Breakneck grunted quietly as he dug his hooves into the dirt, pushing as hard as he could and struggling against the almost overpowering force of gravity pulling down on the caravan as he tried to heave it up the hill. His harness dug into his sides, surely going to leave a blister if he wasn't careful, and his muscles ached. Still, he fought on, scrambling slowly up the slope.

Normally such an incline would have been avoided but Breakneck was, with Blue sleeping inside, more nervous than usual. He wasn't worried for himself—he'd dealt with more than enough dangers to know that he could keep safe—but he was unsure as to whether he could protect the mare at the same time. The valleys around mountains were known as one of the most popular residences for mad'uns, and until she was able to stand on her own two hooves Breakneck didn't feel comfortable with putting her in danger. She was his only companion, perhaps the only one he'd ever get, so her value to him was great.

Letting out a small breath as he managed to find a foothold, he then gritted his teeth and pushed, his thighs burning and his head swimming, his entire body feeling weak. He snarled quietly at the pain but continued on, his gaze focused on the peak of the hill which was so close now, yet so hard to reach; feeling a renewed desire to reach that peak and rest, he strained and pulled as much as he possibly could, nearly falling on his muzzle as he leaned forwards. Then, after so much exertion that he wasn't sure he'd even be able to even find the energy to breathe afterwards, he felt the caravan's creaking wheels turning, the vehicle creeping forwards, and he continued on, focusing on that beautiful resting point.

Damned genes, he thought to himself bitterly, fighting off tears from the effort. A grown stallion—especially an "outsider" stallion such as himself—didn't let emotions or pain get the better of them. In fact, a true outsider would appreciate the distress; after all, pain means that you're still alive. Where's the earth strength when ya need it? Peering up at the peak once more, he sighed loudly—just two more metres, that's all—and closed his eyes, arching his neck as he forced himself to trot slowly, pushing off with much more force with each step. He never had trouble usually, but now that he'd been walking uphill for nearly ten minutes, he felt as if he'd run a marathon. In fact, he felt worse; racing was his forte, hiking… Not so much.

“Jus’… one… hoof… at… a… time…” he whispered, trying to find some long-forgotten energy reserve to help him up the ascent. “Clip, clop, clip… clop… Nnghh… I’m gonna… need a ten hour kip after this.” Shaking off that alluring thought—to get just a few hours of solid sleep without having one’s neck slit open was an achievement—he trudged on, wondering if he’d ever reach the top, or if he’d spend the next few days just straining to move, but never getting anywhere. “Dammit, Blue—ya’d better be better by the time we get ta the next hill, ‘cause if I’m gonna have ta go over one again I might jus’ keel over.”

“It’s a good thing I’m tougher than I look, then.”

“Wha-” Breakneck stopped pulling momentarily, his harness slackening heavenly as he looked behind himself, hearing a small squeak as he did so. “Blue, what-”

“I said I’m tougher than you think, but I didn’t say strong!” the mare squeaked, a little too loudly for comfort for any pony experienced in life in the ravaged Equestria, but Breakneck was reasonably comfortable in the fact that there would be few mad’uns—or any other foes, for that matter—so high up. Few ponies would ever tackle such a slope on their travels, given the difficulty of doing so (even without a small caravan to tow), so even the most animalistic of mad’uns would know to just hang around the base. Travellers usually took their chances at taking that route; more dangerous, but with much more nutritious food to be found and plenty of opportunities to snoop through the mad’uns’ hoards of junk, because every now and then you could come across the jackpot; a gun. A rare find in Equestria; considering how rare disharmony had been before the original outbreak, there had been little use for guns other than for the guards. There were the odd ponies who made guns nowadays, of course, but all the major equipment for survival was donated by the princesses Celestia and Luna in Canterlot; as rulers of the broken kingdom, they understandably didn’t want it falling into even more chaos. So, alas, guns were not often given out.

"Sorry!" Breakneck called back in a quieter voice, hastening to pull once more. With the help of Blue from behind, the caravan moved at a somewhat steadier pace; it still took a good minute to move it up the metre or two of incline, but that was faster than before.

