Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale

Fallout Equestria: A Wastelander Tale, Chapter Thirty Five

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The sound of combat was all around us as we rushed to the market. Cold Trails and the two pegasus having taken the foals away to the meeting spot, with flying being the safest way to move right now.

The rest of us set off on hoof.

The raiders were taken completely by surprise, some still standing around looking confused. When one tries to stop us and find out what was going on, we told them that one group when crazy, and to go back to sleep. We could only hope they were that dumb to believe us.

Entering the market, we saw a heavily armored smelter trotted around with two ghouls ripping into his armor. The raider set a third ghoul on fire as he attempted to buck himself free. But the ghouls had latched onto the raider tightly, which forced him to then roll on the ground.

The two ghouls were dislodged from the raider, along with ripping off his armored gas mask. He then managed to get up in time to set another one on fire, but before he could take out the third, the ghoul had rushed him. The raider stumbled back as the ghoul mauled his exposed face, forcing the raider to fight it off with his hooves. By the time he had killed the third ghoul, it had torn off half his face, causing blood to flow from it, down his armor and splatter onto the ground. He managed to trot a few hoofsteps before falling over, wheezing with each breath

Off in nearby caged shacks were the slaves of the raiders, watching with eyes filled with fear and some amusement. One cage was being attacked by a ghoul, but fortunately the monster could not get in through the bars.

So we rushed in the kill the ghoul and free the slaves. But they seemed to be just as scared of us as they were of the feral ghoul.

"We're not raiders, we're here to help you. Now where's the key so we can get you out of here." Molo told the slaves.

They seemed unsure to accept our help, but one rather mare stood up and pointed to a nearby booth. "Over there, they keep the keys in there." It was the mare I helped yesterday, the one that had been taken by the Brain Nails, her eyes were still fierce and filled with determination.

I turned to my friend, "alright, Low, you get the keys and free the slaves. The rest of us will keep an eye out for the feral ghouls and raiders. We should also look for any other ponies in need of help."

With that we got moving. I trotted over to the mare who pointed out the keys, seeing if she can help us out more. She was dirty, covered in bruises and was cuts all over. Some fresh, some not. I was sure I could see tally marks on her flank, much like the ones the raiders gave me. "Are there any more ponies trapped here, or is this all?" I asked.

"It's most of us." The mare said. "The raiders shove us all here at the end of the day. The lucky ones that is. Some are taken by raiders to… be played with… the ones who are sent to the estate never come back. And there there are a few cleaning the brothel, though the boss there just makes them fucks him instead of cleaning."

I nodded. "We got whoever was at the estate, and those who are with the raiders… I don't know…" I then looked over at the scrap brothel. "As for that place, I'll be right back."

"Make it painful." The mare told me as I trotted away.

The brothel was a cramped and horrendous place, stains of beer, blood, and body fluids were all over. Some rooms looked more like torcher chambers, where others simply had a moldy mattress and lots of rope. It was nothing like the Red Light, though both had air filled with lust, this place didn't feel fun or inviting, but gave off a depraved feeling of malaise.

A forced moan from the back was all I needed to hear, and I rushed forward, kicking the door ahead of me down. The raider inside didn't even pay it any mind, she went deep into a stallion with a strapon on, sniffing a line of white powder off his back. The poor stallion had a chain collar on, of which the raider held tightly, slowly strangling him.

I tapped the raider mare on the shoulder with Mire Frost to get her attention. The raider looked back at me with bloodshot eyes and a bleeding nose, saying to me with a sneer "Wait your turn, bitch!"

With Mire Frost, I swung the spike down into her leg, causing the raider to scream in pain and flail out of the stallion. With a crack, her hoof broke off which freed Mire frost for me to turn the blade to the raiders throat. "You know, I'm now really pissed. I was hoping for a stallion to gut after the fuck all of a day I had. Only for you to remind me that all of you are rapey bastards, mares and stallions." I pushed my shotgun's blade to her neck, and a light frost formed around where it touched. "Now how to kill you?"

