Stable 44 was an experiment to house both ponies and griffons. Generations after the war, they have emerged from their Stable as hunters. Sunny Gust, a unicorn from 44, takes his first steps outside into the destroyed world. Long story, short: Uh-oh
The griffon and pony inhabitants of Stable 44 had their share of issues and tension between them. After a coup, the victors formed a government free of Overponies or Overgriffons. A democracy. Now, trained in the fields of stealth and hunting, these stable dwellers will leave to find a destroyed world. At least now we're somewhat prepared. Sunny Gust, a young stallion from the Stable, and a group of other ponies and griffons, set out to make communications with any other survivors. Let's hope the welcome wagon isn't from raiders.
If you find this log, then something happened... Or not! Yay! Don't you just love plot twists? But I keep these on me! Am I dead? Hi, dead me! Anyhow, to right get down to it, I started recording these because... well, I'm not sure why. But everypony else is doing it and I wanna see the hype behind it. But you need some background first! Everypony does!
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My name is Sunny Gust and I come from Stable 44, a Stable built out of the Las Pegasus city in Neigh Mexico. My name is pretty ironic considering the fact that no one was probably ever going see the sun or feel a gust. In our Stable, it was one of half ponies and half griffons. And because of the fact that everyone would start bitching and murder each other, we had an overmare (or stallion), and an overgriffon representing each party. Except this didn't end too well, either. The griffons and ponies mostly stuck to themselves and there was constant animosity between the two. There was a coup in each party's leadership and the successors combined both to form a single democracy consisting of both party's representatives. Everyone wins! But this was way before I was born.
Most of the original pony's ancestors who came into this Stable were ordinary citizens. Most had little to no training in the art of war, so they had nothing to teach to their successing children. The griffons, on the other hoof, were bred for this kind of thing. After the formation of 44's new govenment, the griffins and ponies had elected the decision that we have to venture outside. Under the idea that each side had to share their areas of expertise, us ponies had shared our technologies, and the griffins had taught us how to fight. Only, it wasn't the conventional 'in-your-face-jackass!' kind of fighting. They taught us how to become hunters.
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The atrium was not pitch black, but still too dark to make out any far-away figures. This was done so that our eyes adjusted to the dark easier. Most lights in these areas are dimmed or out so our eyes do not adjust back so suddenly. What's a hunter if they cannot adapt to both dark and light? A familiar sound of a reinforced string snapping back into place, accompanied by the sound of an arrowhead piercing into metal snapped me out of my thoughts.
"While it may be difficult for the earth ponies without talons nor magic, you'll just have to make do in the hindleg stance." A young-adult griffon announced to all the griffons and ponies learning from him. That was Erő, one the griffons who instructed us in the art of archery and a close friend of mine. I never bothered to learn or even ask what his name meant. I just knew it was some language spoken far, far away from our Stable. Probably Hoofgarian or something, but that's not really important.
"Gust, what are you doing here?" Erő asked me, still walking across the catwalk above me in a hindleg position. It was kind of creepy and amusing at the same time. Unfortunately, I had to learn that skill too. Upon working age, everyone is given a series of jobs. Whatever they excel in best will be their job. Upon recieving a cutie mark for the ponies, or a hunter's brand for the griffons, we can opt to keep working our jobs, or we can join the Fighters of 44. I didn't want to end up doing silly stuff like repairing toasters in the maintenance field, so I joined in the fighting force.
"I-I, uh, I'm here to receive archery training, sir." I brought my other hoof above my head into an awkward salute to Erő "I chose to join the Fighters instead of the maintenance field, sir!" He arched an eyebrow at me at the display of assumed rank. Only then I realized that nopony or griffon was doing that and I looked like a complete idiot. Another sharp ping of an arrow into the metal of a makeshift target board made me jump. Oh geez, first day and I'm already killing it.
"So, you're joining the Fighters, eh?" I noticed a slightly smug grin forming on his beak. "No offense, Gust, but I never took you for a Fighter. I'd always think that you would become a toaster repair-pony." Damn it, what's it with these whackos and broken toasters?! Erő flew down and landed next to me. "Don't sweat it, Sunny. By the end of the week, you'll be shooting almost as good as me." He said as he pulled me into an upright position. I nearly fell backwards before catching myself on a wall. This was going to be a long week, wasn't it.
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By the end of the week, I found myself walking back to my room with a small payout of the week's training: A recurve bow for hunting, hoof-crafted arrows, and a freaky upright walking position. I'd say that was worth being woken at 4:00 every morning and having to sleep in the Fighter's barracks. Too bad we were doing this again at the beginning of next week.
I passed an open door near 44's council room and heard voices. Now, I'd like to say that I'm not a bad pony who doesn't eavesdrop, but that would be a lie.
Listening in, I heard the voices of the head griffon council, Ares, and the head pony council, Autumn Gust. My father. Oh jeez.
"Look, Autumn, I understand your concern, but he has shown an aptitude for the stealth field. I think he'd make a great addition for the scouting party." I heard Ares say with a tone of compassion in his voice.
"I know, Ares, I know. But he's my son. I should be proud, but he's all that I have left. If something happens to him out there, I don't know what I'll do. I mean we're only two weeks away from opening the Stable, how's he gonna survive with three weeks of experience." My father spoke in a very distraught tone.
