Pandemonium

The entire area around Circus was plunged into chaotic warfare. Many of the combatants bore Laughingstock armour, others wore whatever they could as a substitute for barding, while a third group was enclosed in protective power armour. The two latter groups were attacking the former. The sheer amount of enemies and friendlies caused E.F.S. to turn into a bar of red with a few patches of green.

We had rushed to the aid of Circus, though our efforts had little impact compared to the power that both sides possessed. The raiders had their sheer numbers, the rangers had their power armour and powerful weaponry, and the Laughingstocks had their ‘freaky abilities’ as Razor called them.

I watched the battle for a brief moment as we got closer.

Stoneface, the mud colored earth pony buck that had escorted us around Circus, was on the front lines, beating raiders to death with his own bare hooves. He wore a battle saddle, but I assumed the ammo to it had run out long ago. Occasionally, he would be hit by a bullet from one of the raiders, but that didn’t do much to him. I saw that he wasn’t a regular pony. He was made of stone.

His body cracked where the bullets hit, but even when they pierced him, no blood was ever spilled. Dust would swirl around the wound and begin to seal it. “Gah, I hate it when I get shot!” he shouted in anger. He could apparently feel pain, as he winced each time a bullet hit him.

The small caliber weaponry of the raiders did little than cause a spiderweb of cracks to form along the outer layer of his body, occasional perforations caused by bullets dotted the cracks. A dust cloud swirled around him as he continued to reform and heal.

KRAKOW!

The cannon shot of an anti-machine rifle roared out as the round tore through his earthen skull (did he even have a skull?) causing his head to shatter and fragment into many pieces. I feared that he had been killed, but the dust cloud continued to swirl as the chunks of missing stone reassembled. Stoneface was a tough pony to kill, and those hooves of stone packed a punch, smashing open raiders with ease.

Suddenly, a loud, roaring boom tore through the battlefield. I looked over to see several raiders go flying through the air, their ears and eyes bleeding, a few had their limbs bent in unnatural ways. The ringing in my ears subsided, and I noticed the cause of the disruption; the familiar unicorn with the chalkboard still tied around his neck.

Reverb opened his mouth as another small group of raiders charged him. The resulting noise was so powerful, I could see the air move because of the force behind it as it slammed into the enemies, tearing into them with such power that it broke bones and caused their ears and eyes to bleed. Reverb started cackling, sending bursts of sonic waves into the enemy ranks, quickly decimating a few that were unlucky enough to be hit head on. The Laughingstock wasn’t bluffing; he was hardly mute, his voice could kill.

The red mare moved between the enemies with such grace. Stopwatch dispatched enemies with speed and precision, her reaction speed was astounding. I recalled Stoneface explaining that she experienced time at a slower pace. This must have been what granted her these abilities.

She was as dead accurate as Razor was, maybe even more. Her rifle fired at one of the Steel Rangers, missing the body of the pony, but hitting the rocket that was in their launcher, detonating it and the rest of their ammo, killing the ranger and his allies around him.

Next to her fell a dead griffin, clad in what looked to be a griffin version of the Steel Ranger power armour. I looked up to the sky to witness a sight I thought I would never see; an alicorn. The large winged pony flew through the sky, dodging the attacks of his foes. He had a white coat, but a forest green mane, unlike any alicorn I had heard of before. A few griffins and pegasi flew around him, some friend, some foe. One pegasus foe tried to fire at him with a magical rifle, but the alicorn dove down to avoid the blast, then rose up swiftly and fired a green bolt that appeared to be made of pure magic into the body of the offending pegasus, sending them plummeting to their death.

“That...would be Illex,” declared the young Laughingstock. I was speechless at this revelation, but I quickly regained my senses as another raider started shooting at me.

I brought my revolver out, and swung it to the offending raider, but I quickly saw their head explode into a mass of blood, bone fragments, brain matter, streamers...and balloons? I heard a maddened cackling that could only come from the insane gang leader known as Glasgow Smile. I looked over and saw him holding a strange revolver in his mouth while he laughed like crazy. The revolver fired with a loud...kazoo sound? The muzzle of the weapon flashed with the gunshot...and released confetti? Ok, what the hell?

