Chapter 2: First Fight, First Flight.

“They say your first is the most memorable, but it’s also where you screw up the most.”

“...Alright, just one more time okay? Don’t look away now Strike,” my telekinetic grasp encased the last fragment, and started to pull. The tooth shard wiggled, half from Strikes pained discomfort, resisting for a moment before it slipped free and was placed beside the other four pieces of tooth. He reared back his head and groaned, rubbing at his jaw. I couldn’t help but smirk because he… kind of deserved it, but regardless I held out a health potion to him seeing as he also deserved this.

Strike quickly snatched the drink and started to drink from it, draining more than he needed to. I even had to pull it away from him before he drained the whole bottle. He let out a small groan while testing that new hole he has on his jaw, “Huh, I sure won’t get used to that,” he stood up and trotted over to the grimy mirror inside my office that’s hasn’t been moved my whole time in the clinic.

Dusty Wrench hurried to his side and frowned, looking at the gaping hole in his smile, “oh no… that looks so awful on you…”

I saw a playful, mischievous look on his face before he even started to talk. “Ruushy..? You wouldn’t by chance still have those fake teeth things, would you?” he lowered his head and was looking up at me with his big eyes as if trying to guilt-trip me to fix his mistake. I could tell it was working by my defeated sigh and trip over to my medicine cabinet.

“Fine, only because you’re here with dusty, and if I didn’t she’d whine until I broke down and listened!” we all broke into a small chuckle fit, not because it was funny, more so because it was true. I turned my head back to the cabinet to locate the fake teeth and grabbed one of the two silver replacements to fit his style, not golden, “Now open wide so I can put this in,” he obeyed silently this time, letting me place the fake cap over the missing spot and let my magic flair around my horn. A simplified mending spell, reduced in power as it wasn’t to stitch together fresh wounds or broken limbs. Seeing as it was the weakened version of the spell, it would leave me magically drained to do something like that on a pony. After just a couple of minutes of concentration, the ‘tooth’ melded against his teeth and covered his jaw, just like how the note in the late doctor’s journal said it would.

Unfortunately, Dr. Night Wallow passed away before he could even teach anypony what he knew, seeing as he was our only real doctor. After he was found, Sheen Aegis, who was perhaps the kindness Wall Guard we have, started to ask around for anypony who knew anything about basic first aid, and as it turns out I was the only pony who read any of the books he owned and listened to what he taught. I was made the new town ‘Doctor’ in a heartbeat, while I’ve learned a lot since that day, I still can’t help but be terrified for the day somepony gets drastically hurt and needs something like surgery, I’ve never had to do anything on a large scale like that…

“There you go Strike, it looks good on you! Although, doctor’s order: You are not going on the hunt today.”

“W-what?!” he shot up, faster than any of his previous joke like movements, “But it’s- ow..!” he pushed his hoof to the side of his jaw, rubbing at where I put in the fake tooth and looked down at me. It’s not that I’m short, maybe slightly below average. No, Strike is just tall.

Dusty Wrench grabbed onto his hoof, petting over to try and reassure him. “You are an earth pony dear…” aw, she’s calling him dear already, “You can’t swing a weapon or shoot a gun without your jaw hurting like this. Why don’t we go to my place and I'll make us some soup, okay?”

Strike sighed and followed her out, but only after they hugged me and thanked me. I followed them out and watched them head down the street and out of sight. I figured nothing else will be happening for the time being, so I went back inside to prepare myself for the hunt. I usually don’t need to go on these, but this one was different. I needed to be there in case someone was hurt badly, which is a rarity but it still happens, but best to be safe… I think this would be the perfect time to try my new little toys…

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

The sign in front of the town was broken, faded, and decaying. Displaying ‘Our Town’ with the two words stacked on top of one another, as if the sign had a generic greeting. ‘Welcome to our little slice of heaven, Whatever Town!’ but Party Favor insists that it’s always been called ‘Our Town’, and I didn’t believe that for a second.

I was outside of the town, just in front of the gate (using gate loosely, It was more of a giant metal slab… welded to smaller metal slabs.) with five of the six Hunters. ‘I’ll just take a moment’ he said… Hah! How many ‘moments’ did Sheen need?!

Rocky Mountain and Crystal Riot decided to play some Caravan while they waited, looks like they had a seventy-five cap pot they were fighting for, if I had to I'd bet on Crystal. Skull daze, an earth pony who was brought here as a filly after her raider parents were killed, was going over all their armor and performing slight amounts of maintenance. Deffy Lionheart had taken apart her gun and couldn’t reassemble it, and Lil’ Brawly was waiting for her to realize he took one of the key pieces. I was starting to think that this was not a rare occasion.

To not only my surprise, but to the Hunters as well, we saw the mayor step past the gate and went right up to the second in command, Deffy.

“Hello Deffy, hello!” she spoke with her official voice, she almost always spoke with it. “I overheard that you were going to be down a pony for your hunt today. Such a thing just won’t do, so I’ve fished out my beloved little shooter to help you today!”

She must have less gun knowledge than me…

“Listen miss Dewdrop, I’d love to have you but-”

“So I can join? Excellent! Although… Would you help me make sure I put the bullets incorrectly, and that it’s ready to be shot?” To say Deffy was annoyed was an understatement.

“You are just… Goddesses damn, fine, fine! Come on Dewdrop, let me see it. Brawly! Fix my gun for me,” I watched them for a moment when I heard some… Strange hoofsteps, which I realized as slow, trying to be quiet, approaching behind me.

I spun, my braids swinging and almost whacking Sheen Aegis across his face. He had gotten so close in that armor of his! While not super protective, it was heavier than most we had. “Ff… Dam’ it Dreamrush! How did ya notice me?!”

“O-oh! Uh, simply, I heard you..?”

His face squished together in soft anger, and I couldn’t help but laugh at him. “Don’t pop another blood vessel now, can’t have two of you out!”

“Fo’ the las’ time girl, I don’t have anger problems! C’mon Rush, throw me a bone here,” so as commanded, I glanced around and set my sights on something far away, but my telekinetic grasp was still able to reach the brahmin skeleton in the-

“Rush, don’t actually throw me a bone.”

Dang it.

