A story set in post-war Equestria, told from the perspective of a mare named Benchmark.
After being forced from their village, Benchmark and Embershine, two unicorn mares, resign themselves to a life on the road. Wandering from place to place, taking what jobs they can to make ends meet. This story will be told from the perspective of the mare that it's named after and takes place roughly seven years before the events of Kkat's Fallout: Equestria.
This story is not intended to be anything particularly ambitious, merely my own little addition to the now rather colourful world of Fo:E.
Smoke, I could smell smoke. My eyes shot open as the thundering sound of the first explosion ripped through the quiet of what must have been early morning.
The fog in my head was drowned out by the sudden cacophony of automatic weapons and explosives from outside. I could hear screaming ponies, all suddenly awoken by the noise. I could hear Tracks shouting something, but it was muffled and I was too groggy to make it out.
Finally I managed to drag myself to the door of my shack, head spinning, in time to be blown forward by the force of another explosion. Splinters peppered my flanks and back as half of my shack was obliterated. I felt the flames lick at my tail as a tumbled forward, the air forced from my lungs as I tried to stand. I screamed as a sharp pain shot through my leg. I didn’t know if it was broken or just sprained. What I did know for sure was that it hurt, a lot.
My ears were ringing as I forced myself to move, where? I didn’t know, only that I had to get away from what ever was causing all of this.
I caught sight of the body of my neighbour. Half of him was missing, replaced with a scorched bleeding mess where his lower half used to be. It was then that it finally clicked in my hazy mind; we were under attack!
A sudden terrifying thought hit me as I began to look around franticly. “EMBER!” I called out desperately, as I limped towards where her shack was, or where was supposed to be. My heart stopped as I saw what remained of it. It must have taken a direct hit as that remained was a burning pile of scattered rubble.
I looked around frantically. “No, no, no…” I felt numb as another wave of explosions sounded at the other end of the town, a steady rhythmic thumping, each followed by an ear splitting BOOM.
I tried to dig into the rubble, but the fire around it was too intense. I yelped as a puff of flame licked at my shoulder, scorching my coat and forcing me to back away.
My rump hit the earth as another barrage of shots peppered the buildings next to me. I heard a mare scream and another volley of explosions as I stared into the flames. A voice, far off in the chaos snapped me back to reality, a wonderfully familiar voice, one only an instant ago I had thought id never hear again. “BENCH! BENCHMARK! Where are you? BE-” Her words were cut off by another wave of gunfire and my heart froze again. My head snapped around to where it had come from, and I saw her. A small orange mare, silhouetted against the fire with tears streaming down her face. She was galloping towards me.
Relief flooded over me as she reached me, embracing me and holding me tight as yet another thunderous explosion demolished the building in front of us. The building had once acted as our school, hospital even as a jail at one point. Seeing it destroyed seemed to snap me out of my mental paralysis. “We have to go!”
With Ember supporting me, we half limped, half galloped away from the burning wreck of what, for so long, had been our home, and made for the relative safety of the darkness, away from the burning walls and shacks of Trackerton, and into the unknown of the wasteland.
Who knew tables could make such good pillows? I sure as hell didn’t, at least not until this morning, when I dragged myself into what constituted as this town’s Saloon and collapsed into the nearest seat. Ember was talking beside me, something about caps and a job, probably important. I was too tired to care. My head ached, actually my whole body ached and it hurt, unsurprisingly. Did I mention I was fucking tired?
I should probably explain how I’d gotten myself into this state, it’s a pretty long story and I can’t remember all of it. So I’ll just fill you in on the most important details that I can remember.
It started with a simple fetch and return job. I say simple because that’s how the guy that gave it to us put it. But, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, fetching “Just a silly little book that two capable merc-mares, like yourselves, should find easy to retrieve!” turned out to be a lot harder than it sounded…
“Are we lost?” Ember inquired behind me as we trudged along the same small riverbank that we must have gone past at least twice in the past hour. We had been on the hoof for the better part of a day and the sun was starting to get low, above the thin cloud cover.
“Yes.” I replied flatly. It was the third time she had asked that, at first I denied it, hoping that she wouldn’t press the issue and that we would find our way eventually. But she didn’t, so when she asked again I simply dropped the act and told her straight. Yes, we were lost.
The problem wasn’t that we didn’t know where we were going, or even that we didn’t have a map, the problem was that between us and our destination were miles and miles of dry rocks, dust and canyons, that all looked the same and provided no discernable landmarks to navigate by. Despite this my Pipbuck (well Ember’s Pipbuck technically, but I was the one who was wearing it) told us we were in a place called “The Macintosh hills.”
In theory our goal was somewhere in the area, but the stallion who had given us the job has neglected to give us any info other than “Its in a small hut in the Macintosh Hills, I’m sure it will be easy to find, it’s just by a large pile of rocks at the end of a gully.” which was very helpful, or would have been if the Macintosh Hills weren’t fucking massive, and didn’t all look the fucking same. As I’m sure you can tell, I was starting to get irritable.
After passing the same amusingly phallic shaped rock a few times the joke was starting to wear thin. I was getting more annoyed, Ember’s mood wasn’t too good either.
“He said a hut right?” She grumbled. “Yes, by some rocks.” I replied evenly, gesturing to the countless stony masses around us. She sighed and continued. “So, like… wouldn’t it be somewhere near water? Its kind of a desert out here.” She had a point, but there was just one problem. “Do you see any water? This river’s been dry for miles” There was a pause. “No, but like, the river can’t be dry everywhere, and anyone who lived here before the war would need water, which is probably by the river somewhere. All we gotta do is follow it until-”
A shot rang out in the distance. “What was that?” Ember asked. I gave her a dry look, which was about the only kind of look I could manage in this heat. “A gun.” She returned my look and opened her mouth to counter but I cut her off. “Which means ponies, which could mean someone who can direct us.” I turned and headed towards where the shot had come from. Ember fell in beside me, matching my pace.
“What if they aren’t very friendly?” She asked, panting slightly. Her smaller frame was giving her trouble matching my speed, especially in the heat. I’d have to make sure she got a proper rest tonight, which probably meant me taking watch duty for the second night in a row. But if it meant keeping her from passing out in the middle of a desert I wasn’t going to complain. “If they look like trouble we won’t go up to them, besides if it’s raiders or something there would be more shots.” My logic wasn’t particularly sound, I know, but we were both too hot and bothered to press the issue, or, for that matter, to continue the conversation.
You’d think that the sky being covered by a blanket of clouds would lead to a desert like this being cooler, and i'm sure compared to what it was before the clouds it was. The problem was that the clouds had never been very thick, for what ever reason, around the macintosh hills, which led to uncomfortably humid summers and dismal, cold winters. It also meant that in the summer months it rarely rained, which just made it worse for any poor soul out on a hiking trip. Walking through it had been bad enough but it turned out trotting was even worse, who’d have guessed? Soon we had to stop to catch our breath and take a drink, which lead to another problem, water.
“Uh… Bench? How much water you got?” Ember lifted a rather light looking canteen in her magic. “I’m sorta out…” I floated my own canteen to my ear and gave it a light shake. It was barely half full. We had started the journey with several bottles of water each with the canteens as backup. If we were out of water we were in trouble. And that meant getting to whoever had fired that shot might be our only chance of survival. Which was a cheery thought.
Wordlessly I floated my canteen over to Ember and slung it around her neck. Before she could protest I turned and continued walking. I knew she wasn’t happy about it, but we both knew that protesting wouldn’t get her anywhere. We carried on walking in silence.
After about fifteen minutes we reached a small gully that was flanked by large, reddish boulders. I motioned to ember to stay low behind me as I cautiously peered down into it. At first I couldn’t spot anything out of the ordinary, it was the same colour as the rest of the dusty soil and boulders, rusty orange with the occasional grey rock.
On my second pass I spotted a dark patch a little way along the gully floor. It seemed like it was emanating from what I first took to be another rock, but it was different than the others. Instead of rusty brown it was a grayish beige and I could just make out a streak of colour on one end that could be a tail.
I turned to Ember. “Looks like a body.” She frowned and peered over my shoulder. “We should take a closer look, they could be still alive” She had a point. I took another cautious look towards it. It could have just been a heat haze, but I almost thought I could see it breathing.
“lets see if we can get a little closer… stay quiet and low, ok?” I gave Ember a serious look. It was entirely possible that this was a trap, an injured pony in the middle of a large trench with no one else in sight? Maybe I was just paranoid, but this had a lot of potential for an ambush.
We crept along the top of the ridge until it evened out enough for us to slip down into it. The gully was a few hundred meters long, and curved slightly. From where we were we couldn’t see the body, but we knew where it was. We kept low and slipped from boulder to boulder until we were close enough to get a better look at it. Sure enough it was a pony, lying in a pool of his or her own blood. The soil around them was a dark brown from where it had soaked in. Where they lay they had their back to us, so it was hard to tell their gender. There was a large hole in their flank that was still bleeding slowly. From where we were we could see that they were still breathing, though it was very slow and uneven.
