Foe Hie Odyssey

As we approached the city we could hear thunder even under a cloudless sky.  Blasts of light occasionally would erupt from the far off city.  Here a small spec of red fire and here a flash of purple lightening.  Occasionally the flashes of light would illuminate silhouettes of buildings.  At one point there was even a high pitched whistling followed by a detonation barely thirty feet away.  We got off the road after that.

“Why can we not just go around the city?” I asked.

“We have to cross the river Mane.” said Black Hawke, “The last time that we went through here the river was full of radigators and the only bridges for a hundred kilometers go through Flankfurt.  The ponies here made sure to blow up every other bridge they could find.”

“Why would they do such a thing?” I asked.

“All of the bridges in Flankfurt were toll bridges.  Any pony that wanted to cross used to have to pay to get across.  Ponies would pay the toll no matter how outrageously high it was or they could try their luck with getting radiation sickness if the radigators didn’t eat them first.” said Silver Wing.

“But we can fly.” I pointed out.

“I can’t carry anything bigger than a foal in my condition.” said Silver Wing, “So Black Hawke would have to make six trips carrying each of you and the river is wide.”

I thought to myself that Haywire couldn’t fly across anyway.  “So do you have a plan to get across?”

“Hopefully most of the radigators inside the city are dead and we can just swim across the river once were in there.” said Silver Wing.  I didn’t like the sound of this hopefully.

As we approached the city we ran into a new problem.  There was a group of five ponies walking towards us in the darkness.  It was apparent that while we could see them because of the besieged city behind them they couldn’t see us.  Black Hawke pulled me aside and we broke from the rest of the group.  I saw another two ponies doing the same, Ember and an amiable Earthpony named Clay.  The five ponies from the direction of the city almost walked right into Silver Wing and the remaining three raider ponies.

One of the newcomers brought out a lantern and I saw that he was actually a zebra.  It looked like all of the newcomers were zebras.  Each of the zebras wore what appeared to be roman style body armor.  One zebra had a lantern attached to an odd bracelet like device.  Two of the zebras had large curved shields on their backs which they brought out using their hoof bracelets and placed before them as they drew short stabbing swords again using their odd hoof devices.  The zebra with the lantern also drew a sword.  Another one of the zebras had a battle saddle with dual shotguns.  The last zebra already had his sword drawn and wore an oddly plumed helmet.  I assumed he was their leader.

“Decanus, what should we do?  Nopony is supposed to be coming from this direction.” said the zebra with the lantern.

“Well speak up, Pegasus.  What are you doing here?” demanded the zebra wearing the plumed helm.  Apparently he was called a Decanus.

“The name is Silver Wing.  It’s a pleasure to meet you.” said Silver Wing and offering a dashing smile.

“I didn’t ask your name, Pegasus.  You are interfering with legion business.  Tell me what you’re doing here or turn around and walk away.  Otherwise we will kill you.” said the zebra.  I did not like the way this zebra was talking to my friend.

Black Hawke nudged me pointing at the Decanus. I nodded.  None of the zebras had seen us yet.  I raised my pistol aiming for the zebra’s feathery helm.

“I don’t like your attitude.” said Silver Wing.  The only response from the zebras was the zebra with the battle saddle pumping his shotguns.

At that moment all hell broke loose upon the five zebras.  Black Hawke fired a grenade directly behind the zebras who hearing it scrambled to escape.  I shot the Decanus as he tried to leap aside from the blast.  Ember cooked the shotgun wielding zebra in his armor and Clay trampled one of the zebras who had leapt beyond the lanterns circle of light.  The grenade exploded killing the remaining two zebra.  Seeing that

the Decanus still lived I drew my machete and cut him down.  The entire engagement was done in ten seconds flat.

“What a rude zebra.” said Silver Wing who had silently stood through the carnage, “You probably should have left somepony alive for questioning.” I guiltily looked down at my bloody machete before wiping it on the Decanus’s fur.

“Nah they’d have screamed and brought the whole damn legion down upon us.” said Ember who was inspecting the dead zebra’s armor.

Silver Wing shrugged, “Take their armor, we could probably walk right past them while wearing it.”

“What about Ulysses?” asked Black Hawke.

