> Fallout Equestria: Friends in High Places
>  by Twilight_Sparkler
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Sapphire Talisman
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	[So, surprisingly Kiwi Tart entrusted me with the beginning of our story. First mistake we made out of so, so, many.]

Life in Stable 100 would be as you expect in a stable, closed, cramped and above all...

Safe.

There isn't much special about our stable, where all the floors, walls, and ceiling are made out of a disgusting, gray concrete. Well, nothing besides my friend Kiwi Tart and I.

Kiwi was the foal of the two aging farm ponies in our stable. Most of the brunt work fell on his shoulders, with old parents 'an all.

Me? The Stable had no idea what to do with me, my father was head of security and I was expected to step up as the next head. My mother was the last Talisman repair/maker left in the Stable, so I was pretty pressured into that profession too. You'd think it would be easy, with a cutie mark spelling out what my future was. Heh.

I am a blank flank, so is Kiwi.

It's ironic really, being one of the most important ponies, next to Overmare of course, and not knowing what the hell you were used for. Aggravating really.

Both mine and Kiwi's parents are highly respected in the stable. So were we... Sort of. Because we were so important, we would get special treatment from the teachers or parents.

Other foals hated us for it. Another reason me and Kiwi are such close friends, nopony else will say anything nice.

One of the highlights was that we didn't have Pip-bucks. It wasn't like they even did much in a protected, stable environment. But oh, how we had begged. But so many times a single word deflated our hopes. I really hated that word.

No.

[Yeah, I know I'm wearing a Pip-buck now Kiwi, I'm getting to that!]

As you know, my dad used to be the head of security. Before he left us to go explore the Wasteland, I took the Pip-buck right off my Father's foreleg.

I still don't regret it, it's a memento of him.

I just messed around with it a bit, personalizing, making it more appealing.

...Enough of my rambling, I do believe that's been enough intro. It's time for Kiwi to get into the meaty part of the story. How we left and why.

Enjoy the ride.

[Beginning Transmission 1: HOW DO I WORK THIS THING?]
> Chapter 1: Dreams (KT)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 1



Kiwi Tart



-=-Begin Transmission: "HOW DO I WORK THIS THING"-=-


"He-hello?" Looking around, I could tell the suppressing darkness held no answers for me. Well, I reasoned, no need to stand around here.

CRACK 

The sound of a gunshot made me jump. Not because I was scared, but because it wsnot a sound that was regularly heard in a Stable.I felt a shift and around me the Stable floor started materilizing. The dull gray surroundings of a Stable should've been comforting, but It was quite the opposite. If the famillar sounds had come with it, I could'nt have cared less. But instead of the usual hussle, it was dead quiet.

A bit foreboding, really.

It was a dream, I had guessed as much. Knowing that fact also made me doubt if it really was. How would I know I'm dreaming? 

Not really a whole lot of time to spend dwelling alone, the dream could carry on without me.

Walking through the slowly materializing Stable hallway was horrific. The squelching under my feet didn't sound to pleasant either. I looked down and immediately wished I hadn't. The floor was littered with bodies, some mauled, others simply opting a quick way out, proof by the small pistols laying beside a few bodies.

Just a dream.

I was nearing the point where I would turn around an leave this dream, or just cover my eyes until I woke. But there was more I needed to know. 

Besides, having everypony in the stable dead can't be all bad. I reasoned as I saw a head of a constant abuser of mine.

I immediately felt guilty for just thinking that.

To my right, a terminal started materializing. Ah! I knew where I was! I turned my head forward and saw a huge cog-like door with the letters '100' painted on them.

At least, I should've. The door was gone, opened. Walking forward, the first living body appeared.

"Thank Celestia, there you are Sapphire!" I had become worried, I hadn't seen his body on the ground. I ran up next to him.

What I saw scared me worse than anything else I had, well, thrown at myself. He looked the same, gray coat, blue mane and his signature blank flank, which had been the common ground that had bonded us together.

No, what scared me was his eyes. They were filled with malice, hate. He finally acknowledged my presence, and turned to face me. When he saw who I was, the pure anger in his eyes increased by a ten-fold.

"Why'd you do it Kiwi? You always had to be the hero. Going off by yourself. Bah. You got what was coming to you."

"What? Sapphire, come on, you know me! I wouldn't lift a hoof for anyone but my friends!"

Next to him, a distorted pony appeared. He was terrifying, he didn't have malice in his eyes. They were filled with emptiness and sadness. Taking him in, what I discovered sent a jolt throught my body.

It was me.

Then behind me, I heard a scraping sound. Turning my head, I saw more copies of me and my friend. Again, looking no different besides the fact their eyes were filled with courage and bravery, silently shouting the amount of maturity and pure power these two held. It was everything I had aspired to be.

Both sides floated up their guns, preparing for war. The two diferent versions of me reached out and grabbed one of my hooves. They started silently tugging on me, to the point where I felt I was being pulled to my limits.

The dream ended as it started, with the sound of a gunshot.





"Gah! Sorryteacherimtotallynotlateforclass!" Rushing into my first hour of the day had been dificult, especially after the slow start. After waking up from my alarm clock, I had hidden under the covers for about 10 minutes before I realized it wasn't the sound of gunfire. After getting my saddlebags packed, I was on my way to school.

I got there around 15 minutes late, but nopony noticed.

I slid into the seat next to Sapphire. 

I was afraid to look him in the eyes. Instead, I pulled out my new book, sitting down to read for the whole hour. It's not like anypony would care, and not because it was me doing it. First hour never taught anything, now ever gave out Stablework. It was an hour devoted to letting foals talk to each other and early morning announcements.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sapphire shrug and look at my book.

Next thing I know, I no longer have a book to read.

"Hey where'd you get this?"

"Overmare found a crate of books in the underground storage they just unlocked. Gave it to me when they found what was in it."

"I can see why, since you're probably the only one who reads for fun." Sapphire was selling himself short there, he liked reading too. 

"Well, can you just give it back?" He grinned deviously.

"Nope!" He said, dropping it in his gray saddlebags.

"Just be sure to get it back to me soon, okay?"

At the time, I hadn't realized I had talked over the announcements. Much later, I would find myself wishing I hadn't.





There are times when life could really suck.

I took a look back down at the prompt that I had been presented with at the beginning of my literature hour. I hated writing, except for creative writing. I especially hated prompt writing, more commonly known as essays. I mean, come on. 

Give 3 reasons on why/why not it would be a good idea to open the Stable doors. Be sure to support your answer with plenty of evidence!

See what I mean? I especially hated the ones that even if they ask why or why not, theres an obvious wrong and right choice.Of course it was a bad idea to open a stable's doors. What made it even worse was that the Overmare herself wrote them, but won't own up to it.

There was one upside to a class devoted to words and text.

I reached down to my lime-green saddle-bags on the floor. I slowly reached down and wrapped my hoof around a Daring Do book. After all, the book I had given Sapphire wasn't the only book I owned.

I had a tough time at at this Stable.

None of the other foals noticed, or if they did they didn't say anything. It had become the norm for me to not do my work. Even still, the teacher was constantly on to me for reading in the middle of class.

"Kiwi Tart!"

I accidentally threw the book in the air, before it could hit the floor, I reached out with my hoof and caught it.

"Yes Ma'am?" I q put the book back where it had came from, hopefully she hadn't seen.

"What do you think you're doing?" She was getting up from behind her desk, walking over to mine.

"Uh... erm.. Oh! I'm writing of course, what else?" I covered up the the paper I was supposed to be writing on, so she couldn't see it. 

Did I forget to mention I was responsible for this paper? Food grows on trees, and we just didn't leave old husks of wood lying around. Sapphire's mom was responsible for the coal sticks we wrote with.

Sometimes I was tempted to just buck the trees down and incerate them.

"Well then, let me see!" She had a triumphant grin, she knew she was going to embarrass me in front of all my peers.

"Well you see, It's a surprise! You'll see when I turn it in tomorrow." Heh that wa o smooth, she won't know what to say after tha-

"Sorry, Kiwi. It's due at the end of the hour."

The only sound louder than the combined sound of all the foals' laughing was the sound of a head hitting a desk.





"Ow..." I was rubbing the sore spot on my head. Slamming my head on the desk had not been my brightest idea, and that was saying quite a bit.

Still, I couldn't be upset. My next class was with my best friend, Sapphire Talisman. He was actually my only friend, but I preferred to skip over that fact.

It was comforting to know I was his only friend.

I glanced over at the clock. I was almost lat-

Oh hay, I'm almost late!





I trotted into class, seconds late. I quickly slid into the seat next to Sapphire. As I settled down, Sapphire looked over at me and wiggled his hoof in the universal 'give me' signal.

I sighed and reached down into my bags and handed him my other book. He smiled and mouthed a silent 'thank you' and dropped the book in his bags. I winced at the sound of it being dropped, I always felt bad when a book was tossed around.

Sapphire was a good friend, he knew I wouldn't pay attention if a book was nearby. 

Sometimes I wish he wasn't such a good friend

15 minutes in to our math class and I was bored beyond belief, I had tried to fall asleep twice and every time time my unicorn friend would reach over and thwap me in the stomach. He also told me to pay attention, but I just wasn't in it today.

I really wish he wasn't such a good friend.

I wasn't bored because of math, it was lack there of. Our teacher was going on and on about 'exploration outside the Stable' and 'expanding our knowledge to the traders'. I didn't understand all the fuss over our Stable doors opening, although I wouldn't deny the fact we could a learn quite a bit more. I didn't catch most of it, since it didn't grab my attention like a good story.

Besides, I would hear all about it later, Sapphire sucked it all up like a sponge. He probably wouldn't tell me just once either, when he was excited about something he had a habit to repeat something he's said. I mainly didn't his habit because I was used to doing all the talking.

It was nearing the end of the hour, and the teacher still wasn't off his soapbox about this. Sapphire had both of his forelegs resting on the desk, with his head in his hooves, his full concentration on the teacher. This was the perfect time to start a nap.

I put my hooves behind my head and slumped in my chair.

*THWACK*

Sonofabitch that hurt. right on my sore from last class.

I heard devious snickering to my right, and saw some dirt in a little drawstring pouch on Sapphire's desk. His portable gem 'farm.' He could grow gems, yes, but only on dirt. Sure enough, I looked up and saw a small club-shaped gem floating in a blue telekinetic grip.

Other than that, nothing event-worthy happened for the rest of the hour.





It was the third hour of my day, and I was already exhausted. I had been whacked over the head numerous times, and I couldn't catch a wink of sleep in my last class. It was no mystery as to why. My skull was still aching from the recent abuse, I had nearly considered checking out to the nurse's room.

I wasn't late for this class, if you can imagine that. A great deal of that was because I actually liked this hour. Science.

I only had two classes with Sapphire, other than that we were on our own. I handled peer pressure better than my friend and did better alone than he did.

Nothing noteworthy happened here either.





It was after school that was typically the highlight of my day, this was free-time where you spent time with your friends.

I'm pretty sure you get the idea how 'long' my friends list is, so I won't repeat myself

Usually, we used this time to help each other out with our skill set, which was usually just me cheering on Sapphire as he got better and better at magic. Sapphire was actually a really strong unicorn, he knew many spells and could cast just as many. The only problem was his limit, he could telekinesis for a pretty long time, but other than that the spell burned out rather quickly.

Me? I enjoyed farming, but it was definitely not my talent. I just didn't have the grace or the right kind of skill to harvest fruit and vegetables. It was common knowledge Earth ponies can grow anything in a blink of an eye, but contrary to the popular deduction, not all Earth ponies had the skill to perfectly harvest. Sure, I guess if you wanted some squished fruit, just come see me.

Some days we just sat and read if we both had a good book. Other times, we would just sit and watch the other ponies do stuff and steal an idea from them.

Other days, when everypony else wasn't taking every ball to play with, we would play sports. Sapphire only really liked one kind of sport...

Tetherball. 

Every day he wants me to play a sport, its Tetherball. Everyday we went to go play tetherball, I had my flanked whipped. He was a menace at the game.

"You ready, Kiwi?" The pristine unicorn challenged.

"No" I squeaked out.

His only answer was forming a fist out of magic, and whacking the ball as hard as he could. At this point, I had ducked for cover, hoping he wouldn't aim lower. Just my luck as I nearly lost it as I felt air whistle right above me. Thankfully it was over quick as the ball finished its final loop around the pole.

"Whew! That was fun, right Kiwi?"

I was rolled into a little ball on the ground. He sighed and started levitating me. I hated the feeling of my hooves not touching the ground, and started thrashing. He set me back on the ground, and the feeling of vertigo slowly faded.

"Dude, I hate the air."

"Yeah, sorry."

Of course after he said it, he couldn't keep a straight face. He burst out laughing, rolling on the ground.

I grinned and noticed a small ball on the ground beside me.

I picked it up and threw it straight at him. Then turned to walk away.

He must have been expecting it, because next thing I know I felt a ball nail me in the back of the head.

I hated sports.

He had to go to security training afterwards, so I had the rest of the day to myself.

I just went home. Sapphire was spending less and less time with me everyday.





I sighed and looked in the mirror, noticing my disheveled mane and tail. At least I wasn't dirty anymore, thanks to running water. I reflected that it had been a long day. I trotted over to my bed, ready to turn in for the night. I snuggled deeper into the covers, getting comfortable. After awhile, I finally got it right. Sighing contentedly, I closed my eyes. I noticed something was wrong as soon as I closed them. I cracked open my eyes, and I was blinded by light. Was it morning already? No, that couldn't be right. I looked over at my light switches band noticed it was flipped up. Now, more than ever I wished I was a unicorn. Giving it a hard stare I got up and flipped it down, turning off the lights. Before I could get back to bed however, a brilliant blue flash appeared on my desk.

I did what any normal, grown up, mature stallion would do.

I jumped under the covers. Once I had convinced myself that it was okay, and a little flash wasn't going to brutally murder me, I peeked out from under the covers.

It was a note tightly wrapped around a blue crystal. I shuffled out from under the sheets and read the note.

-Dear Kiwi

I have recently overheard some very important news. Meet in front of the Overmare's room at 10:00 P.M. sharp. Words going around she's going to discuss a very important matter that may lead to opening the Stable gates. It also has a bit to do with us, which is weird. Anyway, see you there.

-You know who

Grumbling and cursing, I shuffled out towards the Overmare's room. It was going to be a long night.





Footnote: Level Up!

