//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Fallout Equestria: Black Cat // by Rixizu //------------------------------// The guard pony stared at Break baffled. “I don’t believe this!” The accented pony moaned. “I fight for my life for hours and she gets her freedom and job after a simple fluke!” The guard pony gave Break a scrutinizing look and spotted her PipBuck on her right leg. Before the guard even had a chance to try anything, Break belted the mare in the face with her PipBuck. The mare screamed in pain. “What the?” The pony in the cell cried out. Break ignored him and ran for it. The mare grunted. “Come back here you!” She gave chase. “Hey! I need help!” She yelled at the other guards as Break made a run for it. This was bad. Break heard voices coming from the direction of the guard room. Break decided to increase her speed. Break made a sharp right and choose to make a run for the way she came in. She came to a stop when she remembered that door only opened by a terminal. She realized there was no way she had nearly enough time to hack it with the guards already on her heels. She noticed a sign that led to the arena. Break figured that could possibly be her best chance and ran towards it. She took a right at the sign and found a straight hallway. It was familiar one. It was the exact cell she was in before her match with that crazy death dog thing. It looked locked and the metal gate to the arena proper was down. Next to it was a door that said, "Observatory". She ran towards it before coming to a full-on stop. A bullet flew past her head and right into the door blowing a small hole into it. Break fell back on her haunches in shock and a few splinters created by the explosion of wood scratched her face leaving a few drops of blood on the floor. She scrambled for the corner she just came from. Break kept low and felt a bullet whiz past her head. She was able to get behind a corner and panted at the exertion and leaned against the wall. Break glanced at her PipBuck and gave herself a mental kick in the head. She really needed to stop forgetting she had this thing. She checked her map and memorized what little it had mapped of the area. It consisted of four rows of cells in a grid divided in middle. She was currently behind a couple of cells. She activated her Eyes Forward Sparkle and noticed the two red dots coming towards her. They were coming down a hallway that led to the observatory the same direction those shots came from. She froze and examined her pursuers carefully. She cursed. It looked like guards were now situated in each of the hallways. They were just waiting for those two guards to flush her out. She could see a guard standing still in the hallway in front of her. At that distance, there was no possible way for Break to make a jump on them. Break was stuck with no way out. She couldn’t turn the corner past the cells to the next hallway or just run forward. She didn’t doubt that the guards had a gun trained ready to shoot at anything that came out in the open. And there was another guard in the next hallway to contend with even if she were able to get past. She looked around. All she could see in her reach was the door that led to that arena cell and there was no way she could get past that. Break did the only thing that won’t get her killed. “I surrender!” She yelled. She put her hooves up. Two guards came in view guns at the ready. “I surrender!” Break repeated. The guards approached her with caution. “Turn around.” One of the guards ordered. Break did what he said. She felt a sharp pain in the head as she felt the blunt end of a gun. Break found herself shoved to the ground and restrained. “Get some chains!” Break didn't struggle at all. She just stayed on the ground. She was too disoriented to do anything anyway until a guard pulled her to her hooves. With a loud clang, chains adorned Break's hooves. "Get up!" The guard ordered and Break didn't argue. Five guards surrounded her and one had a black eye. The mare Break hit from before looked pissed. Break gave her a weak smile and was decked in the face for her trouble. The other guards laughed. The mare cursed and punched Break in the face again. Break could see stars and felt her face starting to bruise. “Get her out of here!” Break was roughly shoved as she was being led. She was able to get her senses back after a few moments. She sighed. Maybe surrendering was a bad idea. --- Yellow Star grinned in glee. He rubbed his hooves together in anticipation. They finally found and captured that slippery little whorse. They found her in the cells underneath the casino. She was searching for the secret tunnel but was caught before she could find it. Not like it mattered. According to the head guard, it collapsed a long time ago. Yellow Star and his cohorts were waiting in a private room waiting for the filly to be delivered to them. The room had simple