//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 -- Quiet Village // Story: My Little Fallout: New York // by MrDenim //------------------------------// -- Quiet Village Everypony looked at Pinkie Pie in confusion, but eventually shrugged and left it to Pinkie Pie be Pinkie Pie. “Okay…” Twilight said with a raised eyebrow. “Anywho, let’s start at the beginning…” =-=-=-=-= Unknown Location =-=-=-=-= Twilight stumbled as the teleportation spell ended, the white light blinding her vision. Her ears were ringing as the unexpected bang nearly ruined her eardrums. As her senses returned, Twilight was shocked. She wasn’t in the courtyard of Canterlot Castle as she should have been. No, she was in what appeared to be in a city that looked a little bit like Manehattan. That is, if Manehattan was in ruins with strange chariots scorched and overturned in the streets, and the entire city had been thrown in a northern blizzard straight from the Crystal Empire. Twilight squinted her eyes against the wind and snow that assaulted her vision, putting a hoof in front of her face to try and block out the stinging snow. She looked around, trying to find something, anything that could give her an idea as to where she was. “Hello?” She called. An echo was all that answered. Twilight took a deep breath, the cold air freezing her lungs, and yelled, “HELLO?!” No answer. Starting to panic, Twilight turned rapidly and yelled for anypony that may listen. “Hello! Anypony! Spike! Princess! Luna!” She started running in a random direction, more names coming forth from her mouth. “Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, R… Rarity!” An echo followed and the wind continued its dance, seemingly oblivious to the unicorn’s plight. “Trixie! Gilda! Any… anypony…” Twilight stopped in the middle of another empty intersection, rubble from collapsed buildings blocked off any passage other than the one she just came from. With a gasp for air, Twilight let herself fall to the ground, the snow softening the blow that the asphalt street would’ve dealt. She had laid there for who knows how long. Sniffling through teary eyes, she picked herself up from the ground. She got rid of the snow that clung to her coat with a simple levitation spell, and looked around again. Her tracks had been covered up by fresh snow, leaving her more lost than she already was. She sighed and started walking back the way she came, hoping to find some sort of evidence as to where she was, when she suddenly felt something graze her horn, sending a sharp pain through her nerves to her brain, eliciting a small gasp of pain from the unicorn. There wasn’t a warning, not even a sound. Just pain. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Twilight tapped her now scarred over horn tip, earning gasps of shock from the unicorns and alicorns, and cringes of sympathy from everypony else. She nodded and muttered, “Yeah… that’s how I got that one.” Fluttershy asked softly, “What about your… your ear?” The lavender unicorn smiled sadly and said, “I got that a few seconds later…” =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Going through the pain, Twilight ran towards the closest cover, which was a large overturned chariot. She ran around it and slammed her back against the cold metal of the side, her lungs shuddering for air. The sound of metal getting ripped apart was the only warning she received. Her body felt the warm blood slide down the side of her head, while her mind took a little bit longer to register that she was actually in more pain than before. When it did however… Her vision started to swim as the pain overloaded her senses. She staggered out into the middle of the street, not entirely sure of where she was going. She was going to stop this invisible assaulter, no matter what. She saw the harsh glare of sunlight against a piece of glass at the top of a brick tower that was in slightly less disrepair than the other buildings. Thinking that it was the location of her assailant, she turned and looked directly into the glass. She closed her eyes, waiting for more pain, when she heard something in front of her. What it was, Twilight didn’t know. The form of the body led her to believe that it was some form of skinny ape. It was facing away from her, its arms spread out wide. After a minute or two of nothing happening, a metal door at the bottom of the tower slid sideways, and another ape like creature walked out, wearing some form of clothing and wielding something that looked like a metal stick. Twilight gave out a gasp of surprise, realizing what these creatures were. Humans, she thought. Real humans. Twilight groaned as she began to remember the texts that went over the Human race. Great. Just great. Humans are territorial creatures that won’t hesitate to send any intruders back where they came from. They can be your greatest ally, or your worst enemy. And apparently, I just made one really mad, with another trying to save me. Twilight was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t notice the two humans looking at her with confusion. It was only when the one that saved her had waved its hand in front of her face did she take notice. Cringing at the constant surge of pain from her horn that matched her heartbeat, Twilight said, “Sorry, I was lost in thought.” The humans blinked. The one with the weapon said, “I almost shot you in the head, twice.” By the voice, that human was male. He held up two fingers and continued, “Twice! And you’re standing there lost in thought? How the hell does that work?” Not particularly fond of the male human, Twilight turned to the other human and said, “My name’s Twilight Sparkle. What’s yours?” The second human, female by sound of the voice, replied. “My name’s Stephanie, and this lump,” She elbowed the other human in the ribs. “is Drew.” Twilight nodded and said, “Nice to meet you. Well, one of you anyway...” She narrowed her eyes at Drew. He held up his hands defensively and said, “Whoa whoa whoa! If it’s any consolation, if I had known beforehand that you were sentient and not a hostile, I wouldn’t have tried kill you. Honest.” Twilight