Fallout Equestria: Fly Away

by Freeflyingwolf

Chapter 8: Hello and Goodbye

Fallout Equestria: Fly Away
By Freeflyingwolf
Chapter 8: Hello and Goodbye
Mpphhh mphh mphhhh mphhh mhh!”--The Pyro
Poke. Poke. Poke.
“Wake up, sleepy pony.”
“Nnnnn.”
Sunshy waved his hoof blindly at the thing poking him on the head. He had partied hard all night and wanted to sleep the day away. The dream was always fainter when he was exhausted. That meant, sleep until the moon came up again! Or until something forced him out of this nice and comfy, not-disgusting-at-all bed with cloud warm and soft blankets. This town went all-out to make sure he was comfortable and would be well-rested.
“Come ooooonnnnnn, it’s almost noon, Sunny.” Zen poked the pegasus in the face again.
“Noooooooo.” Sunshy whined, pulling the blankets over his face. The zebra sighed drastically.
“Send in the cavalry!” He shouted.
An explosion of laughter soon followed the door to the hut being thrown open. A good dozen children swarmed into the guest house and launched themselves onto the bed. With Sunshy still on it, they bounced, laughed, prodded, pushed, and generally made a nuisance out of themselves. They all chanted “Bother, bother, bother, bother!”
“Do you give up?!” Zen shouted over their noise with a mock-authoritative voice.
“Nevar!” Sunshy shouted in return. Then, the pegasus burst from the covers, standing up on his rear legs and made his best imitation of a lion roar while his wings spread out for max effect.
Surprised, the children shrieked and scrambled over each other trying to get out of the hut, laughing once they made it past the zebra. Zen shouted at his retreating force, ordering them to return. Still, he laughed and appeared to be in high spirits, cleaned from last night’s fun, and wearing some donated leather boarding. Sunshy, however, flopped right back onto the mattress and hid back under the sheets.
“Oh no you don’t. You have to get up sometime today and I deem that time is now.” Zen poked the blob under the covers that was the pony.
“You’re not my mom.” Sunshy told him.
“No I am not because you are older than me and I am a male. Now stop being a smartass and get up.”
“Make me.”
“Challenge accepted.”
“Hey, what—get off!”
Moments of tussling later, Chief Fluffy Doom threw the door open, booming a good morning that died on his lips. Sunshy was lying on the bed. His mane was a rumpled mess and his doctor’s coat and armor was on the ground. Zen was standing almost completely atop the pegasus, his own mane frazzled; hard to mess up leather armor.
The zebra was in the middle of biting on Sunshy’s left wing while the other he held down with a hoof. Sunshy had his hooves on Zen’s shoulders. Somehow, the sheets had been thrown over their rear halves. They both stared at the bison with shocked wide eyes.
Overall, it appeared to be…well…Chief Fluffy Doom’s face went red. He slowly pulled the door shut, turned around, and promptly walked away. When the door was closed, the two in the bed looked over themselves and their positions. Only then did it click.
“This is not what it looks like!” Sunshy shouted as he shoved Zen off and dashed out the door, going Pinkie Pie speeds on hoof. He raced past the shockingly calm chief, turned, and ran back still looking disheveled. “That was not what it looked like.” He assured between panting breaths.
“There’s no need to be coy with me, Tall Soft Heart. No one here will judge you for having a zebra buckfriend.” Chief Fluffy Doom assured with a pat on the pony’s shoulder.
“Zen is not my buckfriend; he’s just my friend, really!” Sunshy restated.
“I’m not?” Zen asked, appearing out of nowhere, with a visage and tone of pure heartbreak. He was even pouting his lip a little, too. “It was all an act? I feel so used!”
With dramatic and obviously overacting crying, he turned tail and ran away, sobbing out things such as “Woe is me!” and deeply confusing everyone he passed. Sunshy pointed to the zebra and stated, “See? See that stupid act? There’s nothing between us and he’s just a weirdo.”
“Alright, I can see how what I saw was a misunderstanding, and that was a very hammy act. I don’t believe the rest of what you said, though.” The chief relented, trotting along his way.
Sunshy sighed in relief before all of those words sunk in. He hovered beside the chief and asked, “What did that mean?”
“I think you know, Tall Soft Heart.” Chief Fluffy Doom smirked at the pony.
“What? That’s not my name.”
“It is to us in the Nchi Kavu clan. You are one of our own, and as such, you are given an honorary Buffalo tribe name. Ah, here comes Soaring Brave Spirit.”
Celly—dubbed Soaring Brave Spirit—provided the perfect distraction on what the wise chief bison could possibly have meant. The manticore had zebra and bison children alike hanging off various parts of her body, except for her tail. She even had her wings spread out for them. She walked over to the pegasus, who had landed and stood waiting for her. Celly greeted him with a lick on the head and a nuzzle. The children made a chorus of “eww” and the like before jumping off the manticore and running away to play on their own.
“Hey, Sunny, how much do you even remember from last night?” Zen asked as he trotted over to the siblings.
“A good amount, I guess. Why?”
“Wondered if you remember some buck hitting on you last night and if you’re still a virgin.” Zen gave the colorful pony a shit-eating grin.
“That was you.” Sunshy replied with a frown and a poke to his chest. That smile vanished and turned into a frown.
“No it wasn’t. I’m the one that pushed him away. What, you can’t tell zebras apart?” Zen accused with a hoof-poke on the pony’s chest. It was a lot harder than the playful ones they exchanged before.
“Where the hell did that come from?” Sunshy defended while rubbing his chest. Yep, that was going to bruise.
