Chapter 3: World Beyond
I flew hard and fast. Away from trouble. Over a forest, over a small town, over rivers, until my wings could carry me no more. Panting, I set down on a somewhat tall structure. I was thirsty and hungry. However, I had neither food nor water. The only provisions I had are my armor, an empty saddlebag, my Starblaster, which I dubbed Venom, Rose’s custom carbine, which I named ‘Thorn’. Why did I decide to name my weapons now? I had to do something, anything to take my mind off of what just happened. I was mad at Rhubarb for not telling Striker (I thought couples shared everything), I was mad at Striker for being a judgmental bigot, and I was worried for what the town would do to Rose for harboring a changeling. Coming out of my stupor, I glanced at my surroundings. I had landed on the only structure in about a mile. Walking to the edge of the roof, I glanced down to see what the name of the building was.
‘Ironshod Firearms’
‘How ‘bout them apples?’
Whatever the motto was supposed to mean, I didn’t get it. Flapping my wings, I flew through one of the many broken windows. I landed on one of the gargantuan ammo presses. I wondered if I could get some ammo for Thorn while I was here. Come to think of it, I never checked what type of bullet Thorn uses. I ejected the chambered round and caught it in my magic. Holding it up to my face, I read ‘.44 magnum’. I let out a low whistle. Thorn packs a punch. There were about ten different ammo presses around me. The one I was standing on was 10mm. I went from one press to the next. 9mm, 22mm, .50 cal, .357, .44. Ah ha! I found it. Pulling the release lever, the press opened. I peered inside only to discover it empty. Huffing, I walked along the conveyor belt to see if there were any boxes of ammo left. I got about halfway down when I tripped on a piece of wood that was jutting out from underneath the conveyor belt. I grabbed it with my telekinesis only to discover that it was covering what looked like a black box. Giggling, I hefted the fairly heavy box out from beneath the conveyor belt and set it on a nearby table. I flipped the locks holding it closed, and it opened with a slightly dusty hiss. Whoever had these saved was long dead. What I saw in there made me fall to my haunches. There were .44 rounds of all types. Explosive, incendiary, even some weird looking purple rounds. I filled an empty clip up with explosive rounds and put it in my gun. I dumped the rest of the ammo into my saddlebag and flew upstairs hoping to find some food. I saw an opened safe and a busted terminal. Sighing, I walked to an open door, only to fall out of the building. The catwalk was missing! With a few flaps I righted myself and landed with a hard ‘thump’. With a sigh, I walked away from the rotting building and towards what I hoped was an inhabitable town.
* ** ** ** *
I was right about inhabited, just wrong in hoping that the inhabitants were friendly. Another shot peppered the door I was using as cover. I blind fired Thorn and heard a trio of loud ‘booms’ followed by screaming and cracking wood. I peered out of cover and realized I had collapsed one of the buildings on a group of three raiders. A loud bang pierced the air and the last little bit of my cover faded away. Instinctually, I threw up my invisibility spell and flew across the street to another, slightly more intact building. Looking through my scope, I looked at each of the raiders that were trying to kill me. Only about five raiders remained on the outside. I fired a three-round burst at a pair of raiders sneaking up on my former cover and was amazed that not only did my bullets kill them, but took a large chunk out of the building next to them. I smiled to myself, wondering if Rose would be proud of me.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are!” I heard one of the raiders yell sadistically. I took to the air and landed gently behind him. Still invisible, I snuck up to him and whispered in his ear “boo”. I figured he would get scared and accidentally drop his gun, but instead he bucked me in the chest. I flew backwards a few feet and slid on the ground. My first thought was ‘oooooooooowwwwwww’. My second thought was ‘oh, crap. Time to improvise.’ I focused my magic and a small ball of light began to build-up on the tip of my horn. I had only seen this done once, by a princess no less, and had no clue how it would turn out. The light grew brighter and I was grunting with the effort. Then a second later, a small beam of light shot from my horn and hit the raider right on the nose. The raider screamed in pain and then collapsed. I bent over to look at my handiwork and gasped when I realized I burned a hole clean through his head. ‘Well, that was pretty cool.’ I though to myself. Then a pain in my shoulder brought me out of my daze. Two more raiders had taken up positions on opposite sides of the street and were slowly advancing, I guess out of fear that they would have a new hole burned in their head too. I raised Thorn and sighted the raider to my left. She ducked behind her cover, but the wood planks proved useless to my grenade rounds and she was torn to bloody ribbons. The second raider dropped his gun and turned tail to run. With a sigh of relief, I pulled out a small roll of healing bandages and wrapped it around my wound.
