No Going Back

Chapters

Hard Landing
Improvising
What's Left Behind (*EDITED*)
Thief!
*Update*

Hard Landing

Oh my god, this isn't happening

Gaige kept repeating those words again and again in his head to calm himself down. The sky was on fire and loud booming concussions could be heard in the distance All the clocks stopped at 1:15 and most of the power went out. This had been a long time coming, but Gaige always dreaded this day just the same.

Gotta get home and find my parents. I have to get them out of here!

He broke into a sprint and rounded the last street corner to get to his home...only his home wasn't there. All that was left was a smouldering crater with a few bits and pieces scattered around

"No..."

Gaige Fell to his knees in utter defeat. He started shaking uncontrollably as he welled up with sorrow and rage. He began punching what was left of his door vigorously and screaming “NO!” over...and over. As his knuckles began to bleed he curled up into a ball and started to weep. He closed his eyes and waited for it all to end.

Only it never ended.
* * *

“Alright boys get your asses outta bed, it's another beautiful day in the wasteland” Boomed a man with a heavy Bostonian accent.

Gaige reluctantly opened his eyes “Jesus Seb...can't a guy sleep in for once?” he said between yawns.

“Yeah” Seb laughed “When you die.”

Gaige raised himself out of his bed slowly and looked around. He saw the same sights as usual. His two childhood friends Dawson and Patrick, he's known them since before the event, they were the last thing left of his “normal” life. They both sat by the window sharing a bottle of whiskey and staring out into the desolation that was Haventon. It wasn't much of a town, but it sure as hell was better than living on the road.

Gaige silently thanked Seb for saving him...and what was left of his group from bandits. He knew that if he hadn't him, Dawson and Patrick would just be another few corpses on the road. There used to be 15 people in their group...they were lucky to have 3 left.

Gaige, Patrick and Dawson never really fit into Haventon. They were the first friendly people they'd ever found out in the wastes and most of the people in Haventon had been there since the Event 5 years ago. They had no idea what was waiting for them out there. It was a nice size town, about 200 strong, had enough of food, water and guns to go around. It was a real paradise in the hellhole that was left of the world and after what Gaige and his group had been through, they were more than happy settle down there. Gaige slowly wandered over to where Dawson and Patrick were sitting.

“So you boys out enjoying the view?” Gaige asked jokingly

“Yeah corpses, grey skies and dead plants are the first thing I want to see every morning” Patrick retorted sarcastically.

“Just think...this actually used to be a city...It's really weird to think that anything out in these godforsaken wastes used to be...well...normal. I'd give anything just to see the old world again” Dawson pondered.

“Yeah...well the old world went away...and it isn't ever coming back...you remember what we saw out on the road; the cannibalism, marauders, desperation. I figured you would know better than anyone that it's just gonna be people out there until death catches up with them...and then it'll be just death wandering the road and he'll say “where'd everybody go?” and that'll be it.” Patrick stated, completely emotionless. Patrick never really was the same since he lost his father, then again, none of them really were the same after living in the wasteland for five years.

“Hey...at least we won't ever have to hear the word 'swag' again!” Dawson chirped optimistically. The three of them had the best laugh they had in months

“Yeah, add that to the list of things I DON'T miss” Patrick added in. “I don't know how, after all this time, you can still keep up with the jokes” He asked

“I don't know, I guess it helps keeps my mind off the pile of shit that is my life now” Dawson replied sadly. For the first time in a while all three of them felt a pang of sadness as the past five years started catching up with them again. But that was quickly interrupted by Seb running into the room!

“Sorry for intruding on your little chit chat, but we got supply runs to make and you know we gotta be back before sunset. Hurry your asses up!” Seb hollered in his gruff booming voice. Gaige, Dawson and Patrick exchanged glances for a few seconds until Gaige broke the silence.

“You heard the man, minds clear let's get on the road.”

Man I hate doing this. Gaige thought to himself

* * *

A lanky man wearing an intricate tribal mask stood tall among the corpses of his former tribe members. “YOU CAN'T KILL ME!” He bellowed raising a machete “I'M IMMORTAL, I'M A GOD, I'M-” his voice was interrupted by the loud crack of a rifle and a bullet tearing through his left eye socket.

“...Just another psychopath” Patrick concluded “These guys don't look like they had much, let's grab what we can and move into the city.” Nobody objected they just continued silently moving through the desolate camp. This pretty much summed up what was left of humanity: killers, psychopaths, bandits. No one out in the wastes ever wanted to make friends with you. Kill or be killed was the new rule and you either obeyed or you were just another body on the side of the road.

Gaige slowly strafed around the corner of a small house with his rifle raised. “...Jesus christ.” he said dropping his rifle and nearly emptying the contents of his stomach. Before him was a whole family, hung from the lamp posts of a street, left for the buzzards and the mutants to get at. One of the children still had part of a stuffed animal strapped to his back.

“Glad I'm not them” Patrick remarked, passing Gaige and staying seemingly unphased. “Come on let's head up to the highway with the rest of the group we think there's a broken down caravan with some ammo”. They both made their way up the highway overpass, there was a sign half hanging off its' posts. Gaige could barely make out the words “Savannah” on the sign.

“Savannah, Georgia,” Gaige said with a bit of nostalgia “I came here once when I was a kid...used to be a really nice place. I'm not so sure it's so nice anymore though” Gaige said as he looked up at more rotting corpses hung from the lamp posts on the highway. Their empty shrivelled eye sockets staring back at him blankly.

“Really? What could've ever given you that idea?” Dawson said wryly while lying down on top of a ruined truck “What took you lazy asses so long I've been waiting here forever” He added.

“This must be the day pigs fly...I think Dawson just called us lazy!” Gaige grunted. “C'mon, looks like an abandoned caravan up ahead, let's see what we can salvage.”

“Hey with enough velocity pigs fly JUST FINE mister smart ass!” Dawson stated, looking noticeably annoyed. The trio joined up with the rest of their salvage crew and gathered around the caravan. There were three vehicles in total; two trucks and what looked like an old prison bus with all manners of plows, spikes and other various sharp objects strapped onto it. The vehicles all looked pretty stocked up and they were all in working condition, it was an amazing find.

“You know the drill boys. Gav and I are going to need about 10 people going through all the supplies in the vehicles. Four of you can get to work seeing if these puppies will run. If they're still functional, then you're looking at our ride back to Haventon, if not then we'll grab what we can and leave the rest for another trip here. Dawson, Gaige and Hansley, I want you three on guard duty, watch out to see if whoever owns these vehicles decides to come back , or any bandits try to sneak up on us. This looks almost too good. Alright move out everyone!” Bellowed Seb.

Gaige noticed Dawson looking back at the (now) ruined bandit camp from which they came with an odd melancholy in his eyes. “Hey...you okay man?” He asked, looking concerned.

“Nobody's really 'ok' anymore, but I'm managing. It's just,” he paused and motioned towards the camp, “This...is this all our lives are anymore, all we do is kill, and for what? At this rate we'll all be dead by winter's end.”

“Hey don't stress about it, those people were bandits...killers, they deserved it.” Gaige said reassuringly.

“Then what are we Gaige?,” He stared defiantly into Gaige's eyes “What do we deserve?” He hissed showing the rage building up inside of him. For the first time in his life, Gaige was speechless. He kept opening and closing his mouth as if to say something but nothing ever came out. “That's what I thought...” Dawson added as he turned his attention back to the highway in front of them.

Gaige returned to watching the highway and the ruined city as well, feeling uncomfortable with the newfound silence that came over it. It seemed like nothing was making any noise other than the soft rummaging of people going through supplies. Gaige could have sworn he had heard at least a few crows on the road over by a corpse.

Wait...Gaige thought. There used to be a corpse over there. He sat staring at the road where a bloody body used to be and then saw a pair of legs being dragged behind a car. Alarmed by this he started looking around. There were bodies everywhere on the road, fresh half torn apart bodies...and they had bite marks on them. Wait bite marks...what would-...Oh no... Gaige started to hear raspy breathing, snarling and the sound of claws scraping against metal. Mutants...Gaige knew he had to get his group off the highway and fast. “Everybody get off the highway MUTIES INCOMING!” Gaige shouted. Everyone paused for a second and noticed the bear like horribly mutated creatures barreling down the highway towards them.

“We have the bus running everybody get in NOW!” Seb shouted frantically “We're not waiting forever let's go” Gaige and Dawson vaulted over the maze of broken down cars in front of them, desperately trying to outpace the mutants breathing down their necks. Hansley tried getting up on a car and popping a few rounds into a mutant, he didn't last very long. The last Gaige saw of him he was dissapearing under a flurry of claws, teeth and fur.

