Fallout Equestria: Broken Bonds

Fallout Equestria: Broken Bonds
By Kippershy

Chapter eight: The road to the damned - Part Two

"Some things you live for. Some things you have to fight for. Others? You have to be willing to die for."
"But... I don't wanna die!"

Tiny screams of horror came a hundred at a time as Maisy effortlessly flew through the radbits, ripping them apart with claws.
I proudly turned to Titan and smiled as he watched in waiting for an opportune moment to fire Styx. It was abundantly clear in his eyes that he was impressed by Maisy, though something told me from the smile he held himself that I was about to see something just as spectacular.

Giving Titan a chance, I whistled over to Maisy and she soared into the sky to fall back to our position. Within a matter of moments this had gone from a simple task to clear out the mega-swarm of radbits to a show of force and strength.
As she rose from the ground just five seconds after having gotten into the crowd, ten or so radbits rose with her, caught on her claws.
Blood spilt all over the ground and the crowd around her as the entrails of the once cute radbits spilt out.

In his raspy voice, the smugness overcame the sound of the spinning motor that revved up next to him. "You ready for this, Crimson?"
"As ready as I'll ever be, go on you slow git. Show me how you've lived these two hundred odd years."
"Two hundred years of slaughter and mayhem, working in mercenary groups and as a lone travelling merc. Don't put me down for my age otherwise I'll bore you with my task force days stories."
I chuckled. "You'll have to fill me in on the way to Coltchester then."

With that there roared an unholy sound from the direction of Styx and within a moments passing just as many radbits as Maisy had managed had to kill not so much fell to Titan, but rather they had exploded
A few moments longer and the total death toll reached what seemed close to forty.
Titan powered down his minigun and slowly the barrels now began to stop their rotation.
He had proved his point that Styx was powerful, but in the end, these were only radbits after all. Only time would tell for sure if it would be as effective against harder targets, no doubt.

Now it was time for me to prove myself. Maisy had shown the sheer capability of her claws when combined with her wings.
Titan had shown that his minigun had truly deserved the name given to it, with its explosive power.
I had no weapons capable of providing the kind of force required to even come close to Titan, however, I did hold one advantage.
Holstering my shotgun I slipped my helmet on and unfolded my wings.

Titan looked at me, bewilderment in his voice. "Wait.That helmet... is tha-"
That was all I gave him a chance to say as I had already flown into the air and hung there breathing deeply before beginning my war-cry. I began to scream as loudly as I could into my helmet, knowing just what kind of amplification it would receive.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

I had to take my helmet off instantly as I felt laughter storming up my throat and out onto lips.
Titan looked like he had absolutely shat himself and seven of the closest radbits twitched on the ground as they had a heart attack.

"Crimson?"
"Yeah?" I looked back at him cockily, wondering what he had to say.
"You... are a fucking mad-buck. You realise there's more then just Radbits here, right?"
"So?"
Titan just looked at me as my arrogant face smirked back at him.
As I stood there self proclaiming my own victory by raising my hoof in the air in a champions pose, Cherry lazily pushed me to a side.

"Colts. The pair of you. This is how it's supposed to be done."

Before my eyes Cherry began to disappear with her magic, though a small sparkle glinting through midair told me where she was.
As tempted as I was to go and kiss her along the neck for the sheer fun of putting her out of focus, I decided it'd be better to see how she handled it.

Step by step she made her way to the radbits just who were a good twenty-odd meters ahead of us.now.

"What you reckon she's going to do? Snap its neck or something?" Titan asked in a hushed tone.
"That... that would be too logical. She's a mare, remember." I countered, keeping my own voice low as not to be overheard.
"So, she'll stamp it to death then? Has she got the strength to do that?"
"She gave me a concussion two days ago, so yeah, she's got the strength for that. But I don't reckon she's the type to be that mean."
"Well... what about the rifle on her back? Think she'll use that as a golf club?"
I just looked at him in amusement at the thought then shook my head. No, Cherry would never do something like that.

She didn't surprise me either. Ten seconds odd after our discussion had ended one of the radbits had turned invisible along with her and I heard her hoof-steps coming back towards us.
Titan just looked to his side and spoke into the empty space. "So... let me guess. You're gonna feed it to your pet manticore?"
A gasp broke out of her mouth and her magic field came down, revealing herself once more with the radbit sitting on her shoulder.
"Of course not! This little guy is my pet now! See Crimson! I told you I would get one as a pet!"
Her face gleamed with pride and joy as I made my best attempt to stifle the chuckle it brought out of me, all the while as Titan stared on in amazement.

"Oh Cherry. You know, this is why I love you."
She blushed and I smiled even more. Her new pet radbit, just a baby no less, sat confidently in her mane.
"So you love me because I turn invisible and get my own pet?"
"No, because you're adorable and different."
Her blushing turned into a kiss which I hadn't expected, but was all the better for it.

As our lips broke apart I affectionately looked into her eyes for a moment longer...
I felt my words come out as softly as my feathers would touch her lips. "Cherry?"
A sweetness in her voice carried the same passion as I held. "Yeah?"
Looking at her with a smile that only grew and grew... I said it.
"It's clobbering time!"

Cherry gave me a deadpan expression as she looked at me before closing her eyes and shaking her head.
Slowly a new smile came across her face as she began to giggle.
"Crimson! I'll clobber you in a minute!"

Titan stood there laughing to himself at what had just happened and I jumped into the air and pulled out my shotgun.
A smirk across my face, I couldn't help myself. "Time to spread some bucks shot"
Cherry just grinned at me and gave a small bout of a giggle as I flew alongside Maisy for another go at killing all the cute little bunnies.

