Chapter 3: Sweat and Rust
“
Beep…
Beep…
“Well yeah, but he was dead only a few minutes ago.”
Beep…
Beep…
“That’s fine. As long as he is alive now. I am going to go back and help put out the fires.”
Beep…
Beep…
“Wait!... Why do you care so much!? I feel sick wasting medicine on him.”
Beep…
Beep…
“Believe it or not he saved dozens of ponies today. We owe him that. Besides Gadgette made him this way. She’s never made something that didn’t work.”
Beep...
Beep…
Beep…
I woke up to the smell of burnt wood and the sounds of construction. Pony hooves on the flats of nails pounding against my skull. I rolled to the side, falling off a mattress and slamming against the floor. “Uuuuuuuuuggghh.” I pushed my face into the scrap metal floor and put my hooves over my ears. “Go away…” I groaned. I didn’t want this noise. I wanted to go back to the endless black of sleep. I didn’t want to think about what I would have to face if I woke up. I didn’t want to exist.
A door being forced open broke my line of self deprecating thoughts, just as they began. “Oh, you’re awake!” It was the voice of Cherry. “Sorry for being scared, Adstrum. Miss Eclipse says that it’s just something that you can do.” She hesitated. “You know… Regrow your legs.” I mumbled for her to leave, as she set something down next to me. “Everypony is calling you the Hyrda because of it… Well that and because you’re actually a zebra. Miss Eclipse was hiding your stripes. I don’t believe them though. You’re too nice.”
Oh stars that hurt me. I felt a heavy pain in my heart at her words. The secret was out. Worst yet, I still didn’t know exactly what I had done. Still, the evidence was there. That raider even called me by name. “You should believe the other ponies. I am The Hydra.” There was nothing else to say as I turned to look at her now terrified face. She looked as though she were speaking with Discord himself.
I flopped my face back down on the dirty floor where it belonged. “O-oh… Well… Miss Eclipse says to just stay in here a while… I’ll let her know you’re up” With that Cherry ran out the door as fast as her little hooves would carry her. I didn’t blame her. The images of what I saw at the NSCDC floated through my head like a sickening slide show. That was my life until now.
Only one thing kept me from attempting to stave my head in with the nearest blunt object, A memory that seeped into focus as I wallowed in my mistakes. The rest of my day was spent on the floor remembering that one instance in particular. An event that I was becoming fixated on.
It was a mare pointing a strange looking gun at me. She was above me, looking down as though I were the worst thing in the world to exist. She wasn’t angry though, she wept for me. The only words I could make out were, ‘I promise…’. The memory was so blurry I couldn’t even tell what the mare looked like. But I remembered her voice. It was coarse and tired, but filled with care and sympathy. It was as though the weight of the world crashed about every word she spoke. She was tired of living too.
Whatever it was that kept me locked on that memory was soon pushed out of my mind by the door being forced open again, this time with much more force than before. “Sweet Celestia! Get up off the floor Adstrum” Came Nocturne’s voice in a clipped manner.
“No. I deserve the floor.”
I felt a hoof prod the back of my head. “Are you crying?!”
Turning up to look at her, my vision blurry with tears, I firmly stated. “No…” I sucked in air through my teeth and slapped my face against the floor to hide my shame.
“Okay fine. I guess I can’t really force you to sit up.” The sound of creaking springs told me she was sitting on the mattress now. “Just listen, can you do that?” I nodded my head the best I could. “Good. So, the secret is out. Everypony knows who you are. Cherry Tells me that you also know who you are. Is that correct?” She took my mumbled response as a yes and simply continued. “I’m not going to apologize for what I did to you, hiding who you are from yourself. It was for the right reasons and for your own safety.” Why did she care about my safety? I was a murderer! “Before I decide what we’re going to do with you now that ‘reforming’ you isn’t an option I have a question for you.”
Compelled, I looked up to her from my cozy spot on the soot covered metal floor. I noticed that she was armed with a pistol. “What?”
“Why did you try to kill yourself? That doesn’t sound like the Hydra I knew.” She asked, emphasizing the word ‘knew’.
I sniffled, smearing soot on my face as I wiped my nose. “It was me. I realized I was the monster”
Nocturne looked at me, puzzled. “I am sorry. Please say that again. My Zebra is rusty.”
Had I just spoken zebra? Strange words fell from my lips. I was speaking Zebra. “In semita Iter in tenebris.” I had to consciously switch to speaking Equestrian. “I tried to kill myself because of who I was. I didn’t want to remember incase I started killing again. I don’t want to hurt anypony.”
“I see…” She began as though taking a mental note. “... Do you know why those raiders came here?” She asked, gently prodding my shoulder. She leaned in, scrutinizing my face as I worked up the courage to answer.
“They came…” I said, feeling my throat begin to dry. “Because of me.” My Gaze drifted down to the floor as I thought about it. “They killed all those ponies because I was here.”
My answer was rewarded with a hoof upside my head. “No! They came because they thought you were dead! They left because of you! And they’re coming back!” She put both hooves on my shoulders and yelled into my face with an anger that was seeded in hatred. “Do you actually care about the lives of ponies?! Do you want them to die because you want to take the easy way out!? Because then you would be killing them! Everypony here would die at your hooves while you lie limp at a goddess damned tree!”
The weight she was putting on my shoulders increased as she raised her volume to a full shout. “You want to kill us all Hydra!? You want to Kill me!?” Just then the door was forced open and six guns barked out hatred matching what was in Nocturne’s eyes. I felt the burning holes opened up in my side and pierced into my heart as I fell limply back to the floor. The shock from what Nocturne had said prevented me from acknowledging the bullet wounds immediately. Instead, I stared at the small metal plate that Cherry had brought me earlier. It was a single Fancy Buck Cake and the bottle of Sparkle Cola Rad from the factory.
