Chapter Twenty-Three: Demands
“We can do this the easy way… or the hard way.”
“The system is decayed to shit, but I think I can get it out,” Cobalt informed the rest of us, concentrating as he prepared to steadily remove the water talisman from the stable’s systems.
“Want some help?” Moon Blossom asked, flicking her combat knife from its sheath and displaying it in her jaw with a manic grin.
“How about we leave the delicate technical stuff to the smart ponies, yes?” Cobalt shot back, not even looking at the pegasus as he continued to work.
Moon Blossom dropped, putting her knife away with a pout. “Jackass.”
After we’d put the Stable 77 Dweller out of his misery, the others had soon followed us in to regroup. Altrix was still shaking in the corner from our experience in the Overmare’s office, Stripe continuing to see to the shell-shocked changeling. From there, Moon Blossom gave the place a once over for any valuables while Cobalt got to examining the water talisman. It was in good shape, but the machinery around it was less so.
So now he was extracting it as carefully as he could, while Moon Blossom became disappointed that there was little to no loot to be found.
Speaking of the female pegasus…
“So… That was you that Altrix saw, huh?” I asked her, and she gave me a blank look in return. “Back out on the catwalk, Altrix swore she saw something following us. Was that you?”
“Oh, that,” Moon Blossom began to reply. “Yeah, that was me. Had to dive through those pricks outside to follow you in here. Yeah, uh… I hope buggy and me ain’t going to have to carry you back up.”
That was a question for later, and I had a few others first…
“Why?” I asked simply. “You barely said two words to me back at the Megamart. Why were you following us?”
Moon Blossom shrugged. “Could I just say that I was bored?”
My flat look was enough for her to figure out my stance on the matter.
“Okay, fine,” she said with a huff. “You guys blasted my old pals up good, and then you busted us out without asking a thing in return. I’ve never seen that before, so… I guess I was just curious what was up with you guys.”
“You are also a raider,” Stripe noted dangerously.
“Is it that obvious?” Moon Blossom shot back sarcastically. “And you’re a zebra. Wow! Fancy that!”
“The prisoners told us about you, you know,” Stripe continued without missing a beat. “How despite what you are, you tried to save them. Maybe we should be the ones curious about you?”
The pegasus gritted her teeth. “And what do you care?”
“Perhaps we do, perhaps we don’t. But you seem to care enough to follow us into a forsaken stable.”
“Look, I’ve ran with that crew since the day I was born. Gutted my first pony when I was barely old enough to tell you all to go fuck yourselves,” she growled at us, and I spied Stripe moving herself slightly more in between the pegasus and Altrix. “Parents were raiders. Probably long dead, not sure which ones they were. Happy?”
“You still haven’t explained why you didn’t go down fighting with the rest of them,” Cobalt said, still not turning to look back as he worked.
“Why does it matter!?”
I bit my lip. “Alright, then why are you here? Now that you’ve found us. Still curious?”
“Well… kinda?” she said with distinct uncertainty. “I… was hoping I’d tag along. You know, break some shit you need breaking. That stuff.”
“Then how do we know you won’t rob us as we sleep?” Stripe countered.
“I helped against my old crew, didn’t I?” she retorted with a scowl.
“Which brings us back to the ‘why’ once more.”
“Something was always wrong, alright!?” Moon Blossom suddenly shouted, her wings flaring and sending us all into silence from the sheer intensity of emotion in her voice. “Fuck… Something was always up with what we did. But I went along with it, that’s just how things were… Then I got the dumb idea that it didn’t have to be, and I nearly got raped and murdered by the others as a result. Then you assholes saved me, and now I’m here to see if I was right or a dumbass. Happy now?!”
We were silent, only the sound of Cobalt’s tinkering filled our ears alongside Moon Blossom’s heavy panting. Steadily, she calmed herself down as Stripe’s gaze lost some of its hostility.
