then sniffed, placing a forehoof down on the mattress. My brother, I had a brother... I... I remembered the knife, the blood, the cutting, the crying, the…

"Is he okay!?" was all I could ask in the most urgent tone I'd ever mustered, my forehoof finally finding the warm mass beside me.

It squirmed ever so weakly, and it felt as if the smallest pressure could break the little thing like a precious flower. I shivered as something touched my hoof lightly, recalling all the kicks and movements I'd felt so many times from mom's belly.

"Yes, he's perfectly healthy, more than most down here can say, that's for sure." She seemed to utter those last words somewhat cautiously, but I didn't care about her wariness as my hooves tried to pull away the ragged cloth.

I needed to see, I needed to see him. Oh, goddesses please say he's okay! I needed to know that for myself.

Apple Schnapps moved forward slightly, and my head shot up, dangerous eyes locking with hers. She froze as if she'd just disturbed some kind of fearsome monster. I looked back at the half-lifted quilts, my shivering forehoof sitting atop them.

"Sweetie, you're in no state to exert yourself, even like this, let me help," she told me, holding out a forehoof tentatively.

I peered at the green forelimb, eyes following it back up to her friendly expression.

Can I trust her, can I trust anypony in this wasteland? Against everything my mind told me I leaned back, my aching muscles burning as my head rested against the pillows.

She moved slowly forward, her eyes fixed on me as she slowly removed the covers. Then I felt everything in my head stop in an instant. He was there, so small and so helpless. The teal ball of fur with dark green mane and tail squirmed slightly as the dull light hit him, his tiny hooves grasping at Apple Schnapps'. There was a slightly bloody bandage wrapped around his middle and his coat shimmered as if slightly wet. The sight of blood made me freeze colder than ice, then my eyes turned sharply to Apple Schnapps. For a moment she didn't seem to understand. My shocked expression couldn't stay away from him for long, however, and I reached out with a forehoof, brushing it through his damp mane. He was so perfect, so beautiful, a brother. I'd been right, and... My memories ceased to matter as my hooves fell upon the bloodied bandage. It was at that moment she seemed to get the message.

"Arrr, no, that's perfectly fine, sweetie. Just where I had to cut the rest of the umbilical cord away. It was a bit of a mess so I couldn't tie it off, but it still might bleed a little," she explained.

The fact was noted somewhere in my mind and filed away for later, but at the same moment, I just didn't care. I just stared down at the tiny colt, into his…

Wow, he has blue eyes, just like mine, but... he wasn't a unicorn?

"Hey, Candi, you wanna come see?" Apple Schnapps asked the filly by the door, tilting her head in the direction of me and the tiny foal.

I glanced up at her, but not for longer than a moment. She was no threat, nor did it seem her mother was, yet something in me wanted them out, away from me and the foal. Unaware of my new maternal thought processes, Candi trotted cautiously towards us, resting her forehooves tentatively on the bed. I gave her a warning glare, and she retreated back into her mother's chest, then I looked away.

"It’s fine. You... You can look," I told her reluctantly, a softer side of me breaking through the hardened cocoon I'd built around me.

I didn't like seeing ponies that scared, I'd been scared like that, and I didn't like it. Even so, it took her a moment to build up the courage to lean forward again, then her eyes fixed upon the tiny foal. It seemed the sight of him was not as engrossing to her as it was to me, yet as she looked I imagined that at least some of the thoughts inside her head were akin to my own.

How small, how wondrous. My forehoof brushed against the bandage again and I sniffed.

"We could take that off if you like, he's certainly got a surprise for you," Apple Schnapps told me, another tone of mild caution in her words.

I glanced up at them and nodded weakly, then as she shifted Candi aside, her hooves came far too close to him for my liking and I fought not to maul part of them off. The gasps that followed came from everypony but her, however, as both I and Candi got a good look at his...

Wings? He's a pegasus! I stiffened again, a million new thoughts racing through my mind.

But mom was a unicorn, I was a unicorn... Our father, well, his father at least... I had no idea, but I doubted either were pegasi. Apple Schnapps gave a light-hearted chuckle and she looked at both me and Candi, I'd no idea why, but the other filly seemed concerned. The green mare cleared her throat, before explaining.

"Either his dad was a pegasus or he had some kind of recessive gene, or one of your ancestors must have been a pegasus. Although, a birth like this is so rare ah..." she stammered, looking at me, "Like ah said you should give yourself a pat on the back."

I swear I felt a proud smile crossing my muzzle, mom would be so proud so... I buried those thoughts.

She was gone, he was here and I needed to save him. That's what she'd told me to do. But he wasn't mine he was... I looked right at the teal pegasus, my brother? My son? I paused, my mind cycling through a million possibilities. I just wanted to go, forget everything and save him. That life was gone, my mother was gone, and now... Now it was just me and this tiny colt alone in the wasteland.

Astralfire, you… I silenced my mind's questions so abruptly it was almost as if it would never dare challenge me again. That name, the cursed mark on my flank, they were dead!

"You think of a name?" Candi asked, the seemingly timid filly appearing to open from her own wary cocoon at the sight of the magnificent foal as she motioned to him with a nod.

I looked from the crystalline dragon wing across my flank to the tiny pegasus curled up against my underside. A name, he didn't even have a name. He'd never know her, our Mom. He'd grow up wondering what she was like, that amazing blue mare that had looked after me through everything the wasteland could throw at us. I'd never appreciated that fact until this moment, and he'd never know her as anything but somepony his sister talked about. I felt my jaw clench tightly, I was gonna be the best sister ever, a good pony. A good pony would give him the world. I'd give him the next best thing.

"Teal. Teal Blitz," I stated lovingly, rubbing a forehoof gently through his dark mane.

Candi nodded. Teal? It was a perfect name for the perfect pony. As good as my limited imagination could come up with right now.

"What about you, sweetie, you got a name?" Apple Schnapps asked, seeming to approve of the name I'd given the colt.

I looked at her firmly.

Astral, Astralfire, just say it, that's your name. No, I told my mind as I looked to the last remnant of a lost life, the crystalline dragon wing doused in cyan flame upon my white flank.

Pyrotechnics I could do. I glanced down at Teal, the Baby Pegasus who was gonna have the next best mother in the wasteland after the one I'd promised I'd take care of him.

"Dragonfire, my name's Dragonfire."

The wash of sleep fell away to reveal a cold, damp, and dripping wet room. It was dark, but I could just about make out the moldy old brickwork and rusted pipes along the crumbling walls. I was laying on a damp mattress and my crippled forehoof was aching up a storm beneath a bandage. Around me, cold gloom lingered like a heavy blanket, the sound of rain and running water buzzing in the air. The only break in the darkness was a small fire, the likes of which burned within a rusty metal drum. To the left of me, opposite the warm flame, was another stained mattress and directly ahead was a ruined doorway, its sagging frame illuminated by another flickering light. It was then I noticed my lack of barding and instantly assumed I'd somehow been captured.

I sprung up, only for my stomach to lurch and my forehooves to give out from under me. I staggered forward, my head falling on a hard surface that impacted like fabric.

Oh, there's my barding, and head-butting dragon-scale armor really hurt.

