Martyrdom

“You think you’ve won,” Raven huffed, already having ragged breathing, “Huh?”

The child continued to laugh sadistically as flesh could be heard being stepped on, then seemingly sang her childhood song as she cheerfully walked on the horrid platform.

“My friends will end you,” she tried to take a threatening tone, “THEY WILL STOP YOU!”

The noise and laughter stopped. Raven was starting to lose her self in the eerie silence, she could hear her own heart racing to find a sign that she was not close to her.

“Your friends will die,” a whisper came from very close to Raven... Behind her, “AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO!”

Raven could only stay there as this was her final moment, because this was the best amount of time she could make for Ondra and Freddie. She was so focused, the heart rate practically prevented her from hearing the footsteps get behind her.

“Make it count, you two,” Raven closed her eyes as she took one last deep breath for the inevitable.

Getting stabbed in the back was very, very, very painful. Especially when you were being stabbed by a girl who lost her sanity in a post zombie apocalyptic world.

“I SHALL LABEL YOU FOUR: THE UNDERDOGS THAT COULDN’T DO SHIT!” the girl uttered with all her volume, “First I must get the big guy you call Tanny.”

“You’ll never find him, he’s one tough sonofabitch,” Raven groaned.

“Oh? I never said I had to find him,” a screen came to life... Security footage: there was a dead man slumped on a wall.

“Tanny,” Raven breathed, “No.”

“Now you see,” the screen turned off, “all I need to take care of is you, and the last two will basically be a piece of cake.”

“Why do you do this?” Raven knew the question was pointless for it would never be answered.

“How should I assemble you four so I can send a message to those who come here?” she was asking almost sounding like it was not rhetorical.

Raven said nothing, but was slowly priming a grenade. The girl did not notice this, but actually wanted an answer.

She sent another blade into Raven’s back, “HOW SHOULD I ASSEMBLE YOU FOUR?!”

Raven tried her hardest to hold on to the grenade while feeling the pain of another blade being pushed into her, then groaned, “Like your room, it’s a mess.”

“Ah, you want to be in bits and pieces?” she hissed, almost sounding like she was satisfied with the answer.

“I’ll do that for you,” she used all her dying might to lift the grenade above her head. The girl knew what was going to happen, but was not going to accept it.

“NOOOOOO!” she pulled both blades out in quick haste, which made Raven let go of the primer in pain, “You’re the only going to die, you hear me?!”

“Requesting direct detonation,” Raven croaked, “I’ll see you in hell, bitch.”

The girl only frowned at Raven which made her chuckle.

The grenade detonated.

***

Equestria Badlands

***

“Run it through me again,” the diamond dog huffed, “What are we doing here?”

“We here to look for GEMS!” the other responded in bad english, which made the seemingly more intelligent one facepalm.

“Don’t we have enough back at our part of the badlands?”

“We need more,” the dog huffed scanning the horizons, then paused with wide eyes.

The intelligent one looked at his accomplice with a curious look, “Well? What do you see?”

“A pony,”

“What is a pony doing in the badlands? Tourism?” he responded with a chuckle.

“No, Grimlocke,” he said, “It’s not a normal pony.”

The more intelligent one: Grimlocke looked closer, “It’s a pegasus.”

“No pegasus. Wings are different,”

Grimlocke took another glance, “It’s a bat pony.”

“What is it wearing?” Grimlocke groaned in annoyance.

“You expect me to know everything just because I read books? That WE scavenge?”

The other diamond dog lifted his paws in defense, “Ok, I am sorry. What do we do with strange pony?”

Grimlocke sighed and glanced at the Nocturnus, “I’ll carry her home. Wiggum, you tell the others we have a new worker.”

“Ok,” Wiggum shrugged and started his way back home.

This armor was strange, completely alien to what Grimlocke knew about equestrian military. In fact, it did not even come  from Equestria.

***

Canterlot Royal Chambers

***

“Holy shit,” the two breathed in unison, then Freddie spoke.

“The fuck you supposed to be?” Freddie almost snarled, making the new girl step back in fear. Celestia looked to the new fellow with a reassuring look.

“Do not worry, they are friendly,” Celestia smiled to the Nocturnus.

“If,” she stuttered, “If you say so.”

“Now what’s yer name, eh?” Ondra facehoofed at how smooth his best friend was with a new girl.

He cut in between Freddie and the new teammate with an apologetic look, “I am sorry for my friend’s behavior. I hope you can forgive us.”

The ‘bat pony’ nodded, “Thank you.”

“And your name is?” Ondra asked.

“Midnight Blossom, sir,” she stood straight and proud of it.

