Fallout: Equestria - War Does Change

by tom117z

24 - Red Eye's Sight

Chapter Twenty-Four: Red Eye’s Sight

“Ever since the city was scourged, we've done what everyone does: whatever's necessary to survive. I know my city seems barbaric to you, but it's the only way we can carve out a home in this hellhole, and it's kept these people alive.”

---

Kronos was still waiting for our answer.

There was no way we’d give Altrix up. That’d sure be taking a huge dump on everything we’d been trying to achieve since leaving Stable 84. But still, I had so many questions running through my head. Why were the alicorns involved? Why was Red Eye interested in my friend and her hive? Simply put: what the fuck was going!?

And the person who could answer those question was on the other side of the Megamart’s front door.

That freaky cyborg… cat bird… thing.

“So… are we telling them to go screw themselves or what?” Moon Blossom asked casually.

“Wait a moment, we need to find out why these guys want Altrix.”

“And why do we need to do that? They’re crazy and evil, mystery solved! Can we go now?”

“I agree with Scrap, there has to be a practical reason. Red Eye doesn’t do things on random whims,” Cobalt concurred. “Best case, he just wants the hive for more slave labour…”

We have very different definitions of ‘best case’ scenarios…

“…Worst case,” he continued. “Is that it’s something very bad for the wasteland.”

“YOU HAVE TWO MINUTES,” Kronos’ projected voice warned us.

“You know it’d be crazy to go out there, right?” Moon Blossom stated. “I’m all for crazy, but are you?”

“We may not need to,” Cobalt mused, looking around the Megamart. “The PA system might still work. We could talk to him that way.”

“And if it doesn’t?” I asked. I mean, why wouldn’t two-hundred-year-old tech NOT work?

“Then we run,” he replied simply. “Just go to one of the counters and pick up a phone. I’ll see if I can get power in a minute and a half.”

Well, it was a plan. Not a good one, but what the hay.

With the others remaining behind the barricade, Cobalt bolted out back to the staff areas while I ran over to the nearest intact counter and searched for whatever pre-war cashiers would use to make announcements. There was a phone next to the cash register, and I tried instantly to pick it up.

Nothing…

“ONE MINUTE!”

Oh hell…

I was starting to have second thoughts about this idea. I mean, how was Cobalt going to restore the announcement thing in the next minute? Who knew how much damage had been done to the electronics in this place? Any second now those slavers would be busting the door in, and then we’d be back to fighting for our lives.

Stripe checked her sniper rifle as she aimed it at the door, staying close to the terrified Altrix. Moon, meanwhile, was just flipping her knife in anticipation. She was scary with that thing, but I was willing to bet that Kronos guy was worse.

“THIRTY SECONDS.”

Dammit, we were out of time. If we had a few more minutes maybe, but this wasn’t going to work.

I opened my mouth to tell the others to make a break for the loading dock… when a large ‘clang’ filled the Megamart as some of the lights switched on all at once.

Well, I’ll be damned.

I picked up the phone again, and a loud chime echoed throughout the supermarket. Here’s hoping the megaphones outside aren’t busted up.

“Public service announcement to the assholes outside,” I began, my quip making Moon Blossom snort loudly in amusement. “You want Altrix, but why in Equestria should we believe you’d let the rest of us go?”

There was silence for several moments, though I took the lack of gunfire as being a good thing. I was pretty sure those final thirty seconds had passed when Cobalt returned, the stallion saying something about pulling a breaker out back. Still, for every second without a response, I had a sinking feeling growing in my stomach.

And then Kronos did reply.

“LORD RED EYE HAS DECREED IT,” he announced. “YOUR ACTIONS HAVE NOT GONE UNNOTICED, NOR HAS YOUR GROUP’S ABILITY. THERE MAY BE A PLACE FOR YOU IN OUR ARMY IF YOU ARE WISE ENOUGH TO ACCEPT.”

Was he offering us a job?

“Please tell me we’re not considering this,” Stripe growled, though her animosity was directed solely at the voice outside. “An alliance with slavers? I’d rather be the slave.”