“Nocturne! Are you alright? Did he hurt you!?” Came the voice of Saint from the doorway. He made a short gallop up the bed, putting a hoof on an exhausted Nocturne’s side.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. I just… This is hard for me.” She had to bite her lip as she looked down at me. “I just let my anger get to me. He’ll be up again in a few minutes I’m sure.” For the first time since meeting her I saw her look weak, bracing Saint as she made for the door. “I just need a break. I’ll come back tomorrow.” She had seemed so strong before now, so youthful. Now she walked as though she were elderly or sick.
Had I done that to her? I still had no idea what I had done to these ponies. I think that is what hurt the most, not knowing.
One thing was for certain, Nocturne had been right. The pain from the bullets had stopped a few short moments after Nocturne and Saint had left and the bleeding shortly after that. I could feel my insides twisting about like tendrils pulling on the bullets. In a sharp pain and a gasp of breath the bullets were pushed out of my skin as my heart began to beat once again. In the heat of the moment I hadn’t realized it has stopped.
The bullets clattered to the floor as my body lifted itself back off the floor. My mind numb with the implications of what had just happened, I turned my attention back to the food that was brought to me earlier. Before I could begin eating, the world began to drift into memory.
oooOOOooo
My father again, looking pleased with himself. There was more detail this time. He had the early signs of aging spread across a scarred and age beaten face. He had lost an eye a long time ago and replaced it with a sculpted eye made from Sky Metal. He set down the pistol, that was in his mouth, by the brewing pot I had just drank deeply from. “This is it. Those shots were lethal. Everything I put you through was leading to this my son. If my sacrifices were for anything…” He paused, seemingly uncertain. “Just pray to your ancestors boy.”
I was gasping for life. I had been beaten and battered, molded into a killing machine. Taught to lead through the force of my own hooves, all to be betrayed on the day I received my Glyphmark. They day I was to be considered a true Zebra.
As My vision slowly faded away, he smiled. “Good...”
oooOOOooo
I suddenly felt the anger well up in my chest again. The killing heat of the Hyrda boiling up. Could it be true? I began whispering Chemical recipes to myself. Trying to recall the smell coming from the pot. I came to a conclusion quickly “Cidariphine… A chemical composition combining the healing properties of a potion and the mutagenic properties of Flux… Hydra.”
The next few days passed by slowly. Nocturne never came back to visit. Neither did any of the ponies I had come to know, as enemies or friends. My only visitor was the occasional guard, which was just a trader or scavenger with a gun, that brought me food and a drink. It was never much. I am not sure why the thought of escaping never crossed my mind. Maybe it was what Nocturne had said the first day, maybe it was guilt, or maybe I was just enjoying the idea that in this small shack I could pretend that everything was going to be fine. I hoped that time could reverse and I could go back to simply being the weirdo in town.
I wasn’t haunted by any more memories during that time. Everything died down too a slow droll as the construction going on outside got quieter and less frequent with each passing day. I wished this shack had a window so I could at least watch.
It had been a full week, I think, before I heard a knock on the door that wasn’t followed by some random pony shouting ‘meal’. A few moments later the knock came again. “Come in?” I assumed they were actually waiting for a response this time. To my mild surprise the door was then opened after some effort. The door to my little shack had never been repaired from the fire.
Shockingly enough the pony the came through the doors was Saint. For the first time since meeting him, he wasn’t sneering at me in anger. Instead, he was smiling at me as he entered, setting the barding i was wearing earlier on the ground. It seemed to have been modified somehow. “Howdy, Hydra. How are you today?” His small talk and the use of that name made me uneasy. He shifted the weight of his gun bandoliers about and tipped up his hat to reveal his face, lit by a cigar. He had been growing a stubble beard since I last saw him and his eyes seemed to be worn and tired. He probably hadn’t gotten much sleep lately.
“Bored.” Was my honest answer. I didn’t risk saying much else incase he wanted to shoot me some more. At this point I understood it wouldn’t kill me but, damn it still hurt.
“Aww, well I’m about to fix that.” He levitated the gear over to me and motioned for me to put it on. I had trouble getting the pip-buck through the sleeve but was otherwise able to put the gear on.the modification that was made to the barding was easily distinguishable at this distance. Some pony had added an armored metal ring around the neck hole. I had to click the ring closed to get the barding to fit correctly. Once it was closed I heard a few extra clicks and a small red light turned on. “The entire town agreed to let you stay under ooone condition. You gotta wear that thing around your neck. That there is a Bomb Collar. Same kind the slavers use. We had a bunch that we confiscated so we made Gadgette’s barding into a kind of controller to keep you in line. Make the ponies feel safe. Better yet? They gave the button to me.” With that he levitated out a small switch with a dial. “One press of this button and, boom! No more head. Sure you’ll grow it back in a few days. But by then we’ll have another one ready to go and you back in chains. So if I catch even the slightest whiff of bad behavior…” He wiggled the switch.
“I get it.” I said, cutting off the short silence. “I’m your slave now.” I scowled, figuring he would probably click the button just for kicks.
“Slave is a harsh word.” Saint began, unholstering one of his guns and putting the detonator in its place. He began waving his gun around as a badge of authority. “Consider this, repaying your debt to society.” Before continuing, Saint stepped back to the door and levitated something covered in cloth from outside. “We are aware of your affinity for hoof to hoof combat and your tendency to use larger guns. So we are arming you with one of the weapons the griffons were using.” He set the object down in front of me with a heavy clunk. “Don’t get us wrong, it has no ammunition in it. You will be given ammunition whenever we send you somewhere dangerous.”
