Fallout of Equestria: Bad Gambit

It was a pretty laugh. But, as they say all too often, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Her laugh slowly descended into more of giggles, and then into chortles until she finally let out a snort and abruptly stopped laughing, her face turning the color of a tomato.

Speaking of which, I'd never seen a tomato. I looked up into the branches of the tree I'd fallen asleep under. Its branches were thick and healthy, and its leaves were a perfect shade of green. Too perfect. I scrunched my eyes and discovered the leaves were actually glowing. A closer look at the tree revealed that its sap, slowly pulsing through the tree with naught but capillary action and a miraculous circulatory system propelling it, was also glowing brightly, enough to be seen through the cracks in its bark. I could have smiled. To see life continue, and not only continue, but adapt to thrive and survive in the face of such adversity... it filled me with a sense of awe. I knew what I should do. I was going to find a tomato, so I could eat it, and then use my knowledge of it for metaphoric purposes. Now, if I was a tomato, where would I be, I asked myself, drifting through my mind in search of my memories of my days in the herbologist wings, particularly the day were we talked about what environment tomatoes were most well evolved to thrive in. As I thought, I turned... South, I suppose, whichever direction would take me away from my Stable.

I swiveled my head back and found that I couldn't see the Stable door anymore. I couldn't even see the depression on the hill where it'd stood. Oh well. I started walking in the direction I'd chosen.

"H-Hey!" A voice called after me. "Get back here! You're my slave now! You have to do what I say, or- or I'll hit you!" Oh right, her. For a moment I thought about asking her for directions to the nearest greenhouse. I shook my head at the mental image. 'Excuse me, Ms. Techno Babylon, I know you want to enslave me and all, but could you direct me to some locally grown produce first?'

"Hey!" She all but screamed it this time. Keep it up lady, maybe if you shout at me enough I'll come back. "If you don't come back here right now, I'll use this!" Ugh. These are the type of people I had to deal with. Using relative words like 'this' when I couldn't see the object to which she was gesturing. I looked over my shoulder and gave her a flat stare. She meeped. Oh come on, I wasn't that scary. Heck, I'd go as far as to say I was adorable. I was fluffy at least.

"I mean it!" Her voice came out more as a strangled sob this time. "I'll blow you right back to hell!" Ah, right the detonator. I put a hoof to the collar that was decorating my neck. As if. I gave her a stare. A really, really good stare. A stare that said, 'Listen bitch, I saw everyone I've ever cared for, known, or even thought about existing with the exception of Luna murdered by monsters straight out of my nightmares. or die from radiation. And as far as radiation goes, I just walked through enough to kill thousands of ponies my size and I just woke the fuck right back up. So do your worst, you fucking cunt.'

Like I said, it was a really, really good stare. And she got the message. Oh woe is me, she got the goddess-be-damned message. And directly after she received it, she burst into tears, huge pearls of water running down her face from her eyes and nose as she wailed. It was the most disgusting, undignified show of emotion I had ever seen, and I'd watched a few of my Stable's hoofball games.

There was a pang in my heart, or what I imagined was around my heart, I don't know, emotions are weird. Maybe it was a bit too soon to be bringing up old memories, even in my head.

Still, I couldn't let a mare cry. Accursed morals. I brought myself to be beside her, and put a hoof on her shoulder, drawing her closer as she cried, her wails slowly turning to sobs, and her sobs to sniffles, and her sniffles to just burying her face into my chest. I frowned. I was no slaveholder, but I was pretty sure this wasn't how master servant relationships were supposed to play out.

Once her eyes were totally dry, and my chest was completely covered in snot and tears, and her hiccupping sobs and sniffles were finally gone, she turned up to me, her eyes bright. Too bright. She'd just threatened to waste me, and then she looked at me like this. I'd been here (Conscious) for Thirty minutes and I already was starting to hate it. I realized I couldn't feel my battle saddle pressing against my back. Must have dropped it. Oh well. I doubt it could have gotten me out of a situation this awkward anyways. "I'm sorry, it's just... well. Um."

She turned red again and stared at the ground. Not tomato red this time, more like dull and old 'EXIT' sign. Still not her normal white coloration though.

She took a deep breath, then exhaled with a purpose. Oh man. I knew what was coming. She was going to ask me to do something. I'd been pushed around enough to know that. I tried to escape, but it was too late.

