“So… what are we going to do now Gilda?” Having asked that Greta looked around at the junkyard they landed in, the Javelin’s Evade Mode had a horribly cracked almost shattered canopy on the pilot’s side and needed repairs for that. Her rear facing seat had handled the landing much better; it was a well controlled crash at the very least that did little damage to their spacecraft. “I mean aside from the obvious of getting your arm looked at.”
“If I wasn’t in so much pain right now Greta, I’d beat you black and blue for drawing attention to it.” Clutching at her right arm with her left claw holding it against her chest, Gilda grit her teeth and looked around. “Get the plasma rifle out. We should be safe here since we’re definitely far enough away from where the core crashed, but it wouldn’t hurt to have it at the ready. Any crash you can walk away from right?”
“Technically you’ll be limping away; also you and it can still fly so is walking really necessary? All we need to do is change the canopy out on the Javelin's Evade Mode.” Greta looked over their landing craft and it was a bit dented up, but it was still viable as a form of transportation, but it wasn’t going to be useful for escaping the planet back into space. “So not technically a crash, actually this is the first time you’ve landed something relatively intact. Note to self, write autopilot landing program for Gilda.”
“Make fun if you will Greta, I’ve done pretty well in the last hour or so.” Gilda muttered quite clearly through exorbitant amounts of pain. “That would make it Gilda one, life fifty three and counting. I wish one of us was a doctor right now.”
“Can we rip up your work clothes?” Sighing after asking that, Greta wondered if things would quiet down as she pulled the plasma rifle out. They had plenty of ammo for it for the time being as Tree Hugger had really bought them a rather thoughtful amount as a gift, because it certainly helped when it came to shooting Vasp out of the sky while they were still falling. Her EVA suit was also quite useful when it came to her popping her rear facing canopy and letting loose with the weapon. “We can use either that or the strap from the rifle for a sling… after we get your arm bent back in the right direction of course.”
“Just find something for me to bite down on that’s not you, you’d probably even enjoy it.” Resisting tears with all her might, Gilda stayed perfectly still as Greta came up and gripped her right arm after stuffing a large wad of clothe in her beak.
A shrill screech went throughout the area, even though it should have been muffled.
-
“It left a spot in its chest the size of a pinprick.” Deadpanned Ember who had told Rarity what she was witnessed in regards to Sassy’s skill. “She’s quite good, but the weapon doesn’t exactly seem right for her even if it works.”
“Well that certainly explains why she doesn’t use a rapier; I can just imagine her accidentally killing someone unintentionally through something else with a single thrust.” The hospital gown Rarity was wearing after they checked her out for poisoning was something that aggravated her sensibilities in fashion, it was also not her color as it was green. Aside from being a fashion victim, she only had a badly bruised back and why she was currently seeing bed rest. What really mattered was Sassy at the moment, she was sitting in a med-bed across from her and completely sedated as much as they safely could use to keep her under. “Poor Sassy she’s going to have horrid scars on her face, though she might actually see that as a good thing… if she’s even in her right mind when she wakes up.”
“Why would scars be a good thing? Don’t ponies in the fashion industry frown upon what they perceive as imperfections or something?” Ember was perfectly fine, despite having actively participated in hunting for pockets of death incarnate to take down before ending up here. Her armor was a different story as it laid in a pile next to her looking like it always did, being a pile of badly patched together chunks of metal. The body shy dragon was wearing a gown as well and didn’t seem to mind the color at all.
“It’s because it might keep men away, well at least the shallow or predatory ones.” It was nice that Rarity could have a friendly discussion with Ember, because it would be dreadfully boring and upsetting to watch Sassy sit in a tank of fluids dead to the world. It was rather upsetting to see any of her friends in such a state period. Coco, Opal and Vera were okay at the spaceport, but Drixsto needed reinforcements of the aerial bombardment persuasion because the city was covered in Ant Heads, Voragers and Vasps. Only bounty hunters were crazy enough to be out in that mess and Ember actually stated that she wanted to be one of them. It horrified Rarity on some level because she liked Ember as a friend and wouldn’t wish danger on her, except for the fact danger was a part of Ember’s job description and her livelihood. “However it may also do the opposite and might attract men that are more into the battle torn look, I’m sure with a bit of makeup I can work with Sassy to make it look like the scars aren’t there at all.”
