This is the story of Elric Faelan, a Stable 132 resident and the fate that befalls him when his home is destroyed by a unknown force and he uncovers a dark secret that shakes the very foundation of his reality and world.
This is the Tale of a young stallion named Elric Faelan, A Stable 132 resident and the the story of the day when the steel door to the outside is unexpectedly opened. A unknown force wreaks havoc to Elric's home as his thrust into a quest to uncover who is responsible for the attack on the Stable. As he journeys forward, he'll meet new friends, uncover a chilling secret from the past, and a unforgiving rage towards his fellow pegasi in the dark, dank sky.
(sexual themes are implied. You have been warned.)
"Which room is he in?" Agent Sanro asked the desk pony.
"Room 8, Sir." replied the desk secretary.
Agent Sanro trotted down the hall, a file in the air, enveloped in his magical aura. He made his way through the dim lighted corridor till he came to an oak wood door with "8" painted in blue stood in front of him. Sanro pushed open the door to find a dark blue pegasus with a tan fleece and a black and grey checkered scarf wrapped around his scarred neck. The pony's matted black and red mane showed dirt and grime from the world outside. He looked up to Agent Sanro with solid violet eyes, burning with a hate no pony should know.
The agent sauntered over to the table between the pegasus and him. He threw the file on the table and sat down and stared at the hateful pegasus.
"What’s your name, friend?" Agent Sanro asked the prisoner.
"My name is Elric Faelan." The Pegasus responded.
Sanro pulled a cigarette out of his saddlebags and light it, blowing a puff of smoke in the air. "Hmm, where you from, Mr. Elric? Roam? Appleloosa? Manehattan?"
"Stable 132." Elric Responded immediately.
Sanro blew another puff in the air and smiled. “You really think I’m that stupid? No one lives in those stables, especially anypony without skin falling off. So...where you really from?"
"Like I said, Stable 132." replied Faelan with a smirk.
Sanro sighed and leaned over to shift the file in front of him. With his magic, he opened up the folder and produced three photos and set them in front of Elric. Elric hoofed the images closer to him and looked at them quizzically. "Elric, this was taken two weeks ago in town. Is that you?" Sanro asked, pointing a hoof at a particular pony in the photo.
"Yes, sir. That is me." Elric shoved the photos back across the table to the agent. “And you still haven't told me why I'm here."
“You're here because of that." The agent pointed at Elric's left front leg.
Elric looked down at his leg where his Pip buck sat, fitted snugly on his leg. He looked up at the agent and gave him quizzical look. Sanro just smiled and mashed his cigarette butt into the table. He leaned on the table and pushed another piece of parchment towards Elric. Elric looked down to the paper for a moment to took in what it said. He looked up with shock to Agent Sanro.
"So you tell me why you're here, Mr. 132. This should be interesting." Sanro pulled over a chair and got comfortable.
Elric took another quick glance at the parchment again and sighed. He shifted a little bit and cleared his throat.
"Well, it all started about 8 weeks ago. I was doing maintenance on one of the Stable's air filtration units...."
“The world we live in is governed by three types of ponies. The brave, the greedy, and the ones who gives up their own lives for the good of the country."
"Check the rear flux engine. Heard that's giving the newbies some trouble also." Gasket spoke to me.
I laid there, staring up into the jumble of wiry crap inside one of the three air filtration system units. The new maintenance ponies, fresh from the final exams, were working on the generators many other issues. Gasket and I were the more experienced, so we got the more crappy stuff to fix. I rolled out from under the air filter and grabbed a wrench from the toolbox.
"The flux engine is fine, Gasket." I replied. "How’s the missus?"
"Oh, she's doing fine. The little foal should be here pretty soon. I'm kinda nervous."
I smiled as I rolled back under the unit. "You'll be fine, my friend. Not much can make you prepared to be a father."
I reached up into the machine and managed to fix the fastenings that where causing problems. I spotted a smoldering piece of metal sticking out of the side of a manifold inside the compartment. I reached over to the toolbox to pull out a set of pliers.
"Yeah, I now what you mean. I hope the birth goes over smoothly, some mares don't live through the process, you know." Gasket replied.
Reaching up and pulling out the shard of metal, I found it peculiar. I pushed myself out from underneath the system and showed the metal shard to my friend.
"You know where that's from? Nothing's missing a piece." I asked.
Gasket leaned over to the strange object and made a "hmm" sound then shrugged. "Never seen anything like that either."
I took one more look at it and then shrugged myself, throwing it into my toolbox and pulled the wrench out from the system and replaced it in its proper place.
"OK, flip it over. Let's see if it works." I pointed a hoof at the control console. Gasket checked something off his clipboard and moved over to the controls. With a flick of his hoof and push of a button, the air filtration kicked over almost immediately. A smirk came across both our faces as the others started up along with the first.
Once all three were up and running nicely, I replaced up my tools in the toolbox, grabbed my saddlebags from the ground, and place them on my back. I nudged my friend from his daydream and nodded towards the door.
"Come on, our works done. Let Icarus take over for the new peons." I chuckled. He just smiled and walked out beside me. We walked past the maintenance office to drop off our stuff and clock out.
"So, what’s the big plan your family has going on for this weekend?" Gasket asked as we took out of our personal effects from our lockers.
"Honestly, I don't know. Honey Blossom's plans are always changing. Ma is probably gonna go play poker with her friends, and you know how Blitz is." I replied.
"Yeah, your brother never takes a break from his damned job once in a while. Sooner or later, he's gonna kill himself from exhaustion." Gasket chuckled.
We headed home, walking through the atrium. Ponies went about their daily trials, passing each other with a friendly hello. To the left of us was Blitz's office. The door marked "Living Quarters" was set in the corner, next to the restrooms. Ahead of us was the stairs to the top floor. To the left of us, was 15 foot tall steel, gear-shaped door that sealed us from the harsh radioactive world. We trotted past the Stable door with a quick glance. That ominous slab of metal gave me the chills. Sometimes we hear noises on the outside, tapping or a small pop of something resembling explosives. No pony wanted to know what’s outside. Hell, I didn't even want it to open... most of the time.
Once Gasket came up his home, we said our farewells and separated. I smiled and continued down the dimly lit tunnel. I was always interested of what kind of life was out there after two centuries of silence from the stories I heard from growing up and the pre-war books in the classroom. I studied hard and finally got my dream job after 10 long years in the maintenance department. I was one of the three head ponies in charge. Gasket, Icarus, and I, along with being a Maintenance super, was allowed to mess around with the securities amazing weaponry! Even limited, I always got excited over working with the guns. I even taught the little ones how to clean a BB gun. (I got in so much trouble for that). I lived a good life, mostly kept my nose clean, and went about my work with passion.
But there was always that nagging feeling of emptiness that bugged me. The taps and pops on the other side of the door. Is it just wild animals? Ponies? The untamed radioactive winds bumping stuff outside? I didn't know. I wanted to know. But not enough to see what was really out there. I shook my head at the thoughts swirling in my idle mind.
I came to the iron door that was to my home. I pushed the shiny yellow button on the console and watched as the iron door opened.
Opened to the cluster fuck of my family.
Dad was laying on the sofa, watching my two 1-year-old nephews fighting over a toy rattle. Ma was in the kitchen, whipping up some supper. Kris was in the study, nose in the terminal on his desk. Sis was playing around with her gadgets on her bed. As I walked past, she looked up quickly and went bug-eyed. She put on a pouty face and closed the door on me. Typical mare.
I walked over to my bed alongside Blitz's desk where the Over-stallion himself sat with a pen in his mouth, red eyed from sleep deprivation and staring at parchment all night. I flung myself on to the bed and sighed.
"Hey, B." I spoke.
Blitz spat out his pen, picked up his notes, stamped them on the desk for neatness. "Hey, Elric. How’s work?"
I waved a hoof in the air. "Easy wheezy. They should be finishing up by now."
"Hmm, that's good." He got out of his chair, floating the papers over to a briefcase and placed them carefully in with his magic. He went over to his bed right next to mine. He rolled onto the deflated mattress and sighed. I could have sworn he'd fall asleep right then and there. He needed it badly. But we all knew that wasn't how he worked. We sat there in silence, staring at the dark grey ceiling.
Growing up, we had many of the same dreams. To rule the world we knew in our own terms. But one difference changed that between us. We grew wiser. Only one of us would get it. So, knowing him being the elder, it was only right to have him go first. He studied business and leadership. I studied Mechanics & Weaponry of the Stable. Dad retired as the older Over-Stallion, Blitz took up the seat. I became the Maintenance Departments newest peon.
I laid there, head-to-head with my brother, enjoying what little time he's relaxing. I closed my eyes.
"Hey, Elric? Can I ask something of you?" Blitz piped out. He startled me for a quick second, but I smiled and replied with a "Sure."
"... Do you think that we will ever be able to go back out into the world? I mean," He flipped over to face me with a look of wonderment that I haven't seen in years," it’s been a little over 200 years. Surely the radiation out there must of died out little bit."
I flipped over to face my brother staring at me with an anxious expression on his face.
"Well, y-yeah. I believe sooner or later we should be able to, but not in this lifetime probably." I replied.
Blitz flipped back over to look at the ceiling again. He let out a sigh. “Just think... lush grasslands, and rolling hills like the stories say. The towns bustling with life by now."
I laid there looking at the disgruntled leader of my world. The sight of him still trying to cling on a childish idea we both shared was astonishing.
"Boys! Dinners ready!" Ma yelled out from the kitchen. Blitz and I took one more glance at each other, smirked and presided to race towards the kitchen, pushing each other out of the way.
During dinner, Blitz went over his notes with the family. He is proposing the medical clinic to start an annual radiation check in the near future. The maintenance department will need to work on the reactor core in sub level 6 too for it was reading at a high temp level. Two speeches, and a rather lucky wedding will be within the next week, and a reminder for Security to keep on the lookout for the Teacake Snatcher. I kinda snickered at that one.
They didn't suspect a thing.
I sat back and listened to my family bicker, laugh, smile, and chat about their days. I looked over to my nephews having the time of their lives with Kris, throwing their noodles at him and giggling. I smiled at the beautiful sight before me. This is my life. My daily routine. What keeps me going at work.
I got ready for bed shortly after helping out with dishes and tidying up after the kids. I grabbed my towel from the floor of the room, headed toward the bath before Sis used all the hot water again. Taking off my utility barding and hanging it over the towel rack, I unfolded my cramped wings. The joints popped as I stretched them as much as I could in the cramped space provided. Turning on the shower and hopping in the nice warm water, I started to hum a tune while I scrubbed the filth of the day from my coat and feathers. After what seemed mere minutes of bliss, the water started to turn cold. I turned off the water to hear a clink sound from the door. I peeked out from behind the shower door to find nothing out of the ordinary. I shrugged and grabbed my towel from the counter. I walked out of the bathroom to find Sis trotting by the door with a device in her mouth.
And I knew exactly what it was, and she was not supposed to have one. A Pip-buck. No one besides the Over-stallion was allowed to even be near one. Tech like that was beyond capability to harm another. I would know.
I was the one that caused the first injury.
"Sis! What in the hay are you doing?!" I hissed at her, wide-eyed with caution. Blitz would explode if he saw her with one.
She turned towards me with an expression of confusion. "Whah?" She spoke around the device.
"You know what kind of shit that you will be in if Blitz, Hell, even Dad find you with that?!" I whispered harshly at her.
"Sho? Itsh naw like you gonna tattle-tell on meh, are ya?" She smirked and spat it out on her bed. "And it’s not for he doesn't know anyway. Blitz asked me to get it for you." she remarked.
I was stopped mid-thought at her comment. Blitz asked her to get it? For me? Wha-?
Sis put up her hoof and laughed. "Here. I already know what you’re gonna say. He has a plan for you. He won’t tell me, but I'm sure he will tell you soon. He seemed rather shaken over it the last couple of days. I don't know, but keep it on the down low, ya hear?" She spoke to me as if I was a small colt again.
Before I said another word, she motioned me to come forward. I hesitated for a second. She was probably trying to pin this one me. She's done that before.
Several times.
I slowly stepped forward, and as quick as can be, Sis threw the Pip-Buck around my left foreleg and buckled it down. I watched her intently. I still don't trust her. She might have put itching powder under the brace and Wonder-glued the buckles so I can't get at it. But nothing happened while I sat there with her fiddling with the screws with a hex wrench.
"Annnd... there. All done. That wasn't so bad, was it?" She smiled and slipped the wrench onto my ear with her stupid unicorn magic. I placed my hoof back to the ground. It was lighter than I remembered. Then again, I was just a small colt at the time. I looked back up to watch the plot of my sister-in-law shuffle back into her room and closed the door. I shook my head and fished the hex wrench out of my mane. I came around the corner to see Blitz at his usual spot.
But this time without his same stoic expression. He seemed more relaxed.
"Hey Blitz. Do you know about this by any chance?" I asked, lifting up my left leg. He turned towards me and saw the Pip-buck on my foreleg. He pointed a hoof at the door and motioned me to close it. I obeyed.
He stood up out of his chair and came to me with a quick skip. He flipped my hoof around to inspect the device. After a few tweaks with the hex wrench and a satisfied nod, He turned to his desk and hoofed over a roll of paper. I looked at the Over-Stallion with a cocked brow, but gingerly took up the scrap of parchment. I unrolled it to reveal a series of codes and numbers written in scrawl all over the scrap. I looked back up to Blitz to see him punching in something on his own Pip-Buck. All of the sudden, my Pip-buck started to switch on to reveal a vaguely familiar buck winking at me with the words: Pip-Buck 4006. v.2.5.4, staring at me in a dark amber color. Then things started flashing around in my eyesight. I tried to swat them away, but with no avail. The small little meter looking things flickered about for a few quick seconds, and then disappeared.
I looked back over to my brother to see him smile. And not a happy smile, like one of those weird, broken down and tired smiles. And it creeped me out way too much than I wanted to be.
"So. Elric. I'm gonna get straight to the point here. I need your help." Blitz placed his head on his upright hooves over the back of the chair. “The Pip-Buck on your leg there has the bypass codes for most the Stable-tec doors out in the world, along with some other small project files. I uploaded the codes and stuff to your device. The paper you have there is the series of codes to unlock the security door in the tunnel.
I went into shock at every other word coming out of this pony's mouth. Bypass codes? Stable-tec?
Then it hit me. "Y-you’re not suggesting-?"
"Yes, Elric. I am. I'm tired of the same shit we poor ponies have to endure. Seeing the same four walls every Celestia-damned day from birth to death. I believe we need to break out of these grey cages and go out. Be free. Enjoy the beautiful sun!" He spun around in his chair, hooves in the air like he was dancing in the fields of the text books.
"Blitz, that's impossible! You know as well as I do there is no way we can open that door! We don't know what’s out there waiting!" I lashed out towards my brother.
He stumbled out of his chair toward me and pointed a hoof at the bedroom door. "Exactly! We don't know what out there! How will we know if we don't try?" He reached out and placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Come on, brother. Isn’t this our dream? To get out there and explore a whole new world? You'll be able to learn to fly! Come on, what do you say? You in?" He removed his hoof from my shoulder and held out the other one in a waiting hoof-shake.
I thought on the subject of leaving the Stable since I was little. I really wanted to see the outside. And being able to fly? That concept always was on my mind. I finally am getting the chance to do something that we talked about for years, but never knew what do about it. Now it was sitting right here, right in front of my face.
I sighed after a few long moments. "I know I'm gonna regret this." I reached out to my brother and hoof-bumped him. He pulled me into a hug and presided to squee.
"Thank you!" He let go of me and turned toward his terminal. He click a few buttons and my Pip-Buck started to flicker again. "There. Your S.A.T.S and E.F.S is now active. Careful this time, we don't want another missing limb, do we?"
I flipped into my bed and stared at the grey ceiling. Blitz turned back to his computer, happier than I've ever remember seeing him. He was planning a very risky attempt to change the course of our lives. For better or for worse...
I flipped around to look at Blitz. "When do you plan to do all this nonsense?" I asked.
He returned that awful, creepy grin. "Well, why not tomorrow? That seems like a good day, don't you think?"
I gulped. This stallion had already had everything ready, and all he needed was me.
Tomorrow was gonna be a shitstorm waiting to happen. And we were going to cause all of hell to break loose in the populace.... nothing better than an anxiety attack to put you asleep.
"Don't tempt fate in trying to change. Your only result will be your own destruction."
As I stood there in front of the Over-Stallion office, I heard the many different keystrokes coming from the large terminal that Blitz was furiously raging over, trying to crack the securities override protocols that he apparently didn't expect to happen. The door system required three different key codes to override. The Over-stallion's, the head of Security, and a Stable-tec confirmation code. We had two of them (The security chief misplaces things a lot, so it wasn't hard to swipe the card from his desk), but the Stable-tec representative wasn't responding to Blitz's messages.
I was standing guard so nopony would get too suspicious of why the hell we were up early in the morning, running around with saddlebags laden with supplies and gear. I rolled down the sleeves of my utility barding so they cover the Pip-buck around my leg. I only saw the janitor and the nurse in the hall so far. I feared that if somepony got suspicious and we get caught, we'd be shot on the spot, Over-stallion or not. There's been stories in the past that ponies have tried this before and they found worse things than a slap on the hoof. Some ponies say they were even hanged in the atrium way back in the day to discourage other rebellious individuals of trying an attempt.
First thing this morning was filled with plans and paths and divisions or excuses if something goes awry. Blitz was to go to his office and dispatch a message to Stable-tec HQ to secure an emergency Stable opening, Sis was to "Obtain" several supplies and gear for us. And me? I was to place a temporary shutdown of the security mainframe so security didn't a message on their desk saying some pony’s being stupid. When Blitz hit a block in the system, I was to fetch the chief's card, and place a remote EMP to the Stable's Omni-lock that completely seals the Stable door from everything from dust to pestilence. So, if Blitz couldn't figure out the code, we'd pop the seal and pray to the Goddesses for some luck and hope it doesn't destroy the Stable.
Three rebellious ponies looking for adventure, playing with standards and the rules set in stone for us 200 years ago. Facing an uncertain fate once the door between us and the unknown opens.
I checked my Pip-buck for the time. We had 15 minutes before the early risers started their duties. We had to hurry. I punched the button on the office door, retracting to the interior of a pigsty. Papers and garbage was strewed across the floor. The desk was flipped over on its side. A very disgruntled pony sat in front of a large monitor, having only the words, "Override not authorized. Please input the Stable-tec override sequence codes to proceed.", flashing on the green glass.
"Blitz, we need to hurry before the others find us messing around. What’s the issue?" I asked Blitz, stepping over the junk on the ground.
Blitz shook his head. “I don't know! Stable-tec isn't replying to my messages. The system keeps locking me out, and the server just resets every time I get close to finding anything."
"Move, let me at it for a sec. Go watch the door." I pushed my older brother out of his chair, and took my place at the controls. I've done back-door work for most of the generators before, so this shouldn't be too hard. I quickly logged the maintenance override sequence into the server and plugged in the Pip-buck to find the codes for the door. No success. Apparently not all the codes were in the device. I logged the server reset maintenance code and the screen pulled up all the recent binary used in all the Stables electrical outputs. All of them. "600,798 possible reset inputs." the screen flashed. I looked through all the codes streaming past my eyes. This is a disaster.
"Hello, sir! How’s your day?" I heard an unfamiliar voice reach my ears through the door. I snapped my head back towards the door to see a blonde colored pony chatting with Blitz through the window. Oh shit. I flew over the keys, picking random codes. Nope, not that one.....Naw uh.... oh, that's the break room.....
The door slid open to reveal Blitz charging towards me. "Elric, you better hurry up. Honeycomb will be here soon." Blitz whispered. I shook my head. His secretary was one of the brightest ponies I've met. If she suspects something is up, she'd jump on that shit like apple pie. I turned back to the computer terminal and started to look through the seemly endless list of words and code to find the right one. I could feel Blitz's sweat and breath behind me getting quicker and quicker with anxiety.
Then it happened. The one word that stuck out from all the others. "Scathefire". I moved the cursor to the word and pushed the button.....
Silence. Not even an incorrect beep. Just the slight humming of the terminal. I looked at Blitz in confusion. He just shrugged.
POP!
I jerked around to see one of the monitors light up. The ones that haven't been on for years.
A dark shape came in view over the screen. I made out a few more shapes in the background that looked similar to ponies, but were too bulky to be. The screen showed a dark tunnel of rock with the first dark shape poking around on a console. The monitor brightened up and after another small pop, sounds came into play.
"Hey boss, are you sure this is it? This stable looks abandoned." A voice out of view piped up. The big, bulky dark shapes became huge iron monsters resembling ponies standing behind a dark blue unicorn with a brown and cyan mane. The blue stallion was fiddling with the console with a stoic expression.
"Yes, I'm positive. When have I ever misled you?" The blue pony spoke in a suave kind-of voice. He pushed a button and a green light came on the surface of the console. He looked up at the camera and smiled. He pushed the green light and the screen went black.
A horrible grinding noise came from outside of the office. Blitz and me looked at each other with scared expressions and leaped towards the door. I came around the corner and slammed into a familiar tan pony.
I opened my eyes to see Gasket rubbing his head. We didn't have to exchange explanations to know he was going to in such a hurry. We got up from the ground and galloped towards the atrium.
Blitz, Gasket, and I came to the atrium door to find it shut. Blitz jammed his hoof into the door release and watched the steel door fold into the niche in the ground. We walked into the atrium where almost everyone else was standing. Staring at the phenomenon that transpired in the Stable.
The giant steel door of Stable 132 lay open to a dark tunnel, no light from coming from the other end. Seven ponies stood at the entrance, six of them clad in steel armor. The dark blue pony I saw on the monitor upstairs now stood in front of me, flesh and blood. His posture showed elegance and vanity, but also very intimidating. His dark crimson red eyes showed experience and drive for achievement. He stood slightly shorter to me (most ponies do anyway) and wore a small smile on his face. His "friends" Showed no uniqueness to one other beneath those menacing looking helmets. These big robot-looking ponies flashed weapons on either side of their bodies, ranging from small caliber to one having twin cannons the size of a normal pony.
The smart-looking pony took one step forward and cleared his throat. "Hello, my fellow Equestrians. My name is Kalem. I'm here on behalf of Stable-tec for it has come to my attention that the Overseer has sent out a distress signal stating an emergency power failure. Where is the Overseer?" Kalem spoke to the crowd gathering in front of him with such a charismatic tone that I almost forgot he was an outsider.
I looked over to Blitz. He puffed up his chest and looked at me with worry-some eyes. He looked forward and trotted out amongst the gathering crowd. "Right here, sir."
"Ah. Good. Polaris?" Kalem spoke up to one of his companions. “Always start at the top." Kalem turned and walked out of the Stable door like nothing happened.
One of the steel ponies turned to face my brother. Blitz backed up a step. Polaris chuckled underneath his helmet. A shot rang through the air as Blitz went bug-eyed to the sudden shock. He looked down to the good sized hole in his chest. He looked back to me and slumped to the ground. I watched in horror as my brother laid in an enlarging puddle of his own blood.
All hell broke loose in a flash. Five of the armored ponies began to mow down the crowd with their massive weaponry. I ducked behind the jutting pipes to hide from the attackers. Screams and shrieks filled my ears as ponies ran passed me, life sprayed all over their coats. The steel freaks began to spread out to finish off the rest of the fleeing ponies. One stomped past me, chuckling as he went. I watched him turn around the corner as he spread more ammo down the corridor of screams. I peeked around the corner to check on my brother on the floor and I saw an enraging sight.
One of the metal clad ponies was knelt by my brother. His helmet laid on the floor, his white coat was covered in blood from my brother's wound as he applied pressure to it. Blitz laid on the ground groaning at the pony above him. I trotted towards them with caution, not knowing what the pony was up too. The pony looked up at me with sadness.
"P-Please... I didn't know... I didn't. I thought we were going to be diplomatic.... N-not this..." The blonde-maned pony stammered.
I reached the pair and saw the damage first-hoof. Polaris blew a hole straight through Blitz right below the heart. I looked up to the white Stallion next to me.
"Can we save him?" I shakily asked. The pony just stared at Blitz's dying body. I shook the steel-clad pony, " Is there something we can do?!"
The pony snapped out of his trance, and stood up.
“I-I think... maybe... it's worth a try!" He exclaimed. He reached down and grabbed the right leg of my brother. "Blitz, is it? Hey, we gonna get you out of here, okay?" He looked up to me and put on a grimace. "Do whatever you need quickly, the others are gonna destroy this place looking for whatever Kalem wants. I'm gonna get him outside. Meet me there." The pony turned and slung Blitz over his back, careful not to further injure him. He scooped up his helmet and placed it back on his head. He turned back to me.
"I'm sorry... I promise, I'm on your side. Go. I'll be out there, but be quick. We don't want to be here once they finish." He started towards the giant doorway.
I turned back towards the living quarters. I galloped as fast as I could towards my family's room. I jumped past bodies lying in their pooling blood, each and every one staring out into the distance in a dull look. I came around the corner to see one of the intruders standing over a cowering mare. He fired a shot, blowing her head into a grease spot on the wall. He turned towards where the screams of the dying was still in the tunnels. I galloped past the event that took place and to my family's household. I looked through the window, but all our furniture was stacked in front of it. I took to the door, but it was locked. I looked both ways to see if anyone was coming and proceeded to try and rewire my own door. As I messed around in the control box, the sounds of mares screaming and the anguishing sounds of ponies getting mowed down over some fucking stupid tech or some artifact that isn't worth all of this. Sweat beads clouded my eyesight as well as tears. A buzz and a sharp crack and the door slid open. I ran inside.
As the door slid close, I sat down hard and sobbed deeply as all the sorrows hit me at the same time.
In a puddle of blood sat my father and mother in each other’s legs. In the corner, one of the nephew's bib laid in blood and food thrown from the stove. My entire home was destroyed. I stood back up and stumbled toward the rooms. Kris laid sprawled across the ground, three holes in his chest revealing enough to make me throw up right there. I continued towards Sis's room to find her gone, along with Stardust and Dusky. The nephews stuff was missing as well. I hoped they got out safely. I continued to my room to find something unfamiliar laying on my bed.
