Those from whom we are always learning are rightly called our masters; but not every one who teaches us deserves this title.

In the wake of the building collapse, Starry was cheering in celebration of having escaped alive and with whatever it was she'd been looking for. She was hopping around and taking drinks out of a metal flask she kept in one of her pockets. I, on the other hoof, was sitting on the uneven road, sulking while the dust cloud settled around us. I was in no mood to celebrate. I ached all over, my wing especially after having strained it in the flying gallop out of the building and then having fallen out of a second-story window onto it.

Worst of all, Starry had gotten me to give up my full name. I hated my name and I'd hoped to leave it behind. It had always been the source of endless teasing. Even the good-natured jokes had grown tiresome years ago. Nevermind the fact that I had to have the worst possible luck. It seemed like something I'd never be able to leave behind and I was starting to feel like only the worst things from the stable had come with me into the outside world.

But then it started raining.

The first few drops hit my face and I looked up. The clouds had turned dark quickly, completely blacking out the sky. There was a low rumble from somewhere distant and then the rain began to fall in full force. I was soaking wet in seconds but I didn't mind. The rain was cool but not cold and it was actually somewhat refreshing after everything I'd just been through.

"Shit. Come on, Day," Starry called, launching herself into the air. "If we hurry we can make it back to where I'm staying before it's too dark. It's just a short flight north... ish... from here," she said, waving her hoof somewhere vaguely eastward. She squinted as she tried to see through the haze of the pouring rain, presumably looking for a landmark.

"Come on already," she called again, her forelegs folded across her chest as she hovered there impatiently, water dripping off the brim of her cap.

I looked back at my wing. It hung limply at my side and when I tried to move it, pain flared up in the shoulder joint. I bowed my head, ears folded back, "I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't fly."

Starry landed next to me, nearly tripping over her own hooves. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I think I dislocated my wing when I fell out of the building." I took a slow breath. "Can you help me pop it back in?" I asked, looking up at her timidly.

She shifted nervously on her hooves. "I don't really know anything about that..."

"I do. Just grab hold... there's fine," I directed her as she clamped her forehooves on my wing. She extended it, making me wince. "Okay." I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, trying stay relaxed. "Pull."

Starry hesitated but only for a moment before she started pulling on my wing. I gritted my teeth and stomped a hoof at the ground. "Ngh! Harder. Pull harder." I grunted and leaned away from Starry to add my weight to the effort, trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. The joint moved around out of its socket, a knot of pain that flared as it was pulled taut. My wing shoulder screamed, threatening to seize up. Struggling to breathe between pained gasps, I fought the reflex to tense my wing. I couldn't hold back the tears that rolled down my cheeks, washed away in the rain. "Twist. Forward! Keep pulling!" I yelled as she started to ease up just as it was almost there.

Finally, with a sickening sort of crunching pop, the joint fit back into place and I let out a scream of pain, finally allowing myself to tense up. I collapsed over onto my side and just lay there, catching my breath while the rain beat down on me. It had been the second worst pain I'd ever felt. Sometimes pieces just don't seem to fit where they belong.

Starry was quiet for a while before she sat down beside me and gently put a hoof on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said as I sat up slowly and looked back at my wing, giving it a flex. I could move it but it hurt too much to put any more strain on it. "Can you help me bandage it to keep it steady?"

She nodded and opened up my medkit, pulling out what remained of the bandages in there, then helped me wrap the joint and tied it off around my wing to keep it immobilized and supported. There was a slight tingle of warmth in my wing shoulder as the magic-infused bandages set to work. They helped ease the swelling but were really much better for healing open wounds. I wouldn't be able to fly for a few days or probably at least a week while it healed.

Starry looked at me, the rain wasn't getting any lighter and I was starting to shiver. "We should find some shelter," she said. I nodded in agreement and she took to the air again to get a better view of our surroundings. Landing after a minute, with another brief stumble, Starry motioned for me to follow her as she headed off towards the outskirts of the city ruins at a rapid clip.

I had a bit of a struggle to keep up; my hind leg still hurt. Glancing back, I could see blood seeping through the bandages, the rain washing it down my leg. All the running must have opened the wound. I figured it would probably stop bleeding once I was able to lay down and stay off it for a while.

"Day! Over here!" Starry yelled. I looked up from my leg and hurried over to where she'd found something. A heavy slab of concrete was propped up over the crushed remains of an old wagon. Approaching, I was at first skeptical—it looked like just a pile of rubble—but as I came closer I could see what Starry had spotted. The large slab provided shelter from the rain while other assorted scraps and chunks of concrete covered the opening and diverted water away from it, leaving a completely dry alcove underneath.

There was a lot of debris covering the entrance, making it a tight squeeze to fit through, but I'd had enough experience crawling around in confined spaces to fit in easily enough. Starry, however, had to unbuckle her battle saddle and drag it along with her tail to fit through. It was only barely accessible and I certainly never would have spotted it myself. Good at finding things, indeed.

The space was cramped, forcing us to sit hunched over but at least it was dry. Starry pulled out her flask and took another long draught off it before tucking it back into her uniform. She closed her eyes and let out a long sigh as she wobbled a bit and leaned against the side of the shelter. "The rain probably won't let up until morning." She yawned and hiccuped. "We should get some rest while we can."

No sooner had she suggested that than her hoof slipped out from under her and she slumped down to her side. She started giggling and hiccupping as she rolled over onto her back with a silly grin across her face. "Mmh. Sounds nice doesn't it? The rain. All... rainy-sounding..." Starry mumbled between hiccups. Her hind legs splayed out in a very... undignified position which made me blush as I quickly looked away.

"Um. Yeah... sounds like rain. I guess," I said quietly.

Starry giggled. "Hey. Hey, Day."

"Mmh?"

"Your name is Lucky." She snorted, stifling a laugh. "But you're not."

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

"Mmm... My lucky day..." Starry mumbled. Again, I just rolled my eyes. "I'm just gonna... close my eyes for a minute... just- just a minute..." she said with a sigh as she quieted down before passing out.

Following Starry's example, I closed my eyes and rested my head on my forehooves with an exhausted groan. The wound on my flank and the ache in my wing had me shifting about for a while as I tried to find the least uncomfortable position. My wet barding clung to me, bunching up and pulling around my shoulders, aggravating bruises. Eventually I abandoned the effort, opening my eyes and sitting up. My mind was racing with everything I'd been through that day. So I just sat there quietly, taking the time to think.

I had no idea just how dangerous the wasteland could be. I missed the stable but at the same time I realized that as long as I stayed focused on the task at hoof, I didn't have time to think about what I'd...

I looked back over at Starry's face. She was a fair bit older than me but still in her prime. I assumed that the white streaks in her mane were natural and not from age. She'd helped me and she'd protected me when I probably would have gotten killed by myself. It wasn't hard to get along with her.

I couldn't help but wonder about her reasons for helping me. They always told us that ponies in the world outside didn't get along; that they fought each other all the time for no reason. Starry wasn't like that, though. It dawned on me that I didn't know anything about her and I had a fleeting thought that maybe I should just leave while she was asleep.

Shaking the thought out of my head, I sighed and looked out at the rain. I had nowhere else to go. If Starry really wanted to help me, then I was in the right place. If she had other intentions, then could they be any worse than anything else the wasteland might throw at me? I didn't want to press my luck so I just layed down and sighed, closing my eyes as I listened to the rain.

