Chapter 5: Crumbling
“Now I know that’s a lie”

Our new home wasn’t anything excessive or impressive, but it was still a nice place in my mind. The outside of the shack looked just like any other we had seen in the city, and was similar to those we saw the ponies of Shanty living in. The walls were made from sheets of corrugated steel, stacked against one another and connected with an assortment of screws and bolts that looked barely sufficient to keep the walls together. The roof was a similar material, but it was covered by a large, battered tarp that kept the current rain from leaking between the sheets of metal, mostly. A few leaks still dripped into the structure, but it wasn’t so bad as to flood the home.

The door was just a tarp draped over a hole cut into the steel that made up the walls, offering just enough privacy and little security. I would have been worried about such a thing back in Shanty, but with the Remnant constantly present in Caesar’s Stand, I felt that the security of a door wasn’t nearly as important to the zebras in the city. Inside, the building was split into two rooms; each with an old mattress placed in a corner and separated by a tattered sheet that was hung from the ceiling. Again, it wasn’t exactly privacy, but it would allow us each our own space should we need it. The leaks dripped to the dirt floor with soft thuds, but only caused little spots of the ground to turn to mud, keeping much of the floor dry before we entered and soaked the rest of it.

Felix quickly claimed the room that was separated from the door, placing his bag beside the mattress before trotting back through the curtain to my room. A small cupboard for food was the only difference between the two rooms, and was just large enough for Felix to place most of our purchased food into the two small cabinets. He kept some of it in his bag for the next day, just in case we were out for a long time and needed a snack while we were out. I unstrapped the holstered pistol from my hoof, placing it on the cabinet to keep it from getting dirty. When I stepped away, Felix pulled the gun from the holster and used the curtain to try drying it as much as he could, claiming it would prevent rust.

It wasn’t as nice as what we had while we were growing up, but it was still a home in my mind.

“Shayle,” Felix spoke up once he had finished drying my gun.

“Yeah?”

“Why did we run away?” he finally asked, looking at me with a curious expression.

I had feared that question as we were running out of our old home, and now that he had finally asked it, I was worried once again. I had been thinking of what to say while we made our way through the sewer pipe the day before, but after everything else that had happened, I had actually stopped trying to figure out what to tell him. I guess I just assumed that since he never asked before that he didn’t care. Turns out I was wrong.

“Dad…he…got in trouble…with the soldiers,” I spouted off, completely lying, but hoping it sounded at least possible for our dirtbag of a Father.

“He did?” Felix asked, sitting down across from me and looking up with a cocked eyebrow.

“Yes. I don’t know what he did, but it must have been bad.” I’m going straight to wherever bad zebras went when they died, lying to my brother to protect my own reasons for leaving, and to keep him safe from what Father had done to me. He was too young to know that kind of thing, and I wasn’t going to be the one to poison his life with that.

“Why did that make us have to leave?”

“We…would have lost the house. Without money for it, the guards would have taken it, and we would be homeless.” Good thing I had a good imagination, because if I didn’t, he would be shooting holes through my logic in seconds.

“Oh,” he sighed sadly and looked down. “Is Dad going to be okay?” he asked hopefully as he looked up to me.

No, no he wasn’t, and he deserved a lot worse than what I gave him. Why was Felix even hoping for that, he was a terrible Father to both of us! He beat us, degraded us, and didn’t even care what happened to us as long as he still had a bottle of whiskey in his lips! I wish I could have said all of that, but Felix didn’t seem to believe it was so bad. That stallion never treated my brother nearly as bad as he treated me, but it was still much worse than any child deserved, and yet Felix still worried about him? I didn’t get it.

“Yeah, I’m sure he will,” I lied through my teeth. I was good at that.

We had told Seer that we would meet her at the bar, and so we did. It had taken Felix a lot of convincing to get me out of our new home, but it was a good idea I suppose. If we were going to live in Caesar’s Stand, we should at least get to know some zebras right? No point having a home if you seal yourself away from everyone else living with you. I honestly didn’t mind living cooped up in our shack without ever meeting the others in town, because I had never done it before. I knew Felix, I’d talked with Seer and the Praetor, that was plenty of zebras to be acquainted with.

The bar wasn’t particularly difficult to find, the hollering and whooping of the drinkers could be heard through most of the city even with the rain. Most of them looked like soldiers, but I had honestly expected better of those who were supposed to uphold our safety and protect us from the Wasteland, what soldiers had always seemed to be in my mind. I thought they would be preparing for whatever mission they had coming up, not partying in some oversized shed while sucking down more alcohol than Father had ever sold.

We arrived only a few minutes before Seer, and I almost didn’t recognize her without the jacket and rifle on. She still had a small cloak on to cover her chest and flanks from the rain, but her head was uncovered and allowed her beaded mane to hang freely down her neck. It was shorter than I had thought, barely even reaching her eyes at the front. She was still wearing the same smile from earlier, and greeted us warmly.

“New ones! I’m glad you made it. Welcome to The Fountain,” she told us happily, waving a hoof around to the assorted zebras.

“Thanks…is it always this busy?” I asked, leaning in close to the mare so she could hear me over the din of the bar.

“Not usually,” she replied. “But it’s more fun when there are more zebras here, more to talk to.”

I nodded and followed her through the crowd to the actual bar, which was similar to our own shack, but about three times larger. At the center was a large, circular table with three mares and a stallion calling out for orders and passing out drinks, each wearing a shotgun on their sides in some strange device that reached up to their muzzles. I didn’t know what they were, but I had a feeling they weren’t for show.

“So, what’s your poison?” Seer asked me as we finally reached the table. She caught on to my confused stare, and quickly clarified. “What do you drink? Whiskey? Beer? Vodka?” she shuddered at the last suggestion. “Please tell me it isn’t vodka.”