“So if I and all the other zebras here covered our glyph marks, you wouldn’t be able to tell me from the rest?” Zen huffed in anger, his face turning red.
“What? No! I mean, of course I would! I can tell you apart from any other zebra.” Sunshy frowned was angered as well.
“Really? Well, I’m going to have to test that sometime when you least expect it.” Zen glared at the pony.
“You did hit on me last night! After that other buck left!” Sunshy stated, stamping his hoof in indignation.
“Oh yeah…” Zen replied with all his anger gone, making Sunshy facehoof and Celly facepaw. “I also found out that the bastard that shot you came through here. Apparently a guard saw him and I was on my way to go find him. Let’s go check him out.”
“It’ll give us somewhere to go.” Sunshy agreed, still frowning at the racist accusations.
The group of monster, pony, and zebra walked down the village towards the west end, where the large bridge laid. The tribe gave the group a respectful berth as they walked. A unicorn pony trader beamed and waved at Sunshy, who dumbly waved back. He had no idea who she was, but apparently she knew him well enough to wave. It would have been rude not to wave back.
Along the way, Celly roared for no reason and flew away. Sunshy shouted and chased after her, followed by Zen. The manticore stopped before a tipi-shaped shop with a caravan near it and pounced upon something. Judging by the shout, it was something male. Judging by the rifle shoved in Celly’s nose, it was well-armed as well. There were other ponies and zebra around the caravan, all of which shouted in fear and shock at seeing a manticore. Those that recovered pulled out their guns and aimed at the unarmored manticore.
“Hiiiiiiiiii-yah!!” Zen shouted a strange sort of war cry as he charged and head-butted the manticore right on her side.
Celly groaned in shock as she was shoved onto her side, off the gray giant pony on the ground, and her wing clipped the caravan. It tipped precariously, but she quickly bit the edge and pulled it down, making sure it stayed on all four wheels. Zen quickly pounced upon the manticore and pulled out his electric lance. He surprised the group of travelers by aiming the lance at one blue-coated mare.
“Don’t shoot at her, please! Or the stupid zebra!” Sunshy shouted as he touched down.
“MEY!” Zen shouted at him through the spear. He spit it out and pointed a hoof at the pegasus, “I resent that!” He jumped off Celly and picked up his weapon, grumbling before retracting it.
Sunshy immediately went over to the gray pony, stopping short and staring up at him as he stood. The pegasus was close enough to notice that the pony’s coat was not solid, but a sort of camouflage pattern. His hair was also…off somehow. And his gun was suddenly gone to nowhere. However, that wasn’t important at the moment.
“Are you alright, sir? I’m so sorry about her. Did she hurt you? Oh, she did, here, I’ll bandage that for you.” Without letting anyone else get in a word, Sunshy pulled a roll of bandage out of his tail of all places.
“Thank you, but that’s not necessary.” The gray pony tried to argue, but Sunshy was already putting the bandage around the scratches on the gray leg.
“Is anyone else aware that this is a freaking manticore!?” A yellow mare with a brown mane shouted.
“Her name is Celly, after princess Celestia.” Sunshy answered, trotting over to his still lying sister now that he was finished bandaging the gray pony. “She’s my adoptive sister. Her dad took care of us when I was a colt. I’m Sunshy Rays and this is my friend Zen.”
“I’m Versatile, these are my friends Night Rose,” the blue one that Zen had held a spear to, “Deep Scratch,” a unicorn with a white coat and alternating blue mane, “Frieda,” a Griffon with her guns still pointed at the manticore, “Zirconium,” a zebra holding a gun at Zen, “Chef Sandy,” the yellow one, “and Apple Cider,” a red pony with a yellow mane that was hugging the zebra vendor like their lives depended upon it.
“Sorry for the spear thing.” The zebra gave the blue pony an awkward smile.
“Not accepted.” She replied with a glare.
“Weapons away, everyone,” Versatile ordered. “No reason to get upset over… why did she attack me again?”
“Celly said she attacked you because she felt you’re…unnatural.” Sunshy translated, though the others were unaware she had even done anything but lie there. Zen walked over to Versatile and hit the taller pony’s leg, making a metallic clanging sound. The large pony looked at the zebra in shock, obviously having never faced something with his pure strength.
“Yep, he’s a robot. Explains how your gun vanished into your side.” Zen nodded at the large pony and returned to his friend’s side. “And he’s taller than you!” Zen shouted at Sunshy, as if that was super important.
“Stop being crazy, Zen.” Sunshy told the zebra with a frown.
“It’s part of my charm.” Zen boasted.
“It doesn’t seem to be working on them. Just tone it back a bit.” Sunshy requested, having noticed the other group’s angry looks.
“Fine, you’re no fun.” The zebra grumbled at his friend.
“If you and your colt-friend are done assaulting us, can we leave now?” Night Rose said, still glaring at the zebra.
Sunshy sputtered as his face went orange; Celly smirked at him from her spot on the ground. “He’s not… we’re not… I’m not…” Zen, for his own part, looked at her blankly.
Versatile shook his head at them, earning a level glare from Zen. “Where are you guys headed?
“East to the dragon lands.” Sunshy replied, grateful for the topic change. “How about you?”
“Northward to Zebrion.” Versatile, apparently the leader, answered. His friends were all re-mounting their wagons, Apple Cider kept his eyes on Celly, who remained stoic on the ground. “We have… business, with a few folks there.”
