Fallout Equestria: Petrichor

Get in, deal with the slavers, and get out with everypony before the ambush squad at the waterhole or reinforcements would appear. Sounded simple enough, especially now that I knew how to get in - I had to circle around a bit, making my trip only an hour at tops. Half, if I galloped. That didn't sound too bad, though I had to make sure to slow down when I got to the higher ground.

I had spotted the sniper’s nest from a distance, and had figured out how to work around it - looked like the sniper wasn't really paying attention to the ridges around, rather focusing on the path down to the camp. Not that I could blame them, only a mad pony would try and take this route. Or a pony who knew better, like me. So, laying flat, I looked over the ridge at the camp before me. The sniper was going to be the biggest issue for me, one well placed shot and I'd be a goner. Thankfully, they were at the opening of the camp, staring away - which meant I could get in and deal with the support before they'd have chance to dogpile me for the sniper to take the head shot. So, I crept a bit closer, trying to spot the other ponies. If I could take a surprise attack on them, even the odds a bit... And that was when I spotted them. Now I started to understand the name Sting Hole better - there was a crater there. A hole. Two bucks were pointing their hooves at it, clearly laughing and tossing things in there, occasionally firing their weapons as well.

Perfect.

I snuck even closer, sliding down the steep hill before taking cover, waiting to see if I had been spotted - from this distance I could see other pony shapes, laying near the tents. I suppressed the urge to sigh in relief, as I realized I had come just in time - the slaves hadn't been moved yet. And as luck would have it, no one had noticed the big white buck creeping closer. I peeked out, curiosity getting the better of me - the two bumble-heads hadn't noticed me yet, being occupied with something in that hole.

"Throw 'im a potion!"
"Nah, he needs ammo. How's your shield?"
"Should handle two or three shots."

The earth pony with the dirty charcoal coat went through a small crate, picking up a hooffull of rounds - tossing them right in. Unicorn next to him started laughing maniacally, pointing right back in again. "Look at him go! Like a radroach!"

They had someone... down there? Too busy laughing, they hadn't noticed me coming closer. Not until I had planted two firm bucks into both of their backsides, sending them flying and tumbling down into the crater, screaming in surprise and terror. I heard a couple thuds, and peeked over - finally understanding the first part of the name.

The pit was filled with scorpions. Some small enough to be stomped. Some bigger than a pony. And they all looked mighty pissed. I couldn't help but swallow a bit, taking in the sight of the many, many angry insects scurrying around, not being able to climb the steep walls to get up to me, and two - no, three ponies down below. And suddenly my blood started to boil again, as I saw the ragged form of the third pony, running in circles around the bigger scorpion, avoiding stingers. The two stallions I had just kicked in looked around in horror, realizing their fun time had come to a rather ironic end. The unicorn was faster to react, starting to shoot at one of the scorpions advancing with a carbine that had tumbled down with them. I didn't care about those two - I looked around the edges, hoping to find some rope to help the third one - only to feel a sting in my hind-leg.

The sniper had spotted me.

I looked back at the sniper’s nest, jumping a bit to the side - thankfully, the shot had only nicked my leg slightly. And I had jumped to the side just in time, the second shot hitting where I had just been standing. I looked down at the hole for a second, noticing that the strange pony with a battlesaddle - most likely empty, I realized - was staring up at me too. I couldn't help but to yell at him from up there, hoping he'd understand. In some ways, I'm sure he did.

"I'll get you out of there, just hold on!"

That was all I could say before turning around and galloping at full speeds towards the sniper’s nest. There was still the fourth pony around here somewhere, but the sniper was the biggest threat for me right now. I had to make some zig zags, lunging left, right and stopping at random. It honestly felt like minutes to get to the root of the tower, but more than likely it took less than one. I could feel few bruises forming under my barding, spots where the sniper had hit - Steel’s outfit had stopped the major damage however. I'd have to buy him some Apple Whiskey after this as a thank you.