I'd always liked listening to the rain in the atrium—the large central shaft that ran the height of the stable. There were sprinklers at the top that, on a regular basis, would shower the orchard below. I loved the sounds it made. Near the top it was a slight hiss with a metallic squeal as the sprinkler blades spun to spread the water out. Halfway down it was almost silent. And at the bottom were the sounds of leaves rustling and rivulets of water dripping off them and through the grated ceramic floor and into the soil underneath.

I used to sit under the trees in my free time to just listen to the rain. I remembered seeing a leaf fall down from the tree and then watching as the water collected in it drop by drop. Thinking about the rain in the stable actually brought a small smile to my face as I sat there in our little shelter, listening to the downpour. It made a rapid drumming sound that, after listening to it drone on for a while, started sounding like the static I'd hear if I had tuned my PipBuck radio away from one of stable channels.

I felt a strange, calm sort of dissonance about my situation. Cold, soaking wet, alone save for the passed-out mare next to me; the stable was all but a distant memory... And I felt fine. Life as I'd known it was over but it was just a matter of accepting that and moving on. I'd be okay.

On a whim, I brought up my PipBuck radio and started clicking through frequencies. The first one was only static, as was the second. I wondered if anypony even had working broadcasters out here. The PipBuck only played more static as I clicked through a third, fourth, and fifth channel. With each one, I became increasingly convinced that my PipBuck might be the only working piece of technology left in the wasteland. Before giving up and turning the radio off, I gave it one more click.

Stop and listen to them, my little pony. They have stories to tell.

That got my attention. The transmission wasn't very clear; the signal was broken up by the whine and pop of background static while the voice itself was deep and hoarse—like somepony who'd screamed his throat raw. He spoke with a slow, mournful tone.

The moment they're born they're already in freefall. They don't know when they'll land, but they know they'll meet their end soon, shattered to pieces and swallowed up by the earth.

Celestia wanted to hear their stories too, once. That's why She made your kind—the first pegasi were formed out of the clouds, just like the raindrops, but She gave them wings that they might live a little longer.

But you still won't live forever, my little pony. One day, you'll land for the very last time. So tell your story while you can.

The channel was quiet for a moment. I thought it might have stopped transmitting but it was just dead air, not completely static. Then the voice spoke up again, this time with a more serious tone.

Your lucky day is coming. See you when you get there.

And with that, the signal cut out and there was only static.

I sat there for a while just staring at my PipBuck, listening to the static mixed with the pouring rain. I wasn't even sure I'd even really heard it. It was just so surreal. A chill ran up my spine and I turned the radio off.

Just accept it and move on.

I laid my head down and closed my eyes, my mind finally clear. I just wanted to forget about the strange radio broadcast and go to sleep.

***

It was sometime late in the morning when I woke up. The rain had stopped, leaving a hazy fog that lingered above the ground. The sky was still completely overcast, however. I remembered reading about how pegasi in Old Equestria were in charge of the weather but I didn't imagine that meant a constant cloud cover. Whatever had happened after the war, it looked like the sky had been left to grow wild.

I looked over at Starry. She was still sleeping but at least she'd rolled over into a less... risqué position during the night. "Starry, ma'am?" I pushed on her shoulder gently.

Starry's eyes snapped open and she immediately grabbed her battle saddle as she sat upright, banging her head on the low ceiling of our shelter. "Ah! Fucking... Son of a ..." she muttered as she rubbed her head while squinting. "Ugh... Fuck. What's going on?"

"Sorry to wake you ma'am," I started to say but Starry held up a hoof and shushed me.

She groaned and laid back down, covering her head with her forehooves. "Keep it down, will you."

I tried again, keeping my voice to a whisper, "Sorry to wake you, ma'am."

"Starry," she muttered.

"Starry. Sorry. It's just that I think we should maybe get moving. It's light out now and-"

Starry held up her hoof and hushed me again. "Shut up, kid. Just... shut up a minute." She sighed and groaned softly as she slowly sat up again, keeping one hoof across her face to block out the light while she fumbled around her uniform to take out her flask. I just sat there quietly, nervously chewing on my lip while I waited for her to tell me what to do next.

She managed to get her flask out and took a drink from it while keeping her eyes closed. After taking a few slow breaths she peeked at me through one eye. "My head's killing me. Can you get me the aspirin bottle out of my saddlebag?"

Opening my mouth to answer, I caught a brief glare from Starry and instead just nodded quietly before leaning over to rummage through her bag. There was a lot of seemingly random junk in there, most of which I wasn't even sure how to describe. I didn't have to dig very deep, though; the bottle she asked for was close to the top and I pulled it out for her.

Snatching it out of my hooves before I could offer to open it for her, Starry popped the cap and shook out  a tablet into her hoof then chewed it and washed it down with another draught from her flask. She just sat there with her eyes closed for a minute before capping her flask and the bottle and putting them away.

Opening her eyes all the way, she took a deep breath and smiled at me, patting my shoulder. "Thank you, Day. Come on," she said, jerking her head toward the outside, "let's get moving."

We emerged from the small alcove into the wet, foggy ruins. Starry pulled on her battle saddle and started heading off towards the west and I started to wonder if she knew where she was going. She'd said "north-ish" while pointing east the night before.

"Um, excuse me, ma'am," I spoke up, "but last night you were pointing the other way..."

Starry stopped and looked around then back at me. "Um... yeah. Hang on, the fog is throwing me off," she said sheepishly before lifting off and hovering a few feet in the air. With a few strong flaps of her wings, she pushed a swath of fog off to the side, clearing a view of the road I'd followed into the ruins. "There we go. Right where I left it. Come on, it's this way." She landed and trotted off along the road.

"You know, there's this place I found before I came here that might be a good place to go and it's not that far north of here," I suggested as I followed her.

"Don't worry about it. I followed this road here from where I'm staying. It'll lead us back no problem." She glanced back at me over her shoulder. "It just might take a bit longer on hoof but we'll make it there in a day or so." I guessed that Starry must have known the area well enough, certainly better than I did, so I was content to follow where she went. I was still skeptical about her sense of direction but her cutie mark was a compass—how bad could it be?

We walked along through the fog in silence for a ways. After a while, Starry paused and looked back at me. "You know, you can walk at my side. It'd be easier to talk with you while we go. I mean, unless you're just hanging back so you can admire my cutie mark," she said with a wink, making me blush and stammer incoherently.

"I- That's not- I wasn't- You're-"

Starry just laughed and waved a hoof for me to come up alongside her. "Of course not. Come along then." I bowed my head and trotted up alongside her. She smiled at me and we continued along the road.

We were both silent again until I spoke up. "Can I ask you something, ma'am?"

"Starry," she corrected me. Again. "And maybe. If you tell me why you keep calling me ma'am."

"Oh. Um... just habit I guess?" I answered, my ears folded back timidly. "I was always taught to be respectful to my-"

"You'd better not say elders."

"-betters."

That got me a strange look. We continued wandering through the fog as Starry took some time to respond. "You shouldn't think about yourself and others like that. Especially down here—you need to know what makes you special and use that to leverage what you need from other ponies or you'll get eaten alive."

I gulped at that. I understood, or at least I hoped, she didn't mean that literally of course but I couldn't help but think, I'm nopony special! Just a maintenance grunt... Unless somepony needed a kitchen appliance repaired, I doubted I had any skills I could leverage out here.

"So what was it you wanted to ask me, Day?" Starry asked, breaking me out of my introspection.

"Well, I was wondering where you're from."

Starry's face lit up and she smiled brightly. "I'm from the Grand Pegasus Enclave," she said proudly, looking skyward. "We've got cloud cities all over. It's the only bastion of real civilization to survive since the war."

