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Chapter Eight

Dear Princess Celestia, Can You See the Stars in Our Eyes?

"These violent delights have violent ends,

And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,

Which, as they kiss, consume."

The lime-green stallion downed the remains of his drink and added the glass to the stack he'd built up along the bar. With a grunt, he tapped the bar with a lethargic hoof.

A gruff pony with a light blue coat, dark blue mane and beard brought another bottle over, placing it on the bar with a thunk and stared at the inebriated stallion. Lucky reached into his pocket, pulled out a pouch of caps and threw them on the counter. The bartender took them wordlessly and left. Lucky picked up the grimy glass.

Plop.

Lucky was swaying on his barstool, bottle in hoof. He was unaware of me until his drink began to shimmer and shake. He glared up at me as I slipped the talisman back out of his drink with a quick pull of the string it was secured to. I sat myself down beside him, smiling broadly.

Lucky looked from me to the bottle suspiciously.

"Water talisman." I explained, dangling the dripping talisman from a string, "purifies any liquid."

Lucky looked from my smug expression back to the bottle before taking a swig, ignoring the glass the barman had left fruitlessly on the bar in front of him. He licked his lips after pulling it back, his expression shifting through a range of surprise to sourness.

"You turned my wine... into water." He said with a sigh. I replied with a nod. "You are such an asshole." He said before pushing the bottle away and staring at the empty glass.

I reached over, took the bottle of now fresh water and took a deep drink. It was deliciously clean. "Good water." I smiled.

"So, how'd it go? Anyone get eaten?"

"Nope," I answered, "we got the talisman and lots of supplies, and we can use the Stable as a base should we ever need to. Oh, and we'll be giving them some supply runs here and there once in a while. First one's in a month's time."

His eyes widened in surprise. "How'd you manage that?" He quizzed.

"I'm good at what I do."

He scoffed, "Anything else I should know?" He asked as he yanked the bottle back and took a swig; once he pulled it away from his lips he stared at it with an unhappy expression, as though the bottle had betrayed him with its contents. His eyes narrowed as though he were trying to will it to turn back into wine.

"Aero lost a leg. He's got a cybernetic one now."

Lucky had been half-way through taking a second swig when he spat it over the counter, the bartender in the corner looking displeased at us both. "WHAT?" Lucky turned around, scanning the bar in an effort to find our feathered friend, unaware I'd asked them to wait outside. "What happened? And what do you mean 'cybernetic'?"

"Don't worry about it, there was just a mishap with an explosion. He's alright. He needs medication to stop infections, but we're all sorted for that." I did my best to sound confident in that.

"What about you, you get a cybernetic too?"

I raised my prosthetic hoof, waving it at him. "Nope, stumpy likes to grow remember. Cybernetics won't do."

He nodded, then turned away from me. And... silence... It was awkward for almost a full ten minutes before he finally spoke again.

"How'd you find me?" He asked softly.

"Easy, I just looked for the nearest hole where alcohol was available."

Lucky chuckled and leaned onto the bar. "Well that's just sad."

"I agree."

"Oh, fuck off. Like you have the right to judge me." He had me there. Lucky went quiet for a moment. The silence spanning between us was filled with unsaid words. Only a few minutes passed before it was broken, though I admit it felt longer. "I stopped, y'know." He said softly, "I stopped. Didn't touch it for two years after... what happened." He stared at the bottle of fluid formally known as wine with a pained expression.

I felt my jaw tighten. "Let's just go."

Lucky sighed to himself, "yeah," he said. He grabbed his hat from the stool next to him and slipped it onto his head. He slid off his barstool and followed me out.

Outside was pandemonium.

"Let me go, Stranger! I'm gonna tan her hide!" Aero struggled against Stranger's large form, my bandaged friend holding back the armoured Pegasus with relative ease as the feather-brain tried to force his way through. The anger on his face and his effort to push past Stranger was marred in dramatic effect by his right foreleg dragging on the ground.

"Erm, what happened?" I asked. I looked from him to Sonnet, who seemed very interested in her hooves.

"The little bitch deactivated ma leg!" He pointed at her with his left hoof, or he tried to. He ended up without a foreleg to stand on, and fell flat on his face.

"Is this true?" I asked the filly.

She kept her eyes on her hooves and shrugged, "I wanted to see how it worked." She mumbled as she shuffled her hooves a little.

"I said she could look. LOOK! Not TOUCH!" Aero yelled as Stranger picked him up off the ground with ease.

Rolling my eyes, I padded over and grabbed his hoof. I slid back the upper grieve of the cybernetic with a clunk, revealing the maintenance panel. She'd disconnected one of the transmitter nerve bridges. I gave her a glance, a look she purposely chose not to meet. I turned back to the leg, reconnected the bridge and let the hoof go. Aero gingerly began moving it.

"Thanks... where'd you learn to do that?"

I shrugged at his question, "I read a book on cybernetics back in the Stable."

"A book taught you how to repair ma hoof?" Asked Aero with a raised brow, wriggling his hoof experimentally.

"Oh, don't be dramatic." I chastised, "she only disconnected a small part." I walked past him up to Sonnet and swiftly slapped her up the back of the head.

"Ow!" She yelped, raising her hoof to rub the spot.

"Don't do that again."

"So... where're we going?" Lucky asked from the bar doorway. Though from the way he had to lean against the door, I could tell he was about to fall over.

"First," I began, giving him a look over, "we're going to find a place for you to lay down. Because we are not traveling while you're pissed."

"Pissed?" Sonnet asked.

I rolled my eyes at her incessant curiosity with swear words.

*** *** ***

Lucky snored loudly. He always did after drinking heavily. I remembered it from long ago, huddled up on the mattress, coats wrapped around me like blankets while he snored in the corner of the dusty cold room. I shook those memories from my mind, turning my eyes back to the kebab I chewed on. The night sky above me roiled with the threat of a faraway storm. I was confident it wouldn't reach us though, not at this range. Still, the far rumbling was enough to make Sonnet twitch as she slept in the tent. I bit into the juicy meat, slurping bits of it up. We'd found a particularly big rat, lots of meat on it, so this was a pretty nice meal.

"Tome."

I'll admit it, I jumped a little. When I turned around, Stranger was standing behind me.

"Oh hey, is everything okay?" I asked.

Stranger sat down next to me and stared into the fire. The fire's light played across his bandages, highlighting the grime and dirt in them. As I looked at him I contemplated getting him new bandages. If he was going to remain bound up, he could at least look presentable.

"No." He stated.

I lowered the kebab and slowly inched my hoof towards my gun beside me.

"There's no threat." He continued.

"Oh..." I thought for a moment before I rolled my eyes. "Ah, lecture time." I said, as I took another bite of rat kebab. "Sho what did I do thish time?" I asked with my mouth full.

"Red Eye."

I paused mid-bite. I swallowed what I had in my mouth and lowered the meat again. "You aren't supposed to call him that."

"Futurity was important to you, wasn't he?"

I shrugged, "It was nice having somepony I could talk to."

"Then why did you bury yourself?"

"Bury myself?" I asked curiously, "what do you mean b-"

"You buried yourself, Tome." He said forcefully. I looked into Stranger's single visible eye, the blue flickered with a light orange from the fire. His gaze was cold and hard... accusing. I looked away. "When it happened, you pulled yourself away. You buried yourself in some stallion's bed chamber-"

"Well burying myself in him was the idea-"

"-And then you buried yourself in manipulations. And then from manipulations, you buried yourself behind a trigger, and from there back to the stallion. You refused to stay in any room with Futurity after that, your goodbye was distant and cold."

"I had other things on my mind," I defended, "Aero lost a leg, remember. I was thinking about medication, and where we needed to go next. I wasn't thinking about 'farewells' or 'goodbyes'." I said through grit teeth. I forced myself to just take another bite of rat kebab, it was better than hurting my jaw. Though I'd lost my appetite.

"Aero lost a leg, and Futurity lost an eye."

I threw my kebab at him, the meat splashed against his muzzle, leaving a small juicy stain there, though he took no notice of it. "What do you want from me?" I spat.

Stranger pulled himself to his hooves, "Obviously more than you are willing to give." He turned and walked back towards his tent while I sat and stared at the fire angrily.

They could fuck off. All of them.

*** *** ***

The next morning I let my comrades greet the day to the beautiful sound of me doing my impression of a trumpet; spoilers, it wasn't very good. I blew through my cheeks as loud as I could, the tune I bellowed had little consistency to any real tune, and seemed more a jumble of loud noises halfway between rhythm and a screaming ghoul.

One by one, their faces popped out of their tents, each one as miserably sleepy as the last.

"Mornin'!" I yelled all too loudly. "Get your shit together! We're heading off!" I had a large grin plastered over my face, partly for the show, mostly because I was enjoying myself.

"What... are you doing...?" Lucky asked, looking for all the world like he wanted to curl up and die on the spot. Poor old git, hangovers are a bitch.

"Me?" I questioned loudly, watching him wince. "You can thank the undead asshole for such a GLORIOUS MORNING!" I yelled even louder. Everyone was giving me horrible glares now. "I figured this was a good way to get started, and get you lot to pay attention to an announcement and a slight change of how all this will work from now on."

Sonnet rubbed her eyes sleepily as she looked at me in confusion. "What change?"

"Oh," I began, my smile spreading further across my cheeks, "I've just decided that I've had enough." I shrugged, my smile never leaving my face. "No more will I be questioned. And no more will I be bitched at about how I choose to conduct myself." My smile was tight by this point. "Aero!" He jumped when I addressed him, "I am helping you with your daddy issues. I saved your life by getting you medical help when your hoof got blown up, and despite you being a featherbrained bitch, I have been most kind in not slapping you up the head every time I feel the desire, which, if I might add, is a frequent, if not obsessive urge. You can fuck off." I concluded, turning my attention to the lime green stallion of the group. "Lucky!" He didn't jump, he just looked grumpy and bored, "You, ya old git, have abandoned us, barely been of help, and spent the entire time moping like the angstiest of teens. I half expect you to try slitting your fetlocks any day now. I put up with you, I let you be here for Sonnet's sake, and I am most accommodating to your personal preference of solitude. You can fuck off." I turned from him to Stranger. "Stranger! My best friend. You have saved me, and I have saved you, we fight side by side, and you are the only one that really understands me... You can fuck off." I spoke venomously, my smile fading as I stared into his single blue eye defiantly.

"Only Sonnet has treated me with any level of respect, she didn't at first, but she does now, better late than never, so points for the effort." I glanced to Sonnet, she looked uncomfortable at being singled out. "Everyone else can fuck off. If you want to leave Lucky, then leave. If you want to fuck off Aero, then do it and find your answers on your own, just means less work for me. Stranger, friend or not, you can fuck off too if I'm such a disappointment. I have given us a solid path to our goal, but none of you need to be here if you don't want to be. I have gotten us a permanent supply of fresh water, something almost no one in the entire Wasteland can say, I have gotten us a base to go back to, and a plan to save a filly's mother." My smile crept back up onto my cheeks. "I'd say that's a noble thing. If you have an issue with how I accomplish that... either keep it to yourself, or heed my words and fuck off." I looked over their faces as the silence fell before nodding to myself. "That is all, pack your shit up, we're moving out in ten minutes."