A .45 revolver laid next to two boxes of ammo, along with a note. I grabbed the gun, the note, and my saddlebags from the ground, placed the items in the bags, and situated them onto my back. I ran back to the living room and stopped momentarily to cover up my parents and Kris with a couple blankets. I took the rest of the food and medical stuff out of the cabinets. I reached down to my father's neck and removed his black and grey checkered scarf. I shed one more tear for them as I wrapped it around my own neck.
"I promise... I promise you that he will pay... I will make him pay. Even to my last breath, I'll make him pay." I turned to the door and galloped back out, leaving my home for the last time.
I almost made it to the Atrium door before a rocket flew right past my face, blasting a blackened hole in the door.
"Where do you think you're going, Coward?" A booming voice came from behind me. I turned to see one of the attackers aiming his rocket barrels at me. “We ain't finished with you lot! Now, hold still and try to make this easy for the both of us." I pulled out the revolver and pointed at him shakily. He chuckled underneath his helmet. “What you gonna do with that? Try. Oh, please try and kill me. Makes things more interesting that way."
I closed my eyes and fired a shot. A sudden blast knocking my into the steel door snapped my eyes open as I saw the Iron pony in front of me flew into the wall as his left gun exploded. I shot the rocket inside it. The luckiest shot that I could ever do. I hurried back to my hooves in a pure adrenaline rush. A roar of anger echoed through the tunnels as the dazed pony slowly stood up.
"Y...You fucking bastard..." He groaned. I didn't wait to see what else he said. I flew through the door and locked it behind me with a buck to the door control. I scurried down the stairs and towards the gear shaped door.
A loud bang and a searing pain took me to the ground. I flipped to my back to see Polaris and another soldier standing beside him.
"Going somewhere?" Polaris sneered. He pointed his weapon and fired another shot into my rear left leg, sending another wave of pain through my body. I screamed in agony as the giant stalked over to me. "Oh, this is going to be-" He was interrupted by a wrench thrown at his head. The tool bounced off the side, leaving a little scratch on the side. Polaris slowly turned to see Gasket glaring at the pony, covered in blood like he was holding someone and teeth grinding into a kitchen knife. "YOU... MURDERER!!" screamed Gasket as he rushed Polaris. Polaris backed up a step to get a steady bead on the pony and fired. Gasket narrowly dodged the bullet as he jumped at the pony's face. He sliced at the hoses and valves on Polaris's helmet, hoping to get at the flesh inside.
"Run, Elric! GO! I rigged...the door to close in a few seconds! GO! NOW!" shouted my friend. Polaris's buddy came and smashed his rear hoof into the side of Gasket's flailing body as Polaris tried to buck him off his face.
I grunted as I stood up a limped towards the door, from a small step to a trot to a hopping trot as I heard hoofsteps approaching. I looked back to see Polaris standing over Gasket as he bore down on his head, smashing it into the ground. Gaskets last expression was one of complete fear as his face was grounded into the cold metal floor. One slight shift and my friend was gone.
My vision became blurry as pain and the death around slowly came to me. I pushed myself through the door way as it started to slide closed. I watched as the monster of the invaders roared as the door sealed him away from the last survivor of Stable 132. I continued towards the dimming light at the end of the long, dark tunnel. I slumped up against the wall as I came to a dim lantern. I sat down as I checked how my wounds were doing. It came back as frightening as I could imagine. I lost too much blood. I saw a trail leading back towards the stable and a slightly dried one continuing on. I closed my eyes and sighed. I was going to die here. I knew it. I fell over as my last remaining strength gave way under the blood loss and trauma I endured. I tried to open my eyes, but at no avail.
Silence over took me as I laid there on the cold rock. I would never finish out my recent promise to my parents. I would never see the outside.
I drifted off to unconsciousness as I heard a faint scraping sound behind me...
"Love what you have, You'll never know till its gone."
My eyes snapped open to a grey blur. I blinked a few times to try to focus my sight. I realized I was lying on my back, looking up. I started to move around before a white hoof covered my muzzle. I looked toward the origin of the hoof to see a familiar looking pony holding his other hoof to his mouth, tell me to be silent. I slowly nodded. He released my muzzle hesitantly and pointed ahead of him. I began to sit up to find it almost impossible due to a flash of intense pain shot through my body. I grit my teeth. All over my body was bandages and a purple liquid was poured over my wounds.The mysterious white pony was staring over a bush, wide eyed and trembling. A lowly voice boomed from the other side not too far away.
“Where did that little runt run off to?” The familiar static voice cursed. The voice belonged to that damned rocket horse. Which means…
I took a quick look of my surroundings. We were in a small clearing, hidden behind a wall of dead foliage. A broken cart laid on its side was about a few hooves away from me. A small medical kit laid open with its contents spilled out around it with bandage sterile wrappings and empty bottles labeled “health” something. One the ground by that was the steel pony’s armor.
I didn’t see Blitz anywhere.
“I knew that winged bastard wasn’t up for the task. Fucking new recruits always squirmy about the good jobs.” A slightly higher voice, hinting at a mare’s voice.
I flashed a glance at my fellow hideaway. He looked really shaken up at the group. His legs were trembling so bad, it almost scared me that he might just run.
Another came into earshot. This one sounded bigger than the others… Polaris.
“Enough. He won’t get far out here. Not without some experienced help that is. Let’s get back to the Cathedral and report the mission a failure.” Polaris said.
“Wait, a failure!?” The mare spoke again. “You said-“
“I KNOW WHAT I SAID!” Polaris roared, slamming a hoof into the ground. “And Lord Kalem needs to be informed. Let’s go.”
“But what about that feather-duster?” the Rocket pony piped. A chuckle came from Polaris.
“Don’t worry about him. I’m sure we’ll meet again. Someday.”
The sound of the group started to trail off away from us. Once they were out of range of hearing and out of sight from the white pony, we both let out a held breath. He backed away from the bush and looked at me.
“So… that was…scary.” He said. His voice had a little accent to it. He got up and trotted towards me and reached out a hoof. “Name’s Lucky.”
I looked at him for a moment and took his hoof. I slowly got up from the ground to a sitting position.
“Elric. Elric Faelan.” I shook his hoof gingerly. “Why?” I immediately asked.
He cocked a brow. “Huh?”
“Why did you help us?” I replied.
He smiled. “I wasn’t gonna just sit there and let an innocent pony just die.” He moved over to his armor and tapped the flank, where a small box sat welded to its side. “Speaking of which, I do believe I bought your brother some time. My armor has a built in healing system, but it’s only used for small wounds, not a bullet to the vitals. It’ll only stop the bleeding for a few hours, but we’re in luck. There’s a town just a few miles in that direction.” He pointed a hoof towards a few hills in the distance. “If we hurry, we can get there before the nasties come out and play.” He picked up one side of the armor and started to drag it to the cart.
I stood up and went over to help. “Nasties?” I asked.
“Yeah, there’s the mutated wildlife, Ghouls, and the occasional raider or bandit group. So yeah, Nasties.” Lucky replied.
We got Blitz into the cart and flipped it over. We pulled my brother onto the broken bed and place him on his left side so he had his worst side facing up. He motioned me to the front of the cart. “This is gonna suck, but it’s the only way to get him there. Is there any way you can fix this up real quick?” Lucky questioned.
I looked around the clearing to see what I had to work with.
“Well…. I could…. Yeah, that might work.” I rushed over, fighting through the small receding pain, to a thick wooden branch. I made a makeshift axle for the lost one and set the old wheel back in place the best I could. I saw Lucky waiting at the front of the cart, harness fitted around him. I quickly hooked myself into the other one and looked over at my new acquaintance. We both nodded to each other and started to pull the cart. The broken down wagon creaked and groaned, threatening to break down after two centuries of wind and erosion, but it held for the mean time. Lucky and I pulled the cart out of the clearing into a world I only had dreams and nightmares about.
The entire sky was a giant gray fluff of cloud. No sun or moon shown through the dank, gloomy cover. The blue mountains shown in the pre-war schoolbooks now where an eerie green in the distance. The lush, green grass of the past now was shriveled and brown, dead for two hundred years of decay. The once well used road now was cracked, broken, and deserted. A giant pink pony with a creepy smile laid in the dust, fallen from its perch from a billboard that read Join the Cause! Put a stop to the Lies! a single building stood alone down the road to the right, destroyed from centuries of weather and erosion, graffiti vandalizing the once beautiful home. We turned to the left and down a small slope. In the distance was a few dim lights, like generator lights going out before death. We continued down towards the north, according to my Pip-Buck.
A sudden spark of light blasted the sky, startling me into a panic attack. Lucky put a hoof on my shoulder and told me it was just lightning and it’s perfectly normal out here. Another shock of lightning sent the air into a violent shade of light for another second. Then a drop of water hit me on my muzzle, making me go cock-eyed to look at it. Then another, and another. I looked up at the darkening sky to see it become black. Water started to come out faster and in more intervals. After 2 minutes, we were in a torrential downpour. I drew my fleece a little tighter to myself and threw my scarf over my head.
My pip-buck started to click weirdly. I looked down to see the needle in the gauge reading RAD bouncing some. It was between the green and yellow, getting close to the yellow after each rain drop splashed on me. I looked at Lucky with worry and he just assured me it’s okay, perfectly normal.
We came to a turn in the road. Mud was pooling down the side of the hill the road was paved next to. Lucky patted me and pointed his hoof at the hill. “We need to hurry! If we get caught in that, we will never make it to the city in time!” He exclaimed through the howling wind and rain. I just nodded and grit my teeth through the building pain. The healing solution was losing its effect and my body was NOT happy. We started to get the cart moving at a faster rate, hoping to outrun the mudslide coming dangerously closer and closer to us. The wind and thunder didn’t help with the situation as the mud drew closer and closer as we got halfway across the road.
A bolt of light flashed through the sky, striking a few yards away from us, making my already racing heart jump a beat. My vision started to fail. The pain from my earlier wounds started to take effect on my strength. I drop to one leg, panting heavily.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Lucky stopped and picked me up from the earth. “I need you to keep going, we almost there. Come on, keeping focusing on your brother. Come on, let’s hop to it.”
I gritted my teeth hard to enough to hear them strain, threatening to crack. We got to the end of the bend just as a slice of ground fell from the hill, making it and the mud cover the road. I looked back to see how Blitz was faring. A very faint groan emitted from the suit of armor, making it much easier for me to keep going.
For another hundred yards.
Farther up the road, I saw faint golden twinkles in the never-ending downpour. I smiled at the wondrous sight and proceeded to fall to the ground. The rain felt good on my face as I stared once again at the bleak sky. Lucky came into view with a ping of worry on his face. His checked over me, removing enough of the bandages to obsess the situation. His expression deepened as he placed a cold, wet hoof on my side. I winced at the sudden pain and the urge to kick him in the head. He sat me up and poured a fruity liquid down my throat. I licked my lips at the weird new taste. I looked down at my side to see a very disturbing sight. The extent of the damage in the Stable was more severe than I thought. Half of my side was like a blade sliced me open, revealing all my insides. I realized, through my clouding mind, the bandages were only holding me together, not allowing my innards to spill out. And as I stared at the horrid sight, it started to heal. Very slowly, but it was healing. I once again was staring at a blurring sky.
“Elric, were almost there. Stay with me. Stay with me…. Stay…me…” I lost consciousness.
I fell through darkness. Nothing else seemed real. Then a small, faint light appeared. It drew closer as the feeling of falling started to subside. The light came closer and closer, all the while getting brighter and brighter. I realized the light was a shape, then as it came into better view, it was a upside-down, white unicorn wearing a white pinstripe suit with short cropped brown and red hair. He wore glasses on the tip of his nose. He seemed to stare into my very soul with piercing green eyes.
“Elric Faelan. Son of Dire Bolt and Crimson Rose. Brother to Melody, Blitz, and Kris Faelan. Origin of Birth: Stable 132. Age: Young Adult.” Spoke the mysterious stallion as he came closer to me.
“Occupation: Head of maintenance department. Stable-Tec ID number: 13-6-132. Health: Critical. Major damage to upper and lower right side torso.” He stopped his walk as he got inches from my face. “It seems that you, sir, are very, VERY careless about your well-being, ain’t ya?” He reached up and tapped me between my eyes. “Do you ever use what the goddesses gave you besides how to turn a wrench?” He sat down and tilted his head. “You also seem to be upside-down in the air. Obviously speaking, of course.”
I just blinked at the stranger. I didn’t even know how to respond. He knew everything about me, and I knew absolutely nothing of him. The space around me seem to shift as the pony in front of me started to spin upright.
“What going on? Wha-“I started to speak, but the pony put his hoof to my mouth.
“Shh. You need not to speak. You’ll find out soon enough, I promise. For now, all you need to know is that you and the one called Lucky have a very, very important task ahead of you. Out in the wastes is an evil that has taken hold of many of the inhabitants. Others like yourself; kind, generous, and downright determined, face theses dangers to the best of their abilities, but more and more evil is revealed with each passing day. Your task will not be an easy one. Difficulty and sorrow follow you on this path, but.” The stallion placed a hoof on my shoulder and put a small smile on his face.
“There is also love, camaraderie, and adventure. But be warned. Out here, in the wild Wastes of our past, you will find no charity without suspicion. You will run across ponies whose minds have turned toward evil and greed and monsters that once were beautiful creatures, now twisted by the radiation of mega-spells and balefire.” The stallion stood and turned away. “That’s all the time I have, be cautious, be vigilant, and always be in control.” He trotted towards the light that he once came from. I stood up and watched as he started to disappear from sight. Before he did though, he stopped and cocked his head back a bit.
“And Elric. Never give up. It doesn’t get better if you do.” He turned again and disappeared. “Now wake up. There are things that need explaining, right?”
My eyes slammed open as I gasped for breath. I shot up from my slumber to come up short, held back by chains to the side of my bed. Lucky was in the corner, asleep, now very awake and bug-eyed. He came quickly over to my side and tried to calm me down.
“Elric, simmer down, you're okay! Your fine! We are in Charity! We’re safe!” Lucky grabbed my shoulders and forced me back to the bed. “Doctor! He’s awake!” he turned back to me tapped my shoulder.“Good to see you alive.” He stepped away as another figure entered from the opposite side of the room. A Black unicorn with a dirty tan coat looked up at me staring at him. He stopped abruptly and stared right back. He levitated over a clipboard and took a quick glance at it and back to me. “H-hello. My name is Doctor Stein. I see you have awoken from your injuries, Mr.?" The unicorn stated.
“Oh, um… Elric. Elric Faelan, sir.” I replied.
“Hmm, okay then Elric. Let’s jump right to it shall we?” he pulled over a chair and sat down in it, still looking at the chart on the board. “You’ve sustained moderate damage to your back legs, due to the oblivious bullet holes in them. Your lower and upper torso were, well, let’s just say it did help determine if you had any damaged organs which you did not, so… they are properly stitched and healed up. Head and neck were had small to insignificant damage from shrapnel. Brain patterns look normal, but couldn’t be too sure, hence the chains. All in all though…. Your either lucky as hell, or damn near insane.” Doctor Stein stood back up and pulled out a set of keys.
“Now, Elric. I’m letting you go, but don’t start any bullshit here. You’re welcome around town, but keep clear of the town hall. There’s a protest going on around here, and we don’t need any more adventurers thinking they can meddle into government business, understand?” He unlocked the shackles around my legs and helped me up.
“Now, I need to go check on something. Please, help yourself with any supplies in the boxes in the living area, but be considerate. Many adventurers need some to, so just take what you need.” Doctor Stein nodded to me and to Lucky and left.
“Oh.” His head popped around the corner with a grin. “Welcome to Charity.”
"We live in a World of Chaos, Trying to find a way to Light."
I looked over the Doctor’s handiwork and found it most satisfying. No organs hanging out, not unnecessary bleeding or pain. I looked over to the side of the bed to find my stuff, including my utility barding, all patched up and a little heavier than before. I threw the sheet off me and slid off the bed. I stretched out my wings and sighed, grateful for the room to do so. Lucky stepped back more to allow me the space.
“So, a pegasus, huh? Living in a stable?” He questioned. I looked over to him and shrugged. I slipped into my barding and placed my saddlebags in my back. He shrugged back.
“So what happened? I remembered passing out, but nothing much after that.” I asked.
“Well, after you fell unconscious, I got you into the back of the cart with your brother and got here as fast as I could. Stein found us coming up down the street and rushed you and Blitz into his house. You’ve been out for a few days. We’re surprised that you survived the excursion from the Stable, let alone the surgery and being up so soon.” I looked up at Lucky to see him in armor, but this one was a small, less bulkier armor. “What are you wearing?” I asked. “Oh, this is Recon armor, less noise, means less suspicion from the locals.” I cocked an eyebrow at his statement, but I let it go for the moment. Another pressing matter came through my mind.
”Where’s Blitz?” I asked Lucky just stared at me with his deep blue eyes and furrowed brow. He sighed and looked down at the ground.
“He’s alive.” I let go of the breath I was holding in, relieved to hear the good news. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” He turned and trotted towards the door. I quickly threw my supplies and my gun into my saddlebags and tied my scarf around my neck. I grabbed up the cup of water by the bed and threw the contents in the back of my mouth, quenching my dry throat for a moment.
We walked out of the room into a big living area. A couple of cacti in pots sat beside a photo of four happy looking ponies on the shelf over the fireplace. A tattered green couch and matching sofa sat around a stained oak coffee table that has seen way better days. The candle light flickered off the beige colored walls. On the far side of the room was three boxes labeled “Free crap” on each one in orange staple letters.
On one of the sofas sat the doctor, a light blue stallion with jet black hair, and a dog as big as the pony he sat beside. On the other sat a familiar Blue pony with green and white hair sipping on a hot beverage, wrapped in a blanket.
“Blitz?” I gasped. I ran over to my brother and wrapped him in a hug. “You stupid idiot.” I squeezed harder as a tear came from my eye.
Blitz just smiled and returned with an embrace. “Hey L. Sorry for the worry.” I sniffed and pulled away from Blitz to see a disturbing sight. e
Where the hole used to be was now a jumble of stitches and glue. A large patch of hair was removed from the wound site. His smile never faltered as I looked at the scarring tissue of his chest. “Hey, sit down. Have a cup of tea with us. You too Lucky.” I just nodded and sat down beside Blitz. Lucky sat to my right. Stein poured us a cup each and gave them to us. Blitz turned back to Stein and the other pony.
“Again, I can’t thank you enough for what you did for us. I kindness knows no bounds.” Blitz bantered. The doctor just smirked and nodded to us.
“Nothing to get all worked up about. You needed help, and I gave it to you.” Stein turned to his partner. “I’d like to introduce you to my friend Whipleash.” The blue pony pulled out a hoof underneath the blanket and held it out towards me. I gingerly took hold and shook it with vigor. “Nice to meet you, sir my names-.”
“Elric. Heh. I know.” He chuckled. “And your Blitz and Lucky, correct?” he reached out to each of them in turn and shook their hooves. “I heard all about you two from your friend here.” He waved a hoof to Lucky as he took a sip from his coffee.The dog eyed us down, looking like we were his next meal. I gulped a little at the sight.
“So what’s your plan, you three?” Doc said after a bit of silent drinking. I looked up from the swirling leaf flakes in my cup to see the doc to eyeing me in question.
“Well, um.” I rubbed the back of my neck in thought. “I honestly don’t have a clue. All I know is that somepony named Kalem needed something from Stable 132. He destroyed everything to get it. He ordered a group of armored ponies to kill everyone in the stable to find this ‘artifact’.” Lucky shifted nervously around and just looked at the floor. I don’t blame him at all for the attack, but he seemed to have blamed himself. A thought popped up in the back of my head and I looked over to Stein. “By any chance do you know of a white stallion that wears a pinstripe suit here?” I asked the two friends. The both looked at each other and shrugged.
“No, not really. Not many suited ponies come this far from the big cities. Why? Do you know one?” Doc replied.
“No. just wondering.” I slumped back into the sofa. Damn.
Whipleash sat up and stretched. “Well, it’s about time I get back to the Inn. Thank you for the tea, Doc. Ares! Fetch!” The dog barked and hopped towards the door. He came back, pushing a wheelchair with his head. Whipleash pulled the chair over to him and pushed off his blanket. Lucky, Blitz, and me stared at the pony as he skillfully moved himself from the couch to the chair.
His entire back half was missing. No hind legs, just a rounded lump where they would have been. He caught us staring and snickered."It ain’t polite to stare at a crippled pony, gentlecolts.” We all at the same time flushed with embarrassment. He laughed some more and pushed his way towards the door, grabbing up his blanket along the way. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll regale y’all with the story some other time. If y’all need a place to stay, try the new pub down the way, I’ll put in a good word for ya.” He nodded a farewell to Stein and us, whistled to his dog, and left into the evening light. Stein turned back to us and smiled.
“Whipleash is a great person, but he is a little weird.” He smirked at his comment, like he was remembering something. “Well, it’s time for me to go check up on my other patient. Fucking idiot put his horn up a slaver’s shotgun expecting a great outcome.” He rolled his eyes and sighed. “You guys can finish your drinks and see yourselves out when you feel up for it. See ya later, sirs.” He waved a goodbye and proceeded down the hallway.
We quickly finished our beverages and set them in a neat stack on the end of the coffee table, stood up, and went out into the bleak, broken world. The door opened to a broad, spread-out view of the town of Charity. The buildings that made up the city was divided by one large dirt road splitting it in half and several small roads snaking off of the main. Two large buildings stood on either side of the sections, one being the church, the other, the town hall. I looked to my companions to see what see should do. Both just shrugged and looked out over the settlement. The sun was setting off to the west of us. The sight was breathtaking. We began to head towards town, towards a new beginning….
“How in the hell did we manage to get ourselves lost already!?” Blitz yelled. We stared down an alley with a dead end. The sun had dipped behind the buildings, making it difficult to navigate the roads.
“I don’t know, I told you to stop and ask for directions, but NOOOOOOO. ‘I got it, L. It shouldn’t be that hard!” I spat at my brother.
Lucky just seemed to like watching us quarrel, putting on a small smirk. “Come on you two, I think I see where we’re going.” Lucky tapped us on the shoulders and moved ahead, breaking the lockdown Blitz and I were engaged in. We followed behind Lucky as he took us around several corners and down a couple streets. “This way.” He pointed to our right and trotted ahead. We turned the corner to just slam into a wall. The exact same one we just came from. I cupped him in the back of his head with my hoof.
“Idiot….” Blitz mumbled. Lucky rubbed his head as I sighed. My Pip-buck wasn’t any help either, all it showed was where I we already were at. Blitz’s was the same. The sun’s final rays dimly filled the air. The town was as silent as the oncoming night. We looked at each other we worry. We didn’t know what the repercussions were being out on the streets at night. The darkening clouds overhead didn’t help lighten the feeling.
“Come on, let’s get going. The pub’s gotta be around here somewhere.” I spoke.
After several twist and turns, and slight navigation setbacks with the Pip-buck, we turned a corner to a three story building with patio tables and chairs and a simple sign rocking on its rope hinges reading “The Pride of Pastureland”. The lights inside showed patrons having a blast. We grinned in unison and ran towards the establishment. I came to the door first. I pushed open the door to a sight that couldn’t be forgotten. Several ponies were smiling, laughing, dancing to the sweet violin music, and a few others were bashing each other’s face in on the bar or chairs. All in all, a most wondrous sight. The barkeep looked up with a dull expression. The tan unicorn was cleaning several mugs with his magic. We approached the counter, waving between patrons and bar fights. When we got to the bar, the barkeep came up to us and gave us an once-over. “Wa’ Cha need, strainséir?” The horse spoke with a thick, confusing, but familiar accent. He cocked a brow at the question.
“Hello, sir. We were told you could provide-“I stammered.
The barkeep, without another word, reached over and withdraw a key from the wall. “Whipleash already paid for two nights for y’all, so be grateful for that. Here is the key to your room. Upstairs, third floor, two doors from the end of the hall. He didn’t, however, pay for drink and food down here, so if you need something to eat, there are snacks in the cabinet in the room. Breakfast is at sunrise, and its first come, first serve. Take care, Fiontaróirí, and welcome.” He gave us a big, unexpected smile and went back to work, breaking up a fight the preceded on the bar. We turned to each other and shrugged at the awkward encounter. Following the instructions given, we went upstairs and found our room. Inside was two beds, a couch, a desk, a fridge, a wardrobe and dresser, two footlockers with locks, and one nightstand with a lamp. We put are possessions in the footlockers and chose sleeping arrangements. We settled down and stayed silent from thought. Blitz fell asleep beside me after an hour of looking at the ceiling.
“Must have been exhausting for him, given his current condition.” Lucky whispered as I covered up my sibling. I nodded towards the door, and slid off the bed slowly. Lucky and I went back downstairs to find most of the patrons gone. Only the few late-nighters and guests were present, silently sipping there drinks and chuckling amongst themselves. Lucky went and paid for two bottles of whiskey, placing a hoof full of bottle caps on the counter. (Why bottle caps, is it a bartering town?). He came back with them and two glasses. I set one of each in front of me and slid into the booth across from me.
“So… What’s your story, hmm?” Lucky asked. He poured some of the whiskey into his glass and threw it back in his gullet. He made a wincing face for a split second and smiled. “There’s gotta be something interesting in living in a hole in the ground.”
I looked up from my wounds and eyed him confusingly. I leaned forward towards him and smirked a little. “Well, there’s this time….”
After a couple hours of reminiscing my childhood and such, I leaned back into the ripped, stained leather booth. Half of my bottle was gone, as was Lucky’s. “So, what’s yours?” I asked. He smiled and winked.
