• Published 6th Aug 2012
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Fallout Equestria: Wanderers - Mach Speed



A tragedy in Clear Shot's life forces him to leave home in hopes of cleaning up the wasteland.

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Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Of Knives and Lies
“I’m a cut above the rest.”

A throbbing pain was all I could feel through the darkness coating my vision. I realised I could hear something, a muffled groan. It sounded like a mare, but they didn’t sound in pain. Slowly, more sounds started to come into my range of hearing; the sound of dozens of ponies talking and moving in the distance. One in particular seemed to be getting closer.

“OI! What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?” I could tell a gruff stallion had approached nearby but I still couldn’t see him. (Opening your eyes would be a good start.) Slowly, my eyelids parted, giving way to the light of the afternoon sun. My vision was blurred to the point where I felt like I needed glasses, but soon the picture started to come into focus.

“I said what the fuck do you think you’re doing you stupid cunt!” The stallion called again before the scream of a rusted gate opening filled the air. This was quickly followed by the sound of a mare gasping for air. Turning my head towards the sound, my vision came into focus just as I saw one slaver push another against the wire fence of a pen.

“How many times do I have to fucking tell you!? Don’t fucking tamper with the merchandise!” It was then that I noticed the slaver that had been pushed up against the fence had a hard-on. I turned my head to see the panting mare in the other pen, she looked bruised and tired. I realised that slaver had been raping her.

“Oh come on, what am I supposed to do? It’s not like I’m cutting her pretty coat up or anything~”

“Yeah because you remember the last idiot who did that, he took her place in the pen!” The angry slaver gave the other a punch in the stomach and released him, letting him fall. But instead of coughing in pain, he just stood up again, lightly chuckling. “I don’t know why the boss decided it was a good idea to hire you lot, but you do realise what this pen is used for right?”

“Hehehe, isn’t for the ponies that the mistress uses for her special day?~”

“Yeah, it is, and you just stuck your dick down the throat of the next one she was going to use.” The laughing slaver went quiet and his coat went a little pale.

“You… you won’t tell her about this will you?...”

“What do I gain from that?” I tried wrapping my mind around what they were talking about, but the throbbing pain in my head didn’t want to leave me.

“I’ll give you… fifty percent of my next pay… just please don’t tell her.”

“Hmmm… fine, but don’t ever let me fucking catch you in here again.” The slaver moved out of the pen and held the gate open for the other before locking the gate behind them. My eyes followed them as they moved and something caught my eye. The armour between the two was different. The one who had threatened the other was wearing some reinforced leather, basic attire for slavers and while it was old, worn and a little dusty, it was still rather clean. The other wore little armour at all but the pieces of armour he did wear were stained by dried blood and adorned with spikes and bones, he was a raider. That didn’t make any sense; slavers and raiders NEVER work so closely with each other, especially if it meant the raiders seemed to live in fear of a slaver boss. On that note, who was this boss and mistress they were speaking about anyway? The questions continued to gather in my mind as I watched them move away from the pens and sure enough, there were dozens of ponies, both mares and stallions that wore slaver and raider armour. Slowly, once the ponies had left, I turned my head back to the mare, who was now huddled against the fence the pen right next to mine. She was curled up tight into a ball and was quietly sobbing, shaking like a leaf.

“Hey… hey, they’re gone now, everything is going to be alright…” slowly she looked up at me with tear stained, bloodshot eyes.

“No, it won’t be… you heard what they said…” she sobbed softly. “I’m next for Ms Crimson…” She immediately broke down into tears, there seemed to be more I didn’t know. Slowly I sat up and felt my head pounding like crazy but as I raised a hoof and touched my head I could feel a sharp pain appear. I immediately flinched and moved my head away, feeling a weight around my throat and a hearing a slight jingle from the movement. Curious I looked around the best I could and found I had a collar around my neck and connected it was a large chain, tethering me to the fence. I really was trapped now, nothing but a prisoner in a cage. I needed to think about how I could get out, how I could stop what was happening and how I could regroup with my friends. But before I could do that, I needed to stop my headache, I needed water. Luckily, the slavers were not without sensibility. They couldn’t sell ponies if the slaves were dead or just about to die. As such there sat an old and cracked bowl not too far away in the middle of the cage. As I slowly stood, I could feel the weight of the chain try to keep me where I was, but I ignored it. Once I approached the bowl I peered in, the water was dirty but it was far from the worst thing I could have. As I leaned in, I could finally see the cause of my headache. Thanks to my reflection I could see the gash the slaver left on my head when he knocked me out. It was rather large and caused a trickle of dried blood down my face. The gash had now sealed over somewhat, but the pain was still there.

Pushing my newfound wound from my mind I bent down and began to drink from the bowl like a dog. The water was dirty and warm. It tasted like mud and rust but it was the best thing I had to relieve myself of my headache. Once I drained half of the bowl I looked around the area. My pen was just one of about four that were in the small area of the slaver town. In my pen there sat only one other stallion resting in the far corner, or at least that’s how it looked. I squinted to try and get a better view, knowing the chain and collar around my throat wouldn’t allow me to get close enough to get a proper look at him. It took a moment of me silently looking at the stallion but finally I noticed his chest rising a falling, thankfully he was still breathing so at least he wasn’t dead. I turned and looked at the other pens. The one the mare from before was in seemed to be the only pen with mares in them. Her’s held another two mares. On the other side of my pen were another two pens, each with no more than five stallions in each. The pens themselves were quite large, probably about ten metres across and all made from was chicken wire. They could easily be cut through given the right knife and time, two things I didn’t have. However even with the flimsy enclosures the slavers felt confident enough just to lock the front gate and not post a guard outside. (Do they believe the slaves won’t make it outside? Or is it that they believe the slaves fear their boss enough to not try and escape?) In any case I needed to start thinking of a way out, a way to contact the others and a way to ultimately shut down the operation here.

