Chapter 1: Motion
Chapter 1: Motion
“Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite.”
Pepper loathed waking up in the middle of the night. Although she had grown accustomed to it, each night always seemed to bring something different. It was rarely pleasant. Opening her eyes, she saw that there was an open book in front of her. She had fallen asleep reading again. The room was dimly lit by a dying candle on a small nightstand beside the bed, its flame flickering against the dull walls. Blankets were swaddled around her, and she felt warm—hot, in fact. She threw the blankets from her and sat up straight. Bracing herself, she feared for the worst.
Was she going to vomit this time? Was she hungry for food that she couldn’t have, let alone afford? Hell, even if she got food she would probably just vomit that up after inhaling it. No, Pepper didn’t feel any of that now. She just felt nothing. Her anxiety flooded in. ‘Surely it’s got to be something,’ she thought. She touched her forehead but there was no fever. She didn’t feel any pain in her legs or back. She also didn’t feel like her bladder was going to burst.
Actually, she took that back. She needed to go—bad.
Pepper almost tripped in her haste to get to the bathroom. As much as she wanted to be careful and not fall flat on her face, she was afraid that her bladder was going to literally explode. That or she could end up with a urinary tract infection. At least, that’s the excuse she told Roger whenever he found her going at the speed of light to the bathroom during one of her midnight episodes.
Finding her destination, she planted her hind right onto the pot and let loose. She clenched her eyes and let out a rather loud moan that echoed throughout the house. Any other day of the week, she would have been embarrassed for an eternity at the thought of anypony hearing that kind of moan come from her mouth. But not today. She didn’t care. The sensation of her bladder being emptied—no, freed—coupled with the sound of urine splashing into toilet water was all the more satisfying as she writhed on the toilet seat, making sure to get it all out. When the final fluid ounces were gone, she opened her eyes and froze.
She stared at the wall, her mind processing the image laid out before her.
“There’s a fucking spider on the wall.”
She reached her hoof over to a bare roll of toilet paper all while trying to keep an eye on the eight-legged, three-centimeter long monster. Her hoof was rummaging around the side of the trash can and in the trash as well. Nothing.
“Did Roger seriously take the trash out?” she said in exasperated disbelief. She pointed another hoof at the spider, “you stay right there!” She then turned her body completely to the trash can and confirmed her suspicions. There were no rolls.
“Damnit,” she groaned. This meant that she had to do the job by covering her hooves with toilet paper and she knew that that wouldn’t completely squish the spider with one fell swoop. Not to mention that it would probably...
There was a tug. It was as swift as a poke, the feeling of butterflies fluttering in resonance with it. Pepper put a hoof on the bump that was her stomach. She froze herself in place, silencing her raging thoughts. She focused her gaze on the trash can and how empty it was. She waited for a sign, another tug. Something that would tell her that what was happening was truly happening.
And there it was again. It was subtle though distinct. If she would were doing anything else, she would have missed it. It was a push, a swoosh of some kind, like something popped inside of her. She looked down and stared at her stomach, rubbing it. A smile was able to form on her face and a tear rolled down her cheek. She couldn’t believe it.
The baby kicked.
The familiar sound of the mechanical house door swished open with a few proud hoofsteps trotting in before the door swished closed afterwards. Pepper was still on the toilet, tears streaming down her face and the brightest smile on her face. She tried to yell out to Roger and tell him the good news but all that came out were choked up gasps and hysterical giggles.
“R… Roger…!” she weakly cried out.
There was no reply back, only the shuffling of his hooves heading to the kitchen along with the rattling noises of bottles. ‘Set the damn cider down, Roger,” Pepper mentally screamed. She wished she had the composure to do the same with her own mouth. Then she steadied herself and sat up straight on the toilet seat, taking a deep breath.
“Roger!”
The rattling and hoofsteps stopped immediately. She heard the bottles clank against the floor and the hoofsteps thunder into Pepper’s direction. Roger himself turned the corner and trotted half a step into the bathroom.