New Perk Added - Dreamwalker; Research shows when you imagine doing something, it's almost as good as doing it. Dreaming about running helps. A lot.
+5 Speed

	
> Chapter 2: Secure Living (ST)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 2



Sapphire Talisman


I woke up crying. 

Okay, not the most dignified thing ever.

Once I was fully awake I pulled myself together. I felt a bit better getting up, the nightmare vanishing from my memory. I headed towards my usually pristine bathroom. Living in a stable didn't leave me many things to do, I would usually end up cleaning my room in my free time if I felt up to it. I went into my bathroom and started to brush out all the knots in my mane and tail. After five minutes of vigorous brushing (100 strokes!) and cleaning my teeth, I went back to my room, got my saddle bags on, and quietly snuck out the door. I hoped Mom kept her deep sleeping habits.

What greeted me on the other side was the hallway that connected all the housing sectors for all the ponies in the stable, pardon the Overmare of course. She got special treatment in every part of the stable, it is "her" Stable after all. Of course she got her own room in a separate part of the stable, twice the size of a normal housing sector. 

On my way to class I trotted down the long hallway that seemed to go on forever. The vast (albiet repetitive) journey led me to my first hour class. As I opened the door I tripped over my own hooves, which wasn't uncommon. I pulled myself up,  went over to my seat, put my textbooks down and sat at my desk.

About fifteen minutes later Kiwi burst into the class giving excuses of why he was late, like usual. After giving him a tardy slip he slid into the chair next to me and  pulled out his "new" book. He avoided my eye contact so when he pulled out his book I took it from him with my magic.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Overmare found a crate of books in the underground storage they just unlocked. Gave it to me when they found out what was inside it."

What a nerd. I thought

"I can see why, since you're probably the only one who reads for fun."  This was a lie obviously since I loved reading but I preferred novels to comics.

"Well, can you give it back?" His voice filled with fake sorrow and sadness.

"Nope!" I said with such enthusiasm that it made me smile just a bit as I dropped the book into my saddle bags.

"Just be sure to get it back to me soon, ok?" I only barely heard him because he continued to speak over the announcements, which was particularly bad for him because they where pretty important.





So my next hour was not a living hell like Kiwi's. Mine was quite relaxed for a literature class. My teacher, Mrs. Quil, was pretty laid back and favored me over all the other brats. I could've get away with murder if I wanted to. I quickly finish my class work and then pulled out the book I nabbed from Kiwi. It was an older book, most likely a pre-war one. I lost interest very quickly and pulled out my beloved novel about Greek gods and their half mortal half demi-gods and how they saved the world from ancient monsters. I had read it about 200 times and it never seems to get old. Reading was a quiet wonderland where I could forget that I was in a giant concrete box underground.

Needless to say I didn't get to stay in that happy place for long. The bell rang and I was ripped out of my dream world and dropped back into reality.





My next class was with Kiwi and to no surprise he was late. As he sat down I gave him the 'give me' signal and he gave me his other book. This was for two reasons. Reason one. he couldn't focus with a book near by and reason two, I was curious as to what he was reading. After receiving the book and a glance at the cover I dropped it into my saddle bags to keep Kiwi from getting distracted.

As the teacher went on about the land outside and it's inhabitants (I was "arguably" happy we weren't doing math.) Kiwi tried to fall asleep and each time I would lean over and thwap him in the stomach. He needed to pay attention because I wouldn't always be there to explain it to him afterwards.

After a few more hits to the stomach I just gave up. If he didn't care, then I wouldn't help him.





After about five minutes of awkwardly standing in the hall the teacher, Mr. Tech trots to the door and lets us in. I immediately start to head to the desk closest to his computer. This was my only safe haven because Mr. Tech actually liked me. So of coarse when in his class I was typically left alone. Right as I began to sit down ponies flooded into Mr. Tech's room. Each and every single one avoiding me.

I turned to the black board on the front wall to try to decipher the hoof writing on it. Mr. Tech's class was arcane science, which in my opinion, is the best class ever. It wasn't consistent but it was certainly fun. Today's assignment was so original I thought I might cry. The assignment was to create a power source. I levitated over my beautiful chemistry set and started to work.

It was about five minutes before class ended when I finished, while everypony else continued to work on their power source. So I walked over to Mr. Tech's desk and gave it to him. He scanned the class then looked back at me and smiled. After getting back to my desk I started packing everything up and caused a tad bit of a distraction. Everypony looked at me like I had no life and was too smart. After withstanding a few minutes of uncomfortable stares the teacher stood up and cleared his throat.

"Your projects are due tomorrow." The whole class groaned  and started to pack up. The moment the bell rang I was out the door.

After finishing up Hoofball with Kiwi, I rushed home. 

Huh, Mom isn't home. Must be at the shop, somepony probably broke a talisman.

After I got there I promptly dropped my saddle bags on the floor and slipped into my Stable 100 armor. Once I had acquired my new look I set out for security head quarters. The trip there was pretty simple since every corridor met at the auditorium at the middle of the stable.  Reaching the auditorium, I turned to my left and started for the security hall, only to be stopped by the Overmare herself. The moment she saw me was the moment I knew she needed something from me. Naturally I tried to swerve around her but it was no use at this point.

"Sapphire Talisman, I need you and Kiwi to report to my office at 10:00 P.M. tonight. Got it?" I just nodded in response like always. Once the Overmare was sure I understood she left for her own quarters and I continued on to security training.

Upon my arrival everypony there stopped what they where doing to salute me. The reason is that jobs in the stable were usually passed on generation to generation, so of course when my dad, the head of security, died I took his place immediately. My dad was a good pony and he was friends with almost everypony. Therefore everypony in security knew me and followed me because of my dad. Which I hated. I wish they would respect me for being me, not for my father, not for my position, just for being me.

When I walked in I dismissed everypony with a tad bit of a sour attitude and started towards my tutor's office. My tutor was my second in command. Since I had been rushed into my position, I didn't have much training and had quite a bit to learn. I walked into her office I stood there for a moment until she was done setting shifts and asked her what we would be learning today.

"Sapphire, today we will be learning how to handle weapons. What kind of gun uses what ammunition and how to tell, so meet me in the training room in five."

After receiving my instructions I went to go get my favorite weapons, a trusty shotgun and an assault rifle. Grabbing these I trotted over to the training station which was devoid of activity as it usually was by this hour. The stable had a strict curfew, anypony out after 9 o'clock was to be punished unless they were part of security.

When I stepped into the training area I met Iron Hoof at a table covered in all sorts of weapons and ammunition from pistols to laser rifles. Once I got to the table my lesson would begin.

"So Sapphire, what do you know about these weapons?"

"They shoot things."

"Yes, but they all shot things differently and you need to learn how to differentiate between the ammunition's cartridge size, the type of bullet and the material." She walks over to the far left side of the table where there were lead bullets and lead bullet using firearms. "These are measured by caliber or the circumference of the bullet end." She picked up a bullet and turned it to where the widest side was up. "Most bullets are labeled on the bottom but sometimes the bullet caliber has been obstructed. So how do you tell the difference?" This question was a new one but I remember hearing about it somewhere.

"You can tell by the size if you have another bullet that has its labeled caliber. Then you just compare with the circumference." 

"Correct, you can compare the circumference of each and estimate the unknown size of the bullet." After saying this she set the lead bullet down and started for the right side of the table.

"Here are laser and plasma rifles. These are very easy to load if you know how. To load either a laser or plasma weapon you must find a hatch on the gun its self. Now usually they are well hidden to deter reuse by the enemy, but are easy to use once you know where the hatch is." She picked up one of the complicated looking rifle off the table and gave it to me.

"Now I want you to try and find the hatch on this rifle, and don't worry, its not loaded." As she said this I levitated the rifle up to eye level and inspected the entire thing. Now if I made guns where would I put the ammunition? I checked the top and sides with no luck but when I moved to the underside of the gun  I saw a level patch that was about the size of one of the power cartridges. So I tried pulling on it and ta-da! The hatch opened!

"Congratulations Sapphire, you are one of the few who actually found it without being shown. What was your thought process?"

"Well I searched every side and when I came upon the flat part on the bottom I though it was about the size of one of the cartridges so I tried opening it and it did."

"Job well done Sapphi-" She was stopped short by a burst of static on her Pipbuck. "Hello?"

"Head home Sapphire. The Overmare just called me in for a meeting, we'll continue in the morning."

"Alright." I went back to put my guns away and started back for home. I glanced at the clock.

9:45. Hmmmm.





Once I got home I shed my layer of barding and went over to my desk. Once I sat down on my plush floor pillow I pulled my favorite fountain point pen and a crisp piece of paper and wrote Kiwi a note about our meeting with the Overmare. After it was written I got a gem and some string then tied the note to the glowing rock. Once this was done I quietly crept out of my housing sector and started down the dim hallway for Kiwi's housing sector.

Once at Kiwi's I levitated the gem with the note through his open window into his room. Soon after doing so I saw what I assumed to be Kiwi's shadow over the window. After seeing him open the note through the window I receded back ino the shadows and started for the Overmare's office, and I knew nothing good would come from this visit. You didn't get called down to see the Overmare this late for a cup of tea. I walked in the shadows of the stable to the office where my life would change, forever.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote:Level up! 

New Perk - Supply Blocked; You always were skilled at magic, you had the resources to be able to cast your spells. The only problem is, you can't exceed the cap put on your magic.

+5% Mana Storage with each level gained
> Chapter 3: Damnum innocentiae. (KT)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 3



Kiwi Tart



Remastered Edition


"Are you ready?"

"I think, why do ya think she needs us?"

"Only time will tell." Heh, Sapphire had a point there.

I frowned and looked at the clock.

9:59

Hey, I wasn't late!

When the hand turned to the 10, we knocked.

"Come in!"

We pushed the door in and walked in. "Why do you need us for Overmare?"

She gave us a bit of a sad look, but she smiled as well. "Take a seat, boys, and don't call me Overmare, we're equals right now."

Hmm. The Overmare was being nice? This was different. She looked... Happy?

"Why are you so happy? and uh, what are we supposed to call you?" 

She gave us a small smile, and laughed. She laughed. Was the Overmare really a living, breathing, feeling... Pony?
Woah. Getting ahead of myself here.

"You have to promise to not laugh, okay?" Me and Sapphire just nodded. 

"Wish Granter." She even had a real name? How stressful of a position did you have to have to even be stripped of your name?

"Alright, Wish, what do you need us for?"

Her face instantly transformed. "I have recently been contacted by a pony named Red-eye. He wishes to open trade routes with us, in exchange for one thing... Well, Three things. He wants our trust and well... you two."

"What!"
"How could you!"

Me and Sapphire responded at the same time. This was outrageous! 

"We aren't some bargaining chip for your game, Overmare!" Sapphire sounded outraged, but I couldn't agree with him more.

"You couldn't at least ask us first?"

"You have to do this, okay? I'm at the mercy of my Stable here, everypony's un-happy with my work! Opening a new trade route with a wastelander is a big step for us. I'll go down in the textbooks for this, don't you realize!"

I was surprised. I knew her worries were real ones, it was evident in the Stable that we were downhill. Lot of talk of overthrowing the Overmare. Her fears were validated. I'm pretty sure I would be worried if everypony hated me.

Oh wait...

I guess me and Ove- Wish Granter related on different levels. I felt really sorry for her. If we didn't do this, she would be overthrown, no question about it. She could possible even be killed, and it would be all out fault.

I didn't want that. I couldn't do that to another pony.

"I'll do it." Sapphire just looked at me.

"Why are you doing this? She's just an Overmare, she'll die and go down in history as the worst Overmare ever, no sweat of your back. Why do you care?"

"You answered your own question."

He just gave me a cold look. "I'll go."

I heard Wish breath a sigh of relief. "You have 'till tomorrow morning to pack up."

Sapphire stomped out of the room, obviously furious with me. He's just mad, he'll get over it... Won't he?


-x-x-x-


I rolled over to receive a dose of synthetic sunlight, courtesy of my best friend's mom. Scratch that, my only friend. I layed in bed for a bit longer, not wanting to function. Only the promise of getting to read some more books later got me out of bed.

I grappled with the toothbrush, looking at the mirror red and puffy-eye'd. I hated not having magic, it was so hard to write with my mouth and pick things up with a hoof.

After finally rinsing I glanced over at the clock. 

Late. Again.

I groaned and tip-hoofed my way through our living space. Better known as a cubicle. It wasn't hard, mom and dad were heavy sleepers.

When I finally reached our homeroom class, I took the empty seat next to Sapphire Tamlisman. Unfazed by how late I was he leaned over and whispered, "I hope you're proud of what you doomed us to."

"Mind telling me what it is?" I asked

"You're getting us killed, we know nothing about surviving!"

"Kiwi Tart and Sapphire Talisman! Something you wish to share with the rest of us?" At first I had thought it was my subconscious mocking me, but it was just the teacher.

I would've preferred to have my subconscious berate myself.

"Just asking what the announcement was." I replied.

"I want you two at my desk after class."

The class gave a general snigger at this, it was no secret we were disliked due to our blank flanks.

*DING* *DING*

That was the class bell. Most ponies filed out in to the hallway. Not us though. Me and Sapphire made our way up to her desk, awaiting our judgment.

"Look, it wasn't Kiwi's fault, I was the one ta--" Sapphire started before being interuppted.

"You two are needed at the Overmare's office." Huh? Where was the death penalty for our horrid crimes?

"Is that it? No punishment for talking or being late?" I asked

She smiled sadly at us. "There will be no need to assign you any punishment, what the Overmare will say will be enough. I don't envy you two." She waved us out the door, her eyes starting to get a bit shiny.

"That was really foreboding and cryptic, what she said." I couldn't agree with Sapphire more. We were walking down the hallway, taking in all the posters that read "Knowledge is power!" Or "Brain over brawn!" Our stable was built heavily on an education system. The day was usually split into two parts, the first half depended on your cutie mark. If you had a security cutie mark, you would learn how to be the best stable security there was, etc etc... Unfortunately, since me and Sapphire were Blank flanks we were just shoved into Security classes. Sapphire, because he was going to be the next Head of Security when he reached the age, and me becuase I was an Earth pony. The second half was just basic reading, math and language.

"Hey, Equestria to Kiwi Tart, hellooooo?" Sapphire was waving a hoof in my face, trying to get my attention.

"What is it?"

"We're here."

In front of us stood a large stone door. I did the logical thing when faced with a menacing door. 

I politely knocked.

A muffled "Come in!" Could barely be heard.