furnishing with a few chairs, two beds, and a liquor cabinet. Yellow Star was sitting in a chair drinking bourbon celebrating his fortune. His two new lackeys were also drinking with him in high spirits. The annoying stuck up guard refused to drink anything. Well whatever, screw him. Eventually, the filly was brought in with two guards on her. Yellow Star nodded in satisfaction at the black bruise on her face around one of her eyes. She would be getting far worse soon he knew. He got up and strolled up to them. There was a devilish grin on his face and swung his hoof right into the damned whorse's face. Unfortunately, she somehow saw this coming and ducked. The blow missed and went right past her hitting a guard standing behind her. The guard swore and retaliated with a butt of the end of his rifle right into Yellow Star’s face. “Gah. How dare you!” Yellow Star gave a venomous glare at the guard who returned it. Yellow Star heard sighing behind him. The head guard groaned and shook his head. “Now that the filly is finally caught, I want you all out of my casino. Now.” The order gave no room to protest. Yellow Star’s temper flared. How dare he order him around? Yellow Star swore he would make the bastard pay one day. He did his best to control himself. Now was not the time. “Fine. This isn’t where I’m going to punish the whorse anyway.” Yellow Star gave a sadistic grin. The whorse wilted at the look like the pathetic piece of horse apples she was. “Really boss?” Iron Clad tilted her head in curiosity. Burnt Crème perked up at this as well. “Have you heard of Red River Valley?” Yellow Star asked with a grin directing the question at the whorse. She thought for a moment before giving a noncommittal nod. "In it is one of the deadliest creatures in the wasteland, the arachne wasp. They are these horrible mutated spider-like wasps that like to lay their eggs in ponies. Usually in the stomach. Worst of all, they wrap the victims in a cocoon alive until the eggs hatch bursting right out of the pony. They say the pain of the babies eating their way out of you is beyond words. Then they feed on the victim. A truly horrible way to die." Yellow Star explained. "I’ve heard of that.” A random guard piped in. “It was voted the third worst way to die in the Wasteland Survival Guide.” “Really?” The whorse said weakly. “Just shoot her.” The head guard pony snorted. The whorse tensed when she heard that. “Err, what?” The Yellow Star asked baffled. “Just shoot her. You don’t need to kill her in some elaborate way. Shoot her in the head and be done with it.” The head guard explained. Yellow Star glared at him. “Do you have any idea what she has cost me?!” “And shooting her will repay that.” The guard pony replied. This moron didn’t understand anything. How could he just shoot her after she made him lose everything? He needed to make her suffer first. Suffer a lot. “No. She needs to feel everything she did to me!” Yellow Star proclaimed. The guard just rolled his eyes and turned away. “Fine, but I’m not letting you take any guards with you. You’re on your own.” The guard said. “Whatever!” Yellow Star gritted his teeth. It didn’t really matter anyway. “Let’s go.” Burnt Creme grabbed the whorse’s chains and pulled her along. Iron Clad make sure to keep a simple hoof gun trained on her the whole time. “Finally.” The head guard said after they left the room. Yellow Star tried his best to pretend he didn’t hear that. He wasn’t going to let that whorse escape him again. --- Over the next hour, Break was pushed and shoved outside of town. Break was eventually led to a cliff face. She looked down it. There was a small river surrounded by barren cliffs that stretched upward. She guessed before the war it would have been quite beautiful surrounded by luscious green grass and trees with sparkling blue water. Now, however, all Break could see was barrenness and death. “Finally here!” Yellow Star proclaimed. He pointed a narrow path. He seemed to know the area well. They went down what looked like an old hiking trail worn down by the years. The path was a bit steep in some areas and Break almost lost her footing a few times, but they were able to reach their destination without too much difficulty. After about 10 minutes, Yellow Star held up a hoof to stop. He pointed down. The entire group looked in the direction he was pointing in. Break could see something between the rocks walls. They looked at what seemed like a giant white cocoon. It was at least the size of a building. In the bottom was a hole. Break's eyes widened in horror when she saw what crawled out of it. The thing was at least the size of a pony. It could somewhat be called a wasp. It had the wings and head of a normal wasp, but this thing had eight legs instead of six. They were thick and hairy and were longer than its body. It was covered in yellow fur and had black stripes going across its back. It