“Hellooooo wastelanders! It’s your favorite disc jockey DJ Pon3! What’s a disc? Well it’s a round…never mind. Let’s get to what you ponies really want…the news. To you ponies out there who were doubtful or even dismissive of the existence of the Harbinger of Hope, well my little ponies does DJ Pon3 got a story for you. I’m proud to report that the good ol’ Harbinger of Hope saw it in his heart to help out the poor Ghoulies in the hospital they call the Mortuary. There’s a lesson to be learned here for all you listeners out there. Not that you shouldn’t have listened to ol’ DJ pon3 to begin with. The lesson is that ghouls are worth your time. You see, ghouls are simply ponies who had the misfortune of absorbing a massive amount of radiation and didn’t die. I know they look like the zombie ponies out of those old Sword Mares comic books but I assure you that their hearts and souls are still very much pony. So I tip my hat to you Harbinger, you are doing great things over there and I hope you continue to fight the good fight. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.”

The giant steel door of Stable sixty-three was wide open. I walked forward across the threshold, mouth agape in pure disbelief.

“No…how could this happen? No…No no no!!” I lost all semblance of caution or self-preservation and galloped into the stable.

“Sparks wait!” I heard somepony call out behind me.

I didn’t recognize who yelled as I made a mad dash through the corridors deeper into my home. The first place of note I found was the security headquarters. The door hissed open as I approached and I brashly threw myself into the room.

“Summer!? Summer where are you!?” I looked around at empty workstations and desks. I could hear my heartbeat thundering in my ears. I anxiously brought up my PipBuck and checked my E.F.S. The compass was gone off my PipBuck. It was still there but it didn’t show the directions or any function it was supposed to. Something was blocking the Eyes Forward Sparkle spell. I dashed back out into the hallway and could hear the far off sound of hooves on metal, probably my friends trying to find me. I didn’t have the patience to wait for them as I took off down another hallway, heading full speed to my quarters. The fact that I hadn’t seen anypony thus far didn’t dissuade me at all from seeing it with my own eyes. My door flew open and I barreled into my room, falling over my bed and landing on the other side. I jumped back to my hooves like a pony possessed and looked around the empty room.

“Winter!!!” I called into the metal confines of my stable. I could feel my voice reverberating off the walls which only accentuated the loneliness. It was clear to me at this point there was nopony left in the stable but nothing could stop me from checking every important room anyway. I sat down sadly in the doorway of my mother’s quarters, my ears falling back against my head.

“W-where is everypony?” I remembered why I wanted to save everypony to begin with and suddenly got very angry.

“They wouldn’t.” I said to myself as I set off toward the Overmare’s office. I burst into the room with one goal in mind. I sat in front of the Overmare’s terminal and tried in vain to open the secret elevator to the lower labs. Somepony had changed the access method to open the way. I screamed in frustration and put my hoof through the screen of the terminal, bits of glass biting into my flesh. I sat there for several minutes trying to comprehend what could have happened here when Sunny and Grim found me, the both of them breathing heavily. Aurora was holding on to Sunny’s neck looking equally concerned, even though she didn’t know why.

“They’re gone…they’re all gone…” I whispered, pulling my bloody hoof out of the terminal’s guts.

“Who’s gone? What are we doing here?” Aurora asked. I almost gave her an angry stare when I stopped and thought for a moment. The inside of the stable was too clean for something to have attacked the stable or foalnapped its populace. Stable Seventy-one had its occupant’s foalnapped and there were signs of struggle everywhere. Maybe there was still hope for my family.

“Do you think they escaped?” I asked.

Sunny nodded. “It’s pretty likely. If they were attacked or forcibly removed then we should see some kind of damage, blood or something.”

“I think she’s right.” Grim added. “The cleanliness of the stable as a whole suggests they left on their own accord.”

I was starting to calm down even as a new calling made its way to the forefront of my mind. If the ponies of my stable were anything like me then they would find the first place I found.

“Catch your breath guys, we’re heading back to Black Town.”

I checked my map and made a straight line path towards Black Town. As we trotted along towards our destination I could hear the distant sound of gunfire ahead of us. My immediate thought was that if a group of stable ponies were being attacked by…well anypony, they’d be an easy target. I looked back at my companions and their expressions seemed to follow what it was we needed to do. I looked at Aurora on Sunny’s back and my expression turned to worry.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.” The look in Sunny’s eyes told me that she would do whatever it took to keep Aurora safe. I trusted her to protect the child as we kicked it into high gear and galloped towards the fray. As we crested a small hill we saw a small compliment of guards in a firefight with about twenty ponies. I recognized the one-eyed guard mare from Black Town in the back commanding her ponies against what looked like raiders, if their scrap work armor was any indicator. I took in a deep breath and steeled myself for a fight. I thought about what Grim told me about the slavers. Okay…they’re not ponies they’re monsters, don’t think twice, and don’t hesitate. Do whatever it takes. I struggled to reach around and grab my pistol in my mouth. I nodded back to Grim and Sunny as I started charging down the hill. We had a small advantage in flanking the raider gang as their attention was solely on the Black Town guards. Before they even knew we were there three raiders were felled by our combined gunfire. Unfortunately our advantage was quickly lost as several of the raiders turned towards us and started firing up the hill. We were easy targets as we had nowhere to go but further down the hill. Bits of dirt and dust were kicked up as bullets hit all around us. I felt a few hit me in the chest, being absorbed by my armor but still knocking the wind out of me. Just as I thought I was about to make it to the bottom I felt a bullet hit my right shin. My leg gave out from under me and I hit the ground hard, rolling the rest of the way down the hill. By the time I hit the bottom, I had scratched up my flanks pretty good and firmly planted my face against the dirt several times. I could just barely hear the gunshots through the ringing in my ears. I felt something warm running down my nose and mouth, a quick prod with my tongue brought me the irony taste of blood. I felt Grim wrap his claws around me and screech painfully as I saw he lifted me off the ground and carried me to cover. Our landing behind a large rock was not smooth as Grim dropped me before hitting the ground himself. I managed to sit myself up against the rock as I heard the sound of hoof steps approaching us. Sunny appeared in front of us, carefully cradling Aurora in her hooves. I could see blood flowing from holes in her duster.

“Grim, take the kid. I won’t be able to fight if I have to take any more hits for her.” She said, downing a healing potion and injecting herself with something I didn't recognize. Aurora hopped to the ground and ran to my side and began digging through my saddlebags. She held a healing potion in her hooves and fervently forced it to me. I took it gladly and chugged it. Grim sat up and motioned for Aurora to come to his side.

“Alright Sunny, Sparks. Get back out there. I’ll stay here and protect Aurora.” His breathing sounded labored, flying to save me on his recovering wing must have taken all his strength.

“Thanks Grim, we’ll be back as soon as we can.” I said, nodding my gratitude to him.

Sunny straightened her hat and kicked the loading lever of her battle saddle and disappeared into the fight. I sighed and prepared to follow her when I heard Aurora call out behind me.

“Be careful Mr. Sparks!” she looked at me with tears in her eyes. I opened my mouth to say something but no words came. I carefully placed my tongue on my gun’s trigger and turned my back on her to reenter the battle. The raiders were hard pressed to find any ground as they now faced a fight from two directions. Even though Sunny and I couldn’t do much on our own, drawing their attention away from the guards while they picked them off was just as good. I was starting to realize how much I relied on my magic as every shot from the pistol in my mouth felt like it was going to shake my teeth out of my skull. With that in mind I wasn’t contributing much to the battle save for flushing a few out of cover, only for them to be killed by the Black Town guard. The guards were starting to move up to clear out the rest of the raiders. The tides were turning in our favor. I was taking cover behind a cart of empty ammo cans surrounded by raider corpses as I took a moment to try and find Sunny in the chaos. I heard the sound of hoof steps again from behind me and when I turned around I caught a baton to the face. The back of my head hit one of the corpses on the ground and my assailant stood over me, ready to hit me again when they dropped the baton in shock. Right at that moment did I notice the pale brown mane and burgundy fur of the mare standing over me.

“Summer? Summer! Its m-” Before I could finish I was pulled into a death hug.

“Sparky! Oh goddesses I can't believe it’s you!”

“Gck! Summer! Ack! Can’t…breathe…” She quickly released me and helped me to my hooves. “You hit me in the face again!”

“I know I’m sorry!” She giggled. From around us the sound of gunfire ceased.

I smiled back at her and shared a small chuckle when the pressing question made its way to the forefront of my mind. “Summer what happened? Why aren’t you in the stable?”

“We evacuated about three days ago. The Overmares wouldn’t tell us why but they said we would all die if we didn’t leave, so we organized a mass exodus to the outside. A lot of the ponies didn’t know what to do or where to go. Most of my ponies left me saying that I wasn’t their chief anymore out here. Lots of us went different directions but the ones who trusted in me followed me and we found Black Town.”

“We? Is…is mother…? And Winter…?”

“Yes. They came with me and are both safe behind Black Town’s walls.”

My heart practically leapt out of my throat. “Please Summer, take me to them.”

“Of course I will Sparks, they’ll be ecstatic to see you.”

I nickered in excitement and pranced around in a little circle when I remembered something important, my friends. I trusted that Sunny could take care of herself but we left Aurora with Grim while he was hurt.

I dropped all of my excitement for worry. “Summer, I need your help, I need to go find my friends.”

“Okay Sparks, what do they look like?”

“There are three of them: One orange mare with a battle saddle and cowpony hat, a grey and black griffin and a white filly.”

“Got it, you go look for them and I’ll tell the others and we’ll get a quick search going.”

