Chapter 9 - Abduction

“Are ponies inherently prone to fight one another? Is it in our nature to seek out confrontation and war? I like to think it isn’t so, but sometimes I can’t help but think it is actually the case.”

===~+~===

The rapping of a hoof on wood brings me out of my sleep. My head is pounding and when I open my eyes the world is blurry. I blink a few times and my vision gradually clears, I then try to get up, but find that my legs won’t move.

Panic begins to rise in me as I remember what happened last night. As I fight against my bonds, the hoof that was rapping suddenly slams down hard on what I assume is the floor. “Finally awake, are you? Good, I was tired of watching over your stupid ass. Hey Shrill! Get the boss, i’m tired of sitting here,” a gruff sounding stallion calls out.

I hear movement in another room as I try to turn to look at the stallion who just spoke. My eyes fall upon a brown coated stallion with a red mane. He leers at me as I look him over. He has a number of scars on his face and is wearing some standard armored barding with a holstered pistol at his side.

He clicks his tongue at me and I begin to look around at the rest of the room. It appears to be a bedroom. Like most of the buildings it is fairly run down and the wallpaper is peeling off the walls. Dust and dirt covers the furniture and windows. This must not be a building the ponies who took me frequent. Perhaps it is just a stop along the way somewhere else.

After a moment, I hear hoofsteps entering the room. “Well done Snarl,” an oddly familiar voice says. “I’ll take things from here. But first, is this any way to treat a guest? Undo her bindings. She’s not a fighter, that much is obvious,” the familiar voice commands.

“You got it boss,” the stallion known as Snarl says as he gets up and walks over to me. He takes a knife in his teeth before cutting a few ropes and loosening my bindings. After he steps back, I sit up on the bed and rub my limbs where the robes were. As I do so, I look up at the ponies in the room.

Two, I don’t recognize. The stallion known as Snarl, and a white mare with a red mane, who I guess is named Shrill. The third and final causes me to go pale as I place his voice to his face. Grimoire, the trader I met back at Stable 36. The one who sold arms to the raiders in Ponyville, the one who caused Iron’s murder.

Despite the anger rising up in me, I know I cannot take on the three of them, even if I was armed. So I simply stare at them, waiting for them to make their next move. Grimoire doesn’t keep me waiting as he tells the other two, “Leave us, she won’t cause me any trouble.” Shrill and Snarl move to leave the room, but hesitate at the doorway. It is like they were worried about me hurting Grimoire, but it seem different. Definitely less friendly, as though they were mercenaries worried they wouldn’t get paid if he died.

Once they leave the room, Grimoire sits down in the char Snarl had been using and smiles at me. For a good minute he just stares at me before saying, “I take it you remember me, Ratchet.” His voice drips with venom as he spits out my name. “I can’t say you were very notable, just another random wastelander. But, even the best machines can grind to a halt if dirt gets into their workings.”

“You have ruined my business. Towns turn me away, guards attempt to capture me, and I have been forced into the shadows,” he says the last bit with a laugh. “My ponies watched the battle at Ponyville, saw what you did in the town hall. I take it Railspike left sensitive information on that terminal of his,” malice fills his voice as he mentions Railspike.

“That fool was never careful enough. And now, because he couldn’t kill you and those pitiful rangers he jeopardised my operation. So, I decided to have my ponies watch over the ranger hideout and wait for you to leave,” he tells me. “But they tell me that you arrived there yesterday and quickly left again, with that mare as an addition to your little group. Meaning, you were gone for about a month,” he explains.

“Now, I don’t care what you were doing, but you kept me waiting. You are going to die today, your rangers have no idea where you are and you can’t hope to escape from us here. So, I am going to take my time and tell you exactly why you are going to die,” he states.

Before he continues I speak up, “You’re going to kill me just because I ruined your business? Because you were trading with raiders? It was your own fault.” I don’t know what i’m saying. If he was trading with raiders, of course he would have no qualms killing me. But I felt I had to buy as much time as possible. I had hope that Lightning, Thunder, and Arrow would come for me.

