“What are they doing?” Catalyst asked.
“Not sure,” I replied.
We had been traveling for a couple hours, and had stumbled upon a small group of equines shouting at each other. Unsure of their intents, we took cover behind a nearby rock a short distance away from them. Four ponies were grouped together, three of them circling one. From this distance, I could hear the one in the middle sobbing occasionally. The other three sounded equally distressed, shouting and blaming each other for something. I was too far away to make out the exact words, but I could hear the anger in their voices.
“Should we get closer?” Catalyst whispered.
“I’m not sure. They don’t sound particularly friendly right now,” I responded.
“They sound like they are in a spot of trouble,” she returned. “Maybe we should help them.” I mulled the thought over for a moment.
It was possible they were just clever raiders who acted like they were in need of assistance only to try to kill us for our possessions. Their attempts on our lives would likely be short-lived, but I didn’t want to risk Catalyst getting harmed. While I was still contemplating our course of action, Catalyst had crept closer to the small group. I gave a sigh and joined her.
“This is very dangerous, you do know that, right?” I whispered.
“They might actually need our help.” I gave up arguing the matter with her, as we were close enough that I could hear what the ponies were saying.
“—your fault, you know?” the grey earth pony stallion growled at a tan unicorn mare. Standing between them was the sobbing red earth pony mare. The fourth pony was a white unicorn who was crouched down beside the crying mare, his horn glowing faintly along with an object on her leg.
“Me? You were the one who wanted to take this route!” the tan unicorn responded.
“Only because you didn’t want to go to the last town!” he said.
“You know how they treat visitors there, it would have been a death sentence!” she snorted.
“Shut up both of you! You’re not making this any easier,” the other unicorn shouted.
“Just get it off!” the red mare sobbed. Looking closer, I saw the metallic object around her leg had teeth that dug into her flesh, letting out a faint beeping sound every so often.
“She has a bear trap on her leg,” I pointed out.
“Let’s see if we can help her,” Catalyst said before darting out from behind our cover.
“Catalyst, no!” I called.
“Hey! Do you four need help?” she shouted to the four as she trotted toward them.
The tan unicorn took a step back towards the trapped pony and pulled her weapon at the sudden shouting. The grey stallion drew his sidearm from the holster on his leg and pointed it toward Catalyst, taking a few steps toward her. I rose from behind the rock to come to her aid.
“Stop right there!” shouted the tan unicorn. Catalyst obeyed the command, almost clattering to the ground from the sudden stop. “Who are you two?”
“I-I’m Catalyst and that’s my friend, Dog,” she stammered in response. “I just want to help your friend out of that trap.”
“Not necessary,” declared the white unicorn as a snapping noise was heard. I turned to see that the trap fell to the ground as the mare lifted her bleeding appendage from its grasp, her face, still streaming tears, beamed a smile. “We got things covered he—”
The stallion was cut off mid-sentence as the piece of metal that was formerly attached to the mare’s leg erupted in a violent explosion of metal and dust. The mare was bloodily obliterated in the blast, and the unicorn who had toiled to free her had his face peppered with shrapnel. The other unicorn was hit by the blast as well, and fell to the ground from the shockwave. The remaining stallion stumbled as he turned to watch his friends be killed in the explosion.
Before the dust had settled, Catalyst rushed to the aid of the ponies caught in the blast. Her path was blocked by a series of shots impacting the ground in front of her. The remaining pony had let off a warning shot against her. I leapt over the rock to assist her.
“Stay back! Both of you!” the panicking pony pleaded, pistol shaking in his jaws. He took a few cautious steps away from us.
“Woah, we just want to help!” Catalyst said as she stepped forward slowly, eliciting another shot to the ground from the other equine.
“Bolt...” wheezed the tan unicorn between coughs, weakly attempting to raise a hoof to her companion. “Let them...help...you asshole...”
The remaining pony’s eyes darted to us, then to the ground where the once-tan unicorn was becoming rusted with her own blood. He set his pistol back in its holster and Catalyst ran to him and slung her pack to the ground. I approached beside them as Catalyst began levitating an assortment of devices out of the bag.
“Your friend is losing a lot of blood, and has shrapnel embedded in her neck and side, as well as many grazing lacerations and minor burns,” she listed. “She’ll exsanguinate if I don’t stop the bleeding, but I can’t do anything about the shrapnel. It’s too risky to attempt removal without the right tools.”
“What can you do to help her?” I asked. The other pony stood there in shock, his eyes bouncing between his dead and dying friends.
“I’ll try to stabilize her, but she will be in trouble if she isn’t taken to a medical facility quickly,” she said as she tore strips from the roll of gauze. Her horn glowed as a portion of the larger fragments were removed from the patient, covering the new openings with bandaging wraps. She did the same to the rest of the cuts until the pony was covered in reddened wrappings.
“Will she be okay?” the other pony finally spoke up.
“She should be okay for a few hours, but this was just a temporary fix. Where is the nearest doctor?” Catalyst asked as she finished applying another strip of gauze.
“Uh, there’s one in the town we were headed to, just about an hour away.”
“We’re going to have to get her there quickly.”
Catalyst prepped the mare for transport and the two ponies carefully lifted the injured one onto my back. Scraps of cloth were used as makeshift rope to secure her in place. The earth pony then led the way in almost full gallop as I followed behind at a stable pace, Catalyst at my side keeping careful watch on the other unicorn.
“So what is your name?” Catalyst piped up after a couple minutes of walking.
“Bolt Action,” the earth pony responded without looking back at us, not breaking his stride. “And her name is Hollow Point.”
“What were you doing out here?”
“We’re mercenaries, we were escorting a pony to another town a whiles away. Amazing job I’ve done so far.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be able to get help for your friend,” Catalyst said, attempting to reassure him.
“Even if she does pull through, her brother died in the blast and the client was obliterated. Our work as mercenaries is through and she might die, all because of me.”
“It is not your fault,” I replied. “You did not set that cruel trap nor did you have any way of knowing what would happen when it was released.”
“Thanks for the help, but can we not talk until we get her the help she needs?” he sighed. We silently continued on our way.