Rolling over, I crawled back onto the relative comfort of the old mattress, then the world caught up with me. I'd just been asleep, I'd been shot and...

What was going on, where was I? Where was my friend? My mind raced with panic for a long moment before, for once, the wasteland seemed to give me a break, and Cherry appeared in the ruined doorway before me.

Her horn glowed as she levitated what appeared to be some sort of bowl, an equally crude spoon carrying the contents from the metal rim to her lips. That sound of hearing her eating whatever was in the bowl stopped as she saw me laying like a rag on the mattress.

"Dragonfire, you're awake!" she exclaimed, eyes widening as she swiftly trotted over.

I tried to drag my head back onto the mattress, noticing her as she set her soup down on the concrete beside me. It was then I saw her bandaged ear stump and winced. No healing potion was going to fix that, no chem either, if we left it for too long. Nevertheless, her attention seemed focused on me as she sat beside the mattress.

"Cherry, are you alright? What happened?" I asked, and she flinched, my right hoof reaching out as it tried to touch where she was missing her ear.

"I... I'm fine, you were shot right through the leg and collapsed," she said tentatively and I sniffed.

"What about the raiders?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Gina took care of those approaching the outside of the building, but everypony knows it won't take them long to come looking around here again," she explained weakly, yet it didn't seem that such a thing was at the top of her list of concerns.

I made a mental note of such a threat, it was the absolute minimum my wasteland-hardened mind would allow me to get away with.

"Hey, is she okay?" A smaller, more cautious voice asked, and the pair of us turned to see a dull gray, earth pony colt standing in the doorway.

His mottled coat was bruised and battered. His scraggy blue mane hung in front of his tired eyes and parts of his fur were singed. After only a few moments, I saw the gun on his back as well as a multitude of other salvaged things, then I recognized he was also the pony who'd shot me.

"Yes, she's fine, your friend did a great job," Cherry told him, a forehoof tentatively touching her bandaged ear stump.

At her words, the shy colt seemingly mustered the confidence to approach. A bitterness still resided in me. He shot me! My mind declared simply. So have a hundred other ponies! I reminded myself, reveling in the fact I was being the smart one for once.

Not all of them had been monsters, and he was no more than a colt. Cherry glanced down at me, then at the smaller pony as he stopped beside her and shrugged off some of his salvage.

"I... I'm sorry for shooting at you... I hope... I hope you're okay," he apologized weakly and I nodded as he shifted a long black case over to me with a trembling forehoof.

"Don't worry about it, you're far from the first," I tried to smile, but my aching muscles made even that expression harder than it needed to be as I looked at the case he'd passed to me.

“I found these while looking through one of the storage units below, I'm no unicorn so I can't use them, but I thought you could use them to pass the time while you recover... It's really the least I should give you," the colt explained as he opened the case to reveal several memory orbs housed in plush purple padding.

Despite everything, I could almost let an, awww, slip through my muzzle at how cute that was. A combination of his weakened and battered state, plus a small amount of resentment for him having shot me stopped that however, and I just nodded.

"Urm, thanks... You really didn't need to, but thanks..." I responded, at least trying to be respectful of the apology as the colt retreated back a bit.

"How's Ochre?" Cherry asked, and he seemed glad to change the subject.

"Sky's looking at her now, but that operation on..." His speech trailed off as he waved a forehoof at my crippled foreleg.

Cherry glanced down at me, seeming to try her best not to let her hope fade. "Don't worry about that either, I've got her for now, you just go help your friends," she told him motioning to the door.

The colt sniffed, nudging the shotgun on his back, then wiped his runny nose before nodding. "Sorry," he added to me one last time before disappearing from the room.

Now it was my time to ask questions. "Who was that?" I asked weakly, sitting up the best I could.

Cherry lurched forward as if to help me but then hesitated as I struggled not to fall back against the mattress.

"His name's Clip, he escaped from the slave farms in Crimson Springs with some other mares, those raiders we killed were after them, as were a few other groups of them apparently. After all that was going on at the time, he thought you were after him too," she explained, then shied away.

This wasn't the first time I'd been shot for such a reason, it was hard to distinguish between friend, foe, and a desperate pony out here in the wasteland, it was a difference between life and death. At that confirmation though, I suddenly felt far more sympathy than bitterness for the timid little colt.

"You took a shotgun to the leg. We had to keep you out with a sedative spell," she added with equally shy haste.

I swallowed the information, it tasted sour, but it wasn't gonna make me ask any more questions. Only one thing came to mind after that, however.

"You okay?" I tried to avoid looking at her ear as she flinched for it again.

She sighed coldly, seeming to finally accept the question she'd been dreading.

"No, I thought I could handle that situation on my own, prove to myself that Ironshod wasn't just me being stupid, but it was all just another big fuck up," she stated with slight frustration as she looked at her forehooves. "I know that it's not all about helping ponies, I know I can't help anypony if I'm dead. But after what happened in the labs, what happened to Buck Shot, I felt I just needed to do something. To be better than just another mare-in-distress. To just do better," she added, lowering her head as she wiped her eyes gently.

I sighed, she was a far better pony than I was.

"If you could go around accounting for every wrong in the wasteland you wouldn't be a pony anymore. Hell, if you did it for just one corner of the wasteland you'd have to be some sort of goddess. No, you just need to keep doing what's right when you can, and this call..." I glanced to the door, ears folding slightly. "It was the right one, you saved ponies, even if you didn't go about it in the best way." I expressed a deeper admiration at that, but she shook her head solemnly.

"But, I almost lost you and I..." Her forehoof rubbed over her ear and she sniffed.

I leaned back against the brick wall, the weight of my body not doing my aching muscles any good.

"Don't go blaming yourself for that, I should have been more careful. I shouldn't have made you feel like you had to prove something to me by succeeding where you failed last time, but you did succeed, Cherry, you never failed." She looked up at me with shocked eyes, then they narrowed as she seemed to berate herself within her mind harshly.

"No, there's no point saving any pony if I lose you. You're the one who makes me feel… You make me feel like I can do something, without that, I'm no better than I was raising my tail for bucks in Cocktail's stupid bar," she whimpered angrily.

That put a rather distasteful image into my mind, but my anger towards the mare who'd forced her to do such humiliating things overwhelmed it. I leaned forward, attempting to place a forehoof on her shoulder, when that failed, my weak limb fell upon her damp chest.

"Nopony ever needed me to do anything, you made that decision. If it had been me alone in the same situation..." I stammered, recalling what exactly my survival instincts had told me when I'd told her that nopony mattered as much as she did.

Yeah, you're a good pony Dragonfire, when it doesn’t inconvenience you, that is.

Shut up brain! I demanded, but I knew it was right.

Cherry didn't look like she wanted to believe the implication, didn’t want to believe that the idol she seemed to be making me out to be was more flawed than the nation that came before this shit hole of a world, and yet she seemed to think deeply about the mare she was looking at. All I recognized was that there was very little recognition of what I'd said to her, and I was disgusted with the mild relief that knowledge garnered. I shifted heavily as my weight once again overpowered my weak muscles. This time she lowered me to the mattress with her hooves.

"Sky said you'd be weak when you came to, but..." I shook my head as the worried words left her muzzle.

"Don't worry, I've been through much worse than a shot leg." I felt my gut tighten at that, and goddesses I hoped that I wouldn't throw up in front of her as it churned.