“Alright, alright. List’n up ya ingrates!” All five of the other Hunters sprang to attention, a rather impressive sight, and the newbie of the hunters, Lil Brawly, finally got it down! “The las’ caravan tha’ came through ‘ere let us know tha’ they saw a small pack o’ Orthros headin’ our way. Gotta make sure they don’t get too close, if they are roamin’ around too close, we gonna take em out. Dreamrush is comin’ with incase ya get bit, they got bad bites… An’ uh, Dewdrop, whatchu doin’ ‘ere?”

“Oh! Our wonderful doctor here told Strike to go home and rest, he was dealt a rather… hefty knock on the noggin. So I thought I'd be best for a replacement member. Squaddie Dewdrop ready to help!”

Aegis was clenching his teeth together, subtle, but it was enough to betray his emotionless face. I could easily imagine him shoving one of his cold hooves into his face with enough force to knock himself out, but he only replied with a single ‘okay..’ before he cleared his throat and continued.

“We will be travelin’ to the south East, for ‘bout an hour o’ two. If we don’ see ‘em, we are clear. But if we see them dogs? Dewdrop an’ Dreamrush will ‘ang back and act as eyes an’ shoot ONLY if ya are clear, while we take the front. An’ questions?” Aegis started to glance around, and we both caught Dewdrops hoof raising.

“Oh! Actually, how do-”

“LET’S MOVE!” Aegis rushed past her, as did the rest of the Hunters, leaving her just standing there, surprised and muttering.

“I-wha-but-HEY!” she stomped in annoyance as I trotted up to her.

“Uhm, Mayor Dewdrop? We might want to follow after them before we’re ditched?” I started to hurry along after the squad, who was trotting at a slightly faster than normal rate. Thankfully this was enough to get the mayor kicked into action and follow us.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Blistering heat, walking for at least an hour, and carrying probably eighty pounds of equipment… I was already panting! I can’t believe ponies do this for a living! It doesn’t help that I don’t do anything to stay in tip-top shape… this was all so brand new and nothing like I expected at all!

I thought me and these companions would be listening to a radio, some of us badly singing along. Laughing about how much we sucked at it, but this was eerily quiet. Nopony had said a word in the past ten minutes, and it was driving me nuts.

Looking back at the Mayor, and even she was walking with caution in every step, her head low and ears up, eyes shifting with her revolver in her maw. She may not know much about how guns work, but she knew how to use them, I didn’t. I realized what I was staring at.

Experience.

I would have never guessed our kind and silly mayor has been out in the wastes before, sure obvious she has more than I have. A grand total of… zero times, I was born in Our Town and had no plans to leave. My ears shot open at the sounds of howls, Skull Daze and I looked towards our left, where a few small hills that were connected to a tunnel system was. Skull pointed in that direction.

“Howls coming from thataway, they probably are in one of the caves,” the way he spoke had an essence of strong confidence, but… he was wrong.

“But there was no change to the howl, if it came from one of the caves it’d have an echo and sound deeper. It’s past the hills” As I spoke, Skull stared at me. His piercing eyes staring deep into me.

“...Good point…” he didn’t look flustered or upset like I had somewhat expected thankfully, I couldn’t stand it when you correct somepony and they act as if you insulted them.

Then it happened, a symphony of gun parts moving and close combat weapons being drawn, even the mayor pulled back her… her… the part a pony pulls back to fire a revolver like hers... To try and follow their silent lead, I opened my bag and pulled out both my crummy pistol and my toys; three sticks of dynamite.

I only had five total in my ownership, so I decided to bring about half of them, leaving the other two and the single grenade I owned back home, save the big one for an important day. While I’m hesitant to lose half my stache, I’ve been dying to see them in action! I’ve seen so many rock piles explode, that it’s almost lost its charm.

Almost.

But just throwing these would be dangerous to the Hunters, especially Brawly and Skull Daze, who had a dagger and sledgehammer respectively, so I just hurried up to Aegis.

“Excuse me… Aegis, sir? I brought some explosives, would it be alright if we used them?” He looked down at me, and I suddenly felt half my size. Why must he have this intense vibe about him? I think he was sizing me up, slowing gaining confusion on his face.

“Where did you even get those..?”

“I… bought them…?” his stare continued to pierce into me. “From one of the traders that came by? I saved my caps for almost his whole stock,” his piercing gaze turned into one of surprise, all fierceness behind it vanished.

“You’re the one who did that?” I simply nodded, and he muttered to himself, “Ya think ya know a pony..” I don't think he knew I could hear him, but he continued the original topic. “Yes, we can do that Rush.” Yes!! “Throw one o’ two and back up, aight Rush?”

By the time he finished, I was already squeezing past them, rushing to the start of the small hill, and peaked around it only for my heart to sink.

I had expected some sort of vile looking creature made out of radiation and taint, a creature only seen in nightmares in the realm of reality. Instead, I was spying on poor, two-headed dogs. THIS is what an orthros is!? They were large with patches of fur missing, and I notice on a side of one of its necks was heavily scarred. I realized a pattern very quickly though…. They all had scars, fresh, similar wounds that would become matching scars. Either on their left or right side. Just then I felt Aegis’ presence beside me, his voice quiet, yet had a light hint behind it.

“These days Dreamrush, everythin’ has potential danger, ya’ mus’ be thinkin’ ‘wait, dogs? T’ose poor t’ings!’ Don’t, t’ey are jus’ as likely ta kill ya as a raider. See t’ose’ screwed up heads? Yer a smart gal, you’ve seen ta pattern. Why are t’ey like t’at?”

Why is… it the way it is? Two heads with one looking deformed, the nicer looking heads all had scars on their necks… specifically between the two heads, I’m only now realizing. The heads are barking at each other every now and again… Wait, that head isn’t deformed, that head has been ghoulified, so- Oh... wait a moment, now I get it!

“Did… Did all the smaller, ghoul heads bite the other heads neck?” he refused to answer, but he just rolled his hoof for me to continue. Why would they bite the other head like that…? They’re ghouls so… “Because of… Wild instinct?”

“Correct, more specific, hunga’. If t’ey don’t get fed, t’ey’ll lash out ta try an’ get food, by any means. So if it’s main head sees us…?”

“They will attack…”

“Righto, Rush. It all comes down ta ‘unger with wild animals, and t’ey are almost always ‘ungry. Now whadidya learn Rushy?”

“To be wary of wild animals?” even as I said that, I felt like I was wrong, he didn’t want to hear that.

