You heard me right. Three of the children, girls too, had been taken as slaves. Makes you wonder why they would let them just walk off. There was the dragon, though I can’t see how he’s much of a threat. Except for the whole fire-breathing thing, but seriously, he was two feet tall! He’s not gonna be any good in a fight! Which is exactly why Twilight made sure he stayed put.
When they told me what was going on... I guess I might’ve snapped a bit. Can you blame me? No-one deserves to be forced into slavery, not even raiders. Really? You took down an entire slaver base? By yourself? Well fuck, remind me not to piss you off.
“I’m going to help you.”
“What?” Twilight asked Courier. She turned from Applejack and Fluttershy to see that he had found all his clothing and his weapons. He had one, a strange box-like thing with a large cylinder on one end, in his hands.
“I said I’m going to help you rescue those girls.” The ponies couldn’t help but notice just how creepy he sounded with the helmet muffling his voice, or how scary he looked with it on. “You can’t stop me. And neither can they.”
“Look,” Twilight started to say, only to be cut off by Applejack.
“Ah reckon he should come,” the farmer said. “Think about it, Twi,” she continued in response to the bewildered stare she got, “we only got away last time coz they weren’t expectin’ us to fight back and coz Rarity managed to do... whatever she did. We ain’t got that this time. They know we’re comin’.”
Twilight shook her head as she tried to conjure a counter-argument. Only she was interrupted again, this time by Fluttershy. “Twilight, I’d rather not fight, but if we have to we should have somepony who can. Um, I mean, if you think we should...”
Twilight gaped at her friends, but couldn’t find it in her to be angry. They had just pointed out two major flaws to their... they didn’t even have a plan, she realised in shock. They were just going to blindly rush there and get caught themselves.
“You can come, Mr. Courier.” She was sure she could see a smile under the mask. “But you have to listen to me.”
“Fine.” He made to go out the door before bringing himself short. “Something tells me that going outside won’t be a good idea.”
“We can’t take him outside,” Twilight said to the other ponies. “Applejack, you reacted violently, and you’re one of the most level-headed ponies I know. What do you think the rest of the town will do?”
The three mares became very pensive as they tried to think of a way to get their new ‘friend’ out of the library undetected.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” They turned to see him pull out a strange device and attach to the thing on his wrist. They got the shock of their lives as he vanished from sight. “This thing will only last an hour. We better move.”
Ah, Stealth Boy, where would I be without you? Probably splattered on some wall in the Divide, I’m guessing.
So, we get there, and it’s some huge dirt plain. Took about two hours to get there, but we were out of the town in about forty-five, maybe fifty minutes. Didn’t get caught. Let me tell you, it was so fucking colourful! There really isn’t much more I can say about the place, honestly. It’s the kind of thing you need to see yourself.
Okay, a bit about what we were fighting. They’re called Diamond Dogs. They eat gems, rocks. They can tunnel. They’re incredibly fast and strong. Basically, take a bit of Deathclaw and mix it with the Tunnelers of the Divide. They’re also dumber than a mutant, about as good in a fight as a chem addict with a broken arm and are as armoured as a nudist.
First thing I did? Pull my submachine gun off my back and make sure a round is chambered. First thing Twilight Sparkle did? The purple one. Do I need to write you a list?
“Put that away.” That’s what she said. No, really. No I am not making this up.
“I’m not going down there without being prepared.” Then I checked my Sequoia. 6 handload rounds, maximum damage and efficiency. Displacer Glove, energy cell fully charged and ready. Marksman carbine, a full magazine of hollow-point rounds. Definitely prepared.
“I don’t want you hurting them, though.” They’re naive. They think they can solve any problem with enough talking. Sometimes, they’d be right. I guess you know what happens when talks break down, though.
“Remember how I said some folks don’t deserve a second chance? Those who take children from their families as slaves are on that list.” I would’ve continued, but my HUD started showing red blips everywhere.
