Catalyst huddled closer to me after the blade had dropped, while Antiquity just stared at the scene with a scowl. The head rolled to a stop on the ground while the body was locked in its position. The griffin who had released the rope put one of his claws on the headless corpse and gave it a light shove, pushing it to the ground next to the guillotine.

“What the hell was that?” Catalyst whispered to Antiquity, fear and confusion prevalent in her voice.

“Wasteland justice,” the stallion replied coldly. “Or at least what this town views as justice. Whole decapitation thing’s new though, used to be they’d just hang em.”

The crowd that had gathered to watch the morbid spectacle soon dispersed, leaving only us, the Judge, and his griffins. Two of the griffins dealt with the disposal of the remains, dragging the corpse away with a bloody trail. The Judge stood on the small stage with a griffin looming over him. He watched as the griffins dragged the corpse away, but then turned to look at us. He gave a slight smile that was both warm and disturbing, though I felt oddly compelled to speak to him.

“Dog, what are you doing?” Catalyst gasped as I began to walk towards the pony. I ignored her and kept walking. She eventually trotted beside me, though she kept back a little. Antiquity followed as well.

“That’s far enough, outsider,” growled one of the griffins as it landed between myself and the Judge. “Nobody sees Scales without permission.” This griffin was larger than the others, and had a wicked look in his eyes.

“Settle down, Diego,” spoke the Judge, whom I assumed to be Scales. “These are guests in our humble town. We must show them respect and kindness.” The stallion stepped of the stage and toward us. The griffin backed away but remained at the pony’s side. “My name is Scales, and I am the Judge of this town. Now if you don’t mind me asking, why are you wearing that hood?” I panicked internally.

They had cut a pony’s head off just for stealing. I was terrified of what they might do to me, if they knew what I was. But at the same time the griffins were all looking at me suspiciously. Not telling them could result in them attacking anyway. I couldn’t risk them harming Catalyst or Antiquity, so I cautiously brought a claw to my hood and flipped it back.

“A hellhound!” one of the griffins shouted as he pulled a shotgun out of the holster on his back. The one next to the stallion started to draw out a revolver, but the Judge lifted a hoof to stop them.

“Calm yourselves,” Scales spoke. The griffins begrudgingly holstered their weapons, but they appeared to still be skeptical about me. “This hound is a guest in our town, and provided he does not do anything to warrant punishment, he will be treated no different than any other guest.” I was still on edge from witnessing the execution, but this eased my initial fears.

“My name is Underdog, this is Catalyst,” I said tilting my head to the mare that was attempting to hide behind me.

Antiquity stepped forward. “Good to see you again, Scales,” he greeted the other stallion.

“Ah, Antiquity. Last I saw you were with the traders that passed through here last week.” The Judge responded, to which the older pony nodded. “What happened? Where is the rest of your caravan?”

“Raiders got em, would have got me if it weren’t for these two.” He said, nodding at us.

“Then I must thank you two, both for saving the life of this pony, and for ridding the wasteland of a few raiders.”

“We’re actually in town so I can get in contact with the company,” Antiquity added.

“Well, Ricketts’ Sky Carriage should be heading out today, if I am correct,” the Judge responded. “Perhaps you can ask him to deliver a message for you.”

“Maybe. You know how Ricketts can be sometimes. I’ll stop by his place,” Antiquity said with a nod.

“It was a pleasure to meet you both,” Scales said, looking at Catalyst and myself. The judge set off in the direction of one of the larger buildings, followed by the larger griffin. The griffin turned to us and gave one last glare before following after him.

“You two coming?” Antiquity called to us. I looked to see that he was walking further into the town.

I caught up to the old stallion easily, Catalyst followed behind solemnly. I turned my head back to her. “Are you alright?” I asked.

She turned her head and looked to both sides warily before answering. “I...I do not wish to stay here any longer than necessary,” she answered worriedly. “This town executes ponies in such a... gruesome manner, and publicly as well. I don’t think I could ever live in such a place.”

“I agree, the whole situation is rather unsettling,” I replied.

“I mean, they should punish criminals, but the crimes they listed for that pony didn’t sound that bad, at least not enough to deserve that,” she continued.

“Most crimes are worthy of execution in the eyes of Scales,” Antiquity sighed in front of us, causing us to both realize how bad we were at discrete conversation. “Don’t get me wrong, Scales is a nice guy. Hell, he saved my caravan from a manticore once. His heart’s in the right place, he’s just too... extreme I guess.” Antiquity began to shake his head.

I opted to not delve deeper into the subject. We continued down the street in relative silence. Walking down the street of the town reminded me of my first few days in Pleasant Springs. My presence attracted undesirable looks from those we passed. It didn’t help that a few of the glares came from rough looking griffins, which I was beginning to develop an uneasiness towards.

Some stared at me as if they had never seen a hellhound before. Or more like they had encountered one of my kind previously. I flipped my hood to cover my head, but I knew it was pointless. They still saw me as a monster, no matter how much I tried to cover it. But I still wanted to avoid their eyes.

We soon arrived at a rather large building. Outside of it was a cart, similar to the ones a caravan would use, only the back out the cart was slathered with dark paint, creating the words ‘Ricketts’ Sky Carriage’ on it. The building shared the name, only instead of paint the sign was created using scrap to form the letters. I noticed a few pieces of the ‘R’ had been pried away and placed in other locations. I briefly wondered what the punishment for vandalism was, let alone public profanity.

Outside the building was another griffin, this one smaller in stature than the guards with a satchel strapped to his chest. His appearance differed from the others. His head was full of black feathers with white ones near the base of the neck, the wings being white closer to the neck and black at the tips. His hind legs were a silvery white, with small dark splotches dispersed throughout it. He stood beside the cart barking orders at a unicorn and a pegasus. The two ponies were loading the cart with various boxes and bags.