I felt Ember looking at me as I scanned the rest of the gully. There was still no one else in sight. “We gotta help them!” ember whispered franticly, opening her saddlebags. I didn’t have to look to tell what her face was like; I already knew the look she was giving me. It was the ‘I don’t care what you say I’m doing it anyway’ look. I sighed and turned to her as she began to search her bags for bandages. “We cant just run over there, there might be-“ I stopped abruptly as I spotted something moving on the lip of the gully above us.
Wordlessly I grabbed ember and pulled her further behind the rock we were hiding behind. She was smart enough not to protest, and instead kept her head down as I drew my pistol. My eyes were locked on the ridge above, scanning it for even the slightest movement. I froze as my eyes locked with another pair, peering over the ridge. For the briefest of moments we stared each other down before the other pair’s owner quickly darted their head back out of sight.
I felt the sudden urge to bolt, but suppressed it. Years in the wasteland had taught me to keep cool in situations like this, but I couldn’t deny that I was a little freaked. “What is it?” Ember whispered as she drew her shotgun, it was old and well used, Both barrels had countless dings and dents and one of the hammers was stiff, but it had saved her life countless times and was probably about to save it again.
“Come on!” I said as I made a break for the way we had come. She kept pace as we rounded the bend and made a B-line for the slope we had come down. I heard hooves on the dry earth above us and increased my pace. The last thing we needed was to be cornered here, with barely any cover and nowhere to run but back.
“GATCHA!” A raspy voice shrieked as something leaped down in front of us, It was a unicorn, he had a rusty revolver and was dressed in ragged barding with random bits of wood and metal stuck to it that I think were supposed to constitute as amour. They didn’t do a very good job. Ember’s shotgun barked as one of its barrels spat its contents into his skull, turning it into a fine red mist, as the other members of the raiding party slid down to attack us.
An earth pony with a spiked helmet charged at me with her head lowered, screaming something about feeding me my spleen, or something. What ever it was I didn’t care as I opened fire putting two rounds in her chest, before diving to the side. Her body thumped wetly against the side of the gully, propelled by its remaining momentum, as I turned to face the other two raiders. There was another unicorn, brandishing a bat with a few nails in it, the other was an earth pony, holding what looked like a meat cleaver in his mouth.
He lunged at Ember, flailing his head wildly in an attempt to slash at her. She tried to bring her shotgun round to get a shot on him, but his friend with the bat knocked it aside. Both leaped at her in unison as I brought up my pistol.
Time seemed to slow as I took aim at the unicorn. My shot hit him in the temple and his head snapped to the left as his corpse crumpled in front of his comrade, tripping him and sending him tumbling. He hit the ground hard, dropping his meat cleaver. He stumbled to his hooves, turning around to lunge at Ember again.
Her shotgun barked a second time. Her aim was off, but she still caught him in the leg, taking most of it off. He fell to the dirt and screamed. “FUUCK! YOU BITCH! FUCK YOU!” He roared, clutching his crippled leg. Ember’s horn lit up and glowed brightly, a brilliant, methane blue aura surrounding it. The raider ignored it and kept screaming. “I’M GONNA FUCK YOU WITH YOUR OWN HORN!” It flared as a gout of flame spat from the end, engulfing the screaming pony. His words became screams as he burned, thrashing and rolling in the dirt as he desperately tried to put himself out. His curses quickly becoming screams and gasps.
Ember watched silently as he rolled around, fruitlessly trying to extinguish the magical flames. “Ember…” My voice seemed to break her trance, and with it the spell. The flames surrounding the stallion vanished and he curled into a ball. She stared at him in shock for a few moments, before taking a step back. “Ember, look at me.” Her eyes snapped back to mine. “You ok?” It was a stupid question but it was enough to break her trance fully. “I, uh… Y-yeah I’m fine”
She gulped and sat down, her eyes averted from the still writhing raider. I raised my gun and put a bullet in his head, finishing him quickly. I looked back to Her. She didn’t look good. It was always the same when she used her talent against another pony. It almost seemed like she didn’t have all the control over it that she should. But I would discuss it later, at times like these it was best to distract her, give her something else to think about and let her calm down. “Come on” I said, holstering my gun and gesturing to the gully. She nodded and followed me as I made my way back along it, towards the injured pony.
When we reached them, we found that she was a mare, and that she was in a very bad way. She had been shot in the leg and had lost a lot of blood. Dark spots in the dust indicated that she must have limped her way into the gully before collapsing here from blood loss or exhaustion, probably both.
Ember pulled out some bandages while I uncorked a healing potion. Hopefully we were in time, she was still breathing, which was a plus but her breaths were painfully slow. I wasn’t a medical pony but I was sure she wouldn’t be able to walk her way out of here, even with a few potions inside her. This was not going to be easy.
“Looks like we have two options.” I mumbled as Ember began to bind the mare’s leg with a length of bandage. “We can give her a potion and leave her in some shade and hope she wakes up...” Ember scowled, I knew she wouldn’t like that suggestion. “Or we somehow drag her to the nearest town and hope they have a doctor, and are friendly.” We sat in silence for a while, assessing our options. Ember set about dressing the mare’s leg and eventually spoke up. “We could try to help her ourselves.” She looked up at me, her eyes betraying the question. “Are you a doctor?” I asked sarcastically. She frowned again and looked back to the unconscious mare.
She was quite small, and had some kind of device as her cutie mark. I wasn’t sure what it was, so Ember was even less likely to know. She had barely any gear, I assumed the raider’s had taken it at first, but all they had were their barding, their weapons and a rusty canteen each, which were as good as empty. They weren’t, but there was no way we were drinking from a raider’s canteen, besides the obvious ew factor we didn’t know if they had added anything else to their water, or if it was even clean in the first place.
The little mare didn’t have a canteen of her own, which may have factored into her unconsciousness. Wounded in the desert, with no water and raiders on her tail? Luck was obviously not one of her strongest traits.
Ember was almost finished bandaging so I uncorked the healing potion I had on me and gently pored some over the bandages. I then floated the potion over to ember so she could give it to the mare to drink while I held her up. Propping her against the wall of the gully we started to poor some down her throat and eventually we managed to feed her about half of the potion, it was slow going, but at least she was drinking it.
The sun was beginning to set by the time we made camp. We had opted to care for her ourselves, which wouldn’t have been so bad if we knew what we were doing, but the reality was that all we had going for us in terms of medical knowledge was basic first aid. However, we realized it was either this or leaving her to die, something Ember wouldn’t let me do even if I wanted to. So our hooves were tied, this mare’s life was now our responsibility, at least until she woke up.
We would have made a fire but the only thing around that we could burn were raider corpses, and I wasn’t about to remind Ember of her episode earlier, so we opted not to. We huddled up close to the side of the gully, wrapped in an old blanket that comprised our usual sleeping arrangements. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed, but it was all we could carry with us without a cart, and neither of us was really strong enough to pull one anyway.
Soon I felt Ember’s head gently rest against my shoulder as she slept. I gave her a gentle nuzzle and rested my own head against the rocky wall behind me. We had used our other blanket to cover the injured mare, who’s breathing had improved though she was still unconscious. We had given her the last of our water, which had seemed to help. Tomorrow we would have to find a town, otherwise we were toast, probably literally in the desert’s heat.
I pushed the thought from my mind and tried to look at the positives. We were alive, which was good. We had fended off three raiders, which may not have been the worst things to fight, but never the less could have killed us. I looked back down at Ember. Her faded scarlet mane had fallen over her face, reminding me of the way she used to wear it. I smiled at the thought and gently brushed it aside. Those days were gone, but seeing her looking so peaceful reminded me that wasn’t such a bad thing. After all, she was all that mattered to me, and so long as I had her, I couldn’t want for anything else… well, besides a stiff drink when this was all over. I suppressed a chuckle at the thought and sat back.
After a while I felt my eyes getting heavy, and despite my rocky pillow, I soon found myself slowly drifting off to sleep.
I don’t remember my dream, and even if I did, it probably wasn’t very interesting. I do remember, however, that it was a nightmare and I woke from it rather abruptly, in a cold sweat. I looked around me, checking for anything out of the ordinary. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep and I kicked myself for it. I was supposed to be keeping watch.
Sighing, I looked over to where ember and the other mare lay. Ember was still asleep, as was the other mare, though she seemed to have stirred in her sleep slightly. More importantly she was still alive. I gently slipped the blanket off of me. If I kept under it I might fall asleep again.
Though it was sweltering during the day, the desert was surprisingly cool after sunset. I looked up at the sky. I could tell from the bright patch in the clouds that it was around midnight. I stood up, stretched my legs and opened my bag. I rummaged around in it until I found what I was looking for. I grinned as I floated it out. It was a small piece of wood, about the size of a matchbox. It was mahogany, at least I was pretty sure it was, It had come from an old broken desk in a ruined office building a few months before. One side was blank and flat where I had painstakingly scraped it smooth with my knife. The other side was much the same, however it bore the beginnings of a carving I’d started. It was a picture of embers cutie mark, a burst of flame and a few sparks. I had completed most of the flame, and now I had some time to kill I figured I could complete at least this side.
In time I would carve my own cutie mark into the other side and perhaps I’d shape it into a heart as a gift for ember. What ever I was going to do with it didn’t really matter though. I was only really making it to alleviate my boredom. I slipped a knife from its sheath on my belt and began the painstaking process of carving the little trinket. I enjoyed making things from wood, it was, after all the reason I got my cutie mark in the first place, just about every bare wooden surface in my old hut had designs carved into them, sometimes several times over. But that was the past, old projects that weren’t worth worrying about now.