“Zebrion.” Zen asked, somewhat awed. “Do you guys have a deathwish?!” Everyone turned to him in astonishment. Even Celly seemed unnerved by his sudden outburst. He looked at them all in shock, and then remembered he was the only traveler in the savannah wasteland. So he amended himself, “Ok, maybe you don’t, but you can’t go there! You’ll all be killed! That place is the biggest hotbed of radiation in the wilds! You’ll die of radiation sickness before you’re a mile in, and that’s if you’re lucky!” He was almost hysterical now, and Sunshy had to put a hoof on his shoulder and a wing over his back to help calm him down.
“What’s so dangerous that we’d be lucky to die of radiation?” Scratch asked. Zen opened his mouth to reply, but Zirconium beat him to it.
“In the land of Zebrion, there lives a danger long thought gone. A pestilence we zebra fear that someday may bring itself here. A miniature bug so small in size, even Vers won’t see with his advanced eyes. Called the Invisible Death, it waits for someone to pass that they can infiltrate. In clouds of millions it travels about, devouring the unaware from inside out. The only warning you will get is when your heart and their teeth have met. After that it is too late. A tidy meal is now your fate.” Zirconium recited as though it was a terrible nursery rhyme. Zen glared at him and muttered something about stupid zebras furthering the racism of all of their kind talking in rhyme.
Everyone stared at him in silence, save for Zen. Night Rose was the one to break the silence, “You were gonna tell us about this when?”
Zirconium smiled sheepishly and shrugged in apology. Zen was still glaring at him, but a hard poke from Sunshy put that to a stop. Celly was merely basking in the sun, keeping a wary golden eye on the griffon.
“So, we can’t go to Zebrion…” Apple Cider’s voice cracked. “We’ve come all this way for nothing?”
“Looks like.” Frieda replied.
“What if we had protective armor?” Night Rose asked. “I could find a replacement helmet…”
“It won’t matter.” Zen said, cutting her off. Sunshy frowned at his rudeness. “The bugs are microbial. Even in an air-tight suit, they’d still get in and eat you.” He looked at Versatile and continued, “And you’d probably be shorted out. They chew on wires as well as flesh.”
“Great.” Scratch said with a sigh. “So now what do we do?”
“The only thing that the Invisible Death,” Zirconium piped up, “cannot take to its last breath, are dragons of the days of old, their scales are strong enough to hold. Upon assaulting this hated foe, they bounce back as if from Gel-o. It is then that they are able to be seen, sparkling with the dragon’s sheen. By fire now can they be destroyed and sent beyond into the void.”
“We need a dragon now!” Chef practically screamed, prompting Apple Cider to yell back, “Calm down!”
“A dragon.” Versatile repeated. Sunshy noticed his eyes went all weird, like there were words scrolling down. “Generally lazy,” He said aloud, sounding like he was reading, “with a partialness to gems and gold, territorial and dangerous when roused. Not many are known to be friendly to ponies if they’ve been born in the wild. When meeting a wild dragon, it is recommended you remain polite and offer great riches. NEVER attempt to steal a dragon’s own hoard.”
Sunshy gazed up at the gray pony, a confused look in his blue eyes. “That’s word for word from the textbook! How did…”
“Robot,” Zen said, nudging the pegasus with a smirk. “Remember?” Sunshy looked away in embarrassment. Celly finally sat up and pulled out her dragon-scale armor, having understood that much.
“No, Celly, you don’t get to go there.” Sunshy told her, she held her ears down in sadness and put the armor away.
“So, basically, we need to be polite and rich enough to sweet-talk a dragon into helping us out. Anyone else think we’re so screwed on this?” Scratch said with her hoof tapping her chin. Everyone else in their party seemed to think that yes, yes they were screwed.
“Welp! Good luck with that, I’d recommend Borderlands, but Ruby’s mom probably picked her up by now. Unless you want to go into the Everfree Forest and try your luck with Drakon, Sunny’s dragon daddy, you’re kinda shit outta luck. Now, we have a raider that almost killed my boy here to find and kill. Toodles!” Zen trotted away, going north, as they had before becoming distracted.
“I told you to stop being crazy, Zen!” Sunshy shouted at him, then sighed and looked to the large gray robo-pony. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be of much help. Good luck to you.”
Sunshy dug into his saddle box and set down a mouthful of shining gems at Versatile’s hooves. Without another word, he flew after his zebra friend. Celly stood up and padded after them, her tail flicking against Apple Cider as she went past, making him squeal like a filly. The manticore chuckled her strange deep-throat hiccupping growl before speed walking to catch up with her friend and family.
Anyway, they got to the bride to find a stern-looking zebra guard. He was smaller than Zen, but bulkier and much more intimidating. He wore armor depicting Princess Celestia bringing about a bright day with rainbows, sunshine, butterflies, bunnies, and worshiping ponies and zebras. The guard held a plasma rifle in his mouth, and his left ear swiveled towards them as they approached. He kept his eyes forward, out past the grass of their land and into the savannah.
“Hello, I’m—“ Sunshy began.
“Tall Soft Heart, Soaring Brave Spirit, and Brother Zen. I know who you three are, as will most everyone in the Zebra wasteland.” The guard cut him off to finish.
“How come they get cool tribal names and I don’t?” Zen whined rather manly.
“Because it was that or Brother Hits-On-Everything-With-An-Ass.” The guard replied with a stoic tone, still not looking at them.
“Brother Zen works. Yep.” The rather abashed zebra replied, pointedly not making eye contact with his companions.