Despite this, I was shaking in fear. I couldn’t see any of my gear or anything I could use to get the upper hand and I knew I wasn’t strong enough or skilled enough to take them out with my bare hooves. As Grimoire goes to respond, CORA pops up in my vision with a worried, but hopeful expression on her face.

“Do you think me so petty?” Grimoire begins as a speech bubble appears from CORA’s mouth and text begins to appear inside of it. “I don’t care about my business. I care about what my business was for,” he continues as CORA moves her mouth and text continues to appear.

I look at what she is writing and begin reading, ‘Ratchet! I sent an SOS to Lightning. They are on their way. Stall him as long as you can!’ I am about to smile, but I fight to stop it. I can’t let him think anything was wrong. I just have to keep my wits about me and do what I can to keep him talking and myself alive.

“You see, my merchant business was just a cover for me to secure arms and discover the defences towns had. I would sell poor quality weaponry and faulty ammunition to towns I intended to attack and keep the good quality stuff for my gang,” Grimoire explains with a wry grin on his face. It looks like he like to monologue, so I shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping him talking.

“But of course, I couldn’t always sell poor quality weapons. If I did, they wouldn’t trade me. So I conducted normal trade business with targets I didn’t plan to attack at the time,” he tells me.

I think of a question and interrupt him quick. “Then why did you do business with Ponyville? They were raiders, not a town. Wouldn’t they be your rivals or competition? They had some good quality gear on them,” I ask.

“That is because of the other reason I posed as a merchant. I have been trying to unite the raider gangs under a single banner, metaphorically speaking. I want an army and civilians aren’t exactly lining up to fight for me. But raiders? They understand me, and their loyalty can be bought with arms or fear,” Grimoire informs me.

He wants an army? What for? Besides the rangers of Stable 36 there wasn’t a large, unified force that could stand against him. Does he want to take control of everything? What was his endgame?

“I had planned on using Railspike as a puppet, killing him, and bringing his gang into my own. But he was oddly strong willed and his followers highly devoted. I would thank you and the rangers for killing him and his gang, had he not been so stupid as to leave information about me behind,” he snarls.

I take this moment to ask my next question, “But what do you need an army for? Do you plan to become some sort of ruler? If you plan to rule through fear and force, it won’t work.”

Grimoire lets out a loud, hearty laugh. When he finally stops he says, “Me? A ruler? Oh, nothing that grand, love. I just want to cause some chaos. You know there are Stables all over right? I want to break them all open, slaughter the inhabitants, check out their experiments. You know, see what kind of interesting things I can find.”

His answer catches me off guard. “You...you just want to cause chaos? To kill innocents? But, that’s…” I’m cut off as he laughs once more.

“I was always a bit of an anarchist. This wasteland, this is a paradise to me. I can do what I want, when I want, and no one can stop me! I mean, look at you. I abducted you and no one stopped me. So, i’ll kill you, i’ll continue to build up my army, and we’ll loot the Stables. Hell, maybe I’ll find some tech to let us fly above the clouds and I can do the same to the cities the Pegasi are hiding in,” he says with a toothy smile.

“You’re insane,” I tell him. There is no way he can be sane, it isn’t acceptable. A pony like him shouldn’t exist. “Why do ponies even follow you?” I ask, “Surely they don’t agree with your ideas?”

Grimoire laughs once more and shakes his head. “That’s the beauty of working with raiders. They already have low morals. Some are enthusiastic about it, but no, they don’t all agree with what i’m doing. But those that don’t only care about earning money and getting loot, and trust me when I say I can promise so very much of what they desire,” he explains.

I take a breath and ask, “Ok, so let’s say you succeed in your plans and end up razing the Pegasi cities. What then? What’s your endgame? When there is no one left to raid, to kill, what will you do?”