I walked through the now-abandoned town and to my great frustration, found no supplies whatsoever. I was about to leave, when the sound of gunfire drew my attention. I wasn’t being shot at; that was a good thing. I cloaked myself and started sneaking towards the sounds of battle. Upon hearing a roar that sounded too familiar, I started running. I came upon the battle and chuckled. A Manticore was attacking a group of slavers. With a small giggle, I loaded three of the purple rounds into my clip and reloaded Thorn. I sighted the Manticore and pulled the trigger. Bang, a laser shot out of the barrel of my gun and hit the Manticore in its hind leg. Bang, a second one hit it in its back. Bang, a third one hit it in its head and the Manticore glowed a bright purple before… melting? What kind of bullets melt things? I looked at the slavers and realized that they were scared shitless. With a grin, I uncloaked myself and walked heroically over to the slavers.
“Drop your weapons,” almost immediately, five guns and a fire axe hit the ground. “Now, unlock the slaves.” I heard the slavers whispering to themselves, then one mare started going for her gun. I fired Thorn and blew her to bloody chunks. “Any other would-be heroes?” I asked the slavers. A buck went over to the chunks of the mare and retrieved a bloodied set of keys, then proceeded to unlock the cages one by one. Remembering a tip from the Survival Guide, I shouted to the slavers, “now turn off their collars and start walking.” A unicorn buck floated out a small box and pressed a button. Then, half a dozen collars tumbled to the ground. “You better run!” I yelled while firing off a burst from Thorn. The slavers took off running and with a smirk, I looked over the slaves. 4 bucks, a mare and a little filly. The filly was dragging one of the slavers pistols over to me with her magic. I smiled kindly to her and ruffled her mane.
A scraggly looking earth pony buck with a brown coat and a grey mane walked over to me and gave me a huge hug.
“Thank you so much miss… uhh…” he said with a slight rasp.
“Just call me Vice,” I finished for him.
“Dewey,” he offered a hoof. I bumped it and then flicked the safety on Thorn. “That’s a mighty impressive weapon you got there, what is it?”
“It was a gift from a friend.” I replied, then sighed sadly because I realized I would probably never see her again.
“I see,” he nickered. “Well, Thanks again, those bastards were taking us into the Everfree.” I smiled at him and gave him a one-hoofed hug.
“Just doing my job, those were my only three,” what would I call those bullets? Laser rounds? That sounds good. “laser rounds in my clip. The rest are explosive.” I grinned deviously at him. The buck chuckled. “I wish I had some food to give you, but I ran out yesterday,” technically not a lie. “Is there a town nearby I could resupply at?”
“New Appleloosa is about a twenty-minute trot from here; that’s where we’re headed. You’re welcome to join us.” Dewey replied. “I’ve been wonderin’, you don’t strike me as one o’ them Unity Alicorns. Where ya from?”
“Unity Alicorns?” I asked. “What’s a Unity?” Rose’s copy didn’t mention anything about a Unity. Dewey chuckled.
“Just a bunch o’ hooey.” he replied. “Come on, we better get goin’ if we’re gonna make it by dark.” The seven of us began to walk and, with a smile on my face, I knew that Rose would be proud of me.
* ** ** ** *
About half an hour later, myself and six exhausted former slaves arrived at a gated community. A surprised guard motioned for us to come in and follow him to a tavern. Apparently, meals are on the house for heroes, and I gobbled up a side of 200 year-old carrots and some cooked radgator meat. It was somewhat filling, but I was more focused on getting the slaves fed. I gave half of my radgator to the filly that I rescued and smiled as she greedily ate it.
“Thank you miss princess,” the filly said while hugging my leg. Princess? Shrugging, I tousled the filly’s mane and nudged her to go back to her mom.
