Chapter 12: Winter is Coming.
Chapter 12: Winter is Coming.
"Little critters hibernate, Under the snow and ice, We wake up all their sleepy heads, So quietly and nice.”
Morning had to be my favourite time of the day. Back on the farm, my brother and I used to get up just before dawn, grab some breakfast, and then sit on the fence and watch the sun rise. It was beautiful, watching the sun slowly ascend over the green grass of the plains back home. I hadn’t seen a single patch of lush grass since I’d left the plains. Then again, the Ponave was a desert. My brother and I had barely even noticed the transition on our way in.
I missed the grass under my hooves and the warmth of the Apple Plain's morning sun as it beamed on my coat, offset by the dampness of the morning dew. The feeling of the dew was lost when my hind hooves hit the hard bark of the tall apple trees; but then, that also was something that I dearly longed for. The dull thumps of apples hitting my cart had been the most satisfying sound I could hear. It was the sound of a successful buck, and the beginning of a good day.
The only sound I enjoyed in the Ponave was silence. No gunfire, no screaming, no explosions, no shouting, not even the rustling of a tumbleweed or a gust of air. Just silence.
Watching the sun rise through the window of our hotel room in complete silence was as good as it got. I was sitting in an old velvet chair with a little glass table next to it. I already had a shower and was pleased to note that I didn’t need a shave. Probably wouldn’t need another shave for maybe a week or two.
The bitter smell of tea emanated from a small mug on the table beside me. It tasted just as bitter as it smelled, but I always refused artificial sweetener when offered. Something about all those chemicals in it seemed wrong. Especially considering how hard it would be to find that sort of thing. It was either prewar, or just plain dangerous. Either way, I wasn’t touching that shit.
The bathroom door swung open and broke the sweet silence. Ace was singing to herself as she left the room with a cloud of steam. She was wearing her leather jacket loosely around her shoulders. That mare was really getting used to the hot showers. I never really saw the appeal in scalding hot showers. I prefered mine either a little cold, or tepid.
“Soft sheets, warm showers, and great breakfast!” Ace said in a singsong voice, sitting down on the chair on the other side of the table. She picked up the remaining crust of toast and munched on it. “And all because we made a good impression.”
“Doing stuff for Spring Flowers probably helped,” I said, sipping my tea. “I hope he put in a good word for us, or else we’re boned when the bill comes.”
Ace waved a dismissive hoof. “Oh psh. They said it was free.”
“Yeah, but who’d give away two swanky rooms in a swanky hotel to four wasters?” I asked.
“Are you complaining about this?” Ace asked with a raised eyebrow. “Seriously? Free stuff. Fun stuff. We’re on good terms with the city, its chief of defense, and a crazy professor dude who’s got caps.” She grinned at me. “Ponies who got us some kickass upgrades on our gear and some more cool stuff to boot.”
“I guess,” I muttered, getting up and stretching, then walking to the window. “It’s just... with all the hell out there, why would you give away free stuff?”
“Didn’t Snakey have something to do with it?” Ace asked as she trotted up to me. “That old coot. Such a mystery. He seems so distant, but he’s always there when you need him.” She shrugged. “Ah well. He’s a good stallion, and he’s been good to you.” The mare put a hoof on my shoulder and looked out the window.
We could see for miles from the room’s window. I could see the large, imposing mountains in the far distance, the vast, arid desert all around, and the bounding hills which housed the old Stable. To the north, a large highway stretched into the far distance, with small, squat buildings dotted along it. There were a few larger ones on the far horizon, but I couldn't make out more than their vague shape.
“Sucks it all ended, huh?” Ace asked, looking out over the scenery. “The world I mean.”
“Makes you wonder what it was like before, doesn’t it?” I turned and looked at my unicorn friend. “Let’s not dwell on the past, eh? Finished breakfast?” Ace nodded. “Then I guess we should go get Tallie and Lollipop.”
Ace smiled and looked around the room. “I’ll just get the last of my stuff ready, and meet you downstairs,” she said, standing up and walking back to the bathroom. She levitated a little bag with a little brush poking out the top.
“What else do you need to do?” I asked, before finishing my tea. “You’ve already showered and stuff.”
“A mare always makes time to fix her mane.” Was the simple reply from Ace with a holier-than-thou attitude. I looked at my own mane and ran the comb that I’d found in the bathroom through it. I cleaned it, just in case it wasn’t supplied by the hotel and somepony had left it behind. Intact combs were fairly rare in the wasteland. If you could even find a comb, it was usually missing a lot of teeth. I was lucky to find this intact, an artifact of the old world.
After styling my usual cowlicked mane, I grabbed my armor and put it on, then slipped into my dark brown coat. I wasn’t sure why ponies wore coats like that in the desert, but it sure looked cool. Cooler than I looked before at least. It wasn't too warm, but it did keep the dust off my armor and coat. Dusters keep dust off, imagine that.
After looking my rugged self over in the mirror, I smiled and went for the door. I still had the tip of my left ear missing, but my gear covered the scars on my thigh and chest. Getting shot sucked. It was like getting punched, really, really hard, and then there was the blood and intense pain. Pain lancing through your body and slowing you down. The only way I could push through the agony of my leg wound as it was healing was adrenaline. Adrenaline was awesome like that.
I knocked on Lollipop and Tallie’s door and waited, thinking to myself about all the misfortune I’d had in my adventure. It had improved dramatically over previous day or two. Sure, now I had ponies hunting me, but I was protected by Iron City thanks to Snake Eyes. Made quite a few friends in high places too. With their help, I knew I’d make it. Maybe settle down, get a nice, big house (build one if I have to) and live out the rest of my life in peace, maybe see about getting my farm back.
“Sup?” Lollipop said, breaking me out of my stupor. She stood in the doorway, wearing her medical barding and smoothing her mane straight up into her Mohawk. “We leaving? Give me a second to fix my mane.” Mares.
“Hey Mr. Clover?” Tallie said, walking past Lollipop andsmoothing her head feathers back into her basic ponytail, then using an elastic band to keep it in place. “Why do mares gotta keep fiddlin’ with their manes? It's hardly difficult to do this.” She pointed to her feathers.
I shrugged. “I was wondering the same, really. Mares, huh?” I said. Lollipop rolled her eyes and walked back inside. “So, Tallie, ready to go?”
The griffin nodded and looked herself over. “Shorts, check. Shirt, check. Goggles.” She reached up, pulled them off her forehead and snapped them back. “Double check. And finally, tools.” She pulled a wrench and screwdriver from her shorts pocket, twirled them in her talons, and put them in her shoulder pockets. “Checkity check check. Let’s go!”
The little teen griffin climbed up my leg and perched on my back. Lollipop walked back out, bright pink mane done in her Mohawk. She was generally intimidating, even more so with her wolfish grin. “Let’s get going.” She turned to my door. “Ace! Hurry up!”
Ace came out of our room and closed the door behind her. “What the fuck did you say, bitch?” she asked with a little smile.
“I said hurry your fat ass up,” Lollipop replied, matching her smile. Both burst into laughter and playful punches.
I stared, then looked at Tallie. We both looked completely perplexed by the display from the mares.
“What the fuck did I just witness...” Tallie asked, looking back at the mares.
“No clue,” I replied, and looked at Ace. “Care to shed some light on this whole thing?”
Ace giggled and gave Lollipop another punch on the shoulder. “This mare right here is pretty cool and my friend.” I looked completely stumped, causing Ace to roll her eyes. “We’re just playing around, Clover. Chill.”
“Ah.” I looked between the mares, then started down the hall to the lifts. Looking at Tallie, I waved a hoof over my ear and mouthed ‘weirdos’. Tallie giggled and nodded.