“What happened, doll?” he asked. There he was, silver eyes wide open with dark circles underneath, greasy jumpsuit slightly zipped off. Alert and ready, he had a slight sense of fear of what the emergency could be. There he was, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to find the words that "the baby kicked.” She only continued to smile her smile and began to choke up with tears of joy.
“What is it?” he asked again, taking a full step into the bathroom this time. As much as he was concerned for Pepper’s safety, he was slightly concerned for his own. One too many times has he heard a screech from his wife causing him to waltz into a scene that he ended up regretting walking into. And so he took the sight in: Pepper was on the pot, trash can was overturned, nothing else was out of the ordinary.
“The baby…” Pepper finally said.
“What?” That word sent Roger to borderline panic mode, culminating all of her fears. “What about the baby?”
If something happened to him… or her. At least, Roger liked to believe that the foal was going to be a colt.
Pepper wiped away her tears, only for more to start flowing. “It… kicked,” she finally said.
“What?” Roger said in mid-breath.
“The baby. I felt it kick,” she motioned to her stomach which she promptly rubbed.
Roger let out a huge sigh of relief, leaning against the wall and rubbing his face. “Oh, wow. I thought it was something bad.”
Pepper grew a small frown on her face at the insinuation. “What do you mean by that? This is supposed to be a good thing!”
“Of course, of course it is!” The last thing Roger needed right now was a pregnancy-induced argument in the middle of the night. “I just thought that…”
He paused, staring into Pepper’s magenta irises. There she was, sitting on the toilet, tears drying on her face with cutest frown that he had ever seen. The mother of his child, as excited and frightened as he was for what might come to the little being. And there she was, waiting for him to finish his sentence.
“Forget it,” he ended up saying, walking into the bathroom. He knelt beside Pepper and smiled, “You and the baby are okay, and that’s all that matters.” He then took her into a warm, long awaited embrace.
Pepper hummed blissfully in his hug, almost sounding like a purr. “Thanks, babe.” When they pulled away from each other, she again looked at the withered stallion that was her husband, concerned. “Another long day?”
He stood up and simply sighed. “Long enough.” A thought popped into his mind, reminding him of a very important question that he had to ask Pepper. A question practically ingrained into his memory. “It’s late… are you hungry?”
A relieved exhale flew out of Pepper’s mouth. “Hungry doesn't come close to describing me right now.”
“I got some of Herb’s specialty with me.”
She jumped off the toilet with the eagerness of a foal being given her favorite treat. “Yes, please! Yes, please” she said excitedly, getting up a bit too fast for her hooves to follow. She ended up tripping up into Roger’s side.
“Woah, woah, there, miss two-in-one. Use foal steps now,” he said, supporting her weight with his own.
“You know I hate that nickname,” she said as the two both slowly moved out of the bathroom to the living room.
“I know you do.”
“Then why do you call me that?”
“Because you’re cute when you’re angry.”
Pepper flushed a deep red and ducked her head slightly. “Shut up and give me food already,” she whined.
“Right away, doll,” Roger chuckled.
Pepper smothered her face into Roger’s jumpsuit in embarrassment. It had his sweaty scent on it. If she wasn’t so hungry, she could actually take a second to enjoy the aroma. Instead, her eyes focused on the first thing she could see on his suit: a large number “98”.
“98” stood for Stable 98, their home. Stable 98 was where they lived and they couldn’t asked for a greater abode. It protected them from the dangers of the wasteland beyond. Whatever ‘danger’ was out there, anyway.
-- # --
Danger. That was the only word that buzzed through Gust’s mind as he walked further into the pitch black cave. Despite having several armed ponies behind him, he couldn’t shake this sense of unease. The way ahead was barely lit by the torches the group was carrying. Deeper in the cavern, Gust could have sworn a shiny object was reflecting the light back. They were getting closer to the end.
I should have never brought them here. Gust thought to himself. He pointed a hoof toward the shiny reflections. “See that? We’re coming right on it.” He could feel a presence whisk up to his side, a pony peering off to where he pointed. A levitating torch flew in front of this pony, revealing a tad bit more of the cave and the shiny object beyond. The group took a few hoofsteps more and there it stood before them.
