Fallout: Equestria - Straitjacketby Shadow RedgraveChaptersChapter 1: Smile "Open Wide~"Chapter 2: Reveal "Open your eyes, little colt!"Chapter 3: The Rescue "Was all this, really necessary?"Chapter 1: Smile "Open Wide~"Chapter one: Smile "Open Wide~" Drip … Drip … Drip. “Ugh… What the hell is that noise?” I suddenly asked as the darkness slowly faded from my vision, revealing a source of light through the blurry, wet, foggy liquid that coated my eyes like a morning mist. Only that single ray of light wasn’t coming from morning sunlight, it was coming from something just outside my…room??? “Wait what?” Once again asking myself as I sat up onto what felt like a mattress frame, only without the mattress. Rubbing my eyes with the sides of my hoof, I finally was able to see slightly clearer, yet was still struggling with the constant abyss that circled me. Letting my eyes adjust for a moment, I began noticing minor details of where the fuck I was, like the fact the room I was currently in was extremely small and padded with what looked like miniature pillows all along the wall and ceiling… or at least what was left of the ceiling. The ceiling looked warn and brown from what looked like years of leaking, and no one to fix it. Rolling over off the mattress frame, I began to feel the aching pain that so generously cursed me all along my neck, shoulder, and lower back. Sleeping on metal and springs was obviously not the best way to get your full eight hours, but better yet… how did I even get here? Where was I? What day, month, or even fucking YEAR was it!? I obviously wasn’t the kind of pony who took extreme confusion likely; wait…now that I think about it… who the fuck… WAS I?!? “Sweet Celestia! What the fuck is going on?!” I was NOT handling whatever was going on very good. The very thought of ANYTHING like this was nearly, to borderline, impossible. Quickly looking down, I examined myself. Okay, what exactly did I know? Um, I was wearing something, a long, white sweater with buckles running along the sleeves, was it... a Straitjacket? Why the hell was I in it? Struggling to remove it, I found myself trapped in it, no zipper, or at least none that I could see, and it apparently wasn’t a slide on, slide off suit. Struggling with annoyance, I decided to just leave it until I could discover another means of escaping its grasp. What else besides this damned suit did I know about myself? Okay, um I have this weird, thick watch on my wrist marked… “Hmm… Pip Buck 2000.” I stood there, reading the title for a good two minutes. “What the fuck is a Pip Buck 2000!? What the hell is going on!?” I was so confused, if not downright stupid, or at least I felt stupid. Trying to think of anything to help me soon lead to a minor headache. Well… I was most likely forcing myself to try and place things that didn’t make sense. Who was I? Where was I? WHEN was I? And what the hell was all this? I sat down rubbing my hooves on each side of my head for a bit, trying to go over every stressful THING that has happened to me in the past 4 minutes. “OKAY, I was a grey… or white...pink… I DON’T CARE, stallion! For all I know I was fucking purple and couldn’t see it. I woke up here in this… pillow room?... only to find out I don’t know anything about ANY of this. Now… I could go ahead, and sit here playing "Guess Who?" or I can get a little bit more out of leaving this place. There we go, thinking like a champ now, alright let’s get the hell out of here.” I said to myself just before standing up on all four and slowly making my way to the door. To be honest, I was slightly surprised to find it unlocked, but then again… why would it be locked…? Slowly opening it, I began sticking my head out. If anything was dangerous out here, at least it would be easier to yank my head in and shut the door, unless whatever was out here quickly sliced my head clean… “wooooow” what pleasant thoughts to be thinking in the position I’m in; “Great… Dumb and negative, the perfect couple.” Proceeding to stick the rest of my body out, I then began examining my surroundings. Geez… Talk about ominous as hell... When stepping out, I found myself in what looked like a hallway filed with doors lined up along each wall each-side had about 7 doors along except none were open, except for mine. “Um… Hello?” I called out, only to have it echo back at me. Above me was a single ceiling lamp... swinging side to side? There was no wind blowing in, and no pony was here… or at least I think so, so what the hell made this thing move like that? Boom… Boom… Boom. Each step I took along the broken tiled floor echoed throughout the entire hall, and probably the whole damn building, but it couldn’t be avoided. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for whatever put me here to come back. “Wait…how, did I know someone or something put me here…” “Grrr!” Why couldn’t I remember anything?! Why was I making all these assumptions that… well; could I really blame myself, it WAS all I could do at the moment, just guess and well, guess some more! I better figure things out fast, I was on the verge of going crazy. I know I’m supposed to know at least something, but I−. I was suddenly interrupted by the rapid click, click, click, that seemed to be coming from my “Pip Buck.” Looking down at it, I then lifted a fore hoof to examine it. I was then greeted with a small, lightly green screen that revealed some kind of meter bar and a miniature arrow, slowly growing; to my view, I also notice that right above were the words “Radiation Meter.” Uh Oh, I may not have known my name, but I sure as hell knew what radiation was for some reason. Why would I be getting radiated? Did someone spill a barrel of toxic waste in this dump? They should really call some pony… But then again who, or what, was going to call them? it’s been over 6 minutes and not a single word, or even sign of life was seen throughout this… building. Looking down, I then noticed it slowly clicking faster and faster as I approached the last door to the right of the hall. Nothing waited for me at the end of the hall except for a set of stairs going down and to my right, was what I would guess, the source of the radiation. What could be causing it? Was I willing to open the door; take a peak, and let curiosity get the best of me? All for what, possibly an un-curable sickness? “NOPE!” Now quickly passing by the door and down the stairs, I began noticing the sounds of my Pip Buck’s clicking slowly decreasing to a sudden stop. Huh, this was a strange little device around my wrist, how did it even get on my wrist? Hell, what makes me think this thing wasn’t already on me, and I just can’t remem−. Aaaah! There I go again, over thinking stuff I know nothing about, damn I have a vivid imagination. While walking down the 3 floors of steps, and giving my Pip Buck a closer examination, I was able to find some curious, yet possibly useful things. Like an inventory section, something about skills, something about limbs, a mini radar that was able to identify hostile and non-hostile things, and… Heeeey, a Pip Buck light attachment? Don’t mind if I do! Flipping it on I was now able to get a… well... a fair view I suppose. The entire rest of the building still seemed dark but the light covered my surroundings like a personal bubble. and... wow this whole building looked like it was coming apart. How long has this been here, and why the hell would I be in it? At the top floor to be exact even. Wasn’t it wonderful? Having all these stupid questions, only to be answered by ME and my imagination, to try and fit pictures of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING there to connect the dots? This whole thing was just a damn time bomb, ready to break me. I literally felt like an arrow was going to pop out of my head and point at me with the exact words “I’m with stupid!” This entire hall was filled with nothing but rooms, rooms, rooms, ROOMS! Yet to my ideal thought, exactly WHAT else was I hoping to find? Roaming through the floor below my own room I found that every door I passed was locked, yet somehow I had ended up the lucky one to find my door unlocked? Yeah right. Coming to a stop I then noticed a single door at the long line of doors, which lined up along the wall, like the first floor; was open… Skittering my way over, I then paused to the hear sound of something breathing heavily right inside it. Was this really the best idea ever…? Sadly, it was the only idea I had. Pressing forward, I then placed a single hoof on the door and opened it, ever so slightly so that I could peak in. CREEEEEEEEEEAAK~ So much for stealth... The large rusted door looked to be about 200 years old, the fuck was I thinking? Assuming that the damn thing would just open peacefully? Pulling it back more I then flinched to another loud clang of the steel door coming to a stop. Years of rust had sealed its hinges up to a point, forcing it never to be opened to its full reach. My heart raced, pumping faster than I could manage skipping possibly not one, not two, but three beats, almost seeming as if my heart was going to explode in my very chest. I think I was having a panic attack from all this sneaking in the dark, making noise that echoed through dark ruined halls. Worst of all, the breathing from inside the room had come to a stop. Whatever was in there was now aware of ME, as much as I was aware of IT! Stepping forward as quickly as I could I stared into the room, praying that it was only my imagination. I… Was… Wrong… Inside was another dark room, with another rusted mattress frame. The interior of the room was also the padded, except stained with a dark, blackened crimson. What the fuck was going on in here?! Suddenly, in the corner of the room sat a dark red figure, camouflaged and almost blended with the dark crimson that soaked the padded walls. The figure itself wasn’t very large nor different from anything but a pony, except I don’t think ponies twitched and trembled the way it did....did they? Watching it frightened me, and what frightened me the most, was that I KNEW it sensed my presence. “U-uh h-hello?” There was a moment of complete silence, before this pony began to slowly turn around. It seemed like almost an eternity for that head to crack and spin, but when it did, it was the most terrifying thing I have ever fucking seen. There sat a pony with its mouth pealed exposing a massive smile of just teeth. It's hooves seemed to have been chewed to nothing but bones and into points, and it's eyes… oh Celestia, those fucking eyes! Bloodshot and held wide open by some kind of speculum eye tools. “You’re not supposed to be heeeeere~” A sudden psychotic voice spoke out. It sounded like it was mixed with that of a happy child and a growling dog. “Oh geez! Perhaps um, you’re right. Just let me close this for you~” I said in a very frightened tone, suddenly panicking as the door seemed to have jammed from all the rust. God damn it! Why now of all times!? I asked myself, attempting to push it harder and harder. “You’re. Not. Supposed. To be heeeeeere!!” A blood thirsty yell called out that would send a shiver down any spine. Whatever this thing was, it was sure as hell no pony, and was a fucking psycho! It only took a second before it quickly began moving out towards me, stabbing its pointed hooves forward, preparing to use them as a weapon. “Buck the door!” I said just before taking off into a sprint down the hall, looking over my shoulder, to see that the… THING had picked up speed and was on the chase. I must have been the most stupid pony in the world to keep watching, because just before turning around to see ahead, a set of stairs kindly greeted me. Oh wait, that was the fourth step that was about to greet my face as I fell down the stairs to be exact. Thump, Thump, Crash! There I laid, broken and dazed from what had happened. No, go away little birds! There was no time for playing, there was a damn… MONSTER chasing me. Shaking my head, I found myself laying in a pile of old surplus gear that had been piled up. Buckets, duffle bags, lamps, and a single tactical shovel and right above the stairs, was the monster coming around the corner into view. “Come heeeere~ let me peel a smile on your face!” It menacingly offered. No way are you coming anywhere near my face! Searching around, I thought of the only thing that could be used as self-defense, the tactical shovel. Chomping down on the long handle, I quickly noticed that while every part of the shovel was bladed for digging, one side of it had saw teeth, possibly used for sawing… I guess... survival digging saw? I DON’T KNOW! All I knew was that this thing was the only thing that looked remotely capable of protecting me. I turned around, and was kindly greeted with the same blood shot eyes I had saw before… only uncomfortably close. “Everypony needs to just smile, heh… heh… AND NOT BE HEEEEERE!!!” It yelled straight in my face, just before lifting its hoof and positioned it in a way that seemed to be targeted towards my head. Oh shit! I thought last minute just before swinging my head to the side, slicing the shovel straight across the monsters head leaving a massive gap running along its face and skull. It didn’t take a lot of effort either that or this shovel was super sharp for some reason, but… the monster was dead, having fallen to the side in a slump bloody mess, that made me instantly drop the shovel and crawl backwards in fear… “Oh god, I just… killed a pony… or a thing… OR SOMEONE! What have I done!?” I don’t know how long I sat there, a minute, five minutes, perhaps ten. The only thought going through my head, and at a mile a minute too, was "I had just killed another living thing, whether it was a monster or pony, I killed it…" I had never felt so sick in my entire life, or at least in the past fifteen minutes that had passed since my escape. What the hell was going on? Locked in an abandoned building, with monsters… Everything was quiet, so quiet that it annoyed the hell out of me. I mean, what the hell was I supposed to do? I wake up all alone, with no memory of anything, my name, who I am, what I look like, it was all a blank… The only thing I have to help was this Pip buck something, and this gosh forsaken straitjacket, it was rather itchy to… What was going to happen to me? Was I really going to stay and sit here till the end of time? A part of me knew, I don’t know how, but it knew, that no one was coming to help, or save me, and I sure wasn’t going to stick around to find out. I stood up and dusted the patches of dust off of my straitjacket, only to notice blood stains along it as well. “Geez… what a mess, I’m going to assume a shower wasn’t too much to ask for?” Wishful thinking I guess, but if I did run into anypony, I don’t think it would be suiting to chat along with them covered in blood. I needed to hide this, somehow… Scavenging around the pile of old forgotten things. I found a few things of use. A screwdriver, the tactical shovel, and a large charred overcoat that was perfect for having over the straitjacket. At least it would keep things hidden, all with the perks of increased heating temperature. Setting the screwdriver in one of the coat pockets, I then took hold of the shovel, chomping down on the handle and lifting it. What an interesting yet useful tool, not only for killing… but, made for outdoor survival I assumed. Saw, shovel, and extended handle if I ever needed it longer, but out from the corner of my eye I saw something, scratching, or an engraving to be exact. To my dear brother Rumbles, may you always dig your way out of any situation. Charming, this pony’s brother obviously had a sense of humor, but obviously it wasn’t working for me… Being in this area all alone, lost and confused, was everything else but funny… what the hell could have happened that made me forget everything? I didn’t forget Celestia, but I forgot everything else, wait… Who exactly was Celestia? I know the name, it comes off as familiar to life as anything else, but I don’t know anything about her either. “grrrr… god damn