I bit my lip briefly before answering. “I don’t drink,” I told her nervously, feeling like what I said was some form of heresy in current company.

“You don’t?” she asked, cocking her head briefly. “Oh well, more for me. What about the little one over there?” The mare waved a hoof toward Felix with a smile.

“No, he doesn’t either,” I answered without skipping a beat.

“Hey!” Felix tried to protest, stepping closer to us.

“I said no, he’s not old enough.”

“Fine, no fun for either of you.” Seer turned to the bar and asked for three bottles of beer, apparently not understanding that neither of us would have any. At least that’s what I thought.

The two extra bottles quickly found their way into the waiting hooves of a pair of soldiers standing near the back wall of the bar, and I found myself sucked into a conversation with them. Seer introduced us as ‘the new ones’, and the soldiers were surprisingly warm to us, unlike our experience earlier in the day.

“Good ta’ meet ya’,” the first offered, his words slurring slightly. I don’t think he needed the extra beer from our host. “Name’s Iredi, this is my brother Obsinth.” He waved a hoof to the other soldier, who nodded as he sucked down a long drink from the bottle.

“Shayle,” I replied, and my brother did the same, smiling giddily.

“So Shayle,” Iredi said happily after a quick pull on the bottle, “Did ya’ just get into town?”

I nodded and grinned. “Yes, just a few hours ago.”

“Almost didn’t find us though,” Seer broke in. “Got lost in the rain.”

No we didn’t! We just couldn’t see how much further to go.

I tried to say that, but Obsinth’s laughter stopped me. “Don’t worry little lady, happens all the time.”

“It does?” I asked with a cocked eyebrow. How often did it rain around here?

“Almost every time it rains,” Iredi answered. “So…never.”

Then why did he even say that? I don’t understand drunk zebras. Maybe Seer should have chosen different recipients for her donations. “So…you’re soldiers?” I asked, not knowing what else to say rather than stand there in awkward silence.

“Yeah, straight outa Zanzebra,” Iredi told me with a grin. “Why, you interested in joinin’?” he asked with a laugh.

I shook my head and grinned slightly. “No, just curious.”

“About me? Dang, I musta’ done somethin’ right,” he joked. At least I think it was a joke. “Anything else ya’ wanna know?”

I may not have started the conversation really wanting to know much about the buck, but he was kind of nice. He told me that him and his brother were both chosen to join the Remnant at a young age, and started training only a few weeks after getting their glyphs. Iredi was the better shot, and according to him the smarter one, but Obsinth was the stronger one. I guess that made him the less smart one too? I don’t know, but I do know that the two brothers could really put down some beer. Even though they were a little buzzed before we even showed up, the two still drank a dozen more between them, beating out Seer’s three and my zero.

I spent most of the time talking with Iredi, while Obsinth and Seer whispered over in the corner, occasionally looking over at us and chuckling about something. Actually, I spent more time listening than actually contributing; only nodding to make sure he could still see I was listening. Felix sat by the bar and talked to the four zebras running it through the night and later I even saw him helping pass out some of the drinks at the direction of the stallion who seemed to be in charge. My little brother was a bartender now. Great, I’m such a good sister.

I don’t know how late it was when Seer finally walked over to us, but it felt like it was much later than I should be up with how early we had to get up for our job the next day. I’m not sure how I lost track of time, maybe it was the lack of a way to tell time in the Wasteland, or the fact that it was already dark out before we even arrived in town. Either way, I decided I should get Felix back to bed so we could at least try to sleep.

“Hey, Shayle, I need to make sure Obsinth here gets to bed nice and warm,” Seer whispered to me, or at least as much of a whisper as she could in the still loud bar. I was surprised to hear that she didn’t sound even a little drunk, though she seemed to be leaning on the soldier beside her an awful lot. “Thanks for coming out tonight, it was fun.”

“Yes, it was a good time,” I replied with a smile, even if it wasn’t actually what I would qualify as ‘a good time’.

I waved goodbye to the two, then turned back to Iredi, who was waving to his brother and giving an exaggerated nod. The buck smiled and looked back to me, almost losing his balance for a second as he brought his hoof back down.

“Thank you for the good time Iredi, but I think I should get home too,” I said, feeling like I was one of the few sober zebras in the room.

The soldier nodded and leaned in close to me. “I should too, but ah might need help getting’ back.”

“Sure,” I agreed with a forced grin. I didn’t want him to get lost in the city, especially with the rain, but for some reason I really wasn’t looking forward to walking the zebra back alone. Even drunk, it isn’t hard to get home, at least it never was for Father if he started drinking while on the job, but I suppose he may not have been around for too long, possibly just passing through to get wherever he was being sent. “Just let me tell Felix to get home too.”

The buck nodded. “I’ll wait here.”

I trotted to the bar while Felix walked over to me with a little yawn. “Are we leaving yet? I’m tired.”

“Yeah, head on back. I need to walk Iredi home,” I explained. “Do you remember the way?”

The colt nodded and turned to the door, waving goodbye to the bartenders before galloping through the rain. I smiled and trotted back over to Iredi, who was busy counting the number of empty bottles sitting at the table we had used.

“Ah think ah broke mah record,” he mumbled happily, grinning at the bottles giddily, his words slurring even more than when we had first started talking.

“That’s a lot,” I agreed with a chuckle. “Are you sure you won’t get in trouble for this?”

“Nah, Commander said ta enjoy ourselves tonight,” he replied with a wave of his hoof.

“Well it looks like you did,” I said warmly, helping him up and letting him lean against me as we walked out into the rain. “Where to?”

“That way,” he said with a lazy wave to our right, toward the barracks. Why did I even ask that question?

He spent the walk mumbling about how much he had to drink, and asked “I wonder how mah brother’s doin’” about ten times during the five minute walk back to his building, only taking breaks to wave at other soldiers as we passed by them. When we finally reached his door, he pushed off of my side and turned to face me with a big smile on his face. Yes, the barracks had actual doors instead of the curtains, but I didn’t mind the Remnant getting that little perk after they had saved my life earlier in the day.