"Bitch!.. how about bygones be bygones. You know, forgiveness, like that light bitch." The raider spouted at me.

I looked over at the stallion, blood trickling from his anus, it had a scar that looked very much like the one I now had. "Naw, that's for ponies who deserve it."

The raider lunged at me, causing the axe blade to dig into her neck, stopping her in her tracks. Falling back, the raider began to choke and gurgle. Feeling like this was a waste of time, I swung Mire Frost back, and then down onto the raiders head, killing her.

Turning to her victim, I helped him up and out of this place. He flinched at my hoof touch, and quivered in my grasp. But once we got moving, I could tell he was determined to not stop trotting. We both could not stop trotting. To stop now is to give up, to give up is to let them win. If they won… that would be a fate worse than death. On our way out, I made sure to knock over a few candles, starting a few fires in this damnable place.

Back outside I helped the stallion to the now sizable group of freed slaves, where two ponies tearfully embraced him. "Is that all?" I asked my friends.

"All we could find." Molo said, her expression looking quite upset. "Found several more foals… but their in no condition to move on their own."

I gritted my teeth. "Bastards… all of them."

A chuckle then caught our attention. "So you found the cans, ain't it grand!" Pink Haze said as she trotted into view, she now wearing a battle saddle with two rather large looking pipe SMG's. Flanking her was four other Smiles raiders. And even more appeared all around us, blocking every exit, and standing on the rooftops. "Good oll game of kick the can, with extra fun inside."

Molo growled with an intense hatred. "Those are foals you monster!"

"Which is why it was fun. But if you're worried about the foals, we did give them some of our chems before the game started." She laughed through her teeth like a mad mare. "Oh the sound they made, the things they screamed."

"DIE BITCH!" Molo screamed as she drew her SMG's.

Cauterize joined in as the Smiles scattered. Fortunately Spell Circuit was already getting the slaves behind cover, they all staying low to avoid the now roaring gunfight. He even produced a magical bubble to protect them from stray shots, but it looked like the spell was draining him fast.

I had jumped to cover myself, taking aim at any raider I could see, but finding them to be too fast to get a hit on one. Rolling to avoid a flying knife, it was quickly dawning on me how fucked we were, the rolling again to avoid even more knives.

Both Molo and Cauterize join me, the big stallion with several throwing knives already stuck in him. "So who thinks they were waiting for us?" Cauterize asked.

Both Molo and I looked at each other and face hoofed, then had to dogged a few more knives.

"And now their fucking with us." Molo said in frustration.

"Let me go!" A pony yelled, and we turned to see one of the slaves rip themselves from the grasp of another pony, and run for it. We watched as he managed to make it passed a Smile, out an exit, and vanish into the darkness. Dumfounded, we then watched as a second then did the same, but as she made it to the threshold of the market she was hit with an overkill gunfire. The poor mare was ripped apart into a bloody mess.

More laughter came from pink Haze. "Look, look. You see the look on their faces. They actually think there was a chance! We control your fate, and you better entertain us!"

"This is why everypony hates the Smiles." Cauterize grumbled as he pulled a knife from his leg.

They had us outgunned and surrounded. The worst position to be in… but remembering what happened to that last Smile, I also smiled, then shouted. "Hay Pink! Let's play a game." Both Cauterize and Molo look at me confused. "Just trust me, we need to buy some time." I whispered.

"I love games!" Pink Haze shouted. "What game is it, and it better not be watching paint dry. I have nightmares about that."

"Group trick shooting." I told them. "Some pony tosses a thing in the air, and one group tries to keep it there by shooting their guns. Looster gives up a pony."

There was a pause for several seconds, then Pink Haze said. "Sounds dumb, I like it."

"Okay, we go first." Grabbing a knife, I passed it to Cauterize. "Fire everything, doesn't matter if you hit it."

With a shrug, he tossed the knife high into the air. The three of us fired wildly at the thing, our guns making as much noise as possible. The blade hit the ground soon after.

Pink Haze laughed. "Prepared to lose a pony."

