Fallout Equestria: Arrivederci

by Quantum Solace

Pilot

The worst thing was the pain. It didn't leave. It stung deep into my hide: Poisoning me; tormenting me. It was all over, curling deep over my chest, across my face, and deep through my hooves. I screamed like I had never done  before as the magic poured through me, burning my stripes, my body, my soul. Even with the agony threatening to turn my world black, I could see the once dark marks that I had been so proud of blossom a bright red. I clenched my eyes shut as tightly as I could. Suddenly, something heavy struck me square in the face. I stumbled to my side, feeling my shoulder smash into a wall. Another shock of pain to my shoulder toppled me to the ground. Another to the leg. Again to the face. The blows felt numb through the red lines that were carving a path through me.
Distant screams and yells assaulted my ears. Calls for my blood. Calls for my pain. Calls for my death. I could feel my body growing cold from the abuse. Dark marks were forming and I could feel deep pools of crimson growing around my body as I took blow after blow. I couldn't respond. I couldn't fight back. Only endure. And hope that some reckless one would end it soon with a well placed blow.
I risked opening an eye. Something immediately flew in to it. I cried. I yelled. I screamed and withered in agony. My eye blurred with a furious pain as blood pooled around it. I took a shaky, sobbing breath as the flames of agony began to roar. I opened the other eye. All around, I could make out the blurry striped figures. No faces. Just figures. Shadows in the darkness that taunted me. They hurled the boulders and rocks as hard as they could. Blood spilled from my mouth as looked up. A dark red moon hung in the sky, surrounded an unfathomable amount of twinkling lights. Stars.
"Please...." I could barely make out the words as rocks pelted every part of me. Nothing was spared. "I beg of you.... Anything... Protect... Anything…” Everything was a blurry haze. Everything that was. Everything that would come to be. I was lost... And I struggled to continue. I would suffer. I would live. I would save him... I would save her...
"Rysah, no!"

"Damn toottin' I'll give 'er th; eye!" That rough voiced that sounded like gravel against sandpaper caused my ear to twitch.
"She's a fuckin' stripe Pa!" Came the sound of mare... A pony mare.
"Ah may be senile, but I ain't blind young missy!" snapped the male. "She's one of them marked ones! All red! And that means th' Zebras don't like her, an' wan' 'er dead! And means the captain wants her alive! So gimmie the damn eye!" My other ear twitched. I became oddly aware of my body. Something was wrong. I couldn't move What was that sharp pain in my stomach?
Before the other mare could respond, a third buck’s yell added to the others. "She's waking up!" He called. "Fuck, those wore off quick. Sedate her! Quickly! And Val, give him the eye!"
My eyes snapped open. A dark brown pony unicorn stood over me, blinking in surprise as my eyes opened... Wait... Eye... My left eye was completely dark... And there was something inside of it. Something cold. Something hard.
At this point, I became violently aware of something on my stomach... Or in it actually. My heart beat sped up.
"May Celestia fuck you with the sun, and give me that eye!" screeched the dark brown unicorn.
Suddenly something cold presses against my head. "Wait!" I heard through my whirlwind of thoughts. "Rust, don't use tha-"

