Revenge

by Teq

Chapter 3

Author's Note:

Chapter 3 for you all! I briefly skimmed it to pick up any obvious mistakes but if I missed anything then let me know. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 3

I felt a little guilty that morning when I woke to find that I’d fallen asleep on sentry. I was still up before Wraith though, so he thankfully didn’t notice. I gave him a shake to wake him and called, “Wake up, sleepy head. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.” He groaned and sat himself up, flinging his saddlebags and rifle over his back and yawning. He shook his head and pointed in our direction of travel, “The camp shouldn’t be more than a few miles away now. We’ll be there in a few hours.”
And so our trek continued. I’ll not bore you with any details, as not much happened except that Wraith yawned a lot. I was overjoyed to see the tops of some huts finally come into view and even more overjoyed when we finally arrived there. My hooves were aching and I was relieved that I no longer had to be worried about the Scavengers catching us napping.
There were three buildings in total. There were two residential buildings and one for storage. There were a total of nine Wanderers living in the area operating as traders. The first Wanderer we saw was happily patrolling around the outside. He spotted me and called over, “High ho! What can I do for you?” And then he saw Wraith. “Oh. Look, for the final time, we’re not interested in trading any slaves, okay? Kindly leave us alone and don’t involve us in this corrupt trade.” The Wanderer was dressed in a loosely fitting shirt, a stallion who looked about Wraith’s age. He was a pegasus, with fur of a tan hue and a copper coloured mane. His cutie mark resembled an ink well and quill, and hanging from around his shoulders was a small sub machine gun.
Wraith and I approached him and I flinched back when he rested a hoof on the weapon around his neck, but Wraith quickly reassured him, “Don’t worry, we’re not here to hurt you. We both escaped from the nearby Scavenger compound and we merely seek refuge and guidance. We hate the Scavengers as much as you do. I’m Wraith by the way, and this is my close friend Bucky. She belongs to the NSA and I used to be a Scavenger.” The Wanderer frowned.
“Once a Scavenger, always a Scavenger. Remind me again why I should consider trusting you?” He cocked the sub machine gun and I quickly intervened.
“Please sir, don’t feel threatened. We mean you no harm. Both of my parents were viciously murdered by Scavengers and to this day I hold a vendetta against them, but I have found it in me to trust this stallion, for he is not like the rest. Please, we have spent many days without proper rest and ask only for some accommodation and some information before we are on our way.”

The guard sniffed derisively before nodding his head and turning his back on us, “Follow me, please.” We did so and he took us to the largest of the three buildings, pushing the door open and letting us in. The hut consisted of a single room, which was very large but felt smaller due to the vast amounts of clutter. The focal point of the room was a large desk, upon which were stacks of paper, documents, quills and bottles of ink. A little out dated but who was I to judge. There were also several filing cabinets lining the left wall and on the back was a large board with maps and various documents tacked onto it. There were bins of items all over the room, including cameras, toys, clothes, scrap bits of wood or metal and numerous other things besides. Behind the desk sat a mare with a black mane and a tannish coloured coat. She was an earth pony, garbed in the usual Wanderer attire, but with a strap over her breast, containing a knife and a small pistol.

She sat forwards when we entered and pressed her hooves together. The pegasus unslung his sub machine gun and placed it on a hook beside the door. He bowed to the mare behind the desk and introduced us, “My lady, this is Bucky of the NSA and Wraith of the Scavengers,” he spat as he said the word ‘scavengers’. “They have come here requesting shelter and information. I trust that you will make a good decision.”
“Thank you, Tenner, you may return to your post.” Tenner bowed again, picked up his sub machine gun in his mouth and left, closing the door behind him. An awkward silence fell on the room. I shuffled uncomfortably and removed my hat, gazing around the room and waiting for either Wraith or the Wanderer to break the quiet.

She smiled and leant back again, “Please take a seat,” she gestured to two chairs before the desk. “I assume that you’ve had a hard journey here.”
“Yes, quite.” I gladly sat on one of the chairs, placing my hat back on my head. Wraith politely declined and remained standing. I gave a sheepish grin and again waited.
“I trust that Tenner already made quite clear how we feel about Scavengers. No offence, sir, but they’ve made quite a name for themselves around these parts. We do our best not to associate with them, but you seem like reasonable folk so maybe we can negotiate. I’m Mayor Stylus by the way, pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“I’m Bucky. I used to be a citizen of the NSA until quite recently.”
“Why did you leave?” she cocked her head to one side. “The NSA provide security. A stable place to live and a steady supply of food is quite a bit better than what we suffer out here in the wilderness. What made you run away?”