Fuck. Why me? I'm a nobody. And, two weeks!? We weren't planning to open it for atleast another few months. I was shaking too hard to think clearly at this point.
"My son is going to be in the same party as yours, I can understand the fear of the unknown. I'm sure it's not gonna be sunshine and rainbows when they get out there, but you need to have faith that they'll be okay." Ares spoke softly as he put a wing on Autumn's shoulder.
Fuck! Erő is gonna be in this too?! This can't get any worse.
"Thank you. For the kind words, Ares, it means a lot to me." My father flashed a brief smile before turning to the door. By the time he started trotting towards it, I was halfway down the hall.
I knew I wasn't on bad terms with Fate, but I guess I wasn't on good terms with it either.
So, that was it. Those two weeks are nothing but memories now, and we've been prepped to leave the stable. I really tried not to think about what was waiting, but it was difficult to with the constant training and having been relocated to the Fighter's barracks. I'd never thought that I would miss the boring grays and whites of my room. Despite all of the mental, physical, and other sorts of training for this, I couldn't believe it: they were actually opening the stable!
They told us that when we got back, we'd be heroes to the stable dwellers for being the first to see the world in over 200 years. I really don't mean to be the pessimistic one, but we'd only be praised IF we get back. They'd drilled into our heads the importance of this. The vitality of meeting a world that's already gone. I mean, who knows what's out there? Would we see society rebuilding? Or would it be an uninhabitable abyss that we would have to wait out for another 200 years?
Two more had joined Erő and I before leaving; a young mare with a steel gray coat and an icy blue mane. A pair of snowflakes emblazoned her flanks. Again with the irony of this place! What in Luna's name even were those? The most we'd learned is that before the war, they had fallen from the sky when it was cold. Like that makes a whole lot of sense!
The mare beside us was Icebox. I heard her job was freezing water for conservation. I guess that it wasn't thrilling enough. I never knew her, but I had heard through the grapevine that she was the kind of pony who would make you feel like hell when you're alone, but ask all about you when she's with someone else. A real ice queen, huh? That's the thing about gossip, though. She could be the nicest pony I've ever met. Or not. I guess we'd all better learn to get along if I'm going to be putting my lives into these pony's, and griffon's, hooves. And talons.
The other to join was a largish stallion named Jury Rigger. Upon flicking his blonde mane away from his earthy brown coat, many scars and marks were visible. It may seem intimidating to see a pony like that, but the truth is, he's a real softie. Most of those scars were from accidents on the job, and the worst he's ever been in was a small scuffle over a filly back when he was still in school. I saw a roll of duct tape and a hammer as his cutie mark. He'd never spoken more than a hoofful of words to me, and I still knew him better than Icebox. The real strong, silent type.
Between our group, everyone's nerves were beyond tense. Everyone except Erő. He'd always managed to hold onto a calm demeanor, despite was going on around him. But his eyes betrayed his attitude. I saw worry in them; fear.
I saw a pony behind a console, pushing a few buttons before our attention was brought forward by such an alien sight and sound. The giant metal door of Stable 44 hissed as it moved inwards and rolled to the side, beckoning someone to leave for the first time since the world ended. This really is it, then.
Erő was the first to stride forward, motioning us behind him. “Shall we?” He asked, acting like this was just another ordinary, everyday thing. Icebox was the first to follow, accompanied by Jury and I right behind her.
Upon exiting the stable, we were greeted by a cave with several century old skeletons. They died waiting for the door to open. Jury, Icebox, and I were pretty taken back by this. Erő seemed distraught for a moment before steeling himself and pulling our stares away to proceed.
After a few more moments, the stable door began to roll back into place before sliding shut, enveloping the cave in darkness and truly sealing our fates.
We had been trained to see in low-light conditions, not complete darkness. Jury had lit a flare and thrown it a good distance before it bounced off of one the cave walls before settling on the ground.
To prevent injury within the first ten minutes of leaving, I used my magic to throw the flare every time we were a few steps away. Eventually, the cave had let light in and signaled an exit. Based on how long we had been gone, it was still early morning, probably around 5:00AM.
Icebox was the only one in our group to wear a PipBuck. They were generally reserved for the ponies who went into the working force, and the Fighters of 44 had believed that they were a crutch because of the preset auto-targeting spell, S.A.T.S., or Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell. Autumn Gust believed that, at least, one of us should be wearing one for its ease when outside.
Activating her Eyes-Forward-Sparkle, or EFS, Icebox scanned the before before looking at us and shaking her head. “I don't see anything. This place is dead.” She told us with a look of worry.
“Could we be the only ones left?” I asked in surprise. I got a few worried looks from Icebox and Jury Rigger before Erő had put a talon on my head and pushing himself up onto his hindlegs and leaned on me. “That's ridiculous, Gust. What about the other Stables? Other have bound to have been opened up.” He tapped his talons on my head before jumping down to all fours and proceeding. “Come on, there's gotta be something out here.”
After a few minutes of walking, Icebox motioned for us to get down and stop moving.
“What's wrong, Ice?” I asked, my anxiety returning.
“There's a red mark on my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle; a hostile.” She whispered.
“I'll fly up and take a look. Shouldn't be too long.” Erő said as he drew his bow and took to the sky. His voiced called us over to him, where we found a massive roach skewered with an arrow down the middle.