"Will you please be my slave so that I can sell you so that I can get enough money to be accepted into the Detrot Institute of Science and Technology!?" She shouted with enough willpower invested in it I nearly fell over. I felt myself tipping slightly. Scratch that. I hit the soft, wet ground. I felt a uninvited sigh pass through my lips. Uninvited but not undeserved.

So she needed money for college... and her first reaction was to enslave another pony? That was a little sick.

Tears welled in her eyes again when she saw the look on my face.

"I'm so sorry!" She wailed. "It's just, I mean-- I needed the money, but the tuition is due in three days, and I found this slave collar just lying around, and- and- please don't hate me!" Her wailing turned back into full on sobbing. Ah. An act of desperation. I could forgive that. It was illogical to, but I could all the same. My ears twitched in pain as her crying hopped octaves. I really hoped I could forgive that. But, step one would be to get her to stop crying. Again. I put my forelegs out and pulled her into what I hoped was a comforting hug. She was tiny, nearly a full head shorter than me. Granted, that only put her a few inched shorter than a regular pony, but still, all things are relative. "I'm so sorry..." She said softly, a whisper choked by sobs. These ears of mine were starting to tick me off. You don't just turn down anything a girl asks you to do after you hear her say something like that in such a depressed voice.

I pushed her back with my forelegs, holding her out in front of me so that we locked eyes. I put every ounce of will I had into that look. Every single ounce of benevolent feelings I had went right out my eyes and into assuring her that I was not angry, and that I was here to help.

Always with the helping. Her dark golden irises sparkled. Fresh tears spilled from her eyes and flowed over the dimples formed by a soft smile that slowly spread across her face. She really was beautiful. And cute. A sort of combination of both.

"You have pretty eyes."

I drew back and raised an eyebrow. Not exactly the response I was expecting. That was something a colt was supposed to tell a filly. Not that I didn't get a lot of shit about my eyes. Not many ponies had dark green spirals trekking across their irises. Still it was weird. Almost as weird as the look she was giving me. I once again began to doubt her grasp of a master-servant relationship. Speaking of slavery...

I broke off our impromptu staring competition and nudged my collar with a hoof.

Her eyes widened. "Oh yeah," She gave a nervous laugh, "I forgot about that. Um. I can't really... take that off." She gave me an even more nervous lopsided smile. It was official. I fucking hated the wasteland. I groaned and flopped over onto my back.

"Wait!" She shouted, biting at my hair to try to pull me back up. Good luck, I thought. I laughed at the thought of a tiny mare like her picking me up off the ground, then felt myself slowly rising, surrounded by a pulsating golden glow. Goddesses damn it. Fucking unicorns. "I said I couldn't take it off, I didn't say I didn't know any way to get it off!" I glared at her. Why hadn't she said that earlier? Dramatic timing? "What I meant was that I couldn't take it off right this instant."

I exhaled heavily as I dropped back to the ground, hooves squishing into the damp soil. I could feel my inner earth pony writhing to get out as I felt it conform around my hooves. I looked to her expectantly. Well, maybe more demandingly.

"Calm down," She said frantically, "I know a pony back in the Main who could get that collar off of you in ten seconds flat." She flipped a hoof in front of her face and closed her eyes to further illustrate her point.

I stared flatly. The Main. Yeah, that meant something to me.

"Oh, right, Stable-tard, sorry." She facehooved. I glared. "The Main is... a village I guess? It's kind of a big market that got so expansive that it became more of a small town, all constructed in the ruin of an old spring that had been converted into a water filtration and exporting facility, though the megaspells destroyed the building, leaving the spring itself open to the elements. Still somehow pumps out fresh, clean water though."

I raised an eyebrow in amusement. Thousands of years after the beginnings of civilization and we still found our roots around water sources.

"It's only an hour away," She said, quickly, talking like an excited filly, "We can make it in thirty if we try!" She dashed away, in the direction I'd been headed earlier no less. I looked up into the clouds and smiled. I'd always wondered what it would be like to run beneath the open sky. I guessed that a not so open sky would do. And so I gave chase, quickly catching up and trotting alongside her as she ran forward gleefully.

