“Atrocity” is a strange word. It is an instance of when language has failed to describe something with the adjectives it already had. From a purely intellectual standpoint “atrocity” is just another word for “evil”, like how “awesome” is another word for “cool” or “fabulous” is another word for “pretty”. Each word is no different than its synonym, but we put so much more emphasis on “atrocity”, because merely calling something atrocious “evil” does not give the whole picture.

Scout hadn’t spoken a word, at least not in the time I had been watching. The green pony appeared to be unharmed, the slavers probably didn’t want to hurt him if they didn’t have to. The fact that the unicorn leader still hadn’t drawn her whip was indicative of that. That was fortunate, but only helped so much. Even if I did have a weapon it was almost impossible that I could kill all five of them before they hurt Scout, perhaps fatally.

My contemplations were interrupted by one of the slavers, a burly earth pony with a ball-and-chain Cutie Mark, spoke up. The brute leaned in close to Scout and spoke in a low growl I could just barely hear. “I’m getting real sick of asking. Where. Is. Your. Friend?”

Scout stoically glared back at him. “And I’m getting sick of telling you. I came here alone!”

The slaver lunged forward, grabbing Scout by his Stable barding, and lifted the smaller earth pony. The two glared at each other for a tense second before the mare with the whip stepped forward. What I had originally thought was dirt I now realized was her coat color, a brown dark enough it was practically black. “Put down the Stable pony, you damage merchandise you pay loss of profit.” The brute glared at Scout a moment longer before dropping him. “Now, Stable pony.” The unicorn said with such an insincere smile a foal could see through it. “I could flay your flesh from bone until you tell me about your friend. But I get feeling you would not tell even then. So I give two choices. One is that you tell us where your friend is, we capture your friend, we sell you both.” Scout snorted derisively at the idea. “Two is we cut losses, blow your head off with collar, and leave.”

My heart jumped into my throat at the same time I saw Scout’s stoicism slip. The slave driver must have seen it as well, her smile having become sunnier. We could both see the fight between practicality and loyalty in Scout’s eyes, I couldn’t leave him like this. Fortunately I had a plan, or at least half of one, but considering the desperation of the situation half was the best I had. Retreating fully around the corner I took a deep breath (quietly), put on my best annoyed expression, and strode around the corner into a group of slavers. “Oh please, enough of the drama. It’s giving me a headache.” I kept by voice just above a growl, shifting my glare from one slaver to another.

If the slaver mare was surprised, she hid it well as she turned to face me with the same false smile. “I hope for your sake you are referring to uncooperative scum, here.” The slaver mare lashed out with a hoof, kicking Scout in the side.

I kept myself from wincing, staring into the slaver’s eyes. “No, I’m talking to the cocky bitch who thinks she can enslave my bodyguard!”

“I think any bodyguard stupid enough to sleep while boss wanders around deserves to be caught.”

“I never said he was competent.” I shot a glare at Scout, willing him to play along. The earth pony looked to be getting over the shock of my entrance, I just hoped he remembered my act from Stalliongrad. “But he’s a fair enough shot, what with that computer on his leg, so I’d like to keep him in my employ thank you very much.”

The mud-colored mare chuckled, shaking her head. “Ah, you see that is where we have problem. You see, due to incompetence of my own employees I have lost some… merchandise.”

“Merchandise?” I worked hard not to let my disgust creep into my tone. “If you lost it then why not…how did you put it? ‘Blow head off with collar?’” I said, doing a horrible mimic of the Stalliongrad accent.

The already fake smile became even more strained. “The collars are dog tags for others in my trade. They know my collars, and know that there are consequences for not returning my wares to me.” Her horn glowed, grabbing Scout by his collar and showing me the nine black scratches on the side. “I let my customers have final say of if heads explode. Besides, it would be shame to kill such a rare prize.”

I felt a rush of fierce joy that somepony had escaped this monster, only slightly dampened by the next stage of my plan. I put on my own snake-oil grin. “I think I have a solution to our problem, one where everypony walks away happy.” The mud colored mare seemed doubtful, but remained silent. “How about I reimburse you for any lost profits on your ‘merchandise’ and you let my bodyguard and I go?” I trotted over to Scout’s duffel bag, showing off the plentiful food and caps inside. “I also happen to be in the business of trade.”

The mare’s eyes shone with naked greed. “You make interesting deal, Business Mare. How do I know you have caps enough to pay for my merchandise?”

I pushed the bag closer to her. “Does it look like I do? And even if I don’t, there is plenty more for trade. After all, everypony needs to eat.” I shot a glance at Scout as the slaver and her cronies discussed the offer.

What are you doing? Scout mouthed obviously angry I was offering up our precious supplies.

Saving your flank. I silently retorted.

I was delaying them. You could have run!

I’m not leaving you to these monsters.

The exchange was cut short as the slaver leader addressed me. “I believe we can make deal, Business Mare.” She slid the duffel bag back to me, short most of the caps. She gestured to the small pile at her hooves. “We will take this, your bodyguard will be freed and we will leave you be.”

“That’s most of what I had.” I growled. “Hardly seems a fair deal when I don’t even know the quality of your ‘merchandise’.”

“Trust me, what I lost was most valuable. Consider yourself lucky I do not take more.” She gestured to one of her guards, who approached Scout with a ring of keys. The earth pony remained silent as the collar came off with a clack. “Farewell Business Mare, perhaps we will do business again one day.” The idea made me want to turn her into an ice statue, but I kept my anger in check. She gathered up the caps, dropped them in a saddlebag, and turned to leave with cronies in tow.

“You know, I never caught your name.” I called after her.

She turned to me with a much more genuine smile, casually twirling her whip. “Ponies in my trade call me Cat O’ Nine Tails, you may as well.” With a mocking bow, she turned once again and left.

I waited until I couldn’t hear the sound of the slaver’s hooves before blowing out a sigh. “Thunder and lightning.” I cursed, slumping. “I thought she’d never leave.”

“Sleet…” Scout said hesitantly. I turned to him, my exhaustion returning in spades now that the excitement was over. The buck was regarding me with a mix of appreciation and worry. “What the hell was that?”

“What’d you mean?” I asked around a yawn. “I thought that went well. I’ll help you make the caps back if that’s what’s…”

“No, it’s not the caps.” He interrupted. “It’s the fact that you just had dealings with slavers!”

“Well…yeah.” I muttered, wondering what the problem was. They were gone and we were free, victory for us, right? “Did you want me to fight them or something?”

“No, I expected you to run.” He sighed and shook his head. “I could have escaped and we’d meet up later, not risk both of us getting caught on the off chance you could buddy up to them!” I wanted to point out the very real possibility of the slavers just blowing his head off, but could do little more than yawn. Despite my best efforts, exhaustion was catching up to me. “And where were you, anyway?”

“Can’t sleep.” I grumbled. “Nightmares. Decided to wander…” The world was swimming before my eyes and my knees felt weak.

Scout was a green blur as he gently coaxed me to the abandoned sleeping bag. “Not sleeping is just as dangerous as passing out.” Begrudgingly he added. “It worked in our favor this time, but I’d rather not make a habit of it.” He may have said something after that, but despite my best efforts I fell onto the sleeping bag. As I drifted out of consciousness I prayed that I wouldn’t hear the sound of slavering ghouls.

I awoke on a surprisingly comfortable bed. Looking around I recognized Sister’s infirmary at St. Ponysburg. The room was silent enough to hear a pin drop, and the white unicorn was nowhere to be found. Getting out of bed, I gave myself a once-over, two wings, four hooves, no scars or recently healed wounds to speak of. In fact, I felt great! Rested, healed, fed, and generally healthy. “Hello?” I called, hoping to thank Sister for helping me. I started trotting to the door. “Anypony here?”

The door opened, but instead of the kindly white unicorn I was greeted by the last pony I’d expect. Cat O’ Nine Tails smiled genuinely when she saw me. “Ah, Business Mare! You are awake! Wonderful.”

I took an involuntary step back, my wings fluttering nervously. “Where’s Sister?” I asked.

“The medic? We worry about her later, first we worry about those.” She gestured to my wings. “Hiding those from me?” She tsk’d, shaking her head. “It is not good for friends to keep secrets you know.”

“We aren’t friends.” I hissed, retreating further. “You tried to enslave my friend!”

Cat O’ Nine Tails kept up that easy smile as she walked towards me. “The Stale Pony? I thought he was bodyguard! So many secrets you Enclave have!” I bumped into the bed, and the slaver put a hoof on my shoulder. “Well, is all water under bridge now. After all, you helped me.”

I reflexively twitched away from her hoof. “What are you talking about?”

“The caps! Since we are being so honest, I will admit I took far more than cost of one little piece of merchandise, and for that I am sorry.” She pouted, looking for all the world like a filly with her hoof caught in the cookie jar. “But, with extra caps I make good investments, make strides in business, and since you give me caps I let you share in profits! Follow me!” She turned and trotted out of room, a spring in her step.