“I guess we’ll see how that pans out when we get around to it, I might call a nurse for something substantial to eat. Running through the streets gunning down what amounts to the byproduct of a apocalyptic class biological grey goo scenario works up an appetite. ” At this Ember reaches into her thrice times horribly battered armor that should never be worn by anyone, she pulled out a pouch to take out a large emerald that caught Rarity’s eye. It was beautiful without an imperfection in it and then it was gone in a flash because it was tossed into Ember’s mouth and crunched loudly to be swiftly swallowed. “I love the taste of a good emerald.”
“Opal if I have to leave this room for any reason, I want you to stay here and watch Sassy.” It might have upset Rarity slightly to watch a beautiful gem or jewel being eaten like that; then again Ember did require that as food. At least the luster of Ember’s scales made up for it, the dragon obviously took really good care of them and she was a gem all her own. “No matter what I choose to do, no matter what happens to me, make sure nothing happens to her.”
“Roger dodger Meowstress, don’t leave Sassy alone for a minute!” The weight of that order had Opal take it seriously; she accepted why Rarity asked that of her and was happy to make sure nothing happened to Sassy. It was a bit conflicting for her to not watch out for Rarity, but the generosity of the order could not be denied and Opal was okay with it. “I understand the order perfectly clear, though I don’t like the implications of you being out of my sight for a second.”
“Quite, all members of my crew matter more so than I do. I’m but a humble captain that gives my people a direction to move through life and without the crew or a ship, I am nothing.” It was a bit poetic, but Rarity wasn’t exactly entirely humble. When both Ember and Opal with the MAT drone just stared at her, she sighed in an aggravated manner. “Okay, I admit that I do have my moments where I’m definitely going to try and be more important than I sound, I apologize in advance for those situations. I am a business mare after all and want to be a highly important pony that absolutely anyone can go to for a nice set of clothing. I will prove that I can cater to anyone’s wants or needs in the fashion industry on top of making my own designs shine brightly across the stars on their own merits.”
“Well it’s nice to know you have an idea of where you want to go and who you want to be, because I would be kind of lost without your help otherwise Rarity.” For recently being pulled from a med-bed for various injuries, Coco sounded chipper and healthy. “If you wanted to know, everything here is fine with us. Though the monsters are trying to create an entrance into the spaceport, I don’t think they’re capable of breaking through the blast doors. Are they trying to get into the hospital as well?”
“Yeah, but this hospital is pretty well fortified. I’m in the mood to ask the next nurse I see about the layout of the building and if there are any weak points in the design on top of a request for food.” Being the most experienced one in the room, Ember decided to speak up about what she knew of situations like this. “I’m talking things like, does this building have a panic room in case monsters get in and how many can you fit into said room? If you ever get trapped in a building or a spaceship, then you’ll definitely want the blueprints or at least a schematic of it to get an idea of where a problem might rise up from and how to get around it quickly.”
“Okay Miss Gums, keep your wing in the sling and try not to scratch at it. Don’t let the injury get any worse and we’ll see to it that you’ll fly again, provided that there’s a rescue coming before we start running out of food.” Turning to the sudden opening of the door to the room, they all watched as Red Heart led the griffon Rarity had saved into the room. “Here’s your friends, speaking of, is there anything any of you need? Be aware I can’t help with machines, so don’t even bother asking.”
That last bit had been directed at the MAT drone Opal was in control of, but it wasn’t in anger it was a statement that she wasn’t a mechanic and shouldn’t be asked to perform miracles aside from medical ones.
“I have some requests. Where can we get some food? Does this place have a backup generator and does it have any underground entrances?” Taking in the blank look and slowly shrinking pupils Ember figured she had stumbled onto something that was dangerous for the hospital if it wasn’t taken care of quickly. “I ask because those monsters are definitely a lot smarter than they look.”
“Oh no, oh dear, this isn’t good…. wait, why are you wearing a gown?” Nurse Red Heart was suddenly distracted from her worried state by noticing Ember reclining with her legs crossed and leaning backwards on her arms. The reclining dragon sat up at her momentary bout of panic, Red shook her head and got to the matter at hoof. “The backup generators are in the basement, but we haven’t actually sealed off the sewage access tunnels to it or the hospital yet. We forgot that it’s not automatically activated like the reinforced shutters that protect the building from attacks above ground. There’s a whole network of large pipes down there big enough for an Ant Head to crawl through, why if they get to our generator and knock out the cities power supply... we’ll lose a lot of people here that are in critical conditions. We need to manually seal off several pipes in the right order or else there will be complications beyond having the hospital invaded from below.”
