Rail's Journey no. 3

by Gcdemon

4. Try not to die

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”
G.K. Chesterton

It was a little filly, alone. Little unicorn with dark pink mane and yellow fur. She was wearing some blue suit and… a scared expression on her face. From afar I could see lots of tears in her eyes and her cheeks. She was running really fast, maybe she was chased?
"HEEEEEELP!!" she started screaming, confirming my thoughts.

Just after that I saw the reason of her running, a giant molerat appeared from behind the hill. He was way stronger than the ordinary one, with much bigger claws and teeth. I knew there was only one way out of this situation. As I said before, the building was really small, in addition the doors really weak. It was a good hiding spot, until the enemy knows where you are. This monster could easily destroy them and make an entrance.

I could’ve always shout and try to call this stallion… but I think he would come by himself if he heard the scream of a little filly, right?

This little unicorn ran up to me, she looked at me panicked, not knowing what to do.
"Hide behind this building!" I gave her this little ‘order’ and prepared my knife "And don’t leave until I give you a sign, okay?" I looked at her seriously and she nodded "If I won’t make it alive, just run."

"Okay!" she said and run quickly, gently sticking her head sometimes to watch my actions.
Normally I wouldn’t want a foal to watch things like this, but I didn’t have much time for thinking. This molerat approached me at astonishing pace, making weird noises, it was easy to assume that he was furious. I grabbed the knife in my muzzle, when I think about it now, It was a very first time I used it (I didn’t really used it when the stallion showed up, so I’m not counting this). I just hoped it would help save our lives.

I waited for the creature to make its first move. I was better in dodging than in the attacks. I managed to escape from his first claw attack, so I scampered quickly to the other side. I was able to take advantage before he turned back and I gave him a stab in the back. He didn’t even react, just like he didn’t even feel it. He set himself in front of me and jumped forward, I wanted to avoid the it again, but it wasn’t that easy this time. He scratched my armor, the feeling of his big paws was so terrifying… He tried to bite me right away, but now I ducked in time. I swung harder and hit him with a blade in the head – he made a loud roar and stepped back a little. It seemed that I hit him right in the eye, it certainly gave me a lot of advantage. Without any waiting I attacked again and stab him deeply. The knife was just perfect for the fight! The animal started moving in a rage, but he didn’t hit me even once, because of his vision problems. He was just cutting the air with his claws… My path to the victory was very clear now – a few more stabs and the creature was lying on the ground. I must admit, I had lots of luck. I won only because I hit him in the eye in the beginning, I felt a relief that I managed to defeat him. I was looking down at his body, panting deeply. It was very tiring, my teeth still clenched tightly on the handle and there was so much blood on my clothes…

It took me a while to think about a little filly. I turned quickly and she was already standing by my side. She was looking different now. there was a wide smile on her face and her eyes were shining.
"It was sooo cool!" she said looking at me delighted "You defeated him! This move, and this, baach and baach!" she stood on her hind hooves and started doing dynamic moves with her front hooves.

I hid the knife in a special place on my belt and looked at her, smiling slightly.
"You’re really brave too! I’m Rail, what’s your name?" I bent down and patted her head with my hoof, before noticing that I have lots of blood on it "And what are you doing here alone?"

First she wanted to say something, but then stayed quiet for a while. She began to draw circles with her hoof on the ground.
"My name is Angie, and, um, well…" she started talking "I, like… Run away a little…"

"Huh? Why?" I gave her a really worried look "Were your parents mean to you? Did they do anything bad to you?"

You can meet different ponies on the wasteland, that’s why I asked.
"No, no! They are super good!" she said immediately "But I really wanted to see the butterflies!"

"B-butterflies?" I opened my eyes wider, because I guessed what creatures she meant.

"I saw them In the books and then in the mountains here! My parents wouldn’t let me come meet them, but they are so cool!" she hit the ground with her hoof "I went to look for them, but then… this thing attacked me."

I wasn’t sure if she knew how strong cazadors poison was.
"But you saved me, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she hugged me tightly, closing her eyes. Of course now she had some blood stains on her face too.

