Fallout Equestria : Pariahs

by SkyDreams

FOE: Pariahs chapter 2

Chapter 2: Ash and Dust

"I'm not an executioner, Security saves ponies."

The walk to the NSCDC was relatively uneventful up to this point, aside from Cherry's cutiemark story. I quickly discover that the wasteland was packed full of nothing, nothing from one side of the Galloping Plains to the gorge on the other side. The only thing to keep the eyes trained on was those all too familiar distant gray mountains. Sandy Candy, seemingly the most knowledgeable of the three foals in my company, had told me that the Galloping Plains had long since been called The Blood Swath due to the number of dangers that used to roam freely. Though, Gadgette made sure most of those dangers no longer existed.

We had made it about halfway before Beet God started complaining. "This is SO boooooriiiiiing!" He flopped against the back of my neck as I kept an easy pace. "Hey Stupid, be a playa and turn up the tunes" he waved a tiny hoof down at my pipbuck.

Oh that's right, this thing had a radio! I took to remembering that energetic stallion's voice from before I had entered Hoofprint. He had a charismatic tone to his voice. Sure enough, after flipping through the dials and buttons the sweet sound of a young mare's voice came from my foreleg.

"-quiet now it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now quiet now it's time to gooo to beeeed!" The song came to a conclusion. We came in at the very end, oh well. "Gotta hand it to my girl Sweetie Belle, she can belt a soothing tune. Before we move on my little ponies I've got some news for you. I wish, oh I wish, this were on better terms. The latest news from up north, the great Hero of Hoofprint, our dearest Maintenance Mare has finally repaired her last toaster. It seems her body was carried in by some unknown friend so that her last rights could be read. To you, lone stranger, I salute. That's all for now wasteland, this is DJ PON-3 bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts." The radio cut to a much higher pitched mare than before, but I tuned her out as I stared forward in disbelief. How did he know that? Plus he mentioned me on the radio, was I famous now?

"Hey Adstrum! That's you he was talking about wasn't it!?" Cherry beamed up at me. She had kept a decent pace with me throughout the whole trip. "I saw you come in! You were all covered in soot and blood and you had her with you!"

I nodded, a tad shocked. "Y-yeah. Yeah that was me. But how did he know all of that?"

"Some say, he watches everypony from the spritebots floating about the wasteland. Always watching, always listening, woooOooo" Sandy claimed as she wiggled her hooves in front of my eyes, she must have climbed over Beet, who just groaned, to be now sitting on my head.

"What!? No! That's just stupid!" Protested Cherry as she pointed a mean look above my head.

Sandy retaliated with a simple but effective argument. "No you're stupid"

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah-huh"

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah-huh"

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah-huh"

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah-huuuuh"

"Nuh-uuuuuh!"

Nope, foals were cute but not enough for this. "Woahkay!" I silenced the two. " nopony is stupid. Lets just listen to the radio until we get there." I got a synchronized 'fine' out of the fillies.

Beet God flung his hooves up. "Finally! Thanks Stupid." What!?

"I'm not stupid!" I protested, finally put up with his name calling. I had ignored it up until now, I was trying to make a point and he was undermining me!

"Yeah you are" he reached up and patted my head.

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah-hu"

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah-hu"

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah-hu"...

.- .--. .--. .-. --- .- -.-. .... .. -. --. + -. ... -.-. -.. -.-.

The rest of the trip was spent listening to the various songs the DJ played and a few of his wasteland survival tips. Apparently bottle caps were valuable and I should save them up for bullets, food, and water. Who decided bottle caps were valuable? That pony must have been insane.

Cherry was bouncing in excitement as we approached the small series of buildings that made up the NSCDC, she had been the first to spot it. "I'm gunna find so much stuff!! And- dear Celestia's fiery clit!" what the actual fuck? Who taught this filly to swear!? Of course the other foals followed suit with their own colorful remarks as they looked upon the building’s entrance.

The first thing ‘I’ noticed was the hooks. Those terrible hooks that had been driven through some unfortunate ponies’ chests and hung from on high. Smaller hooks were left in their, peeled back, skin as a full display of what was underneath for all to see. there were two at the door, with small guns nailed to their jaws as though they were ‘guards’. This had been raider territory and what they had been doing was an act of grotesque freedom. Yet with this brutal display, something I knew in my heart as evil, the first thing that went through my mind was that they could have done more with the spikes they had forming a barrier around the door.

I nudged little Cherry toward the doors. “C’mon lets just get what we need and go.” I hoped, but severely doubted, that it would be less gruesome inside.

It wasn't.

Entering the reception room, it was plain to see that these raiders had held some sort of sick celebration before leaving behind mutilated ponies and party banners tied to the walls with entrails.

As a group, amongst gagging fillies, we quickly made our way down a hallway to the right where there was much less carnage. To be more accurate, there was no carnage anywhere. This hallway was completely clean save for a few holes that sunk into the ground below. Somepony must have been using explosives.

Cherry must have thought the same thing as she ran up to inspect the hole. Beet and Sandy clambered off my back, readying their weapons and tiny saddlebags. "Hmm, doesn't look like a mine. Judging by scratch marks, I'd say they were digging." She gave a quick look around. "There's an awful lot of them, what do you think they were looking for?"

"Oh! I bet it was some kinda raider treasure!" Beet spoke up, running to the hole. "What do you think it is? A million caps? Gems?"

Sandy trotted up and gave the colt a playful shove. "You're stupid. Why would raiders want caps? It's obviously some sort of mega weapon that The Hydra hid before Gadgette blew him up!"

"Oh yeah, cause a raider would hide his biggest weapon" cherry rolled her eyes. It was incredible to see, we had just walked through the most gruesome thing I could have imagined and these foals were carrying on like it wasn't there to begin with.