“It seems that the Stable Dweller isn’t the only hero rescuing slaves in these parts,” a voice came from behind me. I turned to face a slightly older stallion. “Name’s Railright, and Ah’m mayor of this here town.” He offered me a hoof.
“Vice,” I said while bumping his hoof. “Just doing what any good pony should do.”
“You’re just like her, ya know? She said the same thing to me.” Railright replied. “So, what’s your story?” he asked.
“Not much to tell, I was in the badlands for most of my life and, tired of being out there with nothing to do, I came to Equestria.” I wasn’t lying. He smiled.
“So, ah suppose you’re not one o’ them Unity Alicorns then?” Railright inquired.
“Nope, just your typical, run of the mill Alicorn.” I chuckled at my own joke. He laughed and sighed.
“Well, you’re welcome to stay for a couple days. ah’ll go talk to the barkeep about getting’ you a room.” he walked over and began chatting up the barpony. I took another drink of my Sparkle Cola and set it back down on the bar. Railright walked back over to me and handed me a key. “Upstairs, to the left, third door down.”
“Thanks Railright,” I replied while hugging him. I finished off my cola and floated out my cap bag when the barkeep waved his hoof.
“No charge tonight, it’s on the house.” he said. Smiling, I put my caps back in my saddlebag and went upstairs. I found my room and unlocked it with the key. After walking in, I relocked the door, set my saddlebags on the table and stripped off my armor. I changed the bandages and tossed the bloodied bandages in the trash bin. With a sigh, I shed my disguise and covered up on the surprisingly comfy bed. I thought about what I should do tomorrow. Should I go back to Acropolis and try to contact Rose? I would do that eventually, but for now, I needed sleep.
~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~
The Queen’s voice whispered in my head, “Return to the Hive! Judgement Day is here! Those Zebra cowards have finally done it!” Ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap. I remember this day. Looking around, I realized I was in my cell at the Hive. The guard was looking at me with what could only be described as malice. I hung my head, realizing I would probably die in this tiny cell. Then a sight that shocked me to my very core walked from further down the hallway. Queen Chrysalis. I instinctively bowed, as did the guard.
“Rise, my subjects.” her voice was so soothing in my ears. “Guard, unlock this traitor. I’m taking her with me to put her in stasis like the rest of us.” My jaw dropped. I was actually going into stasis? I bowed again and Chrysalis chuckled softly. Oh how I love that sound. She led me to my oh, so familiar stasis chamber. I got inside and Chrysalis pressed a button. “Sleep tight, I have special plans for you.” she laughed. Wait, special plans?
“What do you mean, special plans?” I asked her.
“Don’t worry, that’s something you’ll find out later.” she giggled maniacally. My heart sank. I heard a knocking noise and my dream faded away.
~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~
Knock, knock, knock, knock. Quickly putting on my disguise, I shouted groggily, “I’m up, I’m up. What do you want?”
“Oh, Railright told me to wake you up. It’s almost midday.” a mare’s voice came from the other side of the door. Crap, I overslept.
“Alright, thanks.” I called back. Putting on my armor and saddlebags, I unlocked the door and walked downstairs.
“You sure can sleep, ya know?” I heard Railright call to me when I entered the bar. Chuckling sheepishly, I ordered a Sparkle Cola and a can of yams. I hungrily ate the yams and drank the cola in huge gulps. Railright’s voice pulled me out of the sugar induced stupor. “So, where ya off to now?”
“I dunno, I’m gonna check on my friend first and foremost.” I replied.
“Ah can understand that. When ya planning on goin?” Railright inquired.
“Probably after I resupply, where’s the general store?” I asked while finishing off my cola.
“That’d be ‘Absolutely Everything’. Ditzy has the best store this side of Friendship City.” Railright replied while taking a shot of whiskey. Shrugging, I thanked him and walked out of the bar. I saw the sign for the store: ‘Absolutely Everything!’ ‘We deliver!’ A thought struck me. Was this the same Ditzy Doo that wrote the Wasteland Survival Guide? I walked in the door and heard the tinkle of the bell. A ghoul Pegasus (mare?) walked up to me and smiled brightly.
