Fallout Equestria: Raider's Rise

Chapters

It Begins
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

It Begins

Chapter 1

Kiss. A simple kiss. What does it mean and what does it lead to. Does it remind one of where their first one was, or perhaps where their life changed. That’s what happened with me. A kiss. I woke up to a kiss from my stallion in my stable. Safe and sound. The lights were still off and the curtains drawn. The perfect way to wake up was a nuzzle and kiss. No sex, no foreplay; just cuddling with his forelegs across me and his hind leg between mine and over.

That was so long ago I barely remember his face. Now I wake up to a sting in my rear and the reminder of where I was. A raider camp, somewhere. Tied to the rusted floor with a tree stump under my belly so they can have access whenever they feel like; nails through my hooves to keep me in place. I’m swollen, sore, beaten and about to be raped again. I can’t even cry anymore and I don’t dare to use magic or they’ll beat me again and again until I beg like a foal for candy.

Candy would be nice right about now. “AH!” It’s the second patrol guard this time. I’m learning them by how they violate me. Sad, really. I don’t even know their faces or cutie marks, just how they rape me. Violate my backside like it’s nothing to them but a quick release. Vagina, anus, doesn’t matter. They know it’s not safe to violate my mouth now, though. I don’t have to taste their blood when I bite them and the beating I got was worth it. Rape. Handle with care.

Ha, he’s the quickest of them all. “Done already? Wimp,” I challenge him. They won’t break me. Ouch, ouch… Pulling out slow, he’s the deviously smart one when it comes to this. Knowing how much it hurts when he’s slow. Even his lubrication stings me with its saltiness and stink. I can’t help but whimper as he withdraws and I bet he thinks I enjoy it.

“Hey, get off her, you fucking cock!” a mare shouted to the colt that was on me.

It’s her. Gun Powder. That isn’t her name, but it has to sound tough to survive here. Out here in the wasteland that was supposed to be a garden of eden. What a fool I was, all of us were, to come out here and believe the Overstallion of its safety and plenty. I haven’t even seen anything green since I’ve been out here.

Well, there’s the one that kisses my dock before he mounts me. His coat is green. Bit that’s not what I mean. I wish I had somepony to talk to more often.

“Are you okay, Cunt?” Powder asks me like she doesn’t know the answer. I guess this’ how she started, too. “I guess not. I have some water to wash you, it’s not that clean but it’s better than nothing.” I feel her lift my tail and grunt. I must look awful back there. She’s the nicest pony I’ve met out here and she’s still the one that lashes my side when I act up.

The warm water washing over my backside hurts like always and my pipbuck is clicking, letting me know I’m being irradiated. “Thank you,” I mumbled after the second pouring, “it’s nice to know somepony cares.”

“A couple of us do. It’s almost over, Cunt. Only a little more of this and you’ll be let loose. Remember what I told you,” she reminded me, “act broken and do what they tell you. Eat what they offer. Go where they point. Okay?” Yeah, like I’m their slave. Give me an opening and I’ll kill every male here. I… don’t know if I can do that. Murder or self defense doesn’t matter. I’ll be taking a life.

“Yeah,” I replied weakly. I can see my health is low in my pipbuck readout. The golden bars are the only thing I have to look at sometimes in my HUD besides the other readouts and if they knew about the radio they’d cut off my left foreleg. I know they would. I can’t let them know I listen to DJ Pon3. The music is all I have to keep me from going insane and giving in; breaking.

“There ya go, Cunt. You’re not looking so good, I’ll give you some Med-X to take the sting away, but the next stallion might be rough. I’m almost out of meds for ya, Cunt.”

“My name’s Swatter- AH!” she just slapped my fucking pussy! Why the fuck?!

“Your name is Cunt until you earn something better or the leader says otherwise!”

“Yeah, whatever.”

She was silent for almost twenty seconds before she leaned closer to my head. “I’m sorry, I had to. I’ll try to keep you alive until they’re done with you. Don’t use magic and take their meat, it’s almost over. Trust me, we’re here for you.” Then she was gone from my ear and slapped me too hard on my cutie mark with her cracked and broken hoof. I felt blood trickling down my leg and a stallion laugh in the distance.

I know it’s blood. I know I bleed from my special place after they’re done with me. I didn’t at first, but I know I’m so swollen and raw. I haven’t even peed for two days. What the hell does that say about me? About my health?

“I’m ready, you fucking pigs!” I scream in defiance, “do your worst!”

“Don’t ask for it,” a stallion in the distance calls, “or you’ll be begging for it me to stop,” he said with a haughty laugh. Others joined in. Six of them. Four males and two females, plus a couple scouts that take me for their three thrusts and then go back out into the wasteland for whatever they look for. All I can do is pray no other pony comes here to be my replacement. I wouldn’t wish this on anypony.

The water felt good on my swollen backside. I’m thankful for Powder, I think I need a talk with her later. Maybe after I’m free I can escape and take her with me. Wait, no. She’s the one who nailed my hooves to the floor. She’s as bad as them, we’re just females and we stick together… sort of.

“Two weeks,” I mumble out loud to myself. That’s how long I’ve been here. I left my stable like a fool. We were all fools to believe the Overstallion that this place was safe and full of life. The seven of us were supposed to explore the area outside the stable and I think I’m the only one alive. Worse yet is that the stable can hear everything happening to me. They stopped sending me messages to hang in there and they’re praying for me to be set free days ago.

I can’t believe what they’ve heard being done to me. It’s probably terrified them from ever leaving the stable again. I hope we get another Overmare. Mares are better leaders anyway. Gosh, I hope I get released soon. I’ve been looking at the same patch of rusted metal and old wood for over a week. I wanna move and use a toothbrush, the small things in life I took for granted. Even a shower of irradiated water would be nice to wash the filth from my coat.

Am I light blue or blue that’s been coated white? I can’t even see myself anymore… this is the worst way to live, or die. Great. I’m getting philosophical again. What else is there? The same four songs on the radio? The sound of hoofsteps around the little encampment here? I can try to count the steps again… but no. I guess it’s rest and sleep.

I woke up to a hammer cracking into the tip of my hoof and my own scream of pain. Normally hooves aren’t too sensitive on the outside, which helped when they nailed them all to the wooden floorboards… but I felt that strike up to my postern. I lifted my head for the first time in a week and gasped at the stiffness in my neck before I screamed right in the face of the stallion with the hammer.

“I’ll kill you, you coward! I’ll fucking kill you!” He looked at me as tears leaked from my eyes and down my cheeks before a quiet chuckle left the back of his throat and spread around me. I looked around with my eyes and slowly turned my neck to see a dozen or more raiders behind me. My tail fell and tried to cover my aching marehood. I felt my ears fall and my heart ached at the thought of what they were going to do to me.

“Cut her loose, Soda, we’ve got ourselves a new member,” the lead stallion said, “and let her keep her hooves. Don’t need a hobbler to slow us down.”

With a satisfied grunt the hammer was turned around in his mouth and placed to the head of the nail and rocked against my hoof sending cracks across the front of it. It hurt, but I’d live. Then he did my other forehoof and I stood. Oh goodness did it hurt to stand and move. My belly was formed to the log and I lost some good fur getting my belly off it, but the feeling of freedom was worth it.