I turned away from them and began packing up mine and Sonnet's tent, humming to myself the entire time.

*** *** ***

The rain matched everyone's mood that day, well, everyone's other than mine. I was still humming. The clouds had opened to pour their deluge of water on us. Aero had stoically covered himself up, helmet and all, his movements suggested a mood worse than the others. Stranger had chosen to hang back with Aero. Sonnet was curled up on my back with a blanket over her, seeming to have just as much a distaste for the rain as Aero did.

"So where to next?" Lucky asked. His face was screwed up like he'd been forced to take a bite out of a ghoul. Not for the first time I wondered if he was unlucky enough for his face to get stuck like that.

"The data found in the mutt's head had what we needed. There's a White Tower south of here, it's a bit damaged. We'll go there and find the next clue for Aero. Once we have that, I need to run a personal errand, then we've got a mission to do for the Stable." I shouted over the rain.

Lucky gave me a look, "a mission?"

"Yeah, they need a new Power Talisman. They have enough of a working one to last them almost a year, but they'll need a replacement."

"A Power Talisman, and where are we supposed to get that?"

"Stable-Tec."

"STABLE-TEC!" He exclaimed, his eyes wide. "That's in Canterlot! We are not going there!"

"We are, already promised." I said loudly.

Lucky scoffed at me, "So THIS is what it took!" He accused, "Oh yeah, you get us a place to go back to, lots of supplies, allies if we need it and a Water Talisman. I should have bloody known all it would take to achieve that was to trade our fucking lives."

"I believe I've made it clear how welcome you are to fuck off?" I mused.

"And Sonnet," he questioned, "I'm assuming she's going there with us?"

"She wants to." I shrugged, "I asked her, she seems fascinated with the place."

"Sonnet!" Lucky called over the rain, "is this true?!"

The filly on my back poked her head out of the blanket, her nose wrinkling as it was splashed with rain, "There'll be lots to see. Mister-Master Tome said the place was preserved by the Pink Cloud!" She answered.

"If we go there, WE'LL be preserved by the Pink Cloud!" Lucky argued back.

"But Mister-Master Tome says-" -CRACK

The flash of lightning lit up the area and struck nearby, splitting a large rock in two.

I could hear a loud clicking, barely audible over the wind and rain. I yelled over the storm, "We have to get to safety!" The winds were blowing furiously now. Through the rain, just past the now cracked boulder we spotted a derelict wooden hut.

"I HAD to be outside when they did this!" Aero's distorted voice called through his helmet as we tore open the door of a nearby shack, we slipped inside and slammed it shut, latching it down.

"They?" I asked, panting softly as I leaned against the mouldy door-frame.

Aero looked up, his helmet streaked with rain as he stared up at the ceiling. "Just... them." He mumbled. "Gale winds like this are caused when they clean the chutes."

Lucky looked curious as he rung water from his hat, "chutes?"

Aero looked between Lucky and myself before answering, "you don't wanna know." He mumbled, curling up into a corner.

The room was brown and mouldy. The floor was wooden and damp, and filth clung to the walls. This place looked to have been a storage shed at some point, but all its content had been pulled out and mattresses had been shoved into corners, likely by those in the same position as us, looking for shelter.

CRACK!

Another flash of light outside. As the flash lit up the world, the clicking was now more audible, faster than before. I looked over to Sonnet who had taken position under her blanket, shivering. Her PipBuck was clicking with radiation.

"These storms are radioactive?" I asked curiously. I'd never had a Geiger counter on-hoof so I'd never known that. I turned to Aero, "hey, Feather-Brain. Why are these storms radioactive?"

Aero's body language betrayed awkwardness on the subject. "You really don't want ta know."

"You said that already, but I really do. Why?"

He sighed through his helmet at the command. "They're flushing the Heavy Deposit chutes, it causes storms down 'ere."

"Aero, details." I pushed.

"You really wanna know about our whole plumbin' system?"

"Yes," I countered, "you do know how it works, right?"

He grumbled, "yeah, we all have ta learn it so we can all help ta fix it." I waited expectantly. I saw the Pegasus move his head and could almost sense his eyes rolling. "The clouds, they have what's called a 'Convection Current System'. They circle the water for the cloud-seeding and plumbin' for homes. There are filter systems that recycle everything."

Aero took a breath and continued.

"The lowest part of those systems is called the 'Heavy Deposits'. It's a part of the system that gathers the waste that can't be recycled, and it's lower in the cloud cover than the others. Gets hit by the radiation from down here in choice spots. They flush it once in awhile so it doesn't get too bad and contaminate the rest of the system. Flushing needs to be harsh to get it all out, causes this."

He waved to the window, just as another crack of lightning lit up the room and another spike of Geiger clicking sounded out.

I was going to vomit. "Okay... let me get this straight. The shit that comes down from the clouds... IS SHIT?!"

He gulped. "It's been filtered and neutralised and processed to be as-"

"But it's shit." I stated firmly.

He looked at me before turning away and curling up in his corner, "now ya know why I don't like the rain."

I would like to take this moment to renew an old and familiar sentiment close to my heart. Fuck Pegasi.

*

The filly clung to me. She'd managed to sleep through previous rainfalls, always avoiding them under tarps or tents, but this was her first full storm. And the Stable dweller was not handling it very well.

As for the others, they were avoiding me. I had a feeling that my morning speech hadn't agreed with them very much. Lucky was in the corner, doing his usual sulk as he scratched shapes into the wood floor with his hoof. Stranger looked like he was asleep, though I doubted it. While he could sleep, he didn't need to, and often didn't. He was leaning against a wall with his large brimmed hat covering his face, and Aero looked to be messing with his cybernetic hoof with cautious curiosity.

The room had descended into a silence that felt strained. It wasn't awkward, it was like no one wanted to be here. Not that surprising, the place smelt horrible.

Though if I was honest, the tense atmosphere was likely less to do with the storm and grime, and more to do with me. I believed everything I said that morning. They really could fuck off... I was tired of being judged negatively just because I was doing what I needed to do. It's survival of the fittest out here. Though, I still felt a little guilty about it. I didn't want them to hate me... I wanted their respect.

I just had no idea how to earn it.

I could manipulate anyone. I could make a mare fall in love with me, or a stallion lift his tail for me even if he was straight. I could make a trader give me all their goods at half price, or convince an opponent that I wasn't worth the effort.

But I had no idea how to earn genuine respect. Especially when every expected action that it seemed to require, were the exact opposite of what was needed to really survive in this world.

The storm finally cleared, pushing my thoughts away I stretched from my position, slipping my freshly cleaned glasses back onto the bridge of my nose. My movements disturbed a sleepy Sonnet who had curled up against me.

"Okay, time to move."

They glanced at each other, as though conspiring silently on whether or not they should actually do as I said. Slowly, one by one, they pulled themselves from the mouldy floor and headed for the door.

The world outside smelled cleaner. Which considering I now knew what was in the rain, I had to assume said 'clean' smell was from the chemicals in the water. I looked down at the muddy puddles glumly. After checking our location on Sonnet's PipBuck map, we resumed our journey.

"So how far is the tower?" Lucky asked from behind me.

"About a mile or so from the border."

"That's pretty close to-"

"Yeah I know." I interrupted, "Are you gonna do anything other than bitch the entire way?" His jaw clenched and the others glanced at each other. I ignored them and pushed ahead. Earning respect probably didn't involve snapping at them over questions. But my frustrations were starting to run away from me.

We'd been walking for almost an hour before a gunshot sounded and dirt kicked up by my hooves. Stranger acted first. He had fired before I'd even seen the shooter. A figure collapsed over the remains of a pre-war cart. I could tell he was a Raider by the stereotypical leather coat, and gory spikes donned around his form. An odd fashion these psychopaths love.

"Are we under attack again?" Sonnet asked, though while her voice still held fear, she mainly just sounded curious. Which disturbed me a little.

I scanned the horizon in an attempt to answer her question, but it seemed that... we weren't. The lone raider looked to be the only one, must have been desperate. I slipped my muzzle down and pulled up my pistol, slowly approaching the body. "Shonnet, shtand back." I said around the gunbit. The filly slipped from my back and backed off a little, but not as far as I'd liked. I approached the body and nudged him with my hoof. When the raider didn't stir, I rolled him over and he fell bodily off the chassis of the cart into the mud.

The stallion let out a gasp of air once moved, his breathing was shallow, but laboured. I took a step back to be safe but he didn't seem about ready to get up. His coat was falling out in places, his skin had black burns over it that were raised through the skin, and even though his lips were blue, his skin was flush pink below his patched grey coat. His eyes fluttered open once in awhile to reveal they were bloodshot.

"What happened to him?" Sonnet quizzed, approaching slowly, her question was filled with morbid curiosity.

I slipped my gun into my hooves so I could speak properly. "He must have been out in the storm without shelter, and not for the first time." I explained, "it's radiation poisoning."

The raider struggled a little, trying to sit up, but the gunshot wound just pumped out even more blood, as if in retaliation for his attempt. "R-rad-" He tried to choke out.

Sonnet looked from the stallion to me, "Should we help him?"

The stallion almost looked hopeful and I was almost tempted.

BANG!

The gun kicked in my mouth as I bit down on the trigger, the Raiders body jerking as the bullet thudded into his skull and blew out the back of it into the wet soil beneath.

Sonnet jumped back and looked from me to the body as I holstered my pistol. "Consider him helped." I said simply, before fumbling through his pockets for anything of value. He had five caps on him, and some 5mm ammunition. I stashed them into my saddlebag.

I turned to see Sonnet looking distressed. "They likely have a camp nearby." I began, speaking to her and the rest of them, "if they're in as bad of a condition as him, then we should be able to resupply without much trouble." I turned and began walking the same direction the raider had come from. His hurried stumbling left easy enough tracks to follow.

I heard Lucky reassuring Sonnet behind me; "He was a Raider. They kill and rape. They're barely ponies, honey. And _he_fired at us, remember?"

"But, we could have helped him."

"Yes, we could have," Lucky said carefully, "but that would have used what limited supply of RadAway we have. Not to mention our potions. And we need those. And he'd likely have tried to kill us when he got better."

"But, we'd have saved him..."

"Raiders don't care honey. They don't care about anything. Tome, at least, made sure he didn't have to die painfully."

Their conversation ended there. I'd like to think she was nodding with understanding, but I didn't look back to check. I was grateful to Lucky for explaining to her, but I couldn't shake the feeling I should've spoke to her myself.

We moved over a low riding dune and saw a small encampment off to the left. It was circled by boxcars, and makeshift walls had been erected. They looked to have been there a while, or killed those who were there before. As usual, it was outfitted with the Raider decor. By the entrance a mare's body had been skewered on a large piece of metal, entering explicitly at her crotch and exiting through her mouth, all four of the mare's legs had been severed, and from the look on her face, she had died from being lowered onto the skewer, far before she had died of blood loss.