After approximately an hour of travel, the ruins of a city appeared over the horizon. Within these remnants of civilization sprouted a new town created from the scraps of the previous buildings. Life moved within this place, as various colorful equines trotted about on their daily business. They did not dawdle between structures, instead their movements were much more hastened. The atmosphere of the town was uneasy. Not the oppressive feeling of New Chevalin, nor the fear from when Pleasant Springs was under siege, just an unsettledness. I shook off this feeling as we approached Amistad.
“You! Where is the clinic?” Bolt shouted at the first pony we encountered. The startled horse darted his eyes between frantic earth pony and myself. He shakingly pointed further down the street before running into a nearby structure out of fear.
“It might not be best to yell at these ponies,” I said.
“Just come on, we can still save her,” he said as he hurried down the road. Onlookers began to gather at the arrival of a nightmarish creature adorned with one of their bloodied kin on its back. Fortunately none of them attempted to block our path.
The clinic was a shabby looking pile of scrap built within the ruins of a decently-sized home. Despite the exterior’s appearance, the inside of the clinic was impressively clean and tidy. Bolt was already arguing with the doctor and his assistant when I had entered.
“Oh my, I’m amazed she’s still alive,” the doctor said as they worked on lowering her from my back. “Pretty nasty job done to her, she’ll be lucky to make it through the operation. You do have the caps, right?”
“Yes, please just save her!”
“Alright then, get her into surgery immediately,” the doctor said to one of his assistants. “And you three, get out of here. I don’t like spectators, or their pets. Come back in a couple hours and we’ll let you know about her condition.”
“That was uncalled for,” I said as we left the clinic.
“He needs room to work, and we weren’t helping just standing around,” Catalyst replied.
“I meant the pet comment.”
“Oh, I suppose that could be taken to be insulting,” she said with a nervous chuckle. “Bolt, you alright?”
“Huh? Yeah I guess. I just feel so useless waiting around,” he said. “I wanted to thank you two for the help, you might have saved her life. Anything I can do to repay the favor?”
“Actually, we’re looking for a pony, a mare named Casing. We were told she might be in this area,” I said.
“Well, I haven’t been to this town before so I don’t know anyone here, but usually if you’re ever looking to find someone, the best place to look is a bar or other place ponies might gather. Why don’t I tag along and help you two? It beats standing around being worried.”
“I don’t see the harm in having you accompany us,” I replied.
We departed from the clinic in search of Casing. Bolt questioned another passer-by as to the location of the town’s bar and the local pointed us in the right direction. The bar was built on the remains of an existing building, reinforced with scrap metal and rubble to give it that tasteful wasteland aesthetic. The interior of the bar was dimly lit with barely functioning lighting, and was full of a vast amount of different patrons.
Many patrons of the bar stopped their consumption of alcoholic drinks to take note of the strange new arrivals before soon realizing they didn’t particularly care. A few opted to duck out at my arrival and others watched me from the dark corners of the bar. One of the tables had a particularly angry set of customers behind it.
A rather large unicorn, almost as tall as myself, stood up from behind the table, finished drinking from a dark tinted bottle and then floated the empty in front of him. He was flanked by two others, a black feathered griffin with a single mechanical eye glowing a menacing red, and a comparatively small pegasus that had his wings tipped with metal blades. I attempted to avert direct contact with the trio, but Catalyst walked up to the three.
“Excuse me, you three look to be well traveled adventurers, perhaps you can help us, we’re looking for a—” KLONK. The bottle came down onto Catalyst’s head loudly without shattering. “OW!” she yelped, raising her hoof to the injured location as she fell to the ground.
“My buddy was killed by one of you mutts,” the large unicorn spat. “Now I’m gonna—HURK!” he gurgled as my paw wrapped around his throat and slammed him to the ground. He weakly gurgled as his windpipe was being crushed. His horn flickered briefly as he brought the offending bottle back around for another swing. I raised my other arm to block it, smashing it on impact and embedding a few shards in my arm.
“Hey!” another voice piped up from across the bar. “Either break it up or take it outside.”
I glanced up to see the griffin attempting to draw her pistols from the holsters and the pegasus hovering in midair. Catalyst sat on the ground nursing her head injury while Bolt had his gun somewhere between his teeth and the holster. Behind the counter was an angry looking unicorn. A unicorn with stripes.
“Stranger, let him go please,” the striped horse said. “He’s an ass but I don’t want my bar getting wrecked.”
“Dog, let him go,” Catalyst said as she stood back up. “I’m fine.”
I looked back at the still struggling unicorn beneath my paw. His hooves were attempting to wrestle me away in vain. I loosened my grip and the pony scrambled away from me, looking furious between gulps of air.
“This isn’t over, you freak!” he growled. “Come on, let’s not waste our time here.” The three of them left the bar in a hurry.
“Sorry about that,” the bartender said. “Those three are always causing problems but they pay well. So, what can I get for you three?”
“We’re not here to drink,” I replied. “We’re looking for a pony by the name—”
“Wow, what are you?” Catalyst interrupted. She immediately forgot about her previous injury as she leapt toward the bar to closer examine the strange creature before her. “Some sort of amalgam of unicorn and zebra traits? I’ve never heard of a valid combination resulting in a natural scenario. I simply must examine the extents of your magical abilities!”
“Wow, your friend has no restrictions, does she?” Bolt chuckled.
“Uh, maybe some other time?” the unfortunate creature behind the counter replied.
“Aw, I had so hoped to learn about successful equine hybridization,” she said dejectedly.
“As I was saying, we’re looking for a pony by the name of Casing, have any information about her?” I continued.
“Casing? Oh you mean the Sheriff?” replied the bartender. “Why exactly are you looking for her?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” Catalyst said.
“I enjoy stories. How about this, trade a story for a drink. I always like to hear what brings travelers to this little oasis in the wastes.”
“Sounds reasonable, just water for me please,” I responded. We spent a while regaling the bartender with our improbable escapades while he quenched our thirst. Thankfully, he brought me my drink in a glass and not a bowl as many have previously done. Bolt opted to keep quiet mostly, but the jovial bartender gave him a drink regardless of his nondisclosure.