“I was joking about both.” The stoic zebra replied. “Your name is actually Brother Strong Peace. Our seer was the one to give you this name, instead of our Chief. She was given the gift of the sight of the sun. She sees everyone for what they are, their flaws, what makes them, and she can see in the dark. When she laid those gifted eyes on you, Brother Strong Peace was the name she said. Do you know why that is?”
A chill ran through the armored zebra, despite the warmth of the new day. He coughed into his hoof and muttered intelligibly to himself. Eventually he just shook his head. Sunshy decided to save his friend, “We heard you know where the raider that shot me went.”
“Perhaps I did. If you want the information you seek, you must do something for me.” The guard finally turned to face the group.
“What’s your name?” Sunshy asked, baffling almost everyone, even the guard.
“Salai. My name is Salai.” The guard answered, his blue eyes wide in shock.
“I’m guessing no one asks you for your name. I bet they don’t even care to ask you anything about yourself. Has anyone even wondered if you like doing this?”
“N…no, no one asks me anything. Hell, other than the occasional ‘hello’ thrown my way, no one talks to me at all.” Salai frowned as he spoke.
“That’s not nice at all. You’re the guard here, without you this place would be another raider town.” Sunshy told him with a frown of his own.
“Yeah, it would. I don’t even get a thank you from anyone but Chief.”
“Now that’s just not nice. I thank you for all the good you do here.”
“Thank you too…” Salai’s expression softened, until he looked as though he was thinking. “Hey, you’re a nice guy, so I’ll tell you about that raider.”
Zen and Celly appeared shocked, but covered it up quickly with stoic expressions. Sunshy smiled at the guard and thanked him again. He nodded before speaking, “That was no raider that came through here. That was a top-notch slaver, his name’s Cuffs. Dresses like a raider to throw others off when he’s out slave hunting. He’s the leader over in Oasis, the center for buying and selling slaves. He passed by here yesterday, and it looked like he was going to Oasis.”
“Whoa! What the hell, there’s something in my eyes!” Zen shouted, looking around everywhere and moving anxiously in place.
“Any red lines?” Sunshy questioned anxiously.
“No, I heard the bing from your Pipbuck. If you have an active quest, it just updated. Do you see an arrow?” Salai informed the group.
“Yeah,” Zen turned to the east, “it’s going that way.”
“That is where Oasis is located. Hey, since you’re such a nice pony, I was wondering if you’d still listen to my request.”
“Sure, lay it on us.” Sunshy answered as Zen kept staring every which way. Salai smiled at the pony.
“Somewhere to the north is a place where plants grow wildly, nothing like here. They must be malevolent; most scouts haven’t come back or came back crazy. Will you check it out for us?”
“What do we get out of it?” Zen wondered. Celly shoved him over onto his side and held him down with a paw.
“Ignore him, we got more than enough from yesterday’s gifts.” Sunshy assured the guard. “And of course we’ll check it out for you.”
“Great! I knew you would.” Salai smiled at the pony. “We need you to make a full report on it and shut it down if you can.”
The group returned to their loaned hut and gathered their saddlebags and items. Zen had managed to sell most of the guns they had scavenged, so their things consisted mainly of food, healing items, and only a few melee weapons. The fighter zebra also purchased some spiked shoes and wing blades for Celly. They left the majority of their food in their new home. Chief Fluffy Doom had insisted that they keep the hut and return whenever they wanted.
They walked with a marker on the map as their destination waypoint. The walk took a good three hours, which they filled with the songs on the radio. It was dry and barren, with the horizon showing a mountain not far off. The land had always appeared that way, but now it seemed even worse after Nchi Kavu. Sunshy and Celly, haven grown up in a forest, felt torn leaving the lush area.
“Oh holy crap.” Zen exclaimed when they found the marked area.
Their marked place was a stable built into some low hills. The hills were covered with grass, large ferns as big as Celly, and flowers ranging in size and as colorful as ponies. Into the hill, a gear-shaped hole was gaping open, vines and fungi growing out of it. Some giant mantises were blending in with the scenery perfectly, until their red wings opened when they lunged at the group.
Zen put his new shoes to work against the mutated bugs. One lunged at him with its sharpened forelegs raised in attack. The zebra jumped back from the attack, stood on his hind legs, and swung his foreleg in an arc. His spikes caved the head in the side and decapitated it. The neck sprayed some green blood on the zebra before the body fell.
Celly was working harder, swiping at the bugs as they attacked her in groups. Each swipe of her powerful paws tore their limbs apart and doused her with their blood. There were only a dozen there, and ten attacked her at once. Zen only managed to kill another by bucking its chest, instantly making it collapse inside itself.
“I do not like this place at all.” Zen told the pony as Celly began cleaning herself.
“Neither do I…the plants…they feel…like the Everfree Forest. They feel so…evil. These plants aren’t natural. They aren’t meant to exist.” Sunshy told them his thoughts. He wasn’t aware of a plant growing behind him.
The plant was nothing more than a Venus flytrap. Nothing more than a Venus flytrap growing five feet tall with a giant mouth big enough to swallow a pony whole. Zen shouted a warning and lunged, but it was too late. The plant snapped the pegasus up in a flash.
In another flash, the giant mutated plant was gone.
Sunshy gasped for air as soon as he was on the ground, covered in some slimy goop. Next to him was a broken bottle and some ashes, the only thing left of the Venus flytrap. The pegasus shook the goop off as much as he could. Then he dug in his box and pulled out a bottle full of something slushy and black. Then a couple more bottles. And then a piece of string.