I lifted the cloth from the weapon. Underneath was a scrap metal frame designed to fit over a griffon’s body. Attached to the frame was the many times repaired frame for a pre-war flamer. The large red canister containing the fuel had been removed. The entire frame and weapon still had the raider ‘modifications’ attached with a prominent ‘Fuck Off!’ painted in white on the rusting frame.
“And you can stop being bored now Hydra. We’ve got a job for you to do. Your first payment to the ponies you’ve hurt. Put that on and come with me.” Saint finished, turning for the door. He still had his gun out and kept it pointing at me. I didn’t blame him for not trusting me, given the situation, but the notion was still upsetting.
I pulled the coth to the flamer and battle saddle off and hefted it up onto my back with a word. I had no memory of being good with this type of weapon but, with my lack of knowledge regarding my own abilities, I decided to trust him. I was surprised to find the battle saddle fit me well and that putting it on was a relatively easy task. There was a small switch you could nudge with your foreleg to flip the firing bit into place. I did have to adjust the firing bit, which was placed low so that a griffon could use those grabby things it has, but otherwise it fit perfectly.
After a moment of fiddling with the battle saddle, I followed after the waiting unicorn. I followed more from fear of his willingness to cause me pain than my own willingness to leave. Here I could pretend I couldn’t hurt ponies and that there was no world outside the shack. Outside, I was forced to acknowledge the pain I caused those around me. Could Nocturne have been right? Did the destruction of this town stop because of me? Or was it caused because I was here in the first place? How do you shoulder blame like that?
Saint lead me outside and through a small alleyway. After exiting into the main road that lead through the center of town I was able to see what the ponies of hoofprint had been up to. Instead of spending time to rebuild the homes that had been lost, they had put most of their time and energy into fortifying the scrap wall that surrounded the whole town. Small towers with armored roofs had been added to defend from aerial assault. As a result, the few homes that were still standing had been repaired with as little material as possible, ranging from old street signs to flats of cardboard with rocks holding them in place.
Most of the ponies were still hard at work, moving supplies and preparing for another attack from the raiders. A few had gathered around the center of town along with the ponies in fancy hats. I noticed that two of the tall hat ponies were different. A pang of guilt shot through my chest as I concluded that the originals had died in the attack. There were five all together. There was Nocturne and Star, then there was the grumpy one from earlier with the Tart pink coat and yellow mane. The first of the new faces was a stone gray Stallion that didn’t seem to care much for what was happening. He was wearing what I could now recognize as a construction forepony’s hat and an armored tool saddle. The last pony and the other new face was a scrawny sand colored unicorn mare with glasses too big for her snout, she was trying her best to keep her short cut seafoam green mane out of her face.
Saint stopped just before the five fancy hats and motioned for me to step forward. The Tart Pink pony began before I was even finished stepping forward. “Great, you’re here. Listen up! I only say things once. I am Sour.” She definitely sounded like it. “I am the Mayor of Hoofprint, the town where we leave our mark. This is Nocturne Eclipse, Social Relations and head of community projects.” Nocturne, with whom I was already familiar, nodded her head with the composure I had become familiar with. “This is Star Tumbler, formal criminal and head of Security and defense.”
“Howdy!” Barked the pegasus. She tipped her star pointed hat up with one wing and gave me a surprisingly cheery smile. Hadn’t I caused her a lot of trouble?
“To my left is Cold Stone, head of construction and labors.” The stone gray stallion barely moved; Instead he just made eye contact with me with a blank stare. Terrifyingly empty eye contact. I was snapped out of it when Sour mentioned the next pony. “Lastly we have Tally. She’s in charge of markets, supplies, and Caravans.” Tally blew some mane out of her face and stammered out a hello. She was holding a clipboard in her foreleg and writing things down with a pen held in her magical grasp. “You, Hydra, A.K.A. , Adstrum, will be working directly for us in order to pay off your debt to the ponies of Hoofprint. In Certain cases you may be handed over to the authority of our trade neighbors in order to fulfill your obligations and as such will obey the designated representative during that time. We have assigned Saint here to be your keeper, judge, and if need be executioner until such time that our council has determined that your debts are paid.”
Sour pulled out a flimsy piece of paper with a drawing of the mare from yesterday. I still couldn’t recall her name, even though she seemed to know me well. “This is The Phoenix. One of the 4 great Raider warlords of our time. She is currently in control of the western mountains. If you kill her in her camp nearby, you will gain the respect of this council. This will also go some way to paint you in a new light for the ponies here in hoof print. Don’t expect them to like you. They barely tolerate you to begin with.”
I nodded, understanding the gravity of what I was being told to do. She wanted me to march into The Phoenix’s camp by myself and take her and her remaining raiders down single hooved to prevent a second attack on Hoofprint. It didn’t matter if I died or was taken hostage. Judging by the completion of the towers and additional defenses, they were using me to reduce her active resources or at least disway her from attacking again immediately. “ I take it you’ll be sending me in by myself.”
Sour rolled her eyes. “I wish, you’re hardly worth it. No, you’ll have Saint with you to make sure you don’t defect. He’s a valuable resource so don’t get him killed. You will also have Turnpenny, one of the wall guards. He will be carrying supplies and gear. Turnpenny will meet you at the gates.” With that the Mayor simply turned and walked away. She seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere else.