“Right, just let me gear up… in private. Also I’m wearing this hospital gown because it’s comfortable for me.” A purple blush appeared on Ember’s cheeks as she stood up and her tail swept around her waist. She gathered up her armor and her rifle. “Get me someone who can close the sewage pipes off or at least show me what to do, a water proof map to said pipes that need to be closed and I’ll personally provide escort for them down there. In fact, gather several volunteers willing to go down there with me. While we’re busy down there you could scrounge up some food, I can already tell I’m going to need a shower after this one. This won’t be my first time being in some absurdly spacious sewers and probably not the last either if I’m unfortunate enough.”
The dragon stood up and walked off to the nearby bathroom to take off the gown and get into her ratty armor, leaving Rarity to turn to Red Heart after having watched her friend walk off with determined look on her face.
“I’m not too injured and I have my energy pistols, once you give me my EVA suit back I’ll happily volunteer to go down there as well.” It didn’t matter if it was dangerous; Rarity was volunteering because she was generous to a fault and wanted to help out regardless of capability to do so. The pipes were sure to be entirely disgusting and normally she wouldn’t volunteer to go into the sewers, heck it would get her poor slightly damaged EVA suit covered in muck. What did a little loss to her suits vanity matter in the importance of other people’s lives? She could always make a new suit anyway. Rarity would never let her vanity personally get in the way of helping others, though she still detested getting dirty in the extreme. If getting dirty meant saving lives, then Rarity was willing to bite the bullet and get her suit tarnished beyond recognition. “Tell me, can a Vorager fit into those pipes?”
“Thankfully no, if they tried they’d be hard pressed to make themselves as dangerous in cramped conditions as they are in wide open spaces. It’s big enough for a human to stand up comfortably in, but otherwise it’s not very wide or that much bigger.” Here Red Heart glared at Rarity. “Wait, why am I even entertaining the thought of you going in there? You’re a civilian and you need bed rest!”
“Oh I’m not that bad off! Also aren’t Bounty Hunters technically armed citizens that do the jobs other more qualified people are too busy for? I know I’m not one, but I’m still willing and able to lend my assistance for a good cause and I do have weapons to take care of myself with.” Stretching out and getting off the bed, Rarity walked up to the glaring Nurse Red Heart and looked her sharply in the eyes. “I’m well aware of what I’m getting myself into and knowing that, I wish to assist in this endeavor despite your misgivings about my current health.”
“Fine, but don’t expect me to help you if you get injured.” Rubbing at her head with a hoof Red Heart looked particularly aggravated and like her patience was wearing thin, she made her job sound quite stressful. “We’ll have your suit back with you within the next twenty minutes. That breach gel stuff is quite useful as it’s managed to give us Vasp poison to work with and we can actively make antidotes for it now thanks to you. Once you can finally get that stuff signed off by the princesses, we’ll happily buy some of it to research medical applications for it. Vasp Poison usually degrades really fast, so you’ve given us the first sample that hasn’t deteriorated at all before we could get a good look at it and it’s thanks to you we can synthesize antidotes for any future incursions. You’ll have about thirty minutes after getting it back for me to gather enough volunteers to see to it that we aren’t suddenly hit with a surprise attack. Now get back in bed and get some more rest. You too Miss Gums and with your wing you’re most decidedly not going down there, I don’t need you getting an amputation worthy infection on my watch. So get in that bed now!”
The griffon squeaked and carefully climbed into the bed next to Rarity’s while minding her wing in the sling, she looked particularly cowed and afraid of the nurse’s wrath. The nurse nodded in acceptance and stomped out of the room muttering about all the troublesome patients she had to deal with.
“Um, hey there, how are you feeling? Getting landed on by a Vasp and almost getting poisoned must not have felt very good, huh?” The griffon intoned quietly.
“No, it most certainly wasn’t pleasant being pinned under that beast. Had it thought to use its stinger, if it was even capable at the time, I would have been a goner for sure.” Yep, that moment was going straight into Rarity’s nightmare bin. “I’m Rarity Belle, now who are you darling and what do you do? You already know a little about me, so I think a little information in turn would be fair trade.”