I looked down into my lap. The memories hurt me badly and brought back many memories that I’d been trying hard to forget. I took a deep breath before saying, “My town was raided by Scavengers. My parents had long since… perished and I was on my own. I didn’t want to die so I ran, but they caught me and enslaved me. That’s when Wraith set me free. Please, Mayor, he risked his life to rescue me. He’s not like the rest of them, please don’t look upon him like you do the others.” She chuckled. With a hoof she beckoned Wraith forward. He took three large steps to come level with me. He bowed his head slightly in respect, but made no comment of his own.

Mayor Stylus gestured towards him, “So, Wraith I do believe you’re called, you’re friend here tells me that you risked your life to rescue her. Is that true?”
“Not really.” I was surprised by his answer. I swivelled in my seat to look up at him.
“Yes you did! You could’ve died trying!”
“I got hit in the face but that’s about it. No bullets were fired at me. If anything I almost got you killed.” I clapped my hoof to my face. I chuckled shyly and turned back to the Mayor. She had a neutral gaze on her face, not giving anything away. I raised a hoof as if to say something but she shushed me, insisting that Wraith tell her why he had tried to save me.

He said nothing at first, as per his usual self. Then he shuffled awkwardly and glanced off to one side before saying, “I just didn’t like the way they treated her, that’s all.”
“But why her? Why not anypony else? Surely they’re all treated badly? I don’t know, you tell me, Scavenger.” Wraith took a short step back.
“She… I… They didn’t…”
“Do you plan to finish any of these sentences?”
“She made me see how bad things really were. She brought me to reason. She had more drive, more passion than any of the others. I felt that if somepony was going to make a difference, then it would be her.”
“Are you sure that that’s the only reason?”
“Yes, Mayor, it is.”

She ceased her questioning then went silent for a short while. Then she smiled again, “Well I suppose that we can make an exception. There are some empty beds in our barracks that you can use and we can give you some maps of the local area, but you’re going to have to pull your weight and earn your keep. For you, Scavenger, that means patrol duty. Go out there and tell Tenner that from now on you’ll be patrolling in pairs. Bucky, I’m afraid that you might find yourself doing more work than you’re used to.”
“With all due respect, Mayor,” said Wraith. “I would like to take a small portion of each day to teach Bucky how to shoot. She’s never fired a firearm before.” The Mayor looked at me in disbelief.
“You’ve never fired a firearm before? Do you know how dangerous it is out here? Yes, I suppose that would be wise. We’re willing to provide you with ammunition if you need it.”
“We’re okay for now.”
“Very well. Go.” Wraith departed, telling me to meet him in the barracks when he’d finished his duty. I nodded and watched him close the door behind him.

When he did I turned back to the Mayor, “Thank you so much, miss! I promise that we won’t let you down and I’m willing to…” She waved a hoof in the air to silence me.
“This Wraith fellow of yours, he doesn’t talk a lot does he?”
“No, I suppose he doesn’t.”
“Do you like him? You know,” she twirled her hoof, looking for the correct expression. “Do you fancy him a bit?” I immediately sensed myself blushing hotly and averting my gaze.
“Well he’s… I guess he’s not that bad looking but I never really thought about it that much.”
“Hmmm. I’ll tell you what I think Bucky. That is, if you want to hear it.”
“What?”
“I reckon that he quite likes you. Fancies you, I mean.” I shook my head.
“No, he wouldn’t feel that way about me. He’s never had a mare friend before and I doubt he’d fall for somepony like me.” The Mayor grinned and raised an eyebrow, folding her arms before her.
“Well we’ll see now won’t we? Anyway, I was going to assign you guard duty, but seeing as you’ve never shot anything before, I suppose that means you’re on stores. Inventory will be glad for the help I’m sure. How long did you plan on staying here?”
“I’m not sure. I never actually thought about that.”
“Well come and let me know when you decide. You can leave now.”

I thanked her again, before pushing back my chair and walking over to the door. I was about to leave but I glanced back over my shoulder to ask, “Where exactly is stores?” She chuckled.
“Bucky, it’s one of three buildings. I’m sure you can find it.”
“Oh, right. Sorry,” I stepped out and closed the door. The sun had reached its zenith and let loose with its relentless heat. I was glad that I had indoor work. The scenery was beautiful. The grass plains extended for miles in either direction, with a series of hills visible in the distance. I checked the building on my right first. It was what appeared to be the barracks. Inside were four other ponies of varying ages. The oldest looked just older than Wraith. He was tall and had a pastel blue coat and black hair that he had brushed back. He was a unicorn like me and next to him, leaning on the wall, was a large shotgun. The other three ponies were all younger, the youngest about half my age.

The first thing that I noticed about him was that he had no mane. He was a pegasus with black fur and no cutie mark. I thought he was a bit odd, and then he turned to look at me. It took all of my strength not to recoil in horror. The stallion was missing his left eye. In its place was just an empty socket with a large scar running through it. Covering the right side of his face was what looked like a heavy metallic gas mask. It covered his muzzle and had a red eye that glowed slightly and had several pipes and wires covering it. On closer observation one noticed some rather nasty burns over where his cutie marks were supposed to be.

