Fallout Equestria: Misfits
By DancingOnTheAshes
Chapter 10: Under attack.
*** *** ***
Chaos.
Confusion.
Rose and I ran down the corridors of the mansion. I was bringing every weapon I had; My arcane revolver, my beam rifle, the minigun ‘Silver Sword’. I would probably need all of them.
We rounded a corner and joined up with half a dozen more ponies, bleary eyed and halfway in the throes of sleep, but all determined. Up ahead I heard orders being bellowed.
"Get moving you sacks of shit! I want to double check that the machine gun nests are fully stocked!" The large mare, whom I assumed was the guard commander, was no longer in her large suit, but in a pristine set of combat armor with two M60 light machine guns fixed to her battle saddle, making her look truly formidable.
Just as we entered the large hall, Hervar came up to us with a pony sized bundle on his back. "I can’t s-stay to talk, mom told me to give this to you." He sat down and unstrapped the package, laying it on the floor. Just as he turned to leave, he looked me in the eyes and said. "S-sorry about... you know."
"Don't worry about it." I waved the matter aside. He ran on, full pelt, after his commanding officer, the power armored Talon Merc, the both of them ran out the main door.
I lifted up my package and unwrapped it and smiled to myself. Sorva had replaced the sergeant's insignia with a little skull with three butterflies clinging to it. She had left the name of Staff Sergeant Candlewick on the collar. I didn't mind.
"Rose," She looked up at me, worry filling her brilliant rose eyes. "be safe." I bent down and kissed her, separating reluctantly after a few seconds.
"I have to go help Cinnamon." She said, swiftly hurrying away.
I looked around, soon locating a janitors closet and entered it to don my new armor, after realising that the enclosed space was way too small for me to comfortably dress, I left it and searched for something that could accommodate my large size better, I settled on an empty conference room.
The underbarding was snug and comfortable yet very tough, the vest felt solid and safe, it even had ammo pockets I could fit my gem batteries and spark cells into. Then I put on my new leg guards and draped my duster over the whole ensemble, after that I put on the wing blades and adjusted them to fit. Then I re-donned my hat and strapped my saddlebags and weapons back on, my revolver went into its holster, the rifle under my wing and Silver Sword lay across my back.
As I entered the main hall again, setting out to look for Runs Wild, I heard the voice of the massive commander. "Hey you, alicorn." I turned to face her, she was looking me up and down. "Bitch got style." She mumbled to herself, then glared at me. "I want you to come with me after you've found your sneaky little friend."
"Why?" I asked suspiciously. Ever since the first war council we had just tried to keep out of each others way, it was less likely for something to come to a boil that way.
"Because," She said tiredly, like she was talking to a foal. "we are being attacked, and you are one of our strongest fighters after Wing Commander Steelclaw and myself." I was about to argue that I wasn't really under the command of anyone but she cut me off. "Don't you even think about it, you are a bloody alicorn, we need the morale you'd grant us. If we are incredibly lucky maybe this won’t go south and we’ll survive this.”
A vision of the foals in the Cistern lying in pools of blood, cold, dead eyes staring vacantly up at me, and the matron asking me why I did nothing flashed across my mind, and my heart set. "Where do you want us to meet you, miss...?"
"Commander Garnet. Meet me outside in five." Garnet stormed off in the direction of the armory and medical bay.
I turned and ran towards Runs Wild’s room, the sirens still blaring in the weak, gray morning light.
*** *** ***
I slammed the door open and burst into the room. “Wild?” She was already up and pulling on her leather armor. We needed to find her something better than that, but there just wasn't time now. Maybe my ghost armor would fit her once we'd found Trader's Caravan.
She cursed and fell over. "Hey, what gives?" She exclaimed indignantly. "Not like I would still be sleeping with this racket."
"Red Light is under attack, get ready, we are meeting Garnet, that big guard commander, outside in four minutes." I aided Wild in dressing, fastening her machete and .38 revolver to her side and foreleg respectively. After she slung her saddlebags across her back we got moving.
*** *** ***
We ran down the steps leading to the street, meeting up with Commander Garnet as we reached the bottom.
"This thing says it’s a friend of yours." Garnet waved a hoof dismissively to her right.
"Hello big pony, ghost pony." Geri waved his cybernetic left paw at the two of us. He was dressed in a trench coat made from crudely sewn together gecko leather, the gold and green scales creating a camouflage effect, one sleeve was entirely missing to accommodate his artificial arm and shotgun shells could be found in shell holders sewn all over the front of his coat.
He held a twelve gauge lever-action shotgun, which had been shortened down to the point that the barrel was barely longer than the loading tube, in his real paw. The stock had been almost entirely removed, leaving only a pistol grip. Shotguns like these had originally, like all lever action weapons, been made for the use of griffins. Aside from unicorns, only they and diamond dogs had the forelimb and claw dexterity to use them.
"Hello, Geri." Wild replied cheerfully.
"Right." Garnet cut the reunion off. "Its just as well that...” She seemed to have problems with Geri’s presence, it was really no wonder since he looked so much like hellhound, even if he was a teenager. “He came around, we need to move fast."