I followed her gaze, looking across the bottom of that extensive cloud cover. It didn't really seem that impressive from down here. "Why aren't they tending the weather then? I thought that's what pegasi did."

"We do tend the weather. We just need all that space for cloud farming so we can feed our people. Even then, it still needs strict rationing. But once we've got everything in order, we'll be ready to come down and fix... this," she said, looking down from the sky and waving a hoof across the foggy horizon ahead of us.

There was a metallic squeal from off the side of the road just then and we both stopped, turning to go see what it was. Taking a few cautious steps off the road, we came across an old, rusted merry-go-round. The small, round metal platform squeaking as it twisted slowly, clearly off its bearings.

Starry immediately started looking around, her ears perked up and twisting around rapidly. "Come on, Day. We need to keep moving," she said in a low voice.

I nodded and we started back toward the road, passing other various playground equipment along the way. A four-seat swing set, half collapsed with one of the swings only hanging by a single chain. A slide, rusted through and riddled with small holes. A pair of see-saws, the wooden planks broken at the fulcrum, long rotten.

As the road came back into sight, I saw a sign. It was broken in half and heavily faded but I could still make out the words "elementary school." We continued on slowly, quietly. The fog was starting to thin out by the time we passed the sign and I could see the ruins of several small buildings lining the road to either side of us. They weren't the massive steel-and-concrete structures that made up the city ruins we'd left. These buildings looked like they'd been made of mostly wood. In many cases the only thing left standing was the foundation.

There was a sound from somewhere up ahead. I thought it might have been a laugh. We both stopped in our tracks. Starry's ears snapped forward instantly. It was about that time I realized I should have been watching my E.F.S.. It apparently takes some getting used to.

"Starry, ma'am," I whispered, "There's a bunch of hostile bars ahead of us on my display." I was really hoping it would turn out to just be more bugs. Just as long as it wasn't a lot more bugs...

"I think we should-" Starry was interrupted by a loud crack. I saw a flash of light somewhere ahead of us, the fog was still too thick to see clearly that far out. Something impacted the road at our hooves, throwing up dirt and fragments of asphalt. "Take cover!" Starry yelled, pushing me off to the side of the road behind a crumbled foundation. Seconds later I heard a rapid succession of loud bangs followed by a trail of impacts that lead along the ground toward us then into the low wall we were crouched behind.

"What's going on?" I asked frantically. "They're not shooting at us, are they?"

Starry reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a metal disk. She tapped a button in the center and a dim light came on with a small beep as she tossed it on the ground at the corner of the building. "Come on," she hissed at me. I followed her along the wall to the other corner where she held up a hoof to stop me before peeking around the corner and continuing along.

"They're probably raiders," she explained in a hushed voice.

"Come on out!" came a shrill, taunting voice through the fog. I heard the rapid firing again. It sounded like the impacts were still back where we'd first taken cover.

"Definitely raiders. Day, get your revolver out."

"I've still never-"

"Gun. Now! I don't care if you can't hit the broad side of a barn, I need you backing me up," Starry growled while she scooped up a rock in her hoof and tossed it back towards where she'd left that disk. I heard it land and there was another rapid burst of shots and a mad cackle.

Still, I hesitated. "I don't understand. What are raiders? Why are they shooting at us? Can't we just ask them to stop?"

She cautiously peeked her head over the low wall we were hiding behind, ducking back under quickly. "Listen to me, Day," she said with a very serious tone as she turned to face me, putting her hooves on my shoulders and looking me right in the face. "Raiders don't care who we are or what we're doing. You can't reason with raiders. They want to kill us and take everything we have." She looked around us, picking up another rock in her hoof. "If you want to come out of this alive you have to do exactly what I tell you. Understand?"

I gulped and nodded.

"Good. Now get your gun out and I want you to watch the direction we came from. Wait for that mine to go off and then you can expect to see raiders come around the corner. When you see them, shoot. I'll try to draw them around the other way but I need you to cover me." She tossed the rock over at the road. Again, several shots rang out followed this time by rapid clicking.

"Don't miss." Starry gave me a heavy pat on the shoulder, making me wince briefly, before she ducked around the corner.

Moments later there was the dull thump of Starry's grenade rifle firing, punctuated by two noisy explosions. One of the half-dozen hostile bars on my compass disappeared while I listened to the loud, crying wail of somepony in agony.

Hooves stomped rapidly along the road. There was frantic yelling mixed with sounds of gunfire. All the while that one pony's screams cut through the noise, crying out for his leg again and again.

Then came a much closer explosion. I felt the foundation behind me shake with the force of it and I heard a rain of pebbles scattering all around through the rubble. My heart was racing, I could barely breathe. I remembered what Starry had said, though, and pulled out my revolver, aiming it at the corner. I watched a single red bar on my compass moving towards me.

An earth pony the color of dried mud came around the corner. She was wearing clothes that looked like they were made from pieces of tire with metal spikes driven through it and she carried a sledgehammer in her mouth. Her beady eyes locked on me, narrowing her gaze.

I bit down on the trigger and... nothing happened. Just... Click.

It didn't fire. My eyes went wide as I watched the raider's lips drew back in a wicked grin around her hammer, dragging it along the wall. She took her time as she advanced, eyes fixed on me, daring me to shoot her. All I could do was stare at her blankly, my jaw trembling. I couldn't fire. I knew what I was supposed to do. What I had to do. But the more I mentally screamed at myself to do it, the harder it was to do.

The raider was practically on top of me. She reared up, ready to bring that hammer down on me, and I did the only thing left I could think of. I activated the Stable-tec Assisted Targeting Spell and time slowed to a crawl.

PipBucks have a lot of functions built into their spell matrixes. S.A.T.S. was one of the those functions almost nopony in the stable ever used—if they even knew it was there. Under the effects of the spell, time had virtually stopped. I couldn't move but I could think. Not that there was much thinking to do. I was about to be hit by a very large, very heavy hammer wielded by a very angry-looking mare.

The spell gave me an option to target specific areas: her head, torso, and legs. It also gave me an option to target the hammer. I figured maybe if I could just disarm her, she'd back off. Or at least I'd have a chance to run and find Starry.

I never wanted to kill anypony. So I focused on the hammer and the display indicated how much of the spell's charge it would take to fire a shot—just under one third. It also reported a ninety-five percent chance to hit. Still, not wanting to leave anything to chance, I queued up three shots.  I offered a silent prayer to the goddesses and released the spell.

My body acted as if on pure reflex the moment the targeting spell dropped, looking right up into the raider's face, I bit down on the trigger. There was a small click as the hammer came down but the gun didn't fire. On reflex, I bit down again. And again, it failed to go off.

Three in a row! My heart caught in my throat but I didn't have the chance to do anything other than follow through with the third pull of the trigger. Still in the effects of S.A.T.S., I bit down one last time and finally the gun went off. My head jerked from the recoil and I flinched, closing my eyes. I felt a warm spray across my face and when I opened my eyes, I saw what I'd done.

After that it was all kind of a blur.

I remember screaming... and blood. Celestia above, it was everywhere. It wasn't just blood either! And it was on me!

And the raider's body was just laying there. The head was-

I couldn't look away.

I tried. I wanted to. All I could do was sit there and scream until my throat was raw.

Somewhere in there I remember seeing Starry's face. She was saying something to me but I couldn't hear it. It was like everything around me was just white noise.

Somehow, I ended up laying on the ground. Slowly, I started coming to my senses. I couldn't hear any more gunfire, just a fresh ringing in my ears. I sat up slowly and looked around. I couldn't see the raider's body anymore and at first I thought that maybe it hadn't really happened but then I looked down at myself and saw the blood splattered all over my forelegs and barding.

