Firehearted

(All the slavers are dead) The slaver let out a pained noise as he was electrocuted by the Bot and dropped to the ground his rifle clattering to the dirt. Patches got up from his cover behind a desk. "Are they dead?" He asked not waiting for an answer. He opened the door and peeked out. Eeyup. No one was around. He stepped outside. The campfire was still alive and light up the small camp. A sack full of everyone's gear lay nearby. "Hey! Everyone! I found our stuff!"

@@Moonbacon, "I fuckin' knew that bitch would be trouble!" The unicorn slaver moved to the Alicorn. "I see one little glow at your dinky little horn and I blow your god damn head off" He pressed the shotgun to Daybreak's head. @@SilverHeart, Patches watched motionless. He was going to die. He could do nothing. All he knew was medicine. The slaver had his back to Patches as well as the closest pony to him, Mirror Image. They were all dead. He just knew it.

((Yes, yes we are in a building but the roof is a bit gone. And this is why I hate Hawaii time zones)) Patches looked at his broken chain. Easy enough. He stood up and stretched his legs. Now all he needed to do was get his gear. Not happening. Just get out alive. "Hey! It's that pegasus!" The slaver pointed up at the roof through the darkness. "How the fuckin' hell did he get out?!" The Earth Pony raised a rifle and fired a few shots each one landing. @, !!Sky Drill's front left leg is crippled!! The other slaver came in through the front door to see all his prisoners free. "All of you! Stay still!" He raised his shotgun at all of them. "I don't know how the fuck you got out but not for long"

Patches was shocked a bit by the break in silence. He waited a moment before responding to the scarfed pony. ... Yep. No slavers coming to kick his teeth out. @, "I was stupid and forgot how to load a gun... I never should have left home... ED-E?" Patches questioned. His worry was temperately stopped by the weird name. "Save you?" He asked a bit suspiciously. Patches once again glanced at the Alicorn. She may be trouble. She was an Alicorn for cry it out loud,

Patches looked at the item he had just traded a pocket knife for. Why did he want a lamp in the shape of Discord? "Cause it looked cool, that's why" he told himself. He flouted it into his saddle bags and moved on. He had been wandering for a while now mostly just looking at all the strange items brought to the fair. Statues, antiques, antique statues, everything! If you want'd something it was here. His stomach let out a thundering growl. "I am a bit hungry" He said to himself. He shrugged and made off for the nearest hay burger stand. Patches took his burgers in frustration. It had taken him five minutes for the mare running the stand to get that he could buy a burger rather than trade for it. Why the burger pony wanted a bear whistle he'd never know. I mean really now. Who says one day "I want a bear call" No one! Who even makes those?! @@Gloomfury,@@Lightning Bliss, @@Rainbow Eclipse, He kept bantering to himself in his head he didn't even look where he was going. He smacked face-first into a small white mare his magic imploding dropping his burgers. "ACK!" He fell down over the pony. "I'm so sorry, ma'am" He said worried as he recovered. "Let me help you" He said as he put his hoof out for her to grab. Wait... Wings? And a horn? ... "P-Princess!" He shouted. "I'm SO sorry, your highness! I didn't mean it! Really!" Of all the ponies... ((I will forcefully inject myself in an awkward manner if need be!))

Come on Patches think! He thought to himself. You're smart. You can get out of this He licked his lips as blood from his nose dripped down. Bitter and metallic. He once again attempted to look back at the ponies with him but his neck was jerked as the stallion with the chain tugged again. Nothing anyone did would help. They were armed to the teeth and they had hooves and light magic. He sighed and kept walking. The group trekked onward as the sun began to set and darkness soon consumed the wasteland. The slavers had found a building nearby and once doing a once over of it set up camp in front of the building. They threw there newly found slaves into the building as so if they any tried to leave they would go right through there camp waking them. The slavers left them chained up so the pegasus or Alicorn couldn't fly away. Feeling sure of themselves they left the slaves in the empty building. Everyone stood about chained together in the building while the slavers sat and talked around a small fire they had thrown together. Patches sat down and looked around the dark building. It was surprisingly clean for a two hundred year old structure. While most certainly looted from a glace it had space and could have been worse. He really had excepted worse treatment from slavers. Actually let's not think about that. He scrubbed the thought form his mind. He looked over the ponies he was chained to with a way eye. He couldn't trust any of them. Holy moon rocks was that an Alicorn?! Why the hell has they captured her?! He stared at the Alcorn for a moment then looked away. He was so dead. ((Sorry about the jump in time but I just felt I needed to get it going if you know what I mean))