He stood up. He was about as tall as me, with covers over his hooves made of the same black metal as his half-mask which clanked against the floor when he walked. He stopped just short of me and stared into my face. I felt extremely awkward. He sighed, “Don’t worry, I really don’t mind if you stare.” His voice dripped sarcasm and I quickly apologised. Another of the wanderers (a mare about my age with a tomahawk at her hip) chuckled.
“Oh come on Tritium, stop pestering her. Sorry miss, he’s a bit touchy about his implants.” I couldn’t help raising an eyebrow and asking about them.
“Why does he have implants?”
“All of them do. You know, those cyborg freaks from the Factory. We found this one on his own and freed him from his armour. Unfortunately we kind of didn’t realise that the helmet actually connected to his eye and it came out with it. That was a bloody display. We called him Tritium after that because the cyborgs don’t really have names. I’m Eagle by the way. That’s Sparks,” she pointed at the mare opposite her, who nodded. “And that’s Big Guy. Or at least that’s what we call him, right Big Guy?”
Big Guy nodded, “Eeyup.”

I took them all in. It was a pitiful display. Tritium with his missing eye and implants was the worst but they were all pretty bad. Eagle had scars all along her back and Sparks was missing several teeth. Big Guy was perhaps the best of them, with just a large scar running the length of his face. Eagle shook my hoof, “Big Guy’s the only proper wanderer here. His ancestors were apple farmers and he’s sort of carried on the tradition really. The mayor is his sister actually. Us? We all have our own stories. I was enslaved by the Scavengers at one point. Fortunately the LRSA invaded and I escaped during all of the commotion. Big Guy found me and I was all too happy to tag along. Tritium we found wandering the wastes. He attacked us at first but I scored a lucky hit and severed the antenna thing on his helmet. Then it was just a matter of getting it off.”

She took a deep breath before continuing, “And Sparks? She’s had a pretty rough time too. She’s an electrician by trade but here she maintains our weapons. Her mother and father were both Scavengers. They didn’t really want her so they had her enslaved. Sold her on to a Sadist who was just a barrel of laughs. He eventually got bored of her though and just ditched her. Then we picked her up and took her in. So yea, that’s all you need to know about us really. Have you met anypony else?”
“I’ve met the mayor and I’ve met Tenner. I’m supposed to be working in stores with Inventory whoever that is and I saw a few more of you from a way off.” She laughed.
“Don’t worry about Tenner. He acts tough but he’s harmless underneath. Why do you think we give him patrol? Because he’ll scream before he shoots giving us plenty of time to gear up. You’ll meet the others later. And just a heads up,” she pulled me closer. “Inventory’s a bit coo-coo.” She twirled her hoof around her head and crossed her eyes, eliciting laughs from everypony except Tritium.

After that I made my way to the stores hut. Inside were shelves upon shelves of weapons, food, clothes, miscellaneous items and so on. Walking up and down the aisles, levitating various items above his head, was a stallion with a light grey coat and chalk white hair that stuck up in strange directions and was longer in some places than others. He laughed when he saw me and dropped everything that he was carrying. I greeted him with a simple, “Hi,” and he leapt on me, pinning me underneath him. I began to panic but my fear soon subsided when he picked me up again, “Sorry about that my friend. I get a little excited sometimes and I lose control. Can I get you anything? Anything at all?”
“I’m fine thank you. Are you Inventory?” I took a step back from the deranged stallion. He looked confused, tapping his forehead with his hoof.
“Am I Inventory? Yes I believe I am. Yes I most certainly am! Yes, I’m Inventory, nice to meet you. I run stores here in our quaint little town and I’m proud to say that I know exactly what we have in stock, how much of it and where it is. I’m eidetic you see, so it’s quite easy for me! Anyway, I haven’t seen you before. What’s your name?”

I gave him the whole spiel that I’d given everypony else and told him that I was here to work. He seemed rather excited by this and immediately gave me a list of things that needed doing. For the next few hours I busied myself with stacking shelves, making lists, checking monitors and metres, polishing surfaces and various other mundane tasks. I was relieved when the door opened and Wraith stepped in. He looked at me and beckoned me over, “I’m going to teach you how to shoot now. Do you have your pistol?” I placed a hoof into my saddlebags and pulled out the firearm. “Good. Grab yourself a holster and a belt from here. You’ll need it to carry your weapons. Meet me around the back of the apple orchard in five. Drop your saddlebags off in the barracks.” He turned his back on me and walked out.