“So… You have a crisis of faith in your raider upbringing,” the zebra noted.
“Yeah, call it whatever you want!” she snapped back. “But for some reason, every time I saw somepony like Buzz Saw or Face Pizza get their ‘pickings’ of the prisoners, it made me sick to my stomach. So yeah, I want to see if there is anything better in this shithole of a world. And you’re my best bet. It’s that or die in a ditch, and I have yet to find a comfortable one.”
We were silent again. I, for one, didn’t see any lie in the former raider’s words. And she had helped us out back there. But still…
“So? Am I into your little club or not?”
“I think we should take her,” Altrix finally, if quietly, spoke up as she poked her head out from behind Stripe. “I mean… if she wants to be a better pony, we could help her! Right…?”
Stripe looked back at Altrix’s pleading and hopeful eyes, before looking back towards me with a sigh. “She may not be wrong. And a redeemed pony is better than just another dead one.”
Well, that’s two votes… “Cobalt?”
“You do whatever, Scrap Heap,” he responded, seemingly close to getting the talisman. “We’re already the biggest group of oddballs this side of Equestria. So as long as she keeps her knives away from my work, and doesn’t try to kill us, I’m good.”
Well… alright then. I guess she’s in. Heh, next we’ll be picking up a balefire phoenix or something…
“Fine, you can come,” I told her. “Just no backstabbing.”
“Hah! Awesome!” she proclaimed with an enthusiastic punch to the air. “You need stuff stabbed, stomped or otherwise pulverised, I’m your mare!”
I could already see our increased body count in the coming days…
“Annnd got it!” Cobalt said victoriously, grabbing the freed water talisman in his magic and holding it up for us all to see. “Anypony order salvation for one changeling hive?”
The console he’d been working on gave several beeps as warning lights began to blink, then a low droning noise sounded throughout the stable as several large pieces of machinery began to shut down one by one.
“I wouldn’t try to drink the water anymore, mind you,” Cobalt quickly added after the water filtration system finished crashing.
I think it was time to leave.
“Well, I think we’re going to have to try the flying trick,” I said to the group, Cobalt placing the water talisman delicately into his saddlebag. “Now we have Moon Blossom, it might be both possible and timely.”
“It might be straining,” Altrix noted. “I’m, uh… not a very practised flier. I mean, I can carry myself just fine, but there wasn’t much flying in the hive.”
“I could carry one of you, no sweat,” Moon Blossom bragged. “Though three in a row might be, uh… Can any of you survive a really long fall?”
“We’ll figure that out in a moment, but I want to do something else first,” Cobalt interrupted, standing between us all. “Now we don’t have to worry about a crazed ghoul gassing us, I want to check out the Overmare’s private terminal again. It might have information we could use.”
Well, I guess there was no harm in that…
Cobalt led the way as we all filed from the reactor room and returned to the office up top. As we entered, I could still smell a pungent aroma from the gas, though anything lethal had long since thinned out. Cobalt moved towards the terminal as we had a better look over of the office, though there really wasn’t all that much to see.
Once Cobalt had access, he wasted no time in browsing the options appearing on the screen.
“Now what do we have here…?” he muttered just within earshot, and I walked over to peer over his shoulder. “Looks like a manifest of construction crews who built this place, orders from Stable-Tec and… an emergency access elevator.”
“I like the sound of that last one,” I said, though I was still curious about the middle option. “What did Stable-Tec have to say, Cobalt?”
“Let’s find out,” he replied, and then clicked on the option.
Dear Overmare,
In the event of a proximity alert and call for stable closure, you are NOT to enter the stable under any circumstances unless directly commanded to do so by a high-ranking representative. You will instead evacuate to Stable 0 at Stable-Tec HQ with all other accepted members of staff and their families (Note: Stable 0 still under construction as of this date).
