Things were moving at blinding speeds for the mare. Mere days after leaving her stable, she had been kidnapped during a scouting mission as her two friends stayed behind to plan their next course of action. In the process of being rescued just a day later, she became a surrogate mother to two fillies while following a calculating sniper and a ghoul that seemed not to care for his own life. Then, she learned of her friends deaths, at the hands of a group of ponies she thought civilized if what Force said was true, and ended up sticking with the two vagabonds.
All this was running through her mind as the group continued onwards, leaving the dilapidated shack and her friend’s grave behind as they headed northeast. Their new destination, Stalliongrad, lay in that direction, chosen by the stallion who seemed to have the answers to everything.
The two fillies were ever-present behind her, still unsure about the two ponies that had rescued them. They continued to flinch at every sound the wasteland created, from a simple tumbleweed to a stray molerat skittering away. Lavender’s heart went out to them. Whatever town Slade was, it must have been a paradise for them to be so unaccustomed to the world.
Her mind wandered further, this time to her own experiences after leaving Stable 15. She had heard tales of the changed lands from ponies returning from their pilgrimage. Stories of battle and strife continuing even after the great war had ended filled nearly all reports. A mixture of that and her friends joining her prepared her, at least a little, for her own journey.
When she finally did leave the stable, a vast emptiness covered in an extremely high ceiling of clouds greeted her. The constant stream of information fed to her as a child allowed her to know what everything she saw was called, but not how to react or feel towards it all. So, as she and her friends began their trek, their minds were filled with wonder.
“Scouts.”
Force’s voice snapped the mare out of her thoughts, bringing her into reality where the sniper was once again laying upon the dirt at the top of a knoll, his rifle scope being used to look ahead. Lavender stopped a few feet away and the fillies came up on either side of her, trying to take a look. Surprisingly, Steel actually halted as well, standing next of the green unicorn.
Minutes ticked by as the group watched the faraway ponies move about, a gentle wind blowing dust and debris about the air.
“Those aren’t scouts,” Steel said, finally speaking up. “Or at least not for anyone threatening. If I were to guess, I would say that they belong to a caravan and they are checking ahead for ambushes.”
“Oh? What’s got you talking, then?” Force asked, eyeing the ghoul out of the corner of his vision.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Fair enough. Anyway...” The sniper stood and angled his rifle to reflect the meager sunlight towards the scouts. Using a hoof, he began signalling below, covering and uncovering his scope in a precise order. “I was thinking the same thing. Hopefully, they’ll turn this way. Getting rid of this useless baggage early would be nice,” he said, though with an undertone the mare picked up.
Lavender placed a foreleg over either girl defensively, hugging them close. “They are not useless!” she said, glaring towards Force. He paused in sending his message and regarded the mare to his left, his expression unreadable.
“I don’t think I said that, but it sounds about right. Good job making them feel worse,” he said. The stallion then got back to work on his message, ignoring the sudden pouts of the fillies.
“He’s talking about the minigun and saddles,” Steel explained, glancing to the girls for a moment before turning his attention back to the scouts who had finally noticed the flashes of light and began sending their own glimmers.
The magenta mare furrowed her brow in confusion, running the conversation over in her head. She was sure Force had meant the fillies. His tone, combined with his previous statements, proved it.
“Right, we’ve got the go ahead. Come on.” Force slung his rifle across his back and started down the slight hilltop at a trot, the ghoul following close behind. Lavender looked at either filly and nodded before standing and chasing after the stallions with the girls.
One hundred yards later, the group met up with the scouts. They were a small contingent, only an orange unicorn mare and a blue stallion, both with metal plates on their joints and across their chests. Dirt and grime covered their faces, just as it was upon the group’s, from the long trek between destinations. Dings and scrapes told of a battle they had been in not too long ago, as dried blood stained their clothing and coats.
“Hello!” the orange one said with more joviality than to be expected as everypony got close. “I’m Sunburst, and this is Sky. We were just on our way back when we got your message. You want to trade, yes?”
“Yes, now where is the caravan?” Force asked, impatience marking his voice.
“Woah, now. We have to make sure you guys are actually here to trade, first.”
The sniper sighed heavily. “It’s kinda obvious, is it not? What do you want?”
“Just empty your weapons of ammo and I think we’ll be good, right Sky?” she asked, ignoring the sniper’s annoyance as she turned to her partner.
Steel glanced at Force for a split second before starting to walk, the minigun shifting slightly with his steps, but remaining on his back. “Talk to the sniper then, he’s the only one with ammo in any weapons.”
“Really?” Sunburst asked, looking about the entire group. “Out of a group of five, only one of them has ammo?”
