Chapter 22: Pain
Chapter 22: Pain
As the heavy metal door slammed shut behind us, I was intently staring down the barrels of the huge guns set into the ceiling. If they fired, at least I wouldn’t feel it. It was preferable to being eaten, in any case.
“If you ponies would be so kind as to put away your weapons, that would be lovely. I would rather not have to kill you right now.” The voice came from the ceiling. There must have been a speaker up there, amidst the lights and weapons.
Slowly, I sheathed Broken. Glancing at Ivory, I gave her an apologetic look and nodded towards the bit she still held tightly in her mouth. Slowly, as though it pained her, she let the trigger mechanism drop out of her mouth to fall into place near her chest. Fluster, coated in black gore, had already disappeared her scalpel into the folds of her robe.
“Thank you. I do appreciate the cooperation.”
Then, the room went silent aside from the small whine that the guns made whenever they moved to track between us. I look down for the first time, and found that we were standing in gore. The smell hit me, and I noticed it was much worse than in the tunnels. The black fur and rotted goo told me that we were fetlock deep in tunnel dwelling mutant.
“Oh... oh!” Ivory had also realized what we were standing in, and started trying to get her hooves out of the muck all at once. One of the guns tracked her as she frantically moved for higher ground, but fortunately it didn’t fire. Unfortunately, that meant that Epiphany wanted us alive. Fluster just stood there, the color of her robes matching the color of the floor, looking for all intents and purposes like something rising from the gore.
Ivory clattered up onto a raised part of the floor, mostly devoid of rotting monster, where she began trying to shake it off of her hooves. I walked more calmly, not too keen to make quick movements under the guns, getting up next to her. When I was near enough to her, I leaned in to her and whispered, unsure if Epiphany could even hear us but not willing to risk it.
“This pony is not right in the head. I don’t know what he’s planning, but it can’t be good.” I couldn’t remember anything about him from my time as a Paragon, and Two Kick hadn’t been very forward with information on him other than that he was a “fucked up egghead”. Judging from Massacre and the creatures we had almost been dinner for, it was safe to say that he was Cinder level crazy, but with more intelligence thrown in. A lethal combination.
A loud click rang through the space as a door along the wall opposite the Stable door swung open. The loudspeakers crackled again, and Epiphany’s voice oozed out. “Now, come this way. I wish to talk. Hate doesn’t know you’re here, so this is just you and me. Unless you make it absolutely necessary, my friend, I don’t intend to kill you.”
I was just thinking about all of the other things he might do to us. I’d prefer death to a lot of them.
Good call.
I stood there, staring at the door, weighing our options. Fluster had made her way out of the filth, and now we all stood looking down the blank hall past the open passage. “We’re not going down there, are we?” Ivory’s voice rang loudly in the lack of noise, making me flinch. I kept expecting something horrible to happen, but the hallway appeared more or less safe.
“Please? Either proceed down the hall, or I open the big door and let my pets in. It’s entirely up to you, my friends.” Epiphany’s voice yet again, the calm and courteous tone unwelcome and unwanted.
I took the first step, and I heard him chuckle over the intercom. “Bravo, Ripple. Always the first to throw yourself into the unknown. I’ve always admired that, you know?”
I gestured with a flick of my head that the girls should follow me, and took my first steps through the door. Inside, the hallway was reminiscent of a Stable. It was very similar, but just a little off, like an imitation painted on the back of another card. The floor was grating instead of the flat sheets of the Stable. It rang strangely under each heavy, slow step.
“We were so fortunate to find this place intact. Everypony was in such a rush to leave when the end of the world came, they just ran. They neglected to note that the base never took a direct hit. They left the security on, but that was easy enough to deal with. I do believe I’ve done a decent job putting it back in service, and giving it my own little ‘flair’, wouldn’t you say?”
He kept talking, even though we hadn’t responded once, or even asked a single question of him. The feeling I was getting from Two Kick was that Epiphany liked to talk. I was finding that out myself; the egghead was talking nonstop now that we were in his domain.
“Of course, it’s not an us right now. Hate doesn’t know you’re here, in fact I’m sure he’s too busy with the armored interlopers to even bother with you right now. Your part was over when our little errand pony retrieved these lovely Cubes from you.”
A high pitched whine filled the air and I froze. I glanced at the girls, who were both bracing themselves for a fight. Either that, or a quick death, I wasn’t quite sure.
“But, I am not one to deprive myself of a chance to learn. I have so much that I can learn from you three, and I think I’ll take the chance that has so readily given itself to me. Sweet dreams.”
I noticed that Ivory’s mane was standing on end a split second before the floor was filled with electricity. It arced off of the metal walls, and ran up my legs. Twin detonations threw me into a front flip, and I slammed into the electrified floor on my back. From where I was spasming and twitching I saw the girls similarly incapacitated. Ivory was still twitching on her hooves, but Fluster had flopped over and was jerking like a fish out of water.
Then everything went dark as it just became too much.
-----
I was under an amazingly bright light. For a few seconds, I felt panic rising. The only thing that told me I wasn’t dead was the pain. Death wouldn’t hurt that much. I turned my gaze to the side, and found that there was a surgical lamp near my face. I was in what had once been a sterile white surgical suite. We all were.
The pulsing was much slower now, and I could only see the edges of vines creeping into the room. Maybe the electrocution had helped out my crazy a little, or whatever it was that was causing me to hallucinate. I was sure that it was Pandemonium, or at least the cubes, but there was always just the chance I was breaking from all that I’d been through.
Across the room I spotted the girls, strapped down on separate tables and unconscious. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t even speak. I could just stare. There were straps on each of my legs, as well as my head and neck. I could feel a tight muzzle around my mouth , keeping me from talking or biting.
I now saw that the vile stallion was standing on his rear hooves, front hooves supporting himself next to Ivory. He was inspecting her rather intimately, prodding with medical tools where he should not have been prodding. If I could have moved, I would have torn across the room and kicked his fucking face in.
Ah... I wanted to check out that part of her first. Fucking egghead’s doing it wrong, they can’t make noise if they’re passed out. Gotta smack ‘em awake first. What’s that duckbilled thing even for, anyway?
I really didn’t need Two Kick right now. I needed the use of my limbs. I grunted as I strained against the straps, but I had no leverage against the thick leather. I could do little but watch him molest my friend; I couldn’t even turn my head away.
When he was finished inspecting Ivory, he approached me. As he trotted past Fluster, I noticed that the mare was without her robe and pouches, her wings and scars in full view. A smile came across his face as he saw my eyes open, and he hurried over. “Oh, I see you’re the first awake. Your constitution always amazed me, and I really shouldn’t be surprised. Your friends are rather interesting specimens in their own right, I must say.”
He pulled out a scalpel and dug it into my neck. I knew he was going after the black veins, as he had before. His eyes were filled with curiosity, and I wanted to cut them out with a rusty knife.
“I’ll bet you’re wondering why I was snooping around your friend’s reproductive organs.” I felt the pain as the blade sliced into my neck. “Ah... I do love phlebotomy... anyways, the mare. She’s good breeding stock, you see. My friends outside, they seem to rely on the mother’s fortitude to reproduce. The stronger she is, the more she can bear. The mother never survives, but the tradeoff is more of my wonderful little creations.”
He pulled the blade out of my neck and gestured at the prone form of Ivory. “She’ll be a fine mother. She’ll die, but really I’m sure that’s what Hate wants. You and your friends are supposed to be dead. So that’s what I’ll be doing... I just don’t want to waste the opportunity you present.”
Tapping the blood-stained scalpel on his chin absent-mindedly, staining his fur with my blood, he pondered a question out loud. “The other mare though... she’s infertile. I wonder how that would work... they might just eat her. Hmmm... Whoever carved her up like that, they were thorough. Almost loving, as far as knife work goes.”
“....kill... you...” I managed to gather enough strength to push the words through my teeth, mumbled and quiet. His eyes lit up and he grinned wider.
“Oh, I knew keeping you alive was the right idea. Such energy and drive. Bravo.” He dropped the bloody scalpel next to me and turned away from me, walking over to a table in the middle of the room. Picking a syringe up with his magic, he turned back to me. As he pushed the air bubbles from the syringe, a drop of pearly venom formed on the needle.
