The wasteland was home to many things of good and ill-repute. Our trio peeked up the inclined earthen tunnel that led to the Equestrian Wasteland. They didn’t have a lot to their names. Lollimint had the apples that would be their food rations, some armored vest Scythe had found in an Order cache, and a 10mm pistol. She also had an extra pistol and 24 rounds packed. Scythe had the other armored vest on, his handheld agriculture scythe, a 10mm pistol, 24 rounds, and a few scraps of parts they might be able to barter with. Crisp had only a fashioned together holster for the heirloom knife of Belldam; and the water talisman around his neck, which was tucked under his shirt collar. Crisp was currently…digging in the dirt.

“What are you doing?” Lollimint whispered.

“Burying our numbers,” Crisp replied. Scythe had asked Lollimint for a seam ripper and took the 24 from all their clothing. He was all too wary of the metal ponies still lurking around.

Crisp Coat bounced back to them saying, “You are born in the stable, and you die in the stable. We aren’t stable ponies anymore. So, I buried the numbers of our stable.”

As Scythe and Crisp nuzzled for a moment, Lollimint stopped there stunned. She didn’t know what surprised her more. The symbolism of burying the numbers, or the fact Crisp was intelligent enough at his age to completely understand and formulate that symbolism! True, he was almost ten, but Crisp Coat had never shown to be this astute before. He had been a mostly carefree and goofy colt in the stable.

The trio began their trek slowly up the incline. The ground was smoothed with a large indention, like a large gator had come out of the stable before them. This was, of course, impossible. It did seem odd to have this. The smell of the wasteland air was terrible. It was like something had been being burned right in front of the stable. As they reached the crest of the tunnel, Lollimint barely choked back a scream in horror.

Bodies. They had noticed the metal ponies had dragged the corpses of the stable ponies away by blood streaks in the stable. That had been all but escaped their minds until now. Every stallion, mare, and foal of Stable 24 was stacked in a large pony pile. Their bodies were black and smoldering. Smoke of the freshly extinguished fire was still trailing off the pile. Whitish grey ash clung to bodies as orange embers still burned deep inside the pile. Though the bodies no longer had a voice, the trio were frozen starring at the pile, as if they were hearing their screams. These ponies had been their neighbors, their enemies, their friends, and their whole life.

“G-get down and go left,” Scythe finally said as he nudged Lollimint towards the left. The mare was frozen in place.

“Lollimint, get moving!” he grunted at her with another nudge. This time she began trotting off with Crisp Coat. Scythe followed close behind, watching for any sign of the metal ponies.

Scythe urged them further up the hillside until they reached the crest. As they walked along the hillside, they could see the path leading from the stable outwards. It looked as if a primitive wide dirt road swooped to the right of the stable entrance. It must have been sheer luck wasteland ponies had a road that close to their stable. It was so low light the atmosphere was grey. It had to be evening by now. The air was full of dust and the land was just dirt. Choked skeletons of plant life were sparsely dotting the landscape. Blip!

Scythe looked at his pipbuck to see a place strike up a name of a location not far up the road. Paintburg? Paintburg! This was the town rumor said Father Even Heart and All-Mother Belldam were said to live before the bombs! A smile crossed Scythe’s face. He knew stables had to be close enough for emergency evacuation, but he never thought he lived this close to the birthplace of the all-mother! Scythe began to push to the front of the group as he led the way. His faster trot was matched by Lollimint, and Crisp happily bounced quickly behind them. They kept at this until not even the dusty air could hide the outline of Paintburg on the very near horizon.

“Scythe, what’s an EFS?” Crisp piped up.

“It’s an Eyes Forward Sparkle. Why?” Scythe replied.

“I see two red dots on it,” Crisp replied. Scythe stopped dead in his tracks, causing Lollimint to bump into his flanks.

Scythe looked to his own EFS now. There were two red dots on the EFS. They seemed to be coming closer at a casual pace. Scythe used his magic to unlatch his saddlebags from him. He gently levitated his bags unto Lollimint’s back. Judging by her grunt of protest and pink glow on her horn, it was a bit too much weight added to her own load.

“Take Crisp and hide behind that large sheet of metal,” Scythe ordered as he pointed to a large discarded piece of metal. It looked to be part of a destroyed water tower.

“What about you?” Lollimint asked.

“I am gonna pay a visit to our “red dots”, “he replied. A smirk came across his face as she seemed to pale at his decision. Lollimint did comply as she coaxed Crisp to follow her to their hiding spot.

