What We Become

“My friend here asked you a question!”, hissed the Gaige, “Where the hell am I? Start talking!”, the white alicorn remained silent, “Look lady...er...pony...I don't think you understand the gravity of you situation here.”, The alicorn glared straight into his eyes and hissed,

“You dare threaten the princess of the sun? You do not know of the power that you trifle with, foul creature!”

“Oh I do,” Gaige bluffed, “and thankfully I came prepared! Do you have any idea what this thing I have pressed to your head right now is?”, the alicorn remained silent and continued to glare at Gaige, “I didn't think so. This is what I like the call a .44 magnum. It will fire a 10.9 millimetre long chuck of metal into your skull at 391 metres per second. You'll be dead before you can scream,” the alicorns glare turned into a look of pure terror, “We're on the same page now? Good. Now answer my damn question,” Gaige growled, pressing the gun firmly on the white alicorns temple. He could only pray that the other alicorn did not regain consciousness during his interrogation of the other. One alicorn would be hard enough to handle if things went sour.

“You're in Canterlot, where else posses' this sort of exquisite architecture?,” stammered the alicorn.

“Canter-what now?”, Gaige asked raising a brow under his helmet.

“Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria. Oh of course should not expect a foul creature of the Everfree to know such things,” the alicorn condescendingly replied, lifting her snout pompously into the air. Gaige felt a sense of familiarity at the mention of 'Canterlot' and 'Equestria',

Where have I hear those names before?, Gaige dug through his memories in an attempt to remember where he had heard the strangely familiar names. After a moment of thinking to no avail, he shook his head and refocused on the task at hand. “Listen, you better stop with the whole 'holier than thou' shit alright 'princess'! I'm looking for answers, not to get told off by some pompous jerk bag!” Gaige raised his other hand and balled it into a fist in preparation to strike the alicorn.

“I would not do that if I were you,” the alicorn cooly stated. Gaige paused momentarily with his fist frozen in mid air.

“What's stopping me?”, Gaige retorted. The alicorn let out a soft chuckle, this unnerved Gaige. There was a moment of total silence in which Gaige attempted to decipher the reasoning behind the alicorn's sudden gain of confidence. She had a gun pressed to her head, what reason was there for her to be laughing? Gaige heard the sound of a set of heavy doors opening and then it hit Gaige. This is the capital city, I'm in the palace of a planet's ruler, shouldn't there be more..., he could hear the sound of  what must have been a platoon of ponies galloping into the room,Guards!

“Did you honestly think that your little outburst would not spark an armed response?”, the alicorn asked wryly with a smug grin plastered on her face. Gaige glanced over his shoulder to size up his opposition. There were about fifty of them, some armed with spears and some relying on magic. “If you plan to surrender yourself, I would suggest you make haste,”

Gaige was conflicted as to what he should do. If he kept the gun pressed against the princess' head one of the guards would surely kill or incapacitate him, but if he turned to face the guards, there was no telling what this powerful creature would do to him. After all it had transported him many miles in an instant, he did not want to test the extent of its' abilities. After a a moment of thought, he decided that surrender was his only feasible option, any other choices would surely lead to his demise. So he proceeded to holster his revolver and walk with his arms raised behind his head towards the platoon of guards.

“Smart choice,”, remarked a guard who approached him, “Now surrender your weapons!” The guard looked expectantly at Gaige holster. With a heavy sigh, Gaige began reluctantly pulling his revolver out of its' holster and placing it on the ground. His radio suddenly came to life with a series of crackles and pops. This surprised Gaige as nobody had attempted to transmit anything since his arrival on this alien world. The guard eyed Gaige suspiciously and motioned for him to relinquish the radio to him. Gaige obliged him and pulled the radio out of his duster's front pocket.

“Get down...Now,” commanded a gravelly voice coming from the radio. Gaige and the guard glanced at each other for an instant and then Gaige proceeded to throw himself onto the floor. He could hear the familiar “thwip” of a crossbow discharging its' bolt and he could hear the guard scream and fall to the floor.  Gaige heard his radio crackle to life once more as he quickly stood himself up. “Run towards me!”, commanded the man on the radio. Gaige looked around in confusion. At first he didn't see a soul in the room other than the guards, but a flash of movement caught his eye and he focused on the point where he had seen it. As he took a closer look he could barely make out a black clad, human sized silhouette in the nearest windowsill. “Do it! Now!”, it insisted with newfound urgency. Gaige could now make out that the silhouette had a bunch of explosives crudely strapped together and he was preparing to throw them.  Gaige took off as fast as he could towards the mysterious stranger.