        I took me a few moments to recover from the shock. I was somewhere else, in a different body. A female (thankfully) pony of the earth variety it seemed. She felt older than myself, but walked strong and with purpose. It was a terrible day. Rain pelted her mane and created lakes of dark water. Thunder rumbled in the distance as the mare walked past a small gate and into a large apple orchard. She glanced around quickly. In the distance, I caught a glimpse of a half constructed structure, the rain bumping off a vast metal dome, before the mare took her eyes from it and planted it on a new sight: a small tree house.
        My host slowly advanced on the small shack hidden up in an old tree. A small, dangerous looking set of stairs led up into a rickety, mold infested, small house. the mare took a deep breath, and placed a hoof on the bridge. It creaked loudly, making her jump. Slowly, she placed another hoof on the stairway. And another. And a third. The entire structure seemed unsound, and made my heart skip with every slight movement. The most dramatic of the entire trip was the very end: The mare stepped onto the porch of the shack, only to have the stairway behind her groan and and collapse. I could feel the mare’s pulse jump as she leapt back in surprise.
        “Ms. Cheerilee.” A voice caused my host to jump and spin around. “It’s great to see you again!” Three younger mares in business suits stood at the entrance. One, a pure white unicorn with a splendid pink mane, another an orange pegasus with a striking purple mane, and the last a red maned yellow earth pony. I felt the older mare flush as she looked at the three.
 “Scootaloo! Applebloom! Sweetie Belle!” The mare developed the three in a huge hug, much to the surprise of the other three. “It’s great to see you fillies again.” she said with a smile.
It took a few moments for the other three to recover, and return her embrace. “It’s nice to see you too.” The pegasus responded.
“Yeah, it’s been too long!” the White unicorn practically sang with a voice that made all of my hesitations vanish.
“It’s great for ya to meet us here.” The yellow earth pony said with a slight accent that sounded vaguely familiar.  
        She backed up a bit, taking in the full view of the three with a huge smile smile on her lips. “I was surprised to get your call!” She gushed. “I’m so happy to know that, even grown up, you're still coming to your old school teacher for help” She sat down her expression grew more serious. “You sounded desperate Scootaloo. What do you need?”
        The orange pegasus didn’t respond at first, but pulled out a small bottle of something that made the school teacher sniff in disdain. “RADcola? You don’t honestly drink that do you?”
Scootaloo laughed, popping off the top and taking a sip. “You're the same as you were years ago, Cheerilee.” She set the bottle down beside her as the other two ponies sat as well.
Cheerilee huffed. “Well, I must admit that I haven’t stopped teaching, but I have more white hairs in my mane than I care to say!”
        Scootaloo tilted her head. “That's right, you work at the Ministry of Peace right? With the Board of Education?”
        Cheerilee nodded with a proud little smile. “Precisely.” she said. “Ministry Mare Fluttershy wants all little ponies to be educated correctly, despite the war.” She sighed. “Though sometimes, the Ministry of Image needs to draw in the reins on it’s propaganda!” she gave a little laugh, that was uneasily shared by the rest. A dark tone seemed to settle over the room as Cheerilee’s smile disappeared.
        The orange pegasus pushed the RADcola bottle away from her. “Cheerilee,” She said, “The reason we’re here, rather than in some office, is because every other place is...unsafe. There are eyes on us constantly, and this is the only place where There is no chance of us being interrupted. Where no one can ‘overhear’ our little conversation.” My host gave a small nod that caused the Pegasus to glare into our eyes. “That means, no one ever hears of this conversation. Ever.” I felt a burst of understanding pass “Cheerilee’s” face as she nodded hesitantly.”
        Apple bloom spoke next. “There's been some trouble with th’ MoP.” she began to explain. “Somepony’s been making some really powerful spells. Something too dangerous. Something that if th’ Zebra’s got ahold of, we wouldn’t be standin’.”
        Cheerilee frowned. “What kind of spells?” she asked curiously. “If it’s from the MoP, isn’t it some kind of a healing spell? Or-”
        “Have you heard of a Megaspell Ms. Cheerilee?” My host gave the pegasus a look of annoyed confusion. “It’s a super spell. It takes the framework of a smaller spell, and makes it... huge. Multiplies and enlarges it’s area of effect, power, and abilities.”
        Cheerilee sat back, unimpressed. “And what, you think Fluttershy has made one of these... Megaspells?”
        “Not ‘think,’” it was the unicorn who spoke now. “We know. I would expect you haven't heard yet, the Ministries want to keep it hush hush.” she took a deep sigh and looked away. ”It happened yesterday. Big Battle. Hundreds dead. Ministry Mare Fluttershy and a team of MoP enforcers arrived. Her team of unicorns were able to cast the first successful Megaspall in the field.” She gave a shiver. “Cheerilee, she brought the entire battlefield back to life.” Ice seemed to creep into my hosts heart. She shivered. I would have as well. If I could have. I remembered hearing this story. “She brought back hundreds of zebras and ponies from the brink of death, and do you want to know what happened? They refought the battle. In one day, two battles were fought, and thousands were killed.”
        Cheerilee was speechless. She stared at the three ponies, until Scootaloo spoke again. “Where Fluttershy got the idea, or the power, to make such a spell is something we need to know. And something we need to destroy. Could you imagine what would happen if the Zebra’s laced Megaspells into their magic? They have poison talismans. What would happen if they turned them into Megaspells?”
        My host was silent for a few minutes. I could practically feel the gears in the mind spinning quickly. Finally she spoke quietly. “You want me to find out where this came from?” she asked. “You want me to spy on my own co-workers and friends?”
        I definitely noticed three uneasy glances, and a few guilty flinches. “Well...” The earth pony began.
        “Yes.” The pegasus said firmly, making my mare host flinch. “Most definitely. I’m sorry Cheerilee, but you're the only one we can turn too! All the other ponies who could do this job are monitored too closely, or could turn against us.” She wore a pleading desperate look. “Please Cheerilee, you're the only person we know we can trust. You’re our only hope.”
        The mare looked down again, seemingly thinking. I couldn’t hope to fathom her thoughts, but I could imagine that the old bond between student and teacher that had obviously been built long and strong, was hanging in the balance factor for this mare.
        Cheerilee’s head snapped up so fast, I thought she snapped it. “What do you want me to do?” She asked with conviction. A look of relief spread across the trio’s faces.
        “Spy, seduce, and slay.” Scootaloo still spoke with the same firm, worried voice she had before. “Especially, ‘seduce and slay’ the center of this entire operation.” Cheerilee narrowed her eyes and I could feel her muscles tense tense. “It’s not Fluttershy,” she amended quickly, and I felt the mare’s body relax. “His name is-”

