Wasteland Equestria

"Let's get moving," Reggie said. He had just finished removing supplies from the slavers' corpses. Dinky had found a large bucket inside the house and washed the blood out of her mane. Vinyl had gotten their supplies out of the house. "We've been set behind by about a day."

No one said anything, but Reggie began to walk along the track, Dinky on his back. Octavia trotted after him, angrily. Vinyl hurried to catch up to her.

After an hour of travel, the group took a break. Octavia made an effort to stay away from Reggie when she sat down. Dinky had fallen asleep on Reggie's back, and he slowly levitated her off, onto a pillow.

After a few minutes, Vinyl walked past Octavia, who was reading a book. "I'm going to Reggie to take the Japonese lesson," she said. "You coming?"

"I just need to take a break from him," Octavia said. "Just tell me what you learned after the lesson."

"You sure?" Vinyl asked. Octavia nodded, keeping her eyes on the book. "Alright, then."

Vinyl walked over to Reggie. "Hey, Reggie," she said. "I'm ready to start."

"Start?" Reggie asked, confused. Then he blinked. "Oh! That! Alright, I think we should start with a review. So, the word for-"

"What happened between you and Octavia?" Vinyl interrupted.

"What?" Reggie asked.

"She said she needed a break from you. What happened?"

"It's nothing," Reggie said. "She's just overreacting."

"Did that pony really help you?"

"Look, let's just get to work," Reggie said.

"Fine," Vinyl said.

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"Alright, now, what does oriru mean?" Reggie asked.

"It means 'ge-'," Vinyl started, before she looked around. "Where's Dinky?"

Reggie's eyes widened and he looked around desperately. "Buck," he said. "Dinkī kuma! Anata wa dokodeshou?!"

He got up and began to look away.  "Crap," he said. "Where could she have gone?"

"Wait," Vinyl said. "Octavia's gone, too!"

"Dear Celestia, where could they have gone?"

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Octavia stumbled through the dark woods, illuminated only by the light of her lantern. She had seen Dinky trot in here, and she knew what monsters lived in here.

"Dinky!" she called. "Where are you?!"

Suddenly, she heard a loud howl and ducked behind a nearby bush, turning her light off. She was ducking where she couldn't see anything, so she didn't see what it was. But, a few seconds after she hid, she head footsteps that were to loud to belong to anypony, and a deep, angry breathing.

She slowly backed out of the bush, away from the creature, and galloped away, only stopping when she was out of breath. When she turned back, she was glad to discover the thing hadn't followed her.

If those things got Dinky...

She began trotting through the woods again, quieter and more careful this time. She keep her light dimmer, so she couldn't see much at all. She considered brightening it, but she didn't want to be seen by those monsters.

Just when she was about to give up hope, she saw a whole group of timberwolves, all gathered around one point. She quietly approached them, staying low to the ground. When she was close enough, she could hear a very faint whimpering in the middle of the wolves.

They had found Dinky

Octavia wanted to help, but a knife...well, that wouldn't cut it.

Sorry about the pun, guys.

She tried to remember what combat maneuvers she had learned. Not many, but they would at least hurt the wolves. She stood up and bucked the nearest wolf, shattering it. The others turned to face her. Three against one, and three of them were giant, pony-eating wolves.

Luckily, she confirmed her suspicions: the wolves had surrounded Dinky. She was sitting in the dirt, a look of fear on her face.

"Dinky, get out of here!" Octavia yelled. "Get to Regal!"

"I-I don't want to go alone!" Dinky yelled, close to tears.

"Fine! Just hide somewhere around here!"

Dinky nodded and hid behind a nearby tree. Octavia turned to face the wolves. She bucked at the wolves, but they were wise to her attacks now and surrounded her, leaving only her back exposed.

For a second, Octavia considered running. She probably could have outrun them, lose them in the woods and gotten back to Reggie and Vinyl.

But she had come to get Dinky, and she wasn't going to leave somepony as defenseless as her in here with timberwolves. She needed to get her out, no matter the cost.

Suddenly, she had an idea. She turned and shot a beam straight behind her, cutting a line in the trees, leading right out of the woods.

"Dinky, run down this path!" she called.

"I-I'm scared!" Dinky yelled back.

The wolves began to close in. "Just go! It's a straight line!"

A moment of horrible silence. The nearest wolf was inches from her face, breathing a hot, rotten breath into her face.

Suddenly, Dinky came trotting under the wolf, knocking out one of his front legs as she ran. She started down the path, not looking back.

The wolves looked at their fallen comrade. While they were distracted, Octavia bucked at the fallen one, taking his head off, spreading sticks everywhere. Some stick in her mane, but she didn't care.

The remaining wolves looked at Octavia and growled angrily. She turned around to run, but one of the wolves grabbed her mane and lifted her up. He hovered her over his friend's open mouth.

"No! Please!" she begged, though she knew they couldn't understand her. "Vinyl! Regal! Someone, help!"

Then, the wolf let go, and Octavia began her plummet towards the mouth of a timberwolf. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see her death approach.

Boom!

Octavia heard a loud bang, and felt the softness of the grass on her flank. She opened her eyes and looked up to see the timberwolf that was going to eat her, beheaded, the ends of his neck smoking.

The last wolf looked towards the exit of the forest and saw Vinyl, her horn smoking, Reggie, a worried look on his face, and Dinky on his back, looking as frightened as Octavia felt.

"Octavia!" Reggie yelled, running towards her. The wolf stepped in his way, blocking him from Octavia. He jumped over the wolf, landed behind Octavia, and blasted his head off.

Octavia stared up at her friend.

"You okay?" Reggie asked her.

And then everything went black.