“Yea, yea, yea, these guys are all slouches. The mare won’t even let the fillies carry a gun.” Force used his magic to remove the rifle from his back, pressing against the magazine’s release and tossing the metal container to Sky. Then, he slid the rifle bolt open, extending his aura to catch the spare round as if pinged out of the chamber and tossing it in his bags. “There, can we go now?” he asked as he reset the slide.
The pair looked toward the ghoul for a moment, as if expecting something, but disregarded it. “Eeyup. Everythin’ seems to be in order,” Sky replied, leading the way when the ammo was safely tucked away in his saddlebags. The mare stayed next to her partner and the group got in line behind the scouts.
“Have either of you seen a silver amulet?” Steel asked, turning his head to the ponies as they caught up to him and matched his sluggish pace.
“A silver amulet?” Sunburst repeated, looking over the ghoul with a thoughtful expression. “I don’t believe I have. How about you, Sky?”
“Eenope.”
The ghoul simply nodded and continued on, turning his gaze forward once more.
“So where are y’all headed?” the mare asked with a glance back to the others. “Especially with your little ones?”
Force glared at the back of Sunburst’s skull as Lavender tripped on nothing. “They are not our anything,” he said, the scout confusedly looking back at him. “If anything, they’re all hers. Stupid mare wouldn’t just leave them be when we rescued her.”
“Of course not! I told you, there’s no way these two could fend for themselves with the way they are,” Lavender rebuked. The two fillies, young though they were, rolled their eyes at the upcoming argument.
“That’s why I said to give them a gun! Any half-wit can use any one of the weapons that were lying around that building. Hell, they could have easily taken up shelter there permanently,” Force countered, switching his attention to the magenta mare.
“They’re barely eight! Not everypony is smart enough to know what to do in situations like that!” she countered, voice rising
“Then, maybe, they just should have ran before they got caught in the first place!” he said, increasing his voice to match.
“You don’t know how they were captured, Force! Why do y-”
“Woah, now!” Sunburst cut in. “You two are getting a mite loud, and we don’t want to be getting any attention, alright?” Lavender and the sniper looked away from the other with irritated scowls, though her’s slowly changed to contemplating one.
Am I wrong? Did I get the wrong impression of these two? the mare thought, desperately searching for anything that could prove otherwise. They seemed so good, but what if they really were just bored? Does an indifferent action, even if it was a good one, mark a pony as good?
Her thoughts continued as the scouts led them over another hill. Two large covered wagons parked abreast of each other started to rise from the hilly landscape with a campfire lit between them. A few ponies were milling about here and there, securing the wagons or settling down for the night. The group picked up the pace when the escorts sped up, though the ghoul did not and started to lag behind.
“Well, me and Sky here need to check in with the others, so we’ll let you be,” Sunburst said as they reached the border and she turned towards the wagon on the left. “Just see us when you’re ready to leave and we’ll give you your ammo back, okay?”
“Yeah, sure. Bye,” Force answered, still irritated at the earlier conversation. He grabbed the minigun off Steel’s back in an aura of magic just as the ghoul caught up and looked towards the raven-haired mare. “You’re coming with me.”
Lavender quietly followed after the sniper as he turned towards the other wagon, the ever-present fillies trailing behind her. She still didn’t have a clue what to think about the stallion, but she hoped he was better than his demeanor portrayed. Both were unaware of leaving the ghoul behind.
“You’re sure you can get a lot of caps for this junk?” Force asked, his voice returning to its flat and calculating tone. Two ponies of the same tan color were sitting on a sheet a few paces away from the pair with various wares laying upon it.
“I’ll get you your money, just let me do the talking,” she responded as they got closer, determined to get her so-called ‘debt’ out of the way. She believed that the stallion wouldn’t open up until it was taken care of.
“Have at it then.” He stepped aside and swept a foreleg along the path they were taking to the traders. As soon as she took the lead, he stepped between her and the fillies and they continued.
When they approached, the salesponies looked up with gleaming smiles that did nothing to aid them, covered in as much road grime as the guards were.
“Hello!” the one with a red moustache greeted.
“Fine day we’re having!” the one without added.
“Cu-”
“Ah-ah. Let me talk,” Lavender said, giving a bemused grin to the sniper. He glanced between the ponies and the mare before sitting upon the ground in a huff, the minigun placed beside him. The girls giggled behind him.
“A fine evening to you two as well,” she continued with a smile towards the twins. “How’s the caravan?”
“Wonderful!” moustache exclaimed.
“We just finished our stops on this side of the wasteland,” clean-cut explained.
“Where are you two headed now, misters...” Lavender let the sentence hang, allowing the traders to answer the unspoken question.
“Chance.”
“Chase. Heading back home, but we’ll be stopping in Slade, first.”
The mare hummed in thought and her eyes trailed to the fillies. Force saw this and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as her attention was snapped back to the the twins.