In light of her confession, Cherry seemed less motivated to oppose my advice. Instead, she lay herself down on the second mattress and finally seem to lose the fight with her curious hooves entirely as they went to prodding at her missing ear.

"I'm sorry about..." I faltered, instead nodding to the missing feature.

She sniffed and nodded weakly. "It's a reminder, to remind me that I shouldn't be so reckless," she muttered in a tone akin to that of a shameful foal.

As much as I wanted to agree, I said nothing. All she did was stroke the bandaged stump carefully. All I knew was it was far more than just a reminder for her, it was a reminder of my own faults and failures.

Day 5:

"Urg... I thought I was supposed to be getting better, the doctors told me I was supposed to be getting better but I just feel worse. I was sick this morning, at least that's what they told me it was. I... I really just don't know what to think about it. They just tell me it's all-natural, that a lot of weird stuff's gonna happen to me before I get better. I don't like it, I don't want to feel like this for that long!

I can feel it in my head like there's something there inside me, but every time I try to picture it all I get is strange sensations and blank memories. I feel more than weird, I feel lost... How strange is that? I mean the world's so small and it's just me, and yet I feel lost, I really hope that I don't have to be alone for that long either. I mean, the doctors are nice, and they help me. But every time I think about somepony else to share the world with I feel all warm and tingly inside.

That must be what it feels like to be better. Not having to worry about the stomach ache, throwing up every night, or just worrying about everything that happens in this small, little world. I wish the world was a bigger place. I even have these dreams about a bigger sky, and a million rooms populated by more ponies like me, it's like a rainbow enveloped with bright sunshine. I don't want the sun to shine just for me anymore, I thought I did, but... But the doctors tell me that's all that world is, a dream... Maybe when I'm better I'll be able to get to sleep more and dream more often. I really hope I can sleep, I love it when I see them, all the ponies in that other world."

I let out a slow sigh as I turned away from my Pipbuck and rolled lazily onto my back. Was hearing about that mare's suffering really what I needed right now? I gave a slight grumble, stretching up my hooves and looking at them as they twitched. Above, the darkened mess of pipes and bricks that formed the factory roof looked like a dull mass of black spaghetti. The sound of the storm rumbled just beyond as did the many clanks and clatters of the crumbling building as it continued to decay around me. Finding little interest in the ceiling, I glanced to my left. Cherry was fast asleep on the second mattress. She'd been reluctant to take her eyes off me after my many failed attempts to stand, but after hours of waiting, exhaustion had finally taken its toll.

I looked at my barding, and then at what had once been a severely crippled limb, now marred by scars. Whoever had patched me up had at least done some good work on it. It didn't ache half as much, and my shoulder hurt even less than my injured leg. As for the bullet wounds? I was glad I'd not been awake long enough to know that I had them and made a mental note to reinforce the armor over my vulnerable limbs, even if it had been a shot from an energy weapon to initially damage them in the first place. I also knew I'd have to make an effort to thank whoever had saved me. Even so, another part of me really wanted to make that colt, Clip, I recalled, feel far less guilty than he clearly was.

Another part of my cynical mind scowled at that, yet the instinct reawakened back in the Ironshod factory was now more than large and dominant enough to challenge its adversaries when it came to foals and how I treated them. He'd been terrified, pursued by savage raiders, and endured goddesses knows what else at their hooves. I should have known that Cherry’s tender heart wouldn’t let her ignore a distress call. Distress calls were a common enough occurrence out here in the Wasteland. Looking back, I felt incredibly stupid for letting her listen to the radio while I went to sleep. I fought not to look at her bandaged ear as the thought that it was my fault crossed my mind again. Instead, I opted to roll onto my front and attempt to stand again. My legs gave a weak shudder and I stumbled but mustered all the strength and will I could dredge up. I held my position briefly, but then I collapsed as I fell back to where I had been laying with a wet thud.

Okay, so maybe I'm not standing up, after all. That didn't change the fact I was bored, however, and at the prospect of spending the next few hours just laying here, I once again looked to my Pipbuck. Did I really want to listen to more of Lucky's rambling? The thought of her being all fine and sophisticated one minute.

But remaining unwilling to experience the hardships and sorrows that the life of a Wastelander experienced made me sick for the unkind thoughts I had regarding her. I decided against listening to her recording as I did not want to listen to more of the tragedies and sufferings present in this hard, cruel world.

But I still needed something to do. It was then that I caught a glimpse of the black case Clip had delivered to me as an apology, upon catching sight of it, I levitated it over to take a look inside. There were three memory orbs, each one housed within a smooth cushioned padding. I looked around. Aside from Cherry’s slumbering form, I was alone, however, right now there didn't seem to be any danger.

Well, I supposed that the first step to making Clip feel better would be genuinely accepting his apology, right? At that thought, I took out one of the orbs with a forehoof and looked at it closely.

The last time I'd been in one of these things, I'd felt a buck turned to dust and had my real body tampered with beyond belief. Then again, that memory had been trapped within Overseer's strange, eye thing?

Finally deciding that the dreary boredom of the ruined factory couldn't really be any worse than whatever lay within the orb, I pressed my horn to the thing and made the connection. With a sudden flash of magic, the world around me fell away as I was sucked into the memory.

Okay, this certainly isn't me. I felt hooves, a tail, no horn, and... My host gave a graceful flap of their wings as they fidgeted. That wasn't the only thing I felt, and immediately my mind was begging for the boredom of the wasteland again.

Great, I'm a buck again. A pegasus buck at that. For some reason being in such a strong and lean body didn't upset me as much as I'd first thought, there was just something about flyers, something that made me very happy when I was actually myself.

In addition to the standard package between my legs, I felt a cushioned metal helmet over my head, the likes of which was particularly tight, not to mention how much he stunk of sweat. The armor clinging to his equally well-encased body was no better off and yet that was not the thing that made him... Well, weird, this buck was rather odd. His gaze was lucid, like he was in some sort of waking dream and the air moved about his body in a rather similar way. It was as if this were just a dream to him too. If that were true, then he had been dreaming of a neatly cleaned foremare's office, similar to that of the Ironshod firearms factory.

The room's front windows overlooking the factory floor were framed with bars of metal, a clean, red carpet covered the floor, and upon the polished wooden walls were a great many portraits. To his left was a desk, a brass plaque upon which read, 'Babs Seed, Equestrian Robotics Chief Supervisor'. Beside the plaque was a picture of four smiling fillies riding inside what appeared to be a giant, tomato-like thing with wheels. Beyond that, was a window that looked out over a river and to the sight of a massive spread of industrial buildings beyond it.

Massive chimneys and extensive pipelines made the city appear to be more like one big factory than anywhere a pony might want to live. In fact, the only break in the polluted skyline of metal and brick were the huge desert mesas lingering in the hazy distance. My host looked around before he began to pace about the room impatiently. Beyond the barred windows, I could hear the sound of chatter coming up from the factory floor, his ears pricked up as it increased in volume and I felt a sudden guilt at the action. Images of Cherry's severed ear formed in the back of my mind. Yet a moment later, my host's attention was stolen as the door to the office burst open.

"Urrg!" A white unicorn mare with a pink and lavender mane moaned as she trotted in.

My host's ponderous thoughts turned into skeptical concern as a second mare, a brown earth pony with an amaranth mane and tail, trotted in behind the first, shutting the door with a kick of her rear leg. Both mares were dressed rather formally, the former in a fine, light blue dress with short trim, golden seems, and shot training laces that all revealed a generous amount of her curved flank from the rear. The latter wore a gray business suit and tie, as well as a badge bearing the same name as the desktop plaque, 'Babs Seed'. Most notable of all, however, was the Pipbuck which she wore on her right foreleg.

The mare gasped heavily before catching her breath enough to be able to voice her opinions. "Applebloom should be here doing this, not me! She's the one who arranged the whole thing with Twilight. I told them, I'm the public relations mare. Not the, ‘come and explain why we have to come and mess up your lives, even more pony!'" the unicorn grumbled as she rested her head on the desk.

Babs Seed trotted over and sighed lightly. "Yeah, but they told ya' what they were busy doin', didn't they?" she asked, in a strong Manehattan accent.

The tired and exasperated exhalation from the white unicorn mare was far from subtle. "I know, I know. But you're her cousin, if she wanted to drag you into this then she should have come out here and talked to you herself. Oh, and Scootaloo? Don't get me started on her horrible organization skills right now," she complained wearily.

The earth pony smiled, shaking her head. "Well, it looks like ya' gave it ya' best shot," she offered kindly.

With that my host trotted forward, appearing beside the earth pony mare. "Even sounded good from up here," he stated with a far more friendly tone, the likes of which I knew was used for more than just close friends.

The unicorn looked up at my host's armored face and smiled. "Hey now, you're biased," she joked with a slight giggle as she lifted herself up and took a deep breath.

"Hey, come on, Sweetie Belle, ya' know he's naught but honest with ya, this one," Babs Seed said, nudging my host in the side and giving him a sly wink.

I could feel him flush and knew he was glad for the armor at that moment. Sweetie Belle trotted over to my host placing a light kiss on his armored muzzle.

"Do you really have to wear that skyguard uniform everywhere you go?" she asked, brushing a forehoof along his armored chest.

I could feel a few more parts of him want to answer that question in a way that I really did understand, I may be a mare but arousal was arousal no matter what gender a pony was, and Sweetie Belle was an impossibly pretty mare. Even so, his eyes stayed away from her shapely flank and locked on her emerald-green eyes.

"Do you have to wear that dress?" he retorted, to which she gave an amused little snort.

Goddesses she's almost as adorable as Cherry!

"I wish I didn't. I don't know how ponies put up with wearing anything out here, it's so damn hot! Can't imagine Rarity would be impressed with the state this thing is in." She lightly caressed the fabric of her dress and I knew that wearing something like that in the sweltering hot desert town was not the ideal fashion choice, nor did it result in the finest of smells. Still, her vast amounts of perfume did well to mask the scent of hot, sweaty mare.

"Ah'll say, ya' don't know what it's like havin' to work out here. It's a long way from good ol' Manehatten, Ah'll tell ya' that much," Babs Seed said with a tone of slight frustration, tugging at the collar of her suit with a forehoof as she looked out of the window and onto the industrial city.

Sweetie frowned, moving beside my host and over to the earth pony's side. "Well, the last thing I wanna do is make anypony's job worse, but..." She trailed off, placing a forehoof on the glass lightly as her eyes diverted to a dense number of cranes and mine shafts on the far side of the city.

"That thing they found down there, ya' know what it is don't ya'?" Babs Seed asked with a hint of concern, looking over at Sweetie.

My host trotted to the opposite side of who I'd come to assume was his primly dressed marefriend, his eyes also directed in the direction of the vast excavations.

"Well, it's no normal gemstone, I'll tell you that, we scrapped the plans for this new stable when we found out what the thing did to all our machines. But whatever it really is, it's got Twilight in a bigger tizzy than I've ever seen, and I've seen what she was like when she thought she was tardy, so I know a Crazy-Twi when I see one," Sweetie Belle responded, then she glanced up at the towering red cliffs beyond the polluted clouds above the city.

"But then they just go and decide to move the Stable a bit, and I get stuck with the mess of telling everypony about the relocation. If anything, Twilight should be the one who owes us," she grumbled, but then sighed.

Both my host and Babs looked down at the white unicorn as she bowed her head.

"Well, if that's all ya' know 'bout it, then I'd say that speech was pretty good," she told her, placing a forehoof on her shoulder. My host nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I suppose, but I wish things could go back to the way they were when we were just fillies. When the biggest thing we had to worry about was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon... oh, and Rarity's dresses. Luna forbid if I did anything to my sister's dresses!" Sweetie sighed, her nostalgia seeming to let her smile in fond remembrance, if only a little.

"Yeah, ya' still remember the day we met?" Babs asked, and Sweetie nodded.

"That was the first time I heard somepony tell those two to go buck themselves," Sweetie added with a slight giggle, and Babs seemed to share the playful expression as my host simply narrowed his eyes.

"Hey, you scold me every time I say something like that," he added wryly.

Sweetie Belle looked up at him and narrowed her own gaze. "Yes, I do, because you are supposed to be a gentlecolt. Which means that you have to be a noble-mannered, formality-abiding and loving coltfriend or my sister and her fashion police’ will come and beat you with their ‘fabulous’ batons," she teased, finishing with another kiss to his helmet.

Behind her, I could see Babs s smiling as she gave the buck another encouraging gesture as Sweetie looked into his visor-covered eyes lovingly. So this must be what true love felt like, not loving somepony for one night. Banging them just to try and make the loneliness fade away. Funny, it was almost filling, like sating a hunger for it or something, or maybe that was just me, or even my host... Even so, it really felt like nothing else mattered more than the pretty mare beside him. The thought conflicted as he nuzzled her back lightly, his armor the only thing making the moment imperfect, so close that it hurt. Then the moment was broken when there was a knock at the door and they both pulled away as their brief moment of intimacy was broken.

"C'mon on in," Babs s called, and the door opened slowly revealing an olive mare.

"Excuse me, Miss Seed, Miss Belle's skywagon is recharged and ready to depart," she muttered, before disappearing back through the door as Babs gave her a nod.

"So I'm guessin' ya' gonna be off then?" Babs s asked as Sweetie turned to face her.

The white mare nodded. "Yeah, sorry I can't stay longer, there's an awful lot of ponies in town who still need to know about the impending changes," she informed her long-time friend with another weary sigh.

"Hey, don't ya' worry, Ah'll see you soon, at the reunion, right?" Babs asked, and Sweetie nodded.

"Of course, none of us could miss it. Besides, Apple Bloom owes us all for this mess too," she added with a smile.

Moments later the pair gave a goodbye hug to one another before Sweetie took her place at my host's side, and Babs gave the buck a stern look.

"Hey, ya' better watch out for my fellow Crusader there, ya' hear?" she warned, flashing another wry smile at Sweetie as the latter giggled and my host nodded firmly.

"Trust me, nothing will ever befall her or your secret society," he said with a playful salute.

Sweetie looked around at him, playfully embarrassed. "You're not still hung up on the fact that you were never really initiated, are you?" she asked with another whimsical chuckle.

