Author's Notes:

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Special thanks to my editor, EverfreePony, and my main pre-reader and basically-co-author, SnakeEye

Candy Cane

I dropped my pistol and ran over to Candy. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, I just forgot. We need a healing potion and—” I blurted out, cutting myself off when I noticed the complete absence of blood. She just stared at me in shock for a few seconds, until her mind caught up to the situation. She took a deep breath and smiled. How could she smile in a situation like this‽

“I’m fine, the bullet didn’t pierce. Still hurts like crazy though. Probably bruised or cracked a rib if I’m unlucky.” Her serene smile and soothing voice managed to calm me down, and the dam broke.

“I thought I killed you!” I sobbed.

She hugged me, gently rubbing my back and whispering, “It’s okay.”

I cried into her chest for a few minutes, but promptly snapped back to my immediate surroundings when I saw red bars appear on my EFS. From Candy’s expression, I knew she saw them too. My voice shaky and weak, I said, “We should get inside.” She nodded and then followed me inside. I made sure that when I picked up my muzzlegun, I clicked on the safety lock. I’d previously thought it existed only out of principle, and I hadn’t grasped that it would actually be of any use to me. What were the odds that my magic would accidentally pull the trigger? I supposed I didn’t consider the idea I’d ever use it with my mouth…

As we entered the building, Candy covered her muzzle, disgust creeping on her face. “What’s this smell?” she asked, frowning.

I thought back to the innards and limbs I’d cleared out not two hours ago. “I don’t think you want to know. It was even worse when I arrived.”

“Oh, sweet Luna. I’ll… take your word for it.” After that, she closed the door, and an awkward silence enveloped the room like a fog thicker than outside. I redid my earlier makeshift barricade in an attempt to temporarily distract myself from the tension. Eventually, I dared speak up, too uncomfortable not to.

“Again, I’m so sorry for shooting you. Even though the bullet didn’t kill you, it still sounded very painful.” I had no idea what else to say, but apologising was almost always a good option.

“It’s nothing, really. Well, nothing I can’t push through, anyway.” She fell silent, and I started worrying I’d have to force a conversation once more, when she spoke up again, “D-did you see what happened to Concerto?”

Ouch. Of course she’d seen his corpse. I should have hidden it. Then again, I couldn’t have predicted somepony would follow me out of the stable. And besides, it’s not like there was anywhere I could put him. Could I lie my way out of this? While, in my opinion, I was perfectly in the right to kill him, I still didn’t want to admit it to Candy. “Y-yeah. I think M-mother did that when he followed her out. S-she must have blamed him for their exile. Do you have a blanket or something? You must be freezing.” Yikes, why did I have to stutter right there? I was practically giving it away.

Candy locked eyes with me. “Iron… Autie Brass never left the stable.” What‽ I was as surprised as I was glad she was safe. I opened my mouth, but no sound would come out. Before I could get my thoughts in order, she sighed, then smiled. “You don’t need to lie to me, Iron. I would have done the same, had I been in your place. After what he’s done to you, you were perfectly entitled to revenge.” She pulled me into a hug again, and I hugged back.

I whispered to her, “I did kill him, and I enjoyed my revenge.” I didn’t dare mention how much I’d enjoyed it.

After a few moments, I stepped away and asked, “Did you say Mother is still in the stable? My father said she left the stable, and he sounded honest.” Or maybe he was right about being tricked. I’d just assumed he was overreacting, but maybe he did have a point.

“It was all a plan by Iodine and Brass. They tricked him into leaving by making him believe his money was outside. But you weren’t supposed to leave with him.”

“But why bother with such a complicated plan when the three heads can just vote him out?” I could think of a few reasons, but I wanted to be sure. Voting out the overstallion would have made it seem like they were taking power from him, and everypony would have expected Mother to lead perfectly. As it was, ponies were glad that he was gone and would likely welcome Mother’s rule, even if imperfect. It would help ease political tensions within the stable, and likely lead to a better future. That was my best guess, at least.

“It’s complicated, but the short version is that if they just threw him out, it could cause instability amongst the stable’s residents. I don’t really understand everything myself. Maybe you can ask the overmare when we’re back.” She gave me her best ‘sorry, I am not good at this’ smile, and it took my entire willpower not to be smug about my prediction. “I’m so glad you’re safe, I was starting to worry I wouldn’t be able to catch up to you and save you.” She winced and added, pointing to my bandaged chest, “Well, relatively safe."

Right! Of course she came to rescue me! Why else would she have left the stable! “Wait, you came to rescue me? You really are the best, Candy.” I was so glad my one friend was so caring. I was so lucky to have her.

“Of course! I stumbled upon the holotape your father left and immediately got worried when I couldn’t find you. Even your tag pointed outside the stable. When I went to talk to the overmare, Iodine was with her. I showed them the holotape and told them you weren’t in the stable. We immediately went to the entrance and opened the door. Then, that b—meanie Iodine managed to convince Auntie to not let you back in because you’d obviously murdered somepony. Even though she knew that exiling him was already basically killing him.” She cleared her throat and licked her lips. “Gimme a second, my throat is super dry.” She turned to her saddlebags and pulled out her Stable 4 canteen.

This left me wondering why she was, in fact, here and not stuck in the stable, but I suspected she was about to tell me that herself. She took a swig and proved me right with her next sentence. “Of course, I couldn’t just abandon you, but I pretended to agree with them. I needed a while to prepare first, anyway. I used my mother’s password to get into the armoury, got myself a set of barding and weaponry. I also stopped by Iodine’s place to steal some potions. It feels odd to admit this, but I felt no remorse stealing from such an evil pony. Unluckily for me, she caught me red-horned.” A smug grin appeared on her face. “But she didn’t stand in my way long after I pulled out my shotgun and bluffed I would shoot her. After that I locked her in her own office, because she’d call the rest of security if I didn’t.”

“You, Candy Cane, held Iodine up at gunpoint? Colour me surprised.” I’d never heard of her doing something so… unkind. I’d always seen her as a beacon of kindness and positivity, always bringing light to my day with her amiable comments. Was I the exception and Iodine the rule, or was it the opposite?

“I’d do anything to save my cousin, you know that.” She smiled again, and my worries melted away. Whatever it was, she was here for me now, and only that really mattered.

“That sounds like the Candy I know.” I smiled back. “By the way, what’s your plan to get back inside the stable? I’m a bit worried they might decide to kick you out as well for threatening the Head of Medicine. Besides, why are you so sure they’ll take me back just because I’ll come back? Didn’t you say they didn’t want me back?”

“Oh please, worse things have been met with milder punishments. Uncle Concerto was just a special case because he was overstallion. Usually not even murder gets you expelled,” she explained casually. She wasn’t making any sense.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” I deadpanned. “Again, you said they didn’t want me back, so why do you think they’ll change their mind if I show up?” It was odd, now that I’d come to peace with the fact I had to stay out here, I almost didn’t even want to go back.

“I told you, I have my mother’s password. We can just get back inside, and then they won’t dare throw us out again.” Well, it looked like I couldn’t get back in after all. I just had to break it to Candy that neither could she.

“Did you try the password on the terminal outside?”

“Yeah, when I realised I forgot my baton I tried opening it back up. Though I’m super clumsy and mistyped the password three or four times, then it locked me out for a few hours, and so I just left. I didn’t need that baton that badly, anyway.” She spoke in her usual light tone, but every few words a detail would betray her worry. She knew, she just hadn’t accepted it yet.

I stared into her rich purple eyes and said firmly, “That terminal doesn’t accept logins from inside the stable. You need a Stable-Tec employee’s credentials. We are stuck out here.”

“Of course it does! It’s a stable terminal!” Candy exclaimed.

“It’s not connected to the inside network,” I stated.

“How would you know that?” she demanded.

“I checked. It asks for a ‘stable-tec’ login, and the terminals inside ask for ‘stable 4’ ones. Also, remember that I have my father’s password, and it allowed me to leave, but not get back in. Plus, it’s unlikely we both mistyped the credentials,” I explained.

“But—but that can’t be true! I bet it’s this bitch Iodine! She must have changed the password when I went outside! A-and they must have changed the password the moment you stepped out!” she blurted out.

“That still means we’re not getting back in,” I replied. What is going on here?

She broke down crying. I took a page out of her book and hugged her. I acted like she would and gently stroked her mane. I didn’t understand why she was acting like this. I understood denial was a powerful feeling, but I’d never seen her act so irrationally.

As I held my cousin, her sobs slowly quieted down before eventually completely stopping. I moved my head back to notice she’d fallen asleep on the dirty floor. She would likely suffer hypothermia if I let her sleep like this.

I undid her saddlebags and rummaged through them. In the right pocket I found some twenty-gauge slugs, some canned slices of apple, and three canteens full of water. The left one contained what I needed—a bedroll—but also a Stable 4 jumpsuit of my size. I couldn’t help but be touched that she’d think of that. I pulled both out and simply draped the rough blanket over her sleeping form, then quietly walked to the employee room. I’d put on the jumpsuit in the morning. I wanted to move her on a comfortable mattress, but I would feel bad for making her sleep on one of these. Besides, I didn’t want to risk waking her up.

I decided to turn on the heater, too. The night was still young, and even inside it was already very cold—particularly after having aired the building out. I tried several of the spark batteries in the generator, putting aside all the spent ones until I found one with a relatively high charge. Really? Had these ponies not had the idea of having separate piles for empty ones? Thankfully, this spark generator had a power gauge. I’d read about older models that didn’t indicate how charged the batteries inside were.

I unplugged the electric heater and carried it, then the generator, into the main room, where I plugged it back in. I’d be wrapped in my quilt on a mattress, while she slept on the cold floor; she needed the heater more than I did. I trotted back to my bed and finally went to sleep.

After a long and somewhat restful slumber I woke up to find Candy still asleep. She’d shifted in her sleep, and was now lying in a much more comfortable-looking position.

I checked the time, noticing I still had two hours before my alarm would ring. The only thing that stopped me from going back to sleep was the intense urge to leave this wretched place, so I turned it off preemptively. I’d only stopped here out of necessity and wanted to move as soon as daylight broke.

I couldn’t tell how bright it was outside. Given that almost half a day had passed since darkness had fallen, I suspected it would be bright sometime soon. Still, I wanted to check. The quicker I left, the better, after all.