* * *

Well, ran for the first three minutes. I actually did grin when she collapsed panting after running at what was a dead sprint for her for three minutes. Without a word, as par usual, I flipped her up onto my back and kept trotting in the direction she'd indicated as she fell asleep on my back. I couldn’t believe how trusting she was. Says the stallion walking with a mare he’s known for ten minutes and has already put a bomb around his neck towards a town that could have been full of anything from nice people to giant snakes. Snakes made out of chainsaws. She snored. It was adorable. Just the perfect combination of sound and quiet rumble. Exactly the thing I needed to keep from thinking about how my entire... Stable... had died... horribly. Shit. A warm breath passing over my neck raised goosebumps. My ears twitched uncontrollably until Techno's teeth clamped down on the right one, holding it in place. She drooled and gnawed on my ear.

I was a bit surprised to discover that I didn't care.

After a few minutes of trotting alone I came to a worn and practically non-existent road, but some of the cobblestones were still in place, and it was flatter than the rest of the earth I'd traversed so I continued to trot along it. I missed the feel of the soft earth beneath my hooves, but it was nice to not have to leap over branches and roots. My eyes roamed across the landscape, observing and carefully noting everything. Eventually, they fell onto a disgusting puddle that had nothing growing remotely near it. A pool of radiation, I guessed. A sudden clicking of my pipbuck proved me right. I gave the puddle a wide berth and continued forwards, turning my thoughts to my pipbuck.

'The Pipbuck 2000 Beta, a pony's best friend!' Promised the packaging of my new pipbuck. Well, relatively new. A pony in Stable 51 was only granted one pipbuck. Ever. And to tell the truth, I was the first pony in the Stable who needed a replacement. I'd seen the things take beatings that had nearly killed the ponies wearing them without getting a scratch, from falling from an atrium ceiling to a pony who'd had his entire left foreleg ripped off and pulled through a Hard-Mineral recycler. They were definitely tough sons of a bitches. Mine... tried its best, but after I set my mind to finding out what the inside of one looked like, it didn't last very long. I ended up frying the entire thing after I tried hooking up our primary generator to my pipbuck and a set of microcombustion pistons and ripped the thing in half and zapped it with enough power to run the Stable for the next several years all at once.

Anyway, after they'd reset the generator and cut as much of the burnt hair off of my head as possible, they'd laughed it off and shoved me on over to our local pipbuck repair pony, who'd just stared at me and laughed when I told him I needed a new one. When he finally accepted the truth, he was furious beyond words, and nearly threw me out of his office. Fortunately for me, he was a pony who was willing to let things go and gave me another pipbuck. Kind of. He gave me a two thousand model instead of the regular three thousand, in order to let it be a lesson to me. It wasn't. I always thought the two thousand models looked cooler anyways, even if they were a little bulkier.

If I remembered correctly though, that packaging had promised some other things too, like some sort of life detector, and compass, and a bunch of other jazz. I glanced to my leg where the pipbuck swayed back and forth contentedly. Oh well. Not like I could do anything with it while I was walking anyways. At least the Geiger counter was in working order. It clicked away obliviously as I sidestepped another puddle. Or was it working?

Thinking back, I didn't recall hearing a single tick out of it while I'd stumbled away from the Stable... But that was impossible. I heard the screams of the monsters as radiation purged the stable. I'd seen with my own eyes the bodies of Tough Luck and Clean Cut, side by side, lying too still to be even sleeping. I'd even seen my own fur shimmering with radiation... I glanced at it now. It was dull as the day I was born. I racked my brain for an answer. No radiation, but it killed the creatures, or at least caused them horrible pain. It definitely killed my late companions. Some of them. Not a majority I supposed. Not even a minority really. More like an anomaly.

I shut my eyes for a few seconds as I walked, trying to focus on the feel of the cobblestones underneath my hooves.

Clip clop, said my front hooves.

Clip clop, replied my back hooves.

Swish swish, conjectured a wind-caressed dying bush.

Growl, interrupted the hostile.

My hoofs slammed to the earth, holding me in place. My eyes opened slowly. An eyebrow raised at the sight of a mottled brown dog standing defensively over the corpse of some sort of mutated boar. It bared its teeth to me as if trying to show me the blood flowing from its jaws and greasing its fangs, to prove that the boar was its kill. Techno Babylon vibrated as she gave a purring snore and continued to chew contentedly on my right ear. My left twitched in agitation. The dog gave another growl, this one more ferocious than before. I growled right back, lifting my left forehoof to show the dog the blood from some of the creatures I'd smashed with bare hooves. It cocked its head at me, green flecked yellow eyes filled with confusion. I guess nobody'd ever stuck around after it growled, much less showed proof that they were strong too. Its tail began to wag, and it lifted its deceased quarry in its jaws and padded off happily, apparently convinced that I was no threat.