scrutinized him for a few seconds, before sighing. She said, “Alright, I’ll tolerate you... for now. That’s doesn’t mean we’re friends or anything. I’ll only be around until Princess Celestia and my friends come find me.” Drew scoffed, which caused Twilight to ask, “What’s so funny?” “It’s just that here, unicorns are nothing more than myths from the old world. The chances of your friends finding you are slim to none.” Drew replied, “So you better get used to the wasteland, Sparkle. You’re gonna be here for a long time.” Without missing a beat, Twilight rebutted, “I don’t believe that. Back home, Celestia raises the sun, I’m sure that I’ll be home by the end of the week.” Drew deadpanned, “It’s Friday.” “Oh.” Twilight said sheepishly, “Then by the end of next week.” Drew nodded, and Stephanie said, “Well, how ‘bout this? We all head back to base to let Twilight get settled in, and wait for this to blow over.” Twilight nodded and said, “I’m fine with that.” Drew shrugged, and said, “I suppose. It couldn’t hurt, much at least.” Twilight rolled her eyes, and opened her mouth to say- “Well, well, well. What do we ‘ave ‘ere?” That wasn’t her. Twilight looked around, and saw several humans surrounding them. Looking back at Stephanie and Drew, she saw that they were tensed. Drew was pointing a smaller weapon at one of them, his larger one across his back. Stephanie was holding what looked like a short sword, wielding it with one hand as she held a serrated knife in the other. Twilight looked back at the other humans and eyed them warily. “Look ‘it ‘em. Two travelers an’ der pet brahmin! We’re eatin’ good tonight boys!” One of the humans ran at Drew with a small knife. There was a loud bang! that nearly made Twilight deaf. She screamed in fright and held her forehooves over her ears while cowering on the ground, her eyes closed tightly. She opened an eye to find Stephanie locked in a melee duel with one human, with a second one on the ground, grasping the area between his legs and hollering in pain. The first human that ran at Drew, Twilight noticed, was on the ground, unmoving, with a small pencil-sized hole in his forehead. Even in her current state, Twilight could tell that the human wouldn’t be getting back up. A human walked up to Twilight cautiously, as if expecting her to lash out and bite him. He chuckled darkly and knelt down in front of her, smiling, his rotted and mossy teeth showing in full view of her face. It was a good thing that ponies didn’t have a gag reflex, otherwise the foul stench from this human’s mouth would’ve made her empty her stomach. Twilight tried to stand up, run, anything that would get her away from the terrifying sight before her. Alas, her limbs refused to respond. The human pulled out a very rusted and dull kitchen knife. A blackened tongue slithered out of his mouth. It was scarred, with slashes running along multiple places. He then did something that still gave her nightmares: He licked the sharp side of the knife, slicing his tongue and letting the blood run down the blade. “Gots ta git it nice an’ lubed up, eh.” He said with another dark chuckle following soon after. He raised the blade over her head, the point aimed for the base of her horn. Twilight closed her eyes, waiting for the pain. It never came. There was a yell followed by a grunt then the sound of rolling. Twilight opened her eyes to find Drew locked in tumble with the human that almost killed her. Drew slipped up and landed on the ground, the other human on top of him, the knife held high, ready for a strike. Twilight looked around for Stephanie to try and get someone to do something. Unfortunately, Stephanie was still fighting melee with that human. With a deep breath, Twilight got to her hooves, a grunt escaping her. She looked back at Drew to find him struggling to hold back the knife from piercing his heart. Twilight rapidly looked for anything useful. She looked back and saw that Drew was losing the struggle. With a quick flick of her horn, Twilight flung the closest thing her magic could hold towards the human with the knife. A serrated knife flew through the air. The human looked towards her in confusion. The gaze quickly turned to fear when he noticed the knife flying at him. Without any time to respond, the knife impaled the human in the throat. A red mist sprayed out from the wound. He tried to scream in pain, but with the wound opening his windpipe, nothing but a whistle escaped as his flailing grew less and less frantic. Twilight was oblivious to the second scream as the last human was killed by the quick movements of Stephanie. Drew got to his feet while he wiped the stray blood off of his face. He walked over to the now dead human. He placed a foot on his chest, grabbed the knife, and pulled it out of his throat. “This yours?” Drew asked, presenting Stephanie with the combat knife. “No. I still got mine.” Stephanie placed a hand against her sheath, the knife still inside. Drew walked over to Twilight, her gaze having never left the body of the human with the hole in his throat. He recognized that gaze anywhere. He sighed and motioned Stephanie over. She came over and saw Twilight’s expression. Her face fell at the sight. With a careful touch, she grabbed Twilight’s shoulder and shook it. When there wasn’t a reaction, Stephanie snapped her fingers in front of Twilight’s face. Still nothing. “Twilight...” Stephanie said softly. “Twilight, are you okay?” Twilight murmured, “I... I... Why did I...” While Stephanie was busy trying to bring Twilight back to Earth, Drew was keeping watch for anymore raiders. A slab of concrete fell to the ground and shattered, catching Drew’s attention. He looked at the slab, then looked way up. At the top of a shorter building, he saw the end of a cloak go out of view. With a grimace, Drew muttered, “Dammit.” He turned around and called to Stephanie, “Steph, let’s get outta here. Grab Twilight and let’s go.” Stephanie looked at him, confused. “What’s wrong?” He said only one word: “Skyliners.” Stephanie nodded, and without warning, picked Twilight up by the waist and started running, with Drew following close behind.