A huge circular vault door, it looked menacingly cold. It contrasted the soil cavern with its weary gray steel. In the center of the door was a large painted number, signifying that this door, that this ‘Stable’, was one of many.
Stable 98, Gust thought to himself. He remember hearing the occasional word through the grapevine that this was here, though he never check the place himself. Mountain sides were notorious for having unwanted surprises, but their path up here was relatively calm save for the windy weather.
From what Gust has heard, these Stables were meant to preserve pony life when the great war occurred about two hundred years ago or something like that. The land was once a place called Equestria before it was rained upon by "Balefire bombs". The ideas of the bombs really stuck with Gust, mainly because of how absurd the tales of them were. They apparently set fire to the land and burnt everything to a crisp, leaving it the sickly radioactive green and charred black that it is today. Gust couldn't bring himself to disprove what he heard though. He was born in this Equestrian Wasteland--as it were--and he was fairly certain that he was going to die in it. Might as well not waste a breath about a land long forgotten. No chances of it coming back any time soon.
Gust gazed at the large door with a curious eye. What stories did this Stable have, if any? In Gust's experience, he found Stables there were either opened and had nothing inside, its denizens long gone--either literally or figuratively, or were completely sealed shut with no hope of any outsider getting in. Yet rumors of loot and fortune within these Stables always persisted among wastelanders who didn't know any better. These Stable were 'supposed' to be opened and release the ponies inside to procreate and repopulate the land, but Blueberry had a different suspicion for this Stable entirely.
There was an external control panel, scooted off to the side of the steel behemoth. “Perfect,” said the mare beside Gust. She motioned with the torch for the few technicians of the group to work their magic on it. They pulled out flashlights--the batteries too precious to be used on anything else--and began their mission. Speaking of which, Gust had finished his.
He turned to the mare beside him, one Blueberry Macaron, and wanted to make this fact apparent. “I was never here,” he told her.
Blueberry glanced over to Gust with a satisfied smirk. “I didn’t even know you were in the region.”
Gust looked back toward the door and the three ponies hounding over the panel’s buttons and wires. The stable door itself had two dead overhead lights that had obviously been out of use for a long time. “I still have my doubts,” he grunted.
“You’d be surprised,” Blueberry replied, sticking her levitating torch into the ground.
Gust wasn’t going to budge on his view of things and he knew that Blueberry wasn’t going to budge of hers either. “I won't hold my breath,” he said. He could heard huddled whispers of the three techies working in front of him and the dozen ponies chatting or checking their weapons behind him. His anxiety of the situation hadn’t changed since they began this little trip of theirs. He would rather leave than see whatever trouble Blueberry and her crew would get into. Best case scenario, he could be halfway to Daring Dale enjoying the caps he's been given while she's picking over scraps and dust. Though he admitted, seeing her disappointed face was a bounty in and of itself. But some intuition in his bowels kept his hooves glued to where he stood. He felt like he was soon going to regret it.
“And what if…” he started to say to Blueberry. He saw that her eyes were fixating on the door with an ambition that would cut through it entirely if it could. “What if you do find something? This Enclave treasure trove of yours?”
“Treasure trove. Outpost. Waste dump. Doesn’t matter. We’re going to benefit all the same,” she said oh-so-confidently.
Like a bad omen, one of the technicians yelped. He jumped away from the panel, clutching his hoof. One of the other techies started to chuckle rather loudly and said, “that’s what ya get for touching an ‘xposed wire, ya dolt!”
Blueberry glared knives in their direction as Gust leaned over carefully and whispered, “are you sure your scouts spotted two ‘Enclave’ air carriages and weren’t on Dash?”
“Damnit, Gus. Stop being a prick,” she said almost forcefully to his face, causing him to flinch back. “You know, the only reason why I haven’t skewered you by now is because you know the lay of the land and you have a funny face.”
“If that’s your way of saying that I’m your friend then the feeling’s mutual. Except you don’t know shit about the land so what does that make you?” Gust shot back.
Blueberry shook her head in disgust and walked in the other direction, muttering obscenities under her breath. Gust knew he won this battle, yet the war was far from over He looked over at the panel again, wondering if the three clowns were making any progress at all. “How’s that door coming along, lads?”
