“You ready to go back?”

Lexicon nearly jumped at the sound of Oso’s voice. But nearly at a whimper she answered with the fullest extent of her heart. “Yes please… No more wolves… no more confusing nonsense…”

Oso chuckled and looked back at the the hall containing the overly talkative Oracle. “Well… if it’s any comfort, I don’t know what the hell she was talking about either.”

Lexi grumbled looking up at him. “Was at that crap supposed to make sense? You are but you aren’t? You are something but simultaneously you are not? Are all wolves this… um… weird?”

Oso grinned and shook his head. “She is pretty strange, her mother was much easier to deal with… But on another note, we have their assistance on my group's project. We have been trying for this for a very long time. But they will only help us if you are involved… I do hope you don’t have any changes in heart… This is pretty important.”

Lexi poked at the ground grumpily trying to figure out why the snow was ten feet thick everywhere but inside the city. The massive tree didn’t have so much as a single flake of snow on it. Checking her radiation often, she had discovered the surrounding area was strangely free of that as well. But one thing dug at her mind, and she knew the answer she would get, but she needed to ask. “Oso?... what is this project?”

Oso smiled and just like she knew he would, he shook his head. “Sorry, that’s not something I can just up and tell you. Maybe you can convince Tyrin when we meet back up.”

Despite the oddities all around, if she agreed and went along with it, she would be a part of something bigger again. And with the world ended, she didn’t really have anything else to go back to. “Ok… but… I am owed an explanation eventually."

Oso paused for a moment then nodded and Croce landed just a little ways away. “Can we get the hell out of here? These furballs are weird as shit. They don’t even have ammo or weapons for sale… Hell, they won’t even sell me food.”

Oso chuckled. “They won’t take caps and they don’t like outsiders. Here…” He stood taller and started off towards the market. But he slowed and looked back, waving for both Lexi and Croce. Lexi hurried to his side and Croce grumpily moved to follow Lexi.

They moved through the markets until they came upon an old wolf at a forge. What looked to be either his younger sister or possibly his mate stood beside him carefully working on something at a table.

Oso approached and said one or two things in the odd guttural tongue and the old wolf smiled sticking his hand in the forge. Lexi’s attention was fully on the wolf and her mouth dropped open when he pulled out a white glowing hot hunk of iron with his bare hands. He placed it on the anvil and fetched a hammer as well as some shaped tongs. Hammering the item and applying various different treatments, eventually he dropped it into a small bowl where it hissed loudly and bubbled whatever fluid the bowl held. He then passed it to the wolfess.

“Croce?... may I see your gun?” Oso’s talons extended and Croce stared almost in mistrust but he sighed and ejected the clip and cleared the chamber before handing it over.

Oso in turn held the item out to the wolfess who smiled at him then frowned at the gun. But she looked over at Croce and Shook her head. “No… I will make new weapons, or armor, but we do not service coward weapons.”

Croce looked cocked his head and stared at the old wolf and Oso promptly returned the gun to Croce before wolfess pulled a knife off the shelf and fiddled with it thoroughly and handed it to Oso, Oso tossed it to Croce who looked it over.

He hefted it's weight and inspected its edge before grinning. “It’s a bit big, but I won’t say no.”

The old wolf handed off the small trinkets still cooling to the wolfess and she started up on them as well. Oso watched with a soft smile on his features and muttering. “Nothing beats Susi steel…”

“I can name a few Griffons who would disagree…” Croce leaned in with his voice low.

“Birds build good armor, and complicated coward weapons. But none have finer steel than the Susi...” The wolfess chimed in almost with a growl as she worked.

“Coward weapon?” Croce asked as he looked over at her fitting the magazine back into his pistol and finding a place for his new knife.

Oso nodded, but the old wolf answered. “Yes, do not take it personally… it’s just what we call it. One can master the blade or magic. Takes decades of power and focus. Infant can use coward weapon and kill anything. No mastery, death of art, death of beauty.” He grumbled. “We do not work on coward weapons.”