My host rolled his eyes, his forehoof returning to the floor once more. "Nah, I was able to meet the perfect special some-pony for me, instead."

The memory faded away and left me right back in the problematic situation of being bored out of my mind. Rolling back onto my back I once again looked up at the pipe-covered ceiling, then chanced a glance back at my Pipbuck and the two remaining memory orbs Clip had given me. As tempted as I was to view another, especially given the chance that I may once again get an opportunity to see the utterly gorgeous mare that was Sweetie Belle. Right now I just wanted to find out what was going on in the real world. Upon arriving at that decision, I once again tried to stand up, this time taking things far slower as my aching limbs quivered underneath me. After a few long moments of holding myself there without collapsing, I finally dared to take a step off the mattress, but then almost fell right on my face. Okay, the concrete floor was cold, wet, and slippery, all points which I noted.

Nevertheless, I trotted forward best I could, careful not to wake Cherry as I moved past her and over to the door. Beyond the crooked brick arch, which was followed by an equally dilapidated brick corridor, the walls were crisscrossed by rusted pipes, and tattered wires, and lined with rows of disintegrating lockers. To the right was nothing but darkness, while to the left was another room illuminated by the flickering light of a fire. Left was the direction I swiftly chose and I once again found myself confronted with yet more catwalks.

"Great," I muttered to myself.

Fortunately for me, however, these fragile walkways did not cross the gloomy factory floor that lay beneath many of the catwalks, but instead turned sharply to the left, forming a metal stair along the wall and leading up to what appeared to be some sort of office, identifiable by its barred windows.

Light shone through the shattered glass and illuminated at least half of the scrap-strewn factory floor below me, with the shadows of the bars breaking the illumination with great bands of darkness. In the gloom, I could just make out the skeletons of disassembled robots, as well as the furnaces, conveyor belts, rollers, and various industrial cutters which were all buried beneath the piles of sharp pieces of metal and pools of brown water. Every shadow moved as if it were alive, the red bars on my E.F.S made me even warier of each one.

I had to assume most were just Radroaches, even as I thought I saw the flash of insectoid eyes in the gloom and heard the ruffling of wings. Looking out I had a hard time distinguishing between what was once a robot manufacturing factory and what appeared to be equipment for a steel mill, yet every factory in this place was so tightly compact together it wasn't hard to imagine them as one large industrial center all feeding into the heart of the city. In fact, some of the hulking things buried in the rusty mess looked like war tanks.

A large mural painted on the brick to my right said as much, 'The heart of all industry is its workforce, working to save Equestria in every way we can', stated a picture of a stern, yet proud orange mare with a triple-apple cutie mark, freckles on her cheeks and an aged, gray mane. The Ministry of Wartime Technology, then that would be the one known as Applejack. I didn't like how much I'd been thinking about those pre-war mares recently. It was unnerving to say the least, even if the statuette of Fluttershy I'd found had made me feel wonderful at the time. With that superstition prominent in my mind, I swiftly began up the stairs, which, given my weak state, was easier said than done.

I could almost imagine the giant pony on the mural coming to life and chasing me up the rusted incline with false promises of a bright future and salvation. I'd have succumbed to such a patronizing fate if it had been real as I fell flat on my muzzle one step away from the top of the stares. Now the spinning in my head had been increased tenfold, and my guts, well... I swear somepony was dancing inside me and even though I'd not eaten in days it was a battle not to cough up bile. I felt the cold metal of the staircase as it brushed my muzzle. The smell of iron filled my senses as the dull pain of the impact began to fade. Then there was a sharp creek as the door to the office opened and a familiar blue and gray blur rushed out.

"Hey, you okay?" Clip asked tentatively as he cautiously made his way over to me.

I staggered to my hooves and nodded the best I could as I wiped my stinging nose. "I'm fine, don't worry," I said, dismissively waving a forehoof.

He looked skeptical but didn't look like he wanted to challenge my reassurances. I tried to give him my best smile, but the colt still looked at me as if I were some monster ready to gobble him up. Worse still, he looked as if some part of him felt he deserved such a horrific fate.

"How about you, you doing okay?" I asked kindly, and he just looked more unnerved.

Dragonfire, have you ever heard of the term don't talk to strangers? I know you're awful at following that advice yourself, but now... Well, now you're that stranger. I consciously suppressed that idea, not willing to completely disregard it before I had the colt's total response.

He shook his head, and I was ready to drag those doubts about my predicament right back to where I needed them.

"I'm... Ochre's not doing very well and Sky won't tell me what's wrong, she's just shouting... So your griffin friend, she just told me to keep watch out here," he explained with a sigh, nudging his shotgun with a forehoof.

I didn't like where that train of thought may lead him, if one of his friends was so gravely wounded then he should at least be allowed to be there for them. The confirmation of my other travel companion's whereabouts was also a welcome relief, even if I'd never thought I'd find her still here. I'd just assumed she'd have left on her own by now. A moment later, the small colt caught my attention as he shrugged weakly.

"But, I bet you don't wanna know anything about that... I should just be apologizing," he added with an equally despondent tone.

I swallowed my guilt, knowing that too much remorse would cause me to become too emotional, which would further upset my churning stomach and increase the likelihood that I would vomit once again. I took a step towards Clip and struggled to give him a reassuring or sincere smile. At least now my vision was clear and I could see his face. He was small and meek, clearly, he'd had something to do with the slavers and had been on the wrong end of their pecking order. If I'd all the food in the wasteland I'd have given it all to him right there and then, and yet the best I could do was be kind and hope he wouldn't villainize himself so much over something that wasn't anypony's fault but my own.

"You still beating yourself up for having shot me?" I asked in a nonchalant tone of voice, raising a forehoof to my chest.

He shied away but nodded. I shook my head and then raised a hoof to my side. I'd no shortage of scars and after pointing a few of the more innocent ones out, I swear I saw a smile across his muzzle beneath all that filth and guilt.

"It's just another one for the collection. Heck, I should be getting mad at you for not getting me as good as whoever did this," I added, pointing out a rather bold scar hidden beneath my mane.

Clip gave a slight nod, and thank the goddesses, I finally discovered that he could laugh. "You get them all saving ponies?" he asked, the relief seeming to bring out the pony he really was, if only for a moment.

I seemed to be getting good at doing that to ponies and I nodded in response. "Fair share of them, yeah." My voice was somewhat proud, even if whatever remained of my conscience insisted that was far, far from true.

With that, however, I managed to get onto the same level as the colt without him bolting in fear and, while appearing slightly cautious, he didn't seem to be afraid that I might take some sort of revenge.

"You know, I'm surprised a pony like you even needed saving, you took me down with no problem," I said with a feeling of admiration, giving him a better view of my wounded limb.

Okay, so that wasn't entirely true either, the sight of Cherry's ear and what felt like several days' worth of exhaustion had brought me down. Not to mention my stupidity, a crippled limb, and a fight with a giant mutated creature. Regardless, he seemed to look upon the fact far more lightly.

"So, do you feel like letting bygones be bygones and maybe even be friends?" I asked holding out a forehoof.