I found myself a belt and holster that fit my pistol and checked them out with Inventory. They were both made of brown leather and I quickly managed to fit the holster to the belt. I fit it around my waist and tightened it until it fit snuggly, then I slid my pistol into the holster. I was quite exhilarated by all of this. I felt like a new mare with this pistol by my side, even though I had no idea how to use the bloody thing. I thanked Inventory and he quickly decided that he was a dog and started to lick my face and bark loudly. I left with haste and returned to the barracks to drop off my saddlebags.

Eagle immediately gave me the bunk next to hers and flung my saddlebags into the locker next to it. She giggled and lay back on her bunk, spreading her arms out on either side. She rolled over and looked at me, “So, you seeing anypony?”
“No, not at the moment.”
“What was your last coltfriend like? Was he smart? Was he cute? Or was he smoking sexy?” She licked her lips a bit in a semi-seductive manner. I quickly suppressed the excited jolt that coursed through me and coughed loudly.
“I’ve, uh, never really had a coltfriend before.” Eagle gawped in disbelief.
“No? Come on Bucky! You’re… seventeen? Eighteen?”
“Nineteen.”
“Nineteen, that’s what I said,” I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, you’re nineteen and you’ve never had a coltfriend? What’re you doing with your life?”
“Right now,” I turned towards the door and prepared to leave. “I’m doing my best just to stay alive.” I closed the door and went to meet Wraith behind the orchard.

The sun was now low in the sky. Not sunset low, but still pretty low. Wraith was sitting on the fence with his rifle in his lap swinging his leg back and forth. He saw me approach and stood himself up again, “So you finally decided to show up. I said five minutes and you took six.”
“Oh come on, I’m only a minute late.” I sat down on the grass next to him.
“If you’re one minute late for an attack then you give the enemy enough time to crew his machine guns and load his mortars. Punctuality is key to survival.”
“All right, all right! I thought you were going to teach me to shoot.” He threw me a clip of ammunition which I caught with my magic.

He pulled out his own pistol and a clip of his own and showed me the ammunition, “This is 45 calibre. It fits into the grip of the pistol like so,” he slid the clip into the grip and it clicked. I looked at the ammunition in my magic field and frowned.
“Mine doesn’t look like yours. Is it faulty?”
“No. My 1911 uses 45 calibre rounds. What you have there is a Glock 17 which chambers nine millimetre rounds. Different weapons, different ammo. Now load the clip.” I did as he said and slid the clip into the pistol. It clicked and I smiled.
“Am I ready to shoot things now?”
“No. The clip may be loaded but we still need to put a round in the chamber. To do so, pull back on this bar on top of the pistol and then let it go forward.” He did as he described and I followed suit. There was a loud snap as it went forward which I found oddly satisfying.
“Now am I ready to shoot?”
“Yes.”

I grinned and pointed the pistol at the fence. Wraith had lined up several glass bottles which I assumed would be targets. We took several steps back and turned to face our enemies. Wraith raised his pistol and took aim. He fired off a single round which shattered a bottle on the fence and hit a tree. I raised my pistol and closed my left eye. Wraith guided me until the sights on the weapon lined up and told me to fire. I tried but not a single round would leave the barrel. I groaned in frustration, “Wraith, my gun’s broken!”
“Glocks don’t break. They’re one of the most reliable pistols you can get. That’s why I chose it for you. What you’ve done is left the safety catch on. See this little thing here? When it’s in this position the safety catch is ‘on’. When it’s on the pistol won’t fire. It stops accidents from happening. When you want to fire, flick it into this position. Now you can go ahead and start shooting.”

I steadied myself again and took aim. I pulled off a shot and the recoil jarred against my foreleg. I lost my grip and dropped the pistol. I looked to see if I’d hit anything but the bottles remained standing. I’d missed. I groaned again, “I’ll never get good at this!”
“Yes you will. This is your first time. I wouldn’t expect you to become a marksman on your first try. Now pick up your pistol and take aim again. Control yourself, steady your breathing. Take time to line up the sights. Make sure your target is in line with the weapon. Hold your breath; pull back on the trigger a little, but not all the way. Then, when you’re ready, release the breath and pull the trigger all the way and counter the recoil. You should find it a lot more accurate.”

I steadied my breathing and took time to line up the sights. I made sure that the target was in line with the weapon and held my breath. I pulled back on the trigger a little, but not all the way. Then I released the breath and pulled the trigger all the way. The shot rang out and the pistol recoiled but I countered it; the weapon staying in my grip. I looked up and saw one less bottle standing on the fence. I laughed a cheered, “Yes! I did it! I fucking did it! For the first time I’ve successfully shot something! Ha ha!” I punched the air and whooped, grinning with delight.

