"You think I inject myself with all that shite and drink myself drunk because I'm a 'tough Irish gal?' I do it so I can forget and move on with me miserable life. So there you are. The entire flawed package known as Cait, stripped bare for your perusal."

The world came back to me.

The moon was still out, and the land was as dark as ever.

Considering I was looking at three giant active headlamps a moment ago, I was relatively blind, but I could still see around my surroundings. Just not too far.

Onyx laid in front of me, while Thorne was at my side; both out cold.

"Wh-what was that?" Scope shouted. I flashed my pipbuck light on just in time to see him remove his hooves from his blood-drenched ears. "I-I can't hear!" He looked around his surroundings. "Fuck, it hurts!"

Hollow got up from her stomach as a compartment opened up, and she pulled a health potion out, giving it to him.

He chugged a quarter of it down, before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.

"How about now?" She asked softly.

He turned to her and nodded slowly. "Yeah... Yeah, I can hear you now..." He reached the potion back to her, to which she took it back and approached Thorne and Onyx.

"They're okay..." She stated in a gentle tone. "They still have a pulse..." She removed Thorne's helmet with care and gradually tipped the restoration potion to her lips in small sips. "They're lucky they're alive..."

"You're supposed to be dead." I heard... myself say... from behind.

I turned around to see another me, standing before us with a horn the same color as my coat, and evidently, his. He wore a black, leather duster, with combat armor underneath it. His green eyes were locked on mine, and mine alone. He didn't dare glance at any of the others.

Enveloped in the beige aura of his magic beside him was a bulky, tri-barreled shotgun that lacked a trigger, grip, and stock. But in its place, housed three large ammo drums that fed into the gun at a diagonal angle.

He pointed the gun at me as he scowled.

"Wait, what the hell...?" I backed up a bit. "W-who are you...?"

The gun cocked through the pump action as he stared on into my eyes. "Doesn't matter."

Hollow lunged in between us as her horn started to light up again.

Just as I started to jump to the side, the gun burst into repeated waves of buckshot, and each round was followed with an explosive impact. I noticed the barrels recede into the gun individually with whatever shot it sent out.

Not even Hollow's armor was able to protect her from the assault. Her body rammed against mine from the impact as she screamed in pain, pinning me to the ground. Her horn flickered for a moment as she remained atop me, but as her screams got louder, her magic came back in a surge, and my world became a white flash again, just for a moment.

After my body had warped into a new location, her cries resumed.

Scope rushed to her and tore her off my body. Onyx and Thorne were still with us, but their helmets were missing now, and they were still knocked out.

I got up, wincing for a moment, before I looked down at Hollow. I realized right then and there why she was screaming.

The entire side of her armor, around her barrel, had been chewed through, and her entrails were left exposed.

"Hold on..." Scope mumbled to himself as he fished around through his saddle bags. "Hold on, damn it..."

I quickly opened the medical capsule on my pipbuck as her cries started to grow quieter, and her body began to still. I turned the oversized bracelet upside down, pouring the vials of restoration medicine from within over her injury.

I didn't know how to remove her helmet, so this was the next best thing I could think of. It was working, just not very well.

Scope looked at me for a very brief moment after he pulled out a potion, before looking back down at her. "Thanks..." He muttered under his breath, before speaking up again. "Hollow, remove your helmet."

The helmet started to fold in on itself immediately after, moving around her structure. It stopped at the neck, but her face was exposed now.

He quickly put the neck of the bottle to her lips and tilted it gradually as she gulped, closing her eyes.

Her wound started to close up, and her organs began to fix themselves. I saw quite a bit of mechanical parts in there before her hide had sealed itself back up.

After the bottle was gone, she pulled away a bit and looked up at him. "I need... m... more..." She wheezed. "M-more..."

Her head fell under its own weight, and her body went limp as her eyes grew distant.

He pressed the tip of his hoof to her throat, then sighed, closing his eyes. "She still has a pulse..." He grit his teeth, swinging his head away from both her and I, and facing the dark. "Fuck... Fuck!" He kicked his hoof against a rock, and at that moment, I noticed he was shaking. He spun back toward me. "We need to patch them up and keep moving. It's not safe here."

"Agree-" I started to say, before he interrupted.

"That wasn't a request." He snapped a glare at me.

I paused for a moment, glaring back as I collected my thoughts again. "How are we gonna carry-"

"I'll worry about Thorne and Onyx. You just carry Hollow." He began fishing around his saddle bags some more. Presumably for more health potions. "We can't sit out here any longer..."

By the time the sun started to come up, we caught sight of our first building since the escape. Wandering through the dark did fuck all for us, but we were still heading east.

Scope and I didn't have a whole lot to say to each other.

I was more focused on what it was we had run into. Another me? What was going on here...?

I had so many questions...

We walked along a two lane road in the middle of nowhere. The two story house ahead of us looked as dead as the rest of the land that surrounded it.

As we approached the entrance, I unfolded my chair and held it out in front of me, aiming at the door. An E.F.S. blip appeared in my sight as we had approached. It was blue, but so was what now appeared to be another me, earlier...

I looked at Scope as I pointed the chair at where the marker was. I mouthed the words 'inside,' to which he nodded as he levitated his rifle out, keeping the barrel on the door.

I rammed against said door and aimed around, but the bottom floor next to the stairwell was left undefended by whoever was here.

Scope ran in shortly after. He set Thorne and Onyx down beside the stairs and continued on his way, down a hallway; rifle ready.

The blip started to move abruptly for a brief moment, before stopping a few feet away from its initial location. It was directly above me. Or below me... It had to be one of the two.

I didn't see a cellar or basement on my way here, but then again, I only saw one side of the building.

Still, I started up the stairs.

As I made my way for the top, I spun around, in case there was someone at the railing, preparing to ambush me.

I didn't see anyone, but there was a door. Someone was on the other side, according to the E.F.S.

I carefully slid Hollow's limp body off my back, reached around before she fell, and gently laid her down.

I crept up to it, breathing slowly. I didn't want anyone knowing I was on the other side, in case they had a gun on it. I didn't know what kind of weapons they had on them, but I wasn't taking the chance of flamers, explosives, megaspells, or energy weapons.

I had enough of that for one night.

As I stepped up to the door, the floorboards beneath me creaked. In an instant, I burst through and aimed the chair around, keeping my mouth around the bit of my rifle.

The bedroom was void of life, but someone had definitely been staying here. There were a few playpony magazines lying around on the floor, and a can of half eaten apple slices, along with a sleeping bag, some leather armor, and some saddle bags.

I looked over at the blip on my E.F.S. to find I was facing the closed door of a closet.

Hastily, I approached it and swung the door open, only to look down at a yellow coated teenage earth pony, shivering as he looked down the barrel of a rifle and four more barrels that were built into the legs of a super chair.

I caught a strong whiff of his fear the moment I opened the door, as it was soon evident to me that he crapped himself. I scrunched my muzzle as I backed up a bit, keeping my guns on him.

"Who are you?" I asked, keeping my eyes on him all the while.

"N-nopony important! Please don't hurt me! I'll leave, promise!"

"Wrong answer." The four legs of my chair realigned themselves, aiming directly at him. "Who are you?"

"I'm just trying to survive out here, alright!?" He blurted as tears washed down his face. "Please, I'll give you anything! Just let me go!"

Scope charged through the door of the bedroom, looking at me, then at the stranger.

"Seems sincere enough..." I muttered, turning back to him and lowering the furniture. I took my mouth off the bit and backed up further. "Clean yourself up and come on out. You're safe, so long as you don't try anything stupid."

He nodded shakily as he whimpered, then paused as he regarded me. "C... can I get some privacy...?"

I looked down at him coolly before nodding to the door. "Your privacy is right there."

He nodded again. "R-right..." And with that, he closed himself back in the closet.

Just then, did I start to feel my moth crawling around on the back of my neck. He sure liked to sleep on me a lot. Most of the time, he wasn't moving.

I turned to Scope and smiled wanly. "Bring Thorne and Onyx up here. Right here is as good a place as any to let them recover."

He nodded to me before turning around and making his way back downstairs.

I set my chair down and sat; sighing from the relief to my hindquarters. I was exhausted... and full of so many questions...

"So what's your name, kid?" I asked as he sat on his sleeping bag, across from me.

Scope sat at my side, and Thorne, Onyx, and Hollow were resting up in the room with us.

"Uhh... Um..." He paused for a moment, just before taking a few gulps from a Sparkle Cola Cherry that he pulled from his saddle bags. He had been eyeing Hollow for some time. He was just as befuddled as I was when I first saw her true appearance, but he wasn't asking questions. Probably because Scope was shooting daggers at him through his glares whenever he started to open his mouth, after looking at the zebra.

"Brown Closet, got it. My name's Charger, and this here is Scope." I said, nodding my head to my right.

"H-hey, that's not my name!" He blurted, almost spitting out his drink.

"It is now." Scope replied. "Took too long with your answer, Brown Closet."

He sighed and shook his head, muttering something under his breath, before looking back up at Scope. Specifically, his broken horn. "What happened to your-"

"Stop asking, cause I'm not answering." Scope said abruptly, glaring at him again.

Closet looked at me quietly for a moment, but I just shrugged and smiled. "He gave me the same response. Don't take it personally."

He nodded, then took another large gulp from his soda. He seemed to loosen up a lot more as time went on.

"Gonna be honest..." He said softly, looking back at me. "I thought you two were raiders. I thought I was dead for sure."

"Heh..." I supported my head against a forehoof as my arm rested on the left armrest of my chair. "I suppose we're raiders to raiders. Slaughtered a camp of 'em last night."

"Oh... Wow." He smiled a bit. "Well, I guess that's one less problem to deal with, huh?"

"Absolutely!" I said with a grin, before looking around my surroundings. "So where are we, anyways? We didn't get time to look for a map."

"We're a couple miles west of Virtue." Scope said simply.

... WHAT...?

I turned to him as my jaw dropped in disbelief. "We backtracked...?"

