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gmod - Confessions of a campfire

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Night had fallen, the sounds of what little nature remained untarnished interspersed with distant gunfire and explosions. Sparse few lights were notable, lights from towns beyond and from a few camps along the path.

Shank approached one such camp, his saddlebags full of food, water and items that could be used to buy some. "I'm back."

Vignette looked up from the fire, offering a smile. "Welcome back. Your legs ok?"

"Ok enough to scavenge." Shank sighed, dropping the saddlebags. "How's the wing?"

"Well, I can't fix it now, but give me a medical facility and a few days and I'll be back to flying." The pegasus glanced at his limp wing with sadness. To a pegasus, wings were like legs - it was hard to feel useful when they weren't working. At least unicorns had magic to compensate for missing limbs. He felt a pang of jealousy.

Shank smiled, looking into the fire as well, watching the scraps of pre-war paper and logs of dried wood consumed by flames... much like the deathclaw.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Shank said as he sat down.

"Shoot." Vignette muttered as he held his hooves up to the miniature conflagration.

"About the deathclaw..."

"I just charged up the rifle's power output and caused a chain reaction in the deathclaw's molecular makeup." Vignette chuckled. He knew what Shank wanted to know, but his scienctific geekery needed a bit of a stroking every now and again.

"No, not that... you kinda flipped out when I got hit, and you mentioned a 'her'."

Vignette sighed. "Yeah, guess I did."

Shank bit his lower lip for a second. "So... who's 'her'?"

Vignette remained silent for a while, staring into the fire with a sense of longing hanging around him. After a moment, he spoke, but it was soft, reluctant.

"I used to work at New Ponyville Medical, before I decided I'd go wandering. It wasn't a bad job, but... I did see my fair share of deaths. It kind of got to me, which is why I left.

"When I was there, though, I met this mare, Lemonade. She was a wonderful mare. Equal amounts of attractive and winning personality. She was a little like me, but much better at speaking. We talked a lot, and I felt like she was like a sister I never had.

"I got closer with her, of course. I gave her some advice on medical procedures, and she gave me some tips on proper speech. Then, one day, with all the advice she gave me, I asked her out." Vignette paused again, looking up in the sky and smiling. "To my honest surprise, she said yes. In fact, she even said that she had been waiting for a while and was, herself, just about to ask. I was happier then than I had been in my entire life.

"I won't bore you with the specifics, but let's just say we got to know each other very well over the course of a month; mentally, emotionally and, and you might find this surprising, physically." Vignette chuckled at Shank's little scoff. "It was beyond awesome.

"Then, as you'd expect, the town came under attack. The town sent us both away before the attack, so we weren't caught in it, but her folks, and my father, stayed behind. I haven't seen hide or tail of them since. We found an old ruin to cozy up in, and we rested there for a long time. Or, we would have..."

Shank dropped to his haunches, frowning as Vignette's voice caught in his throat. The pegasus was staring into the flames, eyes shimmering.

"...except a Deathclaw found us."

Ears flattening against his skull, Shank leaned forward and pressed his hoof against Vignette's shoulder. Vignette didn't react, eyes distant and unfocused.

"We ran. She was faster than me, but I used my wings to catch up. We kept running and running and running, and then the damn creature caught us. Took one swing and lopped her rear legs right off. I can still hear her scream...

"I had frozen on the spot. I couldn't get myself to move. I knew she was doomed, I just couldn't bring myself to do anything. She... she told me to run. She must have known she was done for too. I... I ran."

"You did the right thing." Shank murmured.

"Did I? Don't get me wrong, we both knew that, no matter the outcome, she wouldn't pull through, but... I feel like I've abandoned her. That I ran when I could have stayed and fought the thing." Vignette's eyes reflected the fire. "She told me to run, I knew I had to run, but... I couldn't just... leave her there.

"And I did."

Shank sighed, watching as his friend barely contained his emotions. He pulled him into a hug, which the pegasus returned, hanging onto the last thread of composure.

"I fucking hate the Wasteland..." Vignette mumbled through his quiet sobs.

"Me too..." Shank sighed.





I had the picture ready to go for about a week, but didn't get around to finishing the story until today. Oh well, better late than never, right?

Anyway, enjoy, and let me know what you think :)

Part 1: [link]
Part 2: [link]
Part 3: [link]
Part 4: [link]
Part 5: [link]
Part 6: [link]
Part 7: [link]
Part 8: [link]
Part 9: [link]
Part 10: [link]
Part 11: [link]
Part 12: [link]
Part 13: [link]
Part 14: Here

Vignette (c) Me
Shank (c) ~KingOfAllNoobs
Image (c) Me
Image size
1920x1080px 1.9 MB
© 2013 - 2025 Stormbadger
Comments10
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Filthma's avatar
Wow.
Heavy shit.