"I’ll help you get home, okay?" I smiled a bit wider, it’s such a nice feeling, helping others.

"Oh, It’s almost there" she stood happily and waved her tail "Come on, I’ll show you!" she turned to the door, under which I found the hoofprints earlier.

"Uhm, are you sure about that?" I looked at her suspicious. I didn’t know if the stallion was still here, but I knew for sure that nobody lived here. There was so little space inside that only one pony was able to move freely there. Maybe she hit herself in the head and was a little dazed?

The handle shone the same color as her horn and she jumped inside.
"Come here, I know where I live, silly!" and she was gone. Of course I followed her, there was no option to leave her alone.

Inside I saw just… darkness, despite the window next to the door. And I couldn’t see the filly anywhere, where did she go?
"Where are you?" I asked, looking around the room, trying to catch any movement.

"Here!" she sais

At first I couldn’t find the sound source, until a little head appeared in front of my hooves. Trapdoor, of course! That’s why I’ve never noticed it before… but why would it be here?
"Move a little, there’s nothing to wait for!" the filly disappeared again, walking down the wooden (and damaged) stairs. I followed her, closing the trapdoor behind us. At the very bottom I saw a faint light.

"Be careful, try not to fall" I warned her, because I had some difficulties with it myself. I kept my hoof on the wall, so I wouldn’t fall down. It was a deep cave and a torch was a source of light. Angie was really good at walking on this stone floor, it was obvious that she was raised here. She led me to…
"Wow…" I said rising my head to have a good view. It was a huge vault door! I saw already few like this, but I’ve never dared to enter any (especially these habited) vaults. It was just open, so we didn’t have any problem with entering here (the opening mechanism seemed quite simple, but I’m not good at these things anyway).

I was still thinking about the armored stallion. Now I knew why he was heading here… The shelter was certainly his home.

“Maybe if I come meet him with a foal it will be a good opportunity to explain everything?” I said to myself in my head.

We entered the first floor, it was mostly destroyed. Rubbish and debris were everywhere, almost all doors were closed. Angie didn’t even look at them and moved to the next stairs. I couldn’t hide my fascination – this place made a great impression of me. Everything seemed so... different.
She left me behind and literally after a while I heard a bang and a loud cry. I ran down quickly and saw this little unicorn lying on the floor, holding her hind hoof and crying. I assumed that she just fell and something sharp scratched her, she was bleeding! I jumped from the last few steps and stood next to her.
"Hey, hey, it’s gonna be alright" I smiled, standing in front of her and reaching my hoof to calm her "Everything will be fine."

"It hurts, IT HURTS!" she shouted still holding the wounded hoof. That was the moment when I REALLY regretted that I didn’t have any meds with me. But it was necessary to do something with that wound… I decided to do the first thing that came to my mind. I took out my knife, ready to cut my shirt and use it to help this little mare.

Something red flew right in front of my eyes, then it hit the stairs and made a big hole in them. I froze, until I turned my head sideways. As you may already guessed – it was him. A big guy in the armor was pointing his gun straight at me. I looked at him terrified, perfectly aware how this scene looked like. Me, with a knife in my mouth, a crying filly all in blood, just like me… I dropped my knife and raised my hooves up, it was the most sensible thing to do.
The stallion slowly moved closer, still aiming at me. His weapon was glowing red and making characteristic noises.
"I thought I made the right choice saving your life…" it was the first time when I’ve hear his voice, distorted by the speakers on his helmet. He was already standing in front of me.

"I’m sorry, it’s really not like that…" I said calmly, because I was too scared to talk louder "It’s really…"

"Well, you’re not going to confess your sins to me…" he put his gun to my skull "I won’t forgive you anyway."

"I-I’m really sorry…" I repeated, shaking like a jelly. That’s where my curiosity and willingness to help took me… I risked my life so many times today, but I probably run away from death too often.

"No, stop it!" I heard weak voice and quiet hoof noises.