“Okay Summer. Thank you.” I said as I ran down into the battlefield. The battle was mostly over at this point. I could hear faint gunshots of the Black Town guard in the distance chasing away the stragglers. Down in the middle I found Sunny standing over a slightly twitching raider. She unsheathed her knife and firmly plunged it into the raider’s chest. I could see behind her a few guards doing the same thing on other raiders that were still alive.

“Sunny have you gone back to check on Grim and Aurora?”

She pulled her knife out of the raider and put it away. “Yeah they’re fine, still behind the rock though. You should go get them, I’m gonna keep cleaning up.”

I nodded and trotted back to where we left them. As I walked around the rock the first thing I heard was a joyful squeak.

“Mr. Sparks! You’re ok!” Aurora squealed as she squirmed her way out of Grim’s grasp and trotted towards me. She hesitated a moment, fidgeting with her hooves before leveling me with an imploring look. I hesitated for a moment also, unsure of what she was expecting from me. Grim saw our mutual hesitation before he mimed a hugging gesture. Aurora was still twiddling her hooves as I knelt down and gave her a gentle hug. She resisted at first, but once she realized what was going on she relaxed and returned the affection. I hoped I was doing the right thing.

“D-did you…kill them?” She asked, letting go of me and looking forward at the corpses bleeding into the dirt.

“I didn’t, not all of them anyway. Are you ok to move Grim?”

“Yeah, it’s my wing that’s messed up. I can still walk. Where’s Sunny?”

“She’s…finishing off survivors.”

“Good.” Grim stood up and carefully flexed his wings.

“You need a potion or something?”

“Nah, I didn’t get wounded or anything. My wing is just unbelievably sore.”

“Hey Summer! These the ones you’re looking for?” A guard called as he poked his head around the rock. A moment later Summer appeared from behind the guard.

“Yeah that’s them. Carry on.” She said to the guard who nodded and walked back toward the killing field.

“Who’s that?” Aurora asked, taking an apprehensive step behind me.

Summer only smiled at her question. “Aren’t you going to introduce us Sparky?”

“Oh…uh yeah. Grim, Aurora this is Summer Blaze my…”

“Sister-in-law.”

“Huh, I didn’t know you had a special someone Sparks.”

“It was one of my strongest motivations to get back into the stable.”

“Makes sense.” Grim walked over to Summer and did an over-the-top bow, unfurling his wings. “Owww… *Ahem* Pleasure to meet you Summer, my name is Grimgrin Talonrend.”

“Any friend of Sparky is a friend of mine.”

Aurora was trying to hide from Summer’s sight behind my legs.

“And what’s your name little one?” Summer approached me and asked Aurora gently.

“Umm…h-hi, my names A-aurora Dawn.”

“That’s a beautiful name sweetheart.”

“We saved her from a ghoul a day or two ago. We don’t…” I didn’t want to lay out my plan for her in front of her. It would be better that way. “Anyway, let’s go get Sunny and head to Black Town. There’s some ponies I need to see.”

We found Sunny pretty much where I left her, smack dab in the middle of the battlefield. She saw my approach, nodded and joined us as we made our way to Black Town.

The streets of Black Town were significantly more frantic than they were the last time I was here. It was clear that the town had been attacked by more than just the gang we wiped out outside. I recognized a few ponies from the stable in almost every position. I saw plenty of guards and others helping to rebuild the damage sustained on the walls. A number of townsponies saw me and suddenly looked to be in better spirit. Some even approached me and thanked me and others were glad I was back to help with their crisis.

“What was all that about?” Summer asked after the last fan returned to their work.

“I…killed a high profile raider boss.”

“I didn’t think you had in in you Sparks, nice work.”

I didn’t tell her that it was a deed based on misinformation and accidental heroism. If Slipknot taught me anything it’s that I would eventually grow into the pony I wanted to be and in time I would become the hero they thought I was.

Then I saw her. Her white coat, her blue mane with pink streaks, her stable barding and PipBuck. I looked back at my friends with a look of joy on my face. Sunny seemed to understand as she stopped Aurora from following me. I was locked on target and galloped towards her. I closed half of the gap between us when she saw my approach. Her eyes lit up like the summer sun celebration as she too galloped towards me. There were no words when we met. She pulled me into a powerful hug which I eagerly returned. I could feel her excited breathing and hear her crying quietly. She broke the hug and startled me with a passionate kiss.

“Sparks, I’m so happy to see you!”

“I’m so glad you’re safe Winter, I couldn’t bear the thought of you in the stable.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a long story but it wasn’t safe in there for you, or anypony.”

“I don’t know about that Sparks, we left our lives behind in the stable…I…I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

“We’ll be ok Winter, we can make a life for ourselves out here and most importantly we’re all together again.”

“M-maybe…Where are we going to live? We have nowhere to go.”

“Actually…” I said, remembering that the mayor awarded me a room in the Black Tower for killing Red Asphalt. I winced as I fought through the pain and retrieved the room key from my bags. “We do have a home.”

“Sparky…How-how did you get this?”

“Well, I-”

“Harbinger!” I heard somepony yell. I turned and saw the mayor rushing at me. “Harbinger, I’m glad you’re back.”

“What is it Mayor…Slate?”

“I’m assume you saw the last attack on my city correct?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Well, it’s not the first. Ever since you killed Red Asphalt we’ve been under attack. Somepony new has been gathering raider clans and has been targeting us relentlessly.”

“So what is it you want from me Mayor?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I want you to kill their leader and scatter this army.”

I was very hesitant to agree but if my family was here I couldn’t just ignore these attacks. The rest of my group caught up to us and overheard the Mayor’s request.

“I’m behind you Sparks.” Grim said with an angry frown. Grim would never miss a chance to kill more raiders. Sunny, on the other hoof simply nodded, saying that whatever I decided she would accept.

“Give me some time to get my affairs in order Mayor, I’ll come find you when my team is ready to go.”

“Very well but try not to dawdle. I don’t know how much more damage my walls can take.” The Mayor trotted into the crowd and disappeared.

“You…killed somepony?” Winter whispered in horror.

“More than one.” I said back, giving her a serious look. “I’ve learned that out here its kill or be killed.”

She shook her head and retaliated with an angry stare of her own. “I’m not letting you leave me again. I just got you back!”

“I know Winter but I don’t have a choice. All the ponies I care about in the world are here. If I don’t fight to protect it, I risk losing it. I won’t allow that to happen.”

Summer walked up and stood by her sister. “What did he call you?”

“Harbinger. It’s a title some DJ gave me.” I felt something brush against my legs. I looked down and saw that Aurora was hiding behind them but still trying to get a look at Winter.

“Sparks? W-who’s this?” Winter asked, looking at her curiously.

“A-are you Mr. Sparks’ special somepony?” Aurora asked, barely finding the courage to look at her.

“Y-yes I am. I love him very much.” And as if those were the magic words Aurora darted out from behind my legs and latched on to Winter’s.

“Can I stay with you?”

“W-what!?” The look on Winter’s face was exactly like mine when she asked me the same question. “Sparks what is she talking about?”

“We saved her from somepony who was going to kill her…her parents are...gone.”

Winter bent down and placed a hoof atop Aurora’s head. The look on Aurora’s face spoke legions of silent pleading. Winter started to tear up and she gave Aurora the biggest hug.

“Of course you can.”

WHAT!?

“Winter…b-but I already had plans to give her-”

“I’ve made up my mind Sparks. I think she’ll be good for us.”

“What does that mean?” I asked only to receive no answer.

“So can…we all be a family?” Aurora looked up at me with a hopeful smile.

“I…I don’t know yet.”

“Oh…”

“Sparks! How could you say that?”

“It’s a lot to accept right now Winter. Where’s my mother?”

Winter scrunched her muzzle, clearly she was upset with me but we would talk about it once I’d ensured their safety.

“She’s at the Sky Lounge.” Summer answered for her.

“Thanks Summer. Here.” I gave Winter the key to the room. “Take Aurora and go check out our new home. I’ll go find Mom and meet you guys there.”

“A-alright Sparky, hurry home.” Summer and Winter, with Aurora in tow turned and started off to the Black Tower.

“Alright guys.” I turned to my friends. “You two go get whatever you think we might need for this excursion and meet me at the tower.”

“Okay Sparks. Say hi to your mother for me.” Grim gave a little wave as he left.

“You shouldn’t be so cold to that little girl.” Sunny spoke solemnly. “You only get one family and yours has an opportunity to grow. You should let it, trust me.”

“I do trust you Sunny but I can’t be the only one who-” I turned to face her but she was gone. I sighed and made my way over to the Sky Lounge, thinking about what she said.

“Hey kid.” An older stallion from behind a dumpster waved for me to come closer. Nopony would try anything in the town would they? I cautiously made my way over to him. He was wearing a tattered grey beret and a dirty black robe with a hood. His fur was light grey and his mane was auburn with slight greying streaks.

“Thanks for hearing me out.” He smirked.

“You got a name stranger?” Something about him seemed familiar.

“You can call me…White Noise.” He said questionably.

The name sounded familiar too but where had I heard it? His hesitation told me that he was probably using a fake name.

“Hmm…My name is-”

“I know who you are Harbinger…or do you prefer Sparks?”

“H-how do you know my name?”

“I know a great deal about you, more than you know. If you want to know for yourself you should look there.” He pointed over my shoulder.

I turned and looked where he was pointing at the charred monolith that was the Black Tower.

“What am I supposed to-” I turned back to White Noise but he was gone. Then something frightening occurred to me. That pony…was he the one who had been following us back at the College? How else could he know so much about me if he wasn’t shadowing me? What did he want? What was his goal? All these questions would have to wait and I had no doubt that I’d see him again though now I would be on edge for some time.

I walked into the Sky Lounge and was surprised to see that instead of Corkscrew behind the bar was the White and gold radiance of my mother. I sneakily approached the bar and jumped into one of the seats, knocking on the bar to get her attention.

