Chapter 84
Roxxy growled in frustration as she tried to fix her Dimensional Communicator, which had been damaged when Champion grabbed her. She wasn’t having any luck due to only having one foreleg, but she didn’t give up as she just kept fidgeting and grunting.
“Can I try?” Babel asked as she suddenly appeared next to Roxxy, leaning face first towards the communicator.
With a sigh Roxxy shook her head, “I think this is far beyond your comprehension, Babel. This is tech from the Central Dimension, and I’ve spent a good amount of time learning it and I still don’t even understand it fully.”
“But can I try?” She asked again with a large smile on her face.
Roxxy blinked at her a few times before slowly handing it over to her.
“Ooo, it feels complicated!” She exclaimed as she rushed off to her little corner and began working on the device using her own set of tiny tools.
The injured mare couldn’t help but smile at the actions of the other mare. She was a great distraction from the depression that threatened to over take her at any moment. Losing two legs and an eye all in one go was not settling well with her, but she was tough. She’d pull through, one way or another.
All she wanted to do at that moment though was sleep, but her body was still too worked up and restless to allow her to do so.
Her ears suddenly perked up as she heard something scrap the floor out in the hallway.
Babel didn’t seem to hear it as she worked.
Roxxy’s eyes narrowed as her heart rate picked up, because she could clearly hear at least a few different set of footsteps walking down the hallway.
Low whispering could be heard, causing Babel’s ears to finally perk up.
“Shh,” Roxxy shushed her as she saw her about to say something.
The footsteps came right up to their door, then everything went silent.
Roxxy tensed as she knew whoever was out there was about to enter their room.
She looked across the room to where Babel was, much closer to the door than she was. But as she began to wave her over, the door swung open and three skinny bipedal reptiles rushed in. Snake like heads all locking onto them instantly.
Her eyes went wide, as these appeared to be some kind of hunters, with pelts and skulls hanging off of their belts and clothes.
“Jovial was right, he did see two Equids enter this building,” one of them said in a hollow voice.
“For once his old eyes weren’t play tricks on ‘em,” another said as he looked right at Roxxy. “Well that one’s no good, probably filled with infections and parasites, what with those injuries and all.”
“It does have wings, so nice trophy hunt at least,” the third added as they all looked to Babel, who was standing there in shock.
“Okay that one is to skinny, barely any meat on dem bones,” the lead one said as he shook his head.
“It’s at least dinner tonight, so don’t complain, Bevevel.”
Roxxy scanned each of them, not liking their odds. Not only was she injured to the point she couldn’t stand up, Babel herself couldn’t fight a fly, let alone one of these guys.
“Kill the lame one, I’ll hogtie this one,” the lead one grunted as he pulled out a length of rope and began to advance on Babel, causing her to back up till her flank hit the wall.
Narrowing her eye, she pushed herself up painfully, locking eyes with the reptile advancing on her with a drawn short blade.
“You know I’ve never seen a living Equid with wings,” the third one in the back said. “Kinda sad this one’s all ruined, we coulda used it for supply runs.”
“Stand back,” Roxxy growled, causing the one near her to chuckle.
“Uhoh, Bevevel, they’re sentient,” it said with a smirk.
“Too bad for them then,” the one named Bevevel said as he roughly grabbed Babel, causing her to let out a shreak of fear.
Everything happened at once.
The one standing in the doorway let out a panicked yell as he saw the one advancing on Roxxy suddenly split in half, followed by the one tying up Bevel to let out a pained wheeze as he collapsed back, head falling backwards, barely attached to his neck.
The last one attempted to go for his own weapon, but Roxxy flew past him, her Scythe flashing across him, causing his upper half to slide away from the bottom half.
With the three now dead, Roxxy landed roughly next to Babel, using the tip of her Scythe to cut the rope that was barely tied around her legs.
“Are you okay, Babs?” Roxxy asked as she pulled the ropes away from the other mare.
“That was amazing, Roxxy!” Babel exclaimed, showing she was clearly unaffected by what’d just happened. “Like main protagonist level awesome!”
“Yeah,” Roxxy muttered, looking around at the bodies, “I kinda lost it there for a moment…” she wobbled and fell onto her flank, head swimming, “I’ve never killed someone before…”
This caused Babel’s eyes to go wide, “you used your first kill to protect me?! You’re super duper amazing, Roxxy! A real hero!”
“Yeah,” she mumbled as that depression threatened to evolve into something a little more sinister. “We need to go, they mentioned others, which means we’re not safe here.”
Babel gave a salute as she rushed over to her stuff and packed it away, then ran to Roxxy’s side without being asked and began to struggle to lift her up, “then let’s get a movin’!”
With a hiss of pain, Roxxy stood up, throwing a wing over Babel to help steady herself as the other mare visibly struggled to support her weight.
“Just help me to the outside and I’ll take over from there,” Roxxy said, getting a strained nod from Babel.
The two slowly limped their way through the building, having to stop every so often so Babel could readjust or take a breather.
Once they finally reached the outside, Roxxy used her wings to lift off the ground, letting Babel fall on her haunches, breathing hard.
“I don’t know how you guys do this!” She exclaimed with a light laugh. “I’m exhausted after just that! But you guys will fight for a LONG time and barely be winded!”