“Careful with that!” shouted the griffin. His voice was disproportionately loud for his size. “You morons will be working off anything you break!”

“Asshole,” muttered one of the loaders under his breath. Either the griffin did not hear it, or he purposely brushed it off, as he did not react to the remark. Instead, he turned to look at us.

“Ah, custome-oh wait, it’s just Antiquity,” the griffin said flatly when he recognized the stallion beside myself.

“There’s that charming personality you’re known for, Ricketts,” Antiquity replied with a smile. It was unusual to see the old pony smile, somewhat disturbing. “How you been, you feathery bastard?”

“Alright, what do you want?” the irritated griffin replied.

“What? What makes you think I want something?” Antiquity said, feigning innocence.

“Cut the crap, I know you act like that when you need a favor.”

“Alright, I need a ride back to Barlow. Think I could ride back on the next trip?” he pleaded with a forced smile.

“And lose all the cargo space your bony ass will take up? I’m having enough trouble keeping my caravan going with traders being scared away by this town’s daily executions!” the small griffin began shouting.

“Which is why you should take me to Barlow’s, you don’t want word getting out that you left one of his traders here after his caravan was attacked, do you?” the stallion said with a wry smile.

The griffin unfolded his wings and flapped up to the sign on his building. “Do you see the word ‘charity’ anywhere up here? Huh?” he growled.

“No, but I definitely see the word-”Antiquity began but was cut off.

“You still owe me from the last time I helped you. I’m not giving out free rides,” Ricketts declared with a final assertion.

Antiquity stared at Ricketts for a moment, furrowing his brow. Finally he let out a sigh. “Alright, alright. Can you at least let them know I am still alive and tell them to make arrangements for the next caravan out here to pick me up?”

“What happened to your own caravan? Why not get them to take you back to Barlow?” the diminutive griffin questioned. "And who are these freaks with you?”

“Raiders ambushed us and took us captive. Killed us off one by one until I was left. These ‘freaks’ as you called them were the ones who saved me and murdered the bastards who did it,” he replied coldly.

Ricketts was taken aback by the information. After a short amount of time, he finally spoke up. “I’ll... I’ll uh...let them know.” His voice wavered as his anger was replaced. He attempted to quickly reestablish his facade before he noticed. “But you’ll still owe me twice.”

“Thank you, Ricketts,” Antiquity replied, also attempting to rebuild his cheerful demeanor.

“It’ll probably be at least a week or two before they return, you can stay at my place till I get back.” He dug through his satchel for a key and tossed it at Antiquity who caught it in his teeth. “But if there’s anything out of place when I get back, I’ll drop you into a pit of radscorpions!” With that, the griffin went to his carriage, to which the pegasus has already strapped himself to the front of. The unicorn sat in the back of the cart, strapped to a seat while the rest of the space in the cart was filled with boxes and assorted junk. Soon, the cart took to the sky, Ricketts flying behind it barking directions at the pegasus and yelling at the unicorn to hold the valuables in place.

Once the trio had disappeared from sight, Antiquity attempted to speak up. “Now ‘e can eh ih ide,” he mumbled with the key still in his mouth. I just stared at him for a moment, I believe Catalyst did the same behind the tinted glass. Antiquity responded by rolling his eyes and walking towards to building. He twisted the key in his mouth towards the lock and opened the door. “I was saying, ‘Now we can head inside,’” he repeated as he held the door open for us.

Catalyst entered the building first, followed by Antiquity. I ducked down as I entered through the fairly small doorway. The interior of the primary room was filled with a myriad of random objects. Empty metal cans stripped of their labels were suspended from the ceiling, polished and cracked plates lined the walls, miniature golden statues were randomly dispersed through the shelves. In the center of the room was a large desk. Behind it was a rusted plaque that read ‘Postal Service’ but had been written over to read the title of Ricketts’ business.

“Your friend has a rather eclectic taste in decor,” Catalyst spoke up.

“Yeah, that’s Ricketts for you,” Antiquity chuckled. “He’s not the brightest trader to tell the truth. He accepts a third of his pay in shiny clutter like this. Bad for his business, but he seems to not care.” He pushed open a door leading to a back room. The two of us followed him inside and were met with more shiny clutter.

“I suppose that your friend possesses traits similar to many types of avians, namely the attraction towards shiny things,” Catalyst began. “I read an old scientific journal that discussed how the mating habits of many avians and how griffins-”

“I really don’t want to hear about the ‘mating habits’ of birds or griffins,” Antiquity interrupted. He flopped down on a broken down couch, displacing some metallic trash. “What I do want to discuss, however, is what you two plan to do, and how you plan to do it.”

I had not really considered what my plans were now that I was out in the wasteland. I had never actually traveled far from what, at the time, I had considered my home. Despite the conditions I lived in, I usually stayed with the pack, and only ventured out with others. When Gauze saved me, I never traveled far from my new home until now. I looked over to Catalyst, who appeared lost in thought as well. She was lying on the floor with her head resting on top of the metal device on her leg. I doubted she had traveled from her home before either.

“Well...I suppose I am going to try to find a nice town to settle in. Find a home, rebuild my lab. I just want to try to...start over I guess,” Catalyst finally replied.

“Don’t we all,” Antiquity surmised, digging out a pack of cigarettes from the clutter. “What about you, big guy?”

“I believe what I want is similar to what she said, without the lab of course. I just want to try to find someplace accepting of my kind,” I sighed. “I thought I had a home like that for a while, but I had to leave recently due to growing uneasiness about my continued presence.”

“That’s rough,” Antiquity replied, though I caught a chuckle as he realized what he had said. “What about you, goggles? Why’d you leave something as cozy as a stable?”