Panting as he unhooked his harness, Breakneck sighed as he walked around to the side of the caravan, plopping down on the floor next to it and looking out across the world. For such an awful, deadly place, it was teasingly idyllic; flowers, bright and large, grew all over, and much of the land was covered in lush green grass. That would be good, if only the plants wouldn't try to strangle you if you ate them, something which made trying to grab a bite to eat a tad difficult at times. But, as Breakneck had learned through years of trying to survive, if you were hungry enough you'd take that risk.

"Really, Breakneck, you're supposed to be stronger than me!" Blue said with a laugh as she trotted up to him, looking exhausted with her wings dragging through the dirt, picking up muck as she went, but exhilirated the whole time too. " You're a stallion, and an earth pony to boot! I'm just a weak little Pegasus mare."

"This stallion," Breakneck began, nudging her shoulder teasingly, "had ta drag ya all the way up here. I think I'm allowed ta be cut some slack."

"You're still an earth pony, though; you can heave stuff around for miles!"

"Ah, you're not quite right there." Breakneck said, shifting a little guiltily and taking a momentary glance down at his shoulders. "I'm no earth pony." Blue frowned his words but just shrugged, not questioning it—he was probably somewhat mad, most ponies in this drafted place were—and instead she stood up unsteadily and walked over to the front of the caravan.

She wasn't used to this much exertion.

Flopping back down on the floor as soon as she reached a vantage point—she was much too shaky to stand for long, exhilaration in her blood or not—she scanned the surrounding area, smiling. "This is a nice spot," she remarked, before looking down at the ground and noting how much brown was on the floor. Spying a few small blades of grass at her hoof, she greedily gobbled them up—they were rather bitter but edible at least—and then turned to her companion. "Why don't you just stay here? There doesnt seem to be any mad'uns or anything; it's nice."

"Much too cold in winter. 'Sides—" Breakneck gently nudged about a small pebble in the dirt, smiling at the simplicity and sheer brilliance of resting. Blue wouldn't be able to appreciate that for a while yet; a few weeks of living out here and she'd surely recognise the amazingness of simply doing nothing, though. Hard as it was to get up the hill, it was almost worth it for the unusual respite from fear. "There isn't much food here, and I'm not walkin' up and and down tha' thing twice a day! But tis nice, too; I don' think I've stopped properly for... oh, Celestia, I don' know how long."

Blue scrunched her nose up as she swallowed the last of the fine strands of grass, a little disgusted but, with an appetite as hers, she couldn't afford to be fussy. Even after being out for only a few days she knew that much. "Eww. You need to have a little fun now and then! Don't you get any time to just... Throw yourself around, have a bit of a break?"

"Course not. If ya did tha' you'd end up dead. Or least with one less limb." Breakneck said, rolling his eyes as he reached out with his tail to wrap it around a few blades of grass near to Blue's neck, making her wince and shuffle away. Picking them, he pulled them back towards his mouth quickly and munched them happily, glad to have the token. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna hurt ya. Promise." Reaching out tentatively, feeling suddenly bolder now that he was at ease, he stroked her shoulder very gently with the smooth side of his left tail, making her stiffen for a second until she realised that she wasn't in danger; she giggled nervously but didn't scoot away immediately. "See?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Blue mumbled as Breakneck drew back, her wary giggles ceasing but her grey eyes kept focused on him. She still wasn't sure who she could or could not trust in this screwed up world; she didn't know if she'd ever learn how to tell friend from foe. "But really, Breakneck, you can't blame me. I saw what you did to those mad'uns; I've got every right to be wary of you and your... Weird poison thingy. One wrong move and that'll be it for me."

Breakneck chuckled and scratched behind his ear with the tip of his left tail, not drawing blood. "It's not quite tha' easy, Blue. I've gotta full on stab a pony ta kill 'em; think of my tails like hooves. I could do ya a load of damage with ma hooves, but really it's not likely that I'd hurt ya real bad by accident; if I wanted ta cut your throat with ma hooves, it'd be on purpose."