The hours seemed to slip by without my notice and by morning I had indeed shaped the little trinket into a heart. I had finished the carving on both sides and was just drilling a hole in it when Ember woke up. Hastily I slipped it into a pocket on my barding and sheathed the knife.
She blinked and covered her eyes as she sat up and yawned. She sat back and sighed. “What time is it?” she asked, as she fought to keep her eyes from closing again. I glanced at the Pipbuck “4:03” I said quietly, looking over to who I guess was our patient. She was still unconscious, of course. If she didn’t wake up soon one of us would have to carry her, that one most likely being me.
Ember shook herself, and slowly stood up, stretched and lay down again, wrapping the blanket back around herself. I shook my head. She definitely wasn’t a morning pony. Left to her own devices she would probably sleep all day, but of course we couldn’t afford such a luxury, at least not very often.
My attention was quickly drawn to the wounded mare as she stirred slightly. I quietly made my way over to her. She groaned and fidgeted slightly, one of her hind legs kicking the air lazily. Well, she was defiantly recovering, which was good. What wasn’t so good was that she was probably having a nightmare, or a particularly active dream, which wouldn’t help things if she woke up suddenly with a pair of strangers next to her. I was probably over thinking it though, and after a while though she stopped fidgeting and turned over, pulling the blanket to cover her better. I sighed and returned to my project, though I now kept a closer eye on her, just incase.
A few hours later the sun had risen above the clouds and light was beginning to creep back into the wasteland. Ember had finally woken up and was busying herself with making breakfast. Or rather burning it. You see, Embershine is very good at starting fires, as the picture on her flank proves. The only problem is that she is a little too good. She had been getting better and managing it recently, but this morning she just wasn’t with it.
After the fifth puff of sparks and string of profanity I offered to give her a hoof… or horn in my case. Her problem was that she was trying to hold the pot over the fire while keeping the flames at a proper heat, since we didn’t really have any decent fuel they were fed solely by Ember’s magic. The problem she faced was that focusing on both the jug and keeping the flames lit wasn’t the easiest task, casting two spells at once is like trying to count to ten and say the alphabet at exactly the same time in your head. I was amazed how some unicorns could have up to 5 spells going at once, that’s some serious multitasking. But I’m getting off topic.
“Let me hold it for you” I said gently, enveloping the old saucepan in my own magical glow. Ember huffed, but relented, focusing fully on keeping the fire at the optimum temperature. Soon with out powers combined we were able to heat up the soup we had packed for the journey. Ember readied two bowls and I floated the pot over. I was just starting to poor some soup into the first one when we heard a groan from the direction of the wounded mare. She was waking up.
Hastily I set down the hot saucepan and motioned to Ember to be quiet. Cautiously went over to her as she opened her eyes. She groaned again, blinking, before raising her head slightly to look around. As soon as she saw me she yelped, falling back against the wall of the gully. She instantly regretted it as her head throbbed. She groaned, clutching at her head for a few seconds, before trying to back away more.
I tried to think of something to say to calm her down, but my mind was painfully blank. My mouth worked wordlessly for a moment before I finally found my voice. “Its ok! Don’t be afraid we’re uh… we’re friends” Thinking back on it, I probably could have said something better, or at least sounded more confident. Fortunately it did seem to calm her a little as she noticed her bandage.
She slumped against the wall as she was hit by another wave of dizziness. Ember and I both exchanged a quick glance before I quickly came to her aid, gently propping her up. She slumped as soon as she felt my support. Evidently she was still pretty weak. I helped her lay back down on the blanket and propped her head on my pack.
“W-where am I, whats going on” she whimpered weakly. I caught Ember’s eye and motioned to the soup. She nodded and quickly pored some into the half full bowl and passed it to me. I set it down next to me and gently felt her forehead. She had a fever and her fur was clammy. She whimpered as I gently put my hoof on hers. “No need to worry about that now.” I said tenderly “Just rest.” She shivered slightly and closed her eyes. “P-please don’t hurt me.” She almost whispered, as I placed another reassuring hoof on hers. “We won’t, I promise” I whispered, gently stroking her forehead again to comfort her. She gave an almost unperceivable nod before relaxing slightly.
I stayed by her side until she fell asleep again. Due to her fever I felt it unwise to cover her in the blanket, not that it would make much difference by midday. Our soup had gone cold, but ember could heat it up again so we weren’t too worried. What we were worried about, however, was what we were going to do about her.
“How far away is Girders?” Ember asked, motioning to my Pipbuck. “Can we get her there before midday?” I looked at the map and shook my head. “No, too far.” “What if we run?” She asked, a slightly urgent tone in her voice. She knew as well as I did that we would need to get this mare to a doctor, urgently now that we knew she had a fever. Our problem was of course the same one we had been having yesterday: The desert. “What, run ten miles with her on my back? You can’t even manage a mile without your packs.” It sounded harsh to say, but it was true. Ember huffed. “Well what do you suggest we do?” I sighed and stood up. “Well I guess there’s only one thing we can do: Walk.”
She gave me an “are you serious” look. “We can’t do anything else Ember.” I said flatly. “We can’t get to girders by midday even if we run and running will only kill us quicker. This way it will be hard, but at least it’s possible.” Ember scowled. “What if she doesn’t make it” She glanced over to the sleeping mare. I sighed and shook my head. “Then there’s nothing we can do.” She opened her mouth to protest but I continued. “We can only do so much, Ember. If she survives the journey, hell if we survive the journey we can get her to the doctor and he can help her.” I gave her a stern look. “But we can only do that if we stop arguing and get going now.” She opened her mouth for a few moments before shutting it and scowling again. “Fine.”
She went over to her saddlebags and began strapping them on, while I went to get our patient. She was out cold so gently hoisting her onto my back was relatively easy, I just hoped she wouldn’t throw up on me once we got moving. Seeing as I was already burdened with an unconscious pony, ember took my pack along with her own.
After checking that we had everything we headed back up the gully. The slope we had slid down originally was too steep to climb with our heavy loads, forcing us to walk a little further along it until we gradually made it to higher ground.
We didn’t pay the raider corpses much attention, Ember outright ignored them. I however spared them a quick glance as we passed and noticed that there were only two bodies. Had we killed the all? The stallion ember had burned was dead for sure, a bullet to the head will do that to you. I realized that the helmeted mare must have survived, and as I came to that conclusion I noticed a trail of blood leaving back up the slope. I doubted the mare would pose us any threat, even if she was still alive, which was unlikely. My guess was that she had crawled out of the gully, collapsed somewhere and bled out. I shook myself, banishing the thought, we had more important things to think about.
Once we were out of the gully I set a marker on the Pipbuck for us to follow. It wasn’t the most detailed of navigational aids, but at least it showed us the right direction to go in. We set off towards it at a fairly brisk pace. We were aiming to cover as much ground as possible before midday.
I flicked the Pipbuck’s radio on to give us something to listen to while we walked. After a quick burst of static our ears were greeted by the soft voice of some pony I hadn’t heard before. Ember’s ears pricked up too as the song played. The radio rarely got any new music, usually repeating the same songs over and over. Pre war records were exceedingly rare and wasteland musicians were just as sparse.
Soon the song reached its climax and was replaced by the familiar voice of the DJ. “Well wasn’t that beautiful, my little fillies and colts? A song from sapphire shores! Hidden away for over two hundred years, until now! Thanks again to that little pony who found it for me, we all owe you a big one!” He paused and there was a ruffling of papers. “Now, its time to get riiight into the news!” Ember cringed. She hated it when he said that, I found it pretty annoying too.
“My little birdies over in bucklyn tell me that they’re seeing more Steel Ranger activity than normal, seems those Buckets-Of-Bolts are up to something so it’s a good idea to steer clear of the area for now, especially if you have any nice shiny tech they may want to steal- I mean ‘confiscate’.” The DJ wasn’t too big a fan of the Steel Rangers. I suspected that he had probably had run-ins with them before. Radio broadcasting equipment was no doubt something they would want to get hold of.
Ember muttered something under her breath. I couldn’t catch most of it but it was probably something vulgar. What ever she said I probably agreed, we had our own reason to hate the Steel Rangers.
The rest of the news wasn’t of much note, and ended with the DJ’s usual survival tip, today’s was to “stay hydrated with clean, un-irradiated water.” Ironic, considering that we were lacking exactly that. The DJ’s little PSA had reminded my just how thirsty I was. Ember huffed, no doubt being reminded of her own thirst.
The next few hours were pretty miserable. The day was getting hotter and the music got so repetitive that eventually we decided we would walk in silence, as neither of us was in a particularly chatty mood. Despite our lack of water and poor moods we had covered a lot of ground, and by midday we were making good time. “How much longer?” Ember huffed, she had fallen behind slightly and was having trouble keeping up. I glanced at my Pipbuck. “About another hour.” I replied. I wasn’t fairing much better, my pace had also slowed and I had a headache. I was also Painfully aware that we hadn’t even completed the job we had gone into the desert to do in the first place, which meant we would have to go back at some point. As if my mood couldn’t get any worse.