Stupid dog. I totally a threat.

My life was becoming like a snowball. It was a little weird to begin with, but it just kept picking up more weirdness as it went downhill. I adjusted my back to make sure Techno wouldn't fall off. At least that wasn't weird.

No, nothing weird at all. Nothing strange about being able to carry a fully grown mare on my back, much less doing as such through a landscape destroyed by a war that had happened almost two hundred years ago. I sighed for what felt like the hundredth time, and what I was sure would not be the last time, and began trotting again.

Soon, the small scrubs and weakly trees that grew along the path began to disappear, replaced by nothing but weeds, and the soft earth I'd loved so quickly dried out, becoming flakey and hard as well as heaped with dust. My mouth was drying out at just the thought of living in a place like this. If it wasn't for the merciful cloud covering, walking along this path would have been a labor unmeant for the weak of heart.

Not long after the squishy soil turned to shale and sand I began to see signs of life. Pony life, rather. A poorly constructed sign pointed in three directions, including the way I was going, the way I'd been, and somewhere of to the east. The signs read, 'The Main, Place of peace and good trade' though someone had scratched off 'good' and wrote 'poop' over it, A skull and crossbones sign, and 'Scurvy Heart's den' respectively. The later seemed to have only recently been added, with paint hardly worn while the paint of the other two was chipped and marred.

I stuck with the path to the Main, though I wasn't sure I wanted to participate in any poop trade.

The ground cracked under my hoofs, painting the bloody instruments with a overcoat of dust. It also made a cool sound.

It also might have been very entertaining.

There is a small chance I tried to make a beat out of my hoofsteps.

There is a far greater chance that while doing said act that may or may not have happened I crushed a small lizard. Which ruined my mood. I stomped onwards trying not to think about it.

* * *

If I had to pick a word to describe the Main, it'd be dusty. The dust from the surrounding flats covered every inch available, from the time-rutted wheels of pony drawn carts to the horseshoes nailed into seemingly every wall. There was an enormous saloon next to a bank, which was clearly defined as such by the large words 'BANK' painted onto a large and slightly decorated wooden plank attached above the doorway. Speaking of doorways, for the number of doorways there were, there wasn't a single door in sight, just swinging batwing doors hinged onto every building in sight. It was like I'd walked straight into an old western holovid. I was slightly confounded by the sight of a three story mansion built in the center of town. It defied logic, at least to me. You could've fit at least ten Stable atriums inside of the gargantuan structure. I was far more than slightly confounded by what lay directly behind it, connected by enormous pipes and wires. It looked like a barrel. A big barrel. A ten story tall barrel. My ears twitched with excitement.

The Main. My pipbuck beeped quietly.

I thought back to what Techno Babylon had said earlier. The building surrounding the spring had been destroyed... Which meant that there must have been a building large enough to encase what I was seeing now, at some point in time. Looking closer, it wasn't hard to pick out the rubble around the edges of the Mansion and surrounding the Main. It must have made a hell of a crash when it came tumbling down.

I shifted my gaze to the right and left, looking at the ponies who were going about their business. Each and every one of them was decked out in full western gear, ponchos, cowpony hats, some even had boots with metal spurs. What the heck would a pony ever need a spur for, I wondered. Probably something kinky. I'd have made fun of their ensemble, but with all the dust that was finding a new home in my fur and settling into my collar, I couldn't deny their practicality.

And with a sleeping mare on my back, I drew as many stares as I gave. Though most seemed to be staring at the large 51s emblazoned on my shoulders and the collar around my neck, some whispering to ponies besides them while others grinned in a less than friendly way.

A quite mumble rolled past my ear, coupled with a sharp crunch. Something about techmaturgic pleasure from what I could make out. It was probably time to wake up sleeping beauty anyways. I opened my mouth to speak, but it was immediately filled by a gust of dust, causing me to cough violently instead. My racking cough was enough to incite an adorable yawn from the mare sitting on my back though. Good enough. I turned my head so that I could see my Golden manned passenger as she blinked the sleep from her eyes.