Dawson aimed his revolver at the three attacking mutants “Come on we have to get them off of him!” He commanded as he drew a bead on the first mutant.

“No!” Gaige yelled “We have to go, he's already gone!” Gaige began forcefully lowering Dawson's arm.Dawson struggled to keep his weapon up for a few seconds then as tears welled up in his eyes he swore quite loudly and lowered his arms in defeat. Gaige pulled him along towards the bus.

“Come on! Come on we have to go NOW!” Ordered Seb. Gaige and Dawson put in one final effort and sprinted as fast as they could towards the back door of the bus and dove inside. “Alright driver make that gas pedal go through the goddamn floor, we have to get out of here” Seb hollered at the top of his lungs, with a hint of panic in his voice. The driver pushed down hard on the gas pedal and the bus lurched forward. Gaige began firing out of the back of the bus wildly at the approaching mutants.

I don't have the ammo for this! He thought to himself as he looked at the four bullets left in his revolver. He began looking frantically around the bus for more rounds and that’s when Gaige looked at the cabin of the bus and came to a grim realization, it was caked in blood and bits of viscera.

“It's a nice ride isn't it, once you can get past all the blood everywhere.” Patrick said with a morbid sense of cheeriness. Everyone on the bus was out of breath and in a cold sweat, the bus was moving fast enough that it could outrun the mutants, but that was only until they ran out of gas.

How much gas does this thing even have left in it? Gaige thought to himself.

“Seb you better figure out a plan B soon, we're running on fumes here!” Yelled the driver.

Well that wasn't what I wanted to hear. Gaige looked back out the window. He could make out one of the group members fruitlessly sprinting to catch up with the bus only to run out of energy and turn his gun on himself. Things really weren't looking up.

“Driver...I want you to take the next exit it'll take us straight to Haventon, once we get there we can close the town gates and pick off the mutants!” Seb commanded.

“...There's a wreck right in the middle of it” Replied the driver, looking confused.

“We'll go through it.” Seb stated cooly.

“I'm sorry what the hell did you just say?” The driver asked frantically.

“I said, we'll drive through it...” Seb re stated.

“I'm sorry, but are you INSANE? There's no WAY we're ever gonna make it! We're in a bus god dammit not a tank!” The driver exclaimed.

“Either you drive us through that wreck or we die on this highway...your choice” Seb hissed urgently. Just as the driver began barreling towards the wreckage a mutant jumped through the onto the grated windshield and begin tearing at the bars. “Holy shit!” Seb yelled, as the driver swerved to the right in an attempt to shake the beast. The force of the swerve caused the bus to hit the wreckage and roll hard onto its' side. The last thing Gaige saw was the everything and everyone on the floor of the bus hitting the roof, then it all went black. He tried opening his eyes a few times but all he saw were blurred figures shooting and shouting incomprehensible things. Darkness once again began eating away at the edges of his vision until it was the only thing he saw. Then after what seemed like seconds, his eyes opened once again.

This time a harsh light assaulted his eyes and he had to raise an arm to defend himself from the light. Am I dead? Gaige thought. His vision slowly and painfully began to adjust to hist surroundings and he could barely manage to lift his head, as he looked around he could make out large green rolling hills, a forest, blue skies and clean water. Ok, I'm definitely dead, but hey, this isn't half bad! Gaige tried to get up to enjoy his newfound paradise but was discouraged by a sharp pain throughout his entire body. Okay...scratch that, I'm not dead...but then where the hell am I? Gaige pondered, he didn't notice anything familiar and his surroundings seemed to be bright and almost pastel like. Huh, Maybe this is somewhere the Event didn't touch. But something seemed off, everything looked almost too cheery and very alien. It all reminded him of something he knew before the Event, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Gaige noticed a town off in the distance, it looked very old fashioned with all wooden buildings. A town? Hopefully there's a hospital there. It feels like I've broken my everything. Gaige slowly inched himself over to a nearby tree and sat himself up leaning on it. It was only then that he noticed the true severity of his wounds. His chest had multiple lacerations and he was losing a fair amount of blood, not to mention that all his limbs were bruised all to hell. Great, He thought, The one time I'm nowhere near a doctor. Then Gaige remembered his pack, it was still on him, it had bandages and some pain pills, that would hold him for a while. Gaige also noticed that he still had his rifle and revolver on him, but not many bullets left. Hopefully I won't need these again, I have enough blood on my hands.

It was then that Gaige looked up and noticed the two technicoloured small horses looking straight at him and talking in a hushed tone. One was a minty green colour with a white stripe down it's mane and the other was an light orange with freckles. Wait...is the orange one wearing a cowboy hat...What in the Sam Hill? Gaige was incredibly confused by this sight and wasn't sure how to react as the two small horses trotted towards him. Okay maybe this is all some sort of weird dream, maybe I'm just really...really...REALLY high. Gaige kept trying to find a reasonable explanation for what was transpiring in front of him until he noticed that the two horses were looming over him. He tried to say something, but the only comprehensible words that came out were “...Shoot...you,” as he levelled his revolver. Great, thought Gaige, So much for first impressions.

Improvising

Great...What now?

Gaige kept running through ways he could get out of his current situation, but he couldn't think of any. Dammit Gaige, you've spent five years in the wastes seeing unspeakable things, yet two technicoloured horses are making you shit your pants. Think dammit! Gaige kept the gun pointed shakily at the closest of the two small horses, the one with the cowboy hat. He locked eyes with it and it glared back in a complete stupor. He didn't think it understood the situation. Of course it doesn't know what you're doing it's a horse god dammit! Gaige thought to himself. He started to put himself at ease realizing that the two strange creature in front of him were probably simple minded wilder beasts, or someone's pet, until one of them opened its' mouth to speak.

“Well that ain't exactly the way to treat a lady!” Exclaimed the orange horse. Gaige was about to reply, but then he came to the realization that a horse just spoke perfect english to him. His mind...wasn't very accepting of that idea.

Oh what the hell...did that horse just talk?.Gaige thought to himself. No...no way I'm just imagining things, must be the blood loss. It wasn't until the orange horse turned and began talking to the mint horse that Gaige realized that, there were in fact two very real pastel talking horses in front of him. “You heard me...I said stay back! Or I'll shoot!” He hissed hoping to deter them from coming any closer. He knew he had to find a way to get away from them and fast, he had lost a lot of blood. Gaige began struggling to his feet while training his revolver on the two strange creatures. Come on Gaige get up dammit, you've been through worse than this! He thought in an attempt to coax his protesting muscles into cooperating.

“Ah don't take too kindly to monsters threatening mah friends...I'd watch yer mouth if I were you” The orange horse menacingly said while glaring at Gaige. It looked like it was getting ready to charge straight though him. All of a sudden the orange horse whipped around and drew back its' hind legs.

Gaige looked up from his half crouched position just in time to see a pair of hooves shooting out towards him. Aw crap. He thought just milliseconds before his body was sent soaring a good three feet behind where he stood. Gaige went limp and hit the ground with a sickening thud. He had the wind completely knocked out of him and he gasped for air. I think my ribcage has been turned into jello. Gaige thought between bouts of excruciating pain. My gun! I have to get my gun! Gaige began to panic until he noticed that his gun had wedged itself under his chest when he landed. He slowly grasped it as the two horses drew nearer and began slowly and painfully raising himself off the ground. “Don't..think I'm done yet...” Gaige sputtered out between gasps for air, “I'm just getting starte-” Gaige's speech was interrupted by him promptly losing consciousness and landing face first in the grass.

* * *

“What do you think it is Applejack” Asked Lyra, eying the motionless creature curiously and poking at it with her fore-hoof.

“Ah don't know...or much less care but I don't think it's gettin' up anytime soon” Applejack glared cautiously at the strange monkey like thing that lay in front of her.

“I don't know Applejack, I mean to me it looks kind of like a...human. I mean it has a helmet on, but it looks like its the right size...” Lyra stated as her eyes began to light up.

“Oh come on Lyra, everypony knows humans are just an old fillies tail to keep ponies away from the everfree forest. Sweet Celestia when are you gonna stop with that nonsense” Applejack scolded. Everyone in Ponyville knew Lyra was a complete nut-job for believing in theses mystical “Humans”, but Applejack couldn't help but notice the similarities between the creature in front of her and Lyra's nonsensical drawings. Maybe she was right. No that's total nonsense, how could you even consider that. Applejack scolded herself for thinking something so foolish.