Starry had moved me, apparently.

"I said stay back!" I heard Starry yell, followed by the quiet hum of her laser rifle firing off a few shots.

Cautiously, I moved to the edge of the wall I was behind and peeked around. Starry was taking cover behind some rubble in the middle of the road.

"And I said hold your fire! We're here to help!" a voice called from up the road in the direction the raiders had ambushed us from.

"Starry!" I called, "What's going on?"

She glanced my way and waved a hoof for me to stay back.

"We have medical supplies if you're wounded," the voice called again.

"Starry, my E.F.S. doesn't show anything hostile. Maybe we should-"

"Keep your tricks, traitor!" Starry called back while she dug a grenade out from her bags and tossed it in the direction the voice was coming from. A bright green aura caught the grenade and flung it away where it detonated harmlessly.

What else could I do?

"Don't shoot!" I yelled as I stepped out from behind cover and slowly made my way up the road.

"Day! What are you doing? Get back here before you get yourself killed!"

I ignored Starry and kept walking while she stayed where she was. After a quiet few moments with nopony yelling, a few ponies stepped out from behind cover to face me. In the lead was a pegasus stallion with a carmine coat. His yellow and red mane was faded somewhat with age or perhaps stress but he didn't look to be very old otherwise. He wore a brown coat and a battle saddle like Starry's but one side was just a plain box while the other side resembled Starry's magical energy weapon but larger with four barrels.

Two other ponies stepped out to flank him. One was a unicorn mare carrying a strange-looking zebra-striped rifle in her green aura. Though her coat was dirty and her mane tangled, she had a tall, slender build and she held herself with a sort of dignity and grace that made her appear beautiful despite her condition.

The other was a young-looking buck the color of rust with a dull brown mane. He also wore a battle saddle but it only carried a single rifle on his side.

"Um. Hi," was all I could say. I felt my hind legs weaken and I just kind of sat down, staring ahead blankly.

"Day!" I heard Starry yell as she rushed up to stand by me. "Stay back, traitor!"

"Whoa, easy there. We're just trying to help. Looks like your friend's in shock. Please, let's try not to shed any more blood today."

"Ma'am," I said quietly. Starry turned her head to look back at me. I blinked slowly as I looked at her. It was hard to think straight. I wanted to tell her something but I couldn't make any words come out.

"We have supplies back at our camp. Come with us. You and your friend will be safe there, I promise you."

She must have realized I wasn't doing well because she bit her lip and shifted nervously before turning back to the others. She was about to say something when there was a shout from over where we'd been fighting the raiders.

"There's somepony still alive over here, master! He's in bad shape!"

The older pony nodded in the direction the shout had come from  then turned to the tall unicorn at his side. "Grift, go see to him. Get him stabilized and back to camp. Ferris Wheel," he said to his rusty companion, "go with her to help carry him."

"As you wish," the mare said, galloping off with the rusty buck at her side. It was down to just me, Starry, and the carmine stallion.

"Master?" Starry said crossly. "So you're a slaver! Trying to lure us back to your slave camp!"

He just shook his head and held up a hoof. "Rockslide is a former slave. I just can't seem to get him to stop calling me that."

Starry glanced at me briefly.

"My name's Trailblazer. I'm not a slaver. I'm just out here trying to save lives. What about you?"

"Captain Starry Night. Hundred-seventy-third Enclave Engineering Brigade," she replied coldly.

"And who's your friend?"

"I'm... Lucky Day..." I said dumbly. It was getting a little easier to focus. "Ma'am, I think we should go. With them. Go with them."

Trailblazer looked off in the direction his companions had gone, nodded, then looked back at us. "We're heading back to our camp now. You're welcome to follow me. I hope that you will." With that he turned and spread his wings, flying off while keeping close to the ground.

I was still sitting there in a daze while Starry started pacing and muttering to herself. She took out her flask and took a long drink from it before putting it away and looking at me. "Shit." She sighed. "Come on, Day. Can you walk?"

It took me a second to figure out what she was asking me but once I did, I got to my hooves. I was a little shaky but I managed to stay upright. Together we followed after Trailblazer, who had lagged behind his companions enough for us to keep sight of him as we moved off the road and started winding through the hills. Starry kept watching him as we went and after my head started to clear I asked, "Is something wrong, ma'am? Why don't you get along with him?"

"He's a traitor and a terrorist. We can't trust him," she answered bluntly.

That didn't really answer my question but I was still having a hard time focusing on anything so I just let it go.

The fog had completely dissipated at some point along the way. I couldn't really be sure when. In my disoriented state, I wasn't even aware of how long we were traveling for. I vaguely remembered that Starry and I had gotten a late start around noon perhaps. The sun was somewhere behind us as we were approaching Trailblazer's camp. I didn't think to check the time on my PipBuck, though. I was just following Starry because that was all I could stay focused on.

The camp was fairly large with about a half-dozen tents of various sizes set up. There weren't very many ponies around though. The place seemed almost abandoned.

"You take this whole place for yourself?" Starry asked with a slightly bitter tone as we caught up to Trailblazer.

He shook his head. "This is just a forward base while we're out here making contacts. I've got most of my company out on scouting runs but they should be back later today. Our primary base of operations is at a facility a few days east of here."

Starry was on alert, looking around, her ears twitching back and forth.

"Why don't you two go rest inside the medical tent," Trailblazer suggested, pointing his hoof to one of the nearby tents. It was made of the same worn, faded canvas as the rest of the tents but had a yellow and pink butterfly painted on it. The paint was barely faded, looking like it'd been added fairly recently. "I'll have Grift stop in to take a look at you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go check up on the rest of the camp. I'll make time to talk with you some more later, though."

Starry and Trailblazer both just stood there for a moment. She was silently glaring at him, he was quietly smiling back at her. His eyes glanced to me and his smile faded a little. Starry also glanced over at me and sighed softly. She didn't say anything else to Trailblazer, just turned and headed off toward the medical tent. I just followed after her in my daze.

There were about a dozen cots in the tent, all empty save for the one I sat down on. I felt strange. Like I should have been upset or scared or... something. But instead it was all just kind of surreal. Like I was in a dream but not quite.

Starry had started pacing in front of me. Her wings flared and feathers ruffled. Every so often she'd stop and look over at me... then just shake her head and continue pacing.

I just sat there quietly and watched her. I tried closing my eyes but when I did I saw things that were much more real than I wanted to see. That raider... her head.... it just...

"Ugh. What's taking so long?" Starry muttered as she took out her flask for a sip.

The tall mare from before—Grift, as Trailblazer had called her—came into the tent. Her forelegs had splotches of fresh blood on them. Her horn was glowing as she entered, carrying that striped rifle in her aura. She sat it down by the tent flap and went straight for a shelving rack in the front corner of the tent, rummaging through the boxes and bags kept there.

Grift collected several things into a single bag and then left again, carrying the bag in her telekinesis. Starry looked at me in confusion. Then the mare stuck her head back into the tent, looking around briefly before grabbing her rifle in her green aura and leaving once again.

So Starry and I continued waiting. I must have zoned out or fallen asleep at some point because the next thing I remember was seeing Grift come back into the tent, her forelegs completely covered in blood. She set her gun down by the entrance as she had before and went straight for a washtub set up along the side of the tent, rinsing the blood off while quietly humming to herself.

"So you're the medic here?" Starry asked, her voice strained with impatience, feathers bristling.