@, "Hey!" The slaver shouted back at the pegasus. "I said no fucking talking!" The slaver who was only wearing a shoulder pad from scrap metal walked over to Sky Drill. Without warning the Earth Pony stallion gave Drill a hard buck to the side letting him drop. "That's what you get for talking! One more work outa you and It'll be worse!" The pony trotted back to his partner. "Celestia damn it, Grinder, don't kill the slaves before we get them there!" The unicorn wielding the shotgun told his partner. "They'll be fine. I'm worried about that Alicorn bitch we got. She's bad news" "And she's high price. Just keep a gun aimed at her and we'll be fine"

War... War never changes... Locating... Locating... !!Found!! Location: Unspecified... Calibrating... Location: Three clicks west north of Applelossa... Calibrating... Establishing Video Feed... Establishing Audio Feed... !!Connection Complete!! "So, what are we going to do with these fuckers?" "What the hell do you think we're going to do? Sell them off and get out of there. They're all healthy and Red Eye likes healthy" The two slavers talked not paying a bit of attention to the new group of slaves they had rounded up. "It's a good haul this time around" Commented the one holding the chain connecting the group to each other giving it a nice tug. Patches coughed as his neck was yanked forward. "Watch it!' "Shut the fuck up, slave!" The slaver angrily turned on him and gave him a hoof to the nose. "No talking!" He shouted at him. Patches expression dropped at the slaver's aggression. "That's what I thought" The slaver added as he turned back around to his companion. "There gear will sell for good caps too" He motioned to pack he was carrying of assorted items from the ponies. Patches looked back at the group. Each one of them were tied together with a chains and collars. He'd never seen any of these ponies before. He had been unlucky enough to get ambushed by the slavers at a camp. why had he ever left Friendship City? The collar on him dug into his neck. He desperately waited to readjust it but he feared his slightest movement would warrant a beating from the slavers. Just wait it out. Everything would be fine... Just. Fine.

Patches stepped off the train into Rainbow Falls. The ride had been surprising fast for the time it took to normally go by train. A few hundred feet away the sea of tents and stalls began along with crowds of ponies bags in hoof. Patches was pushed aside as other ponies got off the train in a rush. "Hey! Watch it!" He called to the pony who had bummed him aside with no result. Patches sighed and walked out himself into the crowd to do some trading of his own. Maybe meet some ponies. Maybe get stuck in another "apple cart incident" Hopefully not the later.

"So much for traveling light" Atlas muttered. He threw his pack into the jeep with a thud. "Come on, Hunter. We don't have all day" Atlas called to his friend as he sat in the passenger seat oblivious to his condition. "Right" Hunter threw himself into the back of the Jeep. "Get us anywhere but here" Atlas ordered to the wolf at the wheel. "Next chance we get we're taking an enemy car. Even without insignia a Jeep looks pretty strange in Axis territory"

"Celestia, damn it!" Atlas threw his gun on the ground. He was bout to cream in anger but took a deep breath. now is no the time, Atlas. Act first, curse command later. I'm responsible for these two. The base was cleaned out. Mostly. It could easily be seen they left in a hurry but let some things behind. Jeeps were still parked near the tents and a few machines guns lie set up with barricades. Why was that still here? They were behind the lines. Axis troops would have taken off all of this to use themselves. Atlas gave a confused look at the camp. That just doesn't make sense. Unless the soldiers had kept moving to keep up momentum which means more soldiers would be heading this way to clean out the camp. "We've got to get out of here" But where? The woods weren't safe. Going back toward their line would be suicide while half watching it. "We're going deeper into the enemies lines. This is a long shot but there might be less personal with most fighting on the front. We're MIA from here on out. Drop anything that we don't need" Atlas bit his lip at his command. This could be a life saver or them all killed. Hunter just listened. He felt numb. "Got it" He said dully.

Seth flew past him. He didn't mean that fast but the faster the better. Atlas flapped his wings and began to fly through the trees. In the distance the sound of artillery pieces firing off could be heard firing on an unknown target. Hunter caught up the pace and was running behind them. His face was almost blank. His mind was somewhere else with his body going through the motions. A monster... Back at the Base... "Sir, the enemy will be here in minutes. We need to get to the fallback position" The lieutenant pleaded with the major while carrying as many documents and other intelligence he could. "We've got patrols out here, damnit! We retreat when I damn well feel like it!" The ground shook as the tent next to them exploded in a fireball from a direct hit. "On second thought let's get out"

"You're right. We need to turn tail before they notice a patrol went dark. Come on. We're heading out back through the woods and double time it" Atlas began to make his way out of the combat zone. "Hunter, you coming?" "Yeah... Just... Yeah" He got back up and began to move as well.