Stranger muttered under his breath wondering if she was one of the original occupants of the camp.

I heard a whimper from behind me, as I turned Sonnet retched and began to vomit onto the ground beside her. The filly could handle gore and horror, but she had never seen such brutality placed on display like this. While not our first encounter with Raiders, I realised this was the first time she'd ever seen a Raider camp.

I let her take a moment to compose herself, and when she was finally able to breathe, my eyes met hers. An unspoken understanding crossed the short distance between us, and I knew she now understood why I'd killed the defenceless Raider.

"What are we going to do?" Lucky asked as he trotted up to stand beside me.

I looked down at the walls and boxcars of the small encampment, and a slow smile spread across my features. "We're gonna raid the Raiders." I looked from Lucky to the others, "get yourselves ready, some of them may be fighters." I turned to Sonnet. "You should stay here."

She looked to have composed herself from her horror at the visceral display now, though I noticed she avoided looking back at the encampment. She looked up at me in confusion, "Why?"

"Raiders don't fight like other ponies. They won't always go after the biggest threat. Often, they'll kill for the sake of killing, and you'll be an easy target."

Lucky stood beside me; his silence, an unspoken support for my decision. Sonnet looked between us both before finally forcing herself to look back at the Raider camp, to look at the corpse by the doorway. I watched her gulp as she fought another the rush of bile. She fought it valiantly and turned away from the sight to compose herself. When she looked back to me and Lucky, her eyes were filled with determination. "I can look after myself."

I looked to Lucky, searching for any help in getting her to stay. The old git just shrugged. I sighed and shoved my muzzle into my saddlebag and pulled out the dart-gun I'd salvaged from the Stable. "Ush thish then." I offered, spitting it from my mouth into my hooves and offering it to her. She looked from the offered gun back up to my face, her previous sickness temporarily forgotten in favour of annoyance. She turned her head and pulled out the 9mm pistol I'd let her have, something I was starting to regret by this point.

"Okay," I began with a sigh. This filly was going to turn me grey.

"At least take them both. Use the dart-gun, but if you feel you need to, keep your 9mm on-hoof. Sound good?"

She thought for a moment before nodding at the compromise. I breathed with relief when she took the dart-gun and holstered the 9mm.

"She worries me." Lucky said beside me as we turned away to get our gear together.

I nodded in agreement, "Me too."

I made sure I had a shotgun on-hoof, 10mm in the holster, shiv in my jacket, and the spare knife was still stashed in the lining of my coat. Despite being so well armed, I still wished I had the 9mm pistol I'd given to Sonnet stashed under my coat on my back. The Wasteland is a dangerous place, after all.

Pulling out a cloth I began cleaning my glasses. Then once I had reapplied them to my nose, the world came back into focus, but looked no better for it. "We ready?" I asked, with waning confidence.

Naturally everyone replied in the affirmative, as if happy to go through with the plan. But their eyes betrayed them. No joy could be taken from this. Stranger as stoic as ever, simply cocked his II-12 with a well-oiled 'thunk-click' and headed off to find a vantage point.

"Alright, while Stranger gets into position, Aero, you scout from above. Try not to be seen. Lucky, Sonnet, you're both with me. Our aim is simple - frontal assault. We throw everything we have at them while Aero and Stranger provide covering fire. Naturally if either of them get spotted first, we push harder while they reposition."

"Good plan." Lucky said, looking from me to Sonnet. "And what should Sonnet do while she's with us?"

"Sonnet, stay behind Lucky as best you can, have him between you and them."

She pouted at that, "but I want to help."

"If all goes well, we won't need your help, but if they manage to somehow get behind us, you're our only warning. Stop them if they get close, only fire when you have a clear shot."

Thankfully she seemed to accept that. I wasn't lying about her role being useful, but I doubted we'd need it. From what I could see, there wouldn't be much of any way they could flank us, but it was better to be safe than sorry, also it kept her relatively out of harm's way.

*** *** ***

I saw a glint of a rifle scope up on a hillside, Stranger was in position. Aero's helmet slipped into place with a whirr, and his wings unsheathed. They spread wide and with a single flourish, the Pegasus was souring into the sky. I began moving forward, Lucky and Sonnet on my heels. We made our way down to the camp, moving from cover to cover the best we could. With each step the gruesome welcome sign became more clear, but we pushed on.

The makeshift wall around the encampment consisted of whatever the original owners could find. Bicycles, carts, furniture, you name it. All welded, nailed and rusted to hell. Tall enough to hide behind. We heard movement inside, but against the wind, nothing that could be made out with certainty. We crept around it to the entrance. Holding my breath, I prepared myself and leant around the doorway.

My heart nearly leapt out of my chest as the quiet was broken with a shout. "GET DOWN!" was the order, with that I dived back behind the wall, knocking Lucky and Sonnet down with me, covering Sonnet with my body. The ground where we once stood erupted; wood, steel and mud showered around us. Unearthly shrieks called from the camp, and were answered in turn by Aero's cannons roaring and the crack of a sniper rifle in the distance.

"What is it?!" I demanded over the ringing in my ears.

"GHOULS!" Came the answer.

The shout was muffled, but the message clear. But Aero's warning was short lived.

Shambling around the corner, we saw one. Flesh almost off the bone. The dead grey eyes it somehow kept in its head landed on us. It sprang towards us with a screech from its rotting mouth. I squeezed the trigger of my pistol and its head burst. Two more ghouls erupted from the doorway, their presence was welcomed with another crack of a rifle and heavy boom of cannon. Their bodies slammed to the ground.

We pulled ourselves from the ground and backed off a little as more rushed out of the camp. My hearing still rang, but I could make out a faint clicking in the milliseconds of serenity between each shot, I knew what that meant, but we had more pressing matters.

I steadied myself and aimed, firing again, I blew the hooves out from one and the chest out of another. Lucky's shots were more accurate than mine, blowing them away with precision, not a single shot wasted. Some shots of his, so well-aimed were they, that two ghouls fell from a single round. Aero's cannons made light work of the groups they tried to form to rush us.

Thankfully, though numerous, they weren't much of a threat, at least, not compared to past experiences. We were too well armed, and used to much greater threats of the undead variety. They weren't Pythia ghouls for starters, just normal mindless husks seeking to chew on the living.

Flanked by Lucky and Sonnet, I slowly slipped into the encampment. Dead raiders lay strewn across the dirt in various places. Many of them were in pieces, their throats torn out and their bodies disembowelled. The sight was almost enough to turn my stomach, and the stench didn't help.

"Help me..."

I heard the small voice nearby. I looked to a cage in the corner, a mare was in there. She was emaciated, her coat a light purple and her mane a dirty gold. Her neck held a blinking collar like the one Sonnet wore. She was a slave.

"Ah need some help!" Aero yelled out from nearby. I turned to see him trying to stay in the air as ghouls clung to his hooves, trying to bite through the armour and pull him down to the ground. Lucky rushed over, "I got him!" He pulled out a revolver and fired, his bullet sliding through the temple of one ghoul, and through the cranium of another, dropping both to the ground.

I turned away from their antics only to come face to face (or what was left of one) with another ghoul. Its weight drove me to the floor, knocking my gun from my maw. I shoved the metal of my prosthetic into its snapping mouth as it tried to chew on me. I frantically searched with my free hoof for anything I could use to smash its head in. I struggled and looked about for something, anything! The creature shrieked and my vision blurred. "Oh, that's just fucking gross!" I complained as the undead bastard's drool dripped over my glasses. I tried to look under or over them, but while my eyes weren't that bad I still couldn't find a weapon through my blurry vision.

Grunting from the effort, I punched out hard, snapping the ghoul back for a moment. I took the momentary respite to quickly wipe my glasses, smudging the drool but at least making things visible again. The ghoul launched back at me, I raised my hooves to defend myself, managing to brace its hooves away from me as its jaws snapped close to my face. I turned my head, trying to avoid the chomping teeth. "Oh... just... fuck off!" I grunted, my eyes screwed shut. I opened them to a see Sonnet holding my gun in her magic, she must have found it. She was aiming at the ghoul on me, her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.

"Oh fuck!" I yelled and tried to push the ghoul as far away from me as possible as the gun went off. I swear my heart stopped beating for just a second as skull and brain-matter splashed my face and the ghoul's corpse fell against me. With some effort, I pushed it off and stood up quickly, breathing heavily.

I looked to Sonnet who was looking from me to the ghoul. "I hit it!" She seemed quite shocked at that fact, which in itself did nothing to comfort me. I snatched the gun from her magical grip, not trusting her to keep hold of it. "Please never do that again." I told her her through grit teeth, not entirely sure my heart had managed to recover yet.

"Well I'd have used my own gun, except-" She pulled it out and popped the magazine, giving me an unimpressed look, "-someone took all my fucking ammo!"

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"I could have slutting died! Poison darts don't work on ZOMBIES!" She yelled, puffing up indignantly.

I rolled my eyes, "Okay, first off, didn't know there'd be ghouls, poison darts would work fine on raiders. Secondly, I don't yet actually trust you with a real gun. And third, that is NOT the way to use that swear word."

As she drew breath to retort, no doubt to demand an explanation as to how to use said word correctly, an otherworldly scream from nearby turned our blood cold. A sickening green glow bathed the area. Dead ghouls began twitching, I watched as those with destroyed heads began trying to stand again. Their bones snapping and splitting to move their once still bodies.

"Shitty!" Sonnet screamed as a reanimated ghoul crashed out from behind a trailer, its body pulsating with a throbbing green glow. In one clean movement, I snatched my pistol back from Sonnet, crouched and fired twice. Both rounds thumped into its left shoulder. It pounced for me, striking me hard, sending me crashing onto my back. I was left struggling for breath with my heartbeat in my ears, the area that it had hit seemed to burn. As my vision cleared, I watched it descend onto Sonnet.

Stranger's shot was loud. The ghoul's skull exploded and its body erupted in hot green flame as it fell limp onto the filly.

Among the flames, we heard Sonnet scream.

"GET HER OUT OF THERE!" I yelled with all the breath I could muster, trying to pull myself up.

Lucky was there before I'd even gotten to my hooves. He kicked hard at the burning ghoul, freeing the screaming filly from under it. Grabbing her by the scruff of her vault suit and pulling her away. I stumbled over, gasping for breath. Lucky's form obscured my view, but the small glimpse I got to see... was black flesh.

"Oh shit." Aero exclaimed when he landed nearby, his helmet slipping back from his face as he stared in horror. While he stared, I acted. I threw my saddlebag onto the floor, almost ripping it open as I searched. Grabbing our last two RadAway packs and pulling out four healing potions I knew we'd probably need them all. The Stable had given us plenty of supplies, but the area we'd been heading too wasn't supposed to have any radiation hotspots. RadAway had not been high on the priority list.

I heard the groan of ghouls nearby, but paid them no mind as Stranger's rifle sounded out, putting them back down to the ground.

It was the smell that struck me first. A pungent odour that dominated and offended the senses. Burnt flesh. The wounds were black and bloody, and where the black met better skin, the veins were black and bulging with purple, puss-filled infection. We couldn't tell Vault Suit from flesh. Sonnet's breath came in short gasps and her body shook as it attempted to deal with more pain than it had ever endured before.

