A Fallout Equestria Sidefiction. A young mare sets out on a path to avvenge the attack on her Stable.
Betrayed by her own community in Stable 9, Euphoria, an unwilling testpony, is left to her own devices in the wasteland, so she decides to do the only thing she can: find the ponies responsible for attacking her home, and bring them to justice. But her quest soon drags her into more heinous plots, that might implicate her Stable in things far more dangerous than brutal Raiders.
War... war never changes. Everything that unfolded in the two-hour long pause, and the years of armed conflict before was an inevitability when push came to shove. Hope for victory, along with the hope for peace slowly receded as conflict escalated beyond imaginable. Mistakes were made, mistakes that ripped Equestria to pieces a little by little.
Underground shelters known as 'Stables,' were built to house the great, the wealthy, the influential, and those found necessary for survival. The best pony-kind had to offer were stockpiled inside – technology and resources, as a last best defence against the oncoming fire.
Stable 9, was meant to be a powerhouse for the great minds of science, magic, engineering, and combat. The residents of the Stable were meant to lead the post-apocalyptic world of Equestria into a new golden age, but the new world would be a harsh one.
As the bale-fire bombs rained down upon the ground above, the giant steel-door of Stable 9 slid shut, sealing them from the horrors of the world as it ended.
*
Euphoria screamed, “No!” Her voice trembled from fear as she whimpered and her bag was torn from her side, as a hoof struck her in the face, and she slammed hard into the earthen ground. The young mare crawled forward, shaking as her eyes had trouble in focusing. Euphoria tried her best to forget the shadow that loomed over her, but found that difficult as well – as her ears constantly twitched at the sounds of her bag being torn, and emptied out somewhere behind her.
She had carried it with her since she was just a foal, and Euphoria could almost feel her heart breaking, but she didn't want to give her attacker the delight in seeing her writhing in agony – of course, she couldn't stop her shaking, but she could at least hold back her tears as much as possible. Yet, she sniffled as she could see torn fabric fluttering to the ground, as her attacker cackled manically. “Well, well...” he said gruffly.
A waft of dull browns and greens filled her vision, as Euphoria propped her body up on her shaking hooves and shifted her weight so she could see what was going on. The buck stood over a heap of supplies: Health potions, decks of discoloured cards, a few boxes of Mac N' Cheese, and a collection of books where the pages had long ago yellowed. Euphoria could see her life vanish in that pile of things she had worked so hard to acquire.
“You thought you could get through Marauder territory without paying a fee?” Euphoria's attacker said, as he flashed her a toothy grin – yellow, jagged teeth glinted in the sharp sun that glittered high above. “It's time we ended your little business!” the buck said and laughed maniacally as he approached her , and she crawled backwards as her orange eyes were fixated on the violent stallion.
The young mare backed away, as fear crawled up her spine, and suddenly she felt very tiny in front of the buck. His coat glistened from sweat, blood, and caked debris that had accumulated over time, so you could barely see that his coat was brown underneath; on his head, the buck had a green mane slicked back into a pony-tail, but it didn't make him look any less intimidating; He wore no armour, and had no weapons, but even then he was a weapon due to his sheer size.
As the buck gained on Euphoria, with his slow-moving steps, something pinged into a charcoal rock on the ground close to the stallion, so fragments ricochet into his coat – leaving fresh wounds that dripped blood down one of his front-hooves. He seemed unfazed by this, as he kept his steady walk towards Euphoria and she kept crawling backwards.
It got more and more difficult by the second, as Euphoria whined against the pain that flared up in her flank, and the jagged rocks beneath drew fresh blood. She could feel the pale-green eyes of the buck burning holes in her head – he was almost fuming with hatred. Several more shots pinged into the ground, and Euphoria froze as one of the bullets nearly hit her in the side, just barely missing.
Somebody in the distance were taking pock-shots at the two, but none of them could see who it was, and Euphoria didn't care as she just stared. “S-stay away!” she shouted, her voice betraying her attempt at sounding vicious – her shaking hooves only compounded the whole thing, as the buck snickered back.
One bullet pinged into the ground, as another hit the buck in the hoof, and he backed away rapidly as his mouth spewed unpleseantries. Knowing that the moment would soon be gone, Euphoria mustered as much courage as she could and got to her hooves, pressed her lips together and focused. Soon, she was galloping down the open wasteland – a shack on the horizon being her objective.
She had seen it a moment earlier, but her hooves wouldn't budge, and even then – the buck would have caught her before she had gotten too far ahead. Birds chirped happily; bugs crawled along the ground, and Euphoria frowned slightly as one of them squashed under her hoof – splattering into gore and yellow goo that reeked of death and decay.
“You fucker!” a voice roared into the air behind Euphoria, and as she stole a glance behind herself, she yelped loudly and pushed with all her might. Hot wind rushed against her as she ground her teeth together, almost biting her tongue as she focused on that shack that slowly crept closer and closer.
Euphoria tasted metal as the soles of her hooves hurt. Her heart beat fast in her chest, and it felt as if it would burst out of her chest any second. Adrenaline along with dread surged through her body, as a burning sensation slowly crept up her hooves. The pain grew in intensity as Euphoria kept galloping and she wanted to stop, but the sound of heavy breathing close behind her kept her moving.
Was the shack coming closer? Euphoria didn't know any-more, as the stark sun thundered down on her – beating her with the steady heat, that the slow wind refused to cool. Heat shimmered in the air, as she tried to focus her eyes on the dilapidated building that rested in the shade of a withered tree; the only two things in this sea of nothing, except for a few rocks.
On her way into this part of the wastes, Euphoria had noticed the shack but hadn't given it much thought. The fact that ponies went out into the desert and built shacks, so that they could live alone were nothing new. After all, living sheltered and being able to have the drop on any-pony seemed perfect for most ponies in this age.
Euphoria had made her way into what was known as 'The Bowl,' in an attempt to set up peaceful trading relations with one of the factions within. Now, as she kept running, and was certain that the building was in fact getting bigger, she was certain that somebody had tricked her in coming here; her naivety had made her into something she didn't want to be.
Her chest heaved and dropped heavily, as her breath ghosted ragged and her pace slowed. No! No! No! Don't stop! Come on! Her thoughts echoed dimly, as she got spurred on by the last strands of her remaining strength. Sweat dripped down her face, and Euphoria had to shake her head to be able to see the path ahead; her matted dark-red and crimson streaked mane clung to her head, with the edges only faintly flapping in the rushing wind.
Euphoria strained her eyes as her breath hitched, and she coughed violently as she struggled to keep herself moving.
In a matter of minutes, when Euphoria almost choked on her ragged and beaten breath, she held a shaky hoof out, and knocked away the flimsy wooden door with as much strength she could muster. Splinters and rotting wood showered inwards, as Euphoria stumbled over her own hooves, collapsing on top of the shredded door.
A loud yelp escaped Euphoria's lips as she hit the floor hard, and slammed her head against a nearby desk. Her mouth tasted vaguely of copper, as she with a groan, rose to her shaky hooves. Dirt-covered coffee cups clattered to the floor, shattering against the floor covered in years of dust.
Euphoria used a hoof to clear her eyes as she panted wildly, and examined the room as quickly as she could – there had to be something there that she could use. The shack consisted of a single room with sparsely furniture, that seemed to have at some-point belonged to some-pony at least. A dented, severely rusted skeleton of a metal-bed stood in one corner of the room, and a dirty mattress lay on top, jutting out across one side of the framework, hanging limply in the air, and Euphoria suspected the dark stain on one end of the matrons was the remains of blood.
On the other end, in front of Euphoria stood the rusted metal desk she had hit on her way inside the shack. Several of the drawers had been roughly pulled out, leaving scuff marks in the empty holes, but Euphoria couldn't find the drawers themselves. On top of the table itself, lay stacks upon stacks of scorched books, among the clutter of coffee cups and broken pencils. Nothing useful... Euphoria huffed to herself, as she tossed her head around, scanning her environment further.
To say that the shack was in ruins was an understatement. Much of the metal roof was perforated badly, letting sunshine glint through the holes – gunfire? Euphoria wondered, and let her eyes drift to something that shined vividly in the sun, and it was hidden under the bed. How had she missed that?
There was no time to think about how, as Euphoria flicked her ears at the hoof-beats that rose in pitch, and she leaped across the room – skidding to a stop in front of the remarkable well kept box. She had to strain as she reached a hoof under the bed, her hoof barely making contact, but after some effort she pulled the rectangle hulk of metal out.
It was badly dented, and had scratch-marks that had been made over years of decay. Euphoria had a grin on her face as she faced the box fully. “What!” Euphoria's voice echoed as she groaned and hit the rusty lock with her hoof. “No! No!” she screamed, slamming a hoof against the lock. “You can't be! You just... can't....” her voice faltered and cracked as she sunk together, almost accepting her fate.
Her heart thumped heavily in her chest, as Euphoria panted, and felt the slowly rising drum-beat reverberate in her ears. “Don't do this.... Get up!” she almost screamed the words, as she pushed herself back into a somewhat serviceable state as she tossed her eyes about again. There has to be something – anything!
Sadly, there were nothing to find in the room except rotting books, wood, and a dingy old bed. “Okay, okay... what do I have?” She looked at the desk, and quickly tossed her head the other way, ignoring the shadow hurtling towards the door. “Wood!” She grinned, and groaned as she tore a board from the floor, and slammed it against the lock.
The sound of wood against metal pinged in the room, and Euphoria rose her hooves into the air again, but suddenly the air in her lungs were forced out and she collapsed. Her ribs hurt, her head thumped wildly as a slow cackle rose in the room. “Oh, filly!” Euphoria shot her eyes open and stared at the stallion.
“Nobody runs from me. Especially a pony that tries to smuggle mail across my territory!” His voice tore through everything, as it was both sharp and deep. As the stallion chuckled and made a move to kick Euphoria, she bucked out with her hind-legs, and hit the stallion in the knee of one of his hooves, so he went down like a stack of bricks.
Euphoria had no time to savour her victory, as she scrambled for the piece of wood and slammed it down against the lock again, as it groaned and opened slightly while the wood-board cracked. “Fuck you!” the stallion said, spitting venom as Euphoria rose her hooves in the air with a whimper and brought the rotting board back down with a loud crack, as it splintered into pieces; the lock clanged to the floor.
A hoof grasped around one of Euphoria's hind-legs and as she kicked out and heard the loud yelp, she glimpsed the bleeding face of the stallion looking back at her. Whimpering, Euphoria tossed the box open, scrambling for the only thing inside.
The stallion behind her growled, and Euphoria saw the shadow looming over her just as she screamed loudly and fumbled with the thing, finally managing to bite down on the trigger in the last minute. A purple beam spilled through the room, as the stallion flew over Euphoria, screaming and flailing as he hit the wall of the shack – pulverising against the metal.
“Too close! P-pull me out!” Euphoria said, her voice strained and hoarse as everything around her flickered and turned into pixelated walls. The shack vanished; the emotions fled her; the stallion was no more; the beam gun wasn't real, and the only thing that was real, was the white roof above her that slowly came into startling reality.
Above Euphoria, the soft blue glow that tinted the inside of her claustrophobic prison faded away and there was a loud clang as familiar machinery hummed, and gears churned as the roof dropped away into itself – layer upon layer until Euphoria was free. She dropped from the shell and fell onto the hard metal floor beneath, coughing wildly as her lungs burned. “C-crap....” she managed to say between her coughing-fits.
“Less than stellar results,” a strange disembodied voice commented dourly. “Your attempt at getting the box open nearly got you killed – not acceptable.” Euphoria groaned and tapped a hoof against her pounding head, as she flopped onto her side, feeling the stress of the simulation finally hitting her. “Miss. Euphoria, are you listening?”
“I...” Euphoria started and stared at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes; the humming of the lights above seeming to calm her for the moment. “I was, but you lost me at the point where you began to blame me for doing a poor job, when you!” She jutted a hoof into the air momentarily, before it fell to the floor limply again. “When you went ahead and changed the conditions on me, in the last second!”
“Miss. Euphoria, I only work under the conditions that Miss. Prudence has set forth, so your pony anger should be directed at her; not me.” Euphoria felt her right hoof itch, as she rubbed it furiously. “Please, get up from the floor, Miss. Your time in simulator pod eleven is at an end for today. Enjoy the rest of your day.”
The young mare frowned for a moment, groaning, Miss. Prudence this and miss. Prudence that...
A set of hoof-beats rose to its crescendo, as Euphoria felt a gust of cold wind that made her shiver, hit the top of her head, as the door out of the room slid into the wall with an electrifying whoosh. “He's getting more polite by each day,” said a green buck with a fiery orange mane, and a pair of black glasses as he looked down at Euphoria, meeting her gaze. “Want help getting up?” he added with a light chuckle and held out a helping hoof.
“Do you even have to ask?” Euphoria said with a grin and took the buck's hoof.
*
Idle chatting echoed around Euphoria, as she sniffed the air – a faint aroma of pancakes hanging limply there. She had briefly closed her eyes, to bask in the glow of anything other than simulator-drawl, as she herself had deemed it. “No balloon-ride this time?” the buck's voice interjected, and Euphoria shook her head in response as she tried to inhale as much of the delightful smell around her as possible. “No horrible operation, either?” Again, she shook her head. “You're lucky that your mom is head researcher on the project.”
“Lucky?” Euphoria asked and blinked one eye open as she looked across the table at the buck that was scarfing down a tray covered in hay-fries. Around them, in the large atrium sat dozens of ponies, enjoying their various lunches.
The room itself, was put up in metal-plates with very visible seams, as if it had been put together at the last minute. For the most part, metal-tables lined the room in several rows, where each could sit at least six ponies, but none we're full. Above them, hang large lights that hummed audibly, and shone bright white light down upon the ponies – fluorescent tubes powering them.
In one end of the room, opposite of the door leading out of the atrium into the living quarters, there were large, slick metal-bar tops. Behind those, stood several ponies making various food, and slowly they hoofed them to ponies as they reached the end. Before they got get their food, each pony had to give away a small blue paper ticket with some writing on. “The persistent machinery of science....” Euphoria groaned as she looked at the diminishing line up at the counter.
“Yeah!” the buck said, chomping down some more hay-fries as he looked over at Euphoria. “You could have ended up in an expedition crew otherwise.” Once again, the buck ate more of his receding pile of food. “Wanna know what I heard?” Even before Euphoria could respond, the buck was in full run with his story. “I heard they found some kind of settlement, and all the ponies they found, had these weird growths in their bodies – leaving them horribly disfigured, like monsters!” His eyes shot opened at that last remark as he stopped chomping food for a brief second.
She stared at him, her muzzle forming into a lop-sided grin. “Horror-stories – that's all they are and nothing more.” Euphoria let her gaze drift a little as the buck snorted back, and finished up his meal. One table had a full mass of ponies attending, and they were chatting quite briskly among themselves; each one wore a blue uniform with yellow lines running up each side, with the number nine embossed on the back, and underneath 'Maintenance,' stood written out.
Their conversation wasn't loud, and even if Euphoria had cared about it, she would have had to perk her ears and lean in to figure out what they were talking about. “Maintenance... they get all the good toys, don't they?” she said, and got a glare in return from the buck sitting opposite of her.
“Don't.”
“What?” Euphoria offered with a forced smile.
“Don't be jealous. Besides, we got the best toys.”
“Hey guys!” a sudden voice tossed the two ponies' personal conversation back into the public eye, as a mare slinked over and sat down next to the buck, grinning at them both. “How'd the test go today, E?” Euphoria fidgeted in her seat as she looked over to the mare, and as always her staring was drawn to that stark, red mane of hers.
“It was fine, but HE changed the parameters at the last fucking second, and according to him, it was my mom who made him do it. If you take away all that, I feel good... didn't get a food ticket though...” Euphoria commented dourly, as the mare with a red mane scrounged through her saddlebags, and after tossing out reports after reports – with a big red stamp on them that said: 'Classified,' – onto the table, she hoofed Euphoria a blue ticket.
“I got doubles today. Yeah.” The mare smirked at the two. Euphoria stared for a moment, blinked her eyes and just shook her head as she almost leaped from her seat, towards the line of ponies waiting eagerly for food.
I hope they're not out, Euphoria thought and mulled it over, as she fixed her eyes on the blue ticket. 'Redeemable for one meal,' stood scrawled out in stark yellow writing, standing out against the dark blue. On the other side of it, a bar-code was stamped on, but Euphoria's mind drifted back to the smell of pancakes, and the heat from the lights above as her stomach rumbled.
“So...” the mare with a stark red mane and an equally as red coat said, and jabbed the buck in his shoulder, as he tensed up and glared back at her. “Did you tell her?” She smirked at him, seeing the way his ears twitched at her question, and she knew she had hit a sore spot. “Oh, come on, you can tell me.”
The buck looked across the atrium at Euphoria, smiling softly, as his cheeks burned for a moment, and quickly he glared back at the mare with a red mane. “Tell you? No, I won't tell you, and I won't tell her. Some-times it's best to simply let things wander.” He let his eyes drift to the empty foil plate in front of him. “Besides, her mother would tear me a new...” The buck looked at the mare who was grinning wildly at the prospect of bad language. “...hole.”
“That's it? You're such a prude!” The mare jabbed his shoulder with a hoof once again, but quickly sat down and perked her ears as klaxons rang sharply in three short spurts. “Do they really have to do this every single time we have lunch?” She tossed the buck a glance, as the overhead intercom crackled to life.
An upbeat song played for a few seconds before a mechanical voice clicked on. “ Vault nine residents, your break is over. Remember: 'Progress Is Our Blood.' Have a nice day of healthy production as your job demands.” The mare with the decidedly sanguine mane frowned at the words, but stepped away from the table.
“Tell her, Blueprint. Just think of something sweet, and she'll return the feeling, trust me on that.” The mare smiled gently at the buck, tossing her head as she started for the exit along with most of the ponies in the atrium. “Euphoria tells me stuff you know. She even told me about that time she saw you...” The mare stopped and looked back at Blueprint, meeting his nervous eyes as she made a motion with her hoof. “In the shower, and all!” she added with a giggle and headed off.
Blueprint frowned and thumped his head against the hard metal-table, groaning in both pain and embarrassment as his mind drifted into a place he did not want it to – not now, and not as he's ears jerked at the sudden noise of some-pony sitting down opposite of him again. The smell of fresh pancakes hung in the air, and Blueprint jerked his tail about, almost feeling Euphoria's hooves brush against his own.
“Mare, don't I love pancakes!” Euphoria grinned and shuffled a hoof-full of sweet, delicious pancakes into her maw, munching happily on the food as she stared off into the distance, looking at a light flickering in one corner of the atrium. Forgot one... Euphoria thought, and she would have snickered if it weren't for the mountain of food she was busy devouring.
“E....” Blueprint said, half-sighing as he lifted his head from the table, blinking at the mare in front of him. “Um....” He found himself speechless as he looked at her, slurping down her food.
“What?” Euphoria said, staring at Blueprint as she swallowed her food, trying on her best smile. “I like pancakes.”
*
After what had seemed like an eternity, Euphoria had managed to finish at least three plates of stacked pancakes, and she found herself moaning, as her stomach rumbled – echoing against the matt, metal-walls surrounding her. “Oh.... I really should have stopped sooner....” she whined, and leaned against a wall – her stomach almost swaying heavily under her.
“Ugh....” Euphoria got a few odd looks from ponies as they walked passed her, and she had to almost crawl her way forwards – using the wall as a support. Her mind wandered back to the way that Blueprint had fidgeted in his seat the whole time she had eaten, he seemed... troubled, but for now, she decided to shove it out of her mind as she left the wall, and slumped through the door into her quarters.
With a heavy drop and a deep rumble from her stomach, Euphoria hit the rough fabric of a carpet, and she rolled onto her back, not even bothering to roll the rest of the way into her room – laying with her tail outside the door. A pneumatic hiss rang out, and for one brief moment, Euphoria looked back at her tail, grimacing as the door closed on it.
Then, as the door left a sigh of air and opened up again, Euphoria tugged her tail to her body, smiling. “Thank Celestia that we have air-operated doors instead of hydraulic ones.” She laughed shortly, and tapped her pip-buck with a hoof so the screen shot up in vibrant blue colours. “Now... evening radio... where... where are you?”
Using her remaining strength, Euphoria brought the hoof-mounted computer up to her face, as she pressed her nose against a button mounted on the side and scrolled through menus. After looking through slides dedicated to: Inventory, Health, Radiation, and other decidedly boring menus at the moment, her face lit up when she landed on 'Broadcasts.'
Happily, Euphoria pressed her nose against the button, and initialized the station marked as: 'Stable 9 PA.' Crackle filled the room for a second, and then a voice came through the system – metallic and raspy-sounding. “Welcome once again, to the late night science informational broadcast. Today, I will be teaching you about the Stealth-buck – a small, but convenient device that clicks into your personal Pip-Buck with ease, and can help you out if you find yourself in trouble.”
Euphoria grinned just as a shrill voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge. “I heard about your performance today, Euphoria. I'm disappointed and angry...” The voice took on a hard edge, as Euphoria bumped her nose against the computer, letting the station fall deaf as she turned around, groaning as she lay on her stomach. “The over-mare wasn't pleased either and I have to put in another late shift today.”
“S-sorry, mom....” Euphoria's voice drifted off as she nervously looked at the floor.
“Don't do that. Why can't you just be like the others, E? Why can't you just learn to be a productive member of our society, huh?” Euphoria looked up from the floor briefly, catching the sight of her mother's pink-striped mane and yellow coat – partially hidden behind her blue Stable-armor, lined with yellow stripes. “You're embarrassing me, and the rest of the Stable by your act.” Her mother looked sternly at her, as her horn glowed briefly and she shifted a picture of a young smiling earth-pony filly and unicorn mare back into place, as it hung on the grey steel wall.
Euphoria mumbled, “...You were the one who changed the....”
“Don't take that tone with me, lady!” Euphoria's mother called out sharply, and the young mare flattened her ears against her head. “Now, I want you to go into your room and study, so that your stay tomorrow with security might be productive.” The young mare rose to her hooves, albeit a bit resentfully as she walked towards a door at the other end of the room decked out in horrendous flower-patterned wallpaper. “And wear your Stable-Tec issued vest tomorrow!”
*
The day slowly rolled away as Euphoria sat in 'Security,' staring through a plastic-sheet of glass set up in front of metal-bars that looked into a room. This was what compromised as a cell, though it had never actually been used, since in Stable 9 – every-pony did as they were told, and was a productive member of the enclave.
With her in the room was another pony – an elderly buck, clearly bored as he sat back in his chair, balancing a golden bit on his nose. Euphoria looked away from the glass for a second and gazed at the buck. “Is this your job?” she asked the buck, silently wanting the job if it actually just consisted of sitting on a chair, doing nothing.
“W-what....!?” The buck's voice rose suddenly in pitch, and he flailed his hooves wildly before he fell to the floor hard, and he shut his eyes abruptly as the coin flew into the air, and pinged back against the metal-floor. “... No... of course not. Your friend just doesn't usually get called into a meeting with the over-mare, and the rest of the important ponies.” The buck clearly said the word with disdain, as he got back onto his hooves and tipped the chair back into its usual position.
Euphoria sat outside the cell silently for a few moments, until hoof-beats echoed down the hallway outside the small room, simply consisting of the elderly buck sitting on a metal-skeleton chair in front of a table, and a monitor that glowed green. In one end of the room, opposite of Euphoria – a row of metal-lockers stood, each branded with a name. The door leading into the cell, had a red arrow going down the middle, with the words 'No access' painted beneath in the same deep-red.
Without warning, a red mare with a stark red mane stepped through the open-doorway, and cast a look at the old buck that said it all, before she tossed her head towards Euphoria, and her muzzle quickly twisted into a smile. “Looks like I won't be seeing you for a bit, kid. The Over-mare is sending me, and most of security on a scouting-mission out of the Stable.”
“Another one?” Euphoria asked, grumbling lightly as she absent-mindedly rubbed the floor with a hoof.
“I don't make the rules, but yes.” The mare said and stepped over to the locker marked 'Buckshot' and opened it – pulling out a Stable-uniform over laid with dark, padded-armour that would protect against most dangers. “We're even bringing with us a few technicians this time, not Blueprint though – apparently he's too 'important.'” Buckshot smirked at Euphoria. “Know some-pony named 'Nightpick?'”
“Excellent in lock-picking, but also a real wiz' on the Pip-Buck. The Over-Mare even trusted her to encrypt the Stable-door terminal.” Euphoria frowned, but got to her hooves, looking over at Buckshot. “A blue mare with a yellow, curly mane.” Buckshot gave her a nod, and motioned with her head for the other three ponies to leave them alone for a moment.
Once they had left, she sat down next to Euphoria. “Look, it's clear to me that she has to see something in you too, or else she wouldn't have chosen you to work with the mainframe, and be the test-pony in the VR-pod. Even then, and trust me on this – there's nothing interesting out there.” She smiled at Euphoria. “I've been on two trips so far, and I've only seen scorched ground.”
The young mare with dark-red mane smiled back as she got to her hooves. “Maybe....” She turned and headed for the doorway, only stopping to look back at Buckshot as she sat against the wall. “Thanks!”
*
Euphoria's ears rang and her head pounded, as she rolled out of bed and hit the hard metal floor with a squeal as the coldness sent a shiver up her spine. The sound of an alarm came in long-drawn out, muffled bursts that seemed somehow wrong. She shot her eyes opened and panted, as her ears twitched against the static pouring out of the overhead PA.
“Wha-what the....?” She groaned, and got to her hooves, shambling out of her room, but she stopped and blinked at the mess in front of her. The room that was considered to be the living room, was a mess. Everything had been tossed to the floor, the dresser had been toppled over, and the small table had been cracked in half – splintered pieces of wood decorating the floor.
She stepped up to the door, but frowned as it didn't open, so she leaned over and touched a button on a panel next to the door, so it opened with a hiss. That's odd, Euphoria thought, It's not usually locked...
A shiver went up her back as she peered down the maw of the hallway, lights flickering wildly as electricity sparked from a few lamps and arced to the nearest spot. A phrase had been painted on the wall in front of Euphoria's room in stark red paint that dripped slowly down – it was fresh. 'Stable-Tec fucked us, so we fuck you!'
For a moment, a feeling of dread invaded Euphoria's mind as she contemplated the message, and stepped into the hallway. Could that be blood? It looked like blood, but it could have been paint – and there was no way that she would taste it to be sure. This is just some kind of sick joke, Euphoria thought to herself and trotted down the hallway, ducking under a light that hung on by just a screw.
Just for the sake of it, and to slake her own curiosity, Euphoria turned on the radio, but she had to stop since she wasn't a fancy unicorn. She blinked at her Pip-Buck, and tapped the display, turning the broadcast on and off a few times, not believing her own ears. Only static poured out of the tiny speaker on her Pip-Buck.
In the dim light, echoing briskly over the low hum of the Stable's power generators, a loud scream came – a scream of agony and fear, and that familiar feeling of dread filled Euphoria as she gritted her teeth and bolted down the corridor, as the voice rose. This had to be a test, there was no way that something bad had happened; The pride and glory of Stable-Tec couldn't be under attack.
Euphoria came to a skidding halt as she saw a mare through the doorway, pinned down by the shadow of a buck inside the security room – her shrieks came in sharp bursts, as the buck groaned and tugged at her mane violently. “Well... hello!” Euphoria turned just quickly enough to see the pale blue hoof hit her in the face, and down she went – slamming against the unbelievingly hard metal-floor. Sure, she had fallen before, but this was painful.
Coughing, she gripped her nose with her hoof and winced as she looked up at the buck that had hit her. His coat was a pale blue; his mane and tail a mix of purple and dark-green – all over him, he was covered in red paint drawn in streaks and quick jabs, but the three going across his face stood out.
The buck leaned down as Euphoria moved away, but he quickly bit down on her ear and was soon looming over her, pinning her down. “Fucking Stables!” he said, and cackled wildly. “Ours for the taking, little mare!” Euphoria clenched her eyes shut, shaking as she thought back to her virtual-reality training, and instantly she bucked out.
Her hoof simply wafted through the air, as the buck moved his hind-leg out of her way, and he grinned, baring his hot breath against the back of her neck. “Feisty... good...! I like' em struggling!” He cackled more as he bit down on Euphoria's mane, and caused her to arch her back painfully as he pulled her up – her front-hooves dangling limply in the air.
Then, a loud bang thudded in the hallway and Euphoria opened her eyes as she yelped loudly, feeling wetness drip onto her back along with the heavy body of the stallion. She flailed, tossing the limp body of the stallion to the ground. In the other end of the corridor, staring at Euphoria, mouth agape, an ivory unicorn mare stood, shaking uncontrollably as her telekinesis imploded, and the boxy-pistol she was holding dropped to the ground with a loud reverberation of metal on metal.
From inside the security room, a stallion grunted as his hoarse voice called out. “Flash! Flash! Fuck, you should try this one out! Her screams are so cute!” Cute? Cute! Euphoria felt angry, seething in fact. This was long past a simple test, this was very real. Getting no response, the buck got out of the security room and stared at the frightened mare, paralysed by her own fear. “You!”
He didn't waste any time in charging for the mare, and even though he was hurtling towards her, the mare didn't move – she simply stood there, shaking. And then the buck hit her and slammed her against a wall, as he viciously bit her in the throat. The mare thrashed violently, trying to move, but the buck held her in place with his weight as he tore his muzzle free from her neck, as he ripped flesh from her, so blood poured out from her newly-opened wound; strips of meat and hide dangling from his muzzle.
The unicorn convulsed for a few seconds, and finally went still as blood pooled between her and the psychotic stallion. Seizing the moment, Euphoria headed for the gun on the floor, but the buck caught her in the last second and bucked out. He missed, as Euphoria slid across the now blood-streaked floor, gun in mouth. Quickly, she slipped into S.A.T.S., aiming the gun at the stallion's right hoof.
In the calmness of S.A.T.S., she fired two shots and he stallion tumbled to the floor right next to the mare he had just ripped apart. It was clean, efficient, and not deadly, but enough to leave him writhing in agony, as Euphoria tried to figure out what was going on, and who the heck these ponies were.
“Fucking cunt!” the stallion roared but Euphoria was already headed down the hallway.
All she had to do was follow the sickening smell of decay, and blood-smeared walls, as these 'Raiders,' didn't leave much to imagination and instead was very vocal and graphic about what they did. Most of the doors in the dorm had been violently ripped open with the bodies of dead mares and bucks alike, laying in pools of their own blood.
Casually, a mare walked out in front of Euphoria, her entire body coating in blood, and the stench of death reeked from her. Euphoria stopped, and stared at the dark-orange mare, but it took the mare a moment to notice the young mare and her eyes froze. “Fresh meat!” she bellowed, and Euphoria slammed her pip-buck into the mare's muzzle, knocking her to the ground with a loud crack.
The mare cackled and bucked her hoof out, knocking Euphoria to the floor as well, and quicker than any-pony Euphoria had seen before, the mare was on top of her – baring her yellow, jagged teeth. “Bitches think they can run! Fast-food I call it!” Euphoria wanted to vomit. In fact she just wanted to crawl into a ball and cry herself to sleep, but priorities.
Saliva dripped from the mare's mouth, as some-pony shouted in the distance and Euphoria rolled the mare over onto her back.
“Be! Quiet!” Euphoria screamed and slammed her pip-buck into the mare's face so many times that she lost count, and the horrible mare fell unconscious with a sigh. “Damn psychos'....” she muttered and stepped away from the mare, slumping against the wall as her hearth beat frantically in her chest. “Oh no... I... I... left her....” Euphoria said, suddenly realising that in the heat of the moment, she had abandoned the mare that had been raped by the buck earlier.
Guilt wrecked her mind as she thunk her head heavily against the back-wall, wincing at the pain, sobbing at her own selfishness. Of course, she could have gone back, but behind the guilt loomed dread, and fear – Euphoria couldn't go back, and there was no turning back no. There had to be an answer, and if some-pony knew, it had to be the Over-Mare – the self-righteous unicorn that had basically kicked her to the curb from the moment she had been born.
In Stable 9, you were nothing if you weren't in one of two basic groups: Maintenance or Research. Euphoria as so many others had the unfortunate luck of getting a teddy-bear cutie mark with a heart on its stomach, which essentially meant she was a healer. A healer, was born into the hooves of mare that was the head of Research. To say that Euphoria was doomed from the start, was a bit much but she didn't have a great beginning.
Euphoria got up as quickly as she could, shunting the guilt-trip to the back of her mind for now – there was a time and a place for that, and this was neither. The streaks of blood slowly faded as she stepped out of the hallway, into a much larger room with several doors going off to various parts of the Stable.
The door to the Atrium had been sealed up, and with Euphoria's pip-buck proclaiming – very loudly – that it was locked, she didn't care to open it. Above her, the lights flickered as the heavy drone of the generators cut out briefly, but quickly came back on. Opposite Euphoria, the door to the male dorm was wide-open, and as she squinted her eyes down the darkened hallway. Within, she could see a limp hoof smeared with blood, as it hung limply out from a door.
She grimaced and stalked the room with her eyes, carefully eyeing the two remaining doors – one leading into the V.R room, and the other leading to the entrance, and to no surprise, it stood wide open. “Well... HE should known something,” Euphoria said, grumbling as she slowly trotted towards the simulation room, cowering against the wall as she heard hoof-steps coming from inside.
“Stupid machine! Stupid ponies! Burn!” A buck snickered and cackled in a raspy voice as the sound of metal-on-metal echoed outwards from the room, stinging in Euphoria's ears. The rotting smell coming from the room, didn't make matters better either. “Fuck! Fuckers! Fucktoad!?” The buck cackled as machinery hissed and crackled heavily – clearly, he was doing damage to the room.
“Will you stop that?” Euphoria smiled at the sound of the eternally stoic machine. A voice-enabled mainframe did have its perks. “You are damaging my circuitry and if you don't stop, I'll have to take matters into my own hooves.” At the sound of his threat, the disillusioned and insane pony inside answered back by hitting something else, and it gave off a loud 'twang' as he hit it. “Fine. Guns!” The loud hum of very high caliber turrets being lowered sounded, but the banging continued.
For a brief moment, the roar of gunfire echoed and when it ended the banging had stopped; also, there was no more psychotic laughter. Euphoria peeked her head inside the room, seeing the brown buck laying dead on the floor, his side painted by enough holes to make him a swiss cheese. She grimaced at the sight, and looked towards the dented egg-shell still fairly useable. “Hello, HE. Can you tell me what the heck is going on?” Euphoria almost screamed the question at the air, as she stepped through the mangled doorway, avoiding the bloody corpse as much as possible.
“Oh. Hello, madame. Invasion is the most appliacable word, but I'm surprised that you are still alive. Thirty minutes after the intial assault.” Only thirty minutes? Euphoria frowned at the thought, feeling that defeated feeling wash over her now, partially blood-covered body.
“What about the Stable? Where are the others?” she asked, carefully stepping over the stallion as she inspected the damage he had done on the terminal sitting comfortablly atop a metal-table.
“My sensors have been severly damaged, but 45% retreated into the Atrium, and inner laboretories of the complex, including your mother. I have been trying to raise the others, including the Over-Mare, but my access codes seem to have been revoked. Her mother didn't trust me, and now she seems to have come to the same conclusion.”
Euphoria looked over the terminal, growling at the cracked screen and partially ripped out circuitry. Luckily, the storage-unit had survived the minor assault she surmised as logs tallied on the screen of her Pip-Buck when she hooked it up to the terminal. “I'm not surprised at all. What about the scouting-party?”
“They haven't showed up on my sensors, but twenty or so attackers entered the doors along with one recorded Pip-Buck wearer: #215.”
Nightpick.... Euphoria scrambled to her hooves and ran out of the room, her hooves almost slipping on the wet floor as she bolted through the doorway to the entrance. She heard nothing but the sound of her own hoof-beats, as walls of metal-panelling swished past; the wind hurtling against her body.
The hallway that connected the entrance to the rest of the Stable, had never seemed longer than it did now. Euphoria let her goal drown out everything. Her fear, her guilt, her nagging want for any sort of answer – It didn't matter anymore, all that mattered was that Nightpick, a fellow pony was in trouble.
Euphoria stumbled to a stop, nearly falling face first down the set of lettuce-work stairs that lead from the door into the entrance-room. Her stomach heaved and she retched – the stench of rotting flesh along with a deep musk of semen hung in the air. Through the half-open gear-shaped door, harsh sunlight illuminated the room.
Mangled bodies lay in heaps around the room as one pony walked amonst them, chuckling low to himself as Euphoria stood by the entrance to the inner Stable, shrouded in the looming darkness. “Nothing! Fucking Gearshift!” the pony cursed and kicked into a limp body, cackling as he brought out a blade from the saddlebag that hung across his chest.
It sliced deftly through the air, and then through the hoof of a pony as the stallion ripped the Pip-Buck off of a dead mare. “Valuable? Can trade.” He nodded to himself, clearly happy with his blood-soaked retrievel. In the other end of the room, a mare sat limply against a wall – blood covering her body from muzzle to flank, a pool of the grimey stuff collecting under her torn golden tail.
Euphoria muttered the name under her breath, “Nightpick....” The grim stallion perked his ears and instantly he fixed his gaze on the young mare with the mahogeny coat, standing in the way. “Oh... hey....” Euphoria started nervously as she watched the stallion step forward so he had a clear shot to her from his spot. “Mind leaving Stable 9?”
lluminated by the fierce sunlight from behind, the silhoutte of the stallion looked even more dangerous than the pony himself. Saliva was dripping from his blood-caked muzzle, and jagged yellow teeth. His face carried several severe scars that had never fully healed, and one of his ears was missing a large chunk of it from the tip. He also wore some kind of mangled-together barding that looked like it would fall apart at the slightest touch. It had clearly been made to look more fierce, than to actually protect the pony underneath.
Even though the buck said nothing, Euphoria knew his mind was already hard at work at thinking up all the things he wanted to do to her.
Coming out the other side, Euphoria slid and fell against the floor heavily, as she flailed her hooves as she looked into the eyes of the insane stallion following her. Quickly though, the look of menace turned to a look of fear as the stallion braced his hooves, but it was too late, and he screamed as he stumbled.
His hooves made contact with Euphoria's struggling body, and he went crashing into the floor, tumbling to the heavy metal-door leading into the Atrium with a loud thunk. “Thank you!” Euphoria said, and thanked her stars for her own level of luck. At least, in some matters.
“Turn him to cheese if he moves, would you?” Euphoria smiled, as she focused her eyes on the egg shell, waiting for a quick response.
“Certainly,” the robotic voice replied, and as quickly as he had replied, Euphoria bolted back to the entrance area, stifling her own gagging-noises as she stepped down the lettuce-stairs and approached Nightpick. She stared off into nothing, her eyes glazed over and empty. She wasn't even shaking, she was just not there any-more; she was emotion-less.
“Hey,” Euphoria said as she sat down in front of Nightpick, forcing a smile; her ears twitchint at a low ticking sound. “I know it hurts, but you can't stay here. The over-mare...” Euphoria frowned briefly, “I don't know what's up with her, but it's you and me now.” Nightpick continued to stare into nothing, but as Euphoria reached a hoof out to touch her, Nightpick jerked back, panting as she shivered and stared in surprise at her fellow Stable-mare. “Welcome back.” Again, Euphoria did her best to force a smile.
“T-they...” Nightpick shook uncontrollably for a moment as her head drooped, and she stared into her own murky pool. “Y-you d-d-don't know anything.... Oh Celestia... i-it was horrible...” she bit her lip, and shook her head – her matted mane falling deftly into her eyes, but she didn't care. “T-the things th-they did...”
You don't have to tell me, Nightpick. I know I haven't treated you that well, but we have to leave, and we're better off in a group.”
