• Published 13th Apr 2012
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Fallout: Equestria: A Cut Above - Wirepony



A story of a young Tribal pony's adventures in the Wasteland

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Chapter 10: This Ain't The Summer of Love

Fallout: Equestria: A Cut Above
Ch 10: This Ain’t the Summer of Love

What had I done?

I woke up in darkness, to sudden cold on my back. I was half off of my bedroll, my legs stuck straight out onto the dirt. I blinked and listened, hearing hooves quietly walking away. Lyrical’s hooves, most likely. I hurt. My back was a knot of pain and stiffness, my face throbbing with my pulse. How bad was Hellen hurt?

How badly had I hurt her?

I took a deep breath against the pain in my back, and forced myself to a sitting position. I took stock of the camp, seeing Lyrical climbing the stubby hill that overlooked our campsite. Engineer was a flicker of movement at the top of the hill, gray feathers against night’s blackness. I sat, blinking sleepily as I watched Lyrical mount the hill, her light coat shining in the dim starlight.

My eyes adjusted further, and I could see Lyrical in conference with Engineer. Their quiet voices were inaudible at this range, but it was obvious they were changing the watch. Hellen was on a bedroll across the fire from me, rolled into a shaking ball of fur and feathers. The griffin twitched as I watched, and made a quiet little mewling sound. I reached out a hoof towards her, and Engineer’s hand gently pushed it down. Silently, the older griffin met my gaze, before shaking his head and walking to her.

Engineer knelt next to Hellen’s quivering form, gently stroking her feathered head. I slumped down from my sitting posture as the griffin began singing.

Where the river foams and surges to the sea,
Silver figures rise to find me,

His voice was soft and rough, but I could feel the emotion worked into it. Hellen subsided under his touch, her tiny sobs evening out into ragged breath.

Wise and as daring,
Following the heart's cry.
I am that deep pool,
I am that dark spring,

I relaxed, too, listening to Engineer’s rough voice stroke the lyrics and melody of this song, just as his taloned hand softly stroked Hellen’s neck and shoulders.

Warm with a mystery,
I may reveal to you,
In Time, Time holds the heart's key,
Key to everything is Love, Love makes the heart flower,

I stared at Engineer as he sang, his eyes closed and his face raised to the heavens. The merest sliver of moon rode high in the night sky.

Flowers into a deep desire, Passion in the heart's fire
Passion and desire.

There was a long pause, and I felt my eyes sliding closed. The next verse of the song was higher, lighter. Where the first verse was a confidence told in secret, this was a promise for the future.

See the eagle rise above the open plain,
Golden in the morning air,
Weaving and soaring,
Watchful and protecting.

I stayed quiet and still, listening hard as Engineer sang. His voice was edging towards ragged, but stayed strong as he sang into the night.

I am your shelter,
I will enfold you.
Warm with a mystery,
I may reveal to you...

As the last note trailed off, I opened my eyes again to see the griffin’s head bowed between his shoulders, his taloned hand resting on Hellen’s back. Glancing up the hill, I saw Lyrical’s eyes glisten in the faint moonlight, before she turned away.

Engineer slowly made his way past the dead campfire to me. Laying a hand on my muzzle, he leaned close, examining the tender and hurting side of my face. “Let’s talk,” He said quietly, and motioned to the hill.

I levered my sore body back to its hooves, and followed the older griffin up the little hill. He stopped just shy of the summit, plopping himself down with a ruffle of feathers and a grunt. I made myself comfortable, groaning at the pain in my back as I sat.

“I figure that we might as well settle in here, so Lyrical could listen easily and still keep watch,” Engineer said with a griff-grin. I smiled in response, and had to grin at the muffled snort from the top of the hill. “You did good today, kid. Hellen’s hurting pretty bad, but it’s all bruises and strains, nothing’s broken.”

“Broken? I was worried I’d killed her...” I trailed off, burying my face in my forelegs. “What did I do, Engy?”