“Weirdos, huh?” Lollipop asked, coming up alongside me. Ace took the other side, sandwiching me between the mares. Well shit.
“Nope. Not at all. No way. Oh hey, here’s the lift. Let’s get in it and go down and stuff.” And with that, I zipped into the elevator. The mares laughed behind me and followed me in. The ride down wasn’t filled with tension or embarrassment at all. Nope. Not one bit.
The radio cut through the totally-not-awkward-at-all-silence as we descended. The announcer wasn’t Mr. Ponave, but instead a mare. A hot mare at that, by the sounds of it.
“And that was Giles Fairfeather with ‘Here Comes the Sun.’ Pretty appropriate, eh? Well the sun’s rising, and you know what that means, folks. It’s time for this night owl to call it a night and sign off for the day. This is Jasmine, your nightly radio DJ, saying good morning to all those waking up, and good night to those heading to bed. Stay beautiful, Ponave. Here’s Mr. Hoofstrong with ‘A Kiss To Build A Dream On’.”
The elevator filled with relaxing music. It was a pity it was only starting by the time we were at the lobby. I would have listened to more, but I didn’t have my pipbuck on me. It was with that Hammer fellow, if I recalled correctly.
“So where is this Hammer chap?” I asked Ace, who trotted out ahead of me. I managed to not look at her butt for once! Win!
“Down the street, then a left, then a right,” Ace called back. “C’mon slowpokes! I want to see what Hammer did with our stuff!”
“Something good I hope,” I muttered. “If my Pipbuck is busted, I’m demanding compensation.”
“Good luck with that!” Ace laughed as she lead us out of the hotel. “He’s pretty big.” Great, just what I needed. A big stallion working on my equipment. He’d probably break the stuff with his big ham-hooves. Bah.
Ace led the three of us down the main roads of Iron City. Past the markets, past the soldiers out on a morning run, past the town crier yelling about today’s sales and weather. I got a little suspicious when we started walking down a back alley behind a restaurant.
“Ooooh, gloomy,” Tallie cooed from my back. “Kinda creepy, too. Yo, Ace! You sure this is the right way?”
“Shortcut!” Ace called back, and skipped merrily along. Her hooves thudded against a few wooden planks and a sheet of cardboard that littered the ground.
I didn’t like this shortcut. It was dark, gloomy, too quiet, and a little cold. There wasn’t anypony around, thankfully, only the back doors of a bunch of buildings. The garbage bins smelled foul though. “Why do we have to go through here?” I asked. “It’s pretty nasty.”
“Faster!” Ace called back. “Plus, no ponies to dodge!”
“But it’s smelly!” Tallie called. “And icky!”
“It’s the wasteland! Everywhere is smelly!”
Ace had a point. The trip was, thankfully, uneventful (other than Lollipop almost stepping on a rat), and before long, we arrived at a large square between four buildings. At the far end stood a squat house with a large hammer and sickle hanging in the window. The house was only two floors tall, and had four windows on the side of the building facing us. It looked cozy on the cobbled streets.
“Is that the place?” I asked, looking the house over. “Is that supposed to be the armoury?” Through one of the side passages into the square, I could only see a sea of ponies headed to and from jobs. Ace’s shortcut had saved us a lot of pushing and shoving.
“This is the place, alright? Trust me.” Ace trotted forward and opened the door. “Hello? Hammer? You open yet?” She disappeared inside.
I just looked at Lollipop, who giggled and motioned me forward. Tallie hid herself behind my head and peeked over the top. I walked forward and peered into the establishment. The inside was a cozy little room with a large counter at the back. A smaller stallion stood behind it and was talking to Ace with a smile. I walked over to them. “Mr. Hammer, I presume?” I said, looking at the stallion.
He was a red unicorn with a golden mane, and wasn’t any bigger than me. In fact, he was marginally smaller. He looked at me with his golden eyes, and shook his head. “Nope, I’m Sickle. Hammer is my twin brother.” He turned around and knocked on a hatch on the floor. “Hammer! They’re back!”
I blinked and looked at the hatch, then jumped as it hissed open and slid to the side on a railing. Part of the floor beside it rose from the ground. Inside was a set of stairs, and a massive pony about two heads taller than me walking up them.
The stallion looked down at me through narrowed eyes. He was massive. And red. But... he didn’t have a golden mane. His bald head was so shiny it almost blinded me. The stallion growled, forcing me to huddle down and whimper. Then his eyes shot open as a huge grin broke across his face. “Comrade! Welcome to my store!” He bellowed, and let out a hearty laugh. “You must be Mr. Clover, yes?”
I blinked and slowly stood back up. “Uh... y-yes... that’s me...” Holy fucking shit! He was huge, and scary, and massive, and good-golly-goodness was I close to peeing myself. He seemed friendly, but sometimes that was a bad thing.
“Good!” he boomed, and laughed again. “Your equipment is almost ready; I am putting on last piece now. Come! To workshop.” He turned and started down the staircase. “Today is good day!”
I looked at Sickle, confused. The shorter stallion just chuckled. “That’s my brother for you,” he said. “Smart, but not very articulate.” No kidding. “He won’t hurt you. Go on down; there’s plenty of room.”
Ace bounded down the stairs ahead of me. “Um...” I said, looking towards them. “Okay...” I walked toward them and slowly started my descent.
“Wuss,” Tallie whispered into my ear. “I wasn’t scared at all.” I could still feel her shaking on my back, but I wasn’t going to call her out on it. Why would I? I’d give her this one, at least.
At the bottom of the stairs lay a massive workshop, with guns and other weapons and armour lining each wall, along with tools, materials, and other apparel. In the centre stood four dressmaker’s dummies, each loaded with gear.
“This is new gear, comrades,” Hammer said in his deep voice, walking around the dummies. One stallion dummy, two mares, and a little griffin one. The stallion pointed at the white coats each dummy wore. Fur lined the hoods of each coat. “Warm winter coats, with fur to keep you extra warm. Each has many pockets, so you won’t have to dig through packs.” He shifted our attention to the gasmasks. “Each gasmask can be adjusted easily, two separate locking mechanisms. Clear visor provide excellent field-of-view, with easy-to-change filters when time arises.”
He smiled at me. “Mr. Clover, your new battle-saddle, yes?”
I blinked, and approached the stallion dummy to get a closer look at the saddle. “I have personally remounted sniper rifle for easier reloading and firing.” He pointed at my SMG, which was now hooked into my saddle. “Because of gas mask, I rig SMG to battle-saddle. Same as sniper.” He smiled, and flicked a switch on the firing bit. A reticule poked out and flipped over the dummy’s eye. “Easy-to-use targeting reticule!”
“Ooooh, fancy,” I said, looking over my upgraded saddle. It wasn’t painted or anything; it remained grey. But there was a white tarp tied over it. It seemed like it was folded over once or twice. There was still plenty of tarp left.
“You are sniper, yes?” Hammer asked, slapping me on the back. Ow.
“Extra tarp for stealth, you just undo and cover body!” Fancy. “I have attached large bags for salvage. Very comfy, lots of extra room.” He pointed to two duffle bags on the back of the saddle. “You bring me back interesting present, yes?”
“Sure thing,” Ace said, looking over her own new gear. It was similar to mine, but without the saddle or tarp. I felt special. Hammer gave Ace the same speech he’d given me, and mentioned how, as she was a unicorn, she wouldn’t need a saddle to use her shotgun.
Lollipop still had a saddle though, also tarped, but much smaller than mine. Her gun’s ammo belt crossed the back of the saddle and fed into a large ammo box on the other side. The reloading mechanism looked complicated, but efficient.
