Fallout Equestria: Heartless

by dmgd_mind

Chapter 9: Snowball

Chapter 9: Snowball

The three of us made camp under a small overhang around a mile out from Laketown. In the distance, over the tops of the dead trees around us, we could see the glow of the blaze on the horizon. It was quieter this far away, but occasionally the wind carried the frenzied noise of the burning town to our ears.

Canter and Riverbed sat on the mare’s bedroll as I put together a small fire. Soon I had a little flame going, boiling a pot of water for more dehydrated vegetables. I wanted to eat something other than dehydrated vegetables.

Our small group sat in silence for a bit as the fire crackled away. After a couple more minutes had passed Canter turned to Riverbed and spoke. I noticed the cloaked pony briefly tense at another’s voice before she loosened a bit.

“Ummm…Riverbed, hi. I know you already heard this from Joe, but I’m Canter, and he’s Night Breeze.” I scowled at Joe’s name and Riverbed turned away, the yellow glint of her eyes narrowing in the moonlight. “What? What is it?” Canter questioned.

“Joe and Daisy sold you to the council,” I replied, trying to mask the anger in my voice.

“I know. I think they were with the guards when they grabbed me,” she responded, “that is why I haven’t asked where they are. It doesn’t mean I can’t say their names though.”

I nodded with my mouth hanging slightly open. I was surprised that she had known, maybe she wasn’t as naïve as she seemed. “I’m sorry I didn’t stay with you. They wouldn’t have taken you if I was still there.”

She got up and moved over to me, nuzzling my neck as she sat on my bedroll. “It’s alright Night, you got me out. That’s what matters,” she whispered into my ear. I smiled at the feel of her breath tickling me.

Silence returned as we sat, Canter and I comfortable in each other’s presence. Riverbed picked up a flat piece of wood and scrawled something on it with her stump of charcoal, then held it up to the firelight so we could read.

You can call me River

Canter smiled and nodded, “alright River, it’s nice to meet you.” I nodded in greeting to the cloaked pony and she returned the gesture.

“If you don’t mind, why can’t you talk?” Canter asked kindly. I winced, having already guessed the answer thanks to the Laketown guard’s taunt.

River looked down, her shoulders seemed to slump. She rubbed her previous message off the wood and wrote a new one.

They cut out my tongue so I couldn’t warn ponies away.

Canter’s expression became one of sympathy. “I-I’m so sorry. That’s terrible…” she trailed off, her voice showing the sincerity in her words.

River quickly wrote something new and held her board up.

That’s ok. You didn’t know

The water had begun to boil so I poured in the food and stirred it some. I turned back to River and spoke. “Thanks for your help with getting out. Without you I wouldn’t have realized what happened to Canter in time.”

River wrote once more on her board.

Thanks for freeing me and helping me kill that bastard.

“Since it seems we will be travelling together, at least for the time being, are you willing to tell us any of your past?” Canter asked the small mare.

River nodded and spent a few minutes writing on the board, stopping occasionally to think. She finished and held it up so we could see.
I’ve been a slave at Laketown for five years. I don’t remember my life before that. I was told I have amnesia. I don’t have anyone to go back to that I know. Now, since I told you a bit about me I think it’s only fair you tell me about you.

I nodded in agreement. I had wanted Canter to keep her past behind her along with whatever pain was hidden with it, but maybe knowing more could help me protect her. I turned to the mare, her face downcast and pained from the prospect of dredging up the buried memories. I squeezed her shoulder and whispered to her. “It’s ok, I’ll go first.”

I turned back to River, giving a quick thought over what to say. “Well, I worked as a mercenary in Manehattan for a while. About a month ago I rescued Canter from a bunch of raiders,” I could just make out a sympathetic wince in River’s eyes. “Since then I’ve been doing my best to protect her. We came to Laketown so we could have a safe place to stay for a while.”

I’ve known Luna far longer than a month. Go away.

River nodded and turned expectantly to Canter. She still had a pained expression on her face. Whatever she had been through had been terrible. “If you don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to,” I whispered to her.

