Ripples

CHAPTER 11

Rage

        I slowly opened my eyes. The sun was setting, turning the cloudy sky orange and casting long shadows from everything. Captain was still breathing. I listened for a moment. It was no longer irregular and shallow, it was now proper breathing. A smile spread across my face.

        “Hi, Captain,” I said. He made a small grunting noise. That was a good sign. I leaned over and rubbed my hoof across his side. “Captain, wake up!” He groaned some more, and moved his legs.        He began to whisper. “It hurts.” I patted him. “It hurts so much,” he whispered. I took his bag that was still propped against to the fountain, and found one final healing potion.        “Here, drink this,” I said and touched it to his lips. I poured, and some spilled along his cheeks, but the majority went in his mouth.        “I’m a monster,” Captain said.        “No you’re not,” I told him, desperately trying to encourage him.        “Leave me alone. Let me die.”        I frowned. “Ponies make mistakes. Captain.” Captain grunted, and turned over. As the stump where his wing used to be pressed to the bottom of the fountain, he let out a cry of pain.        “I’m sorry, Captain,” I apologized.        “No, I am,” he said with a cough. “I did this to myself. I did this to everypony. I deserve it.”        The sun touched the horizon, finally coming down to a close. I looked down at him. “Captain, you know what a wise gray pony once told me?”        He grunted again.        “He said that if you look at your past, and what you lost, you will be miserable. You know what he told me to do instead?” Another grunt. “He told me to look at my future, the future of the world. The past doesn’t matter. What’s gone is gone, what’s done is done.”        Captain was silent.        “Ponies aren’t invincible, Captain. We can break. I know.” He sighed.        “The world is a terrible, terrible place. It can do unthinkable things to ponies, but we just have to keep on fighting. If we give up and stop, nopony will be able to make a difference.”        “Somepony else will do it,” Captain glumly stated.        “You know that isn’t the point,” I scolded. “I want you to get up right now and come-”        A deep, gravelly voice interrupted me. “Look, I hate to interrupt your sob story, but I want to know what the hell is going on.”        I knew that voice. What was he doing here? I slowly turned around.        “You are my target?!” Rage said from beside Dodge Firearms. My mouth dropped wide open. Target? What?        “YOU are with the Rebellion?!” Rage exclaimed, stomping his hoof. Wait a moment...        He wore a high-tech headset and eyepiece helmet, and had very thin and well-fit black armor on his body. Another fancy assault rifle similar to mine was strapped to his side, and two saddlebags hung on either side of him. A logo was on his saddlebags, it was a golden star accompanied by two white wings, with a black ring surrounding it. I knew that logo...        “I get a mission to kill a fucking rebel on my day off, and what do I find? I find the entire reason I’m free from that Goddess-damned place, and I have to kill him?!” he yelled, clearly upset with the circumstance. I sure wasn’t happy.        Something didn’t sound good...        He stared off at...something, angry. Where was he looking? I was about to follow his eyes when he began arguing. “Look, I know he’s with the enemy, but that idiot is the whole reason I’m free!” Who in Equestria is he talking to?        His face was getting very red and angry. He just stared for a moment, clearly listening to somepony.        He stomped his hoof dramatically, and yelled, “I DIDN’T LEAVE THAT FUCKING PLACE TO LOSE MY FREE WILL TO SOME UNKNOWN FUCKER AGAIN! WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME KILL THE ONLY PONY WHO HAS EVER TRULY HELPED ME?!”        Um...This doesn’t sound good...I slowly backed behind the fountain, peeking my eyes out. He withdrew his assault rifle. Oh shit...is he going to go crazy too?! Please, not again...        He screamed at maximum volume into his microphone. “IF I CAN’T FUCKING GET ANY OPINIONS, THEN WHAT’S DIFFERENT FROM BEING BACK WHERE I WAS?! BUT THIS TIME, I HAVE TO DO ALL YOUR SHIT WHILE YOU SIT BACK AND BOSS ME AROUND! I. FUCKING. QUIT!”        He tore off his helmet and very aggressively hurled it on the ground, shattering the eyepiece. He withdrew his assault rifle, carefully aimed it into the helmet, and unloaded an entire clip into it. It began smoking and sparking with electricity. He turned around and applebucked it all the way into the residential areas, causing it to literally explode against a house, crumbling the wall. Smoking shrapnel was sent flying everywhere, extinguished by the pools of blood. I sat by the fountain, mouth agape.        He also reached into his bag and took out some sort of...thing. It was small, long and thin, and one end was red. My questions as to what it was were quickly answered - he held it against the Resistance logos on his armor, and turned it on. A small red beam was emitted from the red surface, burning the Resistance logo. As smoke rose from the laser, the logo was blackened and removed. He repeated the process for each logo on his uniform, until he had no remaining Resistance branding.He also dug through his saddlebags, tossing or burning anything with a Resistance logo on it. When he had finished, he simply sighed.“I didn’t sign up for this.” I was about to respond, arguing with his point, but I thought it best to just shut up.