I slowly tried to open my eyes. It took far more strength than it had any right too and my only reward was a blur of varying colours, so I gave up and just let them stay closed. I was content to just lie there and sleep until I was either rescued or dead, but no, some prick just had to start talking about some crap that I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to, and the most annoying part was that if he was less than two steps farther away than I would have been able to ignore him. After a moment or two, I opened my eyes long enough to be able to see properly again, and what I saw coursed me to groan in frustration. Metal bars. I was in a cage.
“Fucking perfect.” Upon hearing my outburst, the talking stallion stopped his little speech.
“Well, it seems our guest has finally awoken.” He announced to some other slavers that I couldn’t see. I tried lifting my head to look around, but I estimated the amount of pain that coursed to be the equivalent of Luna throwing the moon at me.
I heard the talker stallion walking over to my cage and attempted to look at him, but was only able to get about half of him in my peripheral vision. He was a middle-aged unicorn with a silver coat, a short, stringy grey mane and a rag wrapped around his head, covering his left eye.
“What are we gonna do with him, Dust?” Asked another pony that I couldn’t see. The talker stallion - that I guess was Dust - looked over to the other pony.
“You know that guy, Red Eye, that talks through those sprite bot things? We’ll give this guy to him as a peace offering and see if he’s got any work for us.” This immediately angered me.
“That’s not happening, jackass,” I said as I finally found enough strength to raise my head to glare at him. He looked a bit taken aback by my uproar and drew away from my cage, possibly out of a fear that I might bite him.
“Well, er, r-regardless of how you feel about it, you still our prisoner and you have no say.” He stated, attempting to reinsert his control over the situation.
“If you think that Red Eye will give you a placement in his army just because you gave him one slightly new slave then we’re all gonna end up his prisoners by day's end.” He smirked at this.
“Oh no, he wouldn’t do that for just any slave, but he will for you.”
“And whys that?” ‘Please don’t know. Please don’t know. Please don’t know.’
“Because you are the ‘fabled ’ Nightkin.” ‘FUCK!’ The only ways that he could have known this was either if he or one of the ponies he was talking to overheard Cross Wings call me by that name, or the far more likely answer.
I slowly turned my head to look at his friends and sure enough there she was. Blue Lagoon stood there with five others around her, one of which was cowering behind her, attempting to hide from me.
I gave her a stern look, but not an angry one. I couldn’t really be angry at her for selling me out, seeing as how she had only known me for about ten minutes, during which she had witnessed me kill two ponies. I could, however, be disappointed in her going back to the slavers and the far worse act of bringing Caramel with her.
I looked away from her to focus on my escape. If I was going to break out of here than I was going to need all my strength back, meaning that I was gonna have to play along for now. I turned my head to look at my surroundings. We were in the middle of nowhere, just the serrated rock and rotted tree corpses that littered every part of the dead landscape that was modern Equestria. Enough time had passed for the evening to transcend into the night and the wind had just about calmed to a breeze. I looked back to Dust.
“Alright fine, I’m the Nightkin, you’re taking me Red Eye, blah blah blah. Now shut up and let me sleep.” He looked as if he was going to say something, but by the time his mouth opened my head was back on the floor of the cage and I was out for the next few hours.
I somehow managed to wake without opening my eye. The fact that my head was no longer throbbing and that I felt considerably warmer than I had when I fell asleep meant that it was now daytime. I opened my eyes, blinking a few times to properly wake myself up. I was still in the cage, but it seemed to be moving (just not very fast). I looked in the direction we were going and saw that my cage was in a wagon being pulled by two earth ponies, a mare, and a stallion.
To the right, there were two earth ponies, a stallion armed with a sawed-off shotgun and mare with an assault rifle. To the left was Dust with some kind of pistol in a holster on the left side of his chest, talking to Blue Lagoon, who still had that sub-machine gun strapped to her right hind leg, and Caramel was trying to be as close to Blue Lagoon as possible without being trampled.
I couldn't see her very well, but it was obvious that she hadn't had any chems and was very desperate for some kind of fix. She was shaking lightly, had massive bags under her eyes and seemed to be sweating. It was a sorry sight, but for the time being, not an important one.
I turned to see what else was in the wooden vehicle. A couple of sacks that I guessed contained food, a few ammo boxes and a few different types of rifle and shotgun - all unloaded - were resting on top a large, rectangular footlocker, which caused me to question why they didn't just put the guns into the locker instead of just leaving them lying about. I decided to ignore it for new and looked to Dust.
“Hey.” He turned his head and gave me a stern look.
“How long was I asleep?” I asked in an emotionless voice. His expression softened slightly.
“About seven hours. We’ve only been travelling for three, so it’ll be around another ten hours before we get to the nearest of Red Eye’s settlements.”
‘Okay, so I have eight hours to get out here.’ I did not want to be within a twenty-mile radius of anything to do with Red Eye. I looked over to Blue Lagoon, who was refusing to look at me.
“Hey, what happened to Cross Wings?” She still wasn’t facing at me but nodded to show she was listening.
“A little bit after you left he ran off after you, I didn’t see him again after. Apparently, he left the guns guarded, so you kind of freaked out for nothing.”
“Of bloody course I did.” I huffed. I had an unfortunate habit of running off to deal with something without getting all the information first.
“Well actually, the guards were killed by somepony who sneaked in a few grenades, so I guess you were right to be worried.” Dust commented with a smug expression. I glared at him, but he wasn’t looking at me so it didn’t have the same impact that it usually did. I looked away with a frustrated whinny and decided to focus on getting out of here.
'Red Eyes camp is only ten hours away, meaning that they won't be stopping for the night, so I won’t be able to sneak away when everyone is asleep, and I can’t bribe any of them without the others hearing. I could probably take these guys out with a few well-timed stun spells, but in this cage I’m too easy a target, and I just know that whoever gets me will spend the rest of their life banging on about they were the one who bravely and spectacularly killed the Nightkin.’
BANG
My train of thought was suddenly interrupted by a gunshot from somewhere in the general direction of up. Less then a half second later, the stallion pulling the wagon’s head exploded into blood. No one had the time to react before the same thing happened to the mare that had been next to him. I would have looked up, but the roof of the cage would have blocked my view of the sky - or rather that clouds - so there was no point. Then again, there wouldn’t have been a point even if I wasn’t in the cage since I already knew who it was.