Then came Tallie’s gear. Just basics: large coat with a gasmask, with a thick-looking vest underneath. The griffin on my back gasped, hopping down to scamper over to the dummy. “Little griffin has no armour. Ballistic vest is free,” Hammer said with smile. “Do not want children hurt.”
“Thanks,” Ace said, then looked over her gear. “Is it good to go?”
“Yes!” the stallion bellowed. “Is all good, and can go! Would you like privacy for changing?”
Lollipop and Ace nodded, then walked to their dummies. I was prepared to look away, but instead of taking off armour, they were putting it on. What was I expecting? It was just coats and stuff.
A few moments later, Tallie sported her new vest, with her coat under it. She didn’t put on her balaclava or gas mask yet.
The weight of my battle-saddle was very comforting. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt more at home with the machinery on my back. The coat fit snugly though, which was nice. I had to stow my leather coat. Wearing that and my new coat was just overkill.
All four of us looked pretty cool, though a little albeit out of place in our matching coats and badass new gear. My new sniper had some kind of attachment that fitted into the gasmask, allowing me to pull the trigger from the inside. The innovation was more than welcome.
Tallie looked over her gasmask. She beamed as she stared through the visor, and simply couldn’t resist pulling it on. The little griffin actually managed to look a little intimidating with the headpiece on, but still kept that air of cuteness. Not that I would ever actually tell her that.
“Are you all geared-up?” Sickle called down from upstairs. I could hear the strong, deep voice of Hammer inside the store, talking to someone, a mare, by the sound of it. “Remember, it’s going to be pretty hot out here with all that gear on. Might want to take it off, now that you know it fits.”
I could hear Tallie whine under her gasmask. “Do we gotta?” she asked, looking at me. I nodded reluctantly. We looked badass in our new gear, and I didn’t want to take it off. The air-conditioned room we were in reminded me that it could get really hot out there.
“This gear’s pretty neat,” Lollipop said, slinging her coat over her back. “Reminds me of my army days.” Her newly augmented battle-saddle looked a lot more awesome with its upgrades. Mostly stuff for making it shoot faster, and increasing its ammo capacity. I wasn’t really listening. Instead, I was obsessing over my own upgrades.
Ace nodded. “This is gonna be fun.” She grinned, but it soon faded. “My only real hope now is that we actually earn these goodies. If we don’t come back with something good, we’re kinda boned...”
I gulped and cracked a small smile. “Don’t, uh... don’t worry about that. We’ll be fine. Yep. Fine.” My smile faded just a little. “We... we can totally work it off. Yep.”
“More like we’ll work it off,” Ace said, gesturing to everyone but me. “You’ll probably stumble around and try, sure. But really.” She scoffed and headed for the stairs. I just looked at Lollipop with confusion. Did Ace really just say that? I was probably the only one who’d ever done manual labour for pay! Lollipop was a soldier, I guess. Was that the same thing? Running around, shooting ponies. Healing ponies too, I guess.
Lollipop shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, farmer boy. She doesn’t mean it.” She patted my shoulder, and followed Ace to the set of stairs leading back up to the storefront. I hoped Ace didn’t mean it. That would just be mean. Actually, that made sense in Ace’s case. She was hot, but a bitch.
I was the last to head upstairs, with my gear over my back. As soon as I got up there, my new adventure would begin. Nothing would stop us from our trip to that so-called ‘freezing’ city. The whole concept of the place intrigued me more than it scared me. How could a whole damn city be frozen, in a desert? Why hadn’t scavengers swarmed it? Why were the Iron City folks so damn trusting? I guessed for Hammer, the prospect of getting some excellent pre-war salvage was worth it. Was he brain-damaged?
“Little Clover!” the huge red stallion bellowed down the hatch. “Your friends and ride to Mustang are waiting!” Ride to Mustang? We had a ride? Wait, why didn’t I think about how we were going to get there beforehand?
I got upstairs and looked out of the hatch, into the shop. There was Thunderhooves, talking to Ace and Lollipop. I can tell you this, two huge stallions in one room, with me the only other stallion, didn’t do wonders to my self-confidence. I felt so tiny. Sickle was nowhere to be seen, so I felt even smaller.
“G’day sport!” the massive Head of Security said, beaming at me from under his black-and-white camouflaged cap. He reached his uniformed hoof out to me. Gulping, I hesitantly shook the massive hoof. “How ya doin’?”
“Um... good, I suppose,” I replied, very sheepishly. He was just so big! “Kinda confused about all the goodwill...” I looked at the massive amount of expensive gear on our backs. “Why is everyone here so damn nice?”
Thunderhoof laughed. “I guess you could say Iron City is the city of hope!” He clapped his hoof on my back and laughed again. “The mayor heard about your predicament. I told him about you and your companions’ skill sets: Ace’s wasteland knowledge, Lollipop’s military training, Tallie’s mechanical skill, and your sheer tenacity to live. I can honestly say I was surprised when he approved the mission to assist you.” Wait what? “Yep, he made sure the funds came through for your mission, and assigned me to help you out.”
“I... I dunno what to say...” I mumbled then looked at Lollipop and Ace. They both looked just as confused as me.
Tallie climbed off my back and looked up at the massive stallion. “Um... what... what does that entail?” she asked in a small voice, hiding behind my foreleg.
“Well, kiddo,” Thunderhoof Facecracker said, stooping low to try and make himself less intimidating, “I’m going to give you and your friends a lift out to a forward operations base, where my guys are doing some recon and strategizing. Then, when we have a plan, we’ll sort out a squad to keep you guys company so we can make sure you get out of there safely! Should be easy as pie. All you guys have to do is look for salvage, and do what you gotta do!”
“Guys?” Tallie said, looking a little hurt. “But we’re all girls!” She came out from behind my leg and put her hands on her hips.
Thunderhoof looked at me. “Clover’s not a girl,” he said, stifling a chuckle.
“You mean Queen Daisy?” Ace said, loading some orange-tinged shells into her shotgun. Did we get them from here too? No wait, those were the same ones she’d lifted from the armoury a few days back.
Thunderhoof laughed and clapped my back when he saw my face quickly go from my jolly light grey to a very tomatoey red. “Right, ladies!” he said with a chuckle. “Are we all set to go?” This wasn’t happening. No way. Please no.
“Yep,” Lollipop said, shifting her gear. “You got a ride for us?” She passed by the massive stallion and smiled at me.
“Coming, Queenie?” Tallie giggled up at me.
“Zip it,” I said, looking down at her. That just made her laugh and crawl up onto my back. She was cute could be really annoying sometimes.
The soldier stallion nodded at Lollipop and followed her out of the shop. Sickle came down another set of stairs with a big smile on his face. “Another good sale, right?” he asked Hammer, who laughed and slung a foreleg around his brother.
“We make good team!” Hammer said in his regular overly-loud manner. “Funds clear, yes?” His brother nodded. “We’re rich!”
“Let’s get outta here before he gets too excited,” Ace said, nudging me in the ribs. “We got a job to do.” I was quick to follow her out as Hammer accidently knocked a lamp off the table with his dancing.
The sun was making its way into the sky. It was still not enough to light up the small square we were in, though. “Now that we’re all here, we can get going!” Thunderhoof said, clapping me on the back once more. These bruises were going to last forever.
He marched through one of the passages out onto the street, and there, standing before us, was the very same APC we’d ridden in yesterday. It looked even more imposing and majestic with the light of the rising sun shining from behind it.
On the top of it reclined a pink mare with a poofy blue mane. She blew a gum bubble, and looked down at us. “We rolling out?” she asked in a young, friendly voice. At Thunderhoof’s nod, she leaped into the open hatch, grabbed onto the machinegun on top, and pulled a handle on the side of it. It let out a very satisfying crack as a huge round loaded. “Yeehaw!”