The power armored griffin named Steelclaw thumped down on the ground next to us. "Its a big force, the army is at least two hundred strong and they fly the flag of Baron Zeal." He informed Garnet while he un-holstered a large bore revolver to check its load. "I've got the kid up there keeping an eye on them, but it looks bad ma'am."
“Fucking balefire take them all.” Garnet swore to herself.
"Who is Baron Zeal?" I asked Steelclaw.
Steelclaw looked at me, and seemed to decide that I should be in the loop. "Baron Zeal is one of Red Eye's generals, he must have cut his losses when the Enclave fell upon the Cathedral. Zeal is a nasty piece of work, I figure the timberwolves yesterday were his: tough forward troops to soften the opposition, and to sweep aside what isn't big enough to bother the main forces with."
"Well, I'm going to get me an eyeful, I'm heading to the south gate. Follow me." Garnet set off, her hooves raising sparks off the blacktop.
We followed, Geri keeping good time with us, shotgun slung across his back, as we passed the central building zone and entered the ring of shanties surrounding the pre-war parts of Red Light. Most of the shacks here were no more than a story high, made from whatever anypony could scrounge together and keep to themselves from other scavengers. Lean too's and sheds covered the last block before the gate.
"Report!" Garnet shouted to a teal pony up on the wall.
"Ma'am, most of the army have settled there, outside the south gate, but they have sent runners around us. They seem to be laying down mines in order to pen us in." He saluted.
"Fuck it all to hell, how can they have enough explosives to surround us." Garnet swore.
"Easy," Geri submitted, not flinching when the commander turned a hard eye on him. "cloth bag or pouch, sensor module, powder'n scrap, some wires." He listed off on the claws of his metal paw. "Makes good boom, only need to have dust kicked over it. Cheaper'n a mine."
"Fine, good point." Garnet twirled to face the guard up on the wall. "What's their set up?"
He saluted again and took a look over his shoulder, swallowing nervously. "A lot of ground troops, Ma'am. They don't seem to have flyers. Of course, they don't need them." He waved her up onto the wall, Garnet and the others got up via a stairway built into the wall while I simply flew up on the thick concrete and scrap metal construction.
I gasped, this was all kinds of bad. Stretching out across a wide plain of shrub was a large army. Massive supply wagons were dragged by entire teams of brahmin, and what looked like slaves. The grunts were already settling down and starting fires, a varied mix of earth ponies and unicorns with more timberwolves chained to heavy posts. A large minotaur walked patiently between long wooden stakes laying on the ground. Holding them upright with one hand and shoving it down to make sure that it was secure, then driving the post deep into the earth using a sledgehammer in each of his radhog sized fists, they were not much more than ordinary hammers in his grasp.
As soon as the minotaur was done a group of five ponies per wolf chained up the snarling beasts, four earth ponies and a unicorn were necessary to control them. The earth ponies held the chains taught and the unicorn levitated a fifth chain in place to the long stakes the minotaur had set up earlier.
Further along the camp was a large screen of ready built metal sheathing, blocking our view of whatever was behind, the screen looked like it had been constructed out of old tank armor, bits of a turret could be discerned in the mish mash of metal. Something was being erected on the other side, I couldn't make out the details, but it felt...
"AAAHHHH!!!" I clutched at my head, she was here! I fell to the battlements, unable to focus enough to keep upright. Far off, I heard voices, they were small and unimportant next to her presence. I curled up, attempting to gain some form of grip on myself. I didn’t know who she was, but her presence was slamming into my awareness like a halfbrick; heavy, obtrusive, and taking up all of my immediate attention.
"I HAVE FOUND YOU AT LAST, SISTER!" A grandiose voice proclaimed above me, I was still rolled up and twitching as the thump of a great weight was heard from the direction of the gate.
"Sorry about this sister dearest, but I tend to make a forceful impression upon other alicorns whether I want to or not." The voice was majestic and regal in every sense of the word.
I started to regain my footing and hesitantly stood on shaky legs, I looked up on the largest dark lavender alicorn I had ever seen. True, I had only really seen one other alicorn before, but in her vision I had seen plenty of alicorn corpses. They were all dwarfed by this apparition. She stood on the arch that was constructed above the gates. She was humongous. There seemed to be no words to properly describe her, almost as tall as the two story wall.
She was clad in a flowing black robe that ignored such petty things as wind and her head was crowned by a grand, gem studded tiara. She radiated royalty and blind obedience. Her mane was a billowing mass of fire in all imaginable shades of purple and pink. My heart stopped as I looked into her eyes, two slitted orbs in the most brilliant gold, my eyes... She had the same reptilian eyes as me.
"Now, sister dearest, I have come here to-" Suddenly one of the guards decided to fire at the grand alicorn standing regally atop the arch, the last mistake he would ever make.
The bullets from his dual automatic battle saddle seemed to only mildly annoy the huge alicorn, who was already in the act of raising her shield. The rain of lead fell, unable to pierce, down upon the arch and bouncing down to the ground. Once he had stopped firing she calmly lowered her shield and aimed her horn at him.