“There were always a few experiments I couldn’t run on our friend Messy. Hate wanted him able. I have such things planned for you. You may not have his raw durability, but I know that your burning drive will keep you going until the very end. I am so looking forward to that.” As he approached me, he readied the needle. That jab would certainly paralyze me for several hours. If he stuck me, it was over. I would become some drooling mess, pumped full of chemicals and experimented on until I was literally dead meat.
The needle popped through the skin on my neck, and he began depressing the plunger on it. I immediately felt what little feeling there was in my neck slip away, a tingling coolness filling my veins.
“Epiphany.” Hate’s voice suddenly crashed through the room, causing the pony to falter in his administration of the drug. He had only injected a small bit of it, taking his sweet time in the act. Looking up, he slumped his shoulders as the voice came through the speaker set into the ceiling again. “Epiphany, come here.”
Placing the needle next to me, he walked to the wall and pressed a button set into the wall with a hoof. “I’m securing the next generation. The Rangers are putting too much of a dent in my family.”
I heard Hate sigh deeply before continuing. “Drop whatever poor wretch you’re prepping, and get up here. I’ve run into a snag.”
Epiphany walked back to me, picking up the needle. As it hovered towards me, the voice boomed through the room, making Epiphany flinch. “NOW!”
The mad stallion sighed, placing the needle back down. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” He laughed at that, knowing full well that even without his cocktail of fail, I wasn’t going anywhere under my own power. The drug was spreading, and while it wasn’t as strong as a full dose, I was losing the feeling in my legs. Hurrying from the room, he paused only to look back at me like he wanted to spend hours cutting me open.
He probably does. Sick fuck cut Messy up so many times I’m surprised he didn’t just fall apart.
It was just me and Two Kick, alone in the room with the two unconscious mares.
Well, at least the fucking view is pleasant.
I sighed.
Mere moments after the door closed behind Epiphany, Fluster pushed herself up into a sitting position. She was fully awake, and had apparently gotten out of the straps holding her front legs. Leaning down, she used her teeth to remove the straps from her back legs, and freed herself. Pulling herself down from the table, she looked around before heading straight towards Ivory.
I would have called her, but I still couldn’t. The muzzle on my face and straps on my head kept me from even turning my head to follow Fluster as she moved to Ivory.
Ivory was much slower to wake up, the shock having taken a greater toll on her. As Fluster loosened the pale mare’s straps, she whispered into Ivory’s ear. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but I was hoping it didn’t involve what Epiphany had been doing. I didn’t know how long Fluster had been awake, but I was pretty sure she’d been listening to the maniac’s one-sided conversation.
Slowly, Ivory got up off of her table. Pausing to stretch, she groggily made her way to the table where Epiphany had stashed our gear and started putting it on as quickly as she could by herself. Fluster approached me, scars shining in the harsh white light of the room, and started undoing my straps.
Whispering, she leaned near to secured head. “Don’t tell Ivory. She doesn’t need that pain.”
I couldn’t do anything but try to nod in my strap prison. She began undoing the straps holding me down, and as she finished she beckoned Ivory over. The pale mare was still tightening her heavy armor, but she hopped over to us as she was working a strap on her leg.
Ivory hissed at us as she got close. “What’s going on? We need to get out of here, now.”
The straps were off of me, but as I tried to get off of the table I felt the drug coursing in my veins. For the third time in a day, I slammed into the ground as my legs failed me. I had lost most of their use, but I found that I could at least force myself to my hooves. I felt like a foal, standing for the first time. Not my best moment, especially not when we were in such dire need to hurry.
“Here.” Ivory ducked her head under one of my front legs, standing and propping me up on her withers with my rear legs standing alongside her. She gave a short laugh, then turned her head so she could see me. “See, we can do this.”
I glanced across the room at the table where our stuff was. She followed my gaze, and spotted the heavy minigun resting there. Her grin drooped, and she sighed. “Right. That. Well, lets get you suited up.”
She started lugging me across the room as quickly as she could, my hooves dragging a bit as I did my best to trot with her. I was glad that he hadn’t gotten the whole dose in before he was distracted, or I’d be completely useless. Like this, I could at least use my magic.
When we reached the gear, the girls helped me put it on. If I was going to be helped along by Ivory, I couldn’t wear my raider armor without shredding her back, so I just abandoned the gore soaked and razor edged gear, shrugging instead only into the ill-fitting pegasus vest. With my saddlebags and Broken once again at my sides, I was as good to go as I could have been without the full use of my legs.
Fern made a short appearance as Fluster opened one of the bags in the pile of her belongings. His small head stuck out, and nuzzled her as she checked on him. Contented with the pup’s well being, she slid on all of her bags and straps, before donning her filthy robe. Black gore still coated most of it, but she wore it like nothing was different.
Ivory was once again armed with Sweeps’ former weapon, and as she took my weight against her withers again I could feel her sag a little. This wasn’t going to last.
As we began our escape, we immediately ran into another problem. Epiphany had locked the door behind him. A big stainless steel monster, it looked strong enough to take any attempts we would make on it, and I couldn’t see any handle.
Fluster stood before the door, looking up at it intently. Leaning her head against it, she tapped it with a hoof in a few places. Then, she turned to me. “Ripple, can you use your magic right now?”
I nodded, flaring my horn a bit as I pulled Broken from its holster, spun it once, and slid it back in. She smiled, and nodded at the door. “On the other side of the door is a handle. If you can turn it, we can get out of here. You’re going to have to focus, it might not turn easily.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Ivory helped me get my head near the door, and I concentrated. With Broken, I knew where it was. Anything I could see, I could grab. I may not have range or power, but I had speed. Grabbing something on the other side of a slab of metal and turning it in the right direction, when I couldn’t see the object or tell how hard to push...
If I could have felt what I was doing, it would have been so much easier. The major issue with telekinesis is that there is no feedback. No feel. Just grab and twist.
My first few tries produced zero results, and I was beginning to get frustrated. Just then, the door let out a loud clunk as I got lucky and twisted hard in the right spot. Bolts slid back from the wall, and the door swung free.
I immediately wished that I hadn’t opened the door.
The hall was filled with the exploded corpses of mares, burst open like overripe fruit. Some had been there for weeks, at least. What Epiphany was saying about mothers... this is what happened to the mothers. Left to rot. Thrown here after bursting forth a litter of monsters.
Ivory was not going to end up in this hallway, just another husk discarded like so much trash. I would not let that happen while there was breath left in my body and ammo in my gun.
We made our way through the corpses, following a cleared path through the middle. Before long, the hallway came to a t-junction. The two directions were more or less identical, corpses laid out along the edges of each.
“This way.” Fluster nodded off to the right. She was right. It looked like the path less traveled, which meant that we probably wouldn’t run into Epiphany coming back the other way. Not that I was opposed to running into the freak with a loaded gun and surprise on my side, but who knew what else he had up his sleeves.
Fluster led the way without another word, and Ivory was dragging me right along behind her. The vines were pointing the other direction, but I could live with that. The corpses were more plentiful in this direction, and I was really hoping that these things didn’t have a queen or something. If we were walking into a hive, I was really going to get mad.
We kept going straight, ignoring side paths. We wanted distance between us and Epiphany, and a straight line was the best way to go about that. Once we were far enough away, once the corpses had thinned and then disappeared entirely, we took a breather. We had come to a big room, probably used for storage when Maremack was a wartime base. The door was ajar, but the dust on the floor showed it hadn’t been opened recently. Huge shipping containers ran the length of it, making false hallways and deep shadows. There were a few lights in the ceiling, most of them either out or flickering. It was gloomy and mazelike, but at least it wasn’t filled with exploded corpses.
“So... what do we do now?” Ivory was stretching, having put me down for a little bit. The breather was more for her benefit than for myself or Fluster.
“Lost. Probably surrounded by monsters. Probably hunted by Rangers. Down one of our most capable friends. Slightly paralyzed...” I listed off our current predicament. It wasn’t looking good.