I repeated the operation until all the bottles on the fence went down. I had two more misses, but I felt a lot more confident with my weapon now than when I’d started. My weapon. My pistol. My trusty travelling companion. I felt like a god. Wraith was very pleased with how quickly I’d managed to grasp the concept. Then he made sure that I could make the weapon safe to carry again, “Release the magazine like so. Place one hoof on the bottom of the clip and use the other to press on this lever here. Slide the clip out like so and place it in your belt somewhere. That pouch ought to do fine. Now there is still a round in the chamber which could go off if you pull the trigger, so cock the working parts back like this and see the round fly out. Pick it up and return it to your pouch. Now point the weapon in a safe direction and pull the trigger. Do you here that click? That’s the hammer going forward and pushing the firing pin forwards. Now the weapon cannot be fired unless it’s cocked again. Apply the safety catch... yes like that, and the weapon is now safe to be returned to your holster without the risk of it going off. Here, here are the rest of the clips. Put them in that pouch and take care of them.”

I turned my back to walk back to the barracks but Wraith put a hoof on my shoulder and turned me around. He stared into my eyes, “Remember; never point a weapon at anypony, loaded or otherwise, unless you intend to shoot them. You may know that it’s unloaded but they don’t and they may fire back at you in defence. Keep the weapon in its holster unless you’re going to clean it or use it. Understand?”
“Crystal.”
“Good. I’ll join you in the barracks in a few minutes. I have to clean up here.” I nodded and happily trotted back to the barracks.

I sat on my bunk with my belt and holster on top of the locker beside my bed. Eagle was busy eating and I had gladly accepted a few of the apples that she had next to her. I hadn’t eaten all day and I was starving. As we chewed on the apples we talked. Well, I say we talked; Eagle did most of the talking. It was difficult for me to get a word in either way. She talked about a lot that I didn’t really care about or listen to but then she asked me for my story and I was forced to pay attention for a while.

I told her all about my parents. She had a lot of questions about life with the NSA, the answers to which I was happy to provide. I told her about my encounters with the Scavengers and it became something that we both connected on. I told her about Mystery and she listened with interest. She sighed, “I wish the place I’d been imprisoned in was as good as yours. When they captured me, our cells consisted of old confession boxes with bars welded onto the front. They were fucking horrible! The only time you were let out was if your master wanted you, which meant if you needed to take a piss you were forced to just grit your teeth and either wait to be released or just do what most of us were forced to do and get used to the smell of your own urine.” I shivered. To me that sounded like the worst possible form of punishment.

“Anyway, we had this one guy with us, Keeno we called him, and he was such an ass kisser. He would do anything that the Scavengers asked him to do and I mean anything! They all loved him. They didn’t even keep him in a cage because he was so fucking wet! We all hated him and he was always there to make fun of us in our cages. He would poke us through the bars and call us names but I would much rather have been in my cosy little cage than do the sort of shit he did! You know when I said he did anything? Right, well, one day this Scavenger, we all knew him as the Key Keeper because he, well, kept the keys, came in and he must’ve been really horny or something because he grabbed hold of Keeno and just…” I recoiled a bit and stopped chewing my apple. In comparison my time with the Scavengers was like living in luxury. I was pretty glad that I wasn’t amongst that lot. It was about this point that I zoned out again, but judging by her hoof gestures and the look of shocked disgust on Tritium’s face as he walked past, I’m going on the assumption that something naughty was happening.

I chuckled, “That is really disgusting,” I assumed.
“If you think that’s bad then wait until I tell you about the Group Leader! He comes in one morning, right, and he…”
“With all due respect, I’m not sure I could manage another one tonight.”
“Oh, are you hot enough already?”
“What?” I blinked, nonplussed. “Oh! Oh, no, no really! Save it for another time.”
“Okay, but you’re not leaving this place until I tell you, okay?”
“Yea, yea. Sure.” I lay back on my bunk, my hooves behind my head. I smiled. As in I properly smiled out of sheer happiness. For once in my life I felt properly happy. What could I tick off my checklist? Adrenaline rush from dangerous chase? Check. Learn to shoot? Check. Make new friends? Check. Listen to a disturbing but oddly arousing story? Check. Life was looking up for me and for once I didn’t feel like bad luck was yawning in my face and it felt pretty good.

I must’ve fallen asleep at one point because the next thing I remember was waking up at what felt like the middle of the night and it probably was. I groaned and rolled over, trying to fall asleep again, but then I hear voices outside. They were quiet, as if trying not to be heard. I sat up and looked around. I couldn’t see very much in the dark, but there was a faint orange glow piercing the cracks around the door. I could see Eagle next to me, lying on her back with one hoof on her chest. I felt it my duty to investigate the voices, so I strapped on my new belt and hopped down from my bunk. I crept as quietly as I could towards the door but ended up kicking a bucket which clattered loudly. I froze but no-one stirred, so I carried on.

