The rest of the walk through the canyon was uneventful and without incident. It was well into the night when I found a place to rest, which just so happened to be the destroyed house I’d slept in all those night ago.

The nameless mare was sleeping on the mattress; she hadn’t woken up at all during the journey. Her saddlebags sat beside her on the ground. I hadn’t gone through them for the simple fact that they weren’t mine to go through.

I was curious as to what life in a Stable was like. What did they eat? How many ponies were there? What did they do to pass the time? Why was she out here? Why was she alone? I had to assume she was from Stable 59, due to that number being printed on her back in bold yellow.

I probably wouldn’t have sleep much, if at all. I was tired, but someone needed to keep watch... and that fell to me. To pass the time, I took out the book Lumens had given me and began to read it. What little light my aura gave off was enough for to see.

Part One

What are Glyphs and Runes?

What is a glyph? What is a rune? They appear to be the same, and that’s because, in a sense, they are! Both have strong, magical properties. They are both drawn, engraved, or inset onto the objects that one wishes to enchant.

They are different though, too. Usually, glyphs work by themselves and do not need to be activated. A fine example of such is the Glyph-Powered Cyber Eye. It’s always working. Always running. Always doing... what it’s suppose to do.

Runes, on the other hoof, need to be activated. ‘Activated’ means that they work much like a terminal; they remain dormant until something turns them on, usually by the act of a hoof stomp or something similar. A smoke producing rune, also called a Smoke Screen Rune, works this way. It doesn’t activate until the user wants it to. Others, like the Remote Detonator, are activated remotely. There will be more information on remote activation later in this book.

I must have fallen asleep while reading, because I when I opened my eyes, the sky wasn’t it’s usual, dreary grey, but instead was a brilliant reddish-pink. The sun wasn’t visible through the everlasting cloud cover, but the morning sky did add some wonderful color to the brown and dull.

In the corner of the remains of the bathroom, the nameless mare still slept on the old mattress, occasionally wheezing and entering a coughing fit. Even though she managed to get herself sorted out without waking up, I still moved around silently.

Somepony had been here between the first time I had and now. A random pile of scrap metal gathered dust in one of the cabinets in what looked to be the kitchen, along with a mutfruit in the doorless refrigerator. In another room, I found one of those damned indestructible, pristine white coffee cups. The brand name, Unbreakableware, was an understatement. Whatever ponies used to make the thing, should have been used in armor. Legend has it that they can even stop an anti-machine rifle bullet cold, but wasting one of the precious .50 caliber shells on something like that was careless. An experimental whack with the edge of my sharp sword proved that the cup was indeed, still unbreakable.

“Who would leave this kind of stuff laying around?” I asked nothing in particular.

The blue pony coughed again, adding more red specks to the mattress, but remaining asleep. Leaving her to rest, I trotted to the highway and looked to the east. As the sun rose, it shifted the cloud color from red to pink to orange to yellow and then back to it’s grey color.

It took about fifteen minutes for the sky to turn colors. In that time, I fished around in my saddlebags for some breakfast: a package of cherry filled Fancy Buck snack cakes and a can of mixed vegetables. The cakes were delicious, even after two-hundred years. The vegetables, however, were just ‘meh’ in comparison.

Something rustled behind me, and I turned around just in time to see the mare roll off the mattress. She got up, shook herself a little, and began to look around. As soon as her eyes landed on me, she froze.

I opened my mouth to say something but was cut off with a scared “Eep!”

“Uh... Hi?” I said, trying to be friendly.

“Ah! It talks!” she cried out in a started tone.

And just like that, she bolted through the window frame of the only standing wall, stumbling about after she hit the ground.

“Wait!” I yelled after her, galloping to the window. She was already gone, far into the distance. Her saddlebags still sat beside the bed. “You forgot your stuff...”

It was almost half an hour before the blue mare returned. She was an odd pony, to say the least. Her attempts to sneak were laughable at best, bad-enough-to-facehoof at worst. I spotted her a half mile away; a bright, electric blue blob sticking out like sore hoof against the brown wasteland. She ducked and dove under dead shrubs and tippy-hoofed from boulder to boulder in a comedic fashion. It seemed like forever, but eventually she made it within earshot.

“About time you showed back up,” I started, knowing that she was behind the remains of a long since burnt-up wagon beside the house. “Since I know you can hear me, let me just say that I’m not going to hurt you.” Something rustled behind the cart. “You can come out. I promise I won’t do anything.” No response. I levitated her saddlebags to the side of the cart. “See? I’m even giving your stuff back.” Again, nothing.

I let an out exasperated sigh. Quietly, I put my own sneaking to the test, leaving the front of the house and circling around wagon in a large arc, so I could come up behind it. As I did, I saw the mare stick her head out from behind the charred remains more than once, looking for her supposed attacker and eyeing her saddlebags. Never once did I let her see me.

Silently, I sat down, waiting for her to realize that I was behind her. From where I was, I got a good look at her cutie mark. Just like the mare, it too was odd. I had no idea what a grey orb with a blue lightning bolt thing surrounded by six smaller grey orbs that attached to the larger one with some kind of dark bands was suppose to mean, but I guessed something to do with electronics or something energy related.

