Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Fallout Equestria: Desperados

Those with Fangs, Part 2

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"Out on a hunt with Star Charter, we commonly found aggressive animals such as geckos all over the place. They are mostly just an annoyance, but some were far more dangerous than they had any right to be. They mainly had the ability to breathe fire, something several animals had the ability to do.

It was like several animals were evolving or mutating into something like dragons. On that note, I was shocked to learn that dragons actually existed here, yet not that shocked by it. Supposably the helpful person called Watcher is also a dragon, so it was good to know that they were not just some savage monster.

Still, it is fascinating to see the different animals who have developed such an effective and terrifying defence mechanism. Fire breathing is just not something that normally happens naturally." ~ Azure Dice

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At some point I must have passed out, sinceI later awoke in what must have been the stables medical ward with some sort of small tube stuck in my leg.

“Fuck,” I said. I noticed that my mouth was dry and my throat sore.

“Oh thank Celestia, you're awake,” I heard Slowtrot say as he trotted into view. “Please tell me your feelings, Star.”

I tried to reach out and remove the tube in my leg. I found that it hurt to even move.

Slowtrot reached out to stop me, “Hay, Star, take it slow now. Just leave that in for now.”

Groaning, I then tried to get up. I found the whole process painful. “Fuck! Why does everything hurt? All that happened was I got bit by a snake. Fuck!”

He sighed. “Well whatever was in the snake venom almost killed you. We have been feeding you a mix of healing potion and rad-away all night.”

I looked at the tube. I now noticed it was filled with a weird glowing light purple liquid. It was connected to a hanging bag with the same fluid in it. The rest of the room itself was more of the same stable braminshit covered with posters denouncing the red side of the stable or reminding ponies to stay healthy. This place also looked in far better condition than everywhere else. Some rust here and there, but if I didn’t know better, I’d say this place was still being maintained.

“You got any pain killers?” I asked Slowtrot.

He nodded and pulled out a syringe of Med-X. “I suggest using half a dose for now and the rest before going to bed. This stuff is seriously addictive if you're not careful, but I’m sure you already know that.”

“Oh, I know, but it is fun.” I said with a cheeky smile.

He cocked an eyebrow at me.

I dropped the smile “I was young and dumb. Remember?”

Slowtrot then smiled. “Alright, but let me know if you're getting any cravings. I’ve seen too many ponies back in my time get addicted to this stuff.”

He then carefully jabbed me in my other leg, injecting half the stuff into me. The effects were almost immediate as I felt a wave of numbness wash over me. It made my sore body feel so much better.

“Ahh... that's the stuff,” I said with a grin which got a frown from Slowtrot. “I’m kidding… mostly. So how much longer should I stay in here?”

He smiled back at me as he put the half used Med-X into some sort of lock box. “Now that you're up, just a bit longer. My pipbuck says that you're mostly cured and just dealing with a lot of internal bruising and some malnutrition. Your body's ability to heal is crazy. If it was anypony else, they would have been dead.”

It was not the first time I had a close run in with death, probably far from the last. If it was not for the evil eye Victoria gave me, I’d probably met my end back on the Blackwater so long ago. “Ya,” I agreed. “Though it does make me really hungry whenever my body heals like that.”

“Then I have good news. We got the storage room open, and there's even more food in there. Though a lot of it is ruined, there's still more than enough to go around,” Slowtrot announce happily.

The sound of that made my stomach growl. “Nice. What kind of food, and how much?”

“Mainly the basic kind of food when talking about very long term storage.” he said as he began scratching his goatee. “Well anything canned or barreled is still good, so we got plenty of preservative canned rice, beans and chili. It tastes a bit bland, but we got plenty of salt and sugar to spice it up.

“Other than that, there's several powdered foods, vinegar, corn starch, and syrup that's still usable. Unfortunately anything that was stored in soft packaging was all rotten or eaten by rad-roaches long ago.”

Slowtrot then smiled. “Here. Just sit tight. I'll tell the others you're awake. I’ll also bring you something to eat.”

“That would be really nice,” I told him pleasantly.