Before evacuating, you are to ensure that ‘Subject A’ successfully enters Stable 77 and is sealed inside, NO other ponies or otherwise are to be submitted. Doing otherwise will cause your access to Stable 0 and that of your family to be revoked. Only after all parameters are met can you evacuate to your designated fallout shelter for your own safety. Before such a time, you are to follow all Stable-Tec stable promotional regulations and ensure that the public remains unaware as to the nature of this social experiment, as well as to ensure the stable remains in perfect condition up until the potential coming holocaust.
We understand any moral concerns you may have and encourage you to voice such concerns to either Ms Scootaloo, Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle. We are not responsible if your complaints result in employment termination and/or a memory wipe.
Sincerely,
Stable-Tec Administrative Department.
Well… that cleared that up nicely.
“T-the Princess really needs to know!” Altrix whimpered. “T-they tried to seal us away forever!”
“Somepony did, though I doubt it was an ‘official’ experiment of theirs,” Cobalt noted, sighing as all our worst fears about the stable were confirmed without a doubt. “Still, how many of these stables became tombs because of this...?”
“What would they even accomplish with these experiments?” Stripe asked in anger.
“A single occupant here. Stable 3 was the ‘get along’ stable. Seeing what living conditions worked best, perhaps? No idea who thought this place was even remotely a good idea,” Cobalt responded sadly. “Maybe somepony working on the experiments was after a good laugh.”
“Well haha, I’m laughing,” Moon Blossom said dismissively. “Are we done looking at words now?”
“Right, let me get the elevator,” Cobalt agreed, turning the scroll wheel on the keyboard and highlighting the option.
There was a beep, and a wall panel slid away to reveal a new doorway.
“Huh, neat,” the pegasus muttered as she approached the door and opened it, seeing that it led into an old and heavily rusted elevator. “We’re going for a ride!”
If this thing didn’t lead to the surface, and instead led to another horrible murder dungeon, I was going to hit somepony.
The good news was that the elevator had indeed led to the surface.
Bad news was that it was on the wrong side of the Galloping Gorge, so we had to walk around the entire thing to get back to the military checkpoint we’d started at. From there we ventured back out into the Equestrian Wasteland, leaving the wreck of Stable 77 far behind us.
Three days of travel later, and the abandoned town of Prosperity was once again just about in sight.
“Didn’t think I’d be coming back here so soon…” Moon Blossom muttered as we passed by her first home. “Kinda creepy, actually.”
“Settlers will be long gone by now,” I noted. “Nothing left here but the roaches.”
“That’s something I can crush,” she replied. “Can’t crush the ghosts, though.”
Who knew a raider could have a flair for the poetic?
“So, where’s this bug hive of yours anyway?” she then asked, if only to get her mind off her old home. “I don’t remember us killing and looting any of them before.”
“About another day’s travel,” I informed her. “Hopefully they’ve cleared all the ferals by now. And the radiation.”
“Ferals and radiation? Sounds like a party!”
“Yeah, I’ll bring the cake,” Cobalt dryly commented.
We passed into the centre of town, buildings surrounding us now, My E.F.S. was quiet though, and I couldn’t physically see anything that might be out of its range. I could see Stripe also watching the buildings for movement, but I guess she hadn’t seen anything either.
There was an old fountain in the middle of the town square we’d found ourselves in, and I didn’t recall us coming down this route through town the first time we were here. The town hall was directly ahead of us, a faded banner that probably said something patriotic loosely hung from the large building even two hundred years after-the-fact. The rest of the square was filled with burnt out buildings, shattered benches and long-dead skeletons of those who’d been caught out by the bombs. A road led out through the buildings, a sign showing the Megamart was in that direction.
“Anything in that place worth scavenging?” I asked Moon Blossom, pointing at the town hall.
She shrugged. “Nah, place is empty. Only thing we ever used it for was a quiet place to go and rut.”
“Right…”
Well, there was no point sticking around if that was the case. We’d already been over the Megamart, I was willing to bet everywhere else in town was either burned to a crisp or long picked clean by a few generations of raiders operating out of here.
