The steel ranger stood armed at the entrance of the old rusted door of a stable. The clock on his visor ticking. His EFS alerts him to a shadow coming from the brush of the mutated flora and long dead, rotting mangroves. As the figure steps out of the shadows, it is revealed to be a taller than average unicorn stallion wading through the thick putrid bog of the swamp. His decaying and warped yellow hide identifying him as a ghoul. He had a scowl on his face as he approached his employer. "The pay better be good for making me travel through this crap"
"I take it you are Scorcher?" asked the steel ranger.
The tall ghoul looked at the steel ranger flatly and replied. "No! I'm a wingless alicorn! who else could it be?!"
The steel ranger nodded and pulled out a large bag full of caps. "I assure you that you will be properly compensated for your time if you complete the job."
The stallion's eyes lit up at the sight of the bag full of caps and looks back towards the steel ranger. "You have a deal"
Scorcher entered the maw of the abandoned stable. He usually hated going into stables or anywhere that was underground or had narrow spaces. I mean, you couldn't blow things up in such a tiny space and his tall stature made everything feel tight. He just wanted to take care of the pests living in here and get out, so he could collect that huge sack of caps. Yep he just wanted to take that huge jingling sack of caps to the casino and try to get lucky with a few of the girls. Maybe they won't slap him this time.
As he went deeper down into the stable, the EFS on his visor alerted him to two red bars on the sides of the intersecting corridor, he stood still and listened carefully to try to identify the hostile entities. He could make out the moaning and snarling of feral ghouls. That gave him an idea. He trotted forward pulling out his prized melee weapon, the fire axe levitated beside him as he made his presence known to the two hostile ghouls. "WHO WANTS A PIECE OF SCORCHER!!" Scorcher yelled loudly to get their attention.
This instantly got the attention of the two ghouls who both lounged at him teeth and rotting hooves bared. Scorcher dove forward at the last second and the two ghouls crashed into each other momentarily disorienting them. As he got back on his hooves, he took advantage of their confusion and swung hard at them with his axe. The fire talisman going to work as their decapitated bodies were set ablaze.
Then the fire alarm went off.
"fuck" cursed Scorcher as every feral ghoul was alerted to his presence and began to rush him. He started to back peddle and started galloping towards the exit of the stable. The herd of ghouls right behind him trying to bite and gnaw at his flesh. He figured now was a good time to enact his back up plan. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!" Screamed scorcher as he leaped over a large stretch of mines and explosives at the entrance of the stable. The steel ranger jolted awake and bolted for cover behind a huge boulder with scorcher.
*KABOOOOOOOM!!!!!*
The herd of ghouls set off multiple land mines which triggered a chain reaction and set off every explosive in a large cacophony of explosions, lights, and gore.
As the smoke cleared, scorcher and the steel ranger peaked from behind the boulder to see a bloody mountain of rubble where the stable entrance used to be. The steel ranger ran to the destroyed entrance to see if there was any way to get in or clear away the rubble. Scorcher knew he was fucked and began to sneak away. The steel ranger turns around to catch scorcher in the act. "Halt!!!" The steel ranger aimed and loaded his gatling laser.
Scorcher quickly dives behind the boulder again as the steel ranger opens fire, magical energy bursts heating up the massive stone boulder. "I guess i'm not getting paid then" Scorcher uses his magic to levitate a couple of magical disruption grenades and tosses them in the direction of the steel ranger and makes a run for it. He then runs back to grab the sack of caps from the paralyzed steel ranger then runs off.
After a few hours of running to try to lose the enraged steel ranger and any of his comrades that would try to blast Scorcher to the moon, he decided to take refuge in a small rotting house. The green paint peeling off the walls and rotting wood giving little actual shelter for him but it would at least help him lie low for a while.
What he did not expect to find was an unconscious pegasus mare.
Scorcher stood in the doorway of the wrecked house and simply stared at the unconscious pegasus mare. From what he could see from his angle, Scorcher noticed two things. The mare's left wing was badly wounded from what looked like a rifle round. Two, the mare had a bomb collar around her neck. Scorcher approached her slowly and cautiously. "Um hey there, are you awake?"
The mare stirred a bit and opened her eyes as her pupils dilated and then went to slits a soft growl escaped her lips as she quickly shot up and glared at him hissing.
Scorcher not expecting the mare to actually hiss at him caught him off guard which caused him to back up a bit. That is when scorcher noticed that the light to the bomb collar was still on and from what he could tell it was malfunctioning and any little bump could cause it to go off.
"Wait!!! Don't move! Your collar! It's still active!"
She let off another growl and crouched down in a stance of ready to pounce as she glared at him baring her fangs.
"Hey I'm not the bad guy, I'm just trying to help you out."
Scorcher cautiously took a step forward watching her movements carefully.