“How can we help you, my dear?” Chase asked. The sniper pulled out the two battle-saddles and five millimeter ammo from his saddlebags and placed them next to the mare, quickly adding the large gun as well.
She looked at the pile of goods for a moment, watching the two ponies eyes widen out of the corner of her eye. Gotcha, she thought, but kept the grin from appearing on her face. Lavender turned back to the two. “Oh... I was just wondering what I might get out of this...” she said with a slight flutter of her eyelids.
Chance and Chase started to look over the items, moustache checking the ammo and saddles while his brother inspected the minigun. All the while, Lavender had a smug grin as she glanced Force’s way. He returned the look with apprehension, obviously not believing a bit of what was happening would actually result in any profit.
The mare’s expression turned sultry when the twins completed their work. “We can do three-hundred and fifty caps,” Chance said, his eyes gleaming at the easy sale. Force rolled his eyes in return, but the mare wasn’t done yet.
Her lips pursed and she let her eyes grow large. “Oh, that’s all? Can’t you go a little higher?”
The mustachioed stallion wilted slightly and Chase took over. “I do believe that’s all we can do, Miss.”
Seeing the stronger willed brother take over, she changed tactics again, this time narrowing her eyes and hardening her voice. “Those two saddles are made with genuine Neighvarro brahmin leather. They’re guaranteed not to rip. And that gun is cleaned and well-maintained, good for many hours of service. I won’t go anything less than seven hundred.” She punctuated her claims with a stomp.
Now Chase was wilting, but once again, Chance took over. “You won’t strong-arm us, Miss, but we’re willing to go to four-hundred,” he said in a business-like manner.
Lavender’s narrowed eyes roamed between the twins and the goods. “Six. Take it or leave it.”
His eyes also glanced between them and the items, but he looked towards the unamused sniper and fillies and smirked. “I’d like to see you try to carry all this between you two and the fillies, since it looks like he’s your only defense.”
Without saying a word, the mare turned towards the other wagon where Steel could be seen wandering about. The twins followed her gaze before freezing at the sight of the large ghoul. They started to whisper to each other. She started to frown, shifting her weight between her hooves to show impatience. Seeing this, Chase spoke up.
“Five-hundred.”
“I said six-hundred. If you won’t take it, we’ll go elsewhere.” Lavender stood and nodded to Force, whom started to gather up the items without a word. Just as all the items started to float, she turned away and started to leave.
“Wait!”
She smiled. “Yes?”
“We’ll do it. Six-hundred caps, it is.”
With the price agreed upon, Force set the items down upon the blanket as the twins begrudgingly passed a sack of caps over, Lavender carefully counting them out. As she did so, the sniper browsed the slightly poorer stallions’ wares.
Most of it was junk, but two boxes of ammo caught his eye. He set them aside and continued, finding a gun cleaning kit and some spare parts he could rig to use in his rifle. Again, he set those aside. But then he looked back at the mare, studying the fillies next to her.
“How much to secure passage to Slade?” he asked the traders, though his eyes never left the girls. Lavender stopped her counting and stared, wide-eyed, at the sniper.
“One hundred caps a head,” Chance answered, still miffed at the last exchange, but at glare cast his way from the mare, he changed his mind. “Fifty caps, I mean.”
Force turned to the stallion. “And how much for what I set aside?”
Chase looked over the items on a corner of the blanket and said, “Two-hundred caps.” His voice brooked no argument.
“Done,” the green unicorn replied, grabbing another coin purse from his bags and tossing it their way. “Three-hundred caps, for these items and passage to Slade for the two fillies.” He pulled the larger bag out of Lavender’s hooves and tossed it in his saddlebags with the newly purchased items.
Force stepped over to the girls, looking down on them indifferently. “Now you two can go home and get out of my mane,” he said flatly.
Deciding against following the duo, Steel ambled about the area. His eyes searching for any sign of the amulet dangling from somepony’s neck. The ghoul would stop a random caravaneer or guard to ask them about it, but not a single one knew what he was talking about.
He wandered towards the wagon opposite of the traders and caught a glimpse of the magenta mare looking at him, followed shortly after by the ponies with which she was conversing. The gazes didn’t bother him, nothing did, and he continued his slow trek to the caravan.
“Help!” came the cry of a young mare from the wagon.
Having nothing better to do, Steel slowly made his way behind it to get a clear look at the insides. Within the darkened cart, a stallion had a filly pinned down. She was struggling against the strength of her elder in vain as the male laughed darkly.
“No one can ‘ear you scream. You’re mine now, girl.”
It was at this point that the filly managed to kick the stallion in the face. Though it did little damage to her attacker, it broke his concentration, allowing her to get out of the pin. As she jumped from the back of the wagon, the green filly caught sight of and dove behind Steel, her blue and white tail the only thing not hidden behind him.
