Chapter 5:Junction Blues
Don’t use your fancy mathematics to muddy the issue!

The mare cackled for what seemed to be an eternity. A few of the Emerald ponies in the doorway rolled their eyes and sniggered slightly. What was this pony high on? Finally she stopped and giggled slightly.

“Aaaaanyway.” she said in a singsong voice “I promised these lovely ponies here that they could do whatever they wanted to you, as long as your mark is intact.” the horrid pink pony pointed to my cutie mark. “Soooo, enjoy.” And with that, she bounced out the room. Was she a member of the Pinkie Pie fan club or something?

The blue unicorn and the tacky green unicorn entered the room, grinning wildly. Well, this was going to be fun. I tugged at the rope binding my legs to the upturned table I was on, but my efforts were in vain.

“No escape for you, Pegasus Scum” the blue one spat while the mare gagged me with a filthy cloth, violently stuffing the fabric into my mouth. I tried to bite her, but that didn’t exactly work out and she punched me in the jaw.

“Fwwth ooou” I yelled, though I was attempting to say ‘Fuck you’. The blue one merely chuckled. I lost sight of the green mare, but the clattering of metal told me she was perhaps looking for something.

“Oh, pegasus, don’t try to resist. We will turn you into a screaming wreck, eventually. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. Though, don’t worry about your wings. We won’t touch those ‘til you’re dead. They can be cut off and sent to your unicorn friend.” I growled at him further and once again tried to yank my hooves free.

Realising my pip-buck was still with me, I glanced at my EFS compass. Seven red dots, well I was screwed. A few yellow dots going back and forth, leading me to believe I must be in the Emeralds base. Was there any chance of escape? Or was I just going to die here?

My muffled screaming filled the room, along with the occasional fizz of electricity. Warm blood trickled down my sides and front, and the rag in my mouth was turning red too.

“I think it’s in pain” the blue unicorn, who I now know was called ‘Onyx Armour’, giggled before shocking me with electricity again. The tacky green one, ‘Moonstone’, stared at me and sniggered.

“Onyx, it looks like it’s gonna pass out.” she remarked, and I replied with a growl. Though she was probably right, I didn’t want to know how much blood I had lost from the deep slices in my sides, and I felt weaker after every shock. The pain in my chest had dulled slightly, but it was still agonizing, I would have given anything for some painkillers.

“Oh, well we can’t let this thing pass out, we haven’t killed it yet.” Onyx frowned and poked one of the deep cuts in my side, sending spikes of pain over half my body and causing me to emit a shriek of pain.

“Maybe another shock, then we kill it?” greenie suggested, grinning like a raider who just found a corpse. Her friend nodded in agreement and pulled a lever. The multiple wires stuck to my body fizzed as electricity blasted me again. My whole body screamed and convulsed in agony, and I think I screamed out loud as well. It felt like an eternity before the lever was yanked down again and it stopped, allowing me to catch my breath.

“Yes, I think it’s in agony” the blue git said in mock sadness “We best put it out of it’s misery.”

My legs tried to free themselves but it was no use. Part of me wanted to give in, to welcome the black creeping into my vision and the certain death that would follow. But another part of me knew I should keep fighting, and that was the one I agreed with.

A ‘friendly’ appeared on my EFS, and moments later, Midnight’s pip-buck tag. Of course, she must have tracked me all the way here. Which did raise the question of how long had I been here.

A few shots rang out, followed by yelling and screaming. Unfortunately for me, it didn't seem like the two idiots in front of me had noticed.

Cold metal obscured part of my vision as a shotgun was pressed between my eyes. The blue raider grinned as he levitated the gun in his yellow magic, which matched his piss coloured mane.

“Time to put you down, you disgusting creature.”

I closed my eye and sighed, my ears folding back slightly. So, this was it, the end. I wasn’t exactly expecting my death to be like this, I was expecting to kick it in some sort of brutal fight, or possibly from a chem overdose. I didn’t want to go like this.

A shot rang out and I clenched my eyes. But then I realised I wasn’t dead. I opened my eye and blinked. Onyx was still there, but with a brand new hole in his skull. The gun clattered to the ground, but the vile pony stayed there. I could only guess his armor was keeping him upright.

Screaming filled the room, and the sound of bones crunching cracked through the air. A purple hoof pushed the body of Onyx over, the sight being replaced by two hazel eyes.

“FIRE! It’s me, can you hear me? FIRE?!” My unicorn companion screamed. I nodded slowly, though somehow my brain was having trouble processing what she was saying. Her words turned to mumbles, but I suspected that they weren’t directed at me. With a few clicks of metal, my body was freed. My legs prepared to support my weight but failed and with that, I fell to the floor.

Midnight stared over me, and the pale pink face I had recognised as Sunny appeared too. Their words drifted away as I gave in to my body’s demands, and fell into the dark.

“Yes, she’ll definitely be fine. Using both your own supplies and what we found here, I had enough to fix her up.” an unbearably cheerful voice attacked my ears as my eye opened and the strange blanket of fuzziness was slowly pulled from my vision.

“Thank you Sunbeam” came another voice with a vague and poorly concealed country accent, a voice I knew as Midnights.

My hooves shifted a little as I finally regained feeling in them, and I managed to shift my body to sit up. I dragged a hoof through my normally tangled mane, only to find it was smooth and straight. A quick inspection of my tail showed it had been given similar treatment. Then my attention was turned to my wings. Luckily, there was no major damage, but they would probably need taking care of later.

I looked about next, and the familiarity of the place struck me. The building was made of old caravans and various pieces of metal and plastic, but somehow made a lovely atmosphere of home. On the main table, an old radio blared out some old country music, and my two companions sat on the old sofa nearby.

The jolly song on the radio drew to a close before being replaced by the cheery voice of a mare that was almost certainly high on dash.

“And that was yet another pre-war classic from Ol’ Appleoosa. Now for a bit of local news before we get back to the music, and after that a little talk on the dear gangs of Junction. The gang wars have been heating up down in the Red sector, so just be careful if you’re crazy enough to go. In other news, it seems our local pegasus has returned to the junction, and was last seen in a bar fight with some of the Emeralds. If you happen to see her, say hi. Don’t need judgemental ponies here.

And finally, it seems that a new gang has put in a bid for power. They call themselves ‘the Guild’ and seem to have a huge force, which means that they probably ain’t from around here. My recommendation? Stay away from these lot, they mean trouble.

Now, for your enjoyment, I fished out some classic Sweetie Bell for you all. Enjoy the music.”

The colour drained from my face as I stared at that radio, cold beads of sweat running down my face.

“Fire, what’s wrong?” Sunbeam asked innocently. Midnight looked at me nervously before staring out the window.

“Fireflight? FIRE?!”

Level Up

New perk:Tough Hide (level one)-The tough and unforgiving world has made you more resistant to it’s damage. You gain +3 Damage Threshold for each level of this perk you take. Doesn’t make you bulletproof though…..just so you know...

Author's Note

Hey, sorry about the huge delay......and the short chapter......and the quality of writing. This chapter was quite hard to write, and I haven't been having the greatest of times at the moment. Anyway, sorry for all of that and I hope to update again soon.