I cautiously followed, still hearing no sounds beyond the building we were in. We ascended, going up stairs and piles of rubble to reach the roof. Cat O’ Nine Tails gestured grandly out into the distance where I could see a smudge of movement against the tundra. “I don’t get it, what am I looking at? And where is everypony?” Below us, St. Ponysburg was abandoned, not a soul wandered the streets.

“And here I thought pegasi had good eyes! Fly closer friend, you will get better picture from on high.” I glanced at the slaver nervously, but took off anyway. I felt much better as I flew away from her and towards the smudge, being near the monster made my feathers ruffle. As I glided towards the smudge I could begin to pick out details, like the fact that it wasn’t a smudge, but a column. A large column of ponies were walking three abreast towards St. Ponysburg. At first I thought they were an invading army, but considering that the settlement was a ghost town that didn’t make much sense. Finally, I got in range to pick out individual ponies, and what I saw nearly made me drop from the sky.

They were slaves. A gigantic collection of slaves. Fillies, colts, mares, stallions, and all three kinds of pony made up the herd. Slavers galloped along the edges of the column, viciously lashing anypony who fell out of step. Three ponies in particular caught my eye; Scout, Sister, and Apparatchik were chained together with bomb collars strapped to their necks, trudging along with the rest of the wretched group. “What the Hell happened?” I whispered into the wind.

“We did, friend.” Cat O’ Nine Tails whispered back. I jolted out of my horrified reverie, somehow finding myself back on the rooftop. The slaver put her arm across my shoulders, grinning like a maniac. “With your caps and my ambition, we made the whole North into merchandise! We will be rich beyond imagining, and live like Princesses of old.” Her voiced dropped to a sinister whisper. “And it’s all because I met you, partner.”

I awoke with a gasp on the cold stone floor of the M.o.M basement. I looked around hurriedly, and saw Scout sorting through our remaining provisions. The earth pony looked up at the noise, brows furrowing. “You okay? You look like death warmed over.”

I shook my head vigorously, clearing the lingering visions of the dream. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Scout didn’t look like he believed me, so I quickly changed the subject. “So what’s the damage?” I asked, nodding at the duffel bag.

“We have fifty caps left.” Scout supplied.

“Out of?”

“Fifteen hundred.”

I winced, remembering the large pile of caps Cat O’ Nine Tails had taken. “Oh, sorry.”

Scout huffed out a sigh. “Small price to pay for my freedom. We have plenty of food, so we can make it back in trade once we hit St. Ponysburg.” He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder, already hooked up to his battle saddle. “Sleet,” He began hesitantly. “About last night…”

I held up a hoof to stop him. “Listen, I know it was wrong of me to wander away, and it was ESPECIALLY wrong of me to deal with slavers, but it worked didn’t it?” Scout didn’t look so sure, and the dream of a giant column of enslaved ponies told it wasn’t as cut and dried as that. I had perpetuated evil, sure it was to save my friend’s hide, but did that justify it? Could Scout have escaped without us having to pay them? I put my hoof down a bit more firmly than I wanted to. “Let’s get going, huh? We’re burning daylight.” I trotted past him, heading up the stairs.

Once we were back outside it was easier to focus on something other than my nightmare. The cold Stalliongrad air helped, even in my coat is was uncomfortable. “Seriously.” I muttered, hunching my shoulders. “You’d think winter powers would make me immune to cold.” I instinctively checked the skies for attacking Enclave, but all I saw was the cloud curtain. Scout had reoriented himself after checking his PipBuck, setting off in the direction his map told him.

Either Quebuck was significantly larger than Coltarado, or we were taking the long way out of town. Ten minutes of trotting around broken streets and circumventing piles of rubble and we still weren’t into the open Wastes. The ruined suburb was eerily quiet, no ghoul screams or gunshots, just the sound of our hooves and the wind. That was why when I heard a faint beeping I took immediate notice. “Do you hear that?” I asked, ears swiveling to find the source of the noise.

“Yeah, but it’s not coming from where we need to be going.” Scout responded.

I stopped, searching for the source of the beeping. “I wonder what it is…” I muttered, trying to follow the noise.

“It’s a detonator.” Scout said matter-of-factly. “And I’d prefer if we didn’t going looking for it. Probably a trap some scavenger left and forgot about.” I found the general direction of the beeping and cautiously trotted towards it. “Which means we should forget about it!” The earth pony said firmly.

“If something was worth being trapped then it may be worth the effort to find it.” I countered. Best I could tell it was coming from one of the ruined buildings on the right. Scout continued to protest my idiocy, but I made my slow way towards the door anyway. I wasn’t sure why I was so determined to find the beeping, part of it was to give me something to think about other than the creepy empty ruins. I’d take monsters and slavers, but the deadness of the suburb was frighteningly similar to the St. Ponysburg in my nightmare. Any indication that there was life other than Scout and I here was something I’d take.

I continuously checked the ground for some kind of land mine, the beeping was growing clearer and the last thing I wanted was to blast my hooves off. I entered into the building, some kind of old shop, and scanned the room. Three things became readily apparent to me, even in the dim light. First was that there were two sources of light in the room, second was that one of the sources was the sole unicorn mare crouched behind a counter, and third was the other source being right over my head.

I instinctively jumped forward, just as a large chunk of rubble crashed where I had been standing. I fell from the impact, landing heavily on my knees. Looking up into the unicorn’s startled face, I saw a small red light blinking on the large metal collar around her neck. “You’re not one of them?” She asked breathlessly.

“You’re a slave?” I countered. Before either of us could answer, I heard Scout yell my name. I managed to scramble to my hooves just in time to see Scout leap onto the rubble that had nearly pulverized me. He held the bit to his battle saddle at the ready and took aim. “Scout, wait!” I yelled, rushing the earth pony.

Scout and I were about the same height, I being only slightly shorter, but the earth pony had several pounds of muscle on me. Nevertheless, I managed to knock him off balance and make his shot go wide. “Have you lost your mind?!” He bellowed at me, trying to realign his hunting rifles.

“I don’t think she means to hurt us!” I yelled hurriedly. I turned to the unicorn who was panting, perhaps with the exertion of lifting the rubble. “You don’t, right?”

“You aren’t with the slavers…” She gasped, more a statement than a question.

“No, we’re not.” I said, slowly approaching her. “In fact we just escaped them ourselves.”

The unicorn backed away as I drew closer. “No you didn’t.” I couldn’t see her well in the lack of lighting, but I could see the panicked look in her eyes. “You bought your way out, and you’d do it again.” She looked at Scout, her voice growing high with fear. “He’d sell me in a heartbeat!”

Now it was my turn to take a step back. “What? No he wouldn’t! He didn’t sell me out!”

“He would have!” She yelled, pressing herself against the wall. “He wouldn’t have liked it, but he would have! It’s in his nature!”

I looked over my shoulder at Scout, who was quivering in anger on top of the rubble. “Scout… You wouldn’t have done that.” I said, hoping for some confirmation.

The earth pony met my eyes, guilt and indignation warring for control. Finally he spoke up. “This is ridiculous.” He growled. “Sleet saved my life, why would I sell her to those monsters?” He held up his PipBuck, fiddling with the controls. “What I want to know is who are you?” He turned the light on, bathing the ruined store in a faint green glow.

Scout and I both gasped in shock when we got a good look at the unicorn. The bomb collar around her neck with the nine black marks scored on it was emitting the beeping noise. Her coat was a pale pink, like opals, and her mane was an amethyst purple. Her Cutie Mark was an ornate telescope atop a golden tripod. Her eyes were strange, seemingly shifting colors like a kaleidoscope, but that wasn’t what made us gasp. It was the fact that from the tip of her horn to the bottom of her hooves she glittered like a multi-faceted diamond, even her eyes looked like cut stone. “What…what are…” I stuttered, unable to form a full sentence. Of all the strange things the Wasteland had shown me, this was by far the strangest.

“I’m a crystal pony.” She said quietly, squinting against the light. “Why do you think Cat O’ Nine Tails wants me so badly? We were rare enough before the war.”

I had read about the Crystal Empire once or twice. Information on the pre-war dominion of Equestria was scarce above the clouds, since crystal pegasi were believed to be extinct. The Enclave simply didn’t care about anything that didn’t have a set of wings on it. I knew that crystal ponies were a subspecies of pony that had vanished under mysterious circumstances for a thousand years, and they had had almost zero representation in the Equestrian Army during the war. “What are you doing here?” I asked, cautiously approaching. “I thought the crystal ponies lived in the Empire.”