“The Party Cannon MK. II, Smile’s personal sidearm. An enchantment on the weapon causes it to fire explosive rounds, no matter the ammo type loaded. Of course, the explosions that result are..strange.”

“Who would design something like that?” I shouted in pure confusion.

“A crazy pony maybe?”

Although the small weapon was incredibly disturbing, I couldn’t dispute the devastation that it brought. But despite all the power that many of the Laughingstocks possessed, they made little impact in the raider numbers, and the Steel Rangers were still powerful adversaries.

I heard a familiar crackling of energy, and I looked over to see a lightning bolt fly through the air and connect with one of the Steel Rangers, causing them to fall to the ground, powerless. I looked over to see myself cheering, wearing barding that many of the Laughingstocks wore..

“Take that, you ruffians!” shouted Volt in triumph. His horn began glowing with light grey energy as he prepared another lightning bolt.

Okay, enough admiring the powerful ponies, time to join the fight. I ran onto the battlefield, the cart still trailing behind me. My horn crackled with the same spell volt had cast not seconds earlier. I picked a target, a Steel Ranger that was preoccupied mowing down a group of Laughingstocks with his minigun, and fired. The charged up spell leapt from my horn to his power armour, killing the spell matrix, possibly killing him. Either way, that was one enemy that was dealt with for the moment.

I heard the familiar firing of an anti-machine rifle, this time coming from the back of the cart. Razor was too injured to be running around and fighting, but she was still a force to be reckoned with. Besides, when a sniper has a good vantage point of the battle, they don’t really need to be running. Can Opener was floating in her yellow magic. She had at some point learned how to account for the kickback of the powerful weapon, as it didn’t go flying out of her grasp. The round she fired punched through the skull of a ranger.

Pin was gliding over the battlefield, her custom pistol in her jaws fired a few syringes at small groups of raiders. A few of the raiders fell to the ground as the poison started to take effect, killing them seconds later. One of the Iron Hoof griffins took notice of the devastation she brought to the land based enemies, and swooped after her.

Pin was a very graceful flyer, but she was still recovering from a broken wing. The griffin, however, was a mercenary that likely had years of flying experience, and a powerful shotgun in his talons. I doubted that she would be able to evade the powerful flyer for long.

“Damnit!” I shouted as I noticed that S.A.T.S. had such a low chance of hitting the aerial enemy. The shot missed the griffin entirely. “You win this time, probability!”

The griffin fired a few shots at the small pegasus, but Pin was nothing if she wasn’t agile. She dodged the shotgun slugs with ease, firing her syringe pistol in return. Many of the syringes shattered on contact with the griffin’s armour, other simply bounced off, but I noticed as a few hit their mark. She just had to keep dodging until the enemy finally succumbed to the poison.

I gasped as one of the slugs hit her in the side. I wasn’t sure how badly she was injured, but it knocked her out of the sky. I rushed to her position, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to catch her in time.

I sighed in relief as I watched her be enveloped in a green aura, slowing her descent until she was floating in the air. The Laughingstock alicorn soared over to our area, his horn glowing green as the injured pegasus floated behind her. The griffin tried to chase after the two, but he grasped at his chest and gave a screech, though it was more like a squawk. His wings twitched and then stopped flapping, sending him plummeting to his death, but he was dead before he even hit the ground. Pin only had to hit once to get her kill.

“Tell her to stay out of the air unless she can handle a dogfight!” shouted Illex as he set the injured mare down next to me. He then turned and dashed back into the air.

I levitated out a healing potion and Pin quickly downed the contents. The slug hadn’t breached her barding, but I knew it still caused a lot of damage. She looked up at me with a half smile, and then rose back into the air. Her face quickly turned to a frown. “Damnit, I dropped my pistol!” she grumbled.

I levitated one of the spare pistols over to her. It was the only thing I think that she could wield unless she had a battle saddle. She bit down on the handle and flew back to the fight.