The mare growled again and took a step back as she folded her ears down and tucked her tail between her legs despite seeming tough she was really very scared
"It's ok, I know you are scared, those slavers were probably really rough on a little pegasus like you. Now just let me deactivate your bomb collar so you won't go boom."
Scorchers horn glowed a bright purple as he cautiously took another step forward, he didn't want to agro the pegasus and have her set off the collar.
The mare let off a soft whimper but kept her guard up growling as she backed up further bearing the edge of the bed
The mare kept growling loudly, with every step he took closer, she took one step backward. Forgetting that her wing was wounded she attempted to jump off and over him only to crash with a Yelp on top of him whimpering in pain.
Scorcher tried to use this as an opportunity and used his telekinesis to flip her so he was on top, He held her down with his hooves while furiously trying to disarm the collar before it could go off beads of sweat dripping down his brow from stress.
"I'm sorry!!! I'm sorry!! " Was all he could get out in a panic as he focused on the collar.
The mare growled and squirmed letting out loud whimpers. She closed her eyes tightly hiding the fact her wing was throbbing, she was absolutely scared out of her mind.
"And......... GOT IT!*
Scorcher successfully deactivated the collar.
The mare smirked and growled, biting into his hoof drawing blood as she glared at him.
"OW!!! WTF??!" scorcher let a few crude and foul words slip from his tongue as he waved his hood in the air.
The mare growled and squirmed out from under him, crawling under the bed whimpering loudly, the sound of her licking her injured wing could be heard.
"Hey! I just saved you from having your head being blown off!!" Scorcher said with a raised voice.
The mare yelped and whimpered loudly as she kept grooming her injured wing. It seemed every time his voice raised it would only scare her further.
Scorcher got onto his knees and this time spoke gently to her.
"Hey!, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, it's just that I don't like getting my hoof bitten just for trying to help you."
The mare whimpered and looked at him wanting to trust his words, but was unsure if she could. Scorcher had an idea, he dug in his saddlebags searching for something.
She grew curious and moved slightly closer to the entrance of the bed and watched him, ready to bolt if he was grabbing anything that might harm her.
Scorcher pulled out many different things, his saddlebags were an absolute mess so it made finding what he was searching for difficult. Yet finally, after a few minutes, he pulled out a FancyBuck snack cake and floated it over to the frightened mare.
"Here have this."
`She hissed and whimpered softly as she poked her nose out sniffing the cake.
"Yes, it's for you, now eat!" Scorcher told her with a simple sigh.
The mare whimpered softly and crawled out just a bit to eat it out of his hoof her lips coated in blood from digging at her wing.
Scorcher noticed what She had been doing to her wing and told her,
"You know digging at it will only make it worse right?"
The mare whimpered softly and avoided eye contact seeing the damage she did to his hoof she whimpered more and shook.
"What's wrong?"
Using her good wing she pointed to his hoof she bit. it was almost as if she were waiting for him to strike her.
Scorcher looked to his hoof then back to her,
"Oh this?..... Nah forget it, that's not gonna kill me or anything, your wing on the other hoof will get infected if it’s not treated."
She whimpered and crawled back under the bed shifting to the back as she curled up and fell asleep sniffling softly.
"Hey? Are you ok?"
The mare quickly fell asleep curled up in the back furthest away from him. little snores could be heard, if he was gonna fix her wing now would be the time where she was incredibly explosive and unpredictable. Scorcher attempted to drag her over with his magic, he tried really hard to be gentle with her.
The mare remained asleep, her injured wing laid lazily on her side.
Scorcher popped a few party time mintals in his mouth as he floated her to him, his pupils dilating as the rush came to him, everything became more vivid and things were much easier to understand. Scorcher floated out a medical book, a syringe containing Med-X, some bandages, a few healing potions, and a gag.
The mare shifted a bit still snoring curled in tightly but also in a defensive state as if she was ready to get up and any given point.
Scorcher put the gag in her mouth. He then took the cap off the syringe and after briefly looking at the medical textbook, stuck the needle in her damaged wing, the injection stinging a bit at first but after a few minutes her wing went numb, scorcher then braced himself, gently but firmly holding acid down and with one swift motion yanked her wing putting it back into its proper place, then quickly applied the healing bandages to her and drizzled some of the healing potion on her wound.
The mare’s eyes shot open as she bit onto the gag and growled squirming violently.
"Hey! Hey! Calm down it's just me!" Scorcher said whilst holding the mare down.
She kept growling it soon turned to whimpers as she used her hooves to paw at the gag
"Do you promise you won't scream? You could give our position away to more slavers and I don't think you want that."
The mare whimpered and nodded as she panicked a bit.Scorcher took off the gag and gave her a healing potion to consume.