“I need a smoke…” I said with a sigh and moved over to the other side of the pen, the one that shared a sheet of wire with the next stallion pen. One of the imprisoned slaves lay up against the wire. Slowly I moved up to him and it was then that I could see the damage that had been done. The stallion’s coat was cut and scarred so badly that it was hard to tell what colour he was under the immense quantity of dried blood. The other stallions didn’t seem to be faring any better. Some looked bruised and broken, others had been shaved and humiliated, I noticed that one unicorn in particular had damaging marks to his horn, even though it was still there, it was severely chipped and scratched. The foul stench of piss and shit filled the air as I got closer, while the slavers were smart enough to keep the slaves alive with water and whatever food they chucked the slaves’ way, they were cruel enough not to give them a toilet of any kind. I guess the corner had to do. I pushed forward through the stench and approached the stallion lying on the ground; I needed to figure a few things out.

“Hey, psst, hey buddy.” I kept my voice low as I spoke, slowly the stallion raised his head. “Hey, I need to know a few things…”

“Ain’t you the guy who they dragged in here this mornin’?”

“Yeah I am, I need to know a few things.”

“The only things you need to know is to keep your head down, your mouth shut and your eyes away from the mares.”

“I need to know as much as possible if I’m going to get you all out of here.” The stallion stayed still and blinked at me.

“Don’t even fucking say that in jest. No pony escapes Brismane alive. I’ve been in here for close to a month and from what I’ve heard, whenever a pony tried to escape, the slavers killed them on the spot. What’s even worse is I saw one.”

“I’ve seen enough ponies get shot, you start to get used to it…”

“I never said they were shot.” It was my turn to go silent and listen, there was something about the way the stallion spoke that made it sound like the slaves were killed in… less conventional means.

“What do you mean by that?” The stallion shuddered as he recalled the memory.

“The day after I was brought here with my group, one of them managed to get out of the pen, he almost made it to the front gate as well until one of the raiders saw him, they tackled him to the ground and was just about ready to cut him up when… when she spoke up.”

“Who’s she? This boss I’ve been hearing about?”

“Yes, Madam Crimson. Don’t let her looks fool you, she may look beautiful and act like a lady… but she’s a fucking demon in disguise.” The stallion’s voice became cold, recalling a memory. “She… she saw what my friend had tried to do, and decided to make an example out of him. She got the slavers to drag him in front of the pens and kept him still. Then she told us this would happen if we tried to escape. Then, without even hesitating, she… she skinned him alive.” The stallion seemed to be shaking from the though and his eyes looked almost glassed over, at first I had trouble believing what I was hearing but just the way this stallion sounded, I knew it was true. “He made the most agonising screams I have ever heard. He tried to break free but they were just too powerful for him… I wanted to look away, I wanted to cover my ears but she threated that if any of us looked away, she’d… she’d cut him up and feed him to us herself…” I felt sick to my stomach, what kind of pony was this? She sounded insane, psychotic.

“And that’s not all…” the mare from the other pen spoke up in sobs, I only then just realised our voices were no longer hushed, slowly I turned to the huddled mare who was shaking like a leaf on a windy morning. “O-once every so often, she takes a mare into that building over there.” She said, pointing to the largest building in the compound. It wasn’t a mansion but it was certainly bigger than a shack. “And they’re never heard from a-again. The last thing we hear is their muffled screams leaking out, then nothing after that.” She started breaking into tears again. “A-and I’m next!”

“Right now I’d rather be sold somewhere.” The stallion said behind me. “Right now I’m feeling less like a slave and more like a lamb waiting to be lead to the slaughter.” I had never seen it before, these ponies looked more defeated than any others I had seen in the past. They had accepted their fate and they chose not to run, knowing it would just end in death and defeat. Slowly I raised a hoof to my aching head and brushed it through my mane, even if I did make it out, I couldn’t think of a way to deal with the crazy mare. As my hoof moved through my mane I felt a small, almost non-existent bump close to my scalp. For a moment, I had no clue as to what it was, but then a memory from earlier came flooding back to me.

*** *** ***

I remembered walking through the ruins of Brismane on the way to the slaver compound. Bolts lead the way, taking control but he still felt uneasy.

“Are you one hundred percent sure about this, Clear?”

“There really isn’t any other way right now.”

“How will you get out?” Starry asked behind me. “It’s not like you’ll have a key on you.”

“Oh I already planned for that.” I said and focused my magic on my saddlebags that Soulful was carrying. Slowly a bobby pin floated out and over to me. I held it up for Starry’s eyes.

“A bobby pin?”

“Yep, I can use it to pick the lock.”

“They’re not just going to let you walk in with that you know.”

“I know.” I floated the pin into my mane and into place. “There, if it was any further into my mane it’d be sitting in my skull. Plus my mane is dark enough and thick enough that they won’t notice.”

“Yeah but having a bobby pin won’t be enough, you’re going to have to find something else to help it along.”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.” I said as the compound came into sight. “I’ll see you all when I’m done.”

“Good luck Clear.” Starry finished. “We’ll be watching over you.”

*** *** ***

As my flashback faded I smiled, finally remembering the bobby pin in my mane. Wanting it out and ready, I began focusing my magic on it, but something felt wrong. My magic was weak and the bobby pin felt heavy. It felt so heavy it felt like I was lifting saddlebags off of my head. The blow to the head from before had done more than simply split my head and given me a pounding headache. The concussion the blow gave me had caused me to lose the ability of most of my magic. Now if I was able to get my rifle I would barely be able to hold and steady it and firing any weapon with magic was completely out of the question. It seemed just as I had found a way to get back onto my hooves and take control of the situation, some unknown force decided to snatch it from my grasp once again. There was only one thing I could do, sit and continue to think about what my next move would be. But as soon as sat down, the door to the large building flew open and as it did, it seemed like every slaver, raider and slave, turned towards the opening. Slowly, a slaver stepped out and moved to the side. A couple of seconds passed by then a mare stepped out. She was beautiful, absolutely stunning. The mare walked out and was greeted with bows from a few of the slavers and raiders. Once she was far enough out into the open, a raider quickly came out behind her and stood in line with her, holding an old, worn parasol in his magical grasp, holding it above the mare.