I began charging up another blast of lightning bolt. I took aim at the nearest ranger and fired the bolt at him. The electricity arced on his metal armour, but he remained upright. Only now did I notice the yellow stripe on his shoulder.

“Delta!” I shouted in warning as he fired a rocket in our direction. Razor jolted as I pulled the cart away from the explosion, the shock waves still hit the wagon hard, toppling it over, and knocking me over with it. “Gah, get me unhooked!” I shouted at Razor. The harness glowed yellow as it became unhooked. I rose back up and levitated the revolver out.

The Delta was charging at us, another rocket was loaded in his launcher. He could survive the blast, we likely wouldn’t. I fired at the metalclad pony, but the shots pinged off him. Not good. Think, Wire, think! There must be a weak point or someplace I can hit to stop him. Wait, stop...Stopwatch!

I kicked on S.A.T.S. and found my target. I hoped that the targeting spell was as accurate as the Laughingstock had been. The last shot in the revolver fired, sending the bullet straight at the Delta...only, I wasn’t aiming for him. The bullet hit the mark dead on, the rocket in the silo. The payload of the missile exploded, destroying the launcher, but more importantly taking a chunk out of the ranger’s side. The ranger fell to the ground, bleeding heavily from the giant wound, though I doubted that he had any life left to bleed out.

“Ha!” I cheered. The celebration was largely premature. Unlike the other two Deltas I encountered, this one wasn’t in charge of the battle. No, their leader was something much worse.

An explosion of a gunshot, louder than Can Opener times ten, sounded across the battlefield. This noise could give Reverb a run for his caps. Roughly a third of the ponies on the battlefield turned to the source of a noise. The monster was a thing of nightmares.

The creature was large, much larger than even a hellhound. Horns grew from its head, though they were unlike unicorn horns, they were on the sides of his head and curved upward. At least, one did. The other was broken off halfway down. The monstrosity wore what looked like a patchwork of Steel Ranger armour, mixed with armour that was pure black. In its hands (not hooves, hands) it held what looked like a much larger version of an anti-machine rifle. The cannon it held fired again, creating a powerful explosion where the round hit, decimating many ponies, Laughingstock and raiders alike.

“Um, Whisper...please tell me that thing is on our side,” I muttered.

“No, that is Bronze, one of the leaders of the Iron Hoof. He’s a freaking minotaur with a tank barrel for a gun and power armour. We’re screwed.” Well, that was reassuring.

“I got this!” shouted Razor from beside the fallen cart. She levitated Can Opener in front of her, and fired. Now, Razor may be the best sniper pony I know, but even she isn’t a miracle worker. The round hit the monst-Minotaur square in the head. The round pierced the helmet, but I didn’t do much else.

It momentarily recoiled from the hit, but it stayed alive. The cannon in its hands fired again as it seemingly shrugged off an anti-machine rifle to the head. The shot did alert it to our position, and it made it a little angry.

“Great, you just pissed it off!” I shouted as I picked her up in my magic and started running. Whisper was running beside me, managing to keep up.

The explosion was larger than any rocket that had been fired at me, larger than any grenade I have seen thrown. How we escape with our lives is a miracle, but the shrapnel from the blast embedded in my back, Razor was hit badly as well as she fell out of my grasp. Whisper was knocked to the ground, a large gash in his side with a few cuts had appeared.

No, can’t die here. I rose to my hooves and dug out healing potions. Shit, only two. I looked at the bleeding colt. I limped over to him and pulled out the pieces I could see, then I forced him to drink the restorative brew. I limped over to Razor next. She had a few pieces lodged in her side as well.

“No...you dumbass. You drink it,” she struggled to say. She was a lot worse off than me, especially since she had already been injured earlier.

“No, you need it more than I do,” I replied. I would be fine...I hope. I didn’t want to lose another friend.

I removed the stopper from the bottle and poured the contents down her throat. She tried to resist, but she eventually drank the potion.

