Chapter 3-

It Came Out of the Sky

“I hate losing…”

My hooves carried me along at a breakneck pace. Slightly slower than normal because of the weird hitch in my shoulder. It was lucky that I didn’t run into any patrols along the way, because I’m sure they would’ve stopped me for questioning about where I was going in such a hurry. Sneaking past the Outpost 52 without them noticing was also way easier than I thought. That watchmare I’d dealt with before was probably asleep at her post. It sure would be a shame if Fair Trade had to fire her. I smirked at the thought.

As the scenery raced past me, I soon found myself in the wilderness west of the outpost. Eventually my rush of exhilaration wore off, and I found myself following the long highway that twisted along for miles beyond the Canterlot Valley. It had been a while, but I still knew all the backroads and major landmarks in the area... more or less. Outside of Gawd’s territory was Raider Country.

I checked my surroundings, half expecting to find Sting and his raiders lurking about. Although I couldn’t be sure whether or not this Jagged Knife guy would have a stronger presence out here. There was nothing, so I continued into the wilderness in search of that Pegasus. I was mostly going off of guesswork based off of his trajectory and flight path. It was stupid of me that I was going entirely on a hunch that I’d be able to find him. There was no way for me to quite explain it, except that I had a strong feeling I knew where he was. It felt like I was hot on his trail.

“Seems like somepony else was in a hurry.” I observed keenly. My gaze followed the dead looking tree-trunks upward to the broken canopy. After noticing all the dead wood littering the ground not far off to the side of the road. A keen observation would indicate somepony flying had come in for a rough landing somewhere closeby. That mohawked pegasus knew about that attack beforehoof, I was sure of it. So if it turned out he was somehow involved in the attack, then I wanted answers straight from the horse’s mouth.

As I galloped hard along the road, but was forced to an abrupt halt as I felt a sudden sharp pain in my shoulder. “Ow! Dammit.” I cursed while nursing my foreleg. It flared up briefly, but then felt fine again mere moments later. Mildly concerned I moved it around just to make doubly sure it’d be okay. It felt like the bullet was scraping against the bone, but aside from that weird hitch there was nothing else out of the ordinary. For now it was a simple reminder not to let myself get cocky again. At least until I could get the proper surgery to get this bullet out of me.

Continuing onward at a slightly lessened pace at first, I forced myself back into a run. I didn’t have a clue what I would do if I actually came across the Enclave, but small details like that didn’t matter. In truth, it was a possibility I didn’t want to think about. If I ran into them, I’d just have to think on my hooves like I always did. The plan was a work in progress. At least I knew how to deal with raiders, just point and shoot. Easy.

The sky took on a blue-orange hue as the sun began to set behind the mountains. It was twilight by the time I reached the former town of Sunvale. Marked only by a weathered old sign post. I slowed my approach as I got closer, stopping at the edge of town looking for any places he could be hiding. The surrounding forest turned black like charcoal the closer I got, and the scattered debris of the pre-war town told the sad story of another place that was destroyed by the Enclave during Operation Cauterize. All the signs of a leftover Enclave military operation were here. Strategic fires in the surrounding woods to cut off escape, precise burn holes. It reminded me of the state Starlight Bay had been left in when their ships left the town behind, but most of the ashes had been washed away by the rain by this point.

“Why come here of all places?” I wondered.

The sight put me on edge more than it should have. Various houses, and structures lay collapsed in heaps of debris. Charred wooden beams jutted out of the rubble like skeletal remains. A small ruined shack was left on a hill on the edge of town, collapsed with barely any of its walls left standing. I remembered passing through here maybe once before, a long time ago. Now, only a hoofful of structures remained. There was little left here to be remembered by future ponies. I reminded myself that this was no time to get sentimental.

My ears perked up at the sound of music, echoing a familiar polka track. A lone spritebot bobbed through the town, and came to a stop hovering in front of me. I paused to look at it. The bot seemed to look back. The track came to an end and it fell silent, except for the hover spell that was keeping it afloat. It seemed like for a moment it was about to say something. Then I realized that I was blocking its path and stepped aside.

“Sorry.” I said, turning a glance at it as it passed me. The music faded slowly, before disappearing down the road. Those things always creeped me out. Spritebots have always hovered around Equestria, but during the Enclave Wars they used them to broadcast their propaganda.

Only one building of interest stood out, the old rest stop on the side of town which remained mostly intact. A sign that read “General Store” hung above the door. Old husks of wagons were parked outside of the shop with junk strewn about, like ponies had already gone through and sacked everything long ago. Anything left that might’ve been of value was destroyed in the fires.

As I came closer, I saw a dim light flickering from inside. Shadows cast through the cracks of the boarded up windows and beneath the door frame, from which the sounds of a pony’s low muttering could be heard. I immediately crouched my body close to the ground and held my breath. My ears perked up to the sound of a radio playing at a hushed volume. I raised my rifle as I approached, taking each hoofstep as carefully as possible so that I wouldn’t alert my query.

The radio shut off for a moment, and I stood in place. My rifle was trained on the entrance of the shop. I listened to the muttering and clutter shifting about from inside the building. The voice sounded like it belonged to an adult stallion. Although I hadn’t seen his face yet, I had a strong hunch who it was. He settled down back where I had originally heard him, complaining about hearing things. It was a minute or two before the radio turned back on, and I allowed myself to relax a little. So far as I could tell the pony inside hadn’t detected me yet.

I paused at the edge of the doorframe, taking one last moment to check for traps. The general store had gone silent aside from the static-ridden radio signal. They were reporting on the recent caravan attack, but no new information. What a coincidence. With a strong kick against the door I busted into the shop and trained my rifle against the first pony I saw. To my surprise, I found a laser pistol staring right back at me.

We stood for a minute in standoff. The gray-brown coated, mohawked pegasus glared back at me. He had a somewhat ragged desperate look about him. From a cursory glance it looked as though he was favoring his left wing. The radio continued to report on the attack as we stood there, but nothing I didn’t already know. They were way behind me as far as leads went. I felt my anger bubbling up inside me again, but then he spoke and I regained my composure. “Easy. I’m going to put my gun down.” he said. I nodded.

“One… Two…” he counted. On three, we both slowly lowered our weapons. He placed his laser pistol on the store counter and I set my rifle on the wooden floor, then he turned back to me with a glare. “How the hell did you find me here? Pegasi are impossible to track on a cloudless day. Let alone by some wasteland Earth Pony.”

“Well I’m not just any wasteland mare!” I boasted. It was true that I knew a thing or two about tracking in the dirt, but it felt more like I had found him here by complete accident. Even I wasn’t entirely sure how I did it.

“Did you know I’d come here? Who are you?”

My eyes narrowed as I sharply repeated my question from earlier. The only detail that I really wanted to know at that moment. “Answer me, did you see Enclave ships flying over the Smokey Mountains. Don’t make me beat the answers out of you. I don’t need a gun to punch a pony half to death.”

“You already made that plenty clear by how you handled Sting and the others. I’ll compliment you on a job well done, by the way.” he acknowledged.

“So you do know him.” I pressed.

“I promise you, they’re no friends of mine.” he seemed almost annoyingly apathetic to the whole situation. My gut was giving me a weird feeling about this guy.

“Know anything about those weapons they were using?”

“They’re raiders. What makes you think I’d know?”

“You’re a pegasus for one. A suspicious one at that!”

“Dunno. Maybe they picked them off some dead Enclave soldiers?”

“That doesn’t explain the Enclave ships I saw!” I fired back.

“Are you sure you’re not just seeing things?” he scoffed.

“I know what I saw!” I barked, not appreciating his tone. My face went red, and I added “By the way, don’t think I didn’t notice you staring!”

He shrunk backwards as he frantically tried to explain himself “H-hey wait a minute! I swear you’ve got the wrong idea!”

“I’ll bet you’re a real Lady Killer, huh? Tch, whatever.” He didn’t like that response.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble missy”.

“Well you’ve got trouble unless you start talking!” I made my point clear by stamping my hoof on the floor.

“This is all a simple misunderstanding. I’m just an innocent refugee from Neighvarro.” It was hard to believe based on his cooled composure whether he was being totally straight with me, but the whole room smelled like brahmin shit.

“Innocent ponies don’t fly away at the first sign of New Canterlot patrols. I’m just letting you know, if this screws up my chances of enlisting I’ll hold you personally responsible.” I spat, already upset at having to follow him all the way out here.

“Wait, aren’t you one of Gawd’s couriers? So you’re not with the New Canterlot army?” He appeared confused, as though this information came as a surprise to him.

My ego got the better of me. “Hey I’m no courier! I’m under contract, so that makes me legit! What I’m holding here is considered to be vital information for the Coalition! A-and...” I trailed off briefly, trying to think of what else I should say. Then puffing out my chest, I added, “And you’re a pony of interest delaying my investigation!”

“That’s not exactly how it works...” he sighed.

“Are you questioning my authority?” I challenged in my most official sounding voice.

The Pegasus rolled his eyes. “We’re getting nowhere with this. How about, you answer one of my questions, and I’ll answer one of yours?” His suggestion was a sound one, so I nodded in agreement.

“Exactly how do you know Fair Trade?” He asked leaning in closer, looking almost desperate to get to that information. I couldn’t begin to see where he was going with this.

Speaking in as sharp a tone as I could muster, I answered. “Fair Trade’s an old friend of mine. He was the only one I could turn to after I lost my family during Operation Cauterize. What do you care?” Mentioning that day often struck a sore spot with Pegasi, but I wasn’t in a position to care much about his feelings. He made little attempt to hide the cursing under his breath.

“Now it’s my turn to ask questions. If you’re such an innocent refugee, then why were you in such a hurry to leave? You disappeared right before the attack, like you knew something was about to happen, and you said you knew Sting just now. Tell me who you are.”

“My name is Hotshot. Let’s just say I have bad ponies after me. As for the raider attack, you could call it a hunch? I got lucky.” he offered weakly. My eyes narrowed into slits, feeling a tinge of irritation.