He shied back at that slightly, and I thought the friendly gesture might have discouraged him as he regarded my limb like a live grenade, the look in his eyes unbearably similar to that I'd seen in Cherry's eyes on the day we'd first met. Yet after a long moment of cautious speculation, he finally took my offer and shook my forehoof with his own.

"I'm Dragonfire, by the way," I said casually.

"Spark Clip, but everypony just calls me Clip," he responded swiftly.

Spark Clip? I wasn’t too sure on the meaning, but it was a good name.

"So what about your friends and Gina, they around? I kinda' wanna have a word with the pony who patched me up," I asked, and he nodded slowly, the weapon and gear upon his back rattling as he did so.

“Skylark is with Ochre, and your griffin friend's just through there," he stated, pointing a forehoof into the office, then he frowned and looked away. "She... she's not good though, Ochre I mean," he added with a pained look on his face.

My look turned sympathetic, but I nodded. "Well, I'll see if there's any way I can help," I assured him.

Great! Feed him false hope, Dragonfire. Are you trying to acquire another flawed prodigy already? Did you get tired of having to deal with your marefriend with the bleeding heart? My mind elaborated, feeding my imagination horrifying images of Cherry's injury and repeating the words about how much she mattered I'd uncontrollably uttered to her over and over.

I tried my best not to think about it, and my mind belittled me for that too. When all else failed, I simply trotted on, leaving Clip to guard the stairs as instructed. I just really hoped things were not as bad as I was imagining them to be. The office I found myself in a moment later, stole my attention slightly. It looked identical to the one I'd seen in the Sweetie Belle memory orb, well not counting the hundreds of years' worth of rot and decay. Not to mention the rusted heavy-duty blast shutters which had sealed over the large window on the far side of the room, thereby hiding that disgusting view of the city. The walls were peeling with flakes of rust scattered about its base, while the humidity made them seem as though they were almost weeping and the portraits that had one sat upon them either lay scattered all over on the debris-strewn carpet or were hanging crooked.

A desk sat before me, its once fine wooden surface now sunken and marred by dry moss, mold, and dirt. It was much closer to a hazard than the piece of officious-looking furniture I'd seen in the memory, the rusted filing cabinets and shattered display cases about the room were no better. There was one other thing atop the desk that had also failed to stand the test of time. It seemed my recent fetish for ancient photos was not dissuaded from the almost unrecognizable depiction of four smiling fillies sitting in a large orange fruit parade float. I'd never completely understood those ancient ponies, what with their mad experiments, powerful mega spells, corrupted politics, and riding about in conveyances resembling a giant pumpkin. I suppose it was the most minor of all their evils, even if it were one of the strangest.

The peculiar image didn't hold my attention for long, however, as the sounds of weak chatter caught my ears and I fell silent. On the left side of the room was a door to another corridor, the one the buck in the memory seemed to have been guarding. It was also the source of flickering firelight and the direction from which the chatter was coming from. Therefore, it was perfectly logical that it became the direction I swiftly found myself following. The first room I came across was on the left, and looking in I saw what appeared to have once been some kind of storage area. Now the space between the cabinets was occupied by a griffin. Gina seemed to take every chance she had to maintain her armor and weapons, and this was no exception.

"I take it the raiders didn't give you too much trouble then?" I asked, stepping through the doorway and leaning my weight on one side of its crooked frame as I tried not to let my discomfort show too much.

She looked up quickly, slightly startled, a response she instantly attempted to hide, I observed. "Less than you, it seems," she retorted, staring at my forelegs.

I rubbed one of them against the other and felt guilt and shame well up in my chest. "There were complications," I admitted.

"The colt shot you, I know. The damn kid is obviously good with that gun of his, but the least he could do is shoot at the right fucking targets," she responded in a bitter-sounding tone.

I opened my muzzle to say something in Clip's defense, but the thought of inciting an argument with the griffin dissuaded me, and I fell silent.

"And your other friend? Jeez, I don't know where you find these ponies, but I’m surprised that her naivety hasn’t gotten you killed yet. Either you’re good enough to be considered a one-mare army, or you’re still alive by sheer dumb luck," she went on, waving a talon in frustrated emphasis.

I grit my teeth at the idea she was talking ill of Cherry and her actions. "How is she?"

Wait, what was it that she just asked? I paused, looking at her as if I'd seen a ghost when reality flooded back to me and I stuttered.

"She's about as fine as any of us. She's a little bit shaken and exhausted, but otherwise, she seems fine," I assured her.

"Of course she is," Gina responded snidely, waving a talon to the side of her head, exactly where her ear would have been if she were a pony.

My expression fell into my usual serious frown, masking my true feelings at her response, and I felt my anger simmer.

"Well, that mare through there, Skylark, or whatever her name is, seems good at making do with what she has. She certainly saved your flank from bleeding out anyway," the griffin added, then smiled. "I guess that even ponies need saving once and a while."

I shook my head and turned my tail to her before I could get too pissed off. "I'll remind you of that should you continue to need my help," I retorted sharply.

"Well, I hope you've got a while because you'll be waiting for that day for a long time," she called back with a nonchalant, easygoing tone of voice as I continued down the corridor.

Yeah, well you wouldn't be saying that if you knew what would have happened to you at the radio station if I hadn't come along. I thought scornfully, recalling the horrifying fate of Buck Shot as I stalked past the crooked doors of an old elevator and reached the last of the rooms, the one where the firelight was the strongest.

"I'm fine Sky ... I don't know why you worry so much," A mare's voice coughed weakly, and I paused, ears standing tall.

"I worry about you, both of you. And don't give me that all ‘I’m fine’ crap, I'm a doctor, and I know that you're not fine." Another, far more frazzled-sounding mare responded, which was soon followed by a loud clatter of metal.

"Fuck!" The same mare suddenly growled as the sound of what I could only assume was her limited equipment hitting the floor rang out from the room’s interior.

It wasn't hard to identify which of the two mares was Sky and which was Ochre given their conversation, and it wasn't hard for my mind to remind me that eavesdropping on two seemingly good ponies was wrong. With that knowledge shaming me, I made my presence known. Skylark, I assumed, was a light blue unicorn mare with a pale gray mane and had a red cross flanked by two white feathered wings for a cutie mark. Ochre was an earth pony who, as her name suggested, was a pale, orangey brown with a cutie mark of a gemstone sitting atop a pile of dirt. Her mane was dark brown and her rear legs and neck were wrapped in bloodied bandage wraps.

The mattress under her was no cleaner, nor were the improvised medical supplies beside her. Nevertheless, she didn't bear the expression of hopelessness I'd seen in so many other dying ponies. She merely looked woefully content and a look of admiration at the pale blue mare frantically tending to her. Sky just looked impossibly frustrated and frazzled as she cursed at her fallen medical equipment. Seeing her made me have second thoughts about confronting her about my condition, but the moment I had that thought, it was too late.

"What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be walking," Sky told me bluntly, swiftly returning to work without so much as a glance, a batch of chems levitating in her magical grip.

I'd failed to notice that I'd drawn their attention as Ochre looked at me far more kindly, wincing as her frantic companion went to work on her rear legs.

"Good to see I was right about your abilities, Sky," she mumbled weakly, giving the pale blue mare a knowing look as the doctor injected her patient’s limbs.