Fuck me, Gaige could felt the crude package of explosives skim over his shoulder and land on the floor not too far behind him. He had a few seconds at most to get clear of the explosion, so he pushed himself to his limit. The stranger stood very cavalierly by the window, making no attempt to aid Gaige in escaping the blast zone. He obviously had more confidence in him than he should have. Gaige did not get very far before the makeshift bomb detonated and the successive shockwave bowled Gaige over and sent him crashing to the floor. His left shoulder felt like it was on fire and he could feel warm blood trickling down his back. He had probably been hit by shrapnel, but he had no time to dress his wounds, he had more pressing matters at hand.

The guard platoon had been sufficiently stunned for Gaige to make a swift, stealthy escape, with most of the guardsmen tending to the wounded or forming a protective barrier around the princesses. Gaige finally had a chance at freedom, he looked back at the open window where the silhouette once was, but it was no longer there. The only evidence they had left was a rappelling cable hooked on to the windowsill. That's my ticket out of here! Gaige stumbled to his feet and dashed for the open window. He swiftly vaulted over the windowsill and firmly grasped the rappelling cable in preparation for his descent. Rappelling would not be an easy job. Between an almost useless left arm and the lingering disorientation from the explosion, you could say that the odds weren't exactly in Gaige's favour.

As Gaige began slowly rappelling down the edge of the palace, he noticed it was not too terribly far from the ground. Just a short few metres between him and the cobblestone roads below. He carefully slid down the cable As he rappelled down, his left arm felt like it was on fire. He wouldn't be able to hold on for long. He pushed off the wall of the palace and began descending slightly faster.

“He's gone out the window! Alert the guards on patrol,” hollered a voice from inside the palace.

Dammit! As if this wasn't hard enough already!, Gaige pushed off the wall with his feet once again and resumed rappelling. As he was pushing away from the wall his left hand slipped off the cable, completely destabilizing him. He slipped off the cable completely and was sent careening towards the ground. He hit the cobblestone on his back with a sickly thud. He could feel the piece of shrapnel in his left shoulder being driven deeper into his flesh and he let out a moan of agony. After a moment of lying  completely still on the cobblestone he willed himself to get up. As he brought himself to his feet he noticed a door that lay on the cobblestone street in pieces and an empty doorway of a house where it used to reside. Not very discreet, are you stranger?

Gaige slowly made his way into the house that he believed the strange had torn through. It appeared to be empty, there was no furniture or anything of the sort, he assumed it must have been up for sale or abandoned. He could make out very clear footprints in the thick layer of dust that lay on the dirty floor. He traced them into a room that lay directly in front of him. He cautiously continued into the room, making sure to stay low and make as little noise as possible. There, at the edge of the room, by an open window overlooking the valley below, stood the mysterious stranger. Gaige slowly pulled out his hunting knife from his boot, in case this had all been an elaborate ruse to kill him.

“So...you finally came,” The stranger did not even bother to turn around to face Gaige whilst talking to him. He just continued to stand there in his  tattered black cloak, admiring the scenery.

“Who are you?”, Gaige demanded.

“He's here too Gaige.” The stranger did not seem to acknowledge Gaige's inquiry.

“What do you mean?”

“He's here Gaige...and he remembers. He's coming for you,” the stranger stated, his voice shifting to a more sinister tone.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gaige began slowly approaching the stranger, knife at the ready.

“You're going to need all the help you can get,” the stranger paused momentarily as Gaige drew nearer, readying to strike if necessary. The stranger whipped around and grabbed Gaige firmly by the wrist, prompting him to drop his knife, “and you won't need that...yet.” the stranger then pushed Gaige a safe distance away from himself, “This isn't the wasteland Gaige, the rules have changed. You're going to need to earn these...things' trust,” he continued, motioning to the front door of the house.

“Why's that?”

“You're going to need them to stay alive. When he comes for you don't think he won't have an army behind him.” Gaige was about to inquire about this mysterious man the stranger referred to, but they were interrupted by a lone royal guard bursting into the room, clad in golden armour with intricate designs etched into it. The stranger reacted quickly, putting a crossbow bolt into the poor guard's flank. The guard crumpled to the ground screaming and bleeding profusely from his wound.

“What the fuck!”, Gaige exclaimed, “You tell me I have to gain these things' trust and then you go and shoot one? What the fuck is your problem?”

“You can still save him, you've had medical training,” the stranger cooly stated, reloading his crossbow.

“Yeah one year of medical school and a few first aid courses!” Gaige went over to inspect the wound of the incapacitated guard, “What's that going to do for me now? I'm no surgeon!” Gaige stopped dead and reflected on what the stranger had said to him, “Wait...how did you-,” Gaige cut himself off as he turned around, only to see that the stranger had vanished into the night. There was no evidence that he had ever been there, save a note that lay on the ground. Gaige picked up the note and examined it, it read:

“Ten days, have your radio on you.”