“Hehehehh.. Griffins are tougher than that, kid. What you did was, you showed great restraint beating down someone who badly needed it. You were pulling your punches, even when you were damn near berserking.” Engineer said, scruffling my ears.

“Berserking?”

Lyrical’s voice was curious, from her spot just up the hill. I lifted my head and looked at her, and she smiled and winked at me before disappearing. Engineer chuckled, drawing my attention. The griff had drawn himself up, and grinned widely before taking a deep breath, gesturing broadly with one talon.

“The ancient art of Berserkergang, or berserking, was first adopted by earth pony forces fighting against superior griffin numbers. By honing their rage, sometimes with dangerous potions, these ponies would fight with the strength of ten warriors. Injuries, even normally crippling ones, would not slow these fiends until their rage had passed.” Engineer declaimed grandly, in a stuffy high cultured voice.

I couldn’t help but giggle at the griffin’s pompous voice and pose. Lyrical’s gentle laugh came down the hillside, and things were better. Not perfect by any stretch of the term, but better.

“So, berserking is... anger?” I ventured. Engineer relaxed back into a more normal slouch, shrugging.

“I’m not really sure. That little bit I just gave you is about all I know. Pony fighting tactics were never something I studied or trained on.” Engineer admitted.

“That’s something I’m going to have to learn more about,” I said sheepishly. “I can usually control myself, even when I’m... Angry, I guess?”

“As good a term as any, Wicked. When we get to Shattered Hoof, we’ll see if any of the combat trainers there know anything.”

“I wonder what else we can find at Shattered Hoof.” Lyrical mused from the hilltop. “The way you talk about it, it’s a pretty big place.”

“It is! It’s the home base of the Talons, and a gem mine. If Gawd hasn't gone off on sabbatical again, you might even get a chance to meet her!"

Engineer's obvious excitement was promising. Whatever experiences I had had with the Talons at the desalination plant, if the griffon I was coming to respect was that happy to be headed there, it was a good sign.

We talked for a few more minutes, nothing of importance or consequence, while clouds gathered overhead. Engineer took his leave soon, and went back to his bedroll. I mounted the short distance to the hilltop, finding a tidy little nest with a drowsy unicorn keeping watch. The sight lines were surprisingly good for such a small rise, and the empty scrubland stretched out before us.

"So what do you think about this whole... Berserker thing?" I ventured. Lyrical laughed, a quiet sound against the night's stillness. I knelt beside her and watched the Wasteland.

"Answer me this first, Wicked. What do _you_ think about it?". Lyrical replied.

I paused in thought. I had been so wrapped up in the reactions of my companions that I hadn't paid much attention to my own feelings, it was true. I took a moment to just feel, listening to my own heart. The answer was clear, if surprising.

"I feel good. I might have hurt Hellen, hurt her badly. But I didn't, and not just by luck. I went into that intending to teach her a lesson, and that's exactly what I did."

It was my turn to keep watch then, as Lyrical muffled her laughter by burying her muzzle into the hollow behind my foreleg. The sensation was quite disconcerting, and I squirmed as she laughed.

"That's just about exactly what I was going to say.” Lyrical bubbled, pulling away from me to stand. She shook herself and stretched. “Hellen was a horrid bully, really.” Lyrical bent down, brushing the tip of my ear with her lips. “And I can’t stand bullies. You did good, Wicked.”

And with that the unicorn made her way down the hill, tail swishing idly as she negotiated the gentle slope in the thin light afforded us by the cloudy sky. Blinking, I settled in for the last watch, lost in thought.

The next morning was curious. Breakfast was unremarkable, boring trail food and preserved rations. Blinky was foul tempered and irritable, dragging a plate of mashed potatoes into a burrow and ignoring the rest of us for most of the morning. Lyrical was slightly sleepy, unused to having to take a watch in the middle of the night. Engineer and myself were fine, more accustomed to the rigors of watchful travel.