The pegasus quickly tied the string around the neck of each bottle. Then he tied the ends together and slipped it over his head. Tah-dah! A potion necklace, for easy use when on the run or in a battle.
“What the hell is that?” Zen had to ask, pointing to the strange thing. “How did you kill it?”
“I killed it with fire.” Sunshy answered bluntly, as it was obvious. “This potion is made from the stuff that allows dragons to breath fire. I put some in my mouth and spray it, don’t swallow because it gives you a severe case of the runs. The combustion only activates from a mixture of spit and oxygen. You have no idea how hard it was to get the ingredients and make it so it wouldn’t explode when I opened one.”
“I believe it. I don’t believe you just killed something.” Zen did seem to be in shell shock.
“It was just a plant trying to kill me. I’m a pacifist when it comes to things equine and possibly friendly. I did live in the Everfree Forest, but it’s not like the place loved me. I had to learn how to fight plants that are malevolent or else I wouldn’t be here today.” Sunshy explained solemnly. “Now let’s stop talking and go inside.”
“Alright, it’ll be nice to have you finally fighting.” Zen commented with a smirk.
Celly was the first to walk to the entrance of the stable. She was closely followed by the two boys; Zen had to turn on his Pipbuck’s lamp spell and almost immediately regretted doing so. The inside was coated with ambitious ivy growing every which way. Bioluminescent fungi grew in every corner. The plants were not hostile, but just…creepy. The light from the opened door at the end said at least the lights inside were working.
Over to the left was a desk, in the same spot as Stable 15. A terminal was there too, giving off that poisoned apple green glow. Behind the desk was a bedroll with some empty tin cans and a duffle bag. Zen took the bag and found some grenades, some more beans, bottles of dirty water, and something called a Wasteland Omelette.
Sunshy unlocked the terminal after ten tries. He smirked at his luck, it was an easy one, but victory felt sweet all the same. The terminal held some observations of those travelers that had come before them. Most were about how creeped-out they were about the plants and how they had already lost one to the Venus flytraps outside.
“Let’s not read any more…” Sunshy grimaced at the swearing logs.
“Do you think we should keep going?” Zen asked, “I mean…we know enough to have them set up a sign to keep people away.”
“I think we can go deeper. Explore this place, find the source. See if we can stop it. I didn’t make this necklace just to stop at the entrance.” Sunshy answered with strong determination.
“Alright boss, away we go!” Zen pointed dramatically on three legs, his right leg pointing at the first door.
“Come on, silly.” Sunshy slapped the zebra’s butt with his tail.
Zen purred and raised his brows a couple times with a playfully sexy smile. Celly rolled her eyes and shook her head at them. The manticore quickly made her way to the front, and made sure Sunshy was in the middle. Keep the important and/or weak things in the middle. Even if those weak things could breathe fire.
Celly changed her mind and let Sunshy in the front once Sunshy told her that if he had to use his potion, she was most likely to catch fire. Just to be safe, she made them stop to put on her armor. The other two were already wearing their own. There was an elevator at the end of the first hall, but it was broken upon inspection. Sunshy pointed at it and looked to Celly. “Can you fix it?”
Zen stared at him with a confused as hell look. Then the manticore pushed the two out of her way and sat down in front of the broken machine. She dug out a spark battery and some tools that the two equines could not recognize. The manticore used her paws to hold the tools as she worked. A couple minutes later, it was up and running.
“What is this I don’t even…” Zen babbled a bit, dumbfounded by what he just saw.
“She’s also good at cracking safes. Her strong sense of hearing helps a lot with that. Drakon helped her learn how to work on things because I wasn’t interested in it.”
“Of course she can…” Zen shook his head and walked over to the stairs. “I want to explore and use the elevator when we get out. More money, boarding, weapons, never know what gems you could come upon.”
“Alright, sounds good to me.” Sunshy agreed, beckoning for Celly to follow.
Grumpily huffing at what she felt was wasted work, she packed away her tools and followed. The zebra was the first in the line, but not for long. He passed by a large pocket of flowers at the corner down the bottom of the steps, where the hallway turned to the right. Celly stared at it hard, her hackles raising and hissing at it. Zen was not there to hear it, but Sunshy did. He quickly uncorked his right potion and held it in his mouth, ready to take a swig.
Their preparation was worth it, because a vague pony-shaped being rose from the pile of flowers. It was completely green and seemed to be made of vines. The thing moved forward slowly and with jerky movements, though it appeared to have no eyes. Sunshy spewed his mouthful of potion, which ignited upon contact with the air. The pillar of fire rushed at the creature and engulfed it in flame. With an un-pony scream, it crumpled and turned to ash.
“Holy crap!” Zen shouted from down the hallway. He quickly galloped back over to his friends, staring at the charred ashes and the smoke upon the wall. “Fuck, I missed something epic, didn’t I?”
“Yeah. Keep an eye out for clumps of flowers in corners.” Sunshy answered the zebra, taking the lead after re-corking his potion.
The pony walked for a few moments, keeping a wary eye out. Zen did not share his cautious tendencies and wandered into the first plant-covered room they came across. Then the next, and the next, and it got on Sunshy’s last nerve. He was so anxious about this place and the zebra was just taking it in stride. Celly was happy, as she was able to crack open a couple safes in the apartment rooms and clinic. Even the atrium was rather uneventful, with only a nest of Giant Mantis Nymphs that could be crushed even by Sunshy.
And then they went down a level.