The sniper couldn't hit me from here - not without walking down the stairs. I could hear the mare up above curse and swear, before hearing her hooves tap to the other end of the platform above. Eyeing around, I realized she must've gone to the end of the platform, and was now waiting for me to trot up, right into the range of fire. I took a better look at the support beams, knowing now what I had to do. Three beams, all wood. Perfect.

Turning around, I placed one hind hoof against the support that seemed the strongest - before pulling both of my hooves under my belly, and apple-bucked at the beam. The structure groaned, the wood splintered and bent ever so slightly, and I heard a satisfying crunch. I had to grin a bit, and repeated the action, feeling the wood break under the second kick. The mare realized what I was doing, but it was too late - upon the third kick, the beam broke, and the other two weren't enough to keep the platform up. I couldn't help myself, and decided to shout in glee as the small platform came crashing down with the screaming sniper inside.

"TIMBER!"

I had narrowly escaped on being buried alive, but the mare was not so lucky. I could see her pink hoof pointing from the rubble, and the rifle a bit further away. I quickly reached down for it, flinging it over my shoulder - no time to check if the slaver was alive or not, there was a fourth one to deal with. A yellow and orange mare with a spiked and messy mane and puffy eyes emerged from one of the tents, groaning quietly. "The fuck you idiots doing, I told you to keep it down when I'm sl-"

I didn't let her finish -I closed the distance as fast as I could, slamming my hoof against her head. She fell down, but I didn't stop there - I pressed down the knee of my other front leg against her chest, pushing her against the ground. With a growl, she suddenly realized she was in deep trouble.

"Keys to release the slaves. Now."

She gulped, having trouble breathing. Not that I cared, all I wanted was the answer - which she finally rasped out. "My tent, on the table!" From the look on her face she had never expected to be pinned like this. I smirked a bit, before lifting my free hoof.

"Thank ye kindly."

One punch, and she was knocked out. Perhaps with a fractured skull. I wouldn't know for sure, I was not a doctor. I got up, and quickly trotted into the tent, spotting the table - and the keys with a glowing keychain. Snorting a bit at the ridiculousness, I snatched the keys and quickly ran to the slaves. From the corner of my eye, I noticed the now collapsed sniper’s nest shifting a bit - dammit, had to hurry. Rounding the corner, the slaves had perked up at the shouting and sounds of gunshots, and now only stared at me in bewilderment. I grinned around the keys, hoping to give them a signal I was here for their rescue before I got closer and started to work on the locks.

It was eight ponies in total. Some looked the worse for wear - but some looked lively. At least they had been fed enough to keep them alive. Looking around, I finally saw a grey unicorn, laying next to a brownish red mare with a gear cutie mark. She had a nasty head-wound, but still had a sharp look in her eyes when I got closer.

"Red brown coat, orange grey mane, really nasty attitude."

"Copper Gear?" I asked, but instead of the mare answering, the unicorn did. "She is. What of it?"

I reached into my saddlebags - for a second, I only thought about giving the bat, but realizing she'd need some healing... I also took out the healing potion, giving both to the injured mare. "Steel sends his regards."

That seemed to get the message through for the duo, as I turned around to get over to the Sting Hole to help out the pony who had been stuck there for who knows how long. I was greeted with the sight of the gunner laying on top of a ledge, too high for the scorpions to reach - I had to question how he fit there, or how he got there, that seemed a near impossible spot to be in for any normal pony. But if he had managed to get up there, that did explain how the gunner had managed to survive so far - taking moments to rest on the outcrop, before going back into the fight before the slavers realized what the deal was.

Speaking of the slavers, they were now food for the scorpions. I shuddered a bit at the half-eaten, half-melted corpse of the unicorn - that was not a good way to go. I quickly shook myself from that mindset, looking around for a rope of sorts - finding it in a pile of supplies. Again not caring too much to go through the stuff, I only snatched the rope and galloped to the edge again, to a spot where I could drop the end near the gunner.