Soda freed my rear hooves and trotted to my front. Before he could say anything I recognized his hoofsteps as the colt that loved to make my anus bleed. I wasted no time and turned the hammer in his mouth and shoved it down his throat with my magic. The claw end would make sure it’d stay put as I reared. It hurt like I was being torn apart, but landing with both of my hooves on his forelegs was worth it. The flesh tore and blood sprayed out onto my own forelimbs as he gagged on his own blood. Cheering erupted behind me and I was ready to have my beating, after I gave him one. Before they could get me I’d get him; I bucked back so they’d think before grabbing me and making me their toy again. I raised my pipbuck high and brought it down onto Soda’s head with a gut wrenthcing crack. He fell to the floor, his head bouncing twice as his body twitched.

He was still alive and would live if he got any medical assistance, but I didn’t care. I raised my hoof and pressed it to his cracked skull and pressed lightly. I could’ve killed him with a twist, but I didn’t have it in me. I spit on him as I lifted my hoof and lay back down. I listened as the cheering entered my mind. Some kind of coins were dropped behind me but I didn’t care. I waited for the ropes to return.

Instead I got a sharp stinging pain in my rump and a filling sensation… but this time it wasn’t like being raped. I was getting a shot? I felt a rush of energy and my backside stopped hurting, my hooves healed the oozing cracks, and my body felt fresher than it did a few seconds ago.

“Get up, Cunt! You’re one of us and I can’t wait to see what you have to offer,” Powder said with a rotten smile. I never really saw her but I knew her breath and now I knew why it stank. She only had a few teeth missing but the ones she had were rotten in a way I’d never hope to experience.

She was purple. Twilight Sparkle purple with a dirty yellow mane. Gross. The variety of ponies around me was marred by how similar they were. The filth, uncleanliness, and harshness of this world was all over them. I took a careful step back, then another until I stepped free of the log and turned away from it. I hated that log. Despised it. I bucked it hard and sent it rolling back, over the husk of the stallion I’d nearly killed… and killed him.

It wasn’t really me that killed him, it was the log, right? I felt more coins hit my hooves and looked down. There must have been twenty bottle caps at my hooves. I was ushered away and a plate of… something was held in front of me. I didn’t wait and gobbled it like it was the last thing I’d eat and didn’t even savor the taste of cram coated with sugar apple bombs. I had just killed a pony and one of their own and they didn’t even care? Raiders were crazy, psychotic! But they made good food. Yum.

I wonder what they’d have me do first? Something horrible, probably. A stallion placed a hat on my head and whispered in my ear. “Conga.”

“Huh?” I asked before a pony grabbed my hindquarters and I tensed up, ready to be plowed in a freshly healed hole. But I heard a musical instrument and a steady rhythm that wasn’t sexual at all. I felt a push behind me and stumbled as the pony shoved me to the beat. I looked back to see either the whole gang having a sex train, or they were actually dancing.

I couldn’t help but smile at the irony. These horrible rapists, murderers, thieves were dancing with my as the leader? I reared and took to my rear hooves and boxed the air with a whinney and landed, taking steps to the beat I laughed at my freedom. My not being raped. My life that was spared and the horrible pony I inadvertantly killed.

The rest of the night was the biggest party I’d been a part of with alcohol, food, sex for those that wanted it, and bottlecaps were traded. I had had several drinks and had taken my caps in a bag and fallen asleep hugging the bag to my chest.

I woke up vomiting my last meal out onto some mare next to me. She was out for the count and disgusting enough as it was, so I got up and moved to another spot. The encampment was almost full of raiders and a few mostly sober guards did their job. They actually ignored me and I didn’t care. I noticed that my hair was pulling and stinging all over my back and sides. The cum, damnit. Still a reminder of what I’ve been through. How long until I could wash it out? Not soon enough.

“Hey, Cunt. You got a name?” a mare asked me from a pile of orgy exhausted ponies. The mark of the stallions all over the area was a dead giveaway.

“Swatter.”

“Heh, I like it. That’s a raiders name for sure. Anyone fucks with you you’ll swat them with a fucking log,” she chuckled and lay her head down, nuzzling some stallion’s sheathed member before she burped. I left her there, I wanted to leave them all, but where would I go now? What would I do without resources or friends. How far would I get with a bag of bottle caps and no currency. What if caps are the currency? It hadn’t come up, but makes some sense. Not a lot, but some.

I walked to where the dead raider had been butchered and what was left was just, awful. I whispered an apology to him, only for taking his life though. He deserved to die for everything he did to me. I snarled and looked at what was left of his corpse and the hammer they left in his maw and turned away. He wasn’t worth any more than that apology from me.

I found a spot near where I was raped and violated for those weeks and lay down. As much as I hated it, I was most comfortable there. I hugged the bag close to me and fell back asleep.

I woke up to a warm feeling on my back and hummed. It was nice, like a shower. In the wasteland? Crap! I rolled to my belly and looked at a stallion that was almost done peeing, his eyes closed and a dull look on his face. He seriously was sleep peeing?! What else was wrong with these ponies. I didn’t know what time it was but I wasn’t tired anymore. I’d been peed on a few times, but it’s not something one can just shake off. At least it cleaned some of the hardened sperm from my hide.

I sighed deeply and looked up to the clouded sky and the light that was starting to crest the horizon. Beyond the wall of the sky was the sun and heavens we’d read about in books and seen in short videos. I didn’t know it was clouded like this and if I’d known I wouldn’t have chosen this mission.

I started to make my way to the edge of the encampment and stopped. Maybe I’d be shot for crossing the line. Maybe I needed to die. I… was nearly broken as it was. I crossed the imaginary line and kept walking. “Be careful out there,” one guard said to me and cocked his rifle, “there’s beasties out at night. Ya gotta shit, or something?”

“...No, just walking. Stretching my legs.”

“Oh yeah, you’re the new member. Better stretch them legs than your hole, right, Cunt?”

“Swatter,” I corrected him. Cunt wasn’t going to be my name.

“Cunt Swatter? I like it. I’ll pass it on.”

“Whatever,” I shook my head slightly and smirked at how stupid these ponies were. I could run back to my stable in a couple days and they wouldn’t even chase me, I bet. But as I looked at the brown sea of lifeless land before me it dawned on me that I was one of them, for the moment. They weren’t trying to kill me and I couldn’t survive on my own with nothing but a bag of caps. About thirty of them. What was the cost of things? Food, water, saddlebags or clothes? My barding was shredded when I was being… I need to stop thinking of what happened to me, it’s not healthy.

I need a way to get away from these ponies. I’m not a raider, I’m a pony. A sensible pony that… I knew those hoofsteps. Proud and confident, the gentle one that ploughed me gently and then one twice after I had swollen almost shut. I turned to the right to see him, a pale blue stallion with a necklace of unicorn horns and a tattered blanket across his back covering most of his white mane and sides.

I was slightly smitten by him, if only because he was the nicest colt I’d met out here so far, and that was based on how gently he raped me. Something must have been wrong with me to think like that. I didn’t smile at him, though. I kept my neutral expression as he stopped a couple lengths away and poked at the ground.

“H-howdy, ma’am. Ah’m called Blue Balls, never caught your name,” he was so uncertain it was almost cute. I couldn’t say anything though, it was awkward enough being allowed to live and become a sudden member of this group of horrible ponies. Now I swear that this colt was flirting with me. “Well, Ah’m rightly sorry fer what Ah did to ya before. Never thought you’d live this long… Not that I was hopin’ you’d…” he paused and shook his head, “just, it’s nice ta see yer alive’n well. This place changes us all, it’s nice ta know yer not gone,” he tapped his temple and the first thing I thought of was smashing his temple with the horns on his necklace. Something might be wrong with me… Mixed feelings so far.