“We’ve taken great care to make sure that you are supplied correctly, Prisoner.” Piped up Tally as she stepped forward to be seen. “The camp is two days by hoof, only a few hours by wing. We suspect she did this on purpose to minimize the risk of attacking us. You will have three days of food and water. 2 Fuel canisters for your flame thrower and two tents. We advise not starting a fire at night.”
“Three days of food? Aren’t we going to need four days?” I was probing to see if my suspicions were correct. If they were expecting me to go down I wouldn’t need to eat on the way back for sure. I would likely be out for a while as I healed. That would give me 1 meal and then when I go down, Saint and Turnpenny get what I didn’t eat. I would show them! I was going to eat all of it at once. That way they have to starve too!
Tally prodded her clipboard pointing at some detail. “I-I thought it was pretty generous. With all the food that was taken or burned from the attack, I had to scrape just to get this.” Tally’s ears flopped down and she adjusted her glasses as she looked back up. I hadn’t thought about that. It honestly hadn’t occurred to me that the raiders had actually raided their supplies.
Before I could say anything, Saint began pushing me towards the gate. “Don’t you worry about it Tally. He’s just a raider. All he wants is more.”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant!” I said over my back as I was lead towards the gate. Saint quickly shut me up with a dark glare and the threat of the detonator that he was now levitating in a taunting manner. What in The Ancestors’ forgotten names is this guy’s problem? Is he trying to make sure I don’t make any friends? I was starting to think he wanted more ponies to hate me too. I guess he and the majority of the wasteland wasn’t enough!
Either way it was too late, I had caused more damage. Tally didn’t even seem to hear me as she walked away, looking quite dejected. Somehow I hurt her feelings in a bigger way than I had thought. I didn’t even know her and I felt guilty. I resolved to make it up to her somehow. Maybe I could get the supplies back from the raiders?
With that last thought Text floated across my vision through the E.F.S..
‘FIRE SAFETY’
To say I was confused would be to say the least. The weird text left me distracted enough for saint to push me halfway to the gate. After that I decided to ignore the text and that it would be best to start walking and not to give Saint such a hard time for now… that would come later.
Arriving at the gate I was able to see the guards-pony Turnpenny struggling with a Long-haul saddle bag, which had larger than usual bags and a large container strapped on top for additional storage. The saddle he wore left no room for weapons to be stowed on his less than average frame. We were close enough that I was finally able to make out details of this ill-tempered pony. First, he was quite young, probably in his late teens or early twenties. He had a dirty green coat and a military cut grey mane. His cutiemark was of a single upturned cap laying on top of a shiny golden bit.
“Oh Saint, good you’re here. Can you carry my rifle for me? For the life of me I can’t get it slung in here. Tally loaded me up with so much extra crap that I can’t fit it in.” He said as he noticed us walking towards him. “Why does she have me carrying this dumbass thing?”
Saint levitated, Turnpenny’s rifle up off of the ground, slinging it into a pocket inside of his jacket. “Because it would hinder our combat capability. And as much as I hate to admit it, the Hydra is leaps and bound over you. So having him carry everything would be a serious detriment.” I wasn’t enjoying him calling me Hydra. That’s not who I wanted to be.
“Well what about you? I’m about as good with a rifle as you are with a pistol?” He asked, sounding a little offended.
Saint walked past him as the gates began to lift. “Oh me? No no no. I just didn’t want to carry stuff.” He got this smug look on his face as he magically shifted his bandoliers. These two were obviously close.
“WHAT!?! That’s all it took?” Turnpenny began following behind, with me taking up the rear. “All you had to do was say you didn’t want to carry anything? I’m calling shenanigans! There is some serious favoritism going on here.”
Traveling with adult ponies was a lot different than traveling with the foals. For one, conversation only came up when it was important, second they were very quiet even when talking. The older ponies seem to have an innate paranoia about their surrounds when they’re outside of the wall. I suppose I could understand given the nature of the creature I encountered back at the NSCDC. I feel like killing a Hellhound would be a feat for most ponies.
We had travelled west, the opposite direction of the NSCDC, for about half a day before needing to stop to eat. My PipBuck said it was 3pm but, the heavy overcast that was ever present in the wasteland failed to show it. It seemed to be the same dim gray out as it always was. Saint pulled a pack off of Turnpenny and set it down by a cluster of dead trees we had stopped by. “Okay, everypony, we’re stopping for food and water.” He said, opening up the saddlebag with his magic and pulling out three water bottles with a milky brown substance in it. He levitate one over to me while Turnpenny took the time to pull off his Long-haul Saddlebags. “Drink up.”
Wait! This was the water? I pulled off the lid and sniffed it. It smelled like mud. I had to speak up, this wasn’t healthy “This can’t be right. Is this what everypony has been reduced to back in town?” I didn’t recall them giving me dirty water while locked up in the shack.
Saint shook his head. “I’m surprised that as a raider you even care about drinking dirty water. No, the towns ponies are still drinking from our freshwater supplies. This is what is left of our rations.”
I wasn’t going to stand for this, or his attitude. “Now hold on. Maybe I was the Hydra at one point, but I’m not now. That being said, give me your water bottles.” I had an idea. Really it seemed to come from no where but it was a very familiar concept.
Turnpenny looked shocked and became defensive immediately. “What? No, I don’t care if it’s dirty water, you’re not getting mine.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, Saint?” I didn’t want to bother arguing with anypony. I was more concerned with the results of what I had planned than with who participated. Saint just shook his head and gave me a suspicious glare. I could only imagine he was getting ready to pull out that detonator. “Fine. Just me then.” I sighed and pulled out two tin cups from the saddle bags that had been set off to the side, along with one of the orange pouches I could now Identify as rad away.
