Salvation

by Sandstorm Inkwell

Chapter Six

I had just gotten my, now dried, clothes off the tree branch when the sound of hoofsteps came from the trail leading to the clearing.

“Hey Twi!” I heard from the clearing.

“Oh, hey Rainbow Dash. What are you doing here?”

“Hanging out and being awesome.” I chuckled softly as I slipped on my trousers and shirt. Tucking my shirt into my pants, I put on the belt before slipping on my boots and beginning to tie them.

“Uh-huh. Do you know where Tyler is?”

“He's over there behind those trees. Washing his clothes.”

“I see.”

After that, there was some silence and I took that as my cue. With my uniform back on, minus the blouse that was still hanging on the branch, I stepped back into the clearing to see the two ponies standing near the trailhead. The hood of the Humvee was open and Smiley was bent over the engine, tools in hand. Looking up at me, he gave me a curt nod before going back to the engine.

Walking up to him, I looked at the engine myself and asked, “What's wrong with her?”

“Nothing,” he replied with a shrug, “just giving her a quick tune-up.”

“Ah. Where'd Sarge and Gonz go?”

“To help that Applejack around the farm. Since we're staying here and all.”

I nodded my head and, patting Smiley on the back, turned to walk towards my combat equipment. The vest had been the first thing I had cleaned but dark stains still clung to the fabric. Sighing, I picked the vest up and slid it down over my torso. As I was securing it, I heard hoofsteps come up behind me.

“You won't need that.”

Looking back, I saw the purple unicorn looking at me, a kind of determination in her eyes.

“I know I won't need it but,” I paused as I tightened one of the straps and knelt down to retrieve my rifle, “it'll make me feel better if I wore it.”

A short pause. During the pause, I heard the scratching of something against paper. Looking back, I saw Twilight writing something down on a piece of paper with a quill that she had produced from her saddlebag. I chuckled.

“What?” she asked.

“You remind me of a shrink.”

“Shrink?”

“Right. Sorry. A psychologist. Writing down everything I say as if my life may depend on it.”

“Oh,” she said, stopping, “I can... stop if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Nah,” I replied, after clipping my rifle to my vest, “I don't mind.”

She nodded before going back to writing. Smiling, I just turned and walked over to where Jones laid. Kneeling next to him, my kneepad hitting the grass, I put two fingers to his throat to check his pulse. It was going strong and I could see his chest rising and falling at a normal rate.

Looking back towards Smiley, I saw him still bent over the engine but he now had a certain cyan pegasus looking down at him from her vantage point on the Humvee's roof.

“Well,” I stood up and faced Twilight, “I'm ready when you are.”

She nodded and started down the trail leading to the main road. Following her, I noticed that she was still writing on the paper.

“Is it okay if I ask you some questions?” she asked, not even looking back at me.

“Sure.”

“Okay,” she cleared her throat, “in your dimension, do you have a Princess?”

“Sure but my country doesn't have one. See. On Earth, us humans can't come under one single banner. Too many things separate us. Ideas, language, money, family. Because of this, many nations have sprouted across the face of the planet. Some have Kings and Queens, being a monarchy like your government. Others, have Dictators who are people who forcibly assert their rule over their populace. Still others, like mine, have elected officials who lead the nation.

“For example. My nation, America, has a President that has most of the powers that your Princess does but he has to be chosen by the people to lead the country. After four years in office, he has the chance of being replaced by someone else. Does this make sense?”

“Kinda. It is very different, that is for sure.”

“Exactly.”

“Next question. Do all humans wear clothes or only soldiers?”

I chuckled, “Yes, most humans wear clothes because it is a social norm. We consider certain regions of the body private and, as such, have taken to concealing them. Of course, clothes are also to keep away certain elements of nature and to avoid harm during work.”

“You said 'most'.”

“Well of course. There are those in my world, as I'm sure there are in your world, who do not follow the social norms. In this specific case, there are humans who do walk around without clothes. They call themselves 'nudists' and usually live together in what we end up calling 'nudist colonies'.”

“Oh,” Twilight murmured as she quickly wrote something down on the paper. By this time we had reached the road and turned towards the town. Opening a pouch, I pulled out a small notepad and a pen. Flipping open the notepad, I smiled and cleared my throat.

“Now Twilight. Can I ask you a few questions?”

The unicorn was visibly surprised at the turn of events as she stumbled slightly. Recomposing herself, she nodded,

“Okay.”

“How do you hold things?” I asked, ready to write down her answer.

“Ah,” she began, “well, us ponies all have magic in us. While unicorns have both active and passive magic, pegasi and earth ponies only have passive magic. This passive magic extends from our hooves, when needed, to form appendages that match your fingers. This allows us to pick up and manipulate items without the use of active magic. Understand?”

