6 Years Ago

I groggily opened my eyes as I felt somepony shaking me awake. I still felt the pain from the slaver's beatings, though it wasn't as bad as it had been.

"Bunny! Bunny, please wake up! Come on!" Raindrop kept shaking me desperately. I blinked as I began to take in my surroundings. We were in a dark cave of some sort, dimly lit by a single lantern hanging from the ceiling. At the far end was a metal door that served as the entrance. Several other children were with us, some the same age, some even younger. Some were scared and calling out for help while others were simply crying. Others tried pushing the door open, but to no avail. Counting Raindrop and myself, there were about twenty children in total.

"W-What... happened?" I muttered as I started to wake up. My vision seemed to be back to normal as well.

"Oh thank Celestia! Don't ever do something like that again, you hear me!?" Raindrop chastised me as she embraced me in a hug. As she did, I took the time to regain my thoughts, and remembered seeing the ponies I called family be killed. Tears started to well up as the reality of the situation started to dawn on me. They were gone, and they were never coming back.

When Raindrop noticed I was crying, she hugged me tighter, crying alongside me. We sat there for a couple minutes before I wiped the tears away. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure, all I know is they sold us off already. I overheard some of the slavers talking, and apparently they'd been hired to round up kids. I don't know what they want with us, though." She gestured to the other children in the room. "We just need to stick together, ok? We'll find a way out. Maybe the other kids will help!" While she was saying it to reassure me, it sounded like she was trying to reassure herself as well.

"Oh, he's awake! Is he feeling ok?" We both turned to see one of the children, a mare that looked about the same age as us, had come over.

"I think he's fine. How are you? Does it hurt anywhere?" Raindrop answered the filly before confirming with me.

"It hurts a little, but I'll be fine. Who's this?" I asked.

"This is Healing Touch. She helped me tend to your wounds while you were out." Healing Touch herself was a dirt yellow unicorn with a purple mane tied back in a braid, and she had a roll of bandages for a cutie mark. A pair of glasses sat on her muzzle, showing clear signs of having been repaired multiple times.

"You can just call me Healing. It's nice to meet you, though I wish it were under better circumstances." She stuck a hoof out and I shook it, giving her a nod.

"So... all of these kids were taken like us?" I looked over the other ponies in the cave with us.

"Well... most of them were. Some of them had actually been sold by their families for caps." Healing stayed silent for a moment before continuing. "...I'm one of them."

I was shocked to say the least. Why would her family have sold her to slavers? They were her family right? Isn't family supposed to take care of each other? I wanted to say something, maybe to try and console her, but our conversation was interrupted when we heard a commotion coming from some of the younger kids. Two colts that looked to be around 9 or 10 years old were standing over a crying filly, yelling at her and kicking her. The filly herself seemed to be no younger than 6 years old.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" One of the colts yelled, kicking the filly in her ribs. "WE WOULDN'T BE HERE IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU!!!"

Raindrop and Healing ran over to them immediately to break them up. My body still ached, so it took me a bit of effort to stand up, and I ended up trailing behind them because of it.

"Whoa, whoa, what's going on here!?" Healing demanded an answer as Raindrop pushed the colts off the filly.

"She's one of the slavers! She's the reason we're down here!" One of the colts pointed at the filly.

"No I'm not! I'm not a slaver!" The filly protested, tears streaming down her face.

"Why in Equestria would you think that!? She's trapped down here with us!" Raindrop made her anger evident.

"She said her sister is one of the slavers! Ask her, she'll tell you!" He stomped his hoof in anger. We turned to the filly, and she looked at all of us fearfully. Now that I got a better look at the filly, I could see that she was a light gray earth pony with a dark blue mane. Unlike the others, she didn't have a cutie mark.

"Y-Yes...S-She is... but she didn't want to do it! She's a really good pony, I promise!" Needless to say, I was confused. If her sister was a slaver, why was she down here with us? I voiced my question, and the filly explained. "S-She got caught letting two kids get away. I heard the kids still got caught later, but the others were very angry. They put us in cages and split us up. I-I don't know where she is..." The filly began to cry even more. It didn't take long for me and Raindrop to realize who her sister was.