I gained height to increase the spread of my shots and make them all the less accurate.
In conventional combat this technique would have been absolutely stupid and unforgivable, wasting ammo and risking my life.
Right now though, the increased spread area of effect would only mean that more targets could be hit.
With the radbits, even a single shot-ball seemed to be enough to incapacitate them.

Maisy didn't have to change her tactics for anything though, it seemed. Her ferocious swipes only seemed all the more effective when coupled with a playful ripping of intestines as she also chose to literally chew them apart.
I felt bad for Cherry having to watch such an occurrence with her stance on killing, though thankfully she seemed to understand just as she said she had.
This was something we needed to do, strange as it was. For the radbits' own good, the good of Coltshire, and worst of all, our own good - what with the caps reward.

Swipe by swipe, shot by shot we weakened the radbits.

"CRIMSON!" Titan called out.
I looked down to him.
"YOU'RE WASTING YOUR AMMO. PULL BACK AND LET ME WASTE MINE INSTEAD."

As much as I hated to admit it, Titan was right. I'd gone through what must've been twenty shots and the radbits still looked strong and angry. Cherry had used the time to start climbing up atop a nearby rock formation while the radbits slowly advanced towards Titan who had been keeping his gun motors revved and ready.

Falling back and calling Maisy to follow me would've been embarrassing in any other situation, but right now the point was to make money, not lose it all in wasting all my ammo.

As soon as Maisy had moved out of the way, Titan opened fire once more.
Bullets ripped past just below me and the explosions sent a shock wave from beneath me, threatening to knock me off course with my flight.
Thankfully however, that hadn't come to be and instead I managed to regain composure.

I watched as he released the destructive force from the gates of Hades itself upon the almost defenceless radbits in his path.
No survivors bore the scars from that gun, I was assured.

Ten seconds passed and then he stopped his fire.
What had seemed like just over half of the entire radbit group had been killed, but now they were almost atop of Titan with their makeshift weapons to bare.
Without warning, the radbits piled onto one another and produced a wall of fur that suddenly swallowed him whole.
The noise from their angry screeches was almost deafening and put me off focus for a moment.

Cherry gasped in shock and began to shout to me before I had fully noticed what was going on.
"CRIMSON! RESCUE HIM!"

I looked down at the pile of radbits and noticed that they were simply trying to crush him to death.
There was no option of simply leaving him under the pile of radbits, but using my shotgun would be too deadly in case I'd hit him. I had to go down there and do it by hand.

I quickly put my helmet on and flew into the air, before committing myself to a dive bomb.
Landing in the middle of the pile myself, I back kicking and bucking the radbits all over the place.
Maisy joined in on the dog-pile and began ripping radbits off as if desperately digging for buried treasure, whole groups went screaming in pain as they flew through the air by the paw-full.

Swipe after swipe, buck after buck, they kept filling up the gap! There was just too many radbits and there was no chance we'd be able to get them off Titan at this rate.
Then I saw a trace of his hoof try yo break the surface, we were close!
Maisy roared as loud as she could and most of the radbits looked at her in terror as she began to smash her head against the crowd, using her powerful maw as well as her claws to savagely rip the radbits apart.
Doing my part also, I grabbed one of their weapons and began decapitating them in vicious swipes while I also crushed their heads beneath my hind-hooves.

With a sudden burst of power Titan reached out with his hoof, and this time I grabbed it.
Once more though, Titan was lost amongst the sea of radbits trying to slice my legs as I worked to kick them aside.

"FUCK"

I hadn't thought about the fact I was still wearing my helmet, but without hesitation the radbits all turned to look at me in anger and fear.
Now was our chance.
Maisy used all her strength and managed to rip even more apart as the radbits turned their attention to me before I took flight to avoid being their next victim.
A third time Titan broke through, with both of his hooves this time.
Maisy took no time in grabbing them in her paws and dragging him out of the pile of radbits, cuts all over every inch of exposed skin.

I blinked in amazement at the fact that he was still moving, even if he did seem as if he'd just taken an utter beating.
Maisy carried Titan over to the rock formation where Cherry stood and gently lowered him down next to her.
Landing next to him to check him over, he hadn't bothered to try stand up as I did.
His breathing was slowed and his movement even more challenging looking then before, but blood-loss seemed minimal and all vital signs seemed strong enough to continue.

"Titan, want a healing potion?"
"Nah thanks kid. As much as this hurts..." With that, he spat up a small amount of blood, but nothing like what Cherry had when she'd been shot. "As much as this hurts, I'll be fine. Just gotta find me some radiation and I'll feel fifty years younger."
I was tempted to say something like that'd still make him one-hundred and fifty, but decided against it.

A gentle breeze carried through northern winds and the smell of fresh kills hit us all again. During the act of slaughtering all the radbits the smell hadn't quite hit me, but now as we rest a moment while they regroup after their attack on Titan, it became clearly obvious to me.
The smell of blood was overpowering in the area now, and as I looked down to my hooves I could notice nothing but how it dripped from my coat.

I had been out of the Stable and in the wastes for a week and already, I realised, I was becoming a killer.
I had taken up a job to kill hundreds of radbits for caps. I Instantly felt sick with myself.
Gently I touched the wolf-tooth necklace Cherry had made for me, wondering who I was becoming.
Cherry caught my look as I slumped onto my butt and began walking over.