I quietly approached the door and moved the bench out of my way. When I opened the door, the cold air bit my nostrils, and the whoosh of the wind soothed my ears. The biggest surprise, though, was to my sight; the brownish yellow grass was gone, replaced by a smooth white blanket; snow. Behind me, Candy shivered and mumbled, “Five more minutes, Mom”. Hoping to not wake her up, I quickly closed the door. I was surprised by how bright it was already. Twelve hours ago it hadn’t been this bright; was it just caused by the thick layer of snow?

I hadn’t ever thought I’d see some in my lifetime. Then again, I hadn’t ever thought I’d leave the stable, and I’d had other things on my mind when I did leave. In history books, the Detrot area was always really cold in the winter, so I wasn’t surprised to see it. I just… hadn’t thought about it.

Naturally, my first thought was to play with it. Candy was still asleep, and I had time to kill until we decided what to do next. I stepped outside, and because my EFS was clear save for her, I didn’t bother taking my gun with me. I walked to the side of the platform and stepped into the snow. It was cold and… crunchy? I took another step and confirmed the feeling. The snow was definitely crunching under my hooves. I started walking, giggling like a young foal, until I eventually broke into a gallop. Why had none of my books ever mentioned how fun snow was?

The cold morning air in my mane, I kept running around the building and in the meadow. It was only in the middle of it that I realised how big this place really was, now that the fog was finally lighter. The clearing alone was several times as big as the atrium, but for some reason I didn’t feel dizzy or lightheaded from the size. Was I finally getting used to the world’s incredible vastness? Or did I just forget to have my mind messed with?

I realised I’d been standing still for a bit too long when a gust of wind almost made me lose my balance. With how much I ran, I’d sweat a surprising amount given how cold it was. The cold wind chilled me to my bones, making me promptly head inside. When I reached the building, I noticed Candy’s bar move. In the short time I’d been outside, the ambient light had gone up significantly, and we could get moving soon. I opened the door.

Inside, Candy was trotting in circles, clearly lost in thought. So much so, in fact, that she didn’t immediately react to my entry into the room. Only after a short while did she turn her head. “Oh. Hey, good morning,” she awkwardly said.

“Good morning, Candy,” I replied and gave her a genuine smile.

She smiled and nodded before speaking up again. “Before anything else, I want to apologise for my breakdown yesterday. I wasn’t thinking clearly at all. The only excuse I could possibly muster was how sleep deprived I was, but even then—my behaviour is still on me and I take full responsibility.”

“It’s no problem, really. I’ll admit I was a little confused and didn’t know how to react, but it didn’t upset me.” I guess it did inconvenience me a little, but I shouldn’t say that. It would just make her feel guilty for no good reason.

“Thanks.” She smiled. “In my sleep-deprived haze I didn’t think through all our options. We may be locked out, but what’s preventing us from knocking on the door for a few days? Somepony is bound to come around and notice the noise,” the mare said in her usual cheerful tone.

She was probably testing me, to see if I grasped the severity of the situation. Or maybe she still just has hope… “Well, we would be betting our lives on that. And even if a normal stable pony heard the noise, the higher-ups probably still wouldn’t let us back in.” While it hurt that Mother would simply abandon me, I perfectly understood her motives. If word got out I’d killed my father and that she’d let me back in, her reputation would take a severe hit. The same applied to Candy, especially since she’d angered Iodine of all ponies.

“Well, how can you be so sure? I get the point you’re making, but I feel like we have very good odds of being let back into the stable, even if I will have to face punishment.”

She was right, it wasn’t that unlikely. I’d already been proven wrong about anypony following me out. So why was I still not convinced? Did I maybe want to stay out here? I’d already wondered about that last night, but I was starting to be certain.

Oh. Yeah. “Candy, do you really want to let someone else decide for you if you’ll live? I just realised that I don’t want to return to the stable. For once in my life, I feel like I’m deciding what happens to me. If we go back, we’re not only placing our immediate survival in the hooves of the stable, but also the rest of our lives.” I paused and took a deep breath. Candy looked ready for a rebuttal, but I took the wind from her sails. “You can go back if you’re fine with this, but I’m not following.” I would likely die out here, but at least it would be as a result of my own choice. Of course, I couldn’t tell her that; she’d think I was trying to manipulate her. I really wanted her to stay with me, but I didn’t want to force it upon her.

After a pregnant silence that I didn’t dare interrupt, she spoke up again, “I’m sorry, Iron. I didn’t realise you felt this way. I suppose it does make sense.” She paused for a few moments to think. “I joined security to help ponies. I felt like I could help more than in medical. That was my decision and mine alone. But as I went through training, I realised more and more that I couldn’t help anypony as much as I wanted to. Out here, on the other hoof, I can help you much more than everypony else combined. If your dream is to be free, then I’ll assist in any way I can.” ‘Dream’ may be putting it on a little too thick, but I appreciate it nonetheless.

I ran up to her and hugged her, dropping my mask. “Thank you!” I wasn’t alone! Not only did this mean I was more likely to survive, but I also had the company of my best friend. Words could hardly express how relieved I was. Instead, I just hugged her harder. Another part of me was happy that a grown-up had finally listened to me, but that feeling was eclipsed by everything else.

“Ouch!” she yelped, and I jumped back. I’d been pressing my face into the angry blue bruise on her chest. “Sorry, I should have told you before the pain became unbearable,” she admitted, smiling sheepishly. Riiiight. I did shoot her.

“Sorry, I didn’t really think, I was just so happy!” I smiled back, and we giggled for a short moment. “We should get moving, though. You’ve felt how cold nights are, and we can’t stay here.”

“I know, I know. I even have a stable jumpsuit for you. I couldn’t find any barding small enough for you to wear, so this is all we have.” She reached into her bag before I could speak up and was surprised she couldn’t find it.

“I already took it when I went through your stuff looking for something to cover you with,” I explained, then admitted, “I just forgot about it when I went out earlier.”

“Oh. In that case let’s eat something and then get ready to leave,” she said, levitating out two cans of apples.

I positively devoured mine. I’d eaten so little during the past few days that I was really starting to feel the hunger add up. Rationing was not fun, and I couldn’t wait until the day we could afford to eat proper quantities again. As I finished drinking the diluted fruit juice, I noticed Candy observing me. “Wow, I’ve never seen you this hungry before,” she said. I explained to her why exactly.

“Oh wow. I’m glad I never shot at those things, then. I saw a few throughout the day, but I was too tired to risk combat.”

“You mentioned that. Didn’t sleep well?” I asked, licking the juice off my lips.

“Mostly too little. When you went missing, I spent my entire C-shift looking for you. Then I couldn’t go to bed immediately because I decided to report to Mom after I asked Iodine to check on you.”

“Wait, when do you normally sleep? I didn’t keep track of your schedule, sorry.”

“A-shift. So I was already very tired by the time I finally found you. So anyway, I took a short nap of a few hours in Mom’s office when the three set their plan in motion—Iodine insisted I didn’t go back to my quarters out of fear Concerto would somehow see through the ruse. Then you went missing again, and by the time I left the stable, it was already A-shift again. In other words, when I arrived here last night, I’d slept less than three hours in the past six shifts.”

I gasped. I’d never missed a night’s sleep. When I approached sixteen waking hours, my brain already felt like it was barely able to process anything anymore. “Oh my. I can’t imagine how tired you must’ve been. Are you feeling any better now?”

“Mhm!” she chirped. “Still not fully rested, but hey. I did sleep on a dirty wooden floor, so that’s no surprise,” she said, apparently amused by the odd circumstances. “Anyway, you should get ready while I finish my breakfast.”

I nodded and went to the smaller room with the mattresses. I started putting on the jumpsuit and only stopped when I had to close the zipper over my chest. I levitated the bandages off, and winced at the scar, still an irritated red. It was so thick that I doubted it would ever go away. I called Candy over to have her take a look at it.

“Yikes… That must have been so painful. Does it still hurt?” she commented as she examined the relatively fresh wound.

I shook my head. “Not really. The bandages did a good job, I think. I’m just wondering, will the scar stay?”

“Definitely.” I felt my ears droop. She placed a hoof under my chin, lifting it up. “But I think fur might hide it. And in either case, it’s a proof of what you went through. It’s a proof of how strong you are. Wear it with pride.” She was right, but I still couldn’t calm down. It was as if a part of me had been ruined forever; I would never go back to my old self, would I? I sighed, nodding.

She returned to the waiting room, and I finished getting ready, closing the zipper and putting on my saddlebags, then my harness. Somehow, it felt reassuring to feel the weight of my guns on my back.

When I started moving back into the main room, I glanced over at the terminal. Unlike Arcane’s, this one was somehow still functional—when Stable-Tec built something, they built it to last. Apparently.

I noticed a user was still logged on. Curious, I approached the glowing terminal and a few dozen entries. All labeled “Diary” followed by a date. In the parent folder, I found another directory labeled “Ticket Sales”. Common sense told me I had no interest in reading those. Curiosity told me it was important that I do read them. I listened to curiosity, but compromised with common sense. I didn’t have time to read all of this now—or even a fraction, actually. I needed to download them to my PipBuck.

I’d only used the feature once in the stable. When trying to earn my cutie mark in music, I’d downloaded a recording of the piece I would attempt to learn on the piano. It hadn’t amounted to anything other than frustration, however. Well, I suppose it did teach me to copy files from a terminal.

I selected the radio transfer option and waited less than a minute for the copy to complete—much faster than the audio file.

When I returned to the larger room, Candy was eating from a bag of pre-war crisps. I stood there, staring at her, unable to comprehend the scene. When she finally noticed my confused glare, she finished chewing and spoke up, “You were taking a while, and I was wondering if they’d still be good to eat. They’re so chock-full of preservatives that I suspected they still were. Turns out I’m right.” She levitated the bag to me. “You can have the rest. I wasn’t that hungry to begin with, just curious.”

Hesitant, I levitated the bag towards myself and was surprised the inside smelled so… appetizing. Or was that just my hunger speaking? Regardless, I tried one. Like she’d said, it tasted perfectly edible. Not very good, but edible. While she walked around the room and packed the few packages of food scattered around, I ate the crisps, finding myself unable to stop. How are they so good, despite being so mediocre? And how are they still so good?

I followed Candy outside, before she turned to me and asked, “Where should we go? I think following the road might be our best bet.”

“I don’t know, either. I know that those tracks likely lead to Detrot, or, rather what remains of it after the bombs. I have no idea where the road would take us, though,” I told her.

“Well, walking on a concrete road would be a lot nicer than on rocks and tracks,” she rationalised. I nodded. I didn’t really have an opinion against it, and she was the grown-up. Then, silence fell on us both, as neither felt like she had a topic to start on.