“Maybe you’d be more forthcoming if I hogtied your wings and dragged you back to New Canterlot for questioning, Hotshot?”

“Really now, that won’t be necessary!”

“Don’t like that, do ya? Why are you so afraid to answer a few of Gawd’s simple questions?”

“Well this isn’t exactly a walk in the clouds for me, sister! Are all surfacers this crazy?”

“Then why don’t you tell me everything you know about those Enclave weapons? Tell me who this Jagged Knife guy is while you’re at it.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” he said. I responded with a low growl.

“They’re bad ponies.” He put simply, “Ones I don’t want anything to do with, so as soon as I get out of here I’m flying straight to Las Pegasus and you’ll never hear from me again.”

“You’re not going anywhere until you answer my questions Mohawk!” I snapped.

“Forget about him, Jagged’s not the type of pony even a mare such as yourself wants to get caught up with. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Thanks for your concern, but I can take care of myself.”

“Your funeral.”

“You saw those ships!” I asserted raising my voice.

The pegasus averted his gaze, turning sideways as if trying to brush it away like I was crazy. “Ships? What are you talking about? Listen, I’m just a civilian caught up in this mess same as you. The Enclave has been gone for months now-”

“Liar.” I snapped.

“Believe me or don’t. I’m sorry about what happened to your family, but I swear I’m not with the Enclave anymore.”

“I don’t want your damn sympathy.” I spat. There was no way that I was going to sit and listen to this pegasus give me a half-hearted apology. “I know I saw Vertibucks flying over the Smokey Mountains. So tell me everything you know about the Enclave. About the Remnants, Jagged, everything! Where did those idiots get their hooves on that kind of technology? Squawk, featherbrain!”

“Okay, hypothetically let’s say there were ships flying over the Smokey Mountains. What exactly do you intend to do about it?”

“I’ll figure that out as soon as I get there!”

“Impulsive tendencies seem to be your strong suit.”

“It’s none of your business anyways! Stop avoiding the question!” I growled. When I realized he wasn’t going to give me the answers I wanted, I put two and two together.

“You’re a deserter, aren’t you? What, afraid you’ll be convicted of war crimes?” I jeered, stalking around the room. That weary steely eyed look of his came out again. It seemed I wasn’t too far from the mark. His aversion to answer only fueled my anger. “Just how many innocent ponies have you killed?”

“I said I’m not with the Enclave anymore”.

"That doesn’t necessarily clean your hooves of the past though, does it? Otherwise you’d have no problems heading to New Canterlot to stand trial! Tell me the number! How many innocent ponies have you killed?! Five? Ten…? Twenty?!”

After a short pause he hung his head and almost shamefully admitted, “...I don’t know.”

“You’d better damned well remember the face of everypony you’ve ever murdered!” His answer struck a nerve with me, and I lost my temper right there.

Soon I caught him nervously eyeing his laser pistol on the counter. Taking momentary glances towards the door, he slowly began to reach for something inside of his blue flight jacket. I caught the glint of something metallic. A small sidearm tucked underneath his wing. My body unconsciously lowered down into a fighting stance, readying myself for what was to come.

Noticing where my eyes were being trained, he looked down at his open jacket and uttered a single word. “Shit.”

Everything went south in an instant. I sprung forward to knock him over but ended up barely missing. Instead I crashed head first into the wall behind him. He was slippery, even in that cramped space he was able to maneuver with ease. Jumping into the air after him, I barely managed to grab a few feathers. One of the empty shelving racks were knocked over as he darted past me, delivering a kick to my face in the process. He raced out the door, and I heard the sounds of wing flutters outside.

By the time I managed bring myself to my hooves and follow him, he was already long gone.

“Dammit. That hurt.” I said. I’d assumed that he wouldn’t be able to fly so easily with that hurt wing. Rubbing my nose as I walked back inside, I closed the flimsy door behind me. Admittedly, I could’ve handled that better.

As I found my way back into the general store, I took a moment to glance around the rickety old building. Hoping to see if he left anything behind. A lot of the store had survived the fires, but I couldn’t discern much from the place. Most of everything in the room had been covered in a light coat of ash. The shelving racks, probably once fully stocked had been long pilfered. Hotshot’s laser pistol was still sitting there on the counter next to a dirty old newspaper. Its text was left almost completely illegible. I had to squint to read one of the headlines beyond the soot and scorch marks. Something about “Hippocampus Energy and controversial Megaspell reactor technology to curb resource shortages.” Must have had something to do with the Great War from the back when times.

CRRRACKKKKKK!!~ A loud noise of something breaking echoed up from the floor. I paused for a moment, dreading to look at what I just stepped on. Mustering the courage to stare down at my hooves, I turned my gaze downward, and found myself standing on the pair of gold framed sunglasses. They must’ve fallen onto the floor when I lunged at that slippery bastard. The lenses were completely trashed, and the golden frames misshapen beyond repair.

“Fuck! Can I get just one break tonight?” I shouted, throwing a miniature tantrum to myself as I was reluctantly forced to discard the pair of broken shades to the floor. Stomping my hooves, I whined audibly until I tired myself out and calmed down.

Turning my attention back to the weapon on the counter, I observed it closely. The laser pistol was in pristine condition, even by Enclave weapon standards. Upon finding that it had none of the same modifications as Sting’s weapon, I was forced to raise an eyebrow. Although I still didn’t trust him, the part about him not being with the raiders seemed slightly more believable now. At least I could gather that he and Sting didn’t seem to be on friendly terms.

“Next time, I’ll tie his wings down and force him to answer my questions.” I muttered.

I walked back and forth across ash coated floorboards, picking up my service rifle and moving it beside the old mattress behind the store counter. Along with my armor and saddlebags which I piled in the corner next to it. Stashed there was also a hoofful of supplies that Hotshot had left behind.

The pegasus was in such a hurry that he had left most of his things behind. Grinning as I hoofed through his discarded saddlebags, I found myself dissatisfied when all I found were a few bottlecaps, a bottle of Sunrise Sarsaparilla, a Fancy Buck snack cake, and some ammunition that my guns didn’t use. I took it anyways. “Sweet, a snack cake! I haven’t eaten one of these things in months!” I chimed.

I fell backward onto the ash coated mattress and munched on my meager spoils of victory. The old bed smelled like the end of the world, but I was thankful enough to have something to sleep on that wasn’t the floor. Snickering at the thought that that pegasus was probably going to have to rough it for the evening, filled me with a minor sense of accomplishment.

The feeling was short lived however. As I finished my snack cake, I popped the cap of the bottle of Sunrise only to find there wasn’t a star hidden underneath. It brought me down off my high. My dissatisfaction turned to doubt as I realized how stupid I was being right now. This whole night had been a bust chasing ghost ships, without anything to show for it. “What the hell are you doing, Roulette?” I exhaled deeply, scolding myself for pulling something this crazy. Maybe Fair Trade was right. This wasn’t the wasteland I remembered.

Looking up at the ceiling, I asked myself, “Am I really starting to lose it?” As I thought back to my little episode during the raider attack, I could only remember just how vivid it was. I could’ve sworn I saw something. I’d heard that the Followers of the Apocalypse’s psychiatric specialists offered free consultation at Junction Town. Maybe another option to consider if this whole thing didn’t work out.

“No. Those ships were real. I’m sure of it.” I reassured myself. “Besides, it’s not like I can let something serious like Enclave ships go, right? Radar wouldn’t have... would he?” I felt lost when nopony had the answers I wanted to hear. The silence was a harsh reminder that I was all on my own. Truthfully, I had no idea what Radar would’ve done.

I removed my brother’s gun from its holster and held it in my hooves. “Hey...” I spoke softly. I placed it softly beside my head on the mattress and stared at it, letting out a heavy sigh, “I miss you guys.”

“This isn’t exactly the heroic wasteland adventure I had pictured in my head.” I admitted. “You’d think I’d have learned by now.” I had to admit to myself that those days were gone. My body wasn’t tired, but felt emotionally drained as I lay sideways on the mattress. My heart felt heavy, missing those days in the wasteland.

Staring longingly at the pistol, the memories kept coming back to me. I quickly lost track of time, figuring that Hotshot wasn't coming back. I'd sleep lightly, just in case case.

The silence of the town outside only served to keep me dwelling on those thoughts. I sniffled, feeling as though I’d gotten some ash particles in my nose. After a sufficient amount of time had passed, I became fed up with my nagging feelings and finally shut off the light. This caused the interior of the shop to be lit up by dim beams of moonlight that made their way into the shop. Stars twinkled above in the night sky. I tried to get some shut eye, but for some reason I just ended up thinking back to my family. My mind buzzed for a while longer, until I finally managed to drift off.

In my dream I found myself lost in the memories of my wasteland days. The old store gave way to a barren desert. Clouds roiled overhead, in a constant storm cycle. The white spires that littered the Equestrian hellscape brewed artificial weather to keep the kingdom above us running smoothly, and the rest of us in the darkness below.

Today was a nice overcast. Relatively nice by wasteland standards. It didn’t look like it would rain for several more days if we were lucky. We dug through an old hole in the ground where somepony had dumped a bunch of junk, sorting through what was there in hopes of finding anything valuable.

“Shoot, there’s nothing good here.” I complained, as I picked up an old radio and tossed it to the back of the pile, “There’s nothing but old garbage in this hole. And it’s so hot.”

True Blue hoofed through his own pile, while the others did the same. “Keep looking, we need to get enough bottlecaps so we can barter for supplies in town.”

“Sure, whatever.” I thought kicking another piece of scrap off the pile. He was the leader after all, even though we’d never had an official vote on it. Underneath some junk I spotted the glint of something shiny. As I tugged on the shiny metal bit, I pulled out a metal box that looked sort of like a microwave with a fan attached. Two gems were embedded into the side of the device, one green and one blue. “Hang on guys, I think I’ve got something!”