“D-didn't help the others,” Nightpick said sternly, staring into Euphoria's eyes, her own hiding deeper pain than she let on. “The over-mare... s-she... did this.... She told me herself... Our expedition? It was all a trick! Ju-just a way to lure these” – Nightpick's eyes darted around the room briefly as she searched for the right word – “things!” she blurted out suddenly, and whimpered, tucking her hooves in tight as she sat, still shivering against the cold wall.
atchwork frowned, but even she didn't believe that the over-mare could do that. Sure, she was a bit of a paranoid, but to go as far as to murder half the Stable, and then not to admit to it? No, that had to be a lie. “Come on, you don't believe that? I mean, she adored you!” Euphoria felt a twinge of jealousy, but simple shoved it away as this was not the time – it was never the time.
The shivering pale-purple mare touched her pip-buck with a limp hoof, as scratched audio came out from the small speaker – a recording of some kind. “Open this fucking door!” A grim stallion blurted out, as a mare whimpered in the background. “Shut that bitch up!” Another batch of scratch came through, before the stallion's voice returned. “Do you think I'm fucking with you, whore? I'll fuck your Stable to pieces, and sell your remains into slavery unless you open this door!”
“He did....” Nightpick said slowly as a low beeping noise came out from her, and Euphoria's eyes went wide as she saw the lines of explosives packed neatly against Nightpick's waist.
“Peek-a-boo!” The voice sent a shiver down Euphoria's back as she looked towards the door-opening, seeing a grinning charcoal stallion standing there, his smile going from ear to ear as he bit down on a small device with a red button, and the explosives tied to her friend's back, gave off a single tone.
Oh no! Euphoria scrambled to her hooves but she wasn't quick enough, and her entire backside was painted in the gory remains of Nightpick. She didn't scream, and Euphoria just stared at the stallion as he cackled and galloped out the door, his hooves slowly echoing lower and lower.
“You...!” She said, gritting her teeth together as she darted out the door, following the stallion as only one idea occupied her mind, and nothing could keep her away from that.
This raider was going to pay, and he was going to pay hard.
Footnote: Level up
New Perk: Mommy's filly -- Just like your precious mother, you've devoted your time to intellectual pursuits. You gain an additional 5 points to both the Science and Medicine skills.
“Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins.”
Gee, that guy's fast! Euphoria thought as she slowed to a trot, having lost the violent stallion much faster than she anticipated. In her fit of pure rage, she hadn't even stopped to notice that she had bolted straight out into a dry, earthen wasteland. All around her, there were nothing for miles; only dead trees, and infinitely rolling hills of dry ground.
As the imprints of the buck's hooves slowly faded into nothingness, Euphoria walked a short distance and stopped, then stumbled, feeling woozy all of a sudden. Her world spun around her, as her head pounded furiously and the Pip-Buck on her hoof clicked away in rabid beats. “Wha-what?” Euphoria mumbled and groaned as she fell to the ground, breathing in the hot air and dirt.
Euphoria's lungs burned in agony as she coughed hoarsely, gagging on her own fluids as she strained to get back onto her hooves. If anything, the simulation had taught her to move onwards, even in pain. With her legs shaking, and blood pouring down the side of one of hindquarters, Euphoria lumbered forwards – ignoring the flashing warning on her E.F.S. Display.
In the distance, blotted against the stark sunlight; a wash of red, orange, and sickly green – stood a few buildings. At they way all of them were huddled together neatly, despite the very obvious collapsed nature of most of them, Euphoria noted that it had to be a town. Using her pip-buck, she marked the town on the on-board map, which seemed to have plucked out a few interesting spots on it own as well. “W-walk right,” Euphoria noted through gritted teeth.
The wounded mare dragged herself forward, and pushed through her own want to just curl up on the ground and sleep for a while, but she knew it was a death-sentence, and she had a mission anyway. Gun-shots slashed through the air in the distance, and Euphoria perked her ears, trying to at least gauge the direction it was coming from.
Looking up, Euphoria squinted her eyes, forcing her way through her headache as she saw two or three shapes dart through the sky – black against the red. The shapes themselves moved fast and erratic, as if they were doing aerial manoeuvres, much like those depicted in those magazines she had found in the Stable when she was only a foal. On the covers, those ponies seemed majestic, but as she watched the sky, a feeling of unease crept into the pit of Euphoria's stomach.
A few more erratic motions, and an ear-shattering blast echoed against the hills as Euphoria flattened her ears against her head. One of the shapes stopped mid-flight, and dove towards the ground... no, not diving, the shape was falling. Euphoria coughed some more, and decided to keep her gaze level on the horizon.
Blackened houses drew closer, as the fire in Euphoria's hoof seemed to wash away little by little, and she found that each step she took became easier. Crap.... Euphoria thought and picked up the pace. Maybe there's a hospital there. Euphoria brightened slightly at her own suggestion, and clung to that faint hope.
Cracked roads slowly came into Euphoria's view as she edged herself up a slight hill, and skidded halfway down again, until her hooves hit the asphalt. Euphoria looked down and clip-clopped in the very spot she was standing in, and had to stifle her own giggle as she grinned wide. The simulation had seemed real, but no matter how good it was at echoing real life, this was better.
Her joy was short, as rough laughter soon echoed in the air, and Euphoria immediately darted behind a nearby rock, curling her body as tight against the jagged material as she could. “F-fucking bastard!” a mare cried out, angrily stomping her hooves against the asphalt. “And now I'm all out of caps too? Fucking great!” Cursing was nothing new to Euphoria, as Stable 9 didn't have any sort of restriction on language, but even then, her head hurt.
Euphoria peeked over the rock and watched through dried grass – a lone mare with a silver coat that had dried dirt clinging to most parts of it. She stood in the middle of a crossroads, with burned out husks of several buildings on either side. Euphoria's Pip-Buck noted the town on her map as: Noble. At least I know where I am, thought Euphoria, frowning a little before she tossed her eyes back towards the mare.
Her mane was matted and looked almost pitch-black, and if it weren't for the few strands of sky-blue in-between, Euphoria would have been fooled to think it was her natural colour. The silver mare looked around but continued on her way, limping forwards. She's injured? Euphoria thought, and bit her lip as she slowly crept out of her cover.
She gave the area a furtive look and followed along the cracked and worn asphalt as it swung around a bend. Galloping down the soft decline, Euphoria breathed heavily as she closed in on the mare and she almost bumped into her, but managed to slide to a stop just in front of the mare, so she stared into a set of angry red eyes. “What the fuck do you want? Here to rob a lonely mare? Go ahead! I have nothing left, anyway!”
Euphoria took a few steps back at the accusations, and tilted her head at the mare as she stumbled over her words. “N-no... I-I....” Euphoria's voice caught in her throat, as she perked her ears at a low clicking close by, and she slowly watched how the mare's mouth curved into a sly grin.
“Get her, boys!” The mare shouted loudly, and barely a second later, a group of stallions burst out of cover behind Euphoria, as her E.F.S., flooded with red lines. She cursed under her breath and swung her head around to get a look at the group that had appeared to her right. Tattered muck-brown barding clung to each of the three, and each of them held a knife clenched between their teeth as stained blood was smeared around their muzzles.
The last one had a rifle hovering beside him in an orange glow, and just then Euphoria noticed his blood-stained horn as well; a few scratch marks clearly visible. The rifle itself was badly rusted and Euphoria silently wondered if it would break after the first shot, but she didn't intend to stay long enough to find out.
She couldn't get away quick enough, but Euphoria did her best and sprang into action, shoving the silver mare away. Even as a scream of agony tore into the air behind her, Euphoria didn't turn and just kept on galloping, trying to calm her breathing as her entire body twitched in response to the ear-numbing shot that rang out in the dry air. “You... fuckers!” the mare cursed hoarsely, but Euphoria kept her eyes straight as she darted between destroyed houses, desperately searching for one good house.
Another shot rang out as the mare gave off a cry of agony with her dying breath, and Euphoria felt rage fill her mind again, but as a chorus of hoof-beats reverberated behind her, she found it best to stick to her idea.
Euphoria darted past what had once been the sign to the town, but the original name had worn away long ago, and the pock-marked, rusted piece of metal that clung to two stilted, rotting wooden boards had to have been over-written several times, as vile graffiti covered the thing from top to bottom.
“If you stop, I'll give you some chocolate, pretty mare!” one of the stallions following Euphoria called out. How dumb do they think I am? Thought Euphoria and laughed briefly, feeling adrenaline surge through her veins as she galloped past a store. A few moments later, Euphoria skidded to a stop, and took a double-take on the building to her left.
There it stood, Euphoria's salvation from death, or worse. The outside of the brick-building was painted a garish yellow, and although most of it had been covered in dirt, and cracked bricks stuck out – it was intact. Rows of windows lined the top, just beneath the brown roof, and with only a few holes through them, Euphoria deemed it safe; though, in truth she didn't have much choice in the matter.
She cast one look to her side, and swallowed hard as she saw three angry ponies heading towards her. Euphoria didn't wait, and kicked into overdrive as she galloped for the door and lowered her head as she knocked it open. Luckily, it had not been barred. As a wave of new pain flooded Euphoria's head, she kicked the door shut with one hind-leg, and tossed her head around the room.
The indoors of the building had fared much worse than the outside. Anything that hadn't been bolted down, had been raided, and judging by the fuse-box next to the door that was covered with scratch-marks, the ponies that did this had tried to take everything. Directly opposite of the fuse-box, stood a dingy couch, and Euphoria grinned as she bit down on one side, and used her remaining strength to drag it in front of the door, just as a pony slammed against it, and cursed profanity.
Quickly, Euphoria threw everything she found in the room – that she could lift – onto the couch. A few unmarked crates of alcohol, over a dozen empty bottles, some toys, and a rusted cart that clearly didn't belong to this tiny establishment. She inched away from the door slowly, as the stallions' attempts to simply bust through the door, died down. “Fine... but we will find a way inside, mare, and when we do, we're gonna party!” another stallion said, as a shot punched a hole through the door, and Euphoria screamed in surprise, and flattened herself against the tiled floor as she shivered.
Outside they laughed, but their hoof-beats dimmed into oblivion as Euphoria slowly rose to her hooves again, and her heart slowed to a normal enough pace. Enjoying her safety, Euphoria took in account the rest of the main room. She poked her head into a few of the yellow-stained freezers dotted around the store, but none of them offered anything other than empty bottles that for some reason, had a value attached to them.
Noting the value, Euphoria pocketed about a dozen into her saddlebags and shrugged as she ventured into a smaller room. The store consisted of two rooms: one large one that held the food, sellers-counter, and freezers; one smaller one was attached to that one, and held a table with a terminal on it, and a bed moist with mould. Both rooms had been painted in the same yellow as the outside, most likely some kind of branding.
Euphoria fixed her eyes on the green glow flowing from the terminal and grinned as she plugged her pip-buck in, and downloaded three messages. Having nothing else to do at the moment, she clicked the first one and a light static filled the room, but was quickly silenced by a voice cutting through.
“...Escaped Ponyville last night. A group of raiders followed me, but I left them bleeding in the dark, as they didn't have the foresight to watch for hidden traps. Couldn't find too much on them, so I continued on my way. I'm at least twenty clicks away from this town I've heard so much about...So... wish me luck....?” The sound-file died with another hiss of static, and Euphoria frowned.
That voice... I recognize it. Euphoria mulled over it as she clicked the next one.
It began immediately without a hint of static. “Caught up with a nice little group of wasteland wanderers – a family. The male, was stocked with weaponry and after last night, I can't say I didn't envy him. Under the cover of night, another gang hit us. I escaped with a laceration to my hoof, but that family....” On the recording, the mare was sniffling, trying to keep away her own crying. “.... I had to go... there was nothing I could do...”
“I... can still hear the mare's scream as they dragged her, laughing into the darkness....” The mare on the recording interjected, but her voice seemed distant, almost emotionless this time.
As soon as the audio clicked out, Euphoria ticked the last one on. “Found out where those fuckers are. Zebras and ponies working together... heh! I never thought I'd see the day, and now that I have... I hate it! At least, division kept the Raiders weak. Fuckers take foals, enslave them, and then train them to murder and rape their own parents.
“B-but I got the upper-hoof! I know where they have a camp, and I got a way inside.” The mare on the recording laughed. “Underneath my bed, there's a secret sewer entrance. I don't know who built it, but who the fuck cares!” The mare giggled lightly, but it slowly built until she was laughing hysterically on the recording, muttering something in a hoarse voice so low, that Euphoria couldn't pick up on it.
There was no doubt, that the mare on the recording had been the same as the one that had just tried to rob Euphoria, and had ended up paying with her own life. How had she gone from trying to save foals to trying to kill and rob ponies herself? It didn't add up, but Euphoria shunted it away into the back of her head for the moment – she had way more pressing concerns.
Once she headed back into the confines of the bigger and relatively less creepy room, Euphoria narrowed her eyes on the broken windows and the faint golden light peeking through; with a few glimpses of the still dark sky above. For a moment, Euphoria smiled and inhaled, but she quickly snapped out of her reverie as she almost gagged on the smell of rotting food. “Great... just great,” she mumbled as her stomach decided to voice its opinion.
Night had descended while Euphoria had been busy, and only now as her stomach growled terribly was she aware of how long it had been since her last meal, or drink for that matter. In her stupor, she had left without taking with her as much as a single apple, or a canteen of fresh water. “Shush, be quiet...” Euphoria grumbled and crouched low to the dirt-covered floor.
Trying to stay as silent as a mouse, Euphoria inched towards the door and peeked through the hole from earlier. Outside, sitting on the opposite side of the destroyed tarmac, were the three stallions. They were huddled around a small camp-fire that licked into the darkness. From what Euphoria could see in the sparse light, two of them was asleep, with the last one standing watch, or sitting watch in this instance.
Carefully, Euphoria watched the pony sitting guard but he didn't move, not a single inch – he just sat there. Right now, Euphoria cursed the pony who had made this store with only one way in and out. There was no way, she would survive a head-on assault against three fully grown stallions, not even on a good day.
No weapons, no food, no water, no objective, no friends, wounded, and I'm probably irradiated – Yeah... thanks, Luna, Euphoria thought, still watching the dark-blue stallion with eyes that could have burned holes through that door. They have weapons... and maybe some supplies... As the thought formed fully in Euphoria's mind, her mouth twisted into a grin as she knew what she had to do.
*
Over the course of several hours, Euphoria had pulled away each item blocking the door. She had done it calmly, and as silent as possible – peeking out the hole every once in a while to watch the stallion. Each time she had looked outside, his eyes had drooped more and more, and Euphoria grinned as she slowly watched the stallion succumb to sleep-deprivation.
When his eyes finally closed fully, Euphoria waited a few seconds, and then hurtled out the door. In a flurry of motions, she was on the first stallion, and roughly pulled away his weapon as she gripped it in her mouth. She tasted rotting wood and almost gagged at the taste, but she perked her ears at a faint voice.
W-what?” As her heart leapt into overdrive, Euphoria brought the weapon around and shook a lightly as it hit the slowly awakening stallion with a loud bang and a soft crack echoing into the night. He stared at her, and she stared back – frozen in place. Then, his eyes simply rolled into the back of his head and he hit the earthen ground hard with his limp body, as a pool of crimson slowly formed under his head.
Shaking and sweating, Euphoria scrambled backwards and almost dropped her shovel. The adrenaline surged through her body, but Euphoria felt uneasy, and she wanted to vomit, but her stomach was empty. This attack felt somewhat different than when she had taken action against the ponies invading her stable.
A moment before she had felt so sure that what she was doing was right, but now she simply wanted to run away. Maybe they would let her be, just maybe, she thought. Fear and trepidation washed away the surge that she had felt before, and she was left standing there – in the darkness, as the dying embers of a fire licked up into the sky; accenting her features.
One of the other stallions groaned, and opened his eyes slowly as he tossed and turned, until he looked straight at Euphoria. It took him a second before the situation registered for him. “Fucking mare!” he shouted as he scrambled to his hooves, and levitated the rifle from before up next to him – the faint glow of his magic field illuminating his face in a sickly red, as Euphoria found her determination again.
“Thought you could sneak up on us, did you?” the stallion retorted and chuckled, but his laughter caught in his throat as he backed up into a limp hoof. Slowly, he turned his head, and an angry scowl formed on his muzzle as he turned back.
Just as the stallion turned back around, pain flared in his head and he hit the ground with a loud thud, as his magic-field imploded and the rifle clattered to the ground as well. Above him, panting, stood Euphoria, grasping the blood-smeared shovel in her muzzle.
Closing her eyes, Euphoria brought the shovel down again, and hit the stallion's face with such force, that a loud crack echoed in the crisp night air. I'm just protecting myself... I'm just protecting myself... I'm... she kept repeating to herself, as she turned around and poised the shovel' s serrated blade against the last stallion's throat. “Mfwafe fuffh!” she grunted out between her gritted teeth.
The stallion shifted uncomfortable, and let out a light yelp as he stared up at Euphoria. “W-what do you want?” he asked, his voice shaking. In an amazing turn of events, Euphoria found herself in a powerful position, with the raiders at her mercy now, instead of the other way around.
She glared at the stallion, and pushed the shovel against the whimpering stallion's throat. “Where is he?” Euphoria asked, and raised an eyebrow as she pushed the shovel a bit further, causing the stallion to choke and flail against her. “Tell me!”
“I don't know what you're talking about!” the stallion cried out, as Euphoria's eyes glared at him, and she pulled back the shovel and swung her head – hitting the stallion across his face with the serrated blade, as he screamed in agony. Over a dozen cuts on his face oozed blood, as Euphoria brought the shovel to bare once again, hitting him across the face again, and thus silenced his screams.
Panting and sweating, Euphoria dropped the shovel from her mouth as she pulled back, and sat down, hanging her head. “I was just... defending myself... yeah...” She nodded deftly to herself and looked back up, squinting her eyes at the horizon just beyond the front of the store she had occupied a few moments earlier.
Lost in the moment, Euphoria smiled and closed her eyes as a slow chuckle rose behind her. “I see you,” the last stallion singsonged in a grim voice and tackled Euphoria to the ground hard. Euphoria gasped and yelped loudly, and locked eyes with the stallion as he loomed over her, grinning madly. “Kill my friends...? I'll kill you!” he shouted and pressed a hoof against Euphoria's throat and she thrashed wildly, grasping at the stallion's scarred hoof with her own two forelegs.
“You fucking Stable-ponies...” He grinned menacingly as tears welled up in Euphoria's eyes, and she wheezed desperately for air. “Think you own everything, don't you? Newsflash: you don't!” Chuckling, the stallion leaned in so close to Euphoria that she could smell the dank odour of caked on filth. “Once you're dead, I'll have a bit of fun with your corpse, because I own you now!”
Euphoria's field of vision darkened, as she found it harder to breath, but as she looked at the stallion, something dawned on her. Still gasping for some air, Euphoria kicked up with her hind-legs and mentally vomited, as she impacted with something squishy and the stallion's eyes went wide for a second, before he toppled over on the ground, groaning.
Using her free moment, Euphoria inhaled sharply and coughed as she gagged on the dirt that had gotten stuck in her throat. With her vision still pulsing and her body screaming in pain, Euphoria scrambled over to her shovel, and promptly swung it around as the stallion came careening for her.
It impacted the stallion with a satisfying crunch, as he fell over and cracked his skull open on a jagged rock, as blood pooled under his ragged body. Euphoria backed away from the corpse and spit out the shovel again, and just sat down, panting.
Euphoria spent the next hour or so, simply watching the sun crest over the horizon – dead trees outlined against the stark orange ball. She went over the events of the last day in her head several times, always coming to the same conclusion – she had to find the pony responsible for the death of her friends, no matter the cost.
Having worked up enough courage, and spurred on by the notion that she would die alone in the wasteland, Euphoria took everything she could carry from the highway-bandits. No matter how she felt about it, she needed the equipment. Immediately, Euphoria's Pip-Buck clicked away in glee and tagged each item she had slid into her new, rugged saddlebags; old-new saddlebags was more apt.
Luck be have it, the rifle – which the Pip-Buck detected to be a .32 Hunting Rifle with a damage of 13 – slid into the saddlebags as a bit clicked out in front of her muzzle, so she could bite down on it with ease. “Battle-saddle,” Euphoria muttered with a smile and looked back at the blue screen of her Pip-Buck.
Two sets of Merc' Adventure outfits also glowed in the list, but Euphoria smiled as she looked at the level of decay and saw the 'R' off to the side. A repair icon was clearly visible next to the little image of a mare decked out in the armour, but Euphoria couldn't highlight it – for now. Above that, was Euphoria's Vault 9 Vest. It was clearly labelled as having 6 DR, with only the last armour on the list being higher in armour quality.
A set of Leather Armour was the prize of Euphoria's short inventory list. It proclaimed a DR of 12, being clearly superior to anything, but Euphoria felt a pang of guilt as she looked at the numbers and considered swapping. It was the very reason she was out here, and in some way gave her comfort. With a sigh Euphoria swapped into the armour, favouring the protection over her own nostalgia.
Having raided the ponies for anything of value, she trotted into the building again and walked through the large room, into the smaller one. “Guess I have to follow your trail then... Silver,” Euphoria said dourly, and pulled away the cover for the hidden passage in the floor. She flopped her ears back and grimaced as the sound of the metal grating against the floor pierced her ears.
With a loud thud, and a slowly echoing clang, the rusted cover dropped to the floor fully. Euphoria winced and walked over to the hole in the floor, and whistled as she looked down into the darkness. “Long way down....” With a click of her tongue, she added in a happier tone of her voice, “At least the ladder is still intact.” A second later, the flaking ladder groaned horribly. “Oh, come on!”
Euphoria took one look back at the smoking remains of the camp-fire and the bodies, before she descended the ladder into the darkness. Once down, she blinked her eyes and with a frown, and turned on her Pip-Buck light, so she illuminated the room in a faint blue glow. “Ugh... what a smell,” Euphoria said and coughed as she held a hoof in front of her nose, as she recoiled at the smell of mould and some other foul stench she couldn't quite recognize.
Clutching her nose, Euphoria slowly walked forwards. Her hooves echoed dimly in the room, as she made her way past small piles of rubble. The glow from Euphoria's Pip-Buck lit up very little of the room, and she could barely make out various doors on her sides, as she passed through one of them at the end of the room. Even if they had held something important, the E.F.S. Display noted that they were locked, and Euphoria just moved forwards; locked doors were not her forte.
As she walked through the metal door that parted in the middle, and its two heavily reinforced sides shunted into the walls, Euphoria froze and perked her ears. With a groan, the door at the end of the room she was in opened slowly and revealed a cracked toilet, but Euphoria stood still and just swivelled her ears around. Somewhere, close by, she heard hissing, and what could have been sniffling, but she couldn't be sure.
After a few moments, it was gone, and Euphoria let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in. Feeling just a bit more on edge, Euphoria walked forward, having now armed herself with the rifle she found earlier. The textures on the walls had changed from cracked concrete to rusted metal, along with new lights, although it only leant itself to making the room look more sinister than if it hadn't had it; it was a cruel red that shined around the little pony.
Having little else to guide her, Euphoria followed the lights down into an interconnected corridor, and here some of the lights were cracked and shattered glass spewed on the metal floor, that was little more than a lettuce work of iron that moaned and complained, with each step she took. Euphoria winced at each one, and tried to be as quiet as possible as she ventured down yet another hallway, occasionally glancing at her Pip-Buck as she watched the on-board map slowly form.
As she proceeded down the decayed hallway, Euphoria decided to head into a few of the connected rooms to see what she could get out of them, if anything. In the end, after having robbed a medical box stashed inside a bathroom, and a locker inside a small utility room, she ended up with one healing potion, and two cans of beans which from the smell, most likely were not so edible, but at this point, she would take any food.
Not long after her small raid she found herself in front of a locked door, but this one had a terminal. Euphoria sat down in front of the terminal and connected her Pip-Buck to it, and watched as she got the call for a password on it, and she instantly fired up the on-board cracking-software that every Pip-Buck came pre-installed with. “Hmm... no, not that one... what about, firewalk...” With a loud electrical beep the Pip-Buck answered, and Euphoria frowned. “Guess not. Then, what about...”
“...Yes!” Euphoria proclaimed and grinned from ear to ear, as the terminal accepted the password, which made her giggle lightly. “Snapple...Hah!” Eagerly, she rose to her hooves and opened the door, but before she could do anything else, some-pony lunged at her. Euphoria yelped loudly, and backed away frantically as tears welled up in her eyes, pain flaring from one of her hooves.
Her Eyes-Forward-Sparkle flashed red with a danger warning, and through tear-filled eyes, Euphoria stared at the creature in front of her. Blood dripped from the thing's mouth along with saliva; its skin had torn, and rotted away in places, showing both the red flesh underneath as well as, chalk white bone in others. Euphoria scanned upwards, and looked into the creatures' hollow eyes, as she clutched her bleeding hoof close to her body.
As the creature growled menacingly and lunged forwards, Euphoria ducked, so the creature got a face full of metal as it stumbled a bit, but recovered rather quickly. Wincing at the flaming pain in her hoof, Euphoria bit down on her battle-saddle and fired a shot. “I got you now!” she shouted in victory, but her face deflated the second she saw the bullet ping into the metal wall behind the thing. “Really?!”
The rotting hulk of a pony was unfazed by ricochet and made another lunge, so Euphoria stumbled backwards, back into the utility room, and her head pounded in agony as she hit one of the open locker-doors. “Ow!” Outside, the creature skittered forwards, howling in animalistic glee as it walked into the view of Euphoria. She bit back down on the battle-saddle, as muzzle fire flashed next to her.
Even though the creature was already heavily wounded, flesh tore from its body as bullet after bullet pinged into it, with a meaty sound. Chunks of meat flew off it, as blood painted the opposite wall in gory details, as the creature fell onto the lettuce floor, and gave out a last, desperate sigh.
Euphoria panted and swallowed hard, as she stared at the body a few feet away from herself. She shook her head, and fished out the healing potion, quickly unscrewing the cork and downing the bitter liquid that held a hint of carrots. Her vision blurred for a few seconds, and then cleared, as Euphoria felt reinvigorated, but she took a look at her hoof-computer to make sure she was right.
It hummed as she passed a hoof over the screen, and saw the number flicker as it slowly passed up to fill the health bar completely. A sense of relief passed through Euphoria's body as she sat back and thumped her head against the metal bar behind her.
With a groan, Euphoria got to her hooves and stumbled heavily out of the utility closet. Instead of going back from where she came, she hobbled forwards, still feeling the effects of the health potion. Her hooves clang against metal, as she stepped over the crossing and into the room the foul creature had defended so eagerly. She blinked in bafflement as her eyes scanned the walls.
Made out of sheer metal, they fitted the rest of the hallways perfectly, but that was not what made Euphoria freeze – it was the decoration. On the walls hung ripped crimson fabric, that had the image of a pair of horns protruding from a skull embossed on them in charcoal; although the image had faded long ago, Euphoria gulped and tore her eyes from it.
A makeshift bed made from rotting wood and skeletal remains had been shoved into a corner, Euphoria noted from the scuff-marks on the metal floor. The dour expression on her face lifted as she saw a terminal next to the bed give off a soft green glow, accentuating the poor condition of the table it was sitting on.
She stepped briskly up to it, and connected her Pip-Buck to it, watching as a few messages was logged into the massive memory of her device. As it gave off a light chime, indicating that it was done, Euphoria swung her head around and tried to locate any boxes of ammunition that she could.
Euphoria crouched low, and twitched her ears as she looked under the bed too, but she found nothing and frowned. Her supply was dangerously low, as the E.F.S. Indicated that she only had five bullets left. It didn't help either, that since the encounter, the condition of the rifle blinked, as it threatened to break at any moment.
In some attempt at easing herself, Euphoria put on the first message as she stepped over the body of the odd creature, which at some point her E.F.S., had decided to label as: 'Ghoul.'
“Hello?” the soft voice of a young stallion came, as the recording crackled onwards. “Whoever you are, I just want to warn you.” Euphoria perked her ears, and peered around the edge of her current endless corridor of steel, before she decided it was safe and walked out. “Clearwater is gone...” his voice broke, as Euphoria frowned at the sound of his sobbing, but she didn't turn off the recording.
“A mega-spell hit last night, and I barely managed to get myself down in time enough to feel the tremors. Oh, Celestia!” The recording cut out suddenly, and Euphoria was plunged back into the silence of the underground.
With a flick of her hoof, Euphoria made the next message play without having to stop. “...It's been two months since the world ended, and I can't say I feel happy to be alive. My entire family is dead, we... we didn't have enough money to get into one of those Stables we heard so much about. I hope those bastards at Stable-Tec burn in acid!” Yet again, the recording cut out, and Euphoria was quick to turn on the next one as she stepped into another interconnected corridor, and she wondered briefly if this would be her life now.
“Seven.... I've been locked in this room for seven months now. What meagre food-supplies I had, are long gone, but strangely enough I don't feel hungry or anything. Heh!” The stallion chuckled for a few seconds, before he continued. “Life goes on right?”
Euphoria shivered as she switched on the next message. “Had my first contact with another live pony yesterday. Said his name was Shining Storm. What an odd name, right?” Euphoria frowned as the recording cut off so briefly, but she simply turned on the last one in the chain. “Fucking flank-hole! Storm and a couple of his buddies decided to attack me this morning, so I guess that goes to show that kindness no longer exists, huh?
“Never-mind. He didn't get what he wanted though, as I locked the door, but not before one of his guys made his way inside. I guess I got a new bed now.... They spent hours on trying to get inside, but eventually they gave up and scurried away into the dark recesses of this tomb.”
The stallion coughed violently, before he spoke hoarsely again. “I think it's a good thing that I got locked up here alone, at least. My mane keeps thinning, and bits of fur are vanishing from my coat.” Another violent coughing-fit hit the stallion, and a brief pause of static lingered.
“How long has it been? I can't... I can't remember... This headache is making it so fucking hard to think! And I'm... hungry.... For once, I'm glad that I kept the body of this guy around for so long....M-maybe Iron Will was right...” The recording hissed and gave out, as Euphoria held a hoof to her mouth, before she stopped and threw up in a pile of junk.
*
Piles of junk were exactly all that was left of what had once been the one thing that kept Equestria from flowing over with pony-waste. Euphoria tasted bile, as she mulled over the recording in her head. Another lost soul, and this one too had turned to cruel things, or had he? Euphoria couldn't be sure, and it made her shiver.
For the moment, Euphoria shoved it to the back of her mind as she stopped dead in her tracks and squinted her eyes at the floor, as she saw a thin string run just above it until it reached a steel-bar roughly welded to the metal-flooring. Her eyes quickly jutted over to the other side and traced the string, as it ran up the side of the wall, and connected to a pin that held back a large piece of foul-smelling meat. All around the slab of flesh, large wooden spikes were impaled, and Euphoria had to back away as fresh blood dripped from a few of them.
Spike death-trap? No thanks, Luna, Euphoria thought as she perked her ears, and stepped over the string, as she hugged the wall with one side and peered up the lettuce staircase as it led up, then banked to the right, and then to the right again as it connected to the next level. A chuckle rang out from atop the staircase, as Euphoria saw the shadow of a pony fall onto the rusted steps in front of her.
“Twist!” The mare called out hoarsely, as her shadow twisted and she turned on the soles of her hooves. “Why the fuck do we have to guard this fucking shit-dump of a watershed, again?” Euphoria perked her ears in the pregnant pause, but there came no answer. “Nothing ever comes out of here, and when a pony happens to wander down into there, the ghouls kill' em, so indulge me will you, fuck-face?” Even though she couldn't see the pony, Euphoria knew that the mare had a wild grin on her face as she spoke.
“Believe me, bitch, I don't like it either, but somebody has to guard the shithouse too, you know,” a stallion said grimly as he chuckled and another shadow joined the mare's. “Fucker up there will still get his.” Both of them laughed at that, when Euphoria got an idea and stepped forward as her hooves pinged against the cold metal, and it groaned back in response. “What the fuck was that?” The stallion called out, but Euphoria didn't stop and just kept climbing.
She came to the bend and turned to look up at the two ponies. On top of the staircase a mare in cobbled-together, rusted armour covered in deadly spikes stood, next to a stallion in no armour. Both of them were covered in red paint from muzzle to flank. The paint swirled in different patterns on their hooves, but it ran in spikes on their heads and backs. “Hey!” Euphoria called out, and got their attention immediately, as their fierce bloodshot eyes stared at her. “Want me? Come and get me!” She grinned fiercely as she stood in the staircase.
“Get over here, cunt!” the stallion shouted and galloped down the staircase as the mare pulled a rusty, jagged knife from her barding and followed the stallion. Euphoria twisted and galloped down the staircase, as the stallion followed her, and tried to grab her by the tail. “I'm gonna rip your tail off!” he screamed as Euphoria slid on the metal floor and caught the string with her hooves as she watched the heavy meat swing above her.
“What the fu--” With a loud scream, the stallion choked on his own voice as several spikes tore into his side and he banged roughly against the wall, as foamy blood dripped from his muzzle. Euphoria lifted her head and grinned at the stallion as he looked back at her with fiery eyes. “F-fu-fucking....” Groaning, the stallion ripped free from the trap, and in the process caused a few of the wooden spikes to tear open his wounds further, as the rest broke and shattered inside.
Deathly wounded, the stallion stumbled forward a few metres and fell to the floor in a pool of his own blood, and after a second, one of the red marks on Euphoria's E.F.S., winked out as she smiled in victory. “Fucking idiot,” the mare mumbled out as she still held the knife between her teeth, and stepped over the body of the stallion, so Euphoria backed away. “You still have to get through me, filly, and that's not going to happen.”
Raider mare blinked her eyes as she looked at the dirty, yet very clear brown of Euphoria's fur beneath her scuffed armour, as she grinned wildly. “Want to know what we did to the last Stable-mare we caught? Oh, she was a barrel of laughs!” The mare chuckled grimly and took a step forward, as Euphoria took one backwards. “She didn't stop crying until she got a face full of shrapnel!”
Anger filled up Euphoria's eyes, as adrenaline fuelled her hooves and she leapt forwards, as the raider mare dodged her and delivered a knife-slice to Euphoria's hooves as she slid to a stop, and Euphoria swung deftly at the air with her jagged shovel; blood dribbling down her coat. “Do you like the sight of your own blood?”
Charging forwards, the raider mare hit Euphoria, and stabbed at her wildly, and managed to land a few slashes across Euphoria's face, and she cried out loudly in pain as she thrashed against the raider mare, tossing the mare roughly against a wall, but she rose again as she chuckled grimly, seeming completely unharmed, as Euphoria fought back tears. “Just like a little filly!”
“You... hurt innocents....” Euphoria panted as she cleared away her tears with a hoof and squared her gaze at the mare in rutted armour, with three pony ears tied on a blood-smeared string, tied around her throat. “Now... I'm going to hurt you!” she growled and brought her shovel to bare, but the raider dodged it deftly as she danced around the cramped hallway with an odd grace in her step. “Stand still!” Euphoria mumbled out as she was once again tasting wood.
“First I'm over here,” Raider mare teased and leapt out of the way of danger as she delivered yet another slash with her knife, and Euphoria groaned in pain. “Then, I'm over here!” The mare giggled in glee, but forget herself and yelped loudly as the shovel hit her face with a sickening crunch, so she hit the floor hard, blinked for a second and screamed as she thrashed and held a hoof to her mouth.
Holding the shovel in her mouth, Euphoria looked down at the mare, as she writhed and looked back up at her with fear in her eyes. “D-don...” Raider mare's voice gave out, as blood pooled in her mouth, and Euphoria turned her head, and brought the shovel back around, slashing the mare across the face, causing her to hit the floor hard again.
“You don't... deserve it!” Euphoria called out grimly and brought the shovel down onto the mare's skull, and watched as it impacted and cracked her skull. Slowly, Euphoria backed away from Raider mare's twitching form and dropped the shovel as the mare kept screaming in agony, a hoof clutched against her own skull.
Almost black blood flowed from at least half a dozen cuts all over Euphoria's body as she hobbled up the staircase again, leaving a thick strand of liquid in her wake. Pain pulsed from the open gashes, but Euphoria simply gritted her teeth together and winced at each step she took. The bitter taste of copper lingered in her mouth, as she turned on the staircase and found herself on the second floor.
She limped towards another set of stairs that had flickering red lights adorning in the front of each metal step, but she frowned as a large metal door blocked the opening. Quickly, Euphoria scanned around the floor, but it contained only piles of rubble and a rusty terminal with a dark screen, next to a pair of large tanks that were flaking badly. Euphoria groaned and leaned against the wall as the metal around her creaked in pain.
A click echoed through the hallway, as an electrical buzz rang out and Euphoria jumped backwards, so she bumped into the railing on the staircase. The hulking metal-panel that blocked her way out, slid away and she glimpsed green wallpaper in the room above. With renewed vigour, Euphoria trotted forward and grinned as she saw the handle, connected to the power-box on the wall, but she shook her head slightly.
Euphoria hobbled up the staircase and brushed past another dead terminal, sitting on a table that wanted to collapse at any minute. She stepped through a doorway, and stood in a small room, but grimaced as her Pip-Buck clicked away in glee, and her E.F.S., flashed red with hostility. The soft sounds of heightened voices, carried through the thin walls, so Euphoria leaned close to one.
“Can't we just gut' em?” a grim voice said gruffly, and Euphoria looked at her screen as five red lines travelled back and forth, with one yellow one remaining stationary. “Damn it! I want some food!” the same pony said, and growled menacingly but shrieked as some-pony hit him.
“Be quiet! Sludge wants us to keep this flank-hole out here, alive,” a different stallion shot back, and chuckled. “At least until a mutant or something rips his treacherous flank a new hole!” A cacophony of laugher rang out briefly, but died down almost as quickly.“Fucker doesn't deserve that! If I were Sludge, I would have burned him alive!” A mare giggled madly as she trotted around. “Or we could cut him up into little pieces, and feed him to those foals back in the pens!”
“Shut up!” another mare called out. “We're stuck out here, and I have to listen to your fucking psychoshit? Be fucking quiet, or I'll rip out your fucking throats and let you bleed to death!” Euphoria grinned a bit at that and moved towards the flaking, blue door with a barely legible logo imprinted on it; Inside a white circle, a white lightning bolt shined inside the stencilled out insignia of a water droplet.
She took one last look at the lines of red and, and checked her ammo supply as she breathed heavily. Five bullets... five bullets... I can't miss... Euphoria repeated to herself several times, before she burst through the door and slid to a halt in the dirt outside, as she bit on her battle-saddle and sent a bullet flying.
A mare squealed in agony, as the bullet tore right through her windpipe and her throat spilled blood onto the dark ground, with the mare falling as well as she clutched her throat with a hoof. Hoarsely, through her bubbling voice she called out. “Get her! Get the bitch and impale her!” The four other raiders sprang into action, and leapt behind the makeshift cover of toppled over tables and lockers; whilst Euphoria leapt behind a rock, as semi-automatic fire rang out and pinged against the rock, chipping it in the process.
Large, heavily rusted beams towered around Euphoria and the raiders. It ran behind the little, dented shed she had been in earlier, and all around the little settlement which was not large at all. Inside, there were only toppled over furniture, and a zebra-stallion sitting inside a makeshift cell, made from two metal-carts welded together.
“I'm going to enjoy gutting you!” a stallion cried out in ecstasy, before he shrieked and leapt over his cover as he galloped for Euphoria. “Fucking mare!” he shouted as he screamed wildly, and Euphoria jumped up from behind her cover and fired a shot, so the stallion's head exploded in blood and guts, as her bullet tore straight through his eye-socket, and he fell limply onto the ground.
Sliding into cover again, now behind one of the toppled over lockers, Euphoria winced, and saw the streak of blood that followed in her wake. The pain throbbed in her body, but she had to push through, as now was not the time to become faint and fall asleep. “I'm gonna cut you up!” A mare cackled, and Euphoria's ears perked as she cast a furtive glance towards the imprisoned zebra, before she crept up from her cover and fired a bullet towards the cackling mare, as she stepped out from cover.
