Chapter II: Things That Go Boom

It hadn’t taken us more than two hours to reach the ant den. We layed overlooking the warrens. A couple of ants migrated around. Somehow we had managed to get up without being sensed by them. Piston had been able to give us a few sticks of dynamite that the NER had taken from the old stallion. Rimfire toyed with one.
The warren was mostly barren. A few skeletons stood out on the sandy floor amongst the rocks. There were holes the ants had dug out on the walls. We were perhaps fifteen feet above the ants. It had been awhile since I’d seen them up close like this. Their large, red exoskeleton always meant danger, I remembered that. The sounds of their clicking mandibles got on my nerves quickly, I didn’t know how Rimfire felt about all this. I started to slide away from the edge and motioned for Rimfire to follow. She did.

“Okay, so we got the plan, right?” I asked her.

She stared blankly. “Yes,” she said, “I have the plan. I’m going to throw the dynamite down there and hope it all goes well. I notice that I’m the one throwing because you’d probably blow yourself up and I’d never get my caps.”

“Exactly,” I told her. I pulled out a matchbook as she tied the few sticks of dynamite we had together. After she had them in a suitable bundle, she picked up a match with her magic and lit it against the matchbook. “Okay, try to aim for one of the ant holes.”

“Are you really calling them ‘ant holes’?” she asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“The dynamite goes where it falls damn it,” she told me. Rimfire stepped up to the edge. The match was burning low as she held it to the fuse. The fuse let out a faint sizzling as it lit. Disregarding the match she dropped it to the floor and it sputtered out. Pulling back the dynamite bundle slightly, she tossed it forwards into the warren. Rimfire took a few steps back towards me.

“I think I got it in a hole,” she said.

“Excellent,” I said. “How long do you think until they notice?” A shrill scream erupted from the warren as the ground began to rumble. “We should go.” The two of us turned tail and ran, but we didn’t get far before the ground erupted behind us. The ground beneath us trembled as the dynamite went off. Great chunks of earth flew into the air along with a few of the Fire Ants. They burned as they went flying into the air.. Ants and earth fell around us as we ran. A chunk of rock struck Rimfire’s head and she tripped over her own legs. She went spiraling into the ground.

I stopped and grabbed her with my magic. She was too heavy to get far. The flaming ants hadn’t given us the good grace to die yet and they were angry. At least I was pretty sure that’s what the high-pitched hissing meant. There was nowhere to get cover from them, we were in a lane surrounded by ants and rocks. An ant crawled towards us with it’s remaining legs. I dropped Rimfire and drew my revolver. Before it got close enough for its flames I’d pulled back the hammer and shot. The bullet went through it’s head.

Two more ants were already coming from both sides. I turned to the left and fired off another shot. It ricocheted off the ground. Behind me an ant had reached Rimfire. I gave it a powerful kick with my hind legs. It’s natural armor deflected most of the kick, but it backed up. I turned my attention to the ant in front. Another shot, this time it hit it’s middle. A small bout of flame accompanied its death. I twisted around quickly to deal with the ant behind me. It was advancing with two of its friends.

“Rimfire, I don’t have time for this,” I said to her hopefully. Her body stirred. I took a shot at the ant on the left. The bullet hit its antennae and it’s chattering altered. It turned to its friend and headbutted the one in the middle. The two other ants retaliated.

I wrapped Rimfire up with my magic and started to drag her away from the burning ants and warren. I could feel her shifting as we moved. A couple of ants began to chase us. I pointed my gun behind us and fired randomly. All three shots when wild. I couldn’t reload with Rimfire in my hold, all I could do was keep running. The ant in the lead let loose a burst of fire which reached up to Rimfire’s hooves. She flailed as well as she could under my spell.

“Wha- hot!” she yelled. Her eyes went wild at the pursuing ants.

“Shoot them!” I yelled. Rimfire hastily levitated her rifle off her back and readied it. She fired in bursts at the ants. Almost every shot hit home and soon the pursuit was over. I stopped running and dropped her and my gun. Rimfire stood up as I panted heavily. She slid a full magazine into her rifle. I emptied my revolver’s cylinder and jammed a few rounds in. The empty casings falling lightly onto the dusty floor. A heavy thump and a quick cry came out from behind me. I turned around quickly. Rimfire was being held down by a giant ant. Its mandibles were drawing closer and closer to her head.