Lucky pulled out the only two extra strength healing potions we had from his saddlebag, and uncorked the first. My hoof stopped him. "Not yet, normal healing potions first, then RadAway, then the extra strength." He nodded. We uncorked the first bottle and tried to get her to drink it, but she sputtered and spilled most of it over herself. "Hold her mouth open." Lucky forced her jaws wide as she struggled. It wasn't that she didn't want help, it was that she was in so much pain she only knew to panic. I was surprised she was still conscious. I did my best to shove the lip of the bottle as far into her mouth as possible. I covered her nose with part of my coat and watched as she swallowed down the healing potion, her eyes wide the entire time. I forced her to choke, but I had to... Slowly the burns body began to look a little better. As I pulled the bottle away, she gasped for air, turned and threw up in my lap. Blood. A lot of it. "Again!" I ordered, ignoring the mess as Lucky once again spread her mouth. I covered her nose once more and shoved another healing potion down her gullet. The filly was fighting me still, and her fighting was getting stronger, which I took as a good sign. She didn't throw up after the second bottle; despite both the healing potions doing their jobs, her legs were still a charred mess.

We repeated the process twice more. The more she drank, the harder she thrashed to fight us. With a swing of her foreleg she smashed her wildly ticking PipBuck into my nose - only adding to the blood. I grit my teeth and continued to force feed her. By the time the fourth and final potion had been poured into her stomach, her burns were looking much better. But it was the darkness to her skin that worried me. The fire that had burned her was extremely radioactive. I grabbed the first RadAway and tore it open. "Sit up." I encouraged her, trying to help the filly into a sitting position. She managed at first and I thought she might actually be okay, until the smell of her defecating herself joined that of the burning flesh. She threw up again, her vomit now a horrid brown. With that her eyes rolled back and she went limp; she'd finally passed out.

Lucky looked from her to me before he grabbed her mouth and forced it open. He reached for the RadAway in my grasp, but I quickly pulled it away. "No, give me that extra strength first. And get me more water."

With that, Lucky reached for her mouth, moving to grab the RadAway from me. I pulled it away. "Not yet, grab that extra strength, and get some water."

Lucky nodded and jogged to a nearby puddle of rainwater (ew, but it'd do). Filling his canteen with it. He returned quickly and tossed it to me. I poured out half, purified it with the talisman, poured in the extra strength potion until there was about a quarter left, topping it up with RadAway. I closed the cap and shook the mixture before hoofing it over back to Lucky.

"This'll work?"

I nodded before looking around myself for the moment. "Aero, I need some tubing, not too thick."

The Pegasus nodded and flew off to look. I heard crashing and clattering as he rummaged through the Raider's things. He came out with a radio that he smashed against the floor. Pulling out one of the wires, he used his teeth to strip the rubber tubing from the copper insides. "Will thish work?" He asked, the rubber tube hanging from his lips.

I nodded quickly, and took the tubing from him. It was long enough. "Hold her down, tilt her head back."

Lucky obeyed, but was clearly concerned. I couldn't blame him. I didn't exactly have much of a track record doing shit like this 'for the filly's own good'. Usually such antics were not the kindest. I steadied her chin with one hoof and placed the tube at her nose before pushing hard. Lucky held her head straight while I forced the tube up into her nostril and down the back into her throat. The filly choked at first. A gentle stroke up and down of her throat forced her to swallow, the tube slipping down her oesophagus and into her gullet. I looked at the other end and grumbled. "I need a funnel. Anything. Please tell me one of these Raiders was a mentats addict!"

"I can't find anything!" Aero yelled, panicking as he rummaged through several other tents.

I turned to Lucky. "You need to go look."

He looked at me fearfully. "That's a bad idea, and you know it." The idea of him doing this task terrified him. "I should be well away from anything like this."

"Lucky!" I yelled. "Sonnet needs that Celestia-damned funnel!"

He shook his head, "if I find it, it'll probably be coated in some poison or something."

"Enough of your bitching!" I yelled, "I'm tired of it! You haven't gotten us killed yet, now if you don't get off your arse, Sonnet could die!"

The lime-green stallion bit his lip and glanced down at Sonnet. Seeming to make his decision, Lucky slipped away. He stood between the tents and the doused campfire in the centre, looking at each tent in turn before he chose the smallest one. Lucky slipped inside, and began searching through the mess inside. He lifted a mattress finding an old metal lunchbox. It was locked when he tried to open the lid. A quick kick with his hoof unlocked it, and inside was a Mentats making kit complete with a funnel. Lucky sighed to himself. Grabbing the funnel and padding out, hoofing it over to me.

"Thank you." I said sincerely, "she'll be fine." I hoped my words were comforting. I wanted to believe them myself. Taping the funnel to the tubing, I began pouring the canteen into it. I watched as it slipped into the rubber tube and down into Sonnet. I poured it steadily, small doses at a time. Within minutes, Sonnet was twitching before she threw up heavily. Her vomit still a brown sickly colour, but it was lighter than it was before.

"She's going to throw it all up." Aero said as he approached us, looking worried.

"That's why I diluted it. We just need to clear up her stomach and she'll stop vomiting. After that it's just giving her a constant supply until she's feeling better."

"Will it be enough?"

I glanced at Aero and shrugged. "I dunno, probably not enough to flush her system entirely. but it'll pull her out of the red. We can deal with the rest when we head to a nearby town. We'll probably head off tomorrow."

Aero nodded and relaxed a little. The filly wretched a few more times, adding to the stomach contents on the floor, but eventually it calmed down. Me and Lucky stayed beside Sonnet silently, Stranger seemed to be keeping watch, and Aero was pacing back and forth. He padded off and smoothed back his white mane with a hoof, obviously still worried about Sonnet. The Pegasus topped by the occupied cage. The mare inside had been watching us silently the whole time.

"Hey, you okay in there?"

I looked over and saw the mare nodding, but her expression was nervous as her eyes darted between us all. "Hey." I called over. The mare jumped. "What happened here?" I asked as I trotted over to her cage.

She gulped and looked from Aero to Sonnet before her eyes met mine again. She tried to back away, but only hit the bars. "I... They... came out of nowhere. I was safe in the cage, but the others..." She visibly gulped. "I'm... sorry Master... I hid my head through a lot of it."

"Master? I don't own you. I'm not a Slaver." I explained, "none of us are."

Her demeanour changed subtly. She looked from me to the filly before she spoke in a much more confident voice than I'd have expected. "Then why is she collared?"

Glancing behind me my eyes fall on the blinking collar around Sonnet's neck. I was so used to it being there I'd begun to stop seeing it when I looked at her. A tightness in my chest tugged at me a little. I turned away from the unconscious filly, feeling the gaze of Stranger on my back as I shook my head at the mare. "It's complicated," I reasoned, "let me get you out of that cage."

"No, thank you."

I stopped mid-way to the lock on the door, "pardon?" I asked, not entirely sure if I'd misheard her.

"The cage is safer." She stated. Her emaciated figure was obvious, but despite it she still had a decent set of hips and curve about her, and somewhere under the grime that matted the fur of her underbelly and fetlocks, there was a rather attractive mare waiting to be admired. Not that she cared what I thought. The moment she realised I wasn't going to try and own her, she'd pulled herself up, her head no longer under my own to make herself seem small. In fact, her eyes betrayed her emotions as positively... relaxed. If not a little worried for Sonnet by the way she kept glancing over. "Is she going to be okay?"

I looked back at Sonnet once more, it wasn't going to be easy but I was sure she'd be okay. Lucky was caring for her, her head in his lap. The canteen was almost empty now, and as no more had yet to be vomited on the floor, I considered it a good sign. "I think so." I watched as Lucky refilled the canteen with another mixture of water, healing potion and RadAway. The RadAway pouch was looking low, and we only had one more. "I wish we had more than two pouches, she's gonna need it."

"Will she be okay without it?" The mare asked, her voice touched with genuine care.

I sighed and bit my lip. "Well, it's a 'yes' and 'no'. I think two will pull her out of the red and give us a couple of days to reach somewhere like a town where we can get more. So, with that in mind, we should manage fine."

"The nearest town is three days away. Could she die in that time?" I turned back to the mare, pondering her question before I nodded. I saw no reason to lie.

"Yeah," I admitted, "she could die." I spoke carefully, wondering what the mare was getting at. She seemed to be fighting over a decision.

I watched as the mare turned in her cage and began digging into the filth before pulling out a RadAway bag. "Here, it fell near me when the ghouls first attacked. Will another bag help her chances?"

I nodded slowly, "a lot. Yeah." I said, reaching out and taking the bag from her. I used some purified water to wash the bag off before taking it over to Lucky. "Thank you." I smiled back at the mare. "You've probably saved her life."

I expected the mare to smile at me... she didn't. She turned away and curled up in her cage, looking for all the world like she might be going to sleep. As I looked up at the sky, I saw the day had dragged on. It was only a little after noon, but it felt a lot later to me. Looking over to Stranger, he seemed to take my intention without any words being needed. Together we began dragging the bodies of Raider and ghoul alike, and piling them up outside of the makeshift camp. When the place was clear, Aero and Stranger demonstrated interesting teamwork. Stranger used his magic to gather the water from the puddles into the air where he pooled it together into a single floating ball. At Aero's request, I passed the Water Talisman through it and cleaned it of any radiation or impurities. Aero then flew above it and began using his hooves and wings to do what I could only describe as 'massaging the air'. The water slowly began to dissipate thinner and thinner, coalescing into the smallest dark grey cloud I had ever seen.

Stranger let the cloud go, and while it floated there, Aero moved it around and tapped it periodically, letting cool rain pour down over the area to clean away some of the filth. Before he was done, he moved it over to the mare in the cage, and gave her an impromptu shower. She seemed grateful.

I gathered what supplies could be found in the area. Shotgun ammo was found under the bed of one of the Raiders, and in another I'd found a good thirty caps. Which was nice. Searching through the boxcars, I found a locked box under one of the old seats. This didn't seem to have been stashed there to keep it safe. If I'd had to guess, it had been present in the car for a very long time. The bottom of the box had rusted against the floor. It had practically been welded there by the passage of time.

I struggled with it at first. I managed to pick the lock, but despite being open, it was still rusted shut, and refused to be give in to my attempts. I raised my prosthetic hoof and struck the box. Pain lanced up my stumped fetlock from the blow, but it thankfully did the trick.

The box opened and inside I saw a framed view of a mare's rump. I smirked to myself and pulled out the PlayColt magazine and gave it a few flicks through. This one was pretty nice. It even had a Mare on Mare section. I put the magazine away and cocked my head at a small black box that lay in the bottom of the container. Pulling it out I opened the boxes lid and let the contents drop out into my lap. It was a figurine of some sort.