“Impressive,” I said, then followed Ace to the back of the APC. All of us clambered into the back, and sat down on the uncomfortable military seats. There was nopony else in there though, just Ace, Lollipop, Tallie, me, and the APC crew, plus one hulk of a stallion.
Now, where was that fun, little snake-y game...?
--- --- ---
The ride to Mustang was just as uneventful as the one to the Stable. Same barren landscape with the occasional shrub. I could have sworn that a tumbleweed was following us. Stalkerweed...
The rising sun cast beautiful shadows over the tops of the mountains as we approached them. I stood up at one point, and walked to the front of the APC. Poking between the two cabbies, I looked through the armor-covered slits that served as front windows.
In the distance loomed a large city with several skyscrapers. A testament to the land before the war, the sprawling metropolises, the masses of ponies with important desk-jobs, a time with no daily fear of being killed. The dark clouds over the city and the odd snowy-white blanketing some of the buildings were strange, though.
Strange as it was, I didn’t get a chance to get a great look at it, as we swerved off the old road and into a small, makeshift camp with sandbags forming walls around it and camouflage netting over the main areas. A couple of snipers lay on a small pallet of wood, peering into the city through scopes. Machine-guns poked out of a nest, too. It was a fairly defendable outpost. It was quiet though, and I could smell the quickly-becoming-familiar scent of gunpowder.
The door of the APC dropped down with a loud clang as it hit the hard-packed dirt. We walked out of the cold metal box and into the desert’s warm air and into the camp, following Thunderhoof. We were met by another red earth pony soldier in the same uniform as the head of security.
“This them?” the new officer asked Thunderhoof, pointing at us. Thunderhoof nodded and the new soldier walked over to us. “Ladies and gent, I’m Captain Shellshock. I understand you’re the research group sent by Spring Flowers, yes?”
“Yep,” Ace said with an enthusiastic nod. “That’s us! Ready to research the fuck out of that city!” She grinned and threw the captain a punch on the shoulder. “What’s the skinny on what we’re dealing with, eh? Got a plan?”
The captain looked annoyed. I guessed Ace wasn’t making a great first impression. He frowned and cleared his throat. “Yeah, we got a plan.” He jerked his head at a tent further into the camp, then started to lead us there.
“Status report,” Thunderhoof said, walking alongside the captain. His bulk compared to Shellshock made the Captain look like a wind-up toy. “Anything interesting?”
The Captain shook his head. “Raiders are staying in their shitholes, nothing around the perimeter of concern, and just a little bitching from the forward recon about the heat, but that’s it.”
The Head of Security smiled. “Tell them to head back, I reckon we’ve got what we need.” He opened the flap to the tent for the captain then nodded to us. “Come on, we’re burning sunlight here.”
We followed the captain through the tent, Thunderhoof following us in. Radio equipment crammed the inside of the tent, packed so tightly all around the edges that it was almost too cramped to get a look at the huge map in the middle.
“Right, the game plan,” Thunderhoof said, rubbing his chin. “What do you have for me, Cappy?” He looked at the captain expectantly.
The captain walked over to the map and grabbed a pointer. “Okay, the expeditionary group will make an insertion here,” he said, pointing at the outskirts of a town. “The riverbed that cuts into the city is dried up, so they’ll walk along it.” They? We were right there watching. “We’ll be providing cover for you to punch through raider lines.”
“R-Raider lines?” I stammered, looking at the map. “We’ll be in raider territory?”
The captain raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you really thought you wouldn’t be anywhere near raiders in the slightest?” He crossed his forelegs, leaning on the table and looked down on me with disapproval. Something about that cold stare was unsettling.
“I...um... I thought it would be something like... like pockets, y’know?” I gave him a sheepish smile. “Pockets.” I looked at the red line drawn around the city. “Not a whole bloody line of ‘em.”
The captain just huffed with amusement. “Thank Luna we aren’t sending you in alone. You wouldn’t last two minutes.” He poked the map again. “We’ll be punching a hole in there for you to break through. After that, our guys will get you past the lines, into the red zone.”
“Red zone?” Tallie asked, her head only just poking over the desk, even on her tippy toes. “Wassat?” She looked at the captain, then dipped her head back down, leaving only her eyes above the level of the table.
“The Red Zone’s the dead pony’s land,” the captain explained. “Nothing but unbreathable air, ice, and snow.” He smiled. “Like a regular vacation.”
“Fun,” Lollipop said, followed by a loud zip. She and Ace had already put on their coats. “We going or what?”
“Not done with the plan,” the captain said. “You need to get to MRF, right?” Ace nodded. “Right,” he continued, “here’s the route you’ll be taking. First, along the riverbed...”
He went on to guide us along the map, all the way to the facility we needed to get to. The route involved a sewer, a couple miles’ trek through the city, a large bridge, and a city square before finally reaching the facility. It was going to be a magical journey of walking, then some walking, then a lot more walking.
“Clear?” Shellshock asked. We all nodded. The plan was fairly clear: get in, blow shit up, get out. “Right, I think we’re ready to move out. I see Hammer suited you all up.” By that point we’d all gotten our gear on. My new coat felt poofy and lovely. “Just need our guys to show up, then you’ll all be good to go.”
“Sir!” a mare barked from behind me, making me and Tallie jump. She landed right on my back somehow. I guess the wings helped to some extent. “Deltas reporting for duty, sir!” The voice belonged to an olive-green unicorn mare with a black mane and a green beret. A weird patch adorned her shoulder. Across her back rested a very impressive shotgun. Unlike Ace’s, it was automatic and a little bigger. On the side she’d scratched ‘Smile ‘n’ wait for the flash’.
“Ah!” the captain exclaimed with a smile. “Sergeant Mayflower, this is the ‘research group’ you’ll be escorting.”
The Sergeant looked us over skeptically. The only one she seemed impressed with was Lollipop. “You look like the only damn one here who can fight. You an ex-raider or something?”
“Hey!” Ace said. “I can probably fight better than you, bitch!”
The sergeant was unfased. “Yeah, right, pretty-mare. Go brush your mane.” She dismissed my friend, which made me a little livid, but she was a soldier and I was a coward, so I said nothing.
She turned her attention back to Captain Shellshock, and saluted. “Sir, Delta is ready to move out on your orders.” With that, she trotted out the tent flap and back out into the desert.
Ace just looked at me. I shrugged. Then Ace smiled. “I like her.” Seriously? What a weirdo. She looked at the captain. “Can we go now?”
The captain nodded and gestured to the tent flap. “You know the plan,” he said. “The sergeant will guide you through the rest.” He looked at Thunderhoof. “Your boys ready?”
“Yeah, mate!” Thunderhoof grinned. “Locked, loaded, and raring to go.”
“Good,” the captain said, saluting the huge stallion. “Let’s get this show on the road, sir!” the captain himself said with a smile and trotted out after us.
It was a good thing we hadn’t kept our coats on after leaving Hammer and Sickle’s place. In our coats, with the sun fully up, I could see how hot it really got in the Ponave. It was bearable, but still uncomfortable.
In front of us stood a small group of ponies, each with their own beret, not green like Mayflower’s, but black. Unlike the other soldiers they all wore white uniforms. Even Mayflower had stripped off her black jacket and replaced it with a white one. There were five ponies in total: Mayflower, a dark purple unicorn stallion with a sniper rifle, a smiling light-green unicorn mare with several satchels and an assault rifle, chatting with a yellow earth pony stallion, and finally, a larger grey stallion with a huge battle-saddle on his back, hooked into two large machine guns. Each one wore in military equipment, and looked like they were ready for war.