Fluster was looking at me sadly from within her robe. Her eye kept flicking over to Ivory, and I knew she was still worried about Epiphany’s fascination with the larger mare. I was too. After seeing those corpses, I knew that Epiphany had to suffer before he died.
Oh yes. I’ve always felt that way. I have my moments, but that sick fuck needs to be skinned with a fucking cheese grater. You can use that idea. Go ahead.
As Ivory approached us, Fluster trotted towards her and pulled her into a hug as best she could. Ivory looked a little taken back, normally the one to initiate any contact. “Fluster? What...”
Fluster stepped back, shaking her head. “It’s nothing. Okay, help me get Ripple back up, we need to get going again.”
I saw something glint in the light for a split second as Ivory stepped towards me.
“Ivory!” I yelled, but it was too late. A metal wire cinched tight around her neck and snatched her off of her hooves into the darkness above us. I tried forcing myself to stand as I drew Broken, but I only succeeded at falling over.
Drops of blood splattered on my face from above, one hitting me in the eye. I flinched as the crimson liquid stung, but forced my eye open. I had to control what I was shooting at, or I’d hit Ivory wherever she was. The haze of red made it really hard to see anything in the darkness.
Fluster was screaming, frantically working to strip her robe off. She threw it to the side in a pile, tearing off belts and pouches. Before I could wonder what she was doing, she unfurled her wings.
With a frantic flap, she launched into the air. It was clear she hadn’t flown in a very long time, and she bounced off a wall once before disappearing into the blackness in pursuit of her friend. I could hear her frantic cries, up where I couldn’t see, and I couldn’t do anything to help.
A figure dropped from above, landing on Broken and forcing it from my magical grip. For a split second, I thought it was Fluster. Then I saw the lack of scars, the grin, the blades, and the eyepatch on the wrong side.
“Flurry.” I growled, and tried to pry Broken from beneath her.
She leaned in, pressing a bladed hoof against my throat. “I see you brought my sister with you... this place is dangerous. Somepony could have set a trap. She could get hurt.”
“Fuck you!” I yelled at her, the blade cutting my neck slightly.
She shook her head. “That’s not very nice. I’m just doing what a loving sister should, keeping her sibling out of trouble. That big mare, she’s a bad influence. I’ve been following you, just to make sure. You’re so easy to ambush, you know that?”
I managed to pull the trigger, firing Broken beneath her hoof. I saw chips of hoof and blood fly with the shot, and she screamed in pain. She smacked me with the back of her bladed hoof, cutting deep and knocking me to the ground.
From behind her, the sound of a body hitting the ground came. She looked behind her, and I glanced past her bladed hooves. Ivory’s body was unmoving where she had hit the ground. Fluster was holding onto her armor with her teeth, having helped the wounded earth pony down from wherever she was hanged.
Fluster’s eyes were filled with tears as she looked at Ivory. A deep cut went into her neck from where the wire had sliced. She wasn’t moving, and blood was already pooling beneath her.
“Fluster!” Flurry called out, a disturbing softness to her voice. Fluster snapped her head up, her one eye locking onto her twin sister. Flurry kicked Broken away into the shadows, and stood on her rear legs to face her sister. Spreading her hooves wide, she smiled. “Give you sister a hug?”
Fluster screamed, a mix of rage and anguish, and launched herself at us. I saw immediately that Furry’s speed ran in the family, as Fluster was on us in a flash. Spinning in the air, modifying a move that I had used so often, she planted both rear hooves into her sister’s face. Flurry was thrown away from me, but landed on all fours after a graceful twist in the air.
Fluster suddenly had her scalpel back in her mouth, standing like she was ready to pounce. I didn’t know where she was keeping it, but she still had a few pouches on. One of them must have been holding the weapon. Tears were streaming from her eye, which was filled with more rage than I thought was possible from the pegasus.
Flurry was rubbing at her face with a wing. “What happened to my lovely little sister’s fear of flying?”
Fluster threw herself at her sister, screaming around the scalpel in her teeth. “I’m five minutes older than you!”
Flurry took flight, barely dodging her sister’s frenzied attack. Kicking down, she landed a bladed blow right between Fluster’s wings, slamming her into the ground with a shriek of pain. Fluster didn’t delay, and launched off of the ground, blood spraying from her wings as she flapped frantically.
Fluster was losing blood, and Flurry was a much better flier. I was beginning to dread that I would watch two of my friends die before I was dragged to Hate, or worse, to Epiphany.
Fucking useless. Laying there, watching them die.
Fuck you, Two Kick. Useless mad dog in my head. You want to help? Help me get control of my legs!
If I could, you’d be fucking moving already. I want to live as bad as you do. I’m not ready to stop just yet! There’s still so much fun to be had.
The two pegasi were wheeling through the air, dodging and slashing at each other with their blades. If it weren’t for the blades festooning Flurry’s hooves, I don’t think I’d have been able to tell the two apart. Fluster’s flight was a lot rougher than Flurry’s, though, who was moving with a speed and grace that reminded me of a snake.
Fluster landed a glancing blow along Flurry’s side, but the younger sister retaliated with a bladed hoof into my friend’s ribs. Fluster hit the ground with a scream of anger and pain, bleeding heavily from her wounds.
My leg twitched. Not a lot, but it was something. I kept trying to force myself to move through the inhibiting chemical in my blood. I had just spotted Broken in the gloom, and was trying my damndest to get to the weapon. I had to do something. I began dragging myself across the floor as quickly as I could. It wasn’t nearly as fast as I wanted.
Apparently I was moving around too much, as I was blindsided by a bladed hoof across my muzzle. Flurry landed next to me, but still far enough away that I couldn’t try biting her.
Fluster landed between us and Ivory, breathing heavily around the blood soaked scalpel gripped in her mouth. Her wings were drooping, and she looked exhausted. The fury was still bright in her eye though, and she was growling through a foam of blood at the razor bound pegasus.
“Fluster... little sister... if we keep this up, you’re going to die. I don’t want to kill my little sister.” She jerked her head towards the prone shape of Ivory. “You tried to replace me, but I’m not going to hold that against you. I love you.”
Fluster yelled around the blade in her mouth, spattering bloody foam across the floor as she did so. “You killed my best friend! You sadistic cunt! I don’t need you; I hate you!”
The playfully cruel grin that Flurry had held until now dropped into a scowl, and she shot a venomous glance at me before focussing her attention fully on her sister. “I’ll show you how much you need me. I’ll take everyone away from you, and then who will you have? Other ponies? Pegasi will brand you, everyone else will treat you like the pariah you are! You only blended in by hiding yourself!”
Bracing herself for flight, Flurry looked like a cat ready to pounce. “Once I finish this, I’ll have to remind you how beautiful you are.” Another quick nod to me. “Hate doesn’t want this one dead... but family comes first!”
She launched herself into the air, flying straight at Fluster at high speed. Fluster responded in kind, throwing herself clumsily at her sister. Flurry glittered as she passed under one of the lights set in the ceiling, her many wickedly sharp implements gleaming. As Fluster entered the same pool of light, the scalpel shone a brilliant red.
At the last second, Fluster dropped just slightly, slamming into her sister and receiving several new deep cuts along her neck and side. She hit the ground hard, sliding in a streak of blood. She tried to stand, but failed as one of her legs gave out. One of her wings looked broken from the impact, twisted and dripping blood. Despite that, I could see a small smile on her face.
Flurry landed, facing away from us. She turned, very slowly, and looked at her sister with a shockingly sad eye. Then I saw the cut.
Fluster had sliced in from right under Flurry’s jaw and dragged the blade down to between her rear legs, where it still protruded. Her body seemed to notice the injury at the same time that I saw it, and a torrent of blood began pumping from her body. I saw slippery loops of intestine flop out of the wound right before Flurry collapsed in a growing pool of her own blood.
Her voice was ragged, and I was surprised that the cut hadn’t gone clean through the pegasi’s windpipe. Still, she spoke, her voice sad and accompanied by tears from her remaining eye.
“I... I only wanted to keep you safe...”
Fluster coughed, forcing herself to her hooves. “Just... die. Please.”