“Yep,” I said as I finished writing a short-handed version of what she had said, “got it. Another question: what's that mark on your flank?” I already knew the answer but if I didn't ask, she might've gotten suspicious as to why. Even though I planned on telling her and her friends that they were actually a TV show, I didn't want to cause Twilight to ask too early.

“It's my cutie mark. A cutie mark appears when a pony find his or her special talent in life. For example, mine represents that my talent is the study, and usage, of magic. Dash's mark represents her speed and place on the weather team. So on and so forth.”

“Interesting,” I replied as I wrote it down in my short-hand notes.

“My turn,” Twilight started, looking back at me with a smile. I gave a smile back and nodded for her to continue, “do humans have cutie marks?”

“No. Humans don't have cutie marks and we embrace that fact. Some humans, however, can go there whole lives without discovering what they are really good at. This doesn't exactly discourage them though as most humans are more concerned with getting through day-to-day experiences than trying to find out what their special talent might be. For example, I know that my 'special talent' isn't war and yet I serve my nation.”

“Than what's that mark near your hand?” she asked. Looking down at my hands, I saw what she meant. On the inside of my wrist, I had a small tattoo of a Greek omega letter with the number '57' inside it, all of it colored red.

“This is a tattoo,” I replied, holding it up so she could see it better, “it's artificially placed onto the skin via a needle and ink. Once it's on, though, it's permanent. Tattoos usually have a special meaning to them, considering their permanence.”

“What does that one mean?”

“Well, when I was younger, I used to play games with my friends. During those games, we used nicknames. My nickname was Omega Fifty-Seven. Omega, this outer shape here, is actually a letter in the alphabet of a language known as Greece in my world. The number is, of course, fifty-seven.”

“Oh, I see. It's like how a cutie mark causes some ponies to change their names to match the mark.”

“A little, yeah,” I replied.

By this time, we were beginning to enter the town so we both put our notes aside. Unlike the last time I had been here, the town was bustling with activity. I couldn't help but notice that many ponies stopped and stared at me. Some even began to follow Twilight and me as we walked through the town. Twilight didn't seem to notice as she gave me a tour of the town.

“Who let that hideous Diamond Dog into town?”

This caused me to stop and look over to the crowd of ponies. Twilight stopped a little after and looked back mumbling an, “Oh boy.”

“Yeah!” shouted another pony, “Go back to your hole you mutt!”

“Get! Be off with you!” shouted another.

More ponies joined in as I stood in mild shock. This didn't seem like the Ponyville from the show but I did see where the hatred came from. They weren't used to humans but they were used to the raiding, thieving Diamond Dogs.

Twilight stopped in front of me and shouted, “Enough!”

The crowd quieted down some, allowing her to speak, “This is not a Diamond Dog. This is a human and his friends and him have come to visit our nice town.”

“He looks like a Diamond Dog to me!” one of them shouted, causing them to grow louder again.

“Hey!” I shouted, my voice booming, “Like Miss Twilight here said, I am not a Diamond Dog. I am not here to steal anything. As she said, my friends and I are just visiting.”

The crowd quieted down some. Twilight stepped forward, “Does that sound like a Diamond Dog to you?”

A couple of ponies in the crowd shook their heads. “Exactly,” Twilight continued, “now get back to what you were doing.”

Slowly the crowd dispersed, though some heated looks were still thrown at me. Sighing, Twilight continued walking. Walking beside her, I stated, “They all look on edge.”

She nodded, “I understand how they can perceive you as a Diamond Dog. Uh, no offense.”

“None taken.”

“But the raids are no excuse to act that way to a new, peaceful visitor. I mean ser-”

“Wait. Did you say raids?”

Twilight stopped and looked back at me, “Why yes, a pack of Diamond Dogs have been bothering us for some time. They rush into town, steal what they can and then rush off. They hurt anypony that stand in their way. Because of that, we haven't really been able to fight back.”

I nodded before I heard screaming come from what I assumed was the southern edge of town.

“Oh, please no,” I heard Twilight murmur before ponies came running at us. They weren't running at us, actually, but were instead running from something. As a stallion passed, he yelled,

“Raiders!”

“Buck! Why now?” Twilight cursed before turning towards me and motioning in the direction the crowd was going with her hoof, “Come on.”

I shook my head as I flicked off the safety of my rifle.

“What? Come on! You can't possibly be thinking of going against that pack.”

Without saying anything else, I took off in a full sprint to where the commotion was coming from. I could feel the adrenaline being released into my veins as I pushed through the crowd. Finally, I was free of the crowd and continued running. Turning a corner, I was met with a scene that explained why most ponies ran in fear.