My map marker blinked idly on my Eyes Forward Sparkle, leading us faithfully in the direction of the hive. There was nothing left to do but follow it, nothing else of interest existed in this damned place beyond that new red bar that had appeared in my vision.
…Wait.
“Get down!” I shouted the moment I heard the spooling of the minigun!
And we all moved behind the fountain just as a hail of 5mm rounds cascaded into our position, shredding the already decayed décor that was barely providing us cover from the onslaught. And worse, I realised, was that it wouldn’t be of any use as protection against a second volley.
The minigun cut out just as the last of our cover all but disintegrated, whatever was left of the radioactive water inside splashing out over us. But that wasn’t a concern right then and there; that gunfire had definitely been coming from the front balcony of the town hall!
“Alright then! Something to rip apart!” Moon Blossom shouted in far too much enthusiasm, leaping from cover with her wings flared and her knife drawn.
Simultaneously, Stripe instinctively popped out her sniper and took a shot at our attacker.
CRACK.
PING.
…Ping?
I looked up from our cover as well, my eyes gazing up towards the target that Stripe had just hit.
No wonder her bullet had just bounced off, I would recognise that power armoured griffon anywhere!
“…So, uh… think my ‘pop off the helmet’ trick will work twice?” Moon Blossom asked with a grin.
Judging from the increasing red bars on my E.F.S. I wasn’t sure that she’d get the chance.
“We’re in the open, get to cover!” I shouted to the others, leading the way down to road towards the Megamart as the minigun fire started to trail after us again.
As we ran, I saw another two red bars appear. Stealing a glance behind us, I saw… Yes, that was another griffon in power armour. Wait, that was the one we’d seen before judging by the magic weapons shooting red beams at us. Or maybe it was just another…
Oh dear Celestia, how many of these guys were there!?
Followed by gunfire and the sparks of energy weaponry, at least one of the latter singeing my leather barding, we scrambled into the Megamart’s parking lot and all took cover behind whatever vehicles were closest. I was with Moon Blossom while the other three were behind another wreck just across from us. I pulled out my pistol for the range, but I couldn’t say I was sure what I was going to do against power armour with it.
“I like your friends!” Moon Blossom shouted over the incoming gunfire, sneaking a peek over her cover and narrowly avoiding a shot to the head. “Very energetic!”
“Um... friends…?” Altrix squeaked as a beam of red flew over her head.
“We met them a while back,” I shouted over to the changeling, all while risking a peek over at our attackers.
I could see both of the griffons in power armour, though a bullet that pinged off the metal inches from my head betrayed the location of a griffon in combat armour utilising a hunting rifle from a nearby building.
S.A.T.S. quickly showed that my chances of hitting him were low, so I quit the spell and elected to fire a couple of bullets at him the normal way. Neither hit, though I did see him flinch back before I ducked back down.
More red bars were also beginning to appear again, Red Eye’s slavers were converging all around us.
“Why did they follow us out here?” Cobalt asked towards nopony in particular.
“Maybe we pissed them off with our trespass,” I suggested with a humourless chuckle. “We could try asking.”
“If they’re even here for us at all. Because of course, our luck would be that bad,” Cobalt said as he casually picked up a thrown grenade in his magic and returned it to sender.
It detonated, though all the red bars remained intact.
Stripe lifted her rifle and looked around her cover, peering off at the griffon who’d I taken a shot at.
One crack of her rifle later and his bar blinked out.
“That’s one,” I commented, looking over to see the new arrivals.
Three more were flanking the two in power armour, but I couldn’t see the final four bars…
Oh shit, I’d just remembered they could fly!
A quick glance up saved my head from being snatched in the talons of an angry griffon, who gave one last squawk of pain when I unloaded several extremely startled bullets into his beak.
That left the three that were still descending down onto us.