“It’s nice to meet you, Balls. I’ll see you later,” I said meekly. I can’t let him know that I’m not broken, not yet. I turned to face him and backed away, lowering my head as I left him. He turned back to the encampment and disappeared in the crowd of sleeping ponies. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. Only that I had to survive anyway I knew how. I could use my magic now, for all the good it got me. First thing I did was killed one of my rapists, won’t mom be proud of me?

I turned back the way I came and spotted the pony I’d bitten when he tried to shove it in my mouth and down my throat. He was a guard and glaring at me. I felt my marehood clench tight at I stared him down and approached him. Neither one of us broke our gaze as I reached him and woke several ponies by walking over them and stepping on them.

A few complained but stopped when they noticed the look on my face. They know the look better than I did. I stopped a length away and willed myself to not blink. I wonder how many times he was behind me. Was he the one who peed on me? Was he the one who picked up my droppings and rubbed them into my mane?

“Hey, Cunt. Nice to see you’re walking normal, come for a free ride?” he grumbled at me. And that was it. I used my magic to tug his darn red mane down to the ground as I reared and kicked at his head with my forehooves, aiming for his eyes and cheeks. I wasn’t new to combat, and I know what hurts the most. Thanks to my broken hooves I managed to blind him quickly and send blood spilling from his face as he screamed and dropped his rifle.

I picked it up and pressed the barrel into one of his eye sockets and fumbled with the firing of it. He reared and knocked the gun to the ground and swiped blindly at me but was in no shape to fight. All he did was started to scream profanities and bleed. I heard the cheering again and a moment later they were all shouting ‘Cunt Swatter’ in a chant. That wasn’t my name, damnit. I picked up the gun and looked at it, bit onto it’s trigger like an earth pony would, then it fired.

A chunk of his hind knee splattered and he fell to the floor as I aimed the gun at his head. I should have ended his suffering but I wasn’t a monster, I couldn’t kill every pony that’d raped me. I’d never know them all and some of these might be useful in keeping me alive, so I spat the gun to the ground and turned away, giving him a final treat of finally peeing for the first time in days, right onto his injured head.

His scream was louder than the crowd and I have to admit that I was ashamed, but I kept peeing until my bladder was empty. It was more than I’d ever let go and I think I got a lot of cred because the gang fell silent when I walked past them, through them, and around them. It was almost eerily quiet as I made my way back to where I was nailed to the floor and looked at the dead pony again. I pulled the hammer a bit and felt my stomach turn as I heard his jaw cracking around the tool so I pushed it in deeper and then pulled it from a meaty hole in his ribs. It was covered in blood and meat from him. I dropped the hammer from my inspections when I felt a pony touch my side. I spun with a raised hoof that connected with a welding helmet, and I lost another piece of my hoof as the pony stumbled back.

“Hey, Swatter, ya can’t kill every pony ya don’t like,” Powder said as she lifted the helmet. I sniffled and lunged her into a tight hug. I knew this could be the moment they saw me as weak and I didn’t care. I’d just pissed on a pony that I’d blinded, I killed a pony a few hours before and before that I was a sex toy. I let it all out in a series of roars, grunts, whines, and blubbering.

The whole time I didn’t see any pony staring at me and she held me close through it all. It was more than enough to make me feel like a pony again, but different at the same time. I felt warm in her embrace and even though I didn’t wanna stop it, I let her go before I was done crying and moved away from her. I thanked her and picked the hammer back up. She lowered the helmet again and lowered herself into a combat crouch.

I turned and brought the hammer down onto the head of the pony I’d killed again and again as I finished my bout of self-pity and sorrow. I’d pulverized his head into chunks held together by what meat was left and moved the hammer beside me, held in my magic. “I need saddlebags,” I said flatly.

“I’ll get you some,” Powder said as she backed off and left me alone. Ponies stared at me but stayed clear as I spun the hammer around in my magic and looked at it and the bits of pony that were on it. I couldn’t believe that these ponies had skinned and taken so much meat from a barely dead pony. It looked like a carcase that had been picked at for a couple days by buzzards.

I felt the saddlebag hit my side and I startledly looked at it, then Powder. “Got yer bag, Chief. What’s the plan?”

“Ch-chief?” Well, it sounded better than Cunt Swatter.

“That pony you beat up? Former chief, Armor Sentry. He was some soldier that took over, and you beat him, so now you’re the boss of the group.”

My mind blanked for a second or ten. “Huhbazuhwah?”

“The first day you’re in charge is to get you used to your position. We’re raiders, not savages. We have rules, rights, laws, everything a society needs. Ours are just more bloody. After your second day anypony can challenge you for leadership if they want to try it. You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into, so I’ll help you out.”

“Uhm, hawah? Uh, ahem… what?” I asked looking at the pony being hauled away with no hope of a successful life. “Well, first thing’s first, round up all the colts that raped me,” I told her as I began to slip the saddlebags onto my body.

“Uh, shouldn’t you learn the laws and rules of our tribe before-”

“Just do it. I’ll learn as I go for a while. This’ a joke, right? Hazing the new pony?”

“I wish. Sentry was an asshole, but he ran a good operation. The first thing you’re going to do is murder every rapist we have? Bold,” she turned to begin gathering them, “stupid, but bold.”

“Wait, I didn’t want them killed,” I said looking at her with some shock, “just, I want apologies. No mare should have to have that happen to them in the first place, but an apology and community service has always worked.”

“Yeah,” she turned back to me, “in the stable. What you don’t know is that out here you’ve gotta stay strong or you’ll be eaten alive, and that’s a serious statement, CS.”

“CS? … Oh, my name. That’s not my name,” I started but she raised a hoof to silence me, “but it has to be… crap.” She nodded to me and gestured for me to conitnue. “You know, you’re a lot more civilized than I thought you’d be, no offence.”

“Nah, not all of us were born into this. My father,” she said taking a seat beside me as I put the hammer into the strap of my saddlebags, “was a caravaner. He and my family went across Equestria trading whatever we had. I was traded too; It turned out that nothing was off the market for my mother. I was worth two hundred caps and a good quality brahmin so they could carry more stuff.

“After a few trades and time as a slave I was skinny enough to slip out of my collar and ran away. I joined up with a raider group near Hoofington before they melted in some stupid raid. I was enough of a filly, so I became a Crusader for a while before getting caught by a group of slavers and was taken to the south where I was freed by a raider pack and brought into their family the same way you were.”

“So, every mare-”

“Is raped into the tribe? No, just the unlucky ones. Some fight their way in, others trade. Still, most are born into this life and don’t know anything. Most raiders are in gangs of just a few that have no rules and do whatever they want; even canabalism.” She smiled when I winced at the thought of it.

“So, we have rules? Against canabalism?”

She leaned and nuzzled my neck. “No, we have to survive and food can be hard to come by. Mmm, tasty,” she said softly. She laughed as I backed away quickly. “Just kidding, kind of. While we’re not for it, we’re not against it. The meat eaters don’t live off the stuff, since we’re ponies and can’t digest it right, but a bite now and then won’t kill us,” she said chomping her teeth at me.