“You still have that stealthbuck?” asked Silver Wing.  Black Hawke nodded, pulling it out of her saddlebags, before handing it to me.  “Shadow us from a safe distance.  Try to keep a low profile, see if you can keep unwanted pursuit off our tails, and most importantly don’t die.”

The raiders with the exception of Silver Wing quickly changed into the legion armor.  Ember seemed proud to wear the burnt armor.  Clay picked up the battle saddle and examined the shotguns with a well trained eye before adding it to his arsenal.  Black Hawke dawned the Decanus’s armor.  She even took the dead ponies hoof bracelet and sword.  Lastly she put on the feathered helm.   I briefly thought about how beautifully the helm complimented her feathered wings.  Then I wondered if there was something wrong with these ponies since they just pulled bloody clothing off of other dead ponies and then put it on without even bothering to clean it off first.  Weren’t they bothered about having another pony’s blood all over them?  Then I remembered my own attire and just shook my head at it all.

Seeing my reaction to it all, Black Hawke laughed. “Yeah I guess we do look rather ridiculous in these disguises.”

“I’d say we look rather dashing.” Declared Ember, as he grinning struck a pose with his nose in the air, horn held high, and his hoof upon the crispy face of the burnt legionnaire.  There was a sadistic glint in his eye.

“Dashing and ridiculous.” Silver Wing gently smiled, “Well let’s hope that these dashing and ridiculous disguises work.”

As we approached the city we saw more zebras and I started to hear the far off sounds of gunfire.  We reached the outskirts of the city without incident strutting in as if we owned the place.  It seemed like Silver Wing radiated confidence as he stepped over the bodies of dead ponies and zebras and past legion patrols.   There were only a handful of these patrols and they passed us by without a second glance or only after asking if we were alright.  I guess that they noticed the blood and shrapnel.

Oddly enough the legionnaires didn’t seem to care that we were ponies.  I guessed that they must recruit from both races and after a thought I decided that it was only logical.  Why alienate a significant portion of your population or even a minority if the alternative is more beneficial for every creature?

Now that we were in the outskirts of the city I noticed that this was the area that had been most heavily shelled.  There used to be a wall on this side of the city.  Now the wall and most of the buildings around us had been reduced to piles of rubble.  We passed several groups of legionnaires busily working to clear the road of IEDs before the tanks could roll in.  A few of these groups called to us for help but we ignored them.  I noticed that as we proceeded the sounds of thunder grew louder as did the sound of rifles and machinegun fire.

Within a minute of climbing over rubble and past broken barricades we finally reached the action.  Ponies and zebras in slate gray uniforms hid behind broken walls and barricades coming out to fire upon the invading legion.

A shell landed about a dozen feet away from us and the explosion sent us all running for cover.  The raiders huddled next to several legionnaires.  One of the legion soldiers had been shot in his hind leg.  Ember seeing this went to the injured soldier’s side.  He started demanding things of the soldiers around him and a zebra decanus came up as the other soldiers continued to fire over their barricade.  The two started shouting at one another but I was focused on the defenders.

I noticed that the color and pattern of their gray uniform matched the rubble around them.  I guessed that they were fighting in their preferred habitat.  If that was the case than I also guessed that they probably had some way of handing the legion their tails.  I wondered how they would do it.  It seemed that they were wasting the lives of their soldiers by fighting for every inch of ground.  I could only guess that they were trying to buy time for something.  Maybe they hadn’t gotten all of the civilians out yet?

A hoof tapped me on the shoulder.  I turned but saw nothing.  “Haywire?” I asked as loudly as I dared.

“Yes” she said back, also trying both not to be heard by the others and to be heard over the sounds of gunfire and shelling.  We awkwardly embraced.  “I’ve missed you.”

“I have also missed you.  I would have tried to visit, but Black Hawke was always watching.”

“I saw.  Do you have a thing for her?” asked Haywire.

“No, was I supposed to have a gift for her.” I replied

I heard the distinctive sound of Haywire’s forehoof connecting with her cybernetic eye before she said, “Never mind.  Do you have a way to get through all of this?”

“Not really.  Once we got to the river we were going to swim across it.”

“If you could go through the sewers it might be easier.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I took a look into one of the ponyholes.  The blood flows in the direction of the river.  I think that the sewers empty into it.”

