Like petrified, Velvet was standing there, staring stiffly at the motionless body. The body of a pony she, Velvet Remedy, had killed.
She was feeling sick.
The world seemed to have come to a standstill ever since Velvet had fired the poisoned dart, and Littlepip had gone down right in front of her hooves.
Feeling her heart stop, her brain still struggling to digest what had just happened, Velvet stood there.
One moment passed, two moments, three moments, then...
The entire hall exploded. Cheers, screams, shouts, guns being fired at the ceiling; it was all just one massive avalance of noise breaking down over Velvet, causing her legs to tremble.
Then, hitting her like a freight train, came ice-cold clarity: she was dead. Littlepip was dead.
And Velvet Remedy had killed her.
And just like that, her heartbeat was back; her body was back at its full power-output, and within less than a second, she was back on her hooves, dashing over to the lifeless body with an appalled scream.
"No!" she yelled, positioning herself over the lifeless body and holding her limp head in her hooves.
This ... this couldn't be happening! She couldn't be dead! This wasn't how things were supposed to go!
"Pip..." she muttered softly, leaning over her friend's head to search for a pulse, breathing, or any other vital sign.
"P-please..." she muttered weakly. Instinctively, her horn lit up, wanting to cast a healing spell, but yielded nothing but a sting of pain and a disappointing fizzle due to the magic-blocking ring still around her horn.
Velvet could feel her eyes tear up as she stared at her dead friend, heavy sobs escaping her throat as her mind continued to descend into darkness.
But ... but...
She could feel her heart skip a beat as she watched Littlepip's eyelids begin to flutter. "Little ... Littlepip!?" she asked, her voice trembling, yet filled with the slightest bit of hope.
The Stable Dweller's eyes slowly drifted open, her pupils focusing on the mare standing atop her. Her mouth slid open, letting out the weakest of groans.
She was still alive! Velvet could still save her!
Feeling her heart beat even faster, Velvet's head shot around, her eyes searching her surroundings for anyone or anything she could use to aid her friend. If only ... if only she could get that damn ring off her horn, she could-
"Vel- ... Velvet." All her thoughts came to a screeching halt as the mare in her arms said her name, and the charcoal unicorn looked down at her with wide eyes.
"Don't worry!" she hastily assured the injured mare, "I'll ... I'll fix this! I'll get you back on your hooves and we can just-"
"Velvet." A second time, Littlepip said her name, causing her to once again fall silent and just look at her.
When talking about it, Velvet Remedy would often call this very day the worst day of her whole life. Surely, the failed escape attempt played a role in it, the fact that she had faced an almost certain death too many times to count likewise.
However, what happened in this second overshadowed all these things by a long shot.
"Velvet..." Littlepip muttered again, weaker this time, causing the older unicorn to lean forward, bringing her face closer to that of her fallen friend and looking at her still half-lidded eyes.
"Surprise, bitch!"
Less than a split-second after she saw her eyes widen, and her mouth bring out the sudden exclamation, Velvet could feel a hoof collide with the side of her face at full speed, causing her to see stars for a few seconds and tumble, holding her aching head.
Blinking hastily, Velvet let her look shoot around, searching for the pony that had assaulted her all of a sudden, but finding only the armor-clad slave mistress jumping back to her hooves in a swift motion, accompanied by ear-shattering screams coming from the audience above.
Her mind reeled for a few seconds, struggling to conclude the obvious, but then...
Velvet could feel herself being thrown into ice cold water as it became clear to her.
Littlepip wasn't dead. She wasn't even injured in the slightest.
This had all been just a trick to fuck with Velvet.
And she had fallen for it, like a vulnerable, naive little foal.
It was this realization that kept her mind occupied, causing her eyes to glaze over as she blankly stared into the nothingnesss.
And it was this realization that led her to fail to see the mare coming charging at her like a crazed raider.
The impact pressed the wind right out of her lungs, and knocked the charcoal unicorn clean off her hooves.
While emaciated from the rough week that lay behind her, Velvet Remedy was still a good bit taller and accordingly heavier than Littlepip. However, with the armor she wore, and the three or four yards she had used to gain momentum, knocking the older unicorn over was no real challenge for the slaver mare.