Immediately, Saint relaxed and shook his head. “That’s gonna to taste nasty.”
I couldn’t help but smirk as I scooped up some rocks and dried grass. “It’s going to taste fine.” I poured the mucky, irradiated water into a tin cup and began plopping rock after rock into my bottle. Then I started putting in the dead grass. After that I poured in some of the rad-away, not much just enough for the stones and grass to be coated in it. I put the cap on and gave it a good shake before moving on.
After that it was just a matter of finding fine cloth and something to cut with. I tied on the cloth and opened up the back of the bottle. I showed off my invention to the other two before pouring the murky water into the upturned bottle and letting the water filter down into the empty tin cup. “Clean water!” I announced after pouring the dirty water into the back of the bottle. After a few seconds, crystal clear and radiation free water poured into the empty Tin cup.
Turnpenny looked astounded. “Wait, you could have done that this whole time?!” I simply nodded. “ You could have done that and you didn’t tell us? I already drank my nasty water!” He threw his empty water bottle at me, making harmless grumbling noises.
I smiled, barely able to contain my smugness. “I offered.” I happily drank my clean water.
Saint spoke up, keeping a slightly frustrated tone. “We still have no reason to trust you, Hyrda. You can hardly blame us for not hoofing over our only water supply.” He finished up his own dirty water and stuffed the bottle back into the saddle bags. “Besides, you wasted a bottle.”
No one felt like talking after that. We ate the meager food we were given and got back on the road. The whole trip, we moved as close as possible to ancient wrecks or the ruins of an old town in an attempt to hide from the rare scout flying above us. It really made me think, how the stars are we supposed to fight all of those flying enemies? Of course, every time I thought about it I recalled what I had done in town, consumed by rage and ripping off wings like they were paper. Of course that made me think of that memory that had returned to me. I wanted to meet my little brother… was he still alive?
I was never able to be lost in my thoughts for long though, as Saint and Turnpenny would prod me to keep moving as soon as the danger had passed.
We spent the night holed up in a pre-war restaurant, choosing to feed off of some preserved pastries we found in a box. They were small doughy balls that were coated like those doughnut things you might find on the rare occasion. The label on the package was faded but read “Fizz Bites! Energy you can bite!” There was a picture of a purple unicorn in a lab coat popping one into her mouth.
These things were awesome! We had energy to spare! I had to stash some of these for later. I think we put like 10 little packages into the Long-haul Saddle bags and then I stashed three big packages in my own bags. We actively began swapping watch shifts every 15 minutes primarily out of boredom.
Day break couldn’t come quick enough. As soon as light began filtering through the thick cloud layer we decided it had been long enough, we were all rested enough to finish the job. I was so hyped up on the Fizz Bites I had forgotten that I never actually rested. It didn’t matter though, it was time to move on! Besides, the others had probably rested plenty.
After some short, and admittedly sporadic, deliberation we decided running would be the best method to travel the rest of the way.
It wasn’t much time after, that we came across our goal. A circle of tents and metal spikes complete with the usual raider decorations of dead bodies and pony skulls to ward off passing travelers and scavengers. “That’s it…” I said in almost a whisper.
“Yeah, quickly, in here.” Saint began, waving us into the cover of a large stone that jutted out from the hills that made up this section of the world. “It looks strangely fortified for a raider camp. I guess that comes with the territory of a raider warlord.”
I shook my head as I crawled in after him, my large frame making it a very tight fit. “No I meant that’s why we did it. The spikes and bodies.” I saw the strange look in my keeper’s eyes. He was trying to figure out what was going through my head. “It started as a way to get ponies to leave us alone. It was supposed to just scare ponies away. Call it, a threat to the world. ‘Just leave us alone’.” I wriggled a hoof free and pointed at the camp. “These aren’t set up for that. It’s all wrong.”
Turnpenny looked about to barf. “No one wants to hear your critique of raider art, Hydra. That’s disgusting.”
My Ears flopped down, I wasn’t getting through to these boneheads. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. When I was at the Sparkle Cola place I saw what the Hydra had put up and remember thinking that more could have been done with the spikes. Maybe that’s raider talk but what’s going on over there looks nothing like it. Look at how the bodies are placed on the spikes.” I heard Turnpenny’s stomach turn. “Raider’s take a certain pride in their work because they master the art of scaring ponies away. These were made with absolutely no care for the practice. One body per spike and no mutilation.”
Saint put his hoof over my mouth. “Okay, we get it, these raiders are low on skill with dead body art. What does that have to do with anything? Just spit it out, neither of us want to look at that mess.”
“My point… is that they don’t care about being raiders. I don’t think they want to be raiders.” I stated, tieing my assesment together. It all made sense, these guys weren’t true raiders otherwise they would be more enthusiastic about keeping ponies away and would thus take more pride in their raider art. They only cared just enough to keep up the appearance of caring, I assumed to keep someone in charge happy.
“What?!” Asked Turnpenny in a breath.
Saint shoved me slightly. “No, you’re mental. Raiders are all mental!”
I pushed my way out of the hiding spot. I groaned in frustration. “Give me a chance I can handle this. It’s just like Dimethyl Carbonyl on Cyanoacrylates.” I looked back for approval from the pony holding my kill-switch only to see bafflement across their faces.
“Was that Zebra?” Asked Saint. “I mean, dye-metal carble-whatever.”
“Die-meth-ill Carb-o-nill and no it’s not Zebra.” I sighed, trying to simplify my strange knowledge of chemicals. “Uuuhhh, Acetone on an epoxy resin?” No dice, they were still confused. What did these chemicals make? “Oh! Oh… Paint thinner and super glue?”