About five minutes later, I decided my fun was up. It was kind of boring after awhile. Somehow, she didn’t know where I was, even with a Pipbuck of her own.

“You’re not very good at this, are you?” I said.

The mare stop mid-breath and slowly turned around. Nearly all the color had drained from her face, one that screamed pure horror. Even her lip was trembling.

“Look. I’m not... going... to hurt... you.” I paused between each word, punctuating it. There was a pause. Neither of us said anything. She just sat there, staring at me wide-eyed. “Do you want something to eat?” I looked down to my Pipbuck and found another Fancy Buck cake and a can of carrots.

“Sh- shtay b- back!” the mare said. She sounded like she had something in her mouth. Looking back up from my Pipbuck, I saw that she had grabbed some sort of energy weapon from... somewhere.

The gun in her mouth would probably have been terrifying if I knew what it was. It looked like someone had taken seven different models of laser pistols and slapped them together to form this... thing. The body of the gun looked to be slightly longer than a laser pistol, keeping its very boxy shape. Various glowing wires, copper tubes, capacitors, hoses, and other techy parts covered it in a smattering of science. The end pointed at me had a blackened char around it, either due to lack of cleaning or because it had an excessive amount of power behind it.

I took a step back, not wanting to tempt her into accidentally shooting me.

“Alright, alright...” I said calmly. Down inside the weapon, an unnatural, rainbow glow churned. Thinking quickly, I flicked what looked like a magic spark battery out from its housing at the back of the gun using my magic. It was a small movement, and didn’t even make a sound. And luckily, to my advantage, the mare hadn’t noticed. I stowed it away under a small, hoof-size rock behind her. “Can’t we talk about this, Miss...?”

“‘Ames arnt importernt,” she spat around the mouth-grip of the weapon. “‘Ow ged ong de goun’ an’ tehw meh wha’ I ‘eed to noh!”

“Ask away, stable pony.” I said, knowing that she couldn’t shoot me with her gun’s equivalent of being unloaded. Nevertheless, I did as she demanded. Even with my hooves behind my head, I was comfortable knowing that I had a horn and she didn’t. I was also wearing Ditzy’s super reinforced leather barding. Not only that, but she didn’t look like she could throw a punch to save her life.

“Wom: wer’ de hehw am I? An’ tehw: wha’ de hehw ish a ‘shtable pomy’?” she yelled.

“We’re just west of the Royal Mountains. The town of Starward is east of here about a day’s trot.” I pointed a hoof towards my eventual destination. “You know, it would be easier to understand you without that thing in your mouth; it sounds like you’re trying to eat a bag of marbles. Oh, and you are a stable pony.”

“And just what is that suppose to mean?” she said, spitting the energy pistol into her hoof.

“Just that, you’re a stable pony. Your stable barding... your Pipbuck... your... cleanliness. You are obviously from a stable; Stable 59, if I’m not mistaken.” I said pointing to the little yellow ‘59’ emblazoned on her chest pocket. And her back. And her collar. “You look like you haven’t been out here for more than a couple days. Your hooves aren’t even dirty! Honestly, I don’t think you’ll last more than a week out here.”

“Get back down!” she yelled around clenched teeth as I began to stand up.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. This was silly; I had other places to be and things to do, but I couldn’t leave her by herself. She knew practically nothing about this world, and whatever she did know probably wouldn’t help very much. It wasn’t my responsibility to take care of her. She was a full grown mare, after all. However, I didn’t want anyone, pony or otherwise, to take advantage of this clueless newbie.

“Listen, there are worse things than death out here, and there’s already a lot of that,” I said. “You have no idea how absolutely unprepared you are. Take a look at your gun...”

“What about-” she froze as she took notice of the missing spark battery. “Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!”

She frantically shuffled around the ground, looking for her ammunition, going as far as to snatch one of her saddlebags and dig around in that.

Click.

I pulled Tweety’s hammer back, and pointed the enchanted revolver at the mare, who again, froze on the spot.

“Bang. You’re dead,” I said simply. Maybe it was a cruel, but it got my point across. I had to guess that she also got my point because she broke down into a crying, blubbering mess.

“Please don’t kill me!” she cried into her forehooves. “I- I- I have no idea what the fuck I’m even doing out here!”

With a sigh, I uncocked the gun and placed it back in my foreleg holster, snapping it into place. She let out a small wail, crying out her anxiety. Not knowing what to do, I let her continue a few more minutes until she got the idea that I wasn’t the bad pony, erm... zebra... thing.

“Hey, it’s alright.” I patted her on the shoulder. In response, she threw a leg at me, barely missing my head, and instantly pulled away. “Listen, I have stuff I have to do. I suppose if you want, you can tag along.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked through her sniffles.

“What do you mean?” Nice? What I did was almost mean. If there had been any other ponies around, it’d probably be humiliating.

“Like, you don’t even know me. How do you know I’m not some kind of... thief or something?” She wiped her runny nose with her fetlock.

