Fellowship is Madness

by Imperator Chiashi Zane

Appleloosa, Part 2

“I don’t think I have a concussion. I’ve had one before, you know,” Hammer looked at the medicine Buffalo sitting in the tent with her, “Last time I got a concussion, I was bleeding out of my eye-socket,” she bumped the back of her head with a talon, and caught the crystal and brass assembly as it fell out of her face. She glanced at the back of it, “No blood. That means the fragmented bone didn’t get shoved through anything. See, this right here is where my brain connects directly to the lens array.”

She pointed to the back of the structure with a talon, where several wires protruded into the air, “See, if I had anything wrong with my brain, that would be bloody, and probably leaking.”

“Uh huh. You hit your head pretty hard there, didn’t you missy.”

A hiss slipped out of Hammer’s lips, “Let me go. Seriously, this isn’t funny. I am an Element of Harmony. Do you know what that means?”

“Do I care. That’s the question,” the medicine Buffalo shrugged, “Nope. You attacked my clan, and you helped ponies that are trying to destroy my clan’s stampeding grounds. That means you get to stay here until tomorrow, when we go to the diplomatic event. There, you will be used as a bargaining chip to get us our land back.”
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“This land,” Chief Thunderhooves spat, “has been in my tribe since my father’s father’s father was but a concept in Faust’s mind. We have stampeded this trail for many generations. It is a sacred tradition to run this path every year. But this year, we found these…Settlers, Appleloosans, they planted trees all over without asking permission.”

“Well that’s not very nice,” Fleethoof shook her head, “Don’t trees take a few years to grow though?”
Strongheart sighed, “Normally, yes. But this land was gifted to us by Faust herself. Things grow faster here, and live longer.”

“But why do you need to stampede through here?” Kajiik waved his hoof across the plain behind him.

Chief Thunderhooves let out a grunt, “We cannot. This land is ours, and those trees are in our way. We are prepared to make an offer.”

Iron Hoof nodded, “What is your offer?”

“You ponies move those trees somewhere else, not in our stampeding grounds, and we give back your nightmare," he muttered something under his breath that Kajiik didn't catch.

Kajiik and Iron stared at the Buffalo, “What do you mean?”

A pair of Buffalo with war-paint on stomped up, carrying Hammer Soot between them, lashed to a wooden framework, “Your nightmare. She attacked us when we made our attempt to redirect your supplies out of our territory.”

Blueberry looked at the Thestral, and cupped a hoof over her muzzle, barely stifling a snort, “Our nightmare?” Another snort slipped out, and she started laughing, rolling on the dirt, legs kicking in the air, “Our nightmare!”

The chief looked at the purple Unicorn rolling on the dirt, “What is so funny, child? It is a child of the darkness and fear.”

Blueberry stopped rolling around as Barkskin placed a hoof on her leg, “Yes. But she is on our side.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow. She is restrain…Urk!” Chief Thunderhooves stopped abruptly as a pair of brass talons wrapped around his neck.

“See, I’m not their nightmare. I’m yours. This discussion is over, you will find a new territory to stampede over, or as a child of Thanatos, I will paint the orchard red,” a horrifyingly familiar tune slipped between the Thestral's lips.

The two Buffalo that had been holding her rack were now on the ground in growing puddles of red, “You know, I’m one of the Elements of Harmony. I don’t think I’ve told you yet which one,” the Thestral grinned, baring her fangs, “Efficiency. Or maybe it was Nightmare, since you seem so convinced that that’s what I am.”

Kajiik started to step forward, to stop Hammer from causing a more severe diplomatic catastrophe, but Iron caught him, “I believe Hammer has this under control.”
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“Sheriff, they’re coming! I don’t think the diplomacy happened. Sheriff!”

Braeburn shook his mane out of his eyes and pulled his hat on before stepping outside. And immediately stepping back inside, “STAMPEDE!”

Kajiik watched the Buffalo charging, through the window of the hotel, “Huh. I thought Hammer was pretty persuasive.”

“She threatened to slit their throats and leave the bodies to rot if they didn’t find someplace else to stampede,” Iron Hoof just groaned as his armored hoof hefted a shotgun, “I really, really hope we don’t have to kill them all.”

A loud clank hit the dirt beside him, “I’m looking forward to it,” Hammer’s eyes glinted, not with the sunlight, but with darkness. Her teeth dripped with saliva, forming a puddle onto the dirt, “I’ll take ‘em all on!”

Iron sighed, “Elements of Harmony, right? Kajiik?”

“That…May have been a mistranslation. There’s over a hundred of them out there, and I guessed at the specific ones there, probably missed a couple of them.”

“So what element did Hammer actually have?”

“Before we defeated the Nightmare, I don’t know yet. I’ve been cross-referencing the magical signatures, but that takes time. Now, she’s picked up the darkness itself.”
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The first Buffalo to cross the line made it four steps before his forelimbs split under the assault of Hammer’s weapon. The Thestral spun on her hooves, twirling the Warhammer with far more grace than anypony would have expected from one so devoted to brute force. Not that the grace interfered with her brute force in any way, as the heavy weapon crashed through Buffalo after Buffalo, shattering ribs and skulls alternately with hooves.

Kajiik started scraping his hooves against the dirt as bullets started to fly from the townsponies, and arrows flew from the Buffalo. A brilliant light shot up from the ground, echoing out with the sound of a titanic bell, forcing the combatants to the ground with a wall of sound. As the ringing stopped and the light faded, he noticed that only one pony still stood. Dripping blood and chunks of Buffalo meat, Hammer Soot balanced lightly on her hooves, talons thrust into the air with her hammer balanced across her shoulders. Her wings were tilted slightly down, trails of blood running off them like crimson rivers.

With a flick of her shoulders, the blood splattered across two Buffalo who were trying to stand up after the assault. Kajiik noticed a glint of black on her wrist, the fearsome color of the Nightmare, manifesting itself with her teeth fully exposed, ”CEASE!”

Fleethoof darted up and tackled the Thestral off the Buffalo corpse she was standing on, even as the sheriff stepped up onto a hay bale, “Ok, now that that’s over, can we PLEASE have a peaceful discussion about what we intend to do?”

Strongheart stepped up, leaving the other Buffalo on the ground, “We cannot change our stampeding grounds. I understand that you need these trees to survive. I would like to make an arrangement to move the trees to a different location, where they are not in anyponies way.”

“Your tribe has lived here longer, miss Strongheart. Perhaps you know of a better location.”

It was obvious that they were nervous, and trying not to cause another diplomatic incident, also known as a genocidal rampage. Which it would be if Hammer could stand up with three of her friends piled on her back, and two Buffalo to boot.

“I agree. We will collect our dead and remove them to our sacred burial lands, and convene in one week’s time to discuss the new location of the trees.”

Braeburn nodded and held up a hoof, which Strongheart took with a forced smile, and shook.

“Fare well, and I will see you in a week,” Braeburn waved as he turned to the other townsponies, “Alright, colts. Let’s get these bodies rounded up and would somepony get…Oh…Put in a telegraph for a new undertaker.”