“Oh, nice! Is that a food sanitizer? If we sell it for caps we’ll be set for months!” Wheelie looked upon my find with awe, then added coyly “Maybe you guys will let me pay for some upgrades to my scooter?” It was a piece of tech that was created during the back when times before the balefire, in order to purge the radiation from food. I wondered if they also had to deal with radiation in their food back then like we have to.

“Get real Wheelie! I found it, so I should get to decide what we buy.”

“Both of you are wrong, we’re using this to pay for supplies.” True asserted himself as leader. Wheelie and I both groaned. Our eldest brother was a bit of a wet blanket at times.

“That’s amazing! We could use that to grow our own vegetables instead of eating mutant plants and spoiled meat all the time!” Cherish jumped with exuberance. We had been waiting on a score like this for a while. Zap was the only one who didn’t seem too pleased. He leaned in closely to inspect the device examining the talismans and inner components with a discerning eye. The unicorn tech enthusiast then shook his head and sighed. “Nah sorry guys, the thing’s missing several key essential components and I don’t have any of the spells needed to fix the matrix.”

We all let out a collective whine. I chucked the device as hard as I could in frustration and it skipped across the ground. “Hey, don’t throw it! There could still be parts we could use!” Zap frantically lectured me as he ran up and cradled the device like a crying foal, checking for damages. Cherish decided to take a break after that, and Wheelie went back to searching for parts for his scooter.

“Say, True?” I asked, looking over at my older brother and he turned to face me. He was sitting back on his haunches, and I sat down next to him. He had that look on his face as he often did when something was on his mind. “Yeah Rou, what’s up?”

“Where are we going after this?” I asked.

“Dunno, I haven’t decided. There were a few places I had in mind.” he admitted, averting his gaze from me. He looked troubled, I could tell something else was bugging him.

“You know there’s probably sunshine in Las Pegasus, right?” I asked, leaning over to look him in the eye. It was my not so subtle way of trying to take his mind off things using my own selfish request. That, and it was one of those places I always wanted to visit. “Would be a pretty nice change from all these clouds, if you ask me.” I laughed.

“Heh, there could be. Let’s go sometime.” he tried his best not to grin.

“What about Pony Island Beach in Manehattan? I’ve seen old postcards about it!” I grinned excitedly.

“Sure,” he chuckled. “Just don’t do anything too crazy while we’re there. Remember, Zap will get sick if we take him on any rides.”

I frowned and gave him a serious look, “Is that a Pinkie Promise? You still owe me for skipping out on Old Olneigh.”

True laughed a little to ease my worries. “Hey, you have to give us a break sometimes when you ask us to take you somewhere. That place is dangerous. Besides we already did the Scariest Cave in Equestria!”

I had discounted it because it was such a let down, the name was overrated. “Eh, I’ve seen scarier. Running away from Feral Ghouls inside of that abandoned Stable was way more fun! It really got my adrenaline pumping! Then there was one time I saw a mutant that had like twelve legs, two heads, and three tongues! Then it had another body coming out of its mouth, and- Oh! It was also an Alicorn! Wheelie didn’t believe me!”

He rolled his eyes, “Okay, now you’re just making things up.”

“You have to say it though! Say you Pinkie Promise!” I gave him a hard punch in his shoulder.

“Ow! Okay, alright! Stick a cupcake in my eye, just go easy on the punches!” he rubbed his bruised arm, but I was happy to get what I wanted.

“We’ll all go there together one day. What’s the big rush all of a sudden? We’ve got plenty of time.”

“Duh, because if you owe me you can’t leave. You’d be breaking a promise.” I sighed, sitting back down next to him.

“That makes sense, I guess.” He agreed.

“Oh remember that time, when the town turned out to be full of slavers, and we had to save Sis?! That was great!” The memories kept coming back to me. My sister interjected, “Are you crazy Rou?! That was horrible! Although… admittedly I did get a bit of a rush out of the whole experience.” She blushed. We all joined together in laughter and good memories about the sorts of things that any average pony in the wasteland would probably find horrifying. I wanted this moment to last forever.

True Blue turned to me with a solemn look on his face,“There’s no way I’d ever leave you behind, you’re my sister. I know we fight sometimes, but that’s just what families do, y’know? Do you remember the promise we made with each other on the night we left the Republic?”

“Yeah, I do…It feels like it’s been a while since then. The both of us are getting older though. I don’t know if you’ll be around forever.”

“I’ll be here for as long as you need me to be” he said. I leaned back and fell in the dust to look up at the clouds. True did the same, laying down next to me. We both stared up at the clouds together.

“Being raised by the wasteland doesn’t exactly make for the most stable of upbringings, does it…? Do you ever wonder who our parents were?” I asked. It was something I rarely thought about, but I just felt like making conversation.

“We were just orphans back then. So I guess I don’t think about it too much. You’re all my family I need, and I’ve always done my best to keep you safe.” The weary pony exhaled, “We had Radar, he was kind of like our dad wasn’t he?”

“I miss Radar, but he wasn’t exactly our dad. He’s probably busy doing wasteland hero things, or something really dumb and important.” I pouted, kicking the dust with my hoof. My brother didn’t have anything to add, so I took that as my cue to start thinking out loud. “I always hated that place. The less I have to think about it the better.”

“By wasteland standards, it was pretty good though. Wasn’t it?”

I struggled not to scoff at that statement, “If you put it like that, the Stables were pretty good. They probably would’ve wanted us to repopulate with each other. Bunch of weirdos. But sometimes I feel like maybe if I stayed, he would’ve come back? Remember all those stories we heard about him at the Compound? We were just some lucky kids he saved in the wastes. Couldn’t blame him if he didn’t remember us. ”

I sat up and sighed, turning to look at my brother. True Blue didn’t answer me immediately, he just kept staring up at the sky. It was as though he was lost in his thoughts. He seemed to snap out of it after a while, turning to look at me with that warm smile of his.

“Hey, I’m sure he’s out there somewhere thinking of you. You shouldn’t give up hope, you know?” He jabbed my shoulder, though his punches weren’t as hard as my own.

“Thanks for the advice.” I admitted. He always was knowledgeable about those sorts of things, but there was something else I was thinking about. “It’s not just that. And you don’t have to do that, you know. Keep me safe, I mean. We’re not even sure that we’re blood related...”

“Hey you don’t know that! Even if we aren’t, what does it matter? We’re still a family, and we’ll always be there for each other!” His reassurance felt heartwarming. I felt my eyes tearing up as I struggled to stay on that memory.

Cherish gave me a great big hug from behind and I tried to keep it together, she had a sisterly sense for these types of things. It felt like I was going to suffocate. “Just remember Rou, that you’ll always be my little sister no matter what! I love you so much.”

“Roulette, you’re crying!” My sister gasped, “Is everything okay?” They all crowded around me with looks of concern on their faces. I struggled to get the words out, “I know that things weren’t always perfect back then, but at least you were all there with me and we were together. Y-you know I loved you guys more than anything, right? I wish we could see each other one more time...”

“Don’t worry Rou, we love you too.” True smiled at me. Hearing those words, broke me. Their happy faces only filled me with bitter feelings of loss and sadness. I tried to hold onto that memory for a little longer, but then it began to fade away. As my happy memories faded away, I found myself standing on my own. That cherished image of me spending time with my family was replaced by four familiar looking walls. Our little beach house on the edge of the cliff, with nopony else inside.

I was all alone.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about our fight.” I sighed, remembering the events of the previous day. We had gotten into a fight about whether or not we should settle down.

They must’ve got fed up, and left without me…” Feeling the tears streaming down my cheeks, I curled into a ball and sobbed to myself. An ember sparked on the carpet, and the flames quickly spread to the rest of the house. I sprang to my hooves. The room began to fill with smoke and the walls caught fire. My eyes stung from the heat. I tried the door, but it was locked. Through the window I could see the horrifying sight of Starlight Bay burning in the background. Feint screams and cries for help echoed from the town below. I noticed myself standing in the ashes of my dead brothers and sister that were scattered across the flooring. The voices were mostly unintelligible yet accusatory. Blaming me for not being able to save them.

“I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid.” I repeated to myself. The fires grew larger, as I desperately began to pound against the door. “Please somepony! Help me! True! Zap! Anyone!” I cried.

The fire raged throughout the house, threatening to consume me. With one strong buck, the bolt holding the door broke off, and I tumbled out of the burning beach house. Starlight Bay lay in flames, with a jet-black Raptor-Class battleship stationed overhead. The single Enclave officer stood before me, flanked by black-clad troopers standing at attention on either side. The Officer spoke to one of his subordinates, but I didn’t hear any of the words that came out. He approached slowly with purposeful steps, cold and methodical. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the cool air, and his face appeared shadowed by the inferno in the backdrop. As the Officer came closer, I watched as his features became more defined. He stood above me, his eyes reflecting the scene of our burning beach house. Despite the heat of the raging fires I shivered frozen in place, as his face finally came into view.

“Blegh…I’m not a morning pony.” I slowly stirred from my slumber as the morning sun struck my eyes and found myself back in the burnt out storefront. Sunshine peaked in from the cracks of the boarded up windows. I wiped away a tear from my eye, and sat up on the grubby old mattress. This wasn’t the first time having experienced that dream since that day. I thought that I’d already been able to accept what happened, and moved on from this after so long. The day hadn’t even started yet and I was already in a bad mood.

“No time for nagging feelings.” It was like Fair Trade said, although I hated to admit that he was right about anything. This wasn’t the time to get sentimental. I had to get back to tracking those Enclave ships... as soon as I figured out if I hadn’t just burned my last lead. Though the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had nothing. No raiders. No Enclave Weapons. No Pegasus. That mohawked bastard could be anywhere between here and halfway across the Wasteland by now! I cried aloud in frustration, grasping my head in my hooves.

Grumbling, I brought myself upright. Something felt wrong. I looked down at my shoulder. It was as if all sensation in it had gone completely dead. Punching the meat a few times, I frantically moved it around trying to get feeling back. Slowly, blood began circulating and it felt mostly normal again. That hitch was still there, but otherwise nothing else out of the ordinary. “Well that’s a bit concerning” I said, making a mental note of it. It would be best to get that checked out as well when I got to Junction Town. Sooner, if possible.