“Oh, I’m Gabriella Gums, just call me Gabby though! I’m a courier and I like to deliver packages big, small and between those two and the biggest order I’ve ever had to have weighed over a hundred pounds at least! I’ve been all over Drixtsto and some of the nearby cities of Ewesen, it is much friendlier here than Griffonstone. Also the weather was quite nice, at least until those monsters started to fall out of the sky. I really don’t have the money for a ride off the planet and even if I did, I hear Geoptis and the fleet upstairs got hit badly by a large wave of Shamroids. Either way it wouldn’t matter because I’m not exactly rich enough to move out of the city or anything, used most of my money coming to this planet in the first place and let me tell you this place was so wonderful until this happened.” This Gabby was certainly talkative and it seemed she would continue on, she was currently on her side that wasn’t currently in a sling. She was a griffin with various shades of gray and a slight hint of cyan mixed in, with a small smattering of white feathers at her neck below her beak. Her round head reminded Rarity of Greta and she even had some of her feathers pulled back into ponytail which made her look cute. She was a bit younger than Greta and Gilda judging by her size. “I’m so glad that you came across me, who knows what would have happened to me if you didn’t come along. I can already guess, but I’d rather not exactly dwell on it. Oh man this invasion is really bad for business, I had just finished my last delivery which was a weapon to a Triple P officer when I got caught out in that mess and took a stinger in the wing, but you already know about that. Let me tell you, I’ve had a heck of a time running through the city trying to hide and avoid all those monsters. Of course I don’t think I’ll be able to find another job after this for a while and I really should have probably found a chunk of wood or a bit of loose pipe to use as a makeshift weapon. I mean can you imagine me fighting? I’m not exactly one for confrontations which as you might know is kind of a thing some griffons like, but not me, no sir! I’m a friendly griffon and I’d rather be friends with everyone I come across, like this nice blonde mare I met on Equus who had a cute little dinky filly. Wait, wasn’t her filly’s name Dinky? Oh I get it now! Anyway I hope to one day earn a cutie mark or at least think of a nice symbol for myself, even though I’m not a hippogriff it should be entirely possible right? I really liked those blueberry muffins, that mare can bake them fluffy with a crisp outer shell. I wonder if my apartment will still be around, maybe I just became homeless. Well that’s a depressing thought, guess I won’t know until this crisis blows over. I wonder if they have cherry blintz here, I really loved baked goods and they are some of my favorite things to eat.”
“Tell me, do you ever stop talking or do you just blabber on like that to everyone?” Because it sounded to Rarity that she was a griffon that ran her mouth almost near constantly once she got started. Hippogriffs came from pony and griffons mating, quite frankly interspecies was becoming much more common thing and hippogriffs were respected citizens of Equus. Seeing the griffon getting upset at her question, Rarity inhaled before she decided to say something she was bound to regret saying to Gabriella for the rest of her life. “I’m sorry and apologize for my dreadful words Gabriella, that’s quite a beautiful name by the way, but you kind of ran on there for a while.”
“That’s okay, I do kind of continue talking on and on for a long time. I mean, I’m sometimes called the blathering blatherskite or gabby Gabby which is kind of a thing with me. I don’t think I misspeak and I totally make sense with everything I say unlike the definitions for those words, but going off in tangents is a bit of a problem with me. I still prefer Gabby though, thanks for the complimenting my name at least. I wonder if I left the oven on, this is how I always am I think of things like did I leave the throwing disc, kite and cat in that tree? That’s the kind of things my mind wanders off on and I can keep talking for quite a while let me tell you!” Gabby made a friendly gesture to Rarity with her left hand. “So if you need me to stop talking and ask me something I will, though you might have to yell at me. I tend to stop paying attention to people when I get overly excited about something, some doctors think I might have ADD. I know for a fact that I can pay attention and actually listen to people so I might actually be just a tiny bit hyperactive, maybe I shouldn’t eat two honey buns in the morning or drink three cups of coffee before work like at all. Flying takes up a lot of energy though, maybe a more vegetable intensive diet? At least I know that people like me for being a friendly face that delivers; anyone who watches me would know how I can deliver things swiftly and efficiently. Can’t say much about watching the paint dry when it comes to sitting here in this boring room like this, but I definitely want to be able to fly again so like the nurse ordered I’m getting rest. I’ve never actually met someone who would want to still be friends with me after I start running my beak, but you haven’t run out of the room screaming yet so I must be doing something right this time. I wonder if fruits in the morning would be better, I do love my copious amounts of sugar. Sugar has always been kind of a funny word to me, even though I eat a lot of things with sugar in it. Anyway, how has your day been?”