Croce looked to be willing to say more but he just surrendered the thought. Finally the wolfess handed the small trinkets to Oso who made his way over and slipped them under Lexi’s collar. “Don’t lose them… those suckers are very valuable.”

“But what are they?” She placed a hoof on her collar where the little pieces of metal rested between the clothing and her fur.

“Don’t worry, if ever you actually need them, you'll realize pretty quick what they are for.” He turned and gave a soft bow to the to wolves and held out a handful of what looked to be metal cubes. But they shook their heads and turned away, going right back to work. Oso smiled and gave another bow, a little deeper this time and turned back to Lexi. “Ok.. now we can go.”

The trip out was surprisingly fast. Lexi was certain they would have to check out, or be guided or escorted. But they just left, the wolves seemed busy with their daily lives and Lexicon couldn’t place it, but it simply felt odd. The wolves were so dedicated to escorting them like they were criminals, all the way to the oracle, but now they were all but ignored as they left the city.

“I have to say…” Croce’s voice was steady as his wings carried him softly through the air behind them, his eyes locked on the blade he had received. “Despite how weird those guys are, its refreshing to see plants and trees with leaves, a steady community and… oh that’s right, how the hell do they keep the radiation out?”

Oso shrugged. “I think it’s some sort of ritual combined with influencing the weather patterns. But I honestly don’t know.”

“Weather patterns? They can manipulate that? How? I assume it’s something different from Pegasi.” Lexicon smiled thinking of little winged wolves dancing around in the clouds pushing them around and frolicking about. Then they all turned at the distant sound of screams and roaring, in the distant treeline she could just barely make out something large bursting from the trees covered in wolves who repeatedly stabbed at it trying to bring the beast down. The image in her head flashed to them prancing over blood stained clouds and she just shut it down.

“Their Druids have some level of control over the weather, it’s not flawless but it’s a good grasp. Granted, no bombs dropped up here, but the glowing tundra and that big storm should have killed everything up here. Amazingly while most of the trees are dead, you still find a lot of them alive, even if they are buried mostly in snow. And if you haven’t noticed, the snow gets more and more shallow the further away from the city we get.” Oso dragged his talons through the snow to show the depth.

Croce slashed at a low hanging branch and smiled at how easily the new knife passed straight through and the wood fell easily. “Still, the wolves are weird as shit and kinda spooky. I mean, what they hell do they even do up here?”

Oso laughed softly as he picked up the pace. “Live.” He paused and helped Lexi up a larger snow bank. “They have their own problems like rival clans, the cursed blood, wildlife… that kind of stuff. Ever since their king left just before the bombs they split into various clans. I don’t rightly know why, maybe it was a power grab, maybe it was religious differences, maybe it was just what they do… whatever it was, the clans are picky about which other clans the deal with, and even then usually they don’t get along with each other very well and the cursed blood all rebelled basically the very moment the King of the North vanished.”

“Cursed blood?” Lexi didn’t quite like the thought of something with that name. It was not the first time it was said, but she still didn’t like the sound of it.

“Don’t worry about it. They have a blood feud with the Susi, they won’t likely attack us, no point in it.” He trudged through the snow ensuring he left a heavy trail for Lexicon to trot through.

“But what are they?” Croce sounded off a little curious himself as he slid his new very large knife into place beside his machete.

Oso sighed but answered nonetheless. “Smaller crossbred Susi. They don’t have the same durability or size, and unlike the Susi, they use guns. But you don’t have to worry very much. They are usually sickly weak and not very intelligent. They used to have an actual position in the culture of the north. But when the king left, the Susi took up some old grudges. The Cursed blood all have one common ancestor who was… well let’s just say not very well liked. And well, with the king gone, they were not too afraid of stepping up and complaining about being second class citizens of the north. Now they are more or less raiders that won’t attack unless they have overwhelming numbers.”

Lexi looked to him hoping for more information but frowned when he didn’t continue. But she flinched heavily when he tossed something to her. There was a short laugh from Croce and a sigh from Oso as she fumbled and dropped the item, digging it out of the snow only to find the 10mm pistol.