Five minutes went by before Candy spoke up again, “I didn’t notice it yesterday, but you got your cutie mark. Congrats, I really think it suits you!” Thanks, I got it by killing my father. “How did you get it?”

“Thanks, I got it when I realised how interesting guns were. How ingenious the mechanical parts are, how it all works together in one goal.” How they splatter ponies’ heads. “And how great they feel in my telekinesis when they fire.”

“Oh, that’s really interesting. Would you want some tips? I’m not that great with firearms myself, but I did go through training, so I might know a few things more than you.”

“Yeah, I’d love that. I found a book on them, but it doesn’t really go in depth on how to aim them. In principle it’s easy. Align front and back iron sights with my target, and pull the trigger.”

“Well, having the theory down is already pretty good. Next time we stop, I’ll watch you aim and give you a few tips.” She beamed at me. This mare’s positivity knew no bounds, did it?

The road led into the same forest, with only the occasional clearing from time to time. Over time, it eventually flattened out until we were walking on practically level ground, barring the occasional small hill. Eventually, the scenery changed.

Candy and I walked into a ruined pre-war town that my PipBuck labeled as ‘Gluon Village’. The houses here had been built side to side, leaving no space between them. They looked perfectly identical, if I overlooked the details. While they hadn’t been hit directly, time had taken its toll on them, and they were all falling apart in some way or another. This had raised the question of how Arcane Spark’s home had survived so well, but I just ended up pushing it out of my head. It didn’t matter.

Given how tired my legs were after walking for those few hours, we decided to take a small break from walking, and instead split up in order to try and find more food in the abandoned houses. Surely, there’d be something in one of those. Reality, however, wasn’t as nice. Neither of us had found anything in any of the buildings we explored. I suspected that if we combed through all of them, we might still find something. Whoever had scavenged them before us had to have missed something. It was obvious somepony had been here prior; fridges and drawers were all left open, and small furniture was moved out of the way.

Time, however, was not on our side. Candy had deemed it wasn’t worth staying here the extra while, and I’d agreed. We didn’t know we would find something, and we’d be here all day if we checked every corner of every house. We needed to keep moving. One more house each, we’d agreed upon.

Disappointed by its emptiness, I tossed aside a tin can and moved outside, finding my companion waiting for me. “Still no luck?” I asked.

“Nope. I think we already wasted enough time here,” stated the security mare.

As we walked forward, a red light blinked into existence on my EFS. I immediately perked up, but Candy didn’t seem to notice it or my worry. “Candy!” I whispered as loudly as I dared. She turned to me and her face quickly matched my unease.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” she asked out loud.

“Ssh! Don’t you see the red bars?” Bars. There was another one now.

“N-no,” she whispered. “Where?” she said, trying to hide

“Right ahead. They’re still pretty far. What do we do about them?”

“I think it’s best to leave. Let’s try to sneak past them and follow this road away from this town.” I nodded in reply. Part of me hoped for conflict, but I knew it wasn’t the safe option. If Candy thought they were dangerous, then we were best off avoiding them. “Since you know better where they are, I’ll just follow you,” she added.

I decided the best course of action would be to first walk towards them and see where exactly they were. Because there weren’t any gaps between the houses, trying to go behind them would require us to go around the whole town. I wanted to avoid that and the potential risks associated with walking through the forest. I still wasn’t over the red bars that would periodically show up on my EFS whenever I was near the forest.

As we slowly advanced, three more hostiles appeared before we arrived at an intersection. At the opposing corner, a small supermarket stood, slightly taller than the buildings surrounding it. It seemed like all of the red bars except one were in it. Unfortunately, one was most definitely on the road. I dared peek my head around the corner, and saw a… an equine molerat? No. This thing looked more like a walking corpse than a molerat. And unlike the other animal, it seemed to at least have some fur, patchy as it was.

As I was locked in stupor at the creature’s fascinating ugliness, it turned around and locked its gaze on me. I wanted to conserve SATS energy for when it was close-by, so I aimed my varmint rifle at its head and quickly realised hitting a running target would be difficult. I refocused on its chest and pulled the trigger. My weapon’s handle hit me in the nose, momentarily dazing me and sending pain through my face. I shook my head and looked ahead again, seeing it charging straight at me. I thought I’d hit it! Why was it still moving?

I clicked into SATS and queued two shots at its face. I pulled the trigger… and nothing happened. But I was sure the magazine was full! SATS cancelled, and I desperately pulled the trigger over and over again. Nothing.

The beast—a ‘ghoul’ according to my PipBuck—leapt at me, raising its hoof to hit me. Terrified, I squeezed my eyes shut.

Crack! Pain. Darkness. Nothing.

I woke up, a little groggy. I didn’t wanna get up. It was much too early; I even had a small headache. Mmh whatever. I could just take one of Mother’s mints or headache pills. But if I could sleep, I would. Hopefully Mother would let me sleep in just today. Ugh, the pain was worse than I thought. What time was it, anyway? In an attempt to look at my PipBuck, I opened my eyes. By now, my head was hurting more than ever before.

I closed my eyes again, squeezing them shut, but the pain didn’t leave. I tried focusing it away, but every attempt only seemed to make it worse. Suddenly, a calming voice rang out, “Iron? Are you waking up?” I didn’t wanna talk. It hurt too much to even think. “Hold on, let me try to help,” she comforted me before the pain quickly diminished.

Now that I could think clearly again—at least now that I’d woken up—I started to remember. The stable, the wasteland, the filthy killers, the undead pony. I opened my eyes, ears ringing.

“Candy? What happened?” I needed confirmation.

“You were knocked down,” she admitted with her serene smile.

“Yeah…” I paused, unsure of what to say. “How badly was I hurt?” By the look that this question spawned on her face, I figured pretty badly.

“Pretty badly. That… thing… fractured your skull. Thankfully the dent wasn’t very deep, so your condition wasn’t completely critical. I gave you a healing potion and some Med-X, but you’re probably going to feel the concussion for at least a few days.” She sighed. “You seem to be stable for now. The healing potion will have stopped most internal bleeding, and the bandage should take care of your head wound. You should try to sleep.”

She didn’t need to ask me twice. Drowsy, I simply nodded and closed my eyes again, and embraced the sweet release of unconsciousness.

I woke up in a dark room, Candy Cane’s warm body pressed against mine. We lay on my quilt, covered by Candy’s blanket. My head was still pounding, but unlike earlier, it wasn’t overwhelming. I touched my head where I’d been hit, expecting to feel a bump. Instead, I just felt the familiar texture of bandages. Almost more surprisingly, I didn’t feel any pain as I ran my hoof over my skull. It was then I decided that I loved healing magic.

I turned my PipBuck to me and checked the time. Middle of the night. That was inconvenient, as I doubted I would manage to fall asleep again. I’d been out for more than sixteen hours. I felt guilty for slowing us down. I wanted to wake up Candy and tell her I was alright, and that we could start moving again, but she deserved to sleep. I’d pass time until she was up.

As I looked around the room I was in, I noticed I was on a queen-sized pre-war bed with a relatively clean mattress. It was still covered with dust, but not caked in blood or… other… bodily fluids. I recognised the room as one of the master bedrooms of the replicated houses. I couldn’t see my harness or saddlebags anywhere.

I rolled out from under the blanket and off the bed, and immediately regretted everything about my life. It felt as if somepony fired guns from inside my head. After several incredibly long seconds, the pain went away, and I shuddered as the cold bit my coat. And then I sneezed and whimpered as the full pain hit my head like a sledgehammer again. Uuuugh. With no other option, I wiped my nose on my foreleg.

I found my tracksuit neatly folded on a chair. I levitated it over—noticing how difficult it was to concentrate—and put it on as quietly as I managed, which apparently was not quietly enough as my friend groaned and shifted under the blanket. Once I had it on, I walked around the room a bit more, and found our bags behind the bed. I floated mine onto my back, but didn’t bother tightening the straps, and walked out into the rest of the house.

Once I was in the living room, I took the bones off the armchair to sit down. I started considering what to do. Maybe I should figure out why my gun didn’t fire. My first suspicion was ammunition, despite my certainty that I’d loaded the magazine. As I pulled it out, I noticed a single bullet stuck in the opening that led to the chamber. Ah, it malfunctioned. Wondering how I could prevent it, I decided to try reading The Mechanical Wonders of Firearms.

With my headache throbbing, reading proved difficult, but feasible. I considered eating some mints to help me focus, but I didn’t want to deal with the sugar crash the rest of the day. Besides, I only had a few. What did prevent me from reading, however, was how cold the room was. My nose was running like a faucet, and the occasional sneezes did not help. Third day out of the stable, and I already had a cold. Thrilling. And thus, after not even a quarter hour, I decided to go back to bed, just to read where it was warm. If I turned on my side and away from Candy, I could avoid blinding her with my light.

Without taking off my jumpsuit, I climbed into the warm—oh so warm—bed and attentively read the gun manual. Now that I knew most of the terminology used in it, it was much easier to understand it, despite the pulsating pain behind my eyes. In just three hours, I’d finished working my way through the pages. I couldn’t tell how much longer I would have to wait until Candy woke up, or how long she’d already been sleeping. I put away the textbook and took one of the novels instead.

It wasn’t a particularly interesting novel, just a simple detective story, but it kept me occupied and distracted from my headache. Especially since I didn’t need to focus too hard to understand it. A simple timekiller. It almost felt nostalgic to be this relaxed.

Suddenly, a loud noise rang out right behind me, and I started. My telekinesis grabbed for my pistol, but I realised the noise was coming from right behind me. I turned around and found that the source of the shrill beeps that were assaulting my head was Candy’s foreleg. More specifically, the PipBuck attached to it. It was a much bulkier—and presumably older—model than mine. Why did it have to make such an awful racket? My own alarm was much softer, and didn’t induce—or aggravate—any headaches.

She clicked it off with her other leg and yawned right into my face. Her breath, while not fetid, was definitely far from pleasant. She opened her eyes and seemed surprised to see me, but her expression softened and she smiled. “Good morning.” She rubbed her eye, letting out another yawn, this time luckily away from me. “How are you feeling? Got a headache? Does your skull hurt?”

“I’m feeling… Pretty terrible, honestly, but much better than yesterday. My head is hurting worse than ever before, but I think my skull is fine.” This felt like a medical checkup, so I answered it like one.