I’d honestly prefer neither.

“And why do you want Altrix?” I asked the griffon slaver through the PA system. “Haven’t you got enough slaves already?”

It was almost creepy how his laugh was projected as well. “SLAVES? WE DO NOT REQUIRE SLAVES OF THEM, THAT WOULD BE A WASTE.”

“What do you mean?”

“AND YOU TRULY EXPECT TO BE TOLD?” Well, I was hoping so… “WE CANNOT HAVE ANOTHER DO-GOODER DISRUPTING OUR OPERATIONS, WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR KIND AS OF LATE. YOU HAVE YOUR OFFER. NOW I DEMAND YOUR RESPONSE.”

Damn. I guess this was fruitless after all.

“Issue is… I kinda like Altrix.” I spotted the changeling looked towards me as I said those words. “Timid, but kind. I saw her fight through every fear she had for us, she is too good for this place. And far too good to be given to some abomination that’s no longer even a griffon.”

Altrix beamed at me, and for a moment I think my words managed to melt away the cloak of fear that had blanketed her. And despite the severity of our situation, I couldn’t help but smile back.

Then the front doors exploded.

I think I hit a nerve.

I ducked down behind the counter just as bullets and beams of red magic started flying through the opened entranceway! I heard the crack of Stripe’s rifle as she returned fire, and I slipped out my pistol to fire a few bullets back out through the door as well.

“So, loading dock?” I asked everyone over the terrible noise.

I received no argument, Stripe helping Altrix up as they and Moon Blossom began to back up between the aisles of the Megamart. Cobalt, however, motioned for me to run over to the increasingly battered barricade.

“Help me push this!”

I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but I wasn’t about to argue with the smart pony!

I hopped over the counter and ran next to Cobalt, ducking down behind the small barrier. One overly eager pony ran in through the entrance, guns blazing. I didn’t even look up from the barricade as I extracted my shotgun and fired in the general vicinity of the slaver, and a red bar blinked out.

Cobalt then wordlessly lit up his horn, the aura spreading over the entire barricade. I did the same, and then with a quick countdown, we pushed on it with all our magical strength.

The scrap and wood all came loose and was pressed up against the width of the entrance with a mighty crash.

“That’ll buy us a moment,” Cobalt said. “Now let’s run!”

It was a fighting retreat, and I fired more rounds out the doorway to dissuade any initial attempts to follow us.

But I could already see one of the power armour griffons charging forwards. When he said the barricade wold buy us a moment, it really was a singular moment.

And as we retreated between the aisles, I could just hear it shattering behind us.

We ducked around one aisle, jumping over rotting raider corpses, and moving around the barricades they’d set up along the main shopping floor. We’d long lost sight of the others, though I had high hopes that they’d already made it into the staff area out back by now.

I came to a sudden stop with a gasp of breath as, amidst a beat of wings, a griffon talon landed right ahead of us with some mean looking assault rifles strapped to his battle saddle.

Without missing a beat, I bit down onto Cobalt neck fur and dragged him into another aisle as the griffon opened fire.

“Ouch, Scrap Heap!” Cobalt complained as he rubbed his neck, but I ignored him as I gave a quick glance to my E.F.S. before looking up.

Several griffons flew by overhead, circling above us as they readied to gun us down.

“Split up, give them multiple targets!” I shouted, all but pushing Cobalt down another aisle as I jumped up onto a ramp before he could protest.

The ramp led back up on top of the shelves and refrigerators, out of cover and into the fire.

All the griffons turned to me, the dumb pony out in the open, in a single second.

Good.

The platform I’d been standing on was eviscerated amidst gunfire and explosions, but I had no intention of standing still! I jumped from one shelving unit to the next, making a break for the door leading back to the staff area.

A dull thud hit my side, and then I fell from the unit and flat onto my face.

I’d had enough of faceplanting the ground for one day.

I groaned, rolling onto my back as one griffon made to land right on my head. I shot him in his stupid beak, but I could see his buddies all coming in to have a go as well.