Hellen was... Interesting. Where the young griffiness had been confident and agressive, she was wary and quiet. Lyrical had noticed the new behavior, and favored me with a broad grin when Hellen was at the waterhole washing our dishes. I flicked an ear noncommittally. This didn’t seem right, it was too extreme. I finished repacking my saddlebags, lashing the bedroll on my back. Lyrical had her armor set and bags packed already. Blinky made himself comfortable on my bedroll, and we set out. With Engineer leading the way on the ground and Hellen a pinpoint high in the sky, we made our way west. Towards Shattered Hoof.

Last night’s cloud cover had passed, and the morning sun warmed my sore muscles and aching back as we proceeded. I leaned into the pain, pushing myself through it to maintain a normal pace and range of movement. The pain lessened as I stretched out into the work, and we made miles across the Wasteland. The shriek of a griffin cry brought my out of my daze, and I looked up to see Hellen plummeting towards us. She swooped out of her dive into a hover, her eyes wide.

“Engineer, we’ve got company! Six ponies, two horn-heads - coming in from the south and fast!” Hellen screeched, fighting for altitude as soon as she had delivered her message. As she disappeared back into the sky, I gave my attention to Engineer. The older griff had sprang into the air and was scanning the area from a few ponylengths up. A quick look around revealed no useful cover, and Lyrical wide-eyed in fear.

I whipped my head around and snatched Blinky by a fold of skin, tossing him at Lyrical. She caught the spitting, furious molerat in her magic. Ducking to the south of her, I shoved her shoulder.

"Head north!" I yelled. "If some pony comes after you, throw Blinky at him!"

"Right!" Lyrical gasped, then curved off, shifting into a full gallop on the fly. I took a moment to admire her, mane and tail streaming in the sun, muscle and gritted teeth under armor. Engineer came crashing to the ground ahead of me, and I dug my hooves in to stop a couple lengths away from him. Stickbird flew into my grip like a thought, and I faced south with my heart pounding.

"Total of six ponies, unicorns are hanging back.". Engineer growled, his scratchy voice carrying a griffish rage I had never heard from him before. "I'll get the unicorns, watch my back and stay alive."

I glanced over and saw Engineer pulling a massive pistol out of his barding, a revolver that was sizable even in his massive paw. He held it in a two handed grip, aiming down the mounted scope. The pounding of hoofbeats came into hearing as ponies came into view. They were obviously raiders, festooned in spikes and badly made leather. The first four were earth ponies, as advertised, three unremarkable bucks trailing a truly massive specimen of ponyhood.

The massive stallion was a faded blue, with a bare nub of dock and a ragged fuzz of mane showing dusty red on his scarred head. Two of the ponies behind him were twins, filthy gray ponies with the same shaved manes and bare docks. The fourth was a green mare with the same lack-of-hairstyle. Behind them was a pair of unicorns, one ragged in fringed leather, the other crumpling to the ground in a spray of blood.

I was so hyperfocussed on the charging ponies, I had somehow missed the crash of Engineer's revolver. He pulled the hammer back and fired again, but the leather clad unicorn dodged, the shot tearing a gash in the landscape.

And then they were upon us. I planted Stickbird and feinted the tip at the charging bulk of the blue stallion. He shied, angling away from Engineer and pelting past with a furious howl. The twin stallions stayed the course, trapping the green mare between them. She reared, screaming wordlessly as the weight of her body and speed of her charge impaled her on my weapon. The crowbar tip of Stickbird slammed home in her chest, lodging in her dead body as the twins hit me from either side. They both tucked their shoulders and hit me in the side, forcing me over and back.

I must have landed on a rock or something, because I felt a blade of pain thrust into my back where Hellen had beaked me. I screamed in agony, thrashing my limbs and trying to roll upright. One of the running stallions kicked me in the side of the head as they ran by. I managed to use the force of the kick to get on my side, and forced myself upright in time to see the twin stallions running towards me, snarling. With my legs twitching in agony and without my weapon, it would be melee, two on one. Nothing for it though, I braced myself and screamed my anger out of me. The hot red feeling would give me the edge I needed to deal with these two.