“That’s to be expected.” She hugged me, stroking my mane. “When you went down, you were bleeding so much, I thought I would lose you. Even after I used both my healing potions on you, you still weren’t waking up. I knew they were too weak to help with advanced head trauma, but I didn’t know they would be that ineffective…” But you sounded so in control when I woke up earlier, like everything was going to be alright… I wanted to ask her about it, but I felt too guilty right now to question her behaviour.

“I’m sorry for worrying you… And I’m sorry for slowing us down…” If my gun hadn’t jammed, or if I’d had my pistol on hoof, this all would have been avoided. If I hadn’t missed. If I’d just taken the safe route, instead of foolishly trying to sneak around. I clearly wasn’t good at that, so why did I convince myself I could walk past an alert enemy? I’d acted so irrationally.

She backed out of the embrace and looked me in the eye. “Oh, Iron… please don’t apologise for this. It’s my fault you got hit in the first place.” How? I was the one who’d missed the shot.

After a few seconds of silence, it became clear she wasn’t planning on explaining it on her own, and so I spoke up, “How is it your fault?” Wait… She’d had ample time to shoot it, hadn’t she? And her gun was functional and loaded.

“I… I froze. I had the perfect opportunity to shoot it, to switch to SATS and kill it before it got to you. When I saw the bar moving closer, I thought it was a pony; not some mindless beast that would break your skull… I thought we could just talk it out and… and…” she trailed off, voice cracking as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Oh. So she was partly to blame as well. “Ah, I see. Aren’t all red bars things that will attack you, though?” Wasn’t that half the point of the spell, to tell you if you were in danger?

She took a few deep breaths before explaining, “No, not exactly. You see, EFS estimates a creature’s aggression, but it’s not perfect. It’s far from that, actually. Red bars don’t always attack on sight. Sometimes they apparently don’t even want to attack, but your PipBuck misjudges it.”

“Has that ever happened to you?” I pondered outloud.

“A few times in the stable, but also once at the Foal Mountain train station.” She gave me a serene smile.

I immediately understood the implications, and my mouth just went “Oh.”

“It’s why I didn’t call out to you. I was scared somepony had taken your PipBuck, and I was too scared to say anything.”

“Well, thanks for not shooting me on sight, I suppose.” So that I could shoot you by accident right after. Meaning to change topics, I quickly followed up, “What did I miss? I hope I didn’t force you to watch over me for an entire day.”

“You didn’t, actually. After you woke up you seemed stable, so I decided to try my hoof at scavenging again. I did manage to find a few things once I took my time to look properly. Our food supply actually went up, though it’s more of the same pre-war stuff; can’t exactly say I’m thrilled to eat it over somewhat fresh apples,” Candy explained while levitating her saddlebags onto the bed, opening them to reveal more of the plastic packaging, as well as a few cans whose paper label had fallen off.

“Ah, that’s good to hear.” So whoever had stripped this place before us hadn’t been perfectly thorough, just as I thought. “Did you find any ammo? I don’t have much for my rifle.”

“What kind does it use? I found two twenty-two calibre rounds, and three thirty-two calibre ones. Didn’t find any shells for my shotgun, though.”

“I’ll gladly take the point-twenty-two long rifle ones. Does your shotgun take twenty gauge? I saw some in your bags,” I chirped, much to my own surprise. I guess not even a concussion’s splitting headache could keep guns from cheering me up. I levitated out the eighteen cartridges I had left.

“Yeah, I think so. How come you have so many? How come you have any at all, for that matter?”

“I took them from the stable. Didn’t know how many, but twenty of them seemed like a reasonable amount. Why, how many do you have?”

“I only took ten, didn’t think I’d stay out here long enough to need more,” she admitted.

Chatting and giggling, we eventually ate breakfast—I wasn’t very hungry, but Candy rightfully insisted I eat something anyway—and prepared to move forward.

“By the way, Iron, what happened to your shotgun? I’m assuming you had one because you had ammo for it.”

“I… ended up using it as a blunt weapon. Not my brightest moment, I’ll admit.” Embarrassed, I felt myself blush.

We left the house—it was one of those furthest from the shop—and made our way along the road. Candy explained to me that the rest of the red bars seemed to be stuck inside the market, to her relief, which I ended up sharing. My headache was bad enough as was. I didn’t need to be attacked again anytime soon. What kind of strength did that thing have, anyway? He had hit me pretty hard, and yet, unlike the beast, he had never used enough force to instantly knock me out, much less actually threaten my life.

As we reached the shop once again, I noticed a smaller road led into the forest. Candy paid it no mind; she was right, we didn’t have time to waste on exploring a forest.

Less than five hours later, we arrived in another abandoned settlement. This one seemed much bigger than the last, but I couldn’t tell exactly by how much from here. Most of the houses were different, unlike Gluon Village. On top of that, I could see multiple-storey tall residential blocks in the distance. Candy suggested we stop here to scavenge and stay the night, and, exhausted from the walk, I agreed.

We were about to split up when the pink mare spoke up, “Wait, I should show you where to look, so we’ll search this one together.” As we stepped into the dilapidated house, I marvelled at how quickly she was adapting. In just a day, she already knew so much more than me. I would need to put in serious effort if I wanted to be as good as her at this. “The trick is to look where it’s inconvenient to check, since all those places have been visited before.” In an impressive show of strength, she pushed away a huge wardrobe, to reveal only dusty floor and wall. “Most of the time there’s nothing there, but you gotta check if you want to be sure.” I nodded in response. “I’ll take the kitchen,” she said, pointing to the left doorway.

Motivated to make up for my earlier mishap, I flipped the entire living room on its head. Why hadn’t she used telekinesis on that wardrobe? I was moving furniture much quicker with my magic, so why wasn’t she? Was my magical grip stronger than hers?

Unluckily, I didn’t find anything. Not letting myself get discouraged by my lack of findings, I moved out of the living room. I picked another room, a bathroom, though my decision was likely biased by biological needs.

I opened the door, but was shocked to find a fresh corpse inside. Well, ‘fresh’ wasn’t the correct word. This pony had been dead for… Well it was hard to hell, but definitely longer than a week. Who would pick a bathroom as a place to die, anyway?

My question was answered as I took a step into the room, and a scary thought reared its ugly head. Right at that moment, the ghoul opened its eyes, and its red marker appeared on my EFS. Knowing I didn’t have any time to waste, I reached for my pistol and activated SATS. I queued my three shots to its head. The sound of my ten millimetre firing in such a closed space felt like my poor aching brain was being assaulted with the same bullets I’d just shot at the creature. Within two shots, it was dead and the spell cancelled, leaving my head throbbing. Had it even been alive before that? Regardless, I was lucky to have such quick reactions.

No more than a few moments later, my friend’s shotgun roared somewhere else in the house, then promptly once again. Another pair of them? I ran to the kitchen to find her hunched over a ghoul’s deader body. She probably just shot this one twice. She turned to me and asked, worry apparent in her voice. “Are you hurt?”

“No more than I was five minutes ago, no,” I replied matter-of-factly. I didn’t count my migraine worsening as ‘hurt’.

One by one, red bars started appearing outside. Candy’s EFS must have started picking them up as well, as she leaned on the counter to look through the window. “More ghouls?”

“If by that you mean creatures like this, yes. There’s a lot of them. You run upstairs, I’ll catch up with you in a moment.” Trusting her to have a plan, I nodded. On my way through the lobby, I quickly floated the overturned wardrobe in front of the door before I reached the stairs.

As I arrived upstairs, I noticed Candy was tailing me. “Didn’t you say you’d need a bit?”

“Well, I wanted to barricade the door, but you took care of that. Anyway, not the time for chatter.” She walked into the room to our right, and I followed suit. Outside, a group—no, a crowd—of ghouls formed a solid wall of red on my EFS. This was more than I had ammunition, even if I very optimistically counted one bullet per kill. Where were they all even coming from? Maybe if Candy helped me, and if nothing else showed up, we could kill them all…

Yeah no, we were screwed, weren’t we? Our only plan was to flee, but I doubted I could outrun them, especially not tired as I was, or with my half-plugged nose. Candy approached the window, pensive. “I have a plan. I’ll lure them away while you get to safety. I’ll find you again, don’t worry.” Wait what? Walking back, she opened the window with her magic.

“Candy, wait!”

But she didn’t. She sprinted, jumping out of the window, and rolled as she landed on the concrete road behind the mob. “Catch me if you can, uglies!” the pink mare called out as she ran away where we’d come from, occasionally looking back to make sure the zombies were still following her.

Was this really the best way? I knew she was fast, and she knew better than me, but I couldn’t help but wonder if her putting herself in danger for me was a good thing. I sighed, both out of worry and of relief as I noticed my EFS was now empty. Neither of the ghouls in the house had shown up on it, so that must have meant that the spell ignored them because they looked and acted dead.

Wary, I left the house, avoiding the side rooms. Who knew if any more sleeping ghouls were here. I doubted it, but erring on the side of caution felt like the correct choice given that I was alone again.

Unlike Gluon Village, the houses in ‘Inntation’ were far enough apart that going between them—and most importantly getting away from the open street—was a possibility. On top of that, the sickly grass in the yards muffled my footsteps, making sneaking much easier, and the broken picket fences didn’t prove to be much of an obstacle.

I followed the main road from a distance, careful to avoid being out in the open any longer than necessary. I always stayed in the shadows of the houses, walking on the dead grass in the yards, keeping my distance from any and all red bars. Eventually, the trees to my left started thinning, and I could see large fields of half-dead vegetation in the distance.

All the while, I couldn’t help but worry about Candy. I knew she would be fine—she was a grown-up, after all—but a part of me dreaded thinking about an off-chance where the horrible ghouls would catch up to her. No, no, you’ve seen how fast she runs. She’ll be fine. You know it, I reassured myself.

I eventually reached a huge river. It was wider than my stable’s atrium was long, and in the freezing cold I didn’t even want to think about swimming across. Especially given how fast its water flowed, angrily whooshing. On the other side, houses were few and far between, and the forest was replaced by plains that stretched further than I could see. Perfect. Less places for ghouls to lurk in. In the distance I could see what looked like a bridge. I followed the river, and eventually noticed that the drawbridge was open, and that to cross it I would need to find a way to close it first. Something else that caught my attention was the large antenna standing in a yard across the river. A pre-war radio station?

In front of me stood a small building, barely big enough to fit a single pony inside. Next to it, a sign labelled “Train Station” stood, pointing across the bridge. As I approached it, a white bar popped up on my EFS. In front of the house with the antenna, a lone pony sat on a porch, wearing a thick coat. He did not seem to be aware of my presence in the slightest. I moved closer until I was next to the booth. I reached for my rifle and carefully lined the iron sights up with each other, and with his head.