“Thanks again for the fun night Iredi,” I told him with a forced grin, still trying to play up the ruse that I’d enjoyed my time with the drunk zebra.

“No, no, thank you for the fun,” he slurred, then leaned in close again. “We could have more fun upstairs,” he whispered to me in a sultry tone, and I barely felt his tongue flick the tip of my broken ear before I pulled back.

“What?! No!” I wasn’t pretending I had enjoyed the bar anymore, there was no way I could.

“Why not? Ah’m a nice guy right?” he protested, still smiling and stepping toward me again. “Besides, I could die tomorrow.” I didn’t believe that, and I wasn’t about to fall for that lie just because he was a nice guy. That part wasn’t a lie, he was nice, but that didn’t mean I was going to do…that! What would even make him think that I would ever do that sort of thing with him, or anyone else in Caesar’s Stand?

“No. You’re drunk, and I have to get up early,” I explained angrily, trying to stay back from him and hoping that somewhere in his inebriated mind there was still a hint of reason.

He took a few more steps toward me, and to my surprise he actually stopped. “Okay, fine Shayle,” he grumbled, disappointment and rejection hanging heavily in his voice. The buck turned around and swayed his way to the door, barely able to stay upright as he fumbled with it. I didn’t expect that. I had been waiting for it to end the same way it always did with Father, and for Iredi to drag me into his room to do what he wanted. For the smallest second, I even thought that leaving home had been one big dream, and that my real life was about to take hold once again.

But now the soldier was shutting the door behind him, and I could hear the soft thud of his body hitting the floor just inside. A drunk stallion, one who was no doubt stronger than me, and who had even started making his move on me, was actually listening when I said no. Maybe it was because he was Remnant, but I really didn’t know. All I knew was that I needed to have a talk with Seer.

That’s also the moment when I figured out why she had been leaning on Obsinth so much.

The gate of Caesar’s Stand seemed much less ominous when it wasn’t hidden in the curtain of rain from the day before, and even looked more welcoming despite how it worked and was made. The metal was still soaked from the rain, causing the pale light of day to glint ever so slightly from the drops as they ran down the steel and into the dirt, meshing with the mud that covered the ground of the city from wall to wall. By the time we had woken, most of the soldiers that had been staying in the barracks were long gone, off to do whatever it was soldiers did in the Wasteland. I wondered if Iredi had left with them, or if he was still passed out just inside his door, but I didn’t bother to check.

The guards standing at the top of the gate cast strange glares toward me and Felix as we waited for whoever our guide was for the work we had been given, but never tried to talk with us or question why we were sitting under the torn tarp of the entry. We each kept our bags around our shoulders, trying to keep the bottoms from touching the mud where water could seep through into our food and Felix’s books. My gun was strapped onto my hoof like Strike had shown me, completely free of rust thanks to my brother’s efforts at drying it the night before. Luckily, no new leaks had sprung in our roof during the night, and the gun remained dry and ready for use. Use that I hoped it wouldn’t see on a scavenger run.

I was pretty tired still, and didn’t get nearly as much sleep as I had wanted to before waking up so early, but I was starting to wake up as the air began to warm up little by little. Felix looked about as well rested as me, and I think he fell asleep while sitting there a few times. I could tell when he woke up because he would quickly take a deep breath before whipping his head from side to side. Did he do that in class back home too?

A familiar voice finally greeted us after almost an hour of waiting, and we both turned to see the guard from the night before trotting toward us. “Good morning you two, ready to do some hunting?” Seer asked with a bright smile. Her rifle hung down from her neck in the same way it had the day before, but something seemed different about it. At first I thought it was that the rain wasn’t clouding my vision, but my eye quickly turned to a small piece of metal dangling from the front sight by a string. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it seemed unnecessary.

We both nodded and grinned, glad to see a face that had so far been friendly to us. “You’re our guide?” Felix asked as he stood from the mud, shaking his tail to fling the muck off.

“Yes, I’ll be taking you to your junk pile today,” the mare replied simply. Why didn’t she tell us this last night? “You two have guns and food right?” She looked over each of us with a skeptical look, pointing with her hoof to my gun for a second before looking over to Felix. “Only the one?”

I nodded. “Yeah, it’s all we could afford, and Felix doesn’t know how to shoot,” I replied. “And we have enough food for the day.”

“One day?” Seer shook her head. “Not enough, go get more.”

What, why? “You plan to be gone longer?” I asked her, cocking my head.

“No, but shit happens.” She shrugged off her bags into the mud, revealing that she had enough food and water to last almost a week. “I’ll wait.”

Felix looked up to me with a concerned stare, then stood up with a sigh. “I’ll get it.”

“And if you have any bread, I’ll trade you!” Seer chirped happily.

Once Felix rounded the corner from the gate, Seer turned back to me and pointed at my pistol again. “You know how to use that, right?”

“Of course,” I replied smugly. “It’s not that hard to shoot.”

“Famous last words,” she replied grimly. “I mean do you know how to use it well?” I cocked an eyebrow and stared at her for a few seconds, trying to figure out exactly what she meant. I could shoot, I didn’t mind shooting, and I knew when to shoot, what else did she want? “Can you hit anything from more than five feet?” she finally clarified. She sounded very different from the mare I had met with the night before, more serious. She was probably tired; after all, her night was even longer than mine.

“Well, I’ve only had it for one day…so I haven’t used it much,” I replied, not telling her that the one time I did use it I missed every shot.

Her hoof flew into her face and rattled the beads in her mane as she mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” I asked curiously. I could have sworn she said the word ‘stars’ somewhere in there.

“Nothing, just…I’ll do the shooting,” she told me with a groan.