“She must be this Ms Crimson I’ve been hearing about.” I said softly then noticed she had begun moving towards us, holding her head up high, as if to say she was better than all the others. As she walked I noticed the slaver was on one side of her and the raider holding the parasol aloft was on her other side, like a guard. The first thing I noticed was that unlike her namesake, her coat was not crimson, but instead a pale red. She wore a beautiful, flowing white dress that trailed just behind her that complimented her coat nicely. She looked completely out of place, not just amongst the slavers and raiders, but in the wasteland as a whole. She was like something out of a fairy tale, a beautiful young… (Wait a second.) As she approached I could start to see that the only young part about her was her coat. She must have been around the same age as my parents, a veteran of the wasteland, but her pale red coat looked so well kept it was as if she was still roughly my age, it almost seemed to shimmer in the sunlight. (She couldn’t be this horrible, psychopathic pony I was just told about, could she?) Just as I finished my thought, the raider holding her parasol, tripped over one of the rocks in the ground, he didn’t fall but stumbled, causing him to move the parasol away by accident. Once the parasol was moved, the mare looked at the raider, not breaking her I’m-better-than-you expression.

“T-terribly sorry mistress.” The raider stuttered as he moved the parasol back into place. “I-it won’t happen again, I-I promise.” He was scared of her, terrified even.

“No, it won’t.” she stated in a dignified manner then nodded to the slaver on her other side. I couldn’t turn away as I watched the chain of events unfold. The slaver she nodded to looked over to another two unicorn slavers who nodded back, a split second later, their magic wrapped around the legs of the raider who started to scream.

“NO! Please mistress! I’m sorry! I-it was an accident!”

“And accidents aren’t supposed to happen.” I could see her slowly levitate up a gilded revolver from a holster under her dress, the raider visibly shaking with fright. “I decided long ago to would take in you barbarians because I thought you would be useful, hired muscle and all that. But if you can’t perform a task as simple as keeping me shaded, then I have no use for you.” She spoke calmly and with each word, the raider was brought more and more to tears.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” I could hear him quietly muttering as the mare placed her revolver in her mouth, a strange act for a unicorn. As she turned to face the raider, another bit of magic wrapped around his neck keeping it in place. “I’M SORRY!” The raider gave a final scream before the mare pulled the trigger with her tongue and sent the bullet through the raider’s head, killing him in an instant. Without missing a beat, another raider stepped in and took up the duty of carrying the parasol before it could fall far. The mare levitated the revolver from her mouth and wiped it with a handkerchief before putting it back.

“You had better not fail me.” She addressed her new servant.

“O-of course mistress…” The raider fell into line and they continued on towards the pen. What struck me the most was not how genuinely frightened the raider was, how obedient the others seemed to be or how psychotically unstable the mare was, it was that fact that she, a unicorn, only used her magic to levitate her revolver up but fired it like and earth pony or pegasus. My eyes began to travel upwards to look at her horn. Maybe it was the way she was standing, or just what was happening around her that I didn’t notice, but her horn wasn’t there. In the middle of her forehead where her horn was supposed to be, sat a small nub. It had either been broken off or destroyed long. Without a horn to help focus her magic, she would only be able to do the most basic of levitation, which would be why she had to fire using her mouth, lest the revolver fly away from the force of the shot. In terms of magical ability, she and I were on the same playing field. The thought of an equal opponent left my mind quickly however, as the mare and her entourage stepped up to the pen with the mares in it, the one I had spoken to earlier shaking and sobbing in fright. Once the gate was unlocked, the mare stepped in and smiled.

“Hello dearie~ Today’s the big day.” She had done a complete 180 on her personality. Where before she seemed revered but psychotic, she now sounded sweet and innocent. “Is everything alright my dear? You’re positively shaking~” She toyed with the mare.

“Y-y-yes Ms Crimson, I’m f-fine.” The obvious lie didn’t seem to faze the red mare and in fact she chuckled at it.

“Come now dearie, you’re playing an important role tonight, one that will make me very happy~.” The mare put a hoof under the chin of the slave, smiling down at her with almost a motherly feel. The slave, still shaking, gently nodded, I could see she was doing her best not to cry. “That’s my good girl, we’ll be back for you later~.” The red mare stood back up and elegantly trotted out, now moving in front of my cell like pen. “Is that the new one?” She enquired to one of the slavers, looking directly at me.

“Yes ma’am, he has a sour mouth on him but he responds well to pain. He just needs breaking in.”

“I see, open the door.”

“Are you sure that’s wise ma’am? He could be dangerous.”

“He’s on his leash like a good dog. Besides, is it not proper etiquette to greet our new guests with a face to face talk? Or do you think there is another proper way?” She glanced sideways at the slaver who gulped but wasn’t reduced to a quivering mess like the raiders.

“No ma’am, you’re right, my apologies.” The slaver quickly opened the pen door and allowed the mare to step in. Slowly she closed the distance between the two of us. She moved gracefully, almost gliding along the ground. Up close I could see her slightly aged form beneath her young coat. The leader of this group of slavers, my new target, stood just a few steps away, but I was powerless to do anything. Once she stopped, she cleared her throat.

“Hello dearie, how are you this afternoon?” She continued to present herself a lady, a mare of culture and etiquette amongst a sea of brutish wasteland scum.

“I’ve been better.” I stated. I didn’t look her directly in the eye, hoping she wouldn’t be able to picture me as the stallion mentioned over the radio. “Quite frankly, my head is killing me, I didn’t exactly get the warmest of welcomes. Then again, nothing says hospitality like the butt of a rifle to the face.” She gave a small smile, but I had no idea why. (Maybe because I’m talking to her normally and not shivering like I’m standing out in the cold?)

“I see, well, I can’t exactly apologise for the actions of my… helpers. They were just being cautious after all~. Tell me my dear, do you know who I am?”