it! This is getting ridiculous!” I stated just before making my way down the hall. Hell, I was even talking to myself, perhaps I was just dreaming this, and perhaps just crazy, crazy ponies wear straitjackets, right? Oh great, now I’m having a two way conversation with myself asking myself dumb questions, I’m fucking nuts… I know it. Zap, zip, zip, zip, zap, zip! "What the hell was that?" I told myself just before staring down the end of the hall. There seemed to be some flashing blue lights off in the distance, sounds coming from them...sounds of distortion and static to be exact. I also noticed two sets of open doors as well. I will admit, there was a moment of hesitation, but what other choice did I have? It was either forward, or back the way I came. Biting hard on the shovel handle, I began to slowly make my way down the hall, the echoing sound of hoofsteps still cursing me with every step, but at least every step I made was more cautious and stealthy… I think. When I finally reached the two set of open doors, I quickly placed my back against the wall, right next to the opening, suddenly pausing and even holding my breath as I noticed that there was the sound of a soft tone being played. Some kind of lullaby or music box having been left open. Yet in this time and place, it was super ominous, if not downright terrifying. Thump, thump, thump. My heat was racing, beating faster and faster with every passing second I waited by that door. The tone itself burning its way into my head, permanently burying itself deep in my mind. I will admit, the tone was catchy… but not something I wanted to remember, especially from a place like this, and the worst part about it was that every time I closed my eyes, and heard that song, I could see his face. Bright, bloodshot eyes, with a grim blood smile that was enough to keep any pony from sleeping for months. That monster would have killed me, but what did he mean by saying I wasn’t supposed to be there, and to smile? Hmmm, perhaps he was just crazy from being in there so long, but back to the matter at hoof. Okay, we’re going to do this, and we’re going to be okay. I Promise. “One… two … three…” Footnote: level up! New Perk: Slayer - The speed of all your melee and unarmed attacks is increased by 30%. Author's Note Thank you Kkat for your inspiration, creating a world that i both love and want to add to. Minor editing done by Mokais! Thank you! Heh work in progress~ Chapter 2: Reveal "Open your eyes, little colt!"Chapter Two: Reveal “Open your eyes, little colt!~” There I sat, staring up at a large terminal screen with sorted files resting all over the place. Of course it would be a giant terminal, and that song, well that song was coming from a music box that rested on a desk, right next to a… dead, blackened skeleton, wearing a big white, lab coat. “Oh… It was just a computer.” I told myself. “Never thought I’d see one in a place like this, especially one that was working.” Passing by the desk on my way to the massive terminal, I quickly shut the music box that was resting on the skeleton's desk to keep the tension of creepiness at bay. Once again, cute song, but not for a place like this. Setting the shovel down against the terminal, I than got a good look at the screen and saw that everything was labeled under test subjects, patients, and outbreaks… “What exactly broke out?” I asked myself just as I began to use the pad, navigating all the different files in search of clues for any type of information, maybe this place had something about me on here. Interesting, a few audio files could be found on the terminal in the file locations. At the moment I was under test subjects, seeing everything labeled as error, error, error, and a single file marked as “success.” “I can’t believe what has happened here, Dr. Red Heart should’ve never given her son the position. Because of her, this entire building is no longer a place to help cure those infected by the war. His sick, twisted thoughts are unholy. I was skeptical about his ideas of turning this place into an Institute for mental ponies, but it seemed reasonable… The state our soldiers were in was beyond horrifying, constantly mumbling to themselves as they were pulled back, some so damaged by this war that their minds completely snapped. Chewing the very flesh from their limbs in an attempt to kill themselves, some even chewing their tongues off. What the hell happened to them out there? In my entire life of work, I have never seen more damaged ponies in my life, not only physically, but mentally. Dr. Silver Heart is an excellent doctor, but I feel like his goals are… disturbing... He speaks of surgical construction, taking damaged brain tissue and replacing it with tissue from another host, performing what he calls the Stein implant. I should have knew it would lead to something horrifying. The first experiment was a success… in his words, yes. In reality, it was a creation from another world. The patient, screamed and rolled his eyes into his head, shouting things about smiles and eating ponies with chocolate… Fear, has never been more real than in a world such as this. I begged him to discontinue his monstrous experiment, but he insisted that a few minor tweaks could be made before the subject was completely cured, and back in the line of battle. That was two weeks ago, now… he forbids us from going into his lab and is constantly requesting patients to be taken into his lab, possibly for further examination... or so he says. I’m thinking of leaving before things get really ugly here; this is no longer an institute to help ponies… this is an insane asylum. Log ending for the last time. Hopefully Rainbow Dash shuts this place down... Lt. Rumbles, out.” There I sat, staring up at the terminal, even more lost than ever. What? Are you telling me there was a war that happened here in Equestria? H-how could that be!? What happened to Equestria that− Wait, there is another audio log here. Distorted static was all that could be heard along with screams coming off in the background. “We need back up, the patients have es−” *static*- “This is the second outbreak this−” *static*- Bang, bang, bang. Gunshots, gunshots is all that could be heard, screaming ponies, crying, and… laughing. It then went quite for a long while, to the point I felt the need to almost exit out of the log, only to suddenly stop as the log began to play sounds of clanking cans and stuff being knocked over. “Damn them. Damn all of them! How could they do this to me, my research, my institute, and my patients… all gone! I hope they eat all of them alive! They don’t understand… heh, heh, HA, HA, HA! They never will. This needs to be done, to save Equestria~ what was that? Oh yes, yes, yes I knooow~ Nobody knows what has happened here, and if that is so. Patients, heh, heh, heh. Lovely subjects will still be sent here, and I can continue my research. Only… I will have to work twice as hard, because I am alone~ all alone, heh, heh. Won’t mother be so proud? That I get to help ponies “smile~”. What. The. fuck? Things weren’t making sense, but were becoming disturbing super-fast. How could some pony do such a thing? Violently experiment on others, in attempts of curing their war sickness. What could they have possibly had? PTSD? I don’t think brain surgery is required for troops with such a problem… Unless everything this Doctor did was unrequested and in the silence of this asylum… If I woke up here, does that mean I was also a patient? Rattling my head, I quickly smacked myself out of it. What? No way, I can’t be. Other than just talking to myself, I feel practically fine. Confused on what the hell is going on, but fine none the less. Scanning through the rest of the files, I than began scrolling through the archives of what DIDN’T have an error labeled over it, scrolling through, I saw a single, audio log, Perhaps the last one, clicking on it, I than braced myself for possibly more disturbing things that needed to be said. “Somethings... happened to me… There was a sudden blast, off in the distance, and everything went white. When I woke up, every part of my body was different… chunks were falling off... heh, I can almost not feel it. My mane was burnt off, doesn’t matter; all I know... is my work isn’t done. Whatever’s happened out there, between the ponies and Zebras no longer has concern with me… I. Need. More test subjects. Even if I have to go out and drag them here by force… I checked all the cells and the subjects were gone, all that was left of them were ashes, pink glowing goo, which kind of burns the nostrils, and skeletons. I wonder how long I was out... No matter… All my patients are gone, and I need more. There are a few new experiments I want to try~ heh, heh.” “Sweet Celestia; what has happened?” I asked myself only to scroll down, passing by a batch of video files one labeled "Recent Test". In the name of all that is holy, did I really want to see this video, as well as others? Audio by themselves sounded horrifying, would a video be all that different, except worst…? Well, not like I had that many options. So I clicked on the one labeled, "Recent". There was a grey pony with a blue mane and single red streak running down both his mane and tail, a unicorn to be exact, panting heavily in a glass room, a small one, almost like a cell... and it looked like someone was filming him, moving side to side recording him. “Please… Don’t hurt my family, I beg of you. We did nothing wrong! We were on our way to New Pegas, and I−“ The grey unicorn said just before being cut off. “SHUT! Your god damn! Mouth! ~ Heh, heh, hah, hah, hah! You look so saaaaad, like your about to cry. LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU! Huh, huh. You know what you need~ A smiiiile. So does your family.” A disturbing familiar voice spoke out just before the camera was quickly turned to a mare and filly strapped down to bloody surgical tables struggling and crying. “Big brother, I want to go home!” The young filly cried out to her brother that was sealed in the glass cell. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here… You bastard! LET THEM GO! THEY’VE DONE NOTHING TO YOU!” The stallion yelled out just before jumping and slamming his front hooves on the glass, attempting to break through. The doctor jumped back a bit at that, and watched as the unicorn stallion began using magic as a form of punching, swinging flashes of light back and forth, attempting to punch his way through, but with no luck. What also caught the attention, was a Pipbuck on the lower forearm of the stallion… This was, me… I had a family, a mother, and sister. “Oh ho, ho, hoooo~ jumpy one aren’t ya? You see, I was thinking of making my way to New Pegasus, and then realized. Hey, heh, if I goooo, I should celebrate by performing one last experiment, and ding, ding, ding! You all are the lucky winners! Yaaaaay, give yourselves a round of applause. No one gets to be this lucky! Let’s set this down for a second, we are wasting time, and I should have left an hour ago, but you are quite the fighter, young stallion. Such a good son, taking care of mummy and lil sister this whole way~ now, it is time for me to take care of them.” The doctor said just before setting the camera down next to the glass cell, positioning it so that it captures both the locked stallion and the two surgical tables. “Please don’t hurt her, I beg you!” The mare cried out in hope the doctor would show some kind of heart to not hurt her child. From the angle the camera was at, all it showed was the zombie like pony in a lab coat, making his way over to the filly and older mare. “awww~ you have your mothers eye's, sweet heart… Too bad I have to rip them out of you.” The doctor said softly just before the grey stallion let out a tearful yell. The camera showed the doctor holding a scalpel above the filly from a distance, about to stab it down, and suddenly the video went black, static running along before it cut to a scene of the same room, except dark. A red light bulb swinging back and forth, showing two disfigured bodies on two surgical table off in the distance, and a grey stallion laying completely still, whimpering and with his back towards the horrific scene. It also showed the doctor drawing bloody smiley faces all along the glass cell. “Don’t worry, I’ll cut the memory right out of you~ you won’t remember a thing, but; I will do my best not to make you a vegetable either, and you will see. I will make your mother and sister aaall better. They will smile like no tomorrow, and they will listen… like no tomorrow~” Everything cut to static and the video ended. All of a sudden the entire terminal began sparking up, shooting small bolts of electricity, crashing and breaking as I was stabbing and smashing the shovel into it, beating it over and over again as tears ran down my cheeks. I panted, snorted, and whimpered as the terminal was pulverized into shattering blast of electricity, glass, and scrap metal. Taking a step back I quickly dropped the shovel, baring my teeth and crying. I was angry, scared, and dying on the inside as most of my world came crashing down on me in a matter of minutes. My mother…my sister… were gone, and I was forced to forget them, until now. That… that song... it was my sisters music box. I stood up and made my way over to the desk. and just before reaching out for it, I stopped myself, setting my hoof down, and began focusing as hard as I could until the small object was covered in a red ray of magic and slowly hovering its way to me. I whipped the tears from my face and set the music box in one of the coat pockets. If I was leaving, I wasn’t going to leave you behind, you will always be in my heart... Rest in peace. How do I get out of here? Windows were designed so that no pony could break through them, and everything around just seemed… broken. I got little bits of information about myself, but everything was still a blank. I don’t know my name, and I don’t know where this New Pegasus was. One hour has passed since I woke up and so far, this has been the worst hour of my life. I… I… I don’t know what to do, what do I do from here on out? More tears ran down my face and at this point, I was just walking aimlessly into the dark void of halls that filled the asylum. Suddenly, I found myself stopping, standing completely still as I began to pant heavily, almost growling with each batch of air that escaped my lungs. More and more tears running down my face as I began baring and clenching my teeth, to the point they felt like shattering straight from my jaw. “I’m! ... I’m going to …grr… I’m going to kill him!” I grunted from the fire and painful feeling that filled me, sadness, loneliness, ANGER, and best of all… fear. I have no idea what my purpose is in this world, but I swear, I SWEAR, that I will make that pony wish he was never fucking born! Using my magic to form a red glow around my shovel, I turned to my left, and faced the wall. Taking a deep breath, I then began stabbing and bashing the sharp razor tip into the wall, over, and over, and over, and OVER again! Using my magic to tear chunks off the wall. I need to get out of here! Even if that means I have to rip my way out of this asylum, one piece at a time! It went on like this for a long while, brick after brick being impressively torn apart by my very shovel. I had to admit that it wasn’t the world’s sharpest shovel, but because of how it was designed it could withstand far worse than tearing down a wall… I think. Finally, with a single strong stab of my shovel, a batch of bricks came tumbling down, landing in dirt that caused the air around me to fill up with both dust and dirt; blinding me for a moment as well as almost suffocating me. Cough! Cough, cough! I inhaled slowly, quickly swatting the dirty air away with my hoof, finally able to get a fresh smell of… even… worse air. Rubbing my eyes for a moment, the entire land seemed much brighter, but not from the sun. If anything, it was only bright because of how much the sun beamed in through the grey sky. “Oh