//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 // Story: Mocha's Story // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// We turned a corner and it opened to another residential area, the road was almost ten lengths wide here, compared to four-ish the way up. It was more industrial and lived in as well as residential, the mountain was actually partly hollowed out here with mine carts every so often and human tech, glorious human technology. I was greeted by a group of twelve humans, my people. Eight men and four women in grey digital military uniforms. Old school American style uniforms, maybe marines or army. Mine was generic global woodland green, not as fancy. They looked me up and down and pointed to me with a device. My armor opened, to my shock, exposing my frail human body. “Well, looks like he’s real. C’mon out, buddy. What’s your message?” “Message?” I asked stepping out and crossing my arms, looking tougher than I was. “You’re not a messenger?” “Nope, just lost in this crazy animal farm for the last few months.” They murmured amongst themselves. I walked around my armor and to my cart. The mules had stopped and Rus was beside it, like I’d told him, in a guard position with his weapon accessible on the cart, but not on him. “Heart, c’mon girl.” She peeked at me from under the tarp and Lom poked her head out as well. I was fond of keeping them hidden, made me feel safer for them. She climbed out and made her way to me, snuggling in my arms. “This is Heart, my pony. Bought her for a bit a couple towns ago. I’ve also got my bodyguard,” I pointed to Rus, “my hauling mules, and horse I saved from a beast. We’re the ‘Motley Crew’,” I finished with a metal sign and slight sneer. They chuckled. “The name seems to fit. Why do you have them all? I understand the guard, but four horses? C’mon, you coulda sold them in town for a week in a hotel and some, well, decent food.” “Well, I’m attached to them. This one is like a kitty,” I said petting Heart. She snuggled into my arms and the ladies said gave a collective ‘awww’. Some white guy stepped up and looked at me. “Well, I think you look like her; a pussy.” “Well, at least I have a furry pink thing always on hand.” “Well, your head is as shiny as a bowling ball.” I smirked. He wants to go personal… “Your chin is as hairy as my mules’ balls.” A collective ‘ooo’ came from his friends. “You’re as dumb as a mule and twice as ugly,” he started to get flustered. “Well, that makes me twice as great as you, plus I’m hung like one too.” His group started to laugh, even Rus chuckled at our back and forth. The pegasi were holding their sides and drifting away, seeing I wasn’t a threat, they were returning to their duties. “C’mon Chubs, don’t let him get ya!” Ha, opening! “Chubs? Get that at boot, did ya?” “No,” he stammered giving me the next opening. “So, in the barracks then? Was it yer sarge?” Now practically everypony was rolling in laughter. He was at his wits end. Endgame, his ace in the hole. “Well, at least I don’t travel with Horse!” The laughter died. “A horse, get it, guys? C’mon, that’s funny!” he insisted. I don’t know where they came from, but I heard crickets. “C’mon, bring your group,” the lead guy offered us to follow. Chubs grumbled. “Horse, like whores; no one has a sense of humor anymore.” “So, you’re only five months here on New Earth?” “Three and a half, and ‘New Earth’? Renaming a whole world is a bit, quick, isn’t it?” “Heh, he doesn’t know how long some of us’ve been here,” the leader said over his shoulder, “the name’s Norris, Chuck Norris,” I dead panned him, just blank expression to the max, “well I’m not giving my real name, Mocha.” “Fair enough, but you had to choose that name? Out of all the names in the book, why not Chuck Testa?” He thought for a few seconds before snapping his fingers and cursing. “Well, too late now. I’ve been here for eight months. There are some that’ve been here for a couple years, others are still arriving.” “Wait, you mean we’re just popping up in this place? Like ‘poof’ there’s a human?” “Well,” he rubbed the back of his head. Never a good sign. “We actually fall. If you’re lucky you get caught by a pegasus-” “Pegasi,” a mare, er, woman interrupted him. “Whatever,” he dismissed her statement, “or maybe you have a parachute in your armor, maybe you land in