Following our lead, the Smiles tossed a knife, and fired everything they had at it. The noise was deafening, and they managed to hit the knife a few times.

The twisted blade hit the ground with a grim chime.

"Looks like your loss." Pink Haze gleefully said. "Lottery, you die first."

"You don't have to go." Molo tried to stop me, but I was sure this would work out.

Trotting out, I saw that pink Haze was now standing on a roof, with a burning barrel behind her, and looking down at me. "So how do you want to go out? No, wait, do a dance for me first!

I needed to stall for time. "What kind of dance? I know how to exotic dance, and square dance. Or maybe some kind of fusion?"

Pink Haze scratched her chin, an even wider smile forming as she said. "No, I've got one in mind. It's called the lead Dance." She aimed her guns at me.

Gunfire from another Smile interrupted the dance before it could start, soon followed by another, and then another. A feral ghoul then burst into view, wrestling with a Smiles raider. Not just from the ground, but pegasus ghouls also descended from above, zoning in on the loud and brightly colorful Smiles. Some of which flew over the burning brothel before starting their attack.

"What, no, I didn't invite you, go away!" Pink Haze angrily shouted at the ghouls, one taking several shots from her large SMG's, which blew off the ghouls legs.

She was distracted, but I had a feeling that drawing my gun was not going to work. She was too zippy for that… so I needed to slow her down. Grabbing my bear trap, I placed it behind me, set it, and then kicked it back to Molo. Then I prayed to Celestia that this worked. I then made eye contact with Molo, giving her a nod before turning around with my own smile on my face.

"Hay Pink Haze, you still want to make me your bitch! Then come get me, I'll struggle real fucking good." I taunted the raider boss as I dropped Mire Frost to the ground.

She looked at me, a hungry smile in her eyes. "A throwdown, ya, I'll dance!"

In one hop, Pink Haze was on the ground and then leaped at me like she hit a springboard, her head colliding with my own, causing me to stumble back. I tried to counter with a hoof strike, but she easily dogged, and kicked my legs out from under me.

She then jumped onto my back, leaning in to whisper into my ear. "Where Spine Braker fucks to breed, I fuck to hear beautiful music, the best kind. So far nothing beats breaking bottles inside a pony!"

I reared up to try and knock her off her own hooves, but Pink Haze was too fast, and simply trotted over me like I was some kind of ball to play on. When I kicked up, she simply hopped, and landed on my raised hoof like it was nothing. Smiling down at me she then kicked my head as she jumped, knocking me over to the ground.

Scooting some dirt from the ground as she landed near me, I tossed it at her face, which fortunately caught her off guard.

She stumbled back, rubbing her eyes as she screamed at me. "YOU FUCKING DIRTY NO GOOD CHEETING BITCH!"

I knew this victory was short lived, so I quickly got up and changed at her. As she finished wiping her now bloodshot eyes, her smile had a hint of surprise as I tackled her. We both hit the ground and she forced me into a roll. Kicking at her, the mad mare still managed to doge, practically walking on me as I was forced to roll under her.

Forcing my forehooves strait, I managed to stop my roll, where Pink Haze now stood on my back hooves, looking down at me as I was on my back.

"See, now this is fun. Struggle all you like, but you will never catch me." Pink Haze mocked me.

But I was not out of tricks yet, and pulled my back hooves in to roll. "Go fly you bitch." I snarled as I then bucked with as much force as possible as soon as the bitch was standing on my hooves. Pink Haze laughed as I launched her into the air.

"NOW!" I shouted, and Molo burst out and kicked the bear trap.

It was only a moment, but I saw the smile drop from Pink Haze, and true shock form as she landed onto the beartrap.

*Snap!*

Pink Haze let out a blood curdling scream as the beartrap all but bit off her leg, it dangling free in its jaws by just strands.

"BITCH! FUCKING WHORE! I WILL RIDE YOU ALL NIGHT LONG WITH A SPIKED STRAPON. THEN USE USE AS A BREEDING BITCH WITH THE SICKLY OF THE FORTY TWO!" She screamed loudly at me in an ear piercing shrill voice.