Standing in the street where about a dozen Diamond Dogs, wearing minimal armor in true Raider fashion. They were overturning stands, stealing food and bits, and causing general havoc. That was when I saw that they had Scootaloo by her mane, her feet dangling as she was held up by one of the Dogs. Tears ran down her cheeks as she tried to get free.

“What we have here? Little orange winged-pony. Why you no fly away?” taunted the dog holding her before laughing.

I raised my rifle and yelled out, “Put her down!”

All the dogs turned to face me, including the one holding Scootaloo. When they saw me, they looked confused but soon barked in laughter.

“You, strange creature. You are stupid. You cannot take us by yourself.”

“Watch me,” I whispered. Softly, I squeezed the trigger, making sure my sights were lined up. Finally, there was a small clap, like thunder, as the weapon bucked in my hands. With a spray of blood, bone, and brain, the Dog holding the orange filly dropped to the ground, releasing the pony.

The sudden death of their leader caused the others to hesitate. This hesitation cost them as I began putting round after round into the dogs. When they snapped out of it, they all snarled and charged at me. With a flick of my thumb, I depressed the trigger and felt the rifle buck repeatedly as the automatic function kicked in. Within moments, a handful more dogs lay on the ground, dead or dying. A loud clicking caused me to realize that I had run out of ammo. Taking a chance, one of the dogs jumped at me, his jaw open. Sidestepping the dog, I dropped my rifle and drew my pistol. Putting two rounds into the dog, I turned back around.

I was met with a dog tackling me to the ground, knocking my pistol from my hands. The dog was snarling and trying to bite me but my hands around his face prevented this. With a quick twist, the dog was no more. Kicking the corpse off of me, I jumped to kneeling position, drew my knife, and looked around at the surviving mutts. There were only three of them now, their eyes darting between me and their dead comrades. Finally, the three turned and began to run out of town, as fast as their legs could carry them.

Sheathing the knife, I walked over to my dropped pistol. Picking it up, I holstered the weapon before reloading my rifle. Switching the M4 back to semi-auto, I jogged over to where Scootaloo was laying. Keeping my head on the swivel for anymore dogs, I knelt next to the filly. Her entire body was shaking as she looked at the dog that had held her by the mane. His blood was now creating a pool under him.

“Hey. I need you to look at me,” I said softly, using one hand to force her eyes toward mine. When she did look at me, I gave a small smile, trying to comfort her, “It's okay, the bad dogs are gone. What's your name?”

“S-s-scootaloo,” she replied in a soft, shaken voice. Tears still rolled down her cheeks as she looked at me. Using my thumb, I wiped off the tears.

“Shhh. Stop crying. It's over. They won't hurt you or anypony else.”

“Are t-they... dead?” she asked, trying to look back but my hand stopped her. Without hesitation, I nodded,

“They are. They tried to hurt you.”

That was when her eyes drifted. Not toward the dead dog but toward my leg, “You're hurt.”

I looked at my thigh and saw a cut on my leg. It wasn't deep but it was bleeding. I frowned, “They got me after all.”

Shoving the thought, and the rising pain, aside, I looked back at Scootaloo, “I'll be fine. Let's get away from here, alright?”

She nodded so I moved and gently picked her up. She flinched slightly at my hands around her but soon settled when she realized that I wasn't trying to hurt her. Holding her in my arms like one might with a cat or a newborn baby, I held a hand over her eyes as I walked towards the end of the street, where I was at the beginning of the shootout. Twilight was standing there, her eyes wide as she looked at carnage. I hope she doesn't see me as a monster, I thought to myself. Seeing the damage that a gun could do was probably very eye-opening for the pony, let alone a filly like Scootaloo.

Walking around the corner of the street, I saw Smiley and Kilborn come running toward me with their weapons and vests on.

“What the hell happened here?” Kilborn asked after taking one look at me with Scootaloo in my arms.

“Raiders, Sarge. Around the corner,” I replied before kneeling down and loosening my hold around the filly. Instead of jumping to the ground, she instead grabbed onto me tighter, showing me first hand how strong those magical appendages can be. Accepting my fate, I continued to hold onto the filly as I sat against a building. My hand stroked her mane as she cried into my vest, “Everything's alright,” I whispered as I watched Kilborn and Smiley head around the corner with weapons at the ready.

I began to rock back and forth as Twilight, now out of her shock, walked to me and lied down beside me. Tears rolled down her cheeks as well. After a couple seconds, she looked up at me and all I could do was mutter,

“I'm sorry.”

Comments

[gamerbro123]

... The ending was adorable yet sad... I LOVE IT!