Unfortunately, the enemy was not going to give us much time to doctor our wounds. A small band of raiders started charging at us. Razor levitated out her regular rifle, I pulled out the shotgun, and Whisper had his little revolver in his teeth. We wouldn’t go down without a fight, which the raiders soon learned.

The shotgun was hardly accurate, but the buckshot peppered them with the pellets, causing a few injuries as the rifle and revolver finished them off. The shotgun’s true potential shined when one of the raiders managed to get close to me with a combat knife in his teeth and an empty battle saddle on his back. I put a shot directly in his chest, bursting it open. Bits of his corpse flew in every direction as he exploded into a shower of blood. Messy.

The shrapnel wounds were starting to get the better of me as I limped backwards in an attempt to escape the oncoming raider while I popped fresh shells into the chamber. I could feel the bits of metal tearing away inside my back and my legs. I needed a medic.

“Pin!” I shouted out. I had no idea where she was, I didn’t even know if she was still alive in the chaos. If she was alive, then she couldn’t hear me. I shouted again in vain.

“Damnit, there are just too many of em!” Razor shouted as she dropped the empty rifle to the ground and brought out the rocket launcher. We had taken out a lot of the raiders, even a few rangers, but for every one we killed, another two took its place.

A deafening roar tore through the raiders that were attacking us. I looked over to see Reverb charging at us. He opened his jaws again in a shout and knocked the last of the raiders in front of us away. He stood next to me, his magic writing out a message on his board. “Are you okay?” it said.

“Ugh, I need healing potions. And I have a ton of shrapnel in my back.”

He took a syringe out of his pack and levitated it in front of me. “Sorry, all I have,” his board read. I held it in my magic as he dashed off into the enemy ranks. I looked at the drug he gave me; Hydra.

I saw how powerful this thing was, it could easily take out the shards of metal that were buried in me and close the wound. But Needles said that this stuff was dangerous, even if you weren’t a cyber pony. I regretted remembering these things, but I made a decision. Dying of tumors and hideous growths later would be better than dying of bloodloss now. I stabbed the needle into my leg and almost immediately felt the drug take effect.

Shrapnel forced its way to the top layer of skin, tearing it open and dropping out. The wounds quickly sealed behind the pieces of metal. I felt all the various cuts I had diminish and close. I felt a large piece of metal tear its way to the surface of my flank, flesh had long since formed over it. I had completely forgot about that bullet. Hydra likely saved my life, I just hoped it didn’t cost me it as well.

I surveyed the battlefield for a quick moment. Dead bodies covered the wasteland, while living ones fought over them. Both sides had sustained heavy casualties, but neither side was intending to give up yet. The raiders still had several dozen of their combatants left, and the rangers hadn’t lost very many of their soldiers. The Laughingstocks were powerful, but fewer in numbers, and the numbers they had were dwindling.

I picked up my revolver, put fresh rounds in the chamber, and continued fighting. A few of the raiders had picked themselves up after their encounter with Reverb, though many of them were bleeding heavily from various internal injuries. Those that could drank potions to heal the wounds, those that couldn’t fought on in pain. Even when close to death, they wouldn’t give up. That is, until they actually died.

I opened fire at the raiders. Razor had managed to get her rifle reloaded and dropped two of the closest attackers. Whisper was firing at them as well, though he was not nearly as effective as we were; partially due to his inexperience, partially due to his lack of telekinesis to aid him in fighting.

The battlefield proved to be harsh terrain to be fighting on. Aside from the continually forming craters, there was little cover provided. We managed to take cover behind a big rock, though a direct rocket would likely reduce it to rubble and reduce us to bloodstains on the wasteland. It still protected us from the bullets that were flying at us. Mostly...

A bullet grazed my side. The round was powerful enough to tear through the barding that it came in contact with. I was lucky it didn’t hit me dead on, but it created a major gash as it contacted flesh. I was amazed as I watched the wound begin to close at a rapid rate. The wonder drug was still in effect. I fired the small but powerful weapon at the raider that had shot at me. The bullet sunk into her neck, almost severing her head.

