Hunters of the Wasteland

Chapter 3

Train Ride

(Part One)

A week has past since the incident in Ponyville and our wandering travelers make their way to New Appaloosa. So far they haven’t seen any ponies from the Steel Rangers, nor any raiders, or monsters besides the groups encounter with just a small group of Jaggis, but so far everything seem to be going as planned...for the most part minus Sunny Day’s miscalculation of how long it would take them to get to New Appaloosa as Rebecca let’s out gruffle groans from the long wait.

“This drive is taking forever!” Rebecca said as it was her turn to drive the jeep through the wasteland. “I thought you said we'd be at New Appaloosa within a day or two?”

“I did yes….but I might’ve not been paying attention to the colt that dropped me off about how long it would take to get to New Appaloosa.” Sunny said which caused everyone in the car to groan in annoyance.

“For a mare who’s supposed to be smarter than us, you’re not that bright or well prepared.” Vanessa said which caused Sunny to snort in annoyance.

“Hey, I’m not perfect all the time!”

“And when were you ever perfect? Not now from the looks of it.” Rebecca said which caused Littlepip and Vanessa to laugh from the pegasus’s comeback.

“Oh buck you all! You can go to tartarus for all I care!” The researcher said before moving down into her seat with a blush on her face.

“Oh relax, we’re just messing with yeah Sunny. No need to have that stick up your butt.” She said before moving the jeep out of the way of a rock sticking out of the ground. “So what’s New Appaloosa suppose to be if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Well it’s mostly used as a research & medical treatment center. It’s kinda like an oasis in the middle of nowhere. Only it’s filled with ponies that are willing to help you and not kill you within a couple of seconds.”

“Huh? Well it’s a good thing we’re heading over there then. Though I wish it didn’t take us this long to get there.”

“I said I was sorry alright? At least the jeep didn’t break down like the last time-” Before she could finish, flames coming from underneath the hood of the jeep burst open as the engine caught on fire. “Spoke too soon.”

“Seriously? How the hell do these raiders even drive these things?” Vanessa asked as she lets out fits of coughing along with Sunny Day. Littlepip, and Rebecca. The pegasus groaned in annoyance before pulling over to the side and quickly hoping out of the jeep along with the others.

“You think we can still ride it once the flames die out?” Littlepip asked as her question was soon answered by the engine exploding.

“Does that answer your question?” Rebecca asked as she kicked a stone off to the side. “Looks like we’re gonna have to walk now until we can find another jeep or some kind of means of transportation.” She said before walking over to the jeep. “Come on. Grab whatever supplies you can carry before we get going. I prefer not to stay in one place for too long.”

“Who died and made you leader?” Littlepip stated as she along with the others began to collect their gear from the back seat of the jeep.

“The moment I suplexed your ass when we first met.”

“Y-You only caught me by surprise! I can kick your sorry-” Before she could finish her comeback, the sound of a gun being fired off could be heard echoing through the air. Rebecca and the others quickly took cover as Sunny pulled out a mirror to see who was firing at them.

“See anyone Sunny?” Vanessa asked as she readies her bow.

“I don’t see anypony out there.” She said before another sound of a gunshot could be heard again. “But it seems like the sound is coming from somewhere.”

“Maybe over there beyond that mountain of dirt?” Vanessa said as they all heard another gunshot.

“Let’s go check it out, but be careful. We don’t know who’s going to be on the other side.” Rebecca said as she was about to head over there, only to be stopped by Littlepip.

“You want to go to where the sound is coming from? Shouldn’t we be moving away from what sounds like to be danger over that mountain of dirt?”

“True, but the sounds of guns being fired might mean that there are raiders within the area. If we can get one of their jerps while they’re distracted, then we’ll be back on the road in no time.”

“That is both risky and dangerous. What if they aren’t raiders and are the steel hooves?”

“We’re just seeing who it is Littlepip. It’s not like we’re going to save a group of ponies or something from a bunch of slave drivers.” Rebecca said as she along with Vanessa and Sunny headed over to where the gunshot came from. Littlepip sighed in annoyance as she soon followed after the trio. Once they were climbing up the dirt mount they slowly raised their heads a bit up so they could see what was going on. As they looked over the top of the mountain, they could see a large group of ponies near what they could guess was a train. Next to the large group of ponies chained together were ponies similar to that of raiders, but their armor was more well kept and had weapons that weren’t busted or rusted looking.

“Wow, talk about irony huh Rebecca?” Vanessa asked only to get a deadpan expression from the pegasus. “Who or what are these ponies doing out here?”

“Slavers.” Sunny said as she groans in annoyance as she lowers herself down from looking over them from the top. “Just our luck to find them here.”

“Care to explain Sunny?” Rebecca asked.

“It’s just as the word says. They capture ponies that they find that could prove to fetch them a good profit. The ponies they capture are either sold as sex slaves in Old Appaloosa, experiential test subject for the enclaves, or worse.”

“What’s worse than that?” Littlepip asked only to receive a look of dread on Sunny’s face. “Yep, time to leave now.”

“....We’re not leaving them.” Rebecca said as Sunny and Littlepip looked at the black pegasus with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

“You’re kidding me right?” Littlepip asked. “You said we weren’t going to do something like this if we looked to see who was making the gunshot sounds.”

“I know what I said. But given the fact that they might be experimented on or worse if we’re to leave them like this. I mean look at them!” She said pointing over to one of the slavers whipping one of the chained ponies from behind.

“ALL RIGHT YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Yelled a slaver pony as he whips the pony he was beading up on. “GET YOUR WORTHLESS FLANKS ONTO THE TRAIN! YOUR NEW LIVES AS SLAVES START WHEN YOU REACH OLD APPALOOSA!”