“A thief?” I had to laugh at that. “Multiple things. First...” I lifted the rock with my magic and pulled out her spark battery. I slipped it back into her gun, much to her surprise. “I’m kinda good at sneaking things off of ponies myself, and you don’t strike me as a pickpocket. I saw you coming from a mile away. Second: you’re friendly, according to my EFS and Pipbuck.” I showed off my oversized foreleg terminal to her. “And finally, you’re pretty clueless about how the world works out here. Now, I haven’t seen you eat anything since I found you yesterday morning.” I levitated out the Fancy Buck cake and canned carrots. “Hungry?”

The mare sniffled once more and nodded.

“Thanks...” she said carefully reaching out a hoof and then quickly snatching them out of my magic.

“So... you got a name, or am I just going to have to keep calling you ‘that blue mare’?” I asked as she stuffed one of the snack cakes in her mouth.

“Sheshla Amfeer,” she replied with a mouthful of cake. “Mmm, deez ahr rirry ghud.”

“Say what now?” That didn’t sound like any name I’d heard before.

“Shorry,” she swallowed. “Tesla Ampere. You can just call me Tes.”

“Hello, Tes. My name is Xerophyte. You can call me Xero,” I said with a light bow. It’s a zebra thing.

“What kind of name is that?” she asked, raising a brow.

“It’s a zebra name. It’s a kind of plant that liv-”

“You’re a zebra!?” Tes exclaimed.

“Yes. Sort of? I’m not even sure, anymore.” I looked up at my horn. “Taint does strange stuff to those who fall into it.”

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly. “I guess I should have figured that out from the stripes and the funny accent.” she stuffed the remaining cake into her mouth. “What’s ‘taint’?”

“Its... this stuff. Dangerous, causes mutations, usually deadly,” I explained to the best of my abilities. I doubted anyone in this age knew what it was. “You’ll know it when you see it; it’s usually a rainbow colored liquid.” Tes nodded while munching down the last cake. “Once you’re finished up, we should probably get going. You don’t want to be out in the open at night.”

“Why not?” she asked, dumping out her torn saddlebag. Broken Med-X vials, shattered healing potion flasks, rolls of soiled magic-healing gauze that had been stained purple, burnt out magic spark batteries, and numerous other destroyed knick-knacks, including a flattened steel canteen with a bullet hole punched through it, littered the dead earth. She took a minute to sift through the useless material to get anything out that might be of use, mainly the used spark batteries.

“It’s dangerous. There’s raiders, ghouls, wild mutant animals, killer robots...” I thought for a moment, thinking of what else there was. “Actually, I think that’s it. Doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but there are.”

I picked up her mutilated canteen and gave it a shake. Inside, something rattled. I took the lid off and shook out the offending object into my hoof.

“Is that what I think it is?” a slightly alarmed Tes asked.

“Maybe.” I tossed the small chunk of lead in my hoof a few times. “Judging from the weight, I’d say it’s a 5.56mm round, or probably a .223 since it didn’t go all the way through the canteen.” The small, mushroomed bullet fell from my hoof. She was going to need another canteen. Luckily, I had a few extras and parting with one wasn’t going to be the end of the world. “Here, you’ll need new one.”

“Are- are you sure?” she asked uneasily.

“Yeah, I got a few other ones,” I replied, shaking my saddlebags around and listening for the telltale sloshing of water. Yup, there they were.

The blue mare hesitantly grabbed the extra canteen from my magic, much like she had grabbed the snack cakes.

“All ready?” I asked as she picked everything up and up them in her remaining saddlebag.

“Almost. Gotta do one last thing.” She took the remains of her ruined saddlebag and tore off a long strip which she then tied to her oversized energy pistol to make a sling. She then slung the sling around her head and neck and then around her shoulder, making the pistol within easy mouth-grabbing distance. “Alright, now I’m ready.”

And with that, we were on our way to Starward.

“Any ideas what we might, erm... encounter?” she asked as we trotted away from the husk of a house.

“Probably just raiders, maybe a radscorpion or two,” I answered, keeping my eyes on the horizon and looking out for anything that might want to kill us.

“Probably? What else could we come across?”

“Well, there’s always the random alicorn encounter.”

“An ali-what?”

“You just had to ask, didn’t you Tesla!?” I yelled.

“How was I suppose to know!?” she yelled, skidding to a stop and turning around to take aim at the creature. The end of the mouth-held gun began to glow a brilliant crimson. A moment later, a spinning, rainbow-colored laser blasted out. She could only hold her ground for a second, letting the laser tear through the monster’s shield.

PFVVVVMMPFT!

The magic energy weapon let out a loud hiss as it vented excess heat through the glowing, smoking barrel and cooling vents.

The first time she used it on a lonesome raider, I nearly crapped myself. The first blast completely severed all four of the raider’s legs as she swept it across the broken road. The second blast turned him into a glittery pile of pink ash. Nothing... I meant nothing... should have been that powerful and yet so tiny.

“From that distance, she looked like one of the Goddesses!” she yelled, running past me as I turned around and slipped into SATS. Six rounds into the alicorn’s head used up the entire spell’s charge.

Pewtpewtpewtpewtpewpewt!

Coming out of SATS, Tesla continued her angry rant. “And when you YOU going to tell ME you pissed this thing’s mother off or whatever!? Did THAT ever occur to you? DID IT!?”

“Sorry!” I yelled back. “That doesn’t matter right now! Keep running!”