Flurry stared at her sister, her mouth slack and her eyes losing focus. With a last, shuddering breath, she died. Fluster stared at the body for a few seconds before letting out a relieved sob.
With a grunt of exertion, she dragged herself back to her hooves and began limping towards the prone form of Ivory. The pale mare hadn’t moved since she’d hit the ground. Fluster reached her, nudging her with a hoof.
“Ivory?”
She didn’t move.
Fluster turned, limping quickly to where she had dumped her equipment. As she got near, I could hear that she was rapidly talking under her breath. “No... no... no... no... no... no... no...”
She snatched up one of her bags in her teeth, and ran back to Ivory. She kept tripping on her hurt leg, her wing dragging a shaky line of blood on the ground as she went. I tried standing again, but just couldn’t muster the control needed.
Fluster reached the body of our friend, sliding to a halt and pulling her prone and bloodied form up into an embrace. With her teeth, she tore open the pouch, a button spiraling off into the darkness. Pulling out a healing potion, she popped the top with deft motions and poured it into Ivory’s lolling mouth. “Come on... drink... please...”
The fluid ran from the corners of her Ivory’s mouth, her still form not taking in the potion. The trickle of blood from her sliced neck was beginning to slow, and my eyes widened as I realized that it was too late. “No...” I whispered, not sure what else to say.
Fluster dropped the bottle, pulling Ivory closer. “Come on... you can’t leave me... not like this...” She spoke into Ivory’s mane, the volume slowly dropping to a whisper.
My mouth was hanging open. Ivory hadn’t been able to fight back at all. Just a flash of light in an ambush, and she was dead. None of us had seen it coming, and I was having a hard time believing it. My friends didn’t get seriously injured... I did. Me. I took it for them, because I could take it.
I couldn’t do anything to help her.
Fluster was sobbing into her friend’s mane, holding her body close. Nothing I could have said would have helped, so I stayed quiet.
Fern, as if sensing Fluster’s distress, pushed his way out of the bundle of robes and pouches and made his way to her. He curled up next to her, licking comfortingly at her.
I tried to give her a moment alone as best I could, so I turned my head. Her quiet sobbing filled the room.
Music to my ears. Fucking beautiful.
I growled inwardly at Two Kick, willing him to shut up. His relative silence had been a welcome change, but his comment made me feel dirty. That thought was in my head, and it just felt wrong.
My fetlock bent, and I would have grinned if not for the sobbing pegasus holding the corpse of our friend. Little more like that, and I could walk. Or drag myself anyways, which was better than nothing.
Fluster put her best friend’s body down gently, and stood over her. “I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...”
That. That, I felt that I could weigh in on in a manner that wasn’t poorly timed. “This isn’t your fault.”
She turned her eye on me, the expression not one I was familiar with. It wasn’t friendly... but it wasn’t angry. Her lip was quivering, and tears still stained her face. “If she wasn’t... if I wasn’t...”
I cut her off before she could blame this on herself. “No. Ivory followed me up here. She didn’t need to. She came of her own choice, and I am a target. Flurry wouldn’t have even known you were alive if it weren’t for me.” I sighed, realizing that it really was me that had gotten her killed. “Don’t blame yourself.”
I was at least partially responsible for most of the bad in Hornsmith. I could try to take this burden from Fluster as well.
“...And I’m sorry to say this, but we need to move. Epiphany is probably going to be after us any minute, if he isn’t already.” My gaze drifted to Ivory. I wondered why ponies always looked smaller when they were dead. It was like life gave more substance to their form, and when it was taken away even a bigger mare like Ivory seemed... less. Less important, less substantial, less there.
Then I voiced the reality of the situation, one that was unpleasant. “We have to leave her here.”
Fluster dropped her gaze to the floor. She began scooping up her equipment, pulling pouches onto her legs and strapping the larger bags to her self. She downed a healing potion to deal with some of the bigger wounds she had received in the fight, almost as if to delay as she thought about it, and then she answered me. “I know... can you walk yet?”
Straining, forcing all of my muscles to follow my directions, I managed to push myself up to a near sitting position. It was exhausting. “Almost.” It was going to be a while, a good while before I could walk on my own at this rate.
Fluster lifted her filthy robe carefully in her mouth, gripping by the cleanest edge.. She paused as she went to pull it on, glancing back at Ivory’s body. With a shuddering sigh, she walked slowly towards her friend and draped the robe over the lifeless pony. I nodded to Fluster, though she didn’t see it. Ivory deserved a little modesty in death.
Fluster turned back to me, slowly, and each step she took was heavy. When she got near me, she did what she could to help, trying to support my weight on her. My legs weren’t working, and all I managed to do was partially crush the mare as the two of us fell over.
Fine. Dash and Buck. Mix them. Best thing for getting a lazy fuck up and about.
What?
You have a bag of drugs. Dash. Buck. Used it on slaves. Might push the poison out, get you fucking moving.
“Fluster?” She had wormed her way out from beneath me, and was recoiling a bit at being touched. Not being in her robe was clearly bothering her. She pulled it together, brushed down her sides with her wings, and looked at me.
“Do you have... any Buck or Dash in those bags?”
Drugs. I had a complicated relationship with them. The nervous twitch from not getting any med-x, the burning in my muscles and head from not having any Stampede. The hydra which was still making me feel a little off. The Mask.
Her eye opened wide in surprise at the question, clearly not expecting me to ask for drugs while I was still incapacitated. She nodded, stuttering in the movement. “Uh... yeah. Why?”
I shrugged. I wasn’t going to tell her where I got the idea. “Folk remedy for laziness. Might work... It’s worth a shot.” I was trying to convince myself more than her. Listening to Two Kick... it always led to bad things, but apart from waiting for the shot to wear off I had no other option.
From one of her pouches, she produced two things. A bottle of little yellow pills, and an inhaler. She placed them on the ground in front of me, but put a hoof on top of them as I grasped at them with my magic. I looked up, and found that her eye was showing concern for me.
“You sure? I’ve... heard about you and drugs.”
I nodded. “Fluster, I know. Trust me.” I didn’t trust me.
As she lifted the hoof, I floated the medication towards me. I didn’t know how much, but that Two Kick part of me knew the exact dosage. I popped a few of the pills into my mouth, chewing it into powder. Taking the inhaler in my mouth, I took a long puff, pulling some of the Buck into my lungs with the aerosol Dash. A second hit, and then I swallowed the rest of the Buck.
Then, I waited for it to kick in.
The Dash hit first. Everything slowed down a bit, and I got some time to think about our predicament. We were in unknown territory, down two members of our group, and not fully functional. The one thing we had on our side was the Rangers. Their assault, which I could only assume was still happening, was drawing Hate’s attention so much that he didn’t even know we were here. Epiphany’s interest in me kept him from giving us to Hate, and that was helping. Epiphany was the only one who knew we were here.
“We need to kill Epiphany. Soon.” I muttered, and Fluster nodded grimly.
The Buck hit like one of Massacre’s kicks, as all of my muscles flared into life. It was like Stampede... but not quite as intense on the mental level. I was on my hooves before I even realized it. My legs hurt suddenly. They hurt a lot.
“Ooowwwww.....” I’d had worse, but I wasn’t expecting that pain. My legs had fallen asleep, and it felt like somepony was jamming thousands of needles into them. Once I was up, I found that I still couldn’t move too well. I was hobbling around like a rocking chair without the rolly part. Fluster, for all of the shit that had happened to her in the last half-hour, actually cracked a little smile. I got my knees to bend, and quickly found that I was able to take a few steps. Through the haze of drugs, I could walk.
Then, that reason to smile was snatched away.
A figure shambled into the doorway we’d come from, pushing it open with a rusted creak. Hulking, covered in metal, I thought it was a Ranger for all of one second. Too much blood, too many sharpened edges, patches of black fur on dark skin. Eyes that lacked intelligence locked on to me, and I had a flashback. Shapeless meat that was once a hulking berzerker. A cult leader that let us slip through his hooves. Endless.
A mask of metal lashed to his face had an infinity sign carved into it. Epiphany had a pet Endless, and he had sent it after us.