Blue shuddered at that thought, wincing at the idea of having your neck shredded by hooves, a slow and painful torture—and then she thought of all the blood, and felt queasy all of a sudden, leaning a little away from her body in case she decided that the mental picture was too much. Thankfully, she managed to pull through with just a new sense of distress. "There... Aren't ponies who actually do that sort of thing out there, are there?" she asked, her eyes darting back and forth. Breakneck shrugged slightly in response.

"Prob'ly are. I've seen and heard way worse in ma time, like there was this group of stallions once. They attacked a school and captured all the kids. Killed their teacher in front of 'em, and then..."

"No! No, that's okay. I get the idea..." Blue interrupted, having hunched up slightly in distress by now and she looked about fearfully. "Everyone out here's insane." Standing shakily before Breakneck could reply, needing a chance to process the horrific new information before any more gruesome thoughts could be placed inside her head, she walked away from the caravan with a stumble and looked out at the view. Such a beautiful land in spots, for somewhere so ravaged and destroyed; a large amount of the view seemed to be made up of barren, desert-like wasteland, while the other parts were coloured in possibly the boldest shades of colour imaginable.

It wasn't quite natural, almost too perfect, but the sun-yellow and emerald-green and sea-blue flowers were truly a sight to behold. Even the patches of grass scattered here and there were captivating, the green such a rich and deep shade which made Blue go weak at the knees just looking at it.

"Woah," she whispered, having not truly appreciated this scene before; even in the somewhat dim light of PLAGUE Equestria, with its strange shared sky which boasted both the sun and moon, she could clearly make out the rainbow of bright colours. Mutations, surely; the PLAGUE didn't just affect ponies or animals, that Blue knew. Still, even such a wonderful view could only remain captivating for so long; growing bored, the mare turned back to her companion and waved to grab his attention. Unbeknownst to her, he had been watching diligently from the corner of his right eye, checking his treasure was safe, but he wouldn't admit that. "Hey, Breakneck. I'm going to go down here a bit, stretch my legs. See if I can find some grass, too. D'you want to come?"

"Nah, go on ahead." Breakneck replied, ushering her off with a hoof, "But don' wander too far, else I can't help ya if ya get into trouble. Kay?"

"Yeah, sure." Blue said, turning towards the slope and beginning to steep descent. It was nice, at first—a few brave trees grew around the peak of the hill, and a small patch of bitter grass gave her enough energy to take the next step—but it wasn't long before she began to feel the hairs on her neck stand on end, her ears darting about, her tail clamped.

To her right, wind rustled through the leaves of one particularly young-looking tree, with a slight pink tinge in colour, and Blue scampered backwards in a panic before signing when she realised what the noise had been. Still, she continued to back up. Oh, come on, Blue! she scolded herself as she looked around warily all the same, Get a hold of yourself!

And then something cold and smooth touched her rear right fetlock; with a yelp, Blue shot up into the air before misjudging her angle and ending up crashing back into the ground with a thud. Groaning, heart banging about in her chest, she sat upright and folded her wings away with much caution, trying to avoid the pain, and then glancing around. Her eyes landed on something cream-coloured a little way away, a strange and seemingly unidentifiable object, which, upon closer inspection, turned out to be something from her nightmares.

A skull, eyeless and slowly deteriorating, the bone beginning to crumble, stared back at her, terrifying the poor mare to the core; whining, she stood and stumbled backwards, suddenly incredibly alert to her surroundings.

A large bone was stuck out of the ground at a near-right angle, the end chewed off; a broken ribcage, scarred and bent, lay near the tree line; near to the peak of the hill where the caravan was still parked, a large pile of earth had a few tiny white projections which could only be the remaineder of this poor creature, not even recognisable as pony or beast.

Her wings clamped firmly to her sides in fear, Blue stood stiffly as she glanced about, waiting for something to leap out from behind the scarce number of trees. But nothing did; instead the pink one, the more slender, younger looking specimen, slowly began to morph, branches shortening and leaves falling off as the tree began to writhe as if it were a creature. And then, just as a shrill neigh of terror erupted from her mouth, Blue felt herself be silenced as she was drawn into some sort of trance; the tree's yellow and red eyes boring deep into her soul, claiming control over her body as she was left to just struggle in vain, unable to fight, to resist as the being, whatever it was by now, crept closer. Next Chapter: A Mutant Born And Bred Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes