Fallout Equestria

Chapter 31.

"Obferf!" he boasted through the clouds in his mouth. He trotted to the roof's edge, facing the hospital. A hellhound clawed her way up onto the roof in front of him, raising a paw full of long, flesh-and-armor tearing claws. Calamity backed away, dropping the cloud bundle (which simply floated where he'd let it go).

BLAM! Velvet Remedy's shotgun went off, the slug hitting the hellhound in the center of her left breast. The flesh rippled, but did not give. The hellhound howled in pain, toppling backwards from the impact.

"Thank Celestia!" whimpered Velvet Remedy, letting out a sigh of relief. I winced as I realized she was thanking the Goddess that hellhound's had thick enough hides to stop a shotgun slug at close range. Until now, I had only used Little Macintosh and the sniper rifle against them. I'd been lucky in those choices. Nothing else I had would likely penetrate.

Another hellhound clawed his way onto the rooftop directly behind Xenith. The zebra danced, giving a well-placed buck to the creature's chest. I heard ribs break, and the hellhound fell, rasping, fighting for breath from what I knew was a punctured lung. A second buck sent the hellhound over the edge, catching another climber in the face and knocking them both to the alley below. One of them hit an open waste bin with a back-breaking clang.

I didn't know which had become scarier, hellhounds or Xenith who could take them down with her hooves.

"Thank ya kindly, Velvet!" Calamity stepped back up to the floating bundle and gave it a kick. The cloud unfurled, rolling outward like a carpet, stretching over the street below.

Three more hellhounds pulled themselves onto the rooftop. Velvet Remedy backed up and let out a song, hitting that perfect high note. All three hellhounds clutched at their ears. Two stopped, backing up to the edge of the wall. One climbed back over the side while the other backed up a step too far, her arms pirouetting comically as she fell backwards off the roof.

The third lurched forward, striking at Velvet Remedy in a half-blind swipe. Velvet jumped away. Her right foreleg did not, falling to the rooftop in a spreading puddle of blood. Velvet's note ended in a strangled whimper as she lifted her right foreleg, eyes locked on where the stump ended inches above where her right knee should have been.

The hellhound drew back her paw, one claw wet with Velvet Remedy's blood. Four bolts of magical energy struck her in the offending paw. The female hellhound glowed and liquefied.

"Velvet!"

I screamed in horror. Calamity dashed to the charcoal-coated unicorn's side, catching her as she wobbled and fell, her eyes still locked on where her right foreleg should be. "I... can fix this..." she whimpered. Velvet fainted in Calamity's forelegs.

Pyrelight pierced the air with a mournful cry.

NO!

Xenith moved fast, pulling potions from her satchel until she found the right one. She shattered it on the rooftop, commanding our pegasus, "Push her wound into that! Quickly!" It looked like the same pudding that Xenith had given Velvet to stop Calamity's wing from bleeding him dry.

Wrapping Velvet's sundered leg in my magic, I floated it to the pudding and pressed it into the glop as well. "We can fix this," I moaned with determination. "She can fix this. She said so!"

I could hear more hellhounds tearing their way up to the roof from inside and out.

Calamity held Velvet, looking stunned. His eyes glistened; his armor was slick with Velvet's blood. "Calamity, now!" Xenith shouted into his ears, breaking the pegasus from his trance. He shoved the bleeding stump into Xenith's medicinal goop hard enough to make the unconscious Velvet moan.