“Ah, both forsaken by what was once your home, cast out to the wastes only to discover each other, and the tale of hope for a once-oppressed city, all hinging upon locating a single mare. A vicious beast that has tamed his savage side, and an eccentric genius, paired together and teamed up with a traveling mercenary. I always seem to find the most interesting individuals...” the bartender interjected at the close of our story. I was beginning to become unsettled by the bartender’s over-friendliness. “You do have quite a knack for storytelling though.”
“So can you aid us in finding Casing?” I asked.
“Hmm? Oh, her. Yeah, she’s been passed out in that corner for a while before you three got here,” he said gesturing to one of the dimly-lit corners of the bar.
“Thank you for the help, and the water,” I replied. I rose from the bar counter and approached the unconscious mare.
She was an earth pony with a tan coat and mane a few shades darker. Surrounded by dark colored empty bottles, she snored softly in her makeshift nest with a hat covering most of her face. I noted that her front right leg was metal beneath the shoulder. Catalyst crept up to her and began to prod her in the side with a hoof. After about the ninth prod, the sleeping pony began to stir in her sleep, swinging the metal hoof at Catalyst but missing. Catalyst, now irritated, delivered a swift kick to the sleeper.
“Ow!” she yelped. “What’s the big idea?” She flickered her eyes open a few times before fully waking up. “Who the hell are you, why are you kicking me, and why is a hellhound in my town?”
“Oh, sorry,” Catalyst apologized. “My name is Catalyst, that’s Underdog, and that’s Bolt Action. We’ve been looking for you for a while. Oh, and don’t worry about Dog, he’s looks meaner than he acts.”
“Ugh, you bounty hunters?” she groaned, tipping her hat up to better see us.
“No,” I replied.
“Slavers?”
“No.”
“Constructs of my imagination come to haunt me with horrors from my past?”
“What? No.”
“Good,” she said raising to her hooves. “I didn’t need another reason to drink. So why are you three looking for me?”
“Do you remember a pony by the name of Scales?” Catalyst asked.
“Shit, you are bounty hunters,” she sighed. “How much is he paying you?”
“What? He isn’t paying us,” Catalyst responded. “He asked us to find you because he needs your help getting guards for his town.”
“What happened to that crew of pigeons he kept around?”
“He did,” Catalyst answered pointing at me. “They tried to sell out the town to raiders and kill everyone.”
“Damn, you took out a company of griffin mercs? Impressive. But you’re going to have to tell Scales to go fuck himself. I’m not doing shit for him anymore. Besides, I got my own shit to deal with here.”
“What happened between you two?” Catalyst asked.
“That bastard left in the middle of a job. We were supposed to take out a slaver camp, but he hopped aboard a wandering caravan after taking out a manticore attacking them. So while he was getting off on an easy job, I had to take out the camp solo.”
“Is that where you lost your leg?” Catalyst asked.
“Not a very sensitive one are ya?” Casing retorted. “I like directness. Yeah, I lost my leg because of that job, though that wasn’t until a while after. See, the thing about slavers is that they always see an opportunity. I rolled into their camp intent on killing every last one of them, and only made it through two before they caught me off guard and slapped one of their fucking collars on me. My neck still hurts thinking about that.” During her story she had been kicking around the bottles at her feet looking for one that wasn’t empty. Eventually she found one to her liking.
“Anyway, those fuckers took a liking to torturing me as payback for their dead buddies,” she continued. “I think they didn’t sell me because they weren’t done breaking me yet. But I don’t break. I faked being their broken little bitch for a while, till I got the opportunity to stab one of them in his fucking neck. Took his keys, popped off the collar and got the hell out of there, but not before I broke out half the ponies there. My way of saying ‘Fuck you’ to the slavers. Of course, they had their own way of fucking me over. One of those sadistic little bastards, Snaptrap I think his name was, tinkered away with a bear trap and a landmine till he made a horrible trap that’ll blow your leg off and take the rest of you with it if you try to remove it, so one of the bastards I rescued from the slavers had the bright idea to hack my leg off with just a knife.” She made a sawing motion with her regular hoof just above the metal. “Bastard. Saved my life, but still a bastard. Anyway, that’s how I landed in this shit hole of a town. Half this town is runaway slaves, and the rest are mercenaries who don’t give a shit about taking care of the slavers because nobody has the caps to afford it. Hell, we still have ponies go missing every couple nights because of those slavers.” Quite a sunny disposition she had.
“But long story short, fuck Scales, fuck the slavers, and fuck you three,” she said before taking a drink. “Mm, not you though, I like you,” she said to Catalyst.
“Wait, explosive bear traps?” Bolt spoke up.
“Yeah, real nasty piece of work.”
“Where is this slaver camp?” he asked.
“It’s a couple miles northwest of here, big prison complex. ‘Course they’ve got snipers on duty ever since I broke out of there. Trust me, that place is impenetrable, I lead a couple attacks on it with some of the other former slaves and we’d never gotten through the gate before we racked up too many casualties to continue. Though if you want to head up there, feel free. That’ll be a few less bullets for them to shoot at us.”
“Alright,” Bolt Action said as he stormed out of the bar.
“What’s the deal with him?” Casing asked before taking another swig of the dark bottle.
“One of his friends was trapped in one of those explosive traps,” Catalyst explained. “Two died and another of his friends is still in critical condition.”
“Oh, well he’s probably going to die then,” Casing said as she slammed down the empty bottle. “But maybe we can help each other out. See, I want those slaver fucks dead, but I can’t get near them. You want me to do some shit for Scales or something. I had a little idea for a covert operation, but I can’t do it, nor can I convince any of the idiots around here to do it. Would you two be interested?”
“What would we have to do?” I asked.
“Well the slavers are sadistic assholes, but they’re still slavers. Every so often they’ll have clients roll up to their gates and leave a lot of caps lighter with some new unpaid workers in their employ. If someone were to pose as buyers, they might be able to get close enough to murderize all the slavers there. Of course, I can’t show my pretty mug there again without having it blasted before I even get close to the main gate. See the problem?”
“So we act like we want to buy some slaves, kill the slavers, free the slaves, and get out?” Catalyst reiterated.
“Yeah, it’s not that difficult to understand. Now go murderify some slavers or whatever, I feel another nap coming on,” she said as she collapsed back into her pile of trash.
