Chapter 1: A Friend

How did it come to this?

"Keep moving!" One of my captors yelled as I felt myself shoved forward, nearly falling to the ground.

How did I go from waking up in my room to being handcuffed by a group of ponies and dragged across a wasteland?

That's right, ponies. I've been captured by a group of fucking ponies ok?! Laugh it up!

I'm glad I was dressed be fore I ended up here, otherwise I'd be freezing. Anyway, I've been stuck with these salvers for about three hours and the only one I can talk to is Monterey Jack, my fellow captive. He's from a place called Tennpony tower where he owns a chess shop and he has two children.

I'm getting off topic.

I was finally able to lay down and relax, but then one the slavers, Cracker I believe, spotted something. Before I knew it, Monterey and I were forced to the ground on a mat of straw, bound and gagged before moving off to hide. As we laid there wondering what was going on, we heard someone approach us. Looking up we saw what seemed to be a gray unicorn in a blue uniform.

As the unicorn got closer I struggled to remove my gag so I could warn it.

"Well lookee here! Walked up all nice and pleasant, didn't she?"

Too late.

I watched as Cager, Cracker and Sawed-Off came out of their hiding places, point there weapons at them. I could only watched as they conversed with each other on what to do with her.

"What's going on?" the unicorn asked, sounding confused and nervous. Judging from her voice she sounded feminine. I had just managed to remove my gag but Monterey had already beat me to it.

"They're slavers, you idiot."

Littlepip, the gray unicorn with a cutie mark that looked like wrist watch, followed beside me as we trudged alongside our captors, walking a broken path that once was a road. My legs were in chains, making walking difficult and anything more speedy than a jog impossible. Her strange watch had stymied the slavers efforts to bind her forelegs, eventually forcing them to chain her above the knees. Had the one with the shovel-spear not been holding its point dangerously against my throat, the other two would have gotten more then a few broken bones for the looks they gave her. As it was, they kept me at bay.

She wasn't gagged, but I convinced her that talking would likely result in the loss of her tongue. I didn’t expect they would answer her questions, even if her tongue should survive the asking, and they were being chatty enough with each other to suffice.

“Hate thef fart,” Cager grumbled through the spear clenched in his teeth.

“Well then, if you would just learn to swim, we could take the long way, couldn’t we?” Sawed-Off suggested in a bittersweet tone.

“Hate fuffen sweffey.” Judging by how he smelled, swimming would be doing him a favor.

“How about you stop complaining and I’ll let you sample one of the slaves before we get to the forest. Except the freak.” Cracker offered, turning back towards Monterey and Littlepip with a filthy smile. Cager looked thoughtful, but his expression turned to disgust when he looked at me

I looked away. They laughed.

As they talked, I could hear a sound ahead. Like something stuck in mud. And... something else. A distant sound, getting closer. Music? I could see Littlepip was confused to.

Cracker took note of our expressions and smirked. “You two look like you’ve never heard that before. What, did you live your lives in a Stable? If you’re hoping for the cavalry, that ain’t it . That’s just one of those sprite-bots.”

The music cut out with a sharp twang.

Sawed-Off trotted ahead a bit, peering down the path ahead. Turning back to the rest of us, he smirked. “Think one of the radigators got it?”

Cracker suggested it flew into someone’s booby trap. Cager suggested a mouthful of spear. Sawed-Off looked forward again and the glow from his horn illuminated the machine -- a metal ball that reminded me of G0T0 from KOTOR floating on four silently flapping wings – hovering silently right in front of his face.

“FUCK!” Sawed-Off leapt back a full pony’s length in surprise. Then swung his shotgun to bear and fired it at the sprite-bot. The sound was like a metal plate falling from the ceiling, and it echoed through the night-darkened hills. Sparks specked the metal ball as it was peppered with scattershot. It let out an electric whine and darted into the darkness.

Sawed-Off almost took off after it, but Cracker’s voice cut the distance between them, “That’s enough, Sawed-Off. Save your ammo.”

“Dammit, I hate when they pull that stealthy shit. It’s a flying fucking radio; it’s not supposed to sneak up on ponies.”

My ears were ringing from the blast of the gun, but I didn’t mind.