“Oh! Oh oh oh oh….. No I don’t get it. How is this like removing glue?” Turnpenny looked to Saint for answers, who just shrugged. These two were useless outside of a gunfight. It figures, the guy who controls the button that makes my head explode is a thick brick of a buck just like Turnpenny. Maybe I was a Raider, maybe this is why…
I shook my head and turned towards the camp. “It’s not about removing the glue. It’s about applying a solvent to solute. Just… Just trust me. I know you don’t have any reason to, but you have that button. Just use it if I’m wrong, okay?” I looked to Saint, praying to the ancestors that he would go along. I could tell he was seriously considering it.
Saint shifted, in the now spacious hide away under the rocks, and pulled out the detonator. “Look, you’ve behaved up till now and I haven’t even need to threaten you. But you listen here, if I get even the slightest thought in my brain that you’re going to betray us…” He left the sentence hanging, choosing to wiggle the detonator instead.
I nodded, feeling my body tense at the threat. I had survived the tree branch to my head, I could regrow my legs but… Would I really survive the bomb collar? They thought so, but how could I be sure? If this worked out I wouldn’t need to know.
I adjusted the hoof-me-down barding I was using and readied the battle-saddle, making sure every switch was ready for use. Turnpenny pulled out the two fuel Canisters Tally had promised me and fitted them into my saddle, ready to be used at a moments notice. “Good luck.” Turnpenny, dashed under the rocks as soon as the canisters were secured. Good thing he did, It was only a few minutes after I had started toward the camp that an aerial scout spotted me and began to dive.
The scout was out for blood, if I wanted this to go correctly I would have to rely on my instincts… sickeningly, raider instincts. Stars I’ve got mixed emotions about all of this. I Puffed out my chest, braced my hind legs and stared directly up at the diving Gryphon. I called upon the first thing to pop into my head and commanded. “PARLEY!”
Flames, that were licking the barrel of the Gryphon’s flamer quickly died down. In a loud clanging of metal on metal, the Gryphon slammed into the ground in front of me. She looked directly into my eyes from behind a helmet of crudely bent metal, searching for weakness. From here, I could see something that I wasn’t able to during the attack. The armor the scout was wearing was designed and made to fit to a pattern, with random useless bits thrown on to make it look like Raider Patch-work. Everything a raider should be wearing was useful. This was just slapped on junk over well crafted armor. I was right! These gryphons were not raiders, but were trying to keep up the appearance of being so. “What did you say?!” She sounded angry, possibly murderous. If nothing else, she had the voice of a raider.
“I said. Parley!” I wanted to add more but couldn’t bring myself to speak further. Although slightly smaller than myself, this gryphon was imposing and carried with her all of air of carnivore. It was everything I could do to stop myself from shaking. Everything was easier when fighting. I didn’t hesitate or shake back in hoofprint. Why was this different?
There was a moment of silence between us. I could hear the dust in the air swirling about. The Gryphon whipped her helmet off, revealing a Hawk like face with blood colored paint spackled on the feathers around her beak and a single singed feather bobbing down to rest ever so slightly in front of her left eye. “What the hell are you doing Pem!? Your cool, your dead, you’re alive, you’re PROTECTING ponies?!” She motioned wildly in the direction of Hoofprint. “Now…. NOW! You’re here just.. Ugh” She sat back on her hind legs with a talon in her face.
I couldn’t help it, I staggered back. I quickly glanced over at the rocks for support from the others. I chastised myself and quickly turned back to the gryphon before she could take her talon away from her face.
The stressed out Gryphon dragged her palm over her face before looking back to me. Listen, you can’t be doing this. And what the star blasted hells are you wearing? Where’s your… you know?” She made a vague gesture around her head. “Don’t you need that thing?”
“I’m sorry, do I know you?” It left my mouth before I could think about it. I decided to roll with it, I can’t back down now. I had her talking to me instead of shooting. Good steps!
The Gryphon looked shocked, hurt even. She quickly returned to her normal demeanor, cocking her head to one side and twirling her loose feather in one talon “Oh shit, you’re on Moon Dust aren’t you? I thought you hated that stuff.” She perked up in realization. “No! That’s why you were in the pony town! After that bitch blew up your family you went to town to hit up a new drug dealer!” She opened up her arms and looked at me. “Do you need a hug, Pemandu?”
There was a moment of awkward silence as I studied this ‘vicious’ raider, looking for some reason to say no. Do raiders hug? I mean she wasn’t a raider really… I had figured that out… I think.
She began waddling on her hind legs towards me. “Come on, shit face. Give Auntie Hilde some sugar.” Before I could think clearly, this already bizarre, interaction went straight into a hug. My head resting on some coiled wires that had been stapled to her metal armor as she gently stroked my mane. “It’s okay to cry my little space cadet. I won’t tell the others.”
I stuttered, still stunned by what was happening. I was expecting to be a prisoner not a teddy bear. “I, uh… I don’t need to cry?” I didn’t, really I didn’t.
“Oh, oh oh. There there now. Family is the most important thing to you. You can’t hide behind that brave face forever.” Her raspy voice hit something in the back of my mind and I felt a pit in my stomach, and a knot in my throat.
oooOOOooo
My bare hoof slapped wetly over his, the rain causing the blood to run from my wounds down to his foreleg. He was looking up at me, dangling over the side of the collapsing floor. “You came? For me?” He asked, fear and hope in his eyes.