"We're here already?"

No, we're back in... somewhere. I needed to learn some outside locations. It'd prove for some far more effective mental wit.

She slowly rose and stretched like a cat, arching her back and slowly unfolding her tail until it was at its longest. Her joints popped and cracked as she worked through movements perfected with practice, popping every poppable joint and some I wasn't aware were possible to pop all while maintaining perfect balance on my back. She exhaled harshly to blow the sand off her face then pulled a bandana over her snout from where it had rested around her neck. She then looked down into my eyes and frowned.

"When did you get short?" She asked.

I gave her a flat stare.

"Oh," She looked down and noticed, apparently for the first time, that she'd been laying on the blue pseudo-leather of my Stable jumpsuit, "That makes sense."

Suddenly her eyes light up and she, well, probably, grinned like maniac. The bandana around her snout made it hard to see. She put her forehooves up on top of my head, forcing my ears to flop out sideways. Her hoof pointed majestically towards a ramshackle old decrepit shack out towards the edge of town, in fact in the direction I'd come into town from. "That's old mare Glycerin's house!"

A frown tugged at my lips. The confusion on my face must have been evident, because Techno started explaining.

"Old mare Glycerin was a... ah, some sort of explosives expert in the militant group that used to run this place back when it was just a couple of settlers defending the Main. She's good with guns. With her help, you'll have this collar off in no time!" Her eyes looked like they had stars in them as she stared directly down at me from where she stood with her upper body perched on my head.

"Let's go!" She shouted enthusiastically, throwing out her hoof towards the shack again.

I didn't go. At that time, I believe she actually realized where she was.

"Um, mush?" She said sheepishly.

I pulled my head around and bit down on the supple leather at the nape of her neck then picking her up and depositing her back on the ground besides me. She glared at me. I started walking in the direction she'd indicated and she followed quickly behind me.

"You could've just asked me to get off." She mumble indignantly.

Right as I began point out that I wouldn't have wanted her to get off while still on me, I was cut off by a harsh voice, full of malice and greed.

"Yo! Techno!" A grey mare trotted up to us, followed by a small group of other deathly colored ponies, all greys and browns, none of them wearing the usual gear of the townsponies I'd seen so far, instead wearing outfits that seemed to be cobbled together from a combination of household objects and spikes. I'd have shuddered at the thought of what it would be like to be attacked by a mare with gear like that if I wasn't so busy staring at the strange set-up she had strapped to her back in place of a saddle.

It looked like a regular battlesaddle, but rather than a ammunition box or bag and a series of straps and splints to hold the guns in place, it looked more like two straight mechanical arms extended from the top of her midsection, ending in anticlimactically innocent metal boxes with a few glowing lights. The ashes charred into the edges of a hole on the front of the boxes made me think they were probably far from innocent. Maybe some sort of flamethrower? The rest had more usual armaments, all low quality, but still working and ranging from submachineguns to beat up rifles. One did have a rigging of pipes and tubes leading to what I was positive were some sort of flamethrowing pistols.

"Uh, hey Angel..." Techno murmured, trying to make herself as small as possible behind me. That type of reaction was definitely not on my list of good signs.

The mare, Angel, gave a cruel chuckle. Her gaze shifted to me. "So you really did get one didn't you?" She laughed again. The fuck was I, a comedian? She sidled closer, pulling herself up to my face in a far too close and too personal way. There was a strange glint in her eye. "He looks like a strong one too. Big, strong, green... He'll catch you a good amount. Probably enough to get you into that Museum of yours." I finally understood the look she was giving me. She was looking me over like some sort of animal she was thinking of buying. And then abusing. And then fucking. And then eating. What was clear was that she didn't think of me as a pony, much less living, thinking being. The rest of her party were giving me similar looks. Even the stallions.

"It-- It's an institute, Angel." Techno said, a little louder this time.

"Sure sure sweetcheeks," Angel cooed, not looking away from me, or receding from her too close position, "So where'd you find this one?"

"Ah, He was, um, sleeping, on a hill, and I-- um-- I put the collar around his neck, and um... we we're actually going to get it off." She stared at the ground, bracing herself.