“Idiot,” muttered Monterey Jack under his breath. “They heard that all the way in Ponyville...”

"Is that bad?" I whispered, peering over my shoulder at him.

“You have no Idea," he grumbled. "What kind of damned fool, announces his presence this close to raider territory.”

I looked back, feeling fear in my chest. "Raider territory?"

A river slithered across our path, its waters slipping and oozing along its banks. The water lapped and sucked at the supports of a bridge, making the wet sounds I had been hearing. Beyond the bridge was the shattered remains of a town.

The bridge was a maze of barricades. Dark shadows of ponies moved about it. Briefly I made the mistake of taking a look; and my eyes were drawn to the spiked poles that lined the bridge, and the still rotting heads of decapitated ponies that adorned two of them.

I tasted bile. The sight was horrific. I looked away, Littlepip repeating my action.

“Cager, stay here,” Cracker said, finally as we came to a stop. “Sawed-Off, let’s go hear what the toll is this time.”

Monterey Jack lowered his head and looked balefully towards the bridge. I moved closer to him, Littlepip following my example, and I was surprised when Cager didn’t see the faint glow from Littlepip's horn as she removed a screwdriver and a bobby pin from her bag.

"Wait!" I whispered as I crouched down, startling her that the glow went away but I caught the tools before they hit the ground. She looked at me with a glare and a worried expression.

"Let me. I know how to do this, and it'll lower the chance of Cager spotting your glow." I explained. She considered it for a moment before nodding.

I set to work as Littlepip faintly glowed, giving me light. Slowing moving the tools in the precise manner I learned in video games, I was rewarded with a soft click as it sprung open, releasing her PipBuck foreleg. The manacle fell to the ground with a little thump.

“Hhu!” Cager’s ears had shot up, and now he moved around to see me. Swiftly, I hide the tools in my pocket as Littlepip cut the magic, both of us hoping that in the darkness the slaver couldn’t see the change in her chains.

“Wuf hoo uf foo?” Cager growled dangerously. The nasty sharp edge of the shovel hovered inches from my eyes.

BLAM!

Cager turned abruptly, the spear-shovel slashing close enough to both our faces that I jumped back yelping while she shrieked. The gunshot was from the bridge. It didn’t sound like Sawed-Off’s shotgun. But the second shot did.

It took Cager a breath to recognize that crossing the bridge had become a huge mistake. Glowering back at us, his posture threatening, he started to say... something. I suspect he was warning us to stay put, but I’ll never know. His head exploded, showering the two of us with gore.

I stood there, eyes wide, shaking with shock. Blood, warm and sticky, ran down my forehead and onto my glasses, oozed into clothes and hair.

In the growing list of things I’d not seen before this day, the death of a pony ranked at the top. I blinked, feeling the blood on my eyelid. Cager was dead!

I couldn't fight the urge as I released the contents of my stomach onto the bridge.

"Give me my stuff!" Littlepip shouted, a look of determination in her eye. Pulling them out of my pocket, her horn once again glowed and she began to unlock the rest of her manacles.

As she worked on her chains, I saw Sawed-Off hunkering down beside one of the barricades as he magically pulled his shotgun open, stuffing in more ammo. Closing the weapon, he levitated it up above the barricade and shot blindly into the violent milieu, spraying an already wounded raider pony with scattershot. The pony staggered and fell.

Unfortunately for Sawed-Off, the raider behind him had a different kind of shotgun, one that was faster and not limited to two shots, that fired slugs which tore great holes in the unicorn slaver’s body the moment he looked up to see the results of his effort.

I turned away, feeling the urge to vomit again. I focused as Littlepip now worked on my locks.

I was soon free and was helping to free Monterey when two raider ponies trotted off the bridge towards us, stepping over the battle-mutilated corpses of Cracker, Sawed-Off and the raiders killed int he shootout. One of those approaching was the unicorn raider wielding the devastating combat shotgun. The other, an earth pony with a sledgehammer in its teeth. The unicorn was laughing. Not the mean laugh of Cracker, but a crazed laugh that sent chills down the back of my neck. The two were taken back when me.

"Whaf if thaf? The sledgehammer pony asked.