Despite the horrendous conditions we soldiered on, and after another two hours we finally reached the bustling town of Girders. It was a pretty big town, as far as wasteland settlements go. It was one of the few places in the Macintosh hills that had a clean water source. No one was quite sure where it came from, only the mayor knew, and she kept it a closely guarded secret. There were rumours that the town had a water talisman, though no one knew for sure. All anyone did know for sure was that if you wanted clean water you had to come to Girders.
A green maned guard approached us as we went up to the gate. “Well now, back so soon ladies?” He raised an eyebrow as he spotted my luggage. “And with a friend too!” I sighed and looked up at him grumpily. “Just let us in Frizzle, I’m not in the mood for small talk.” He recoiled in mock offence and pouted. “Oh fine, seeing as you asked so nicely.” He giggled and bounced over to the gate. I wasn’t sure how he could bounce in this heat, but then again it was Frizzle.
After a few moments there was a rattling sound as the gate was slid open enough for us to enter. Frizzle beamed at us. “Welcome back to Girders ladies! I hope you enjoy your stay!” We ignored him and made a B-line for the clinic. Normally I would humour him and maybe even crack a joke or two, but I was hot, thirsty and my head hurt so I really wasn’t in any mood to do so.
The clinic was conveniently placed next to the saloon, so Ember agreed to go and refill our canteens while I spoke to the doctor. The clinic door creaked as I entered. Beds took up one half of the room, while the other had a multitude of shelves and racks with all manner of strange medical instruments and bottles of what I assumed to be remedies.
There was the sound of a breaking bottle and a muffled string of profanity as the doctor poked his head out from behind one of the tall shelves and scowled. “The fuck’ you want now?” He growled, scooping up the remains of the vodka bottle he had knocked from the shelf. He spotted the mare on my back and sighed.
“Wonderful.”
As I’m sure you noticed, Doctor Vapour wasn’t a particularly personable pony, in fact he was often down right rude. It was a popular little joke among the caravans and residents of Girders that the only ‘patience’ he had were the ones that came to be patched up. This usually turned out to be true, as he was almost always in a permanent state of grumpiness. Today was no exception.
“Put her on the bed and get out.” He grumbled, waddling back over to his shelves. He grabbed some medical gear I didn’t recognise and a healing potion. He turned and glowered at me. “Are you deaf? Get out and let me treat my patient.” I was all too happy to oblige, noting that he hadn't mentioned payment... yet.
The sun was getting low behind the clouds as I stepped out into the dusty street. I took a deep breath and stretched. For such a small mare she got awfully heavy, especially towards the end of out journey. My back and legs ached, and I felt like I could sleep for a week. I managed to build up the will power to trudge my way to the saloon.
Pushing the door open with my face I was greeted with the familiar aroma of a pony saloon. It was the musky smell of unwashed ponies, punctuated with the heady scents of various boozes. It was pretty full today, though a few tables remained empty. Ember had graciously got us one close to the door, which meant I didn’t have to walk much further to collapse into a seat, and rest my head against the cool table. Ember started talking beside me, something about caps and a job, probably important. I was too tired to care.
Footnote: Level up!
Level 8.
Perk gained: Long Haul: Traveling long distances with heavy loads has become a little easier, as you gain a +1 boost to Endurance whenever you are over-encumbered!
Who knew tables could make such good pillows? Wait, I’m repeating myself, but seriously, at that moment the hard wood felt like satin sheets. Not that I knew what satin sheets felt like, but you get what I mean. Ember was still talking about that job and it occurred to me that I should probably be paying attention.
I finally managed to summon the willpower to raise my head. Ember was sitting opposite me, still talking. “-Thing like that?” I stared at her blankly for a few seconds. Her quizzical look turned into one of mild irritance. “You hear what I said?” I shook my head and placed it against the table again. I heard her sigh and get up from the table. For a second I thought she was leaving, but it turned out she was just going to the bar.
I lowered my head again.
About a minute later I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up groggily. “I got us a room.” I shook my head. “How much did-“ she cut me off “Shhh, It doesn’t matter.” I sighed, admitting defeat, even though I didn’t really get to put up much of a fight. Somehow I managed to stand, and shuffle after her as she led me out of the saloon and to the building next to it.
It was an old, pre-war, overnight wagon stop that the town used for rentable living accommodations. It wasn’t exactly Tenpony Tower, but it was a lot better than seeping rough. I was surprised that the room hadn’t been taken already, considering how packed the saloon was. I stopped thinking about it when I saw the bed, which reminded me how tired I was.
I slumped onto the bed, lazily burrowing under the covers. I heard ember sigh and shed her, or rather our packs. I felt her crawl under the covers beside me as I began to doze off. It was a rare thing to have a proper bed to sleep in and I’m sure we would have taken full advantage of it if we weren’t so exhausted.
The last things I remember before falling asleep were the distant sounds of the saloon and her muzzle, gently nuzzling into my neck.
-----------
I awoke, the next morning, to the sound of gunfire. My eyes flicked open as I flopped out of the bed. I grabbed my pistol in my magic and went to the window. It was cracked and dirty, but through it I had a clear view of the street outside. Another shot rang out further down the street.
Slowly I pushed the door open slightly and squinted groggily in the direction of the noise. Further down the street I could make out a line of ponies, their backs to me, aiming guns towards the gate. One of them was ember. I relaxed slightly at spotting her.
Gingerly I pushed the door open and stepped out to get a better look. I lowered my gun when I saw what was going on.
A makeshift target range had been set up in front of the gate, comprised of a few steel barrels with tin cans balanced on them. I sighed as Ember took aim.
*Pfft* I blinked, had her gun misfired? Before I could fully register the thought there was a tinny clang as one of the cans was knocked from the barrel. Ember’s gun didn’t make a noise like that. She must have borrowed someone else’s.
I shook my head and went back inside. It felt like it was far too early for target practice. I checked the time on my pipbuck. It was 11:39… I had slept for nearly 16 hours. On the plus side the aches in my legs and back weren’t as bad as they had been the day before, though they still felt stiff.
I planted my rump next to the bed, leaning against it as I brought my saddlebags to me. As much as I wanted to finish our job, I knew that I wasn’t up to trekking back across the desert, at least not yet. I opened a flap on my pack, checking to see if it was still there. Satisfied that it was, I lay back onto the bed, letting my saddlebags drop to the floor. I thought back to our conversation with the odd stallion that had given us the job. He was pretty old, at least by wasteland standards and he spoke with an strange, almost snobbish accent. It was obvious he wasn’t from the hills.
“Yes, it’s as simple as that, I must inform you, however, that I will not be able to meet here to retrieve it.” He dropped eye contact sheepishly as Ember huffed grumpily.
“Why’s that?” He gave a small nervous chuckle and replied.
“Well you see… I’m not from this neck of the woods, so to speak, and I have urgent business back home that I must attend to. I must admit I was barely able to get away form it to come here.” I remained silent and ember nodded sceptically
“go on” He shuffled in his seat and glanced around the saloon.
“Well… in order for me to retrieve it you will have to meet me… uhm, somewhere closer to home… More along the lines of Manehatten…”
Ember gave him a look of disbelief “Manehatten? That’s like… hundreds of miles away.” He nodded.
“Yes it is rather a long way to go, I grant you… but I will make sure you are well compensated for your trouble.” It was at this moment I chose to chip in, moving his attention to me
“How much?” He smiled at me, revealing his surprisingly white teeth.
“How does fifty thousand sound?”
The saloon suddenly fell silent, all eyes and ears pointed our direction. The old stallion seemed to jitter slightly at this but kept his confidant expression. If embers jaw could have opened any wider it probably could have hit the floor. “Did you say fifty?” The stallion nodded mirthfully
“Fifty thousand, yes, provided it is delivered to the meeting place, on time and undamaged.”
I glanced around. All eyes were on us. I gave the bartender a scowl, prompting him to clear his throat and return to serving drinks. This seemed to help draw some of the attention away, though the saloon was still much quieter than it had been.
I turned my attention back to the old buck. “Can you mark the meeting point on our map?” I said, subtlety gesturing to the listening crowd with my head. The stallion understood the message as I held out my pipbuck.
After bringing up our rather blank map of Manehatten he indicated a point on it that I proceeded to mark with a waypoint. Thankfully he knew better than describing the place out loud, adding a note with more information on the specifics.
I lazily brought up my pipbuck and flicked to the map with my magic. With the map zoomed out enough to see it in relation to our currant location it drove home just how far away it really was. I sighed and let my leg fall to my side.
“No point in worrying about that yet anyway”. I thought to myself as I rolled off of the bed and onto my hooves. Levitating my packs, I stepped out into the street. I figured that I should go and check on the wounded mare while Ember busied herself with the important task of turning soup cans into colanders.
As if on cue, more shots rang out from the direction of the gate as Ember and the guards continued their game.
I mentally prepared myself for the doc’s usual grumpiness as I entered the clinic, as expected he wasn’t in a good mood. He grumbled and pointed dismissively to the corner of the room as he leafed through a large dusty book. “Your friend’s in a stable condition, don’t wake her up she needs at least two days rest before I’m willing to discharge her.” He looked up from his book “I’ll need payment.”