"Medic, marksmare, infiltrator, negotiator..." Grift shrugged a little while she was getting cleaned up, "I've learned to be a lot of different things. Changing to keep up, y'know?"

Starry looked around the tent. "You're the only medic here?"

"Ah-huh."

"You take care of this whole camp alone?"

"Ah-huh."

"And there's nopony else to treat?"

"Ah-huh."

"Are you even listening to me?"

"I can hear you just fine," the unicorn said as she finished washing her hooves and grabbed a rag in her telekinesis to dry them off. "Sorry I took so long getting here but you made a mess of that poor buck's leg," she said, looking at Starry.

Starry furrowed her brow. "Excuse me?" There was a pause then it dawned on Starry, her eyes widening, "You mean to say we've been kept waiting so you could patch up that Goddesses-damned raider? And then you come in here and blame me for-"

"I never said I blame you," Grift said, cutting Starry off. Her tone was calm, disarming. "You did what you had to do to survive. There's nothing wrong with that. And believe me: I've done way worse than what you did to that buck just so that I could live on."

"Should've just left him to die," Starry snorted.

"Won't do any good to just go around shooting all the bad ponies," Grift replied in that same disarming tone, "You understand he's just doing what he needs to do to survive, don't you? It's something Trailblazer taught me: the wasteland drives everypony to do bad things so you can't really blame anypony without blaming everypony."

She made her way over to where I was and sat down in front of me. "Hi there, little bird," she said to me in a gentle voice. "My name's Grift. You remember me from before, don't you?"

I looked at her and nodded slowly.

She smiled as she picked up a damp rag in the green glow of her aura. "And can you tell me your name?"

"Day," I answered quietly.

"Just Day?" she asked as she started cleaning the gore off my face. I just closed my eyes and tried not to think about it.

"Just Day." I winced as the rag rubbed across something on the side of my head that stung.

"Oh, sorry about that, little bird. Hmm... Looks like you hit your head here. Would you go get the small medkit in the back there for me, Miss Starry? I'm afraid I'm bad at multitasking with my magic," she asked while lifting my hoof up to where she held the rag against my head. "Hold that there for me, would you?"

Starry muttered something to herself and trotted off toward the back of the tent where Grift had pointed her hoof. Meanwhile, a roll of bandages floated out of Grift's bags in her green aura and, after moving my hoof out of the way, she carefully dressed the gash on my head.

"Thank you," she said to Starry, "just set it down there for me, that'll be fine." Then, looking back to me, she asked, "It's alright if we take your barding off, isn't it? I should check you for other injuries."

I hesitated briefly but nodded and sat up to reach for the zipper but Grift grabbed it in her telekinesis and pulled it down for me. She circled around behind me as her green aura wrapped around the barding and lifted it off. I let out a pained grunt as it yanked on my injured wing but otherwise kept quiet.

There was an awkward silence until Grift finally spoke up, "What happened to you? Your back is covered in bruises."

"Huh? Oh. I fell," I answered quietly.

"You shoulda seen it," Starry chimed in. "Right through- what was it? Three? Four floors?" She stifled a laugh, continuing in a more serious tone, "Day, you shoulda said something to me if you were hurt this bad. We could've side-tracked to look for a medkit or something in the building."

I shook my head and winced as I felt that gash throb under the bandages. "It's fine. It doesn't really hurt." They were both just looking at me. "No, really. I'm fine."

There was another quiet pause then I felt the warm tingle of Grift's telekinesis wrap around my wing, undoing the bandages slowly. "And what happened to your wing?"

"I... fell. Dislocated the shoulder. Starry helped me pop it back into pla- ah!" I gasped as Grift extended my wing.

"Sorry, little bird. I just want to check that blood's flowing okay. You should be careful on it—it'll be easier to dislocate again if-"

"I know," I said, followed by another pause.

Grift gently folded my wing back against my side and wrapped it up again. "Well, normally we wouldn't use a healing potion for injuries this mild but I can make an exception for you," she said, her horn shimmering with green magic as she levitated a vial out of her bags and floated it over to me. "Just try not to fall down so much, okay, little bird? For me?"

"Thanks. I'll try," I said meekly as I took the vial in my hooves and drank the purple solution. Almost instantly I felt the ache in my head clear up; the soreness in my wing and back eased too. I pulled at the bandages around my hoof where the parasprite had bit me, seeing that it had healed up completely. I then turned back and pulled off the bandages from my hind leg where I'd shot myself. The wound there hadn't completely closed up but it felt a lot better and had stopped bleeding.

"Hmm." Grift looked at the wound there.

"Is everything alright?" Starry asked cautiously.

Grift smiled. "This Day is going to be perfect," she said with a sing-songy cadence, ruffling my already unkempt mane with her hoof. "Just keep the bandages on your head and wing for at least another day or so to be safe."

My head was feeling clearer and my wing didn't hurt so much as I put my barding back on. Though I had to agree that keeping the bandages on would be a good idea. Starry was already headed for the tent flap while I was reaching for my saddlebag when Grift spoke up again.

"I almost forgot. Is this your magnum, little bird?" she asked as she held up my gun in her telekinesis. "I found it while checking over the raiders."

"Oh. Um... yeah, I guess. I mean, I found it outside my stable..."

She turned it over in her aura a couple times, examining it. "You found it? In this good of a condition? Pretty convenient," she said, smiling as she floated it over to me.

I looked at it and sighed a bit, glancing back at the mostly-healed wound on my flank. "Not really," I muttered as I took the gun and tucked it back into my pocket. Starry had already left but instead of following after her, I decided to wait for a minute. "Um, Grift? What do you do out here?"

"Hmm?" She looked at me curiously, her head canted to one side. "You mean here in camp? Or just in general? Well," she chuckled, "I suppose the answer's the same either way. Like I said before: I know how to be a lot of different things," she said as she went about tidying up the supplies: putting away the medkit she'd asked Starry to bring over and washing the rag she'd used to clean me off. "I was a mercenary before I met Trailblazer. I leverage my old connections to help him out now. Part of my special talent," she added with a bit of a grin over her shoulder at me as she turned to put her cutie mark on display.

"A... flower? Wait... I've seen pictures of that flower. It's a- um..." I fumbled trying to remember what it was called.

"It's a heart's desire, little bird," Grift answered with a quiet chuckle. "I get what ponies want."

Reflecting on that thought for a moment, I asked, "Well.. what does Trailblazer want if you're working for him?"

Grift just laughed softly with a disarming smile. "It's not about what he wants."

Furrowing my brow in confusion, I was about to ask what that meant when Starry poked her head through the tent flap. "Day, you coming already or what?"

"Sorry, ma'am," I answered, leaving Grift to continue tidying up as I hurried to join Starry outside.

"Alright," Starry said, looking around, "now that that's taken care of, let's get out of here before we run into anypony."

While Starry trotted out ahead, I lagged behind briefly. Grift had been so nice in helping me; she even gave me a healing potion when I didn't really deserve one. I didn't want to leave without properly saying thank you.

A burly green earth pony mare nearly plowed into Starry and I forgot about Grift, instead turning my attention to Starry and the imposing mare. She had a short-cropped dark green mane with greenish-yellow streaks and she wore a thick leather barding, reinforced with metal plates over her chest, shoulders, and flanks. The whole thing was painted black except for a set of golden scales tipped heavily to one side painted on her flank.

"What the fuck. Where did you come from, pigeon? What are you doing here?" she demanded in a forceful, authoritative voice. My legs turned to jelly, shaking as I shrank back instinctively to avoid drawing attention. Her commanding tone nearly brought me to my knees. And it wasn't even directed at me!