“You're so dead!” the raider mare cried out hoarsely, but shrieked as the bullet hit her hoof, and she toppled over onto the locker she was using as cover as blood poured from her mouth, and her wounded hoof, but her weapon decided to take a flying trip. The SMG that had been latched onto the mare's armour took off, and slid into the muck on the ground – far away from the mare.
Euphoria got to her shaking hooves and darted across the open area, as the beams cast long shadows across the ground and bullets pinged into the earth behind her. “Get your fucking flank back here!” the stallion shouted angrily after her, as he reloaded his hunting rifle as quickly as he could, but Euphoria didn't stop, and slid up to the zebra's cage.
“Don't free me, and just let me die here,” the zebra male spoke softly, but Euphoria shook her head, and fired a bullet into the rusty lock, and it broke into two pieces with a satisfying crack. She cast him a soft smile, and leapt back behind a rock, as she looked at her dwindling ammo-counter with a frown.
As Euphoria peeked over her rock, the buck was ready to fire and bit down on his rifle, but his look of victory deflated as his rifle gave out with a light ping, and then jammed itself. Euphoria herself, grinned as she jumped from her covered and fired a shot towards the buck, and watched his head twitch backwards as the bullet pierced through his nose and exited out the back of his flimsy mane.
Everything went silent, as Euphoria stumbled forwards and pain flooded her mind when the adrenaline gave away. She screamed and thrashed, as she dropped onto the ground in a pool of her own blood, as it poured from a thousand little gashes around her body. Her vision dwindled, as she heard the mad cackling of another raider as he trotted up to her.
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Little Leaguer – Years as the Stable's MVP has honed your hitting and throwing skills. You gain 5 points to Melee Weapons and Explosives; this increments with each rank of this perk.
“Money is a strange business. People who haven't got it aim it strongly. People who have are full of troubles.”
Crimson, almost bright-red blood dripped from the dinged and battered operating table, as a strange voice shouted gruffly, full of trepidation: “Tie her down!” At the same time, when the voice reached the mare's ears, her eyes shot open wide, and her entire body shook. Orange eyes fixated on the ceiling, and Euphoria took in a deep breath as familiar pain flared from the open gashes in her form. Desperately, Euphoria squirmed and panted as her bruised lungs tried to take in whatever stale air they could; the smell of alcohol and fresh punk hung in the air.
“She's awake! B-but... she can't be!” the same oddly gravely voice – with an echo-y undertone – called out, but the far in that voice was now all that more audible. Euphoria tried to steady herself, but her head was pounding away in throbbing pulses, and her vision was a wash of colours, some she didn't even know existed.
A spray of gory blood painted one of the gnarled walls around her, in ghastly red as she managed to tear one of her hooves free. “Sedate her!” the voice called again.
There it is again, Euphoria thought as she tried to focus her eyes on a shape in the room, but all she could make out amongst the blurry colours, was a black blob vaguely taking the outline of a pony. Then some-pony pulled at her, so she yelped hoarsely and tried pulling away, but she was roughly pulled back down onto the table.
“Keep... keep your hooves off of me!” Doing her best, despite her waning strength, Euphoria pulled her hoof back towards her chest as she gritted her teeth together.
“Keep her sedated, you idiots! She'll tear herself to shreds!” that same commanding voice that sounded even more raspy, as Euphoria managed to focus in on it, bellowed out to what she assumed was his other raider-scum. Only a few seconds after the order, a set of hooves tried pulling Euphoria back down onto the table. She thrashed against them desperately, but due to her weak state, the two ponies managed to secure her again.
“You... fuckers!” she screamed as high as she could, still wriggling against her bonds, but it only made the searing pain worse as she dug rug-burns into her already horrible wounds, and it didn't help her in any way. “I'll... I'll kill you...!” Euphoria grunted in discomfort as a pony slowly moved to her side, and she could see the faint glow around his thin horn as he levitated something into the air.
“Trust me, you won't,” the pony said in his thick, raspy voice. The more she listened to it, the more she wondered if the pony was actually a pony. Euphoria gritted her teeth as she felt a stinging in her shoulder, and she thrashed as her heartbeat ever so slowly calmed down, and her hoarse voice cried out in agony again as her vision began to clear. “Oh no... Get me everything we got! She's dying!”
“Fuck....” Euphoria's voice caught in her throat, as her vision finally cleared enough that she could take in the full glory of the surrounding walls and ponies. Badly faded white walls with severe scorch marks all over surrounded her, as she lay on a rusted metal-table which served as an operating table. Next to that, stood a smaller dinged metal-table that creaked each time the unicorn moved it with his magic – on top of it, lay several medical applications, some of which, Euphoria recognized, but she cringed and gasped as a flurry of sparkles filled her vision, and her head throbbed again.
She hiccuped as she arched her back violently, feeling the pain from the effects of the drug and whatever else that pony had put into her.
Painfully, Euphoria watched as the cuts on her body slowly closed and she felt the fire in her lungs die down, as she coughed up blood onto herself. “Damn....” she groaned and fell back against the table.
“You're lucky be alive, young one.” Euphoria turned her head and focused her eyes on the scrawny unicorn – his mane was a ratty mess of white tufts that clung to his skull; his coat was severely burnt, leaving open patches of flesh some-places, whilst singed hide clung to others; he wore a deeply stained white lab-coat that reeked of rot, shit, blood, and some things that Euphoria couldn't quite put her hoof on. If it weren't for his unnerving smile that showed a bit too much of his teeth, Euphoria would have screamed.
He seemed an awfully similar to the thing that had attacked her in the sewers. “My name is... well, it's Lucky as a matter of fact!” the friendly ghoul said joyfully and took a short bow, before his face straightened and his demeanour turned grim. “Why are you here, though? Ponies just don't wander into hell. Unless you're one of those things that think you're a pony, but you're really just a monster on hooves.” His eyes wandered over Euphoria's body, before he nodded briefly. “Nope.”
Euphoria groaned and slid off of the operating table, so she landed with a light thud on her sore hooves, wobbling from side to side, but she shook her head and looked back at the ghoul. “I'm looking for some-pony, but I can manage myself,” she spat back and stepped away from the table. Her surroundings spun, as she hobbled towards the door on the other side of the room.
“Your friend...” Lucky said in his raspy voice, as Euphoria felt a shiver go down her back, so she stopped but didn't turn. “...paid for everything, you're free to go, but when you have seen a bit of the town and what it has to offer, I'll be here and I'll have a job for you.” Smirking, Lucky ignited his magic and held the worn door open as Euphoria stepped through.
“Keep your job, I have a pony to kill,” muttered Euphoria through gritted teeth as she felt, flickering, golden light shimmer down onto her. Looking up, she focused in on the small, matted bulbs that hung from string of wire from the ceiling. Her ears perked at the humming that the bulbs gave off, and she smiled at the brief throb of heat that faded as quickly as she felt it against her coat.
“Working lights... ah...! That's good, I suppose.” Her ears flickered, and she turned her head to look into the grey eyes of a familiar striped individual. “Well... who are you exactly, and why should I care?” A sharp giggle left Euphoria, as the zebra grunted in response and dropped a pair of saddlebags onto the stained blue and white tiles that summed up the floor.
She looked from the saddlebags to the stallion and back again, raising an eyebrow in question. “I took the liberty of lightening your load,” the zebra said in a dark, booming voice that echoed against the walls and Euphoria felt slightly flushed. “I made up enough caps to pay for your treatment, and get you a better weapon with some more ammo.” He grinned as he kicked the twin battle-saddle with a hind-leg, and sent it skidding across the floor towards Euphoria.
Within a minute, Euphoria had slid herself back into the saddlebag, and it did indeed feel lighter. She took a look at her pip-buck, and was greeted with an oddly satisfying low number, as well as a severely improved 32.Hunting Rifle. “I guess I owe you a thanks..?” The unnamed zebra simply lifted an equally questioning eyebrow. “Thank you!” Euphoria burst out, nodding briefly as she walked past the zebra.
“Why'd you do it?” Euphoria asked as she trotted past broken wooden doors, that barely held screams of anguish at bay. Through the cracks in other doors, the light chuckle of delight came, and Euphoria found it best not to investigate. “You could have just left me there, alone,” she stated as they rounded a corner.
“When some-pony does a favour for you, you pay them back equally.” Euphoria kept trotting as the whimpers slowly died down, and only the sound of their hooves echoed in the hallway. “You saved me, so it's only fair to repay you.” The zebra kept silent after that, and followed Euphoria through the last door as they stepped outside.
Cold wind brushed against Euphoria as she stared at the scraggly camp not so far from where she was standing. A fence made up from ragged pieces of wood, and rusty metal-sheeting that had been reinforced with spiky strips of barbed-wire surrounding the compound. Euphoria could see two guard-towers at each end of the fence, with the shadow of a pony within; the matted, flaking cream-coloured paint still clinging to a few spots on the towers.
In the middle of the fenced in area, a cluster of houses and tents stood. The puke-green tents were torn and shredded, but flapped faintly in the wind as a few ponies slept within. Most of the compound's houses had been badly burnt, and anything with a second store, had had its roof ripped off.
A few guards, dressed in similar cobbled-together uniforms to that of raiders, patrolled the one cracked concrete street that lead into the town and ended at the court-house.
Slowly as she stayed silent, Euphoria trotted down the gently hill, with the zebra following behind her closely. Nothing's red yet, she said to herself and stole a glance at her E.F.S., display and it showed a slew of yellow slits with enough green tossed in there for a fair amount of doubt to linger in her head as she descended.
The court-house was the cream of the town, and had been reinforced over decades most likely. Sheets of metal in all kinds of different shapes and sized had been strung to the faded, red brick-walls with rusted barbed wire and embedded spears. A large, yellowed staircase led up the centre of the building and ushered ponies into through a double-set door that had long since lost its varnish. Four large swirling columns donned the centre as well, and turned the single walkway into a set of five different paths.
On top of the building, a rearing statue of a pony with wings and a horn, along with a flowing mane stood. It had chipped in places, and the concrete that made up the pony was badly worn from years of hard weather.
“Whoo!” Euphoria stopped just before her hooves made contact with the black asphalt, and a pony came galloping past her with a chain strung to his saddle. Behind him, a mare got dragged roughly against the ground and got badly scraped up in the process. Euphoria just stared as the stallion dragging the mare, came to a stop in the middle of the road. “Got me a live one!” he cried out as his muzzle twisted into a sick grin.
No-pony seemed to mind him, as a few just gave grunts of approval, and others just looked away, retreating back into whatever hollowed out shells they called home.“We've got ourselves a hangin' today!” the stallion called out and chuckled as he sped back into a gallop, and the mare coughed hoarsely as she was dragged up the asphalt, towards the court-house.
Being at a loss for words, and heavily out-numbered, Euphoria watched as the stallion pulled up to the cracked staircase and dragged the mare up by the chain. He threw the chain around a single bar, that ran between the columns and fastened one end around his saddle again, and the other, he secured tightly around the mare's throat.
Chuckling, the stallion slowly pulled backwards as the chain tugged on the mare and tightened as she cried out. “S-stop! I-I didn't mean it!” Some of the guards were by this point, watching the entire thing from the street as the stallion turned and broke into a gallop. The chain tightened with a loud twang as the mare was pulled into the air.
She hung in the air limply as her eyes rolled back into her skull, when the air in her lungs were forced out and she slowly choked to death. “N-no...!” she tried to scream and pull at her chain, but her hooves simply scraped against the metal, and her voice had given out, as she died; the stallion just watched grimly and detached the chain, so the mare's body fell against the hard ground, and Euphoria twitched her ears at the sound of breaking bones.
“What the heck was that about?” Euphoria asked and turned to face the zebra stallion.
“A rogue Zephyr, no doubt,” the zebra shot back calmly. “Welcome to the township of Gravel: home to the Zephyr raider-gang.” As the stallion grinned at Euphoria, she tilted her head at him and shot her best 'What are you talking about,' look. “Where the heck have you been, filly?” the stallion snarled back.
“In a Stable...” Euphoria mumbled out and trotted forward, as she tried to keep to one side of the street as best she could. Scrawny ponies begging hoarsely for food and water, tugged at her hooves multiple times as she walked, but Euphoria just kicked out until they let go, and she could continue on her way. “You didn't tell me your name, so...”
“Yiltse,” the zebra said in his seemingly always calm voice as Euphoria mulled over the name. Y-eee-ltsé...? Can that be right? She frowned and focused her eyes on the street as the court-house drew near. “What's your plan then?”
“It's Euphoria, and don't you dare shorten it to E, bud!” Shouted Euphoria angrily as she snorted, and didn't even bother to face the stallion as she addressed him. “As for the plan, it's simple. I find the sorry ass who killed my friends, and I make him pay, then I run back to the Stable and I go back to a boring life.” She nodded briskly as a few guards had turned to watch her, and even the shadow in the guard tower half-hidden behind the right-side of the court-house stood frozen.
“Oh? And who might that be?”
Euphoria paused briefly before she answered with a sigh, “I don't know.”
“Dumb plan, isn't it?”
“Shut up!”
*
The second Euphoria had stepped into the court-house, she had been greeted by a barrel to her head and a dark voice telling her to: 'Get the fuck down, or I decorate the wall with your brain.' Euphoria swallowed hard and did as she was told, and as a result both she and Yiltse, was dragged down the hallway by a cadre of foul-smelling stallions with violent manes and tails, dressed up in pitch-black armour.
Much like the outside, the inside of the building was left in equal gory display, but still managed to look pristine in its own right; as if some-pony had been fixing it meticulously over years and years, whilst never getting the image in their head right.
Bloodied spikes adorned the cracked stone-walls, as a jagged line cracked through the stone from spike to spike. Flayed bodies of stallions and mares hung from rusted chains, embedded in the roof – their gruesome expressions frozen in time for all to see. As Euphoria swallowed hard, and her heartbeat hastened, the two stallions chuckled and looked to each-other but said nothing as they kept every-pony moving.
Every decrepit door the group passed, had been shut and locked, some rusty; others not. Soon enough, they arrived in a large room in the middle of a junction, where the corridor split into three directions. One lead off into a door, where Euphoria got a glimpse of a stained white staircase with large holes in it beyond the mess of wood; the second lead to another locked door, opposite of the other one. Lastly, was the large room directly ahead.
She got nudged forward roughly by a stallion, and Euphoria stepped through the door into the large room ahead with the rest of the group. She gulped again and as her eyes wandered across the top of the room, from each severed head to the next, she wanted to pull out her gun and kill every last pony there.
Her Eyes-Forward-Sparkle denoted she had enough bullets, and if she used S.A.T.S., she would have a better success-rate, but Euphoria filed it to the back of her head; she needed information, and that wasn't going to offer itself from dead ponies – good or bad.
Beneath the gory display, a large oval desk stood – matted with dried blood and the wood chipped badly in places. A large stack of papers and books stood on one side of the table, with a metal weight keeping most of them down, but Euphoria didn't see the point as most of the books' pages were blackened and burned away. Tilted against the side of the books, a rusted nameplate rested.
'Strawberry Jam,' was scrawled on it, half of the name covered in dried blood. Euphoria felt the cool breeze of the outside touch against her, and her eyes travelled to the large blown-out window behind the desk and chair, that looked out across a dead garden of rotting vegetables.
Two guards stepped out from behind Euphoria and Yiltse, and stood next to the door our, as the two others stepped up and behind the table. One of the guards leaned in and spoke, as Euphoria twitched her ears to try and hear anything, but the stallion's voice was too low for her to pick up anything at all, and she just frowned.
“Who are you?” Euphoria steadied her vision towards the chair behind the comically over-sized table as it swivelled around to reveal a dark-red stallion in a green, bulky metal-plated armour. Round, heavily dented plates were tied around his knees, matching the rest of the armour in colour and texture. Around the stallion's neck, hung a black breathing mask meant to cover only his muzzle.
He looked sternly at Euphoria and his muzzle twisted into a grin, as Euphoria refused to answer. “You walk into my town, fresh like some kind of school-filly, and not only that!” His gaze drifted over to Yiltse, but the zebra only snorted and stared back. “You bring with you a guard! Has mayor Starstruck finally gotten her balls in shape?”
“Listen to me. I'm just looking for some-pony, so if you could just point me in the direction of a stallion...” Euphoria's voice trailed off as the guards laughed along with the head-guard and she trailed the room with her eyes.
“This is not charity, so why don't you go tell Starstruck that, before I come back there!” The head-guard broke out into another mean laugh, as a guard put the barrel of his gun to Euphoria's back and forced her up on her hooves. “Or maybe I should just tell this guard to shoot you and your friend here, and then I'll send your body back to your town. So, tell me why I shouldn't do that?” He grinned as he glared at the two.
“Because you don't want Starstruck to come back here,” Yiltse stated flatly as the guards looked at each-other, and the head-guard's face deflated immediately. “You don't have the ponies to defend this town. What will you use when your guards run out? Rented raiders? They'll rip your town apart once your guards are occupied with a full-scale war.” Yiltse spoke plainly and his face never gave off any other expression that the same flat one he had.
The stallion in the green armour slumped back and sighed as he waggled a hoof in the direction of the newcomers, and Euphoria tore her hoof free from one of the guards as they retreated to the back of the room, but they still kept their weapons trained on the two. “Fine, I'm a reasonable pony – what's your offer?”
“We do some jobs for you,” the zebra said as he glanced briefly at Euphoria and got a sneering frown in return, “and you tell my friend here, where the stallion she's after is.” Euphoria tore her eyes from the zebra and stared back at the head-guard, as she shifted uncomfortably in place, and the stallion's muzzle slowly twisted and his eyes narrowed.
“Agreed,” he said in a low tone, hinting at a malevolent laugh that never came. “I got some raiders that have been picking on my caravans, and that's where you two come in. Sort them out and I'll tell you where your guy went.” The stallion smirked and turned away from the two, as he gazed out across the scorched garden.
Euphoria growled, “I could just kill your people now, and torture you.”
“Even if you managed to do that, I wouldn't give you what you want. Now, take the deal or die, it's as simple as that.”
*
As the two newcomers stepped outside again, and felt the cold wind against their faces, Euphoria turned and poked a hoof into the zebra's chest. “Who are you? Why do you know so much about this place? And why in all of Equestria, did you just make one giant group-decision for the both of us!” she screamed the questions, but the tenants of the town didn't even flinch.
The zebra stallion backed away and rubbed his chest, where she had touched him, with one of his own hooves. “Do not touch me, pony, unless I say so.” His usually placid façade had lifted, and his eyes had narrowed at Euphoria, and she stared back at him with an equally big frown on her face.
His eyes narrowed further as he spoke again, “You don't want to go digging into the past. All you need to know, is that I have to repay my debt to you and if that means setting you on your way, then that's the way it's going to be.” Yiltse's stern face lifted and he gave Euphoria a curt bow, before he looked back up at her. “Besides, I got you out of there alive, didn't I?”
Euphoria hesitated for a moment as she tilted her head at Yiltse, then nodded. “Granted, you did that, but we're not friends!” She shook her head defiantly as she stomped a hoof into the rough concrete they were standing on. “I don't have any friends any-more.” Yiltse just nodded briefly as Euphoria turned away and looked out on the skeletal remains of the main street of this town.
A lot less raiders wandered the streets, and a lot more normal ponies had come out as the skies darkened overhead. A group of foals played tag near a cracked stone-well; the bucked had been lazily tossed on the ground, but the foals themselves played happily, as they darted between the legs of their befuddled parents whom just watched the scene.
Innocence... Euphoria thought, and descended the small staircase. Was there even such a thing? She twitched and gazed over at the foals again, as they laughed gleefully and the few raiders that prowled the street didn't pay them any mind. Everything seemed business as usual, despite the sombre mood that loomed over the place.
Twitching, Euphoria pulled a hind-leg back as some-pony next to her reached forward and touched her. Next to Euphoria, a stallion with a murky mane and heavy-set, bloodshot eyes stared at her and held out a hoof. “Could you... please give me some water...” he pleaded in a raspy voice, but Yiltse stepped between her and the stallion and stared at him. “F-forgot I asked!” the begging stallion blurted out and scrambled away as quickly as he could.
“ Long-term radiation-poisoning. There's no cure and giving him any food or water wouldn't do him good.” Euphoria nodded, but felt as if something else was going on. No-pony, sick or not, runs away like that just from a stern look if they really want to live. “We better finish up our work here and head out before it turns dark.”
Euphoria just nodded and slowly the two ascended the hill towards the ghoul doctor's place. Since she was going out into the wilderness, Euphoria thought that she could at least grab one more mission. Two birds with one stone kind of thing.
*
“So you decided to take me up on my offer?” The ghoul doctor asked as he looked back at Euphoria, and absent-mindedly put a couple of dirty syringes into a pocket on his lab-coat; Euphoria nodded. “Good. For what it's worth I thank you.”
“I'm not working for free,” Euphoria shot back and the doctor looked at her, not saying anything. “I want food and medical supplies,” she said and stomped a hoof onto the floor, as she shot a look back towards Yiltse as he leaned against a wall. “Or an equivalent payment.”
“Hmm...” the doctor mumbled something to himself as he floated over a pair of health potions and neatly stuck them into Euphoria's saddlebags. “You'll need those, so consider it an act of good faith on my part. Now, your mission is simple.” The ghoul started as he waved away a white earth-pony nurse with a sky-blue mane.
“A few days ago, I was supposed to get my usual shipment of medical supplies from the other towns, but it didn't arrive. You've been out there, so I assume you already know what kind of cretins live in this backwater town,” he spoke the words in disgusts as he rolled his eyes, before continuing. “I'll plot in the route they were planning to take on your Pip-Buck.” His horn lit up a faint gold, and Euphoria’s hoof-computer clicked away happily as she got another set of coordinates plotted into her map.
“I can only spare so much supplies, so despite what's out there, I can only give you that pair of potions.”
“Out there?” Euphoria asked and raised a questioning eyebrow at the ghoul, but got only back an expressionless face. “What's out there that's so bad?” This time, the ghoul frowned and nodded towards Yiltse. “Come on, tell me!”
“You'll find out,” the ghoul added as he nodded to the pair and headed for the door but stopped and looked towards Euphoria, who just stared back as she felt the urge to blurt out the question again but decided against it for the time being. “Just keep out of the water as much as possible.” He added a smirk and left the room with an equally unexplained golden teleport, as Euphoria was left staring at the blank space suddenly in front of her.
*
Log 9, – Tuesdays are never easy.
Another death, another mother without a foal. I feel partially responsible for this. It was my order that brought the foal in contact with dangerous equipment, and even though she was of age, she was certainly not prepared. On orientation day, I watched her in the fold amongst her class-mates, and she was shivering – shaking horribly. Today, I had to watch that same foal be carried away in a body-bag, bloody and torn up; the only relief I get from this, is that at least it has made my job so much easier. Another Tuesday has passed and my heart sinks, but another will take her place soon enough....
The sound-file slowed to a crawl and distorted as the stern voice of the over-mare died to the oncoming static. Euphoria snickered slightly, as the over-mare had been right in her suspicions – HE had even tapped into her personal logs, so who knows what else HE had tapped his electric tendrils into. It all inevitable came down into one irrevocable truth: Computers could not be trusted.
Despite the contents, Euphoria didn't feel the slightest bit better from the audio-log and left the other logs for a later time. Currently, she was preoccupied with the fact that she had been sent on two missions with little to no information, to a place she knew nothing of. Her map marked this location as 'Mistwater Cove,' but she got nothing else.
Under her hooves, the dirt-covered ground slowly faded into puddles of mud and murky moss, as she followed the route diligently. Every house that she had passed, was nothing more than a ruin of wood and stone, and rotting furniture and it didn't seem like common sense to deviate from the path for something that most likely wouldn't give her anything useful in return.
During the walk, Yiltse had said nothing, despite Euphoria's repeated questions, and as they went unanswered she had in the end, stopped asking them and just kept her eyes firmly planted on the ground, only looking back at the zebra occasionally. Those few times she did, she could see his ears twitching gently, as if he was listening for something, but she couldn't be sure.
Back to watching the ground she went.
In due time, the pair walked down a hill, and Euphoria stopped as what was left of a path crumbled away into murky water and small mounds of dark-green moss. Immediately, Euphoria scanned the horizon for a bridge, a gang-way, just about anything she could use to cross the... actually, she wasn't quite sure what it was that was in front of her, but it certainly couldn't be good.
As she sat down, feeling just a tiny bit defeated, Euphoria frowned and tossed a cracked rock into a nearby pool of water, and as some of it splashed against her, her Pip-Buck gladly remained her that it was of course – irradiated beyond belief. “Go figure, a 'lake' is what's stopping me from getting the answers I need!” she shouted and groaned, as Yiltse stepped up next to her and looked out across the hundreds of small mounds of green, and dark pools of water.
On either side the ground rose into rocky hills, covered in skeletal trees that cast long, looming shadows across the water, as moonlight reflected. Across the marshland, an abandoned village sat, but those houses were new, and was mostly intact except for a few that had burned to nothing but a pile of crisps. “We should go, now, before they hear us.” Euphoria turned to look at Yiltse with that same questioning look as before. He nodded his head towards the only building standing in the vicinity with a smile. “There's our target.”
Euphoria turned her head to look at a damaged windmill standing in the middle of the heavily waterlogged area. It was raised above the surrounding area, by standing on top of a chipped brick base that sagged to one side, with the flaking wooden door standing open. The four blades that were nothing more than rusty lattice-work of metal, drifted slowly in the calm breeze as the creaking noise travelled all the way back to the two ponies.
“Eerie,” Euphoria said and glanced at Yiltse, but he remained stoic as he slowly walked forwards, perking his ears every few feet he went, before he diverged onto another path. Quickly, she got up and followed the stallion as best she could, balancing on the mounds as they went along, but every-time she glanced at the water, something shimmered beneath the surface for a second, then vanished.
What's that...? She thought and stopped as she balanced on a mound, as she tried to get a better look. For several seconds, nothing happened, but finally, a red light flashed beneath the surface of the murky water as Euphoria perked her ears – hearing the faint whooshing noise of something very light hurtling through the air.
It sloshed into the water a few feet away from Euphoria as a low beep rang out, and the air exploded in red-hot fire. Euphoria fell over as the heat washed against her and shrapnel blew into the air, mixing with boiling water. She panted and wiped her forehead with a hoof as another low beep rang out, and she turned her head to see her own hoof pressed down on a round disc in the water.
She didn't even need the massive 'danger' warning on her display to know that she needed to move. Moving as quickly as she could, Euphoria scrambled to her hooves, just as another explosion buffeted against her back, raining murky water down across her, as she panted wildly and tried to focus on jumping from mound to mound.
Her hearth thumped hard as bullets hurtled through the air, and more explosions lit up the area briefly. Faintly, Euphoria cast her head about and watched as brief flashes of muzzle-fire erupted from near the windmill as a low cackling came, followed by harsh obscenities being shouted across the wetlands. “You fucking, foals! I'll rip your spleen out and eat it!”
Euphoria turned as she came to a stop and bit down, as she fired her gun. In the distance, she could hear the bullets bracket into the brittle wood and she cursed under her breath as she dove into some tall grass, landing in a pool of radiated water, but she had priorities. “Think you're clever, huh? I'll show you clever!” the angry stallion roared, as another set of bullets followed his words.
As explosions buffeted the area in white blinding light, Euphoria peeked through the tall grass and got a good look at where the stallion was. Standing on top of a small stage, lifted three-quarters up the windmill, a unicorn stallion with a slick mane and a hovering rifle with a scope on stood, angrily glaring outwards as saliva dripped from his mouth; despite looking, Euphoria couldn't see Yiltse and growled at the thought that he had just abandoned her when things got tough.
“Blood, glorious blood and fire!” the stallion cackled as he swivelled his head about and shot out another disc in the water. “Purify the fucking muties!” Another bullet shot out, and Euphoria held back a gasp as she heard a loud shriek. “Got you!” the stallion called out in sick satisfaction as a meaty thud echoed dully in Euphoria's ears.
Then came the low, non-pony sounding moan and hissing, as the raider suddenly fired off several badly aimed shots into the marsh, but no explosions came this time. “You can't get me!” he called out in a dying laugh as something hissed out in the darkness, and the raider shrieked. “No! G-get your tentacles off of me!” he screamed, but something muffled him as Euphoria clenched her eyes shut, and flopped her ears back – desperately trying to block out the crunching sound.
Damn it! Where is he? Euphoria wanted to shout it out, but to say that was a bad idea was an understatement. Some thing was still lurking in darkness out there, and seeing how well the stallion's plan of firing randomly into the pitch-black worked, she didn't want to do the same and end up as a midnight snack; thankfully though, she had one advantage.
Glancing at her E.F.S., Euphoria grinned as she watched a red line dart back and forth in an erratic manner. It moved about the radar in the manner of an animal on the hunt for food; erratic, yet calmly moving towards a goal. As she kept an eye at the red line, Euphoria crept out from behind the tall grass and slithered across a few mounds, using every bit of control she had to keep herself silent.
In the distance, yet close enough for Euphoria to finally get a good look – the windmill stood. Cracked and splintered wood-boards peeling white flakes of paint made up the building, and a damaged stage of dark-red wood heaved above the gaping maw of the door. Sheets of yellowed cloth clung to one of the blades and fluttered briefly in the wind, as the moonlight ghosted the edge of the mill – casting long shadows that resembled a nightmarish ghoul onto the wet ground.
Perking her ears and biting her lower lip, Euphoria moved forwards as stealthy as possible. She hopped from grassy knoll to another grassy knoll, as the outlined ghost grew larger in her periphery. Euphoria kept her eyes firmly fixed on the ground as she concentrated on not dropping into the poisoned water, so much so that her saddlebags made a slight shaking noise each time she stopped.
With a burst of data-static, the red line vanished from Euphoria and she froze as she was about to jump from the mound. Keeping her ears perked, Euphoria scanned the area with her eyes. Nothing. Except the darkness and the rotting shells of two other windmills – one blasted to shreds, indicated by the giant crater in it, and the other having sagged so low into the ground that its blades touched the water – there was nothing.
Gulping, Euphoria moved ahead as her hoof found the ground again and she got back into her hopping manoeuvre, but the scream of the raider still echoed in her head; along with the sickening crunching noise.
After doing this for a few minutes, Euphoria finally reached the windmill and stepped down onto a soggy patch of ground, and she rolled her eyes as the clicking from her Pip-Buck chimed back in. “Really? Come on....” Euphoria whined and stepped closer, as she saw what remained of the stallion and almost lost what she hadn't eaten right then and there, if it hadn't been for the sucking sound coming from somewhere close by.
Shit.. it's back, whatever it is... Euphoria thought, and cursed under her breath just as the red line appeared again, and the brush of grass she had been hiding in before moved, and she blinked her eyes, thinking she saw a shape move, but when she opened them again, it was gone. “Fucking, shit-back!” Euphoria cursed and gritted her teeth, snarling at nothing but darkness and dead trees.
If you want me, just come at me, for Luna's sake!” Her voice carried with the wind, and Euphoria glanced at her Pip-Buck every few seconds and watched as the line kept darting around. “We're not playing, tag, all right?” She asked the cold wind and perked her ears, but still nothing. “Damn it, just come and get me!” Having finally lost her composure, as her hearth pounded in her throat, Euphoria screamed and moved to fire her gun, even though she didn't have a target.
“Don't do it...” Yiltse said softly, and Euphoria froze as she glanced to the left, spotting a pair of grey eyes in the brush. “Unless you want to end up as that guy,” he added with a touch of dramatic flare as he nodded slightly towards what remained of the raider. “Just.... follow me, all right?”
For a moment, as she heard the words, Euphoria wanted to just turn and fire at the zebra, just so she could watch him scream; a little payback, she thought. Half-snickering, she pushed the thought away as quickly as she could and nodded towards the brush. “All right,” Yiltse said calmly and took a deep breath as he rose, with the light sound of sloshing water following.
Only seconds later, their collective eyes were drawn to a creature hovering across the field in the dark. “What the fuck is that?” Euphoria asked and blinked her eyes, only to have the thing move closer as she coughed at the fumes slowly filling the air. “Seriously... What the f-fuck!” she coughed and walked backwards, as the sucking noise from before rose higher in pitch, and Euphoria put a hoof to her nose as the air began to reek of filth.
“Whatever you do, don't move. Just take a deep breath and keep your mouth shut – the fumes are toxic,” Yiltse said as he spared a moment to look at Euphoria, before he took a deep breath, as the creature floated in front of him and was now in full view of them both. Euphoria panted and gasped for air, feeling her throat burn as her head pounded, but she nodded and took in as much air as she could, and watched Yiltse and the creature with tears forming in her eyes.
Hovering a few inches above the soggy earth, and irradiated waters, a pale single tendril rose until it formed a semi-circle of dripping teeth and saliva that opened and closed periodically. The flesh beneath the single tentacle, pulsed in time with the mouth and each time they pushed out the noxious air beneath the vile mutant. Euphoria shook in place as two sets of tendrils peeked out from each side of the main body, as they reached forwards and touched Yiltse; yet the zebra stallion remained calm, not showing any change in his expression or behaviour; Browner bits of flesh clung to the pale mutant in spots, but for the most part it kept the same pale colour-pattern all over.
It loomed over Yiltse as its two tendrils continued to search over his body, but in the end, they gave up and the mutant turned and moved towards Euphoria, and seeing it approach, she moved back, until she felt a sharp cold in her hind-leg and the radiation warning popped back up. Euphoria exhaled and coughed for air, but quickly took a deep breath again and stood there, shaking. No, no, no, no, this is bad. So bad, so bad... shit!
Sweat dripped down Euphoria's forehead as she shook and stared into the hole of teeth in front of her. Oh, Celestia... please, please... I... don't want to die... She felt like whimpering, but kept her tongue, even as the cold water lanced up her hoof in slashes of pain. Euphoria clenched her eyes shut, as the tendrils snaked forward for her, and gooey strands of saliva landed on her front-legs – she shivered, but didn't move otherwise.
Euphoria jolted and her shivering stopped, as she felt the clammy head of a tendril hit her chest, parting her fur. It snaked across her chest, leaving behind a strand of thick fluid that soaked her fur and didn't stop until it landed over her chest, and Euphoria tightened her eyelids even harder and would have stopped her hearth if she could.
The burning in her throat had returned, but she had to keep her mouth closed and nostrils free from inhaling, even though she desperately wanted to breath air again, even if it would have killed her. Euphoria didn't open her eyes, as long as the tendril lingered over her heart, and its pace quickened and she screwed her mouth shut, feeling light-headed.
“I...” Euphoria burst out, stepping backwards as she gasped for air, and felt nauseous from the smell of acrid pony-droppings mixed with ammonia. “I can't do this!” she finished and bit down hard, as her hunting rifle fired, and blasted into the mutant as the muzzle fire lanced through the air like fire, showing the scene as if it had been done in pure sunlight.
Blood splashed into the darkness as the creature floated back, its tendrils shaking in response to the bullet-hit. “No... more!” Euphoria screamed as she tasted copper, not even noticing the blood dripping from her own mouth, as she fired another bullet.
This one tore straight through the main tendril, and filled the air with even more of the toxic fumes, before the creature simply darted into the darkness. “You idiot!” Yiltse shouted at Euphoria as she felt the brick-wall of the windmill press against her back. “Do you know what you have done? That's not the....” trailing off, Yiltse turned his head and swivelled his ears as Euphoria's E.F.S., lit up with around a dozen red lines, all around them.
“Look at me,” Yiltse said as he turned his attention back at Euphoria, but she just looked at the ground. “Look at me, you stupid cunt!” Euphoria shook her head and stared at Yiltse as he glared back at her. “We hide in that windmill now, or we're dead!” Euphoria heard Yiltse's grim voice through a haze of poison, as she nodded and the stallion dragged her through the open door, but closed it after they were inside.
Soft blue light lit up the floor, Euphoria, Yiltse and parts of the door, and adjacent walls as she hit a button on her Pip-Buck. In front of her, Yiltse lowered a wooden bar over the door as the door itself shook and thumped its metal-locks against the wood, but the board kept the door from simply being turned to shrapnel. “Stupid mare,” Yiltse said and shook his head as he walked away from the door, not even looking at Euphoria.
Only when seeing the green fumes pour through the cracks of the door, did Euphoria shuffle backwards, but she continued to watch the door. “I... hate tentacles....” As she spoke, she shivered and gagged. Furiously, Euphoria pawed at her chest with her hooves, panting as she tried to get the gunk from the mutant out, only to be thwarted by a glob of dark liquid hitting her with icy coldness.
“What the...?” Euphoria looked up, gasping as she saw the mutilated torso of a pony hanging above her. A young blue mare with a green and yellow-striped mane had been strung into the air, by having each of her hooves pierced with rusty hooks that still dripped blood onto the floor. She had been eviscerated from flank to mouth, as her organs hung free from her body, but were caked in dirt and cobwebs; Euphoria cringed as she saw a shape skitter across the mare's head and flee into one of her eye-sockets. “Blech...”
Several other bodies decorated the ceiling as well, but most of them were out of view of Euphoria's light and she didn't bother to move, as nothing would be gained from seeing more tortured corpses. “You are one stupid mare.” Euphoria tore her eyes away from the mutilated mare and looked over to a corner of the room, seeing the outline of Yiltse. “You never fire at Floaters. I thought seeing a stallion being chewed and ripped apart from doing that would have discouraged you, but no, you had to do it again, didn't you?”
“Again?” Euphoria asked, and raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?” Yiltse didn't answer, but she could hear a light snort coming from the usually stone-faced stallion. “I didn't meet you until a few days ago,” she stated matter-of-factly as her eyes narrowed to a glare.
“You....” Stepping out from the darkness,Yiltse stared at Euphoria as he stomped a hoof into the floor. “You ponies are all the same! After centuries of death, rape, and murder, you're all just the same – warmongering ponies bent on ruling the entire world, just because you are afraid!” His voice boomed in the small room, as he huffed and turned away, slipping back into the darkness. “When this is over, we are no longer travelling together!”
Frowning, the mare stepped away from under the grizzly corpses and found herself a corner, from which she could watch the door, yet not be covered in some-pony else' blood during the night. Using one of her hooves, she idly flicked through the menus on her Pip-Buck and grimaced once she saw the deplorable condition her weapon had dropped to; not to mention the beating she had taken from the radiation, but despite that, the needle stood firmly placed in the shallow zone of yellow.
With a sigh and a faint smile, Euphoria found the radio-menu and to her surprise, two new stations had cropped up. 'DJ-Pon3's Broadcast' and 'Coriolis Nine Broadcast.' Euphoria didn't wait one moment, as she turned on the first, and her smile melted away as her ears were filled with static. Oh, well, I have one left, thought Euphoria cheerfully as she pushed on the other one too.
Grunting and cursing, Euphoria pounded her head against the rotting wood that made up the floor, as the same static poured out of the little speaker. Fine, I'll just listen to the ravings of tentacle monsters that are trying to kill me while I sleep, how about that!? With an angry sigh, the mare shut off the radio as she focused her eyes on the door that still thundered against its metal-locks.
“It's going to be a very long night, isn't it?” Euphoria glanced over at Yiltse's back, but didn't get a reply. “Thought so.”
*
Through the dozens of cracks adorning the walls, orange and purple light snaked into the room and covered Euphoria's snoring form in a criss-cross pattern of light-gashes. Around her, the windmill creaked as cold wind fluttered through the same cracks, and chilled Euphoria awake as she shot her eyes open, and immediately looked at the door.
She scrutinized the poor construction with her eyes, as she tried to find any signs of something going on behind it. Euphoria scratched the back of her neck and coughed hoarsely as she looked over the door, but found nothing. The bar was still firmly in place, but the door itself was no longer banging against itself, and neither was the room filled with foul poison.
