Chapter 1: Speak-Easy
“Now this is the story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down.”
Boom. Headshot.
The body of what once was a mole rat came tumbling down to the rocky ground after having its pudgy head blown to bits by a sniper rifle several yards away. I wasn’t too far off that same spot, digging through a rust pile for scraps as my watchful gunpony, Justy, pulled the trigger on that varmint. The sudden, loud noise interrupted me, making me jump. I stared in shock momentarily at the auburn-locked manilla unicorn with a cheesecake slice and strawberry syrup cutie mark. He checked his foreleg gadget thing, which he calls a “PipBuck”, for any other hostiles in the area.
“I really think you should consider carrying a gun with you at all times, so I don’t have to foalsit you while you are doing your job.” He said in a chiding tone under his white sheriff hat that shielded his fiery mane. I gave him a defiant smirk before returning to my scrounging, obviously not giving a flying feather.
“Hey, if I did that then you’d be complaining about how bored you are with nothing to shoot at” I paused momentarily to put the metal scraps into my saddlebags, before continuing. “Besides, I believe that shot of yours just made you reach your one hundredth kill milestone for this month, pal.”
Justy’s eyes widened a bit. Either he forgot and was confirming this to be true, or he was creeped out by the fact that I remembered and kept track during this whole time. Whichever it was, the mercenary made a ‘Yes!’ gesture victoriously. He will be getting a bonus thanks to his contract agreement when he first got assigned to me. Suddenly, an earth pony wearing a jumpsuit over his green coat emerged from an abandoned outhouse a few feet from us.
“Howdy you two! Ah got mah quota, how ‘bout you Flash?” He asked in a chipper tone, his chestnut mane in dire need of a wash. His saddlebags are busting out the seams with all sorts of goodies. I almost envy his effective, yet questionably crude, finding skills.
I nervously scratched the back of my head. “Oh hey Tune Awp. I’ll be needing a few more minutes since I’m still sorting through all this crap.” Unlike him, I’m a bit more selective about what I decide to take back with me to our employer in New Appleoosa. However, as I saw the sun starting to set for the day, I decided to just quickly wrap up what I was currently sifting through and motioned my two companions to begin our mile long trek back home.
Being a citizen in Appleoosa isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Simply put, I’m a scavenger. I find useful things from abandoned places- guns, food, mostly worn-out metal you name it- and give them to Mayor Railright’s maintenance officer for a small amount of caps monthly. It’s not a glamorous job by any means but I was provided a small house, which I share with Tune Awp my partner in salvaging. That is worth a lot down here, especially since I don’t have to pay rent, being a municipal employee and all. My only regret is that my friend does a better job than I do, thanks to his lack of pickiness. I personally think around a third of what he brings back in gets tossed back out the following day.
‘Justy’, short for Just Desserts, is a hired gunpony who has been in this town assigned to protect me and my partner by the city for two and a half months. He sleeps in the motel down the lane in the shopping district near Ditzy Doo’s Absolutely Everything and the local pub. He’s a cool unicorn for somepony of his occupation but despite the three of us warming up to each other, it’s no surprise that he’s only in it for the caps by the end of the day. Me and Tune Awp were assigned to him by the mayor after protesting about one job incident involving a large Radscorpion and a very, very close call. Thankfully, no pony was injured since I was able to escape while Tune Awp crippled the monster’s legs with a shotgun we luckily found that particular day. Not to mention he’s cheap, at least after I helped my boss, Steady Plug, talk his rates down.
With heavy thud, Steady weighed in our spoils and prepared our weekly salary behind his office counter in the city station. For a middle aged, charmingly balding earth buck, he sure was taking his sweet time counting the caps one by one while we stood waiting on the other side.
“49...50...51...52! Come pick up your pay Tune!” I silently thanked the goddesses that the trip back to town had no raiders or beasts to attack us and that I was finally able to relax for this week. “28...29...30...31! Here’s your share Flashbang,” he chuckled slightly as I grabbed the pouch muttering, “behind as usual.” What a dick.
Afterwards, he dismissed us swiftly pointing his hoof to the exit since he now had to get back to sorting and putting what we found to good use. I sighed a bit on the way out while Tune beamed at his jingling cap bag. Forty caps is the average pay which is determined more by quantity than quality. Not a big issue for me; I’m broke not destitute.
About myself, my name is Flashbang. I’m a chocolate brown earth stallion with a cobalt mane and yellow highlights. Unsurprisingly, my cutie mark is a flashbang sphere in mid-detonation. I think I got it because I’m quite a good galloper. My ability of reaching top galloping speed in less than ten seconds flat has helped me keep my scavenging job since my build allows me to outrun the many dangers out there, so far at least. My parents moved here when I was still a young colt and I grew up here, my dad died defending the town from some yao guais, my mom developed dementia over the years and now lives in her psychiatric ward quarters. I did mourn for them both but that’s now years past. My father’s death is why I didn’t want to have a guard job or anything that has to do with guns. Now, I work this job with a few other scavengers in groups of two and it has been this way ever since I came of age.
“Flash, we ‘ought to hurry ‘n go meet up with Justy at the bar like we told him we’d do.” Tune Awp reminded me after we finished having a quick bite from a cheap street vendor. It is said that ponies are not meant to eat meat because we are supposed to be vegetarians or something but whoever said that is wrong. Those ant meat burritos and radigator sandwiches really fill you up. Maybe, it’s just that we’ve adapted diet-wise I’ve never really had any problems or second thoughts with meat eating.
I nodded. “Yeah, I suppose we shouldn’t leave him waiting. Let’s go.” We tipped the food vendor and made our way across town towards the ‘Tipsy Gelding’. Before we reached our destination, I spotted a couple of ponies heading straight out of town with the corner of my eye. One of them is a strange gray mare with another one of them Pipbuck things, while the other one is none other than ‘Deadshot’ Calamity with his trademark hat and battle saddle. It seems that the two have geared up to the teeth with help from Ditzy’s shop and are on their way to shooting up a storm to someplace that’s certainly dangerous.