        “-An’ when she wakes up, ya’lls gonna be on yer best behavior. Ya got that?”
        “Yes sir!” chorused a buck and mare’s voice.
        “Ya got that Valiance?” He stressed.
        “...Yes sir.” replied the mare’s sullen voice.
        I could only imagine I looked as bad as I felt: like a large mountain had decided my body was good place to fall, and then some zebra had stabbed my face. Multiple times. Especially the right side of my face. Somebody really didn't like the right side of my face. It had suffered some sort of prejudice. The entire side felt cushioned in bandages, and even with the healing properties obviously radiating through the wrappings, the area around my eye still stung with a deep pain.
A hoof gently tapped my flank, causing me to jump. "Ah, she's awake." I forced my heavy eyelid open...To more pain as a bright light seared my eye. I hissed slightly, and squinted against the light.
"Turn that damn thing off!" Spoke the voice of the older pony. In response, the light dimmed to a slight glow, allowing me to finally view my...caretakers.
There were three of them: a young looking earth pony buck standing beside me, hoof on the light, his green eyes studying me. His red coat contested harder with the white in his mane, reminding me of almost of a peppermint stick.  Beyond him, the doctor, obviously, on account of his dirty and stained lab coat. A ratty looking unicorn buck, who probably smelled as bad as he looked. He looked like he would blend in fine with the rocky ground of the wasteland. The final was another unicorn, who squinted back at me, her rusty red coat contrasting well with her dark red eyes. A black and brown mane fell perfectly across her neck. She was obviously somebody who cared how she looked.
"Welcome back young missy!" The doctor broke the awkward silence. "Th' names Rust Water. Ship doctor. This here," he motioned to the still squinting mare, "is Valiance, but we call 'er Val. Navigation. And next tah ya is Kaus, the first mate. We didn't think ya'd make it through the night. Captain was mighty furious. So what's your name? Ya'kay? Where did ya come from?" He looked at me intently, expecting an answer. I was still trying to catch up on what he had said.
Before I could respond there was a thump that shook the entire room. Actually, ship I supposed, based on the information I was given. Then there were loud shouts followed by a deafening explosion.
"Goddarnit! What now!?" The unicorn buck swung around, and the mare, Valiance, drew her eyes away from me long enough to look up at the ceiling.
"Sounds like we have company." There was an odd accent to her voice that I had never heard any zebra speak before. The peppermint pony dropped down to his hooves and steadied himself. There was a sudden loud thump of hooves coming towards the room, and more sounds resembling thunder came from above.
The doctor pony backed off to someplace behind me. Me, I couldn't move. My hooves felt like lead and my head pounded in sync with the brutal sounds from above. The unicorn mare's horn glowed as two heavy looking pistols rose to her sides. She dropped into a crouch, carefully moving back. Even the peppermint pony ducked down somewhere behind me. Silly me, thinking these ponies had saved me for more than a meat shield.
The exploding door shattered all my thoughts. I tucked my head down as pieces of wood and splinters attacked my face. In seconds, the entire room was alive with the sound of gunfire, making me quite deaf. My thoughts were in turmoil as the room was reduced to a similar state. I didn't dare open my single good eye for fear of losing it along with the other. Soon enough however, the sounds subsided to dull thuds and my hearing fled from me.
Well, I supposed that now, since I was probably only seconds from death, and honestly moping seemed to be a waste of time, now was a good time to reflect on my thoughts and experiences. I was in quite the unique predicament after all. Rescued and saved by ponies, brought onto a ship, and they seemed to have the opposite intentions most ponies would. I pondered this. Even at my home village, no zebra did anything out of the kindness of their heart. This wasteland had robbed every zebra of the right to kindness. It was the first casualty. It took it, and turned it to darkness. These ponies needed me alive for some reason. Just like they must have back home. I should have died back when they turned me, took my glyph from my flank, and marked my coat the red of a Proditori; a traitor. My heart clenched. I should have seen it coming. I could've stopped him if I had just worked faster. If I hadn't-
"LET ME GO!" The painful return of my hearing was gifted with the shrieking of a certain mare unicorn who enjoyed squinting at me.
"All in good time my dear." The oily smooth voice caused my mane to stand on end. "But I don't suppose you would mind entertaining my crew for, say, a week or so? Then I think you'll deserve a bit of a break."
The long flowing waterfall of euphemisms and curses seemed to be describing several different weapons up the oily ones rear and firing them all at once, but I could not be sure. It didn't make much sense to me, but it was apparently enough for her to deserve a harsh thump.
        “Such a dirty mouth!” Spoke the greasy buck. “It’ll be put to good use.” Another harsh smash over the head with a levitating rifle put her to floor. Possibly with a bit of memory loss.