The green beast was still chasing us, even after unloading my revolver into its head twice and Tes had burned it’s shield down a few times. Blood dripped from holes in it’s massive wings and chest. A hefty chunk of flesh was missing from it’s brow where Tweety’s hollow points had chewed away at the abomination. Still, it didn’t show signs of being gravely injured, despite the slivers of skull showing through the gore that covered it’s head.

“THE GODDESS WILL NOT BE MOCKED BY A MORTAL... VERMIN... SUCH AS YOURSELF, XEROPHYTE!!” she bellowed. A crack like the sound of thunder echoed through the ruins and a bolt of magic shot overhead, barely missing my ears.

Without looking back, Tes and I ran along the broken street, passing the numerous small buildings of pre-war Starward. Post-apocalyptic Starward was on the other side town. The outskirts we were currently galloping through were mostly used for scavenging, or so I’d heard.

“In here,” I said to Tesla as we passed one of the ruined buildings that wasn’t boarded up. As Tes ran by, I caught her tail in my magic and pulled her through the door.

The main entry room was mostly scavenged, with very little obstructions to hide behind. The back corner held a secretary’s desk and there were a couple of old rotting seats littering the yellowed tiled floors that matched the wallpaper. Despite the missing window that lead out to the street, the interior smelled noticeably mustier than the thick scent of approaching rain from outside.

“This way,” I said quietly. The darkness from the lack of lighting almost made me want to turn on my Pipbuck’s flashlight spell, but that would give away our position.

We quickly headed through a pair of double doors and ended up in a short hallway. One of the overhead fluorescent lights flickered on and off periodically, buzzing with each flash like a staticy lightning storm. Flanked on either wall were three doors, all the same brown wood with foggy, cracked windows. I quickly dashed to the right-middle one, Tes on my tail. I was looking for a supply closet to hide in and just by chance, this one did. The slatted door along the right wall opened faster than I thought it would and hit the wall, bouncing off with a loud bang.

“Shh...” I said, closing the door as quietly as I could behind us. Just in case, I loaded Tweety up with three explosive rounds, leaving only a couple left before I was completely out of the enchanted bullets.

There was a loud series of bangs and thuds as the alicorn ripped doors off, searching for her prey.

Tesla began to cough quietly and tried her best to stifle the noise. A canteen appeared in her hooves.

No! I took the canteen in my magic before and pulled it away before she had a chance to open it. No sounds. Not a peep. I shook my head, my bristly mane quivering side to side a little.

“No noise,” I mouthed.

She stared at me with concerned eyes, biting her lip tightly and bearing her mini-laser cannon. At that point, I decided that this particular earth pony was nowhere near silent.

Another door was magically ripped down, the heavy oak panel flying across the room. Through the thin slats in the storage room door, I saw the cracked window explode like a small grenade. Shortly after, the green alicorn stepped in, still dripping blood along the floor. She casually scanned the room and smiled, pleased with the destruction she had created. It didn’t last long as she realized we weren’t inside and turned to leave. I passed a glance at Tes as the alicorn’s cutie mark-less flanks disappeared behind the warped door frame. We were going to make it!

Tes was staring at the door, laser pistol held tightly in her mouth and cheeks puffed out. Her eyes were starting to water and I couldn’t tell if she was holding her breath or-

She entered another coughing fit, and a second later...

HHACKSPLSH!

Blood splattered the gun’s casing, the floor in front of her, and the front of her stable barding. She stared at the puddle in what would be easiest to describe as horror; horror at what she had just coughed up, and horror that the alicorn had heard her. She sat down hard, still staring at the slightly chunky pool of crimson that was slowly growing.

The alicorn promptly turned around, her long, elegant horn tearing out a small section of the remaining door frame. Each step she took left cracked hoof-prints as she stomped over to our hiding spot. The door, her horn, and her draconic eyes all glowed an ethereal white. Quickly, I snatched up the laser pistol and began to charge it. With the tell tale crack of splintering wood, the door was removed from it’s ancient hinges. The green alicorn stood there, blocking our escape. Instinctively, I crouched and slipped into SATS. Her shield hadn’t fully formed yet, thankfully. She looked really... pissed off, to put it lightly. I targeted the shield with the unique gun, surprised when a single shot used up the entire targeting spell’s charge. Luckily, due to the short distance and my glyph-eye’s perception, the accuracy was maxed at 98%. There was no way I could miss.

The laser beam shot out of the gun’s barrel in it’s flashy, rainbow colored light. The beam hit the the shield, slowly eating away at it like acid. Even after SATS wore off, I held the trigger, keeping the monster’s defenses down. The intense heat radiating off the weapon began to show its effects as the barrel changed from black to red hot.

It took all of the alicorn’s concentration to keep the laser’s beam from turning her into a smouldering pile of ash, and she was doing a good job of it, too. Something pulled at my foreleg, and I peeked over at Tesla, who had Tweety in her mouth. She fired all six bullets into the alicorn’s head, the explosive rounds doing exactly what they were intended to do. The head exploded in a red and green chunky splatter.

Our attacker stumbled back, the rest of the body not knowing what to do without a conscience. The monster fell to the floor by the desk when its twitching wing caught the edge of the broken door.

The creature was dead. Finally.