As Pink Haze continued to scream at me, she also began to drag herself along the ground to me. A trail of blood followed her, along with something much much worse.

Soon she was surrounded by feral ghouls, likely attracted by her screaming, and maybe the blood. "Oh… fuck." Was all she could say before they descended upon her like a pack of hungry animals.

I turned to my friends and sighed. "Right, I think it's time to go, I'll cover the rear, Cauterize, you lead the way."

Molo grinned wide as she held Pink Haze's guns. "Ya, let's cut a path for the others." she then turned to the slaves and told them, "follow us, we'll get you all out!"

She and Cauterize then charged, firing their guns at any Smile Raider that wasn't currently fending off a ghoul, and a few that were. With them so distracted with the feral ghouls, they were easy targets, and with more feral ghoul arriving by the second, they would soon be overrun.

As I watched the slaves rush as fast as their week bodies could push themselves, I picked up Mire Frost and aimed it at where Pink Haze was being eaten alive. Half expecting her to jump up at me, and half waiting for the ghouls to stop. The sound they made as they ripped flesh and broken bones, it was… horrible.

A hoof pressed onto my shoulder nearly gave me a heart attack. It was the scared up mare who pointed out the key. "We need to run or we're going to die." She told me, bringing me back to my senses.

Nodding, I told her, "Right, I'll cover you."

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It was chaos as the raiders now fully understood their situation and were all out fighting, but the feral ghouls were already too deep in, leaving the raiders with few defense, and no way to regroup. The dead were all over the place as gunfire went off with abandon, the raider shooting at each other just as much as they shot at the feral ghouls. .

The slave that had gotten away first had not gotten far, as we found the pony being eaten by a feral ghoul.

Fortunately this meant there were plenty of guns and ammo laying around, letting us arm the freed slaves as we marched them out of this place. Though we told them to not use the guns unless absolutely necessary, as we had the fighting covered.

"Hay! What are you doing with those slaves?" A raider shouted at us, his armor only half tied down and flapping about. A few others soon joined him.

Cauterize acted fast and pulled the raider into a headlock. "Getting the fuck out of this shitbag, how about you?"

The raider looked at everypony, and then at a dead ghoul. "Ya, I never liked it here in the first place." He was then let go, and turned to the other raiders. "Who's open for legging out of this joint?"

An answer came as the raiders head exploded, causing everypony to scramble for cover. Above us on a roof was a heavily armored Smelter with a rather large rifle. "By Lady Onyx's command, they must die!"

He aimed the gun at me, but a green flash hit him, and the armor collapsed as green goo seeped out from the inside. Cold Trails then landed right next to where the raider was and fired a few more shots, killing another raider. "What's taking you so long, I'll cover you by air, so go, go, go!"

Nopony needed to be told any more as we all rushed to the way out, with Cauterizes leading the way. Cold Trails had taken flight and covered us from above, forcing any nearby raider to keep their head down. Feral ghouls on the other hoof were taken out with prejudice, unless they were fighting a raider.

We took a quick detour, hoping it would be quick, making our way to the Drunken Slut. Turning a corner, we saw the bar engulfed in flames, and surrounding it were charred corpses. I saw a cage with a still burning pony inside, the poor pony likely dying in agony, unable to free themselves.

With no reason to stick around, we moved on, and made our way to the exit. Its defenders were missing, likely having run off or joined the fight with the ghouls. To our fortune, a simple cart had been left behind, with only a few small boxes in it.

"Get those boxes out of the cart and load as many ponies in as possible!" I ordered.

Quickly we got the worst looking slaves loaded into the cart, along with the foals and a few likely pregnant mares.

As Cauterize got ready to push the cart out of her, and we loaded the last pony in, that ponies head then exploded, causing the slaves to scream and duck down low.

"Lottery, you're not getting away this time!" Onyx's amplified voice echoed through all the violence.