It was crisp outside and the sky was still inky black. I drew my pistol from its holster but kept it unloaded for now. I located the source of the voices and as a result the orange light. It was coming from inside the orchard. I investigated, trying my hardest not to make any noise until I saw whom it was that I was dealing with. I crouched low and peered into the orchard. There was a fire, around which sat two figures; one tall and slim, one shorter but also slim. They both had rifles, but I couldn’t make out their identities. I took a clip from the pouch on my belt, sliding it into the grip on the pistol. I heard the soft click that announced that it was locked in place. Then with the weapon brought to bear I charged into the clearing and held it at the nearest person.

I was quickly caught off guard when they grabbed my outstretched arm and flung me over their shoulder. I hit the ground hard and the air was forced out of me. The pistol was wrestled from my grip and I heard the clip slide out and the weapon cock. I glanced up at my attacker, who promptly said, “Always fire with two hooves. It greatly improves your accuracy and controls recoil.” It was Wraith. He helped me back up and I graciously accepted the pistol off him, securing it in its holster. Wraith sat back down and gestured for me to do likewise. I then quickly identified the other pony to be Tritium, the half-cyborg.

I cleared my throat before making a quick apology, “Sorry about all of that. I heard voices and assumed they were hostile.” Wraith only sighed.
“Why would a hostile light a fire in an orchard and have a merry chat with his friend?” He raised an inquisitive eyebrow. I looked down into my lap, embarrassed. “It’s okay. We all make mistakes.” I looked back up to take in the scene. Wraith had his rifle resting next to him, whilst Tritium had his resting in his lap. And such a rifle I had never seen before.

It was about the size of the average assault rifle, and about that shape too, but it had various veins of pulsing lime green light strobing across it from the butt to the end of the barrel and a clip that looked more like a large battery. It had what appeared to be a telescopic sight fixed to the top which also glowed a faint green. I pointed at it and inquired as to what it was. Tritium picked it up in his metal clad fore hooves and held it up to the light, “It’s a Plasma Carbine. Developed by the Factory for standard usage. It uses a cold fusion battery to generate ionised plasma, which is magnetised as it leaves the barrel to prevent it from scattering. It makes little noise, shoots over a long distance and hurts like shit if it hits you,” he placed it back in his lap. “Maybe someday you’ll see one in action, and you better hope that you’re not on the receiving end.”

I think now would be a good point to explain the Factory in a little more depth. The Factory was founded shortly after the revolution as a scientific testing facility. It was one of many massive facilities, stretching to about a kilometre long and several stories high. The facility in question specialised in robotics and engineering. After a while, the scientists there kept developing new and improved modular armour systems and weapons that they fused with their bodies. Over time they became heavily depended on their implants to function at full capacity and went mad. They lost all independent thought, instead being controlled by one combined hive mind, like an organism in its own right moving its fingers about. They began to kidnap others and fuse them with machines, expanding their power and connecting ponies to their mental grid. Some gave up their independence willingly, others were forced. Now they are a small faction compared to the Scavengers and the LRSA and are rarely seen outside of their facility, but when they are then it’s not a good sign. They don’t eat, sleep, drink, fuck each other or any of the things that most ponies do, so they’ve become more machine than pony. However Tritium could be considered living proof that the process could be reversed, despite the dangers.

And so we three stayed up and talked into early morning. We talked about various things, the Scavengers included, and we ended up turning in at what must have been about three o’clock in the morning. I got back to my bunk and slid myself under the covers, resting my head in an attempt to catch some sleep before the next morning. I gazed over at Eagle. She was nice, good to have a chat with and I felt upset to have to leave her at some point. She was fun and above all else funny and care free, something that was seriously lacking in the Wilderness. Eventually I managed to drift off to sleep.

Only to be very rudely awoken the next morning by Tenner. He’d dragged himself out of his bunk earlier than the rest of us and we were abruptly awoken by him banging on a metal pipe, “Come on! Come on! Let’s go! Up and attem, we’ve got work to do! You there, get up before I drag you up!” I cast him a cold glare and fixed my belt around my waist. Pulling my hat down over my eyes I joined the rest of the Wanderers outside. Eagle had already gone off on sentry duty, as had Wraith, and Sparks was making maintenance checks on the electrics and Inventory was opening stores up for the day. Big Guy and the rest bar Tritium, Tenner and Mayor Stylus were busy working the orchards. The Mayor supervised, directing their efforts and coordinating the work whilst also lending a helping hoof here or there where it was needed. Tenner quickly slipped in to the Mayor’s office and Tritium sat with various bits and pieces attempting to put them together. I went to meet Inventory at stores to complete my daily work.

The rest of the day went without a hitch, with nothing interesting really happening. Then came my shooting session with Wraith. My accuracy had improved since the day before and I knocked down every target that he set up for me. He was so impressed by my progress he asked if I wanted to start working on rifles, but I politely declined. All I needed was my trusty pistol and I would be good. That was followed up by another lesson in melee combat, which ended in several humiliating defeats until I finally managed to pin Wraith to the floor, “Good job. You’ve definitely improved.”
“Thank you,” I helped him up off the floor. “So what happens now?”
“I was going to visit the Mayor about those maps. We need a clear plan of where we’re going. We ought to be leaving in no more than two days. We don’t want to over stay our welcome and the Scavengers will quickly figure out that we headed here. That is, if they still want our heads which I can only assume they do.”