Nothing happened. I didn’t feel anything at all, and only barely managed to throw myself out of the way as the stallions went shoulder to shoulder and tried to run me down. I whirled to face the twins as they curved around to run at me again. I wasn’t trying any funny stuff, and I dodged their charge in good order. How stupid were these ponies, to just charge and charge again? I snaked out a hoof as I bounced out of the way and tagged one of the identical ponies with a quick strike. He grunted but didn’t stop or change his course, just arcing around in lockstep with the other pony. I scowled, taking a split second to take in the battle as a whole. The massive blue pony had made his way around and was walking towards me, while the twins had started another charge. To the side, Engineer was in close combat with the unicorn in the fringe, screaming like an angry auto-axe stuck in a beam.

Nothing presented itself as a winning plan, and I didn’t have enough time to get Stickbird out of the green mare. I needed an edge, something to keep this from becoming three against one.

"Alright! Get 'em!" I shouted, breaking into a charge of my own. The matched pair of grays startled, breaking stride to try and look everywhere at once. The big blue pony actually stopped, scanning the area to try and find the other attacker.

He should have looked up. Hellen came out of the sky like a dark thunderbolt, a flash of silver fire and black lightning. She hit the massive blue pony like a ton of rubble, slamming him face first into the ground. I shouted in joy as I sprinted towards the twins, swiftly eating up the distance. One of them looked over his shoulder, seeing Hellen hit his buddy. The sound of a gunshot hammered my ears, drawing the attention of the other buck.

He immediately fell over, sliding and tumbling across the hard packed ground. His partner snapped his head back around to see him falling, just as I hit him in the face.

Why waste perfectly good momentum on a shoulder check?

The dirty gray pony spun into a tumble, knocking me over as his charge turned into an uncoordinated fall. I popped back to my hooves, checking behind me to see a flash of Hellen with one set of talons in the air. Her foe was down and about to be out. I reared to crush the gray buck, when Engineer's voice pierced my ears.

"HOLD!"

I dropped back to my hooves, backing towards Hellen as I shot a quick look to the older griffin. He was striding towards us, the fringed unicorn lying still in a spreading pool of blood behind him.

"Stand down, Wicked, but keep watch. They've surrendered."

He was right. The two ponies I had faced were staying down. The first was lying on his back, tears running down his face as he stared at the other. The second of the twin ponies wasn't moving at all, but Engineer checked him, making a pleased grunt.

"Just unconscious, he'll be fine."

Hellen had jumped off of the huge blue buck, and was nervously watching him, one taloned hand held back, ready to strike. I noticed bright claw covers on her talons, sharp and gleaming. Engineer approached the pony, who twitched and moaned. The thick clotted sound was almost ghoulish, and I shuddered to hear it.

Engineer gently rolled the pony onto his side, wincing as his back legs didn't follow. "I'm glad you surrendered, son, I just wish you'd done it sooner. Your back's broken."

The blue pony groaned again, scraping at the ground with a forehoof. I backed off, watching the twin gray ponies and taking in the situation as a whole. The unicorns were both dead ***, the green mare was very dead, and no further movement caught my eye. I trotted back to Engineer and the fretful Hellen.

"Engineer, can you send Hellen back up? I want to be sure there aren't any more coming."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Good call. Hellen, take care of that, if you please."

Hellen gathered herself to launch, but I stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder. "Lyrical went north, can you tell her its safe to come back, please?"

Hellen nodded and took off, swiftly disappearing into the sky. I returned to the corpse of the green mare, working Stickbird out of her body and wiping it clean as best I could on the hardpack. The conscious gray watched me nervously whenever I was in his line of sight, staying motionless on his back.

I checked the mare over quickly, and found nothing. She was naked, hairless and tailless, with shaved patches on her flank. Those distorted her cutie mark enough that it was unreadable, which really bothered me. I composed her body as best I could, leaving her appearing to be asleep. The gray buck gave a breathy sigh of a moan as I gently closed her eyes.

His twin was next, and was more of the same. Naked earth pony in fair shape, except for the missing hair and shaved cutie mark. I left him on his side, breathing easy. His twin was shaking as I approached, something I could easily understand. How had dad done this?