“COME ON, JUST TRY AND HIT ME, I DARE YA.” Cross Wings' cocky voice would have normally frustrated me, but in this instance, it just filled me with relief. All the remaining slavers aimed their guns in the air and started firing at the air where Cross Wings had been a few seconds ago. I wanted for this to be over as quickly as possible, so I jumped to my hooves, turned back to the pile of unloaded guns, grabbed a rather crappy shotgun in my magic and turned back to the slaver. After taking a closer look I realized that Blue Lagoon and Caramel weren’t there anymore, but I didn’t really have the time to look around for them.
The slaver closet to me was the earth pony mare with an assault rifle in her teeth. She was focusing so hard on trying to kill Cross Wings that she didn’t notice the shotgun flying at her head. There was a loud cracking sound and a spurt of blood as the but of the gun connected with the side of her head, before she fell to the ground.
I wasn’t sure if I’d killed her or not, but at this point, I really didn’t care. If I had remembered right, there was only Dust and one other slaver left. Then Cross Wings fired another shot and I heard a cry from behind me that was far too deep to be Dust's, so I knew that now there was only his left. I look around in every direction and didn’t see him, and since I hadn’t heard any shots being fired, I guess Cross Wings couldn’t see him either.
“ALRIGHT, THAT’S ENOUGH. COME DOWN HERE OR ELSE SHE DIES.” I turned around to see a terrified Caramel coming out from behind a large boulder with a .44 magnum envelope in a silver glow pressed to the back of her head.
MY .44 magnum. She was followed by Dust with his horn coated in the same glow as the gun. He looked over at me with an expression court somewhere between fury and panic.
“And you. Drop the shotgun.” He snapped, trying to make himself seem as assertive as possible. I shot him a glare but did as he said. The shotgun hit the ground with a thud, quickly followed by a louder thud as black and grey griffon landed the dirt road next to my wagon, his large wings still poised.
His black panther coat was covered by a standard issued suit of talons armour, a dark grey jumpsuit, mostly covered in metal armour plates with a white claw emblem painted on the chest plate, and for some reason, he decided to keep his sheriffs' hat rather than wearing an actual helmet. The addition to his gear I was most pleased to see was the sniper rifle gripped in his claws, which he then dropped to the ground, coursing me let out an irritated huff.
“What the hell? You tracked us for fuck knows how many miles and risk your own life, just for this one asshole?” Yelled a very nervous Dust. Cross Wings simply smirked and gave a response that only he could come up with.
“Well, if you don’t want me to kill all your friends, don’t take my stuff,” I grumbled at this. Dust’s eye twitched a little, showing that Cross Wings was freaking him out.
“Alright, here’s what's going to happen. You’re gonna drop all your shit and fly away with your tail between your legs, or I’m gonna blow her fucking head off.” As he screamed his admittedly worrying threats, Caramel had started crying.
Her bottom lip was trembling and I could hear a few tiny whimpers. And then I looked at her eyes. She was looking at me with an unimaginable amount of fear, and even though she wasn’t saying anything, I could tell she was pleading to me to save her.
My mind went blank. My expression hardened as I looked past her to glare at the crazed stallion and did something I rarely allowed myself to do. I started talking without thinking.
“No, Dust. This is what’s going to happen.” My voice had gone from its usual deep and calm tone to a much icier one. He unlocked his shaky glare from Cross Wings and made the mistake of looking me dead in the eye. Almost immediately his desperation to get away alive with at least some of his pride intact had been completely overwhelmed by his fear.
“You’re gonna drop the gun, turn around, run away and then never stop. Because if this isn’t the last I hear of you, I am going to snap off your horn and use it to skull-fuck you right in your good eye.” By this point, it was clear that even if he did somehow kill us and get away, he would never try anything this dangerous to his health again. But I wanted to be absolutely sure, so I kept going.
“There is nowhere you can hide, no pony who can protect you, nothing can be done to stop me, because I am the 'fabled' Nightkin, remember?” He continued staring at me for a few more second before dropping my revolver to the dirt and sprinting off in the opposite direction like all of Tartaros were after him.
I continued to glare at the back of his head as he dashed off before my face returned to its usual blank expression, then turned my head to look at Caramel, who at some point had dropped to the ground, curled up into trembling ball, and started sobbing… again.
I sighed quietly and looked to Cross Wings, who had picked up his rifle and was now aiming at the fleeing stallion. I magically gripped the barrel of the gun and wrenched it upwards, so that the only thing in danger of being hit was some very unlucky bird. Thankfully though, he didn’t fire, just turned his head to give me a questioning look. I shook my head slightly.
“Believe me, if I ever see him again I’ll kill him in a heartbeat.” I redirected my eyes back to Caramel. “But seeing any more death is the last thing she needs.” He followed my gaze towards Caramel and let out a soft, almost sad sigh upon seeing her. He then slung the sniper rifle over his back and strolled over to her.
“Hey.” He said calmly. “What happened to the mare I left you with, er, Blue… something.”
“Blue Lagoon” I chimed in.
“Er, yeah, her. Where is she?” The small pony slowly raised a trembling hoof to point at the large rock that she and Dust had come out from behind just minutes ago. Cross Wings stretched out his broad wings and jumped off the ground, flapping them once to give himself enough high and momentum to land atop the rock. He looked down and stared for a few seconds before turning his head to face me.
“Er, Vanish, I reckon this is more your sort of thing.” He said in a loud and concerned voice. I sighed for probably the hundredth time within the past twelve hours and looked back over to a quietly sobbing Caramel.
“Caramel.” She looked up at me with teary eyes. “Do you know where the keys to this cage are?” Slowly she repeated her reply to Cross Wings and pointed a hoof off into the distance… in the direction Dust had run away.
‘Oh, for fuck sake.’
“Alright then,” I growled through clenched teeth.
“Blue Lagoon said you can pick locks, so do you have anything that gets me out of here?” She seemed to be a bit hesitant, but still pulled herself to her hooves and trotted over to me. She walked up to the left side of the wagon and appeared to be doing something just out of eyeshot. I lent over to peer the side of the wagon and saw that she was digging through a saddlebag that was hanging off a nail that was embedded in the wooden boards.
A few seconds later she emerged from the bag with two bobby pins and a flat head screwdriver. She strolled over to the back of the wagon and hopped up onto the end, stepping over the empty guns to get to my cage. She leaned forward, stretching her neck to place the bobby pin in the lock, but was then halted by me magically grabbing the items clenched in her teeth. She gave me a confused look.