Everypony stayed as low to the ground as possible, all except for Cold Trails, who flew up as he said, "I'll get this bitch."

We then saw streaks of tracer rounds raced up at him from what must have been several machine guns. The power armored pegasus easily weaving through the bullets as he went in for the attack. He then sent a flurry of green plasma down at the tallest building in town, a clocktower, setting it ablaze with plasma fire as sparks flew off his armor.

Passing over his target, Cold Trails stayed low to the ground as he flew back to us.

*Crack*

One of his plasma rifles exploded, and Cold Trails lost control. We watched in horror as our new ally hit the ground and tumblr violently, unable to stop himself until he hit a mailbox, knocking it off the concrete it had been bolted to.

"Fucking pegasus, always so confident that it's easy to get them to expose their back to my rifle." Onyx spoke out, still very much alive.

Sticking to cover, I held our breath as I watched Cold Trails lay there, thinking he was very much dead. But he began to move, and with a loud grunt and a kick, he managed to throw himself around a wall just as another gunshot smashed the ground near him.

"I can get him." Spell Circuit said, then frowned, "but we can't go anywhere until she's taken care of."

"Can you get me close?" I asked him.

The messy looking Unicorn closed his eyes for a few seconds before responding. "Yes, but are you sure?"

"Ya, even if the bitch wasn't shooting at us, I still need to go after her." I said with a nod.

He then inched over to me and reached out his hoof. "Alright, if you're sure of this, take my hoof."

I breathed in deep and slowly exhaled as I looked at his hoof. Then I did what I should have done long ago and accepted his help, taking Spell Circuit's hoof.

My world shifted in a flash, and I found myself in a new spot, Spell Circuit was how breathing heavily, looking drained.

"Okay… the rest… is up… to you." He said, sounding like he just ran a mile.

Looking around, I was right outside the building Onyx was on top of, her barrel just hanging over head. "Oh do come out and play, or are you going to just let your pegasus friend suffer there, all alone." She mocked, clearly not knowing I had moved under her nose.

Entering the tower was easy, as a wall had a big hole in it, not causing a noise, that was impossible. On the first floor were three hairless dogs, covered in scars and geared up in spiked armor. The raider dogs immediately started barking, and one charged at me.

Pulling Rime Frost to do an overhead swing, the axe blade split the first dog's muzzle, causing it to scream in pain.

The other two had followed right behind the first, and were too fast for me to counter. I was immediately thrown back, knocking Rime Frost out of my grasp as the dogs tackled me and bit onto my legs. My armor protected me from their teeth, but not from their bite, as I felt them clamp down and begin to tug at me. It was as though they were trying to pull me appear, both dogs tugging at me from different directions, and preventing me from getting to my shotgun.

But I was not disarmed, and with my muzzle I dug out my revolver, Whiskey Shot, from my hidden chest holster. Aiming at the second dog I fired three shots into it, and then did the same to the third. Freed, all that was left was the first dog with the split muzzle, it would likely soon be dead from blood loss.

Not wasting time, I quickly reloaded Whiskey Shot, and picked up Rime Frost. I did wish I had taken Last Dance with me, as the rifle would have allowed me to snipe back at Onyx, but it had been too big to hide. Though killing Onyx up close will be far more satisfying.

"How! How did you get down there… fucking Spell Circuit! Kill her, kill her now!" Onyx's amplified voice shrieked.

I charged to and up the stairs, a loaded Whiskey Shot in my muzzle. Charging down at me was a burnt pony in Grinders uniform, with heavy armor on and a spiked bat in his muzzle. He swung at me, and I blocked Rime Frost, locking us in a stalemate… except I had a muzzle fire revolver in my muzzle. It took a second for the slaver to realize the position he was in, a half a second too long.

It took one shot, the .45 entering his eye socket, and how it didn't come out the other side, likely bounced off his helmet and back into his skull. As he went limp, I pushed him off the side, sending him falling down the tower.