Lyra, looking hurt, turned back to poking at the strange creature with a sight. She saw it had a some a thick pelt covering its' body with the exception of its' extremities and had a very metallic looking head with reflective orange eyes. She reached out to poke it again, except this time, it let out a low groan and Lyra took a great leap into the air, letting out a high pitched shriek and tumbling over backwards in fear. At the sight of this Applejack's attention snapped back to the creature in front of her. She noticed something red pooling under it. Is that...blood? She thought to herself. “Oh...oh my...Lyra get up we have to get this thing to a doctor and fast if we wanna know anything about him.”

“Why? What's wrong?” Asked a suddenly panicked Lyra.

“It's bleeding Lyra...It's bleeding a LOT!” Applejack became suddenly very nauseous from the sight of the creature's condition. “Fluttershy's cottage is just over this hill, if we can get him there she might be able to do somthin'!” Applejeack hollered as she bit down onto the creature's hood and began dragging it. Lyra soon joined in the frantic effort.

I'm not losing my chance to meet a human now, I'm so close and I KNOW this time it's an actual human. I'm not letting a little blood loss take away MY DREAM! Lyra thought to herself as she began pulling with more and more frantically.

Great, first a mutant attack, then a bus crash and now I'm being kidnapped by tiny coloured horses...Could my day get ANY better? Gaige thought to himself sarcastically as he lay half conscious being dragged over a ground. Gaige slowly felt himself slipping away from consciousness once more. The darkness came quickly, spilling in from the corner of his vision, only this time he welcomed it and drifted away from reality.

* * *

Gaige was slowly rummaging through an old refrigerator in a ruined farmhouse, doing his best to avoid making any noise. Damn, only three cans of tuna...that's not enough for everyone. Gauge thought to himself as he looked at his meagre scavenged supplies and frowned. Hopefully the rest of the group found more than this, otherwise we aren't going to make it much longer. It didn't take Gaige long to deduce that the few cans of meat they had wouldn't feed all sixteen people. He had to move on and keep looking.

Gaige exited the farmhouse out into the ashen wastes stealthily only to be jerked onto the ground suddenly. He landed on his face and quickly flipped around to face his would be assailant, only it was Patrick pinning him down and motioning for him to be quiet. Gaige looked around quickly and noticed that their group was huddled behind the low wall near the farmhouse watching something. Wait...there's only thirteen of us. Gaige suddenly thought. Patrick got off his chest and repositioned himself against an old wrecked truck and Gaige followed suit. Gaige kept looking around for his other two group members, but they were nowhere in sight. Until he looked over the top of the truck he was behind, there they were, being held up by a group of at least seven heavily armed bandits, both of them on their knees with guns pressed to their heads. Well shit...Gaige thought. This complicates things a little. He looked around for any way that the bandits could be eliminated without killing both his group members. Damn...the rest of the group would get shot at the minute they poked their heads out. He thought, then he deduced that him and Patrick were the only ones far enough away to set up a shot without being seen. Then he came to the grim realization that he was the only one of the two with a gun

“Gaige...” Patrick urgently whispered, “We don't have a hope in hell of taking these guys on.”

“I noticed,” Gaige hissed back “Look around maybe there's something we can use to our advantage.” . He wasn't going to lose anybody else, he'd already lost four people just last week.

“Alright NOBODY...and I mean NOBODY steals from us you sons of bitches!” Hollered who must've been the bandit group's leader, “Now I know y'all are in our farmhouse so you better come out now or were gonna kill each and every one of you! Starting with these two! You have ten seconds to get your asses out of that house or these two's brains are gonna be all over the concrete! Ten!” Counted the bandit leader.

“Now would be a good a time as any to use that last grenade.” Patrick whispered.

“Have you lost it? It'll kill Maisie and Trevor!” Gaige retorted.

“We don't have the time Gaige, it's the only way.” Patrick pleaded, “Its either we lose them or we lose everything!”. He was right and Gaige knew it.

“Nine!” Yelled the bandit leader. Gaige could now see his two captured group members; Carol and her husband Eb.

Dammit why'd you both have to wander off! Gaige silently cursed himself for not keeping track of them

“Eight!” Continued the Bandit.

“Shit,” murmured Gaige as he fumbled to pull the pin of the grenade.

“Seven!” The leader urged the other bandits to ready their weapons. Gaige attempted to steady his aim but he was shaking uncontrollably.

When the time comes...will I be able to do it, Gaige asked himself.

“Six! Times running out!” Taunted the bandit leader.

Gaige began to slowly raise himself to a crouch

“Five. Ya'll can come on out anytime!”

Now! Gaige shot up from behind the stone wall he had been behind and tossed the grenade towards the center of the group of bandits.

Gaige stayed hunkered behind the wall for a few seconds, he heard a loud concussion, screaming, and the sickening sound of meat landing on the hard ground. After the shooting died down he then slowly made his way down to the pile of corpses that was once a bandit group, Maisie and Trevor among them, their faces twisted in agony, stared up at him accusingly. Gaige felt an immense sense of guilt. This blood's on my hands. He noticed Maisie was still breathing, but based on her current state not for long. Gaige slowly approached her. How could he comfort a woman from whom he had just robbed everything from. Gaige cleared his throat and finally spoke to her. “I'm sorry I couldn't protect you both....I had to-”

“No Gaige..” Maisie said between choked sobs, “You couldn't protect him...” She clutched onto his hooding, drawing him near, he could smell the stench of death on her breath. “You couldn't protect me, you couldn't protect Carson. You couldn’t protect Ben. You couldn't protect ANYONE” Masie yelled as her eyes glazed over and she began sounding more and more malevolent. Finally she brandished a hunting knife and plunged it deep into his abdomen, “You deserve this more than anyone!” She hissed as Gaige slowly drifted into the arms of death.

* * *

Gaige woke with a start and took in a sharp gasp of air. “No!” he croaked, not being able to take in enough air to scream. His eyes darted furiously around the room he had been put in, it was a small bright coloured room in what appeared to be a cottage. Gaige noticed he was curled up in a fetal position as the bed he was in was much too small for him, which seemed peculiar to him, that was until he remembered he was in a land of waist high talking equines. Thank god...just another dream. Gaige thought, the night terrors like that were frequent for him, but still, even after five years, he was still shaken by each and every one of them.

Gaige could make out some faint voices on the floor below him and assumed it was the two creature who were dragging him across the field. I need to get out of here before they come back. Gaige couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen if he didn't. He tried to raise himself out of the bed and after a few minutes, and quite a few popped stitches, he succeeded in getting to his feet. Gaige scanned the room for his things and noticed that they were all piled in a corner of the room. He immediately hobbled over to his bag and pulled out his BioFixer and suturing kit. He stared at the long needle that contained the sweet pain healing stimulant he needed. I hate needles. He thought to himself before he jabbed the needly into a vein on his bicep using a hand to stifle a yelp of pain. He then looked down at his body it had been bandaged and the lacerations on his chest had been partially stitched. Damn, looks like I'm gonna need to really be careful if I wanna stay alive. He could feel the BioFixer starting to take effect as he regained some of his pain diminished and he began to regain some mobility.

Gaige noticed that his clothing had been left mostly untouched and his hazardous environment mask was still on his head. Good that means I can stay anonymous. Or rather as anonymous as a large bipedal ape like creature can be in a society of talking horses. He strapped his pack onto his back and was about to make his way out of the second story window, when he remembered he was missing one thing; his revolver. He figured it would be best to bring his revolver with him, just in case, so he began scanning the room for it, only the revolver was nowhere to be found.

Gaige crept close to the staircase down the the first floor to see if he could spot his possession on the first floor, when he heard a voice coming from downstairs. “...And he pointed this here metal thing at Lyra and I and threatened us! Can you believe that?” it was the voice of the orange horse from the field. Shit, well I can't say I didn't see this coming. Gaige cursed silently and began slowly backing away from the staircase. He figured he could come back for the gun another time. Suddenly Gaige felt his foot snag on something that was left lying on the floor and he tumbled over backwards with a large crash. Gaige grunted and looked up from the ground to see small white rabbit smiling smugly at him. “Oh you little son of a bitch!” Gaige hissed, “I will turn you into a fucking hat, get back here!” he growled as he lunged for the rabbit that was much too quick for him. Gaige again landed on the floor face down and proceeded to slowly raise himself with a defeated sigh.

Gaige suddenly noticed a eerie silence. The voices downstairs had stopped, and slow deliberate clopping of hooves could be heard, approaching the staircase. Well...time to go. Gaige figured and he made a mad dash for the open window and slid out onto the roof. Within seconds he had slid off the roof and had hit the ground running, or rather half hobbling, for the closest bushes he could get to.

