Hey, name's Windstriker. I'm a stable dweller, not THE Stable Dweller mind you, but a stable dweller none the less and that means I have a duty. A duty to every helpless citizen, distraught merchant and lady in distress. Yep, I am a wasteland heroine. I am the coolest heroine since Rainbow Dash and the most badass gal in the whole northwest. Quite a sweet talker too if I am not being humble. Stylish mane, white coat and striped wings. I grew up in Zony Town (or The Institute as some call it), a place founded by the inhabitants of stable 33 after it opened. Now, all of the stables had a goal besides just saving lives, our stable was about different races and ethnicities working together. As a result nearly everyone in the tribe is at least a quarter zebra and hence the name Zony Town (a zony is a pony/zebra crossbred by the way). The equestrian wasteland may be harsh but we managed it. We were thrifty and clever, making the most out of the research institute that was situated right outside the stable door. The tribe's reliance on fancy tech makes them value intellect and discipline higher, so as a result I am considered something of a failure. See, I am more of a doer than a thinker if you get what I mean? Fortunately my childhood friend Amber prefers to do the thinking over the talking so we make a decent team. He is an orange pony, with a crimson tint. A bit short yet kind of cute for a stallion (don't call him cute though, he hates that). Not to mention he got a pretty unique crystal sheen, a side effect of our ancestry I suppose. He used to be bullied for that, until I beat up all 7 zonies that were teasing him (at once I might add). We decided to go on our quest after hearing the braveries by the Stable Dweller down in the southlands. And as of now I stand against my greatest foe yet.

"A BIT FOR A TWOTWOTHREER?? Are you out of your blasted mind?!" I shouted at the dastardly villain before me.

"I assure you that my mental faculties are in perfect order, miss. Regardless of any explosive experiences."

The grey buck answered with a downright offensive calm

"But but... That is TEN CAPS for a round, I can get a regular fivefivesixer for a fifth of that. And the sign clearly says five caps per round, not TEN?!"

"Ayup, but the Black Hoof 223 round is a special one. Can take out a minotaur in a single shot if you know what you are doing. It outpowers the old 556er by a fair bit."

Huh, sounds familiar. Yeah, the black rounds. Extra powder for extra kick. I'll concede that point.

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain the doubling of the price?" I pointed with my whole frontleg at the sign. "FIVE caps, ONE round."

"Oh, that is the stripe tax and the black market inflation." He said with a grin on his face.

"The WHAT and the WHAT now?? You just made those up right now in order to piss me off, didn't you?"

Now my hoof was pointing straight at his face.

"The stripe tax. According to the 73^rd notation in the tax code, by the royal graces of princess Luna all goods sold to zebras are to be taxed at an 15%. In case you are doubting me I do have a copy of the tax code right here."

And now he pulled up the thickest book I ever seen. I coughed as the dust in the room decided to fly in my face when it fell on the counter with a loud THUMP. My eyes narrowed, Now it is personal! Unfazed he countinued his explanation. "And since it is technically illegal to sell munitions to a zebra I am risking a royal inquiry and thus the hefty price hike as per tradition when running black market operations."

"ROYAL INQUIRY?? Equestria has not had a functional government for 200 years, who by the stars is supposed to 'inquire' about it? And in case you haven't noticed, WINGS!!"

I was ready to jump over the counter and kick his cheerful face in. Clearly an evil mastermind at work! Look, feigned offense. How unexpected!

"Now, THAT is clearly your stripes talking. The princesses are always watching and I am taking a great risk just selling them to you. And please keep the zebra occultism out of this discussion."

That does it! Face, meet hooves! Right when I was about to lift from the ground I felt something tug me back down and slowly out from the store. Behind me I heard a muffled "We'r leavng!" from Amber. As I sat with my butt in the mud outside and felt the soft drizzle I could have sworn that steam was rising from me. I stared maliciously at the sign above the doors "Black Hoof Arms" and tried to ignore all the ponies giving me amused looks from the walkways. Amber looked at me with his usual scolding face that meant 'no fighting' and I wondered how I was supposed to get anything done if everypony was as rude as this horrid buck. Rising up I shouted into the air.

"This place is a hive of scum and villainy, you hear me?! SCUM AND VILLAINY!!"