So we went to visit the Mayor in her office/building thing. She was there, sitting quietly in her chair whilst Tenner stood on the opposite side of the desk. He had his head bowed slightly and his ears drooped, hanging by the side of his head which made him look rather pathetic. He was murmuring quietly about something that I would have loved to have caught but sadly didn’t. Mayor Stylus stood up, her hooves planted firmly on her desk, “Alright Tenner I’ve heard enough. Listen, this is a harsh world now. It’s not like the era of harmony that we once had. Now-a-days every other pony you meet wants to either kill you, rape you or steal your food so when we come across somepony who still has some good left in their heart then we take them on board so that they don’t have to go through any of that. I know you have your issues but that’s how we operate here under my rule, and until my rule comes to an end, you are to follow my orders. When something annoys you, you hold your tongue; otherwise you may as well leave now. No, Tenner, I’m sorry. That’s the way it is. Now get out of my face.”

Tenner bowed his head further and with a quiet, “Yes ma’am,” he turned and stalked out of the office, throwing both Wraith and I a dirty look as he walked past. Mayor Stylus fell back into her chair, her arms by her sides. We approached her desk and she perked up.
“Oh, hey. Sorry. You’ve no idea what it’s like trying to get Tenner to shut up about all of his problems. Whenever we took on Eagle and Sparks he had a problem. Whenever we took on Inventory then there was a problem and whenever we took on Tritium there was a problem. Now we’ve taken on you two he’s got more problems. Anyway, what do you want?”

Wraith bowed his head slightly as a sign of respect, “We want to see some maps of the surrounding area. We plan to leave tomorrow.”
“Aww, that’s a shame. We could have done with a few extra hooves around here. Oh well, you are masters of your own destiny. Let’s have a look here,” she opened a draw in her desk and took out a scroll of paper, unfolding it to reveal a hoof drawn map of the surrounding area. “When we first established this place I had Tenner conduct a survey of the local area to draw up this map. This is us here in the centre. Over there is the Scavenger encampment that I assume you both came from. Is there anywhere specific that you want to go?”

I was actually clueless. I hadn’t planned this far ahead. I had no idea where exactly I wanted to go so I simply asked for a place that would provide us with a place to stay until we’d formulated a proper plan. Stylus frowned, “Well, you may try lodging with the LRSA base here but that might be tricky depending on who’s running it. On the other hoof there is another village here but it’s a lot further away. I’m afraid we don’t have much beyond that. What do you think?”
“We go to the LRSA,” confirmed Wraith, sounding rather sure of himself. “They hate the Scavengers as much as we do. We can convince them to support us.”
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up. The LRSA may hate Scavengers but they also seem to hold a disliking for basically anything that talks. In any case, if you’ve made up your mind then I won’t stop you. Do you need anything before you go? If so then name it and I’ll see what I can do.”

I thought for a moment about things I’d likely need. I would need some more ammo. Food and water would be essential so we’d have to stock up on that. Weapons we were okay on, clothing was doing alright. The only other thing that I felt that I needed was a piss but I wasn’t exactly going to ask to be excused at that moment, “We’ll need some more ammunition and some food and water.”
“Okay, not a problem. I’ll have Inventory stack that up for you by tomorrow morning. Can I just ask what ammunition types you’re using?” I looked blankly up at Wraith who filled in where I lacked knowledge.
“We’re going to need 7.92mm stripper clips for my rifle, .45 ACP rounds for my pistol and 9mm rounds for her pistol. My rifle takes them in clips of five, my pistol is an M1911 and hers is a Glock 17.”
“Okay, no problem. I’ll have that sorted out. Luckily for you 9mm ammo is something that we have too much of. I can’t give you much in terms of .45 ACP or 7.92mm but I’ll see what I can do for you,” she said with a smile and a flick of her mane. “Now get you two off to bed. If you plan to leave tomorrow then you’ll need some sleep.”

So we both retired to our bunks (after I’d taken care of necessary business) and prepared to sleep. I was lying on my bunk facing the ceiling, deep in thought. I was thinking about that fateful night when the Scavengers invaded my town and ruined the safety that I’d spent my entire life living in. I’d been in the wilderness about a week now, if not slightly more, and already I’d been enslaved, taught to shoot, made plenty of new friends and generally learnt to take care of myself in the wide scheme of things. Despite it all though, I felt more alone and vulnerable now than I ever did.