With a smile, he trotted out of the room which left me alone with my thoughts.

This place was not ideal. Far from it. But it was possible we could fix this place up enough that we could stay here for a long time. Once the heat dies down, maybe I can go see my Bridget. I know that Ashy and her deputies rarely go to see the Flowers of the Apocalypse camp, so it would be safe to swing by and give them a letter. If Prism comes with us, it would be safe to take Bridget with me out west.

But… would that be good for my little filly? Running away from the law like a criminal? It’s safe in New Appaloosa and it’s where her friends and family are. I want to go and explore with her some day, but not like this.

Would she see me for what I actually am if I did that? Would she come to hate me for it?

“STAR!” Harp shouted, thus tearing me from my own thoughts as she hugged me. “You had us so worried. Don’t do that again. You hear me?!”

I gently pushed the smaller mare away from me. “Said the mare who practically died not so long ago.”

She pouted for a moment before saying. “Seems we've all been doing that lately.”

I smiled at Harp. I patted her on the head. “All that’s important is that we're alive and well. Speaking of which, your eyes haven't started bleeding again?”

“Ya, but only once, and it wasn’t for very long. It’s the same for him, but I think it’s starting to pass,” she explained.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever Slowtrot used on her, and had been used on him, had me worried because it was related to the evil eye I had. With where Victoria was from, it was too close to be a coincidence.

“That aside, unfortunately, you lost the SMG. But, oddly enough, you did find a replacement,” she told me as she pulled out the painted 10mm pistol I had found. She passed it to me. The thing looked like it had been cleaned up, with some of the paint brushed off.

I looked at her a bit confused. “A pistol is far from a replacement for an SMG.”

“It's fully automatic, Star. Chainlock used it when getting you back to us. It surprised the shit out of him.” She then passed me both two normal 10mm pistol magazines and the two SMG magazines I originally had on me. “Fortunately, one of our ponies knows how to fix up these guns. We also used the workbench in security to get any rust off of it.”

Now that I was actually holding it, it did look a bit different. It was a bit heavier than other 10mm pistols I had held before. The thing was still muzzle fired, something that most large caliber or fully auto guns didn’t do, otherwise a pony risks losing their teeth. “Did Chainlock hurt himself firing it?”

Harp shook her head. “Other than the shock of unloading the ammo in a second, he’s fine. Seems that the recoil reduction mechanism in the gun is a bit more robust.”

That put a grin on my face as I looked at this sweet baby. “I think this needs a new name and paint job.”

Harp then took a step back and sat down, relaxing a little bit. “Glad you like it. Now for other good news, with that gun, you also found a set of pipbuck tools. It seems that the overmare was planning on coming back later for some reason, but that’s not important right now. What this does mean is that I can get into those pipbucks and see if I can fix them up. Also I sent a few ponis down to recover the heating talismans before Spritz tries and blocks us off. They should at least be useful for cooking food once we run out of wood to burn.”

“Sweet. So we're on the road to getting ourselves nicely set up down here. So how long do you think we can stay?” I asked.

“We have extra food and the water talisman up and running.” She tapped on her pipbuck for a moment, clearly looking through her notes before explaining. “If it’s just us on this side then maybe we’ll last four months if we ration. More if we hunt the animals in the cave. Without the apple trees and dried foods in storage, this place can't sustain so many ponies for long. Back in Stable 50, the apples were meant to be the main staple food with everything else only eaten sparingly. But I don’t think this stable was meant to last as long like mine was. Maybe fifty to sixty years at most. From the logs, everypony died thirty one years after the bombs fell, so they were likely already half way through their stockpile of food.”

Well a few months is more than enough for me. We just needed to plan out what we were going to do after that. If the others come with us, maybe we could form a mercenary band and get paid to kick other ponies asses. The bulldozer would make that a lot easier.

Slowtrot and Cherry then trotted in. A large steaming can of food was held in Cherry’s magic.

“And for the mare who needs to eat, here is a whole can of rice and beans with chilly. I’ve also added some apple slices and raddler meat.” Cherry announced as she put the large can next to me.