“Well… There was a time where I would tell everyone about what I did for a living out here. I was a Courier for a time. Lucky’s Super Fast Delivery Service. I spent most of my early life learning about the survival of the wastes. Then about three months ago, on one of my deliveries, I was shot by a raider band. I was able to get away from them, but at the cost of something very important to me. I wasn’t able to perform as well as I once did.” I cringed at the statement. He caught my expression and choked on his whiskey. “N-no! Nothing like that! Ha-ha. No, but I soon was out of work. So I turned to other methods of work. I was soon picked up by a caravan company as a guard. Then from there a town guard, to a private security assigned to protect expensive clients…” His eyes drifted to the ground. I could tell why. He was ashamed. But I knew him enough to tell that he was used. He looked back up to me with a tear in his eye. “Look, I didn’t know that Kalem would do such a horrible thing. He Seemed nice and gentle towards he’s followers and the guards. I… I didn’t mean to-“His eyes started to well up with more tears. His expression cracking between sobs. I stared back at Lucky.
This was a pony who had lost everything to the harsh life of bandits. I understood what he had to endure, even if I didn’t live it myself. Here sat a pony who was betrayed by his ‘Friends’ and witnessed a massacre that he was an attacker, a part of the same group that murdered an entire Stable of innocent Individuals. He watched as he broke into a silent sadness. And so I did the only thing that came to mind.
He’s eye’s shot open as I wrapped around him with my front legs in a tight hug. A tear fell from my own face as I grit my teeth. “I know. I don’t blame you for any of it. You saved my brother from a fate that took hold of so many. You saved me from the waste. You could have left me and Blitz in the pouring rain on the side of the road, but you didn’t. For that, I’m grateful.” I withdrew from the white pony and wiped a tear away from my face. “And I would be glad to have you as a friend and stay with us. We need a pony who knows the outside.” I smiled at my acquaintance.
Lucky’s expression went through several quick changes from Sadness to shock to a smile. He wiped away the moisture from his eyes and sniffed back his snot. “Yeah. I would like that very much, Thank you.” His smile said it all. He felt relieved. I poured a glass of whiskey and motioned Lucky to do the same. With both glasses filled, I raised mine in the air. “To a hopeful future.”
Lucky returned the gesture. “To a hopeful future.” And tossed back the shot. I did the same.
"Every action has a meaning, a purpose for which it derives from."
After six days of settling down in Charity, Lucky, Blitz, and I started work in the town. Lucky took up a guard job and I took over a engineer spot at the power station. Blitz started work as a secretary at Town Hall. Life was going great so far. We met a lot of wonderful ponies. We stopped by Stein’s house to check up on him and his son. So far the patient he has been treating has awoken and still stable. We never got to meet him for he immediately left town soon after being cleared away with Doc. Whipleash had himself a position as a foster parent for several orphans and “rejects”. There was another individual that stood out with high respect amongst the townsfolk by the name Cinnamon Twist, but we have never seen her yet. The town showed us in what short time we have been here that it is very independent and self-sustaining. The town ponies seemed to love it here out in the middle of nowhere, and were very tight-knit with each other.
All in all, an outside Stable. A home outside of home. A place of peace and rest.
If only we knew what stirred outside the boundaries of Charity…..
*********
I walked into the bar the same I have done since I been here. I slinked up the flights of stairs, trudged down the hall, waving back and forth from fatigue, opened the door to see Blitz hard at administrative stuff, Lucky cleaning his work revolver, and I face planting into the pillow.
“Hard day today?” Lucky snickered. I turned to him with the best death glare I could give him my state of tiredness.
“How come nopony in this town knows how to properly fix a transformer to NOT blow up after every six hours?” I grumbled. Lucky just chuckled a little and went back to cleaning the barrel of his weapon. Blitz shifted through his papers. “How about you two, hmm? Anything interesting happen?” I asked, staring at the dusty ceiling fan hanging above me.
“Nothing from my end. Pretty standard day, like always.” Lucky replied, blowing dust off the slide of his gun. Blitz turned and slid off his reading glasses.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, but there has been rumors floating around about the mayor and his assistant having an affair. Nothing exciting.” Blitz cleared his throat and went right back to work. Old habits die hard, I guess.
I grunted and flipped over, reaching over to pull out my own gun. I sat up in my bed and pulled out my own cleaning supplies. I never got the chance to take full detail of my unexpected present from my parents. Stable regulations stated that nopony was allowed a weapon unless you’re a guard or you’re the Overseer, and even Blitz and father didn’t carry.
I laid the gun down beside me and pulled out the ammo, never taken out. The note still laid folded and neat, never been read. I grit my teeth and shifted to get a better light. I opened the note slowly, nervous and anxious of what it might contain. These were the last words to be said to me from my parents, after all. Lucky eyed me with confusion, but turned away quickly. I swallowed my fear and open up the yellow parchment.
“ Dear Elric,
My son. You have achieved a great deal since your birth. I regret not spending more time with you and your siblings. As you know, an Overstallion’s work is never finished. Even the littlest issue becomes our priority. You, Blitz, Kris, Melody, your mother…. You all were my greatest achievement. Now as the outside world has shown itself to your home, I have no choice but to tell you a secret. Along with this note is a revolver handed down through the last 200 years. It served your... ancestor... in time of War, now it can serve you in a time of need. Take good care of it.
Always remember these next words: “Tá an mbóthar go dtí ifreann pábháilte le dea-intinn.” These words have lead our way for years. First spoken by your ancestor, now by you. Remember them well.
The enemy have come through the corridor hallway door. We only got about three minutes before they come in and open fire.
We love you. Take care of Blitz and Mel. Cherish every day you have with them.
Goodbye, my son.
His name was covered up with a ink splotch. Probably happened when they kicked in the door. I wiped away a tear from my face.
“Blitz….” I whimpered. He looked over his shoulder with a concerned look. “Ya, L? What is it?” he responded. I handed him the letter. He took it up gingerly and read through it. When his eyes hit those words, they flew open. He continued through quickly and snapped towards me.
“He knew…. He fucking knew….” He quivered. He dropped the letter to the ground. I placed my head in my hooves and sat beside him. “How? How could he found out? We…. We never said anything about it to him or mother!” He whispered. Lucky looked up from his cleaning to see us trembling, looking at one another.
“H-How did he f-find out?” I gasped, wide-eyed at my brother. He just shook he head.
“U-umm… what’s wrong?” Lucky asked quietly, replacing the barrel back into the slide.
I turned to him and gulped. “We told you how we initiated the opening of the Stable, right?” He nodded in acknowledgment. “Well, it seems…. It seems Dad knew.” I looked down at my hooves, looking at the imaginary blood that was on them not too long ago. Blitz just trembled in the chair. Lucky picked up the letter from the floor and read through it. He cocked an eyebrow when finished. “Ta an mbother… huh?” he stumbled. He looked up at me. I closed my eyes.
“It’s a saying from an old language before the war. The origin is from our ancestral homeland called Pastureland. It was almost on the other side of the world, you could only fly or take a boat. It was an island near the old griffon kingdom. During the war, The Pastureland Militia joined the Equestrian front, pushing back the Zebra army off the land to the north. It was a massacre. Pastureland was razed to the last survivors from the Caesar himself. Or at least that’s the legend. The remnants just molded into the rest of Equestria, and never heard from again.” I replied. Blitz just stared at the floor.
Lucky cocked his head. “Oh… So what does it mean? And how did you think your father found out about the incident?” He asked. I took in a long breath and looked up at the ceiling again.
“The rough translation… ‘The Road to Hell is paved with good Intentions’.” I responded. “It’s been our family motto for years, I guess I never thought about it till now.”
Silence fell on the room soon after, all of us taking in the situation. It took several minutes for one of us to sigh. I turned to Blitz as he turned back to his work.
“Well, nothing we can do about it now. Apologize when we meet them at the other side.” He mumbled. Lucky and I turned to him, but didn’t say a world. He had a point, even if it was crude. I flipped over to my sidearm again. Lucky reassembled his and placed it carefully back in its holster on the night stand. I took apart the revolver with extreme care. The weapon came apart with ease, making me feel paranoid about it.
“Is it supposed to be that easy?” I sighed under my breath. I took out the firing pin and the slide and inspected every little part the best I could. I didn’t know a whole hell of a lot about firearms to begin with, but I learned a little more from books and magazines in the bar, and with a little guidance with Lucky, I managed a better view and newfound respect for guns. Lucky laid there and watched me do my maintenance. I cleaned the barrel and greased the slide. Lucky pointed out the check through steps I skipped and helped me out with putting it back together. The new polished Black .45 gleamed in the soft lamplight. I felt proud that I had a firearm for some reason, but I don’t really know why. I placed it back into the drawer and flipped over to see outside. The night rain seemed too somber this night. I felt foreboding.
I drifted off soon after. Lucky fell straight to sleep after helping me. Blitz climbed into bed a few hours after (He was never one for discretion). As he flopped into bed, I was woken up. It soon became hard to fall back asleep. I silently slipped outside to get some fresh air. The barkeep eyed me a little weirdly when I asked him for a front door key, but after a little explanation and persuasion that I wasn’t doing anything stupid, he relinquished the key. I put on my barding and slipped outside to the rain.
For the past week, I grew fond to the rain. It felt peaceful at times of stress. I closed my eyes and smiled, tilting my head to catch the rain on my face and mane. The night drizzle felt good.
“Well, it seems you guys settled in quite well after all that’s happened.” Came a very familiar voice from the shadows in front of me.
I snapped out of my trance to find Whipleash wheeling towards me underneath a wide-brimmed hat. I smiled at my friend and scooted over from my seat to let him sit next to me.
“Yes sir, thank you. We greatly appreciate what y’all did for us.” I responded in kind. I saw him snapped his head a little towards me, but seemed to catch himself. He waved a hoof away.
“Don’t worry about it, Elric. You needed help, so we gave it to you. We didn’t make Charity off of selfishness and paranoia.” He gave me a great big smile. “Seems you are rarely separated now. Must have been a hard time for you all to be so close knitted. Something tells me it’s a little more than a caravan raiding.”
I cleared my throat from the sudden forwardness. I admit that we never told them the real story, but now I guess it was an appropriate time to do so.
“Well…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “It all started with a dream…”
I explained everything to him from our stupid dream as children to the day we made our horrible mistake opening the Stable to the world.
“… and then the last thing I remember is waking up in Doc’s house.” I looked down at the ground with disappointment. “I understand if you think me as a murderer now. I wouldn’t blame you for it.” I heard his wheelchair spin closer to me.
Then I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I look up to see Whipleash smiling.
“We all make mistakes, Elric. Even very severe ones at one point in our lives. Look at me for example. I served in a army that suppressed slaves and beat them with chains, of course I didn’t do any of that, but I still let it happen. I felt like ending it myself until I met Cin. Now look at me, I’m a father to several children and a well-respected person. You can to, just don’t forget to never make the same mistake twice, right?” He removed his hoof away from my shoulder and patted my cheek. “You seem like a good pony. Remember that, my friend. This world isn’t made for the weak and evil, only occupied by the ones that choose to live that way.” He wheeled away back into the rain. “I only stopped by to see how you were doing. I hafta go find Cin and see what’s all the racket from the east side of town. Seems that there’s been some recent activity from the raiders recently.”
I looked at my crippled buddy with awe. This stallion was amazing, and he showed it. I picked myself up from the ground.
“Mind if I join you? Got nothing else better to do.” I asked. Whipleash just waved his hoof. I trotted up next to him and walked beside him to the edge of town, trading stories from our youth and work places. The more I found out about this stallion, the more I respected him. He seemed to go out of his way to help those in need, even in his condition. And this Cinnamon Twist character seemed too awesome to be real. We passed by shops and homes that seemed to be in some sort of business, but were all beat to hell. The rain seemed to start to strengthen as we made it to our destination. What we found definitely wasn’t what we were expecting.
Three nasty looking ponies stood over a mare, beating her with metal pipes and baseball bats. One of the bandits seemed to take great pleasure in it to, for he was getting a little too excited. We had to put a stop to it now.
Whipleash pulled out a gun underneath his blanket and aimed at one of the raiders and fired off a shot, putting a hole in his head. His buddies turned to us in a instant, allowing the mare to stand up and run towards us the best she could on what seemed like two broken legs. I grabbed her and helped her to the side, away from immediate danger.
“You two lost or something?” Whipleash taunted the remaining bandits. Both snickered at the cripple. Both tensed up and started to move towards us. I looked around and found nothing to arm myself with. Whipleash kept his gun trained on the two assailants. One put on a sudden grin.
One of the ponies suddenly threw his pipe at Whipleash, barely missing him. Whipleash fired off two more shots, also missing. The two bandits started to gallop towards us.
“Ah shit.” I sputtered out loud. I stood up and ran towards the thrown pipe. Whipleash continued his firing, but in the dark it didn’t do much good. I threw on my Pip Buck light to get a better sight to find one of the bandits right next to me wearing a murderous grin, catching me off guard. I caught a hoof across my jaw, sending me into the wet dirt. A chuckle came from the pony. I spotted Whipleash wrestling with the other on the ground little ways from me. I looked back to my enemy to catch a hoof to my gut. Searing pain came from my side from my still healing wounds. I looked over to see the pipe right next to my head. I reached for the weapon, but it was quickly recovered by my attacker. His grin grew bigger as he took up his weapon and bashed it against my head, causing me to black out for a split second. I knew if I didn’t do something soon, I would join my family sooner than expected. He swung again at my face, but I was now ready for it. I caught the pipe with my Pip-buck, causing the pony to pause for a second. Just enough time for me to buck him in the teeth. He flew back a few yards away, dropping his weapon next to me. I picked myself up from the ground and grabbed the pipe. The bandit pulled himself up rather quickly and charged me, screaming profanity and laughing hysterically.
I knew what must be done now. Kill or be killed. The rule of the wastes. I held a breath as he drew closer. Goddesses damn this cursed land. I grit my teeth and swung.
The pipe blasted the raider in the face, breaking his jaw and several teeth. He backed up, screaming from agony. I didn’t let up. I brought the pipe down on the raider’s skull, ultimately killing him. I watched in horror as his brains and blood pooled around his head. No time to get weak-legged. I turned to see Whipleash crawling towards his wheelchair, but the other attacker was gaining ground. He grabbed Whipleash and kicked him across the road. He raised his bat to put an end to my friend. Not tonight. I picked up Whip’s gun from the ground and Slipped into S.A.T.S. I put two hits to the head and one to the torso. I executed the command and fired the rounds into the pony’s body. He slumped ground, never drawing breath again. I reached Whipleash and helped him back into his chair.
“Nice shot, kid. I think we are even.” He replied. I handed over the gun and help Whipleash get the wounded mare back to Doc’s house. It was the longest walk I ever faced.
I killed another pony. Yes, out of defense, but still. And I did it without emotion. I got worried about the feeling. I felt no feeling as I put down two ponies like rabid dogs. Whipleash caught my expression and tried to comfort me and saying it’s the law of the Wasteland, but it didn’t help much.
As we got the mare into the house, I saw myself out. Stein and Whipleash thanked me and went to treating the wounded mare. I sat outside in the thundering rain. I closed my eyes and let the blood from the battle wash away with the peaceful water drops. I let myself smile. If I was going to survive, sacrifices must be made.
But it seemed the worst was yet to be seen….
Level up! (Perk obtained. First Blood: Now that you took your first life, it will be easier for you to do it again. You have +5 more damage to ponies and feral ghouls.)
"Hope. One of the strongest virtues you have. keep it close to yourself and you will find peace in hellfire."
That night, thunder filled the sky as I made my way back home with my head hung low. My mane spilled over my face as I trudged through the ever thickening mud. I shut my eyes to the world of reality and came to the conclusion that this is now my life. I kill to survive. I will kill without mercy. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not on the outside. I don’t know…
I pushed open the door to a unexpected sight. Blitz and Lucky both sat at the bar, chatting away about something over plates of “waffles”. Both snapped their heads towards my direction when they heard the door creak open. One second they were at the bar, the next I was face to face with the two, asking questions a mile a minute.
“What did you do this time?” Blitz spouted to me, anxiety stricken across his face. I furrowed my brow.
“What do you mean, what I did?” I inquired. Blitz turned to the other side of the bar to see another patron sitting by himself. He had the same color of mane as mine, but his coat was pure red. His left front leg was replace with a hard, polished steel limb, an evil gleam shined on the dented metal. A rifle sat by his side, tally marks scratched into the stock. Some of them looked old as dirt. The buck was sipping on a cup of tea, seeming to enjoy it greatly. He shot a look at me with distinguishable violet eyes. The sight sent a shiver down my spine. This stallion looked like death incarnate. I turned away and back to Blitz to see him gulp.
“That stallion came waltzing in here a few minutes ago, talking about a scuffle with ‘Raiders’ and YOU were involved with it!” He pushed a hoof into my chest. I pushed away his hoof with a scuff.
“Yeah. There was a few bandits harassing a mare. Whipleash and I stopped them. So?” I questioned.
“SO?!...SO?! You could’ve gotten hurt! Or worse….” Blitz spoke. He punched me with his hoof again and turned away towards the stairs. Lucky looked at me with concern, took another quick glance at the stallion in the corner, and followed Blitz back up to the room.
I hung my head and sighed. I slipped into the closest booth and laid my head on the table. Barkeep came over and patted the back of my head.
“Can I get ya something? It’ll be on the house. Reward for helping out with those undesirables.” I looked up at the…well…barkeep… and sighed.
“Sure. I’ll have some tea.” I sighed. I heard a slight click as the pony behind me put down his cup. The barkeep turned to face the pony and went wide-eyed for a sec, smiled, and sat his cup down.
“Reign, what’s up?” Barkeep spoke. I turned to see the pony in the corner push out of his booth and trot over to us.
“So you are the stallion….” He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a couple of bottle caps. “Here.”
I quizzically looked at them in my hooves. I looked back up to the stranger. He smirked and just said 'I’d Figure it out', patted my shoulder, and walked out of the bar. I looked to the barkeep and he shook his head, put my tea on the table and walked away into the back room.
I sat there thinking through the events of the night, then to the past week, and then to my life. I began to realize that the inside life was the best thing that could have happened. No one would be hurt, no one died from a shot in the back. No thievery. Just plain honest to Luna happy life.
I suddenly snapped awake. I had my head leaning on the window. I looked out into the pale, rainy night, seeing nothing outside but pure darkness. I looked down to my cup of tea, now cold, and tossed it back into my throat like a shot. I sluggishly slipped out from the table and limped up the stairs. I made it to the room just enough to shut the door and fall back onto the ground, out for the night…
***************
…” Dammit Elric, wake up. You’re blocking the door.” Blitz pushed me. I snorted awake.
“Mmm….. What time is it?” I mumbled.
“Time to get your sorry ass off the floor, into the bath, and to work. Your about to be late.” Blitz replied.
I shot up from the floor, checked the time on my Pip buck, and dashed to the bathroom, cleaning myself with what I could with the dirty bath water. I combed my mane down from its bed headed state to a semi decent fashion. I grabbed my utility barding and ran through the door…
I arrived to the station with just enough time to sneak past the foreman to clock in. I went straight to work on one of the wiring components.
“Elric! I need you over here!” yelled one of my co-workers. I looked over to see Coral, a mare with a purplish hue to her otherwise white coat and violet mane. She was having trouble with one of the transformers that’s been malfunctioning for a while now. The outer shell was sparking and smoking. I noticed that the wiring was loose and would cause a fatal shock if not secured. I quickly ran to her aid as fast as I could. I managed to grab hold of the wiring with plastic holdings and help the mare reline the device.
After the task was complete, Coral wiped her brow and kissed my cheek, turning my face a rosy red. A few of my co-workers snickered and stared as Coral trotted away. I put on a grim face and went back to work.
“ELRIC!” I heard a familiar voice yell. I turned to see Lucky galloping towards me. He seemed panicked and upset. He slowed to a stop in front of me. “ You… ne….we…” he said between gasps of breaths.
“Whoa, calm down. Catch your breath. Then talk.” I put a hoof on his shoulder. He inhaled and exhaled and caught his breath. “Now… what’s going on?”
He looked back up to from the ground and stared straight at me with concern. “Whipleash need us. He said that the town is going to be attacked. Blitz, Stein, and himself are talking through defenses.”
My eyes went wide.” Why?! Who’s attacking us?” I exclaimed. Everyone around us was mumbling amongst themselves or heading back towards the town.
Lucky put a hoof on my shoulder and showed that worried look of concern. “It’s the Raiders…”
My thoughts shot back to last night. Could they be here for their friends? Did I cause this? I took one look at Lucky, nodded, and galloped with him back to the town.
All the way there, my mind was plagued by guilty and concerned thoughts. I didn’t hear any fighting in the streets or anything of that sort anywhere. I honestly didn’t know what the hell was happening. Everything was as silent as prayer in the mornings in the stable.
We wheeled around the corner of a bakery to see Reign, a pearl white pegasus with a revolver in her mouth, and Whipleash sitting around a table. The pegasus looked up to the blue pony, nodded, and zoomed off into the sky. Reign stayed just to the point of us arriving, turned and trotted off to the east. Whipleash turned to us and shook his head.
“We are in some deep trouble here, gentlecolts.” He replied, waving us over to the table. I looked around to see if Blitz was around, but with no success.
“When Cloud came back early this morning from an errand, she said that there was a raider camp massing out over the hill there.” He pointed toward the east. “But… we don’t know if they will circle around us. They have before and they had failed before. But as I was told, it looks like almost every Raider in the wasteland is here. Blitz and Stein are looking after the children and helping coordinate the barricading. I need you, Elric, to take to the skies and help out our fronts. Lucky, I need you to run supplies to and fro from the strongpoints. All good?” He explained, looking at each of us. I hung my head in shame.
“I’m sorry, sir…. I can’t fly…” I replied. I heard Whipleash shift in his chair and I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up to see him smiling at me.
“It’s okay. I understand.” He patted my shoulder a couple of times, and removed it. “ Then that means… I need you at the bell tower in the church. Here, take this radio, go up there, meet with Swift Current, and relay enemy positions to us as they come…. IF they come…” He adjusted a little and drew out some numbers.
“Here. Take these too. Swift will understand. Now go.” He pointed a hoof toward the center of the town and pushed me towards it. “Hurry. I have a bad feeling about this…. Something seems off…”
I nodded towards Lucky and ran towards the church. I galloped as fast as I could. I will admit, I was terrified. I’ve seen what happens when a bunch of innocents get in the way of a goal for murderers. I was half way to the Church when I heard the first cry to the north. Not one of agony or torment, one of sadness and stress.
As I reached the door to the courtyard outside the church, I heard the first of the shouts coming from the west. The roar of mixed laughter and screams fill my ears. My eyes went wide as I heard more and more come to pass as I hopped up stair to reach the top of the bell tower. Shots came ringing down from the roof of the tower as Swift Current fired bullet after bullet down into the city. I poked my head out from the trapdoor that connected the top floor to the stairs. I saw a large, brown and white coat that looked like somepony splash white onto a brown canvas. His white mane had crow and eagle feathers intertwined in it. A large caliber rifle laid in his fore-hoofs as he peered through the scope, firing another shot down towards the east.
“Good. You’re finally here.” Swift Current grunted at me. I crawled over to the black and white pony with the radio in my mouth.
“Take these. Call out any enemy you see. Use the radio if you see any large groups advancing towards any part of the town. It seems their more focused to the west than anything else. You understand?” He pushed a pair of binoculars to me as I slithered next to him. I placed the radio between us and proceeded to view the world below in a magnified perspective. The town was littered with fire and explosions. The Raiders stuck hard and struck fast.
“Here. Whipleash said these are for you too.” I handed him the numbers. Swift to a quick glance at them, grunted and went back to his rifle. “I’ll do that shit later. More important crap right now.”
I shrugged and place the binoculars on my nose and started to search.
“There! By the barber!” I yelled. Swift shifted with speed and spotted the two raiders by the shop. Swift drew a quick breath, held it, and fired two repetitive shots. Both raiders took the shots to their chests, fell down to their sides and bleed out.
“They're down. There are three more by the cake shop.” I spoke to Swift Current. He shifted positions to the north and repeated the process. The three never knew what hit them.
We went like this for an hour, picking off stragglers that strayed from main attacks. The radio blasted news from all fronts. Even for a well able town like Charity, the attack was unrelenting. The raiders were never ending it seemed like.
Up until one of them got smart.
…” Okay. That one won’t be walking around anytime soon.” He proclaimed. I continued to scan the area for a bit. Most of the raiders were either out of sight or too far away for accurate fire.
“Well, that all we can do for now. Come here. Let me see your pip buck real quick.” Swift current leaned over and took my arm, leaving me confused. He started to punch stuff into the device quickly. All of a sudden in my vision, a small little blip came up, flashing slowly and steadily.
“Wha… what it that?” I asked, trying to swat it away.
“It’s a waypoint. It’s programmed into your compass. Whipleash apparently want you to go to the Farm.” Swift Current replied. “After all this is over, you sho-“
A loud whoosh blew up from right below us. We looked down to see a rocket coming from the barding shop. It appeared that a raider slipped past the guards.
The rocket slammed straight into the bell tower, exploding and caving in a section of it. We looked at each other for a split second before all went to hell. The bell above us came crashing down on top of us, smashing Swift Current in the head. I was caught under it, trapped with an unholy ringing as it hit the ground. I felt something splash on me and I feared what I might have been. The extremely loud crunching of wood also echoed through the bell.
All of a sudden, the floor caved in. I fell through the hole, smacking and bouncing off posts and beams, breaking bones in the process. I slammed to the ground with a crack from my left foreleg. I screamed in anguish as I rolled over to look up at my death coming fast. The blood smeared bell came crashing through the beams and catching on the posts, only stopping it for a brief moment.
“I need to get out of here!” I screamed in my head. I turned over a started to crawl, but the pain was too much to bear. My vision started to fade in and out with black dots. Tears came to my eyes from the pain and anguish that was coming from my leg and torso. “I had enough of this bullshit for one day already!”
I flipped back over to see the bell come through two more levels, and only had three more to go before I met the same fate as Current did. I began to crawl again, gritting my teeth through the pain. The bell broke through the third story and caught on something on the second. I continued my crawl as I heard splintering wood collapse on itself. A fire seemed to have broken out in the crater the rocket made, which didn’t help with the situation at all. I looked up in front of me to see the entrance to the church, its doors barely on its hinges. One more push… that all I need.” I gave one more heave.