"See!? She's with them! This is all her fault!" Raindrop had to hold back the colt that spoke to keep him from beating the poor filly even more.

"Hey, that's enough!" We all turned when we heard a new voice approaching. The pony that stepped up was another colt, only this one was around the same age as Raindrop, Healing, and myself. He was a juniper green pegasus with silver hair. I didn't see a dashite brand on his cutie mark, which probably meant he wasn't born above the clouds. Instead, his cutie mark was of a socket wrench. "Listen, we're all in the same boat here. You heard what she said, her sister tried to help some of us. Doesn't that prove she's on our side?"

The colts that had been bullying the filly looked back and forth between the pegasus, the filly, and the rest of us, seeing they were outnumbered. Eventually, one of them huffed. "Whatever. Don't come crying to us when she stabs you in the back." The two brats wandered off to another corner of the small cave, getting as far away from us as possible. The pegasus stepped closer to us as Healing and I helped the filly off the ground.

"Here, let me take a look at it." Healing examined where the bullies had kicked her. "Those two got you good. It might start to bruise in a little bit. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to treat it with down here."

"T-That's ok..." The filly sniffled. "M-My big sister always said that when you're hurt, you should be strong and... e-endure it." She sounded out the word endure, like it was a big word for her. Poor thing probably only had a basic vocabulary. "That way, you can show everypony else that you're not weak."

Healing gave the filly a warm smile. "She sounds like a very brave mare. Can you tell me your name?"

"...It's Kettle... Kettle Corn." She wiped away the tears in her eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Kettle Corn. My name is Healing Touch, this is Raindrop and Bunny." She gestured to the two of us. Guess Raindrop told her my name while I was unconscious. "As for our pegasus friend here, I believe he has yet to introduce himself." She turned to the pegasus, her smile never wavering.

"Ah, right, sorry. I'm Rusty Wrench, but you can just call me Rusty. So, anypony got any ideas on how to get outta here? I've come up with squat." We all shook our heads. "Damn. If I had some scrap, I could probably build something to break that door open."

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find a way out as long as we stick together." While Healing had intended to give us hope with her words, they made me think; what happens after we escape? Raindrop and I didn't have anywhere to go. We didn't have anypony to return to. Would we just be wandering the wasteland? The only places I'd ever been were the ranch, Alleyville, and my old home. Obviously, we couldn't go to any of those places. I wouldn't have the knowledge to survive out there, though. Raindrop might, but then she would be forced to take care of me on top of herself.

Would Raindrop think I'm useless?

No, of course she wouldn't. We were family, right?

...But didn't Healing's family sell her into slavery?

No, no, she wouldn't do that. She cares about me like I care about her.

But what if you're wrong?

I'm not wrong.

How do you know that?

I just do, that's all there is to it.

What makes you think she won't abandon you?

Shut up.

She'll just leave you behind.

I said shut up.

You're nothing but dead weight.

I SAID SHUT UP!!!

"Bunny?"

I was jolted out of my thoughts by Raindrop's voice.

"Are you okay? You were starting to hyperventilate." She asked, a clear look of concern on her face.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just... wondering what'll happen if we get out of here." I made a weak attempt at reassuring her.

"Hey, it's when we get out of here. We're going to be fine, I promise." She put a hoof on my shoulder. I immediately hated myself for ever doubting her. Why the hell did I think she would ever abandon me? We had a bond, and there wasn't anything in Equestria that could break it.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Rusty asked from behind Raindrop.

"Yeah, he's just... been through a lot." She said as she turned to face him. Rusty stared at me from over her shoulder, not really convinced that I was okay. It took me a second to realize he was specifically looking at my brand.

"...It wasn't the slavers that did that, was it?" While he phrased it like a question, Rusty said it as more of a statement. Healing looked at me with the same sympathetic expression as him, while Kettle was confused, not sure what the pegasus meant. I started to shrink back, not liking the attention.