“Hey could I get a shot of Wild Pegasus?”

“Of course Darling.” She said as she grabbed a bottle and shot glass with her magic. “That’ll be three caps.” She said as she turned around with a full shot glass. When she saw my face, her magical grasp vanished and the shot glass shattered on the floor.

“Sparks? Is it really you?” Her eyes began to glisten.

“It’s good to see you Mom.”

“I thought I lost you, like I lost your father…I…I don’t know what I would do if that happened.” She abandoned the bar and pulled me into a tight hug which I gleefully returned.

“Don’t worry Mom, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Sweet Celestia Sparks, what happened to your ear?”

“Oh that? Flaming shrapnel. Healing potions don’t replace lost tissue…well, so I’m told.”

“Flaming shrapnel? Just what have you been up to out here?”

“This and that, slight adventure, accidental heroics.”

“Ah ah ah I don’t want to think about that.” She said, theatrically covering her ears.

“I wish I didn’t have to either…Hey Mom? You know about the raider attacks on the town right?”

“Naturally. Why, what about it?”

“I…I’m going to go put a stop to them.”

“What? You’re going outside the walls? B-but you just got here.”

“I know Mom but that’s just it. You, Winter and Summer are all here. If there is anything I can do to keep you safe then I’ll do it no matter what.”

“Sparks, I forbid you to go out there!”

“You forbid me? Mom, I can take care of myself…besides, my friends can-”

“I don’t care! You’re not going out there to be killed!”

“Mom, I’ll be-”

“I can’t lose you again!” She slammed her hoof on the bar in anguish. Several customers around the lobby started starring at the spectacle that we created. I was a little taken aback by her outburst. I was ready to argue my point some more when I saw a tear run down her face behind her mane.

“Mom…I…”

“I lost your father…I can’t lose you too.”

“I will come back Mom, I promise. When you can find the time, come to the Black Tower. There’s somepony there I want you to meet. I love you Mom, I’ll see you soon.”

It broke my heart to leave her there behind the bar but I couldn’t allow anypony to threaten my family. I walked out of the Sky Lounge with a lump in my throat and I didn’t look back.

When I reached the second floor of the Black Tower I saw one open door and numerous voices I recognized within. I walked inside and saw the home I was gifted for the first time. There was one king sized bed set in the middle of the room with two nightstands on both sides and a large trunk at its base. Opposite the room from the door was a wide window that looked out onto the market area. There was a slightly faded painting of a calm suburb on the wall left of the window above a dresser with worn paint. Winter was on the bed with Aurora playing a game with a hoofful of rocks.

“My mother should be by sometime soon. I want you to introduce Aurora to her when she gets here Winter.”

“You don’t want to do it yourself?”

“Of course I do but I don’t think I should be here when she shows up. She’ll try and talk me out of going out to fight and I’m afraid I’ll let her.”

“Would that really be such a bad thing?”

“I don’t know Winter. What I do know is that if the raiders get inside they will slaughter everypony except the ones they can use to satisfy their disgusting desires with and then they’ll kill them anyway. I won’t risk my family to that fate. I’ve already made up my mind.” I almost sounded confident but the subtle shaking of my legs betrayed my true feelings. I was scared, plain and simple but I wouldn’t allow fear to be a barrier between me and my family’s safety.

That may have been the first time I made the conscious decision to actively try and live up to the hero guise. I was content to keep up the lie and keep taking credit for my friends’ strength and call it my own but after what Slipknot said to me before he died…I was starting to think that I really could do it. No longer would I fight from my friends shadows. I would stand by them and fight as an equal, not a liability. I had something to fight for now and nothing would stop me from doing everything I could to protect it.

“Take care of Aurora. I love you Winter…I’ll see you soon.” Just like with my mother, Winter was the only other pony who could have talked me out of my choice. I almost wished she would but she knew as well as I what would happen that if the raiders breached the walls.

“Wait! Here Sparks, take my necklace for good luck.” She remover her flower shaped pendant and lovingly placed it around my neck.

“I’ll bring it back…I promise." With that I returned the way I came and met Sunny and Grim on the stairs.

“There you are Sparks. The Mayor says he’ll give us access to the town armory. We wanted to wait till all three of us were together to take a look.” Grim said, eagerly waving for me to hurry up.

“Make that the four of us.” From behind us at the bottom of the stairs in the doorway, stood the armored form of Summer. “I’m coming with you.”

“Ok.”

“And don’t try and…did you say Ok?”

“Yeah, you were the chief of security in the stable. That’s experience I’d be a fool to pass up. Plus it’ll probably make Winter feel better if she knows you’re coming with us.”

She almost looked disappointed, like she wanted argue with me.

“We’d better get moving.” Sunny said, pushing her way through the doorway. We followed after her quickly and after a four pony search of the town found the mayor in what felt like record time.

“Ah there you are Harbinger. Did your partners inform you about the armory?”

“Yes they did. Please lead the way.”

“Yes, of course. Thank you!”

The Mayor led us to the basement of a rather large house. Standing at the base of the stairs in front of a terminal set into the wall was an unsettling looking robot in the shape of a pony. It was wearing a shredded bib around its neck and it was missing one of its glowing eyes. Its chassis was faded pink in color and its metal mane was a darker shade of pink and looked like it was supposed to resemble balloons.

“Is…Is that a PINK-E Bot?” Grim asked, hesitation clear in his voice.

“Yeah.” The Mayor affirmed. “We had Circuit Breaker re-purpose this thing to guard the armory. Sadly we couldn’t do anything about its vocal emulator.”

I rubbed my chin in though. I recognized that name.

“Pinkie…? Like Ministry Mare Pinkie Pie?” I recalled reading a plaque at the museum mentioning Pinkie Pie as the one in charge of the Ministry of Morale.

“H-h-h-h-hi! Welcommm to Pink-pinkie Pie’s Fun Land!” It greeted us excitedly in a very high pitched, energetic voice. “I hope you haaavvvee a wonderfulzzzz t-time!”

And with that I had my answer. Its malfunctioning and choppy speech that was supposed to sound happy came off as extremely creepy. Especially since it was spoken through a permanent smile set into its head.

“We aren’t here for a party. Open the door to the armory if you please.”

“Oh! H-howdy mistur mayor! Itzzz good to sssseee you again. I’m Alwayzzz glad toooo see one of muh friendssss.”

She bounced up and down like an excited filly at a birthday party, her aged body losing a few bolts and bits of metal as she bounded.

“Oh I’m zzzzory. I allllmost lost my p-p-party hat.” Its mechanical joints creaked noisily as it padded its head for a hat that wasn’t there. “OH MY GOZZSSH! Weeeer izzz my hat!”

“We don’t have time for this. Follow me please.” The mayor walked past the robot as it frantically dropped onto its chest and started rubbing its hooves across the floor, scraping its metal on the concrete and leaving smears of oil and paint behind it. The inside of the armory was dimly lit by one overhead lamp directly above a table densely set with heavy weapons. Around the room along the three other walls were various lockers and trunks. The most interesting features of the room was the small glowing statuette of an orange, blonde maned mare positioned mid-buck wearing a brown cowpony hat. I was instantly reminded of the statuette I saw of Twilight Sparkle in the College. Were these two connected in some way? It was equally spotless and pristine, despite its surroundings.

“What’s that Mayor?” I said, pointing to the statuette.

“Oh that? I don’t really know. It was a gift to one of my predecessors and it’s been here for some time.”

“Hmm, do you mind if I take it?”

“If you think it will help you, by all means take it as a down payment.”

I was more than happy to take it off his hooves. The second I touched it I felt a surge of energy rush into my body. I felt stronger, more confident and ready for anything. Embedded into the base of the statuette was an inscription that read ‘Be Strong’. I deposited it into my bags and set out investigating the rest of the room’s armament.

“Tell me what you want us to do.” I said, poking through a few of the lockers.

“Well, as I said earlier, this isn’t the first attack we’ve suffered since you left. As of now we believe the bulk of their army and their leader to be based somewhere to the north-west. We haven’t been able to spare any ponies to investigate and that’s where I hope you’ll come in.”

As he spoke, I found a new shotgun and a sniper rifle, both of which I slung across my back along with a fair amount of ammunition for them.

“If you can I want you to kill their leader, to at the very least disorganize them.” The Mayor continued.

“Where did you say they were based?” Sunny questioned.

“W-well we aren’t one hundred percent sure but we think they are amassing to the north-west.”

After affirming whatever it was Sunny wanted to hear, she grabbed what she wanted and galloped back up the stairs, the PINK-E calling after her.

“Pleaszzzz come again! We hope you njoyed yer visit to Pinkie-e-e-es fun land!”

“What’s gotten into her?” The mayor asked, his worry was easily readable on his face.

“I’m not sure but it can’t be good. We can’t let her get to far ahead us guys, let’s get moving. Grab what you need if you haven’t already and let’s go!” I followed after her up the stairs and out into the streets, ignoring the thanks of the pink robot. Something was undoubtedly on Sunny’s mind because she charged through the crowd, regardless of who was in the way and through the town’s gates to the outside. We followed her as well as we could but it was obvious from the start that we weren’t going to catch up to her unless she allowed it. We galloped for about twenty minutes before she started to slow down. I was so out of breath it wasn’t funny. Summer was in a similar state of exhaustion and we were passing a canteen of water around the group. Grim however, had taken it easy up in the sky, lucky winged bastard. I was starting to notice familiar scenery and most nauseating of all were the half rotted corpses of the raiders that attacked my caravan when Sunny saved me. We must have been close to Requari, I thought. Then out of the blue it hit me. I checked my PipBucks map to confirm my theory. Due north-west of Black Town was Requari. I understood Sunny’s fervor now. It was like what I went through trying to get back into the stable, she was trying to save her home and after how much she helped me I felt a strong commitment to help her. Our pace picked back up and within an hour we were just outside Requari and our fears were realized. Drifting into the air were billowing plumes of smoke from intermittent fires dotted across the outside of the structure. I heard Sunny make a pained noise and she rushed to the nearest door to the inside.

