//------------------------------// // After a Hard Day's Work // Story: The World that Came After // by Aslfrasle //------------------------------// Chapter 8 After a Hard Day’s Work. It had been several hours since Grey had left the hospital with Noir on his back. One of the first things he had noticed when he started carrying her was how surprisingly light she was. Given her size and how she looked, Grey assumed she was probably around twenty-two years old. It was then that he noticed that if his assumption was correct it would mean that he was getting flustered and red-faced earlier over a mare that was almost half his age. Mares these days, no sense of decency whatsoever he thought. They were still an hour and a half from Appleoosa and, even with his oddly light passenger, he was beginning to feel a bit tired. He contemplated the idea of finding some shelter to retire to where he could relax for an hour or so. Unfortunately, most of the stretch of land from Appleoosa to the hospital was empty land, and the nearest spot he could think of to rest would be about three miles to the east. He remembered seeing the ruins of dozens of tents and longer buildings, one of the buffalo settlements that collapsed after the Blight. With no possible rest stop in sight, Grey let out a sigh and continued his march towards the town. * * * * * * Grey arrived in Appleoosa two hours later. He felt exhausted and he could feel his legs wobbling under the pressure, unable to hold him up for much longer. He made his way through the town center towards Zed’s clinic. He thought it was odd that he found it so easily this time when normally it took ten to fifteen minutes. As he thought about it, he realized that his inability to find Zed’s clinic before might have been because, deep down, he didn’t want to go there. Before he even knew about it, his fear of hospitals was probably leading him away from it subconsciously. Grey let out a small laugh as he walked through the door to Zed’s, Noir and the supplies he found still on his back. He felt Noir stirring from her sleep and her eyes flittered open. He kneeled down to let her off, and as she began to compose herself he made his way over to Zed. “Well, look who finally decided to come back. You two manage to find your “magical, wish-granting” bit?” Zed asked, his voice dripping with playful sarcasm. “Actually, yes,” said Grey. “And you should be happier about our little venture, this isn’t a bag full of rocks on my back.” said Grey pointing at the medical supplies. Unlatching the satchel for his back, he handed the supplies over to Zed. Zed opened the bag to examine them, and Grey could tell from the glimmer in his eye that there was a smile underneath his medical mask. “Hoo-wee! Grey, do you know what all this is?” he asked. “With these kinds of supplies, Ah could do so many experiments! Ah might even be able to create an army of zombies like my totally real brother Ned!” Zed’s outburst was met with nothing but a stunned look in Noir’s eyes, while Grey’s leveled a deadpan stare at him. “Zed, I thought one of the prerequisites of you living here was that you didn’t do any insane experimentation,” said Grey. “The good people of Appleoosa have been letting you live here and have even been letting some of the smaller genetic manipulation slide due to the good you do for the town, though I don’t think they’ll let this slide so easily.” Zed groaned, almost comically loud, “Stupid Appleoosans, never lettin’ me have any fun.” Zed said pouting. “Fine. Congratulations, Grey, ya just saved the fair folk of Appleoosa from succumbin' to the zombie horde,” said Zed in the most mocking tone he could muster. “Now, how does that make ya feel?” “I feel like you’re making fun of me, though knowing you, you probably would have gone through with it and I would have had to save your sorry flank from an angry mob again,” said Grey with a deadpan look on his face. “Again?” Noir asked finally fully awake after her restful slumber. “Grey are you telling me he’s already raised an undead army before?” “Not an undead army, though…hmmm…” Grey scratched his head with a hoof, “how to explain this. Remember when Fillydelphia had those rumors about “Super-Umbrae” attacking the city?” “Yeah, there were news articles and they had a several wee…oh you have got to be kidding!” she shouted as she realized what Grey was saying. “Yeah…”Grey rubbed a hoof along the back of his neck. “Zed and I first met in Fillydelphia. I was scavenging around for food and he saw me as he passed by. When he started approaching me I acted on instinct and hid myself with my ability. He didn’t leave though, just started dancing around and cheering about how it was the coolest thing he ever saw and how he wanted to experiment on me and find out how it worked. It was then that he offered me a job as his assistant so long as I let him do whatever experiments he wanted on me.” “That’s insane! How could you agree to be the guinea pig of someone who was, and still is in my opinion, completely insane!?” Noir asked, incredulous. “Unlike some important and powerful ponies, I didn’t have a nice dome city with plenty of food and shelter. I spent every day just scrounging enough to survive, and here was someone who was offering me everything I could ever need, plus he was the first person to learn about my ability and not be ‘terrified of the monster.’ Of course I took him up on his offer,” said Grey. “It was a few weeks after I became his assistant that the incident happened.” said Grey. “He was testing me to see how I reacted to different forms of potions he had made and—” “Wait, wait, wait,” Noir interrupted. “You make potions? Magical potions? With all that voodoo hexing and stuff? I thought you were a scientist?” “Young lady, Ah may be a scientist but don’t mean Ah forgot ‘bout my heritage. The zebras are known far and wide for their mystical potions and Ah ain’t gonna be the zebra who breaks all that tradition!” Zed said with a tinge of anger in his voice. “Can we get back to the story please?” asked Grey. Noir and Zed ceased their argument as Grey began to continue his recounting of that day. “As I was saying, Zed was trying some potions on me to see how I reacted. He wasn’t really cleaning me off after each test either so in retrospect, it was honestly an accident waiting to happen.” “Hey, ya survived didn’t ya!?” Zed shouted. “Zed, stop interrupting!” Grey shouted back. “Great, now I forgot where I was in the story, thanks a lot Zed.” “I believe you were talking about how Zed has no sense of workplace safety whatsoever,” said Noir. “Oh, right,” Grey said as he returned to his storytelling. “I can’t really remember what it was that set me off, but one of those potions knocked me out cold. When I woke up a couple of hours later, Zed here was carrying me on his back and running away from a large crater in the middle of Fillydelphia with what seemed to be the entire city on our tails. He told me that I had turned into a giant monster and gone on a rampage.” “Two questions. One, how did you change back and two, how did the both of you get away without being lynched?” Noir asked. “According to Zed I changed back to normal after a few hours, one second I was smashing a building, when suddenly a poof of magic, and I was a normal pony falling out of the sky. What was really problematic was that the good people of Fillydelphia saw the whole thing, including Zed pulling me out of the crater I made when I fell. They thought that Zed was making an army of ‘Super-Umbrae’ to take over the world. Rather than explain, Zed thought it would be better to try and outrun them,” Grey explained. “Course Ah did, you ponies always assume that zebras are evil witch doctors or monsters!” Zed complained. “Oh come off it Zed, I know for a fact that the Elements of Harmony were friends with a zebra,” said Grey. “Oh sure, the bastions of good, role models for all of Equestria had one zebra friend, which totally excuses the rest o’ ya!” Zed shouted. “Heck, the only reason we’re not persecuted anymore is because they’re more scared of the Umbrae and their actual super-powers than the assumed evil magics of zebras!” “Zed, I’m sorry for the continued persecution of your people, but it’s over now. Grey, myself, and the rest of our kind are the ones being driven out of towns with pitchforks and torches now, so I think your free pass for the ‘whine bar’ has expired,” Noir said flatly. “Now if you wouldn’t mind, I would like to finally hear the end of this story. To be honest, I’m not sure why we even started, so if we could move on that would be great. Not a sound was heard throughout the back-alley clinic, save for the quiet grumbling of Zed. “Thank you. Grey, continue,” she said. “So as I was saying, Zed tried to outrun them, which was when I woke up and noticed I was normal again. I asked him what happened and he gave me a quick summary while running, followed by him screaming to run myself if I was conscious enough to talk. I knew there wasn’t going to be much chance of talking now that Zed had tried to flee, so I grabbed him and took off into the sky. I flew up to the sun and used the brightness to blind the mob as well as the pegasi who were flying after us. Once that was done, it was a simple matter of using my cloaking to hide from them while Zed and I escaped,” Grey explained. “Zed insisted we return to his lab and get his supplies, though when we got there it was surrounded by a bunch of townsponies who burned it to the ground. We left that night and never returned.” “An’ now that Ah got these supplies, Ah can finally rebuild the lab that was lost to those idiots. Maybe now I can actually have some fun,” said Zed. “Or, you could actually do some good for this town for once,” said Grey in return. “What is it with you and that goody-two-horseshoes routine?” Zed asked, “don’t it get tirin’ sometimes?” “I’m just a simple pony, trying to do what’s best for the others around him. Nothing more, nothing less,” Grey said flatly, though there was a hint of a scowl in the corners of his face. “Whatever yer reason, thanks for the supplies Grey,” Zed said with a smile. “And just so you know, Ah do plan to help the town with these, the ‘zombie army’ thing was just a joke.” “I know Zed. As much as you might say you hate ponies for persecuting your people, and as much as you try to play the mad doctor who has no care about anypony else’s emotions, I know you do care deep inside that crazy