Linkin Pony - Recharge: Revamped

by Kaciekk

Chapter 36

With squeaking wheels, the wagon approached the west gate of Haythorn. CharmingRhythm wondered if there were always guards that protected the entrance. Back in Los Pegasus, there had always been sentries that protroled the city to protect citizens from rogues and Hybrids. They had even guarded areas where either enemy had occupied. Here in Haythorn, Rhythm wasn’t sure how security operated, and if guards at the gate were normal or not.

Rhythm thanked the ponies with a wagon when they dropped them off in front of the gate. For a moment there, the two stallions stood befuddled, unsure where to go next. Swirling around, Rhythm poked his head out of the gate to the other side.

“Hey, um, could you help us?” He asked one of the guards. “Is there some sort of visitors center or something? We need someone to help point us around. We aren’t from here.”

One of the guards turned her head to him, and then fully turned her body. She extended her hoof forward. “Keep going down this road. You get to the city hall which is in the middle of town. Someone there will be able to help you navigate.”

“Thank you so much,” Rhythm replied, dipping his head graciously.

Hyper trotted alongside Rhythm as they made their way down the street. They passed by houses, shops, and ponies going about their everyday lives. Life in Haythorn seemed normal, at least on the surface.

At the end of the street, or more likely the middle of the street, was a stone building with many arches and pillars. An Equestrian flag flew on a flagpole near the front doors, with a Resistances flag mirroring the opposite side. It was clearly town hall. Rhythm and Hyper entered.

Inside, the hall was very spacious, with two staircases on either side of the room. Ponies were gathered in clumps, all talking to each other casually. Rhythm had expected a desk in the center, but instead it was to the right side. He stepped up to it and saw a white mare staring at a computer screen. Her eyes flickered up as she saw him approach.

“Hi,” Rhythm said. “We need some help. We’re looking for some ponies, but we’re not sure where to go.”

“Who are you looking for?” The white mare asked.

“A team of ponies that came here a few weeks ago,” Hyper butted in.

“Hmm, I don’t know anything about that. But maybe you should ask her.”

The white mare pointed to the other side of the room. There, a brown Unicorn who wore her ruby mane in a bun, was talking with a stallion. Rhythm thanked the receptionist and headed over to the other side of the floor. Standing behind her, he waited for her to finish speaking to the stallion. Once the stallion left, the brown mare turned her gaze over to Rhythm and Hyper.

“Hello there, may I help you?” greeted the mare.

“Hi, we need some help navigating. We’re from Los Pegasus,” Rhythm began.

“Oh. Are you backup?” The mare questioned.

“What? N-no.” Rhythm shook his head. “We came here on our own…”

“Oh, well then. My name is Hazel. I’m the mayor of Haythorn. What can I do for you?”

“Were looking for some ponies.” HyperBlitz stepped forward. “They were also from Los Pegasus, but they never made it back home. They came here a few weeks ago.”

“Oh- you mean the support team that was sent? Yes I believe they are still here. There were some complications that couldn’t let them return home…

“But they’re alive?!” Hyper urged.

“Yes, they are. Although I think a few of them are injured,” Hazel recalled.

“Where are they?” Hyper demand. Rhythm placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“We were letting them stay at an inn. I’m guessing that’s where they’d be. Here, I’ll show you where it is. It’s not too far.” Hazel pointed her muzzle towards the doors and headed that way.

Both Rhythm and Hyper followed her. Rhythm was grateful that the mayor was more than willing to go out of her way to show them where to go. She seems like a caring leader, one the rest of the Resistance could use, Rhythm thought. He took a few quick steps to become parallel with the brown mare.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to the bridge outside of town?” Rhythm quered.

Hazel sighed. “Rogues destroyed it. There’s a whole gang of them that’s claimed a suburb up north. They’ve been terrorizing the city for some time now.”

“Seriously?” Hyper exclaimed. “How did they even destroy the bridge like that anyway?”

“They had homemade bombs,” Hazel answered, distress in her voice.

“What?” Hyper squawked. “Nobody got hurt right?”

“No, not from the bombs,” Hazel assured. “Although the rogues have hurt ponies in other ways. They have even sent in Hybrids to attack ponies.”

“Sent in Hybrids?” Rhythm echoed, shocked.

“Yes. They were able to lure Hybrids to groups of ponies traveling on the outskirts of town,” Hazel explained.

“Why haven’t you requested aid from Headquarters?” Rhythm wondered.

“We haven’t been able to,” Hazel said. “The rogue took out our communication signal. The last ponies we called in were the support team you are looking for. Things have gotten worse since then.”

“Holy shit,” Hyper let out.

Once again, Rhythm appreciated Hazel’s kindness. She most likely has been extremely stressed the past few weeks, if not months. She had to address ponies’ concerns while also finding ponies to protect the city. Rhythm felt almost bad that they wanted to take away the ponies that were sent to help Haythorn. He wished he had his whole team with him, to possibly aid Haythorn in some way. Even then, he didn’t know how to deal with rogues, they were more complicated than Hybrids.

“Mayor,” Rhythm spoke up, “After we find who we are looking for, can we talk? I’m sure I can take a message back to Headquarters and even the president. We can provide aid for you.” He wished he could provide aid himself, but he knew this was the best that he could do.

“Of course we could talk. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I should be in the city hall, but if not, ask for me at the desk,” Hazel replied, dipping her head.

The three ponies arrived at the inn. While inside, Hazel asked the desk clerk for the room numbers of the support team, and gave them to Rhythm. Both he and Hyper made their way down the hallway as Hazel left. There were two room numbers, and Rhythm knocked on the first door they came across.