“Don’t let her out of your sight!” I told the others as I made to follow her. “She’s gonna try something crazy!” As the three of us made it inside, it was apparent that whatever force laid waste to the place was no longer there. That didn’t make the grisly aftermath any more bearable. The hallways were strewn with bodies, both clad in brown dusters and the rag-tag armor of raiders. It was a complete massacre, the body ratio was approximately one to four in the raiders favor. I slowed down to take in the slaughter and was almost overpowered by the heavy smell of blood. A gunshot from deeper inside brought me out of my stupor and I galloped to find the source. I found the stage area where the improvised hospital was to see Sunny taking cover behind some of the seats from four raiders on the stage. The rest of our group and I poured into the room and returned fire on them. Sunny was relentless in her attack and never gave them a chance to find cover. We had them pinned down in a firing squad. Three of them fell to the floor dead while the last scrambled on the floor trying to get away. Sunny made a mad dash for the stage and delivered a heavy kick to his gut, then one to his jaw in quick succession. He spat out a mouthful of thick blood and teeth as he started to plead. Sunny wasn’t going to hear any of it as she picked him up off the floor and slammed him against the wall, one of the barrels of her battle saddle resting under his chin.

“Where are the rest!?” She asked angrily.

“I-I don’t know-” He stammered, only to have more teeth knocked loose by Sunny.

“Don’t fuck with me! The rest of the raider army. Where. Are. They!” He looked at me, his fear slowly melded into anger.

“You!”

I took a few step forward to get a better look at him in the low light. “Chestnut?” The one I was sent out with after I temporarily joined Red Asphalt. “I didn’t think we left any of your group alive.”

“Enough of us survived and we’ve rebuilt stronger than ever!” he boasted, then a blast from Sunny’s battle saddle tore through his left shoulder. “AAggh!” He cried in anguish.

“You should pay attention to me or the next one’s going in your brain. Now tell me, where are they!?”

“The clans are gathering at Griffin Rock!”

“For what purpose!?”

“Ha ha ha, we need a new home, one capable of sustaining us all. Now that the clans are together and the Regulators are dead we are going to take Black Town for ourselves and rebuild!”

“Thank you for your assistance.” Sunny growled coldly as she forced the barrel in his mouth.

“Wait Sunny.” I said, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “We don’t need to kill him.”

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t!” She hissed.

“He gave us what we needed. If he didn’t, we’d have nothing to go on. Just let him go, we’re supposed to be better than them right?”

“I can do better than that, let me go and I’ll tell you where you can find our leader.”

“Think about it Sunny. We can stop them from doing this to anypony else but only if you let him go.”

“If I ever see you again, it won’t be pretty.” Sunny said, noticeably disgusted by letting him go.

“Thanks for understanding.” Chestnut quipped, dusting himself off and straightening up.

“Don’t forget we had a deal. Where is your leader?”

“She’s probably on her way to Griffin Rock. She’s coming from the south so if you leave now you might be able to ambush her at the Sun and Moon Cathedral.”

“It should take about half a day to get there.” Sunny informed us.

“Well then we don’t have any time to lose. Lead the way Sunny.” She didn’t need any more to be said as she made her way back the way we came with quickness.

“You should leave, Chestnut. Leave and never return.” I turned to follow Sunny, leaving him there speechless. After we made it back outside and crested the first hill in our path I thought that we needed a better way to get around. Sunny, however was a mare on a mission and any kind of mode of transportation would have to wait. We had little time to rest and luckily the worst we faced in our path were bloated, mutated insects.

“How are we going to take out a whole raider clan?” Summer addressed the problem we would soon face.

“I don’t know, Summer but if we pull it off it’ll be a huge step in ending the raider threat.” At least I hoped it would. Where the hell did these ponies even come from? I guessed they were just ponies like the rest of us, the ones who were taken by the Wasteland.

“Also I took a case of grenades from the armory.” Grim smiled, patting his bags confidently. “Furthermore, look at Sunny. She swapped out one of her battle saddle attachments for a grenade launcher so I think we’ll fare better than you might think.”

That did a bit in boosting my own confidence as we raced towards a very difficult fight. Though the closer we got to our destination the more uneasy I felt. Something was off about this but I couldn’t quite put my hoof on it.

The Sun and Moon Cathedral was surprisingly undamaged as it stood looming over us. The building was V shaped with a large wall of windows along the crest of the V. Inside was a large study, presumably used by whomever ran the cathedral. Set in the wall opposite the broken wall of windows was a very ornately decorated fireplace. Hung high on the wall above the fireplace was a beautiful oil painting of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They were facing away from each other with their heads thrown back, representations of the sun and moon floating above them. The sky in the background was split in half with the left half supporting the glow of the day while the right harbored the dark of night. It was an unusual piece of art. Never did the moon and sun share the sky and seeing that represented here made me feel uneasy. In a small gap between the sun and the moon were six colored gems. The elements of harmony.

“Well now what are we going to do?” Summer asked.

“We wait.” Sunny said like the answer was obvious.

“What if they don’t pass by here? What if he lied to us?”

“We know where they are gathering. If this turns out to be a ruse then at least we have that.”

“That doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in our job here.”

“It doesn’t have to. We’ll give it a few hours and take it from there.”

Summer was understandably frustrated. We were all so enticed by the prospect of killing the raider leader that none of us questioned the possibility it could be a lie. Before any of us could speak again the door to the room opened and a raider with an orange line painted across his face walked in. He jumped at the sight of us and turned around to yell for help. Sunny leapt from her prone position and shoved a hoof into his mouth. His muffled screams were cut short when Sunny wrenched his neck diagonally upward and a muted crack signaled his death.

“Good news red, they’re already here.” Sunny gloated.

We carefully crept our way out into the halls of the cathedral to try and find the rest of the raiders. A faint stinging in my eyes and the smell of smoke told me that we were going the right direction. At last, as we were sneaking across a landing that overlooked the cathedral foyer, we found the bulk of the raiders. There were two improvised fires burning on the floor surrounded by tents and ponies eating, drinking and generally enjoying themselves.

“Maybe one of us should have gone back to Black Town.” Summer whispered.

“Use that fear red, make sure one of us gets back to Black Town.” Sunny said as she stood up and fired a grenade into the gathering.

KA-BOOM!

The explosion caught most of the ponies hanging around the fire, those whose insides weren’t destroyed by the force were wounded by the fragmentation. As if we kicked a beehive, ponies came rushing out of the tents, guns at the ready while orders were barked over the chaos. We hadn’t been spotted yet and Sunny took advantage, firing another grenade at the biggest group of raiders. After that we were spotted and return fire forced us to move to find cover.

“We’re in it now.” Grim remarked.

We were eventually backed into a room on the second floor whose door faced the length of the hallway. I jumped over the desk in the room and got down in a prone position with my sniper rifle. I took aim down the hallway under the small gap between the floor and desk.

“I’ve only got one grenade left. We need to find a way out before we’re overrun.” Sunny instructed.

“I’m on it.” Grim declared as he ran out into the hall and vanished.

Summer took position beside the door on the opposite side of Sunny. “I’ll support you.” She declared.

Sunny nodded and prepared for her last grenade shot.

“We aren’t gonna have a lot of time. We’ll hold this door as long as we can. Sparks you do what you can with your rifle. Grim better find us a way out fast otherwise we might have to chance the window.”

This wasn’t the first time I had accepted that I was going to face certain death but it didn’t stop me from shaking with dread. A group of raiders charged up a staircase connected to the hall and opened fire on us. They were too far away for Sunny to use her grenade so, for the time being, it was up to me. I lined up my crosshairs on somepony’s head and pulled the trigger. Their skull split into thick chunks of bone and brain matter. The bullet passed through the first pony and ended in the neck of somepony behind them. I found that it didn’t bother me all that much anymore to end the life of a raider. I kept firing down the hall and as they got close, Summer and Sunny started unloading on them. I could hear bullets hitting the wood of the desk just above my head, some of them punching through. I could only see Summer and Sunny’s legs so I hoped they were faring better than me. An explosion to our right brought down the wall in a cloud of dust and ear ringing noise. Grim gently flapped his wings to clear the dust and reveal that the floor in the next room was collapsed, forming a ramp down to the first floor.

“Grim! Get Sparks and head below, I got one last gift for these fuckers!” Sunny said as she aimed her launcher down the hall. As I stood to retreat through the hole in the wall, a bullet found its way into my right hind hoof causing me to lose my balance but not my speed as I crashed and slid down through the hole in the floor. I hit the bottom floor and looked up through my blurry vision as dark spots tried to block my sight. The explosion from above shook the room, scattering loose dust all over me. I heard the sound of hooves run past me, then felt Grim lifting me to my hooves.

“C’mon Sparks we gotta get out of here.”

We were slowed considerably as I had a leg draped around Grim’s neck for support as we tried to keep up with the others. I heard the clattering of somepony else tumbling down the hole. I glanced back to see a manic looking pony running at us with a grenade in his mouth, pin nowhere to be seen. Instinct took over and through the pounding pain in my head I tried to use magic. A small shield sprung to life and wrapped the raider in a white bubble of magic. He ran headfirst into the field of energy and dropped the grenade. He screamed furiously as it exploded, blowing apart my shield and splattering the floor with what was left of them.

“So now you can do shields when we need ‘em.” Grim joked.

“Hehe, saved your ass.” I stabbed back, hoping I wouldn’t need it again lest I suffer another burnout.