While it was an odd and quite scary sight, I soon perished the thought from my mind since it was none of my business and I’m with my colleagues to get drunk. Me and my friend disappeared past the bar’s wooden swing doors.
I found Justy in the bar area waiting patiently while the bartender was cleaning his glassware. “Justy!” We called out to him and he waved us in to sit by him. The shelf on the bar is filled with different spirits and vintages along with some stacks of cups and mixers. On the other hoof, the stools were half-filled up as workers come to loosen up after a good day’s work in the ambiently-lit relaxing social atmosphere.
“Only a couple minutes late! Quite an improvement from last time you two.” He joked. We then proceeded to have a good time discussing new milestones and talking possible job routes, the place was now fairly full and the night young. After a mug or two, we weren’t really hammered yet so Justy pointed me to a fairly new gizmo installed on the far corner of the establishment.
“You should try it out,” he goaded. “It checks your weight, asks you questions and pops out an evaluation of you. It’s fun!” Tune Awp turned his head and gave him a quizzical look.
“Ah ain’t spendin’ mah hard-earned caps on some dumb evaluator,” He put his hoof on his chin for a second or two before shoving me towards it “unless ol’ Flashbang ‘ere does it first.”
“Wha-hey!” I shouted in protest, but gave in since a part of me was indeed curious. Looking back at my companions for a second, I turned and trotted over to the ‘Vitatron Pep-o-meter’ and inserted a cap on the open slot to activate it. I stood on the scale provided and answered the questions it generated in a cute pre-war manner. My unicorn pal was right, it was fun. Shortly after, it was finished and the machine printed out what it listed as my “S.P.E.C.I.A.L.” :
Flashbang’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
5 - 4 - 7 - 7 - 7 - 6 - 4
Amused with my results, I made my way back to where Tune Awp and Justy are while the technical earth pony gets up to check his stats with the Vitatron, steering clear from other patrons and bar staff passing by. It may not be visible with the jumpsuit on him right now but I’ve seen his cutie mark before, it’s a bullet turned on it’s side cut in half. Tune’s had a knack for fixing broken things and even making custom parts to existing ones like that automatic can-opener he made for me on my birthday last year. Where did he learn how to do that? Self-taught? I better ask him one of these days.
“So, how well did you score?” Justy chirped as he took another swig on his beverage. I handed him my print out, having minor qualms on how a simple machine can even measure something as subjective as Luck.
Feeling a bit of boredom, I eyed the bar casually to get a feel of how busy it would be tonight and to get a better look at my surroundings. A realization hit me like a football to the back of the head. Not only is this place packed, but there’s a lot of griffins visiting and they don’t look like peaceful passer-bys either. More like, they appear to be rugged wasteland folks with weapons and scars to match. I nudged my increasingly inebriated friend to ask him something about these particular guests. I had a bad feeling in my gut about these guys.
“JD,” he knows that when I call him by that name then I’m not fooling around. “Why is this bar full of suspicious,” I coughed into my hoof before continuing in a near whisper, “unsavory griffins tonight?” He looked me with a dour expression that shows some hint of drunkenness almost as if he can’t believe I’m being concerned on his special occasion.
“Huh? Oh, they’re the White Gold Feather Company trade caravan group.” He replied, putting his drink down for a minute. “They make quarterly rounds across the wastes cycling on different towns to avoid hostile attacks supposedly, but I bet it’s mostly to keep a low profile from competition.” He added this bit after a small pause to help calm my nerves. “Don’t worry, I’ve seen their types before every now and then back when I didn’t work in this town here with you.” With that attestation, I finally eased up a bit.
So it looks like all I need to do is to act natural and not piss those birds off while they’re here and I should be fine. Tune Awp made his way back to us in our bar spot soon after. “Ah can’t believe this,” He crumpled up his results slip and tossed the paper ball in the nearest trash bin. “that stupid contrapshun can’t measure mah rootin’ tootin’ skills worth a damn!” I wasn’t surprised by his remark since he really can be full of himself sometimes, being three years older than me and all. I just averted my unimpressed eyes with a sigh.
“No need to rub your superiority in even further.” I muttered trying to cheer him up.
Time flew by, so did a couple more downed drinks. The three of us were really having a good time celebrating our work achievements with Justy’s milestone being the highlight among the banter-laden bar music. I’m sure that my two buddies are less sober than me now since they’re having a bit too much fun, no wait that’s the whole point. It’s quite dark outside and the lights turned up since everyone’s filled up on grub by now. Some of the sensible ponies were even beginning to call it a night and head back to their homes.
I got shaken out of my daydream when my friends called me over to a private room with several of the griffins from the same trading group. At first, I was quite apprehensive but then I told myself to just ‘act natural’. I kept a friendly attitude front as I pulled up a chair around the four strangers and my companions. It looks like they were all about to start gambling using cards as caps being put on the center of the table as chips. Fortunately, the stakes weren’t low enough to join and it looked safe enough from my viewpoint.
A big brown and silver griffin with a chipped motorcycle cap was our dealer and tactfully shuffled the cards with ease. “Nice of you to join us. Marko’s the name and Omaha’s the game.” He motioned everyone to have a seat before he resumed his card fiddling, “this isn’t a pussyfooting game like Blackjack so everyone ante up!” Me and Tune Awp were so game, placing twenty five caps in front of us as the other three players did the same. Justy and one of the other griffins, Paulie I think was his name, stepped out to get us all more refreshments and to arrange designated drunk guides. Fortunately, I knew the rules of this game because I planned on winning it big! The other players for tonight were called Jeff, Shawn and Tookie. Tookie huh? What a weird name for a gruff, feathered thug wearing an eyepatch.