"Look, I haven't really ever traveled too far from the northwest before. The farthest I've ever been out is the Mojave, and I don't go there anymore. I didn't have very many options in terms of teleporting us away from..." He paused as he regarded me silently. "From... you know..."

I sighed and hung my head down. "We gonna finally talk about that?"

"You weren't supposed to see that." Scope muttered under his breath.

"What is that doing out here?"

"What's what doing where?" Closet asked simply.

"It's probably best if you don't know..." I muttered, looking at the colt. "Can we have the room?"

He nodded silently, before getting up and trotting for the door. He closed it behind him, and after hearing his hoofsteps fade down the walkway for the stairs, Scope finally responded.

"My best guess is that it's a Coarser from the Institute. It's the only answer I have. There's also that whole getup he had. A lot of Coarsers dress like that."

"A synth...?" I raised a brow.

"It's rare, but every so often, a synth travels to the west and tries to make it out here. I guess the Coarsers are sent here to hunt down the AWOLs."

"But a Coarser made from me...?" I asked quietly. "What significance would they get out of that?"

He shrugged. "Asking someone that never really studied the Institute's actions. Only reason I know about them is because Hollow told me. You want answers? Gonna have to ask her. When she wakes up..." He looked down at her with worry in his eyes. "You're big news, apparently... Everyone wants you."

"I'm starting to realize that more and more, lately." I shook my head and took a deep breath, ready to change the topic. "So what's the plan?"

"Best idea is we wait here a bit. Maybe go to Virtue and get a bit more supplies. Come nightfall, I'll teleport us back to the raider camp. Hopefully by then, the place will have been cleared out."

"That's an understatement." I muttered. "There's a chance they initiated a Scorched Equus Policy on the camp. I've heard a few cases from the other rangers, back in the day."

He raised a brow. "A Scorched Equus Policy? What's that?"

I leaned my back against the chair and tilted my head back, letting it rest from its own weight. "Use a resource until we get what we want from it, and before moving on, destroy any hope of anyone else being able to use it. For anything. I never really did it, seeing as I never got the chance to."

"Saddle?"

I snapped a look at him as my hoof flickered. "How do you know about Saddle?"

He pointed at Hollow silently.

I sighed and shook my head. "Raids are a bit different than the S.E.P. With raids, there's at least remnants left over. Structures still standing, resources still lying about, somewhere. Scorched Equus Policy may as well level an entire area and burn every little thing. No shelter, no food, no water, and no salvage." I paused as I tapped my chin with a forehoof, looking up at the ceiling with a sudden realization. "... Which... I guess I did, anyways... What with setting off the nuclear reactor."

Scope's eyes went wide. "Wait, you're the one that set off the nuclear reactor in Saddle?"

I nodded slowly. "I'd say 'Woops, my bad.' But it was intentional."

"... Huh." He stared for a moment. "Well, Virtue is still safe from the blast. But you caused one hell of a mess with that fire."

"Trust me." I stated bluntly. "I was doing the entire world a favor destroying that reactor."

It's a damn shame the F-virus got out, anyways...

A for effort though, right...?

Scope stood up and stretched his legs as he levitated his rifle. "Lucky for Virtue, they have a surplus of Rad-Away and Rad-x. Lucky for you, too... I made an oath I wouldn't let Virtue come to harm..." He stared deep into my eyes for a long moment. I could feel his frustration become a threat through his gaze. I kept my eyes on his all the while.

Do it, motherfucker... Kill me...

My hoof startled to crackle with electricity...

He cracked a smile and averted his eyes to the door. "If we're gonna stop by Virtue, then I'm gonna talk to Brown Closet and see about him tagging along. The place could always use more residents."

"Is it wise bringing Hollow in there?" I asked, looking down at her. "I mean... she's a zebra. Won't they hate that?"

He gave me a momentary pause, before looking down at her. "Virtue is about forgiveness, Charger. They'll let her in." With that, he started for the door.

"I didn't see you there." I said quickly, to which he stopped and looked back at me. "At Virtue, I mean. I was there not too long ago, and I never saw you there."

He smiled wanly, before looking up at the ceiling. I caught a glint in his eye... They sparkled with the light's reflection against liquid...

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, though I caught a shudder in there somewhere...

"Virtue is about forgiveness..." He turned back to the door as he opened it. "I don't forgive..."

And with that, he stepped out, leaving me with the rest of the unconscious party.

After a while, I pulled out the picture Fluky had made and studied it. Every line, every curve, every color...

I did what was in her best interest. She shouldn't have been mad at me for that. I did what I could to save her. Titan and Fire would have just hurt her if they found her. Just for the fuck of it...

I just hoped that she would listen to the voice of reason...

Hollow gently rolled onto her hooves and stood up, looking around her surroundings as she coughed a bit.

It turned out I had been staring at the picture longer than I thought, as according to my pipbuck, eight minutes had gone past.

"Where are the others?" Hollow asked as she calmly approached me.

"Downstairs, I think." I replied softly. "Are you okay?" I stood up and put the picture back in my saddle bags, approaching her.

"I should be asking you that." She stated as I gently ran my hoof along her bare hide, where she was injured not too long ago. "Considering what you saw earlier."

I looked back at her, and our eyes met for a moment, before I cracked a smile. But it was fake...

"I'll be okay." I replied.

Slowly, she nodded back and turned to Thorne and Onyx. "They're going to be okay. Life signs are stable. They just need rest."

I nodded to her as she turned back to me. "This will give us time to talk..." She said under her breath as her armor began to disassemble around her, falling to the floor in chunks.

"About...?" I raised a brow as I studied her body moving closer to me.

She inched her muzzle close to mine, before whispering. "He saw my energy reading, and he broke into the dimension. My hunter is on his way here..."

"Fuck..." I hung my head down a bit. "If it's not one thing, it's another..."

"My sentiments exactly..." She muttered as I looked back into her eyes. "The good news is that he can't find out where I am unless I use my magic again... He just knows I'm on Equus somewhere..."

I nodded slightly. "A silver lining, at the very least..."

"Mm." She nodded back.

"If it comes down to it, I have your back." I said with a half smile. She looked into my eyes and smiled back, before moving in and placing a kiss on my cheek.

"Thank you, Charger... I appreciate it. But be careful. He'll kill anyone that gets in his way..."

"Noted." I replied as I wrapped a hoof around her, only to pull her in for a warm embrace.

"You're a good pony..." She whispered in my ear as her hoof wrapped around the back of my neck. "I wish the world treated you better..."

"Yeah..." I closed my eyes. "Me too..."

Once Thorne and Onyx woke up, we got back on the road, heading towards Virtue, apparently. So much for progress...

Their helmets were gone for good, and Hollow's armor was too damaged for her to wear anymore.

Brown Closet was eyeing Hollow intently. Whenever she turned to look at him, he'd quickly avert his eyes.

"What's your name, anyways?" She asked calmly.

"Huh?" He looked back at her in surprise. "U-uh..."

"Brown Closet." Scope and I both said in unison.

"Jinx, you owe me a-"

"Stop that!" Scope sneered as he spun his head to me. "I owe you nothing!"

"Awww, is poor Scopie Poo upset that he's in debt to sad, lil' suicidal Chargie for sugary goodness?" I put a hoof underneath my eye and traced the tip down my cheek, mocking a tear as I pouted.

"Shut up..." He muttered, looking away. "And don't call me that..."

"And for the record!" Closet blurted. "That's not my real name!"

"So what is it?" Thorne asked curiously, narrowing her eyes at him.

"U-um... It's... complicated..."

Thorne and I exchanged glances.

Yeah, I didn't know how to feel about that, either...

"What's so complicated about a name?" Onyx asked, raising a brow.

"Heh..." Hollow scoffed as she turned away from us.

"What's so funny?" Onyx turned to her with a confused expression.

"Nothing." The zebra replied softly. "Let's get to Virtue and see what we can get there."

The town wasn't busy anymore.

Upon approach, I saw a few security guards at the entrance, looking at us. One had a rifle enveloped in their magic, looking through their scope as they directed their weapon at us. After a moment, they lowered said weapon and just stared in awe at Hollow.

The place was quiet. Deliveries to the depot seemed to have ceased, and everyone was kinda just doing their own thing. Until they saw the unicorn-zebra hybrid, that was. Then they all just stopped and stared with dropped jaws.

"I'll see about getting us a place to stay until nightfall." I said as I started to trot down the muddy road, to the other side of Virtue, where the motel was.

"I'm getting a drink." Scope muttered.

"Count me in." Thorne said as she followed behind.

"Buy me a bottle, will ya?" I asked as I stopped to fish around for the caps in my saddle bags. "Absinthe, if they have it. If not, whiskey of vodka." I held the caps out to Scope, but he just glared down at them for a moment, before looking up at me.

"I'm not your errand boy. Do it yourself."

I sighed before turning to Thorne in a deadpan.

"I got it taken care of." She said softly as she took the caps. "You just worry about getting us that room."

With a nod, I replied and turned to the new guy. "On it. Closet, feel free to stick around here. It's safe. Where we're going, you don't wanna be a part of."

He mumbled quietly to himself as he started to walk away.

Everyone turned to Hollow and Onyx as we stood there.

"What about you?" Scope asked, regarding her with a hopeful smile. "Have a drink with me?"

"Maybe some other time. I need to keep an eye on things..." With that, she trotted away down a path neither group was gonna venture to.

"Yeah, count me out." Onyx stated. "Gonna stick with Char-"

"Nopony asked you!" Scope blurted as he scowled at her.

"... ger... Make... sure he doesn't start any trouble..." She finished quietly.

I patted her on the shoulder gently for a moment to offer some semblance of comfort, before I realized what she just said. "Trouble?" I balked. "I don't start trouble! It just happens to find me a lot!"

She gave me a soft, yet pained smirk, before nodding to Thorne. "I'll be okay. Stay safe."

Thorne nodded back after glancing at Scope. "You too, Onyx..."

With that, the group parted ways.