“What?” She wasn’t too sure of herself, holding the weapon in her hooves.

It wasn’t until Croce nudged her playfully. “Aye mud pony, keep up and I’ll teach you as we go along. But just so you know, with that Pipbuck you have a MASSIVE advantage over most others in the wasteland.”

She raised an eyebrow as she struggled to walk and hold the weapon at the same time, she elected to hold it in her mouth as she moved to catch up. Though Croce swiped it from her mouth quickly. “Hold up! No doing stupid shit aye? I don’t want to get shot in the ass because you don’t know what the safety is…”

There was a short lesson in the anatomy of a pistol before a rundown on her pipbuck. She had almost forgotten about the bars at the bottom of her vision. Most things outside the influence of her glasses were just a blur anyway. Pushing her glasses up she peered at the bottom of her vision to see two blue bars and a small hoof full of yellow bars all over.

“Aye, its a handy tool, though you have a powerful tool right here. SATS…” He gestured to the Pipbuck. “I don’t know what this extra shit on the side of your pipbuck is, but you should be able to figure this shit out. I mean, you’re not too bright but I think you aren’t completely retarded.”

She glared at him but he just chuckled. “So what’s this SATS thing?”

He peeked at the screen, trying to get a look at the menu more trying to dig for answers which escaped him at the moment. “It's something like um… strategic … something ass something strategy…”

“Stable Tech Arcane Targeting Spell…” Lexi’s eyes were tied to the screen and Croce peeked back in again to see she had it pulled up on the Pipbuck. She felt she was useless in combat, but if it came down to reading and knowledge, she felt like taking on the world and a half.

“Yeah… just fucking do that then…” Croce sped up ahead a little poking around ahead of them all as Lexi read more and more.

After getting a quick rundown of the basic systems on her Pipbuck, her eyes couldn’t help but to peek down at the bars. Watching some very slowly move around, others bobbing left and right quickly. Something teased her mind and she looked back but saw nothing. With a soft sigh she picked up the pace and caught up to Oso in the bitter cold only to wait for Croce to return. She was sure that Oso could answer her questions, but she didn’t want to annoy him more. Croce, no matter how odd it was to her was still more or less bound to her by his self imposed contract. And she didn’t mind bugging him back after all the teasing and mockery she endured. “So… About the pistol?”

Croce looked her over and sighed. “Read your shit and find out SATS and once you get that crap figured out, I’ll teach you how to fire and maintain the sucker. He looked over at a small bird and gestured to it. “Here… shoot that.”

“The little birdie?” Her heart sank and she earned a nearly disgusted look from Croce.

“If you can’t kill a single pest, how the shit are you going to defend yourself from a slaver or raider? Hell, how are you going to fight at all? SHOOT THE DAMNED THING!” One set of talons swatted on the back of her head and the other pointed at the bird perched on a small branch.

She winced and quite suddenly the world went still. She opened her eyes to see the bird highlighted and marked with a simple 23%. She found herself unable to move or even to speak. She just fiddled around with the spell linked to her before finally she built up what she could only guess was a small queue of shots. There was an odd sensation and her whole body went tense as if somepony was puppeteering her every action. What little muscles she had went taut and her teeth tensed over the grip of the pistol, her tongue toyed the trigger and she popped off three shots in quick succession. But the bird remained untouched as it fluttered and took off.

Oso smirked. “I’m not usually a gun guy, but hey, at least she got close.”

“Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.” Croce spat out before he sighed and drew his knife. Marking a tree with a simple circle he stepped back. “Ok Mud pony, just aim at the circle. Line up the sights and hit the trigger.”

Nervously looking to the circle she lined up the sights. She had just fired with SATS, how could this be any different? She made sure it lined up and clenched her eyes shut before hitting the trigger. But she promptly yelped as the gun went off and simultaneously flew out of her mouth.

Croce looked over the unmarked tree and sighed loudly. “This is going to take a while…”

“My teeth hurt!”

Oso chuckled and Croce was on the verge of just starting to yell at the young Earth pony until she finally followed his instructions properly. “Clench your damn teeth over the grip then! If your grip is loose then the recoil will get you.”