“Cardio,” Roxxy answered with a small smile. “Just gotta wake up every morning and run a few miles.”
“Oh I’d never be able to do that!” Babel laughed, smiling brightly up at Roxxy, causing her to blush again, “I’m okay just sitting at my computer or reading! So much more fulfilling!”
Roxxy cleared her throat as she rubbed her face, trying to reduce the burning sensation she was feeling, “well, we need to go. Can you run?”
“Honestly?” Babel asked with a little sheepish smile, “no. Not at all. I look like a baby lamb who just got their legs! It’s silly and pathetic! That’s why I always skipped gym class!”
“Then,” Roxxy began as she lowered herself, “climb on, we need to get as far from here as possible.”
“Okay!” Babel said without needing any convincing, climbing onto Roxxy’s back and throwing her forelegs around her neck. “I haven’t done anything like this since my dad took me flying when I was a filly!”
“Well I’ll be careful,” Roxxy assured her as she took to the air, not struggling at all. She was very surprised at how light Babel actually was.
They flew in mostly silence as Babel spent most of her time making comments about the dead city below them.
It was here, seeing this decaying city, where Roxxy began to recall recent events. Her body began to tremble, which was starting to affect her ability to fly.
She needed to calm down, and fast.
“Babel,” she suddenly said, getting the other mare’s full attention instantly, “tell me about that DnD world you’ve created. The one you always talked about in school.”
Babel let out a loud gasp, followed by a squeal of delight, “you actually want to hear about my own personal world I’ve built?!”
“I do,” she replied, causing the other mare to start bouncing on her back a bit.
“Ooo! I don’t even know where to start! This whole world I’ve created is for DnD AND for a video game I’m trying to make! It’s about this race of Soul based entities who crash landed on an inhabited planet! These are the player characters and they are so COOL! Their lore is super interesting too! They’re-“
Roxxy smiled as she listened to every word Babel said, enjoying how excited she was. It had the bonus effect of calming her down and focusing her mind.
Somehow Babel was the only thing that grounded her and kept her sane. She didn’t know why, but she wasn’t going to question it. So she just continued flying along, listening to the mare on her back going on and on about her worldbuilding.
ooo000<^>000ooo
Later, nighttime
“We’re safe here,” Roxxy announced as she hobbled into the little room only lit by the fireplace in the corner. “I walked all six floors below us, and we’re the only ones here.”
“Awesomesauce!” Babel all but yelled as she laid by the fire, still working on the communicator. “We don’t need anymore nasty villain’s just walking up on us like that again!”
“We should be fine now,” Roxxy assured her as she gobbled over and collapsed before the fire, her body finally ready to just give in and rest.
“We’re on the Eternal Plains, so we need to find you someone who can make you some new and awesome legs! Maybe even a new eye! We might even be able to get ones like Scamp’s! Now THAT would be epic!” Babel said, speaking fast as she never stopped working on the little communicator in her hooves.
Upon hearing this Roxxy’s ears dropped, “so you see me the same way everyone else does, huh? Just a smaller version of Scamp.” She let out a deep sigh as she waved her front stump, “well I guess now I am just a knock off Scamp.”
Babel looked over at her, giving her a weird look, “I’ve never seen you as a younger Scamp. You’ve always just been Roxxy to me.” With that she went back to cheerfully working on the little device.
That one simple statement however meant the world to Roxxy as she stared at Babel, a small smile on her face.
“Thanks, Babs,” she said, getting another weird look from the mare.
“For what?” She asked, seeming a bit confused. But Roxxy just chuckled in response and turned her head to the fire before her.
It didn’t take long before she started to get tired, letting out a yawn. She opened her pocket dimension and pulled out a sleeping bag, realizing it was the only one she had.
“Ah shit,” she muttered, getting the other mare’s attention. “I only have one sleeping bag… you can have it tonight,” she said as she tossed it to Babel.
In response she just laughed, rolling her eyes, “it’s freezing! We’ll share it, silly goose! Just like a slumber party…! Which I’ve never been too, but I heard you share EVERYTHING at a slumber party!”
Roxxy blushed again at the thought of sleeping that close to the other mare, but she wasn’t opposed to the idea either.
“Okay,” was the only thing she could get out as Babel smiled proudly.
“You know this is kinda like when Lance and Peter got stuck in the wilderness when they went to that ski resort! Except there’s no snow, or any avalanches bearing down on us. But! It is freezing, so we’re halfway there!” She said as she got more and more excited. Then she suddenly became sheepish, “actually I do need to warn you, I have to sleep with a body pillow at night because I need something pressed into me to sleep. Do you have one?”
Roxxy blinked a few times and slowly shook her head no.
“Ah drat…” Babel mumbled, fixing her glasses. “Well that’s no good…”
“Uh…” Roxxy said, eye wide as she began to say something totally out of character for her, “I… uh, can be your body pillow if that’ll help?”
“Hmmm,” Babel rubbed her chin, thinking, “you are about the size of my pillow back home… okay then! Works for me!”
Roxxy’s entire face burned now, as she couldn’t believe she’d just suggested that.
“You’re a good mare, Roxxy Bleak,” Babel said cheerfully as she went back to work, humming to herself as she did so.
“I’m not,” she murmured, thinking of recent events, “but thanks.”
She didn’t dwell too long on that thought process, as she was a bit excited to get to bed now.