“Attention!” the sergeant barked at her soldiers. Even Lollipop jumped. She’d been eyeballing the stallion’s saddle. I couldn’t blame her; those big guns were impressive. “Fillies and colts, lets load and lock, and roll and rock. Double time!” The soldiers saluted and started to trot forward the camp exit. Mayflower turned to us. “Get moving, civies, we ain’t got all day.”
“Yes ma’am, right away ma’am,” I said, stumbling over my hooves then following the soldiers.
“Good luck!” the captain said from inside the camp. “You’re gonna need it.”
Soon, my companions and I found ourselves walking side-by-side with the soldiers, a kilometer away from the checkpoint. The huge skyscrapers loomed into the dark grey clouds above the city, piercing into the heavens themselves. Around them lay thousands and thousands of buildings, each varying in size and level of disrepair. A chill drifted past us, radiating from the city itself.
I almost fell flat on my face when the sergeant elbowed me in the ribs. Did she have the right to do that? Assault a civilian like that? Not that I couldn’t take it, but this mare was getting awfully close to the line. “Here,” she said, holding out a small round devicel with an earbud on one and a microphone on the other. “Communications earbloom.” I looked back to see everyone but Tallie had put one on. The griffon looked it over several times in her hands. The sergeant grabbed my face and dragged it back to to meet hers. “You lose it, I’ll lose you. Got it?”
“Like... you won’t be able to find me?” I asked, hopefully. She wouldn’t be able to find me because she wouldn’t be able to communicate, right?
“No, I mean I will leave your sorry ass behind,” she barked. “It’s an expensive piece of army-issue equipment, and even more valuable in this day and age. It’s worth more than you, little colt, and don’t you forget it.” She growled and got back to walking. “Fucking civilians... barging in on my op...”
I stood still, frozen in place, my jaw hanging open and tears forming in my eyes. Did she... no... no, she couldn’t have... the only thing that brought me back to earth was a small shake from Ace.
Her beautiful face appeared before me. “Hey, snap out of it, Clover. If she leaves you behind, I’ll gut her with my machete, then blow her head off with my shotgun, okay?” She smiled at me. “Then I’ll come back and get you.”
Honestly, I believed her. She could kick that SMG-toting, spittle-flinging monster of a mare’s ass. She definitely wouldn’t leave me behind, either. If there was anything I knew about Ace in the short time we’d been travelling, she’d been nothing but loyal to me. She even picked the earbloom out of my hoof and fit it around my ear.
“TESTING!” a voice inside my ear shouted. I looked over my shoulder and saw Tallie smiling widely back at me with a very smug look on her face. “I guess it works.”
I rolled my eyes and got back to walking. Lollipop whistled some sort of marching tune, encouraging us to pick up our hooves and walk along with her. Even the little light-green unicorn grinned and joined in with us. It was funny watching the little mare march along beside us, a little red curl of her mane poking out from under her beret and bobbing along with the tune. The rest of her mane was tucked into a tight bun at the back of her head.
She even began to sing along with the tune!
“We'll sing a song, a soldier's song,” she began, “With cheering rousing chorus / As round our blazing fires we throng / The starry heavens over us / Impatient for the coming fight / And as we wait the morning's light / Here in the silence of the night / We'll chant a soldier's song.” Her voice was beautiful. It was smooth, and filled with delight.
Better yet, I recognised the song! It was an old Emerald Island marching song, used during the war. I couldn’t help myself. It’d been way too long since I’d even tried to sing, the last time being with Ace.
“Soldiers are we / whose lives are pledged to the Emerald isles / Some have come from a land beyond the waves / Sworn to be free / No more our ancient sire land / Shall shelter the despot or the slave / Tonight we man the gap of danger / In Emerald cause, come woe or weal / 'Mid cannons' roar and rifles peal / We'll chant a soldier's song!” I sung along with the mare. She looked at me both with surprise and joy. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself.
“Are you from the Emerald Isles?” she asked, a slight tinge of Emerald in her accent. “Not many know that song!”
“Aye,” I replied. “Well, my father was. I was born out in Federation land.” I smiled wide at the little mare. “And yourself?”
She nodded back to me. “Aye, came to Iron City when I was a wee filly.” She grinned up at me. She wasn’t that tiny, but she was still small. “Were you a soldier? I heard a lot of soldiers singing that when I was wee.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Nah, I’ve never been a soldier,” I replied, then smiled. “It’s just a damn fine song to belt out while on the piss.”
That made the mare laugh, even making her slug me on the shoulder. Ace blinked and looked at us, then trotted up between the mare and me. “What you talking about?” she asked, totally faking innocence. She looked at me and smiled. “Nice singing.”
“What happened to me being shit at singing?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ace blushed a little. “Uh... it must have been the song. That was a much more fun song.” She smiled and shoved me a little. “Now, what were you two talkin’ about?”
The mare just rolled her eyes. “Relax, ya daft mare. I ain’t interested.” She giggled, and shoved me again. “I just found out your friend here is an Islander.”
“Ah, so national pride?” Ace asked with a smirk. “Both of you Feds.” She then looked back at Lollipop. “Huh. I’m surrounded by Feds.”
The mare just chuckled. “Not since I was a filly. We left when things got serious back on the Isles.”
“Shut it, Fuse!” the sergeant barked back at us. “You weren’t trained to get chummy with the damn civilians!” She harrumphed and kept marching.
“Yeah, kid,” the sniper pony said in a mock-condescending tone as he brushed past her. “Get moving.”
“Oh feck off, Shortsight,” Fuse snapped back with a smirk.
The stallion looked back, as if a nerve had been pinched. “Ouch, Fuse. That stung.” He pouted a little. “It’s Farsight!”
“Doesn’t stop you from being short-sighted,” the little light green unicorn shouted up to the sniper pony. He just chuckled and trotted off to keep up with the sergeant.
“I mean it, Fuse.” The sergeant glared over her shoulder. “Button your lip. We’re heading into the hot zone.” She turned around. “Alright fillies, from here on in, you listen to me and only me, got it?” All of us nodded in unison. Now wasn’t a time for fucking around, it appeared. “Good. Now stay low, follow me, and most of all, don’t say a fucking thing.” With that, she crouched down and started crawling up to the top of a small hill.
She waved up the sniper and the yellow earth pony stallion from the bottom of the hill. That left me, Ace, Lollipop, Tallie, Fuse, and the tank of a stallion. He managed to stay extremely quiet, even with all his gear on. The massive grey stallion with dark blue eyes sported a small but rough beard, and a shaggy mane. He took off his black beret, and replaced it with a black beanie hat with a little light blue bobble on top. He looked down at me and shrugged, then checked his gear. He seemed friendly enough.
The little mare nudged me slightly and smiled. “I’m Short Fuse, by the way,” she whispered quietly.
“Clover,” I whispered back, after making sure my com link was turned off. “That’s Tallie, Ace, and Lollipop.” I pointed to each of my companions in order and smiled. “They’re my friends.”
Fuse nodded at the huge stallion. “That’s Featherweight. We just call him Tank, or Gunny, or Fatty.”
The stallion rolled his eyes. “It’s muscle,” he whispered back, and smiled.
“I said shut up,” the sergeant said flatly over the comlink. “What part of that did you not understand, Fuse?”
“The ‘up’ part, ma’am,” Fuse replied, crossing her hind legs. “My legs are already shut.”
Well that made me burn a little red. Time to find a distraction!
“Cut the crap, Fuse,” the sergeant ordered. “We’re just about ready, so get your asses together.”
Fuse nodded and looked at the big stallion. He nodded back.
I looked up at Sergeant Mayflower on the top of the hill as she peered down through a pair of binoculars. She motioned for the yellow earth pony to roll towards her to give her access to the radio he had on his back. She flicked a few buttons and picked up the receiver. “Sir, green light, we’re good to move.” She looked back and smirked. “Everyone, up here, now!”