“Good answer, but nah, t’at’s somet’in’ t’a voice on ta radio would say, obvious ta anypony who ain't new ta t’a wastes, like ya’rself. So ‘ere’s a trouble saver: Coincidences are almost neva’ a coincidence, t’ings are neva’ too good to be true, and each monsta’ looks t’at way does fo’ a reason. T’ink o’ t’a ‘why’ o’ t’ings,” think of why things are the way they are, this was his advice to me. Can I...apply that to my cutie mark…?

“Now go on rush, blow t’em up,” I had completely forgotten we were here to kill these monsters… No, these animals. Just because they had to be killed didn’t mean they weren’t animals. This wasn’t just stepping on a radroach, this was attacking five (ten if you think about it) dogs who just traveled to the wrong place. I sighed and looked down at dynamite and lighter in my grasp, where did all my motivation go? I was so excited to use these, but no-

The magical chime was quick and brought me back down from my thoughts, a green glow, click, and the sound of a flame rising, followed by the hiss of a fuse, somepony had started my lighter and it caught onto one of the fuses! My eyes darted to one of the only other unicorns in the group, who’s horn was glowing green.

“Brawly what the hay are you doing!?” right after I yelled, I saw all their eyes widen and ears fall, taking a combat stance, and I realized my mistake: blowing our cover. I turned and saw ten sets of eyes glaring at us, followed by the screech of howls. Fear shot through my veins like a drug and for the first time in my life I felt that if I did nothing, I would die.

They all started to charge, I could hear the growls from the monsters I had imagined we would be facing, and to hear that terrible sound from these dogs was terrifying. I had no idea what I should do next, my mind a blank static, but not my body. I felt the weight of the dynamite leave my magical grasp and lob forwards, and was already flicking the lighter on. I felt myself gain control of my body from auto-mode as I lit the second stick, so I started to step back with Aegis’s command the only thing in my brain. ‘Throw one or two and back up. Dewdrop and Dreamrush will hang in the back, acting as eyes and shoot only if clear’.

The dogs were fast, and my first stick was already in front of them, its fuse heading towards its grave at a rapid pace. It crashed onto the ground as I threw the second one into the air and turned away, bolting past the Hunters, up beside the mayor with her Shooter (I had learned along the way here that the revolver she had was called Shooter, I take back what I said) in her muzzle ready to fire, I could see fire growing in her eyes, and I realized the first explosion had gone off, I hardly even heard it. I heard something above it though, A yipe being cut short, followed by the orchestra of gunfire. A soft buildup of four semi-automatic weapons, accompanied by the pained howls of hounds. I couldn’t bring myself to look. Finally, wind rushed past as the second stick went off, silencing the gunfire and snarls moments after, followed by an empty silence, nothing was making a sound besides the ringing in my ears.

Nothing else happened for the next few seconds, I had never felt this way before. Do they always go through this at the start, or have they just grown cold to it, or maybe it’s just me? A pat on the back cut through the rushing emotions, and I focused on the owner. Dewdrop smiling down at me, and even helping me back up to my hooves. She started to speak as she began to dust my body off, focusing on my now torn vest.

“There we are Rushy, a fine job. You really helped them today you know, even with a few faults. Not bad for a first time out, you even got a few kills!”

“I-I did!?” I couldn’t tell if I sounded excited or upset, I wasn’t sure how I felt exactly, but I turned to see the carnage left from the explosions I created before she could continue.

Two holes, inches away from touching, with two canine corpses near each one. The first of the pair had been knocked its victim away and was missing a limb, the second one must have been further away from the explosion, as it was fully intact. The way it fell was blocking the view of most of both, presumably, missing faces, yet I could see burns across the craniums. I was glad I couldn’t see either face.

The other three were resting, unmoving in growing puddles, and I could only look for a moment before looking away. That was brutal, more so than I expected. So this is what ponies do on a daily basis? I never realized how lucky I was to never have to deal with anything on this level before.

“A...Alright… We’re done here now, let’s go home.” my voice was kind of shaky, I wasn’t sure how ponies could become deaf to these thoughts, but I was glad I didn’t need to. I was about to start walking home when I heard a giggle. I looked at the mayor who had a sly smile across her face, it said how she knew something I didn’t.

“Well… Not quite yet rush. Just give it a few minutes for them to finish.”

“Finish? Finish wh-” I cut myself off when I turned, as I saw the hunters do the one thing every Wasteland survivor does, loot. “W-wait… Why are they doing that? It’s not like ponies tend to eat the meat…”

“We need every cap we can get Rush, and griffins will pay handsomely for the meat, and the leather can be sold as material.” caps? That’s why they were mutilating these dead animals? It makes sense, I understand it, but I couldn’t help but feel like this was wrong.

It only took a few minutes, and the ‘looting’ was finished. The Hunters seemed happy with their catch, so they must be getting a lot of bits out of this. I ended up turning down their offer to share, it still didn’t sit right with me, and with all that done and over it was time to head home. I was tired and needed to sleep, my emotions have been shot today and I could hear my bed from here.

On the way back I noticed how much livelier the group had gotten, only Skull daze and I were being quite. It must be because the job was done, because I have never seen them so rowdy.

“They were huge! I’m glad I didn’t have to use this little knife, I completely underestimated them” Brawly was yelling within this more excitable state, and poor Deffy was right next to him.

“I told you barehoof fightin’ isn’t versatile, so you bring the shortest weapon we got, seriously? Get a sledge or bat, like Skull.” Skull in response grunted in agreement, causing Brawly to groan out in annoyance, just as Crystal Riot jumped onto his back!

“Yeah but guns! You see how quickly the last three went down from just a few clicks? Bang bang! The best choice, obviously!” almost all of the Hunters, even the mayor, groaned before she was even finished, I was able to hear Rocky Mountain muttering to himself.

“Not another preference fight… Worse thing ‘bout this lot.” I was just barely able to pick him out over the collective groan, I didn’t even think Skull heard that, and he was closer.

It’s not as if I had large ears or something like that, I've always been able to pick up on small details, which I guess is great for a doctor to have. My eyesight matches my hearing’s capabilities, and I can usually spot something before anypony else, making it was easy to hear Brawly and Riot argue over the best weapon types, it was enough to make me finally crack a smile.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Nothing else that was eventful happened throughout the day, besides a little filly, Stakeout, who tripped and got a scrape that I had to make sure wasn’t infected, and Dewdrop who wanted to talk about how much fun she had (even though she didn’t do anything).