“What is wrong with her?” Catalyst whispered. I simply shrugged as we left the bar.
We managed to intercept Bolt Action before he got to the prison. It took a little bit of effort but we managed to convince him to go along with the plan. We argued for a while as to a reasonable story as to why we needed to purchase slaves before settling on Catalyst’s idea that she was the mistress of an arena in search of combatants to feed to her vicious hellhound pet for the entertainment of the arena’s patrons and Bolt was the hound’s caretaker. I objected the idea but was beat two to one. They created a makeshift muzzle out of some scraps of cloth, but made sure it was loose enough that I could unsnap it if need be. Worst of all, they took away my cloak and tied a leash to my collar. This was one of my least dignified moments.
We soon came in sight of the slaver camp. It was a large mostly intact series of concrete structures surrounded by a sturdy wall. The complex was amazing in how it seemed to have been almost untouched by the decay of time. The walls stood strong, resisting the temptation to crumble to rubble as most other buildings had. As we approached the prison compound, Bolt leading me with the makeshift leash between his teeth, a bullet whizzed above my head. A piercing static crackle came from one of the towers.
“That’s far enough!” a voice came over a loudspeaker from within the building. “Remain where you are, we’re sending someone to speak with you. Come any closer and we will shoot, try anything funny and we’ll shoot.”
The gate at the front of the prison slowly lurched open to allow passage for a duo of ponies. One of them was an orange unicorn with a deep red mane, the other was a blue earth pony with a dirty yellow mane. The blue one wore heavy-looking armor that was adorned with a rifle on both of his sides, connected by a firing mechanism in front of his mouth. The orange one wore a lighter armor and had a pistol in his leg holster and some sort of baton in a holder on his side. The two of them soon approached us, standing a short distance away that they were able to speak without being too close.
“Welcome to our humble little establishment,” the red one spoke up. “My name is Firebrand, what brings you here?”
Catalyst cleared her throat and put on a disturbing smile.“I run a small business to the East, an arena where contestants may challenge vicious creatures in combat for fame and glory. I pit them against my prized pet hellhound as well as many of the wastelands other dangerous fauna for the entertainment of the crowd,” Catalyst said. “Unfortunately, we’ve hit a bit of a dry spell when it comes to fresh meat for the ring. No ponies are willingly competing, so I thought forcing some to compete might help drum up business.”
“Ah, sounds fun. We may have what you’re looking for, provided you have the caps of course. You do have money, don’t you?”
“Why of course I do.”
“Good, we lost a bit of our stock recently so the ones we do have right now are a bit more pricey, but they’re sure to put on a good show.” The slaver laughed. “Come along, though I’m afraid you’re going to have to leave your mutt outside, can’t have it tearing up the place.”
“Oh don’t worry, he is expertly trained. He’s a killer in the ring but is very docile outside of it. Besides, I want to make sure any combatants I purchase don’t immediately faint at the sight of one. It doesn’t make for a good show, you understand?”
“Fine, but we won’t hesitate to put a bullet in its skull if it makes a mess of the place. Same goes for you and the handler.” Bolt yanked on the leash and pulled me ahead.
We crossed through the threshold of the gate, the metal groaning as it shut again. A large wall defended the prison yard, guard towers placed in every corner. Atop the towers were slaver ponies armed with various weaponry. Suspended from the towers were automated turrets that hummed and beeped as they watched over the yard. Armed slavers wandered around the interior of the complex. Inside the safety of the fortified walls stood three large structures lettered with A, B, and C in faded white paint on the side and an even larger building in the center of the yard. Aside from the buildings, there was a large fenced in area that had a few beds and a table lined with various medical instruments. A yellow unicorn in a blood-stained coat stood next to one of the beds where a small colt was being bandaged. One of his legs was bound by a brace and his right eye was heavily bandaged. His neck wore a heavy looking metal collar a size too large. He was shivering slightly, making the job of the attending unicorn more difficult. The colt didn’t have a cutie mark, rather he had a black mark charred in his hide with a stylized R.
“What happened to him?” Catalyst questioned as she approached, her voice sounding more harsh than I have heard her before.
“Oh him, that’s just one of the slaves,” the fiery slaver replied. “Little bastard is always mouthing off or not listening to what he’s told to do. See, sometimes the slaves need a reminder that they need to follow orders, discipline them. Little brat needed to learn some manners, so I had to rough him up a bit. Don’t worry, ol’ Ribcage always patches them up fine, so no lasting damage is done. We would never sell damaged merchandise.”
Catalyst remained quiet, unnaturally still for a few moments. Eventually she spoke.
“Do you have any more foals in this place?” she asked in a low tone.
“No, Scritch here is the only one at the moment. We had more, but due to an incident, they aren’t available for sale. Don’t worry though, some of our best gatherers are working to obtain more, so there should be some in a week or two. The young ones are probably much more entertaining to see up against this big guy, huh?” he chuckled. Catalyst didn’t respond.
“Ouch!” the colt yelped as the doctor stitched a wound on his forehead closed.
“Sorry, I did warn you it would hurt,” the doctor apologized.
“Can’t I just have another candy?” the colt asked.
“Fresh out of candies, but take a drink of this,” the doctor said pleasantly as he uncorked a small bottle of purple liquid. The colt downed the drink eagerly. He soon got a little more jittery and his eyes a bit wider. He didn’t complain about the doctor’s stitching after this.
“Are you a slaver as well, doctor?” Catalyst asked, almost spitting the word ‘doctor’.
“Me? Oh no,” Ribcage replied as he continued his work on the colt. “I just tend to the slaves and the slavers.”
“So why did you decide to work here?”
“Well, I used to run a clinic in a town fairly far away. One day, a mare came into my clinic asking me to help her. She said something about being shot at by raiders or something and was bleeding to death. So I agreed to help her. While she was unconscious during the life saving operation, a stallion came into my clinic. He said that he was looking for an escaped mare, and offered a reward for any information. I told him about my most recent patient, and he went right into the operating room and attached a collar to her while she wasn’t awake. He told me when she woke up, to send her here and he gave me a small amount of caps.”
“Oh no, I paid you a large amount of caps,” Firebrand argued. “More than I should have even, that bitch was barely able to even get here, much less sell for much.”
