Fallout: Project Necessities

Pebbles
Perhaps our greatest enemy is panic itself.

The wind up topside was nothing like the occasional breeze that we would get back in the village.

It was a harsh, monstrous thing. It roared each time I touched a hoof against the snow-blanketed ground and encased my body in a miniature cyclone of icy air. But the cold bite that came with it, though unpleasant, was nothing in comparison to the way that it wailed; with every few minutes that passed, the rush made my ears ring with the shrillest of screams. It sent shudders down my spine and forced my fur to stand on end.

My teeth ground together so as to add their squeaks to the cacophony, a terrifying chorus that my irrational mind labelled as my massacred family’s screams. But then again, it all seemed so real; every few minutes I faltered slightly in mid stride, the otherwise immaculate irradiated snow scuffed up by my movements, at the sound of a cry. Almost instinctively I would begin to shift my gun about, almost desperate to press that little button so that the red laser dot would appear. My eyes would dart about, faster than could probably be noticed, and then I would take a breath. I would hold it, then release it. Slowly, calmly.

It was all just my imagination, my sleep deprived mind working overtime to make my life suck.

But if that was the case—if it was all just in my head—then why did the others react as well to the noises, if with more glee than me?

“Stop it, Klip,” I hissed to myself as I flicked my forehoof with my tail. I didn't let myself question why I was now talking to myself. It was perfectly normal. “Eyes on the prize, silly mare. Eyes on the prize.”

I glanced behind me to check on Thorn, currently draped over my back like a sack of wheat. He had fallen asleep some hours ago, the surprisingly gentle amble enough to push him into the wonderful realm of flowers and fairies. His nostrils flared ever so slightly with each peaceful breath; his tiny snores, only audible to me over the howling thanks to my close proximity, were really the only sign he was alive.

I let the half hearted smile rise onto my cheeks, though I knew the foal was more of a hindrance than a help. With a quick flick of the ears and a deep, assessing death through my nostrils I then started forwards, forcing myself into a slow trot so that I caught up with Swatter and Poison at the front of the group. The others scowled at me as I passed; after many an identical greeting on this short trek, I hardly had to think before stretching my neck higher in the air and thinning my eyes. I curved my smile slightly more and then turned my head slowly towards them. I opened my mouth slightly and let my tongue run along my teeth. A forced but undeniably dastardly gleam erupted into life in my eyes…

The half-rotted branch hit me on then forehead before I even knew I was heading for it, and then it struck me again from its momentum when I jumped back. With a shrill yelp, my heart missed a beat as I stumbled away. My hooves acted of their own accord then. I reared up and whipped around through the topside air, poisoned snow flung all around. My forehoof then slammed itself down onto the button at the top of my gun. The red laser burst into life in front of me, and my eyes snapped to where it formed whilst I prepared to fire the trigger. I opened my jaw wide to bite.

And then I caught myself.

The half-furless, heavily muscled earth pony before me—Tremors was his name—was frozen in shock. It only took him a moment, though, before he leapt into action and hoisted the battle axe at his side to his front, then brandishing it between his teeth. With a guttural growl he leapt forwards, head thrown back to hurl it at me. I let out a loud, high pitched squeak and reared up; Thorn, now half awake, was flung from my back so as to land with an agonised scream a few metres away. There was a loud snap at that.

I took in a sharp breath and heaved and let my hoof fly to my muzzle; as I did so, I saw the crimson glint of the evening sun against the sharpened blade of the axe. I fell to my underbelly, tensed. And then I screamed, my body thrashing instinctively as it smashed into my head, just behind my ears.

There wasn't any pain, though. A quick, painless death; thank Faust.

“Get the fuck up, Cunt!”

Well, that wasn't the welcome to heaven I had expected. I squinted my clenched eyes open, letting the bright sunset’s light flood them. I flared my nostrils and dared to breathe again; when I raised my head, I could see Poison flying just slightly off the ground, her face displaying a vicious scowl.