Catalyst turned her head away from us, avoiding further eye contact. “I...I did something I’m not proud of, but was necessary,” she replied hesitantly. “I was given a choice: exile from the Stable, or the death penalty. From what little we knew about the outside, exile was thought to be the same as the death penalty, but the Overmare decided it was more equine to let me choose my punishment. I think she had actually hoped I would pick this option, thinking I would starve once the minimal supplies they gave me dried up, allowing for a slow and painful death. I am actually glad I did what I did. I don’t think I could have lived there any longer. Too many bad memories,” she finished. I opted to not delve deeper into the subject.

“Lots of places hold bad memories for all of us,” Antiquity muttered, striking a match in between his teeth. “Well, since neither of you have any plans for the immediate future, I suggest you two try finding some work around town. Caps make the wasteland go ‘round, so the more caps you got, the better off you are. Try checking in with Scales. If memory serves, he’s paid for some bounty work in the past. Judging from how you two rescued me, killing raiders seems to be your forte.”

“Eh, I don’t know if I would be able to make a living killing others,” Catalyst replied after a moment. “I mean, I’ve only killed for self defence...mostly...”

“It’s not something I’d suggest to make a living off of, but it’s sometimes a necessary evil to hunt down bad ponies for cash,” he responded. “You could try scavenging, but that could be equally dangerous. There’s also other things a young mare can do for caps, but none of them are things I’d think you’d enjoy.”

“Well, as long as they had it coming...” she answered, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.

“Their deaths will be warranted, correct?” I interjected. It would weigh a bit too heavy on my heart to drag an innocent pony to the judge’s execution.

“Scales is rather strict, but I don’t think he’s the type of pony to send a hitsquad out for littering,” Antiquity replied with a puff of smoke escaping his lips. “Still, probably best to be sure that anyone he sends you after really deserves it.” He took another drag of his cigarette before speaking up again. “Ricketts has got enough food around here that he won’t mind if I give you two some supplies as thanks for everything. You two can crash here for a couple days if you need to as well, at least until you get things going.”

We thanked him for his assistance and departed from the cluttered building. The streets of the town were vacant, spare the griffin guardians watching from the roofs of some buildings as if they were gargoyles. Our arrival onto the streets of the town stole the gaze of many of the watchdogs. I flipped my hood up to hide from their eyes and Catalyst walked very closely as we continued our stroll towards the large building at the center of town. Antiquity had told us that the headquarters for the judge was the structure behind the looming guillotine in the center of town.

As we crossed the threshold of the ancient structure and were greeted by a young looking unicorn stallion sitting behind a desk, a hoof held his head aloft as he scribbled various letters and numbers onto numerous clipboards with a pencil. His boredom was quickly interrupted by the arrival of two odd looking guests. He was momentarily taken aback by my appearance, but he responded better than most.

“Oh, uh...You must be the, err, guest that Scales mentioned earlier,” he stammered, eyes darting around the room in an attempt to not meet my gaze. “Uhm, what can I help you with?”

“We-” I began.

“Antiquity told us that Scales may have some work that we may be able to take care of,” Catalyst interrupted. I suppose it was for the best that she took care of the conversation with the timid pony, as I might have frightened him into doing something unfortunate.

“Ah, well normally you would need to have scheduled an appointment in order to meet with Scales,” he began. I let out a snort of mild irritation. “But since you’re friends with Antiquity I can let you in this time! He and Scales used to be...err, good friends in the past.”

“Thank you,” Catalyst smiled sweetly at the stallion. He responded with an unblinking, wide-eyed stare, his ears folding back in response.

He rose from his position behind the desk and trotted briskly to the door, gave a quick series of knocks, and spoke up. “Hey, boss! That uh, hound-thing is here to see you! It brought that weird mare too!” I decided to look past the insults for the time being.

“Let them in,” the voice from beyond the wooden barrier replied cooly.

The meek unicorn cautiously opened the door for us, then quickly backpedaled away from us. I shot him a mild glare which almost knocked him flat on his back. We entered the room only to be face to face with the judge, still wearing that old beaten top hat and a cold grin that attempted to convey a friendly demeanor but stopped short of being successful.

“Ah, I was hoping that I would have the honor of meeting the two of you again, but did not expect it to be this sudden,” he spoke up. “Please, take a seat.” He gestured towards two chairs of dubious quality on the side of the desk opposite him. Rather than taking my chances with an ancient piece of rusty metal, I opted to just sit on the floor on my haunches. Catalyst had no qualms with the ancient metal work though, as she rested in the chair. “Now, tell me, what brings the two of you to our little slice of the wasteland?” he continued.

“Antiquity pointed us in your direction, he told us that this town would allow him to reunite with his pack,” I answered.

“And the two of you just decided to escort him here out of the kindness of your hearts?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow at my response.

“Yes,” I replied.

“We had no better place to go,” Catalyst added. “Actually, Dog and I just met yesterday, just right before discovering Antiquity. Dog actually saved me from the same raiders. I made the mistake of assuming ponies out here would be civilized,” she rambled on. “Oh, but no offense to your community. It seems to be rather high functioning despite the draconian system put in place...But I mean it isn’t a bad thing the law is so strict! I mean...I’ll be quiet now.”

Scales stared at Catalyst for a moment, his visage unfaltering in his expression, as if he was contemplating what she had just said. He then let out a soft chuckle. “Heh, I always appreciate a pony who speaks their mind,” he replied with a smile. Catalyst untensed her muscles at the interjection of this information, exhaling a breath she had been holding. “I find it very useful when ponies say what they are actually thinking. Helps to get things done. Can’t tell you how dreadful it is when ponies get too caught up in the politics of matters to do anything about their problems. If there’s a problem, fix it. Simple as that, don’t you think?”

“Right...” I hesitantly answered.

“Now, what was it that you needed of me?” he asked.

“Antiquity said that you might have some work for us,” Catalyst replied. “You know, bounty hunting?”