I flipped on Hotshot’s portable radio as I thought to myself. Daily Day was just reading off the same old reports from yesterday. Nothing new worth noting. Then it transitioned to prewar showtunes, so I shut it off promptly.

“Think, Roulette. Think!” I tapped my head impatiently, trying to jumpstart my brain into figuring out my next course of action. There wasn’t enough time to go on a vacation to the Smokey Mountains, although I wondered what the Enclave would be up to lurking around there. I had a contract waiting to be finished, and Radar was getting further away from me the longer I hesitated.

“Ugh! If only I had waited for backup!” I groaned, holding my face in my hooves. Then as I remembered those Enclave weapons, I steeled myself. “No, it’s not the time to start second guessing myself here. I’ve come this far.” The scene of rapid laserfire from those weapons was seared into my brain. It was my fault for hesitating, that all those innocent caravan ponies got killed. This was my fight.

“If I can’t find anything on that mohawk guy, then I’ll just have to try and find those raiders again.” I said, nodding to myself.

Imagining that my contact within the New Canterlot Army, Major Silver Spur, wasn’t expecting me for at least another day or two I came to my decision. “Two days,” I repeated to myself. If I didn’t find anything, I’d turn around and head to Junction Town like none of this ever happened. I exhaled “Might as well look around here for a bit to see if I can find any clues.”

“First thing’s first, let’s get some light in here,” I said, finding it too difficult to think in darkness. The boarded up windows of the general store made the interior dim, even with the morning sun shining through and light poking through holes in the shabby run-down walls. My brows furrowed when the portable light that Hotshot had been using didn’t flick back on again.

“Typical.” I muttered, flipping the switch back and forth a few times. The light was busted. So instead, I threw it across the room, hearing a loud crash in the corner. I made my way over to the window, and began to tear down some of the planks, tossing them in a pile near my hooves. Sun flooded into the room, which caused me to squint briefly as my eyes readjusted. I look around the scorched store front hoping to find anything I might’ve missed the first time. Nothing at a glance.

Turning over crates and pulling up floorboards, I was determined to search every corner of the place. There had to be something leftover here that’d tell me about the Enclave. At the very least some extra supplies and ammo. I huffed. That pegasus must have thought of this place specifically as a place he could hide out, but the why of it escaped me.

A sudden knocking against the door startled me. My heartbeat sped up, wondering who it could be. Thoughts raced through my mind, “Did Hotshot decide to come back? Was this Sting and his raiders?”. Good on them for making it easy on me. Acting on the instinct that I’d honed in the wasteland, I dove behind the counter and I propped my service rifle on top of it. Pressing it against my body, I leaned forward and kept my eyes trained on the front entrance. “Wait why was he knocking, though?” Oh well, no time for little details like that. I was ready for a fight regardless. The door creaked opened slowly, and I heard a mare’s voice call out from behind it.

“Hello? Is somepony in here?” A seafoam green earth pony mare wearing a dark silk jacket and boots, stepped into the doorway. She cast a long shadow standing there, but I could make out her features. A silky blonde mane, tied back into a ponytail which reflected the sunlight. The cute image of a smiling sunshine accompanied by a couple of musical notes adorned her flank. The mare didn’t appear to be a threat at first glance. She blinked and looked at me wide eyed for a moment, as I was aiming a gun at her. Lowering my rifle, I let out the tension that I’d built up in my shoulders.

“O-oh, sorry. I thought you were somepony else.” I admitted.

“Oh... “ The strange mare paused for a moment. “Well that’s okay. Comes with the it territory, right? I was just passing through, and thought I heard something coming from inside. So I thought I’d look... Um, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you.” I replied, rubbing the back of my mane. The mare’s cheery attitude caught me off guard. “Is it only you?”

“Yup. Only me.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know any pegasi with a big reddish mohawk, or maybe an effeminate looking raider stallion? Scrawny? Annoying voice? Punchable face?”

“Um, no. Why…?” she cocked her head. “No reason.” I replied.

“I wasn’t really expecting to find another mare though… I like your jacket?” she tried awkwardly.

“Thanks, I guess. Somepony special gave it to me.” I said, posing for myself as I admired the old thing. It had seen better days, that’s for sure. Noticing some dust, I brushed it off with a hoof. I noticed her staring at me too.

“Oh. Well, the name’s Sunny Hymn by the by, just in case you were wondering.” She chirped. Walking up to me with a smile, she extended her hoof. “Quite the ray of sunshine to wake up to.” I thought.

“Roulette.” I said tapping her hoof lightly. Then I returned myself to the task at hoof. She watched me from where she was standing with a curious look on her face.. “Roulette. That’s a pretty cool name, did your mom and dad give you that?” When I glowered at her she backed off quickly, “Oops, is that a touchy subject? Sorry.”

I rolled my eyes, “It’s fine.”

Anything that might’ve been worth taking had been scorched by the flames. Old hardware, paint cans, abraxo cleaner, wagon repair tools, any food left that wasn’t destroyed in the fires had long past its expiration date. I wasn’t past eating expired food, but I wasn’t in danger of starving to death and half-charred grub didn’t look particularly appetizing. My belly rumbled to remind me that it was breakfast, so I took out a protein bar from my saddlebags. I didn’t plan on staying too long, especially since I had already grabbed most of what I needed from Cotton’s caravan.

“Oh, well um. That’s cool. So what brings you out this way?” she leaned to one side, tapping the floor awkwardly.

I answered with my mouth half-full of oats flavored protein, but my attention mostly drawn elsewhere as I hoofed around the shop “Roughing it. I came out here looking for somepony. They got away, so now I’m going around town searching for clues. And if I don’t find anything, I’ll just go onto the next town.”

“Oh, that sounds interesting. So, are you like a Mercenary then? Bounty Hunter...?”

“Kinda...” I said. Then added, “I guess I’m with the New Canterlot Army. The Coalition, or something.”

“Oh. The New Canterlot Army? So does that mean you’re a soldier? That sounds amazing!” she wowed, trying to sound impressed. Mercenary was still accurate. My current job title was “Courier” actually, but I was too embarrassed to admit to that fact. Her cheery demeanor reminded me a little of Cotton’s chipper attitude, though she had something of a wasteland weariness about her that this pony lacked. This mare was a lot more, Sunny.

“Sort of. I’m on contract. It’s complicated” I admitted, rolling my eyes a little. I stayed focused on my task at hoof, giving half thought out responses.

“Your uniform looks a bit unique.” She said pointing over to my recently procured raider armor sitting in the corner. “Are you like a super secret agent for Gawdyna?”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” I asked.

“No...? Don’t you?” She seemed to ask that earnestly. If not she was very good at hiding her sarcasm. As I made my way around the store Sunny stood in place, watching me during all of it curiously. I double checked the shelves hoping maybe I had missed something. Disappointedly, nothing. Also not too surprising. There hadn’t been a whole lot to scavenge as of late.

“So Rou? Is this official New Canterlot business? Oh, I’ll bet it’s a secret!”

I rolled my eyes, but answered anyways. “There were some raiders I was looking for as well. I’m going to go after them next. After that, I’m headed to Junction Town to enlist.”

“You’re trying to join up then?” her ears perked up, “Actually, I was just on my way to Junction Town myself...” I ignored her mostly, kicking the mattress aside only to find an old safe hidden underneath. I grinned, thinking I had hit the jackpot. As excitedly attempted to open it, I was disappointed to find that it was unlocked and had already been raided of all its contents. Scowling, I quickly grew irritated. She pointed to a small area behind the register leading to a locked backroom. “What about that place? Oops! Sorry, am I supposed to be quiet still?”

“You’re fine” I said, waving my hoof dismissively.

I walked over towards the door and tried to open it. Still locked, even after all this time. It was probably the only place in the whole town that hadn’t been combed over a million times by scavengers. Sunny trotted next to me as I contemplated the best way to unlock it. The seafoam mare fished a bobby pin out of her ponytail, and leaned into me.

“Hey, I can unlock that for you.” she started to say, but was interrupted mid-sentence as my rear hooves slammed against the door. I repeated this several times until it came off its hinges. Pushing the door aside, it fell to the floor stirring dust into the air. I smirked with pride and stepped into the small backroom. Sunny put her bobby pin away, “Oookay, nevermind.”

Sunny poked her head inside after me, and her face sunk with a grim expression. It was the first time I saw her looking anything close to sad. A single unicorn mare’s corpse, still fully clothed in tattered wasteland garb over an unnumbered stable jumpsuit. There was a rudimentary lab that had been set up in here recently before the fire, and a lot of it seemed to have been spared. Very little in the way of supplies though. A computer terminal sat on the desk hooked up to a cumbersome looking portable spark generator, used for recharging spark batteries. Miraculously, it looked like it still worked.

There was a revolver still clutched in her hooves, and a circular hole through her head. Not the ideal place, but good enough to get the job done. I grimaced at the sight. Another reminder of the sort of thing you’d find all too often in the wasteland. Many bits and pieces of the past remained untouched until somepony like me stumbled onto them. I had to remind myself that this wasn’t the same wasteland as back then. Although I was unable to place it, there was something off about this room. There was an uneasy feeling in my gut about it.

“Another day, another dead Stable Dweller.” I sighed. It was almost sad that she never lived to see Sunshine and Rainbows. Some of us aren’t so lucky.

Beside her was an ash coated personal diary and an old pipbuck. A 3000 series model, only more advanced. It looked to be in good condition but the screen display was bio-locked. Without the proper technician’s key, the valuable piece of old world tech was about as valuable as a fancy paper weight so long as the magical lockout was in effect. Unless you were the dead pony in question or knew somepony yourself who could unlock the device, at best maybe you could find a middlepony to find you a technician willing to hire out their services. Even then there was no guarantee. The service charges often made it barely worth the effort.