My moth friend launched out from behind my ear and landed on the tip of my nose as I trotted down the road with Onyx. They seemed to have grown in size a bit. The fangs and stinger were more distinct, and the body was bigger. The smoke that emanated off the creature was more noticeable, too.

"Got a name for him?" Onyx asked as she regarded the moth.

"No, not yet."

"Well, he seems to really like you for some reason. Wish I had a pet."

After a short walk, we entered the office to the motel, and the first sight I was greeted with was Shadow Hoof behind his counter with his nose buried in a book.

"Hey, Shadow." I said gently, but was left with no response.

"Shadow!"

"Wagh!" He jumped suddenly, nearly dropping his book. After grabbing a hold of it, he looked at me and paused. "C-Charger...?" A smile started to grow on his features as he adjusted his glasses. "I didn't expect to see you here anytime soon! How are you?" He cleared his throat shortly after it cracked. He glanced down at the moth on my nose for a moment, before meeting my eyes again.

"Hard to answer that question." I replied. "Can we get a room? Just until the night?"

He nodded. "Y-yeah, of course! Of course!" He hastily opened his log book and skimmed through the papers. "Oh dear..." He paused, then looked up at me. "Uh, is it just you and her? And... hey, where's everyone else?"

"They're away." I stated simply. "But I have another party with me."

He bit his lip nervously as he looked at me. "I see... Well, I'm sorry to say, but all our rooms are taken, except one. And it was meant for only one pony..."

I turned to Onyx, to which she just shrugged. I looked back at Shadow and smiled. "Fuck it, we'll take it." I started to search around for my caps. "How much-"

"Free of charge." He smiled happily.

I looked at him in the corner of my vision as I kept my head down to my saddle bags. "But... doesn't the NCR know I hate them?"

He shrugged before giving me a wide grin. "Courtesy of me. I missed ya. I..." He froze for a moment as I raised my head, turning to him directly. "Well, when I woke up, you were gone. I didn't think I was gonna see you again."

"Yeah, look... I'm sorry about that." I muttered, rubbing the back of my head as I averted my eyes down to the floor. "I had to leave."

"Hey, you had your reasons." He beamed at me, before gritting his teeth as his horn lit up. His aura flickered around a key behind him, before levitating to me. "Here ya go. Enjoy your stay, Charger."

"Thanks, Shadow..." I whispered as I turned around and left for the exit.

I awoke to find myself lying in the middle of the road of Virtue. The land and sky were both dark, and no one was here but me. I was alone.

Heh... Story of my life...

I lifted myself up off the ground, greeted with absolute silence.

"Hello?" I called out, looking around. "Hello!"

Not even the howling of a wind answered me.

Come to think of it, I didn't even feel the slightest breeze through my coat. The air was still and silent. Like death.

The whole place was. Not one sound occurred here unless I made it.

Virtue was dead. The place had been deserted long ago; lost to the sands of time and forgotten.

I looked up at a black, starless sky. No clouds. No moon. No stars. No wind.

"Hm..." I looked around my surroundings some more, but what was there to look at? No one was here, and-

There was a loud, deafening tear that roared and spread across the endless, empty sky as a red light began to flash from above. A sound I hadn't heard before, but one that struck the utmost fear into my heart. Like something horrible just happened, or was in the process of happening.

I lifted my eyes to the blackened heavens to see the vortex shining above me, but there was no choir to join it this time.

Suddenly, I saw something move in the darkness, just down the street. I spun my head in its direction to witness it start to walk forward. Something big. Each step emitted thunder underneath its hoof. It was none other than one of my three arch nemesis'. My steel colossus. My demon.

Titan.

He continued to stomp forward, facing me directly without saying a word.

I spun around and began to run, but as I did, I started to hear a ticking sound... A soft ticking in my ears...

Tick... Tock... Tick...

Each step Titan took closed the distance between us. His size helped him travel farther in such short notice. Even though he was walking and I was hoofing it, I couldn't outrun him!

Tick. Tock. Tick.

The hands of time grew louder by the second, constantly reminding me of my inevitable doom.

Time was a fucking demon!

Stitches burnt into my sides as I ran through the dead town that was once the last few remaining locations that held a pureness to make the wasteland a better place. I wasn't going to stop though. Not even for a second!

Tick! Tock! Tick!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ground shook violently under each step Titan took for me, causing me to trip over my own hooves and fall flat on my face into the mud.

I quickly rolled over on my back to see a forehoof start to close down over my form as my world grew darker.

TICK! TOCK! TI-

I shot up in a yelp, before looking around to gather my surroundings.

Bedroom. No, wait. Motel room. Bed. Chair. Bathroom door. Bathroom. Window. Radio. Table. Curtains. Moth. Light. A concerned Onyx. Floor. Rug. Fire. Mysterious brown stain splattered on the ceiling.

Wait... FIRE!?

I took a second to look down at my legs to see flames spreading along the bedding as my hoof crackled with electricity.

FIRE!

I rolled off the bed immediately as I felt the virus inside me start to boil, falling face first on the floor.

Ow, Goddess damn it!

I quickly got up on my hooves, bit down on the corner of the pillow I had been using, and slammed it against the growing flames repeatedly in attempts to put it out.

By the time it had been extinguished, the pillow was nothing more than an empty case. Around it was nothing but cotton and feathers.

"Charger, you okay...?" Onyx asked.

"Wha...?" I spun around to her with my mouth hung open.

"A-are you okay...?"

"Y-yeah... I am now..."

FUCK. SLEEP.

Sleep hated me, and I hated sleep. Why did I need to sleep anyways? Sleep took so much time away from me! All I seemed to get from sleep lately was nightmares! I didn't recall signing away for neverending nightmares! That wasn't fair!

I really wanted to numb the senses right about now...

"Hey, Onyx..." I started. She kept her eyes on me. "Do you have any Med-x?"

"Hm..." She stared for a moment.

"Hm?"

"Hollow said you were addicted to the stuff."

"Okay. Your point?"

"You're okay with that?"

I laughed softly as I shook my head. "At this point, I just don't really care anymore. Not like I can die from ODing anyways. Feels better when I can't feel anything at all."

She gave me a pitiful look, but I rolled my eyes. "Don't give me that. I've been raped, beaten, tortured, and torn apart. Sometimes it's best if you can't feel. My life has been one big fucking joke, and the only escape I could find was either at the bottom of a glass, or in a needle. Everything's been a lie." I pointed a hoof at her, glaring. My hoof burst with electricity as the anger awoke. "You don't get to judge me."

"Whoa, h-hey... I'm not... judging..."

The front door opened, and as I looked over my shoulder, I saw Thorne step in.

"What's happening here?" She asked, closing the door behind her with a rear hoof. "You're attacking Onyx now, too?"

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, hanging my head down as I faced ahead again. The electricity started to gradually calm down as I tried to find a safe place in my mind.

Looking back at Onyx, I spoke. "Guess I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Sorry, Onyx."

She smiled softly and nodded. "It's okay, Charger. Really. I wasn't... trying to judge you, for the record... I'm sorry about that."

"Yeah..." I sat on the bed and shuddered, holding myself with my fores.

"You okay?" Thorne asked.

"Heh..." That was all I could get out.

"I might not have any Med-x," Onyx started. "But we still have one more memory orb we've yet to look through. Maybe that'll help pass some time at least?"

I turned to her and smiled softly. "Sure. Why not?"

My host was that of an earth pony, walking down a darkened Saddle, with only streetlights to help both of us see.

His motion spoke sadness to me. Something was wrong on his end.

He hung his head down, looking at his light grey hooves as he moved down the street. A soft rain glistened against his fur from the neon lights of bars, strip joints, and restaurants around him.

There was laughter, music, and chatter all around, but he seemed to be lost in this world. Someplace else in his mind. There was no happiness here.

He stopped and lifted his head to a flickering neon sign of a pony with a mug of frothing beer, going bottoms up, until they hiccuped. He watched the animation go on loop a few times, studying the sign for a long while, before he lowered his head to the door beneath it. He took a deep breath of the wet, city air, closing his eyes, therefore filling both of our worlds with darkness. We both studied the sound of the rain splashing against the roads; the moisture as it ran down his coat. The wheels from wagons racing through the night lights.

Laughter, cheering, glasses clinking. Conversations from afar.

From there, he raised his eyelids like the curtains of a play and pushed forward, opening the door to the bar.

It was packed with drunken ponies, laughing and having the time of their lives.

My host was a stranger here. An unwelcome guest. An outsider. An alien...

He scanned through the room, looking for... something. What it was, I wasn't quite sure. But he stayed close to the exit the entire time he looked around.

When whatever he was looking for didn't turn up, he sighed and turned around, to which I felt his lips move. I barely heard him through all the noise and music.

But I knew that lip movement. I was much too familiar with the shape and how his lips moved to say those four words... Because I had been saying it myself, at the end of each day, back in the bunker... For nine years...

"I shouldn't be here..."

Just as he started to leave through the exit, a mare called out to him as a hoof poked his side.

Turning around, he was greeted by the one and only Floe Glaze, who smiled happily at him as she hugged him close and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'm glad you came!" She said aloud with a pleased grin. "I've been saving you a spot, Arum!"

"It's Petiole..." He replied as his brows knit.

"You told me to call you Arum." She remarked as she raised a questioning brow.

"Things change..." He paused, before looking around at the party. "Look, I shouldn't be here... Mansia-"

"-Is fine!" She said abruptly as she playfully nudged his shoulder. "Come on, live a little! It won't hurt!"

Before he could protest, she took his hoof in hers and dragged him through the crowd of drunk ponies. Some of them wore pre war military uniforms. Quite a few, actually. The time it took to get to the bar counter, I had spotted at least seven.

"Hey, tender of bars!" Floe called out, raising a hoof. "Glass of your finest whiskey for this champ right here!" She pointed that same hoof at my host, grinning happily.

The bartender nodded, before getting to work.

"Floe Glaze, I-"

"Nuh, nuh, nah, ah, ah! Shhh, sh, sh, sh!" The tip of her hoof patted his lips before he could get another word out. She turned back to the bartender. "Make that two!"