Sure he had hurt everyone, stolen from the stash, tried to make it on his own but he had held us all together at the worst of times. He was close, like a brother, and actually cared about what you said, even ‘Crazy’ Crab Cakes. “You idiot.” I pulled him up threw him to the safe side of the building; heavy Caged armor, minigun, and all. The rain beat down around us as I looked at Buck who had gotten too big for his horseshoes. “Family is the most important thing in this world. I’ll be damned if you’re not my brother. How could I not drop everything to stop you from getting yourself killed?” He hung his head, looking up at me from the one eye he had left. “Come home Shrapnel. We miss you.”
oooOOOooo
Suddenly it all hurt again. How had I forgotten Shrapnel? Was he dead? I found my face buried into Hilde’s shoulder. What was this? Were these more memories? Oh stars why did it hurt? Somehow I felt this stallion was lost to me now, my own adopted brother. I had adopted him, and he was gone.
Hilde patted my back as my chest heaved and tears ran from my eyes. “Hey, that’s my big guy. No one can take losing that much all at once. I don’t care how tough you are.” She was right, I could feel the loss of so many welling up inside of me… The only one I could remember was Shrapnel. It was a deep hurt, a pain with no real aim or source. It was like I was weeping for having been cursed to live on while your whole world is ripped away. I felt lost, alone, betrayed, and longing all at the same time. All of this and with only one of those lost having returned to my memory.
For a while, all I could do was cry for the lost I didn’t know, and grieve for the love I didn’t know I once had. All the while being comforted by a stranger who knew me more than I knew myself. Eventually I calmed down and was able to regain my composure. After pulling away from Hilde, I was able to look at her without shaking. A certain fondness having been remembered without any real memories to attach them to. “Thanks.” I said, my throat hoarse. “I guess I needed that.” With my mind still reeling from the memories of Shrapnel and the repercussions of what had just happened I was barely able to keep from telling her I couldn’t remember who she was. I didn’t want to remember being the Hydra. Part of me was still in denial that I had done any of what the Hydra did.
Hilde fluffed her wings, a purely griffon mannerism, and placed a talon on my shoulder. “Hey don’t mention it. The way I see it I owe you much more than a good cry. Listen, we’re going to get the bitch that did it okay? Promise. Speaking of, we could use your help right now…”
I decided to ignore her promise for now. “Wait, my help? Weren’t you just about to kill me?”
“Oh absolutely! But you got in that parely like I was hoping you would. Way to wait until the last minute the buddy.” She turned for the gate and began walking. It took me a minute to get myself moving but I trotted along after her. “After you killed Caldus back in town, our contract has been in dispute. The Phoenix has been breaking her own back to try and get us to stick around. As the leader of our particular flock, Caldus’ contract is what was holding us here. She’s been speaking with his successor to convince him to uphold the contract. Now I say speaking, but it’s more like a tantrum.”
I nodded to show I was listening as she spoke. “Okay… yeah I guess that makes sense. A question for you though?” Hilde looked back to me nodding. “Who was Caldus again? I’m sure I killed a few gryphons back there.”
Hilde looked offended for all of a s second before laughing at me. “The moon dust still wearing off? Caldus is the guy you took the sword from. The big guy who’s neck you snapped. And don’t worry, most of the guys you mutilated were Caldus’ boys. They were really into the whole raider thing… No offense to you, that’s not what most of us like.”
There was a moment where I was considering being offended but decided to let it go. “That’s fine. I can see your situation. I was able to tell you didn’t like being raiders from the spikes out front.”
Hilde laughed loudly. “Was it that obvious? We tried our best, honest.”
Admittedly I laughed back, though it was mostly out of nervousness for what I was walking into. “So what did you need my help with? I still don’t see how I am able to help here?”
“Oh that’s an easy one. I want you to kill The Phoenix.” She said in absolute confidence.
I froze on the spot, dumbstruck. “What!?”
Hilde petrified at my question, quickly animating in a nervous fashion a she turned back to me. “Look, hey. Sorry I know you just called a parley. Raider pride and the rules and stuff but. If you kill her you assume ownership of her end of the contract. Then you can let us go! Caldus’s successor wants to go clean. A full on mercenary company! C’mon please?!” She was practically whining at this point.
It was too perfect, it was the perfect opportunity to prove Saint wrong. Of course, this particular gryphon was actually happy to see me… unlike everyone back in hoofprint. Maybe I can find a way to just leave with them? I had to admit, being loved by a gryphon I didn’t know was better than being hated by a whole town and being their slave. Besides, she actually knew me as more than the Hydra. “Okay fine, but you’ve gotta do something for me.”
“Anything for you, Pemandu! You name it.” She responded, not wasting a second.
Pemandu? Wait she called me that earlier. Was that my real name? That was a Zebra word, what did it stand for again? “I can’t make it look like I did it on purpose. Also, you need to take me with you.” She looked confused, but nodded. “I have a plan.”
After Explaining my plan in short, we made our way into the camp. Apparently, under the rules of Parley I was to approach the leader of the camp unarmed. The meeting would be held in view of the whole camp. If she broke the rule of Parley her next in line would have full right to kill her and take her place as Warlord. While meeting, neither of us would be allowed to harm the other.
We walked into the center of the camp, Hilde acting as a guard with a captive. Most of the camp was rather abandoned, every-creature gathering around the spectacle in front of the largest tent. Once we were close enough for members of the crowd to notice, a path was cleared for us to enter into the wide circle of gryphons and the occasional pony raider. There in the center of the circle stood a many-times-repaired pony table with a document unrolled on it, weighed down with stones.
On one side was a very young female gryphon, who had obviously not grown into her armor yet. Her head barely popped out of the chest piece she was wearing. She had a twitchy claw poised overtop of a finely tuned combat shotgun. On the other side stood The Phoenix, Looking at me with a mix of awe and contempt.