Icebox honestly looked like she was going to scream. “What. The hell. Is that!?” She hopping on the tips of her hooves and squeaking in fear as if it were to come back alive. “Relax, it's just a radroach, we had em' all the time down in maintenance.” Jury Rigger said to Icebox, calming her down, but she still looked like she was gonna lose it.
“Big-ass roaches? This place can't get any weirder.” Erő remarked before pulling out the arrow and wiping the guts off of it. Once again, Icebox looked like she was going to vomit. “What? It's still usable, in a way.” He said with a smirk.
I had a strong sense of Déjà vu, and a familiar set of words came to mind. “This is going to be a long, long week.”
After a few hours more of moving through the scorched earth and hollowed homes of what used to be a town, it became late in the evening. Probably around seven or eight at night. We had decided to rest up in the remnants of a single story house until early morning. Even though the house was empty, and by that I mean there weren't anypony's remains, it was still kind of strange to think, 'Wow! Somepony had actually lived here, and we're just standing right here in, or what's left of, somepony's house. That's not creepy or unnerving at all!'
Nonetheless, sleep actually came easy in the wasteland. You can hear gunshots all night, and they seemed to be moving closer, but you just kind of sleep through it. It all seems to blend into the 'hellish' environment.
I was awoken when something had gripped me and shook slightly. It was Erő, prodding me awake.
“Come on, Gust. Up, up. It's time to go” He said as I let out a deep yawn.
“Nuh-uh. Ugh, just like 5 more minutes.” My dreams of returning a hero to the Stable were nothing but a fleeting memory. I really didn't want to get up. I had actually missed the boring four walls, the hard, sterile floors, and most of all: a roof.
“Please, Gust. Don't make me drag you by your tail, because you know I will.” He said with a smirk.
“Fine. Fine. I'm up, don't worry,” I said defensively as I stood up to stretch out my legs. “Jerk.”
“What was that?” He said giving me a playful shove.
“Whoa, nothing. Just playin', man.” I bumped 'accidentally' back into his side.
“Riight.”
As I looked around, I noticed a lack of two ponies. The sleeping rolls and saddlebags were missing as well. There didn't seem to be a trace that they were even here, save for some imprints in the dirt where they were laying.
“Erő, where's Icebox and Jury?” I said as I strapped my own saddlebags and bow over my back.
“Left. They went to the hill over there to get a view on anything interesting,” He said, pointing a claw through the cracked and faded window towards a hill that seemed to come out of nowhere. “I chose to stay behind so you didn't kill yourself in your sleep. Generous, aren't I?”
“Quite.”
“So, let's check in with them. Come on.” The griffon said as he took flight. I never actually knew where he had learned to fly in such a small place. The most I had heard were stories about the griffons keeping their wings in check by racing down the more lengthy hallways of the Stable. I never bothered to check it out, as those stories also included details of the amount of pain you're in after getting hit head-on by a griffon at top speed.
I arrived a few minutes after Erő did. You know being earth-bound, and all. Despite constant clouds or no lights around, it was easy to see. Well-adjusted eyes certainly helps out here, for one thing. It might be a bitch during the day, though. One problem at a time, I guess.
“Here, lookie there. Light.” Icebox shoved a pair of binoculars into my hooves and pointed at a small, flickering speck off in the distance. It was obviously fire.
“I dunno, should we check it out?” I asked as I handed her the binoculars to be shoved back into a saddlebag.
“Well, yeah! That's why we're out here, right? To check things out and establish contact... with the ooother siiide!” She said as she waved her hooves around in a spooky manner. I fought to hold back a grin.
“This is serious, Ice. It could be something dangerous.” Jury said softly.
“Well, that's why you have a pair of wings. So, that way you'll be about 20 percent safer.” Erő said proudly as he flexed his wings.
“20 percent is pretty small, you know.” Jury said, scratching the earth off of his mane.
“You know what? Don't you worry your little, grounded head. I'll be back on you lickety-split, and we'll have our questions answered. Just tail me from behind, alright?” Erő took back to the skies and slowly moved up on the flame.
We were far enough from the camp to make out basic shapes, but not any fine details about them. After, ducking behind a hardly standing wall of some unfortunate pony's house, we waited for Erő to return with some news. Unfortunately, he came back empty-hooved, err, clawed.
“So, the old fashion way, right? 'We won't shoot you if you won't shoot us'? That sorta thing?” Icebox said as she checked her pistol. There were some ponies who were allowed firearm training in Stable 44. The bow might not be everyone's gig, or something. A pistol, in addition to a Pip-Buck, made Icebox the stand-out of the group. Y'know, other than the flying cat.
“I guess so. But someone needs to stay behind in case it goes down poorly. I'll watch with my bow, I can make the distance.” Jury unsheathed the bow and nocked an arrow. Freaking Earth ponies, the rearing combat stance was strange enough, but using their mouths for everything was also weird. Cushy unicorn logic, or something.
“Hey, Jury, I'll be your wingman. I got your back.” Erő nocked an arrow with his claws and flew up towards the sky. A nod of his head was enough of a signal to go.
“You and me, Ice. Let's not die.” I used my magic to keep a grip on my bow as well as an arrow, if need be. I noticed she used her magic for a passive grip on her weapon. She couldn't lift very well with that kind of magic, but if she needed to, she could raise her magic at a moment's notice. An added benefit was that her horn glowed softer, so hopefully it was less noticeable.