Gaige burst through the bushes and onto a stone path and then stopped to catch his breath for a second. It was only when he raised his head to look around that he realized that he was now on a path populated by at least fifty brightly coloured equines all gawking at the sight of a giant monkey wearing a metal mask that just came barreling out of a bush. “Um...Hello...there's absolutely no reason to panic I'm just passing-” Gaige was not able to finish his sentence as the crowd of pastel equines immediately began panicking, all of them fled in each and every direction, alerting more of the horses to his presence

Well shit...this just got a lot harder! Gaige could now hear his pursuers drawing near, he didn't have much time to figure out where he would go, just that he had to go. He limped over to the nearest tree and fell to the ground, knees weak. Dammit, not now. The tree was right on top of a knoll, so Gaige simply rolled until he passed over it and onto the other side, and lay still, where he wouldn't be seen, for now. He chucked a rock into some faraway bushes, just to ensure the horses had a false lead. This bought him precious seconds.

He heard his pursuers shouting something about encircling him, and then promptly moving towards where he had thrown the decoy rock. Gaige poised himself in way so that at any given moment he would be able to take off running if need be. His mind raced, contemplating escape strategies, but it was too muddled by the pain and adrenaline to function properly. He needed air, the filter on his helmet must have clogged, the visor was beginning to fog up. He threw off the helmet and his long, greasy hair fell into his eyes, he pushed it back over his forehead.

His reflection in his visor caught his attention, he was dirty, bloody, unkempt and wild. He looked like an animal, something he would have found in a pre war alleyway. He could see something else in his visor too, one of the horses was coming over the knoll, seemingly all on its own. It was looking the other way, its' long hair blocked its peripheral vision to Gaige's side. Gaige covered his mouth to muffle his breathing and raised himself to a crouch. As soon as the horse crested the knoll he pounced on it, pinning it to the ground.

The horse looked to be a mix of bewildered and terrified, its emerald eyes wide. He covered its mouth with one hand. “Be quiet.” He hissed. Gaige reached back for his knife with his free hand. A sudden pain shot through his hand covering the horse's mouth. It had bit him, it's yellow fur and pink mane now slightly stained with droplets of his blood. Gaige grunted in pain “You bitch!” He brought his knife up to the horse's throat and locked eyes with it. “Let...go.” he whispered, doing his best not to put too much pressure on the knife. Needless to say the horse let go.

The yellow horse's emerald eyes were wide and soft, they stared up at Gaige, tears welling up in them. The horse managed a feeble whimper, before closing its eyes tightly and tensing up, preparing for what Gaige would do. “Aw shit...” sighed Gaige as he began feeling a certain sympathy for the horse. It was scared and alone, he couldn't detect a hint of malice in it. It reminded him of a small child. He began re-sheathing the knife.

Suddenly, the world was a blur, Gaige was knocked clean off the horse by a flash of light blue fur and a rainbow colouring. He was rolling down the knoll, he could feel his wounds tearing open again, he screamed in agony. Gaige grabbed onto whatever had knocked him over, it felt like he grabbed it by a wing of sorts. He twisted hard and it pulled whatever was that bowled him over under him. They both crashed to the ground, Gaige driving the thing into the dirt.

Gaige realized that what had hit him was another horse, this one a light blue and with a rainbow mane. Its' piercing wine coloured eyes glared up at him. Adrenaline coursing through his veins, he began hitting it, again and again, ignoring the pain, driven by fear. He could feel his hands becoming sticky, he wasn't sure who's blood was on them anymore. Gaige gave a final strike to the abdomen of the blue horse, knocking the wind out of it and buying him enough time to get up and run away.

Gaige took a step down the knoll, then took another hit, this time to the small of his back, it was sharp, a kick rather than a tackle. Gaige rolled ungracefully down to the bottom of the knoll and landed in a heap. He lay still for a long while, he couldn't will himself to move, he was bleeding heavily. The pain was unbearable. Dear god, just let me die, let it be quick. He slowly rose to his knees. Before him stood three horses, the orange one, the blue one and the yellow one. The blue one looked particulairly agressive, bloodied, its' nostrils flaring. The orange one was holding it back.

“Let me go Applejack,” it screeched, absolutely livid.

“Do it,” croaked Gaige. “Just get it over with.” The horses looked on, confused. “Kill me, come on, what are you waiting for.” They almost seemed to be astonished by what he was saying, “I'm not gonna beg. I'm not-” Gaige trailed off, looking towards the ground. He heard a muffled conversation between the three horses, he didn't much care about what they were saying, he just waited for the inevitable, only it never came.

“He's not dangerous he's just scared, look at him,” he heard a softer voice say. Upon hearing this, Gaige realized that perhaps he was not in immediate danger. The horses all seemed occupied arguing amongst each other. He slowly reached for his pack and got another BioFixer kit, injecting it into his torso. With his free hand he covered his mouth to stifle the grunt of pain. He coughed and tasted blood. The horses didn't appear to notice, still preoccupied by their argument. Gaige shakily brought himself to his feet, teeth gritted. He could feel the pain dissipating, but far too slowly, if he was going to move, he wouldn't be moving very far.

Come on, just one foot in front of the other. You can move, let's go. Gaige plodded slowly forwards, his steps were uneven and sporadic. He was breathing heavily, he could feel the blood dripping from his mouth. His head grew light and his eyes heavy. His feet faltered and he began falling forwards, but he never hit the ground. Instead he felt to pairs of arms grab him from under his arms, barely keeping him up. They guided him back over the knoll and towards the cottage from which he had escaped. He did little to protest, he simply hung his head and plodded onward. Five years in the wastes and ol' Gaige meets his grisly end after being taken prisoner by a couple of colourful horses, he chuckled to himself at the circumstances. He had a bad feeling that this was a situation he would not soon free himself from.

What's Left Behind (EDITED)

Agent Lugo crept silently through the darkened empty hallways of an empty apartment complex. He could've sworn he had seen someone moving at the end of the hall and was prepared to confront them. Beads of sweat began to run down his face and his heart rate skyrocketed as he drew nearer to the end of the hallway. Each step he took, was a step closer to his potential demise. After what seemed like hours he reached the end of the hallway. As he slowly turned the corner at the end of the hall he heard a faint thudding behind him and he whirled around to face the source of this unnerving noise. Alas, it was too late for Lugo, for when he turned around there was already an enemy agent in the process of driving his knife deep into Lugo's chest.

“Player one defeated...Player two is victorious”, blared the television speakers in their monotone synthesized voice.

“Oh come on, this time I know you cheated!”, whined Gaige, “I want a rematch!”. Gaige huffed and crossed his arms in display of childish frustration.

“I swear I didn't cheat at all Gaige!, Patrick retorted defiantly, “Have you ever thought that maybe you're just bad at this?”, he added with a wry smile. As Gaige processed that remark, he could almost picture himself slowly wrapping his hands around Patrick's neck and throttling the life out of him, but that might not go over to well with his parents so he restrained himself.

“Oh yeah?”, Gaige paused to think of an intelligent comeback, “Well...well maybe you're just a...you know what? Fuck you!”, Gaige stammered, unable to conjure up a passable insult.

“Hey calm down man, I was only joking.”, Patrick said in an attempt to cool his friend down, but Gaige would have none of it. “Look...if you want I can even tell you how to play as well as me!”, Gaige paused for a moment to consider the offer.

“Alright...I'm listening”, he muttered angrily after a short period of silence.

“Okay then, let's get started. If you want to beat your enemy you have to start by getting to know him.”, Patrick stated, doing his best to keep himself from outright laughing at Gaige's hilariously non-threatening “angry” face.

“Wait...Patrick I don't think two soldiers are really going to want to have a nice chat over a cup of tea and talk about themselves!”, Gaige interrupted, completely befuddled by the concept he was being introduced to.

“No Gaige, not like that. I mean you have to watch him.”, Patrick continued, doing his best to avoid becoming frustrated with his friend's lack of comprehension.

“Okay, now you're just sounding really creepy!”, Gaige half yelled in his state of now complete confusion.

“Gaige, seriously stop with the interruptions alright! I mean you have to learn how your enemy operates, watch what he does and how he does it. You have to learn how he thinks and you have to be able to predict what he's going to do and counter it before he does it.”, Gaige was beginning to listen more intently as Patricks voice shifted to an oddly dark tone “You have to think like your enemy and you have to act like your enemy...”, Gaige became entranced by his friends sudden shift in character, “Before you can defeat your enemy, you have to be your enemy.”, Patrick stated in a dark malevolent tone. He locked eyes with Gaige momentarily before bursting out into uproarious laughter. “I'm just shitting you, I have no idea, you just suck at this game!”

