• Published 20th Dec 2012
  • 397 Views, 1 Comments

The Long Road to Normal - scifidude47



A trip through a devastated Equestria.

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Chapter 3: Cannibals

Iron Wing racked his mind, trying to find out what to do. They were mere hoof-steps away, but he wouldn't get close enough without getting shot. If he used his one bullet, the rest of the gang would hear the shot, and if he just stayed in hiding, how would he live knowing that Rainbow and Fluttershy had been eaten alive? He wasn't sure if the fluid on his face was sweat, tears, or both. He was shivering, but he knew that making any sound meant instant death. He heard the caravan full of ponies stop, and listened to what they said.

"Alright, these two, the blue and yeller' one are mine. Alright? The smell-"

"What smell?"

"You don't smell it anymore? Anyway, the smells' too bad here, so Ah'm gonna take these two out in the forest. Mah knife'l serve good." One cannibal said. He removed the ropes that bound Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to wooden poles, but not their hoof-binding. Iron Wing peaked out the window to see which direction that the cannibal was walking, and then ducked back down and made a plan. He made his way out the back window of the cottage, and sneaked his way around it. He went into the forest, then in the direction the cannibal went. He stayed low, hiding beneath the dead and withered husks of bushes and trees. He took off his saddlebags and placed them inside an abandoned foxhole. He took out his pistol and switchblade and took them with him.

As he neared where the cannibal took Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, He slowed his pace and got down even further, inching towards where he saw the cannibal and the two mares.

"Git on over bah that tree ova' there!" The cannibal commanded as he waved his knife in their direction. Fluttershy flinched and began to tear up, but Rainbow just glared at him and spat in his face. The cannibal closed his eyes and wiped it off with his open hoof. He kicked Fluttershy to the ground, which would've caused Iron Wing to fire then and there, if it weren't for his ammunition problem, and got closer to Rainbow Dash.

"You seem tah be quite the fighter there, bluey." The cannibal commented. Even from where he was, Iron Wing could smell the stench of blood in his breath.

"I'm not going to just lay back as you gut me. Also, it's Rainbow Dash, not Bluey." Rainbow responded, looking away. "Didn't your mother tell you not to play with your food?"

"'Ah don't know, miss, There don't seem to be much on ya' ta gut." For once, the cannibal was right. She was pretty skinny, but not twig thin like most of the starved corpses Iron Wing had seen on his travels. Rainbow just spat on the ground near the cannibal.

"And you.." He said, looking over to Fluttershy, who was still crying over the previous attack.

"Shoot, y'all haven't said a word since ya' got here, why don't we git ta know each other? Have some coffee, dinner in Canterlot, wouldn't that be fun?" The cannibal said, straight to her face.

Fluttershy said nothing, but kept on weeping.

"Answer me, mare!" The Cannibal yelled. He then got up and bucked her in the side. She let out a small squeak upon impact and her sobs got louder. Iron Wing kept his hoof on the trigger. This bucker would die.

"Well, if you don't like the sound of that,let's just skip the dayum date and get straight to the kissin'!" He prepared to lift her up and kiss her on the mouth, much to Rainbow's distaste, to say the least, as she fought hard to try and remove her hoof binding. However, she stopped at the sound of a voice.

"That's not how you treat a lady, mother-bucker." It was Iron Wing, gun aiming straight for the cannibal's head.

The cannibal put Fluttershy back against the tree and raised his hoof.

"Look, ah don't want no trouble, alraght?" He said, backing up and ready to call for his allies.

"You call out and you'll get a bullet in your skull." Iron Wing said sternly.

The cannibal walked forward and away from the clearing he as about to gallop away into.

"Now, let's talk. You got any .357 bullets?" Iron Wing said, his voice somewhat calmer than before.

The cannibal found this slight change in tone quite strange, but still chose to respond.

"Not on me... you got any food?" The cannibal responded, also calming his tone.

"I'm not looking to trade, I'm looking for ammo."

"And ah can see why." The cannibal said after he looked closer at Iron Wing's gun.

"Ya' either got one bullet left, or yer' bluffin' me." The cannibal said. This might have been true, but he didn't let his guard down.

"Ya know, if you shoot me,my friends'll hear the shot!" He said hastily.

"Maybe they will, but I'll still get what I want, you dead."

The cannibal said nothing but looked back at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

"I know exactly what you want to do with them, and if you make a single move, I'll kill you. You are a disgrace to ponykind."

"You know what? Ah did what ah had ta' do to protect and feed mah family!"

"You butcher ponies while they're still alive! Doesn't seem very fatherly to me!"

"Hmm..ok, man, ok." The cannibal said apathetically.

There was a moment of silence, but Iron Wing never lowered his gun, and the cannibal never took his eyes off of it. After a while, the cannibal spoke.

"Look, we're not all meat-eaters, hell, some of the group back by the town are even against cannibalism, but we protect our own. Why don't all three of y'all come with us? We could git ya warm beds, clean water-"

"You don't have any of that. You just want to eat us." Iron Wing interrupted.

"... Your good at this... maybe too good."

"Maybe."

Little did Iron Wing know that the cannibal was still inching towards a stone when he occasionally checked for cannibals behind him. He was now mere inches away from it.

"Ya' wanna know what Ah' think?"

"What?"

"I think you're chicken. Y'all ain't ever killed anything in your life."

The cannibal suddenly picked up the rock and threw it. Iron Wing would've fired at the instant the cannibal pulled a sudden movement, but he didn't want to waste his only bullet. The rock hit him in the face and he instantly fell to the ground. The cannibal sped past him and began to attack Fluttershy. He pulled out a kitchen knife, turned her over, and-

BANG.

-fell to the ground as blood spilled from his left eye socket, onto her pick mane and yellow hide.

Iron Wing could hear indistinct shouting, obviously from the cannibal gang, but he didn't care. He got up from his daze and sped over to cut the two from their binding. The ropes fell to the ground as he cut them, but he didn't care to pick them up or the knife that the cannibal had. He just had to get the two mares out of there. Fluttershy had passed out from the shock, so Iron Wing had to pick her up and lift her onto his back, using his wings to keep her from falling as they galloped.

"Follow me!" He yelled to Rainbow Dash. She quickly nodded and they sped into the forest as a small group of cannibals went in pursuit of them. He went by where he put his saddlebags and gave his gun to Rainbow Dash, who unwillingly picked it up, so he could carry his saddlebags. They kept galloping until they found a small ditch, which they hid in, underneath a dead, hollowed-out log. Iron Wing tried his best to not be emotion-heavy after the end of the world, but his heart was going a mile a minute as he put Fluttershy down and tried to remain still. He saw the cannibals on the hill they just came down from, and froze.

"Aw hell, we lost them. Come on, lets get back to the caravan. Make sure to get what you can off of Blazing Storm. I mean, come on, He wasn't dead that long."

The other cannibals nodded and left. Iron Wing waited until he didn't hear the sounds of hooves on the ground anymore. He then made his way out of the area underneath the log.

"Come on. It's safe now.. We need to talk." Iron Wing said between breaths.

"Your right, we do." Rainbow Dash said, somewhat irritated.

Fluttershy was still frozen, traumatized by what happened right in front of her eyes. Sure, she saw where death happened, by she never saw it happen, right in front of her at that. Iron Wing helped her up as she trotted silently up the hill.