a lucky place. Most fall until they hit the ground. Short story for them.” I guess I should be happy I’m alive, but this’ just, sad. “We can’t even loot most of them since there’s nothing to salvage and we’re not monsters, we can’t just dig through the remains of our dead for stuff. Most of the time we bury them where they land with a shortwave transmitter, damn things switch on and off too often, though.” My vision blurred slightly. “D-did you come across a guy named Markus ‘Skippy’ Henders?” “Hrm, I don’t know. We have a list that we communicate with other settlements with, maybe someone else has, if not us.” He placed his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a radio. “Chuck calling mountain base, come in, over.” “This’ mountain base, what is up Norris, over?” “Found a new human, wondering about friends, over.” “Uhhh, WILCO, list will be ready, over.” “Roger, out.” I smirked. “I miss hearing that.” “Yeah, it’s not bad to keep up old habits. Nearly everyone who lives is military, so we rarely have to worry about anything else.” “Nearly?” I asked as we started to ascend the mountain again. “Well, our population is up by sixteen; newborns from pregnant soldiers.” I smiled and looked to Heart in my arms, she was asleep again. “That’s actually great. More humans can be a great thing.” “Too many is a bad thing,” one of the guys said under his breath. “Well, I didn’t come to debate the obvious, uh, philosophical stuff. I’m here to find my friends, my squad. We all came through at the same time but I lost ‘em.” “Well, mister Mocha,” Chuck placed a hand firmly on my shoulder with a squeeze, “you’re in luck. Now, odds are you came through a few days, maybe weeks apart, but if they’re military I’m sure we’ve found ‘em.” I shrugged his hand off my body. “Well, okay then. And what was up with Chubby’s jokes? They were older than a flight cushion.” Ah, laughter. I love being the center of attention like this. “Well, too bad ‘Joker’ is taken. But I’ve got a joke for ya,” he said. I woke up in a dry, warm, dark room; it hurt to move. Luckily I was still fully dressed, but I felt emptier for some reason. I felt a nuzzle on my cheek and my eyes barely focused, I saw Heart’s blue eyes looking at me full of worry. I groaned. “What happened?” “Th-they hurt you, hit your head with lightning, and it was really scary. Are you ‘kay?” I felt my head throb and touched it, bandaged. “Are you okay?” I asked softly, sitting up, looking around. “Y-yeah. I-I kinda was scared and didn’t help you, I’m sorry.” I reached for her, but couldn’t grasp her. Terrible night vision, one of my many problems. She moved into my reach and I pulled her into a soft hug. “Don’t be. I’m glad you didn’t, they wouldn’t have let us stay together if they knew how smart you were. Now, do you know where we are?” She pushed her face into my belly, her mane dragged across my arm, it was so soft. She sniffed and spoke softly. “I dunno, we was taken here, and it was dark. They were so scary, I’m so sorry I didn’t fight them,” she sniffled again as I hugged her again, “I’m not strong.” “Hush, baby. You’re strong. I gave you your name and it’s true. Strong Heart, I need you to help me, okay?” “H-how? I’m too tiny. I can’t do anything, cuz I’m so small.” “Hush, first. I need you do something for me, it’s really important, can you do it for me?” I felt her shuffle around, pull away from me, and remain still. She was looking at me with that great night vision she had. I was actually feeling helpless. Small. This was my chance to make her into my hero, build up her confidence. I was puny when I was a kid, I grew into a man thanks to the right coaching. She needed this, even though it sucked. “What can I do?” she whispered. “Do you hear something?” “I-I don’t know, I thought I heard hoof steps, but it’s quiet again.” “Okay, ready for your mission?” “Mm-hmm.” “First, call me that word again, from earlier.” “Oh, um. O-okay,” she took in a shaky breath, “daddy.” “No, like you mean it. Like you did before, please. I need to hear it, it makes me happy.” I needed to focus, and the rush of endorphins was what I needed to help. She shuffled, I could hear her breathing quickening as her mouth moved. She jumped into my arms and hugged me. “I love you, daddy.” My vision swam. I finally got a female to say those words, she loved