Fallout: Equestria, Project Horizons

Chapter 25: Competition

Equestria: Project Horizons
By Somber
Chapter 25: Competition
"I was gonna say 'In all of Equestria', but that might be gilding the lily."
"Psychoshy, Security," Rampage said as she gestured from the hovering yellow pegasus to me and then back again. "Security, Psychoshy. If you're going to kill each other, do it in the arena where we can all watch the show." She stepped between me and the pegasus, dragging her hoofclaws over the concrete. "Understand?" she asked in a lower, more menacing tone.
"Sure. She's not worth my time anyway," the mare said as she flicked her mane dismissively. "Her blue buck is much more interesting! See you later, Wahhhpage." With a snotty little giggle, she flew off through the store.
"Wow. I can't think of a single pony who's gone from 'complete stranger' to 'pony I need to kick the crap out of' faster than her," I groaned as I lifted myself to my hooves. Then I shuddered; my heart was beating... wrong. It hurt like it never had before, and its usual steady, paired beats had been replaced by what felt like some complicated, energetic dance. "I... I just need a second here..." I groaned again as I lowered myself back to the ground, rolled over onto my back, and listened to the irregular thudding in my ears.
"Why is it I keep meeting you when you're half dead?" Rampage asked, rolling her eyes. She grabbed the collar of my barding in her teeth and started dragging me back to Bonesaw. Hammermare was sitting on a couch, her forelegs twisting as the bent limbs were tugged back into place by his healing potions and Hydra. She didn't look all that pissed at me. Quite the contrary, actually.
"Hey, Mallet," Rampage said around my collar.
"Rampage," she said respectfully, flushing a little.
"You owe me some caps," Bonesaw said sourly as Rampage dumped me on the operating table.
My striped friend gave him a level look, and he muttered under his breath as his horn glowed and he started trying to fix the damage the chems and taint had been doing to me. "Don't worry, you old goat. You'll get paid." The old buck's grumbling died down a bit, though he still didn't look happy. Rampage popped a Mint-al into her mouth, chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then spoke. "So... what happened?"
"Long story short, went to go kill myself, ran into somepony who talked some sense into me, walked back here," I said with a half smile.
"And we couldn't have talked some sense into you? Glory was hysterical when we told her." I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. She sighed. "You're an idiot, Blackjack. Don't do that to your friends. Okay?"
"Yeah. I won't. I think I worked all that out of me." She smiled, looking relieved. I looked around. "Where are Glory and the others?"
"Glory's on the roof with Lacunae. Scotch and P-21 are in the office. I made damn sure that the ponies watching them aren't stupid." She looked over a few aisles to where Psychoshy was fluttering over a small crowd that seemed quite excited to meet the pretty pegasus psychopath. "Psychoshy wanted them taken as hostages. Since that'd get a lot of ponies killed, I told her you'd be fine coming with us to the Arena to meet Big Daddy Reaper."
My heartbeat was stabilizing even as the ache in my chest grew. That Hydra had been a bad idea. Knit ribs didn't help when the rest of me felt like it was falling apart. Rampage arched a brow. "Are you fine with coming with us? Because I really don't want to call Cuffs over here."
To be honest, this was so far out of left field that I didn't know how exactly I felt about it. "Some explanation would help. What's going on?"
Rampage sighed. "You remember when you killed Gorgon? Well, he was one of us. Gorgon the Stonegaze. Not really all that popular. One of Sanguine's ponies. He left three months ago to help with production at Brimstone's Fall. Then, two weeks ago, we find out from DJ Pon3 that the mine's been liberated. A few questions later and we found out it was liberated by a mare who killed Gorgon all by herself. So Big Daddy sent me to find you."
"Why me? I'm not interested in joining the Reapers."
"Yeah. I figured as much, but you have to understand that the Reapers survive by being the biggest, baddest gang in the Hoof. If there's a pony strong enough to kill our own, we want them as a Reaper. If they won't join, then we come down on them hard. We just can't let powerful ponies get away to start rival operations." The striped pony rubbed her nose. "I figured out pretty quickly, though, that you weren't all that big a threat of becoming a rival. If you'd stayed in Flank, maybe you might have been, in time. But that didn't work out."
I groaned and closed my eyes. "I still don't follow. You're not here to kill me, so..."
Rampage sighed again, this time in annoyance. "Great. Well, it's about history, and I'm not much of a history teacher. You can ask Big Daddy to explain it."