I just nodded in agreement, not wanting to argue with a zebra who seemed to know a bit more than me about the Wasteland. “So…where are we heading?” I asked after a few awkward seconds.

Seer’s grin returned, and suddenly I didn’t think I would like the answer. “An old robotics facility from before the war,” she told me plainly. “I don’t know much about it, only that it’s a few hours walk from here, and nobody goes there because someone else already cleaned it out.”

“Then why are they sending us there?” I asked agitatedly.

“Because the basement is still full. The security systems have killed anyone that tried to get in, so it probably has the kind of things on your list.” As she spoke, the mare pulled a dirty scroll from her bag. “Probably these targeting systems, and definitely the circuitry.” Okay, no idea what either of those were for. I was more focused on the security systems that killed everybody who tried to get that stuff.

“And what makes them think we can get passed the security?” I asked skeptically.

“We aren’t drugged out raiders.” She looked over to me for a second then back to the list with a grin. “At least you don’t look drugged out.”

“What, no! I don’t do that stuff,” I agreed, probably a little more frantically than was necessary.

“Good,” she chuckled. “That means you might actually be able to help me get passed the security.”

I wasn’t too sure about that, I didn’t have the best luck with avoiding conflict.

Speaking of conflict. “Seer, why did you introduce me to Iredi?” I finally asked.

“Introduce? I introduced myself to him too, I’d never met those two before last night.” She turned her eyes up to me from the map, looking at me like I was crazy for asking. “Why, did you two do something bad?”

“No,” I replied bluntly. “He wanted to…but I said no.”

“You said no?” She sounded pissed now, I don’t know why, but she did. So, it was wrong for the mare to say ‘no’?

“Yes…is that bad?” I asked, starting to become worried.

Seer looked back down and rubbed her mane, grumbling and shaking her head slowly. “No, but…never mind, I’m sure you’ll find out eventually.”

That didn’t help to calm me down. It wasn’t bad for the mare to say ‘no’, but I’d still apparently done something wrong? Fantastic, way to give me a headache right before we went into a death-building.

“That was more peaceful than I thought,” Seer stated with relief as we finally crested a hill overlooking the old facility we were searching for.

The walk there was completely uneventful. Our guide had instructed us to stay quiet while we walked, not wanting to attract any attention without hearing it first. It had been pointless, because we didn’t see a single soul during the entire trip. No bandits, raiders, ghouls, or even wildlife had crossed our path between Caesar’s Stand and where we stood. It had creeped me out a little, but I didn’t mind a walk without being shot at or attacked.

“Remnant must have come this way before us,” she speculated, looking around with a confused stare. “That’s a relief.”

Yes, it was.

We had left not too long after Felix got back with the extra food, only taking enough time for Seer to explain the route and any threats we might hit on our way before we stepped through the gate and into the Wasteland once again. She seemed convinced that we would get attacked at some point before reaching our destination, but that never came.

“Is this usually not a safe walk?” Felix asked for the fifth time; twice before we left, twice during the walk, and now that we had reached the facility.

“No,” Seer replied. “Everyone gets shot at up this way.”

“Why?” I asked, not seeing any reason that would happen.

“Because we’re close to New Oatleans.” The mare waved a hoof toward the city that constantly loomed on the horizon, the place Xion had told us wasn’t safe. “Raiders aren’t safe there so they moved closer to the highway, and any towns on it.”

We weren’t safe there, raiders weren’t safe there, who was safe there? “Why is it so bad to be in New Oatleans?” Felix finally asked for us, staring to the battered towers in the south.

“It’s a warzone,” Seer replied grimly. “Remnant fighting ponies fighting ghouls fighting anything else.”

“Is that where all the soldiers who were in town last night went?”

She nodded slowly, turning her gaze to the city for only a moment. “Yesterday was their last day of rest.”

Wait. Was why she was upset about me saying ‘no’ to Iredi? Because I didn’t mess around with him before he was sent into a city even raiders wouldn’t camp in? What kind of logic is that? So what if he didn’t get to fool around with a mare one last time? Would it have made a difference to him if he did die for me to have slept with him? I don’t think so, nothing would have changed. He probably didn’t even remember me with how drunk he was, and I don’t think he would be thinking about me as he fought for his life against whatever was in New Oatleans!

Seer had just been trying to give a few soldiers a last hoorah before they were sent to possibly die, but why did she drag me into it? I didn’t want that, I never gave her the impression I would do that either! I met with her because she wanted me to, and because Felix wouldn’t let me sit at home. Not because I wanted to get to know anyone that way, and definitely not because I planned to send a random, drunk zebra off to war the way Seer seemed to think I would.

Welcome to the new slot on my ‘hate list’ Seer, you just took the spot right under Father.

“So this is what everything looked like before the war?” Felix asked as we trotted through the trashed, rusty gate surrounding the building.

It looked like a simple design, at least compared to the looming towers of New Oatleans. The facility was a two story, concrete square sticking out of what was once a grassy field that had since been reduced to a cracked floor of dirt. Both floors were set with a ring of windows around the entire wall, all of which had been either broken or cracked so badly they were hardly even recognizable anymore. Where the front door used to be rested a pair of metal slabs so badly bent that they couldn’t have even held a filly back from getting in, let alone us.

“Yes, but before the bombs it was actually something worth looking at,” Seer explained simply, leading us to the hole that used to be a doorway. The rifle was no longer slung over her back, and was once again hanging beneath her neck so that the bite was only an inch below her chin. Meanwhile, my pistol sat on my hoof like usual, and probably wouldn’t be used since the zebra with the beaded mane had decided I wasn’t allowed to shoot. Of course I didn’t plan on listening, if I could help shoot whatever was waiting for us in there, I was going to do it. As we passed the battered metal doors sitting on the floor of the entry, I noticed a strange black stain across the point where the two would have met back in their days as actual doors, with the dents on either appearing to be deepest at the center of the black stain, right were the lock used to be.