As we approached a broad looking stallion, I began to make out the details. He was wearing armor that was leathery and smooth looking, but it appeared to be caked in.. in.. Oh, no.
I wanted to run, but I was too scared to at this point. All I could do was follow behind Icebox. It's funny, you know. She loses her shit about an oversized roach, yet blindly walks over to the pony who is caked in, well, another pony.
I think she noticed it too, her horn was glowing brighter as the grip on her pistol seemed to get tighter. Still, she got a few yards from him before lowering into a defensive stance.
“Friendly, or not?” She asked the crazy-pony. Even his eyes were haunting, they were darkened in the outer whites of his eyes, and seemed to have lost their natural glimmer. They just seemed hollow. Dead.
“Suure, honey, I can be friendly. Just come over here and lemme show ya'.” His voice sounded like hooves on a chalkboard and made me feel really uncomfortable. As if seeing a pony wear another wasn't already.
“Yeah, no. Mind telling me who you are, or am I just wasting my time?” She rolled her eyes at him. Really! There's brave, there's stupid, and then there is whatever she's doing.
“Sheesh, toots, you've gotta mouth on you. I'd love to see you use it. Anyhow, name's Shrapnel.” Words didn't roll off of his tongue, they just sort of oozed out. Something about this stallion seemed different, besides from the pony-caked armor and weapons, he seemed collected. Sane. The others looked like they were about to start hoof-fighting, or bang their heads against pans. You know, the crazy kind.
“Not in your lifetime, pal.” She said back to the gruff pony.
“I'm sorry? I wasn't asking, bitch!” A hoof came down hard against her cheek. Icebox hit the ground with a soft thud.
“What about you, huh? Anything smart you wanna add, punk?” He was looking right at me. I thought I was about to faint.
“N-nothing at al-OH SHIT!” I screamed and threw myself backwards as the pony's head exploded.
“What happened? Backup?” Icebox seemed to shake the hit off and began to back away from the pony who was pooling in his blood.
“A-arrows don't explode ponies, Ice!” It was my turn to lose my composure as the late Shrapnel's friends seemed to be closing in on us.
“Say, honey, nice trick shooting with a holstered gun.” One of the crazies said to her as he inched closer.
“I-I didn't. It was somepony else's shot.” This was good, not the whole crazy murder-pony part, we were leading these ponies back into Erő and Jury's killbox.
We found ourselves against the same wall that Jury was behind. I heard a clop of hooves against the wall, signaling that we weren't alone. I looked up to see a very welcomed sight. A nocked arrow pointed towards me.
An arrow went straight through the head of a back up raider, causing their leader to turn, we took this as our cue to jump through a chest-high hole in the wall. It was strange, like we all knew what to do and where to be. As soon as we cleared, Jury had taken our spot and pulled the raider through the hole before a pair of heavy hooves came down on his wind-pipe.
Oh, Goddess, I never want to hear that crack again.
There it was again! Another bang, and down goes another crazy! It was down to just two of them, and wooden bats and sharpened pieces of metal don't look like good odds against ranged weapons. One of them, however believed that luck was in her favor, she charged Icebox before getting slapped across the muzzle with an electric stick.
I've seen those in the Stable before. They were used for breaking up fights. The most you'd get was your muscles seizing up on you. If it was turned higher, loss of consciousness. But, this pony was on the ground, twitching and vomiting. I'd no idea that they even went that high. I didn't even check to see if she was breathing.
The other brave soul took one look at his companion before he dropped his bat, turning tail and bolting. Smart pony, I guess. Icebox drew her pistol and lined the sights with the back of his head.
“Don't! He doesn't have a weapon!” I pushed the pistol away before she gave me a shove back that caused me to fall over.
“What gives?! You saw those monsters! Who's to say he's not gonna go back to this once he's gone?” Her anger was replaced with shock as another crack in the sky caused the pony's head to explode. She just sighed and gave me a hoof back up. “Sorry, Gust. That wasn't me, though. You saw it.”
“Yeah, I know. We have a guardian angel, or something.” I heard Jury say from behind. I couldn't take it. I turned to face away from Jury and Icebox before emptying my stomach all over the ground.
Erő landed without a sound behind us, and went to go retrieve the arrow from the raider's head. I didn't understand why these people are so unphased by this. Exploding heads!? Psychopathic murder-ponies?! The Goddess-damned apocalypse!? No ceiling!?
Erő came back with an arrow soaked in another pony. How lovely. “I didn't see where the shot came from, but I heard it just fine. They're nearby.”
“Should we try to find him? He seems like a nice enough guy, what, with saving our flanks back there.” Icebox said, rubbing the cheek that Shrapnel struck.
“No. He might try something. Best we just get out before something else comes down on us.” Erő seemed concerned. Maybe the wasteland was chipping off his cool demeanor. Or maybe it was the exploding heads. It doesn't matter.
As we were making our way through the raider camp, we noticed the something that Erő was talking about. A unicorn mare with a soft red coat that mixed nicely with a brown mane. A largish rifle was slung over her back. I'd've said she was pretty attractive if she hadn't just decked me in the face.
“You idiot! You almost got yourself killed, and you almost fucked up my bounty! Stupid Stable ponies!” She barked at me, in particular. Shoot, all I did was nearly piss myself at the exploding heads. Cut me some slack, lady.