In a stroke of sheer luck, the mutants had abandoned their hunt and left Euphoria and Yiltse alone. She felt like cheering, but as if sensing her questions, Yiltse spoke, “It's the light. Floaters hate light.” Euphoria swivelled her head and gave a curt nod towards the zebra, as he himself looked up at the ceiling. “Somehow, I think that they should have been killed by the floaters,” he added grimly.
Looking past Yiltse, Euphoria saw what remained of an old staircase made from rotting wood, and followed its swirling path up the windmill, towards an opening near the top, but too much of it was missing, and she didn't feel like making a trusting jump towards something that more than likely would give way to her weight. Most of the mill was occupied with the mechanism made to turn the blades outside, and grind the grain inside, but the giant metal rod that stood in the centre had long since rusted in place.
Atop a small stage, just out of reach, the grindstone stood, but it had no grain on it; old or new. Euphoria cursed, but turned to scan the rest of her surroundings. Apart from an overturned table, and scattered, torn bags that most surely had held grain once, the room was empty, and there was no technology beyond that to speak of.
“Come,” Yiltse said and stepped up to the door, removing the bar with his hooves, and it thundered heavily to the floor, breathing dust into the air as he turned towards Euphoria. “We better move.” Golden sunlight filled the room fully, as Yiltse stepped through the maw, and Euphoria followed swiftly, feeling the wind gust against her.
Under her hooves, the ground was still muddy and wet, with the faintest smell of last night still in the air. Euphoria headed for the pool of blood only a few feet from the door, and looked towards the chewed up satin-black rifle, covered in thick, gooey saliva. “Eh.... If nothing else, I can sell it,” said Euphoria confidently and used one hoof to tie it onto her saddlebags, as her face twisted in disgust, and as soon as she was done, she scraped her hoof against the ground, shivering for a second.
As she turned around, Yiltse was already well on his way, and Euphoria pranced across the marsh, but did it hastily. “So, I guess that's the first part down then?” she asked her zebra companion as she caught up to him, but he only gave her a glance and said nothing. “Come on, that has to be it right?”
“Unlikely,” Yiltse replied flatly as they walked between the one working windmill, and the other that had been reduced to cinders. Euphoria just frowned in response, and twitched her ears as the ruins of a town crept closer on the horizon.
*
Red graffiti covered the sign in lewd drawings depicting graphic scenes. “Well... I guess Raiders lack imagination,” Euphoria commented at the sign and snickered as she turned to face Yiltse, but he only shook his head at her. “Sorry, then!” growled Euphoria quickly, and squinted her eyes at the sign as she tried to read.
“Lead...” Euphoria said the name and frowned. “Lead?” she repeated and raised her head, looking towards the zebra, but as usual she got only a shrug in return. “That's an odd name for a town.” Giving off a light disgruntled sigh, she stepped past the sign and trotted up the incline, until her hooves connected with a gravel path. “It could have been worse I guess.”
As she crested the hill, Euphoria held up her Pip-Buck and inspected the route on her map. She frowned at the way the path cut straight through the boxes on the map, that impersonated the town. In front of Euphoria, the road that lead in fact through the town in the easiest way had been blocked by debris. Wood, concrete, and remnants of a tub had all compiled to a nice little pile that blocked the road easily. “Figures.”
“All right, to the left it is then!” said Euphoria in the most cheerful tone she could manage, which ended up sounding more like sarcasm than anything else, but as usual, Yiltse said nothing and just filed in next to her, as they diverged to a path that hopefully would lead around the blockade.
Only the sound of their hooves and the wind resonated against the skeletal remains of the houses around them. Euphoria didn't bother to ask Yiltse anything, as he would only have given her a frown, then stayed enigmatically quiet. Instead, she used the opportunity to get a good look at what had once been a town, or that was at least what she thought.
Amongst the debris of the old world, Euphoria could see charred paintings, broken doors, old toys turned to the rusty remains of themselves. Most of the houses just barely stood on the ruined bricks that supported them, and fewer still had more than one wall standing; they were not worth looting.
The only things that some-pony would get out of these houses, would have had to held some kind of sentimental value rather than economical. Euphoria continued to scan the broken remains with her eyes, until she saw a misshapen lump on the road ahead, and galloped forward without thinking.
She skidded to a halt next to an animal with mottled brown skin, and leashons covering its hide. On the road itself, lay food-boxes – now empty, as they had probably been eaten and chucked away unceremoniously. Her eyes rolled over the animal, and the ground, as she grimaced at the puddles and streaks of blood adorning both it and the gray, gravel-covered road. “No bodies – not good,” Yiltse mumbled and walked away from the cow, not minding it any business.
Euphoria herself frowned at Yiltse and took another look over the cow and sighed, as she rummaged through the torn open saddlebag at its side. “I can't believe it.... I'm robbing a cow.” She glanced towards its head and let out a light gasp. “A two-headed cow at that.” With a shake of her head, Euphoria continued to search through the saddlebag, and tossed out empty box after empty box of something; the boxes themselves had faded so much than all Euphoria could make out, was the smiling face of a yellow-filly with a red mane as she held up a cereal bowl.
“Nothing!” she burst out and angrily tore her hoof away from the cow, as she kicked with one of her hind-legs, a few stones. Several small, but high-pitched twangs rang out as the stones themselves impacted with rotting wood and rusty pipes. “Why can't I ever find some food? Come on!” grumbled Euphoria and tossed her head around as she tried to calm down, but her stomach just grumbled in response. “Oh, be quiet!”
“If you really want your supplies back, so you can at least get paid.” Upon hearing Yiltse speak, Euphoria turned and looked at him with a sly grin. The zebra stallion nodded his head slightly, and Euphoria turned her eyes to see between the broken remains of a house with only one wall left standing – a group of ponies sitting next to a cartload of supplies, chatting. “I bet, those are responsible for the robbery.” Euphoria glanced briefly at him, but quickly looked back and growled lightly as she saw it.
Next to the ponies, a few bodies lay atop beds, mutilated. Euphoria couldn't be sure if they were alive, but they weren't moving and that was all she needed. Plus: they had the supplies she needed, so it was a win-win for her. “Let's do it,” commented Euphoria and flashed a menacing smile towards Yiltse as she trotted gently ahead, making sure to count up her bullets.
Despite the slight bump in the road they had the day before, Euphoria counted that she had fifteen bullets to spend, before she was out, and even then, she could bash them with her gun. “Do you have a plan?” Yiltse asked curiously and followed Euphoria as she shook her head in response. “Will you kill them.” This time, Euphoria nodded and picked up her pace.
“Good plan,” Yiltse commented and just shrugged as he followed Euphoria.
*
Hiding behind the remains of a bush, Euphoria watched the group of raiders. The mutilated bodies she had seen before, had been cut up viciously and she could even see one of the stallions joyfully eating a leg as he leaned against the cart with supplies. “Want another one, or are you full over there?” A grey mare covered in scars snapped at the stallion, and cackled maliciously; her left eye twitching as he snorted back.
“Fuck off!” he retorted in return around a mouthful of leg, and the mare only cackled as she stepped back and pulled out a small yellow box from the cart, which looked as if it would collapse at any moment, but despite the beating it had obviously taken, it was in good condition as it was good enough to stand without collapsing in on itself. The mare herself was satisfied and walked away from the cart, with the box held firmly in her muzzle. “Spare some Dash for me!” the stallion added, as a piece of flesh slipped from his mouth and impacted the ground.
All doubt that Euphoria ever had about these ponies, had been washed away and she found herself smiling, almost giggling. Grinning wide, she leapt from her cover and fired a set of bullets at the cannibal. In a flurry of gunfire, two bullets tore through the skull of the stallion and painted the cart with blood and brain-matter, as the other raiders scrambled for their weapons, which Euphoria hadn't noticed before, but they just amounted to Melee ones.
“Die!” Euphoria spat and clenched her mouth around the bit of her battle-saddle as she fired another set of bullets. One bullet blasted cleanly through the leg of one mare and caused her to trip over herself, and in turn flanged the sword from her mouth as she thrashed and screamed; her muzzle dripping from her own blood.
The rest lunged forwards as Euphoria jumped away, a baton barely missing her muzzle as she giggled in response and fired again. Another mare crashed against the ground in a bloody heap of guts, as one of her hooves had been blasted off in one horrendous act, and Euphoria gasped inwardly as she saw it.
“I'll enjoy fucking you!” a stallion said viciously as he grinned around the bat he held between his yellow teeth. “Too bad you're not pink, like that other one!” he snarled, but his growl got caught in his throat as Euphoria blasted a set of bullets through his throat, covering the last mare in the blood-spray as she bolted past and lunged at Euphoria.
Shrieking in agony, Euphoria pushed against the mare as the rusty jagged blade slipped from her hoof, and Euphoria could feel the blood rushing to her wound. Angrily, she rushed for the mare, but the other mare shoved back against Euphoria and sent the Stable-mare crashing into the cart, as she groaned and her head pounded. “Like the sight of your own blood, little mare? You're gonna love it!” the mare cackled and headed for Euphoria.
Another shriek ran through the air, but it was the other mare as she impacted the ground hard, as Yiltse loomed over her and kicked away the knife as he frowned at her, and stepped out of the way quickly and landed a kick to the stallion as he charged him. Coughing, the stallion crashed into the ground as he dropped his baton. Casually, Yiltse turned towards Euphoria. “Good plan, indeed.”
“It worked,” Euphoria said hoarsely and coughed as she tried to find her breath. “Fuck that hurts....” She grimaced and clenched her teeth tight as she got to her hooves and trotted over to Yiltse and the two raiders as they laid on the ground. “Tell me what you did with the others, the ones you let live.”
“Live?” the stallion snarled and spit out a glob of blood on the ground as Euphoria glanced in his direction. “We didn't let any-pony live, they're getting sold off into slavery!” He cackled furiously, until he choked on his own blood and spat out some more onto the ground. “Just like you will, once our friends get back here.”
Smirking, Euphoria leaned in close to the stallion. “If you don't tell me where, I just might cut you up...” With a light giggle, she turned to look at Yiltse. “I'll even be doing the world a service when I kill you, but you get to decide when,” she added grimly and whipped her head back to look at the stallion on the ground.
“You fucking bitch! You don't have the courage for that!” He cackled and writhed around on the ground, as Euphoria walked off a bit and picked up one of the blood-soaked swords, and quickly slashed it across one of the stallion's flailing hooves with a grin. “You... bitch!” he cursed and clutched his hoof. “I'll personally fuck you to death when my friends get back!”
Smiling and giggling, Euphoria brought the sword down hard and slashed it across his throat, and watched as the stallion convulsed in agony and scratched at his throat as blood foamed across his mouth. As he still twitched on the ground, Euphoria turned towards the mare and Yiltse.
“Burly Breath Saloon!” the mare called out with wide eyes as she shook in fear. “It's in Cale's Field, roughly a day from here.” Euphoria gave a curt nod towards Yiltse and stepped closer as she dropped the sword. “Please... I... I don't want to die...” the mare begged and looked at Euphoria with sorrowful eyes, and her eyes went wide and her mouth slack as the bullet blasted through her head cleanly; the mare dropping to the ground in a pool of dark-red blood.
“Let's go rescue some ponies, get a nice bonus, and find that fucking bastard!” growled Euphoria through clenched teeth, as she brought up her map and marked the town on her pip-buck as her next destination – somehow, it already knew where the town was, and Euphoria didn't question it.
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: In a twist of fate, ponies die violently around you. From now on, you will always see the worst way a pony can die as they explode into a red, gut-ridden, eyeball-strewn paste. You also do 5% more damage with all weapons.
“We may be different, but at our core we are the same.”
“Really?” Euphoria commented with a grimace and a loud groan as she sat down, glaring across the bridge. Four stallions stood there, dressed in dark-blue combat armour that were made from an all too high – out of reach – cast of a buffed-out stallion in his prime. Each one had a battle-saddle armed with twin-SMGs, and a metal-helmet with a plastic visor that covered their faces; even a pitch-black baton hung at each stallion's side.
In front of the group of armed guards, stretched a long slab of concrete over a dried-out riverbed, except for a small trickle bubbling underneath. Long coils of rusted, razor-sharp wires of steel ran the length of each side, and Euphoria recoiled as she noticed the meat still clinging to some of the razors; strips of hide and fur flapping in the gentle wind.
A staccato fence made from rusted bars and thin wires, ran the perimeter behind the group, but shielded the town poorly. Between the wiry strands, Euphoria saw shacks made of rusted metal-sheeting – which had been assembled quickly – nestled amongst wooden houses, that looked at least ten times more sturdy and liveable in.
Following the fence, Euphoria's eyes travelled to the middle, towards the gate which rose into the air behind the guard-detail. Made from the same rusted metal, two posts rose skyward until they connected in a wide arch with ornate swirling patterns embossed on it. The name of the town had at one point been scratched into the metal, but Euphoria saw the lingering screws and faded rust-marks on one side of the wooden plate that had been strung around it.
'Cale's Field' had been scrawled in white paint on the board, with a few stray dabs of paint dripping down the board – it hadn't even been dry when they had strung it up. Euphoria scrunched up her nose and looked over at Yiltse, who was standing next to her. He didn't turn to look at her, but he didn't move either; he just stared towards the compound with an icy-glare that said more than anything.
This town's going to be trouble... Euphoria thought as she swung her head back, so she faced the compound. Barely visible behind the guards, a little house – set off to the right side, and just big enough for one pony – stood. “Ah!” she burst out with a light cheer and rose to her hooves, before looking at Yiltse for a brief second. “Let's find a way into this town.” Euphoria added quickly.
With that said, Euphoria clopped towards the bridge and kept up a stern face as she slowly neared the guards. As she passed closer to the middle of the bridge and the bubbling water, her Pip-Buck warned of the radiation-poisoning as it rose upwards. Glancing at it, Euphoria just frowned – it wasn't higher than 0,02 per second at its highest point.
“Halt!” a gruff stallion's voice said as Euphoria looked up again, and she stopped a few inches in front of the group of stallions. “Any travel inside Cale's Fields is prohibited while you have your weapons. Leave your weapons here, before you enter.” He took a minute to size up Euphoria, as his muzzle slowly curved into a grin.
“If you disregard the rule, we will be forced to open fire on you, and please do – I could use a new target dummy.” The stallion grinned wide as he said it, but Euphoria remained steadfast, and showed no emotion.
The idea of being completely defenceless deep in Raider-territory was not something Euphoria considered lightly. She pondered for a second if she could make it past the guards with a hidden knife or something, but how would they react if they found her out? They would most likely gut her, and drag her corpse through the streets, cheering – spitting vitriol; no, she wouldn't let that happen – she would have to take a chance.
Once the stallion had finished his little warning, the four guards parted and Euphoria walked past them, meeting the iron-gaze of a stallion in the scrawny wooden box. Sitting behind a pane of dirt-smeared, and heavily cracked glass, a red stallion with an eye-patch covering his left eye, sat. “Forgetting something?” he said in a way too condescending tone, so Euphoria frowned and glared back at him. “The fee, where is it?”
“Fee? What fee‽” Euphoria spat back, and turned to look at him fully while the guards regarded her and Yiltse with care.
“To enter, you need to pay your own way in flesh, so cough it up, earth-pony!” he snarled at her, as Euphoria saw hatred in his remaining red eye. “And while we're at it, what's your business in town?” The question actually made her think – what was her current quest again? In a matter of two days, Euphoria's situation had quickly changed direction as often as it could.
“I'm looking for some-pony,” she replied flatly, and caused the ears of the stallion inside the booth to twitch reflexively, before he simply glared back at her with a nod. “A pink mare, maybe an earth-pony. Have you seen her?” The stallion chuckled as he shook his head at Euphoria.
“I see lots of ponies come and go, little filly,” the stallion said quickly, and it sounded almost as if he had rehearsed that line often. “Here, information costs, and specifics are going to cost you much more, but...” his voice trailed off, as his gaze wandered across Euphoria's body and she took a step back. Looking back up at her face, the stallion grinned. “I can give you what you want, if you shake that pretty little flank of yours for me.”
Taking another few steps back, Euphoria looked at the stallion and blinked, as she made a gagging expression. “Thanks, but no thanks.” The stallion simply shrugged and knocked a hoof against the side of the booth. From the corner of her eye, she noticed that the guard-stallion had turned to glare at her again, but she just focused her eyes on the one in the booth. “The Burly Breath saloon, heard of it?”
“Yes, of course I have, but that's not the full name,” the stallion said grimly and snickered, as he took another appreciative glance at Euphoria's flanks, and her cutie-mark. “The Burly Breath Saloon and Brothel – giving you the finest mares from across the seven nations.” Euphoria let out a breath. “You would fit in there,” he added with a smirk as the guards pulled Euphoria away from the booth, while Yiltse remained stoically silent off to the side.
“No fee, no trade – no entrance!” the guard snarled and stomped his hoof into the already cracked concrete, as Euphoria retreated. “Come back when you can pay, or you decide to stay at the brothel. “ Euphoria just shook her head at his final remark, as she trotted away from the group, alongside Yiltse.
“So....” Euphoria said as she glanced over at Yiltse. “What does 'paying my own way in flesh' exactly mean?” As she asked it, the usually unmoving stallion scrunched up his nose and kept walking. Though he didn't stop, until the two of them were out of hearing distance of the guard-detail.
“Slavers,” he said and Euphoria's eyes went wide. It suddenly all made sense. Why the raiders had brought the mare here, and why she was in that brothel. Euphoria wanted to barge through the gate and kill any-pony that had been a participant, willing or not – none of them deserved to live as far as she had it covered. “So, if you want in, you'll have to drag some-pony there , most likely flailing. Too bad, you killed that raider-mare now, isn't it?” Yiltse looked at Euphoria sternly, but she only wanted to kick him.
In the face, no less. That always stern, unmoving, emotionless face. How could he keep so calm in the face of all this, Euphoria wondered as she shook her head and let out a heavy groan. “Fuck me to hell!” Before Yiltse could respond, Euphoria tossed a glare his way and he closed his half-open mouth without another word. “Okay.... bad-pony town, how do we get in...?”
“How much is it worth to you?”
“Didn't I tell you to shut it?” Yiltse turned away from Euphoria at her snappy command, and sat down as he watched the murky hills in the distance. At the same time, Euphoria was grasping with the gravity of the situation. She could at any time return to the 'mayor,' but it would leave her second quest half-done; without deep saddlebags to draw on, she had to leave most of the supplies with the dead raiders.
Though, those things had her already invested in just leaving the mare to her fate; she did feel something for that mare, especially now that she knew the truth about this place. But, there was no way this would end peaceful. “Celestia, do you hate me?” Euphoria said softly and looked towards the sky, frowning slightly as no reply came. “Figures...”
A forced cough, jostled Euphoria back to her senses as she looked at the back of the zebra stallion. “There's a farm up there,” he said, and Euphoria looked at the murky hills not too far away. When she squinted her eyes – the silhouette of a farmhouse, a barn and a windmill creaking in the wind appeared. “Maybe, we could find something to trade up there?”
“Or we could trade your strength?” Yiltse raised an eyebrow and grunted in response as a small smile appeared on his muzzle. “You know, you'll just work a bit for them and we'll get entry, or you could – if that fails – kick their flanks,” Euphoria grinned at her own words and looked closely as Yiltse's small smile vanished quickly.
“No. I won't work for them, not ever. And if you want to attack them, you would stand a better chance if you had the entire Pegasus Enclave with you, and even they couldn't win last time.” Yiltse looked towards the guards whom still stood, unmoving, at the entrance to the town. “There are more guards in there than you can possible imagine.”
“Fine, fine, but....” her voice drifted off, as she focused on the silhouette of the farm. “I know there's something bad up there... there always is. Granted, there's something bad in town as well.” A frown appeared on Euphoria's face as she glanced at the bridge, and the town behind. “I don't like it, but we don't have much choice do we?”
She shared a look with Yiltse, before the zebra nodded briskly and spoke calmly, “Ultimately, it's your choice. I'll follow you until we're back in town, and until that happens, I'll follow you. I still have a debt to repay, and I won't leave that unfinished.” He nodded again, and sighed briefly before his unmoving poker-face returned.
“All right.” Euphoria nodded as well and looked at the silhouette again. “We'll head for the farm, and if we're lucky we won't burn out a day on the journey.” Taking a moment to just stare at the hill in the distance, Euphoria added, whispering, “Hopefully, there's something useful up there.”
*
“E... I know that you probably won't ever hear this, but I have to say it. I... love you, I always have. Half the Stable knows, but you don't.” A light chuckle interrupted the recording for a brief moment. “I even rigged HE, to play your favourite VR place the next time you got into the machine. Of course it's all fake, but it's the best I could think of. I just... had to say it, and when you hear this recording, you’ll know it was me.” Once the recording cut out, Euphoria was left dumbfounded and regretted playing it in the first place.
As they neared the farm, Euphoria had trouble keeping her emotions at bay and each step was heavier than the last. Was he alive? Had he too had the fortune of being saved by the Over-mare? Had he even known about the attack? Had he tried to warn her? The questions were immediately piling up in Euphoria's head.
Euphoria snorted and pushed forward, keeping her eyes level at the farm as it passed from a mere silhouette, into full view. The barn was no more than a rotten shell of its former self, but it stood firm in the lukewarm breeze. It was directly adjacent to a small flaking, white house with a large hole in the roof.
The zebra said nothing as the two walked past a field of rotten corn on one side, and dead trees on the other side. It all reeked of death, so Euphoria scrunched her nose as they walked, still hoping that the place would have something worthwhile. As she cast a glance at the rusted blades of the windmill close by, that same hope vanished for a moment.
She quickly whipped her head around again, as the door to the barn creaked open and Yiltse stepped inside. Letting the words of her friend slip to the back of her mind, Euphoria galloped up to the barn and slipped inside as well; she just had to keep moving forward, and worry about her Stable later – she did all this for them anyway.
“I... should have known,” Euphoria muttered and closed her eyes a brief second, letting the bloody corpses flutter away as she sighed. When she opened them again, they were gone and the hooks were just glittering in the darkness, save for a sliver of light that spewed into the room from the outside. She shook her head. Just an image... yeah, just a hallucination.
The two took a few steps forward, as the door creaked fully open and the room was flooded with light. Murky-white baths lined one side of the room, with rotten wood-buckets lined up at the side of each one; a few of them, still containing water that reeked. At the end of the barn, a worktable stood, covered in tools that looked like they would be really painful to have thrust inside of you, one way or another.
Euphoria shook her head again and moved forward, so she stood next to Yiltse and followed his gaze, towards the second floor. Up there, another table stood with a badly faded radio crackling on top. How did I miss that sound? Just as the night before, nothing moved over the airwaves. It could be bad, or it could be good, Euphoria didn't know which yet. “See anything we could use?”
“Not unless you can repair a broken radio.” Yiltse looked towards Euphoria as she frowned in turn, so he simply shrugged. “Guess not,” he said and turned to leave, but Euphoria remained. As his shadow vanished, she stepped up to the table and looked over the tools. There were wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, syringes, tweezers, bone rongeurs, and a saw.
All of the tools were rusted and encrusted with ancient blood. Euphoria almost expected a body to lay on the table, as she stared at the pattern that the tools lay in. They hadn't been tossed at random on the table, they lay in a semi-spherical pattern, as if something had occupied the middle of the table at the time they had been used.
She grimaced as a really disturbing thought entered her mind. There was only two reasons for these tools to be arranged in that pattern. Euphoria shuddered as she turned away from the table, deciding it best to leave these tools where they were; in a best case scenario, she would barely get anything from them anyway.
Following the mouldy and creaking staircase set to one side of the barn, Euphoria ascended to the second level. She gave the crackling radio a look and grinned as she knocked it to the floor, before she kicked it with a hoof – sending it into the wall with a loud screech, and the sound of the cover cracking. “Some things are worth more broken.” She took a step towards the radio, but stopped herself as the floor shook.
Beside her, the railing shook as well, so Euphoria pricked her ears high, and a beam crashed against the ground beneath hear. “Oh crap!” she yelled angrily and scooped up the remains of the radio quickly, before she turned tail and galloped down the staircase; almost tripping over herself as a step gave away, but she stumbled to a stop, as the entire second floor came crashing down with a horrendous sound.
Coughing from the dirt-cloud, Euphoria stepped outside the barn to find Yiltse just sitting outside the house, glaring at it. “What...” another cough stopped her and she held a hoof against her mouth, as she tried to speak again. “What are you doing?” she asked in a muffled voice, as she stepped up to the zebra.
“I'm not going in there, but I'll stay here and keep watch,” he said calmly as he closed his eyes. Euphoria looked at the building, then back at the zebra. “Don't worry, I won't abandon you here.” Euphoria furrowed her brow and shook her head, but headed towards the building anyway. “Honour-bound,” was the last thing she heard, before she was far enough away from Yiltse that she couldn't hear him at all.
Same as with the barn, the door to the house creaked open, after she had pulled away the fish-line, netting door that was in the way, if you could call it that. The door had a hole in it so big, that you could probably fit a grown mare through it, and it was only hanging on by one latch. I swear, if another door creaks, she thought as she entered the house.
Her attention was immediately drawn towards the coat-rack with faded writing above each one. In total, four wooden spokes had been put onto the rack, and going from left to right, the name above them faded more and more. “Spotlight, Mercury Dawn, Scoreboard, and....” Euphoria squinted her eyes at the last name, trying to decipher the writing. It was so badly faded in fact, that she wondered if some-pony had tried to erase the name at some point. “...Dreamweaver? Is that right?”
Cracking a slight smile, she turned away from the rack and walked past a few rotten coats laying on the floor beneath it. Euphoria stepped past the staircase running up to the second floor and the cupboard beneath it, as she entered the kitchen. Row upon row of cupboards hung above a marble-covered bench that looked like a T, with a small table and two chairs in the middle.
As she stepped closer to the middle, Euphoria glanced briefly at a picture of a smiling mare with a gruff-looking stallion in a small frame hanging on the wall above the table; they looked happy, and she noticed that they were standing in front of the house. So, they must be the people who owned this house, she thought and opened one of the cupboards, but her face deflated as she only found a few spiders skittering away as sudden light filled their entire world.
A low clack dimly sounded in the kitchen as she closed the door, and opened another one, but it was the same story there. Every single cupboard had been emptied, but Euphoria wasn’t surprised, and just moved on through another open doorway, into the dining room. Covered in spider-webs and the carcasses of over a dozen dead insects, plates and glasses still adorned the creaky table.
Decayed food lay on the plates, and the liquids in the glasses no longer smelled as sweet as they were supposed to; a heavy smell of vinegar hung in the room. Euphoria grimaced as she stepped between the spider-webs and exited through the door opening at the right side of the room, and she was now back in the hallway.
Following the logical way of exploring the house, Euphoria opened the creaking door opposite of her and groaned as she entered. Two washing-machines were propped up against the right-side wall, and a wash-bin still full of clothes, stood on top of one. On the other side, a skeleton was propped up against the wall, and a gun lay next to it on the floor – a scorch-mark adorning the wall above the head.
Euphoria took a deep breath and walked down the concrete steps, over to the skeleton. She bowed down and bit down on the gun as she muttered, “I'm sorry...” It may have been muffled, but she felt it even then. Once the gun was in her saddlebags, Euphoria took a look at her inventory, and saw that the gun was marked as a 10mm Pistol, with half of its life still intact; an amazing find, considering.
When she had lowered her pip-buck, she looked at the skeleton and bowed slightly. “I'm so sorry, Stable-friend...” Even though, there was no uniform on the skeleton, there was no doubt about it – he had been a Stable-buck, since 10mm Pistols were only given to Stables. Euphoria only let her eyes drift towards the skeleton a last time, before she exited the room and closed the door neatly after herself.
With a heavy sigh, she took to the staircase. It creaked with every step she took, and Euphoria cursed under her breath the entire way, but stopped at the top as a muffled sound reached her ears. It was there, but it was faint – the sound of buzzing wings. Immediately, she looked around, expecting a fly, or a bee to be hovering near her, but nothing and yet the sound was there.
Euphoria shook her head and went towards the door on her right, marked with a name. “Scoreboard,” she said as she pushed through the not-creaking door, and she cheered on the inside. Hanging from the ceiling, were several model versions of different Wonderbolts – these, were the same majestic pegasi Euphoria had seen in her magazines, and she found herself smiling; she even felt a bit flushed.
She closed her eyes for a moment, as she imagined the figures soaring through the air, just as they were meant to. Without danger, and without falter, they would soar forever. When she opened her eyes again, Euphoria felt just a tiny bit happier, and her eyes fell on the wall decorated with posters.
Each one depicted a different soccer-playing team in full vigour, and with names like: Starvale, Crimson Pirates, and Vanguard, she could see how any-pony would cheer for them, and devote themselves fully to that task for a time being. Sitting opposite that wall, a bed did. The covers depicted a white and black soccer-ball in full play, but without a pony.
It stood out well against the blue backdrop the rest of the cover set for it, and of course the pillow matched completely. Both, were covered in a thick layer of dust and looked as if they would crumble away if she touched them, so Euphoria decided to not do it. Adjacent to the bed, the night-stand stood.
On top of the night-stand, a small portrait stood facing the bed, and next to that – on the middle of the table – a faded red notebook lay, with yellow badges, but it was still closed and covered in dust. Stepping over to the table, Euphoria wiped the portrait, and found two smiling colts sitting in front of two rather disgruntled parents.
One of the colts – a blue coated one, with a spiky light-red mane, and deep blue eyes – grinned wide as he clutched a soccer-ball close to him. “Scoreboard...” Euphoria muttered and found another light smile forcing its way onto her lips. They were so happy, and yet they had to abandon their home, or that was at least what she hoped for; something else, was too harsh for her to even think about.
Euphoria glanced at the book and reached out a hoof, but stopped half-way. After a moment, she pulled it back as she shook her head and turned. Just as before, she closed the door neatly and left the room nearly untouched.
Once she was back in the hallway, the same irritating buzzing noise reached her ears and Euphoria twitched as she looked at the opposite door. The longer she kept staring at it, the more she was certain that it was coming from there. Of course it would have to come from there, why wouldn’t it? It always came from the worst place: the bathroom.
Once she was back in the hallway, the same irritating buzzing noise reached her ears and Euphoria twitched as she looked at the opposite door. The longer she kept staring at it, the more she was certain that it was from there, the noise was coming from. Of course it would have to come from there, why shouldn't it? It always came from the worst place: the bathroom.
In less than two full strides, she reached the door. From the sound, Euphoria was sure that the bug was inside there. Furrowing her brow, she pushed the door open, as she stepped away. Creaking, the door slowly opened and Euphoria gasped at the creature. “What the...?” Before her, a creature as big as a household vase hovered.
Its form was bulbous and slimy, with two beady but enlarged dark eyes staring back at her. Four wings on its back held it in the air, as the slime dripped off of it, onto the floor. A moment of silence hung in the air, but the creature lunged at Euphoria. Fortunately, she sidestepped, watching as it slammed into the door behind her, but recovered quickly.
A slimy outline of the thing had been engraved on Scoreboard's door, and Euphoria strengthen her resolve, firing a shot, but the creature merely flew out of the way; it was surprisingly nimble, considering its bulbous shape. It looked as if it had growths coming out of each possible area on its body, and Euphoria suspected it had once been much smaller.
Gasping, Euphoria dropped to the floor completely as three tiny spikes flew through the air, and impaled themselves into the back-wall of the bathroom. The creature didn't give Euphoria any quarter and headed for her again at full force, but this time she was ready. Once it was close enough, she rolled to the side, and just as before, it flew straight into the floor.
For just a few seconds it was dazed, and Euphoria used the time wisely as she got up again and swung her body around, quickly dropping into S.A.T.S. She had a 74% chance of hitting it square in its body, but it was all that Euphoria had. She lined up two shots, so she could at least hope to hit with one of them.
Feeling that it was sufficient, she pulled out and muzzle fire lit the room. Both of the shots impacted with a squishy sound, as the creature fell to the floor with a high-pitched chattering noise that made Euphoria shudder. Could it feel? No, Euphoria shook her head and rose to her hooves fully, quickly stepping into the bathroom; she didn’t have time to worry about that.
She threw the door on the medicine cabinet – hanging over the muddy porcelain wash – open. Euphoria smiled and let out an involuntary, “Yay!” at the contents inside the cupboard. She wasted no time in, fishing out the three health potions and pocketed them. Besides that small prize, the cabinet held little of value.
A gentle wind buffeted against her back, as she closed the door. Turning her head, Euphoria looked up and out. Her smile didn't waver, as she looked up at the dark skies, through the pony-sized hole in the roof. From the way that the shingles on the roof, and the wood had been torn outwards, Euphoria guessed that the cause had come from within the bathroom; she also, now knew where the creature had come from.
Euphoria walked out of the bathroom and turned to her right, passing the bulbous creature with a look on her face that said it all. Once, she had shimmied her way past it, she stood in front of the next to last door in the room, but this one was not as in pristine shape as the one from before. Cracks covered the door, and stretched out to the ceiling and the floor, but subsided quickly; here, the nameplate that once held the name, had been removed and only the rusted screw-holes remained in its place.
Guided by the light of her Pip-Buck, Euphoria pushed the door open and walked into the room, but froze the moment she stepped inside. Green, glowing stars covered the ceiling, and with the darkness in the room, it looked like the night-sky, just as a foal would see it, but the room was anything but that of a foal.
Broken toys had been stuffed into a toy-box, made to look like a wooden treasure chest, and it had been shoved under the bed, with the covers destroyed completely; even a few boards of the bed's frame stuck through. The pillow lay in the floor a few feet away, with mouldy books scattered around it, and Euphoria backed out in the hallway again as she saw the message scrawled on the wall.
In big, bold, brown letters, burned into the very wood of the wall, two words were. ‘Stable-Tec’, it said. This wasn't a well-meaning message, Euphoria knew it well. It was fuelled by hatred, and Euphoria wondered for a brief moment if the message had been carved with blood, but she just shook her head and groaned. “No, it can't be!”
Once the soft, green glow of a computer-screen reached her eyes, Euphoria lit back up again, and braved the room. She didn't even have to hack it this time, as there was no password protecting it. Though, her smile was short-lived as file after file, came up as corrupted, all save one that was. Without waiting, Euphoria pushed the button so the message would play.
“Today was great! Mom and Dad, took me and Scoreboard to the local market to get some groceries. They usually leave us behind, and it's for our safety... That's what they say anyway, but I think it's just because they want to secretly snuggle.” The colt on the recording giggled at the word, and Euphoria smiled again.
“Anyway, it was great! Oh, I said that, but it really, really was. Scoreboard even got a new ball, so I guess he can live up to his dream today then! The Great Soccer-star Scoreboard! They'll be shouting that in just a few years, every-pony will see...” For a brief moment, the colt's voice faded out and Euphoria could almost hear a mare call out faintly in the background.
“Sorry, I have to go. Mom made a delicious apple-pie with the supplies we bought today at the market, and she says it's probably the last we'll ever have, so I have to eat up! That, and Scoreboard will steal my food, if I don't get there in time!” The colt's sweet, foalish laugh was cut off by Euphoria's Pip-Buck as the recording ended.
Taking one last look at the commotion and the message of hatred, Euphoria left the room as it was. When she stepped outside, she glanced to her right and looked at the last unopened door. That would have been the parents' room, but Euphoria didn't even want to know and headed back, past the bulbous creature, but stopped in front of the window overlooking the backyard as something caught her eye in passing.
Out in the middle of the brown earth, she could see two poles adjacent to each-other sticking out of the ground. Following the path of the poles back towards the house, Euphoria saw the square-doors of a cellar and grinned. Her hooves couldn't have propelled her quicker, as she barrelled down the staircase, and exited the house through a door in the kitchen.
Euphoria only looked at the poles briefly, and decided quickly that she didn’t want to disturb them. Instead, she walked over to the cellar-doors, and looked at the rusted and cracked lock. She grinned and stomped on it with a hoof, so the thing gave away immediately. Using her hoof, Euphoria pulled the lock away, and pulled the doors open.
A deep darkness filled the hallway made of cobblestone, but Euphoria took a deep breath and braved it for supplies. It wasn't a long trip, and soon enough she had descended the cobblestone staircase, and stood in the middle of a room with a low ceiling.
The blue light from her Pip-Buck didn't illuminate much of the dank-smelling room, but from what she could see, Euphoria surmised that it had once been a wine-cellar. Rows upon rows of criss-crossing wooden beams lined each walls, with most of them holding wines of all tastes imaginable.
Stepping over to one wall, Euphoria pulled out a bottle of grape-wine and pocketed it. From the weight of her Saddlebags, she figured that it would be the last prize she would claim from this place, but she had made up her mind, and wanted to give the room a full run-down before she headed back.
Turning around, she moved in towards the middle of the room but stopped quickly. Euphoria bit her lip and held back her cursing, before she looked down at the table, that she hadn't seen in the low lighting. On the table, she could see the skeleton of a stallion outstretched, with each hoof laying limply in rusted chains, at each corner of the table itself.
Dried blood covered the table, underneath the buck, and from the knife impaled in the head of the skeleton, she had a fair idea of what had happened here. As she took a closer look at the skull, Euphoria noticed that the skull had several impact wounds, and with the large fracture in the side, it had been heavy blows with a blunt weapon at short range.
She furrowed her brow and frowned, as she stepped away from the wall and headed towards the other end of the room. It didn't take long, before the soft blue glow hit the chalk-white remains of at least a dozen stallions, all of them piled high, but not as trophies. If anything, it looked like the pony whom had killed these ponies, regarded them as beneath him, or herself; Euphoria shuddered at the thought, and quickly left the room
Galloping through the house, from one end to the other, she soon skidded to a stop in front of Yiltse, and he looked up at her. “Find what you needed?” Euphoria nodded and the zebra got up, staring at the house for a brief moment, before he rejoined Euphoria as she had already started on the way back down. “So, you were right?”
They both knew the answer, but Euphoria didn't talk, and Yiltse didn't press the issue. The descent back down towards the concrete bridge, was journeyed in silence, but Euphoria's mind was racing with questions again, but she didn’t know if she even wanted the answers any more.
*
When the bottle of wine clunked down in front of the one-eyed stallion, he looked at Euphoria and grinned. “Where did you get such a sweet thing?” Euphoria didn't answer and the buck just pulled the bottle inside the booth. Taking the bottle in a hoof, the buck shook it, as he examining the label on the dusty glass. After a few seconds, he turned his head back up. “All right, one day, but you leave your weapons here. No exceptions!” Briefly, his one eye glanced over at Yiltse.
“Now, for the information on the missing mare I'm looking for?” The stallion looked at Euphoria with his single eye, and grinned. “Tell me, and I'll give you excellent scrap-iron.” He didn't even seem phased as Euphoria dumped the contents of the radio in front of him.
“Hm...” The buck looked over a few of the pieces briefly and looked back up at Euphoria. “A pink mare was it? Oh, now I remember her. She came here, two days ago, saddled in chains as she was accompanied by two stallions, no doubt their captive, but she looked remarkably intact.” At the stallion's words, Euphoria's ears twitched and she slowly glared daggers at him.
“I directed them towards the Burly Breath.... Young mares like her, fetch a good price with many of our citizens.” He snickered and Euphoria cocked her gun, ready to bite down, but quickly stopped herself as two sets of rifles were pointed at her. “Be careful, now,” the buck said condescendingly.
“If you pay a good enough price, you even get to rough them up. I once had a young one like her... she couldn't walk for a day. I even think she got to feel her first ever cock!” He laughed at his own boasting, and gloated in the fact that Euphoria couldn't do a thing to harm him. “You'll no doubt find her there, but I wonder if she haven't been claimed yet....”