me. And it wasn’t the love I wanted from Cadence. It was pure, innocent, cute love from a creature who saw me as a true parent. I’d saved her. She was mine. Not from purchase, but a part of my life. Lom was too, but this was different. I think the best analogy would be to say my heart was like a cup; it was overflowing. Months of emotions poured out of me at that moment. I hugged her and wept. That wasn’t part of my plan, but it happened. She relaxed in my arms and I blubbered like a fool, letting out all my stress and pain. The fear of where I was, the minotaurs, the humans who’d taken us for whatever reason. It was too much, I felt free finally then boom, it’s all gone again. I composed myself and wiped my nose on my sleeve. “Okay, thanks a lot. I, I’m so happy right now.” “Then, why are you crying?” she asked, so innocently, “you wasn’t beat.” And there went my heartstrings, tugged again at the mention of her past. Wait. I tried to call up my HUD, my weapons screen. Nothing. My videos, music, data, games, anything. They took out my implants. But why, and how? What could they… Shit, my armor. They can’t spin up the rounds without it. They stole my armor, my tech, my freedom. Bastards. I calmed myself. “Thank you, so much, Heart. Next, I need you to look around. What can you see?” “Why don’t you look around yourself, silly daddy?” How could I not smile at her. “Because, it’s dark and I can’t see. I need you to see for me. What do you see, sweetie?” I heard her huff, almost thinking ‘If I can see, why can’t he?’ “Um, we’re in a room kinda like the inn, but the den. There’s a floor bed, a table an’ chair, a poopin’ bucket, and a door,” she clopped away from me to it. I sat up and had a throbbing headache where they’d surgically, hopefully expertly, cut into my head. I heard her knock on the door. Metal. Must be a cell, but a nice one? “Daddy, I-I don’t like this place. It makes me, um, remember bad things.” “Oh, sweetie, c’mere.” She clip clopped to me and sat down next to me, laying her head on my leg. I began to pet her and rub my hand along her mane. “No matter what happens, here or in the future, remember that you have me.” “Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet. So, what happened next?” “We waited.” “Okay, for how long?” I knew she was going to ask that, but I wasn’t ready to give the answer. “About four days.” She gasped, shock took her, and her face paled. “B-b-b-but, a filly can’t…” “Barely. Just barely. She nearly died, starved to death in my arms, bathed in my tears. And I don’t mean that as a euphemism. I was laying next to her, feeding us the mattress, when she went into a coma. We were without food and water; I was making us drink our combined, ‘wastewater’ until it was too toxic to smell. We were nearly emaciated by the time the door opened.” She winced at the thought of a filly and stallion having to drink bodily fluids to survive. “That’s,” her eyes swelled with tears and she choked on her next words. “They forgot about us.” “What?! How could they forget about you and a little filly?” she shouted, grinding her teeth in anger. “Hurry, get a doctor, we have a medical emergency,” I heard someone yell as I closed my eyes from the light pouring in. I held onto Heart tightly, she wasn’t going to die without me. Not after I fell in love with her, not after everything we’d been through, especially this. I heard a mad scramble of feet and shouting. THEN I passed out. I woke to a beeping sound, pain sent waves trembling through my body, and I felt my gut wrench in agonizing cramps. I looked around, she wasn’t there. The beeping increased. Stupid heart rate monitor. Fucking humans. God damn them, I’ll kill every last one of these assholes, I cursed as I disregarded my body’s protests and sat up, grabbing the diodes and tubes from my body, pulling them free. I heard a scuffle of padded feet and… hooves? I was nearly off the bed before I was pulled back onto it. Not a medical bed, but a raised cushion bed. Took seven people to hold me down while I seethed with rage, cursing them all for killing my daughter and hurting my other friends. Before the drugs they gave me to make me calm down took me into unconsciousness I remember begging to see to see Heart’s body, to hold her once last time. “She’s ...,” I heard a woman say as the world went dark.