I looked over to the small form of the mare. Her breathing looked to be much easier. I turned back to the doc and nodded. “How much do we owe you?” He closed his book and slowly got to his hooves. Walking up to his bookshelf he exchanged his book for another and set it down on his desk.
“Five hundred caps will cover it, I trust you can arrange that?” He raised a bushy eyebrow.
Five hundred, that was alot more than our combined savings, savings we would need for the road if we planned on making it to manehatten. “You couldn’t go any lower?” I knew I was pushing it, but nopony got anything without asking, right? As expected his grumpy frown turned to an angry one.
“Medical supplies aren’t exactly cheap, missy, and neither are my services as a doctor, how can I be expected to provide my patients the proper care necessary for their recovery if I’m just handing out my services for free to any damn freeloader that happens by?” He huffed and angrily opened his second book. “Five. Hundred. That’s final.”
I grit my teeth and nodded. “Fine. We’ll pay you before we leave” It was a lie, but I really didn't have much of a choice. He hesitated for a few seconds but finally nodded and waved me out, immersing himself into his book as I left.
I stepped out into the street to see a smiling Ember trotting towards me. I slowed down as she approached me. “You look happy” I commented dryly as she reached me. She grinned,
“Well yeah, you would be too after hitting the motherload!” I raised an eyebrow as she levitated a small bag from her saddle pack.
“Fifty caps!” She proclaimed, puffing out her chest and grinning “Aren’t I great? What ever would you do without my talents?” I snorted and walked past her, lightly flicking her cheek with my tail.
“You can pay for the room then.” I said, smirking to myself as she made a little noise of protest.
I headed for the saloon, I wish I had been joking about Ember paying for the room, but the fact was that we didn’t really have much in the way of caps. It was the primary reason why we had even taken on such a demanding job in the first place. Usually we would stick to relatively simple jobs within the area we were staying, out of convenience, though we were no strangers to escorting the occasional caravan, if times got tough. Speaking of caravans…
As we entered the saloon we were greeted with the familiar sounds of quiet chatter and the musty smell of booze and dusty ponies. The saloon was pretty full today, though admittedly it was midday. The Bartender gave me a quick glance of acknowledgment before returning to his conversation with a pair of young stallions.
I looked from table to table, as I headed for the bar. Each table was slightly different, consisting of a variety of repurposed objects for the customers to set their drinks on. The bar itself was what looked like a pair of large barrels, with a few old boards laid across them, with worn looking stools and old office chairs in front of it, that currently housed the ponies he was talking to.
A bout of laughter suddenly erupted from one of the far tables. One of its occupants had just fallen off of his stool. He unsteadily got to his hooves, giggling drunkenly as he tried to retrieve his hat, only to fall flat on his face again to another round of tipsy laughter.
I shook my head and quickly scanned the other tables. Three mares in dusty long coats were playing a game of cards on what looked like an old, half rotten park bench, next to me. One gave shot me a glare as I passed. I glanced to my right to see a coffee table, flanked by two, well worn out sofas, that were currently seating a family of what looked like merchants. The large, over filled saddle packs on the floor beside them confirmed this line of thought.
I looked back to the bar as I reached it, tapping on the wood to get his attention. He gave me a small nod, keeping his attention on his conversation for a few moments before turning to me. “How much was it for the room?” I asked as Ember seated herself on an old, rickety stool beside me. He gave us both a once over with his eyes before he spoke.
“Me and yur squeeze negotiated Twenny las’ night.” I looked over at Ember as she gave me a discreet wink. “On top of what you owe for refillin’ yur water…” He paused, leaning back on his stool and polishing a cracked coffee mug with a rag. “Forty caps over all, seein’ as I’m feelin’ generous” He leaned forward with a smirk “And so long as you two lovely ladies remember to stop by again, once you make the big time.” He gave me a sly grin. I glanced over my shoulder; all three of the duster-wearing mares were now looking our way.
I nickered and shot the bartender an irritated look, levitating the small bag of caps from embers saddle pack. I counted out twenty onto the counter and securely stuffed the pouch with the remainder into a pocket on my barding. Turning away from the bar, I headed for the merchants table.
They all glanced up at me as I approached, but quickly all but one looked away. The one who met my gaze was the eldest of the group, a grey maned, slightly shrivelled stallion who clearly had spent his life on the road. As soon as I reached the table he spoke
“Can I help you, miss?” His voice was calm, though there was no mistaking its defensive undertone.
I decided it would be best to cut to the chase. “You’re a caravan?” He glanced towards what I guessed was his family. They kept their eyes down, obviously wanting him to do all the talking. After a few slightly tense moments he looked back to me and answered.
“We might be, but that doesn’t answer my question, now does it?” He gave me a weary smile, though I could tell he was still on guard. I looked back over my shoulder at the duster mare’s table, only to find that it was now empty. I looked over to Ember, who gave me a shrug. I turned back to the old merchant and returned his smile.
“I need to get to Manehatten, I figured traveling in a group would be safer, if thats where you're going.”
He kept eye contact for a few more seconds before looking away in thought. His family were all paying attention to us now, each one giving us a different look. A few more seconds went by before he responded.
“We aint going to manehatten…” he paused, studying my reaction. I kept stoic. “Not all the way at least.” He paused again, looking over to a mare that seemed to be around his age. She shook her head dismissively. Seeming satisfied, he turned back to me and leaned forward. “If you’re willing to pull your weight we can get you some of the way there, the question is… What kind of weight you can pull?” He cocked his head, waiting for my reply.
I glanced over my shoulder at Ember, she was staring at me questioningly. We had turned our hooves to almost every job there was to do out in the wastes and although we usually tried to stick with the safer ones, we had worked as guards and guides for caravans in the past. Not to mention we had pretty much been brought up on one… back when we were young…
The old stallion cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to the situation at hoof. I turned to face him again and stepped forward. “We-“ I gestured back to Ember. “-Have experience with guarding caravans, we’re both good shots and can handle ourselves if things get violent.” One of the other stallions at the table finally spoke up.
“We already got protection. Me an-“ He was cut of by what I assume was his father.
“No harm in having a couple' extra guns” he said waving them off with a hoof.
The two stallions gave him a grumpy glower, but said nothing more. I realised that they were nearly identical. Both had the same dull blue coats as, what I guessed was their father, as well as rusty manes and amber eyes. The only difference was their mane styles and barding, though they too were similar.
The Father sat back and sighed. “Give us some time to talk it over, we’ll give you an answer tomorrow morning before we set off.” He paused looking back to the mare “Sound good?” I nodded.
----------------------
“So what’s the plan Bench?” Ember asked as we left the saloon. I held my tongue until we reached our room. Ushering ember in and closing the door I relayed the conversation with the merchant.
“They’re not going all the way there, but it’ll be safer to go with them won’t it?” She nodded in agreement. “So you down?” I asked, levitating my pack up onto the bed and emptying it.
“One question” she said tapping my rump. I turned and raised an eyebrow. “How much are they charging us?” I turned back to the pack, laying everything out on the bed.
“Nothing, Were gonna be pulling escort duty.” I heard her snigger behind me. I sighed and frowned over my shoulder at her.
“What? You made it too easy.”
I nickered and returned to organising. “Hey, why you so grumpy?” She slipped u beside me and nuzzled my shoulder like a cat. “Seems to me like you’re all pent up…” her tail began to wrap around my hind leg. I shrugged her off.
“Ember, this isn’t the time, I'd love to, but we have to get ready.” She snorted and dramatically flopped onto the bed, disturbing my work. I huffed and pulled it onto the floor.
After a few minutes I was done, and my pack was properly organised. I turned to Ember, who was lazily swatting at a fly. “You gonna do yours?” I asked motioning to her pack. She shook her head lazily and rolled over. I sighed again and got up, making my way over to the bed and lying down beside her.
Slipping a foreleg around her I pulled her close, whispering into her ear.
“You think this place has a bath?”
---
I awoke to a knock at the door. My eyes snapped open as I quickly untangled myself from the warm, orange thing next to me and clumsily trotted to the door, shaking myself quickly, I opened it to see one of the merchant’s sons.
“Pa told me to get you, he’s at the gate.” I nodded as he turned with a snort, lazily trotting off to where I assumed his father was waiting. I shut the door and hastily put on my barding, levitating both our packs onto the bed. I quickly strapped mine on, dropping embers next to her, waking her.
“Uh whaz goin’ on?” she muttered stretching and sitting up.
“get your stuff on we’re heading out” I replied, heading for the door. She groaned and plopped out of the bed as I left. Stepping out into the now much cooler air I checked the pipbuck. 07:42. I shook myself again and cantered over to the gate where the small group had assembled.
The older stallion akowlaged me with a nod and went back to loading a sturdy looking cart. The younger stallion that had fetched me was busy fastening a harness around his shoulders. I guess he was pulling it. After about a minute of awkward standing around the other stallion, who I assumed was the brother to the one in the harness, spoke up.
“So you two done caravannin’ before? You know how the game works?” I was about to reply but I was cut off by Ember, who had managed to appear behind me without me noticing.
“Yeah, we grew up on one. Done some armed escort work too, if that’s what you’re asking.” I internally flinched at that, maybe I was just being stupid but I wasn’t too keen on talking about that aspect of our past, despite it being totally relevant. I decided to play it off and go with it.