A frantically bobbing Will-o-Wisp appeared before me, and zipped up the stairs. Not even questioning why the blue flame did that, I raced after it, only to have the stairs behind me be obliterated by machine gun fire. The storm of led then followed me as I picked up the pace, causing the walls to crumble and fall, the slavers not caring what they destroyed. But the shooting soon stopped and as I ran up, I soon saw why.

Both slaver machine gunners were reloading their crud looking machine guns. through off a belt and grabbing another one to load in. I took this opportunity to aim Rime Frost at them, where one of them saw me and jumped behind the other slaver. The third slaver then took several 00 shot as I unloaded into him as I aimed Whiskey Shot for the second slaver to appear.

Kicking the now dead third slaver off the tower, the second slaver aimed at me with her fully loaded machine gun. But before she could fire, I did with Whiskey Shot. The first hit caused the slaver mare to fire wide, missing me and losing control of her machine gun. She fired wide, sending bullets all around, with only a few coming close to me. So with careful aim I fired the remaining four shots in my revolver, each hitting the slaver.

She then slipped, and fell off the edge to her death.

Now with the minions gone, I hoped, so I quickly reloaded my guns and ran up the stairs. The top of the tower was still on fire, some of which was still green, but most was a normal orange yellow now.

A glint hit my eye and I ducked just as a deafening boom shot out at me. "You fucking whore!" Onyx shouted. "After I'm done with you I'm going to drag your corps to Tripwire, and then I'm going to fuck him in front of it!"

Rolling out from cover I fired a shot from Rime Frost, but she ducked back and I missed. "That sounds like the shit raiders would do!" I yelled back.

"As long as you're dead!" She responded.

I looked around and whispered, "a bit more help would be nice, Will-o-Wisp."

The blue flame sparked to life and floated over to an ammo box.

Then Onyx fired again, her bullet puncturing through my cover, missing me by a hoof.

Yelling back, "missed me bitch!" And bent down to the ammo box, inside were two rusty apple shaped grenades, and I immediately knew what to do with them.

Onyx fired again, now where I had just been. "How's that you raider dick slut!"

I didn't answer, just pulled the pins on both grenades and dropped them back in the box, closing it before tossing it over to Onyx as hard as I could.

She then fired again, and I was surprised to see the ammo box be torn to shreds, not expecting her to do that. Onyx screaming, "FUCK!" Clearly meant she didn't expect two active grenades to then fall out of the box.

As soon as the two grenades detonated, I charged out, my ears ringing from the blast. Jumping over her cover and pointing Rime Frost at Onyx, she was on the ground bloodied and her rifle, Desert Rose, far from her grasp. Around her were several dead slavers, some nothing more than chard bones surrounded by green goo.

As I trotted up to the bitch, she turned around, a polished pipe revolver in her muzzle and fired it.

*BANG!*

The shot just barely missed me as I managed to smash her in the face with the butt of my shotgun at the same time. Onyx let out a scream in pain as I hit her again, nocking the revolver from her mouth..

"It's over, Onyx." I told her.

She laughed as she spat out a tooth and pulled herself up. Looking me in the eyes, her glare filled with pure malice. "It's never over, whore." She growled at me as her eyepatch then fell off, and from under it I saw the symbol of Redeye branded over her own. "I have survived worse than you, and I'll be back, but stronger than ever."

Pointing Rime Frost at her head, my hoof on its trigger. "Nopony comes back from dead."

She smiled. "I surrender."

My grip on my shotgun loosen a little. "Wh… what?"

The slaver bitch rolled her eyes. "I said I surrender, I am now your captive to take back with you."

I spat at her with disgust. "And why would I do that? Your worth-"

"Everything!" She said, cutting me off. "I'm in charge of logistics, so I know every route the smugglers are taking, and I know exactly where Tripwire is sending what, to support who. Kill me and you lose all that information. Then you will have to explain why you killed a pony who surrendered, just like a raider."

Gritting my teeth, I wanted to kill her, I needed to kill her… But she was right, she was more valuable to me alive than dead.

Lowering my gun, I then said, "arlight, but you will see justice, I will see to it that you get everything coming to you!"