"You got it!"

The two glasses were put down on the counter shortly after. Floe threw down her bits for the order, took both drinks, and reached one out to Petiole as she got up on her hindlegs and leaned her back against the counter, exposing her belly to him. Her elbows rested on either side of her, on the counter's surface.

She raised her glass to the ceiling via her magic. "Cheers, Petiole. To a good friendship, and a wonderful pony to work for."

"With." He said simply as he took the glass. "Not for. With."

"Whatever ya say, boss." With a grin, she winked and put the lip of the glass to her muzzle.

Petiole did the same, and the contents burned down his throat as he gulped it down in one go.

They both shuddered as they set the empty glasses down. A warmth was already starting to develop in his gut.

"Another!" Floe called out as she fished around her saddle bags for more bits.

Things got wishy washy from that point on. Time skipped forward consistently, and I was stuck in a drunken stupor, falling over chairs, tables, other ponies, and bumping into doors and walls.

A lot of angry faces were thrown at my host as he stumbled around.

By the time things were starting to calm down again, him and Floe Glaze were walking down a silent street, side by side. Floe was singing. Horribly, I might add.

"Shown me the way ta go hooome! I tired an' I wanna go ta bed. I had drunk 'bout an hour ago, and it wen' strai-" Hic! "Toooo mah head!"

She bumped into Petiole as she stumbled about, to which he groaned.

"Be careful." He said in a snappy tone.

"Hey, mannn..." She wrapped a hoof around his shoulder and leaned against him. "Ya gotta 'ave some fun."

Petiole just sighed, looked the other direction, and shook his head in disapproval. "Easier said than done when life treats you like a joke."

"Treats ya like a joke?" She scrunched her muzzle. "I dun ge-" Hic! "... It."

Petiole sighed and closed his eyes as the words escaped his lips. I wasn't even in his mind, and I could feel how vile they tasted. "Mansia had another miscarriage..."

Floe stopped talking for a long moment, and looking over, he and I both found her just staring with tears welled up in her eyes. "I-I'm... I'm so sorry... I didn't..." She stopped walking, to which Petiole did too. She quickly moved in for a firm hug.

The two of them stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, holding each other close in the soft rain that absorbed into their coats. The only traffic along the walkway was themselves. The roads remained empty of any wagons.

Petiole closed his eyes and sighed. Her mane gently brushed against his muzzle from his breath, tickling him, to which he scrunched his nose and backed up.

She hung her head down, before Petiole started walking again. She joined his side.

"Third time, yeah...?"

"Fourth."

She took a deep breath. "I didn't know... I'm sorry..."

"How would you? I haven't told anyone except you." He shook his head and sighed again. "Let's... talk about something else, okay? Work, or something?"

Floe stayed quiet for a moment as she kept her head down.

"Well..." She finally started in her drunken, slurred tongue. "I got acknowledgement for Stable 14. Should anything happen, which les hope it doesn... But if it does, tha'll be my new home..."

"Stable 14, huh?" Petiole raised a brow. "And where's that?"

"Believe it or not..." She turned to him. "The bottom of the ocean. They got some serious defense there." She paused for a moment as they continued walking. "So are ya assigned to a Stable yet?"

"Stable 32." Petiole stated. "It sounds like it's going to be used for the study of pony biology."

"A medical Stable..." She said softly. "Sounds right up your alley. Speaking of which..." She bumped into his side, to which he grit his teeth. "Sorry..." She backed away from him a bit. "I came across a breakthrough with maintaining stable life signs during stasis."

Petiole looked around, only to find they were alone. He turned back to her and spoke softly. "Go on."

"We've been missin' an ingredient to the operation." She began to pull up a notebook from her saddle bags. "I started manufacturing a liquid that, if my theory is correct, can help preserve life." She handed him the notebook after flipping through to the right page, and he started skimming through it. He was a much faster reader than I was. I couldn't catch up with him. Even if I could, none of this stuff would have made any sense to me. I saw symbols and a random assortment of numbers and letters that seemed more like the writings of a madpony.

"It's risky." Petiole started. "But we can put it to the test."

"I'm thinkin' we fill half a pod with it before activating the stasis. If it's done right, I really do believe that the subject will come back out alive."

Petiole nodded. "Good discovery. We can start the process on Monda-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a flash of light popped out before them. His ears rang horrible, as if a flashbang had gone off. He was thrown and pinned to the ground, and I felt a set of hooves pressed down on his back.

Petiole fought to get back up, but the pony atop him didn't budge.

"Let me go!" He shouted, though his voice was muffled from his - and my - point of view.

A smooth surface pressed to his forehead, and from that point on, the memory abruptly came to a close.

I was pulled back into the real world, feeling a soft pressure on my chest. I opened my eyes and looked down to find Onyx pressing her ear to my chest.

"Uh..."

She quickly raised off of me, looking startled. "Sorry, I was just... trying to find out what's going on in that body of yours..." She bit her lip nervously. "Your... heart rate is normal. I'm still having trouble finding out what it is that's happening to you." She shuffled her hoof a bit as she gave me a coy smile. "So... what did you find in there?"

I sat up as I lifted the device from my head. "Oddly enough, this was Petiole's memory..."

She raised a brow. "Whoa... Small world, huh?"

I nodded. "Yeah..."

"What was in it?"

"He was talking to his colleague about their research before they were ambushed. It was pre war."

"Huh..." She looked on, thinking to herself for a moment.

Yeah, I was gonna have to ponder on that one a bit as well. I definitely had some questions for Petiole when I saw him again.

"I'm gonna go check on the others." I said as I rolled off the bed and stood up.

"They should probably still be at the bar."

I nodded to her, before making my way to the door. "Thanks."

It was about mid day by the time I stepped outside again. Virtue was extremely quiet. Last time I was here, everyone was running around, packing up wagons to help with supplies for the battle over in Hoofington.

I wonder how that went, come to think of it... I didn't hear anything about it for a while.

I trotted over to the office of the motel and tapped on the door that was left wide open.

"Come in!" Shadowhoof called out from within.

I stepped inside, and a smile lit up on his face.

"Hey!" He put down the book that was enveloped in his magic as he studied it for a moment. Once it was set down, he looked back up at me. "What brings you around these parts?"

I shrugged as I stopped at the counter. "Figured we could spend some time together while I'm here."

He raised a brow. "We're not gonna get drunk again, are we?"

I shook my head with a soft smile. "No. Just take a walk or something. Maybe grab a bite to eat? Play catch up?"

His smile came back as he nodded. "Sounds good to me! There's a good restaurant just down the road. Has pretty much anything you fancy, seeing as this place is a trade route." He stepped out from behind the counter and made his way to the exit. I followed close behind.

Was it wrong that deep down... way deep down inside me... I craved more ponies?

"So, hey..." I caught up to his side and walked alongside him. "Whatever happened to that whole delivery thing for Hoofington?"

He turned to me quickly with a puzzled look. "You mean, you didn't hear...?"

"Uh... no?" I smiled sheepishly.

"We won the war! Er... we were on the side that won. At least, that's how it sounds. We threw one hell of a party here the night we got the news." He locked eyes with me a moment as his cheerful tone diminished. "I was... kinda hoping you would have been around for it. That you were coming back..."

"I had my own thing going on..." I muttered as I turned away.

"Like?"

I grit my teeth as my hoof crackled with mental anguish.

Here we go...

"Hold on..." Shadow said as he raised a hoof between me and him, over the table that sat between us. There was a bowl of noodles before him; steam rising from the tasty food, judging by the smell.

As for me, I had a couple beers and a slab of brahmin steak.

I got a lot of disturbed looks from the other ponies in the vicinity, but I could have cared less. It was my treat to myself. Everyone else needed to fuck off!

Plus... I guarantee they would have preferred me eating brahmin steak to the alternative...

"You mean to tell me that you died..."

"Yes." I said as I deadpanned at him. My ears were now folded back, and a soft electrical current coursed through my hoof.

"And got trapped in a battery..."

"Yes."

"And... found out you're a unicorn." He scrunched his muzzle as he raised a brow.

Sigh... "Yes."

"And then woke back up finding out you had some strange virus that helped keep you alive?"

"... Yes."

"And then... tentacles, and-"

"Yes."

"-Getting torn apart..."

"YES." I was starting to get more frustrated with repeating myself, here...

"And this weird super chair..."

"Ugh... Yes." I grit my teeth, revealing my fangs as the surge grew stronger.

"And this cute little moth fella..." He carefully prodded a hoof at the moth on my shoulder, to which it flapped its wings at him.

He quickly backed off. "Okay, okay... No touching..." He turned back to me, studying my muzzle. "But... then these fangs..." He paused as he stared silently for a long moment. "I mean... don't get me wrong, I like it. Just... It's all so... weird."

"Yep."

Shadow looked down at his bowl of noodles, before speaking softer. "I'm sorry about what happened to Tezu and Blaze... They were really nice to me."

I took a swig of beer before nodding. "Me too..." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as guilt started to wake up again within me once more. Just another curse on my conscious that I had to bear... Time to change the topic... "So, how are things in general?"

"Hm?" He regarded me a moment, eyes wide. "Oh. Well, Fester's raiders have been launching attacks on us lately. Ever since we stopped sending shipments to Hoofington, we've been getting attacked on a frequent basis. I've been sleeping with a gun underneath my pillow now."

"Wise move."

He nodded. "Mhm!" He picked up his fork with his magic and spun it around within the bowl, gathering up some noodles before sticking it in his mouth.

"So, apparently you met a mare called Snow Star before. Correct?"

He chewed for a moment before swallowing, then thought to himself. "Snow Star... Snow Star... Wait... You mean pregnant mare? No cutiemark? White coat?"

"Yep. That's the one."

"Yeah, I remember her! Why?"

"She was my girlfriend."

"Oh!" He grinned for a moment, before sudden realization struck. "Wait... You mean... she was pregnant with...?"

I nodded. "My child."