* * *

Be the enemy Gaige...just be the enemy. Gaige thought as he scanned the landscape through the cottage window, looking for patterns in the horses behaviour. He gave out a heavy sigh, Patrick was right, what a load of bullshit, how do I think like a horse? He lay back and stared at the ceiling. How long had he been there; days, weeks? The days seemed eternal from his bed.

The yellow horse would be home soon, Gaige would have to fake being asleep. The horse seemed too timid to approach him otherwise. He never heard it say a word, it just walked up, left him some food and walked back downstairs. None of the horses were much for conversation with him, the most he would get in terms of interaction was being glared at by that damned blue pegasus. He could still see it glaring up at his window from the park. “Well fuck you too,” he murmured.

He heard his jury rigged earpiece crackle to life. It sounded like someone was speaking. Gaige grabbed the headset “Hello,” the voice trailed into static “You there, in the cottage, can you hear me,” He stared at the earpiece dumbfounded. “What are you, stupid? Don't just sit there, respond to me!” hissed the voice, “I know you heard me.”

Gaige quickly put on the earpiece and activated the microphone, “Hello?”

“Oh good, you can follow basic instructions, that's a start,” chided the voice, “Walk over to the window.” Gaige paused momentarily, “Get on with it, I don't have all day.” Gaige slowly swung his feet to the side of the bed and got up, walking slowly towards the window. He looked around outside, but saw nothing of particular intrigue.

“What am I looking for out here?” he asked

“Look over towards the woods, see that path?” Gaige scanned the woods and noticed a poorly maintained dirt path into the thick woods.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“I know he brought more of you here, I need you to help me find them, bring them there. Find as many as you can, I can't let him take them. Please, Gaige, I need you to help me help all of you. You were with a group when you were taken, they couldn't have landed far from you.”

“What is this all about, who are you, how'd you get onto my comms network?” Gaige interrogated. He was mildly disturbed by the fact that not only did he not recognize the voice, but that the man knew so much about him. “How can you see me, I don't see anyone out there.”

“Oh Gaige, I see everything and I know more than you can possibly imagine. They do call me “The Watcher” after all.”

“Why should I listen to you? You just sound like some narcissist with a radio.”

“Do you have any other options?” There was a long pause, “That's what I thought. Now tut-tut, get going, I only have so many whiskey bottles to pass the time until you get here.” Gaige heard a faint humming above him and looked up to see a pristine surveillance drone hovering over him, its' camera trained on him. “We'll be in touch.” The drone gave a couple quick beeps and then zipped off back towards the woods, disappearing into the brush.

Gaige stood dumbfounded. Wandering security drones were uncommon in the wasteland, but to see one in pristine condition after ten years was almost unthinkable. Rare as it was to see a drone it was rarer still to see someone in control of one. It left Gaige wondering. Perhaps someone back in the wastes did have it all figured out, maybe that's why he was here. It crossed his mind that if someone had control of a communications network and advanced electronics that perhaps the Ark hadn't failed in its' mission, as everyone had assumed when it lost contact with Earth. Gaige had to find out; he had to know for sure. He was here for a reason and he needed to know why, he needed answers. More than anything, Gaige needed to know whether Patrick and Dawson were here as well, the man on The Watcher mentioned something about a group being transported here with him, maybe a few had survived the attack. If there was any chance of finding them, he would take it.

* * *

A figure lay still in the bushes on the fringes of the thick woods. She leaned into her radio, “I think I've got your guy.” she whispered into her microphone.

“Do you know for sure,” crackled the voice on the other end.

“Seems to match the description they gave us. God, he is one mangy looking motherfucker, but I guess you aren't much better.” she sneered, wrinkling her nose as she looked through her binoculars at the bearded man in the window.

“You've got a real mouth on you don't you?” retorted the man on the radio, “Just get back here, we'll have to figure out how we're going to go about this.”

“Yeah yeah, be back in a few.” She stuffed her binoculars back into her pack and brought up her hood. It would be getting dark soon and she didn't want to be caught out in the open at night. She slunk back into the woods with catlike grace, melting into the shadows.

* * *

Fluttershy came home late, the sun was low in the sky by the time she gingerly stepped back into her home. She hummed to herself as she trotted over towards her living room but stopped dead at the entrance to the room. There was something wrong. There felt to be an eerie emptiness to the house. All that could be heard was a faint, uneven creaking.

She searched for the source of the noise, only to find her back door ajar, moving gently back and forth in the midsummer's breeze. Strange, how did that happen? She trotted up to the door to close it, but a figure caught her eye. It stood tall and dark. It was hard to tell what it was, it stood against the setting sun, a poorly formed silhouette, standing perfectly still. She began approaching it, slowly, squinting hard to discern what it was.

As she approached the figure it became apparent that it was the monster, the monster that was supposed to be in her bed. It hadn't moved in days as far as she could tell, surely it wouldn't have had the strength to walk. Perhaps it was not as weak as she had presumed. She paused, leaning backwards, considering retiring to her cottage, there was surely some other pony that would catch it, No, you can do this, they left it with you, it's your responsibility, she told herself, willing her legs to slowly and carefully carry her forwards.

The monster was staying perfectly still, it's long coat fluttered lightly in the wind. As she got closer she could see it was looking at something. She tracked its' sad gaze to a mare guiding her filly down a path away from the schoolhouse. The little filly trotted happily in circles around her mother, excitedly telling a story that neither of them were close enough to hear.

Suddenly, the monster whipped around, hearing the crunching of leaves underneath Fluttershy's hoof. It reached for its' blade. Fluttershy reflexively did the only thing that she knew would save her, it was risky, but she would have to try the Stare. Her eyes pierced into the monsters and world slowed and fell silent, then everything went dark.

* * *

Fluttershy was overwhelmed at first with the emotions that were emanating from this creature. As her mind flooded with its' memories she could see exactly what it had seen and felt everything it had ever felt. She was bombarded with visions of pestilence, death, devastation, suffering and hopelessness. Those visions came merged with feelings of regret, hatred, melancholy and rage. The intensity and sheer amounts of sentimentality emanating from deep within the creature's cortex were making Fluttershy's head spin. She was unable to focus properly and soon became woozy, almost to the point where her dinner was attempting to make an unannounced appearance, much to her chagrin. She could she darkness creeping into the edges of her vision as she began to break out in a cold sweat. She could feel the creature trying to resist the stare. She had never encountered anything with the ability to actively resist her stare, nor had she prepared to face one that could do so. She could make out the monster's voice in her head.

“Get out!”, Fluttershy's head began to feel like it was being slowly impounded on either side. A searing pain shot through the front of her head, nearly leading her to lose her focus.

I can't lose it, not now, and with that she put all focused as hard as she could on continuing to break into the monster's memories. Every ounce of energy she had left in her went towards breaking the creature's mental lock. She could hear its' scream echoing in her head and with that she forced her way inside of its' memories. Her vision went completely dark and flashed momentarily. This hasn't ever happened before, She thought to herself as her eyes were suddenly assaulted by daylight and ash. As her vision returned and her eyes re-focused to her strange new surroundings she noticed that the world around her was now as grey as stone. The cloud cover was thick and dark and ash could be seen blowing lazily in the wind. The countryside around her was in shambles, charred and ruined she couldn't make out a single living soul. All that she could see were fires in the distance and a dead forest. Where am I?

Fluttershy heard the light crunch of somepony walking behind her and she froze up in fear of what it may be. After about a minute of petrification, she decided that whatever it was she heard must not have been dangerous and slowly turned around to face what was behind her. A gruesome sight awaited her. The monster stood solemnly next to a rectangular hole in the ground, slowly and deliberately shovelling dirt into it. She looked a little closer and noticed a small wooden cross. It was a grave that it was filling in. Only she didn't have to look to far to realize that that wasn't the only grave, there were at least ten and they all looked fresh. Fluttershy was speechless. Never in her life had she seen so much death. Did the monster do all of this?, she asked herself. It couldn't have, surely there was nothing that could be so cruel...Was there?