The day was finally over and I was ready to lay down and rest, have my dream for tomorrow, and continue life. I have to admit, after the initial shock from today, I felt proud of myself, I helped protect the town! I finally understood why the Wall Guard and Hunters do what they do every single day.

The exhaustion was hitting me hard, and I fell onto my old mattress, both my mind and body becoming lost in a sea of comfort. I let my eyelids grow heavy and close, wondering if I was going to be hunting more in the future…

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

……………………..

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

My eyes opened with faint morning light breaking through the window, and I was sitting up, stretching, when I realized it.

“...Huh…? W-wait, what…!?” for the first time since I got my cutie mark, I had a dreamless night. What.. did this mean…?

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Saying I was anxious was an understatement because I was completely terrified. I knew Snipe and Dusty would come in soon for ‘their’ horoscope, but what would I even tell them, ‘not today, sorry!’? My mind was racing and just sitting around in my clinic for much longer would drive me insane. Maybe some semi-fresh air would help clear my mind and help me think of a solution? Yes, it would at least be better than sitting here and let my mind continue to eat itself.

As soon as I decided to go outside, I heard a few bangs echoing over the distance. I could hear some power behind the shots, so it must have been one of the Wall Guards with their hunting rifles or something similar, shooting at an animal or something.

The air that hit me when my door opened was refreshing, more than usual, and made me sigh out. A walk is just what I needed to clear my mind, yep! I heard a few more shots, and a stallion dart out of his home in his guard outfit, and head towards the entrance, he’s probably late or wants in on target practice, maybe? It didn’t matter to me, I had to collect my thoughts.

I was heading towards the wall so I could just walk without paying attention. My dream, or lack thereof, has left me more worried than ever, along with the heavy realization of how much I not only trusted but relied on my fortune teller dreams. I had always told myself I wasn’t stuck to what my dreams said, but I guess I was only telling myself that.

Was this just a fluke, just a day I failed my talent? Maybe it just happened to skip to show how fast today would be? Maybe it’s just this one time, a coincidence?

As soon as I thought along that line of questioning, I heard Aegis’s voice in my head, echoing what he instructed me on yesterday. “There are almost no coincidences in the wastes…”

No coincidences… Then why did this happen today? I was racking my brain, trying to think of half baked reasons, but the answer just refused to come to me. My train of thought was interrupted by an explosion, followed by the sounds of a confused crowd, followed by pained cries coming from the direction of the explosion.

Followed by a hail of gunfire, within a storm of screaming.

My heart stopped and my blood turned into ice in my veins. Has something gotten inside? Why was there an explosion, I thought Aegis didn’t have much? I only knew one certainty: My body was running towards the entrance. I wasn’t thinking of any of the ways this could be happening, but all of my body was screaming that somepony had gotten hurt, but I was wrong, somepony was not hurt.

It only took me less than a minute of running, my mind sprinting at trice the speed trying to imagine what had happened. The first thing to register in my head was a similar sight that made my mane and coat stand on end, a small crater beside a three-legged pony, and a pool of crimson stemming from the guard.

Next was the gate, the middle section of it was missing, blown inwards and knocked over on top of… On top of one of the Hunters I had just gone out with yesterday, where he had so much energy, and now Brawly wasn’t moving.

Finally, past where the gate once was. I didn’t see somepony, no, I saw many ponies. From just a glance I could tell that there were only our guards outside with not a stranger in sight. Even the hunters were out there, filled with holes, sheen Aegis was facedown, Skull Daze was on her side without her sledge insight and- oh no… Strike… his hoof was bloody and being held to his neck.

I turned away from the growing red sea in front of me before it made me break down, it was hard to see with the tears swelling, but through the slight whimpering noise I was making, and watery eyes, I saw muzzle flashes. Gunshots coming down from the street, there was only one set of gunshots going off now… Was a single pony doing all this? I had to leave before I was next!

But… If I could save been one pony, be it mare, stallion filly or- The foals! Are they okay…?

My hoofs were moving before I could even think. I didn’t even have a direction yet, just further into town. On the way, I found more bodies, and even had to trek around a few like… Like Snipe’s, and quickly found myself outside my clinic, with Dusty Wrench waiting limply in front of my now bloodstained door.

The door that I locked when I left, she tried to hide in… Okay Dreamrush, hold it together… It’s not your fault, so don’t feel like you’re to blame… I had to force myself to step over her and quickly shut the door and looked towards my stocked shelves.

I had a small plan build through panic; grab whatever medical supplies I could grab, and sneak around to save whoever I could. But my priority was the kids. If I have the chance, I can use the rest of my explosions to stop this monster, if I can just get that grenade under them, they should be done for!

My plan was made, and it was time to execute. After calming down my breathing, I hurried to my shelf behind the counter and reached out to grab as much as I could, after one hoof full of shoving things into my vest pockets, I heard the gunfire closer than ever, followed by glass shattering from my window, along with bullets hitting wood.

But above all that, I felt a searing pain in my arm. Enough to cause me to squeal out in pain and drop then next load of supplies in my hooves clutched onto my arm only to feel a warm liquid coming from both sides of my arm, I’ve been shot.

I’ve been found.

Grenade, grenade! I had to get it before they kill me! I tried to rush to my room, but the pain in my arm was crippling, I stumbled into a limp at a snails speed. I started to turn into my room when I heard a door creak, and a single shot rang out. Burning metal lodged itself into my side, striking a more tender spot on my body and into the wall behind me.

I heard another cry escape my muzzle, with something metallic in my mouth. Most likely some blood had gotten into my lungs, and the strength in my legs had vanished. I hit the floor hard, which made things go fuzzy… and my eyesight was just getting worse. I glanced at the doorway to look at my attacker.

They were clad in better armor than I’ve ever seen, with very few parts of them visible, an armored coat of black, covered with a tiny bit of cyan. I saw their frozen lavender eyes look down at me, then to my stock, followed by a deeper than expected mare voice.

“Finally something useful for me here!” she sounded far away as if she was yelling from a distance, she turned her body away from me and all my medicine and started to steal it all. I was dying and she only cared about-

I’m… dying…? No no no I can’t just die like this… I wanted to move my legs but they refused, instead my body let out a weaker cry, softer than ever.