The hole in the floor led us down into the kitchen area of the cathedral which itself led to a fenced in outside area, full with three picnic tables and a now dry stone fountain.

“Sparks, what does your PipBuck say? How many are left?” Sunny asked, waving us behind the fountain.

“Don’t know, they’re too close together, maybe ten?”

“I think we can take ‘em.” Summer said, reloading her gun.

“I think we have a good shot. So long as Sparks’ magic is good to go.” Grim stated, looking at me for a confirmation.

“Yeah, I’m good to go.” I lied, muscling through the pain to flare my horn for effect. There were worst things than magical burnout after all.

“Well then get ready, we don’t have anywhere to go ‘cept open ground. It’s all or nothing now.” Sunny took a fighting stance behind the fountain and the rest of us followed suit. I almost felt bad for the raiders that would be rushing through that door any second. They would be running into a veritable firing squad. Although in hindsight it was foolish of me to think it would be so easy. Instead of a crowd of ponies, one single grenade bounced through the doorway. It didn’t land close enough to hurt anypony but that wasn’t the kind of damage it did.

“FLASH!” Summer yelled too late as it exploded into a blinding flare of light. I recoiled from the sudden pain in my eyes, accidentally stumbling away from the fountain. I heard the sound of yelling from the doorway followed by gunfire.

“Sparks get down!” Sunny shouted, too late for me as a lucky bullet tore through my shoulder through a gap in my armor. I hit the ground and tumbled around enough to lose my sense of direction. My sight was starting to come back but even then I couldn’t see through my tears. I saw enough to see who weren’t my enemies and fired a few blind shots into the mass of ponies that were flipping the picnic tables over for cover. I struggled to get to my hooves, simultaneously wiping tears from my eyes and trying to shoot anypony I could. Sunny jumped from behind the fountain and grabbed the scruff of my armor with her teeth and flung me back behind cover. Before she could get back to cover herself, I heard a loud boom and saw blood spray out from her back. She fell and did not move.

“NOOoo!” I cried as I tried to rush out to help her, only to be pulled back by Grim.

“You go out there Sparks and you’ll die!”

“I don’t care! Let me go!”

“Don’t be stupid Sparks, throwing your life away won’t change anything!” Summer rebuked.

“Fuck!” I cursed. I felt helpless. Every time I was in trouble, Sunny or Grim were there to save me and now that it was my turn I couldn’t do anything! No! I promised myself that I wouldn’t be weak anymore! Throwing caution to the wind I darted out of cover and dashed towards Sunny. Another loud shot sounded and hit me in the side hard enough to knock me to the concrete.

“Shit!” Grim shouted as I fell. “Cover him!” I heard a new round of gunfire join our attackers’ as they did their best to protect me.

The shot hadn’t pierced my armor though I couldn’t count on it to save me a second time. I spared a quick glance to where the shots were coming from just in time to see the glint of a snipers scope coming from a second floor window. I scrambled to my hooves and scooped Sunny up on to my back. I closed my eyes and poured magic into my horn, grinding my teeth to ignore the pain as I conjured a shield around us. Immediately the sniper’s bullet ricocheted off my shield, causing me to stagger and the shield to flicker as magical strain surged into my horn. My magic would collapse at any second and I had to get her back to cover no matter what. My legs began to quiver as the exertion began to eat at what little stamina I had left. With the last of my strength I managed to cover the distance and got us both back behind the fountain as my spell fizzled out.

“What the fuck were you thinking!?” Grim shouted over the gunfire.

“Shut up…” I said between heavy breaths. “Give me the grenades!”

“What’s your plan?” He asked, digging out a couple grenades from his bag.

“Just cover me.” Grim nodded as he popped out of cover and sprayed his machine guns all over the left table while Summer mirrored him and unloaded on the other.

No doubt the sniper was still keeping us covered so I carefully poked my head out and got a look at the battlefield. I took a deep breath and hoped I had enough power left. I ignited my horn and focused on levitating two of the grenades into the air. With measured exertion I moved them above and just behind each of the tables the raiders using and pulled the pins, releasing my magical hold on them. A few of them recognized the threat but the few that tried to escape were shot down by Grim and Summer. The rest were caught in the two explosions, ending the skirmish with a resounding boom. A quick check of my compass showed only one hostile marker left.

“Grim tend to Sunny as best you can, I’m going after the last.” I didn’t wait for any kind of agreement as I ran back into the cathedral, shotgun ready in my magic. I didn’t know if Sunny was going to survive but the only thing in my mind at that moment was vengeance. I followed the marker through the corridors of the cathedral until it looked like I found the room she was hiding in. I carelessly kicked in the door and received lead pipe to the muzzle. I fell back through the door with fresh blood running down my chin.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you.” She snarled. “But when I’m done you’ll be begging for it.” She pointed her long rifle in my face.

I reached out and grabbed the rifle in my hooves, wrenching it away from her and throwing it across the room. While she was confused I tried to get my shotgun but had it knocked out of my weak telekinesis by an angry kick from the mare. She made a dash for the rifle on the other side of the room, an action I had to mimic. As she got close, I unslung my own rifle and used it to club her in the back of the head. She fell forward but didn’t stay down as she pulled her rifle back into her hooves. She struggled to level it at me in the cramped room, giving me the opportunity to slap the barrel away from me and pounce on the mare. We were tangled in a flurry of hooves, punching, kicking and doing whatever we could to gain an advantage. I got a lucky kick to her throat and possession of the rifle was mine. I held it in my hooves, our roles now opposite from when I entered the room.

“This is for your own good.” I whispered, pulling the trigger. Her head came apart like a melon, spraying me with her blood.

“Sparks!” I heard Summer yell from outside the room. She ran in and gasped at the scene. I dropped the rifle on the corpse and turned to walk out of the room.

“C’mon Summer, let’s go back.”

When we got back to the fountain, Grim had Sunny laying on her back, her own blood pooling around her as he was carefully cutting into her chest.

“Is…is she gonna make it?” I asked with a crack in my voice.

“I don’t know, that bullet hit her in the back and went almost all the way through, I can’t give her a potion with the bullet still in there. I gave her some something to dull the pain. All I can do is hope she survives long enough for me to get the bullet out so I can give her a potion.”

I left him to his work and took a seat on the fountain. Summer quickly took a seat next to me to try and comfort me.

“Are you gonna be ok Sparky?” She asked, laying a hoof on my back.

“I-I don’t know” I stammered. My experiences out here told me that not many ponies lived to a ripe old age. Ponies out here died trying to survive and it was rarely easy. Maybe if you’d lived out here your whole life shit like this would be easier to deal with but that wasn’t the case with me. It was naive of me to think that somepony I cared about wouldn’t get hurt out here but even if I accepted that as an inevitability there was no way I could have prepared for it. She was my friend and I wasn’t ready to lose her.

“She means more to me than I ever told her.” I could feel warm tears welling up in my eyes. “I’d be dead if it weren’t for her.” Never did I want an escape more than in that moment.

“Here maybe this’ll help.” Summer answered my prayers and held a bottle of apple whiskey in her hooves. “Something to help take the edge off? If you want some that is, you weren’t much of a drinker in the Stable.”

I wiped the tears out of my eyes and smiled. “Whatever helps right?” I gratefully took the bottle and downed a couple mouthfuls. The liquid burned its way to my stomach and in a few moments I could feel it taking effect.

“Hey Summer? Could I borrow you for a second?” Grim asked.

“One second. Don’t get to carried away with that ok?” she said, leaving me with the whole bottle. I was curious to see how far the effects could go and downed a few more swigs. Ultimately it wasn’t enough to make me forget my feelings. I couldn’t even imagine the wasteland without Sunny. There was a lot that needed to be said between us and I was terrified that the chance might never come. Before I could worry more my exhaustion caught up with me all at once so I laid down and closed my eyes and I was off to sleep in mere minutes.

“Hey buddy boy, good to see you again.” I was standing in the same black void as always, with floating chunks of land off in the distance. However this time I wasn’t just standing on nothing, the immediate area that I fell asleep in was represented as a small island where we all stood. Ribbon Dancer was here again, distractedly digging through the splinters of one of the picnic tables. “It’s not quite like how it was with the kid but somepony else is dead cause of you. At least you’re consistent am I right?”

“This was outside my control…” I said weakly.

“Was it? I seem to recall it being your idea to go hunting. Could have stayed with your family but no, you had to go and get somepony else killed again.”

“Don’t listen to him Sparks.” I heard a raspy voice come from behind me. I turned and watched Slipknot materialize from the void. “What’s done is done and nothing you can do will change that. Blaming yourself only hurts you and you shouldn’t have to carry the burdens of things that weren’t your fault.”

“So now you’re taking advice from corpses instead of making them? This guy die on your watch too?”

“Back off kid, you don’t know what you’re talking about. It was my choice to go with him, my choice not his.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’d be alive if you never met. May not be his fault but it’s because of him nonetheless.”

“Now listen here.” A voice echoed from the void. I couldn’t make out anything about it other than it was a feminine voice. “Sparks, you are a good pony and you’ve been doing all you can to help. Ah’d reckon that if you weren’t so hard on yourself there’d be no limit to the good you could do. You gotta stop worrying about the things you can’t control and just try your best to make a difference.”

I had no clue to the identity of the mysterious voice but what she said made a lot of sense. I’d been holding myself back ever since the death of the colt outside the stable. Since then every consequence I’ve faced I’d multiplied on myself. I took accountability for actions that were both mine and others’. Whether I was deserving of it or not. Before I could say anything to the apparitions, the floating islands in the expanse of the void started breaking apart and disappearing.

“Times up.” The voice in the void declared as Slipknot and Ribbon Dancer faded out of sight. The island I was on crumbled beneath me and I fell into darkness.