“Ah, I thought it might be something like that,” he said as he rustled through some papers on his desk, eventually finding the one he desired. “Here we go. There’s a gang of raiders a few miles outside of town that have been attacking citizens of the town from time to time, stealing from passing caravans, and painting rude depictions of myself and other law enforcers on the walls of the town. The leader of this band of criminals is a stallion by the name of Split Hairs. He alone has been attributed to nine counts of murder, thirty-seven counts of desecration of a corpse, twelve counts of rape, and three hundred ninety-two counts of malicious littering, among other crimes.”

“What’s ‘malicious littering’?” Catalyst asked.

“It’s a generalized term that applies to when a someone purposefully leaves about objects that could cause harm to others. You know, stuff like bear traps, landmines, those sorts of things,” he stated.

“Oh,” she observed.

“If you actually wish to go after these thugs. I’d like it if you could possibly bring them back alive, as they deserve a trial, but I'd understand if you needed to deal with them in a more immediate manner.”

“Why is it that you haven’t taken care of these criminals before?” I asked.

“Well, the guards around town are required to remain in town in order to protect it from any potential criminals that may wish to cause harm to the residents. I have sent small teams to attempt to track them down, but somehow they’ve evaded detection at every turn. Perhaps your senses may help you in tracking them down,” he surmised. “From what reports we have of their activity, there seem to be anywhere between five to seven of them, and they are rather heavily armed: landmines, grenades, flamethrowers, and submachine guns. Bring me the helmet of Split Hairs, and I’ll reward the two of you two hundred caps each. You may also keep whatever you are able to retrieve from their base as compensation for dealing with the other members of the group.”

Catalyst and I spoke with each other for a moment before accepting his offer. I felt that this job would be rather easy, as I had already taken down groups of raiders much more well armed than they were. As we departed the judge’s office, we bumped into a rather angry looking griffin. He almost knocked Catalyst to the ground when he collided with her. He responded by looking at the fallen mare and snorting before entering the office. I helped Catalyst rise back onto her hooves. We left the building as I heard Scales address the griffin, who I learned was Diego. They spoke about missing inventory some before I was out of earshot.

We exited the town without any further hindrance. Scales had directed us to what he believed was a camp abandoned by the raider gang a few days ago. I preoccupied myself by digging through the ruins of the campfire while Catalyst sorted through rubble.

“So what was it like living in a pack?” she suddenly asked.

“Excuse me?” I questioned. “Why the sudden interest?”

“Well, I’m rather interested in the social dynamics of your species, as you are so unlike anything I have read about. Apologies if I’m being rude, it’s just that everything I’ve encountered since I have left has been so different than what I am used to, and I find it all so interesting,” she said as she kicked over a stone.

“I’m not the best hound to ask about belonging in a pack,” I replied grimly. Catalyst didn’t return any words, rather she distracted herself by renewing her search. Her efforts were rewarded as she discovered a small torn up book poking out under a collapsed wall.

She pulled out from underneath the rubble to further examine it. Her brow furrowed as she attempted to decipher the illegible log, but the scribblings proved to be too much for her to understand. She tossed the book aside, only for me to pick it up. True, the words were incomprehensible scrawlings, worn away by time and soaked in blood and ash, but there was more information to be gained from this.

A few quick sniffs of the book gave rise to a dreadful concoction of scents: Blood and other fluids, gunpowder, gasoline, and an out of place sweet scent. I recoiled from the assault to my senses, but I had already found their trail. It was faint , but the path they took was apparent enough to track them down.

“They went this way,” I declared, indicating the intangible path with a paw.

“Amazing, you can actually track down an individual just through scents?” Catalyst questioned, tapping her front hooves together in excitement. I gave a nod. “Simply astounding! Your sense of smell must be at least thirty-seven times greater than an equine’s!”

She proceeded to ramble on about various experiments that she simply had to conduct once she acquired a functioning lab. I reminded her that we needed to focus on the task at hand in order to get caps to fund a lab. She then began to surmise the amount of currency she would require to obtain all the supplies she would need, as well as an adequate workspace. I couldn’t help but feel a bit uplifted with her optimism.

It took a few short hours to travel within sight of the camp. We were still a ways away, but we needed to tread cautiously for fear of being ambushed. I was by no means stealthy, but I managed to duck behind the ruins of a nearby building with Catalyst. We likely could have been better prepared for the task ahead, as we lacked very much weaponry or medical supplies. Conversely, I had little use for weaponry, as my natural claws were more powerful than most weapons. However, Catalyst would be at a distinct disadvantage in a fight. I had attempted to get her to stay with Antiquity when we were in town, yet she was adamant about assisting me in my endeavours as a means of thanks for saving her.

Despite my size, I managed to remain silent as we crept towards the camp. Having paws with soft pads on the ends is occasionally more desirable than to have hard hooves. Catalyst also managed to move stealthily towards the camp a short distance behind me. She lacked a prowess for physical confrontation, so there was no need for her to be on the forefront of a conflict. From a distance, I could make out three figures in the dim light, all sitting around a campfire. Another two shadows wandered around the outskirts of the makeshift camp. The scent trail indicated that these were the raiders we were after, the condition of the camp only gave further proof. Strung up to a few of the walls were the fresh corpses of ponies, hooks puncturing the flesh which still oozed a red ichor from the wounds.

Beep.

I looked ahead to see an orange cone in the middle of our path.

Beep.

I noticed something was under it, blinking and letting off an annoying sound.

Beep.

“Landmine!” Catalyst hissed as she dove ahead of me and cloaked the mine in her silver aura, only to lob it forward towards the camp.

Beep.

“What the-” one of the ponies at the campfire began to call out after the metal disk connected with the side of his head, but his words were cut short by a pulpy blast of viscera and shrapnel.