It had only been an hour, they had been casually popping back and forth through the woods, stopping for a few minutes at a time. Oso was trying to find the entrance back into the caves. He remarked that it was significantly easier than searching on the other side, but at least he could casually go about it knowing the Susi patrols were very unlikely to attack them in any capacity.

Lexicon whimpered and spat out the gun wanting something to wipe her tongue off on. The gun had been cleaned and worked on but it was still unnerving for her to stick 170 year old rusty pistol in her mouth. It was bad enough that she hadn't had a bath in 170 years, but this was just a little too much. Firing in SATS was pretty easy, her whole body tensed when the spell took over. But whenever she fired it without the spell it rattled her jaw and chipped her teeth.

“First chance we get, we are getting a harness for her!” Croce’s beak made an audible sound as it grinded in his anger.

“And a suppressor. I would be just a little more comfortable knowing less potential enemies hear gunshots as we make our way around.” Oso looked back over the horizon. He knew that this was still Susi territory, and they very clearly did not like guns. He didn’t want to offend any more than he had already. Though, he also knew that there was more than just the Susi here, but he was keeping an eye on it.

“Can we stop now? I mean, I’m thankful for your help, but I just think that guns aren’t for me…” Lexi huffed rubbing her jaw, almost tempted to down a healing potion or at least sip some so her teeth would stop hurting. On the bright side she got decent with SATS, especially since it did everything for her.

“Mud pony?... Do you know what happens to ponies that can’t fight?” Croce fluttered up and rested on a tree branch. “You remember those slavers right? Do you know what will happen to you if you run into them again and CAN’T fight them off? Chances are they will rape you, then they will sell you to someone else who will do the same thing over and over and over again until you either die of some disease or they kill you for fun.”

Lexi’s heart sank and just the thought of such a fate made her sick. She shuttered with dread at the thought, it made her want to be quiet and keep training, but it looked as though Croce was not quite done putting the fear into her.

“And that’s just what the slavers will do. Raiders will probably put a few bullet holes in you first. Hell, I’ve seen more than a few raiders turned cannibal. And I’m sure you’ve thought of what a mutated monster will do. Just eat you, tear you to pieces and swallow you whole. Mercenaries will likely kill you for any little thing you might have. Hell, I’ve had fellow mercs try and kill me in my sleep just for the possibility I had some spare ammo, and while its rare for Griffons, I’ve seen a few who will eat pony meat if it's convenient. There’s a thousand and one things out here that will kill you… unless…” He glared at her even though she had already basically been scared into a shivering little pile of earth pony on the floor. “Pick up your damned gun and learn to fucking shoot!”

Lexi popped up and desperately fumbled with her gun, clenching it in her teeth as hard as she could she whimpered as Croce came down and pointed just past her from behind, designating the little carved circle. Closing an eye she watched the iron sights of the pistol sway back and forth until the front sights lined up with the rear. She clenched her eyes and hit the trigger. There was a loud pop, but her teeth clenched tighter and when she opened her eyes, there was a hole in the tree. Certainly not the center but at least it was on the target.

“FINALLY!... Well, there you go mud pony. You can shoot almost accurately.” Croce shook his head and grumbled. It was a success, but it had been quite testing to his limited patience and something he did not want to have to repeat.

“Croce…” Oso’s voice was almost a surprise to both Lexi and Croce. Lexi just flinched, her adrenaline still blasting through her. Croce though looked over and grumbled even more.

“Hey, I got her to shoot without knocking any of her teeth…” He grinned and added. “Also, the recoil didn’t crack her teeth.

Oso was not smiling, this sent a puzzled look across Croce’s face. They were very different, but so far they’ve been able to enjoy a joke or two at Lexi’s expense. “Pack it up… for the past 20 or so minutes the Susi have been fighting something down there. Whatever it is, its running this way. I figured nothing down there would be interested in us, but they are coming this way and fast.”