The twisted shaft flared obsidian, just like mine did when I cast my raven spell, and unsurprisingly a black cloud of ravens shot out of her horn, enveloping the guard. He started to scream in surprise and terror. His screams soon turning into shrieks of gutchurning agony, the sound eventually fading to gurgling and bubbling noises. We couldn't see anything from our position but it sounded horrific.
I dared not move and slumped into a sitting position as I pulled Wild, who was shaking in terror, close. Geri stood on the ground below, barely five pony lengths from the soldier, pale as a ghost as he looked on the grisly scene, too horrified to move.
After half a minute of terrified silence, in which nopony dared to move a hoof, the cloud dispersed and the shadowy ravens flew off and perched on street lights, roof edges and signs. The only thing left on the ground where the unlucky guard had stood was a pile of bones covered in gristle and the scraps from his battle saddle and barding.
The huge alicorn daintily lifted a forehoof and delicately covered a small burp. "Oh, do forgive me. That was terribly rude, not ladylike at all." She gave us all a brilliant smile, which held for just a moment before it turned into a mask of fury as she roared in a voice that must have been loud enough to carry to the camp outside. "IF ANYPONY ELSE INTERRUPTS ME I WILL MAKE SOUP FROM THEIR BONES!"
I shuddered inside, what she had done was simply vile, and what that little belch had implied was even worse. Although, she could have done it simply for the shock value. I looked with concern at Geri who was pressing his paws against his head, whimpering as he did so. That roar must have hurt his sensitive ears.
The mass of spectating towns ponies all promptly turned tail and ran, the collected guards all took several steps backwards. Except for Garnet who stood defiantly before the large alicorn, not moving a hoof.
The large, dark lavender alicorn started to walk along the wall towards where I sat, cracking the already worn concrete under her massive hooves. Garnet stood in her way but she just swiped her wing at the guard commander in a leisurely fashion, sending the armored pony flying to eventually come crashing down into a shed after being airborne for quite a respectable distance.
"Sister, dearest." She beamed at me like a sunrise just as she stopped before me, I looked up at her from my sitting position. "I do believe that we haven't been acquainted yet. Allow me to introduce myself." She took a courtly bow that sent broken bits of wall tumbling down when she shifted her weight. "My name is Calculare." She flourished a wing and stood up straight.
Then she focused her attention on Wild, who was still in my forelegs. I instinctively hugged her closer, despite the acrid stench of urine coming off of her. Wild was shaking like a leaf and I could practically taste her terror. I was near wetting myself as well, the raw power coming from Calculare was making me shiver in fright like a rabbit in a spotlight.
"I do hope you intend to housebreak that thing?" Calculare stated while pointing a contemptuous wingtip at Runs Wild. I bristled at that. How dare she? How dare she talk like that about my friend!?
I fought for control of my voice. "My name is Curatie, and Runs Wild is not a pet, she's my friend." My voice was still shaky but I managed to speak clearly.
Calculare shrugged. "Oh well, if you insist sister." She then looked up at the army massing outside like it was the first time she had seen it. "It would appear that Zeal can't even wait for five minutes, the impetuous fool. Clean your... friend up so that we can get moving." She gracefully jumped down from the wall after her condescending remark and frowned at the hovels and shacks before her.
I looked down at Wild, only the whites of her eyes were showing and tears were flowing down her cheeks. I hugged her tighter and started to rock her a little. "It's okay. It's okay." I whispered in her ear. Luna damn me, I had taken her away from Nowhere Canyon and into this. She had gone from hunting geckos and radhogs to standing barely eight hooves away from something as bloodcurdlingly terrifying as Calculare.
I looked down at Calculare, guards were backing away and a few had even fled her presence. "Where?" I asked her, then added. "And why?"
Calculare turned her attention towards me and I cringed a little, my ears laying flat against my skull. "Why, away from this, sister dearest." She unfurled a wing, indicating the collection of hovels. "Away from this pathetic collection of muck dwelling animals, and back to the Neigherra Madre, our home."
So it was her, or rather, him. The unicorn that had lived in that shack in the desert, that had owned this duster, the PipBuck P.R.A, that had preceded me by twenty years as an alicorn born from the descendants of Stable 10.
I shook my head. "I can’t leave, not yet. There are still things I need to do here." I had to stay, I couldn't just abandon Red Light. I had no illusions about being some great savior... but I might make a difference.
Calculare narrowed her eyes at me. "Things to do here?" She looked hurt. "You'd deny your very kin for groveling animals like this?" Right, there was no point in asking her if she would help, she didn't seem like the type to do that. Also, she seemed to be very accepting about her alicorn nature, she too had been male once. What had twenty years with The Goddess and inside Unity done to her head? I won’t lie, Calculare scared the shit out of me.
I hugged Wild closer, she still wasn't out of her shock. "I have to do what I can to help against Zeal."