Regardless, I had to keep us on track with the mission. I was the adult after all. "Well if there is a raider treasure I doubt we'll find it here." I motioned to the dug up holes. "Maybe we can find it while we're scavenging."

The idea of actually doing a treasure hunt seemed to get them all excited for their work. "Oh! I'm gunna find it first! C'mon beet!" Sandy began to charge off down the hall before falling flat on her face as Cherry bit hard on her tail.

"Now wait just a gol'darned minute!" Cherry huffed turning to face me. "This is still raider territory even if they're gone right?"

I nodded. "I suppose so, yeah."

"Well what if there are survivors? Ponies that didn't go with The Hydra." That was the third time I had heard that name. I doubted they meant those five headed beasts at this point. "So Adstrum?"

I glanced behind me, following the filly's bright smile. Maybe there was another Adstrum behind me, no? Well okay. "So? So what?" How was I supposed to know if there were left over raiders?

"Sooooo, you have a PipBuck, duh." She rolled her eyes before pointing at my, forehoof. OH! Of course I had that. That was a thing I had. I really hadn’t been paying attention to the display thingy. What had Nocturne called it? An Eyes Forever Searcher? Yeah, that made sense. I scanned around keeping my focus on the little bars on my compass. There were the three blue ones for the foals and, dear violently penetrating star shards, there were rapidly moving red bars everywhere! 20? 30? “W-what? What’s wrong? H-how many are there?”

“I-I, there’s so many, moving all over the place” One bar in particular caught my attention, it was moving faster than the others and was pointed toward the hallway around the corner from us. “Gah! There’s one coming from over there! Everypony get behind me!” I pulled the frightened foals behind me and crouched down, ready to charge whatever dared to put these foals in danger. I knew in my heart nothing was worse than hurting a child or failing to protect them.

“D-d-don’t worry, we can fight them all. R-right adstrum?” Asked Sandy who was hugging onto Beet as he tried to load his pistol, which seemed to have jammed.

The red bar came closer and closer, in just a few moments the raider would turn the corner and I would have to barrel down the hallway to ram him into the wall. After that we could make a hasty retreat back to Hoofprint and get Somepony with ‘guns’ to clear this place out for us. Maybe Saint, he had lots of guns. “Don’t worry Sandy, We’re going to be just fine.” I whispered, feeling my heart beat faster as the idea of battle began to tickle the back of my mind.

Then I heard it, the insane laugh of the raider. It was a few feet from the corner and I could hear that ravenous clicking raiders called laughing. Wait, clicking? Just then a large husked creature sprouting two large entenne scuttled around the corner. It stopped and clicked at us before it exploded into a million tiny pieces. “HA!” Came cherry, bouncing forward with unbridled glee. “Cherry Bombs one, Radroach a big ZEEEEERROOOOOOO!” She called out, making whooping noises. Wait, when had she placed a bomb there, I hadn’t seen her move at all.

Beet groaned, letting his pistol fall to the ground in annoyance. “Radroaches!? Of course there’s a lot of them, They’re bugs!” He pushed his way out from behind me, after scooping his gun back up. “C’mon Sandy lets go find a treasure. This guy is stupid” The little filly quite happily followed behind him, chatting about what the ‘treasure’ might be.

“W-wha?” I stared at the two, in confusion, as they turned the corner. “But-” How was I supposed to know what it was? This stupid Eyes Forward Searcher only showed me red and blue. I wish it could tell you how dangerous the red bar was.

Cherry bounded back to me with a big ol’ grin. “It’s alright Adstrum, I was scared of Radroaches at first too.” She began pulling me along by my hoof. “But then I learned that they squish real good!” Were these kids crazy? It COULD have been a raider. Any of these bars could be a raider. “Oh and Don’t worry about Beet and Sandy, Beet’s pretty good with guns. He used to be a crusader you know.” A Crusader? Before I could ask she caught my, probably, obviously confused look. “Oh right, you’re stupid.” Hey! “Crusaders are foals like us that brave the wastes and survive on their own. They’re such badflanks that even the raiders wouldn’t mess with them.” The filly lead me down another surprisingly clean hallway filled with more of those sunken holes and past doors that she would peek into as we passed them.

Knowing this, I felt a ‘little’ bit better about them wandering off on their own. Periodically I could hear the sounds of a gun and then a couple red bars went out on my E.F.S.. “Oh, okay. But, what if there ‘are’ still raiders. There’s still a lot of red bars around here.”

Cherry shook her head, before peeking into another door and grinning. “I doubt it. Raiders like Radroaches about as much as anypony. If one was just wandering the halls…” Her horn lit up as she concentrated briefly. I heard a snap and the door swung open to reveal a supply closet filled with drugs and medicine, similar to the ones I found in Blaster’s old hut. Somepony had written “The Stash” in what I pretended to be red paint. “... I doubt the other red bars are going to be anything but radroaches. They’re probably the reason the halls are so clean, eating up dead pony bits.” She began selecting medicine and floating them over to my saddle bags.

I looked up and saw the trap Cherry had disarmed. A net of apple shaped pieces of metal hung above the door. They were probably meant to hit the head of whoever entered and knock them out. “So uh, You’ve done this kind of thing before?” Cherry pried open a metal crate and rifled through it, periodically floating random items she thought were useful out and into my bags.

“Oh! Well, not for Hoofprint. I’m an orphan you know. Gadgette rescued me when I was just a foal and brought me to Hoofprint. My parents were killed by raiders, Hyrda’s ponies, and Gadgette found me in their little shack.” Oh sky’s mercy! The more I heard about this Hydra the more I wanted to put a hoof through his head. “Anyway,” Cherry had moved through three boxes and moved onto to carefully floating down the metal apples, which she put into her own saddle bags. “Naturally, no pony wanted to take care of a little filly in the wasteland, not even within the protection of Hoofprint. The Orphan matron didn’t really care if we were gone for too long just so long as she got her Moondust money, So I snuck out all the time to scavenge from any place nearby. I can’t count how many times I almost got blown up by traps like these.”