'Be Pleasant' The words looked up at me. I almost chuckled at them. 'Pleasant' was never a word anyone used to describe my company. The words were inscribed upon a statuette of a beautiful mare. Her sallow yellow coat and pink mane had not been dulled by the tests of time even a little. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was freshly carved and painted. Though, for reasons unknown to me, the kindly mare looking up at me with painted eyes made me want to try a little harder. To do a little better.

Y'know... tripe that gets you killed.

I threw the statuette aside, picked up the PlayColt magazine and stepped out of the boxcar. I heard chuckling as I approached the others.

"-And then I pissed in his drink. Was difficult to aim from the bars, but I got it." The mare in the cage was saying. Aero and Lucky were glancing at each other, Aero was doing his best not to double over in laughter, while Lucky was... actually smiling. "So, there he is, his back to me. And he reaches for his cup. He picks it up in his hooves, brings it to his lips... and he. takes. a fucking. sip." She said pointedly. Aero broke. He doubled over, laughing and pounding his hoof on the floor. He quickly began heaving to try and get air back in his lungs. "And he didn't stop either," the mare continued with a grin, "he took one sip, wrinkled his nose a little as though he tasted something funny... before taking a-fucking-nother."

"You alright?" I asked Aero as I stepped forward.

The Pegasus was practically choking on the floor with laughter. He finally managed to compose himself and wiped tears from his eyes. "That... must be the most funniest thing... I have ever heard in ma life."

I looked to the mare and smiled to her. "Entertaining the company?"

"Well, someone has to. Everyone here's so dour."

I nodded to her and glanced to Lucky. "Who's taking care of Sonnet?"

"Stranger." He commented, motioning behind him. I stepped up and saw Stranger sat near the filly, the canteen and funnel grasped in the glow of his magic.

I nodded and sat down nearby. "There's nothing of note. We'll relax for now and then continue on our way tomorrow." I turned to the mare. "You're welcome to come with us. Or we could escort you to the nearest town."

"Well mister 'non-slaver with a slave'. I'm still feeling mighty partial to this cage." She said, looking over the bars. "They're cosier than they look."

I snorted a bit, "Still don't trust us?" She shook her head, giving me an amused smirk.

I had no anchor with this mare. She wasn't giving me anything about her personality yet. She'd been submissive when she thought I was going to try and own her, but then immediately she'd become almost dominant when I'd corrected that assumption. The only thing I could gleam from that, was that she was a survivor. Which probably explained her unwillingness to step from the cage. It wasn't like she was safe in there, but at least she had a semblance of control over her position within those bars.

The sound of music burst into life, coupled with an energetic voice. "Woohoo! Now that's some swingin' music. Really gets the heart pumpin' like a shot of Rage. Not that I know what that feels like, the only high I need is knowing that my listeners are listening. This here is DJ Pon3, comin' to you live out of Tenpony Tower. And now for the neeeews!" The others and myself turned to Sonnet who had the radio broadcasting from her PipBuck, Stranger had evidently turned it on. "In the slave market, prices have practically doubled. This has caused a mighty few conflicts between the slavers and not a small number of tussles. They always could get a little trigger happy. But you can all thank Steam Bolt for the price hike. Paying twice the usual rate for any slave, he calls to dominate the market. Not that hard when you're one of the only cats that can pay the prices. It pays to be rich!"

I had to admit, it was a smart move. If you were paying more for any slave, then all the slavers would come to you to sell. If no one else could match your offer, you were basically a king to all Slavers. The question I had to ask, was how was Steam Bolt making his money back. Whoring his slaves couldn't possibly bring in what was needed.

"Several of the top Raider powers are starting to get a little antsy. From a brief interview with a representative from Raider City, the thoughts around is that this increase in slave worth will lead many more into the slaving business, causing a boom in the market. King Crossfire has asked for a message to be delivered; 'Any such individuals claiming slaves within the Crossfire territories, will meet a terrible end.' So, let it be known kids. Avoid the Shattered Hoof area. It doesn't pay to get on the bad side of ponies who think a good time is using ya spine as a pitching wedge." I raised my brow at that description. "Now that the dour news is over, I think it's time for some more music. I know what you're after, I hear her sweet tunes when I lay me down to sleep, her song's get stuck in my head, and her voice lights up my night. It's that sweetest, Sweetie Belle."

The song began playing, and that beautiful voice rang out. A direct counterpoint to the somewhat grave news before. An increase in Slaver activity was bad news. With any luck, Steam Bolt would no longer be looking for a few runaways, but if he was, he'd have more than enough eager recruits to track us down as more and more the Slaver trade began looking mighty profitable.

"You all look worried." The mare in the cage commented, looking between us.

"We," I began, "we may, possible, perhaps definitely... be on a list of ponies that Steam Bolt doesn't like."

"He stole 'er." Aero said casually, relieving me of the need to tell our story.

"Is that why the collar?" The mare asked, looking to the unconscious filly, her eyes running over the black and grey neck device, and that small red light that said it was armed.

"Yes and no." I answered, "I put the collar on her. But at the time I needed to get out of the place we were in. Or we wouldn't have made it."

The mare nodded at that, "Okay, that makes sense. But why has she still got it on? Lost the key?"

I felt eyes on me. They were probably Strangers and Lucky's. I opened my mouth to answer, but Lucky beat me to the punch. "He doesn't trust her not to run off and get herself killed." He said dryly. There was a small edge to his voice.

"And to stop that from happening... he keeps a bomb... on 'er-"

"Yes. I do." I said firmly, looking up at her from where I sat. "And I've had this conversation multiple times from multiple ponies. I'm not eager to have it again. Move on." I made my gaze hard. The mare scanned me for a moment with her eyes before nodding.

I did my best not to think about that subject. The collar was staying on.

I glanced up at the cloud cover. It wasn't late. It was still an hour before evening from what I could tell, but I was already tired. "I'm gonna turn in. I wanna sleep, and I don't wanna wake up till tomorrow."

"Might be a good idea." Lucky replied, taking any chance to get more sleep. That stallion would crawl into a bed and never get out again if he could.

"I'm gonna check on our gear for the night." Aero said, pulling on a few pins that disconnected his battle-saddle from his armour. The sound of hydraulics releasing pressure could be heard and his tri-barrel cannons fell to the floor with a thump. He then laid down and began pulling gear from his carrying compartments in his armour, so he could service his weapon.

"Who's gonna look after the filly?" The mare asked curiously. "Gonna take shifts?"

I nodded to Stranger. "Stranger doesn't sleep. He'll keep you company tonight." I felt a smirk touch the corners of my mouth. "Don't let him ramble on too much." I tried not to snigger to myself. "I think you'll love his personality."

"What's that mean?" The mare asked, looking at me questioningly. I chose not to answer. As I padded towards the tents I could hear the mare behind me trying to talk to Stranger.

"So... Stranger huh? Interesting name. How'd you get it?"

Her question was followed by silence. I could practically hear the annoyance in the mares breathing.

"You don't talk much do ya?" The silence greeted her again like a familiar friend. "Great," she said bitterly, "you know, your friend's an asshole?"

Stranger grunted an affirmative.

I chuckled to myself as I slipped into my tent.

I dropped my saddlebags and began rooting through it, pulling out my usual bedtime requirements. Including my personal earbloom box. My light was darkened by a pony at the mouth of the tent. I glanced up to see Lucky.

"Everything alright?" I asked him curiously. His face held a worried expression.

He looked antsy for a moment before he finally spoke, "I should go."

"You just got back."

"I know." He answered. "But I'm not good to be here. You know what'll happen. Look what happened to Sonnet."

I rolled my eyes at the older stallion. "Lucky, nothing's gonna happen to Sonnet. That extra RadAway pouch should cut the worst parts out of her system. She'll be fine. If she takes a turn for the worst, we can always get to the town."

"The nice lady said that's three days away."

"And that would have been a problem without this extra pouch. But with it, she might make a full recovery without the need of anything else."

"Might."

"Lucky!" I snapped firmly. "Your curse hasn't affected us yet. If we were going to die from being around you, we would have died already. It's gone."

"But it's NOT gone." Lucky said, stepping forward, his tone insistent. "I walk up to Raiders and they either shoot themselves or each other. I can't miss a shot even if I aim away from them, and while I was in that bar, three people almost choked to death."

My brow rose. "They did? The food that bad?" I asked, passing it off as a joke.

"They choked on ice. Apparently, the cubes were too large... right after I'd refused any in my own drink. So, it's still there. It's still affecting the things around me. And now Sonnet is at death's door. I should. not. be. here.

I sighed and laid down on the small cot/bed that the Raiders had set up. I made sure a blanket was over it to cover whatever the Raiders had left on it. "I managed to hit you." I looked up to Lucky, and silence passed between us. "I managed to hit you Lucky. I didn't punch myself, I didn't trip and smack my skull open on something, I didn't drown in the two feet of water around our hooves. I hit you." I let him absorb that for a moment. "Clearly, this thing isn't affecting us right now. If it were, we'd have been long dead before we ever reached the Everfree Forest. Let alone survive traversing that place." I gave him what I hoped was an encouraging smile. "Go to sleep. Sonnet will be fine."

It looked like my speech had settled him, but he still looked worried. He gulped, nodded his head and headed to the tent he'd picked out as his own, leaving me in the gloom of the slowly darkening sky. I slipped the earblooms into my ears, pulled my player close, and pressed play.

"-Magic's equilibrium. Each Races magic expresses in various ways. From direct magic control from a Unicorn's horn, to the passive magic of the Earth Pony, the weather magic of the Pegasus, to even other equine and non-equine kind. While Zebra deal in imbuement the Dragons have breath magic. As a fundamental force, it directly influences the states of matter and its relation to concentrated will, suggesting an almost sentient understanding to most uneducated ponies. But while Magic is greatly diverse, it's nature cannot be considered alive, more that it is influenced by the thoughts of those that are alive, rather than having thoughts of its own. An understanding of 'belief' as a catalyst of will-"

*** *** ***

I was awoken by a kick.

"Ugh, what?" I asked, opening my eyes. It was dark outside, and the shape in the entrance of my tent was large and dominating. "Stranger?" I asked curiously.

"Tome." His voice seemed to pull my mind from the fog of sleep, "we have a problem."

Vomit was everywhere. Her cage was a mess. Even in the dark I could see its colour was wrong. It was shades of red and brown where it should be the yellow and green of bile. I looked from the ground to Stranger, before turning back to the coughing mare. "You have radiation poisoning." I stated softly.

"Hey Fetlock Holmes, I'm Lilac." Her voice was croaky from vomiting, though she still managed a light-hearted tone in her joke. Even if it was sarcasm.

"Lilac. Nice name." I commented, looking down at the vomit. "This is pretty bad. You'd have been feeling this for a while. You knew you were sick."

She seemed to shrug, "is this the part where you ask why I gave you the RadAway if I needed it?"

I shook my head. "No, that part's easy. My question is, why didn't you just ask?"

Her brow rose, "excuse me?"

"If you wanted to die. I don't have a problem using a bullet. I'd make it quick. Radiation is just... messy. And very painful." I said, speaking from personal experience.

The mare rose her brow before she leaned against the bars and gave me an unimpressed look. "Alrighty Holmes, explain your reasoning. Why do I want to kill myself?"