"Drink this, it's for your wing"
She sniffed it and hissed crawling under the bed again only this time she left her good wing draped out almost as if hinting for him to hold it
"Is there something wrong with your other wing? It honestly looks perfectly fine to me"
She pulled her wing in, then immediately back out and then in again.
"What do you want me to do?"
Scorcher asked confused as he tried grabbing her wing with his magic. The mare jerked her wing back and growled softly as she kept repeating the same motion it was as if she wanted him to come closer.
Scorcher came closer and asked, "What?"
The mare grew annoyed and pulled her wing back in and curled up going back to sleep
"I can't understand you, can you even speak?"
Her snores could be heard as she was curled up in her defensive tight ball.Scorcher grunted in frustration and came and sat next to her on the cot.The mare laid awake waiting for him to fall asleep as she stayed quiet making him think she was asleep.
"you realize ghouls don't sleep right? I can tell if you're faking"
She huffed and whimpered crawling out and onto his hooves curling up despite her attitude towards him she still for some reason felt safe with him
"Oh! now you're cute and cuddly"
Scorcher gave an annoyed expression and laid down. The mare growled and nipped his hoof flicking her tail
"If I catch you trying to rob me or kill me, you're fucked got it"
She growled and nipped his hoof again a bit harder this time as she crawled back under the bed whimpering softly
"what???"
scorcher looked at her confused. The mare snored softly her injured wing laid out as she sniffled in her sleep
"uhg!! whatever"
scorcher pulled out an old magazine and began reading to pass the time, the party time mintals had worn off and were taking their toll on scorcher, he felt as dull as a brick
A few hours later The mare began to whimper rather loudly still sound asleep as she kicked and tossed shifting around under the bed. Scorcher opened an eye to see acid thrashing about in her sleep
"hey! you ok under there?!"
The mare kept whimpering as she opened her eyes and panted crying and shaking
scorcher took a peek under the bed to see what was going on. The mare looked at him with her cheeks soaked from her tears as she quietly crawled out just enough lay her head on his front hoof.
"Nightmares?"
She sniffled and nodded closing her eyes to try and dry her tears
"would you like to come up here with me?"
scorcher patted the space next to him. She nodded and whimpered softly crawling over next to him
scorcher patted her on the head and put a blanket over her. The young pegasus mare looked at the blanket and then at him clearly very confused never being touched in a soft caring way.
Scorcher notices her confusion and stares at her asking
"Why are you reacting so strangely to me being nice?"
She whimpered and scratched at the collar on her neck as well as shifting her fur to expose a few recently deep scars from being with the slavers it being clear she was one that fought against them the most
"oh....... i see"
Scorcher seemed to give her a pitying look. The mare kept whimpering and yet scowled at him at the same time almost as if to say don’t get used to it. Scorcher gave her the potion, nudging her to drink it
"You need to drink this, it will help your wing heal"
She sniffed it and growled turning her head away from it.
"I said drink it"
Scorcher nudged it closer to her. The mare simply growled and glared at him shaking her head
"why not?"
she didn’t answer and looked away
"don't you want to get better?"
She growled and glared at him as she nodded. Scorcher used his magic to put the potion up to her muzzle as he undid the cork. She growled and turned her head away swishing her tail
"I said drink the damned potion!!!"
Scorcher floated it to her again. The pegasus growled and shook her head flicking her fluffy tail turning her head the other way
"ok, I've had enough of this bullshit! you are going to drink this healing potion whether you like it or not!"
Scorcher flipped her on her back wither his magic and held her down as he forced the potion down her throat
The mare growled and squirmed swallowing the potion as she kicked him with her hind hooves.
"No! you are drinking all of it!"
The wound in the pegasus mare’s wing slowly started closing as she drank the healing potion, her pain melting away
The mare closed her lips tightly and huffed glaring at him. Scorcher took the empty bottle out staring at her as he lay atop her. The mare huffed and fell asleep shortly after taking the potion, she looked exhausted.
scorcher sighed and laid down next to her. She curled up against him in her sleep her snout hidden in his chest fluff.
scorcher snuggled up against her. Though honestly, he felt like he needed a smoke break after dealing with this mare’s crap.
The pegasus occasionally let out cute cooing noises as she slept the rest of the night staying firmly pressed against him
scorcher decided to just roll with it, he hadn’t cuddled in a long time and this was a nice break from the usual bullshit he has to deal with on a regular basis.
The mare would occasionally whimper and tense up having bad dreams but that only allowed him to get closer to her
scorcher would snuggle her more when she got bad dreams, keeping an eye out for any trouble that may arise.
Author's Note
So I finally made chapter 2 with the help of Acid dash for the dialogue and helping me write through rp and a HUGE help is thanks to Galaxy Rose for helping me edit this and for helping me come up with ideas.