He tilts his head and shoots me a smile. “Oh, of course i’ll have to keep some survivors. Pawns that will create more pawns and live in the chaos that I will rule over for all eternity! You strike me as a knowledgeable mare, surely you remember Discord, the spirit of chaos?” He asks me.

I narrow my eyes and nod. “Very good! Well, he probably died along with the Princesses, meaning that he won’t challenge my rise to take his place. Now, before you ask how I plan on doing that, you should know there are strong magical items in this world. I’ll spend a good amount of time searching for those,” he explains.

“Terrifying weapons and mystic tomes let this chaos happen, and rumors have it that many still exist. Such as a certain Black Book somewhere in Equestria. With the aid of one or more of these items, I shall become immortal and take up the mantle of God of Chaos! But, Discord was a joke compared to what I have planned,” Grimoire’s smile twists and his eyes gleam in the light coming through the window.

“My chaos will be so much more beautiful. But, unfortunately for you, you will not be around to see it,” he says, looking me over. “You know, I was going to kill you myself, that’s why I came here. But seeing how pathetic you are without your friends or the weapons you can barely use, I think i’ll just let Snarl deal with you, I’m quite busy after all,” he says as he gets up from the chair.

He turns to leave as I say, “W-wait! I...I…” I can’t think of anything else to say to stall for time, and he doesn’t even look back as he walks out of the door. A few seconds later, I hear another door open, then close. Immediately afterwards, Snarl enters the room again with my bags and gear on his back.

“Welp,” he says with a smirk, “boss says I get to deal with you. He told me to take my time and do what I feel like. You’re lucky he took Shrill with him, she would have fucked you before doing the deed. Me? I’m a simple stallion, I prefer screams over moans. Unlike my sister, I like torture,” he takes the pistol from his holster and points it at me.

“Wait!” I yell at him, “Don’t do this! I...I can…” Shit! Why can I never think of anything in situations like this. I can see his lips twists into a grin around the handle of the gun. He pulls the trigger and shoots me in the rear left leg. I cry out in pain and collapse onto the bed. My eyes begin to water as I see him holster the gun and draw his knife.

He walks closer and gets on the bed with me. I try to punch at him, but he easily avoids my punches and pins my legs down with his own. His head nears my wounded leg and he stabs the knife into the bullet hole. I scream out sharply before he starts twisting the knife and digging it around in the wound. With every movement of the knife, my screams change in pitch and volume as i struggle fruitlessly under his hold.

After what feels like an eternity, I feel something come out of the wound and then he pulls the knife out. For a moment, I’m able to catch my breath and attempt to cope with the pain. However it is short-lived as he stabs the knife straight into my cutie mark. I call out again as he lets go of the knife and lets out a chuckle.

“Adorable screams, miss. Hope you don’t mind, I wanted to get my bullet back. The material is always useful to have around. Now then, where were we…” He says before grabbing the knife in his mouth again. He pulls it from my wound and places the point against my leg again before beginning to lightly cut down its length.

Gradually, he increases the pressure on the knife and the cut gets deeper. I squeeze my eyes shut in an attempt to shut out the pain. Just as he is about to reach my knee I hear the sound of glass shattering followed by a fleshy squelch. The pressure on my leg increases before letting up completely as I get sprayed with a warm fluid.

As I open my eyes Snarl falls on top of me completely. I blink a few times to clear the tears from my eyes as my coat continues to get wet from the fluid. When i’m able to focus, I see it. The top of Snarl’s head has been blown clean off. I’m shaking as I push off and put a hoof to my wounded leg.

The last cut wasn’t too deep, but the other two wounds are definitely going to be something to worry about. I look over at Snarl’s body and use my magic to open my bags. I should still have some. I poke around in them for a moment before I pull out my only healing potion and my regular bandages. I pour a bit of the potion on the wounds, take a sip, and then wrap my leg in the bandages as best I can.