“What are ya waitin’ for?” she snapped, blowing a gust of breeze my way which momentarily caught me off guard and made me splutter. She snorted. “I didn't blow that fuckin’ axe off course so ya could get a catnap now!”

I didn't answer immediately, but when she let out another snort I nodded quickly and rose to my hooves. Standing was hard; my legs shook as if I was carrying a massive weight.

“Are ya gonna leave Lil’ Cunt or what?” Poison then inquired, prodding at my nose, but I scrunched it up and took a quick step back. My tail swished in indignation. It took all my strength not to cower under her glare, mind you. “If you've come to ya senses yet I’ll… dispose of ‘im for ya.”

“Give a mare some credit. I've only been out here a day; I’m not so on-the-ball as you lot.” My words were loud and snappish, though Poison didn't seem as appeased as I had hoped. So, with a deep breath in, I took a step back and lightly kicked Thorn’s side with my unshod hoof.

My heart palpitated at his loud squeak, but I carried on and hooked the same leg under his belly. With a grunt I then bucked, so as to toss him ever so slightly up into the air. I caught the foal on my back most unceremoniously, having to hide my grimace with a wicked grin and a snap of the teeth at his cheek. He whimpered and whined; it was a struggle to ignore those glistening tears in his eyes.

Oh, Faust. Don't let anything be broken.

I shook my head and snorted before I glanced about the group. Poison, now standing impatiently on the ground, wore a foalish frown on her face. Tremors, meanwhile, had picked up his battle axe and was smashing a small rock against its blade, making small sparks fly from the impact. He wouldn't meet my eyes. That was fine; the way his were so dark was unnerving.

Swatter clapped his hooves together and we all snapped to attention. “This ‘as gotta be the most fucked up, shitty trip ever,” he snarled as he stomped towards me. I didn't have the guts to hold my ground against that dastardly look, so I took a few wary steps back. His smirk was not pleasant.

His horn erupted into life then. The magic coursed from it in sporadic waves, making me grind my teeth together and fight not to chastise him for it. He then threw his head around and encased the smallest, quietest psycho in his aura, heaving his head up so as to also lift the stallion. He screamed and thrashed inside the magic, his cries chilling as he was smashed against the ground. Once, twice, he was struck against the dirt; by the third attempt, the blows had done their job and he was dead.

“Fucking weakling,” Swatter added. He then turned back to me. “Quit fucking up, and maybe you'll be promoted to ‘shit shot’ instead. Carry on an’ I’ll be gettin’ rid of another waste of space on this party, ya got me Cunt?”

I didn't look at the dead stallion any longer. I couldn't. I then nodded numbly with my tail dropped and my ears fallen, well aware of how weak I looked right now, but not quite able to fight through it. After a deep breath in, though, I pushed the thoughts of what I'd just witnessed slightly from my mind and stood taller. I tried to prick my ears up and carry my tail high and proud as an Arabian would; it, of course, didn't fool my company in the slightest.

“Well, are we waiting for something then?” I asked in an amazingly calm voice and without a single stutter either. Despite my attempts to look confident, though, I could feel Poison’s and Swatter’s loathing scowls burning a hole in the back of my neck, just above my shoulders. It was enough to make my fur stand on end. I winced. “Hadn't we better get going?”

Swatter slunk around to my side with a snarl, eyes narrowed at me. “Grow a pair,” he hissed with a small buck at my belly. The strike sent a jolt of pain through me, enough to make me wince.

“Sure, whatever,” I said through gritted teeth. The words came out ever so slightly higher in pitch than they should've been. After a hastily weighed up decision, I then cracked my tail back at him, revelling in the sound of it hitting his flank. He seemed to calm at that.

These psychos were weird.

I slowed my pace so that I could walk alongside Tremors, fiddling with the little red laser on my stored away gun as I did so. Was it bad to admit that I enjoyed seeing the big stallion so cautious?