The counter where I’d activated that robot back when was metres away from me, and I crawled behind it to take a breather. The customer service station that led out back was just a little to the left, but I could see the griffons swarming in. I had to be thankful that the normal ones didn’t have Eyes Forward Sparkles to locate me with, but that’d change when the armoured ones got close.

Still, I had a moment or two before they found me. Enough time to look at what hit me.

So, with my pistol back in its holster and my trusty combat shotgun placed to my side, I shifted over to examine the burning sensation along my barrel.

My barding seemed a little beaten up. Apparently, I’d been hit more than once when I’d been jumping from shelf to shelf. Maybe a few magic laser blasts too, judging by the warm black marks pocketing it.

Still, none of them had penetrated the reinforced leather. Except one, anyway. A bullet had dug deep into the barding, and even though it was caught in said barding I could definitively say that it had breached my skin from the blood seeping through the hole. I guess I was just lucky it hadn’t dug in any deeper, or I’d have needed an Altrix very soon.

Still, for now, I would just have to pony up and bear it. Lighting my horn, I took hold of the bullet and- FAAA-!

Right, it’s out. Great. Didn’t hurt a bit.

I pulled out a healing potion and another dose of Med-X next. I was going to run low on those again at this rate. At least Altrix had a decent supply. We’d need a resupply back at the hive, though… I just had to hope Insidiis wouldn’t mind.

Still, the healing potion did its job and closed the wound neatly. Though I was probably developing a nice collection of bruises and scars over recent times. The Med-X was even better, taking much of the pain away from my battered body. Dear Celestia, I could kiss whoever invented it. Hopefully a Fluttershy, she seemed like a cute mare. Especially if Altrix was anything to go by.

I wonder if Stripe-

The slam of metal claws on the counter above me made me realise that I really should have been keeping a closer eye on my E.F.S. than I was!

Looking up, I stared into the eyes… or eye, of Kronos.

“Uh… hi.”

I was barely even able to grunt as he grabbed onto my head and immediately pulled me over the counter and threw me into a nearby shelf! Pain cascaded down my spine, and our of the corner of my eye I could see my PipBuck blinking a panicked red. Celestia knows how much worse it’d feel if I wasn’t drugged up on Med-X as it was already.

But I didn’t have time to think about my injuries, not with a crazy cyborg about to stomp my head in!

My shotgun had been nudged away when I’d been dragged, and I spotted it behind Kronos. With the griffon approaching, I levitated the shotgun up and twisted it in his direction.

Apparently, he was smarter than a raider since he saw the glow of my horn and instantly ducked to the side as I fired.

He then grabbed onto the shotgun with his claws and twisted the weapon until it was pulled into two separate parts, those two parts being dropped with a clatter onto the ground.

I’d rather liked that shotgun…

Before I could even consider going for my other gun, all breath left my body as Kronos shot towards me and drove a fist into my stomach. It was like I lost all my energy right then and there, probably had a fractured rib on top of all that.

And then I felt his claw around my neck, his talons squeezing as he dragged me out and slammed me onto the ground.

Did he know I’d already been winded, or was he just enjoying himself?

The cyborg kept me pinned down, one claw on my neck and another on my chest. He actually let up a bit, allowing me to get some breaths. How nice of him.

He didn’t take his eye off my horn, though, and I imagined at any moment those angry weapons strapped to his sides would disintegrate what was left of me.

In short, crap.

“It appears it’s better to be an abomination than a frail pony,” he sneered, his cybernetic eye staring right into my soul. “You cannot imagine how useful my upgrades have been. For instance, I do not need a pitiful PipBuck for an Eyes Forward Sparkle.”

“I figured,” I choked out. “Joke’s on you, though. Altrix and my friends are probably long gone. Shouldn’t have focused on the obvious bait unicorn, huh?”

Kronos’ beak curled into a snarl, and I swear that probing of that red eye got deeper. Glancing to the sides, I could see more of his slaver lackies ganging up around me. Griffons, ponies, and two of the power armour guys. The laser one and the rocket launcher one. Some stood atop the shelves, peering down and laughing at my misfortune. Others stood around Kronos, awaiting his word.