I glanced to Stranger before looking back to her. I sighed deeply before shrugging. "Okay... you were a slave. They probably treated you terribly. They'd have sexually assaulted you, beaten you, hurt you in physical and mental ways." I gulped at my own description, my severed hoof starting to ache its ghostly pain. "And you'd have seen them and other ponies tore apart before your eyes by ghouls. You prefer the confines of a cage to the outside world, which says you're scared to be taken again as a slave if you exit the one place that has probably been a home for you longer than you can remember. The cage grounds you now. That doesn't happen without trauma. So, you save a filly. Giving yourself something to be proud of, and an excuse to let yourself die."

The mare nodded solemnly. "You know me so well." She said. I could hear her voice becoming laboured as the mare began to cry softly.

"I've been through it." I told her, feeling a connection and a bond. We'd both been through this. Hers was probably worse, I'd only suffered it for a short while, she'd probably spent year- was she laughing?

Her crying had quickly turned into giggles. Her laugh sounded like it might have been musical once, but her sore throat made it guttural and descend into coughs. "Oh wow... that was good." She wiped tears from her eyes. "Those glasses of yours, they angst tinted or what? If I put them on will I see everyone transform into leather jacket wearing versions of themselves, wearing black spiked chokers, piercings and scars over their fetlocks from years of self-harm due to their tortured soul?"

I... I had no words. I glanced to Stranger, his single visible eye had its brow raised. "I... I'm confused-"

"I imagine that's not hard to do." She had full anchor, and I felt small. "I gave the RadAway because the filly needed it more. I'm not depressed, in fact I look quite hopeful towards the future. And yeah, I got raped a bit. But I just closed my eyes and let them finish. Hell, once or twice I managed to enjoy it, so long as they weren't one of the sadistic ones that liked to be rough. Slaves don't fetch as high a price if they're damaged. In fact, there's only been one moment of despair I've felt in months. And that was caused by you, some weeks ago."

My brain stalled, "Wait... pardon?"

"You saw me and my father back near Ponyville. I know it was you, the big lug there isn't hard to recognise. Not many ponies that tall with bandages." I glanced to Stranger, who in turn glanced back at me. I could remember that day perfectly. Having just taken out Blue Bronco and his gang, walking back with that black memory orb held within its case... and those slaves on the distance being herded by slavers. "You saw us, and instead of helping, you just turned away."

"I... I didn't-"

"My father died that night." Her words hit me like a shot in the throat. "So no, I don't want to die. Everything you said was bullshit. I'd just rather stay in this cage, than trust you to help me. Even if it kills me." Her smile never wavered, though her eyes were hard. And for the first time in a long while... I had no idea what to say.

*** *** ***

I woke up in the morning, feeling like death.

I stepped from the tent to the sound of singing. My sleep addled brain couldn't place it at first until I realised it was Sonnet. Her voice rose out in a soft and sweet song, one I'm pretty sure I'd heard on the radio.

"So wish, on the moon.

And someday, it may be tomorrow.

You will suddenly hear chimes,

And you'll have your happy, happy times."

Her voice trailed off. It wasn't a song that suited her personal style, but her voice was beautiful nonetheless. I padded up and noticed that around her, the ground had sprouted green grass, and a single flower with white petals sat among the green in front of the filly. Sonnet picked the flower and gave it to Lucky, who nodded in thanks. Lucky's lime green cheeks seemed to tint with a small blush as he took the flower to the caged mare who gratefully accepted it with a heart-warming smile. She breathed in the scent of the flower and smiled at Sonnet kindly.

"You have a beautiful voice. And a wondrous talent." Sonnet blushed a little at the praise. The mare turned to me, her attention brought forth by the clopping and clinking of my hooves on the dirt. "Ah, the detective's up. Fetlock Holmes," she nodded to acknowledge me before turning to Stranger as he padded up to me, "Watson."

I rolled my eyes and turned to Sonnet. "How are you feeling?" I asked her, looking over the areas that had been burned. Majority of it had healed by now.

"I gave her the last extra strength healing potion a little over an hour ago." Lucky explained. "She's stopped vomiting. But we've got no RadAway left."

"I feel fine." Sonnet answered, smiling at me. But her smile was thin and I could see the grimace behind her features. She wasn't fine, or even remotely comfortable. Her insides must be feeling like fire.

"This town you mentioned," I began, turning to the mare in the cage. "Lilac, was it?"

"Call me Lilly."

"Lilac," I continued, ignoring her suggestion, "this town have RadAway?"

She looked from me to the filly before answering, "yeah. They have a shop. Last time I was there they had a supply. That was a long while ago though... almost a year now. I can't speak for their current supplies, obviously."

"That's good enough for me." I moved to the cage and looking over it curiously.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to rig up the cage so we can pull it." I mumbled, unlatching the brakes in the wheel system and pulling out the chains from their confines. "Aero, grab me a battle-saddle from one of the Raider bodies outside."

Lilac narrowed her eyes. "You are not taking my cage."

"Nope, we're taking you and the cage." I answered nonchalantly. "I'd take just you if I could, but as you seem uncooperative, I figured this was the easiest way. Sorry dear, I'm not much of a 'hero', but I'm not comfortable leaving you to die after you helped us with Sonnet."

"Get your hooves off." She spoke venomously, her eyes narrowing at me.

I looked up at her and raised my brow before a small smirk spread across my features. "There is a way you could stop me." I let a moment of silence spread between us before my smirk spread a little wider. "Just get out of your cage." I chuckled to myself before picking up the chains.

"You are such an asshole." She muttered through gritted teeth as I latched the chains onto the battle-saddle that Aero had scavenged.

"Just sit tight, Lilac." I commented, humming to myself as I removed the guns from the battle-saddle I grabbed a pillow from one of the tent cots and strapped it onto the saddle. I then picked up Sonnet by the collar.

"Hey!" She struggled in my grip until I put her on the battle-saddle. I wrapped ropes around, keeping her secure on it, with a blanket between her and the ropes. She was effectively stuck riding comfortable on a saddle-bed.

"We'll take turns pulling. Lucky, you're first." The lime-green stallion hesitated at my order, but nodded his head. Hopefully my conversation with him last night helped him feel more confident getting involved with what was going off, rather than sulking in a corner all the time.

Lucky slipped the battle-saddle on and heaved. He struggled for a moment before the cage began to move. Once momentum was on his side, the walking became easy. I nodded and helped Stranger pick up the last of our stuff.

"Off we go." I announced. Lilac grumbled incoherently before curling up in the cage. She kept giving me what I could only describe as 'death-glares'. Not that I minded. Wouldn't be the first time the person's whose life I was saving wanted to kill me.

*** *** ***

The mare's snoring accompanied most of the next two hours of walking. The gentle sway of the cage as we traversed the rocky road beneath our hooves had lulled Lilac into a light slumber that was interrupted only once or twice by the odd jolt of a wheel catching a stone on the path.

The route we were walking worked for me. It wasn't directly on our journey, a little too far East for my liking, but it was still heading roughly South. Likely it'd only be about a day or so's journey from the town to the Tower. And the idea of getting supplies was an attractive one.

The sound of heaving caught my attention, and I looked back to see the mare vomiting through the bars of her cage. She was respectful enough to do it out the back so nopony had to step in it as we walked.

"You alright?"

"Fuck you." She replied back in a gravelly voice. Not surprising, it was a bit of a stupid question.

I shrugged at her bad attitude, "enjoy your nap?"

Her eyes rolled as she wiped her maw. "Oh yeah, totally good. Nice and peaceful." She grumbled sarcastically.

"Glad to hear it." I hummed to myself, turning to Sonnet who was playing a game on her PipBuck. "You doing okay?" She glanced over to me and gave me a grim smile before nodding.

I saw Lilac try to curl up again, but she could only groan in discomfort. "Whatever this shit is doing to me, it feels like I have bugs crawling around in my gut." That was a mental image.

"Yeah, radiation poisoning's'a bitch. Try not to sleep through all of it though, it sucks ass, but we don't want you falling into a coma now."

"Oh, don't worry about that," she replied, "I don't think I'm sleeping anymo-AAUUUGH!" She threw up hard over the side, clutching her gut as she began shaking.

I looked to Lucky. He'd been pulling the cart for a few hours now with no complaint. The old stallion was proving to have a stronger back than I'd expected. "We got anything left at all?"

"Medicinal-wise?" He asked, glancing behind him at the suffering mare. "Only a single healing potion. Standard, not extra-strength."

I nodded and fished in his pockets and brought it out, moving over to the mare. "Here, swig on this. Not too much, try not to throw it up."

She glanced at the potion before looking back at me with a raised brow. "That's your last potion, and it won't do me much good."

"I need you to last until we reach the town."

"I can handle a little vomiting and the shits for three days." She scoffed.

"You won't last three days. You have forty-two hours." I informed her simply.

"What do you mean?"

"Radiation poisoning," I began, "is extremely damaging on a cellular level. But while low doses can cause cancers, large doses cause death."

Her eyes looked mockingly wide. "Really? So, radiation can be fatal? I'd never have guessed. You've really opened my mind. And all this time I thought I only had the flu." She spoke theatrically, giving me an unimpressed look when she was done.

"Laugh it up. But the first sign of radiation being fatal, is vomiting. If you vomit, without RadAway, you're dead. Plain and simple. And the lowest fatal dosage kills within forty-two hours. Just under two days. And it's going to take us three days to reach the town."

Lilac began to look concerned. "So, I'm not gonna make it?"

I shrugged, "No idea. That's what the healing potion is for. It should heal the damage as it spreads and slow down the rate it kills you. If you ration it, we may be able to get you there before you kick-the-bucket."

Her eyes narrowed. "So, what you're saying is... I'm going to be turning different shades of pale and crapping out the last of my organs by the time we reach the town."

"I'm afraid so."

She seemed to consider things for a moment. "Is it too late to consider that bullet you offered?"

"Not at all." I spoke honestly. I would if she asked for it.

She looked from me to Sonnet, noticing that the filly was watching her, listening to the conversation. "Not yet." Lilac answered softly, sighing to herself. I nodded and turned away, heading back to the front. "Tome? It's Tome, right?" She called out, grabbing my attention. I looked back at her curiously and nodded, "keep one in the chamber."

I smiled solemnly. "Try to get some rest."

"Don't think I can. But there is something you could help me with..." I turned back to her and raised an eyebrow. "... I could use somepony to talk to. Not about anything in particular; I just don't want to spend the entire time making gagging noises."

"I'll talk to you." Sonnet chirped up from her saddle-bed.

The mare smiled warmly. "Thank you, dear."

"Lilac?" I asked curiously. "This town. You know anyone in it?"

The mare nodded. "I have a cousin there. She runs the shop ya'll are aiming for."

I nodded and thought for a moment before slipping up to Sonnet and leaning in to whisper to her. "Sonnet, I want you to record the next three days on your PipBuck."

She looked confused. "Why?" She asked, keeping her voice low.

"Because she may not make it. And if we have to deliver a corpse, I'd rather deliver at least some final moments with it."