“I’ve been cracking locks far longer than you, kid. I’ve got this.” She reluctantly released the screwdriver and bobby pins and backed up slightly to watch me work. I couldn't really see the lock properly, but since I could feel the lock with my magic that wasn’t really too much of a problem. I slid the pin into the top of the keyhole, then the screwdriver into the bottom and lightly twisted them both. Neither of them moved, so I twisted the pin to the left and tried again. This time the lock moved with them and made a click sound.
‘Finally. Something goes right for me.’
I gave the cage door a light push and it swung open, loudly creaking as it did. I slid the screwdriver and bobby pins into a pocket before dashing out. I run past Caramel and headed over to the rock that Cross Wings was still perched atop. I went around it, only to see the limp body of Blue Lagoon lying there with blood seeping out of a small gash on her forehead. I went over to her, gently rolled her onto her back and pressed my right ear to her exposed chest.
'Thump, thump’
There was a heartbeat. A very faint one, but still, it meant that she was alive.
“CARAMEL!” I shouted out. Within a second she was there at my side. “Go back to that bag and see if you can find any medical supplies; health potions, magical bandages, I don’t care, just find something.” Once again she looked to be completely paralyzed with fear, but this time she actually did do something. That something being to turn around and sprinted back over to the wagon.
“Cross Wings, get that cage out of the wagon and unhitch the two dead ponies.” He quickly raised his right claw to his forehead to give a salute.
“Aye, Sir!” He said in an overdramatic voice before turning and zipping off toward the wagon. I stared at his back in slight bewilderment for a few seconds before dismissing it as Cross Wings just being Cross Wings and turning my attention back to Blue Lagoon.
I examined the gash on her forehead closely; it wasn’t deep or very big but it was still bleeding. I picked up her head in my right hoof and was about to press my left to the wound, but stopped when I realized it was that doing so wouldn’t exactly be sanitary.
I turned around to see where Caramel was at, only to be greeted by her standing literally three centimetres away from my face with the saddle bag hanging out of her mouth by the strap. I lurched back slightly before shaking my head and recomposing myself.
“Anything useful in there?” She placed the bag on the ground, opened it with her hooves, reached in with her mouth and pulled out a roll of fabric that was faintly glowing a pale pink colour. I grabbed the magical bandage with my own magic but didn’t apply it to the gash just yet.
“I need to clean out the wound. Is there any water or potions or something?” She quickly dived back into the bag and rummaged for a few seconds before pulling out a vile containing a rather weak looking health potion. I grabbed that in my magic as well and moved it close to my muzzle. Flipping the vile and pointing the end towards my mouth, I clamped the cork in between my teeth and pulled it away from my face. I poured about half the content into the wound and put the cork back before placing it on the ground and rapping the bandage around her forehead.
It was barely long enough to go around three times, but that was all it would have to do for now. I ended my ill-equipped treatment by picking up and uncorking the vile again, and pouring what was left down her throat. She coughed slightly as the last of it went down, but she didn’t chock, which could only be a good thing.
There was a loud 'thud' sound somewhere behind us that, followed by a very loud yelp from Caramel. I turned my head to see that Cross Wings had just pushed the cage out of the wagon, and had also detached the two dead slavers from the front and turned it around.
“Sorry.” He shouted to me with a slightly awkward look on his face. I sighed quietly and returned my focus to the unconscious mare that lay before me.
‘I’m not carrying her on my back, that’s for damned sure.’ I concentrated on her entire body and slowly used my magic to gently lift her into the air, then turned around and trotted over to the wagon where the griffon was waiting. When I arrived, Cross Wings sprang up off the ground, flapped over to Blue Lagoon and took her in his claws, then turned and glided over to the wagon to lay her down.
I looked around to where Caramel had been just a second ago, only to realise she followed them and was already struggling to hoist herself up to be next to her unconscious companion. Cross Wings had at this point gotten down from the wagon and was looking at me as if he was going to say something, but was hesitating.
“Something wrong?” I asked, not really caring if anything actually was.
“Er, well, ain’t these two slavers? Why exactly are we helping them?” I was about to give a reason for my actions but stopped when I realised that I didn’t actually have one.
'They haven't really done anything for me. In fact, they're probably the whole reason I was put in that cage in the first place.'
“We’re not salvers!” My thoughts were interrupted by a young mare's voice coming from the wagon. We both looked over to see Caramel, who was giving us what I think was supposed be a death glare but looked poutier than anything else.
“Oh, how so?” I enquired.
“We both had debts that we couldn’t pay off. Their boss said he’d pay them off for us if we worked for him for a little while. We didn’t really want to hurt anypony, but we didn’t have a choice.” She spat at us as if she was offended by our ignorance. I remembered what the older mare had said to that stallion I had strangled about this job being ‘insurance’ and decided that I was going to need more context.
“You couldn’t pay for your chem addition, right?” Her eyes widened slightly.
“H-how did you know that?” I could have gone on in depth about obvious it was that she was an addict, but I really didn’t feel like explain myself to the foal.
“Call it an educated guess.” She looked slightly skeptical but thankfully didn’t press the issue.
“So, what did she do?” Asked Cross Wings, motioning to Blue Lagoon with a nod.
“She... er.” She stopped herself and thought for a moment about what she was going to say.
“She used to live in a town where the mayor was a very bad pony. One day he tried to do a bad thing to her and she...um...did a bad thing back. The boss helped her get away from the town after that.” I assumed that ‘bad thing’ was a substitute for ‘rape’ and/or ‘murder’.
“This town she lived in, was it called Hollow Shades?” I had remembered hearing that the creepy old bastard had finally been put down a few months back.
“Um, I think that’s what it was called, yeah.”
'Rape it was, then.' I frowned slightly as I tried to decide how I felt about this. Sure, he was a perverted old prick who spent more time drooling over every mare he saw than he did governing his citizens, but he was a prick that paid me to scare off raiders and fucked up wildlife.
'Well, maybe the next mayor will be a little more professional... and a bit more generous.' I turned to face Cross Wings.
“Well, you heard her. They’re not slavers and one of them killed a dickhead mayor. Seems to me like that warrants a bit of help.” He shrugged one shoulder.