A Laughingstock pegasus slammed to the ground next to us, breaking his neck in the fall. He died as he hit, if he wasn’t dead already. I took a second to examine him. He was one of the Laughingstocks that had been affected by Killing Joke, the blood that spilled out of him was green in color, and it sizzled as it ate through the ground it came in contact with. Acidic blood, how anypony could even survive that was beyond me, though I knew it likely wasn’t an enjoyable survival.

I cautiously backed away from the growing puddle of caustic liquid. It seemed like almost every Laughingstock must be suffering from their curse, whether it be physically or mentally. The nameless pony started dissolving because of his own blood, as whatever magic kept him from being eaten by the acid previously had ceased its function with his death. Before his body had been completely disintegrated, I noticed a peculiar scar where his cutie mark should have been; it resembled a cloud with a lightning bolt beneath it. It looked to have been burnt into his flesh by magical means. A result of Killing Joke maybe?

The ground next to me exploded into a cloud of dust. I leapt back and glanced to the sky. A raider pegasus hovered in the air, a pair of rifles attached to his saddle clicked as they expelled the spent casings. Fresh rounds popped into the chamber with the aid of an auto-loader.

S.A.T.S. had proven itself to not be very useful against flying foes, as they were often flying quickly, and there were many directions in which they could dodge. Of course, when the target flew in place, they tended to be an easy target. Both shots of the revolver hit their mark; one in the wing screwed up his aim, the other in his head to finish him. I grimaced at the memory of how Pin had been shot in the wing, but quickly cleared it from my head. Getting emotional would only get me killed.

I looked over to the city that we were defending. Smoke was rising from a few of the buildings, likely the result of artillery fire. There were many Laughingstocks running out of the town, while others carried their injured allies inside the protective walls. The band of mercenaries and bounty hunters had managed to keep their enemy away from the settlement, but their hold was faltering under the continued advances of the enemy. The Iron Hoof seemed to care little for the growing amount of dead and injured, instead they continued to throw more of their soldiers at their opponents.

The battle in the air fared no better, as pegasi and griffins of both sides clashed and fell to their deaths. Though the griffins were fewer in number, they were still powerful combatants. Occasionally, I would see the green magic of the Laughingstock alicorn flash in the cloud filled sky.

Another explosion rumbled across the battlefield. Bronze had fired his cannon again, this time taking out a large group of Laughingstocks and raiders that were fighting.

“Can that thing be stopped?” questioned Razor as she levitated Can Opener in front of herself again. The powerful rifle fired at the creature, this time clipping a shoulder. It dropped the weapon for a second as it grabbed at the wounded arm. Somehow, she had managed to find an opening in its armour. The minotaur turned to us and lifted his weapon. “Not happening!” shouted Razor as she fired again at the beast. The shot hit an area of exposed flesh on his other arm. The creature recoiled from the injury, dropping the weapon again.

“Hit it again!” I shouted as I took down a raider that had tried to attack Razor.

KRAKOW!

The beast went down as the shot hit one of its legs, which were small for a creature that size. It was still alive, but the continued shots had crippled its limbs. Then something terrible happened.

Click.

“Shit!” shouted Razor. She ran out of ammo for the powerful rifle. She repeated it many times as she dug in her pack. “I’m out of ammo!”

The Minotaur rose back up, though it was clear that Razor had severely wounded it. A small group of Steel Rangers stood by him, despite the distance between us, I recognized the yellow stripe that adorned the shoulders of a few of them. The Deltas appeared to be conversing with Bronze for a short moment.

My attention shifted to more immediate threats. While I had been paying attention to the enemy leaders, a small group of raiders decided to attack us. A pistol round biting into my barding brought my attention to them. I brought the revolver up to meet them. Click. Out of ammo.

I ducked behind the rock and dropped the revolver into my pack. In its place, I brought out the shotgun. I wouldn’t get a chance to fire it at these enemies, as the erupted into a cloud of dust, blood, and smoke. Above me, a griffin with bizarre golden feathers gave a small cheer as she put fresh grenades into her launcher. She caught my gaze, gave a wink, and flew off. I was a bit shocked by this display, but I quickly regained my senses when more Iron Hoof soldiers started firing at us. We were soon pinned behind the rock by a Steel Ranger with a minigun.