The pony who got shocked answered first. “You could say that we’re about halfway done or so,” he said, unsure of the estimation himself.
“We’re closing to having Pipes over here undergo shock therapy, let alone opening a door,” said the same chuckling pony beside him. Pipes was obviously offended, nudging against him to stop.
The third techie of the three was the silent one, examining the panel in its entirety with her levitating flashlight. She looked rather annoyed by her companions, probably wishing to get this door open sooner rather than later. Her unicorn magic slowly and meticulously moved around the wires, searching for the one that could override the door. At least, that’s what Gust assumed she was doing. He didn’t know anything about wiring or programming. He knew how to force an entrance if he had the right amount of gunpowder but nothing was going to get through this door.
He turned around to see that Blueberry hadn't returned to his side yet. Instead, he saw her hunched over beside the cave’s wall, mane covering her face. Gust gave a light chuckle walking over to her, “Oh, come on, Blue. Did I hurt your feelings?”
“BLEEEGHH!”
Blueberry loudly heaved yellow mesh onto the ground beneath her. Some of the liquid jumped onto Gust’s leg. “What the f--” He instinctively hopped backward to avoid anymore splash damage. “Blue?!”
She put a hoof up after emptying her stomach while another hoof wiped the mane out of her face. Some nearby ponies already started to gather around her when she yelled, “Nothing! It’s nothing.” She brought her head up with fire in her eyes, staring every which direction to her concerned subjects. “Stay. On. Guard. Now!” They all slowly but surely backed away, back into their defensive positions--if that’s what you could call them. The techies didn’t even notice that this had happened. They were still messing around with whatever they were messing around with.
Once Blueberry saw every concerned pony walk away, she then clutched her stomach and leaned against the cave wall. Gust wiped off the puke on his leg and approached her, cautious as ever. “Are... you okay?”
“Fuck you, Gus,” she breathed with a burning intensity.
“What…?” Gust asked, completely caught off guard.
“You heard me. Fuck you.” She brought her head up, her face pale and her mouth quivering. She tried to muster all the strength she could into her next words. “Fuck you stallions. All of you.”
Gust was speechless. He didn’t know what she was even talking about nor how to respond to what she said.
“Take away all the guns and armor and radiation and what do you get? Animals.”
“Blue, what the hell are you talking about?”
“All you do is fuck when it pleases you and you go onto the next one when you get bored. And whenever some other stallion shows up and claims to have a bigger dick than yours, you get violent.” Blueberry’s anger in her eyes turned into a moment of fear as her head drooped back down. Gust stepped backward, not wanting more bile on himself.
“BLEH--” She was able to suppress a dry heave. Blueberry shivered for a few more seconds before bringing her head back up and resting it on the wall behind her. She was taking deep inhales, still holding onto her stomach. “...and we have to deal with the mess.”
Gust didn’t know where to begin with Blueberry. She needed water and she needed to start making sense. Yet his train of thought was interrupted by the techies yelling behind him.
“Here’s the wire!”
“No! Not until we’re given the word--”
PZZZT
The two dead overhead lights came alive and flashed spinning yellow lights. An alarm could be heard going off from within the door as a loud mechanical engine roared along with it. “Oh no,” the mare techie said, breaking her previous silence.
Gust staggered back from the door as he turned back to Blueberry. She was just as stunned as he was, staring at the door with awe. But that awestruck face disappeared, the fire returned to her eyes and she was alive again. She jumped from the wall and started yelling out orders to the ponies to set up in the positions that they were drilled into doing. The technicians ran from the panel to go behind the entire group, scared of what they had just caused. Bluebbery then levitated out her own automatic rifle and faced the door.
“Now we can validate those doubts of yours, Gus!” she shouted, trying to project above the blaring door alarm. She laughed as she finished the statement.
Gust turned towards the stable door and began to slowly step away from it. All that unease and anxiety was now coming to a head. He should left minutes ago. Why am I still here? I did what I promised now I can leave, he tried to tell himself. As much as he wanted to turn tail and run, that same nagging feeling returned and froze his body in place. It was as if he wasn’t in control of his own body, merely a witness to a person that was absent of him.