my Celestia…” There I stood, shocked at what lied outside the asylum. An entire wasteland, which was barley inhabited by any pony. Miles and miles of pure dirt, almost like a desert with buildings half buried, some destroyed and some barley standing. Here is the part where I would gasp and stare in shock… but a part of me knew, this is what it was from the beginning. I was born in this, I just had memories of it carved out of my head is all… I began walking, I don’t know where but I just began walking. A tactical shovel strapped to my back, a music box of dead memories in my pocket, a large duster over coat, and a straitjacket. I was one of a kind, built to withstand this world… Hah, I wish. Not even ten seconds, and a strange massive cockroach jumped on top of me from out of nowhere, making me shriek and jump, landing flat on my back with a loud squish… Oh great, now I got bug jam all over me now. Celestia damn it... “Damn it, now my Pipbuck is making that click, click, click noise again!” This was not good. Clicking,meant radiation, radiation, meant sickness, and sickness, meant death. I can’t have that now… I did my best, but quickly began whipping it off, using my magic as a way to pull the remains of the dead, giant cockroach from my back. When I lifted it up, there was a sudden soft beep noise that came from my Pipbuck. Lifting it up, I examined it and noticed something was added to my inventory, Radroach Meat? What the hell? I quickly took the guts and tossed them aside. No way I’m eating that! I scrolled along the screen and also noticed that literately everything I owned was in here. in fact, everything was separately divided into its own personal tab. Old Duster and Stained Straitjacket under clothing, Rumble's Trusty Shovel under weapons, and Lucky Music Box under misc, also known as miscellaneous. Scanning through the Pipbuck, I noticed that there was a whole stack of things useful on here. Stats, something called Vats, inventory, and a map! Oh thank Celestia a map, aaaaand with no locations on it at all, except for… Red Heart Asylum… did the doctor erase things off of here? Because I find it hard to believe that I would be heading to a place with no location of it, like New Pegas. Damn! He probably di− a RADIO, I have a fucking radio!? “Hell Yeaaaah, finally, something to work with~” There were a few stations, most of them labeled under error codes, playing nothing but static. DjPon3, Error, Enclave radio, Error, New Appleloosa, error, New Pegasus Radio, connecting… What came out… was absolutely nothing! At this point, I was truly questioning the purpose of this thing. I felt stupid, almost brain dead, that I couldn’t figure such a thing out, why did I even have this thing with me? I then quickly paused, noticing something sticking out of one of the slot ports that was hidden to the side of the screen. Using my magic, I gently took a hold of it, and saw that it was the all mighty EAR PIECE! HUZZAH! Hah, who said I wasn’t a smart pony? I quickly placed the little ear bud in my ear and heard an array of fancy music, kind of like Pop Lounge styled music, singing about gambling your sorrows away on a big stormy day. “Gambling, your sorrows away; on a big, stormy day! When life gets you down, just turn it around, and wear it like a crooooown! ~” I had to admit, the music was up lifting. The kind of music that didn’t make you feel so… alone out here, and so far, seemed the only thing keeping me sane for the moment. Even then, all I knew was that I needed to find my way to New Pegasus, to find this butchering maniac and put an end to him,...and all of it... began with a first step. Which direction was I going? I don’t know. I asked myself with every step I took. Eventually I would come across something, some pony, or some place... Right? For now, all I had were these radio broadcast tunes, a shovel, and a mission. There I walked, passing by broken structures, large cement bridges that went up on one side and broke half way on the other, old buildings, flipped wagons... gulp… blood stains, old decayed corpses, and− I was cut off by the sound of hooves galloping behind me but before I could turn, something thin but hard smacked against the back of my skull, causing me to fly downwards, face first into the ground. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t get up. Oh Celestia, was I Paralyzed? I could feel my hooves but… warmness ran down my head, onto my muzzle, and soon my vision was becoming blurry… What just happened? “Heheh, we got another one boss! We got another one!” A screeching voice chanted from out of my field of vision...not that I could fucking see anyways… “Good boy~ now take him back with the others! We got dinner to prepare!” Another said, having a deeper voice than the other, replying almost as if he was in charge of whatever this was. I was about to reach out but before I could, I saw a shadow come in front of me and stop, quickly slamming their hooves down on my face causing everything to go black… Footnote: level up! New Perk: Bloody Mess- +5% overall damage; more violent death animations. Author's Note Yay, Chapter 2 is done~ enjoy! Chapter 3: The Rescue "Was all this, really necessary?"Chapter 3: The Rescue “Was all this, really necessary?” Drip… Drip… Drip… Ugh, there’s that stupid dripping sound again. Wait… I remember what happened this time! My eyes shot open and as soon as they did, I was greeted with the burning sensation of pain running along the back of my head. I would have groaned in agony, but I found my muzzle sealed. Duct tap running all around my head, and if it wasn’t for my nose being exposed, I may have died in my sleep… Who the fuck hit me!? I blinked and waited for my blurry vision to clear up, before getting a clear view of where I was. Obviously I was inside a dark shaded building, but because the sun was coming up and peaking in through the window, I was able to see much more clearly. The interior parts of the building were broken and nearly on the edge of collapsing, a pile of bookshelves and drawers were pushed together to climb up to the opened second floor, and all around me… were others. Other ponies, some small, some large, some old, some young. Other ponies, tied together, with their muzzles sealed just like mine, weeping and crying against each other, some even thrashing to get free. I from what I could barely see, there were five stallions, two mares, five fillies, and one colt. What the hell was going on here? I asked myself, just before hearing laughing and clanking coming from another room, I turned and saw a patch of light, flickering orange from around the corner, shadows moving side to side. From the looks of it, they had an indoor campfire, and seemed to be laughing over the course of a meal they had put together. I couldn’t exactly tell, but the only thing that gave hint was the sound of splattering and chomping going on. It was that very second that I realized, hmm, perhaps I shouldn’t stick around for this, and figure a way− Wait… Where’s my coat? Where the hell is my shovel!? Son of a bitch! Well I obviously couldn’t leave without what little I had in this dump of a world, and especially not without my music box... I attempted moving, but found myself tied down to a broken radiator. Okay, how can I break free? Normally I would use my horn, but some asshole put a dirty sock on it, giving me the curious question at how it could stop my magic from working, perhaps it was enchanted with something… Pfft, yeah right! Whatever the matter was, I was going to have to either get it off, or figure out another way; but before I could even start thinking, a twitching buck walked out of the room, giggling and laughing. His mane was a bright neon green and shaped into a spiked Mohawk, goggles resting on his forehead, and wearing a. Big. Fucking. Duster. Coat! “Mmmm~ your husband was so delicious, now that he is out of the way, me and you can get married and have babies over and over and over again!” The disgusting stallion chanted as he ran a thick greasy tongue along one of the mare's cheeks, making her whimper and flinch to his very touch, moving her head back away from him. Being a bad move, the stallion suddenly swung and knocked her across the face with his hoof, making her cheek bruise up and lead to a trail of blood running out of her nose. She instantly began crying from the hit, and I could honestly feel her pain, yet was incapable of doing anything about it. Suddenly, one of the bucks began thrashing, as if making an attempt to lunge himself at the brute, and as he did so the brute lowered his head and gave a sinister grin to the violent buck. “Oh~ we got a wannabe hero here! Our favorite flavor!” The thrashing buck’s eyes went wide, and he began struggling as the brute stallion took a knife from within the coat and began cutting him from the batch without cutting the ties that held his hooves together. Chomping down on the once brave buck’s mane, the brute stallion began dragging him painfully along the wooden floor. The buck letting out groans and cries for help, only to have them muffled by the duct tape that held his muzzle close, and soon, we all watched him disappear around the corner and into the other room with all the others. Sweet Celestia, cannibals?! As if this world wasn’t fucked up enough! Thrashing my head around, I quickly made an attempt to fling the sock off, even using the wooden floor as a way to scrape it off. It took some time, but eventually it had slid off, apparently one of them was smart enough to duct tape it to my head, but because of the constant scraping along the floor, the duct tape didn’t last long. I gave a sigh in relief,and quickly looked to the others, who were staring at me with wide eyes, was that hope I saw in them? Or was it them telling me to sit my flank back down and wait to get eaten like the rest of them? No matter, I would be damned if I allowed myself to get eaten, I was getting out of here, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to leave any of them here! After freeing my horn, I then began looking around for anything that could be used to cut through this rope, sadly, I knew I wasn’t going to find a sword leaning against the wall or anything, but I saw the closest thing to one. A chunk from a broken vase. Surrounding it in a field of magic, I quickly floated it over and began rapidly grinding it along my rope straps. It sure as hell was no razor sharp sword, but it was doing fine, slowly tearing through one strap of rope at a time, before finally freeing me. I then quickly ran the tip against my cheek, cutting downwards at the duct tape, cutting a thin slit along my cheek in the process. A tiny cut was the least of my worries, now I was going to have to figure out how to escape with thirteen ponies! Ripping the duct tape off around my muzzle and off my head completely, I flinched a bit as the tape pulled the back of my mane a bit, but paused as I saw the same brute pony walk into the room and towards the batch of fillies, not even noticing me at all, luckily for the shade the building provided, I was completely blended in for the moment. “Mmm~ Big Boss Saber gave me permission to play with one of you ponies, noooow~, normally I would like a mare, but who says a little young meat doesn’t do the body some good! Heh, heh!” In the name of all that was holy, fuck! No! I watched just as the pony withdrew his knife from inside MY coat, and was ready to cut one of the struggling fillies ropes, but before he could, I quickly stood and jumped forward, giving the pony second’s to react, before shoving the pointed piece of broken vase into his throat, twisting and shoving it deeper and deeper, making it twist and turn along his inside. He struggled and gurgled a bit, making an attempt to call out for some pony to help him, but was put to a halt, as a magical field formed around the knife he was holding, and was pulled away before slammed back towards him through his eye. Using a magical field to hold one side of the pony, I quickly lowered him and slowly set him down on the floor; turning to the others, blood covering parts of my face, and most of my straitjacket, I noticed that my movement was becoming slightly wobbly. The damn gash along the back of my head was truly doing damage, but now wasn’t the time for passing out… Once I get every pony and myself out of here, then I will gladly pass out in the dirt outside. Please hold out for a bit longer body. “Don’t worry, I’m going to get us out of here, I just need to get rid of these… Assholes.” I whispered to them, using my horn to pull the coat off of the dead pony and slide it back onto myself. My shovel wasn’t in sight, but I did have this new knife. Unless… Rolling the pony over, I began searching him, finding nothing but his clothes, a few bobby pins. I had no idea why this cannibal would have them but perhaps they would become useful, so I stuck them in one of my coat pockets. Flipping him over again, my eyes went wide at the sight of a revolver strapped to the pony’s hind leg. Now that is what I’m talking about! I quickly took hold of it with my magic and lifted it out of its holster and examined it. From everything that I could remember, I never used one before, but I do know what it can do. Finding the latch on its side, I pulled it and watched as the cylinder flicked out. Three bullets… Wow, these guys sure are some high rollers. No wonder they enjoy sneaking up on ponies and knocking them upside the head; oh well… it will have to do. Closing the cylinder back with the barrel, I began walking towards the corner, levitating both the revolver and knife in front of me as I slowly peaked the corner of my eye, just to see who was the cause of all this. There sat a massive, fat pony strapped to a wheelchair, sweating and sloppily eating the remains of the unlucky pony from before, but thankfully they hadn’t gotten to the one they had dragged in there by the mane. He was being used as a bench for two other ponies who dressed up in black leathery armor, one with an eye patch, one with strands of burnt mane hanging from his head, and another wearing nothing but a belt around his torso. Four ponies in here, plus the one I just killed. Were there anymore? I honestly, couldn’t tell, but then again if there was, I’m sure they would have been here for the brutal feast. Suddenly, the fat pony began laughing, spitting chunks of cooked fleshed from his mouth along with drool, quickly burping before speaking. “This is the biggest catch of the day, six ponies caught today, bwaah haha haaa! We’re gonna eat so well, I’m even thinking of keeping a pony or filly just for my own fun~” The other ponies laughed and cheered for their boss, all while eating. How could they follow orders from this fucking pig? I mean really! What made him leadership material besides his appetite to eat three ponies a day, all by himself! Now… There are four ponies, the fat one seems to be a unicorn, I can’t tell with that fat face of his, and the greasy thick mane that hung over, and I have three shots and a knife. If I do this correctly, I can kill all four in one go. They’re circled around the campfire and are using one pony as a bench, I got to be careful because they could end up using him as a shield or perhaps just killing him right there as soon as I make my way in. Hmmm~ how was I going to− I was suddenly interrupted in thought as the “Big Boss Saber” had suddenly asked. “Hey! Where the hell is Raw Dog!? He was supposed to be back by now, probably playing with the ponies again… HEY RAW DOG! Get your dick out of there for one minute and get your ass back here, I’m thirsty!” Raw Dog… Wow… That name disturbs me, in more ways than one. Damn good thing I killed him, this hell hole of a world has enough to worry about, and has no need for someone named “Raw Dog”… “Raw Dog! Damn it! If you don’t get back here I’m going to cut it off! Now hurry up!” Saber yelled and threatened. This wasn’t good, he was going to get suspicious pretty soon, and it wasn’t going to be any easier if I hid and he found “Raw