crawled out of the hive and down the wall to a cavern below. Yellow Star gave out a sadistic laugh. He took out a rope and ordered them to hold her down. The two goons obeyed. Break tried to struggle, but they were too strong for her. Yellow Star tied her back legs together in a tight knot with rope and did the same to her to front ones as well despite them already being chained. “Throw her off the side.” He ordered. “The fall won’t kill her.” The two goons grinned in enthusiasm and did as they were told. Break landed with a painful thud. The fall was at least four or five hooves long. She groaned in pain. She took stock of her surroundings and nearly screamed. She could see skeletons everywhere. Trying to count them all would be dizzying. Break heard angry buzzing and looked up. Two of those arachne wasps saw her and crawled up to her. Break thrashed around uselessly. There was no way to get out of her bonds. One of the wasp things grabbed her with its legs and started wrapping her in something white out of its whatever the end of a spider is called. In seconds, she was completely wrapped in the web. She was trapped. There no way now she could ever get free. Break started to cry. She was doomed and there was no way around it. She was set gingerly on the ground again. The two arachne wasp flew away to the hive presumably. Break found herself unable move so there wasn't any way to be sure. She didn't even try to get free. She just started sobbing uncontrollably. Her thoughts turned to Green Mile hoping she was okay and happy. This was the end. Break heard buzzing again and looked up. An arachne wasp was flying towards her. This is it. She thought already steeling herself for the pain of having eggs laid in her. It landed right in front of her. Break closed her eyes readying herself for the worst when suddenly she heard whistling. Break knew the jolly little tune. It was ‘Get Your Pony On’. Break opened her eyes and looked at where the whistling was coming from. It was hard to crane her neck but she was able to find the whistler. It was a filly. She was a pegasus with a cyan coat and a pink mane. Her cutie mark was a bee flying with a dotted line as its trail. She had a beaten-up teddy bear on her back. She was jumping from rock to rock enjoying herself. “Get out here! It’s dangerous!” Break warned horrified to see the filly here. The filly looked in her direction. "Oh hi, Gladys!" She gave a wave. ‘Gladys' the arachne wasp in front of Break waved back happily. The filly trotted towards them. Break gapped. Her mouth hung open not really comprehending what she was seeing. “Wha-You shouldn’t be here!” She tried again thinking she just imagined what she just saw. The filly rolled her eyes. “My friends live here.” “B-but these things are horrible monsters!” Break argued back. The filly looked indignant. “They’re only monsters because ponies see them that way!” Gladys nodded in agreement. “They’re way nicer and better than ponies could ever be!” Break started and gave a horrified and confused look. “She’s going to kill me!” “No, she’s going to use you to birth her, rather cute I might add, young.” The filly stated rather proudly. “It’s the circle of life! Besides, it’s your own fault. This area is well known for them.” Gladys buzzed and the filly nodded in agreement. To Break’s amazement, it seemed the filly could understand and speak to the wasp-spider thing. “She’s right. It was voted the third worst way to die in The Wasteland Survival Guide. You would have to be a complete crazy pony to come here.” “I didn’t come here voluntarily!” Break yelled. “Some bad ponies threw me in here to kill me!” “Really?” The filly tilted her head. “Yes, please help me out of here.” Break pleaded. This was her only shot out of here. "No.” The filly stated simply. Break blinked. “What.” “You probably did something bad. Besides, you’re a grown up.” The filly glared at Break. “You’re all bad in one way or another. You’ll probably try to hurt me if I free you.” The filly instinctively rubbed the front of her neck after saying this. Break didn't get angry, instead, her eyes softened and became sympathetic instead. She felt bad for the filly. Break guessed that the poor girl had gone through some pretty horrible hardships to have such a pessimistic attitude about ponies at such a young age. “I would never hurt you.” Break said gently and quietly. “I know it might not seem like it, but not all ponies are bad. In fact, I like to think most are good. You shouldn’t let one bad encounter sour your opinion of others.” The filly scowled. “Yeah right. You’re an adult. They only care about themselves. They’ll do anything to save their own skin!” Gladys buzzed and the filly turned on her glowering. “No, she doesn’t have a point. Stay out of this!” “Please. I promise that if you let me go, I will leave and not harm anyp-anyone.” Break made sure to make her voice level