“Well from what I’ve heard you would be Ms Crimson, correct? Forgive me if I do not bow.” I said without any fear. However, the truth was, I was actually a little scared, the mare in front of me was clearly unstable. (Maybe it had to do with her lack of horn?). As I had my short moment to think, I noticed her smile flicker and vanish for a moment before coming back.

“Yes, I am Madam Crimson Spark and you will address me as such. You shall also learn to speak to me with respect, or else.” She nodded to the ponies that hung from the gallows in plain view of the pen. She began eyeing me up. “Have we… met before?” (Shit…)

“I don’t believe so, I would remember a mare as beautiful as yourself.” I said, trying to throw her off to which she just chuckled.

“Oh darling, flattery will get you everywhere~.” It worked as she stopped eyeing me.

“Really? Will it get me out of this pen?”

“Ha! Nice try dearie, but not quite. I can already tell you’ll be fetching a large price when we take you to market. Strong stallions fetch a high price, almost as high as petite mares~.” I wanted to strangle the mare in front of me. I knew what I was hearing was the truth and I already knew that whenever slaves were sold, mares would usually be the most expensive, but I couldn’t stand hearing it. “You’ll bring in a nice sum of caps.” She said as she turned away and went back to the door. “But first we have to break you, nopony likes a disobedient slave now do they?~” She cackled as she walked away still being followed on the side by the raider and slaver. As she walked out of sight and the rest of the slavers left, the stallion from the other pen turned to me.

“So, you still think you can get us out of here after seeing Madam Crimson?” His voice was still filled with criticism. “Or do you now see that it’s impossible?”

“There are very few things that are truly impossible in this world, getting you all out of here is not one of them. It’s just going to take some time, planning and a fair amount of luck.”

“Time may be one thing you don’t have if you want to save ALL of us.”

“What do you mean?” his ominous warning made me curious.

“You see that mare over there in the other pen, the one Madam Crimson was speaking to? She won’t last past tonight and she’ll be dead in a few hours.”

“Wait, Ms Crimson just said that mares fetch a high price, why would she kill one?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but I just know that her coat’s been looking rather pale lately.” And with those final words, the stallion rolled over and closed his eyes, leaving me to (hopefully quickly) think of a way to save all the slaves, before another needless death were to happen.

*** *** ***

As another couple of hours passed, the Sun began to set in the sky, leaving only a little light to help guide the slavers before they started lighting lanterns around the compound. I felt lost, without a way to get out of the pen, I was powerless to do anything. I had a single bobby pin, but without something else to help turn the lock, I was still trapped. Even if I had a set of keys, I had very little magic to use as the concussion still kept my magic at bay. Maybe the stallion’s words were right, maybe it really was impossible to escape from Brismane… just as my thoughts began to darken like the night time sky, I noticed one of the slavers was moving towards the pens, carrying a number of items in his magical grasp. I could make out the shape of old food bowls, both metallic and plastic in design. In another bit of magical aura, hung the keys to open the locks, with him holding the keys, it would be impossible to get them myself. I began looking at his form. He wore rough and scratched armour and carried a few weapons on his body, a couple of low calibre pistols and a knife. My focused turned to the knife that hung loosely from a sheathe that was low around his body, most likely put there for easy access. And hopefully it wouldn’t just be easy for him.

The slaver started down the other end as he moved inside each pen and dropped the food bowls at the hooves of the slaves, spitting into each one as he did. Soon he approached mine and let himself in. He dropped the metallic bowl in front of me immediately I noticed the meal was just a couple of slices of raw meat from a random animal. Without another thought he leant over and hawked a ball of phlegm right into the middle of the meat.

“Here’s your dinner, ya filthy animal.” He chortled in a gravelly voice before turning, now was my chance. Quickly I flared my magic and focused on to his knife and kept a grip on it, the tightest I could with my magic the way it was. With luck, as the stallion began moving back outside, the knife stayed where it was, being held by my magic. Gently the knife slipped from its sheathe without the slaver noticing. Keeping my magic focused on the blade, I gently levitated it back and hid it close to my body. With luck, the slaver couldn’t see it in the fading light. Locking my pen back up, the slaver then moved to the one with the mares. As he moved inside and dropped their food, he was courteous enough not to spit into their bowl, but then he turned to the young mare from before.

“Come on, we don’t want to keep the madam waiting any longer.” He smirked at her and used the keys to unlock her collar. The entire time, she kept sobbing, knowing that in a few moments she will most likely be dead. All I could do was wait and hope that I’d be able to make it out in time to save her. I watched and waited as the slaver escorted the sobbing and quivering mare from the pen and across the yard and into the large building where Crimson Spark emerged from earlier. Once they were out of sight, I levitated the knife up, blade first, and moved it between the collar and my neck. The steel was cool; I could easily feel the sharp edge pressing against my skin. Without any more thought, and fuelled by a want to protect the mare, I began cutting the leather collar. The angle was awkward and it took all my strength to move the knife, let alone try and have it not cut me as well. Bit by bit, I felt the knife fray and cut the collar slowly. With every other stroke, I felt the blade’s edge glide along my neck, making small but painful cuts and causing me to lightly bleed. Along with the edge, the tip of the knife would occasionally go up far enough to where it poked me in the lower jaw, the very feeling of the knife’s tip caused me to fling my head back in mild fright. The process was slow, tedious and painful. Every time I was cut or poked by the knife, I winced quietly to myself, but soon I was able to breathe a sigh of relief as the collar gave way and was cut all the way through. My neck was sore and bloody but I couldn’t help but smile as the collar and chain dropped to the dusty ground.

“Congrats, you got your collar off.” The stallion next door silently and sarcastically exclaimed. “Now how do you plan on getting out? Cutting the wall down?”