Was it his pride that was getting the better of him? He couldn’t dare dream of being known as the stallion that fled in this situation. No, it wasn’t that. Was it curiosity hidden beneath all his skepticism that kept him there? Maybe he wanted to prove himself wrong and see what actually lied behind this pile of steel.
Whatever emotion it was, it didn’t relieve him of the word quickly resurfaced to the forefront of his thinking: Danger. Danger. Danger.
--#--
The peach was almost to Pepper’s mouth when she heard it. Outside of their room door, she could hear Geek the robot screaming out of its speakers: “DANGER. DANGER. DANGER. EVACUATE YOUR ROOMS. DANGER. DANGER…” the sound dipping in volume as it floated down the hall.
Pepper met Roger’s eyes as they were sitting at their small round dining table, both with the same perplexed expression. “The stars is that all about?” Roger wondered as he got up from his chair.
Pepper sighed and rolled her eyes, “Probably some drill that Fritzer didn’t mind to tell us about. Again,” she said with a slight hiss. She brought the last piece of the peach into her mouth and bit into it. Juicy sweet goodness filled her senses, almost making her forget that a faint siren was going off at the same time too.
“But the drill was supposed to be for next week,” Roger replied almost absentmindedly. His mind was trying to rationalize what was happening at the moment. Isn't the drill too early? Did Rye and Catch set it off as a prank again? He made his way to the door, hoof on the open button. Or is this… No. This couldn’t be the real deal. It can’t be. He hit the button and the mechanical door whished open. At the same time, a familiar noise was coming down the hall again.
“...danger… danger. Evacuate your rooms. This is NOT A DRILL. EVACUATE YOUR ROOMS.” Geek almost floated past Roger but he stuck a wing out and blocked his path.
“Geek! What’s going on?” Roger asked, absentmindness completely gone by now.
Geek halted in the air; he was a floating orb with three mechanical appendages extending out from the bottom. He addressed Roger by rotating one of his three robotic eyes toward him. “Sir Bell,” the alarmed commands were now replaced with a formal speech and delicate accent, like that of a butler. “It is imperative to inform you that there has been an unauthorized and premature opening of the stable door entrance. Unapproved access dictates that a mandatory evacuation occur, with all stable citizens and personnel being transported to Fort Sky Ice.”
Roger stood there motionless. He simply stared into the glowing orange light for an eye that Geek had, trying to come to terms with the news he was given.
Pepper moved away from the table and was now by the door now. She asked with a fearful voice, unsure of what Geek had just said, “Roger? What did he say? Evacuation?”
Geek continued on with his protocol talk, “I implore you and the missus to take what light provisions you have and walk, do not run, to EVAC SITE B. It is down the corridor to your left. Simply follow the winding path to the east wing until you have reached the medical bay then turn left.”
Roger still stood there locked up like a board. His mind was aflame with danger but his body didn't move. It couldn't.
“Roger?” Pepper called his name, this time louder. The concern in her voice was masked over a rising anger.
“If you come to the Pipbuck Technician’s Workshop, you have gone too far,” Geek finished.
Pepper had had it now. She wanted answers and no one was listening to her. “Geek! Roger!” she screamed. “What is going on?!”
BOOM
An explosion ripped through the hall from the west wing. “SHIT," Roger yelled. Pepper shuddered from the blast and peered around the door to see where it came from. Down the way, black smoke filled the corridor. Pepper heard the screams of other ponies echoing along the hall along with repeating gunfire. She also heard loud hoofsteps charging in their direction.
“Oh shit shit shit!” Roger said under his breath, adrenaline and fear filling his bloodstream. Survival instincts finally took over and he turned to his wife and grabbed her leg, pulling her toward him. “We need to go, now!”
Roger snatched Pepper off her hooves so fast she didn’t even have time to gasp. He threw her onto his back, forelegs and hindlegs dangling on each side of him. It felt surreal to Pepper, like she was floating in midair, away from the smoke and her home. All she could do was look back toward the dark smoke and Geek.