The bell collapsed through to the ground, making a loud gong sound. I crunched up into a little ball, barely being missed by the damned thing. My body screamed at me for doing it, but I at least got out of the way. I rolled over on my back and stared at the crumbling ceiling. I started to chuckle.
“So this… THIS is what I and Blitz wanted? To be shot, stabbed, break bones, fall down FUCKING EIGHT STORIES OF A CHURCH!?” I screamed. I coughed up a small amount of blood and spat it out. I continued to stare at the ceiling getting inevitably closer to crushing me in a fiery blaze. I closed my eyes.
The doors behind me slammed open as a silhouette of a male pony crashed in with a rifle strapped to his back. He galloped into the room and grabbed me in his teeth, dragging my out into the daylight. The closer we got to the light, the more I recognized him. The red, dirty coat. The shot up cowpony hat. The metal leg.
“Reign?” I wheezed. He grunted as he gave a hard tug. We fell into the light as the church’s ceiling collapsed before us.
I remained on the ground as Reign picked himself up.
“Can you stand?” He asked me. I just shook my head, unable to say anything due to the amount of smoke and blood in my lungs. I coughed up some more blood and soot-covered crap.
“Damn it… okay. Come on.” He grabbed hold of me one more time and hauled me over his back.
We trotted through the town center towards the town hall. Fire and gunshot polluted the once peaceful town. We passed several ponies lying in a puddle of their own blood. Reign shot down two raiders in quick succession and carried on. I blacked out several times before I caught sight of the town hall.
Reign pushed through the door and placed me beside another injured pony, a bandage covering his face masked his identity from me. Lucky and Blitz were nowhere to be seen.
“Doc! I need your help right quick! Elric is injured badly!” Reign shouted over the commotion in the Town Hall. Almost everyone in town was here. Beaten and battered all to hell. Doctor Stein pushed between two arguing ponies and went wide-eyed at the sight of me. He looked between me and Reign for a few seconds, getting more and more puzzled by the look of his face. He shook the look from his face and quickly started to check me over. “Shit. He has internal bleeding….three broken ribs…. A concussion…. His front leg is smashed all to hell. No damn way we can fix that right here.” He took out a potion and several salves and began treating my wounds.
A few minutes later, Blitz and Lucky showed up with a couple others. Blitz took one look at me and hung his head. Lucky put a look of worry on his face, and moved past ponies to help fend off the invaders trying to break in. Blitz came up to me, hugged me, and sat beside me. We didn’t say a word to each other for a while.
“… We are a mess, brother.” Blitz said, breaking the silence between us. “We shouldn’t have tried to leave.” I looked over to see tears falling form his mane-covered face. “We caused the death of everyone... We should be dead by now…. We-“
“Stop that depressing shit right now.” A voice interrupted. We looked over to see Whipleash in front of us. “You continue to lie to yourself like that, you will start to believe it.” Whipleash sternly glared at us and spoke. “You two are quite a mess, yes. But so is everyone else here. We all have made mistakes, but did you pull the trigger on all your friends? No. the enemy did. So you didn’t kill your home. The enemy did.” Whipleash both a hoof on both of us and smiled. “Stop worrying about the past. Especially now. Come.” Whipleash patted us and waved us to the center. Blitz helped me up and moved over to the center of the room.
Everyone started to gather. Doctor Stein moved to the center of the gathering.
“Let us pray to the Goddess above.” He spoke.
Everyone stooped their head and spoke, filling the hall with thunderous sound.
"Celestia, Goddess of the sun, please guide us to the gates of your Grace and allow the innocent and the brave pass on to everlasting peace..."
After the speech, I heard Reign sigh. "Well, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die with taking a hoofful of them with me." I shot a look at the crazy pony as he said a few words to Cloud and jumped through the window. Ponies gathered around the openings and shot out to the overwhelming crowd of ponies. I looked over to my brother and Lucky, nodded, and move to follow suit.
But it was in vain. A loud explosion rocked the town hall and all of a sudden three heavily armored ponies came through the openings with grenade launchers and saddle rifles, ready to mow us all down. Their armor resembled the ones Polaris’s entourage wore, which made my stomach ache. Lucky immediately looked like he saw his worst nightmare come to life ass he ducked behind a tipped table. One of the armored ponies removed her helmet to reveal short, cropped blue mane with a tan-ish coat.
“People of Charity City, we mean you no harm! We are the Brotherhood of Steel, Badlands zone Chapter! Please, let’s be calm.” She spoke with command. “I am Captain Steel-heart. My friends are clearing up the nuisance outside. Please remain in here while we secure the town.”
I looked back to Lucky cowering behind the table. He genuinely looked scared. I turned away from the window and started to walk away.
A shot rang from the outside. Audibly heard even over the pre-existing noise. The sound of an extremely powerful rifle.
A split-second before the sound hit my ears, an extreme pain ran from my leg as blood splattered my side and face. I feel to the ground in renewed agony. I screamed as I looked at my leg.
It was no longer there.
What was left was just a bone and ripped up meat. My eyes rolled back into my head as the voices from my brother screaming my name and Doc’s fading, inaudible words. I slipped into shock as I hit the ground and blackness swallowed me whole. for a while i just laid there.
Then a growing white light started to take over the darkness. A familiar voice came from the light.
“Elric... what am I going to do about you?”.
The pinstriped pony came into view. “You have done well in the past weeks. Maybe Luna will allow you a place in her kingdom.” The pony came closer and placed a hoof on my nub for a leg. “This is a predicament. Stein has his work cut out for him.” The white pony looked up at me with a sad look. “I’m sorry.” He turned and walked back to the light.
“Wait!” I yelled. “Who are you?” the white pony stopped, turned, and looked at me with the same saddened look.
“Let’s just call me Atlas for now. You can think of me as your ‘conscience’. But none of that now. You will be waking up soon. Remember: You are needed. Don’t be foolish like your past.” He turned back and the light enveloped him. The light brightened for a moment, and faded back out into darkness.
I stood in the darkness, looking around. My memory flashed back to the sight of my parents dead in our home. The screams of the residents echoed in my head. I covered my ears with my hooves.
“Make it stop!” I yelled. I gritted my teeth and tightly held my eyes closed.
Make it Stop, Please!
...Please…. Stop….
...I’m sorry…
...I’m… Sorry...
...Wake…sorry...
...Wake... up...
...Waking up
...He’s waking up!
Level up!
(Spotter perk): your experience as a spotter has improved your sniping capabilities. You learned from your sniper the ways of better breathing while using scoped firearms.
“Remember the dead. Because the Living has no respect from them.”
I woke with a start. I was in a familiar room. The patient’s housing in Doctor Stein’s house. Light shown through the window, making it feel like it might have been day out. I was retained to the gurney with Blitz, Stein, Reign, Whipleash, Lucky, and Stein’s son standing over me with nurse attire covered in blood. The light from the ceiling was all blurry but continued to come in focus. I started to look over to my left leg, hoping it was only a dream.
Stein caught me right before I saw the sight. He placed a hoof to my head, turned it back toward the ceiling and flashed his light in my eyes, I squinted from the sudden light.
“He seems okay in the dilation part. Pupils looks good. Seems the concussion wore off some. That’s good.” Doc explained. He started to prod at my sides, making it look like he was trying to tickle me. I flinched at first at his cold hooves, but grew accustomed to the feeling. “Ribs look good as well. You’re gonna need to be careful. Your stitches might come out… again.” He gave me a look of annoyance.
I turned my head again to see if my leg was still there, but again Stein stopped me.
“No… Not yet. We don’t need you getting anxious. Here… take this.” He handed me a small blue tablet and put it in my mouth. “Now swallow…. There you go… now relax…”
The room started to twist and turn, weird colors and shapes appeared in my vision.
“What…. What was that, Doc?” I slurred out.
“Pain meds. Don’t worry. Non drug related. Bad drugs anyway.” He replied. He and the others started to turn weird as well.
“Hey, Blitz… you… you look funny…. mo… more than usual...” I sloshed at Blitz. He seemed to shake his head and say something, but I couldn’t tell. The room was getting faster. All of the sudden, I blacked out.
And immediately woke up. My eyes snapped open, seeing the room had returned back to normal. No more light shown through the overhead window. Crickets and coyotes chirped and howled outside. Then my senses snapped back in.
I needed to pee. Badly. And I was still restrained to the gurney. A leather strap held my head in place as well now.
I looked around the room as much as I could, which wasn’t much. I started to freak. I couldn’t hold it much longer. I didn’t even have time to scream for help. My bladder finally gave out after a couple more seconds. I started to go… but the wet feeling didn’t come. Something was stuck in… Oh.
After my little ordeal was over, I continued to survey what I could. From what I could see, I was the only one in the room patient wise due to no other breathing or grunting about. I saw the top of Blitz’s green mane, but nothing much else but ceiling. I could feel my body, and it ached like hell. Everything but my leg. I felt it, but it felt…weird. I couldn’t move it or look over to it.
“Blitz?” I wheezed out, my mouth extremely dry. Blitz woke up with a slight whine, look over to see me looking around and jumped out of the chair he was in and ran to my side. Tear stains caked his face and his eyes were bloodshot from it. He broke into a big grin and wiped his face.
“H-Hey brother. Feeling okay?” He asked, his voice quivering to keep from sobbing. I look straight at him and put on an unamused look.
“How do you think I feel, Blitz?” I sarcastically replied. His face remained the same, but the hoof at my side did not. He clipped me across the head, making my little headache I had become harsh.
“You’re a dumbass, Elric.” He pouted.
“And you’re no better.” I replied with a stuck-out tongue. I jiggled around and they look back at him. “Any chance you can undue me?”
He looked over to the corner outside my vision and nodded.
“I’ll be right back. I’ll go get Doc.” He turned away and trotted out of the room. I lied there staring at the ceiling. I tried moving my left leg again, but I couldn't feel anything. All I got was a weird, buzzy feeling like it was asleep. I continued to try and struggle to even get a look at it, but it was all for naught. Doc knew how to make sure no one was getting out of restraints easily. I even tried moving my wings, but they were pinned underneath me.
“Ah, ah, ah Elric. Not yet.” I heard Doctor Stein from the door. He walked into my field of vision and put on a solemn look. “I’m sorry son. We couldn't do anything for you. The wounds you sustained was too great for your leg,” He reached over to the end table and picked up a clipboard. “Now, there are some things you should know before you see it.” He leaned over to undue my head strap.
“I'm sorry Elric. We had to remove it.” He backed up after he undid the restraint.
My eyes snapped open wide. I shakily started to look over. The sight was horrifying.
My mangled and obviously unusable leg laid on a blanket with a tourniquet fastened at the stub. A large, gaping chunk was missing and charred from the bullet it took. I turned to see that I will still be able to walk on four still. A black metal limb had replaced the leg at the shoulder. My Pip-buck was torn apart and placed inside the prosthetic. I saw wires and cables winding through the casing. The beginning of the limb was riveted down into my shoulder, but it looked… bulkier.
“We had to place plates inside the clavicle. Otherwise the metal will just rip apart the bone and hide. The metal is made from what appears to be oxidized aluminum and onyx. We still need to connect the nerve endings, but you will need to be awake for that. Killing you isn’t on the list.” Doctor Stein explained.
I couldn’t stop staring at it. It was something out of a nightmare, but at least I could still walk. I looked back up to my brother and the doctor. Blitz was hanging his head, his mane covered his face. Stein continued his serious look.
“Are you ready to get out of bed?” He asked, keeping composure. I simply nodded.
He sighed and turned to my metal leg. “Now this is going to hurt like hell. Bite this.” He placed a wooden dowel in my mouth. I looked at him questionably.
“Wha Disth fo?” I asked around the rod.
Doctor Stein reached over, took a breath, and yanked down on a lever. My mouth immediately clenched down on the rod like was the last meal I ever would have. The pain was excruciating. Everything I ever felt was absolutely nothing to this feeling. I grunted and bit on the dowel, hearing the creak of wood. Tears welled up in my eyes, making it blurry to see. The restraints keep me from getting up and beating the shit out of Doc.
After a few minutes, the pain subsided enough to bear it. I spat out the dowel, seeing a perfectly flawless impression of my teeth in it.
“That. Is what it’s for. You would have broken your teeth without out it.” Doc turned and started to unbuckle my back legs. “Now… if you try anything, I will keep you tied up.” He undid the first leg out of kicking range. I slowed my breath, trying to get calm. I lifted my new leg, feeling the weight and fluidness of it. It was indeed heavy, but way lighter than I expected. It was stiffer, but I would manage. I bent it in and out. It moved like a normal leg. I place it down beside me.
After Doc undid all my restraints, Blitz and he helped me up from the bed. Doc looked at me and smiled. I looked at him with a cocked eye, wondering what might be the issue now.
“Oh. I almost forgot. You won’t need...” without any hesitation, he reached over and yanked out the catheter, making me cringe and cross my legs, letting out a small yelp. “THIS anymore.” He placed it over by my wrapped up leg. With his magic, he lifted up the small pile of refuse and carried it out with a sly smile. “Try to get use to walking with that prosthetic, Mr. Faelan. Its gonna me a long journey for you soon.” He disappeared into the hallway.
I waved my leg around, getting a feel for it. I slipped off the bed carefully, putting some weight on my new appendage. Blitz helped me up from the bed, watching my every move carefully. I smiled at him and assured that I felt fine. (besides having a tube viciously ripped out of me). He attempted a smile back, but fell short. I looked at him in concern.
“Hey… what’s wrong?” I put my hoof on his shoulder. He just hung his head. I saw a tear fall from behind the curtain of blue and green hair.
“I'm sorry, L…. I’m so, so sorry…” His voice quivered. He looked up at me and I saw his puffy red eyes more clearly. It was apparent that he had been crying for a while now. “I…. I couldn’t protect you. How can I call myself a big brother if I can’t even-“.
I didn’t allow him to talk anymore.
I pulled him into a tight hug and grit my teeth as I held back my own. “Stop. Don’t talk like that. You couldn’t have. You weren’t the one that pulled the trigger. You’re not the one that shot me. You did what you could…. And I can’t thank you enough.” He stopped for a few moments, then broke down into my shoulder, sobbing and hugging me. I placed my head on his, looking up at the cracked up ceiling. I started to cry myself.
“Now let me protect you now….”
************
I limped my way out of the room, leaning against my brother for support. We came into the room to see Reign and a one of those steel armored ponies leaving. Whipleash and Stein looked up and smiled.
“Glad to see you already up and walking some. You’re a fast healer!” The wheelchair bound pony exclaimed. Stein just rolled his eyes and went back to writing something on a piece of paper. I just smiled and continued to the couch.
“Thank you, sir.” I replied as I sat down. Whipleash passed me a cup of tea and nodded his head.
“ Well, I’m glad you're healed up some, cause I have some news.” He spoke. Stein looked up to him and nodded. He slipped out of chair and proceeded to the closet. he pulled out a set of Stable maintenance barding and threw it to me. The barding felt a lot heavier then normal and had two holsters for pistols on each side. I looked at him in question.
“ If you see Reign again before you leave, you’d better thank him for that.” I looked at Blitz and slipped it on.
“Elric. Blitz. I apologize for this, but I need you to go somewhere.” Whipleash leaned forward in his chair and gave us a stern look. “ Did Swift Current put in the numbers?” he pointed a hoof at my Pip-buck.
I looked down at the slow, pulsating arrow on the map. “ Yeah. something about the Farm?” Whipleash just nodded in response. “ So what is the Farm?”
Whipleash sat back in chair, and closed his eyes. he put his hoofs together in front in his face.
“Look…. this ain’t easy, so I’m just gonna be straight with you.” he opened his eyes and gave a very stern look at us.
“The Farm used to be an cattle ranch before the War. It used to house most of Equestria's milk and cheese industry, but now…. Now it's a slaughter house for the Raiders. Many dark and horrible things happen in that Goddess-forsaken place. What I need for you there is that a very particular device resides there. We, as the people of Charity, need it gone. Before they decide to kill us off.” He leaned in again and looked at us in concern.
“I wish I could ask anypony else this, but you are the only one we’ve got. Reign is gone now and nopony else has something you do.”
“And that is?” I questioned, feeling slightly overwhelmed about this. Blitz sat there with a frightful expression.
“Hope. Perseverance. Integrity.” He replied with a smile. “You and your brother have done things many ponies would balk away from. You're as headstrong as I was when i was your age.”
“So… will you help us?” he asked again.
I looked over to my brother as the situation started to hit me. We have been through hell and back these last few weeks. seen things happen that we would never wish upon are worse enemy. I promised Blitz that i would protect him and I intended to keep that promise. I knew sooner or later that i would have to act on something that would put me in danger, but not this fast. I was hoping for a peaceful life up here as much as I could with Blitz, but as the days went by, i knew this was not so.
I turned back to my friend and nodded.
“Okay. I'll do it.”
Whipleash let out a held breath and smiled. “ Thank you Elric. I can’t begin to thank you enough for this.” He wheeled himself closer and reached underneath the table and pulled out a lacquered, wooden box with a plate saying “To Remember Better Days.” -S.P. He opened it up and turned it towards me. Inside was a well-polished, maintained, .40 caliber revolver with 12 bullets aligned underneath with pockets keeping them snug on the red velvet. The revolver gleamed in the sunlight on its black metal. The polished ivory grip with the words “ Till the last shot is fired.” was engraved in it.
I looked up at him, seeing him smile. “This is for you. I was saving it for…. well, it needs a good owner besides sitting here getting dusty. Take it.” He pushed the box towards me.
Gingerly, I picked it up and got a feel for it. “Th-Thank you, sir. I appreciate it!” I exclaimed. I placed it inside my barding holster. Blitz looked at me smiled.
“Now… with that settled, I’ll take my leave. whenever you’re ready, Elric. Good luck, and let Luna and Celestia protect you both.” Whipleash nodded at me and Blitz, Shook his hoof, and nodded to Stein. The Doc waved him goodbye and turned to us.
“Now, Mr. Faelan. I don’t quite agree with this move, but like he said, we have no choice. You need rest before you go, but we need this done yesterday. now I need to sleep. I was up all night fixing you and the bonehead Reign. Can you believe him?! Running out there, getting his ass shot up and shit. reminds me of a certain someone.” He turned to Whipleash with a sarcastic look as he opened the front door. Whipleash turned to Stein and gave a disapproving look.
“Good night, gentle-stallions. Good hunting, my friends.”
Blitz and I were silent on the way back to the room. The endless clouds seemed to no mercy to the earth. Barkeep had gotten the message about our mission, and when we came into the flat, he gave us a small nod and gave me a set of saddlebags full of supplies. He smiled and nodded to us in thanks. as we made it up the steps, my thoughts turned to my brother. To home. To life our life in general. We have seen the horrors of the world first-hoof and barely came out on top. I lowered my head as one thought hit my mind.
We walked into the room to see Lucky putting on a thick leather barding. His revolver and saddlebags sat on the bed beside him. He looked up to me and nodded. No words were needed to express our anxiety. Blitz set down his bags and sighed.
“Well, this is going to be fun. You ready?” He looked at me and put on a fake smile. I knew he wasn’t ready to do this. He opposed violence in the Stable, and hesitant to put another’s life to rest if it came to that. I looked straight into those eyes of my father’s elder son. I put on a stern look.
“We are. But you’re not coming.” I replied. His eyes went wide. I immediately put up my hoof. “Look, Blitz. I know what you’re gonna say, but you can’t do this. Let me and Lucky do this.”
Tears started to well up in Blitz’s eyes. He knew what I said was true. He put his head in his hooves and cried. Lucky and I turned to each other. He nodded once, picked up his stuff and walked outside. I sat down next my brother and put a hoof on his shoulder.
“ Look Blitz. I know you want to protect me, but right now I need you to stay here. You can so much more for this city then I. You can continue life here. Lucky and I can handle this. We will be back soon.” I put on my best smile I could. I was fighting back my own tears.
Blitz wiped his face and stared at the floor. The room was eerily silent for a while until he let out a sigh.
“You’re right, L. I’m not the most skilled with violent situations. But there is something you need to do if I’m staying here.” He stood up and look at me grimly with his puffy red eyes. he poked me in the chest hard.
“If you happen to get killed, I will personally trot my happy ass to Celestia knows where to finish the job myself, you got me?”
I looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. I know he was trying to act tough, but I played the part.
“Yes, Sir, will not happen.” I replied, popping a salute.
He let out a grunt, looked at me for a second, and turned away. “Good. now go. Don’t fuck up.” He replied.
I stood up and stared at my brother. It killed me inside seeing him like this, but I had no choice. I didn’t want him dead. I wrapped him in a hug, held it for a second, and then walked out, closing the door behind me. Lucky was standing outside, looking out at the oncoming storm to the north. The little pip pulsating on the Pip-buck screen showed the same heading. I looked to my friend and attempted a smile.
“ Let’s get going. Don’t want to keep the raiders awaiting.” He replied, bumping me. I looked back to the door, wondering if I made the right choice. But I guess it was too late for that.
“So what are we supposed to get again?” Lucky asked as we walked into the drizzling dreariness outside.
I looked at my Pip-buck and scrolled through the note Whipleash sent me. One word stood out through it all. I looked up at Lucky and shrugged. “All it says is to go destroy a thing called ‘Echelon’. Know of it?” I responded. Lucky just shook his head.
“Well then… guess we’ll find out once we get there. Shall we?” I pointed a hoof towards our goal.
As we started our journey into the unknown, I couldn’t help that a feeling of adventure was welling up inside. I was going to see some part of a world that was lost in time. But first things first.
“You try so hard to do your best, but in the end, there is always be someone better…”
“FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!” I huffed as I dove behind the rock Lucky was holed up behind as bullets sparked and zinged over our heads.
“Why do they hate us so much?! They attacked us first!” Lucky exclaimed as he fired a few rounds downrange.
“Well, it doesn’t help at all that you killed their only mare.” I hissed, picking up a piece of wooden debris from the ground next to me.
The three Raiders approached the cover of the two of us. I looked up quick enough to see a pistol floating in the blue magic pointing at us. Without a second to spare, I swung the wooden stick at the gun, breaking the hold of the magic, sending a round ricocheting off the dirt right next to Lucky. Making him yelp a little, sending the gun rolling away in the swirling dirt. Lucky took the opportunity, peering around the cover and sending two bullets into the disarmed pony, dropping him to the ground writhing in pain till he passed. The two remaining raiders screamed in rage and began to stampede our cover.
I took to the charge, taking up my splintering stick in my muzzle, and stepped out to meet our enemies. The first one, a unicorn with a dirty red coat, pulled out a machete from his side, leaped at me and swung down into my shoulder, barely nicking the skin, running the blade down the metal leg. The other one, named Black-Blood, drew out a .223 rifle and proceeded to draw down on Lucky.
The first caught me in the leg, nicking a chip of the blade into my shoulder as the blade ran down the metal appendage. I winced, but grit my teeth as I swung my badly splintering stick at the raider. Black-blood fired three times at Lucky, barely missing him. Lucky fired twice in response, making their mark into his adversary’s leg and chest. Black-blood fell over, yelling unpleasantries. I placed a well-aimed kick to my opponent’s face, making him reel back. I swung my stick up into the raiders chest, piercing his heart. The pony was dead before he hit the ground. As the last of his life was draining out of him, Lucky came to the dying Black-blood and ended his suffering with a quick stab to the throat.
As the dust settled, a post office and barely standing store provided the only shelter from the coming night. The rest of the town was nothing but rubble and the eerie silence of the long dead.
Lucky turned to see me hunched over my latest kill, staring at the still raider on the ground.
“Hey… we-we should look around and scavenge what we can find. We can meet back up in the post office.” Lucky spoke to me, looking at me in worry.
After a few painful long moments, I sighed and nodded. “I’ll take the food store and the west side, you can take the post office and the east.” I stood up and trudged into the store.
After a few quick run-ins with giant roaches and a fire-breathing ant. I ran out of the store, throwing a empty can back through the entrance. “F...Shi… fucking hate those things.” I exasperated as he limped away towards the post office.
Lucky already cleared out the post office and had his spoils laid out in front of him. I sat beside my friend and poured out my findings from my saddlebags of loot and separated everything. After two hours of scavenging, both of us found 4 cans of various soup, 3 dirty water bottles, 9 rounds of .44 (as per the Pipbuck), a leather barding, and the weapons and ammo from the raiders.
“So you can have the pistol and the barding, and you can have the .44 rounds.” Lucky divided up the goods and stuffed our saddlebags with our loot. I checked my newly acquired weapon. The 10mm pistol had seen a lot of use. The whole thing was rusted and the thing could’ve never been cleaned, surprising me that it fired at all.
After patching up my shoulder and determining there wasn't much damage, we barricaded the front doors and settled in the farthest office away. Both of us were too tired and exhausted to even speak, and passed out next to each other.
The rain started to drizzle again, causing the clouds to darken out the last rays of visible light. The two of us had traveled almost a quarter away from the last known location of Echelon, and it everything was going smoothly as it could.
I woke with a start. The never-ending rain was pouring outside and the sound of slight dripping hitting the metal desk on the other side of the room was the only sound. I looked around the room for Lucky, but was nowhere to be found.
“Lucky?” I whispered. Silence followed.
I stood up and grabbed my knife from my barding. I poked my head out of the doorway and continued my search for my friend. Nothing changed from earlier, but still didn’t damper that eerie feeling I was getting.
“Lucky?” I whispered again. “... Where did you sneak off to?”
A thud sounded from above me, making dust fall from the ceiling. I continued up the stairs to the next floor, listening for whatever made the sound. Slight creaks and groans from the wood below my hooves. As I reached the top of the stairs, I placed my knife back into its sheath. I noticed the door leading to the roof was cracked open. I pushed open the door slowly to reveal the dull, hazy horizon. Out in the distance to the north, was the city of Hoofington. The dark green glow from the city seemed out of place and evil. To the west was the ruins of the once great Canterlot. The seemly never-ending haze drowned out the sky with its tears, causing the world around us to soak in the sadness.
