Mad Mare

The sun was setting. The orange globe disappeared behind the rim of the natural cauldron around the town, throwing it into a nightly shadow. As the mare approached the Thunderdome - right by a blacksmith’s - she was greeted by a small convoy from the Underworld.

MasterBlaster were sitting on a luxurious roofless wagon like on a throne. A metal platform was welded onto an old base from a bus. The floor was decorated with red rugs and pillows with high torches in the corners. Eight stallions dressed in nothing but pants pulled the platform. Draft saddles were mounted on their backs, bridles on their heads with reins going back to Blaster. A sign with a single word “Debtor” hung from their necks. A long horsewhip attached to a brace on Master’s front leg cracked the air from time to time, hitting the bare coat of the ponies. Two mares laid on the platform itself in a similar attire as Gadget, but with a collar around the neck. One of them was crying, the other - gritting her teeth, clinging onto the last strands of dignity she had. A chain spun from one neck down to the hinge on the wagon and up to another neck. The same sign hung from their necks as from stallions’.

Several not quite happy worker ponies and griffons followed the procession. There was a crowd gathered around the road, not daring to step in front of the wagon’s way. The pale-mauve mare recognized several familiar faces in the pack. There was the ghoulish frown of the Collector peeking from behind the car. Midnight Bloom watching it from the side. Gadget following the procession in her work uniform.

The pale-mauve mare looked around her, immediately spotting big scaling hammer. She bit on the grip, raising the hammer up. It was pretty heavy and the thin, almost axe-like head threatened to chop an innocent bystander whenever the mare passed someone. She got out on the street before the procession.

“Got two for the brothel!” The Master cracked of laughter, giving another horsewhip slash to one of the stallions in the front.

The pale-mauve mare charged forward, gaining speed with each step, her hammer held high. When the guards at the back of the convoy reacted, it was already too late. The mare jumped onto the trace between the draft stallions. She jumped again towards MasterBlaster, s small protrusion of her boot pulling on the hinge that kept the ponies strapped to the trace. This would normally pull on the mare, but the hammer gave her enough momentum to pull the pin out entirely. She landed on the platform, the hammer crashing into the chain that held the mares together, snapping it in half.

“Sorry. The brothel’s full.” The pale-mauve mare glared at Master.

The ponies moved around the platform awaiting what will happen next. In the crowd, Collector was grinning wide.

“What is this?” Master yapped, “You crazy?”

“You’ve been humiliating your debtors long enough.” The mare stood up on her hind legs, following the day-old example of the periwinkle stallion to seem more intimidating, “Seize it at once!”

“I think my hearing is wonky.” The Master could not believe the baldness of her move, “That sounds like an order.”

“That’s right.”

“Holy Sisters! She’s angry. Brain’s broken. Let me explain: this is my vehicle, my debtors, you are just a…” He thought for a moment before spitting, “Pedestrian!” Master tapped the Hellhound’s shoulder. The latter, in a swift motion, grabbed the mare by the neck. “Three seconds. Then break her neck. One...”

“MasterBlaster!” An echoing voice of Agnate echoed through the street like a thunder, “Listen to the law!” She appeared before the procession, eight guards by her side.

“Agnate, two creatures in dispute.” Master complained, like a child, “These are our witnesses. We suffered bad. We want justice. We want Thunderdome!”

Agnate nodded. Blaster got up, the mare still in his grasp, and in a single jump through the open gates of the Thunderdome landed down in the pit. He threw the mare over the other side. She sprung up, dusting her clothes off and stretching her neck. The inside of the fighting pit was sandy. The six-meter walls were lined with concrete and metal. Powerful industrial projectors lined up the top edge of the pit, evenly spaced one from another. Several hooks and spikes were welded onto the massive metal cage above. Two empty pulleys were attached to each side of the dome, right at the top, good twenty-five meters from the ground. The top half of the dome was cut off from the bottom by a roofed platform. Old, torn and decaying elastic rope hand from them. The creatures of the Haggletown began to swarm around the Colosseum, crawling onto the metal railing to get a better view.

In a few minutes, the entire Thunderdome was covered with pastel colored creatures like a hive in bees. It was time to present the weapons of choice as they were passed up from the bottom of the crowd and onto the hooks at the top. Two barrels clung on top, suspended from chains. A massive sledgehammer clanked as it was placed onto two of the hooks in the very center of the dome. A hollow steel pipe was placed onto another two. And then it was time for the final weapon. A long meat cleaver easily double the size of the pale-mauve mare hung from a hook. A long rectangular blade that curved in from the back at the end. The spine was filled with big serrations, probably serving more of a decorative than practical purpose. It was almost like it did not belong in this arena. It was clean and well sharpened. Black in color, it reflected the last beams of light from the setting sun.