I pushed open the door, revealing the Overmare's room. It was considerably bigger than any of ours, and I saw it as a kind of waste to have all this space to one pony.

"Please, sit, sit." She asked.

I was scared, the Overmare was usually the pony to deal out punishments for troublemakers. Me and Ms. Overmare knew each other quite well. The Overmare was to never be questioned, doubted or lied to.

Above all, you never disobeyed the Overmare.

Needless to say, we took our seats.

"You two know very well why you're here. There's going to be a small team picking you two up. Meet me at the front gate when you're ready."

We nodded. I had been steeling my nerves the night before, waiting to be told to get out.

I still died a bit on the inside.


-x-x-x-


After a tearful goodbye, my father telling me I 'was doing goof for the stable' or 'I'm mighty proud, m'colt!' 'You're gonna be a stallion yet!' My mom had been crying to hard to say much. I could still feel the damp streaks on my shoulder. I wasn't heartless, I cried a few manly tears.

Okay maybe a lot.

Okay, I curled into a ball and bawled on the floor, but that's besides the point.

I noticed that Sapphire and the Overmare standing there,waiting. Late. Again. Sapphire had his Stable Security vest on, and he looked pretty good in it.

The Overmare was using the most ideal way to fix any electronic that wasn't working. I heard another crack as she slammed the Pip-buck down onto the concrete. I threw a questioning look over at Sapphire.

He simply shrugged "She can't get a signal."

"Damn things are supposed to be the newest age of technology!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise indicating a signal.

"--rmare of Stable 100, relay the password into your Pip-buck. If you're the Overmare of Stable 100, relay the--"

She nearly screamed the word "Insurance" into the Pip-buck. She then coughed into her hoof and lowered her voice. "I have the Insurance here."

"Great! The Farmpony and the Talisman repairer?"

"Yes." She grumbled into the Pip-buck.

"Sorry, but I will also need auditory confirmation from the two subjects."

The Overmare waved the Pip-buck over to us.

We both nearly said "Here" at the same time, we were that nervous.

"Wonderful! Everything is going as planned! Now, if you could open up the door for us we would like to introduce ourselves to our new trading partners!"

The Overmare, giddy with excitement, ran over to the control panel, quickly typing up the code. It was weird, seeing the Overmare smile. It was pretty, the same way an extinct fossil would be. It may be pretty revolting, but it's rareness was what made it pretty. I would've been happy too, if I was going to be credited with a new age of peace. Sapphire was standing between me and her, but still stared at her anyway. In the back of my head, I hear a click that sounded strange. Not like a door opening.

Then, Wish Granter, the Overmare of Stable 100 had her head shot off. It was a gruesome sight, her whole head lying in a bloody, boney heap. The body stayed upright for a bit longer, then collapsed on Sapphire. By this point he had blacked out and the most mare-like scream I've ever heard was echoing in my ears.

Wait...

That was me.

A silky smooth voice came from my right, from the direction of the door. "Heh. I'd say this was the best trade I've ever made."I looked over at the voice, and I nearly fainted right then and there by what I saw.

She was Pegasus with Dark, stormy gray eyes that probably had more stories to tell than my dad. Her mane was a lighter gray, with brown accents running  through it. Her coat itself was charcoal black, nearly blending with the wasteland sky.

"Hey, Earth pony, what are you looking at?" She menacingly held up her Shotgun between my eyes.

It was hard to tell a mare that you had been oogiling her when she had a shotgun pointed at your head.

"Heh...heh... Enjoying the view?"

In the blink of an eye, she had the Shotgun right on my temple. I could feel the coldness of the metal and smell gunpowder coming off it.

Guess that had been a bad move.

"Shadow, we can't kill him, Red-eye asked for them, by name even!" I almost jumped in surprise as a bright pink unicorn with yellow and blue-striped mane pop up.

"It's a shame, isn't it? I was really hoping I could kill this green one right here. Not like Red's going to punish me." I could feel her drive the barrel deeper in my head. "Where's your big, strong, inginuety you Earth ponies are known for, huh?"

I gulped. I really wish the unicorn would stop antagonizing her. "Uhmm, just a thought, but, I would prefer not to die." It was worth a shot to throw my hat into the ring about whether or not I died.

She gave such a cold look my hooves nearly froze to the ground. "Worthless, boneless, pathetic waste of space." She spat on the ground and slowly started pulling back on the trigger.

My life flashed before my eyes, all the happy and sad moments. Then the sound of a shotgun being fired. I felt myself fall, the world starting to fade to black.

Then there was no more.

At least, that's what would've happened if I hadn't realized I could hear my two tormentors laughing at me. I opened my eyes to smell of gunpowder. My eyes fell upon the pistol the Pegasus had been using earlier. It had a thin trail of smoke coming out of it, and was in the magic grip of the bubbly unicorn.

I quickly put two and two together. I had been tricked. The Unicorn had levitated it up and fired it around the time the Pegasus would've fired hers.

The Unicorn quickly got up apologized."Sorry, we don't get to prank much anymore. All of Red-eye's troops are so serious."

The Pegasus, who I remebered the Unicorn calling her Shadow, still hadn't recovered.

The firing of a pistol was enough to wake Sapphire. He rubbed his eyes and said: "What did I miss?" He turned his gaze to Shadow, and by his expression, his internal answer had been 'some of that.'

Ugh. It was love at first sight, for him.

No one answered poor Sapphire.

Shadow then quickly turned to me. "We do need to get moving soon, Red-eye might get a bit anxious. Me and Burst here will answer all your questions."

We had quickly divided into groups of two, with Burst leading us. Shadow and Sapphire were back there asking 'questions', and more often than once I wanted to tell them to get a room.

I focused on asking Burst questions that mattered. "What are your guys's full names?

"I'm Bubble Burst and she's Shadow Flash, but most call us Shadow and Burst."

"Do you two have a connection?"

"Yeah, me and Shadow are filly-foolers!" She watched my face curiously for a reaction, she giggled into her hoof as I stopped in shock. "Just kidding, we're considered an elite team, Red-eye sends us out on the really important missions."

"What is Red-eye planning with us?" It was a question that had been bothering me, not even more so that we had elite members of an army go out and get us.

She bit her lip, not as excited to answer this question. "You really know how to pick and choose those questions." I nodded sagely. That was me, Kiwi the questioner. "Red-eye had caught wind of another stable at the edge of the forest. He had never heard of this stable so learned as much as he could about it." She looked away. "As soon as he found out that there were two young stallions, one a farmer and one a Talisman repairist, he said he would stop at nothing to get you two alive. His whole plan kind of rests on you two, being some of the last to have that talent." She looked back at my flank. Slowly her eyes shrunk into print picks of horror. 

"You're a blank flank? Shadow, check Sapphire for his cutie mark!" Shadow replied with a breathless "What?! He's blank!"

"Oh no... Shitshitshit. Red-eye'll have our heads, their talent isn't even known yet!" She looked back down at me.

"I'm sorry to say this, but I think I'm leading you all to your death. Sorry."

I couldn't but stare blankly. Great. We were going to die literally because we were useless. Great.

Sweet Celestia I hate Mondays.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Level Up!

New Perk - Overlooked; Being a blank flank has it's advantages. Well, if everypony considers you useless and won't give you the time... Yeah.  

+10 In Stealth for each member in your party that is a blank flank.
> Chapter 4: Bloodied Cystals (ST) (Un-edited)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 4



Sapphire Talisman


Ok so we left off with the whole useless part, yes? Well after that little escapade Shadow would hardly talk to me. It was like "Oh, you have not found your special talent? Guess I'll just act like your already dead." 

Being outside for the first time was, well... disappointing. What happened to the blue skies and green grass? The first things for my eyes to fall apon where a gorgeous pegasus, (not complaining there) her crazy friend and a world devoid of color. 

I must admit the whole trick with the guns was quite hilarious. The Overmare falling on me? A competely different story. Yeah I hated her, but did anypony deserve that? It was like the final "screw you" moment of her life. She bled all over me! I mean, do you know how long it takes to get blood out of my coat?!

["Kiwi said I need to stop complaining about how 'un-fabolous' it looks on my coat. Well, the colors clash! Sorry about that, my appearance is quite a sensative topic for me. Ok, back to the story.]

So as we walked what I assume to be an over-grown forest, Shadow actually tried to talk to me. I don't blame her, who wouldn't want to try and comfort somepony who was about to die?

"I really am sorry about this." she said without looking at me.

"Well I guess it really isn't your fault is it?"

"I guess not, but I feel so helpless. This is total bullshit. You were supposed to have your cutie marks."

"Well I guess your luck sucks, because me and Kiwi are the only blanks in the whole stable" I said with a little chuckle. She just kind of stared at me like I was crazy.

"You're not serious, are you?"

"Oh, but I am. This flank has been blank since the beginning." After that we both just fell into the awkward silence. Kiwi and Burst where a few paces ahead, not even talking now, when I thought I heard a rustling in the bushes. Stopping abruptly causing Shadow to get a few paces in front of me. 

"Look, I realize you don't want to die but we need to keep moving."

I acted like I didn't hear her. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That rustling noise. There it is aga-" I didn't get the words out of my mouth before a giant monstrosity lept out of the brush tackling me. I surely would have died if Shadow hadn't been quick to act and shot the beast a couple of times. While it served its purpose as a distraction sadly, this only seemed to anger it. After it slowly lumbered away from me, towards her, I quickly ran over to Burst and Kiwi where the former was pulling out her pistol. After lifting it out of her bags she unloaded a few expertly placed shots. So naturally I looked down to see her Pip-Buck and was shocked to see her forleg bare. After a few moments of awe, I realized that once again the beast was focused in my direcion, and yet again I as alone.

As it started to charge at me I felt a magic force grip my body and throw me into the air. In a justified action, I screamed. Sadly that nearly put Kiwi's to shame. After finishing my scream and gathering what pride I still had left and promptly looked around for everypony else. 

Apparently Shadow was trying to distract the beast while Burst tried her hardest to keep me afloat and Kiwi was trying to help Shadow. He had a huge stick that he was trying to fight with. Kiw's stick just seemed to annoy the thing. Eventually the beast turns back to me but i was floating just out of reach. Burst had her magical grip on me, but I was moiving extremely slow. I wasn't that heavy was I? Apparently I was because the rate i was moving I might as well have been a few crates of rocks, big crates. After about half way Burst's magic started to flicker. The real kicker was that I was still above the beast. 

After what seemed like hours in the air i finaly got a good look at the thing. I nearly jumped out of my coat. It had a grinning red lion head, its huge scorpion tail menancingly held above its head. It was a manticore, a big one at that. About three minutes passed when I finally floated towards Burst and Kiwi. And around that time was when Shadow ran out of bullets. She was alive purely based on the fact that she was just too quick for the manticore, and Kiwi was tripping it with his stick. Burst tried to help but her bullets just didn't help, so I did the only thing I could think of. I started to grow crystals. 

What i was trying to pull off was to grow a big enough cystal to cut the manticore with. Sadly I have never grown anything bigger than an apple. So of course, what does it do? It refuesed to get bigger. So with my magic, I reached out and grabbed the small, jagged jem and pulled up my marvelous S.A.T.S. and targeted a slice at the manticore's neck. If it weren't for S.A.T.S. it probably would have missed. But as time slowed down I saw the jem flick by the manticore's throat. Next thing i saw was a red jem and a welling gash on a dying manticore.

Shadow and Burst just looked at me kinda funny after that. They walked alittle ways away just out of ear shot and spoke a few hushed words. When they came back I was brushimg some knots out of my rumpled mane, and Kiwi was cleaning of the red looking jem.

"Shit dude, I had no idea you could be so violent." Kiwi said as he spit on the crystal to clean it.

"What did you expect me too do? Sit here and wait for the manticore to kill me?

"Well, I guess not. Still didn't know you had it in you."

"Neither did I." 

After my litle conversation with Kiwi, Shadow and Burst came back over. They both looked pleased and sad. Like they just found out they had a sibling but would never get to see them. 

Shadow started first. "So I have good news and bad news. Sapphire, you have a higher chance of surviving because you can grow jems. Kiwi, I haven't seen you grow anything but you either very brave or very stupid to take on a full grown manticore." Kiwi and I just nodded and I felt a little better on the inside. We might actually live.

"Bad news is, it might not be enough." Burst finished. Again Kiwi and I just nodded. The cold sense of dread settled back in me. 

"Alright, time to get moving. Red-eye's catheradel is just up  ahead." Burst said as she turned back the way we where headed. Kiwi quickly followed Burst back on the trail while I took my time with Shadow. Apperently it was her responsibility to keep me alive and it was Burst's to keep Kiwi that way. So naturally Burst would not leave Kiwi's side and Shaow wouldn't leave mine. I was kind of glad they did this. After running into a full grown manticore my nerves where a little fried. With that being said I tried to make myself by trying to talk to Shadow and Burst. 

"So what did you both do before working for Red-Eye?"

Burst was the first to reply. "I used to wander the wasteland and work contracts."

Shadow hesitantly started. "Well I wasn't always this way. I used to live in the clouds. Used to be a high ranking officer, until the incident."

"Well what happened?" The great questioner strikes again.

"My family betrayed me. One screw up and they  throw you out like a wet rag. Then they call in saying I committed treason. So naturally the Enclave dove  in and took my cutie mark and gave me this." She lifted her  sadle bags just high enough to show us a cloud with a lightning bolt buned into her hide

"That looks like it was painful." Kiwi finished his statement with the most innoccence and questioning face I have seen anypony make. 

"No, it was just like sleeping on a feather bed." Shadow's voce oozed with sarcasm. "Of coarse it hurt! Getting your cutie mark melted off and then getting hit with hot metal will make even the strongest stallion shreik like a little filly." Poor Kiwi looked ever so frightened but kept walking.

"So now it's my turn to ask questions. Sapphire, what did you do in the stable without a cutie mark?" She said this as if my story could not even dream of being as dramtic as her's, which of coarse it wasn't but i still told her. 

"Well life was pretty easy. I got to work with my mom and learn all types of spells."

"What about your dad? What does he do?" This question she seemed to ask with a little more intrest.

"My father is dead and has been since I was a colt. He was the head of security. I was destined to take his place but I never really seemed to get there."After that Shadow kind of shut up after giving me a kind of sad look. Of coarse she had been betrayed by her father but she still got  to know him. I on the other hoof never knew my dad. The only real thing I have from him is his old Pip-Buck.

Sadly my thoughts where interupted as we abruptly stopped on a hill looking over a huge Chapel. 