We all shuffled up the hill and huddled down. “What’re we lookin’ at?” Lollipop asked, looking over the side. We were hardly even a kilometer from the river. There was a bridge not too far from it, with two large towers, and reinforced barricades mounted on it. Rough-looking ponies, some in torn coats and warm clothes, milled around on it. They were all filthy, and genuinely nauseating to look at. Thank Floyd I didn’t have binoculars. Worst of all were the bodies. Oh, the desecrated bodies. Mutilated bodies hung from thick chains and meat hooks over the side of the bridge, and some hung from the towers. I felt sick to my stomach, but I wasn’t afraid. I was angry, like there was some sort of righteous fury burning deep down. That was new...
“That’s the insertion point,” Mayflower said, pointing down the hill. “And, before you ask, you dolt, we’re waiting for our distraction.” I loved how she said dolt, as in singular, as in me.
The city sprawled out before us, heavy clouds above our heads now. A cold wind whistled through the buildings. All of them had blown-out windows and in varying states of decay and neglect. Most of the floors in the taller buildings had collapsed downward, leaving gaping holes in the structure. I think one had even been blown apart, judging by the scorch marks and massive holes in the walls.
The eerie silence, broken only by the whistling wind, felt deafening. Two dull thumps in the distance broke the silence, then another, and another, almost rhythmically. A new kind of whistling pierced the wind, followed by a bright explosion on the bridge, then shouting and screaming. Another shell hit right underneath one of the towers, shattering the supports and sending splinters and shards of wood in every direction. Three ponies clutched at their faces and chests, trying to pull wood out of them as the tower fell to the ground. One of the ponies inside fell out at the last moment, only to be crushed beneath the rubble.
Ponies scattered in every direction, trying to escape the bombardment. Shrapnel cut down some while others were blown to smithereens. The event slowed down to a crawl in my mind. Each torn limb sailed through the air. Corpses flew majestically by. It was horrific, but I just couldn’t find the will to care. I was happy that they were dead. They were monsters, butchers, murderers. Justice, as disgusting as it was, was served.
“THUNDERHOOOOOOOOOOOF!” a battle cry screamed. I looked in the direction of the shout.
“FAAAAAAAAAAAACECRACKER!” The massive yellow stallion, now wearing a suit of awesome combat armour, bounded over the hill, followed by several other soldiers, each echoing his battlecry. He was wearing an intricate battle saddle with two machine guns mounted underneath a massive cannon.
He charged down the hill, carving a bloody path through the raiders. His machine guns chewed through the outliers, and his cannon blasted them into giblets. The raiders tried to return fire, but their badly-maintained weapons were no match for the titanic stallion. He was a one-stallion massacre.
“Go, go, go!” the sergeant shouted as she charged down the hill, toward the low wall along the riverside. Her assault rifle spat bullets at the few surviving raiders as she ran.
Fuse and the sniper got up and followed, keeping pace, while me and my friends stood there, confused. Lollipop was the only one to get the picture, and launched herself down the hill in a lime-green flash. She screamed some sort of battle cry, but I couldn’t hear it over the thunder of heavy weapons and mortar impacts.
Ace fired her shotgun into the air and grinned. “Yeehaw!” she screamed as she followed Lollipop over the edge. The sniper followed her closely, occasionally looking up at the buildings on the other side of the river. Looking for snipers, no doubt. If I was a sniper, I would have done the same. Wait, I was a sniper! Well, not officially. So I was off the hook.
“Get moving!” the big stallion shouted, shoving my back. Tallie squeaked in surprise, digging her claws into my back. The pain jump-started my adrenaline, and my hooves decided to sprint down the hill without me telling them to. Ah, sweet, sweet adrenaline. Distraction from pain, fatigue, and even fear. I loved it.
Bullets and chunks of cobblestone from the explosions on the bridge flew past me, crashing into the ground and tearing up dirt. With the adrenaline in my system and the strength in my legs, I quickly started catching up with Ace.
Another shell slammed near us, and a scream rang out. A badly-mangled foreleg landed in Ace’s path, tripping her up. She slammed into the dirt face-first and tumbled forward. She tried to pull herself out of the dirt, but we were out of time. Catching up quickly, I wrapped a hoof under her torso and yanked her up, barely breaking my stride. With a surprised yell, she back to her hooves.
Up ahead, the sergeant vaulted over the wall, followed by the radio pony. Lollipop stopped and looked back. She waved her hoof at us, then pointed her weapon at the raider outpost. “Come on! Come on! Move it, slowpokes!” she shouted. The mare looked downrange, and fired her weapon. Not very accurately, but it was enough to make any entrenched raider keep their head down. They might be stupid monsters, but they were smart enough to duck when the bullets started flying.
The sniper pony leaped over the wall, followed by Ace. It was my turn, which made it a bad time to think about what was behind it. How long was the drop? Was there a miscalculation? I couldn’t swim! Was there water? My hooves of course didn’t want to listen, as they just kept going.
“Just go, you big baby. Sheesh, of course I had to be stuck with a pussy,” the little demon in my head whispered. I could barely hear it, like it was a million miles away, but it was still perfectly clear, and it was terrifying. He was still there, reading my thoughts, ready to crush my dreams.
“Quit being a drama queen and jump!”
“Fine!” I yelled and placed one hoof on the wall, then used my momentum to fling my hind legs over. Neither my hind nor my front hooves found their way to the floor first, but my face sure did.
“Get up, you goddamn pussy!” the sergeant yelled in my ear as she yanked me out of the cold muck. I had fallen about four meters into the riverbed, and left a perfect imprint of my face in the mud. It wore the same shocked expression and everything.
Soon, Lollipop flung herself over the wall, then landed perfectly on her hooves, followed by the heavy pony. Both seemed to land with grace, even with the massive guns and packs they sported. The heavy weapons stallion fixed his beanie and nodded at the sergeant. She held a hoof up to her short range communications device. “Sir, we’re in. Going dark.”
“Good, now get to work!” was the reply from Thunderhoof, followed by a long burst from his guns. “Alright boys, that’s enough! Retreat and regroup!” With that, the line went dead.
“And that’s that,” Mayflower said, looking at the group: Fuse, the radio-pony, the sniper, the heavy, and then my friends. We were definitely not your average outfit. I wondered if that was a good thing or not. “We’re on our own.” Mayflower pointed her rifle down the river and waved a hoof. “Everyone, on me. Featherweight, cover the rear.”
“Yes, ma’am,” was the fairly soft reply. Featherweight’s voice was soft and smooth, definitely not as gruff as I thought it would be. He cocked his guns and nodded at us. “Better get moving, ladies and gent. I don’t want to have to carry you.”
Ace nodded and loaded her shotgun. “Let’s do this.” She pulled up her hood, and followed after the soldiers, Lollipop in tow. Lollipop’s battle-saddle produced a strange whirring and clicking as the machine gun reloaded. Tallie bopped me lightly on the head with a fist, and nodded forward. It was a good thing she was on my back. I had two weapons ready and waiting, while she didn’t. Me being a meat shield was much better than her walking and defenseless.
We could still hear the shouting and cursing of the raiders as they recovered. I tried to tune it out, but the screams of the injured still managed to reach us through the murky air.
The air was getting cooler and mustier as we trudged through the muddy riverbed. The sounds from the bridge slowly petered out, leaving just the sounds of our breathing and the squelch of hooves in mud. The wind whistled through the ruins creeping up around us. Tall buildings in various states of disrepair rose up along the river, towering over us.