I looked aside and couldn’t believe my eyes. The filly, with a painful look on her face, stood between me and the stallion. More and more blood was flowing from her hoof, but she wasn’t afraid to come close. She looked straight in his eyes (or these black glasses in his helmet).
"He saved me from the big monster outside! And he was nice and he wanted to take me to you" she looked down "Don’t be mad at us…"

I listened carefully… Wait, “take me to you”? Have I heard well? The weapon was lowered, just like the stallions head.

"Excuse me? You were on the surface? ALONE?" his voice was much more angry than when he addressed me "You’re in big trouble, young lady."

"But… everything is fine, right?" I decided to speak, because I wanted to help Angie, he did it to me after all "She was just very curious about these colorful fish in a nearby pond, which she saw during a family walk… and I just saw her escaping from that big monster."

"He was huge! And scary and strong! But Rail helped me and saved me and he was so cool and caring!" she covered me with her body, as she wanted to make sure that this guy won’t hurt me. He was looking at us, then let out a loud sigh. His helmet shone blue, then it began to move up. It turned out…

"You don’t even know how lucky you were that this creature didn’t eat you, Angie" a delicate voice combined with a nervous look made up a very strange mix "Just wait until your father hears about this."

"But moom!" little unicorn gave her a sad look, then moaned in pain. It was obvious that her hoof really hurt. Well, these metal stairs are not that safe.

"There’s no time to waste, we need to take care of you" she lifted her up with her magic and put her on her back, so she could carry her down. Then the mare looked at me "You’re coming too, we need to talk."

I couldn’t argue with someone with three guns. I nodded and walked down the stairs with them.

Well, I was just shocked. The stallion turned into a mare, I totally didn’t expect that. She had short pink hair (just like Angie) with purple ends, her fur was gray. Blue eyes every now and then turned back to see if the filly is okay and I’m not planning anything.

We descended to lower floor and saw some more residents. Everypony looked very friendly, they also seemed worried when they saw a wounded filly. I wasn’t sure how it would end for me, but I counted on forbearance. The mare (I heard ponies from the vault calling her Ember) took us to the medical wing, where she left Angie. Next she ordered me to come to the other part of the room.
"I didn’t expect to see you ever again" she looked straight in my eyes, not even smiling.

"I-I don’t know how it happened…" I laughed and looked aside, I’m not a good liar.

"You’re lucky that my daughter has a good heart and stood for you" she touched my chest with a hoof "Usually we don’t allow strangers here, especially when they look… like you…"

"I know, I’m sorry but I couldn’t let her go home alone" I sighed and decided to tell only the truth from now on "I was afraid that she would meet something even more dangerous."

She glared at me and then (finally) gently smiled.
"Thank you" she said with a relief "I wouldn’t forgive myself if something bad happened to her. I wonder how she managed to leave the vault…"

"Um, the door was open" I thought it was worth mentioning.

"….It was?" her eyes widened and after a while she became really angry "Well, I certainly know who’s going to be punished, and it’s not my daughter… Nor you…"

"But… it’s important that everything ended up well, right?" I turned my head towards the filly, which had already a bandage on her hoof. She waved to me and her mom with joy. Ember looked at me after a while.

"Yeah, I guess you’re right. If not you, she would probably be in the stomach of that monster" she kept her eyes on her "My little one…"

We were talking until Angie was ready to leave the place. Ember was… really interesting. She cared about her family, but I still kept in mind how she killed so many creatures. I’ll never forget the sight of the gun in front of my face…

I also met her husband – a really high stallion, that looked very serious. Short dark mane, yellow eyes and brownish fur… He came to room and the first thing he did – he came closer to Angie. I was worried that he was going to yell at her (just like Ember did), but… he cuddled her and told how much he loves her. He was really happy that she was safe. They were talking for a while, until she pointed at me. The stallion looked at Ember, then at me, then at Ember again. Finally he moved closer and gave me a warm smile too.

"I’m really thankful" he closed his eyes while still smiling "You saved her life, you surely are a relly nice pony."