“A'right, come on then. I came all the way out here, now I'm gonna get something out of it.” He stated whilst gesturing towards the dead bodies, indicating that he wanted me to help him loot their corpses. I made some kind of sound that can only be described as a pissed off grunt and trotted over to the nearest body.
As we searched for anything of value I questioned him as to how he found me. Apparently, we had been going down the dirt road that led to the slaver shit-hole that was Old Appaloosa and he'd just guessed that they'd be going there.
A bit under ten minutes of disrespecting the dead later we had collected about two hundred caps, a bunch of ammo for guns that neither of us used, some crap leather barding, and a few guns actually worth selling, along with a bunch that we could swindle to somepony stupid enough.
During the scavenge I managed to recover my pistol, knife, and rifle, despite Cross Wings attempt to blend them in with the rest of the merchandise.
After we loaded up and made sure that Blue Lagoon was comfortable, I counted out the total profits from selling everything we found and the stuff already in the wagon to be around seven hundred caps, seven fifty if the swindling went well. I was a little bit surprised by that number considering where it was coming from.
“Bloody hell. If this is just four of them, what do the others have on them?” Cross Wings questions, also in slight disbelief.
“Well, I would say that it's safe to assume that they all have similar gear. But since it looks like you left it all for a bunch of other mercs to pick up, I'm going to hazard a guess that it's all gone by now.” He somehow both froze in place and flinched at the same time, resulting in him pulling what I can only describe as an 'oh shit, I left the stove on' face.
“Um, yeah, about that...” He said with an unsettling amount of caution. I was confused for a few seconds before the realisation hit me like a bucket of freezing water.
“Cross Wings, what happened after I got knocked out.”
“Oh, so that's how they caught you. I probably should have guessed that 'cause, you know, nothing can take you down when you get going.”
'Well clearly something could.' It was pretty clear that he was panicking and trying to find a way to not answer my question, which only served to worry me further.
“I mean, you take on gangs of raiders just to loot them for pocket change, and-”
“CROSS WINGS!” He jumped slightly before sighing in defeat.
“Okay, so after the shooting stopped and all the slavers were dead there were only three other Talons left alive.” Even though I had known that he would say something like that, it still felt like I had just been kicked in the chest by a pony made of ice.
“They all blamed us for what happened and decided that there needed to be a change in management, you can guess how that went down.” I was completely silent. I just stared at him for what felt like hours, bewildered and slightly aggravated.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Cross Wings?”
“HEY, they attacked me, it was self-defense, ya judgemental dick.” I was slightly taken aback by this outburst, then realised that I was actually the one in the wrong here. I broke eye contact with the griffon and looked down to the ground.
“You're right. I'm sorry. This was all my fault.” My voice was quiet and throat was a little hoarse as I spoke, but it didn't compare to the headache I was getting. I'd always hated being the one to have to apologize. I continued staring at the ground until I felt a rather hard bop on the top of my head, which just made the headache worse. I looked up to see Cross Wings giving me a stern glare.
“Don't go givin' me any of your fake guilt bullshit. Let's just get out of here.” He said whilst turning to go hitch himself up to the front of the wagon. I just stood there, feeling an odd blend of hurt and annoyance at his comment, but within a brief moment, I did what I always do.
Shrug it off and carry on. I shook my head slightly and was about to follow the light grey and black griffon, when suddenly-
“Blue!” I quickly turned and peered up over the side of the wagon at the two mares. Blue Lagoon eyes were half open and her head was off the floor, but I doubted that she could do anything else. She made some mumbling noises that I couldn't make out into word, but it seemed that Caramel could.
“It's okay, Blue. You're safe. Dust is gone. The Nightkin scared him off.” I glanced over at her with a curious expression.
'She knows my name is Vanish, right?' I decided to ignore it for now and was about to walk back to hitch myself in, but stopped when I spotted the locker that had been in the wagon the whole time. I examined it and realised that it needed the same type of key that I had picked off of the slavers leader last night. I figured that it was worth a shot and magically reached into my pocket to fish out the key, only to find all of them to be completely empty.
'Of bloody course.'
“Hey, kid.” She looked away from Blue and over to me. “Where's all my stuff?” She pointed with a hoof to the saddlebag that she had taken the medical supplies out of.
'Wait a minute, did she give me my own stuff to treat Blue Lagoon?' I was more than a bit annoyed by this revelation as it technically meant that I had just robbed myself.
I grumbled a little under my breath and levitated the bag over to me. In it I found everything that had been in my pockets the night before; a bunch of .308 and .44 ammo, a couple of potions and bandages, a half-full, blue stable-tech water canteen with the number '85' printed on one side in yellow, the keyring with the key that I had intended to use on the locker, about a half dozen more bobby pins, and (the two things I was most pleased to see) a pack of Red Hoof cigarettes and a steel zippo lighter.
The second I laid eyes on them I realised how badly I had been craving a smoke for the past day, along with how hungry and thirsty I was. I unscrewed the lid on the canteen and finished what left, then opened the cigarette pack, slid one out and placed the beige end in between my lips. I raised the grey coloured lighter in front of my face, flicked the lid up and struck down on the flint wheel. A small flame erupted from the top, lighting the tip of the cigarette. I took in a deep breath and inhaled as much smoke as I could, held it for a second, then exhaled to blow it all back out.
'Okay, that's one problem dealt with.'
I turned my attention back to the locker and slid the small key into the lock, then twisted it. There was a faint click and it was open. I raised the lid and froze in place. Inside was a long cylindrical object with a mouth grip that acted as a trigger and about a dozen clips for it to attach to a battle-saddle.
'Where in fuck did they get freaking missile launcher?'
I didn't know what to do. I couldn't give something like this to Cross Wings, the slavers probably bought it off of someone like him.
'But he doesn’t know that this is here or that I have the key, so if I just don't bring it up then he'll be none the wiser.'
I decided that it would be best to just hide it from him and maybe sell it to somepony stable enough to be allowed to own it. I closed to the locker, turned the key back upright, took it out and walked back to join Cross Wings at the front of the wagon, as he was struggling to figure out how the straps worked. I grabbed it in my magic and fastened them around his torso, which he seemed to be oddly displeased with, then hitched myself up next to him.
“How long of a walk is it back to the talons building?” I asked Cross Wings. “Um... I don't know, I was flying for almost an hour, how long will that be with all this crap?” The gears started turning in my head.