Wait, what am I doing? I was eliminating a potential threat. But I can’t know if he’s actually a threat. His bar is even white. I knew I should err on the side of caution, but was it really worth taking a life ‘just to be safe’?

Well, it would always be fun to watch his brain exit through the hole I’d add to his skull. I froze. What did I just think? Surely I didn’t actually just consider committing murder just for fun. But I had, and that terrified me. I couldn’t allow myself to turn out like my father. And even then—he hadn’t murdered anypony! Besides, the shot would likely draw out more ghouls, so I had even less of a reason to even think of pulling the trigger.

I harnessed my rifle to myself and swallowed. Inside the booth, a single terminal illuminated the wall in front of it. I approached it and clicked a key, only to be met with a password prompt. Of course, life couldn’t be easy. I stepped outside again and was suddenly very glad I hadn’t killed the stallion. “Hey!” I called out as quietly as possible. His ears perked up, indicating that he’d heard me. He looked around, but his gaze didn’t lock onto me. I stood up on my hindlegs, using the booth as support for my balance and waved my other front leg. “Over here! Can you lower the bridge?”

He lifted a pair of binoculars, then walked over to the booth twin to the one on this side. The wooden bridge came down with whirring noise, and the older pony waited for me on the other side. “What’s a filly like you doing around these parts? Come on, it’s dangerous.” He motioned for me to cross. From the elevated height, I could make out train tracks in the distance.

I followed his advice—or request, I couldn’t really tell—and approached him. “I suppose I’m just passing through.” As I arrived on the other side, the bridge started opening again.

“Did nopony tell you to avoid shouting in ghoul-infested areas?” He sounded… disappointed? Like he was reprimanding me.

“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t really know how to get your attention otherwise,” I admitted, slightly flustered.

“Don’t apologise, it’s your own safety, after all. It’s not like I care, but I’m surprised anypony would do something so reckless,” the old buck clarified and started walking back to his chair on the porch. On the other side stood a machine with gun barrels pointing out of its sides. Was that an automated turret? We had those in the stable, if I remembered correctly.

The buck must have noticed me staring. “Ain’t she a beaut? Too bad ammo costs half a kidney. But she does dissuade a lot of stupidity, I think.” I nodded and contemplated the machine. While it certainly had a certain aesthetic to it and probably had very interesting internals, a part of me was offended at the idea that you would use a machine to shoot for you. Didn’t that take half the fun away?

After a short enough while, I spoke up, “Would it be possible for me to wait somewhere around here?” It felt odd asking for permission for something as mundane, but I didn’t know if I was maybe on his property.

He laughed heartily before replying, “Yeah, of course, what kinda question is that? Just don’t steal my stuff or my guests’ and we’re fine. Though I gotta wonder, what are you waiting for?” he inquired, perking up in his chair.

“My friend; we split up earlier, and I’m supposed to wait somewhere safe. Here seems safe enough.” I just hope she is safe.

“Well then, feel free to wait with me. You want some tea?” the light brown stallion offered, pointing to a kettle in front of him. “Should still be warm.” I nodded, and he trotted inside, bringing out a cup that he filled with the steaming liquid.

I levitated it to my lips and noted that it was just the right temperature to not get burnt, and took a sip. It was horrible, but I didn’t dare show it on my face. “Thank you,” I said, trying very hard not to let my disgust show. Might as well make some more conversation if I’ll be staying here for a while. “I’m Iron Sonata, by the way.”

He laughed heartily again. “That is such a stable dweller name.” What was wrong with my name? “Stockpile, glad to meetcha.” He grinned, letting his crooked yellow teeth show. “You said you had to split off from your friend. How come?” Well I didn’t say I had to, but I suppose it was obvious…

“We were ambushed by ghouls, and she decided to act as a decoy,” I explained as neutrally as I could.

He made a worried facial expression before replying. “Well, I don’t mean to be a bearer of bad news, but she probably is done for.”

“Forgive me for contradicting, but she was much faster than those ghouls, she could likely run circles around them. I would be lying if I said I am not worried for her, but I also believe in her.” I smiled, proud of my friend. If only I was an adult like her…

The buck chuckled. “Well, I suppose hope always dies last. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you please.”

Remembering something he’d said previously, I asked, “Do you get many guests?”

“Yeah, lots of travellers come by here. This trade route is pretty popular, especially lately. With how unsafe every other east-west trail is getting, ponies are willing to give the cold north a shot. New Detrot especially has been slowly flourishing from the influx of caravans.” He sighed and added, “Oh, would you look at me, rambling again. I’m sorry, you probably don’t care about any of this in the slightest.”

“Oh, no, sir! I do appreciate any sort of information. School in the stable doesn’t really teach anything about the outside world, so I’m fairly lost, and I would be very grateful if you had the kindness to tell me more about this place, please,” I explained, trying to act as polite as possible. I just hope I don’t seem like too much of a bootlicker…

“Oh, what a well-behaved filly you are, of course I’ll help you.” He smiled at me, crooked teeth showing once more. The image of myself aiming for his skull mere minutes ago crossed my mind, but I pushed it aside. “I’ve been here my whole life, so I wouldn’t know where to start. I suppose a good lesson zero would be to be a little skeptical of ponies. I’ve heard a lot about stable ponies being incredibly gullible and easy to trick. You’ll probably fall for a few tricks before you learn the do’s and don’t’s, but just try not to get killed before you learn ‘em.”

He took a brief pause, catching his breath. “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Hell, you probably shouldn’t be trusting me right now, if you were to follow my advice to the letter, but you’re lucky that I’m an incredibly honest and frank pony.” Was a pony who bragged about his honesty really worth trusting? I had my doubts, but at least he was friendly so far.

“Would you happen to have any advice more… specific? I’ll try to stay alert about getting tricked.” Not that I was too easy to trick, I was pretty bright after all. Well… I did get tricked by Mother’s attempts to trick my father, but she was a particularly clever pony.

“Hmm… Lemme think… Well, maybe I’d mention that ghouls are dangerous, but I think you already know that. Nothing is really coming to mind, sorry, young one. But yeah, just ask me whatever you want to know, and I’ll answer to my best ability. You’re lucky you found a pony as honest as me.”

“For starters… What are those ghouls? They look like they shouldn’t be alive, but certainly hit like they’re still alive. Are there any ways I can avoid them, or at least know when to expect them to be around? Sorry if this is a bit of a silly question, sir.”

Stockpile’s eyes lit up, and he replied, “Well, I was expecting dumber questions, actually. Truth is, nopony really knows what ghouls are. In theory they’re just ponies that soaked up too much radiation, but that’s not even the whole story.” He went quiet for a moment and glanced over the bridge, at the rest of town. “Most ponies just die when exposed to too much radiation, but a few ghoulify instead.” He paused for a moment to catch his breath. “As for where to expect them? Well, I’d say anywhere that was inhabited, or just anywhere ponies were likely to be on the day the bombs fell.”

“That sounds like a fate worse than death, if you ask me. Just… losing your mind and wandering for days before you finally die off.”

“Uh, missy… most of the ghouls here have been around since the end of the war, so more than just a few days. And those are just ferals. Some rare ghouls manage to keep hold of their mind, so don’t be surprised if you go west to New Detrot. A ghoul doctor works there, and she’s probably the wisest mare I know.”

“I… see. So there’s actual settlements here? So far all I’ve seen was a group of three crazy ponies in a train station and you.” My headache was starting to flare up again, so I decided to sit down on the wooden planks next to him.

“Well, yeah. To the west there’s the griffin town of New Detrot, while to the east, if you walk long enough you’ll find a few small villages, and eventually arrive in Manehat—” He stopped mid-sentence. Manehatten? That’s a name I remember from History class. One of the bigger pre-war cities. “Wait a second, you’ve been to the Foal Mountain train station?”

“Yeah, but how did you know it was that one?” It wasn’t as if that was the only train station in Equestria. “Were those three famous or something?” Realising my mistake, I immediately corrected myself. “Well, are they famous, rather.” Idiot. How could I let that slip? I didn’t want him to know I was a killer.

“Not really, but they are blocking a lot of travel to and from Hollow Shades. I kinda wish some hero wannabe would finally kill them, since it’s too far out of the way for anyone to place a worthwhile bounty on them, and my measly fifty caps just aren’t drawing out the headhunters.” Wait, so he wants them dead?

“Oh, I killed them,” I stated flatly.

I was expecting relief or gratitude, so when he started laughing, I simply tilted my head and furrowed my eyebrows. What was so funny? “Bahaha! You stable ponies really have a good sense of humour.” I simply deadpanned in response. “Oh. You’re serious.” His expression darkened. “You really shouldn’t lie, little one.” But I’m not lying! I wanted to scream at him, to convince him. But I knew he wouldn’t believe me, so I wouldn’t waste my efforts.

As I kept quiet, he eventually spoke up again, “Hey, if you oh-so-lethal filly killed them, how did you do it?” Was that self-doubt I could hear in his voice?

“I snuck up on the one wielding that long metal bar and blasted his face to bits with a twenty gauge. Then, near the corner closest to the mountain, I shot the unicorn mare through the eye with her own rifle.” I turned to point at the weapon I’d just mentioned, strapped to my side. “Then I caved the shovel-wielding earth pony’s head in with my shotgun, which I still regret because that was my best weapon, and I broke it beyond repair.” I sighed and frowned. “He deserved it though, he gave me a huge cut across the chest.” I unzipped my Stable 4 jumpsuit, showing the line of bare, red skin between my whitish fur. “Is that enough detail?” I regretted my last comment. I really shouldn’t be disrespecting an adult, no matter how casual our conversation has been so far.

“Woah nelly. Well forgive me for being skeptical that a filly fresh outta the stable could take on three raiders. Then again, they weren’t the brightest bunch; weren’t even that dangerous in how far raiders go.”

“So ponies like them are common enough to have a name?” I wasn’t exactly surprised, but it did leave me… conflicted? Was I actually happy that bad ponies existed? No, that couldn’t be.

“Raiders? There aren’t that many of them, compared to how many normal ponies there are, but there’s way too many anywho. Plus there doesn’t seem to ever be an end to them. I guess some ‘good’ ponies just need enough time till they eventually go raider.”

“I take the monetary incentive of bounties isn’t enough to get rid of them. Makes it seem like there’s more of them than you let on,” I commented. Something wasn’t adding up, here.

“Like I said, it’s mostly that they just keep coming back. Most ponies just avoid them, and the bounties only start stacking up when a band of raiders gets in the way of somepony’s business. Like, if they camp alongside an important trade route.”