In the resulting chaos, the other two ponies at the campfire ducked to avoid the blast, not entirely succeeding but managing to survive. The remaining raiders that were wandering around the camp turned to the explosion, one of them levitating a pistol, the other had two guns on either side of him with the firing mechanism in his teeth. The four of them quickly located the cause of the explosion and opened fire on us.

I ducked behind some of the rubble of one of the surrounding buildings, Catalyst hiding behind me. I turned to her. “Stay!” I commanded, to which she gave a nod.

I vaulted over the partially collapsed wall and immediately took a small caliber round to my shoulder. It barely made a scratch in my hide, but it still hurt. I dove forward on all fours and lept at the nearest raider, the one with the battle saddle. Both of his guns were blazing as he chomped down on the bit, letting off of the firing mechanism only to let out a scream of pure terror as my claws sunk into the soft flesh of his neck silencing him.

“Kill that damn hound!” shouted one of the raiders to her allies.

“Eat this, asshole!” another shouted as he used his magic to throw an object at me. It was a metallic looking orb, a grenade.

I attempted to leap back to dodge the explosive, but was surprised to see the air around the grenade quickly turn silver and return the item back to the sender, smashing against their skull and then detonating with another blast. I looked back to see Catalyst standing atop the rubble with a smile on her face. I gave her a nod and resumed my slaughter of the raiders.

The mare who had been shouting at her fellow raiders for assistance was my next target. She attempted to fire her pistol at me again, only for the rounds to smash against my hide. Then I smashed against her skull with my front paws. The force of the blow knocked her back to the ground, where I slashed my claws into her underbelly, tearing out the vital organs. Her fallen pistol glowed silver as Catalyst armed herself.

The final raider stood a short ways ahead of the two of us. Perhaps it was the sight of a Hellhound covered and the blood and guts of his allies, or it could have been the sight of the mare who had just caused the rest of his friends to die in spectacular, bloody explosions aiming a pistol that belonged to someone he used to know directly at his head. Whichever it was, he quickly turned tail and ran for his life. I did not wish to chase a fleeing enemy, nor did I think Catalyst would be so cruel as to fire at an unarmed opponent. His death was one caused by his own hoof, as in his haste he did not notice the set of metallic teeth rising from the ground. His back leg was caught in one of the traps, causing him to fall forward and tear a large chunk of flesh from his leg.

Beep. Beep.

The stallion quickly attempted to scramble to his hooves, only to recoil in the pain that struggling against the trap brought him.

Beep. Beep.

The final beep was followed by a third and final bloody explosion. Our victory was short lived, as none of these ponies had matched the description of Split Hairs. From what Scales had told us, Split Hairs wore a cracked skull atop his head, and was an orange coated unicorn with a brownish mane. The raiders wore helmets similar to the description, but theirs were fashioned out of metal, not bone.

Near the camp was a large structure, a memorial to the cruelty of the raiders. The walls of the building were decorated with the fresh corpses of their victims. This was the base of operations for the raider gang, and was where their leader was likely hold up.

My musings were interrupted by a sudden flash and wave of heat. From the doorway of the building emerged a large pony encased in a mishmash of cobbled together armor, topped by an equine skull. In between the ocular openings of the skull was an opening through which the unicorn’s orange horn had been forced. Accompanying the raider leader was swathes of fire being spewed forth by the weapon that adorned his side. Along his chest was a bandolier of grenades of different makes and colors.

“AH HAH HAH HAH!” he bellowed as he blindly sprayed flames across the battlefield, igniting all flammable scenery within reach. “Burn it all! BURN IT ALL!”

His eyes met mine momentarily. I saw no fear in this pony, no empathy, not a drop of sanity. The black spheres held nothing except a desire to kill, and this desire was pointed at us. The barrel of the flamethrower was also pointed at us as he dashed forward through the flames he had created.

I lept to the side to dodge the waves of fire he sent forth, running around in an attempt to flank him before he could react. To his credit, the stallion was fast, and had an even faster reaction time. When I had managed to dive at him, he spun around and delivered a powerful kick with his back legs. They had strange pistons attached to the back to increase the force of the blow. Despite my size and weight, I had actually been knocked back by intense buck. I landed with a thud, and immediately felt like my ribs had been cracked. A few of them likely were.

My reprieve was short, because as soon as I landed, he swung around and let loose his flamethrower. I rolled to avoid the brunt of the flames, but the fur on my arm had been ignited. I patted the flames out before they could spread.

I managed to get out of distance from the flames. I looked over my shoulder to see one of the grenades on his belt glow orange momentarily before he lobbed it ahead of me. I backpedaled to avoid the fiery explosion that resulted.

“DANCE, MUTT! DANCE!” he cackled as he cooked another grenade and was preparing to throw it.

Mid arc, the explosive shifted colors to silver. I glanced to my side to see Catalyst, her horn lit up in an attempt to redirect the grenade back to its owner. Her attempts were in vain, as the stallion redoubled his focus on the explosive, causing it to hover in the air, caught between the two opposing telekinetic forces. Eventually, it detonated, raining down fire and shrapnel upon us. The unicorn had managed to protect himself from the fiery explosion by lighting up his horn with the orange aura, which quickly spread to his body and became a protective bubble around him.

“That little trick won’t work on me, bitch!” he roared before charging at Catalyst’s position.

I ran to intercept him, which was more of a hastened limp on my burned paw. I managed to tackle him to the ground, but he managed to regain faster than I did, and jumped back to prepare another puff of fire. He dropped his shield and bit down on the firing mechanism only to let out a small spurt of fire. He was out of fuel, but was quickly loading a new canister.

“Keep him distracted, I have an idea,” Catalyst whispered as she dove behind some burning rubble..

I had no idea what she was planning, but I dove at the raider claws first. He reacted by quickly reforming his shield. My claws didn’t manage to penetrate his magic, but it had weakened the strength of the shield severely, as the glow it let off had dulled and in places it had cracked. He popped in a new canister of fuel and dropped the barrier to resume his onslaught.