The music outside quieted down as the door shut us. Marko dealt our first hand. All of us who were playing looked at our hands being careful not to show them to the players. I didn’t like this hand, the odds weren’t good enough. “Fold.” I surrendered my hand but fortunately I didn’t have to put in some caps that round. Shawn folded too, the rest of them played the first round. The flop came and Tune Awp raised enough to scare the other griffins for the first win.
“Well, if you birdbrains don’t want it, Ah’ll just take it!” He said triumphantly, taking the pot. I was getting an inkling that these players around us weren’t very keen on being smack talked judging from the brief glares.
Looking at my cards again, I went ahead to dispose of this garbage forfeiting my blinds. “This hand stinks worse than having carcass chunks on your clothes all day.” I kicked back on my chair, noticing that Justy was taking his time out there with the other griffin. Probably ogling at some of the patron mares or something.
My friend flashed a cheesy grin, pushing more of his caps on the table. “Ah don’t know ‘bout the rest of you, but ah like these cards.” I swear I could smell the liquor through his breath. “A lot!” In my opinion, he was getting too loud and I struggled not to plant my hoof on my face in front of the four griffins that look to be increasingly agitated by his impressive display of sportsmanship. Jeff dropped his hand, growling under his breath while the other two players called Tune on his raise.
“Watch yourself.” Tookie warned, baring his talons instinctively which my eyes spotted were squeezing the edge of the table.
“All in!” The pony mechanic shoved all his money onto the pot. I coughed in reaction to mask my surprise at such boldness. No one else visibly reacted but they all folded so that round is over. At this rate, it looks like my pal here is the one who is going to win it all this evening. “Ah could ‘ave been bluffin’ that time, but thanks for the money anywho.” He gleefully took his money, with interest, back.
This does not look good, even I can tell that Marko the dealer is getting increasingly miffed with Tune Awp’s manners. Too bad I can’t just tell him to shut up in front of the visitors while we’re supposed to be having a blast tonight. The next round was different in that Tune Awp folded and I was actually able to play my cards this time. The flop came.
“Ah’ll sit this one out gentlemen.” Please for the love of Celestia, be quiet! Feeling a little risky myself, I bet a third of my money on this hand to the table. Jeff pulled out, silently cursing us crazy ponies. Shawn and Tookie remained with the menacing eyepatch griffin countering with a re-raise.
This guy is challenging me and I’m not backing down now. “I get that you’re supposed to be big and intimidating and all, but you’re making a big mistake my friend.” I said, matching his bet. Any higher and I’ll pass the point of no return, so I pray that he’s not going to raise the bet any higher. I freely admit that line I just used wasn’t was best thing to say during the time.
Shawn heaved a groan and folded, we were now at the turn waiting for the river. Both of us checked and we had a showdown as the last card, a King of Clubs, hit the table. I flipped up my cards to reveal my double pair of Fives and Jacks, Tookie flipped his hand to reveal that he had triple kings. I lost and he took the pot with a boastful smirk. “Better luck next time, little pony.” Tookie sneered. I knew it’s just a game but I can’t help but fume internally with my wonderful streak of bad luck.
There was a noticeable ‘Thump!’ coming from the ceiling, everyone’s eyes shifted around for a second. Well. I didn’t know ponies were now doing THAT upstairs... Is it really that late? That better not be my bodyguard... I wouldn’t be too surprised if it did turn out that Justy went to get some tail since this wasn’t the first time it happened, that lazy bastard. With that in mind, me and Tune Awp’s eyes met for a moment and he gave a knowing shrug with a “hmph,” as if reading my mind.
The next round came, Tune Awp looked somewhat less cocky that time. His cards were either that mediocre or the alcohol is starting to pass through his system. It could have easily been both but nevertheless he called for that round. “I hope you can beat all reds!” Tune Awp jeered as everyone placed their bets and the flop revealed three red cards. From the looks of the griffins faces though, they were getting tired of his winning.
“Oh yeah? All in.” Shawn egged, moving all his caps to the pot.
Jeff shook his head and slid his cards away from him folding before he kicked back to a more comfortable sitting position. That was when I noticed that him and Shawn were carrying rope on them. What an odd fashion statement, even for New Appleoosan standards. “Hell naw, this is gonna get ugly.” He barked.
Tookie, on the other hand, went balls deep in as well. The center of the table looked very impressive now, at least in terms of low-stakes Omaha. That definitely got corresponding responses from me and my friend back on our side of the table with his incredulous gasp being more apparent than my sly whistle. Something was definitely amiss, are those empty potato sacks on top of those crates in the the far corner? And more importantly, where the blazing hellhounds is Just Desserts?!
Not wanting to see my friend get ganged up on, I called the two griffins on their bluffs, going all in. “Oh it’s on. Prepare to lose.” I gave a flashy wink at Tune Awp to get him to loosen up from all this tension. I had two aces in my hand ready to dominate this round from Tookie’s boys. He took this cue to follow me and go all in as well, trusting my plan. The air felt thick with all of this reckless betting. Much so that it made Marko have to put his cards down and step out for a drink.
“Just a few seconds you psychos, I’ll be right back.” Shawn and Jeff grunted impatiently while Tookie chuckled slightly, raising an eyebrow at me for a few seconds which I found a bit disturbing. The end of the game is at hand and all that griffon wants to do is continue creeping me out? Perhaps I’m just absolutely buzzed out of my mind.
“You look like you got a question, little pony. Well?” Tookie pulled out a cloth rag to wipe his forehead with while the other two griffins in front of us made stretching gestures. I didn’t notice that this, well everything that happened prior really, was all a diversion until it was too late.
WHAM!