“It has been quite horrid day with all those monsters falling from the sky don’t you think? Why I think I can even feel migraine coming on.” With her right eye twitching slightly, Rarity figured that Gabby was still a far sight better than dealing with Sweetie Belle even if she could go on and on in such an energetic manner. “I apologize if I get short with you Ms. Gums.”
“Okay, but call me Gabby! You saved my life so that makes us friends now right… well doesn’t it? I mean, I’m not that annoying right? I can’t really help it sometimes; I just really need to talk.” The griffon visibly wilted and poke her index talons together, it didn’t sound like Gabby was able to turn off her motor mouth very easily.
“Of course I’ll be your friend Gabriella, it’s just that you’re a bit much to take in and it’ll take me a while to get used to you. We’ve only just begun talking to each other; do you have any dreams aside from attaining a cutie mark? Goodness knows my little sister Sweet Belle is going to blow up a planet trying to earn hers.” The door to the bathroom opened, Rarity turned to watched Ember stalk back into the room to sit down on the bed and she gestured for them to continue on and ignore her. “Anyway let me tell you a little more about myself. I got my cutie mark on Desserzon, the planet has quite a few gem mines and my horn dragged me to a large gem deposit. That was when I knew what my special talent was; aside from having a gem finding spell I have a keen eye for detail and beauty. I also attract more customers to my fashionable business by being an EVA suit manufacturer.”
“I have one of those EVA suits and it is really comfortable, a bit pricey but the materials that go into it. I think it’s a worthwhile purchase considering how well they’re constructed.” It was just Ember putting her two cents in as she opened a compartment in her bulky material rifle and started counting rocks. Taking stock of her ammunition was something she did often; she took good care of her weapon. “Speaking of constructing things and since we’re sharing I made this material rifle myself, all from materials tough enough to handle extreme heats and I’ve actually dunked this thing in lava before. It took me a while to clean it out afterwards, but I don’t let this thing out of my sight even for a minute and it’s done me proud by never backfiring on me once. This thing is my baby and I call it the Trailblazer Mark One, looks like it still has plenty of fuel in it. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to go into the sewers.”
“That’s nice; I think… anyway Nurse Red Heart said she was going to gather some people to go down there and I have personally volunteered my assistance.” Things were calm now and Rarity was opening up to the two as they were to her, how long would that last she wondered. “I’m not a bad shot, well when I can work up the courage to aim at living creature.”
“I can imagine killing something is not easy for you, I’m mostly a vegetarian and I can understand that. Is it like that with bounty hunters?” Gabby turned to Ember who looked a little scary in her armor and unlike her assumptions with Rarity; she knew for a fact that Ember was a real deal bounty hunter. “I’m Gabby by the way, Gabriella Gums; it’s very nice to meet you.”
“Ember Mcflame and that’s a small thing some bounty hunters all have trouble with eventually, unless you’re one of those lunatics that enjoys lawful acts of violence. Of course if something is actively trying to kill you, it becomes much easier to make a decision when you can’t run from what’s trying to do so. I don’t actually take killing people lightly personally. Though I won’t lie, I’ve killed a lot of people and I’m sorry if it upsets you Gabby.” This was something Ember wouldn’t kid around about, she’s has quite a few years as a bounty hunter under her belt and she was still really young for her age. Gabby didn’t look particularly upset at all with her and she continued. “In turn, I’ve also killed a lot of monsters that shouldn’t even be considered for prison time, they were just that horrible and irredeemable. My life isn’t easy and it gets real lonely, but I think I make it work. Being social like this isn’t exactly a thing I do very often.”
“Well you are rather shy and a might bit antisocial as it were, but be assured that you’re a wonderful person to be around Ember. You even took the time out of a busy day to come apologize to my friend Coco for causing her some trouble and that was while you were doing business with me, which I might add was rather thoughtful of you.” Rarity’s compliment had Ember looking away slightly and Gabby chirped in amusement at the sight of a dragon actually acting shy. “Not only that, but you also helped my dear friend Sassy and even carried her here. While you may be violent, you are also capable of being kind and caring.”
“Speaking of kindness, here’s your EVA suit back Ms. Belle and I can’t thank you enough for lending it to us. If you’re going into the sewers then you better start getting ready and get in a last meal in case you run into trouble down there.” Red Heart walked in to casually toss Rarity’s EVA suit on the bed next to her, she walked out with one last parting word to Rarity. “Now stay in good health and be careful or else you’ll have this irate nurse on your hooves!”