“Sounds like a plan, but what if the Flankfurters are expecting something like that.”

“It would probably be easier to go through the sewers than to fight your way across all of this.  The legion also doesn’t care as much about the sewers.  They’re focusing on capturing the bridges since they need to get their vehicles across.”  I was reminded of the teams working to clear away any IEDs.  If the legion could get a single tank to the front then they could potentially clear away each of the guarded barricades.

I nodded then remembering that Haywire couldn’t see I said, “Then I shall tell the Family to do that.”

“Good.” grunted Haywire.  I couldn’t tell if she was angry, jealous, or sad or perhaps it was a mixture of all three.  I would have asked why she was upset, but we couldn’t stay out there in the open any longer.  If we did either the legionnaires would hear us or a stray shell might kill us.

“Stay safe,” I squeezed her cybernetic form before letting go.

I meandered my way between the legionnaires before reaching the nearest one that I recognized.  I whispered into Ember’s ear Haywire’s idea.  Ember turned his attention back to the decanus, “Hay, why hasn’t anybody tried going through the sewers?”

“The sewers are crawling with the bastards.” Replied the zebra decanus, “Also my orders from the Centurion are to link up with other contubernium in the area and to try and reach the second bridge.”

“I’m going to lead my troops through the sewers and hit the Flankfurters from the flank.” Black Hawke declared chuckling slightly at her pun.

“What about my buck?” asked the decanus.

“I’ve done all I can for him.” said Ember, “He won’t be bleeding to death, but he won’t be able to fight either unless you give him something to kill the pain.” Ember said this last part with a glare.  Apparently that is what the two had been arguing about.

“I told you, I can’t allow that.  I’ve orders from higher up for strict rationing of medicine.  I can’t spare any painkillers unless it’s an emergency.”

“I think this,” Ember gestured towards the injured zebra buck, “counts as an emergency!”

“Ember, it’s time for us to go.” said Haywire sternly.  Ember grudgingly obeyed, but cast one last glare back at the decanus who was now issuing orders for the injured pony to be taken back behind the lines.

We backed away through the ruins doing our best to avoid becoming a target for the defenders.  After a few minutes we found our way to a ponyhole.  One by one we clambered down and then tore off our disguises.  I was a little surprised to see that the raiders stashed the disguises in their saddlebags as opposed to getting rid of them.  I hoped that we would never run into the legion again.  If we met any of the legionnaires down here we would now have to kill them.

Ember lit up his horn like a flashlight and looking around the sewers I saw they were much cleaner than the world above, they had an arched ceiling, and the walls were made of old brown bricks.  It seemed that our first obstacle in getting through these sewers was an ancient metal gate, rusted shut, which we burned through using our magical energy pistols.  With a loud clang it fell to the ground.

“It looks like the party will be coming to us then.” observed Silver Wing.

We followed the streams of blood through the sewers.  We didn’t make it more than a dozen feet before we ran into a group of eight legionnaires.  They’d probably heard the gate falling.

Black Hawke fired a grenade into their midst as her minigun started spinning.  The first two fell, but it seemed that they had absorbed most of the shrapnel leaving the rest relatively unharmed.  The remaining legionnaires raised their shields which our blasts of energy bounced off of.

“Run!” cried Silver Wing and we ran back to the safety of the entrance.  Looking back I saw the legionnaires slowly approaching and their shield wall opened.  A flurry of bullets flew past us and buried themselves in the wall.  One of the raiders behind me cried out in pain and looking forward I noticed that the holes in the wall glowed with an inner flame.  I did not want to be shot by that rifle.

As soon as he was behind cover Silver Wing brought out an apple spotted with green crystals.  I recognized it as the same kind of magical energy grenade that Omega had had and that I’d used against the abomination.  Ember was bent over an injured Clay.

“Black Hawke lay down suppressing fire.  Spirit, make a hole for me.” Silver Wing calmly ordered.