The building’s insides looked even worse than the outside. Wrinkled and burned bits of paper coated the floors everywhere I looked, complimented with bits of concrete from the cracking ceiling and a generous spray of bullet casings. At the center of the lobby we had entered through was a cracked wooden desk that seemed to be falling apart and was peppered with bullet holes across the front. On either side of this was a staircase leading to the second floor while behind it was a large metal door that had been spared the beating of the front door. To our left and right were hallways leading to the far reaches of the building, and likely nothing we were looking for.

“We should check the top floor first, and work our way down,” Seer instructed from the front of our group, her eyes scanning across the room slowly. “That way we can’t miss anything.”

“Didn’t you say the top floors have been cleaned out?” I asked flatly.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean the scavengers didn’t leave something behind.”

I rolled my eyes and followed her, making my way up the stairs while thinking about how completely pointless it was. If the things we were looking for were actually hard to find, then they would have to be worth some kind of money, right? So no scavenger worth the title would leave it behind. And if they weren’t hard to find, then why were we being sent into an impenetrable basement to find them? So they must be rare in the Wasteland, which means they are worth money and we shouldn’t even bother checking the places that scavengers already cleaned out!

Felix didn’t share my disinterest, and instantly started digging his hooves into old books that were laying around. Seer had disappeared around a corner somewhere ahead of me, and that left me to do something. I didn’t actually know what the parts we were looking for looked like, so I couldn’t actually try to find them, and I couldn’t help Felix look through books for obvious reasons. So I just started looking through offices for anything worth looking at.

As I suspected, there was nothing. All I found was a layer of old papers crushed under countless hooves, some smashed box thingies with shattered glass on the front, a few safes that had been pried open and emptied, and an empty box of pistol ammo. All trash that had no use to us, just proving that going upstairs had been pointless.

“Hey Shayle, look what I found!” Felix called happily from beside me. I was wrong, surprise. I looked down to the colt and found him sitting with a book folded open between his hooves, grinning giddily as he looked up to me. “It’s a supply book! It has a list of everything that the workers used to store in the basement.”

Well that was very convenient, and somehow it made sense that workers might like to keep track of what they had. “Really? Is there anything from our list on there?” I asked ecstatically, shoving my nose down toward the book quickly before remembering I can’t read.

“Yes. They have a stash of circuit boards, 30 to be exact, a 50 foot spool of wiring, and one targeting computer. Everything else we needed seems to have been used up.”

Thank Caesar! That was a good chunk of our list, I think. I didn’t look at it, no point for me to. “So that’s all in the basement?”

He nodded and flipped the book closed. “Did you find anything else?” he asked, placing the book in his bag and looking around the room.

“Trash, lots of trash,” I replied with a sigh.

“Well Seer did say they cleaned it out, so I guess we’re lucky we even found this book,” Felix said with a proud grin. “Maybe we should head back down and look there real quick?”

I nodded in agreement and started toward the door, anxious to get the first floor over with and move on to the basement where we would actually find the things we needed. I also would have liked to know where Seer went, I hadn’t seen her since we went upstairs, and I don’t think it would take her that long to check the empty floor before getting back with us.

The first floor was the same as the last, nothing of importance laying around, at least nothing I could possibly use. Felix didn’t even find any useful books this time, and he actually seemed disappointed by that. But not everywhere we go could have something useful, so I guess we would have to get used to that disappointment. We did find that the metal doors waiting behind the desk lead to the basement, mainly because there was a staircase heading down right behind them.

“Should we find Seer first?” Felix asked me tentatively, his eyes locked on the red glow coming from the bottom of the stairs.

I just nodded. She had a bigger gun, more experience, and above all she actually might know how to get us out if something bad happened.

“I’m right here.” I almost jumped out of my hooves as the beaded hair appeared beside me. Thankfully it was hard to mistake that mane for anyone else.

“Where have you been?” I asked, agitated.

“Checking for ghouls,” she deadpanned. “Never know with these places.”

Okay, good reason. I still hadn’t gotten the memory of the sewer pipe out of my mind, and if she was making sure I didn’t relive it, I would forgive the disappearance. “Did you find any?” I asked.

“Did you hear any gunshots?” she asked flatly, staring at me like I was an idiot.

I didn’t bother to answer that.

“This is stupid!” I screamed across the hallway, glaring at Seer even though she couldn’t possibly be to blame for this.

Another trio of green shots streaked between us, sizzling the air and forcing me to clench my eyes shut as the air heated suddenly. Behind me, Felix curled up against the wall and tried to stay as small as he could, unable to do anything else in our current situation.

“This is a restricted area. Present authorized identification or be vaporized.”

Stupid robot, you’re supposed to say that before you shoot at me!

Seer leaned around the corner with the rifle in her jaw, firing off a burst of three shots before another stream of lasers burned into the wall, forcing her to hide again. “Stop complaining and shoot!” she screamed over to me, somehow managing to talk around the gun in her mouth.

I groaned and picked up my pistol again, poking my head around the corner and taking aim. The robot we were shooting at was one of the pair that had ambushed us, don’t ask me where the second one went. It almost looked like a pony, except the body was overly bulky, and had a large dome of glass where the head should have been. The chest was wide open, with a pair of laser guns sticking toward us and firing the barrages every few seconds. I pointed the pistol at the glass head, and pulled the trigger four times before I was forced to hide around the corner again, narrowly dodging a burst of green light that burned the wall next to my head.

“Authorities have been notified, please stand by for vaporization.”

Authorities? What in Caesar’s name did that mean? If it meant the Remnant were coming, then I had nothing to complain about. Somehow I doubted it.

Another burst of fire roared from Seer’s rifle, hammering my ears with sound and leaving a constant ringing behind that echoes through my brain. The last shot she fired was answered by a loud pop, and the whirring of robotic legs stopped. I placed the gun on the floor at my hooves, perking my ears to listen for any robot sounds just in case.

