What We Become

Great...What now?

Gaige kept running through ways he could get out of his current situation, but none seemed feasible. Dammit Gaige, you've spent five years in the wasteland seeing unspeakable things, yet two technicoloured horses are making you shit your pants. Think dammit! Gaige kept the gun pointed shakily at the closest of the two small horses, the one with the cowboy hat. He locked  eyes with it and it glared back in a complete stupor. He didn't think it understood the situation. Of course it doesn't know what you're doing it's a horse god dammit! Gaige thought to himself. He started to put himself at ease realizing that the two strange creature in front of him were probably peanut brained wilder beasts, until one of them opened its' mouth to speak.

“Well that ain't exactly the way to treat a lady!” Exclaimed the orange horse. Gaige was about to reply, but then he came to the realization that a horse just spoke perfect english to him. His mind...wasn't very accepting of that idea.

Oh what the hell...did that horse just talk? Gaige thought to himself. No...no way I'm just imagining things, must be the blood loss. It wasn't until the orange horse turned and began talking to the green horse that Gaige realized that, there were in fact two very real pastel talking horses in front of him. “You heard me...I said stay back! Or I'll shoot!” He hissed hoping to deter them from coming any closer. He knew he had to find a way to get away from them and fast, he had lost a lot of blood. Gaige began struggling to his feet while training his revolver on the two strange creatures. Come on Gaige get up dammit, you've been through worse than this! He thought in an attempt to coax his protesting muscles into cooperating

“Ah don't take too kindly to monsters threatening mah friends...I'd watch yer mouth if I were you” The orange horse menacingly said while glaring at Gaige. It looked like it was getting ready to charge him. All of a sudden the orange horse whipped around and drew back its' hind legs.

Gaige looked up from his half crouched position just in time to see a pair of hooves shooting out towards him. Aw crap. He thought just milliseconds before his body was sent soaring a good three feet behind where he stood. Gaige went limp and hit the ground with a sickening thud. He had the wind completely knocked out of him and he gasped for air. Damn, I think my ribcage has been turned into jello. Gaige thought between bouts of excruciating pain. My gun! I have to get my gun! Gaige began to panic until he noticed that his gun had wedged itself under his chest when he landed. He slowly grasped it as the two horses drew nearer and began slowly and painfully raising himself off the ground. “Don't..think I'm done yet...” Gaige sputtered out between laboured breaths, “I'm just getting starte-” Gaige's speech was interrupted by him losing consciousness and landing face first in the grass.

* * *

“What do you think it is Applejack” Asked Lyra, eying the motionless creature curiously and poking at it with her fore-hoof.

“Ah don't know...or much less care but I don't think it's gettin' up anytime soon” Applejack glared cautiously at the strange monkey like thing that lay in front of her.

“I don't know Applejack, I mean to me it looks kind of like a...human.” Lyra stated as her eyes began to light up.

“Oh come on Lyra, everypony knows humans are just an old fillies tail to keep ponies away from the everfree forest. Sweet Celestia when are you gonna stop with that nonsense” Applejack scolded. Everyone in Ponyville knew Lyra was a complete nut-job for believing in these mystical “Humans”, but Applejack couldn't help but notice the similarities between the creature in front of her and Lyra's nonsensical drawings. Maybe she was right. No that's total nonsense, how could you even consider that. Applejack scolded herself for thinking something so foolish.

Lyra, looking hurt, turned back to poking at the strange creature with a sight. She saw it had a some a thick pelt covering its' body with the exception of its' extremities and had a very metallic looking head with reflective orange eyes. She reached out to poke it again, except this time, it let out a low groan and Lyra took a great leap into the air, letting out a high pitched shriek and tumbling over backwards in fear. At the sight of this Applejack's attention snapped back to the creature in front of her. She noticed something red pooling under it. Is that...blood? She thought to herself.  “Oh...oh my...Lyra get up we have to get this thing to a doctor and fast if we wanna know anything about him.”

“Why? What's wrong?” Asked a suddenly panicked Lyra.

“It's bleeding Lyra...It's bleeding a LOT!” Applejack became suddenly very nauseous from the sight of the creature's condition. “Fluttershy's cottage is just over this hill, if we can get him there she might be able to do somthin'!” Applejeack hollered as she bit down onto the creature's hood and began dragging it. Lyra soon joined in the frantic effort.