It might not be the best job, but it will have to do for now. I put the bandages and the rest of the potion back into my bag. As I get up off the bed and gently apply weight to my wounded leg, I find my barding and holster in my bag. I carefully put on my barding and strap on the holster, then quickly put my revolver in it.

I take bags off Snarl and put them on, and quickly look over Snarl’s body. I still don’t know who shot Snarl, but CORA hasn’t said anything else yet. I should get ready for anything. I manage to find some 9mm rounds on his body, and I also pick up his knife, attaching its sheath to my barding. Lastly, I pick up his pistol with my magic and limp over to the wall by the window.

Peeking around to look out the window, I don’t see anything. It looks to be late afternoon, however. I begin moving towards the door. As I reach it, I remember that CORA is muted, and quickly unmute her, but she is still silent. “CORA, anything?” I ask, but don’t get a response.

Taking a gulp, I put my hoof on the door and begin to push it open. Right as I do so, I hear the door on the other side of mine burst open and slam against the floor. Hoofsteps quickly follow, at least two ponies, I think. I take a deep breath as I push open the door as quickly as I can and prepare to fight whoever is in the other room.

As soon as I get the door open, I raise the gun directly at one of the ponies in the other room. However, before I pull the trigger CORA screams, “STOP!” and I freeze mid pull. As the adrenaline clears I see who is in the room.

“T-Thunder? Lightning?” I ask as I drop the gun. Clad in their armor, the twins lower their weapons as well. “I’m so glad to see you two!” I practically jump at them and wrap my hooves around them, much to the displeasure of my wounded leg.

“Damnit Ratchet,” Lightning says, “we were worried sick. When you didn’t come back after a few minutes, and I couldn’t find you…” He trails off as he returns my hug.

“Lightning here woke us up, frantically trying to explain what happened,” Thunder continues for Lightning, “We spent the better part of the night running around looking for you, but didn’t find anything.”

I release them from the hug and ask, “But how did you find me then? CORA?” I see CORA’s face beaming a smile.

“You got it Ratchet!” She declares. “But, since they muted me, I was unable to use the radio properly.” She puffs out her cheeks as she says, “First chance we get, we are disabling the mute feature.”
We all laugh for a moment before curiosity creeps up on me. “So, how did you contact them then?” I ask. If she couldn’t broadcast over the radio, it would be quite the challenge.

“Morse code,” Lightning says. “At first we didn’t notice it, just some beeps over the radio, it happens sometimes. But then we noticed the pattern, and it took us a while to decode what was said. It took even longer for CORA to give us detailed directions to where you were when we finally responded.”

Of course. And that would mean…“Arrow is the one who shot that raider?” I ask. “Where is she, by the way? And Rose for that matter” Rose is our priority, after all.

“As soon as we saw this building, Arrow setup.” Thunder explains. “She’s about half a mile away with Rose. She said she would wait as long as possible before shooting, to give us time to get close. But, was it only that one raider?” He asks.

I shake my head. “No, there were two more, including Grimoire. They didn’t leave too long ago, did you see anything?” I ask them. Both of them shake their heads. Shit. I run out of the door as quickly as I’m able to, ignoring the protests of the twins. I look around quickly, and spot a large hill. I run to the top of it as quickly as I can.

As I’m about to reach the top, Thunder and Lightning catch up to me. I quickly look around at the surrounding landscape as I catch my breath. It isn’t that hilly anymore, and there isn’t much cover. In fact, I can see Arrow and Rose coming towards us in the distance.

“Where the fuck did they go!?” I yell, “They left only a few minutes ago! This isn’t right, there is no way they could cover this much ground already!” No, they could have. If they had a vehicle or...if Grimoire already knows some powerful spells, like teleportation. I fall to my haunches.

Lightning puts a hoof on my shoulder. “Let’s wait for Arrow, and then you can tell us everything.” I nod and we head back to the building.

===~+~===

After Arrow and Rose join us, I explain what happened. Arrow also takes a look at my wounded leg, patching it up a bit better. Once I finish the explanation however, a bit of gloom hangs over our party.