All hell broke loose at the entrance when two zombie pony spore things attacked. Not just any zombie-pony-spore things, oh no, ones that had weird tentacle-vine things that came out of their mouths, ensnared the two equines, and held them aloft. Zen kept a level head and used his lance to slice off those that had captured him. Sunshy, meanwhile, had a virginity scare when one vine brushed against his neither region, screamed like a filly, and scrambled in the air.
Celly quickly jumped on the zombie plant pony with a mighty roar that paralyzed the two equines and the plants; Zen was in mid-swing when he froze. The manticore used her mighty claws to tear the pony thing apart. Then her eyes widened in shock when its broken body closed with plants and lashed out some vines at her, knocking her away.
Zen, no longer paralyzed, sliced the head off of the pony zombie plant. The vines died with it, dropping Sunshy like a sack of potatoes. The pegasus gasp-hiccupped, trying not to cry as he stood up. He kept his face down and wiped his forming tears away. The other zombie thing was killed by beheading of an electric lance once Celly’s attempt to behead it failed. It appeared that it needed to be burned or else the parts would grow back.
“Hey, Sunny, are you alright?” Zen asked cautiously, putting away his weapon to put his hoof on his friend’s shoulder.
“No I’m not…I’m so pathetic…” Sunshy sobbed before gasping deeply and holding his breath.
“Crying often does not equal weakness, Sunny. You’re so strong. No one could have gone through so much loss like you and made it as well as you have.”
“I don’t, the dreams…”
“Dreams shmeams. I know they’re scary but they’re nothing. Your potions idea was brilliant and these damn things won’t die without fire of some sort. So you freaked out because that thing touched you in your no-no place.” Zen smiled as he got a snort of laughter from Sunshy. “That doesn’t mean you’re a weakling. Not being able to kick a nearly empty water jug does.”
“You’re a meanie.” Sunshy said with a punch on Zen’s chest, though he was smiling.
“Guilty as charged.” Zen smiled and placed a kiss on the pegasus’s cheek.
The zebra chuckled at seeing the yellow face turn orange with a blush. Zen motioned for them to keep walking, to which Sunshy nodded and tried to hold back his blush. They continued on walking past the large entrance and walked to the door at the end of the room. Celly smiled as she followed them, walking close enough to lick both of them on their manes.
“Do you ever hate yourself?” Sunshy asked as they walked down the dark and dank hallway. Zen passed the room with black lights growing plants with a couple tables and terminals.
“All the time. That whole happy-go-lucky attitude of mine is all an act. I’m severely depressed and I’m using a really advanced form of sarcasm to mask it up.” Zen answered with a completely stoic tone. “I’m only half-kidding. That was how I was about ten years ago. Then I decided to just…let it go. I let go of all my hate, all my fears, all the things that just held me down and kept me depressed. Or…I let go of as much as I could.”
“Like what?” Sunshy asked cautiously, not sure if he would get a response.
“My hatred for the legion is deep, Sunny. I was born and raised there as a soldier. Decided it was all a bunch of fucking Brahmin shit and left. Then I was so depressed because I didn’t know what to do with myself any more. Being a soldier was my whole life and then it was gone.”
“Wow…thank you for telling me that.” Sunshy smiled at the zebra.
“You’re my friend and friendship goes both ways. You told me about your life, so it’s only fair I do the same. Then I got a job meditating and got my glyph mark from that. Decided to change my name and that was that. I was finally happy when I let go of it all in that moment.” Zen smiled as he remembered.
“I hope I can do something like that.” Sunshy mused.
“You don’t need to. But if you did, I’d name you Manticure.” Zen smiled and laughed at him.
“Great name.” The pegasus rolled his eyes. Celly licked him on the side of his face. “Glad you like it too.”
Their fun time was ruined by the appearance of a Venus flytrap that tried to attack them. Sunshy was quick on his hooves, jumping away and taking a swig of his fire potion. He then spat out a mouthful of the fire at the plant. It burned to a crisp with a screech, curled in on itself as the fire engulfed it, and fell as a pile of ash with smoke rising.
“See, no pathetic weakling could have done that. You may not be strong, but you really make up for it with your agility and smarts.” Zen pointed out, shoving his colorful friend on the shoulder.
The pegasus flushed orange again and muttered intelligibly. Celly nuzzled her brother before walking into another room with a safe. She quickly cracked it with her sensitive ears and brought back the treasure of a 9mm, some ammo, and an antique tiny drum. Zen played with it, making tuneless beats while smiling widely at his bit of fun. Sunshy giggled and laughed at the silly act.
“See, Sunny, it’s all about the little joys you get out of life. Don’t dwell on crap that brings you down.” Zen told the pony wisely as he packed away the weapon and drums.
“You’re like a wizened old stallion, Zen. Hard to believe you’re actually five years younger than me.” Sunshy poked at him while poking fun at him.
“I’m smarter because I got more out of life than living in a cave for twenty years.” The zebra poked back.
“Well, I have better teeth, never broke a bone, haven’t been shot more than once, and am probably smarter about things that don’t matter.” The pegasus stuck his tongue out before trotting forward. He decided to toss out his empty bottle into an unused room.
“Well…screw you. I’m amazing and I know it.” Zen huffed and stuck his nose up, trotting with high steps.
The pony laughed at his friend as Celly chuckled as well. They walked through a few more room full of things that were not necessary or of any interest. A couple more zombie plant ponies were put down with a couple breaths of fire. Another bottle was emptied and thrown away. Then they came upon a fork. Sunshy opted to go one way and Celly with Zen, as the former could not actually do anything against these plants.