“I’m,” Ondra’s eyes widened at the coincidental name, then sighed in defeat, “Midnight Flame.”

Freddie gave a sharp, “HA!” then cupped his hooves into a, “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!”

Both Midnights looked at Freddie, Ondra’s look being more threatening.

“So your name is Midnight Blossom?” Ondra wanted to clarify that.

Blossom nodded her head solemnly, “I could use Blossom, sir.”

Ondra raised his brow, “One, call me Flame, you can be Midnight Blossom. Second, don’t call me sir.”

“Yes,” Midnight Blossom hesitated, “Flame.”

Ondra smiled at her effort, then turned to Celestia, “Just one?”

“We’re expecting a Griffon to join us here,” she said looking to the open door.

“He’s trying to be fashionably late?” Freddie mused.

“A griffon?” Ondra asked hoping that Celestia took the hint that it was rhetorical, “What’s his name?”

“ Her name is Cassie,” she said, which made Freddie and Ondra stare in silence at her eyes because that name was way too generic.

“You serious?” the two asked in unison.

Celestia frowned, “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” they said in unison again.

Celestia could only roll her eyes in slight irritation as Luna giggled at their antics.

Then the doors opened again, followed by a griffon entering the room. Anticipation was filled in the air of who would move first.

Freddie’s eyes widened, “Holy hell, a griffon! This is amazing!”

As Freddie approached the Griffon known as Cassie, she tensed up then drew her weapon.

“I thought you said I was going to be part of a team!” Cassie snarled at the princess.

“You are,” the princess answered, “The changeling is part of it.”

Cassie tilted her head and let her guard down, “You’ve gotta be kidding-”

“Holy fuck these wings are so AMERICAN! LOOK AT THESE WINGS, MATE!” Freddie called out to Ondra, who facehoofed.

Ondra lunged to Freddie to break him up from Cassie with an apologetic smile, “I’m very sorry for my friends behavior.”

“What are you doing, mate? Let me go!”

“I’ll let you go when I know you won’t be arrested for sexual harassment!” he snarled back, earning a small laugh from Cassie.

“I like you already, strange pegasus,” she mused.

“My name is Midnight Flame,” he pointed to himself with a proud hoof, then gestured for the rest of the team, “This is Stranger, the changeling; and this is Midnight Blossom, the...”

“Nocturnus,” Midnight Blossom finished. Freddie was groaning in irritation.

“Fucking Twilight, mate,” Freddie facehoofed.

“I told you not to read that shit, it’s stupid with vampires and an obviously obvious helpless bitch in distress,” Ondra rolled his eyes. Cassie was liking the vocabulary among a species that is known to be the most naive. Celestia was just glad Freddie was not talking about her star pupil.

“So, we all good?”

Cassie raised a brow, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, are we not going to turn on each other because we’re different?” Ondra repeated, “I will not have betrayal because one’s a carnivore or herbivore.”

Cassie looked dumbfounded then bursted into laughter, “You’re a funny one, what are you? And no, I am actually now looking forward to working with you guys.”

“I came from a different dimension,” Ondra tried to sound intimidating until.

“ME TOO, MATE!” Freddie cheered, Ondra’s stoic expression slowly morphing into a frown... Then facehoofed.

Cassie couldn’t help but laugh at this, neither could Midnight Blossom.

“You guys wanna eat lunch?” Ondra beamed to the team, earning a frown from Cassie.

Ondra’s eyes widened, “Ah shit, sorry I forgot you were a carn-”

He was interrupted by her giggling, “I’m just fuckin’ with ya. I can eat what you guys can eat... To a degree.”

Ondra let that sink into his head for a second, then shrugged, “That’s good enough for me! I’m starved!”

“I’m so glad I can eat ANYTHING really,” Freddie laughed, somehow having a feeling that Ditto heard that, “What we gettin’?”

Ondra tapped his chin, “I have no idea.”

Blossom spoke up, “Oh! I know a place, but it’s expensive.”

The three just looked at her with disappointed expressions... Because it was expensive.

“What?” she shrank, “That’s what Canterlot does to you.”

The three looked at each other silently agreeing, then.

“We go,” Ondra declared, “Lead the way.”

“Wonderful!” Blossom grinned.

***

Equestria Badlands

***

Raven groaned in pain, the surprising part was she was even feeling pain.

When she managed to open her eyes she noticed that she was behind bars.

She wanted to get up, after realising that she had the energy to do so, but it was a problem.

Fingers were missing, legs felt weird... Felt like limbs ended to only one end and not five others.

Raven craned her head... Craned. Something happened to her; she used the craning of her head to look at herself.