"Come on. At least give me the abbreviated version?" I asked, then winced as something inside me squirmed. Oh, I really hoped that it was supposed to do that.
Rampage rolled her eyes. "A while back, there was a group of six ponies that tried to clean up Hoofington. They went from one end of the city to the other, and, believe it or not, Hoofington was even worse back then. Big Daddy was one of them: the biggest, toughest, meanest pony ever to wander the Wasteland... if you listen to his version."
I winced as I felt... something... inside me move in response to Bonesaw's magic. "You're done," he said as he nudged me off the table. "Next!"
I slipped off, feeling... 'better' wasn't quite accurate. 'Intact' worked. My insides felt like a bowl of giant leeches. I did not want to imagine what they looked like. Maybe they were like rotten loops of guts with... ugh, stupid brain. "What happened to them?"
"They split up. Not really sure why," Rampage said, giving me a significant look. Probably because one of them ran off to do something foolish like killing themselves. "After that, Awesome crowned himself King Awesome of Hoofington, Crunchy Carrots went back to Manehattan and came back with a whole slew of Steel Rangers, Keeper went his own way to set up the trade routes around the city, and the professor established the Eggheads over at the university." She rubbed her chin. "There was a sixth, but I dunno what happened to her."
Six friends? Why'd that make my mane all twitchy? Right; that didn't matter now. I'd stalled long enough. Unless the Reapers or somepony were going to ambush me... I had to do this. "Where's Glory again?" I said as I stood... well, lurched to my hooves. Goddesses, I was tired. It'd been a hell of a night. Rampage walked towards a metal staircase that led up to the roof and nodded her head at it.
"Word of advice: she still loves you," Rampage said softly, then added, "Oh, and word of warning: if Psychoshy or anypony else finds out I've been giving relationship advice, I'll have to kick a lot of ass. Including yours."
"Thanks." I paused, fighting the urge to yawn as I looked at her. "You're not mad at me?"
She smiled and shook her head. "I know what it's like to find life unbearable. I'm just glad you found a way to bear it." She patted my shoulder. "But if you ever do that to your friends again, I'll consider it a form of suicide and squeeze you in half." She gave a grin and a wink. "So just keep that in mind next time you plan on leaving a note behind."
"Right," I said with a little nod before making my way up the stairs. Funny, but after riding a dragon and a pegasus, the drop to the floor of Megamart... was still enough to make my insides squirm. Wasn't I supposed to eventually get used to things like this? I clambered through the hatch to the roof and the rain. A number of metal crates had been converted into shelters for the vendors who worked below.
Lacunae and Glory were with two more Reapers. I couldn't say they were the best guards, as both mares were locked in a hoofwrestling contest, but at least neither Glory nor Lacunae seemed to be threatened by the two. Glory lay curled up as tightly as when I'd seen her trapped in that stove. What an unbearable shit I am. I didn't deserve her, and she didn't deserve this.
I approached quietly, the two guards barely acknowledging my presence as I walked slowly towards the little gray pegasus. Lacunae's dark purple eyes followed me though the Hoofington drizzle, her magic deflecting the cold spray from both of them. "You broke her heart, Blackjack," was all she whispered in my head as I sat down beside Glory. I reached out and ran my hoof gently along that splendid amethyst mane and down to the graceful curves of her wings.
"Yeah," I murmured softly. "'Cause I'm an idiot." Looking back, I couldn't believe what I'd nearly done. To myself, my friends... her.
She stirred and opened one bloodshot, puffy lavender eye. "Blackjack?" she whispered, looking at me. Fear and hope mixed in one terrible note.
I took a slow breath. This wasn't going to be pretty. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" she whispered as she slowly rose. Clearly, I was not the only pony who had been up all night. "Sorry?" Her body trembled and her lip quivered, then she hung her head. Purple mane hid her face. "You... I... you come back and..." She lifted her head again and glared at me. "Blackjack, you... you..." I sighed as she flapped her wings hard enough to lift herself off her hooves and then brought both of her forelegs down on my head with a cry of "Idiot!"
Lacunae rose, and the two guards broke off their match to watch the show. The alicorn in the lacy funeral dress looked coldly down at both of them. "Um... we're supposed to... watch?" Then they flinched and trotted off for the stairs, Lacunae accompanying them, as Glory pummeled every inch of my body she could reach.