“Regardless, after that point we entered a business arrangement. I would sell him ponies that nobody would miss, and he would give me the caps I needed to keep my clinic running. Was mostly addicts, ponies who’d likely gut you for caps to pay for their fix. Nobody really cared what happened to those strung-out junkies, just as long as they were gotten rid of. Anyway, turns out one of the junkies I sold here turned out to have a husband who got a bit upset that his wife went missing. I tried to pass it off as her having overdosed, but he demanded to see the body. I forced him to leave my clinic, but he created a stir in the town and eventually there was a mob knocking on my door. The ingrates ran me out of their town after all the broken bones and gun shots I healed. Firebrand hired me here as the doctor.”
“Alright, enough storytelling,” Firebrand interrupted. “Let’s let the good doctor finish his work. The slave pens are in cell block B, and there are some more in cell block C. Cell block A is empty for the time being, but we should have it restocked soon, once repairs are done.” I noticed a massive hole in the side of the wall, likely caused by an explosion of some sort.
The slaver led us inside the building labeled with a giant B on the side. Inside, a guard sat behind a desk and a terminal on the other side of some metal bars. The slaver nodded to him and he pressed a few buttons on his terminal. There was a buzz as the gate rolled open. The slaver led us further inside the building as the guard shot a suspicious look at me. We entered a large open room with cells lining the walls. There were hallways to either side filled with more cells from what I could tell. Inside a few of the cells were ponies, each fitted with large metal collars. Another guard, a dark tan colored earth pony, patrolled the room, occasionally banging on the bars of the cells to harass the slaves.
“Here is some of our better merchandise,” the slaver began, attempting to beguile us. He walked over to the nearest cell which had a silvery gray pegasus with a purple mane. He has a stylized R burned into his flank where his cutie mark would have been. “This is no ordinary pony! This is a pegasus! Straight from the sky!” He waited a few moments for us to be amazed. We weren’t. “Anyway, this fine slave used to be a soldier in the pegasus Enclave, so he is no stranger to a fight. And he—”
“Hey, you two have any Dash?” the pegasus interrupted, his face pressed against the bars. “I’ll show you a good time if you show me some Dash. Come on, I’ll—”
“Shut up, Jet!” the slaver suddenly shouted as he slammed a hoof against the bars. The pegasus recoiled and fell to the ground. The slaver regained his composure before speaking again. “Sorry about that, this one does have a wee bit of a crippling Dash addiction, but that just means he’ll do anything for it. He’ll try to take on ten hellhounds for some Dash. Probably would die, but he’ll try. Certain to put on a good show.”
“Very... interesting, but what else do you have?” Catalyst replied a little hesitantly.
“Come on, just one hit! Something to stop the shakes, please!” Jet pleaded, once again pressing his face against the bars. The slaver turned to the slave. The unicorn’s horn began to glow red, and soon the bars of the pegasus’s cell began to glow as well. Jet leapt back with a yelp, his face bearing fresh burn lines.
“We have a few more candidates which might interest you,” Firebrand said as he walked to another occupied cell.
Inside the cell was a green unicorn stallion. The tip of his horn bore a collar similar in design to the one around his neck, though smaller in size. His foreleg also had a large metal object affixed to it, though this one was the same as Catalyst’s. His side brandished the same marking as the other slaves.
“This unicorn came from a far away, sealed-off Stable. It’s rumored that ponies who have survived the grueling torture that is living in the isolation of a sealed underground Stable and escape to the wasteland are stronger, more quick-witted, and more cunning than the average pony. Ponies who are raised in Stables can be devastating combatants, so much so that few who face them in battle live to tell the tale!”
“Uhh...” Catalyst said as she tapped a hoof against the metal device on her leg.
“Oh... Well, you must know first hoof the tenacity of Stable ponies in combat being one yourself... I guess.”
“Just as observant as ever, Firebrand,” the slave spoke up.
“Do you want to go back to solitary, Babble?”
“Oh please don’t, then I wouldn’t be able to listen to any more of your sales pitch,” the unicorn said with rolling eyes. “And please, my name is Techno. Get it right for once.”
The slaver’s magic flared up again as he drew the baton from its holder. “Shut your mouth before I bash your teeth in!”
“But master, not in front of the customers,” the slave said while rolling his eyes.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is with the collar and the ring around his horn?” Catalyst interrupted.
“The collars have a remotely detonated explosive charge in them,” the slaver explained, staring at the slave with a furrowed brow. “If activated, the collar will detonate and blow off the slave’s head. It can either be proximity based, meaning it will blow up if they try to leave a designated area, or detonated by the owner should they wish it. With the purchase of a slave, we’ll also include instruction on how to operate the collar, should you wish to set an area where they cannot leave. The horn rings are of similar design, but will block the magic of the unicorn.”
“He forgot to mention that the collars make for a very fashionable addition to any ensemble,” Techno Babble added. The slaver levitated the baton between the bars of the cell and delivered a blow to the slave’s mouth with a resounding crack.
“I’m terribly sorry to have to have done that,” the slaver said, turning back to face Catalyst. “Tell you what, I’ll sell you this one at a discount.”
“We got another one coming in,” shouted the guard from the entrance as the gate buzzed open again. The earth pony colt, Scritch, hobbled into the room.
“About time you got back,” Firebrand shouted at the colt. Scritch said nothing in reply, instead just continuing to hobble in the direction of a vacant cell. “Listen when I speak!” The unicorn levitated the baton to the back leg of the colt. He collapsed to the ground, but quickly picked himself up again. “Bloody useless colts.”
“I’d like to discuss the purchase of some of these slaves,” Catalyst replied, her voice low. “Is there someplace we can discuss business in private? I don’t like to talk caps around my employees.” Catalyst shot a glance back at Bolt and myself. Bolt gave a slight nod.
“Of course, follow me to my office and we’ll discuss prices,” the slaver replied in a jolly tone. He trotted forward and Catalyst walked behind him. “Hey Brick, watch over these two,” he called to the other guard in the room. The earth pony gave a dismissive grunt and resumed his rounds through the halls, paying us little attention.