Onyx pulled herself up, and stood on four wobbly legs. "Yes I'm sure you will, or whatever. Now call your… friends, and get me out of-"

*BANG!*

Onyx's chest exploded, and she fell over, gargling blood before letting out a gasp and going still.

"What a shame. What. A. Shame." Bandsaw said as she materialized from thin air, holding Desert Rose. Behind her was a tall dark blue pony, with both wings and a a very long horn. It was an alicorn, one of the Goddesses creations.

Using the sniper rifle, Bandsaw picked up Onyx's eyepatch, and took off her own. Where an eye should have been was an empty socket covered in scars. "Now I said to kill her, not drag her back with you, is that so hard to understand, Lottery?"

I growled at the raider. "I ain't one of you raiders!"

Bandsaw laughed, "Why not, it's so much fun. Being free to do what you want, when you want. Well, so long as you're strong enough to take it. And you're certainly strong, a pony to tell Mother Madame about. But that's for later, so you should think about it, long, and hard. But for now, I got places to be, ponies to kill."

I pointed Rime Frost at her, but was then hit by a wave of magic from the alicorn.

This got another laugh from Bandsaw. "Oh, before I go. I'll be seeing you in a week or more, so do keep that mane pin on. And do enjoy that gift of mine, spice up that love life of yours. She then turned around and trotted to the alicorn. "Let's get out of here, Majestic."

The alicorn huffed. "Don't assume you can just order me around scum."

"Ya ya, you're a big strong alicorn. Now are ya going to get us going, or wait for the fucking ghouls to show up." Bandsaw said back in a mocking tone.

The two then vanished, followed by the sound of flapping wings.

I let myself fall back to my haunches as I caught my breath. Pain crept back to me as my adrenaline cooled off, and now I could smell it, death and decay, all burning around me. My body hurt all over, some spots from where I likely got shot, but my armor had saved me, others possibly from when the wood was blasted apart around me. The tower was still burning, and I had no way down without seriously hurting myself. Looking over a ledge I was next to, I could see the town burning, many small fires all around, and the dead all over.

It was hard to tell who each pony was, but it was clear from here that the 42 Smiles were done for, pink bodies decorating the market. The small raider encampments were in ruins, and the raiders that had not gotten away in time were being surrounded by the hoard of feral ghouls. Even those who looked more than capable at fighting their way out were not prepared for the pegasus ghouls, descending down from above.

The ponies we had saved were already out of town, crammed into the cart as Cauterize pushed it, and Molo killed the encroaching ghouls that had gotten that far. They would be free, and soon, safe.

A crash near me didn't even make me flinch. One of the feral ghoul pegasus had finally come here. The thing looked at me with soulless milky white eyes, it's putrid mouth filled with sharp broken teeth that could rip me apart. I could take it on, but my ammo was running thin after this fight.

A second crash from my other side did startled me. Then another.

Pulling Rime Frost up, I got ready for another nasty fight, one that at least I was not going to get shot at.

A green streak of plasma then slammed into one of the ghouls, setting it on green fire and melting it into bones. Cold Trails flew down, firing more, killing a second ghoul before smashing into the third with his power armored hooves, crushing it like an overripe tato.

As he turned to look at me, the right side of his armor was wrecked. The plasma rifle was gone, along with a few plates of his armor. The exposed parts of his fur were either burned or missing entirely, with wide scars in its place. And when he trotted over to me, his armor gave a pained whine with each step.

"You… don't look so hot." I told him.

He smiled, his teeth stained with blood. "On med-x, so I don't feel a damn thing."

"What about healing potions?" I asked.

Trotting right up to me he offered his hoof. "Gave them all to the ponies we saved, so I'll just have to deal with it. Now let's go before more of them show up."

Nodding, I took his hoof and he picked me up, then lifted me into a carry as he jumped off the tower. I held onto dear life, it was far more terrifying than the death box, yet strangely exciting.

We flew through and out of the burning town, leaving this tainted place to its fate, the screams and gunshots fading the further we went.

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