Her mind still struggling to cope with the realization that she had fallen for this trick, Velvet barely noticed how the shorter unicorn positioned herself over her, her face cotorted in a rage-fueled frenzy, and was only snapped back into reality as she felt a hoof colliding with her face again.
"You!" Littlepip hissed furiously, resting on Velvet's torso and delivering a blow to her face with every word she spoke, "Fucking! Traitor!"
Velvet Remedy's head was spinning, her mind overdosed with everything that was happening. However, while her mind was out, the punches to her face managed to activate her survival instinct, as she struggled to pull her hooves free, and placed them on Littlepip's chest, pushing the shorter mare away an arm's length with what power she had left.
To her very relief, the fact that her forelegs were still a good bit longer than those of her assaulter caused Littlepip to hover a good bit above Velvet, leaving the charcoal unicorn mostly out of her reach.
"I trusted you!" the slaver mare continued shouting in her frenzy, apparently too caught up in it to notice the change of positions. Velvet thought she had even seen tears in her eyes as the shorter mare continued to swing at her, though most of her swings missed now that Velvet held her suspended. "You were my friend! Shit, I fucking loved you!" She shouted on top of her voice, froth forming in front of her mouth, "You are the reason I came out into this fucking wasteland in the first place! You caused all this!" She had to pause for a moment, fighting for breath. Her swings became increasingly slack as she seemed to either lose power or calm down.
"We could have ... we could have saved the wasteland!" she hissed bitterly, her teeth bared, "We could have actually made a difference out there! Fuck!" she cussed, delivering a faltering punch against Velvet's foreleg. "Why did you have to ruin it all? Why did you have to betray me like this?" she half-shouted, half-cried as tears began running down her face - real, genuine tears.
"Littlepip!" Velvet said indignantly, locking eyes with the now openly crying mare atop her, "I never wanted it to be like this! I wanted to help you!" she paused for a second, taking in a long breath and getting her words out ready. Whatever it was Littlepip was going through right now, Velvet knew she only had one shot. She couldn't blow this. "I ... I know I screwed up, and I'm sorry!" she declared loudly, "We all saw you suffering from your addiction! We all wanted to help you!"
Slowly, gradually, Velvet watched as the rage seemed to flow from her friend's face, washed away by the tears running down her face as she quietly sobbed away.
"We all wanted nothing but the best for you." Velvet affirmed, well-aware that she was still playing with fire, "And paralyzing you seemed like the only viable way to get you to do the treatment."
With her hooves still placed firmly on Littlepip's chest, Velvet could feel a jolt going through her body at that last part.
And it was in this moment she knew she had screwed up.
"...you shot me." Littlepip whispered softly, her eyes drifting shut.
"I didn't!" Velvet Remedy affirmed wide-eyed. Well she had shot her, but ... not like this!
"You shot me." the short unicorn mare repeated herself, her face tensing up, anger returning into her features.
"I didn't mean to harm you! If those guards hadn't-"
"You! Fucking! Shot me!" And with that, Littlepip's eyes were wide open again, staring down at Velvet with newfound fury. However, instead of trying to attack her with her arms again, Velvet was horrified to watch her horn light up, and her head shot to the side, searching for any knives coming flying at her.
However, her horror reached an all new dimension as she could feel the cloud of magic form around her throat, crushing her airways.
Giving a choked gasp, Velvet reacted more out of instinct than anything else as she drew in her hind legs, stretching them split-seconds later and delivering a hard buck into the mare's crotch, causing her magic to falter as she fell off Velvet and onto her back.
Hastily, the charcoal unicorn jumped back to her hooves as well, her mind reeling, trying to figure out what to do. What she had seen in Pip earlier ... was it still possible to redeem her? Could Velvet just ... just talk to her and-
Her thoughts were cut short as the slaver mare rolled back to her hooves as well, fixing her with a glare and a blood-thirsty grin. If her nethers hurt at all from Velvet's kick, she didn't let it show.
"Alright." she said, letting the word slide off her tongue as her horn lit up. "You wanna fight back?" Velvet flinched as she could hear the sound of magic near her, and braced for another choke-attempt, but was surprised to feel the ring around her horn come loose, and be removed, falling to the ground in front of her hooves with a soft clink, "Show me what you've got."