“Any ideas what to do next?” Bolt asked me in a hushed tone. I replied by staring at him for a few seconds before pointing at the muzzle around my jaws. “Oh, sorry.” He undid the knot and I was able to speak again.
“I am unsure,” I whispered. “The addition of collars to the list of security measures we must go through complicates matters. Not to mention the automated turrets and armed guards.”
“Hey, you two aren’t here to buy slaves, are you?” one of the slaves asked. I looked to see Techno Babble nursing his injured face.
“What gave it away?” Bolt asked.
“I dunno, maybe the fact that you brought a fucking hellhound here. That’s not something a sane buyer would do. Then again that’s not something a smart pony would do either. Plus that bitch didn’t sound at all like she could run a blood sport arena.”
“Any idea how to get you guys out of here and deal with the guards?” Bolt asked.
“Well, the guards here are dumber than shit, all they really have is their firepower. Only one seemed that had a bit of intelligence was their boss, and I only overheard about him from the guards, never seen him. The main thing you need to deal with is the collars. From what I understand about their design, they need to be controlled by a nearby computer. You should be able to disarm them from there, assuming either of you are smart enough to even use a computer. After that—”
“Hey! Scritch!” Jet whispered loudly. He was two cells to the right of Babble, and Scritch was the left adjacent cell from Babble.“Did you get any goodies from the doc?”
“Not enough to share,” the colt replied.
“Oh come on, I split some Dash with you last time. Please, I’m dying here!”
“Will you two shut the hell up?” Techno Babble sternly whispered. “Why did I have to get the cell between two chem addicts? Where was I?”
“You were telling us what we needed to do after disarming the collars,” Bolt replied.
“Oh yeah. Provided you two didn’t fuck up and lock down the computer, collars should pop right off. After that, you can remove the targeting systems on the turrets. They’ll tear through anyone outside.”
“Wouldn’t that mean they will shoot at us if we were outside?” I asked.
“A small price to pay for freedom. Besides, once shit hits the fan, the turrets are going to target you anyway. Hopefully while you two meatshields are running about outside tussling with the guards, I can slip away and be done with this nightmare. I suppose you could just shut down the turrets to begin with, but then you’ll have to deal with the slavers yourself.”
“How did you even become a slave?” I asked. I wanted to wait until Catalyst returned before we made any major moves against the slavers, lest she be caught in the line of fire.
“Great, waste time asking personal questions, very smart,” he retorted. “I worked maintenance in my Stable, shit broke beyond repair, ponies died. They blamed me, and since the Stable couldn’t sustain life anymore, they had to live in the wastes. To do so, they needed caps, which the fuckheads decided to get by selling me to a bunch of slavers. Happy now?”
“What about you, Jet?” I asked.
“Huh?” the pegasus replied as he was once again attempting to press his face through the bars. “Oh, I was an Enclave officer till I got caught stealing. I was thrown in jail and was about to be sentenced to death or some shit, when another inmate made a deal with me to escape. We managed to get out of the jail, and made a break for the surface, but then he betrayed me by shooting at me. I shot back at him, got him through the wing and he fell to the ground and died. I was injured, so I found a clinic and got addicted to their drugs. Dash is my favorite. Will you give me some Dash, giant doggie?”
“I do not have what you seek, but I will try to find you some,” I promised. “What happened to you, young colt?”
“Nothing happened to me, I’ve always been here,” he replied. “I’ll always be here. The nice mare said she’d take me away from here, but she left without me. It’s okay here though, the doctor gives me treats sometimes.” Before I could say anything, Catalyst returned sans Firebrand.
“Uh, hey. Whatever it is we’re going to do, we may want to speed it up,” she said hurriedly, looking over the patrolling guard who was now looking our way.
“What did you do?” Bolt asked.
“Well, I caused the cruel slaver to experience a sudden intake of hydronium ion-rich fluid which resulted in an accelerated breakdown of his internal systems,” she quickly rambled.
“What does that even mean?” Bolt asked.
“She killed him with acid,” Techno Babble translated. “Is it really that hard to understand?”
“Well, ‘is killing’ would be a much more proper term to use, as I theorize that complete cessation of biological systems has yet to occur, and in fact it may be several minutes before he is really dead, but yes, I have caused his demise,”
“Wait, why did you even have acid?” Bolt asked.
“I always carry lab supplies with me. Anyway, I don’t think I left him in any state where he would be able to contact anyone for help, but one of the guards might discover him soon, so what is the plan?”
“We need to find a computer that controls the collars and the turrets, and shut them both down,” I said.
“Hey, Miss,” the patrolling guard called to Catalyst as he approached her. “Weren’t you supposed to be escorted by Firebrand? And wait, wasn’t the dog wearing a muzzle when he came in—” WHAM!
The guard writhed beneath my paw as I pressed his throat against the floor. He gasped for air, tried to call for help but nothing except choking gasps escaped his lips. I increased the pressure against his throat until there was an audible snap. The guard’s flailing quickly ceased.
“Great, now they’re going to know something’s up when they come in here,” Babble sighed.
“Bolt, stay here and guard these three,” I said. “Catalyst and I will find the terminal.”
“Right,” Bolt replied as he drew his pistol from its holster.
“One last thing,” I said. “Catalyst, I need my cloak please.”
We crept up on the remaining guard at the entrance to cell block B. He preoccupied himself by fidgeting with a small radio that was broadcasting music interrupted by static every so often. He didn’t hear me when I had disposed of the other guard, nor did he hear me approach. I spun him around and put a claw to his neck.
“Where is the collar control terminal?” Catalyst asked.
“Ah shit! Please, don’t kill me!” the guard pleaded.
“I said, where is the collar control terminal?” she repeated, this time drawing the revolver Scales had gifted her.
“I would not try her patience, she has already melted one of your comrades,” I added.
“Fuck, alright! It’s in the warden’s office, administrative building! Please just let me—GAH!” He quickly grew silent as my claw pierced his trachea and stole his breath. It then penetrated further and I removed it, slitting his throat open. He collapsed to the ground.
Catalyst began to work on the terminal at the guard’s station. After a few seconds, the gate buzzed again as it slid open. We slipped outside and made our way to the large central building. We were fortunate enough to have gotten inside the warden’s office without being noticed by one of the guards.