Sonnet nodded and smiled a little warmly at me. "So her cousin has something to remember her by?"

I shrugged, "Actually because I'd rather have proof we didn't kill her ourselves. But sure, let's go with what you said." Sonnet looked unimpressed at my admission, but still obeyed and hit 'Record' on her PipBuck.

*** *** ***

Now this is a moment I want to hit 'pause' on all of this and say something. The coming months of my journey with those beside me were the most harrowing of my life. I can honestly say I wouldn't have had the strength to face it and do what needed to be done without experiencing what is about to transpire in this tale. I need you to understand how heavy this felt for all of us. And how it both broke us, and helped us. I am however, unsure of my ability to regale you of these next three days with the justice that it deserves, so I've decided to do it a little differently. While I will of course provide required descriptions where needed, the following conversations will be expressed from the verbatim transcripts of Sonnet's PipBuck audio recording. I can only hope that it conveys what I need it to, with as much weight as it felt for us to endure.

Please forgive the order. I tried my best to clean them up.

---

-:Static:-

Tome: "And put on some music."

-:Music starts:-

Lilac: "So, Sonnet. You from a Stable?"

Sonnet: "Erm... yeah. Stable 2B."

Lilac: "Never heard of a Stable like that..."

Sonnet: "Everyone says that."

Lilac: "I can imagine. So what's special about your Stable then? They're all supposed to be a little different, aren't they?"

Sonnet: "I can't discuss it."

Lilac: "Oh, that's a shame. I'm sure it's nothing too interesting anyway. I doubt they can all be that different from each other. Every Stable's probably the same. Same layout too from what I've heard. Same walls, same floor, same overbearing Overmare..."

Sonnet: "Overmare Lilly is a good Overmare, actually. She helps keep all the operations running smoothly and never forgets to tuck me in at night!"

---

I should interject by saying the whole group stopped at this point in curiosity.

---

Lilac: "Is your Mother the Overmare?"

Tome: "You never told us that."

-:silence:-

Lilac: "Well I can see I touched on a sensitive subject. So how about I change it. Ask me something, little one."

Sonnet: "Erm. Well. Where you from?"

Lilac: "Town called Friendship. My parents owned a shop there. I remember back in the summer time when things were a bit brighter and warmer, I'd wake up and trot downstairs to find-"

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Sonnet: "-and it kicked back in my mouth and hurt."

Lilac: -chuckle- "Yeah, hurt me the first time too."

Sonnet: "I don't think I've actually killed anypony yet. But I'm sure I will."

Lilac: "You should be happy you haven't shot anyone yet."

Sonnet: "But I'll have to sometime. And what if I do it and I freeze up, or I'm not used to it and don't do it and then Mister-Master Tome Sir dies, or someone else?"

Lilac: "You worry far too much for a filly. How would your mother feel if she knew you were thinking such things?"

-:silence:-

(Cont) Lilac: "Exactly."

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Lilac: "Really?"

Aero: "Yes, really."

Lilac: "Are you serious?"

Aero: "Do I have to get it tattooed on my forehead?"

Lilac: "I mean, well, okay. Whatever you say. So..."

-:silence:-

(Cont) Lilac: "Do your parents hate you?"

Aero: "It is NOT that bad a name!"

Lilac: "Nope, not at all, totally fine name. Strapping name. Fantastic name. I might name my own child after you. Ya know... if I ever want her to get bullied."

Aero: "Oh you are just as bad as Tome."

Lilac: "Now I'm just teasing. You don't need to insult me that harshly."

Tome: "Hey!"

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Lilac: "You gonna say one thing? Just one?"

-:silence:-

Lilac: "Tome, you sure he's not just a mute?"

Tome: "Pretty sure."

Stranger: "I'm not mute."

Lilac: "Oh my word. Now THAT is a voice. Honey, you sure you don't want to say a bit more? Maybe whisper things in my ear? With a voice like that I'd bet you'd have me all a quiver in moments."

-:silence:-

(Cont) Lilac: "Toooooome, he's not being any fuuuun!"

Tome: -:chuckle:-

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Lilac: "He doesn't ever sleep?"

Tome: "Nope, well, he can, but doesn't need to and rarely does. I shouldn't be telling you this, but he's a Ghoul."

Lilac: "Really? Wow, erm, okay. If you shouldn't tell me... are you just telling me because I'm gonna die anyway?"

Tome: "Nah, you just seem trustworthy. He doesn't like it being common knowledge. But yeah, he doesn't sleep, eat, get tired..."

Lilac: "But I've seen ghouls eat ponies."

Tome: "Aggressive instinct due to brain degradation, not a biological need. The only need they really have is radiation. And while not a 'need' persay, it's mainly just something they can use to nourish or heal themselves."

Lilac: "You know a lot about a lot of things, don't you?"

Tome: "It's why I'm the leader. I'm the smart pony."

Lilac: "You don't seem too happy about being the leader."

Tome: "I get judged a lot. I don't like it."

Lilac: "Isn't that what being a leader is about? Being judged as an example to others?"

Tome: "I don't want them to do by example, I just want them to do what I say."

Lilac: "So it's a power play?"

Tome: "No!"

Lilac: "Keep it down or you'll wake them."

Tome: "Sorry..."

-:silence:-

(Cont) Tome: I just, I don't want them to hate me. But sometimes you just have to do things for their own good. They can be so stupid. Sonnet thought it was a good idea to starve herself rather than eat the food given to her. Aero thinks his cannons are the best weapons, regardless of situation, Lucky barely does anything other than mope..."

Lilac: "And Stranger?"

Tome: "Strangers good. He listens. He listens but... he judges me more than the others. He has this idea that I need to be moral. Like he's trying to save me from myself. But I don't want him to."

Lilac: "Why not?"

Tome: "Because... because I don't deserve it."

Lilac: "Why not?"

-:silence:-

Tome: "Let's just go to sleep."

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Sonnet: "And then there was a humongous explosion. And Aero was all hurt. And that's how he got his new leg!"

Lilac: "I've never seen a cybernetic before. Does it work as well as a hoof?"

Aero: -:yelp:- "Yeah, when I try not to think about it. It reacts with instinct but... it's a bitch to work consciously."

Lilac: "So when you have to think about the movements, it's actually harder? So what if you really thought about your leg right now then?"

Aero: "Can you not?"

Lilac: "I just want to really know what it's like to walk on it. Ya know, putting your leg forward, pressing down with the hoof..."

Aero: "I said stop it, I'm wobbling here!"

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Lilac: "What did it feel like?"

Tome: -:chuckle:- "About as horrible as you could guess. Less pain than you'd think though."

Lilac: "I'm just imagining a churning... oh Celestia I feel sick."

Tome: "Then stop asking about things that'll make you feel worse."

Lilac: "No I... I actually feel-" -:throwing up:-

Tome: "Take some healing potion."

Lilac: -:gulping:-"Well... bet this is still better than being chewed on by a Timberwolf."

Tome: "Well as somepony that's had both. I'd say they're about equal. I mean yeah, the stomach and intestines being chewed on is horrific, but there's a special level of horror about leaving a trail of watery shit behind you."

Lilac: "Can we not talk about that please. Vomiting I can talk about, I do not want any attention called to my rear-end right now. It is not pleasant."

Tome: "Sick or not, I find you most pleasant."

Lilac: "No offence honey, but I'd rather buck the green one than you, any day."

Tome: -:laugh:- "You hear that, Lucky? You got a chance!"

Lucky: -:incoherent mumbling:-

Lilac: "Awww, he's blushing. He's adorable!"

Tome: "You know he's like, twice your age right? He's old."

Lucky: "Tome!"

Lilac: "I prefer the term 'experienced'."

Tome: Okay, well you two can have a room to yourself at the hotel when we get into town."

Aero: "Alright! Lucky's gettin' lucky!"

Lucky: "Will you both shut up!"

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Lilac: "Can you please call me 'Lilly'?"

Tome: "Nope."

Lilac: "Fine, just continue. What was it like?"

Tome: "Beautiful. It was just a sliver. But in that sliver held a whole world I'd never seen before. I mean, the sun was beautiful and warm, and everything about it made me happy. But it was really bright, and there wasn't much else I could see. But the nighttime. Everything was iridescent. It shone and glimmered in a way that spread subtle colours through the air that I'd never even dreamed of. The sparkles and twinkles glittered against the dark backdrop like little pinpoint holes in the fabric of the universe. And it felt like they were watching me. Maybe even guiding me. Or at least... judging me."

Lilac: "You should write poems."

Tome: "Excuse me?"

Lilac: "What you lack in manners and fair face, you make up for with words. That description was beautiful."

Tome: "Are you saying my face isn't fair?"

Lilac: "Well with how thin you are, you look like two inches of skin stretched over twelve inches of skull."

Tome: "Oh just go to sleep, harlot."

Lilac: -:chuckles:-

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Lilac: "I don't think you're cursed."

Lucky: "I don't think. I know. And it's alright. I've dealt with it for most my life now."

Lilac: "Then why do you seem so miserable if you're used to it?"

Lucky: "Because now I have people I care about. And I don't wanna lose them."

Lilac: "Come here."

Lucky: "Hugging through bars is difficult... can... can I kiss you?"

Lilac: "I have vomit breath."

Lucky: "I don't care."

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Lucky: "TOME! She's looking bad!"

Tome: "We're going as fast as we can Lucky."

Lilac: "I'll be fine..."

Lucky: "You're bleeding from your..."

-:silence:-

Lilac: "Well that's an interesting upside to all this. Stallions preferring to look at my face rather than my flank. Remind me to shit blood more often. It turns colts into gentlemen." -:chuckle:- "I could put up a poster about it. 'New fad technique. Dying of radiation. The sure way to receive his respect.'"

Lucky: "I respect you."

Lilac: "Oh honey... don't do that. Don't go falling for a dying mare just because she shows a little interest. It's not good for your heart. Especially at your age."

Lucky: "Fuck my heart. I'd give it up for you, Lilly."

Lilac: "Oh, wow, honey. Leave the sweet words to Tome. He's much better at them."

Tome: -:cackling:-

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

Lucky: "She's not conscious! We need to move faster!

Tome: "We're almost there! And she's not the only one suffering ya know!"

Lucky: "Sonnet's only just started vomiting again. Lilly is actually about to die!"

Tome: "Yelling will not get us there any faster! I can literally see the town right there! Aero!"

Aero: "What?"

Tome: "Take our bits, fly ahead, get whatever RadAway and healing potions you can find. Go now!"

Aero: "Got ya!"

Tome: "Aero's fast. He'll get back in time."

Lucky: "He better!"

Tome: "Hey, Rodeo! Juliet there will either live or die regardless of you throwing your toys out out of the pram. Stop giving me shit!"

-:gunshot:-

(Cont) Tome: "Get down!"

Lucky: "Who's shooting at us?"

-:gunshots:- -:gunshot:-

Tome: "Raiders!"

-:gunshots and yelling:-

Unidentified Male: "Fuck 'em up!"

-:gunshot:- -:gunshot:- -:gunshot:- -:loud ping:-

Lucky: "Leave her alone!"

