When Pull Comes to Shove

Every pony knows that farming is hard work. Even more so when you are trying to farm under a sky that never opens up to the sun. What makes things worse is there is no farmer left in Equestria that does it for the joy of working the land, or even just to grow food. No, farming in the Wasteland is a very different sort of survival....

The dirty grey mule pulled at the plow as hard as he could, tears streaming down his cheeks. Even this far out in the field he could still hear the screams and cries of his mother and two sisters. Every time an especially shrill scream from one of his sisters would reach his ears he would half turn to go back to the house, but then he would catch sight of his father's grave and with new tears would return to straining against the yoke of the plow.

He could hear the gangers' laughter too. Knew what they were doing to his family. They had done the same thing last season when they killed his father, after they made his father watch. He also knew what they were doing to his mother and sisters because that time they had done it to him too.

No, he couldn't think of that. Had to plow, had to plant. They had barely made it through to this season. The baby. There had been a baby. His mother. She didn't want it. But even if she had there had not been enough food. It didnt grow right. He had burried it beside his father. He figured it wasn't the baby's fault how it got made.

No no, he had to get this field planted. If they didnt have food they would die. His father could have had this done in an afternoon, but he was gone now. His mother and sisters couldn't pull, they were... hurt, by the gangers, not just thier bodies, thier minds. It was up to him. He had to do it.

He fell. He cried into the rocky soil. He whimpered as cold drops of rain began to fall on his back, soon it was a downpour, muffling the sounds from the house. He slowly got to his hooves and tried to pull again but the plow wouldn't budge.

He dropped the yoke and turned towards the house. His tail clamped firmly between his legs at the thought of what awaited him there, so instead he ran to the barn and curled up in a dark dusty corner, as far from the missing door and hole pocked east wall as he could.

He awoke shivering. It was dark and his wet fur was matted with mud and dust. The rain had lessened to a drizzle. His body was stiff and aching and he badly needed clean water.
Unfortunately the only uniradiated water was in the house. Slowly peeking out the barn door he saw that the front door of the house was still open, and no lights were visible. This was concerning. Where were the gangers? Where was his family?

Creeping cautiously forward he inched across the farm yard to front porch of the house, and tippyhoofed to the front door to peer inside. He couldn't really see more than vague shadows though. Creeping inside he slowly made his way through the small front living room, to the kitchen where something seemed to be piled on the dining table.

Holding his breath as best he could he reached out to touch the pile on the table when suddenly the front door slammed shut behind him. Clamping his hooves over his muzzle to stiffle his shriek his eyes were dazzled by a sudden light as a lantern flared to life from beside the door, illuminating the craggy face of the huge unicorn who lead the gang.

"So, you finally finish plowin' my field for me little colt? Come to get yourself plowed now?" the unicorn sneered down at the mule. The other gangers now visible around the room laughed. The mule just whimpered and turned away, which was a mistake. In doing so his eyes fell upon his mother's prized dining table, and his mother strapped face down on top of it, blood and other fluids leaking from her abused body and pooling underneath the table. Her eyes awake but glassy and unaware, her breathing ragged.

"Mother!" Before he could rush to her several gangers grabbed him from behind and turned him back to face the leader. "Now now little colt, you best learn to be good to your guests. Your mama and sisters know how to entertain a buck, but they didnt seem to want to be accommodating as to fixing us a bite of supper. Wheres the food?"

The young mule struggled futilely against the two large bucks holding him tight, trying his best to avoid looking the leader in the eyes. He then felt the point of a blade press into his barrel and noticed a red glow of magic. The leader growled "I said where is the food colt?"

"Th-there isn't any! Its gone!" He whimpered, trying in vain to edge away from the knife.

"Bull! This is farm! You grow food! Dont lie to me." The leader raged as he backhoofed the mule across the cheek.

"W-we haven't been able to grow anymore! You took everything last season!!" The young mule cried shrilly.

"Horse apples" the leader hissed, looking down at the quivering mule, then around at the small farm house and his bucks. Turning to a beefy earthpony with a jagged mane he asked, "You sure you searched this whole place?"

"Yeah boss, we got every bit of food n goods they had stashed, wasn't much of nuthin', and wasn't nuthin' we didnt see last time niether."

The unicorn leader turned back to the little mule, pulling his knife away and resheathing it. "Well Luna's Crusty Craters, if the farms got no food, guess we'll just have to take something else of value boys. Take this colt to bedroom and tie him up with his sisters, I want to have some fun with him before we leave, then strip this place of all we can carry. In the morning we'll take these mules to GlyphPort and sell 'em to the Remnant. Those Zebra scum are always lookin' for more slaves."

And as the gangers cheered and began ripping the small home apart, a new voice joined the tiny chorus of screams echoing into the night.

Author's Note

Because usually the weak suffer and if they cant save themselves no one will. :(