Euphoria slid out of her saddlebags and slid her weapons over to the stallion in the booth. “I'll be back for them real soon, so don't misplace them.” She grinned and turned to venture further down the bridge, as the voice of the same stallion reached her ears again.
“Your buddy, doesn't get in for free, either. No matter how well-connected he is!”
She spoke flatly, and coldly – letting her words speak for themselves for once. “There's a 10mm Pistol in there – it's yours, but only if you let him pass with me.”
“Well now...” one-eyed stallion said as he considered the offer, and let a pregnant pause hang in the air, more than anything, just so he could watch them twist in the wind. “Fine then, but no more than one day, and he too has to leave his weapons behind.”
Yiltse walked past the booth calmly as he replied in his same as ever, stoic voice. “I don't carry weapons.”
“Yeah, you guys never do...” the stallion with the eye-patch said, as Yiltse caught up with Euphoria and the two of them slowly crossed the bridge. On the other side, it had seemed so short, but now, Euphoria felt as if it stretched on forever and that she would walk on this bridge for eternity.
No sooner had she reached the centre, did she stop as she glanced to the left and followed the river-bed. The slow, bubbling flow of water that remained arched upwards through the dead forest, and headed up a mountain in the distance, where there once had been a gorgeous cascading waterfall, of pure water. Now, it was nothing more than an annoying pool of irradiated death.
Euphoria could only imagine why the waterfall was no longer, as radiation didn't have that effect on water; at least, according to her schoolbooks. “Why did I have to go in there alone...?” She turned, and tilted her head slightly to the left as she focused her eyes on Yiltse.
Taking a deep breath, the ever stoic zebra stallion responded, calmly. “There are some places that I'm forbidden to walk, and I already know the story of that place. A young colt. A family of four. A haunted barn – stories that are hoofed down over generations in a blasted wasteland.” For a brief moment, Yiltse looked over at Euphoria, who just looked back at him with a look that mixed confusion and anger. “Look, you saw what you needed to see, and that's the end of that.”
Without saying another word, Yiltse walked on ahead and Euphoria turned back to looking at the dry riverbed below, as she snorted. “Cryptic, as always.” Sighing a bit, she glanced at her Pip-Buck, and sure as the day was gloomy, the arrow had dipped into the yellow zone, but she didn't feel that worse for wear. Maybe it's broken? Euphoria thought and shrugged, as she walked after Yiltse.
She caught up to him, just as they passed beneath the rusted and heavily scratched metal-archway that had the town's name on it. A moment later, the heavy chatter of over a dozen ponies hit Euphoria's ears and she winced slightly, as she tried to parcel the information hitting her. In front of her, stretching along a dusty, but worn path – were merchants and aspiring buyers.
Along with the myriad of voices and shuffling motions in the grit, came the smells. A deep aroma of burning flesh, alcohol, oil and other sharp smells stung in Euphoria's nostrils as her and Yiltse walked down the middle of the street. To each side of the road, shabby carts were lined up neatly, with several ponies dressed up in the same garb as the guards outside the gate, protecting each one.
“You there!” the voice of an excited primrose coloured stallion shot out at Euphoria. “I can see you're new here, so I'll give you a special prize on this almost brand new, only used once, Enclave armour!” He grinned at that last part, and Euphoria stepped over to the stallion's cart, looking over his merchandise.
Stacked high on the carts, were mounds of helmets, leather-vests, saddlebags, and just about everything a pony could wish for in apparel. Euphoria's eyes grazed across the sharp blackness of the armour that the stallion indicated. Two orange orbs of opaque plastic covered the eyes on the bug-like helmet, and it covered most of the wearers face except for the muzzle in the same sharp, charcoal black metal.
Next to the that, the armour itself lay, and it was made out of the same black metal as the helmet. As far as Euphoria could see, it was meant to cover up most of a pony's body, even the tail, and encase it in a protective shell. “So, you like it, huh?” the seller-stallion, with a striking purple mane interjected, so Euphoria turned to him with a smile.
“Well, it'll only cost you 1500 caps,” the stallion said with a broad smile, and Euphoria arched an eyebrow at him. Seeing her baffled face, the stallion coughed and continued. “You won't find anything cheaper, this side of Equestria, I can promise you that.”
“Sorry, you're out of my league,” Euphoria said dejectedly and turned around, walking away from the stallion, so she rejoined Yiltse. They hadn't taken more than a few more steps, before Euphoria stopped and examined a nearby cart, where a mare was selling some kind of food skewered on pointed sticks.
Rows of delicious smelling flesh, had been mounted on the small sticks, and they were coated in frying oil, Euphoria noted as her mouth was already watering. “Ten bits per, and that's me being nice!” A disgruntled mare spat out at Euphoria from behind the cart. Feeling her stomach rumble, Euphoria quickly fished out a neat stack of coloured Sparkle Cola caps from her saddlebags and hoofed them to the mare.
As soon as the mare had gotten her bits, Euphoria grabbed the stick and took a bite out of the flabby flesh, as her Pip-Buck clicked away in the background. She didn't even care at that moment, and let the meat just melt in her mouth. It was hard to chew, but the taste was a mixture of carrots and apples, but not even that was accurate enough to explain the taste; it was the closest Euphoria could get, since she hadn't tasted meat before.
Euphoria downed her meal in no more than four separate chunks and smiled at the mare behind the cart, as she only shot back a sly smirk. Her stomach had stopped rumbling, and for the first time in two days, Euphoria felt quite content with herself, so she caught back up with Yiltse, and the pair resumed walking into town.
he main street of the town, was nothing more than a seller's market for everything in the entire world – there was even a stallion selling caps, which Euphoria thought was quite odd, but her curiosity would have to wait. Most ponies had crowded in that area, and their numbers lessened as Euphoria and Yiltse moved further into town, and away from the intoxicating smells.
Once they reached the end of main street, they stopped at the intersection. The path diverged into three separate paths, each with their myriad of side-streets. Euphoria squinted her eyes down the right path, and her muzzle quickly formed into a grin as her eyes focused in on the two-story white brick-building at the end of the street, where a half-asleep pony sat outside.
Hanging above the pony's head, a worn wooden sign swung in the gentle breeze, but Euphoria had no trouble in making out what it said. “Burly Breath: All your needs can be satisfied,” she muttered, as she and Yiltse pressed onwards.
More of the run-down shacks built in-between, surprisingly well kept houses surrounded them, as they came deeper into town. Ragged ponies, coughing and wheezing for breath, within some of the shacks, peered out at the two newcomers, and even though they clearly had problem standing upright, evident as a stallion no older than Euphoria fell over as she passed – they watched them go, and examined them as much as their bloodshot eyes would allow them to.
Nearing the salon, Euphoria saw more important shops appearing in her peripheral. To her right were a potion-selling shop, but Euphoria didn't see any-pony peek their head out from that shop's open doorway. On Euphoria's left, the sheriff's office and jail came into view, but it was boarded up with rotting wood-beams, and clearly hadn't been manned for some time.
It jolted Euphoria into rushing forward, and it didn't take long before she stood in front of her goal. Hopefully, the poor mare was still okay, and hopefully, everything would work out, Euphoria thought.
The building was a truly dominating sight, as the sheer façade of it was a bright white against the murky brown of the surrounding buildings and streets. A veranda took up most of the second-floor façade, and it cast a long shadow on the sleeping stallion in front, and although he was decked out in armour, it wasn't the same as the other guards Euphoria had seen.
Deciding to not wait any longer, Euphoria marched forward and stepped onto the porch, so it creaked horribly in her ears and she groaned inwardly. “What's your business here?” a deep, gruff stallion's voice said and Euphoria turned her head to the side, and peered at the suddenly completely awake guard.
What? Wasn't he asleep a minute ago? Was it just a trick? A deep frown appeared on Euphoria's face, as she looked over the stallion's armour, trying to determine if he was a raider, or worse. In contrast to the blue of the other guards' armour, his was a deep shade of maroon, and was less protective.
Most of the armour was concentrated around the stallion's chest and fore-hooves, where a heavy metal plates had been strapped around all the vital parts. Beneath that, the maroon vest dominated, while the stallion's flank had no armour at all, and showed off his cutie-mark. Euphoria had to do a little mind-searching, before she determined what it was supposed to be, but she figured it out.
A green circuit-board with three yellow sparks around it, adorned the stallion's flank, and it remained Euphoria of HE. Looking back up, she meet the steel-gaze of a pair of sky-blue eyes under a hanging mop of yellow mane. “I'm here for a mare.” As Euphoria said it, the stallion snorted in response as his muzzle formed a wry grin.
“Aren't we all?” Euphoria just stared back, and didn’t even dignify the stallion's remark with a reply. Seeing her stare, the stallion nodded his head in the direction of the double saloon-doors. “You're good to go. Enjoy your stay.” She walked ahead, and even though Euphoria noticed the stallion giving her flank a way too long look, she didn't stop.
Euphoria was surprised at the low murmur of background chatter inside the saloon, and in fact, there weren't that many ponies there. Four stallions sat around a table and played cards at one end of the room, a few feet in front of the staircase leading to the second floor. A piano with too many missing keys to be played, stood next to the staircase, with a mare in heavy armour passed out beneath it, along with several open bottles.
On the other side of the saloon, dominating that side, was the bar. Two ponies sat in front of it, on high-chairs and sullenly drank their respective booze. Behind the bar, a unicorn mare was busy polishing a glass, and as she spit into it, before wiping it 'clean' with a dirty rag, Euphoria grimaced and wondered how in Equestria that was meant to clean.
Yiltse kept in the background, as Euphoria walked between the few tables set up in the saloon and approached the bar. “What can I get you?” the sweet, honeyed voice of the mare said and Euphoria felt herself brightened up immediately as it grazed her ears; it was like she had just had her best orgasm in the entire world, just from a voice.
“I'm looking for a pink mare...” her voice trailed off, as the barista mare's eyes shot open, and it was clear that she knew.” So, she's here?” The yellow mare was about to answer, but her words caught in her throat, as another mare stepped out from a door located off to the right, but it was almost completely hidden away from the view of the patrons.
“Well, well, some ponies have excellent tastes and timing,” a much sweeter, but faked voice spoke, and Euphoria turned her attention to the new mare. Her mane resembled green tooth-paste, the way it dangled off to one side of her head; her coat was a pristine orange, and set her apart from the rest of the ponies in the saloon, and along with a set of sparkling green eyes, Euphoria got the message clearly.
“Flower, get me and my new... friend here, two glasses of whisky will you?” The barista nodded at the new mare and disappeared through the same door for a moment, and it was clear from the tone the other mare had said it in, that it wasn't a question. “What's your name, darling?” the sweet-voiced mare said, and Euphoria tilted her head to the side. “I'm sorry, but we can't do business unless you tell me your name.”
“E...” she stopped for a moment, and considered using a fake name. If she gave her real name, it could be used against her, and if she gave a fake name, and was found out, Euphoria doubted that she would be able to get the mare out of there alive. Groaning, she replied calmly, ” Euphoria.”
The sweet-voiced mare smiled at Euphoria and nodded, as Flower placed two sets of shot-glasses down in front of them, and poured whisky into them. “Thank you,” the sweet mare said briefly to the barista, before she turned back to Euphoria, by shoving a glass over towards her. “I'm Cherry, and this is my saloon.”
“And, you're in luck, I have the mare you're searching for.” Cherry motioned for Euphoria to drink, and feeling at a disadvantage, she downed the brown liquid fast, but choked on it, as her throat burned in response. Cherry, only giggled lightly as Euphoria coughed. “My, you're a light one.”
“Back to business. Night Letter, is a new addition to my stable, and as such, I need to take certain precautions, but for enough bits, you can have her for a night and use her as you see fit.” Euphoria felt burning rage and loathing for this mare, and her establishment, but she had to keep it under wraps for now.
“How much to buy her free?”
Cherry’s eyes went wide for a brief second, but she quickly brought herself back and smiled at Euphoria. “Well, she's in prime condition, and she's healthy, so I would say... five.” Cherry nodded to herself and looked at Euphoria.
Dammit! “How much for one night, then?”
“Twenty if it's just you, but if you're planning on bringing along your friend over there.” Cherry motioned towards Yiltse with a nod, but kept her eyes at Euphoria. “Then, it's going to cost extra.”
“Fine, just me.” Euphoria slid out twenty caps from her saddlebags and hoofed them to Cheery, as she grinned in turn.
“First door on your left, up there.” Euphoria said nothing and stepped away from the bar, and crossed the room to get to the staircase. Yiltse had parked himself firmly against the wall in front of it, so Euphoria stopped there and lowered her voice as she leaned against the wall as well.
“When the shooting starts, I need to know that you have my back. Now, I know your honour-thing is very important, but you always seem to disappear when the bad stuff happens, so I need to know that, this time, you'll be there.” Euphoria looked deeply into Yiltse's eyes as she spoke, and after a pregnant pause, he nodded calmly.
Having all the information she needed, Euphoria ascended the staircase and let a drunk stallion past her, only to have him collapse halfway down. She frowned and stopped at the top, casting a furtive glass towards the first-floor, before she pushed through the door and stepped into the room.
“No.... no more....” a light-pink unicorn mare with a neon-pink mane whimpered at Euphoria. She was heavily bruised, and blood had caked around the chafing wound on her left hoof, which was chained to one of the bars on the bed. She was only a few years younger than Euphoria herself, and the Stable-mare felt sick to her stomach at these people.
Grumbling, Euphoria slid over to the bed and pulled out a bobby pin from her saddlebags as she went to work on the lock. “Don't worry, I'm here to save you.” Euphoria glanced at the mare, but got a confused and sad look in return, implying that ponies had said that before, and not delivered. “Just trust me, I saw what happened to your caravan, and I'm here to help you back.”
Euphoria laughed inwardly at the stupidity of her own words. Trust? How could that word even have any sorts of meaning in a world where the strong ruled over the weak, and tormented them endlessly for their own amusement? As she worked away on the rusted lock, Euphoria wondered what in the world she could say to help this mare, who had seen way too much cruelty in her young life.
Don't get emotionally involved, a voice inside of Euphoria's head spoke candidly as the lock clicked open, and the pink mare pulled her hoof to her, and only muttered 'ow' over and over again. It's just business, so treat it like that – she's not your problem. The words stabbed at Euphoria, but she knew the voice was right.
Deep trauma like this, could only be cured with years of therapy, and Euphoria was only there because it would get her paid. “Come on!” she commanded the young mare, and nodded towards the door.
Night Letter looked at Euphoria with sad eyes, but she limped off of the bed, heavily caked with blood and walked with her to the door. As she pulled the door open, Euphoria pushed Night Letter away and tossed herself against the floor as well. Bullets sprayed against the door and Euphoria groaned in pain, as she clutched her bloodied ear, cursing under her breath.
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Bugologist – With this perk, you do an extra 50% damage each time you attack one of those nasty mutated bugs, that seem to litter every corner.
“A mistake is always forgivable, rarely excusable and always unacceptable.”
Wooden splinters cascaded onto Euphoria's ruffled mane and back, almost covering her in them. The bullets still tore through the railing in front of her, and popped fresh holes in the already damaged wood. Through all the mess, even as Euphoria had her hooves pressed firmly against her ears, she heard something. No matter how loud the cacophony of violence was, it couldn't hide the sound. Euphoria bit her lip hard enough to draw blood in an attempt to forget it, to just block it out; she needed to focus.
Her stomach churned violently, but it wasn't the meal she had eaten earlier that was on the way up. As Euphoria felt the taste of copper hit her tongue, like a searing piece of hot coal, her mind relented and she let the sound in. Hiding behind a wall inside the mess that could barely be called anything else than a rape-den, Night-Letter sat, whimpering. Each of her sobs, cut like a knife into Euphoria.
The sound of sadness in that low moaning, was overwhelming to Euphoria. It reminded her in a way that nothing else could, of why she was out here, and what she was really doing, but her mind was quickly drawn away from that thought as a searing pain pulsed from her left ear. Even before she had any time to process it, a bullet had pierced her ear, and Euphoria screamed.
How could anything hurt that much? For a moment, she felt as if she was back in the Stable having her left-hoof popped back into place, after a particular bad game of Baseball. Everything was blocked from her mind, and she could only focus in on the burning pain that locked up every muscle in her body, as she felt frail, weak.
She couldn't move, or do anything, and still she could hear Night Letter whimpering. It gnawed at her, and all the sadness she had felt just a moment was gone, rapidly being replaced by anger. Where the hell is he? Euphoria's mind shot at her. I told him to fucking wait, and he just leaves me here!? She didn't want to believe it, but at the same time, she was being shot at, so the truth was pretty clear.
What wasn't clear, was why. Every single thing had gone according to plan, and she hadn't angered any-pony – yet, so why where they here? And who were they? Euphoria felt uneasy and just wanted to roll over and never get up again. Sadly, the world wasn't fair, and just like in the Stable, she had to follow the world and its set of rules.
A shrill shout rang out in the room, and even a few glasses rattled as the sound blasted against them. It was, of course, a stallion's voice, Euphoria noted herself, and she wasn't even remotely surprised. “We know you're up there!” the stallion shot against her, but Euphoria sighed inwardly. “And we know that you didn't come alone, so where's your friend?”
Euphoria's eyes shot open at the news. Yiltse wasn't there. Had he openly abandoned her? Was his word simply a lie? If that was the truth, then why had he followed her for so long, even saved her in the first place?`She could barely handle it, but the shooting had stopped and that at least told her something.
“He's not here, just me!” Euphoria grinned as she said it with the sternest voice she could. “Go look some-place else,” she added after a small pause, apparently leaving her attackers baffled enough that they didn't respond. It left her feeling more victorious than full of anger and sadness; it left her, for lack of a better word – happy.
Of course the peace didn't last long, so after a brief pause, the stallion spoke. “Listen, kid, we know he's around here, and we just want you two to leave.” Euphoria snorted, as the stallion's words rippled in her ears. Yeah, right. Why did you open fire immediately then? She thought, as she slowly pulled her hooves away from her ears and squinted through an open gash in the railing. “Come on out, and we'll let you leave.”
Standing in front of a group of heavily armoured cadre of stallions, dressed in an all blue armour with the insignia of a yellow sun on their chest-piece, was the shouting stallion. He himself was not dressed in the blue armour, but was instead dressed in the same crimson armour as the stallion guarding the door. Next to him, the honey-voiced mare from earlier stood, shaking, Euphoria noticed, but the stallions didn't spare her even as much as a glance.
“Fine, but before I go, tell me something.” Euphoria watched intently as the stallion standing at the front, jerked his head and pricked his ears. “Who in Equestria are you guys? You sure as hell aren't guards, and you don't look like the kind that would protect a place like this.” The stallion grinned, and finally cast a brief glance at the honey-voiced mare.
“Have they been so lazy?” The stallion nodded his head, and a guard slowly approached the staircase. He took short steps, so the tired wood didn't give away a sound, but Euphoria could see him. She smiled and ducked inside the room behind her, and quickly pulled a still sobbing Night Letter along; she motioned with her hoof and muffled her once, getting a nod in return. “Sending uneducated ponies into the world?”
As she moved along the railing, Euphoria peeked over the edge briefly, and saw that most of the downstairs area was vacant, and she still didn't notice Yiltse anywhere. “Trust me, I probably have more education than any of you!” she shouted over the railing, but quickly resumed pulling her new friend along.
The stallion sneered and stomped a hoof into the floor, as he shifted his weight. “Fleeing already?” A hearty laugh rang out in the room, but Euphoria just shook her head and continued, until she reached the centre of the second-floor area. She peeked to the left, and grinned as she saw swirling clouds through a thin slit running down the middle of two doors.
Long way down, but we can make... Euphoria thought as she turned back to Night Letter, and forced her best smile. “We have to go, but we have to go no-” She perked her ears, and heard wood creaking from the direction she had come from. “Now, we go now!” Euphoria reaffirmed and pulled her friend back onto her hooves. “Go!” she barked and nodded towards the two doors as the stallion stepped into full view, in front of the door to Night Letter's cell.
“You're insane!” a cracked voice chirped in as Night Letter darted for the door, and the stallion jerked as he saw the motion. Without hesitation, he slid into battle-stance. Euphoria followed him, and moved in-between him and Night Letter. A bright light, followed by the sudden thunder; she knew what it meant. Wobbling slightly, Euphoria looked towards her friend as she stood in front of the porch-railing.
She nodded as soon as she saw Euphoria, and the Stable mare didn't have to say anything more. Night Letter quickly turned away and bit her lip, as she jumped off the porch. As soon as she did, Euphoria turned her attention back to herself. Well... that's not so bad... She thought, as she inspected the gunshot wound; It had disregarded her leather-armour, and punched a hole straight through. Thankfully though, it was only a flesh-wound.
Before Euphoria could notice that she was almost glaring at her own butt, the snarling voice of the stallion in charge barked again. “You fucking idiot! You weren't supposed to shoot her! Get the other one!” The stallion in front of Euphoria looked dumbfounded at her for a second, but as soon as the orders hit him, he was back down on the first floor so fast, she could almost still see his shape in a puff of smoke.
Oh no! Her eyes went wide, as she looked towards the outside, then back over the railing. “Sorry, gotta go!” Euphoria grinned briefly, as the stallion simply snarled back. She galloped towards the door, and winced at the pain as she leapt into the air. Euphoria caught herself smiling as she soared gracefully through the cool air, not noticing just how quick the ground was approaching.
Screaming and kicking wildly, Euphoria was brought back to her senses. “Fucking hell that hurts!” she shouted into the air, as she looked up, seeing a cracked railing in her wake. “Huh? B-but I...?” She blinked her eyes in confusion for a few times, before she looked to her right, and she immediately gasped. “Where the hell were you!?”
“I was here,” Yiltse said back flatly as he was still trying to keep Night Letter from screaming, by holding a hoof around her mouth, as he kept her close to the ground with another free one. “You, galloped into that mess without a regard for anything. Don't you even think?” he raised his voice a little higher, but to Euphoria it still sounded as if he was bored the hell out of his mind.
“Will you let her go?” Euphoria looked at Yiltse, and he let go of Night Letter. Looking at the pink mare, as she gasped, Euphoria said, “Good, now just stand watch, they're probably...” Her voice trailed off into oblivion as four stallions in crimson armour galloped to a stop in front of the small group. “Yes...?” Euphoria asked the stallions as emotionless as she could.
“You're not leaving with her,” the head stallion said as he stepped in front of his small posse. As Euphoria watched each stallion, and took in their armour, she noticed something – each one had something different about them. For one, it was that the breast-plate was higher and had two sigils coated on each shoulder-pad; a white crescent moon.
Another stallion, had a long-sleeved shirt under his armour. The last two had somewhat, two connected items – one had the left shoulder-pad missing, and the other had his very breast-plate missing. Euphoria smirked, as she looked into the eyes of the head stallion, and briefly regarded his immaculate armour compared to the others. “And what if I am? You're not gonna stop me.”
A pregnant pause lingered in the cold wasteland air, as it hurtled between the houses and howled into the swiftly darkening day. “Are you so sure?” the stallion replied with a scowl, so Euphoria suspected he restrained himself. To her, that was actually good.
“Yes. I heard you in there, and you don't want to kill me, so...” Euphoria looked away for a moment, before she swung her head back and motioned with her hoof in the air. “Say hello to my little friend: the grenade!” As she grinned viciously, the cadre of ponies in front of them scattered into hiding. Quickly she turned back towards her two friends. “Let's run!”
Euphoria winced, but galloped after her other two friends as the head stallion in crimson armour stared at her back, as he peeked out from behind a wall. “Dammit, she tricked us!” The little group of stallions exchanged looks of confusion, and their leader growled. “After them, you stinkin' bags of vomit!” At the sound of his order, the group burst out of hiding and took up the pursuit of the newcomers.
“What's the plan now then?” Yiltse asked as he looked in Euphoria's direction, and she briefly glanced at him, quickly turning back to watching the road; she was already panting. In between them – lagging slightly behind – was Night Letter. Dried tears streaked her cheeks, as her lip wobbled and she fought back the urge to begin crying again; she didn't say anything, and left the talking to the other two ponies.
“Run away as fast as we can..?” Euphoria answered back in-between her heavy pants of laboured breathing. She could taste blood, as they rounded a corner and was met with a bustling street. “Um... scratch that...” Shit! There's no way we'll make it out of here, with this kind of traffic! Euphoria's mind was racing, but she came up blank, as she cast a look back towards the street they came from and saw the approaching gang of ponies trying to catch her? Euphoria shook her head before she got a headache. “Fine, bad plan, just don't say it,” she growled, but didn't turn to look at Yiltse.
He simply raised an eyebrow at Euphoria and looked across the street where the ponies milled about, kicking up grime in their wake. “Seeing as we have an innocent with us, I think I can fix this for once.” He coughed and reared up on his hind-legs, as he growled high and deeply enough, that he got the attention of every single pony there. “Leave!” he said sternly, as he locked eyes with a few ponies.
Of course, they scattered at that. Euphoria huffed in protest, but was quickly kicked in the gut as an angry voice jutted in from behind her. “On the ground, now!” Leaving! She grinned from ear to ear, as she almost had to drag the obnoxiously pink mare along on the trip. Not so surprisingly, the pony who had shouted that order didn't make good on his implied threat of firing, and Euphoria gritted her teeth in anger.
As she galloped down the street, Euphoria simply blocked out the angry voice screaming behind her. They could scream insults, but wouldn't fire? That was something that seriously bugged Euphoria, and she would have to inquire about it later.
Once they had passed back towards the locked gate, Euphoria snapped her attention back to the real world as they stopped in front of it. “Damn....” Was all that Euphoria was able to say, as she stared at the metal and gingerly poked it with a hoof, as she closed one eye. After a moment of almost complete silence, Euphoria opened her eye back up. “Worth a shot!”
Mere seconds later, two groups of armed ponies flanked them. On one side, was the stallions in crimson armour, and on the other were the ones in blue armour. The three groups shared looks, before the two discoloured-armoured ponies glared at each-other, and shouted insults towards one another. Euphoria raised an eyebrow and sighed heavily as she slumped back into the rusted gate.
“They broke into a saloon inside the town, that makes them ours!” A stallion in red armour shouted at the group in blue.
“But they never had good intentions when they entered this town, and that makes them outsiders!” A mare with a gorgeous purple mane, and clad in blue armour shouted back as she pointed her guns at the stallion that had argumented against her.
“You're still mad about last week aren't you?” the stallion almost screamed back at the mare, and she backed away a little.
“What? That doesn't even have anything to do with this, you brick-brain!” she snarled back at him, and reaffirmed herself as she stepped forth again.
“Enough!” the leader of the crimson-armoured ponies said, as he stepped into the middle of the three groups. “What's wrong with you two?`You sound like bickering foals! Grow up!” The quarrelling stallion and mare, took a step back at that. “Now...” the leader-stallion said as he turned his attention to Euphoria and her group. “What do you want?”
To leave,” Euphoria answered, putting on her best straight and calm face as the stallion scowled at her. It didn't take long before she scrunched up her nose and giggled heartily. “Mare, your face was just... dare I say, precious?” The stallion growled and stomped a hoof into the ground, so Euphoria stopped giggling.
“Be serious! Fucking tribals!” Yiltse took a step forward at that, and the leader-stallion glared at him. “What!? Look, just tell me why you were here? Are the Locusts planning on taking the city?” Locking eyes with the stallion, Euphoria shrugged.
“I wouldn't know. Heck, I don't even know who the fucking Locusts are!” she snapped back at the stallion, making a note of inquiring about it later with a certain enigmatic zebra. “I just came here, to get some more money, for rescuing a mare; that's all!” Night Letter sobbed quietly and wrenched her eyes away from Euphoria at that. “Just kick the fucking gate, Yiltse!”
Yiltse bucked out with his hind-legs, and the poorly made gate gave away. It thundered to the concrete bridge with a loud crash of twisted metal, and the low ringing of rippling steel-strings of metal followed, as Euphoria tugged at Night Letter and got her back onto her hooves. “We're leaving!” She faked a salute, as they continued down the concrete bridge they had entered less than an hour ago.
“Well... well... well....” the pony with an eye-patch said at Euphoria as she approached his rickety booth. “Come to claim your equipment?” She nodded. “Don't I even get as much as a goodbye fuck?” Euphoria growled low, as the stallion took a glance at Night Letter and smirked. “How about you, sweet flank?” She said nothing in return, and just whimpered as she turned away from him.
“Just give me my stuff,” Euphoria drawled, and quickly grabbed her guns, as the stallion passed them through the small open part of the window in his booth. “And...” She bit down on her bridle, and fired four bullets into the bottom part of the booth, grinning wide as blood poured out at the bottom. “There's your payment, you shitty excuse for a pony!”
“Oh...” Suddenly realizing that she was being watched by another group of armoured ponies, Euphoria flipped into full battle-stance and readied her .32 Hunting Rifle that had become something she cherished at this point, even though it had fallen into disrepair. “Grab a gun, Night Letter!” The pink mare jerked back at that, but her horn sparkled and she casually lifted out a small 10mm Pistol from Euphoria's loaded pack.
“Wait! Don't fucking shot!” the voice of the crimson-guards leader interjected and the stallion stopped halfway across the bridge. “Just... let them go!” He gave a nod towards Yiltse, and he nodded back; Euphoria just growled but conceded. “The deal is still on!” The stallion added as, he turned on the soles of his hooves.
“That didn't go so bad,” Euphoria added as she lifted her mouth from chomping on her bridle.
*
The same cold wasteland winds gusted against the group as they stood less than a fifty yards away from Cale's field. “I'm not taking that same way back.” Euphoria shuddered as she said it. “No way in hell,” she added with a nod. Her memory of the tentacle-monsters dwelling within, were still fresh in her mind.
“We could take the route to the west.” She perked her ears, at the sound of Night Letter's voice; she had worked up her nerves, but her voice was still shaking slightly. “It'll take a bit longer, but we'll be safe for the most part.” Night Letter forced a smile, and even though it made Euphoria shudder, she forced a smile back at her new friend.
“To the west it is then,” Euphoria concluded as she turned on her hooves, and lead the group westward. “So, Night Letter, you don't strike me as a drug-dealer. What is it you exactly do?” she asked, but didn't turn.
“Well... I work....” Night Letter took a deep breath and exhaled. “Worked as a caravan guard,” she said slowly, shifting her weight around as they walked. “It doesn't matter any-more,” she added dejectedly.
“And you, my zebra companion?” Euphoria could vaguely hear Yiltse snort behind her. “You have never actually told me what you did, and why you where in that cage, or even why you begged me not to free you...”
“Focus on the road, pony. We're back in raider-territory, and we're in Whirlwind territory at that. A swift blow to the head, and an agonizing death is what awaits you if you get caught by them.” Both Euphoria and Night Letter winced at Yiltse's words, but he didn't seem to care. “Just about the only pegasi left here, are them.”
Wait, what!? Euphoria blinked her eyes in disbelief, before she stopped. “What? Aren't there any normal pegasi around here?” Yiltse trotted past her, and just shrugged; Night Letter followed quickly as Euphoria just stood there. “No, you're gonna explain this to me, right now!” she demanded as she caught back up with her companions.
“The Pegasus Enclave was a group of high and mighty pegasi that ruled this part of Equestria, a decade ago, but one day, they were suddenly called away, and we've never seen any of them after that, but because of what they did to us when they were here, pegasi aren't welcome. It doesn't matter if they were with the Enclave or not, people here don't care; they just want to act out their aggression towards the Enclave, “ Yiltse told Euphoria flatly.
“Oh...” Euphoria mulled it over, as a collective silence fell over the group again. More than anything, she wondered why an established power would just leave over-night. It seemed unlikely that a grand Enclave would just leave behind a large area that they controlled with supreme power. As usual, she was left to ponder these things for herself, as Yiltse kept being enigmatic about the whole thing.
Lifting up her hoof, she looked at her Pip-Buck's auto-map, and only now realized how large the entire region was. A frown soon descended on her face, as she found out just how little she had actually explored. It felt as if she had travelled much longer than she actually had, and even then, what she had covered occupied a small and dense area.
Euphoria flipped through the menu's until she found herself at the Radio-dial again, and to her delight, one of the broadcasts was glowing brightly. She clicked it, and a low static hum echoed into the air, before the voice of a stallion slowly cut in. “...and we shall cleanse the earth of the unbelievers, leaving the righteous to inherit Equestria.”
With another hiss of static, the broadcast cut out again, so Euphoria groaned and shook her head, as she flipped it off again.
*
A grim mood hoovered over the group, as the wind kept beating against them. Euphoria was already helping Night Letter with a hoof, and Yiltse was busy staying silent, and acting as head scout. For the first time in a long while however, there was virtually nothing surrounding them. Only a vast blanket of grime, and rocks stretched onwards forever.
For a dangerous area, I don't see much danger, Euphoria thought, as she scanned the area all around her, and perked her ears. The only sounds came from their own hooves, and the wind, as they kept moving forwards.
As they approached a cave hollowed out of a huge rock, Night Letter toppled over from exhaustion. “I... can't go on...” Frowning, Euphoria pulled her in towards the cave and laid her down in the shade, as she turned to face the zebra. Though, she found him to already be well in hoof with gathering up what nearby sticks there was for a small fire.
“We shouldn't stay long; the nights here are dangerous,” Yiltse said as he tossed the scrawny, crisp branches from his mouth, as he gave Euphoria a stern look. “More than you think,” he added in his usual grim voice, but Euphoria just rolled her eyes back at him. The zebra stallion snorted in turn, and kicked a few rocks into the shape of a small bonfire.
Looking over at the pink mare, Euphoria let out a heavy sigh and leaned back against the rocky wall. She bit her lip, as she rethought what she was going to say. Every time she looked at her, she saw the wounded face of her fellow Stable-mares, only two days earlier. She could see the same fear, the nightmares that she would probably have, and how she would never recover from the impact of those raiders, and what they had done to her; Night Letter's vacant eyes said more than her voice ever could.
The first thing that came to Euphoria's mind was the stupidest thing that she could think of: 'It's going to be all right.' It was, of course a blatant lie, because she knew it was never going to be okay. Even back in Stable nine, there had been reports of this kind of thing, but Euphoria had been lucky to never experience up close, since the Over-mare had quickly reacted and put the ponies in question into lock-down; fear can spread like fire, in a closed community.
After a heavy silent, Euphoria opened her mouth. “I can't lie to you.” Night Letter turned to look at Euphoria with bloodshot eyes. “It won't get better, but you can't just give up. Go out there, make them pay.” Euphoria gritted her teeth and grinned at her friend. “I'm kind of on a similar mission myself,” she added.
“I...I....” Night Letter's lip wobbled, and she tore her head away, as her entire body slumped, and she seemed to lose a little colour in her coat. Her one word hung in the air, but Euphoria decided not to bother with asking her any questions, and to let the mare say what she wanted, when she felt like she needed it.
Letting that slip, Euphoria turned her eyes back to Yiltse, and she watched as he put the stones down, before he sat down, and looked at the fire for a moment. Gently, he pulled a stick out of the stack of branches, and held it upright against another, before he started to rapidly roll it between in his hooves.
Soon, smoke billowed from the small pile, and fire followed quickly, as a few stray sparks sputtered into the air, and Euphoria thought she saw a small smile on the zebra, but it could have just been her imagination. “Want to tell me something, Yiltse?” He perked his ears, and glanced over at Euphoria with his grey eyes briefly, but turned back to staring at the fire. “Why were you out there?”
The question had been a loaded gun ever since Euphoria had met the zebra, but she wanted to know, and she felt like it was about time that she got to know. In all sincerity, she half-expected Yiltse to just disregard her as usual, but the zebra opened his mouth. “Good isn't a thing that's rewarded in the Wastes.
“Cruelty, and despair are the only law in Equestria, especially here. I got punished for trying to do a good thing for once, a single act to redeem myself for my past actions, but I got caught, and sentenced to die.” From what she had seen in the last two days, Euphoria agreed with the sentiment, but she still felt like he was hiding something more.
However, she didn't want to proceed any further down a hole that was obviously deep, and filled with mines. To Euphoria, she had already learned something vital, and that was enough.
Obviously trust came very slowly out here.
Once silence had descended on the camp, and the last remaining rays of daylight lingered on the horizon, Euphoria clicked onto her inventory of logs that she had stored in her Pip-Buck, a total of thirty-five messages, she counted; most of them were the personal logs of the over-mare, but some were simple things as the recipe to pancakes, which she had to keep on hoof, of course.
“Log 4. Had a chat with Integrity down in maintenance today, and she warned me that the food-chip is taking a heavy strain from all the new additions to the Stable. I'll have to cut down on the frequency of breaks, and increase work-hours. Nothing can interfere with our mission, and Stable-Tec have assured me that we'll be greeted with open-hooves once it's done.”
“Log 6. Two Bit has become a problem, so I'll have to dispose of him. Just as his name, he is a two-sided problem. Firstly, he goes around, cavorting with all the mares, even my own daughter – the bastard! Secondly, he's done some research into files that were supposed to be for my own eyes only. I can't be sure of what he knows, or how much, but I can't let it slide, so he'll have to have a little accident.”
“Log 12. Still no word from Stable-Tec, but I have to keep to the plan.”
“Log 17. Started sending out scouting-parties, just as instructed. In any case, this means that research can continue on the weapon, and we're moving forward with the plan again. Tomorrow, I'm meeting with a few influential others, so I can key them in on the plan, and have their support for the final push.”
As soon as Euphoria's hoof hit the next log-entry, the entire thing flashed red and all she could hear was garbled voices interlaced with heavy static. Frowning, she proceeded to push the next one, which would have only seemed to have been a few weeks before the attack, that were if the date-stamp was correct.
“Log 22. It's all set up. I contacted the raiders, and they've agreed to the attack, if they get to keep the ponies they capture. As long as my daughter isn't out there when they come, I don't care what happens to them. For months, they've been gobbling down the food and water as if it were candy. Food-levels are at a breaking point, so it's now or never.”
She felt her stomach lurch, as the recording ended. Euphoria turned her head to the side, and drew in as much air as she could. She almost couldn't believe it. Euphoria felt a familiar anger build up inside of her, as she tossed and turned, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, no matter which way she sat.
Once she looked at her pip-buck again, Euphoria saw that the over-mare had made one final log entry: the day before the attack. Euphoria snorted and dismissed the menu, as she sat back against the stone-wall. It didn't matter what the over-mare had said in there, she didn't want to hear it.
As the anger boiled inside of Euphoria, her eyes dropped lower and lower, until exhaustion over-powered her, and she fell into a sleep full of nightmares.
*
Euphoria awoke as a hoof shook her shoulder. Still blurry-eyed, she looked up at Yiltse as he nodded outwards into the darkness. She refocused her eyes, as she rubbed the last lingering flickers of sleep away from them, but Euphoria couldn't see anything past the darkness, at first. After a few minutes however, she saw a faint pink light shimmering.
She slowly got onto her hooves, and stepped out of the small cave towards the light, to only have the sharp voice of Night Letter stop her. “Don't come any closer!” she shouted, without a hint of hesitation in her voice. Euphoria stopped, and as her eyes fully adjusted, she could see the faint shape of her familiar .32 Hunting Rifle, but it wasn't pointed away from the pink mare. “Just stay back,” she added.
“What are you doing?” Euphoria asked, and tilted her head to one side, as she examined Night Letter, but the mare before her wasn't shaking, or whimpering. She was in fact, the exact opposite to the pony that Euphoria had tried to comfort earlier. “If you're going to shot yourself, that's going to hurt.”
“I can't go back!” Night Letter spat towards Euphoria, but didn't turn away from the rifle, that was pointed right at the base of her horn. “You have no idea what kind of an outcast, I'll be,” she commented, and Euphoria could faintly hear the mare sniffle. “I... have no other home to go to....”
“I'm sure I don't know that, but I do know one thing,” Euphoria said back as calmly as she could, and got a grunt in response. “I know that you are some pony's friend out there, and I know that they'll miss you.” At that, Night Letter shook a little, and Euphoria could hear the metal in the rifle jitter along with her.