Well, here goes something.

"Congratulations, you've made the smart decision. I'm Wicked Cut, out of Chopper by Eggs Forbreakfast. Let's start easy - what's your name?"

The pony said nothing, just made choppy grunting sounds. "What's your name, brother? You don't have to use your real name, but we've got to call you something."

The gray buck howled, covering his face with his hooves. He slammed his forehooves down to the ground on either side of his body, and stretched his head towards me, his mouth gaping open. Where his tongue should have been was a ragged stub of scar tissue.

"By the ancestors! Engineer, this pony's got no-"

"Wicked, this guy's tongue has been cut out!"

---

Lyrical had returned. Hellen had seen no other attackers, but was going to stay airborne until she saw something or we signalled her. We had used one of our precious healing potions on the big buck, which had knit his back enough that he could feel his legs again. He still wasn't able to move them, and just sat silently, tears rolling down his face as he stared into the distance. The unconscious gray pony remained so, and his twin was next to him now.

“Well, there’s good news and bad news here. Your back isn’t broken, but it’s very badly sprained. You need to rest, and keep your back still.” Lyrical said, her horn glowing as she examined the big blue stallion. “The bad news is, there’s nothing we can do about your tongue. It’s an old injury, and the scar tissue is settled and worn in.”

The blue stallion sighed, and buried his face in his forehooves. Lyrical patted him on the shoulder, and moved over to the twin grays. Her horn flared back to life, her magic playing about the face and head of the unconscious gray. His twin flinched, closing his green eyes against the similar colored glow of Lyrical’s magic. She scowled, shutting down her horn and stepping away from the two ponies.

“Your brother should be fine, I think. That doesn’t look like a concussion or any real damage. Just let him sleep it off.” Lyrical finished, then turned to me. “Wicked, I’m not a doctor pony, but these guys should be OK with some rest. Aside from the tongue thing, that’s... Messed up. What now?”

“I have no idea. Engineer, how far away are we from Shattered Hoof?”

“Well... We were two days out, give or take. But I don’t want to leave these guys behind. Something’s not right, and the Hoof needs to know about it.”

“Whaddya mean not right?” I asked, nosing at the conscious gray buck, who was still trembling with his eyes clenched shut. “Come on, you. It’s OK, noone’s gonna hurt you.”

The gray pony shook his head, shaking like a leaf. I glanced at Lyrical, who shrugged, gesturing to her horn. I hrmphed and turned back to the quivering wreck of a pony. “The unicorn isn’t going to magic you, it’s OK. She’s going away now, you’re safe.” I shot a look at Lyrical again, and tossed my head in the general direction of the dead unicorns. Lyrical huffed and moseyed off towards the fallen. Engineer followed her, chuckling darkly.

I gently scruffled the gray pony’s head, rubbing his ears and examining him and his twin closer. The two were in good health, with plenty of weight on them. The normal sort of bashing-around-the-wasteland scars dotted their hides, and the thin line of white coat midway up one of his ears was a good indicator that he’d lost that ear, and it had grown back. That meant these ponies had a support structure, an organization. Magical healing strong enough to regrow an ear wasn’t easy to find for raiders.

The unconscious gray groaned, and his twin lunged to his hooves. Flinging himself protectively across the still-limp pony he glared up at me, defiance written loud in his facial expression. I took a step back, trying to look harmless and nonthreatening.

“Hey now, it’s OK, it’s OK.” I said calmly. The gray bared his clenched teeth at me, and his twin opened a pair of blue eyes. Blinking slowly, he looked between the legs of his green-eyed protector, focussing in on me. I ventured a small wave and smile. “Hi! Glad you could join us! I’m Wicked Cut, and the griffin sneaking up behind you in case you get violent is Engineer Grimfeathers.”