        My mane froze as the green gaze of my tormentors’ tormentor fell on me. “Well then, what do we have here?” My ears folded back as he moved closer, two more armored earth ponies at his sides, both leveling very dangerous looking weapons at my face. He paused and turned to his guard, his face displaying genual confusion. “What do we have here?” he asked. “Either a striped pony, or a red zebra.” His muzzle broke into a grin as his gaze followed up my back to my flank and back to my eye. His hoof moved up towards me, and I shrank back more. I did not wish for this pony to lay a hoof on me; touch any part of me. But I was powerless as he touched the patch covering my eye and slowly pushed it away and off.
        At first, all I saw was darkness. Suddenly, a flash of light and pain cause me to cry out. Words flashed across my vision...then I saw soft fuzzy colors. They seemed to move around slightly. My hearing seemed out of it; it sounded like I was swimming through a field of bad static. Then, in a rush, the shapes flashed into focus and my hearing flopped back to normal.
        “...Wondrous technology that you’ve wasted on a Zebra of all things!” That oily maned pony was speaking again, addressing the bruised mare. She hissed savagely in response, and was clobbered over the head by one of the bucks pushing her down. The pony turned back to me. “Regardless of her being a zebra..” he eyed me in a way that made my mane stand on end. “She could end up fetching a hefty price, especially if I can talk Red-Eye into agreeing he needs his own, personal, exotic mare.” He brushed my cheek softly, sending shivers down my spine. Then, before I could react, smashed a hoof across my face. Being totally unprepared for the strike, I was pushed from the small table and toppled to the ground, the side of my face stinging in pain. I had hardly the time to gasp for air before the hefty buck picked me up from the floor and threw me across the room. More pain, of course, erupted from my shoulder as it connected soundly with the rough wooden wall. I slumped to the ground as the stallion advanced on me.
        “I’m not surprised you're not screaming and begging for mercy.” he said as he grew closer. “I’ve heard zebra’s are pretty damn resilient. In fact, there was this one mute slave I had once. Sold her to Red-Eye a few years back.” He laughed out loud. “But not before I let some of my bucks give her a nice go around with some poor unicorns horn!” I felt a sudden build up of stormy anger. Ponies where savages. They did this to each other everyday...but to do it to a zebra..!? I felt my teeth grind as he continued. “The horn was still attached to the head obviously. the rest of the body... well...” He gave a light laugh and lowered his head next to my ear. “I wonder: Will you feel as good as she did?”
        That would be when I snapped. Back home, we had all been trained in the legendary art that sent fear down the spines of the equestrian army. An art we had all memorized. It was instinctual. An art more like a dance of death: the Fallen Caesar.
        It was before the oil stallion could speak another word, the edge of my hoof collapsed his throat. I was confused on why he did not expect some sort of retaliation. As he collapsed, I realized why. Two unicorns, and three earth ponies, all had guns leveled towards me and their leader.  I could practically feel the tension as the trigger happy ponies began to tongue and fire their weapons. Moving quickly, I rolled to my hooves, hooking a hoof around the body of the choking slaver, and throwing him before me. The pony’s eyes widened in complete surprise for a moment, before he buckled under the force of five guns firing at once into his body. He collapsed to the floor in a pool of crimson. His loyal guards who had felled him so easily just stared in shock at their dying leader, chocking and twitching before them.
Their hesitation was all that was needed for me to launch myself over the evil one, hooves outstretched towards a yellow unicorn mare. Her scream alerted the others as my hooves smashed against her skull. I could feel it beginning to buckle as we fell hard into the wooden floor. I heard clunking behind me, as the other ponies registered there was still a threat to be dealt with. I heard a particularly nasty waterfall of colorful words, as a pony spun to face my back. Without time to look behind, I crouched down, putting all of my weight on  my forehooves, and kicking out behind me.
There was a squeal and a satisfying crack, as some pony flew backwards, landing with a hard thump against another pony. Spinning around, I came face to face with a dirty yellow, earth pony mare. Caught off guard, I was unable to stop her from plowing a hoof hard into my chest, shoving me backwards. In my stunned state, I was able to feel my hooves bucked out from under me, and a heavy weight on my back.
        Shaken from my moment of weakness, I threw all my weight up in an attempt to throw her off balance. Panic surged through my chest as she didn't even flinch. If I was pinned down from too long, it would only be moments before the opposition pony-piled me. I kicked a leg back, striking at the hoof of the one pinning me down. There was a grunt, but not much else. My vision seemed to be flashing red as more weight was piled onto the first, choking the air from my lungs...
Wait...