Angel grimaced, then took a step back and spat on the ground. "Techno, kid, you're too soft. You've gotta learn to assert yourself! He's your captive! You can blow his head off at any time! You can do anything to him! Watch!" Her hoof suddenly tore off the ground and crushed into the side of my face, a back hoof that would have sent any normal pony to the ground, earth pony or otherwise. Even with me, if I'd been hit with one of the spikes decorating her gauntlets I'd have been writhing in pain. But, none of them did hit me, instead only her bare hoof and a thin piece of metal slapped across my muzzle. It moved my head a bit to the side. I turned back to her and raised an eyebrow.

She glared at me. "It's common courtesy to fall down when your better hits you, slave." She growled.

I shrugged and rolled onto my back. Her grimace turned to a grin. The ponies behind her gave malicious laughs.

"See, Techo? He's practically broken already!" She said with sadistic glee, patting Techno on the head, mussing her mane. She closed her eyes and blew on a hoof, as if to clean off the extra talent that she assumed was dripping from her every pore. "Tell you what, how about I take him to the slave market and sell him for you? Then you won't even have to feel bad!" Oh that didn't sound good.

"Um, Angel, that's--"

"It's settled!" Angel shouted, pulling a chain from who knows where and attaching it to a small indention in my collar. Techno flinched back from Angel's sudden declaration. "I'll be back tomorrow, Techno baby." She called over her shoulder as she trotted off towards the opposite end of town, forcing me to quickly roll back onto my feet up and trot after her so as not to be strangled or trampled by her friends.. I looked back and saw Techno standing stock still, confused and distraught.

The town flew past, and the ponies ignored what was going on. They were ignoring slavery. That was probably a bad sign too. In a few moments we were past the Main, and faster than I'd have liked we were passing the last of the buildings surrounding it. Our hoofbeats rang out like percussion.

We were leaving the Main. Rather, I was leaving the Main. Somehow I didn't think I could count the crazy mare leading me by a chain and her buddies as a part of my entourage. Oh well. Easy come, easy go, whichever way the magic flows.

With a few more moments, I couldn't even see the town behind us.

There was a sudden tugging on my neck and I was forced to come to a quick stop to prevent my windpipe from being crushed. I looked behind me and saw that Angel and her friends had stopped, and she was grinning at me maliciously. She pulled a wicked looking knife out from behind her back. She snickered. "I know I told Techno that I'd sell you... but I can have a little fun first, can’t I?" She said, running her tongue along the edge of the blade. "She's too soft for her own good, that girl." She said as she wrapped the chain connecting us around her hoof, drawing me closer to where she sat. "I really should just leave her... but she's family, you know?"

Those two were related? The looked nothing alike, and Angel was an earth pony. Bullshit says Sunshine Lollipops.

"Well, not real family," She said, chain grating as she pulled me even closer. There was no slack on the chain at this point, and I was forced closer and closer. "But she's close. I've known her since she was just filly, always with her heads inside of robots and gadgets. I suppose I'm thankful enough for that, she made me these babies, after all." She said, gesturing to the strange contraption on her back. She sighed, pulling me within a few inches of her face. Her breath was hot and humid. "But still, she has no Idea how to... relax..." She said as she began to draw her knife across my left cheek, shuddering with pleasure. I felt something warm and wet running down my face.

"Let me have a turn when you're done, Angel." One of the stallions called out, his mustache fluttered as he spoke, and he'd already started on the straps that held on his armor. My ears twitched.

I was about to get raped. Sunshine Lollipops, the larger than average and stronger than average pony, was about to get raped. Fuck that.

As she moaned with pleasure, I put a hoof onto the chain she was still holding in her right hoof and then pushed it down and sideways to the ground, hard. Caught off balance, she fell and crashed to the ground, landing on her battle saddle thingie with a loud crunch, her knife clattering to the hard ground beside her.

"You bitch!" She screamed as she struggled to unwind the now tangled chain around her foreleg. As she rolled around helplessly, I picked up the knife with a deft flick of my tail and used it to slash through the chain at the collar. With the tension suddenly gone out of the chain, Angel slipped and fell again, growling with frustration. I dropped the knife back to the ground.

There was a click and a sound of settling metal as the barrel of a rifle was pressed against my head.

"Don't you move you cunt. One step and I'll make you wish you'd never been born."

I doubted that. I turned to face her.

"I said don't move!" She shouted, panic evident in her voice. I moved. I took the barrel of her rifle in her mouth and pulled, trying to pull it from her battle saddle. Instead, the barrel bent inwards.