For a reason I couldn't explain, I felt I never should have woken up at all. This Wasteland, it just wasn’t fair. Why should a filly be forced to live like that, forced to face danger so regularly? No foal should be without some pony to care for them.

Cherry lead me back out into the hall and began searching again. We crossed paths with a few more radroaches, which were either blown up or stomped down, along the way but continued unhinder otherwise. “I, I don’t think that’s right Cherry. You should have somepony watching after you. Somepony to-”

“Hey!” She interrupted me, turning to face me with stern eyes, as we reached a door that read ‘Fact y flo ’ “I don’t need any pony looking after me. I think I’ve proved that enough.” Honestly I was shocked, I didn’t think such a small pony could pack in so much command. She turned back for the door, opening it ever so slightly to peek inside. “Besides, the only Big Pony I ever trusted was Gadgette.” She opened the door all the way and stepped through.

Behind the door was the most massive construction I had ever seen. There were large cylinders lining the walls that reach all the way to the ceiling, surrounded by catwalks that for some reason didn’t have safety rails. There were conveyer belts running everywhere, through large spool fed machines and down to stacks of crates that remained smashed next to large metal doors. All along the belts were empty bottles. I suppose the raiders decided it would be funny to put all the bottles back after drinking them. “SWEET!” Cherry bubbled back into cheeriness. “We got to the bottles before stupid Beet and Sandy!” She canted forward, onto the factory floor and glanced at the machine. “Oh and primo wires. Doesn’t look like any of those dumb raiders thought about opening these babies up.” Staring in awe, Cherry didn’t notice one of those dug in holes and fell face first into the shallow divot. “oof”

I felt bad for her, really I did, but as I walked my way over to her upturned rump I couldn’t quite stifle my laughter. “Hey, need a hoof?” For all that talk a minute ago she was doing a fine job watching out for herself.

She just shot out a hoof at me. “Just, don’t.” Came her muffled voice before slowly lifting herself back onto all fours. She had dust and concrete pieces all over her face and oilrag. “Speak of this to nopony.” She fixed me with pint-sized eyes of death… The Death Filly.

I used a hoof to hide my smile and stifle more laughter. “Of course not.” During that moment I noticed a red bar swing madly from our right to our front. I couldn’t see anything though.

“What’s wrong?!” The filly asked, levitating one of her metal apples into the air.

I cast my eyes warily about, listening for the clicking of more radroaches. Nothing. Before I could answer Cherry, the red bar suddenly swung quickly to my left and became impossible to locate amongst the radroach bars in the other parts of the building. “I… Nothing. Must be a, a mistake with my Eyes Forever Searcher.” I turned back to Cherry to receive a look describing her sheer misfortune of being stuck with me.

“Your what?” She asked dully.

“My Eyes Forever Searcher? E.F.S., My PipBuck shows me-” I began before being interrupted by another outthrust hoof.

Cherry sighed. “I know what an E.F.S. is. But it’s not that.” She explained. I gave her my best ‘confused but not stupid’ look. How would she know? she didn’t have a PipBuck. “E.F.S. Stands for Eyes Forward Sparkle. Gadgette told me that.”

“Oh! But that doesn’t make sense, Why sparkle? It’s not particularly shiny.” I held up the PipBuck to look it over. Nope, dull… like a rock.

Cherry rolled her eyes and cast her magical glow to an access panel on one of the machines. “Duh, Magic.” She gave two snorts and got to work. She hopped into the machine, which fit her whole body, and began picking and choosing wires to pull. “Go gather bottles or something… Stupid”

Ugh! Why does everypony call me stupid?! I was learning, I was. I grumbled, walking passed her and made a point of stomping my hoof in front of her access panel. “I’m Not Stupid!” I went on my merry way and collected bottles, intelligently. I made sure not to grab cracked ones. I even found a few caps.

The business of collecting the bottles went by rather slowly as I scooped bottle after bottle into my saddle bags. Honestly, I was extremely surprised they hadn’t filled up yet. I must have collected a hundred of them, yet every time I looked into the bags they always looked like I could fit a couple extra. Cherry had moved to the last machine, always carrying more wires draped across her back as she left each of the other machines.

I had just about finished up grabbing the empty bottles before I noticed ‘IT’. It was just sitting there, out of reach and glowing it’s powerful red. A sparkle cola bottle that still had some stuff in it! I wanted it, a deep reaching memory made my mouth water. Something I couldn’t quite recall told me I loved that particular sparkle cola. It was up at the top of a conveyor belt that led to one of those big cylinders. I looked to the machine Cherry was wriggling her way into. She would be a few minutes in there, I had enough time. I began carefully climbing the conveyor belt, which was at a surprisingly steep angle, being careful to keep good hoof placement.

Getting up there wasn’t so bad until I got to the second story of the building, then everything below me seemed to wobble. Nope! Earth ponies belong on the ground! I was about to abandon my quest for sweet sparkle cola until I looked down the way I had come. I looked back toward the bottle. It was just above a catwalk, maybe there were stairs. I had to stay optimistic! I began my climb once again, it was only a few feet away anyway. I carefully made my way up, one hoof at a time until I was right next to the catwalk. I could read the bottle from here, Sparkle Cola Rad real radish flavor. Thats it! My memory of this flavor came flooding back to me. Oh buck, that bite,that zing, I needed it!

I began reaching for it, I was close enough that my hind hoof could still touch the catwalk, but the bottle was just barely out of hoof’s reach. Just a little higher, just a tiny eensy bit more aaaand- “What they hay are you doing Adstrum!” Cherry shouted. No! I stumbled slightly, causing my hoof to bat the precious bottle down the belt and toward the floor. I felt the tears well up in my eyes.