The mention of her home seemed to take the panic out of the mare. She slumped against the back wall, eyes closed. “Nopony can live in the Empire, it’s nothing but one giant lump of radiation now.” She flinched as I sat in front of her, but otherwise didn’t flee or attack. Sitting this close I could glimpse the fresh whip scars criss-crossing her back. “There aren’t many of us, and we try and stay away from fleshies.” She tugged futilely at her collar, and before my eyes the gemstone quality of her coat began to fade. “We try, and sometimes they find us anyway…”

I glanced back at Scout, the earth pony hadn’t said a word since turning on his PipBuck light. He was staring at the crystal unicorn and I with a curious expression, like he couldn’t decide if he should be worried or not. Looking back at the distraught mare I felt my guilt rise like bile. I had given nearly fifteen hundred caps to the monster that did this to her. I had practically rewarded Cat O’ Nine Tails for ruining this mare’s life! No, not “practically”. I had. No matter how I tried to rationalize it I had bought this pony so that my friend wouldn’t take her place. It felt like my soul had been dragged through mud, less than a week on the surface and I was already trading the lives of innocents for my own gain. “Hey Scout.” I asked quietly. “Do you think anypony in St. Ponysburg can remove a slave collar?”

The crystal pony looked up, looking confused and hopeful. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that I know Scout can’t remove slave collars and Celestia knows I can’t, but hopefully there is somepony in St. Ponysburg who can.” I hung my head, ashamed. “I may not have put that collar around your neck, but I certainly didn’t do the right thing paying the monster who did.” I looked up and smiled as warmly as I could. “I want to give you your freedom back.” I turned to Scout. “What do you think?”

“It’s possible.” The earth pony admitted after a minute of contemplation. “The main problem would be getting there before Cat O’ Nine Tails decides to hit the detonator.”

“She won’t trigger it,” The crystal mare said with absolute certainty. “That would be too easy, like giving up and admitting I escaped. Even after you paid her she won’t just let me go, it’s not in her nature.”

“That’s the second time you said that.” Scout interjected. “How do you know so much?”

The mare winced at his sharp tone and lowered her eyes. “It’s my special talent. I can tell a pony’s true nature just by looking at them. It’s usually based off their special talent.” She glanced back at me. “It’s how I know you’re a pegasus, no earth-bound pony would have that talent.”

I twitched, taken aback at how easily she saw through my disguise. I looked at Scout who seemed equally panicked. “Listen.” I said firmly. “You cannot go around telling ponies I’m a pegasus. I have the Enclave hunting me and the fewer ponies who know about my wings the better, okay?” The mare nodded quickly. I sighed, softening my voice. It wasn’t surprising that the soon-to-be-freed slave spooked from harsh tones of voice. “So what’s your name?”

She was silent for a few seconds, though if that was out of fear or reluctance to tell a “fleshie” was beyond me. Finally she spoke up. “My name is Clarity.”

“Alright, Clarity.” I said, standing up. “Let’s go get that collar off you.” Despite my creeping guilt, I felt my heart warm as the crystal pony glowed with happiness, her coat and mane sparkling.

Within the hour we were on the move again, following a highway leading out of Quebuck. Scout had improvised a scarf for Clarity out of the remaining scraps of cloth he had bought off of Apparatchik. Sure it looked motley, but it hid the bomb collar well and muffled the beeping, which was fortunate. Apparently, Cat O’ Nine Tails didn’t believe in outright killing her “merchandise”. She activated the primers on escapee’s collars to simultaneously scare them into not moving and give the slavers a noise to track them by. All this I learned by talking to Clarity. “Did you learn all this just from your talent?” I asked the crystal pony as we walked. Scout had taken point, opting to focus on getting back to St. Ponysburg rather than talk.

“Yes and no.” She said shrugging. “See a different kind of vision for each pony, and I get a feeling from them as well. If I stay around somepony long enough I can piece together more and more about them based on their actions and talent. It’s what let me learn so much about Cat O’ Nine Tails.” She shuddered at the mention of the slaver. “The vision I got from her was terrible. A tail from that awful whip was wrapped around the neck of the other slavers.” She glanced over her shoulder fearfully, as if expecting the whip to strike her. “I knew I had to escape when I saw one of those tails coming for me…”

My feathers ruffled uncomfortably, that put most of my nightmares to shame and Clarity had seen it all the time. I tried to change the course of the conversation. “What do you see for me?”

“I see snow.” She said simply. “All around you, snow is falling.”

I chuckled mirthlessly. “Yeah, I can see why you’d guess I was a pegasus with that. What did you feel?”

After a moment of silence she responded. “Bitterness.”

I stopped walking for an instant in surprise. “Bitterness?” I asked, turning to look at her.

“Like deepest winter.” She said quietly. Apparently visions into another pony’s true nature made her poetic. She averted her eyes from my hard gaze. “It gets worse when Cutie Marks come up…”

I stared open mouthed at her for a moment. Bitter? Sure I was annoyed at how useless my talent was, but I didn’t let it define me that much did I? No, I didn’t, I couldn’t. Otherwise how could I stand to be around other ponies? I shook my head and muttered, “I think you need your eyes checked.”

Before Clarity could respond, Scout spoke up. “There’s a ruined refueling station coming up. Let’s poke around and see if we can’t get you armed Sleet.”

“What happened to ‘not where we need to be going’?” I asked.

The green earth pony whirled on me, a mask of frustration etched on his features. “Because if I’m the only one shooting then the odds of us getting where we’re going alive are a lot smaller! It’s bad enough we picked up a straggler with another deadly force on her ass! I don’t want dead weight not shooting if we get in a fight!” Clarity and I both were taken aback by the outburst. Scout stormed back toward the refueling station, which I now saw as a small cluster of buildings off to the side of the road.

I glanced at Clarity; the crystal mare seemed downright terrified and was rooted to the spot. I nudged her, which snapped her from the trance. Her mane had visibly deflated and her skin looked more flesh than stone, but at least she was blinking again. She traded a worried look with me before slowly following Scout. I galloped ahead, determined to find out what was eating at my survivalist friend. “What’s wrong?” I asked, cantering up to him.

“What’s wrong,” he growled, “is the fact that you are taking so many Goddesses damned unnecessary risks!” He continued to glare ahead, refusing to look at me. “Trying to negotiate with the slavers, bringing a stranger along, walking towards a freaking explosive into an unsecured building with a hostile in it!” He thrust his PipBuck towards me. “This little marvel you love so much warned me that somepony meaning us harm was in that building, but you just trotted on in! I tried to warn you, what if she had a gun instead of some rubble? You’d be dead right now, and the fact that your shooter was a poor little lost slave wouldn’t mean a fucking thing!” He stopped, sat, and pressed his forehooves to his temples. “And the fact that these stupid risks keep paying off goes against everything I’ve lived by! My instincts keep telling me we shouldn’t have scraped out of those situations even though we did. That’s why I want to scrounge through the refueling station; if we could take the safer route for once I’d feel a lot better.”

The tirade struck me dumb. “Oh…” I said lamely. “Sorry.”

Scout sighed, getting to his hooves. “You saved my life twice, I’d really prefer it if you didn’t get killed before we’re home free.” He continued on to the refueling station without another word. I waited for Clarity to catch up before following.

The station was a cluster of three dilapidated buildings with a spark battery recharge terminal out front. One of the buildings was a garage with the burned out husks of sky wagons rusting in their clamps. The garage was attached to a general store and next to that was a gun shop. “Who puts a gun store at a civilian refueling station?” I asked incredulously.

“Ponies who care far too much about war.” Scout responded, checking the load on his battle saddle. “Clarity and I will check the general store, you go and arm yourself.”

“Alone?” I asked. Hadn’t he just done the big rant on taking fewer risks?

“We need to do this quickly.” He retorted. “And I’m not picking up any marks in there.” He nodded to the gun store. “Just grab whatever suits you, some ammo, and meet up here in five minutes.”
“All right then.” I said, trotting to the store. As an afterthought I took a quick scan of the skies and finding them empty, I removed my coat. Sure, Scout said there was nothing in there, but I’d rather have quick access to my wings if I needed them. Besides, it felt great to stretch them again. Coat draped sideways over my back, I entered the store cautiously. Despite Scout’s assertions to the contrary, I wasn’t completely reckless, and kept a sharp eye out for traps.

I needn’t have worried, the store was desolate. Much to my annoyance the racks were stripped of their guns by previous looters. A thorough poke around proved that the small front room was devoid of any weapons. The best I could find were a few stray bullets which I swept into one of my coat’s pockets. During my search I found a back door leading into a store room that proved to be equally stripped. “Damnit” I hissed. I fruitlessly searched the same crate for the third time in the hopes I missed something.

