Blackjack angstnukes that everyone's helping her and not the zebras getting killed off. What a great way to start the chapter. She blacks out and wakes up. This is becoming the usual. Maybe I should start saying she Angst reboots or something. Certainly save me the trouble of wasting words to type for this fic.
Anyways, BJ's being operated on and delusional from... bloodloss? Angst? Stupidity? All three? She can't even think straight and keeps being put under Memory Orb. After a while, she wakes up for real to Dusty Trails and P-21 arguing about what to do with Lancer. More arguing happens over the medical condition of Blackjack when Glory arrives. Arguing and Angst: The Fanfic!
There's a sequence break and either this is a time skip or Blackjack's under another Memory Orb. Whatever the case, Blackjack's playing Poker.
>I put forty foals in the middle of the table.
Nope. Just a fever dream. In case you haven't noticed, I type these as I read along.
BJ... wait for it... WAKES UP AGAIN! What a shocker! BJ asks P-21 if he found anything out about Sanguine on the terminal. He doesn't know much of anything important, though. Aaaand we're back to angsting about the zebras again. Blah, Blah, Blah moving on...
Oh, wait! Something different!
>"How could you let your super amazing smarts fail to read the mind of a psychopathic cold-blooded zebra assassin? Really, I was totally expecting you to shove a stick of dynamite right up his rump.”
Blackjack's being the snarky one for a change! YAY! Everybody celebrate! Cue the music!
After Blackjack ays she wants to move as soon as possible to not get killed by bounty hunters, she has another nightmare sequence. This one has everyone asking her what she wants. Including herself.
>“What do you want?” Blackjack asked.
>“ ”
Okay, that's actually creepy right there. And awesome. Blackjack wakes up for the 6862798679272972170687061th time this chapter. BJ got an infection and hogged the party's healing supplies in order to make herself better. Blackjack looks to be still a little loopy from the bloodloss as she struggles to have a meaningful conversation with Glory as we learn her to be a medical prodigy and more about her past about having a falling out with her medical teacher and the volunteer corps and nearly being branded as a Dashite.
Also some of the Zebras survived. Cue the music!
As she gets healed and bandaged up one last time, she goes under Memory Orb again. Some pegasi fight off some griffons before heading back to their positions in the oncoming battle of the war against zebras. The pegasi, Twist, and any others get an order to go back to the weather monitoring station. But Big Mac decree "no". And thus, forevermore, they stayed at the pits of battle. Then a fight ensues with some previously-stealth'd zebras and the pony group ensues. We learn that the pony group is named Macintosh's Marauders. They converse about dragons and enclave and whatnot before the Memory Orb ends.
Security only has a few more hours to recover before her death arrives at the Pecos's doorstop to claim the bounty. Dusty Trails and Blackjack discuss escape plans. They can either go on for a month over to Manehattan or risk taint exposure and feral ghouls through the railways. Why not just make a ghoul mask? I don't get attacked by feral ghouls anymore with it on in the game. Neither of which will work if Blackjack can't walk or-
>“Actually, I have an idea..."
I have a bad feeling about this.
As everyone prepares to leave, Tumbleweed... is quickly and swiftly losing her mind and has bite marks on her legs and what the fuck is going on? Tumbleweed is eating himself and apparently this is the effect of the radscorpion venom? Or... what? She turning into some feral ghoul without ever being a ghoul? Explain, Somber! Explain! What even is!?
Madpony goes on to attack Security and... oh.
Oh.
Just that stupid raider disease crap. Carry on.
Blackjack manages to kill Tumbleweed with magic bullets. Bullets made out of magic. With that having happened, a couple of unicorns proceed to carry Blackjack to the group's escape. Security then tells the unicorns to let her walk on her own to try and Badass anybody after her bounty to make them scared enough to stay away. She tries a combination of Buck and Med-X and, surprisingly, it works.
P-21 had gotten all the explosive slave collars off of the slaves and onto the single mine admin, intending to blow him up. The Fluttershy statue constantly reminds BJ to be kind as P-21 argues for his death. Blackjack antes up and gives a speech trying to convince everyone not to kill him and hands the detonator back to Dusty Trails. The slaves were only kind enough to wait until BJ was out of sight before blowing the mine admin up.
BJ goes on to have a tactical angstnuke strike about the wasteland, kindness, and if she was ever good to begin with. Sekashi, one of the zebras Glory had saved, proceeds to tell a reassuring tale of a silly zebra who thinks he did everything wrong, but in face, did good all the time. Threw a shoe? He stopped a thief. Gave his shoes to his kids? New toys!
If BJ were paying any sort of attention in class, she'd know what optimism is, Too bad she is not a smart pony.
Another story gets told about a never-ending cycle of violence and war and betrayal, which the zebra thinks is silly.
Despite the cultural flub, further conversation with the zebra shows that she has a bright outlook on life. Just like a certain Argonian from Windhelm. The chapter ends with Blackjack noting that her and P-21's roles have somehow become switched and cracks forming in their not-quite-friendship.
>Perk added: Intense Training- Your experiences traveling in the Wasteland have allowed you to add one to your intelligence.
DEAR SWEET SHITSTORM BLACKJACK GOT SMARTERER CUE THE MUSIC!