Tune Awp slumped forward on the table motionlessly as Marko suddenly knocked his lights out with a pre-war baseball bat, both his cards and caps spilling over the floor. “Tune A- Ack!” I tried to yell but got cut off with a bat swinging for a home run on the side of my face with such painful force that made me tumble onto the floor.
Amidst the burning sensation on the right side below my eyes, I can tell this will bruise for a while as I spat out a bloody tooth that came from the back of my now swollen, bleeding mouth. The griffins acted quickly, I heard them getting out of their seats in my unpleasant daze. I wasn’t able to react in time or defend myself. My ears picked up on some shuffling as the thugs were fixing to kidnap me and Tune Awp. Tookie pinned me down to keep me from escaping and jammed a drugged cloth to my schnozzle. I can only stare weakly at his uncaring, cold gaze before the chloroform took effect and I passed out as they dumped me in one of the sacks. My final thoughts wondering what in Celestia’s name were planning to do with us simple pony folk.
Footnote: Level Up!
New Perk: Extra Special - You can put a single extra point into any of your SPECIAL attributes. PER increased by 1! (4->5)
Author's Note
This might be further edited later on but here's my first chapter. Enjoy!
Original Fic and concept belongs to Kkat.
Flashbang: Black mane, brown coat, yellow highlights.
Just Deserts: Auburn mane, manilla coat, white hat, brown vest with battle saddle.
Tune Awp: Chestnut mane, verdant coat, blue jumpsuit, goggles.
Chapter 2: Bound Transit
“Better to have them say ‘Here he fled’ rather than ‘Here he bled’.”
My body laid motionless in the vast darkness for what felt like an eternity, but it really couldn’t have been more than half a day. Eventually, I slowly came back to the waking world against my desire after sleeping dreamlessly from the rough events during that night.
It started with feeling a mild ache on the side of my face where I got hit with a baseball bat from that griffin bastard, Marko I believe was his name. The dull throbbing persisted even after my ears picked up a few voices around me, my eyes adjusting to the dimly lit room that felt to be moving in one direction.
My newfound awareness was apparently also accompanied with a pounding headache. Just great, a hangover on top of all this. Not a cool way to start the day.
“Looks like he’s waking up,” a middle-aged gray coated earth pony said as I rubbed my hoof over my eyes and face to soothe my bruises. The clinking sounds of chains and the heaviness around the base of my forelegs notified me that I’ve been tethered down to prevent escaping. I deduced that the other ponies around me were in the same situation: We were all going to be sold to slavers by these rogue merchants for some quick caps.
“He’s up?” Boomed a voice belonging to a younger red stallion with a flippant tone that made me wonder if had gotten socked in the mouth for it yet. “Well, I’m not gonna be the one to tell him the rules, since I was the one to tell his compadre there in the corner.”
I lowered my hooves from my head and tried to speak, “W-what the hell is, agh, going on?” I doubted talking much would be the a good idea, at least not until my hangover went away. A pink unicorn mare with a wavy periwinkle mane brushed the red one aside and trotted over towards me to get a better look at my condition. Her cutie mark appeared to be a tube of ointment pointing straight down with an unfurled length of white bandage hovering around it in a spiral helix.
“Back off, plebeian.” She told him off before focusing her violet eyes on me. “Don’t mind him dearie, it just gets repetitive saying the same thing over and over to new guests here, and not to mention most of us have been locked here for a couple of weeks or so.” She paused to levitate a cloth rag and dusted me off a bit before clearing her throat to resume. “Therefore, we all agreed to just take turns. Now listen up!”
“Rule number one: No bucking, stomping or making loud noises.” she began. While she went over these rules, I couldn’t help but glance around the dark wagon as she spoke, quickly spotting Tune Awp huddled in a corner with his back turned to everypony. “Rule number two: No escaping. Don’t even think of planning to.” There were a total of five of us in the dark wagon,the pink unicorn by me being the odd one of the group. The mare either didn’t notice that my attention was semi-divided or she just didn’t care, either way she just kept on going. “Rule number three: No fighting back or causing them trouble. Always follow what the griffins tell you to do.” The room was dark because the windows were boarded shut from the outside, a single door which was probably locked being the only way in or out, most likely to avoid suspicion from afar by other wastelanders or traders. A single lamp hung above us, providing the only light in our mobile prison aside from the glistening cracks from the door. The stallion and the colt by the opposite wall watched me quietly, trying to hide their glum scowls as best they can. “Rule number four: No breaking any of those three rules. Breaking them will result in getting gagged and hogtied, followed by no food for one day. Then if you break them once more, they will blow your head off.” That part got my attention, I wasn’t interested in dying so soon so I quickly nodded to show the unicorn that I understood all of that.
“Oh, and I almost forgot. My name is Getwell Salve, I was an intern assisting in a clinic in Las Pegasus before getting kidnapped.” She sighed audibly before mentioning that part. “It was part of my curriculum back in my home, Tenpony Towers.” She waved her hoof over the other two stallions as she told me their names. “The older gray one right there is Stone Slab while the young pleb over there goes by Beet Shades.” I tried to look at the two politely while they continue their cold offbeat staring. “Slab here says he’s been stuck in this awful wagon for more than three weeks, for Beet a fortnight and I myself here for approximately five days.”
Shit. I was going to be stuck here with these odd ponies for Celestia knows how long.
Getwell looked at me with concern, probably noticing the look on my face. She added. “Don’t worry though, they’ll drop us off, eventually. It looks like these White Gold ruffians follow a specific looping route while adding and dropping ponies off as they go. In fact, Slab did tell me that he never saw more than eight ponies in here at a time.” This did little to calm my nerves but I took note of it nonetheless. I felt like my jaws were healed enough for me to resume talking once again.