“If you believe your friends will make it far, you are mistaken,” Kronos spat. I had to disagree with that. Mostly because the opposite was… No, not thinking about it. “But we have you. I was planning on asking your little changeling pet about this, but while we’re here…”

I gasped in pain as his claws tighten, and the individual talons began to dig in. Even the one on my chest was digging into the barding, probably something to do with stupid cyborg powers.

Gark!

He’d slammed me into the ground again, blood beginning to seep from the new wounds in my chest and neck. I guess he’d seen my smirk about his cyborg powers…

“What were those bugs after!?” he demanded to know. “Why would they send some wastelander like you out with one of their own? Answer me!”

“Y-you didn’t answer my questions yet, you know,” I rasped. Talking was getting harder… “Why is Red Eye interested in changelings…? Answer for an answer?”

Kronos seemed to study me for a minute. And for all I know, that eye of his was giving me a full fucking medical examination or x-ray or something. But then he snorted as if amused by what he found.

“The offer still stands, you know,” he said. “Here you are, about to die. And yet you refuse to answer even though it might save your skin. Are your ‘friends’ truly worth it?”

Were they worth it? Had you asked me at the start of all this, I’d have given him a big old ‘hell no’ and taken the offer. Hell, Red Eye might have even given me that house I’d always wanted. I doubt I’d ever have taken part in the slaving, even back then. But would I have protested about it? Would I have kicked up a fuss? Tried to free or protect those ponies he kicked into the dirt and worked to their untimely deaths?

Probably not.

I’d have sat in a bubble. Taken the deal, gotten a home with a bed and a kitchen somewhere in the pits of Fillydelphia, and never come out. Apathetic to the end.

Now?

“Hell yeah,” I told him. “Every bit.”

He hummed, but then the griffon loosened his grip.

That was following by him nodding to two of his fellow talon mercenaries, and two other griffons snatching me up by a foreleg each, hauling me to a standing position between them. One took my pistol from its holster and placed it in one of his own, giving me a smirk that was less ‘thank you for the gun’ and more ‘you are so fucked now’.

“We will see if that can change,” Kronos said, standing in front of me mere inches away. “What will it be? Torture? The slave pits? Maybe one after the other. If you don’t talk, fine. But you will die, one way or another. Might as well be building Lord Red Eye’s Equestria.”

I so wanted to spit in his face, but my mouth was so dry I doubted I could build enough saliva.

Kronos then turned away from me, looking to address his slavers. Each one gave him his undivided attention, with the exception of the two holding me. I could try to escape, maybe levitate out one of their guns…

But they’d see it, and I’d be gunned down in a second.

“Find his friends. Bring the changeling alive, the others too if possible. But they are expendable,” he commanded, and I gritted my teeth. I just hope they’d gotten far from this place while they’d been busy with ‘The Scavenger’. “Do no-”

His command was interrupted by a small ‘tink’, and then something clattering from the floor above next to Kronos.

“Shit!” he swore as the grenade detonated!

CRACK.

The head of one of the pony slavers detonated, followed by a gleeful cheer as a pegasus pony landed on the talon to my right and stomped his head in.

“Sup, Scrap?” Moon Blossom asked with a massive shit-eating grin, gore and brains covering her. “Hey, is that your shotgun in two halves there?”

I didn’t have time to respond as I headbutted the other talon, latching onto my pistol and quickly using it to pump the griffon full of holes. Before he even hit the ground I also tore his assault rifle from the mercenary’s battle saddle, putting it away in the place of my old shotgun. Only then did he drop.

And then we ran.

Every step was pained, but the Med-X was still doing its job. Out of the corner of my eye, through the smoke and corpses of those caught in the grenade blast, I briefly saw Kronos’ cybernetic eye look directly at me.

Oh, of course, that would barely even scratch him!

But I wasn’t up for a round two with the cyborg, and both Moon Blossom and I retreated back through the door by customer service and slammed it shut behind us.

