Duet in the Dust

by David Silver

8 - Another Day in the Ash

Vinyl woke from her drunken state with a squint. "This is the first time I am legit glad they keep this place dark." She grabbed for Octavia, but the mare wasn't there. "What the?"

"Are you awake?" came her soft voice.

Vinyl rolled over, spotting Octavia sitting in one of the chairs with the others at the small table. "Oh, hey, uh... I brought leftovers."

Quarter bounced to the ground. "What'd you bring?! Where is it? You don't have pockets."

Octavia stepped down with a soft nod. "Quarter kept me from hunger last night, unlike a certain drunk pony."

Vinyl's left ear swung back, the right not caring to keep up. "Hey, don't be like that... They kept me there until the end." She pulled herself forward a little towards the edge of the bed, her horn glowing as the various bits she had snuck away in cloth wrappings came floating out of her pocket, emerging from seemingly nowhere into existence. "Ta da..."

Shiela smiled softly at Vinyl and her hovering offerings. "You should be kind to your friend. The gods of alcohol are exacting their revenge in your place."

Octavia approached the groggy Vinyl with a little smirk. "Our elven friend has a point. Your forgiveness will be given--"

"--score," weakly celebrated Vinyl, raising a hoof.

"On the condition that we eat right here." Octavia hopped up onto the bed beside Vinyl.

"You are a cruel mare." Vinyl stuck out her tongue as she rolled away, leaving the food to drift to the bed, her magic leaving each as it touched the cot.

Quarter scaled up the side of the bunk to take her spot beside Octavia. "Let's see what we have!" Her energetic voice convinced Vinyl's other ear to collapse, doing a poor job of shielding itself against the sound. "Oh wow, it's fresh..."

Octavia nudged one of the bundles open even as Quarter got another. "I do not feel right eating this in front of you, Shiela, without offering. Would you care to join us?"

Vinyl's soft groan marked the start of a perfectly lovely breakfast for the inhuman house.

---

It was a fine day. Vinyl and Octavia were outside, the soft light of the ashen 'day' giving enough to see, but never reaching the level of being actually 'bright', like an overcast day, which it was and would likely always be.

Octavia perked an ear towards Tim. "Does the sun ever come out, by chance?"

Tim shrugged. "Rare, not never." He pulled out some beaten binoculars and peered through them, slowly sweeping across the horizon. "What fight with?"

Vinyl tilted her head. "Man's gotta point. How are you planning to fight if this guard duty actually ends up being needed?"

Octavia poked Vinyl on the shoulder. "I'm only here for your sake, Miss Scratch. I'm still your 'pet', so they aren't officially expecting a thing out of me but keeping you happy."

Vinyl threw a foreleg over Octavia. "Well! You're doing a fine job then."

Octavia gently pushed Vinyl's leg free. "If an attack were to occur... I would improvise, I suppose."

"Here's to hoping nothing happens then." Vinyl turned back away from the town, out into the wastes they were in charge of watching. "Even if that is kinda boring..."

Octavia turned her eyes to the glow in the clouds, where a sun might be. It was a hint, a warm presence in the grey carpet of ashen clouds. "Who raises the sun? The job is surely done." She raised a hoof to point at the brighter spot in the sky. "There it is."

"Raise sun?" Tim glanced aside at her before looking back at his binoculars. "Sun raise sun."

Vinyl looked up at the spot in the sky, the faint brightening of the clouds. "The sun raises itself? This world is trippy." She was only smiling though, amused at the different rules the world she was in played by compared to what she was used to. "Say, uh, do you guys have a princess?"

"What?" Tim leaned forward a little. "What princess?" He said the latter word like a new word, perhaps beyond his sylvan vocabulary. His eyes remained on the wastes.

Octavia shook her head. "Nevermind that. Of course they don't. How often are there... things worth spotting out there?" She pointed out past Tim.

"Now." He lowered his binoculars and stuffed them away into a bag at his belt-line even as his other hand pulled free a pistol, a word they had learned, into readiness. "Be ready."

The ponies looked to where Tim had been gazing to see dust being kicked up, obscuring clear view of what was coming in the distance. Vinyl reached up and ran a hoof along the outer edge of her goggles. "And they said this was a waste of bits." Her view zoomed in, allowing her to make out the forms of approaching people mounted on strange equine creatures.