“Cherry! Catch it!!!” I watched her look on in puzzlement as the glowing red bottle clanged off the top of a machine and made for the floor faster than she could react. It was going to shatter! No!!!

CLINK!

It bounced up over and into Cherry’s saddle bags. What!? How does that even happen!? “Uhm.. got it?” She stared at her saddlebag in amazement.

Before I could answer I saw that fast moving bar again, but this time I could see it. From this vantage point I could see the subtle change in the concrete. What ever it was it was digging and… directly under Cherry! “Cherry run!” I had to get down! I quickly scanned for stairs, nothing, I would have to go down the belt. Suddenly the ground beneath Cherry began to fall away as she tried to scamper away, wailing in sudden fear. In a beastial roar something huge, fuzzy and white leaped from the ground in a pounce toward the fleeing filly. There was no way I could reach her in time and I knew it. Time seemed to crawl to a halt as I focused on the huge creature, and from here I could see my chances of success. From here I could never strike this creature.

I had to think of something, do something. I refused to let any harm come to a foal. I… I had to.

oooOOOooo

I was somewhere else, somewhere bright. I was small and I hurt badly. But I sat still and watched because I was commanded to by… by who?

I was staring at a huge boulder, a pile of rubble and a male pony… my father? I couldn’t tell, everything was silhouetted. “Now son, pay attention this time.” It was my father! I did come from somewhere! “This is an ancient technique” The stallion stepped up to the boulder and lifted himself up onto his hind legs, his front hooves held out like praying mantis claws. “When you strike, you must be strong.” He flexed his fore hooves before leaping briefly into the air. “And strike where it is weak!” He landed on his hind legs and turned his body, thrusting his hooves into the boulder, causing it to explode into a billion little pieces. Two hooves down, two hooves forward with the force of the entire body. Yeah I understood it, I just didn’t want to practice anymore. I wasn’t strong enough for the Mountain Shaper Technique.

I shielded myself from the falling debris as my father fell back down onto all fours and motioned for me to stand. “It is your turn.” I knew what was coming, I didn’t like it, but I did it anyway. I stood on my wobbling legs and made my way forward. “But to know any move’s power you must feel it within you.”

My dad leapt, making the Mountain Shaper movements. I lifted my hooves to defend myself, angled like I had been taught.

oooOOOooo

I was suddenly looking back at the frozen moment in time. My chances increased, I could do this easily. All I had to do was…

I sprang from the catwalk, precision being my tool at this point, aiming for the space between the beast and Cherry. I swung my forehooves and head to rotate my body, which followed suit perfectly. For a moment I felt the bliss of a perfect free fall before crashing into the concrete on my hind legs, letting the rest of my body partially fold forward. From here I was facing the beast and could see it’s face and razor sharp claws, made for digging. I could see it’s chest and stomach as it remained helplessly in mid air. There was my target, the sternum, the place where it’s ribs met. In one fluid motion I began the thrust, feeling each of my muscles rippling with the energy they contained.

Two hooves planted to the ground, two forward, moving the whole body as a single weapon. The tips of my hooves crashed into the chest of the creature as my body fully extended to meet the beast. I was the force of the heavens and this mountain would bow to my power! The beast’s chest crumpled like a tin can and it was flung in the opposite direction it had once been traveling. The fuzzy monster fell across the nearest conveyor belt and simply twitched.

“WWWWWOOOOAAAH!” came an astounded voice from behind me as I released a held breath and slowly fell back to all fours. Oh yeah, I was strong enough now, father.

Cherry galloped up to my side, breathing heavily. “You killed a hellhound WITH YOUR BARE HOOVES!! A HELLHOUND!” She pranced around in little circles, squeeing her little head off.

“I-I what?” I looked over at the broken creature only a few feet away from me, It’s chest caved in grotesquely.

“A Hellhound!” She said, pointing her little hoof at the creature. “How did you even do-” She stopped, putting pieces together in her head. “The holes, the clean halls.” She quickly galloped towards the entrance to the ‘facty flo’. “C’mon Adstrum, Beet and Sandy are in trouble!”

I quickly leapt forward to half-gallop at her side. “What, are there more of those things?!” I asked, in a panic. If there were, Saint was going to have my head when we got back. I quickly searched my E.F.S. for their little blue bars. It was so hard to see them past the wall of red that the cockroaches made, suddenly one of them winked out with a muffled pop from down the hall. There! I scooped Cherry up onto my back and began taking every turn that would take me closer to that point.

Cherry bounced, only holding on by hugging onto the armor around my neck. “They travel in packs! I doubt one would keep free food to himself!” She pointed off down one hall that was still dirty and covered in bits of red. “There! Up the stairs!” I turned on a bit, heading for the stairs. Along the way I swore I heard the crunch of a radroach under my hooves but wasn’t sure until I heard the ‘eewww’ from Cherry. Dang those things were easy to miss when you’re running.

I got to the second floor and turned back towards the direction I had seen the red bar blip out. From here it looked like I was surrounded, but I could easily make out two little blue bars among them this time. “Found them!” I raced down the halls, trampling a few radroach corpses and another living one along the way. It was easy to follow them now that I had a trail of bugs to follow. The top floor was a mess though, there were still signs of raider activity everywhere and it stunk.

The hall quickly turned into a wide shallow stepped staircase with framed images that had crude images painted over them along the walls. I didn’t stop to appreciate the ‘art’, there were foals in danger. Two turns and a hundred steps later, I could have sworn I had ran the entire length of the NSCDC before finally arriving in front of two oversized metal doors that had been pushed open enough for a foal to fit through. Painted in blood over the doors was the depiction of a single hydra head with it’s mouth opened wide. I pulled the door opened enough to get myself and Cherry through, peaking into the bloody, but lavish, room ahead of me. To a great deal of relief to myself I could see Beet and Sandy sifting through a pile of junk at the other end. They were okay! Phew….