“We know what we’re doing.” I added, maybe a touch sharper than I intended. His ears drooped slightly and he gave us an apologetic grin.
“Oh, I wasn’t suggesting that you didn’t, I’m just curious about what you do and… all…” He glanced over to his brother, who simply shook his head dismissively.
“That’s enough Lock” The older stallion quipped, nudging his son over to the cart. “Help load the damn cart instead of flappin’ yer gums.” Leading his son away with a roll of his eyes.
As Lock got to work loading the cart the older stallion turned to me offering his hoof. “Sorry miss, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced” I shook it giving him a calm smile
“Its fine, I’m Benchmark and this is Embershine.” I gestured back towards her as she gave us a cheerful wave. He returned her gesture with a tip of his hat. “Names Double-barrel, but everyone just calls me Barrel, for short and Bar, if they’re lazy.” He chuckled at his joke and continued. “These are my boys, Lock an’ Stock.” He indicated to each stallion, who gave us both a nod. He then turned to the older mare, taking her hoof. “An’ this beautiful thing, here, is my lovely mare, Summer Juice.” He gave her hoof a theatrical kiss. She rolled her eyes and snorted in disapproval, though I noted a slight pinkness to her cheeks. He smirked and gave her a wink before turning back to us.
“So, you young ladies, uh…” He gestured to Ember and me with a hoof raising an eyebrow. Summer made a noise that was a cross between a small gasp and a tut, swatting her husband around the ear.
“That aint none o’ our business, Barrel! What ah told you about askin mares things you aint got no place askin?” Her accent, I noted, was noticeably a much thicker drawl than her husbands.
His cheeks reddened slightly and he have us an apologetic smile. “Quite right, quite right… None of my business.” He strained his hat and looked over to his sons with a scowl, noticing the smirks on their faces. “I hope you boys aint slackin’ off on me, that cart aint gonna load itself!” He barked, raising the brim of his hat to glare at them. Both brothers quickly got back to their respective jobs, exchanging a sheepish look.
Before long the cart had been loaded and it was time to set off. We had taken the time to do a last minute ammo check and restock at the town store, before rejoining the group as they set off. We really should have done it the day before, but… distractions had got in the way. Regardless, we were finally on the road again. The only thing to do now was walk.
I bit my lip in thought as we trudged along. In my haste to find a safe way to Manehatten I had neglected to bring up the fact that we still hadn’t gotten the very thing we were supposed to be getting there, if we could even find it. Obviously we would need to keep searching for it but I wasn’t really sure how to approach the idea with Barrel.
It had been a few hours since we had set off, the clouds above must have been pretty thick today because it was a lot cooler than it had been the day before. Most of the journey had been pretty quiet and uneventful. A less experienced pony might have called it boring, and they would be right, but they would see it as a bad thing.
To me, boring meant safe.
I was torn from my contemplation as Lock spoke up. “You guys ever’ been in a fight?” he said, raising an eyebrow in my direction. I blinked at him.
“If you mean have I ever had to shoot somepony-” He shook his head.
“Nah, nah, I mean have you ever had a tussle, like, buck someone in the face or somethin’?”
I paused in thought for a moment. I couldn’t really recall any times that I really had to. Then again I never really went looking for trouble, at least not without my gun to back me up, though I’d had a few close calls.
“Not really.” I replied bluntly. He opened his mouth to say more but decided against it, looking forward again and continuing to walk in silence. After a few minutes, however, he spoke up again.
“Me an’ Stock have been in a few, right bro?” His brother shrugged, causing the harness to shift slightly.
“By ‘us’ do you mean you talking shit and me havin’ to save your ass?” He grunted moodily. Lock giggled.
“Oh yeah, what I call that guy again?” Lock asked, barely keeping himself composed. Stock sighed.
“What guy?” He said flatly.
“The one with the weird hat” Lock replied, miming around his head with a hoof.
Stock sighed again. He seemed to do that a lot.
“He called you a ‘Small-Fingered Vegetarian’.”
“Vulgarian.” Summer corrected.
“He said ‘Vulgarian’.”
This promptly caused Lock to collapse in a laughing fit.
“OH fuck I remember Ma! HA-HAAAaaHAA He was hella smashed, He-heh, fuck! Aw shit that was good!” Stock rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, maybe for you, you didn’t have to save an idiot from getting’ shanked by an angry nutjob.” he grumbled, grumpily shifting his harness again. Lock managed to pull himself clumsily to his hooves, still giggling hysterically.
“He-hey I ain’t an idiot!” He said, trying to both frown and recover from his laughing fit simultaneously. It made him look like that weird clown from those old comic books.
Barrel chuckled as they began to bicker at each other, Summer just sighed and rolled her eyes. I zoned out again, wondering if I should address my concerns with Barrel. He must have seen something in my face because, as if on cue, he turned to address me.
“Something on your mind Miss Benchmark?” Welp, I guess I had no choice.
“Sort of” I replied, avoiding eye contact. I glanced towards the others and slowed my pace so I lagged behind slightly. Barrel followed suit raising his eyebrow questioningly.
“We still have a job to complete here, something we have to collect.” I looked up at him with a level expression. He frowned, but nodded.
“Ah see… I don’t suppose it’s on the way to Tuck?” He asked, pursing his lips. I glanced at my pipbuck, it wasn’t. I looked back up and shook my head.
Barrel cocked his head in thought for a few moments.
“Mh… Well… that does complicate things, Hard to provide your services as a guard if you ain’t here.” I noticed that his accent was thicker than it had been the day before. After another pause he looked back at me, pursing his lips again.
“How far away is this ‘something’, how long do you reckon it will take you to get there? “ I looked at my pipbuck again.
“Maybe half a day’s walk if we keep good pace, we could meet back up at Tuck tonight if you’re willing to let us.” I gave him a hopeful look. He returned it with a frown. He looked over my shoulder at Ember and back to me.
“Do both o’ ya need to go?” I blinked. Was he suggesting...
“What do you mean?” I asked tentatively.
He adjusted his hat with his ear and puffed out his chest.
“Well if it’s just a simple fetch job it should only take one pony, which means one gets to stay and help do the job they promised.” He proclaimed, giving me a sidelong glance. I felt my gut tighten, Leaving Ember wasn’t something I was comfortable with, but what choice did I have? After a moment I gave a small nod.
“Might work, but I’ll have to talk to Ember, if that’s ok” He gave me a curt nod and I caught up with the others.
“What? NO!” Ember spat, staring at me with wide-eyed confusion. I knew this wasn’t gonna be easy. I sighed and shifted closer to her.
“It’s our only real option, unless you want to ditch them and get to Manehatten alone?” I whispered, making sure the others couldn’t hear me. I noticed Lock giving his father a questioning look.
“I’m not going anywhere without you!” Ember hissed.
“Tell him to go fuck himself” She snarled. I hurriedly hushed her and gave her shoulder a small shove.
“Ember, please, I don’t like this anymore than you, but think about it for a minute, we NEED this job. I’m not gonna be gone for long, just a day, I promise I’ll be careful.” I whispered frantically, cutting off her protests as best I could. She opened her mouth to object, but thought twice when she saw my expression. She huffed and stomped with her hoof.
Her face twisted into a filly-like scowl. She looked up at me, her blue eyes filled with angry intensity, though hidden beneath I could see the fear behind them.
“You better come back.” She turned away and kept trotting, eyes focused on the road. I sighed and drifted back over to Barrel.
He gave me a worried look.
“Everything alright?” He asked, gesturing to Ember. I frowned and shook my head.
“Yeah, it’s fine, she’s staying here while I get our job done.” He nodded and looked away.
“Don’t worry, we’ll keep her safe for ya.” He grunted quietly, tipping his hat as I moved past him. I couldn’t hold back the spike of anger in my gut.
“It’s not her I’m worried about.” I hissed, setting off towards my waypoint, the group watching me as I went.
I ground my teeth as I walked. Despite what I had told Barrel I was worried about Ember. It wasn’t so much that I doubted her ability to protect herself; in reality she was probably better in a fight than I was. It was being away from her and not being able to comfort her that made me worry.
Ember had never been the most levelheaded pony, and as far back as I can remember I was the one that always kept her safe and sane. Our childhood hadn’t been an easy one, and unlike me, Ember still bore many of the scars.
I shook myself and looked back at the map to distract myself. It had been a few hours since I split from the group and I had made good ground. According to the map I wasn’t too far from my destination, in fact I’d be reaching the canyon any second-.
I jerked to a halt, rearing and falling backwards, my packs cushioned my fall as I rolled back to my hooves. In my lack of paying attention to where I was walking I had almost walked right over the edge of said canyon. I mentally kicked myself as I peered over the edge. It probably wasn’t a fatal fall, but I didn’t want to test that theory.
I spotted the dark patch of earth where the injured mare had lay, I reminded myself to check on her when I returned to Girders… When WE returned to girders.
I checked the map again, making sure my target was where it should be, and carefully made my way along the edge of the canyon until I found a place that I could make my way down.
If the map was right, I should have been able to reach the shack by following the canyon. Choosing not to linger any longer, I began to tentatively make my way along the riverbed, hugging the wall as I went.