Calculare narrowed her eyes again and her tone got deadly. “I can kill her you know, it would be the easiest thing in the world.” Around us the flock of ravens all turned their heads and focused their gazes on the shivering Wild in my grasp, I unfurled my wings and wrapped them around her protectively. I wasn’t going to leave, nor let go, not without a fight, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.
Calculare’s horn flared and the gate flew apart in a big explosion that sent me and Wild tumbling down to the ground, where we bounced slightly, because of the shield I wrapped around us, when we connected with the ground. "Very well then, be that way, see if I care!" Calculare roared, the flock of ravens all flew up and swirled around her as she lifted herself on her enormous wings. A flash could be seen inside the tornado and the big birds faded away, leaving only empty space. She sure knew how to make an exit.
I lifted my head and looked at what remained of the south gate. Nothing was left but the mangled remains of the steel frame and the sheared off pillboxes outside. Bloody fucking perfect. The hole was big enough to admit half the army.
I stood up, helping Wild do the same. The young mare was still shaking, and with the disappearance of Calculare some of the shock was vanishing. "Come on, lets get you cle-" I was interrupted, go figure.
"Where did she go?" Commander Garnet roared as she limped back into the area, bits of shack still clung on her. Still, she looked fairly okay for someone who had just been punched across a block.
~~She teleported away.~~ Shade supplied calmy. Well, that was fairly obvious.
"She teleported away." I repeated for the benefit of everyone present.
*** *** ***
The next couple of hours were frantic, first I helped Wild get cleaned up, then I left her in the care of Satin and the twins Topsy and Turvy. They all worked at the same bar, Satin as a bartender and the twins as dancers; they had no problems with looking after Wild after hearing what happened.
I didn't like just dashing off, leaving Wild like that, but I was needed elsewhere. I spent some time helping repair the wall with a team of unicorns, levitating big chunks of concrete and piles of sandbags to seal the gigantic hole Calculare had made.
Garnet was pissed, barking orders and rallying the guards, most of whom returned when word got out that Calculare had vanished.
Thirty of the guards spent two hectic hours digging a long trench just inside the wall to use for cover, this was the main source of materiel for the makeshift repairs and the contents of the sandbags me and the unicorns were piling up. In the end the hole had been reduced to a thirty hoof hole with machine gun emplacements, with the entrenchments behind it.
Zeal seemed to be biding his time for now, although, when he had an entrance like this, he didn't exactly have to worry about how to get in, it was more a question of when he wanted to stroll through.
*** *** ***
The bomb came screaming down and demolished another shack in an eardrum shattering boom. We couldn't get a beat on it in time. The barrel of explosives was too small.
A fucking trebuchet! They had constructed a fucking trebuchet behind that big metal shield. I narrowed my eyes and sighted down the beam rifle, the bite marks on the casing were still very noticeable and I had engraved 'Woodcutter' on the side; It seemed to be appropriate.
I fired again, this time managing to hit the flying barrel of explosive death and turning it into a brilliant fireball far above. I was aided by two other sharpshooters with beam weapons, the only two in the whole of Red Light who could use them. Zeal was aiming for the makeshift repairs we had done to the wall and coming closer and closer to making a perfect shot. Something needed to be done soon, because we only shot down a fraction of the explosives tossed at us.
"Geri!" I shouted while I left my cover. "Geri, where are you!" His head popped up from the lip of the long trench, as soon as I located him I rushed over. "Look, if I ask Garnet for something that'll give a big enough boom, can you dig your way over there and set it off under the trebuchet?"
Geri jumped out of the trench to get a look at the construction, I keept close behind. "Geri think so." He scratched his jaw, and made a measuring gesture with his paw, judging the distance to the encampment and the trebuchet.
The repairs we had managed to do were not enough to completely fix the wall and gate, but we had done enough to give any attacker a real hard time of it indeed. We stood behind a pile of sandbags while Geri measured the distance.
Getting the big package of C4 was hard, but I finally managed to make Garnet realise that it was necessary and that it would pay off. Garnet was still angry about what Calculare had done and distrusted me deeply over of the alicorn’s claims to be my sister, only Steelclaw's input convinced her that despite her suspicions, my idea was a sound one.
Once I had been given the explosives necessary to do the job, I brought them to Geri. I was about to levitate the detonator to him when he waved it off. “Don’t need, have my own.” He then opened a panel on his wrist and displayed a built in detonator. Geri then stuffed the big lump of plastique in his messenger bag, closed the panel on his arm and started to dig.
Just when he was about to vanish I told him. "Don't get yourself killed, if things turn sour, come back fast." Geri just grinned back at me as he disappeared. Damn, he worked incredibly fast, it almost looked like he was swimming through the dirt.
"Right, diamond dog." I said to nopony in particular. Now for my part in the plan. I levitated Silver Sword free from its harness and made a last second check of the weapon. In total I had at least one thousand two hundred and fifty, five millimeter rounds for the minigun. Shining Armor had not skimped on his armament.
My part of the plan was simple, harass the bomb crew behind the screen as much as possible to give Geri time to get under the catapult and place his gift. The reason for mine and the griffins involvement was simple; we had to make sure that the crew's attention wasn’t on detecting sappers. I looked to Steelclaw and Hervar. The lad was wearing standard issue black Talon armor, but Steelclaw, he had power armor.