Yanking the pipbuck off her corpse, I shoved the old prewar device into my saddlebag. Lucky for me, she had already removed it from her hoof so I didn’t have to dislocate her shoulder in the process. If I could get it decoded there would probably be more useful information on it. Possibly valuable information about the Enclave. “Or maybe Fair Trade will give me a decent finder’s fee.” I mused, albeit unlikely.

“You’re not going to read it?” she asked.

I turned to her and replied, firmly rejecting the idea, “What’s the use in reading a dead wasteland pony’s diary? I’ll just get all sad and mopey.”

Sunny looked looked somewhat dejected by my answer.“-But, wouldn’t it be respectful to at least hear her final thoughts?” She asked. I scoffed.

“Maybe if you’re nosey into other ponies’ business. She’s already gotten more attention than most suicide cases in the wasteland. It’s sad. Tough. That’s the reality of it. If you don’t keep moving, the Wasteland will leave you behind. So what are the chances of me finding meaning in some old words? I’ve had enough of feelings for one day, thanks.” I picked it up and passed over to Sunny. Finding myself echoing Fair Trade again, only served to sour my mood further.

Sunny rubbed her eyes, then pointed her hoof at the old computer terminal and smiled as if nothing had happened. “Ya never know! Say, I hear computer terminals often have interesting things written on them! There could be valuable information on it, that might be of value to the New Canterlot Army!”.

“I guess.” I said, sitting down in front of the terminal. An advertisement clipping for entry into a local stable was pinned to the corner of the screen. Upon flipping the power switch, the terminal hummed to life. Maybe this pony was the one who hooked up this old terminal. I was still unsure how all this survived the fire though. The screen was too dusty to read anything, so I blew on it. This only served to create a huge choking dust cloud which I gagged on.

As the computer lit up the room, I found myself staring at a dark login screen. Sighing to myself, I stroked the enter key and that brought up a display of numbers and ledgers. There were a few logged entries written on it as well. Sunny peaked over my shoulder as I went through the terminal.

“Ugh...” I groaned, already able to tell that this was going to be a waste of time. Sunny urged me to keep reading. Already bored out of my mind, I struck another key and began reading the next entry. As I skimmed over most of the logs stored on the terminal, I learned a little bit about the town. Though most of it was of little interest.

The logged entries were detailing events that took place during the Great War, written out by the most boring pony imaginable. Most were in regards to a mining company causing problems for the townsfolk. They weren’t hiring out local labor, and workers from the mine were hanging around causing break-ins, harassing the locals. Remembering that somewhere south of here was the Ghastly Gorge, I guessed maybe that was what they were referring to. The store owner mentioned in a log that he was considering giving his spot in the Stable to the daughter of some mare he knew in town.

“All of these ponies are long dead.” I thought.

One of the entries was a personal reminder not to get too worked up over the little things. He noted that if you want to believe something is there for long enough, you might start looking for things when there’s nothing there out of the ordinary. In reality it’s just been your imagination the whole time. No need to make a mountain out of a molehill. I scowled, feeling a tinge of irritation as if a two hundred year old dead pony was calling me crazy. “What’s a molehill? I thought it was molerat.” I asked, somewhat confused by the prewar terminology.

The only thing on the terminal that piqued my interest, was a large number of logs that had been created and deleted in the last year. After that there was nothing. The whole thing made me raise an eyebrow. I became curious as I looked back at the dead stable unicorn. A sudden thought struck my mind, and I turned to Sunny. “Hey would you pass me that diary?”

“But I thought you didn’t want to read it?” she cocked her head to the side.

“I need to check something.” I insisted.

She passed the diary to me, and I flipped to the last page.

Never in one million years did I think I’d be forced to venture forth into Equestria’s hellscape on my own. I was always the quiet, inquisitive one who buried herself in the Pre-Equestrian Sciences and History. I’ve listened to chatter over the radio, even against the wishes of Overmare Opus. Having gone through various recordings I’ve been forced to the only logical conclusion: The political situation above the clouds appears to be breaking down.

There’s only so much I can fit into one diary entry. So, Equestria is a land built upon a system of prime virtues. Without going too deep into Harmony Theory, if those virtues are lacking the system will fall apart. The Inventors knew this, and the founder must have possessed at least cursory knowledge on the topic. This is one of the theories behind the Monarchy, and there are numerous political science essays on the topic…

“Old news.” I groaned dismissively, and passed the diary back to her. I learned that the stable dweller’s name was Dusty Diary, and that was about it. Her final entry was filled with scientific concepts and theories that flew straight over my head. The odd mathematical equation and runic symbol were mixed in on top of the normal sentence structure. They might have made more sense to a scientifically minded pony like Radar but were completely lost on me.

Deciding in my head that the mostly likely reason, was that the Enclave had been after this Stable Dweller for whatever reason and went full scorched-earth on the town. It was like had been done at Starlight Bay. I felt my blood boiling, just thinking about it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t begin imagine what might’ve possessed him to come here of all places. If I had been involved in something like this, I would have avoided this place like the taint. With that, it was time to move on.

I stood up, and switched off the old desk terminal.

“Is everything alright?” She asked, curious.

“Enough fooling around.” I said. Centuries old terminals and diaries weren’t giving me much to go off of. As I hoofed my way past her back into the front area of the story, I granted one last look at the dead stable unicorn. Sunny poked her head out of the backroom to watch me strap on my raider armor. After gathering up my remaining things, I picked up my rifle and made my way outside.

I stood in the middle of town as I wondered to myself where I should head to next. As I glanced around the burned out buildings looking for any sort of scrap that survived, it looked as though everything had been razed to the ground. I shifted some of the charred timbers and debris aside, not exactly sure what I was supposed to be looking for. The mare followed me out shortly.

“Maybe if I could just get a better look around.” I thought, “That would be the best move.” Although it was hard to get a good view of things from where I was standing. Searching the area for any sort of high ground, my gaze quickly fell upon what seemed to be a scenic overlook of the Canterlot Valley. Its height stood dominating the small town of Sunvale, and was only a short trot from where I was.

While I remained busy thinking about my next action she tried to get her own word in. “Excuse me?” She gave me a weird look as if she was trying to hold in a laugh. “What the heck are you wearing?” the pony snickered, pointing to my raider gear.

“What about it?” I questioned looking down at myself.

“What’s with the shoulder pads?” she stifled to hold in a laugh. It’s true that I got it off a dead raider, but it wasn’t too far off from normal wasteland gear!

“It’s for protection.” I said. She didn’t seem to buy it though. The sunny mare snickered, “You’re not going to stop any bullets in that. It’s more likely you get shot by ponies who think you’re a raider.”

“Hey, I think I’ve been doing this long enough to know how this works!” I protested. Although she wasn’t wrong, all it was good for was stopping low grade rounds and close quarters combat. It did look a bit mean with the pony skull marking on dark leather hoofball pads, but I was going for the rough mercenary look. Pouting my lips, I was a little upset by the fact that I didn’t look as cool as I thought I did.

“Suit yourself.” Then her eyes lit up and she darted inside the general store. “Hang on, I have an idea! I’ll be right back!” she shouted. I waited impatiently tapping my hoof as I heard rummaging from inside the store. When she returned she had a can of yellow paint and a brush in her mouth. The paint was long dried out, but nothing a little spit wouldn’t fix. She dipped and swiped the paintbrush across both of my shoulders, then blew on the paint so it would dry faster.

I took a moment admiring her handiwork.

It was done up to look exactly like the double chevron designs on my Special Jacket. I had to give her points for coolness. The little added detail definitely made it feel more military-esque than raider. She smiled nervously. “Hope you like it. I painted it to look like the designs on your jacket. It’s easy to see how much you like that thing, judging by how old and worn it looks..”

“Thanks. You didn’t have to do that.” I said turning away from her, embarrassed by the gesture. Unsure of what else to say, I rubbed the back of my mane. The wasteland prepared you for a lot of things, but random acts of kindness from strangers wasn’t one of them. Everything’s been so confusing since the Lightbringer. She seemed to take my look as approval.

“Hymn, was it?” I asked.

“Sunny!” She answered happily.

I inhaled and exhaled deeply, only able to imagine how crazy I was about to sound. “This is going to sound crazy but… did you happen to notice any Enclave vertibucks flying over the Smokey Mountains yesterday? They would’ve been obscured by the haze a bit, flying low to not be spotted.”

The mare gave me a strange look. After a brief pause she snorted, and laughed boisterously, “E-Enclave ships?! I mean- like that’s ridiculous! Who’s even heard of Enclave ships all the way out here? They were like defeated or something, right? What even is an ‘Enclave’ anyways? Have you ever wondered who decided to call something an ‘Enclave’? Pretty silly if you ask me!”

I raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, I thought so.” She was a bit eccentric, but she was right. I was the only pony so far that I knew of who had seen anything. Turning away to think to myself for a moment, the fact that nopony else had seen anything was starting to get on my nerves.

“Say Roulette, I’ve got a question for you. I think we’d make a pretty good team! So, I’ve been thinking. We’re both headed to Junction Town, right? They say two heads are better than one. It could be fun! Two mares together on the road... alone."

When I turned back to her, she was standing there smiling.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Trying to be useful and not get in your way.” she answered.

Her response forced me to raise an eyebrow,

“Right.” I said, as I began to walk away from her. She called out after me, pointing in the opposite direction. I didn’t respond. Instead I just kept walking towards the scenic overlook. “-Wait! Where are you going? Junction Town is that way!”

I kept on walking.

In my head I thought that the longer I spent here, the further away the Enclave was getting from me. Those ships were there, I knew it. I could feel it in my gut. Somepony besides me had to have seen them! Thinking that if I could get to that height, I’d be able to find some sort of clue of the ships I’d seen yesterday, I started down the road. “If not maybe the exercise will do me some good. Some reassurance that I’m not losing my mind, would also be nice.” I thought.