My vision was flashing red. A little word in equestrian floated in the corner of my vision. “S.A.T.S.” it read. I stared at it for a moment. Then, mentally, I imagined pushing it.
All of a sudden, the world slowed to a crawl. Everyone seemed to be in slow motion save myself. More red words... to my right, the mare’s hoof was solidly planted into the ground. It was glowing, and a little number read, “95%.” Still completely unsure, and slightly panicked I toggled it. All of a sudden, the world accelerated. My hoof, moving almost as if of it’s own accord, shot forwards, striking hard into the back of the mare’s knee. There was a sharp crack and she screamed in agony, trying to rear up onto her back hooves. Quickly, I decided to aid in her ascension, throwing my own weight up. Combined with her’s force, I threw off the other pony who had decided to join in the pony pile. I spun quickly and brought my hooves down in a single powerful blow. Blood soaking my hooves, I turned to face the survivors of my deadly assault. There were only two left: a giggling, maniacally laughing, yellow unicorn, spinning large knives in the air, and an obscenely over muscled green stallion who glared at me silently.
The first to advance was the knife wielding unicorn. Her blades hummed through the air as she rushed towards me, giggling and laughing. Tensing, I dropped low, and rolled quickly to the side as she barreled pass. I rolled to my feet, only to have to jump back again as the mare's knife slashed only inches from my face. She was fast. Very fast. Nimbly, I blocked an oncoming knife with the bottom of my hoof, flipping through the air to deliver a crushing blow to her back. She rolled away however, and I merely destroyed the floorboards before me, impaling my foot in the wood. My unfortunate hesitation as I attempted to wrench my hoof from the floorboard allowed the crazed mare to attempt a second attack. I was only barely able to roll to the side, receiving a decent sized nick in the ear contrary to loosing my face.
And I wasn't very smart. I had forgotten about the muscled earth pony. I didn't forget for long, as he barreled into me from behind, sending me flying. I hit the ground hard, and was forced to roll, or have my head beat in by the ferocious blows of my attacker. A sudden sharp pain in my flank caused me to shriek. The knife-mare carved a deep cut, giggling as she advanced. There was an awful crack as the hoof of the green stallion smashed into my chest. Once again, I was sent airborne, crashing into a wall and slipping down it. Sharp pain slashed across my chest as I attempted to balance myself. The giggling mare rushed me. In my injured state, there was nothing I was able to do to halt her progression. Fear gripped my heart as her sharp knife hummed in front of her. I braced myself for the agony to come.
Blam!Blam! The psychopath's head exploded in a bloody fountain of gore. The decapitated body took another three steps before falling to the ground before me. “That was for the bruise, cunt!” It was the squinty red mare with the revolvers! The enormous green earth pony spun with surprising speed, and launched himself at her. Her twin revolvers thundered again, blowing holes into his kneecaps. He roared in pain, falling dramatically before my mad-eyed savior. He looked up to see the gun barrel between his eyes. “And this is for everything else.” she growled. I turned my eyes away as the stallion’s head was reduced to red mush. I had witnessed enough mind-scaring violence today to spare me that sight.
A hoof touched my shoulder gently, and looking up, I was surprised to find the first mate Kaus peering down at me in concern. “Are you alright miss?” he asked, extending a hoof for me to take. After a moment's pause, I gratefully accepted. My body was sore, and my hooves felt like lead. I needed another long nap.
“Don’ you be fallin’ asleep quite yet lass!” I looked up and saw the gruff looking doctor approach me. I could barely hold the contents of my stomach as I saw him flick chunks of gore from his mane. “Darn slavers, more vicious every time.” He cast a sideways look at my probably sick and beaten face. “Oh, one thing I forgot!” His horn glowed and he levitated out a purple vial. “Healing potion for ya!” he grinned nonchalantly as he levitated the liquid to my lips. I gave him a suspicious look as I took a sip of the lukewarm liquid. Immediately I began to feel the pleasant sense of warmth curling through my body, mending my many ailing wounds. My hooves began to feel less heavy, and the pounding of my head began to subside.
Mr. Peppermint pony gazed at the the bloody scene before him with a whistle of admiration. “Half a dozen ponies, by yourself? While injured, just after an operation?” He gave me an odd look. “Almost sounds like a poorly written adventure story.” I found that amusing. But I didn’t say as much.
“Hey!” A young colts yell caused everyone’s heads to turn. A dark green little thing with a shaggy yellow mane was breathing hard at the door. A holster about half his side was strapped to his back. “Cap’in got the slaves from th’ other ship!” He exclaimed. “We might have’t drop some off, cause we don’t got enough food for anoth’ twenty!” His eyes flashed across the room, and he took in the six broken and blasted bodies lying around. I cringed. This was not a place meant for young ones... even if they were ponies. His eyes suddenly snapped to me, and widened.