There was a moment of stillness, the green-eyed gray going wide-eyed and panicked. I took another step back, bracing myself but holding my friendly smile. Engineer had indeed snuck up behind the two of them, which green-eyes saw as soon as he looked. I was preparing to kick Stickbird into my grip, when blue-eyes stood, knocking green-eyes over as he did. The pony groaned, rubbing his head with a hoof. Green-eyes wiggled and tried to get up, but blue-eyes put a hoof on his chest. Glancing at his twin with a sigh, the gray pony looked up at me.

“Hebbo. I am Luuueeff. Viis iss my buother, Sky.” He said. Engineer drew up in surprise, and I blinked myself. Leaf, if turned out, was named after his brother’s eyes, and his brother was named after his. The two ponies were brothers, and had been captured by unicorns. The big blue stallion was named ‘Big’, sadly enough. The mare that had died in the initial charge was called ‘Greeny’, and had been Big’s lover. The unicorns were Hide Armor and Knuckle Head, and were very much deceased. Leaf and Sky had collapsed crying against each other when they were told, and Big had wept as well.

The earth ponies were prisoners or slaves to the unicorns, it seemed. Leaf didn’t have much tongue, so talking was difficult and wearing for him. He had laid himself down for a nap, Sky curled up next to him. Asleep, the two were identical. Leaving them, I helped Big make his painful way to the corpse of his lover. The big blue crumpled next to the dead mare and I left him to his mourning.

Engineer had signalled Hellen back down, and she was standing guard over the whole scene. I trotted up to her and plopped down, looking the griff over. Hellen was alert and intent, her gaze sharp in that predatory way that only griffins had. She met my gaze for a second, giving me a nod of acknowledgement, then returned to scanning.

“Wicked.” She said shortly.

“Hellen.” I replied. “You know anything about these... guys?” I asked. Hellen was all business, keeping a roving eye on every direction. She shot me another quick glance, shaking her head.

“Never heard of ‘em. Gotta be more, too. Four slaves and two slavers, all healthy? Not stable long term.” Hellen said confidently, then stalked off to keep watch. I stayed, thinking hard. The earth pony... slaves... had quieted down, the twins asleep and Big staring silently at the corpse of his dead lover.

It made a kind of horrible sense. These guys were almost useless at fighting, and had been ignorant enough to run up on a polearm. The only way that was workable was if you considered your fighters disposable, or at least very low valued. Not enough information. I got up and trotted to Engineer and Lyrical, who were investigating the dead unicorns. Engineer had shot one of them in the neck, nearly removing his head. The other had taken multiple shots to the chest, leaving a blasted wreckage framed by leather fringes.

The two had stripped the neck-shot unicorn of his blood soaked barding, which was a fairly plain cloth. The heavy material would be tough and durable against wear and tear, and help protect against attack. Just not very well. It was almost comically light as armor, even compared to my own hoof-made suit. The Talon armor that Lyrical and Engineer wore was a fortress of safety next to it. While I was examining the barding, Lyrical had finished scraping the worst of the blood off it against the hard-packed earth.

High on the left chest of the barding, a symbol rode. A unicorn horn over a shoe, simple heavy black stitching on the tan fabric. There wasn’t anything else remarkable or unique about the barding, and Lyrical discarded it with a grunt of distaste. We turned to the second corpse and made the same examination of his ‘barding’, a full bodysuit of leather. The thick, heavy garb would be more protective than the cloth armor of his fellow, but the thick hide was obviously and horribly pony.

Lyrical dropped the hide and turned away, falling to her knees to retch her breakfast out onto the hard ground. I almost followed suit, the sound and smell of her distress tugging at my own guts. I held on though, and the sounds faded as Lyrical mastered her gorge... Or simply ran out of stomach contents. I poked the leather armor around with the tip of my weapon, unwilling to touch it with my mouth. There was a matching sigil on the chest of this pony’s armor, too. The horn over shoe was burnt into the rough hide on this one, in the same place as the other.

