Chapter 1: A Burden
“Celestia places the heaviest burden on those who can carry its weight.”
The barrage of bullets bounced harmlessly off the beast’s wooden hide as I tried to avoid its slicing blows, slipping in the mud I ran backwards, searching through my saddlebag for something strong enough to penetrate the creature. I grinned as I glimpsed the bright red handle and bringing up the gun with my magic, I steadied and fired a single shot between the dark hollow eyes.
*** *** ***
I awoke feeling particularly groggy. The last vestiges of my dream were disappearing and as I checked myself over I realised I was not ill enough to skip out on work and promptly got up from the metal slab that functioned as my bed. Walking down the dank and dingy corridors I noted the taste of alcohol on in air. Wonderful, Firewater was brewing up one of her famous stews, well, famous for making everypony else in a raucous mood. This of course did not bode well for the Stable’s favourite punchbag, as drunk ponies do not mix well with thin boned ‘weaklings’ I quickly worked my way around the general area of the cafeteria and moved down to the maintenance level.
The trip down was as uneventful and I found my mind wandering to a far nicer place, possibly filled with quaint little cottages and ponies who were friendly and gave you a hoof bump instead of an unfriendly punch in the stomach, ah well, a colt could dream I suppose. Reaching my room I noticed a yellow sticky note on my door and after throughly ignoring it I sat down and began to read a book. Daring Do and the Griffon’s Goblet, as possibly the only non-fiction book in the entire stable I had read it so many times every word had lost its meaning. While searching for something even remotely interesting I noted the usual absence of the photos of family and friends that others seem to have, funnily enough orphans don’t really have that many photos of family.
Checking through my list of duties on my terminal I found about a dozen more complaints about the recent power outages, knowing I’d have to deal with that later I tried to find something to keep me awake through my shift. Remembering the note on my door, I skimmed through it looking for something to cure my boredom, instead I found a order telling me to report to the Overmare immediately. And my day had been going so well.
On the way back up I purposely walked past Lemonspite's Room and smiled through the window. She rushed to close the blinds. Groaning I carried on walking, at least she had the common decency to stay in the same area as me. Even 3 years after that stupid incident everyone else avoids me, it’s not like I even remember what I did, not that it matters of course, the atrium is still closed off even now. Of course it probably doesn't help that I'm a unicorn but since the incident I barely see anypony nowadays.
I should probably mention the ‘issues’ with unicorns. You see long before the war, in a time where everything was fun and games, Unicorns were too smart for their own good, the Pegasi were complete jerks who only cared for their own and the Earth Ponies were the one who were forced to do all the dirty work.
The Unicorns somehow got the great idea to develop powerful magics strong enough to destroy entire cities and then came up with the even greater idea of giving those powers to both sides; the Ponies and the Zebras, just so they could feed their own perpetual bloodlust. Earth Ponies were forced to wield these weapons of mass destruction and the Pegasi piloted great war machines capable of razing groups of helpless ponies and zebras at the drop of a switch and had no regrets in doing so. Eventually the Ponies cut their losses and build great underground vaults just in case the war literally blew up in their faces and judging by my current habitat it’s not hard to guess what happened. Even if that was all 200 years ago, others would still blame me for my ancestors ‘mistakes’, freaking prejudiced pricks. My train of thought crashed as I banged my nose on the Overmares door.
*** *** ***
The blood ran down my cheek as I coughed up more of the metallic tasting liquid. Searching around for the second beast I grimaced as a high pitched scream pierced my ears, running toward the sound I was confronted by the figure of a wolf towering above me. Scrambling backwards I searched the floor for something to defend myself with. Grabbing a piece of rotting wood I swung blindly trying to catch the wolf off guard. I began to worry when I heard nothing breaking, not even my own bones, and dared to look at my attacker. Now I was really worried, the plank was disappearing as it melted into the skull of the wooden creature. There goes my fire against fire plan.
*** *** ***
Only catching the last fragments of the conversation I became increasingly worried, “... so it’s settled then. Sparkplug will be leading the first expedition, correct?” Runt spoke as she grinned menacingly at my own dumbfounded expression. “ I’m sorry what? W..What exactly am I being forced to do this time?” I stuttered dreading her next words, “ I’m sure you of all people have noticed the recent power failures?” (True, it had become increasingly hard having to do my normal job and fix the generator every 5 damn minutes.) “ And that’s why you have been chosen as the very first pony to leave the stable! Congratulations! You should be proud of the duty you’ve been given. We’ve already arranged for some supplies to be dropped off at your room, you can go as soon as you’re ready.”. My mouth gaped as I stared at her in shock “I..I....This can’t be happening, I'm needed! Lemonspite isn't competent enough yet to handle this place on her own? Without me....without me....I see now, you all planned this didn't you?” I glared at each one of their smug faces, “I'll probably die out there and even if I do survive and come back with a new source of power then you'll just shoot me won't you! Either way it's a win win situation. I...Fine, I'll go... I hated this place anyway. You’ll see! Without me this place will come tumbling down around you! And I hope you all get crushed under the weight of your own ignorance!” I stormed away from the blood red eyes boring holes in my head.