"Damn..." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly for a moment. "Well, last I saw of her, she seemed well. That was years ago, though. She really wanted to go east. Kept talking about it. Just felt like she had to get away from where she was."

"Can't say I blame her." I replied. "I'm about to be going east to find her. Once the sun goes down, we're back on the road."

"Well..." Shadow started. "I wish you the best of luck, Charger. Seriously."

"Thanks. Celestia knows I'm gonna need it. Got a few problems trying to step on my tail as it is."

"Sounds like it, what with this Titan and..." He leaned closer and put a hoof to the corner of his mouth, as if he expected other ponies in the area to try and read his lips. "Those two other you's roaming around..."

I bit my lip nervously as I nodded. White Noise was already something I was worried about. But now the idea of me being a synth was running around in my head. Hollow claimed I wasn't, but I still had doubts... The Coarser was just icing on the cake...

"Whoa..." Shadow muttered as he leaned to the side a little, looking past me. I noticed everyone else was starting to turn their attention to the same direction. "It's one thing to hear it. It's an entirely different thing to see it..."

I turned around to see Hollow walking up to our table from the road; her eyes fixated on me alone. Her armor was still off, and that attracted more attention than I was comfortable with.

"Show's over, boys." She called out as she looked around at the ponies and griffins in the area, stopping at our table just outside the food stand. "Take your hard-ons elsewhere."

Still, they all stood there, murmuring to each other as they studied her from afar.

"Now." She said in a more strict tone. At that exact moment, her eyes started to glow red. A trick of the light, perhaps?

At once, everyone disbanded or resumed minding their own business again, all while occasionally glancing over their shoulder at the trio.

She turned to my friend and cracked a smile. "Shadowhoof. My name is Hollow." She reached a hoof out, to which he hesitantly shook it. "I've heard quite a bit about you."

"Y-you know about me?" He asked in total dumb-struck bafflement.

"It's my job to know things." She replied with that soft smirk, before taking a seat.

"What brings you around these parts?" I asked as I brought a beer to my lips. I tilted the neck and began drinking.

"I have eyes in the skies, patrolling the area around Virtue. If something is amiss, I'll know before anyone else."

"Smart thinking."

She nodded once to me, before cutting a portion of my steak into a bite sized chunk with a knife. She tossed it in her mouth and started chewing.

"How's your side feeling?"

"Like it just got ripped open by explosive buckshot." She replied simply.

"I'm sorry about that..." I murmured as my ears wilted. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt."

"Not your fault." She shrugged. "I mean, not directly anyways." She glanced at Shadow. "Does he know about it?"

"You mean Charger's Coarser?" Shadow asked quietly with a nervous look etched on his face. "Kinda wish I didn't. Synths give me nightmares."

"Eh." She shrugged and cut another piece of steak off, before tossing it in her mouth. "I've seen worse. Hard not to be scared of what you don't understand, though."

"What's up with the horn?" He asked aloud, keeping his eyes glued to it all the while.

"What do you think is up with it?" She raised a brow at him, to which he replied.

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

She shrugged a third time with a cocky smile growing on her face. "Huh. Guess we'll never know."

"Hey, Shadow..."

"Yeah?" He turned to me with a soft curl of his lips.

"Can Hollow and I have the table? I need to talk to her."

"Of course." He sat up and carefully walked away, keeping the noodles close via his magic.

"What's up?" Hollow asked as she folded her forehooves underneath her chin, using her arms to support the weight of her head.

"Why did you have memory orbs of Happy and Petiole? And the battery, for instance?"

"Ah... yes." She looked up at the sky for a moment. "I have a ton more, but I kept those ones separate from the others, because they fascinated me the most. I started making a hobby of collecting fragments of the past. Seeing what there was to see. Knowing what there was to know. Most of the ones I've collected were more for fun than anything else. Intimacies between partners and stuff like that."

A soft blush appeared on my cheeks as I averted my gaze from hers. "Oh..."

"Feel free to keep the ones you've looked through. You'll probably have more use of them than I ever will."

I started cutting through my steak again. "Thanks, Hollow."

"Don't mention it." She replied as she smiled faintly, before reaching to take another chunk from my steak.

I bapped her hoof in annoyance, but she struck my hoof twice as hard, before quickly snatching the piece of meat and tossing it into her mouth.

I sighed as I stared at her. "You can just buy your own, you know."

"You can, too... you know." Her smile widened just a little. "I got my side blown open. I earned a free steak." She folded her forehooves underneath her chin again as she gave me a pleased grin, gazing into my eyes. "I earned a free date, seeing as I risked my life to save you."

I rolled my eyes and smiled back. "Alright, you win..." I turned to the stand and waved the owner over.

After Hollow and I finished our meal, we parted ways. She was going to go back on scouting duty. I was going back to the motel.

As I began to make my way back, however, I bumped into the one and only Omegas as he turned a corner. He turned to me slowly, staring quietly for a long moment behind that emotionless full head helmet of his.

"So it's true what I've been hearing." He started in his raspy voice that sent shivers through my body. "You really are back."

I shrugged with a small smile growing on my lips as I regarded him.

"I thought I told you to leave."

I sighed and nodded. "Wasn't my intention to come back here."

"Then leave."

"We can't. Not yet."

"Why?"

"I'm still being pursued by my former chapter. We barely made it out alive." I looked around my body for a moment, before looking back up at him. "I don't know where, but apparently I have a chip inside me that they've been using to track my location."

"So you're bringing them here? We already have enough problems."

"I don't think they're focused on Virtue." I said in quick defense. "They want me. They want what I have. We'll be long gone by the time they get anywhere close to this place. We just need to wait here until night."

Omegas sent the horrifying rattle of his sigh to my ears, causing my skin to crawl. "What exactly is your plan?"

"I'm thinking by nightfall, we teleport back to where our last encounter was, then continue on hoof to the east."

"East?"

I nodded. "I'm trying to find somepony. If my plan works, it'll be putting a distance between the rangers and my team, if they're making their way here now. Nothing short of an advantage."

"Hm..." He stared silently for a moment. Seriously, what was it with ghouls in staring in cold, dead silence? It was starting to get creepy... "Alright. Fine. By nightfall, you and your team are gone."

Suddenly, at that exact moment, I felt something behind me. A presence. Something wrong...

I turned around to the southeast. There were voices... Voices I couldn't understand. Whispering, hissing, snarling... in tongues my mind couldn't translate.

I was drawn to them...

One step forward, and I felt welcomed... despite feeling a danger in that direction.

Wisps of black smoke and shadows crawled into the corners of my vision, making their way to the center.

There was nothing there. Just a building across a road of mud. Ponies walking through the marketplace. Security keeping others safe and patrolling with their rifles at the ready for anything.

There was nothing there, but... why did I feel like something was...?

"Charger." Omegas said aloud, his guttural tone snapping me back into reality. The smoke and shadows quickly retreated from whence they came, and not even a second later, my vision was back to normal.

I spun my head around over my shoulder, looking back at him as my mouth hung open a little. My right forehoof was raised off the ground, and my heart was pounding rapidly.

It came to my attention that I had crossed the road entirely, as he was on the other side, still standing where I once was.

"Y-yeah...?"

"What are you doing?"

"N..." I looked around my surroundings, but whenever I turned my head towards the southeast, the voices started whispering again. I spun my head back to him, trying to cancel them out. "Nothing. I'm just... tired."

That wasn't a lie, either. I really was tired...

As for what I was doing? I wasn't entirely sure... But I had mixed feelings about it. I didn't understand. And so I was scared. Not knowing scared me...

"I'm gonna get some shut eye before I head out. I had a rough night." I shook my head and rubbed my temple with the tip of my hoof as I kept my eyes on the ground. I could still hear the voices. But they were faint. So long as I didn't look toward the southeast, I'd be okay... Right?

... Right...?

The land was dark; the air, putrid. The earth was cracked, dried out, and torn. There was no sign of vegetation anywhere.

A strong gust of wind blew past me.

A haunted choir sang out to me in the distance; each one with it's own pitch. Yet, at the same time, they all spoke the same note.

A note where fear and agony became one.

I turned around to face the vortex. But it wasn't close this time. It was nearly touching the horizon, oddly enough. And something else was happening...

There was a pillar of white light shooting out from the ground beneath it; spreading out in all directions, the closer it was to the surface. Within that cone of light was a darkness that spread out gradually, as if trying to rip into this world and rape it.

"It is time, father."

I jumped to my left, looking to my right to see White Noise standing there, watching the show in the distance. She turned to me with a calm smile, watching me behind those static eyes.

"You know what needs to be done."

I turned back to the vortex in the distance, staring in wonder.

"What needs to be done...?"

I shot up, looking around in a panic.

I was still in the motel room. Onyx was looking at me with concern in her eyes again.

Hollow was wiping her rifle down with a cloth. My moth was on the lampshade beside me, watching me silently.

I wasn't sure where everyone else was, though.

"Good." Hollow said, keeping her eyes locked on her weapon. "You're finally awake. We should have been gone 20 minutes ago."

"Make that thirty." The raspy, guttural ghoul voice of Omegas said as he stepped in from the entrance, looking at me first.

"Yeah, yeah... Sorry... Just..." I shook my head and looked down.

"I've been trying to wake you up for a while now." Hollow stated. "Eventually, I just gave up. Any longer than an hour, and I would have just teleported us there with you over Thorne's shoulder."

I got up and shook myself, before stretching. I started to slip into my armor. "Well, I'm awake now. Let's..." I paused as I started to stare at the exit of the motel room. Past Omegas... Past the buildings... Past Virtue and across the landscapes...

"Let's..."

The voices grew louder. Whispering, hissing, growling with savage intent... And they wanted me... They were waiting...

I started to step forward, but before I could take that step into the unknown, swayed by the siren's song, a hoof rested on my shoulder, and the voices recoiled.

I looked down at my shoulder, then moved my eyes up along the light tan hoof, before meeting Onyx's concerned expression.

"You okay...?" She asked tenderly.