No, I can’t… I felt tears start to stream down my face, why was this happening to us, why…?

I looked up one more time, vision swaying, I noticed a bright cyan colored image on her flank, it looked like a...ghost, of a pony…? I shivered from the imagery and felt my body growing colder. My shivering caused a surge of pain to shoot through me, my eyes forcing themselves shut from the pain with my whimpers of pain and breathing to soften, and I couldn’t open my eyes again.

Not like this… please not… like...

…

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

A gray pony laying in ashes.

They slowly rise up, slowly grow in orange hue.

Brighter and brighter until they bolt up.

They start to run towards a fiery pit.

Bleeding orange, a long trail following behind.

They skidded to a stop, enveloped in red and white.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

The first thing I felt was a dull throb coursing through my arm and body, everything was dark, even after I opened my eyes. A familiar brown view above me, if my body wasn’t in pain I’d just assume everything was a dream. But my dreams are never realistic or do I get hurt, so all that was real…

Everything that happened was real… Sheen Aegis was dead, Brawly was dead, Dusty was… Even Swift Strike was…

With the adrenaline gone and my body at rest, I couldn’t stop the flood works. I could only lay there, curl up, and quietly sob. So many had died just... Yesterday, earlier today? I don’t know, but surely I wasn’t the only one who lived, right…? I couldn’t be, surely somepony else… I could feel something stirring within me… Hope? It feels almost alien right now, what if Dewdrop is alive? What about…

“Children..!” I sat up, gritting my teeth in pain. I wasn’t in my home, so somepony must be alive. I had to find out, and the pain was worth to see who’s alive. I silently stood, and finally saw myself, magical bandages over a lot of my torso and leg, far too much for it to get it’s full usage, with seemingly half my health potions emptied. Somepony saved my life, but they didn’t know what they were doing, but they did at least removed my vest so perhaps they knew something.

I slowly stumbled out of the bed and looked around, it seemed to be a fairly small home, almost a shack. I had no recollection of anything like this in Our Town, maybe someponies backyard shed? It had a table, bed, pots being used for chairs, and even a bathroom, but that was it. How bizarre.

I trudged to the door and forced it open, my body was weak and wishing to go back to the bed, but two questions were weighing too heavily in my mind. Who survived, and why did this happen?

The world outside was also dark, matching the night of the shack I was within, surrounding me was dark hills and two larger home like shacks, with a campfire near the two buildings. Bathing in the light of the fire was a single griffin, feathers seemingly a coat of as, and while tall their body seemed weaker, and less firm than Glad. As the door shut behind me, they lazily looked at me with a half-hearted smile. I’ve never seen a griffin genuinely smile, it was slightly off-putting in comparison to Glad when a lighter masculine voice came from his beak.

“Hello pony, good to see you’re up. We’ve been waiting for you. Miss and Sir are resting in their…” I was wrong, this wasn’t even Our Town…

“Where… Am I…?” I couldn’t wait for him to finish, but it turned out my voice was soft, sounding weaker than I felt, but I didn’t care, I needed answers.

“Well, sir and miss have always called this Home. The rest of us call it Buru. Now come here, sit, and rest, you need it. Come on, I even got some…” while he started to ramble about canned foods, I had stopped paying attention. Buru… I’ve heard of it before, from somepony at my clinic. It was nearby but…. Wait, if these hills are actually mountains then… I needed to go south and down the mountain I was on!

“I suggest… Uh, Pony? You alright? Not dying on us are ya?” I was looking around at this point, can’t waste energy answering. There, just past one of the buildings, and past him, was a path. In blind worry, I started to trot past the griffin, I could feel burning pain in my right arm rise, but I could ignore it, I need to ignore it.

As I was passing the little shacks, I heard his voice in my right ear, he was flying beside me with a disapproving look on his face.

“Pony, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you almost DIED girl, you shouldn’t leave, or even trot yet, Miss and Sir want to meet you!”

“I.. Need to see if anypony Survived… They shouldn’t be alone-”

“What ponies? No pony survived. Don’t bother with it pony.” my heart skipped a beat, my legs stiffening in place. But what about…

“Even the foals…?” please no… No no…

“Foals? What foals?” they… didn’t find them? They didn’t find any of the kid’s bodies? That meant there was a chance, I may not know what the sun feels like, but I could feel it shining through the clouds after he said that, and I couldn’t control myself.

I was running, shoving past the griffin and onto the path. I could hear him say to hold on, but he didn’t pursue any further. I was gone, running away from Buru with it vanishing around a corner within minutes, I could only hope this path leads back to Our Town. It was time to see if my luck was about to turn around.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Our Town was within sight, light starting to shine over it, the only thing between me and it was desolate sands and rocks, like the one I was resting on. Even with the adrenaline running through me, I’ve had to stop twice so far to stop heaving before I puked and to give my leg and side a break.

I was in pain, and nothing made the pain stop, but even then I never let myself rest longer for a minute before running again. I Couldn’t rest any longer than that, my mind wouldn’t let me.

What was I even going to find? It hasn’t even been a full day since the attack, so I was guessing everything would be the same as when I fainted, maybe the children did something with the town?

I finally got to the back got to the backside of the wall, and started to roam around it towards the front, I decided to slow down in case I could hear anypony, but there was nothing. No animals or ponies, including any foals voices.

I turned the corner to see where the massacre had taken place, and didn’t see a single body. Unless the killer did something to them, which I found unlikely, somepony had to have been here! I started to hurry forward, my body trying to have me slow down, but I forced it to keep going. Once I turned inside, I saw the bodies, respectfully lined up against the wall, somepony had taken the time of day to do- Stay focused Dreamrush, start searching.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Third building and I found nopony once again, I was standing in front of the door I had just shut and was starting to lose hope.

“HELLO!? Anypony!?” My voice was starting to sound better, yet hardly my own. I was thirsty, tired, and weak. “Any kids around?! Hello!?” ...Nothing. I sighed, but I would check every building to make sure. I waddled down the steps and hurried to the next building over, which was just another home.

I got inside and started to turn this home upside down as well, finding nothing on this floor. Not every building had multiple, so I hurried to the stairs to go up.

FLUMP

What was that? No, wait, WHO was that?! Finally somepony else is alive! I threw the door open magically so I could rush through, with my eyes locking on the source of the sound. I could only think to myself, ‘OH COME ON!’