Dog” dead on the floor back there. Oh well… Looks like it was go time. I quickly ran into the room, and stabbed the blade in the back of the first pony’s head, since his back was facing me, and took aim just when I saw them jump and grab their weapons. My heart raced as the first two began lifting their heads up to aim at me, but suddenly there was a spark from my horn, and everything went still. W-what was happening? Through my eyes, everything was frozen in time and I had these grids appear over certain body parts of the ponies in front of me, with percentages ranging from different numbers, assuming that it was the chance I had at hitting that target. Was this some kind of spell? How did I even do this? I stayed still for as long as I could, before finally focusing on certain targets. The head of one pony, the head of the other, as well as Saber's head. Finally everything began to slowly go back into reality, the speed of actual time moving normal once again. Boom… A bullet flew and pierced straight through the first ponies head, knocking him back in a mess of his own blood and chunks of brain. Boom… Boom… Two shots were fired, one from me and one from the other pony. My bullet pierced his skull as well, spraying torn brain chunks all over the back of the wall, also knocking him back, on the other hand the bullet that he fired came flying flying right by my cheek, leaving a burnt, small gash running across. It wasn’t that bad but when I turned to aim at Saber... that fat piece of shit had a sawed off shotgun aimed straight at me... this was going to fucking hurt… Boom… Boom! Pellets and a single bullet went flying. Saber's brains splattering out the back of his head, covering the entire window behind him and his wheelchair. Saber's buck shot pellets came flying and splashed all along my left shoulder, causing me to fly back and hit the wall behind me. “AAAAH~ Fuck!” I yelled out as I looked over my shoulder, seeing bits of holes all over the shoulder of my coat before crimson began to form and soak all over, I groaned and panted in agony at the feeling. I don’t know what I did in the past, but for now, this was the first time I had ever been shot, and holy fuck it hurt, to the point tears ran down my cheek. Ah fuck, I should have stayed at the Asylum, at least ponies didn’t eat you or shoot you there… They just, stabbed you with sharpened hooves… fun stuff. Suddenly, I jumped as I heard a loud gun shot ring throughout the sky, loud enough that it was heard from the inside. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Was that yelling and shouting coming from outside the building? Oh shit, there must have been a whole lot more of them… I think I may have thrown myself in a bad position. I’m in no current position to keep fighting. My shoulder hurts, along with my hoof, and I have no gun; and the longer I waited, the bigger the blood puddle under me began to get. I panted heavily in agonizing pain, trying to figure out the position I was in, then from the corner of my eye, I saw my shovel. Nearly resting against the wall, covered in… gore, a gore that indicated that they had used it to chop up or slaughter some poor soul. Covering it in a field of magic, I levitated it over to me before I began to try and pick myself up, leaning all my weight on every hoof that wasn’t shot with the help of my shovel as well, every movement making the blood run faster and faster over my left hoof. This… sucked. I limped my way over to the window and peaked out, noticing multiple equally dressed ponies running and taking cover around the building I was in, all weapons being drawn and aimed at my general direction. I counted about five more ponies, all armed to the teeth with pistols, and rifles attached to them, and all I had was my shovel, a half dead hoof, and a knife the ponies head so kindly gave back to me, with the help of some magic of course. “Come out! We promise we won’t kill yah! We just want to mangle you a bit!” One of the leather armored dressed ponies yelled from outside. I was fucked, and so were the ponies I had tried to protect, I honestly had no plan for this at all. One hour out of the asylum, and already I was dying. Quite the survivor I was. “Okay… I will come out and take the beating as long… as you let the other ponies go!” I yelled out, in hopes of reasoning, there had to be some form of soul in these ponies right? At least I think, and hoped, there was. All I could hear from the outside were quite chuckles and giggles to each other before one of them finally said. “Sure~ Heh, you got yourself a deal!” At that moment, I had limped myself back into the room with the other tied down ponies, and watched as all of them thrashed and shook their head at me, as if telling me to stop. I honestly would have, but I had to do something, and since I had gotten myself in this mess, I at least had to have the courtesy of seeing the rescue plan all the way… “Don’t worry, I’m getting us out of here, one way or another.” I stated just to see them thrash around more and more, fillies, mares, and the left over stallions, even before walking back into the room, the pony that had been used for a bench was glaring at me as if calling me an idiot. Perhaps I was one. I pushed the front door open and began walking outside. A knife hidden in my coat, and the shovel strapped against my back. I used what bit of magic I could to hold the underside of my chest, helping me stay up as I limped my way outside. I had a plan. As I did so, I saw all the ponies begin swarming, circling around me with weapons drawn, if I can do this right, everything will be okay. “Good choice kid! Now what was our deal? Kill you and kill the rest of them!!” He suddenly yelled before I saw his jaw clench down on his pistol, and as soon as I saw this, my horn flashed, and everything went still. I was going to survive this, with the help of this targeting spell, but not to target anything. I readied my weapons, forming a magic spell around the knife hidden in my coat, and the handle of the shovel. Of course at the moment I wasn’t able to move, but I was capable of seeing where their barrels were aimed. A pistol aimed straight at my face, two rifle ponies barley lifting their rifles towards me, and the other two… well one seemed to have dropped the pistol out of their mouth, and another was holding it upside down… The smart ones of the group, now; if I time this right, everything may go according to plan. Everything began to slowly slide back into real time, and my shovel was being pulled off my back with my magic, moving at the very speed everything went, before everything went at its correct full speed. My shovel swung forward, and covered my face. I couldn’t see, but heard the loud bang from his gun, and a loud. TINK! Sound came from my shovel, and all I saw as I lowered my shovel, was his brains being blown out the back of his skull. I was lucky enough to have used the shovel to ricochet off and back at him, and it was that very moment that I swung to my right, and smacked the barrels of their rifles. I didn’t break them, but because their rifles were attached to their bodies, like some kind of saddle; it made their entire balance swing to the side till they fell. They wouldn’t stay down long, so I took this time to− Oh Celestia… My back…uugh! My back! Was… Was I just, stabbed?” During mid plan of what my next move was going to be, I felt it. Literately felt the cold hard steel of something sharp stabbing me through my lower back, possibly through one of my kidneys… I don’t know, I couldn’t think, all that I could feel was my body go stiff, and every part of my nerves scream in agony. It was that moment that I couldn’t hold it in. I lifted my head up, so that I stared up straight at the grayness that filled the wasteland sky; feeling the hot painful tears run down my cheek, and yelled out the top of my lungs. I yelled as loud as I could and slowly looked over my shoulder, at one of the ponies who had dropped their gun just a few seconds ago, was biting hard into the handle of a blade that was now half way into my side. Getting shot was one thing, getting stabbed was a whole different kind of pain; and it was all thrown at me in one day, even more, when I noticed the pony beginning to turn and twist his own head, twisting the knife in my very side. Louder and louder I yelled as my weakened hooves were giving in, causing me to lower myself down to the ground, at this point, the rifle ponies had fully stood up and were staring down at me, with the word death beaming down at me from their very souls. Oh Celestia, this FUCKING hurt, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do an− Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four shots rang throughout the sky, and as soon as they were heard, I saw the pony burying his knife into my sides head EXPLODE! As well as his other smart companion, along with the two rifle ponies, but one of them had their head burst into brain matter and skull chunks, while the other had two of his hooves pierced with one bullet causing him to fall over and yell in a horrifying mix of pain and rage. I watched, panting heavily in my own pain, as he lifted his head, to bite down on some kind of trigger that rested in front of him, but as soon as he did so, a fifth shot was fired, and his head burst into the same matter as the others. Headless ponies surrounding me, their brain and skull splattered all over my coat and straitjacket, along with my own blood moving quicker and quicker over my rump, and down into a puddle that mixed with the spilling of the other corpses. Why wasn’t I next? Vision, was… growing dark and faded, why was I feeling so tired? Why did I feel the need to take the biggest nap in Equestria? Was it the fact that my body was spilling out in a dark puddle of crimson? No, I wasn’t dying, I was tired; now I know that is a funny thing to say, especially with a bullet wound in my shoulder, and a knife stabbed half way into my kidney; but… today had been a lot, so much that I was tired of it… and all I wanted was a few seconds of rest, now I could have; I honestly could have, but I was rudely interrupted by something large landing right beside me with a loud thud. I lifted my head to look up at what it was, eyes half closed and barley being held open. There stood something, or someone standing over me, staring right down at me… Slap! Slap! My eyes shot open as I rattled my shaking head, finally staring up at who it was that just decided to slap me twice across the both sides of my face. Sweet Celestia… Just when my day couldn’t get any more interesting. A Griffon shows up… “Ello chap, a tad bit late, but I presume I arrived just in time eh?” The Griffon mockingly said as he stood over me, my first thoughts being the kind words. Un-Fuckin believable…What a hell of a time to have my life saved; where the hell was this flock of feathers when I was trapped at the asylum? “Come on now gent, drink up!” The Griffon suddenly said, and before I even had time to speak, a small glass bottle was shoved into my muzzle, and down came a warm red liquid that gave me a strange, vile familiar taste of what felt like cough medicine being poured into my mouth. I gagged a bit and coughed, the griffon yanking the bottle out of my muzzle, only to begin pouring the red liquid all over the gaping holes that wounded my very body, my shoulder and my back to be exact. Finishing it off, but as I was about to question his kindness for pouring some kind of sticky juice all over me, I flinched and clenched my teeth shut from the strange burning sensation that ran over my shoulder and back. It was a quick pain, that eased itself into nothing more than red bubbles that had formed over the bleeding wounds, and before I knew it, the wounds were nothing more than scars running over my grey hide, exposed by the torn holes that ran through my coat and jacket, and holy shit did I feel good! Way better than before! “W-wha? Um, thank you sir, but. Why did you help me?” I curiously asked, as I shakenly stood up, examining the new stranger. He was a large black feathered Griffon with a light grey lions hide; a large over coat, almost similar to mine, but his was strangely different, his was blue and slightly armored, metal bracelets surrounding both his wrist, some type of war metals hanging from his right chest, and some kind of gas masking, wrapped around his neck, hanging, as if prepared to survive harsh chemicals. He was standing on his hind paws, staring down at me, with both his talons holding onto a large rifle, far different from the ones that these ponies had, longer as well, if anything it could pass for a sniper without a scope. His eyes were a deep green and three feathers stuck out from his forehead, each feather having their tips slightly dyed red, or so it seemed, and to top everything off, he had a single long scar running down the left side of his eye, with his luck, he wasn’t blinded by it, but may have come close by the looks of it. This was not just any griffon, it was a valiant griffon, a griffon that stood high and tall, with his chest out, almost inspiring to say the least, the most civil being I have ever met to be honest, especially in a place like this. “Well, I was out here for a bit of sport and material scavenging, when the funniest thing happened. There I was making my way in this general direction, mmm~ about six miles from the nearest town, and I had remembered. I collected a bounty poster in my journey to capture a fiend by the name of Saber, oh devil of a raider I must say. ANYWAYS! I thought, well bollocks! Why not collect some caps for the journey, and make my way here; then out of the blue as I was about to make my entrance, I spot suspicious activity going on. Raiders, running and taking barricade outside of that building over there, before I saw you come right out, and face those ruffians, bare hoof and uh… shovel! Good show I say chap! Yet, I knew they would overpower you, with all due respect good sir. So I took the honor of taking aim with my fellow companion Silvia~ and provided some stealthy assistance, and I do say, I was a centimeter from piercing your very skull hah, oh that would have been bloody horrible hah yes, yes indeed!” His accent, kind of shocked me, I had never met any pony with that type of tone, and tongue, but in all honesty, it made him sound smart, and bold, and I respected him for it. As a matter of fact, I owed him my life. “I say chap, what in the devil were you doing in this part of the wasteland anyways?” He curiously asked me as he, himself began scanning me, examining my wears and gear, not seeming as impressed as I practically was of him. When he asked me, I blinked a few times and quickly made my way to the buildings full of hostages. “Quick over here, there is an entire room full of others! We got to save them!” I called out, as a red field of magic began forming over the knife and shovel I had so heroically attempted to fight with, floating them back to me as I made my way inside. It simply took that single response before the griffon was right behind me to help. “Bloody hell! Prisoners? This Saber chap was one loose screw from being a complete psycho!” He stated as he followed after me, becoming even more shocked as he saw the entire room filled with the prisoners of all types, mares, stallions, and fillies. “He was more than a psycho, he was a cannibal, a… uh Raider, fixed on the idea that mating with fillies and crying mares, while he ate their husbands and possibly them after was beyond the point of screw loose.” I used my knife to cut their binds apart, only to be quickly smacked by one of the mares, crying and glaring at me with the rest of the once helpless hostages. “Thanks a lot! Wannabe hero! You almost got us all killed! Next time, you want to save some pony, learn how to save yourself, you pathetic waste of skin!” Footnote: level up! New Perk: Speech Master - You now can receive unique dialogue that you normally couldn't. Author's Note Still a work in progress, i hope you guys enjoy chapter 3 heh. What is to become of our new adventurer, and what friends will he come to lose and gain?