The canyon was longer that I had first thought, snaking its way between small hills and large rock formations that must have diverted the river that had once flowed through it. I rounded a corner and almost tripped over some loose rocks.
Shaking myself I grunted, kicking the offending rock further down the canyon. As I watched it go, glaring at it angrily I realized that the canyon was opening out into a large, flat plain, dusty and bare, with only a few rocky outcroppings… Wait…
I squinted through the fading light. One of the outcrops had a different shape to the others. I quickly glanced at my Pipbuck again. “That must be it.” I muttered, gingerly traversing the final stretches of the canyon. As I got closer I could make out more of the outcropping, revealing that it was, indeed, the half ruined shack the stallion had described.
Somewhere above the clouds, the sun was setting and the air was starting to get chilly. It looked like I was going to be spending the night here.
Keeping low, I finally reached the shack. With a tentative glance over my shoulder, I pushed on what used to be the door. With a tortured creak and the sound of splintering wood, the ‘door’ swung open.
I drew my gun and entered, lighting my horn to illuminate the room before me. The interior looked like it smelled - rotten and slightly moldy. I wasn’t sure how a book could survive in that kind of environment. There were the remains of a small dining table, a rusted, long dead terminal, and a rusty bed frame with a worn out mattress. To top it off there was also a skeleton in a stable jumpsuit leaning against a set of cluttered shelves. Wonderful.
If the book was here, it was probably hidden, perhaps in a safe? Either way, it wasn’t going anywhere and I was tired. Slumping into the driest and least cluttered corner, I un-strapped by bedroll, which was really just a well used blanket. With my pack as a pillow, I settled down to sleep. I closed my eyes and listened to the wind outside. It was a soothing sound, a cool, gentle whisper.
I was just starting to drift off when another noise caught my attention. My ears pricked, trying to figure out what it was. My eyes flicked open as It began to get clearer, a rhythmic ‘thud, thud, thud’. I slowly sat up and leaned back against the wall, gathering my hooves beneath me as the sound got louder. It sounded like hoofsteps, but something was off.
Another sound accompanied it now, the sound of harsh, mechanical breathing. A mare’s voice, muffled and tinny spoke out. “Breach the door.”
My ears flattened to my skull and adrenaline shot through me like lightning as I heard a sound I definitely recognized, the whirr of a minigun.
Flashes of fire and the smell of smoke flashed through my memory as the door exploded, shredded by a hail of gunfire. I yelped and hit the ground covering my head with my hooves as the bullet storm continued.
“Hold fire.” The voice ordered, ceasing the onslaught. Shaking, I peeked through my hooves at the, now ruined, doorway as it was suddenly lit by a flood of harsh, white light.
“Secure the interior.” Oh shit.
A huge, looming silhouette blocked the door. I covered my eyes as a bright light blinded me. I curled up into the fetal position as I heard it speak.
“Building secure, one tribal, female, unicorn.” His voice was a deep baritone. This one was most definitely a stallion, though it was impossible to tell otherwise as he was clad, head to hoof in steel armor.
The female voice spoke up again, from outside. “Bring her out” Oh fuck.
The armor-clad stallion advanced on me, his battle saddle clicking. “Get up.” He ordered, stomping one of his metallic hooves for emphasis. I shakily got to my hooves, still squinting from the harsh light of his headlamp. He gestured with his head in the direction of the door.
“Out. Try to run, you die.” If I wasn’t so close to shitting myself I might have made a comment. Instead I complied.
I walked past him gingerly and he led me out. Outside there were three more headlights and two unarmored mares, both dressed in hefty-looking red dresses. One of the mares was tapping away on what looked like a heavily modified pipbuck, the other was looking directly at me, with her piercing blue eyes. I gulped.
Incase it wasn’t obvious by now these were Steel Rangers. The leg under my pipbuck began to itch. Somehow, I didn’t feel like this was going to end well.
The mare with the blue eyes stepped forward and directly into the light cast by the ranger helmets. She was about my height, with a short-cropped purple mane and a pale yellow coat. I also noticed that one of her ears was missing, her mane just barely able to cover the stump that was left of it.
I heard the clicking of weapons being primed as the ranger behind me shoved me forwards. The mare’s expression remained stoic as I timidly looked around at the suits of armour that now surrounded me.
The mare spoke, pulling my attention back to her.
“You are in possession of Ministry Of Technology property, you will relinquish it to us or suffer the consequences.” It didn’t seem I had much of a choice. My stomach lurched at the prospect. The pipbuck was the only thing that I had to direct me to Manehattan, if I’d even get a chance to retrieve that damn book, that is, which right now didn’t seem likely.
I looked down at the small computer, already dreading having to make it to Crest Top and some how meet back up with the others without it. Then again what choice did I have? I looked around at the silhouettes around me. I was sure each of them had their guns pointed at my head, primed to turn me into paste at a moment’s notice.
I looked back to the earless mare and sighed. “Doesn’t look like I have a choice, does it?” The blue-eyed mare jerked her head in the direction of the second mare and she scuttled forward. She was much shorter than her companion, and certainly didn’t carry herself with the same gravitas and authority. She almost seemed meek.
I yelped as the ranger behind me drove a hoof into my back, pushing me to the ground and knocking the wind out of me. I whimpered and coughed as the little unicorn scurried over to me. I felt a tingling sensation as she lifted my left leg in her magic.
She withdrew something from her robes and began to tinker with my pipbuck. After a few clicks it came free from my leg. She made a small disgusted noise as the sour odor of my leg wafted from underneath it. Internally I smirked, clearly she wasn’t used to the concept of clean water being to precious to bathe with.
After gathering herself the little mare retreated back into the darkness and the blue-eyed bitch spoke up again.
“Thank you for complying, tribal.” Fuck you too bitch. The pressure on my back eased as the ranger on top of me stopped trying to crush the life out of me. I rolled over and sucked more air into my lungs.
I heard a mechanical murmur from behind the tall bitch, she turned her head slightly, keeping her eyes on me. She then nodded and faced me fully again. “Before you go, however, I have a question for you, where is Storm Chaser?”
I gave her a blank look. “Wh-“ but before I could even respond, there was a flash of pink light from her horn and everything went white.
Darkness. At first, I thought I was dead, but dead ponies can’t think, right? Regardless, everything around me was pitch black. I could hear something in the distance, a voice, faint but harsh.
“Where is Storm Chaser” It was the ranger mare. Her voice sounded strange, far away, like distant thunder. As soon as that thought hit me the darkness was suddenly split with a brief flash of light, illuminating my surroundings.
I was on a cloud- no… In a cloud, its swirling grey puffiness illuminated briefly by the flash that went as soon as it came. The mare spoke again, this time more forcefully. “When have you seen him?” The blackness around me was replaced with blinding whiteness as the cloud I was floating in dissolved. Before me, a rippling, warped image appeared. I screamed as it opened up, stringy tendrils of light pulling me towards it. A shrill, horrific sound reverberated through me, blurring my thoughts into one writhing mass.
Colours and shapes flashed through my vision, some familiar, but hard to make out. Smells and sounds began to form, the harsh scent of smoke, the flickering orange light of a fire, laughter, shouting, screaming, all intermingling at once around me. I could make out Ember’s voice in the din, clearer than the others. She was singing.
Scenes began materialising before me, memories from my childhood, vivid and fleeting. An argument with my mother, being given my first gun, my first kiss…
The sounds began to muffle as my vision was filled with colour again. More images began to morph in front of me, faster and faster, accompanied by a jumble of sounds that melted into one, ear-splitting noise. I tried to close my eyes but the scene before me remained, now a formless blend of bright colours swirling together into one horrible maelstrom of light and noise. I tried to scream again but no sound came, maybe I just couldn’t be heard over the racket.
Suddenly, it all stopped and everything returned to darkness. “She knows nothing.” A distant voice said, echoing in the darkness. It was the last thing I can remember before I lost consciousness completely.
----
I awoke with a shiver. My sleep, if you could call it that, hadn’t been pleasant. My dreams were a jumbled, fuzzy mess of harsh lights and painful sounds. My mouth felt dry and my eyes ached, but a more pressing need made itself apparent.
With a pained groan, I pushed myself to my hooves. The rangers had been kind enough to simply leave me in the dirt after… Whatever it was they did to me. The left side of my coat was now caked with damp mud.
I plodded back inside to retrieve my belongings. When this kind of shit happened, it was best to just get on with the job and think about it later. The most important thing was to get the damn job done and reunite with Ember again.
I grit my teeth, how long had I been out? From how bright it was outside I figured it had to be at least mid morning, though I couldn’t be sure. I checked my pipbuck for the time, only to find it missing. “Fuckers!” I growled in frustration, stomping my hoof and slumping against the wall that I had intended to sleep against the night before. Without my pipbuck’s map I had no way of finding my way to Tuck, no way to meet up with the caravan. No way to reunite with Ember. I felt a pit begin to open in my gut, a familiar panic starting to creep its way from the back of my mind.
I smacked the side of my head against the wall. “Don’t think about it.” I muttered, clamping my eyes shut. It was a stupid thing to say, how could I not think about it? I was lost, alone and had no way of finding my way back to the one thing I actually gave a shit about. Of all the things I could say to reassure myself “don’t think about it” was the best I had? But I couldn’t think about it, not now. I needed to find The Book.