Under their barding, the only distinguishing features of the two unicorns was their state of dead. The heavy rounds from Engineer’s pistol had crashed into the chest of the leather wearer, leaving big holes in his chest and squishy ruin of most of his barrel. The first pony to die had been shot in the neck, leaving almost half of the flesh on that important body part missing. Aside from the case of bullet poisoning, the two unicorns were in excellent physical shape. I patted Lyrical on the back as I left the corpses behind, joining Engineer. Engineer had the saddlebags emptied out on the ground, picking through seperate piles of miscellany and junk.

I noticed two things immediately. I wasn’t familiar with the use or workings of the two big slab-sided pistols, but they were there and in decent shape. A brace of healing potions, gorgeously dark purple in their bottles. There was a scattering of ammo, two different sizes. Foodstuffs and canteens. Chems, inhalers and pills, Dash, Buck, Steady.

“Engineer... These guys were idiots. You dropped the unicorns before they got off a single spell. Four earth ponies couldn’t fight their way through me. How do they have so much good stuff?” I asked, confused and a little alarmed.

“I have no idea kid. But something isn’t right here. The armor... The tactics... The whole way the slavery thing is setup.” Engineer said, pawing through the piles. Caps gleamed, along with a wad of pre-war money.

“I’m a little worried here, Engineer. I know I’m not the smartest pony in the Wasteland, but this looks like a scouting party.”

“I - eugh- don’t recognize their sigil, myself.” Lyrical said, wiping at her face with a scrap of cloth. “But I think Wicked’s right - these guys are part of something bigger.”

“What makes you say that?” Engineer asked distractedly, checking the pistols in the loot pile. He handed the larger one to Lyrical, who gave the weapon a once-over before tucking it in her saddlebag.

“Thank you. I just think there’s no way they’re solo. They’ve got too much stuff, it’s too good. These would have to be the most successful raiders ever to have that rack of healing potions.”

“And that doesn’t make sense, not with slaves.” I put in. “I agree with Hellen on that one. This arrangement wouldn’t be stable long term.”

Engineer grunted noncommittally, stuffing the pre-war moneys into his saddlebags. He handed the pouch of caps to me, and I stuffed them into my own bags. The saddlebags themselves were clean enough to reuse. I divided the healing potions between everyone, saving one out for Hellen. There was six potions for the seven of us. Engineer waved one off, so I stashed three in the two sets of saddlebags. Filling them out with the random junk that had been in them initially got them nice and balanced.

“Wicked. We’ve got to get going. The more I think about this, the unhappier I get. Shattered Hoof was about two days away this morning. If we can get moving and hurry, we can still make that.” Engineer said. He stretched his back and ruffled his wings. “And we really need to take those ponies with us.

“Alright. I didn’t want to use this, but I can hit the big guy with Hydra and a healing potion. That should put us back on our way.” I offered. Engineer nodded, then threw his head back and screeched into the sky. Moments later, Hellen landed next to him. I nodded to her as I trotted to Big. He was staring morosely at the corpse of the green mare, his head pillowed on his forehooves.

“Hey. Big?” I asked. Big flicked an ear at me, but remained motionless. He had arranged the body so that the injuries on her chest were hidden. I wish I could say that she looked asleep, or some happy platitude like that. But all she looked was dead. I plopped down in front of his supine form, off to the side of his dead lover. Reaching out a forehoof, I pulled Big’s face around to look directly at me. He scowled, but didn’t pull himself away. “I’m sorry, but we have to go. And I’m not going to leave you crippled. Your... Owners I guess, had a dose of Hydra with them. It should fix your back, but it’s gonna hurt.”

Big sighed, pulling his face out of my gentle grasp. I tried to support him as he painfully pushed himself to his hooves. He took one awkward step forward, gently stroking the side of the dead mare’s face with a hoof. I hesitated, feeling out of place and guilty as I watched the tears roll down the side of Big’s face. Big took a step back and turned away from his lover. I hastened to follow. We went just a couple steps away from her until Big stopped.

He made his slow way back to the ground, sitting down and then laying over on his side. The blue of his coat was marred by bruises and blood from our fight, and I could see him panting. His eyes were wide with terror as he looked up at me and nodded once. I rummaged in my saddlebag, pulling the looted dose of Hydra out and examining it. The drug wasn’t one I had ever used or seen used. My father had mentioned that the tribe had a couple doses of it. That made it precious. He had said he hoped never to use it, because of the screaming. That made it painful.