Felix’s head lifted once the noise was gone, looking over to me with a frightened stare. “Did you get it?”

I…didn’t know. It wasn’t moving anymore, it wasn’t shooting anymore, and it wasn’t talking anymore thankfully, but what if it was a trap? I looked across to Seer, who was busy reloading her rifle and didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the silence that had suddenly filled the hallway. Looks like I was going to check.

I took a deep breath and slowly peeked one eye around the corner, pleading to whatever power decided that kind of thing that I wouldn’t get shot. The robot was standing perfectly still at the center of the hall, just staring to where Seer was hiding with its guns pointed straight at the corner. I started to lean down for my gun, but was stopped when the metal body suddenly leaned over and fell to the floor with a loud crash. Yeah, it’s dead.

A scream across the hall pulled my attention away from the destroyed robot, and over to Seer as a stream of lasers lashed into her side from behind us.

“Better wiped than striped!”

And there’s the other robot. I leaped to the nearest piece of cover I could find, curling myself against the wall opposite of where I was just in time to dodge another volley of green death. But Felix didn’t follow me. Instead, I caught site of a striped body dashing across the hall in front of the robot, barely ahead of the stream that nearly caught me.

“Felix! Get back here!” I shouted to him, lifting my pistol and firing a trio of bullets into the new attacker as I prepared myself to dash after him.

The colt slid the last foot into the side hall where Seer had been hiding and grabbed her coat, dragging the panting mare to safety as I watched dumbfounded. Maybe I didn’t need to get him a gun after all, because he was some kind of crazy as soon as someone got hurt. He dug into his bag and pulled out a pair of bandages, frantically unrolling them and placing them gently on Seer’s side as the mare tried to reach out for her rifle.

A barrage of lasers lashed across the ground in front of me, followed by some lame robot taunt that I really didn’t pay much attention to. I answered with a stream of bullets from my pistol, ending with silence as the slide locked back on an empty chamber. Great.

I fell back around the corner as a single laser bit into the wall beside me, melting the metal slightly as I tried to slide a new magazine into the gun from my bag. I really wish Strike had done a better job teaching me that part. The robotic walking approached as I finally managed to get the full clip in and closed the action, ready for another bout with the metal pony.

When I turned back to start shooting again, I froze. The robot was beside me, but was showing me its backside as it faced the two zebras across the hall, swiveling the two guns in its chest to bear. “Zebra forces detected. Die die die.”

Not on my watch. I fired every bullet in my gun as fast as I could straight into the back of the machine, frowning as only three of them actually punctured while the rest just bounced off of the curved body. I didn’t have time to reload, so I did the next thing that came to my mind; I jumped on it. My weight was just enough to wobble the robot, and the stream of light meant to fry my brother and Seer landed just in front of them, searing the ground with an audible hiss. The robot clumsily began to turn in circles, spouting a few error messages as it tried to turn on me. Unfortunately for it, I was in a place it couldn’t reach.

My hooves pounded at the metal body as I tried not to fall off, something that really wasn’t too hard with how slow the machine moved; I couldn’t imagine how it managed to sneak around behind us like that. None of my strikes did much of anything against the metal, I didn’t even dent it and only left my hooves throbbing from my efforts. Finally, I found a soft spot when my hoof drove through the articulated joint at the base of its neck, greeting me with a very uncomfortable feeling as the gears inside caught on my leg. Luckily, my hoof was apparently stronger than the machinery, and after a few seconds the parts broke off, flying somewhere inside the body with a loud clanking sound.

The robot under me began to vibrate roughly, and the error messages calling out from the speaker fizzled and died with the pop of something deep inside the body. Before I had a chance to get off, the robot fell over and dumped me onto the floor roughly.

When I got up, Felix and Seer were staring at me with wide eyes. “Nice,” Seer finally said, nodding with approval as Felix went back to bandaging her up.

After a few minutes of waiting for Felix to finish, Seer stood up with a groan and slung her rifle, making sure it was correctly positioned before looking back over to me with a slightly embarrassed expression. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied flatly, not really caring that she was alive. Honestly I only did it because Felix was there too; I couldn’t have cared less about her being in the line of fire. If she had been the only one the robot was about to kill I probably would have taken the time to reload, and passed on the mechanical pony ride. “We should keep moving.”

Seer nodded in agreement, stepping back to the front to lead us wherever it was we were going to search for the list of supplies Felix had found upstairs. “Okay, it says the wires and circuit boards are in…Storage Three,” he read off from behind us before catching up with the book hanging from his teeth.

“Good, hopefully that’s close,” Seer stated from up front, summing up my own hopes as well.

She was right about that, and thankfully the room we were looking for was only a few doors down from where we had been fighting the robots. It wasn’t very well stocked anymore, but the room was still very neat in comparison to upstairs. A few boxes were lying on the floor at the far end and a couple loose papers sat on the shelves. Oh, and a skeleton was leaning against the wall just inside the door.

I almost jumped straight out of my stripes when I saw the bones, only able to stay in the doorway because Felix and Seer didn’t react at all. How did they not get freaked out by that? Really, it’s a skeleton!

“Calm down Shayle,” my brother chuckled as he walked passed me into the room. “It’s not going to bite you.” I wasn’t worried about that! I was…worried about something I couldn’t quite think of yet.

I grumbled and followed the two in, looking around the room to see if I could spot the wires and circuit boards, whatever those are. I didn’t see anything except boxes and paper, so I sat and waited as Seer shuffled the boxes around and peered inside each one. After a few tries, the mare smirked and pulled a box down to the floor. “I found your circuit boards.”