“No...” The unicorn said and cocked the gun, as Euphoria stepped closer. “Stay the hell back!” Night Letter snarled at her, and pushed the muzzle of the rifle closer to her forehead. “No, I can't go back. Goodbye!” Her words rang out, along with the thundering sound and blinding flash, of a shot being fired.
Bone fragments disintegrated into the air, as both the rifle and Night Letter fell to the ground. Euphoria rushed over, and quickly pushed her hooves to cover the gaping wound in the young mare's skull. Where her horn used to be, Euphoria could now see straight through her skull into her brain, and watched as brain-matter leaked out between her hooves. “Give me a potion!” she screamed back at Yiltse, but the zebra didn't move.
Slowly, as her entire body shook violently, Night Letter's pink eyes rolled back into her skull, and her eyes were now just two large saucers of white. Holding out to some desperate hope, Euphoria held her hooves over her wound, even after the shaking had stopped, and Night Letter's chest didn't rise any-more.
It took Yiltse's hoof on her shoulder to snap out of it, and she tried to hit him as she pushed him away. “You son of a bitch!” she screamed, as she tried to hold back her tears, but she found it extremely hard to do, as she sat and stared at the lifeless corpse of the pony they were supposed to rescue. “We... we... failed...” Euphoria said, almost choking on her own words in the process.
Blood pooled on the ground near Night Letter's head, and mixed with Euphoria's tears, as she lowered her head and stared at her own blood-soaked hooves. Several yards away, the cracked horn lay on the ground, with bone-fragments scattered all around the area. “She wouldn't have made it, even with a potion, so it would have been a waste of resources,” Yiltse commented grimly, as he sat down next to Euphoria.
“We could have tried...” the wounded voice of Euphoria muttered, as she still stared at her own hooves. She couldn't look up, and she didn't want to. It felt as if something important had been torn from her, and she remembered Stable Nine, and her friend. “I couldn't save her, just as I couldn't save Nightpick...”
The stallion perked his ears, but didn't inquire, he just made a simple gesture of saying something in zebrica, and Euphoria found the language, despite the macabre sight in front of her, to be soothing. He was right... she thought, for in a way he was; there had been danger, just not the kind of danger that Euphoria had imagined.
“What happened after the Enclave left...?” Yiltse looked over at Euphoria, as she had drawn him out of his trance. “Just tell me, I need something else to think about.”
“Well...” Yiltse began, but stopped for a brief pause, as he took in a deep breath. “What pegasi that were left, got killed or formed into raiding parties. After that, one group rose out of the ashes and dominated the Wastes, for a few years, and that would be our enemies over at Cale's Field. Soon after, as raiders decimated most of the area from Detrot and onwards, a new group formed in their wake, and cut a swath of destruction.” He shook his head, and added. “It's not much, but that's what I got.”
Only a single thought hovered in Euphoria's mind the entire time Yiltse had spoken, and she had only caught a few words that he had said. “We're going to bury her,” Euphoria said, but didn't look at Yiltse, as she wiped away the few remaining tears with a bloody hoof, and ended up leaving a streak of blood across her face. “Tomorrow, at dawn.”
*
Dawn came, but Euphoria hadn't moved an inch during the night, and neither had Yiltse. Still, they weren't exhausted, not in the physical sense at least. Rays of light peeked through the cloud-cover above, and the full extend of the condition that Night Letter's body was in, came into light.
Much of it was as Euphoria expected, but she still grimaced at the sight of her friend's hornless head. Even as her entire body felt like sandpaper, Euphoria got up and picked up her rifle with her muzzle. She turned on the soles of her hooves, and headed back to the small cave, quickly putting the rifle back where it was supposed to be.
As she gently slipped her dear rifle back into place, Euphoria noticed the shimmering blackness of something sticking out of her saddlebags. Anger flowed through her, and she gripped the mangled rifle by the handle and swung her head, as she tossed it across the open area. “You fucking ass-holes!” she screamed, as the weapon impacted the ground with a heavy thud, followed by the rattle of metal.
Looking back down at her saddlebags, Euphoria pulled out her shovel, that Yiltse had apparently not sold; it probably didn't sell for much, anyway. She just frowned and let the thought go, as she moved for it, and gentle bit down. Tasting wood again, Euphoria rose back to her hooves fully, and moved slowly away from the small cave.
As she stepped past the body, she barely noticed that she had stepped into the dried blood on the ground. Euphoria didn't look and only clenched her teeth together hard, as she moved out into the open, and very slowly began on her hole. It was hard work sure, and it would most probably eat up most of the day, but Euphoria needed to do it. It's the least I can do... she thought, digging so very slowly.
Her jaw ached already, and she had only made a few digs into the earthen ground. Her mane itched, and sweat ran down the side of her face as the beaming sun crested the horizon, outlining Euphoria in an orange-red hue of hotness. There wasn't the slightest break of the cold wind that had plagued them during the night, or the day before. Still, Euphoria went on with her monotonous work.
Continuing with her work, Euphoria started to think. Would she still be alive, if I had left her there...? she asked herself, but didn't stop with the digging. Her mind flooded with different answers to the question, but Euphoria didn't find the one answer she was seeking among the plethora of wrong ones. This...is all my fault, she finally managed to accuse herself with, just as another voice rose within her.
No, it isn't! It screamed at her, and Euphoria stopped, shaking. Sweat mixed with tears, as Euphoria clenched her eyes shut, and gripped the shovel harder. In some kind of sick irony, her mind connected the current event with her first day out of the Stable. Now you're burying one, but the first time you used this, you killed some-pony. On purpose! That angry voice inside of her yelled.
Are you truly a hero? Some-pony worthy of saving? No, you're not! The voice inside of Euphoria kept snapping at her, while the more gentle voice died down; the one that had asked the question that needed to be asked. It's a miracle that you haven't died yet! Or is it really? At the question, Euphoria dropped the shovel.
You're a bad pony, but you're alive! You never meant to save her, did you? Even though you knew how bad her mental state was, you were prepared to just give her over to the ghoul and be on your way. Did you really think, they would give her the help she needed? Euphoria whimpered, and quickly picked up her shovel, digging harder than before.
Hah! You're only burying her, because she reminds you of a friend! Something died inside of Euphoria at that moment, and as sad as it was, she gave a slight nod. She was bad, and up until now, she had simply shrugged it away, cast away the blame. She had never given any-pony the mercy they deserved, not even when they had asked for it.
She had lied, simply to get what she wanted. Euphoria had even gone to the lengths of desecrating the home of a dead family, just so she could wash away the blame, but in her hearth she knew – and now her conscious mind did as well. Are you better than a Raider? And there it was, the maddening question that had lurked behind every snapping from the voice.
In truth, Euphoria didn't want to answer. As usual, she wanted to just curl up in bed again and forget about the world. About Raiders, about slavers, about ghouls, about radiation, about the Over-Mare, but she couldn't. The more she thought about it, Euphoria found out that she knew something at least.
“I don't kill for fun,”she mumbled out between gritted teeth as she stopped. Looking to her side, Euphoria saw the nice mound of dirt that she had shovelled up, so she looked back at the hole. It wasn't deep, but it had to suffice.
Once she turned back to face Yiltse, Euphoria discovered that the angry voice had simply disappeared; for now, at least.
*
Carefully, Yiltse dumped the body into the ground by tilting his entire body to the left. It slid off, and landed with a gentle thump, so Euphoria turned her face away to cough. As she turned back, Euphoria closed her eyes and stood silent. For a moment, amongst the total blackness, Euphoria thought she saw the mangled body of Yiltse, so she fluttered her eyes open. Euphoria shook her head, and closed her eyes again, but there were no body there this time.
Am I going insane?
“What's this?” Euphoria wrenched her head away from the shallow grave to look back towards the cave. In front of, two stallions clad in long black capes now stood and watched them. “Look over there, Remus. They're burying one,” the stallion with a dark-green mane, and emerald eyes said to the other, standing right next to him.
“How odd, indeed,” the other stallion – whom Euphoria now assumed was Remus – replied flatly. “Archaic for sure, and out here it's lost its meaning years ago, yet they are doing it. What do you think, Romulus? Should we inquire further, or just continue our journey?” Romulus, nodded in return to Remus.
Both of the stallions trotted towards Euphoria and Yiltse. Before now, they had both had bland faces, void of any emotion, but now as they walked extremely slowly towards her, they smiled. Their accents seemed somewhat odd as well, since they talked in a more refined way than any other pony or zebra she had met until now.
As they came closer, Euphoria realized that these two stallions had more than just their attitude, and clothing in common. Besides their outward expression, their faces were the same physically. If it hadn't been for their manes and eyes, Euphoria couldn't be sure how to tell them apart.
Beneath their long capes – that seemed perfect – the two stallions wore yellow metal armour, that even left their hooves almost completely shielded from harm, but she didn't notice any weapon. Of course, they could still have some, since Euphoria couldn't exactly see what they were hiding under the rest of their capes; under the armour, Euphoria noticed that one of the stallions had a shirt, and it had a sign stencilled onto its collar. Though she tried, she couldn't see what the sign was, it was just too small.
Stepping up next to the grave, the stallions took a look at Night Letter's corpse. “Raiders don't bury their kill, yet these two have,” Romulus said, as he looked back up at Yiltse and Euphoria. “An unlikely pairing, indeed, as well. A mare from a Stable, and a former prisoner, but not all is well, in this mangled group.”
“You are correct, as always, brother,” Remus said with a smirk and tossed his head back, letting his mane swish, until it settled again. “You two have secrets, some that you keep from each-other, and some that you keep from everybody else.” He refocused, and tilted his head as he addressed Euphoria. “You've suffered, and you bear the scars on the inside. Though, there is more suffering to come.”
“Questions plague your mind, but do not worry, the answers are not far away. Equestria is home to more than you think, and the world bear the scars on the outside,” Romulus' silky smooth voice said, and he smirked. “We know you are on a trip of vengeance,” he added as a last remark, and Euphoria's mouth hung agape.
“How the hell do you know that?” Euphoria gulped once she realized that she had actually asked it, and not simply thought it.
“We know many things,” Remus said. “We are dead, yet alive, but not ghouls either. Does it matter, how we know? Truly, you just have to broaden your horizon, to know everything.” With a glow of his horn, Remus turned on Euphoria's pip-buck, but there wasn't any static this time; it was clear, and she could hear music.
A mare was singing. Euphoria didn't even know what station it was, but she didn't care, it was a gorgeous voice. “A voice from the past, perhaps?” Romulus asked, but Euphoria could barely hear him. She was busy listening to the song coming from her Pip-Buck. Her voice was soft and kind, but the song she was singing was a sad one.
“Sweet and sour – the owner was,” Remus added grimly as the audio shut off, and a soft click came from Euphoria's pip-buck. “Not far from here, there's a facility of Old World tech. Might answer a few questions, or it might not, but we have given you the means. All you have to do, is walk through the door.” Remus snickered and tapped his hoof in the dirt two times, glancing at Romulus.
His compatriot got the hint and nodded at Euphoria. “When the skies above burned, with the faintest hint of a spectrum of colours, feathers blanketed the land. Brother fought brother, sister stabbed sister – echoes of the past, forged anew in the blood of coming generations. Birds of prey some say; shadows of death, others say.” Through his entire speech, Romulus' face remained flat and devoid of any emotion.
Blinking her eyes, Euphoria tilted her head to one side. “Who the heck are you guys? And where did you come from?” There was a brief pause, before Euphoria's eyes narrowed into a glare and she stared at the two unicorns. “Have you two been following us?” She made her question even more serious, by pointing an accusing hoof at the pair.
“We do not need to follow you. Information flows on the winds of deeds; good or bad. And, we? We catch all the seeds of news. As regards to your question of from where we hail, we cannot say. For all eternity we have watched and waited – even walked the vast deserts. Came cross-country decades ago, when a giant beast slumbered in a cave somewhere.” Euphoria just frowned as Remus' spoke.
She felt as if the stallions were telling her all she needed to know, yet she didn't understand a word of what they were saying. Ever since she was a foal, riddles had never been her strong-suit. “What the hell are you fuckers talking about?” she screamed at them, stepping dangerously close to the pair. They didn't move an inch.
“Destiny,” Romulus said with a smirk. Perking her ears, Euphoria stared at him with a frown, as an awkward pause clung to the air. Soon after, Romulus chuckled slightly, ending the pause, as Euphoria shook her head lightly. “None of it matters to us.”
“We have shown you the road,” Remus said, as his horn flared up and the ground between them glowed briefly. Euphoria quickly looked down, and gasped as she saw that the hole had been filled in. At the front of the grave, engraved in a stone that had been dug into the ground as well, she saw Night Letter's name and an epitaph: 'For the Ages, we commend thee to the earth.' Even though she wanted to, Euphoria couldn't really attack them for the enigmatic epithet.
When she looked back up, the two mysterious stallions were gone, and Euphoria could only see the vast land of grime and dirt, outlined by distant mountains, and the ruined skyscrapers of a city. “That was...” her voice trailed off as she stopped herself, and stared into the sky, searching for the right word. “... odd?”
“Not really,” came Yiltse's voice, like an arrow from the sky. The zebra stallion turned on his hooves, and walked past her. “Those two have been appearing for the last decade all around this area. Usually to new ponies, but they rarely do anything of value. Can't be killed either.” Euphoria stared at the back of Yiltse's head at that last remark. “They aren't normal,” he added as he carefully nudged the rocks away from the charred remains of the camp-fire, from the night before.
Euphoria dead-panned at Yiltse. “Not normal?” she burst out, angrily shouting at the back of the Zebra's head. “Those two have been the most sane ponies I have met in the last few hellish days! You? You've only been trouble, and you've not helped me once!” She stomped her hooves in the dry ground, for effect; her nostrils flaring, as she fumed with rage.
She did what she could best – funnel all her hurt feelings into the one feeling she had been holding onto this entire time, anger. Pure, unsaturated, anger. Just as before, Euphoria simple shoved the memory of Night Letter to the back of her mind, and fixated on the cruelty she would inflict on the ponies of Cale's Field, when she got the chance.
In her eyes, none of them were truly innocent, not any more. Slowly, the haze of anger dissipated and Euphoria found herself staring into the grey eyes of her companion. “Yes, not normal. Get your head on straight, pony!” For the first time, Yiltse spoke the word clearly, and full of loathing. “Violence and cruelty has been standard for this region for over two hundred years, and trust me, nothing will ever change that.”
Having finished what he wanted to say, Yiltse rose to his hooves and walked past Euphoria. With a groan, Euphoria looked at her Pip-Buck and mapped up the location that the two stallions had given her, and she turned on her hooves, walking after the zebra in silence.
*
Barely hidden in a rocky alcove, there was a door. Just a normal, rotting door with rusty hinges, and a knob. It was unmarked, but it was poorly hidden. Euphoria wondered why the door hadn't just been blasted open, and whatever treasures that was to be had within hadn't been looted already.
The more she examined the door, and the surrounding terrain, she noticed something. It was barren, but there were lots of craters all around the place, varying in shape. The wooden door in itself, looked as if it had been made from a broken fence in a hurry, but the location of it seemed as if it had been put there on purpose; it simply didn't add up.
Facility of Old World tech...” Euphoria mumbled, as she stared at the door, while Yiltse kept his distance. “All you have to do is walk through the door...” At that, she frowned but nodded slightly to herself, as she got to her hooves again, and took a few careful steps forward. “So... the answers I need are through there?” She glanced back towards Yiltse, but he said nothing.
Shrugging, Euphoria pranced up to the door, and nudged it with her hoof. Creaking, the door broke free from its hinges and fell inwards. A loud hollow thud echoed deeply, as Euphoria peered into the darkness of the cave. She blinked her eyes and coughed from the dust, before she turned on the soft light of her hoof-computer.
She inched into the cave, and descended the earthen ground until she found herself in front of an unmarked metal-door. Above the door, scratched into the metal, Euphoria could see two words: 'Live... Dead...' Arching an eyebrow, she nudged the door with her hoof, but it was much more sturdy than the outer piece of brittle wood had been, and wouldn't budge.
It gave off an echoing, dull metal ping, each time the edge of her hoof hit it, and after three hits, Euphoria frowned, stepping away from the door. Forcefully, she bit down onto her bridle and giggled at the sound of her Hunting Rifle, as it perforated the door. After she had fired a full clip into it, Euphoria let go of her bridle and licked her lips, tasting iron mixed with salt. “Fuck you, door!” she screamed and charged for it.
First the door collapsed into the room beyond, then Euphoria came in as well, collapsing against the rusty floor, as red-light illuminated her surroundings. “Damn... bad idea...” she groaned and rolled over onto her back, peering up at the ceiling, and the light swaying above her head.
As silence surrounded Euphoria, she could hear the faint rolling of wheels, and she jumped back onto her hooves, as a metal-monster rolled into the room from the far-side, through an opening that lead into a two-way hallway. In the grim lighting, Euphoria could see the orange armour, with two tubes sticking out from its side, and the glass-dome that was its head; cracked now.
It rolled on a pair of belt-wheels, that squeaked the entire time it moved, making Euphoria twitch her ears at the annoying sound. Slowly, the robot came to a stop in front of Euphoria, stopping at firing distance. “Prepare to die!” a tinny voice said, and before Euphoria could understand that the robot was speaking, she yelped, feeling her hide burn away.
“You know what? Fuck you too!” she angrily shouted, and darted away from the next salvo of red beams. The robot swivelled, as Euphoria kept low behind the only cover she could find – an overturned Sparkle Cola-machine. Counting the seconds until she had arrived at ten, Euphoria leapt from her cover and peppered the robot with bullets.
She emptied an entire clip, and the half of another one, before the robot backed up, then exploded, tossing shrapnel all over the room. Panting and wheezing, Euphoria looked up, just as Yiltse stepped into the room.
Immediately, a klaxon alarm blared loudly, as a much thicker door slid shut their exit, and an electrical voice came over the scratchy PA. “Glastinghouse Industries welcomes you, Zebra, but we have to be sorry, for we have just dispatched our internal security to take you into custody. We hope that you will not resists, for we do need our specimen to be alive.”
When the PA shut off, Euphoria could hear the faint chuckle of a stallion, and she looked at Yiltse. Looking at the zebra, only one thing came to Euphoria's mind. “Shit...!”
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Diamond Blood – You have the wily abilities of a thief within your veins. Having this perk, grants you a one time bonus of 10 skill points to your Sneak and Lock-pick skills. A well rounded thief is a live thief.
“The sins of the past will always haunt the present.”
With a resounding rattle of metal and stray bolts, another flailing-tube robot exploded in fiery sparks. This time, Euphoria had been too close and was flung against the side of a wall. She groaned, as she steadied herself and wiped her nose. For a moment she studied her own crimson blood, before her mouth twisted into a grin and she licked her hoof clean. “I won't bleed for you....” she muttered, and grinned back at Yiltse, just as the zebra kicked one of the robots into an adjacent wall; the sound alone, made her entire body twist in sick pleasure.
She looked on in wicked glee, as his hind-hoof shattered the glass-dome shielding its brain. Blood, viscous brain-matter, and oil hit the rusted wall behind the robot. He didn't even look winded, Euphoria noted to herself; finally being able to see Yiltse fight. Before she was able to contemplate the act fully, her ears twitched in response to an all too familiar sound.
“This is no way for friends to act!” came the polite, electrical, crackling voice of the robot as it slowly rounded the corner of the hallway, seeming not too bothered about taking its time to butcher the two ponies – as if they were mere bugs intruding. As it came into view, Euphoria bit down on her bridle, but her rifle only gave an alarming click! In response to her futile attempts.
“Fucking shit!” she cried and pressed herself against the nearby wall, as a blazing hot line of red flared down the hallway, only missing her by mere inches. She sniffed once, and clutched her head with a hoof, as the smell of burnt hide, and crackling ozone flared up a headache. Euphoria panted and shook her head, fixating her gaze on the robot as it trundled into the hallway, firing more plumes of red down towards the end of the room.
Seeing as the thing was occupied with trying to kill Yiltse at the moment, Euphoria took the opportunity, and swung the rifle out of her battle-saddle. Biting her tongue, she looked it over and used a hoof to move away the severely rusted piece of metal that was meant to reload it. At first, it wouldn't budge, but after Euphoria had thrust it up and back a few times, it gave away with a twang, as a puff of rust filtered into the air. Another loud click! sounded, and a still smoking, but spent shell hurtled out of it.
With a grin on her face, Euphoria looked up to see one of the robot's flailing tubes of hot death, right in front of her head. Using her free hoof, she shoved it away with all her might – dropping her rifle – as the robot fired, scorching the already dented and wrecked wall behind her. For a moment, the robot was distracted as it tried to recover.
Euphoria threw herself at her trusty rifle, and fumbled with the weapon. “Damn hooves!” she snarled, as she held up the weapon and took aim at the glass-dome of the robot. Despite her flailing hooves, she managed to find the firing pin under the wooden texture, and she pulled it in quickly. The glass-dome of the robot shattered and it rolled backwards, until it hit the opposite wall. For a few seconds, its tubes of death flailed wildly, and Euphoria ducked so she wouldn't get hit by its beams of red.
The robot sputtered, and with an electrical hiss, it died. Euphoria watched as the red line on her display winked out, so she let out a breath; only glaring briefly at her rifle. The rust-stained metal, looked brittle and the wood had cracked in several places; sending a long jagged line down the middle of the gun.
Frowning, Euphoria slid her .32 Hunting Rifle back into her battle-saddle, and rose from the floor. With determination flaring in her eyes, she wandered over to the robot, stopping in front of it as she looked towards the end of the hallway. There, Yiltse slowly stepped out from behind the wall, and trotted over towards her. “Great start,” he commented smugly; Euphoria half-expected him to smile, but let the thought slip away quickly.
“Yeah, we're alive,” she said and snorted as she turned her attention back to the robot-carcass in front of her. As it had died, the robot had rolled backwards, and was now leaning against the wall – it had rolled over a dimple in the metal-floor, and lost its balance. A grin came on Euphoria's face, as she reached a hoof out and ripped open a panel in the side of the robot. “There has to be something I can do with this,” she said, as she pulled out a hoof full of wires, screws, a cracked board – essentially, the insides of the automaton.
She shared a disgruntled look with Yiltse, as she put some of the contents into her saddlebags. “Before you ask,” Euphoria said, and resumed walking further down the hallway, towards another bend. “No, I don't have a plan,” she finished, but Yiltse said nothing, so Euphoria was left with listening to the distant sound of whirring wheels.
Somewhere, further inside this doomed sea of rust, there were more of these robots, but Euphoria couldn't be sure as to how many there were. Her trusty satin-black Pip-Buck, was on the fritz. It had started only a minute after the door to the outside world had closed; sure, for the most part it displayed what it should, but from time to time, the screen flickered and a loud pop rang out from its speaker; it put Euphoria on edge.
Quickly, and decisively, Euphoria shook the unnerving thought away, and just focused on the new hallway ahead of herself. Flickering lights beat down on them, but they were cold, and cast a dim blue-light against the metal – the rust being highlighted in grim detail. A capsule of rounded steel, embedded in the ceiling sparked to life, as the two neared it.
Level 1: Reception. As her eyes scanned across the word, Euphoria fought with hiding back a laugh, and snorted hard into her hoof as she brought it up to stifle herself. Reception... yeah, we got an awesome one of those! Her mind called out, and Euphoria couldn't help herself. Her soft giggling filled the hallway, but was silenced quickly.
An awfully familiar sound reached their ears, so Euphoria pressed her weight against the wall to her left, inching forward at a leisurely pace. No more than five paces in front of her, a doorway into a room stood open, and Euphoria twitched her ears as she neared the open portal. From within, she could hear the mechanical clatter of moving gears rise in pitch, along with the stomping of hooves; metal, she assumed.
“You will die a coward's death!” The tinny voice of a metal-stallion snarled, as it stepped out in view of Euphoria. Once it had cleared enough of the doorway, she bit down on her bridle, and watched as the bullet pinged off of the metal, and hit the ceiling. “Equestria's enemies, will be punished!” the robot tossed at Euphoria, as it turned slowly.
Burning-hot death lashed at Euphoria, and she jumped backwards, stumbling over herself. “Say hello to Celestia, zebra-scum!” the electrical voice of the metal-stallion once again hissed at Euphoria, and she looked up just quick enough to allow her vision to blur from red. She heard some-pony scream as darkness surrounded her, and her entire body felt numb.
Coldness encompassed her entire being.
*
Euphoria looked up at the behemoth with big orange eyes as it towered above her, but she couldn't help it and smiled wide; even as the monster's shadow loomed over her entire body. Biting her tongue in concentration, she dropped her teddy-bear and wobbled forwards, giggling at herself, as she inched an hoof out towards one orange, but mottled with patches of worn silver, metal-leg.
She yelped loudly as her warm hoof made contact with the stark cold of steel. Clutching her hoof, Euphoria stepped backwards and shook her head from side to side. “Mean robot,” she said, pouting immediately. Sitting down in front of it – at a comfortable distance, in case she needed to run – Euphoria looked over at her mother, as she stood to the side, and watched.
Her mother's deep blue eyes stared back at Euphoria, so Euphoria pouted more, and threw in a lip-wobble – her ultimate weapon. Seeing her filly, almost crying, made the older mare soften, and a smile crept across her muzzle. “Say hello to Applejack, honey.” Euphoria looked back up, her eyes sparkling, both from joy and sadness, and she looked from the robot to her mother.
“She's pretty....” Euphoria said to her mother and giggled. She let the name of the metal-creature roll around in her head, as she scanned the orange robot all over. Plates of worn metal had been welded together, and trimmed to exact specifications to give this particular robot, the look of a mare; the builders had even put in nylon hair, to serve as a makeshift mane and tail. “She's mean though,” the young filly admitted, and looked back at her mother with a slight frown, but it was lesser than before.
“Euphoria, honey, she's not mean.” The filly looked at the older mare, and just blinked her eyes in confusion. Ever so slowly, she tilted her head to one side, as the mare stepped closer. “Applejack here, will protect you from now on.” Euphoria didn't understand what her mother was talking about, but seeing her mother's gorgeous smile, she giggled and just nodded.
Once the older mare had stepped close enough, Euphoria leaped to her hooves and rushed over, hugging her mother's right hoof close. “I missed you, mommy...” she said, and poked her mother's almost bright-red Pip-Buck with her nose. Another soft giggle escaped Euphoria, as she looked up at her mother. “Some day, I'm gonna be a great scientist, just like you!”
Daybreak only smiled down at her little filly, and nodded. “Sure you will, honey.” A heavy thumping echoed in the room, and Euphoria gasped as she looked towards the door. “I'll be with you in a minute!” Daybreak called out, sounding sterner now, but as she turned back towards her little filly, a soft smile appeared on her face again. “Mommy have to get this, but she'll be back in a bit.” Even though her lip quivered, Euphoria nodded and reluctantly let her mother's hoof slip from her warm embrace.
With a nod, Daybreak flared her horn, and switched 'Applejack' on as she walked past. “Unit zero-three-eight-nine – active!” a dark, metallic voice said, and the head of the metal-mare jerked to the left, before jerking towards the right also; Euphoria only sat back and watched with big eyes, as she tugged her teddy-bear close. “Voice-module, Applejack edition – activate!”
A high-pitched screech filled the room, as 'Applejack' lifted each of her hooves up and down, and Euphoria watched as the gears within turned. “Well, golly!” came the soft and sweet voice of a mare. Upon hearing the voice, Euphoria dropped her teddy-bear and inched closer, as the dead, black glassy eyes of the mare came to life, with a brilliant green glow. “Optics – active!” the soft voice called out, startling Euphoria.
“You don't have to be afraid, sugarcube,” the soft mare's voice of 'Applejack' spoke again, and turned its metal-head towards the table, where Euphoria had decided to seek refuge. “It's all right. Come on out now, won't you?” the filly pricked her ears, but shook her head. “Aww, there's nothin' to be afraid of. There's no scary monsters out here,” 'Applejack' added, and Euphoria watched as a spark flared between the hairs in the robot's mane.
“Bad robot, bad robot...” Euphoria said softly, and soon she only mouthed the words, so as Applejack wouldn't hear her. She clutched her teddy-bear tightly, and just stared at the orange metal-creature still standing in the middle of the room. “You're a meany-weenie!” Euphoria called out, and inched backwards – stifling a yelp, as her rear came in contact with a cold metal wall.
“What are you so scared of?” 'Applejack' asked, and tilted its head to the side. “You are safe with me. Nothin's gonna hurt you, while I'm here,” Euphoria could feel a shiver go down her back, as she shook her head from side to side quickly.
*
As the memory faded, and Euphoria could see again, she found herself cowering in a corner inside the room from where the Protectron had emerged. It didn't take long before her pain-sensors screamed at her, and Euphoria looked down at her one singed hoof – her coat still crackling red. “Fucking hell!” she screamed, and bit her lip, trying to stifle most of her pained squeal.
Though she had little luck in doing so, she kept it up until she had swallowed most of her scream. Beneath her singed coat, Euphoria could see her blistered skin, and bubbling blood as it oozed thick from a few open sores. On one side of her hoof, almost all of Euphoria's coat had been burned off, and the smell of cooking meat hung in the air as black smoke wafted around Euphoria.
She felt as if the insides of her hoof was on fire, as if she was slowly cooking herself. In a grim pit of irony, a strange thought crossed Euphoria's mind. Maybe I would get something to eat then... The thought itself didn't worry Euphoria, but the fact that she was salivating at the idea, was a scary feeling.
Trying to ease herself away from such grim thoughts, Euphoria looked over the room with scarce decorating. Hanging on one wall, half-scorched, was a poster of a light-blue unicorn mare, in a stable-uniform. Over her horn, hovering in sparkling yellow magic, was a small translucent packed of bright-orange viscous matter. Over that, in bold letters, it read: RAD-AWAY!
Euphoria's eyes slowly narrowed into a glare, as her muzzle formed a deep frown. “Seriously, now you're just mocking me, wasteland.” As pain flared up from her hoof, Euphoria winced and looked away. Her gaze feel upon two large, hollow tubes off to one corner. Each one had a terminal situated into the side, but both were empty and the terminals black.
“Figures...” she added with words swimming in sarcasm. A cough quickly followed, and Euphoria wretched, struggling to keep herself sitting against the cold, rusted steel wall behind her. Something twisted in her gut, and she coughed hard – spitting out blood onto the floor in front of her. “Not... good...”
Using her good fore-hoof, Euphoria looked over her inventory and fished out a health-potion – one of the last two she had. It was hard-work and her head swam from the effort, but after a few seconds of trying, she managed to uncork the thing and gulped down the bitter flavour. When she was done, Euphoria simply threw the bottle away, smiling briefly as she heard the glass break.
The mare watched in awe, as the parts of her coat that showed exposed – still smoking flesh – knit themselves together, rather neatly. It didn't take long, and within seconds her hoof look good as new, except for the scorch-marks still apparent, and the fur still missing; apparently health-potions, didn't heal hair – baldness was not curable, even by those.
As the liquid settled in Euphoria's stomach, she let her eyes drift from the tubes over to the overturned rack of wood, and perforated steel girders – despite the rust, some of them had faired pretty well, and still had some splotches of flaky paint on them. Between the wooden boards, she saw a clutter of stained bottles and rusted steel-blocks, that Euphoria surmised had been conductors at one point, but were now just a mockery of that technology.
Giving a snort filled with pain, Euphoria looked from that particular mess, over to the mess at the entrance. Sprawled halfway-through the metal-hatch, was the robot that had attacked her earlier, and its head was now less intact, she noted. “Yiltse...?” Euphoria's asked the emptiness of the room, and the flickering silver-blue light coming from the outside.
“Yes,” came the zebra's voice after an all too long pause, but Euphoria still smiled as she leaned her head back, quietly staring at the ceiling above. Of course it followed the same patterns as everything else in this crappy place – rust.
Feeling well enough, Euphoria got onto her hooves, swaying just a little to one side, as she tried to steady herself. At the end of the room, sitting on a table next to the door, was a still, green terminal. “Easy,” she commented, gulping back down her own blood and vomit. “I'll never get shot by a magical beam-weapon, again,” Euphoria said and snickered as she wobbled over to the table, and its prize.
“Hacksaw,” Euphoria said with a grimace, as she gained access to the terminal and its single mail(!) Without hesitation, she opened it. “Worry...? Hmm...” she said, reading the header of the file in question.
“What is this shit? Suddenly the place gets all nice and cosy with Protectrons, just 'cause Robronco decided to buy us out? It worries me, really. They even installed a 'Morality-sensor,' in the entryway, so as nasty zebras wouldn't get inside. What do they think that would accomplish? Even if a zebra could get inside, they would have to fight through five levels of hostile ponies and machines, before they found the control-centre. Heck, I could even just give a zebra my module, and let them in – it just clicks into any- old Pip-Buck, even the old Model one-thousand! Paranoid-ass-holes, is what this shitty group is.”
“Well... that was a mouthful,” Euphoria said, as she swung her body away from the terminal and trotted back into the hallway. She didn't even turn, as she spoke. “New plan: We find the command-centre, get a module, and get the fuck out of here.” She looked over at the zebra, as she added: “Sound cool to you?”
*
The not-so gorgeous painting sizzled and crumbled into a pile of ashes, as Euphoria ducked back down behind the counter. “Fucking hell!” she said, and focused on unjamming her trusty rifle again. It had gotten to the point that she wondered why she even still had it. “Come on, you piece of shit hardware!” she angrily yelled, as her ears flicked at the sound of metal crashing against the floor outside.
“You will die!” the stomping robot said, as it strolled fully into the room, and fired a barrage of red-hot beams at the counter. Euphoria yelped, as it succeeded in punching a few holes through the wood, tearing away patches of fur on her coat along with its beam of pain. Still working one hoof on her jammed rifle, Euphoria inched to her right, trying to avoid the magical lasers.
“No! You will fucking die, you piece of shit!” Euphoria screamed as her muzzle twisted into a grin. With a glint of determination in her eyes, she rolled from her cover and broke into a gallop, as quickly as she could. Her vision filled with red, as the robot decided to fire a few more beams her way, so Euphoria darted from right to left.
Even in her heightened agile pace, the Protectron managed to get a few lucky shots in, and Euphoria bit the pain back as she neared the metal-monster; luckily, it was only surface-wounds. “Hey, you fucker!” she screamed, and bit down on the handle of her rifle, swinging it around.
It impacted against the metal-plates with a loud, hollow echo of metal that slowly dimmed. Except for looking slightly baffled and unable to act, the Protectron looked as if it hadn't taken any damage, so Euphoria brought her rifle around for another hit. Swinging her rifle hard, she aimed for the robot's single eye of shining cream-coloured light.
As soon as the muzzle of the .32 hunting rifle hit the glass of the robot, Euphoria wobbled backwards; her entire body shaking from the impact. “Why won't you die!?” she asked, and lunged at the Protectron, dropping her weapon in the process. The upper-half of the robot swung around, and fired its beam-weapons once again, painting half the floor in scorching red.
Euphoria didn't think about it, as her entire body impacted the robot, and the thing wobbled onto one side, then tilted long enough for it to fall over, onto the floor. “Officer down, officer down!” the robot cried in mock-sadness, but Euphoria just snickered to herself, as she rubbed her hooves against her temples, frowning at the pain.
“Well, well...” she said, as she walked over to the front of the Protectron and snickered again. “Looks like you're in trouble,” she added with a knowing smirk, as the robot's top-body tried to turn, but it was stopped by the floor. “What? Mare got your tongue?” Euphoria teased.
Evidently not liking her humour, the Protectron responded by firing another barrage of beams at Euphoria's face. With a loud yelp, she tossed herself to the floor and rolled to her right, dodging the Protectron's limited field of fire. “Shit, that was close...” she commented, but had trouble holding back her laugh as she looked back at the robot, still firing at the wall behind the bar-counter.
“I should probably not celebrate, before my target is dead,” she said, brandishing a wide grin, as she scooped up her rifle, and in one swift-motioned unjammed the thing. Cackling, Euphoria walked out of the room, just as the empty brass-casing of a cold, and long since fired bullet pinged off the metal-hide of another Protectron
“Zebra-scum located,” the thing said, as Euphoria turned to look at it, only grinning more, as she slid her rifle back into the battle-saddle. “Deadly force has been authorized,” the Protectron said, and stomped towards Euphoria, but before it could fire, she bit down on her bridle.
Still grinning, Euphoria watched as the robot fumbled to the side and torched the walls in blazing red. “Wow...” she commented, as she watched the sparks coming from the now open gash in the front of the Protectron, only marvelling at the fact that it was still working. As it kept firing, Euphoria frowned deeply. “Really? You're not gonna die?”
With a sudden sizzling pop, the Protectron stopped dead in its tracks. Not fully believing her eyes, Euphoria inched closer and poked it with a hoof. Several more times she did it, before she managed to push the thing over onto its side and nodded to herself. “Yup, dead as dead can be.” Her ears flicked again, and she heard another robot shatter with the dying sound of its voice, casting eerie voices down the lengthy hallway.
Grinning once more, Euphoria quickly leapt into a gallop, trying to forget the pain still flaring from her hoof. Her hooves echoed briefly, as they made contact with hard-metal, so Euphoria's anger rose at the annoying sound, and at the fact that she wasn't able to get to the end of the hallway quicker than she did.
When she got there, all Euphoria wanted to do was go back down the hallway again.
“Turret!” she screamed, as muzzle-fire screamed hot magical beams in her direction. As Euphoria clung her body to the wall behind her, she felt hot – her face felt hot. Slowly, panting, she lifted a hoof to the side of her face and pulled it back, so she could look at it. Crimson liquid dripped from her hoof, but she didn't scream. “Fuck...! You're dead now!”
A cackling laugh rose in Euphoria's lungs as she darted from the cover, and slid into the calm of S.A.T.S., taking aim at the turret in the roof. She loaded up two bullets, as she tried to conserve her ammo, as it was getting dangerously low. Slowly, the world sped back into normal rotation, and her rifle flared with muzzle-fire.
Erupting into a plume of orange, red, and greys – the turret exploded into shrapnel that reigned back down onto the floor. “Yes! In your face, turret!” Euphoria cackled and pranced past the debris, into the room to her left.
In front of her, she could see Yiltse kicking his hind-legs into a Protectron, shattering its optics. “For the glory of....” was all the robot could say, as it drawled on and its voice died away to static. Its body however hissed, and popped, spewing an explosion of metal-shrapnel onto the warped floor.
“So...” Euphoria commented as she stepped into the field, and looked up at the distant metal pole that listed to one side. The glass-casing behind the single, metal hoop with a torn net still attached to it, had been shattered, and made Euphoria snicker lightly. “Are you that good at basketball?” she asked Yiltse, cocking an eyebrow, and tilting her head at the zebra as he delivered another kick to the robot, making sure that it was dead.
“I don't play any sport,” he answered flatly and looked up at the two poles standing at each side of the warped, and mold-stained floor. “Ever,” he added – sounding a bit more on edge than he usually did. Euphoria simply shrugged it off, and followed the zebra out from the basketball court and its broken down stands.
“At least that's one more level cleared,” Euphoria stated as she walked with Yiltse down the hallway. “But, I think after this, I'll stay as far away from robots as I can, even friendly ones!” she added, thinking briefly of the myriad of robots that had been present in her Stable. As she thought about it, she slowed her pace and let Yiltse drift ahead; he wasn't answering anyway.
It didn't take much for the thought to pull away, as Euphoria looked over a half-open door that had been made sure to stay that way – there was a bed, put onto its side, so that it kept the door from shutting completely, even though the mechanism was still desperately trying to. Euphoria moved past the bed, but lowered herself a bit as she walked under the door and into the room; shuddering briefly.