“Hello, I’d like to buy some food and water. Maybe some healing supplies too.” She motioned for me to follow her and she pointed to the various racks of items around. I saw a few healing potions and a couple bright pink ones. “What are these?” I asked holding up the pink vial in my magic. She started writing on a board around her neck and then held it up for me to read. ‘Restoration potion. Heals lots.’ Shrugging, I grabbed two of them and five healing potions and put it in a basket I picked up bu the front door. I loaded 2 rolls of enchanted bandages and three of the regular kind along with a couple gallons of water and ten cans of Cram. I walked over to her counter and she looked over the items. She wrote down something on her chalkboard and held it up to me. ‘450 caps’ it read. I dug through my saddlebags and found a my bag of caps. I counted out 376 caps.
“One moment, I have some stuff you might want.” I said while resuming digging through my saddlebags. I held out ten of my laser bullets and asked, “how much are these worth?” She wrote ‘never seen them before, what do they do?’. I replied, “come outside, I’ll show you.” I took an empty clip from my saddlebags and loaded one laser bullet in it. I sighted a nearby radroach and pointed to it. She looked and gaped when Thorn shot a laser at the roach, melting it. I smiled to her and she wrote down, ‘I’ll give you 40 caps per bullet.’ We walked back inside and I counted out 50 caps and then gave them to Ditzy along with ten bullets. She smiled and motioned to her chalkboard. ‘Where did you get them?’ it read.
“I got them from the Ironshod Firearms down the way.” I replied. She smiled and gave me a (surprisingly) squishy hug, then waved to me ask I walked out the front door.
“Find everything ya need?” Railright’s voice came from behind me, spooking me a little bit.
“How are you so quiet?” I asked him. He chuckled and shrugged. “But, yeah. I’m ready to head out.”
“It’s been a pleasure, miss Vice.” he offered his hoof to me once more. I bumped it. “Take care now, ya hear?”
“You too, Railright.” I said while stretching my wings. I took to the air and looked down one last time before flying in what I hoped was the right direction.
* ** ** ** *
I flew over the Everfree Forest with a sigh. I remembered flying over a forest in my hastily thought out retreat from Acropolis. I saw a small town off in the distance and I activated my cloaking. I landed on a nearby hill and trained my scope on the town.
It was indeed Acropolis, but there were only a few ponies outside. I saw Rose’s house and, making sure the coast was clear, flew silently over to the him overlooking the back of the house. I crept down the hill silently and once I was close enough, I looked through the window into Rose’s room. She was sitting on her bed, tears in her eyes. I noticed on her desk that the mic we had used to communicate in the forest was sitting there. I checked my ear and sure enough, I had forgotten to take my mic out. I hoofed the button and whispered into it.
“Rose, Rose, can you hear me?” She jumped up and ran over to the mic. She put it on and whispered into it.
“Oh Celestia, Vice, I can’t believe it. Where are you?” she was crying and looking around.
“Meet me outside the town. I’ll send a flare up in five minutes.” I whispered back.
“Alright, I’ll meet you. I’ll tell my parents I’m going out hunting or something.” She replied. Releasing the button, I flew away, smiling.
* ** ** ** *
*fwooosh!* The flare trailed into the clouded sky. I heard my mic crackle to life.
“Alright, I’m on my way.” Rose said into the mic.
I kept my cloaking on for a few minutes until Rose trotted into view. I deactivated it, and to my surprise, Rose wasn’t startled by it. She smiled widely and tackle-hugged me.
“I missed you so much!” she said through tears.
“I missed you too.” I replied. Tears of my own forming in the corners of my eyes.
“You were on the radio,” she said while wiping her eyes. I was? What for?
“I was?” I replied, utterly confused. She nodded.
“Yeah, apparently you rescued some slaves,” she said, wiping her eyes again. “Did you really?” I nodded. She smiled even wider and hugged me again. “Just think, a week ago, you didn’t even know what a Radroach was.” We both chuckled. “Where did you go?” she asked.
“I flew over the Everfree and eventually landed on an Ironshod Firearms. I picked up some of these bad boys for Thorn.” I said while holding up a laser round. She looked at the bullet and laughed.
“You named the carbine Thorn?” she asked. I nodded.
“It was an homage to my first friend in the wasteland.” I said, smiling at her.