The drug was three syringes bound together with a hoof cup on the end. They were capped with long needles. Crude pictograms indicated they went into the actual heart. I heard a ringing in my ears as my own heart started pounding. The gray fluid visible through the glass of the syringe shook and rolled as I fit the assemblage onto my hoof. I struck hard and fast, before I could hesitate any further.

The needles slammed through Big’s ribcage, and the button tucked between the needles activated the injectors. The hiss of released pressure was drowned out by Big’s clenched-teeth scream. The vile gray fluid pushed out of the syringes and the screaming intensified. I struggled to pull the injector out of Big’s massive chest as he thrashed. It finally came loose, and I fell backwards to my seat. Big curled into a ball, then splayed out with a grunt. As his legs shot out I could hear him dragging a breath through his locked jaw.

I watched the muscles in his back writhing under his skin, the meaty crunching and tearing sound digging into my ears. Big screamed, his jaw flying open under the pressure of a howl of agony. He thrashed, his front legs pounding into the hard packed ground. Black lines formed on his back, bursting open to pour filth across his hide. Big’s entire body clenched, his legs slamming into his body hard enough to drive the last of his air out of his chest. The motion had brought Big upright, and he fell forward onto his face, then fell over on his side.

The big blue unicorn and I stared at each other. I drew breath shakily, and turned to pull a healing potion out of my saddlebag. I saw Leaf and Sky sitting behind me. One of them was holding the other back, as that one struggled to get at me. Huh.

I turned my back on the twins and lurched back to my hooves. Kneeling next to Big, I gently lifted his head and poured the healing potion into him. Big greedily sucked at the potion bottle, swiftly draining its contents. The bottle empty, Big let his head flop back to the soil. He let out a ragged sigh and closed his eyes.

I got back to my hooves and turned to the twins. Leaf was the one who had held his brother back. Have to remember that. I pushed past them, retrieving the saddlebags I had assembled earlier. I dropped them at the hooves of the twins, who had frozen in place, staring at me with wide eyes.

“Here. There’s some good stuff in these, but no guns. I don’t think you guys need weapons quite yet.” I said. I glanced up at Big, who was back on his hooves and stretching. “We’ve got to get going. If there was one scouting party, there’s got to be a ‘rest of them’ to scout for. Oh, how I wish you guys could talk.”

Leaf opened his mouth, but I shushed him with a wave of a hoof. “Saddle up, we’ll talk once we’re safe.”

Big was standing, his legs spread wide and head drooping. The poor pony was shaking on his hooves, as I cautiously approached him.

“How are you feeling, Big? Legs working?” Big looked up at me and nodded. He took a shaky step, working his legs and back. Craning around, Big examined himself as best he could. I had to laugh at the big guy, bending himself in circles like a foal with a tail ribbon. Big finished his self exam and gave me a big grin and a hug. I awkwardly returned it, patting Big on the shoulder.

“Wicked, did the Hydra work? We’ve got to get moving, Shattered Hoof needs to know about this before the rest of their gang show up at the front door.”

Big drew back from me and patted me on the shoulder. Turning away, he trotted past the twins, who were almost done strapping on their saddlebags. Big knelt next to the corpse of his green mare, delicately kissing her on the forehead. Standing, he returned to my side. Nudging me, Big tossed his head at the twins. They stood waiting, expectant looks on their faces.

“Ok, Engineer, let’s go!”

We went.


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Level Up!

Almost. you’re close, though.


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As always, thanks go to Kkat, for FoE, and to VolrathXP, Tezz, and all my readers. I can’t promise any greater frequency or quality of updates... Not until I get back from vacation in september and get a new job!

Next chapter: To Be Alive Again. Shattered Hoof changes everything. Wicked Cut gets a black eye. Hellen Damnation gets a pinprick in a very uncomfortable location!