Croce looked over at Lexi and her heart shot up into her throat. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to make me follow you into battle…”

“Hell the fuck no!. I wouldn’t do that even if you were literally my only hope.” He drew his new knife and his pistol. “See that shit over there?” He gestured with the blade to a dying thicket next to a short cliff. “Go over there, they will have to bottle neck in order to get to you. If any of them come after you, use SATS every chance you get. But overall, just put bullets into them until they stop moving.”

She looked to Oso who just nodded and reinforced her confidence simply by pointing at the small confined area. She slowly started in the direction but let out a yelp and ran when Croce’s open talons swatted her on the rear. “FASTER MUD PONY!”

She bolted for the little hiding spot and didn’t look twice before pouncing into the spot off the somewhat beaten path, she was quite surprised as she sank into the snow up to her shoulders. She remembered making snow forts with her mother when the neighborhood fillies and colts refused to play with her due to her less than stellar ability to throw snowballs and or run. Though, the general idea she went with was to stomp out all the snow she could to give her just enough room to duck low and move about while still having both line of sight with the bottleneck and a way to stay generally out of sight.

She nearly whimpered just standing as still as possible in the frozen snow. But to her surprise the cold didn’t really get to her. She could even feel her ears and the tip of her nose. It was surprising to her, but she only spent a few seconds marveling at it. Her attention was elsewhere as gunshots rang out and the sound of battle being joined by two griffons filled her ears.

Chewing her lip she listened carefully. She had seen how ungodly terrifying Oso was in battle with his bare talons, but she knew he had weapons. The odd bulbous weapons affixed with a bladed pick. She was confident that she would be safe. But unfortunately her heart sank and fear shot up inside her as she heard voice.

“There! See see tracks? The birds bring fight to our brothers, think we won't search behind them. Small tracks, maybe child?” The voice was higher pitched and just felt slimy. Like it belonged to a cartoon bad guy’s minion.

And so did the other voice. “Will be food. Take it yes, take it before the birds come back!”

Lexicon’s heart thundered in her chest, she really didn’t want to move, she didn’t want to use her gun. She didn’t want to fight, but the feeling bubbling in her chest told her that she didn’t really have a choice.

“Is pony… is female pony..” She looked up at what looked like a very small Susi. Clearly a wolf, but half the size. It was sickly thin with patches of fur clearly missing and armed with a sharpened stick and armored with scrap metal. But the look on her face told her she would likely lose more than her life if they captured her.

“Ah! Fun then food!” The second one grinned wide easily explaining to her what ‘fun’ meant.

She leaped up and clenching her eyes shut she fired wildly. She didn’t want to kill, but far far more than the desire not to take a life, she really didn’t want to get raped and eaten by whatever these creatures were.

The first few shots missed, but she got two hits in. Granted, they were grazes, but the smaller wolves shrieked and backpedaled before the one behind her raised a weapon she didn’t expect. A VERY large rifle rested in its hands and the weapon was leveled right at her. Instantly the world froze as she fired up SATS and she queued up the maximum number of shots she could on his head.

She activated the spell and watched in a flurry of emotional pain and confusion as the pistol fired digging a bloody furrow into the wolf’s cheek, then again once in his neck at the close range, then again dead center of his head. His lifeless body flew back like a rag doll. But then came the rushing scare of her young life.

The first wolf pounced on her, striking her square in the jaw. The blow knocked her pistol free, dazed and still full of fear she backpedaled desperately as the creature continued advancing.

She turned and tried to flee, but the wolf’s claws caught her by the leg and his hand forced her head into the snow as he forcefully peeled back her snow clothes. “Stupid pony… you learn.. You learn now!”

A desperate thought crossed her mind and she queued up all the SATS attacks she could. It was just one, but she really couldn’t miss as she looked back to ensure she had eyes on her target. She triggered the attack and could feel her hoof kick savagely into the wolf’s groin.

She watched in slow motion as the creature howled, but oddly the slow motion didn’t stop. She really hoped that she would get a chance to run. But something else surprising happened the wolf’s head popped like a zit, it simply exploded in a rain of viscera. From under the wolf she could just barely make out a figure dressed in a trench coat, a heavy revolver floating in his magical grasp.