The mare looked to the cloud, seeing a peaking face of the Collector in the caged platform in the middle, like a VIP balcony in a theater hall, and Midnight Bloom dwarfing beside him. Soon, Agnate joined them with the whole crew of guards following her around. Sunny and Sunbeam joined them. But on the other side of the cage, she spotted someone who sparked the fire in her eyes. Crimson Sin comfortably leaned onto the railing of the same kind of balcony, checking out what was the commotion all about. As she spotted the clothing the pale-mauve mare was wearing and soon her face, Crimson’s expression rapidly changed. She was no longer looking blatantly amused, but surprised and confused. And from confusion broke out the anger. Two familiar stallions joined her side, both confused. Periwinkle stallion looked badly beaten, his face covered in bruises, tears, and blisters, and his front leg bandaged over. A pink unicorn stallion stepped onto the third balcony between the two. He was dressed in a black skin long coat with a fluffy collar made from fox fur. Various chainlets and silver streaks were sewed into the length of the coat. His legs were clothed into skin-tight pants of the same design as the coat. His long white mane with a single red stripe right by the horn swayed free from underneath a metal-decorated top hat. His bright ruby eyes sparked the smug expression on his long edgy face. A pre-war stage microphone was hanging from his ear down to his mouth.

“Welcome to another edition of Thunderdome!” He announced in the classic host manner. His words were met with an explosion of cheers and claps. “Listen on! Listen on!” His face turned to sadness as if he was about to start crying like a heartbroken mare, “Fighting leads to killing, and killing gets to warring. And that was the damn near the death of all our grandpas and grandmas. But we all learned by the dust of them all! Haggletown’s learned! Now when creatures get to fighting it happens here! Equal amount enters, half of them leaves. And right now, I’ve got two creatures! Two creatures full of fear! Ladies and gentlestallions, fillies and colts...” He basked in the spotlight, his eyes running over the masses that just kept on gathering. His face grew an entertained sinister smile as he lolled, “... dying times here.” He chuckled under his breath, before shooting his hoof towards the hellhound, “He’s the ball cracker. Death on foot. You know him. You love him! He’s Blaster!” The audience exploded once again, “The challenger,” he turned to the pale-mauve mare, “directly from the Wasteland. She’s bad. She’s beautiful. She’s crazy! It’s the mare with no name!” Whistling and clapping mixed into the cheers. Several stallions and griffons called out something incohesive. “Thunderdome’s simple.” He spoke directly to the fighters, “Get to the weapons, use them any way you can. I know you won’t break the rules - there aren’t any. Remember where you are.” He raised his voice again, “This is Thunderdome. Death is listening, and will take the first one to scream… Prepare!” He raised his hoof, ready to start the fight, but was cut off by the pale-mauve mare.

“Wait!” She called out, getting a curious look from the stallion and several more whistles from the crowd. “I would really prefer to do this one problem at a time, but I can’t take any chances.” The pale-mauve mare spoke with herself, “Hey you!” She called out to Crimson. “Yes, you, Sinful flanks! I challenge you to Thunderdome!”

“What is this?” The stallion fired up, “The crazy mare must be completely mad! The Wasteland beauty challenged another creature. This time her eyes laid on our praised guestess. You know her. Not everyone loves her. But no one can deny her spirit. It’s Crimson Sin!”

It was obvious that his words were transmitted elsewhere. Radio broadcast would be the most logical. He would not have needed to state what everyone at the arena already heard and knew otherwise. The red unicorn growled hearing such a bold and somewhat unexpected turn of events but respected the rules. In a moment she jumped down the pit and casually trotted to Blaster’s side.

“But the balance is nigh!” The stallion cried, “The Thunderdome demands one more soul. Who will it be? Who will you choose, Crimson Sin?”

The red unicorn looked over the crowd, spotting her victim. “Ya.” She growled, pointing her hoof towards the worker grifoness from before. “Ya were gettin’ on my ne’ves for eight months, ‘bout time I stopped it.”

The stallion burst, “The deed is done!” As the griffon was pushed towards the entrance to the fighting pit by the excited and impatient crowd, the host pony announced the contestant, “From the pits of the Underworld to the courtroom of Thunderdome. The rule breaker. The heart acher...” His expression froze for a split second, his voice lingering, as he understood he had no idea who she was. But as soon as he spotted the written letters on her clothes, he knew exactly what to call her: “The Pig Killer!”