This was true wasteland - the dilapidated reminders of days gone by, times when you could go anywhere without the fear of being shot or robbed. We even navigated around a small river cruise boat. Judging from the weathered signs on board, it had once been a tour boat. A boat like that would have been a serious life-changer in the wastes, instead of being a luxury. Ponies would have been able to live a decent life nowadays with one of them. Cruising out onto the open waters, out of reach of most beasties. Find a nice little cove, and you could live out your days in peace. It was a pity there was no water left in the river, or I would have climbed aboard to check it out.
The whole place was a silent memorial to the ponies who had once had the ambition to build from the ground to the sky. The ponies who built a better future. A stark contrast to the ponies of today, whose only ambitions were to survive, kill for pleasure, or just get rich. Ponies like Double Down.
Things had to change.
--- --- ---
Remember when I said that silence was my favourite, and how good it was? Fuck that. Fuck silence. Silence is fucking scary when you are in the unknown, surrounded by the massive structures of a dead city. There was no sound to be heard at all. Not even the squelching of mud, which was more and more frozen solid as we made our way deeper into the city.
The buildings looming over us made me shake in my horseshoes. They were getting darker and more ominous the further we went. The whistling winds that cut through the silence made it worse. I thought I could make out voices in them, but that was probably just my imagination. Just to be certain, I brought up my EFS. No red blips. Phew. Each of my comrades and the soldiers came up a ghostly white on the compass. Thankfully, that was it.
“They say this is the city of ghosts,” Fuse said from right beside me, making me jump. She stifled a snicker. “Calm down, lad. Aye, that’s why most scavengers don’t dare come here.”
“G-ghosts? How do you mean?” I whispered to her. Tallie was shivering, and huddled close to my neck for extra warmth.
“Well, the scavengers who do come out of here in one piece, say they can see things that aren’t there, hear things that aren’t there. Sometimes, they’ll see something for a split second, and when they look back, it’ll be gone.” She smiled at me, then looked to the buildings around her. “They’d hear whispers on the wind. Then there’s always the scavengers that don’t make it back...”
“W-What happens to them?” I asked with a gulp. I already had an idea.
Fuse shrugged. “No clue. They’re just gone without a trace. Spooky, eh?”
I hesitantly nodded. “Yeah...” I looked behind me, half looking for a way back, and half checking for ghosts behind me. I only saw Featherweight, who just nodded and smiled. “Spooky.”
I was starting to think that coming here was a very bad idea. It was cold, silent, and scary. Then again, what in the wasteland wasn’t scary? The zombie horde that Ace and I had run from was fucking terrifying. Being in a warzone and watching Separatist soldiers gunned down by the Resistance soldiers had been gruesome to watch. Sneaking around under the Separatists’ noses was even scarier. I’d seen worse than this so-called ‘city of ghosts,’ so why was I so scared?
The sergeant stopped up ahead, and thumped her hoof against the dark blue dirt below her, the dirt cracking underneath. She turned to us and smirked. “We’re heading onto the ice. We should take a break. It’s only going to be harder from here.”
“How ‘bout over there?” the sniper asked, pointing at a small cargo dock beside the dilapidated warehouse. “Those boxes should burn pretty good.”
“Good thinking, Farsight,” Sergeant Mayflower said. “Get on with it then.” She looked at us civilians. “Alright, rest your hooves, fillies. This might be the last break you’re getting.”
It was enough for us. Even Tallie perked up at the mention of a nice warm fire. I was also tickled by the thought of warmth.
It wasn’t long before us civilians huddled around a burning crate. There wasn’t anything inside it that had survived the ages, but it still burned well enough. I sat beside Ace, with Tallie between my forelegs, warming up at the fire. Lollipop chatted with Featherweight about his guns. Farsight and Mayflower looked over a large map.
“Nice city, eh?” Ace asked, nudging me in the ribs. “Seems like quite the holiday destination.”
“Are you kidding?” I asked. Ace’s expression of joy and fun turned into an unamused flat stare. “Right, right... sorry.”
“Don’t sweat it,” she said, slapping my back with a hoof. “But it’s kind of nice though, right? A nice change from the hot wastes.”
I leaned back and looked up at the sky. The clouds up ahead were slowly starting to break, followed by a slow release of... what was that? It was like little flecks of white ash, falling over the city. Wait, was that was snow was? It was... beautiful.
I watched the little flecks fall down, whisking through the air in a beautiful dance. A large fleck caught my eye as it drifted through the cold air, floating from side to side. It drifted its way over to us, and plopped right onto Ace’s nose. She went cross-eyed and giggled. “Snow... never thought I’d see it myself.”
The snow glistened on Ace’s beautiful beige coat. Her eyes shone from under her hood as the snow melted. Her wide smile mimicked the majesty of the falling snow; pretty and white.
Then she caught me staring. She chuckled as I looked away, blushing. “Hey, I know I’m pretty,” she said, nudging me. “It’s hard not to stare, I get it.” She was just making it worse!
“Sheesh, get a room!” Tallie squeaked from between my forelegs. “Don’t you two get all lovey-dovey ‘n’ shit. We’re on a mission.”
“She’s right,” Farsight said as he approached the fire. He warmed up his hooves a little before turning his attention to us. Mayflower stood at the edge of the dock with a pair of binoculars and putting on a balaclava. I could only see eyes, but a small white cloud marked where her mouth was. “This place is pretty dangerous. Raiders on one side, who knows what on the other.”
“Well, let’s just get in and get out then,” Fuse said from the other side of the fire, standing back up. “Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, right?”
“Wrong,” Featherweight said, adjusting his machine guns on his saddle. “Nothing is quite so simple, Short Fuse.” He walked over to us, adjusting his beanie. “This is a city, not a field. The obstacles are large, unlike you, little one.” He placed a large hoof on the little mare’s head.
“Ah feck off, ya big git,” she sneered, batting his hoof away, then giggled. “Whatever the obstacles, we’ll get through ‘em, right?”
Featherweight chortled and smiled. “Yes. I didn’t say we wouldn’t be able to. I said ‘don’t expect it to be easy.’”
“And with that steaming nugget of philosophy, we better get ready to go,” the radio operator said, picking up his radiopack and putting his glasses back on his muzzle. He pulled off his beret and put on a protective helmet. “We’re close to the Red Zone.” He looked at the sergeant. “Sarge, I’m getting some weird interference. I reckon it’s the storm, but you never know.”
The sergeant nodded, and readied her rifle. “Let’s hope it is just the storm.” She turned to us. “Alright, let’s move out. We got a fifteen-minute-trek to the next insertion point.”
“Another insertion point?” Lollipop asked, standing up. She didn’t bother pulling the hood up over her head. It probably wouldn’t have fit with her mohawk, anyway.
Mayflower nodded. “Insertion into the next phase. The walk through the Red Zone.” She raised her assault rifle and got to walking. “Y’know, the place you can’t breathe without your mask.”
Oh boy. Another responsibility that could kill me if I got it wrong. My life was just getting buried in responsibility. Before, my life consisted of ‘buck the apples, keep the farm in line, and make sure to get enough sleep to do it all again.’ Now, I had to keep myself alive, get revenge for my brother, and look out for Tallie. Add ‘make sure I don’t suffocate’ to the list... I sighed. The list went on and on.
There wasn’t time to think though. The stallion shoved me. That told me that we really had to move. Tallie tried to climb into my hood, barely fitting and huddled up. “Let’s go!” she said, tugging on my ear. “I hate it here. Too cold.” I didn’t think it was that bad...
“So what’s the deal with the radio, Fixer?” Fuse asked, hanging back with the radio pony. Come to think of it, he didn’t look like just a radio pony. Quite a few tools poked out of his saddlebag, and he wore a little terminal attached to his hoof. Not a pipbuck like mine, but a terminal.
“I dunno, Fuse,” was his reply. “Getting little bursts of static, so by the time we get deeper into the Red Zone, there’s a high possibility that we’ll be cut off from base.”