Fluttershy's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of something else approaching her and as she whipped around to face it she realized that it was another monkey monster. This one was clad in thick raggedy clothes and was covered from head to toe in dirt. The monster stroked its' long greasy mane with one of its' paws as it drew closer to Fluttershy. It was a light brown and had an unkempt beard that dominated its' muzzle. Its' large, chocolate coloured eyes could almost trick somepony into believing it was friendly and innocent.The monster seemed to pay no heed to the fact that it was walking directly towards her and seemed to almost be looking through her, as if she wasn't even there. Despite all that, Flutteshy was still utterly horrified as she stood trembling now standing only mere inches from the monster. As the monster drew closer to her she closed her eyes and silently prayed that it wouldn't hurt her as she tensed up, anticipating the monster to strike at any moment. Only the strike never came, she opened her eyes and realized the monster had passed right though her.

“Gaige, don't you think you've done enough for today? Here, go get some rest and I'll take over for you ok?”, the other monster put a hand on his companions shoulder.

Gaige...that must be its' name. Fluttershy also assumed by his stature and his voice that he was the monster equivalent of a stallion.

Gaige didn't seem to acknowledge the other monster behind him. He just continued to stare blankly at makeshift wooden grave markers. After a long, somber silence, Gaige removed his helmet and turned to the other monster. “Maybe Carol was right...I can't protect anyone.”, Gaige's eyes were red and irritated. His eye sockets were sunken and dark, he looked like he was severely sleep deprived.

“ Don't you listen to that bitch Gaige! You've gotten us through more than we could have ever hoped to get through alone!”, the other monster sounded frustrated by Gaige's remark.

“But at what cost? We just lost a whole quarter of our group today. What does it matter how far I get the group if we're all gonna die like this anyways! I don't think I'm strong enough to keep doing this. I won't last much longer.”, Gaige never even turned to look at his comrade, he just continued staring at the field of graves with a blank expression, but his melancholic tone of voice defied his expression.

“Gaige you can't talk like that. You've got a kid to take care of now for god's sake! You can't just give up! Carson needs you! We all need you! Fuck's sake man get it together! This isn't the time to be selfish.”, the other monster scolded. Yet Gaige still stood silently staring ahead, failing to fully agknowledge his comrade. The other monster let out a heavy sigh, “Look...just come back to camp. Its' getting dark and it's not safe here at night. We're not losing anyone else today.”, and with that the other monster started off back towards Fluttershy, passing through her once again on his way back to his camp. Gaige remained still, in a sort of vigil by the graves.

Fluttershy was on the brink of tears. She didn't know how Gaige could continue functioning after seeing that many of his friends die in front of him. Maybe this pushed him over the edge?, she pondered. Though she still bore contempt towards him as this still did not justify Gaige's own cruelty and terrorization of the innocent denizens of Ponyville. She felt the need to search for why he had been so cruel and violent to everypony, but she was too preoccupied with observing the tragedy of this new world she was in.

As Fluttershy looked around more and more she began to realize that this was not just an average summer night. The landscape around here bore scars of past fires and explosions. There's was nothing she could see that was alive, save Gaige. The place where she stood overlooked what must have been a city. Only it was now in ruins, with wrecked machinery and litter as its' only inhabitants. The only light she could perceive against the harsh ashen dusk was that of the fires that blazed fiercely throughout parts of the former city. There wasn't even any sunlight that penetrated the thick dark grey clouds that covered the sky as far as she could see. This was a veritable wasteland. What happened here?

After a long while of staring into the abyss that was the world that surrounded her, Fluttershy noticed a small silhouette moving in the darkness towards Gaige. As she looked a little closer she realized it was a much smaller monster. The little monster silently approached Gaige and stood next to him. Gaige reached over and patted the little monster on the head as he said something inaudible to her Fluttershy dared move closer to get a better look at the two strange creatures. The little monster looked to be like the monster equivalent of a small colt. Fragile and innocent. His soft, terribly thin face covered in patches of dirt and grime. His bright blue eyes seemed like the last bastion of innocence in this desolation. He had a gaze that could pierce you heart. “Gaige, are we going in there tomorrow?”, the little monster asked, pointing at the ruined city.

“Yes, we have to. We need to find food and this is our best bet.”

“Are we starving yet Gaige?”

“Yes, but it takes a long time to die from starvation. We'll find something before then, I promise you.”

“But that means we have to go in there. I don't want to go in there, what if there are more bad men?”

“There's no one in there Carson...”

So the little one's name is Carson, what an odd name, Fluttershy thought to herself.

“How do you know?”

“Because...we killed them all”

“Okay.”

“Okay what?”, Gaige asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing, just okay.” and with that the two continued to stare out toward the ruins that lay ahead of them. Suddenly the ground began to vibrate and a terrible rumbling and crashing could be heard emanating from the city. Fluttershy watched as Gaige held onto a trembling and weeping Carson. Gaige stroked his hair as he held tightly onto him as he shushed him. As the rumbling came to a close and the ground stopped vibrating Gaige let go of Carson and said,

“Don't worry, that was only a building falling down. Pretty soon all the buildings in the world are going to fall...but not on us.”

“How do you know?”, asked a teary eyed Carson.

“I just do.”, Gaige replied reassuringly.

“Gaige...Promise me no one else is going to die”, Carson mumbled.

“You know I can't promise that. The city should be safe but I can't promise you that. Everybody dies Carson, that's just how it is.”

“Okay”, replied Carson. The two stood there silently for a long while. Fluttershy couldn't bear to see Carson living under such circumstances. He was so small and innocent. He deserved better than this. Fluttershy could now see why Gaige was obviously a damaged creature. He came from a cruel world. Populated by cruel creatures. There was no way anypony could stay “normal” under such circumstances. Fluttershy thought that she had seen the worst that could happen to anyone in such a world. It wasn't until Carson spoke up for a second time that she realized that the world she was seeing, was much crueler than she had thought. “I miss my papa...”, Carson began sobbing as he flung himself onto Gaige in a tight, trembling embrace. Gaige just stood there, shocked by this sudden embrace and unsure of how to react to it. Eventually he returned the embrace and whispered to Carson.

“I know....I miss mine too.”, the pair stood there for a long time in each other's embrace.They were two shadows in the night beside the dying fire, each the other's world entire.

“Get the fuck out!”, Fluttershy could hear the monster's voice in her head once again. This time it was louder and angrier than before. Her head began spinning once more and she could see the memory in front of her was beginning to fade away as darkness began to engulf her vision once again. Fluttershy attempted to continue to hold the stare, but she was spent. She had no energy left to resist Gaige's psychological defences. With that, she broke the stare and stood swaying in a daze for a few seconds.

* * *

Gaige was slowly pulled himself back into reality. He found himself whispering, “I'm sorry...”, to himself over and over. Gaige did his best to get his mind off of his past, but he knew he'd only be able to bury his past for so long. In the end, everything he did would catch up to him. Everyone he killed, everything he did and everyone he lost would haunt every minute of his life, like a malevolent shadow that he could never escape. He sat in a veritable paradise while the child he was sworn to protect cowered alone in the wastes. The thought of it made him feel sick. I promised his father I'd never leave.

He looked up to see the yellow horse staring back at him mouth open as if to say something, eyes misty. He didn't quite remember what she had seen in him, but it was obvious it was something terrible. There were others approaching him, from behind the horse. More horses, white this time, in centurion-esque armour.

“By order of Princess Celestia you are being detained and brought to Canterlot. Any attempt to resist will be met with heavy force, lethal if necessary.” barked one of the horses, dressed in more ornate armour. Gaige was fully aware of what was happening, yet did nothing. He simply stood still while two of the horse flanked him and pushed him hard, ushering him forwards, towards a chariot. As he was carolled onto the chariot, he stared off shadow of the woods and it stared back. There were shadows in the dark, they moved silently through the bracken, watching. The chariot lurched forward and sailed into the air, drawn by two pegasi.

Gaige's earpiece crackled to life once more. “Well you've done well for yourself haven't you?” whispered The Watcher, now a voice that only Gaige could hear. “All you had to do was get to the woods, it really wasn't that hard,” he gave an exasperated sigh, “Look we'll figure this out later, just try not to do anything stupid, although that does seem to be asking a little much from the likes of you.”

Thief!

“Great, he's gone again...wonderful.”, the man continued muttering to himself as he angrily paced in his camp.

“So? We know where he's going at least, we can catch up?” replied another man, laying down on a log, gazing up at the night sky.

“Yeah? With no food? I don't think we're going anywhere until we solve that problem first.”

“Don't get so upset over nothing, we have an entire town to pick from, all we have to do is steal enough for a week or two and be on our way. It'll be easy.”

“You seem to forget that that's not our only problem,” retorted the other man, still pacing, “How can we get up to that Canterlot city, it only has one gate, and any other entrance would be inacessible by land. We'd have to fly.”