I was officially uncomfortable now. I stood and kept an eye on her as she began to tell me the rules and laws of the tribe. I found out there was a lot more to them than just raping, murdering crazies. They actually were a small society with some aspects of civilization… but it was a lot of kill or be killed. I could be challenged to a fight, or attacked at random. If I lost, died, or gave up my position was theirs.

My sparing the former chief showed that I was a violent but compassionate mare… I’d have gelded him if I’d had a little more time, but pissing on him showed that I had little mercy to give. I was in the right spot to rule, even if I didn’t want to. I couldn’t pass it on anypony else, and I was here for the long haul if I wanted to live.

So, there I was. A total mess of a mare in a half dozen ways, empty inside from what I’d done to two colts, and the leader of a tribe of raiders. What else could happen to me today?

Turns out a lot. First I was a sex toy, then healed by some chemical concoction called Hydra. Then I killed two ponies and became the leader of a tribe of civilized raiders… then I met the stallion I’d fall in love with. His name was Falling Sun, a pegasus that was the kindest pony I’d ever been raped by. Gosh, that sounds sick: I need a therapist, badly.

Before I knew it he was following me and Powder around like a cat that was after some Brahmin milk. He didn’t say anything and tried to stay hidden, but being blue didn’t help him hide in the small encampment. I stopped and hid, giving him time to sneak close enough for me to give him a more formal introduction by slapping his side lightly enough to let him know I knew he was following me.

“What’re you doing, following us?” Powder asked him with a sneer as she raised a hoof. I didn’t notice she had a horseshoe with spiked on the bottom until then. A punch would rend flesh instantly. I really needed some barding.

“S-sorry! Ah, just wanted to make sure Swatter was okay… ya know, after everything.”

“She’s fine, Cock. Get out of here before I-”

“No, wait,” I said to her as I looked at the blanket covering his wings move, “what’s that?”

“My wings,” he said with some growing pride.

“I’ll rip them off if you don’t-”

“Wings? So, you’re a pegasus?” I asked.

“Are you even listening to-”

“Yup. Reckon I was since birth. Born ‘n raised down here,” he stomped the floor once and stood taller with a smile.

“Well, good for you. I need a guard, you want it?”

“Hey, why aren’t you listening to-”

“Um, I-I don’t know. You’re doing fine yourself,” he said.

I looked to Powder and smirked. “I need a lieutenant, interested?” That shut her up, she stammered and worked her jaw in silence. “I’m starting a militant organization, if you don’t like it you can offer some advice, but I need a leadership team and you,” I looked to powder, “are tough and kind while you,” I looked to Sun and then glanced to the sky, “can keep a lookout for dangers to me and the tribe.”

They looked at each other then to me. “You’re crazy,” Powder said flatly, “you plan to change everything in a day? It can’t happen, you’ll be killed first thing in the morning.”

“She’s right, no pony wants to change the world in a day, much less a group of raiders. We’re raiders, there’s an insanity that comes with what we do. We can’t organize.”

I smirked at him and turned to walk past him, keeping my tail low and covering my parts as I found a place to get everyponies attention. “Ponies, wake up and listen to your new boss,” I shouted. They didn’t really move until I pulled the bloodied hammer from my side, “now or I’ll kill you myself!”

That got them moving to wake up the rest and look at me with their filthy bodies and expressions. I noticed most were so thin I could count their ribs and took note I’d become the same way over the past weeks. All the filling I got should have- Stop it, brain.

“I’m the boss, so the first thing I’m doing is assigning Powder here to be my right hoof mare and Blue Balls here,” there was a chuckling through the crowd, “as my personal guard. I need a few leaders to step forward!” They looked amongst each other and finally a couple pushed their way to the front.

“That’s it? Two leaders out of all you?! Fine, you’re my sergeants! You’re top of the bottom,” I pointed to the two who pointed to themselves, then each other in confusion, “when you’re given a command you and your group will do it in the best way you know how,” I sneered at them and looked to Powder with a frown, “by raiding.”

A cheer rose from the crowd.

“Split into two groups behind your leader, ponies!” they complied and I had a platoon just like that. If I had a way to, I’d have ribbed Powder. Instead I stood as tall as I could and looked amongst the twenty ponies below me. I had my own small army, and all it took was ten minutes… maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing.

Chapter 2

The light in my eyes blinded me for nearly thirty seconds. I held my pipbuck up to cover my eyes and lowered it as the bright pain faded. I wasn’t the first to take a step out of the tunnel from the stable, and I wasn’t the last, but I kept walking with hint of pride as my vision cleared. A face was peering at me and made me hop back into another body. “Oh my, um, hello?” I said meekly. “I wasn’t expecting to meet anypony so-” I was stopped by a heavy shove from behind and I stumbled forward and stopped with my chin on the pony that was in front of me.

His clothes stank of things I couldn’t identify, and poop. I looked around and saw five more rotting toothed faces looking at me. I didn’t feel comfortable all of a sudden. “Um, I’m sorry, your friend bumped me-”

“Aw, look fella’s, she’s nuzzlin’ me!” the one I was removing myself from shouted. He bit into my mane too hard and I shouted in pain as I was shoved from behind again. The pusher was holding my flanks as I was pushed again, this time his forelimb brushed against my teats and I yelped, looking back.

I was being mounted. I bucked him off and turned to run away only to trip over a skeleton. Bleached nearly white by the white and grey sky. I looked into the empty eye sockets of a unicorn pony and stumbled, landing chest first into some muddy water. I heard my pipbuck start clicking as I was surrounded by the ponies.

“We gotta runner!” one of the hollered as I was bucked, hard, in the side. I coughed as I rolled to my side and looked into a cracked hoof, in desperate need of a filing, as it rushed toward my face. I knew this wasn’t going to be the experience I was prepared for at all. The hoof connected and I felt it as though I were in SATS.

Time slowed to a crawl as I saw a flash of white and felt teeth popping loose from my gums. I felt the sting of the hoof as it ripped some of my flesh and I know I heard them laughing and cheering as I fell flat into the water with a splash that covered me with irradiated wetness. My pipbuck clicked. Clicked. Clicked. That was all I could hear as I gasped a mouthful of water and sat up enough to cough my lungs clear and my mouth free of blood.

The laughing. The laughing that they made at me was terrible enough, but the stench of their breath was enough to rust the walls in the stable with a single breath. The stable! Maybe I could make it back, maybe I could get back in… maybe they’d let me back in and fight these monster ponies back and heal me. I’d be in the embrace of my stallion in the medbay and before I knew it life would go back to the way it was.

I wasn’t being mounted in the disgusting water, held down with a hoof on each of my limbs and my chin being held up by the strength in my neck only. I wasn’t being violated, he wasn’t…

I shook my head and looked around at the ponies around me. Powder was talking with Blue. I don’t care what his name is, if I’m gonna be called Cunt Swatter, he can be Blue Balls. With a yawn I stretched my limbs and stood up taking a few steps toward the firepit that was burnt down. I looked at the ponies around; they were just having fun so, what’d that mean about my leadership? About how they saw me?

“Where’s the old boss?” I asked openly. A couple looked at me and their ears fell while the rest ignored me. Colts. When will they learn? A mare only has so far to be pushed before she breaks, and I broke in the wrong way. I pulled my hammer free and swung it down hard onto the knee of a mare that had ignored me. It wasn’t enough to break her leg, but she’d feel it for a while.