Why did he put a bounty on the train station raiders, then? “So you think the route south of here is important? How come?”

“Oh no, it’s just that a group of scavengers I know went to Hollow Shades and never came back. I’m hoping nothing happened to them, and that they’re simply stuck there.” He shrugged. Hope always dies last, huh?

“Couldn’t they just go around them? I’m pretty sure the forest is dense enough that they could just not get noticed.”

“That would be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Around Detrot, you never go into the forest deeper than a few metres. It’s almost as bad as the Everfree.” Another name I recognised from History.

We sat in silence for a while, and I took a sip of my tea. Despite its horrid taste, the warmth was nice. “How often do travellers come by?”

“On average I’d say I get one caravan every other day. There’s even a pony upstairs at the moment. He’s been here for a few days already, but the nearest settlement to the east is pretty far, so I can’t blame him for resting up properly before trying to get to ND.”

“Why, is it particularly hard to get there?”

“Not really. It’s just that, like everywhere along the tracks, settlements are few and far between, so you need at least two days to get there.”

Our conversation continued for maybe an hour, until a white bar blinked into existence on my EFS, followed by a shout that echoed throughout the icy air. “Iron!” I turned my head to see Candy, standing in the middle of the road leading to the drawbridge.

Next to me, Stockpile muttered. “Do all stable ponies have a hard time understanding that you shouldn’t shout in a ghoul-infested neighbourhood?” He stood up and started walking to the bridge’s control booth. Right after, a few red dots appeared behind her, and ghouls walked out from corners and holes they’d been hidden in.

As Stockpile noticed them, he stopped in his tracks. “What?” I asked.

“I’m sorry, but my policy is to never lower the bridge while there is a chance of a feral crossing it. It’s how I keep myself safe.” On the other side, Candy had noticed the ghouls and was running towards the bridge.

“Are you just going to let her die, then?”

“I have done similar things, and I will do it again if it means I get to survive, I’m sorry about your friend.”

Fine. I would do this my way, then. I had enough shots to take down five of them. There were three ghouls. I walked to the riverbed’s ledge, and floated out my rifle, and clicked into SATS. No matter what I targeted, the odds weren’t great. Sixty percent for a torso shot? I cancelled the spell.

I took a deep breath, trying my hardest to calm down. I closed my left eye and aimed down the barrel, aligning it with a head. My telekinesis moved the rifle back and forth by the slightest amount, just enough to throw off my aim. There was no way I could focus on my telekinesis and aim at the same time, so I simply held my breath. My weapon much steadier, I pulled the trigger. One down, two to go.

Scratch that, three, no, four, to go. Scratch that again, six. My friend fumbled for her shotgun, and a ghoul ran up to her. She blocked a hit with her PipBuck, and to my surprise the device didn’t even seem to take any damage. My target now stationary and much closer to me, I had no trouble lining up another headshot. I saw Candy click her SATS button, and watched her shotgun tear through another two ghouls. Another one ran up to her, and was met by a swift and powerful buck to the head, and the crack reached even me. Despite how dangerous she was, their numbers simply kept growing.

The pink mare shocked me by throwing her shotgun across the gap, then jumping. Even as athletic as she was, she couldn’t jump a distance like that, and so she fell into the water. My heart sunk momentarily as she disappeared under the surface. Then, to my surprise, she resurfaced and didn’t seem to have any issues fighting the current and swimming. Just how fit was this mare? When did she even learn to swim?

She made it more than three quarters across when she started having more difficulty fighting the flow. I snapped out of my amazement and wrapped my telekinetic aura around her saddlebags and lifted as hard as I could. My horn illuminated everything around me, and I could see the reflection of my horn in Stockpile’s wide eyes, shining like an overvolted red light bulb.

I wasn’t able to lift her out of the water, but now much lighter, she quickly reached our side. A ghoul jumped in after her, and was immediately swept away and promptly disappeared under the agitated water. With my help, the shivering Candy climbed up the riverbed. Stockpile called out to us. “Quick, get inside!” We entered the building with him.

The mild smell of old wood hit my nostrils, similar to Spark’s hut, but without the dust. I noticed many pieces of paper tacked onto a wall across from the entrance, but paid them no mind for now. The buck led us to an electric heater, and I helped Candy out of her drenched saddlebags and barding. As I draped my quilt over her, she finally spoke up, teeth chattering, “C-c-c-cold.”

“You’re a tough one, miss, I’m genuinely impressed,” Stockpile admitted enthusiastically. “Most other ponies would not have survived that. The cold water makes your body stiffen, and even strong swimmers would struggle in the current. And that kick… wow” Yeah, and she wouldn’t have had to risk her life if it weren’t for your stubbornness. I wanted to say this outloud really badly, but I feared it wouldn’t accomplish anything other than sow trouble.

Then, he turned to me. “And you! That was some impressive shooting! Nothing unheard of, but I’ve never seen someone your age shoot this well!” Wait, that counted as good aim? I’d needed a good ten seconds to line up that first shot.

“Thank you, sir. I suppose it’s the effect of having a rifle as my cutie mark,” I replied calmly, despite my anger. I wanted to hurt him for endangering Candy, but I also perfectly understood why he’d acted the way he did.

“After a performance like that, any shadow of skepticism is gone about you killing those raiders. I almost wish I could just pay you the bounty right now.”

The budding feeling of self-confidence grew into proper pride as I answered, “Told you I did it. Wasn’t even particularly hard; I wouldn’t even have gotten hurt if I hadn’t let my guard down.” I could feel a smug grin on my muzzle, but could not suppress it. “Although, if I may ask… How come you can’t pay out my reward?”

“I already paid the bounty to Gust, in New Detrot. You can get it from him. The bounty actually came from my personal fund, and I’m just not willing to pay more than fifty caps for that.” This pony was brutally selfish and completely honest about it. Somehow, I couldn’t stay angry at him.

He left to bring Candy a cup of tea, and it was then I noticed her expression of shock and disappointment. When he exited the building, she finally voiced her mind, “H-how are you so nonchalant about killing those three ponies? I d-didn’t w-wanna bring it up because I thought it was a deeply traumatic experience for you. And yet h-here you are openly discussing a bounty for them.” Heck. Candy did believe I was innocent. I didn’t dare imagine how utterly disgusted she would be with me if she found out I’d actually enjoyed killing them.

“I’m sorry, I’m just a bit pragmatic. I killed them in self-defense.” That part was true. “And I happen to want the bounty, because why refuse it? Just because I would have avoided killing them if I could have?” I wasn’t sure how true this part was, however. “Besides, they were bad ponies, I helped out a lot of people in the long run by getting rid of those three.”

She sighed, still shivering, and replied, “I s-suppose you d-do make a point. It’s j-just sh-shocking to hear my baby cousin talking so p-proudly about the po-ponies she’s killed.” She took a deep breath and sighed. “I guess I just shouldn’t be expecting stable morals to translate perfectly to the Equestrian Wasteland, huh.” Weren’t you the one who threatened a pony at gunpoint for a healing potion or two? Then again, that potion had saved my life, so I didn’t feel like complaining.

Stockpile returned, holding the kettle by its handle with his mouth. I added this situation to the already long list of things that made me glad I was a unicorn. He poured her a cup, and she practically threw the cup at her face. Unlike me, she did not even attempt to hide her disgust, but just like me, she kept drinking the liquid just for its heat.

I walked around the lobby a bit, approaching the wall of paper. On the side, a sign read, “Wall of Shame — Vandalise my inn, and I’ll put a bounty on your head.” I noticed that the twenty or so sheets of paper all read “Wanted Dead”, and the pony’s name as well as a physical description of them, and then the reward. At the bottom, a text said, “Wanted for vandalising my inn” or “Wanted for refusing to pay up”. Prices ranged from ten caps to several hundred. All of them had a red stamp over them that read “Claimed”.

“Admiring my collection? That’s what happens to idiots who mess with my inn.” He laughed, and I let out a small giggle. “I have a few free rooms, so I’ll let you stay at one for free tonight. It’s the least I can do after causing you so much trouble. Just don’t tell my other guest, he wouldn’t appreciate it.” After a short pause, he added, “But you’re paying for the food and heating power. I can’t afford to give those away.” Well, aren’t you generous?

“H-how much?” stuttered my pink companion. “W-we d-don’t have much.” She blurted out that last part really fast, apparently

Stockpile replied, “Nine caps for a night of power to your room. Seven for breakfast.”

Caps? I glanced over to Candy, and met her confused gaze, confirming that she didn’t understand either. Oh, so it was option number four; bits had been replaced by another currency. He meant bottlecaps. I had those! I pulled them out—Celestia bless the PipBuck’s autosort spell—and handed nine of them to the buck. Right now, heat took priority over food, and we could only afford one of those two.

These ponies actually used those as currency. I couldn’t understand what was wrong with bits. Though admittedly my stable didn’t only use bits either—we had chips that were worth hundred, thousand, and ten thousand bits, respectively.

He took the bits—correction, he took the caps—and motioned us to the stairs. Candy looked puzzled, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she just followed me as I walked up the stairs, feeling the air get colder with each step. Stockpile led us to a room with two twin beds and its own electric heater plugged directly into the wall socket. It was even colder than in the hallway, but still noticeably warmer than outside. When he finally closed the door behind us, Candy asked in a whisper, “What kind of trouble did he cause you? If he did anything like your father, I’ll… I’ll…”

I just shook my head. “No, he meant you. He refused to lower the bridge when he noticed there were ghouls behind you.”

“Wait, so the drawbridge is still functional? Why wouldn’t he—I suppose it makes sense. I had much better odds surviving the river than he a horde of… What did you call them earlier?”

“Ghouls.”

“Yeah, those. Still, I’m still a little hurt he was willing to just let me die right then and there…” I understood perfectly how she felt. I really couldn’t condemn him for not sacrificing himself. The radiator gave a small click, and a lamp turned on. Candy immediately walked up to it, sitting down in hopes of basking in the warmth once it was heated up.

She and I chatted idly for less than an hour before running out of topics. I pulled out my book and magazine collection, and offered them to her. She chose the detective novel I’d been reading in the morning. I told her that if she caught up, we might be able to read the rest together. Then, I opened the magazine about spell matrices; I didn’t really want to start a new novel before finishing one, and I was still not in the mood for the dry walls of text I would find in the Big Book of Arcane Science; especially not with my pulsing headache. Before too long, Candy left the room, saying she wanted to talk to Stockpile some more. I simply left the adults to their business.