The griffin with the smile etched into her face was back, eying the bodies for a moment before she looked back to me, and simply rolled her eyes.

“Out of all the ponies alive… Greaaat…” she wasn’t ever happy to see me, obviously, but normally that wouldn’t be an issue, but this wasn’t a normal situation.

I didn’t know what to say, why was she here!? Before I could even think of what to get out of my scrambled head into some kind of question, the other two showed up, the unnamed unicorn and Bloody Nails.

“Damn, looks like you let raiders in. How does a town like this fuck up that bad? Loosing so many ‘friends’, tsk tsk, little pony.” the way he was saying that… as if to suggest I was at fault, how dare he!?

“I-”

“Aw, and look, she got hurt. She must have used some of the medicine for us on herself, no wonder it was mostly chems! That’s good to know, we’re on our way back to Filly, and got some of our supplies… Lost. We were hoping for another donation because you clearly have enough.”

“I don’t-”

“You don’t have any? That’s fine, We take living donations too, remember?” I could feel my eyes widen while his face started to grin at me, he was right, he did always say that.

I just turned around and ran, I could feel my pulse rising already, and I could only think of where to hide, anywhere that could work. I didn’t even have a weapon, what else could I do? I was trying to figure out where to get away from them when weight slammed against my head, sharp digits wrapping around my head and forcing me to the ground, making me land beside one of the blown-up buildings, and I cried in pain when Glad grabbed my arm and yanked it behind me. She was standing on me to hold me down, in one fell swoop I was pinned.

I heard Bloody Nails start to chuckle as he walked towards us, I was struggling in Glad’s grasp as much as I could, but I don’t think I was even moving her claw.

“Now, I’m only going to ask you once slave, where are the others?”

“I-I don’t know!” The answer flew out of my muzzle, I knew he wouldn’t like that answer, but I couldn’t say anything else. “I j-just got back… I'm trying to find them…”

My body was trembling, praying he would accept that answer, he stood beside me, nodding his head as if believing me when his hoof crashed down into my head, and what little I was holding up crumpled to the ground within a cry of pain, his rusty coat turning into a giant blur in my eyes, and then pain ruptured through me, stemming from my right ear, causing me to scream again.

“Wrong answer Rush, the right one is anything that doesn’t piss off your new mast-” He was cut off by a lighter scream filled with rage, a filly’s voice.

“Leave Doctor Dreamrush alone!” followed by a nasty, angry squeal of pain. Bloody Nails whipped around towards the voice, showing he now has a large glass shard sticking out of his cutie mark.

Weapon, I needed a weapon NOW. I know that voice, and she put herself in danger.

Bloody Nails was glaring daggers, or nails in his case, as my vision cleared, and I saw Stakeout, one of the oldest foals without her cutie mark, and she was starting to back up, all the courage in her voice gone as she met Bloody Nail’s eyes, as he pulled out a few rust nails from his little pack before speaking.

“I’m going to watch you drain after I pin you to a wall, and make EVERYPONY HERE WATCH!”

My magic finally found a target: A plank that broke off from the nearby house’s explosion. Instantly it was swinging in an arch, and slammed into the side of the smiling griffin’s head and knocked her off me, meaning I was free to get up. Now that I was on my hoofs, I did what I thought would get Bloody Nails away from her, and threw the plank I had at him.

“Run! Get away from him!” Both the Unicorn and Bloody Nails turned just in time for him to get whacked across his smug face, and he stumbled back from the blow.

The good news is that he wasn’t distracted by her now, and the bad news is that Glad was getting up, and the other two were glaring at me, and now I don’t have a weapon. I should have thought this out more, so following my own advice, I turned and ran.

“Gah! Glad, Unicorn, go and grab her! I’m getting that sonava-bitch!”

Great, there was no good news.

I’ve learned that I can’t outrun them, at least not with this leg, so I ran inside the blown-up building and grabbed onto one of the first knocked over, light-framed chairs within my immediate sight and flung it at the open hole I just came through blindly, with a loud squawk and thud indicating a bullseye. Giving me a moment to look at the room, and besides more furniture, I only noticed two other things.

The walls were swaying, and parts of the floor was weak, which my gut was saying to use. No time to argue with it, and fling more chairs and the singular table at one of the two support beams while trotting to it, wobbling over the loose floor. I wasn’t an earth pony, but I’ve seen how they buck, so I have a good idea on how to do it…

I turned to face my back legs to the beam and saw Unicorn (original nickname there) run inside, lifting the chair out of her way and lock her eyes onto me, with her long misshapen knife in its holster. It was now or never, she threw the chair towards me as I bucked, and screamed in pain, crumpling to the floor.

The wound on my leg could hardly support me standing and running, why did I think putting all my weight on it, and kicking like that wouldn’t hurt!? I hit the floor hard, hearing two cracks near the floor, and the other from the beam as the chair soared into it.

Unicorn tried to make her way to me, but luckily enough the falling roof blocked her path. Unluckily though, the next chunk of debris crashed beside me and made my section of floor collapse, making me fall under the house.

The ground was only a hoofs reach away, but my already stinging arm didn’t like that. I could see dust gathering above, blocking the view of my hole.

I had a moment to plan, but before that, I crawled through the disgusting dark realm I was in, to a light breaking through the dark wall. I found my exit in case they found me, and I felt myself rest for the moment. I’m weak, outnumbered, and weaponless. I can’t change the first fact, and the only way to change the second one would be to kill or stop one of them somehow-

Oh, oh I have an idea, but from here on I have to conserve my magic… I can’t believe it, this plan might work, at least against these two. If I can get her shotgun I’ll have the best weapon in town.

Alright… it’s live or die time, and I refuse for my dream to end here.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Glad and Unicorn was still within the blown up home, searching through the dust cloud. The hole I fell through must have been smaller than I thought, or covered, but they’ll find it soon. I can’t wait any longer, Stakeout and any other foals need me now. I left an obvious trail for them to follow, a hoofprint trail, along with the nail that was shoved into my ear to show where I went, my clinic.

I stayed behind the houses and general store, which was cleared out, to avoid being seen. I was moving slow, and got there later than expected when I ran into the first thing I didn’t plan.

I couldn’t crawl in through the window, my leg and side hurt too much and I don’t even think at full strength I could magically lift myself, and I don’t have any backdoors! Crap, this means I’ll have to use the front door, directly in the open.