"I'd rather not talk about it." I muttered, and they seemed to ease off. It was about then that the door to our little prison burst open and in walked a pony wearing a red and black cloak. The cloak's hood was pulled over their face, preventing us from seeing their eyes. Two more ponies that looked exactly the same as the first followed behind, only these two carried assault rifles.

"Why hello, children. I hope you all feel grateful to be partaking in our game. Now come with us..." The hooded pony spoke with a voice creepy enough to send chills down everypony's spines.

"It's time for the Trials of Despair to begin."

Present Day

I don't know exactly how long I sat there, staring at my hooves. I think it had been at least an hour. I was still struggling to process the new revelation. I was part parasite. I'd been part parasite my entire life and never knew. I just came to the San Palomino to find some computer chip and now here I am having an existential crisis. How did things spiral so drastically?

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. I just needed to calm down and get back on track. First things first, find out where Cat and the slaves are. I needed to make sure they were safe. Standing up, I made my way over to the barn where the cages had been, hoping to find a clue of some sort.

After entering the barn, I paid a quick glance to the pool of blood I had woken up in. At first, I had assumed it wasn't mine since I wasn't injured. Thinking back to those creepy flashbacks, however, I clearly had been shot many times, more than I should have survived.

Did my wounds heal while I was unconscious? I wonder if that's a side effect of... what did Scar call it again? Parasitic Rage?

Starting my search, I checked the cages first. Seeing the locks that had been ripped off triggered another memory, and I could see myself ripping the locks off with my bare teeth. The slavers that had been in the cages flinched back, staring at me with fear in their eyes. Recalling the mangled corpse sitting in the barn, I imagine they were scared because they'd just watched me tear the slaver apart with just my hooves.

Coming back to reality, I took another look around the barn. A more thorough search revealed some hoofprints leading out of the back entrance. I gripped my head in pain as another memory surfaced.

After freeing the slaves, they all cowered in the corner, terrified of me. I didn't care what they thought of me. One exception however was a mare, who looked at me with surprise and... recognition?

I shrugged it off, not bothering to get a good look at her. I could here the slavers on their way, gearing up to take down the intruder.

"Cat, there's a cave not far from here. Take the slaves their and keep them safe. I'll meet up with you there later." I ordered the dog. Instead of listening, Cat began to whimper and started approaching me, wondering where this sudden change in personality came from. I didn't have time for this. "I SAID GO!!!"

Cat recoiled, but did as I demanded. The slaves, having heard my command, followed the dog out through the back entrance. I turned to face the front. This was going to be a bloodbath, and I was going to enjoy every second of it.

I shook my head as the vision faded.

Great, guess this 'Parasitic Rage' also turns me into an asshole. Poor Cat, I'm gonna have to apologize when I find him.

In the memory, I'd told them to go to a cave. I may not be the smartest pony in Equestria, but I didn't need to be a genius to know what cave I was talking about.

The Cave of Awesomeness.

Dreading the memories this would bring up, I groaned as I followed the hoofprints out through the back entrance.

...I wonder if our comic books are still there.

Looking at the cave from the outside, it didn't look like it had changed much. The large rock in front of it was still there, a small crack between it and the entrance with just enough room to squeeze through. I had stood outside the cave for about ten minutes, trying to gather the courage to actually go in. I was getting the same pit in my stomach that I got before entering my dad's old house.

Deep breaths. Just take a few deep breaths. You got this.

I did indeed take a deep breath, but it was rather shaky. "Hey! If you guys are in there and can hear me, I'm coming in! I'd appreciate it if you didn't blow my head off!" I called out. If the slaves were in there, I didn't want them to panic and confuse me for one of the slavers. Then again, they might not actually have any guns since they'd only just been freed. Still, better to be cautious.

I started to squeeze through the crack only for something from inside the cave to hop through and tackle me. I immediately recognized Cat the second he started licking my face. Thankfully, it seemed there were no hard feelings for my sudden change in attitude back at the barn. "Hey, hey, easy! It's good to see you, too."