'Cross Wings' a pretty fast flyer, but I doubt that he was going at full speed, he's never really put a hundred percent into anything. Dust said we'd been walking for over three hours, but they were a big group and all walking, so it probably took a lot longer than it needed too. With two of us pulling the wagon and nothing to really slow us down, I'd say maybe an hour and forty-five minutes at the least.'
“Two and a bit hours if we don't stop for anything.” He mumbled and started walking. 'This is gonna be long and painful.'
We had been going along at a steady pace for about forty minutes. My hooves ached, my stomach was growling loud enough to attract mole rats, and Cross Wings' grumbling was driving me up the fucking wall. I had finished my cigarette about fifteen minutes ago and was already craving another, but decided that it would be best to save them, which I immediately regretted. I needed a distraction, any distraction.
“Um... hey, Nightkin.” The feminine voice of Blue Lagoon called out from behind me. I grunted loudly.
“My name is Vanish Strike. I'd prefer to be called as such.” I stated firmly without even turning my head to look at her.
“Er, right, sorry.” There was an awkward moment of silence before she spoke again.
“So, where are we going?” I would have thought the answer to that question would be obvious, but I'd been wrong before.
“We're going back to the Talons building.” I heard her gasp and begin to panic.
“Wh-what? We can't go back there, the griffins with tear us to shreds. I was apart of that shootout, they'll kill me if they-”
“They’re all dead.” I interrupted, having lost my patience. “The slavers and the griffons all killed each other and what was left was dealt with by Cross Wings. So we're fine.” She was quiet for a few seconds and decided to ask me something that I hadn't been expecting.
“Why did you help me?” I had to think for a brief moment about how I was going to answer and settled on a response that wasn't really true.
“Because I'm the Nightkin, it's kind of what I do.” In truth, I didn't really have a reason for helping her. She didn't owe me anything, and I definitely didn't do it because of my reputation. I chose to believe that I did it because I didn't want to see anyone else die today because of me. Understandable since I had apparently been responsible for about fifty people getting killed in the last twelve hours.
“Look, we're gonna go back there and rest. I'll likely be gone by morning and Cross Wings probably will go back to the Talons, you should probably use this time to figure out what you're going to do.” I stated flatly, trying to end the conversation. Cross Wings, however, wanted to keep talking.
“Actually, I'm going with you.” I was court a bit off guard by this. Cross Wings had always tended to ignore the fact that I wasn't really a team player, but I would have thought he'd have been just a bit angry at me for yesterday.
“Er, why?” He glanced at me with a small smirk.
“Well, someone’s gotta help me sell all this crap, and half of the cut is yours, remember?” This really confused me to the point of frustration.
“But... But I got all the griffons killed. I didn't trust you and I fucked up, so why in hell would you want anything to do with me?” I almost shouted at him. He drew back a little before another, wider smirk appeared on his beak.
“Vanish, how much do you think I would have charged if someone wanted me to kill all of them?” I just continued staring, not really knowing where he was going with this.
“Probably the same that I'm gonna get for selling all their shit.” He finished with a malevolent grin. I didn't really know what else to expect from Cross Wings. He, like most mercenaries, was greedy, vicious and didn't really care too much for the well being of anyone that he either didn't know or didn't need. Then again, I wasn't really all that much better than him, so I just smiled slightly and shook my head.
“You are one sick fuck, Cross Wings,” I said, trying to stifle a snicker.
“Isn't that why you hang out with me?” He retorted with a chuckle, nudging me in the side with his elbow.
“So it's settled. You and me are gonna stick together until we get paid.” I simply nodded. The two of us had never really done any major travelling together, but we had both seen what the other was capable of, so neither of us was exactly wasting the others time, and since Cross Wings was still willing to continue putting up with me even after last nights 'mishap', the least I could do was help him make a few caps.
“Alright, so where we gonna sell it all? There aren’t any big towns anywhere in reasonable walking distance, and us wondering around the wasteland with a wagon full merchandise is defiantly a recipe for us getting robbed.” Cross Wings opened his beak to give me an answer but realised he didn't actually have one and closed it. He thought for a few moments before looking at me with an uncertain expression.
“Well, the only place nearby that's rich enough to afford it all would be Nova City, but it's a good five day walk away, and that's without the wagon. But, if we go a little way off track, there's a small rest stop we could spend a night.” This wasn't exactly ideal.
True, between the general stores, the gun shops, and the guards that wanted a bit more stopping power, Nova definitely had the money, but the walk was gonna be an absolute bitch, even with the rest stop, and based on what we already had picked up, it was doubtful that we could fit it all in the wagon, meaning that we would either have to leave some of the less valuable stuff behind or make two trip.
'We'll make fewer caps, but fucked if I'm making that trip twice. It seems like a waste to just let it all sit there, though. Maybe we just give what's left to the slaves and...'
“OH CRAP, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SLAVES?” I shouted aloud, making Cross Wings jump and the two mares in the back yelp. The griffon looked at me like I was completely insane, but realised what I was raving about and went pale.
“Shit, I forgot about them... we should probably hurry.” Without a second for anyone to properly comprehend what was happening, I started galloping, forcing Cross Wings to also pick up the pace. I ran as fast as my body would allow, ignoring my already aching hooves and growling stomach. Cross Wings yelled something about the cargo, and the two in the wagon cried out for me to slow down, but I didn't care. We had just left almost a dozen slave ponies caged up in the middle of nowhere, and I'd be damned if was gonna just leave them all there to die.
'They've been sat there for maybe fifteen hours at the most. I don't really know what or how much they were being fed, but it's unlikely any of them starved in that time. Even still, this isn't exactly the most friendly environment, what with all the wildlife and raiders around, meaning that we can't rule out them being attacked.' This train of thought would continue pretty much for the entire run back to the Talons building, constantly going back and forth, trying to make up my mind about whether or no all of them were dead or just sitting there.
After a few minutes of running I slowed down to a fast canter to preserve my energy, and partly to get Cross Wings to stop shouting at me. Both my hooves and lungs hurt felt as if they were on fire, and my stomach was begging me to just stop, but it didn't matter. None of it mattered.
What should have been another hour and a half of walking was turned into a thirty-minute dash that had about a dozen lives riding on it. It wasn't long before I could see the ruins of the demolished building that surrounded the solitary intact three-story office building that the Talons had previously occupied, and when I did, I returned to a full-on sprint, forcing Cross Wings to do the same.