It was really dark and cold, but Sunshy had a bottle full of the bioluminescent mushrooms to light his way. He checked one room and found it was a kitchen; he ransacked it and found water and soda. Then he heard a loud roar and quickly flew out, down the hallway he came from, and down the fork that his friends went down.
Not far in, he found Celly swiping fruitlessly at…oh Goddesses! Killing joke!
Sunshy used almost half of his last bottle burning the cursed blue plant; Celly was not able to avoid it all, but she was smart enough to quickly lie on her side that had caught fire. Standing up, Sunshy saw her fur was only singed lightly and she had some metal claw extensions over her own paws. The pony sighed in relief that she had not been harmed. By her shaking, the manticore had been shaken up by it too.
Then he realized that Zen was nowhere to be seen. Shouting his name, Sunshy frantically ran back to the room he had passed. Then he ran past Celly and the ashes, searching the next room he came upon. Then he found nothing and flew to the next room. He yelled in fear and panic, and Celly growled in frustration and fear.
It was almost as bad as killing joke.
This plant was a dark red, smoldering, the kind of red one associates with passion. There were bright white flowers growing with pink growing from the middle. Zen was floating up from the red vines holding him up, sprouting flowers as it took the life from him. There were thorns growing from it, piercing his hide and drinking his blood. His eyes were glazed over and he had a stupid smile plastered on his face.
Sunshy took another swig of the potion and blew out fire as hard as he could. The plant jerked its vines back as it curled and died in the fire. Zen fell to his side, bleeding and gasping as his eyes darted wildly around, unsure where he was or of anything. The pegasus quickly took out his supplies, cleaned the blood off, patched up the zebra on each side, bandaging those around his legs, and giving him a Med-X.
“What was that? I was…I was in a dream…” Zen muttered, his breathing evening out as he sat with his legs under his body.
“It’s Siren Song, a deadly plant almost as bad as killing joke. It puts you into a fantasy world and sucks you dry.”
“I saw everything I wanted…” Zen muttered, staring sadly at the pile of ashes.
“Don’t linger on it, Zen…you told me to do that and I’ve been through it too.” Sunshy warned, catching his friend’s attention.
“What did you see?” The zebra asked.
“The opposite of my dream, really.” Sunshy shrugged with his wings.
“I saw you two with my family. Everyone was happy and nice. That would be impossible if you knew my family…” Zen sighed before standing, turning to the door and walking.
“It’s alright, Zen. We’re still here.” Sunshy comforted him. Celly walked over to him and licked the zebra.
They walked in almost complete silence for a while. The shock of that dream seemed to have really shaken the zebra. He only perked up when he saw something really great. A dark and ominous cave!
“Let’s go in!” Zen shouted before charging headfirst, Pipbuck lamp spell his only light.
“Wait you stupid zebra! You’re going to get yourself killed!” Sunshy shouted and chased after him. Celly growled and ran after the two boys, thinking how stupid males were as a whole.
It was rather easy to find him, not only by his Pipbuck light, but by the light of his spear. The zebra jumped back from a bite coming from a giant Venus flytrap and sliced it at the stalk. The giant head fell off, its giant red mouth open for eternity. Zen smiled widely at the two siblings through his weapon. The pony bucked him in the side for scaring him like that; all Zen got was hurt feelings.
The zebra wanted to continue to explore, using his own weapon so that the pony did not have to use his last bottle of black potion. Then they came upon something really scary. It was at the back of the cave, and hooves down the most terrifying thing any of them had ever seen.
There were vines growing all around the back wall. Flowers of all creeds and colors bloomed from it. Some ferns grew around it, as did a couple giant Venus flytraps. They were acting as guards, hissing at the group as they drew close and yet kept a wide berth.
In the dead center was a pony.
Not a zombie-plant-pony thing…A legitimate pony.
It was a young mare with a green coat…or maybe that was the majority of plants covering her. Her mane was a bright yellow, almost like the sunshine, covering her eyes. The mare was rather beautiful. She was held with her belly facing them, her front hooves held up by the vines. Then the equines screamed and held each other in fear when she cracked a smile at them. Celly crouched and growled with her hackles raised.
“Hello…” The mare greeted with a pleasant voice. “I’m Shining Vines. Who are you? It’s been ever so long since anyone came to visit me.”
“I…I’m Sunshy, this is Zen, and my sister Celly.” Sunshy replied, still hanging onto Zen for dear life. The zebra was not about to let go, either.
“Hello everyone. I like visitors. These plants don’t talk…They’re boring. Talk some more, please.” Shining Vines told them.
“I…I’m a fallen pegasus, my cutie mark is a manticore with a roll of bandage in its mouth…I’m a doctor and I like apples a lot. My sister is adopted because I fell over the Everfree Forest and I landed on her and then patched her up. She liked me for it, so her daddy decided to keep us both but then he died and a dragon adopted me and I’ve lived in a cave with a stable for about twenty years.” Sunshy loosened his grip on the zebra, but kept holding him. His cerulean eyes could not be torn away from her.
“And you, zebra?” Shining Vines smiled at him rather beautifully.
“My name was Zuberi when I was in Caesar’s Legion but then I left when I was still young because they kept ponies as slaves and we killed a lot of people for no good reason. Then I got my glyph mark of the circle of Zen and changed my name to Zen because I wanted to throw that life away behind me. And I’m a strong warrior still and I like melee weapons and my favorite food is celery but I don’t find it often and that makes me sad sometimes. My second favorite is beans so that’s great because those are everywhere.” Zen still hugged the pony as well, shivering as he stared at the mare, unable to tear his eyes off her.