*** *** ***
The sky flashed as the howl of the wolf intertwined with the crash of the thunder. I galloped as hard as I could away from the beast. I couldn't use the gun again without having to reload and it attracted way too much attention anyway. I ran into one of the nearby buildings hoping to find a weapon, instead I finding an old bakery. I groaned and rushed up the stairs, panting with fear I climbed out of a small window onto the roof. The wolf burst straight through the thatch roof and landed on top of me. It’s decaying muzzle slavering over my face, preparing to crush my comparably fragile head. Bucking with all my might I managed to push it off, rolling off my back I twisted and kicked once more, sending the wolf flying into the grip of gravity. A sharp crack then echoed from the hard stone below shortly after.
*** *** ***
I glared bitterly at everypony I walked past on the way back to my room, okay so maybe I only saw Lemonspite but that wasn’t the point. I was angry and distraught, possibly angrier than I had ever been before. So naturally I took it out on the first object I could grab hold of, throwing the lamp against my bedroom mirror, I screamed with rage. My own home had kicked me out, a unanimous vote, and the worst thing was I didn’t even see any remorse in their cold eyes. Looking at myself in the pieces of mirror I saw my raggedy blue-gray mane covering the remains of my horn. I was wrong, I had been angrier than this before. I saw the neatly packed parcel sitting on my bed. They must have been planning this for ages, the generator was just an easy excuse. Unwrapping it, I found myself holding a piece of rope, two cans of food, an empty canteen and a flare gun. They never expected me to survive, neither did I really.
*** *** ***
Another scream cut through the wind as I ran toward its source, the third wolf rose above the mare and prepared to strike. Diving into S.A.T.S. I grabbed the flare gun between my jaws, swiftly reloaded and fired a single shot into its rotting neck. Watching as it writhed in pain I swiftly ran over to the now unconscious mare and dragged her out of harms way. Nudging her lightly I waited for her to awake, anxious of whatever this Outside mare could say.
*** *** ***
I turned the gun over in my hooves and tried to raise with my magic but that only caused my horn to spark painfully, 3 years of horn exercises and hours of magical self training had done almost nothing, in a pinch I could probably lift it if I ignored the pain but I would have to stick with a mouth grip for now. I snuck over to the cafeteria to steal some supplies, thankfully everypony was still drunk from Firewater’s brew. The mare herself was sleeping on the floor next to a dozen empty beer bottles, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her fully sober, I grabbed some cans of cram and a bottle of Wild Pegasus, a bit strong for my taste but given the circumstances it didn’t really matter. Running back to my room I bumped head first into Runt, she saw my stricken look and just smiled and kept on walking as if nothing had happened causing a string of curse words to escape my lips as I carried on moving.
*** *** ***
As she slept I patched up her wounds with some bandages I’d found in the bakery’s first aid box. I wasn’t the cleanest or the most thorough ‘doctor’ but I was sure she’d be fine. She was certainly different from the mares in the stable, to put it simply her flank was blank. I had no idea if it worked differently in the Outside but she was far too old to be a filly. Even in sleep she seemed distressed, she must have been having a nightmare because she kept murmuring and always wore a pained face. I worked up the courage and nudged her again and she began to stir, I prepared myself for the inevitable stream of insults aimed in my general direction, but it never came, instead it was replaced by the same high-pitched scream she had given earlier. The scream was followed by a heavy-hoofed punch and an audible crack that caused me to black out. Did I mention how much I hate the Outside?
*** *** ***
I had an internal conflict when preparing to leave, there was no point in staying any longer but I still had an attachment to this place. It had been my home and my prison at the same time and finally I was leaving, the thing that bugged me the most was that it wasn’t of my own accord. I grabbed my saddlebags and my Pip-Buck and began my ascent. The Pip-Buck flickered into life as I climbed, I never really had use the thing as I knew every part of the Stable to heart but I figured it would be could useful in the Outside. I used the small machine to open the Stable door and waited for the slab of steel to let me exit. As soon as I had stepped through the open door it began to close immediately, turning I saw Runt at the controls, the grinning mare must have been waiting for me to leave, infact I don’t think I’ve ever seen the freak have any other expression on that creepy face. I would have said something but the face disappeared from view as the slab moved back across, sealing me away from the inside world.