“Don’t be so sappy,” she chuckled. “So, wanna go on another hunting trip?” she inquired.
“Aww, yeah. Now I can finally show you that laser spell.” I said, grinning.
* ** ** ** *
I focused my magic, my laser spell charging on the tip of my horn, It fired, vaporizing the ninth Radroach in a row.
“That’s so cool,” Rose gushed.
“Yeah, yeah, wanna see my laser bullets now?” I asked, panting slightly. That spell really takes a lot out of me. She nodded vigorously. I loaded up a trio of laser bullets into a clip and slotted it into Thorn. I put it back into my saddlebag and grabbed Rose and took off into the air. She screamed, naturally. I looked around for something big to kill.
Upon sighting a giant Radscorpion, I cloaked us both and landed silently. I uncloaked myself and yelled to the giant bug, “Hey ugly!” That got it’s attention. It turned toward me and began skittering. I sighted it and fired. The first laser hit it in it’s claw, the second in it’s head, and the third hit its tail, melting the scorpion into a bright purple puddle. Rose was still invisible, so I couldn’t see her face. That is until I uncloaked her and saw that she was lying down, jaw open more than I thought possible.
“Dear Goddesses, that’s some serious firepower.” she said, barely above a whisper. I unloaded the laser bullets and put in regular magnum ones.
“Want something to eat?” I asked her. She nodded. I took a can of Cram out of my bags and handed it to her with my magic. She took it in her hooves and opened it. I opened mine and greedily ate it. I really love Cram! I don’t know why, or even what it is, but Chrysalis damn me, it was good! After finishing a second can, I crushed the cans and tossed them back into my bags.
“So, tell me the whole story. What happened when you rescued those slaves?” she asked me, stomping on her can of Cram and handing the scrap metal back to me. And so I did.
* ** ** ** *
The whole story took about an hour. I started from when I found the box of ammo and ended when I left New Appleloosa.
“That’s quite the tale. Especially the Manticore.” she said, yawning.
“You should get back home.” I told her, while stretching. I scooped her up and lazily flew to an area just outside of her town. “Bye, Rose,” I said while hugging her. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”
‘Bye, Vice.” she smiled at me and trotted home. I cloaked myself and followed her to the gate. She was let in and, satisfied that I had seen her safely home, flew up to the hill overlooking her house. I unraveled a bedroll I got from a warehouse in Ponyville. “Good night, Rose.“ I whispered under my breath. I covered up and drifted off to sleep.
* ** ** ** *
I opened my eyes and noticed it was morning. With a huge yawn, I uncovered myself and packed up my bedroll. After stretching, I grabbed a can of yams and a Sparkle Cola out of my saddlebags and quickly ate and drank my breakfast. I checked to make sure Thorn and Venom were both loaded and then cloaked myself and flew over to Rose’s window. She wasn’t there. Sighing, I flew back over the wall and over the hill. I’ll leave her a note! I pulled out a can of Cram and peeled the wrapper off. What to write it in? I dug around my saddlebags and handily found a pencil I picked up at some point. I wrote
‘Dear Rose,
Meet me at New Appleloosa tonight.
-V.V.’
I cloaked myself and floated the note out and set it on the ground near the gate. Then I bucked the metal wall, creating a loud clang that one of the guards noticed. I flew away and heard his gun go off. I didn’t get hit, so his shot must have gone wide. I took my time flying back to New Appleloosa.
Level Up! Level 3!
New Perk(s)!: Cloaking Field (Rank Two): You have had a lot of practice in casting your invisibility spell. You can make others invisible and it now lasts twice as long!
Fury of the Sun Goddess (Rank One): Just like Celestia herself, you can focus a beam of pure sunlight from your horn. It also comes in handy when you need something cooked!
Sustained Guise: You can now maintain your disguise while asleep or unconscious.
Current Sub-Perk: Power of the Sun: When in direct sunlight, you gain a +2 bonus to your Strength, Endurance, and Perception. When in clouded sunlight, these benefits are cut in half.
(A/N)
Whoo! I cranked out another chapter in a day. I hope it’s up to snuff for you guys. And before you ask, yes I did loosely base Thorn off of the Battle Rifle from the Halo games.