With that, her horn lit up again, her magic picking something up that Velvet could quickly identify as a wooden baseball bat. Baring her teeth and focusing the charcoal unicorn, she grinned and growled, "Let's end this. Right here. Right now."
Baffled, Velvet stared at the ring in front of her, her mind quickly counting one and one together. So ... her horn was working again? But that meant ... !
She narrowed her eyes to lift the ring up as a test run, so overwhelmed with the prospect of having her magic back that she failed to see the now resurrected slaver mare coming charging at her again.
With delight, she watched a cloud of her own magic form around the ring. She had to struggle, the sensation of using her magic seeming strange now that she had been forced to neglect it during the past week. However, after a second of struggling, she finally managed to lift it off the ground.
Just in time for the baseball bat to collide with the side of her head.
The impact threw her clean off her hooves, making her see stars; the pain exploding over the impact spot got even more intense as her head smashed against the concrete ground, and she could feel herself about to lose consciousness.
Dizzy, her eyes pressed shut in pain, she could feel blood running down the side of her head, accompanied by the sound of hooves coming closer, barely audible over the roaring crowd above their heads.
"What's the matter?" the taunting voice of Littlepip only added insult to injury as Velvet struggled to look up, the thumping pain in her head making any sort of movement nearly impossible. "You gonna cry? Like a little bitch!?"
A quick, but powerful kick into her side made Velvet flinch with pain and let out a soft whine. Shaking, pinching her eyes shut, she struggled to get back to her hooves, but could feel herself further humiliated as Littlepip merely stepped closer and toppled her back over with a not-so-gentle nudge of her hoof.
"Doesn't feel nice, does it?" the slaver mare asked bitterly, stepping over the still struggling unicorn. "Being kicked to the ground like a sack of spuds?"
Velvet gave a groan, feeling her eyes tear up in exasperation. Her head was pounding, vision swimming, and mind about to go into a lockdown from sheer mental exhaustion. To her very horror, she could see the bat being raised again, and clenched her teeth.
This one hit her right in her kidneys. Not deadly, but hurting like a glowing hot knife being stabbed into her side.
Still, Velvet managed to contain herself. The desire to open her mouth and scream out her pain was overwhelming, but she did her best to just clench her teeth and let out a groan instead. She forced her eyes shut, trying to use her magic to cast a spell; any spell, that would help her, but with the baseball bat to the head still leaving her with a minor concussion and the constant beating eating away at her temper, focusing enough to get a spell set up seemed nearly impossible at this stage.
Instead, she could feel her instincts take over again as she curled herself up into a fetal position, one hoof covering her burning kidney.
She ... she didn't know anymore. Fighting back was not an option anymore, surrendering even less so, so ... what was there to do for her?
"It's been a lifetime coming!" her tormentress shouted, her magic picking up the bat again, "All my life you've done nothing but manipulating me! Bossing me around! Treating me like your little pet!" Accompanied by the last word, the bat descended again, this time hitting one of her forelegs, causing her to let out a barely contained squeak.
"You think I didn't notice you playing with me? Getting my hopes up just to make Calamity jealous? And shooting me with a fucking poisoned dart when you were done with me!?"
"I ... I didn't-" Velvet whispered softly, not nearly loud enough for Littlepip to hear, but was cut short as the bat struck again, creating a large bruise right on her side.
"I know you've been planning this whole thing for days! You and that other bunch of traitors! I know you were working out that plan; figuring out how to gain my trust, and laughing at my ignorance!" she growled, clenching her teeth, "Well look who's laughing now!"
Velvet had seen the bat coming flying towards her face, and had instinctively pulled up her hooves in defense. However, even then, the force of the impact was enough to bruise her muzzle and cause her nose to bleed. More out of sheer survival instinct than anything else, the charcoal unicorn tried to crawl backward, only to find herself trapped by the wire mesh behind her back.
Slowly, savoring every step, the armor-clad slaver closed in on Velvet, her cold eyes resting on her as she licked her lips.