“Nah, I’ll just pick the lock.” I chuckled as I placed the knife in my mouth and went to the door to examine the lock. The lock was large but heavily rusted, it was really old but looked easy to pick. Focusing on the bobby pin deep in my mane, I lifted it out and placed it in the lock. Every item I focused my magic on felt like it weighed a hundred times more than what it really did. Once the bobby pin was in the lock, I added the knife and began tinkering with it. The process was hard as I had to move multiple items with my tired magic and I had to be careful not to break the bobby pin, if it went, I’d be completely screwed. A minute passed by slowly but once it went, I heard the tell-tale click of the lock opening. My luck seemed to be coming round as I opened the door and looked back at the stunned stallion. It wasn’t just the one stallion looking my way either. All of the slaves looked my way as I smiled back.

“Sit tight, I’ll be back.” Cutting my magic I placed the knife into my mouth in case any of the slavers saw the glow from my horn. Closing the pen again, I made my way through the shadows towards the large building. The slavers and raiders didn’t seem to notice as they were all crowded around a large fire, laughing their arses off as they sat down to their own dinners. The shadows protected me and soon I found myself at the door to the building and only then did I realise how big it was, it had two floors above the ground and travelled the length of the compound, finding Crimson Spark and not getting seen would be a harder task than I once thought. Putting the thought from my mind, I opened the door and slipped inside. At first it seemed to be quiet. The big, empty villa seemed to be shut off from the world outside and the roars of laughter outside now seemed so faint. But then came another sound, a shrieking cry pierced the air and filled the villa. There was no doubt in my mind that it came from the mare from before. But where was she? The scream was loud but also a little muffled, she was close but hidden somewhere. Was she on this floor? Or had they taken her upstairs? As the thought passed through my mind, the scream came again.

“NO! NO PLEASE! NOT AGAI-AAAAAHHHHHH!” The scream was horrible but got me moving. I began moving through the first floor of the villa. Opening one door lead me to a dining hall, while another to a study, but with each new door opened, a new scream came forth. “PLEASE HAVE MERC-AAAHHHH!” Turned into. “IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT AAAAHHHH!” Which then led to. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?! PLEASE JUST LET ME G-AAAAHHHH!” Which was soon followed by. “I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” Each new scream brought forth a new message of pain and torture, but what scared me the most, was that each one, while still loud and powerful, became weaker as each new scream was brought forth. I began to grow anxious as I couldn’t find the two anywhere. They had to be upstairs, it was the only explanation I had for the muffled screams. I quickly moved to the stairs, but before I could ascend, I heard more voices come from one of the doors I hadn’t checked.

“Man I’m fucking starving.”

“Yeah, hopefully those dipshit raiders haven’t eaten all the radroo, again!” Slavers, and they were close. In a flash I jumped into one of the rooms and left the door open a crack, watching and waiting for them to appear. It doesn’t take long for them to come out from behind their door and start down the hall to the entrance. “Geez, it still amazes me.”

“What’s that? Raider stupidity?”

“Well yes, but I mean what just happened down there. You think you see some fucked up shit, then you see that.” The slaver shuddered as they trotted out the front door and closed it behind them. Now was my chance. Throwing the my door open, I ran across the hall and shot through the door they entered from, almost falling as a flight of stairs heading downwards appeared before me. I shouldn’t have been surprised, with the size of the building, of course it would have to have a basement. Another scream sounded from own the stairs, it was weak, I knew I didn’t have much time. Taking off, I ran down the stairs as fast as I could, hoping, praying, that she’d live. I moved down the stairs as quickly as I could, up ahead I could see a door, it had to be it, but as I approached, I heard another weakened cry.

“Pl-please, let me go…” The mare was almost gone. She sounded tired and weak, then came something I wish I didn’t hear.

“Oh be quiet already, you squeal too much.” Crimson Spark muttered from behind the door.

“No, no please don’t, pl-plea-“ The cry for mercy was cut short and her weak voice was replaced with gargled scream, as if she were being drowned. The sound was awful to hear and it caused me to picture the worst, but as I burst through the door, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.

The room was small and housed only a few items. To one side was a beautifully crafted wooden dresser with a slightly cracked mirror hanging above it, on the dresser sat Crimson Sparks dress from before. In the middle of the room sat a large, ornate bath tub, rather clean as well, at least on the outside that is. Hanging above the bath was the young slave. She hung upside down, suspended in the air by an old meat hook. Her back legs were tied up and the rope was used to help suspend her, while her forelegs were tied behind her back. I could finally see what the screaming was from. All around her body are cuts, both deep and shallow. They seem to be scattered randomly round her body and there’s a lot of them. Each cut had drawn a lot of blood, now dripping into the bath tub below. Standing just below the mare was Spark. Her coat covered in the blood from the slave, now crimson red, this must be the reason for her name. She stood there with a knife of her own in her mouth, the blade covered in blood. She had just cut the slave’s throat, finishing her slow, painful death. I was speechless, in shock. It was just as the slaver had said previously, you think you’ve seen some fucked up shit, then you see this. It took me a moment notice that Spark was glaring at me and had dropped her knife into her weak magical aura, just holding it to speak

“Don’t you know it’s rude to walk in on a lady while she’s bathing?” She said angrily, surprising me by not calling the guards down. (She feels that confident?)

“What… What is all this? Why is this all necessary!?” I followed her lead and dropped the knife into my magic, it still felt heavy. I was just about to charge her out of pure anger but was held back when I saw a smile creep onto her face, there was something unnatural about it.

“Why was her death necessary? Simple my dear, to continue to make me look as young and beautiful as possible~” (What is she talking about?) I was confused, was it some kind of ritual? “You look bothered dearie, I’m not surprised, not many ponies know this story.” She slowly climbed out of the tub and faced me. “There was once an old story of a mare with a crimson red coat who was seen as one of the most beautiful ponies in Equestria, but as she started to age, her coat faded. Fearing she would no longer be beautiful, she decided to restore her youthful look with the… help, of the young, beautiful mares she could find. She bathed in their blood, with each bath, her coat was restored to its former glory and she continued to remain beautiful till her dying day. I am merely following in her hoof steps my dear.”

“So you’re murdering innocent ponies to restore your coat colour!?”