“Maybe I could just toss you,” chuckled the man lying down.

“Dawson could you be serious for once in your life? You're not exactly helping.”

“Sorry you have to be such a bitch all the time Patrick,” groaned Dawson, “Come on, quit worrying yourself. We're not gonna bother planning anything until we've got some food. Besides, we've got that girl helping us now, I'm sure that'll make things easier.” Dawson yawned, “Just get some sleep, well get to this tomorrow.

* * *

It was a beautiful fall afternoon on the edge of Sweet Apple Acres. The sun had finally emerged from behind the cloud cover and everything was glistening in the daylight. The grass rustled softly in the wind and the apple orchard was a collage of beautiful oranges, yellows, and reds. The trees of the Everfree forest swayed lazily a little ways away from the orchards perimeter fence, but a strange malicious air could be felt radiating from the forest. Despite the events that had transpired by the edge of the Everfree forest not two weeks before, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stood expectantly right at the edge of the dangerous forest. “I don't know Applebloom...we've been coming here every day for the past two weeks and we still haven't seen this weird monster thing you're telling us about. Are you sure it's even in here?”, Scootaloo asked while giving an exasperated sigh.

“Ahm sure it's in here! Mah sister swears she saw it run away into the forest right here!” Applebloom cried, she was very headstrong about this monster hunting business and she wasn't going to give up on it so easily. Esepecially since her sister, the Element of Loyalty, told her that there was a real monster that lives in the forest. “You can leave now if you want to, but ahm not leavin' 'til ah see mah monster!” , she continued.

“I'm with Scootaloo. Let's just go Applebloom...I don't like this it's scary.” Sweetie Belle whispered, not bothering to hide how terrified she was anymore.

“Hey don't say that too loud Sweetie! You know what they say about monsters don't you?”, Scootaloo asked malevolently. Sweetie Belle gulped and shook her head, “They can smell fear and when they smell fear do you know what they'll do?”, Sweetie Belle started shaking and shook her head again, “They'll eat you whole!”, Sweetie Belle squealed and began to gallop back towards Sweet Apple Acres as fast as she could. Applebloom proceeded to charge after her and drag her bag to the edge of the forest, much to Sweetie's chagrin.

“Scootaloo! What are you goin' around spreadin' nonsense like that! Are you tryin' tah give Sweetie a heart attack?”, Applebloom scolded. Scootaloo brushed her off and rolled her eyes sarcastically at her.

“Oh come on! Sweetie's just being a little diva, that was nothing! At least I didn't tell her about how the monster slowly rips open it's prey and toys with it until-”, Scootaloo's melodramatic tale elicited another high pitched squeal from Sweetie Belle.

“Scootaloo!”

“Alright fine, I'll stop!” Scootaloo huffed and sat on her haunches crossing her fore hooves in frustration. “You girls aren't any fun.”, she muttered to herself as she continued to sulk.

“Applebloom can I please leave now! I'm really scared!”, Sweetie Belle managed to get out, her voice shaking.

“No! Nopony's leavin' here now! There ain't nothin' dangerous about this monster! We're all perfectly safe here and he's not gonna come out her an' eat us or som'n! Everything'll be fine!”, as Applebloom scolded her two friends, she noticed that both of them where staring at her, eyes wide with fear. She looked a little closer and she was about to ask them why they we're staring at her so strangely when she noticed they seemed to be looking at something behind her. She whipped around to face a vicious and hungry looking timber wolf.

Applebloom was frozen in place with fear. Her mind screamed at her to run, but her legs didn't want to cooperate. So she stood frozen, staring straight at the timber wolf as it stared back and snarled with drool dripping out of its' mouth. The wolf eyed Applebloom hungrily with it's horrible yellow glowing eyes as it dropped to a crouch and prepared to pounce on it's prey. The wolf launched itself into the air towards Applebloom with its claws extended out towards her. Applebloom could only watch in dismay as time seemed to slow to a crawl and the timber wolf sailed through the air towards her. Suddenly, the creature was knocked out of the air by a large metal pole that curved at one end. The wolf yelped as it was struck hard by the pole and fell to the ground in a heap. Applebloom's gaze scanned down the pole until her gaze met it's owner, what looked like a large monkey clad in a helmet and robes. It was the monster her sister had warned her about

“Bad dog! Sit!”, scolded the monster. The timber wolf had now brought itself back up its' feet, snarling at the creature who dared separate it from it's delicious morsel. The timber wolf pounced at his assailant, only to be beaten off by the metal pole once again. “Fucking Christ! You damn wolves just don't listen!”, the monster yelled in frustration.

The wolf righted itself as it flew towards the ground and landed on its' paws as it prepared for another pounce. This time, when the timber wolf launched itself at the monster, the monster was caught off guard and was only able to bring up one of its' arms in a meagre attempt to protect itself. As the timber wolf bit down hard on the monster's arm, the monster uttered a sharp cry of pain and begin flailing its' arm in an attempt to break the wolf's grip. The monster fell to the ground with the timber wolf on top of him as it desperately tried to keep the wolf's snapping jaws away from its' face. The two became a flailing mass of limbs as they struggled to overpower one another.

The monster began thrashing at the wolf in a frenzy of desperation and after a few frantic blows the wolf had been knocked off balance. The monster took advantage of the wolf's daze and brought its' hind leg up and kicked the wolf off itself with a mighty grunt. As the wolf slammed into the ground the monster slowly brought itself to its' feet and roared at the wolf. The timber wolf was now crouching once again with its' ears pressed back as it slowly backed away. It gave one last enraged growl at the monster and then proceeded to flee back into the Everfree forest.

Applebloom and her two friends were still frozen in place. They were all awe struck by the helmet wearing monkey that had just tussled with one of the deadliest creatures to ever exist and it had easily overpowered it. Needless to say, the three fillies were now possessed with a new level of fear as they began to wonder what horrible fate the monster had in store for them. They continued to stand frozen in time gaping at what they thought would surely bring them to their doom.

* * *

Patrick's heart was pounding like an indian war drum inside of his chest. He had been exhausted by the encounter with one of those strange wooden wolves. The tussle with the wolf wasn't helping his existing injuries either, he could feel a dull throbbing pain in his ribs as he slouched over and clutched his side. Goddam these bruised ribs, as if I don't put up with enough shit, He thought to himself as he grunted in pain. He pulled his arm away from his side to inspect the bite he'd received in the fight. It didn't look too bad, the wound was oozing crimson blood but its' size was fairly small, the bite mostly tore up his sweater. He pulled his sleeve up to reveal his bloodied forearm that had a few nice fang sized bloody pock marks in it.

Well, I have time, might as well bandage it, Patrick thought to himself as he began rummaging through his bag. He pulled out what was left of his roll of gauze and dressed the wound sparingly using some medical tape to hold the gauze together. It's not as good as what Carol could do, but it'll hold for now, as he was repacking his medical supplies, he could see three brightly coloured creatures in the corner of his vision. He looked towards them fearing for the worst, only for his gaze to be met by three small flabbergasted fillies. They each looked like they came up to his thigh and they didn't seem too terribly muscular. Patrick ruled out that they weren't a threat and got on with his business. He had apples to take and he had to get them while the field hands of the orchard were making their trips back to the barn. As he walked towards the nearest set of unattended, full baskets, he heard a trembling voice stutter something behind him.

“You...you can't take those...those are ours!”, Patrick turned around to meet three trembling fillies standing a few feet away from him, watching him. Two of them had their mouths agape, but one of them, the beige one with the red hair with a bow in it, had a certain fire in her eyes as she stared at him with a serious expression. He could safely assume she was the one who had called him out. He stuffed the last of the apples he had picked up from the basket into his bag and began heading towards the tiny trembling trio.

“What are you gonna do call your mommy?”, He chuckled as he stood over the trembling fillies.

“Ah'll...Ah'll call for mah brother! He'll get you real good mister...er...m'aam...or whatever you are!”, the beige filly stated, doing her best to look threatening.

Patrick chuckled, “There's no one around for miles, all your field hands are over by the barn. Even if you ran there and got one by the time you got back here I'd be long gone. Oh, and for the record, it's mister.”

“Well...ah'll...ah'll get somebody!”

“Who...your parents?”, Patrick laughed heartily, “I know the farmhouse is further than the barn, good luck with that little miss.”

“Don't even mention my parents! Ah hate mah parents and ah wish they were dead!”, the filly was now in hysterics.

“Hey don't ever talk about your parents like that!”, Patrick was mockingly scolded, “They deserve a bit of respect for having to put up with you.”, with that remark Patrick put on a wry grin.