He barked and wagged his tail, though the look he was giving me made it clear he had some questions. Sorry for yelling at you back in the barn. I promise, I'll explain what that was later. For now, let's head inside." He got off of me and we both squeezed through the crack. As I'd suspected, all of the slaves were hiding out here.

They all stared at me, some relieved that I wasn't a slaver, others scared of me for what I did back in the barn. As usual, I didn't like having so much attention, but it wasn't a big group so it didn't bother me as much. Some of them appeared to still be on edge while others had made themselves at home, glad to be free of their imprisonment. There were a couple kids among the slaves who I saw were reading the comic books that used to belong to me and Raindrop.

Obviously, these ponies can't stay here in this cave, so I should think of a safe place to take them. Alleyville is out of the question, they're likely to get kidnapped by slavers again if they aren't shanked by some mugger. Maybe one of the slaves knows a good place to-

My thought process was halted when I heard a click off to my left, the sound of a gun's hammer being cocked. "Don't you fockin' move." A female voice with an oddly familiar accent ordered, most likely holding a gun to my head. I did as she said, not even daring to flinch. Cat growled and barked angrily from beside me, but made no moves in case the mare next to us was feeling trigger happy.

"C-Clover!? What are you doing!?" One of the slaves, another mare, yelled. The commotion had drawn the attention of everypony else in the cave. "That guy saved us!"

"Did you forget what he did in the barn!?" Another slave argued, this one a stallion. "You saw what his eye looked like! You saw how much he enjoyed slaughtering that pony! He's just like those Martyr freaks! He should be put down!"

Gee, no need to thank me for saving you, dick.

This back and forth seemed to continue amongst all the slaves. Some defended me while others thought I was a monster. While I'd prefer to avoid a bullet to the brain, I had to admit that what I did was pretty fucked up. At the same time, though, it had been slavers that I killed. Did they really deserve any sympathy? I doubt anypony was gonna miss them, I know I sure won't. Surprisingly, the one pony I expected to chime in the most, the one holding me at gunpoint, stayed silent through it all. If she wasn't threatening to shoot me because of my little 'episode' in the barn, then what was her motive?

"We would've been worked to death if it wasn't for him!"

"We should kill him before he kills us!"

"He saved my life! He saved all of us! How bad can he really be!?"

"Mommy, why is everypony mad?"

"Everyone calm down!" The whole cave went silent when an authoritative voice spoke up. I glanced over to see an indigo colored mare had been the one to silence everyone. Seeing as how they listened to her, I assumed she was the leader of the group, or at least somepony they look up to. "No pony is killing anypony, not yet at least. Yes, what he did was brutal, but we don't want to jump to conclusions. Let's assess the situation before we do anything. We don't want to murder an innocent pony."

Well, I wouldn't exactly call myself "innocent"...

"Clover, you've been rather quiet this entire time despite being the one with the gun. Can you please explain why you felt the need to threaten the stallion who saved us?" The leader addressed the mare aiming the gun at me. She stayed silent for a few seconds before answering.

"...He's the reason Kettle's gone." She answered, and I tensed up.

Kettle.

I knew that name.

"Kettle? Wait, so this stallion is...?" The leader trailed off.

"Yeah, I'd recognize that damned scar anywhere." The mare next to me confirmed. Now recognizing where I'd heard her voice from, I spared a glance in her direction and couldn't believe my eyes.

No fucking way.

The mare was a smoky grey earth pony with a navy blue mane tied back into a long, messy ponytail. An olive green fiddler cap sat on top of her head, and her hooves had a layer of feathering on them.

It was the same mare that I'd seen with Haywire in Alleyville 6 years ago.

The same mare who had pretended not to see us the night the ranch had fallen.

"Remember me?" She snarled. I didn't respond, too busy trying to figure out how in Equestria she was here. The odds of us running into each other again had already seemed pretty slim. The fact that it happened at the ranch of all places made it even more outrageous. I noted the 9mm pistol she held in her mouth. Despite that, she was speaking clearly and fluently. Guess she's had some practice speaking with a gun in her mouth.