Chapter 1: Smile "Open Wide~"Chapter one: Smile "Open Wide~" Drip … Drip … Drip. “Ugh… What the hell is that noise?” I suddenly asked as the darkness slowly faded from my vision, revealing a source of light through the blurry, wet, foggy liquid that coated my eyes like a morning mist. Only that single ray of light wasn’t coming from morning sunlight, it was coming from something just outside my…room??? “Wait what?” Once again asking myself as I sat up onto what felt like a mattress frame, only without the mattress. Rubbing my eyes with the sides of my hoof, I finally was able to see slightly clearer, yet was still struggling with the constant abyss that circled me. Letting my eyes adjust for a moment, I began noticing minor details of where the fuck I was, like the fact the room I was currently in was extremely small and padded with what looked like miniature pillows all along the wall and ceiling… or at least what was left of the ceiling. The ceiling looked warn and brown from what looked like years of leaking, and no one to fix it. Rolling over off the mattress frame, I began to feel the aching pain that so generously cursed me all along my neck, shoulder, and lower back. Sleeping on metal and springs was obviously not the best way to get your full eight hours, but better yet… how did I even get here? Where was I? What day, month, or even fucking YEAR was it!? I obviously wasn’t the kind of pony who took extreme confusion likely; wait…now that I think about it… who the fuck… WAS I?!? “Sweet Celestia! What the fuck is going on?!” I was NOT handling whatever was going on very good. The very thought of ANYTHING like this was nearly, to borderline, impossible. Quickly looking down, I examined myself. Okay, what exactly did I know? Um, I was wearing something, a long, white sweater with buckles running along the sleeves, was it... a Straitjacket? Why the hell was I in it? Struggling to remove it, I found myself trapped in it, no zipper, or at least none that I could see, and it apparently wasn’t a slide on, slide off suit. Struggling with annoyance, I decided to just leave it until I could discover another means of escaping its grasp. What else besides this damned suit did I know about myself? Okay, um I have this weird, thick watch on my wrist marked… “Hmm… Pip Buck 2000.” I stood there, reading the title for a good two minutes. “What the fuck is a Pip Buck 2000!? What the hell is going on!?” I was so confused, if not downright stupid, or at least I felt stupid. Trying to think of anything to help me soon lead to a minor headache. Well… I was most likely forcing myself to try and place things that didn’t make sense. Who was I? Where was I? WHEN was I? And what the hell was all this? I sat down rubbing my hooves on each side of my head for a bit, trying to go over every stressful THING that has happened to me in the past 4 minutes. “OKAY, I was a grey… or white...pink… I DON’T CARE, stallion! For all I know I was fucking purple and couldn’t see it. I woke up here in this… pillow room?... only to find out I don’t know anything about ANY of this. Now… I could go ahead, and sit here playing "Guess Who?" or I can get a little bit more out of leaving this place. There we go, thinking like a champ now, alright let’s get the hell out of here.” I said to myself just before standing up on all four and slowly making my way to the door. To be honest, I was slightly surprised to find it unlocked, but then again… why would it be locked…? Slowly opening it, I began sticking my head out. If anything was dangerous out here, at least it would be easier to yank my head in and shut the door, unless whatever was out here quickly sliced my head clean… “wooooow” what pleasant thoughts to be thinking in the position I’m in; “Great… Dumb and negative, the perfect couple.” Proceeding to stick the rest of my body out, I then began examining my surroundings. Geez… Talk about ominous as hell... When stepping out, I found myself in what looked like a hallway filed with doors lined up along each wall each-side had about 7 doors along except none were open, except for mine. “Um… Hello?” I called out, only to have it echo back at me. Above me was a single ceiling lamp... swinging side to side? There was no wind blowing in, and no pony was here… or at least I think so, so what the hell made this thing move like that? Boom… Boom… Boom. Each step I took along the broken tiled floor echoed throughout the entire hall, and probably the whole damn building, but it couldn’t be avoided. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for whatever put me here to come back. “Wait…how, did I know someone or something put me here…” “Grrr!” Why couldn’t I remember anything?! Why was I making all these assumptions that… well; could I really blame myself, it WAS all I could do at the moment, just guess and well, guess some more! I better figure things out fast, I was on the verge of going crazy. I know I’m supposed to know at least something, but I−. I was suddenly interrupted by the rapid click, click, click, that seemed to be coming from my “Pip Buck.” Looking down at it, I then lifted a fore hoof to examine it. I was then greeted with a small, lightly green screen that revealed some kind of meter bar and a miniature arrow, slowly growing; to my view, I also notice that right above were the words “Radiation Meter.” Uh Oh, I may not have known my name, but I sure as hell knew what radiation was for some reason. Why would I be getting radiated? Did someone spill a barrel of toxic waste in this dump? They should really call some pony… But then again who, or what, was going to call them? it’s been over 6 minutes and not a single word, or even sign of life was seen throughout this… building. Looking down, I then noticed it slowly clicking faster and faster as I approached the last door to the right of the hall. Nothing waited for me at the end of the hall except for a set of stairs going down and to my right, was what I would guess, the source of the radiation. What could be causing it? Was I willing to open the door; take a peak, and let curiosity get the best of me? All for what, possibly an un-curable sickness? “NOPE!” Now quickly passing by the door and down the stairs, I began noticing the sounds of my Pip Buck’s clicking slowly decreasing to a sudden stop. Huh, this was a strange little device around my wrist, how did it even get on my wrist? Hell, what makes me think this thing wasn’t already on me, and I just can’t remem−. Aaaah! There I go again, over thinking stuff I know nothing about, damn I have a vivid imagination. While walking down the 3 floors of steps, and giving my Pip Buck a closer examination, I was able to find some curious, yet possibly useful things. Like an inventory section, something about skills, something about limbs, a mini radar that was able to identify hostile and non-hostile things, and… Heeeey, a Pip Buck light attachment? Don’t mind if I do! Flipping it on I was now able to get a… well... a fair view I suppose. The entire rest of the building still seemed dark but the light covered my surroundings like a personal bubble. and... wow this whole building looked like it was coming apart. How long has this been here, and why the hell would I be in it? At the top floor to be exact even. Wasn’t it wonderful? Having all these stupid questions, only to be answered by ME and my imagination, to try and fit pictures of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING there to connect the dots? This whole thing was just a damn time bomb, ready to break me. I literally felt like an arrow was going to pop out of my head and point at me with the exact words “I’m with stupid!” This entire hall was filled with nothing but rooms, rooms, rooms, ROOMS! Yet to my ideal thought, exactly WHAT else was I hoping to find? Roaming through the floor below my own room I found that every door I passed was locked, yet somehow I had ended up the lucky one to find my door unlocked? Yeah right. Coming to a stop I then noticed a single door at the long line of doors, which lined up along the wall, like the first floor; was open… Skittering my way over, I then paused to the hear sound of something breathing heavily right inside it. Was this really the best idea ever…? Sadly, it was the only idea I had. Pressing forward, I then placed a single hoof on the door and opened it, ever so slightly so that I could peak in. CREEEEEEEEEEAAK~ So much for stealth... The large rusted door looked to be about 200 years old, the fuck was I thinking? Assuming that the damn thing would just open peacefully? Pulling it back more I then flinched to another loud clang of the steel door coming to a stop. Years of rust had sealed its hinges up to a point, forcing it never to be opened to its full reach. My heart raced, pumping faster than I could manage skipping possibly not one, not two, but three beats, almost seeming as if my heart was going to explode in my very chest. I think I was having a panic attack from all this sneaking in the dark, making noise that echoed through dark ruined halls. Worst of all, the breathing from inside the room had come to a stop. Whatever was in there was now aware of ME, as much as I was aware of IT! Stepping forward as quickly as I could I stared into the room, praying that it was only my imagination. I… Was… Wrong… Inside was another dark room, with another rusted mattress frame. The interior of the room was also the padded, except stained with a dark, blackened crimson. What the fuck was going on in here?! Suddenly, in the corner of the room sat a dark red figure, camouflaged and almost blended with the dark crimson that soaked the padded walls. The figure itself wasn’t very large nor different from anything but a pony, except I don’t think ponies twitched and trembled the way it did....did they? Watching it frightened me, and what frightened me the most, was that I KNEW it sensed my presence. “U-uh h-hello?” There was a moment of complete silence, before this pony began to slowly turn around. It seemed like almost an eternity for that head to crack and spin, but when it did, it was the most terrifying thing I have ever fucking seen. There sat a pony with its mouth pealed exposing a massive smile of just teeth. It's hooves seemed to have been chewed to nothing but bones and into points, and it's eyes… oh Celestia, those fucking eyes! Bloodshot and held wide open by some kind of speculum eye tools. “You’re not supposed to be heeeeere~” A sudden psychotic voice spoke out. It sounded like it was mixed with that of a happy child and a growling dog. “Oh geez! Perhaps um, you’re right. Just let me close this for you~” I said in a very frightened tone, suddenly panicking as the door seemed to have jammed from all the rust. God damn it! Why now of all times!? I asked myself, attempting to push it harder and harder. “You’re. Not. Supposed. To be heeeeeere!!” A blood thirsty yell called out that would send a shiver down any spine. Whatever this thing was, it was sure as hell no pony, and was a fucking psycho! It only took a second before it quickly began moving out towards me, stabbing its pointed hooves forward, preparing to use them as a weapon. “Buck the door!” I said just before taking off into a sprint down the hall, looking over my shoulder, to see that the… THING had picked up speed and was on the chase. I must have been the most stupid pony in the world to keep watching, because just before turning around to see ahead, a set of stairs kindly greeted me. Oh wait, that was the fourth step that was about to greet my face as I fell down the stairs to be exact. Thump, Thump, Crash! There I laid, broken and dazed from what had happened. No, go away little birds! There was no time for playing, there was a damn… MONSTER chasing me. Shaking my head, I found myself laying in a pile of old surplus gear that had been piled up. Buckets, duffle bags, lamps, and a single tactical shovel and right above the stairs, was the monster coming around the corner into view. “Come heeeere~ let me peel a smile on your face!” It menacingly offered. No way are you coming anywhere near my face! Searching around, I thought of the only thing that could be used as self-defense, the tactical shovel. Chomping down on the long handle, I quickly noticed that while every part of the shovel was bladed for digging, one side of it had saw teeth, possibly used for sawing… I guess... survival digging saw? I DON’T KNOW! All I knew was that this thing was the only thing that looked remotely capable of protecting me. I turned around, and was kindly greeted with the same blood shot eyes I had saw before… only uncomfortably close. “Everypony needs to just smile, heh… heh… AND NOT BE HEEEEERE!!!” It yelled straight in my face, just before lifting its hoof and positioned it in a way that seemed to be targeted towards my head. Oh shit! I thought last minute just before swinging my head to the side, slicing the shovel straight across the monsters head leaving a massive gap running along its face and skull. It didn’t take a lot of effort either that or this shovel was super sharp for some reason, but… the monster was dead, having fallen to the side in a slump bloody mess, that made me instantly drop the shovel and crawl backwards in fear… “Oh god, I just… killed a pony… or a thing… OR SOMEONE! What have I done!?” I don’t know how long I sat there, a minute, five minutes, perhaps ten. The only thought going through my head, and at a mile a minute too, was "I had just killed another living thing, whether it was a monster or pony, I killed it…" I had never felt so sick in my entire life, or at least in the past fifteen minutes that had passed since my escape. What the hell was going on? Locked in an abandoned building, with monsters… Everything was quiet, so quiet that it annoyed the hell out of me. I mean, what the hell was I supposed to do? I wake up all alone, with no memory of anything, my name, who I am, what I look like, it was all a blank… The only thing I have to help was this Pip buck something, and this gosh forsaken straitjacket, it was rather itchy to… What was going to happen to me? Was I really going to stay and sit here till the end of time? A part of me knew, I don’t know how, but it knew, that no one was coming to help, or save me, and I sure wasn’t going to stick around to find out. I stood up and dusted the patches of dust off of my straitjacket, only to notice blood stains along it as well. “Geez… what a mess, I’m going to assume a shower wasn’t too much to ask for?” Wishful thinking I guess, but if I did run into anypony, I don’t think it would be suiting to chat along with them covered in blood. I needed to hide this, somehow… Scavenging around the pile of old forgotten things. I found a few things of use. A screwdriver, the tactical shovel, and a large charred overcoat that was perfect for having over the straitjacket. At least it would keep things hidden, all with the perks of increased heating temperature. Setting the screwdriver in one of the coat pockets, I then took hold of the shovel, chomping down on the handle and lifting it. What an interesting yet useful tool, not only for killing… but, made for outdoor survival I assumed. Saw, shovel, and extended handle if I ever needed it longer, but out from the corner of my eye I saw something, scratching, or an engraving to be exact. To my dear brother Rumbles, may you always dig your way out of any situation. Charming, this pony’s brother obviously had a sense of humor, but obviously it wasn’t working for me… Being in this area all alone, lost and confused, was everything else but funny… what the hell could have happened that made me forget everything? I didn’t forget Celestia, but I forgot everything else, wait… Who exactly was Celestia? I know the name, it comes off as familiar to life as anything else, but I don’t know anything about her either. “grrrr… god damn it! This is getting ridiculous!” I stated just before making my way down the hall. Hell, I was even talking to myself, perhaps I was just dreaming this, and perhaps just crazy, crazy ponies wear straitjackets, right? Oh great, now I’m having a two way conversation with myself asking myself dumb questions, I’m fucking nuts… I know it. Zap, zip, zip, zip, zap, zip! "What the hell was that?" I told myself just before staring down the end of the hall. There seemed to be some flashing blue lights off in the distance, sounds coming from them...sounds of distortion and static to be exact. I also noticed two sets of open doors as well. I will admit, there was a moment of hesitation, but what other choice did I have? It was either forward, or back the way I came. Biting hard on the shovel handle, I began to slowly make my way down the hall, the echoing sound of hoofsteps still cursing me with every step, but at least every step I made was more cautious and stealthy… I think. When I finally reached the two set of open doors, I quickly placed my back against the wall, right next to the opening, suddenly pausing and even holding my breath as I noticed that there was the sound of a soft tone being played. Some kind of lullaby or music box having been left open. Yet in this time and place, it was super ominous, if not downright terrifying. Thump, thump, thump. My heat was racing, beating faster and faster with every passing second I waited by that door. The tone itself burning its way into my head, permanently burying itself deep in my mind. I will admit, the tone was catchy… but not something I wanted to remember, especially from a place like this, and the worst part about it was that every time I closed my eyes, and heard that song, I could see his face. Bright, bloodshot eyes, with a grim blood smile that was enough to keep any pony from sleeping for months. That monster would have killed me, but what did he mean by saying I wasn’t supposed to be there, and to smile? Hmmm, perhaps he was just crazy from being in there so long, but back to the matter at hoof. Okay, we’re going to do this, and we’re going to be okay. I Promise. “One… two … three…” Footnote: level up! New Perk: Slayer - The speed of all your melee and unarmed attacks is increased by 30%. Author's Note Thank you Kkat for your inspiration, creating a world that i both love and want to add to. Minor editing done by Mokais! Thank you! Heh work in progress~