Moping in the saloon I listened to every word from Amber, even though I would rather ignore the discussion. He suggested working as a caravan guard to fill the stomach and bags until we figured out something better to do. Boring! Why is there no princess kidnapped by a dragon or something? Oh, there's Cider! Huh, could actually use a drink.

"Hey, cider! I could use something to drink."

The pale green unicorn walked over, her flowing brown hair had some streaks of grey in it yet it only seemed to add to her elegance. In her dress she really looked like a southern madonna. At least according to the books I grew up with.

"What can I get the two of you then?"

Oh crap, what does wasteland heroines drink. Quick, what's on the sign? Whiskey, spirits, ciders, dry, sweet. What does that mean? Amber decided to order in the meantime.

"Just water for me please." Oh crap, time to decide! "Uhhh... cider I think?"

Darn, I think I blew it. Yep, she does not look impressed.

"Dry or sweet?"

she asked with a face of slight amusement.

"Either way is fine!"

Crap, too rushed sentence. She chuckled and stated plainly.

"Definitely sweet then, it'll be 4 caps. 1 for the water and 3 for the cider."

I squinted at her and 'inquired'.

"No stripe tax?"

She let out the possibly the most beautiful laugh I have heard, pure and yet tinted with a sense of pained memories. This pony has been through a thing or two.

"No stripe tax, honest. Everyone is welcome at the saloon, as long as they behave themselves that is."

She winked at me, she seriously winked at me! Oh crap I am blushing ain't I? I was positvely dumbstruck and may have stared as she turned away and went to fill the glasses.

"Windstriker."

Huh?

"Windstriker! Are you listening to me?"

"Bwhu haaah?"

I managed to blurt out, probably the low point in my social career. Next moment I had Amber's face in front of me and a pair of hooves holding my head.

"Oh hi Amber, what did you want?"

An exaggerated sigh later.

"I was browsing through the notes on the billboard. Lots of bounty hunting jobs, some scavenging jobs and plenty of caravans asking for guards. The bounties means the most caps but seem to be meant for a group of hardcore veterans, not to mention some seem a bit dubious. I found two from separate people wanting each other's heads. Like LITERAL HEADS."

Oh look, drinks. And elegant mare. No, focus on discussion!

"So no bounties then? What about the rest? I am no good at scavenging. Unless it is a gun store... possibly guarded by an evil grey buck?" Now I was slightly pissed again, but the drink was nice. This is alcohol? It's tasty but where is the supposed kick to the head?

"No, silly. Scavenging means digging through abandoned buildings for stuff worth repairing or selling. Tech, gems, bits, guns, medicine and such things. It is nearly always in the wilderness and potentially dangerous if you don't know where you are going. There are gangs and monsters everywhere."

Eh, how tough can they be?

"So I think we should just do a caravan job for now, could be helpful familiarizing ourselves with the various places and talk to the more experienced travelers. Might learn a thing or two, maybe figure out something to do."

Staring at my empty glass in frustration for a moment I then answered

"Ok, sounds boring but you're probably right. Where are we going?"

"Hm... there is one caravan leaving in the morning, it pass through a ranger outpost towards Fort Goldstar and then continues towards Roadfort and eventually Las Pegasus. Does that sound reasonable? I am a bit curious about the ranger's I'll admit."

I was practically flying, no wait. I am probably actually flying with joy. "We are going to see the PRINCESS?!" Wait, why is everyone looking at me like that?

"Windstriker, you are making a scene again. Come back down to the floor and stop shouting." I sheepishly descended back to floor level. "First off, you know that she is not really a princess right? She is just a regular unicorn. Second, there is no garantue that we actually meet her. "

My hoof went straight out towards his face and I exclaimed "You don't know that! She might be an alicorn. You have never met her."

"She has no wings" the tiny orange stallion stated flatly.

"It might be a disguise. She could have used magic."

He looked sorely unimpressed at that point. "Magic does not work that way. And before you point out my lack of a horn I want to remind you that I am certified arcane engineer that actually finished my apprenticeship."

Darn, he got me completely cornered.

Trying to divert the subject I retraced our discussion

"So... a caravan then? Which one?"

"The Farstrider Caravans huh?"

I asked the scarred, old and brown buck in a strawhat.

"Ayep, seemed fitting since we try to cross equestria as a whole. Have talked with some others regarding setting up a tradepost down southeast. With all the ruckus down there we might actually get away with it."

