Borderland: Friendship is futile

by reddestreaction

Cutthroat

“Scotch on the rocks, please.”

Femme Fatale looks back at the clock, breakfast hours not even being over. The brown pony looks up at the purple pony, bags evident in his eyes.

“You sure you don’t want an more hearty breakfast, sugarcube?” she asks.

“A White Russian then.” he sighs.

“Is there something bothering you?”

“Nah, baby, what makes you say that?” he asks.

“Ow!Ow!Ow!” Daring complains.

“If it hurts, then you should see a doctor. No?” Heart Throb says.

Daring had been burned quite badly during the raid, patches of his coat and feathers falling out and skin horribly charred. He keeps insisting that he is okay, but he has been unable to spread his wings or stand on his back hooves.

“No!” Daring says. “I’m...I’m fine.”

“I thought you was daring, but your a wuss when it comes to going to see the doc.” Sky skipper teases.

“With good reason, i would go to anyone but him.”

“Though i believe Cutthroats, experiments...distasteful...i think it would be for the best…” Moon Shadow agrees.

“I’m not going and that’s final.”

“Could you guys quiet down over there, some of us like to eat in peace.” the brown pony snaps without even turning around to address us.

Tenderheart trots in, not too soon after to order coffee when he sees Daring’s back.

“Oh MY CELESTIA!” he gasps. He runs over to Daring, pulling him by his ear to the door as he rants. “Never in my life have i seen a pegasis stupid enough to let his back get infected just so he won’t have to see the doctor. I should let your wings fall off…”

He leads us to a small clinic in the area near the shooting range. The light was dimmed with Black light, the floor tiles stained pink and the ceiling spotted red with blood, the room smelling like antiseptics. The wall was lined with all different type of tools, some looking like gardening and power tools than tools used for medical procedures.

A shadow behind a curtain showing a pony raising a sharp object over his head before slamming it down on whatever was on the table below. It cracking of bone was unsettling and the splatter of blood made my stomach churn.

“Doctor.” Tenderhoof says, putting on his nurse garb. “Your favorite patient is here.”

“Is that so?” the pony says, turning around. He slides open the curtain, revealing the gray earth pony behind it. His coat showed scarring, stitches, and open wounds. The clothes and gloves was bloodied, and the weapon he had was now buried into the corpse laying on the table.

Tenderheart raises an eyebrow at the bandit corpse.

“Don’t give me that look. He was dead before i started.” the doctor spat.

“Sure.” the nurse pony says, rolling his eyes. “He’s scarred tissue, third degree burns, loose skin, and a slight infection.”

“Interesting. Sounds like it hurts.”

Daring shivers.

“It’s n-not th-that bad...i..i think..” he tries to back out the door but Heart Throb stops him.

“Well, if it ain’t that bad, then you don’t have anything to worry about. Right?”

Daring swallows. His eyes darted around the room, searching for any way out. Suddenly, he relaxes a Tenderheart sedates him with a hard jab of a needle.

“Lead him to table 4A.” the orders. His eyes land on me.

“We’ll aren’t you something to look at?” He says, leaning in. “You must be the Vault Hunter everyone has been talking about.”

“Uh...yes’r.”

“Cutthroat. Call me Cutthroat.”

His name didn't help me feel any more secure but i could tell that he was trying not to come off as menacing as it sounded.

“Let’s see...how will you pay for you treatment this time?” he taps his five o’clock shadow. “Oh, i know. A mission. A small one.”

“A mission?”

“I need you to go to Firestone, a civilization that’s been overrun by some bandit clan and clear it out. There’s a handsome reward in it that we can split, plus it’s my home. Deal?”

“Deal.”

When we walk out of the clinic, the brown pony from earlier stood outside. He leaned against a lamp post,

“Heard you are heading out to Firestone.” he says.

“And who are you?” Heart Throb asks.

“Leather Notes.” he says with a wink. Heart throb rolls her eyes. “I came to warn you.”

“Thanks but i think we got this.” Sky skipper says, zipping past him.

“Yeah, that’s what Valentine's boyfriend says before they made an “example” out of him.”

“Valentine?”

“Detective Valentine.” he nods his head over to a grayscale colored filly sitting on a bench nearby. She didn’t have her detective gear on. She make up was smeared, her tears being dabbed away.

“He made a sacrifice so that she could get away, before the bridge collapsed.”

“Is he…?”

“We’re not sure. He said don’t look back and don’t come back. So we didn’t.”

“So what are we to do?”Heart Throb asks.

“Well...all of the options are shit to be honest.” he says. “There’s three ways inside. You can go through the dump, talk to the Junkers. You could go around the wreckage and say hi to Martini at the bar. Or you could do over the bridge and take your chances getting captured by whoever lays eyes on you.”

“Well, that’s reassuring.” Moon Shadow sighs.

“Yeah...but it’s home.” he says. “And hey, if you find out what happened to him...bring him back, dead or alive, Valentine would appreciate it.”

I trot over to the Catch-A-Ride to find Skeeter going through his own problems.

“Whoa! Wait! What!”

“If you don’t have the money, I swear i’ll..”

“Wait! Wait! Wait! At least let me know that their okay!”

“Don’t you give them a single bit, you hear me!”

“Sketer, i got this! Don’t you wuss out on us!”

And then the phone went dead. Skeeter throws it and bangs his hoof on the car hood, before apologizing to it.

“Skeeter?”

“You were right.”he says.

“Right? About what?”

“Not everything can wait.” he says.

“Are you and Tender-”

“We haven’t spoken...won’t even look at me…and now Desert Rose and Nitro….this is all my damn fault!”

Skeeter says.

“What happened?”

“I might have pissed off the wrong clan, Vault Hunter. Blown up one to many of their carriages, stopped and looted their arms deals, flirted with the wrong mare….it's all biting me in the flank now.”

“Is there anything i can do to help?”

“ Not unless you can make 100,000 bits appear out of nowhere.”

“I’m sorry, Skeeter.”

“Yeah, i am too.”

I return back to the stable to find the Doctor, Tick Tock, and Derpy scrambling around.

“The Hodunk clan hasn’t been active like this in years, why now all of a sudden?” The Doctor asks.

“Perhaps something has happened the Bloodshots, Hoofduns, Yakfords, Valentines, and Vallory’s.” Derpy says.

“Considering the sobbing Valentine in Sanctuary, i wouldn’t be fazed. The real question is why Firestone?”

The radio catches on, static overrunning the message, Tick Tock quickly attempts to pick up the signal waves before it cuts out.

“-the Crimson Raiders failed. To those who hoped that they were heros, you were wrong, and now Firestone is Handsome Jackal’s. Heard he was renaming it Jackalsville.” as snicker goes off on the other line before it pops and the radio goes dead.

Sky Skipper stops flying altogether, falling onto the ground. Moon Shadow turns away, biting her lip. Heart Throb was furious, throwing all of the Doctor’s things on the ground with a hiss of “the bastard.” My hoofs bagan to shake.

This was our fault...