"They're like ponies, kinda, but really very not," postulated Vinyl articulately. "Freaky..." The ones riding the strange creatures were more diverse than the not-ponies they rode on. Two were actually ponies, little ones like the gravetender they had encountered. There was no mistaking them for foals with the battle-ready look in their eyes and the guns clenched in their teeth.

Three were humans, one was larger and a bit greener than the others. All of them human or pony, wore scrapped together armor to protect them from the fight they looked ready to start. While three of them were armed with guns, two had two-handed cudgels fashioned out of heavy-looking cement and metal, as if someone had just taken a passing street sign and made that a weapon.

Vinyl wound her vision back to normal. "We got incoming and they don't look friendly. Alright to draw?"

"Draw, yes." Tim reached over and began to rattle a bell beside him, striking its sides with a dangling weight that made it ring with each motion, alerting the town to trouble.

Octavia shrank away, watching Vinyl draw the pistol that had been trusted to her. Eyes on the hovering gun, Octavia shook her head. "Are you going to fight?"

"Why wouldn't I?" countered Vinyl, spinning her pistol with a smirk. "I'm the death metal rock goddess, descended from on high to help our new friends." She pointed in the direction of the closing bandits. "Besides, I doubt they'll play nice if we try to hide."

"A few practice sessions with Sandy is barely enough to look half as confident as you do." Octavia pointed at Vinyl, then at the closing threats. "One hit with one of those..." She could start to make out the great bludgeoning devices some of them held. "Those! They could... Please."

"Ain't nothing for it." Vinyl flipped her headphones around in her magic, facing outwards as music began to blare in heavy riffs, preparing for the battle to come. "We're living the cover life, Octie, that means we have to rock it like it might be our last day, 'cause it might, if we don't rock hard enough."

Tim raised a hand to his head. "Hank is here. <He'll snipe them.>"

As if to announce his presence, the sharp crack of a firing gun rang from behind them. One of the small ponies caught a bullet in the chest and was knocked free of their mount. The mount seemed to have no inherent loyalty at that moment, careening away and galloping off without their rider.

The other riders broke apart much like the mount, spreading to give fewer targets than the mass offered. Their approach became erratic, trying to foil the attempts of the sniping defender. Vinyl hopped up onto the small metal wall. It wasn't meant to keep people out, it was barely eight feet across, but it gave some vital cover. With her gun hovering, she barely peeked over the top. "Come and get it..."

The remaining little pony fired on them, their gun belching out a rapid series that blew little holes in their wall, drawing a line towards Vinyl but failing to reach her in its three-round burst. The larger, green, human directed their mount right over the wall. It obediently made the jump even as Tim began to unload as quickly as his pistol allowed.

The mount hit the ground, screaming in equine pain, but the rider had jumped free, coming down on Tim with the bar of his weapon, knocking the defender prone beneath him.

Vinyl scrambled back as she brought the gun to face the bandit on their side of the wall. By the time she lined up a new shot, the big thug was already raining heavy punches on the pinned Tim, each impact striking with the dull thud of abused flesh.

"(Don't move.)" The little pony with the gun was up against the wall, pointing her mouth-held pistol at Vinyl.

Hank's gun barked its presence, the green person slumping over on Tim, seeming to only enrage the hulking brute into pummeling all the harder. In the blind panic of a rage, his weapon fell off to the side, laying beside them both.

"(Shit!)" She stuck out her tongue, pressing the trigger of her device. The gun fired, rocking her head back slightly, though not nearly as far as one might think a gun in someone's mouth might.

Vinyl hissed like a tire with a leak in it. "Not cool!" Even as she staggered back, her pistol directed itself in her magic, firing with a loud crack. The little pony found her teeth closing, her gun shot away in a surprisingly accurate shot.

Cocky despite, or because, of the pain distracting her, Vinyl was blind to the approach of another human, weapon ready to cave her head in with his massive cudgel. Tim was fighting off the hulk, but there was no way he would do it in time to save Vinyl.

Octavia had spent those precious starting seconds staring with horrified eyes, but she saw the figure approaching Vinyl with death in his eyes. Her mind jumped along a strange logical pattern. Her doll was a symbol of hope for ponies. It was a symbol of fear for humans. A human was threatening Vinyl.