“That’s no good....” Fuse said, but then she smiled. “Still, not the end of the world, eh?”
Fixer chuckled and looked at Fuse. “Yeah, sure. Dammit, Fuse. You’re way too happy to be a soldier.”
“Never!” Fuse said with a grin, then trotted forward.
“Enough!” Sergeant Mayflower called back. “All of you shut your faces and keep moving.” Charming.
“Bitch,” Ace whispered back to me. “It’s like she’s me, but with a massive stick up her ass. And not the fun type.” There was a fun type of stick to shove up your ass? I shook my head. I wasn’t going to ask. “She’s really grinding my gears.”
“Shut it, filly,” Mayflower called back. “We’re still in raider territory.” I didn’t see any red blips, so I figured we were fine.
Suddenly, a white blip flashed on my EFS to my right, but when I turned to look for the source, it vanished, and I found myself staring at a massive skyscraper. Was something watching us? Was my EFS acting up? I reckoned it was just the storm, if anything, just like the radio. The only things in the area were raiders, and there was no way they were friendly.
Trudging through the riverbank and only slipping on ice a few times, we started to make good time. Occasionally, Mayflower would stop us and scan the immediate area, but we never encountered any resistance. Just falling snow and icy river banks.
We carefully turned around a corner and came across a massive iron gate inside a huge pipe. “And here we are,” Mayflower announced, and looked at the little Emerald Isles mare. “Fuse, get to work.”
“Aye ma’am!” Fuse said with a spring in her step. She pulled out several different explosives from her armour, and trotted up to the gate.
“The rest of you, defensive positions,” Mayflower ordered. The rest of the soldiers took up strategic positions, fanning out with eyes down the sights of their guns. Ace, Lollipop, and I did our best to do the same. I took up the rear of the group. I flicked a switch on my harness, and the scope of my sniper lowered over my eye.
Looking down the sight felt good. I could see things ages away, with extreme clarity. I could see an old picture hanging on a wall in a run down apartment building. It was far too dilapidated and weathered to make out anything on it, but I could still see it. This also meant I could defend myself without getting close to beasties. Great!
“Nice piece,” Farsight whispered from on top of a pile of rubble. “Never seen anything like that before.”
“Really?” I whispered back. “I found it in a basement somewhere.”
“Lucky you,” he said with a chuckle.
“Alright, chuckleheads!” Fuse yelled. “Duck and cover!!”
Everyone but me ducked their heads and held their hooves to their ears. I, of course, didn’t process the shout quite fast enough. “What?” I asked before looking at the gate.
The gate exploded in a cloud of dust that blinded and deafened me. The explosives rocked the ground below me and left a ringing in my ears. It took several moments to shake the dust from my eyes, and when I regained my sight, I saw Fuse standing there with a massive grin on her face. Small chunks of rocks bounced off her helmet and onto the ground around her.
I shook my head to clear the ringing out of my ears. Fuse had said something to Fixer, and I’d missed it.
“Nice work, Fuse,” Fixer said, picking himself up and dusting himself off.
Mayflower scoffed. “‘Nice work’ for doing her job?” Bitch. “Whatever, Fixer, we there?”
Featherweight peered inside the massive pipe and smiled. “All clear, ma’am.”
Fixer nodded at Mayflower. “Yeah, just through there is the Red Zone. We should put our masks on now.”
“You heard the stallion!” Mayflower called out, pulling a gasmask out of her saddlebag and slipping it over her face. Once she had it adjusted, she put a white helmet on top of it. The rest of her team mimicked her, then my friends did too. I did have to help Tallie’s with hers, but it was mostly just making sure the mask was secured. She got it right herself, but I was just paranoid.
I tugged on the straps of my gasmask and pulled them tight. It took a little more effort to breathe at first, but soon enough I got used to it. The visor was clear, and all in all, it was fairly comfortable.
“Everyone geared-up?” Farsight asked, his voice muffled by his mask. We all nodded.
“Then, fillies and gentlecolts,” Mayflower announced, looking very heroic on the rim of the pipe, “once more into the breach. Move out!” She disappeared inside. Her soldiers grunted in in unison as they followed her in. The only one behind me was Featherweight, who again encouraged me forward with a gentle push.
“Let’s go, Clover,” he said with a calming voice. “I’ve got your back.”
With that, I marched into the pipe.
We were heading into the Red Zone.
Footnote: No Level Up!
This chapter was cut in half due to unacceptable production times.
Special thanks to Kal, Adder1, Matkingos, and Julep for editing and art.
Sorry my chapters have been late recently. There’s no excuse this time, I’ve just had no motivation. I promise I will pick up my game and write more frequently. I also got a job recently, so there goes more time...
That, and one of his editors is a poor excuse for a friend, but a fantastic slacker, who sometimes forgets whose stories he’s supposed to be working on. - Dimestream
Hobo is very merciful writer and won’t behead Dimestream. - a friendly hobo
Stats
Page generated in 0.036 seconds
Total duration
1,097 users online
2,359,817 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Good chapter as usual and this Red Zone is pretty cool
surprised there isn't a horde of ghouls yet though 
Th' city sounds like something from Metro.
The chapter was worth the wait
Some beige mare seems a little bit too jealous about her not-friend friend 
I may have forgotten something from the last chapter but where did Zippo go? 
Look forward too the next half
2600022
Just you wait.
2600275
It was heavily inspired by Metro 2033.
2600590
Honestly, I kinda missplaced him. But, that will be addressed next chapter, don't worry.
Gonna be aweshum!
2602068
as do I!
2602895
Its how I start most of mine.
2603185makes sense.
2603185
You can't remember every element of the scenery all the time 
Don't worry about it
Russian / communist ponies? Possible Leeroy Jenkins reference? Why yes, this chapter is indeed awesome. The gas masks and winter gear make it that much better. For some reason, I've always found arctic-like combat gear to be visually appealing. Gas masks as well, because why not? This city indeed sounds a lot like something from the Metro games, and definitely something that Fallout needs more of. Not necessarily cold weather, but the sort of quiet, eerie place that has you on edge all the time, and requires specialized gear to survive in.
"Checkity check check. Let’s go!"
Goddammit why are you so adorable Tallie?!
"Stalkerweed"
“It’s like she’s me, but with a massive stick up her ass. And not the fun type.”
Yup. Little Acey likes it in the wrong hole
Corrections this time seem to mostly just be some typos. Not bad.
> with sandbags forming walls around it
Double space after "it"
> lets load and lock
"let's"
> If there’s anything I knrw about Ace
"knew". Also, technically, to have the correct tense, that should be "If there [was] anything"
> She stifled a snicker
Double space after "she"
> The zombie horde that Ace and had run from was fucking terrifying
"that Ace and {I} had run from"
> I did have to help Tallie’s with her’s
"hers"
2620085
Tallie is best griffin.
Ace likes a lot of things.
Merci for the corrections!
I think you need to run this one over a few more times- I noticed a bunch of weird little errors.
Also, I might have missed it or forgotten in the break since last chapter, but where's zippo?
2603881
some people call them raiders, i call them bitches
I've recently found this story and have caught up.
You know what I just recently found out? Something related to RP, but I doubt that that would be an interesting story. Nevertheless, this one is. It reeled me in at first, the setting catching my intellectual gaze. Then it caught me. I laughed at how the characters conversed, there is so many moments in this that I am loving. Thank you for making this, otherwise I wouldn't have had a good day today.
Remember: If you hadn't made this story, I would never have had a good day, I wouldn't have laughed, either. Good day, sir.
3477998
Hearing someone say that is the best thing a writer can hear. Thank you SO much. Seriously.
Why is this showing up as having a new chapter?