I awoke with a jump to see Sunny standing over me with a smile on her face.

“Wake up numb nuts. I heard you missed me?”

Downpour, it was downpour standing over me. Didn’t stop the overwhelming wave of relief from hitting me though.

“Shut up.” I said as I reached up and pulled the multiple mare into a sloppy hug.

“Haha! You pussy.” Downpour didn’t resist as she let herself be dragged down into my embrace.

“This is just how she was when she came to.” Grim shrugged.

“That reminds me.” Downpour stood, pulled me up to my hooves and looked at Grim. “Thanks for patching me up. You’re alright birdbrain.

“It’s Grim.” He corrected, his expression becoming a little annoyed.

“I know.” Downpour slapped Grim on the back and smiled.

“Sooo…am I missing something?” Summer asked, looking between the three of us.

We told Summer the story during our agonizingly slow return trip to Black Town. The sun had just dipped below the horizon and darkness was quickly setting in. Everypony went their own way once we got inside, saying we would all meet back at my place. I went to search for the Mayor to tell him the good and bad news. Strangely enough I eventually found the Mayor sitting at the bar in the Sky Lounge.

“Mayor Slate? I have news for you.”

He turned around with a look of wonder on his face. “Harbinger! You made it! So did you succeed?”

“Well…yes and no.”

“Oh? How do you mean?”

“The area you sent us to had already been destroyed by the time we got there, however we were able to…coax the leader’s location from a straggler and we killed her before she could join the rest of the clans.”

“So you got the leader but we are still vulnerable to attack?”

“I think that’s a strong possibility yes, they plan on taking Black Town for themselves.”

“Oh…oh dear. If you’ll excuse me I have a great deal of preparations to take care of. I do hope you and your friends will stay and help us fight.”

“You can count on it Mayor. You know where to find me if you need anything.”

“I’ll try to keep you in the loop Harbinger. Excuse me.” The look on his face was dismal. I didn’t think he was prepared for a fight like this. Frankly I didn’t know if I was either.

“S-should I be worried?” My mother asked from behind the bar.

“I don’t know Mom. They are going to attack, of that I’m sure. I don’t know when and I don’t know how many. Without the Regulators to help us…I don’t know if the town will make it. We’ll just have to hope the town guard, town militia, and the wall will be enough.” Then I remembered something. The Black Town Militia… Dusty Trail! I needed to find him.

“Hey Mom, if I said I knew someplace safe for you to go…would you go there?”

“Do you really think the town will be overrun?”

“I don’t know Mom but I’d rather send you, Winter and…did you ever make it over to my room?”

“I’ve met Aurora yes…and I think we should play it safe. Where would we go and how would we get there?”

“Don’t worry Mom. I think an old friend of mine can help you get there.”

I found Dusty’s store and banged on the door until I got an answer.

“Goddessdammit what do ya want now!?” he said as he angrily threw the door open. “Sparks? Yer alive? Ya sure picked a bad time to come back. I’m packin’ up my shit and gettin’ outta here and I suggest you do the same.”

“That’s why I’m here Dusty. Would you be willing to take a few extra ponies with you?”

“Ahhh…How many?”

“Three, two mares and a filly.”

“Sure I think my crew and I can handle three more.”

“Thank you so much Dusty. Can you meet them at the Sky Lounge? Their names are Winter and White Lily.”

“Sure I’ll find ‘em and don’t thank me yet Sparks, if yer staying here you better not die. You and I have a debt that ain’t be squared up yet.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Where will you take them?”

“The next best place fer a talented merchant such as myself, The Crater.”

“Ok, I’ll meet you there once everything is dealt with here.” I spun around and started on my way to the Black Tower to tell Winter. I was honestly considering abandoning ship with them. My need to stay was because of them and if they weren’t staying why should I? Deep down I knew I couldn’t do that. If I abandoned these ponies in their time of need then what would that make me? I knew what I had to do…I just didn’t know if I had the strength to do it. I had no idea how many ponies had their homes in the Black Tower but the silence was deafening. My worries weren’t abated when I saw the door to my room wide open. When I walked inside my heart sunk upon seeing the scene in front of me. Winter was laying on the floor, not moving and Aurora was nowhere to be seen. I rushed to her side and gently lifted her head in my hooves. Thank the Goddesses she was alive. Her left eye was bruised and blood was leaking out of her nose. I shook her awake and was overjoyed when she opened her eyes.

“Winter…what happened where’s…?”

“She took her Sparks. Somepony took Aurora!”

“Who took her? Did you get a look at them?”

“Yes…yes I did. She was a pink mare with a purple mane.”

“It can’t be…did you see her cutie mark?”

“Only for a brief second before she hit me. It was a heart…a heart with an arrow in it.”

The spokesmare from Memorial Stadium. It would seem she escaped the chaos of the battle. I wished that I had killed her instead of simply knocking her unconscious. It was yet another of my failures come to haunt me. I took the last of my potions out of my bag and gave it to Winter.

“Do you have any idea where she took her?”

“No…I didn’t even see her take Aurora…please Sparks…find her.”

“I will Winter, you should go to the Sky Lounge, I arranged for a friend of mine to take you and mother someplace safe.”

“No! I’m coming with you…I want my daughter back.”

Daughter? I’d seen that side of her before. There was nothing I could say to talk her out of something once she was determined to see something through.

“Alright…but stay close to me.”

“Ok, I will.”

We left my room behind and made our way out into the streets. Dusty wasn’t the only one who had considered evacuating, the town was in full bustle as families with carts loaded with their belongings began filing out of the main gate. We asked the townsfolk who stayed if they saw a pony matching the spokesmare’s description. Our leads were few and far between. On the rare chance that somepony did see her it was far too long ago to help us with our search. We found Summer and told her what had happened and had the bulk of the Black Town guard on watch for anypony matching the description. Hours went by and I was starting to lose hope but then I thought I spotted her in the crowd. I grabbed Winter’s hoof and dragged her into the mass of ponies after her. As luck would have it, it was indeed the pony we were looking for. I kicked it into high gear and sped after her, Winter barely keeping up behind me. She spotted us coming and took off galloping into the back alleys of Black Town. We followed, fully committed to catching her and getting Aurora back. We managed to track her to an empty looking warehouse on the edges of the Black Town wall. I told Winter to wait outside and I tried to carefully sneak my way inside. When I made it about halfway across the main floor, all the lights came on at once. Revealing the Spokesmare holding Aurora with a knife to her neck.

“After how savagely I saw you fight in the races I never thought you’d be our downfall, traitor.”

“What you and Red Asphalt did at that stadium was monstrous. The only traitor here is you, a traitor to yourself. Let the filly go and you can still walk away.”

“Help me!” Aurora screamed.

“Be quiet you little shit!” The spokesmare yelled, slowly dragging her knife across Aurora’s cheek, leaving a shallow cut in its wake. “Unfortunately for you, I’m not here to negotiate. I’m here to make you suffer! Salted Chestnut sends his regards!” The spokesmare made to drag the knife across Aurora’s throat when Aurora violently threw her head back and smashed her skull against the spokesmare’s muzzle. She dropped Aurora who scampered away from her and deeper into the warehouse. As she recoiled from her now bleeding nose I sprinted forward and tackled her to the floor. I pinned her beneath me and brought my hooves down on her face numerous times before she found the power to stab her knife into my chest. It pierced through my armor and cut into my flesh. I let out a yell of pain as she pulled her hind legs underneath me and launched me off of her. I flew back a few feet, the knife embedded in my chest. Fortunately it didn’t seem like she had any other weapons. Her focus was not on me but instead was on trying to find Aurora, as that was her only leverage left. However I wasn’t going to let that happen. I pulled the knife out of my chest with magic and proceeded to use it against her. I threw it at her with all my might to which she ducked out of its path but was unable to react in time to dodge another tackle. This time I squirmed my way behind her and wrapped a leg around her neck. I applied as much pressure as I could but my position left her hooves free, which she took advantage of, punching me in the face until I was forced to let go. She reared back and brought her front hooves down on the back of my head, viciously smashing my head into the cold concrete floor.

I was so dazed that I couldn’t focus, my vision constantly spinning. Then I heard Aurora scream in fear as the spokesmare was getting closer. I wrapped her in my magic and threw her against the opposite wall, away from Aurora. It was time for the finishing blow. I remembered the pain they subjected me to during my fight with Ribbon Dancer, to which I wreathed my horn with electrical energy. The spokesmare was slowly finding the strength to get to her hooves as I lowered my head and charged her. There was nowhere to go and with her back against the wall, I impaled her in the side and pumped as much magic as I could muster into a lightning bolt, ferociously electrocuting her inside out. Her burnt and charred corpse crumpled to the floor, her flesh and blood gently sizzling from the potency of my spell. Aurora ran crying from her hiding spot and hugged me as hard as she could. I lowered myself and returned the power of her hug. I could feel her gently crying into my shoulder.

“Daddy…” She whispered softly. Seeing her in trouble like this awoke something inside me. Winter had already called her daughter, I guess I could too. I gently stroked the back of her head to try and comfort her. To try and comfort my daughter. My daughter…that was the last thing I expected to take from the wasteland but…It was one of the best. Winter curiously peered into the warehouse and saw our exchange. She ran in and joined the hug. The family was here.

“We need to get to the Sky Lounge, get you girls to safety.”

“Where are you sending us?”

“To another settlement to the south-east called The Crater. I need to get you away from the danger. The raider army is going to attack Black Town at any time now and I don’t want you here when they do.”

“Y-you’re not coming with us?” Aurora asked, wiping her tears from her eyes.

“No princess, I have to stay and fight. Don’t worry, I won’t abandon you…I will never abandon you.” I gave her another love-filled hug. “We don’t have a lot of time so follow me, my mother is going with you.”