The road was an abysmal place. Dirt and stone was in an overabundance. Dust was making visibility low. Scythe kept well hidden behind another giant sheet of metal. He watched as EFS grew a bit brighter as the red dots walked closer. Wait, did EFS cause blips to get brighter when closer? Scythe regarded this as just his imagination. The metal hooves crunched the earth as they walked closer. The hiss of their respirators made Scythe’s coat stand on end. Steel ponies. Were they robotic? No. Robots wouldn’t need a breathing apparatus. These ponies were alive, and most likely involved in the devastation of Stable 24.

As Scythe watched them pass, he was fascinated by the metal murder ponies. Sure, his cultists had been efficient; but these ponies looked as if built for war. He stiffened when they came to a halt. Slowly they turned to face him, and just stared in his direction. Scythe felt uncomfortable under their gaze. Somehow, they knew he was there. The headlights flashed to life as suddenly as they had stopped.

“Gah!” Scythe involuntarily exclaimed as the lights blinded him so suddenly.

He furiously began rubbing his eyes with his hooves, like something had flown into his eyes. The steel ponies only watched him fidget under their light. Scythe could’ve sworn they were enjoying this.

“State your name and business,” one of the damnable metal ponies ordered in its metal voice.

“Buck you! Blinding me and asking me shit,” Scythe snapped back at the ponies he could barely see.

“I repeat. State your name and business, “it ordered once again.

“My name is Scythe, and I am just passing through,” Scythe replied, hoping the metal ponies would be satisfied now.
The steel ponies dimmed their lights now. They had no need to use them. They knew now it was just a pony lurking behind the steel sheet. They stood silent for a while, taking in Scythe. Even without the numbers, his stable uniform was a dead giveaway where he came from. The other steel pony gave a raspy chuckle at this. A stable pony lost and ignorant to the ways of the wasteland was bumbling before them.

“Well…Well…Well…Looks like we have ourselves a stable pony, Powdered Sugar,” the other steel pony said. Scythe stiffened as he watched them closely, his horn itching to summon his scythe to aid him.

Powdered Sugar glanced over at the other pony as he said, “It does not matter. The stable has been neutralized and technology acquired.”

“Besides the missing water talisman. I think this runt may know what became of it,” the other pony replied, looking over Scythe’s body.

“He doesn’t have anything on him but that scythe, Journey Knight Sharp Stone,” Powdered Sugar stated.

Sharp Stone began to walk around Scythe slowly, as if appraising the younger stallion’s condition. Scythe swiveled his head to try and keep an eye on Sharp Stone and Powdered Sugar. If he could see through Sharp Stone’s mask, Scythe would have been unnerved by the look in his eyes. Sharp Stone was tightening his circle around Scythe, and it was getting to where there was barely space between red hide and metal pony.

“Pretty little colt, isn’t he? Wonder what he is like on his back,” Sharp Stone said as he sweeped his foreleg under Scythe’s. Caught off guard, Scythe found himself flat on his back.

“Hahahaha! Flipped like a flimsy stick! Nice piece between those hind legs. Bet, you were quite the mare killer back in the stable,” Sharp Stone mocked before stepping to stand right over Scythe, “ How about I show you a trick or two from a wasteland pony. Eh, stable colt?”

Scythe’s horn glowed as he reflexively levitated his scythe up to strike the metal pony above him. The scythe made a loud ting noise as it hit and ricocheted away from him. Sharp Stone was shaking with laughter at his act to defend himself. Scythe glared up at him as he began trying to get back up. A steel hoof slammed into his shoulder squelched that plan quickly. Steam hissed as it came out. Sharp Stone removed his mouth piece, and placed it on a hook on his chest plate.

“Save your energy, stable colt. I am offering you one Hell of a deal compared to what your fellow stable ponies got,” Sharp Stone said before restraining Scythe enough to lick up his throat. Sharp Stone delighted in feeling Scythe struggle to get away, Scythe’s hind legs were kicking furiously to try and get a strike on him.

“Hey. Hey hey hey hey HEY! Get the buck off, you sick bastard!” Scythe shouted at his aggressor, as Sharp Stone’s muzzle started to travel downwards.

“Say what you want. Shouting is just gonna help me get off from this more,” Sharp Stone sneered.

“That’s enough Journey Knight Sharp Stone!” Powdered Sugar commanded.

Sharp Stone paused before lifting his head to reply with, “Oh come on, Powdered! Nopony cares about this stable runt. If you want, I can let you have some fun with him once I get done with him.”

Powdered Sugar sneered in disgust under his mask. He and Sharp Stone and joined the Steel Rangers at the same time. It was becoming clearer everyday though Sharp Stone may have chosen the wrong profession. He saw Scythe struggling under Sharp Stone with all his might. The stable pony didn’t want this. He could see it in Scythe’s green eyes that he hated that Sharp Stone’s dusty brown muzzle had touched his hide at all.