There was one more door, which was locked. Fortunately it popped open easily with my lock-busting trick. The door lead to a sparse office, a desk took up most of the room with a terminal on top of it and a wall safe behind it. I laughed gleefully when I saw the terminal was still functional, and still locked! I set upon the terminal’s security with vigor, the soothing clack of my hooves on the keys calming my frayed nerves. It took several minutes and resets but I eventually cracked the code, “serenity”. Nearly every file was corrupted, save one journal entry and a command to unlock the wall safe. I was running close to Scout’s rendezvous, but the entry was reasonably short.
>Journal entry 10
>I don’t care what anypony says, those fancy new guns coming out of Flash Industries are amazing! I went to one of the demonstrations, got close enough to the stage I nearly breathed in the ashes! They had a few dummies in some Stripe armor and showed off their guns. One of them made the dummy melt like butter! Ironshod may be reliable, but I’m considering switching out my stock, especially if the one I picked up for myself serves me well. Can’t have Stripes taking out the best arms dealer this side of Quebuck!

An inflated ego for sure, but the mention of Flash Industries was encouraging. The pre-war company had pioneered magical energy weapons with the help of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences. I selected the open wall safe command and was rewarded with the solid thunk of the safe unlocking. Inside I found my prize, a beautifully crafted incineration pistol. The boxy gun was a shiny steel gray with a band of fiery orange around the mouth of the barrel, with “Black Powder” engraved in flowing text. The mouth grip was designed for comfort, definitely a custom model. I idly wondered how many bits this small store’s former owner had dumped on this gun. I found a good number of spark packs in the safe as well, plenty of ammo for the new gun. On top of all that was a shiny memory orb that I could view with the Recollector later. Feeling quite proud of myself, I turned with my new acquisitions to meet up with Scout.

“Drop your weapons and quietly await disintegration” a synthesized voice said. Filling the doorway was a robotic pony with an automatic magical energy weapon pointed at me. With a surprised scream I ducked behind the desk, just as lines of red light shot over me. Damnit, this place had a working robot?! It’s activation code must have been linked into the “open safe” command, and once if scanned me and figured out I wasn’t its master it attacked. “This is a lawful use of deadly force, please do not resist.” There came a jerky clanging noise as the robot made its way into the room, how in Equestria had I not heard the thing coming?!

I fumbled with the spark packs for a few precious seconds before finally slotting one home in the incineration pistol. I poked my head over the desk, gun at the ready. The robot’s head slowly swiveled to look at me while I popped off a few shots. Unlike the gun Sister had given me, this had no recoil as streams of orange light shot toward the robot. Much to my dismay, the rays struck the robot with little effect. I could see a few scorch marks, but it would take far more concentrated fire than I had any capacity to produce to hurt the thing. I scampered around the desk, keeping low and the piece of furniture between me and the robot. If I got in front of the door and galloped I could make a break for freedom.

I barely made it to the door before a bullet bit into my shoulder. Screaming in pain around the grip of the pistol, I staggered back from the door as more bullets streamed in. A turret! This place had a turret! This was entirely too much security for one little gun shop! I had little time to contemplate this as a red beam of light scorched my side, painfully near the bullet wound. I managed to find cover behind the desk again, mind spinning. Unless this magically wealthy small store owner had miraculously run out of bits, chances were the turret was heat-shielded too. It made sense, if I was as paranoid as this pony had been I wouldn’t want my automated defenses to be taken out by some intruder who had stolen my gun. I needed some way to crack through the robot’s armor before it wore me out and killed me.

My thoughts became more frantic as the bot chased me closer to the door again, I needed a solution quickly. In an act of desperation I lashed out with my magic, trying to freeze the robot. There came a faint crackling as a layer of frost built up on the robot’s chassis. It did little to slow its advance, but the sound gave me an idea. I continued to lower the temperature, gently flapping my wings while I danced around the desk. The glass covering its mechanical “eyes” became coated in a thick layer of frost, and that’s when I struck. Leaping out of cover I fired at the robot. Most of the shots missed by a mile, but the ones that did hit were devastating, the sudden and extreme change in temperature causing the metal to become brittle and crack. I landed a shot on the bot’s leg as it took a step, and the appendage snapped off, sending it tumbling. The few shots I had landed had drastically weakened the robot’s structural integrity, and the brittle metal shattered as it struck the ground, the robot ceasing all function.

I breathed a sigh of relief, slumping against the desk out of sight of the turret. My shoulder hurt abominably, but I had survived. I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me as the effort of my spell caught up, but surprisingly I didn’t feel like passing out. Maybe it was the adrenaline singing in my veins. Nevertheless I rested for a minute to make sure I wouldn’t faint before, very carefully, pulling the same trick on the turret. After salvaging a few more spark packs from the defeated robot, I exited the store, still high on adrenaline, to find Scout and Clarity waiting for me. The earth pony looked like he had been on the cusp of going in after me, and after noticing my wounds galloped over with a healing potion. “What happened in there?” He asked, watching as my wounds sealed magically.

“Robots.” I replied simply. “I found a gun.” I turned to proudly present the incineration pistol poking out of my coat pocket. “Meet Black Powder.” I said, grinning like an idiot.

Once my wounds healed and I had my coat back on properly we set out again. Even after I came down from the adrenaline I was able to keep marching. The only side-effect of my fight was an annoying headache, which was far more preferable to passing out. Scout and Clarity’s salvaging had gone well; surprisingly there was a lot of food left in the general store. I questioned why ponies would grab the guns and leave the food, but Scout said it was probably some idiots prioritizing firepower over eating. My being properly armed seemed to put some of Scout’s worries to rest, but the stallion remained distant, refusing to speak beyond one sentence answers. Clarity was equally silent, though that was more due to the fact that she was obsessively looking over her shoulder for signs of pursuit than being anti-social. I could understand. I still found myself scanning the skies at regular intervals.

One thing continued to nag at me though. “Hey Clarity,” I began. “Why does your skin change?”

The crystal mare jerked from her reverie, turning to face me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean sometimes you’re more…” I searched for the right word. “Crystal-y. Why does it change?”

Clarity thought for a moment before answering. “It’s kind of a defense system” she said. “You see, the Crystal Empire housed a powerful magic which reflected the emotions of the Empire’s citizens all across Equestria. Because of our crystal bodies, our emotions are magnified and shine through us. The magic would magnify that light even more and shine it over Equestria. Usually that’s a good thing, because it spreads love and joy, but when something terrible happens like when… he took over.” She shuddered at the word “he”, eyes becoming distantly haunted. “Then our fear and sadness is sent out instead of happiness. If we become sad, fearful, or experience any other negative emotion then our bodies darken so that one crystal pony’s bad day doesn’t affect the magic.” She inspected her own opalescent leg, which glimmered in the faint sunlight. “There’s one drawback though, if a crystal pony darkens then it takes a lot of positive influence for her to brighten up again. Same if we’re happy, it takes something truly awful to darken us even a little.”

“Amazing…” I murmured, staring at her in wonder. “It’s incredible that you are still glittering after what you went through.”

That made her chuckle. “We’re taught from a very young age to control our negative emotions and revel in our positive ones. But even then I was close to going completely dark under Cat O’ Nine Tails. Thankfully I was able to escape, and I took heart in that.”

The mention of her escape reminded me of another, more uncomfortable, question. “How did you know we had bought our way out?” I asked, casually as I could manage.

“Because of what I learned about Cat O’ Nine Tails” she said, seemingly oblivious to my discomfort. “Everything she does is centered on control. If you had escaped like I had, I would see marks of her talent left on you. But you didn’t, which meant you convinced her to let you go. The only way you’d pull that off is with caps, in her mind the only thing more effective at controlling somepony than pain is money.”

I felt sick to my stomach. “What sort of pony has ‘controlling others’ for a special talent?”

“A monster” Clarity whispered.

We continued on in silence until Scout announced, “We’re nearly there”. And indeed I could see the buildings of the town appearing over the horizon. He stopped and began rooting around in his duffel bag. “We’ll need to disguise Clarity as well.”

“If you want you can use my coat” I offered. “It’s easy enough to hide my wings under a blanket.”

“That may not be necessary” Scout said, pulling out one of the sleeping bags we found in the M.o.M basement as well as one of the blankets. He tossed the bundle to Clarity. “Unzip the bag and drape it over yourself, then wrap the blanket around your head. It’ll be tricky to keep in place, and it will look strange, but it’s better than trotting into town with a crystal pony on display. We don’t need word reaching the slavers as to where you are.”

Clarity did as he asked, looking more like an animate mound of cloth than a pony, and we made our way into town. Though I was happy to be back somewhere safe, the sight of St. Ponysburg reminded me that I would soon have to abandon my two friends for their own safety. At least I could take heart in that fact that Clarity would be free and Scout safe. Since I had immediately flown out of town the first time I left, I got my first good look at St. Ponysburg as we trotted in. Unlike the other ruins I had been in which were made of concrete and steel, most of St. Ponysburg was brick and mortar, at least for the first few blocks. The buildings became steadily more damaged before abruptly stopping at a wall of sheet metal that spanned the main avenue. A few ponies trotted about the street, looking about as fed and clean as one can reasonably expect in a Wasteland settlement. Clarity’s cover brought a few strange looks, but otherwise nopony approached us.