As she screamed I turned the hammer to the clawed end and held it next to my head and glared at a stallion, singling him out. “Where, is the old, boss?” I asked slowly, making sure he knew he heard me over her cursing and grunting. I was impressed she didn’t scream and cry like I would have, but that’s what a life out here will do to anypony.

“He’s by the watering hole, we left him to die in the sun. Should be about there,” he smiled. Gosh I wanted to smash his teeth in… what was left of them. He saw the look in my eye and closed his mouth and grimaced. “Ma’am.”

I put away my hammer and pushed my way through the crowd of ponies to the edge of the encampment, then looked around and behind me. The ponies respected me? Why, because I was a monster? I felt my heart drop a little as I looked around and saw a pony in the distance lying about. Might be him, I figured, so I went for a walk.

I caught up to the blinded and dying former boss, looking down at him as his ears slowly turned to me. “Here to kill me, or rape me again? Whatever you got ain’t nothin’ to me.”

“No,” I said quietly enough to make him freeze and look over to my with empty eyes oozing black and white fluids, “I’m here to see you before you die… I’m sorry.”

He rasped a cough and laughed. “For what? You followed your instincts and took my place, good luck staying alive for a week,” he coughed dryly.

“I don’t care, I shouldn’t have hurt you and I don’t need your forgiveness. I just had to say it.”

“...What? I...” He fell silent and I left him like that and I swear I heard him forgive me, but I didn’t care. I was a murderer now. Two ponies had died by my hooves and there wasn’t any going back, I was a raider now. A monster. A broken mare who would be dead soon, by the hooves another pony who wanted my job. I stopped and looked back to the blinded and infected pony behind me and shook my head. The least I could offer him was some peace. I returned to the encampment and told a random mare to give him some attention before he died.

She didn’t hesitate to call me every version of bitch I could think of and a few new ways, before she left me and did what I told her to. Sex was as good as currency, I guess. Might as well let them all know I’m willing to trade if I have to. These aren’t normal mares, these mares do this all the time and for whatever they need. I know how the world works out here, I’ve learned even though I was nailed and tied to a floor, raped and…

Stop it, brain.

I listened, I learned, I know a lot more than they think I do. I can use that to my advantage until I can get home to my stable. Maybe get a new life in some place that’s safe and peaceful, with farmable land and a nice creek with fresh water. Ugh, great, now I’m fantasizing about nothing.

These ponies are simple and violent. I can’t change them, but I can control them until I can figure out somewhere to hide away. There’s gotta be a garden or paradise out here that I can slip into and-

“Hey, boss?” A mare called to me, snapping me back to the horrible reality I was in. “We got a caravan coming by soon! You want us ta take it?!” she grinned with several missing teeth. I never thought I’d see a pony’s tongue through their teeth like that.

“Talk to your sergeant first. Follow the chain of command or I’ll break your knees and leave you to die like the old boss!”

She grinned and nodded to me, then turned and cantered to the leader of her group who slapped her for whatever reason and that led to a fight. I turned away and went to my spot, a pillow that wasn’t too rotten and Blue by my side. I watched the fight for a couple minutes before I actually got bored and told a nearby pony to stop the fight.

A small gang jumped in the melee and the fight was over. A few good bites, a couple good cuts, and a bit of an ear was missing from the mare I’d sent to her leader was it. The sergeant, Low Chopper, what was with these names? He came to me and spit her ear at my hooves and I took a step back as it flopped to a stop under me, between my forelegs.

I looked back to him and listened as he began to explain what the mare told me; the caravans were coming. It was up to me to attack them or let them pass. I could tell from the look on his face that he was ready to fight me on the spot for my position, or he’d poison me.

Whatever the case, I had to attack the caravan to spare my life. But how to do it? I had to plan.

“They’ll be here soon, what’s the plan… boss?”

Crap. I had a few minutes, not hours, to plan. I just let nature take its course, I guess. “Capture them, do what you must to them and bring the supplies here. And, let two of them go so they can tell their friends about us.”

“About ‘us’?” he asked.

“Yes, we’re going to become organized and take over the area. No pony will be able to travel through for free. They’ll have to pay, or die.” I turned my side to him and looked to the barren horizon. He turned and returned to his gathered peers and a minute later they organized into squads and left the encampment to do the horrible deeds that they did.

I made several mistakes with my little speech. First, was that I didn’t tell them to not rape and maul the survivors, the second was how in Tartarus was I supposed to take over the region? Random thoughts began to flow through my mind including how I was now missing teeth and how I missed my friends. I should have been focusing on survival and not being monsters, but instead I’m here letting my mind wander.

I just want to get revenge on the colts that hurt me. I didn’t see them here, maybe they’re wandering the lands and bragging about me. I’ll never forget the five that took me in that irradiated puddle the first time. The taste of their semen was enough to make me want to vomit, but I just started being toothy. I know my stallion didn’t like when I let my teeth brush his member, so I just let it happen until they stopped. And when they kept trying I let them know my mouth wasn’t a toy and bit one of them. I wish I could have taken it off, but a few scratches was enough for both of us.

I’m glad I have flat teeth, but just once having sharp teeth would have been nice.

Stop distracting me!

I stomped my hoof on the floor hard and looked around. Apparently I’d made a bit of a scene, somehow, and all eyes were on me. I looked at Powder and she had her mouth open in stunned silence, Blue was the same. “What?” was all I could ask.

A stallion came up to me and reached to place a hoof on me in a comforting way and the hammer met the frog of his hoof and all I could do was scream in a panic for him to not touch me as the hammer swung in my magic wildly at him. He fell back and ponies grabbed me with magic to restrain me to no effect. I was tackled by Powder and the hammer flung from my magical grip as I thudded to the floor, her scrawny weight on me.

“Boss, what the hell?! You can’t kill every colt we have!”

“Why not?! It’s what they deserve! I’ll get them, I’ll get them ALL! Every single one that hurt me will pay!”

“You sound crazed,” Blue mumbled, “and that’s what we need!” he shouted, “A crazy boss is better than a mean boss! Hear hear!” The crowd changed from hapless grinning at my wanton violence to a short cheer for Blue’s words. “For too long we’ve had bosses that’ve been male and mean, but none willing to take risks! We have a boss that just may be what we need! Let’s hear it for out boss!”

The crowd went into a murmur before one pony shouted my name. “Boss Cunt Swatter!”

The entire camp roared with that goddess awful name and I was branded Cunt Swatter ever since. Boss Cunt Swatter. What a wasteland name. Filthy, just like me. I let my mind wander on what my mothers and father would say to my name now and sighed, felt a single tear escape and sting like a bitch, then I got up and grabbed my hammer, placing it back into my strap. I looked at the stallion I’d beaten and his broken forelimb he was cradling. A couple good bruises were forming under his brown coat and who knows how bad he was hurting where I didn’t see…

“Get him cleaned and healed, I need every body we can get. We’re cleansing the area of all life that isn’t pony and isn’t us. Gather patrols and kill everything, loot it for all you can, and bring it all back here. We need everything we can get, so don’t waste any time.”

I didn’t know who I was talking to but I heard several grunts in agreement before I heard hooves clopping and shuffling away. I stared into the wasteland around us and to the humping forms in the distance and remembered how quickly everything had changed. I prayed for my friends to be alive and well, or dead and spared of this nightmare. Then I placed myself in the moment and made the hardest choice I think I’d ever made: I needed to be a boss. A raider boss.

