Chapter 4: Buck and Bar Fights
"…Well, that was interesting alright."

I gasped and woke up, looking around frantically. A blanket was draped over my body and I seemed to still be on the table, but with my bedroll underneath me. Bandages seemed to be wrapped around my middle, and I was completely naked apart from my pip-buck.

A groan escaped my dry lips and I slowly stretched my legs, looking out of the nearby window at the sky, which was slowly brightening. Nopony else was in the room, but I could hear some commotion from the office next door. The raised voices were clearly Midnight and Sunny, but I couldn’t quite figure out what they were yelling.

A door opened and my unicorn friend walked in, followed by the pink pony. They both stared at me, Midnight looking away slightly. Sunny smiled and trotted towards me, her mane still bouncy and bright.

“Morning Fireflight, I hope you slept well.” she said in her weirdly cheerful voice as she started checking over me. I was about to say something but she put her hoof over my lips.

“I must apologise for the tranquilisers I gave you. And no, I actually mean animal tranquilisers, it’s easier to find than anesthetic. Anyway, Midnight informed me you don’t usually let anypony check your health, so I figured that I’d have to knock you out to get a good look.” Sunny gave a happy giggled and set about pulling the bandages from around me. For some reason, Midnight was looking away.

When Sunbeam was done, my unicorn friend walked towards me silently, holding something in her magic. She stared at me, much like the way my mother did when I had done something wrong.

“Fireflight….” The purple mare began “What the hell are these?” She showed me what she was holding in her magic. Several tubs of buck and a few dash inhalers as well as a shot of stampede. “Why have you got so many drugs? Buck in particular?”

I froze, no idea what to do. Like a stable filly in the sights of a rifle, numb and shocked. “I-I…..” Her eyes bore into my soul.

“Would it have something with you being a MOTHER FUCKING IDIOT WHO GOT HERSELF HOOKED ON BUCK???” she screamed, slapping me in the face as she did so. My left cheek throbbed and I looked away, ashamed.

“How long?” Midnight growled “How long..have you been hiding this from me?” she was clearly hurt, angry, sad. And she had a right to be.

I struggled to find my voice. “Th-three months. Ever since Burning Hope.” The name of that town tasted like poison, but it was true. Burning Hope, the town I lost my eye to save. She gasped, holding back tears.

“You never thought to TELL ME??? I could have helped. Got you help. WHY DIDN’T YOU THINK??” tears poured from her hazel eyes and I gulped.

My eyes scanned around the room. Saddlebags were stacked near the window, the one on top being mine. Beside it was my sniper rifle, leaning against the wall. All my clothing was folded next to the bags and my battle saddle was on top, along with Lullaby, just out of reach.

I looked to my unicorn friend, who seemed to be yelling at me about the dangers of drug use. She paused and stared at me, stepping back a bit. This was my chance.

The others had no time to react. I leapt up, grabbing one of the tubs of orange pills as I did so. My wings spread as I charged towards the window, ignoring the yelling that came from Sunny and Midnight. As I neared the window I dropped the buck into my bag and lifted the bags in my mouth, throwing them onto my back. I then grabbed the strap of the sniper rifle in my teeth before leaping out of the window, entering the air.

Midnight screamed at me, but I didn’t listen. I wiped away the tears and flew east, soaring over the ruined skyscrapers. No one could stop me, Midnight would be happier without me to worry about. So why was I crying?

My wings flapped as I flew over the desolate wastes. Nothing could be seen for miles, just road and emptiness. I kept flying, it must have been for hours but it felt like days. The shades of brown and grey could have gone on forever, and I probably wouldn’t have stopped until I reached the end of the world. But the end of the world had already happened, and the wasteland is what was left behind.

I spotted something in the distance. A town, one that I knew very well. Smiling, I sped up slightly as I approached the town. An enormous metal wall surrounded the place, with a large drawbridge like gate leading inside. Guards patrolled the outside, and a large collection of them guarded the gates, probably to deter raiders. I used to just fly over the wall, since the guards were used to me coming and going as I pleased. But I hadn’t visited in quite a while, so it was probably safer to go through the gate, since I didn’t feel like being shot down.

My hooves touched the ground near the gate and I folded my wings before approaching the guards. They smiled before walking towards me, but they seemed familiar, apart from the one who was in charge.