Starry looked over the green mare and narrowed her eyes. "I was just leaving so you can fuck off."

"Oh I don't think so, you piece of Enclave trash. Think you can just waltz in here like you own everything under the sky? I asked what you're doing here. Don't make me ask again."

I started to move toward Starry, to try to talk her out of arguing with the mare but a tan-colored buck to my side stuck out his foreleg to hold me back. "I wouldn't get too close to that if I were you, li'l bird," he said. "Ya wouldn't wanna find yourself on the wrong enda Jade's temper. Best be lettin' your friend there handle herself."

Looking around as I fell back a half step, I noticed that a small handful of ponies had started gathering around to see what was going on. They were making sure to keep plenty of space between them and the two ponies at the center of their attention.

Starry and Jade were squaring off. Standing only a few paces apart, they circled back and forth slowly while both keeping their battle saddles aimed at each other. Starry's wings were flared out and her ears twitched back and forth while her eyes stayed locked on the green mare across from her.

"I don't understand," I said aloud, looking to either side of me. The tan buck had apparently moved on after cautioning me to stay back but there were a couple unicorn mares to my other side. They were both wearing barding similar in design to what Jade was wearing, even down to the tipped scales, though they had it painted on their shoulders instead of their flanks. "What's happening? Who's Jade?"

The two looked me up and down, exchanging a glance with each other before the one closer to me answered, "Only the best damn gang boss we ever had. Used to be a dozen small gangs back home. All fighting each other in turf wars. Me an' Firing Pin here," she said, nodding to her companion, "probably shot each other on a weekly basis before Jade came along and rallied us all together."

"We all stomped those lousy Eighty-Eights together. Now we follow under her banner," Firing Pin added, tapping a hoof at the tipped scales mark on her shoulder. "Jade's cutie mark—a talent for shifting the balance."

The first mare nodded. "Ever since she's been running with Trailblazer, we've been fighting raiders to protect trade routes instead of fighting each other over nothing but bombed out old buildings," she said with a proud grin. Nodding her head toward Jade, she added, "And she protects him."

It's just a misunderstanding! I realized. All I had to do was explain what was going on and we could all just get along and nopony would have to get hurt. But as I looked on at the scene—at the way Jade was staring down Starry—I knew I couldn't say anything to stop it. I'd seen that look and I knew better than to interfere when a security mare was detaining somepony.

Starry's ears twitched as she moved, matching Jade's motions step-for-step. With their battle saddles trained on each other, they danced in a slow, precarious stalemate. My eyes fixed on the green mare's saddle—two barrels nearly as large as the grenade rifle Starry carried. As close as she was to Starry, all it would take would be a single shot to-

Starry's wings flexed and both mares instantly tensed, holding perfectly still as they faced each other. Silence fell across the scene, the half-dozen or so ponies watching all took a half step back.

"Go ahead, pigeon," Jade said through clenched teeth around her trigger bit, "see how far you get before Pride puts you down."

"Pride?" I echoed quietly in confusion.

"Pride is her battle saddle," whispered a yellow unicorn who'd shown up to see what the commotion was. "Double-barreled belt-fed twelve gauge shotgun. I hear she custom makes all her rounds too—packs 'em with a mix of buckshot and rock salt. One hit from that will put anypony on the ground. I sure wouldn't want to be that Enclave bitch right now."

I had to do something. Starry wasn't backing down. She was going to get herself killed!

Cautiously, I stepped forward, my legs trembling. The couple ponies that had gathered nearby me all instantly backed away as Jade's eyes shifted to look at me. What are you doing!? I screamed inside my head. Keep your head down and don't draw attention! Just move along! It was too late to listen to my own advice of course but as that imposing mare stared down at me, I felt like I was back in the ruins with a building about to fall on top of me.

Starry saw where Jade's gaze shifted and she quickly shuffled to the side, putting herself between me and Jade. "Don't you dare," she growled around her trigger bit.

"What have we got here? Brought a friend with you, huh? How many more of you are skulking about?" Jade demanded with a stomp of her hoof. "I'm done wasting time."

"Jade!" a commanding voice called out. The mare turned in the direction the voice came from as the spectators parted to allow Trailblazer and another pony with him through. Trailblazer's companion was a unicorn buck who looked to be around my age, white with a bright blue mane. He stayed back by the ring of spectators though while Trailblazer trotted confidently out into the center with Starry and Jade. "Both of you, stand down."

"Sir," Jade addressed him. "I found this little Enclave turkey just walking about like she owns the place."

"Captain," Trailblazer stressed the word, "Starry Night—and her friend," he added with a wave of his hoof in my direction, "are our guests and have every right to come and go as they please."

The camp was silent as Jade stood there, eyes fixed on Trailblazer's. After a moment she rolled her eyes and sighed, leaning her head to the side. "Alright, fine. If you wanna invite Enclave featherbrains into camp, that's your business. It's not like they were the ones who burned off-"

"Captain Starry had nothing to do with that." There was an edge to his voice that hadn't been there before. He grit his teeth and sucked in a breath. "So unless and until she's personally done something wrong, she is welcome here. Am I clear?"

There was another quiet pause and I looked around to see that most of the spectators had slipped away, especially those who had been near the unicorn buck that showed up alongside Trailblazer. He was just standing there looking almost bored. He was leisurely inspecting a long blade he carried; the handle, wrapped in the red glow of his magic, had a tube running from it to a tank strapped across his back. He seemed to notice me looking at him, glancing up at me and flashing me a smile that somehow made my chest flutter. I looked away quickly, trying to ignore it.

"Yes, sir," the green mare said with a resigned sigh. She turned to face Starry, who had backed off towards me a couple paces. "The pigeon gets a free pass this time. I'll be watching her closely though." Jade just smirked, snorting a laugh. "Come and find me when you're done with your new marefriend, sir. We found some good stuff," she said over her shoulder as she trotted off.

"Come on, you gawking little shits," the white buck announced to the remaining stragglers who hadn't left already. "Show's over. Get your flanks outta here."

Turning to face Starry, Trailblazer sighed and shook his head. "I apologise for Jade. She... takes her job very seriously. Just gets a little overzealous sometimes. Are you alright?"

Starry looked at him crossly. "This is the company you keep? Bloodthirsty gangers?"

"Jade and I have a long history. I admit she's pretty rough around the edges and it takes a lot to earn her trust and respect but I've never met a more steadfast and loyal pony than her."

"Loyalty," Starry scoffed. "That's rich, coming from a traitor."

"Please, why don't you come with me while Jade and I discuss what she and her scouts have found. It will help to show you what we're trying to do here." Trailblazer looked past Starry at me, "Why don't you come along too, Lucky Day?"

I took a half-step back, bowing my head with my ears folded. "I'd really rather not. She's..." I bit my lip, trying not to say anything insulting.

"We can take a walk around camp together," the white buck chimed in as he moved up to stand in front of me, putting his cutie mark right in my face. I was afraid to wonder what kind of talent gets you a syringe dripping flames for a cutie mark.

I looked at Starry. Her wings were still puffed out and she was shifting about on her hooves nervously. I really didn't want to spend any more time around Jade. She was too much like- She reminded me of how Stable Security would get sometimes if you didn't get along with them. Starry was obviously struggling to get along with Trailblazer and his friends though. If she heard about what they're doing, I figured that might help.

"Um, that sounds nice," I said. "Starry, you can go with Trailblazer and I'll go with- um..."

"Rake," the unicorn buck said, looking back at me over his shoulder and flashing me that smile again.