Since he knew the town better than Clarity or I, Scout lead us to Sister’s place. Fortunately the old building was close to the town’s outskirts, so we didn’t have far to go. Carved into the stone above the door with faded lettering was “St. Ponysburg Orphanage”. We entered the main hallway, which branched off to the left towards the infirmary and ended with a set of stairs ascending further up the old building. The walls and floor were bare wood, hardly keeping out the northern chill. “Anypony home?” I called, trotting towards the infirmary. “Sister?”

“For pony’s sake hold on! If you can yell you ain’t dying!” came Sister’s voice, sounding flustered. The white unicorn trotted out of the infirmary, levitating a number of trays with her. “If it’s not one thing it’s…” She stopped midsentence, staring at us in shock. “Sleet Gray? Scout? You’re alive?”

“She thought we were dead?” Scout asked, looking to me for confirmation.

“She thought you were dead.” I corrected.

“And I thought she was dead for sure going in after you! Oh thank Celestia you two are okay!” She set the trays down on a nearby table, galloping over and hugging the two of us in turn. I tensed slightly, still a bit uncomfortable with her motherly mannerisms, but returned the hug. Noticing Clarity, she asked. “And who’s this?”

I expected the crystal unicorn to be afraid, or refuse to talk. Instead she immediately took off her improvised hood, smiled at Sister and said. “My name is Clarity. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Sister was about as stunned as Scout and I had been. “A crystal pony?” She whispered reverently. She trotted closer to Clarity, who continued to surprise us by not turning away or flinching. Sister leaned in closer, staring into Clarity’s eyes. “An honest to Goddesses crystal pony! My word girl, where did you come from?” she asked in a voice no more than a whisper. Her ears twitched and brows furrowed. “And what is that beeping?”

“I come from just above the snow line.” Pulling the scarf down, she showed Sister the bomb collar. “My village was attacked by slavers.” Sister’s eyes widened in horror.

“We found her not long after she escaped” I continued. “Do you know of anypony in town who can get that collar off of her?”

Sister blinked several times before responding. “One, but he’s not exactly the trustworthy type. Little bomb-crazed nut job. Goes by the name Threads.”

“Threads?” I repeated skeptically. “Isn’t he a tailor?”

“Well that too.” Sister amended before asking. “Who told you that?”

“The pony who sold me this” I said, gesturing to my coat. “He said that Threads would be able to modify it so that I could keep my wings hidden and still fly.”

The white unicorn frowned in thought. “Big guy? Red? Really loud and complains when something is bad for business?”

That sounded like Apparatchik. “Yeah.”

Sister shook her head. “Buck’s a slave to his own caps, and will sell damn near anything. Once saw him sell a junkie his next hit, and then enough Fixer to sweat it out. But he does have Threads’ number. Little guy is nuts and a coward to boot. I think he learned explosives in hopes it’d scare ponies bigger than him away.”

“But it didn’t work on Apparatchik?” Scout asked.

“Not at all” sister chuckled. “Listen, I’d love to chat more, but I have more patients than normal today. Something’s getting in ponies’ heads, making them all adventure happy.” She started to trot past us before turning to me. “Speaking of adventures, can I have my gun back?”

I suddenly felt a chill of fear that goes deeper than being chased by ravenous monsters, this was the chill of being about to tell your mother that you messed up. “I…uh…lost it.”

Sister blinked once, face impassive. “You what?”

I slumped a bit under her gaze. “I lost it.” I repeated shamefully.

Her eyes hardened. “How exactly did you lose it?” She asked.

I shrunk further in on myself. Celestia and Luna damnit, why couldn’t she be more like my mother? Radiant Dawn was never this stern! “A giant metal monster pony collapsed a building from under me and I dropped it…” I muttered. Even though it was the truth, under that terrible matronly glare it felt like a pathetic excuse. I idly kicked my hoof against the floor, suddenly very interested in the wooden boards. I could see Scout and Clarity out of the corner of my eye, both looking like scared siblings afraid to catch blame.

I expected Sister to react with incredulity, but instead her jaw dropped in shock. “Giant…metal…you got in a scrape with Iron Curtain?” She gasped.

“Who?” I said, daring to meet her gaze.

“Iron Curtain! He’s one of the Shadow King’s Four Great Lords!”

I blinked slowly, not sure if she was serious. “Four Great what now?”

She waved an alabaster hoof at me. “Yeah, yeah I know it sounds pretentious, but they are seriously dangerous. You’re lucky you got out alive.”

I gulped, vividly remembering the terrible vermillion power the metal goliath used to demolish the building I had been perched on. Lucky indeed and that thing was just one of the Shadow King’s cronies! I’d hate to meet the stallion in charge. “So, give Stalliongrad a wide berth?” I said with a weak smile.

“Wide as you can” sister agreed solemnly. “The Lords rarely leave Stalliongrad, but if you managed to escape Iron Curtain then you have a mark on your head. They don’t take being challenged kindly.”

This was met with a groan from both Scout and I. “Great” I muttered. “Another insanely deadly force trying to kill me.”

“You have a gift for pissing off the powers that be” Scout agreed grumpily.

Before leaving, we learned from Sister that Threads lived in what was called the New District of St. Ponysburg. That was the part that was behind the sheet metal wall, and what the result of years of ponies working to fix the damage caused by the balefire bombs, or at the very least make the area livable again. As we approached the front gate a dreadfully familiar synthesized voice greeted us, “Welcome travelers, to New St. Ponysburg.”

I lunged immediately for Black Powder, my wings flexing against my coat as I tried to whip up a freezing wind. Bringing the incineration pistol around, I fired a bolt at the robot, or at least I meant to. Scout shoved me to the side, making my already shaky aim go completely off. “What the Hell are you doing?!” He yelled.

“’Hats on! Ah obot’ dah attachd meh!” I yelled back, my words terribly slurred by the gun grip in my mouth. Struggling against my earth pony companion, I tried to line up another shot.

“That’s just the town Protect-a-pony! It won’t attack unless you do!” He insisted, still effectively keeping me from blasting the robot.

Slowly I ceased my struggling. The Protect-a-pony stood idly by, unconcerned with my outburst. “On’ ah dohs…” I growled in frustration and holstered by pistol. “One of those things shot me…” I grumbled.

“Did you shoot first?” Scout asked.

“No! I just…hacked into a terminal…” I felt my indignation peter away into embarrassment. “And broke into a safe…” My voice dropped to a mumble. “And stole the gun inside…” Cheeks burning, I felt very much like I was talking to Sister again. Scout and Clarity just stared at me. “H-h-how was I supposed to know a two-hundred year old security bot was going to trigger?” I spluttered.

Scout just sighed and approached the gate. He must had triggered some kind of sensor spell because as he walked closer, two salvaged sky wagons built into the gate began rolling on their own accord. The wagons moved in opposite directions, pulleys attached to both lifted the gate with a squeal of metal on metal. We trotted through, the gate squealing closed behind us, and entered New St. Ponysburg. Most of the town was built into the crater from the balefire bomb’s detonation, the crumbling ruins shored up by a wide array of salvaged materials in descending tiers. Metallic catwalks that looked like they were torn from factories ringed the crater with cobbled together buildings clinging to them. Bricks from destroyed buildings were set at regular intervals to create make-shift staircases into the crater leading down to… “Is that a balefire bomb?!” I blurted out, gaping at the missile jammed into the ground.
“That it is” an authoritative voice responded. “It’s our symbol of luck.”

We turned to meet the speaker, a golden yellow earth pony mare with a tangled blue mane and a large shotgun strapped to her hip. She wore a hat that looked like three pieces of headgear put together, a wide brimmed cowpony hat with a head cover underneath and goggles strapped to the front. “Luck?” Scout asked, incredulously.

“Well yes” the mare said cheerily. “Think about it, St. Ponysburg was on the outskirts of the bombs that did go off, and the one that hit directly didn’t actually explode! Collapsed ruins are a lot easier to live in than blasted, irradiated ruins! And to top it all off that thing has shown no signs of exploding in two hundred years, our local bomb guy even said it never will. If that’s not a sign this town is blessed by the Goddesses, I don’t know what is.” She stuck out a hoof to me. “The name’s Buckshot, Sheriff. It’s my job to make sure there’s no trouble for the folks around here.”

The message was obvious. “Just what I love to hear, competent police work.” I replied, shaking her hoof with a bright smile. “I’m Sleet, this is Scout and Clarity.” I gestured to my companions.

Buckshot gave Clarity a scrutinizing look. “You okay there? I know the North is cold and all…”

“She’s sick” I supplied readily. “We’d hate to expose her to more cold than we have to.” Clarity gave a convincing hacking cough for authenticity.