Whispering into my ear, she gently stroked my cheek. "Crimson."
I just murmured an inaudible response and she lifted my head with her hoof in turn.
"Crimson. You're not doing this because you want to. You're not doing this because you love killing and its all you are. You chose not to be aggressive towards Maisy because it wasn't necessary. You've chosen to be aggressive to these radbits because it is."
Looking at her with confusion and admiration, she gently smiled.
"I've been here too, Crimson. I've sat down and cried about everything I've done, some days I still do feel the crippling pain and guilt. But the reason you're feeling like this is because you aren't a monster, Crimson. The wasteland is a tough place and we have to be tough to survive in it, both physically and emotionally."

Cherry's new found confidence and capability to speak to me about such an issue and really captivate me was astounding, but at the same time with the experience she also held it shouldn't have been so surprising after all. It wasn't that she was a good talker, but that she'd been through it all herself.
Another soft kiss and I felt a lot stronger, knowing that I had someone to keep me tough when I felt weak.

With the soft slurping of our lips meeting and the touching of our hooves making a slight brushing sound, Titan got up behind me. I didn't bother to turn to him but instead stayed in that moment with my eyes closed and thanked Cherry for being there for me, and for being mine, with the passion of our kiss.

"Crimson? Cherry? Where did you go?"
I ignored his questions but opened my eyes to see that Cherry had coated us in her illusion magic once more like she had back in Gummy.
She pulled back and let down the magic field, much to Titan's displeasure.
"Bah. Unicorns and your fancy magic You want some real magic? Watch this."

With that Titan pulled out three red banded grenades from the storage on his back and laid them on the ground. One by one he pulled the pin with his teeth and kicked them into the swarm of radbits that attempted to climb up towards us.
One second passed, two seconds, three... on the third second though, something happened.
A loud crackle came from the grenade and rather then sending shrapnel everywhere, radbits began to scream in agony as they burnt.
Then the two other grenades lit up one after the other and the swarm of radbits quickly turned into a fireball of smoking death.

If we had been raiders, no doubt we would've laughed. Instead, we all watched solemnly as the sobering experience filled our eyes and memories.
Very few of the radbits had managed to escape the fire, and once six had done so I pulled out my pistol.

One more ran. I slipped into S.A.T.S and ended its life.
Another ran, I repeated the process. Two more ran at once and I decided I'd let them survive, and then another ran.
S.A.T.S held out forever as I hesitated to take the shot, the radbits leg held in seemingly suspended motion. I decided I'd let it run, and only shoot if they were burnt.

After seven more radbits had ran, three of them badly burnt and one of them still burning, the pile of bodies stopped moving.
The radbits were done, our contract was complete.
Titan casually opened up his back storage and allowed Cherry to take the bag of caps from it. I took the bag and put it into my saddlebag, watching the pipbuck caps counter rise from 30 to 730.
I nodded and Titan nodded back. Now all we had to do was get to Coltchester.

"How long do you reckon it'll take to get to Coltchester from here, Titan?"
"How long does it take to get clean water?"
I looked at Titan blankly and humoured him.
"Depends on the method."
With that he nodded at me once more... damn that buck! I let out a little chuckle after realising exactly what he was getting at.

"So, what's the fastest route?"
"The most dangerous one, of course. Cliché as it may seem, that's exactly why its the most dangerous - it's a shorter distance for the raiders to patrol and the raiders attract all sorts of wildlife and... other things, that go for the corpses of the looted or those wounded from the fights."
"How long would it take to get there using that method?"
"We could reach there by nightfall if we move promptly. I know of a inn which we could stay at for 50 caps a night per room."
"50 caps seems a lot."
"Maybe... but when it's that or sleeping on the edge of Coltchester? I'd rather pay to have the guard at the door all night and have a nice bed, over sleeping lightly if at all on the floor."

Cherry snuck up beside me and wrapped one hoof around my neck.

"But you'll get that price down, won't you Crimson?"
I smiled as she boosted my confidence and I nodded in return. "Of course."

"Titan?" Cherry asked.
"Yeah?"
"What's the other route like?"
"Well, I really wouldn't say it's perfectly safe. There's still a moderate chance that there will be a roving band of raiders or wildlife, but it's not as much a certainty as the fast route."
"How long does that one take?"
"Three days. It goes around the worst of everything and around the city to the side of it by coming back on itself."

Cherry looked at me with concern, but I shook my head.

"Three days is too long. I know you say its supposed to be safer but its still three days over the rest of what we have today to get ambushed. If we run out of ammo half way through that trip, we're screwed. If we run out at the end of this trip, we can run as fast as possible and restock. Hell, if it's a short distance I'm sure that Maisy can carry you and I can carry Cherry, but it really isn't something we can do properly for a long haul."

"Agreed. We'll move on down the fast route. Keep your senses sharp and your reflexes sharper, this is why I wanted to travel with you."

I smiled at Titan. He may have been biologically old, but he was still on the ball and willing to put himself at risk if it paid off. That big gun of his didn't exactly give him much fault either, if you overlooked the fact it was his only weapon and took a second or two to prepare to fire with.
Sliding his way down the rock face, we all set off onto the route to Coltchester.

*** *** ***

We walked down the cracked road, broken towers of once proud buildings stood either side of us.
Cherry pranced around the road carelessly as she played with her new pet, much to the disgruntlement of Maisy.
I looked up and gently stroked her mane as I walked alongside her.

"What's wrong girl?"
She huffed and pointed to the little radbit and pointed inside her mouth.
"You... You want to eat it?"
Maisy nodded. Cherry looked at Maisy with shock and displeasure.
"No Maisy, Prince Snugglebums is NOT for eating."
I watched the pair argue until Maisy raised her claw. My eyes widened in fear as Cherry immediately pulled out her SMG and pointed it towards Maisy.