I dove back to avoid the growing flames. I was once again out of range of his flamethrower, so he prepped another grenade. I saw Catalyst’s head pop out from behind a wall, out of view of the stallion. At the apex of the grenade’s ascent, it changed to a silver color. The raider noticed this again, and focused his magic on keeping the grenade in the air. As the grenade detonated and he was putting up his shield again, I watched as the inside of the bubbled shimmered silver for a brief moment. After the bubble had fully formed, I realized what Catalyst had done. She primed the grenades on his bandolier. The raider leader noticed this as well, but it was too late for him to put down the shield.

The inside of the bubble erupted with fire and gore, and the surface quickly shattered once there was no one to keep the power going. What had once been the leader of a band of ferocious raiders had been reduced to a smoldering heap of viscera. Amazingly, despite the potency of the blast, his head had remained mostly intact, and more importantly his helmet was still intact, though the two had been fused together by the heat. I surmised that Scales likely wouldn’t mind the extra parts to be entirely sure that the raiders had been taken care of.

The adrenaline from the fighting started to wear off and the pain started to seep in to replace it. Catalyst had made it through the battle largely unscathed aside from a few minor scratches and bruises. I, however, had sustained the brunt of the damage from the strife. My left paw had been burned quite badly, though it would heal without major scarring. My whole body had been peppered with shrapnel and minor bullet wounds. Luckily, the raiders had been using small arms so these injuries were minor.

Catalyst removed a variety of healing supplies from her saddlebags. She wrapped a roll of gauze around my arm and dabbed some healing potion in the open wounds. My hide tingled as it regrew to close the new openings and forced out the foreign metals.

“Thank you, meat shield,” she chimed with a smile once she had finished doctoring my wounds. I shook my head slightly, but couldn’t help letting out a little chuckle. It was impressive how she had managed to retain her composure through all this violence.

We decided to search the remains of the building for any supplies or caps. The bodies decorating the walls had to have come from somewhere, and they likely once had desirable items on them. Whatever goods they had were not to be found on the raiders, as they each had only a sparse amount of caps. The doorway through which Split Hairs had exited was singed and burnt, as well as parts of the interior. Did he turn on his flamethrower before even opening the door?

The rest of the building was in better shape, though it was worn by age. There were more corpses inside the structure, likely in the process of being prepped to become decorations. Catalyst searched through the desk drawers and cabinets in a few of the rooms, thoroughly searching for any caps or useful objects. She eventually gathered a rather bountiful harvest of a couple hundred caps, as well as a fair amount of ammunition, and even some medical supplies.

We eventually encountered a locked door at the end of the hallway. Split Hairs had likely once held a key for it, but that bit of metal was likely scrap embedded into the terrain by now. Catalyst suggested picking the lock, I opted for a simpler solution and ripped the door from its frame, the ancient wood easily giving way to the force being applied.

The inside of the room was in much better condition than the other areas littered with trash and bodies. It appeared to be a storage room, the walls lined with shelves that held a large array of explosives, ammunition boxes, emergency medical kits, and a terminal was propped on a large box on the other side of the room. I began looting the shelves of their contents while Catalyst dutifully tapped away at the keys on the terminal. Eventually, the digital security gave way to her skillful hacking.

“Hey, Dog, you may want to listen to this,” she said, her encased eyes staring at the screen. “This message says: ‘Split Hairs, I’m giving you these arms in exchange for your help overthrowing that fucker, Scales. That asshole has had it too good for too long. The plan is for your group to attack the town, during the chaos my team will deal with Scales and anyone else who tries to get in our way. The town will be ours, and you’ll have free pickings of the caravans passing by. Remember, you owe me for redirecting those hit squads away from you. -Diego.’ Sounds like they’re planning a coup.” She turned to look at me once she had finished reading the message.

“Well, we took care of the raiders at least,” I replied. “But this Diego may have backup plans in place. We should alert Scales.”

“Right, I’m going to download this file to my PipBuck. Try to find the weapons the message talked about, we can use that as evidence.”

I sorted through the boxes and crates on the shelf until I came to one that had ‘Property of New Chevalin Armory’ plastered on the side. I pried open the top of the container. It was filled to the brim with about half a dozen submachine guns as well as ammunition. I held the container in front of Catalyst and she gave a nod, tapping the metal device of her leg with her other hoof.

*

We entered the town of New Chevalin once again. The light was dimming as the sun was setting behind the cloud cover. In the growing darkness, I could feel the shadowy figures from atop the roofs glaring at us with malicious intent, but they were not going to act yet. They were unaware of our knowledge. I walked through the streets on my back legs, a box hidden under my arm and concealed by my cloak, and what was once an equine’s head now fused with another equine’s skull in my other paw. Catalyst followed behind me, and despite her opaque eye protection, I knew she was glancing at the guardians above us. The building that housed Scales’s base of operations was just ahead. Catalyst opened the door with her magic and we entered, encountering the same unicorn stallion that we had terrified earlier.

“I-I’m sorry but, uh, Scales is in a meeting,” he stammered. I let out a snort and dropped the raiders head onto his desk. The stallion immediately jumped back in terror and disgust, the color drained from his face. “Uh, go on in.”

I picked the severed head up again and left the unfortunate stallion as he collapsed on his desk. I reached for the door to Scales’s office, and heard a crash from inside. I kicked the door open to see Scales propped against the wall, one of the griffin guards holding him by his neck and crushing his throat. The judge noticed our entrance and he desperately tried to choke out words, but nothing but wheezes came out. The traitor griffin also made note of our entrance.

He drew his sidearm in an attempt to fire at us. I flung the raider’s head at the bird, smashing it against his face. He recoiled momentarily, giving me the time to pounce to him. Scales dropped to the ground as I grappled with the griffin. I swiped at the bird’s shoulder, slicing his arm off in the process. He let out a screech of agony before I could slit his throat with my claws. His blood pooled around him as his life drained out.