It let out a low, bass growl that reverberated through my chest. No pony, not even an Endless, should have been able to make that noise. What I had first thought were ribs exposed around its sides stretched and unfolded, revealing that this particular monster was extra monstery. Eight hard chitin insect legs, barbed and hooked, flailed at the air like an upside-down spider. Somewhere past its mask, its jaw dropped open, then open again sideways. The creature roared hatred and foul spittle at us.
Epiphany had turned an unkillable force into a tunnel dwelling monstrosity. He had tamed it, from the look of the straps around its neck and legs. Then he sent it after us. Fantastic.
“Run.” One word. Whether it was for my own benefit or for Fluster’s, it got the message across. After taking one last look at the covered form of Ivory, she took off, her wings tucked to her sides like they were still strapped down. She had neglected the belt she used to tie her wings down, the strip of leather laying discarded where she hadn’t put it back on.
I turned, racing towards where Broken lurked, misplaced but unforgotten. Over the shaky, unsure clamor of my own hooves on metal, I began hearing much heavier steps. The creature was coming after us. That really wasn’t surprising.
Snatching up Broken, I ran as fast and as hard as my legs allowed. That is to say, like a newborn foal. I hit the wall of a container, dragging my side along it and leaving a smear of blood. I was covered in it, both mine and that of dead dwellers. When I got clear, I listened as I ran. As far as I could tell, the thing was right on my tail, so I held Broken above my head and fired directly behind me.
The creature roared and I heard a few balls of buckshot ricochet away, but nowhere near enough to account for a shell’s worth. I’d at least hit the thing, but now I was pretty sure I’d just made it angry.
Ahead, I spotted Fluster stalled at the doorway opposite of where we’d come in. She was putting all of what little weight she had into turning the hatch. It looked rusted, and was apparently much harder to turn than the one I had dealt with to escape from Epiphany’s lab.
Her eye met mine, and she yelled at me. “Stall for time! I can get this...”
Great. I reached in deep, grabbing at memories of fighting that were only partially mine. Finding the exact move I wanted, I skidded to a halt, trying to throw myself sideways. One of my legs, still weary from the chemical war being fought inside of it, gave up and I hit the ground in a roll.
I rolled twice before scrambling to my hooves. Glancing up, I found that I was practically face to face with the charging beast. I let out a short yelp and threw myself sideways, firing Broken into the side of its armor-fronted head. Black blood sprayed and I saw an eye blow out, and the thing slammed into a wall I hadn’t realized I was so close to. If he’d hit me, I’d be pony paste ground into the now dented wall he was in.
The legs on his back were flailing as the creature pried itself loose from the dented and warped metal, and I thought I had a second to rack the action on Broken. I was wrong. One of those legs, too spindly for me to have given much thought to, hooked into my armor. With power that I shouldn’t have underestimated, it hauled me up and threw me hard.
I slammed into the side of a container hard enough for it to slide across the floor with a tortured shriek of metal. I tasted blood as something inside of me squished in a way that it shouldn’t have, and then I hit the ground hard. Broken clattered next to me, so I snatched it up as I dragged myself back to my hooves. I’d laid down enough today, and I wasn’t going to take the rest of this day off of my hooves.
Luckily, the thing only had eyes for me. It was standing within spitting distance of Fluster, who was still trying to lever the door open, but it paid her no attention. Its dead eyes were locked on my battered mug.
Good.
It started charging again, rushing me with its horrible limbs flailing. I used the extra time granted by the distance and replicated the trick. At least this thing was more like the angry mass of organs than it was like The End. It didn’t display much more intelligence than the dwellers had.
This time, I went for a leg. As nimbly as my malfunctioning limbs allowed, I ducked down and to the side as it reached me, avoiding the grasping legs sprouting from its back. I fired broken, taking mental note that I had two shots left, aimed straight at the thing’s front left knee. The joint shredded and splintered under the shot, but didn’t break. It was enough, and the creature stumbled at the speed it was moving. It slammed into the same cargo container that had a bloody imprint of myself further up, hitting it with enough force to drive it across the floor and dent in the side. This thing hit like a fucking train.
I was wondering if every Endless was different. The first had been fast. Unbelievably fast. The End had been smart, but foolish. This thing was strong. A little harder to take advantage of, but I could at least reliably dodge it. Even if my legs were still numb.
The Dash was certainly helping though. Without the chem this thing would have been faster than me, with my limbs crippled like they were. With it, the world was slowed down enough that I could take the time to appreciate the monsterous parts in vivid detail as it backed and turned to face me.
The matador routine was not going to kill it, but all I had to do was buy Fluster some time.
I remembered the first Endless, and that reminded me that I had access to SATS on my PipBuck. If I could always have remembered the tool strapped to my leg, I would have had a much easier time in the wasteland, but for some reason I was constantly spacing on its existence. I relied on instinct too much.
As it charged me again, bearing down on me like a trainload of spiders and pain, I triggered my SATS. Time all but froze, the thing stuck in a rabid charge. I queued a couple hits, and activated the built in spell.
Broken fired, hitting the thing right below the steel mask. I tore out its throat in a spray of blood and flesh, causing it to rear up a bit in pain. I darted in, using Two Kick like speed that I could only really attribute to the Dash, and put both my hooves into the thing’s wounded throat. My ballistic hooves were sure to decapitate the creature..
Nothing happened.
It bowled over, tripping on my form as I was drawn beneath its stampeding hooves. I was surprised, totally having expected my kicks to blow the thing’s head clean off its neck, or at least slow it down.
The electric floor, you fucking dipshit. The shells went off, and you never fucking reloaded.
Well, Luna fuck me.
The giant dweller hurt, but it could have done so much more damage to me if I hadn’t hit it with Broken. It was still reeling from the shot as it ran me over, and I was out of harm in no time. I was pretty sure my ribs were cracked from the thing stepping on my side, but it fared much worse.
Without bracing, it plowed into the wall at full speed and with its neck at a weird angle. I heard a loud snap echo through the room, and it slumped over. Its black insect legs were twitching and slashing at the air, and I couldn’t help but smile as I got up painfully.
It had broken its neck.
I didn’t know how long that would keep it down, but I had bought the time that we needed. Glancing over, I spied Fluster pushing open the heavy door. “Ripple, lets go! Hurry!”
I limped as quickly as I could, trying to ignore the sounds of bone grinding and snapping back into place from the form of the still twitching beast. It was regenerating faster than I had hoped, and would probably be on our trail in no time.
As I reached the door, I ushered Fluster through and pulled it shut behind me. Unlike the door I had gotten open in Epiphany’s lab, this one had the twisty lock on both sides. It was a simple matter to put my Buck augmented muscles behind closing it, securing it as firmly as I could. I had no doubt that the thing would get through the door, but it was all about how much time I could buy us.
The hall we were in was brightly lit, and clean. I had to assume that we were out of Epiphany’s lair, but that just meant we were in even more unfamiliar territory. At least the vines were still there, blurring in and out of my vision. I knew the way. The vines would lead me.
I started limping after them, but Fluster held a bottle out to me. “Ripple, drink. You’re hurt.”
I didn’t argue, taking the potion in my magic and downing the contents hastily. I was coated in blood, my ribs were injured, and my face hurt. Really, I was par for the course, but I wasn’t going to argue with trying to get back into as close as top shape as I could for when we finally found Hate. The potion did its thing, and I was feeling better already. The persistent, buzzing numbness in my legs remained, but I could walk. That was good enough.
“Thanks, Fluster...” I drifted off at the look in her eye. Sadness, and deep concern. She was looking at all of my wounds carefully, watching them heal and close as the healing properties of the potion went to work. She was making sure I was okay.
She didn’t want to lose me.
Like she had Ivory.
“Fluster, I’m fine. Look... if you want to talk...” I was bad at talking. I didn’t want to talk about Ivory. “Well... we’ll have to put it off. At least until we’re out of Maremack.”
She nodded, her mane bouncing slightly as she did so. It was so weird to see her without her robe. “Yeah... I know. I’m just... this is hard.”