"Well here we are." Shadow said as we arived at the base of the hill. "Your new home"

"Maybe."


-=-END TRANSMISSION INTRO-=-


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level Up!

New Perk - Smooth Talker; You know how to get those mares talkin. With your dazzling looks and sly tongue, you could out-talk any mare. That's saying quite a bit...

+5 Speech

+5 Magic Capacity 
> Chapter 5: Scrap metal (KT)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5

Kiwi Tart

"Maybe."

Truth be told, I was in complete hysteria. When I had seen the manticore charging at my friend, I had to do something. Grabbing the thick log that hadn't fallen out of the tree on to my head because I was running around madly trying not to die, I had rushed out to save my friend and my two captors. I admit, it wasn't very smart but it did the trick. This was piled on top of the fact that I would probably never see my family again, nor even a schoolroom if the wasteland was really as bad as they said.

And did Sapphire care? If he did, he didn't show it. He seemed to love the outside of the stable more than the inside, and I probably only needed one guess as to why.

I've never really wanted to kill a pony, but Shadow was getting pretty close to it. Sapphire was willing to leave everything behind, because he thought he had a chance with a mare. Her looks had got me, yes, but if the inside outweighs the outside in evil, I just can't see that pony in the same light. Shadow was playing him like a fool, brushing up against him, winking at him. Acting like she cared.

I knew her game, and I could why. Sapphire probably wouldn't stay if he knew she wasn't interested. I could only assume Burst was doing the same to me, but I wanted nothing to do with this wasteland. 

That is, if we passed 'inspection'.

Shadow had told us if we didn't lie, cheat, or some other underhand trick to convince him we were important, we were dead.

"Hey, you two, we're here." Snapping out of my thoughts, I looked up at the building in front of me. I had overheard Burst or Shadow say it was a chapel, it reminded more of a fort, or a castle.

Walking up the front was nerve wracking. The urge to run only swelled, and I would've bolted had it not been the lookouts with Snipers. The whole Cathedral was secure, no area didn't have vision. No area wasn't being patrolled. It was probably safer here than it was in my Stable.

So why was I feeling rising dread?

"Hey, let me in! Its me, Red-eye's girl! I got the delivery he wanted!"

Creaking and scratching drowned out what little beauty was in the huge door, as it slowly slid open. What was inside surprised me, rows of soldiers were lined up on the inside. As Shadow and Burst walked by, they would salute.

How brutal were these two? To have control of an army, it was terrifying to me. knowing myself, I would probably kill every pony by accidentally leading them off a cliff.

Another set of doors, these with red glass and much less noisy, opened next. Before the door closed, I heard the whispering of many ponies. The door was closed before I could hear even a snippet of conversation. The whole scenario was sending shivers down my spine. I knew next to nothing about this Red-eye, and I didn't want to be here. Shadow was leading us down many hallways, turning at seemingly random hallways. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Shadow spoke to us.

"Straighten up you two, look presentable as possible, and above all, don't speak out of turn." Both of us nodded. Burst meanwhile, was looking on with a bored expression. 

"Why are you so scared of him Shadow? We all know he's just a big old softy."

Shadow glared daggers at her. "Don't forget, if we fail this mission he's going to punish us like no tomorrow, our lives may even be on the line."

"Pffft. Let's just get it over with."

I had pretty well expected what I saw when we opened the door. I couldn't tell how deep underground we were at this point, but the ceiling gave me a pretty decent indication. Sitting on the throne in the middle of the room was not how I expected Red-eye to look. He looked like a normal pony, an Earth pony with a cyber eye. I felt like I was constantly being watched in this room, and it probably had nothing to do with a camera.

"Red-eye." Shadow bowed to him.

"Shadow Flash, Bubble Burst at ease. We are equals, I have already told you this." Red-eye removed himself from the throne, walking towards us. His flank was scarred and burned, without a cutie mark. The way he moved, the way he talked, I could he was a leader, and a very good one

"What have you brought me?"

Shadow gulped. "They came without fighting, and have actually already fought on our side."

"Fought by your side? Were you attacked?"

"It was a large manticore, but we fended it off."

"How did you kill it?"

"Sapphire Talisman slit its throat with a small jewel." He looked a bit surprised when Shadow said that. 

"How did he get the gem?"

"He grew it." Red-eye looked a bit like he was about to flip a lid at that.

"He grows his own minerals?"

"Yep."

"Did Kiwi Tart do anything?" I notice Burst bit her lip when he asked that. Why was she...?

"No sir, he was completely useless."

What?

"They're both blank flanks, but Sapphire has a pretty good idea on what his is."

What are they doing?

"So he was a burden, useless, talentless and helpless?"

"Correct." I tossed a pleading glance over at Sapphire, but it was lost on him. His expression burned with anger, and Burst wouldn't meet my eyes. Shadow just stood there, looking defiant as ever.

How can they do this? Do they want me to die?

Red-eye hopped on top of me, pressing his hooves on my neck. "Do you know what we do with useless ponies?"

Pressing his hoof down harder, I was beggining to get a pretty good guess.

Then the pressure vanished, and Red-eye was thrown off me. I noticed a flicker of blue light, as he was tossed a short distance away. Just out of hoof's reach. Turning around quickly so I wouldn't lose my chance, I bucked as hard as I could with my hind legs. A resounding crack filled the room. I turned to look back at Red-eye, but he was already up, but the glass screen that used to be where his eye was was currently on the floor in pieces. I was pretty scared at the moment, he didn't show any signs of my kit doing anything to his face. Raising his hoof like he was about to whack me...

"Hmm... You stood up for yourself. Brave. Stupid, but brave. Do you think we should keep him?" Shadow and Burst alike looked surprised he was asking for their input. "I mean, if he bucked you in the face he might amount to something..." Burst was just shaking her head 'yes' to much to respond.

"Well that settles it then. Welcome to Red-eye's militia you two!" Finally bringing his hoof down.

I was already in the fetal position, curled into a tight ball and gave a small yelp as he said it. 

Peeking out between my hooves, I was met with extremely diverse reactions to what had happened. Sapphire looked on the verge of hugging me, Burst looked incredibly relieved and Shadow did too. She looked a bit more...

Disappointed? She had made it clear she did not like me, being a different race 'an all. I had no idea she wanted me dead.

"...Are you going to shake my hoof?"

Reaching up with my hoof, I weakly attempted to shake his hoof. After he was done with me, he walked over to Sapphire.

Sapphire looked at the hoof with disdain.

"I don't like this..." Sapphire reached out and shook it.

"Deal! You're now eternally bound to me and will serve for me until I die or you do!"

"What?!"
"I told you so Kiwi."

"Where does it say that?" I questioned angrily.

He pulled out a parchment of paper. "On the contract."

"You didn't say there was a contract!"

"You didn't ask."

He grinned. "Follow me, I already have job planned out for you four." He pushed a button, pulling out a part in the wall. On said wall was now a door.

"You two are going to need suiting up first."


-x-x-x-


"So... It'll protect my whole body?"

"Yes."

There was the thing it needed before it got the 'Tart' guarantee. Finding the nearest wall, I slammed my head into it. 

Yep, no damage.

The armor Red-eye had given me was surprisingly light. I had asked why, but he hadn't told me. Sapphire, meanwhile, had been given armor that was heavier. 

"You ready?" Scared, I whipped my head around towards the sound, expecting it to be Red-eye. Sapphire stood over me, looking down at me. I hadn't put much thought into it before, but he was pretty intimidating. He stood quite a bit taller than most ponies, and just looked downright dangerous in his Stable barding. Me? I would be lucky to scare off, well, anything. I was just to bright, to friendly. the sudden realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I stood no chance alone in this wasteland.

Oh, of course! That explained his anger when I had said I wanted to leave the Stable! He wasn't worried about his life, he was worried about me losing mine. 

"You two done in there?" It was that rowdy pegasus, Shadow. I wasn't sure how I felt about her. She was stunning, sure, but her personality was incredible!y dark. Oh, and she hated me.

That means something, right?

"Yep." No we weren't, Sapphire had yet to put his set on.

"You gonna put your armor on?"

"No. I want to wear my barding, it'll help me remember where I came from." He gave me a very direct look after saying it. "Don't you either, Kiwi." He turned and walked out, leaving me to my thoughts.

-x-x-x-

"So this is where we get our weapons?"

"For Sapphire, yes. I already have one picked out for you."

Sapphire's eyes lit up for a bit, and he trotted off to find his own weapons.

"So... What is it?"

"I've heard that you're not the best at keeping track of things, is this correct?" I blushed a bit at this. he was right, whenever I lost something I just hoped I found it while I was cleaning.

"Yeah." He nodded as if finalizing a question.

"Come here." I followed him around a corner labeled 'line D - Zebra Weapons'.

There was multiple shelves filled with guns labeled 'Igniting', 'Freezing', 'Soul sucking' and other things of the such. Near the end of the hallway, there was one labeled 'Unknown'. "Here." He pointed to a long Sniper, high on the shelf. "Pick it up."

"You first."

"I'll rip off your leg, touch it with the limp appendage, and sew back on to your body if you don't touch that gun." Sheesh.

The last thing I remembered before blacking out was the feeling of my heart being torn out and sewn back in. 

-x-x-x-

"Oh shoot, that hurt." I cracked my eyes open, only to be blinded by an intense light. I took notice of my surroundings. White walls, white sheets, white everything. At least it wasn't gray.

Sapphire would've approved.

"Ah, you appear to be awake!" It was, you guessed it, a white unicorn mare. On her head was a hat with the universal symbol of health, a red cross. "Don't even try and tell me what happened. I'm a nurse for the militia, I've probably heard weirder things than you can even think of telling me."

"I touched a gun and blacked out. Felt like my heart was torn out and shoved back in."

"Wait. Is that it? No physical wounds?"

"Yes."

"Then please excuse yourself from my hospital, I have wounds to mend. Nothing personal, but I can't waste to much time on a pony that isn't on the brink of death ."

I could respect that. I wasn't on the floor bleeding out, like a wounded soldier. Quickly excusing myself I left her room.

"Hey, you! You forgot your gun!" She said, and tossed it to me. Afraid to touch it, I just let it hit the ground in front of me. After taking a minute to look at it, I could realize why I had to wear pretty light armor. The gun looked heavy, and I could identify the grip specially made for my breed. As for why I was picked for the sniper role, I had no clue. I don't know much about guns, but I could tell this thing had more than enough power to take off a head or two. 

Okay, well screw my earlier decision about not touching it. Besides, I looked pretty weird standing in the hallway staring at a sniper rifle. Touching and it, I braced myself for a fall.

The sensation never came back, and I could pick up the beauty. It was a sleek thing, and pretty shiny to boot. Knowing enough about guns to know where ammo was held, I looked for an ammunition box. 

"Ugh, where is the damn thing?" Was it defective? After a bit of searching, I found a small button. Pressing it revealed a small compartment. Inside it was a small jar with a glowing emerald inside. Huh. I knew enough about guns that this wasn't normal.

Oh well. I snapped the lock back in place. Now how was I supposed to carry it around...?

-x-x-x-

Can I just say that guns are really heavy? I had finally pulled around to the front desk where the recioptnist was. Glancing at me, she grabbed a piece of paper and walked over. "Sir, are you Kiwi Tart?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"You had some visitors. Also a message from Red-eye." She sounded dull, bored. Almost like she did this everyday.

"What does it say?"

"Just to meet him at the front gate when you've awoken."

"Thanks!"

"Not a problem." Resuming my slow pace, I had suspicion I wasn't going to make it on time. At least, not lugging this thing around. "Can you hold my gun for me while I'm gone?"

She gave me a surprised look. "You plan on going out to the wasteland...without a gun?" She looked like she was trying really hard not to start laughing. She eventually decided on a plan of action though. "Just lay it over there in the corner. You can come by and get it later."

"Thanks again!" I was already out the door before I heard her reply. I stepped outside and realized two things. I hadn't realized just how big Red-eye's turf was. Second, I was incredibly lucky considering how the gate was right in front of the hospital. I could already see the four figures of Red-eye, Shadow, Burst and Sapphire. Sapphire was talking to Shadow and she was laughing and giggling at everything he said. Burst just sort of stood alone, watching them. Running up, Red-eye noticed me first. I took note of the weapons Sapphire had grabbed. A simple shotgun and a standard pistol. Must've been what he was trained with. 

"Where's Disciple?" Disciple? I gave him a confused look. "The sniper" he clarified. 

"Left it at the hospital. It was getting to heavy to lug around." I slowed next to a stop next to Burst, closing off our circle. I could feel a small tugging at my chest.

"Ah, trust me. You won't be getting away from it anytime soon." He grinned as I heard a POP and a flash of green light, same shade as my eyes.

On the ground in front of me, was the gun Disciple. I didn't scream, yell, cry, hide under covers I just stared at it. Sighing, I asked the inevitable question. "What just happened?"

"That gun is now Soulbound to you. Whenever you touched it, it sliced a small part of your soul and contained inside of a small soul jar. Whenever you reach a certain distance and you're not running or sleeping, it'll teleport to you."

"Yay." I had nothing to say. It was pretty cool, but pretty unsettling. "Anyway, to carry it?" I heard Sapphire laugh a bit from my right. 

"It's easy. Just take it apart here..." He detached the barrel from the rest of the gun. He broke my gun! He broke my...!

"Sapphire, why'd you break it.?"

"Break? What do yo-- Oh! Don't worry, it's supposed to come apart." Oh. I watched closely to the parts he disase!mbled, taking notes.

"Viola!" In front of me was a pile of parts, barely a Sniper. "Then there should be little hooks on you...- Aha! Found them!" He started placing the parts on small hooks on the side of my armor. I could see Red-eye and Shadow nodding in approval. Burst just looked ashamed. "Your stable never taught you how to take apart a gun and back together?"

"No, not really. I just wasn't into that stuff. Didn't think I'd ever need it."

"Ahem. If you recall, earlier I said something about me having a task for you. If you've been paying attention, you should've noticed these hanging around." Red-eye gestured to posters hanging off of the wall. On it was a male pegasus with yellow fur and a dark blue mane. "Yeah, what about him?"

"He's been stealing scrap metal right out from under my snout. I wouldn't have a problem with this, if he'd just ask. But recently, he took something I need. It's a small engine part I need to complete an invention of mine."

"Okay, and what are we supposed if we find him?" Red-eye, Burst and Shadow alike each gave me a stare like I had sprouted a horn.

"Kill him of course." Woah woah woah. Woah. Sloooooow down.