As I walked towards the edge of town, I brushed aside the mystery of why the Enclave would’ve attacked such a small town like this behind me. Any reason Hotshot might’ve had, didn’t have anything to do with those ships I saw yesterday. I had everything I needed in my saddlebags. It was just like at Starlight Bay, they attacked towns and wasteland ponies indiscriminately. That was the point of Operation Cauterize: “To cut out the festering wound that was the Wasteland below.” They were irredeemable monsters.

The mare cocked her head sideways, and began to follow.

“Um, excuse me? Roulette? There was a question I wanted to ask you!”

I turned to face her for a moment before continuing on my way, “Head back down that road, to the Outpost 52. I came from that way so it should be clear. If you can’t get an escort to Junction Town, ask for Fair Trade. Tell him I sent you.” I said. I’d probably regret letting Fair Trade know I was out here skimming my contract, but it was better than letting this weird pony come along with me and put herself at risk.

Roads here were less traveled than the ones back in Gawdyna’s territory, so they remained in better condition. Wagons were left in the middle of the road, although some were pushed off to the side. It seemed most ponies didn’t travel this way. Hopping over some rocks and debris in my way, I continued along the road at a trot towards the overlook. It was a mostly clear morning, despite the dead landscape. I looked back to see that the mare didn’t heed my advice. She continued to follow me, struggling to climb over the terrain I had just traversed easily. This mare was beginning to annoy me.

“Don’t follow me. It’s dangerous out here.” trying to sound official, I urged her to head back towards the Outpost 52. She ignored me, and continued to follow anyways. Seems I had a tagalong. I groaned, and kept on walking.

This mare seemed like she possessed at least cursory knowledge of the wasteland, but her whole attitude was off. I didn’t press it because I was too focused on my current task, but she had definitely raised my suspicions. “Obvious attempts at friendship, much? What the heck is this mare doing out here?” I found myself asking. Though thinking about it just frustrated me further.

“Y-you’re trying to join up with the New Canterlot army right?-” Sunny spoke as she scrambled after me. “Wouldn’t it be your job to help escort refugees, and protect ponies in that case? I sure could use some protection from a strong mare like you.”

“No offense, but you don’t really look like you can handle yourself.” I said.

“Don’t worry! You won’t even know I’m here!” She reassured. Although her attempts at doing so mostly fell flat. I stopped at the bottom of the hill and looked up. There were higher priorities on my mind at the moment.

“Whatever you say.” I sighed. The overlook was situated atop a hillside, part of which had collapsed due to heavy rains over time. The road continued into a tunnel leading through the hills, but split off onto a seperate pathway that led up to the top. Busted wagons were piled into the tunnel entrance to block off further travel unless you used the maintenance route. It seemed like the type of thing raiders would set up. The extra pathway normally leading up to the overlook was broken down in several sections, making the climb even more dangerous. I’d be able to see everything. If I was lucky, I’d even be able to find some clues about those ships I saw yesterday.

Sunny stopped next to me, huffing to catch her breath. “Where are we going?” she asked. Her questions were starting to get on my nerves. I grit my teeth, like I had something to prove.

“Stop following me.” I said again, getting slightly irritated.

“What’s up there?”

“I’m hunting the Enclave.”

“Enclave? Something tells me they’re not hiding at the top of that hill.”

I ignored her commentary. Not seeing a path up to it, I took the only shortcut. With a burst of speed I ran up the steep incline slowing towards the top, and grabbed onto the guardrail.

A small picnic setup had been left behind, littered with tin cans and empty junkfood boxes. Beside me was a sign that read “scenic overlook”, with what was left of the rusted guard rail. The footing seemed like it might come loose if presented with too much weight, so I stepped carefully. I climbed over the railing and turned to look across the grand Canterlot Valley and for a moment I simply stared in awe.

“I have to give you props for this Lightbringer.” I smiled. As I thought, I was able to get an excellent view of things from up here. A light breeze could be felt from this height, brushing against my coat. Somehow though, it was even more inspiring and I took that extra time to myself to appreciate grand vista. I let out a breath slowly, remembering all the places Of all the places I’d visited with my family, none were as beautiful as this. I bet they would’ve loved this.

Directly below, I could see the town of Sunvale where I’d just come from. A charred blot on the surrounding landscape. Beyond that, there was the 52 Outpost, and the nearby Canterlot Ruins. The recently resettled town of Ponyville nestled deep in the valley, lay on the edge of the half-burned remains of the Everfree Forest. Along with several small towns and villages that dotted its borders, and parts of the area were in the process of being converted into farmland. It looked as though society was finally beginning to rebuild itself, after two hundred years.

Sunny attempted to follow, sliding down the hill several times before she finally managed to reach me. “Why the big hurry? Are you looking for something up here?” She looked exhausted after trying to climb up several times. I raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t take no for an answer, do you?” I asked.

“Nope!” she chirped.

“Listen to me, this isn’t a joke! I can’t waste my time protecting you.”

“Jeez, I can take a hint. I’ll be fine, calm down.”

“I am calm!” I shouted.

I climbed up onto the guard railing, using the sign as support to get a better look. The Smokey Mountains were slightly obscured by another range at this angle, but I could still make out the permanent haze lurking behind it. Whatever was causing that, there was that same off feeling I had. I squinted at the mountains suspiciously but saw no signs of the ships from yesterday. So I continued, looking for any irregularities along the skyline. There was another weather front I could see forming on the far horizon.

A wing of griffons circled in the distance. I had to squint to make them out, so I couldn’t tell if they could spot me from here, though I’d been told their eyesight was supposed to be impressive. They’d probably find ashes and some of the weapons I’d left behind, but the modified stealthbuck I’d recovered from the site was tucked safely away in my bag.

No signs of Enclave.

A lumbering pegasus cloud city sat in the skies not far above Junction Town and New Canterlot in the far off distance, surrounding a monumental white spire. It was barely visible from here, also the only one in the skies at the moment. I already knew that one wasn’t Enclave anymore.

Nothing.

My eyes fell upon a downed Thunderhead Warship in the middle of the burned Everfree Forest, leftover from the Enclave Wars. A stark reminder of the Enclave’s terrible power during the wars. Although ponies seemed to be living in it now. It appeared to have been repurposed into some sort of weird Cathedral, and had some structures built up around it. “Maybe it would be worth checking out that place later.” I thought.

Still nothing.

Another small out of the way settlement that I hadn’t seen before, was hidden in a thicket of a forest that I was having trouble remembering the name of. I would’ve missed it if I wasn’t looking closely. The town must have been set up recently, It was on the far side not connected to any major trade routes, so it was unlikely they were seeing much trade. “Weird.”

No signs of Enclave anywhere.

I growled. It was much easier to see from here, but my new vantage point was offering me little in the way of clues. I was beginning to grow visibly irritated. This whole adventure felt like it had left me with less than when I started. My anger building, I stamped my hoof in frustration causing the guard railing to shift. Both of us latched onto it for support. Checking again, it seemed otherwise stable. I let out a sigh of relief.

“Are you alright?” Sunny cocked her head sideways.

“I’m not crazy! I saw Enclave ships!” I shouted. She waved her hoof trying to calm me down.

“Jeez, alright. I believe you.” She huffed. “Why do you care so much, anyways?”

“I hate the Enclave” I said. She gave me a perplexed look.

“But I thought you were searching for raiders?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes, “I’m looking for raiders because they were using Enclave weapons. Where there are Enclave weapons, there are bound to be Enclave ships. If there are Enclave ships, then I have to warn somepony.”

“Not trying to sound judgy, but you seem a little bit obsessive.” She puffed. I exhaled a single slow breath through my clenched jaw, I felt my blood simmering. The pony turned to me and asked again, this time with a hint of concern in her voice, “Roulette, is everything okay?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I mumbled, turning away.

Instead I turned my attention back to looking for any irregularities along the skyline. I was almost ready to give up hope, when I spotted something roughly to the South East beyond the valley. A patch of trees that looked oddly askew, broken and parted sideways in an irregular fashion. It was difficult to see from all the way back here, but I had to trust my gut instinct on this one. I slid down the incline and broke off into a gallop. “I think I’ve found something!”

“Wait! Don’t run off again! She shouted after me, scurrying to follow. I galloped as fast as my hooves could carry me. Faster. Faster! Desperately pushing myself as hard as I could, to prove to myself that I wasn’t just seeing things. I didn’t care if it caused my legs to fall off. I kept running until I arrived at the place I had barely caught a glimpse of from the overlook.

I paused to look at the scene, feeling an emptiness in my stomach.

My eyes followed along the skid mark raking across the ground to the end, where the wreckage of a single Enclave Vertibuck rested. There was a slight pain in my shoulder, but i ignored it. The ship had been battered and buried by the elements, with the pilot still inside. What lay before my hooves was the black armored X-01 helmet of a dead Enclave soldier. I knew it all too well. Looking down at the helmet, I bent over and picked it up between my hooves.

As I stared into it, something ticked in me seeing the reflection of my dead family in the yellow reflective visor. The helmet stared back at me, and I could see every atrocity that they had committed onto me and my family. A glint reflected across its eyes, which broke me from my stupor. All I saw there, was a reflection of myself. My anger began to boil up inside me, and I felt my teeth grinding together.

With one hoof I reared up and smashed the helmet against a rock so hard that it hurt my hoof. Hearing a loud a crack, the helmet’s lightweight poly-alloy material gave way. I stomped on it again, and then several more times until it was left crumpled with a gaping indentation. The visor was cracked and deformed. I exhaled.

When I turned around, I saw Sunny standing there giving me a nervous look. There was worry in her bright blue eyes, shrinking back almost like she was afraid. I wondered how much of that she saw? It was difficult to describe how I felt about her look at that moment. The seafoam green mare appeared to be struggling to come up with the right words. She finally managed to get something out. “R-Roulette... are you okay…? Is this the ship you were talking about?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I answered, trying to ease her worries.

The seafoam mare turned to me, with genuine concern in her voice. “Roulette? Why are you so touchy about the Enclave?” she asked.