"Say that when you're out of here and not dying," she retorted frantically, then glanced at me. "That filly’s leg was nothing too major, I wasn’t as concerned about using Hydra on her as I am on you. Your heart is struggling as it is," Sky responded as she returned her attention to her work, waving her horn over Ochre's limb as it began to glow. "There, the anesthetic spells are gonna keep you immobile for now. But by the goddesses, I swear you're going to be fine, love," Sky added firmly.

Oh, this is one of those situations? Well, there went any further thoughts of ogling either of the pretty mares before me.

Thinking about things more seriously, Sky looked like she was fighting a losing battle to save some pony she loved. Now I saw the many blooded rags and bandages beside the desperate mare in a whole new light. My initial inattentiveness to such things faded as similar memories of my past resurfaced.

No, mind. I'm not going back there! I growled, yet the painful memory persisted.

Sky gave Ochre a light kiss on the cheek as unconsciousness took the earth pony. With each passing moment, I could see the pale mare was hoping that her beloved’s sleep would not be permanent. Then she gave a slight sniff, wiping her nose and leaning back, her rump resting on the floor beside her sleeping marefriend, a set of used medical supplies, and an old revolver which seemed to be her only form of weapon.

“Goddesses, I could really use some Wild Pegasus or something right now,” she huffed.

"Thanks... for what you did," I told her carefully, lifting up and gently wriggling my once crippled forehoof.

Sky sniffed again, trying to hold back her tears as she nodded firmly. "Like I said, you weren't anything too difficult, no offense. The gunshot clipped your upper subclavian artery... Once I had the bleeding under control it was nothing that some regenerative chems couldn't fix, even if I hate using them.”

Oh, well at least she tried her best to keep me alive while pumping me with dangerous chems then. My mind sneered, only for me to shake the snide idea out of my head. What? Don’t you know Hydra can make your heart stop?

“But you had only one major injury and it was one I could treat. It was exhaustion that really brought you down though. Still, Clip’s kicking himself for shooting you, and your friend..." She looked at me at the mention of Cherry, then at her sleeping mare friend.

"I wish I could have saved her ear, but she insisted I use everything I could to help you," she admitted sounding despondent and disappointed that she wasn’t able to save Cherry from her marred disfiguration, looking at her forehooves.

I shook my head, slowly raising a forehoof for her to stop. "No, that's my fault. You look like you have your hooves full as it is," I assured her kindly, glancing at Ochre as she slept.

Sky glanced at her sedated marefriend, placing a forehoof on her forehead. "Several bullet wounds, fractured ribs, broken legs, and a whole lot of internal bleeding. About the only thing making me desperate enough to put out a cry for help in this goddesses forsaken place."

She listed the factors of her dire situation as if they were the only way to assure herself that she could help, yet her tone was far from hopeful. "If we were back in Crossroads, I'd be able to help her, get her walking again in an instant, but..."

She trailed off, removing her forehoof. "Slavers don't take too kindly to ponies getting out of their cages. Even when somepony else is shooting at them," she added with a slight sneer of anger.

I knew that feeling, to hate the ponies that take everything from you and to hate the wasteland for every grueling day it forced you to endure the pain. I swallowed hard, questions raising in my head that I didn't feel wholly confident asking. Yet I still had a job to do and Crimson Springs sat right between me and my goal.

"You get out of Crimson Springs?" I asked as subtly as possible. She nodded, then paused.

"Never got in really, some pony attacked the caravan at the bridge, might have been the Rangers, but I don't know. We broke out with the rest of the slaves, all of us just ran for it but they gunned almost everypony down there. You're either a slave to them or a bloody paste for the raiders to smear on the road. They suffer from this thing they call the Rage, don’t know what it is, but it makes them crazier than most,” she explained

The Rage? That had been what I’d overheard the raiders talking about. Then again I was no expert on what made ponies that crazy, living in a place like this would drive anypony mad.

“We managed to get here to the factory, and well... Some prestige-hungry raiders came looking. Clip knew a way inside and the robots in the outer warehouse kept them out, but now those things are more useless than me." Sky levitated up some of her improvised medical supplies then a raggedy old bag filled with limited chems and sighed.

"Now I'm stuck with a colt and a marefriend who don't know what it's like to see somepony they love falling apart in front of them," she added placing her forehoof back on Ochre's forehead.

My mind was racing and yet I felt the cold coil of fear constricting my guts. I knew what it was like to lose somepony close to you and yet I didn't feel I had the right to sympathize with her, especially after presenting her with hope, only to have myself wind up the same way. She hadn't called for help to wind up having to save the pony that came to rescue her. Regardless, I still needed to get into the slaver city, yet asking or even telling her of such a thing may not be the best option right now. I only thought of one thing, one thing that defied the wasteland and its misery, that emotion called happiness.

"Did you meet her in Crossroads?" I asked, trotting forward and sitting across the room from the pair, beside an old terminal and desk.

Sky nodded, sniffling as tears ran down her cheek. "Yeah, the town’s head doctor is my father. He never liked it whenever I would go out drinking. She was a bar mare... A barmaid with a knack for catching my eye," she told me with a slightly warm smile as she rubbed Ochre's forehead gently.

Thinking about that was making her happy, that happiness was an anathema to the wasteland, and to know the wasteland was being affronted satisfied me immensely. Yet the more I saw her smile, the more I thought about what had driven my own past to be so dark. I'd been in her situation before, I knew the pain, and yet for her, there was still that ray of hope. She was a medical pony, she could save her marefriend, save Clip, she'd even saved me from my own stupidity, not to mention Cherry’s foolish behavior. Who would I save when I was stuck like this? No pony.

"Your friend was quite helpful, she got into more medical boxes than I could, and I don't think I could have saved you fast enough without the extra supplies. Of course, she was worried about you like no pony’s business," Sky told me as she stood, her magic wrapping around her improvised supplies and tidying them.

I flushed slightly at the thought of Cherry's care and the sound of her voice while I was sleeping. I felt the heat of my blushing grow.

"I'm gonna guess you two ain't from the slave farms though?" she asked, and I gave a tentative nod.

Goddesses, telling her that made me far more guilty than I knew it should. She didn't seem too put off by the fact I'd not been made to suffer in the infernal pit that was Crimson Springs as she placed her tool on the desk beside the terminal, however.

"Dragonfire, isn't it? Your griffin friend told me your names when you were both out," she asked and I nodded, standing somewhat shakily.

"More of an acquaintance than a friend," I corrected, but didn't allow the bitter thought to plague my mind for long.

"Skylark, I assume?" I asked, and she mirrored my response, albeit without the distasteful thoughts regarding Gina.

"I wish I could say at your service, but when you're abducted by slavers you kinda' lose your professionalism," she admitted with a subtle grumble. "Name's weird, I know. Father was set on having a pegasus foal. He was always going on and telling us that our family tree was littered with them. Don't ask me why, or how many mares he knocked up trying to sire one," she added, then slumped. "Though I sure wish I had some of my sisters to help me out now."

"I didn't think raiders would be bold enough to attack Crossroads?" I said, avoiding the subject of siblings, and she smiled somewhat proudly, but then shook her head.

"No, as crazy as they are they have never come that far north before, but pressure from the rangers seems to be driving them. That, or something else. Sunspot, the town mayor, rallied us to go out to help a caravan with their wounded. Ochre wouldn't leave my side even though it was her day off, but then it turned out the whole thing was a trap."