The thing was about as big as my head and smelled so good. I was then given a spoon. The thing hadg a strap on it to make it easier for me to eat. Taking my first bite, it was… surprisingly good. I could taste the preservatives. It was a bit salty, but the snake meat was so savory that I could not stop eating.

Before I knew it, the food was gone. I ended up scraping the bottom of the can.

“Now that was fucking good,” I cheered with my stomach full, making my belly look almost as bloated as when I was pregnant with Briget.

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“Crystalized sulfur… Well that explains the smell. Must be why Spritz went down there too,” Harp commented as we trotted into the atrium. I had told her about what I saw and heard down in the cave system since it seemed important.

The atrium had changed a bit more now. There were sheets recovered from the residential which were being used like curtains to cover some of the worst off parts of the dead stable. Cherry Knot’s little cut of territory was specially decorated. It had a sign offering tailoring and mares… that mare really works quickly with setting up a business.

Even Bitter and the other Zebras had their own setup. They claimed a room and used some of the old large pots to start an alchemy station. The smell it made was a bit concerning, but with how bad things already smelled, nopony really cared. I think we were all just glad we could at least properly wash ourselves now.

“So I’m guessing Spritz is right when she said she can make more explosives with it then?” I asked Harp.

She nodded. “Among other things, yes. She would easily be able to make powder charge bombs with it as long as she has the right materials, though I don’t think she will use it on us. It's too risky.”

Well that theory was now in question, so I asked, “Then why would she want it for, other than blowing things up?”

“My guess is she’s thinking ahead. Those explosives would be devastating to the NCR caravans. Rock slides, road sided bombs, or simply making more sticks of the powder charges as there is a lot of preserved paper here for it. If she’s willing to make crude guns, then she will have plenty of gunpowder to use them. I’m going to need to find a book on chemistry to see if there's other uses we might be able to use from the stuff,” she announced.

Made sense to me. That bitch did hate the NCR. “Sounds like she’s planning on using this place as a base. Stay here for a long time before harassing the NCR. Though, I thought you said this place has a few months at best?”

Harp sighed. “Only if we stayed here and didn't bother anypony. Likely, if we went out and hunted caravan merchants, this place could last for years. But then we would be no better than raiders.”

“That’s why we’re doing something different,” Tire Fire decided as he trotted up to us. Him and several other ponies were dragging scrap metal behind them.

“Right. Where the fuck have you been?” I asked the Desperado.

“Preparing for the move,” he answered with a cocky smile. “Harp and I have been talking, and were thinking of taking this sad lot to my clan. Elder Papa would be happy to gain some raw resources for the war before we leave. A few extra soldiers wouldn't hurt either, so Slowtrot and I have been testing some of them. They are mostly garbage, but not soft garbage.”

I looked at Harp. “And I was not told of this, why?”

“Because you were still recovering.” Harp replied as she rolled her eyes at me. “Everything is Celestia damn hectic right now. Just giving everypony a job and making sure they do it has taken up most of my time. After you almost died, that's when I knew we cannot stay here, so I asked Tire Fire for some advice.”

“Told her to just go with the Desperados. You three have already more than earned your patches,” Tire Fire said as he jabbed me on the shoulder.

I jabbed him back, but harder. “Starting to get a soft spot for us?”

He blew a raspberry at me. “Soft nothing. Frankly, you’re making my hide thicker just by watching you three be fucking crazy.”

Leaving them to do their prep work for when we got to the Desperados, Harp and I stopped at the now unblocked door to the red side of the stable. I looked at her curiously. “So what are we doing at the door?”

She looked at the door suspiciously for a moment before returning her gaze back at me. “We’re going to open it and invite Spritz over.”

“And kill her?” I asked.

Harp shook her head. “No. Just to talk. Mostly. What I really want is to get her separated from her followers then invite them to our side. With the other help, I’m sure we can lessen her power over the other ponies.”

I wasn’t so sure, but then again I was not the thinker of the group. Harp was. “How can you be so sure?”