“And that’s why you don’t go running up to an alicorn,” I told my companion. She was shaking head to hoof, looking like she was about to pass out. A small trickle of blood hung at the corners of her mouth.

“Healing... potion...” she rasped, eyes watering.

I levitated one of our last healing potions to her, which she greedily took, bit the top off, and guzzled down in seconds.

“You should get that checked out when we get to Starward,” I suggested. “I think there’s something wrong that healing potions aren’t fixing.” What, I had no idea. Healing potions were an almost perfect cure for most injuries that weren’t fatal. But with her, they seemed to be weakened drastically, or at least to whatever her internal injuries were.

“I know...” she rasped softy.

“I’m serious,” I said, returning her laser pistol. “Not even Hydra fixed it, and that stuff can regrow a lost leg.”

“Just... gimme... a moment... to rest,” she huffed between heavy breaths. She curled up in a small ball in the back corner of the small broom closet, way from the sticky red puddle, and closed her eyes. “I’ll... be fine.”

“Alright.” I doubted that she’d be fine after something like this. It looked like she literally coughed up part of her lung. “I’m going spelunking for a minute or two. I’ll check back on you when I’m done.”

“Mhm...”

I wasn’t sure how long I’d be gone, or where I would end up, so I left an apple flavored Fancy Buck cake on the low shelf beside her, along with her laser pistol. I picked Tweety out of the middle of the puddle, wrinkling my nose at the messy red saliva that covered the mouth grip. With a single, forceful shake, the blood slipped right off, thanks to the self cleaning glyphs. I reloaded my revolver and left the relative safety of the closet. Tes was snoring before I even got to the doorway.

I investigated the remains of the alicorn. The neck, where the head was once attached, was still smoking. The smell of burning meat and hair wafted up with it. The alicorn herself though, was thoroughly naked: no saddlebags, no armor, or even simple barding. She wasn’t even armed. But given that she shot at us with bolts of pure magic, it was obvious that she didn’t need a weapon other than her horn, which was in dozens of shattered and bloody pieces along with the rest of her head.

Looking about the room, I spotted the desk. Nothing special, just another mass-produced piece of office furniture. After brushing the clutter and door chips off the top, I took a peek inside. Half a dozen 9mm rounds along with the rusty pistol they went to was the highlight of the scavenge. There was also a memory orb, which I couldn’t see into due to the fact that I was a zebra. A blue zebra with a horn, yes, but a zebra nonetheless. There was also a lot of junk, too: an ash tray, an empty Sparkle Cola bottle, a few sales clipboards.

I was on my way out when I caught sight of a wall safe. There was still a bobby pin jammed into it.

“What the...” It hadn’t been picked yet, so I took out my screwdriver, slipped it into the keyhole, and gave it a slow twist.

Snap!

The bobby pin broke almost instantly. So did the next three. Whatever was inside had to be worth it.

By the fifth one, the safe popped open. Inside were more 9mm ammo, making a total of twenty-three rounds in this room alone, another 9mm pistol in much better condition than the previous one, seventeen pre-war bits, and an audio tape.

I instantly downloaded the tape. If there was the possibility of more run-once audios, then I was going to have back-ups made, just in case. I hit play on the old recording, and a very professional voice of a business mare started to play through the integrated speaker.

“I have the radio advertisement that you requested, Skyfeather. I think you’ll be very pleased with the results. It was a little difficult to get the sound just right, but I believe it worked out well.”

There was a short pause and a click. The next voice was that of a stallion.

"With all the talk of balefire bombs and “armageddon” spoken in hushed tones, one has to wonder if it might be worth a visit to Stable-Tec. Their trademark Stables allow the preservation of Equestria's ponies in the worst of catastrophic events. Brought to you by the same Stable-Tec that has brought you many other fine products, such as the nigh indestructable Stable-Tec PipBucks, Stable-Tec brings their expertise to self sustained living environments... underground! With comfortable living quarters, freshwater and air talismans, and a plethora of other amenities, you and your family can continue the greatness of Equestrian society! Sign up at your nearest Stable-Tec Registration Office today!"

The recording ending with its usual click.

I stared dumbly at the stupid grey block that was the audio tape. I wasted three of my bobby pins... for this? With a sigh, I closed the safe back up, not wasting my time to lock it.

“That wasn’t as useful as I thought it’d be,” I said to myself.

I left the room feeling slightly disappointed, but dismissed it quickly. In the room across the hall, there was a hostile. If it was another alicorn, it would have made itself known as soon as it’s ‘sister’ was dead, or ran away. Carefully, I grabbed the door’s handle in my magic and found that it was lock. Rather than waste a few bobby pins, which I was running low on due to previous locks, I took my screwdriver and stabbed it as hard as I could against the glass. Luckily, it wasn’t safety glass, and all I had to do was reach in with my magic and unlock the door from inside.

As soon as the door swung open, I dropped into SATS. The first and only thing it locked onto was a single radroach chewing on a decaying book. I queued up a single shot from Tweety and let the spell do the rest. The bug exploded and few across the room, hitting the back wall with a squishy and crunchy splat. The book that was still clamped in it’s mandible quickly followed it. In hindsight, a SATS assisted attack on a radroach with a .44 magnum revolver was a little overkill, but it got the job done.