“And the manticore?” Shining Vines moved her head up slightly to smile at her.
Celly mewled like a kitten and cowered, covering her eyes with her paws. Strong fear had caused her to revert to her kittenhood attitude of cowardice. There was nothing really wrong with Shining Vines. Goddesses, but was she creepy!
“Too bad…It’s okay, though, you two talked enough. Now I can glue you to the wall like me and we can all talk forever.” The vines from the wall began creeping up to the group.
“Oh hell naw!” Zen shouted, quickly letting go of his friend and taking out his electric spear.
“Now now, if you kill me, then all these plants will die.” Shining Vines replied calmly with a smile.
“Good! These are terrible plants!” Zen shouted as he sliced the vines with his weapon. Sunshy uncorked his potion.
“But if you do that, then this savannah will be dead forever. Only I can spread the green to the land. Please, I just want to help. It took only a few years to grow outside of the vault. I can have this entire wasteland green in a matter of decades. Think about it.” Shining Vines pleaded, her smile replaced with a sad frown.
The vines stopped growing, and Sunshy froze mid-way to taking a swig of his potion. Zen stopped as well, but to catch his breath and then slice the heads off the two guard Venus flytraps. Celly was still cowering.
“You can’t be thinking of that offer, Sunny!” Zen shouted at him with his practiced clarity.
“But…don’t you want that too? The wasteland full of grass, trees, and plants…life can start better again.” Sunshy told him, letting the bottle hand loosely around his neck.
“Listen to your friend. I will let you all walk around free if you let me live. No harm done.” The green pony smiled at them all.
“Not with plants like this, fucker! You’re pretty words can’t change my mind!” Zen dropped his weapon and grabbed the potion around Sunshy’s neck with his mouth.
The zebra pulled the bottle while pushing the pegasus away with his hooves. Sunshy lied on the ground in shock, staring as Zen finished off the potion. Then he turned to the plant-infested mare and breathed fire at her.
Shining Vines screamed in pain and struggled against the fire. It’s red and yellow fingers danced and licked at her. The colors reflected in Sunshy’s frozen eyes. He did not see something evil dying as it should have. He saw a mare turned into something monstrous because of the madness of solitude. Despite that, she had a good heart. She believed that what she was doing was for good. She wasn’t evil, she wasn’t a raider…she was a pony.
“Stop it!” Sunshy shouted helplessly, getting up to charge at her. He could save her! He was a doctor, he saved people!
“NO!” Zen shouted back, standing in front of the pony.
Sunshy tried to fly above him, but the zebra would not stand for that. He jumped and grabbed the pony by the neck. The weak pegasus could not carry such weight and fell. All he could hear was the screaming of a pony in pain. He struggled against his friend who held him in a crushing hold. Eventually, the zebra moved their weights so that he was atop on the pony’s side, pinning him down.
“I have to save her!” He shouted, desperately trying to get to the pony that was already dead.
Her screaming had stopped. The plants were dead. Smoke was rising above them. The cave was darker than before with the stain of soot. It was in the shape of a pony’s skeleton. Sunshy cried and screamed, turning on Zen and trying to hit him with all his might.
“She’s dead and you know I did the right thing! Think of those plants, Sunny! There was Killing Joke!!” Zen shouted almost right in the pony’s ear.
Something snapped inside the yellow and red pacifist. He hung limp as his wet and unseeing eyes stared at the mare’s skeleton. That was right…she was crazy. She grew horrible things like poison joke and siren’s song and those plants that ate ponies and turned them into zombies. They didn’t have all the information…maybe she didn’t know that…how couldn’t she?
“Come on, Sunny, we have to get out of here. Go back to Nchi Kavu and tell them…Okay?” Zen got off the pony and nudged him with a hoof.
Finally, Celly was over her episode and stood up. She walked over to the equines and picked up the broken pony. She placed him on her back dully, going through the motions. They just needed to get the hell out. So she padded out of the cave with a zebra following at her side. At the end of the hallway inside the stable was the elevator. Celly pushed the button with her paw. It arrived in moments, they climbed inside, squeezing a little together, and went up to the top floor.
The two who were walking shielded their eyes against the sunshine as they walked back out of the damned stable and into the wasteland. The sun was setting already, but they felt a strange sense of loss of time. Their little adventure had not seemed to take that long…but the sun did not lie. So they walked across the dead plants outside, into the golden dirt of the savannah.
Zen let out a choked shout as he fell to the ground, paralyzed with his eyes frozen open. Celly opened her wings and was met with success. An invisible force fell to the ground, and a shimmering form came into the light; a dark brown pony. Then she fell to her side with a choked roar, spilling the pegasus onto the ground.
Sunshy rolled onto the dirt and landed on his belly, his legs askew. His cerulean eyes were still a raging storm. He saw but did not react to his friend and sister frozen on the ground. He saw and yet did not react to a couple ponies with manacles and rope cutie marks standing above his friends. Then he felt himself lifted up and dimly heard the ponies talking to each other in some language he could not understand.
Then he was placed on something wooden and he was being taken away. He could feel the bumpy road, hear the wheels turning, and the ponies shouting and whipping a Brahmin. Sunshy lifted his head long enough to see Zen and Celly placed in different caravans, both bound and gagged. Something in him said he should care, that he should get up and fight for them. And yet he lied his head down and curled up in a ball. He sobbed silently and cried himself to sleep.
Level up! Level 8!
Perk added! Pyromaniac: Great balls of fire! You do terrible things with fire to those you don’t like. This perk adds +5 points of damage when using fire-based weapons.