“Thank you, I guess... Getwell was it?” My attention turned from the unicorn back to Tune Awp as I heard him repeatedly clopping his hooves together while still huddled in the corner away from everypony. I made a polite gesture saying, “Flashbang, pleased to meet you,” before turning to walk away from the pink mare. She smiled, throwing in one more comment before letting me go.
“By the way, please call me Salvation. I prefer to go by that when I’m traveling outside the towers. Your friend’s been keeping to himself ever since he got here.”
I quietly trotted back to Tune Awp’ corner after my pleasantries with Salvation were over, finding him flattening a nail on it’s side with several other nails he must have pulled out from inside the wagon then placed right beside him. He noticed me and shot me a serious look in my direction, shushing me to keep my voice down. From there on, we conversed with each other through whispers in the darkness.
“Ah see yer up pardner,” He finished flattening the last nail before sticking one of them in his mouth to chew on. “If you don’t mind, ahm’ kind of busy here.” It dawned on me that he wasn’t simply playing around with metal while I was out cold, He’s actually been making lockpicks to unshackle us!
“Tune Awp, what the heck are you doing? Didn’t the red colt there tell you about breaking the rules?” I warned him. As much as I wanted to escape, the odds were clearly against us since those griffins outside were armed and none of us had any way of defending ourselves. He finished up, bending one of his metal nails before getting started on another one.
“You mean that mannerless bastard of a young’un, Beet Shades?” His teeth gnashed noticeably harder when he uttered that bit. “Yeah, but ah’m a terrible listener when it comes to jokers like him, ne’er the type to sit still against my will.” He cricked his back some before getting back to his work. “Will ya help me keep this ‘ere discreet while ah come up with a plan? Ah can’t trust anyone else here, you know.”
I nodded, knowing that he wasn’t going to back down anyway. “Excuse me, while I go look at what the others are up to.” Then I left my friend back to his devices, seeing the three other ponies sitting quietly apart from each other. I figured making a little small talk wouldn’t hurt since I was going to be stuck here for a long time. I briefly thought back about how my disappearance would affect the ponyfolk back home in Appleoosa. Truth is, it really wouldn’t change a damn thing. After all, in the grand scheme of things, I was just another scavenger. Insignificant and forgettable.
I sauntered towards them and sat down next to Stone Slab, who was staring sourly at the ceiling. “Hey there, w-” He interrupted my greeting by talking over me.
“Leave. Me. Alone.” His tone gave off the impression that he’s pissed about something.
“But-” My words got rudely cut off again by another interjection from him.
“I mean it punk. Don’t screw around with me.” The sight of his cold, dark eyes made me get his point.
“Sorry then...” I got up and moved near Beat Shades who is hopefully more sociable than the gray old grouch. The red colt looked bored out of his mind so I decided to chat him even though I thought he still needed to be taught manners.
He yawned as he spotted me, “Yo, what ‘chu want?” As rude as he was, I tried my best not to look annoyed since this is supposed to be a friendly chat. He made himself more comfortable by leaning back and putting his front hooves behind his head.
“Why don’t you tell me your story? And Stone Slab’s too? That is, if you know about his.” I asked him.
He obliged to my surprise, “I was set up I tells you. Set. Up.” It seemed to me that this topic is sensitive to him. “My so called friends did this to me on purpose just to get back at my exploding toilet prank!” He shut his eyes for a second sighing before he continued, voice escalating. “That was a month and a half ago too! I swear if I get out of this alive, then I am going to make them pay! All of them! You feel me?”
“Exploding toilet?” I briskly shook my head to ask better questions, “Hey, were you from Las Pegasus too just like Getwell Salve? I know the old guy can’t be from around there...” If I could just chart out where all these ponies came from, maybe I can guess where we’re headed to next.
“Nope, I came from a shanty dump called Hope. My best guess for Slab is that he had a remote shack near Old Ponyville but that place got infested by raiders a long while back so I’m afraid I don’t really know.”
“Makes sense I suppose, is there anything else you figure I need to know?” I asked.
“Yeah, I got one. Stay away from the mare.” He threatened me, “She’s mine and if I catch you or your repairpony friend doing anything funny, I’m gonna be all up on your asses.” I took my leave before my urge to hit him intensified even further. I saw Salvation drawing a circle on the ground with her hoof a bit tiredly as I approached her. Unlike the others here, she definitely was the most amicable to speak to.
Salvation gave me a friendly smile as I went back to chat with her after getting told to bug off by the other two males. It looked as if she was waiting for something right where she sat. “Back so soon?” She giggled. “So, how well is Mr. Solitary holding up?”
“He’s uhh...” I stopped myself from staring at those hips with a slap. “He’s making do by himself, believe me.” I replied, keeping the escape plan under wraps. “Tune Awp just gets a little testy when he’ on an empty stomach.”
“Oh, then I’ve got some good news for you dear.” She tilted her head slightly, grinning. “Tell me now, are you hungry?”
My stomach rumbled at her question making me realize that I skipped meals too since getting into this sticky situation. She sure has some nerve telling me. I clutched my belly, my face turned red with embarrassment as she chuckled upon hearing it’s faint growls.
“Yes, I’m... famished.” I said matter-of-factly, averting my gaze from her knowing eyes.
“Well, food is on its way soon. In fact-” Whoosh! A wall slot previously unseen suddenly opened next to the floor and a pair of griffin talons slipped two steaming plates of yellow mush inside. Salvation promptly levitated them and trotted over to distribute the first two plates to the brat and old horse. I was busy shielding my eyes from the sudden burst of light to respond. “Much obliged Wally.” She chirped as the griffon placed three more dishes inside along with a wooden bucket before closing the slots without any warning.
“Wow...that was cool I suppose,” I said dumbfoundedly, “but what in Equestria is this slop?” I pointed to the strange plates of food by our hooves.