She pulled out the doll in a frantic scramble and held it up like she was awkwardly presenting a last minute gift for her foal. "Stop!" she screamed. "Go. Away!" An almost unseen ripple ran through the air, the eyes of the doll glowing darkly as if fixating on the human. Octavia could feel a power thrumming inside of her, flowing through the doll. Was that what a unicorn felt through their horn? She didn't have time to contemplate it.

He was bringing down his weapon, but his grip weakened, making him stumble in place. "(W-what? What... Oh gods above! Get it away!)" He suddenly pushed off Vinyl like a support, breaking into an abject flee away from her and the town.

Vinyl turned towards the sudden shove. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" She fired wildly at the retreating figure, many shots going wild, but some blood being shed to water the ashen ground when her aim found favor. It was Hank's shot that took care of the man just as he started to slow, recovering from whatever magic Octavia had used just in time to provide a clean shot.

That left only two. The remaining pony was smiling awkwardly, no pistol in her mouth anymore. "(Not too late to make friends, maybe?)" She raised her hooves in a surrendering position. "Mercy on a fellow pony, maybe?"

The other human had already diverged off and away, retreating into the wastes rather than try to press the already poorly-going battle. The fight suddenly fled the bruiser, slumping against Tim. He shoved shoved off the form of the big green person, heaving for breath. "Can you make magic? Please... it hurts."

Vinyl blinked at that. "What? My magic zaps things. You don't want me to zap you." She pressed a hoof to where she had been shot in the side. "Aw dang, that'll leave a mark." She grit her teeth, looking up at the pony. "So, hey, you talk right?"

"Yes." Her eyes went up towards where the sniper's bullets had come. "Please tell your ally to not shoot me, please..."

Octavia made a lowering gesture with a hoof even as the other moved to tuck her doll away. "Get off that whatever it is and lay down on your belly. Vinyl, Tim, please, go see the doctor, right now."

Tim approached Vinyl rather than going to the doctors. "Zap me."

Vinyl cocked an ear at him. "You're crazy, but hey, you heard him." She clapped her hooves together. "With the power of rock, I smite you!" White power gathered around her hooves before she pressed them to Tim.

He was not hurt as the undead hound was. His bashed face popped back into place, broken nose righting itself as the blood began to flow more slowly. "<Not today, Soft Whisper,>" he sighed out in relief as the worst of the pain faded.

Octavia pointed at Vinyl urgently. "Zap yourself!" She marched past Vinyl, approaching the small pony in a circle around the wall. "You, why did you attack us?"

Tim fetched his gun and pulled back the top, making sure it was ready to fire. "(Time for you to die.)"

"(No!)" The little mare scrambled back. "Please, don't let him. I gave up, right? Please!"

Octavia shook her head as she advanced over the little mare, standing over her. "Enough! Enough... there's been more than sufficient amounts of violence for one day."

"This isn't a zap at all," lamented Vinyl, realizing her power wasn't strictly for the purpose of smiting things. Still... "Rock gods, you can hear your loyal saint, bless me." She tapped the injury with a hoof and with a most disquieting sensation, she could feel the bullet be expelled from her, the injury sealing over. "Awww, yeah, I am the magic pony!"

Tim leveled his pistol at the little mare. "She is outsider, already attack. She dies."

Octavia frowned at Tim and his gun. "I will not permit it. She may have acted in a most unseemly fashion, hurting my friend... but she has surrendered."

"<What is this?>" The heavy steps of Randal approached quickly, other guards coming with him. "<Was the bell rung in error?>"

Tim lowered his gun, waving a hand at Octavia. "<That's the last raider standing, under Octavia. She won't let me finish the job.>"

Randal rounded the side of the wall to see Octavia and the small pony. "Get away from it," he spoke in clear sylvan.

Octavia turned quickly, eyes wide. "You can speak?! I mean, no! She has given up." She closer her legs a little as if to act as a better shield for the little mare. "I am a pet no longer."

Randal hiked a brow at that. "And what makes you say that?" He crossed his arms, looking suddenly amused. "<She claims she is no longer a pet. Did you see her perform some great act?>"

"<I spent most of the fight pinned under that damned orc,>" admitted Tim, looking crestfallen. "<Vinyl undid the worst of it.>"

Octavia glanced between the two. "I have magic too, I saved Vinyl with it." She suddenly smiled. "Ask Hank, he would have seen it. I fought."