“And who are you tah tell me what tah do?”, the filly demanded, her fear disappearing, only to be replaced by her anger spawning from the mention of her parents.

“I'm a ghost...I was never here.”, Patrick cooly stated. He figured the field hands would start back towards the outer fields and he didn't want to be around when they got there, so he began heading back towards his forest sanctuary.

“Hey! I'm gonna tell Rainbow Dash you did this and then she'll beat you up for what you did!”, threatened a high pitched gravelly voice from behind Patrick. As he turned around he could see the orange filly had stepped towards him, but at the sight of him turning to face her, she froze up in fear once again. He walked right up to the petrified filly and crouched down on one knee.

“Oh yeah...that one...Well you can go tell her that if values her good health and her face, she'll stay the hell away from me. You want to send someone after me, it'll be their funeral.”, the filly's eyes grew wide with terror. Patrick noticed that one of the other fillies, a white and pink one, was trembling uncontrollably off to his left. I'm sure it won't hurt to have a little fun with that one, might send them a message. Suddenly, Patrick whipped over towards the white and pink filly with his crowbar drawn, “...Boo!”, he hissed. The filly squealed and galloped as fast as she could in the opposite direction and her two friends followed suit. Y'know...maybe dealing with these freak show ponies won't be so hard after all. Patrick thought to himself as he watched the fillies gallop off.

* * *

“I've looked for days now, there's no records of anything like this ever existing in Equestria!”, Twilight Sparkle let out a frustrated groan. She had been losing sleep for at least a week to searching in vain for information on Ponyville's new “Monkey Monster”.

“Twi, there has to be somethin' around here that explains this...this thing! Look again, there has to be a book on it, you have a book about everything here!”, Applejack pleaded, “We can't just sit here while this monster terrorizes the whole darned town! This thing's dangerous, didn't you hear about how it tried tah eat Sweetie Belle? We've gotta learn how to stop it!”

“There's nothing to learn Applejack! This monster isn't even supposed to be here! We can't figure out how to stop it!”, Twilight suddenly paused as she began tapping her chin with her hoof in deep thought, “Unless...”, the purple unicorns eyes lit up as a large smile krept onto her face, “I've got it!”, she exclaimed.

“Got what?, Applejack asked, cocking her head at her ecstatic friend.

“The monsters scavenge for food here right? We've all heard stories of a big monkey breaking into ponies houses.”, Twilight stated, nearly bouncing with excitement, “Well, we're gonna make him a meal he can't resist. Get as much food as you can Applejack, we're going to bring the monster to the library!”

“Twi have you gone INSANE? Bring the monster here? What's that gonna do other than probably put us all in danger!”, Applejack yelled, confused by her friends plan.

“No, you see, the only way we can learn anything about this monster is if we can catch it. So, we put all the food we can in one place and get some royal guards to watch all the stores. This monster will be forced to come here to get its' food.”, Twilight excitedly explained, “And besides, do you have a better idea?”

Applejack paused for a moment and thought to herself, “No...Ah can't say ah do...”

“Well then that's the plan! Let's get to it!”, Twilight exclaimed, briskly trotting off towards the Ponyville market.

That mare ain't right, Applejack thought to herself as she followed her friend.

* * *

I can't believe I'm doing this

Patrick silently approached the massive tree that was the local town's library. He had seen them piling supplies into it. A whole truckload of food awaited him inside the darkened building. He regretted having to enter a building where he had no escape route if he was spotted. If he was spotted that would be it for him, there'd be nowhere to run. He wished he could have been scavenging in one of the many small buisnesses of the town, but the town's population had caught on to what he had been doing and posted guards at every store entrance. How much longer can I keep doing this, he thought to himself.

Patrick heard a distant whisling, it was the signal him and Dawson had agreed on to signal the way was clear. Patrick looked back towards the ridge Dawson was positioned on, seeing the glint of the binoculars in the moonlight. He whipped his head around to face the edge of the woods, more faint whisling could be heard coming from that direction, it was the girl they had found upong arriving in this strange realm, Mira. Patrick hesitated momentarily, he didn't trust her as much as he wished he could, but she seemed like she knew what she was doing, so he got to work.

Patrick crept up to the rather small purple door and knelt down in front of it, blending into the shadows like a ghost. He checked the door to see if it had a lock and like all the other houses in the town, it didn't. Funny, they must not get many thieves here. Either that or they do something horrible to thieves to deter them. He shook his head, trying not to think about what the latter might be. He took a can of motor oil from his pocket and began applying droplets of the oil to the hinges. Better safe than sorry, He thought to himself as he finished lubricating the hinges.

Patrick began slowly pushing the door in, moving it very deliberately and making sure there were no tripwires or other traps that were waiting for him on the other side. Usually the equines never thought to lay traps, but this time, he saw a series of snares set up for him to get caught in. A trap? These ponies are getting craftier. He could now discern that the library was a set up, he was meant to get caught in one of their snares when he went in. Patrick would have been impressed, if the snares weren't so easy to avoid. He cut the snare closest to the door and simply hugged the left wall of the library and shimmied around the rest. His precious supplies were now only mere feet away. He crouched and glided over to where the supplies were sitting atop a table in one glorious pile. Patrick's mouth began to water at the sight of that much food in one place. It wouldn't hurt to have a bite, I mean it's not like anyone's around, and with that he began silently gorging himself with the mass of food that lay in front of him. It was the greatest feeling he'd felt in five years.

After a good few minutes of stuffing himself, Patrick laid down on the closest armchair with a bloated belly. The chair wasn't so accommodating, as it obviously was made for tiny horses and not a massive six foot tall human. The uncomfortable feeling of sitting half curled up in a ball made him feel a bit of nostalgia. It reminded him of the family road trips he used to go on as a child, and how he always had to sit right in between two very space consuming people for hours on end. Man, I miss those, Patrick thought to himself. He missed a lot of things.

* * *

Twilight Sparkle tossed and turned restlessly in her bed. The monster had to try to get in soon. Any minute now, she would hear the sound of one of Applejack's snares being pulled taught. Only the sound never came. Twilight let out a sigh of ennui and rolled over in her bed once again. Maybe it's smarter than I thought. Twilight began to worry that all her efforts had been in vain. She couldn't imagine how angry the whole town would be if they had to go to the trouble to gather most of their food and place it in the library for nothing. It would just be another disaster caused by the town egghead. Element of magic, I might as well be the element of ineptitude, She thought to herself as she groaned and buried her face in her pillow.

A faint clanging could be heard from the first floor of the library. “Spike! Get away from the food! It's for luring the monster!”, Twilight instinctively yelled.

“I'm up here Twilight. What are you talking about?”, Spike groaned and rubbed his eyes groggily.

Wait...that means... Twilight shot out of her bed and galloped down the staircase towards the first floor. As she made it to the bottom of the staircase she could see her door swinging open violently and a shadow disappearing into the night. The food was all gone, save a few goods left lying on the floor. How did he get past the snares?, Twilight pondered, Never mind that it's getting away! I have to chase after it! She charged after the monster as fast as she could. She managed to get in three hoof steps before she felt something constrict her hind hoof. Oh no, the snare pulled itself taught and left Twilight dangling from the ceiling upside down. She let out a cry of pain as she could feel circulation being cut off from her hoof.

“What happened Twilight? What's wrong?”, Spike frantically asked as he rushed down the stairs. The scene that awaited him on the first floor was a strange one. Twilight was hanging from the ceiling by her hind hoof, the food was gone and the front door to the library had been swung wide open. Spike couldn't help but burst out laughing at the irony of Twilights situation. He lost control of himself as he began rolling on the floor chortling and snorting in attempts to breathe between his fits of laughter.

“Spike...please...just hit the alarm”, Twilights asked, her cheeks now burning bright red with embarrassment and contempt. The baby dragon did as he was told but not before laughing maniacally at the rather helpless purple unicorn for another few minutes. As the alarm began to sound and the noise of the entire town stirring from it's slumber flooded her ears Twilight thought to herself. Whatever you are...there's no way I'm letting you get away this time, Twilight knew that the monster had made many enemies and few friends and they were all coming for him. It was only a matter of time, the hunt was on.

Update

Alright guys, I have to admit, I kinda sorta really rushed into this fic and it was the product of impulse writing. I regret to say that, because this is not exactly turning out as I had hoped and plotwise I don't exactly like the path I have set for myself, I am going to have to do a hard reset of sorts on this story and start *almost* from scratch. I am terribly sorry for any of you who were just starting to get invested.