Geek’s robot eyes twisted and stared at the billowing smoke, “Detecting small firearms. Hostile intruders, I dare say!” Out of the robot’s three legs came a small pistol firing mechanism.
BANG BANG BANG
Pepper flinched and clench her ears as Geek fired off three shots toward the smoke and whatever lied beyond it. Roger was now almost to the corner where they needed to turn to get to the medical bay. Then it was a straight shot to the evac carriages. I hope they're still there and they haven't left already, Roger thought with a panic.
POPPOPPOPPOPPOPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOP
Roger fell onto the floor, Pepper slid off beside him. “AGH!!!” He clutched his flank and felt a warm liquid running down his leg. He looked at his hoof and saw blood. I just got shot in the ass.
BANG BANG
POPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOP
Roger turned himself and looked back down the hall to see Geek collapse onto the floor with a loud CLANK. There was a brief silence before two ponies walked through the smoke, an earth pony and a unicorn, both wielding weapons.
Roger’s heart raced. He had to get Pepper out of there. “Pepper, get up. We need to go!” he shouted as he was trying to get back to his hooves, albeit excruciating to do so. There was no response.
Roger looked over to her. “Pepper?”
He saw her lying on the ground, mane strewn all over her face. A pool of blood was forming underneath her.
--#--
Blueberry panted and wiped off some sweet from her brow. “Almost got me there, bud,” Blueberry mockingly proclaimed as she approached the dead Mister Handy robot. “Can’t shoot at something you can’t see, huh?” She pointed her rifle at the crumpled heap.
POPPOPPOP
“Ru! Thave yer ammo,” Gust snapped. His speech muffled by the revolver in his mouth. “Dere cood ‘e more...”
Speak of the nightmares, there were two pegasi at the opposite side of the hall. The pegasus closest was starting to get up and the furthest was lying down next to the wall, not moving. Gust aimed his revolver at the closest one, tongue on the trigger. He grunted loudly to get Blueberry’s attention, eyeing the moving pegasus in case he would brandish a weapon.
“Oh damn,” Blueberry finally realized the pegasi were there too and levitated her rifle back in aiming position. “HEY. DON’T MOVE.”
The pegasus had gotten onto his hooves but was wincing, obviously hurt. Blueberry was advancing paces on him slowly. Gust followed suit.
“You heard me, chicken wings! Don’t move a damn inch!” she shouted again.
The pegasus stared at Gust and Blueberry before looking behind himself toward his companion. Gust knew what he wanted to do. “Ru! Hith fwend ith hur!” he tried to say and prevent anypony else from getting meaninglessly shot, but Blueberry didn’t hear him.
“I see you trying to move! What did I say?!”
“Ru!” Gust tried to reach a hoof over to her to make her stop. But in corner of his eye, his fear came true. He saw the pegasus turn and run.
“Fucker!” Blueberry hissed.
POPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOP
The pegasus tumbled down and fell onto his side, almost making to his partner. Gust spat the revolver into his hoof holster. “What the fuck was that?” he exclaimed.
Blueberry didn’t listen, she only turned around and yelled out commands. “Hall clear! Move down and keep pressing! Take any alive if you can.” Three ponies then went sprint past her and Gust, going further down the hall.
“Seriously, Blue,” he forcefully pushed her. “You can’t be doing that!” Blueberry reeled back and glared at Gust, rubbing her side. Her eyes darted from him to floor, her mind contemplating on a thought. She turned her head back forward and the three other ponies stopped to check on the bodies before continuing on around the corner. Once Blueberry saw this, she then took off running towards the two down pegasi, never replying back to him. Gust sighed heavily as he tried to keep pace with her.
They both trotted up to the two and slowed to a halt. The male pegasus had several bullet holes in his flank and back. One bullet went through his head. “What did I say, chicken wings?” Blueberry muttered the question again, mostly to herself.
Gust walked around and examined the pegasus completely while Blueberry rubbed her face and took a breath. Gust hoped she was regretting what she did. The pegasus himself looked like a simple ‘grease-muzzle’. He probably had a long day what with the dark circles underneath his eyes. Above all, he had no weapons on his person--if you count the wrench on his belt to be a weapon. “He didn’t even have a gun, Blue,” Gust said angrily.