low and pleaded with her eyes. The filly just snorted. Gladys buzzed again. The two moved away from Break and started quietly talking to each other. The filly gave Break more angry glares. “Fine!” The filly threw up her hooves in defeat. “You try anything and my friends will rip you to shreds!” Break nodded. “Thank you.” She said kindly. “I am so going to regret this.” The filly said under her breath. --- Yellow Star watched from a safe distance with a pair of binoculars from a cliff overlooking the valley. His two new minions were bugging him about letting them use it too, but he just ignored them. He almost danced in glee as the whorse was wrapped in a cocoon by an arachne wasp. He grinned ear to ear as one flew in to finally lay eggs into her. He would be sure to watch the whole thing. Usually, it would take about three days for them to hatch. He would be sure to return just to see her fear and agony. He could already see the moment of the hatching in his mind's eye. He left his revelry and gaped. Now the whorse was having an argument with a filly and the arachne wasp just stood there. Why wasn’t it attacking them? “What?” Yellow Star blurted completely dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe it. Now the filly was having an argument with the arachne wasp. He shook his head thinking he’s just imagining all this, but no, it seemed this scene was all too real. Soon the filly got out a knife and was started to free the whorse. The supposedly deadly bug just watched in what seemed like approval. Yellow Star gritted his teeth. He was not going to have this prize taken from him. He put his binoculars in his saddlebag and left to storm down the mountain. His two lackeys gave a confused look but followed after him. He was not going to let her leave this place alive. He refused to allow that to happen. --- Break was being led down a narrow path between some rock faces following behind the still unnamed filly and Gladys. The conversation was light. The filly refused to give her name and Break thought it would be best to drop it. The filly was very guarded about herself and Break couldn't really blame the filly. So, Break stayed silent as they traveled. She suggested taking a path that led away from the way she came. Call Break paranoid, but she was sure Yellow Star was watching her and knew he would come after her if he knew she was free. She still had the shackles on and did her best to walk with them. She didn't have too much trouble moving around in them, but they did get caught on the occasional rock making her almost fall flat on her face. Break looked around anxiously for any trouble. She knew deep down that there was no way this situation would end without one of them dead. Yellow Star's hatred ran too deep Break could tell. She was a convenient target for all the anger he felt after losing everything. He would also stoop to anything she knew. Break didn't want to kill him, or anypony really and she hated to be stuck in this kill or be killed situation. But she didn't think there was any other option. According to Gladys, there was a tunnel they could take to lose him. It only took about ten minutes to find the tunnel in question. It went down in the cliff face. Break didn’t waste any time and rushed inside. Inside the tunnel was various displays built into the rock itself. They explained various facts about the valley they were in. They were still in pretty good condition and were still readable, but Break ignored them and pressed on. It only took a few minutes to get to the other side and Break could see through the tunnel exit the muted light outside. She was about to exit when heard something metallic hit the stone floor. It was followed by several more. She looked around for the source of the sound and her eyes widened when she spotted the grenade at the tunnel's exit. Not just one, but two. They looked different from ordinary grenades. In fact, they looked very familiar. They exploded and the entire area was covered in blinding light. Break screamed in pain as she lost all ability to see and covered her eyes with a leg. Break suddenly coughed and had trouble breathing. Despite her eyes being closed, they burned painfully. She struggled forward and collapsed trying to exit out of the tunnel. She fell down and stayed there unable to do much in her condition. She felt a sudden kick to the gut. She cried out in pain. “Ha! Thought you could get away? Think again.” Yellow Star mocked. He kicked her again in the ribs. She laid on the ground on her side trying to see the blurry figure her eyes still burning. It took a few moments, but her eyes cleared enough to see Yellow Star grinning sadistic face. He kicked her right in the ribs again hard once again. Break's breath knocked out of her and she had trouble breathing. She swiftly received another kick in the ribs. Burning pain exploded through her body. Break could