head of yours,” Grey said returning the smile. It was then that Grey pulled him into a hug. It wasn’t much and didn’t last very long, though Grey couldn’t really remember the last time he had actually thanked Zed for everything he had done for him. Regardless of all the bad times and crazy experiments, Zed had given him help when he needed it most, and had been like a brother when he had no one. As strange as it was to believe, Zed was the closest thing he had to family left in the world. “Aw shucks, now ya got me gettin’ all teary eyed,” said Zed. “But you tell any of those losers out there and I swear I will hunt you down and see how much experimentation your body can really take.” There was silence for a few seconds, until Zed and Grey both broke out in laughter. After they had calmed down, it was Zed who broke the resulting silence. “So, what’re you two gonna be doin’ now that this is over?” he asked. Grey hadn’t really thought about what would happen after they returned. Originally the plan was that this was a one-time thing and they would part ways afterwards, most probably never seeing each other again. He felt a little bad about leaving Noir after everything they had been through, but it was what they had agreed upon. He couldn’t suddenly ask her to go with him after they said they were done. “I’m going to find the rest of the bits so that I can get my wish,” Noir said. “That sounds like a plan, missy, but don’t ya think it might be a mite dangerous on yer own?” Zed asked. “I know it will be difficult, but I don’t really have any one else I know. Grey is quite busy here with you, and I don’t really know anyone else in this town,” she said. The stallion in question merely stood in place and thought about his options. What was he going to do now that he was no longer helping Noir? Was he going to go after the rest of the bits on his own, stay here with Zed and help the town, wander the world some more and try to help other towns? “Oh, Ah’m sure Grey here would be happy to help you with that. Besides, he ain’t much use to me here. Ah’ve got everything Ah need here and he’s just gonna come in half-way through the day drunk and pass out on the floor anyways. It’s either that, doin’ that in some other town with some other doctor, or goin with you,” said Zed, “and Ah think we both know what the most preferable choice is.” “But…but…what if Grey is busy? What if he has other plans? What about what he wants?” Noir stammered trying to find a reason to refute Zed. “Plus he’s uncouth and a scoundrel. Did you know his family used to live with the Unworthy? His father was one of the founding members of their city!” “Ain’t that somethin. Ah guess ya really do learn somethin new everyday,” Zed said with a smirk. “That may be, but if’n Ah remember correctly, you came in here in possession of both several packages of meat, as well as a white mask used by a very particular group of ponies, so Ah’m not sure yer in much place to judge.” Noir was stunned silent. “ How did you…You searched my pack!?” she shouted. “Ah search through whatever comes in here attached to injured ponies. Sometimes, Ah even find interesting stuff like yer secret hobby,” Zed said, flashing a mischievous grin. “But that’s…you can’t….going through somepony else’s things is both an invasion of privacy and illegal!”Noir shouted. “And that there’s yer problem. Ya seem to be forgettin’ that Ah’m not the most reputable pony, nor am Ah on what most would call the ‘right’ side of the law. Ah’m the kind of zebra folks come to when they need somethin done with no questions asked. Ah rightly don’t care what the law says Ah can or can’t do,” Zed said with a laugh. “I can’t believe Grey could ever be friends with a pernicious rogue!” said Noir. “As Ah recall, Grey here is just as much of a ‘ruffian’ and ‘scoundrel’ as Ah am,” said Zed in response. “Compared to you Grey is the highest of gentlemen. I’d even go so far as to say he’s a knight and you’re the evil wizard who kidnaps his lady,” said Noir. “And are you the lady in question here? Hopin’ Grey’ll charge in and save his beautiful damsel in distress from mah evil clutches and whisk you away to a life of adventure?” “N–no, that’s not what I meant!” Noir shouted as her face began to turn a deep shade of crimson. “I don’t think about Grey that way at all!” “Ah’m not a doctor or anything…oh wait, Ah am. And Ah’d characterize the symptoms you’ve got right now as a little crush on Grey here. Ah bet if’n ya tell hi—” Zed was cut off by a gush of wind as a large crater appeared in the wall next to his muzzle. As he looked up he saw Noir’s face inches from his with the smile of a madpony plastered across it. “I said you’re wrong,” she sang. “Grey and I do NOT have that kind of relationship, and if you keep suggesting that, I’m not sure what might happen to that small, crushable, grindable, mashable body of yours. Understand?” “Y–Yes m’am, understood,” Zed gulped. “Great, now if you’d be so kind, I think I should be on my way,” said Noir. “Ah really do think you two should travel together,” said Zed from behind her. “Ah think you’d make a great team, plus this don’t seem like somethin’ you can do on yer own. Besides, yer gonna need to talk to him anyways.” “And why do you figure that?” she asked. “Cause Grey’s still got the first bit ya found in that pouch around his neck,” Zed said. Noir groaned, realizing he was right. “Fine, if it makes you happy, I’ll ask him. But he’s going to say no, you know.” Grey was still frozen in place, ignorant of everything going on around him. contemplating all the possible options he had and which could possibly be the best for him. Every choice seemed to end in them going their separate ways, which—while not the worst thing—was still a little disappointing. Despite her crude nature, reckless attitude, and penchant for indiscriminate violence, she was fun to be around and he had more fun with her than he did drinking alone. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice Noir approaching him. “Hello, Grey? Anypony home in there?” he heard Noir ask. Noir’s voice knocked him out of his stupor. “Yeah Noir? You want something?” “Well, Zed here seems to think it would be in ou—I mean your best interest for us to travel together,” she said “He says that two ponies searching would find the bits way faster and would be way more efficient. I thought it was unnecessary and silly, though if you really need my help, I guess I could be convinced to help you. I mean, why wouldn’t you right? You’re pretty much useless without me to help you out.” Grey arched his head to the side, just managing to look past Noir’s inflated ego, and threw a look of disbelief at Zed. Zed simply shrugged and mouthed the words just go with it. Looking back at Noir, he could see she was making a conscious effort not to look at him too much, turning her head away whenever she saw he was still looking at her. “See Zed, I told you he didn’t need my help,” she said breaking the silence. “So I’m just gonna go and get to searching on my—” “Sure, why not,” Grey said, interrupting her. “What was that Grey? Ah couldn’t hear ya over the cries for attention,” said Zed. “What I meant to say, was that I would be so honored if you would consider helping me Noir. There’s just no way I could ever find all the bits without your expert assistance. Would you please join me?” he said in his most innocent tone. “Oh, I guess I could help you. I mean, if you’re going to beg me that much then there’s not much I can do about it,” she said. “Well, now that ya’ll are finally finished with all this nonsense, I think it’s high time you go out and start searching for those bits. I can’t keep the clinic closed all day!” Zed said. * * * * * * * * For the remainder of the day, Noir and Grey went through everything they would need for their journey. Zed offered some of the gauze, disinfectant, and bandages from the supplies Grey had found. Using some of the savings Grey had made in his years working for Zed, Grey managed to purchase enough food for at least two months. While it may not have been the brightest idea, Noir had somehow convinced him to add three bottles of hard cider to their provisions. For parties she said For when we find the bits! Grey couldn’t believe he had listened to her. Something good did come out of the trip to the bar though. While he was ordering the three bottles, he heard one of the patrons talking about some crazy lab to the west, just a ways outside of Las Pegasus. Apparently, there was some strange experiments going on there, and a group of ponies and griffins were trying to engineer something to bring back old Equestria. It wasn’t much of a lead, but there wasn’t much else pointing to the next bit, so this was going to be their next destination. After a night’s rest at Salt Lick’s bar, finally repaired after that exploding stallion from the week earlier, Grey and Noir were ready to set out. Grey wasn’t too sure what was going to happen once he left Appleoosa, or if he was even going to survive, though the chance at a wish seemed too good to just sit on his flank doing nothing. He knew that he needed to take this first step out of town, or he’d never be able to leave. Yet as he tried to take that step, something held him back. Looking back, he could see Noir holding the back of his coat. “Grey, before we leave, I just wanted to say thanks,” she said with a smile. “To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do this on my own.” “And what about all that stuff you were saying to Zed? I thought you were so great and powerful that I was the one needing help?” said Grey. “Was that all big talk? Are you some helpless mare who needs protection?” “Of course not! I can take care of myself! I don’t need anyone’s help!” she shouted at him. “It’s just…you know…nice, to have a friend to travel with. It gets really lonely on your own.” “I know, I know. I was just messing with you.” Grey said with a laugh. “You’re really cute when you’re angry you know.” Noir turned her face away, though Grey was sure he could see crimson spreading across the white fur of her muzzle. Before he could see her face though, she took of, running as fast as she could out of the town. Luckily she was heading west, so Grey unfurled his wings and began to fly after her. He wasn’t sure what they were going to find in Las Pegasus, or whether they would find anything at all. Though at least with Noir, it would certainly be an interesting adventure.