“Vanessa you’re her friend right? Try to talk some sense into your friend before she might end up getting us all killed or worse.” Vanessa simply looked over at Rebecca with determination filling her eyes. The white blue unicorn simply sighs before reaching for an arrow for her bow.

“You’re going to fight them?” Littlepip asked.

“Not like we could sit back and do nothing.” She said before looking back at Rebecca. “Think we can get inside?”

“If we take out two of them, then yeah we can. I’m more wondering if the train can take us to New Appaloosa.”

“Well we won’t know until we try. Gotten any good with the bow?”

“Headshot or heart shot?”

“Headshot them from the back of their heads. Don’t want them to scream to alert the others. You and Sunny Day stay here and be our cover if any of the slavers sneak up from behind.” Rebecca said as she looked over at Littlepip. “You’re coming with me Littlepip.”

“Fair warning. I only got two clips left for my gun, and five shots left in it. So don’t be surprised if I start throwing stuff that I can find when I run out.” Littlepip said as she pulls out Little Macintosh.

“A revolver with a scoop attach to it. Not a bad choice for something like that.” She said before pulling out her longsword. “Be sure to stay out of sight until we can deal with the ones outside secretly. Once that’s over and done with, we can focus on the ones inside. Got it?” The pegasus asked as all three of them nodded in agreement. With having saying that, Rebecca and Littlepip quickly slide down the side of the mountain and bolted to the side of one of the train carts.

“Okay, they’re four slavers outside. Vanessa and Sunny Day should be able to take out the two in the distance. We’ll just have to deal with the ones blocking the entrance.”

“Well the two have helmets on. So shooting them in the head is out of the question. We’re going to have to go with sneaking up from behind and run a dagger through their neck or chest.”

“You honestly think that will work?”

“Honestly, no. But it’s better than anything else I got, so let’s just hope this plan turns out well.”

“.....I’m starting to have second thoughts about joining your group.”

“Just shut up and get ready to stab them.”

(Wastelands)
(Location: Inside the Former Friendship Express)

“Can someone explain to me how the hell we got ourselves into this mess!?” Sunny yelled as she along with Rebecca and the others took cover behind one of the seats in the train cart they’re in while a hail of bullets shot pass them.

“Most likely from that weird rectangle device of Vanessa’s!” Littlepip yelled, looking over the corner of of the seat at the slavers firing at them. “Bet you didn’t take into account on that huh leader?”

“How the hell was I supposed to know that her alarm was on? Not my fault she couldn’t check the damn phone to make sure it was off.” Rebecca said as she quickly pulled herself up from behind the seat they were hiding behind and threw a throwing knife at an earth pony’s throat.

“Does it really matter?” Vanessa said as she quickly fires an arrow at the ceiling causing it to bounce off and hit a unicorn slaver pony in the head killing her upon impact. “Right now we have to deal with these guys before they kill us, or worse.” She said before feeling the train starting to move. “Who even is driving the train?”

“I think one of the slavers that made a run for the engine room is making the train move.” Sunny answered as she took cover to reload her handgun. “Which means that we need to get control of this train before we reach Old Appaloosa.”

“And what’s in Old Appaloosa that we should be worried about?” Rebecca asked as she threw another throwing knife at another earth pony hitting him in the heart.

“Pretty much a hot spot for all raiders and slavers. Something that we should stay clear of if possible. Faust knows that Rebecca would fetch a high price if she was sold to somepony else, or….a Zebra.”

“Remind me to have you tell us more about the wasteland later.” Rebecca said as she peered from behind the seat she was hiding behind, only to quickly pull herself back from a bullet darting pass her head. “Dammit. Do any of you guys have a flash grenade or something!?”

“Oh! I got one actually.” Littlepip said as she moves over to Rebecca while pulling said grenade from out of her pocket. “Found it back in Ponyville before I ran into you guys. Sadly that’s the only one I have that I could find in that place.”

“Thank you~” Rebecca quickly grabbed the grenade as she pulled the pin off of it and tosses it over to the slavers.

“Grenade!” One of the slavers yelled as the flash grenade went off, causing them to cover their eyes in pain from the sudden flash going off. As the slavers where rubbing their eyes to try to get their visions back, Rebecca quickly darted from behind her cover as she charges at the nearest slaver and impaled him in the chest with her longsword. She then quickly pulled her weapon from out of the earth pony’s chest and cut off the head of the unicorn that was next to him.

“Duck!” Littlepip yelled as the pegasus quickly ducked to the ground. Upon hitting the ground, Littlepip fired at an oncoming slaver in the head that was about to hit Rebecca from behind with an axe.

“Thanks. That would’ve been an issue if he did hit me.” She said, quickly pulling herself up while brushing off some of the dirt and brain matter from off herself. “Guess the sneaking in and taking them by surprise plan didn’t work.”

“Then we’ll go with plan B.” Sunny said as everyone raised an eyebrow at her. “Seeing how they’re possibly more slavers on the train. I suggest we do a divide and conquer tactic.”

“So we split up and take care of them in groups of two then?” Vanessa asked as the researcher nodded.

“Vanessa and I will deal with the stragglers from here all the way to the back of the train. While we’re doing that, you and Littlepip with deal with the ones up ahead.” She said before looking at Rebecca. “Make sure you take these guys weapon and ammunition after you kill them if you have the time. You’re kinda a target seeing how you don’t have any guns on you, and the gun you did had you gave it to me.”

“Noted.” Rebecca said as she went over to the dead slavers and raided them for their weapons and ammunition.

“Once Vanessa and I are done with our part, we’ll try to make it up to where you guys are for backup and incase somepony tries to get the drop on you two. Everypony got it?” Sunny Day asked as they all nodded in agreement. “Good, may Faust protect us all.” She said before running off with Vanessa down the train cart, while Littlepip and Rebecca head off to the engine room.