“Get his attention on the other side,” I commanded to Razor.

“Gotcha,” she replied as she levitated a large rock in her magic. She popped her head to the side of our cover and flung the large stone at the ranger. It connected with her helmet with a loud ping. The ranger shouted something in return, but it was quickly drowned out by the crackling that resulted when the bolt of energy hit her power armour. She flopped to the ground with a clatter, still shouting profanities from inside the metal covering.

I looked around again. The battlefield was changing drastically. More and more raiders fell, even the Steel Rangers took major hits to their numbers. The Laughingstocks had also lost many of their combatants, but they kept their hold on the city. They might just be able to withstand the attack.

A bullet slammed into my barding, puncturing it and causing the bullet to sink into my shoulder. I winced in pain, but the bullet dug itself out. The wound sealed as the round fell to the ground. I looked over at the pony that had shot at me, only to see him collide with a diving pegasus; our dark colored medic.

The raider was knocked over by the hit, but quickly tried to rise up. Pin didn’t give him a chance to, as she pressed her forelegs onto his side, preventing him from escaping. She raised her wing and bit down on a syringe that was concealed within it. She plunged the needle into his side, sending the vile concoction into his bloodstream. He struggled for a few seconds, trying to kick the small mare off of him, but he eventually ceased moving.

She looked over at me and glided across the battlefield between us. “Are you okay?” she exclaimed. “I saw him shoot you, and...and I saw the blood...”

“I’m okay, calm down,” I responded.

“But...how? I didn’t see you drink a potion or anything.”

“Hydra,” I replied grimly. She looked traumatized, though whether it was from worry for me or from the memory, I wasn’t sure. She simply nodded. “Razor and Whisper are hurt, hit with shrapnel from the minotaur’s cannon. I dug out what I could, but a lot of it is still embedded in them. I gave them potions, but the injuries are starting to reopen.”

“Quit worrying about me, I’ll be fine!” Razor shouted as she took down another raider with her regular rifle.

“Just hold out a little longer, the Iron Hoof is starting to retreat. That minotaur and his Deltas have already left the raiders,” said Pin. I glanced over at the area where the enemy leaders were gathered. Sure enough, Bronze and the Deltas were gone.

The raiders had either begun to flee or continued to fight. Without their leaders, the Iron Hoof soldiers had lost their coordination, some had even lost the will to fight. The Rangers escaped from the fight as well, though some were still firing at the Laughingstocks to provide covering fire for their allies. Even though the Steel Rangers, and by extension the Iron Hoof, were a group of murderous ponies, they showed that they had remarkable tactical skill when in combat.

“Let’s give them the last push we need to take them down!” I shouted, rallying my companions and a few of the Laughingstocks around me. A few of the Laughingstocks were poorly equipped for battle, no better than some of the raiders. Their barding looked like it couldn’t even stop a pistol round, let alone any of the firepower the rangers were packing. Their weapons were anything that they could use against the onslaught of raiders. These weren’t Laughingstocks, these were the poor ponies of Circus, all united in their desire to protect their home.

The real Laughingstocks wore barding that was just short of being power armour, though some opted for lighter versions of it. Many of them had battled saddles with powerful rifles and shotguns attached, one even had a minigun on it. The small group, little more than a dozen ponies, gathered and charged the last of the raiders.

The raiders wore their typical barding, a mishmash of whatever scraps they could piece together into some form of protection. Their weapons were somewhat more advanced than usual raider armaments, several wielded rifles and shotguns, some even had box shaped guns that fired magic beams, but many of them still wielded makeshift melee weapons. I guess siding with the Iron Hoof did have a few perks. Aside from their weapons, the raiders still had their numerical advantage. There were roughly two dozen of them, possibly more.