“Nana Lily!” Even after the ordeal she faced she managed an innocent smile. Nana eh? Looked as if I were the last one to get the message about the adoption.

“C’mon, we need to hurry.”

We left the warehouse behind with the charred corpse of the Spokesmare inside. We made it maybe one street over when a huge explosion brought down a section of wall behind us. I looked behind us to see a horde of ponies running in through the smoke and into the city.

“Run!” I yelled to Winter and Aurora as I levitated out my pistol and began firing into the mass of raider ponies. I emptied one clip into the crowd before I turned and ran after my family. I could hear the rabble of ponies rushing to meet the attackers in front of us. I ushered the two off to the side as the raider army met with the Black Town guard and militia. The early battle was heavily tipped in our favor as the front line of the raiders were equipped with primarily melee weapons, some had no weapons at all. I couldn’t join the battle until I knew my family was safe. The east gate should have still been clear so Dusty’s exodus would still be doable. What ponies that hadn’t already fled the town were now picking up arms and rushing to the defense of the only home they knew. Their fighting spirit was infectious but I had to see Winter and Aurora to safety. I prayed that the town’s defense would hold out long enough for me to join the battle. I was willing to bet that many ponies would feel inspired upon seeing me on the battlefield and that might just give them the edge they needed even if it was an illusion.

The Sky Lounge was empty and there was nopony to be found, including my mother. They already left…they left without Winter and Aurora. The battle must have pushed Dusty into leaving early and he didn’t wait for the rest of my family.

“No…No no no! Dusty Goddessdamn you!”

“Sparks? What happened?”

“He left without you! He took my mother and left! We…we’re out of time…there’s nowhere for you to go…go upstairs. Find a safe place to hide, I’m going outside to try and stop them…I have no other choice.”

“Be careful Sparks…” Winter said somberly, pulling Aurora away with her.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can…or I…” I turned to face them, the look on Aurora’s face was like I was taking everything from her all over again. “Won’t” I finished quietly, running outside to join the conflict. The battle had spread up to the Black Tower, the town behind the raider army slowly being swallowed by fire. I had to find my friends and try and organize some kind of counterattack. Grim was the easiest to find as he was hanging back behind the bulk of the fighting, giving medical attention to anypony who needed it.

“Grim!” I shouted as I got close.

“I’ve been in battles before but never one on this scale.” He said grimly. “I know you’re going to ask for my help Sparks but I’m needed here. I won’t do you much good without my wings anyway. I need to do what I can for these ponies.”

I was already at a disadvantage without Grim but I had to honor his wishes.

“Alright Grim, have you seen Downpour or Summer?”

“Not since the battle started. I’d venture a guess that Downpour is somewhere on the front lines and Summer was on her way to the armory the last time I saw her.”

“Ok, that’s as good a lead as any. Stay safe Grim, I’d better see you at the end of this.”

“I can’t promise anything. If I don’t see you again, I’ll see you on the other side my friend.”

I held out my hoof to which he balled up his claw and bumped it together with my hoof. No more needed to be said and I left him, heading towards the armory.

As I rounded a corner, I saw that there was a group of raiders outside the armory engaged in combat with the PINK-E Bot.

“G-g-get out of the kitcheeen! Theses treatz aren’t fur you, you meaniezz!” Whether the bot knew it was capable of combat or not was unclear considering its choice of words. Regardless of that fact, it was holding its own against five raider ponies. The PINK-E picked one of the raiders up in its hooves and slammed him against another with bone shattering strength.

“Meybeee youz guys just need a h-h-h-hug!” it cried joyfully, wrapping its metal legs around a terrified looking raider’s back. It squeezed with its robot strength, crushing the raider’s spine, practically shearing her in half. The remaining raiders saw the brutality the robot was capable of and fled. I approached the robot carefully, as to not draw its ire. It saw my approach and gleefully bounded over to me.

“I-I remember you! I do-o-ont tink we was introduced tho. My namezzz Pinkie Pie! What’s yerzz?”

“Uhh, my name is Sparks. Have you seen my friend Summer?”

The PINK-E Bot gasped in alarm. “Oh nooo! You lawst yor friend?!”

“Kinda, did you see her? She was with me when we first met, the reddish brown mare?”

“Oh! I saw her! I saw her!” It cried excitedly. “She came and got some toysss out of da ruum I’m sposed to watch. I l-l-l-looked and ther isn’t anyting left inside. Does that m-m-mean I can come out and playyyy now?”

“Actually…” I had an idea. “Do you know where the Sky Lounge is?”

“Zure doo! I hav a full undurstandn of the town layout.”

“Great, there is a filly there. I’d be so thankful if you would go play with her and protect her from any more of those…meanies.”

“You want me-e-e to babysit? Okey dokey loki, after-r-r all, what are friendzz for?” It happily skipped off towards the Sky Lounge. I hope I didn’t make a mistake by sending that thing to protect my family. Although seeing how it killed those three raiders without even knowing it was in danger, perhaps it would be a good protector.

“Oh Shit.” I whispered, I had forgot something important. “Robot…I mean Pinkie!” I called after the machine. “Where did Summer go?”

“Oh yeah.” The robot giggled and snorted. “Almost forgo-t-t-t, she took the toyzz up there.” It pointed to a nearby building about two blocks away from the Black Tower.

I spun towards the building and started galloping towards it. I could hear the PINK-E shout a farewell as I ran. “See you later Alligat-t-t-t crocodile.”

As I approached the building I saw four friendly blips on my EFS. I continued to scale the floors of the building all the way to the roof where I saw Summer and three other town guards all equipped with heavy weapons. There were all perched on the edge of the roof, looking over the battle around the Black Tower. It was an unusual view, hundreds of ponies killing each other amid the oranges glow of scattered fires around the monolithic Black Tower.

“Shouldn’t you be down there Sparks?” Summer asked quietly.

“Yes but I couldn’t fight without knowing the whereabouts of my crew. Downpour’s the last one now. What’s going on up here? Need a hoof?”

“We’ve got this covered, although you might want to stay for this.” Summer motioned for a unicorn guard to take point on the edge. She was holding a miniaturized catapult looking contraption in her magic. She then levitated a strange looking geometrically shaped egg that looked like it was made out of frozen green fire. Looking at it was oddly captivating. Its surface shifted like water running in all directions in a haunting flow of spiral motion.

“What is that?” I asked with wide-eyed awe.

“This my friend, is a balefire egg.” The mare holding the catapult answered. She loaded the egg into the bucket and took aim at the raider army’s backline. The egg was propelled out of the launcher and whistled loudly as it descended into the crowd of raiders. The egg exploded deafeningly, erupting into a two story high mushroom cloud of destructive force. I felt the shockwave push against me as at least thirty raiders were killed in the blast.

“Fire!” Summer commanded as the rest of the ponies, including Summer herself, lifted their weapons and fired missiles into the mass of invaders. The raider army went up in fire as constant explosions racked their forces. They continued to fire for about a minute until they ran out of missiles.

“That should be enough to give us the advantage. C’mon boys let’s get down there and start mopping up. Sparks, I’ll see you down there.” They ditched all their launchers on the roof and hurriedly made their way down and out of the building. I decided to stay on the roof a bit longer as I pulled my sniper rifle off my back and took aim through the scope, steeling myself for what I was about to do. I didn’t have many shots left so I had to make them count. My first target was a stallion who had just pulled the pin out of a grenade with his teeth. I put a bullet into his neck, causing him to drop the grenade where it exploded at his hooves and killed two more raiders. Two shots left. Next I spotted a pony fully enclosed in armor armed with a flamethrower, spraying flaming liquid over crowds of guards killing them and simultaneously slowly burning away what cover they had. I used the aid of SATS to fire a shot into the fuel canister attached underneath the battle saddle it was mounted to. A small geyser of flame shot out of the hole I put into it. Just as the wielder noticed the canister fully ruptured, consuming everypony around him in fire. I was thankful that I was atop this building and could avoid the sickening smell of burning pony flesh. My stomach did a flip, forcing me to look away from the gruesome scene before me. One shot left. Scanning the crowd didn’t offer me another raider I wanted to use my last shot on until, after a few moment of waiting, I found my last target. I saw a huge musclebound stallion smashing his way through the militia with a massive hammer made from a chunk of concrete with rebar sticking out of one side. The stallion was being riddled with bullets but wasn’t slowing down or even reacting to the damage. He must have been drugged up to an unbelievable degree. It was unlikely he would survive whatever was coursing through his body but the longer he was alive the more ponies he could kill. I brought my scope over his head, just because he couldn’t feel the damage didn’t make him immune to it. I pulled the trigger and watched as my shot missed his head and dipped, tearing a huge chunk of flesh out of his neck. The attack forced him to drop the hammer as blood poured out of the large wound. Even that barely slowed the bruiser down. He ditched the hammer and continued to penetrate through the militia. After taking a few more ponies with him he finally succumbed to blood loss and fell over dead. No shots left. I slung the rifle over my back and made my own way back down to the ground.

I made my way back to the fight around the Black Tower and found Downpour exactly where Grim said I would. Happily surrounded by raiders and having the time of her life slaying them with little more than her bare hooves. I ran up to her after she cleared out another group of foes. She was breathing heavily but still smiled at my approach.

“Hey Sparks *pant* did you see that big fuckin’ explosion *pant* a few minutes ago?”

“Yeah I did, I saw from where it was fired from.”

“Nice, I’m up to thirteen kills *pant* how ‘bout you?”

“Umm four? That I can confirm anyway.”

“Ahh come on ‘Harbinger’ *pant* you’re better than that.”

“You know I don’t like being called that.”