“ZEBRA!” He cried. “GET DOWN!” I swear, I’ve never seen any-pony pull a gun that fast
“Wait, hold on!” the doctor jumped to his hooves, though he was a bit too late.
Whoo hoo doc. I thought as I toppled to the ground, new pain in my shoulder making my vision go fuzzy. Brilliant job. I overheard more yelling as I toppled to the ground. Honestly, being knocked unconscious should not be this simple. It was so simple, a foal could do it!

...
Ha! I made a funny...
Not really though.

Apparently, ponies have a thing about having me unconscious. Must be some sort of fetish of theirs. I wish they could take it somewhere else, it was beginning to annoy me.

This time however, they had taken the time to make me a little more comfortable. I was lying on some sort of mattress. Not well maintained, as suggested by the fact of how the springy coils were digging into by flank, but better than the hard table I had been on earlier. I groaned and tried to rise up. But I didn't. Instead, I was tugging hard on chafing mental cuffs, holding me in place. As my sense rushed back to me, I also became aware of a piece of cloth bound over my eyes, smelling like somepony had decided to wipe themselves on it.

I mentioned keeping fetishes away from me?

My ears perked as the sounds of hoof bears drew closer. Then a door opened.

"-six ponies! She sounds just like me in my prime!" An over-enthusiastic mare's voice boomed about the space I occupied.

"Captain." I recognized the voice of Mr. Peppermint pony, the first mate. "She is dangerous. She could just as easily attack you. I highly suggest removing her fro-"

"Nonsense!" The mare's voice scowled back. The hoof beats crossed directly in front of me before passing. "She'll do just fine! I bet she's kind, and nice, and considerate, and fantastic in bed!"

There was an awkward silence, finally punctuated by the sound of a hoof connecting with a forehead. "Captain," he was trying again. Personally, I supported the captain. I like not being removed. Sounded safer. "It is highly advised that you take her off the ship. This... Zebra!" he spat the word like a curse, "Is only going to cause trouble for us, especially if any other the other Clans hear about it." Oh so I was an "it," now? Some pony was going to be a smashed pony when I got my hooves in them.

"Here, how about this." The mare offered. "We strap a bomb collar to her and-"

"Absolutely not!" ....is what I tried to say. It ended up more like, "burmuphy murt!"

"And?" Peppermint asked, bluntly ignoring me. Rude!

"We can set her up as a slave." I could swear the mare was grinning at her own "genius". "Everyone is looking for top of the line exotic slaves! Old Black-Eye got himself this weird looking gryphon-pony hybrid thing, and old Oil Mouth had this mare with those weird tattoos... Hey, what happened to her?"

"You ordered us to set the ship alight." He answered grimly. "I am fairly certain she was still on board."

"Sucks." She said. "Oh well. Well hey, that too! This zebra took out Oil Mouth by herself! I think that's a good reason to keep her around."

“Well actually, it just held him in the guards line of fire...” upon hearing no response, there was a dramatic sigh from Peppermint. "Alright." He consented.

"Alright what?" She snarked.

Another dramatically long sight. "Yes Captain Fortune ma'am."

My ears perked at the name. Captain? So the head honcho? The leader of these ponies?  How... Curious. I could hear the ponies growing closer to me. The hairs on my mane began to stand. What did these ponies want with me? Why was the captain trying so hard to have me stay? Why was I rescued in the first place? What was going to happen to me now? The hoof beats stopped right before me. I could smell the foul stench of pony breath as one moved right next to my face. I felt the blindfold over me loosen and fall away. The first thing that happened was a blinding light assaulted my eyes, forcing me to shut them. When I was able to view things without my mind ripping me apart, I became aware of a pair of jade eyes, regarding me silently. They were connected to a sea green unicorn with a lush red mane and tail, who’s horn a glowing in, you guessed it, green magic. The tension grew as it was simply me and the mare, glaring at each other... until...