I'm not losing my chance to meet a human now, I'm so close and I KNOW this time it's an actual human. I'm not letting a little blood loss take away MY DREAM! Lyra thought to herself as she began pulling more and more frantically.

Great, first a mutant attack, then a bus crash and now I'm being kidnapped by tiny coloured horses...Could my day get ANY better? Gaige thought to himself sarcastically as he lay half conscious being dragged over a ground. Gaige slowly felt himself slipping away from consciousness again, only this time he welcomed the darkness and drifted away from reality.

* * *

Gaige was slowly rummaging through an old refrigerator in a ruined farmhouse, doing his best to avoid making any noise. Damn, only three cans of tuna...that's not enough for everyone. Gaige thought to himself as he looked at his meagre scavenged supplies and frowned. Hopefully the rest of the group found more than this, otherwise we aren't going to make it much longer. It didn't take Gaige long to deduce that the small five cans of meat they had wouldn't feed all sixteen people. He had to move on and keep looking.

Gaige exited the farmhouse out into the ashen wastes stealthily only to be jerked onto the ground suddenly. He landed on his face and quickly flipped around to face his would be assailant. Only it was Patrick pinning him down and motioning for him to be quiet. Gaige looked around quickly and noticed that their group was huddled behind the low wall near the farmhouse watching something. Wait...there's only fourteen of us. Gaige suddenly thought. Patrick got off his chest and repositioned himself against an old wrecked truck and Gaige followed suit. Gaige kept looking around for his other two group members, but they were nowhere in sight. Until he looked over the top of the truck he was behind, there they were, being held up by a heavily armed group of at least seven heavily armed bandits, both of them on their knees with guns pressed to their heads. Well shit...Gaige thought. This complicates things a little. He looked around for any way that the bandits could be eliminated without killing both his group members. Damn...the rest of the group would get shot at the minute they poked their heads out. He thought, then he deduced that him and Patrick were the only ones far enough away to set up a shot without being seen. Then he came to the grim realization that he was the only one of the two with a rifle.

“Gaige...I hate to break it to you...” Patrick urgently whispered, “But you're the only one who can make the shot and we can't save both of them.”

“There HAS to be another way, some sort of gas tank or something I can hit to distract them!” Gaige hissed back. He wasn't going to lose anybody else, he'd already lost four people just last week.

“Alright NOBODY...and I mean NOBODY steals from us you sons of bitches!” Hollered who must've been the bandit group's leader, “Now I know y'all are in our farmhouse so you better come out now or were gonna kill each and every one of you! Starting with these two! You have ten seconds to get your asses out of that house or these two's brains are gonna be all over the concrete! Ten!”  Counted the bandit leader.

“Now would be a good a time as any to set up that rifle Gaige” Patrick whispered.

“No I'm going to find a way to save both of them!” Gaige retorted.

“We don't have the time Gaige, you have to choose. There's no other way!” Patrick pleaded. He was right and Gaige knew it. With a sight Gaige laid prone on the ground and began peering down the scope of his rifle

“Nine!” Yelled the bandit leader. Gaige could now see his two captured group members; Carol and her husband Eb.

Dammit why'd you both have to wander off! Gaige silently cursed himself for not keeping track of them

“Eight!” Continued the Bandit leader.

Shit, Carol's pregnant, but Eb knows this county better than anyone here. This isn't going to be easy

“Seven!” Yelled the bandit leader, urging the other bandits to ready their weapons. Gaige attempted to steady his aim but he was shaking uncontrollably.

When the time comes...will I be able to do it, will I be able to choose or will they both die because of me? Gaige asked himself.

“Six! Times running out!” Taunted the bandit leader.

Gaige began inhaling deeply and steadying his shot.

“Five. Ya'll can come on out anytime!”

Now! Gaige pulled the trigger of his hunting rifle and saw the bandit who was hovering over Carol become one eye short. Whoever had a gun in Gaige's group rose up and begun firing at the bandits. The  bandits, being completely overwhelmed, were gunned down in a matter of seconds, but not before putting a bullet through Eb's head.