Must have been more worn than I thought.

She stumbled back, falling on her rump as her eyes went wide in fear. I tried my best not to give her an evil glare. I don't think I succeeded.

"My turn." The one who'd been removing the lower half of his barding said, walking over to me with a length of chain dangling from his mouth, ready for business.

As I turned to face him, I noticed the biggest pony of the group helping up the one I'd scared out of the corner of my eye. I hadn't even seen him move. He was nearly as tall as I was and far thicker. For someone his size to have moved without me noticing, with eye or ear, was terrifying.

"You okay?" He whispered, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you." She whispered back, getting back up onto her feet while calming him with a soft smile.

"Dasher, Smasher! Get your incestuous assholes over here and hold this guy down for me!" The mustachioed pony shouted out, sneering at them. He turned his attention back to me. "I'm going to have fun with you, you little bitch."

Where did this guy get off calling me little? I was like, a head taller than him. He stalked towards me, spinning the chain with quick, efficient movements of his head. A chain that size would break bones if it hit at that speed. I sighed. My ears twitched. I was already beginning to duck when he brought the chain directly through the space where my head had just been, clipping the tops of my ears. I blessed the cartilage’s ability to bend, because otherwise I'd have been knocked to the ground. As it was, I instead charged forwards, still ducking, and rammed my head into his jaw, and he screamed in pain as he was forced to bite onto the chain, pushing his teeth into the nerves. He must have been really lucky in the placement of the chain, because I didn't hear any teeth crack or break.

I slipped backwards, back to where I'd been in the middle of the seven ponies as the mustachioed one fell to the ground. Dasher and Smasher, I'm not sure which was which, regarded me with cautious eyes, but I didn't see a attack coming from the small one, and I could see in the larger's stance that he would hold back and protect the smaller mare, his sister, I supposed, instead of pressing an offensive.

There was a familiar ringing of magic in the air, and I swiveled my head to see the... pony with the jury rigged flamethrower pistols aiming both of them at me. I think it was a mare. The guns were pointed at my torso. This time it wasn't just for show. She was aiming to kill. I stared at her. She stared back through her gasmask. I said nothing. Neither did she. The flamer pistols continue to hover.

"Oh, stop it with the silent love-fest already!" Angel shouted, rubbing her head. She'd shaken off the chain and was picking her knife off the ground. She glared at me. "Let's... Let's just get going." She sighed, and started walking off in the direction we'd been going, just like that.

"Are you Fucking KIDDING ME?!" Mustachio screamed. Angel glared at him. "You're not even going to fucking hit him?! I'm going to break this fucking bitch!"

"No, Slash. You're not." Angel said coldly.

"Why the FUCK not?!" He roared, spittle flying from his mouth as his nostrils flared.

"Because I said so." She said, turning back around. "Salts, get him moving."

The pony with the flamers nodded, nudging me with one of her pistols. I walked forwards. The others pulled their weapons from me, holstered them and followed, except for Slash.

"FUCK THAT!" He screamed indignantly. He wasn't ever going to shut up. "I'm going to rape this little whore in every hole he's got until he's bleeding from each and every one of them, and then I'm going to cut a few more and fuck those!" There he goes with the 'little' thing again.

Angel stopped, turned, and bit on the battle bit in her mouth. Her weapons hummed. "No, you're not. This is our merchandise. We don't break what we're going to sell."

Slash glared daggers at her. He spat onto the ground next to me and let out a frustrated breath. "Fine, but I'm going to buy this little bitch at the auction, and then you won't be able to say shit." Angel chewed on her bits again and the hum of her weapons slowed and halted with a whine.

"Whatever you say, Slash." She said, turning again and trotting forwards. I trotted after her.

"I mean it Angel! I'm going to do it!" He shouted, voice almost pleading.

"I believe you, Slash. You're going to buy the big mean pony and make him regret ever being born, I know." She called back, voice condescending.

"Aaaugh!" He shouted at the sky in frustration, finally picking his pants up off the ground and trotting after us.

* * *

We trotted for what felt like hours. The grey sky slowly turned dark blue. I sighed. It probably had been hours.

"Who wants s'mores!?" An enthusiastic unicorn mare with a yellow mane and a pretty shade of brown coat bubbled as we made camp. I said we, but I didn't really do shit. I just sat there as the slavers rolled out their thin sleeping bags and set up a fire. Ironically, the one with the flamers had no part in that, instead choosing to simply lay on her back and stare at the desert sky.