Catalyst rushed to Scales’s side to aid him. Trickles of blood dripped from his neck where the bird’s claws had pressed. She applied a light wrapping of gauze to stop the bleeding. He looked worse for wear, he sat slumped against the wall of his office attempting to steady his breathing. His top hat rested askew on his head.

“Tha..thank you,” he wheezed in between gulps of air.

“Diego planned to have you killed and take over the town,” Catalyst informed him as she tended to his wounds. “I have a note from him to the raiders on my PipBuck and Dog has a box of guns from your armory that he sent them.”

“No... shit,” he deadpanned.

From outside the office we heard a slam as the front door was busted open. Three of the griffin guards rushed into the room. I tried to swipe at one of them but another caught my arm and twisted it behind me. They were very strong for birds.

“Grab his arms!” one shouted as I tried desperately to claw at them with my free paw. His fellow thugs followed his commands and bound my arms behind me. It took the three of them to hold me down, and even then I was struggling.

Another two griffins entered the room. I recognized the larger of the griffins to be Diego, the traitorous ringleader of this uprising. The other griffin that entered with him ran over to Scales who had been trying to buck the three griffins away from me. The griffin wrapped one claw in his mane and the other around his throat, the talons pressed against his flesh to stop his struggling.

“I knew you’d be trouble the moment you walked into town,” the head griffin spat at me. “I had planned to do this quietly, stage it to look like raiders had done it. But no, you had to fuck up months worth of planning.”

“Diego! Release us this instant!” Scales fumed.

“I think you are in no position to be giving any commands,” Diego replied.

“I’ll have your head on a pike for this, you bastard!” the small pony shrieked, his legs kicking at the griffin holding him in an attempt to free himself, but to no avail.

“Threatening an officer of the law? And threatening to desecrate a corpse?” the griffin coyly responded. “Sharpen up the blade, boys. We got ourselves a double execution.”

The griffins struggled to drag us out of the office and into the street. One of them had his claws on my arm and shoulder to drag me. I replied by sinking my teeth into his arm.

“YEOW!” he shrieked as he tried free his arm from the death grip my jaws had on him. Only when another griffin clawed at my face did I accidentally ease my bite enough for him to rip his arm out, leaving behind a piece of flesh. I grinned as I swallowed the piece of the griffin. This terrified the birds to no end,

I glance back into the building as they readjusted their hold on me to ensure I wouldn’t get another taste. Just inside the structure hiding behind the desk was Catalyst and the stallion. She gave me an affirmative nod, to what I had no idea. All I could do was give a minor nod in return. With that, she sunk down under the desk again before my sight of her was cut off by one of the griffins pushing me along.

Atop the guillotine Diego had perched himself looking down on us smugly. A small gathering of citizens gathered to watch the spectacle as was custom, but a few of the griffins shot their sidearms into the earth to frighten away onlookers. This display of dominance over the town sent ponies running for their homes.

“Scales, why am I not surprised to find you brought before the court?” the griffin sneered. “You are charged with the following crimes: assaulting an officer of the law, swearing at an officer of the law, attempting to evade justice, and generally being an asshole. How do you plead?”

“Fuck off!” the judge shouted. “You’re nothing but a common raider! It’s creatures like you that forced me to result to such methods!”

“The court finds you guilty on all counts and sentences you to death by guillotine!” the griffin cackled as his cronies kicked the pony in front of the execution device. “Get that damn thing off his neck!”

“Excuse me!” shouted a familiar voice. One of the griffins surrounding us turned to the noise and was smacked in the face by a tin can. “I believe new evidence has come to light!” Wait, why did that can have nails on the side?

Beep.

After a single beep, the device exploded in a glorious and violent manner,eviscerating the griffin and shredding those nearby. The guillotine took a hit as well, as pieces of scrap embedded themselves along the wood causing it to wobble under the weight of Diego. One of the griffins holding me down received a piece of scrap to the skull. I kicked the fresh corpse to the ground and broke free of my stunned captors.

On the side of the street opposite us stood Catalyst, armed to the teeth with explosives of almost every type, levitating three sub machine guns, the stallion from the office levitating a fourth gun.

“Oh look, they found the armory,” Scales said coolly before bucking the griffin behind him in the jaw.

“Don’t just stand there you fools, get them!” Diego shouted as he took to the sky. His minions followed his command and all drew their weapons at the various sources of confrontation they were facing.

One of the griffins aimed a shotgun at me and fired it once. The buckshot grazed my shoulder as I ducked to the ground and ran on all fours to pounce the bird and tear open his chest cavity. Catalyst began spraying the battlefield with hot lead. It was readily apparent that she wasn’t entirely sure how to fire a gun, and certainly had no idea had to handle three of them at once. So it amounted to her just trying to fire in the general direction of things she wanted dead and just by the sheer amount of bullets the griffins were sustaining casualties quickly. The stallion beside her, however, had apparently handled firearms such as this before, as he cleanly fired bursts at the griffins, not even flinching when they fired their own weapons at him.

Out of nowhere, a shadow quickly descended on me. Diego had tackled me to the ground and onto my back, his revolver drawn and trying to fire dead at my chest. Two of his rounds missed as I wrestled the weapon from his grip, but another sunk into my abdomen. I knocked the gun to the side and attempted to claw at the griffin’s face only for him swipe at my arms and deflect the blows. In the chaos of our struggle I managed to eventually kick my feet under his torso and fling him backwards.

He flew through the air for a moment before he collided with the wooden structure of the guillotine. The blade wobbled for a moment before the force of the impact caused it to fall down. The rest of the structure immediately followed the blade on its decent.

SHUNK. THUNK. SLAM.