Randal fixed his eyes on the little mare. "(The larger pony is claiming you as her pet. Do you accept that?)"

"(Wha? Yes! Yes, a thousand times yes.)" She sat up, bumping her head on Octavia's belly. "(I like breathing, one of my favorite things to do. I won't cause trouble, promise!)"

Randal clapped his large hands. "<Get her a collar and tether her in the inhuman house. She is not to be trusted.>"

Vinyl came around to join the others, grinning easily as she did so. "Hey, Randal! How long were you planning on keeping that secret? Nice trick." She took in the situation, blinking. "Hey, it's the pony that shot me."

"Sorry," muttered the little pony. "(sorry,)" she repeated in the other dialect she seemed to know.

Vinyl approached directly at a trot. Though some of the other humans whispered, wondering if she would exact revenge, Vinyl answered that quickly with a soft bop on the little pony's head. "Don't do that, huh? That hurt! So what's going on?"

Tim holstered his gun. "<We got lucky today. They were probably more desperate than anything else, coming at us that unprepared.>"

Randal frowned at Tim deeply. "<It is a welcome reminder that we are not prepared. If that had been a serious attack, all you would have managed to do is inform us before you made a corpse of yourself.>"

"<Yeah...>" He glanced aside at the little pony the other ponies were speaking to in their lyrical tongue. "<You're alright with this? The first two weren't raiders.>"

"<She stays until we get rid of her. She'll accompany them to Turves and you can turn her over to their 'sheriff' there. I hear she accepts caught raiders.>" Randal waved at the little pony. "<Until then, she is Octavia's responsibility. Let her prove she is worthy of responsibility. I need to speak to Hank.>"

Octavia smiled with doubt at her new 'pet'. "So, what is your name? I am Octavia Melody, and this is Vinyl Scratch." She waved to Vinyl as she mentioned her. "Though you are nominally my 'pet', I insist on treating ponies with the respect they deserve. Don't expect demeaning chores from me."

"That's real nice of you." The little mare bobbed her head quickly. "I'm Dim Flash." She pointed at herself. "I'm not bad with a pistol, when it's not shot out of my mouth like that. Where did Vinyl learn how to shoot like that?" She looked to Vinyl, then back at Octavia. "Was it whoever was shooting at us first? Took my coltfriend out... just like that." Her energy seemed to quell, growing quiet. "Stupid jerk... I told him this was a bad idea..."

Vinyl patted Dim gently on the head. "Sorry, yeah... You came rushing at us and, you know, we defended ourselves. Still, harsh. I wouldn't want a coltfriend to go out like that."

Octavia let out a slow breath. "Nor I. I am sorry for your loss. You almost returned the favor to my friend." She pointed at Dim. "Those 'guns' are very dangerous for all involved."

One of Randal's guards approached, reaching for Dim. She squeaked and tried to hide behind Octavia, but he was faster, snatching her by the scruff and lifting her just enough for her legs to come free of the ground. He snapped a collar around her neck and let her back to the ground, a lead trailing off of it. "Here." He offered the lead to Octavia.

Octavia eyed it uncertainty. "Thank... you." She opened her mouth and closed her teeth on the end of the leash. "I suppose they mean it this time."

Vinyl nudged Octavia. "At least I got you off the hook for being treated like that, huh?"

"And I am grateful, but even moreso for no longer being called a pet." She turned towards the inhuman house, her new leash going taught in her mouth. "Dim, let's go. I'll show you where we sleep and who your new roommates are."

"Speaking of that." Vinyl got to walking, Octavia beside her. "What did you do? I didn't see it."

"Thank you." Tim caught up with them. "For healing me. Be careful with pet, alright?"

Vinyl saluted at Tim. "Sure thing. I think we can handle this little pony."

Octavia pulled Dim closer protectively. "She is my little pony right now, and I will see she is treated properly."

Dim's eyes followed Tim as he went off to other business. "So... I mean, not complaining, but... what are you planning on doing with me, and my horse?"

"Horse?" Octavia peeked over her shoulder at the mount that stood there passively. "I have no idea what to do with that. I assume the people here will figure something out. Is it intelligent? I have heard no words from it in any of the countless languages this world seems to have."

Dim blinked with wide eyes. "This world?" She looked between the two ponies. "Are you two not from around here? (Do you speak common?)"