The unicorn mare shrugged. “Why it’s instamash egg salad with bits of maize. Get used to it since that’s all they ever give us other than slightly dirty water.” I stared at the plates for a second, figuring out that the two are meant for me and Tune Awp.
“I see... and that empty bucket is-?” I asked, thinking to myself how dumb I sounded asking in the first place as I put the pieces together.
“Please, I’m trying to have lunch.” She raised an eyebrow at me, signaling she was about to chow down. “Anyway, they send us this to eat twice a day, water included mind you, and replace buckets roughly every other day.” I nodded, taking more mental notes. “You better hurry and go eat with your friend while your food’s still somewhat warm. Besides, I’d like some time by myself if you would be so kind. Though I do appreciate you stopping by Flash.” I left her in good spirits returning back to Tune Awp with both plates of food in my mouth.
My fellow scavenger didn’t notice me trot by as he’s still engrossed in his nail-chewing activities. I set down the food in front of us with an audible Plink!.
“Ee-yikes! Hey now, don’t you go doing that ever again ya hear?” He jumped, nearly shouting at me after I spooked the buttons out of him. I shot him an unimpressed look as he regarded my lack of manners.
“Excuuse me then. Here, eat this. It’ll do you good Tune.” I pushed a plate his way. He took a whiff at it before bringing it up to his mouth with his hooves and started fiercely wolfing it down. Gosh, and I thought I was a hungry horse!
I couldn’t spot his tools from earlier as he was munching, so I asked him, “Where the heck are those nails you were chewing on earlier?” He sat still for a second then gave a crude belch before answering me.
“Ahm keepin’ them safe from pryin’ eyes ‘til it’s time... Don’t you worry, ah’ll give you a signal a’forehand. Can’t be too careful ‘round these folks you know?” With that, he went back to what he was doing and I decided to eat my own fill right there. It wasn’t half bad really. It could’ve easily been worse like uncooked radroach meat or something else just as nasty.
Shortly after I finished my salad, I laid down again and went back to sleep. From that point, it all became a routine. I stop sleeping, eat if there’s any food out and also sip water. Then, I stare at the ceiling and walls for hours because hardly any pony wants to talk and at some point finally doze off. Lather, rinse, repeat. I was beginning to understand why the others don’t want to talk since being trapped here really sucks the energy out of you and then some. One thing’s for certain though, my friend never loses focus on what he’s working on that I’ve had to tell him to take naps every now and then since that red pony started occasionally throws us dirty looks. What should’ve been only 24 hours felt like three days! I was starting to get grumpy myself but noticed Salvation was faring better than the rest of us, or at least appeared to be. Either way, I couldn’t help but sometimes wonder how she manages that.
One day, I woke up to my backside getting poked by a persistent hoof. “Get up sleepy, your instamash is getting cold.” Salvation said. “Lately, you’ve been spending more of your time sleeping and frankly that’s starting to worry me.” I was? I never really noticed it myself but based on her concerned expression she must be telling the truth. I blame being a prisoner to these griffon thugs as a major reason why I’m this way.
Some time after I’ve finished brunch, I trotted over to Salvation once more but she was the one who initiated conversation this time. “Yesterday while you were out snoozing, I overheard our feathered captors speaking amongst themselves and it appears things have changed.”
That got my attention so I leaned in with interest. “Really? How?”
“We weren’t mobile when they were talking so I thought our trip was over but... Apparently, that was not the case.” She seemed quite disappointed when I she stated that part, I shared that feeling with her as well.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, it turns out our previous destination, Old Appleoosa, got awfully wrecked from within by a group or something. And whoever they were, they were tough.” I gulped, barely able to imagine how powerful those guys must have been while she continued speaking. “Now, it looks like we’ve got a few more weeks of waiting ahead of us until we get to the next dropoff point which is supposedly somewhere in the Badlands...”
“I don’t know what to say...” I simply muttered back, then threw a glance at Tune Awp and he returned the favor with a mild look of confusion. This is just great. More quality time in this dark box of strangers. I might go nuts even just by thinking about it! Before I slumped back to my corner with my green friend, Salvation gently patted my tense back out of pity for a few minutes sighing disappointedly. “I-I can’t...”
Two hours later, I noticed a ruckus happening outside during one of our stops. I honestly didn’t expect anything special yet, some griffons were yelling and some gunshots were fired. Last I checked with Tune Awp, he said that he was almost done with his lockpicks so I wasn’t sure yet if this was our ticket out of here or not.
After hearing some tumbling noises near the exit, the wagon’s door slammed open and a grumpy griffon tossed a restrained violet pegasus mare inside who was wearing a strange patroller's uniform bearing an insignia that I’ve never seen before. All four legs of her’s were shackled securely and her wings are in bad shape since she likely crash landed after a bullet blasted a hole through one of them. Not to mention her mouth was duct taped shut. She must have fought back or given them a hard time.
Everypony else who were previously staring, quickly turned around saying that it wasn’t their turn so I sighed and acquainted our newcomer with the wagon’s rules, “Rule one...” Afterwards, noticing that I almost forgot. I then removed the scotch tape last making her scream out in pain and then pucker her sore mouth.
“Sorry about that miss. Mind telling us who you are?” I briefly apologized.
“Ugh, Hellhounds! Hellhounds!” She replied, looking quite stressed out under that purple mane and mocha eyes. “The hellhounds are coming this way!”
Beat Shades cut in, “Hellhounds are close by!? Oh shit, why didn’t you warn them? They could be here any minute!” He looking as if a few seconds away from panicking.
Stone Slab pounded him in the head which elicited a widespread approval gesture from the rest of us, “Shut your trap boy, I’m more interested that she’s Enclave. A naive one at that, thought they were gone forever. Anyway, I’m not scared of death so let them come for me.”
“I tried to warn them but those bastards captured me instead.” She continued. “My escorts got killed off earlier by a large group of vicious canine and I was barely able to escape with my life. I mean, one mistake too many I guess...”