"Kill him? Couldn't you work out an arrangement with this guy? I mean, if he's stealing stuff from you wouldn't you want to know why?"

Red-eye rubbed his chin like he was thinking. His face brightened up like he had thought of something. "You could bring him back and I could ask him. Maybe hire him" I guess that was okay. I mean, all of Red-eye's soldiers were treated fairly well.

"Alright, we'll bring him back. We don't have to kill him right?"

"Only if he refuses, then shoot him on the spot." Sapphire had been watching the proceedings with a calm intrest. I knew my friend well enough this wasn't the case, and a tempest was raging inside. Finally he spoke up.

"Where are going to find him?"

"Ah, right to the point are we? I swear, the more I hear from you, the more I like you. Anyway, to answer your question, we have deduced he has to be close by." He gestured to the barren land surrounding the cathedrald. "As you can see, theres nearly nowhere to hide around here and with him dragging all that scrap metal around, he can't live far. Theres one place west of here he can hide though. It's a ravine with many entrances and exits, but only one safe way in and one safe way out exists." He pulled out a map and pointed it out. 'Dead Ghoul's canyon'. "Dead Ghoul canyon? What are Ghouls?"

Shadow butted in at this. "They're ponies who were alive when the bombs fell and didn't quite die. Ghouls can also be 'made' if they ingest to much radiation. Honestly, how stupid are you?"

"What she said. This place is crawling with feral Ghouls, and it would be wise to have somepony watching your back at all times. They're sort of known around that area on jumping down from ledges on to their victims."

"Sweet, nice to know I could be killed from behind or have one jump on me."

"See? You just might live in the wasteland." I rolled my eyes at Shadow's offensive retort.

"Well, that's all. You have your mission and your destination, hop to it!" Red-eye almost seemed like he was in a hurry to rid of us. Waiting for the gate to slowly open, we trotted outside to the wasteland before us. I was ready for my first mission, and I would not disappoint.

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Level Up! 

New Perk - Pony Pleaser; Given a task it becomes your priority. You will complete it at all costs. Some ponies call other ponies who have this perk a certain word: Tryhard 

+10 Speech 
> Chapter 6: Dead Hoof Canyon (Sg)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	[Hey, I'mStargazer and this how I met my friends, Kiwi Tart and his gang. '...' And that would be Sapphire telling me to hurry the hell up and get on with bloody story.] 

So lets start off. Where should we begin? My day started with my usual routine. Check all my equipment, eat, gaurd my home and sleep. It's simple, really. Until something breaks. Then I have to go out of my enclosure, and search my huge scrap parts pile. And of course, on this day, I'm missing a part that was so ridiculous. 

I didn't have a spare lightbulb for my lamp.

So that's where I met them. Next to my scrap metal stash on a surprisingly quiet afternoon. I was minding my own business, when all of a sudden I heard somepony. 

"What is all this crap?" 

I jumped about a hoofs' distance away from the sound before I saw the owner of the voice. It was a stallion with a green... everything. Well, that wasn't completely true, but it was close enough. But the important thing was that he wasn't alone. He had three more companions with him. Next to him was a tall, silver, slender unicorn stallion. The other two were a bright pink unicorn and and all too familiar gray pegasus. I haven't seen her since, well, the last time I lived on top of the clouds. 

The silver unicorn replied, "Looks like spare parts and a ton of useless scrap." He kicked what at first appeared to be useless trash, but on a  second-glance, it was the exact part I needed.  

"Hey watch what your kickin' around there!" I knew that the moment the words came out was the moment I would meet my maker. How did I know this?

Four guns aimed directly at your head was a pretty convincing statement. 

The green pony was the first to speak, "Well that was relatively easy. I thought it would be harder. Do we have to kill him? I would rather just take him back." 

"Taking him back would be harder, but killing him would be messy." replied the pink one. 

As the conversation went on about whether I should live or die, thoughts drifted back to a time that I could barely remember. A time where I lived in the clouds. There was were good memories and horrible memories, but they were there all the same. The only thing that could rip me out of my train of thought was when they decided to hog tie my hooves and wings together. 

"What are you guys doing to me?!" This was an outrage! You did not simply hogtie a pegasus, his wings no less!

It was the gray pegasus that answered me. Her name and existence floating on the outside of my readable memories."Well we are tying you up. You're awfully dense for such a bright young stallion." She reached down and knocked on my head, making a hollow sound with her mouth.

She knew my name, that was certain. But she said like a plague, a disease. I had only known her for what, 5 minutes? And she was already making sarcastic remarks. I guess today just wasn't her day. 

"Well I think we should let him live." The silver unicorn spoke so quietly it was as if he was afraid of speaking his mind. 

"I second that." This time the pony speaking was actually easily understood. 

"Well then I guess we can take him" The pegasus' voice sounding very displeased. 

"So when do we start back for the cathedral? We got we came for." 

"We can't leave just yet Kiwi." The pink unicorn's reply was short and to the point as if she was tired of the little earth pony, but now I knew the name of one of my captors. It wouldn't hurt to try and find all their names. 

"So if you don't mind me asking, what are your names'?" 

The pink unicorn was the first to answer, "My name's Bubble Burst." 

Next came the green earth pony's name, "Well my name is Kiwi Tart. I really wish we could've met on better terms." I had just realized how he was holding his Sniper. And it was completely wrong. Even if I did favor melee over guns, even I could tell he was going to break it. 

After him came the pegasus' name which turned out to be Shadow Flash. The bells rang in my head ever so softly. As if they where miles away on a ship trying to bring me into the harbor. Close enough to hear but to far to understand. 

Finally the tall, gray unicorn responded to my question, "My name is Sapphire Talisman." He suck out his hoof in the manner of a hoof shake, but, noticing my hooves all tied he took his hoof back and looked around.

Heh, if you wanted to shake my hoof YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE HOGTIED ME. 

"So why do they call this place Dead Hoof Canyon anyway?" 

"You really do-" I was cut off by tremors. Uh-oh, it was that time of day again. Usually around this time, buffalo ghouls would run through the area, knocking around rocks and causing land slides.

I was stopped mid-sentence by a decent sized rock hitting me in the head. We all looked up to see about fifty of 'em looking down at us. 

"That's why it's called Dead Hoof Canyon."  Was all I managed to get out before the mass of living dead jumped down and surrounded us. Each ghoul looking like a bag of bones, the skin just barely hanging on. At first they were hesitant but once Sapphire started to take action with his shotgun, all hell broke loose. There was ghouls everywhere, against those 4. There seemed way to many bullets flying out of the fray for just 4 ponies. 

Machine guns maybe? Who do these guys work for? They must be filthy rich. 

At first it was just Shadow Flash, Bubble Burst and Sapphire Talisman fighting. It took a minute for Kiwi Tart to get his pistol to fit correctly in his mouth, his Sniper on the ground forgotten. But once he had a good grip on the gun he let loose and fought as fiercely as his three companions. What did I do the entire time this was going on? I was sitting there tied up slowly scooting towards a sharp piece of scrap metal that had been tossed around. Finally reaching it, I started sawing away at the rope. I wasn't too worried, I knew the ghouls well enough. Finally breaking the bonds, I fished out a small pistol under my wings. Previously I would have been sporting a different defensive weapon but due to recent events they where broken. Taking aim, I shot at a ghoul to get it's attention. It turned and charged. I had the perfect plan, fly up and make it ram the wall. The ghoul got closer... closer.. 

I flew up in the air, the ghoul smashing into the wall. That's what would've happened, if I had thought before I shot and undid my wings. Quickly rolling away, thanks to my light pegasus bones, I narrowly dodged it. 

I was a sitting duck. My four captors on the other hoof, were having a hoot. The grin that was on Shadow's face was a little startling. She was maybe taking just a little to much joy from killing ghouls. Burst was shooting like a mad mare and each bullet never failing to hit its mark. Sapphire, though a little timid at first, had obviously had some training beforehoof and he had a handy-hoofy Pi-buck. That probably contributed quite a generous amount to his accuracy. My gaze quickly darted to Kiwi who was a green blur. Apparently his pistol had run out of ammunition so he had started to kick the ghouls, and was surprisingly very affective. Each kick was well placed and quick. The ghouls didn't even have a chance to realize they were being kicked. 

It was after about half of the living dead were really dead did the rest back off, but they didn't leave. That wasn't the only strange thing. Once all the ghouls had surrounded us once more one let out a terrible wail. Their haunting wail ended with a horrible scratching noise. Then a path was made through the ghouls by an abnormally large and glowing ghoul. This particular ghoul seemed more capable of pounding us in to the ground. 

It took its time plowing through the group of smaller ghouls, not caring if smaller ones where in it's path. About the time it got halfway to us its smell hit us. It was the equivalent of a mass grave digging. As it got closer I started to gag and looked around. No pony was moving. They each kept watch on the ghouls. As if they where  statues keeping an intruding army out. Surprisingly no one had shot the largest ghoul, as if they where to waiting for something. 

Finally the ghouls started to shift around as the glowing ghoul arrived at the front of the crowd. Once there it took a sweeping look at the crowd of living corpses then turned back at us. its attention on us once more it let out a low growl. Moments later the horde started to advance on us... until all hell broke loose. Again. Except worse this time. 

At the first hoof steps of the ghouls' advance there were a few explosions that caused the ghouls to fall apart. Limbs went everywhere as the mines went of sets at a time. Apparently one of my captors had set them when the living dead first turned to surround us. Thank Celestia they did or we would all be screwed to the moon and back by none other than Nightmare Moon and her damn ghouls. 

After the smoke and flying dirt cleared we were treated to the site of four ghouls who once seeing their fallen comrades turned tail and fled, disappearing behind a large portion of canyon rock. 

Breaking the silence left by the absence of hungry ghouls Sapphire exclaimed "Burst you're a genius, setting those mines like that!" 

Burst seemed to blush a little at this extreme praise. "It wasn't that big of a deal." That's when Kiwi joined in "No big deal? You saved our lives!" 

Even Shadow chimed in, "That was really good Burst. We would be joining these bodies if it wan't for you." 

After Burst got her fill of praise everypony went silent for a couple of moments then they each turned to me. The first one to break the silence was Sapphire. "So what do we do wi-" 

He was cut short yet again by a loud cracking sound above us. We all looked up to see a boulder breaking away from its perch on the ledge. Somehow the rock had gotten loose and my caps were on the mines. Their explosions must have caused the rock to displace itself. As the boulder fell time itself seemed to slow down yet my thoughts began to race by. So this is how it ends for me. Never really thought I would die like a bug. Crushed under a giant rock. 

As the boulder got closer to squishing me I felt a force shove me out of the way. It had what I imagined was the same strength as a locomotive charging down the tracks. As I was being shoved I turned my head to see where I had just been laying and was greeted with the sight of the rock shattering as it hit the ground. Shards of rock flew through the air. Burst called out as the pieces flew through the air but anything beyond that was blurry. Next thing I new was that I had blacked out. Apparently I had been hit, hard. 


-x-x-x-x-
 

After what seemed like am eternity of nightmares filled with ghouls and slavers, I awoke up to the sight of my four captors sitting around a fire and trading stories. So it hadn't been just a dream. I tried my best to lay still and have my awakening unnoticed. So to pass my time I lay there and listened to their tumbling tales. 

"Life in the stable was not as sugar coated as you might think. The mare in charge, or the Overmare as she was called, could be a wicked witch sometimes." After a long pause Sapphire continued, "And don't get me started on the other colts and fillies. Most days they could make you feel like you where a pile of worthless shit, but what are my problems compared to yours? The wasteland must me horrible." His tone dripped sarcasm. 

The pink unicorn, Burst I think was her name, replied, "You're right, our problems make yours seem like a joke." She chuckled a little to herself and continued. "Working for Red-eye is no piece of cake. One minute you're carrying out a simple, innocent mission the next your pillaging a small town or settlement and your enslaving everypony in it." She took a quick breath and carried on, "I probably shouldn't be the one to tell you this but Red-eye is not all happy-go-lucky as he seems. He puts on an act to convince new ponies that they are for the right cause. Then they find out what is really going on, but I guess you'll probably learn that soon enough.By that time, it's already to late."  

I figured that it would probably be wise to let them know i was awake instead of one of them finding me eavesdropping on their conversations. So I yawned to bring their attention to me then sat up and started to rub my eyes. I did note that my wings were still strapped. 

"So how long was I out?" I asked. 

My question was graced with an answer from none other than Shadow, "Well once we killed all the ghouls a rock just had to come loose from its perch and was going to fall on you, but your hero is none other than Kiwi. The little earth pony's strength was enough to get you both out of the way before it fell on you both." Somehow she made it sound disappointing. As if she wanted the rock to crush me. 

Kiwi's protest quickly followed and included, but was not limited to, "It wasn't that big of a deal," or "Any pony would have done it." I noticed the Sniper rifle laying next to his log. I was really going to have to ask where he got that.

"Obviously not since the rest of us didn't jump for him. Anyway, Red Eye said he wanted him dead or alive. So why risk hurting myself on something unnecessary?" 

"How dare you call another pony unnecessary!" Woah, the green one got fired over that!

"Get used to it, Green bean. That's the wasteland." Kiwi sat down with a disgusted glare.

I was really starting to dislike that pegasus more and more. Like she had an inner hatred for me. And almost as if on cue she said, "And yes, I wouldn't be sad at all if I had to scrape your remains off the ground for proof to show Red Eye." 

Yep, definitely didn't want to get anywhere near her. She did seem familiar now. Though where could I have met her? I had my suspicions of where she was from and what kind of connection we had. She did have a faint accent that came from only one place, above the clouds. Yet the ideas all scared me to much and brought back too many painful memories. 

"Well I think we should keep him. He seems nice enough" 

"That's because he isn't another foal from the stable picking on you Kiwi." 

"Well that's a step forward, isn't it Sapphire?" The edge in Kiwi's voice was very clear and I was starting to learn a little bit more about my captors. From what I gathered Kiwi and Sapphire were from a stable and, to be blunt at best, generally were not popular. Noticing their flanks, I was baffled by the fact that they were blank. That could explain it.

I also learned who I was being taken to and it sure as hell did not tickle my fancy. I had heard enough stories about Red Eye to last me a life time. There was no way I was going there without a fight. 

Damn, why did my hoof blades and wing blades decide to break yesterday? Well, if I couldn't fight them, I could butter them up. I might be able to talk out of it.

"So why take me to Red Eye?" 