"Maisy." Cherry began. "Prince Snugglebums is NOT for eating. If you dare even attempt it, I hold no responsibility for my actions. Got it?"
Maisy put her claw away and backed away slowly with a little huff and came to snuggle up against me.
I watched as Cherry magically lifted 'Prince Snugglebums' and kissed him before sitting him up in her mane once more.

"Sorry Maisy, but Cherry won this fight. I still love you but she's right, Prince Snugglebums is her pet and you've got to respect that."

Titan had gone back to wearing his helmet, but I could tell that under it he was either smiling smugly or rolling his eyes.

Cherry broke the silence as we walked some time later.
"So, Titan."
"Yeah?"
"You mentioned you're a pre-war ghoul?"
"That's right, what'dya wanna know?"
"What was life like for you before the end of the world?"
"Do you mean during my military years, or my childhood?"

Her eyes indicated that she had to think about that for a moment, as they skirted back and forth.
"What was your childhood like?"
"Short."
"Why?"
"The war."

A disappointed look came upon Cherry's face and Titan sighed.

"I'm sorry, Miss Sundae, but my childhood really was short. I was only a young teenager when I lied about my age to enlist. Before the war, there wasn't much to my life. School had taught me what I'd needed to know and street brawls had given me my cutie mark."
"You were always a violent guy then, huh?"
"I would protect a lot of people from thieves and gangs. If you call that violent, then yes."
"Wait... what is your cutie mark then?"
"A silver shield... or it was before it got too cut up, damaged and burnt to be recognisable."
"Wanna tell us the story of it to pass the time?"

Titan just looked at us both then made an over-exaggerated head roll gesture.

"Fine. Long story short, a gang of degenerates were trying to mug somepony. That somepony turned out to be a Staff Sargent in the Equestrian Army and the degenerates turned out to be Zebra sympathisers. I didn't know that at the time, nor would have it changed anything. But yeah, I took all four of them out at once while making sure none of them harmed the Sargent. From there he offered me a role in his squad since I had a cutie mark on my flank and looked old enough."

"So, that's how you got into the army then? What role did you play?" I added, honestly curious and wanting to know more.

"I served several roles. My first role was in standard grunt work for a rifle platoon. I found the rifles to be too underpowered, as accurate as they were."
I looked to my pistol and shyly looked away, wondering what he'd have to say about it.
"When the Staff Sargent got promoted and transferred to strike team leader for the Royal Forces Mission Support group Echo November Four, he personally put in for me to carry on with him. From there I proved to be perfect for the support role."

Cherry put her hoof out to get his attention. "May I?"
"Of course."
"What do you mean by support role? In the Tank Mercenary Group, it means snipers, miniguns and rocket launchers. Anything like that at all?"
"Close. Sniper rifles were Designated Marksponies, or DM's as we called them. Support was rocket lauchers or miniguns."

With that, he tapped Styx.
"Which is exactly how I happened to get this beauty. Though originally she didn't have the Zebra explosive talisman. I received that after managing to take down a Zebra 'Superhoof' Mark two while protecting my squad. The talisman was on the inside of the robot. Good reward if you ask me, even if I did half die taking that damn thing down."

I went to ask what a 'Superhoof' was but then abruptly something caught the corner of my eye as I looked at Titan. Swinging my head back ahead and squinting my eyes I looked ahead. There was a group of ponies running, but I couldn't tell who or why.
Without a second thought I gently lifted the sniper rifle off Cherry's back much to her confusion and dismay.
Peering my eye up to the telescopic sight, I saw what and why.
A group of children led by a lone adult were fleeing from a group of... it looked like ghouls, but they were foaming at the mouth.

"...Titan?" I asked cautiously, not wanting to upset him.
"Yeah?"
"What does it mean if... ghouls are foaming at the mouth? And a mare and children are running from them?"
Titan stopped dead and stared at me before bolting off as fast as he could in the direction.
Before I could even hand Cherry her rifle back Titan had begun revving the motor for his minigun.
"CRIMSON! GET TO THEM NOW! THEY'LL KILL THEM ALL IF THEY CATCH THEM."
I looked at Cherry in shock and almost dropped the rifle, but she caught it with her magic as it slipped from my hooves.

Not even a second later I was in the air and flying at full speed, shooting past Titan like a bullet and Cherry was catching up to Titan.

They'll kill them all if they catch them.
That was all that went through my mind. All that could go through my mind. I wouldn't, no, couldn't let that happen.
My wings beat hard like a tornado and I did my best to avoid all the obstacles that stood in my way in the road as the cracked buildings that lined each side of the road had fallen and leant on one another after all the years of misuse and disrepair.
They'll kill them all if they catch them... they'll kill them all if they catch them... they'll kill them all.

The ghouls chased the group relentlessly, and now I could see a lot clearer exactly what was happening. An earth pony who was carrying two children on her back and a bundle of rags in her teeth with five more children in tow was running for their lives!
Her soft blue coat wore itself dirtily as she ran through the street with the ten ferals in pursuit.

Upon hitting an uneven part of the floor one of the children caught their hoof on a tile, the one second to last of the children following slipped over and tumbled into another filly. They both went down without a challenge and before anypony could react two male pegasus ghouls dived out of the air and... Princesses no... my blood ran cold as one began raping the filly it had landed atop of.