Buckshot was having none of it. She continued to try and stare into the shadows of Clarity’s head cover. “The local sawbones could fix her up quick” the sheriff said, raising an eyebrow. “You walked right past her on the way in.”

I bit the inside of my cheek, damnit but she was persistent, apparently mysteriously wrapped up ponies counted as potential trouble. We needed to break off this conversation quickly, or too much suspicion would be aroused. We couldn’t afford to have the good sheriff taking us at anything other than face value, or her town would be seeing some serious trouble when the slavers and Enclave descended on it. “We already tried that, she’s overworked and can’t see us.”

Thankfully, Buckshot seemed to find the answer acceptable. “Damn shame. There’s a place you can lodge for the night until Sister can see you, just over there.” She pointed to the other side of the crater, where one of the more intact buildings proclaimed itself to be “Crater Ridge Motel”.

“Perfect” I said, maintaining my friendly smile. “But we actually need to talk to your bomb guy; could you tell us where he is?”

With directions from Buckshot, we descended into the crater on the uneven brick stairs. As we neared the balefire missile I could hear a faint click click clicking coming from Scout’s PipBuck. I had a sick feeling I knew what it was, but I asked anyway. “What’s that noise?”

“Radiation meter” he supplied easily. I whimpered, just as I feared. “It’s not too bad, just traces really. We’ll be fine.” The fact that he could adopt such a casual tone about being irradiated baffled me.

“That doesn’t make me feel better” I groaned. Maybe it was my imagination, but I felt like my front half was heating up as we approached the bomb.

“Radiation is a fact of life in the Wasteland, like air or water. I have some RadAway, it’s nothing to worry about” Scout assured me.

“This is about as bad as the rest of the Wasteland compared to the Crystal Empire” Clarity chimed in. “I’m pretty sure direct sunlight is worse for you than this.”

“I spent most of my life in direct sunlight” I muttered. My skin was crawling uncomfortably, as if I was already mutating. “This is so much worse.”

Scout just rolled his eyes as we came up to Thread’s home. Unlike most other buildings in New St. Ponysburg, this shack was actually built into the wall of the crater. By the looks of it, the ponies who built New St. Ponysburg had gotten a train car and managed to bury it in the tundra. I went to knock on the door, but barely got off a single knock before a voice inside yelled “WHOSE THERE!?!”

The three of us all twitched at the sudden shout. Scout and I shared a glance, suddenly understanding why Sister had referred to this buck as a “nut-job”. “Uh, Threads?” I called cautiously. When there came no immediate response I continued. “Apparatchik sent us to see you.”

There came a rattling from the other side of the door. After a few seconds of this, a scrawny unicorn buck with prominent bags under his eyes poked his head out of the door. “What do you want?” He said in a reedy voice.

“He uh, said you could modify this coat for me” I said, gesturing to the garment. “We also heard you’re good with bombs and we need something defused.” The small pony grumbled unintelligibly for a half a minute before I added. “Apparatchik said he’d pay for the coat modifications, but we have plenty to trade for your explosives expertise” I said, nodding my head to Scout’s duffel bag.

My earth pony companion seemed none too pleased I was trading his salvage work for him again, but raised no argument. The flattery seemed to have an effect on Threads, who grumbled a barely audible, “Come in” before opening the door.

Trotting in, we found nothing short of a miniature, ramshackle Stable. The clicking of Scout’s rad meter stopped, meaning there was lead somewhere in the walls. I shivered as we entered, and not just from the temperature. Being built into the tundra, Threads’ shack was bitterly cold, moreso than outside. I could feel the crushing pressure of the soil above us on a fundamental level, like I was cut off from the sky. Of course, technically I was banished from above the clouds on pain of death, but at least being on the surface allowed me to still feel the sky; even that spacious cave hadn’t cut me off as completely as this. Down here, I felt like I had had my wings cut off and been imprisoned.

Most of the train cars were still in their places, with a few of them ripped out and strung together to make rough tables and a bed. Even though the train car seemed sound under the weight of all the frozen dirt, railway tracks had been brought in as support beams, with thick steel plates welded over the windows. Even the door was reinforced; one of the rails had been cut to size and affixed to the wall to serve as a locking bar, paranoid indeed. The back of the car had been ripped open and the tunnel housing the car extended further than the eye could see. Random piles of Threads’ personal effects sat on the train cars in disorganized heaps and the whole place stank of explosives. Threads’ horn glowed as he activated a generator, strings of emergency lights flickering on and allowing us to get a better look at the unicorn. His dirty orange coat was stained black with blasting powder, and his shaggy red mane fell into his eyes. Those eyes glared suspiciously at us as he barked “so what do you need me to do?”

“Can you remove bomb collars?” I asked.

“Yeah, of course” he growled irritably. “That’s easy; I want to know what that big Stalliongrad bastard wants me to do!”

Insulting the kindly merchant was not mixing well with my claustrophobia, but I kept up a friendly disposition. “Very well. He wants you to modify the coat,” As I talked I undid the clasps on the coat, pulling it off to reveal my wings. “so that I can hide these, but use them quickly if I have to.” I looked over my shoulder at my wings, the ice blue feathers had not fared well confined in the coat. “And hopefully some way to keep my feathers straight can’t fly if these are…” I was unable to complete my thought as Scout tackled me to the ground and Clarity’s horn shone brightly.

I was too stunned to struggle as we were thrown to the ground, the light of the two unicorns’ magic shining above us. I managed to roll onto my side despite Scout’s best efforts to pin me down, the question of what the Hell was going on dying on my lips. Hovering just above Scout and I was a small apple shaped grenade, wrapped in the warring auras of Threads’ yellow magic and Clarity’s pink. I felt panic seize my heart, and thrashed against Scout and adrenaline surged through my veins. No! I would not be caught in an explosion; I wouldn’t die in this horrible underground prison! “Let me out! Let me out!” I screamed, wrestling against the earth pony. He was yelling something at me, but it was drowned out as Clarity let out a cry of her own. The shadows of her head wrap were banished as her horn glowed with blazing light, the radiance reflecting off of her crystal skin.

Clarity’s magic overtook the grenade and hurled it above and behind Threads with all her strength. The little explosive bounced into the darkness of the extended cave, and for a fraction of a second there was silence before a loud explosion and flash of light echoed from within. The entire incident took about eight seconds, but in my panic it had felt like a lifetime. Threads looked rapidly between the three of us in panic, before his horn surged and another grenade floated out of the piles of refuse, pin halfway pulled. I lashed out with the one wing that wasn’t pinned under me, and the cold in the shack intensified as a thick layer of ice formed on the grenade. “No” he whispered, his horn flaring several times as he tried to yank the thoroughly frozen pin. “No no no no no…”

Scout got off of me and readied his battle saddle, pointing the hunting rifles at the cowardly unicorn. I stood up soon after, brushing the dust off of me with my wings as I tried to regain my composure. Despite my best efforts of sounding civil, I growled more violently than I wanted. “What the fuck was that, Threads?”

“No, no pegasi! No, no, no, no pegasi! I want nothing to do with your fucking Enclave!” He said, backing away from me rapidly.

“I’m not with the Enclave” I said slowly, voice cold. My headache was drastically worsening, and was doing nothing for my mood. “That’s why I have the coat. So I can hide. My. Wings.” I said, enunciating each word through gritted teeth.

The paranoid unicorn was having none of it. “No, you are! You’re here to take me back! I don’t want to go back!”

“Go back where?!” I snapped.

“Talon!” he yelled, “Talon Mountain! You crazy feathered fucks had me blowing up griffon aeries at the top of a fucking mountain! I’m not going back there!” He fell to his haunches, foreleg over his head and whimpered pathetically.

I was still pissed and more than a little freaked out, but curiosity was beginning to take over. “How did you get on top of Talon?” I asked.

“I don’t know! I was a prospector before that, I set up camp one night and the next morning I’m freezing on that Goddesses damned rock!”

This didn’t make any sense, why would the Enclave be kidnapping surface ponies to work demolitions on top of Talon? Sure the griffons had been putting up a stiff resistance for centuries, but never enough that we’d need to recruit surfacers. As far as you know a little voice reminded me, they lied to you about so many things, after all. I shook my head; I needed to get out from this cave before it made me go crazy. I let the cold anger return as I addressed the cowering bomb tech. “Listen, I’m not with the Enclave, in fact I’m running from them, understand? They want to kill me, and anypony whose ever talked to me.” I let the implication sink in before continuing. “So if you don’t modify that coat for me, I run a higher chance of getting caught, and maybe I’ll let slip before they kill me that a certain fugitive unicorn is holed up here, understand?” Not necessarily true, I didn’t like the little bastard but I certainly wouldn’t want to sick the Enclave on him, or anypony. However, Threads didn’t know that, and the idea of the pegasi finding him again seemed to have a serious effect.