Chapter 2: Reveal "Open your eyes, little colt!"Chapter Two: Reveal “Open your eyes, little colt!~” There I sat, staring up at a large terminal screen with sorted files resting all over the place. Of course it would be a giant terminal, and that song, well that song was coming from a music box that rested on a desk, right next to a… dead, blackened skeleton, wearing a big white, lab coat. “Oh… It was just a computer.” I told myself. “Never thought I’d see one in a place like this, especially one that was working.” Passing by the desk on my way to the massive terminal, I quickly shut the music box that was resting on the skeleton's desk to keep the tension of creepiness at bay. Once again, cute song, but not for a place like this. Setting the shovel down against the terminal, I than got a good look at the screen and saw that everything was labeled under test subjects, patients, and outbreaks… “What exactly broke out?” I asked myself just as I began to use the pad, navigating all the different files in search of clues for any type of information, maybe this place had something about me on here. Interesting, a few audio files could be found on the terminal in the file locations. At the moment I was under test subjects, seeing everything labeled as error, error, error, and a single file marked as “success.” “I can’t believe what has happened here, Dr. Red Heart should’ve never given her son the position. Because of her, this entire building is no longer a place to help cure those infected by the war. His sick, twisted thoughts are unholy. I was skeptical about his ideas of turning this place into an Institute for mental ponies, but it seemed reasonable… The state our soldiers were in was beyond horrifying, constantly mumbling to themselves as they were pulled back, some so damaged by this war that their minds completely snapped. Chewing the very flesh from their limbs in an attempt to kill themselves, some even chewing their tongues off. What the hell happened to them out there? In my entire life of work, I have never seen more damaged ponies in my life, not only physically, but mentally. Dr. Silver Heart is an excellent doctor, but I feel like his goals are… disturbing... He speaks of surgical construction, taking damaged brain tissue and replacing it with tissue from another host, performing what he calls the Stein implant. I should have knew it would lead to something horrifying. The first experiment was a success… in his words, yes. In reality, it was a creation from another world. The patient, screamed and rolled his eyes into his head, shouting things about smiles and eating ponies with chocolate… Fear, has never been more real than in a world such as this. I begged him to discontinue his monstrous experiment, but he insisted that a few minor tweaks could be made before the subject was completely cured, and back in the line of battle. That was two weeks ago, now… he forbids us from going into his lab and is constantly requesting patients to be taken into his lab, possibly for further examination... or so he says. I’m thinking of leaving before things get really ugly here; this is no longer an institute to help ponies… this is an insane asylum. Log ending for the last time. Hopefully Rainbow Dash shuts this place down... Lt. Rumbles, out.” There I sat, staring up at the terminal, even more lost than ever. What? Are you telling me there was a war that happened here in Equestria? H-how could that be!? What happened to Equestria that− Wait, there is another audio log here. Distorted static was all that could be heard along with screams coming off in the background. “We need back up, the patients have es−” *static*- “This is the second outbreak this−” *static*- Bang, bang, bang. Gunshots, gunshots is all that could be heard, screaming ponies, crying, and… laughing. It then went quite for a long while, to the point I felt the need to almost exit out of the log, only to suddenly stop as the log began to play sounds of clanking cans and stuff being knocked over. “Damn them. Damn all of them! How could they do this to me, my research, my institute, and my patients… all gone! I hope they eat all of them alive! They don’t understand… heh, heh, HA, HA, HA! They never will. This needs to be done, to save Equestria~ what was that? Oh yes, yes, yes I knooow~ Nobody knows what has happened here, and if that is so. Patients, heh, heh, heh. Lovely subjects will still be sent here, and I can continue my research. Only… I will have to work twice as hard, because I am alone~ all alone, heh, heh. Won’t mother be so proud? That I get to help ponies “smile~”. What. The. fuck? Things weren’t making sense, but were becoming disturbing super-fast. How could some pony do such a thing? Violently experiment on others, in attempts of curing their war sickness. What could they have possibly had? PTSD? I don’t think brain surgery is required for troops with such a problem… Unless everything this Doctor did was unrequested and in the silence of this asylum… If I woke up here, does that mean I was also a patient? Rattling my head, I quickly smacked myself out of it. What? No way, I can’t be. Other than just talking to myself, I feel practically fine. Confused on what the hell is going on, but fine none the less. Scanning through the rest of the files, I than began scrolling through the archives of what DIDN’T have an error labeled over it, scrolling through, I saw a single, audio log, Perhaps the last one, clicking on it, I than braced myself for possibly more disturbing things that needed to be said. “Somethings... happened to me… There was a sudden blast, off in the distance, and everything went white. When I woke up, every part of my body was different… chunks were falling off... heh, I can almost not feel it. My mane was burnt off, doesn’t matter; all I know... is my work isn’t done. Whatever’s happened out there, between the ponies and Zebras no longer has concern with me… I. Need. More test subjects. Even if I have to go out and drag them here by force… I checked all the cells and the subjects were gone, all that was left of them were ashes, pink glowing goo, which kind of burns the nostrils, and skeletons. I wonder how long I was out... No matter… All my patients are gone, and I need more. There are a few new experiments I want to try~ heh, heh.” “Sweet Celestia; what has happened?” I asked myself only to scroll down, passing by a batch of video files one labeled "Recent Test". In the name of all that is holy, did I really want to see this video, as well as others? Audio by themselves sounded horrifying, would a video be all that different, except worst…? Well, not like I had that many options. So I clicked on the one labeled, "Recent". There was a grey pony with a blue mane and single red streak running down both his mane and tail, a unicorn to be exact, panting heavily in a glass room, a small one, almost like a cell... and it looked like someone was filming him, moving side to side recording him. “Please… Don’t hurt my family, I beg of you. We did nothing wrong! We were on our way to New Pegas, and I−“ The grey unicorn said just before being cut off. “SHUT! Your god damn! Mouth! ~ Heh, heh, hah, hah, hah! You look so saaaaad, like your about to cry. LOOK AT ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU! Huh, huh. You know what you need~ A smiiiile. So does your family.” A disturbing familiar voice spoke out just before the camera was quickly turned to a mare and filly strapped down to bloody surgical tables struggling and crying. “Big brother, I want to go home!” The young filly cried out to her brother that was sealed in the glass cell. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here… You bastard! LET THEM GO! THEY’VE DONE NOTHING TO YOU!” The stallion yelled out just before jumping and slamming his front hooves on the glass, attempting to break through. The doctor jumped back a bit at that, and watched as the unicorn stallion began using magic as a form of punching, swinging flashes of light back and forth, attempting to punch his way through, but with no luck. What also caught the attention, was a Pipbuck on the lower forearm of the stallion… This was, me… I had a family, a mother, and sister. “Oh ho, ho, hoooo~ jumpy one aren’t ya? You see, I was thinking of making my way to New Pegasus, and then realized. Hey, heh, if I goooo, I should celebrate by performing one last experiment, and ding, ding, ding! You all are the lucky winners! Yaaaaay, give yourselves a round of applause. No one gets to be this lucky! Let’s set this down for a second, we are wasting time, and I should have left an hour ago, but you are quite the fighter, young stallion. Such a good son, taking care of mummy and lil sister this whole way~ now, it is time for me to take care of them.” The doctor said just before setting the camera down next to the glass cell, positioning it so that it captures both the locked stallion and the two surgical tables. “Please don’t hurt her, I beg you!” The mare cried out in hope the doctor would show some kind of heart to not hurt her child. From the angle the camera was at, all it showed was the zombie like pony in a lab coat, making his way over to the filly and older mare. “awww~ you have your mothers eye's, sweet heart… Too bad I have to rip them out of you.” The doctor said softly just before the grey stallion let out a tearful yell. The camera showed the doctor holding a scalpel above the filly from a distance, about to stab it down, and suddenly the video went black, static running along before it cut to a scene of the same room, except dark. A red light bulb swinging back and forth, showing two disfigured bodies on two surgical table off in the distance, and a grey stallion laying completely still, whimpering and with his back towards the horrific scene. It also showed the doctor drawing bloody smiley faces all along the glass cell. “Don’t worry, I’ll cut the memory right out of you~ you won’t remember a thing, but; I will do my best not to make you a vegetable either, and you will see. I will make your mother and sister aaall better. They will smile like no tomorrow, and they will listen… like no tomorrow~” Everything cut to static and the video ended. All of a sudden the entire terminal began sparking up, shooting small bolts of electricity, crashing and breaking as I was stabbing and smashing the shovel into it, beating it over and over again as tears ran down my cheeks. I panted, snorted, and whimpered as the terminal was pulverized into shattering blast of electricity, glass, and scrap metal. Taking a step back I quickly dropped the shovel, baring my teeth and crying. I was angry, scared, and dying on the inside as most of my world came crashing down on me in a matter of minutes. My mother…my sister… were gone, and I was forced to forget them, until now. That… that song... it was my sisters music box. I stood up and made my way over to the desk. and just before reaching out for it, I stopped myself, setting my hoof down, and began focusing as hard as I could until the small object was covered in a red ray of magic and slowly hovering its way to me. I whipped the tears from my face and set the music box in one of the coat pockets. If I was leaving, I wasn’t going to leave you behind, you will always be in my heart... Rest in peace. How do I get out of here? Windows were designed so that no pony could break through them, and everything around just seemed… broken. I got little bits of information about myself, but everything was still a blank. I don’t know my name, and I don’t know where this New Pegasus was. One hour has passed since I woke up and so far, this has been the worst hour of my life. I… I… I don’t know what to do, what do I do from here on out? More tears ran down my face and at this point, I was just walking aimlessly into the dark void of halls that filled the asylum. Suddenly, I found myself stopping, standing completely still as I began to pant heavily, almost growling with each batch of air that escaped my lungs. More and more tears running down my face as I began baring and clenching my teeth, to the point they felt like shattering straight from my jaw. “I’m! ... I’m going to …grr… I’m going to kill him!” I grunted from the fire and painful feeling that filled me, sadness, loneliness, ANGER, and best of all… fear. I have no idea what my purpose is in this world, but I swear, I SWEAR, that I will make that pony wish he was never fucking born! Using my magic to form a red glow around my shovel, I turned to my left, and faced the wall. Taking a deep breath, I then began stabbing and bashing the sharp razor tip into the wall, over, and over, and over, and OVER again! Using my magic to tear chunks off the wall. I need to get out of here! Even if that means I have to rip my way out of this asylum, one piece at a time! It went on like this for a long while, brick after brick being impressively torn apart by my very shovel. I had to admit that it wasn’t the world’s sharpest shovel, but because of how it was designed it could withstand far worse than tearing down a wall… I think. Finally, with a single strong stab of my shovel, a batch of bricks came tumbling down, landing in dirt that caused the air around me to fill up with both dust and dirt; blinding me for a moment as well as almost suffocating me. Cough! Cough, cough! I inhaled slowly, quickly swatting the dirty air away with my hoof, finally able to get a fresh smell of… even… worse air. Rubbing my eyes for a moment, the entire land seemed much brighter, but not from the sun. If anything, it was only bright because of how much the sun beamed in through the grey sky. “Oh my Celestia…” There I stood, shocked at what lied outside the asylum. An entire wasteland, which