“Oh my gosh, are you alright!?” Altrix asked in worry as she and Cobalt met us there. “You look so bad!”

“Yeah, I feel it. And that’s with painkillers,” I grumbled back. “Fix me up later, we don’t have time!”

Altrix seemed distressed by that, but she had to concede. Though I fully expected all the mothering in the world once this was done.

Stripe ran at us from down the hallway, having just ran back down the stairs that led to the upper floor. She said nothing, though seemed to glare at me. That was… worrying, but for later as we all booked it through the corridor towards the loading dock.

Cobalt levitated out two mines and activated them, dropping them both behind us as we ran. The door we’d come through being blown open as we rushed around a corner.

“Where’d you get those?” I asked the unicorn.

“One of the talons who came snooping,” Cobalt explained. “That was all of it. Useful, though.”

You’re telling me…

We rushed into the loading dock, closing the door with Cobalt shifting objects to barricade it as much as possible. Then, without missing a beat, he and I proceeded to the exit and lifted the massive door up enough for us all to roll underneath it just as we’d done before.

The cloudy, dull day of the wasteland hit me like a ton of bricks. The light assaulted my eyes, not really helping my condition.

Still, I was glad to be out of there.

“There’s a metro system that leads up to Haven,” Cobalt noted. “We should duck down there, traversing the surface may be too dangerous.”

“Right… take the metro to where we first met Kronos and his goons,” I deadpanned, and I could see Altrix shifting on her hooves as the light better revealed by battered and bruised form. “What could go wrong?”

“We’d have to be careful getting from there to the hive, but it’s better than staying out here.”

He had a point there. Even if returning to Haven was far from being on my bucket list…

And then I hit the floor again.

Really sick of doing that.

I rubbed my cheek, look up at the furious zebra above me. She had her hoof raised, her eyes glaring as she panted heavily in her anger.

Stripe had just punched me in the face.

“You foolish pony!” she shouted, quickly going from punching me to helping me up. Though she didn’t relent from a moment in making me feel like a naughty foal. “Cobalt told us what you did. Why would run out like that!? Make yourself bait!?”

“I was hoping I’d reach the door before they got me,” I responded sheepishly. Was now really the time to be doing this…?

“Well, you failed!” she pointed out, fuming. “You could have been killed! Or enslaved! Or worse! They had you, Scrap Heap! Why in Equus did you go off by yourself!?”

“If they were focused on me, they weren’t going after you! Alright!?” I shouted back at her. Why was she getting on my case like this!? Couldn’t she see why I did what I did!?

She definitely seemed to stop dead at my own shout, her eyes going wide. But I wasn’t done!

“And you got away! They didn’t get Altrix, or any of you! As long as they were after me, you were safe, Stripe! And you know what? Good! If that was the case, the f-”

My shouting was cut off when she kissed me…

She kissed me.

Stripe was kissing me.

I think something blew in my brain because, uh… What were we doing here again? Something about slavers… And being angry and…

Holy Luna, Stipe was kissing me!

She pulled away from the kiss gingerly, and my face burned in a bright blush. My mouth and… everything failed to work. I just gaped like a fish while she averted her gaze from my own.

“Foolish pony. Don’t do that again,” she whispered. “Please.”

She… I mean…

I had to process this. There’d be something there, sure. Those brief awkward exchanges, all the way since the hive. Maybe even before that a little ways, I don’t know. But this… This was beyond what I’d expected. I had to say something, to comfort her in some way…

But any thought of that evaporated when I saw the odd shadow being cast from above us.

“Watch it!” I shouted, tackling Stripe to the ground as a loud crash sounded from where we’d just been standing.

When I looked back, there was the one thing that had been missing from the little gathering in the Megamart.

The third power armoured griffon, miniguns gleaming in the few rays breaking through the clouds.

“There you are,” was all he said, and then the miniguns began to spin.

I pulled my shotg- assault rifle out and opened fire. The gun had a completely different feel, and it lacked the punch of my lost weapon. But it certainly made up for that in rate of fire!

Too bad those rounds just pinged off the armour.