Well that isn't cryptic at all, Gaige sarcastically told himself, stuffing the note into his pocket. I'll figure out who this weirdo is later, right now I think I have more pressing matters at hand. Gaige could hear the sound of ponies drawing nearer to the house. It sounded like they were grouping outside the house he was in. They probably knew he was there, after all, he hadn't done a very good job at covering his tracks. Fuck, there's no way I can deal with this many! Maybe if I save this guard they won't kill me...or at least make my death quick. Gaige thought it over for a few more seconds before coming to a realization, I'm going to have to ditch my identity if I want their trust.He knew that it was very unlikely they would trust a “monster” who had been terrorizing their race for the past few weeks. He had to figure out a way to change his appearance, and fast.

Gaige sighed and reluctantly began removing his helmet. The ponies had never seen him without his hazardous environment helmet or his old scavenging outfit on before. He figured if he could get rid of that along with his current set of clothes, he might have a chance at fooling them. Only one thing that I can do now...not that I'm gonna like it.

Gaige fished through his bag for a change of clothes. He managed to pull out an old tattered green hoodie and some dirty, torn jeans. Good enough, he thought to himself as he changed into his new attire. As he stripped down, he noticed his wounds were more severe, and more numerous than once that. His left arm was covered in laceration and there was now a dull throbbing pain in his shoulder. It's ok...I'm ok, I have time, he reassured himself.

The wounded guard was now unconscious, Gaige wouldn't have to worry about him revealing Gaige's ruse later. Gaige approached the window of the house that overlooked the valley below. As he peered out of it he noticed that there was nothing but a sheer drop outside the house. The town must have been built into a mountain or something of the sort. Gaige took one last sorrowful look at his helmet and old black duster. “Well it's been fun,” he said as he reluctantly dumped his attire out of the window. He felt a pang of sadness as he saw it all get swallowed up in the darkness of the valley. After a moment's pause, he quickly whipped around and began setting out his medical supplies. He had more urgent matters at hand.

Gaige knelt over the unconscious guard and began addressing the severity of his wound. No arteries hit, hasn't lost much blood, Gaige grasped the bolt that stuck out of the guard's flank firmly with one hand, I should be able to yank it out. Gaige slowly began pulling the bolt out of the guard's flank, which elicited some horrendous moans of pain from the guard. After a short amount of time and some careful, precise movements, Gaige successfully removed the bolt. It exited the colt's flank with a stomach churning “squelch” and brought with it increased blood flow from the wound. Gaige instinctually applied immediate pressure to the wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding. He reached over to his supplies and gathered a needle and some surgical sutures. Time for  the real fun to start, Gaige thought sarcastically.

Gaige's hands worked gracefully like those of a veteran factory worker. He did not have to think much about what he was doing, his body's natural instinct guided his hands, suturing and closing the wound. The guard had lost a fair amount of blood at this point, his white fur on his flank was now stained a deep crimson. Gaige would have to work fast. He finished suturing the wound and pulled the sutures taught before clipping and knotting them at one end. Alright....maybe I can pull this off! Gaige briskly reached over for his bandages. As he lay them down next to the guard, he noticed that they had already been stained red. It only took him a few seconds to realize this was because his hands were now caked in the guard's blood. It didn't unnerve him much, this was all part of the regular routine. Though he figured it might not look too terribly good to introduce himself to the ponies with bloodstained hands. Oh well, he thought, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. With that he resumed treatment of the guard's wound. He began wrapping the guards flank in a layer of soft white bandages. He applied many layers of bandages, but the guard's blood continued to seep through each subsequent layer. He's gonna run out of blood before I run out of bandages.

Gaige began to panic. The situation looked grim for the guard, he would probably go into shock and die. If he did, his blood would be on Gaige's hands (literally and figuratively). Gaige wanted to do everything he could to avoid this outcome. He had one option left. I have to use the epinephrine...it's the only thing that can keep him alive. Gaige brought out one of his few remaining needles of precious epinephrine. When applied to humans it stopped them from going into fatal shock and would give them an adrenaline boost for a short while. Gaige had absolutely no idea what it would do to a pony. Well time for some medical trials, he thought to himself as he popped the cap off the needle, Sorry bud, this is gonna hurt. Gaige drove the needle deep into the flank of the guard. Almost immediately afterwards the guard awoke momentarily to let out a rather loud cry of pain, prompting Gaige to jump away from him in surprise. As the guard settled down once again in a state of semi consciousness, Gaige could finally rest easy. I think that was the sound of progress.

“We know you are in there! Surrender yourself know and you will not be harmed!”, boomed a voice from out on the street.