Starry narrowed her eyes at Rake. I was getting the distinct impression that Starry really didn't like anypony in this camp. Trailblazer spoke up before she could say anything. "I assure you, Lucky Day will be safe with Rake. I don't know anypony nicer than him to look after your friend."

"I heard you got into it with a pack of raiders today," Rake said to me. "Come on. The old stallion said there was a survivor. Let's go pay him a visit." He jerked his head, motioning for me to follow as he turned to head off.

I hesitated, glancing back at Starry. She still had her wings flared and was visibly on-edge but Trailblazer was calm and patient with her. I guessed it would be okay for me to wander off for a little while, so I galloped over to catch up with Rake.

The surviving raider was being kept outside behind the medical tent. He was laying on his side on a dirty, blood-stained blanket. Some of the blood looked fresh enough to be his. And considering the bandaged stump of his left foreleg, I supposed it likely was.

He was a dark, puke-green color with a filthy orange-brown mane. Splotches of dried blood matted his coat where it wasn't covered by bandages. His whole left side had been cut up pretty badly with shrapnel from Starry's grenade.

There was a unicorn mare standing watch over the raider, holding a rifle in her magic. As we approached, Rake waved her off. She slung her weapon over her back and pulled a cigarette out of her pocket, wandering off to leave us alone with the raider.

He sat up and looked at us with a menacing glare, running his tongue along his bared teeth. He looked like he was about to lunge at us. I took a half-step back but Rake just kept walking without so much as a flinch. He stopped, looming silently over the injured raider.

I cautiously moved up alongside Rake, keeping my distance as best I could. "You're lucky to be alive, you little shit," he said to the raider in a very calm tone as if he was bored.

"Fuck off!" the raider replied, spitting in Rake's face. "Fucking kill me now if you know what's good fo-"

Rake didn't let him finish. His sword was out in a flash, the tip pressed right under the raider's chin, just hovering there in his red aura. "Listen close because I'm only saying this once: the only reason you're not dead yet is 'cuz the old stallion likes giving second chances. I'm not so generous. Die now or keep breathing, that's up to you." He raised a hoof and pressed it down on the raider's stump, making him grunt and wince in pain. "What's it gonna be?"

The raider gulped, his eyes fixed on Rake's. The raider hesitated and then Rake's sword made the tiniest push forward and the raider flinched. "Don't kill me," he pleaded, his eyes wide with pupils like pinpricks.

Rake sheathed his sword and let off the raider's stump. "Life as you knew it is over. You play by our rules now or next time you step out of line I won't be giving you time to reconsider." He didn't leave the raider room to respond, just turning on the spot and strolling away as the guard mare returned, spitting out the butt of her cigarette.

I hurried after Rake, casting a glance back over my shoulder at the raider who was just laying back down and cradling his stump of a leg. "Y-you weren't really gonna just kill him... were you?" I asked cautiously.

Rake just looked at me and smiled. It was a creepy, predatory kind of smile that made sidestep away from him a half pace. "Of course I would've. If he doesn't value his own life enough to work with us then I'm doing everypony a favor by ending him. Sometimes all it takes is to stare death in the face to make you appreciate your own life. I lit a fire inside him—got him to decide he'd rather suffer another day than give up and die."

We were continuing to wander along as he spoke, leading me to the edge of the camp atop a small hill where we stopped. Rake turned to face me, looking me up and down and grinning. "I could light a fire inside you too," he said in a low, seductive tone as he leaned in close to me whispering, "How about it, my little pony?"

My eyes went wide and I nearly tripped over my own hooves as I backed away from him. I tried to speak but only managed to stutter incoherently.

"What's the matter? Don't like stallions?" Rake winked at me, wearing that predatory smile again.

"I- no! I mean yes! I mean I-" I slumped down to the ground and buried my face under my forehooves. "Why does everypony keep saying things like that?"

Rake sat down across from me. "Shit. You really are wound up. The fuck happened to you?"

I took a couple deep breaths and sat up to face him. I met his steel-blue eyes then glanced away, folding my ears back timidly. "I killed somepony."

"Oh? Is that all?" Rake laughed. "Greatest feeling there is, isn't it?"

"What? No! I-"

"Killing, fucking, chems... All three at once..." He paused, looking off with a casually wistful smile as if recalling a fond memory. "That's all there is to live for in the wasteland."

I just stared blankly.

"Well come on, tell us about your first kill," he said with an eager smile.

I closed my eyes and shuddered. "It was horrible. There was blood... so much blood... everywhere. I wish... I wish I could take it back. I didn't mean to!"

"Then why'd you do it?"

"I had to! I had to protect-"

"I had to protect myself," he mocked. "Bleugh. Gag. Sorriest excuse for killing anypony I ever heard. You wanna hear about my first kill." Strangely, he wasn't asking me and I found myself nodding dumbly as I watched him.

"I grew up far away from here in a tower where everypony was nice and nopony ever went hungry or had to fight to survive. That's all a lie, though. A lie they all put on to make themselves feel civilized," he made air quotes with his hooves as he said that last word. "Like they're better than everypony out here—like they deserve to stay safe and keep it all to themselves." He spat on the ground, his expression hardening.

"Never knew my mother. Just my sire taking care of me. Then one day when I was just a little colt—didn't even have my cutie mark yet—he comes after me with this crazed look on his face. Maybe he was strung out on chems or maybe he was just cracked." Rake shrugged. "Maybe both. Hard to say. I can say he was horny as fuck, though. That much was plain as day."

My eyes widened as I listened. I felt a twinge of fear knotting in my chest but as Rake went on with his story, his face was calm, even peaceful.

"When he had me cornered, I did the first thing I could think to do: I rammed my horn through his neck. Hurt like fuck," he chuckled softly, idly rubbing his horn with a hoof. "After that it was all kind of a blur. I remember somepony screaming... and blood. There was a lot of blood. I think there was a fire somewhere in there too. Somehow I ended up in the wastes after that... Started running with raiders and even found my cutie mark out here."

"Y-you're a raider?"

Rake looked at me and nodded, suddenly very serious. "Killing to protect yourself will never get you anywhere. Out here, it always comes down to 'her or me' eventually. The sooner you realize that and the sooner you learn you need to pick yourself over her before she even knows it's down to that, the better off you'll be."

"You can't really mean that..."

"Oh, I do. The wasteland will swallow you whole, little pony. It swallows everypony eventually. I just plan to feed it as many others as I can before it gets to me. I'd scour the whole fucking wasteland by myself if I could. Maybe then, after we're all gone, Equestria can forget about us and move on. Until then..." He shrugged.

I blinked, staring at him in disbelief. "But... if that's what you believe-"

"It is."

"...then why are you following Trailblazer?"

Rake stood up, laughing a bit as he shook his mane out of his face and looked at me with an eerily calm smile. "He taught me something."

I was almost afraid to ask. "What..?"

Rake just smirked, turning away from me. "What indeed," he said as he strolled away, kicking aside little pebbles as he went.

He left me somewhat dumbstruck and, truth be told, a little uneasy. At the same time, though, as I watched Rake wander off, having heard what he'd been through and seeing that he wasn't just some kind of rampaging psychopath... even if he didn't seem to value life much at all... it gave me a little bit of hope that maybe I could learn to live out here.

Before he was out of sight, Rake turned to look back at me over his shoulder, seeing me watching him. He winked at me, giving his rump a little shake in my direction. I looked away immediately, blushing.

"Day," I heard Starry call me. Turning, I saw her come galloping up the hill to meet me. "There you are. I was looking for you."

"Sorry, ma'am. I was just talking with Rake. Is everything okay?"