On the other hoof, this room looked like there had used to be walls all over and was now some sort of throne room, complete with a throne made of various guns and pony skeletons. Scattered across the room were beds of pillows and both Mare and Stallion corpses tied up into compromising positions next to them. Each one looked like they had died in a different manner, bleeding, flaying, beating, and one even had a hoof sized hole in his head. It was hideously disgusting. I wanted to puke, but the positions they were in… I could see their smooth coats in my head, imagine the panting the-

A sudden tightness under my barding alerted me to my own mind’s wanderings as I cursed under my breath. Now was the exact opposite of the right time for that! I was disgusted in myself. “yeah...This is fucked up.” Cherry said as she flopped on my back, her little muscles tightening as some insecurity took hold in her mind. I could hear the fear from the images that were probably playing out in the filly’s head. “No pony deserves this.”

YEAH! That’s totally why I was swearing. “Uhm, yeah I.” I sighed, removing the grotesque perversion from my mind. “This, this makes me want to kill the Hydra even more.” I stated, assuming this was his work, as the whole room looked like a makeshift throne room for a raider king. Judging by the Hydra head painted in ink on a red banner over the throne, This had to be HIS throne room.

“Hey! This is OUR room!” Shouted Beet God from across the room. Suddenly the urgency of why we had come here in the first place blared back into my skull. The Hellhounds! We needed to leave now! “Ge-”

“Hellhounds!” I shouted in a voice that carried creepishly well in the large room. That single word caused the filly and colt to freeze up in their tracks, with wide eyed fear. “We need to leave, now!”

The two foals didn’t skip a beat, scooping up a random assortment of items to fill their saddlebags and made a full gallop back to Cherry and me. My eyes caught the movement on my E.F.S. a rapidly moving bar that stopped just before the galloping foals. I had to move, react, strike! I pushed the floor behind me out of the way as I burst into full motion towards the bar. I needed to locate the Hellhound before it could burst out of the ground, I needed to see that slight motion in the floor that signaled it’s presence. My eyes darted all over, as I saw everything in slow motion again.

It was hopeless, the floor seemed solid all the way around the foals. I was certain I would end up seeing tiny pony bits flying about soon, sliced up by those digging claws. I was going to have to return to Hoofprint with two less foals and I was going to end up with six bullets in my head. I would deserve each of them too. But just then, I noticed a saving grace, a crack formed just before the two foals, a single fragment of concrete floor lifting into the air. YES! I could save them! I felt the rush in my body increase as I leapt into the air, only inches above the ground, and cocked my front hoof back. My hindles carried forward, putting me perpendicular with the blooming hole in the ground and by this point the fuzzy head of another Hellhound.

The sound of hoof hitting diamond hard skull is an interesting one. It sounds somewhere crossed between a ‘gun’shot and something hollow being crushed. My hoof had come down on the hellhound’s head like a ton of bricks, pushing it back into the hole it had tried to pop out of and down to the floor below us with a heavy thump. Sandy screamed as everything returned to it’s normal pace. I wasted no time in dashing forward, having landed facing the doors, and scooping up the two foals. I tossed them on my back and made starfall’s speed out the door and down the long stairway. I could hear a pained howl ring through the building, followed by three more. There were four of them!? Saint was going to have my head!!

I hadn’t even gotten to the bottom of the steps before I saw one of those beasts growling angrily at me, blood leaking down it’s face from an injury that had been inflicted to it’s head. Oh wait! That was the one I hit a few seconds ago. The hellhound howled briefly before charging directly for us. I heard another squeal of terror as two tiny hooves clasped over my face, trying to hold on for dear life. “I can’t see!! I can’t see!!” I’m sure I was swerving something fierce as I stumbled to the right then hard to the left, slamming into something warm and soft that quickly steadied me. I heard another thump as something heavy hit the wall behind me. “What was-”

I was cut off by Beet’s voice who was shouting over the filly’s squeal of terror. “Just run!!” My head was jerked to the side, causing the rest of my body to follow until it was straight again. At this point I couldn’t help but yell myself. I was gunna die, these foals were gunna die, I couldn’t see and now I was being driven like a pony powered wagon.

I heard the crumble and crack of wood and concrete just before being jerked to the right, left, then right again. I heard some snarling, barking and some crude version of Equestrian being spoken. “Git Dem PONIES!!!”

“Stairs! Jump!” Shouted Beet, sounding in much more control than I was at the moment. I immediately complied, assuming and dearly hoping he meant stairs going down as I lept forward, readying myself to land on an uneven surface. Lo and behold I landed several feet down and on a flat surface, where my head was immediately jerked to the side. And then several more times as the snarling beast continued to catch up to us and shout things about chewing our bones and eating the pony meat. I could have sworn I heard something making a zappy sound that deep down I knew I didn’t like. “HEAD DOWN!” Shouted Beet as I was jerked once more to the left. I did so and was rewarded with a heavy thump to my head and the feeling of hot dry air against my coat. From there we simply screamed for awhile as I ran straight forward, feeling happy that there was dirt under my hooves but terrified that there were Hellhounds chasing after us.

It took a good twenty minutes and Beet God yelling that it was safe now for everypony to calm down. I felt something unclench from around my neck that I hadn’t realized had been there and the tiny hooves over my eyes were removed. I breathed heavily along with the three foals, looking back to them with relief. Cherry had been hugging my neck while Sandy actually flopped down over my head. Beet Was slouched over my rump looking more exhausted than anything. I could see the NSCDC off in the distance as a tiny speck on the horizon. Beet God breathed out a light laugh, “Wow you’re fast for a stupid pony.”