"Y-yeah..." I forced a chuckle and nodded. "Just need to gather my thoughts is all." I turned to Omegas, who continued to stare quietly. The voices started again, so I quickly shifted my eyes to Hollow. "Shall we?"

She nodded. "Thought you'd never ask." With that, she stood up and folded the rifle in its compartment, heading for the exit. "The others are waiting at the outskirts."

In a flash of Scope's magic and the feeling of my body being warped across the land mass, we were back at the raider camp I had... consumed.

Scope kicked a piece of charred wood away from his forehoof as he looked around. "Scorched Equus Policy?"

I nodded as I studied my surroundings. The structures were burnt and torn down. The fences were obliterated, and piles of rubble sat around where the shanty houses once were. The corpses that were left behind had been turned to red, glowing ash, and their armor and weapons were nowhere to be seen.

"Yep..."

"Guess you weren't kidding about them destroying everything..." He continued to study the scenery for a moment.

"Well, if it isn't my lil' bro..."

I spun around to see Firebright standing before me. Some of my group spun around as well, guns ready, but Hollow was calm in her movements. She didn't arm up.

"What are you doing here?" I asked aloud, keeping my eyes locked on her visor as my hoof crackled just from her presence alone.

"I figured you'd be back. Titan went to go after you while I stayed here. Guess I was right, after all."

"So, what? You're just gonna kill me now?"

She chuckled. "Only if you continue making this difficult."

"Something tells me you can't." I smirked as I stepped forward. She began backing up with each step I took. "You know as well as I that the UPC has some sort of luck charm to it. Trying to kill me would only backfire. It happened outside of Saddle on the highway, and it happened in the raider camp not long after that. So quit it with the bullfuckery and piss off, Fire. I've had it with you."

"Fire...?" Thorne tilted her head at her. "Wait..." She stepped forward. "Firebright...?"

She turned her head to Thorne. "And you are?"

A look of sorrow grew on her features as tears welled up in her eyes. "Fire... I'm... I'm your mother..."

WAIT, WHAT!?

My jaw dropped as I stared from one to the other. My rage died completely. All hostilities and aggressions were gone.

"W-what? Bullshit." Fire said. "I don't even know you. My parents are dead. Stand aside, or I'll kill you."

Thorne backed up a bit as she sighed. "It makes sense they wouldn't tell you the truth... I left when you were little."

"Shut up."

"They lied to Charger. What makes you think they didn't feed you your own set of lies?"

"S-shut up! No!" She backed up. "I'll kill you!"

"Thorne..."

She looked over at me with a sad smile on her face.

"A-are you...?" For a moment, I began to approach her.

Was she my mother...?

She shook her head. "It's... complicated..." She turned back to Fire quickly. "I gave birth to you. I took care of you when I was able..."

"You... You shut the fuck up!"

"I wanted to take you with me, but I didn't get the chance... They were threatening to kill me, and I didn't have a shot at getting to you..."

Fire stared in dead silence from a distance.

"I'm sorry... I had to leave..."

She stood there for a long while, before her helmet hissed air through the ventilation, and she slipped her head out from it. She dropped the helmet before her, glaring down at the piece of armor. Her black mane curtained over one eye as her purple eyes darted at her and I. The flamer at her side shut down.

"Fire..." Thorne stepped forward. My sister held her ground. "You've been living a lie, too... It's time to wake up..."

"I'd rather see her dead..." I said as my anger began to boil once again. "She raped me. She sent Snow Star out here on her own while she was pregnant. She kept things from me. Like the fucking microchip they've been using to track me..." My hoof burst with hot red energy as I grit my teeth, glaring at her. I pounded my hoof against my skull. "And the fucking unicorn horn!"

Fire glared back at me. "Well, maybe your horn-head of a mom shouldn't have been fucking around like the slut-bag she was!"

"FUCK. YOU!" Blinded now by pure, unadulterated rage, I charged forward. The boiling water had spilled over, and now someone was getting burnt.

Just as I lunged for her, the flamer was back online, and the minigun barrel began to spin to life.

With a raised hoof, I descended atop her, ready to strike. Just as I was about to make an impact, several rounds from her minigun tore through my right forehoof. Her flamer sent a torrent of fire up at me, but her aim was off, as she didn't have enough time for an accurate shot.

Black oil and shadows spilled from my hoof as I collapsed atop her, striking my target. I felt something from my hoof slide along her cheek.

We both fell to the ground, and as I began to recover, I noticed four sets of tendrils had slid out from my wounds. But they weren't acting as tendrils, but instead, claws...

... And I was able to control them...

I looked down at them for a moment as Fire got back up on her hooves, glaring at me with murderous intent. A deep cut had formed on her cheek, and blood spilled out, trickling down her face and staining her coat.

"Both of you, stop!" Thorne shouted.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" I screamed, snapping a look at her. "SHE'S HAD THIS COMING FOR A LONG WHILE NOW!" I tested my new claws with a clench.

The longer I stared at Fire, the more the voices started to grow louder. The whispers were becoming deafening. I wanted to stop everything I was doing and meet the voices... Be with them...

I shook my head as I groaned. "Fuck, get out! Get out of my fucking head!" I covered my head with the hoof that bore the claws.

The voices of my friends and my sister were drowned out and muffled. The voices of the unknown were taking hold.

I looked back up at Firebright as she kept her guns on me, scowling. She was saying something, but I couldn't understand.

Thorne got between us, saying something aloud. But I couldn't hear her...

I turned away, to which the voices started to fade.

I kept my eyes on the burning wreckage of the former camp for a moment, before I closed my eyes, trying to find my inner peace. It was so far away...

"I'm leaving..." I finally said, giving my all to ignore the hate in my heart. "You know the truth now, Fire. What you do with that truth is up to you."

There was a long moment of silence among the group, before she finally responded. "Fuck off... All of you..."

"Let's go..." I said under my breath as I started east. I didn't want to see her anymore. I didn't want her around me. After everything she did to me, I wanted to destroy her. Swallowing the need for revenge was taking its toll on me...

I needed a drink...

As my team followed, through all the faint whispers and snarls of the demons in my head, I heard Fire say something to herself. Whether it was to be heard by others, or just herself, I wasn't sure.

"What the fuck do I do now...?"

Our trek throughout the night was made in silence, for the majority. None of us really had anything to say, so we kept to ourselves.

Every so often, the wasteland would throw something at us. A bloatsprite, radhog, radroach... Anything of that nature.

Though, at one point, we had stumbled upon a feral ghoul roaming around. Hollow took care of that.

By dawn's early light, we were coming across a small town that looked as if it hadn't seen any real company for years. Then again, I've been fooled before. I still kept my guard up.

My insides growled with the desire for nourishment the entire way, but I wasn't going to consume anyone... Not now. Because of my choice, the claws remained a part of my hoof.

I could feel through them, as if they had always been a part of me. I had sensation to touch with this new addition. I didn't understand why I was able to control these ones specifically, though. Just another unanswered question...

On the bright side, I wasn't killing any of my friends for consumption.

Still though, many of them kept their distance from me. The only one that dared to get close was Hollow.

The voices were being held back, so long as I didn't look in the general area around the west. The voices were leading to something. Something stationary. That much, I gathered. But I wasn't gonna try and find out.

As the team continued on towards the town, I stopped for a moment to pull out the compass. Maybe I couldn't find Snow Star this way, but I was at least able to find out if Titan was close or not. I imagined he was already on his way here.

The needle pointed west exactly. It wasn't moving, but I was sure he was after me.

I looked back up at the group. "We shouldn't rest."

The lot of them looked back at me, clearly annoyed with that statement. They were exhausted. So was I, but we had the advantage. I wanted to keep that for as long as I could. Titan was going to gain on us, no matter what. He was larger, so the distance would be shorter for him.

"Charger is right." Hollow stated as she regarded me coolly, before turning to the others. "Resting right now is a bad idea." She turned to the town as I approached her; narrowing her eyes as she seemed to visually scan the area. Shortly after, did she point a hoof at the abandoned set of buildings and pre war businesses. "There's a wagon over there. It looks to be in moderate shape. We get that up and moving, and we can take turns pulling it." She turned to me with a half smile. "You and me. Sound good?"

I nodded. "Of course."

"I'll scan the perimeter." Onyx said as she spread her wings. With that, she lifted herself off the ground and left the group, circling the outskirts of the town.

As we approached, I walked alongside Hollow. "Is it safe in there?"

"There's a few ferals, but nothing we can't handle. Considering what we went through..." She cracked a smile and nudged my flank with her own. "We'll be okay. Just keep your guard up. All of you."

I nodded before checking the mag in my gun. Full. Good.

I slapped it back in and cocked the rifle, bringing it in front of me and keeping my mouth on the bit.

"Could use an outlet anyways..." I muttered.

I looked over at Thorne shortly after, now that my mind was back on Firebright. "Sooo..."

"Sorry, Charger..." She said quietly, keeping her eyes down. "I guess now's as good a time as any to say that I've kinda been... keeping things from you."

"Yeah, that's starting to become a theme here." I deadpanned, taking my mouth off the bit.

"I have a good reason, though... And when I'm ready, I'll explain it to you... But for now..." She sighed and looked away. "Can we just... put it behind us?"

I shrugged in response, then looked ahead once more. "Sure."

"I'm sorry, Charger..."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Sure you are..."

Inner peace... Inner peace...

"Can you at least tell me who my dad is?"

She bit her lip nervously when I looked back at her, before shaking her head. "No. Someday, maybe. But right now...? No. I mean, fuck... I don't even really know who your biological dad is. It's a bit more... complicated..."

I rolled my eyes at her response. Typical...

Upon entering the town, I noticed a lot of the buildings had suffered through explosions or fire. Windows were either shattered or stained with blood. It wasn't red anymore...

Some of the buildings looked as if they had been boarded up or barricaded with furniture, but whatever had attacked here managed to break through anyways.

There were a few bodies lying ahead. Patches of hide were missing, large chunks of mane had fallen out... Wrinkled, grotesque hides... I knew that look.