Moon Blossom gave a delighted laugh as she hopped up onto the vehicle she’d been taking cover behind and leapt into the air herself, completely ignoring a bullet that bit into her hide as she tackled the griffon mid-air.
I was distracted from that amazing sight when the third did a strafing run and riddled our position with bullets, causing us all to have to roll to avoid his spray.
And then the fourth cawed as she grabbed down onto Stripe’s rifle and yanked it aside. I’d only just caught that action when that bitch came at Stripe again and dug her claws into the foreleg she’d thrown up to protect herself!
What a mistake that griffon had made.
Stripe headbutted the griffon, causing her to falter as Cobalt gripped on with his magic and pulled her fully away.
And then I finished it with several bullets from my 9mm, before I swapped over to my shotgun and tracked the other griffon as he came in for another run.
I pulled the trigger and, in a spray of blood and feathers, one of the bastard’s wings became mulch as he hit the ground between the vehicles we were hiding behind. Sure, the impact had failed to kill him. But I’m pretty certain the bolt of magic he took to the head from Cobalt finished the job.
Then there was a whoosh, and I suddenly found myself face first on the ground with the taste of copper in my mouth.
Oh, that was blood…
It was only as I laid with my head rested against the concrete that I registered the fireball casting its heat all over my body. Had I missed that explosion? I was pretty sure I’d have noticed an explosion.
Oh look, those black hooves picking me up were filled with holes! Why did that-
I spluttered as a healing potion was shoved into my gullet, and the world began to come back into full focus. All of a sudden, the roaring fire that was once my cover began to be much clearer to my ears, as was the excruciating pain coursing through my entire body!
And dear Luna did I have a headache!
“Ugh…” was all I was able to moan as I stumbled, barely catching myself as I turned to survey the battlefield.
More talons were arriving, and I’d failed to notice in the commotion the arrival of a third griffon in full power armour. And the rocket launcher strapped to his battle saddle explained the everything that just happened.
“Come on, get up!” Altrix urged as she helped me to my hooves again, getting help from Stripe as Cobalt covered us with a quick shield against the gunfire.
“I’m good! I’m good!” I lied as I shook them off, standing unsteadily back on my hooves.
I didn’t need my E.F.S. to know we were outnumbered, and they were all closing in fast. We couldn’t stay out here, we were sitting ducks!
“Get into the Megamart!” I ordered the others as I immediately began to move myself over to the entrance. Every step still hurt, but Med-X would have to do for now! “We need shelter!”
“Altrix, make sure he gets inside,” Stripe asked, getting a nod as the zebra quickly retrieved her rifle as we all started to make our way back towards the supermarket.
Even though Altrix was supposed to be the one helping me, I pushed her a little ahead and stood between the changeling and the incoming gunfire, raising my own gun again and firing into the crowd of red bars as we ran.
Cobalt’s shield collapsed amidst a hail of minigun and magic laser fire, the unicorn grunting in pain as one laser struck him in the shoulder.
Just a bit more, we were just mere metres from the door!
“Giddy-up!” Moon Blossom cackled as she rode a bloodied griffon straight into the wall next to the front entrance, cracking his beak open against it before they landed, and she finished it with a knife to the brain. “We should do that again sometime!”
“Inside! Now!” I shouted at the pegasus as we busted the doors open, and I all but yanked her in with my magic to make sure she’d follow.
“Hey! Alright! No need to get pull my tail out!”
Once I was sure she wasn’t going to charge out, I made sure everyone was in before I gave one last look out of the front entrance. The parking lot was all but overrun with griffons at this point, and I even spotted one or two ponies now among their ranks.
And then one final bar appeared, and a griffon unlike I had ever seen landed directly in the middle of all the chaos without an ounce of trepidation or fear.