“I don't know but it looks like we've earned ourselves a prize!" She directed that at Littlepip. "But a strange hairless alien? Well... that's a whole other trophy.”

I did hot love how she looked at me with desire and... lust? Do raider ponies have a thing for hairless aliens? The earth pony chortled behind the sledgehammer as the unicorn looked us over appraisingly, especially me, sending shivers down my spine. The two were somehow even filthier than the slavers. The unicorn bore jagged scars across her face and flanks, one of them tearing through her cutie mark, several freshly bleeding. The earth pony was hairless and painfully burned over much of her left side. Both wore barding that looked ragged and cobbled together.

“help us?” Littlepip suggested weakly.

“Oh, I’ll help myself to you, all right!” The unicorn reared up and gave her a kick, her hoof striking hard into her side. I moved to check on her. But I was pulled to the ground by an unseen force. Just under the unicorn. "Ooh, you're a big one aren't you~"

Near me, Monterey let out a wet grunt of pain as the earth pony gave him a taste of her sledgehammer. Leaving me in a terrifying state while Littlepip was in a crying heap. The unicorn also turned her attention to the still-chained Monterey. In moments it became clear they intended to beat and bludgeon him until he was another lifeless corpse.

“Hold his leg out. I’m gonna shoot his hooves off!” The unicorn raider floated the combat shotgun a foot from Monterey’s splayed left hind leg, the only one Littlepip had freed from its manacle.

In a full adrenaline, I leapt up, closing the distance while grabbing Cager's shovel. It connected with the shotgun, sending it flying. It clattered onto the bridge beyond. A moment later, I was pointing the shovel-spear at the two raider ponies who stood facing me with gleeful expressions. Two against one, and both of them were experienced fighters. The one with the sledgehammer stepped closer, as if eager to see if hammer beat knife.

Monterey was on her in an instant, throwing his forelegs over her head, pulling the chain between them across her neck. The sledgehammer fell from her mouth as the raider pony choked.

The unicorn turned, surprised by the sudden change in odds. I moved, striking her across the face, leaving a huge gash on her left cheek. She was caught off guard, but not for long.

She picked up the fallen sledgehammer and turned to face me with it, sadistic lust in her eyes. I thrust the shovel-spear forward, I sent the spear slashing across her nose, maiming her. A second slash, this time across her neck, cutting through it like it was tissue. A fatal blow...

...one I didn't mean to do. I could only stare in shock as she choked on the blood spurting from her neck. Herneyes never left me as she struggled to block the blood flow until she collapsef, twitching until she finally went still. I had just taken a life.

I looked up. Monterey was standing, chest heaving, over the body of the earth pony raider, the life choked out of her. He was staring at me quietly. Then finally raised a forehoof, only for the chain to clank tight before he had it more than a few inches off the ground.

“Oh!” Dropping the shovel-spear, I turned to see Littlepip sit up, holding the screwdriver screwdriver. The bobby pin was gone; there was no chance of finding it in the dirt at night. But luckily, she had more.

Once we were all free, Monterey limped slowly over to the bridge. A moment later, he returned, his horn glowing a gentle beige. Sawed-Off’s shotgun followed him. He looked at the carcass of the unicorn raider before turning to me nodding.

Her blood began to seep across the ground towards my shoes. Me and Littlepip watched in stunned silence as he turned and began prodding at the bodies, tugging items from them.

“What are you doing?” Littlepip questioned.

He looked at her as if she was stupid. “Checking to see if they have anything valuable on them. With luck, food.” I nodded, watching him move to the bodies at this end of the bridge. Looting the bodies of the dead felt wrong; but I knew I would have to get my hands dirty in order to survive. And imagine how embarrassed I'd be if I starved to death out here because I'd been too shy to check a dead pony's bag for a pouch of oats or a can of old applesauce? I moved a bit further down the bridge, picking up the shovel-spear along the way.

I looked over the body of a dead raider pony, his face bloody and torn from Cracker’s ponyshoes. I searched his barding, finding a knife and a can of peaches. I saw Littlepip go through the pockets of another's barding, but she quickly flung herself to the railing, heaving her lunch into the foul river below. Not that I blamed her. A large break in the clouds brought a soft and silvery light to everything, I looked over the railing see my reflection in the water, still covered with Cager’s drying blood.