They didn’t look like much, especially being so much smaller than I thought. I don’t know what I expected them to be, but it wasn’t what I was looking at. Seer ignored my confused stare and placed five of the boards into her bag. “We can’t take them all,” she told me as I watched. “We need to leave room for the rest of your list, and the Remnant could always come back down here to get more now that we’ve cleared out the security.”

She was sure there weren’t more robots? I would hate to tell the Remnant it was clear only to have them get shot at the moment they stepped inside expecting an empty building. While she packed them into her bag, Felix rolled a big spool of wire across the room, stopping it next to me and Seer.

“There is no way that’s fitting in our bags,” I told him, pointing a hoof at the head-sized spool.

“We can roll it out,” he said with a grin.

“Up the stairs?” I asked sarcastically.

He frowned and looked down at the spool, and I could see the gears spinning in his head to find a way we could get that roll of wire out of this place. When he looked back up at me, I suddenly had a very bad feeling.

And it was absolutely right! A few minutes later, Felix and Seer walked back into the hallway with a smirk, glancing back at me for only a moment before turning the corner to look for the rest of our supplies. I followed out shortly after with the spool strapped between my shoulders with a roll of tape Felix had found in another of the boxes and a dry stare on my face.

Basement 2, the basement beneath the basement, something that apparently Seer didn’t even know existed in the facility. We had spent nearly an hour looking for ‘Security Locker 3’ in the first basement, but never found anything other than storage rooms and utility closets. I thought that maybe Felix had misread the room we were looking for, but Seer confirmed that he was reading it absolutely right. That was when she saw the door.

We hadn’t thought anything of it at first; it looked just like every other door in the basement. That and the label for it had somehow melted into the wall along with the hinges so Felix and Seer couldn’t read what it led to. After trying every other door though, they decided to test the door with no name. It took a bit of effort for us to get it open since someone had melted the hinges into solid bits of metal, but eventually it fell back into the hall with a loud crash. Just beyond that was a large security door with a glass-faced-box sitting off to one side.

“Shit,” Seer spouted beside me as she walked toward the strange box, tapping at a little board that flipped from under it. “We need the password.”

That box was asking her for a password?

“Can’t we hack it?” Felix blurted from next to her, staring up at the box with a puzzled look. Why was I the only one who didn’t know what was going on?

“I can try, but I haven’t done this in years.” Seer rubbed her chin briefly before clicking at a pair of buttons on the fold-out-board. “Shit…that’s a lot of choices.”

“It’s only four letters though, shouldn’t be too hard to guess.” Seriously Felix, how did you know what that thing was? Did I miss something incredibly important during our walk?

The two sat at the box for a few minutes tapping away on the two buttons, pointing at the screen, Seer occasionally swore at it, Felix smacked the side once or twice, and finally, they both sighed with relief as the door hissed loudly.

“What happened?” I asked from the spot I had chosen to sit and wait, looking between the pair and the door as it slowly started to groan open.

“We finally got the password,” Felix said proudly, grinning giddily along with Seer.

I still didn’t know what that meant, but at least I knew that magic boxes with folding button things under them were for passwords. Also that I shouldn’t touch them because I had no idea how to use them or what they were even supposed to be, but apparently Felix and Seer both did, so they could handle that part. I would just carry big spools of wire and ride robots.

Through the big security door was a staircase leading down to a single room with three simple metal doors each labeled ‘Security Locker 1’, ‘Security Locker 2’, and ‘Security Locker 3’. That was simple, and thankfully we didn’t have an issue getting those doors open. No magic boxes with passwords or anything, all we had to do was push them open. We found a trio of strange pyramids covered in small holes in the third one, which I guess must have been the targeting systems we had come down here to get, so I placed each in my bags. I was slightly worried that they had been so easy to grab off the shelf; I couldn’t imagine that only two robots guarding the basement could possibly hold back a dedicated scavenger from getting down here, but maybe they had just seen them and ran off.

Because my two companions were obsessed with checking everything, we pushed open the doors on the other two lockers and promptly raided them for everything that looked valuable. Locker 1 was completely empty except for a few empty bottles across the floor and a small pile of about five caps lying about. I put these into our no-longer-empty money purse, bringing our total up to five caps. Great, I could buy a couple bullets.

Locker 2 wasn’t much different, except that Seer freaked out and quickly swiped a trio of large syringes off of the top shelf. I thought about questioning why she needed them, they were syringes so I assumed they were some kind of medicine, and that would mean Felix should carry them with the rest of our medical supplies. But she knew better than us about the random things you could find in the Wasteland, so I left her be and turned to leave the basement. We had what we needed, no reason to wait around anymore.

The second I hit the first stair, a crackling voice blared from somewhere in the basement. “Unauthorized removal of Targeting System Model A34-3 detected. Activating security.”

Wait, what did that mean?

Somewhere at the top of the stairs we could hear a loud whirring noise, followed by another robot voice. “Striped intruders detected, lethal force authorized.”

Even I could understand what that meant. I quickly jumped back down from the stairs, landing beside Seer and pulling the pistol from my holster to aim at the staircase. Beside me, the mare’s rifle was already leveled and aimed upward, waiting for whatever robot we were about to kill.

It was big, much bigger than the first two. The machine rolled up to the top of the stairs on four wheeled legs, stopping just before the steps and looking down at us. Its body was a large bulb at the center of the legs, and unlike the others had no guns sticking out from it. Instead, a pair of appendages stuck out on either side; one ended in a multi-barreled gun of some kind I’d never seen before, and the other ended in an oddly shaped device similar to those that the other robots had. At the top of the bulb was a small mushroom shaped thing with two red lights glowing on the front, staring down on us with mechanical malice. Without a moment’s hesitation, the latter weapon lashed out with a barrage of red lasers.

Seer dodged to the left, while I rolled to the right, narrowly dodging the spray as it landed right where we were just standing. We both recovered quickly and leaned into the stairwell, spraying as many bullets as we could into the metal monster above us. Only her shots were powerful enough to punch into the armored body, and mine ricocheted off into the walls around the robot. I still kept shooting, hoping that just one shot would find a soft spot until the multi-barreled gun began to spin.