“What? Oh good heavens, no. I could only wish for a crimson red coat. I was born with a cream coat. While it is rather elegant, it is far too blasé and stains too easily in the filthy wasteland.” I began moving more into the room and started looking around for anything to use as a distraction or better weapon. “I needed something darker, with more style, something that was beautiful and menacing, I needed my coat blood red, I needed it to be crimson. It started off simple, I chose one slave and it worked but then my coat started to fade, I needed more blood. You should be happy, they died giving beauty back to the beautiful~.”

“Oh shut up!” I couldn’t take her story any more. “I usually think ponies would be better off dead than becoming slaves, but THIS? This is fucking disgusting, you’re torturing ponies because you think it’ll make you beautiful. Guess what? You’re not beautiful, you’re fucking insane!” I charged at the mare, blinded by anger. I didn’t have the strength to keep holding my knife in my magic, so as I ran I placed it into my mouth, it was an odd sensation, not only having to fight with a knife, but to make it worse, I was fighting with a knife without my magic. As I came close, I leapt at the crazy mare, ready to cut her, but as I got close, she brought up her own knife and blocked mine, stopping me.

“Silly, foolish little colt, you picked the wrong mare to have a knife fight with~. At least I still have enough magic to deal with you~… Wait a second, silver eyes and a beige coat? HA! I thought you looked familiar! You’re the one who caused White’s operation to go under! Aren’t you?!”

“How grrrr how do you know him?!” I yelled around the knife handle, keeping the pressure of my push up, not giving her an inch to move.

“Oh let’s just say we’re associates of each other~. Oh I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he gets back and I tell him how you screamed as I cut the coat from your flesh!” She began pushing on the knife, even with only about an inch of her horn remaining, she was still skilled enough to focus a decent amount. The two of us pushed against each other but I could see she was starting to sweat from the focus, but she continued to play it off like it was nothing. “I might just keep you alive until he gets back in a few days. He came to me after you destroyed what was given to him. So I put him to work, he’s taken the last group of slaves to market~.” Now she really was trying to piss me off. “It’s a real shame, you could have been worth sooo much~ Guess we’ll just have to settle for the usual stallions, mares and foals~.” (Foals!?) I couldn’t take it anymore, I began to see red which went perfectly with her coat. Slowly, I pushed forward which began to cause her magic to waver. Sweat dripped down her face as she tried to keep me at bay and slide the knife down towards my face. I didn’t have the magic to stop her, so I did the next best thing, I charged. Pushing forward as hard as I could, I tilted my head to the side and thanks to the force we were both pushing at, her knife slid off mine, allowing me to break free and pounce at her. Even though I tried to avoid the knife, my ear still got nicked as her knife passed me. My pounce was quick but rather futile, only cutting along her cheek before just running passed her. This wasn’t going to work, I NEEDED my magic back if I was going to stand any real chance.”

“You… you cut me…” (What?) I turned around and Crimson Spark holding her hoof to her cheek. She looked shocked, even though the cut wouldn’t have been that deep. “My face… My beautiful, beautiful face… my skin… it’ll scar… no, no this can’t be… my beauty… I… I’M RUINED!!!” (Oh shit…) The crazy mare let out a horrible, shrieking cry as she threw her hooves to her face in horror. In a flash she changed, she jumped to her hooves and charged at me, murder in her eyes. I felt like I couldn’t move, her cry and look paralysed me, mostly due to the horrifying noise. She pounced at me and tackled me to the ground. Immediately she had me pinned and began to beat me. Here punches weren’t incredibly hard, but I could still feel them causing some damage to my body. Then she did something I didn’t expect. She opened her mouth wide, and bit down hard into my skin. The graceful, beautiful, lady like mare from before was gone, she had turned completely feral, she wanted me dead, but she wanted me to suffer first. As she bit down hard, I howled out in pain. I began to rock back and forth a few times before I was able to free a hoof and whack her in the side of her head, knocking her off. Licking her teeth of my blood, she roared and leapt at me again, hooves flying and teeth bared. The knife I was carrying was no longer any use to me, having fallen from my mouth when I howled. I decided to beat her at her own game. Ignoring the pain in my head I leapt at her as well and we met in mid-air. The second our bodies hit the floor, we started going at it. I tried getting in as many punches as I could but her slippery, blood soaked coat made it hard to grab hold of her and throw any decent punches, all the while she kept hitting me and biting at every chance she got. I needed to put a little distance between the two of us, even just to get a breather, but I also needed to make sure she would be a little hurt. Then I thought about the dresser from before, if I could get her off and buck her into it, the mirror might shatter and cut her up. It was the only plan I had. Taking a look around, and covering my head from her punches, I looked around and soon spotted the wooden dresser. As the mare above me kept trying to knock me unconscious, I started wiggling free of her slippery body. I kicked and I rolled and finally, after copping a couple of blows to the chest, I kicked the psycho mare off and into the path of the dresser. I didn’t have any time to rest as she landed, I rolled onto my own hooves, panting. She didn’t even look tired as she pounced at me again, but this time I was ready. Pivoting on my hoof, I spun around and reared up. She couldn’t stop herself while in the air and as she came close, I bucked and bucked hard. My hooves hit her dead centre in the chest and sent her flying back across the small room and into the old dresser, causing the wood to split and break, but not the mirror. From the moment my hooves made contact with her chest, I heard a couple of cracks. Her ribs broke under my hooves, sending a shiver up my spine. I turned around, panting, almost gasping for air at this point. Even as I turned around, I could see the insane mare was trying to get up again, but as she did, all she could do was cough up a little blood. Her coat was bruised and cut, she wasn’t going to win.

“Just… pant… just give up already. Your body isn’t exactly the youngest there is. Your… your bones are going to break before mine do. Just… pant… just give up.” She finally managed to sit up in the broken dresser, her front legs resting on the unbroken tops like she was on a throne, and just started chuckling, almost cackling for no reason at all. (She really is crazy…).

