Chapter 4: A new Beginning

"We live in a World of Chaos, Trying to find a way to Light."

I looked over the Doctor’s handiwork and found it most satisfying. No organs hanging out, not unnecessary bleeding or pain. I looked over to the side of the bed to find my stuff, including my utility barding, all patched up and a little heavier than before. I threw the sheet off me and slid off the bed. I stretched out my wings and sighed, grateful for the room to do so. Lucky stepped back more to allow me the space.

“So, a pegasus, huh? Living in a stable?” He questioned. I looked over to him and shrugged. I slipped into my barding and placed my saddlebags in my back. He shrugged back.

“So what happened? I remembered passing out, but nothing much after that.” I asked.

“Well, after you fell unconscious, I got you into the back of the cart with your brother and got here as fast as I could. Stein found us coming up down the street and rushed you and Blitz into his house. You’ve been out for a few days. We’re surprised that you survived the excursion from the Stable, let alone the surgery and being up so soon.” I looked up at Lucky to see him in armor, but this one was a small, less bulkier armor. “What are you wearing?” I asked. “Oh, this is Recon armor, less noise, means less suspicion from the locals.” I cocked an eyebrow at his statement, but I let it go for the moment. Another pressing matter came through my mind.

”Where’s Blitz?” I asked Lucky just stared at me with his deep blue eyes and furrowed brow. He sighed and looked down at the ground.

“He’s alive.” I let go of the breath I was holding in, relieved to hear the good news. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” He turned and trotted towards the door. I quickly threw my supplies and my gun into my saddlebags and tied my scarf around my neck. I grabbed up the cup of water by the bed and threw the contents in the back of my mouth, quenching my dry throat for a moment.

We walked out of the room into a big living area. A couple of cacti in pots sat beside a photo of four happy looking ponies on the shelf over the fireplace. A tattered green couch and matching sofa sat around a stained oak coffee table that has seen way better days. The candle light flickered off the beige colored walls. On the far side of the room was three boxes labeled “Free crap” on each one in orange staple letters.

On one of the sofas sat the doctor, a light blue stallion with jet black hair, and a dog as big as the pony he sat beside. On the other sat a familiar Blue pony with green and white hair sipping on a hot beverage, wrapped in a blanket.

“Blitz?” I gasped. I ran over to my brother and wrapped him in a hug. “You stupid idiot.” I squeezed harder as a tear came from my eye.

Blitz just smiled and returned with an embrace. “Hey L. Sorry for the worry.” I sniffed and pulled away from Blitz to see a disturbing sight.
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Where the hole used to be was now a jumble of stitches and glue. A large patch of hair was removed from the wound site. His smile never faltered as I looked at the scarring tissue of his chest. “Hey, sit down. Have a cup of tea with us. You too Lucky.” I just nodded and sat down beside Blitz. Lucky sat to my right. Stein poured us a cup each and gave them to us. Blitz turned back to Stein and the other pony.

“Again, I can’t thank you enough for what you did for us. I kindness knows no bounds.” Blitz bantered. The doctor just smirked and nodded to us.

“Nothing to get all worked up about. You needed help, and I gave it to you.” Stein turned to his partner. “I’d like to introduce you to my friend Whipleash.” The blue pony pulled out a hoof underneath the blanket and held it out towards me. I gingerly took hold and shook it with vigor. “Nice to meet you, sir my names-.”

“Elric. Heh. I know.” He chuckled. “And your Blitz and Lucky, correct?” he reached out to each of them in turn and shook their hooves. “I heard all about you two from your friend here.” He waved a hoof to Lucky as he took a sip from his coffee.The dog eyed us down, looking like we were his next meal. I gulped a little at the sight.

“So what’s your plan, you three?” Doc said after a bit of silent drinking. I looked up from the swirling leaf flakes in my cup to see the doc to eyeing me in question.

“Well, um.” I rubbed the back of my neck in thought. “I honestly don’t have a clue. All I know is that somepony named Kalem needed something from Stable 132. He destroyed everything to get it. He ordered a group of armored ponies to kill everyone in the stable to find this ‘artifact’.” Lucky shifted nervously around and just looked at the floor. I don’t blame him at all for the attack, but he seemed to have blamed himself. A thought popped up in the back of my head and I looked over to Stein. “By any chance do you know of a white stallion that wears a pinstripe suit here?” I asked the two friends. The both looked at each other and shrugged.