Her screaming was unimaginably horrifying as I helplessly watched the ghoul thrusting away as it ripped her ear off. I felt sick and completely lost focus of my flight.
The fillies screams for help out of pain went seemingly unnoticed by the others though, as they continued racing for their lives amongst the rest of the ghouls who carried on chasing them.

I beat my wings even harder, I needed to close the distance right now! NOW!
Flying straight towards the group I had a clear view of them now, the ghouls catching up on some of the children.

Without warning I felt myself smash into something soft yet jagged and fell to the floor. As I picked myself back up I noticed another pegasus ghoul below me, hissing.
I didn't waste any time in activating S.A.T.S and plotting a pistol shot to the head. Time felt slowed and allowed me to cleanly pull my pistol out of the leg holster and put a bullet into the brain of the ghoul.
Coming out of S.A.T.S I found two more ghouls, one a unicorn and one a earth pony, standing in front of me.

A clean shot to the face of the earth pony brought it to the floor, but the unicorn moved too randomly for me to get a clean aim. Before I could manage to reactivate S.A.T.S a shot flew past me and into the skull of the unicorn.
Looking to my left I saw Cherry with her rifle in full aim and she chambered another round. I nodded before shooting back up into the air and began to look for the group, but they were nowhere to be found.

However, I did manage to find that more ghouls had began to feast on the two fillies, with another beginning to try and eat the entire right side of her face as she agonisingly cried out helplessly for it to stop,
Sheer rage overwhelmed me and I pulled my shotgun out, flying over to the ghouls like lightning.
Two shots for each ghoul in the area wiped them all out.
Though the second filly had died from bleeding already, her neck snapped in two, the first filly laid there gargling on her own blood.
She looked up at me and whimpered.

The sight was too much. I couldn't handle looking at it yet I knew I had to be strong for the young mare. I knelt down to her side.

"It's going to be okay. I... I... I can give you med-x, I can do something? Something..."
She just looked at me, obviously in excruciating pain and whispered something, I couldn't tell what though.
I leant down to be able to hear her better.
"k...k..."
"What is it? What can I do for you?"
Her eyes met mine, a steely determination in them told me what she was about to say was serious.
"Ki.. kill me."

My eye's just widened. No... no. nononono! No!
Yet as I looked at her, I could tell that it was what she honestly wanted. All of her limbs seemed to be broken and she'd just been raped and eaten by two rotting, living corpses.
"Kill me. Please." She begged and coughed up more blood. The pain in her eyes was too much to deny.
"What's your name?" I asked, my voice more shaken then it had ever been before.
"Platinum."
"Platinum... Princesses forgive me, please."

I pulled out my pistol and slowly drew it to her head....
Was I really going to do this?
What other alternative did I have?
I could save her!
She was dying. She'd bleed out before I could get her to anyone.
No child deserves to die!
Yet this would be mercy. It would be what she pleaded for.
She's just a child!
Though that may be true, she would die either way. The amount of pain she was in was horrific and if she lived, she'd not even be a child any longer, but rather a broken pony. I had no choice.

The shot could've rang through my ears over and over. I had almost given mercy to a child.
As I went to pull the trigger however, I'd noticed that she'd stopped breathing and her eyes had sunken into themselves.
I could've stayed in this spot forever now, breaking and falling apart. I had almost just killed a child, no matter the reason.
This wasn't like Dust Buckets, my mind told me.
You're fully responsible for this. You didn't leave a door open, you would've pulled the trigger, mercy or not. Pleading or not.
But as I lost myself in thoughts, I heard further screaming and knew I couldn't.
I had to save them. I had to save all of them. I couldn't let any of the others go through this. I couldn't let the others to die like I had her. I reloaded my shotguns barrel magazine in preparation as fast as I could.

I held back my tears and flew into the air. Immediately I noticed the group down another stretch of road. Without waiting a heartbeat I sped towards them, agility was a godsend right now.

I passed another corpse with three more of the fuckers feasting on it. I had no time right now, I had to ignore them and carry on through to the survivors.
A building collapsed in front of me as I sped through the streets trying to get to the group and came too close to crushing me for comfort.
As quickly as I could I worked my way around the insides of the concrete and steel monstrosity that lay before me.

Half way through the building I heard another scream and another guttural howling. More and more howling sounded and the child's screams stopped.
Another had died, and by my guesses that meant there was only three children and the mare left.
SHIT!

I flew straight through a glass pane into the air and spotted the mare. Again, I was too late. As I had bolted towards her another three ghouls ambushed her and instantly tore her throat out. Blood spurted everywhere and covered the road, but within seconds she was dead as she hit the ground.
One of the three remaining children ran in the opposite direction of the other two, running straight into another ambush by the feral ghouls.

Behind me I began hearing Titan's minigun roaring death upon the ghouls I'd left behind, and I could've sworn I'd heard Cherry's SMG crackling away under the sound.

There was only two children left, and I could see them running down the street from me. They'd already made a lot of headway on me but not on the ghouls. They chased the pair ferociously and attempted to jump onto them multiple times, though the colt was able to kick them off and the filly was too small to grapple with, she fell through their hooves every time they caught her.

The advancing horde made their way closer and closer to the children as they ran.
I swore blindly I wouldn't let another fall as I flapped my wings as hard as I could.
Not another. Not another child. Not after what I'd done to the other one!
My wings burned with the tormenting reality that they were making ground too fast, I was too far away.

"NO!" I screamed, half hoping they would instead turn their attention to me. If they had have done so, I'd at least be able to put up a fight and give the kids a chance.
They didn't pay any attention to me though, but instead kept their focus on the marks.