Gadget was pushed down into the pit, the gates shutting behind her. She clumsily dropped to the floor with a thump and a splashing cloud of dusty sand around. As it quickly settled down, the rusty yellow granules stuck to the filth on her feathers in a thick coating. The griffon bounced upwards, giving her new surroundings a baffled yet somehow charming glimpse. She saw Crimson Sin and the mountainous beast beside her and decided to move towards a less imposing pony.

“Hi.” She waved awkwardly to the pale-mauve mare.

“I am sorry I got you into this.” The mare sighed, “I promise I'll get you out alive.”

“That’s kind of you and all, but I have dynamite.”

The pale-mauve mare gave the griffon a questioning expression.

“When Blackeye was disarming that wagon, I grabbed a couple of sticks while during the flash. Just thought you might want to know.”

On the other side, Sin spoke something incomprehensive to Blaster and laughed, bumping his forearm. A ghast of smoky air fled the tiny holes along both sides of hellhound’s pyramid helmet like exhaust from a starting truck. The air was getting chilly. The sky darkened and a thick layer of grey cumbersome clouds flew in from the north-east. Only rare beams of moonlight pierced through them.

“Prepare!” The eccentric pink stallion cried out. The crowd quieted down awaiting the morbid words.

“Can you fly?” The pale-mauve mare whispered to the griffon. The latter nodded. “As soon as the battle starts, fly up and drop the barrels. If able - pole too. Everything else is useless to us.”

“Got it.” The griffon braced for a jump.

“Let the judging…” The stallion raised his hoof before dropping it down, “Begin!”

Gadget jumped up, her wings unfolding. A single flap and the griffon was already halfway to the barrels, leaving only a shockwave of dust and sand behind. Blaster huffed, running towards the edge of the pit. He jumped up. His claws clung to the metal cage as he was climbing upwards towards the weapons. Crimson pushed her body upwards, her horn shining bright, the color represented by her name. The horn coruscated like a new year sparkler as she dropped back on her front hooves. The pale-mauve mare dashed towards the unicorn as a radiant, fizzling beam of light shot straight at her. She dropped to the ground, her momentum propelling her forward. When Sin realized she'd missed, it was already too late. The pale-mauve mare contorted her body, spinning around and firing her back leg into unicorn's chest, maximizing the force behind it. Crimson was fast enough to draw a basic shield bubble to meet the buck. The hoof crashed into the force field, sending waves over it like a stone dropped into a still lake. The pale-mauve mare sprung up, sending another roundhouse kick into the shield. And another. She jumped up, rolling her body, allowing a full turn in mid-air and throwing her hind leg into the barrier. This was too much for it. The bubble cracked and shattered like a window. Shards scattered, fading out of existence. Another buck flew into unicorn's chest, knocking the wind out and throwing her back.

Gadget was sitting on one of the barrels, meddling with the chain. It was tougher than she thought, not budging even a little at her attempts to undo it. Chills ran through her body as she saw Blaster reaching the apex of the dome. He was upside down, holding onto the railing like a spider. The pyramid helmet on his head made him look all the more nerve-wracking and horrifying to her. The hellhound clasped the giant cleaver, pulling it off of the hooks. He growled, jumped at the griffon. The cleaver swung at her like a windmill blade. Gadget shrieked, dropping down as fast as she can. The blade cut through the thick chains like they were butter, barely missing griffon's tail. The barrels dropped to the ground, almost thirty meters below, breaking into pieces and scattering its innards. Gadget joined the pale-mauve mare by the contents of the dropped containers. All they saw were old tools and scraps. Wrench, frying pan, rolling pin etc. were what they were given. The other barrel contained something more than just scarps, something that looked like a gun. But all its contents were covered in slightly glowing green goo. A substance the Mare With No Name was smart enough not to touch.

The pale-mauve mare felt something ominous above her. “Scatter!” She pushed Gadget back while quickly grabbing the wrench and jumping to the griffon. Just in time.

Blaster dropped to the ground, sending earthquakes and shockwaves around him. The spectating crowd exploded with excitement. The hellhound raised up, the cleaver dragging at his side. Sin got up, looking quite angered. The pale-mauve mare was in a disadvantageous position, stuck between Blaster and the unicorn. Crimson's horn lit up, she was ready to do another attack. A hard side tackle by Gadget threw her away, rolling both of them on the ground. Another beam of sparkling light blasted away into the cloudy sky, tearing a hole in the thick grey layer.