When the building was finally within eyeshot, I looked all around and spotted three other wagons, similar in design to the one I was hitched to, each holding a cage with four or five shackled ponies sitting inside, along with what was left of the original group of slaver's supplies. We ran over and skidded to a rather sudden halt, panting heavily.
“Alright, we made it,” I stated through raspy breaths.
“Oh, wow, really? Hadn't noticed.” Cross Wings spat at me with enough venom to kill a brahmin. I chose to ignore any further comments from him and unhitched myself from the wagon.
As soon as I was out of the strap I dashed over to the nearest cage and jumped up onto the back of the wagon. Sat in the large cage were four ponies all cramped together, all dressed in dirty rags. They all stared at me with looks of caution as I approached, which I couldn't really blame them for, I probably would have done the same. None of us spoke a word as I ignited my horn to reach into my pockets. Out floated the screwdriver and a bobby pin.
I floated the screwdriver into the lock, carefully placed the pin just above it and began twisting.
It took five minute and four bobby pins, but eventually, everypony was free. They all looked like they were in good health which was rather surprising to me since most slavers were complete bastards who would have rather set food on fire just to watch it burn then give it to a starving slave. It did, however, make sense from a financial point, since stronger workers would sell for much more than a half dead one.
None of them really seemed to knew what was going on, but nopony wanted to be the one to ask. I made the regretful decision to try and talk to them.
“So, er, everypony okay?” They all looked to me, their befuddlement and discomfort mirroring my own. I heard a mumble from them and instantly gave up on doing this myself. Blue Lagoon and Caramel had already been identified by a few of them and had made the smart decision to stay in the wagon, hidden behind all the satchels and boxes, so that left me having to ask the one griffon for help.
I looked over to the newly vacated wagon, where Cross Wings was digging for whatever loot he would be able to sell and cleared my throat loudly. His head shot out of a satchel bag and turned to face me. I gestured with my head towards the group of ponies and mouthed the words 'do something'.
He looked slightly confused for a moment before realising what I meant and hovered over to stand next to me to address the freed slave.
“Well, it seems like you all escaped from that ordeal better off than you were going in, so you're welcome.” I facehoofed. “Now, it would probably be best for you all to go and find yourselves a place to stay and since all of its occupants are dead, you can just live for a little while.” This surprised me. Was Cross Wings actually showing compassion without profit?
“You know, just until the rest of the Talons come over to kick you out.” My face fell. The Talons may be strong fighters and did have some twisted sense of honour, but there was no way that they would just let a bunch of squatters live in one of their building.
Unfortunately, that was how real estate worked out here. Find a place you want to live in, send whoever is already living there packing, then move in.
'I suppose a few day in a place like this would be preferable to immediately hitting to road... without the bodies, of course.' I whinnied in frustration at the situation and decided to just leave them to it. I began to trot over to the front entrance but was halted halfway there by Cross Wings.
“Hey, where you going?” I didn't bother looking back at him.
“Get my stuff, then make a start on cleaning this place out,” I stated flatly before continuing towards the door.
“Oh, okay, have fun.” He shouted after me, going back to the conversation with the slaves.
I stood in front of the double doors that led into last nights failure. My failure.
'Lets just get this over with.' I gripped the knobs in my magic, let out a deep breath that didn't realise I was holding and pushed.
There were corpses everywhere. Around every corner, behind every door, skin beginning to turn purple and bodies stiff as boards (but thankfully not yet decomposing).
It would have been horrific to somepony else, but I had seen it all before. Ponies slaughtered for profit was nothing new. Hell, I'd seen it done for much less than that. After a while, you kind of learn to ignore it. I took a deep breath and headed towards the small storage room that Cross Wings had parked me last while he dealt with the rest.
Five minutes later I had found the place I was looking for and walked in, shutting the door behind me. The room was rather narrow with two sets of ruined steel shelves, an empty file cabinet and a rather large pair of saddlebags hidden underneath the shelves on the left. Right where I had left it.
My horn lit up and the bags began to glow the same colour. I floated it off the ground and over to myself, opening it as I did. I pulled out every item inside just to make sure that nothing was gone. In one bag was a full bottle of clean water, a nearly empty bottle of whiskey, a half-full bottle of wine, an extra pack of cigarettes, a small cardboard box containing two snack cakes, two unmarked tins of food that I had been putting off eating, a spoon and fork and a bunch of potions, bandages and chems. Buck, dash, even a syringe of stampede (thankfully, I was smart enough to not want to use any of them, just sell them to whoever wasn't).
In the other were a large amount ammo for various different guns, a few energy cells, five grenades (three frags, two plasmas), two frag mines, a whetstone, two extra stealth-bucks, a pouch containing about four hundred twenty bottle caps, and a pip-buck 3000.
The bulky hoof mounted computer was in a very sorry state. The screen was cracked in a couple of places, the latch that attached it to the foreleg was completely busted and the flash light's bulb had burned out ages ago. I had plucked it off the skeleton of some long dead stable pony who I found deep in a cave behind a wall of radscorpions about four years back. I mostly just used it as a clock and a map.
'Good, it's all still here' I thought as I put everything back into the bags, except for the whiskey bottle and the snack cakes, before placing them in the same spot I found them. I quickly ate both cakes, drained the bottle in one large gulp, coughing slightly as the last drops went down, and walked out.
'Like I said, long and painful'
It took over five hours to clear out the bodies. Things would have gone a lot faster if any of the slaves had bothered to help us instead of just standing around quietly muttering to each other, but it was probably better this way since me and Cross Wings were likely the only two here that would be able to stomach this kind of dirty work, which was probably a good thing. This fact didn't comfort me nearly as much as the two cigarettes that I had burnt to the filters.
The bodies were lined up, stripped of their possessions, then tossed onto a pile a few minutes walk away, leaving them for the wildlife to deal with. The greyness of the day had transitioned into a barely distinct afternoon. Cross Wings was trying to see just how much could be stuffed into biggest of the four wagons, and Caramel was still insisting that Blue Lagoon needed to stay and rest in the one we had brought with us.
As I removed the armour from the last griffon's lifeless body I heard somepony shouting. I looked over to the source and saw that three of the slaves, two earth pony stallions, and a unicorn mare, had gone over to the wagon that Blue and Caramel were sat in. They looked angry. Eyes narrowed and lips scowling, I made my way over there.