I nodded, doing as best I could to show empathy. Ivory had been my friend as well. I wasn’t as close to her as Fluster had been, but the death was gnawing at my thoughts as well. I just had to buck up and keep on course. “Let’s go kill this fucker.”
I wasn’t even sure which fucker I was talking about, but the list was all here. Everypony I needed to kill had conveniently gathered in this one location.
We started trotting, quickly enough to put distance between us and the thing, but not quickly enough to blunder around a corner into a killer robot, or another horrible mutant, or whatever else lurked these halls.
The halls we had been in before were conduits for freight. Wide and tall, they were clearly not designed with the comfort of the scientists that had once worked here in mind. The halls we now walked through were. Softer lighting, thinner corridors, and less secure doors were what greeted us. I started seeing faded names along doors, and realized we were in the housing section of Maremack.
I knew that if I had cared to, I could have found plenty out about the past in each room. The cubes, the experiments that had gone on, what had happened with Pandemonium. What I knew about those topics I had gotten from Budding Leaf, and from occasional terminals. Each of the scientists that had lived her had been like her, and probably had their own memory orbs to watch through.
Plants. Violating and tearing.
Yeah, I wasn’t going to look through any memory orbs. We walked past each room, not giving them much more than a passing glance. The names were too faded to even tell easily who had once lived there, and when Fluster was curious enough to try a door we found that every one was locked. We were still running from the creature, technically, and didn’t have time to pick the locks on upwards of thirty doors.
I stopped at an intersection as I realized the vines were running a different direction. They were coming from the side, pointing me to the left. I turned, whistling shortly to get Flusters attention, and began climbing the stairs that led up.
Fluster hurried after me, falling in at my side as we climbed. The staircase was long, but at the end I could see a landing with a large door. The vines came from the door. I picked up my pace a bit, and Fluster matched it. My legs were feeling better and better as I went, and I could tell that the Dash/Buck combination had won out over the paralyzing toxin.
The door was big, but slid open easily as we approached it. Beyond was a large room, brightly lit by starlight shining through a glass dome that served as the ceiling. It was beautiful, and I thought of Ivory’s comment. It was definitely a paintable scene, one that I knew she would have liked.
A thump from the bottom of the stairs made me freeze, hair standing up on my withers. I glanced cautiously back, and saw exactly what I had expected. The thing, the Endless dweller, was at the bottom of the long flight of stairs, staring up at us.
Fluster saw it too, and backed through the door. I followed her quickly, but she didn’t go further into the room. Pulling open a panel at the side of the door, she jammed her screwdriver into a metal seem and began prying.
The thing’s first steps were tentative, as though it were testing the staircase for something. It had probably never been up stairs, at least not recently enough that it remembered. Quickly though, it deemed them safe enough to get it to us so it could rip us apart.
It started picking up speed as it climbed, eventually reaching a full gallop.
“Fluster... we should run. Right now.” I didn’t take my eyes off the thing as I spoke through the side of my mouth at the pegasus.
“Hold... on... almost...” Fluster’s face was jammed into the panel, and I couldn’t see what she was doing. A pop issued from beyond her face, and she pulled back slightly. Then, she jammed the screwdriver in as hard as she could. Another pop followed, electrical instead of metallic. A puff of smoke drifted out of the hole, and the door slammed shut.
Just in time, as the whole assembly shook with an impact. The door was thick and unmoving, but so had the other door been. Just another delaying tactic.
“Well, well. Rip. I should have known I would run into you.” I knew that voice. I really hated knowing voices that came from behind me. It never led to anything good.
Turning, I found that we had stumbled right into a group of Rangers. Coated with blood, their armor dented and torn, they had been through a hell of a fight cutting through the dwellers. I had hoped that none of them would survive, but of course at least three had made it through.
I knew the armor of the pony that was speaking. Broken Arrow stood there, miraculously unscathed. The pony next to him was Notches, and I couldn’t identify the third.
“With your friend the griffin attacking us, I should have known you’d be here.” My eyes widened at the mention of Ash. I didn’t know where my friend was, or if he was even alive, but it was good to know he’d been impeding the Rangers’ progress.
Arrow gestured at me with the weapon I’d seen liquefy a dweller, and his voice flowed from the speakers in his helmet. “Holster your weapon.” I glared as I slipped Broken back into its holster, well aware that I still only had two shots in it. I hadn’t had time to reload. My ballistic hooves were empty as well.
Fluster made herself as small as she could under their prying eyes, and I stepped forward to be between her and them. Broken Arrow tilted his head to the side at the movement. “My, you sure seem to have been through quite the ordeal. Weren’t there more of you?”
I growled a warning at him, but he just laughed it off. The door behind us shook again as the thing threw itself into the barrier. “You also seem to have a fan. This has been a tough nut to crack, Maremack. Things like that were certainly not expected, but have proven easy enough to get through.”
He stepped forward a bit, bringing me into even closer range for the murderous weapons festooning his sides. “I’ve lost good mares and stallions today. It will all be worth it in the end, though. You know what I’m talking about.”
The cubes. He’d seen them, and let me leave with them. He must not have known what they were worth then, but it was certain he knew now. Why else would he stage a full assault on a fortress with no intel?
“So you came to stop Hate?”
The door shook again, and I heard creaking and groaning as the metal began giving way. It couldn’t handle too many more hits like that. I just had to keep him talking talking long enough to have my chance. They didn’t know what was on the other side of the door. Broken Arrow clearly thought it was normal dwellers.
Broken Arrow shook his head, chuckling. “Oh, you know probably better than I do what Hate could do with this power. Now me... I could do great things with it. World changing things.”
I narrowed my eyes. I mean, sure I was planning to do the same thing. Or I had been. I wasn’t sure if that’s what I really wanted.
“I can’t let you get to the cubes. If they are unlocked, and not controlled... it’ll be chaos. Destruction. Death on a scale that hasn’t been seen since the war.” I tried for the doomsayer approach, hoping that I could convince the three Rangers to just turn around and walk away. Of course, it didn’t work.
“Yeah, I don’t think so. Those cubes are rightfully ours. The Ministries are gone, and we are their legacy.” As he spoke, another hit on the door and it began to buckle.
“Fluster... get ready to move.” I whispered behind me, unsure if the Rangers could hear us.
“Oh, I wouldn’t suggest that.” Of course they could hear us. Broken Arrow waved the barrel of his grenade launcher at us warningly.
Then, I knew what would catch the Rangers off guard. The hits on the door were coming at regular intervals, and I knew that I could probably time when the big dweller was going to punch through. “So you know about him, right?”
“What, Hate? Small pony playing with tech he doesn’t understand. No big deal.” Broken Arrow shrugged, his weapons bobbing with the motion.
“No. Him. The thing in the cubes.” Wham. Another impact. Only one or two more.
Arrow tilted his head, eyeing me warily through the visor of his helmet. “In the cubes?”
I had something over on him. I grinned at that, and the timing in my head that I had been tensing for regularly came. The door behind us slammed open, breaking chunks of the wall that had been weakening and throwing the slab of metal into the room. I was already hooking a fetlock around Fluster and diving to the side to dodge the door.
It skipped once, missing the three and skidding across the ground in a shower of sparks. They must have been preparing for another swarm of dwellers, because the huge dweller barreled through their non-explosive fire and hit the group, catching them with shouts of alarm.
Slamming his shoulder into Notches, the dweller threw the armored pony across the room. Arrow got a kick to the side, demolishing the grenade launcher perched there and sending him tumbling.
The third was backing away, firing a minigun into the creature’s chest. I was painfully reminded of how Ivory would have reacted to it, but shook it off. We had to keep running, and hope that the dweller killed the Rangers before it kept after us.
Two of those grasping limbs found purchase on the Ranger, and hauled him off of his metal hooves. He, or she, there wasn’t any way to tell, was lifted above the thing, where the other legs all came together and grasped on.
The creature turned to us, even as fire from Notches and Arrow tore into its sides, blowing holes and vaporizing chunks. It started bearing down on us, and I let out a frustrated sigh. We were still this thing’s top priority.