Sitting underneath a makeshift tent, sat a familiar white pegasus. I trotted up to my friend, and sat down beside him on the dirty couch overlooking the hillside. He seemed lost in thought. I flipped through my Pip-buck, checking through all of my stuff. Somehow, someway, my Pip-buck cataloged everything in my saddlebags, gave it a value in caps, and alphabetized it.
Suddenly, Lucky spoke up.
“I don’t think I ever told you about Kalem and Polaris at all, have I?” He whispered, almost to himself.
I looked up to my friend with a cocked expression.
“No, not really. Just that he is a psychopath looking for old equestrian artifacts and stuff.” I replied. I flicked through my Pip-buck for something to eat for the both of us. I fished out a couple boxes of Apple Sugar Bombs and passed one to Lucky.
Best damned food in the wasteland.
“Well,” Lucky spoke between chews. ” Kalem wasn’t much a Lord to begin with. He grew up in the Society, where they believe they are descended from royalty, even if they are not. All are pretty much just a bunch of posh snobs. Kalem on the other hoof is believed to be descendant of a Blueblood pony, I’m not quite sure who that is, but moving on.”
Lucky stood up and waved me to follow. As we descended back down into the post office, he continued.
“Well, being from the Blueblood line, he is believed to be a genius in his own right. Hell, he could run the Society if it wasn’t for King Awesome and his heirs.” Lucky paused to check outside the building for anything else, and after a brief moment, he motioned to follow. “After a few years, he challenged King Awesome for the throne, lost horribly, and was exiled out, stripped of everything. After a while. He caught wind of some project people were looking for, and ran into Red Eye in Fillydelphia. Polaris was hired up right after that. Or so I was told.” Lucky said, stepping over broken parts of the road we caused hours ago.
“So… This Red Eye character...isn’t he, like, the leader of the slavers that I hear so much about?” I asked, keeping my eye open for any possible dangers that might rear their ugly heads as we exited the road onto a trail.
Lucky snickered a little. “Well, yes and no, but we can go over that later. But for now, let’s focus on Polaris and his… entourage.” Lucky pushed aside a tumbleweed. We heard a couple of shots in the distance. I glanced in the direction it came from, but E.F.S brought up nothing.
“They call themselves the Outcast. They were all Steel Rangers once, sworn to protect the technology and teachings of the Ministry of Wartime Technologies, but they went rogue when the Elders deemed them… volatile. They were kicked to the curb and became mercenaries. Polaris himself was a Paladin, which made him the most dangerous of them all. He decided to level an entire settlement over a worthless piece of tech.” Lucky winced at that.
I looked at my friend with newfound curiosity. If he knew all of this, why didn’t he just leave them? Why wait till the slaughter of my Stable? I’d have to ask him once our current adventure was over.
Three red bars suddenly appeared in my eyesight, making me motion to Lucky to halt. We sneaked up closer to the bars, hiding behind some dead bushes.
We came up to a clearing with a caved in house. Three raiders we enjoying themselves with a corpse of a recently deceased mare and her filly. Rage quickly built up in my head, causing a pit in my stomach. Out came the 10mm and I started to advance on the defilers before Lucky grabbed my tail.
“Elric, no. Don’t. We haven’t-” was all he got out before one of the raiders turned towards our direction and giggled.
“I hear fresh meat.” he crowed.
I didn’t give him any more time to speak before I slipped into S.A.T.S, marked his head three times, and released. In slow motion, I saw his face become a mishmash of viscera. The body slumped to the ground with a wet thump. His two friends pulled themselves from the bodies, and drew their weapons. A shotgun came out from one and peppered me with pellets, stopping me in my tracks as it ripped flesh from my chest.
Ow, that fucking hurts! Let’s not do that shit again!
The other pony, wielding a knife, came at me, putting his blade into my neck.
Well, tried too anyway. Lucky tackled knife pony, tumbling into the mud. With blurry vision, I shot two more times at the pony who shot me. First bullet missed, but the second suck home in the right leg, putting the pony to the ground on his knees, spitting out curses at me. Lucky put all his weight on top of the buck, keeping him pinned to the ground. Shotgun stood back as I tried to fire again. The blood-smeared dirt was becoming more and more inviting, but I knew what was at stake. I wasn’t ready to go yet.
With pure luck, I fired three more shots at my foe, all three making their holes in his chest, producing a yowl and dropping to the ground. I looked over to Lucky placing his firearm in the mouth of his opponent and letting loose a round. Pink and red mist colored the air for a split second, covering Lucky’s face also. He looked at me in horror as I too slumped to the ground and stared at the grey haze above me. Lucky appeared in my fading vision, whispering “Don’t die” and digging in his bags. A bottle was produced, the glass came to my lips, and I felt the purple liquid slip into my system and started its magical curing. I felt the holes close and disappear.
“You damned idiot! Next time, Don’t just run into the fight. That will get you killed!” Lucky screamed as he helped me to my hooves.
“I-I-I’m sorry, Lucky. When I saw way they were doing, I just-” I tried explaining before Lucky grabbed my shoulder and looked at me with a worried expression.
“I know you meant well, L. But what’s done is done, and sadly that shit happens everywhere, sometimes even worse. You running into danger like that will get you killed. Don’t throw away your life with reckless abandon.” He gripped my shoulder, and turned away from me, leaving me sitting there, letting the rain wash the blood away from my coat.
After we scavenged what we could, finding a leather jacket fitting me just fine, and some medical supplies, we continued to follow the road for what felt like an eternity until we came up to set of hills. The road forked towards the west, winding down farther into a patch of forest and another path up towards the hills. We climbed the hill until a radio frequency popped up in my vision, making my Pip-buck chirp. I looked over to Lucky, who just rolled his eyes. I panned through my Pip-buck and switched on the station. Some static came out, but tuned in to a male speaker.
“...And thanks to the efforts of the Stable Dweller, that’s one less group of raiders terrorizing the wasteland,” The deep voice spoke.
Stable Dweller?
“In other news, the Town of Charity was attacked by an army of raiders, but the fearless townsponies fended off the horde with the help of some passing by Steel Rangers. Sources tell me, however, amongst the fighting, somepony swore they saw a pegasus in stable barding? I don’t know about you folks listening in, but that would be a peculiar sight to see, indeed. So if you’re out in that out of the Hoof, be sure to watch out for large groups of raiders and our Stable Pegasus. This is DJ PON-3 bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts.” I clicked off the station and looked at my companion with a questioning expression.
“What? It’s just some reporter or somepony in Manehattan. Nopony has seen him or met him before, so I doubt he is even real.” He replied with a shrug.
“Okay, but what did he mean by a Stable Pegasus?” I asked. Lucky froze in his tracks and turned towards me with a shocked expression. “ Is that a bad thing?”
Lucky trotted over to me and looked into my eyes. I bulked away and looked side-to-side, wondering what he was doing. He sat down in front of me and frowned.
“You’re serious, aren’t you? You really don’t know?” Lucky questioned.
“Know what? You’re being weird.” I rebutled.
“You don’t know about the whole ‘Enclave’ thing and the pegasi fleeing to the sky? Closing up the sky from the ground, sealing themselves in the sky? You don’t know anything about that? Never wondered why ponies stares at you like a walking sideshow?” Lucky gaped.
“Ah… no? I always assumed that they stared at me because I’m taller than most?” I smiled, Lucky face-hoofed in response.
“Okay look. Long story short, when the bombs fell, all the pegasi were recalled back into the clouds, sealing the ground away from the rest of the sky, hence the clouds never going away. The pegasi scientists and military are called the Enclave. They do whatever they do in the sky, awaiting the day they get their heads outta their asses and open the sky back up, or we all die down here and they come down and clean up what’s left. Pegasi on the ground are either born down here or Dashites. Dashites are pegasi exiled from the sky by the Enclave. They have had their cutie marks burned off and replace by Rainbow Dash’s brand. And pretty much all of Pegasi are hated for it.” Lucky explained. Drawing circles in the dirt as he talked.
After a couple minutes soaking in what I was just told, I nodded. “Sounds like a fun bunch of folks.” Lucky just hung his jaw, then shook his head in disbelief. “So there aren’t a lot of pegasi from stables, I take it?” I questioned.
“Well, in all honesty, you are the first I’ve ever heard about. I always wondered that also. Your brother isn’t a pegasus, and he said your parents were not either.” He said, cocking his head. “So how is it that you are, both NONE of your family is?”
I just rubbed my chin in thought. Then shrugged. “I really couldn’t tell ya. Maybe one of the first of my ancestors in the Stable was a pegasus. Never really asked about it.” I gave him my best ‘ I’m sorry ’ smile. He just gave me another look of disbelief and turned away from me.
I’ll just put that on the list of stuff to ask Blitz later once we got back.
“Well then. From the countless groups you’ve regaled me with so far, are there any more I need to know?” I quizzed.
Lucky rubbed his chin and smirked. “ Hmmm… Enclave, the Steel Rangers, the Society, slavers and their ilk… Raiders. There’s the Collegiate, but they are mostly doctors and scientists, so for the most part harmless… There are those Twilight ponies in Tenpony tower… and rumors of the Zebra Remnants here and there. And of course there is the Stable Dweller out in the Manehattan area.” Lucky rambled on. “Some damned hero he is..” he finished, mumbling to himself.
All the groups swirled around in my brain, making it hurt. This is going to be a long day….
We reached the crescent of the hill after several minutes of slipping and sliding in the mud. We looked out towards a horizon of dead trees and patches of grass dotted the hillsides. Bloatsprites and Radgators swirled around a lake filled with toxic barrels of rainbow-colored sludge, making my coat crawl. A lone Protectron ponies wandered slowly in circles endlessly. The eerie green glow of the Core in the distance continued its inviting, yet sinister feeling, putting my adventurous side of me in a quick cycles of excitement to curiosity to caution to dread. Like two tiny ponies wrestling in my head. Some faint lights in the northeast put my brain on alert and snapped me out of my trance.
I looked down at my blood and mud caked prosthetic limb to my covered Pipbuck. I sighed and opened up the map, revealing that we were close to our goal.
I just got a shiny new limb and it’s already ruined…
“Not much further. The arrow thingy says it’s just over the next hill.” I pointed out. Lucky turned to me and smiled.
Then I’ll go ahead and scout it out. See ya in a few!” He unfolded his wings, and shot off into the sky.
That’s not fair. My ears flattened to my head as a crack of thunder broke the sky, making the slight drizzle hasten.
I grumbled to myself as I slid down the slope. I’ve been trying as hard as I could to learn how to fly, but with little progress. The stable was never big enough for it, plus I had no teacher. The attempts in Charity had failed also, either ending in me landing on my face or crashing into a building. Lucky did his best, but he isn’t the best pony in teaching either. His way of helping me out? Pushing me off the belltower.
Whilst I was wallowing in my misery, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, tripped over a rock, and sent sprawling to my face. I sat up, holding my bloody nose and holding back a tear.
Celestia-damned...Okay, that’s it. I officially hate the Wasteland now.
I crawled up to my buddy sitting on a stump overlooking the other side with a very scared expression on his face. I soon found out way, and I almost soiled myself as well.
A curtain of red bars laid in front of me. My Pip-buck chimed as “Apricot Dairy Farm” appeared in my E.F.S. The three decrepit buildings laid out in a triangle pattern were teeming with raiders and the like. Several walked around with what looked like scrapped power armor, which would not bode well for us if we got caught. The barn was transformed into a makeshift bar. Ponies were laughing and fighting, throwing beer bottles and cups at each other. The guest house was lit up with purple and pink string lights. Sounds of screaming mares and hollering stallions pierced the valley, both either from pleasure or pain.
I wasn’t about to find out.
The main farmhouse was the only building not seemingly overpopulated at the moment. Hardly any lights or sound came from the wooden two-story building. Ponies of all age, shape, and size galloped back and forth from house to barn. Several of them had dark, wet underside, making my mane and coat crawl with anger and sickness.
We both looked at each other and gulped.
“Still think this is a good idea?” Lucky whimpered.
I pondered on it for a good minute. Then gave him my best, fake smile. “Yeah. What’s the worst that could happen?” I replied with a shrug.
Shot. Stabbed. Drawn and quartered. Enslaved. Raped. All the above at once?
Yeah. I Still think it’s a good idea...
Level up! Perk obtained! Raider Physiology:You’ve learned of the ways of the raiders attacking techniques (however sporadic). Damage to Raiders +5
“Nothing changes where you are from, but everything changes who you become...”
Worst. Idea. Ever….
Lucky took to the sky as I sneaked around the outskirts of the farm. Lucky made his way to the roof of the farmhouse, where a pair of sentries were standing by with scoped rifles. One swoop and a well placed kick to both of them out.
I came upon two raiders stalking the backside of the barn bar, looking beaten and ragged more then usual, probably got thrown out. I shifted to the back of the farmhouse, motioned Lucky to follow, and pushed open a broken window. We slipped through right before the two ejected Raiders turned the corner, discussing how they were make the bouncer pay.
We fell into a decrepit bedroom, torn apart from rot and neglect. The dusty bed had dark, red stains blotched all over it. The wallpaper was peeling off the riddled wood. Hoof-cuffs and chains hung from the ceiling, chilling and rusted.
Lucky turned towards the doorways, weapon at the ready. I pulled my 10mm and advanced through the doorway. The hallway was clear with three out of five doors closed. I motioned to Lucky to push forward. We snuck past the moaning and pleadings of mares and stallions. It killed me inside that we couldn’t do anything for them, But we had a mission to finish.
We came to a set of stairs leading both upward and down to a basement.
“I’ll take upstairs, you take the basement.” Lucky whispered to me. I replied with a nod and proceeded down the stairs. The basement was cold, damp, musty smelling, like week-old food chips jammed up in a recycler…. Like home. Boxes full of rotting paper and folders stacked to the floor above were shoved up to the walls, making a makeshift maze like path. It seemed that nopony had been down here for a long while beside the pathetic-looking blue pegasus in the broken mirror on the far wall.
I heard shuffling from behind a stack of boxes beside me, making me jump a little and tighten the grip on my pistol. A small radroach scuttled from the boxes and scurry under me, disappearing underneath the stairs, I let out a sigh and looked around the room.
Only one thing looked out of place. A small brown wooden box laid on top of the stack of crates nearest me. I carefully opened the box with a wing, revealing a dark blue, glowing orb seated comfortably in red velvet. The inside of the box of clear of dust and rot, showing it hasn't been opened for centuries. Tiny little stars swirled inside the glass sphere, like fire from a boiler. I reached out to pick up the orb to collect when a sudden creak above me caused me to stop. I remained motionless until no sound besides my shuddering breath was all that remained.
“Goddesses above, if it isn’t raiders that’ll kill me, it’s my damned paranoia-” a bright flash of light took over my sight and thoughts, swirling into different colors and shapes until a booming mare’s voice broke through…
“We proudly introduce our newest Captain of the guard, DJ Harmony, with prestigious honors, and new command of the Lunar guard. Captain, Step forward.” The booming voice resounded through my skull.
My eyes snapped open to the sight of evening sun through the mosaic windows. A heavy weight bore down on me in the form of polished armor. Cheering ponies stomping and whistling filled the grand hall as I trotted towards the stage. The clacking of silver horseshoes underneath me felt awkward. The two alicorns at the top of the podium, seated on thrones of gold and silver. I knew these two from the history books and tales, but the comparison was far from accurate to their actual beauty and elegance. Both Luna and Celestia stood as I approached them. Luna stepped forward as my host bowed to her at the top of the stairs. The Princess bowed in response.
“Captain, I trust you will show and prove yourself worthy as much as you have in battle as you will in your new station.” Celestia announced. I puffed out my chest and saluted.
“With Courage and Perseverance, your Highness.” my host dropped the salute and stood at attention. Celestia bowed her head and smiled as Luna trotted up to me and pinned a bright silver and blue medal on my chest with her magic.
“You have achieved much since your arrival.” Princess Luna spoke softly. I curled the corner of my lip slightly, trying not to smile widely.
“Thank you, your Highness.” I replied.
The feelings that followed were a flurry of joy and honor. Confusion and fright. Puzzled and mystery.
What in the name of the Goddesses divine was going on here? The reflection off the polished marble floor revealed the same pony, but clean and well kempt. The blue coat, the red and black mane, the same shade of piercing violet eyes. The ponies around me as my host trotted around and gave greetings and thanks to the guards and gentlefolk. They were happy and content. Joyous even!
This can not be real at all. No way. So why did it feel so? And why did it all feel so familiar that it scared me? And why did my ears hurt?
The ceiling above me exploded in a shower of white light with screams and shouts. The bright light filled my sight and mind once again as I heard my name being hissed like it came from a snake.
Lucky’s voice broke through ever slightly. “Elric! Wake up!” He sneered. A hoof poked into my side. “Why are you sleeping here in all places?! Get up! We don’t have time for this.”
I groaned as I sat up from the dusty floor, rubbing my head.
“Wha… What happened?” Lucky grabbed my leg and helped me up. My head was spinning in circles. I was back in the farmhouse basement. Dust now circled around us in the shallow moonlight from the broken windows.
“I didn’t find anything upstairs that worth mentioning. Just disgusting raiders and their… antics.” Lucky reached out to pick up the little blue orb from the floor. My eyes went wide and I hissed “No!”. Lucky put his hoof on the orb and looked at me with confusion. I just looked at the orb with bewilderment. Nothing happened? But why…?
“What is this?” he asked. “And you still haven’t explained to me why I found you passed out on the damned floor!” He whispered harshly.
“I- I don’t know. I just touched that orb and everything vanished in light and… a dream? Or...something like a dream?” I stammered.
Before Lucky could respond, the ceiling creaked and groaned from hoofsteps. Laughter and snickering could be heard from the stairway. We looked at each other in worry.
“We got to find this weapon and get out of here before they find us.” Lucky picked up my gun from the ground and pushed it into me. “Let’s go.”
Aside from several small items that seemed worth enough to trade for caps ( which still irked me to no end why bottle caps were a currency) and some ammo that didn’t fit either one of our weapons, nothing out of the ordinary popped out.
As carefully as we could, we moved back up stairs, my thoughts drifting back to that orbs secret. Who was that DJ pony? Why did he look like me? Was he a ancestor? Just a copy of me to place me in the past? Or…. no. I shook my head. There was no way it could be a clone or a twin of me. That would be ridiculous. Plus the fact I’m not 200 years old, born in a STABLE, and certainly not a captain of a old royal guard.
We sneaked past several more rooms before we came to another flight of stairs going up. I looked to lucky and pointed up with a questioning look. He just shook his head. We scurried up up the stairs with lucky in the lead, up to the attic space. The attic wasn’t as dusty as the basement , but no less filled with musty, moldy cardboard boxes and filth. We picked a side and continued our search.
“For Celestia-sakes, where in the fu-” I whispered as stopped on a small, green egg shaped bomb sitting inside a nasty box. I turned to my friend and poked his butt. He turned to me with a screwdriver in his muzzle and a puzzling look. “Wha is eh?” I pulled out the egg and showed it to him, “What is this?” I asked.
His ears went flat to his head in a instant. “ A balefire Egg?! Here?!” he exclaimed. I put a hoof over his mouth and glared at him with as much ferocity I had and hoofed it over to him.
“Here. you know what it is. You handle it.” he gulped, took it gingerly, and placed it into his saddlebag. I continued to look around for the artifact.
And found it. And the giant heavy armored pony with his frothing mouth around the trigger as it pointed the gun at my head. “Echelon” was scored on the side of the Bale-egg launcher. If there was a weapon that could destroy a town, this was it. I looked over to my partner and nudged his rump again as I continued to stare down the giant barrel of the launcher.
“What is it n-” Lucky let out a small yelp as soon as he saw the raider. His eyes turned into pinpricks.
A gruff voice chuckled around the trigger.“Well well well, what is this? Fresh meat? The boys will LOVE to see you-”
My mind went blank. My legs moved with a purpose as I grab sides of the gun, pulled it into the ground, flipped up and grabbed the brutish pony’s head in my hind-legs and twisted my body, and snapped his neck. It all happened so fast. I landed next to his limp body as he fell down the stairs, making so much noise. There is no possible way somepony didn’t hear that. I blinked as I watched the limp body crash to the floor below. Echelon laid next to me as I breathed heavily. I looked over to lucky, who’s mouth was agape with astonishment.
“How? What? When?!” he stammered.
“No idea.” I replied shakily.
Yelling sounded from the staircase as we heard the bandits coming. We heard doors being slammed open. We wouldn’t be able to go back the way we came. I looked around the room, trying to figure something out. My eyes stopped on the cracked, circular window in the back of the room, letting in the last rays of moonlight.
“Lucky. Here!” I yelled over the sound of maniacal laughing and screaming from below us. I threw the launcher to Lucky and pushed him towards the window. “Get this to Whipleash. Go through the window. I’ll distract the raiders.”
“But, what if-” I cut him off before he could finish.
“No time, Lucky! GO!” I screamed. I drew my pistol and turned towards the stairway. Lucky hesitated a little bit, but did what needed to be done. He crashed through the window with the weapon on his back. The raiders still outside took potshots at my friend, but nothing seemed to hit him.
A bullet tore into my barding as a shot rang out from the darkness below, taking the breath out of me. I turned around and replied with three rounds. A wail sounded and a crashing of something heavy falling down. A sickly, blood covered mare with a pool stick came up. A bullet to the dome. Down she went. A stallion with seemingly fresh blood around his back legs came up with a knife. Two more rounds to his chest and one to his neck. He went down with a gurgling noise. More bullets came at me from the entryway. I checked the wound and determined that it was nothing significant. I reloaded and took a deep breath. This…. is gonna hurt.
Goddesses, why do you curse me with the inability of flight right now?
I dived out of my pathetic cover as I bolted towards the window. Shots went off behind me, one finding its mark in my backside, producing a small involuntarily yelp from me. I went sprawling out the window back into the moonlit morning. Two raiders below me became very uncomfortable cushioning as I fell down into of them. I felt something snap under me and inside me. E.F.S showed severe damage to my torso. One of the bandits was laying still as I got up, the other crying out from a fractured leg. I didn’t take the time to finish the job. I galloped as fast as my lungs were going to let me. My lungs burned, my ass hurt, my head felt like a bomb went off inside it, and my back was aching.
But I was alive for now. Gunshots fired off behind me, but nothing found its mark. I took off away from that forsaken farm and never looked back. I heard raiders trailing behind me, trying to catch up, but I wasn’t letting up. I was going to gallop till I died if that is what it took. We found the weapon. Got it away from the bad ponies. I finally did something good. Something my parents would have been proud of.
But as I headed back towards my home, the orbs visions came back into my head.
The dreams came in flashes. A small town, A ship, battles, a white unicorn with electric blue hair, Fire.
Jars?
I woke in a cold sweat. I looked around the desolated shack I hid in for the night. The single pillar supporting what was left of the roof stood in the middle of the single room. I pushed off my moth-eaten blanket and rolled it back up into my saddlebag. I poked my head outside into the haze surrounding the shack.
With my head still throbbing from my slumber and my lucid dreams, I proceeded back out into the wastelands again.
What the hell was going on with me? Since I touched that damned orb, my head kept spinning and flashes of the past. It scared me. I looked up to see a single yellow bar on my Eyes Forward Sparkle. I drew my 10mm and readied myself for anything in case of any danger. I crouched down and continued as quietly as I could. I saw the silhouette in the fog as I snuck up to the individual. A shot rang out, making the individual scream and drop to the ground. The yellow bar vanished of my E.F.S.
I dropped to my belly, and crawled to the nearest rock. Laughter and sneering came closer and closer from ahead of me. a group of sickly looking ponies came through the fog close enough to see.
"Wee-eew! Did you see the look on her face! Priceless!" hollered a stallion.
"Yep..." grumbled one of the mares, picking through the remains.
"Come on, let's hop to it. we need to go back the Farm. There have been reports of an attack. Only then do we enjoy this salvage and loot." A elder, scratchy sounding voice said. There was no way it came from a pony. The headache pounding in my skull wouldn't let me focus in with my S.A.T.S, so I hunkered down till they finished their grisly deeds. when the laughter died in the distance, I continued to push towards Charity.
After a few minutes of trudging through the thick cloud, I came to a crossroads in the path. The wooden post that stood alone was rotten and gutted by erosion. a sign hung from the top of the post, legibly written in dried red paste.
"No Hope for ye who enters the Fires...
I turned three shades lighter. That doesn't sound pleasant at all. I looked around and couldn't make out much more in the fog. I checked my Pip-buck and noticed I veered off course some.
Then the smell hit me like a ton of bricks. Burning flesh and metal. I clicked the zoom on my leg and scrolled through. A few building shapes making up an unnamed town lied very close to where I stood. I mustered up my courage and decided to go take a peek.
The little shantytown was torn apart. Nothing remained untouched from the raiders who attacked this once peaceful place. My Pip-buck still didn’t recognize the name of the town, but the pile of desecrated bodies and burning piles of belongings said otherwise that this was a community.
“They left nothing...Killed everyone. Chased down the survivors…” I mumbled to myself. I sat hard as I stared at the pile of ponies as it sank in. Some sick, twisted fucks killed off an entire community for fun… for a game…. For whatever their rotten minds set out to do.
The anger and sadness welled up inside me until I couldn’t take it anymore. Tears started to run down my face as I screamed at the dreary grey sky. I sat in the red haze and screamed till my throat went hoarse. I kicked up mud, threw scrap of debris every which way, letting out my anger and frustration. After several minutes, I sat back down, exhausted. Somepony is going to pay for this. I was sick and tired of watching good, innocent ponies get slaughtered for entertainment and sport. I vowed to the dead that I would return and avenge them. I gathered my thoughts and decided to pick through what was left with guilt. Nothing worthy of salvaging was left behind from the pillaging.
A box fell from the second story home that I stood in front of. A snarling sound came from the eerie establishment. I saw what I feared the most from the outside world. I heard only stories and tales of this beings, but I only wished them false. I was proven wrong once again.