“I said I don’t want to talk about it!” I snarled. She shrunk back in fear as if I was about to strike her and a sense of guilt washed over me. I winced, feeling immediate regret at what I’d just done. “I-I’m sorry…” I said.

“I-it’s okay, really.” she said, seeming to accept my apology. Though when I walked up to her she flinched backwards. The damage was done already. It was an awful yet familiar feeling. “W-well, hey at least you found something! Right? Congratulations! You’re not crazy!” Sunny offered a meek consolation prize. She still looked shaken. I averted my gaze from her, feeling too ashamed to look her in the eyes. I had let my anger get the better of me.

“No.” I shook my head and spoke softly, “This one’s been battered by the elements for at least a few months. The ships I saw were flying through the haze of the Smokey Mountains just yesterday. It’s okay, I’m calm now.”

“You’re slightly less crazy...?” she shrugged sheepishly. I frowned, turning back to look at the downed Enclave vessel. It felt like I’d been led here for a reason.

I turned my attention back to the Vertibuck. The cockpit had come unlatched during the crash, but I still had to lift it to get it the rest of the way open. Then I crawled inside. Its pilot and interior were well preserved enough, though I showed little respect for the dead Enclaver as I climbed over him. The control dials were all cracked and useless, but otherwise much of the console appeared mostly intact. Taking a glance back at Sunny, I saw how she just watched me too nervous to say anything.

My eyes laid back upon an orange device hidden underneath the control panels and I tugged it loose. It was the ironically named “black box” that recorded all flight information for the Vertibuck. I climbed out of the vertibuck and sat down on one of its metal wings, examining the piece of machinery. A warning label read: “Do Not Open under penalty of Enclave Arrest”. I almost burst out laughing as I pried open the crash proof shell, “Sure, whatever you say Chief.”

The machine’s innards contained several doodads for recording various timestamped logs for altitude, engine performance, and a single audio playback device. A blinking red light flashed on and off, indicating that there was some sort of audio stored on the device. I pressed the play button, and static-ridden audio began to play from the device. Whirring engines, and the sound of turbulent weather battered the outside of the vertibuck. The voice of the pilot came in over the speaker.

"HQ, this is Vertibuck eight-niner-two, en route to Thunder Rock. Bearing five-eight-two-four, four hundred knots. Precious cargo on-board. Respond, HQ.... HQ, Vertibuck eight-niner-two. I say again, carrying Precious Cargo…” , The pilot’s voice carried an air of desperation in it, that I found some mild satisfaction in.

“This is Lieutenant Fly Steady of the Grand Pegasus Enclave. HQ do you copy? I don’t know who the fuck is in charge right now. This distress signal is going out over the Enclave’s hidden backup network. Probably against regs, but fuck it. Any acting Enclave personnel listening on this channel, please respond! I’m carrying highly classified materials in the cargo bay of my Vertibuck. Per Contingency Protocols all assets of interest are to be transported to a backup storage location. I’m attempting to remain out of sight. Flying low, in stealth mode. The payload is to stay out of the hooves of traitors, and surfacers at all costs!”

The pilot let out an exasperated grunt and repeated the broadcast. "HQ, this is Vertibuck eight-niner-two, en route to Thunder Rock! Bearing five-eight-two-four, four hundred knots! Precious cargo on-board! Respond, HQ!"

"HQ, Vertibuck eight-niner-two-" A loud boom was picked up by the recording as one of the engines blew out. Sounds from the recording picked up screaming metal engine parts scraping against the outer hull, and fuel igniting as it began to make its way inside. "Shit- Mayday, mayday! Any Enclave Callsign this is Vertibuck eight-niner-two, hit, cannot maintain altitude. Secure cargo at all costs! Crash co-ordinates four-six-niner eight-six-"

There was a clamorous roar of twisted metal digging into earth, and that was the end of the recording. I observed how it was likely shot down by something as it was flying over this region. That seemed to be the case looking over the damage to one of the wings, although it was hard to know for sure judging by the wreckage. A fitting end. “Good riddance to dead Enclavers.” I spat.

“Thunder Rock? Hidden Backup Network?” I couldn’t remember ever hearing about anything like that. “Maybe New Canterlot would want to know about it?” I stuffed the innards of the the black box into my saddlebags along with the pipbuck. All the extra weight shifted around in my saddlebags. The only thing I could hope for was that maybe I could take it to somepony who knew how to decode the information. “That’ll probably do for a start.” I thought.

The cargo bay was half buried, so I got to work digging. Putting my earth pony hooves to work, I pushed the dirt aside effortlessly as I attempted to uncover the cargo bay. Sunny seemed to hang back, too nervous to do anything. I felt like I was in my element moving all this earth around, until finally I managed to dig enough to open the cargo bay. It took a bit of force, but the metal doors opened after a few tries. Now I could see what he was carrying.

“Wait. This can’t be right.” I said. The space was dark and cramped. Mangled by the crash, but mostly intact. Checking thrice to ensure that I hadn’t missed something, all but confirmed it. I had expected to find some sort of weapon or at least something more interesting inside the cargo bay. More than a single tiny metal box. I slid on my belly towards the container, grabbed it, and backed out slowly.

Setting the steel box on ground between the two of us, we both were silently wondering what was inside. It appeared to be marked with a familiar looking insignia of a rainbow lightning bolt imposed onto a patch of clouds etched into the steel. The lock had come completely undone in the crash, making things much easier. Though, the exact memory of where I’d seen such a symbol escaped me for the moment.

We both exchanged glances. Thoughts raced through my head with possibility, wondering what could be so important. I gulped. The anticipation was killing me, so I opened it. Inside was a tiny orb, small enough to fit in my hoof. That was it. The contents of the box forced me to raise an eyebrow. “I think it’s a memory orb. But you need a memory recollector to view them. Got one?”

I turned to Sunny and she shook her head.

As I sat there and pondered what pony’s memory could be so valuable to the Enclave, I felt a sudden jolt up my spine. I was getting a feeling that there was somepony stalking us from just out of sight. SPP Towers lurked in the distance, and we stood with open wasteland surrounding us. The two of us had strayed far from the road. We were smack dab in the middle of raider country. I called out, “Hey?! Is anypony there?!”

No reply.

“Don’t mess with me!” I barked, only growing more irate when there was no answer.

Sunny looked around nervously as I pulled back on the charging handle of my service rifle, raising it against the rocky terrain. “I-Is something wrong?” she asked, and looked around confused. I stayed silent, continuing to point my weapon at a nearby rocky outcropping. My breath fell short.

My ears perked up at the sounds of approaching hoofsteps, and I watched a group of three wasteland ponies step out from their hiding place. They were dressed in raider gear with Jagged’s mark on them, all marked up with scars and decked out with Enclave weapons. Sunny darted behind the wreckage of the downed bird. I remained mostly calm.

“Looks like we finally managed to catch up with you.” said the one in charge of the small group. A brown earth pony with a dark mane and facial hair, with bright yellow eyes that shined like a serpent’s. His speech carried a San Palominoan accent. “You’re quite the runner Chica; saw you galloping down that ridge like a maniac.”

“Have we met?” I asked. “It’s morning and I’m already having a bad day.”

“You’re the one who should know me. I can see you’re wearing the Boss’ colors.” the raider replied, gesturing towards the pony skull-marking matched with a knife that was etched onto my armor. He wore Jagged’s mark as well, but this group wasn’t among the raiders I’d dealt with yesterday. It seemed like they didn’t recognize me, so I was safe for now. At least as far as I’d be able to pass myself off as a member of his gang. “Great,” I thought, “Maybe I can get some information out of them.”

“Oh, right. I didn’t recognize you...” I lied, doing my best to bluff my way through the conversation. I puffed my chest out and put on a slightly deeper, gruffer sounding voice.

“Angel Eyes.” he said.

“Um, yeah... The boss gave me a special assignment, you just don’t know about it because your normal run-of-the-mill raider operations are way beneath me. I’ve been tracking the movements of New Canterlot types in the area. Real black-ops tier stuff. I was just about finished scouting when you lot showed up.”

“That’s, interesting... I’ve never seen you before.” The raider squinted.

I scoffed. “I wouldn’t be a very good agent otherwise. Ask your boss if you don’t believe me. New Canterlot Forces have been way more active out here since the latest run of caravan attacks.”

“I haven’t seen any New Canterlot patrols around here...” he looked around and back to me.

Doubling down on my story, I shot blindly and hoped for the best. “Shows what you know. You should be more careful about hitting caravans. That last job you boys pulled was a mess. All of you are lucky that this whole area isn’t swarming with troopers by now.”

They exchanged glances, looking confused amongst themselves. Feeling a bit cocky I tried to push my luck a little, aiming for whatever answers I could get out of the raiders. “So tell me some things, there were a couple of details about the plan that the boss didn’t fill me in on.”

“Alright Miss Agent. First tell me who is that little mare hiding behind the vertibuck?” he asked. Sunny eeped and ducked behind the wreck.

“She’s not with me.” I answered, hearing the faintest whine from behind the downed bird.

“Excellente.” The raider smiled. “ Cute mares like her fetch a hefty price on the coyote market.” His response and the way he said it irritated me a lot more than it should have. I needed to keep my emotions under control. He could probably tell he was pissing me off, either that or he was just really good at reading ponies, and so he added, “Maybe after we all have a bit of fun with her first, of course.”

“Actually, you know what? I changed my mind. She is with me, so step off, molerat breath.” I stated firmly, digging my hooves into the dirt. Something about that line in particular made me lose interest in the conversation.

Angel Eyes grinned and laughed to himself. “Second, if you were really working with the boss, then you should know that he only tells you what he wants you to know. So your story is obvious bullshit. Y’know, we were originally told to be on the lookout for a certain pegasus. Oddly enough, he also told us there was a mare we were supposed to kill if she came out here. I reckon that’d be you. You match the description and general attitude.”