The powered suit looked awesome on him, covering his entire body and the top of his wings while leaving his legs only slightly less protected, yet still supported by mechanical aid. His front claws were uncovered for him to use his brush gun, a more ornate and sturdier version than the standard issue, and his eyes were covered with a visor attached to the helmet, leaving his yellow beak free. Even if the armor isn't as elaborate as a Steel Ranger’s, focusing more on raw utility, it still looked cool.
"Ever flown in formation before?" Steelclaw asked me calmly. I shook my head and he chuckled. "Good, because we don't want to be a predictable target, follow me and try to not get shot." He unfolded his black wings and leapt into the air, followed closely by Hervar and myself.
As soon as we had covered half the distance to the front lines of the camp, we started to come under fire. We took the route that had the least amount of resistance between the three of us and the trebuchet. When enough bullets started to come my way I raised my shield and held the chromed minigun in my forehooves. I didn't want to exhaust myself too early, the weapon was heavy after all.
As we arrived above the trebuchet, Steelclaw banked and dove like a hawk, Hervar following suit. I beat my wings hard, for a moment flying vertically upwards, staring straight into the cloud cover above. The clouds were important for some reason... The shadow of a forgotten dream flittered briefly across my memory, gone far too quickly for me to get any sense of it.
I closed my eyes, rolled backwards in the air and folded my wings. I shot like an arrow towards the ground, letting my shield fall for just long enough that I could get Silver Sword outside the protective bubble, taking a grazing hit by a rifle bullet in the process.
We split off to avoid getting in each others way and opened up. The siege weapon was at least as high as the wall built in front of it, two wooden towers with the arm in the middle, a large lump of scrap iron functioned as the counterweight. The entire structure was covered in ponies on gangways, most armed in some way or another.
Silver Sword let out a deafening roar that overpowered the cracks of the rifles, bucking and fighting back like a pissed off radhog. The heavy weapon was only marginally under my inexpert control, and almost broke my horns hold several times.
I paused firing as I circled around on the outer side of the big shield, the iron wall blocking my line of fire. I saw in passing that Hervar was getting out of the fight, a trickle of blood ran down his hind leg and splattered down on the ground below. Only myself and Steelclaw remained.
I got a clear view of the massive wooden structure again, we needed to completely destroy it, explosives could be shot out of the air, fire could be put out. But a big load of plastique underneath couldn't be dodged and would reduce the thing into matchsticks.
A hail of bullets plinked and struck against my shield, a few of them actually punching through, but most fortunately missed me. One heavy rifle slug did slam into me, bypassing the shield but losing so much momentum that my new vest easily caught it. It still felt like being hit with a re-bar.
I had been forced to reload Silver Sword twice when the timer on my P.R.A. went off, and Sparkle emerged from her bunker to announce that the time was up for Geri to leave his load of C4. If he wasn't on his way back by now then he was on his own, both me and Steelclaw were spent.
I whistled hard and we both broke from our harassment of the catapult crew and flew back, the ponies below were cheering and obviously believed that we were fleeing. I noticed that Steelclaw was flying rather jerkily and closed in on him as we travelled back to Red Light.
"Are you okay?" I shouted over the rifle fire below us.
Steelclaw only grunted in reply. He looked focused on returning to Red Light. I watched in concern as we flew, then touched down behind the safety of the wall.
I let my shield fall and laid Silver Sword on the cracked pavement, then looked over at Steelclaw, whose legs promptly folded up and he silently fell on his side.
"Commander!" Hervar yelled in alarm as he limped towards us, his hind leg covered in bandages.
I rushed over to Steelclaw. He was groaning and scrabbling at clasps on the sides of his power armor. He found them and pulled at both, causing the suit to split itself open along the sternum, like he had just been gutted by an imaginary blade.
There was a lot of blood.
I slipped immediately into my doctor mentality, distancing myself and trying to think calmly. My horn shone blue and the results made no sense at all. Straight through the body? Even with his power armor? Whatever, that could wait.
I returned to the task at hoof, bringing out several medical supplies from my newly stocked saddlebags, and getting to work. The bullet had passed straight through his body, missing most vital organs, nearly puncturing a lung, and splintering two ribs. The bullet's path had been heart-stoppingly close to the aorta, hence the blood.
"Not good, not good." I mumbled to myself.
Steelclaw coughed and rasped. "You sound... confident, doc."
I wasn't. "You'll be fine." My mouth lied.
My horn worked fast, first numbing the pain and setting his ribs, after that I fed him a healing potion in small increments, holding wads of healing bandages to both the entry and exit wounds as I did so. As soon as possible my intent was to place poultices between the wounds and the gauze that I’d wrap his entire torso in.
I wasn't thinking, not precisely. My hooves and magic were reacting to a decade of learning under a strict teacher and several years in the wasteland. I hoped it would pay off, and feared that this was only the beginning. My brain barely registered when the trebuchet and its crew went up like a balefire bomb.