This is time I was able to get a good look at The Phoenix. She wasn’t wearing any armor but kept her battle saddle on. Her coat was at one point a cheery bright yellow but had long been tainted by the ravages of the wasteland. She had various patches of burnt skin, scarring from blade wounds, tribal markings running from her right ear down to her neck, and various paints that appeared to denote some form of high rank. Her right ear was missing, almost entirely, but the other one had survived the wasteland with nothing more than a few holes from near misses.
When she spoke, using a calm tone unlike before, she sounded raspy and tired.
“Hydra? What the fuck are you doing here? I literally just swore eternal vengeance on you and claimed your land. Shouldn’t you be... “ She waved her hoof around in thought. “I dunno, raising some kind of army?”
I swallowed, preparing myself to weave together a web of lies so complicated that discord himself would be unable to unweave them. “I… surrender.” I stated puffing out my chest. I started sweating just a bit.
The Phoenix gave my a look of confused skepticism. “What?” Ha! I had nailed it I am a master at lying!
“I surrender. As a show of good faith, I’m going to reveal the location of two ponies who are planning an attack on your camp.” I spoke with a little more confidence, knowing that she had totally bought the whole surrender thing.
“Two of them…?” She asked, one eyebrow raised. I nodded in agreement. “Against my whole camp?” I nodded again, letting her know I was serious. “TWO, ponies against a small army of 27 Gryphons 15 of my personal pony guard, AND me, the raider warlord?” I nodded again, this time feeling a little doubt hearing the ridiculous odds I had just presented.
I let my ears flop down a little bit before I spoke up. “They are very confident that they will win? I mean, they originally sent me in here thinking I was going to fight for them and take out most of you if not all of you.” No wait, that was the truth… shit… roll with it? “Then I was like, ‘pfft like I wouldn’t just side back with more raiders’ Hahaha. You know? I mean I could become like your um..” I waved my hoof around trying to think of a word. “Your uh-”
The Phoenix smiled, some idea popping into her head, before interrupting. “-My Lieutenant! Oh hell yes… that’s a good idea. Together we could raise Tartarus.” She trotted up to me, swaying her head back and forth as she spoke in sing-song. “Oh what a wonderful couple we could be!” She stopped in front of me. I could smell the ash and soot that coated her mane so clearly that my nostrils burned. On her breath was a heavy dose of Chariserol. She was hopped up on Dash? I had to fight to keep myself from spouting that nonsense I say whenever I identify a chemical. “Okay. My Dear. Sweet. Hydra.” She sing-songed, lifting my chin up with a confident smile. “You point out those fuckers on the map and while my scouts go and get them… we can get more, acquainted.” She lifted up my leg for me to access my pip buck.
It only took me a moment to pull up the map, now that I knew how to, and for her to send off Hilde and a few other gryphons. I thought out a prayer that she could convince them of the plan. None of this would work if Saint was dead. Of course, While I had been focussed on that I had failed to realize what she had meant by ‘acquainted’. I was quickly pulled into the large tent and pointed towards a makeshift bed. I felt a certain tightness in my armor, then a sick feeling in my gut. The Phoenix hopped up onto her bed after dropping her weapons and then taking a quick hit of Dash.
“Uh, Phoenix… I.” I began.
She threw the Dash inhaler off to the side and put herself into a seductive pose. “Fuck that phoenix shit. Call me Flash Fire. She jingled some dog tags that hung around her neck. Our warlord babies are going to need to know their mommy’s name right?” She let out a honking sound that I assumed was a chuckle. Her lungs had clearly been destroyed by the frequent inhalation of smoke. I didn’t think the Dash was helping.
I hesitated, taking my time to unfasten the little access flat in the underside of my armor, where you could still see the blue suit the armor was layered over top of. “Right, Flash Fire. Do you really think that-”
“Fuck thinking. Put your Cock in me at shoot me full of vicious successors! That’s an order lieutenant!” She turned over and lifted her rump in the air. Oh shit, she was presenting!
Little adstrum was so excited that he didn’t need me to unbutton the whole thing. The whole rest of me was feeling closer to vomiting. All I could think about was the comment she had made back in Hoofprint about her encounters with foals. The only thing that drove me to get over top of her was the knowledge that it would be over rather soon.
Of course, even with the knowledge that Flash Fire was going to be dead soon, my disgust with what I was doing grew with each thrust. With each moan of pleasure I prayed for Saint to do what I knew he wanted to do. What I knew he would do with even the slightest excuse.
The bomb collar hidden in my armor beeped. I stopped thrusting, bending down to wrap my fore-legs around her midsection. I buried my face into her disgusting black mane, smelling for the last time her particular blend of soot and ash. “I’m gunna…” I wanted to say ‘kill you you sick fuck’ but I didn’t get the chance.
Flash Fire arched her back, shouting in ecstacy. “Yes! Fill me up! I want you-” And then there was silence. At least from my perspective. I’m sure it was loud. I’m sure it was a mess.
The bomb collar detonated and the last memory I had before blacking out was of Hilde saying my name.
“Pemandu…” That was a Zebra word. What did it mean again?
Oh right.
‘Hope’.
_________________________________________________________________________
Quest Perk Added: Loyal Shadow - You’ve gained a friend in the wasteland who has sworn to watch your back. You have a 10% chance of your mysterious friend appearing to help you in times of need.
Footnote: Level up!
Footnote: Level 5
Perk Added: Coltsanova - You gain additional damage against female targets. “You go for the Mares”