A lime green Pegasus opened the door and looked at the two stallions surprised.

“Um, hi,” Rhythm stated awkwardly. “We’re looking for someone, she’s supposedly a part of your team. SweetHooves?”

“Oh, um. She’s staying in the next room. But if she’s not there, then maybe check the hospital. She’s been helping there,” The Pegasus responded, still bewildered.

“Thank you,” Rhythm said.

Sure enough, there was no answer from the next room when they knocked. Hyper impatiently retraced their steps back to the entrance. Rhythm had to canter to catch up to him. Before leaving altogether himself, Rhythm asked the desk clerk which way the hospital was, and they were able to direct him. He dashed out of the door in search of Hyper.

“HyperBlitz! We have to go this way!”

The yellow Pegasus spun around in the air and followed where Rhythm was pointing. They continued down the road south and then to the east. The hospital was easy to spot; a large building with a spacious yard where many ponies gathered. Inside there were more ponies in the waiting room, where Rhythm stood, stumped. He wasn’t quite sure what to do next. Where would SweetHooves be, and how would he ask for her?

“Hello, do you have an appointment?” A voice spoke from behind a counter that Hyper was standing in front of.

“No.” Hyper shook his head. “I’m looking for someone. There’s a medic that came from Los Pegasus. Supposedly she’d be here. Her name is SweetHooves.”

“Hmm, well, I don’t know who that is,” The pony behind the counter said. “But I could send a message out to see if anyone does know her.”

“I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you,” Hyper replied.

Tired from the rough journey, Rhythm sat down for a few moments. He felt like the rest of his good legs were going to fall off. Hyper on the contrary was anxiously pacing around the lobby floor. After a few minutes a tan mare appeared from the hallway. SweetHooves stopped in her place and stared bewildered at her husband.

“HyperBlitz? What are you doing here?”

Hyper raced over to her and hugged her tight. Still in shock, she glanced around behind Hyper’s back. One of SweetHooves’ eyes caught sight of Rhythm, who she was also surprised to see.

“We came looking for you!” Hyper said through a smile which then faltered. He placed his red hoof on her right cheek. “What happened?”

Under SweetHooves’ black hair was a bandage wrapped around half of her face. It covered her right eye. She glared at the floor. “Hybrids. They attacked my team when we tried to leave. We couldn’t even leave, the bridge is broken…”

“We saw that,” Rhythm stated as he stepped up to the couple.

“Is it bad?” Hyper asked hesitantly.

“Yeah.. They said I’ll probably be blind in this eye,” SweetHooves spoke almost as if it didn’t phase her. She was obviously emotionally exhausted.

Empathy and anger swirled around Rhythm’s heart and mind. One more victim to the Hybrids’ rampage. One more valuable belonging taken away. Rhythm’s leg, Hyper’s wing, and now SweetHooves’ eye. While Hybrids didn’t directly take Rhythm’s leg, the only reason he lost it was because he was running from Hybrids. They had taken half of SweetHooves’s sight, something that couldn’t be replaced like a limb.

Rhythm could tell Hyper was feeling the same way he was, and possibly even more so. Hurt filled his gaze as he stood by his wife.

“You’re alive. That’s what matters,” Hyper finally said, although he knew for certain SweetHooves’ injury did matter. “Please come back home with us.”

“But I promised I’d help ponies here,” SweetHooves replied, glancing back down the hallway.

“You’ve been helping here longer than you intended. You were only supposed to be here for a couple weeks,” Hyper reminded her. “I know you want to help ponies, but you’ve done more than enough. You deserve to come home.”

“What about my team?”

“‘We can take them home too,” Hyper promised.

“We’re going to have to sort some things out if we do,” Rhythm spoke up.

“I know,” Hyper sighed, turning his head to Rhythm, but failing to meet his eyes. “Let’s get out of here, and go back to that inn you’re staying at.”

“Okay,” SweetHooves replied, sounding defeated. As she began following the stallions out, she said, “How do you know where I’ve been staying?”

“We talked with the mayor. She told us where to find you,” Hyper informed.

“Oh, the mayor. She’s a nice pony,” mumbled SweetHooves.

“Speaking of the mayor,” Rhythm brought up, “I’m going to have to talk to her. I should go do that now. I’ll meet up with you guys later.”

“Alright,” Hyper said with a nod. He continued to walk by SweetHooves with his left wing wrapped over her back.

Rhythm retraced his steps back to the city hall, where he found the mayor. They discussed about sending a message to headquarters, which Hazel decided she would address in a drafted letter. All Rhythm needed to do was deliver the letter to the president.

“I know I haven’t done much,” Rhythm was saying, “But I and my friends need some help. Is it possible to get us some crystals for our cab?”

“I suppose so. Delivering a message is all I’m asking for. Besides, the support team has been doing extra work around town.They deserve some reward,” Hazel stated.

“Thank you so much,” Rhythm replied.

“Come back here tomorrow morning. I’ll have the letter ready then,” Hazel instructed.

As he left, Rhythm realized just how late it was getting. Evening had fast approached. Even if it wasn’t for picking up the letter, there would be no use traveling back home this late. Rhythm had become desperate for a break anyway.

He met up with HyperBlitz and SweetHooves at the inn. There they were able to convince the workers to give them an extra room for the night. Even though they weren’t meant to pay, Rhythm couldn't help but leave a tip. He really didn’t want to throw away Heartfelt’s money, but remembered the stash of bits that was back in camp. Rhythm would be able to pay her back.

Now all that needed to be sorted out was how the group would make it back to the cab in the middle of the desert. Rhythm wanted to stay hidden away from any more walking. He decided it was a problem to address in the morning. All he wanted now was sleep.