But then, in the next moment, I realised that I hadn't really been seeing well in the dim daylight. The sudden emergence of a bright green glow—from the torrents of water which crashed besides our party into a large, semi frozen lake—shed macabre light upon everything it touched, and I could only watch in awe as our destination approached. Irradiated spray soaked my fur as I trod cautiously on through already caustic powder, biting at my skin so as to make my whole body tingle and twitch. I could feel the fur trying to fall out already.

The entrance to a massive cave, chipped out from the sheer rock wall painstakingly by pre-war ponyfolk, engulfed our ragtag little party in its dark, impenetrable shadow. The cold swept over my fur, already dampened from sweat and spray. I rose a hoof to my mouth to cover it from the wintry temperatures. Nevertheless the chill still crept into my spine and I hissed, walking a little faster. So cold.

Icy.

Freezing.

Tiny droplets of water dribbled out from cracks in the rocky ceiling, almost entirely covered in a pulsating blanket of green plant life the likes of which I had never seen. Tendrils hung down limply, waving gently in the nonexistent breeze. The unnervingly delicate touch of those offshoots against my fur made me skip a few steps ahead at a time. The rest of my party, however, seemed unfazed. They merely batted the caressing growths out of the way with a hoof swipe, a sharp bite or the slash of a blade. They didn't even think twice; my legs, on the other hoof, were so shaky that I felt like running.

But, alone out here, both Thorny and I would surely die. So in the end, all there was was death—but at least this option came with some companionship. Even if it was a very poor attempt.

For perhaps the first time in my life, I came to realise that being a unicorn would have been most helpful down here. I squinted my eyes and strained to see more than an inch in front of my muzzle, the light from Swatter’s horn not strong or stable enough to penetrate this darkness. He was good at that cursed levitation over light spells, it seemed, just as I specialised more in running and athletics than pure strength. Perhaps we were more similar than I’d previously thought; we were both awkward examples of our respective races.

No. No, I wasn't even remotely like him. I wouldn't bludgeon a pony slowly to death under the weight of their own body against the frozen ground.

I wouldn't.

I shook my head and took a few more tentative steps forwards, feeling my way through the tunnels on my sense of touch alone. The sharp pebbles made me dance somewhat as I moved, prancing to avoid them as best as I could. The steady dripping of caustic water droplets against my back, burning away strand after strand of fur, kept me on the very tips of my hooves too. I sidestepped whenever I could to avoid that extra, tiny round of torture. Because by Celestia, did those particular splashes burn!

Swatter’s light dimmed ever more as we continued on, and the other unicorn stallion whose name I had yet to learn seemed unwilling to lend a hoof. Part of me was comforted as the glow of his horn faded; a part of me that I had never known existed—a part which was willing to overlook the horrid nature of magic—simultaneously woke itself up and began to send waves of adrenaline through me so that my entire body twitched and spasmed with every few steps. I gasped quietly for air, falling back slightly from the rest of the group so that they wouldn't hear my weakness. But they were less impacted than I; Swatter and Poison were already murmuring in quick, elated voices about something my panicked mind wouldn't comprehend, whilst Tremors and the other seemed to have a grunted conversation.

The blackness enshrouded me as Swatter’s light fizzled fully out with a small hiss. Nothingness engulfed me from all sides, wrapping around my every inch of skin and constricting my body. My mouth fell open but no air was to be found. I desperately scrabbled at my throat with a hoof, gasping. The heavy wall of darkness filled my throat and covered my nostrils and I could not breathe. My chest heaved, but I could take no air in.

My fore legs gave way then and I fell with a muted cry towards the ground. My muzzle smashed into the frozen rock and I screamed, but that was nothing compared to the terror that flooded my veins next. My heart threatened to tear from my chest with each beat when a pony’s skull, complete with scraps of flesh and fur, rolled to my cheek. Despite the weight that was Thorny on my back I leapt to my hooves and shot forwards blindly in a pure panic. My hooves slammed against the ground as I fled in utter horror. I didn't even know where I was going, or where anyone else was—and then I slammed into a hard, fleshy mass.