"Alright then. See y'all in the air" With a flap of his wings Atlas was in the air. The sky was nice and clear. A bit chilly but nice. The expanse of Equestrian farmland was below him covering most of the land with a few towns here and there. In the distance was Canterlot sitting on its mountain looking over the land with authority. It was simply beautiful. No matter how many times he had seen a view like this it would never get old. His body was stuck on autopilot as he gazing on the land. He snapped himself out of his stupor and got back up to speed. Boom was right. He had been going at full speed for a good ten minutes and he wasn't in the slightest tired. He really didn't know how to feel about the trade off. Having this power behind him now but at what cost? Having to kill a pony once a year? His head said it wasn't worth it but a darker part of him said it was a great deal. He encountered tones of evil and vile ponies taking one out of the world wouldn't be that bad in fact it would be good. A public service even. But a life is a life. He had no right to take it. He had already taken lives and he wasn't proud of it. Atlas shook his head knocking the thought out of his head. Now wasn't the time for ideology. He'd worry about that later. His head empty of anything involving his new thoughts of blood and fangs he began to think up a game plan for the Everfree as well as any other business he would need to take care of. The Everfree plan would be easy. They could plan that later. His thoughts drifted to his family. He had no idea how they would take this. They would think he had lost it. If he was going to tell them about this new "development" he would have to do it in person. Then what? His father might be at least reasonable about it but his mother. She would have a heart attack. Atlas's mother had always been a bit overprotective which was probably for the better but Atlas despised it in his youth. Atlas was persistent on exploring ever nook and cranny of Cloudsdale and his mother would always scolded him about it. When she found out what his cutie mark was for she almost keeled over. She was a bit okay about him joining the guard but as soon as he announced his new profession to his family she forbid it. It took her awhile to accept Atlas's new job but she still harbored some disdain for his line of work. Atlas thought over it a little longer. Just one more letter to write once they were in Canterlot to pile up on the many others he needed to write...

Atlas nodded and threw his bags into the plane. "I'm ready when you are" He stretched out his wings. This was going to be the long haul. Canterlot was a good ways south from the mountains but nothing he couldn't handle now that he was tireless. "I could get a head start if you don't need me here"

"I was wondering about that" Atlas responded to the speed of the aircraft. "Sounds good. I'd rather fly myself thank you" He said with a smile about ridding on top of the wing the ride. "Canterlot or bust. Is there any room in there for my bags. If I'm going to be flying at my top speed, which sure ain't as fast as this, I still need my bags somewhere. They'll fly right off me once I'm fast enough. Not to mention if I get a bad headwind. Speaking of which we may need to stop for me" He stopped a moment. "I forgot I can't get tired anymore, if we hit a headwind we'll just be slower" Atlas looked over the aircraft. Pony engineering. Nice and solid. He wanted to hit it to reassure his own thoughts but stopped knowing that for everyone else it would look like he was just punching the plane for no reason. He flew up to looking into the cockpit. It didn't look THAT hard to fly one of these. Then again last time he said that he had shot a Griffon through the leg with one off those fancy flintlock thingys. Better leave the flying to Sidewinder. "Um... Question. Once we get to Canterlot where do you plan to land? I've never seen an airstrip there..." He asked raising a hoof still hovering over the plane.

Atlas sat up from the bed. The doctor sat nearby looking over some books. She glanced over at him then went back to her books. "I see you're awake. I got you some coffee" She flouted the mug to him from her desk. "Thank you" He took up the cup in his wings as her magic let it go. He sipped the hot liquid. Hard black. It would do. "You should get going. I did all I could" Her voice was just as neutral as it was the night before. "And give this to your doctor. I can't do blood test here" Atlas jugged the rest of the coffee and placed the mug on her desk. He was a bit sore. His muscles were tight. His wounds weren't that bad even for a living pony. A few deep cuts and bruises. He had visible stitches in a couple places on his legs and chest. He tucked the case with his blood in it under his wing. "Thanks again" "It's my job" Atlas trotted off out the door. The cold air embraced him. A new day. A new beginning. Today his new life would really begin. for one blissful moment the world seemed good. The mountain air was clean. No pony was out yet. The sun shinned down. What about Boom? He had completely forgotten about her. He made the quick gallop to grab his bags from building C then onto the hanger where Sidewinder's plane was. "Side!" He shouted into building as he entered the building. He spared a glace at the plane. It was certainly a pretty thing to look at. How as he supposed to keep up with that though? He found the group around some scrap with Boom still lying down. "Mornin'. At least you weren't beaten silly by Seth. How bad is Boom?" He asked concerned for her undead health.