Above it, the pony began to scream. I saw the legs begin to dig deep, and then it peeled the Ranger like an orange. I could see a light blue coat underneath, but when the limbs had peeled the armor back enough, I saw that the Ranger was a stallion. The creature seemed to sense this too, and reacted rather violently. The sharp limbs plunged into the Ranger’s belly, punching deep. Blood sprayed into the air as the limbs pierced in, and found purchase within his chest cavity. It was like watching a rib spreader in surgery, and I wasn’t sure how I knew what that looked like.
Oh, that’s me. I liked to watch Epiphany test stuff on Messy. Fucking brutal, but oddly fascinating..
With a sickening crack, the pony was split open. His insides were launched with the force of the motion, sending a shower of gore into the air. The pony was very, very dead at this point, and the dweller just dropped the armored corpse to the ground. I remembered all the burst open mares in the basement, and now I knew that when it came to males the bursting happened much earlier.
This was a father. It couldn’t be allowed to live.
I drew Broken, standing my ground. “Fluster. Lay low.”
It was barreling towards me, but stumbled as heavy buckshot and bolts of light tore into it from behind. Both Arrow and Notches had recovered from the blows that had sent them scattering, and they were standing side by side near the middle of the room. After seeing it rip one of their own apart with such ease, their priorities had shifted away from me.
As it charged me, the Dash was still flowing through my veins. It was moving slowly, like the air was thick and the daddy dweller was pushing his way towards me. I aimed, hoping for a wound that would take longer to heal. The bullet holes were filling in with dark flesh already, but the energy wounds were remaining unhealed. Like the scar that had started the roadmap of injury that was the left side of my face.
I had to get Notches to kill this thing, but I doubted he would play along with me to do it.
Pulling the trigger, I fired. I was so glad that this thing was stupid, or it would have seen the shot coming. A tried and true method; I blew out its knee as I jumped to the side. It kept going surrounded by an aura of gunfire as the Rangers continued pouring hell into it, and I had to roll and run as some of it followed me. If I got close enough to it, they had no qualms about killing both of us.
It slid past me on a slick of blood, slamming into the wall. While it lay there, working to get up, the two Rangers really unloaded on the thing, turning its side into a cratered wreck, geysers of black blood and chunks of meat splashing across the floor near it.
Slowly, almost painfully, it pulled itself to its hooves and stared at me through the holes in its metal mask. It was dead set on getting me, and I knew now that it wasn’t some random encounter. Epiphany had sent this thing after me. Blood was pouring out of it as quickly as the creature could regenerate, and yet still it stood. It began taking steps towards me, muscle and organs flexing and pulsing visibly through its shredded hide.
“Come on, go to dust you fucking freak!” Notches’ voice rang through the hall over the din of fire. Arrow had ceased firing and was trying to get his grenade launcher working. It was a twisted mass of metal that I doubted he’d be able to get working, but at least he knew that they’d need some serious firepower to get rid of Daddy Dweller.
As I backed away from the beast, I pulled a few shells out of my bag. I took this chance to reload Broken. The creature had lost most of its speed, and was only shambling towards me. Much of its menace was gone, but I knew not to underestimate it. The dead Ranger was lesson enough.
It must have been waiting for an opening, because as soon as I decided to reload my hoof guns, it surged forward. It had been faking and we’d fell for it, letting our guards down. Slashing chitinous legs missed my face by inches as I backed rapidly away from it.
I fired Broken, catching one of the limbs in the shot. The deceptively strong, but still thin, limb blew apart and spiraled away on a ribbon of black blood. It roared, and lunged forward. I did what I could to dodge the blow, but its heavy front hoof slapped me hard enough to throw me a good distance. I bounced off of a stone planter filled with dust and rot that sat in the middle of the room.
I rolled a few times, having gone limp out of experience. If I tensed up, I’d be much more likely to break something. I knew that the hard way. I groaned and lifted myself up slowly, finding that nothing was broken but I hurt all over. This thing was going to kill me with bruises if it didn’t do it some other way.
I glanced back the way I came, but couldn’t see over the stone planter. It was backlit by red flashes as Notches continued his attempts to kill it, but without the roar of Arrow’s shotgun the room was almost quiet.
It was short lived. The planter shifted suddenly, and then was pulled into the air. The creature was holding the stone construction over its head with its seven remaining limbs, staring down at me with a mindless, murderous rage.
“Oh fuck!” I shouted, almost certain that it was Two Kick slipping through. All the drugs, the adrenaline, and the mental anguish must have been breaking down my barriers. He was being quiet, I hoped to allow me to concentrate, but for him to be able to speak through my mouth was not a good sign.
I rolled to the side quickly as the large stone smashed into the ground, splintering and cracking where I had been a second before. I rolled into a run, and started putting distance between myself and my pursuer. I kept glancing behind me to make sure I knew where it was, and sure enough it was lumbering after me, rapidly picking up speed.
Looking ahead, I let out a little yell of shock and tripped, which saved my life. I hit the ground as Broken Arrow fired his shotgun, aimed right at where my head had been. Some of the oversized buckshot tore through my already ruined ear, and at least two skipped off of my bare flank in sprays of blood. I tumbled onto my back and slid, the pegasus vest offering less resistance than my fur would have. I slid right past Arrow, and our eyes connected for a brief second through his visor. He was glaring at me, and I just smiled back up at him.
He realized why I was smiling just a little too late, and the beast plowed into him at full speed. It knocked him down with the impact, and then reared up, its front legs kicking at the air briefly. It brought its full weight down on the Steel Ranger, his armor giving a loud crack in protest as it was crushed beneath the substantial bulk of the creature. It reared up again, stepping back a few paces.
Broken Arrow managed to stand, but the creature was already rushing forward for a second hit. The impact of the creature combined with the swatting motion of its leg threw the armored earth pony high and far, sending him slamming into a solid wall with a shattering crack. The wall splintered, and he dropped to the floor motionless. Blood ran from cracks in his armor, and I was sure that he was dead.
“Star Paladin!” Notches yelled. He’d been firing for effect until now, but he braced himself and hunched slightly. The dweller turned towards me, and that put Notches straight on with the thing. The long laser rifle slung along his side flashed once, sending the beam over me and through the left eye slit of the creature’s mask. A flash of pink, and a burst of flame, and the creature hit the ground.
“Can’t run with half a head, slimy piece of filth...” Notches growled, speaking under his breath but having it broadcast through the speakers in his helmet. He took a few steps towards me, speaking out lout. “Any Knights within range, reconnoiter at the primary facility’s primary meeting nexus. The Star Paladin is down, assistance requested.” He must have been transmitting from his armor. The thing was still twitching, and he fired again. The beam pierced into the creatures head once again, and it spasmed once and fell still. “Bring explosives. Over.”
“Now before I check on the Star Paladin, I think I’ll get you out of the way. We never should have let you leave Orchard, and now I can fix that.” I hated these moments. When I was staring down the barrel of a weapon that should by all rights kill me immediately. As he aimed, I was sure that he was grinning behind his mask. They always grinned.
You got me killed. You stupid, incompetent fuck.
Right before the flash of light that took me out, I heard a loud bang. Probably my brain boiling over and exploding my skull.
-----
“Kick. Kick, come on. I know you’re awake.” My face felt like it was on fire. I tried opening my eyes, but I could only see out of the right one. It took me a few seconds to focus on the shape that was in front of me, but I found that I was staring up into golden eyes. Predator eyes.
“Ash...” I spoke his name, my head still spinning. “I’m dead Ash.”
“Nah, Kick, not yet. You’ll be fine. Now get up, we gotta move.” He started pulling me to my hooves, his claws gripping the edges of my armor so he didn’t do any more injury. “Fluster, you have anything for his eye?”
“What’s wrong with my eye?” It wasn’t a concussion. I was back; fine except for the literally blinding pain in the left side of my head.
“It’s... uh, well, I can say your scar is gonna be bigger now.” He was being cryptic, and I could only assume the worst. A touch from my left made my jump, and as I swiveled my head I found that Fluster was holding a wad of bandages and a potion. That made me worry just a little more. I needed my eyes.
My eyes. You need my eyes. Well, at least you didn’t get me fucking killed. You’re still a dipshit.