The first main room of the office was a canteen of sorts. An ancient refrigerator stood next to dilapidated counters. Empty cans filled the floor and the tables. The building seemed to be mostly empty. We walked the mostly empty halls until we came across a door labeled ‘Warden’.
Catalyst hugged the wall as she opened the door into the office. Her horn lit up as she withdrew a small glass container from her pack. She tossed it into the other room and quickly shut the door again. There was loud bang, a flash of light beneath the door, and a shout.
Catalyst threw open the door and I rushed in. A slaver was writhing on the ground behind a desk with a terminal on it. He was clawing at his own eyes with his hooves, howling in pain. I grabbed him by his neck.
“Is this the collar control terminal?” I asked.
“I’ve gone blind!” he continued to howl. “Oh what a cruel world it is that has cursed my eyesight!” I gave him a few shakes to clear his head.
“Terminal!” I barked.
“Augh, yes, this terminal controls the whole prison!” he whined, his eyes shut tight.
“All I needed to know,” Catalyst said as she sat down at the terminal. She began to work on hacking into the system. “Got it. Let’s see here. Collars, off. Turrets, off. Private messages?”
“Hey, stay out of that!” the slaver spoke up. I slammed him against the wall again. “Ouch, alright!”
The green light from the terminal reflected off of her goggles as she flicked through the messages. “Wow, Dog you may want to take a look at this,” she spoke up after a while. I dropped the slaver to the ground and walked to the terminal.
To: Fuckhead
Wow, you continue to impress me with your ineptitude. First you let that bitch go free and she took half the slaves with her, then you haven’t even been able to bring in any fresh slaves for weeks! If I weren’t busting my ass catching them for you, which I may remind you is not at all what I am paying you assholes for, we would be out of business already. Get your shit in order and start bringing in the slaves.
R
P.S. I need more quality slaves for my special project. Enough of these strung out addicts and uncooperative slaves. If you can’t get me slaves I can actually use I might have to send you and your useless workers down there.
“Is this ‘R’ fellow your boss?” I asked, turning to the slaver. At this point, I had realized that the slaver had stumbled out to his legs and was making a break for the exit. “Stop!”
He let out a whimper as he bolted through the door to the hallway. I chased after him, but he hit a switch on the wall. Alarms started blaring through the entire prison compound.
“Help! Someone help!” the slaver shouted as he scurried through the halls. He didn’t make it far as I lunged toward him claws extended. My claws sunk into his back and tore through his flesh. He collapsed to the floor in a pool of his own blood and strands of flesh. His howling soon subsided.
“You sure know how to make a mess,” Catalyst said as she trotted towards me.
“Says the one who just melted a pony,” I replied.
“True. Anyway I managed to disable the turrets and the collars, but what do we do if they turn it back on while we are out?” I walked over to the terminal and tore through it, rendering the shreds of electronics unusable. “That works I guess. All that’s left is the slavers and getting the slaves out of here.”
The slaver camp was in complete chaos by the time we exited the administrative building. When the collars were disabled, they popped off easily. Apparently a few of the slaves began to rebel when their collars clicked off. Some even manage to take weapons from a few of the fallen slavers.
“Damn it!” shouted one of the slavers cowering behind an overturned table. “Someone get the collars working again!”
A few of the slavers began to run in our direction, opening fire on us. I stood in front of Catalyst, blocking most of the shots directed at her. They sunk into my hide but penetrated little. Low caliber rounds. Cheap ones.
The slavers slowed their advance when they saw their guns had little impact on me. They stopped when I stood up. They turned and ran when I approached them. I ran after them, claws extended.
One of the slavers was too slow to escape. My claws slipped through her throat with ease. She fell to the ground, bleeding to death while futilely pressing her hooves against what remained of her neck. The other slavers were a bit quicker. I sprinted after them, but a unicorn slaver turned on me, his horn glowing. It was only after I had ran into it that I saw the bear trap glowing beside him. It snapped around my left arm, a slight beeping noise was emitted from the hunk of metal.
“Ha!” the trapper slaver yelled out. “Try to remove that, and your whole arm will blow off!” I replied by swiping at him with my right arm. “Aw shit!” He took off across the courtyard, his horn glowing as he attempted to take another trap out of his pack.
The pain in my arm flared up when I put pressure on it trying to sprint after him. I continued after him on my hind legs. A few of the slaves had downed one of the slavers and were savagely beating him to death. A few other slaves shot at the fleeing slavers with the stolen weapons.
The trapper slaver looked back at me with another bomb trap primed. He launched it toward me with his magic. I ducked under it, but he tried to bring it back towards me as he kept running. The trap suddenly fell from the air when the magical glow around it disappeared. I looked to see that the trapper slaver was staring down the barrel of a pistol in the mouth of a familiar earth pony.
“Please don—” BLAM! The slaver fell to the ground with a hole through his skull. Bolt holstered his gun with a sigh, then looked up to see me. His eyes widened.
“Shit, Dog!” he said as he walked up to me. “He got you with one of his traps?”
“It’s alright, I’m sure Catalyst can figure out how to remove it,” I said calmly.
”R-right,” he stammered. His eyes never departed from the trap affixed firmly to my arm, still drawing fresh blood with every movement
The remains of the slavers were finally driven off. A couple of the more vengeful slaves pursued them. The rest looted the deceased slavers and took off with the supplies. We found Catalyst in the makeshift medical area with the injured slave colt.
“How could you do this to a foal?” she shouted at the cowering ‘doctor’ Ribcage.
“I-I-I assure you that everything I have done wa-was forced by the slavers!” the doctor stammered, the fearsome mare towering over him. “They would have enslaved me if I didn’t do what they asked!”
“Shut up!” Catalyst shouted. “You got them addicted to chems, took them from their friends, and then just sold them like property!”
“Please, I did what I had to do! I never would have harmed any of my patients if it weren’t for Firebrand and the others! In fact, I was as much a prisoner as—”
“NO!” shouted a voice. A gray blur dove towards the doctor. “Nonononononono!” Jet repeatedly shouted as he stomped on the doctor’s face until it was nothing but a bloody pulp. “No...no no...” he panted, the pace of his stomps beginning to slow.
“Uh...are you alright?” Catalyst asked.