I pulled my head back from the stairwell, and stared at the ground in horror as a wall of bullets sprayed into the room we were trapped in. Thankfully Felix had hid in one of the Storage Lockers, and was protected by the metal door as the robot’s weapon peppered it with dents. Across the room I looked over to Seer and found her looking down with her eyes closed, mumbling something to herself. Why, I don’t know, but I could only assume it was something important, maybe some magic to kill the robot instantly.

When the spray of bullets finally stopped, the mare opened her eyes and swung her rifle around the corner, but didn’t shoot. She just aimed, and aimed, and aimed. Just shoot! I screamed mentally, finally losing patience and leaning back into the stairwell to fire at the robot again. Just like last time, none of my bullets punctured, but I think I made a few dents before a wave of red energy lashed around me and singed part of my mane. Oh, and Seer still hadn’t shot yet.

The robot turned to look at her, and the barrels on the bullet spray gun revved up, preparing to turn the mare into a sponge. A single loud crack echoed between the walls as she finally shot, and the spinning barrels came to a stop. Another shot, and a familiar pop rang out at the top of the stairs. I peeked around the corner, and found that the robot no longer had that mushroom on top.

I really needed to ask her what she was mumbling, because it worked way too well for us. Or at least I would if I didn’t still hate her, maybe someone else in Caesar’s Stand would know.

“To a safe first return,” Seer spouted with a smile as she threw her hoof in the air, waiting for the two of us to meet it with our own before leaning down to take a pull from her glass. Felix and I each did the same with a glass of water, once again leaving our guide as the only one drinking out of the group.

The walk back to Caesar’s Stand was exactly the same as the walk out to the facility; nothing happened, at all. It still disturbed Seer that nobody shot at us, and once again I couldn’t care less if that meant some big thing was going down; I just stuck with the thought of soldiers going through to clear it before we left. The only difference was the pillar of black smoke off in the distance, probably some raiders getting fried once again by those soldiers we’d met the day before. So once again we were safe and sound, waiting out the night until the next day when we would head off to a new deathtrap in the name of getting supplies for an unknown Remnant officer. Easy.

We left the supplies that we gathered up at the gate upon the guards’ request, being informed that they would be picked up some time that night by a team of soldiers. We each shrugged and emptied our bags, then proceeded off to relax. According to Seer, and agreed upon by Felix, that meant going to the bar. Again.

Without the soldiers in town to fill the bar, the room was actually pretty peaceful. Aside from our group, only ten other zebras were present, each in pairs scattered across the room and drinking quietly. It was a welcome change in my mind, we didn’t have to yell just to hear each other, and there was music.

Yes, apparently it had gotten so loud the night before that I didn’t even notice a radio had been playing the entire time. I didn’t know any of the songs, or what they were talking about, but the tunes were nice. My favorite was a really smooth violin piece that seemed to go on for ages, and I loved it. Seer grimaced when the announcer started it up, but didn’t complain through it so I suppose she didn’t mind too much.

She didn’t stick around with us for long. Once a few of the other guards who just got off duty walked in she pushed away from the table with a grin and went to drinking with them, probably tired of our silent water sipping. Oh well, no alcohol breath around and no chance of her trying to hook me up with a random stallion she just met.

“Greetings again you loyal few, this is Remnant Radio. It’s time for some tales of our victories!”

The voice calling through the radio had a strange effect on the bar. Everyone who had been talking instantly silenced, turning their heads to the center of the bar and neglecting their drinks as the announcer spoke. I was a little worried at first when it got silent, but when I realized they were listening in I joined. The only one I saw not completely paying attention was Seer, who just kept drinking and staring into a wall while her friends tuned in.

“Today we’re going to focus on the New Oatleans area, and I have two great stories for you this time. First up, our loyal soldiers pushed the Steel Rangers out of a stronghold in the north of the city earlier this week. All enemy forces were killed!” The announcement was greeted with a round of cheering from the others in the bar, and even Felix smiled at the news. I didn’t know who the Steel Rangers were, but if we were fighting them I guess it was good they died.

“And our second story; those of you in Caesar’s Stand may have heard the rumors about a couple of weapons dealers to the north. According to my information, these ponies had been developing and providing experimental weapons to our enemies in New Oatleans, all only a few hours walk from your front gate.” Really? That close? Why didn’t anyone ever stop them before! “Well, I’ve got good news for you. Last night, those forces were taken down, their facilities burnt, and their homes destroyed. You heard me right, and the smoke to the north confirms it; the weapon dealers of Shanty are no more.”

What?!

“What?” Felix shouted beside me, muffled by the cheering and hollering of the others in the bar. He had a look of pure horror on his face, and I knew what he was thinking.

I jumped up from the table and ran back outside, looking over the wall to the north and scanning slowly. Please no, please be lying. There it was; the same smoke from earlier pouring into the sky to our north, what looked like a few hours walk away from the gate. I shouldn’t have cared, but I knew that the radio had been lying…it must have been. Those ponies could barely make their own homes, let alone weapons! The only strange thing there were the snakes and the ponies themselves, who would see them as any kind of threat? And yet, there was the proof.

Shanty was burning.

Footnote: Level Up! (Unarmed 35, Guns 30)

New Perk! [Short Temper] - When your companions drop beneath 50% health, you gain +5% to all types of damage

Author’s Notes: Again, I have to thank Kkat for creating this universe. I absolutely love it, and don’t know what I would do without it. The same goes to Somber for expanding the world and giving me a larger sandbox to play in. Thanks to my pre-readers for making sure I don’t publish this when it’s at its worst, and to everyone that has given me feedback; it really helps me to keep going and I’m so happy that others enjoy my work!