I went to the makeshift bed that was a few once cardboard boxes and lay upon them, my hammer poked my side so I adjusted myself and lay my head on my forelimbs and took in my apparent fate. It was still early in the day, the mare that’d let the old boss have one last release was back with her tail low and a sneer on her face at me, and I was ready to sleep for the rest of the year. It was too much for me, almost.

I dozed to an uncomfortable sleep, thankful that I wouldn’t be mounted or bothered while I rested my poor mind. My dreams were of me walking in a field of green grass under a sun that Celestia controlled still, and I saw a bird. A real bird! Then I remembered where I was in real life and the grass burnt away, the bird shriveled into ash. The sun set quickly and glowing clouds took its place. It wasn’t a nightmare, but it wasn’t pleasant. I began to walk, wander, and starve to death; alone and forgotten.

I woke up slowly under a tarp made of tattered plastic and some Brahmin hide to shield me from the sun and smiled. I looked around and the encampment was nearly empty, save for a few guards I’d love to geld and my two right hoof ponies. “Thanks,” I said stronger than I had earlier, “I needed that. And for the cover.”

“It wasn’t our idea,” Blue said from the side of a barrel he was leaning against nonchalantly, “they respect you. I haven’t seen it for a while, but you inspire them. They want to do more than just survive, and you’re giving them a chance to live; even if it is doing little more than the usual.”

“At least they have guidance,” Powder spoke up from the other side of the barrel. I didn’t see her, but knew she was there. “They usually have free reign and don’t know what to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if they let three caravaneers live as a show of mercy.”

“Better than nothing,” I said to myself. Time passed and all we did was talk about the territory around us. I had the old bosses stuff, which was mostly three hundred and forty two caps, several blunt weapons that were crap, a couple guns that were on the verge of breaking and I didn’t trust them, so they were as good as blunt objects, too.

The one saving grace was some old armor that had seen a lot of wear. It fit loosely and smelled like a stallion, but it would keep me safe from blunt attacks to my body and stabs to my barrel. I was still susceptible to bullets, but I wasn’t too worried about that at the moment. It seemed most weapons were poor quality, except the gun I’d used to blind my predecessor. I’d wager whoever stole it during my beating of him was grinning. It was shiny, so it was well kept up and probably the best weapon I’d have seen.

I wasn’t about to disarm my troops, so once this pony died I’d have it back. I just had to work with Powder to find out who and send them on a mission with her. She’d take the weapon and dispose of the thief, problem solved. I’d have a new gun and be a body short. Maybe that was a bad idea, in fact, it was a bad idea. Powder and Blue told me so and I knew it, but sometimes it’s good to hear that an idea is bad before you put it into action.

Well, I’d have to wait to get my weapon and until then I’d just have to make due. My first day was almost over and tomorrow I could be challenged for the position. I didn’t like it, but if I had to be one of those idiots I’d die too soon. No, I needed to know if my friends were dead. I was so self focused when I was captured I hadn’t seen or heard too much from the others. There were six of us, two males and four females. I saw Silver Glow taken, screaming, around a boulder while the stallions were beaten. That’s all I remember from before and during my first raping… No, don’t go there. I winced as I flashed back to it again.

I needed a therapist really bad. But, all I could do was lean on the barrel and talk with the other two about my feelings at the moment, which they listened to and understood. They let me know that tomorrow from the moment the sun rose I couldn’t talk like that anymore. If I had an issue it’d have to be taken up in private with a trusted pony, and I understood right away but let her explain why to me.

I didn’t have the energy to say I was smarter than I looked and they thought. I wasn’t much for strength and my magic was good enough since I was trained in basic combat and defense as an explorer from the stable, but I was smart and I would use that to my advantage by playing dumb or average. I was just an average light blue mare with purple mane that happened to get lucky.

Now I had to keep my position. Gosh, I feel like I’m rambling more than storytelling, and maybe I am. It was a lot to go through, you know. Well, I was surprised to see two Brahmin being led back to the encampment, loaded with stuff and with several beaten ponies in tow. They didn’t kill them all and it was a great sight to see.

The Brahmin had two heads, which was creepy as hell, and they were deformed with massive udders that I hoped no pony drank from, but they looked healthy enough. The stuff they carried was covered, but I knew it was a great haul and there were a half dozen raiders holding guard. They got near the encampment and stopped, raised their weapons and led the captured over to me.

“We got ‘em all but three guards. Two traders were cut free and sent limpin’, but whacha want with the rest? Can we eat ‘em?!” A mare asked. I could tell she was joking just by the look on her face, but they couldn’t see her. They began to weep and tremble and a stallion let his bladder go a little. It was actually kinda funny to be on this end of it, but I had to keep it professional.

“Go through their stuff and make sure there’s enough to go around. Separate the stuff into piles on the tarps they come with before we decide what to do with this lot. Take your time, ponies, and show these travelers some Raider hospitality,” I said waving a hoof to the captured ponies. They were lightly beaten and herded away to near the hopefully dead pony that I’d blinded and broken and then mentally tortured. I imagine my raiders telling them they were going to be next, left to die in the sun after they were blinded and beaten to near death.

And eaten. Powder told me that that was a rumor that had to be kept up, more reason to fear all raiders than just the crazy ones. So, they unloaded the freaky mutated cows and what a haul! Caps, weapons of all varieties, junk, but not totally useless junk. There was good condition barding I took right away and food. It was canned and all, but it was food and there was a lot of it! I got first pick since I was boss and I took a rifle and all the ammunition that went with it, a few cans of Cram and some Sugar Apple Bombs, and then I took a look over the junk and left almost all of it. I did take a nice necklace and a toaster… there was some doll that looked like an orange mare bucking something, but I left that.

Let somepony else play with dolls.

Chapter 3

I was woken by a kiss to my ear, a nuzzle into my mane, and squeeze to my side from behind. I moved my hips a little and didn’t feel him unsheathed and pressing against me. It was nice to be cuddled, but I wanted sex, damn it! But, it was so nice at the moment that I couldn’t help but melt into his embrace. Today was the day we’d be separated for a month while my team and I explored the outside world. There was more than enough anxiety to keep me borderline terrified and excited.

He nipped my ear and that was when I knew he knew I was awake and when I felt a poke on my dock I was more than ready to relieve some stress. He kissed my cheek, let his forelimb slide down my body and he touched my teats; rubbing them softly he helped me roll to my belly and let his hard cock brush against my belly and I could barely contain myself.

He hitched his forelimbs to my hips and moved his hips back, letting me move my tail aside enough so I didn’t get hairs in uncomfortable places again and he thrust into me like the stallion he always was. It stung for a few thrusts but my body took care of that and before I knew it I was almost climaxing. He pressed deep and groaned loudly and bit my neck enough to hurt and send me over the edge. I screamed his name and squeezed every drop of his essence into my body before I fell flat onto my belly, panting like it was mating season.

I know a minute is good time, but sheesh, he can get me there in half that. Best stallion in the stable, I swear… not that I’ve had many, but comparatively he’s the best in every way. Well, he doesn’t listen too well, and he focuses on the stable sports teams more than he does me, but other than that he’s a great colt that’s there for me when I need him. I just hope he’s okay with having Red Clover take my place as his wife while I’m gone.