The room was exactly like the one I had just come from, except mirrored. There was no wall safe either. The desk contained more useless clutter, as did the filing cabinet next to it. After taking another one of my bobby pins, the storage closet revealed to be more bountiful. An earth pony skeleton curled over an assault rifle with an extra mag sitting beside it. The rifle was in moderately good condition, with only a few spots of rust. A good oiling and it would work just fine. The skeleton didn’t look like a two-hundred-year-old pile of bones, either. They looked like they were a couple decades old.

I carefully moved them aside with my magic and dropped my new rifle and extra mag into my saddlebag. The storage shelves were mostly empty, except for the occasional pile of scrap metal. There was a tool box hidden away in the corner, too. I managed to find a probably useless hammer, another screwdriver, and an extra pair of pliers. The rest of the room was empty.

It’d been awhile since I had left Tesla back in the other closet. I began to wonder if she was awake, so I trotted back across the hall and to the room. She was still lying on the floor, breathing heavily.

“Hey,” I said softly, being careful about waking her up. The last thing I wanted was for her to freak out again.

“Hm?” she groaned tiredly. She looked up at me with her silvery-grey eyes and rubbed the dried, crusty tears from one.

“We should probably get going. It’ll be dark in a few hours and it would be best to get to Starward before then,” I said.

“I supposed you’re right,” Tes groaned again as she stretched. “Find anything?”

“Not really.” I thought back to the waste of an audio tape. “Nothing worth investigating.”

“Oh, well...” She pulled her laser pistol’s sling over her head and across her shoulder, noticing the snack cake. I nodded once, and she swiftly snatched it up and dropped it in her saddlebag.

We were all packed up and just passed the fallen pseudo-goddess when Tes spoke up again.

“What do we do with her?” She pointed to the headless alicorn.

“What do you mean?”

“We can’t just leave her here,” she said. “It’s disrespectful.”

“What do you want to do with her, then?” I asked. I knew where this was going, having been in a similar position many years ago.

“Uh... bury her?” she said, as if it were the obvious answer.

“Do you have a shovel?”

“No...” Tes dropped her head, looking back to the green behemoth.

“Okay, look...” I said with a sigh. “I know everything is different out here than it was in your Stable. Out here, most ponies don’t bury the dead unless they absolutely need to. Most bodies lay where they fall. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do for her.”

She looked at the alicorn for a short while. “Okay... let’s go then.” She trotted past me and out the door.

As we left the office, I could hear the soft pitter-patter of rain against the side of the building.

“Are you coming?” I asked as I started to trot down the street. Tes was still inside the entrance, cautiously looking at the sky. With a fearful glare, she shook her head.

“Why not?” I looked up, shielding my eyes with a foreleg. No sign of thunder or lightning. “It’s just rain.”

“This... is rain?” She motioned around with her hoof. “Is it safe?” she squeaked.

I forgot... Stable pony...

“Yes. It’s just water. It’s not even radioactive this time.” There were the occasional ‘radioactive showers’, but they were one in a million. “It’s a lot like...” I tried to think of something she might understand. “...a shower.” Stables had showers, right? She should understand that.

With much more caution than she should have, Tes slowly crept out from under the tattered awning of the doorway. As soon as a single drop landed on her muzzle, she ran back under the protection of the building.

“It’s cold!” she yelled out.

The fall rain was a bit chillier than it usually was, but I wouldn’t have said that it was cold. I sighed and trotted back to the building, where Tes was still in the doorway. A small puddle was forming in the sagging awning.

“It’s not that bad,” I said. “It’s just a little cool water. There’s nothing to worry about. But I really don’t want to have to camp outside if I have to, so let’s get going to Starward. I know of a place we can stay the night there.”

She groaned and gave the sky another questioning look before gaining the courage to venture back into the world.

“See? I told you it’s not that bad,” I said again, turning around.

The growing puddle in the awning proved too much for the two-hundred year old fabric and ripped wide open, dumping it’s contents all over the already scared mare. She let out a surprised gasp. Looking back, I was met with a priceless scene.

Tes was completely soaked to the bone. Her mane was slicked straight down, covering her eyes. Her tail tail didn’t fair much better, having been caught in the splash radius, too.

“C-c-cold...” she quietly muttered.

“Here,” I said, trying not to laugh at the chattering mare. I brought out my cloak. “This should keep you warm.”

“Thanks,” she said, pulling it over her head and letting it hang off her sides. “What’s with all the swirly patterns and squiggly lines?”

“Enchantments,” I replied. “Trust me, it’ll keep you warm.”

She simply nodded her response.

We continued through the ruins of downtown Starward, trudging through the drizzly rain. Most of the buildings had been destroyed by time or forgotten battles and either sat in piles of concrete, steel, and wooden rubble, or were missing their upper floors and therefore unstable. Combined with the constant overcast and the rain, Starward had a very glooming effect on the mind. It was no longer a thriving city. There were no more ponies trotting around conducting business, attending appointments, or doing whatever it was that ponies did in pre-war times.

My EFS flashed and I noticed something I didn’t like. I slowed my trot down a little to let Tes catch up beside me.

