Fallout Equestria: A Horse With No Name

I put all my strength into pushing myself out from under the mound of debris that pinned me to the ground. The frigid desert night helped keep me cool while I worked. It was a welcome relief to the powerful sun that had beaten down on my back for several hours while I waited for the NCR to leave. Once they had set off on their quest to free the remaining slaves at Hoofbeat and my home, I was left to my devices to escape.

Again, I pushed my hooves against the rubble. My legs slid out a little further so that my thighs were almost completely out. I pushed even harder, but a sudden stab of pain in my left leg caused me to stop. The ache was unbearable, sending fresh waves of agony through my nerves system. Examining the source of the hurt, I found that a stray nail had embedded itself into the side of my thigh. It had dug deep and carved a hideous gash along the length of my leg.

“Fuck.” I whimpered through clenched teeth. “This is going to hurt a lot.” I scooted as far as I could to the right, slowly moving my body off of the jagged nail. The pain was immense, but I didn’t stop. The majority of the nail was out of my thigh once I had shifted as far as I could, just the tip remained. If I were to try and push myself out again the point would slide through my torn muscles. It would possibly cause more damage, and definitely a lot more pain.

“Better get it done and over with. The sooner I do it, the sooner it’ll be over.” I steeled myself for the coming agony, tightening my jaw and slowly breathing in and out through my nose. “One, two….. Three!”

I pushed against the rubble with all my might. Both my legs slid out inch by inch, but it that wasn’t fast enough. I screamed as the tip of the nail slid around inside my already horrendous wound. I could feel it scraping against my strands of muscles,  and tearing through untouched flesh. I didn’t even fight the tears as they came, I just let them role freely down my face as I screamed.

The pain lasted for what felt like an eternity, but it finally came to an end. With one last push I freed myself from my agonizing prison. To my relief, the nail left my wound and I was finally freed from the pain it had wrought me. I laid there for some time, simply basking in the ecstasy that washed over me as all the pains throughout my body subsided.

Much to my chagrin, my misery wasn’t over yet. The pain was greatly lessened in my thigh, but it still hurt. If I didn’t work quickly I could bleed to death, or get an infection. My options where limited, however. My leg was too sore to move so I couldn’t go searching for medical supplies, and even if it wasn’t I was at my breaking point. Pushing myself free of the rubble had taken a lot out of me, and I was now thirstier than a stallion at a salt bar. I would have to make due with what I currently had on me, and that just so happened to be a knife, a few bullets, a pack of cigarettes, and a sheet of matches.

“Fuck me…” I sighed. “Why does it have to be this way?” I knew what I had to do if I wanted to survive, and it wasn’t appealing in the slightest. It was bound to hurt even worse than the nail. Slowly, I grabbed a bullet from my ammo bandolier and placed it on the ground. Next, I took hold of the knife in my teeth and began to whittle away at the tip of the cartridge. Once I had separated the ballistic from the shell, I dropped the knife and exchanged it for the bullet casing filled with gunpowder. With some effort, I managed to crane my neck back and pour the powder into the open wound. It stung a bit, but I found solace in the knowledge that my misery was about to end.

A cold sweat broke out across my brow as I grabbed a match between my teeth and lit it. My breath caught in my throat as I leaned the flame closer to the wound. It hovered there for a second before I inched it a little closer.

“Just don’t think about it, it wont hurt if I don’t think about it!” I moved the match closer and closer, until it was just barley touching my skin. “Going to stick it in on three, ok? C’mon, you can do this. Alright; one, two,….

….

….

Three!”

I stuck the match into my wound and ignited the gunpowder. The flame flashed for a brief second before vanishing, leaving behind a sealed and sterilized, yet incredibly painful, scar along my left thigh. The anguish brought about by the crude sealing of the wound reduced me to a screaming pile of tears, but after what felt like hours of wailing, I was finally able to stand. Albeit, very shakily, but I could stand!

“Celestia knows I’m no medic.” I grunted to myself as I took a wobbly step forward. The soreness of my left hind leg was awful. Fortunately, I had three others to support my weight. I took a few more practice steps forward before convincing myself that I was well enough to walk. As long as I was slow, and kept weight off my injury I could get where I needed to be.

Now that I was free to move around, my first order of business was finding some water. I was dead thirsty, and felt like I was about to pass out from dehydration. I decided my best bet for finding something to drink was to search the wreckage of my personal train car. I had kept a small cooler next to my bed containing some bottles of water and a few food cans. Determining that that was my best option, I gradually limped towards the place I assumed my cart had crashed.

As I walked, I passed the spot Knocker had left on the earth upon his death. The cracked dirt was stained black from soot and blood. Chunks of his seared flesh and clothing littered the area, painting a gruesomely abstract image upon the ground. It saddened me to think that this was all that was left of my acquaintance. Everything that he had accomplished was undone with the pull of a trigger, and now all that remained to attest to his existence was this blemish upon the earth. If anything, it would serve as a warning to those who happened across it. A message practically shouted by the NCR in everything that they did.

‘Join us, or die!”