I turned to my party and put a hoof to my lips. They nodded silently to me, and together, we warily moved through the dead street, further into the town.

Onyx was in the distance, gliding through the sky like a vulture circling its prey.

The ground was littered with spent shell casings and depleted energy cells, so each step had to be made carefully, as to not kick one by accident and have it clatter along the cracked asphalt.

With great caution, I stepped up to one of the ferals, looked at my group as they positioned themselves over the other two, then aimed my rifle down at the corpse's head, before biting down on the bit.

It screeched for a very brief moment, as its rotted brain spilled from its dome, and before the other two could react, they too, were put down.

"Guess that takes care of..." I paused as I looked at Hollow. My E.F.S. was displaying a lot of reds...

A series of rampant hoofsteps began their approach as the reds began to appear all around us, boxing us in.

Snarls and growls grew in volume...

I turned my attention to Hollow directly as she looked as concerned as the rest of the party. "I thought you said there were only a few!"

"I..." She stopped as she spun around in circles, then looked back at me. "Something must be wrong with my augments..."

My group aimed their weapons around frantically as the sounds trapped us. Before I knew it, Onyx was by my side.

"We gotta get out of here." She blurted. "You have an entire town on you!"

I spun around quickly, trying to find the best way out of this mess. Time was running out.

My eyes laid upon a pawn shop across the street from where we were. I couldn't tell if there were ferals in the building or around it, but it seemed like the safest option, compared to everything else; which consisted of diners, destroyed houses, or general good stores.

"This way!" I shouted as I charged for the pawn shop. Without question, my team followed.

As we ran for the entrance, I saw ferals stumbling into view around the corners of the buildings around us. By the dozens...

I stopped beside the double doors, spun around and opened fire at the closest ones while my friends ran in.

A stream of lead peppered through their hides and chewed into them as they closed in. A few had dropped far before they could get to any of us.

"Charger, get in here!" Onyx called out from inside. I took a quick glance to my surroundings to find I was completely closed off from running anywhere else.

With haste, I stepped inside, spun around, closed the door for whatever good that did, and brought the metal fencing down over the windows and exit. I didn't have a key to lock it to the ground, but it wasn't like the ferals were gonna lift it back up. They were dangerous, but they weren't intelligent.

I backed away as they slammed against the door and broken windows, trying to get in.

Scope kept his rifle on the entrance as a precaution, but he seemed rather calm about what was happening.

"Quick thinking." Thorne said as she regarded me. She turned to Onyx soon after. "My battery went out. Replace it?"

She nodded, before digging into her saddle bags for a new core.

"Now we just need to figure out how to get out of here..." Thorne muttered under her breath.

"There's a rooftop access to this place." Onyx replied.

"Good. Worst case scenario, we can drop back down on the street on the other end of the building."

Onyx slid the depleted core out from her back, before inserting a new one. At once, Thorne backed away from the ferals on the other side of the metal fencing.

"That's not gonna hold forever." Scope said as he kept his gun locked on them.

I nodded. "Let's get to the roof."

"From what I saw, it should be in the back." Onyx filled in, catching up to my side. It was a surprise to see her sticking close to me, considering she had concerns prior to all this.

As we made our way past the checkout, I spotted a few boxes of shotgun shells, rifle and pistol ammo. I quickly snagged those and continued on my way.

Behind the counter was a separate room that had been broken into. A while back, presumably.

Metal bars sealed the room off from the rest of the shop where windows would have been, though that didn't seem to really stop anyone. The metal door had been blown off its hinges, suggesting brute force had been applied.

I saw gun racks within, all of which had been emptied. There was nothing of value there.

Upon entering the room, I caught sight of a door on the far end, with a sign that read 'ROOF ACCESS.'

Perfect.

I kicked the door open, aiming my rifle up the stairwell to find it was empty.

Hastily, I backed away and turned to my friends.

"Alright, everyone get up!" I kept my gun aimed towards the open doorway that led to the rest of the store.

One by one, in a single file line, they ran up.

I could hear the ferals pushing against the metal fencing I had rolled down. It rattled violently as they fought to get in.

Once my teams had all gotten inside, I backed up into the stairwell, closing the door behind me. From there, I spun around and ran up after them.

I was not going to let this be another apartment heist... I couldn't...

Upon getting to the roof, I slammed the metal door shut.

It became evident that the entire town was now awake. Ghouls roamed the streets. There weren't as many as there were back in Portlandia, but there was definitely enough for it to be a problem.

The voices grew louder as I instinctively turned to look at my entire surroundings. I quickly recoiled against the door from that, before they grabbed me again, in attempts to pull me closer to them.

"Scope..." I murmured under my breath, feeling less control over myself. "S-Scope!" I shook my head, keeping my head away from him, as he was in the same direction as the voices.

"Yeah, what?"

"How many can you teleport without getting burnt out?"

"A few, myself included."

"Hollow, where's the wagon at?"

She scanned the area for a bit, before turning back to me. "Just a few blocks away."

"Alright. Scope, you take Hollow and Thorne over to the wagon and get it prepped. Onyx and I will focus the ghouls elsewhere."

"What? Why me?" She asked in protest.

"Because you're a pegasus and I haven't seen one feral pegasi here. So you're safe. And I can't die from these. It's out of harm's way for the others."

She thought for a moment, before nodding. "Alright, good point."

Scope turned to Thorne and Hollow, before the three of them vanished. A moment later, I caught a glimpse of them appear about a block over, atop one of the other buildings. He turned to me and gave a brief salute, before the lot of them proceeded downstairs.

"Can you lift me up?" I asked, glancing at Onyx for a moment, before averting my attention from her direction. Why did everyone have to be on my right...? Damn voices...

"L-lift you?" She balked. "That was more Thunder's thing. I don't exercise!"

"Alright, alright. Fine." I shook my head in frustration. My hoof showed that, and she backed up a few steps.

"Sorry..." I muttered. "Okay, just fly to the front of the building, get their attention. I'll go around and gather any strays."

"On it." She smirked. "Be safe, Charger."

"You too, Onyx..." I replied, before jumping down to the streets below.

My moth flew ahead of me, making its way towards some of the ferals that moved in. I watched as it struck the chest of one of them, and in a moment, disappeared into a bloody hole it had made.

A few seconds after, it had dropped to the ground, motionless. It's eye burst open, to which the moth flew out, heading for another victim to its cause.

I checked the surrounding area to see a lot of the ferals were focused on my presence. I looked down at my claws as I clenched it, testing my control again. Everything seemed to be working...

I looked back up at the ferals that closed in from the west. Running after me now.

The voices grew louder, but I did what I could to shut them out. Fight them as I was about to fight the ferals before me.

Here we go...

I charged for them as my hoof began to crackle more noticeably.

I made quick peeks to what was ahead of me, before looking either to the side or to the ground, so that the voices would stay silenced.

Just as the first one was about to make it's lunge, I leapt for it, holding my claws overhead as I came down on the monster.

In one slash, the feral's face was split in two; brain, chipped skull, and bits of eye and tongue spilling out from the gash. I proceeded for the next ghoul before I could watch my first victim fall to the ground.

As I side swiped into my next target's head, one moved in on my right, trying to gnaw on my shoulder. Another moved in on my left in a broken canter.

Had it not been for the barding, I would have had a chunk of flesh missing, and a ton of tentacles to follow.

I hastily grabbed the next one by the throat, digging my claws into the rotten meat. I lifted it off the ground as it thrashed around, waving its hooves in attempt to getting at me.

I threw it to the side towards the one that was closing in on me at an alarming rate, causing it to fall on its side.

As the two of them began getting back up, I peppered them both with a storm of hot lead, before charging forward again. The group on my six was closing in, and the moth could only take one on at a time.

As I ran forward, I started clearing a path ahead; doing my best to take shots to the heads of my targets. Considering I was on the run while I fired, many of them were misses.

In my frustration, I entered my SATs and watched as the world around me moved at a snail's pace.

My percentages for headshots were still rather slim, but I had better chances hitting their legs. The chances I had however, weren't where I wanted them to be, but the latter was better than the former.

I aimed for the ghoul to my left, striking its left forehoof a few times.

It began to trip over its own canter, to which I quickly diverted my attention to the one closest to my right, ahead of me. It was just about to close my exit off.

I aimed down the sight as I repeatedly put shots into the ground around it. A couple of those shots had hit their target, but it wasn't enough to take it down.

My SATs were spent, and the world began to speed up again.

As I ran for the feral ahead of me, it lunged for the kill.

I jumped to my left, to which it stumbled and rolled along the ground behind me. As it started to get back up, I pounded my rear hoof against its back, sending an electrical blast to course through its body as the sound of thunder rolled across the land. It's hide caught fire as it writhed around, burning to a crisp.

That's for wasting my ammo!

With that, I proceeded for the west, making sure the growing number of ferals chased after me.

With a swing of my chair, a feral dropped before me in pieces; forehooves and head separated from the body.

Before I could turn to divert my attention to the next, teeth sank into my bare neck. Crying out, I tried pulling away. But they sank in deeper, before tearing away at a nice big chunk of flesh.

Wrath and agony coursed through me like a flood as I felt my insides begin to move around. Three tendrils shot out from my neck, latching onto the feral's head and pulling it in as it fought with me. Not to pull away, but to get more out of me.

I didn't have control of these ones, however. They worked on their own agenda, as they had always done before.

Hastily, I dropped the chair and dug my claws into its neck, severing it from the rest of its body. I didn't want to fully heal yet. These claws were doing me a huge service.

Not to mention I didn't like the way ferals tasted one bit... Blegh...

As the head morphed in with my wound and melted beneath the skin, the flesh restored, and the wound sealed away as if it had never existed.

I threw the rest of the body off the roof of the building I stood upon, down at the horde of ferals that snarled up at me, trying to get up.

I glared down at them for a moment, before grabbing my chair again.

Hoofsteps ran up the stairwell. A lot, by the sound of it. They must have broken through the limited defenses I was able to put up, before running up here.

I sure wished I had some MCF cells...