A shower of blood, brain matter, and tattered skull rained down on her as time returned to its normal pace. Panic already blasting through her, she rapidly scooted back, her head whipped back and forth looking for the unicorn that had just saved her. But unfortunately not only could she not see him, but her gaze shot skyward and she felt the sickening tingle of freefall.

She had scooted herself off the cliff.

Falling with a loud scream, she flailed and tumbled all the way down before to her great surprise she landed face first into a heavy snow bank. The fall had been incredibly short, but now she was head first stuck in the snow.

Still very much overwhelmed she pouted and squirmed. She couldn’t wrap her head around what had just happened, she had killed another living being, she almost got raped, and someone had just barely saved her, then she survived falling off a cliff. Now, she just wanted to go home.

Doing her best to scoot back and forth she suddenly went still, renewing the shock in her heart as she felt something. She very very clearly felt something, or somepony touching her. Touching her butt.

Clenching her eyes tight, she screamed and bucked as hard as she could, thankfully her hooves made full contact and she could hear something exclaim loudly before there was nothing else.

Struggling for a few more moments she popped out of the snow and quickly pulled up her snow trousers. She didn’t know if it was the adrenaline or that she had just gotten used to the cold, but she didn’t feel even a single tremble, even with snow practically stuffed up her nose. Though, it was a little more surprising to her that her glasses were again, still resting on her nose.

Blinking she pulled them off and not surprisingly the world fell into a blur. She quickly put them back on and shook her head, almost trying to brush them off. But they remained right where she had set them. It was a delightful distraction from the hell she was currently in.

She desperately kept her mind from racing through the events that had just unfolded. She remembered a young griffon telling her ‘...that’s just the wasteland…’

“Distractions, is that really how you live with it? Is that how everypony deals with this hell?” She pushed the glasses up her nose and looked down at the hole in the snow she had just pulled herself from. But she shook her head and let her mind wander before turning around to survey the surroundings looking for the unknown person she had kicked for grabbing her tush.

A shock ran through her as something landed right behind her. She turned and swung her hooves and to her terror and fright, it caught her hooves and tumbled her through the air before planting a paw on the back of her neck driving her face first into the snow. “None of that mud pony… How did you get down here?”

Instantly she teared up as his paw came off of her. She pounced and wrapped her forelegs around him. “CROCE!!!”

“Get the fuck off!!” He pushed her back and grumbled loudly.

“I’m sorry! I… I just… it's..” She floundered with her words and he pinched her mouth shut.

“I know. I saw the tracks and the dead wolves. Congrats, it looks like there is some sort of hope for you.” He held up her pistol and popped the magazine out, swapping it out he handed it back and she gratefully took it.

“Where’s Oso?” She looked around only noticing that Croce had the wolf’s rifle over his back.

“He’s wrapping up what’s left and chasing them back towards the Susi.” He pointed back towards the village where they had come from.

“What… what are those things?” She looked up at the cliff where she had fallen from, she didn’t want to see one of those little wolves again.

“Oso calls them ‘cursed blood’. Apparently they were the peasant caste in the north back before the war. Some sort of legendary event which left them eternally stuck as the peasants. But when the bombs dropped, they rebelled and the Susi hunt them for sport or something like that. But on a side note, I know why they call guns coward weapons now.” He unslung the rifle and popped open a large hatch leading directly to the chamber from the top of the rifle. “These cursed blood are stupid cowardly. And these guns fire something really close to an anti-machine rifle round. Hell, the rounds look identical, save for the fact that these are crudely made. Still, freaking sweet find.” He flicked the hinged door with a happy grin and pushed an old and certainly home made looking bullet into the chamber then snapped it shut. “I think it's called a trapdoor rifle, I’ve heard of them… but… yeah…”

His voice trailed off as he looked at her as she nearly blubbered. She was extremely happy that he was here. It felt odd to her seeing such a rude griffon as the highlight of her day. But she couldn’t help it. She knew that whether he intended it or not, he had saved her before, and now he was saving her from her own trauma.