“Hehehe, Oh dearie, my bones may cough, cough break before yours, but I won’t be the one leaving here without their life~.” Slowly I noticed her magic start to flare and from behind her back, she levitated up her gilded revolver. The revolver must have been under her dress on the dresser, so instead of disabling her more, I just gave her a better weapon. “You really did fuck up, didn’t you? Oh yes, that look on your face says it all. You’re strong, I’ll give you that, but you’re also very stupid. How White lost to you is beyond me, he should feel ashamed really. I had really wished to skin you alive, but I guess I’ll just have to shoot you instead~.”

“I should warn you, I’ve survived a bullet to the head before…”

“Oh really? Let’s see if you can survive two~.” The mare smirks as she took aim, but didn’t place the revolver in her mouth, deciding to shoot with her magic. I knew her magic wouldn’t be able to withstand the recoil from the high calibre round. I had one chance to come out of the fight alive. I had to watch and wait for the right time to move, if I waited too long or moved too early, I’d be dead. Time seemed to move slowly as we watched each other, seconds turned to minutes as we waited for each to make the first move. I didn’t dare move, didn’t dare flinch, I just stood waiting. Then I saw it, a smirk slowly crossed the mares face and I noticed the trigger being squeezed, it was time to move. It felt like time slowed down and almost stopped as I dived to the floor behind the bath. As I did, I heard the gun go off with a loud BANG and then heard the whooshing sound of the bullet flying passed my ear. As it did, my eyes turned to the side and I caught a glimpse of the revolver flying out of Crimson’s magic and hitting her right between the eyes. She groaned out painfully and collapsed back into the dresser. Breathing a sigh of relief I picked up my discarded knife and stood up, happy to be alive. The mare was groaning in pain and held hooves to her face, covering her now broken nose. I moved across the room, tired and sore, but I knew I wouldn’t have won until the mare lay dead at my hooves, I wouldn’t make the same mistake I did with Mr. White. Grabbing hold of the mare I threw her to the ground where she began to roll in agony.

“You’re strong, but very stupid, those were your words to me weren’t they?”

“SHUT UP! You’re nothing compared to me!” She cried on the ground. “I was the most beautiful mare in the wasteland! And you ruined me! You’ll never get out of here! My boys will torture you! Kill you! Get ready to fucking die!” She moved a hoof and stared up at me with a bloodshot eye as a tear ran down her cheek and I stared back, uncaring. The mare at my hooves was a slaver boss and one of the worst I had seen. She killed without remorse and tried to justify it with a false notion of beauty. There was no question in my mind, she had to die.

“Not before you.” I grabbed the knife from my magic and held it between my two hooves. Raising the knife high above my head and quickly brought it down onto her chest but not her heart. The first stab was never going to be the killing blow. I wanted to make her suffer, to feel the pain all those other mares did. As I pushed the knife into her, she screamed in agony, but I was far from done. Yanking the knife from her I aimed again and stabbed just below the previous wound, inciting another scream of pain. Again and again I pulled the knife from her body and continued to stab her, each time with more force and the occasional twist.

“NO! PLEASE! JUST END IT!” She begged and pleaded for it to be over, for me to end her life. But something inside me didn’t let me do it. The red wasn’t gone from my vision and I couldn’t find it in myself to show her mercy and as I pushed my hooves against the knife, I felt my sanity snap. I plunged the knife violently into her body over and over again. She screamed and shrieked as I mercilessly stabbed and cut away at her body, her blood spraying up my coat and around my face, turning me crimson as well. It didn’t take long for her to lose consciousness but I had lost track at how many times I plunged the knife into her body, ten? Fifteen? It didn’t matter, I didn’t even know if she was dead or just unconscious from the shear amount of pain and loss of blood, but, it didn’t matter anymore, raising my knife high, I brought it down for the finishing blow, right through her heart. The knife sunk in easily but she didn’t scream, there was barely any noise at all, the only thing I could hear was the sound of my shaky breath. I looked down on the mare, beaten, bruised and bloody, I had killed her. Sure I had killed slavers before… but this was different. Before I had either killed them with explosions, from a distance with my revolver or even long range with my rifle. This time I had killed the slaver with my hooves and a knife. The feeling was strange, somewhat foreign to me. I saw every part of her pained look, heard every part of her screams of agony, up close and personal. It made me sick to my stomach and as I released the knife I brought my shaking, blood stained hooves to my mouth, trying to keep the illness back. (Please, Celestia, never again…). I sat there for a moment to let my stomach settle, but before I could do anything, the thunderous sounds of hooves came down the stairs and two slavers burst through the door.

“Madam Crimson, we heard your screams and…” One called before he took in the entire scene. Seeing their dead leader, a knife sticking out of her heart and her killer hunched over holding back his puke must have come as a real surprise to them. I couldn’t do a thing, I was tired and ill, unable even lift the knife up. “You… you killed her…”

“I told you I heard something! If we came down earlier she could have been fucking saved!” The yelling slaver began levitating a shotgun up, ready to blow me away before the first one put his hoof up. “What the fuck are you doing!? Let me kill the piece of shit!”

“Then do it a way she would have wanted. Set an example.” The slavers grinned at one another before putting their weapons away and advancing on me. I tried to levitate up the knife but my magic just wouldn’t budge. Almost in sync with one another, the slavers raised their hooves and gave me a few hard hits across the face. The punches were hard, much harder than what Crimson Spark hard done. By the end of it, I could barely see and it felt like my head was on fire, I felt like I could lose consciousness any moment.

“Hey, hey asshole, don’t you fucking drop dead or black out on us.”

“Yeah, we need you alive and conscious for this~.” I couldn’t find the energy to speak, nor the energy to even nod. All I could feel was my weight being lifted up by the slavers’ magic and moved upstairs through the building, I knew exactly where we were going, outside.

*** *** ***

In mere moments, the slavers kicked open the front door and a cool breeze blew across my face, stinging it slightly. As we had gotten close to the door, I could hear the slavers and raiders still being merry on the other side, but as the door was kicked open, the noise turned to silence almost immediately. My head hung down, lacking the energy to pull it up myself. The slavers soon stopped, not too far from the building and looked towards their group.