“We’re being followed,” I said quietly, looking behind us and to the sides. There was a little red ‘7’ next to my EFS, along with a blue ‘1’.

“By who?” she asked as she looked back, too.

“Not sure. Something hostile, though. Let’s keep moving.””

“Couldn’t we just fight them?”

“Do you really want to?” I didn’t. Not if I didn’t have to. I sped up to my previous pace.

“Good point.” Tes quickened her speed as well. “I don’t see anypony, though.”

“They’re staying behind the buildings and stalking us.” I levitated Tweety out out of my holster and checked the cylinder. I filled the empty chambers with standard .44 magnum rounds and spun in it close. The magic revolver floated next to me, ready to attack. If we were going to have to fight whoever or whatever was following us, then I wanted to be prepared. “How are you on ammo?”

“I think I’m still good. Not sure exactly how many charges my gun has after that alicorn, but I’m pretty sure I’m alright.”

“You’re wearing a Pipbuck, right?”

“Yeah... why?”

We turned a corner and continued on northward, just in time to see a yellow tail disappear behind one of the buildings.

“You should be able to tell how many shots you can fire.”

“Really? How?” she asked. There was an amused tone in her voice at this newfound information.

“It should tell you in the bottom corner of your vision.” At least, it did in mine.

“What? That doesn’t make any sense.” She stopped for a second and looked at her pipbuck.

“You do have a dot in the center of your vision, right?” I asked, taking a detailed look around. There was a dead end further up the road, but luckily, there was a street leading to the right before that. “Like a reticule?”

“No, what’s that suppose to mean?” she asked.

I sighed. “It means you don’t have the combat-system-thingies turned on.”

“I’m sorry...” she said quietly. “Did I do something wrong?”

“What? No. It’s just that you can’t use SATS,” I replied. “Why would you think you did something wrong?”

“N-nothing...”

“Right...” I drawled, spying a can rolling along the sidewalk as we turned right onto the street going East. The seven hostiles had moved to either side of the road, still out of sight. “Stay sharp. I they’re trying to flank us.

“Uh, what?” Tes asked.

“They are trying to ambush us from the sides. Then, they’ll probably cut us off from behind and in front, cutting off our escape routes.” I snuck a peek back and saw two, dark equine figures dart across the broken road through the increasing rain. My EFS confirmed my sight. The second one almost looked like a unicorn, but I couldn’t be sure. They disappeared behind one of the many concrete and brick buildings and off the edge of my EFS range.

“Come on. Let’s go.” I returned to my trot, but kept a lookout behind. ‘What was that?’ I wondered to myself. More importantly, who. If it was who I thought it was, then we were in much more trouble than we were prepared for.

“Uh, Xero?”

“What?” I asked, turning my head to face forward again. “Well, fuck.”

We were surrounded, or at least we couldn’t move any farther forward. A quick glance back and two more appeared.

They didn’t look like raiders, but instead wore ill-repaired leather armor and wasteland garbs... all five of them, except for the one in power armor. He... or she... had painted the suit an unusual combination of pink with rainbows and flowers all over it. At the armored pony’s side was a minigun that shared the pink and rainbow motif.

“You’re surrounded,” a white-ish unicorn mare said as she stepped forward. Her mane was a pale, dirty blonde color that contrasted with her dark red eyes. “Hoof over your shit nicely and we might let you go alive.” She levitated out a combat shotgun and cocked it.

We were grossly outnumbered, something I was fairly used to. I quickly slipped into SATS. The first thing that the spell locked onto was the unicorn’s torso, with a 98% hit chance. I didn’t queue any shot, I just needed time to think.

Okay, one shot to the leader’s head. Dead. Fire the second round into the power armored pony’s visor. If that didn’t work, shoot until dead. Shoot the earth pony with the SMG. Dead. Reload if necessary. Move to the other earth pony with the sledge hammer. Headshot. Dead. Unarmed unicorn next, followed by the two behind us. Loot remains.

I backed out of SATS, not wasting anymore time nor spell charge, and aimed Tweety at the leader’s head.

“Don’t do it!” the raider yelled.

I took a deep breath, predicting the movements I’d have to make. I’d have to roll to the right as soon as I fired, lest I be peppered by the minigun.

“I don’t think so,” I said, pulling out Flintlock’s hunting rifle and my sword. The blade made a slow and intimidating shing as it left its scabbard.

My magic tightened around Tweety’s mouth-trigger. Beside me, Tes’ pistol let out a high pitched whine that would set even a dog’s teeth on edge.

“I’m warning you! Don’t do it!” the mare said threateningly. She cocked her shotgun.

Wait, what? Was it even loaded?

Upon closer inspection of the group, I noticed some other odd things. The power armor pony didn’t have an ammo belt fed into the minigun, which was in such poor condition, it would be a miracle if it fired at all. The earth pony had an SMG that was missing part of the receiver... and also a magazine. Sledge Hammer was holding the weapon by the head. The last three were completely unarmed, except for the unicorn levitating a broken and dull looking knife.

“Wait, Tes...” I sighed. The charging tone of the weapon died out and the blue Stable pony gave me a curious look.

“GET BACK!” the leader yelled defensively as I stepped forward.