One quick pull and tug later, I had pulled the pony out of the pit, who for the most part seemed quite calm. Well as much as I could see - his muzzle was covered by a scarf, eyes with goggles, and head with a ratty hat. Two ears... no, one ear, and one half ear, were poking out of the hat. His hide was covered, too, with a long duster, shirt, and the impressive battlesaddle. I tilted my head a bit to take a quick look to make sure he was alright, and again, the gunner was eerily still. That was when I noticed the missing skin on one of the legs. Yet no bleeding. Sickly grey hues, leathery hide, that odd scent... Oh.

"Huh."

"I assume you did not expect to meet a ghoul?"

That throaty, wet voice would've startled me if I hadn't connected the dots by now. I shook my head a bit, about to ask if he was alright - if it wasn't for the shriek where the captured ponies were. Without thinking twice, I started running back, forgetting for a second to ask why the ghoul pony had been stuck down there. By the time I had thought about asking, I had already reached the corner where the ponies were. Preparing myself for a fight, I leaped in - and that was when I understood why Steel had recommended giving Gear the shiny slugger. She was sitting on top of a pink mare, the sniper I soon realized, with the bat’s end pointing at her broken horn.

"Put me in chains would'ya!? Kick me in the head while I'm down!? Why I oughta-"

"Gear, hold up!" I quickly interjected, and the brown mare glared at me. Geez and I thought my glare was terrifying. I snorted a bit, shaking my head slightly before getting up closer. "We need one alive. In here. Can't promise her friend back there is going to wake up anytime soon, so she's the best bet."

With that, Gear wrinkled her nose, but did lift herself off from the mare to let me have a chat with her. The unicorn was sobbing, one hoof holding her broken appendage before she dared to look up at me. With a hoof, I reached down and took her aviator glasses, my expression not changing as I stared straight into her green eyes.

"You, and your little rag tag team better get the hell out of here while there is still more than one of you. Because Celestia help you, if I see even a strand of hair from you folk, I will come after you. And when I do, losing your horn will be the least of your worries, and this? All this? Will feel like a walk in the park in comparison. Have I made myself clear?"

The sniper was hiccuping, not daring to do much. However when I scowled, she was quick to respond. "Yes! Yes! Crystal! I'll- I'll collect Sunflower and- and run away! None of you will see us again!"

I placed her aviator glasses on to my muzzle, pulling back - waving my hoof a bit to let her pass. And pass she did, running off still crying, snatching who I assumed to be Sunflower to her back, and then half-trotting away, not daring to look back. Good. Hopefully, that was two more slavers down...

I turned to check on the ponies, who weren't too happy about my decision - but I had caused the death of four of her friends already. Message had gone through.

"We better get moving, they are going to get reinforcements in a couple of hours, and one of their ambush teams is still around." I informed them, and started to turn around when I was muzzle to muzzle - well, muzzle to chest - with the earlier gunner. Who was hauling two boxes of goodies. Before I could ask what he was doing, he went to the now freed ponies, and started to share some of the loot. Food, bandages, couple healing potions, water... Right. I had been too busy getting around to really loot anything, good thing this fella was smarter than me.

"Eat while we move, don't have much time. Could you hold the rear, in case they try and catch up to us?" I asked from the ghoul, who merely nodded and re-loaded his battlesaddle with the ammo he had scavenged. Grey unicorn that had been guarding Gear tugged on the rifle I had found earlier as well, giving me a look like he wanted to help as well. With small smile, I allowed him to take the sniper rifle - it wasn't much use for me anyways right now.

"Just give it back when we get to Barn Sour, I want to use it for trading."

The unicorn smirked a bit, loading the gun. "Certainly. Oh, and Slingshot needs someone to carry him."

Somehow, I doubted he meant Slingshot was going to be carried by one of the captives...