"You mean the Stable Dweller?"

"Oh yes. We have had a lot of heroes through the years but I got a good feeling about this one."

"She's my rolemodel!"

I burst out grinning side to side, and got a laughter out of it. Ok, that was a good smile. No social blunder this time.

"Hahaha... Good choice miss, you could do worse these days. A lot worse..." He suddenly looked sombre for a moment and then looked up again. "Hey, does that thing play radio?"

"Huh? The pipbuck? Sure, just let me..."

Red lights, loads of them. I heard my heartrate quicken and turned my focus towards the signals. Dead ahead.

"Bad guys, many of them right in front of us!"

Colour drained from his face then he realigned his hat and ordered "CODE RUBY." and everypony sprung into action, drawing weapons and trying to find cover. Time to do what I do best, flex my wings. Moments later I was in the air and no one is shooting me, time to get a good look at these bandits.

One circling later I counted 5,7, a dozen, some more... A score or two dozen, light armour, rifles and pistols. Hunkering behind rocks and within the tall grass. And there is the caravan, hiding behind rocks of their own, the wagons and some in a ditch. And there is Amber! Wait, why is nobody shooting? "Let's find the leader and scare them out of their shoes." I said to myself and began another circle. Shinier armour, angry at the ponies around her, big gun. Yep, that is the one.

BABLAM

Shit, a miss. Wait, a hit but in the wrong pony. AND I CAN'T SLOW DOWN, what the hell.

"LET'S DO THIS!!"

And I crashed into the leaderpony with a loud tumble and ended up next to her. Shaking my head out of the dizzyness I realised that she looked quite badass. Black leather and steel armour complete with spikes and a remarkably sexy sidecut. The mare rose up and I realised that we were having a suitably epic duel on top of a large rock fully in view of everyone.

She spat blood and muttered.

"Fucking stripe... That's it. KILL EVERYPONY!!"

And then the shooting started. Uneven and hestitating. Yes, this is decided up here, WAIT WHERE DID THAT KNIFE COME FROM? I jumped to the right as she lunged, and yep she is pissed. Then she stole my breath as she swirled and gave a good buck into my chest. Hooves not feeling anything, wings, wings WINGS. And I was in the air again, let's give her a second shot (literary).

Caclick

BLABLAM,

My jaw dropped.

"YOU CAN'T DO THAT, you just don't dodge freaking bullets!"

She digged with her hoof on the rock and then leapt into the air, wait wasn't she an earthpony? CRAOSH And we smashed into the dirt in front of the caravan and this time she was standing on top of me with the knife.

"Uhh. Call it a draw?"

PZEEOW.

I saw a yellow light through her head, blood spurting and she fell slowly down to my side. Time slowing down as I looked at her eyes, still furious and the knife still in her mouth. What just happened? I turned my head to right and saw Amber standing halfway out of the ditch with his beam pistol in his mouth and a very serious look on his face.

Spitting out the gun he shouted.

"WINDSTRIKER, AIRBORNE!"

Huh? oh right. The battle. My mind was half out of it but whatever fighting spirit the raiders had was broken and they began running away in at least three directions when they saw me flying towards them.

After the caravan had gathered together and started moving again I was still unfocused when a green mare with black mane decided to walk next to me. She looked decidedly... relieved? Yeah, that was probably it.

"Was a brave thing you did, challenging the leader like that. Thank you miss." she said with a honest smile.

"Eh, was nothing. It is what I do. Comes with being a stable dweller, see?"

I lifted my hoof to show her my pipbuck and ended up faceplanting the road. Wouch, damned ground. Always so hostile. I decided to fly instead of this clearly subpar thing called'walking'. "As I was saying, is my job. Kind of."

She gave me an amused look and then face popped up from the cart next to her, a brighter shade of green but with the same black mane.

"COOL, you actually can FLY!" said the the small and very cheery colt.

"Well yeah, I am a pegasus! Flying is what I do best, hope to become as good (and cool) as Rainbow Dash one day. "

I answered with a face of pride and hoof on my chest, decidedly NOT faceplanting this time thanks to my amazing wings.

"Do you live on the clouds? Mum says pegasuses come from atop the clouds, is why it is always so cloudy. Pegasus houses everywhere."