Though I was not a big mare, my momentum had been enough. Tremors yelled as he was flung from his hooves and away from me, his massive frame smashing the smaller unicorn into the wall. I did not see him, but I heard the instantaneous scream which died out but a second later. His body crumpled to the ground at the side, a big black heap.

The cave rumbled and dust fell slowly, settling in my mane and tail and on my back. I shook but it did not come out; a brief second later, the rumbles turned into a full blown growl with the arrival of falling pebbles.

A beep sounded.

“Get the fuck out of here!” Swatter cried, and though I could not see him I heard his hooves scratch against the ground as he tried to flee. But it was too late; the roof collapsed, spilling skeletons and half rotted corpses and bones from the ceiling.

Putrid flesh, slimy and foul, slapped across my muzzle. I screamed. Thick, coagulated lumps of blood clung to my fur like mosquitos. All around me cleaver-like shards of still oozing bones severed the skin of my legs and belly. My blood splattered against the ground beneath my hooves. Hot and thick. Flakes of long dried skin hung in the air around me like bats, swooping in to nick my ears and back. I reeled. Loose pebbles were flung from under my frantic hooves, cascading from nearby walls and smashing right back into me. I could only do one thing: I bolted.

Rocks plummeted from the roof of the cave, smashing into the ground I trod so heavily that the dirt erupted in a cloud of dust at the contact. But despite my panic, my legs moved as if they knew exactly what they were doing; this was what I was made to do. I swerved as the blurs sped past my eyes and vaulted the boulders that ploughed into my path. Thorn shrieked and squealed but had just enough composure to grasp the smaller projectiles with his filthy magic. I ground my teeth. I could've sworn one shattered.

“Klip!” Thorn cried at that moment, grabbing my ear in his magic and trying to tug me to the right. But I was going too fast to move, too lost in the moment and the thrill of this deadly excuse for a steeplechase.

And then I felt it. Something cold and wet and yet incredibly light chafed across my cheek, leaving a harsh icy bite in its wake. I was snapped from my exhilarated world and back into reality and I screamed; as Thorn flung the boulder (which had come so dangerously close to my eye) away with his magic I let my fore hooves land heavily on the rock below, flat. I swung my body round in midair. My rear legs then slammed down with an almighty crack and my fore hooves were flung slightly from the floor by my body’s momentum. But panic wouldn't let me stop and, in that split second, I comforted myself even more so that I had turned a sharp ninety degrees in one step.

The power in my legs was great; I had a proper earth pony build, after all. The muscles in my rear legs threw me from my spot and I screamed in pain at their unnatural alignment to my stomach. And then I turned my head ever so slightly, realising my mistake at the last minute. My chest, heavily muscled, slammed into the rocky wall of the cave and then continued on through. All around me boulders, piled up to the roof of the cave, fell in a wave of agonising weight.

Thorn leapt from my back and scrambled about as the rock swept him away; I kicked and clawed and writhed until my body was fully buried and stuck. And then, once the rocks had finally calmed down, I bit down on the small stone beneath my teeth and began to awkwardly crawl out from my would-be tomb.

My rear legs pushed frantically and without coordination to get me out of there. I flailed and flopped so as to find something solid to push up against. I couldn't do anything else. My fore legs were no use. The left was mangled and contorted. The flesh was pulverised. A hole at the shoulder shot out erratic spurts of thick blood.

I cried and shouted for Thorn. I fell down the rest of the rocky hill in my desperation, my stumbling about not enough to keep me up. The pain surged then with each rush of wind. And when I landed on the ground, I shook and trembled as I wobbled to my legs. I gagged. My vision swam and pitched in and out of blackness. But though I couldn't see him, I knew Thorn was there with me. All I could hear were his hysterical, cut off gasps and useless attempts at words.

Because pony legs weren't meant to bend up at the knee.

Level up!

New perk: Rubber Horseshoes Level One

You've taken a lot of hits, and yet somehow you're still alive and fully conscious. Your skin is now tougher after each healed wound. Damage resistance is permanently up by one.