Gaige stayed hunkered behind the truck for a few seconds after the shooting died down until he got the “All clear” from Patrick. He then slowly made his way down to the pile of corpses that was once a bandit group, and Carol among them cradling Eb's corpse. Gaige felt an immense sense of guilt. It's my fault Eb's dead..his bloods on my hands. Gaige slowly approached Carol. How could he comfort a woman who he had just robbed everything from. Gaige cleared his throat and finally spoke to her. “I'm sorry I couldn't protect you both...I had to choose.” It wasn't exactly comforting for her, but at least it was the truth.

“No Gaige..” Carol said between sobs, “You couldn't protect him...” She turned around revealing a large gash on her neck that went down to the bone and a horribly pale face “You couldn't protect me, you couldn't protect Carson. You couldn’t protect Ben. You couldn't protect ANYONE” Carol yelled as her eyes glazed over and she began sounding more and more malevolent. Finally she brandished a hunting knife and plunged it deep into his abdomen, “You deserve this more than anyone!” She hissed as Gaige slowly drifted into the arms of death.

* * *

Gaige woke with a start and took in a sharp gasp of air. “No!” he croaked, not being able to take in enough air to scream. His eyes darted furiously around the room he had been put in, it was a small bright coloured room in what appeared to be a cottage. Gaige noticed he was curled up in a fetal position as the bed he was in was much too small for him, which seemed peculiar to him, that was until he remembered he was in a land of talking equines. Thank god...just another dream. Gaige thought, the night terrors like that were frequent for him, but still, even after five years, he was still shaken by each and every one of them.

Gaige could make out some faint voices on the floor below him and assumed it was the two creature who were dragging him across the field. I need to get out of here before they can come up and do whatever the hell they're planning to do with me. Gaige couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen if he didn't. He tried to raise himself out of the bed and after a few minutes, and quite a few popped stitches, he succeeded in getting to his feet.  Gaige scanned the room for his things and noticed that they were all piled in a corner of the room. He immediately hobbled over to his bag and pulled out his painkillers and morphine. He stared at the long needle that contained the sweet pain suppressing juice he desired. I hate needles. He thought to himself before he jabbed the needly into a vein on his bicep using a hand to stifle a yelp of pain. He then looked down at his body it had been bandaged and the lacerations on his chest had been partially stitched. Damn, looks like I'm gonna need to really be careful if I wanna stay alive. He could feel the morphine starting to take effect as he regained some of his mobility and began retrieving his things.

Gaige noticed that his clothing had been left mostly untouched and his hazardous environment mask was still on his head. Good that means I can stay anonymous. Or rather as anonymous as a large bipedal ape like creature can be in a society of talking horses. He strapped his pack onto his back and was about to make his way out of the second story window, when he remembered he was missing one thing; his revolver. He figured since he only had five rifle rounds left it would be best to bring his revolver with him just in case. So he began scanning the room for it, only the revolver was nowhere to be found.

Gaige crept close to the staircase down the the first floor to see if he could spot his possession on the first floor, when he heard a voice coming from downstairs. “...And he pointed this here metal thing at Lyra and I and threatened us! Can you believe that?” it was the voice of the orange horse from the field. Shit, well I can't say I didn't see this coming. Gaige cursed silently and began slowly creeping away from the staircase. He figured he could come back for the gun another time. Suddenly Gaige felt his foot snag on something that was on the floor and he tumbled over backwards with a large crash. Gaige looked up from the ground and saw a small white rabbit smiling smugly at him. “Oh you little son of a bitch!” Gaige hissed, “I will turn you into a fucking hat, get back here!” he growled as he lunged for the small rabbit that was much too quick for him. Gaige landed on the floor face down and proceeded to slowly raise himself with a defeated sigh.

Gaige suddenly noticed a sudden eerie silence. The voices downstairs had stopped, and slow deliberate hoof steps could be heard, slowly approaching the staircase. Well...time to go. Gaige figured and he made a mad dash for the open window and slid out onto the roof. Within seconds he had slid off  the roof and had hit the ground running for the closest brush cover he could get to. Gaige burst through some brush cover and onto a stone path and then stopped to catch his breath for a second. It was only when he raised his head to look around that he realized that he was now on a path populated by at least fifty brightly coloured equines all gawking at the sight of a giant monkey wearing a metal mask that just came barreling out of the underbrush. “Um...Hello...there's absolutely no reason to panic. I'm not here to-” Gaige was not able to finish his sentence as the crowd of pastel equines immediately began panicking, most were running away from him, but a brave few were heading straight towards him.

Well shit...this just got a lot harder!