“I’m not stupid.” I countered between breaths. “Dear spirits that was terrifying. Are those things common!?” I asked. To my surprise it was the shellshocked Cherry Bombs that answered instead of Beet.

“Only to the east. That’s all their territory.” She spoke mono-toned, like a- Oh what was that thing? It’s on the tip of my tongue. A ribbit? Bah, she sounded like that.

Sandy chimed in through what were clearly tears. “Can we just go? I wanna go home, to my bed and my friends. I want Mr. Smarty Pants” She hugged my mane, pulling the hairs almost painfully. I swallowed my panic, nodding.

“y-yeah, let’s get back to Hoofprint.” I reassured her, Beet chiming in with a ‘before anything else happens’.

.... --- ..- .-. ... + .-.. .- - . .-.

The walk home was filled with quiet sobs and shudders of fear. I imagined that was the first time seeing Hellounds for all of us, save for maybe Beet God. Either way, no-pony talked on the way home. And no pony had words for what we found when we finally got there.

I had seen the sickly green fires of the crater where I woke up only a few short days ago, but for some reason this red flame hurt my chest so much more, Perhaps it was because it was enveloping the first place I had attempted to call home.

The whole of Hoofprint was under the glow of a raging flame, small silhouettes diving through the air, spreading fire and gunshots throughout the town. I felt my body tense up as I looked upon the scene, the foals sliding off my back to cry and scream at the town. All of their words and sobs died away in my ears, becoming nothing more than muffled sounds in the distance, as I felt someone very familiar pull himself to the forefront of my mind and the anger that poured from his heart for those flying creatures that were hurting the ponies in hoofprint. They hated me, shunned me, but ultimately housed me and gave me a job I had only just begun. For now they were all I had, and the few ponies that were nice to me were the closest things to friends I could think of right now. I was going to kill something.

My hoof scraped the dirt, digging up rocks and soil. My heart pounded and my chest hurt badly. I kicked the ground and barreled for the town, keeping my eyes on those flying bastards that were killing my only chance at being a normal pony.

It only took me moments to get close enough to see the ponies that were galloping out of the gates, completely consumed by fire, screaming for their lives, and only moments more to pass through the gates themselves into the blistering inferno that was Hoofprint. From here I could see the conflict much better, there were guards protecting small pockets that hadn’t been caught on fire, shooting guns into the air. Above the guards were large winged creatures with claws like the hellhounds. They were carrying metal canisters on their backs and shooting fire from hoses that they held in their claws. They were crudely dressed in scraps that I assumed formed armor and cackled maniacally as they roasted ponies alive.

I could only see red as I charged towards one of the flying creatures, shouting something incoherent. Whatever I said worked as the now pissed off creature swooped down towards me, spewing flames before I was even close. I felt the fire pass over me, felt my skin boil and peel, the muscles beneath yelling to be covered back up as I lunged head first at the beaked bastard that threatened the only home I had.

oooOOOooo

“Ariel opponents are difficult” Came the voice of my father over the screeching of Bloodwings. “But just like any of your enemies, even they will bow to you.” We were sitting amongst the ruins of a city as a swarm of bloodwings swirled above us and into the sky. I remembered why we were here. A foal had ran off and got lost in these ruins. My father couldn’t wait to make a lesson of it as he did with everything. His silhouetted form pointed out towards a cowering colt covered in soot in the middle of the road. “I’ve already taught you how to reach the clouds, now it’s time to learn first hoof. ‘HIS’ life is in ‘YOUR’ hooves.”

I knew he wasn’t lying, last time he did this I lost my pet because ‘I’ didn’t rescue it. I wasn’t about to lose this challenge. This time I had learned. I charged just as one of the massive bloodwings swooped down to assault the colt. I reacted as I had been taught. I leapt up-

oooOOOooo

-and landed on the creature’s back, feeling it’s feathers and fur coat. I quickly pinched my fetlocks over the base of the creature’s muscular wings and pushed against it’s spine with my hindlegs. I was rewarded the pop of bone coming loose and the ripping sound of flesh as the creature wailed out a pain that was more than just physical. I felt powerful as the creature crashed and slid into the dirt, it’s wings flopping to the ground behind us. I slammed a hoof down into the back of it’s skull to stop it from screeching, roaring into the sky. “I’ll KILL YOU ALL!!”

I stared up at the next attacker, hooking a hoof around the tube to the fire weapon below me and aiming it upwards. It felt so natural to pull the lever that released the fire, sending the creature into a roll as it crashed head first into a still intact building. From here I could see my forelegs again, I wasn’t on fire anymore and those black dirt lines were back again. I didn’t care that I wasn’t on fire anymore, only able to truly see the red of the blood I was about to spill as I charged for a stack of crates that I could use to leap onto a building’s roof.

My hooves soon pounded against a tin metal roof as I leapt from roof to roof to get from one creature to the next, ripping off their wings and back onto the roof time and time again. There were still so many and still such rage to empty out. Before I could leap out to the next winged beast something impacted against my side, sending me falling into the husk of a burning building. I crashed through charred metal and wood, various items clanking around me as I lay in a heap. Everything hurt, and something in my chest felt loose. Something small burned quite avidly next to me as I stared into the sky as the warm yellow of the fire filled the air around me.

I couldn’t stop now, the town was still under attack and it was the only thing I had to cling on to right now. I gritted my teeth and heaved myself from the small pile of rubble, a layer of ash and dust falling from my now charred barding. Oddly enough the bright yellow 72 was still largely intact. I stumbled forward, determined to get back into the fight even through the dizziness that filled my skull. I wobbled to and fro, bumping into burnt pillars and door frames until I was back out onto the street. Somehow I had ended up across the street from the orphanage. The semi intact sign stated that it was “Tiny Hoofprint’s Orphanage”. I put two hooves to my head to still my eyes and scanned the air. There was no sign of what hit me, whoever it was must have thought I died crashing into that building.