After a moments pause Sapphire replied, "Well we have orders and such from Red Eye. Got to keep the boss happy and everything, even though he tricked us." 

Sapphire's reply confused me slightly. "He tricked you into serving him, how exactly?" 

"Well the gesture seemed innocent at first but then he pulled out his surprise contract sealing us into eternal servitude. Or death. Whichever comes last, apperantly." His tone was one of slight defeat. He sounded upset but unable to do anything about the source.  

After a few moments of silence I took a good look around and found we had gotten a good distance from where we were earlier. The rock walls were gone and woods had replaced them. The trees were so close together, you could hardly tell where they were spaced. The only way I knew it wasn't was because of the small gaps between the trunks that would only allow bottle caps threw. There was also the hole in the trunks that looked charred around the edges like somepony had blasted right threw but the tree had not fallen because of its fellow trees holding it up. 

It was killing me no knowing where I was so I asked, "So where are we exactly?" 

Kiwi was the one to respond, "We're in a forest close to the cathedral." 

"The Everfree forest. A place considered dangerous before the war, now considered deadly." If anything, the pegasus was read up.

Alright next question, "How long have we been here?" 

This time Shadow answered me, "We have been here long enough. Sapphire, would you snuff out the fire and get our stuff together?" She batted her eyes for extra effect to make sure he did what she asked. And of course he did, for everyone execpt me.

Oh, shes that kind of pony. Yeah, just give me more reasons to hate you who- 

"And we're off!"

Once they all had their bags on we left our clearing and started threw the thick forest to Red Eye's cathedral. On our way we had minimal diversion besides the time we got turned around, but thanks to Sapphire's Pipbuck we got to a small hill that over-looked a smaller valley with a massive stone building in the center. 

Burst didn't sound excited when she said, "Well here we are." 

This time they shackled my hooves and we started down the short hill and toward the towering front gate. Each side of the gate was guarded by four unicorns with some pretty serious firepower that I had only seen in magazines. With one nod from Shadow the guards stepped aside and opened the door with their magic. Inside was a breath taking seen. High vaulted ceilings and large walls with stained glass windows lighting up the room with a red tint. Dark corridors lead off in all directions. At the far end of the room was a red glass set of doors almost as big as the doors we had just gone through. 

As we walked down the length of the room our hoof steps echoed cutting the silence in the room. Upon arrival at the red glass doors they started to open by themselves. Inside the room behind the glass doors was a large desk with a red earth pony sitting behind it. He looked normal enough, until he looked up with his mechanical red eye. Now I knew the reasoning behind his name. Red Eye. How clever.

His voice was surprisingly normal for half robotic pony, "Who is this?" 

"This is the pegasus you ordered us to get capture." Shadow said. 

"Ah yes, the little thief. Throw him in the dungeons. The enclave will be here later to pick him up. I am pleased that you captured him and didn't kill him. More for us I suppose." Red Eye beamed as he talked and walked from behind his desk, stopping in front of Shadow. 

"How did they do Shadow?" he asked. 

Shadow shifted her weight before answering. "They did well for ponies fresh out of the stable. We were attacked by ghouls in the canyon and both fought bravely. No casualties and we completed our mission, sir." 

"Well then bring our guest to the dungeons and then meet me back here in an hour for you next assignment." He said over his back as he walked back behind the desk. 

Once it seemed like he had no more to say my captors stood around me and we walked  back threw the glass set of doors into the large stone room. This time we took one of the hallways a went down a set of stairs at the back. On our way we pasted what looked like a school room with desks and chairs and even a few foals with books. It had been a while since I had seen a school. One of the most rare things in the wasteland was a school.  We also passed a door labeled "Medic" and another labeled "Armory". 

As we started down the stairs Sapphire slipped in front of me and fell down the remainder of them. Kiwi tried to help but the staircase was too narrow for him to get around me and get to Sapphire. At the bottom of the staircase Sapphire just laid there and groaned as a small puddle of blood started to form around his head. 

"Well done Sapphire, had to get yourself hurt." Kiwi muttered. "Well I guess I'll take him to the medic up the stairs. You two bring him to his cell, will you? You two have been here longer then me and Sapphire. Plus, I'm well aware where Medical is. I'm pretty sure I'm friends with one of the nurses." He bent over, and, with the help of Burst he got Sapphire on his back and stepped aside letting us pass. Shadow nudged me forward and we started again to my cell. As we walked the lights became more spaced and dimmer. Finally we reached a lone cell with nopony in it and nopony around it. 

"All right here we are, in you go." Shadow said as she opened the door, shoved me in then locked the door behind me. 

"Don't go crazy down here and don't get sick. We'll be back later to pick you up for the trade." Burst said over her shoulder as she walked away with Shadow not very far behind. Their hoof steps fading into the over powering silence until they could be heard no more. I could feel the coldness in my mane as I brought the bobby pin, and the rough texture of a screwdriver from my tail. If there was on thing the Wasteland taught you, it was always have some tricks up your mane.
> Chapter 7: Escapee (ST)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I'm going to start this chapter off properly with a solid statement, It's not my fault. The steps were wet and I misplaced my hoof, alright? Anyway, once I started falling down the steps face first I couldn't stop. Magic wouldn't have helped either, I couldn't focus enough to finish a surprise gravity check to save myself. So I just let myself fall, and it was quite the distance to the bottom. By the time I had cracked my head on the last step, it was already black.

So you can imagine the lack of surprise I had when I woke up and found myself in the infirmary with bandages wrapped around my head. Although, the thing that did surprise me was the sight of Kiwi sleeping in the chair across from the bed. Guess he decided I was to helpless to find my way back or to proud to ask for directions. So he carried me all the way, how charming. Well I wasn't that bad off, was I? Ingoring Kiwi, I walked out, entirely unnoticed by the sleeping visitor.

The hallway beyond my door was very dull and lifeless. I turned my head to confirm my suspicions, nopony was in the hallway. This was easy, too easy. Something had to have happened, and something, or rather, somepony, did. The moment my tail was out the door Kiwi was awake and panicking.

"Sapphire! Sapphire! Where'd you go?" I smiled to myself. Seems he did care about me and my whereabouts.

After a moment of listening to his nervous shuffling I let out a sigh and raised my voice, "I'm out here Kiwi."

Kiwi proceeded to walk out of the room which was now a disaster area, "Of course you are, I knew that." 

I rolled my eyes, "Sure you did Kiwi. So where are we supposed to be going? Anything new given to us from Red-Eye?"

"Not exactly. He has been really quiet lately. I talked to Shadow when she came to visit you, said to just wait and hang around. Plenty of things for us to do here in the cathedral. Oh, she also left these." Kiwi dug around in his warn out saddle bag from the stable. No matter how dirty, warn or ratty the bag got he refused to get a new one. Always sewing and patching the old one. Truthfully I highly doubted there was even one scrap of the original bag left. Whenever my saddle bag got the littlest rip I would go down to security and get a new one. Err, I used to anyway.

After what seemed like an eternity he found what he was looking for, two plastic cards. After he made sure they were what he needed he handed me one. I took the card and turned it over in my hoof. Hot damn! It was a full security pass! 

"So Shadow just gave these to you?" I was a little skeptical at first.

"Yeah, she said we would be able to get around easier with these. Apparently these are almost the highest clearance there is." He just held his card for a minute after trailing off, then he just put it back in his saddle bag

I turned away from him, slightly disappointed. How could he not get a strange feeling from Shadow's shady generosity? There had to be a catch.  As I walked slowly away from Kiwi my stomach let out a very loud, very painful groan. For a moment all was silent, save the sound of my stomach's call for sustenance echoing down the halls. Had it really been that long since I had eaten? I was to embarrassed to form a complete sentence. "I-um-sorry-my stomach-hungry" Dear Celestia, was I dying of embarrassment or what? Eventually Kiwi got the message (after laughing and making fun of me for the past 15 minutes.) and led me to the mess hall.

Once we got there, we got in line and waited for our turn to be served. After what seemed like an eternity waiting in an infinite line we finally got to the front. What awaited us was a sight similar to the stable's mess hall, a single mare with a giant tub of mystery food. I lifted my tray with my magic and let her reach into the tub of what seemed to be soup to get me my serving. After she placed one of the most horrid looking soups on my tray I shuffled over to  the drinks. The drinks had about the same quality that the food did. I would be lucky if my water wasn't irradiated, but that didn't stop me from getting a big glass and filling it up.

After exiting the lunch line I scanned the mess hall for an empty seat. The room being full of ponies made it hard for an open seat to exist, but after my second time walking around the room I found an open table that looked like it was two hundred years old and had not been cleaned once in its life.  The table was covered in spilled food and drinks but with a sweep of my magic I cleared off a space for two and Kiwi and I sat down. Kiwi almost immediately tore into his serving. I on the other hoof had a small sip and almost became sick. So I gently pushed my tray forward and proceeded to watch my friend eat his dinner.  

While I waited for Kiwi to finish his meal I thought about our captured pegasus and how he was about to be traded to the Enclave whoever they were. What had he done to deserve getting traded like some criminal. Had he killed a pony? I killed a few myself, being part of the gaurd and everything, but they had already gone beyond the point of return, right? My thoughts were interrupted by Kiwi. "Hey,  Sapphire are you okay?" 

"Why wouldn't I be Kiwi?" 

"Well you had this look on your face. The one you got when we were in the stable and you had to think about how to answer a question. Like you're thinking, but a little too deeply." Kiwi seemed genuinely concerned.

"It's okay Kiwi, I'm fine. Really. If we should be concerned about anything, it would be how you downed not only your bowl of slop but mine too." He just gave a sheepish look as he spoke, "Hey, it wasn't half bad."

I just shook my head as i got up and hovered my tray over to the trash. I got rid of my tray and decided I wanted to get some shooting practice in. So I told Kiwi I was going to the firing range. His eyes lit up as soon as I said the word firing. I let out an audible sigh, I had been looking forward to some time alone with my thoughts and my guns, but once Kiwi has made a decision it takes a miracle for him to change it. So, I didn't even fight him. He needed the practice too, I suppose. He hardly knew what to do with his rifle. 

Neither of us really knew where the firing range was, so I made Kiwi ask somepony. I certainly wasn't going to ask, I would just stand there and stutter. I really don't like talking to ponies, or something like that, I don't know. So after a few minutes of Kiwi trying to ask directions, he got some. So we followed the directions the pony told us to follow and where did we end up? The mare's restroom. Haha very funny, at least i stopped Kiwi from going in. Now we were lost and confused, with nopony in sight to help us. 

"Congrats Kiwi! Instead of getting directions to the firing range we got directions to the restroom." Needless to say, I was not happy.

"Well I'm going to find my way back." Without giving second thought he just stormed off, leaving me standing next to the restroom alone. As soon as he turned the corner, I knew this was my chance to head to the firing range. All I needed to do was consult my Pip-Buck, It should've been mapped the entire cathedral by now. So I pulled up its local map and set a way point for the location 'firing range'. With the Pip-Buck's guidance I was there in no time. I looked around the room to make sure Kiwi wasn't here yet, It was a definite that he would eventually get here. His stubborness would make sure that happened.

Towards the front of the room was a small white mare with bright pink hair behind a big counter with a sign hanging over it that read "Rentals". I zipped up to the counter and inside were guns I had only seen in catalogs my dad would give me for my birthday. Inside were all kins of plasma rifles and light machine guns, I looked around for the one gun I thought they wouldn't have but low and behold there it was in the far corner of the display counter. The LAER sat alone and seemingly untouched. As my eyes lit up the mare behind the counter must have finally figured out I had found my gun of choice. She unlocked the back, preparing to give it to me.

The little mare pulled out the LAER and slid it across the counter. After paying her for ammunition I thanked her and turned to the range. After finding the end slot to be void of other ponies I slid in and shut the door behind me. The firring range was a nice facility with individual ranges for groups of up to four ponies, though one was all it needed to funtion. It had an easy reach lever to ativate the moving targets and even a hoof pedal to sling out clay disks. It even had a snack bar! With real food! Oh I dove straight for the sugar apple bombs. They were so rare in the stable, I'd only ever get one for my birthday. They were so delicious when i got my hooves on them they'd be gone in seconds. As I dove for the snack bar an, invisible force threw me back.

As I got up to look around the room my eyes fell on dimly glowing crystal. I picked myself up and moved closer to the jewel imbedded in the counter of the bar. As i got closer it glowed brighter. Eventually i had the feeling that the first push back was just a warning. Next time it would take action. With a great sigh of disapointment I turned back to the targets and loaded my LAER. Once the gun was loaded and primed I fired up the moving targets and rested my back leg on the disk launching pedal. 

Once the lever was activated the targets started whirling around and dancing back and forth between the two walls. Sadly one target had fallen on its side, but was still moving on its track. Funny enough, it looked like the stupid move the other students in the stable did, kicking themselves back and fourth between the halls and sliding on the ground 'till they got to class. I'm pretty sure they made a game out of hitting me and the one that could make the biggest fool out of me won. I wasted a full clip on that target for good measure. It felt good to imagine them all as ponies who had picked on me in the stable. (That wasn't too much of a bad thing was it? I never really can tell.) After going through all my microfusion cells I stepped back and looked at my work. Each target had about three holes in it and not a single new scorch mark on the walls. I was so happy with the LAER I really wanted to ask Red-Eye if i could trade my current piece of crap out for one of these babies. I'll have to ask when he's in a good mood.

Before deciding to exit the firing range i sat down in one of the chairs provided. It was a giant sofa made of some rather ratty and torn cloth and it was very displesing to sit on but I was too tired to stand or give a damn.  After getting past how uncomfortable the chair was I began to do what I had actually come here for. The current situation had to be thought out. It had been alot to process in the past day. The change from the stable to here was so fast this all just feels like a dream. I wonder what Red-Eye had planned on doing with the rest of the stable. Would he have used them as slaves or if he would just kill them all. He wasn't that cruel... was he? To think of it Kiwi and I knew next to nothing about Red-Eye. It scared me just to think of how much we had trusted him after he had pulled us out of the stable and into this dull, dead hell. This place had fucking living dead and shit. Pardon my language, I guess you could say the waste land is rubbing off on me.