Time was running out, I pulled out my pistol and entered S.A.T.S once more, but found the possibility of hitting the kids or scoring a non lethal shot on the ghouls was too high. I needed to be closer and to make sure that every shot counted, otherwise it was wasted time that I could've used to save them.

My wings were feeling like they were on fire now, the speed at which I moved quickly helped me catch up, but I was still too slow.

One by one they jumped upon the filly, their hooves slamming against her body to further immobilise her.
Their jagged teeth we're their next weapons as the child screamed in utter agony.
Her scream was horrifying to hear, as the rest had been. I had no clue how I was going to handle this.

Once more the ghouls smashed into her face and silenced her once in for all before their teeth sliced against her throat and ripped it apart.
Like the mare she was previously following, her blue coat turned to red as the blood covered her while she lay to the floor, dead.

The colt who had been running with her turned his head and cried as he continued to run away, his friend torn into pieces by the monsters around her.
I tried my best to focus my attention to the colt, shouting out for him to run to me so I could protect him, but he ignored me.
He ran around another corner and began to scream.
As I flew round the corner I saw the biggest pony I'd ever come across, let alone ghoul, ripping off the now dead colt's limbs off from the body, his face crushed under-hoof of the ghoul.

My heart stopped altogether and my blood froze up. I didn't even need S.A.T.S to stop time, my natural perception did it for me as I watched the blood slowly drip from the corpse before splashing onto the ground.
A pool of blood surrounded the child's body and the beast tore it apart more, going for another leg.
As another drop of blood became one with the lake of it on the floor, I pulled out my shotgun and planted a whole magazine of shots into the beast, despite it having fell on the third shot.

I looked at the bodies around me.

They'll kill them all if they catch them.

The sound of Titan's minigun stopped, reduced to just a revving, and a new sound took its space... A crying sound filled the air, though it wasn't that of a feral ghoul and I was sure that all the children had just died with this last one.
The air around me went cold as I realised the mare had been carrying what looked like a bundle of rags... no.
It was a baby.

I gave no concern to my own health as I raced back through the broken building and through the streets to where the dead mare lay, another three ghouls converging on the location to track the source of the crying.

As I flew toward them I reloaded my shotgun and prepared to take them down. Pulling close enough to get a good shot I slammed into S.A.T.S yet again and opened fire on the two closest to me. Their heads exploded in a satisfying mess of blood and gore against the pavement below.
As I struck out of S.A.T.S, the third ghouls head exploded. I looked over to my side to see Cherry once more, with her rifle aimed in my direction.

Maisy flew straight through a group of four, ripping them all apart effortlessly.
I looked at her straight in the eye as she landed next to me.

"Maisy." My voice was shaken, my limbs more-so. I felt as if I was going to throw up.
"Maisy, take this baby and go to Four Ridges."
Maisy just looked at me quizzically and I remembered she had no clue where I'd meant.

"Go back home, then go to the north-west. There's a trail you follow past the mountain where we found you. If you keep heading in that direction you'll see a series of ridges with a security wall along the top of them. Go there and go to the middle where the big tower stands, drop the baby off there. I'll radio home that you're coming."

Again Maisy whined, and I could tell it was to do with how she'd meet back up with us.
"Please. I'll come collect you from Coltshire Commons once you've delivered the baby to the Stable... tomorrow, We need to get to the inn first and Cherry can wait for us both there as I collect you. Now go, please."

This time she looked sad and worried about me, as if I was going to die if she left, but I shook my head and picked up the crying baby and put it securely in her jaw. She carried the baby filly like she would one of her own young and looked at me.

"Go. Please. Go. We have to save one."
A gentle nod and she took flight, working her way over the buildings and back home.
If nothing else, we'd saved one.

Another ghoul came into sight as Maisy left. I felt myself crack, but rather then fall apart, an overwhelming anger overcome me and I threw my helmet on.
My eyes watered up with tears of anger as I took a deep breath and screamed, before beckoning the beasts.

"YOU WANT SOME FUCKING MEAT?! COME GET SOME FUCKING MEAT!"

Five ghouls burst out of the cracks between buildings all around me and I hit S.A.T.S and targeted their heads one by one with my pistol.
One shot for each of them, between the eyes. Their skulls caved in and imploded upon the impact of my bullets, causing the corpses to flop to the ground and stain the floor further.
Another eight rushed at the sounds of gunshot and began to surround me as Cherry and Titan made their way.

Spinning around on my hooves and placing a shot on each of the ghouls out of S.A.T.S wasn't as accurate or deadly, but I had no choice as it had to recharge.
After seven shots four of the fuckers still lived and though one was wounded, it didn't seem to even notice.
My shotgun came back out as one of the larger mares jumped on me and sent me flying to the floor.
Thankfully I'd managed to keep my shotgun in my grip as I landed on my back, the ghoul rushing over for the kill.

I didn't give the cunt a chance, instead, I left her missing half her head amongst a spray of buckshot.

Another loud crack of Cherry's rifle and a previously charging ghoul skid across the ground, face to the gravel as its hindlegs flipped over into the air and caused the whole body to roll with momentum.
As I pulled myself off the floor once more I blasted away at the remaining ghouls with my shotgun until they fell.
I couldn't change what had just happened, I couldn't undo the deaths of all the children, but I could remove the ghouls responsible from existence.

Through it all another twelve ghouls appeared in a large group, slowly advancing towards myself and Cherry who had now reached my side. I reloaded my shotgun while Cherry pulled out her SMG and prepared to fire.
Just as the ghouls began to run through an intersection towards us, Titan's minigun opened fire upon them, turning the air into a red mist and shredding the feral ghouls apart.