The first place I looked was under the mattress, but all that yielded was a few nips from a colony of small radroaches. My hooves made quick work of them as I shoved the mattress aside. Staggering backwards to avoid the last nipping insect, my back hoof bumped into something, tripping me slightly.
It turned out it was a small, dark grey footlocker. Crouching down I peered at the lock. It was old and rusty; a good kick would probably get it open. I let out a startled squeak as the last roach sank its jaws into my flank. A hard swat from my tail sent it crashing into the nearest wall with a crunch.
I growled in frustration, standing and giving the footlocker a hard kick. I yelped as my hoof glanced off painfully. “Fuck it!” I grunted, lifting the box with my magic and smacking the lock against the wall. After a few hard whacks it finally broke open, sending its contents spilling across the floor.
I spread the items out with my hoof, picking through them in search of the book. Most of it was of no importance to me; a few tins of tobacco, a few old world coins, a faded magazine and a thick, leather bound book. I let out a relieved sigh. At least something was going according to plan. I glared at the thing. It looked pre war, decorated with tarnished brass at its corners and a large padlocked strap, holding it closed. I debated simply leaving it and heading back to ember. If this was the kind of shit I was going to have to put up with it just wasn’t worth it. This job was a risk, plain and simple. Any sane pony would simply leave the damn book and go home. Mince Pie can stuff his ten thousand caps up his powdered ass.
But I couldn’t do that. The reward was just too big to turn down. How many more jobs would we have to take to earn that amount? No, despite everything I had to carry on. With a sigh of defeat I picked up The Book, levitating it out of the pile. As I did so, the corner of it caught on the magazine, causing it to flap open. Though the cover was faded with age, the inner pages were still readable. It was the pictures, however, that caught my attention.
I blushed furiously as I realised just what kind of magazine it was. Those pre-war mares were certainly more… Limber back then.
Shaking myself I quickly closed the magazine and rolled it up, levitating both it and the book over to my pack. I made sure to pack them both securely, the last thing I needed was for the book to go missing after all this. The magazine would serve as an ‘I’m sorry I worried you‘ gift for ember.
Speaking of being late, I had to get going. With luck, I’d be able to retrace my steps to where I had split from the caravan. I’d just have to hope there were still some tracks I could follow or some other indicator of where the fuck I was going.
“Hope and fucking pray…” I took a deep breath and began the long trek back up the canyon.
-----
I nickered and kicked at a loose rock. This canyon and I were certainly getting familiar with each other. I lingered as I passed the dark stain in the dirt from a few days back, where we had found the injured mare. I realised that I still owed the doc for her care. He would be in an even worse mood, with me disappearing without paying him.
“Well, tough shit, the grumpy bastard can charge me all he wants when this is over.“ I grumbled petulantly. I flicked my ears in irritation and carried on, it was already starting to get late in the day. How long had I been out? More importantly, what the fuck were Steel Rangers doing in the Macintosh hills? It wasn’t like there was anything of use here, all the ministry hubs were in big cities.
Old memories started to resurface, bad ones. I could still hear that mare’s voice, echoing in the back of my head… She had asked me if I had seen something, someone…
I had the horrible feeling that things were going to get a lot worse. I had no idea when, but I was sure it would be soon. This whole fucked up thing had danger written all over it. I shuddered and focused on the trail ahead. With luck I’d be in Tuck before morning. With even more luck ember would be there, hopefully not too angry with me. I knew when I was back with her I’d feel better.
I took another deep breath and pushed on.
------
Some time later I had finally found my way back to where I split off from the caravan and had made steady progress. As it turned out, it was much later than I had guessed. Within a few hours darkness was beginning to creep across the wasteland and it was getting cold. I shivered as the wind began to pick up. I was trotting down one of the many rocky paths that snaked through the outcroppings and dusty slopes that made up the Macintosh hills. By now the sun was low and every boulder, pebble and mound of earth cast menacing shadows.
I quickened my pace, clambering up an incline and off of the path. The paths had been shaped by the flow of ancient streams, emanating from the many springs that once could be found across the hills. Even before the war, most of them had long since gone dry and only a few still gave water.
The paths were a lifeline for the caravans, allowing the heavily laden carts to weave their way through the canyons and hills. For a single pony however, they proved to be more of a hindrance. I had already made good time by making similar shortcuts, clambering over boulder walls and up hillocks that the carts wouldn’t be able to pass. I was sure that if I had followed the path it would be dark by the time I got here.
As I crested the hill my heart lifted as I saw the distant silhouette of a town through the rocks. Tuck, it was unmistakable, the many rickety shacks, all perched on the pillar-like geology of the canyon, connected by hanging bridges and ropes.
I sat and caught my breath. I was almost there, I had made it! I was just about to clamber down the slope into the canyon when I heard a scuffing sound behind me, as if the loose soil was being displaced…
I whirled around, drawing my pistol in time to see a ragged looking creature, poised and ready to lunge at me. A Scavenger. As I raise my gun it snarled at me, prompting a chorus of similar sounds from the rocks around me.
Fuck.
It leaped at me, teeth gnashing. I dropped it with a single shot from my pistol, turning just in time to see two more bounding at me from a gap in the rocks. I emptied my magazine in panic, killing one and hitting the other in the leg. It yelped, losing its footing and tumbling down the slope, paws flailing.
It was my turn to yelp as another clamped down on one of my hind legs, its filthy teeth sinking right to the bone. I turned my gun around to kill it, only to hear it click.
“FUCK!” I screamed, trying to buck the ravenous mutt off of me, only to be pulled off of my hooves by a jerk of its head. Another pounced on me, chomping down on my foreleg. These fuckers were going to rip me to shreds.
In desperation I reached out with my magic, grabbing the dog on my foreleg by the head, simultaneously reaching into my barding for my knife. With a practised movement I unsheathed the thin blade and buried it into the creatures eye socket. It let go with a howl of pain giving me a chance to try and get back up.
The dog on my hind leg yanked me off balance again, dragging me back down the slope the way I had come, we both slid down, landing painfully at the bottom, knocking the wind out of me. The stinking canine finally let go of my, now very torn up, leg and leaped onto me, pinning me to the dirt with its weight.
For a split second we made eye contact, its eyes, one cloudy, the other a putrid yellow with a tiny black pinprick in its centre. I could smell its breath, rotten and foul, as it opened its jaws to finish me.
There was a purple flash and the dog was suddenly thrown off of me. I stared at it in bewilderment as it smacked into the bank with a yelp, a glowing arrow embedded in its side, I turned to see a cloaked figure galloping up the track towards us, horn aglow with a bright violent purple.
With a whine the Scavenger began to stand, turning and snarling at its attacker. Another flash came from the strangers horn and again the dog was thrown back, this time with an arrow in its forehead. Its lifeless corps thudded against the embankment, before rolling down on top of me. “Gah fuck, get it off!” I yelped, finally hit with the gravity of what had just occurred. I kicked and bucked myself free of the stinking hulk and tried to get to my hooves.
I grunted as I tried to put weight on my injure foreleg, I tried to stabilise myself, only to transfer my weight onto the hind one, which was in significantly worse shape. With a pained whinny I slumped to the dust again.
The stranger hurried over to me, pulling back his hood. The first thing I noticed, besides the fact he was a unicorn, were his eyes. A deep violet, they almost seemed to glow in the growing darkness. A long auburn mane hung in tangled locks about his face, which bore a grim but worried expression.
“Its alright, its dead” He said, looking to my injured hind leg with a frown. His voice was soft and he spoke with an accent I hadn’t heard before, for some reason it reminded me of Mince Pie, but I wasn’t sure why.
I managed to catch my breath enough to respond. “Yeah, I can see that”
He looked back to my face, we made eye contact for a split second before he quickly darted his eyes away.
Using my good leg I pushed myself up into a sitting position. “Thanks.” I said, still trying to catch my breath. My heart was still racing and I was only now starting to think straight.
He stood up and offered me a hoof. “I’m sorry I wasn’t quicker, I didn’t want to cast anything from too far away in case I hit you” I looked down at my leg, unsure for a moment. It was ghastly sight, the flesh had been shredded and I could see the bone and sinew exposed. I was surprised it wasn’t hurting too bad, but I guessed it was the adrenaline.
“Somehow I don’t think I’m gonna be able to walk out of here” I said shakily. He lowered his hoof.
“Right, I think I can help with that, if you’ll let me.” I raised an eyebrow as his horn lit up again. For a second I was hit by panic, was he gonna put me out of my misery, put me down like he had put the Scavenger down? My fears turned out to be misplaced as a purple aura enveloped me, gently lifting me off of the ground.
I tensed, trying to plant my good legs on the ground as he hoisted me up. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you” he said, reassuringly, beginning to climb the slope. I clenched my teeth and tried to hold m nerves as he floated me up to the top, joining me a few moments later. He retrieved my gun and knife and floated them back to me. “Do you have any bandages? We should stop the bleeding.” I looked back at my legs. Both were bleeding steadily. I felt myself going light headed as I responded.
“Y-yes, in my b-ag… left side” fuck, now was going to pass out. Wonderful.
“Right, got it” He said, setting me down and opening my bag. I closed my eyes, the last thing I remember from that point was the feeling of my saddlebags being removed.