He wasn’t wearing power armour, though he might as well have been. Cybernetics snaked through his body, intersecting through both his black talon combat armour and his deep dark brown feathers and fur. Two heavily modified and angrily glowing red energy weapons hung from his sides on a battle saddle, and a cybernetic left eye that was both as red and angry as his guns pierced into my own. Even his normal blue eye carried an intensity that just screamed for my immediate immolation.
I slammed the door shut and pushed the nearest discarded display in front of it as a makeshift barricade. I doubted that it would hold, but it made me feel safer than I really was, so that was a plus…
As I slumped down by the door, hearing bullets continue to ricochet outside, I saw Altrix frantically attending to everyone else in our group. Moon Blossom was insisting her bullet wound was fine, despite the gushing blood and her sudden difficulty standing now the adrenaline had worn off. The changeling helped apply some kind of salve to Cobalt’s burn, and Stripe chose not to waste a healing potion on her claw marks, instead opting to simply bandage her leg for the time being.
“You all need to take it easy,” Altrix stressed, worry radiating from her in droves. “Your bodies can only take so much!”
“Hey, we killed several of their guys. They killed none of ours. So… we win!” Moon Blossom remarked.
“That encounter nearly did kill us, and they’re still out there,” Stripe pointed out in disapproval.
“We can try the back, once we’re able to get moving,” I suggested, as eager to stay with the talons as the next person. “Before they try to get in that-”
I paused as I realised the gunfire had stopped, silence reigning over the Megamart. Several moments passed us by, and yet not a sound could be heard from outside.
“…Silence is a bad thing in this case, right?” I muttered.
“Everyone, behind the barricade,” Stripe urged, shifting Altrix behind the scrap fortifications as she continued to try and treat our wounds.
The rest of us followed, all taking positions behind the raiders’ old defences and getting a good view of the door.
“Altrix, we good to move?” I asked the changeling doctor.
“I-If you can withstand the pain, you all should hold together,” Altrix said with a nervous laugh, before whimpering and placing her head in her hooves. “Oh… I want to go home.”
“We’ll be there soon…” I promised the changeling.
There was no way we could fight that many griffons and ponies, not with their gear and… whatever that cyborg thing was. We just had to get out through the loading dock before they realised.
“EQUINES IN THE MEGAMART, LISTEN UP,” a voice bounced off every surface deafeningly, and we all flattened our ears with grimaces at the loud declaration. Whatever it was, it was coming from outside. “YOU FACE THE ARMIES OF RED EYE! AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU FACE HIS ENFORCER, ME, KRONOS!”
So, he was loud AND full of himself. Message received loud and clear!
“I HAVE ORDERED MY TALONS TO STAND DOWN… PROVIDED YOU GIVE US WHAT YOU HAVE OF OURS.”
“You guys stole from Red Eye?” Moon Blossom said with what I think was an impressed tone.
“Not that I know of,” I rebutted. “What, do they mean that memory orb we picked up?”
“WE KNOW YOU HAVE THE CHANGELING.”
What?
“WE KNOW SHE IS IN THERE. SHE AND HER RACE ARE OF INTEREST TO LORD RED EYE AND THE GODDESS, RETURN HER TO US AND YOU MAY YET BE REWARDED.”
“The Goddess!?” Cobalt whispered incredulously. “Why are the alicorns interested in this!?”
Forget that! Why do they want Altrix at all!?
I glanced at the changeling, who was suddenly looking more terrified than I’d ever seen her. She began to hyperventilate as the realisation that she was the reason we’d been ambushed seemed to settle down, and I suspect the sheer horror that the slavers were interested in her at all.
No. No way. We wouldn’t give her up. We couldn’t!
“MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE, SCRAP HEAP.”
He… he knew me?
“GIVE UP THE BUG, AND LORD RED EYE WILL SHOW MERCY,” he claimed, and I could just hear the smirk on his beak. “OR FIGHT. AND WE WILL MAKE YOU WATCH HER BE TAKEN AS YOU DIE.”
Footnote: Max Level