Flower-print wallpaper decorated the small room, and even though it had faded severely, Euphoria could make out most of the yellow flowers. Off to the side of the room, there was a dresser, so Euphoria headed over to it. Luckily, it hadn't been locked, but it was also empty; she didn't know if she wanted to smile or just bash the brittle wood.
As her gaze drifted towards the end of the room, Euphoria's eyes lit up. She immediately darted from the drawer to the table, and its terminal. On most of the table, papers had been scattered, but Euphoria didn't even look at them, as she accessed the ancient computer, grinning as it hadn't been locked.
Four mails appeared on screen, and Euphoria smiled wide as she opened the first one, even thought it had no title.
“How's it hangin', bro? Guess I won't be coming home for a while, so tell mom and dad that I'm sorry. These new Robronco guys, tell me I'm important to the cause – vital to their puzzle. Me? I think it's a bunch of bull-crap, it's just 'cause we have that one uncle in the family that's zebra. I'm telling you, this place is getting weirder by the day.”
Euphoria frowned and closed the mail, opening the next one titled: 'Far out, huh?'
“Now, I have a 24-hour detail of Protectrons 'protecting' me. It's weird, and I miss you. How did mom take the message? I bet she wasn't thrilled, but I'll just have to suck it up for the cause. Still, I can't help this nagging sensation I get every-time I go out for a glass of water. At least, they haven't taken away the court and bar – mare, I wouldn't last even a day in this place if I couldn't drink away my troubles. As always, miss you guys loads!”
The next one was titled: 'Super-weird,' and Euphoria simply groaned before she ducked into the mail.
“The level of weirdness, just topped like level ten! Not only can't I go where I want any-more, we also have a new investor. Some weird company way out to the East, named Acme or something. They've taken serious precautions, and now all we do is research weapons. I thought we were going to research countermeasures to bale-fire bombs? I guess not.... Oh, yeah, I heard about Firelight – I hope mom's okay. They only gave me a day off work here, and that time I was forced to stay in my room. Sorry, I couldn't be at the funeral... I really can't come up with anything to say now....”
Euphoria just went one to the next one, and didn't stop to ponder the meaning – she couldn't grieve for some-pony that she hadn't met, and was dead long ago. Just like the first mail, the last one didn't have a header or title.
“...They're coming for me, brother. Tomorrow, today, next week! I don't know when, but I got the message. Heck, I'm not even sure if you'll be able to get this message. They say it's because I'm a traitor to Equestria, and that's just 'cause I've been sending these mails! But, fuck it! They've been rounding up a few ponies for weeks now, and taken them down to Research and Experimentation. I don't know what's going on, I just don't! Tell mom and dad that I'm sorry, but I won't let those fuckers get me alive!”
As Euphoria pushed away from the table and the terminal, she glanced next to it, to see a scorched skeleton huddled up against the wall. “Looks like she got her wish,” she commented dourly and quickly stepped out of the room; minding the door again, fearing that it might just manage to force through the bed when she was under it. Euphoria winced at the thought, and moved down the hallway.
She passed a few more doors on her way, but all those were locked down and wouldn't budge, so Euphoria suspected that whomever owned this place, had locked the doors centuries ago, and now they were simply welded shut because of decades of rust. She simply shrugged and walked around the bend at the end of the hallway, and stopped in front of Yiltse.
A deep furrow appeared on Euphoria's brow as she looked at the wall in front of her, and the door to her left that lead to a staircase. “What the fuck? Was that really necessary?” she asked and gestured at the wall in front of her; Yiltse just shrugged and walked through the doorway. Euphoria groaned and sighed, glancing at the sign above the door as she walked up to it.
'Level 3: Experimentation,' the sign declared in flashing blue letters, before a quick message replaced the letters. 'Authorized Personnel only,' it added in stark red, that only caused Euphoria to smirk slightly. “Why don't you just suck a rock, and try and stop me, sign!” she cackled and stepped through the doorway.
The dull sound of perforated metal echoed in the tight corridor, as Euphoria walked down the winding staircase. In front of her, she watched as the tip of Yiltse's grey and white tail vanished around the corner. Euphoria quickly followed suit, and soon walked out into another hallway, lined with doors on her left, and only rusted walls on the right.
She frowned and followed after Yiltse, picking up her pace as she had fallen behind a bit more than she wanted. As she trotted, Euphoria glanced at the doors. Just as the floor above, these doors were locked, and even had a warning plastered above them. 'Contaminant,' each warning stated flatly in dark-red letters.
“Who would keep contaminated rooms on a level for research and experimentation?” she asked, and looked at Yiltse, but the zebra said nothing. Euphoria just snorted and trotted ahead. “Guess, I'll just find out on my own,” she added with a snicker, and turned to look back at Yiltse as she laughed.
Her laugh was cut short, as she bumped into something. “Fuck...” Euphoria groaned and shook her head, as she looked up, seeing the familiar glass-dome of a Brainbot. “Okay... fuck this!” she shouted, and shoved against the barrel of the robot as she got to her hooves. Burning lasers scorched the walls, as the robot cried another remark after Euphoria.
“You are in violation of code Orange, four-five-nine – explain yourself, scum!” Euphoria frowned, as she darted out of the way of another beam of light. How am I supposed to explain myself, when you're trying to torch my flank? She thought, and bit her lip, as she slid to the floor, just as a beam singed her mane.
“Never!” she shot back, and bit down on her bridle, firing a set of bullets into the head of the Brainbot. The glass shattered, and blood painted the back of the dome, as fluids leaked out of the front, and the bot slowed to a stop. A distant ping rang out, and Euphoria looked at her rifle, tapping the muzzle. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Euphoria sat down, and slid out her rifle again, as she fussed about with the firing pin, in a desperate attempt to dislodge the thing, but it wouldn't budge. “You know what? Fuck you!” Euphoria growled, and slipped the rifle back into her battle-saddle. “I'll do just fine without you, I might even replace you...” she added with a sick grin, and cackled to herself as she got back up, and rounded the bend.
Rolling out from three doors on Euphoria's left, were two Protectrons and yet another Brainbot. Euphoria looked on with both amusement, and a bored look that mixed. “This place is like a fucking fortress, and those two stallions sent me here?” Yiltse looked at her, and cocked an eyebrow.
Snorting, Euphoria stared back at the robots that trundled and stomped into the long hallway, that stretched until it bent to the right again. “I told you they weren't normal,” the zebra stallion said coldly, getting Euphoria's attention for a brief second, as she tilted her head, enough to avoid a beam of red light.
“Maybe... but that's not enough,” Euphoria said dryly as she turned her attention back to the slowly attacking robots. “Whatever, I can think about that later. Now, it's time to finish this!” She grinned at the stallion, but he just rolled his eyes and galloped ahead. Euphoria stood back and watched, mouth half-agape.
Yiltse had no trouble in taking care of those three robots at the same time. He charged head on into the brain-bot, and crushed the cover protecting its central-mechanism. Taking the wires in his mouth, he yanked the power-module out, before staggered backwards himself. A laser had hit him in the flank, but he didn't look bothered at all.
Dropping the lump of metal and wires from his mouth, Yiltse dodged another set of lasers, and kicked out the legs of one of the Protectrons. With a satisfying crunch of metal, and the rattle of of nuts and bolts, the robot exploded. “Do not interfere with the law! Lethal force has been authorized,” the last Protectron stated simply as Yiltse turned his attention to the robot.
“Looks like they didn't think about him, when they made the security in this place.” Even as she said it, Euphoria couldn't help but think that something was off. “I guess, it's nothing,” she added with a drawl and a shrug, as Yiltse shattered the ocular of the last Protectron.
The sound made Euphoria snicker, as she got up and walked towards the first door. She quietly slipped inside, letting Yiltse stand guard for the moment. The room itself was surprisingly large, and was easily the size of two stable-rooms mashed together. Dummy-ponies had been rigged up at one end of the room, with crudely painted stripes on their bodies.
As Euphoria walked deeper into the room, she examined the dummy-ponies. Over the years, they had faded badly, and would no doubt crumble into pieces if she were to touch them now. Still, she could see that they had once been mannequins – evident from the pose they were in – though some-pony had added the stripes after the fact; probably a crude attempt to create zebra-targets, Euphoria figured.
On the other side of the room, opposite of the 'targets' a terminal glowed on top of a table, where several books lay next to it. Euphoria smiled, briefly wondering how the computers could look so beat up, and yet function almost perfect after so many years. Once she stepped up to the terminal, Euphoria found that user: 'Taffy,' was already logged in.
Quickly, she slipped into the calm of the first mail, that was apparently addressed to all staff in Glastinghouse shielded-bunker fourteen; at least now, Euphoria had a name for this place.
“We are all happy to incorporate every single pony in Glastinghouse Industries to the proud Robronco family, and we know that there will be some difficulties for you all, as you will have to adapt to our method. But, you will find that in time, you'll be safer being a part of a large company, rather than be an independent worker. One of these new changes, will affect the experimentation wing, that will receive a new chief administrator. Be kind, and remember the four rules of a pleasant working environment, and you will have no trouble in adapting to her... unique-style.”
These Robronco-fellows, seemed to Euphoria as if they wanted to run the entire world, and not only do that, they wanted to run it with an iron-hoof. The haze in front of the picture had begun to clear, and Euphoria found herself actually interested in finding out more. At first, she had only done it to waste time, but now it had become something of a hobby of her. She couldn't help it, and smirked as she darted into the second and last mail on the terminal.
“My transfer-request got pulled, by our new 'leader.' Sheesh, now I'm not even allowed to transfer out of here? Along with the fact that ponies have gone missing for weeks now, from the top-levels is odd. I see them go down here, or down to the lower levels, but I never see them come out. Oh, yeah, I got my access restricted last week as well. Fucking cunt! I didn't serve under Applejack for four years, to get put back behind a desk by some fucking bitch that doesn't know the first thing about leading. If I could, I would quit.”
The vitriol present in the message, caused Euphoria to frown, and she stepped out of the room quickly. Darting past the wreckage of the robots and Yiltse, Euphoria headed into the next room.
Within, she found an equally large room, but where the 'targets' had been, she only found four chains linked to the floor. Each set of chains, lined up perfectly with a pedestal that held a rusted gun, no longer operational. Euphoria frowned at the image, and felt as if this entire place was just taunting her.
Next to the central line, Euphoria saw a grey terminal – instead of the usual green-ones – and some sort of small-box on top, with a perforated grill on the front. Perked by her own curiosity, she walked up to the terminal, and flicked the on-switch. “...perminent twenty-three.” The strange voice of a mare boomed in the room, and Euphoria scooted backwards from the terminal.
The small grey box with the perforated grill, was now beaming a blue image of a unicorn mare levitating a clip-board next to herself. She was dressed in a lab-coat, and both her mane and tail was neatly tied into a pony-tail. Fixing the black-rimmed glasses on her nose, the mare spoke again, addressing a pony off-screen. “Are we ready?”
“Yes,” came a disembodied voice, as the mare walked out of the view. “Experiment twenty-three: Electrical current, displaced through the aperture of a rifle,” the bored-sounding voice of the stallion off-screen continued. As he talked, the image of a zebra-mare chained up to the floor appeared, and Euphoria held back a gasp; she already knew what was going to happen.
Talking in what, Euphoria suspected was zebra, the mare sounded frightened, and her eyes darted everywhere. Then, she slipped into equestrian. “Please, I have done nothing wrong. Let me go... it's not my fault...” the mare begged for her life, whimpering. She only got laughs in return, as something electrical buzzed to life off-screen.
“Firing...” the mare stated calmly off-screen, as a burst of blue light flew at the mare, shearing one of her ears off, and Euphoria watched as it simply evaporated. “Test successful. Head administrator Triage, will be pleased.” There was a pause in the recording, and Euphoria just watched the zebra mare scream and tug at her chains. “Finish her off,” the mare in the lab-coat said calmly.
Cutting out with a scream, and another burst of light, the recording ended. Looking at the terminal, Euphoria saw that there had at least been five recorded experiments, but from what the mare said, she knew that the story was way more gruesome. Half-dreading what she was going to see, Euphoria opened another file.
At first, all she saw was four empty cuff-links, and chains. Then, she flicked her ears as she heard the screaming, and panicked-voice of a mare. “Get your hooves off of me!” the mare said. “I don't belong in here..!” Euphoria watched, as a pegasus mare got dragged into view by three stallions in lab-coats. She screamed and thrashed with her hooves, but the stallions had no trouble in chaining her down.
“You should be proud of yourself, Windswept. You'll be the mother of a whole new technology,” a suspiciously calm voice of what sounded as an elderly mare said, but Euphoria couldn't see her. “With what we learn here today, we'll be able to remake Equestria. We might even win the war, just by sacrificing your life. I think, that's a good deal.”
“Fuck you, administrator!” the chained up pegasus spat back, struggling against the short chains. “You're not allowed to do experiments on ponies, remember? When this gets out, I'll report you personally to ministry-mare Applejack.”
Off-screen, the administrator laughed. “You'll do nothing of the sort, since you'll be dead. I assure you though, that even Applejack will benefit from this research. Just imagine, you'll be the mother of an entirely new line of robots, and with those we'll crush the zebras and their lousy tribes.” The mare looked on with determination in her eyes, as the recording cut out.
After a few seconds of nothing, an image of the chained-up pegasus reappeared, but she had gotten some large guns fused into the side of her hide. The skin was bloated, and fur-less both where the gun had been attached, and the surrounding skin. As she awoke, the mare screamed, and flailed her hooves wildly in a desperate attempt to escape the horror.
“Initiate the pulse,” the administrator commanded. Before her eyes, the mare twitched, and Euphoria watched as the skin around the awkwardly sized gun, bulged out and the surrounding area, got more fur burned off. “Interesting,” the cold voice of the administrator commented, as the mare gasped for air.
“Oh Celestia! It's burning!” the flailing pegasus screamed, as the skin where the gun was attached had begun to redden horribly. “Please, make it stop!” she cried in agony, but as far as she could tell, the administrator didn't stop the research. “I'll do anything! J-just make it stop!” the mare added.
“You don't have anything we want,” the administrator answered back, laughing a bit, as the skin around the weapon simply melted away. Landing in a heap of fresh ashes, the weapon detached itself from the mare's side, and gave Euphoria a good view of her insides. “Write that up as a failure. Though, I believe there still is something to gain from this.” The mare only kept screaming in agony, as the recording finished.
As silence fell on the room, and Euphoria, she didn't know what to say – or even think for that matter. She felt a lump rise in her throat, as she pushed another recording – the last one on the list.
Appearing, in front of Euphoria now was a Protectron, standing silently where the chains where. It, compared to the pony and zebra, hadn't been chained up. “Experiment forty-seven,” came the voice of the administrator. A second later, a bright blue beam fired at the robot, and it disintegrated into a nice pile of black ashes.
“Test successful. I will send the message to Applejack, personally. She will be quite happy with the results we have achieved here,” the administrator said coldly as the recording shut off. Euphoria felt bile rise in her throat, and before she could even say anything, she wretched, coughing.
“For fuck's sake...” she commented, wiping some spit from the side of her mouth, adding to it with some coughs. “I haven't even had anything to eat in hours,” Euphoria added as her stomach replied by growling low. “Oh, just shut up,” she growled back and rose to her hooves. Taking one last look a the terminal before she walked out, Euphoria just grimaced.
Stepping back out into the hallway, Euphoria turned to look at Yiltse and gave him a curt nod. “I know... I know why you hate ponies so much now...” He didn't even flinch as she spoke, and stood unmoving, but Euphoria felt as if she had gained something here today. With the ghost of a smile on her muzzle, Euphoria trotted over to the last open door.
Inside, she found it to be a medical bay, but not just for ponies. The room was decked out with the usual beds, tables, blood-packs, and equipment to fix ponies, but it had also been supplied with enough scrap-iron to repair even the most faulty robot; it really hadn't come at a surprise for Euphoria.
She was more surprised over the fact that they even had a place to fix injured ponies, since they didn't seem to care about the lives of their workers. Using a stray piece of scrap-iron she found, Euphoria sat down next to the dirty hospital-bed, and took out her rifle. She sat it down on the floor, and took the sheared piece of metal between her teeth.
Lowering her head, Euphoria slipped the metal in-between the flat-piece of metal keeping the bullet-casing lodged inside her rifle, and the pin that refused to open. She wiggled it around for a few moments, using a hoof at the same time to pry the pin away. After some gruelling moments, the pin gave, and Euphoria went cross-eyed as the cold casing of .32 bullet hit her square in the forehead.
The piece of metal she had between her teeth, fell to the ground, as Euphoria tasted blood. “At least, we're friends again,” she lamented as she put the rifle back into her battle-saddle. Even as she smiled at the thought, Euphoria found it a bit odd to be thinking of her rifle as a friend.
She just scoffed at the idea with a snort, and searched the two yellow med-kits attached to one wall. Inside, she found one health-potion, and two syringes – which she threw away, though she kept the health-potion. Besides that, the room held little of value and Euphoria trotted back into the hallway, and headed down towards the bend in the hallway.
“Heard of Acme?” Euphoria asked as she slowed down a bit, so she was walking side by side with Yiltse.
“An important company, somewhere far, far out to the east. Though they, and their associates haven't been sighted here for decades, at least,” Yiltse said calmly. “They're of no concern,” he added quickly, as if he wanted to reaffirm the notion to himself more than he was simply answering Euphoria.
"Oh... guess, I won't have to pay the assholes a visit then,” Euphoria said angrily, as she stopped in front of yet another wall, and the staircase to the next floor. “Great layout,” she added sarcastically and looked towards Yiltse, smirking a bit. He looked back at her, and trotted briskly down the staircase. “Fine, then...”
'Level 4: Cells,' the sign above the open door to the staircase boomed in the same flickering letters, as the other signs. Euphoria looked at the sign, and frowned. Really? Who's bright idea is it to keep your enemies only one floor above your command-centre? She thought, and her mind quickly darted back to the holo-recordings.
Right... you could use them as leverage, if somebody did decide to invade, she thought, snorting. “Clever, administrator,” Euphoria said and wandered down the staircase as well. As she walked, the light in the circular tube dimmed, and by the time she stepped out into the hallway, it was completely darkness.
“Oh, great...” Euphoria commented and flicked on the light on her pip-buck. This hallway looked exactly like the others, except for the fact that there was only one door, at least as far as Euphoria could see. As Euphoria looked up, she wondered why the light was out. It didn't look shattered, she thought, and it certainly wasn't power-issues since the other levels had no light-problems.
Before she could contemplate over the reasons, a faint click made her ears twitch in response. “You are a piece of work, did you know that? If anything, you're committed to your cause. But, do you know how committed your companion is?” Euphoria looked over at Yiltse, who just looked back at her.
“I bet, you don't even know who he really is, do you?” As Euphoria frowned, the mare on the PA cackled. “Oh, really!? I can't believe that you're that dumb! History-lesson, dumb cunt!” Euphoria growled at the profanity in the pony... or zebra's message to her. “A few years ago, when Red-Eye was all lovey-dovey with the Goddess, this region was untouched!
“All we had were a giant fucking army of pegasi, 'protecting' us from ourselves. They kept the peace, and kept us subdued. Of course, it didn't take long for things to go bad further to the east, where Red Eye was prowling for turf, and that made the pegasi act. To be able to do that, they pulled the majority of their army from this place, to reinforce their new war-effort, as it were.
“Once they were gone, guess what happened? Raiders! Exactly! Born from the womb of the Enclave themselves, were the scum that permeate every acre of Equestria today. Of course, this place is quite unique. Compared to other places, the Raiders in this region knew what cooperation meant, and with a charismatic leader that kept them in line, they crushed everything in their path.
“Your friend, the zebra, was part of this group. Oh, yes, he was! For a fair amount of time, he worked as a Raider, so that he could keep his own tribe alive. You see, this group of Raiders subdued, and absorbed any tribe of ponies or zebras they could find, thus giving birth to one of the greatest Raider-gangs in the story of New Equestria!” The mare cackled maniacally, as Euphoria frowned.
"Is it true?” she asked Yiltse and turned her head to look at him.
“The truth, is what you make of it,” he answered dryly, which only made Euphoria frown more. Though, she did follow him, when he walked down the hallway, into the looming darkness. “I have done things that I'm not proud of, but so have you.” Euphoria didn't even hide it, and nodded her head in response, knowing how bad she still felt about Night Letter, her mother, HE, and all the ponies in her Stable.
“I guess it doesn't matter,” she said as they walked together. “Who am I to judge, as long as you're not working with those ponies any-more,” she added and looked towards Yiltse. Even though, she hadn't really questioned him, he nodded in response. Euphoria smiled to herself, and stopped in front of the single door in the hallway.
Before she went towards the door, she however checked down the next hallway. Slowly, she peeked her head over the edge and peered down the hallway towards yet another blank wall, and a door to the right. “Sheesh, they really didn't want zebras getting inside here at all...” She looked towards Yiltse, but he didn't seem bothered, so she didn't say sorry either.
Having surmised that there were no robots lurking in the darkness, Euphoria slinked back over to the door, and stepped inside. Grimacing, as she watched the door retract into the ceiling, before she went inside the room.
To either side of her, Euphoria was flanked by a barrage of rusted steel-bars. Each side held four cells, and within a few, she noticed the charred skeletons of ponies, or zebras. “When I find you, administrator, I'm going to kill you, and it's going to be painful,” she said with a light malevolence in her tone, as she took a tour of the cells.
All the accused ponies had in this place, were a bed with bad springs, and a hole in the ground so that they could shit. The entire thing was appalling to Euphoria, but it didn't surprise her at all. Just another day in Equestria... or is that New Equestria? Euphoria wondered, as she ended her tour back at the door.
She gave a curt bow to the skeletons, already decades old, then stepped back outside. Euphoria didn't talk to Yiltse, as they headed together for the door at the end of the hallway – unlike the others, there was no staircase blocking them, instead the door stood to her right.
The staircase down to the door, was short, and Euphoria stopped just in front of the door. She looked up, smiling as she confirmed it. 'Level 5: Command-Centre,' the flickering lights in the sign said. “Here we go,” Euphoria said, grinning wide, as she pawed at the ground briefly. Without thinking, she bolted through the door, as soon as it opened and vanished into the wall.
Her entire body froze, as she came to a halt just as she had ascended the short and soft incline into the large rotunda. Ancient computers glowing green stood into the circular walls surrounding her. To Euphoria's left was another short incline, but this one ended just in front of a large semi-circular office-table, with a cracked painting hanging behind it. Euphoria growled, as she noticed that the chair was empty.
Around her, the cackling voice of a mare rose, and Euphoria perked her ears as she heard the stomping of hooves. “What? You expected me to just let you take me? Fuck that, mare! I have survived far things worse than you, and survival is what I'm good at,” the mare said, just as Yiltse walked next to Euphoria. “It's a shame that you survived this long, I would have enjoyed to pick your body apart, but now I'll just have to finish you off myself, and that'll be much more painful for you.”
To the far side of the room, a bulky mare walked out from a door, and grinned at Euphoria. She couldn't believe her own eyes, yet she was staring right at her. Rusted plates had melded into skin, and was amateurishly fused with it – making it bloated, and scarred. Two giant laser-beam weapons, had been bolted straight into the side of the mare's midsection. As Euphoria's eyes wandered across the amalgamation of technology and biology, she finally laid eyes on her face.
Criss-crossing scars, and old stitch-wounds covered it from ear to ear, while her brain sloshed around in a glass-dome atop her head – steel-plates reinforcing the seams. She had one ear missing, and that had been replaced by a metallic one, with a large antenna attached to it. Noticing her eyes, the mare grinned and showed off a row of metallic-teeth, sharpened to deadly points; they glistened with spit in the light. “Shall we begin?” she asked, a mocking tone apparent in her surprisingly deep voice.
Euphoria dodged out of the way, as the beam-weapons slashed out to her. She bit back a loud yelp, as one of the beams hit her square in one of her hind-legs, and she wobbled unsteadily. Administrator only cackled loudly, as Yiltse charged for her. A loud bang echoed in the room, as Yiltse impacted the side of the Administrator. “Not so fast!” she spat back, and shoved Yiltse away – knocking him over. Cackling, the metal-creature slowly approached the zebra.
“Please... work...” Euphoria prayed, and bit down on her bridle as she crouched low. Her trusty .32 Hunting Rifle answered, by pinging off of the dome atop Administrator's head. “Gotcha!” she added victoriously, as the mare stopped and turned to her, snarling.
“Do you think you can kill me!?” Administrator asked, anger foaming at the mouth. “I've killed ponies better than you! You're nothing but another pony for me to absorb!” Administrator’s words slashed at Euphoria, but she didn't stop and think about it – she just moved around the room, making it difficult for Administrator to attack her with her superior fire-power. “Your skin will decorate everything in this room, by the time I'm done with you!” she added, as Euphoria skidded to a stop and dropped into S.A.T.S.
She aimed for the glass-dome and lined up two shots; having only three remaining after that. Orange muzzle-fire lit up the room in brief gashes of bright light, but Euphoria watched as the bullets pinged off the plates of metal, protecting the dome like seams of armour. Fuck! Euphoria cursed on the inside, as the mare just cackled.
Now having gotten back up, Yiltse charged for the abomination again, and this time, Administrator staggered slightly. Though, it didn't take long before she brought her guns to bare again, and shoved Yiltse away – painting one of his legs in red-hot laser-fire. Yiltse didn't scream, but collapsed in obvious agony as his entire body shivered; he was out of the battle.
Turning back to Euphoria, Administrator grinned wide from ear to ear, and she shuddered in return. “I've watched over this place for decades, and you two poor excuses for friends are not gonna ruin it! Do you think you're the first? Hardly!” Euphoria just snorted and focused on darting around the room, never staying in one place long enough for Administrator to focus her fire on her. That's it... just keep talking... she thought, having trouble in hiding her laboured breathing.
“In fact, I've had dealings with your friends before!” the mare added, just as one of her eyes glowed briefly. The room filled with the static of a recording.
“Please...! D-don't do it...!” Burgundy!? “We haven't done anything to you! I... I wasn't with the ponies who stole food from you....” Euphoria stopped in a flurry of mixed emotions. Burgundy had been one of the mares that had been a part of the expedition to the outside, the day that Stable Nine had been attacked.
Everything came back to Euphoria in a flash, but she remembered the mare's blue mane, and her flowing smile. “What the fuck did you do to her!?” Euphoria snarled back, charging at the mare in a fit of anger; she only cackled viciously in response.
Her entire body flared in agony, as she impacted the mare and she shoved her away forcefully. Euphoria knocked against the floor, and coughed up blood, as she thumped her own chest with a hoof. “She became a part of me, but her friends escaped. So sad you'll never find them, even though the answer is so close...” Administrator added mockingly, but Euphoria put on her best grin.
“You're w-wrong...” she said, still having serious trouble with breathing. Administrator j ust kept walking towards her, calmly. “First I'll kill you, and then I'll find them.... then, I'll kill the raiders.... then it's....” Euphoria stopped herself briefly. The idea of coming home had comforted her through everything, but it only now occurred to her that she might not be welcomed home.
The Over-mare would still be ruling the place, and apparent from the recording, she didn't like Euphoria. Even then, after everything she had gone through, would they welcome her, or had she become too different? No, she had to cling to the faint hope. “I'll return home!” Euphoria finally screamed, and rolled over onto her back when the mare was close enough.
Administrator's eyes went wide, and Euphoria grinned as she held the rifle in her hooves. “It's... your time to be a-absorbed,” she said in-between coughs and fired her remaining three shots. The first, tore through the mare's chin and exited through the top of the glass-dome protecting her brain. Blood, glass, and strips of brain cascaded out the top, as her body froze.
The second, went off-course and turned her left eye-ball to chunky matter of viscous liquid, that rained back down onto Euphoria, but she didn't even notice. The last one, pierced a hole through the mare's remaining ear. Her rifle gave out a resounding ping of metal, as it seized up again, but it didn't matter. She's finished... Euphoria thought, as Administrator staggered backwards, her mouth locked in mid-scream.
Her one good eye flicked about for a moment, before her entire body crashed to the floor, and just as the light winked out on her Pip-Buck, the static that had plagued her since she had arrived, also vanished. Coughing again, Euphoria sat up and tossed the rifle away, as she looked over at Yiltse still laying on the floor. “You... you all right?” she asked, worry clear in her voice, as she hadn't notice him moving in a while.
“I'm f-fine,” Yiltse responded in a cracked voice. “But, I think my leg is out of commission,” he added, so Euphoria rolled to her hooves, and struggled over to him; her own body was still screaming for just a warm bed to lay down in. As she sat down next to the zebra, Euphoria brought out one of the remaining health-potions and offered it to him. “Keep it. I failed you, and I deserve to be reminded of that failure.”
“Not to be rude, but we're not Raiders, so drink up. In your current condition, I could force it down your throat, but I don't think that would be good for you,” Euphoria said, barely being able to hide her own smile, as Yiltse looked up at her. He took the potion without another complaint, and drank it down.
She watched briefly as the fur on his wounded leg knit itself back together, but she rose only after a few seconds. Still wobbling, Euphoria stalked across the room, towards the terminal still spewing static. On it, she found logs going back years, but Euphoria was only interest in one – the last one on the list.
“Caught one of those damned stealing bastards last night. She identified herself as Burgundy, Stable Nine Security. She wouldn't give up her mission, so I simply disposed of her. However, it wasn't a complete loss in bringing her down to the lab, as she did say where her friends had planned to make a stop. I've embedded the coordinates in the message, and relaying it to you, Calico. According to this recent development, I would say that directive Nineteen is still in effect, and that you should push ahead with your plans. I'll be awaiting your response.”
Euphoria quickly attached her Pip-Buck and downloaded the coordinates from it. As the cable snaked its way back inside its protective covering, she moved to the map-menu. Seventy-clicks to the south-east, a new map-marker had appeared, and Euphoria bit her lip. “If I move quick, I can get there in less than two hours,” she said, loud enough for Yiltse to stir.
“Good luck...” he coughed, and Euphoria turned to look back at him. “I would have liked to follow you, but it looks as if my leg is still not completely healed,” he said and rose to his hooves; true to his word, Yiltse wobbled and limped badly as he made the short trek over to Euphoria. “Though, this is good right?”
She nodded, and glanced at the still glowing terminal again. “Yes, very good.”
*
Euphoria had quickly snatched the module from the Administrator's Pip-Buck and installed in her own. This time, true to the terminals, the door opened. Having no time to lose, she briskly trotted back up, and into the real world. Closing her eyes, Euphoria took a deep breath and sighed heavily; feeling relieved to be out from that place of horrors.
Seconds after, a familiar voice greeted her. “She's returned, brother.” Euphoria threw her eyes opened, and looked to her left to see the two stallions from before, standing there, a sly smirk plastered on both of their faces. “I think her quest has just gotten a nudge in the right direction, don't you?”
His friend, nodded. Euphoria still wasn't sure if that was Remus or Romulus, but he had blue hair at least. “That she has, but the question still remains. Where will she go from here? Will she take this new information to heart, and spirit off after her friends, or will she decide to stay in the shadow of those greater than her.”
“Are you two psychic or something?” she asked, tilting her head at them, as Yiltse limped up next to her.
“There are only so many different ways the future can evolve, and we are able to see them all. If that means 'psychic', to you then: yes,” the first one – green-maned brother answered quickly in that rich tone of there’s. “Of course, we can't tell you everything, since that would ruin your quest. Do, however take heed.”
You will be tested in the coming days, but you will soon have what you want. When that time comes, choose wisely.”
“The future is never set in stone, and we all do have an impact. Choose!” He added grimly, as both of the stallions poofed away in a cloud of smoke, and blue-green light. Euphoria just looked back at Yiltse, feeling befuddled. Though, the brothers had a point – she had just saved potential ponies from being killed by a complete psychopath.
In truth, it felt good. Euphoria smiled softly, as she got back on the path towards the town – now ready to collect on her missions.
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Skilled – Each level of Skilled will add +2 skill points when you gain a new experience level. This Perk works best when purchased early in your adventure.
“Family makes you weak, friends make you vulnerable -- the only way to be safe, is to cast away those shackles.”
The moment they had gotten back in town, Euphoria had spirited off towards the ghoul to collect, and also to have him fix Yiltse. It had taken a fair bit of arguing, and she had to give him half of what she had just made, but Euphoria managed to convince the ghoul to treat him. He, had of course said that she could return in a few hours, and Yiltse would be fixed up.
Now, she stood in front of the glaring eyes of four Raiders and their leader. “I did what you wanted, and you shouldn't have any-more trouble. Where's my payment?” she demanded, and at her request, the Raider-leader had swivelled in his chair. Euphoria was left to stare at the back of a mouldy chair, turning on rusty wheels, but she wouldn't leave without what was rightfully hers; too much had been risked for that to happen.
“Well... aren't we in a pickle?” the stallion said. She didn't take the bait, and just snorted in response. “You wanted information, right?” Euphoria didn't move. “Right. People don't usually venture through here, unless they're Raiders, and that'll cost you a bit more.” He snickered from behind the chair, and Euphoria felt her anger rising, along with bile in her throat.
“First, tell me what your missing pony looks like. Anything and everything. My memory, isn't what it used to be,” the stallion said coldly, as he swivelled back around to judge Euphoria's appearance. Her leather-armour had been beaten, and soiled over the last few days, and its condition had dropped considerably. Some of the straps had ripped, and she was missing half the barding protecting her flanks, but she wasn't quite ready to change yet.
“Grey coat; murky short mane and tail; cold blue eyes.” Euphoria remembered the stallion's appearance clearly, and if the leader here wanted her to tell him the number of hairs in her attacker's coat, she probably could. “He also wore red markings all over his body, I think it were some kind of tribal war-paint,” she added after a small pause, briefly thinking of the paint that the Raiders holding Yiltse had painted themselves with.
A small smirk came and went on the stallion's face, as Euphoria regarded him carefully. “Lord Tenebrous,” he said after a pregnant pause; the smirk was now very visible on his face. “Seems like you've gotten yourself a nemesis worse than you know.” Having said what he wanted, he turned in his chair, to watch the ruined gardens outside the large window. “He's up in the remnants of Detrot, and you should see it clearly on that device of yours, but you're lucky I don't kill you where you stand.”
“Tenebrous is a mean son-of-a-bitch, but he's our de-facto leader, and that makes you, my enemy too.” Euphoria took a careful step back, but one of the stallions behind her chuckled coldly, and she stopped after inching two steps backwards. “Lucky for you, that he doesn't want you dead. If he did, you and me wouldn't be having this conversation.” The leader of the Raiders tapped his hooves together, smirking briefly, as he swivelled back around to face Euphoria.
“You have your information, now leave.” Euphoria didn't have to be told twice, and left as quickly as her hooves could thrust her ahead. Security seemed to have tightened since last she had been in the building, and stallions, as well as mares, were kept guarding each door she passed. With four guards at the front, it seemed as if it had been transformed into a fortress rather quickly.
So where to now? Euphoria thought to herself, as she descended the cracked concrete staircase towards the even more cracked pavement. She stopped halfway to look at her Pip-Buck, and way off to the far-South, being by the farthest point on her map – was Detrot. It looked like a giant blob, of blackness, but that had to be it.
From what she could remember, Detrot had been a vital part of Equestria, serving as its hub for wagon making. Then, it had simply fallen into disrepair as there were no jobs to be found, and the city's population dried up. Other than that, Euphoria's books didn't contain much. At first, she thought it was just because they didn't exist, but in light of new information – maybe the Over-Mare pulled them away, and hid them.
As she put her hoof back down, and resumed her walk, she also resumed her thought. Should I just head to the city, or should I find my friends? Groaning, she walked onto the pavement, just as a foal darted in front of her, and she had to stop and raise one hoof, so he wouldn't just collide with her. “Sorry, lady!” the foal called out briefly, before he resumed chasing another foal. Euphoria just chuckled, and resumed walking.
What few ponies that were outside, had retreated into their tents, except a vagrant here and there – still asking for fresh water. Euphoria frowned at the thought, as she walked over to a mare standing just outside a tent, selling ammunition. As she walked closer, Euphoria focused in on the necklace around the mare's neck; if it hadn't been for that, she just might have fooled any-pony with her nice attitude.
From the amounts of times Euphoria had watched casings being spat out of her rifle, she knew exactly what the ammo looked like. For a nice amount of sixty-five bottle-caps, she managed to get around fifty bullets. Finishing up her purchase, Euphoria met the gaze of the mare. “Want to come in for some tea?” the teal-coloured mare offered with a smile, that showed off her few missing teeth.
Grimacing briefly, Euphoria nodded. “Yeah, sure,” she said, rolling her eyes as the mare pulled away a flap in front of the discoloured green tent. Stepping inside, Euphoria hit her head on the central pole once, and flopped down on the floor -- on top of some kind of fluffy-carpet that obviously hadn't come from any place near here; it was the strange glyphs on the edges that revealed its origins -- as massive brief, stabbing pain assaulted her.
Sitting up, wincing slightly, Euphoria's eyes were drawn to the white smoke as it rose upwards, and through a hole slightly off to the centre in the tent, let it out into the air outside. Following the smoke back down, she watched as the mare stirred a dented, but still usable pot steaming over a fire.
Letting her eyes wander for a moment, Euphoria followed it to the bottom and saw the small, off-white coloured cooking-plate, flaring with blue heat. “That can't be cheap,” she said with a slight giggle as she pulled her eyes away, and looked across the steaming-pot of tea. That was what Euphoria presumed it to be, at least.
“Being a part of the Zephyr have granted me some things, yes,” the mare answered in a tone of voice that Euphoria had not expected from a Raider. All she had ever heard were vitriol, and several new ways to use a pole. “You haven't been her long, have you?” the mare asked, and Euphoria shook her head in response. “Well, I'm lucky to have made your acquaintance then. I'm Herbal Essence,” the teal-mare added and reached a hoof over to shake Euphoria's own; dropping the spoon in the process.
Euphoria reached a hoof back up, and shook Herbal Essence's hoof briefly, and smiled. “You … You're not what I expected,” she finally said, and scratched behind one of her ears, as she put on a forced smile. “It's actually not that bad, I would say!” she added, after an awkwardly long pause of silence.
“The other clans have soiled our reputation a bit, but that's not the Zephyr way. This very town, is a testimony to that.” As the mare spoke, Euphoria thought back to seeing the mare strung up in the middle of town, without getting any attention from any-pony. “Of course, we have been forced to make ponies cooperate,” Herbal Essence's voice said, as Euphoria caught back up with the conversation.
“Yeah... I noticed that...” Euphoria commented dejectedly, as she sniffed the air, and took in the aroma of huckleberries and something else she couldn't quite put her hoof on. With a look of satisfaction on her face, she opened her eyes again. “What do you make this tea from?” she asked Herbal, still smiling.
“I can't tell you that. Apart from the ammunition, I sell, I also sell my tea, so I have to keep that a secret... Sorry...” Euphoria's ears twitched. Was that a 'sorry'? The notion of ever hearing a Raider say sorry for anything was beyond Euphoria, but this mare had definitely changed Euphoria's view of expected Raider-actions. “Do you make any food?”
“Me? No, never. I'm, however, very good at eating food!” Euphoria replied and grinned, holding a hoof in front of her muzzle as she giggled. Herbal Essence let a giggle or two slip out, as well, as she stopped stirring and moved the pot slightly to the left. She turned around, and pulled out two cups – one of them having a crack going down one side, from a slight chip in the top edge.
Lifting the pot by the handle, Herbal Essence poured low tea into both the cups, and this she didn't have to explain to Euphoria. Once the cups were full enough, she sat the pot back down, but didn't put it back in the centre of the flame. Nodding, she nudged the cup without the crack in it, for Euphoria. “So, you like food then?” Herbal Essence asked, lifting her own cup as she took a light sip.