I took my helmet off and sighed, the adrenaline coursing through my veins still made me want to fight, but it seemed like that had been the last of them. My hooves shook with lust for revenge and fear out of how I would feel once the effect ended.
I didn't say another word after that fight, and Cherry didn't try get me to either.
Titan just looked at me and understood I needed time...

*** *** ***

Was it time that I needed? Was it actually a bullet to the brain? Mercy from the pain and guilt?
No. I didn't deserve mercy. Mercy was for those who had earned it through good deeds while in desperate situations. Mercy was also something you received if you were evil enough and couldn't be trusted to live any longer.
I didn't deserve mercy. I deserved a lifetime of agony.

Nothing had approached us while we walked all that distance from the area where it all happened to the outskirts of the city.
A group of raiders had seen us walking by the road and followed us from the shadows, but as one of the younger ones came out of the building my stare of death told him everything.
I would end you, painfully, if you come any closer.
After that, we saw nothing at all. Even the radhogs kept their distance from us.

I was right about how I'd feel once the adrenaline ran off. I'd managed to hold it together for most of the journey but it was now that I began to crack.

"Titan. I need to know. What was that back there and how did you know that was what they would do?"
A fire burned in my eyes as I looked at him, glaring in hopes that it would assure him I'd make his end swift if he did the same.
"Feral ghouls. They're impulsively driven by nothing more then hunger."
I burst into anger and pushed him off balance as he acted nonchalantly about it all.
"ONE WAS RAPING A CHILD TITAN! EXPLAIN THAT!"
Cherry's eyes widened in horror and Titan lowered his head, my panting speeding up.

"Sometimes they're fresh enough that they will also rape anything they can find while they eat it, Another primal instinct that they run on... in some cases. Most feral ghouls are far too destroyed to have the capability for rape, let alone the desire. Some manage to retain the capability but have no such physical need. At the end of the day, it matters about who you were beforehand. If you have the mental constitution to stay sane, you'll stay sane. If you were a sexual fiend in the past life, when you turn feral, chances of that sexual desire carrying over are moderate."

"And you?"
"And me what?"
"What about you? What keeps you from turning into one of them? What keeps you from trying to rape fillies?"
"I have purpose. I have reason. I have dedication. I've also avoided radiation hotspots to the best of my ability, to reduce possible feral behaviour. No-one has confirmed further exposure to radiation as a trigger, but I'm not risking it any more then you would."
"What purpose do you have then, Titan?"
"Protection of the weak, bearer of old world standards against tyranny.."

I let out another sigh and continued walking. Titan was right, he had to be if he had lived for over two hundred years and not turned feral. He still had his memories of childhood and of those during the war. He held true to his claims thus far. I had to believe him until he proved otherwise.

As we approached the inn, Titan took the lead and knocked on the door.
An old mare came hobbling over to the window from her chair and waved at Titan as he waited for her to come to the front.
With a creaking, the top half of the door opened up and swung to the inside and the old mare balanced her front hooves over it as she spoke to Titan.

"Silver! It's been quite some time, young man!"
"Hah, it has hasn't it. I'm sorry for making you wait so long, m'lady. May we come in?"
"How many years has it been now?"
"Two hundred and three since the war."
She looked back at him and rolled her one good eye, as I noticed the other stayed put.
"I mean since we last met, you silly boy."
"In that case? Just over two years, I think. I haven't been travelling much as of late."
"Come in, come in. We'll talk more when you're in the warm. These friends of yours behind you?"
"Yeah."
"Looking for a room I suppose?"
"Yep."

She looked us up and down before nodding slowly and smiling at us. Titan entered first and moved to the right, to sit down on a cushion that seemed almost as if it was specially for him with the plumage that ran along the half which remained undamaged.

As we walked through the door she sat behind her desk and politely smiled at us.
"The two of you in the same room?"
Before I could even open my mouth, Cherry gently stroked my mane and nuzzled me to indicate she'd do the talking.
"Yes ma'am. We'd like to share a room with a double bed if possible, please."
"A double bed ya say? Well, how many nights do you plan on spending here?"
"Two nights please."
The old mare just looked at Cherry and nodded. "My usual rate would be one hundred caps, upfront. However, because you're travelling with Titan and because of the state that poor buck of yours is in, I'll lower it to seventy-five."

I let out a small smile and handed over the caps,

"Oh, and that includes meals for you all. You've just missed dinner but you're more then welcome to some wild mushroom tea if you'd like."
I apologised and shook my head. I was in no fit state to have a cup of tea and presumably talk to the kindly old mare about what had just happened.

I slumped my shoulders and took my leave up the stairs as Cherry sorted out the key to the room which door it was.
The inside of the inn was... strangely quaint, pine furniture filled the rooms and a fireplace crackled away a soft hymn of cleansing warmth. As I made my way up the stairs the wood creaked below me to remind me that this wasn't the cold hard steel of a Stable, but instead this was a pre-war era structure kept well maintained.

Cherry carefully came up behind me and opened the door to the left with the key she held in front of her with magic. Being a unicorn made mundane things so much easier for them, I thought to myself.

The room wasn't as impressive as our suite back in the Commons, but given that this was a normal inn rather then a luxury hotel apartment, it only made sense.
Though along with the rest of the building, for as small as it was, it had a charming and welcoming feel to it.
This was somewhere I could go and cry about what had happened earlier in the day, the walls around me seemed to say.

...and that's exactly what I did.