@@arkman575, The pilots and mechanics never did find Boom. They did however find Seth. After a few moments of discussion they dragged him away and threw him into the woods a good ways away from the airfield. They all scurried back tot here positions hoping no one noticed their absents. Atlas had fallen asleep on the bed provided to him. The doctor was perplexed by his condition. The stallion lying on her bed was From what little blood she could muster she had a nice needle of blood form the pegasus. She realized she had never gotten his name. Oh well. She placed the needle in a case to give him once he got up for him to give to an actual hospital for testing. One this stallion was out of her shack he was out of her mane. Atlas's sleep wasn't perfect. In his head he tossed an turned with the horror that was himself. A long road.

My dark side... Hmm... It depends. I'm the kinda guy who puts up with your bullcrap for a good while then snaps. And I snap. Depending on the location I can punch you person or thing that made me snap or (normally) I just become a passive-aggressive bitch until further notice. The people who have seen my dark side (Which aren't very many) know to stay out of my way and those who don't learn real fast. Then again if you cause me to snap you were doing something wrong. It takes a lot to get me over the edge.

Atlas limped toward the group of ponies appearing to be pilots and mechanics. Once within a few feet one actually batted an eye toward him and noticed his condition. Half of Atlas's attention was put on keeping his vampire impulses down. Atlas put on his best desperate dying pony act. "Hey! You ponies! Help!" By now the rest of them had taken notice of him and were already over one of them running to the medical station. They began to help Atlas in that direction as well. "You've got to help her!" His acting surprised even him. "Who?" Asked a gruff stallion half covered in motor oil. "Boom! That wolf will tear her apart" "What wolf?" The questions continued. Atlas began to fake going into shock. He tried to imitate the effects of when he had gone into shock himself. "Hey!" A mare wearing a aviator's coat got next to him. "Snap out of it! You're going to be alright. What happened?" "T-The wolf. It came out of the woods and attacked me. Last I saw it the thing was about to attack Boom" A pony with a medical bag along with the pilot who had run off approached. "What's his story?" Asked the blue unicorn mare with the bag. "He says he was attacked by a wolf" answered the filthy stallion. "Appears right" Atlas began to breath as fast as he could. "He looks like he's going into shock" Added another one of the ponies. The medical mare raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Those are deep wounds. I'm surprised he isn't bleeding much" Atlas saw the flaw in his plan. Hopefully the doctor wouldn't press on his lack of bleeding or even blood. The group arrived at the small wooden building near building B. It was a sad excuse for an aid station. The two roomed shack had a heater, the doctor's personal quarters, and a bed for any patients. It wasn't exactly able to treat anyone long term. Any injures would most likely be cycled to the nearest hospital. Why hadn't Seth just gone here? It was a bit hidden though... He could have easily missed it. The doctor laid Atlas on the bed. The group of ponies who had brought Atlas to the medical hut were already off. The pilots had produced switchblades and the mechanics wrenches. @@Bada3oom Box,@@arkman575, They ran off to go find this wolf. It would only be a matter of time before they arrived. Atlas's plan was in action. Unfortunately Atlas hadn't told them were to go. They could be searching the whole airfield for the two long after a fight would have ended. The doctor was already at work with Atlas. Her techniques were crude almost battlefield medicine. "Allergic to anything?" She asked with a straight face giving no emotion in her voice. "No" She stuck a shot of morphine into one of Atlas's forelegs. The fast numbing from drug was good. The pain was at the point where it was ignoreable to an extent. The doctor left the building for a second and came back with a pack of plasma. Atlas wondered where she had gotten it. He wouldn't have been surprised is she was using the ice outside as a refrigerator for the stuff. She stuck an IV in his leg letting the plasma drip into him. It felt weird, blood entering his empty arteries. "Thanks, doc" She responded with a grunt. She worked in silence. Her needlework was excellent as she stitched Atlas's cuts. She worked with the atmosphere and skill of an experienced doctor. Injures like this couldn't be common at an airfield? Atlas laid there quietly. Hopefully he would be out of here soon. The doctor checked on him ever once and a while. Something seemed to be bugging her. "Do you have any conditions?" "No... Not that I know of..." Atlas said. Did vampirism count? She nodded and took note of his response and went back to what she was doing beforehand.