Black Hawke fired a grenade at the ceiling and it bounced further into the tunnel, hopefully among the ranks of the enemy.  After the detonation she leapt out of hiding, her minigun roaring.  The silver unicorn mare named Spirit also leapt forward her horn glowing.  I peeked around the corner and saw that she was in a game of tug of war over one of the legionnaire’s shields.  As soon as she’d pulled the shield about half a foot away from the zebra’s body Silver Wing who was peeking around the corner pulled the pin, quickly counted to three, and then threw his grenade.  We ducked back behind cover just as a blast of green fire and two partially incinerated shields flew past us.

I poked my invisible head around the corner again, “All clear.”

We crept out of hiding and quickly searched the bodies.  It appeared that several of the legion shields had survived the blast.  The legionnaires and their armor on the other hand had been almost completely destroyed by the explosion and parts of the walls and ceiling had even melted.  I picked up a piece of the legionnaire armor and was a little surprised to find that it was made of Kevlar.  I test fired one of the strange zebra rifles and I was surprised to find that, despite being burnt black, it was still fully functional. I took it and was again surprised when I saw that it used normal, not glowing, bullets.

We moved forward as swiftly as we dared and watched for movement around every corner.  After about two minutes of this we saw shadows coming down the passage and heard ponies talking.

“Wait, I hear something.” called one of the ponies ahead. “Are you friend or foe?”

“I am a Flankfurter, so you tell me if I’m friend or foe.” said Silver Wing.

“What was Sleazy Bear’s Quills and Mattresses famous for?” demanded the pony ahead.  I assumed that this was some kind of security question and that we couldn’t answer it.  If we had to fight the Flankfurters on top of fighting the legion then I doubted that any of us would make it through this warzone.  I was reminded of the old adage out of the frying pan and into the fire.

“Way I remember it; it was famous for two things.  Not selling quills and not being family friendly.” replied Silver Wing.

One of the three Earth Ponies in our party, a mare named Steel Flower chuckled and with a wry smile said, “I don’t think it was meant to be family friendly and I’d say it was famous for quite a few other things.”

Silver Wing gave the young mare a disapproving glance before continuing, “They should have put a sign up or something.  I walked into that accursed bugbears establishment with foals.  Foals!”

A pony in slate gray military fatigues came around the corner.  He was a young zebra buck and wore a battle saddle. “Damn.  You actually brought foals to a whorse house.”

“Wasn’t I eight when that happened?” asked Black Hawke.  The military zebra just shook his head.

“Had to explain the birds and the bees to five little fillies and colts.  I hope that bugbear pimp is dead.” muttered Silver Wing looking down at his hooves.  He looked up suddenly, “We need to get out of here.  The legion could attack us at any second.”

The zebra nodded, “Follow me.  We’ll escort you out.  We’re evacuating the last of the civilians now.”

“You didn’t evacuate them before the legion attack?” asked Black Hawke shocked.

“The legion attacked us about a week ago.” said the zebra, “They started shelling us at night and out of nowhere.  The first attack trapped many ponies on this side of the river.  We freed the last of the ponies that were behind rubble a few days ago, but there were still a lot of ponies who were hiding.  It has taken us the past six days to find everypony who was still in their basements or underneath desks.”

The zebra introduced us to his squad mates and they escorted us to a wharf to wait among a small crowd of civies.  Apparently the defenders were ferrying ponies across the river.  This I decided was a good thing since I did not want to swim in radioactive water especially if it could mean being radigator food.

The ferry left the wharf with about a dozen civies on it as well as two of the soldiers.  There were about five soldiers left on our side and half a dozen civies not counting our group of raiders.  I noticed that all of the civies on the raft wore black hooded cloaks.  I could tell that four of them were mares, but not much more than that.  The raft came back and our group boarded.  I did my best not to bump into any of the hooded ponies, but it was a tight fit.

“Hay there’s still a space open,” said one of the military ponies.

“Leave it.” said the zebra stallion who had led us there. I saw that he stood near me on the raft, “The raft is already overcrowded as it is.  Anymore weight and we’ll sink it.”

“Are you calling me fat?” asked the pony, but he was smiling. “Goddess speed.” he said as he untied our raft from the wharf.

The pony had a smile on his face even after a plasma blast struck him from behind and ended his life.  The zebra beside me cried out.  On the wharf were a group of three gryphons.  I could just make out a symbol on their body armor, an eagle talon bisected by an ugly scar.  The raiders around me opened fire upon the gryphons.  One fell dead but the others took cover further in the sewers.