“Let him go, Sharp Stone. We do not do this to ponies. It is not our mission to take advantage of the weak,” Powdered Sugar replied.

Scythe screamed as Sharp Stone purposely slammed his hind quarters down on him before he addressed his colleague again with, “What do you call what happened in the stable then? It looked like to me that we took advantage of weak stable ponies for what they had. Way I see it. This stable colt is mine to take, if I chose to take him. Dumb stable runt wouldn’t last out here anyways.”

Scythe spat at Sharp Stone’s exposed muzzle. That only managed to enrage Sharp Stone further than being colt blocked by Powdered Sugar. He slammed a metal hoof down on Scythe’s throat, delighting in the choked gasps for air Scythe responded with.

“See. The little runt doesn’t have any respect. Just give me a few moments to show him some respect. No need to tell the Elder or Paladins about it. You can even keep walking if you aren’t comfortable with watching,” Sharp Stone said as he began rubbing Scythe’s haunches, “Look! He is shaking. You like that don’t you, stable colt.”

“This is your last warning, Sharp Stone,” Powdered Sugar said, punctuating his point with revealing his hidden gun hatches.
Sharp Stone stopped and appraised his comrade’s action. He kept sitting on Scythe a moment longer before returning to his hooves. Moving to step away from Scythe he placed his mouthpiece back on his muzzle.

“Gotta take the fun out of everything, don’t ya? Stable pony probably isn’t any good in bed anyways,” Sharp Stone grumbled as he continued their original path on the road.

Powdered Sugar closed his gun hatches and proceeded to follow Sharp Stone. The two steel ponies didn’t even glance back at Scythe. He was left on the side of the road to care for himself. Scythe fell over twice before he got back on his hooves. His whole body was shaking in protest. Scythe was wheezing heavily from being hit in the throat. His headquarters ached from the heavy steel pony using him as a cushion. With the steel ponies far enough away to not register on EFS, Scythe began limping back up the hill to Crisp Coat and Lollimint.

It was slow going up the hill. He staggered and limped up the hill that took a matter of seconds to slide down a few moments ago. As he made it to the crest of the hill, Crisp immediately came to his side and looked about to cry. Lollimint looked livid as tears were in her eyes. Scythe’s ears flopped limply on his forelock. Lollimint wasted no time coming right up to him and…smacking him upside the face with her hoof.

“Wha…What was that for?!” Scythe shouted at her after taking a tumble from her smack.

“For being an idiot! We could’ve kept walking AWAY from the red dots. But, nooooooooooooooo… you had to be the courageous leader and check it out. You truly are crazy, aren’t you? The only good thing was you got a taste of your own medicine from those murder machines!” Lollimint ranted at him.

“Got…Got a taste of my own medicine?! I have never forced myself on any pony!” Scythe barked at her as Crisp tries to help him up.

“No, but you have acted like you deserve to decide what happens to every pony around you. You wanted the stable dead and to make me your mare. That..thing wanted to do unspeakable things to you! The reason why? You both had power over weaker ponies and used it for the wrong reasons!” she continued.

Scythe glared at her for a long time. He never stopped, even when he stumbled to his hooves again. He limped up to her and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry you hate the pony I am, and can compare me to some pony willing to rape others. I fight for my all-mother. She would never wish what happened to me on any pony.”

“I…I think that is the first time you have apologized,” Lollimint said while mildly stunned.

A sly smirk crossed his face as he replied, “I am not freeing you from our pact. You’re my mare for life.” Lollimint made a morose face.

Scythe laughed as he began limping the way he was going before the steel ponies came up on the EFS. Crisp hung close to his side, in case Scythe fell again. Lollimint watched them slowly leave. Her horn glowed as she levitated Scythe’s saddlebags unto her back. She didn’t like being the pack mule, but Scythe couldn’t possibly lift it right now.

“Scythe?” she asked.

“What?” he sighed.

Lollimint’s horn glowed brighter before a bulb of magic appeared and popped. Scythe’s scythe clattered to the dusty ground where it disappeared.

“You might need that,” she said.

Scythe managed a fait glow to levitate his scythe back its strap on his hip. He looked very tired now.

“Thank you,” he wheezed before limping along ahead of her.

Lollimint trotted up to his side and kept pace with him. Wherever Scythe was dead set on going before he rested, she hoped some stray medical equipment was nearby. He looked like he wouldn’t stand a chance if the steel ponies changed their minds about letting him go.

Lollimint giggled before she said, “Five minutes out here and you get spotted by a colt-cuddler.”

“I swear to the all-mother, shut your muzzle, Lollimint,” Scythe grumbled back.

Author's Note

Pardon Journey knight Sharp stone. He gets excited around the color red.