Suddenly, a sharp pain in my chest caused me to lurch forward, gritting my teeth.Something had just popped back into place, and it really didn’t feel natural. Before I could dwell more on the subject I heard a shrill cry from just ahead. I lifted my head to see the three foals coming out of the orphanage, carrying saddle bags filled with toys and blankets. I guessed, they had gone in to save their possessions. Sandy was just barely dragging out an older looking mare in glasses who wore a goofy grin as she pawed up at the sky. How could that mare be laughing at a time like this? Beet God and Cherry were pointing their meager pistols up into air, firing a tad too carelessly. I traced their line of fire to another beast and what appeared to be a flying pony? Regardless, I wouldn’t let them harm the foals. I barreled forward, Skidding to a halt in front of the foals and bucking a nearby barrel up into the air at the two flying enemies. The beaked creature seemed better armored than the ones I had faced before and wielded what looked like a giant blade. That blade sliced through the barrel as the creature squawked out something I imagined to be laughter.

The beast landed on the ground some feet away from me, the foals’ gunfire ceasing behind me. The creature hoisted it’s blade up onto one shoulder as it lifted itself onto its hind legs- his hind legs. His voice was low and growled promises of pain as he spoke. Giving his partner time to land behind him. Yup, it was a flying pony, a mare in fact. “HAHA! Damn you’re a tough son of a bitch. But you owe me a life for what you did to my brothers and sisters.” He began to take steps toward me at a casual stroll. “You see, our boss says this is our town now, and you come in tearing off WINGS! AND RUINING ALL OUR FUN!” He shrieked out at me, lowering his blade to point at me. “So…” He continued, composing himself, once more with the blade at his shoulder. “I’m going to slice you up now, and let those wingless brothers of mine have fun with the hole in your backside. Then we can have a big bonfire and zebra stew.” He narrowed his eyes, pulling his paw back to gain better footing.

I just stood my ground, growling hatred at this fucked up reminder of what I had just seen at the NSCDC. This creature was a raider, just like that Hydra fucker. And just like that Hydra fucker, he deserved to die.

We charged each other at the same time, both yelling hate into the air, feeling rage in our hearts. He met my charge with an obvious low sweep with the blade. It was easy enough to leap into the air and land a buck to his face, sending him spiraling to the side. Of course he used that spin to his advantage, using it’s momentum to swing his blade into the air and into my path toward the ground. I wasn’t going to survive if it landed squarely and I knew it. In a flash of instinct a hoof went out to press against it’s flat side sending it’s slice under me. But no sooner had I landed did he bring it back to slice at my head. I ducked under it, feeling the blade clip off some of my mane, and kicked against the ground to launch myself toward the towering creature’s head.

I thrusted a fore hoof to the side to give me enough spin to bring my hind hoof to bare in a fierce kick that breezed by my opponent’s head as he deftly dodged. My moment was then suddenly halted as a piercing pain lanced through my chest. My eyes bulged and I saw blood spray from my mouth. To my great dismay, everything began moving in reverse as I was flung to the far side of the street, hitting a wall and falling to my side. From here, in the dust I could see the trail of blood leading from the feathered raider’s talons all the way to the barding around my gut. The fucker laughed again, heaving his massive blade up to his shoulder. His flying pony partner simply watched with an agonizingly pleased grin. “Hahaha! too bad we can’t play more, you’re a slippery little ground pounder aren’t you?” He closed in on me and lifted his blade.

I tried to move, I really did, but I couldn’t seem to find the strength. The only thing I could manage was to pull myself to the side with my front hooves, dragging the whole lower half of my body through the dirt. I wanted to get away, I didn’t want to die. I wasn’t ready, but the thwip of the blade and the searing pain that occupied the area where my hind legs had once been said otherwise. I yelled, I screamed, I roared as I looked back at the two bloody stumps that bled my life water into pools connecting to two soot covered hind hooves. I swore I could still feel them, still try to move them.

The creature that had removed my hind legs laughed, saying something that I couldn’t hear as everything slowed down to a crawl again. I looked over to the foals, They hadn’t run away and were instead trying to call out to me. I could see Cherry’s little hoof reaching out, the rest of her body not daring to get closer to the fight. She was crying. My heart broke at the sight of those tears, my chest sank and for a moment the pain in my stubs went numb. I looked back to the armored beast striding to my side. A whole new anger welled up inside me, as I imagined every way this creature could die, every way I could make him suffer. That’s when ‘he’ woke up.

Some part of me awoke as my heart broke. He had always been there, I had simply forgotten how to reach out to him. Now, here in a moment where I couldn’t fight on, he reached out and took the reins… This creature in front of me was dead in my eyes. I hated him!

Suddenly all of the pain I felt died and the world was only so much red. My forehooves moved on their own accord and lifted me up, pushing me away from a death dealing blow, in an arcing jump over the combatant’s head. Even as I flew through the air I could see the look of surprise and fear spread across his face as his sword dug into dirt. My hooves took hold of feathers and skin and jerked that bastard’s head backwards so I could see the light in his eyes fade.

Gravity quickly took hold and we began falling to the side. I hopped off of the beast’s back and landed in time to disarm his falling corpse, taking the blade for my own and resting it on my back. My PipBuck labeled it as a Bumper Blade and gave me a bunch of other numbers I didn’t pay attention too. What had my attention was the hysterically laughing mare only feet away from me. “HAHAHA!! No shit! I knew you were tough, but a fuckin bale-fire bomb!? HAHAhheehehe. FUCK YOU! I mean… Damn! You’re one tough fucker!” She yelled with a wide smile on her face as I took up a position in front of the foals, digging my hind hooves into the ground.