"Everything is not okay. We're in a camp full of gangers and raiders run by a terrorist. We should get out of here while we can," she said gruffly, her wings flared out.

"I don't think they mean us any harm. I mean... Jade was kinda mean but Trailblazer seems nice and so was Grift. And Rake... well..." I bit my lip and thought about everything Rake had said to me. "He... doesn't seem so bad. He's not like those other raiders from earlier today."

Starry face-hoofed and sat down next to me. "Day, we can't trust these ponies. They might act nice but believe me: you don't see these many ponies working together without there being some kind of greater plan at work. They're up to something. It's there. I can see it."

"I still don't understand. What's wrong with Trailblazer? Why do you keep calling him a traitor?"

Sighing, Starry looked up at the dark clouds above us. "It all goes back to Rainbow Dash. She was the the head of the Ministry of Awesome back during the war."

"Ministry of Awesome?" I asked, incredulously.

Starry rolled her eyes. "It was her ministry and that's what she named it. Anyway, after the bombs fell, the pegasi cities that had survived decided to withdraw from the surface—we had to protect ourselves first. Rainbow Dash, stubborn and short-sighted as she always was, betrayed us so that she could run around and try to save Equestria all by herself. Some 'Element of Loyalty' she was, abandoning her people when they needed her most..." she muttered.

"What does this have to do with-"

"I'm getting there. See, because Rainbow Dash was such an influential pony, when she left, it caused a lot of political commotion. A lot of pegasi with high ideals and little foresight—like Rainbow herself—wanted to follow her example. Even now, nearly two-hundred years later, there are still pegasi who think we should be spending what precious and limited resources we have on trying to clean up down here. The fact is, we're not ready for that," Starry said, standing back up and stomping her hoof, her feathers ruffled. "Some ponies just won't listen, though, and are dead-set on causing trouble. So we do what we have to do to protect ourselves: we banish them to the surface."

"Is that the story they're telling these days?" We both turned to see Trailblazer calmly walking up the hill, his auburn coat shining in the crimson glow of the dying day. He wasn't wearing his battle saddle any more, just his brown coat. Despite Starry's menacing glare, he approached without any hostility or fear and sat down beside me, opposite from Starry. "I remember when I was a colt it was 'for their own good' but that seems like another lifetime after all I've been through since then," he said, looking up at the clouds.

"I'm still not sure I understand, sir. What did you do?"

Starry scoffed, "It doesn't matter what he did. He's a dashite—a traitor."

"It matters a great deal, Captain. Understanding why you disagree with somepony is the only place to start if you ever want to learn from her." Trailblazer sat there quietly, gazing upwards for a moment before turning to face me. "I disagreed with Enclave policy and practice and I spoke out against them. My only crimes were my words." He took a deep breath, sighing a little. "I was a teacher. I had a comfortable life with friends and colleagues and, most importantly, students who looked up to me. When I started speaking out publicly the Enclave did this to me." He looked back at his cutie mark: a black cloud and lightning bolt. It looked strange though... scarred.

"They branded me. Burned my cutie mark off and replaced it with this—the mark of a dashite." As he said it I was reminded of what it was like listening to Rake talk about what happened to him—there was no anger or fear or sadness in his voice, only calm acceptance. "I believed in what I was doing. I wanted to see my students grow up to have a bright future. I had to be branded a dashite to become a traitor," Trailblazer said with a mirthless chuckle.

"We trust teachers to take care of our foals and you go and fill their heads with lies and slander!" Starry hissed, scowling over at Trailblazer. "Being down here is the least you deserve."

"The only time I ever lied to my students was when I first started teaching. They gave us lists of approved subjects and told us we had to talk about them in a very specific way. They revised our history so that The Grand Pegasus Enclave was always right and always came out on top. I spoke out because I knew it was all a lie and I couldn't stand to see young minds soaking it up like it was fact," Trailblazer asserted, his voice carried a twinge of hostility I hadn't seen from him before.

"The Enclave is and always has been right!" Starry argued. "We have nothing but the utmost concern for the safety of our people in mind. It's high-minded idealists like you who go and ruin it for everypony!"

Trailblazer stood up, turning to face Starry, his eyes narrowing. "The Enclave talks about plans to save Equestria but it's been two centuries and what have they actually done? Nothing. Every time somepony tries to say something about that, they brand us and throw us down into the mud with the rest of the dirtsiders. Nothing's going to change unless we make it change."

They were practically at each others' throats and I was getting whiplash from looking back and forth between them as they argued. Worst of all, I still couldn't understand why they didn't get along. They both sounded so sure about what they were saying—Trailblazer believed what he was doing was right and Starry believed what she was doing was right. They were both talking about making life better for everypony. Why couldn't they just get along?

"Stop it, please!" I cried, clasping my hooves over my ears. "Stop! Just stop it! Please... We have to get along with each other. It's important we get along." I recited the lines from Scootaloo's message to the stable, rocking slowly as I stared down at the ground.

And they did stop. I looked up to see both Starry and Trailblazer looking at me in quiet concern. They exchanged a glance and Trailblazer sat back down, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I got carried away. Please, Captain, don't think ill of me just because of this. I mean you well, I really do and I think we can help each other out."

Starry snorted a bit but otherwise kept quiet, looking at me rather than at Trailblazer.

"You two are more than welcome to spend the night in camp here or you can leave if you want. It's up to you," He said, standing up again and starting to walk back into the camp. "I'll see to it that there's space for you to sleep in the medical tent. It's the least I can offer you."

Trailblazer stopped to put a hoof on my shoulder as he passed. "You look like you've had it pretty rough, son. I know what it's like for a young buck like yourself to be out here all alone. You're safe here with us. I promise."

Starry stayed quiet, pulling out her flask and taking a sip as she waited for Trailblazer to get far enough away. "Well, come on, Day. We need to move quickly. It's getting dark fast and we should put as much distance between us and this place as we can."

"I want to stay here," I told her, standing up. "I know you don't like it here but I do. I'm scared out here, Starry. Everywhere I seem to go, things only get more dangerous. That raider today- I-" I shivered. "I killed somepony! And it was horrible! And I never want to do it again! And- And-" I started breathing faster, my heart was pounding. All I could think of was the bloody mess I'd left behind.

I glanced at Starry and saw this look in her eyes. I tried to turn away but she caught me anyway.

She hugged me.

I tensed up, some of my more recent bruises weren't fully healed and my wing was still sore but Starry was mindful not to pull her forelegs around me too tightly.

"I'm sorry, Day," she whispered to me. "You shouldn't have to go through these things." She let me go and I sat there, looking at her with my head bowed and my ears folded back. "We can stay for tonight. It's okay. I guess... I guess if they were going to do something to us, they'd have done it by now. It'll be safer to travel in the morning anyway."

She started heading back into the camp. "Lets go see about the arrangements they're making for us and I'll ask if they can spare some food too. Come along."

"Um... you go ahead. I think I need to just sit alone for a while." My heart was still pounding in my chest and I was feeling dizzy from trying to slow my breathing down.

Starry tilted her head, looking at me for a moment. Finally she nodded and continued off. "Come and find me when you're ready."

So that was it. That was my second day in the world outside. The stable seems so far away. I don't even want to think about it. It was like another lifetime after all I've been through since then.

And yet I can keep going. It's a strange new puzzle laid out in front of me and I have no idea what the full picture is going to be when it's done. Or even if I'll ever see it complete. All I can do is keep going and see what happens.

I have to just keep going. Accept it and move on. Next Chapter: Chapter 3: Misplaced Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 53 Minutes