Vinyl tilted her head. "Not from around here, yup. What did you say at the end there?"

Dim shook her head, turning her gaze forward in the direction they were going, her little legs pumping twice as hard to carry her at the same rate as the other. "I was just checking. That's common, the trade language. Not good for, you know, heavy stuff, great for strangers. Which we kinda are?"

Octavia shook her head. "You are now my ward, which would make you not a stranger to me, I should think. I would like to know more of you, Dim Flash. How did you come to be involved in that disastrous attack attempt?"

"Vinyl!" came a shout from behind them. Tim was waving for Vinyl to come back. "Watch not over!"

Vinyl's eyes rolled, largely unseen behind her goggles. "Oh yeah, guard duty. I'll go back in case we get attacked twice in a day. Wouldn't that be something?" She turned back and got trotting to rejoin Tim.

That left Octavia alone to approach the house, Dim a little behind, the leash attaching them. "I will do my best to see to your needs."

"I bet you would," spoke Dim, sadness in her tone.

Octavia perked an ear. "Would?"

Dim jumped up, smashing the top of her head against Octavia's jaw. In surprise, Octavia drew back and the leash dropped. "Good luck." She fled like a bolt, little legs pumping wildly.

"Wait!" called out Octavia, reaching out a hoof. "Please, there's nothing out there for you..."

Octavia could but watch as the small figure retreated into the distance, running as far and as fast as Dim's little legs would take her. "So much for having a pet." Not that she had been looking forward to having a pony, of all things, as a pet, but she did not favor the images that came to mind as to what might befall the little Dim, alone, in the wastes.

She retreated into the shelter of the inhuman house, to share the tale of her almost pet.

---

Hank had his gun at his back, slung against him. He saluted as Randal came into view.

"<At ease. Did you see the pony Octavia do anything out of place?>" Randal rolled a hand. "<Speak honestly and directly, not that I need to remind you of that.>"

"<No sir.>" Hank pointed down from his vantage point to where the fight had started. "<She did little at first. She pulled something out and shouted at a raider about to attack Vinyl. I was still lining up the shot when she spooked him somehow and he fled. I managed to clear the shot when he stopped running.>"

It was quite a speech for Hank, and Randal nodded appreciatively. "<Did you recognize what she did?>"

"<It felt like a fear spell, but I didn't recognize how she did it. It worked.>"

Randal turned away, ready to descend the stairs. "<Thank you, and for your defense. You saved lives today.>"

"<Proud to serve, sir.>"

As Randal retreated, his voice echoed up, "<Swing by later. Sorry for making you wait this long.>"

Hank's passive face broke into a small smile. "<With pleasure, sir.>"

Randal had other thoughts in mind. He strode for the center of town at a rapid pace, considering as he went. "<Sandy,>" he spotted her performing upkeep on a rifle. "<Spread the word, Octavia is a guest, not a pet. If a small pony is seen, that is a pet, and should be returned and tethered at the inhuman house.>

"<Got it.>" She didn't stop working on her gun. "<I'll tell everyone that I see.>"

Author's Note:

Short, violent, and life-ending. Welcome to the wastes, as it were.

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Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Do nightmares appear in this story?

[Crystal Treasure]

Aww, dang, it would've been cool if Dim stayed.

even as tim began to unload

Tim

Was the bell run in error?

rung

accompany them Turves

them +to Turves

[David Silver]

9003432
All fixed!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Short-legs with guns? So weird. It's like imagining halflings in Mad Max.

Octavia's first spell! Which is necromancy. Didn't see that coming. Still, at least she has as many person privileges as a nonhuman can hope for in this camp. Also, Vinyl learned that her rock-smiting has two settings. Good to know she knows that now.

And while I understand the Equestrians' insistence on mercy, I honestly do side with Randal on the matter of Dim Flash. This could bite Octavia later. After all, that raider already smuggled in a typo!

...spreading to give less targets the mass offered.

Fewer targets than

[David Silver]

9006969
They come in small packages, but it's full of nothing but troubles, and typos. Do you think Randal will be annoyed at the escape?

[FanOfMostEverything]

9007028
On multiple levels. Not only did Octavia fail at basic pet care, now there's a potentially vengeful raider running around who knows where.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Octavia pulled Dim closer protectively. "She is my little pony right now, and I will see she is treated properly."

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