Tome: "Lucky! Stop! Don't-"

-:static:-

-:Beep:- -:tick tick tick:- -:tape whirring:-

-:click:-

---

I dressed the wound as best I could. Though to be honest, it was just a waste of perfectly useful bandages. I looked into the mare's eyes and she smiled at me, her gaze looking like it could almost read my thoughts.

"Please no." Lucky sobbed next to me, his hooves clutching one of Lilac's. "Please don't, Aero will be back, he will be... please."

"Lucky," I spoke softly, my hoof resting on his shoulder. "She's a bit past the point of healing potions."

"Fuck you!"

I understood his reservations about letting go, but while Lilac was awake now, and conscious, she was past the point of no return. A large portion of her stomach had been entirely blown out. She'd probably lost at least two and a half organs. And while healing potions could do a lot, they weren't megaspells. They couldn't regrow organs.

Despite her blood loss, her advanced radiation poisoning, and the unbelievable amount of pain she must be in, Lilac was smiling, and had the strength to raise a hoof and place it against Lucky's cheek, gently brushing his tears away. "It's okay. You were really sweet."

"I did this to you... don't say that, I did this to you... they were aiming at me... at me and it... it happened... it happened again!"

I heard the flutter of wings and turned to see Aero rushing towards us, a satchel to his side filled with various potions. He looked around at the sight, his eyes wide in shock. It must have been quite a sight. By his feet was the body of a Raider missing her head, to the left where three more, each one sporting large holes from Strangers rifle, another to the right had a hoof missing and half his torso blown away, while a pile of limbs a little off showed the results of a Raider playing too close to a grenade. Blood caked our barding, and we sat before the cage that now sported a large hole, the bars ruptured and bent inwards from the force of something large blowing through it, and a hole in the mare inside.

"What-" He began before he shut his mouth and rushed forward, pulling out a healing potion.

Lucky lurched up and grasped it, yanking it from Aero's hooves. I reached forward and tried to snatch it back. "Lucky no!"

"Lucky, honey, don't..." Lilac pleaded with us.

"No! No! I won't let her die, fuck you all, I hate you! I hate you! Let me save her!" Lucky screamed at us as we wrestled the healing potion from him. Stranger soon joined in, his powerful telekinesis easily pulling the healing potion away. Lucky looked on with teary eyes. "Please. Please." His words were barely whimpers.

"Lucky," Lilac said gently, her voice sounding a little gurgled. "You can't save me. And that's okay."

"It's not okay," Lucky said, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Sapphire, Comet, Snow, my parents! I've never been able to save them... it's this damn joke... this joke... my life's a joke!" Sonnet slipped up to Lucky. She reached up and gently stroked his back. She herself had tears down her cheeks, but she was trying to give Lucky a gentle smile, as though to tell him it would all be okay. "I was stupid Lilly... I've always been stupid. I... everything is always my fault." Lilac listened to him, still smiling, her hoof still gently stroking his cheek. Despite being the one dying, she chose to comfort the old stallion.

Lucky tried to wipe his eyes, breathing in a shaky breath. "When I was young," he began, "I was with my parents. I was... stupid. I got too close to the Everfree forest... A storm hit, and I tried to take shelter under the trees. My parents came looking for me. I was lucky... y'know. Supposed to be lucky. I could find things, and do things, and things worked out right. But... Killing Joke happened." He gulped hard as he recounted the story. "Suddenly, lightning struck. And just as my parents found me, a tree fell on us and killed them. But I didn't get hurt at all." I watched a tear run down Sonnet's cheek as she listened beside him.

"Everyone else loses luck around me. And I take it. I've seen a bullet miss me by inches, and hit a child. I've seen families, blown up by explosives, while I walk away without a scratch. I've had friends... lovers... people I cared for... die just from being around me. My life became the joke. I've tried to end it. I've tried killing myself. The chamber jams. The knife breaks. The joke won't let me die." Lucky turned to me and bit his lip. "I've even abandoned those I was supposed to care for, because I didn't want anything to happen to them. But lately... not much has happened. They've been safe. And I thought, maybe it was over." He turned back to the mare and a fresh stream of tears ran down his cheek. "I am so sorry."

Lilac smiled warmly and tried to wipe away the new tears. "Thank you." Lucky looked confused at her words. "If what you say is true... then I'm dying to save your life. That shot really was meant for you."

Lucky let out a quivering breath, "please don't say that."

"Lucky," Lilac coughed for a moment, blood drooling down the side of her muzzle. "I was a slave. I was always going to die for nothing. And I had little faith in surviving this trek of ours. Thank you. Thank you for giving me something to die for."

I felt a pulling on my barding. I turned to Sonnet who was sniffling. "It's... gonna take a bit. The blood loss will help it... but stomach wounds take a while. She'll be in pain."

I nodded and looked to Lilac. "We'll stay with you."

"Tome," she said with a sad smile, "I think I'm gonna take option 'B'."

I nodded solemnly and pulled out my gun from its holster. I looked to the others. They backed off, all except Lucky who stroked the mare's cheek tenderly. To my right, I heard soft singing.

"Thing's may look very dark,

Your dream is not in vain.

For when do you find the rainbow,

Only after rain."

Sonnet's voice rose up beautifully, and by her hooves, the dead vegetation bloomed to life once more. Long dead seeds broke the surface and the green below began to flourish as her voice swam around us.

"So wish, on the moon.

And someday, it may be tomorrow."

Lilac watched the plants, and smiled warmly. She looked as flowers began to bloom under Sonnet, her gaze running over their stems and petals as though they were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"You will suddenly, hear chimes.

And you'll have, your happy, happy times."

I bit the trigger.

*** *** ***

We walked in silence.

Our bags were flush with supplies. Lilac's cousin had been grateful for bringing Lilac to her, dead or not. And after being given a copy of the audio recordings, she gave us a large discount on her store, as well as some things for free out of thanks.

The weight of what had happened had hit us all far more than I'd expected. Myself included. There was a pit in my stomach, and though we'd only known the mare for three days, it felt like I'd lost someone precious. Though, I knew my feelings were nothing compared to Lucky's.

And though I did my best to do my usual 'bury it and don't think about it' routine, it was barely working.

I did my best to focus on our journey. As we walked, my skin prickled, and I was sure I could see something moving on the horizon. It felt like we were being watched. But even as Stranger scoped the surroundings, we found it was nothing. I was just being paranoid. Probably trying to occupy my thoughts after our ordeal.

We walked for almost a full day. Then we finally saw the Tower on the horizon. The alabaster spire scraped the cloud-cover. A few miles behind it was what looked to be a line of mountains. The border of Equestria. The white tower seemed to flicker and fizzle around the edges as we got closer. As the hours passed we could make out more and more detail. The outer shell of it was untarnished except for a single large scrawling of graffiti letters along the side 'Long Live the Caesar!'.

We stepped over rocks and fallen rubble as we approached. Looking up at the spire, we saw parts of it were scratched and damaged, one side sported a large hole at ground level. The usually invisible field that surrounded the towered crackled and fizzed blue and yellow every now and again. Something had struck this tower hard. Extending a hoof, I pressed it to the field and felt it fizzle around my hoof as it passed right through it. It stung a little, like I was being electrocuted as the field tried to keep me out. But it was far too weak.

I was the first to step forward, the shocks traveling through my body made me grunt a little as I made it through to the other side. Sonnet, freshly healed with RadAway and healing potions, stepped through and yelped from the shocks. Lucky passed through with barely a grunt, and Stranger took to it without a word. Aero however yelped and tested it a few times before pushing through.

"Ouch, that smarts!" He complained.

I rolled my eyes and moved forward, climbing over the ruins and rubble towards the hole.

Stepping inside was strange. The place was grey and dusty. Time had not done it any favours. But as I looked around, I saw lights and blinking controls. The place was still active. We were in the entrance, a large foyer with seats and sides along the walls. A door to the edge was labelled 'SPP'.

I moved over to a nearby desk and picked up some files. Some were financial records, others were schematics, and some were letters. Everything looked interesting, but for some reason, that door seemed to call to me. I stepped towards it and pressed a hoof to the door's side panel. It opened at the touch. Inside was a long corridor into darkness. I stepped forward, and with each step, lights blinked and flickered on with a low hum. We came out of the corridor into a large, dark room. It was cold. The lights finally flicked on and illuminated a large, circular room. You could tell it was once well kept and clinical. Not so much now.

What looked to be computer server banks lined the walls in what could only be considered a star, with alcoves between each one. At the opposite end of the room sat three empty pods attached to what was perhaps the largest computer I had ever seen. On the side of the computer was the stamp 'Crusader Mainframe - StableTec'.

I moved to the large blank screen, the sound of echoing hooves behind me told me the others had followed me into the room. I reached up and experimentally tapped a few keys on this dark goliath of a computing. A few lights came on, and the large screen flickered into existence. There was a red message on it.

[Please Establish Linked Connection]

There was a list of potential links, all related to coordinates, and a section at the bottom labelled:

[Manual Entry].

After trying the others, I couldn't get any of them to work. "Sonnet, your PipBuck."

The filly padded over and offered her hoof. I slipped onto her map feature and began looking for the Canterlot coordinates. Once I had them, I inputted them into the 'Manual Entry' option, and watched the screen flash green. There was a loud static whining followed by several clicks and the screen seemed to flash with movements.

"...what's goi'..."

"Was that a voice?" Lucky asked, looking from the computer to me.

"...'llo?'"

The screen flashed a few more times. I saw the wisp of something white. Maybe green and blue. I tried to adjust the frequency strength with the controls, but I wasn't having much luck. "Oh, come on you Celestia damned piece of crap." I grumbled, kicking the bottom of the computer.

Something spiked and suddenly the screen stabilised.

"Hello?"

And then I saw you.

Footnote: Level Up.

New Perk: Wings of the Valkyrie - Heroes Never Die! Except by your own hoof... +10 Critical damage to any comrade when committing a mercy killing.

(A/N) Hey guys!!! Another chapter out. I hope you all enjoy it, it's one of my favourite ones so far. I would like to say farewell to my long time editor Mission0. He's helped with this as his last chapter, and he's done a fantastic job. But sadly, his life right now does not afford him the freedom to edit as much as he did before. So, he will be taking a hopefully temporarily leave of absence from editing the story. I don't know when/if he'll be back, but we'll see what the future holds.

And on that note, I would like to thank Dom Render for helping both me and mission edit this chapter. He's an old editor I had for my Daring Do series, and has proven himself fantastic in the past, and agreed to help with this one.

Thank you all for your patience. Please read and review, and if you like what you read, consider supporting me on patreon.

https://www.patreon.com/almanacpony

Editor's Mission0 last note: Something something, when I started this I didn't have a job. Now I have a job, something something, getting married, something something. Very busy... something somethin... hope to graduate college soon. Going to pass the baton to someone else. If you never hear from me again it's because Almanac beet me with an almanac.

(Additional A/N: He spelt 'beet' incorrectly on purpose... to annoy everyone.)

Editor Dom Note: Romanes eunt domus

-Doge