“No.” I put my sword and rifle away, but kept Tweety out just in case. “You are the worst bunch of misfit, clumsy, raiders I have ever seen. And I mean the worst. First, you cocked your shotgun twice and no shells came out.” I wrenched the rusty weapon out of her telekinetic grip. “It’s not loaded.” I cocked it and pulled the trigger a few times to prove my point before tossing it to the ground. “Second, where is her magazine?” I pointed to the earth pony mare with the SMG and then to Sledge Hammer. “He’s holding that thing wrong.” I turned to the big power armored pony. “Why don’t you have an ammo belt? And finally, everypony else is unarmed.”

I kicked the rusty shotgun to the unicorn’s hooves, who flinched and fell to her rump in the wet street.

“Come on. I think we’re done here,” I said to my companion. The raider party moved aside willingly as I passed through. We were just past the last pony when a thought struck me. “What were you ponies thinking, anyways? You could be killed out here posing as raiders!”

The leader turned to us, but kept her eyes downcast. “We were desperate,” she began solemnly. “Raiders attacked our home. We were left with nothing.” She looked up at me with tears starting in her eyes. Or maybe it was the rain... “We barely made it out ourselves! We’re... actors... entertainers! We know nothing about fighting...” she sniffled.

“Well, this must be kinda awkward,” Tes said.

Instantly, my EFS flashed and I had a blue ‘8’ and a red ‘0’. I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I decided to just trot onward. There was nothing else for us to do. We didn’t speak until we were well out of the mock raiders’ earshot, which happened to be about two blocks.

“So what was it like?” I asked, breaking the rainy silence.

“Hm?” Tes responded.

“Your Stable, what was it like?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, dropping her head back down.

“Come on, it couldn’t be any worse than out here.” I looked around the ruins. Nothing special, just offices, storage buildings, places of business, including a couple stores. “Seriously, we almost got robbed by Haykespeare and her casting crew.” I earned a small laugh from her. “So, what was it like living under a rock?”

“Xero,” she stopped, looking me in the eyes. Their normally bright, almost shiny, silver was nowhere to be found. Now, they were just a cold, hard, grey filled with pain. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Uh, okay...?” I left it at that. Something was getting at her, but I wasn’t going to push it. Some things were better left buried.

We didn’t talk much after that. It was starting to get dark, both from more incoming rain and because it was getting late. Starward was still another three miles away, and while we probably could have made it, I didn’t want to travel through the dilapidated city at night. Who knew what hid in the shadows of these skeletal husks. Besides, we needed rest; Tesla looked particularly beat.

We found an old house to stay the night in. It looked like it had been built into a tree. Or maybe the tree had been magically grown around it to give the same effect. Either way, the tree-house had just the thing we were looking for: dryness.

The place had been thoroughly looted. There was almost no furniture, except for a musty mattress in the kitchen, an overturned couch, and a desk that had been broken in half. Luckily, there were no skeletons. After looking around some, I found that there was no worthwhile junk that we could possibly sell. I did, however, find yet another 9mm pistol and some more ammo for it. Tesla didn’t want the well maintained gun, on the account that her laser pistol was much, much, more powerful. Honestly, her gun had more kick than any other magical energy weapon I’d ever seen, including some of the ones I’ve seen the Outland Rangers use.

I broke apart the remains of the desk and used the wood to build a very small fire, more to keep the wild animals away than for warmth. Tes fell asleep on the nearby mattress almost instantly. I stayed up most of the night to play watch guard.

Out one of the windows, I kept thinking I was something moving in the shadows, stalking us. Nothing was showing up on my EFS, so I dismissed it as my eyes playing tricks on me.

I laid down on the mattress next to Tes. She had taken my cloak off but left her Stable barding on. The big ‘59’ on her back had been stitched together many times and was more patchwork than barding. I’d have to ask her if she knew anything about Ocean Mist and Firestorm, the two mares from Lumens’ terminal. I recalled them coming from the same Stable, and a quick look at my Pipbuck told me the same thing.

The mare beside me shivered as a cool breeze blew through the open window, letting a small spray of rain in, too. I draped my cloak over Tes, now that it had dried off substantially.

“Thanks...” she mumbled in her sleep before resuming her soft snoring. It was kind of cute, in a slightly annoying sort of way.

I laid my head down across my forelegs and closed my eyes. ‘I’ll just rest for a minute,’ I thought.

I must have rested for many minutes, because the next thing I knew, it was morning.

Onward to Starward.

Footnote: Level up!

New Perk: Spark of Friendship (Friendship Lvl 1) - Congratulations, you've decided that being a 'lone wanderer' may not be the best of things, especially in a world where everything wants to kill you. You care better for others and aren't afraid to open up a little. When you travel with one or more companions, you gain a 10% bonus to damage resistance. You also gain unique conversation options with other ponies (including current and past companions). As a bonus, when Tesla is in your party, you gain +10 to both your energy weapons and science skills. With every level of this perk, you gain +1 to your maximum companion limit.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter down! This one is divided up into two parts simply because it was longer than a lot of the others. I'll try to keep them below 15,000 words. If not, then I'll post them as two chapters so you guys/gals don't get overwhelmed by 20k word chapters (or 25,000, like one of the later chapters)