Then I saw Sawed-Off’s shotgun hovering in the air behind Littlepip's head.

“I’ll be taking what you guys have too,” Monterey Jack informed her with a bored drawl.

"Woah," I said, turning slowly to see him standing on the bridge, bathed in moonlight, his horn glowing a soft beige light. The shotgun floated between is, pointed at her. "What are you doing?"

"Surviving."

“b-But I just saved you!” Littlepip cried.

“Yeah. And for that, I’m not going to kill you.” His eyes narrowed. “Unless, of course, you do something stupid right now.”

“But I just saved you!”

“Aren’t you top of your class,” he said snidely.

"Enough Jack!" I walked over, hefting my shovel. "She freed us both. We should be working together."

Monterey snorted. “And split our limited provisions? Go to sleep with one eye open each night, hoping to catch her when she tried to stab me in the back. No thanks.”

I was shocked. Monterey Jack, the nice guy who owns a cheese shop and had two lovely kids was threatening a young mare. Over provisions no less!

"Look, Casey was it? You're a nice guy," he turned towards me. "That's why I'm leaving you alive as well, but stay out of my if you know what's good for you."

The two of us weren't prepared when the combat shotgun whipped into the air. We turned back to see Littlepip as the culprit. For a long moment, we stood there, two unicorn ponies and a human on a bridge, surrounded by bodies, two floating shotguns and a shovel between us, aimed at each other. Moonlight shone down on us from the break in the clouds.

Monterey Jack broke the silence, “You’re not going to use that. I saw you spare that raider. If you couldn’t kill a pony like that, you don’t have it in you to kill me.”

Littlepip narrowed her eyes. “I’m a quick study.”

He huffed, but didn’t move. “Do you even know how to use that thing?”

She smiled. “Do you know that you only have one shot left? And judging by the sprite-bot, that gun is in such poor repair I’ll survive being shot with it. Will you survive being shot with this as many times as I can move the trigger while you try to reload?”

Monterey Jack took a step back. I was shocked to know that Littlepip was keeping tack on that during the fight. “And I’ll be taking my canteens back.”

The two of them looked at me expectantly. It was a hard to choice but I knew who to choose. "Sorry Jack." I moved beside Littlepip. "I'm with her."

Monterey's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. "Fine, whatever."

Ponyville. I was amazed at how Littlepip's PipBuck knew the names of places before we did. It even named the wreckage of a building that we had just slipped into. Ponyville was raider territory. I just hoped this place, this “Carousel Boutique”, was not crawling with them.

The three of us had barely parted ways when the railing of the bridge exploded next to me. Probably the same on who had turned Cager’s head to applesauce. Me and Littlepip fled into the town, keeping to what cover there was. Few of the buildings were intact enough to hide in. This was the closest.

Fortunately, we were alone.

We sat there for a while as we caught our breath. I saw back against a wall, letting the shovel fall to the ground and tried to relax.

"Hey," I opened my eyes to see Littlepip looking at me in gratitude. "Thanks for helping out on the bridge."

"Don't mention it. You helped me out so it's only natural to return the favor."

"Well, for what's it's worth, thanks." She held out her hoof to shook, a gesture I happily returned. "By the way, what are you?"

I sat up. "It's a long story.

"Under the circumstance, I'd say we have time."

I explained to her all about my species and where I came from. She ate up every word, amazed at my world. When I was done, she, in return, told me about the Great War. She talked about how she left her Stable to find a singer named Velvet Remedy, and from the way the Littlepip described the singer, I could tell she had a crush on the latter.

We waited for nearly an hour, curled up in a shadow near the door; but the sniper didn't bother to follow us. No, she or he could just wait until we came out.

Fatigue washed over me. I had stayed up all the night before, and this night’s events were a strain on both body and spirit. My muscles were weak and achy. I needed to sleep. Sleeping here was probably a horrible idea. If we woke up at all, it could be in the hooves of slavers, raiders or possibly worse. But going back outside, finding someplace better, it just wasn’t on the table.

At least we both had a friend to keep us company.

Author's Note

Well, here it is. I hope you enjoyed it. Yes, I know most of it is similar to the regular story, but I find it easier to write that way.