She shook her head. “I have to face it. I have to come to terms with it. I can’t keep running and hiding. I want to tell you. I don’t want to hide it from you.” She took a deep breath, trying to steady the shakiness in her voice, and began. “I came from a small homestead just outside of Manehattan. When I was five raiders killed my parents and…and took me.” A couple tears ran down her face. “They held me for five years, until they sold me to a slave caravan. At first I was just happy to be with the other slaves, the first ponies I had seen who didn’t want to hurt me in a long time. I…I was sold to a traveling doctor a couple months later. He used me to farm organs, he’d use his magic to grow them inside me then cut them out to sell.” She sniffed deeply as more tears flowed down her face. I gently stroked her back, trying to remind her that I was here for her. “He kept me for eight years. About…about 3 months back a group of raiders caught him. He showed them where he kept me so they let him go and took me instead. I was with those raiders when Night found me.”

She started crying openly now. I wrapped my forelegs around her, holding her tight. Inside I seethed in anger and shame. So much harm had been done to my mare, and I had almost left her to die. I sniffed, and started crying quietly as well. It was the first time I could remember crying. It felt terrible and crushing, but it also felt freeing. Riverbed got up and moved off a ways, letting us have a moment of privacy. We held each other for a long time.

Eventually our tears dried. I felt the urge to be open with Canter, inspired by her being able to share such a painful past. “Canter, I…I have to tell you something.” I began.

I’ll tell her and she’ll leave, then I can get back to work.

I choked up at the thought. If Canter knew who I was, if she knew I was the Monster of Manehattan, would she leave me? Would I be abandoned by her? I swallowed and tried to continue, but could not.

Canter sniffed, blinking away her drying tears, and looked me in the eyes. “What is it Night?” I gazed into her eyes, her beautiful purple eyes. I took a deep breath and made my choice, for better or for worse.

“I’ve been lying to you; my name is not Night Breeze.”

Yes it is.

I steeled myself and continued, “I’m Void. I’m the Monster of Manehatten.” I turned away from her and waited for her reaction. It completely caught me by surprise.

“I know.” I turned back to her, trying to think of a response and failing. She continued, “I’d heard of you from a few of the doctor’s patients. When you first came through that door I knew who you were. From what I had heard of you I knew you’d leave me. I didn’t expect you to come back.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you let me know you knew?” I asked, stunned.

“Everypony has something they want to leave behind them, something they have to come to terms with on their own time. I know that as well as anypony,” she closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss me. She sighed peacefully as her lips touched mine. She pulled back to speak again. “When you came back you were different. I could tell you wanted to stay different, so I didn’t say anything.”

I was stunned. I could not believe that Canter not only had known who I was the whole time, but accepted me and was able to look beyond my past to the new pony I had become. “I love you Canter,” I whispered, “I love you and would do anything for you.” I closed my eyes, waiting for response. My heart beat painfully in my chest as I hoped against hope that she would feel the same for me.

“I think I love you too.” She returned quietly, “I’ve never felt love before, but I think what I feel towards you is love. I feel safe around you; I feel better just being in your presence.”

I hesitated. How would Canter respond to me telling her that I knew what love felt like thanks to a dream, thanks to a voice in my head? “I,” I began, “I feel happy when you are happy. I want to protect you.”

I love you Luna. Stop. Leave me alone.

Canter briefly appeared to take on the form of the dead Goddess, but she was back to being Canter a few seconds later. I kissed her passionately and she returned the gesture with force. We held our embrace, our lips locked together, until we were interrupted by a coughing noise from across the fire.

River had returned at some point and was pointing at the pot. A large amount of the water had boiled off and the food was starting to smoke. I reluctantly broke our embrace and moved to the fire, taking the pot off. Canter blushed a little at River having seen our moment, but she was still glowing with happiness.

I spooned the food into a few bowls, handing the biggest ones to the two mares, and then started to eat. River scrawled something on her board after she had taken a few mouthfuls.

Sorry to interrupt, but I could smell it burning.
“That’s okay,” Canter answered cheerfully. Goddesses she was beautiful.