The other soldier, a young unicorn stallion nodded to the zebra soldier who I realized was shaking.  The zebra composed himself and raised a walky-talky to his ear, “This is lieutenant True Iridescence.  The civies are all clear.  Repeat the civies are all clear.”

After a few moments of static a voice said, “Roger that, all units fall back to the bridges.  We’ll hold them there.”

We reached the other side of the river and tied our ferry to a wharf there.  True iridescence then led us up a ladder and into the city proper.  This side of the river had also been shelled, but many of the buildings were still standing.  Many of the buildings were so untouched by the artillery bombardment that I could even see where the fire storm following the megaspell detonation left its mark.  We were led to one such building, an abandoned hotel.  Once we were inside a dimly lit room that appeared to be a combination bar and lobby he said, “You’ll have to wait here until morning.  Nopony is allowed to leave the city at night.”

“Why?” asked Haywire.  I looked around and realized that she was one of the ponies wearing a black robe.

“The legion has tried sending ponies around behind us.  They had those damned gryphons flying small groups of soldiers over.  We’ve lasted this long only by shooting everypony we seeing moving about at night.”

Haywire’s nod was almost imperceptible underneath her hood.

The ponies began to wander about the hotel and met with other groups who had arrived before us.  Silver Wing was saying something to the assembled raiders as Haywire listened in while pretending to be searching the bar.  I would have also been listening but just then I heard True Iridescence whisper something from right beside me.  “I don’t care who you are or why you want to remain hidden, but you need to prove to me that you aren’t working with my enemy.”

“How did you know that I was here?” I asked startled.

“The floor of the sewers was covered in a stream of blood.  There were two spots where the blood flowed as if it were flowing around hooves. I also saw how that group of ponies left a sizable space in between them on the raft.  I knew that you were there.  Now you will either prove that you aren’t with our enemy, or I’ll kill you.”

“Or I might kill you.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Or you might kill me,” the zebra conceded surprising me with his simple and honest tone, “I don’t know which of us would win in a fight.  I only know that you’re alive now instead of one of my dearest friends.”  I recalled the pony who had wanted a place on the raft, the pony who had wanted my place.

I thought for a moment about how I might prove myself to this zebra.  I remembered the armor plate that I had gotten from my scuffle with Omega.  “You saw those gryphons that killed your friend.”

“Yes they were talon gryphons.”

“They were Scar’s Talons.” I said recalling the symbol that I had seen on the gryphon armor in Canterlot.  I brought out the armor plate. “They are also my enemies.” I said as I set the armor plate on the nearby bar counter.  As it left my hand it became visible.

“You know the one that the legion contracted to do this job?” asked the zebra.

“Not personally.  My party is on a mission to kill him.” I said.  I noticed that the black robed pony at the bar had an ear cocked in our direction.

“Come with me.” he whispered, “There is someone you need to meet.”

End of Chapter 6 (Level Up)

Ulysses

Level  5 (Double Agent)

Insanity 42%

Ember

Level 8 Adventurer

Special

Strength 4

Perception 6

Endurance 5

Charisma 5

Inteligence 8

Agility 6

Luck 6

Traits

Sadist- You enjoy the suffering of others.  When you were a foal you would burn ants with a magnifying glass.  Your first real victim was your neighbor’s dog who you tortured to death. +5 to melee weapons +5 to attacks against animals +5 to killing anything in a painful or personal way (ie with fire, knives, strangulation, beating to death with your own bear hooves, etc).  Causing another pony harm will give you a temporary bonus to your next action proportional to the harm done.  If you go a week without hurting another creature you will receive a temporary -1 to luck.

Philanthropist-You have a deep-rooted love for your fellow pony.  +5 medicine +1 to any action that is done out of love for your fellow pony.  -1 to any action meant to hurt your fellow pony.

Perks

Comprehension -You gain one additional skill point for reading books and double the skill points for reading magazines.

Living Anatomy -Shows health and Damage Threshold of any target. +5% bonus to damage against humans and non-feral ghouls

Pyromaniac-+50% damage with fire-based weapons

Swift Learner-+10% XP whenever XP is earned

64+11 /100 magic 65+10/100 medicine