Blaster swiped the cleaver, a trail of dust bursting up from the ground. The pale-mauve mare had barely enough time to jump upwards and raise her legs so they were not cut off. The moment her hind legs touched the earth, she pushed forward, directing all of her momentum into a single punch straight into hellhound's abdomen. It was like punching solid concrete. She cried out rolling away as razor-sharp claw crashed into the ground behind her. She glanced towards Gadget. The griffon was struggling to keep the very angry unicorn pinned down. The latter’s horn began to glow as she twisted her neck to try and face Gadget.

“Push her horn away from you!” The pale-mauve mare cried out.

Gadget did as told, shoving Sin’s face away. The pale-mauve mare bit on the wrench that was still in her mouth a bit differently for better grip and, before Crimson could kick the griffon, tossed it into unicorn's head. A dull cling right on the base of the horn and the aura imploded, dissipating like a thin streak of crackling red smoke. The griffon nodded in appreciation. Her eyes quickly widened. She was ready to scream, but the pale-mauve mare was faster to react.

She rolled aside. Just in time. The massive meat cleaver crashed into the ground, burying itself half a meter under the surface. The pale-mauve mare bounced forward, in between the hellhound’s legs and spinning behind him. She jumped once again, grabbing the back of the pyramid helmet. As she expected, the beast was not nearly as nimble or flexible. His claws flailed, trying to take a hold of the mare, but not reaching her. This gave her enough time to look at the helmet - the next logical place to look for a weak point. The back of the pyramid was, like the front sides, covered in small holes or at least that’s what they looked like. A big box with fans on it and two pumps under it was welded tightly to the headwear. Two steel pipes left the box and entered the sides of the pyramid through a small cylinder container with several small diodes on it.

One of the claws finally reached the mare, grasping the back of her collar and tossing her forward towards the broken barrels. She crashed hard, a random small stone in the ground slicing her side. She growled, pressing onto the new wound. Little streams of dark crimson blood rolled down her hoof. Standing up on her hind legs, she glanced towards Sin, who was searching through the green sludge with her magic. The pale-mauve mare’s eyes widened as she saw a nail gun, wrapped in red glow, emerge from the goo and point towards her. She kicked the frying pan that was peacefully lying where it had crushed the first time and grabbed it with her mouth. Thump. Cling. The nail gun fired, its projectile deflected by the hardened surfaces of the kitchen utensil. Thump, thump, cling, cling. The makeshift shield proved its worth, surprising even the pale-mauve mare herself. An approving “huh” escaped her teeth. The pale-mauve mare kicked the rolling pin, that too was under her legs, and before Crimson had a chance to fire again kicked it towards her. The unicorn’s head once again felt the kick as the utensil slipped past the emerging red shield and hitting the unicorn right between her eyes.

The unicorn fell back, right into the green sludge. The unicorn screamed. The hysterical screech filled the air, silencing the thunderous crowd. The unicorn rolled out of the goo and into the sand, trying to scrape it off as burnt off hair and withered out flakes of skin and meat slipped off of her back. Gadget, who was standing aside not courageous enough to go against the hellhound, gasped, quickly growing sick and covering her mouth not to vomit. The pale-mauve mare neared the Crimson Sin. The latter was breathing heavy. Her chest trembled and quivered. Streams of stale tears ran her cheeks, her teeth clenched from pain. Her face was still painted into static anger and erroneous dignity. The very dignity, the Mare With No Name was draining out the entirety of the battle.

“Crimson Sin,” The pale-mauve mare growled, “I am sorry this had to end this way, but for the crimes you’ve committed against the creatures of Haggletown and dozens outside of it… you had this commin-”

She hadn’t time to finish the sentence as massive claw swept her off the ground and tossed into cage wall, towards one of the VIP balconies. The pale-mauve mare crashed hard into the metal net and the railing behind it, right beside one of the projectors. Something snapped in her front leg. She clenched her teeth hard before crying out her pain. The skin tore and shredded. Blood oozed out, clotting and sticking to the fur. A splatter sprinkled the eccentric pink stallion.

She bit into the power cable, the thickness of a thick rope, that was connected to the light and pulled on it. It was welded in, but the mare pulled harder, pushing the projector with her hind legs. It hurt, badly, but the anger got the best of her. The cable tore open, sending sparks of arcing electricity as the massive projector toppled over and crushed to the ground.

“Fine!” She bit on the sparking cable again for a better grip. “Come at me, you oversized mutt!”