It’s a good time to start herding and repopulate the outside world, so I’ll be having three children within the next five years and so will she. I think sex with a mare will be interesting, but that’s a thought for another time. Sheesh, that was a great orgasm…

“That, was, awesome,” he panted as he lay casually next to me and looked at me with that deep love we shared. I nodded back to him and leaned in to kiss his soft thin lips and he surprised me with a tongue in my mouth. I felt my labia tingle and a shock of orgasm shot through me and I almost bit his tongue.

We shared an exasperated laugh and cuddled for a little while before I finally got up. I had to pee and there’s no getting around it. When I got back I dressed and kissed him goodbye, and then went to the training bay. I met my friends and fellow explorers and we spent the next two hours working ourselves to physical and magical burnout before we were healed and gathered our gear.

No celebrations, no fanfare, no loved ones that were gonna wish us well. It was a simple go away and come back with hard facts and information. A month away and I’d be welcomed back a heroine. That’s when I’d get my ceremony, when I’d get welcomed back with affection and love.

As it was we had enough gear to help us for a week, by then we should have found and made contact with the surface ponies and by then we’d trade supplies for whatever else we’d needed. So, with sixteen guards, armed with standard issue rifles, stood at attention and the door opened with a noise that I’ll never forget and we rushed out before the door shut behind us.

I wondered why the Overstallion had rushed us out so quickly, but maybe he knew. Maybe he got the radio signal from DJ Pon3 like I had; it just showed up out of nowhere one day, somepony named The Stablemare had connected the towers, or something, and spread the message of the good fight across the Equestrian Wasteland. No, I got the radio signal last week. He couldn’t have heard DJ Pon3 before then. Why was he so insistent we explore the surface so quickly?

Whatever, I had barding to put on and it had integrated saddlebags, a rifle to make sure worked, and a toy to give Blue. That little orange mare looked like something he’d love to have, I thought. When I gave it to him, post clothing, I smiled as he looked at it with awe and hugged it to his chest before placing it under his cloak, probably under a wing or in a small saddlebag.

I watched the raiders swarm the remaining stuff like vultures on a kill, and little was left. No food, no clothing, no weapons, and little junk remained within a minute. And not one blow was thrown, no blood spilt, and they even folded the tarps that were empty. Wow.

“So, what’d ya get?” I asked Powder. She opened her saddlebags and showed me that she grabbed most of the junk and some food. Not much food, but I guess starvation made everything last longer. I think I’d eaten a tenth of what I usually did over the last two weeks, so imagining a life like that was not something I wanted to do.

I sat on my bed and laid my head on the pillow for a second until I noticed it stank, so I tossed it to the side for some other pony to use while I used my forelegs if I had to. I looked at the nondescript beaded necklace in my hoof and spent a while scanning its nuances and polished edges. The gems were nice enough, but so small they’d be worth only a few dozen bits, so sayeth my Pipbuck.

I had saddlebags now, and my Pipbuck sorted and took account of all my inventory. Priced it, too. The exchange rate was crap out here, I’d pay six stamps for what would cost twenty caps out here. “I just think this’ dumb,” I said to Powder, “why can’t they have better trade rates here?”

“Because it’s first come first serve and take what you can, kill them if you have to. It’s not that difficult, just remember that it isn’t a Stable, all sunshine and rainbows; it’s Tartarus, and if you can’t make it, you die.”

She was so casual about it as she opened a box of Sugar Apple Bombs and shoved her muzzle into it. I looked over to Blue and he was looking at the sky. I told him to go for a fly if he needed to, but he shook his head. “Nah, Ah reckon that if I took to the skies I’d be shot before I saw my shooter, and pegasi have great eyesight.”

“Once we control some land we’ll have space for you to fly. Oh! We need a name, that’s what we need,” I said with an unusual amount of energy, “how about ‘Swatter’s Rangers’?”

“How about not,” Blue added with a grin. He raised his hoof to pat my back but stopped suddenly. I felt myself grabbing for my hammer that I’d left beside me and I could see the fear in his eyes, both our eyes. “Uh, how about the Traveling Barding? Cuz yer the boss wearing used barding?”

“No! I got it; Killer Tofu!”

Well, about an hour later the whole place had turned into a debate about the perfect name for our group, raider and leader alike had a say and I dare admit it began to feel like a democracy… until they chose our clan name.

“Fine, our official name is ‘Cunt’s Swatters’ and I hate you all!” I shouted at the lot of them. That was the funniest thing that I ever remember happening in my life, up to that point. While nopony touched me, and I was very okay with that, there was a sense of life that I hadn’t seen in them yet. I’d had the captives blindfolded and tied together with a few guards to watch over them, but I bet even they could feel the energy in the air.

“Blue, take to the skies and tell me what you see. If there’s a better place to camp and build a safe place, and any routes you see that are traveled that we can exploit. I need to make sure we’ve got this set so that I won’t have to break another pony tomorrow that can fight for me the next day.”

“Wow,” A mare said from nearby. Her stench was musky and had I met her in a casual setting I’d have vomited from it, but I digress. She continued, “that was deep. I’m, not really used to saying this, but do you wanna talk sometime?”

I shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

She grinned and lunged me into a hug. I blacked out for a minute but she was okay, turns out they did break me! Good for them, I couldn’t be touched without lashing out and screaming like a crazy mare and violently lashing out, at least this time I didn’t have my hammer on me or I would’ve lost a potential good friend. I was being held down, again, by the combined weight of Powder and Blue.

I snapped back from a sea of swirling colors and sighed deeply. My body was tired and I was breathing heavily and the first thing that crossed my mind wasn’t anything but a wave of sorrow and the word ‘sorry’. I cried again, into Powder’s chest while ponies who were watching my crazy moment began to move on. My mood swing was understood now, and how the why was clear because I was screaming ‘don’t touch me’ again while throwing pebbles and dirt at the poor mare.

I calmed down and found her quickly, pushing Powder off me and trotting to the mare, startling her with a hug to her body as I sniffled into her stiff shoulder. She trembled in my embrace and Blue had to pull me off with Powder’s help. I stumbled to my rump and realized I was being foalish. Crying and hugging ponies and begging for forgiveness, I need to be a crazy raider without being totally crazy.

I have stuff to work through and now I had three ponies to talk with.

Yay.

I spent the next hour gathering intelligence about the area and it turns out we were in what was once the southern provinces of Equestria. It was pretty much a wasteland before it was a wasteland, being mostly desert and inhabited by buffalo once upon a time. Now giant bugs, dogs, and other creatures called this place home. Except for a few pony settlements this area wasn’t the place to be. So, there was only one recourse of action.

“We have to move to a more populated area.”

“Yeah,” Powder spat into the small stack of sticks for the fire she’d be making for us leaders in a long twelve hours during nightfall, “ponies love raiders. Why not just camp outside a military base?” she said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and started to poke at a stick that was the most out of the fire before I had a thought.

“Why not?”

“Why not what?”

“Why not take over an old military base? There’s gotta be a bunch that’re abandoned since the war and all…”

“Nope, zombies.”

“What-bies?”

Blue snickered. “Undead ponies live in those places,” Powder clarified. She smiled as my eyes widened. “Yeah, they’re rotting and all they care about is eating flesh. They’re also about twice as strong as a normal pony.”

“And they don’t stop until they’re dead, or you are,” Blue mumbled.