“Is there a problem over here?” They all turned to face me. The mare and one of the stallions flinched slightly when they saw me, but the other (the bigger one) glared back.
“You're damn right there's a problem, these cunts are still alive.” He spat in my face whilst gesturing with a hoof towards the two cowering mares. I could understand them being angry with them (I would be too), but I wasn't in any sort of mood to be dealing with this guy's bullshit.
“Well, if you insist on somepony dying.” I lit up my horn and drew out my revolver from its holster. The colour drained from his face when he saw it and he quickly took a few steps back. I peered down into the cylinder and saw that there were no bullets on either side. 'I only fired three shots last night, so that means that they emptied it after they took it off me.'
I was slightly annoyed at myself for not noticing this sooner but was more confused since Dust had used this gun to threaten Caramel earlier. 'Either he didn't have any intention of killing her or he's a complete idiot.' I couldn't help but smirk at the thought of how I could use this. After all, this guy didn't have to know empty.
“So, you or one of your friends?” I sneered whilst raising the gun to point it at them. They all stared in dead silence, he appeared to be sweating profusely and the other stallion shaking. This earned a small snort from me.
“I get to choose? Alright then.” I aimed the barrel directly between the first one's eyes and pulled back the hammer. After this, he began shaking as well. His eyes darted back and forth between me and the gun. I magically pulled back on the trigger. There was a quiet click and nothing happened.
There were a few seconds of stillness, then his eye glassed over and he fell to the ground, completely limp. I lowered the gun and looked at his two friends, both appeared to be close to doing the same as him.
“Get him out of here. I don't want to hear anything out of you lot again, got it?” I growled. They remained frozen in place for a moment before rushing over to the fainted stallions and hastily dragging him away. I continued glaring at them until they rejoined the rest, then let out a deep sigh and turned to the wagon. Both the mares were staring at me in mild shock.
“You two alright?” I grumbled. Blue seemed to recover first and replied with a shaky voice.
“Er, yeah, we're fine. They shouted at us a little, but didn't do anything else.” She wore a conflicted expression, like she wanted to say something but want sure if she should.
“Something on your mind?” I questioned, trying to give off a calm vibe. She started fidgeting slightly.
“Um, well... see, Caramel and I were talking and we... er, we've decided that we want to... to-”
“Can we go with you?” Caramel interrupted. When she realized what she had said she paled slightly and shrunk back down. I blinked a few time as I processed what she was asking.
“You want to come with me and Cross Wings to Nova city?” Blue gave the young mare a pointed look before sighing and explaining what exactly they were asking for.
“It's just that... we can't stay here with them, they’ll eat us alive, and you heard what the griffon said, there isn't a town for miles, and wandering aimlessly around the wasteland isn't exactly a safe idea for a pony with a concussion and a child. And-”
“Okay, okay. I get it.” I cut her off before she gave herself a panic attack.
“Alright, I see your point, but here's the thing.” My face darkened. “You told Dust who I am, didn't you?” Blue Lagoon flinched.
“Ye-Yes, I did.” She shied away from me, refusing to look me in the eye.
“You basically sold my life to an idiot who thought that he could give me to Red Eye and live a happy, gluttonous life, even after I saved you from those other two jackasses.”
“W-we didn-”
“Tell me, what was I worth? Did he offer you caps? Safety? Or did you just do it for the sake of doing it?”
“HE WAS GOING TO KILL YOU!” Caramel jumped to all four hooves and stared me dead in the face.
“Kill me? Why would he want to kill me? He didn't even know whose side I was on.” Blue Lagoon extended a hoof to the child's shoulder and gently pushed her aside. She huffed but stepped away to let Blue talk.
“Do you remember that mare with the grenade rifle?” I rolled my eyes.
“How could I forget?”
“When Dust and the others found you unconscious next to her body they kind of assumed that you had killed her. Dust wanted to cut your throat there and then, but I told him that you were the Nightkin and that you would probably be worth a lot to someone. When he heard that he decided that we were gonna sell you to Red Eye.” I wrinkled my muzzle.
“Why would he be so eager to kill me? He didn't know the full story.” Blue grimaced and glances at Caramel.
“Um... well, you see, he and Daisy Crush, the mare you were found with, they were...close.” I raised an eyebrow at this. It was obvious what she meant, it just confused me that she would care about censoring herself in front of Caramel. Based on her blush, the foal clearly knew what she was talking about.
I pushed the thought aside and considered what they were asking of me.
'They did technically save my life, but at the same time potentially condemned me to live as a slave... okay, a couple weeks tops, but still as a slave. I don't really know if Blue's any good in a fight (even without a concussion), and it seems like Caramel's confidence mostly comes from the Mint-als, so if we run into any trouble they're both gonna be a bit useless. Still, an extra gun never really hurts. An extra few mouths, however...'
I kept going around and around in my head, trying to decide if this was a good idea or not. For every advantage, I found there was an equal disadvantage, and I wasn't really one for compromise. This continued in for a few moments before I noticed that both mares were staring at me in suspense, the younger biting her lower lip. This brought me to the realisation that they likely wouldn't survive very long without my help, and that leaving them to such a fate would be a weight on my shoulders for a long time.
I whinnied quietly and shook my head.
“We leave tomorrow morning, do everything I tell you, stay back during any conflicts, eat what you're given or find your own food and don't even bother whining about anything 'cause I'm not gonna listen.” I didn't look at them as I spoke, but I could tell from the sighs of relief that they weren’t entirely expecting me to say yes.
I did hear one of them say something, but by this point, all I wanted was to finish preparing to leave, preferably alone. I turned my gaze over to the griffon I had been working and saw that Cross Wings had taken the liberty of finishing for me and was currently dragging his body towards the pile off in the distance.
I scanned the area and saw, to my relief, that not only were we finished with clearing away the corpses, but also that the former slaves had stopped dawdling around and had actually begun to file into the building. As I pondered on what was left to be done to prepare for tomorrows departure, a thought dawned on me. A rather worrying thought.
“Hey,” I said as I turned back. “Did you tell Dust my real name?” They both looked slightly confused.
“Ur, no, I don't think so, it never really came up,” Blue responded. “Why do you ask?” I let my body relax a little and rolled my eye at the question.
'Shouldn't that be obvious?'