I could feel that she was wrapping up most of my head, but the majority the bandage went directly over my eye. I didn’t want to go anywhere near a mirror. With my shredded ear, my scar, half of my face already missing around my mouth... I must look like a monster. I’d have to do my best to not scare Shade when I got back to her.
With the wrap job finished, Fluster turned and walked slowly away from me. I got to my hooves and looked around. Notches was dead, splayed out with a fan of blood on the ground originating from his head. The half nearest the ground was blown out, blood and shattered metal scattering the floor. A single hole was opposite of it, a clean puncture in the gray metal.
“I gave him his bullet.” It was all Ash said as he saw where my gaze was aimed.
Then, movement drew my attention. The big dweller was twitching, a bit more rapidly than right after it had been taken down. It was healing, and I had no idea when it would be back up. “Ash, that thing is Endless.”
His eyes went wide and he looked at it. He stood away from me, and walked over to the thing as he drew the revolver strapped to his leg. Aiming briefly, he put six large bullets into its head at close range. Chunks of meat and bone flew, spraying a thick black fluid with them.
“That’ll keep it down for a bit longer.” He reloaded the gun and looked around. Broken Arrow still lay where he had been thrown, and I felt a pang of regret. I had wanted to kill him, but it looked like the twitching monstrosity had done the job for me.
Then, he brought up a question neither of us wanted to answer. “Where’s Ivory?”
Fluster let out a little sob, and I turned to face away from the griffin. “She... didn’t make it.”
I could hear the slump in his shoulders as he responded, and then the click of his claws as he dropped back to all fours. “Oh...”
When I looked back, he was looking softly at Fluster. She was sitting against the wall, silently crying with Fern clutched to her. She was mourning.
We didn’t have time for mourning.
Hate was waiting for us. Epiphany was hunting us.
I knew where they both would be. The vines were showing me the way.
Above, through the glass dome, I could see the continuation of the mountain peak as it rose above us. High up, there was a building constructed into the mountain and festooned with lights. Flowing from it were the vines that didn’t exist.
The Cubes were there. Pandemonium was there. Hate and Epiphany were there.
“Let’s go.” I made sure that my weapons were loaded, and started walking towards the end that was finally in sight.
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And so the only other strong female protagonist eats it.
Alas, poor Ivory
Right. Anyway. Onwards to Hate, and Pandemonium!
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!............. ehm? poor ivory why do the good die (first sweeps then ivory me thinks some fishy is going on) maybe Pandemonium will bring ivory back or she sill lives becuse she has so much to live for and shoot more stuff
Why.
Poor Ivory... Speaking of the lost:
Ahead, I spotted Ivory stalled at the doorway opposite of where we’d come in. She was putting all of what little weight she had into turning the hatch. It looked rusted, and was apparently much harder to turn than the one I had dealt with to escape from Epiphany’s lab.
Besides that... The whole process of making new dwellers, and I mean the whole mother thing, strongly reminds me of the troll reproduction in BERSERK.
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Yeah, it was rough killing her, but I felt that I had to do it.
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Sweeps... well, she was complicated.
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Thanks for catching that, think I just had Ivory on my mind. I made that mistake a couple times.
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Yeah, I'll miss her too.
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Because?
2074909
Yeah, there's another one. Thanks for catching that.
2074920
Oh I've even found the page
Sad to see Ivory die, but it is the mark of a strong author, when he or she is willing to kill off a main party member. Especially after we have come to like them and know them during the course of a story.
Now this latest Endless actually reminds me of a few enemies from Resident Evil 5, the Ouroboros Plagas and the giant cockroach enemies called Reapers. I also sort've had some hints of Dark Souls style enemies. Overall I liked how each Endless variant is different yet similar. As for how Epiphany creates his monster minions, very reminiscent of Aliens, would've been creepier is they were like the Chrysaalid's from XCOM: Enemy Unknown and how they reproduce.
Also Yay! Notches is dead by the bullet that Ash promised him
. You don't fuck with Ashred and get away with it 
. I assume Broken Arrow is dead now too, unless he is rescued by his Rangers or the Endless ghoul didn't actually kill him. All in all a great chapter, I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Yeash. With Ivory down, Fluster better get her....flusterness out, otherwise the stories a stallionfest.
Anyway, good chappy.
2068800 Let it not be said that the side characters have plot armour.
Three antagonists and one protagonist down in a chapter. Whew!
Nuuuu Ivory died
. But still good chapter again
Well the only strong female lead is dead now. Ash seems no worse for wear although I'm sure he's running out of reserves. Fluster's emotionally scarred and more physically scarred then before. And Ripple lost an eye and is basically running on fumes. Whelp this should be an interesting conclusion...
:FYDTJHKFGKBLN?LGUU!!! Why did I not see that there was a new chapter??? This is what I get for not checking for updates regularly. Thank you!!!!
Your story was just brought my my attention by a random comment on DeviantArt on the Fallout 2 Littlepip Mod my Donitz.
Funny how things happen like that. I look forward to starting this story.
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The one comment mentioning Ripple? Must have taken a small bit of doing to find the story then (or not, because he's easy enough to find with google)
Enjoy the story
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That's the one. I figured if someone thought he was worth mentioning next to Pip and Blackjack, then I should find out who he is. Well here I am.
Soon as I finish up CRISIS: Equestria I'll be starting on your story. Looking forward to it. I mean, there is a tiny timberwolf and a griffon in the image! How awesome is that?
Okay. All caught up now. Again, gonna cut this one short because I've got quite a bit of reading to do.
Yeah, remember my critique about there being no tension anymore in your fights? Well, I'm gonna rescind that. I realized what the problem was. The problem was that the fights last chapter was that they were up against “cannon fodder”. Basically, nameless Steel Rangers and freaky but brittle monstrosities. They're threatening yes, but you know none of the group's going to die from them. Injured, yes, but not killed.
Well, once there's a name or a clearly threatening enemy type, that all goes out the window. Flurry? Definitely threatening. The Endless? Definitely threatening. More so than last time and more similarly with your previous fights way earlier on, I felt a sense of tension and a sense that not everyone might make it out- rightfully so, since this is Maremack we're talking. As it turns out, I was right. Ivory's death was sudden and shocking. She was taken out precisely with no chance for retaliation. No chance to go out in a blaze of glory or defending her friends, much as how Steelhooves essentially died. I have to applaud you for that, Snow. You pulled it off damn well, particularly with MOST of the character development afterward. My sole qualm was that... Fluster giggled seeing Ripple get up in pain. Her best friend and love interest just DIED. Even “in spite of” the recent events, I just can't picture that happen. Maybe as a crazy, maniacal giggle, but nothing like what she did.
Broken Arrow totally isn't dead. He totally isn't dead. I'm totally expecting him to come back and make Ripple and Co.'s lives hell again. Undoubtedly.
Oh. Hey Ash. Welcome back. Knew you'd be back eventually.
That's all for now. Keep it up, Snow. You sure have a way of bouncing back.
Until next time,
Adder1
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Thanks for the reviews Adder. When I was reading the first one, I was just thinking "If he thinks the threat is gone, he's not gonna see next chapter coming."
As for the giggle thing, yes, I see what you're saying exactly. That's not how I really wanted to word it, so I changed it slightly. Giggle was the wrong word entirely
2254424 Okay, that's much better now, I have to say. I can accept that. =)
Speculum Two Kick. It's a speculum.
I hate Flurry with a passion.
Ivory I am so sorry, your death was so abrupt, you really deserved some parting words at least. But oddly enough the swiftness of her death, it's absence of closure with her friends did give it it's own poignancy. A main character going out in such a cheap fashion? Paradoxically it's anticlimactic but has impact when given the right atmosphere.
So is the chin-to groin-slash Fluster's signature move? She did it to one of the monsters in the previous chapter too.
Boss Rush Chapter! Had to say that despite not being one of the more memorable characters, Ivory's death still hit. It was good that she didn't die to fodder though, and the moment was used to give Fluster her own fight (especially since it's up against her sister). Also felt real satisfying to see Notches get killed with the named bullet.
Next chapter is going to feature the final boss Hate no doubt. So close to finishing!
Poor Ivory...