Without even trying my wings simply spread out and helped me land on the bed as I fell over. My eyes watered up and began sobbing.
Even before Cherry had managed to rush to me the sobbing had turned into full on wailing as the events took a hold of my mind once more and I was forced to relive the moment that I'd almost shot a filly until her life ended otherwise.

Cherry gently kissed the top of my head and brought my eyes to look at her by lifting my chin with a hoof.

"Crimson." Her voice was soft and gentle, her eyes worn down but comforting.
"You tried, crimson. You tried."
She had no idea. My crying reached a new level and she held me tight.

"Y... y... you don't understand Cherry. I... there was this filly, the one who'd been raped."
"I know, you said. I can't imagine how horrible that must've been to see."
"It's not that Cherry."
She looked at me confused and alarmed because she knew if it wasn't the fact a filly had been raped, it had to be something truly monstrous. With a careful tone of voice, she prodded me.
"So... If it isn't that, what is it?"
"She asked me to kill her, begged me even."
Cherry stopped breathing for a moment and looked at me in surprise and suspense.

"Did... did you?"
"No. I... I went to. I didn't want to. I rejected her wish at first, but the pain in her eyes was too much to bare knowing that I couldn't ease it for her. She died before I managed to pull myself together enough to do it."
"So... you didn't kill her but you did think about it and couldn't bring yourself to do it in time?"
"Yeah."
"Then it isn't your responsibility to accept her death, Crimson. You didn't kill her, even if you did think about it as she asked you to. As much as you believe it was your fault, that you could have saved her, she was dying anyway."

I shook my head, I didn't want to believe it. I should have saved her! I should've saved them all somehow! Instead, I'd lost them all. All apart from the baby, who we barely rescued as it was.
Cherry wrapped her legs around my neck and held me close.
I just sobbed and sobbed while she stroked my mane and laid with me.

Some time after I stopped sobbing, Cherry played about with my pipbuck to get a transmission going between us and the Stable.

"Stable 58, come in. Stable 58, come in."
"This is Stable 58, hearing you loud and clear. Your pipbuck tag is coming up as Crimson Wings, can you explain why this is?"
"I'm fine, It's Cherry Sundae using my pipbuck" I grumbled in response.
"Okay, confirmation accepted. Patching you over to your mother, Crimson."
There was a moments pause and then the waiting tone kicked in again, this time to be answered by my mum.
"Crimson?"
"Cherry Sundae, Mrs Overmare."
"Specialist? Oh. Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine." I repeated, knowing that it was far from the truth.
"What's happened?"
I looked at Cherry and gave her a look as if to say 'you tell her'.

"Mrs Overmare, Crimson has sent his pet manticore to you. She'll be arriving any time tonight or tomorrow morning."
The line went quiet for a moment before my mum spoke again.
"....His... pet... manticore? What the hell is wrong with my son?"
"Quite frankly, a lot of things right now, but that's not the point. The manticore is carrying a baby."
"A baby? A baby of all things?"
"Mum." I interrupted. "Mum. Just look after the baby for us, okay? When me and Cherry get back, we'll look after it, make it our own." I looked at Cherry as I said that, her face was shocked and embarrassed, but a small smile broke through at the same time.
"But for right now, you have to be a good grandma and look after our adopted baby. We had no other choice and I couldn't let another one die... not another... not a baby."

My mother must've heard the pain in my voice as I spoke, because her tone changed from shocked and confused to warm and understanding.

"Okay Crimson. I'll let Tank know that your pet is on its way. What was its name again?"
"Maisy, and its a she. Take good care of her while she's around, she's well trained but don't try annoy her. Okay?"
"Okay. Crimson, I love you. Stay safe."
"You too mum, I love you too."

With that the call ended and I looked at Cherry once more.

"Our baby, huh? I like that."
I didn't even have a response for that, I just buried my head into her and continued to cry the night away as her hoof gently brushed my mane some more.

---o---o---o---

Footnote:
Quest perk attained: Bigot Ghoul Slayer
You've had a traumatising experience around ghouls and now you want revenge! When around all ghouls, feral or sane, you gain +10 to all combat stats but -15 to your speech when talking to a ghoul.
Additionally, upon sight of feral ghouls, your strength and endurance go up by 1 while your perception goes down by 1.

As promised, I'm going to keep advertising the fact that the head picture came from WavemasterRyx, who can be found:http://ask-the-waves.tumblr.com/ !

On the topic of the darkness of the chapter:
You asked for it, you receive it. This is what happens when I turn off my mental filter and simply write whatever comes to mind and don't worry about how bad it really is. No, scratch that, the original was WORSE.
That's right. The original of that scene was beyond Project Horizons but felt too much and too... placed, rather then natural, to read.

If you want things to keep coming back to a grimdark feel, I can do it, but in no way can I do it every chapter and nor can I do it to this extent again - but I can do my best to bring grimdark into it and then try cut away at it to limit the exposure.

If you absolutely hated this chapter for it... I'm sorry. I'm absolutely sorry.

Please feel inclined to leave comments at the end of this chapter to let me know what you thought of it. I went over it a good ten times in total I reckon trying to write out the kinks, cut down some of the worst, upgrade some of the lesser, and make it... better, in a writers sense of things.
If you feel disgusted but don't hate me / my story, I've hit my mark.
If you feel disgusted with me and my story, again, I apologise for what I've done.

Thank you both Kkat and Somber for both writing amazing stories that have inspired me to write. Without you two, there would be a massive hole in my world, and I don't know how I would've filled it otherwise. Thank you.