“Okay, think about this. What is the Nightkin known for doing, exactly?” She looked as if she hadn't really been expecting me to give a straight answer, but was still taken aback.
“Um... well, DJ PON3 talks about how you kill raiders and slavers a lot. And there's also all the stories about the mutant alicorns, the pegasus enclave, that weird mercenary clan of-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. Anyway, the point is that there are a lot of people that would very much like to see the Nightkin dead. So if any of them were to find out his real name, it would be easier for them to track him down, meaning that they would likely pay quite a lot for that information.” A look of realisation dawned on her face. “So, tell me, if somepony like Dust knew his name and then ran into somepony that worked for Red Eye or the Enclave what do you think he'd do?” As I talked she started to release what I was getting at.
“He'd probably sell them your real name.” She mumbled, embarrassed at not figuring it out sooner.
'Ether that or they'd just beat it out of him.'
“That's right. So call me Nightkin again and, I swear to Celestia, I will ditch you.” I shot her a pointed look, causing them to cringe a little. I turned and began to walk away, but was stopped by a young voice.
“You don't have to be so mean about it!” I narrowed my eyes but didn't look back.
“If I wasn't mean you wouldn't listen.” I scoffed as I made my way towards the doors leading into the building.
The trek back to my storage closet wasn't exactly quick. I had to take several alternative (and longer) routes to avoid all the ponies that now inhabited the place. I really didn't want to even risk having to talk to anyone, regardless of the subject.
After about twenty minutes of ducking and weaving around corners, I finally made it back to where I had left all my stuff, almost slamming the door behind me. Realising just how hungry I actually was, I levitated out the bags and immediately pulled out the fork, one of the mystery tins and the bottle of wine. I use my magic to tear open the tin and saw that it was filled with a yellow, chunky slop. Mac and cheese. I bought the tin up to my nose and sniffed. It didn't really smell as if it had gone off, meaning that the tin likely had a preservative spell on it.
'Thank fucking Celestia.'
I focused my magic around the can, changing the aura's colour from purple to a warm red and coursing the contents to begin emitting a small amount of steam. I ate in almost complete silence, not really bothering to taste the bland mush as it went down my throat, occasionally sipping from the wine bottle. It only took five or so minutes to finishing eating, leaving me with an empty tin, an almost empty wine bottle, and a pleasant drunken buzz.
I finished the liquor and discarded both containers out of the door. I brought out my lighter and pack of cigarettes from my coat and saw that there were only four left. This added to the eighteen the full pack in my bag meant that I had twenty-two total. This might sound like a lot, but I normally had about five to seven a day, so, if I wasn't careful, I would run out by about day four.
'Okay then, last one for today' I thought with a bit of annoyance as I drew one final cigarette. I looked up and saw a small, rectangular window near the top of the wall opposite the door. I reach my magic up and prised it open, then sat back against the filing cabinet.
After a solid five minutes of sitting with my eyes closed and the cigarette held between my lips whilst steadily exhaling smoke, I heard a voice. A soft, almost calming feminine voice that I knew all too well.
“So, here we are again. Wallowing in self-pity and struggling to find a reason for why we do the things we do.” I breathed out a small black cloud and slowly opened my eyes.
In front of me stood a unicorn mare in her mid to late twenty. Her pointed turquoise green eyes stared into my cyan ones. Her maroon coat covered her entire slim, yet strong figure and her short, well-kept mane and tail were a spectrum of blue, electric at the tips and navy at the roots. On her flank was the image of a cluster of about a half dozen spark, thin smoke rising from them to form a spiral-shaped cloud.
“Hello, Mist.” My voice was much more tranquil than it had been at any point over the last day. I was never very good at being stern with her.
“You did pretty well with this one, you know, ignoring all the dead griffons.” She said, almost in a joking manner. “None of the slaves died, and it seems like you even made a few new friends.”
“Blue and Caramel? They're not friends.” I retorted. She let out an amused giggle.
“They know that you're the Nightkin, so, like it or not, we now have to keep them on our side. And how exactly do we do that?” I looked away from her and exhale again.
“By making friends with them,” I mumbled.
“That's right, and please, at least try to be nice to these two. They seem like they could really use some... well, niceness.” Be nice? Me? Not exactly an unreasonable request, but still not one that I would normally put too much effort towards.
“Fine. I'm not gonna go out of my way or anything, but I guess I can stop being... 'mean'” Since we were going to be spending the next few days together, it made sense for us to get along just a little.
“Good. Now we can get down to the reason why I'm here.” I looked at her again and was greeted by a sharp stare and a harsh frown.
“Why did you do this?” It was a question I thought I knew the answer too.
“Because I hate slavers and wanted to kill them,” I admitted this with absolutely no shame. As far as I cared, anyone who sold, brought, or owned other ponies deserved what I would give them.
“Wrong.” She sounded almost disappointed by my answer, which only served to bewilder me.
“Well, not entirely. That may have been one of the reasons, but it was not the main one.” I was becoming more confused and frustrated as she talks but tried to contain it.
“What are you talking about? I didn't need any other reason.” I snapped, failing in my efforts to remain somber.
“You did this to distract yourself.” All at once my body went stiff, my eyes squinted and my face fell. I knew exactly what she was talking about.
“We still need to find Stable 104.” I looked away from her again in mild shame.
“I'm working on it, alright.” I heard her sigh loudly.
“You've been 'working on it' for almost ten years now. Isn't there some old cliché about how you're supposed to dedicate all your time to fulfilling my one wish?”
“Isn't there an even older cliché about how I'm supposed to track you down and avenge my parents?” I scoffed through another puff of smoke. She chuckled dryly.
“Well, you kind of did.” There were a few moments of nothing. No movement, no sound, nothing.
Knock knock knock
“Hey, Strike.” My head snapped up and turned to face the door that Cross Wings' voice was coming through.
“Get out here. I need help with the cargo.” I groaned before inhaling as much smoke as I could, then slowly breathing it all out.
“Right, be out in a second.” I levitated the cigarette out of my mouth and crumpled it in my magical grip. I got to my hooves and made my way over to the door, but stopped just as I was about to turn the nob. I didn't need to look back. I knew what I'd see.
“See you later, Sis” I breathed quietly before opening the door and exiting the empty room.
Footnote: level up
Perk added: Smoke Powered – your Perception, Straight and Endurance all increase by 1 for a short time after having a smoke, but decrease by 1 if you go too long without one.