One of the raiders ran to meet our assault. He wore strange barding, much more protective than most of the other raiders. His battle saddle was a peculiar one, both sides held a strange pipe, both of which were connected to a large canister on his back. He leapt at us, bullets pinged off his armour. Flames erupted from both barrels of the weapon, engulfing many of the Laughingstocks in fire. The raider cackled madly as he burned through many of his opponents.

“Shit, he’s on Stampede!” shouted Razor as she fired a round into his shoulder. The raider seemed to ignore the wound that would have otherwise crippled him. Stampede was one of the combat drugs used before the war. Razor had told me that they somehow resurfaced in the wasteland. Stampede was one of the tougher drugs, creating blood crazed soldiers that had no sense of pain. I wasn’t really sure how she knew so much about all these drugs.

My revolver punched a few holes in him, but a combination of his tough barding and the chems coursing through his veins made him shrug off the injuries. The flames rolled across my sides as I tried to leap out of the way of the flame. My barding wasn’t designed to be heat resistant, in fact, it seemed to catch the fire and heat up. I burned badly, but I didn’t catch on fire. Other, more unfortunate souls couldn’t say the same.

The last bullet from my revolver pinged against the canister. I had tried to shoot him in the head, but S.A.T.S. missed the shots, even at so close of a range. A hissing sound came from the tank, I noticed a hole had formed in the metal. Gas! That was how the flamethrower functioned, it expelled gas which was then caught on fire as it left the weapon. But if the fire went back into the fuel source...

“Worth a shot,” I declared.

My horn crackled with the light grey aura as electricity began to build up. I decided to try something. I kicked on S.A.T.S. and saw that I could use the targeting spell to direct the offensive spell. I picked my target; the canister on his back. Only after the lightning bolt fired from my horn did I realize that this would result in an explosion.

I tried to escape the blast, but I was caught by the flames and the force. The raider was obliterated while I was knocked back by the blast. I felt my legs bend in unnatural ways, bones inside them snapped and cracked. Shrapnel embedded into me.

Then the wounds fixed themselves almost as quickly as they appeared. The hydra was still working even though it had been a few minutes since the injection. The shrapnel dug itself out, the burns healed themselves, even the broken bones realigned and knitted back together. My pain was numbed some, but I was still hurting a lot.

The explosion has taken out a few of the raiders that had started attacking with the flamer raider. Unfortunately, it also took out a Laughingstock and two of the citizens. Many others were injured by the explosion as well.

The raiders soon crumbled under the remaining defenders of Circus. I didn’t have much time to celebrate the victory. I didn’t even see the sniper, nor did I hear the blast. I watched as a spray of blood gushed in front of me, then I felt the immense pain in my neck as the sniper’s bullet tore through the soft tissue, shredding the veins.

I collapsed on the ground in pain. The hydra seemed to have run out, as the damage wasn’t repairing itself. Or maybe the injury was too much for hydra to repair. Either way, I lied on the ground, slowly bleeding to death.

I heard shouts around me, but I couldn’t understand them. My vision was blurring, though I could see shapes moving around me in panic. I felt syringes dig into my flesh. My neck was wrapped in some kind of cloth, tightly. I felt claws dig into my sides as I was lifted up into the air.

I tried to look over to my side, a blurry black shape glided by me. I recognized Pin’s voice, though I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

Then everything went dark.
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Footnote: Level Up.
New Perk: Stable Shot-Your attacks are smooth, graceful and precise. You have a higher chance to score a critical hit on an opponent in combat, equivalent to 5 extra points of Luck.
Quest Perk: Friend of the Laughingstocks- You came to the aid of Circus when they needed it most. You are now a welcome member of the Laughingstocks. Friendly Laughingstocks will aid you in combat, some may even follow you. Unique dialog options when talking to citizens of Circus and Laughingstocks. Unfortunately, this also means more hostile encounters with the Iron Hoof.
Reputation with Laughingstocks is now set as Liked
Reputation with the Iron Hoof in now set as Hated

(I would like to thank Kkat for writing Fallout Equestria, one of the best stories I have read, and I would like to thank Somber for writing Project Horizons, another great tale. I would also like to thank Melon Hunter for reviewing the chapter and submitting suggestions.)