“Well, first off, most of the ponies here are not violent gangers or raiders,” she said, then pointed over at a random pony hauling some garbage. “That stallion was only in the NCRCF for petty crimes. And another pony here simply got into a bar brawl at the wrong place and time. Even Henbane, the mare who was with you, was only in the NCRCF because of a land dispute gone wrong. Something about catapulting a brahmin maneuver at a rival.”

Harp then returned her attention to me. “The point is that the NCRCF was for reforming ponies, letting them work off their crimes. Spritz Cookie being there must have been some sort of mistake or some idiot trying to get them some political clout. They must have thought that she could be reformed. I think most of the ponies here don’t want to fight the NCR, or to become raiders. If we can just get Spritz away from them, I know I can convince them to turn on her.”

I took a quick glance around. In doing so, I noticed that Harp was right. Though the ponies here were dangerous in one way or another, they didn’t have that spark of a raider to them. Everypony mostly respected the space of everypony else and had thrown themselves into doing some sort of work. There were a lot more smiles around too. Nervous smiles, but at least everypony was trying to get along.

“So, what is the plan then?” I asked Harp.

She smiled. “Still thinking that up actually, but I might have one in mind. What do you think about going monster hunting?”

I cocked an eyebrow. “The big snake? Why?”

Harp then explained, “For the sulfur. If Spritz wants it, why not help her get it? We just need to make sure that she stays down in maintenance long enough for our side to properly mingle with the other side. Spritz is only one pony, and even her most loyal followers aren't Steel Rangers like her.”

It made enough sense to me. “Alright, then let's do this.”

As Harp reached out and pulled on the door control lever, several of the ponies around us readied themselves for trouble. The few with rifles were on watch above, and some down on our level kept their sticks of powder charges and melee weapons close.

The door hissed and struggled to open, giving anypony on the other side enough time to be ready for us if we meant harm.

Once the doors opened, we trotted through. On this side there was a completely different atmosphere. It was relaxed much like our side, but it didn’t have that friendly feeling. On our side everypony was trying to get along, all despite our less than friendly circumstances. But no, this was more aggressive and with purpose.

There were no decorations or new clothing being worn, nor individual projects being set up away from the others. What was going on looked like a military camp with ponies training for combat. If they weren't doing some sort of training exercise in a makeshift obstacle course, they were dry firing their guns at targets. The diner room looked more like a soup kitchen. It produced a bland smell of random stuff thrown into a pot. So, in other words, not that much different from our side.

Interestingly, it looked like they set up an arena in the center of the atrium. Small splatters of blood already stained it.

“So what brings the crossbred mutt and Miss cursed eyes?” Spritz spoke from the floor above us. There were two ponies on either side of her. One held the LMG service rifle down at us. “Here to apologize for getting one of my ponies killed?”

“Hey, how was I suppose to know about the big fuck off snake!” I shouted back at her.

Harp put her hoof in front of me, taking a step forward.

She spoke clearly and loudly. “It was deeply regrettable that you lost one of yours so needlessly, so as you suggested, we do apologize for causing such an accident. But as you know, the current situation has left us with little way of trust, so it was bound to happen.”

“Words do little to bring back the dead,” Spritz said coldly.

“No, they do not.” Harp replied, then stepped to the side. “That's why I want to open our side of the stable to you and your followers. We're no longer under the NCR oppression, so maybe we should start to actually work with each other. The current division we have will only weaken us in the long run.”

Many of Spritz’s followers had slowed down their training, ears pointed in our direction.

Spritz herself scowled. “And what? Offer them whores, booze, and chems?”

I chuckled. “I think we still have some booze left. Also the still we found had some in it too.”

Harp cleared her throat as a polite way to tell me to shut up. “Let;s just say that is among a few things the ponies on our side can provide. We all can’t be professionals like all of you here. As you have pointed out and shown us personally, we’re no steel rangers. But if you're looking for more useful aid, we can produce uniforms, new weapons, and given time, medicine.”

“And how can we trust you?” Spritz asked.

“Right now, you can’t. So we're offering a deal,” Harp answered. She put on a friendly smile as she continued. “We’ll help you get rid of that large snake and get access to the sulfur, then we’ll help you produce the explosives you want. It may not simple black powder, but it could possibly be high explosives or smokeless gunpowder.”