He mouthed silently for a few seconds before muttering. “I’ll need your wing measurements…” He levitated a measuring tape and sullenly approached me.

I gratefully complied, spreading my wings. “There, it’s so nice when everypony works together” I said, smiling sweetly. “Oh, and don’t forget, we need you to remove a bomb collar.” I nodded over my shoulder at Clarity, who magically removed her head cover and scarf.

Threads stared dumbfounded at Clarity for several moments before nodding. “Yeah, okay sure.” He finished measuring my wings, grabbed my coat in his magic, and after motioning for Clarity to follow him scurried to the back of the train car.

With Threads out of earshot, I breathed a sigh and turned to Scout. “Thank you. If you hadn’t spotted that grenade…” I shuddered at the thought of being killed by the blast, or worse, lost in a cave-in.

“No problem.” He said, looking at me with some concern. “Are you okay? You’re acting more twitchy than normal.”

“Yeah, I just…don’t like being underground.” I put on my best smile, but it felt thin. “How about you?”

“I flip out on you, tell you to stop taking stupid risks, and then send you in alone to get a gun all because I wanted to keep moving. We should have all gone together, or I should have sent Clarity with you, but I didn’t trust her so I wanted to keep her with me.” He sighed and shook his head. “I think everything will be okay because my E.F.S. said nothing was in there, but you come out shot half to death by a security system. When I saw the red bars come up I wanted to charge in there and help you, but my instincts told me not to, that I shouldn’t be risking myself. I feel like a damned coward, but can’t shake the feeling I did the smart thing by leaving you there.” He refuses to meet my eyes, staring blankly at the wall of the train car.

I was stunned; he intentionally left me to fight on my own? Sure it worked out in the end, but I felt a hot indignation twisting my gut. Some thanks! Save a pony’s life and he leaves you to be killed by murderous robot! What if I had left him to Cat O’ Nine Tails, or Iron Curtain? What if I had abandoned him when Swift Winds attacked? Through the roiling sea of my anger one terrible realization hit me, Clarity was right about him. “Why’d you even save me in the first place?” I asked, fighting and failing to keep the harshness from my tone. “You could have left me to bleed out on the Wasteland.”

“I don’t know, okay?” He snapped, whirling on me with a thunderous look. “There was no reason, no gain, no nothing! I’ve never cared for the well-being of another pony before! All you did for me was serve as a warning. Somepony bleeding out from a ghoul bite with a trail leading back to a well-known ghoul hot spot is a glaring sign to stay the Hell away! But I saw you were still breathing and I just…” He made a frustrated noise in the back of this throat. “I just don’t know…”

I wrestled with my own anger and confusion, how do you respond to that? Your life was saved for no reason? Saved by a pony who would sell you out, who would leave you to die? In the end, I was unable to respond as we heard a scream and saw a flash from the back of the train car. Scout and I leapt into battle-ready positions, but gasped in shock at what we saw. If Clarity’s crystal skin had been breathtaking before, this was on par with Celestia Herself coming down to smile upon us. Our friend had shed her disguise and glowed with a brilliant light, her opalescent skin shaped like the most beautifully cut diamonds. Her amethyst mane was styled like pre-war royalty and shone with a brilliant luster. Her eyes were closed blissfully, and perhaps most importantly of all, her neck was bare. “C-c-clarity” I stuttered breathlessly. “You’re…”

Smiling, she turned to me. She opened her eyes, which positively radiated prismatic light. “Free” she said, her voice sounding like a joyful choir. “I’m free.”

Sadly, Clarity’s radiance did not last forever. The divine glow died down after a few minutes, though her pristine crystal form stayed. The only thing that marred her was the collection of whip scars that stood out painfully along her back, but she either didn’t notice them or didn’t care. The three of us were sitting on one of the train car’s old seats while Threads worked on my coat. “It was kind of touch and go, actually” she was telling us. “A few times he encountered some problem, like he couldn’t defuse the bomb or there was no way to remove the collar, but he worked around them just fine.” The crystal mare hadn’t stopped smiling since her release, and frankly I couldn’t blame her. “Even if he is a coward, he’s good at what he does.”

“And what is his special talent anyway?” I asked, glancing at the tailor as he worked. His Cutie Mark was a lattice work of some kind of thick wire.

Clarity’s ever-present smile faded a little. “His special talent is working with explosives, but it was twisted from his enslavement by the Enclave. Now he’s obsessed with using his bombs to protect himself. I’d imagine he didn’t actually get his Cutie Mark until he escaped and hid himself away.”

I suddenly had a whole new sympathy for Threads. It was bad enough for me, being hunted by the Enclave for terrorist acts and facing execution, but to be on the run from your oppressors, knowing that being caught meant going back to your bondage, had to be horrible. Stopping Cauterize may have been my top priority, but I added “getting to the bottom of kidnapping surface ponies for the fight on Talon Mountain” to the list of things to do concerning the Enclave. That was for later though, now I wanted to celebrate my crystal friend’s newfound freedom. “So what do you plan to do now, Clarity?” I asked.

The question confused her. “Well, I was hoping to stay with you two” she said, as if it should have been obvious.

“Oh,” I said as casually as I could manage, even as I felt my heart drop into my stomach. I wasn’t sure when, but I had convinced myself somewhere along the way that after we freed Clarity she would go her own way, stay in St. Ponysburg or return to the other crystal ponies. But now that she said it, it was painfully obvious that she would want to stay with the ponies who were kind to her in her moment of need. I felt dread creeping up my spine. Even after what he had told me, I still knew that leaving Scout would have been hard. Could I abandon Clarity as well? You’re going to have to, for her own good, that little voice told me. “Of course you can” I lied through my teeth. That brought the crystal mare’s smile back in full, and only twisted the knife in my gut further.

Threads walked up to us a short time later, my coat held in his magic grip. “Alright, it’s done.” He stayed a good distance away as he levitated the coat to me. I could see no visible changes to the back of it as I took it, but on the inside I could see two new pockets corresponding to my wings. “Put your wings in those pockets as you put it on” he instructed. I did as he said, my wings sitting comfortably within the pockets. “There is a slit you should be able to slide your wings out of on each side. It’s small enough that nopony will notice it.” It took a bit of work, but sure enough I was able to slide my wings through the slits, spreading them as if I wasn’t wearing the coat at all.

I gave them a few practice flaps, making sure I had fully range of motion. Somehow, he had managed to perfectly size the slit so that my wing joints could move freely without bunching the coat. “It’s perfect” I said with a wide grin.

“Yeah, good.” He grumbled, looking eager to be rid of us. “And the Enclave will never learn I’m here?”

“Never” I assured him, nodding solemnly.

The unicorn seemed unconvinced, but accepted it. “Alright, now please get the Hell out.” He glanced at Clarity, his anxiety lessening at the sight of her. “And…no charge for freeing her.” We thanked Threads for his generosity and made to leave.

It took a bit of work, but I managed to slip my wings back into the coat, though now they didn’t feel as constricted as they had before. While I had been concealing my wings, Clarity had donned her disguise, and now thoroughly inconspicuous, we exited Threads’ home. Stepping outside was marvelous, I breathed deeply, feeling my claustrophobia slip away, and gazed up at the clouds. I had no idea if I’d ever fly above them again, but just being able to see the sky made me feel better. I was broken from my reverie when Scout nudged me and hissed “Sleet, look.”

I looked to where my earth pony friend was pointing, and for an instant I had no idea what I was looking at. It wasn’t that I didn’t recognize what I was seeing, it was the fact that I was seeing it at all. All too quickly my shocked ignorance gave away to cold, terrifying reality. At the rim of the crater Buckshot was talking with a group of three pegasi clad in Enclave power armor. “They found me…” I whispered.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the Enclave ponies. My mind had gone blank, save for one fatalistic spiral of thought. The Enclave had found St. Ponysburg and it was only a matter of time before they found me. Sure, they might overlook me in a crowd with no visible wings, but they all certainly had my description. Wings or no, they would be able to tell who I was given enough time. I was doomed, Scout and Clarity were doomed, this whole town was doomed, all because of me.

While I panicked, Scout continued to try and get my attention. When I didn’t respond, he smacked me across the face with one hoof, the pain startling me to alertness. “Sleet!” he hissed as loud as he dared. “Get a hold of yourself! We need to move!”

Despite the throbbing in my cheek, I still could do little more than stare at Scout numbly. “They found me, Scout they found me. I’m going to die; we’re all going to die…” I had cheated death one too many times, I couldn’t slip the Enclave’s noose now. If I fled then they would annihilate St. Ponysburg, if I didn’t then they’d find me and the town would still suffer. There was no hope, we were cornered.