She looked down at her forehooves as she placed them on the desk. "I saw too many good ponies die because they were willing to help," she added, sounding sorrowful.

I glanced at Ochre sleeping opposite as the mare gave a restless twitch and a pained murmur.

"Goddesses, If I could wipe every slaver from the wasteland I would," I admitted and that garnered another confident grin from the pale blue mare.

"Cherry said something about how you rescued her in that panicked mess she called an introduction. She also said if there is anypony who was a slaver, that they should watch out for you. Though of course, you were squirming around and bleeding everywhere. Kinda made her claims kind of hard to believe." She pointed a hoof at me and this time, guilt or not, I couldn't help but blush.

Then Sky's smile widened slightly and she glanced at her sleeping marefriend. "Say, you two, you aren't... Together are you?" she asked.

I felt myself shudder and my heart flutter all at once, then it felt as if I'd been dipped in impossibly cold water as the reality hit me. Sky looked away awkwardly, and I figured my reaction must not have been as appealing as she'd hoped. I shook my head soon after, trying to dismiss the fact with a wave of my forehoof.

"No, no, we're just friends," I told her, the confession stinging.

Cherry, that impossibly cute, and lovely mare with the fearless personality I knew her to possess. How could I not like her and yet here I was...? I fucked everypony in the wasteland to try and achieve a hopeless goal, and I liked her enough to try and spare her the pain and humiliation of that stupidity. It didn't help then, that in the next moment I heard the familiar voice call my name. Cherry appeared in the doorway moments after my ears caught the sound. The pink mare sighed, seemingly in relief as she saw me. I remained frozen for a long moment, Sky's remark still spinning in my mind as the sight of my friend's bandaged ear fought to put such thoughts to rest quickly.

"I was looking for you. How are you doing?" Cherry asked, her eyes lingering on my quivering legs.

The best I could manage was a subtle nod as the words caught in my throat like barbed wire. She trotted forward, shaking the left side of her head as if agitated by the wound. That didn't help the words escape me any more than the sound of her soft voice did, more so as she approached and smiled.

"I... I'm glad to see you're up," she admitted quietly, almost shamefully.

I fought not to stare at her missing ear as the bloodied stump of bandages lingered before me. But as she shook her head again, I couldn't help but look away.

"She's no worse off than the rest of us now," Sky admitted, looking back at me as she leaned against the desk.

Cherry frowned slightly, but I doubted doing such a thing to the mare that had saved us both was boding well with her good conscious. She glanced back at me, still somewhat lost in a thoughtful stupor.

"How's your friend?" she asked Sky, and the mare's repeat of Ochre's dire condition was enough in the way of cold negativity to draw me back.

Cherry sighed, shaking her head again. "There were more medical boxes downstairs, but I couldn't find anything other than more pins and some rags, the whole medical room's collapsed," she admitted, looking at the several empty healing potions against the opposite wall.

Sky shook her head too, yet more in slow disappointment than agitation. "It... I–I know when I'm beat... I just never..." She faltered, looking down at her hooves and closing her eyes tightly. "We would need to get her back to Crossroads for me to make any kind of difference," she added bluntly.

I paused, shaking my head slowly, then looked at Cherry. "Where'd you find those supplies?" I asked.

She looked back at me with slight confusion, yet was swift to answer. "Down in the maintenance hall, but the whole room beyond it has collapsed," she elaborated, raising an eyebrow and likely wondering why I was asking her such things.

The look I garnered from Sky was equally curious. Okay, now was the best time I could think of to tell them what we needed to do, even if I knew nopony would like it.

"Every factory has a medical room, but that's never the only place there are medical supplies," I stated, and Cherry's expression brighten slightly as she seemed to think the same thing. Sky did not share the pink mare's enthusiasm, but she did look like she had an idea.

"There may be one other place. They had a place that they used as a surgery room where they used to take the brains out to put them into their robots. However, the problem is, that's where all the damn brain bots are now," she explained with another hopeless and somewhat frustrated grumble.

My hope faltered a little, and I saw Cherry's follow as it did so, yet it was at that moment I realized what I needed to do. I wanted to save the good pony in her.

"What does it matter now anyhow? There's no way there's enough supplies to fix this kind of trauma. As easy as I say it was I was barely able to fix you or cauterize that in this state!" Sky exclaimed loudly, pointing to my leg and then to Cherry's severed ear respectively.

I swallowed the remorse, it tasted like a bitter soup slithering down my throat, yet I couldn't just sit by and watch this happen and I certainly couldn't let her watch hopelessly while the pony she loved died.

"If we get enough supplies, will you be able to get her walking again?" I asked hopefully. Sky frowned then cursed slightly under her breath.

"Maybe, if you can find some strong healing stimulators, then her leg would be the only issue, she could walk with a brace if we helped her and she's up to her mane on Med-X, but last I checked a brace wasn't involved in brain surgery, so why would there be one down there?" she asked, then paused, raising a forehoof to her chin thoughtfully before seeming to lose hope in the idea that the room would have what she needed to treat her friend, especially since it wasn’t something needed for the type of surgical operations performed within.

"Even if we could do all that, there's a slaver city between here and there, not to mention the Brazen Key and the Steel Rangers, we'd never get through!" she expressed coldly.

My hope failed at that, so much for trying to pry our way around death central from here then? Ultimately, I knew this would always be the case and the wasteland had merely confirmed my fears.

"Wait, there has to be some way in, all the train lines, the pipelines, there can't just be one way through the city," Cherry suddenly stated, stepping forward, her once cowering form now regained some of its confident determination.

I'd forgotten about that idea, and at the reminder of how confident she could really look, I felt I should have done more to support her. Yet as Sky shook her head, I knew that as right as Cherry's motivations were, they were hopeless.

"Obviously you know nothing about Crimson Springs. There's one way in, and one way out on each side. Train lines will be flooded and filled with goddesses know what, and all the pipes across the river are busted," she responded, seeming to grow more frustrated as her only hope was slowly dragged away by her own declarations.

"There's no way over the river unless we go miles south past the Sheen and there's no way I can take her that far," she finally stated, banging a forehoof on the degraded carpet in emphasis.

I saw Cherry's face light as she tried to respond, but her words seemed just as reluctant to leave her as mine had been, and she said nothing, then the room fell silent, all bar the crackling of the fire and the distant roar of the storm. I wished I could help, to save ponies, to be a good pony, but I'd lived in the wasteland long enough to know its cruel ways. I hated the scum which made their homes in this lawless desolation with a fiery passion. I'd seen too many situations like this, I'd seen so many ponies die and others powerless to stop it, this was no different and it was hard to face the fact that the wasteland was once again going to win.

"Sky?" A small, timid little voice asked and all ears rose.

Clip was standing in the doorway, his eyes locked upon the pale mare that had rescued him.

"That's not all true there's... I know another way through," he admitted simply and I smiled.

Okay wasteland, you're not getting these ponies just yet.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk Added: True Grit - If nothing else, you can take a beating! No matter how hard somepony else has to work to put you back together. Instantly gain +10 Damage Resistance.

Updated artwork kindly provided by: CutePencilCase