After sitting for a moment lost in thought I rose up from the chair and shook myself. I swear this damn couch gives me flees somepony will hear about it, and that pony would probably be Kiwi. My business being done here I made my was out of the small firing range room and started for the front desk. I turned back to the exit of the small firing range room and started for the front desk. Upon my arrival I heard two voices, both which sounded familiar. As the owners of the voices came into view I realized they belonged to Kiwi and Shadow. As soon as I saw Shadow I wanted to turn tail and run but I couldn't. There was nowhere to go, so I stood there like a complete idiot until Kiwi kicked me in the leg. Finally snapping out of it I turn to the mare in the most robotic way and give her the LAER. Once done with this I turn to the exit and left Kiwi and Shadow in the dust.  I did not need to look like an idiot in front of them.

Despite their protests to my speedy get away, I didn't turn back once. Not slowing down until I had found my way to the mess hall.  As I slowed to a stop I noticed the room was empty, I was completely alone. But still somewhere off in the distance I heard hoof steps. Each one getting slighty louder than the last. Out of complete curiosity I got up  to see who was creating the noise when sudenly, the hoof beats stopped. 

"Hello, anypony there?" I called out.

Silence was the only response given to me. At this point I was actually getting a little spooked. I was in a new place, and I knew next to no pony here. FInally I decided to turn back the way i had come and try to meet up with Shadow and Kiwi. I pulled my map up on my Pip-Buck and started following its directions back to the firing range. It took me past a few turn offs, and I'll admit I got lost more than once. But eventually I found my way back to the firing range. 

There sitting in the waiting room was Bubble Burst. What was she doing here? She was already an amazing shot, so why come to the firing range? My thoughts were interupted as soon as I ran  into a big green mass that I call my friend. As soon as Kiwi and I colided we were on our butts in pain.   

"Great job Sapphire! Maybe watch where you're going next time?"

"Sorry Kiwi , I didn't mean to. I just-'

"Will you two stop?" Shadow snapped. Shadow was standing right behind me and she did not look happy. "Sapphire why did you leave so quickly when we showed up?"

"Oh well you see, um, I'm not sure." This had turned incredibbly stressful quick. I'll be one hundred percent honest when, I say  I had a thing for Shadow. She was good looking, smart, cunning, and over all bad ass. 

("WHOOP THERE IT IS!"  )
("SHUT UP KIWI!")

Anyway the real problem was me, I'm too much of a nice guy and a wimp. I didn't stand a chance and I highly doubt I would met her standards.

Luckily she wasn't able to push me for further answers because her Pip-Buck lit up. She looked down to check it and after a few moments she looked back up with concer. 

"Fuck." Getting ready to ask her what, she spoke again

"We need to find Red-Eye, aparently we have an escapee." After saying so she bolted out of the room with Burst right behind her. ( Funny, looking back it now, Burst didn't say word during our exchange)

"Come on Kiwi we better follow them." And that's the last thing that happened before our lives took another drastic turn. 
> Chapter 8: Lockpicks and Escapists (KT)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Escape

Escape

 Somepony actually managed to do it. Who? How?

"Red-Eye sounded pretty mad about it too, you three got any idea who it is?" Shadow glanced back, narrowing her eyes and throwing her head back in disgust at Sapphire.

"No clue. Could it've been the new guy we just captured?" Shadow stopped, frozen in her tracks.

"We better pray to the Goddess it's not."

 Weird, she seemed really spooked by that. What does that prisoner mean to her?

We slowed to a stop in front of the grand Cathedral door, Red-Eye just inside. 

POOF!

It was Disciple, materializing right next to me.

Shadow rolled her eyes at me and continued talking. "Deep breaths, and put on a straight face. Red-Eye will surely have us killed at the single hint of exhaustion. It'll only give him a reason to rid of us, let's not give him an excuse."

 She looked really scared for a minute there... Red-Eye wouldn't really do that... Right? He's the good guy! 

I took a deep breathe regardless. I wasn't going to take a chance, after all, I still had a Stable to return to.

 Mom, Dad I'm coming for you! 

Shadow pushed open the doors, revealing Red-Eye sitting calmly at his desk.

"Shadow, it has come to my attention that the prisoner you had captured and were supposed to keep watch on, is missing. Do you care to explain yourself as to why Stargazer escaped?"

She kneeled before Red-Eye, and spoke.

"I have no pardon for my actions."

"Very well then, you do realize if you refuse to pardon your actions, there is severe consequences. Are you prepared to face your punishment?"

Shadow grinned to herself, I could barely see it. Then, she answered 

"Now, Red-Eye you know very well you can't do that. Just because I carry the brand of a Dashite doesn't mean I'm not in a position to throw power around in the Enclave. You seem to have forgotten that I'm a direct representative of the Enclave, here to capture him and return Stargazer home."

"Damn you! Fine, if you won't accept punishment then I'll jus-"

"Hurting any of my friends will also result in your execution, Red-Eye. Burst is from the Enclave as well, helping them with projects. She can open a direct telepathic link to the Enclave any moment she wants, and they'll know about everything." She smirked. "Red-Eye, you know my mission was to return Stargazer to the Enclave. Originally, this plan had nothing to do with you. I included you because you supplied me with everything needed, and you helped me search for him. For that, I thank you, but I'm afraid we'll be cutting this deal. I had Stargazer within hoof's distance and you let him escape. In fact Red-Eye, I could have you executed for this. I will be searching for Stargazer on my own now. So what do you have to say, Red-Eye?"

She looked absolutely devious, bowing with a look of cunning in her eyes, an evil smirk adorned her muzzle.


Red-Eye paused for a moment. "You and Burst are free to go, but Kiwi and Sapphire must remain. They are part of my plan, and I cannot thank you enough for saving them."

"Saving us? I was under the impression we were captured for our heritage. Me being an Earth pony that knows how to farm, and Sapphire having the ability to grow crystals." 

"And you are correct, Kiwi. You two are very important to my plan."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could almost see Shadow and Burst's faces light up.

 Oh no. 

Burst casually walked behind me, Shadow copying the motion to Sapphire. I felt the cool metal of a pistol being notched under my chin, illuminated by a pink aura. "Then we'll be taking these two. I mean, you said yourself, we're no longer under your jurisdiction. Since we're now Enclave, we're enemies."

I could feel myself being pushed backwards by Bursts's magic, hysteria building up inside me. "You can run Shadow, but you'll be making the other 3 miserable. Especially your 2 little hostages. If they leave here under your control, I will have Stable 100 massacred."

"Yeah, one problem with that. It's not my problem." I could hear the creek of the doors opening. I looked over at Sapphire to see how he was faring. 

Passed out. Honestly not surprised.

"See ya later, Red-Eye."

The doors slammed shut, the sound echoing in my ears. A sound I knew I'd never forget.

"We're not free yet. I'll fly Sapphire out of here, you get Kiwi out of here. Meet you at the gate." And with that, she was off. Me?

I remember passing out.



---------------------------------------------------



I did remember waking up though. It was nighttime (or darker than usual), and I could hear the sound of conversation. Just snippets.

"Where should we..." "Stable..." "Enclave..." "Chase after that Stargazer..."

So I had finally escaped, but I was by no means free. I felt the tightness of the rope around me, searing my limbs. Disciple poofed into existence nearby.

Too bad I don't even know how to hold it. I'm pretty useless, aren't I?

I rolled over and stared at the sky, no longer having care towards my captors conversation.  I swear, when I get the chance, I'm killing Burst and Shadow.  I paused for a moment and told myself silently  and especially you, Red-Eye. 

Just a few moments later, I heard shuffling next to me.

 Sapphire. 

My Celestia, I nearly burst into tears right then and there. The situation had finally hit me. We were who-knows-where, no idea how to get back home, wholly unprepared to combat the wasteland and to top it all off, we were mere bargaining chips. The only thing that kept me from bawling was Sapphire. We had to be strong for each other, for who would be strong for us?

"Kiwi? Where are we?" It was Sapphire, and boy, did he sound beat up.

"We 'escaped' from Red-Eye, but it looks like we went from the frying pan to the fire. We're currently bound in rope, and Burst and Shadow are nearby. I just heard them talking a minute ago..."

I hadn't noticed them stop, but the fire still burned. 

"Their asleep. I guess if we're gonna escape, it's gotta be now."

It took Sapphire a whole 5 seconds to think of a plan. He didn't even tell me he was so proud of himself. 

"Alright, you have to trust me on this, you need to promise you won't scream, alright?"

I silently nodded. Sapphire wormed behind me, and I could see his horn glowing.

 Ah! That's what he's doing. 

I felt the bonds being ripped apart by the gemstone he had just grown. I got up and stretched, and moved over to Sapphire. He repeated my actions, hearing his bones physically pop. 

"What now?"

I glanced over at where the other two had set up camp. "I wanna ask them some questions. Do you know how to fire my gun? Maybe you could use it for intimidation." I made request bashfully. Hell, I could hardly lift the rifle, I wasn't going to try to shoot it for awhile.

"Sure thing." 

As soon as I felt his telekinesis wrap around Disciple, I immediately felt that something was wrong. When Sapphire grabbed it, I felt a tugging deep within my chest. The moment he started to swing it around his shoulder, I screamed in pain. It felt like he had grabbed my heart, no my very soul, and dragged it out of my body.

Sapphire immediately dropped it. That wasn't before he burst into a fit of curses either.

"I'm never touching that thing again, Kiwi! It felt like it grabbed a hold of me, instead of the other way around. Then when I moved it, I felt my magic backfire. Never again Kiwi, Never again." In just that instant, me and Sapphire were put out of commission. Me gasping for air and clutching my chest, Sapphire rolling his read in the dirt and rubbing it. Shadow didn't even have to look intimidating when she walked up.

"..."

"..."

"... I completely forgot about you guys."

She gave us a blank stare. "I guess you're pretty hungry." She still didn't seem very awake, not all there. Her mane was ruffled and her eyes were half closed.

 Heh. It's kinda cu- 

I practically felt the physic slap from Sapphire as he glared daggers at me.

"Yes! Me and Kiwi are hungrier than ravenous Hydras."



---------------------------------------------------


It didn't take long before we had food in our bellies. Shadow and Burst were practically begging for forgiveness. I couldn't find it in my heart to be mad, so I had to forgive them. Sapphire took a bit longer, but that was because they got his coat dirty and crumpled his mane. 

"We're really sorr-"

"Okay, I'm done trying to be nice about it. Can you two just shut up and let us eat?"

I was pretty hungry.

After we finished, Sapphire sat his bowl down and looked Shadow and Burst in the eye. 

"Why did you capture us?" He hardly phrased it like a question, more of a forceful statement. With the gleam in his eye, I knew he seriously wanted answers. I did too, but I was still hungry.

Shadow whistled and made herself comfortable on the ashen ground. "It's going to be a long story, are you ready?"

"Certainly." I nodded my head in agreement.

"For starters, we originally had no plan of taking you two hostage. Our mission was to retrieve a traitor to the Enclave, and bring him back to be executed. Hell, I didn't have any intention of meeting Red-Eye 'till I hit the surface. He found me, crumpled, bearing the mark of a Dashite."

"What's a Dashite?"

She pointed at her flanks and I quickly looked away. I heard make a sound of disgust. "It's nothing like that you Earth pony pervert." I looked back tentatively and was surprised. Where here cutie mark should've been, was a brand. It looked like a cloud with a bolt shooting out of it.

"What kind of skill is that?"

Shadow nearly bowled over in laughter. After she recovered, she explained. "It's not a talent. The Enclave brands Pegasi who betray the Enclave."

"I thought you just told us you were working for the Enclave?"

"And right you are, you white germaphobe. I garnished my mark after I failed to retrieve Stargazer from his estate. Those were my original orders, and I failed them. They had caught wind he had fled to the surface, so I was branded and thrusted down here by the Enclave to search for him."

"Wow..." I had to agree with Sapphire's sentiment here, I was astounded. That sounded like a hellish place to live.

"What was Stargazer wanted for?"

"Stargazer himself was guilty of no crime. It was his parents. They were geniuses, much like Stargaze is. Their own cutie marks specialized in Math and Science, his Mom and Dad in respective order. They were planning on making an invention that would bring the Enclave to the surface."

"You mean..."

"They were trying to destroy the cloud layer."

"What happened?" I had long ago settled my bowl down. I was fully intrigued.

"Their biggest mistake was borrowing money. Enclave got tipped off by an angry lender, his parents fled to the surface and haven't been seen since."

"Why all the fuss about Stargazer?"

"We planned on leaving him alone. That was, until he started showing promises in inventions. Then the council got scared. They used the excuse of his parents debt, and pushed it on his shoulders. Obviously he couldn't pay it off in time. I was sent to collect whatever money he had; as well as his head. By the time I was there, the house was empty. He took after his parents and fled to the surface, with the only option was for me to follow."

"Anyway, that's way off topic. Where was I? Oh yeah, Red-Eye found me. If you hadn't guessed already, he hates the Enclave. He saw my Dashite mark and took me in to spite them. He saved my life that day. I was eventually forced to tell him who I was, and agreed to let me stay on one condition. He got 3/4ths of the bounty money. Of course I had to agree, and that's where I've been for the longest time now."

"Does that answer your question?" She smirked slightly at Sapphire, a mischievous dance in her brown eyes.

"Wholly."

"My turn, and I have a toughie."

"What is it Kiwi?"

"...What next?"

Shadow looked like she had been waiting for that one. "We have two options. One, we go out and search for Stargazer. Two..."

"What is it?" Shadow looked determined not to answer.  Theres no way this is good... 

"Two is we go save your Stable from Red-Eye's forces. He wasn't bluffing when he said he was going to wipe your stable clean."

"Then it's easy, option 2 it is." Burst nodded in agrrement with my sentiment.

"Think Shadow, if we put a dent in Red-Eye's army, the Enclave will destroy him with that many less losses."

"You're right Burst." She turned back to us. "But we'll have to be leaving right about now, so you'll have to pick up a weapon on the way Sapphire."

"I have no problem with that."


---------------------------------------------------


I felt the weight of Disciple on my forelimbs.  I'm going to be killing ponies with thing.  The though was a grim one, and by no means looked pleasant.  Shadow showed me a little bit how to shoot this damned thing.  I had to make sure to steady my breathing, so my crosshairs wouldn't be flying all over the place. We had arrived at Stable 100 faster than we thought we would, and were setting up for the arrival of Red-Eye's forces.   This is not how an Earth-Pony fights, hidden behind a scope.  I shrugged off the feeling.  It's better than running out with just my legs...  I flinched at the thought of my first encounter of a hostile in the wasteland.

 Celestia this is an awkward position. 

As for Sapphire, Shadow had been slightly lying when she said he had to pick up a weapon. She had 'mysteriously' found a shotgun in her bag. Nothing spectacular, just a small Sawed-off Shotgun.  Kinda feels like we should switch weapons...  I knew I was wrong the instant I said it. He could grow Crystals. Those would have a much better advantage if he was up close and personal.