Hoping I don’t get seen, I stumbled out of the ally way and hurried up the stairs, opened the door, and shut it as quietly as I could. The whole ordeal took about ten seconds tops, and I was already feeling like a nervous wreck, especially now that I was home. For a moment, I felt like I could let my guard down, until I turned, seeing the empty shelves and my blood sprayed across my wall and floor near my room. I was more shocked that my shelves were emptied, to be honest, it felt like I wasn’t a doctor anymore. I only then noticed the empty potion bottles near my blood.

They treated on me here? It feels so… Odd, someone saving me in my own clinic, Mr. and Miss., I would guess who did it, I’ll have to-

CRACK! A pair of talons shot through the door, followed by a feminine laugh.

“I found you, Rush! You’re going to work with or without broken ribs, hauling loads regardless of your body!” No! Not her now! If she’s here, then Unicorn must be nearby! I had to act, rushing towards my room to execute my plan, when the door came off and sailed over me, crashing into the wall.

Magically grabbing onto the things currently on my mind, I sent multiple glass bottles flying into Glad, shattering on impact, causing her to misstep from my barrage and fall down the stairs, screaming out.

I noticed still didn’t have her shotgun drawn in hopes to capture me, perfect, they weren’t trying to kill me! She was out, Unicorn an unknown factor… I had to act, now! I scrambled to my room and dove for my secret stash, surely it was still here, right? Is it possible that the armored mare took my entire stash too? I felt around for a moment, panic starting to settle in when my hoof wrapped around a mix of metal and wood.

“You’re gonna pay for that! I’ll shove a burning spike into that leg and we’ll see if it ever heals!” I yanked the pistol close as I felt a tug on my tail, which made me squeal. I didn’t have time to bite onto it, so I had to rely on magic. I rolled over onto my back, firing blindly at the griffin behind me, and heard a small gasp.

Glad was looking down at her chest, which was starting to bleed. Mixing in with the blood coming from her face and glass shards on her chest. I… shot her, which meant she was-

“You’re an idiot.” her claw shot out for me, causing me to panic and shoot wildly, firing twice before her claws wrapped around my neck, lifting me in the air, and throwing my gun off to the side, breaking into two pieces when it crashed into the wall.

“Using a gun that’s hardly even held together? I’m surprised it didn’t explode on you! Unicorn, I got her!” her face went towards the window as she yelled that, she wasn’t looking at me and Unicorn was outside! Even with her choking me, they still didn’t want me dead.

I started to concentrate, building up the spell as fast as I could, my magical glow gaining her attention when it started to flair around my horn.

“Just whatcha think you’re-” I fired the spell, causing me to instantly see double, my vision was swirling when both her faces were hit by the spell (Which was oddly satisfying to see it hit twice). She let out a growl and shook her head before glaring back at me. “What the fuck was- Just what… Why..yawn… why am…” her body gave in to the anesthesia spell, and fell over, making myself crash onto the floor as well.

Standing took effort, but I was soon back on shaky legs. I can only cast that spell once a day, and I was hoping to use it on her after I dealt with the second one, but this can still work out, I have the shotgun now, which makes things easier.

Yet when I stepped forward to get it, I felt something sharp against my neck and I froze, seeing the misshapen blade lifting in front of me within a pink glow. Where had Unicorn, no, where IS she?! She wasn’t in front of me, and I was against the wall… I slowly glanced upwards.

She was there, glaring down at me, but with hardly any hint of other emotions. She tapped the wall, and in response to nothing happening, she did it again, once again getting nothing in response. What did she want out of me? I saw her eyebrow raise and she glanced upwards, eyes returning to me for a moment before darting back to the griffin, her eyes widening, and her neck… exposed.

I jumped, not away, but up. She wasn’t looking, so she didn’t have a chance to use her blade, and I felt my horn cut through flesh, causing us both to fall, I was able to land on my hoofs and just barely not falling over from the pain in my leg and side, and I felt something warm running down my horn and the side of my face, it was blood that wasn’t my own.

Unicorn fell in front of me, making a strange, half gasping sound. I pierced her throat… Why did I do that? As soon as I saw her exposed neck like that, without her looking at me, my body just screamed now. I didn’t think watching somepony die of asphyxiation would be so brutal, even if I hated them, but here I am, with Unicorn unsuccessfully trying to stop her bleeding throat, all while staring at me, eyes full of fear and hate. I noticed now while she was gasping that she was missing her tongue, maybe that’s why they just called her Unicorn, she never said her name?

Her body slowly went limp, and I forced myself up. I’m not done yet, after all, I had Glad down, Unicorn dead, and Bloody Nails to deal with, and now I also have a very… curvy, knife, and the shotgun from Glad. I tried to lift it with my magic, levitating it slowly in a flickering field, at this rate I was going to suffer from a magical blowout, and I can’t let that happen.

I spent some time slipping the holster off Glad and put it on for myself, and slung my brand new, not useless gun into it. But when I looked at Unicorn, she made me realize the second thing I screwed up. She has armor I could wear, and I would have to take off the holster to put it on. Great, keep wasting time Rush, let Nails find you instead, ugh.

Her armor was kind of...pipey? It looked almost self-made but held together firmer than I expected. It’ll offer some protection, but leave my flank, back legs, head, and obviously my neck exposed, and best of all it was light, I felt like I could easily run with it!

Not that I could really run at the moment, but I was ready to fight Blood Nails and actually stand a chance. I started to go over a mental checklist…. Medicine was the first thing to check. I never put my vest back on, not that I knew where it was, so I had none on me. Scouring my shop was a useless endeavor, I had been cleaned out.

I’ll have to force myself to move, but I was reaching a limit. Next was the rest of my Stash, and without worry I pulled out my last three sticks of dynamite and the sole grenade I owned. Perfect, even if he got me, I can still use this as a surprise. I didn’t know exactly how big the explosion would be…. So I’d have to get lucky to get away unharmed, I think I'll save them as a last resort.