Hooves? What happened to her? And wings... Bat wings? Did she become an equine Batwoman? If yes, then she was going to kill herself because she was NOT willing to be part of stupidity.

“Hello?” she asked hesitantly.

Then a bipedal dog suddenly appeared, which made Raven lunge backwards in fear, then landed the back of her head on the wall behind her. This earned a slight laugh from the dog in front of the bars.

“What are you?”

It was the question she couldn’t answer herself.

“I,” she hesitated, “I don’t know?”

The dog looked dumbfounded then turned that look in to one of anger, “Tell me the truth, NOW!”

Raven grew irritated at the question she couldn’t answer, “I don’t know you fucking piece of shit!”

The dog raised a brow at how fearless this pony was to diamond dog imprisonment.

“Grimlocke would like to speak with you,” the dog ignored her comment.

“Who’s Grimlocke?”

“Our,” he trailed off, “alpha.”

Raven tapped her chin and raised a brow, she somewhat forgot that everything that is like a dog are packs... And the leader is the alpha, and the next call signs like Omega are below him.

“I understand,” Raven slowly nodded.

“I see our new friend is awake,” a new dog entered view.

“Grimlocke?” Raven went into full attention.

“The one and only,” Grimlocke almost bowed to a pony that gave him respect, “I like your attitude.”

“I thought I died. And I am guessing you saved my life,” she smiled, “Why am I behind bars.”

Grimlocke now somewhat regretted having the idea to make the nocturnus do slave work after thanking them, he had to make a distraction.

“What were you wearing?”

“I’m wearing nothing,” Raven deadpanned, “I’m a bat pony apparently.”

“We see that,” Grimlocke chucked, “We have your equipment with us. Wiggum! Bring us the items!”

“Yes,” Wiggum nodded.

“What was I wearing?” Raven asked, most curious to what came with her to this world. She knew this was not heaven or hell, so something real must have followed her here if something did.

“Something that is not of this world,” Grimlock said looking at the hall expectantly.

“What do you do here?”

Grimlocke hung his head solemnly, “We are diamond dogs. We scavenge valuable resources, mainly gems, underground. Thus the Diamond dog title.”

“And I’m assuming you’re the most intelligent of this pack?” Raven mused.

“You flatter me, but I worry it will get to my head,” Grimlocke chuckled.

“Where did you find me?”

“Middle of desert, we were surprised that you were in good health considering you were just laying there,”

“Must be a stroke of luck,” Raven trailed off.

Grimlocke was considering his final decision, then took a deep breath.

“Look,” he paused, “I have yet to know your name.”

“Name?” Grimlock only smiled meekly and facepalmed in his head.

“Yes,”

“Name’s Raven, thanks for saving my life,” she smiled, “Being trapped in bars is the second place I want to be in right now.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you dogs saved my life,” Raven grinned and smiled. She was not going to kill these dogs, not unless there was a good enough motive. That is what war does to you, you justify death; a very morally wrong attribute.

“Here they are,” Wiggum came back with a cart of strange armor sets and a blade. He seemed cheerful to be following the orders of the alpha, “You military pony or what?”

Raven had a dumbfounded look as she saw that it was her armor... Just... Ponified, “What did you do to it?”

Grimlock shrugged, “We found you in those. Strange blade.”

It was her combat knife MK. 2. The blue emissions were there to burn through what the knife cuts, and then some. The knife saved her life plenty of times before the Onslaught mission, before it really all went to hell. [A/N the armor on the front cover is what she wore] The armor was ponified, but looked effective.

“May I have the knife?” Raven laid out a hoof to the knife through the bars.

“How are you going to use it?” Grimlocke, asked, eyes widening for the question he should have asked first, “Why should I?”

“It is mine, and so are those armor pieces, I need them,”

“Why?” Grimlocke decided to pry. Making Raven take a deep breath and slump on the wall.

“Because,” she breathed, “because those things are all I have.”

If Grimlocke understood one thing the general population of diamond dogs did not understand, it was sentiment. He decided to take a leap of faith, and took a deep breath.

“Here,” Grimlocke huffed. Raven knew how difficult it was to give your prisoner potential to escape.

“What are you doing?” Wiggum asked with worry, Grimlocke held out a paw.

“It’s alright. She is leaving,” Grimlocke closed his eyes in silence. Wiggum couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“BUT YOU SAI-”

“I know what I said! We don’t need more workers! We already have enough with our dogs!”

“The pony can help!”

“I do not want her to!” Grimlocke shoved Wiggum away.

Wiggum could only stare in hostile silence as he walked away with a huff.