I went over and snuck a whisper to my mechanic friend. “Psst, Tune Awp. Did you hear her mention hellhounds? We need those damn picks now!” Something in his brain clicked and he lead me back to his corner, lifting a floor board to reveal half a dozen lockpicks and two makeshift screws that he made himself.
“Ah wanted to get a few more done but Ah believe that this’ll have to do.” He said.
“Are you kidding? This is more than enough!” I almost scolded at him back, shaking my head.
He defended himself by saying, “As Ah said, you just can’t be too careful these days...” I gave him a nod and went to tell the others the plan. The enclave mare was still busy talking to Salvation and the colts.
“Those bastards also confiscated my plasma defender... I estimate that they’ll reach our position in around five minutes and we’ll have no damn way of defending ourselves...” Me and the others except Stone who had a death wish gasped at this revelation, I urgently nudged at Tune Awp to move faster.
“Everypony, I need your attention.” I said and they all turned towards me with full attention. “We’re going to use this opportunity to get us out of here, so please co-”
“I KNEW YOU WERE HIDING SOMETHING!” Beat Shades madly accused me with a hoof pointing towards me. “I’M GOING T-” *POW!* His loud outburst was cut short by Stone Slab bucking his face and Salvation pinning him to the floor. Tune Awp aptly trotted over here to stick the duct tape over the colt’s mouth. Poetic justice at its finest. I momentarily considered leaving him here shackled but decided to just have him freed last instead.
“Ahem, as I was saying-” I tried to resume but suddenly the ground underneath our wagon started to shake and we can feel the tremors under our hooves.
“Shit, they’re here.” The pegasus cussed. “They’re definately looking for me. Blasted mutts!”
Me and Tune Awp got to work freeing everypony in the wagon starting with ourselves. In the process, he broke only one pick since he was such a pro while I broke all three of mine as I was finishing up freeing the purple pegasus. Good thing he was there to pick up my slack and soon everyone except Beat Shades was up and ready to get the hell out of here.
Beat Shades was curled up crying his eyes out, tears were flowing from his face dripping onto the floor. If it weren’t for the tape, then he would have called the griffons in here by now. Speaking of which, judging from the sounds outside, it looked like an intense firefight was happening outside. Salvation urged us to free him before we go, “We can’t leave him here! He doesn’t deserve to die like this!”
“Ah say we leave him be. Serves him right for being such uh pain in the behind.” Tune Awp spat, which the violet pegasus mare nodded in agreement to with an uncaring smile. Meanwhile, there was a violent pounding sound followed by vibrations in our location meaning that our time is running short.
I clenched my eyes shut for a second before opening it again and pointing to my green friend. “Buddy, I need you to unlock that door and take those mares with you to get some weapons. I’ll stay here and catch up with you in a bit after I’m done with Stone and Beat here.” He looked uneasy, glancing at our last two picks that I had to snap him out of it before we wasted anymore time. “GO! NOW!”
We both got to work with our lockpicks, Tune Awp prodded the door while I fumbled with Beat’s first cuff. Beat looked at me tearfully while Stone stood guard. *Ka-chick!* His first cuff was out shortly after my friend finished with the door. As I started on the next cuff, he lead the two mares out where there were bullets flying and mad fighting going on.
Stone Slab raised an eyebrow at me and commented while I was just about to finish with the second cuff. “You’re very peculiar for choosing to save this obnoxious brat. You know that?” I shrugged in response as the other cuff fell off. Two left to go.
“I’m no monster, Sir. Even colts like him deserve a second chance.”
The older buck crossed his forelegs between his chest, “You’re either really nice or just plain stupid than most.”
Just then, a large diamond dog arm bursted from the ground in front of me, driving its claw at Beat’s back. Splotch! I froze in shock as he was brutally impaled by the creature, splashing some crimson blood on me. The red colt dropped dead looking at me with his glazed eyes. The feral culprit pulled itself up into the room and was greeted with a swift buck to the side by Stone Slab which made him topple over. Another pair of fuzzy arms came out of the ground and I knew that staying in here any longer was suicide.
“I’ll hold them off kid!” He shouted, jumping on the dog’s back and attempted to subdue it with a choke hold. The creature flailed like a wild animal while the other hellhound snarled at it entered the fray, pulling the pony off of his comrade. “Run for the others!”
“But-!” I looked back at him wide-eyed.
“I SAID GET OUT OF HERE!” He struggled to keep his grasp at the lumbering beast while being double teamed, which he was apparently losing rapidly. I quickly turned tail and dashed out of the wagon troubled with the lockpick in my mouth.
The afternoon outdoors I saw after finally getting out from my days in darkness was utterly chaotic. One of the caravans was flipped on its side while another was caught on fire. I made sure to avoid being out in the open as much as I could while moving in the direction I thought Tune Awp and the other escapees must have headed to. It even felt like a battlefield with guns being fired and griffins throwing orders around out of sight. I was able to get my bearings just in time to noticed some feathers poking out from behind some knocked over crates. One of the two griffins stuck his revolver out over to blindfire at me so I jumped inside the closest open wagon in panic before he could pull the trigger. The sound of his shot rang through my ears not soon after I made my move.
When I opened my eyes, Tune Awp was standing above me, ready to smack my head with a two-by-four. The two mares behind him weren’t far from him, rummaging through what appears to be a cleaned-out weapons storage. “Whoa there partner, Ah thoughts you were one of them. Sorry.” He steps aside and helps me back up on my hooves.
“Awesome! I found my plasma gun!” The pegasus officer blurted out, wielding the defender and pocketing some extra ammo that she recovered from one of the cabinets.
“Where’s the old geezer and that annoying colt, Flash?” He asked me.