Something pressed up next to me and whispered softly into my ear, “Hey, Bucky? Are you awake?”
“If I wasn’t then I am now.”
“Sorry.”
“Ah don’t worry about it. What do you want?” I turned my head to look over at her. She smiled awkwardly.
“Heh. I guess I never did get to tell you about the Group Commander. Um… Okay, listen, I’m gonna say something that you’re probably not going to like but I just… just couldn’t let you leave without telling you. I know we’ve not known each other for very long but I feel like we sort of clicked, you know? I know it’s silly but… I just… What I’m trying to say is that… I love you Bucky.” Well that snapped me back to my senses quick and sharp. A whole blanket of emotions smothered me in that moment. One was confusion. I wasn’t sure if she was saying this seriously or whether or not this was some kind of joke. Another was excitement. I immediately felt my heart begin to race and my breathing get quicker and shallower. And the last prominent one was concern. I mean, I liked Eagle sure but I wasn’t that kind of mare, was I? Did I give that impression? I mean I… okay, I admit it, I liked Wraith, happy? But that would surely make me straight. But then why did I feel this jolt of excitement when Eagle told me that. I recalled that I’d been admiring the odd mare’s flank here or there and it always gave me that same feeling as when I thought about colts.

“Bucky?”
“What? Oh yea, yea, sorry.”
“So… uh… yea. I-I’m glad that’s out there now, uh… yea. I’ll… I’ll let you get some sleep.” She slid away from me but I grabbed her with my hoof.
“Wait.”
“Listen, Bucky, I… I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t intend to force this on you or anything, I mean I was planning to break it to you a lot more subtly than that but you were planning on leaving tomorrow and I’d never be able to live with myself if I hadn’t told you. Please don’t be mad at me, I know you probably don’t swing that way but…”
“Shut up and let me talk.” She silenced herself and looked away from me. Even in the low light I could see her cheeks glowing a bright red and I could tell that she was tense. I didn’t know what I was going to do, so I just kissed her on the cheek and whispered. “That’s okay. I understand. I’m really confused at the moment though. I’m in to stallions I know that much but I think I’m kinda, sorta getting into mares too. It’s a little weird and I’m not sure what to think but I appreciate the sentiment.”

Eagle smiled to herself. She nodded once, “Well at least I got that out there. Thanks for understanding.”
“Don’t worry about it. Can I go to sleep now?”
“Yea. Good night.” Eagle returned herself to her own bunk and I rolled myself over. I was extremely confused. I’ll admit I liked Wraith. But I had been, let’s admit it, admiring a couple mares on my travels. Was this normal? Was it some sort of phase or was this just how I was? I lay awake for hours thinking about it, turning it over and over in my head. Eventually I fell to sleep.

It was a sort of restless sleep though. I felt like I woke up feeling worse than when I’d gone to sleep. I dragged myself out of my bunk and put on my belt and saddlebags. I looked over at Eagle who was still asleep. It felt wrong to just leave her after what she’d said last night, but I couldn’t delay this any longer. I put my hat on my head and pushed open the door, stepping out into the cool morning air. The air was crisp and there was a light breeze that caused the leaves of the trees to rustle quietly. There must have been a bird singing in one of them and the sun was still quite low, making everything seem almost unreal.

Wraith was already up, dressed and ready to go, rifle slung over his shoulder with his pockets stuffed with as much ammo and food as he could fit, two water canteens hanging from his neck. Standing with him was Mayor Stylus and Inventory, who had his face planted into the ground. I went to join them and Stylus greeted me, “You’re awake then? Good. Well I guess this is goodbye. Here, there’s some more ammo here and some food. And take this canteen. Well I wish you both the best of luck. If ever you need a place to stay or need some more supplies then feel free to pay us a visit and we’ll be happy to accommodate you. Well, goodbye then.”
“Goodbye Mayor. Thank you for all of your help,” I replied. “We’ll be back some day.”

And with a wave of hooves we turned and went on our way. In front of us was what appeared to be mile upon mile of deserted land with the only signs of life being the grass, some shrubs and the odd tree here or there. I felt a little downtrodden by the sight. Equestria was massive, and my plan to take revenge on the Scavengers was getting less achievable with every new group of people that we met. Still, I would never achieve anything by standing still so I put my head down and began on my journey with Wraith at my side and an LRSA compound ahead of us.

Comments

[Iron Comet]

Good stuff as always and it should be interesting to see where they go from here. Interesting folks they ended up crashing with, especially the mayor and her brother, sounds like someone we all know. Interesting thning was the bit with Tenner not liking newcomers which for a period of turmoil would be the safest emotion to have.

[Teq]

4975350 Yet again, I'm pleased to see that you like my writing so. It's pretty much from here where things begin to get interesting, and in later chapters you can expect some pretty searching questions and some dangerous scenarios. Glad you liked the Wanderers presented here. Can't think who they sound like.