When I was done Steelclaw unceremoniously closed up his armor again, not even bothering to clean the inside of the suit. "Zeal won’t wait now." He grumbled. I quickly looked over the armor exterior as I sat there. Lots of dings and pock marks, most of them new, but no entry hole where there should be.
The drawn out and deep sound of a horn from the encampment outside blared over Red Light, proving him right. I frantically returned my supplies to their place in the saddlebags. As soon as the horn was silenced I heard the expected baying of wolves.
I didn't wait. I brought out and upended the leather bag containing my poker winnings, and ate the lot; half a dozen mixed gemstones. I stood for a moment, shaking, now certain that I had made a mistake. It was probably way too much in one go. Nevertheless, I remembered how hard the wolves were to kill.
I hardly registered the run towards the machine gun emplacements. Suddenly I was just there, blood boiling, my guts on fire, smoke escaping from my nostrils and mouth while guards looked upon me fearfully.
Red was creeping into my vision as I unslung Woodcutter from under my wing and aimed down the body of the magical beam rifle. I was grinning wickedly as small tongues of flame escaped from between my clenched teeth. Prey was coming.
Geri walked up beside me while reloading his shotgun with yellow shells bearing a red band, grinning as wide as I was. He looked me in the eyes, his green eyes reflecting the flames from my breath.
~~I swear to the goddesses that I’ll give you such a headache if you let yourself be consumed by the same rage as when you killed those zebra.~~ Shade sounded sullen and weary.
I didn't listen. I needed to help protect ponies. It was more important than my life, to heal and save others. End some lives to make sure that the more important lives were spared, just for a little while. I was making penance, trying to make up for those I couldn't save. Friends and innocents I had to bury in the past because I wasn't a good enough doctor.
My thoughts were jumbled, a great mess, but one with a purpose.
They came over the plains; A slavering pack of timberwolves howling for blood. Back in the distance the minotaur was egging them on with a long whip and stopped to return back to the camp when the pack had cleared half the distance.
Around Geri and I several guard ponies with flamethrower battle saddles walked up to help hold the line. A grizzled green stallion in the front levitated his cigar out of his mouth and barked loudly. "Lets have at them fellas!" Then he laughed.
I didn't hold my fire. Relishing the fury, the wild abandon of the battle. This wasn't some bar room brawl; this was combat, a pure and simple fight for survival. Shade was beating itself against the walls of my perception, I hardly took any notice.
The fight wasn’t nearly as neat as we had intended. As I and the other magic weapon users worked on thinning the numbers, SAW gunners behind sandbags made sure that we were not hit by the charging mass all at once, chopping off limbs and slowing the wooden beasts down just enough that firebombs and flamethrowers were effective.
“Die motherfucker, die.” One machine gunner beside me mumbled into his mouth bit, the pony beside him feverishly ensuring that the long belt of ammunition was fed into the gun properly.
Soon the wolves were on us and most of my attention was focused on beating them back, I only had a hazy idea of what was happening around me. Flamethrowers stopped spewing fire temporarily, the users weren’t willing to cook their own, and ponies with shotguns tried to keep the wolves back while I, those with flamethrowers, and the two others who could use energy weapons, carefully took care of the bodies.
Geri did good work with his shotgun, shielding himself with his cybernetic limb and spraying the wooden beasts with enchanted flame. He’d fire, then twirl the sawn-off weapon, in doing so the lever arm would reload while he held wolves off with his sturdy steel arm. The youth was grinning all the while, apparently unconcerned when bitten or clawed at.
Smoke and gunfire were everywhere and through the swirling mass I saw a buck being savaged by a snarling wolf, it had a grip on his left foreleg and was worrying the limb, tearing it up badly. I advanced, planted my forehooves, spun, and bucked the beast away. Sending it broken to the ground.
I was about to step over the lad to beat the timberwolf into submission when I looked down at him. He was quaking, terror written all over his face, but not because of the wolf. He was looking at me... That bone deep fear I saw in his eyes wasn't directed towards the creature that was savaging him just a moment ago, it was reserved for me.
What did he see, a pony, or a monster? What looked back down at him from my eyes? Well, the answer was obvious really.
I was smudged in ashes and blood. Smoke and fire escaped from my mouth and nostrils with every breath. I wasn't bothered by it, even though my lungs should by all rights be ash by now. My braids had long ago come loose and my mane was now a flaming corona of green and blue.
~~This is where you choose.~~ Shade whispered, pinching my ear hard. I had almost forgotten Shade could do that. ~~Are you a doctor? Or a savage?~~
"I... I..." I wasn't sure what to do anymore, my head was a mess.
My world seemed to shrink and time slowed, there were only me, the lad, and the timberwolf. The chaos and noise of the battle lay behind me, the young guard before me, the wolf ahead.
I wasn't sure, so I took both options.
I sighted along my beam rifle, fired several times and burned off big chunks of the timberwolf’s body, a flamethrower pony then walked up to deal with the remains while I proceeded to get the lad out of there.
The injured buck screamed in terror as I levitated him out of the heat of the fight.