“I-I couldn’t save them...” I looked down then quickly shook my head to focus on the task at hand, as more pressing matters were needed to be dealt with right then. “Any luck with getting some weapons with the mares, Tune?”
He looked somber for a bit after I told him the bad news but he wasted no time replying back. Being out in the wastes and seeing and hearing about death on a semi-regular basis helps us locals deal with it. “As you c’n see, Miss Enclave here just got her fancy blaster ‘bout now but Ah’m afraid that there’s hardly anything left in here. Salve over there pocketed some scraps lying around after we unboxed something nasty but... At least Ah was lucky enough t’ find this here SMG.” He pulled out a gun, showing me and it looked like it was a few shots away from breaking down, even a pony like me could tell that it urgently needs replacement parts just by looking at it! Lucky find my brown ass...
“What do you mean when you say that you unboxed something nasty?” I asked my friend, taking the wooden plank from him and helping him keep watch for any more unexpected visitors.
“It’s...some kind of grenade launcher.” He said shuddering, “but it’s made out of some odd dark, shiny material and it just don’t feel right. Mah body got spine-tingling shivers when Ah tried to grab it, so we both decided to just leave it there.”
“Get down.” I told him and we both quietly crouched as some shadows moved past our caravan in both directions. The ongoing slight rumbling beneath us reminded us all that we’re still not safe yet. Nodding to each other, I slipped my head out to see if the coast was clear which seems to be the case. It looked like most of the fighting has moved onto the opposite side of us, meaning that means we can make our escape. “Alright gang, let’s move out while it’s still quiet out there.” The group agreed and started exiting the caravan, Tune Awp first and Salvation doing some last minute hoarding.
“Come on, Salvation.” I called out to her impatiently as she flung a heavy brown bag of goods over her shoulder.
“On my way!” She replied, ready to move on.
Crash!
Another grueling hellhound suddenly smashed his way from under the floor and picked me up so tightly with his two claws that I was having a hard time to simply breathe. He looked at me with his sinister bat-like eyes, licking his chops, “Mmm, you make great snack!”
I kicked my feet helplessly as Salvation stared in awe at the scene. Is this it for me? The foul breath of the towering canine blew right in front of my face which almost made me piss myself. “Gak...urk...” I squirmed as I feebly tried to stop him from utterly crushing my ribs, losing strength. Tune Awp and the other mare must be safe by now since they haven’t returned. So that’s one good thing at least...right?
Choop! Ka-blam!
The mutt’s head exploded, letting go of me as its body dropped gracelessly to the floor in a bloody mess. I slowly got up, catching my breath only to see Salvation levitating a cobalt launcher with smoke coming out of the barrel. She looked wild-eyed, as if awakening from a trance.
“There was no time to think...” She blankly told me. “I actually killed something like that...”
“Well, I’m glad that you did. Otherwise, I would have been a goner.” I tried to approach the unicorn mare to comfort her but Tune Awp’s words from earlier was right when it comes to getting near that damn weapon. It was making my head hurt and I wasn’t even touching it! “Don’t you feel the bad energy coming out of that gun like me and Tune Awp?” I asked her, stumped as heck.
“Umm, kind of.” She answered. “But it’s not as intense for me, probably because I’m holding it at a distance with my magic.”
Salvation then made sure to always keep that strange weapon away from me at all times while I lead her out into the open by having her bite on my tail. We walked over to the edge of the wreckage and saw Tune Awp running back to us from afar carrying some explosives.
“There you are! Y’all see that mountain on th’ back of mah left?” He said, throwing the grenades in multiple areas behind us where they started hissing and releasing blinding smoke. “Rendezvous with us there, you won’t believe who we saw waitin’ fer us.”
“Who can that be?” I asked back, looking back at the bombs for a second and seeing that they are set to be a distraction.
“Why it’s good ol’ Justy!” He exclaimed in excitement. I heard some coughing coming from behind us which signaled our cue to hightail it the hell out of there.
“About time!” I vented in relief; it seemed things were finally looking up for us. Salvation was still a bit confused but she let go of my tail and we galloped after Tune Awp, following him. In no time, we were at safe distance away from the battle and that made me breath much easier. Freedom never felt so good!
Before we reached our next destination, my ears heard a static ‘Pssst!’ coming out from a shady part by the mountain. Out of curiosity, I took a detour, slowing down and tracked that robotic voice. I figured I can spare some time, in any case. Eventually it lead me to- a spritebot? I was slightly underwhelmed but still kept my cool while facing it by the wall of the big orange mountain.
Normally, these harmless drones play music and occasionally broadcasts that I hardly pay attention to, but this is the first time I actually had one of them speaking directly to me. “Hello there, Flashbang was it?” I observed it with suspicion since it somehow already knew my name for some reason. It floated rather idly in the shade and the voice sounded harmless enough.
“Err, yes that’s me. Who are you and how do you know my name?” I asked directly at the strange flying bot creature while keeping my guard up. A cool, silent breeze blew between us.
After processing my feedback for several seconds, it responded back, “You can just call me Watcher.”
Footnote(s): Level Up!
New Perk: Horse Sense - You are a swift learner. You gain an additional +10% whenever experience points are earned.
*Tune Awp joined the party!*
Class/Race: Technician/Earth Pony
Tagged Skills: Repair, Lockpick, & Science.
*Getwell Salve joined the party!*
Class/Race: Intern/Unicorn
Tagged Skills: Medicine, Speech, & Explosives.
*Cloudy Sun joined the party!*
Class/Race: Scout/Pegasus
Tagged Skills: MEW, Melee Weapons, & Science.
Author's Note
Here it is. My make or break chapter. Couldn't wait around for editors but I might fix stuff they find sometime. Story's still beginning but eh, we'll see if people want it to continue. Blah, blah, blah. (c) Hasbro & (c) Kkat, etc.