The guillotine was no more. The griffin caught in the device’s final execution was no more either. The rest of the griffins, seeing their leader’s untimely demise, ceased fighting and attempted to flee. Those with functioning wings became airborne as they ascended away from the grisly scene. Other turned tail and fled on foot. The rest chased after their leader to join him.

“Well, I guess that’s poetic justice,” Catalyst said after the spectacle had ended.

“I can’t thank you two enough,” sighed Scales as he kicked one of the corpses out of his path. “You saved my neck there, literally. Speak with my secretary, he’ll give you adequate compensation for your help.”

“So what do you plan to do now that your guards betrayed you?” I questioned.

“I’m not entirely sure,” he replied, shaking his head. “With the guillotine destroyed, and my police force disbanded, I don’t think I can keep this town safe any more.”

“Do you really need to rely on such draconian measures to defend your town?” I asked.

“I’m afraid I do,” he responded solemnly. “Such strict laws are a necessary evil in order to keep the peace. Without the iron hoof of justice ready to come crashing down on criminals, what is to stop ponies from from stealing, raping, and murdering?”

“But is death always the answer for every crime? What separates you from these common murderers? The idea that you are justified for your actions?” I pressed on, Catalyst remained silent, adding nothing to the conversation other than the occasional glance up from the ground.

“I...I’m getting justice for those they harm,” he returned after a moment of thought.

“Is it worth betraying yourself? Is it worth leaving foals fatherless?”

“I’m trying to bring law back to the wasteland! I’m bringing order, and peace!” he retaliated.

“Look around, is this peaceful?” I returned, waving a paw at the carnage that lay strewn before us. “Not even counting the griffins, what about the ponies you’ve put to death? How many lives have you ended in your pursuit of justice, and how many actually deserved it? Killing those who do not deserve it is not order, that is chaos. There are those who deserve punishment, and those who are just trying to survive, not intending to harm anyone. There have got to be ways to keep the peace without relying on murder as the go to solution.”

He stared at me for a moment, before breaking eye contact to look to the ground. “I...I’ll think about ways to get justice fairly. But first, I’d need new guards that could defend the town from raiders, guards that I can trust.”

I gave a little smile. “Know of anywhere you could find such guards?”

“I have a few old friends that owe me a couple of favors, they could find me the aid I need, but I can’t leave the town in a condition like this. With no guards to defend, and without my guidance, the ponies here would be in trouble, I can work out temporary defenses until something more permanent can be set up.”

“I can help you find guards to defend the town,” I offered. I looked over to Catalyst who gave a little nod in return. “We could help you out.”

“All I really need for you two to do is track down a pony, she can help set everything else up. Mare by the name of Casing, used to work with her from time to time. She’ll know some guards that can help out. Only problem is that I’ve been out of contact with her for a while now, so I’m not sure where you can find her. Try asking Antiquity about her, he might have heard a thing or two about where she’s been lately.” He turned away from us. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must check on the residents of the town to make sure everyone is okay and to calm them down.” With that, he trotted away.

We departed from the scene of the battle to return to Antiquity, but not before receiving our pay from the secretary. His adrenaline levels had clearly lowered, as he cowered in my presence once again. I opted not to mess with him further, and simply wished him well as we left.

We arrived once again at Ricketts’ home shortly after. Antiquity lied on a bed covered in shining, metal clutter, sound asleep, blissfully ignorant of the battle that had been fought outside a few minutes previously. We roused him from his slumber and regaled him with the events that had happened since we had last spoke.

“Shit, you two know how to stir everything up, don’t you?” he chuckled, a lit cigarette shook in his mouth with each breath. “How the hell did you get Scales to change his mind about how he runs things?”

“Mutiny can do a lot to a pony,” Catalyst surmised.

“I reckon, so who did he want you to find again?” he asked.

“Her name was Casing, I think,” Catalyst replied.

“Ah, I remember her. Pretty little mare, but she could bite the head off a hellh-err, Manticore,” he said after remembering who his present company was. “She was a clever filly, always getting into some sort of trouble or another, but she’d try to do the right thing no matter what. Last I heard, she was playing sheriff at a town a couple miles away.” He let out a puff of smoke before continuing. “But that town had been attacked by raiders or something a couple weeks back, so I’m not sure what’s become of her. Still, best bet is that if she’s still alive, that’ll be the best place to look for her.”

“Thanks, Antiquity,” Catalyst replied.

“I wish you luck in returning to your company, farewell,” I said as I turned to leave.

“I’m sure we’ll be meeting again soon, but goodbye for now,” Antiquity replied as we exited the building. We left Ricketts’s establishment only to come face to face with Scales once again.

“So you two are leaving already?” he asked. I nodded in response, “I see. You two have been very helpful to me, to this town, and especially to Antiquity. I can’t thank the two of you enough, so I wanted to give you something a bit more meaningful than caps.” He twisted his head to his side and pulled his sidearm out of the holster with his mouth and set it on the ground in front of us. “This was my favorite revolver when I used to work as a caravan guard, it served me well, and I hope it would serve you well.”

Catalyst picked up the weapon and examined it. “.44 caliber rounds, six shot chamber, short range scope, fine condition,” she listed as she poured over every detail of the weapon. “Executioner is engraved on the side,” she noted, looking up to Scales with a bit of confusion.

Scales gave a little nod. “It was my favorite revolver, and now Executioner is yours. Thanks again,” he said before he entered the Ricketts’s building.

As we walked through the streets to leave the town, I felt a bit more relieved. Instead of the harsh glances of the griffins and the cold stares of equines, I met only the thankful gazes of the ponies we had saved from the griffins. We finally set off into the wastes in search of a mare by the name of Casing.

Footnote: Level Up.

Catalyst: Level Up.

Catalyst: New Perk: Rapid Reload- There are advantages to being able to levitate things with magic. One of those is being able to reload weapons a lot faster. Reload speeds with all weapons are 25% faster.