“What do you want here, pegasus?” the guard in charge spat, I frowned.

“I have a house here.” was my reply. One of the guards, who I knew as Night Watch, poked him in the side and whispered in his superiors ear. I listened in.

“Sir, this mare is a respectable resident. She just hasn’t visited recently.” he said. The green earth pony in charge frowned.

“I don’t care what you say. She could be an Enclave spy!” he growled before turning to me. “Show me your flank. NOW! Night, keep your gun on her.”

I sighed and moved my bag out the way to show my cutie mark, intact. The black arrow pointed to the sky, the flames coating the flights. A small scar cut through the center of the arrow.

“SEE! She isn’t a Dashite! She must be Enclave.” he yelled, almost victoriously. The other guards rolled their eyes, and so did I.

“I’m a Stable pony you dumb fuck.” I growled, pointing to my pip buck. I then looked into my bag and pulled out an old piece of scratched metal with indentations on it, including a small image of my cutie mark scratched on. “See, I have a resident’s card.”

He took it and examined it closely, frowning. The green pony then gave it back. The other guards looked at him expectantly, not sure what to do and clearly uncomfortable with pointing their guns at me.

“Fine, you’re free to go through. But watch your back, pegasus.” he spat at me. I glared at him before watching as a guard started spinning a cog in his magic. The huge metal gate was lowered slowly and with a loud clang, it hit the ground. I smiled and walked into the town. A large sign beyond the gate greeted me.

‘Welcome to Luna Junction’

The town was exactly how I remembered it. It was mostly made of tiny houses created out of scrap metal and old bricks, with all the badly repaired pre-war buildings being used as shops or important buildings such as the police station and clinic. This town had been a farming village at a junction before the megaspells, but grew into a town when the Stable underneath opened and rebuilt what they could. Eventually, outsiders were allowed in to help with trade, and the town has only been growing since then.

There were many things I wanted to do in Junction, but the most important one was ‘get hammered’, so that’s what I set out to do. Not wanting to attract too much attention, I stuck to walking instead of flying. Pegasi were hated across the wastes, more specifically, pegasi who still had their cutie marks. My wings, while folded, covered my flank due to their size. So while walking, ponies often assumed I was a burnt flank. Even so, the muttering of passers by was obvious, and I felt the eyes of several ponies descending on me. All of my instincts screamed at me to take to the skies, but I remained calm and walked through the street. A few ponies seemed to recognise me, and waved at me happily. I waved back, and somehow, it seemed to calm the other ponies once they realised I was known here. Then, the walk was much nicer.

I rounded the street and approached possibly my favourite place in the wasteland. Celestia’s Hooves Tavern, by far the best drinking hole in the wastes. Well, that was my opinion anyway. The windows were plastered with pieces of paper advertising jobs, which I couldn’t help but glance at. Ponies wanted to raid Stable, pony wanted dead, missing foal, courier wanted, pegasus wanted dead. I paused at that last one and looked over it before chuckling. Looked like I’d pissed somepony off down the line, because they were offering big caps for my head. The picture was recent too, due to the distinct lack of right eye. I smiled and walked in.

The tavern hadn’t changed much. It still had an intact wooden counter and several tables and chairs. Behind the bar were stacks of bottles and barrels, as well as pint glasses and a large rifle. A sign declared ‘We reserve the right to refuse to serve anyone. I don’t give a shit how big a lightning rod you have shoved up your ass.’. That made me smile happily as I walked to the bar and sat down on one of the plush bar stools. An aged brown earth pony was cleaning glasses behind the counter, his cutie mark a beer bottle. I tapped the wooden bar with a hoof and he turned to me.

“Fire, haven’t seen you in a while. What can I get ya?” he grinned, showing off his yellowed teeth.

“Cider and a buck please Bottles” I replied. Did I forget to mention this place sold drugs as well? He pushed a glass of cider and two orange pills towards me. I took both the orange treats at once before sipping some cider. Reminded me of cider season at the Stable.

“Where’ve you been?” Bottles asked, having returned to polishing his glasses.

“Places.” I mumbled and took a considerably larger gulp of my drink. “Nothing exciting.” I then added.

“Blue Wire told me you lost your eye. Apparently he visited you in the clinic. Went nuts and drank his weight in beer here. You alright?” He tilted his head. I sighed before nodding.