“Very much so,” Euphoria answered back and fumbled with the cup for a bit, before managed to hold it in her hooves. Slowly, after blowing on the tea for a few times, she lifted it to her muzzle and took a sip. She quickly pulled her tongue back in, as scolding tea hit her. After a few moments, however, she could taste it.
Huckleberries mixed with strawberries, Euphoria guessed it to be. Still, she felt like she missed something. “Where is it that you sell your tea? Sorry for me asking, but I haven't really seen many civil enough places around,” Euphoria asked, as she took another sip of the tea – her tongue felt cool, and numb now.
“You would be surprised at how many places there are, that will let you in on the notion of fresh tea,” Herbal Essence answered with a slight giggle following her voice. “That, and we do get a few merchants around here. Ever heard of the Crimson Caravan?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Euphoria shook her head, and finished her tea in one last sip – perhaps dragging it out a bit too long, if she were to judge by the look on Herbal Essence's face.
“They deliver all over the wasteland these days,” as Herbal said it, the sentence sparked an idea in Euphoria's head, and she asked the question without thinking.
“Do they even deliver to Detrot?” Herbal Essence stopped what she was doing, and only moved her hoof to lower her cup, and to turn down the flame, until it sputtered to an agonizingly slow death beneath the pot, still radiating warmth into the surprisingly comfy tent. “What? Did I say something wrong?”
“Look, we Zephyr might belong as a part of his grand army, but we try to stay as far away from that place as we can. It'll give you nightmares, and trust me, it's worse than whatever you think it is. Radiation blankets the area, fifteen miles out, and it's deadly when you get closer to the centre, but by then you'll already be dead.” Euphoria gulped slowly, and leaned a bit back.
“If you have enough Rad-Away to survive the radiation, one of those mutations will kill you. Hardened by radiation, diamond-dogs prowl under the earth, and when you least expect it...” Herbal Essence's voice trailed off, and she jutted her hoof into the air as she mouthed the word 'dead.' Euphoria just blinked her eyes a few times. “That's not even half of it.”
“Okay... guess I won't be going there any-time soon,” Euphoria said and cursed on the inside. Rats, there goes that plan! She thought, as she watched Herbal Essence return to just smiling, as she poured Euphoria another cup of tea. “Thank you,” Euphoria said and reached for the tea.
Just as Euphoria took another sip of her tea, Herbal Essence found it necessary to resume the conversation. “Found yourself a stallion yet?” Even though it was a somewhat safer topic, Euphoria went beet red and coughed, as she put the cup down. She tried to answer, but she didn't manage to struggle through the coughing enough.
Still struggling, her voice came out hoarse, but Euphoria just had to answer. “No...” she managed to say, as she coughed loudly, and took a deep breath of fresh air. “M-much b-better,” she said, and looked across the teapot to one, giggling Herbal Essence. “Do you usually ask ponies about that stuff, just when you've met them?”
Herbal Essence shrugged. “When I get the chance, yes. You find love where you can these days. It's not what it used to be...” she lamented, and Euphoria wondered about that. In Stable nine, she had only ever gone on one date, and that was because her mother pushed her, and she was a filly. The moment she had grown up enough to make her own decisions, it had stopped, and while every other pony was out on the Saturdays, she was inside, just listening to her radio shows.
“True, but I prefer this place in that regard. At least stallions aren't hitting on me out here,” Euphoria added quickly and proudly, so Herbal wouldn't notice that she had zoned out for a moment. The teal-coloured mare raised her eyebrows at Euphoria, and after a few minutes of that, and an awkward pause, Euphoria relented. “All right, I didn't have any stallions hit on me. Who would go out with an earth-pony, when there are so many nice unicorn mares around.”
“Don't worry, in time you will,” Herbal Essence added, and Euphoria shuddered, thinking of the message that a certain stallion had left for her. Now, that everything had calmed down for a bit, she had some time to think it over. Maybe it was the cramped environs of the tent that brought the memory, to the forefront of Euphoria's mind. She didn't know, but she didn't care either.
“Anyway...” Euphoria started in a poor excuse of segue into less dangerous waters, than the ones she were currently sailing on. “I should be going,” she said and got a curt nod in return from Herbal Essence. She shifted and rose from her seat on the fuzzy blanket, and remembered to duck as she vacated the cramped tent.
With a happy sigh of relief escaping her, Euphoria looked across the ragged street at a Raider, as he sat in the ditch and fiddled with a rifle. Mottled light yellow hide clung to various parts of his skin, but most of it was a singed black. Euphoria's eyes travelled upwards the stallion's lean body; he looked as if he hadn't eaten in a while, or as if he had eaten what he shouldn't.
Dirt covered most of the stallion's face, and cropped dark-blue mane. Atop his head, half-covered behind a lock of hair, was the stallion's cracked horn. As Euphoria focused her eyes on the stallion, she saw brief slashes of golden light emerge from the cracks in the horn – as if he was trying to use some magic, but weren't quite able to get it focusing right.
“What you lookin' at, bitch?” the stallion snarled at Euphoria, and she meet his menacing gaze, as the stallion revealed a row of crooked yellow teeth. He snorted at Euphoria, and pulled out a piece of metal from the shotgun he was currently working on. Closing one eye, he examined it as he held it up, filtering the sunlight through the rusted piece of metal. “Yeah, gonna cost ya fifty-four caps, Bloodhound,” the stallion called out with a slight snicker.
“What?” another stallion answered back, gruffly. Euphoria perked her ears, and looked towards a charcoal stallion with a crimson mane, emerging from one of the tents close by. “I don't have that kind of money, and we had a deal, you piece of shit!” he snarled towards the unicorn, still diligently working on the shotgun.
We didn't have a deal, and you're welcome to fix it yourself!” he shot back to Bloodhound, and shoved the piece of half-rusted metal back into the side of the barrel of the gun, before he cocked the loading-mechanism. “I'd say you have – maybe – ten more times, before the pin breaks, and turns your face into a bloody affair.” He snickered and tossed the double-barrel shotgun towards the tent. “Perhaps, it'll match your name then!”
Catching the satin-black gun – heavily caked with brown dust and grime – the other stallion retreated into the tent again, as the repair-raider gazed across the road at Euphoria. “And? Speak up mare, or I'll make you speak,” he said, snickering with malice.
Euphoria only frowned and stepped up to the stallion. “You fix weapons?”
“As long as you have the caps, yeah,” the stallion answered back, and tugged at his own barding with a hoof. “I can fix anything, as long as it isn't magical beam weapons.” He nodded at Euphoria, as she slid out her .32 Hunting rifle, and passed it to him. Whistling loudly, the stallion took the weapon and juggled it between his hooves, as he took aim down the street at a random raider, sleeping to the side of the road. “This thing is fine work, as long as it's in working order. As it is...”
He lowered the gun, and pulled back the reloading pin, as he retrieved a screwdriver from a saddlebag, that he had been hiding behind himself. With a quick motion, he unscrewed the two rusty screws holding the pin in, and pulled away the plate-covering, as he slid the pin out and showed it to Euphoria. “You're lucky, you haven't blown your head away. It's a common enough problem, though, and I can fix it but I'll have to replace the entire reloading mechanism. Two-hundred caps,” the stallion said with a smirk, as Euphoria frowned.
“I'm guessing it's out of your league, but that's my price. Or, I can actually fix it up, by sanding away most of the rust.” He looked back down at the rifle, and pulled it back up, as he took aim towards Euphoria, making her back away as she glared back at the stallion. “For twenty caps, I can give you a little more life out of it, as is, but it will break,” he added as he lowered the gun, revealing a smirk on his muzzle.
With a nod, Euphoria took out twenty caps from her saddlebags, and left them with the stallion. “That's a deal then,” she said and frowned slightly, as the stallion took the caps and went to work on her rifle. Keeping a sandpaper between himself, and the pin, he slowly rubbed it across the rusty metal-cylinder. “So, how did you end up here?”
Repair-Raider didn't look up at Euphoria, and just kept working on the gun. “There isn't that many places to get a job around here, unless you want to end up as the target for Raiders. Since you want to know though, I used to live in a town not too far from here, but that didn't last. Raiders hit, and I had to leave.”
He held the pin into the air, and watched as it glittered briefly in the sunlight. “Soon after, I had a choice, and I chose to live,” he said, still not looking at Euphoria. Without another word, he put the pin back into its slot, as he screwed the rusty screws back onto the slat of metal, and slapped it on. He cocked the rifle a few times, before he slid it back to Euphoria. “As good as I'll get it, under the current conditions.”
Euphoria just frowned, and slid the rifle back into her battle-saddle, as she got to her hooves. Giving the stallion a curt nod, she turned on her hooves and headed back towards the hill and the clinic on top. A few raiders in town gave her displeased looks as she went past them, but Euphoria just ignored them and went on with her business.
*
Ghoul-doctor stopped Euphoria outside Yiltse's room, as he held the door in place with his magic. She looked across at him, and frowned; getting a smirk in return. “Good work on the job, and I hear you've decided what to do next?” He cocked his head at Euphoria, and she frowned back at him. “News travels fast in a small town”
“It also travels fast with people who should be watching what they say,” she replied and leaned against the wall, briefly looking at the pealing walls, that carried scattered bullet-holes. “What do you want?” she asked, as she looked to the side, but didn't fully turn. “I'm not gonna work for you again,” she added, smirking a bit herself.
“Actually, I wanted to give you something. The job may not have paid out as well as you thought, but you've made a route for my caravan, and that's invaluable.” Euphoria snorted and looked away from the ghoul, and his scrawny horn. “The next one I get will be fully loaded, so it doesn't matter that you didn't get everything this time.” His horn glowed golden again, and he lifted a piece of paper from a small satchel, hidden inside his dirty lab-coat.
“As they say: 'Do not open until Hearth's Warming Eve',” Ghoul-doctor said with a light snicker and tucked the note into Euphoria's saddlebags. “I have connections, and you've proven yourself useful,” the ghoul continued as his horn's glow slowly dissipated, and the hallway was cast back into the gloomy white light of the overhanging metal.
He turned and left Euphoria standing in the hallway. Glancing to her left, she looked at the back of the ghoul. “What's your name?” At her question, the ghoul-doctor stopped and turned his head to look back at her, slowly smiling.
“Shallow Stones,” he said with a light snicker to his voice. After that, he vanished around the corner of the hallway, as Euphoria sighed in reply. Why does everybody I meet have to have a really bad sense of humour? She shook her head, and trudged through the door to Yiltse's room, and headed into the bad excuse of a clinic room.
“I'm heading out soon, and I thought I'd check on you before I left,” Euphoria said with a smile as she sat down next to the murky bed, as she looked over Yiltse. The zebra snorted, as Euphoria looked at his leg, now encased in bloody bandage, and nestled between two panes of wood. Do they reuse bandages? She thought, grimacing.
“We're not friends, but you've proven to keep your words, so I guess we are associates, then,” Yiltse replied, and flashed what Euphoria thought was a smile. She blinked her eyes in confusion, and rubbed furiously with a hoof for a brief second, being careful so that Yiltse didn't catch her. “I can't say that I'll ever be able to repay you now, since you've saved my life two times over – my debt is still there,” he lamented.
Don't worry about it,” Euphoria replied quickly and put a hoof on his shoulder. Getting an angry growl in return, she quickly pulled it back and mouthed an apology. “You've saved my life equally as much. Trust me, I doubt I would have survived the marshes, or Cale's Field without you there. Heck, I might have been killed by the mayor here, if you hadn't guided the conversation!” Yiltse's smiled at that, Euphoria was sure of it.
“True as that might be, I still owe you my life, and that can't be repaid. I'm honour-bound to stay by your side, now more than ever,” he said and shifted his body. Before he got get too far, Euphoria pinned him down with a hoof, and he growled at her, but she didn't pull her hoof away this time. “Are you gonna get your friends?”
“Yes. After that, I'll head down to Detrot and pay Tenebrous a visit.” As she spoke, Yiltse's shivered and Euphoria pulled her hoof away from him, though he didn't roll out of the bed as she did so – he remained in place. “Him, and his Raiders killed some of my best friends, and I plan to make him pay.”
“Just... watch yourself,” Yiltse replied after a pregnant pause and shifted his body, so he could look Euphoria in the eyes. “You may have been safe when travelling with me, but now you're fair game for any-pony that wants you, and there are a lot.” Euphoria zoned a bit out after he had said 'safe.' She wondered if he could actually hear himself talk, or if he just ignored it.
“Fine, whatever,” Euphoria replied as she got back onto her hooves, and headed for the door. She however, stopped halfway, before she returned to Yiltse's side. “Here, you keep hold of that,” she said, as she pulled the letter out of her saddlebags, and shoved it over to Yiltse, as he looked back at her with a befuddled expression. “Just remember, that I'll be back for it.” She smirked, and left the room before the zebra could complain.
*
Leaving behind the safe confines of a Raider-fortress, Euphoria had ventured back into the big empty wasteland surrounding it. Guided by nothing more than a pulsating arrow on her compass, she moved at a slow pace, perking her ears for any sounds around her, but there were none except the constant whooshing of cold wind.
Groaning at the silence, Euphoria pulled up her Pip-Buck menu, and dialled the radio to the frequency of one of the channels available. There was a brief burst of static, but it lifted quickly. “You are listening to Radio Detrot – the only radio for upstanding ponies, in this dark era,” a mare said in a voice that made Euphoria smile.
“I'm as always, your host – Ruby. Today, I bring you news from the North, and the settlements there. Apparently, there's been some commotion at Cale's field, as some-pony just waltzed into town and freed a slave.” Euphoria felt her cheeks flush, but kept on walking towards her destination. “Looks like some-pony had the decency to brave the Syndicate's home-base.”
A brief electrical cheer interrupted the mare on the channel. “Yes, but she's not a hero, I can assure you of that.” Now, a resounding booing of a crowd of ponies echoed out of Euphoria's Pip-Buck, and she frowned. “The Newcomer was seen as she headed back to the town of Gravel, home of the Zephyr clan.
“Surprising it isn't, but at least she hasn't killed any-pony yet.” The sound of a triumphant fanfare, of spectacular and aged music rang out, before the mare spoke again. “In other news, there's been talk of Calico's gang, running errands around the wasteland. Several ponies have spotted mares in unusual barding, patrolling around the wastes; specifically, around the ruins of abandoned Stables.” Before the mare could say anything more, the radio burst with static again. This time, however, there was no coming back from it, so after a few minutes of waiting patiently, Euphoria turned it off.
As she walked, Euphoria glanced to her left, as she saw the scorched remains of a house. Within the confines of the ruined wood, she saw a stained porcelain tub with a skeleton laying in it. Standing completely alone in the vast emptiness of nothing but wind, grit, and violent ponies, the house served as a reminder to Euphoria. She sighed, and kept on walking, determined to not let the dreary look get to her.
Other than the few lonely houses on the plains, Euphoria passed nothing interesting, or so she thought. The few, pony-sized mounds of rock and dirt around her had slowly been increasing, as she ventured forth. At first, they hadn't bugged her, but now they had become so regular, that she suspected something was wrong.
Before she had time to address the eerie feeling in her gut, Euphoria sputtered from the cascading plume of smoke, rocks, and dirt that spewed forth from a mound in front of her. Holding a hoof to her muzzle, she coughed and inched away, as the smoke cleared. In front of her, there was now a pony-sized hole where the mound of grit had been a moment ago.
A pegasus soared through the air in front of Euphoria, and took a wide birth to her. As she squinted her eyes, the pegasus circled back around towards Euphoria again, and she saw brief flashes of green wink against the orange backdrop. It only took a second, for the sizzling fire to hit the ground.
Both plumes of goo missed Euphoria, and merely impacted the ground, and turned it to a sizzling mess of bubbling, acidic water. Yelping, Euphoria scooted back as the pegasus soared past her, and turned on the wind. Cackling loudly, the pegasus lined up another shot – this time, it rang true, and Euphoria shouted out in pain and anger, as she dropped to the ground completely.
Pain flared up from Euphoria's tail, as she slapped it against the ground, in an attempt to douse the fires. When she finally looked back, she noticed that there was no fire – only a searing slash of green goo clinging to the ends of her tail. Frowning slightly, she slapped her tail again, as the last few gouts of goo left it, and sank into the ground.
Still feeling the pain, Euphoria rolled out of the way of another series of green goo-plumes being fired at her. The pegasus slashed past her, as Euphoria looked after the blue shape in the air. She kept her form close to the ground, and lined up her hunting rifle, as the pegasus doubled back around.
Once she drew near enough, Euphoria slipped into S.A.T.S., and lined up three shots at the torso of the pegasus. In the calmness, she noticed that the mare had thrown her silver-mane back by a bandanna, and she had a scare going along the side of her face. Her body had been decorated in menacingly black tattoos, that criss-crossed across her.
Slipping back out, Euphoria gritted her teeth and watched with glee, as her rifle tore two holes in the right wing of the pegasus. Gashes of bright-red blood spilled into the air, as the angry expression left the now injured pegasus. She flailed in the air, as she desperately tried to keep herself level, but she wasn't able to.
Euphoria jumped out of the way, as the blue pegasus mare slammed into the ground with enough force to knock the air out of her own lungs. She slid to a stop a few feet past Euphoria, after she had painted a grizzly line of red after herself. Flailing about on the ground, the pegasus shouted mispronounced words at Euphoria; some she recognized, and some were completely new to her.
Bringing her rifle to bare again, Euphoria swivelled around and walked towards the blue pegasus still on the ground. Did I wound her that bad? Euphoria thought, but she got her answer more swiftly than she thought. Once she had gotten close enough, the mare's cobbled-together language stopped, and she cackled instead.
Rising with a swiftness Euphoria remembered all too clearly, the pegasus charged at her, and knocked her to the ground. Coughing, she shared a look with the mare, expecting to see an angry expression, but the pegasus had none. As she ripped the rifle away from Euphoria's battle-saddle, the pegasus went for her neck.
Pushing against the pegasus with all her might, Euphoria struggled in vain. She could feel the hot breath of the snarling mare on her neck, as she panted and slobbered all over her. In the midst of the debacle, the pegasus would occasionally giggle uncontrollably, before she went back to her attempts of biting Euphoria's neck.
“Will... y-you... stop!?” Euphoria asked with bated breath, but only got a slobbering in response. The pupils of the pegasus had contracted into pinpricks, and even as her right wing leaked blood like a faucet does water, she continued with her struggle. Her hind-hooves scraped in the ground, and Euphoria noticed blood-streaks forming in the grit behind her.
Fuck! With one final push, she managed to knock the pegasus over onto her side, and she immediately went for her rifle. Soon, however, the pegasus knocked her back to the ground, and cackled madly as she leaned down, and licked the backside of Euphoria's left ear. Grimacing, she pushed back against the pegasus, but was simply pushed back into the dirt, as the pegasus growled manically, and spoke something; again, it was too mispronounced for Euphoria to figure out.
Her voice heavy with snarling, the mare slobbered over Euphoria's neck, as she knocked her away, by arching her back in protest. Still panting, Euphoria went for her gun, and backed away with it held firmly in-between her fore-hooves, as the pegasus rose back to her own hooves. She just grinned, growled – and howled towards the air, before charging Euphoria.
The .32 Hunting Rifle spat fire, and the pegasus went down after getting three shots to the head, that shattered her cranium. Even after the second bullet had torn out a good piece of her brain, the pegasus had tried getting up. Euphoria had aimed her gun at the pegasus head decisively, and pulled the trigger without remorse the last time.
Blood mixed with the grit and goo already on the ground, as Euphoria sat down panting, and watched as the pegasus foamed at the mouth; her eyes now devoid of both light, and madness. “So... I guess you're a Whirlwind, huh?” she asked, and perked her ears – half-expecting some cobbled together response. Of course, there were none, but Euphoria poked the mare in the sides a few times, before she decided that the pegasus was dead.
Around her, the cold wind howled as the orange had dipped away, and left the sky a mixture of blue and purple – pink on the very edge of the horizon. She reached a hoof behind herself, and rubbed at the base of her neck. Slowly, she pulled it back, groaning at the spit now covering her hoof. “Eww...” she replied, and scraped it into the dirt.
Turning her mind back to the matter at hoof, Euphoria looked turned the mare over onto her back, as she looked over the barding. It was similar to her very own leather-armour, but it was a deep shade of black, and had less pockets – only one. Next to the pocket, written in now badly faded ink, was the mare's name.
“Redpath,” Euphoria said as she read the white flap, christened with black writing. From there, she gazed at the mare's weapons. Hanging from the side of the mare's battle-saddle, she saw a rifle made completely of metal, that ended in a green crystal at the tip. On the sides, she saw three large bulbous glass cylinders, sparking on the inside.
Flipping the battle-saddle off of the mare, she slid her hoof into the saddlebags, and pulled out the contents. Inside, she found an old picture, a few worn bottle-caps, a rusted fork, and a cracked cup. With a sigh, Euphoria threw the weapons and battle-saddle away from herself; there were no bullets for the weapons.
As she looked back to the mare however, she grinned. “At least, I can make use of that,” said she, and unzipped the mare from her armour. Blood caked the insides of the silky-smooth material, as Euphoria rubbed it gently against her own cheek. “So... soft...” she lamented, and put it into her own saddlebags; watching as her inventory weight, shot upwards.
Seconds later, as her eyes travelled back to the bloody pegasus, now laying in a pool of her own blood, Euphoria frowned at herself. Had she been so self-interest, that she had let this mare die? Surely, she had defended herself, but still she felt bile rising in her own gut. Muttering a few words, Euphoria rose to her hooves.
I have to do better,” she said and turned around, ready to leave the pegasus for other's to pillage or worse. In her short time in the wastes, she had witnessed much cruelty, and it wouldn't surprise her, if some-pony would find the corpse, and have their own bit of fun with it.
As the wind spun around Euphoria, she headed forth – perpetually driven by the winking blue arrow on her compass. It had never truly left her mind, not even in the heat of the battle.
*
She watched the ponies from her position at a nearby hill. Down there, cresting amongst the flickering lights of blue and gold from a few still standing light-posts, guards patrolled the open spaces between the worn husks of wagons, anciently old. Euphoria watched, as she counted the ponies there.
Twelve, Euphoria counted. Or, that was how many she could see. For all she knew, there could be more inside the caravans – surely, there would be. With a frown on her muzzle, she pulled the pip-buck back up, and looked at the auto-map. By now, she had checked it more times than she could count, but she had to be sure – needed to be.
Lowering her pip-buck again, she continued to watch the camp. It had been set up amongst a series of ruined metal wagons, dotted around a small plot of land. A small house, reinforced with rusted pieces of metal stood at the entrance, along with a pony walking back and froth in front. Slabs of wood criss-crossed between the wagons, and interconnected them all.
Above some of them, the Raiders had built shacks out of ruined girders, and whatever metal they could find. Within a few of these, Euphoria could see the hanging corpses of ponies – inside one, she swore she could still sea the impaled pony's chest still rise and fall, raggedly. She didn't recognize the coat-colour however, so she didn't pay that much attention.
The fence that had once run the edge of the compound, had crumbled at the edges, and fallen to the earth halfway at each side. Despite that, Euphoria doubted that they had any problems in defending this place. From some of the shacks, Raiders stood and watched outwards. Others slept soundly in some shacks, and the rest were completely empty.
Next to the pony guarding the front, the welcoming sign had had its message erased, and now simply read 'Fuck you!' in bright, green writing. Euphoria shook her head, and locked eyes with the inner compound again. Over to one corner, piled next to two hollow wagons, Euphoria could see the same ruined, rusty shopping-carts that had been converted to makeshift cages.
They held no prisoners however, and Euphoria let out a breath as her eyes drifted away from the cages. As she let her eyes drift again, Euphoria noticed a group of ponies huddled around a fire, a few feet from the entrance. A brilliantly white mare, with a short blue mane was talking to the other three ponies surrounding her, but Euphoria was too far away and frowned as she could only see the mare's mouth move; voiceless.
The mare carried no barding, but Euphoria supposed she didn't need to, and snorted as she saw the mare's horn peek out from between a few locks of her mane. As she kept watching the ponies, Euphoria noticed something that had she hadn't quite seen at first. Of course, she should have noticed it, but she was too wrecked with making sure that she was in the right place.
All the Raiders in the compound, had the same red slashes of paint on their bodies. Once she noticed that, images of her fellow Stable-ponies getting tortured and horribly murdered appeared before her, as an apparition. Euphoria growled, and knew in her mind for certain that she was in the right place.
Bringing her back to her senses, the wind was the only audible sound in the area; it made her ears twitch. Tearing her eyes from the conversation, Euphoria watched across the compound to just outside the fence, were two puttering generators stood. Only one guard were guarding them, Euphoria noted as he stood under the flickering light of a still working street-light.
“There we go,” Euphoria commented as she slipped over the edge of the hill, and slid as quietly as she could down the ridge. Because of the darkness, she had to muffle her cursing every time she bumped painfully against a rock in her path, but less than a minute later she was on the ground. Looking back up, she grumbled. Fuck, that wasn't far...
Snickering, she pulled the rifle from her battle-saddle, and slowly eased herself towards the flickering light, watching as it sparked. Euphoria stopped briefly, as she thought, One...two...three....four... And the light sputtered, spewing sparks on the ground and the raider, as he blinked his eyes and rubbed them. Now!
Euphoria charged forth, and skidded to a halt as she swung her hunting rifle around. A loud crack, and a muffled groan rang out as she crashed the wood hard enough against the raider stallion's jaw, to break the wood on her trusty rifle. “What the--” The Raider didn't get any time to finish his sentence, as Euphoria hit him again – knocking him to the ground.
As he groaned on the ground, and clutched a hoof to his aching jaw, Euphoria scooted over, and pressed the rifle against his throat, holding it in place with her hooves on either side as the stallion flailed against her. She grinned viciously as she lowered her face closer to him, and snickered. “Now, you'll die, you piece-of-shit,” she forced out between her teeth, as she watched the stallion's pupils shrink a moment before his body went limp.
Satisfied that he was out of it, she pulled her rifle back and put it into her battle-saddle again, but she looked at the stallion one last time, and saw him twitch. “You...” she said with a sneer, as she pressed a hoof to his throat, and pulled it back quickly. Euphoria's ears twitched in the loud pop that rang out, and she watched as blood pooled in the stallion's mouth. “There we go...” she commented, as she rose back to her hooves.
Staying as silent as possible, Euphoria pranced over to the two sputtering generators. Both of them were heavily caked with rust, and looked as if they had been poorly maintained; steam rose from an air-vent on the side of each; they were also covered in blood-stains, and some foul-smelling liquid – which Euphoria assumed was gasoline, though it was heavily faded, and only the edges of splashing pools could it be seen clearly.
Euphoria stepped closer to examine the generators, and traced her hoof over one of them. The metal was bumpy, and crisp to touch, but after some searching, she found the plate covering her price. Of course, the Raiders – or some other lunatic – had removed the latch that were supposed to open it easily. She shook her head briefly, and pulled her rifle back out, but she twisted it around in her hooves instead of just aiming the muzzle at the plate.
Her hooves brought the butt of the rifle against the plate, and it added a huge dent at it, so it bulged at the ends, making it easy to remove. However, Euphoria stopped for a moment, and looked towards the compound to her right. None of the Raiders had moved, except one or two in the overhanging shacks, but none of them were trained on her. Exhaling heavily, Euphoria pulled the plate to the side.
Within, she found a leather-belt racing at high speeds, so she didn't even think about using her hooves to stop it. It only took her a moment, as she looked between the knife hanging from one of the Raider's hind-legs, and the generator, to realize what she needed to. Euphoria grinned wide, as she quickly grabbed the Raider's knife, and brought it over to the generator.
She took a deep breath, and clenched her eyes shut, as her entire muzzle twisted into a grimace, before she brought the knife to the belt. Sickening, black-fumes billowed around the generators, as the belt churned to a stop. As she opened her eyes again, Euphoria cheered as she saw that the belt had twisted around the knife, and had been cut off completely in the process, rendering the generator useless.
What the fuck was that noise?” a gravelly voice croaked, and Euphoria glanced to her right, to see two stallions approaching her. Before they were too close to notice her, she slipped back to the dead Raider, and groaned slightly as she pulled on the edge of one of the leather-belts bound around his torso. It tasted of a mix of Whiskey, and copper; it made Euphoria want to throw up, but she dragged the Raider back a bit, before she spit it out, and turned to watch the others.
One of the Raiders – a dark-green stallion with a cropped cyan mane – lowered his head to examine the generator, while his buddy stood just behind him and snorted. “Wasn't Shark supposed to watch these today?” he asked, as he turned his head towards the other stallion. Euphoria bit down on her bridle, and cackled as the green stallion fall to the ground in agony, spraying his friend in a barrage of bullets as well.
As the other stallion dropped to the ground in a rising pool of his own blood, Euphoria yelped, and instinctively pulled her injured hoof close to her body. For fuck's sake...she thought, as a thin line of blood streamed from the shot that had grazed her. “Who the fuck is out there?” the angry voice of a mare said, and Euphoria was brought back to the real world.
“Three down, nine left,” said Euphoria to herself with a low growl, as she darted through the brief sliver of light in the darkness, and into the compound. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness again, she could hear the shots from the large group of Raiders still hanging around the fire, as they hit nothing but air; one was close enough to her ear, that it was really sheer dumb luck that Euphoria avoided it.
Euphoria skirted the edge of the compound briefly, but came to a stop close to one of the wagons, and bit down on her bridle. A chorus of orange muzzle-fire, and thunder of bullets sang out in the crisp night air. She watched, and cackled satisfyingly as one Raider keeled over, groaning in agony as he held a hoof to his muzzle. “Suck it up!” the brilliantly white mare cried, and kicked him in the shin, but he didn't get up.
As the Raiders fired back into the darkness, Euphoria slipped inside the hulking, rust-heap, but smiled as she could hear the bullets ping against the metal; it was the sweetest sound she could have ever heard. She panted heavily, as she shifted in place, feeling something stab into her side. Once she had managed to slide to the left, she turned her head to see a dark-green metal-box, marked 'Ammunition.'
Still smiling, she opened the latch – letting out an inward cheer, as it wasn't locket – and found a set of faded-red bullet-casings. Euphoria examined one, but pocketed the five she found quickly, as another set of bullets pinged against the wagon, with one ricocheting inside. It bounced against the metal four times, before it hit one of the dozens of dirty mattresses piled into a heap, in the back.
Taking another deep breath, Euphoria looked out of the open door, and saw three Raiders approaching, including the one that had stood guard at the entrance. She inhaled and exhaled sharply several times, before she galloped out the door, wincing at the pain as it flared upwards from her hoof.
The second her hooves hit the ground, she dropped into S.A.T.S., and loaded up four head-shots. As the world sped back up to normal speed, the head of one Raider exploded in gory display – showering the other three with blood, and skull fragments, along with two eyeballs. In response, they just growled more and fired back at Euphoria's black shape, in the darkness.
“Fucking hell!” Euphoria screamed and dropped to the ground, as the Raiders cackled behind her. “Fuck.. fuck, can't let' em get me...” she moaned out in agony, and limped back up to her hooves. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she managed to drag herself over to a nearby rock, and take cover behind it. Fight... fight... the pain! She repeated it over and over again in her head, as she could hear the hooves of the Raiders crush the grit underneath, and it slowly rose in pitch.
“Got you now, bitch!” the glorious white Raider cackled, as she closed in on the rock. “I'm gonna rip your guts out, and then I'm gonna shower in your blood!” the mare added in a proclamation, as Euphoria groaned and grimaced at her own pain. Why the fuck do they have to be so chatty? She thought to herself, as she rolled out of cover.
The world slowed to a crawl again, as Euphoria lined up two more shots. This time, the mare's proclamation became half-true, as she was doused in some-pony's blood. Behind her, the two Raider stallions, fell to the ground; blood gushing from the throat of one, whilst blood flowed freely from the crotch of the other.
Euphoria sneered as she turned her attention towards the white mare, and saw her backing away, dropping her two saddlebags as she begged for her life. “No, no... I...I... didn't mean to...” she croaked out, between tears as she continued to back up. In response, Euphoria cackled and grinned, as she bit down on her bridle.
She fired three bullets into the mare. The first one turned her left eyeball to nothing but red paste that dripped from the empty hole; the second one cracked the bone in her right fore-hoof, and Euphoria watched as she stumbled, and the bone punctured upwards through the skin, tearing flesh on its way; the last one, tore straight through the mare's chest and out through her neck, so she went limp. “T-the pain...” she moaned, as she looked up at Euphoria with her one good eye. “It h-hurts... p-please make it s-stop...” she added, but Euphoria had already walked away, leaving the mare to an agonizing death, as she bled out on the ground.
Her victory was brief, as she had to dart into cover again, cursing. The Raiders still left, were the ones in the overhanging shacks, and they used their cover and superior fire-power to their advantage. Euphoria pressed her back against the cold metal of a dumpster, as she leaned out from cover and took a brief glance at the Raiders.
As one bullet pinged against the edge, she pulled her head back in swiftly, and thumped it back against the metal. “Okay... six Raiders to go, and I have forty bullets left. I can do this,” Euphoria said, and gritted her teeth against the rising bile in her stomach, but she had to push onwards.
Bullets rained down against her, and Euphoria darted between them, but even then she let out a shriek as one of them punctured her already injured fore-hoof. Mere seconds later, the firing stopped and Euphoria looked up to see that the Raiders had retreated back into cover. Cackling, she crouched low and pushed through the pain as she waited.
The second the first Raider stuck his head out, she bit down on her bridle, and watched as blood sprayed into the darkness, and the stallion fell backwards. As he did so, the entire backside of his shack opened up, and girders impaled themselves in the ground, with the Raider falling onto them. Blood poured out between the girders, as sheet-metal rained down on him; sadly, he was already dead.
The other Raiders got off shots at Euphoria, as she jumped into another Wagon, taking cover inside the hulking metal. She thumped forcefully against the wall, and groaned as she saw a trail of blood following her every move. “Yeah... this is why, Yiltse...” she commented, and coughed violently, spitting out a gob of blood onto the dirty metal floor.
She made a face, as cackling in front of her turned her attention towards the opening. The face of a laughing stallion peered back at her, and Euphoria suddenly saw why as a gun surrounded by shimmering purple came into view. She ripped her entire body to the right, as the stallion shot at her, and the bullet just pinged against the wall, and ricochet.
Even though he wasn't hitting her, the stallion continued firing shot after shot into the caravan, at Euphoria. He only stopped, once his gun clicked and muzzle-fire no longer illuminated his cackling face, and that was when Euphoria took her chance. As she had rolled out of the way, she had pulled her rifle out, and now she took aim, and fired without hesitation at the stallion's face.
With his face turned into a bloody mush, the stallion's body along with his gun, dropped to the ground. “F-four... only four to go...” Euphoria added, as she got to her hooves, and galloped outside, once she had slipped her rifle back into her battle-saddle. Suspicious silence hung in the air, and Euphoria skidded to a stop just outside the wagon. “What...?”
“You're gonna bleed!” a Raider cried, in-between his cackling, as he loaded his rifle, and fired at her. Euphoria screamed in agony, as the first bullet chipped against her other fore-hoof, and she staggered, and as she did so, she saw the flash of muzzle-fire, and that was enough. As she bleed, Euphoria bit her bridle weakly, and fired two shots at the stallion. She didn't see him keel over, but she heard the scream, and bang of metal against metal as his rifle hit the floor.
“Three...” Euphoria barely had enough time to say it, as two more Raiders jumped out of a Wagon nearby, wielding melee weapons. Fuck... there shouldn't be this many bad ponies... she thought, as the Raiders neared her. Euphoria rolled meekly to her side, and bit on her bridle. Due to the angle she was lying in, she was lucky that she hit anything, but she hit the stallion's head.
Blood already dripped from the stallion's muzzle, by the time Euphoria cracked open his skull, and he foamed at the mouth. The shock alone, had been enough to make his jaw go tight, and more blood poured from his muzzle at that, as the blade he held in his mouth carved into the sides violently; Euphoria only heard muffled screams for a short while, before his back went taut, then he went limp.
The other Raider just chuckled, as he kicked Euphoria's sides, and rolled her over so she faced him. “I'm gonna make you a real mare!” he said around the bat he was holding, and even though she was exhausted, Euphoria kicked wildly with her hind-legs, which only gave her another beating from the stallion, as he flipped her back over.
Euphoria coughed violently, as the stallion dropped the bat, and brought his muzzle close to her neck to whisper. “You've killed my friends, and I even liked those guys, so now it's time for a little payback. Besides, you owe me,” he added with a slight snicker, as he pulled Euphoria's tail out of the way.
Oh fuck that! Euphoria's mind screamed at her, and she took the bat with one hoof, forcefully bringing it back against the Stallion. Even though it wasn't a full swing, the stallion staggered. “That's...” Euphoria began and rolled back around, as adrenaline surged through her veins. Facing the stallion once again, she swung the bat, and it was a true swing this time.
The stallion impacted the ground hard, and he spat out blood, and yellowed-teeth as Euphoria rushed over to him. “No way to treat a lady!” she finished and brought the bat down on his head again, and again, and again, and again. By the time she was done, she had stopped counting, and only gasped in horror at the Stallion's crushed face.
His entire skull had been beaten inside, and his lower jaw had been mangled so much it had dislocated; while his eyeballs were bulging out of his head, along with brain-matter. Backing away from the grim sight, Euphoria dropped the bat. Half a second later, her entire body jerked at the sound of metal, and she saw the shape of a mare dart away from the compound. “I don't want to die!” she screamed, and escaped into the darkness.
Euphoria just looked after the mare, and dropped to her knees. “Fuck...t-there's something wrong with me...” she said, panting as she looked at the ground and her own fore-hooves. When she looked back up, she didn't look at any of the mangled bodies surrounding her, she instead focused on the one thing she had left untouched – the building. “Now, I really... really, really hope they're in there...” she said, and slowly got back to her hooves.
On her way to the building, Euphoria picked up her rifle and slid it back into her battle-saddle, deciding that she could loot the bodies of the Raiders later, since she had more pressing issues. As she pulled on the door, it opened easily, but creaked horribly, and Euphoria just groaned as she stepped inside.
Flayed bodies of random ponies had been strung from the ceiling, and the flood was caked with their blood. A table had been set up in the middle of the room, and had four adjacent chair set up around it; all of them made from rusty metal, with flaking white finish still clinging to a few places; on the table, strips of flesh lay in a pan, whilst several different kinds of drugs lay next to it, including a health potion.
As she passed the table, Euphoria slipped the potion into her bag, and approached the wood counter at the end of the room. She ducked under the bodies, and went behind it, seeing a pony impaled onto a dirty bed. Euphoria grimaced at the mare's decapitated head, and her mutilated torso, which counted countless sores that had most likely been inflicted before she had died.
In front of Euphoria, a half-open door stood, and seeing as there was nothing else in the room, she headed through it and soon found herself in what had once been a gift shop. Rows upon rows of shelves on each side, contained both ancient toys, and new weapons, as well as bloody body-parts of different ponies.
She stopped halfway, as her mouth hung agape at what met her in the middle of the room. A dark red mare, with a fiery red mane stood over a green mare, still in her Stable uniform; whilst the red mare had dressed up in typical Raider uniform. She took one look at Euphoria and cackled madly, as she pulled the knife she had pressed up between the sobbing mare's nethers on the floor, away.
Her pupils pulled into small pinpricks as she made eye-contact with Euphoria, and she cackled wildly. “Come to join the party, E?” Buckshot said, only cackling more as she saw Euphoria's legs shake in response. Gripping the bloody knife between her teeth, Buckshot turned her attention fully to Euphoria. “We're gonna have some fun today!” she added, and charged for Euphoria, her mad cackling echoing dimly in Euphoria's ears.
Footnote: Level Up
New Perk: Silent Horseshoes – With this Perk, you now have the ability to move quickly and still remain quiet. You can Sneak, and gallop at the same time. Without this Perk, you would automatically stop Sneaking if you galloped.