"H-...How...?" I didn't even get the words out before she continued to speak.

"I'm only gonna ask this once. Where. Is. Kettle?" She interrogated me through clenched teeth. Hearing her question made me feel two emotions.

The first emotion was guilt.

This mare, who used to be a slaver herself, had tried doing the right thing for once by letting Raindrop and I go. In return for her kind deed, she was enslaved and separated from her sister for several years. Several years most likely spent worrying for her sister's safety, having no idea whether she was healthy, hurt, or even alive. All because she let us go free. To make it even worse, her good deed had been in vain, as the two of us ended up getting caught anyway. That's why I felt guilty.

The second emotion was panic. Why was I panicking, you may ask?

Because I was frantically trying to think of a way to tell her Kettle was dead without her wanting to shoot me.

The fact her sister wasn't alive only added to my guilt, because no matter what I said, I was going to end up breaking this poor mare's spirits. I just hoped I wouldn't end up having hot lead inserted into my brain at over 800 miles per hour after the fact.

"...I'll tell you, but can you please put the gun down first?"

"Yer in no position to be makin' demands. Tell me now!" She snarled.

"...I promise I will, trust me. You deserve to know. I just don't wanna get shot afterwards." I kept my cool, not wanting to agitate her. While it had only been a little over ten seconds, it felt like hours passed before she sighed and lowered the gun, placing it on the ground. I opened my mouth to say something... only to find myself hesitating. Did I really have to be the one to tell her that her sister was dead? That she had been clinging on to hope for nothing? What would she do afterwards? Would she still try to kill me? Blame me for her sister's death? Or worse, would she kill herself, not having any reason to keep living?

Fucking catch-22's.

"...She's dead, isn't she?"

In the end, I didn't have to say anything. My hesitance told her all she needed to know. I gave her a solemn nod to confirm. In response, she seemed to just freeze up. She wasn't tense, she just kinda... stopped moving. I couldn't tell what she was feeling at all. She stayed like that for a bit, and some of the ex-slaves watching started to worry, murmuring amongst each other.

After a bit the mare, 'Clover', sucked in a breath, a very shaky one at that. I could tell she was holding back tears. She shouldn't be, it was okay to cry after losing a loved one. Celestia knows I've done it plenty of times. Still, I could understand not wanting to do it in front of all these ponies. I was starting to think she may have calmed down and might not want to shoot me anymore.

At least I did, until she glared directly at me. If looks could kill, I would've been dead ten times over.

She seemed to be wrestling with something in her mind, most likely deciding if she should kill me or not. Well, unless she already decided to kill me, and was just wondering if it should be quick and merciful or slow and painful. She kept casting furtive glances at the gun on the ground, so hopefully she was at least considering the merciful option. A full minute passed, neither one of us saying a word.

"...Outside. Now." After breaking the silence, she squeezed through the crack leading outside, most likely wanting me to follow her. She didn't bother taking the gun.

"...Welp, guess she decided on slow and painful. Might as well face my death like a man. If I'm going out, I ain't gonna be a bitch about it." I joked, though Cat didn't seem to find it funny, given the look he had on his face. "Hey, I'm kidding. She's... probably not gonna kill me. I'll be right back."

I slipped through the crack, joining Clover outside. As expected, she still had the scowl that could probably scare even a hellhound. I gave it a 50/50 chance she wasn't planning to beat me to death.

"...Six years ago, ye were with the kids we rounded up to be sold. Do ye know who the client was?" She asked me, not even looking me in the eye.

"At the time, no. But after... recent events, I think I have a feeling."

"...The Martyrs of Despair." She confirmed my suspicions. Figures it was them. They seem to be the source of all my problems lately. "They're the ones that killed her, right?"

After I nodded, she looked me dead in the eye. "Then yer goin' to help me kill 'em all."