“That pegasus in question wouldn’t happen to be very slippery and have an orange mohawk, would he?” I asked. He didn’t answer, simply responding by chuckling to himself. I was beginning to find it slightly annoying. Now I had a general idea of why Hotshot might’ve been in such a hurry the day before. I still planned on getting some proper answers next time I caught up with him.

“Tell me about where you got your Enclave weapons. Those modifications aren’t standard issue.” I growled.

“Quite demanding, aren’t you? You made a mistake coming here, Muchachita.”

“Just tell me what I want know and this doesn’t have to get ugly.”

“A real firecracker, too. I heard how you gave Sting some impromptu facial reconstructive surgery! Beat down five guys with your bare hooves! I laughed my ass off when I heard about it. Lucky for you though, I hate that smug piece of shit. So don’t think I’m doing that asshole any favors by killing you.” he chuckled and grinned, showing off his misshapen teeth.

“You’re too kind.” I quipped sarcastically. Then bringing up my rifle, I barked. “Didn’t you hear? This isn’t a wasteland anymore! I’ll have you know I’m working on behalf of the New Canterlot Army!”

“You hear that boys?” they laughed amongst themselves. “Gawdyna isn’t here to protect you out here. This is Raider Country. None of her fancy mandates apply.”

I visibly scoffed. “I don’t need protection to deal with you, molerat breath.”

“You should’ve walked away when you had the chance.” He said, and their rifles powered up with a hum of energy. I quickly realized that they weren’t going to give me any useful information. Aiming back at them with my rifle, that familiar sound of crackling energy put me on edge, but I didn’t flinch once.

“You really want to do this? I’m ready for it.” I declared. There was a fiery ember burning inside me that was about ready to burst, because I wasn’t afraid this time. In fact, I was itching for a fight. We stood for a short while in a standoff, although, It felt much longer than either of us cared to admit. Staring down the barrel of an energy rifle really tests a pony’s nerves.

Angel and the others didn’t look so eager to throw their lives away either. I could see them hesitating, as a bead of sweat dripped down one of their necks. I hovered over the trigger of my service rifle. Their gem focus crystals heated with energy. I’d take all of them down before they got so much as a shot off. I held my breath waiting for the moment, but it never came. Angel blinked first. He powered down his rifle, and his buddies did the same. Lowering their weapons, he scoffed and turned his head away. “You’re not worth it.” he said, “The boss already has plans for you. I’ll let you squirm for a bit. Maybe some others will get a lucky shot off. That, or that foolhardy confidence will get you killed eventually.”

“Angel Eyes,” One of his friends looked to him nervously, “You sure? But the boss said-”

“Fuck the boss! He isn’t here right now...”

“Leaving so soon?” I asked in a mocking tone as they turned away.

“Don’t be in such a rush to die niña. You’ll get yours in time.” he replied. After they were out of sight and out of earshot I let out a deep sigh of relief. I took note of the what I had learned through our conversation, but still wasn’t anywhere to close to the information I needed.

Sunny crawled out from behind the Vertibuck. She hopped next to me with a look of genuine excitement and admiration.

“That was amazing, Rou!” she wowed. “Can I call you Rou?” It was strange that she could remain so cheery after that. I blushed a little, turning away so she wouldn’t see but I think she caught me anyways. Although I also felt deeply ashamed just underneath the surface at how I’d been treating this pony who was only trying to help.

I felt too guilty to look her in the eyes but I spoke loud enough so she could hear. “Listen Sunny, I was on my way to Junction Town when the caravan I was travelling with was attacked by raiders. They were using Enclave weapons. Right at that moment, I saw Enclave ships flying over the horizon. Nopony besides me seems to have seen anything. Everypony I’ve asked so far has either dismissed the idea completely or thought I was crazy. But I know I saw something! I won’t allow other ponies to be hurt by those weapons again!”

“I know it’s none of my business, but why do you care so much? Isn’t it like, the Lightbringer’s job to deal with this sort of thing?” She asked, but preemptively waved her hooves to try and calm me, “Oh, sorry… touchy subject again?”

“The Enclave took everything from me...”

“Oh...” The mare didn’t know what to say at first. Her face was wracked with a pained look in her blue eyes. As she regained some semblance of her speech, all she managed to say was, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I said. “The radio says that they still don’t know anything about what’s causing the caravan attacks, so it’s all up to me.”

“You said you were looking for a Pegasus with a mohawk, right?” she asked.

I nodded, “Hotshot. He knew about the attack somehow. I tracked him out here trying to get him to answer my questions, but he got away in the end.”

“Why didn’t you just report all this to New Canterlot? This is more their business, right?” she asked, “I’m sure the Stable Dweller would’ve done something about it.”

“I just felt a sudden urge to rush out here. I couldn’t stomach the thought of doing nothing. Besides, I’ve known too many ponies who were killed by those weapons.” I answered. She was right, waiting for backup would’ve been smarter but it wasn’t an option for me. The thought of ignoring it would’ve felt even worse. It wasn’t the first time my reckless nature had gotten me into trouble. That hitch in my shoulder seemed to be holding up fine at least, although I could still feel it."

“The raiders, those weapons, and the Enclave. I have a hunch that they’re all connected. I just don’t know how yet.”

Sunny rubbed her chin with her hoof, “Are you sure it wasn’t just a bad coincidence?”

“Maybe… I don’t know. Do you think I’m starting to lose it too?” I asked, not bothering to look back at her. As if I already knew what she was thinking deep down.

“Not at all! I don’t think you’re crazy! You came all this way out here on the off chance of trying to help ponies! That’s pretty admirable if you ask me! See? I knew you were a good pony deep down! Maybe the New Canterlot Army has somepony, or somegriffon that might’ve seen something? We could always travel back to Junction Town and file the report together. I’ll go with you, if it helps.”

“Thanks Sunny.” I sighed, trying my best to smile. “I really appreciate it.” She smiled back at me, seeming oddly innocent for living in such a Celestia foresaken place. Also earnest in her desire to help.

“But I’ve already made up my mind, that I’m not giving up on this. I’m going to that town that I saw from the overlook, to see if anypony knows anything. Those raiders are still somewhere out here using those weapons on innocent ponies. Let’s just say it’s personal.” I reaffirmed my stance, cracking my hoof joints.

“Well, they say two heads are better than one! How about I come with?”

“It’s too dangerous for a mare like you to be out here. No offense, but you seem more than a little bit inexperienced, and I’d feel guilty if those idiots hurt you. I think it’d be best if you head back to the 52 where it’s safe.” I said. Sunny rolled her eyes, and muttered something about me ‘sounding like her dad’.

I got flustered, “H-hey I heard that!”

“If all you’re worried about is lil’ ole me, calm down. I can take care of myself just fine. I was on my way to Junction Town myself, but got separated from my family coming over. Even though Gawd’s territory is supposed to be a lot safer, I heard about the recent raider attacks over the radio and felt like I should find a travelling companion. I’d say I’m pretty good at finding out things that ponies don’t want me to know, and I can pick a lock or two. You looked like a mare who could handle yourself, so when you said you were also headed to Junction Town it sounded like a match made in heaven.”

She could already tell by my look that I wasn’t entirely sold. So she gave me something that sweetened that pot. “Trust me, I actually know somepony who knows a ton about the Enclave. He might be able to help you!” she chirped.

“Wait, really?” I asked with astonishment.

“Yup! If anypony knows something, it’ll be him! So if you let me tag along with you, I’ll introduce you to him!”

“You’re sure he might know something?”

“Like I said, if there’s anypony who knows something about the Enclave, it’d him.” Sunny smiled and winked. It sounded almost too good to be true. “So, how about this? I’ll help you find out whatever you need about the Enclave, and you help me get to Junction Town? What do you say, partner?” She extended her hoof, acting coy.

That changed things immensely. I felt relief for the first time at my decision to come out here. She’d still be useless in a fight. It would fall onto me to protect her if anything went wrong, but I didn’t feel like listening to any of those lingering doubts I had about her. “Alright, you have a deal” I grinned. Hocking saliva, I spit into my hoof and we shook on it.

Sunny looked repulsed, staring at her slobber covered foreleg. “Ew... Why’d you do that?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s common custom in the wasteland.” I frowned, my lips pouting slightly.

“Maybe where you’re from.” She grumbled, wiping her hoof off on her silk jacket.

“Where did you say you were from again?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, I’m from... Vanhoover! You don’t want to know about that! Super boring! Trust me. The town I’m from is just has one shack in the middle of nowhere, with nothing else around for miles! So everypony has to share. There were provisions, and my daddy was always yelling at me to come back inside. And don’t get me started on the neighbors!”

“Right.” I said, raising one eyebrow. “Do you have a gun or anything?”

“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot!” The sunny pony turned to dig through her travel bag that she’d hidden away in her raggedy old coat. After rummaging around she pulled out a small pocket pistol. I almost facehoofed. “Well that would’ve been super helpful in the last fight. You should really put that on a leg holster.”

She looked almost offended at my assertion. “Well if I had trotted in with my pistol drawn, you might’ve shot me by accident! My daddy taught me everything I know about the wasteland, so I can take care of myself thank you!” The mare had a point, although I snickered slightly at the fact she was using that kind of language at her age. After she finished her retort, she flicked her nose up at me and returned the weapon to her bag. I was starting to like Sunny a little more. Perhaps I’d underestimated her.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” I said, offering a weak apology. “Do you have any supplies of your own?”

“A couple of days worth.” she replied. “Don’t worry about me! I managed fine before we ran into each other, yeah?”

Also Roulette might get a bit old after a while, so how about a nickname? What about Rou? Oh! Can I call you Rou-Rou?” Her eyes beamed.

“No.” I answered flatly.

“Rou it is!” she hopped enthusiastically. I grumbled, but tried to smile when she wasn’t looking. She must’ve taken it as a sign of agreement.. I felt my hooves itching again, reminding me that it was time to move on.

“Let’s go.”

“Roger.” She nodded.

Footnote: Level up.

Perk Added:

Intense Training: +1 Strength