“Whoa, slow down, hon, he didn't do anything. Mind telling me what your piece in all of this is?” Erő said as he defensively shoved a claw in front of me.
“You honestly couldn't tell? Is spikes and dead ponies normal for you?” I just cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Hell, everything was confusing to me right now. “Those were raiders, jackass. Ugh, you know, 'not-nice-ponies'?”
“Yeah, I get the gist of it. Why'd you pop that guy's head, anyhow? No warning shots?” I asked as she began to back off of me.
“Again, bounty. That old buck Shrapnel had a price on his head for some not-nice things. His friends were just scum, no reason to let them live, either. 'ts the law of the land. Get used to it.” She rolled her eyes at me. Hey, it's not my fault I'm ignorant to the apocalypse, excuuse me!
“Hey. You're wearing nothing but one of them Stable suits.” She looked at me like I was crazy.
“Yeah. So are they,” I pointed over the two ponies and the griffon behind me. “What about it?”
“No no no, see? Their suits have armoring. Yours doesn't,” Huh? Can't believe I missed that. “If you get hit... Bam!” She punched me with a hoof for added emphasis.
“So can't I just take one of these poor pony's armor sets?” Hey, good ideas, already!
“Sure, if you wanna get your head blown off by some town's watch.” Goodbye, good ideas!
“You're in luck, pal. Since you're new here, and your probably gonna die in that suit, I'll let you scavenge off ol' Shrapnel's armor. It's the least murderous looking out of the bunch.” As she set the body down towards me, I thought I was going to lose it again.
A few seconds passed before she rolled her eyes and and started unstrapping the armor from his body. “Really? Ugh, whatever.” She got up behind me and started pulling down my suit's zipper with her teeth.
I jumped back and freaked out, sort of. “Whoa! Second base on the first date, already?!”
“I-I.. really?! Just take you damn suit off, kid!” She blushed before returning to her stern demeanor.
After pulling the Stable suit off, I never noticed actually how chilly it was out here. And, after a few bangs and pops from her horn, she levitated over a Stable 44 Suit with Reinforced Leather Barding. I swear I could hear a tune playing as she set it down in front of me.
“Ta-da! Don't thank me, I'm just that nice of a pony.” Yeah, a real charmer.
“So, you never even told us your name.” Erő stated quietly to her.
“Name's Lucky Shot. Yours?” She seemed to survey our group, rather than keeping her eyes on one of us.
“Erő.”
“Sunny Gust.”
“I'm Icebox.”
“Jury Rigger, miss.”
“Great, so now that we are all acquainted, I'll take my leave.” She began to trot off before something stopped her. “Say, what're you doing out of your Stable, anyhow?”
“We were sent to establish contact with the outside.” Erő said with pride.
“Yeah, and I'm guessing that raiders weren't in the brochure, right?”
“Well, yeah. We mostly just expected scorched earth and the likes. Sure, there was bound to be something, just not psychopaths and murders waiting for us.” I said bluntly.
“Well, somepony's gotta crack those Stables open eventually. After a century, boredom's a bitch. So are drugs, I guess. There's always gonna be bad ponies.” Something was off, she was eluding to something.
“Okaay. If that's all..” Icebox trailed off.
“Look. I've seen your type. You ain't gonna last a day out here. Tell you what, I'm heading to a city southwest of here, New Saint City, it's where I'm collecting the bounty on Shrapnel. We all head there, you got yourself a sniper. Sounds like a deal?” She gave a pretty convincing case. We would have been worse off if it weren't for her intervention with the raiders.
After a few moments of muffled whispers between the group, we'd reached a consensus. She's in.
“You've got a deal,” Erő held his claw for a shake, but Lucky just punched it. “But, I've got a question, first, why are you so eager to help us?”
“Couple years back, I met a buck from some Stable out in Marizona, I just let him go. Few days later, I found him strung up off a goddess-damned light post. Raiders were just waiting for me. For someone who wanted to help. I killed all those fuckin' monsters and never looked back. I just wished I could have done more for the poor kid, y'know?” She looked away and wiped something from her eyes. “Doesn't matter, it's no time to get all misty-eyed, and daylight's burning. Let's hit the road, huh?”
Yay! Somepony who knows what's going on! This could finally be looking up. Wait, no, jinx! Dammit! I take that back!
Footnote: Level Up!
Perk Added: Hunter - You do 75% more critical damage against animals and mutated animals.
Companion Perk Added: On Target - While Lucky Shot is aiming at the same target as you, your aim is 20% steadier!
Blinding light. More scorched rocks. I think something is dripping on me. Most of my senses are shot to hell, my ears won't stop ringing, and I think I may be dead. Looks like I got blown up. Sorry stable ponies, I mucked this one up. But wait! I'm not dead! My sight's coming back and I can definitely feel something on top of me! It's large, and wet, and squishy, and Oh my fucking Celestia, it's a dead pony.
“Oh my... ech,” I rolled the deceased earth pony off of me and began to crawl out. I shook myself and stared at the dead pony. It actually gets easier, you know? We were somewhat braced for this, and although you can't seem to let go of that nagging feeling of 'Wow, that guy sure is dead and he's never coming back', the initial shock of the wasteland has left. Sure, exploding heads still scare you to Tartarus and back, but for the most part, it's not that bad.