Shadow? She was flying high with Wingblades and Legblades. Much unlike our first encounter where she had been using a... sawed-off Shotgun... but it didn't look she had a gun in sight.

Burst? She had to be in the weirdest place of all. Right smack in the middle of the doors. She had large submachine gun, and a spiked plank strapped to her side. Even Sapphire, a short ranged fighter was at least making an attempt to hide.

That's when we heard it. A small renegade of Red Eye's forces. 

My grip tightened a bit on Disciples trigger, and I noticed Sapphire do the same.

A pony stepped out from the ring of trees, and that's when all hell broke lose.

Sapphire lept out from bottom branches of the trees, already in control of 2 crystals. He was slashing wildly, spiraling down, slicing the lead pony to ribbons. That's when the rest of them had a reason to charge in. 

Mistake. Now I knew why Burst was in the open.

"Sapphire, clear out!" Seeing her ready up the submachine gun, he mad the smart descision and whisked off, deflecting shots with a bigger sapphire.

Burst unloaded on the main force charging in, and many fell, lifeless. 

I couldn't handle it. There was so much life lost right then and there, they could've had families, living lives. How many of these ponies even wanted to fight?

The screams of pain and agony were answer enough. I laid Disciple down, I would be no help for this battle. Of the small few who were left, Shadow was swooping down and making easy work of them.

Then it was quiet.

"We're done here Kiwi. Let's go."

She said it so formally, like it had been no big deal. Like she had the godly right to decide who lived and who died.

I reluctantly stumbled down the slope, not even carrying Disciple, knowing it would appear at my side when I stopped. I really shouldn't have looked at the maimed bodies on my way down though.

I screwed my eyes shut. It was too much, limbs sticking out with no bodies. Brains with nothing to control. I trudged my way down the slope.

"I know it's hard the first time." I was surprised at Shadow's sympathetic tone.  "But you have to realize, it's them or us. They were going to kill, no, exterminate a whole Stable of ponies, including your family." With that, we went in silence. We met at the Stable entrance, with Burst and Sapphire.

"We're done here. Let's go looks for Stargazer now."

I was shocked. I found it within me to express my contempt. "No!" In a softer tone I added, "No. I wanna see how my family is doing." Sapphire nodded in agreement. 

Shadow opened her mouth to argue, but Burst cut her off. "Let them. It won't anything will it?" Shadow closed her mouth, Harumph'd and tunred her back. "Whatever."

There was a small keypad outside the door. I trotted over to it, and had a convenient realization.

"I don't know the passcode."

Shadow sighed in contempt. "I'll do it."

She quickly punched in the code and the door slowly slid open...

That was the day I changed. I knew what game was the Wasteland was playing with us, was really not a game. This Stable had been my home all my life and now...

The walls were bloody, bullet holes in a squiggly line across the walls. Dead ponies were scattered inside. None of them had bodies with all their parts.

That's when I officially lost it. 

I screamed. I cried.

Then, an even worse scenario played out in my mind...

My parents...

I rushed down the hallways, blood splashing around me like wet red paint. I tripped over body parts in my desperate attempt to rush through these halls I memorized.

Our cell.

I didn't stop and think. I rammed our door, crashing it down.

Everything was set in place, dished were washed, plates with food were set up, like there were preparing lunch. No tables were turned...

It looked completely normal.

I slowed when I entered our cell. I walked tightly, as if not to disturb the perfect placement. I found my room first.

My bed was made, there was even a plate in my room, as if my parents expected me to be back home for lunch and in a twisted sense, I was.

I trotted past it. My ease waning bit by bit. I came to stop at my parents door.

Closed.

My unease jumped. I had a bad feeling about this. I slowly opened the door.

A gruesome sight awaited me. Both of my parents bodies were pinned to the wall. Somepony thought it funny to chop of all their limbs and shove them down their own mouths, legs sticking out of my parents maw. A crudely drawn heart was drawn in blood beside them, as a last dark attempt to brighten the scene. I couldn't take it. 

I barfed. I let it all out.

There was a small note on their bed. In crudely written hoofwriting it said:

I always keep my promise.

Love~
Red-Eye <3

I threw the note down, then picked it back up. With a grim face, I roughly shoved it back down to the bottom of my bag. 

I'll never forgive him, he'll pay for it.

I trotted back out, with new, sick determination. My face was set stocky, and I had a new goal.

I'm going to kill you, Red-Eye.





I met the others back at the Stable door. Me and Sapphire locked eyes and nodded. We now had a shared goal.

Burst cleared her throat. "I hate to be the messenger of bad news, but we checked the bodies of Red-Eye's forces."

"And?"

"They arn't Red-Eye's men. They were a trading caravan from this Stable, upholding their trust agreement with Red-Eye."

I didn't know how to react anymore. So much death in one blow, I was just becoming numb to it.

"Okay." I blandly replied.

"...Uhh... yeah... Okay..." Burst awkwardly mumbled back.

Shadow cleared her throat. "Look guys, I know it's ha-"

"Like hell you do! I killed one of my own without a second thought! You were Red-Eye's personal assassin! I don't care if you try to sympathize with us, but you have no right in Heaven nor Hell to empathize with us!"

I was shocked with Sapphire's outburst, but it was well deserved.

"I-I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Just shut up."

Then it was silent. Burst had to sassiness to glance at me and say, "Wheres your speech?", but not much else. I saw where this was going and a cleared my throat.

"So now we look search for Stargazer."

"Yes. I would predict he's near North edge of the Everfree, even if he was dumb enough to fly."

I stretched my sore legs and made a promise to myself.

I will do anything to hinder Red-Eye's progress. If he needs Stargazer, then my new objective is to kill him.

We readied up, making our move in the Wasteland's horrendous game.


	

	


	

	

	
	

	
> Chapter 9: Vengeance (ST)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 9 - Vengeance 




Sapphire Talisman



Okay where to begin? I guess I'll give you my side of what happened in the stable. I'll put your curiosity to rest, my mother did not face the same fate as Kiwi's. Instead I found her alone in our housing cell, with the gun pointed to her head and a bullet hole straight between her eyes. Not as... how should I put this? Appalling as what could have happened, but I am glad I found her in mostly one piece. She did little to hide herself from the invading force, but I guess Red-Eyes men had no use for a dead mare. I went around the desecrated room and tried to hold myself together, though it had never been my strong suit. Stumbling through the room, I made my way to my mother's side with tears welling up in my eyes. Sliding the debris away from her body I sat and laid my head down on her cold shoulder.

"Why did we have to leave? This is all Red-Eye's fault." 

Right then and there I swore, no promised, that that fucker would get what he rightfully deserved. Right then I stood and quickly extinguished my tears. This was not the time nor place to shed tears, this was just a taste of what this new world could dish out for me and my friend. Quickly making one last sweep of the rooms I didn’t find anything of use. As I left the room, I turned out the lights behind me. The last source of light was the small pip-buck still holding onto mother's limp leg. Illuminating her face in the encroaching dark, until finally even that gave out and then the room went black.

After stumbling through a now foreign stable, I finally found what I had been looking for. The security room. After shoving a few dead bodies that had slight resemblance to the ponies I once knew, I found my way to our room of hidden supplies. I thank that horrible Overmare for one thing, she knew how to hide things. The room was huge and you could easily get lost if you didn't know your way around. Assorted canned food, guns and ammunition littered the vast shelves, it wasn’t perfect but it was certainly a start. It truly was a sight to behold, since few ponies were ever allowed access to this vault. It was almost like a hidden time capsule, ponies would put something of value to them in here as they got older. Eventually it stockpiled to be a lot of useful supplies and sentimental crap.

Honestly the only reason I knew it was here was my father. Suddenly I felt a pain in my heart, dad was the only reason I have made it even this far. First his seemingly hereditary skill with guns and combat, then his old Pip-Buck, and now the secret vault. Part of me wishes he had lived longer but at the same time I was very glad he didn't have to see mom go out like that and then suffer the same fate or worse. As I continued farther into the store room I was delighted to find ammo crates and even some weapons, some looking so old yet had never seen use. They must have been put back here when the stable was first built. 

“Best go tell the others before going in anymore.” I thought.

I turned around and went back to meet the others at the front of the stable. The door to the store room started creaking open as if a quiet cry to come back.

After our little melt down in front of the girls, (which felt both embarrassing and comforting), I explained what I saw, and to no surprise, the group was in immediate agreement to explore further. We headed to the store room to explore further. Kiwi's eyes lit up at the sight of all the untouched food, immediately squeeing and sprinting to the shelves and started shoving all of it into his saddle bags. I guess he was the best of us to carry so much, being a young earth pony. Shadow and Bubble went straight to the back of the room and started there.

“Better stay away from Kiwi, I’d hate to end up in one of his saddlebags.”

Towards the back was more equipment and supplies along the lines of things that went boom. The two mares wasted no time pillaging the ammo crates and gun boxes.

“I thought you used those fancy wingblades Shadow?”

She turned around with a raised brow. “Then you should come to the conclusion I’m not getting these for me, huh?” Snorting, she turned back to her work. I shrugged, I deserved it for my lack of experience. 

Trying to make myself useful, I started to look through other crates. After a few low line guns and spare parts I found something that made me want to cry. I stumbled upon a gun crate with a faded print on it. Squinting I could just make out what it said, "LAER". Carefully, I lifted the gun out of the crate and was astounded to see it in near perfect condition. Quickly wanting to keep the gun for myself I hid it in my saddle bags and went on searching. 

Soon after searching every crate and every medical box we started to head out when something made a whirring sound.

“OH SHIT, WHAT DID I DO THIS TIME?” A panicked Kiwi yelled from the section of food. From the looks of it, he had picked up a dessert and triggered a switch.

Somewhere behind us a machine was waking up from a thousand year nap. We all looked back in unison as a patch of the wall slid to the side revealing a smaller room. Being the first to snap out of astonishment I started for the room. Inside was one of the most breathtaking sights the stable could offer. Shelves lined the wall and on each where thousands of, gems? What did these have to do with a store room? I walked closer to them and realized they each had a label. On one shelf there were names like Apple Tart, Squash, Cherry Pie, and even Kiwi's grandparent's names, Kiwi Tart and Lemon Tart. So Kiwi was a Jr.

“Huh. Weird.”

On another shelf I found names that hit home. My mom and my dad's names had their own gems.

Ruby Amulet and Bulletproof.

Curious I started to lift one up.

“Sapphire, no! Don’t!” Starting to feel dizzy, I noticed Shadow racing up to me.

"Pretty mare... haahaa..."

Then everything went black.  





So after getting over the fucking terrifying experience that is leaving your body and entering someone else's, I tried to look around but couldn't. It was like being the pony but having no control over your movements. After I gave up trying to struggle I took note of the surroundings my host was in. It had a familiar look to it, gray stone walls, gray stone ceilings, and gray stone floors. I was back in the Stable 100. I, or I guess I should say the body I was in, was standing in the communications room. Radios lined the desk all wired up to this and that. There was a quiet static sound and something even lower than the static.

A hoof reached out to a knob on the system to turn the volume up. The whisper grew to a small shout. The voice kept repeating "Help, we need help. -clave aft- -no esca-"

The pony spoke up after a few rounds of the message, "See, we must help them! They could teach us about the outside!" A mare appeared next to him lowered her head. "You know we can't open the door. True we have no idea what waits for us out there, but this could very well be a trap."

The stallion hosting me walked around the room stopping in front of a large map. At the top were small letters Equestria. After a large sigh, he slid to his rump. Lifting up his pipbuck, and in its reflection I could finally see who's experience I was watching. The face that appeared on the screen made me want to shout, cry and smile. It was Bulletproof, staring back at me.

"What should I do? Leave them out there or break the rules and try to help them?" He felt so confused and... Angry. Then everything started to dim and finally everything went black.





I woke up on the floor, but not in the last room I remember. I quickly looked around to discover that I was in a cleaner housing room. Next to me was Kiwi and across the room was Bubble, both fast asleep. I carefully got up, trying not to wake either of the sleeping beasts. Making way to the front of the group of rooms I realized that we were in the Overmare's office. I passed the window looking out onto the auditorium that was currently a messy meat carnival. I stopped to think about what I had just stumbled upon.

So that's how he died. I remember the Overmare telling us he had given his life to further the knowledge of our beloved Stable by venturing into the treacherous Wasteland.

I sat there for quite some time, pondering about my father. It didn't take long for a certain somepony to walk up and touch my shoulder. It was the pink mare, Bubble Burst.

"You look pretty down punk. What's gotten you down?" She softly lowered herself next to me, leaning her head into my side.

I scooted over a bit hearing a resounding *thunk* of her head meeting the ground.

"Ask before you get intimate."

"Ha! Don't flatter yourself pretty boy. I'm just tired after this afternoon. Besides, I'm more interested in your green friend. He's not fully revealing what he can do, right?"

I remembered all the times Kiwi had been there to shake bullies off my tail. We were somewhat of a "Knight and Mage" relationship, he was a big beefy stallion and I used the spells.

"I don't know about his strength, he never took part in any sports. I do know for sure however that he is one of the most loyal ponies I will ever meet."

She was silent for awhile, her head just resting where I had left it. "Are you angry at Red-Eye?"

"Nothing will prevent me from taking a part in his death, no matter how small."

A small laugh escaped her muzzle. 

"Spoiler alert, but I think yo-"

"Alright lovebirds, I've got a lead on that pegasus!"

Shadow placed herself between me and Burst, breaking up the conversation.

"I've had a chance to sleep on it. Why don't we check out his hidey-hole where we arrested him? We got him pretty quick, so he didn't have a chance to clean house."

Bubble Burst seemed pretty content about the idea, giving snarky looks at Shadow. I was personally all for the idea, though I could detect something slightly... off. Shadow in a hurry flew ahead of us, Burst following behind.

They both completely forgot Kiwi. He seemed very confused, but he managed to follow me out.

As I got closer to the door, I could hear shouts of anger. Two ponies arguing.

It stopped as soon as I came into view, but I already knew who it was. Shadow was in the air, crossing her hooves while Burst gave her piercing glares. Kiwi being the stallion he was tried to defuse the situation, but I remained suspicious. These two had become very interesting and I intended to get to the bottom of this.


Level Up!


Mage's Anger - Spell and Spell based attacks now deal an extra 10% of damage.

"A wizard is never late, Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."