Finally… oh! The shotgun’s ammo, I needed to take Glad’s shells. I started to rustle through her, when I saw her chest slowly rising and exhaling, she was still alive and can still hurt ponies, still a threat! But right now, she was resting just like any other creature. I sat down to think about this, I could kill her, but that honestly just felt wrong, yet trying to think of any good reason to let her live only resulted in excuses to make myself feel better, I couldn’t help but feel guilty as I drew the curved blade from its holster.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

One. Shell. She only had one extra shell on her, I only get three shots, are you kidding!? Ugh, at least this shotgun should be in better condition than that awful pistol I had, and even though it was broken I decided to keep it, with no idea on how to fix it, so it sat broken within my small saddlepack.

I was finally back to where we had separated, and I had no idea where they went. I didn’t get the chance to see where those two went, I know they were closer to the eastern side of the houses when I ran away from here, so perhaps that way?

I was tempted to call out, but decided against it, as a shot against him without his awareness was too nice to let up. By this point I could smell something, and it wasn’t the nearby blood and corpses. It reminded me of a campfire, and when I realized that I saw smoke rising two blocks down.

He wouldn’t, would he? ...Ugh, what am I thinking? This is the same pony who apparently wanted to foal nap us for years, of course he’d set a building on fire! Trying to trot only made me nearly collapse in pain and exhaustion, so I had to just walk. It’s infuriating to have to ‘walk’ to the rescue, but that’s what I’ll have to do! Halfway there, one block away, I heard yelling.

“Come on out Runt!” it was Bloody Nails, and I heard his gunfire. “You can’t stay in a burning building for long, and If I have to drag a charred corpse outta there I’ll take it out on your little doctor friend!” he fired again, and I could see where this time, an empty building to prove his point, and he wasn’t looking anywhere but the fire, he didn’t see me.

Magic chimed and the holster on my side clicked open with the shotgun slipping out of it’s home with ease, and although it felt heavy, it was a breeze in comparison in comparison to about everything else in the past twenty-four hours. I placed the sights on his head and felt more at peace to shoot him, he had to die. I pulled the trigger, resulting in a loud bang echoing right next to my ear. That hurt, a lot! Why was it louder than all the other guns I’ve heard?!

To make matters worse most of the shot missed, only lightly marking his side and the top of his neck. He howled in pain and turned to me, hatred burning in his eyes, and he let out another how, this time filled with unintelligible words towards me. While I couldn’t really understand what he was saying, I think it was something close to ‘I’m gonna kill you, ya son of a…” due to him pulling out a nail, dropping and kicking it, making it soar through the air at me with its sharp end facing me. I screamed and pushed myself into the alley next to me, we were three houses away from each other and he’s that accurate with kicking a nail!?

“Is that Glad’s gun? Were you actually able to do something to them Rush!? Congrats, I’m gonna break you, and take your limp body to the worse ponies I can find!” here I noticed my third mistake, leaving the gun behind. I was able to yank it away and back to me, opening up to remove the fired shell. I could hear he wasn’t running, just walking as he laughed the things he’d do to me, and I was shaking at how...creative, he was getting.

The base of the house I was next to was also warn, with a few planks missing. I crawled away into the darkness after reloading, when I heard another shot that crunched the wood above me.

“Trying to crawl into a grime filled hole? I bet you’ll be wishing for a home like that tomorrow, last time you’ll be close to comfy!” I heard a plank shatter and hit the ground, he was ripping down the walls themselves! “Come on then! Just gonna hide?! I’ll flatten this whole damned town after you, little cunt! Where the fuck are you?!” Moving away from you, that’s what! That is until I saw him rip away another chunk that acted as an exit for me nearby his legs.

This had to be my chance, I began crawling through the aged dirt, crawling with who knows what. I got to the hole with the realization that I can’t get out through that hole fast, he’d see me first, and with him now out for blood I’d have to do the next best thing, and prayed.

‘Oh by the five goddesses please let this shot hit, please… good fillies and colts, and a grown mare will die, please…’

I took in a deep breath, and lifted the shotgun in my magic and shoved it through the hole with ease, and while I started to push myself through, I turned the shotgun and pulled its trigger.

Another blast echoed out, and I heard a scream and a heavy crash to the ground. Crawling up to all fours, I saw bloody Nails, holding a bloody hoof to his left eye, bits of his muzzle bleeding as well, with his gun on the ground behind him. He was screaming more profanities, and shaking his head wildly. Then he noticed me, and when he saw I had the shotgun pointed at him, he started to howl a sickening laugh.

“Hahahaha! Oh you dumb BITCH, think I don’t know how to count? That’s a double-barrel sawed-off, you’re empty!” he kept laughing, until he spat blood onto the ground. “I win, you dying excuse of a doctor!” he turned his back to me, walking towards the gun he dropped.

“Don’t you dare… touch that..! Just surrender!”

“Or what? You are FUCKED. You won’t even last a month, maybe some of those kids will be good entertainment and just be ki-”

BANG. I pulled the trigger, watching his back erupt and body crumble, dead before he hit the ground. I didn’t care, anypony still alive was safe-

Stakeout. Burning building. I turned around, why was everything swaying? It doesn’t matter, walk Dreamrush. I don’t think I was walking straight at this point, but that doesn’t matter either. Everything was sounding dull, and no pony was coming out of the burning house. I needed to let them know they’re safe now, so I forced everything I had to my voice.

“They’re gone! You’re safe…! Come on out…” I stood there, breathing heavily, everything moving in slow motion, why was that? But more importantly, where are they…. Any second now… It was just moments later that I caught my breath as the door opened, as Stakeout walked outside, why did she look so worried…? We’re safe now… I felt the biggest smile across my cheeks, it’s something that didn’t hurt, so I just let it grow. Behind Stakeout, I saw more, smaller, living bodies. Nyte Watch, Torchlick, Patchwork, and Olbreck, all rushing out, parts of their manes burned. I was absolutely beaming and started to rush towards them. Tears swelling in my eyes.

But after my first step, the world turned sideways, and my feet left the ground. I could hear them cry out my name… Why are they crying…? They’re okay now… We’re okay… Don’t cry…

I couldn’t think past that, as exhaustion finally claimed me.

Footnote: Level up

Skills note: Lockpicking has reached 25

Perk gained: City Pony. The horrors of the wastes have scarred you, and you feel safe back within walls and towns. You gain two DT when inside buildings and settlements, but lose one DT when out in the wild wastes.

Author's Note

And a more brutal chapter, I wanted to do more than just one encounter, so I had them both back to back, which led it to be more on the longer side. I hope this was enjoyable, and as before, please leave any helpful criticism, I really appreciate any.