I turned around to be greeted by a very hard hoof to the muzzle. “Damn it, Sunny! What the hell did I tell you!?” Stop. Running. Out.” The owner of the hoof was Lucky. This may be, like, the second, or maybe fourth, time I had run out and gotten myself into a sticky situation. Only now it was more literal, as somepony else's blood was on me.
“Y-yeah, well... you blew me up!” Honestly, I wasn't too worried about it, I was just trying to save face.
“Pfft, yeah. It's called a flash grenade, kid. It's guaranteed to screw up the eyes and ears of both wannabe bandits, as well as over-confident Stable cases like you, without killing them,” She said with a very smug laugh.
“Hey, look, you're bleeding. It's a gunshot wound, but relax, it just grazed you,” She seemed a little more sympathetic now. She pulled out a little vial from a leg pocket and hoofed it to me, “Here. It's a healing potion. Drink up, it's meant for minor injuries.”
“Whoo! That's some next level stuff right there, Luck!” I couldn't believe it, my flesh and fur was growing back right before my eyes. I'd seen these in the Stable, but never first hoof. I must have always missed it whenever one of the other Fighters had an injury.
“Better? Let's go.” Lucky said as she gave me a hoof up and trotted on. We were on our way to New Saint City before being asked to pay a toll. Apparently, ponies with bats and mean looking sticks don't like it when you tell them to bite you. Anyway, making contact with a city would be great for the Stable because then we could trade, ponies could leave the Stable freely, and ponies would call me a hero and I won't be a loser, anymore! Yay, a win-win situation!
“Hey, Sunny, lemme ask you something,” Lucky asked me as she tore me from my inner monologue, “Where you come from, you got gryphons there, right? You got any of those pegasi there?” she seemed to ask through gritted teeth.
“Huh? What's this about pegasi? Are gryphs not good enough for you?” Erő said as he brushed past me, distraught over something. “I-it's not like I'm jealous or anything, that is.” Lucky looked pretty confused about Erő's remark but shrugged it off.
“Whoa, chill out, catbird, I'm just making friendly conversation, yeah? Jeez,” she added back, quickly changing her demeanor, making Erő seem even more defensive.
After about 10 something minutes of walking and crossing over hills, a wall came into sight. A big-ass wall. “Whoa, that's a big-ass wall,” I said to nopony in particular, “is that New Saint City, Lucky?” She didn't respond, she just ran up to the wall and started banging on it. Only then did I realize it wasn't a wall, it was a door. A big-ass door.
“Yo! Dev! Get down here and open this door!” I noticed somepony in a nearby tower train his sights on her. She noticed too. “You keep that gun pointed at me and I'll come over there and shove it up your ass, pal!” she shouted at the stallion in question.
“I'm guessin' she don' make a whole lotta friends, eh?” Jury whispered to me and chuckled himself, eliciting a killer glare from Lucky. After a few minutes of her banging, the door finally opened up, and out trotted a dark purple-colored mare who didn't look too happy at our dear friend, Lucky.
“I swear to the Goddesses, Lucky, you're lucky that we're siblings or I would put you six hooves under,” she said in a unamused tone. “Aaand, you brought friends too. And it looks like one of them is covered in dried blood. Something you need to clue me in on?”
“Hey, we're right here, you know!” Icebox shouted at her before being given back an annoyed 'no shit!'.
“It's nothing to get too bent out of shape over, even if you were into that kind of thing, sis. Just a lil' trouble with some bandits,” It seemed that Lucky was seriously starting to get underneath this pony's skin. “All I'm tryna' say is that it's no big deal, alright? We're not even gonna be here for long.”
“Fine, sure. But you know the same old rules, sister. My town, my rules. You fuck with my town or anypony in it and I will personally break you in two. The same goes for your friends, as well. We clear?” There was certainly something between these two, to say the least.
“Weeell, I don't wanna be rude or anything, but we'd better get going...” I thought it was best before they start throwing punches at each other. After pulling Lucky away, she looked like she was ready to start throwing punches at me. “Look, we still have a job to do, Luck, remember. You have your bounty to turn in and we have... we have...,” I honestly couldn't believe that's it. “We have to go back, Lucky. We established contact, summed up that everyone isn't fucking mental, et cetera, et cetera. Our job is done.” She seemed a bit taken back by this. I didn't want to leave a new friend behind so soon, but I had obligations to keep.
“U-uh, yeah, forgot, heheh. Look, I'll go talk with my sister about some of your Stable higher-ups getting an escort to the city, or something. Politics ain't my field and it never will be, but I'll work something out, I promise.” She turned and trotted off. Surprisingly, Jury Rigger took off after her and Icebox kept behind him.
“Looks like it's just you and me, Erő.” I said to my gryph companion as we trotted off into the city.
I guess after living so long in the Stables, you never understand how easy we had it. Sure, we were trained and conditioned for the inevitable departure from our Stable, but in there, nopony ever went hungry. Nopony ever killed another for a mouthful of water. No died a meaningless death simply because they weren't as strong as the one who did them in.
After a few hours of walking, I began to notice something about these ponies, they didn't seem to care. At all, to be honest. They'd walk past right past the sick and the hungry like they weren't even there. Stallions, mares, and foals, all brushed to the sides of dark and filthy gutters. I wanted to help them, I really did, but Erő kept pulling me back.