Something within me had started to crack. What was I doing? I charge into a fight like it was the most normal thing in the world, while wearing some ridiculous suit of armor and knives on my wings. This wasn't me. I had lost interest in fighting, let others deal with it. I was going to do the one thing I felt sure about; heal ponies.
A part of me just wanted to go home.
Deep in my soul I felt tired, but my body was wired beyond belief. I swallowed the flames down, and, slowly, the smoke coming from my mouth cleared, instead of using the energy I gained from eating those gemstones to breath fire, I felt it could be put to better use supporting me through the coming night.
I looked around the battlefield that surrounded the hole in the town wall; maybe a dozen ponies lay still, never to move again. What had I done for them? Nothing. Nothing at all. I would change that, for the ones still living at least.
“Please, anyone, Sarge!” The young buck in my telekinetic grasp shouted, calling me back to here and now.
"Oh shut up." I hissed. He was just floating along, but acted as if I was savaging him with razor wire. Wearily, I levitated a tin of powder out of my bags, blowing a small measure of it into his face. That calmed him down and made him go limp so that I could prop him up against a wall and get to work on his leg.
My bedside manner was horrible, I knew that. I try to be a good pony, but I'm not nice.
The fighting calmed as I worked on the dazed buck’s leg. Zeal had probably not expected us to be as prepared as we were, If he knew he would probably have charged in just after Calculare blew the gate away.
*** *** ***
When the timberwolves were dealt with Zeal decided that he was not going to play around anymore. The army outside hit like a tidal wave, we were quickly overwhelmed and forced to retreat. Garnet swore and spat every time the line of battle had to be pulled back towards the center, and another bit of the shanty town had to be abandoned to Zeal’s forces.
I myself fought not for the sake of ending lives, but for their salvation. I waded into the thick of the battle to drag wounded out to Syringe and Splint, not as a brawler like usual, but as a field medic surrounded by my shield and equipped with a trauma kit and extra supplies. Geri had my back while I tended to those I saved just enough so they could be rushed to my fellow doctors back in their tents. They’d nearly burned themselves out by nights end.
Deep in the night, when the fighting bled into the urban areas, and the two of us were taking a breather at Splint’s tent, Runs Wild joined us. She showed up so suddenly and quietly that I nearly jumped out of my skin, she startled me that badly. Her eyes had a somber look and they were puffy and red from crying.
She did brighten up when she saw my mane and tail, both of which had stubbornly refused to return to normal even when the flame in my gullet had long ago run out, and nearly gave off a squee when she ran her hoof through the thick green and blue fire and it didn't burn. She seems to be unhealthily obsessed with my mane.
Still, looking at her broke my heart. I was supposed to take care of her, and seeing that empty look in her eyes was worse than getting shot, much worse. Yet the fact that she wouldn't let up, that she was still willing to fight and to help, made me proud to call her a friend.
Together, we set out to help those we could.
*** *** ***
As morning broke the three of us were bone weary, we had worked all night, eventually beginning to evacuate buildings and homes of junkies that were too stupid to get that this was turning into a battlefield. The fighting was slowly creeping closer to the center of Red Light. Garnet and Steelclaw held Zeal's forces at bay for now, but the shanty town was a lost cause.
We were wandering between the buildings along the line where the urban sprawl met the shanties, looking for any sign of ponies that hadn’t gotten it into their heads that remaining here wasn't healthy. The sound of gunfire was everywhere, and further out you had to deal with crisscrossing lines of fire with the occasional grenade.
I passed a makeshift barricade, just a pile of junk and furniture, behind which a group of guards huddled while taking pot shots at the enemy barricades. One unicorn sat in a corner, hugging her assault carbine and staring at nothing. I left a roll of healing bandage in her lap, I didn’t know what else to do for her.
I walked over one of the pony hole covers that led down into the sewers. Most of them had been welded shut from the inside and they required more than a dozen landmines and a lot of patience with a cutting torch to get through. The ones not sealed up were much closer to the central Mansion, these were left for us in case Zeal did deem it necessary to get down to the sewers, and nearly all those were rigged with traps. I was far from worried about the orphanage down in the sewers, because the spark generator and the water purification plant were both far more desirable hostages.
I looked around a corner into an alley, seeing three of Zeal's soldiers, all stallions. They were busy going through the pockets of what had once been a pony, now just a bullet ridden corpse. I felt the red mist of rage rise within me, but quickly calmed myself.
I gave the digital charge counter on Woodcutter a look. Ten shots, that was all I had left for the beam rifle, after that was gone I had only my arcane revolver fall back on. Silver Sword had been left behind in one of the medical tents, I was considering selling the cumbersome minigun, it was too much of a hassle to lug around something I could barely aim, despite the deterrent factor.
"Three, end of the alley." I whispered loud enough to be heard by Geri and Wild. Geri nodded and replaced his double ought buck with slugs for the extra range, over the course of the night I had learned the meaning of the colored bands. Wild melted into the background, impossible to locate.