I kept my gun aimed at the busted doorframe, ready for the first one to poke its head out.

By twos, they ran out, heading straight for me.

I opened fire, letting out a constant stream of lead. I wasn't concerned about ammo conservation at this moment. Just so long as it did the trick.

Many of them had been dropping at short notice, but even then, it wasn't enough. There were too many coming up, and I was just one pony. Er... kinda.

My gun clicked on empty, and with frustration building up and lack of time to slam another magazine in, I put the rifle to my side and charged forward with two of the chair's legs dragging along beside me. Sparks flew behind it as I ran for the expanding group, and with the first one in reach, I swung it around, leaving two deep gashes along its neck, and severing its fores entirely.

The next one was to my left. My first swing ended with the four spiked legs lodging through its chest.

In a desperate attempt to eat me, it continued to push forward, allowing the blades to travel further through its body.

With very little time on my hooves, I swung the chair away in a spin to my right, before coming back around in a twirl and slicing its head open, along with two others that had the misfortune to get too close.

Petiole was onto something here! Killing ferals was awesome!

I caught a glimpse of one of the ferals dropping in the background, before it's eye burst open. The moth flew out, only to burrow into another target and repeat the process.

With too many on the roof now, I swapped the chair to my left hoof, giving me access to the claws on my right again.

I stabbed them through the eyes of a feral on my right that dared to close in, while stabbing the chair's legs into another, keeping them at bay.

I felt my fingers trace along their brain, before grabbing a hold of it and ripping it through their skull. As they dropped, I tossed it to the side and swung my chair around, throwing the one that had been stabbed by the legs off the roof and back down to the streets.

It was awkward standing on my rear legs like this for so long, and I had to catch myself from falling quite a bit, but damn, was I having a blast!

Grabbing a hold of the chair with both my hoof and claws, I swung the blades around in another spin, splitting four apart across their chest. A fifth moved in as the four fell, to which I gave the mental command for my chair to position the legs to where the tips of the blades all met.

I drove it through, impaling my next target through the neck. As it appeared on the other side, I gave a new order.

At once, the legs spread apart wide, completely extirpating the undead entity as its neck became nothing more than mutilated strips of meat, hanging on the bottom of a decapitated head like old, worn linens.

As more came for me, I slammed the rear legs of the chair against the ground while holding my claw out to the side, ready to dig in. A bloodlust filled my heart as I revealed my fangs to them in a murderous grin. My hoof crackled violently; but it was more than welcoming to me.

Just as my next victim came forth, I swung my chair around, ready to take another... Life? Unlife?

I was right there, ready to add another point to my kill count.

... And then my body warped.

I appeared in the center of a four-way intersection, falling on my ass, looking up at the sky.

I quickly recovered on four hooves, looking at my group as they looked back at me.

"What were you doing?" Scope asked with a raised brow.

"Having fun, before you ruined it for me." I replied in a cold tone as my hoof flared a bit.

He rolled his eyes, before turning to Hollow.

Thorne's armor was left open, and I just noticed she was underneath a wagon that seemed to be in moderate shape.

"I saw you in action." Hollow stated, nodding to me. "You were good. But you need to work on your balance. Perhaps when we're not running for our lives, we can practice some Achu and Roamani fighting techniques." She looked down at my claws for a moment, before meeting my eyes again; this time with a smile. "You seem to have some Human techniques already going well for you. With extra steps, no less."

"Human...?" I tilted my head to the side, raising a brow. "What's that?"

She shrugged with that same smile. "Beats me."

Where did I hear that word before...? Human... I swear, I've heard it before...

Human... Huuuuman... Hooooooman...

Wait...

My first visit in the battery, when Tuner had a drink in his apartment!

I still didn't know what a Human was, though.

"Hey... do... do any of you feel that...?" Thorne asked as she stayed beneath the wagon, frozen in place.

Hollow looked down for a moment. In that time, I began to feel something tremble beneath the surface of the asphalt. Something was moving...

She raised up on her rears, getting into a stance. I brought my chair to attention, and Scope levitated his rifle. Onyx readied her battle saddle.

Thorne was just about to crawl out from underneath the wagon, but Hollow put a rear hoof down on her navel.

"Gonna need you to stay down there and fix it up. Stat."

"U-uh, oka-"

Asphalt burst up between the lot of us in a cloud, as if an artillery shell just struck.

As we all recovered back on our hooves, save for Thorne, we took notice in the source of what may have caused this whole place to go feral...

A radscorpion twice the size of the wagon crawled out from the ground.

A glowing radscorpion...

Its green haze shined around it, and my pipbuck clicked aggressively just from the proximity alone.

Scope's rifle fired first, before I heard Onyx's lasers. She flew up overhead, before dive bombing, unleashing a barrage of red death against its armored body.

As it charged for the wagon, Hollow ran on all fours, before leaping onto its stinger and swinging around it in an almost exotic movement; like a dance.

It diverted its attention to her in trying to swing her off of its stinger.

I reached into my saddle bags for a new magazine while I still had time to do so, but I caught a hold of something else instead...

I had completely forgotten about these...

I pulled out two lemons from my saddle bags. The very last ones...

Hollow beat against the top of the stinger with her forehooves continuously as she grit her teeth, glaring down at the beast. Her eyes were glowing red. It wasn't a trick of the light...

Scope put in shots to its eyes from a distance, while Onyx made fly-bys.

The green glow around its form began to glow brighter as it stood there, paying no mind to the barrage it was receiving.

I began to feel sicker as my pipbuck screamed at me in levels I'd never heard before. Not even from the glowing feral back in the apartment heist!

I collapsed on my stomach as black dripped from my lips. Despite my pain and discomfort, I was more concerned for my friends...

Hollow slid down the tail, before falling at its rear, gasping, panting, and then retching.

Onyx flew head first into the side of a building, before crashing to the ground, and Scope was in the same situation as I. Only his blood was normal.

A wave of green energy washed over the entire vicinity, before disappearing.

I was already in a critical state of radiation poisoning, according to my pipbuck. Which meant they all were, too...

My friends were dying...

They were all out here because of me...

I had to do something...

As it began to turn towards Hollow and finish her off, I shoved all that pain behind me... I had to...

I forced myself up. No matter how bad I wanted to lie there and not move, I couldn't allow it.

My legs were weak. They trembled underneath my weight as I lifted myself up off the ground.

My claws wrapped around one of the lemons before I raised my arm and threw with all the strength I could muster.

Upon contact, a burst of acid washed over the top right half of the creature, eating away at the reinforced exo skeleton on its legs and body.

It recoiled a bit, before turning to me. From there, it began to make its way for new prey.

"Bring it!" I shouted as black dripped from my lips, nostrils, eyes, and ears. I tightened my grip around the last lemon I had at my disposal and chucked it.

It struck it right in the center of its eyes...

And that was it.

It didn't go off.

There was no explosion of lethal citrus...

Oh, you've gotta be fucking kidding me...

THAT WAS A NORMAL LEMON!?

It continued to make its way forward, ready to split me apart.

Just as one of its pincers were ready to snip me along the middle, there was one more shot.

A single bullet tore through all four of its right legs, causing it to land on bleeding stumps as it hissed at me. Its pincers worked tirelessly while its stinger stabbed at the ground repeatedly, trying to get to me. I ran around its mass, tripping over my hooves a bit as I made my way over to my friends.

Scope was smiling faintly at me from afar as his rifle collapsed.

I went to the closest first.

Hollow was still breathing, but not by much.

I reached into my bags and pulled out a pouch, before shoving the contents down her throat. She gagged and coughed a bit of it up, but swallowed what she could, all the same.

"Take care of the others!" I shouted as I gave her the rest of my stock. From there, I ran back to the front of the radscorpion. As it tried to snip at me again, I ducked underneath its arm and stopped at its eyes, looking deep into them.

I caught sight of the stinger coming down on me, causing me to jump back.

Me geigercounter was saying I was well past my limits. I felt like total shit, but I was still breathing. If I was normal on the inside, I would have been dead for sure. I guess radiation sickness didn't have a lethal effect on me. Just made me physically feel like crap.

I grabbed a hold of the chair to my left and came back to its eyes, staring deep into them with sadistic intent.

The stinger came back down, but I deflected it with the chair, keeping it up so that it couldn't hit me.

My claws grabbed a hold of its stinger as I inched closer, lowering the chair. I squeezed it with all the strength I had left. I wanted it to hurt.

I didn't care anymore that my pipbuck was clicking from the exposure. I was getting my message across.

"Don't. Hurt. My. Friends."

With that, I slammed the chair against its eyes. Over and over again, I slashed at its eyes, screaming in anger with every swing I took. I was exerted. Fatigued. I was putting in an excessive amount of effort just to do this. But I was going to make an example out of the scorpion as to why it wasn't wise to fuck with me or my friends...

I was going to let it live. Death was merciful.

But it wasn't going to walk again. It wasn't going to hurt anyone else again. It wasn't going to see again.

I was going to be its demon, embedded in its mind until it finally met its end...

It fucked with the wrong pony.

I made sure the last thing it was ever going to see was me...

Author's Notes:

Phew. Finally got this one done. Originally, this chapter was going to be a lot longer. Decided against that. That was part 2 of a 3 part chapter series (hopefully).
Special thanks to Kkat for FoE, Somber for PH, and all the others to add to this wonderful collective universe that is Fallout Equestria. Also special thanks to Dravakiirm for helping me with Scope's dialogue, and input on certain parts of the story. Special thanks to Nylten for being my awesome artist, and all of you for reading through this story that has become one of my favorite pieces to work on. You're all wonderful. Thank you.

Another thing.
Everfree Northwest didn't happen this year, due to Covid and all the chaos happening up in Seattle, but my badge is still valid for next year, so if things calm down by then, I'll most likely be there, eager to meet any of you. I hope to see you there!

My Discord server is still up, so feel free to check that out. I'd love to get to meet more of my fans. It's relatively quiet, but conversations often spark into something pleasant there. It's a friendly place, and over time, the populace grows.
https://discord.gg/783mVdd