"Sorry, Sunny, it's not our place. M-maybe things will be better for them once we get something going with '44, yeah?" he said with a twinge of sadness in his voice.
I just had to follow suit and try not to care. To walk past all of the hurt and forgotten and simply not care. That is, until a dirty, young buck came barreling at me, out of nowhere, yelling for somepony to help him. This was something can I couldn't ignore, Erő's wishes or not.
"What's wrong, kid? Something I can help you with?" I asked him with a hopeful smile.
"M-my older brother! I saw these ponies pull him into an alley, I think they're gonna kill him! You have to help me!" The poor foal looked like he was on the verge of tears. Both Erő and I were in agreement that this needed our attention. Now. We took off after the buck, into a series of winding alleys. He stopped at a corner where screaming and the sounds of something soft being beaten could be heard. I drew a knife that I had pulled off of a bandit a while earlier, and got ready to turn the corner.
What I saw was shocking, to say the least. Two grown stallions kicking and beating a teen-aged buck who couldn't even defend himself. Before words could even leave my mouth, Erő had tackled one of them and wrapped his claws around his throat, fully prepared to choke the life out of this pony. I pulled the other stallion off of the crying buck while Erő thrashed the other.
"Erő, stop! He's had enough!" While I was trying to stop Erő from murdering this pony, I neglected to notice that that the pony underneath me had upholstered a pistol from his dirty, tattered clothing. Luckily, I noticed it at the last second, being able to brush it out of his grip. The shot missed me by a lot, but, unfortunately, grazed my gryph friend on the arm. I wasted no time in shoving my knife through this pony's throat. Realizing what I had done, I felt sickened by it.
After getting off of the stallion, I tried to pull Erő from the other who, surely, had lost consciousness at this point. "Erő, come on, man. He's done for," I pleaded with him. But then, as I placed a hoof along his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, he pulled back and crushed the pony's throat with a disgusting snap. Before I knew it, he was bearing down over me, murder filling his eyes, "L-look, man, you're scaring me. Just calm down a bit, alright?" Erő seemed to realize what he was doing and backed off, "Somepony had to have heard that gunshot. We have to get out of here before they come looking," I asked with shakiness in my tone.
I just remembered the young buck, crying and holding his battered brother. "M-mister, I-i, thank you," his meager voice trailed off. His brother looked in pretty bad shape, to be honest, but he'd make it. I pulled a syringe of painkillers that Lucky had given me for emergencies out of my bag and gave it to the bleeding buck. Erő didn't try to stop me from helping somepony, this time.
"Look, kid, you and your brother need to get the fuck out of here," my caring friend put it, "don't worry about what happened here. Just go." I was pretty shocked, as the reality of the situation had really began to set it. Only a few hours into this city, Erő and I had already killed two ponies. Only a few days in the wastes, and my friends had already killed ponies. Only a few days into the wastes and I killed a pony. And because of the actions of Erő and myself, Lucky's sister was going to kill us.
"Oh, who am I kidding? I'm no Fighter, I was never meant to be one in the first place." Erő grabbed me and shook me back to reality, "Sunny! This is no time to be daydreaming, okay? You and I need to get out of here and forget this happened, alright?" I took a second to remember that we were sitting in an alleyway after a gun had went off, probably waking up a fuckton of ponies around us, sitting with two dead ponies. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.
////
I found myself sitting alone with Erő in the moonlit ghettos that we all had set out from during the day. I noticed that Erő pulled a bottle from his bag as he took a deep sip from it, then offered me the bottle as I hesitantly questioned it. "Erő, you know I don't drink," he seemed a little off-put by this, "but, I'll try it anyway, just to make you feel better." I took a small sip from the bottle and was immediately taken back by how strong it was. It was like drinking fire and made me gag. After it had finally settled, I began to feel a warmness in my belly and decided 'why not?' and took a few deep chugs of it.
"Whoa, shit, Gust! Take it down a notch, lightweight! You're gonna be feeling that, later on," Erő said as he took the bottle back and sipped some more. After a few more passes back and forth, the bottle was empty. "Mmmhm, Shunneh, look what I gotsh," Erő slurred as he dug into his bags for another bottle. In hindsight, this was an awful idea, but I honestly didn't care all to much.
////
On the other side of the city, the rest of the team was currently making their way back to Sunny and Erő. After talking to her sister (and by talking, we meant harsh words and making comments about the promiscuity of one's mother, despite having the same mother, that is) about letting some Stable ponies from '44 into the city, it seems that they had reached an agreement and were ready to work something out. The sounds of hooves clopping against broken and beat up roads was disturbed as Icebox spoke up, "Hey, Jury, it suure is cold out, tonight, huh? Say, you wouldn't be all to against sharing body heat, would ya?" she said coyly while rubbing against Jury Rigger's side.
"I'm not sure it's that cold, Ice, but if ya want, I'll give you my jacket," Jury was trying his best but didn't exactly pick up on what Icebox was getting at.
"W-well, I mean, it's not the same, right? And, besides, won't you be cold?" She quickly gave back to Jury in an attempt to swing things her way.
"But, I don't get too cold, Icebox, you know that," Jury said with a hint of confusion.