Moments later, the stallion emerged, rubbing his burgundy cheek. Seeing the filly’s tail behind the ghoul, he promptly drew a gun from his saddlebags and pointed it at the ghoul. “Move out of the way.”
Without a word, the pony felt the gun pulled from his grip. The barrel was flipped around and pressed firmly against his own skull, the firing pin cocked. Despite his quick actions, the stallion looked on with a bored expression as the trigger was beginning to tighten.
“Steel!” The sound of his name halted him from ending another life. It was Lavender. Of course it was her. Who else would it be?
She ran towards the two stallions and the filly, each of them frozen in fear or concentration. “Steel! What are you doing?”
The ghoul glanced to her, then to the stallion opposite him.
“Please don’t let him hurt me,” came the whimpering cry of the filly.
“Oh, Steel wouldn’t hurt you, dear.”
“No, not Steel, that other one.” The filly glanced to the stallion in question, followed shortly thereafter by Lavender’s gaze as well.
“Oi, I bought ‘er. I should be able to use ‘er ‘ow I wish,” the stallion responded nervously, yet indignantly.
“And if you hadn’t pointed this gun at me, I would have let you,” Steel said coldly.
“Steel, time to go.” It was Force now, having arrived on the scene. “Let him go. Useless scum will probably end up getting himself killed anyway.”
The ghoul nodded and was about to give the gun back to the stallion when he decided better of it and handed it to the girl behind him. “Can you shoot this?”
“Y-yeah, I think so.”
“Good, fight your own battles,” Force replied, eager to be done with it all and be on his way.
The filly nodded and Force moved back to the other wagon, where several ponies had turned to watch the events. He looked at each of them, picking out a blue stallion and holding up his rifle. The scout got the hint and dug through his saddlebags before removing the weapon’s magazine and tossing it to the sniper. With all of his items secured, Force started away from the caravan campsite, ignoring the others.
Steel followed, glancing behind him to see the green filly shakily holding the gun towards the assaulting stallion.
Lavender, in all the world, could not understand just what was happening. Both of the vagabonds confused her yet again, this time through charity. With nothing to lose, she walked over to the filly and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
When the girl looked up, she was met with the mare’s kind smile. A few moments passed where the caravaneers waited for what would happen next, the stallion before the filly not making a move to avoid any action that might cause him harm, being on the wrong end of the gun he had held in his teeth not moments earlier. Then, looking to Steel, she tossed the weapon to the side.
“If mister Steel doesn’t need a gun, then neither do I,” she said loudly before turning from the stallion and chasing after the ghoul.
“Oh joy. Someone is using Steel as a role model now. Isn’t that just great.” Force mumbled from his position farther away from the caravan. Lavender simply shook her head with a smile and followed after the filly.
The campsite was still well within view when the sniper stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, he turned around to look at the group following him: an indifferent ghoul, an optimistic mare, one annoying filly.
Wait.
“Who said the kid could come with?” he asked, annoyance marking his voice as he raised an eyebrow.
The filly’s eyes filled with fear. With all due haste, she once again took up hiding behind Steel. “N-no one; I just th-thought that I could come with you guys.”
Force stalked up to the girl and raised to his full height, bearing down on her with as much threatening aura as he could manage. Her eyes shook as she stared at the green unicorn from behind her would-be protector, shaking, while Steel didn’t make a move.
The sniper’s head lunged forward, stopping only inches away from her face. In response, the filly jumped back. Surprisingly, she continued to watch him, unlike the other two who tried to avoid his gaze. His eyes narrowed.
“Wh-” His pipbuck started to beep, cutting off what he was about to ask. Sitting down and raising the object to his face, he started to scroll through it. A new station had appeared on the radio. His curiosity piqued, he tapped it with his other hoof. Loud static started to emit from the device.
Lavender’s hooves clapped over her ears as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately to quiet the sound. Steel simply covered the ear closest to the sound, while the filly cowered behind him with her own folded back.
Force slammed a hoof against the device, turning the station off before rubbing his head from a sudden headache. When he glared at the filly again, she ran to the other side of the ghoul.
The new station disappeared. With an eyebrow raised, the stallion set his forelegs back upon the dirt and stood normally.
“She can come with us,” he stated simply and without explanation as he set off again. The filly’s eyes lit up in excitement and she started bouncing around Steel as he followed Force.
Lavender stayed next to the ghoul, glancing between him and the girl. Curiosity filled her thoughts once again, before she looked back at the slowly shrinking caravan. I hope those girls find their way home safely.
Footnote: 80% to next level.
Authors’ notes: See?! You see what happens when you don’t enjoy the story? N64Fan has run off to make a death and pestilence story to drown you all in after all! Anyway, standard love for the previous FoE guys and such; blah blah blah, you know the drill. Also, next chapter will be filled with action and plot! ...hopefully...