Gaige had no time left. The guards would storm the house at any minute and the fact that there was a wounded guard on the ground and Gaige was covered in blood, would not do much to help with his situation. His only option would be to attempt to drag the guard outside, hopefully towards some better medical care and then surrender himself. With any luck the ponies would not recognize him without his normal attire and seeing that they had never seen him helmet-less, his ruse would be fairly easy to pull off. He would just have to be very cautious. Stealth and trickery were some of his talents back in the wastes, after all he had done his fair share of incognito infiltrations for supplies. Hiding behind disguises and an intricate web of lies was not an unfamiliar concept to him and he was confident that he could fool these fairly simple minded ponies.

Gaige hooked his arms under the forelegs of the guard and slowly began dragging him towards the door. Being careful to keep his wound from touching the ground. Every slight movement was a challenge unto itself. Everything seemed to weigh twice as much as it should have and Gaige was struggling to pull the guard's limp body along the floor. “You could stand to lose a few pounds bud,” Gaige grunted as he lugged the guard along the floor. He was nearly at the doorway at this point. Gaige did not want to stumble out of the building unannounced and possibly get himself killed. Instead he opted to take cover next to the doorframe with the body, making sure they were both out of sight.

Gaige closed his eyes and hoped that his plan would work out. He had no other option and not much to lose. It's time. Gaige took a deep breath and yelled as loud as he could. “I'm coming out alright! One of your men in here is wounded. I patched him up as best I could but he'll need a medic. I'm coming out with him now. Do not attack!” There was no response, only silence. “I'm not the monster your looking! He parachuted out the window!” Gaige figured that the ponies could not possibly know the extent of his abilities and gadgets. In fact, they seemed to lack any sort of knowledge about humans. What he had told them would probably seem believable. He let out a sigh and reluctantly began dragging the guard outside.

As Gaige exited the house and dragged the guard onto the cold cobblestone streets, he began to feel dizzy and faint. Strange, I only received small wounds from the shrapnel, I can't be going into shock...can I? Gaige continued out a little ways onto the street before clumsily losing his hold on the guard and stumbling backwards. His head was spinning and the world around him seemed to be pulsating and warping before him. He could barely make out what must have been a large squadron of guards rushing over to their comrade. They appeared to be forming a protective barrier between him and their fallen guardsman. Gaige couldn't tell if they had weapons, nor did he care.

He could feel his body going into shock. As Gaige slowly backed away from the squadron of guards he stumbled backwards and slumped down on a lamp post. That's funny...my arm doesn't hurt anymore. This was the point that Gaige realized he, not only didn't feel pain in his arm, but he didn't feel his arm at all. His wounds were much more life threatening than he'd perceived them to be. Gaige's hoodie was now soaking with blood and his there was a small river of crimson flowing out of his sleeve. He now noticed that he was bleeding from multiple points on his torso as well. The shrapnel and physical exertion must have opened up his old wounds and created some new ones as well. I was working off adrenaline, I should have known, Gaige scolded himself as he feebly rummaged around his medical supplies for an epinephrine injector.

Gaige pulled out his final epinephrine injector. Yes! Sweet salvation! Two of the guards had broken away from the rest of the squadron and were headed towards Gaige, battle ready and yelling something he could not understand. Gaige popped open the needle, which caused both guards to stop in there tracks. The guards obviously anticipated an attack from Gaige. One of them crouched down in preparation to launch himself at Gaige, but before he could, Gaige jabbed the needle into his thigh and yelped in pain. The guards were taken aback by this sudden act of self harm. Gaige's vision slowly began returning to normal as the haze he had been seeing the world through dissipated. The squadron of guards stood in front of him, looking very fearful, almost as if they expected the injection to perform some sort of horrible alchemical feat. Much to their relief nothing happened other than Gaige temporarily regaining his awareness and fending off shock for a short while longer.

Gaige stared down at his arm, it was still bleeding profusely. He would need immediate medical attention. Luckily for him, what looked to be medic ponies were already on the scene. They were all busy congregating around the wounded guard, hurriedly discussing what actions should be taken. “Hey,” Gaige croaked, “Can I have a little help over here?” The medics immediately turned to Gaige and looked at him in dismay, some of them even began backing away. He noticed the doctors were eying his bloodstained sweater. “Don't worry its' not as bad as it looks.” Gaige began coughing until he spat up blood, “It's nothing but a flesh wound. Don't worry. Alright,” and with that Gaige trailed off and began to fall unconscious. As he drifted away from reality he managed to hear one last snippet of a conversation in the cacophony of voices around him.

“No! It is of the utmost importance that we save this one! The princesses have...plans...for it.”