Scout smacked me again, and Clarity grabbed ahold of the front of my coat with her magic. “Just move” Scout said, heading further into the crater. “Act casual, don’t draw attention. They haven’t seen us yet. Buckshot doesn’t know you’re a pegasus, so she can’t point them to us. If we get out of sight and stay that way until they move on, then we can leave.”

I complied, if for no other reason than I couldn’t resist Clarity’s persistent tugging. Eventually I was able to move my legs on my own, and no longer needed the crystal mare’s help. Even then, I felt as if the eyes of the Enclave ponies were burning into my back, seeing through my pathetic disguise to the wings underneath. Every gust of wind sounded like the flapping of wings, and I had to resist the powerful urge to look over my shoulder every few seconds. It only took a few minutes to reach the Crater Ridge Motel, but it felt like years. Once we were inside the motel I felt my shoulders loosen marginally. We were still in the dragon’s cave, but at least we were out of sight. “I’ll get us a room.” Scout said. “Try and stay away from windows.”

After Scout left, Clarity turned to me. “Are you going to be alright?” she asked, concern clear in her gemstone eyes.

No, I wasn’t going to be okay, not until I put a few hundred miles between the Enclave ponies and I, and from Clarity’s expression it was obvious. “No, I won’t. Not until this is over.”

“What did you do to make the Enclave hate you so much anyway?” She asked.

I never did get the chance to tell her. I filled Clarity in on why the Enclave wanted me dead, carefully omitting the part about how they wanted to kill everypony associated with me as well. It wouldn’t do to worry her further. “Goddesses…” she muttered, eyes wide. “You’re whole family?”

“All but one, and he’s the one leading the charge.” I hadn’t seen Downpour with the group in St. Ponysburg, which was a small blessing. Chances were the ponies here either didn’t know about Scout or were too concerned with finding me to look for him. If Downpour or Swift Winds had been here, then it would have been twice as likely we’d have been spotted if they saw Scout.

As if thinking about him had summoned him, Scout returned with news that we had a room. It was on the third floor of the five story building, and a dingy little thing. The walls were filthy, the two beds and couch were rotted and looked uncomfortable, and the toilet wasn’t working properly. It did have one important thing though, curtains. I peeked out from behind them every few minutes, keeping tabs on the Enclave ponies.

By this point it was late in the afternoon, and the sun had begun to set. The Enclave were going door to door questioning the ponies within. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the pegasi seemed no closer to the answers they wanted than when they started. Just before the sun dipped fully below the horizon and plunged the Wasteland into darkness, the Enclave took wing and flew out of St. Ponysburg. I continued to watch them until they flew out of sight, and only then did I permit myself to sigh in relief. “Oh thank the Goddesses! They left!”

My friend’s also sighed, slumping as the tension left the room. “See?” Scout said, smiling weakly. “Told you they wouldn’t find us.” The earth pony looked exhausted, eyes dropped and shoulders slumped.

“Easy.” Clarity agreed with a yawn. “We’re safe.”

I was also exhausted, but I couldn’t afford to sleep now. My heart ached to think of what I had to do next, but I managed to keep a smile on my face. “You two get some sleep, I want to keep watch a little longer.”

“No” Scout said firmly, glaring at me. “You aren’t pulling something like last night.”

I waved him down with one hoof. “Don’t worry, I’ll get to sleep. It’s just a couple more minutes.” I felt sick lying to him.

Scout was too tired to argue, climbing blearily into bed and falling asleep almost instantly. Clarity went to do the same, but instead trotted up to me and gave me a hug. “Thank you so much for freeing me” she said, embracing me tightly. “I woke up this morning not sure if I’d survive the day, and now I’m going to sleep a free mare. I can’t ever repay you for this.”

I returned the hug, thankful that she couldn’t see the anguish in my eyes. “You don’t have to repay me” I said, trying hard to keep my voice even.

She broke off the hug and smiled warmly at me. “I want to try” she said with an utter conviction that made my throat clench. “Goodnight, Sleet Gray” she said, climbing into her own bed.

“Goodnight” I responded, turning to the window. I stood there, staring blankly into the night until I could hear them both sleeping peacefully. I looked at the still forms of the two ponies. My short time in the Wasteland had given me more friends than my whole life above the clouds. Even knowing that Scout would have betrayed me, I still couldn’t help but feel closer to him than any pegasus I had ever known.

I wanted to stay, Goddesses I wanted to stay. I wanted to learn why Scout saved me, I wanted to talk to Clarity about the Crystal Empire. I wanted to stay if only to give my friend a chance to let me trust him again. But if I stayed Scout would die all because he saved me. If I stayed then Clarity would die away from her home and family. I couldn’t do that to them.

I found a pen and paper on the nightstand, scrawling out a quick message before silently leaving the room.

Scout and Clarity,

I’m sorry, but being near me puts you two in danger. The Enclave wants to see everypony associated with me dead, and I can’t let that happen.

As I left the room I was confronted by Buckshot, who stood sternly outside the door. “Who are you?” she hissed at me. “Half an hour after you show up I have Enclave coming down here, asking if I’ve seen a fugitive who sounds an awful lot like you. Same name and everything, Sleet Gray.” She glared at me searchingly. “Mind explaining?”

My mind spun, but I didn’t know if I could talk my way out of this. “I don’t know what you’re…”

“Don’t bullshit me.” She growled, stalking closer. “Their description matched you to a T, even without wings.” She nodded at my coat. “What’re the odds you’ve got them hidden under there?”

I sighed, and reluctantly revealed my wings. Buckshot whipped out her shotgun, pointing the barrel at me. “Wait!” I said, loud as I dared. “I was just leaving.” The Sheriff glared at me, gesturing to the door. “I have to leave them” I said painfully. “The Enclave is going to kill everypony around me if I’m caught. I can’t let my friends die…” Buckshot’s eyes softened for a moment before hardening. “Kill me if you want” I said. “But if the Enclave found out you did they will still destroy this place. They can’t risk what I know getting around.” Buckshot’s eyes widened. “That’s why it’s better if I just leave; everypony around me is in danger.” Without waiting for a response I turned from the earth pony sheriff and trotted down the hall. I heard her go the opposite way.

We may have escaped today, but they are ruthless. They won’t stop until we’re found and put to death. Just being near me puts a target on your heads.

I found the rooftop access and gazed up at the sky. A few holes poked through the cloud cover, showing Luna’s night sky above. The stars twinkled merrily, unknowing or uncaring to the suffering beneath them. Even still, they were beautiful. I had taken the night sky for granted most of my life, but now I relished this chance to even glimpse it. If I stopped the Enclave, could we return such beauty to the world? Would ponies be able to look up at the night sky and enjoy the majesty of the great sparkling expanse?

Would I be able to have friends without worrying that some greater power would destroy them? Could I live without fear for myself and those around me? I glanced back at the hatch leading into the Crater Side Motel. Maybe I could stay with them. We could fight together, and earn that security as a whole. Scout would learn why he saved me, and our friendship would be restored. And for an instant I believed it, turning to the hatch to go back inside.

Something made me glance up. The patch of stars was gone, covered by the Enclave’s clouds. Their persistent cover blocking out the beauty of the heavens. Steeling my will, I took off from the roof.

I have a plan to stop Cauterize, but I need to do this alone. If it works, then maybe we can meet up again when all this is over. I only hope you can forgive me for this.

The cold air rushed over my wings, biting through my coat and stinging my eyes. I blinked away tears as I left St. Ponysburg behind, the small settlement disappearing behind me. I was out over open Wasteland, the weak light of the moon barely illuminating the tundra below me. I lost track of how far and long I flew.

You both have shown me that the surface world is worth saving. Please stay safe, and watch the skies. Sunshine and rainbows are coming, clear skies ahead.

I didn’t hear my attacker coming; I merely felt the terrible impact of something hard against my skull. I couldn’t even cry out as the world darkened around me. My wings failed and I fell, plummeting to the Wasteland below. Just before I dashed myself against the tundra, I felt a pair of legs wrap around me and lift me higher. The world faded completely from view as I lost consciousness.

Your friend,

Sleet Gray
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Foot note: Level up
New Perk, Winter Weather Pony (Rank 2): Your skills at manipulating the weather have increased. You can now freeze a greater area solid at once without passing out, and you can lower temperature further than you could at Rank 1.

Author's Notes:

Hoooo wee! This was SO MUCH LONGER than I intended it to be! At around the 8K word mark I expected maybe another one to two thousand words, but didn't stop until I nearly hit 15K! Big apologies for the delay in getting this out, with such a meaty chapter I wanted to make it as close to perfect as possible.
Thanks go to Kkat for creating the wonderful world of Fallout: Equestria for folks like me to mess around in, and additional thanks go to my mother and my friend Mobius for proof-reading this monster. And of course, thanks go out to everypony reading, you humble me with your support! Comments are heavily encouraged, and I'll try and get chapter 5 out on time!