In front of them, Lucky was listening in on their conversation and decided to give Icebox a helping hoof. She put it in the most subtle and charming way she could muster, "Jury, stop bein' a lil' bitch and cuddle her, dude, seriously." The meaning of Lucky's comment began to dawn on Jury as he looked at an Icebox who was playfully batting her eyes.
"Oh, oooh, I see, now," he said, just now catching Icebox's vibes, "Uh, yeah, sure, Icebox, if ya wanna share body heat, that's fine with me." It seemed that Icebox had gotten her way and everything was calm once again, before Lucky tripped on a hoof sticking out from an alley and gracefully face-planted against the ground.
"Oh, oooh shit," a wobbly voice slurred out, "Oh fuck, ten pointsh, man! Worldstar! Worldstar!" Two ponies were laughing uncontrollably and rolling on the dirty ground as Lucky peeled herself off of the road. "Omigawdess, Luckeh, you've been gone for soooo long, and...," Sunny had to pause for a moment to collect his thoughts, but was interrupted by Erő, who was wrapping himself around Lucky and sobbing into her coat.
"I'm sho shorry, Luckeh, I thoughtsh you were never coming back! Don't do thish to me, man!" Lucky, on the other hoof, was not so much mad, as she was confused, only then, she took a whiff of Erő's breath, which reeked of alcohol. She promptly headbutted him and started yelling, as usual.
"What the hell is wrong with you two!? We were gone for, like, what? Two? Three hours? And not only are you drunk, but-" she was cut off by Erő who was, once again, trying to cry all over Lucky.
"Luckeh, Luckeh... don't you know you're my very beeehst frieeendsh!" After finishing his song, Erő stood up and looked Lucky right in her eyes, "Luckeh, did you at lea- Oh Goddesh!" Going wide-eyed, Erő threw his head into a trashcan and started violently vomiting into it.
"Haahah, shtupid catbird! I told you I wouldn't get sick first! Who'sh the lightweight now, you lil'-" Sunny had reached the same state as Erő and was now vomiting into a rusty and bent trashcan, as well.
"Wow, he's a real charmer, isn't he?" Lucky said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "He always like this?"
"I always assumed Sunny didn't drink. Guess he really went overboard since it was his first time." Icebox added from behind. "We should probably get going so those two can sleep it off. Three out of five members is concerning."
"I'm on it, don't you two worry," Jury said boldly as he hoisted both Erő and Sunny onto his back. "Ain't no trouble, at all."
On the way out of the city, the group was stopped by Lucky's sister, along with a few armed town guards. "What's the problem, sis? I thought we were clear on the agreement we made earlier," Lucky asked her sister, clearly annoyed by her presence.
"This isn't about that, it's about your gryphon and unicorn friends. Two ponies were found dead in an alley today and witness claim that they saw a gryphon and unicorn stallion running from the scene. Care to explain?" She said in a dark tone, ready to bring down hell over her sister.
"Look," Lucky started, "it couldn't have been them, they wouldn't hurt somepony for no reason. And maybe, maaaybe it was them, there's obviously a completely justifiable reason for it."
"While that's all well and great, sister, they're still suspects for murder. I'm sorry for you, but I'm gonna have to take them back, Lucky." She took a few steps towards Jury, but stopped in her tracks as Lucky pointed her rifle inches from her muzzle.
"Don't. You're my sister and I love you, but if you touch them, I swear on my life, I will put you down." Jury Rigger and Icebox were pretty shocked at this, but couldn't intervene. Holstering her rifle, Lucky started up again at her sister, "You need to trust me on this one, sis. I know it looks bad, it really does, but it couldn't have been these two. I haven't known them for a very long time, but I know in my gut that they wouldn't do this."
"Oh, shit, my head...," a pained voice came from behind, "wh-what's going on? Look, I know I flashed that merchant, but I didn't think he'd sent the guards after me," Erő whined from atop Jury's back, before plopping onto the earth with a heavy thud.
"Erő, you and Sunny are suspects for murder, tell them it isn't true," Icebox said in a hopeful smile.
"What? Yeah, you're damn right it's true!" Erő proclaimed proudly, as if he were winning a contest, "Those two scumbags were lynching a buck and his brother, they got exactly what was coming to them."
"Look, sis, you have to let us go on this one. They still have a job to do, alright? You heard him yourself, he was doing a good deed by cleaning your city up of filth." Lucky, for once it seemed, talked to her sister on an equal level. No bitterness or animosity between the two. Just a genuine request for help.
"Fine. Fine. Just go. You're off the hook, and I will continue looking into this, but for now, you're free to go." Lucky just mouthed a 'thank you' to her, just as she turned to leave. "H-hey, sister, wait!" she called out to Lucky, "Look, I know there's bad blood between us, I know that. And I know that we're probably always going to be bitter at each other, but just remember, we're family, okay? I love you, too, Lucky." Lucky was taken back as her sister embraced her as she began to get misty eyed. "Stay safe, yeah?" She let go and returned to her city before shutting up the gates, leaving the rest of the team and a stunned Lucky sitting there.
"Aaww, holy hell, I'm never touching alcohol again in my life," Sunny had finally returned to the land of the living. "What? Was there something I missed?"
Footnote: Level Up!
Your Speech skill has increased!
New perk: Party Colt - You have learned the wonders of binge drinking! No chance for alcohol addiction.