“Don’t mind him, he’s only heard stories. I’ve seen a herd of zombies in real life,” Powder claimed, “didn’t have to put any down, but it was enough to see ‘em to let me know not to mess with them.”

“Okay, what if we all go in at once and kill them before they kill us?”

“You’re telling us to find a military base, hope it’s deserted, clear it of zombies, then set up camp?”

“Yeah,” I sighed in resignation.

“I love it! Finally, something crazy to do,” she grinned and moved to the mass of ponies. Their enthusiasm built as she told them my stupid suicide plan and I could barely believe it as they went for it. They roared with a crazed bloodlust and cheered with toothless maws as they raised their weapons and formed before me. The hour I’d spent telling them about organizing into squads seems to have had been taken seriously.

A few maps were passed around and they began to plan before Blue flapped his wings and shouted to them to calm down. We had to plan and it’d take a little while to find a place and all that fun stuff.

I got together with my leaders and we spent an hour planning a trek with our prisoners as leverage if need be. I wouldn’t be beyond selling one or two of them for food to save them from being food. We laid a plan to travel through tonight and into tomorrow north west until we came to an area inhabited by ponies and take a space between them and the next town. It was a rookie move, but we needed a place to gather better intel and equipment.

We got our stuff together and muzzled our prisoners with rope. Loose enough so they’d breathe, but tight enough so they couldn’t eat their way free. I’m no fool and neither were my raiders. For the most part it was a nice community I was in; They talked about the future, planned the end of their lives, and not all in bloody battle, and some were even in close relationships and wouldn’t raid without the others nearby.

Life was possible out here, and it could be beautiful if you looked at it enough. The captives were the leaders of our… what’s the word, train? Whatever, we were in a long line and they were dressed in the most raider specific garb we could fit on them. It wasn’t my idea to have them lead, but it was my idea to make some of us look like captives for obvious reasons.

We made it to sunset before we were attacked by a band of bandits. We were in a hilly area and these ponies were hiding in dugout holes covered with canvas. They attacked the raiders at the front first, killing three captives and leaving us with four while the rest of us fought back.

I took three shots to my armored flank and started to pull my rifle and spat a curse since I didn’t load it earlier. I’d have to go one bullet at a time while loading a magazine, what a rookie mistake. I loaded a round and took aim down the barrel sights, held my breath, then applied the pressure to the trigger. *click*

I took another shot, this time to my unguarded foreleg and was falling before I could scream at the pain in my upper thigh. I dropped my weapons and ammunition as the pain took it’s hold for the time I knew it would. I wasn’t new to pain, but there was a moment where pain would win before I gathered my concentration and took up my weapon again, this time cocking it and chambering the round before I found a bandit that looked like she needed a new hole in her head. As far as I knew she was the one that just shot me, and this was a little payback.

I applied the pressure and my ears whined and whistled as the weapon fired louder than the ones I’d trained with in the Stable. I missed her head but I got her attention, and the attention of several others, it seemed as I was the recipient of a hail of dings and thumps to my armor. I finished loading another round and cocked the rifle, went into SATS and found a stallion that had his rifle aimed at me.

I locked in two body shots and a head shot, releasing the spell. I felt the air vibrate against the blasts as the bullets tore into his neck on the first and third shots while the second missed. I’d never seen a head roll free from a body before, never even imagined it, and I didn’t get to see it that time. What happened was his head was cut almost free at the neck and it flopped around like an erect cock as what was left attached to his body tried to balance the head that wasn’t all there.

I took an unhealthy shot to my flank that punched through my armor and pulled me back to the battle at hoof. We were almost done mopping the floor with the bandits and I took another single shot at a fat mare that shouldn’t have been fat in the first place. I laughed when I hit her in the side and she exploded her insides and white infectious pus that had caused her to bloat across one of the last of them. The poor mare panicked, vomited, and tried to move, only slipping into a deeper mess of the exploded mare.

“Kill them all and take what you can!” Powder shouted in a victory cry. She looked to me and choked back her jubilance as I glared at her. “Leave some alive and take all you can!” she amended as she galloped over to me. I was holding my bleeding limb up and limping toward her when Blue landed beside me and asked me if he could check me over.

I nodded and moved my hoof to him. It hurt, a lot. The shock wasn’t as prominent as I’d hoped and moving it burnt and stung at the same time while giving me a sick feeling. He took my hoof and I felt the darkness begin to surround me. I was on the verge of blacking out but then I saw his eyes. Blue’s deep sapphire blue eyes were like pools of tranquil water in the sea of madness I knew and was living. It calmed me enough so I didn’t lash out, but I still trembled in his touch, and not in the good way.

Powder arrived and started looking at my flank. It hurt to move a little, but not too bad. The bullet was just inside my flesh and she was able to take it out in a few seconds when I was sure the area was safe now. The mare covered in gore and pus was a new guest to our tribe and the only survivor from the bandits crew.

A slight beating and threat of torture and having to watch as I, as the boss, ate her limbs one by one in front of her was enough to get her to spill her guts, at it were, about where all the loot was. There was enough to food to get us through our trip north and there was enough equipment to patch those of us in armor and enough weapons to scavenge parts from to repair the most damaged weapons.

Turns out the newest member of our tribe, who was tied and chained pretty well, was also an expert in repair so she was in charge of making sure my armor and weapons were in the best shape they could be. Then the raiders started bartering who would get first dibs on her. I took it as it sounded and was in the process of intervening but Powder stopped me and told me it was just how it had to sound. They were fighting for order to get their stuff fixed, not to rape her.

Well, maybe some raping, when I wasn’t around or unable to keep her guarded, but I actually didn’t mind as much as I thought I would. Maybe because she’d tried to kill me, maybe I was losing my sanity, or maybe I was just not caring at the moment since my favorite leg was in a sling and had dirty gauze packed into my oozing bullet holes and it still burnt and stung, but now at a steady pace that was distracting more than painful.

I took my leave as the mare cried and pleaded for mercy while the mares and stallions surrounded her, offering an auction style bid for order. I heard a cheer erupt and figured they had struck a deal… then I heard the mare scream and sobbing, and I turned my tail to her and left her to her job of fixing what needed to be fixed.

She was going to be one of us now, whether she wanted to be or not. We needed a pony to fix things, and now we had one.

We camped and made small talk, with me walking around and making sure my raiders were in good enough shape and the ones that were injured were given a share of Hydra. Not a full dose, since we only had so much, but it was enough to keep them alive and heal their more serious injuries.

A single pony had to be put down, and he was one of the ones that’d taken me in the ass several times a day, and I spat on his corpse. I hope he’s still writhing in Tartarus, but if not that he’s still in pain somewhere.

So, the next day we gathered ourselves and our equipment, now ready to make the rest of our journey and I had to keep up on my own. I had a few mares that wanted to help me, but I didn’t want to seem too dependant on them, or anypony else. I had to stay strong so I wouldn’t get into a fight and lose what little power I had. If I lost a fight I’d lose everything and everypony, I couldn’t risk it.

When we stopped for a rest I slipped a spiked horseshoe to my wounded limb and kept it hidden while the rest mingled. I had to be ready to fight at all times now, and try to keep my sanity when I was touched, otherwise I’d probably lose the fight to come and not even learn from it.

Chapter 4

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Chapter 5

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Chapter 6

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Chapter 7

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