And definitely too bad I’d forgotten to collect more ammo.

The moment my clip ran dry, the griffon’s minigun rang out and bullets cascaded out towards me and Stripe!

But, just in time, a blue half-shield covered us and intercepted the bullets. Cobalt, however, was still drained from his previous magic defences. The shield collapsed after the first few hits, but its sudden appearance had been enough to get the griffon to momentarily let off the trigger.

We’ll take it.

I swapped out my guns as Moon Blossom charged with a vicious shout, pulling her knife and going for the helmet. The griffon caught her with his claws, pushing her away just as Stripe and I opened fire on him. The griffon briefly lifted an arm to protect himself, but then lowered it and spooled the miniguns again.

Then there was a large gulp and a squelch as a shot of strange green… stuff shot out at the griffon and hit the minigun. I glanced to the side just in time to see Altrix spit a second gulp of green mucus at the other minigun. The griffon paused a moment, and he then went to fire them.

Only for both weapons to fail to spool even slightly, glued in place by the spit.

“No more hurting my friends!” Altrix shouted, stamping a hoof.

I never knew changelings could do that!

The griffon, his weapons disabled, went to flee. However, Moon Blossom had recovered by then and leapt back onto the griffon, and instead of going for the helmet she grabbed onto his outstretched wing and started to twist.

The talon gave a cry of pain as something snapped, stumbling as we continued to shoot and peel away at his armour.

Moon Blossom jammed her knife into a joint where the wing met the griffon’s body, prying and tearing the whole thing away in a spray of blood! The mercenary then took a swipe at Moon Blossom with a claw, though she used his own severed wing to shield herself. But with a wing missing, we had a weak spot to aim for!

Cobalt lit up his horn and grabbed onto another wing, simultaneously running in and clamping onto the metal with his teeth and pulling. This tanked the griffon away from Moon Blossom with a pained squawk, and we repositioned ourselves to have a perfect line to the hole in his armour. Our bullets hit true, digging into the talon’s torso through his armour and peeling more of the damaged section away as he struggled.

And then his struggling ceased, and he keeled over towards where Cobalt was dragging him, no longer able to resist.

Cobalt dropped the limp griffon, who was well and truly dead.

And that left us, panting heavily from the exertion of fighting a walking tank. But we’d done it. Together, we’d been able to overpower him.

Yeah, I’d take my friends over Kronos’ stupid offer any day.

“Nice one, Altrix,” I said to the changeling, who gave me a rather flushed smile in turn. “We shouldn’t stay here; the others will come running any second.

“He’s right,” Stripe agreed, and we couldn’t quite meet each other’s gaze… “The metro entrance is close by.”

Back underground it was then. But before that, I gave the dead griffon a passing look. I knew I couldn’t look long, I could already see some red bars popping up in search for us. This guy figured out where we’d gone, and so would his fellow slavers. But still…

I took the first few things I saw in his bags and then ran with the others with them still in my aura. I barely gave them a glance as we skirted the edge and back into town, moving until was found the metro entrance. There were always red bars but a short way behind us every second we were out there, the slavers not giving up their search.

Only when we slipped into the dusty old metro did the bars blink away from the distance, the only thing showing being a radroach that Moon Blossom quickly stepped on.

Only then did we allow ourselves a breath. We took shelter in a small storeroom near the gate, though were aware that we couldn’t stay long in case they decided to check the metro entrance. But I did finally allow Altrix to treat my wounds, all the while trying to ignore the way the others seemed to constantly glance between me and Stripe.

While Altrix worked, I was also able to finally see what I’d swiped from the dead griffon. I was fortunate to see a few clips for my new rifle, but I think it was the other object in my possession that caused us all to do a small double take.

It was another memory orb.

---

Footnote: Max Level

Comments

[Malcolm129]

https://giphy.com/gifs/rzBUxFJm1EJ20

[Malcolm129]

[Hades Shadow 92]

Scrap X Stripe. The ship has sailed!

[tom117z]

9093775
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[Somuchforaname]

Whooooooo! About time that ship sailed