“No, not really. Not many suited ponies come this far from the big cities. Why? Do you know one?” Doc replied.

“No. just wondering.” I slumped back into the sofa. Damn.

Whipleash sat up and stretched. “Well, it’s about time I get back to the Inn. Thank you for the tea, Doc. Ares! Fetch!” The dog barked and hopped towards the door. He came back, pushing a wheelchair with his head. Whipleash pulled the chair over to him and pushed off his blanket. Lucky, Blitz, and me stared at the pony as he skillfully moved himself from the couch to the chair.

His entire back half was missing. No hind legs, just a rounded lump where they would have been. He caught us staring and snickered."It ain’t polite to stare at a crippled pony, gentlecolts.” We all at the same time flushed with embarrassment. He laughed some more and pushed his way towards the door, grabbing up his blanket along the way. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll regale y’all with the story some other time. If y’all need a place to stay, try the new pub down the way, I’ll put in a good word for ya.” He nodded a farewell to Stein and us, whistled to his dog, and left into the evening light. Stein turned back to us and smiled.

“Whipleash is a great person, but he is a little weird.” He smirked at his comment, like he was remembering something. “Well, it’s time for me to go check up on my other patient. Fucking idiot put his horn up a slaver’s shotgun expecting a great outcome.” He rolled his eyes and sighed. “You guys can finish your drinks and see yourselves out when you feel up for it. See ya later, sirs.” He waved a goodbye and proceeded down the hallway.

We quickly finished our beverages and set them in a neat stack on the end of the coffee table, stood up, and went out into the bleak, broken world. The door opened to a broad, spread-out view of the town of Charity. The buildings that made up the city was divided by one large dirt road splitting it in half and several small roads snaking off of the main. Two large buildings stood on either side of the sections, one being the church, the other, the town hall. I looked to my companions to see what see should do. Both just shrugged and looked out over the settlement. The sun was setting off to the west of us. The sight was breathtaking. We began to head towards town, towards a new beginning….

“How in the hell did we manage to get ourselves lost already!?” Blitz yelled. We stared down an alley with a dead end. The sun had dipped behind the buildings, making it difficult to navigate the roads.

“I don’t know, I told you to stop and ask for directions, but NOOOOOOO. ‘I got it, L. It shouldn’t be that hard!” I spat at my brother.

Lucky just seemed to like watching us quarrel, putting on a small smirk. “Come on you two, I think I see where we’re going.” Lucky tapped us on the shoulders and moved ahead, breaking the lockdown Blitz and I were engaged in. We followed behind Lucky as he took us around several corners and down a couple streets. “This way.” He pointed to our right and trotted ahead. We turned the corner to just slam into a wall. The exact same one we just came from. I cupped him in the back of his head with my hoof.

“Idiot….” Blitz mumbled. Lucky rubbed his head as I sighed. My Pip-buck wasn’t any help either, all it showed was where I we already were at. Blitz’s was the same. The sun’s final rays dimly filled the air. The town was as silent as the oncoming night. We looked at each other we worry. We didn’t know what the repercussions were being out on the streets at night. The darkening clouds overhead didn’t help lighten the feeling.

“Come on, let’s get going. The pub’s gotta be around here somewhere.” I spoke.

After several twist and turns, and slight navigation setbacks with the Pip-buck, we turned a corner to a three story building with patio tables and chairs and a simple sign rocking on its rope hinges reading “The Pride of Pastureland”. The lights inside showed patrons having a blast. We grinned in unison and ran towards the establishment. I came to the door first. I pushed open the door to a sight that couldn’t be forgotten. Several ponies were smiling, laughing, dancing to the sweet violin music, and a few others were bashing each other’s face in on the bar or chairs. All in all, a most wondrous sight. The barkeep looked up with a dull expression. The tan unicorn was cleaning several mugs with his magic. We approached the counter, waving between patrons and bar fights. When we got to the bar, the barkeep came up to us and gave us an once-over. “Wa’ Cha need, strainséir?” The horse spoke with a thick, confusing, but familiar accent. He cocked a brow at the question.

“Hello, sir. We were told you could provide-“I stammered.