Done with my magazine, I made my way downstairs, where I found Candy and Stockpile playing chess. It wasn’t a game I knew much about; I was familiar with the rules, having played with Candy during my early foalhood. But once she stopped coming around as much, we never touched a board again. Without anypony to play with, I’d naturally lost interest.

“So lemme get this straight,” she said. “You’re telling me that leaving east or west is guaranteed death by hypothermia?”

“Correct. Everywhere along the tracks is too far to reach within a day, and you’ll just freeze to death if you’re out at night. If it were just you, you might be able to walk sixteen hours straight until you reach New Detrot, but I doubt the little one would be able to keep up.” I wanted to protest, but he was right. I just wasn’t made for physical effort. Well, that was what Mother had been telling me, and I was very much inclined to agree.

“Do you have any suggestions, then?” asked Candy.

“You could stay here and scavenge until you make enough caps to buy a tent or a small wagon from the traders that come by. Though I couldn’t just let you stay in a room for free for more than a day. Business principles, I hope you understand.”

“Well… Could we maybe help around? I’m a trained security pony, and I’m sure Iron can make herself useful in some way, too. She has really strong telekinesis, and is very bright, especially for her age.”

“Can’t say I need any help running the place, and I don’t think I can afford security, really. Though if what you’re saying is true, you’ll have no trouble finding work in New Dee.” He shook his head. “Look, I think your best bet would be to camp out in one of the abandoned houses, and scavenge around the ghoul-infested part of town. It’s very dangerous, and it’s why you might actually find some valuables,” explained the buck.

“Are there really no other options? After today, it feels like suicide to mess with ghouls.”

“Well… I could think of one more possibility, and it’s a lot safer. It would involve… helping out lonely stallions.”

Candy gasped and stood up. “How dare you suggest that‽” she cried out, apparently offended by the old buck’s proposition. I couldn’t understand why she was so upset. I’d ask her later.

“Look, I’m sorry, miss. I’m just… giving you options, is all.”

A throat was cleared next to me, and I screamed in panic. All the eyes in the building were suddenly on me, including those of the jet black earth pony stallion who’d walked up next to me without me ever noticing his presence. Realising the embarrassing situation I was in, I quickly apologised, “I’m sorry, sir, you startled me.”

He gave a low chuckle and said, “Oh I’m sorry, miss. I do have a habit of unwittingly startling ponies with my light step.” While talking, he moved a strand of his silvery grey mane out of his face, revealing light blue eyes. His voice was melodious, smooth, and confident, and yet it wasn’t soothing in the slightest. Every word that left his throat sent shivers of terror down my spine. I did not understand why, but this stallion scared me.

He turned towards the ponies in the main room and spoke up, “I seem to have overheard your conversation about your predicament.” My coat stood on edge. “I happen to be going to Detrot, and I have a wagon large enough for three.”

Candy’s eyes briefly lit up, before darkening again as she asked, “Well, how much would it be? We don’t have much money—caps, I mean—at all.”

The stranger chuckled. Now that I was starting to calm down, he didn’t seem as scary. His face showed nothing but kindness, and so did his voice. “Oh please, you shouldn’t worry about that. I’ve been travelling alone since my partner died, and I’d be glad to take you in just for the company of two bright individuals.”

My companion replied almost immediately, “Oh. In that case, we’ll gladly go with you.” I still had my suspicions of the stallion, but if Candy was this eager to accept his offer, it probably meant he was by far our best option. Besides, nothing he had said or done would lead me to believe he was not trustworthy, just a silly feeling that likely just originated from being startled.

“Well, perfect. We’re leaving at dawn tomorrow.”

Nothing I thought could convince me to trust this stallion. Why was she trusting him so easily? I wanted to speak up, but I was just a filly and my opinion meaningless. If I tried to say anything I would just get scolded and told to be quiet while adults are talking. I looked at Stockpile, who seemed neutral about the situation. I guess he really doesn’t care how long we stick around.

Wrapped in my quilt and Candy’s bedroll, I sat on the wagon and watched her mane bob up and down with her steps. Not six hours into our trip, I’d started lagging behind the two, and instead of slowing down, we’d decided we would save time if I was to sit on the cart. My runny nose and frequent sneezes made breathing difficult, which slowed me down further.

Of course, Candy, as energetic as always, offered to pull it. I didn’t weigh much compared to the rest of the carriage, but I still would have felt somewhat guilty if I’d made a relative stranger pull me. I still felt bad for making her pull me, but less so. I glanced over to my right. The plains that had started after Inntation were everywhere north of the tracks. To my left, the same dense pine forest as near Small Empty blocked my view.

The carriage’s wheels were big enough that the rocks laid out between the planks and iron tracks that made up the railroad didn’t make the ride too bumpy. Still, it seemed oddly easy to pull, even when considering Candy’s strength. After all, the wagon was full of the stallion’s merchandise and supplies. Maybe a levitation talisman was helping.

He had told us he was a wandering merchant slash entertainer when Candy had asked him about what he did. I’d been too busy trying to keep up with their brisk pace to really be able to talk. Most of their conversations were superficial small talk, with both parties revealing only rather little of themselves to the other. As expected, the stallion knew we were stable ponies, but didn’t try to lecture us on the dangers of trusting outsiders.

Once I was riding on the cart, I ended up picking up a book instead. Instead of reading only for myself, though, I decided to do so out loud. I would have preferred the one I hadn’t touched yet, but Candy wanted to hear about the detective. Since she was doing me a favour, I figured I would let it go her way. After maybe three hours, I was a little hoarse and decided it was best to stop.

A red bar momentarily appeared on my EFS. I knew it would disappear within a minute, so I didn’t pay it any mind. They had been doing that the entire way, and Candy did not even see them. At first, two days ago, I’d been anxious and scared when I saw them. Now, I was almost hoping to get attacked just to relieve me from the boredom. According to Silver—the earth pony stallion we were now travelling with—the animals around the region respected pony roads and rarely ever attacked outside the forest, but were formidable foes if confronted on their own territory. It had me wondering how the raiders had gotten themselves in that fight. Maybe one of them had dragged it out. Quickly, boredom overtook me once more, and I started considering my options for entertainment.

I’d been reading so much the past few days, and none of my books felt interesting. If I were back in the stable, I would have been moving my desk underneath the duct. Talking to Candy sounded fun, but I couldn’t figure out where to start. Maybe I could mention life in the stable? Yeah, that sounded like a good start. After a brief think, I asked her, “So… you mentioned training, so I wonder… what did they teach you?”

“Well, mostly hoof-to-hoof combat, as well as gun maintenance and use, but also a few spells. There’s this hoofcuff spell I know, but I need a few seconds to cast it. I also had to do lots and lots of physical exercise. They made us lift weights and run several dozens of laps around the track every day.”

I gulped at the idea of running that much. I suspected I could train myself up to that level eventually, but my body wasn’t made for it, so I had a natural disadvantage. “So you got to mess around with rifles?” Switching to a topic I was actually talented in was probably a good choice. Maybe that way the conversation would flow more naturally.

“I did, but I never liked them much. Aim training is hard when every detail past five or so metres blurs in with the rest.”

“I never knew you had bad vision,” I commented. She’d never mentioned it.

“Me neither, until I entered the shooting range. I thought it was normal that I couldn’t see that far, and in most of the stable, it was not a big issue.”

“Did you never get glasses?”

She laughed nervously. “I diiiiid, but I accidentally broke them. I could have gotten a new pair, but I didn’t like wearing them anyway. It’s not like I really needed them, it just prevented me from properly using rifles. I prefer hoof-to-hoof anyway; much less lethal and much better at suppressing a pony. Besides, as far as weapons go, I think shotguns work better in most situations.” I had a hard time understanding why she would willingly have worse vision, but then again, I also had a hard time understanding how she could get through that much physical training. Our conversation derailed and eventually quieted down.

I was back to square one, and I didn’t know what to do. Deciding to mess around with my PipBuck, I switched to the radio tab, and selected one of the two stations that my PipBuck detected. This one was labelled ‘New Detrot News radio’. Immediately, a pleasant female voice filled the atmosphere.

“—Frozen Graveyard. It is currently unknown whether the ghouls living there are responsible for the disappearances, but we advise avoiding the town until further information is available.”

The voice paused for a moment, and there was the tiniest click. “Slavers have been spotted north of the Marey metro junction, so we would advise avoiding the area for the time being. For those of you meaning to go scavenging in Old Detrot, this leaves you with two paths. Taking the blue line is still not recommended unless you own a hazardous material suit, while the train tracks are to be avoided if travelling in groups of less than four. The S’lees that made their home in the area only attack small groups of ponies. You can always band together with other groups to make the trip safer for everypony.”

Another break, followed by another small click. “Today’s first good news, everypony.” Did I imagine it or did she sound less professional? “According to Stockpile, somepony cleared out the raiders near Foal Mountain station. He wasn’t able to check it himself, but later today we should have confirmation.” Pause, click. “An update on the Foal Mountain station. We have confirmed the situation, and the railway between New Detrot and Hollow Shades is once again safe to travel.”

Click. “You’re listening to the New Detrot news station.” Click. “Multiple reports indicate ponies disappearing around Frozen Graveyard. It is currently unknown whether the ghouls living there are responsible for the disappearances, but we—” I turned off the radio.

Lifting my gaze, I noticed Candy staring back at me, looking… proud. I’d done a good thing, hadn’t I? Her earlier comments had left me conflicted, but now I was sure.

I looked at my PipBuck again, and the ‘data’ tab caught my attention. I’d downloaded a whole lot of logs, hadn’t I? There was a lot of them, and I had a lot of time. I started reading, and as I made my way through the first log, I noticed it was very mundane. It was simply some employee talking about their day, and about things that went well and others that didn’t.

The second log was similar, though this time she also talked about issues outside of work. Her buckfriend was giving her trouble. She didn’t like cleaning, and he liked having their apartment in mint condition.

The seventh and eighth were similar, but she did mention that her parents wanted her to finally get married and have foals—was being married a requirement for having foals?—while she wanted to live her life at her own pace.

As I read through the entries, I became oddly familiar with the mare’s life. Part of me felt bad, but I also needed to read something to entertain myself.

In this log, she was talking about how much more boring work had gotten since the privatization of Foal Mountain. How almost nopony except the owner and his family came around anymore. How she didn’t understand how a pony could be rich enough to buy a mountain.

Many diary entries later, she wrote about Stable-Tec employees and how they now made up the majority of the travellers that came to the station.