Grinning, her magic raised the bat above her head, ready for one final strike, as her mouth spoke the words Velvet was sure would be the last ones she would hear in her life.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this."
"Get yer hooves off mah mare!"
Time seemed to stand still for a second as a third voice coming from above tore through the hall, shortly followed by a thunderous gunshot and a pained yelp coming from the mare in front of Velvet.
Eyes wide, the charcoal unicorn watched as Littlepip's magic imploded, the baseball bat falling to the ground as she lifted her left hind leg and her head shot around to inspect it. A bullet had punctured her leg. A small wound at the side of it; nothing too serious, as Velvet's wary eye noticed in an instant.
However, as soon as the damage was inspected, both Littlepip's and Velvet Remedy's heads shot upward almost simultaneously, their eyes widening synchronously as they saw the rust-colored blur soaring over their heads, before landing on top of the wire mesh construction sealing the top of the pit off.
Standing up there and looking down at the two unicorns with a burning fire in his eyes was Calamity.
Velvet couldn't help it. Her head was buzzing from the attack with the bat; her body was hurting in more places than she had ever thought possible, and being face to face with death just seconds ago had left its marks on her psyche.
However, in this moment, seeing Calamity, alive, well, and armed ... she couldn't remember feeling this relieved in her life.
A second passed in which Velvet could feel a thousand weights off her mind, only to be followed by a sobering realization, as she could feel a dozen rifles, shotguns and pistols being pointed at her savior.
Then all hell broke loose.
An ear-shattering siren tore through the hall, making everpony present wince and fold their ears in. Simultaneously, the rattling of metal against metal echoed along with the blaring siren as all of the thirty-two cell's doors rattled open.
"What..." the armor-clad slaver mare asked wide-eyed, her look darting between Velvet and Calamity, "What the fuck did you do!?"
Her eyes seemed to widen even further as she watched some of the slaves -not all, but a noticeable part- shake off their evidently deactivated bomb collars and step out of their cells.
The dozen or so slavers gathered around the makeshift arena stood like petrified for a moment before realizing what was going on and raising their guns, bellowing at the slaves, commanding them to get back into their cells.
Littlepip, finally realizing just what was happening, snapped back onto Velvet, baring her teeth. "Oh no." she growled, snarling, "You're not getting out of this! You are not getting out of this!" Panting with rage, her horn lit up again, her magic reaching for a well-concealed holster at the inside of her still bleeding leg, and pulling out a small revolver. The gun was trembling in her magic grip as she floated it over to the charcoal unicorn, this time not hesitating to pull the trigger.
BLAM!
With a sharp metallic ping and a short spark, the revolver was knocked from Littlepip's telekinetic grip, clattering to the concrete ground.
"Don't worry Velvet!" Calamity shouted, looking past the still smoking barrel of his battle saddle, "Ah gotcha!"
The pegasus had used the general confusion caused by the alarm and the outbreaking slaves to jump off the cage-construction, and dash over to the wire mesh doors leading into it.
Directing his gaze away from the two ponies for just a second, he noticed with annoyance that the door was sealed with a thick padlock. It took his mind a second, maybe two, to be reminded of the newly acquired weapon on his back, but in the heat of the moment, it felt like a solid five minutes to him.
"Hang in there!" he shouted again, once again biting into the mouthpiece of his battle saddle, aiming at the padlock.
BLAM!
The now demolished lock fell to the ground, and the door swung open as Calamity dashed inside to aid his friend, only to find himself looking straight into the barrel of a revolver held in a green aura of magic.
"Alright." the short unicorn mare at the other end of the gun declared slowly, her eyes wide and twitching in an odd fashion, "You've had your fun. You've screwed me over a time or two." she sucked in a shaky breath, baring her teeth as the weapon once again trembled in her magic grip, "But now it's time to die. You've tricked me one time too many."
"Pip please..." Velvet carefully spoke up, directing the slaver's attention away from her pegasus friend, "It doesn't have to be like this! We ... we can end it all. Here and now." she offered with pleading eyes, "Please just ... lower the gun, and we can all go home. In peace. Together." She hesitated, taking in a slow breath, seeming unsure if she should say that last part, "We're ... we're one group, remember? One ... family."