The rotting, foul-smelling undead pony lumbered out into the street, glaring at me through hollow, green-glowing eye sockets. My Pip-buck chirped silently as the ghoul came closer, saliva dripping from it’s pitted mouth. It began to charge at me, gnashing and tearing at me as I backpedaled away. With no time to lose, I drew back and planted a kick to the head of my assailant. With a sickening crack and giving way of bone, the ghoul slumped to the ground. I tried to catch my breath but it seems I missed his friends. I was too distracted with my thoughts I didn't notice the red bars in my E.F.S. I reached for my weapon and switched off the safety. I fired a shot at the next incoming ghoul.
*click*
A spray of rust and dirt came out of the barrel, only making the ghoul cough. “Oh shit.” was all I could get out as another undead lunged and bit at me, taking a chunk of barding with his teeth. I clubbed the monster with my useless pistol, making him let go of me. I turned to the ghoul and headbutted it. As he stumbled back, his friends joined the fray as they came over the fiery pile of rubble and started their eerie shambling towards me. I winced at the pain from the bite as I back away slowly.
Goddesses, why did you make me flightless at a time like this?
I quickly sifted through my bags for a different weapon. I pulled out my Father’s pistol, and without a moment to spare, I pulled the trigger. The gun kicked in my teeth, putting a much smaller hole in the ghoul ahead of me, but still doing its job. The ghoul slumped to the ground. I continued to fire at the shambling undead ponies till none of them continued to move. I spent most of my rounds for my pistol, and my ears rang like a church bell being dropped on my head.
I picked through the remaining supplies off the ghouls, finding nothing worth carrying. I turned away from the pyres, pulled my scarf over my muzzle, and continued towards the arrow in my E.F.S. my thoughts drifted as I ducked through bramble and transverse through the thickening fog. I was already behind schedule by a day, and Blitz must be getting worried. And did Lucky make it back safely? And those bandits before…. Did they kill all those towns ponies? And why?
A gunshot filled the air as a bullet whistled past my ear, snapping me out of my daze. I ducked behind a boulder, pulling out my pistol. I had four rounds left in the magazine. I took a chance and peeked around the corner, trying to get a read on where the shot came from. Before my Eyes Forward Sparkle could activate, another round blew out a chunk of stone from my cover, blowing debris in my face. I reeled back into cover, rubbing out the dust and dirt from my eyes. That shot came from somewhere a hell of a lot closer than before, and from the same weapon. Whoever it was trying to kill me, they were definitely trying to keep me from getting up. Next thing I knew, I felt the barrel being pressed into the back of my head.
“Stand up.” came a muffled voice above me. I slowly spat my pistol into its holster and did as instructed, the barrel never leaving. I turned to see a peculiar sight.
The unicorn mare standing in front of me on top of the boulder was decked out in a tight-fitting black outfit with a bandolier of rifle rounds around her neck and back. Her tan coat peeking through her sleeves and neck hole of her outfit. A peppermint colored mane poked out from under a black watch cap over one of her mint-green eyes, her muzzle hid behind a dark colored shemagh. She stood on her hind legs with her front legs wrapped around the stock and guard of a high-caliber rifle,the scope hummed ever so slightly. Her magical aura held the trigger. A pip-buck sat on her front leg, giving me the idea how she saw me through the fog.
This mare was no raider, nor anything I’ve seen so far. She was beautiful, even with having a gun to my head. The wasteland has ruined me. I stood the speechless at the sight before me.
“Who are you?” came the muffled voice again. A stupid idea popped in my head.
“What? I can’t hear you.” I announced, putting a hoof up to my ear.
Her eye rolled and she reached to remove the shemagh from her mouth. “I said, Wh-”
Her first mistake.
I might not be smart, but i do pick up things quickly, and having another gun in my face was nagging at me. I snapped out and gripped the barrel of the gun with my teeth, ripping it towards me. Catching the mare by surprise, she came down to my level, never letting go of the rifle. The surprise movement made the rifle fire, sending a shot into the dirt next to me. Thank the mare for keeping the magic on the gun, or my teeth would have been dust. I wrapped my leg around the rifle, breaking the magical grip from the weapon. I spun around to give the mare a kick.
My first mistake.
The mare wasn’t going to go easily. A quick hoof-strike between my legs ended my plan before it even started. I hit the ground in a ball, still clutching the rifle in my hooves, groaning in pain.I felt the mare grab for the weapon. I tightened my grip on the rifle, trying to roll over so it laid under me.
“Give it back, you stupid pony!” The unicorn yelled, jabbing me in my ribs. She jumped on top of me and pulled, yanked, and attempted to recover. I just sat there, gritting my teeth and fighting back. We continued to struggle till she gave one final heave, pulling the gun out of my grasp.
But I wasn’t going without a fight. As she stood up and readied her rifle to plug me, I flipped back onto my hooves and tackled her to the ground, rolling around in the muck. The rifle bounced away from us as I stood above the mare, pinning her to the ground.
“ I’m not trying to hurt you! All I want is just to go home!” I yelled down at the shaken mare. The glare was wearing died down slightly, but she held her resolve.
“Then why did you go for your gun?!” She yelled back, spitting in my face.
“Because you shot at me!” I responded.
“Because you look like a fucking raider!”
“You shoot at everypony that has been shot up?!”
“”Not everypony is covered in blood!” She screamed.
That took me off guard. I sat back, and looked at my hooves. I was definitely covered in dried red paste. I caked head to hoof in muck and and dirt. My barding was riddled with buckshot and holes. I looked up to see the mare pick up her rifle and aim. I tensed up up, ready for another fight. The mare turned to me. Several tense moments, she just sighed.
“Fine, I’m sorry I shot at you.” She put the butt of the rifle on the ground, leaning it against her shoulder. “So I’m going to ask again. Who are you?”
Are you kidding me?! I’m sorry?! That's it?
“I-I’m Elric Faelan. I was heading back to Charity before I got caught up in some… issues.” I rubbed the back of my head, smiling sheepishly. “And you are?”
“Charity, huh. Never seen you around.” She replied, completely brushing off my question. “ I saw you coming out of the shantytown over yonder. What happened?” Her gaze on my holding a slight skepticism.
After I regaled the mysterious mare about the ghouls and the pyres, she just shook her head in disbelief.
“Well, nothing we can do about it now.” she got up and slung the rifle onto her back. “If you continue down this road, you should make it back before nightfall.” She started to trot away back towards where I came from.
“I really don’t think you should go that way ma’m.” I jutted out, catching her by the tail. She wheeled around with a twinge of annoyance on her face.
“And why is that?” she asked, her voice laden in sarcasm, beating my hoof back.
“I kinda… pissed off a bunch of raiders. And ghouls… and a flock of birds….” I tapped my hooves together shyly.
The mare was dumbfounded. She reached out and shook me wildly.
“You did what?!”
As to answer her, maniacal laughter came into earshot. We both looked at each other, the color flushing out of our faces. The sound became almost deafening as it drew closer and closer.
“We better go before they find us.” The mare said, pushing me back down the road. We started to gallop as we saw heard the bandits draw closer and closer, teasing and egging us to come out and play, clicking glass bottles together in a eerie way. A howling pierced the air the the right of us, behind the dead hedges and bramble. The mare had enough, pushing harder then before.
We ran for our lives for what felt like hours. We only stopped enough for a quick breather every now and then. With the worst behind us, we climbed a hill as the lights of Charity flared behind it. As we crested the knoll, my heart lifted as the best sight in the world laid before me. The grey clouds in the sky didn’t get it justice as the sounds of bustling town ponies filled the dreary sky as we saw the bell tower being repaired. In five days time, most of the damage was removed… most of it. I looked down at my prosthetic and reminded of all the sacrifices and needless death that day. We lost a lot of good ponies for something as trivial as a simple raid. I glanced over to temporary companion clicking through her Pip-buck. She had a look of disapproval on her face. I looked back towards the adjacent that Dr. Stein’s house resided. First things first, I needed to check in with Blitz.
I turned to the mare. “Well, I think I had enough for one day. I need to check in with my brother. Hopefully we meet again.” I smiled and reached out my hoof. The mare looked up at me skeptically, and returned the hoofshake.
“Red.” the mare replied.
“Wha?” I blurted out.
“My name. You can call me Red. Thank you for….well, whatever. My house is in the center of town, off the path next to the flower shop. Come by and say hello sometime. My brother would love to hear from you.” She started to trot off down the hill, leaving me confused.
“Wait. do I know you brother?” I yelled back. She stopped and turned with a surprising grin.
“No, but he sure as hell heard about you.” And that was all. She continued towards town alone. I sighed and looked up to the grey clouds. I closed my eyes to the rain that began to fall on me, washing away the day’s grime and hatred. I began to smile.
I’m finally back home.
CRACK!
A snap of thunder and unrelenting downpour soaked me down to the bone in an instant.
Yep. Fuck the wasteland…
I stumbled into the pub, miserable and dripping from the deluge outside. Barkeep looked up from the sink, eyes wide and grinning.
“Elric? Never thought I’d see you again.”
My ears perked up as I felt a small swell of pride in my chest.
“You still owe me 15 caps.” He remarked, holding out a hoof.
Pop! Goes the ego balloon.
I grumpily shuffled through me saddlebags and retrieved three bottles of cider and 3 caps and gave them up to the greedy stallion. He took it, nodded, and went back to work. “Thank you. Blitz isn’t here by the way. He went up to Stein’s to get looked at. Lucky hasnt left Whipleash's side since he got back with that… thing on his back,” he conveyed. I sighed and turned around to head out. “And I’d stop by Doc’s first though… you don’t look that good, comrádaí.” Barkeep followed up. I cocked my brow and turned to the closest mirror. Through the cracked glass, the pony that stood before me was beaten and battered. My barding was torn, cut up, and holey from shot. The once leather jacket was shreds, practically useless. My chest was spotted from angry red bruises and a couple bullet holes where my clothing did nothing for me. Patches of fur were red growing from burns and cuts. My neck had bite marks and pocked with melted skin around my throat. My mane was matted and matted to my skull, blood and water mixing from outside. My right ear had a giant wedge missing from it, healing up grimly. This wasn’t the Head of Maintenance from Stable 132. Hell… this pony didn’t even look from a vault. Just a wary, sad looking, flightless bird pony. I just sighed and waved goodbye to Barkeep, who just snorted and went back to cleaning his mugs.
The rain made the road more mud and sludge then gravel and broken asphalt. A few ponies braved the weather and continued the repairs on the damage from the raid, waving to me as I passed by. I trotted by the church, the bell still laying on the ground through the broken, blown out doors. I could hear the quiet dinging from the rain. The evening felt… peaceful in a way. A peace not felt in a while.
I trotted up to the orphanage that Whipleash lived in and took care of. I lifted a hoof to knock. The door swung open violently as Ares tackled me back into the mud, licking me uncontrollably. I managed to push the mutt off of me and sit up, seeing Cloud, Whiplash's adopted daughter and Reign’s marefriend smiling at me from the porch steps.
“Welcome back, Elric. When did you get back?” She asked, helping me up and giving me a quick hug. “Everypony’s been worried sick.”
“I just got in about a hour ago. I’ve been trying to track down the others. You know where they might be at?” I asked, returning the smile.
“They all are up at doc’s discussing the next step in trying to go save your sorry ass. But they’re at a stalemate.” She responded, pointing further up the hill. “Your brother seems a bit better, but still having some breathing issues. Seems like he might have a panic attack at any minute. Best be heading back up there quickly, you’ll miss all the fun.” With a surprise kiss to the cheek, making me blush. She lead Ares back into the house, leaving me, once again, alone with my thoughts. I didn’t hesitate any longer then I should. I started on a dead gallop towards Doc home. Another crack of thunder split the darkening sky as I crested the peak, seeing the brown house. A single candle lit the window with a small luminescence. I heard Lucky screaming at Whipleash as I approached the door. I also heard the faint wheezing of Blitz.
“Please, you two need to calm down. You’ll wake Star and the other patients.” Blitz coughed out.
“Why? Aren’t you worried about Elric too? What if he got kidnapped or hurt or worse?” Lucky exclaimed.
“I know you are worried, but elric is a resourceful pony. He will find a way.” Whiplash's calm voice was hoarse from yelling.
I poked my head around the corner to see Blitz standing between the two stallions, looking back and forth. Blitz was looking worse for wear, his knotted chest red from blood flushing, his eyes sunken and wary. HIs mane was matted to his head from sweating.
Lucky’s right wing was wrapped in a bandage, as well as his torso. He must have caught a few shots himself. Doc was nowhere to be seen.
“You couldn’t care less about Elric. All we have down is run errands for you, and almost got me killed, and Goddesses only know where he is at the moment! We saved your sorry asses and this is the thanks we get?” Lucky flared his nostrils and snorted, fuming.
Whipleash just sat there, hooves lying on the wheels of his chair, wearing a solemn expression.
“Faelan, is just one pony. We can’t risk sending out a search party for him. I wish we could, but-” Whipleash was interrupted by Blitz sudden caustic coughing, globules of blood coming out with every hack, his legs buckled from underneath him. Lucky sighed and helped him back to his hooves.
“Fine. I’ll go get him myself. Whether you like it or not.” Lucky muttered.
I slumped back behind the corner, heavy-hearted. Whip was right. I’m just one pony. No one special. Just a useless, flightless, beat-up and broken pegasus with no clear goal ahead of him.
Then I made eye contact with a particularly scary looking unicorn, holding a cup of tea to his lips, leering at me with those piercing violet eyes. His normal metallic prosthetic was missing, replaced with a plastic temporary one. He stood there for a few moments, then smiled.
“Welcome back, Faelan. You seem quite fuckered.” Reign took a sip of tea, not changing expressions. He trotted past me, but not before he bent over a whispered in my ear. “ Come speak to me after you talk to Stein. We have a lot to discuss.”
I watched him move back into the patient hallway.
What was that about? I shook my head at the comment. I took a deep breath and took a step into the living room. I saw my brother’s face light up. Whipleash broke his dreary look as his eyes went wide. Lucky smiled was about and said something.
But I didn’t hear it as ringing grey in my head as I fell to the ground, clutching my head and screaming for the pain to stop.
Level up!: Guns are 10% more accurate if Health is 20% or lower.
"What do you fear the most? Death? Fear itself? Giant spiders? Take that, your deepest fear, and multiply it ten gabillion times, and that's what it’s like living out here..."
My eyes snapped open to the sound of artillery shells whistling. I jumped out of my rack and threw on my helmet and armor. A red unicorn ran by the doorway, yelling that the Zebras are attacking from the south. I sprinted out of the room to the open campsite overlooking the gulch. The skies were blood red from fire and haze, the color of war. All around me was battle. The screams of anguish and battle cries. The wind smelled of iron and ash. I saw both zebra and ponies alike charging with spears and bayonets. Gunfire rang as loud as the cannons that fired their own payload. Balloons above floated menacingly, firing machine guns at the pegasi that held them back.
A large shell exploded behind me, blowing up my bunker and sending me into the dirt on my face. I scrabbled to my hooves as another round whistled towards my position. I dived into the closest trench, knocking over shell-shocked kinsponies. I pushed through the oil and blood soaked mud as I ran to a fallen pony, her lower have a jumbled mess of viscera. She grabbed hold of me, shaking from shock and fear. Her eyes bloodshot. She gasped, trying to get words out, but without prevail. She slumped in my legs, her last breath leaving her still body. I took a moment to pray for her safe journey to the heavens. I took up her rifle, slung it to my back, and started towards the command post up the hill a ways.
The war had taken a toll of the once peaceful countryside. Giant holes pitted the fields and trenches lined the land as far as I could see. I saw a flight of pegasi scream past me, lead by Rainbow Dash herself. The group dropped ordnance on the enemy and supplies to our side. A bullet slammed into my side, my metal armor taking the shot. I slipped into the trench, huffing and puffing as I tried to catch my breath.
“Captain! Over here!” A gruff stallion with an eyepatch yelled to me, waving me to come to his position. I fixed my helmet and began to crawl to him.
A bomb dropped onto the stallion, making him and everything close to him a mist of stone and dirt. I covered my head as the debris slammed into me. I felt a hoof grab me and flip me over to another red coated stallion. Behind him in the sky filled me with dread.
A giant Pinkie Pie hot air balloon floated menacingly towards the enemy camp. A single missile was strapped to its underside. It’s twin turbine engine hummed violently, cutting through the sky with vigorous intent. I snapped out of my trance to find the red unicorn waving to me a ways down the trench. I picked myself up from the ground, wiping away the viscera from the elder stallion. I galloped towards the unicorn at full speed. I felt the air around me tear and scream with bullets trying to find a home in me. A large crack of thunder sounded above me, shaking the earth and sky. I looked up to see the air balloon on fire, losing altitude rapidly. The aircraft swerved and pitched as it positioned its descent towards the enemy positions in the distance. A hoof grabbed me by the collar of my armor, throwing me into the trench. The piercing violet eyes staring down at me as a shell screamed above us, exploding behind the pit, sending dirt and mud into the sky. we crawled towards the hole in the hill. The red unicorn pushed me inside, slamming the door behind us and securing the lock. I attempted to catch my breath to cease my hyperventilation. I looked up to see the only pony in the world that I could relate to.
Reign, without his metal appendage, stared out the window, watching the horror of the war unfold.
A loud explosion and violent rumbling ensued as the airship slammed into the ground. Reign, (as well as the door), flew back, pinning Reign and I underneath the heavy metal door. After several minutes, the noise died down, leaving nothing but eerie silence. we cautiously poked our heads outside, back into the hell-bathed landscape.
Nothing was left. the balloon lay scattered everywhere. the missile had detonated, leaving a massive, barren, glassy-looking hole far in the countryside. A glowing green cloud had formed in the air above the site. The Equestrian army had detonated its first balefire missile on the Zebra menace, leaving nothing alive besides the lucky few that were fleeing in all directions. The deafening silence was only worsened as the moans and screams of the wounded and hurt started to fill the sky once more, sending chills up my spine. Reign and I turned to each other, wide-eyed.
"...Lieutenant.... What have you done?" I asked. it almost sounded like I was asking myself the same thing.
"I don't rightly know, Captain... but I have the feeling.... that this is just the start..." He turned away from me the stare at the destruction of our once beautiful countryside.
My skull suddenly felt hot as another flash of light and searing pain barreled through my brain, causing me to blackout once again.
I woke up screaming in the old gurney. No pony was near me as my eyes darted around my surroundings. The afternoon rains drizzled on the lone window above my head. I attempted to stop my sporadic breathing. I laid my head in my forehooves and trembled.
"What in Celestia's name is going on?! What is happening to me?!" I stammered.
"Your amnesia is wearing off is what."
I looked up to see the red stallion from my nightmare standing in the doorway. Reign past the threshold, balancing a tray of snack cakes and tea on his back. He levitated the tray to the nightstand next to the bed, his golden magic flickering slightly from his broken horn. He looked more grumpy than usual today as he hooved over a mug and a cake on a saucer. He pulled over a chair and sat beside me, taking a sip from his personal steel stein. I eyed him puzzlingly. I took a swig from my mug, surprised at the lemon and ginger taste. I smacked my dry lips.
"Good?" He asked, not taking his gaze off the contents of his cup. I nodded as I took another gulp and took a nibble off the cake.
"Wait. You said amnesia? What do you mean?" I asked, chewing on the stale food. Reign took a few seconds, absentmindedly swirling his drink. finally he let out a small sigh, sitting up in his chair.
"It's exactly what I said. I thought it would be permanent, so I'm quite surprised." He rubbed his chin in thought.
What? I shook my head.
"That doesn't make any damned sense. What amnesia? What was supposed to be permanent?" I shouted, clearly shaken. "Please, if you know what the hell's happening to me, tell me!" Reign placed a hoof on my shoulder to try to calm me down. "It's rather hard to explain, but right now, you'll get the short, blunt version." He leaned foreword towards me. I leaned in in anticipation and bated breath, inches from Reign's muzzle.
"Your name isn't Elric Faelan, I'm afraid. Your actual name is in fact, Captain DJ Harmony. three days before the world went to ruin, you were sentenced to death by Princess Celestia herself for treason against the country."
****************
It took Reign several minutes to calm me down. He tried his best to explain, but I did not listen to a word.
"H-H-How?! Why? Wha-" Reign shoved his hoof in my mouth, shutting me up. I had enough questions to fill a book. several books. A library.
Reign removed his hoof, wearing a solemn look. He slid out of the chair and motioned me to follow.
" The best way to explain is to show you the actual thing. And that means only one way I know how."
"How?" I asked, sliding out of the gurney, carefully unhooking myself from the heart monitor. I pushed all the questions to the back of my mind for later. I was having extreme doubts of his outrageous claim. I spread my wings, fluttering them to uncramp the joints. I picked up my barding, noticing immediately that it was pretty much useless and needed repaired or replaced. I followed the stallion out into the living room where Blitz, Whipleash, Lucky, and Doctor Stein sat discussing the issues of town. As soon as they saw me however, a series of tackles and pats with "I've been worried sick." and "Why did you faint?". I apologized many times before each one calmed down. My brother's wounds seemed better, but not much had changed.
After going over the events following the escape from the farm, , Whipleash nodded and put on a slight smile.
“This Red character… I know both her and her brother, Grey Oak. He is the blacksmith down in the square. He has quite a reputation right now. He is hated by both raider and Slavers both. His sister…. She is a suspicious pony. Not much is known about her.” He placed his head on his joined hooves in thought, giving off a stern look.
“How is that?” I asked.
Doc and Reign looked at each other, smiles slowly spreading on their lips. Whip waved off the question, returning to his old smile.
“Don’t worry too much about it. You have other pressing matters to attend to.”
Blitz looked down to the ground, rubbing his chest. Lucky looked perplexed.
“Yeah… I suppose I do…” I said, looking at everyone in the room.
As Reign pulled out a map and compass, Doctor Stein spun around to the table with a sigh. “I still don’t like this idea of yours, Reign. We still don’t know if he can handle the shock.”
I cast a glance at the medical pony, brow raised.
“He has to know, Stein. Before he find out the more painful way.” The unicorn countered.
“Woah, Woah… Wait. You KNEW about this?” I questioned the doctor. Stein leaned back, taking off his glasses and wiped away on the lenses, looking eyes with me with a steely gaze.
“I knew the minute where first came through that front door. I knew it the minute when the captain saw you on the gurney.” Stein replaced his glasses on his nose.
My jaw dropped as my rump fell the the ground in disbelief.
“So, you al-”
“This doesn’t change who you are, Elric.” Reign interjected. “It just puts a new perspective on some of the current issues.” He placed a hoof on my shoulder, which I brushed off immediately. He reeled back a bit, but didn’t let up. “We understand your doubts. I would too in your position. But think about it. The sudden headaches after looking at looking at DJ’s promotion memory? The fight or flight instincts that fell military trained?”
I took a few seconds in thought, then squinted at Reign skeptically.
“Okay… so what do you want to do?” I asked.
“I propose that we go back and show you the last few days of your old life. I know where, You just need the how-to.” Reign pointed at my Pip-buck. I looked down at my foreleg, and to Blitz.
“Blitz? What’s your take on this?” I asked, knowing that my own brother would have my back on this. What I got was no response. My heart dropped in my stomach. Did he already know?
Before I got an answer, he got off the couch and silently trudged into the backrooms.
“Your brother was….against putting you through this in the first place.” Stein spoke up. “ And for good reason. Your brother was the Overstallion, correct? So he knows the secrets your Stable held.”
My own brother kept this from me.I started to consider some of the claims about me. But this...saying I’m a 200-year-old guard captain? And if so, why would he have been sentenced to death by one of the Goddesses? And Reign… how does he fit into this? He sure as hell doesn’t look over 2 centuries old. And what DID my brother know? It sent shivers down my spine. This was getting way too eerie for my taste.
“Okay, so let's say that you’re right about this and that I really am this DJ pony. How, or even why, do I only remember my entire life consisting of the walls of Stable 132?” I questioned, visibly shaken.
“That can be explained in due time, but please... It is imperative that we find out exactly what’s going on. We don’t have much time.” Whipleash fidgeted in his wheelchair. I turned to everyone present, all looking nervous and clearly upset about something. Then a thought occurred to me. I was gone for almost a week. Lucky got back only three days prior.
“What happened while I was gone?” I asked, looking at all the nervous ponies.
“A detective of sorts came by the day after you left, asking around for “The Blue Pegasus”. He had a entourage of other ponies, all dressed in black and armed. They stated we are harboring a war criminal and a traitor to ponykind. So, fearing the worst, one of the towns ponies told them where to find you and where you were heading.” Whipleash stole a glance at lucky, who was sucking down his drink, and put on a small smile.
“Well, they didn’t take the answer to much and took an offense to it. They tried to arrest Ms. Cloud for a comment and… well, Echelon is a intimidating piece of equipment.” The crippled stallion sighed, folded his hooves on his lap. “Reign also took a look at the orb you found at the Raider Farm. We agreed it was about time to tell you the truth since you stumbled onto a memory of your past.” I shot Reign a accusing look for going through my stuff, but received a shrug in response.
“So now what? You really expect me to believe all this nonsense about being this DJ character?” I asked again, nostrils flaring.
“Again, not really. It’s definitely a lot to take in. that’s why you need to go with Reign’s plan.” Stein responded.
Reign got up from his spot and reached over his leg rest, picking up the box which held the glowing glass orb.
“This is only a small fragment of DJ’s memory. YOUR memory before the war.This,” Shaking the box to make a point, “This one and many others are out there, waiting for you to go get them back. You get flashes and fevered dreams of the war and old life ,which is normal (I guess) after breaking the spell on your mind. Something happened that night you supposedly died, and it could be the answer to everything. Even about what that Lord Kalem wanted in the first place.” Reign threw the box to me. “So I want to take you to the burial grounds of the great captain and find what remains of your former self.”
My heart dropped as I finally caught onto what Reign was proposing.
“You want me to go back to Stable 132?! To find….Whatever...to bring back memories of a two century old captain of the Royal Guard? That was sentenced to death by the same Princesses that he swore to protect for the crime of treason? Am I missing anything?”