And now she was bouncing, on the cart.

"Nah, as I said. Stable dweller, come from Zony Town up northeast. So is Amber, you know. The short shiny guy. And it is way more interesting down here anyway. All that is up there is the sun and the doomponies."

Now that is a shocked kid, wait. The mother is just as shocked...

"DOOMPONIES?? Like evil monsterponies of death that monster around?"

'Monster around'? Really?? And I thought everyone knew about the pegasi up there. Well, explaining time.

"Yep. Doomponies. Evil pegasi in black armour with manticore tails and guns that shoot laser death. They rarely come this far north though. But I rather not take the risk more than neccesary, sure scared me off."

Huh, a synced "Phew". That is new.

"Sooo... Are you going to Goldstar too?"

"Actually yes, last winter was quite rough and with all the fighting going on... I hope she will let us stay, Spring Leaf deserves better as well."

Then the colt I assume is Spring Leaf chimed in.

"We are going to see the PRINCESS!!"

And then the mother continued.

"I have heard good things about her, not just from the radio but from the traders and others. She even has a SCHOOL, imagine!"

I most likely had a huge grin on my face.

"Yeah. Heading that way as well. Hoping to find some useful work. Of course, meeting the princess would be a bonus as well. You will probably have it nice there, peaceful at least."

We ended up chatting until evening, about plans, Goldstar, Zony Town etc. Little Leaf was almost popping out his eyes in wonder when I talked about home, with the stripes, the wings and horns. Not to mention the luxuries a such as a water talisman and fresh food. When he heard that Goldstar was a lot like that he was, if possible, even more excited about our destination. I did note that the name of the nice mare was August Wind, nice name.

As the twilight descended (the evening thing and not the pony) and we could see the occassional star overhead we reached our nightstop. Dustville said the sign and I was slightly awed to see the fortifications before us. Someone had dug a ditch, build a mound and then built a makeshift wall with rubble and concrete. The wall was at least as tall as the buildings around it. The buildings as I noted stood quite far away as the closest ones had been razed for building materials. I landed and started trotting as I gazed in awe at fortress they had built out of a small and peaceful village, Steel Rangers sure are something. Speaking of steel rangers, there were four of them standing guard at the entrance.

And sweet flank that is some nice armour, can't even see the pony beneath all those plates and gadgets. And those guns looked like they could kill anypony, their friends and the house they were hiding in. I might have drooled a bit when they raised their hooves, barring our way.

"Sorry ma'am, your bodyguard has to stay outside. You and your children are welcome however."

Huh, were they thinking that I worked for the green mare? And hold on a moment,

"HEY, Amber is with me and he is NOT a colt. He is a full grown stallion. And what is your problem anyways??"

I tapped my hoof at the guard's chest and stared into their eyes, or at least tried. The helmet made it impossible to see the eyes or figure out the gender of the soldier beneath it. Huh, I was being pushed backwards by Amber. And why was there at least eight barrels aiming at me, maybe the machine guns counted as more. I have no idea.

The guard turned to a very frightened green pair next to us.

"Ma'am, please take your child inside. You are free to pass."

Whilst the the rest kept their guns trailed on me and Amber tried to get my attention. Wind hesitated, stopped and said something to the guard and then hurried inside with her colt.

"We won't ma'am. Not unless she fires first, I promise."

As the faceless soldier returned their attention back to me and explained in the distorted and slightly freaky voice.

"It is the policy ma'am. Until further notice crossbreeds qualify for the no-stripes, no-mutants and no-cultists rule. Nothing personal."

"HUH, why is that?" Now I was properly confused, I did figure out that by 'crossbreed' they meant zonies. "And is Amber okay? Or does he to stay outside as well?"

"Your group sits on a treasure trove of wartime tech, refuse to share it and according to rumours, practice zebra occultism. Thus the Senior Council hasn't been able to come to an agreement on your status, and until further notice you are barred from the citadel. But as a compromise we are forbidden from taking hostile action as well. As for your friend... I am unsure, on his own he would probably be accepted but I see that he is from Stable 33 as well so... preferably not."

A hoof gesture later the other guards relaxed considerably and seemed less intent on blowing me to chunks.

"Starspawns..."

I muttered under my breath as the armoured pony raised their head in shock as if I had punched them. And Amber facehoofed again.