"Oooh no you fucking don't!" Pip retorted, a bitter grin on her face, "Don't even try to give me that 'family'-shit. We stopped being a group the second you decided to ditch me all those years ago!"
"B-but I-"
"Shut it." the shorter pony cut her off briefly, directing her gun back at her, "I don't care what you were thinking, or following your fucked-up set of morals. It's too late now."
"Pip, stop." Calamity barked briefly, his voice tense. The mouth grip of his battle saddle was right in front of his muzzle, ready to pull the trigger at a moment's notice. "Ah don't wanna hurt you."
"Oh please." the slaver mare replied dryly, grinning, "You really think you could kill me before I put a bullet through her skull?" she turned her head back towards the pegasus, her eyes narrowing, "Do you want to see her dead this badly?"
"Just ... stop it!" Calamity said, his temper nearing its end, "We don't have to end it like this! We can-"
But he fell silent as a new sound filled the hall. A thumping sound, so deep and menacing that it even drowned out the noise of the slavers outside. Metal collided with concrete as a massive weight came galloping through the facility's upper floor, and the ground underneath the three ponies seemed to be shaking ever so slightly.
"What did you-" the slaver mare asked wide-eyed as her ears perked up, but fell silent as it dawned on her, her face going pale. "No. No you fuc-"
Her voice was drowned out as the hiss of a missile being launched tore through the hall, shortly before the entire facility was shaken to its very foundations, and the wire mesh construction above their heads was blown clean off with a deafening explosion.
Seconds after, the ground shook as the massive shape of a pony clad in metal armor jumped into the pit, the sound of the impact roaring like thunder; the concussion almost throwing the three ponies off their hooves.
Littlepip's eyes widened, her magic swinging her revolver towards the stallion and firing shot after shot into his metal armor. Six bangs, each followed by a high-pitched metal ping as the bullets ricocheted off the thick metal armor, then nothing but a disappointing click as the revolver's barrel had run empty.
In turn, the Steel Ranger stood silently in front of the stable dweller, the missile launcher integrated into his armor folding in, replaced by a minigun that extended from a latch on his side as he loomed over the much shorter mare.
"A. Fucking. Table." SteelHooves' deep rumble of a voice growled menacingly. "Give me one reason not to kill you on the spot."
The mare in raider armor remained silent. Her teeth still clenched, her breathing becoming shallow as her magic slowly lowered the empty revolver, she looked around at the ponies assembled around her - Calamity, with a look of both, exhaustion and pain in his eyes; Velvet Remedy, looking like if she was about to burst into tears, and SteelHooves, standing right in front of her with the ever-blank expression of his power armor staring right back at her.
Her breathing quickened, and gradually, her lips formed into a sick, twisted grin.
"Go ahead." she snapped, her look wandering over the ponies around her, "Go ahead, kill me. End it all." Her horn lit up, her magic forming at two spots on her armor, pulling two laces loose, before the heavy piece of leather slid off her sides, revealing her ruffled-up fur underneath, and leaving the short mare completely exposed. "I'm all vulnerable and helpless! Here's your chance!" She spread out her forelegs in an inviting gesture, "Come on! This is what you wanted all along, isn't it? Go on, kill me!"
The ponies surrounding her remained silent, just looking at her with mixed feelings on their faces. SteelHooves still didn't let up on her; Calamity, knowing that this could just as well be another ruse, kept his baddle saddle at the ready, and even Velvet Remedy prepared herself to dodge a bulletstorm should things go downhill.
But nevertheless, Velvet couldn't help but feel sorry for her former friend. Now, stripped of any weapons or armor, she looked ... so much smaller; vulnerable, and weak. And even though she knew the slaver mare might be trying to trick her again, Velvet was sure she saw tears forming in her former friend's eyes. Right behind that crazed expression and the sick, twisted, careless grin, it seemed like Littlepip was about to burst into tears.
Maybe ... maybe it wasn't too late yet.
"Littlepip!" Velvet shouted out in a final attempt to come to a peaceful solution, "We don't want to hurt you! We wish you no harm!"