Turning away from the giant ominous 14 I found myself facing an ordinary wooden door, a locked wooden door. Having nothing to open the lock and no way to get back into the Stable, I sat down and tried to think of a way out. The floor crunched beneath me as I began to lose hope, the darkness of the 'room' did not help me to see what the floor was made of so I switched on my Pip-Buck's light. The floor was made of bones. Well not exactly, the floor was actually littered with the remains of many long dead ponies, I even caught a glimpse of a few pegasi as I rose from the ground. Maybe I did have a way out after all. I smashed one of the smaller bones under my hoof and used the splinters to create a makeshift lockpick. Back in the stable most doors were controlled via terminal but every door had a normal lock at the bottom for emergency access, I had always been curious as a foal and had gotten into a lot of trouble from picking locks just to see what was behind peculiar doors.The rusty lock finally gave way and the door allowed access to the Outside.
Strangely enough the Outside was a lot less impressive than I had first imagined, the door had opened up into a small shack on the side of a hill that loomed over a small town, or at least what was once a town. It was now just a collection of run down houses, a farm and a large brick building which I couldn't make out from my vantage point. As I walked closer my Pip-Buck beeped, activated my Eyes Forward Sparkle (a handy device for spotting friend and foe from afar) and told me I had just entered Lanturn, a formerly quaint little hamlet that contained only a few shops, though one did look like it had been recently patched up. Investigating the building I found myself faced with a relatively new lock.
Bringing out my bone-pick again I managed to crack the lock after a few tries and found myself facing a old bookshop, most of the books looked ruined but there was however a small safe behind the desk, this time my bone-pick snapped and I was left empty handed. I began to search the shop for anything useful when I came across a small trap door leading into a cellar of some sort. Creeping down the stairs I started to wretch as I reached the basement.
Flies buzzed around the body laid before me, the corpse was sitting in a pool of dried blood. It was so mutilated that I couldn’t be sure it was a pony until I saw the remains of a ruined wing, some of the blood was still wet so this couldn’t have happened that long ago. Judging by the lock on the door and the puddle of blood around my feet the pegasus must have crawled in here to die.
Looking away from the unnerving sight I noticed a small pile of supplies in the corner of the room, most of it was junk but there were a few treasures including a couple of healing potions, a small revolver and a half ruined book titled ‘Th Wa t lan Su v al Gu de by D t y Doo’. I only had about 12 bullets for the revolver so I stowed it away for safekeeping, the book however was intriguing though I did go back upstairs away from the corpse before I began to read. It seemed to be a guide on how to survive in a place called ‘The Wasteland’ which I assumed was the Outside, unfortunately a lot of the ink had run and some of the pages had fallen out but it could still be useful, I tucked it inside my saddlebag just in case. Hearing the wind pick up outside I decided to make one last check in the surrounding buildings before checking in for the night (or at least what I assumed was night), when it began to rain I realised I didn't have long to search.
My little adventure rewarded me with some bullets far too large for my revolver and a couple of weird packs which my Pip-Buck identified as Magic-Fusion Cells along with a couple of Bobby Pins to replace my broken Bone-Pin. I stowed them away in my bag and began to work my way through the heavy rain. I was nearly back to my shelter when I first scream echoed around me, just the sound of it caused fear to rise up and boil inside me. The wail was followed by the bone shaking howl that made me stop in my tracks, turning on the spot I prepared myself for whatever this desolate husk of a world could throw at me. My face lit up with utter horror as a mare crashed into me. It was not her that caused the horror though, of course not, it was the trio of lumbering beasts following close on her tail that drove fear through my head.
Without thinking I jumped in front of the now fallen mare, shielding her body with my own, instinct overriding self preservation, even if she was the one that had brought this on me. Adrenaline kicked in and let me bring up the revolver, I emptied clip after clip into the wooden horrors before me with no success. Reloading was hard when the gun you were trying to fill was clamped between your jaws and when I looked up I found myself brushing cheeks with one of the wolves, it’s rough bark hide scratching at my skin, I guess its bark was just as bad as its bite. Gripping the gun again in my teeth I prepared to fire again, facing three timberwolves with only a tiny revolver was not one of my best ideas, probably up there with storming out of my stable alone with barely any supplies and trying (and failing) to steal some of Firewater’s brew right from under her nose. Nevertheless I glared at the biggest beast, trying make it back down. I was not successful.
The barrage of bullets bounced harmlessly off the beast’s wooden hide as I tried to avoid its slicing blows, slipping in the mud I ran backwards, searching through my saddlebag for something strong enough to penetrate the creature. I grinned as I glimpsed the bright red handle and bringing up the gun with my magic, I steadied and fired a single shot between the dark hollow eyes.
Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Hunter -- In combat, you do 75% more critical damage against animals and mutated animals.
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