“Care for a drink?”

The mare was Captain Fortune Trove. Or Miss Fortune as her "crew," called her. She liked cannons, whiskey, and long walks across the recently spilled blood of her enemies. And guns, she loved guns. Which honestly, no pony or zebra, or anything should have that many guns on their person. Over her black corset was a shotgun, and two pistol holsters where on her forelegs. On the inside of her rear thigh there was another, a fifth hidden in her mane, and the sixth... Oh and she was the Captain of The Legend, "bounty searching,” ship she claimed. Peppermint Pony elaborated on Bounty Searching: “We’re pirates.” he said. So, I’d been captured by pirates. Lovely. They had taken away the weird thing with the boxes and highlights in my eye, and wrapped bandages around it.

“When I get my hooves on the doc, I’m going to wring his neck!” Miss Fortune had scowled. “I’ll have to find another. Dammit, we had a buyer for that!” She had gone on and on on the losses she had taken by having the doctor install what she called, the “Oculus Mk-II.” It was a “Pipbuck device”... Whatever that was.

Eventually, we found ourselves back at stage one. It was the Kaus, the peppermint pony, who interrupted his captain’s rambling. “So, who are you?” He asked suspiciously. “Since we rescued you, you haven't said a single word.”

My name! I couldn't tell them my actual name. Regardless, I needed to tell them something believable. “Ah, umm... You wish for... my name?”

“She speaks!” Miss Fortune squeaked with glee.

“Yes. Your name.” the First Mate asked in annoyance. “Surely zebra’s have names. Though, I suppose It wouldn't surprise me however, to learn that you savages don’t name your young.”

Hot rage boiled in me ears. I looked down, trying to keep my discontent hidden... and I noticed my stripes. My once beautiful black and white stripes, now stained the red mark of a traitor... of a... an idea struck my mind like a star had placed it there.

“My name is.. Jahat.” I spoke humbly and quietly. The Peppermint Pony seemed to accept this. The captain however gave me an odd look, but it passed so quickly, I could not tell whether I had imagined it or not. Regardless, the captain continued with her questioning. “So... Jahat... how did you come by those red stripes?” she asked. “It isn't common we came across such an.. interesting zebra such as yourself. At first, we thought you were Reaper Rampage! But you were nowhere near Hoofington!”

        “And Rampage is immortal captain, and miss... Jahat was nearly dead.” he glared at me for a second, as if imaging me as just that. Then he looked away and grumbled, "Weird zebra names.."

        “That too.” the captain admitted. “So tell me, how did you come by these stripes.”

I chewed my bottom lip. “I... I do not wish to speak of it,” I answered. “I did something wrong. And I have been marked and banished.” I didn't want to remember. I didn't want to have to re-watch what I’d done over, and over, and over, like a never ending broken record of lost dreams.

        Kaus did not wish to leave it be. “Look, we saved your life! I want to know we didn’t just save some psycho.”

I flinched at his remarks, but shook my head. “I will not speak of it. I can promise you though, that no harm will befall your crew from m-”

“Bullshit!” I jumped back as the first mate snarled and slammed his hooves on the table. “You will tell me what you did, or Celestia help me I’ll feed you too the radigators!”

Red hot rage boiled up, and much to his surprise, and mine, I matched his stance, hooves slamming the table just before his. “Back off!” I growled, “You're pitiful mind couldn't attempt to reminisce of the pains I have gone through... The horror’s I've seen!” I could feel my teeth grind. Blood roared in my ears. I felt ready for a fight. I wanted his blood on my hooves. I wanted to see is broken body crumple loosely on the ground like a foals toy. I wanted-

“Both of you will sit this instant.” The voice of the captain washed over us so calmly, it scared me. The blood-lust raced from my body, leaving me drained. I shakily stumbled back into my seat, eyeing my opposition warily. It seemed to terrify the Peppermint pony enough to sit right back down beside her without even casting me a second glance. “Now,” she continued, “you will both get along. Starting now.” She cast a glance at her First Mate, who gave a short jerk, that may have been a nod. She seemed to take it as so and turned her attention to me.

“We saved your life.” she said sternly. “Although it may not seem like it, Kaus played a good part of it.” Note to self: Kaus was doing his best to avoid eye contact. “”You owe us. Big time.” she jabbed a hoof at my face. “The Doc shoved that thing into your face. Like I said, I had a big buyer for that. I need to find another one, or it’ll be my head.” she leaned forwards, a scowl on her face. “Literally. And if It’s my head, it’s certainly yours as well.” The intensity of her words made the hairs on my back stand straight.