The scowl faded from Spritz’s muzzle, turning to a more curious frown. “How would you accomplish this? And what do you get out of this deal?”

“For the second question, the answer is simple; we get your protection. You do your thing out there and show the NCR the folly of their mistakes. We stay safe here, paying tax through our work.” Harp's words were smooth and without hesitation.

“And my first question? How have you accomplished all this? Smokeless gunpowder alone is a mostly lost art.” Spritz pressed.

Harp took a deep breath, showing no sign of hesitation. “For the explosives, I’m sure you know that this stable already has everything we need. Also, I’ve been working with the Gunrunners, and they remember everything about how to make bullets. Any knowledge I’m missing can easily be filled in with a chemistry book that might be down here.

“As for the snake. we can lure it into a trap and get somepony to throw our explosives into its mouth. Easier said than done, I know, but together I know we can do it,” Harp finished.

Spritz huffed, then trotted over to the stared, taking them down to us. There was a skeptical look on her face. Everypony was silent as she moved, watching, waiting to see what she would do. The overly bulky mare looked down at us, chewing on the words she was about to say.

“You’re all talk… but that talking has gotten everypony free, so I’ll not mock you for it. But… I need more than words. I need to see action,” Spritz said methodically.

I saw that Harp was now struggling to find what to say next, losing some of her confidence under the oppressive mare. Spritz was no lughead or a politician. Words only could push her so far before they had no meaning. That kind of pony that was common back on the Blackwater.

My eyes drifted to the arena and a bit of inspiration came to me. “How about we have a sparring match? You and me,” I proposed.

Harp stomped her hoof down. “No way! You're still suffering from that snake bite. Don’t let that little bit of Med-X go to your head!”

The large hoof of Spritz then gently pushed Harp to the side as though she was just some paperwate. “Actually, that might do. If you pay with some blood for what you did, and I’ll consider that deal.”

“Star!” Harp spoke up, but I shot her a glare to tell her I was not going to back down.

“Yes. Stay out of this mutant.” Spritz grumbled.

With a sigh, Harp spoke up calmly. “Fine, but there will be rules to this fight, and you will agree to the deal afterwards.”

Spritz then huffed at her. “I agree to nothing.”

“And look like a tyrant to your followers. I guess nothing is new under the sun,” Harp said smugly.

The large mare looked around at the many eyes of her followers on her.

Harp then trotted over to Spritz’s side, only making her look even smaller. “I once met a bunch of… let's call them mutants. They had their own queen, and their own rules. The queen told us that she had to follow her own rules. Ones she had made herself. Otherwise why would her subject even follow them? Because of that, she reluctantly ordered the removal of several body parts of a friend of mine for the crime of trespassing, then ate them. It was barbaric, monstrous, and ultimately a terrible rule. But, if a leader follows no rules, makes no deals, or keeps none of their promises, then they are ultimately untrustworthy, and invite rebellion.”

Spritz looked down at her for a long moment, clearly hiding her fuming anger, but in the end she said, “Fine. If we have this fight, I’ll show my domination and you get your pathetic deal.”

A smile formed on Harp's face. “Then let's make a show of it.”

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Before I was raring for a fight, but now… this felt deeply embarrassing.

“Why do I have to put on an outfit?” I asked Harp as Cherry secured a tight fitting suit onto me. It had no sleeve for my legs, not even covering my cutie-mark as it clung onto me.

“Well I figured if we make the fight flashy, it would have a bigger effect, so I asked Slowtrot if they did anything like this in his time.” she answered sheepishly.

I glared at Slowtrot.

He looked away, avoiding my eye contact as he said. “In my defence, I did tell her most of those fights were all shown. More acting than any actual fighting.”

“That's good to know. While I look fabulous, Spritz will be caving my face in.” I huffed as the finishing touches to this show outfit was put on me.

It felt as though Cherry took a foal size stable barding and then forced me into it. A yellow trim went from around my neck to all the way under my belly. It ended at the base of my tail. Finishing the look was a simple yellow mask and mane tie.