The shorter mare's head spun around, her twitching eyes focusing on the older unicorn. "That's easy to say, isn't it? But I'm not falling for it! I know you want to see me suffer! All of you!" she shouted, pointing her hoof at the two other ponies, "So go ahead! I'm yours now!" she leaned forward, pressing her head right against the tip of SteelHooves' minigun and glaring at the stallion, "Do what you've been meaning to do all along! End it, fucker! Just go ahead and-"
"Stop!"
All four ponies stopped in their movements, looking up as a fifth voice came from above, and running through the smoke of the crater SteelHooves' missile had torn into the ground came none other than Homage.
Stopping for just a second at the pit's ledge and looking down at the ponies assembled and gazing up at her, she swallowed and jumped down the six feet to join the group, landing in a heap before fighting herself back to her hooves.
"Please!" the short, gray unicorn begged, her look going around the ponies around her, "Don't let it end like this! We've all been through..." she gasped, shaking her head curtly, "A fuckload of shit, but we don't have to end it in a shooting!" she looked at Littlepip, who was still standing there entirely defenseless, then at SteelHooves and Calamity.
Littlepip's gaze rested on her for a moment, then the crazed grin vanished from her face, making way for a blank expression of disbelief.
"Homage..." she said softly, "I ... I don't know what to..." she let out a groan, her face suddenly screwing up with pure rage. "So you were with them too? All along!?" She gave a deep growl, her head sinking, look going to the ground, "I ... I ... ugh!" A jolt went through her body, and a sob broke loose, tears hitting the ground in front of her.
"It's okay now." Homage replied calmly, taking a cautious step towards the distressed mare, "We can just ... let it go. And go home. And we'll never have to talk about this, ever again. Alright?"
"I..." Littlepip said softly, keeping her eyes locked with those of Homage for a moment, before she slowly let her head sink, and for a moment it seemed like she really was ready to give up.
Then, however, Velvet Remedy could feel her throat getting tighter as she watched Littlepip's eyes widen ever so slightly as she spotted the small holster strapped around Homage's flank. A small pistol - for self-defense if things should go bad, no doubt.
But in this moment, it caused a small, barely noticeable change in the face of the stable dweller.
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl, and Homage was like petrified as she watched her lover's eyes trailing off, split seconds before her horn lit up with a sickly green. It took her mind a second to compute, and she wanted to scream as she could feel her small emergency-pistol yanked from her flank with an ungodly force.
Split-seconds later, the appalled shout of Calamity hit her ears, along with the familiar whirr of SteelHooves' minigun starting up. She opened her mouth to scream, but fell silent as the magic field around the gun, just while it was floated from her flank, imploded, and the weapon clattered to the ground. Immediately, Homage's head spun around, just in time to see Littlepip go down and fall to the ground with a groan.
"Noo!" she shouted horrified, falling to her knees to look over her fallen friend, before letting her gaze wander over the circle of ponies around them to see who had fired the deadly shot.
To her very surprise, however, both Calamity and SteelHooves were merely looking at them, Calamity with eyes wide in shock, while Velvet Remedy was looking down, breathing heavily and carressing her horn.
"What did you-" Homage wanted to ask, but cut herself off as a thought popped up in her head, and she promptly shot forward, searching Littlepip's body for any bullet wounds.
"I ... cast an anesthetic spell." Velvet Remedy declared, still visibly out of breath, "I ... don't know how long it's going to last though. I haven't used it in a long time, and my magic is still weak." At Homage's still appalled look, she added, "She's ... not dead. Just unconscios. She won't be for long though."
At that, Homage could feel a thousand weights fall off her heart, and a sigh of intense relief escaped her mouth as she leaned forward, giving Littlepip a hug.
For a moment, the world seemed to come to a standstill, and all Homage could hear was her friend's heartbeat, and her soft breathing.
It was all over now. Three years, filled with sorrow, worry and horror, had finally come to an end.
They were going to get Pip back to Tenpony Tower, and use whatever brainwash-therapy necessary to finally make her see the truth.
That her friends; all of them, cared about her, and wanted nothing but the best for her.
And that none of this would ever change.
"Don't worry." Homage whispered softly, pushing herself deeper into her friend's embrace. "It'll all be good again. I promise."