“We need to inform the Elder,” Lightning says. Arrow nods in agreement. “Thunder, get on the radio and…” before Lightning can finish his brother cuts him off, shaking his head.

“Already tried, we are out of range,” Thunder informs us. “We’ll have to go back, at least far enough to get in range. Unfortunately, the range isn’t that great. It will take us at least a day. Thanks to this incident, we are already halfway to Friendship City, Ratchet it’s your decision. Do we continue forward, or go back?” He asks.

As much as I want to get Rose home as soon as possible, Grimoire is more of an issue at the moment. “We go back. I’m sorry Rose, but you’ll have to wait a little longer to get home.” I turn us towards home and we begin to walk.

“I don’t mind. If Grimoire is as much of a threat as you have all said he is, this is more important. I just hope I don’t get in your way,” Rose tells us.

“You’ll be fine Rose,” I tell her. Our pace is a bit slower than usual due to my leg, and the sun quickly sets. I decide that we should push on for a little longer and we continue on in the darkness.

I’m about to give the order to stop for the night when lights suddenly appear around us. Compared to the darkness, it is blinding. “Shit!” I mutter under my breath. I pull out my revolver and I hear the others get into position around Rose. Looking around, I see six light sources.

“To the Rangers and others, drop your weapons immediately. Surrender and identify yourselves or things will get messy,” a mare’s voice calls out. So many thoughts are running through my head, that I almost fail to notice Arrow dropping her rifle.

“Wait, is that…” Thunder says and he and Lightning drop their weapons as well. “Ratchet, just do it. Trust us,” he tells me. I grit my teeth and drop my revolver.

“A good choice!” The mare declares. “Now, identify yourselves.” The lights begin to slowly inch closer to us. As they do, I begin to notice they are in Ranger armor.

“Why, old man Archimedes, of course,” Lightning chuckles. “Come on Lily, don’t make us stand here all night.” Lily? Wait, wasn’t that…

“Stand down Rangers, they’re friendlies,” The mare orders. The blinding headlamps go out and my eyes are able to adjust back to the darkness. “So, where’s Iron at? He let you rascals go out alone?” She lets out a laugh.

“What are you all standing around for?” She shouts. “Set up camp!” The Rangers under her command set about unloading gear and lighting a fire. She turns her attention back to Lightning. “Now then, where were we? Let’s chat.”

She leads us next to the fire and begins asking Lightning questions. He answers, with Thunder interjecting occasionally. The subject switches back to Iron, and Lightning tells her what happened.

“Fuck,” she says, shaking her head. “He was the best of us. I always thought he would be too stubborn to die, guess I was wrong. How’s everyone holding up? And who’s leading your squad now?” She asks.

Lightning tells her the status of the base, and says, “As for our leader, let me introduce you to our newest member, Scribe Crusader Ratchet. Yea, I know, it is an odd rank.” With a sudden realization, he turns his attention to me, “Oh yea, Ratchet. In case you don’t realize, this is our Star Paladin, Lily. She was on mission to Friendship City.”

“It is nice to finally meet you, Star Paladin,” I say with a smile. Lily looks me over with an expressionless gaze. Without saying anything back, she turns back to Lightning.

“So what is her deal?” She asks. “Who is she, where did she come from, why does she lack power armor? Why is she leading Lynx Squad?” Her tone is dead serious and her gaze doesn’t leave Lightning’s.

“Uh, well...let’s see, where to begin…” Lightning begins giving her the short version of my story in the wasteland and about my time with them. “So, yea. That’s about it,” he finishes up.

“So let me get this straight. A mere scientist was granted a rank in the Rangers, almost equal to my own, is tampering with our armor, is, well, from your account, quite bad in combat, and she was given leadership of one of the most efficient squads in the Rangers?” She says.

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘one of the most efficient squads’?” I ask. I raise an eyebrow, no one had told me anything about that.