“I’m always alright.” was my reply before I took a few more gulps of my drink. Before long, my glass was woefully empty, but soon got filled with a drink even better than cider. Beer. I drank that as well, so it was refilled. I must have drank three pints of beer when the door crashed open and a group of ponies wandered in.

There were two earth ponies and two unicorns, all wearing the same red collar. They were with the Emerald Clan who, among other things, believed that all pegasi were scum and deserved death or worse, loss of their wings. They all stared at me, the barkeeper, then back at me.

“HEY BOTTLES!” one of them yelled “WHAT’S THIS WINGED BITCH DOING IN HERE?” I glared at the one who said it, a tall blue unicorn with a red mane. He glared at me before spitting.

“She is a respected customer.” Bottles growled. I smiled slightly at him before taking another gulp of my drink. The unicorn wasn’t going to take that as an answer. He walked up to me and punched me in the face, making me fall off the barstool in a pile of fur and feathers.

“ENCLAVE SCUM” he yelled at me and I stood up, opening my wings slightly to shake the dust from them. “See? She still has a cutie mark!”

The Emerald ponies all approached me and I growled, adjusting the saddlebag on my back as I did so. I hoped the rifle on my back was alright. There didn’t seem to be a way out of this situation. Bottles couldn’t do anything, not without putting his bar in danger and at the mercy of the Emerald Clan. I was on my own.

The two unicorns levitated what looked like metal pipes, but I knew better. They had spark packs on them rigged to give an electric shock to anyone who touched the metal. The earth ponies seemed to be putting together some sort of strange gun. Well, this was going to be fun. The entire bar had gone silent apart from the odd murmur, everyone was watching.

The blue unicorn charged first, letting out a strange sort of battle cry as he did so. I flapped my wings and flew up to the ceiling. Even so, his horn scraped my leg as he ran past before swiping the pipe at me. I only just managed to dodge, my concentration hindered both by the alcohol and the jeering of many ponies.

Taking the chance, I dropped down on the edge of the table in front of him, making the table tip over and smacking him in the jaw in the process. The other unicorn, a tacky neon green mare, ran at me from behind and hit me in the leg with the pipe. Electricity shot through my body, making me scream loudly and fall on the floor. The two unicorns laughed at me before approaching. Somehow, they both lifted me in their magic and hurled my battered body out the window.

Passers by gasped as I flew through the window and landed on the street, shattered glass digging into me all over my body. I shakily stood up, struggling to keep balance. The four ponies were there, and the blue unicorn was holding the strange gun in his magic.

“Goodnight pegasus scum” he spat before firing the gun. Something sharp hit my arm and I dropped to the ground. As the black crept into my vision, I saw the ponies looking over me before tying me up. Then, I fell asleep.

“Why do you want to leave?” the pony in front of me screamed. “We have done so much for you, and you just want to run off and leave us? Think of all our secrets you could sell! I cannot let you leave here alive.”

“Just try and stop me.” I spat.

“Will do.” he smiled and levitated a sword in his magic. “But first, let’s have some fun.” His sword pressed against my right cheek. He slowly dragged it up the side of my face, leaving a trail of blood. I bit down hard on my lip, determined not to show pain. He simply laughed and pressed down harder, slicing through where my right eye was in a swift motion. Then he did it again, and again and again until half my face was a bloody mess.

I gasped and woke up, looking around frantically. The room I was in was dark,so I couldn’t see much. I tried to move my legs, but they were being held down by something. Where was I? Why was I tied up? My memories slowly returned to me, my brain fuzzy as an effect of the drugs.

Just as I was trying to make sense of my surroundings, I heard the squeak of a metal door opening and saw light streaming into the room. I probably could have looked around, made better sense of where I was. But my gaze was locked straight ahead.

A pink mare walked in, grinning wildly as she trotted towards me. She was a unicorn, but seemed to have the muscles of an earth pony. Covering most of her body was a white cloak with a red clasp in the shape of a snake eating its own tail. The mare stared at me and smiled.

“Hello Fireflight. Welcome to your death, three months overdue. But don’t worry, we can make it extra fun.”

Her cackling echoed through the room.

Level Up

New perk:A little Dash - While wearing light armour or no armour, you move 20% faster. Though maybe heavier armour is worth losing speed, bullets don’t care how fast you run.

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took a while to write , been a bit busy and then I bumped into a block. A writers block.