I crouched down, keeping silent and unnoticed. I wasn't nearly as invisible as Wild could be, but with the chaos and noise just a few blocks away I was stealthy enough to get the first shot in. Using up my invisibility spell felt like a waste.
I sighted along my rifle, aiming for the largest target. I steadied myself, and started to squeeze the trigger.
Suddenly, the group of three enemy soldiers turned into a manticore... I blinked. My brain came to a screeching halt, reversed, and replayed the moment again. They hadn't turned into a manticore, it had pounced on them so quickly that it almost hadn't registered, and so hard that one of the stallions had split open, pouring out several internal bits that I was not happy knowing the names of.
I stood up, intending to fire again, and was interrupted a second time as the head of a young mare poked out of the manticore’s bushy mane. She looked around, located me and smiled.
"Hello!" She shouted, her hoof waving frantically. The manticore started to slowly turn around in the narrow alley to face me, while it did so I got a good look at filly it carried. She was small, a pegasus, and perhaps a year younger than Runs Wild. Her coat was orange and her wild mane shone in a brilliant red, several twigs and leaves were stuck in it. I also noted that she was wearing a gray duster similar to mine.
"Little Sister I presume?" I asked as I lowered my rifle and waved for Geri and Wild to come out with a wing, the pegasus seemed amiable enough.
"Yup, and you are Curatie, am I right?" She responded, I nodded back and she grinned.
Holy hell that was a lot of teeth! I took a couple of involuntary steps back. Those were some sharp chompers, and way too many of them. I once saw a picture of a shark in my grandmother’s old encyclopedia, Little Sister had the same type of grin. It had to be some sort of mutation, either inherited or something she developed when she was a foal, it didn’t look like she had filed her teeth down. Either way... creepy.
Another pegasus landed in front of the manticore, this one also in a gray duster. I assumed she was Big Sister; Iron Sights had said that she and Little Sister travelled together. Her body was encased in a worn, black, insectoid suit that I had seen many times on posters around Equestria: pre-war pegasus power armor. Two antennae protruded from beneath the duster, green gems adorning the tips. I knew a pair of magical energy weapons when I saw them. One thing stuck out though, the skull on her duster had the image of a cloud with a thunderbolt behind it, the image felt oddly familiar.
"This the one?" Big Sister asked, her voice slightly tinny because of the armor’s mask. The manticore sniffed her once then gave her a fond lick, prompting her to wipe her face to get her compound goggles clean of saliva, she seemed used to it.
"Yeppers." Little answered, still grinning. I kinda wanted her to stop doing that, I was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. Beside me Geri and... where was Wild? I looked around, finally locating Wild behind me. She too looked very uncomfortable with the feral grin of the little pegasus. Geri was... well, he was himself, leaning towards one wall, ignoring the all female get together.
"So," I said, my voice slightly shaky. "were you just in the neighborhood?" It was quite the coincidence that the two of them had shown up in the middle of the conflict... okay, three if you counted the manticore.
"Mort sent us." Big Sister answered shortly. "Wanted us to help out."
That sounded a little suspect, how could Mort have the time to respond by sending these two even if he heard about the attack well in advance? Trottingham was close, but not that close. "Really," I mused. "he must have quite the network of informants."
Big Sister sounded amused. "You have no idea. I better get moving, I want to have a talk with whoever is in charge here, get the lay of the battlefield before we get to work. Lil' sis, give our potential new member the low down, will you?" And with that, she jumped into the air and disappeared from view over the rooftops.
"Sure thing." Little said as she waved goodbye to her older partner, she then urged her mount out of the alley, forcing the tree of us to back out of the way to give her room. The manticore was amazingly well behaved, only taking a polite sniff at me in passing.
"So, I heard you have a yao guai companion too." I said trying to get a conversation started. While her manticore was unusual as a pet, the mutated bears weren't nearly as rare to see as a merchant's or scavenger's companion.
"Yupp, but she's at home." Lil'sis said brightly, then she threw her fore legs wide and reported happily. "She had babies."
That caused Wild to come out of her shell a bit and she peeked out from behind me. "Really?"
"Indeedily, and they are super cute, all small and wrinkly and... and..." Lil’sis hugged herself and squee'd happily, then remembered herself. "Ahem, I better get to it or big sis will be cross with me. How much do you know about us Undertakers?" She inquired.
"Lets talk as we move." I began to trot along the street, continuing to check buildings and alleys for towns ponies who hadn't gotten out yet. "I know you are bounty hunters, and that you operate out of Trottingham, specifically, out of The Field of Fallen Feathers. There are twelve of you normally, and Iron Sights wants me to join."
We encountered another group who were patrolling the streets. “Holy hell!” A puce stallion exclaimed and levitated up his assault carbine, intent on firing at the big manticore.
I placed myself between them and Little Sister’s mount, raising my wings placatingly. “Hey, it’s okay, she’s with us.” I waved, indicating the little pegasus sitting atop her animal friend. That calmed him down, and the patrol passed us, giving the large beast wary glances as they did so.
I was starting to become tired, and the day was just getting started.
Footnote: Level Up
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Editor:
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