---

The rest of our meal passed uneventfully and quietly. It was around eleven when the two mares went to sleep, leaving me to first watch. Riverbed took Canter’s bedroll and the white mare curled up in mine. I smiled and moved away from the dying fire, staying in the shadows and keeping my eyes and ears perked for any sign of trouble.

Hours passed by without incident. I had stoked our fire a few times to keep the pair of mares warm and it was still glowing brightly. I was about to wake up Riverbed-she had agreed to take a shift on watch-when I heard the sound of snapping twigs a bit away.

I quietly shook the hooded mare awake; she was still wearing her cloak even while sleeping. I put a hoof to my lips, telling her to keep quiet, and then pointed to where I had heard the sound. A few more cracks came from that direction and River nodded in understanding. She followed me at a distance as I moved forward, her hooves ineptly cracking a few sticks as she attempted to move silently.

I passed a few more dead trees and saw the source of the disturbance, the unicorn that had been in Canter’s cell was trying his best to move quietly towards the campfire. He reached a fallen tree trunk and ducked behind it, peaking over and scanning the area. He cocked his head, apparently confused at Riverbed’s absence.

Kill him.

I was less than a meter behind him now. I drew my shotgun and pointed it towards him. River, still following me, stepped on another stick. The green unicorn whipped around, immediately seeing me pointing a shotgun at his head.

“GAHOHFUCKSHIT!” he yelped as he fell to the ground, covering his head in his hooves, “Don’t shoot me, don’t shoot!” He peeked out of his hooves at me, “It’s me, remember? You freed me from Laketown like six hours ago!”

“Night, what’s going on?” I heard Canter call from the campfire, having been woken by the colt’s outcry.

I holstered the shotgun and yelled back, “That unicorn from your cell tried to sneak up on us.” I bent down and bit the scruff of his neck and began dragging him towards the camp. Riverbed followed at a small distance.

“Hey, look, it’s not like that!” the pony yelped as I dragged him, “I wasn’t trying to do anything; I just was moving ahead of the group and saw a fire. I was seeing if you were friendly or not.”

I tossed him to the ground in front of the campfire and spat. He tasted like sweat and dust. “What group?” I asked, throwing a little menace into my voice for good measure.

“All the slaves who made it out of Laketown,” he answered a little shakily, “There’s almost twenty of us.”

“You actually stuck together? Didn’t you make a run for it as soon as I opened your cell?” I was confused as to why this unicorn would be helping the others.

“Well, yeah, but I was going to disable the turrets in the council compound before they could be turned on.” He answered with an air of honesty. “They would have torn us up and I’m good with computers, so I figured I should help.”

“How did you know where the controls were?” I asked, somewhat suspicious.

“No fucking clue whatsoever. I had seen the turrets as I was taken through the yard when they brought me in.” He raised his foreleg, showing a curious device worn on the limb. I recognized it as a pip-buck, the type of personal computer I had seen the Steel Rangers wearing in my dealings with them. “Thanks to this I was able to interface with the turrets and set them to target the guards.” A hint of pride had crept into his voice, overcoming the slight tremor of fear that had been present earlier.

I narrowed my eyes, then sighed and backed away from him. “Get out of here before I change my mind.”

“Wuh-wait a minute! We could really use your help.” The colt stammered. “Where are we supposed to go now?”

“Why is that my responsibility?” I asked. My patience was wearing thin as the length of time I had gone without sleep increased.

“Well, uh, we could pay you or something,” he began, trying to come up with a way to convince me to help.

“You’re escaped slaves. You don’t have money,” I stated flatly.

I was going to rebuke him again when Canter spoke up from my side, “We can’t just let them die out here,” she said softly to me, trying to stay out earshot of the unicorn. I almost started to argue, but I knew that she would get me to help in the end. I did say I would do anything for her after all, and with all that ‘anything’ covers, this wasn’t really that big of a problem.

I sighed in defeat, and then addressed the unicorn. “Fine. Take us to your companions.”