“We left Ponyville because we wanted freedom. Now that we could get away from PT, staying anywhere near them was most likely suicide. We stumbled on the Resistance’s main headquarters. They said they needed soldiers, and we jumped for the opportunity. They supplied food, water, and anything we needed. The only thing they asked of us was to follow any orders they gave us.” He walked towards me and sat down beside the fountain.“It seemed like a wonderful offer at the time, since everything would be given to us. But we didn’t realize it took away our freedom, the one thing we gained from leaving that place. Maybe not as much so as your...” he paused looking for the right word. “Situation, but we had no say in anything. No ability to do as we pleased, to have any opinions.”I could sympathize with him. I still remember that feeling of helplessness, even without my memory. That feeling was a scar in my emotions, not a memory.Captain finally said something. “Where’s Fury?”Rage frowned. “Still out there. I don’t know what our friend here told you about him, but he was the only friend I ever had. He’s still with them, I don’t think he knows what happened.”I realized he still hadn’t learned my name. “I...uh...my name...is Loste.”“Oh...uh, okay,” Rage said, startled by my sudden comment. “Nevermind that right now. We need to get Fury out of there, I know exactly where he will be at any given time. I don’t think a direct approach is going to work, though. Their defenses are on par with a PT forcefield, even though they don’t actually use forcefield technology for their base defenses. Trying to just walk in is impossible if they know who you are, and judging by all the shit they dumped on Captain in those broadcasts all the time, they’d vaporize you in an instant.”I thought about his words, trying to think of a plan. “You know who this is?” I gestured at Captain. “Why haven’t you killed him or something?”“I have been skeptical of the Resistance since the start. I didn’t know what else to do or where to go, however, so it was all I could really do. And when I saw Captain’s condition, I didn’t want to make matters any worse. I trust you, uh...Loste, and I don’t think you would choose the wrong path. I’ve never wanted to hurt ponies, but I’ve been forced to for my own survival. If I can help it, though, I spare them. Even back in the days of being a rebel of PT, I’d still let the others slide.”I smiled. “Rage, you are a good pony.”Rage returned a small grin. “Now we really need to help Captain. He’s in a terrible condition, he’s probably lost a lot of blood. Look in all of our bags for any medical supplies, I’ll see what I can do.While I was digging for the requested items, Rage was comforting Captain.“Captain, I know what happened. I’m not mad at you, none of this was your fault. Ponies can break down and do things no sane pony would ever do,” Rage told him.“So I’m insane,” Captain muttered.“That’s not what I mean. You weren’t yourself when you did that. You were anger. Anger is not a pony.”“And what’s saying it won’t happen again?” Captain rebutted.“It won’t if you can control it. Remember this: do everything you can do redeem yourself from this. Please, be disappointed in yourself. You may never feel like it is enough, or that you’re worthy of anything, but hopefully it will be sufficient to stop the anger from taking control of you again.”By the time Rage finished talking, I had made a pile of any medical-looking objects against the fountain. It wasn’t much, but hopefully it would do. Rage reached for a roll of magic bandages I had found out of his bag and wrapped them around Captain’s many injuries. Despite his efforts not to cause Captain any pain, he still caused quite a few groans of agony.“I’m sorry, Captain. I’m being as gentle as I can,” Rage tried to comfort Captain. “Focus on how to get Fury out of there.”Rage must have pulled something delicate, because Captain cried out in pain. After taking some deep breaths, he finally spoke. “I have spies.”Rage stopped working and smiled. “Looks like somepony knows how to do shit.”“They don’t have many opportunities to contact me, however. I have a large chain of messengers disguised as normal citizens, trade caravan merchants, and various other ‘average’ roles to bring whatever intel the spies have. Sadly they often die, lose the message, or have some other extenuating circumstance that prevents the message from getting to me. Also, it takes weeks, even on good days,” Captain explained.I noticed a huge improvement in his mood since Rage began his work. He was willing to talk now, and didn’t seem nearly as depressed. While he wasn’t exactly throwing a party, any improvement counts.“Please, try and stand...and get out of this nasty fountain,” Rage told Captain. Captain reluctantly obliged, slowly climbing from the fountain. As he set his hooves back onto solid ground, his rear left leg buckled, causing him to collapse and sending blood from the puddle flying all over me and Rage.Rage helped Captain stand back up, supporting his weight. “So how are we going to tell your spies what we need?”Captain frowned. “It’s a bit primitive, but I’ve established a system of smoke signals whenever I need them. Hasn’t been used yet, but they all know how to interpret it. I know how to signal them what to do.”Rage pondered the thought. “Oh, what the hell. I don’t see a better way to do it, let’s get this going.”Captain nodded. “Okay, fine,” he agreed.I smiled, feeling a tinge of mischief. I liked that feeling.