The moment was interrupted as Oso landed with a massive thud, his weight forcing his talons through the snow and into the rocks below. His armor was scuffed and Lexi could see rapidly closing holes on his chest and arms. She couldn’t tell if healing potions were fixing small or very large injuries. But there was no blood, so she felt, it was more than likely small wounds. “You all right?”

Lexi nodded, the fear was ebbing away and Oso looked her over, as well as the snow around her. He paused as if thinking deeply, but just shrugged. “Aye, lets go. We have to get home to deliver this news.” He reached out and picked her up before flying back to the top of the cliff.

Squirming the whole way up Lexicon closed her eyes as they passed over the dead wolves, but she was reminded. “Ah! Oso, a pony was here!... He helped me, but he ran off.”

“Oh… is that so?” He put her down right where she had seen him, the snow was shallow on the path but still, she couldn’t see any tracks other than their own that they were currently making and some general disturbances.

“Yeah, he was right here... He shot that wolf over there.” She pointed and Oso just gave her a firm pat on the head.

“More of a reason for us to leave. Just be thankful you are lucky enough to get that kind of help.” He gave her a firm push and they started to look for the cave again.

They moved with purpose, wanting to avoid that kind of combat again. And in their search, Lexicon regaled them of the details. Croce seemed interested, despite her leaving out the part where the wolf was trying to get into her. He didn’t ask many questions, but he had plenty of advice for the ‘next time’. Oso however was relatively silent. He moved sternly and his eyes remained sharp. It was unclear on whether or not he was just in a fowl mood for some reason or now that he had the Susi’s help he didn’t want to lose it by losing Lexicon. Either way, he seemed on edge and perhaps even a little grumpy that she had been attacked while he was away. The Oracle did say that she would help Oso’s group because of Lexicon, and best as she could figure, it took ages for him to get this deal, long enough that he was expecting to show up, get turned down, and then leave all in the same go.

Her mind continued to race as the sun began to set just as they came across the trail leading to the cave. She could not wait to get out of the snow, despite how used to it she had gotten.

She slowed with the group just twenty minutes into the cave. Slowly beginning to set up camp, she took note to push away all bones and set up in a nice area nestled into a corner, she took a lot of time walking about and looking at the point from every corner she stood trying to make sure she would be the last thing noticed in the cavern if anything entered while she slept.

She grumbled and settled in. Today had been hectic. But she was surprised to see that the panic in her heart was gone. She didn’t know if she was succeeding with her distracting thought or if she was still somehow in shock. But the more she thought about it, the more she just felt like she it didn’t matter, she was safe and had not been violated.

She snuggled into the bedding and spared a last look at Oso who looked to be taking the first watch this night as well. Croce sat in an up high location servicing his new rifle with a smile. She set her lantern up and rested the cup of cold water from her supplies on top, but she couldn’t find any tea. So she settled on a hot cup of water as she coiled up with nothing but her thoughts.

Tempting fate, she closed her eyes rerolling the thoughts and events through her mind. That she had almost been raped, and that she had killed. But to her surprise panic did not raise up in her heart. She seemed utterly indifferent to the whole event, she just felt tired.

She rolled the thoughts around in her head and finally nuzzled into her pillow. “Goodnight…”

Footnote: Level 4 Achieved.

Perk added: Mysterious Stranger. You have gained the attention of a mysterious stranger, a stranger who may jump in to help you in combat during SATS.

This fanfiction is based on Fallout Equestria by Kkat, Fallout Equestria Pink Eyes by Mimezinga and Fallout Equestria Project Horizons by Somber; a familiarity with the source material may aid your understanding.

Author - Sanguine Eyes

Chapter editor - Currently N/A

Earl: Concept artist, Proof reader.

Nick Valentine: Artist

Author's Notes:

It was kinda hard to write that bit during the combat. I don't like rape of any kind. But it is a part of the Fallout universe, and fallout Equestria. My desire to write an accurate, engaging, and entertaining story outweighed my personal preferences.