Twilight was about to resume her argument, only to interrupted by the sound of ominous rumbling. “Uh oh...” The mare looked around frantically, trying to locate the source. Applejack and Fluttershy were doing the same, the pegasus muttering to herself fearfully while the farmer had pulled a lasso from... somewhere. The Courier just stood there calmly, as though he had known it was coming.
A horrifying thought struck Twilight Sparkle. How had he known? Were his intentions far from pure? Had this all been a ruse to get them enslaved as well? So caught up in these thoughts that she only noticed the Diamond Dog emerge two feet to her left when it was too late to move. Her eyes went wide as she beheld the spear in one of its hands, the net in its other, the twisted snarl of glee it was wearing.
Time seemed to slow as she tried to focus her magic. A teleport was out of the question, she didn’t have enough time to charge up the spell. The best she could do was pull up a shield or push the Dog away with her telekinesis. Before she could decide what to do, there was a sound akin to an explosion and the smell of something burning. The Diamond Dog fell, his expression one of horror and confusion as the gaping hole in his chest bled out.
There were five more explosions in quick succession, followed by five thuds and a matching number of pained howls. Twilight quickly looked around to see five more Diamond Dogs, each of them on the ground in complete agony.
She didn’t know what had happened. Her first thought was that maybe she had done something in her panic.
“What did ya do!?” Applejack yelled. The unicorn turned to her friend, worried that the angry outburst had been directed at her, and saw her looking at the human in terror.
For his part, the human seemed the perfect model of tranquility. They watched as he did something with his weapon, knocking a cylindrical part out, shaking loose six ‘shells’ and replacing them with six apparently fresh ones with speed and efficiency that could only come from much practice. Twilight shuddered at the thought of how much practice he must’ve had. “Why did you just stand there?” he asked harshly.
“How could you kill them so easily!?” Twilight yelled back, doing her best to make sure her gaze didn’t linger on the corpses.
“Scum like that don’t deserve to live,” he said venomously. “I was doing the world a service.” At that moment another Diamond Dog, unaware of the situation topside, burst from the ground right behind the Courier. Twilight yelled out a warning that wasn’t needed.
The Courier dropped to one knee, avoiding the first swing made by the Diamond Dog. The second punch was blocked, and immediately countered with an uppercut to the chin with his left fist. This sent the canine reeling, and to his doom.
The Courier leapt forward, bringing his right fist down heavily onto the Diamond Dog’s head. Normally, this would have knocked him unconscious and left him with a serious concussion. With the Displacer Glove... there was little in the way of a head remaining. The spray of gore that ensued was, for lack of a better word, tremendous.
The ponies stared, wide-eyed and in terror, as the Courier turned around, splattered with brain, blood and bone. “What?” he asked calmly, as though nothing had happened.
Applejack took a step back towards Fluttershy, who had long since fainted. “Ah-Ah can’t do this, Twi, Ah just can’t,” she stammered. “Ah can’t be around this fella if he’s gonna go murderin’ all those Diamond Dogs.”
“Applejack...” Twilight said before trailing off. “Take Fluttershy back to the library. Get Spike to send the Princess a letter, we might need help.”
“Can do, Twi,” the farmer replied, immensely happy for a reason to not be around the human.
“Where are they going?” the Courier asked, pointing a finger at the two disappearing ponies.
“To get help,” Twilight replied, not adding that said ‘help’ might wind up fighting him. There was a brief moment of silence. “How were you able to do that?” the unicorn asked.
“If you want to survive where I’m from, you gotta be prepared to let part of yourself die,” the human replied, a note of sadness in his voice. “Namely, the part of you that knows that killing is wrong. The Courier sighed. “I’d rather solve this whole mess with words, believe me, but they attacked first. We ain’t got a choice now but to finish it.” The Courier looked around. “Let’s find a way down,” he said. Those girls ain’t gonna save themselves.
Author’s Notes:
Well... I ain’t got much, really. Enjoy, I s’pose.