Blueberry looked at Gust with a scowl. “How was I supposed to know that he wasn’t going to run down the hall to go and get one?”
“We could have taken him prisoner or-- or-- at least could have talked to him.”
“Talk? Yeah, I’m sure anypony would be willing to talk after what we just did right in front of them.”
“I can’t believe I brought you here, you homicidal maniac! I should have turned your dumb flank back around when you--”
“Roger…!” The two stopped dead in their rant and looked over to the other pegasus. The mare was lying on her side, her hooves were scraping against the wall as if she was trying to escape a danger she thought was right behind her. “R… R… Roger…!” Her eyes were closed but tears with flowing down from them.
Blueberry almost had her rifle pointed straight at her before Gust quickly went over to the pegasus and knelt beside her. “Miss? Are you alright, miss?” Gust was afraid it was a futile question, but this… he couldn’t stand seeing this. He tried to roll her onto her back. “Are you hurt?”
The mare kept mouthing the same word: "Roger... Roger... Roger..." As Gust's eyes scanned her body for blood, he saw it. The mare had a rather large and protruding belly, where there was also a hole with blood and a jelly-like fluid spilling out of it.
"Celestia alive..." Gust put his hooves on it in a flash, applying pressure. He pushed as firmly as he could on the wound, his hooves now feeling warm and slimy. “Blue! Give me some first aid, now!” He turned his head to see Blueberry standing there with her mouth open and eyes dilated. She was completely mortified. “DAMN IT, BLUE. FIRST AID, NOW!” he yelled louder.
That was enough to snap Blueberry out of her trance. She shook her head and set down her gun. She then opened up her saddlebags and hovered over a first aid kit. Opening it, magical bandages, potions, and the like were inside.
“Give her the potion before we lose her!” he commanded again.
“She’s… she’s…” Blueberry hesitated with her words.
“GIVE HER THE FUCKING POTION!”
Blueberry levitated the healing bottle to the mare’s lisps. However, her telekinesis was faltering due to her own fear. The bottle shivered and shook, pouring unsteadily into her mouth.
“Come on, come on!” he still held his hooves on the hole but blood still flowed out. “After you pour the entire thing,” Gust realized the state his partner was in, as scared if not more than he was. He tried to be more gentle but assertive all the same. “I need you to lift her up so we can put the bandages on. Okay?”
“Okay…” Blueberry meekly replied back.
The mare’s head then tilted to the side, causing the potion that was in her mouth to spill over onto the floor.
“Shit! Hold her head up! Hold her head up!” Gust shouted.
Blueberry was quicker this time, having been brought out of her stasis. She used her telekinesis to softly bring the pegasus’ head back up and let the potion flow down again. The terror was still ever so present on her face.
“Come on! Stay with us, miss! Stay with us!” he said again. He turned his head to look around the hall. The place was a mess. Smoke was still streaming in, the Mister Handy robot was sparking a few wires, and the stallion pegasus’ gray eyes were fixated on the mare he was trying to save. He turned to look back at the mare, her skin looking incredibly pale and her stomach felt deflated. “No, no, no! Come on! Not this! Damn it all!” He words echoed down along the corridor. the siren was distant, the gunfire was faint, and the screams were nonexistent. Gust thought it sounded like he was in the emptiest place in the world.
I should have never brought them here.
A long time ago, in the land of Equestria, there was a valley that was covered with a rich grassland, with the widest prairies and with countless fruit trees as far as the eye could see. Tucked away from the rest of the world, it was a hidden sanctuary full of life and peace for ages. Until one day, a great darkness entered the valley. No one knows what it was but it took the very nature of the land and corrupted it, turning the valley barren. Wicked monsters appeared wreaking havoc wherever they saw fit, while the land’s inhabitants betrayed against one another in a brutal, unforgiving conflict. They fought for power, for land, for glory, or simply for survival, to fight for another tomorrow. Life was indeed a struggle. But there was hope. A hope that the valley would be returned to its former glory and made anew. The name of this place, lost in the annals of history, was referred to as...
The Uppermost Valley