“Sorry about that,” Grimlocke chuckled nervously.

Raven glanced at Wiggum, “It’s alright.”

“Take your armor and leave,” Grimlocke smiled, “You might be able to find your friends.”

“How do you know?”

Grimlocke chuckled, “I just know somepony like you can have friends before you end up in the badlands.”

“Badlands,” she trailed off, “Where is the nearest town?”

“Some village called Ponyville,” Grimlocke shrugged, “Look for the everfree forest, we carved those trees to look like monsters so young ones can be urged to not cross it to the badlands.”

“Don’t you want to live in a place like Ponyville? You know, better living conditions than this,”

“My pack is my family, I have to stick with them,” Grimlocke said flatly.

“I understand,” Raven finished putting on her last armor piece: the helmet.

“How does that work, by the way?”

“We’ll see,” she activated what she thought was the HRV button... It worked, but with unexpected results.

Raven paused hesitantly.

“Well?” Grimlocke asked with anticipation.

“You’re friends don’t want me to leave,” there were diamond dogs running through the tunnels to her location, there were a lot.

Muffled yells of orders could be heard to recapture the bat pony.

Raven cursed under her breath to know that she only had a ponified health injector, cloak would have been so useful.

“We have to go,” Raven requested apprehensively.

“No,” Grimlocke said, “I’ll hold them off, you need to find your friends.”

“Why are you helping my against your own pack like this?” Raven asked with worry.

“Because I know you’re from a different world, and I know you do not deserve it after what happened to you,”

“How would you know what-”

“You lost your family, and many friends,” Grimlocke stared firmly at Raven, “And you think you could have done something but you couldn’t. And you blame noone but yourself.”

Grimlocke’s ears were picking up that they were getting faster, “You need to go.”

Raven started but darted her head back at the good guy Grimlock, then cursed to herself, “Fuck!”

***

Canterlot Market Center

***

“So where’s this place to eat? I’m starvin’,” Freddie said cheerfully.

“It should be right,” Midnight Blossom trailed off, “here!”

“Perfect,” Ondra huffed, “Thought we were going to walk through another thirty minutes of ponies staring at us.”

“You get used to it,” Midnight Blossom offered.

“Naw, it’s just gettin’ old,” Ondra rolled his eyes.

“So what does this place serve?”

“I assure you there’s stuff for carnivores,” Midnight Blossom smiled.

“That’s good enough for me,” Cassie had a satisfied grin.

The door had a bell.

“Ah! And what can I do for You- WAOH!” the clerk recoiled backwards at the sight of a nocturnus, griffon, changeling, and a strange pegasus, “Did Princess Celestia actually do it?! World peace?!”

Ondra chuckled at his sincere antics, “Close. We would like a table.”

The clerk nodded meekly at his embarrassing behavior, “Of course, right this way.”

“Do you guys have pie,” Freddie said with an unamused face.

The clerk raised a brow and tapped his chin, “Yes! We do, what would you like?”

Ignoring the question, Freddie slide slowly to Ondra with a ear to ear grin.

“Mate, you know that that means,” Freddie trailed off into a squeak.

Ondra glanced at Freddie, “No.”

Freddie ignored that too, “WHEN I SAY YUMMY, YOU SAY PIE! YUMMY-”

He pointed joyful hooves at his best friend, who was only giving him an unamused face.

Freddie’s smile dropped into disappointment, “I’ll just sit at the table.”

Ondra kept his unamused face on the cheery boy.

“I’ll take pie,” Ondra breathed, “Pumpkin pie.”

Midnight Blossom raised her brow, “Strange tastes.”

“What you want?” Ondra snapped jokingly, “Huh?”

Blossom chuckled at his antics, making Cassie roll her eyes... She’s that kind of girl that doesn’t like ‘sappy’ shit.

“What you gettin’?” Freddie asked Cassie after immediately recovering his cheery self.

“I’ll,” she trailed off, “Take...”

“Something for carnivores,” Ondra finished... Smooth.

“Oh,” the clerk gulped and adjusted his seemingly useless tie, “I’ll have that ready for your friend as soon as possible.”

“I’m not in a hurry, boy,” Cassie said almost intimidatingly.

The clerk nervously chuckled, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

With the clerk scurrying off to the cooking staff, the group finally made their way to the table.

There was one problem.

“I’ll take you to your table, sir,” the backup clerk popped up in the way.

Ondra smiled at the one taking initiative, “Lead the way.”

Freddie was tapping Ondra at the side to get his attention with childish sad eyes.

“No pie song,”

Freddie gave up with a pout, continuing to follow the rest of the group. To finally get some food.