“Just...working out some pent up aggression,” he replied with a huff. “I’m going to take some of his inventory, you guys can have the rest. Thanks for the help. Oh, and make sure the brat gets his fair share of Dash. Withdrawal can be a bitch.”
“Alright then...” Catalyst said as Jet stretched his wings and took off with a satchel full of medical supplies. “Well this went better than expect—what the hell happened?” she said as she noticed the trap around my arm.
“One of the slavers,” I replied. “Bolt took care of him.”
“Good, I’ll see about disabling the explosive,” Catalyst said as she levitated various implements out.
“Are you sure that is a good idea?” Bolt asked.
“Don’t worry, I’m disabling the mine and not just the spring latch assembly.” Bolt was about to say something, but remained silent. He took a few steps back.
I wasn’t sure what Catalyst did, but it was a few tenuous moments of the clicking of tools, beeping, and the teeth of the trap digging further into my arm. Eventually, the mine gave a final beep before falling off the bottom of the bear trap. After that, Catalyst simply removed the trap and bandaged the wound.
“Thank you,” I sighed.
“Wow, I wish we had you two had found us a couple minutes earlier,” Bolt said. “We’re done here, right?”
“I believe so,” I replied. “Slaves freed, slavers killed and drove off.”
“Great, I’m going to head back to town, I need to see how Hollow is doing.”
“We’ll join you,” Catalyst said. She looked at the colt who had been sitting on the patient bed with his eyes glazed over. An empty bottle was on the bed beside him. “What do we do with him?”
“We can not leave him on his own, a child would likely not survive the wastes,” I replied. “Take him with us, perhaps Casing will know what to do with him.”
“Case...ing” he repeated slowly.
“What happened to him?” I asked.
“He got out of his cell during all the fighting and made his way here, got into the chem supplies,” Catalyst said. “I found him like this. I was going to give him a mix of medicines to flush out his system, but I was afraid it might have adverse reactions on one so young.”
“At least he seems to not be in pain. Put him on my back, I shall carry him back to town.”
Many of the slaves we had released followed us to Amistad. A few of them thanked us for releasing them, others silently went off on their own. We finally managed to make our way to the town. Some of the slaves had already reached the town and were joyously greeted by the ponies of the town. Bolt headed toward the clinic, Catalyst and I went to the bar where we last met with Casing.
“Hey *hic* if it isn’t the big heroes!” Casing called out from behind the bar counter. “I honestly thought you two would *hic* be dead by now. Guess I’ve got shit on my face now.”
“Word travels fast,” Catalyst said.
“Yeah, one a’ those fuckin’ run away slaves told us about a biiiiiig puppy breaking in and freeing everyone and then a rainbow appeared in the fucki*hic* fuckin’ sky.”
“What happened to the bartender?” I asked.
“Who, dat mish mash of mash? Just disappeared like poof, piece of shit. Left me his bar though, so I made myself *hic* welcome. Anyway, I just wanted to thank the four of—the two of you. Here, have some loads of caps!” she suddenly shouted as she threw a few bags of caps onto the counter.
“What about Scales?” I asked.
“Bah, fuck Scales!” she yelled. “Asshole left me to get enslaved, the asshole. But I guess I promised ya I’d meet with him. No promise I won’t hit him in his fuckin’ face when I see him though.”
‘Case...ing?” Scritch spoke up. “Casing!”
“Oh shit, it can’t be. Scritch? Ya little punching bag, I thought you were dead.”
“You left me there. Why?”
“Everything happened fast *hic* so fast. Didn’t have time to get everyone out. I thought I got you out with the other foals until I discovered outside that you weren’t with us.” She stumbled over the bar counter and to the colt. She hugged him. “I jus’ wanted you guys to be safe.”
“What should we do with him?” I asked.
“Ah, fuck. I can’t keep him. I gotta go kick Scales in the face, plus I’m not exactly the best influence on the kiddies.”
“Well what did you do with the other foals you rescued from the slavers?” Catalyst asked. “I haven’t seen any children around here.”
“Right, I had two of the ex-slaves I was with take em up north to another town where they’d be much better off than this shithole. I’m sure Scritch here’d be happier with other foals.”
“I’d be happier in a pile of Dash,” he replied, scratching at the brace on his leg.
“Now look, I want you two to keep Scritch safe. I can’t pay you any more, but please make sure he’s *hic* safe.”
“We will, don’t worry,” Catalyst replied. “Come along now.”
“We should check on Bolt’s friend,” I said as we left the bar, Scritch resting on my back.
“Right, I think the clinic was this way,” Catalyst replied. We found our way to the clinic and entered. Bolt was inside speaking with the doctor.
“Is she going to be alright?” Bolt asked.
“Well, she made it out of surgery, and we’re fairly sure that she won’t be in any immediate danger. That being said, she may have some permanent damage to one of her eyes, and there will be extensive scarring,” the doctor said.
“But she’s going to be okay?”
“She’ll be as good as you can get after that much damage, she’s lucky she got first aid after the blast. Now, there is the matter of payment.”
“I’ll get the caps, just give me a—” Bolt began.
“No need. Casing came in and paid for the whole treatment an hour after your left. She also left a half empty bottle of whiskey for ‘pain relief’ though I highly recommend not giving it to the patient, as it will conflict with the painkillers we gave her. She should wake up in a few hours.”
“Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.” The doctor left the room. Bolt turned to see us. “I wanted to thank the both of you, you saved Hollow’s life.”
“So what will you do now?” I asked.
“I think I’m going to stay here for a few days, let Hollow recover. Then we’ll figure out what happens after that. What about you two?”
“We’re taking this colt to meet up with some other liberated slaves,” I said motioning to the now sleeping colt on my back.
“I wish you two luck in the future,” Catalyst said.
With that, we departed with the colt Scritch in search of the freed slaves.
Footnote: Level Up
Perk Added: Hulking Runt: By pony standards, you’re the biggest guy around. By Hound standards, you’re the runt of the litter. But you’re still growing strong! Every time you level up, your health greatly increases!
Catalyst: Level Up
Catalyst: New Perk: Intense Training: You’ve learned how to better sway ponies with your words. +1 to Charisma permanently.