“So!” She said, standing pacing. “You need to get us another one!” I opened my mouth to object, but she went on quickly. “I’ve been searching around for one of those eye’s for a long time. But there was one place we never checked on the accounts that my scouts never came back. Rather dangerous place apparently.” The captain turned to face me directly, and hard look in her eyes. “You’ve been trained? In stealth and fighting?” I nodded, stunned, knowing what was coming next. “You will go, and investigate. find my scouts, find one of those fancy eyes.” She paused again. “I feel like I’m forgetting something important.”

The first mate gave a cough. “If I may captain?” he gave me a flat look.. “Don’t die.”

        Now, I got a nice long boring tour of the ship. I suppose it would be important to memorize as much as I could, should the opportunity to escape arise. However, that seemed incredibly unlikely, considering first, the lack of lifeboats (I don’t really have to mention how ridiculous it was to have a boat with no lifeboats), and for that matter, land. The Atori, before the war, lived on islands In the middle of a large lake, and were well adept at swimming and fishing. However, as far as I knew I was not Atori, and I'm fairly certain I would not want to be in this water. It was difficult to see in the moonlight, but I could make out, deep, dark blue water that frothed and boiled and moaned. It was quite unsettling to the eyes, as well as the ears. Across the deck, every so often, there would be a deep, unsettling howl that echoed all around the empty sea. At one point it sounded so close to the boat that I jumped in surprise, landing on the back of the first mate.

 “Get off me!” he spat, dumping me ungraciously onto the deck. The captain paused to look back and glare at us like we were foals. I sheepishly got to my hooves as the captain turned back around.

“This,” she said, motioning towards a closed door, “Is our mess hall. You’ll usually be here for diner. However, considering how late it was, your stuff is already in your quarters.”

I Looked up in surprise. “My quarters?” I asked. “And wait, what stuff!?”

Miss Fortune turned again to regard me. “Well, Not your own per-say. You’ll be living with our ship’s doctor and his daughter. They fixed you up twice, so I figure he won’t kill you in your sleep... Probably.” She shrugged and pushed through the door leading to the mess hall. I carefully followed her through.

The first thing to strike me was the stench. It was as if hundreds of zebra’s had died and rotted, and then been heated by the sun. The table was littered with mostly eaten trash, and odd brown sludge that looked suspiciously like a mix of pony droppings and filth retched from the mouth. One particularly large splotch seemed to shift and move. It was truly revolting, and I almost heaved the nonexistent contents of my stomach all over the floor.

The captain and the first mate however seemed oblivious to the stench. The captain did, however, snort and roll her eyes. "Bucket!" She barked. "Get out here!" The mound of sludge moved!

Or was it sludge? Instead of a slimy creature rearing it's head, a pony with hair so shaggy and matted it must have never been cut, heaved itself off the table and stumbled to the floor. It burped, and tear-jerking smell bathed the room. "Cap'in." It said a gravely voice. "Whuts the problem here?"

"Clean this place up." She ordered. “This is a breeding group for bloatsprites.” she snorted in a annoyance, then scooted to the side. “This is Jahat. She will be staying with us. Jahat, this is our cook, Stew Bucket.”

The pony burped and the smell rolled across the room. The stench was so powerful Kaus actually turned and vomited and my stomach begged to followed suit. The captain however, somehow resisted. She didn't even flinch! I silently noted to never eat from the mess hall. Ever.

“Shucks a Zebra! Wow, maybe she could teach us ‘ow tah cook! Hear them weirdos cook up all sorts of great grub!” With a grunt, he saluted to the captain, and went off to find a bucket. I very much wanted one as toot exited from his rear causing both me and the First Mate to gag. The captain ushered us from the room before we could dirty the floor further.

We stood gasping for air inside a hallway lined with steel, which surprised me. The entire ship seemed to be old: pre war even. But this part seemed advanced. Doors were locked with sliding brass metal instruments, while pipes and cords encased the ceiling above us. As the captain led us down the hall, I began to fully appreciate how huge the ship actually was. The hall seemed to stretch on, even beyond my sight. It just just faded into the distance.

        “Come on.” said the captain. “I’ll show you to your quarters.” She trotted down the hall, myself in tow, with Kaus taking up the rear. “They’ll be our standard barracks,  equipped with everything you need.” She paused, and turned to look back at me. “As long as that eye is still on your tab, you’ll be part of my crew. We’re making course for Equestria. There, you and a small team of mine will embark on a mission of mine. Our, ah, intel tells us there may be another one of these eyes at a place just on the outskirts of a large, old-world civilization.”

        I tilted my head. “And what is this place called?” I asked.

        “The Rainbow Factory.” She responded, with a decidedly unpleasant grin.