see those two ponies from the casino coming up behind Yellow Star. They grinned maliciously. The mare was levitating the same fire ax from before in her magic. Great, they’re teaming up. Break thought as she tried to get her breath back. “What should we do with the filly?” Burnt Creme asked. “Take her.” Yellow Star said. “She’s a pegasus. She’ll fetch a high price.” Burnt Creme looked hesitant and his female friend shifted around nervously. The quickly complied when they received a furious glare from their new boss. “No!” Break thought. She had to do something. She was not going to let that happen. Gladys tried to recover and help, but a blow from the ax put her out of commission. “Gladys!” The filly cried out, only to be smacked in the head with the end of the ax. She crumbled to the ground. Break’s eyes widened and her fear turned to anger. How dare they do this to a filly? “Shut up.” The mare said coldly. “Don’t move.” Yellow Star turned to watch and grinned. “Good work, don’t hurt her too bad, but show her what happens if she resists.” Break suddenly sprang up and wrapped the chains of her shackles around Yellow Star’s neck choking him. He tried to resist and he was very strong, but Break put all her strength in the action refusing to let up for a moment. He coughed out something inaudible. "Boss!" Burnt Creme cried out. "Don't worry, I got this." He pulled out a revolver from the holster on his side. He grinned and fired it. Break already saw this coming and shifted Yellow Star's body to shield the bullets. The slaver gave out an odd gurgled pained choking sound. His eyes widened in shock. His strength weakened and he lost much of his ability to stop Break's attack. “You idiot!” The mare cried out and charged at Break with the ax. Break tossed Yellow Star right into the mare and they collapsed in a heap. After a few minutes, Burnt Creme was able to recover his wits after shooting his new boss and rose his gun to fire again. Break didn’t give him the chance and dove right into him knocking the gun aside. They wrestled and she already knew that she couldn’t take the stallion. He was so strong and he was trying to pin Break to the ground. She was luckily able to slip out of his grasp and avoid the pin but she needed some way to take him out. The situation turned for the worse as Break tried to move away only to have her body pushed to the ground. Burnt Creme kept her to the ground with one hoof and put his legs over Break’s. He grinned maliciously and raised a hoof to strike. With a hoof, Break grabbed some nearby dirt and threw it into the stallion’s face. He cried in pain and grabbed his face with his hooves. Break used this distraction to push him off. Break got up and ran towards the gun. Unfortunately, the other mare was able to get herself free and used her magic to swing the ax at Break’s head. Break saw it coming and ducked out of the way. The mare kept her barrage going and kept swinging. Break was able to avoid the attacks barely, but she had to back up towards a cliff wall to avoid getting hit. This was exactly what the mare wanted, to keep Break pinned down and corner her. The ax hovered above Break menacingly. She swallowed. “Dodge this! You whorse!” The mare screamed in sadistic glee. The ax swung at Break wildly and she did her best to avoid the blows. She winced in pain as one grazed her cheek. Suddenly the ax went down at her hard and Break fell to the ground. The ax hit the cliff face and its head broke off with a snap. “What?!” The mare exclaimed. Break took advantage and bucked the mare with both legs in the face into the cliff face and it knocked her out cold. "You little!” The stallion picked up the gun and aimed it at Break. She froze in terror. He pulled the trigger but missed thankfully. Break took advantage of this and grabbed the ax head with her mouth and hurled it at the stallion. The stallion took another shot, but Break ducked in time and it only grazed her shoulder. The ax head hit its mark and the blunt end of it hit the stallion right in the head. He cried out in pain and was dazed. Break rushed at him and punched him the face. She wailed at him frantically with her hooves stomping at him. He eventually stopped moving and Break panted when she ceased her attack. Break looked around for any more trouble. The mare was still unconscious and Yellow Star was on the ground. It didn’t look like he was breathing. Break took a tentative step towards him. With a shaky hoof, she checked his pulse. He was dead. Break sighed in relief. She looked for the filly. There she was trembling against the wall. Break trotted towards her slowly and carefully. “There there. It’s going to be alright.” Break said soothingly. The filly rushed towards her and gave Break a tight hug. She started sobbing in her coat and Break gave her back comforting strokes. “Don’t worry. You’re safe now.” Break gave the filly a tender hug.