Understandably, it took me a second to process what she said. "I-I'm sorry... you want me to do what!?"

"Ye got a problem with that?"

I took a deep breath. "...Look, I'm sorry about your sister, but-"

"NO! You don't have any right t' walk away from this! Her death is on yer hooves too! You need t' take responsibility!" She shoved me the second I tried to object. I know I sounded like a heartless bastard, but after my 'trip' to the Martyr's lair, after everything I learned, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with them. I had honestly been wondering if the McGuffin was even worth all this hassle. I had actually been considering just calling it quits and going straight back to Astral empty hooved. I'm sure he would've understood, right?

Yet at the same time... I did feel guilty not helping her. I did partially blame myself, if only a little bit. Still, after what I saw down there...

She has no idea what she would be up against.

"...Why me, then? Besides being semi-responsible, that is."

"Because yer clearly connected to them." I was about to lie and say otherwise, but she cut me off. "And don't even try tellin' me otherwise. I saw yer eye back there, everypony did. There's no way you don't have some sort o' connection with them." I clammed up after those words.

...Damnit, there isn't any weaseling out of this, is there?

"...Fuck... alright, fine. I'll help, not like I have much choice." I sighed. I suppose I was already in the Martyr's sights, so I was pretty much at the point of no return anyway. "But we aren't going to just charge in headfirst like a pair of idiots. If you really want to fight them, we're gonna do it my way, got it?"

"And how exactly would 'your' way help?"

"Do you want to have an entire army to help us take them down?"

"...Your way it is."

Actually, calling the ERC an army is giving them too much credit, but they're still better than nothing.

If she really wanted to take down the Martyrs, it was clear that it was going to take a tremendous amount of planning and preparation. The parasites basically turned every Martyr into a super soldier, there was that freaky lizard-scorpion thing that chased me (who I remember all too well from the Trials of Despair), I didn't even know what Bloody Scar was capable of doing yet, and that monster they called a queen was the icing on the cake. We weren't dealing with a regular ol' cult, this was a much larger threat than anypony knew.

Despite all that, though, there was one silver lining.

I had the parasitic rage... whatever the hell it was, exactly.

I still had a lot of questions about it, obviously, but I did know that whatever it was, it let me shrug off an insane amount of bullets. That, and it gave me enough strength to rip a pony in half with my bare hooves. I don't know how to control it, but that didn't mean I couldn't learn. In my dream, Bloody Scar said my father was given a stronger version of the parasite, and that it was passed down to me through his genes. That explained why any martyrs I previously killed weren't tanking bullets like I had, they were given weaker versions. This might not be much compared to what we were going up against, but it was something, and that's all I could ask for.

I was stirred from my thoughts when Clover spit into her hoof then stuck it out for me to shake. I stared at the hoof, thinking over everything that's happened since I showed up in the San Palomino. It's just been one thing after another ever since I arrived in this damn desert. Things just kept getting worse and worse and I kept being forced to dig myself deeper. I should have just told Astral no. I should have just stayed home. I shouldn't have ever even considered coming back here in the first place, but I did, and now I'm paying for it.

I spit into my own hoof and grasped hers in a firm hoofshake.

"...Well, at least you don't wanna kill me." I sighed.

"Oh, that's still on the table, trust me."

Gee, what a comforting thought.

Author's Note

My God, it has been a hot minute since I updated this story. I am truly sorry for not updating sooner, but I had hit another "Where do I go from here" slump. Well, it was less of "Where do I go from here" and more "How do I write this so it sounds good and makes sense". I can't tell you how glad I am to finally post this chapter.

While I will continue to work on this, and I do intend to finish it, this story will probably not be my main focus. I've been writing another story alongside this that's been getting much more attention and positive feedback (It's Devil May Cry crossover in case there's any DMC fans out there who might be interested). I'll still write this when I can, but I'll be focusing on my other story more.

Again, apologies for such a late update, I know what it's like to wait longer than usual for a new chapter. I hope you enjoyed it despite the extended wait, and as always, thanks for reading!