I brought my revolver a around and hit the ant over the head. It jumped off Rimfire and dove at me. The ant’s weight knocked the breath from my lungs. I threw my forelegs up over my face. I felt the tear of the mandibles as they grabbed onto me. I couldn’t see where my pistol had landed and I used my magic to reach the nearest thing, a rock. Blood dripped onto my face, stinging my eyes and choking my throat as I smashed the rock into the ant’s head. It fell off me into a heap. I took a quick look at my forelegs. The wounds had nearly been cauterized from the heat of it’s breath. Rimfire ran over and looked at the wounds.
“That’s not good, you need a stimpak,” she said.

I nodded. Most of what was happening I ignored. The searing pain in my forelegs kept my attention firmly set on not screaming. Rimfire appeared back at my side, a familiar looking metal object floated in the air next to her, a grey syringe with a gauge or two. My vision was fading in and out as she stuck it into my side. I could almost feel it working as I passed out.

I woke up in a cold sweat at night. Looking around me revealed that I was sitting around a campfire back at the NER outpost. Rimfire was sitting near me looking away from the fire. My brahmin was resting a few feet away. Its bags had not been removed.

“Did you drag me back here?” I asked her.

She looked back at me. “Obviously. You did save me so why not return the favor?” Rimfire turned back away. I laid back down, she had placed me in my bedroll. My bag was near me. I reached a hoof inside and felt for Crescent’s journal. I found it and pulled it out. I flipped to where I left off, but for the next few pages the ink had smudged. At last I found a legible entry....

It’s been a week since Cork died. I can’t keep on missing him as I do. I’ve taken a few drugs to calm me down and they seem to be helping. One of the NER captains came to my place last night. He had some goons with him. They wanted to know about Cork.I told them I didn’t know anything and they tried to beat the truth out of me. I made up a nice long lie to tell them about it. They left me battered and bruised.

They must really want what Cork had. Did they know? How could they? Not even Cork knew.

I shut the book. Crescent seemed crazier after every page. I looked around and saw that most of the outpost’s soldiers were either sleeping or playing cards. I wrestled myself out of my bedroll and trotted over to a small group. Three soldiers sat around a small table with a dimly glowing lamp illuminating cards and caps. There were two mares and a stallion.

“Hello, friends,” I greeted them.

One of the mares looked up at me. “You in?” she asked. I nodded. She pointed at a chair and I sat down.

“Well my name’s Short Change, but you can call me Change,” I told them.

The same mare that gave me the chair began to deal cards. “My name’s Sunset,” she grunted. Sunset pointed at the stallion, “that’s Bull.”

The last mare spoke up, “I’m Gerry. Bull can’t speak.” Bull nodded.

Sunset cleared her throat. “Ante up,” she said, “5 caps.”

I nodded and pulled the caps from my saddlebag and stacked them up in front of me. One by one each pony threw 5 caps into the pool. Quickly, Sunset dealt two cards to everyone and placed the deck to the side of the table. I peeked at my cards, 2 and a 5 of spades. Gerry went first and raised 2 caps. The rest of us met that and Sunset placed three cards in the center of the table.

She revealed an Ace of clubs, a 2 of hearts, and a 10 of diamonds. It didn't look too good for me, I thought. Gerry checked, and then it was my turn to raise. I threw three more caps into the pool. Bull threw in his and so did Sunset. Gerry just looked at me closely.

“You think you got something there, Short?” she asked.

I chuckled. “Well of course I do,” I told her. She scowled and added three caps to the pool. Sunset put the next card on the table, 2 of clubs. Bull dropped his hand on the table and grunted.

“Relax, Bull,” Sunset said with a smirk, “You can’t win ‘em all.” He glared at her silently. Gerry cleared her throat and put ten caps on the table. I did the same, slowly. Bull tossed his hand to Sunset who put it aside. She put ten and one more cap on the table. Both Gerry and I met her raise.

Sunset put the last card on the table, 5 of diamonds.

“Check,” Gerry called.

“Raise 5,” I said and pushed 5 more caps into the center. Sunset looked at me deadpan.

“Fuck it,” she said and tossed her hand onto Bull’s. Gerry scratched the table top with her hoof a little.

“Hmph,” she snorted.

“Well?” I asked her.

“I raise 3 caps,” she said as she put 8 caps onto the growing pool.

“I’ll meet that,” I said and added 3 of my own.

“Looks like it’s time to reveal,” Gerry said as she overturned her cards. She had three of a kind with 5’s. I smiled and turned over my cards.

“Full house,” I said as I began to reach for the caps. The two mares groaned as I loaded the caps into my bag. Bull gave me a pat on the back and a smirk as I got up from the table. I turned from the soldiers and made my way back to Rimfire. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.
End of Chapter Two: Level up!
Barter: 30/ Guns: 30
Perk gained: Scoundrel Rank 1: +5 speech and barter!