Surprisingly, it was easy to move in it despite how tight it felt. It was similar to my dancer outfit but oddly with more and less clothing. It was also feeling more comfortable the longer I wore it, like a constricting glove.

“Seriously, what the hell is this stuff made out of?” I openly asked.

We all then looked at Slowtrot who scratched his goatee before answering. “Lets see, there's a few different versions of barding, if I remember correctly. The ones Harp and I had were actually stable jackets. Those were made out of some rubber or polymer infused canvas. It’s regular barding that was sold on the open market. That was a kind of denim and rubber stuff. I’m not sure, but it was advertised to be a strong but flexible suit that could be basically printed out in the stable. A lot of the early advertisements had mares in full body stable suits similar to the old wonderbolt recruit uniforms… actually, I think the Shadowbots used the same material for their uniforms.”

Harp then piped up. “Right. There was an extruder in stable 50, but only the maintenance staff used it. It could be used to make a simple barding jaket or a full jumpsuit. Maybe if we can find this stables extruder, we can make new cloths for everypony.”

I wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or not. I was growing more concerned with how comfortable this hide tight outfit was starting to get. It was making me a bit worried that I might actually be a bit into bondage if I was starting to enjoy this.

With a sigh, I then cracked my neck and trotted to the door. “Let's get this over with. If I’m going to get my ass kicked, I’d rather not delay it.”

There was a sense of excitement in the air as we trotted back down to Spritz’s side of the stable along with the smell of something sweet. I watched as a pony bit down on a strange white fluffy thing which looked familiar. “Wait, is that… popcorn?” I asked, having only seen the stuff on old billboards advertising long dead theaters.

“Yep.” Slowtrot said with a smile. “Found a barrel of the stuff soaking in preservatives. Asked Chainlock to cook some up with glazed sugar for me while you were out. Then when I heard about you putting on a wrestling match, I told her to make a tone of it and pass it around.”

“Great. I’m glad you all have snacks for my beatdown.” I grumbled.

“Don’t worry, I had some put to the side for you later,” He informed me.

I flashed him a smile that showed my somewhat pointed teeth. “You better damn well. I’m going to be very hungry after this.”

The door to the other side was still open, but now had a cloth draped over it. From the other side I could hear a lot of ponies talking over each other.

“Just a moment. Let me introduce you first.” Harp told me as she trotted ahead of us.

After a moment, the ponies on the other side quieted down, and oddly, I could hear Harp’s voice far louder and from different directions. Looking to my side, I saw one of our ponies wearing a Pipbuck 2000. Through it, I could hear Harp's voice.

“Good evening ladies and gentlecolts! I know that the last few days have been stressful for us all, and we have only just started to adjust. With food in our stomachs and time to properly rest, you must all be now bursting with energy like never before.” She waited for a moment, letting the crowd cheer. “Well hold onto that energy, because you are going to need it. There are big things planned for everypony here, of which we will do together. But let's leave that for later tomorrow, because today we have a show for you.”

Again the crowd cheered, making as much noise as possible.

“Now in the red corner, we have the pony we all know and fear, the terror of the NCR, boss of the quarry, and overall a mountain of might in which no sane pony dares to challenge: Star Paladin Spritz Cookie of the Steel Rangers!” Harp's introduction felt like she was pointing out how Spritz was not like any pony here, but also felt like she was calling me crazy.

The ponies cheered ferociously as though they were trying too hard.

“In the Blue corner, a newcomer like myself. A mare who laughs in the face of danger, shrugs off bullet wounds, and will charge head on into a flaming raider. Star Charter of the Corps Brigaders!”

That was my cue. I trotted through the doorway. I found the stable packed. Nearly all two hundred ponies in one place, all wanting to see me fight. Drinks and snacks were being passed around by Cherry's mares who were putting on the charm. There were even a few ponies smoking something and passing it along for others to use. It created a slight haze in the air.

Spritz was the same as always, not needing any decoration to show how powerful she was.

She snarled, “Once this is over, I’ll make sure to beat some order into the rest of you. This… party, it’s not going to happen again.”

I blew her a kiss. “Then I’ll make sure I have as much fun as possible before you do that.”

Harp trotted in between us and held her pipbuck to her mouth as she spoke. “Now there are only a few but simple rules you must follow. One, you win when the other pony can no longer fight. Two, whenever a pony goes down or is held down, there will be a countdown starting from ten, and at zero, they lose. And three, no involvement from ponies outside the fight, nor dragging outside ponies in. By following these rules, you will be seen as the undisputed winner. You both understand?”

I nodded, but Spritz asked, “So am I allowed to kill her then?”

Harp glared at her. “You can try, but I advise you not. We are not raiders afterall.”

Spritz spat on the ground and nodded.

With that, Harp scrambled out of the way. A pony then began hitting what sounded like a really shitty bell.

Wasting no time, Spritz charged in with a wide hoof swing. Her meaty tree trunk leg cut through the air at me. All I could do was dunk out of the way. Then a second jab came for me. It found the side of my face and sent me to the ground.

The crowd cheered at the first strike. As I was getting back up, she kicked me back down. “In the rangers, we were trained as foals to put savages like you down without mercy, with or without guns. We just used guns because we had far better things to do than dirty our hooves on savages like you.”

She then came for another attack. I rolled out of the way this time. I pushed myself back up and wiped a bit of blood from my mouth.

“ow cute. aft on the Blackwater, they didn’t give two shits about trainin' us foals. The weak been just expected to die,” I said in the Blackwater accent.

Spritz came in with another wide hoof swing, arrogantly thinking the same attack will work again so easily. I dived into her attack, getting under her just as the second attack came and failed to connect. I countered with an uppercut, The bitch didn’t flinch as my hoof connected with her jaw. She just looked down at me in disappointment.

Attempting to grab me, I scrambled under her legs only to feel a hoof connect to my flank as she quickly bucked me away.

Staying on my hooves as I slid to the other side of the arena, I saw Spritz charging at me for a full body check. Not wanting the full weight of that amount of a mare crashing onto me, I again dodged out of the way. Her body slammed onto the floor with a loud “Wham”.

I charged in myself before she could recover. I jumped into her with a hoof slam only to have her roll onto her back and kick up at me. Our hooves connected and my weight was no match for hers so I was sent flying back.

Landing onto the hard concrete floor, my back screamed in pain. The med-x in me barely helpws at this point to keep that pain dull.

Getting back up, Spritz and I stared each other down again. She was barely hurt where I had already taken a few hard hits. There was no denying it, in a straight brawn, she was too strong and too damn big. All she needed to do was throw her weight around and anpony here would turn into a ragdoll.

Even if I couldn’t beat her, I could at least bloody her. So, with a blood stained smile, I said to her, “Did the steel assholes also teach ye 'ow to be a cunt? Because ye be quite the professional at that there.”

Spritz huffed and went into another charge. It was predictable, but effective. All she needed to do was catch me. I was not going to let that happen.

Leaning into the attack, I quickly dashed to her side and jumped onto her back as she skidded to a stop. Her sheer size made it hard for me to get a grip on her, but I managed to stay on enough that I could place a hoof strike to the back of her head.

The huge mare then began to buck to shake me off. The crowd cheered as I struggled to stay on. I managed to land a few more, if uncoordinated attacks, before she changed her tactics and rolled to get me off. Predicting this, I moved to stay on top of her only to see one of her hooves right under me ready to kick.

I was launched off of her like some cheap foal’s toy.

Rolling into the fall, I quickly got back to my hooves, ready for another attack. Sprtz looked at me and snarled. A bit of blood dripped from her ear. “You know you can’t win, Star, so give up already. Accept my beating.”

I cracked my neck and winked at her. “Kinky, but ye will 'ave to work fer it. I ain’t yer cheap fetsh whore.”

She snarled at me as she again and charged in for an attack. Predicting her movements, I ducked down and jumped forward under her attack. I went for another uppercut. My counterattack to her hit thin air. Spritz had fainted her attack altogether. She just looked down at me, disappointment in her eyes.

“I wasn't asking,” she said and then hit me with a swift slap of her hoof followed by a heavy hoof strike. Everything went white for a moment as I found myself on the ground.

Calmly, Spritz trotted over to me. A look of self satisfaction was on her face. My own vision was having a hard time focusing as everything wobbled back and forth. “I hit a pressure point on the side of your skull, it should be really hard for you to even walk now, even after they give you a healing potion.”

Her voice was a bit muffled, yet even over the cheering and jeering crowd of ponies, I could hear Harp counting down from ten.

Spritz stretched her hoof back. It clearly for a heavy blow with murder in her eyes.

My sense of balance quickly returned. I managed to roll out of the way. Her hoof connected to the ground, cracking it amazingly enough. A look of pain grew on the large mare's face. Her own attack managed what I had failed to do.

It gave me a bit of joy to see it.

This time I charged in myself, not giving her time to recover. Jumping in for my own heavy hoof strike to her head and connecting.

Spritz stumbled for a moment, shaking her head before looking at me with a scowl. Whatever the fuck this mare was made of, it can’t be normal.

I again charged in. I hoped to at least widdel her down. She just knocked me back with a heavy swing of her leg, causing me to fly back. Spritz then followed with a dash, quickly getting right up to me as I recovered.

Two hooves clamped onto the side of my head.I felt myself fly into the air. Seeing the ground coming, I braced myself for the hard fall. I just managed to protect my head.

Everything hurt as I rolled on the ground. Ponies mocked me, some demanded I get back up. All along with another countdown from Harp.

“Now stay down!” Spritz huffed, sounding out of breath.

I regained my focus just in time to see that the bitch was about to finish me off by trying to crush my head with a hammer hoof strike. Quickly I moved my head, just barely dodging the attack. Her hoof again cracked onto the ground, causing her to groan in pain.

With her underbelly exposed, I quickly jabbed it as hard as I could… only to find it as hard as a rock.

Rolling out from under her before she could trample me, I got ready for another attack. Spritz now slowly turned to me. The hoof she tried to kill me with twice now was bleeding and cracked. I was not feeling all that good myself, but I could deal with it. But my stomach started to gurgle for food. If this fight kept going on like this, I knew I was going to do something I didn’t want anypony to see.

I just needed to get another good hit in.

“We ponies o' the blackwater don’t go down easily. Trust me. We’ve tried to kill each other fer generations, yet we're still around.” I mocked her and charged myself.

“Just like a savage,” Spritz growled at me as she attacked with her undamaged hoof.

The attack lacked the same follow-through as her others. It meant her other leg was too damaged to be used now. Luck was on my side, meaning I possibly could win this here and now!

With an opening, I charged in to send another jab to her face as hard as I could. When she attempted to fend me off, I ducked and jabbed with my other hoof. Without her other hoof, she was too slow to keep up with.

Her head collided with my own. The headbut from Spritz caught me completely offguard. I stumbled back, having a hard time shaking off the attack.

As I started to recover, I felt the large legs of Spritz wrap around my waist from behind me. She spat out a bloody tooth before saying. “Ignorant savage. This is where you will go down and stay down.”

Her tight grip made it hard to breathe as I struggled to make her let me go. I didn’t know what her aim was, but she left her injured hoof open to me, so I began pounding on it as hard as I could. She then stood up on her back legs, lifting me high into the air. Only then I now understood what was about to happen. I frantically struck at her injured hoof, trying to get her to let me go.

I was then enveloped by the sense of falling backwards. My world became pain as the back of my head collided with the hard concrete ground and everything began to go dark.

_______________________________________________________

-Reputation-

-Spritz’s Convicts-

Though the boss was in a foul mood, everypony else enjoyed themselves. No pony will openly say it, but they are likeling how the three are running their side of things or how everypony there seems more… free.

-Ganger Alliance Convicts-

Yes, Star lost in the end, but everypony enjoyed seeing Spritz in pain. They also enjoyed finally talking with some of their friends who had sided with her. If this is all part of the plan, there could be worse plans out there.