“Madam Crimson, is dead!” One exclaimed. “And this, is her killer!” The slaver roughly yanked on my mane, pulling my head up and causing me to wince. Now I could see them, the mob of slavers and raiders, half with their mouths open, shocked at the announcement, the other half looking furiously at me.

“So why didn’t you fucking kill him!?” I heard one of the slavers yell from the crowd, who themselves started shouting their disgust of me.

“Oh, we planned too.” The other slaver beside called out. “We just wanted to make Madam Crimson proud~!” Then I saw it, the slaver levitated up a thin stick of dynamite and placed it in front of me. Seeing the dynamite changed the shouts from the crowd to cheers in an instant. “Open wide you filthy mongrel!” The slaver called as he stuck the dynamite into my mouth and took out a lighter, preparing to light the fuse. (So this is how I die huh? At least I made a little difference, right? Well Joy, I’ll be seeing you soon…) I prepared for the worst to come but as I began to think my last thoughts and watch the slaver light the fuse, a loud couple of gunshots rang out through the night and before I knew it, the slaver beside me dropped dead before my eyes.

“Where the fuck did that come from!?” The slavers started looking around, trying to find the source of the gunfire but just as they did, the sky erupted with the sound of automated fire and a dark pegasus swooped down into and passed the crowd, cutting down a small number of them. I already knew who it was, letting the explosive drop from my mouth, I gave a small smile.

“A pegasus?!” the slaver holding me up dropped me and began ordering the now frantic slavers and raiders around. “What are you all fucking doing?! Get your dicks out of your hooves and bring her down! If anyone kills the bitch, they have to pay for her!”

“What gives you the fucking right to order us around!?” A raider shouted back.

“Because I’m the one in charge!”

“You’re not the one in charge, the only one who could lead us is Mistress Crimson. And you aren’t Mistress, soooo.” Before my eyes, I witnessed a great act of betrayal. While most of the crowd were looking around for Starry, the raider turned on the slaver and cut him down with a shot from a double barrel shotgun. Before the slaver’s body could hit the ground, the rest of the crowd looked round and watched. The moment the body of the slaver hit the ground, all hell broke loose. The raiders and slavers turned on each other and started to gun one another down. Keeping low to the ground (yeah because I have the energy to stand.) I watched as one by one, both the slavers and raiders started to fall as the firefight between the two groups kicked off. As I watched them start to fall, I felt a light breeze next me and looked up, just in time to see Starry land.

“Clear, we need to get you out of here.” She began placing her hooves under me to lift me up.

“Starry… go… it’s too dangerous…” I groaned and winced as she started lifting me.

“Yeah, too dangerous for you to stay here, don’t worry we hav-AHH!” She screamed and dropped me as a raider had grabbed her wings from behind, hold a knife, ready to cut her.

“Hello pretty birdy~ Yer going to fetch me a lotta caps, oh yes you will~.” Starry began to stamp and buck, trying to get the raider off of her, but it was no use, he had her wings and pulling too hard only caused her pain. “Stop moving or I’ll cut yer fuckin’ wings off ye stupid bi-“ Before the raider could finish his sentence, I saw the back of his head explode and send bits of skull and brains flying backwards, there was only one weapon I knew that was around here with that kind of power.

“’Bout time he landed a shot…” starry said, looking up to the ridge with a smile. “I sure hope that gearhead gets better with his aim.” (Bolts?) Her smile remained for a short time before she turned back to the fighting salvers and raiders. Once she turned, she started opening fire with her battle saddle and a look of determination came across her face. It was the same look Bolts had had so many times before. It was then I realised what the look was about, she was down here defending me, protecting me. She was determined for me to not die, to keep on living. If it was because she considered me a friend worth protecting, or if she was just protecting my dream of a better wasteland, I had no clue, but a faint smile crossed my face as I wanted to believe the former.

*** *** ***

A couple of minutes passed before the fight between the slavers and raiders had come to a halt, leaving only Starry and myself alive in the immediate area. Where there was once the sounds of explosions and heavy gunfire, now there was just silence. Not a single slaver groaned in agony, and not one raider cried out curses. They were all dead, not one survivor from the two groups remained. As a quiet wind blew around us, Starry finally turned to me and put a hoof under my back and bringing me up a little.

“Is… is it over?” I asked weakly. I was tired, sore, bruised, battered, broken and bloody from the day, my vision was blurred and I think my nose was broken as I found it hard to breathe.

“Yes, Clear, It’s over. What happened to you?... You need medical attention, I’ll go get Minty and we’ll be right back.” She gently put me down, but before she could move off, I grabbed her hoof.

“It’s just a scratch.” I said giving a weak smile and chuckle which was soon followed by a cough. “I’m… I’m just going to sleep for a little bit…” I smiled as my wounds finally took hold.

“Clear?... Clear!?” Starry called but they only came a muffled noise to my ears as I lost consciousness.

Footnote: [Companions have returned]

Level Up!

New Perk: Lucky Guess: In one on one confrontations, you have a higher chance to dodge the first shot fired. After that, you live or you die! +1 PER, +1 AGL, +1 LCK During start of one on one confrontations.

Author's Note:

A/N I find it funny that a chapter will take longer than usual to write simply because I can’t stop and the chapter ends up being twice as long as the previous chapters. Sadly, I couldn’t find a spot to cut it in half at, so everyone gets a big chapter again this time. As always, many thanks to Kkat, Somber, No One and Mimezinga for giving me the inspiration to write this side story. This chapter of Fallout Equestria: Wanderers was written by Mach Speed, edited by Whisper and edited for continuity by Sirhcx. Likes and favourites are always appreciated to help get the fic out there and constructive criticism is always welcome.

Editor’s Note: Hey guys, I’m Whipser. Mach and I came up with Wanderers together quite a while ago now, so now that I’ve started editing it feels nice to do more for the project than just bounce ideas off each other. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the content. Next time it should be shorter, else our writer goes on a hiatus of deeeeaaath.