Oblivious to my sarcasm, Reign just shook his head with a solid “nnope.” I sat back down on the couch, my mind going wild and questions that made the proverbial library in my mind even bigger, nothing that settled the thoughts. I sat there for several minutes, trying to process what in the hell was going on. After ending the debate with all the little me’s in my head, I looked up to my four friends, eyes full of fire.
“This better had be worth it…”
After discussing the route on which we were taking, Reign left to go get our supplies and repair my equipment. I tried to talk to my brother, but he had locked himself in the bathroom, not allowing me the courtesy.
“Blitz, Please. Come on out, brother. Answer me.” I continued to knock on the door, But silence was all I got for a response. I felt a hoof on my shoulder. Doctor Stein just shook his head.
“I’ll take good care of him, Elric. Don’t you worry.” Doc turned away and returned to the common space.
“Alright… I’ll be right back. I love you, Blitz. Stay safe. Whatever happens, You’re still my brother.” I waited for a moment, removed my hoof from the door, and shuffled back to the words in the living room. Whipleash had finished organizing my saddlebags and supplies, leaving plenty of space for any loot and salvage that we may find. He even went out of his way to sell off all the junk, leaving me with a decent amount of caps. Doc helped me placed the saddlebags on my back and hurried me out the the door with a smile and a door to my rump.
The rain hadn’t let up in the slightest. I trudged through the mud in the dim-lit town square in search of the Captain. The evening was silent in the light pitter-patter, making the town feel like a ghost town. I found it unnatural when the town becomes vacant. I looked up to the sky, hoping for a relief.
I turned the corner to run into what felt like a brick wall. I fell back on my tail with a nicker, rubbing my head. I looked up with a tear in my eye to see a giant scruffy, tan stallion. His square jaw was lined with stubble. His piercing blue eyes stared down at me at my in slight annoyance
“Watch wer’ ya goin’, mate.” the gruff stallion spoke. I stood up to find me looking eye-to-eye with the grumpiest looking stallion I’ve ever seen. His eyes held a fierce look, as if he had seen the worst the world had to offer. On his back was a giant broadsword in its sheath.
“I apologize, sir. I didn’t-” I started before he put himself face-to-face with him. For several moments we stood there, nose-to-nose, eyes locked with each other. Neither of us stood down.
Until he licked my face. By reflex, i stumbled back, wiping away the slobber.
The stallion busted out laughing. Head leaned back with the outburst. I stared at the crazy pony as he wiped away a tear in his eye.
“Ha...hoo… I-I’m sorry, bruv. Oh… ha… i have a bet… wit’ Reign and sis to see if I could break your grumpiness.” He choked through his giggling. He reached out a hoof with a big smile. “Name’s Grey Oak. I believe i have you to thank for harassin’ me sister.” his eyes held the ire of a crazy stallion too. I let in a gulp.
After much needed deliberation of who shot at who first and who’s fault it was that started the scuffle with Red, we came to the crossroad that we both needed to be present for the talk. Grey Oak walked with me to the Pastureland Pride, were Lucky and the others were waiting for us. Thunder cracked in the distance to the north. My mind was racing the entire day, causing a near anxiety attack on several occasions, the silence with the wind through Charity spooked me out.
“The Captain says you two are going to that stable in the south. The one where Those agent-ponies went off ta.” Grey Oak spoke up, pushing away a tumbleweed out of his path. I looked up to the brawny pony with a cocked eyebrow.
“The Agents went to the stable?” I replied.
“Supposedly. I don’t know why, but you, my friend…. Seem to stir up trouble....” Grey’s ears flattened to his head with a grumble, something to do with Red. I looked away slowly.
This pony is cracked for sure.
We walked through the door to find Barkeep still in his usual spot and routine, wiping away grime out of a mug with a dirty washcloth. Reign, Red, and Lucky all sat in the farthest booth, Lucky’s back to me. We trotted up to the group to find Lucky geared up with his saddlebags. Before I could say anything, he glanced at me with a solemn expression.
“I’m not going.” Lucky stated
“I don’t expect you to, with how-” I tried to reply, but Lucky threw up a hoof.
“No. I’m not going…. Because I’m leaving.”
I was floored. I stammered out to ask why, but he already was on a roll.
“Don’t try to convince me otherwise. I have been around enough times to see where this was going. With Polaris after us and Kalem after whatever in your stable, now you’re being hunted by a group of black suited agents? No. No thank you, I’m washing my hooves of all this. I’m packing up and heading to Manehattan to try to pick up the pieces of my old life.” He fumbled through his saddlebags.
I sat down and hung my head. I was losing one of my closest friends. And for reasons out of my control. What was I supposed to say? He had risked his life for me and my brother in the past week then he had in his whole life probably. Lucky turned to me with a small book with scribbles and poorly drawn creatures on the cover, titled “The Wasteland Survival Guide, written by Ditzy Doo.”
“ Here. I was given this whilst I was in Chapel a few weeks ago by a rather gloomy stallion. He said that it’s not helping ‘Her’ at all, but it should help me. I looked up to my friend with a tear in my eye.
“but...Why so soon? Can’t we just talk this out?” I implored. He just shook his head.
“Truth is, L. Your life seems to draw all sorts of danger and trouble to you like flies to rotten flesh. I’ve seen heroes like you succumb to the evils of the Wasteland, or become insane or worse, and I don’t want to be a part of this any longer.” He reached over and pulled me into a hug. “If you ever find yourself in Manehattan, you can find me a Tenpony Tower.” He patted my shoulder and started off towards the stairs. Reign grabbed me as I tried to go after him. As the door closed behind him, I could have sworn I heard a sniffle.
“He’ll be fine, Elric. Let’s focus on the task on hoof.” Reign spoke, tapping my backside with his metal hoof. I spun around to the rest of the group. I was in shock from all of it. Lucky leaving abruptly, Reign’s outrageous suggestion of me being a 220-year-old Guard Captain, and the fact I’m going home… where there was nothing but death.
I locked my teeth tightly. This had BETTER… be worth it…
Level up!: Your knowledge of survival increased by 10.
”In our Darkest moment is when your greatest Achievement come to fruition”
Lucky left without another word the next morning. Blitz never returned to the room. After Reign gave me my new and improved utility barding with metal inserts on the sides and chest (courtesy of Grey Oak). With preparations done, we set out towards Stables 132. Reign took the lead as red and Grey strayed behind, talking about family business. I could them whispering and chuckling to each other. I turned to see both looking at me. Red caught me staring at her, making her smile at me. I tried to understand how can a pony three days ago goes from trying to put a bullet through your head to happy, friendly, and smiley with you.
Mares are weird….
I caught up with Reign long enough to find him talking himself in deep thought, blocking out the rest of the world. I whinnied softly at the stallion and fell back once again.
I went through the guide Lucky gave me one more time, seeing if I missed anything. (Even if was only 3 chapters). Most of it dealing with the creatures in the Wasteland. The one creature that took me by surprise was the Hellhound. Thank the goddesses that I haven’t ran into one of them yet. I continued to read until I bumped into Reign. I looked up to see one such creature from the guide.
A giant radscorpion sat in the middle of the road, ripping apart a brahmin. Reign turned towards us, motioning for us to go around. “No sense on wasting ammo and energy on the creature.” He whispered. We snuck around the left side, keeping well away from the animal, staying as low as possible and silent as we could. The giant arachnid didn’t notice us at all, which was good for us.
Because his friends did.Three smaller radscorpions broke through the ground around us, whipping their stingers and snapping their claws at us in a ambush. The giant insect threw its food away as the commotion near it drew him towards us, preparing to gather fresher meat.
Reign flipped his rifle off his back and blasted the nearest with two rounds, not fazing the creature one bit. Grey Oak laughed as he drew his sword and slashed at his opponent. Red danced around hers, a pair of pistols firing into the insects tail. I reared up, kicking at the face of the giant. The claws alone were almost the size of me! I flipped around, pulled out my pistol, and targeted the tail three times in S.A.T.S. I released the spell and shot the stinger dead on, watching it explode. A small drop splashed me on my hoof, making it sting slightly. I slipped out of the targeting spell, watching the creature foam at the mouth with murderous rage. Grey Oak slammed the tip of his sword through the back of his enemy. I turned to see Red’s as she pumped two more into the goop that was the scorpion’s mashed face. Reign was cursing up a storm, trying to rack the bolt of his rifle without being skewered by the stinger. But I needed to focus. The arachnid snapped its giant claw at me, barely missing my torso. I aimed at one of the black, soulless eyes and fired. A sickening pop, the creature reeled back. Oak jumped onto it back, swinging his giant blade at the tail, cleaving it off completely. It tried to buck off the big stallion, but without success. It stopped wriggling after a few more slashes and bullets from various guns, and bled out onto the dirt. I turned to see Reign buttstocking the radscorpion in the face.
“Ah shit…” Grey oak muttered. Red galloped up to Reign, flipped onto his back, put the barrels of her pistols into the insects face, and letting loose all the remaining ammo in the magazines. Reign flattened his ears to his head as hot brass rained onto his head. The scorpion’s torso became a pile of goop.
After breaking out some gauze and antivenom for all of us, we turned to each other.
“So much for not wasting time and ammunition, huh?” Red remarked. Reign shot her a dirty glare, making the mare snicker more.
"Well, where to now?" Grey Oak asked, wiping off his blade. I looked around, trying to get my bearings. I pulled up the local map on my Pip-Buck.
"We seem to be right next to it. At least here on the map..." I responded. I continued to look around for the clearing that surrounded the old Stable. The others patched themselves up and scavenged what they could get off of the Radscorpions.
"Damnit, Elric. The stingers were the best part..." I heard Oak grumble as he picked apart our kills.
There was no clearing around us. No bushes or anything resembling the area into the Stable. "Elric... take a look at this." I turned to see Reign staring down the other side of the road, down into a river bank. when I trotted up to him, all I saw was a river of red.
The clearing I found myself waking up in was now more, flooded out by rainfall. A broken down house sat next to the clearing, hidden behind a cluster of dead trees. The tunnel that lead down to the massive steel, gear-shaped door sat on the other side of the flood off river. And somepony cleaned house.
Piles of rotting corpses laid along the riverbed, stripped clean and thrown out nonchalantly like rubbish. My blood boiled as I stared down at my once thriving community. My Friends... Family... thrown out like...like...
I grinded my teeth and stomped towards the atrocity I saw, only to feel something grab my tail. "Oh no, I've seen how this goes before." Reign gritted through his teeth, holding my tail in his mouth. Red threw her legs around my torso as Grey Oak grabbed me by my scarf. I flailed and screamed as I watched all the ponies I loved lay out in the open to be carrion for the animals. I felt all three pulling me back. I fought to get out of their embrace, but to no avail. So I did the next best thing.
I let it finally hit me. I fell limp and cried. I screamed at the ground until my voice rattled and turned course.
"Shh... we will find out who did this. come on, big guy. Shh..." Red petted my head as I buried my head into her chest.
"Stay here with Red and Faelan, Grey. I'll go scout it out." Reign whispered. I felt a pat on my back, and he galloped off. I took me several minutes to regain my composure. I sniffled as in held my held in Red's chest fluff.
"I'm sorry..." I sniffed, feeling Red stroke my mane.
"It's okay. I understand. We went through the same thing not too long ago." Red replied. I looked up to see Reds teary eyes. " It was 8 months ago. Grey and I were out scavenging and we came back to our entire settlement burned and killed off by a crazed cyberpony. Later we found out it was slavers sent from Fillydelphia. We tried to get back the survivors. Well... Let's just say they weren't alive to toil in the Pit..." She wiped away her tears and smiled. Grey oak came over and patted my head like a young colt. I really couldn't do much about it... "Unfortunately, things like this happen everywhere now, and if what Reign says is true, we are going to need you to put yourself back together. There are other settlements that needs your help." He growled, never looking away from the tunnel. The sudden speech snapped me out of my trance. I looked back to Red and smiled back.
"Thank you."
Red smiled brightly and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, making me blush a small bit. She helped me up from the ground as Grey Oak just rolled his eyes and shook his head. At that moment, Reign came back up the hill, sliding to a stop.
"So?" Oak asked, pulling out a snack cake. Reign turned to me with a grim expression.
"There is nothing."
"Nothing?" Red replied.
"Nothing. It looks abandoned, as much as it should be." Reign kept his gaze on me with solace. "Whenever you're ready, Sir."
I looked up to the elder stallion. Hell no, I wasn't ready... But I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. I came for answers, and Goddesses be damned if I didn't get any. I turned to Grey Oak and Red silently seething at each other for who ate the last of the snack cakes. I turned back to Reign, the stallion clicking through his own Pip-buck. I let out a sigh and proceeded towards the tunnel, Reign picking up the rear. As I entered the tunnel, I clicked on my Pip-Buck lamp. casting an eerie amber light around us. I opened the boarded up door leading into the tunnel. I could still see the blood trail on the wall and floor as we continued to the door.
The stable door was blasted apart, leaving a hole the size of a giant scorpion, exposing the interior of the old shelter. The dark atrium beyond gave little comfort as I stood in the doorway and gazed into my old home. Images began to replay in my mind. I began to shake in place, but I felt Reign place his hoof on my shoulder.
"Come on, hold it together. Let's look for what we came for and get out of here." Reign walked ahead of me, looking around at the damage that Kalem's entourage left behind. I swallowed my fear and panic and hesitantly took a step forward. then another. then another.
The atrium lit up as we passed the threshold of the atrium, causing Reign to jump a little. I saw the blood smears from where Gasket's head was crushed, the dried puddle of blood from Blitz when he was shot. The second floor walkway had collapsed, making a ramp to the second floor. I looked up to see the Overstallions' office window blown out.
"So where would be the most secure area in..." was all I heard as I drowned out my friend, taking in everything that transpired. I started towards the west wing, my body going through the motions once again. I trotted through the door that the rocket stallion destroyed when I locked him in, now a once smoldering hole. A few bodies laid among the hallway, untouched by the unknown grave robbers. Radroaches skittered about the decrepit passageways, darting about as I continued forward.
I stopped in front of the door to my parents makeshift tomb. I turned to Reign trotting up to me. He shot a quick glance at the door, and back to me with a slight look of worry.
"Is this...?" Reign asked, pointing a hoof at the door. I just nodded in response. I lifted my hoof to push the button to the door, but Reign stopped me. " Are you sure you want to do this?"
The question caught me off guard. Was I ready? The answer wasn't as I expected. The door slid open to find the living area picked clean, along with the bodies of my parents. I stood there, looking at the two most wonderful ponies laying in each others hooves. Reign took off his hat and bowed his head, placing it on his chest.
"I'm sorry, Elric. I can only imagine..."
"I want them buried." I interrupted. I turned to him with teary eyes. "I want them all buried." Reign just nodded his head.
"We will get on it as soon as we are done 'ere. let's go find that lifepod." Reign turned away and walked out into the hall. I too one last look at my parents, said a prayer for them and trotted back towards the atrium, my head hung low...
**********
"So the most secured area that can only be accessed by the Overstallion?" I asked in a shaky voice.
"Yes. More specifically, Where the Maintenance head could not enter." Reign looked at me, stooping in the middle of the atrium. I looked around, rubbing my chin in thought.
"Well, I had access to every space in the Stable, so can't tell you where this lifepod could possibly be at."
"hmm... Well, what IS the most secure space in here then?" Reign asked, looking around himself.
"That would be Maintenance One. That's where the databases are that keep all the documents and procedures for the entire Stable," I replied. "But it was corrupted when I messed with it for..." The pain in my chest worsened as I kept remembering that all this was my fault.
"Was it before or after you accessed it?" Reign asked. I looked at him in confusion.
"m-most of it was before, but I don't see how-" I stammered, but Reign's toothy smile stopped me.
"Show me."
*********
I pushed the console button to the door, sliding back the door to Maintenance One. Three huge server banks stood side-by-side to each other, leaving a small walkway in-between. two of the three still flashed red and green lights through dust covered frames. The furthest, however, lay dead and torn apart.
"The third server was damaged a few years after the lockdown. we never had the resources to repair it to full function." I explained. I trotted over to the broken database and looked through it. Reign circled around it, inspecting it on every angle. My mind was still plagued by the images from that morning we opened the Stable to those damned thugs. The guilt weighed on me heavily everyday since. Now... I stood once again in the place I killed. My parents, my brother and sister, my nephew and niece. The weight of the world I felt on my shoulders. I've heard stories about The Stable Dweller in Manehattan, saving the lives of many ponies in their wake. The Security Mare from Stable 99, traveling through Hoofington, delivering righteousness on the evil that cursed the land, and several others all around, doing their part. Heroes.... something I clearly wasn't. In no way, shape, or form was I a hero. I was useless to everyone.
A single tear fell from my eye, bringing me back into reality. I glanced over to my friend, seeing him quickly look away without a word. I looked back through all the code and options that the server drive displayed, but nothing stood out.
"What are we looking for again?" I asked, looking at my pacing companion.
"There's got to be a bloody way in, but where...?"
Alrighty then...
I turned back to see a pair of goggle connected to a upside-down stallion's face staring at me. I let out a small yelp, falling back to draw my weapon. The stallion disappeared back into the darkness above us. in a flash. Reign flipped around, looking at me wide-eyed.
"What the fuck was that about?"
"Did you see that?! T-There was a pony right there!" I pointed a hoof at the server computer. Reign looked between me and the computer.
"In the computer?" he questioned with a cocked brow.
I shook my head and stood back up, realizing that he didn't see it. "It must have been my imagination..." I mumbled to myself.
A loud pop rang out from behind the server frames, almost like a gunshot. Reign flipped his rifle off his back, pointing it down the space in-between the servers. I readied myself for a fight.
"Hey, L... Was that always on?" Reign asked, not taking his eyes off the space. I leaned around the corner to see a terminal In the back flickering on.
"No... that has not been on for... forever." I whispered in reply.
"Does that happen often?" Reign asked, standing beside me. I shook my head.
"That terminal hasn't turned on since the lockdown." I said softly.
Reign and I pushed forward, checking everything around the computer, cautious of it being trapped. On the dusty screen read:
[Enter Stable-Tec or M.W.T. passcode, followed by voice recognition...]
I looked over to Reign, who wore the expression of somepony receiving grave news.
"What's that mean?" I asked. The computer beeped with a error message and returned to its original statement. Reign glanced over to me, sat down in front of the computer. He proceeded to plug in his Pip-Buck and punched in a series of numbers, then spoke into the computer's microphone port.
A bunch of other subjects came up, but what caught my eye was the statement that followed it all:
"Capt. Broken Reign Augustiine, Along with LT. Buttercup and Doctor Kleen, presumed dead or deserted after battle of Sawhorse Gulch (once found, we will decide on which on is the truth). Given involvement of The F.H.A project, (including the Mortuus Equus, may he forever burn in Hell), we assume the latter. Due to the excess of radiation at Camp Luna, the search was called off, deemed a lost cause..."
Reign clicked a button before I could finish reading the passage, bringing up the main screen, with the same demand. I looked to my companion with new found astonishment and mystery. My respect for the stallion broadened as I thought about what the information presented. Reign had fought in the worst, most bloodiest battles in Equestrian history. He stood again the worst the Zebra had to offer and survived! But is the sorrowful look on the Old-Equestrian officer worsened, he still remembers it like it was yesterday, it seemed. I was my turn to comfort my friend, so I did the best thing i could think of. I wrapped my forelegs around him in a hug. He sat there in silence for a moment, let out a deep sigh, and patted me.
"I'm okay. Just old news to me..." Reign stood up from the floor and went back to searching the servers. It seems I would have to ask him about the Four Horses deal at a later time.
Curiosity would be my downfall. It was going to kill me or get me into trouble that I wouldn't be able to overcome. I trotted over to the terminal, wondering what else was on it. I plugged in my own Pip-Buck, selected my bypass command, and tried to find the pass code to override the damned thing, but to no avail. The thing was locked tighter than Roseberry's teacake drawers.
"Hey, Reign. What's the M.W.T?" I yelled out to my friend.
"The Ministry of Wartime Technology. The Leader in the finest earth-pony tech and beyond." He replied, almost sounding like it was rehearsed. " It was more commonly known just as the Ministry of Technology, but it went by both equally."
Sable 132 was supposedly built specifically for historians and professors of the old Equestria (Or that's what the directive from Stable-Tec recited Blitz and Dad once said). The purpose was to teach and preserve the history of the world, which they did by writing it all down in large, gaudy textbooks, and then jamming that knowledge down everyponies throat that came after. So, in point, I already know about the M.W.T and the other ministries, but to hear it from Reign made it more realistic. The six ministries were commissioned by Princess Luna herself during her short time as ruler, all ran by the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. as memory serves, the M.W.T was ran by Applejack, the Element of Honesty. Reign talked about the advances of weaponry and technological development, Including the armor Lucky and Polaris's group uses, that helped everypony on the homefront and battlefield equally.
I turned back to the terminal, reinvigorated to find the secrets it kept from me. What laid in wait this long to be found?
"Uh, Reign? Last thing. Do you know where DJ last worked?" I looked over my shoulder to see him headfirst in the machinery. Reign poked his head out, knife in his teeth. What was he doing with that?
"Last station, you mean? I believe it was the War Affairs in Canterlot. Why?" he responded.
I nodded and took a shot in the dark. I imputed Reign's pass code (Isn't hard to memorize five numbers.) and spoke clearly into the microphone.
"Captain DJ Harmony, Office of War Affairs, Canterlot." I announced into the device. Reign curiously trotted over to me. nothing happened for a moment. Not even a flash or the screen changing. then a notice popped onto the screen, stating in bold lettering that accessing this file without proper authorization was against the law and punishable by death and blah blah blah. An empty threat from a dead age. I reached over a pushed the "Y" key. The screen pulled up a similar list as Reign's, But this one had a big red X over the picture. A picture of me... smiling that goofy smile of mine. All clean and happy...
No statement was posted on the profile, but it didn't matter to me at the moment. It all hit me like a brick wall. It was confirmed... I was DJ Harmony! A ancient, Old-Equestrian Guard captain! Reign was right all along... but for some reason, i didn't feel different. I felt...disappointed? I didn't FEEL different.
I noticed amidst the streams of code in the system, a old password came up. The same password that ended a entire Stable living.
"Scathefire"
I cautiously clicked it on my Pip-Buck. A Loud click and clank resounded through the room, earning a yelp from Reign as the Broken down mainframe rumbled. The server slid up into the ceiling on four hydraulic pistons, revealing a staircase leading further down. Reign let out a loud yell.
"Yee-haw! I bloody knew it was 'ere!" Reign hooped and hollered.
A blast of stale air blew up into us, followed by a lone radroach. Paying the insect little mind, Reign and I slowly trotted down into the unknown tunnel. Reign took the lead as we clicked on our lights, spotting nothing out of the ordinary. After a brief time, a dark green light shown through the blackness ahead. We picked up the pace to what was the source. The eerie green light was shining from underneath a metal door. Reign pushed open the door to find the second biggest discovery of Stable 132.
The door opened to small room. Dead center was a pony-sized, egg-shaped pod, opened and contents strewn around it. Two lockers stood side-by-side on the left wall, neither of them locked it looked like. A lone terminal sat on the nearest table, giving off the glow. I Reached over, looking for a light switch. *click*. Fluorescent light fixtures stayed dead above us. Reign let out a small "hmph" as he continued into the room. Medical equipment and gurneys were pushed to the opposite wall, giving off the impression that this room was once a clinic of sorts. A lone skeleton laid beside the pod, its skull broken apart from a hole through its temple. I slowly walked to the computer, surprised by the fact it still had power after all this time. and double-the-fun, it was unlocked!
There were four entries, the first dating just days after the megaspells destroyed everything.
"I was given the order to destroy the specimen today if nopony came to retrieve him. Why the stable was tasked with safekeeping this ass, I will never understand. But, you know what? I never much cared about following orders from ponies who fucked our world, even if it wasn't their fault. Fuck 'em. This pegasus stayed down here, so he can't be that special... Can he? He looks normal enough at least."
The second entry, weeks after the first was written, read as such:
"Nothing.... no word has been sent from the outside. The soldier that was guarding the pegasus defected and killed himself from fear. The other residents are getting restless about the pegasus, saying thing like that he was the cause of all this. They are calling for his head. They are saying he is a traitor. If that's true, Luna herself wouldn't have him stuffed in here with us. I decided to lock the entrance above and also the storeroom itself. No pony is getting down here. If the princess herself wanted him down here, then he shall remain. May Celestia and Luna forgive us for our transgressions."
Luna? What did she have to do with this? Why did she defy her sister's orders?
The third entry came years after, almost 25 years ago.
"I found the specimen "DJ" and this terminal, along with the Overstallion Dead-shot's body. Must have locked himself in here or killed himself, but no evidence supports either. The pegasus still remains alive and stable, hasn't even aged a lot. I, Overstallion Crimson Rose, Have put it to a vote with the populace to either euthanize the pegasus or set him free. We will find out tomorrow if the pony will be saved or not. NOTE: If it comes to it, his memory will be wiped and replaced with a colt's memories. Please let the goddesses guide us through this difficult decision."
The fourth was put in two days after:
"The vote came to a tie. Honeycomb Insisted that we remove him from incubation and allow him to live with us. I can't argue with a mare like that... LATE ENTRY: "Elric Faelan" will be his name. As soon as he came to, DJ became violent and feral as we tried to sedate him. He continued to scream 'I'm not a traitor, Celestia has betrayed us! Let her be damned!'. We used a memory transfer, but it corrupted during the process. I fear that means he will remember certain events if triggered. May the Goddesses forgive us for this. After the procedure, he woke up to the sight of his 'Siblings' in our home. Kris and Melody didn't take to him right away, not as much as Blitz did. (He wasn't the youngest anymore, relatively speaking, of course.) The plan went without too much problems and after a few weeks, no one even questioned it anymore. The old-war veteran will live out his life happier now after all..."