was barley inhabited by any pony. Miles and miles of pure dirt, almost like a desert with buildings half buried, some destroyed and some barley standing. Here is the part where I would gasp and stare in shock… but a part of me knew, this is what it was from the beginning. I was born in this, I just had memories of it carved out of my head is all… I began walking, I don’t know where but I just began walking. A tactical shovel strapped to my back, a music box of dead memories in my pocket, a large duster over coat, and a straitjacket. I was one of a kind, built to withstand this world… Hah, I wish. Not even ten seconds, and a strange massive cockroach jumped on top of me from out of nowhere, making me shriek and jump, landing flat on my back with a loud squish… Oh great, now I got bug jam all over me now. Celestia damn it... “Damn it, now my Pipbuck is making that click, click, click noise again!” This was not good. Clicking,meant radiation, radiation, meant sickness, and sickness, meant death. I can’t have that now… I did my best, but quickly began whipping it off, using my magic as a way to pull the remains of the dead, giant cockroach from my back. When I lifted it up, there was a sudden soft beep noise that came from my Pipbuck. Lifting it up, I examined it and noticed something was added to my inventory, Radroach Meat? What the hell? I quickly took the guts and tossed them aside. No way I’m eating that! I scrolled along the screen and also noticed that literately everything I owned was in here. in fact, everything was separately divided into its own personal tab. Old Duster and Stained Straitjacket under clothing, Rumble's Trusty Shovel under weapons, and Lucky Music Box under misc, also known as miscellaneous. Scanning through the Pipbuck, I noticed that there was a whole stack of things useful on here. Stats, something called Vats, inventory, and a map! Oh thank Celestia a map, aaaaand with no locations on it at all, except for… Red Heart Asylum… did the doctor erase things off of here? Because I find it hard to believe that I would be heading to a place with no location of it, like New Pegas. Damn! He probably di− a RADIO, I have a fucking radio!? “Hell Yeaaaah, finally, something to work with~” There were a few stations, most of them labeled under error codes, playing nothing but static. DjPon3, Error, Enclave radio, Error, New Appleloosa, error, New Pegasus Radio, connecting… What came out… was absolutely nothing! At this point, I was truly questioning the purpose of this thing. I felt stupid, almost brain dead, that I couldn’t figure such a thing out, why did I even have this thing with me? I then quickly paused, noticing something sticking out of one of the slot ports that was hidden to the side of the screen. Using my magic, I gently took a hold of it, and saw that it was the all mighty EAR PIECE! HUZZAH! Hah, who said I wasn’t a smart pony? I quickly placed the little ear bud in my ear and heard an array of fancy music, kind of like Pop Lounge styled music, singing about gambling your sorrows away on a big stormy day. “Gambling, your sorrows away; on a big, stormy day! When life gets you down, just turn it around, and wear it like a crooooown! ~” I had to admit, the music was up lifting. The kind of music that didn’t make you feel so… alone out here, and so far, seemed the only thing keeping me sane for the moment. Even then, all I knew was that I needed to find my way to New Pegasus, to find this butchering maniac and put an end to him,...and all of it... began with a first step. Which direction was I going? I don’t know. I asked myself with every step I took. Eventually I would come across something, some pony, or some place... Right? For now, all I had were these radio broadcast tunes, a shovel, and a mission. There I walked, passing by broken structures, large cement bridges that went up on one side and broke half way on the other, old buildings, flipped wagons... gulp… blood stains, old decayed corpses, and− I was cut off by the sound of hooves galloping behind me but before I could turn, something thin but hard smacked against the back of my skull, causing me to fly downwards, face first into the ground. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t get up. Oh Celestia, was I Paralyzed? I could feel my hooves but… warmness ran down my head, onto my muzzle, and soon my vision was becoming blurry… What just happened? “Heheh, we got another one boss! We got another one!” A screeching voice chanted from out of my field of vision...not that I could fucking see anyways… “Good boy~ now take him back with the others! We got dinner to prepare!” Another said, having a deeper voice than the other, replying almost as if he was in charge of whatever this was. I was about to reach out but before I could, I saw a shadow come in front of me and stop, quickly slamming their hooves down on my face causing everything to go black… Footnote: level up! New Perk: Bloody Mess- +5% overall damage; more violent death animations. Author's Note Yay, Chapter 2 is done~ enjoy!
Chapter 3: The Rescue "Was all this, really necessary?"Chapter 3: The Rescue “Was all this, really necessary?” Drip… Drip… Drip… Ugh, there’s that stupid dripping sound again. Wait… I remember what happened this time! My eyes shot open and as soon as they did, I was greeted with the burning sensation of pain running along the back of my head. I would have groaned in agony, but I found my muzzle sealed. Duct tap running all around my head, and if it wasn’t for my nose being exposed, I may have died in my sleep… Who the fuck hit me!? I blinked and waited for my blurry vision to clear up, before getting a clear view of where I was. Obviously I was inside a dark shaded building, but because the sun was coming up and peaking in through the window, I was able to see much more clearly. The interior parts of the building were broken and nearly on the edge of collapsing, a pile of bookshelves and drawers were pushed together to climb up to the opened second floor, and all around me… were others. Other ponies, some small, some large, some old, some young. Other ponies, tied together, with their muzzles sealed just like mine, weeping and crying against each other, some even thrashing to get free. I from what I could barely see, there were five stallions, two mares, five fillies, and one colt. What the hell was going on here? I asked myself, just before hearing laughing and clanking coming from another room, I turned and saw a patch of light, flickering orange from around the corner, shadows moving side to side. From the looks of it, they had an indoor campfire, and seemed to be laughing over the course of a meal they had put together. I couldn’t exactly tell, but the only thing that gave hint was the sound of splattering and chomping going on. It was that very second that I realized, hmm, perhaps I shouldn’t stick around for this, and figure a way− Wait… Where’s my coat? Where the hell is my shovel!? Son of a bitch! Well I obviously couldn’t leave without what little I had in this dump of a world, and especially not without my music box... I attempted moving, but found myself tied down to a broken radiator. Okay, how can I break free? Normally I would use my horn, but some asshole put a dirty sock on it, giving me the curious question at how it could stop my magic from working, perhaps it was enchanted with something… Pfft, yeah right! Whatever the matter was, I was going to have to either get it off, or figure out another way; but before I could even start thinking, a twitching buck walked out of the room, giggling and laughing. His mane was a bright neon green and shaped into a spiked Mohawk, goggles resting on his forehead, and wearing a. Big. Fucking. Duster. Coat! “Mmmm~ your husband was so delicious, now that he is out of the way, me and you can get married and have babies over and over and over again!” The disgusting stallion chanted as he ran a thick greasy tongue along one of the mare's cheeks, making her whimper and flinch to his very touch, moving her head back away from him. Being a bad move, the stallion suddenly swung and knocked her across the face with his hoof, making her cheek bruise up and lead to a trail of blood running out of her nose. She instantly began crying from the hit, and I could honestly feel her pain, yet was incapable of doing anything about it. Suddenly, one of the bucks began thrashing, as if making an attempt to lunge himself at the brute, and as he did so the brute lowered his head and gave a sinister grin to the violent buck. “Oh~ we got a wannabe hero here! Our favorite flavor!” The thrashing buck’s eyes went wide, and he began struggling as the brute stallion took a knife from within the coat and began cutting him from the batch without cutting the ties that held his hooves together. Chomping down on the once brave buck’s mane, the brute stallion began dragging him painfully along the wooden floor. The buck letting out groans and cries for help, only to have them muffled by the duct tape that held his muzzle close, and soon, we all watched him disappear around the corner and into the other room with all the others. Sweet Celestia, cannibals?! As if this world wasn’t fucked up enough! Thrashing my head around, I quickly made an attempt to fling the sock off, even using the wooden floor as a way to scrape it off. It took some time, but eventually it had slid off, apparently one of them was smart enough to duct tape it to my head, but because of the constant scraping along the floor, the duct tape didn’t last long. I gave a sigh in relief,and quickly looked to the others, who were staring at me with wide eyes, was that hope I saw in them? Or was it them telling me to sit my flank back down and wait to get eaten like the rest of them? No matter, I would be damned if I allowed myself to get eaten, I was getting out of here, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to leave any of them here! After freeing my horn, I then began looking around for anything that could be used to cut through this rope, sadly, I knew I wasn’t going to find a sword leaning against the wall or anything, but I saw the closest thing to one. A chunk from a broken vase. Surrounding it in a field of magic, I quickly floated it over and began rapidly grinding it along my rope straps. It sure as hell was no razor sharp sword, but it was doing fine, slowly tearing through one strap of rope at a time, before finally freeing me. I then quickly ran the tip against my cheek, cutting downwards at the duct tape, cutting a thin slit along my cheek in the process. A tiny cut was the least of my worries, now I was going to have to figure out how to escape with thirteen ponies! Ripping the duct tape off around my muzzle and off my head completely, I flinched a bit as the tape pulled the back of my mane a bit, but paused as I saw the same brute pony walk into the room and towards the batch of fillies, not even noticing me at all, luckily for the shade the building provided, I was completely blended in for the moment. “Mmm~ Big Boss Saber gave me permission to play with one of you ponies, noooow~, normally I would like a mare, but who says a little young meat doesn’t do the body some good! Heh, heh!” In the name of all that was holy, fuck! No! I watched just as the pony withdrew his knife from inside MY coat, and was ready to cut one of the struggling fillies ropes, but before he could, I quickly stood and jumped forward, giving the pony second’s to react, before shoving the pointed piece of broken vase into his throat, twisting and shoving it deeper and deeper, making it twist and turn along his inside. He struggled and gurgled a bit, making an attempt to call out for some pony to help him, but was put to a halt, as a magical field formed around the knife he was holding, and was pulled away before slammed back towards him through his eye. Using a magical field to hold one side of the pony, I quickly lowered him and slowly set him down on the floor; turning to the others, blood covering parts of my face, and most of my straitjacket, I noticed that my movement was becoming slightly wobbly. The damn gash along the back of my head was truly doing damage, but now wasn’t the time for passing out… Once I get every pony and myself out of here, then I will gladly pass out in the dirt outside. Please hold out for a bit longer body. “Don’t worry, I’m going to get us out of here, I just need to get rid of these… Assholes.” I whispered to them, using my horn to pull the coat off of the dead pony and slide it back onto myself. My shovel wasn’t in sight, but I did have this new knife. Unless… Rolling the pony over, I began searching him, finding nothing but his clothes, a few bobby pins. I had no idea why this cannibal would have them but perhaps they would become useful, so I stuck them in one of my coat pockets. Flipping him over again, my eyes went wide at the sight of a revolver strapped to the pony’s hind leg. Now that is what I’m talking about! I quickly took hold of it with my magic and lifted it out of its holster and examined it. From everything that I could remember, I never used one before, but I do know what it can do. Finding the latch on its side, I pulled it and watched as the cylinder flicked out. Three bullets… Wow, these guys sure are some high rollers. No wonder they enjoy sneaking up on ponies and knocking them upside the head; oh well… it will have to do. Closing the cylinder back with the barrel, I began walking towards the corner, levitating both the revolver and knife in front of me as I slowly peaked the corner of my eye, just to see who was the cause of all this. There sat a massive, fat pony strapped to a wheelchair, sweating and sloppily eating the remains of the unlucky pony from before, but thankfully they hadn’t gotten to the one they had dragged in there by the mane. He was being used as a bench for two other ponies who dressed up in black leathery armor, one with an eye patch, one with strands of burnt mane hanging from his head, and another wearing nothing but a belt around his torso. Four ponies in here, plus the one I just killed. Were there anymore? I honestly, couldn’t tell, but then again if there was, I’m sure they would have been here for the brutal feast. Suddenly, the fat pony began laughing, spitting chunks of cooked fleshed from his mouth along with drool, quickly burping before speaking. “This is the biggest catch of the day, six ponies caught today, bwaah haha haaa! We’re gonna eat so well, I’m even thinking of keeping a pony or filly just for my own fun~” The other ponies laughed and cheered for their boss, all while eating. How could they follow orders from this fucking pig? I mean really! What made him leadership material besides his appetite to eat three ponies a day, all by himself! Now… There are four ponies, the fat one seems to be a unicorn, I can’t tell with that fat face of his, and the greasy thick mane that hung over, and I have three shots and a knife. If I do this correctly, I can kill all four in one go. They’re circled around the campfire and are using one pony as a bench, I got to be careful because they could end up using him as a shield or perhaps just killing him right there as soon as I make my way in. Hmmm~ how was I going to− I was suddenly interrupted in thought as the “Big Boss Saber” had suddenly asked. “Hey! Where the hell is Raw Dog!? He was supposed to be back by now, probably playing with the ponies again… HEY RAW DOG! Get your dick out of there for one minute and get your ass back here, I’m thirsty!” Raw Dog… Wow… That name disturbs me, in more ways than one. Damn good thing I killed him, this hell hole of a world has enough to worry about, and has no need for someone named “Raw Dog”… “Raw Dog! Damn it! If you don’t get back here I’m going to cut it off! Now hurry up!” Saber yelled and threatened. This wasn’t good, he was going to get suspicious pretty soon, and it wasn’t going to be any easier if I hid and he found “Raw Dog” dead on the floor back there. Oh well… Looks like it was go time. I quickly ran into the