“That’s why I said it”

“Downpour listen you and I-”

“You know what you need?” She interrupted. “You need to take out some aggression on these clowns.” She bent down and craned a dead raiders head towards me. “Hey Sparks!” she said in an exaggerated shrill voice while puppeteering the mouth to move. “You should kill some of my friends! They really suck!”

A stray bullet hit her in the left foreleg, causing her to drop her unsettling puppet. “OW! Bitch!” she shouted as she looked behind her, running off to find its source or at the very least get back to fighting. I had to stifle a laugh. Even though I was standing on a battlefield surrounded by bodies. Sick humor notwithstanding, I pulled out my pistol and joined the defense. The front lines were jammed up with tipped wagons and carts serving as cover. Neither side had the strength to charge out and overwhelm the other so the fight, for now, was contained to firing at each other from cover. The biggest advantage thus far was that after Summer’s bombing, the raiders had lost all of their momentum so they were no longer gaining ground but the fires they set were beginning to blaze out of control. The next greatest advantage was that I had something the raiders and even the militia didn’t, SATS. For the sparse seconds that raider heads popped out to shoot at us I was able to line up kill shot after kill shot. The town guards and militia started to notice the new lead and started to press the attack, we needed to finish the fight fast if we were to put out the fires before the town was consumed. We were starting to push the raider army back to the breach in the wall. I thought it would only be a matter of time until the battle was won but my luck worked both ways. A pink blast of energy whizzed past my head and hit a guard directly in the chest, his whole body briefly flashed pink as he disintegrated into a pile glowing pink ash. They were getting desperate, slowly but surely bullets were replaced with lasers, halting our advance completely. Our cover was insufficient to protect us from magical energy weapons, the beams burning through the wood and setting it ablaze. I took a moment to get a good look at the town’s defenders. They were slowly starting to fall back away from the Black Tower. Pink bolts hit ponies in the crowd, burning away and warping flesh into horrific wounds. Every now and then a bright pink glow would emanate from our side, signaling the complete disintegration of another pony. Chestnut must have gone back and got the weapons Red Asphalt sent us to find before ghouls forced us to retreat. That, at the very least, meant that they couldn’t have enough to arm all the raiders, or enough ammo to sustain them for very long. My theory turned out to be correct as a couple minutes later the lasers stopped flying. That was their last ditch effort, they had nothing left. It wasn’t enough to break us. I stood up and faced my allies, magically augmenting my voice so it could be heard by all.

“THEY’RE DONE! THEY’VE GOT NOTHING LEFT! ATTACK! ATTACK NOW!”

“That’s the pony from the radio!” I heard one pony declare.

“The one who killed Red Asphalt?”

“Don’t just stand there! Let’s get ‘em!” Downpour shouted from my side, lobbing a pitchfork into the mass of retreating raiders.

“He’s right, let’s teach these raiders not to fuck with Black Town!” The eyepatch guard mare yelled into the crowd. The crowd yelled back, their voices numerous and angry.

With renewed confidence they charged forward and started the final push of the Battle of Black Town. The raiders were wholly routed. Most turned tail and tried to run and what few stayed were swiftly put down by the Black Town guard and militia. The battle was won. I decided to leave the rest to them and go check on Winter and Aurora. I didn’t see the whole battle but it was improbable that any of the raiders made it this far in. Although a small group did make it all the way to the armory so anything was possible. At the same time the thing that defended the armory was defending my family. After that thought I started to relax. Turned out I didn’t need to send them away with Dusty. When I got to the upper floors of the Sky Lounge I saw just how wrong I was. I only saw one marker on my EFS so I ran to its source with haste. As I opened the door I expected to find Winter or Aurora but instead I saw nopony. Nopony except the broken chassis of the PINK-E surrounded by signs of a struggle. I didn’t understand. If the PINK-E was disabled what was behind the marker I saw?

“S-s-sparks…” I heard the PINK-E whimper.

I looked around and found its decapitated head behind a knocked over table.

“Pinkie? Pinkie what happened!?” I yelled as I picked up the head with my magic. When I rotated it to face me I almost dropped it in surprise. Half of PINK-E’s head had its synthetic skin and paint burned away, revealing the charred metal and skeletal frame exposed.

“I’m sorr-r-ry Sparkzzz…bad poniesss came and t-t-took them.”

“Where did they take them? Did you hear them say anything!?”

“My audio receptors picked up s-s-severul mentions of the Black-k-k Tower after my head was separated from my body.” PINK-E made a noise like it…she was crying. “I couldn’t help your family, I couldn’t help anypony…I’m a terrible friend…Twilight was right.” Its voice slowly faded away and the glow behind its eyes went out. I was unexpectedly saddened by her death. At the end she seemed like she felt guilt about something other than my family and was a real pony. I carefully set her beside her body and thanked her. I braced myself for whatever was waiting for me and galloped back towards the Black Tower. Around the Tower were the town’s survivors trying to clean up the battlefield to make it more easily traveled. Having seen the raider army first breach the wall and by guessing by the number of bodies on the ground, I’d say we killed maybe half of their force. They might try and attack again but it wouldn’t be any time soon. My path to the Tower was thankfully unimpeded by debris or corpses and I climbed the stairs to my room. I ran in and sitting in the middle of the bed was Salted Chestnut. He smiled and hopped off the bed. “That’s him. Put him down.”

In my haste I neglected to notice the two other ponies in the room before it was too late. A grey unicorn mare in the corner lifted me in her telekinesis and before I could counter with magic of my own, a huge dark green earth pony stallion smashed his skull into my face, knocking me unconscious.

I awoke in a daze, tied down to a chair with a magic nullifier on my horn, Chestnut sitting in a chair opposite me on the far side of the room. A cold wind blew through the room, I looked to my right to see that we were on one of the highest floors of the Tower. Half of the room was open to the elements, leading to the ground below.

“Ah you’re awake.”

“Chestnut you son of a bitch! Let my family go!”

“Now why would I do that? No, you and I have some things to talk about.”

“Where are they? I’m not saying anything until I know they’re unharmed.”

“Oh they are unharmed…for now but if it pleases you.” Chestnut nodded to somepony behind me. I twisted to try and see what was there. It was the two ponies from before who ambushed me in my room. The unicorn mare was surrounded by a flash of magical energy and disappeared. Teleportation, that meant they could have been holding them anywhere. She flashed back into the room with Winter and Aurora.

“Sparks!” Winter bawled as she ran to my side and firmly took one of my hooves in hers, Aurora quickly followed behind her, taking my other hoof.

“I would like to thank you Sparks. You did something great today.”

“What is he talking about Sparks?” Winter asked with a look of disbelief.

“Oh you don’t know? Well then, allow me to enlighten you. The raider clans have been gathering our power trying to fill the vacuum from Red Asphalts death. As our number grew we knew we had to find a new home. I proposed the attack on Black Town but our leader was against it. When Sparks killed our leader I was MORE than happy to fill her role and when the clans heard that the hero of Black Town was responsible, they were more than happy to invade. Ironic isn’t it? You tried so hard to prevent this and yet it was you who made it possible.”

“You sent me after your leader on purpose…so you could take her place.”

“Figured it out did you? Hahaha! It was so perfect, saved my own skin and had my rival taken out, all at the same time.”

“This is my fault…” I whispered, now realizing what I had done.

“Don’t listen to him Daddy! It’s not your fault.”

“Oh foolish child. Your ‘Daddy’ could have killed be but he let me go. He made a costly choice and provided me with the leadership I deserve…now I’ll give him what he deserves.” Chestnut stood up from his chair and came to stand beside me, and wrapped a hoof around Winter’s neck.

“Mommy no!!” Aurora cried. She ran at Chestnut and was easily smacked aside. She landed close to the edge of the drop-off, unconscious.

“Leave her alone Chestnut! Your fight is with me!”

“You’re right, it is, but there are worse things than death. An eye for an eye Harbinger.” He said, pressing a gun to Winter’s head with his magic.

“Please…please let me go…” Winter sobbed. “Y-you can’t…I-I’m…”

“What was that sweetheart? I couldn’t hear you.”

“I…I’m pregnant!” I was in shock. Hearing that was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of my life, instead it only brought me panic and horror. Nothing could have prepared me for this.

“You hear that Sparks? You’re a father! Congratulations!”

Winter had tears streaming down her face. And I would never forget the look she gave me.

“Sparky…I-I…Lov-”

*BLAM*

Time slowed down as I watched blood spray out of Winter’s temple. The life had barely left her eyes when Chestnut flung her body off the side of the building.

“NOOOOoooo!” I shrieked, thrashing about trying to get out of my restraints, tipping over my chair and falling over in the process.

“A tragedy really. You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

I couldn’t concentrate. This couldn’t have been real. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be!

“Please…” I whispered. “Do it…kill me.”

“I’m afraid I have more important things to do.” He knelt down and took my face in his hooves, forcing me to face him. “Killing you would be too easy, now breaking you? Hmph. The Wasteland is no place for heroes. How that word must sting you now… hero. Your mercy has brought you pain. Your kindness, sorrow. In this world there are worse things than death…You have to surrender to the Wasteland to survive. I used to be like you Sparks but the greatest lesson I ever learned out here is that you can hang on to your morals and die, or do whatever it takes to survive. Now your failures here will forever remind you of that fact. Slash, Blood Orange, let’s get out of here.” Chestnut and the large stallion placed their hooves on the mare’s shoulder and teleported away.

I…I did this…it was my fault…I failed.

Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk: Bringer of Justice – +10% more damage to raiders, slavers, and criminals.

Quest Perk Added: Be Strong! - The small statuette has granted you the determination of Applejack. You're going to need all the strength you can get! - Permanent +1 to Strength.

Next Chapter: Chapter Eleven: Hearts Promise Estimated time remaining: 25 Hours, 58 Minutes