A mixture of emotions flowed through me like sewage, rough and nasty. I was angry and sad at the same time. But I couldn't do anything at this point. I turned to Reign rummaging through the bins in the back. I slowly let my feeling brew inside my stomach, making it churn. The little ponies in my head was holding back a wall of imminent rage and sadness and they were losing the battle. I clicked back to the main page, noticing a new entry showing below the last one, reading {Elric...}, I curiously clicked on it:
"Elric, or DJ... my son. I have tried and failed countless times in the position of Overstallion. When I opened that chamber with you in it, I expected a quiet, peaceful life with you and your siblings. I have noticed slight changes in your behavior, which frankly, sparks trouble. I will step down from overstallion soon, and having Blitz take the mantle instead of you. I fudged the test to make it so. (Can't have you finding out you weren't supposed to be alive in the first place. not until you need to). Elric, just know that we, your mother and I, truly loved you as our son. One day, you'll come to realize that this isn't... wasn't your life. When that happens, I hope and pray for your understanding and forgiveness.
To preserve your place In stable 132, I have left the Stable-Tec Directive in your old Pip-Buck, the one Melody has stashed around her room. (Like she can hide anything from me). To unlock it, you'll need to input "LAZARUS0132" into the Overseer computer. This will also give you access to dismantle the server firewall to destroy the Stable... if it needs to come to that. May the Goddesses guide you on your difficult path.
Your faithful friend and father,
Crimson Rose."
That wall back my emotions of rage? Reinforced with Stable-Tec steel. I'm not breaking down right now, not until I figure out what "Father" wanted from me. One last look at the letter, I saved it into my device, And set my sights on the lockers. I put in my bypass code into the terminal, heard the solid click, and marched straight to the units. Reign watched me without a word. I reached in, pulling out the closest box marked "First briefing". I looked over my shoulder to my companion.
"I got your back, DJ. No worries. Good luck." Reign popped a salute at me, but I didn't return the gesture. I wasn't in the mood right now.
It was time to put all this to rest. To finally know what was going on, why I was placed into Stable 132 for the first place. Why I was sentenced to death by the same Ponies I defended, and directed from our own monarch. I opened the box, revealing a solid blue sphere on crushed black velvet. The buzzing in my head came without warning, growing louder as i drew closer to the orb with my hoof. I halted as I hovered over the memory.
" Well... here we go again..." I swallowed what little doubt I had left and touched to orb. my world became a flash of black and white, turning my world inside out.
Level up!: Camaraderie lvl 1- Your knowledge if your companions grant them a 15% damage boost when they are in your party. Hooray for Friendship!
My mind became flooded with images of a life of pain, anguish, and hatred. Captain DJ Harmony wasn't very...harmonious in his last few months it seemed at first glance. The Pegasus was cold, calculating strategist and tactician on and off the battlefield. when it came to the "Zebra Menace", he was even less merciful. More flashes of sped past my mind's eye as I tried to absorb the knowledge and extruded memories of my past self.
It finally stopped as the blurry picture became clear. DJ...I...stood in front of a mirror in a small, square room with red walls. I was clean and bathed. I wore a solid blue dress uniform with ornaments and trinkets hanging off my chest. My cold, hard stare held a soulless-like gaze at myself in the reflection. My four real legs stood on polished marble flooring, making the scene feeling like I was in a palace or somewhere similar. a black crown-like device sat on top my groomed mane.
"Hello future Me." my reflection spoke to... himself? This was weird. If I could feel my skin, it would be crawling. "Hopefully by now, you should already know about who we are. You know about the war and the failure that our nation has earned. We have been labeled traitor to the nation and to all ponykind." DJ turned away to look through the lone window to the outside. The red sunset brought a wonderful feeling, filled with joy and happiness. It was the glorious sun! Canterlot was as beautiful and vibrant as well, ponies trotted about freely with no fear of death or danger of mutilation from each other.
"As of now, Celestia has sent her damned guards to track me down and kill me, but Princess Luna has other plans." The reflection in the window wore a the same stern expression. "As of today, The Lazarus Project is activated." A loud bang came from the other side of the door, shouts for my surrender. I turned back to the mirror, wide-eyed. "Find Sunny Springs in Manehattan. She will have any answers about us and the 52. She will be in stable 29. Luna is counting on us!" I turned towards the door, awaiting the guards to burst in. The wall next to me buckled in with a explosion, sending me sprawling into the opposite side of the room. Concussed, I couldn't make out the commands being shouted at me. I turned towards the window as I was being hoofcuffed and dragged out of the room. The glare from the wonderful sun grew brighter until a swift kick to my head put me back into pure darkness.
I woke up gasping for air. I quickly realized that I was back in Stable 132. I took a quick look around the room for Reign. He wasn't in sight.
A loud bang came from the hallway signaling that Reign was in a firefight. My brain kicked into action, throwing myself onto my hooves, opened up the lockers, and shoved everything into my saddlebags. I slammed open the next one, and stared in awe at the sight before me.
A lever-action style rifle and a semi-auto rifle stood side-by-side, cushioned in a dual-holster. A six-shot revolver sat next to them on a shelf with a big box of ammo. With big bullets. Hanging on the other side of the locker was a military dress uniform, decorated in several medals and ribbons. on the collar was two adjoined silver bars on each lapel, signifying the owner as a Captain. next to it was a battle uniform, slightly used. The same insignia was sown on the sleeves on both uniforms. the dark purple-blue uniforms were pressed nice a neat. Whatever I did in the past, I must have been good at it.
I snapped out of it as another shot rang out from the hallway. I slung the dual holster rifles around my back and threw everything else in my saddlebags. I pulled out my pistol, pushing into the corridor, seeing nothing but stirring dust. Reign somehow got the lights back on down here, but nothing but mold was out of the norm. Another shot bounced off the wall further up the hall. I picked up the pace to aid Reign.
I turned the corner to see Reign and a purple pony in a suit wrestling for his rifle. Without a second more, I put two hole in the head of the assailant. Reign shucked the body off of him and recovered.
"You good?" I asked, helping him off the floor.
"Are you?" he retorted with a touch of hesitation.
"Not sure. But right now is no time to figure out." I smirked at Reign. He opened his mouth to reply, but decided not to and reading his weapon. "So who are our friends?"
"No fucking clue. Came in shortly after we did. Shot first, no word prior." Reign racked a round, and proceeded to the stairway.
Hoping that Red and Grey Oak are okay, we continued our escape from Maintenance One. Nopony was in the way yet, but we remained on the cautious side.
"This doesn't settle with me very well. I feel an ambush." Reign hissed. I pushed into the room, sweeping it for any hostiles in a way I've done countless times before. As I came around the corner, I saw Reign smile.
"Go to have you back, Captain." He whispered, almost to himself it seemed. I didn't know how to respond to that. I didn't feel any different. I didn't...remember anything worth explanation, just small bits and pieces of my life before the war. nothing concrete. Just the empty feeling of torment and deception from the orb.
Reign poked my chest, breaking me out of my trance. " No time to dwell, DJ. Let's get going before we find ourselves perforated." He pushed past me, climbing the stairway. I nodded in response and fell in behind him.
We crept up the staircase as quiet as mice. I peered around the corner into the dark atrium as Reign swept the rest of Maintenance One. Nopony was in sight. both level of the atrium were clear. nothing but sil-
*BLAM!* A flash from the darkened clinic compartment. The bullet ricocheted off the corner, slamming into my leg. I was knocked off balance and fell back into the room with a sharp yelp. Reign slid into the adjacent side of the doorway, returning fire. I opened up my saddlebags and ripped open one of our bandages, wrapping my fresh wound and stanching the blood flow. I picked up my pistol off the ground and turned back to the fight. A small glint danced on Reign's eye, and in rapid succession, fired three shots directly into the enemy's body and head, making a bloody mess of the clinic.
Two more ponies came out of the entrance way, brandishing assault rifles. The first one didn't even get a chance to react before I put four rounds into his chest, dropping him to the floor. the partner screamed as she flicked the safety off and started to spray lead at us. I ducked back into the room. Reign clicked through his Pip-buck, trying to find search for another weapon to use. The red stallion produced a apple-shaped, metal ball out of his saddlebag, giving me a slight grin as he turned back towards the door. he pulled the pin with his teeth and chucked it at our foe. A very loud boom echoed reverberated through the Stable and through my ears, causing them to ring painfully. I winced as I looked through the doorway to see the damage the grenade had caused. A black soot spot was all that was left. With a slight nicker, Reign moved through he door, ready for what might come next.
Nothing came out at us again. I heard a slight whimpering cry coming from the entrance. slowly and cautiously, I made my way towards the sounds, ready for a trap.
In the entranceway, leaning up on the wall, was the crimson mare that came in with the other, her assault rifle still held in her hooves. Her hind leg was missing, the other mangled beyond uses. she must have got caught in the blast. As soon as she saw me and Reign, she went crazy and wide-eyed, aiming at me and open fire.
Click...Click!
She screamed and threw the rifle at me, trying to crawl away. I stood there, contemplating ending her life right then and there. One bullet and be done with it. I was supposedly a mad warmonger bent on killing thousands a labeled a traitor, what's on more pony on the pyre?
I felt Reign place a metal hoof on my back. I turned to see him staring down at the mare. He rushed past me, and without a word, reached out the mare with a upturned hoof. The mare looked between Me and Reign, scared out of her mind. Something must have snapped as she slowly returned the gesture. the old captain slung the mare onto his back.
"Let's get her out of here and find some help before she bleeds out. She's had enough." He glared at me, almost like he read my mind. That put it into perspective.
I was going mad. I was about to kill a unarmed, surrendering mare in cold blood. Like a dog. The very thought chilled me to the bone.
What was I becoming?
Sounds of gunfire and screaming echoed from the tunnel, making both of us nervous. Reign galloped out of the Stable, dead set on getting the mare medical attention. I started to follow, but something caught my eye on the balcony. I turned to see a white, blue-maned Pegasus standing on the upper catwalk. I rubbed my eyes to make sure it wasn't a hallucination. He was gone! was it just my imagination? What was going on?
"DJ! Get yer lanky arse out here!" I heard Reign yell from the opposite end of the tunnel. I looked back down the tunnel, Back to the walkway, then ran as fast as I could back to the outside.
As so as I burst through the wooden door that separated me from the wasteland, I felt like a Idiot. As the door swung open, a bullet glanced off my prosthetic, making me rear back into the tunnel. I heard a battle going off outside. Ponies yelling for our surrender, rifles and pistols and shotguns shooting and blasting, screaming off wounded and jeering from a rather large pony. I cautiously pushed the door back open, analyzing the battleground.
Grey Oak and Red had retreated back the Stable side of the flood river, both putting well-aimed shots at the agent ponies trying to advance from the hillside. From the small amount of us, the agents were definitely not intimidated by us at all. Reign was on the opposite end of the clearing, hunkered down between a rock and a petrified tree. One of the ponies saw me peaking out the door, pointed a hoof at me and yelled, "There he is! The Blue Pegasus!" All the attention was now on me, so was all the weapons. a dozen or so more agent ponies come out from cover and over the hill, rifle scopes glinting in the small amount of sun breaking through the ever dingy cloud cover. I slid into cover beside Grey.
We were surrounded. We were going to die right here.
A loud static click rang out from the hillside over the gunfire.
"Cease fire! It is no use, Elric!" A mare's voice blew out through the sky, amplified by something. "You are to surrender your weapons and hostage, and comply to our commands. If you do not, we will be forced to execute you right here, right now. Again, lower your weapons, come out, and do it now!"
The gunfire stopped as soon as the voice were heard. I looked to my companions, which all looked wary.
"Do we have enough ammo to fight through?" I asked.
"No. I get two more rounds, maybe three." Grey grumbled, keeping an eye out.
"I'm out." Red whispered. She was glancing at me like I was a newcomer. I guess that was appropriate, considering why we are here in the first place. "Is it still you, Elric?" She asked, cautiousness in her eyes.
"Yes, Its still me, Red. Don't worry." I responded with a smile. "How about you, Captain?"
"I'm eating up my reserves. But no matter. We are out ponied here, sir." Reign replied. Being called sir really left a bad taste in my mouth.
"Well, It looks like we have two options here. Surrender and possibly die... or Last stand it and die, regardless." Reign spoke. all of us looked around to each other, then to me.
"What?" I retracted.
"Well? Your the supposed great tactician of Equestria. Tact-tate. make a decision." Grey Oak growled.
Me?! I looked to Reign, who just shook his head. For Celestia's sake! I'm not the Captain of the Royal Guard anymore! I don't know how to lead! What would the Old DJ harmony do in a situation like this? Think, Elric, Think!...
As they chained my front and backlegs together, they didn't do much to hurt us nor kill us. Maybe it was the fact we didn't have much to take, or the fact the mare we spared, Flower Dance, told the others that we were trying to help her. Regardless, we were chained up and put in the back of a cart. I hope I made the right decision. none of the others openly disagreed, but I feared the backlash I was going to get from my friends once we get out of this predicament. I found out during the ride to.... wherever these ponies hide away, that whilst they were trying to track me down, their scouts saw me enter Stable 132, and met "heavy resistance when questioned" by Grey Oak and Red. A fight broke out, causing both sides to escalate into a shootout, putting six of their "Finest" wounded and eight killed between that slipped past into the Stable and the ones that died outside by the river. The only reason why we didn't join the dead was because an agent started the fight to begin with, trying to subdue Grey Oak by himself. The agent in question suffered a broken leg and a nasty hoof sized welt on his side from where Grey punted him into the river.
I tried to reassure myself the we didn't do anything wrong. That everything will be fine... until I saw the damned place they were bringing us. The building was fortress itself, complete with watchtowers and barbed wire fences all around the complex. "Baltimare Correctional Facility" was cut out of a rusted plate of solid metal and hung above the front gate. Guard ponies were everywhere, dampening any idea of escape.
What in Luna's blessed name did I get us into? I was so deep in my own thoughts and worries, that I didn't even notice the giant bird like creature following us the entire time.
Level up!: Amnesia recovery Lvl 1: With the first memories back, you gain knowledge of tatctics and battles of old. Your Guns, Speech, Sneak, and Survival skills increase by 15, but your perception decreases by 1 until completion of memory transfer.
"...As the Moon crept over the horizon, I stood there in Awe of its significance...
"...And they put a hood over my head, pulled me out, dragged me in here, and slammed the door behind them." I jigged my chains to make my point get a cross. The stallion leaned back in his chair, pulling a draw out of his burning cigarette and blew a puff of smoke in the air. His mane was slicked back from his paint-splatter like muzzle, revealing a large, deep scar down the side of his head that ran across his throat. He chuckled lightly to himself, the lean forward towards me, a grin adorned on his lips.
"You expect me to believe that shit? That you.... Magically just happened to live in the only sustainable Stable this far south, and you and your "adopted brother" opened the Stable, let in a bunch of corrupted, homicidal Steel Rangers that killed over hundreds of innocents looking for a simple little project that nopony else knows about but you? Plus that you and a traitor-turned-good incited a Raider war on a small town? Come on, Pegasus. Stop lying to me!" The agent slammed his hoof on the table, making his ashtray jump.
"That's the truth. Ask the others." I growled, slightly angry that I was still chained up like an animal. Then again, I did just kill a few of his people.
"No. What I think happened was that you, "Captain"... Decided you had enough of the Enclave, came breaking through the Clouds with a Sonic Rain-boom, Blew open the door of Stable 132, and started going off and gunning down all those ponies with joy and content." The Stallion nickered.
I shook my head in wild disbelief. “What?! That's Crazy!" I replied, taken off guard from the wild accusation.
"But not as crazy as you story, now is it?" Sanro retorted with a smile.
This pony has lost his bit, I thought.
Sanro slinked back in his chair, pulling out another cigarette. "No... I'm not going to ask the others. I'm done playing games with you. You will tell me why The Tower alerted us to you!" He screamed, staring me down with a cold, steely gaze.
The tower? What tower? Did he mean the big white pillars way out there? What was the name for them...? I've heard it before, but couldn't place it. Something starting with an S? But there isn't any around here...
"What tower? I Don't-"
Before I could finish, A Mare burst in through the door, shaking like a leaf.
"Sir! The east barracks were broke open! The ghouls are in the yard!" the mint colored pony blurted out, gunfire sounding in the distance outside.
"Then go deal with them! And find out how the barricade was broken through. They can't get in here anyway." The stallion waved off his subordinate with a hoof, not speaking another word. "So....Where were we? Ah, you were about to tell me why your here."
"I already told you! I was in Stable 132 When that Kalem freak came charging into-" The look on the splotched-colored agent made it clear he stopped listening.
"Okay. Mr. DJ... Or whatever you call yourself. Tell you what. If you don't come clean with me right now, I'm going to beat your fucking head in, then continue the gesture to your friends in the other rooms. Hell, I might even have some fun with that pretty mare of yours." Agent Sanro grinned at me.
I was ready to kill him the moment he came in the room. Now he was going to die slowly if I get my hooves on him I grit my teeth, forcing back my anger. Keep calm, DJ. You will figure something out.
"Look. Whatever Tower you’re talking about, it must be false. I lived in Stable 132 up until the massacre. I couldn't have done anything wrong, not enough to get the police..."... Wait a minute....
Then it hit me. Not once have I seen actual police or law enforcement that wasn't ragtag security. But out of nowhere, there are these... Agents in black suit looking for me specifically. It was nothing but martial law out there. No one to stop a crime besides a bullet or club. I slowly looked back up to Sanro. Something didn't feel right about this pony. The way he talked, the way he presented himself. The small flakes of memories floating in my head of past law enforcers were well kempt and professional. So who was this pony?
Sanro narrowed his eyes at me. "What's the matter? No more excuses for me?"
I leaned back in my chair, not taking my eyes off my captor. I prepared for the worst.
"Who are you?" I asked grimly.
"What? I already told you-"
"No. Who. Are. You?" I asked again. The splotched covered pony cocked his head at me, chewing his cigarette. He started to chuckle.
"You’re a piece of work, but I have no more patience for this game. Tell me why the towers alerted us to you or I'm going to go dance a jig on your bloody corpses!" Sanro slammed his hoof on the tabletop, making the clipboard fall off the end of the table.
I leaned forward, staring into the so-called agents in his dirt-colored eyes. "And I've already explained myself to you. I DONT KNOW WHY!"
We stared each other down for several moments before Sanro broke contact and sighed. He stood up from his chair and picked up the folder from the tabletop. "Fine, Mr. DJ. I'll go ask your "Friends" and see if the can confirm your story. I'll get the truth sooner or later. Good-bye." He pushed open the door and disappeared into the dimly lit hall once more.
I looked around the room for a way out. The old correctional facility was definitely built to last. The concrete room didn't have a crack or crevice on any of its surface. I saw nothing I can exploit... Until my eyes laid on the pen. That could be useful... A smile spread upon my face...
Thank Luna for the years of delinquency, breaking out of the guard lock up. After a few minutes of picking at it, the hoof cuffs popped open. I quickly moved to the door, determined to get out. I peeked through the door, eyeing the single guard outside, facing away from me. The other way down the corridor revealed nothing. Good. I swiftly opened the door, pulling the guard inside the room. His muffled screams through my hoof was futile as I sank the jagged pen in his throat. After a small struggle, he finally went limp on the floor. I searched the twitching corpse for a weapon or something to help me and my friends out. I found a knife and a bandolier for shotgun shells, but no shotgun. I peeked back out, checking if the coast was clear. I crept out and moved down the hallway to the right, away from the reception desk. I heard gunshots outside, supposedly from the agents taking care of the "Ghoul problem". I peered into several rooms, bearing no fruition on either pony I was seeking for.
Shuffling from behind me had me duck into the closest room. I looked through the cracked window to watch two of the guards dragging a pony up the flight of stairs across the hall, a gunshot wound still oozing blood. They are executing ponies! I got to find my companions fast! As soon as they passed me, I rushed out of the room and down the stairs to what I was thinking was the basement area. If I was going to lock up three extremely dangerous ponies, it would be in the stuffy underground.
As I crept down the stairs, I thought on the Tower thing. Whatever it was, it chaffed Sanro something fierce if they were throwing almost everything they had to find just one Pegasus so badly. When, and if, I get out of here, that is my next priority, along with finding out more about Captain Harmony. When I reached to basement floor, I heard mumblings behind the double doors ahead of me. I pushed open on of the heavy doors, revealing another dimly lit corridor with the other end caved in, only leaving a few jail cells to be investigated. I peeked into on room, revealing a dirty blue unicorn mumbling to himself in the corner. It looked like he had been in there for quite some time due to how much excrement was in the cell with him. The adjacent room held a mare hung from the light fixture with a blanket. I threw up a little at the sight, making my temper flare for this so-called law enforcers or whatever they want to call themselves. Thanking the goddesses that the other rooms didn't hold other travesties, but there was still no sign of my friends. I backtracked to the staircase, checking behind me to make sure I didn't miss anything. I turned to bump into the rump of stallion dragging a bloody body bag down the stairs.
"What the fu-" he flipped around to find a hoof striking him straight in the throat. His eyes bulged and his choked on his crushed windpipe and fell to the ground in a convulsing heap. I threw the strike on pure instinct, much to my surprise. I quickly dispatched him with a stab with the knife, not wasting anymore time. A quick search got me a .32 caliber pistol with a hoof full of rounds for it. I silently cursed myself for having to kill more people, even if they deserve it. Peering back into the original hallway, I continued to ponder what and why.
A loud bang came from the other end of the corridor, then a grunt from a large-sounding stallion. Fearing Sanro was making good his word, I bolted towards the other end. I busted through the door, pistol at the ready.
I couldn't help but smile at the sight before me. Grey Oak had knocked his guard unconscious, and then proceeded to slam his head on the table. Grey Oak looked up from his plaything with a neutral expression on his face.
"What? We had a bet to see who would break first." Grey let his prey slump to the ground. "Looks like I won." He stood up from his chair, allowing me to uncuff him from the desk.
"Have you seen Red?" I asked. “My interrogator, Sanro, plans to hurt her if we don't give them information."
Before another word was spoke, Grey oak had already picked up the guard's bludgeon, and was hauling tail out the door. I followed as fast as I could behind the hulking pony, searching room to room for Reign and Red. Thankfully, none of the other guards made us as we swept through the building into the other end on the complex. The room on this side was all blackened out, like they were burned out in a raging fire.
This got me thinking. I looked around the common area we found ourselves in, trying to decipher the past events that took this place. No balefire bombs detonated near here, so the fires couldn't have been caused by that. Maybe from an inside source? I continued to the blocked off section of the north entrance. Charred bones and remains from a forgotten time were piled in front of the double doors, seemingly like they were trying to escape. Word must have gotten out here, and caused a panic. I turned over a tattered body of a police pony. His skull was caved in and cracked, his deathly grin marred by a broken jaw. Things got out of hoof fast, it looked like. But... did the guards resort to burning the populace? I looked up from the pile of bones and remains in deep thought.
A blaring alarm followed by flashing red and yellow lights resounded through the corridors and above us.
"Well, they finally found out we escaped..." Grey Oak mumbled. He cracked his neck and faced the entrance we came from. "If they want a fucking dust down, then let’s have at it!" He yelled down the corridor. I frantically looked for another way out. I checked the other entranceways until finally the northeast doors creaked open.
"Grey Oak, This way! We need to find the others before-"
An extreme pain, like a blazing fire, shot through my mind. I screamed as I held my head in my hooves. I never felt anything like this before. It felt like a hot poker stabbing my brain. I tried to focus through the pain without avail. I felt Grey Oak put his hoof on my shoulder.
"You okay, Cap?" Grey whispered, almost sounding sympathetic.
"Nnn- I'm good. Let’s just get moving." I grunted from the growing pain. It subsided slightly every once and a while, but was still ever present as we crossed into a unblocked section of the main cellblock. Ghoul carcasses littered the area. Did the Agents already come through here? We passed several cells, rusted shut from a couple centuries of misuse and negligence. The headache started to come in bursts of pain now, Debilitating me further and further still as we pushed through the cellblock. Sounds of growling ghouls and gunfire remained a constant deterrence through some of the exits we attempted. Grey Oak was practically carrying me as we rounded a corner towards our last hopeful exit.
We were met with a gunshot whizzing past Grey's head. We ducked back behind the corner and drew our weapons.
"That's what I Thought, you lily-livered chickenshit!" A familiar mare yelled down at us, cocking a lever-action.
Grey Oak rolled his eyes and leaned around the corner. "Watch who you’re shooting at, Red!" He shouted back with a tinge of frustration.
Red gasped, ears pressed down on her head with embarrassment. "OH! Sorry, guys!"
Grey grumbled under his breath, helped me up, and we ran to the barrier of tables and bed racks that Red was behind with a couple sickly looking ponies with her. Grey Oak threw me over the barrier, making my head hurt even more. At this point, I had rather eaten that bullet then continue the headache. Red looked at me with concern, helping me into the back room. I felt something sticky running down my cheek. I Reached up with a hoof and wiped it away, revealing blood. My ears were bleeding? What?
"What's wrong with him?" Red asked her brother.
"The hell should I know. He looks fine to me." Grey Oak responded, taking Red's place at the barrier.
Red pushed open the door to the backroom that used to be a breakroom. Reign was counting rounds in the corner with two other prisoners. He looked up from his work, nodded to me and pointed a hoof at the kitchenette door.
"Looks like he is going to pass out any minute now. Get him to the others. I'll take a look at him in a minute." Red nodded and we continued to the back room.
A pegasus stood at the stove, making some delicious concoction on the stovetop. He stood on his hind legs, stirring the wonderful smelling liquid. His white coat was dusty and bloody, but not seemingly from his own wounds. He had a blue swept back mane with a black stripe running down the middle of the hair. He wore black leather bands, wide as a hoof, around his hind and forelegs, with a thin black choker. When he turned to me, with his goggles sitting on his forehead, confirmed my thoughts.
It was HIM. The pegasus from the Stable! He bowed his head towards me.
"Hello Captain. I've heard much about you." He said in a slightly exotic accent.
My vision blurred out from the pain before I could respond. My body felt heavy as the faint voice of Red and Reign whispered through my failing hearing. I blacked out on the floor in front of the mysterious stallion.
Well great. This was my first real impression he had of me.