"So what now? Do we just stay out here until dawn? What if the raiders come back?"

"Raiders? They will not come close to the citadel, we patrol the precinct regularly. So you can stay in one of the houses in the outskirts for shelter, shouldn't pose any problem. I'll ask the Star Paladin about sending out somepony with fresh water as well."

"Oh, ok! Thanks. I suppose it will have to do!"

I said with a cheery face, something that they clearly did not expect. At least two other guards turned their heads with what probably was "Seriously?" face behind those helmets.

"I seriously thought that you were going to get shot! You really need to learn some constraint, you just can't go around picking fights with every pony you come across. Especially not AN ARMY OF STEEL RANGERS!!"

Ok, Amber has not been this pissed since I joked about him looking like a filly. This is serious. After a deep breath he continued, holding up two hooves that were almost touching.

"You were this close to being shot. Just a tiny smidge, and you would have been a CRIMSON CLOUD. We were warned about this, Windstriker! The rangers are notoriously trigger happy, especially if they see stripes."

And he was out of breath again.

"Ok, ok, ok! I get it, but it went fine after all. No one was hurt and I learned something. They even promised to give us water."

I gave my most honest fake smile I could and tried to calm him down.

"Besides, I had to ask."

"Just... Just please, try to think BEFORE you act next time. Especially if it is a ranger that you are arguing with, don't start needless fights. One of these days you are going to get seriously hurt."

And he let out a loud and long sigh. Argument over.

"Change of subject, I was listening to the radio while you were busy flirting with that green mare."

"It was just small talk, and besides. She talked to me first!"

I was not sure if I was feigning offense or if I actually felt offended at that.

"And was there anything interesting on the radio?"

"With you, that counts as flirting. And yes, you were on it."

Here, I recorded it.

"...And that was a taste of Vinyl Scratch's 8-bit remixes of prewar classics, we got more of those coming up later. A lot more in fact. Now for the local news and rumours. First off, as I am fairly sure that anypony in the Black Hoof and possibly everypony else this side of Canterlot heard. The Black Hoof has been announced to be a Hive of Scum and Villainy, maybe we should put that on a sign or something? Naturally I was curious and had to find out the source of this exclamation. And really, Black Dust? 'Stripe Tax', I mean reeaaallly?? Pull the other one, about the Princess of Love and Diamonds. For more practical news I can state that Goldstar has finalized their reinforced barding and is intending to export them starting with the next caravan rotation. With the success that was the patrol armour I am sure it will find many interested ponies around Van Hoofer. Also, Star Paladin Earthquake is offering jobs for any gunner looking for excitement. Any interested ponies are asked to visit the MWT hub in the city centre. And to round it off, when Farstrider caravans returned they brought a certain familiar stranger who will be a guest for tomorrow show. That's right, Stormcloud is BACK and he has plenty of discoveries from his trip down to Hoofington. And now a word from our sponsors..."

"HAH, I knew it was made up... Wait, you mean princess Cadence isn't real??"

I asked in shock at the statement, surely that was true. I mean, where else did Amber's greatgreatgreat and so grandparents come from?

"*SIIIIGH* I don't know allright?.. I mean it should be, but no one has ever found the crystal empire nor has anypony come down from that far north. But she is documented in various old history books, even if she didn't appear to do anything during the war."

OK, Amber took that a tad bit personal. Noted.

"Sorry. But what was that about the other news? Anything I should pay attention to?"

I seriously zoned out after the part about the princess. What? So, I am fangirl. Shoot me. Or on second thought, don't do that please.

"Let's see. Fighting in the Van Hoof, nothing new there. Goldstar selling armour, might be good to remember if the stable barding gets torn up. And the caravan we are travelling with had Stormcloud on the way back north."

"Wait, Stormcloud? As in, honourary stable member and founder of Zony Town Stormcloud? The ugly bad ass that wanted to talk about boring stuff instead of his bad ass adventures of badassery."

"Yes, Wingstriker. THAT Stormcloud. You know he probably knows more about magical machinery than anyone else alive. And that he worked just one step away from minister Sparkle?"

My eyes must have widened a fair bit as Amber looked a tad bit unimpressed when I went.

"Woow... You know... Maybe I should have paid more attention during his lectures, but you know. That guy has hunted hellhounds." I pointed my hoof at Amber "HELLHOUNDS."