Atlas's body flopped onto the ground like a ragdoll. Yep. He was stronger than him. He had deep cuts in his chest from the wolf's striking paw. Yet more scars. That wolf could tear him apart and Atlas knew it. He reached for his knife still laying on the ground to find it not there. It was still with his bags. All he had were hooves and that wouldn't do. @, Where was Sidewinder when you needed him? The wolf was in rage. He was acting on impulse. It should be easy to sway his rage at something else. But that wasn't Seth. That was something else. Seth was gone and another creature had taken his place. He was unpredictable. His every move was a guessing game. Atlas took the chance to limp away. Yeah the cuts hurt but he had another plan. Boom would have to hold out for a few. He began to make his way to the nearest group of ponies.

((Sorry for being so late)) Patches Patches sat on the train bound for Ponyville. All he had were some bits, a small assortment of medical items, and a book. He looked out of his window at the beautiful countryside. He was used to the big buildings of Trottingham and Canterlot. The fields of corn and grass amazed him. He snapped himself out of his stupor and went back to the book still levitating in front of him. Fallout: Equestria. He wasn't too far in but knowing him he would be done by the end of the week. The train jolted to a sudden stop. Ponyville. Just a waypoint for him now. He had nowhere to be. He stepped off the train and began to walk to the one place he knew in town. He came to the house near the edge of town. After a few seconds of digging he found the key under the doormat. It wasn't his house. It was a friends. He turned the knob and flicked on the light. The house was actually clean. Atlas must have been here recently. A quick check of the fridge confirmed he had been home in the last week. All that was in there was milk, hay, and apples. More than what was usually there. He noticed a note on the fridge as he closed it. To Hunter/Patches/Lighthooves. Whichever one of you find this I'm going to be in the Griffon Kingdom for the next month. If you need me, sorry. Anyway since none of you have anything to do I heard the Trading Festival thing is going on up north. Go to that. I'd go but Griffons are a bit pushy. Remember to take out the trash when you're done here. Hunter, if you need any of your "stuff" go talk to Zecora. She has it. ​Patches, Zecora has those medical herbs you wanted. Lighthooves, deposit ALL of the things you "misplaced" in the lockbox upstairs. I will return them to there owners. Signed, Atlas Lightfeather PS Remember to check your calendar, Hunter. I don't want to have to break you out of another Royal Guard post Normal Atlas. He still hadn't meet all of these other friends Atlas had. Maybe he'd run into them someday. At least those he could finally get those herbs. He left the house as fast as he had come and was off into the forest. Atlas's zebra friend was kind enough to leave her house unlocked with a bag clearly marked "For Patches" in the room of potions. As he trotted back into town he made a quick plan of the next few days. Stay at Atlas's place a day or so then move onto another town. Maybe get some spare bits working with the town doctors at the next town. What about that Trade thing Atlas's note had mentioned? Maybe he should head up there. When did the train going north leave? He didn't plan to be back on a train the same day but the next train north left after this one was three days from now. Oh well. He pulled back out his book. Nothing to do now but read. Lighthooves Canterlot stood in the distance. He had a ways to walk. It didn't help that he had a few more items then he had planned to have. Old habits die hard. He hadn't expected books, metal boots, and lead ball bearings to weigh that much. "Now what?" He asked himself as he trotted along. his many attempts at hitchhiking carriages had failed. His hooves hurt and his legs ached. The voice from behind him had almost made him jump to the moon. "Need a ride?" Asked the pegasus with the cart full of random items. "What?! I didn't take anything!" "'I didn't say you did... i just asked if you need a lift?" "What?" "You are alone on the second longest road in Equestria. It's a good few hours until the next town" "Yes, actually. I do" The charcoal pegasus was strapped to wooden cart full of things, mostly clocks. "Then throw your gear in the back. If you want a ride you're helping pull" With a sigh Lighthooves hooked himself up to the second hitch and began to pull the skywagon. After a few minutes they were high above the ground. "Um, where are we going exactly?" "The Traders Fair of coarse!' "The what?" "The Traders Fair! Got something to trade for another item. I've got all these spare clocks from my shop and I need to do something with them" "Alright then" "If you ain't heading that way I can drop you off at Canterlot" The clockmaker offered. "It's fine. I've got nowhere to be" He sighed again. They would be flying for awhile...