She was, what I could tell, at one point a bright yellow mare whose coat was now covered in burns, dirt, and various colored paints. She was sporting two guns with bright red gems where the bullets were supposed to come out all attached to some sort of saddle with ‘Lola Montez’ written on it’s side. Her raspy voice irritated me to all hell, it was ugly and course.

She made small prancing motions before dropping into a battle position and smiling. “Heh heh heh… And I see you took me up on my suggestion!” She made some crude thrusts with her rump. “Unf! unf! unf! FUCK THOSE LITTLE FILLIES!! AAAAHHHAAahhaahaha!”

“You keep your bucking hooves off of them!” I commanded, hearing that booming voice belt from my throat. “They are MINE to protect!”

She just sat back and lifted her hooves. “Woah hey! Calm your stripes! They’re all yours. But I’m still coming for your territory now that your buddies are all dead. haha!” She whistled into the sky as she began to flap her wings and lift off. The flying creatures began peeling away from their assault, dropping a few ponies from the air for a good laugh. “It’s all yours until I come back with some bigger guns. Haha! See ya Hydra!” And with that, she kicked the air and took off towards the south.

I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and looked back to the frightened foals. “Hydra? What did she mean by that. He’s dead…” I asked as they stared back at me, frozen in fear. “Oh by the stars! Are you three okay?”

Cherry tried to mutter something as she pointed to my rear but before she could say anything Sandy belted out a scream that could shatter bones as she was pulled back by Beet. Beet was lifting his pistol at me, glaring in some sort of deep hatred. What did I do? I just saved their lives, why are they looking at me like that? I traced Cherry Bombs’ pointing hoof to my rear and my hind legs and then just behind them a pair of severed legs that matched them only a few feet behind me.

Wait… I just regrew my hind legs!? How does a pony regrow their hind legs like a hydra!?

Just then it struck me, and my questioning stare became that of a fear of my own. I couldn’t be the Hydra, I was just some pony not a raider warlord. I only just woke up, near a Balefire Crater… No! I didn’t even know how to fight! I, just killed a dozen of those beasts. I couldn’t be him I was a Pony I didn’t have… I took a look at my body… stripes. There they were, striped hind legs.

I took a step away from the foals, shaking my head. “No… no no no. I-I hate the Hydra. I would never do the things he did I...” My head began to hurt as I tried to wrap my head around the possibility. “I can’t… I’m NOT!” MY voice boomed as I turned and charged through the burning flames of the town. “I’M NOT THE HYDRA!! I’M NOT!” And as I ran tirelessly, closing my eyes to avoid eye contact with the surviving ponies of Hoofprint, I heard them shout back for a murderer to get out of town. For me to get out of town. That I was the reason they had been attacked…

To never trust a stripe.

I found myself at the tree, on the hill overlooking hoofprint. I found myself sulking on the very spot I had come to rest at with Gadgette’s body before heading into hoofprint for the first time. I was contemplating the evidence pointing to an inarguable fact. I could only think of the things I must have done to others. Worst of all, I could only imagine what I had done to Gadgette and her friends. I knew why Saint was mad at me and right now I couldn’t blame him.

Right now I wanted to let him follow through on his promise. I wanted him to kill me. I wanted it all to stop before everything came back. That’s it! I just had to not remember! I got off my rump and galloped about 40 feet away. Turning to face the lone tree on the hill, I breathed heavily in preparation. “I’m sorry everypony, but adstrum is only okay if the Hydra stays dead!” I began charging at the tree with all my speed, shouting out in frustration and anger.

I closed my eyes and aimed the crown of my skull at a jagged stump where a low hanging branch used to be. After only a few moments, my entire body went limp. I felt a burning pain running from my head all the way down to my rear hooves.

The first thing that went out was my hearing. I looked over towards the burning town, spitting up blood. If I didn’t want to be the Hydra again… I would have to die before I could remember.

Next to go was my lungs. The air stopped filling my lungs. It didn’t really matter as i didn’t feel the need to breathe anymore. I hope Nopony will find me here. Maybe if I don’t move the tree will stay lodged in my head and The Hydra will stay dead this time. I thought this to myself as I saw survivors leaving the town.. Good for them.

I could no longer feel the pain in my body, everything refused to move. My eyes remained locked on the distant town of Hoofprint. This is the last thing I would see, my own failure. My entire existence summed up in a burning haze. Destruction, slaughter of the innocent. Saint, walking forward with his guns raised above his head.

As my sight faded, I saw my angel of death. My mercy. Saint, “The Six-Shooter”.

Thank you.

____________________________________________________________________________

Quest Perk Added: Mountain Shaper Technique - You have master the ancient technique used by the Achu Tribe to break through stone and fortifications. This Unarmed attack can be used once per day and deals 10 times your strength modifier in damage.

Quest Perk Added: Wind Walking Technique - You gain an additional 5 ft to your jump height and gain advantage on all Agility checks when climbing or jumping. You may now melee aerial targets that are 5 ft above your maximum jump height.

Footnote: Level up!

Footnote: Level 4

Perk Added: Hind Leg Stance - You have learned to fight on your hind legs like a zebra. Athletic checks are easier and you can jump and additional 5 feet up while in this stance. You must take a quick action to go into or out of this stance.

Perk Added: Steel Hooves - You deal 5 extra damage while using unarmed attacks, including rocks and improvised weapons.

--

Author’s Note: I would like to peel away the stigma behind using Amnesia as a story device. This can be a wonderful tool and I hope I really showed it here with Adstrum slowly remembering things about himself and using Colloquialisms from Zebra culture without thinking as his memory returns. I am also hoping this hit home near the end where our hero noticed the vast difference between who he had become and who he actually was.

With any luck I can tie this whole thing together.

Many thanks to kkat for the original work and Sombre for inspiration from Project Horizons.