"Yes, Wingstriker. I know. And he built a disintegration rifle from scrap while you slept through the afternoon. THAT is impressive."

Then my stomach rumbled so the discussion kind of died off as I munched on a piece of maize and the bloody stallion shook his head as I began tearing through the center off it. What? Can't let perfectly good food to waste. Then he yawned and fell asleep. Seriously how come he gets to tell me off while he can't travel without falling asleep afterward. Sleep is for suckers.

*YAAAWN* Or maybe not..."

The battle happened again, and felt awesome flying around the faceless ponyshapes and being generally bad ass. Then I heroically fought the raider boss all alone, through gunfire, knife slashes and hoofkicks on top off a large cliff whilst everypony below stared in awe. It was brilliant, every second. Then time screeched to a halt as a flash of light crossed my view and the evil raider pony fell down besides me, unable to move. Staring maliciously into my eyes, freezing me in place as her lips mouthed "FUCKING STRIPE" in slow motion at me. Then she continued, and now I could hear her voice.

"I'll rip your throat out, just wait..."

Then it faded to black. Next thing I knew I was in a ruin all alone, with a freezing cold air. With the trees all around whispering things. Weird and strange things, and through it all I heard hoofsteps. Calm and catious yet determined hoofsteps from a single pony, slowly coming closer and closer.

I shaked my head clear with a BURRWURR and sat up, trying to get my bearings. In a ruin, with whispering trees around and cold air.

"Fuck.." I muttered to my self, then I saw Amber. Shit, got to keep him safe if something happens. Then I remembered to turn on my Eyes Forward Sparkle, Amber keeps telling me to turn on that functionality of the pipbuck. My heartbeat stopped a beat as a single bar showed up on it. Then I saw that it was white and got confused. How could an evil raider ghost be non hostile? Then a ranger stepped in and just stared at me for a long while, I didn't even notice that they were unarmed and carrying saddlebags filled with water bottles.

"First time you seen anypony die?" The faceless figure calmly asked me.

"Huh?.." I managed to get out of me in bafflement.

"I see. Everyone reacts differently but most ponies seem to get the nightmares at least. Not much you can do about those, just remember that you are still the one in control. Even in dreams."

Then they dropped of the saddlebags, not just the bottles but the bags too.

"Here, Farstrider and the refugee insisted you have these."

"Oh. Thanks, are you the one I talked to earlier? Can't tell you apart, you look all alike in that armour."

And that resulted in a laugh, and it was remarkably eerie to hear a proper laugh from a steel clad soldier pony of death.

"Okay... so are you?"

"Yes. And as I said, nothing personal about the policy. Lots of dangerous types hiding among civilians around here."

A pause then the ranger continued.

"One last thing before I leave. It is EASY to kill a pony, far far too easy. So never fire a shot without being fully aware that you are going to take somepony else's life, NEVER."

I didn't completely get what they meant. In fact, I was quite sure that I didn't get half of it. As they started trotting out the door I half shouted.

"Name's Windstriker, what's yours?"

The armoured pony stopped for a moment, turned their head.

"Tart, Ensign Raspberry Tart."

Then they left, and I still hadn't figured out if they were a mare of stallion. Then I muttered one last thing before I tried going back to sleep.

"Steel rangers are definitely weird. Not evil, but weird."

Level Up.
Skill Note: Speech - 50%
Perk added: Cherchez La Filly

You are quite the flirt and many mare's have started paying you attention, you get extra dialogue options as well as 10% damage bonus against mares. All is fair in love and war after all.

Condition added: Mild Wartime Stress Disorder

You suffer from fairly benign wartime stress disorder after witnessing horrors ponies shouldn't. Nightmares and occasional anxiety attacks are to be expected.

Author's Notes:

Name: Windstriker
Race: Pegasus
Special:
- Strength: 6
- Perception: 3
- Endurance: 6
- Charisma: 7
- Intelligence: 5
- Agility: 7
- Luck: 6

Tag:
-Battle Saddles
-Speech
-Unarmed

Traits:
-Built to Destroy: Your hooves break EVERYTHING. +3% critical hit chance, weapons are thrice as likely to break down in the middle of combat.
-Kamikaze: You are a whirlwind of death, +5 Sequence, -2 Damage Threshold.