The barkeep, without another word, reached over and withdraw a key from the wall. “Whipleash already paid for two nights for y’all, so be grateful for that. Here is the key to your room. Upstairs, third floor, two doors from the end of the hall. He didn’t, however, pay for drink and food down here, so if you need something to eat, there are snacks in the cabinet in the room. Breakfast is at sunrise, and its first come, first serve. Take care, Fiontaróirí, and welcome.” He gave us a big, unexpected smile and went back to work, breaking up a fight the preceded on the bar. We turned to each other and shrugged at the awkward encounter. Following the instructions given, we went upstairs and found our room. Inside was two beds, a couch, a desk, a fridge, a wardrobe and dresser, two footlockers with locks, and one nightstand with a lamp. We put are possessions in the footlockers and chose sleeping arrangements. We settled down and stayed silent from thought. Blitz fell asleep beside me after an hour of looking at the ceiling.

“Must have been exhausting for him, given his current condition.” Lucky whispered as I covered up my sibling. I nodded towards the door, and slid off the bed slowly. Lucky and I went back downstairs to find most of the patrons gone. Only the few late-nighters and guests were present, silently sipping there drinks and chuckling amongst themselves. Lucky went and paid for two bottles of whiskey, placing a hoof full of bottle caps on the counter. (Why bottle caps, is it a bartering town?). He came back with them and two glasses. I set one of each in front of me and slid into the booth across from me.

“So… What’s your story, hmm?” Lucky asked. He poured some of the whiskey into his glass and threw it back in his gullet. He made a wincing face for a split second and smiled. “There’s gotta be something interesting in living in a hole in the ground.”

I looked up from my wounds and eyed him confusingly. I leaned forward towards him and smirked a little. “Well, there’s this time….”

After a couple hours of reminiscing my childhood and such, I leaned back into the ripped, stained leather booth. Half of my bottle was gone, as was Lucky’s. “So, what’s yours?” I asked. He smiled and winked.

“Well… There was a time where I would tell everyone about what I did for a living out here. I was a Courier for a time. Lucky’s Super Fast Delivery Service. I spent most of my early life learning about the survival of the wastes. Then about three months ago, on one of my deliveries, I was shot by a raider band. I was able to get away from them, but at the cost of something very important to me. I wasn’t able to perform as well as I once did.” I cringed at the statement. He caught my expression and choked on his whiskey. “N-no! Nothing like that! Ha-ha. No, but I soon was out of work. So I turned to other methods of work. I was soon picked up by a caravan company as a guard. Then from there a town guard, to a private security assigned to protect expensive clients…” His eyes drifted to the ground. I could tell why. He was ashamed. But I knew him enough to tell that he was used. He looked back up to me with a tear in his eye. “Look, I didn’t know that Kalem would do such a horrible thing. He Seemed nice and gentle towards he’s followers and the guards. I… I didn’t mean to-“His eyes started to well up with more tears. His expression cracking between sobs. I stared back at Lucky.

This was a pony who had lost everything to the harsh life of bandits. I understood what he had to endure, even if I didn’t live it myself. Here sat a pony who was betrayed by his ‘Friends’ and witnessed a massacre that he was an attacker, a part of the same group that murdered an entire Stable of innocent Individuals. He watched as he broke into a silent sadness. And so I did the only thing that came to mind.

He’s eye’s shot open as I wrapped around him with my front legs in a tight hug. A tear fell from my own face as I grit my teeth. “I know. I don’t blame you for any of it. You saved my brother from a fate that took hold of so many. You saved me from the waste. You could have left me and Blitz in the pouring rain on the side of the road, but you didn’t. For that, I’m grateful.” I withdrew from the white pony and wiped a tear away from my face. “And I would be glad to have you as a friend and stay with us. We need a pony who knows the outside.” I smiled at my acquaintance.

Lucky’s expression went through several quick changes from Sadness to shock to a smile. He wiped away the moisture from his eyes and sniffed back his snot. “Yeah. I would like that very much, Thank you.” His smile said it all. He felt relieved. I poured a glass of whiskey and motioned Lucky to do the same. With both glasses filled, I raised mine in the air. “To a hopeful future.”

Lucky returned the gesture. “To a hopeful future.” And tossed back the shot. I did the same.

Hey ma, look. I made a new friend….