Blaster jump at her, the meat cleaver ready to swing. The crowd behind the pale-mauve mare quickly dispersed fearing for their lives. The announcer stallion and Sin’s accomplices jumped off of his balcony. The hellhound crushed into the railing, denting and twisting it. The cleaver carved its way through the metal like a can opener. But the mare had already sprung over it, the broken leg pressed against her chest. She turned, pulling herself onto the pyramid helmet. She pressed the cable into the ventilation box on the back with all the strength she had. The wires sparked and ignited, the panel overloaded and burst, pulling one of the side boxes with it. The pyramid tore open, one of the sides was exposed, like a massive scar. As the mare stared into the darkness behind the tear, the darkness stared back. Two thin deformed eyes right on top of each other, enveloped in folds of hairless, ulcerated skin. Streams of dried out pus were running down from the tear ducts. The sickly yellow sclerae hosted darkly pigmented irises engulfed in networks of swollen blood vessels.

The beast tried pulling his weapon back but failed. The cleaver was stuck in twisted metal and refused to let go. Blaster turned, trying to grab the mare, but the latter was not going to allow that. She sprung away, rolling on the ground below far away from the hellhound. She quickly ran towards the center. The griffoness, who was who was meddling with parts of the torn open nail gun, put a newly compile contraption, that looked like a mouse trap with a grenade pin on a dynamite stick, and rushed towards the mare.

“Are you hurt?” Gadget trembled, met with a duh expression of the pale-mauve mare’s face. “How can I help?”

“See the pipe up there?” She pointed towards the top of the dome, “Throw it to me as soon as I tell you to.”

Gadget nodded, immediately taking off. Blaster roared, running towards the mare. As soon as she ran towards the middle, he jumped to intercept.

“Now!” The pale-mauve mare spat.

Gadget was already sitting by the two-meter pipe. She grabbed it in her claws and threw it full force towards the mare as if it was a spear. The pipe howled, as air passed through it. The pale-mauve mare caught it with her teeth, the momentum spinning her around. Just what she wanted. One of the ends secured itself in the ground, getting stuck on the stone that had sliced her side. The Hellhound finally reached the ground, unable to change his course, his chest was the first to touch down. Unfortunately for him, it was on the other end of the pipe. The skin tore, the metal shallowly sinking into the meat beneath.

This was nowhere nearly enough to stop a monstrous being like this. But Gadget too had something to say about it. With a firm kick, she knocked the massive sledgehammer the size of her off of its hooks that were right above Blaster’s head. The hefty tool crashed onto the base of hellhound’s neck with all the force of a twenty-five-meter fall. The impact jolted Blaster down, impaling him all the way through with the pipe. The bottom of the tube deformed, gluing itself to the rocky ground beneath.

Blood rained down from the behemoth as he tried pulling himself out. He firmly grasped the metal, starting to lift himself from the makeshift stake.

Gadget tossed her compiled contraption to the pale-mauve mare. The latter was fast to react springing upwards from one of the Blaster’s arms and catching the dynamite in mid-air. She tossed them into the hole of the pyramid helmet, pulling onto the pin with her teeth and momentarily bouncing away. A thunderous explosion rang, contained within the pyramid helmet. The headwear blossomed like a flower. Blaster’s hands slipped down from the bloody pole, lifeless. It was over.

The excited crowd that was cheering through the entire fight went silent. Gadget sat down on the ground, exhausted and sick. The terrified announcer stallion crawled out of his hiding. Carefully avoiding the massive blade that had become an interior of the balcony. What she didn’t notice at first, was Butch dropping into the Thunderdome after drinking a healing potion. Only as an empty flask shattered on the ground and a cry of the charging earth pony filled the air, she turned. He shed all the bandages and casts, his bruises and scratches evaporated like droplets of water on a hot summer day. His eyes were wet, tears running down the cheeks of a ferocious-looking face. His front forehoof bared an unstrapped gauntlet with a blade welded onto it.

“Ya killed my sistah!” He cried, swinging the weapon at mare’s face, “Ya a’e a monstah!”

The pale-mauve mare spun on her place. The stallion’s front leg passed her, met by a mighty punch from above. A loud crack echoed from the limb as it bent unnaturally under the elbow. The gauntlet slipped off, momentarily finding a new host - the Mare With No Name. She sliced the stallion’s back as he continued being carried forward by inertia. She hooked his shoulder, pulling on it, to force Butch to face her, quickly drawing the weapon out and stabbing him through the lower jaw. The blade cut through the flesh like a knife through butter, sticking out on the other side like a massive metal tongue. The periwinkle stallion was still alive, as the mare put more force into the blade. His legs were no longer touching the ground. She jolted it out, only to drive it into the middle of his chest, going all the way through. She pushed Butch with her hind leg. The lifeless body fell over, pulling the weapon off of mare’s hoof.

“You are right.” She asserted, “I am no monster.”