“Oh Goddesses, she doesn’t even know what Lynx Squad is? Oh the Elder is going to get an ear full when I get back…” She says, shaking her head.

“Hey,” Thunder speaks up. “She has come a long way from where she started. We follow her, not because we were ordered to, but because we want to. Who cares if she doesn’t know what Lynx Squad is? That doesn’t matter. She is doing what she can.” Arrow nods vigorously in agreement.

“Be that as it may, a novice leading Lynx Squad is unacceptable. None of you told her what your squad is? How dangerous it is?” She looks right at me, Lightning tries to stop her, but she ignores him. “Lynx Squad is essentially a suicide squad. A squad comprised of troublemakers who don’t work well with others,” she tells me.

“A suicide squad?” I ask. “You mean, they are used like they are expendable?” That didn’t seem right. From what I saw, all the Rangers more or less got along. Why would such a squad exist?

“Indeed. Formerly led by Iron, who was basically suicidal in battle.” Lily says. “Thunder, an over the top loudmouth who doesn’t like stealth. Lightning, basically normal but violently refuses to be on a separate squad from his brother. And Arrow, the mare who doesn’t communicate. I suppose now you as well, the unknown factor.”

“Do not get me wrong, they are all valued as Rangers. Fuck, I think of Thunder and Lightning as little brothers. But some squad has to be the one to take the dangerous missions. They are very good, that is why they are still around. Any other ranger would probably have died from the combat they’ve been in,” she tells me.

“But, I thought you all said you were relatively new to combat when we met? I mean, that does explain why you all work so well together, but...” I trail off. They all look down at the ground.

“We had no clue who you were, why you were there. By the time we trusted you, we decided to just keep up the lie,” Lightning explains. “We’re sorry Ratchet, for lying. About that, and what Lynx Squad is.” Thunder and Arrow nod in agreement with Lightning.

Lily is quietly watching our discussion, which seems odd to me since she started it. I take a breath and shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. You lied to me, but I understand. I still trust you all, and I want us to stay friends. After all, I didn’t tell you about my past right away either. But, moving forward, let’s be honest with each other.”

The three of them smile and nod. Lily smirks as well. “You know, Ratchet. I didn’t like you. I still kind of don’t. I just don’t like it, this whole thing. But, i’m willing to trust you. As a Ranger, and as leader of Lynx Squad. So, with formalities out of the way, what is your mission?” She asks.

I quickly explain to her about Rose, then about Grimoire. As I finish, she let’s out a chuckle. “You’re lucky Lynx Squad is so talented, and that this Grimoire didn’t stick around. You made the right choice, in turning around. But...come morning, continue to Friendship City. My squad is already heading back to base, we can inform the Elder.”

“Really?” I ask her, excitedly. “That’s great! We can get Rose home, and inform the Elder of Grimoire at the same time!”

“Indeed,” Lily says. “Just, one thing about Friendship City. Some snooty ponies are hanging around near the entrance. They asked us to do something, but I didn’t like their attitude, so I blew them off. But, if you are going there, you can hear them out. I think they mentioned something about capturing a building, or something.” Lily shrugs her shoulders.

“I don’t really recall, but if that is the case, and we help them, they might be inclined to let us use that building as a rest stop for future operations. Might be the perfect job for you after you get Rose home safely. We might not be able to move on Grimoire right away, and it is good to stay busy,” she tells me.

“Right, we’ll hear them out,” I tell her. “Oh, that’s right. I think I should go into more detail about exactly what Grimoire said. Are you able to record it?” I ask her.

“Alright. This is Scribe Crusader Ratchet, and Grimoire needs to be stopped…”

===~+~===

-The Chaos Crusade
Location: Unknown
Goal: Stop Grimoire
Current Objective: Return to Stable 36

-An Arrogant Request
Location: Friendship City
Goal: Talk to the ponies near the entrance

Fallout Equestria: Icicle

by PlagenShiki

Chapter 9 - Abduction