room, and stabbed the blade in the back of the first pony’s head, since his back was facing me, and took aim just when I saw them jump and grab their weapons. My heart raced as the first two began lifting their heads up to aim at me, but suddenly there was a spark from my horn, and everything went still. W-what was happening? Through my eyes, everything was frozen in time and I had these grids appear over certain body parts of the ponies in front of me, with percentages ranging from different numbers, assuming that it was the chance I had at hitting that target. Was this some kind of spell? How did I even do this? I stayed still for as long as I could, before finally focusing on certain targets. The head of one pony, the head of the other, as well as Saber's head. Finally everything began to slowly go back into reality, the speed of actual time moving normal once again. Boom… A bullet flew and pierced straight through the first ponies head, knocking him back in a mess of his own blood and chunks of brain. Boom… Boom… Two shots were fired, one from me and one from the other pony. My bullet pierced his skull as well, spraying torn brain chunks all over the back of the wall, also knocking him back, on the other hand the bullet that he fired came flying flying right by my cheek, leaving a burnt, small gash running across. It wasn’t that bad but when I turned to aim at Saber... that fat piece of shit had a sawed off shotgun aimed straight at me... this was going to fucking hurt… Boom… Boom! Pellets and a single bullet went flying. Saber's brains splattering out the back of his head, covering the entire window behind him and his wheelchair. Saber's buck shot pellets came flying and splashed all along my left shoulder, causing me to fly back and hit the wall behind me. “AAAAH~ Fuck!” I yelled out as I looked over my shoulder, seeing bits of holes all over the shoulder of my coat before crimson began to form and soak all over, I groaned and panted in agony at the feeling. I don’t know what I did in the past, but for now, this was the first time I had ever been shot, and holy fuck it hurt, to the point tears ran down my cheek. Ah fuck, I should have stayed at the Asylum, at least ponies didn’t eat you or shoot you there… They just, stabbed you with sharpened hooves… fun stuff. Suddenly, I jumped as I heard a loud gun shot ring throughout the sky, loud enough that it was heard from the inside. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Was that yelling and shouting coming from outside the building? Oh shit, there must have been a whole lot more of them… I think I may have thrown myself in a bad position. I’m in no current position to keep fighting. My shoulder hurts, along with my hoof, and I have no gun; and the longer I waited, the bigger the blood puddle under me began to get. I panted heavily in agonizing pain, trying to figure out the position I was in, then from the corner of my eye, I saw my shovel. Nearly resting against the wall, covered in… gore, a gore that indicated that they had used it to chop up or slaughter some poor soul. Covering it in a field of magic, I levitated it over to me before I began to try and pick myself up, leaning all my weight on every hoof that wasn’t shot with the help of my shovel as well, every movement making the blood run faster and faster over my left hoof. This… sucked. I limped my way over to the window and peaked out, noticing multiple equally dressed ponies running and taking cover around the building I was in, all weapons being drawn and aimed at my general direction. I counted about five more ponies, all armed to the teeth with pistols, and rifles attached to them, and all I had was my shovel, a half dead hoof, and a knife the ponies head so kindly gave back to me, with the help of some magic of course. “Come out! We promise we won’t kill yah! We just want to mangle you a bit!” One of the leather armored dressed ponies yelled from outside. I was fucked, and so were the ponies I had tried to protect, I honestly had no plan for this at all. One hour out of the asylum, and already I was dying. Quite the survivor I was. “Okay… I will come out and take the beating as long… as you let the other ponies go!” I yelled out, in hopes of reasoning, there had to be some form of soul in these ponies right? At least I think, and hoped, there was. All I could hear from the outside were quite chuckles and giggles to each other before one of them finally said. “Sure~ Heh, you got yourself a deal!” At that moment, I had limped myself back into the room with the other tied down ponies, and watched as all of them thrashed and shook their head at me, as if telling me to stop. I honestly would have, but I had to do something, and since I had gotten myself in this mess, I at least had to have the courtesy of seeing the rescue plan all the way… “Don’t worry, I’m getting us out of here, one way or another.” I stated just to see them thrash around more and more, fillies, mares, and the left over stallions, even before walking back into the room, the pony that had been used for a bench was glaring at me as if calling me an idiot. Perhaps I was one. I pushed the front door open and began walking outside. A knife hidden in my coat, and the shovel strapped against my back. I used what bit of magic I could to hold the underside of my chest, helping me stay up as I limped my way outside. I had a plan. As I did so, I saw all the ponies begin swarming, circling around me with weapons drawn, if I can do this right, everything will be okay. “Good choice kid! Now what was our deal? Kill you and kill the rest of them!!” He suddenly yelled before I saw his jaw clench down on his pistol, and as soon as I saw this, my horn flashed, and everything went still. I was going to survive this, with the help of this targeting spell, but not to target anything. I readied my weapons, forming a magic spell around the knife hidden in my coat, and the handle of the shovel. Of course at the moment I wasn’t able to move, but I was capable of seeing where their barrels were aimed. A pistol aimed straight at my face, two rifle ponies barley lifting their rifles towards me, and the other two… well one seemed to have dropped the pistol out of their mouth, and another was holding it upside down… The smart ones of the group, now; if I time this right, everything may go according to plan. Everything began to slowly slide back into real time, and my shovel was being pulled off my back with my magic, moving at the very speed everything went, before everything went at its correct full speed. My shovel swung forward, and covered my face. I couldn’t see, but heard the loud bang from his gun, and a loud. TINK! Sound came from my shovel, and all I saw as I lowered my shovel, was his brains being blown out the back of his skull. I was lucky enough to have used the shovel to ricochet off and back at him, and it was that very moment that I swung to my right, and smacked the barrels of their rifles. I didn’t break them, but because their rifles were attached to their bodies, like some kind of saddle; it made their entire balance swing to the side till they fell. They wouldn’t stay down long, so I took this time to− Oh Celestia… My back…uugh! My back! Was… Was I just, stabbed?” During mid plan of what my next move was going to be, I felt it. Literately felt the cold hard steel of something sharp stabbing me through my lower back, possibly through one of my kidneys… I don’t know, I couldn’t think, all that I could feel was my body go stiff, and every part of my nerves scream in agony. It was that moment that I couldn’t hold it in. I lifted my head up, so that I stared up straight at the grayness that filled the wasteland sky; feeling the hot painful tears run down my cheek, and yelled out the top of my lungs. I yelled as loud as I could and slowly looked over my shoulder, at one of the ponies who had dropped their gun just a few seconds ago, was biting hard into the handle of a blade that was now half way into my side. Getting shot was one thing, getting stabbed was a whole different kind of pain; and it was all thrown at me in one day, even more, when I noticed the pony beginning to turn and twist his own head, twisting the knife in my very side. Louder and louder I yelled as my weakened hooves were giving in, causing me to lower myself down to the ground, at this point, the rifle ponies had fully stood up and were staring down at me, with the word death beaming down at me from their very souls. Oh Celestia, this FUCKING hurt, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t do an− Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four shots rang throughout the sky, and as soon as they were heard, I saw the pony burying his knife into my sides head EXPLODE! As well as his other smart companion, along with the two rifle ponies, but one of them had their head burst into brain matter and skull chunks, while the other had two of his hooves pierced with one bullet causing him to fall over and yell in a horrifying mix of pain and rage. I watched, panting heavily in my own pain, as he lifted his head, to bite down on some kind of trigger that rested in front of him, but as soon as he did so, a fifth shot was fired, and his head burst into the same matter as the others. Headless ponies surrounding me, their brain and skull splattered all over my coat and straitjacket, along with my own blood moving quicker and quicker over my rump, and down into a puddle that mixed with the spilling of the other corpses. Why wasn’t I next? Vision, was… growing dark and faded, why was I feeling so tired? Why did I feel the need to take the biggest nap in Equestria? Was it the fact that my body was spilling out in a dark puddle of crimson? No, I wasn’t dying, I was tired; now I know that is a funny thing to say, especially with a bullet wound in my shoulder, and a knife stabbed half way into my kidney; but… today had been a lot, so much that I was tired of it… and all I wanted was a few seconds of rest, now I could have; I honestly could have, but I was rudely interrupted by something large landing right beside me with a loud thud. I lifted my head to look up at what it was, eyes half closed and barley being held open. There stood something, or someone standing over me, staring right down at me… Slap! Slap! My eyes shot open as I rattled my shaking head, finally staring up at who it was that just decided to slap me twice across the both sides of my face. Sweet Celestia… Just when my day couldn’t get any more interesting. A Griffon shows up… “Ello chap, a tad bit late, but I presume I arrived just in time eh?” The Griffon mockingly said as he stood over me, my first thoughts being the kind words. Un-Fuckin believable…What a hell of a time to have my life saved; where the hell was this flock of feathers when I was trapped at the asylum? “Come on now gent, drink up!” The Griffon suddenly said, and before I even had time to speak, a small glass bottle was shoved into my muzzle, and down came a warm red liquid that gave me a strange, vile familiar taste of what felt like cough medicine being poured into my mouth. I gagged a bit and coughed, the griffon yanking the bottle out of my muzzle, only to begin pouring the red liquid all over the gaping holes that wounded my very body, my shoulder and my back to be exact. Finishing it off, but as I was about to question his kindness for pouring some kind of sticky juice all over me, I flinched and clenched my teeth shut from the strange burning sensation that ran over my shoulder and back. It was a quick pain, that eased itself into nothing more than red bubbles that had formed over the bleeding wounds, and before I knew it, the wounds were nothing more than scars running over my grey hide, exposed by the torn holes that ran through my coat and jacket, and holy shit did I feel good! Way better than before! “W-wha? Um, thank you sir, but. Why did you help me?” I curiously asked, as I shakenly stood up, examining the new stranger. He was a large black feathered Griffon with a light grey lions hide; a large over coat, almost similar to mine, but his was strangely different, his was blue and slightly armored, metal bracelets surrounding both his wrist, some type of war metals hanging from his right chest, and some kind of gas masking, wrapped around his neck, hanging, as if prepared to survive harsh chemicals. He was standing on his hind paws, staring down at me, with both his talons holding onto a large rifle, far different from the ones that these ponies had, longer as well, if anything it could pass for a sniper without a scope. His eyes were a deep green and three feathers stuck out from his forehead, each feather having their tips slightly dyed red, or so it seemed, and to top everything off, he had a single long scar running down the left side of his eye, with his luck, he wasn’t blinded by it, but may have come close by the looks of it. This was not just any griffon, it was a valiant griffon, a griffon that stood high and tall, with his chest out, almost inspiring to say the least, the most civil being I have ever met to be honest, especially in a place like this. “Well, I was out here for a bit of sport and material scavenging, when the funniest thing happened. There I was making my way in this general direction, mmm~ about six miles from the nearest town, and I had remembered. I collected a bounty poster in my journey to capture a fiend by the name of Saber, oh devil of a raider I must say. ANYWAYS! I thought, well bollocks! Why not collect some caps for the journey, and make my way here; then out of the blue as I was about to make my entrance, I spot suspicious activity going on. Raiders, running and taking barricade outside of that building over there, before I saw you come right out, and face those ruffians, bare hoof and uh… shovel! Good show I say chap! Yet, I knew they would overpower you, with all due respect good sir. So I took the honor of taking aim with my fellow companion Silvia~ and provided some stealthy assistance, and I do say, I was a centimeter from piercing your very skull hah, oh that would have been bloody horrible hah yes, yes indeed!” His accent, kind of shocked me, I had never met any pony with that type of tone, and tongue, but in all honesty, it made him sound smart, and bold, and I respected him for it. As a matter of fact, I owed him my life. “I say chap, what in the devil were you doing in this part of the wasteland anyways?” He curiously asked me as he, himself began scanning me, examining my wears and gear, not seeming as impressed as I practically was of him. When he asked me, I blinked a few times and quickly made my way to the buildings full of hostages. “Quick over here, there is an entire room full of others! We got to save them!” I called out, as a red field of magic began forming over the knife and shovel I had so heroically attempted to fight with, floating them back to me as I made my way inside. It simply took that single response before the griffon was right behind me to help. “Bloody hell! Prisoners? This Saber chap was one loose screw from being a complete psycho!” He stated as he followed after me, becoming even more shocked as he saw the entire room filled with the prisoners of all types, mares, stallions, and fillies. “He was more than a psycho, he was a cannibal, a… uh Raider, fixed on the idea that mating with fillies and crying mares, while he ate their husbands and possibly them after was beyond the point of screw loose.” I used my knife to cut their binds apart, only to be quickly smacked by one of the mares, crying and glaring at me with the rest of the once helpless hostages. “Thanks a lot! Wannabe hero! You almost got us all killed! Next time, you want to save some pony, learn how to save yourself, you pathetic waste of skin!” Footnote: level up! New Perk: Speech Master - You now can receive unique dialogue that you normally couldn't. Author's Note Still a work in progress, i hope you guys enjoy chapter 3 heh. What is to become of our new adventurer, and what friends will he come to lose and gain?