The slavers sighed collectively. "They aren't s'mores if they don't have Chocolate, Daggers." Angel explained as she opened a bag of junk food and chowed down.

"They don't have Graham crackers either." Slash said as he rolled over on his sleeping bag so that he was facing away from the fire.

"Or marshmallows." Added Dasher, who was munching on a couple of carrot with Smasher, who only shook his head.

Daggers deflated for a moment, then lit up again. "You want some, don't you Salts?" She hopped over to Salts and placed her forehooves on her stomach and stared into her eyes, blocking Salts' view of the stars. Salts said nothing as she pushed her to the side and continued staring at the clouds. Daggers pouted as she somberly walked back to the fire and sat down.

"What about you, slave?" She said in a voice so sad I couldn't help myself from nodding. "Yes!" She yelled, hopping up to her feet and bouncing around the fire before rummaging through her saddlebags.

I was a bit put off when she pulled the carcasses of several small lizards from her bag, along with a loaf of hard bread. She put two different types of lizards between two slices of hard bread, then impaled it on a tiny metal pole, and handed it to me before making her own. She used her magic to hold it over the fire, and I followed suit, though I used my tail to hold the skewer on account of not wanting to singe my face. I brought it to my face as she did, after the bottom lizard had bloated up a pale yellow, and the top had shriveled into a dark brown. It tasted sweet, like a candied apple, but it was crunch and savory at the same time. My ears twitched with pleasure.

"Whoa! How are you doing that?" She asked, her face the epitome of wonder.

I looked around, confused, before following her gaze to my tail. I looked at her questioningly.

"I can't do that! Even if I didn't have magic, I couldn't do that!" Weird. Everypony in my Stable did it. "Teach me!" She said eagerly. And so I did. Or tried, at least. By the time the fire went out, she was able to grip her skewer in her tail, but after that everything went to hell, and she wasn't able to control it in the slightest. When the fire went out, she gave me a genuine grin and hopped over to Salts and snuggled up next to her. Salts simply pushed her away, but Daggers didn't seem to be put off by it.

The last pony in the group, a muddish brown pony with a slicked back grey mane and beard stubble stood watch. It didn't look like I'd have been able to escape. Not that I would have. Where would I have gone? Back to the mare I'd only known for an hour? I sighed, then slumped to the ground and fell asleep.

I had nightmares this time. Without radiation crushing down on me, bad dreams came at me in full force. I saw every pony in my stable die horribly. One by one, as if I was a ghost, simple forced to watch. Drill Bit. Highground. Even the Overstallion. I saw Tough Luck and Clean Cut die, though this time, they didn't die peacefully, instead being torn apart like Swift Justice had been. I even saw my parents die, even though I couldn't remember what they looked like.

When my eyes finally cracked open, I'd relived the night before last a hundred times over. I rubbed the sand out of my eyes with a hoof, and saw that it was shimmering. I blinked and the shimmer was gone. Probably just a trick of the light. My ears twitched.

"You guys ready?" Angel said, Armor already readjusted and weapons ready to go. The slaver crew gave a collective nod. "Alright, you guys go ahead. I'll follow behind in a second, I wanna talk to this stallion before we sell him off."

Slash's eyes flared with anger, but he sighed and started walking. The rest followed in his hoofsteps.

Well, not Daggers. She bounced alongside Salts, who continued to ignore her.

I turned to Angel. She stared at me solemnly. Then she walked over and attached another chain to my collar, and looked me in the eyes. "You didn't kill me."

"Why?"

Why hadn't I? I guess it just hadn't seemed right. She'd been on the floor, and really she wasn't a threat to me. But then again, she was trying to sell me into slavery, so she was a bit of a threat.

"And you didn't hurt anyone. It would have been easy to crush my throat, or Slash's or Dasher's. But you didn't." Her stare turned to a glare. I shrugged.

Angel sighed. "I didn't think you knew. You and Techno Babylon are the same. Always being... merciful." She looked out to where the rest of the slaver party was already starting to disappear over the horizons. "Better get going. Gotta sell you bright and early." She said, tugging on the chain connecting us. I could have sworn I saw my fur shimmering again as she pulled me along with her away from the campsite.