Even later, she mentioned how a town was being built over night, and that suddenly so many construction workers came around the train station.

Eventually, I arrived at the date the bombs fell, several years after the first entry. This entry was much darker. It was a mare expressing her dying thoughts and the regrets of her life. She regretted not having had any children. She regretted having such a rocky relationship with her parents. She regretted never applying for a different job and staying in this hell-hole where she was paid to read books and pass time, because nopony ever came around.

A gust of wind chilled me through the thick blankets, snapping me out of my thoughts as I shivered. I turned my attention to the track ahead, noticing how dark it had gotten. Even though the fog was much thinner today than the two previous days, with the quickly dimming light it was starting to get difficult to see very far. “Shouldn’t we be stopping soon?” I asked, voice cracking.

“Why yes, good idea, Iron Sonata,” said the buck without a hint of irony, turning to look at me. “I was just thinking so myself. Maybe a clearing where we could set up a campfire and cook some food. I’d just prefer to be as far away as possible from the forest.” I nodded, and silence fell on our group again.

Unsurprisingly, we quickly found one of the small clearings that had been littering the side of the railway, and stopped there. Deciding to leave the wagon on the tracks, Silver delved into it, and came out with a large cooking pot on his back. Inside it, I could see tools I suspected were useful for starting fires, firewood, and cans of vegetables he was planning on using for the stew. “You two can stay inside until the fire is lit. While it isn't much warmer in there, there is at least no cold wind. I shall call you over when the fire is started and the embers hot enough to sit around comfortably.”

Following his suggestion, Candy climbed the few steps that led into the wooden cart, turning on her PipBuck lamp, and I did the same. Inside, a central aisle led between two sets of shelves mounted against the walls. Another ladder allowed a pony to climb into the hammock, hanging more than a pony height above the floor. I understood why it was most logical to place it there, but suspected a fall from that height would not be a nice experience.

“I guess he’ll be sleeping in his hammock, and we can just sleep on the floor,” Candy told me. She undid her saddlebags and put them below the shelves after pulling out her blanket. I followed her example, tucking away my harness alongside our bags. Without the wind to chill me through my blanket, I felt comfortably warm.

I let myself simply enjoy the comfort for ten minutes, before Silver called out, “The fire’s started, you can come out.” Candy and I perked up, and walked out into the plain, where a small fire was crackling idly underneath the pot, a few metres away from the cart. The food smelled good, despite not being close to ready yet. The two of us sat down next to each other, opposing the black buck.

“While we wait for this to heat up, why don’t you tell me about yourselves? I would be very happy to share some facts about myself, too.” He smiled across the fire. “What are your cutie marks, how did you get them? I’m sorry if this is a generic question, but I am not too sure where to start,” he said, his smile turning sheepish.

Before I had a chance to really speak up, Candy started talking, “Mine’s a candy cane wrapped in bandages. I received it when I realised how much I loved caring for ponies, or just helping them in general. A filly in my class ended up cutting her leg, and I bandaged it. The feeling of being helpful and of receiving gratitude really influenced my actions ever since.” Her face had that serene smile of hers that could calm even the harshest of storms.

They both turned to look at me. As excited as I was to have a cutie mark, I did not like talking about getting it, but it would have been rude to not share. “Well mine is just a rifle. I got it when I first fired a pistol three days ago, I realised how interesting everything about them is. There’s not much more to it than that.”

Silver then shocked me with his next words. “You just love the way they splatter ponies’ brains, don’t you?” I gasped in consternation. H-how did he know that? Why did he have to say it in front of Candy? How could I respond to this? I needed to… laugh it off? Act offended and deny it? Pretend it was a joke and run along with it? Before my brain could fry itself trying to talk me out of this situation, he added, “I’m just kidding, of course. Firearms are indeed fascinating, though I can’t say I’ve ever been that good with them.”

“What about you?” asked the security pony.

“Well, it’s a bit of a long story, so I’ll skip the details. A colt accused me of stealing his plush bear, and all evidence did point to me. I negotiated my way to innocence, and earned my mark by realising I could talk myself out of almost anything.” He pointed to his flank, where two snakes wound around a winged rod. “It’s a caduceus, an ancient symbol for eloquence.”

“Oooh,” awed Candy. “I thought it was related to medicine.”

“Fairly common misconception. The only thing they have in common is the nonviolent resolution of conflict. Eloquent stallions do not need to hit their enemies to defeat them.” A shiver ran down my spine.

He stirred the pot and let out a content sigh. He took three bowls out of his bag and filled them, then said. “Dinner is served. Do forgive my rather basic cooking.” He placed the bowls on the side of the fire, where we could see them and reach with telekinesis. Finally an earth pony who understood he didn’t need to bring them to us, just into our line of sight.

I took mine, and as I lifted my spoon, my stomach churned. Why did I suddenly lose appetite? I’d been hungry all day. Next to me, Candy was chowing down on her food. I lifted the spoon and smelled the nice aroma of the food. It smelled so nice, and yet… I was salivating out of nausea, not appetite. I put it into my mouth and swallowed. Appetite or no, refusing to eat was not a good idea.

After a while, I took another spoonful, and then another. It seemed eating slowly had fixed my appetite issue, and I found myself delighted by the food. The warm glow in my stomach also made me realise I was sleepy. It was still a bit early, but I had been waking up very early these past few days, so it made sense.

We were lucky to have found such a great pony so early. Travelling with him would make our life so much easier, and we’d get to eat proper food, and not conserved apples and preserved snacks. It was almost too good to be true.

Stockpile’s words echoed in my mind.

“Oh,” I whispered as my eyelids grew too heavy to keep open.

I awoke to whimpers, pathetic and heart-wrenching. “P-please, s-stop…” I heard Candy beg. Hearing this much distress in her voice chilled me to the bone, much colder than the frigid night air ever could.

“Oh please. Certainly you didn’t actually believe that I was letting you travel with me for free; that I was letting you eat my food at absolutely no cost? This is naught but payment,” Silver replied, a familiar tone of sadism in his voice. As I was coming to, I realised that I was lying on my stomach, with my head facing right.

I wanted to kill him. I wanted to get up, find my pistol, and turn the ground crimson. It was then I realised I was bound, and that the ropes were pressing painfully deep into my legs. I dared open my eyes. In front of me lay a terrified Candy, tears welling in her eyes and running down the sides of her muzzle. Her lower jaw trembled, and tiny sobs were escaping her mouth. Her head rested on her hooves, also bound. “W-why n-not tell us? W-we could have f-found a way. S-some payment,” wept the pink mare.

On top of her stood Silver Tongue, a smug grin plastered on his face. In the dark, his eyes had a terrifying malicious glint to them.

I needed my gun, but I knew it wasn’t here. I’d left it inside the wagon where I couldn’t reach. I could see the cart, but like an earth pony in a cage, I couldn’t pick up anything inside the carriage. I needed something. A hammer, a screwdriver, a broken shotgun. Anything at all. Nothing could be found; even the stones he’d placed around the fire were gone. He knew about telekinesis. He knew to keep anything that could act like a blunt weapon out of reach.

The stallion chuckled menacingly. “Oh, my dear innocent cumrag, don’t you know? This is just vastly more fun. Why else would I wait until you woke up?” He licked her neck and thrust forward. She let out a scream of pain. I couldn’t really see it, but I could feel it. I’d been there before. Flashes of awful memories with Concerto filled my mind, and fury flared. “Oh, don’t be so loud, it hurts my poor ears,” he said in his normal, almost sing-song voice. Then it turned ice cold as he added, “Scream again, and I’ll kill you and sell the child to Red Eye.”

If only I knew more magic. If only I knew that hoofcuff spell. Or teleportation. Or a knock-out spell. Or an anesthetic spell. All I knew was how to polish stupid metal.

No, that wasn’t quite right. I knew a spell, but I’d never used it on such a long distance. I stared at the wagon again and tried to remember where exactly my screwdriver was. I focused my magic, remembering the specific patterns I needed. This spell wasn’t very useful when your magic was your screwdriver, but conjuring a tool was a must for anypony working in maintenance. The spell fizzled, and my head throbbed in response. I wasn’t used to the spell, and the combination of head trauma and whatever drug I’d ingested made it so much harder. What could I do? I had to act quick, but I also needed time to recover from the backlash. I was doomed. No, Candy was doomed. Still, I was lucky he hadn’t noticed the light red glow.

I hurriedly looked over the cart, desperately trying to find anything that could help me out here. My panicked gaze settled on a portion of sky above the wagon that looked… different. It wasn’t just pitch black. No, many tiny white dots littered this small area. Stars. They were… stunning… gorgeous… calming. Candy’s pathetic squeals and the rest of the world faded away as my mind was drawn to the idyllic hole in the clouds.

I snapped back to reality, and the noises coming from my left brought back my fury in a flash. This was not the time to contemplate the beauty of the universe, but it had cleared up my head enough to attempt the conjuration spell again. I channeled my magic once more, this time no longer trying to constrain the flow. My surroundings grew increasingly redder, and I finished the spell, releasing my magic. Immediately, the cross-head screwdriver I’d stolen from the stable appeared in my telekinetic grasp with an audible ‘pop!’. Silver Tongue heard it and turned to me, immediately starting to move.

Acting quickly, I jammed the tool into his veiny neck right as he ran to me, closing the gap in less than a second. He kicked me in the ribs, sending me reeling on my back. My world exploded with pain, making me lose my magic grip on the screwdriver poking through his neck. I howled in pain and immediately regretted breathing out.

He lifted his leg, getting ready to stomp. By the way he was leaning, I could tell that he wasn’t going to just hit me, that he wanted to put his entire weight in this. That he was about to turn my head to paste. I wanted to lift my forelegs above my face, but they were still bound.

Suddenly, right before he could kill me, my tool was enveloped with purple magic, pulled out and thrust through his neck again. When it was removed immediately afterwards, blood sprayed out everywhere in front of him, staining my coat red. A spurt of it landed on my tongue right before he fell over, presumably dead.

Huh, so everypony’s blood tastes just like mine.

My gaze shifted back to the blot of stars, then turned to black as I lost consciousness.

Footnote:

New Perk: Thorough study — You may or may not be the fastest on the uptake, but when you do learn something, you know it well.

Perk Refreshed: Conjure tool — You can teleport any simple tool whose location you know to yourself. This is limited to basic tools with easy to remember designs. Maximum range is three times your INT score in metres.

New Perk: <ERROR: MISSING DATA> — <ERROR: MISSING DATA>.